Jump to content

Type keyword(s) to search

Mannahatta

Member
  • Posts

    176
  • Joined

Everything posted by Mannahatta

  1. PBS used to have a genealogy show for non-celebrities. It ran for 3 seasons starting in 2013 and was called Genealogy Roadshow. I really enjoyed it and was disappointed that it wasn't renewed. I found myself recently wondering - after seeing yet another guest weeping over the sufferings of their ancestors - how would they feel if it were revealed to them that they had a distant relative in dire straights that was still alive? What if - rather than having a great-great uncle who was a prisoner of war during the Civil War - it was their meth addicted 5th cousin, Louie, currently living under a bridge? Well that would be awkward. Might make it a little harder to find guests for the show. Sometimes this show seems to emphasize that most human suffering is relegated to the past. Maybe it's because the guests are all well-heeled celebrities. Plus, much like their ancestors, most of the current guest aren't going to spill the beans about present day family issues. When it's current news - it's tawdry gossip. When it's in the past - it's fascinating history. And I'm guessing that most viewers prefer stories about upward mobility. Which isn't to say I'm not enjoying the show. And I did find the last episode with Lewis Black and Ron Wood to be very moving. But some of the guests' reactions bring out the curmudgeon in me.
  2. https://thechateau.tv/histoire According to "L’Histoire - By Dick Strawbridge": However, Dick's history doesn't answer why the chateau fell into disrepair. I'm guessing the widow and children of Count de Baglion de la Dufferie had other homes to live in and/or lacked the needed energy and funds to maintain it. The descendants sound like nice people. But at least the chateau was left standing. I recently read a fascinating book, "Fortune's Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt". The size, number and opulence of the mansions the Vanderbilt family built, in New York City alone, was head spinning. And the sad part is that most were demolished within just a few decades. One massive mansion, called the Petit Chateau, was built in 1886 and demolished in 1927. They were all too expensive to maintain and the land became more valuable than the buildings. So I'm finding it very satisfying to watch Dick and Angel bring the chateau back to life.
  3. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ron-watkins-qanon-founder-q-b1828899.html?traffic_source=Connatix I just stumbled across this article. Apparently Ron Watkins was a pretty forgettable kid growing up in Mukilteo, Washington. The article also briefly mentions his mother: "After serving in the US army as a helicopter repairman and recruiter, Jim moved to the Philippines in 2004, where a cached issue of the Manila Times shows Mr Watkins eventually sought Philippines citizenship with his wife, a woman named as Liziel Watkins, in 2019, even though a newly uncovered 2007 court record from San Francisco shows that a James and Liziel Watkins got divorced, with James filing for custody of an unnamed child." Another development is that the Philippines has had it with Jim Watkins: "Then, in early 2020, the Philippines Bureau of Immigration’s Investigations Division labelled James Watkins an “undesireable alien”, ABC news reported, meaning he was a risk to the public interest.A charging sheet from the bureau describes Mr Watkins as “the owner and operator of 8chan, a hate filled forum/website which hosts trolling and serves as a go-to resource for violent extremists and white supremacists”.Mr Watkins was given permission to travel back to the US between August of 2020 and January of 2021, and he has returned to the US, although he is expected to head back to the Philippines to challenge the immigration ruling." I would love to see a 5th installment. It could show the reactions of Q-Anon believers to the first 4 parts of this documentary. Maybe some might find their beliefs shaken. But I'm pretty sure many will smile, shake their heads, knowingly proclaim it to be "fake news", and then go home and quietly send death threats to the filmmakers. Some people just can't admit that they've been had.
  4. I'm pretty sure she said she had regrets right away, but the fortune teller high-tailed it to the bank before she did - as in right away. Lol I found the banality of the con to be fascinating. It's almost as if these women were in a hypnotic state and felt they had no control over their actions. And it wasn't like the con artists seemed especially bright or charming. But I have to give the victims props for taking their cases to court, not to mention telling their tales in front of a national audience. The embarrassment of the victims is generally what allows these creeps to remain in operation. That said, the woman who was getting the divorce did one smart thing - she hid her identity. Imagine being her ex and finding out that while you were both laboriously haggling over the divorce, she was throwing money away like it was moldy bread. And speaking of bread - the woman who lost the sandwich shop (among other things) has a husband worthy of sainthood!
