overtherainbow

Well, close enough lol. Hearing their accents I figured it would be somewhere near the Canadian border. She is definitely very likeable and good on camera, you can see why she's so popular. But I do still feel like they are playing off her tics. However it also seems like she is on the more extreme end of the spectrum as far as TS. I think that therapist gave her good advice when she was teaching her to hold up a finger when she feels a tic come on but we haven't really seen her apply that technique. I would like to see more of that because she clearly isn't comfortable with the surgery yet and doesn't like being medicated all the time. Apparently she lives in Kansas with Colin as of 2025 So I assume that's where his assignment ends up being not DC? It may be revealed in later episodes. https://www.wtrf.com/west-virginia/west-virginia-native-lands-show-on-tlc-following-fame-on-tiktok-showcasing-life-with-tourette-syndrome/ 

They live in West Virginia but both parents and Baylen have a strong Michigan/Midwest accent. They must have spent most of their lives there before the dad got a job in DC. Just thought that's interesting. The family seems really fun and likeable. That said I have the same issue with this show as Shauna Rae. Granted it's TLC so the exploitation is expected, but I don't like the chosen medium to showcase her struggles mainly being zooming in on people in public oogling her (or more than likely, not even her, but the camera crew following them around). Episode 3 was good though, because it felt a little more 'real' and showed her speaking on a forum with other people with tourettes. I think with her social media following she really is an inspiration to other people with TS. Her TS is also different because the echolalia is really present. A lot of her tics are funny things related to her immediate surroundings or pop culture instead of random noises. I do think the producers are creating scenarios to take advantage of her tourettes. Her tics are exacerbated by stress. Like this episode, knowing she would be tired but timing it so they arrived for tic con without much time to prepare so they were rushing, and sending her up there to speak completely unprepared. I don't see why they couldn't have arrived the day before so she would be well rested and could better prepare. Seemed very deliberate.

It's my comfort movie too. I used to watch it and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang multiples times every year. Never could get into Mary Poppins for some reason, though. I was obsessed with Christopher Plummer as the Baron. The My Favorite Things scene remains my favorite.

On the topic of how people get sucked in, I don't know if you've seen it already, but I highly recommend watching Kumare (2011), it's about Vikram Ghandi who turns himself into a fake guru complete with a fake Indian accent despite growing up in Jersey as a kind of social experiment, turns out it really doesn't take much to get a cult following. The yoga people and megachurch people are the same to me, a lot of broken/damaged people, plus just people looking for community, a leader to follow, and some fort of tradition/ritual to feel like a bigger part of something.

This show is frankly amazing. I need to watch Shogun after I finish it

They've already served 34 years in prison. That's an incredibly long time and most of that time they weren't even able to see each other. They've now spent more time locked up than free. In the time they've been in prison, OJ was acquitted, arrested again for the Vegas robbery, served his time, got out and amassed a massive social media following, and passed away. Hell, they both got married despite the life sentences. When are we as a society going to shift our "justice" system to one that focuses on rehabilitation rather than retribution and life sentences are reserved for people who actually pose a continued risk to the public. I hope they're able to get a retrial and are sentenced to time served or parole and released.

If only it pissed off the people that liked the original WHILE still being a good movie that's thought provoking..and this is from someone who actually likes musicals

I went to see this today without reading any of the reviews. I had a gift card I'd been itching to use. Now I really wish I had. What a depressing pile of misery porn with just about every courtroom trope we've seen ever rolled into what felt like forever. Plus cheesy song after cheesy song.

For real! I wonder if he's going through puberty but has been instructed to deliberately keep his voice really young

No hate to the young actor but I swear the kid playing Ryan looks like he's 12-13 (I think they mentioned he's supposed to be 12) yet still sounds like a 7 year old. I have no idea if that's intentional or if he still talks like that and is just like Ralph Macchio with the late puberty but it's thrown me for a loop.

It's been a hot minute since I've checked in with the Busbys but it's not uncommon that at least some of the quints would have some major learning difficulties, especially with reading. I believe during the prime time they would've first started learning how to read, they were still doing remote learning because of covid so maybe Ava (really all of them) would've benefited a lot more from one-on-one hands on instruction then and she never got that then. I have family that work in the school system and a ton of children their age are still very behind developmentally because of that period. 8 is the new 6. Too bad her dyslexia will no doubt be aired out and analyzed for strangers' viewing pleasure, just like Parker's "anxiety".

I can NOT believe this show is still on, or can I? I guess absolutely nothing was learned from the Gosselin saga.

Jumped the shark a bit in the finale. Was Norman supposed to Warren Buffett?

Isn't the point for her to be unlikeable to have more character development? She was meant to show Molly that there is more to life than her bubble. Now Molly is meant to show her that it's okay to have a little fun and not take everything so seriously. She was too intensely focused on the mission last season so I like how she is now slowly becoming more humanized and her flaws laid bare now that there is a sort of love interest, like she's too much of a workaholic and can be too cold with people. She's grown on me.

This show is flipping hilarious! But seriously, did it fall of everyone's radar or something? Last week's fashion show episode was gut busting and I loved the jab at cringy influencer culture. The only thing I don't care for is the random shoehorning in of Swiftie stuff (I take it the writers are big Taylor Swift fans).

