kassygreene

Mad Men taught me a lot about why Darren Stevens, Larry Tate, and all the rest were such jerks. Unless you were a WASP male (and I think we can agree that Samantha wasn't a WASP anything), the sixties sucked.

It's also a pretty good show, for my viewing experience probably the best written of the current crop of reboots. I have a spontaneous laugh break out of me at least once per episode, and the only other current show that does that for me (and it's not a reboot) is DC's Legends of Tomorrow (that's in no small part down to my love of fluffy blue cuddles).

I give DCJ props: he gives Donald the correct amount of response. (His book is worth reading. If I still bought books, I would buy it.)

If you have Prime, there is a lot of Royal stuff available for free viewing. Netflix has some too, I think (go to The Crown and see what's suggested for you). Prime runs the spectrum, from very well researched stuff to the tabloid-quality muck. And, of course, you can find anything on YouTube.

I'll add a link when Disco posts it. And here it is. Captains take on the steepest waves yet in an epic final surge to hit their quotas; Jake fights through a debilitating crew injury on deck; Josh gambles big on his crab count; engine failure leaves Sig dead in the water. Apparently this is the season finale.

I'll add a link when Disco puts it up. And here it is. Captains share inside accounts of the season's epic final surge and discuss the next generation of leaders; Capt. Wild Bill reveals why he may have fished his last season; Sig relives the terror of being dead in the water.

Is Kristen Bell the person who just adores sloths, to the point that news that one is outside reduce her to a joyous tearful puddle, which her husband filmed, and which Ellen DeGeneres delighted in showing over and over and over? Because that got old fast.

She's the Secretary of Homeland Security - a Cabinet-level position.

You can generally tell when the late night shows will be off because they don't have tickets on those days. Of the four I watch (Trevor, Stephen, Kimmel, & Seth), none of them are recording until September 4 (day after Labor Day). They also all seem to have September 17 off (Emmys). Except for Seth, for some reason. Trevor & Stephen also have September 18 off, but Kimmel is recording on Friday September 21.... You, too, can look all this up. Each show's webpage has a link for tickets, which will have the schedule for the current month and usually the next one.

The new episode of The Bait is here. The last leg of the season is also the deadliest and the captains reveal how they manage the risks. Crews find out what happens when an 800-pound pot lands on a crabber, and Wild Bill hears a greenhorn's confession that shakes him to his core. I think that next week (August 28) is the season finale for DC as well as The Bait.

I liked TAR for a long time (watched from the beginning, which was also 9/11). But eventually the stunt casting got to me; I watched so many iterations of models, but it just became more and more blatantly ratings bait. I stuck through the models, I stuck through the scarf and barf food challenges, I stuck through the obvious crazy-edits, I even stuck through Jonathan. But, when it became so obviously stunt-casted (d-list celebrities & reality "stars" from other shows (I'm scowling at you Boston Rob)), and then gimmicky (blind date racing?!?), I finally was able to bail. Recaps tell me I haven't missed much.

Needs an HDMI port, which is why we finally upgraded our set this year. ... Only to find out that our cable access box had to be upgraded too.

The shudder the Saga makes when it loses the anchor chain should certainly be familiar to everyone on board by now.

I read an interview with Caan early on that touched on the constraints of episodic TV: time restrictions, pacing (teaser, act one, act two, act three, act four, usually act five, and tag), broadcast restrictions. I think he perhaps has a lower tolerance for the silly stuff (a Camaro goes nose to nose with a Gulfstream and effectively prevents take-off -- tired trope). I don't care - he gets the character beats of cop, father, and friend, and I enjoy him and the rest of the show.

If the two biggest loans in a bank's history add up to $16 million (or whatever it was), it is a teeny tiny bank. And apparently Manafort didn't make any payments? I'm surprised the bank still exists, because it's not difficult for the Feds to shut down a bank and "persuade" another bank to take it over (bless the FDIC). A few years ago I think we had this happen to three or four local small banks. Bye bye bank name, bye bye bank executives, but the customer money is protected.

I have been restraining myself for the last couple of weeks, but, yes, please bring back the Time Bandit. Since Jonathan had to un-retire, and Andy is apparently staying off camera and dealing with *cough lawyers* the business side, it wouldn't be that difficult.

