Mannahatta
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Posts posted by Mannahatta
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My fantasy is that the Mossbachers won't press charges against Kai - not out of kindness, of course, but because they got all their jewelry back and a long-distance court case would too much of a bother. Also, the resort has no motivation to pursue the case because it would generate bad publicity for them. So Kai might just wind up only losing his job but not his freedom.
I actually felt for Quinn. I didn't see him as a spoiled brat but as a kid who's a lost soul - who had all his senses awakened only to realize what an empty screen addicted life he's been living.
As for Tanya - right after she says she doesn't want to have any more transactional relationships - she hands Belinda an envelope of cash. That pretty much summed her character up - a little smidgen of insight, an iota of kindness, and a whole lot of oblivious self-centeredness.
I'm curious about Season 2. I read it will be in the same hotel but with different travelers. Is it going to have the same theme of privileged people carelessly running roughshod through the lives of the staff? That could be redundant - so I wonder if another theme will be used. Anyway, I appreciated the writing and was awed by the acting - so I plan to tune in for season 2.
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I thought for sure they would paint that hideous pink exterior. It would have been so easy considering it was a ranch. Did they say why they left it that color? I tend to fast forward through the scenes where they're talking so maybe I missed something. And that fireplace was such a travesty that I found myself fantasizing about taking a sledge hammer to it. As for the turquoise sink - it gave off cheap motel vibes.....This was such a weird episode. To quote Nina Garcia from the old Project Runway - "I question their taste level."
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I had to laugh that the bedroom, which was supposed to be for a teen-ager, "the really fun room", was decorated with 45s. I know LPs are coming back into vogue - but 45s? Have the twins recently been binge watching Gidget movies? Who associates 45s with today's teenagers? And as a buyer, I wouldn't appreciate the paint haphazardly splashed on the wall. Even the kid didn't seem to appreciate it, though to his credit he was diplomatic: "I'll probably paint on it some more." Lol
I don't know. These two seem to be so on point with all the decorating trends that I can see the homes on this show looking very dated within 10 years. Not that it seems to matter. The housing market in that area seems to be on fire. $712,000 with no inspection makes me think the buyers out there are either all in a state of mass hysteria, and/or they're flush with cash after selling their previous homes in California (or some other hyper-inflated market). Unless the entire country gets a pay raise - I don't know how these types of prices are sustainable.
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13 hours ago, BrainyBlonde said:
Yeah, this last episode gave me anxiety. 22 y/o college student wins $340K (before or after taxes--no idea!) and spends over $500K on a 5-bedroom house.
I felt the same way. And after reading this article all I can do is shake my head:
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article242690561.html
Quote“I started thanking God and told her [ her mother] right away that it was His money and the first thing I wanted to do was give back to Elevation Church,” Painter said.
“The only thing I am buying for myself is a new PC for school and Twitch, which my friend Chris Tyson from the MrBeast YouTube channel is helping me build,” Painter said.
“Besides that, and tithing to Elevation Church, everything else is going into a trust,” she said.
and...
QuoteAlthough guaranteed $25,000 a year for life, winners can take a lump sum instead. Painter chose the lump sum of $390,000. After taxes, she took home $275,926, lottery officials said in a news release.
Clearly math is not her strong suit. I'm guessing in her mind it was worthwhile to take the lump sum because now she can post on social media about all the fun times she has with her close friends in her cool house. Apparently the trust idea went out the window. But she's sure to get lots of new "friends"! As for Elevation Church, it's a Baptist church with over 20 locations, is reportedly anti-gay (the church's founding pastor, Steven Furtick called homosexuality a sin), and follows Prosperity theology. Maybe she assumes that God will pay off the rest of her mortgage? Forget about SMDH, now my head is spinning....
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5 hours ago, shapeshifter said:
There was someone on the show (mentioned upthread) who did meet present day “family” heretofore unknown owing to a brief romance between a recently deceased parent and a foreign exchange student. The previously unknown family seemed happy to meet a rich and famous family member.
However, a very similar discovery by my daughter’s friend’s family via Ancestry gene data, instead just caused a lot of anguish.Yes! That was Andy Samberg. I never was into his comedy but that episode was one of my all time favorites. He seemed like a really nice guy whose main interest was to find out the background of his mother, who had been adopted. Plus his mother appreciated learning that she was the romantic result of an affair between two highly educated star crossed lovers. I think I definitely have a preference for the episodes that find recent surprises. And by recent I mean within four generations. By then you're up to 16 great-great grandparents so it can get a bit unwieldly.
Speaking of surprises, one of my friends, who already has seven siblings, recently discovered through ancestry.com that he also has a much older half-brother. My first thought was that the brother was from the father. But no, turned out to be from his mother. Apparently her first born was "born out of wedlock" in the late 1940s and was adopted by a loving family. My friend spoke to his half-brother on the phone and found that they both had very similar interests. So, no anguish there. But it just goes to show that you really need to be prepared for the unexpected when you send your DNA out into the universe.
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On 5/6/2021 at 7:24 PM, Driad said:
I would be glad to see guests who are not celebrities; I'm only barely familiar with many of the guests anyway.
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.
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2 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:
Did they say how the chateau ever fell in to disrepair, or if there's any descendants around?
https://thechateau.tv/histoire
According to "L’Histoire - By Dick Strawbridge":
QuotePrior to us finding Chateau de la Motte Husson, it had been passed down through generations of the de Baglion family. Latterly Guy de Baglion de la Dufferie had received the bare title to it from Xavier Marie Octave, Count de Baglion de la Dufferie and his wife, Elisabeth Marie Joseph Marthe Charlotte Treton de Vaujuas de Langan in 1954, as a part of a dowry. He owned the chateau until his death in 1999, when it passed to his wife and children.