  5. There is something about Mia Farrow that just seems so emotionally stunted. She's 76 years old yet consistently speaks like a little girl who is lost in the woods. I cringed when she described her excitement about being asked out by Woody Allen. She acted as if she had never been asked to go out on a date before. Oh goody! Now she had someone who could take her to do fun things. I know she cited a serious bout with polio and the death of her father as being two life defining events in her life. But I've known plenty of people, who experienced multiple traumas early in their lives, who are still able to present themselves as fully functioning adults. Her naivete is odd. Also, I don't know what to make of this, but one of her brothers received a 10 year sentence in 2014 for sexually molesting 2 young boys. It makes me wonder if she had come from a family with a lot of secrets. It might explain her willful ignorance about the many inappropriate behaviors Allen exhibited prior to the final charge of sexual assault. https://www.salon.com/2014/02/04/mia_farrows_sex_abuse_silence/
  6. I just started watching this show. I'm enjoying it even if this couple does make me feel like a lazy bum. Their energy level is unreal. One thing that puzzled/bugged me - why is there a bathtub at the foot of a bed? Could someone here enlighten me?
  7. A Psychologist Answers All Your Questions About Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman's Characters in The Undoing: https://time.com/5914507/the-undoing-hugh-grant/
  8. This show has devolved into a peculiar combination of disturbing and boring. It's so disjointed - much like this group of women. They're all trying way too hard to convince themselves that they're younger, funnier, sexier, richer, cleverer, and more tragic, than they actually are. The end result is that, much like their clothing choices this season, their behavior has become both odd and ugly.
  9. Oddly enough, Ramona's use of the word 'entree" was grammatically correct. There are actually two definitions for this word. The lesser used meaning is "the right to enter or join a particular sphere or group". So she was saying that she had "entree" into whatever rarefied social world she imagines herself to be part of. Now that's where her use of the word becomes questionable. After all, she is hobnobbing with a group that consistently exhibit all the social graces one would expect from an assemblage of crackheads hanging out on the corner. But in Ramona's mind money equals class.
  10. I feel that way about unexpected video calls. I was in the process of getting a dental bridge made before the social distancing rules came into effect. So in the meanwhile, I have a detachable fake front tooth, AKA a flipper. Nothing like receiving a video call as I sit on the couch with my flipper in the bathroom. Adding to that visual disaster - hair that needs cutting. Plus, what if I'm in the middle of cleaning the kitty litter? There's a lot to be said for an old fashioned hearing-only phone call. I would much rather have the other party imagine me looking my best. 😉
  11. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/christian-siriano-brandon-maxwell-prada-create-protective-masks-curb-coronavirus-shortage-1286056 Kudos to them. And to all the other people who are sewing masks in their homes to help out.
  12. https://deadline.com/2019/10/search-party-move-from-tbs-to-hbo-max-season-3-gets-season-4-renewal-1202754499/ Well, I for one was happy to read this.....
  13. Re: S33:E21, "The Case Against Sandra Garner" - that case made me question whether I could be objective as a juror because I would have found her guilty based on her screechy, whiny voice alone. Plus, there was the whole business with the hidden murder weapon. And her lack of concern about immediately going back to the house where her husband had been killed even though the murderer, who was kind enough to leave her as a witness, was still at large. Then she later agrees with her lawyers' determination that the previously unidentifiable (though unusually chatty) killer was probably her son. The whole story was odd. I would have loved to have seen an interview with some of the jury members to see how they reached their verdict.
  14. That last episode of Evil Lives Here (S6: Ep2) re: Theresa Knorr, was so horrific I had to fast forward through much of it and I still feel traumatized by what I just saw. I was actually shaking. Then after reading the Wiki page - my God! - those poor children were failed not just by their paranoid, sociopath of a mother but seemingly every "normal" adult who came into contact with them - teachers, therapists, neighbors, Child Protective Service workers. Just disgusting. So I have now finally taken Evil Lives Here off my record list. I was thinking about doing this for a while - because watching shows that turn me into an emotional basket case is just not helpful.
  15. https://people.com/tv/luann-de-lesseps-says-bravo-paid-rehab/ So now Luann is saying that Bravo paid for her rehab. And the reason she didn't challenge Bethenny's story about her drunken run in the field wearing a negligee, was because Bethenny was clearly having a breakdown. I look forward to seeing how they each spin such wildly contradictory stories during the reunion. Although at this point I am willing to accept the possibility that they are both insane.
  16. I must take umbrage with Dorinda and Sonya's Cool Sculpting segment later followed by an actual commercial for Cool Sculpting. That was so tacky. (Although it was a tad more subtle than their movie commercial earlier in the season.) At any rate, the combo of bad acting with the shilling of random products just needs to stop.