I too preferred the original Ironside, although I find it unwatchable nowadays. But it was very late sixties hip (I'm from the midwest), filmed in San Francisco (at least had good location shooting), broke some ground on disabled people continuing to work (timely, considering the injuries returning from Vietnam), and I totally believed Ironside, a senior detective, as someone who could get his own unit created, funded, staffed, AND create his own mandate in the wake of his paralysis. While the reboot Ironside was much younger, didn't really seem to have the pull to get the unit he got, and was paralyzed by his partner screwing up. A more realistic take on life after permanent disability in the 21rst, but there wasn't any hook for me to keep watching. In fact, I quit with the pilot, if that's where the partner screw-up reveal happened. I usually can give a show three episodes before bailing.

Hetrick always puzzled me. She was cast in things and very popular with the male showrunners, and for that matter she and Sir PS were A Thing as I recall. But she always annoyed me (both the actress and also Vash), and I figured she was one of those women that men find attractive and women don't. I'm not disrespecting the actress, there are lots of actors I don't find appealing who are very successful, It's more a matter of I don't understand why a character can get such a big piece of an ensemble show, while the ensemble gets pushed to the side. Anyhoo, PLEASE no Vash.

Oh! That's what happened to the late night schedules for Sept 17!

As always, Disco is very inconsistent about what is posted and when. Last week's The Bait still doesn't seem to be on the website, but this week's is up here. Captains debate how to lead in life or death situations. Sig demands Casey pay up for deliberately cutting a $1,000 pot. And it's a showdown in the galley as former chef Keith Colburn judges which captain makes the best grub. This show seems to be losing interest here, which I totally get. The Hansens bad boy schtick (as in criminal behavior) this spring will probably make this my final year. Or maybe not, but sheesh, right now Josh Harris is a more appealing figure. That foolishness with the pots - Sig was lucky to lose only one (from what was a seriously dangerous situation), and if anyone had set on him like that, he'd probably break out the torpedoes. In fact, hasn't he been set upon in the past, and wasn't he really "unhappy" about it? ETA: I am now vewy vewy hungwy.

My mother and I loved the book; my book club loved the book, and tonight we watched the movie. Terrific adaptation, left out a few sub-plots but absolutely worked.

If the baby had been born, it would probably have been swaddled in something (which might not have survived the force of impact), and it almost certainly would have had the umbilical cut. Frankly, any post-mortem reports are almost certainly unavailable, and official records could and did differ from reality when sparing the feelings of surviving family.

I seem to recall that it was generally believed that she'd gone into labor during a rough flight, and they attempted an emergency at Ostend in bad weather, due to which they crashed and all on board were killed. The imaginings of Philip as he dreams walking through the wreckage seem to reflect the conclusions of whatever inquiries were held. A contemporary newspaper article also seems to confirm this.

Online gets no respect; sometimes the next episode is up immediately after the last episode finishes, sometimes it's up on Friday, sometimes it's up as it broadcasts, sometimes it's Shark Week. This time it's up on Thursday here. A severe arctic gale batters the fleet, forcing captains to fight extreme wind and waves. For the second time, a greenhorn's life hangs in the balance on the Summer Bay. The Saga crew seeks shelter at St. Paul, where tidal forces snap Jake's anchor. And, oh, yeah, winter weather in the Bering Sea is scary bad.

I first saw Patrick Stewart at StarFest in Denver in March(-ish) 1988. It was his very first convention anywhere; he'd wrapped season one of TNG the day before, flew to Denver, did an hour on Saturday afternoon and another on Sunday afternoon before flying on home to London. He was soooo charming. He was very nervous, as it was (he told us) his first direct interaction with fans. He came from a stage background (he told us) so if we were ok with it he wanted to do the thing without using a microphone (we were ok with it, the chatter in the crowd was about nil so we could hear him, and he made it to the 45 minute mark on Sunday before his voice told him to use the microphone), and it was lovely. Sidenote: every other guest from TNG at this convention over the next many years informed us that they planned to use the microphone through-out; the only one who probably didn't need it was Michael Dorn. Seven years later he came to StarFest in Denver again, the day after he wrapped season 7. He'd clearly been to some (many) conventions in the interval, because he was effortlessly skillful, even with the recurring bizarro questions that the Denver cons seemed to attract (this one guy always asked every guest what they thought of some football team). Anyhoo, Sir PS is reliably great. If you have the opportunity to see him at a convention or a live performance, you won't regret going.