We found The Chateau in October 2014 and purchase was completed January 2015. Our neighbours include members of the de Baglion family, who have been nothing but welcoming and continued to maintain the property even after we had paid our deposit. The family was going to tidy the attic and outbuilding and throw away all the ‘rubbish’. Fortunately we discovered this, in one of our trips to do some measuring, and managed to save treasures that vary from hundreds of pre-WWI magazines to a side-saddle and pieces of Victorian clothing.
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.
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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.
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On 3/18/2021 at 5:54 PM, mamadrama said:
*ahem* Not that we don't have our own fair share of "hicks", but he's not one of ours. The fake Saudi Prince is from Michigan...
A $27,000 check.
This woman who just lost both of her jobs wrote a $27,000 check to a complete stranger to "hold" and didn't even call her bank to cancel it the moment she closed the door behind her.
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!
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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/
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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?
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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/
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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.
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On 7/18/2020 at 12:29 AM, UsernameFatigue said:
The best part of this episode was Ramona's description of her life, and why she could not date online. I am pretty sure (unless I misheard) that she referred to having an "entourage" as having an "entree".
Unfortunately that was the highlight of the show for me. These women are boring AF.
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.
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On 4/5/2020 at 7:20 PM, icemiser69 said:
I don't like surprises, and I don't like it when people pop in to visit without being given the heads up first.
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. 😉
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On 4/1/2020 at 10:18 AM, DEL901 said:
Can’t find the link, but Brandon’s team is also making masks.
QuoteChristian Siriano, Brandon Maxwell, Prada and Armani are among the growing number of fashion brands using their sewing skills to make masks and medical gowns during the coronavirus pandemic ...... Michael Costello — who has styled Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez and Mariah Carey — joined this fight to lend a helping hand, too. He said he had been working for 24 hours, "glued to my machine in hopes of making prototypes of face masks." Costello explained that a contact in Los Angeles would produce surgical-grade masks that help prevent catching the coronavirus. "We will not be selling any of these but rather giving them away to all first responders, hospitals, and healthcare providers," he wrote on Instagram.
Kudos to them. And to all the other people who are sewing masks in their homes to help out.
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TBS’ Search Party is becoming an HBO Max original. The upcoming third season of TBS’ cult comedy series will air on the upcoming WarnerMedia streaming platform, which also has ordered a fourth season of single-camera series.
Season 3 of Search Party, starring Alia Shawkat, Meredith Hagner, Brandon Micheal Hall, John Early and John Reynolds,, will debut on HBO Max at launch in Spring of 2020, two years after it was originally ordered by TBS.
A critical darling, the dark comedy about a group of privileged, self-absorbed twenty-somethings covering up a murder, was never well suited for a linear network like TBS.
Well, I for one was happy to read this.....
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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.
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11 hours ago, Annber03 said:
For anyone who's curious, the Wikipedia page on Theresa Knorr goes into detail as well, both about the abuse and what happened to Terry and Robert later on. I can only hope the other remaining child has managed to move on as best they can as well.
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.
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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.
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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.
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16 hours ago, chessiegal said:
Fair enough. I was pointing out that this information has been public knowledge for at least 10 years for those who think it is groundbreaking news.
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
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2 minutes ago, chessiegal said:
None of that information in that article is new - it's been common knowledge for years.
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.
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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
QuoteSo I’m going to tell you all about my experience with House Hunters International, on which we appeared in 2017, and House Hunters, which we filmed last winter. (Our episode, “Nitpicking in Navarre, Florida,” airs Thursday night!) My story will possibly burst your bubble about the show. If this is not something you want, stop reading now. The first thing you need to know is that in neither episode of House Hunters were Jeff and I actually … house hunting. One time we’d already closed on the house we “chose” in the episode; the other time we’d already lived in our house for a year......But I was surprised how even the littlest details could be fictionalized. When they couldn’t find a local real estate agent, the House Hunters International producers needed a Dutch person who was willing to be on camera for $500 as our “relocation expert.” Our neighbor and friend Michael, who actually works in IT, was happy to oblige.
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
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S03.E07: Too Much Birthday
in Succession
Kendall's birthday party was definitely a very expensive train wreck. I find that his character often gives me a terrible case of 2nd hand embarrassment - to the point where I have to press the pause button on a regular basis so I can take the time to fully cringe. Kendall has the respect of none of the people whose respect he craves, and he's nasty to anyone he thinks is beneath him. So kudos to Jeremy Strong's acting to make me actually feel sorry for Kendall at times.
At this point I really don't care what happens to the company per se. I'm watching to see how the family dynamics play out. As for cousin Greg - I believe his role is to embody "the everyman" who, in this case, is completely out of his element.
I can see why this show wouldn't be for everyone but I find the banality of the power struggles to be fascinating.
And one sad clarification....There's a venue next to The Vessel called The Shed. I think that's where the party is supposed to take place. (It also happens that Warner Media Studios & Networks, which now owns HBO, has it's office in a building just a few steps away.) The Vessel was basically designed as an architectural sculpture - climbable by stairs. I say "was" because it's now closed and there are now plans to dismantle it. Sadly there were 4 separate suicides by jumping that occurred in it since its opening in 2019. So it's definitely not a party venue.