  17. This will be my final post on this thread. I would just like to point out that I wasn't presenting the article as "ground breaking news". However, I do think that there's a bit of cognitive dissonance occurring when people say they know the shows are fake but will then comment upon the shows as if they're real. I also am perplexed as to why my posting (or even re-posting) a related article seemed to be a trigger to some. Perhaps such parties should immediately inform "Slate" and "House Beautiful" that articles on this topic already been written about and therefore should no longer be published lest they be commented upon. I am sure they would find such feedback to be very useful. LOL
  18. True, but I think on some level people have a hard time accepting the extent of the fakery. If people truly accepted that the shows' background stories are generally made up - then no one on this board would bother to question the motives, relationships, and financial backgrounds of any of the shows' participants. The only people left to snark would be the producers, who unfortunately don't show us their faces... Anyway, I've read a few articles over the years about how fake these shows are, but each "expose" adds a little bit more insight into how the illusion is created. I liked how this one mentioned how much they got paid. I was always curious about that.
  19. Well I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but here's yet another article (from 6/20/19) about how these house hunting shows are fake - as in really, really fake: https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/06/house-hunters-true-story-of-being-on-the-show.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab The writer of the article was on two HH shows........I watch these shows because I love the combo of real estate voyeurism and travelogue. If the personal stories are all fake - I wish the producers would just drop them. And if they want more drama then surely they can figure out another format that doesn't involve excessive lying to the audience. Lol
  20. Sonja is so full of shit. She was acting as if she were an innocent young thing who was suffering so at the discovery that others suffer in the world. Bring on the vapors. Meanwhile she lives in Manhattan. It doesn't matter what neighborhood you live in Manhattan - you're going to see homeless people, people with substance abuse issues, and people with mental health issues - on the regular. And it's not just when you take the subway. You would have to be willfully ignorant not to see it. Then she muses "What can I do? I can't invite them to live in my townhouse." Well no, no one is expecting you to do that, Sonja. In fact, I wouldn't even expect her to become involved in any social causes. But to use other people's problems as a showcase to prove your delicate sensibilities and to get attention? Wow.
  21. I was really disgusted at how the "ladies" completely dismissed Barbara's quite accurate observation that they were ignoring her. Somehow they managed to both deny that this was happening and yet also blame her "negative energy" for this thing that never happened. Completely gaslighted her. Plus Luann, who clearly views Barbara as having out-lived her usefulness, joins in without a second thought. And then Bethenny, in typical Bethenny fashion, later acts as if she's her confidante, "Don't leave!". Just despicable behavior all around.
  22. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/how-pose-a-groundbreaker-is-changing-awards-season-red-carpets-1215084 7 more days...So looking forward to this show's return.
  23. The thing that gets to me about Luann's house is that it doesn't look like a million dollar house, especially since the area, Port Ewen, isn't an especially expensive place to live (assuming the article below is correct about the location). I think for that kind of money she could have found a more impressive home on the Hudson River. This one has a very awkward layout, it's not that spacious, and overall has a dated look. I forget which housewife compared it to a Frank Lloyd Wright - but that was quite a stretch. I wonder if Luann snapped up this one as an impulse/manic purchase to console herself because she couldn't buy the 6 million dollar house. https://realityblurb.com/2018/11/13/photos-rhonys-luann-de-lesseps-drops-1-million-on-waterfront-home-in-upstate-new-york-see-the-pics/
  24. Here's my take on Bethenny. At her dinner party she was badgering Tinsley to open up under the guise that true friends tell each other everything. But in reality she wants to make Tinsley feel vulnerable, to break her down, and make her cry. So then Bethenny can step in and play her self-appointed role as the strong compassionate woman/wise therapist. It's the worst kind of pseudo-analysis - all in the service of control and hostility. How many times are you going to tell someone - out of the blue, at a party - that they don't seem happy and their relationship isn't healthy? And then act as if this is what a good friend does? Bethenny is the master of head games.
  25. The apartment we saw Dorinda in this last episode is the same one that she's been living in since she started the show. It seems her realtor friend was the one who originally sold it to her. In fact, they were talking about that long ago transaction but the details are blurry to me as I was too distracted by the realtor's appearance. I got the impression that the years 1967 to 1972 had been very good to her, and she is going to do everything she can to hold on to that look - age be damned. Anyway, I digress. So yes, Dorinda does own that apartment and if she is unable to sell it she plans to rent it out. I always thought it looked pretty dismal. Apparently she had hired a designer for her house in the Berkshires but I suspect the apartment's decor is all her own doing. https://townvibe.com/drama-queen/
×
×
  • Create New...