Having finished the show - This ATLA definitely felt more "mature". It felt like there was a lot more at stake. And the whole burning alive thing was pretty brutal. You don't realize the logical implications of firebending in the cartoon. Yes, it was condensed. Pacing did feel a bit off in places. Seemed like there really needed to be another episode or two. What was missing: Aang actually learning waterbending and the teaching moments between Aang and Katara. The little moments of character development that made the characters in the cartoon so loveable, like the Sokka/Katara sibling banter. I guess it's easier when it's animated, harder to develop that chemistry with real actors. The exposition could've easily been cut down ~10% (scene with Gran Gran wasn't really necessary). Witty banter could've been upped ~10%. Fantastic set design. The world perfectly replicated Avatar, from the city of Omashu to the icy fortress of the Northern Water Tribe. They even threw in our beloved cabbage merchant! Surprisingly didn't feel overly CGI'ed either. Overall, it looked and felt like ATLA. Ken Leung blew it out of the water as Zhao! What phenomenal acting. Also really enjoyed Daniel Dae Kim as Ozai. Iroh and Zuko were good too. I liked how much more humanized this Zuko was. Interesting choice to have Aang talk to all the previous Avatars at their shrines. The Kyoshi stuff in episode 2 was awesome. Sokka had some good one-liners. I thought excluding his sexism from the OG show was a bit of a missed opportunity, because it was a major part of his character's development. That said, I liked the backstory about his failed ice dodging trip and Hakoda and Bato not thinking he was up to snuff as a warrior. It was a great way of revealing his insecurity and forecasting growth. Katara didn't start off super strong, but she got better and better with every episode. Definitely felt like a flushed out Katara by the end of episode 8. It thought they did a good balance of incorporating things from the OG show without making it into a 1:1 adaptation. I can definitely see it being pretty divisive among the fanbase, with people either loving it or hating it. I think the creators do have a genuine love for Avatar, and it showed. I think they'll hopefully take some of the constructive criticism to heart going into season 2 and it'll be a little tighter. There's a ton of potential here. It's far from perfect, but I liked it and look forward to the next installment.

No thoughts yet? The trailer already looks way better than M. Night Shyamalan's monstrosity. I hope I'm right. Looks like a lot of rehashing of the show - there's Kyoshi island, Omashu, the Firelord's palace, and other familiar places from the Avatar world. There's so many routes they could, I just hope the dialogue holds up because ATLA is one of my favorite shows of all time and live action remakes are generally either hit or miss. Avatar had stellar writing thanks to Aaron Ehasz and a perfect mix of humor, warmth, and action. Aesthetically I'm pleased so far (CGI Momo and Appa notwithstanding). But there's not a lot you can gauge from a teaser trailer. The royal family casting is on point and Katara and Sokka's casting is so-so, Katara mainly looks really young to me. I'm excited for this!

She's desperate to stay relevant and grab another 2 minutes of fame because oh gee, her life has gotten so tough now that she work like the rest of us commoners. Of course the only way she can think to do that is by smearing the son she intentionally threw away for years, now that she's been painted the villain by pretty much everyone (and saying deservedly so would be an understatement). Mady's statement is confusing. I don't think we'll ever know what went on behind closed doors, only that countless footage over the years shows the family ganging up on him or excluding him. Kate's dislike of the poor boy oozed through in every scene of them together (which was rare). Collin doesn't strike me as someone who would physically threaten anyone or who has bigoted beliefs, but Mady seems exactly like her mother - quick as ever to cut people out of her life, including her own family. But maybe I'm wrong. Collin, on the other hand, still says he's open to a relationship with his mother, even after the abuse and neglect. That speaks volumes to me.

She was on food stamps but it was implied some of her neighbors brought her over food as well (outside of what the Barnetts brought her). There was a clip showing her bridge/pantry packed with food, but I too wondered how well she could get around and reach for stuff. I'm honestly surprised the neighbors took her saying she was in her 20s at face value. Looking back at what she looked like then and what she looks like now, she's clearly developed a lot. She was very childlike in that clip where she was racing the little boy on the bike. If I were her neighbor I would definitely have called social services to investigate, no matter how old she claimed to be. Especially if she was entering people's houses unannounced (which by the way, did none of them ever lock their doors?) I felt sorry for him too. You could tell he was conflicted and didn't want to say anything that negatively implicated his parents but what happened really messed him up. He probably has PTSD from being forced to urinate on Natalia's bed. I hope he's seeing a therapist to talk some of it out. I also agree he fueled their narcissism. I think he's pretty self sufficient, he's at the University of Waterloo in Canada working on his PhD still.. I also don't think he lives with Michael in that basement full time, he was just there for the filming.

I finally finished the documentary and have a few thoughts. Natalia's "behavioral issues": I think it was obvious Natalia dealt with a lot of abuse as a child and perhaps had an attachment disorder. The inappropriate sexual comments and seeking attention in any man or boy she happened to be around reeked of someone who was sexually abused at a young age. She didn't just pick that up from nowhere. As for her terrorizing the Barnetts, we'll never know the extent to which they were lying. The only clips they showed were of her getting disciplined by Kristine (by the way, is it Christine or Kristine? I keep seeing it written both ways. I like Kristine better though.) The inappropriate behaviors in the apartments (sneaking into her neighbors places and eating their food), shows a little girl who didn't know how to care for herself and was deeply lonely. Putting her in an apartment by herself was a travesty. Even if they truly believed she was 22, that never should have been their first course of action with her disability and various other issues. I believe whatever issues she had were likely worsened by her time with Kristine and Michael, who seemed to be constantly interrogating her and did nothing to accommodate her. Michael: Boy was he a piece of work. The guy is so ridiculously performative. It was tough to sit through all the fake crying and theatrics. It was also disturbing to see the way he interrogated Natalia, the daughter he agreed to adopt and basically threw away to an apartment. I'm not sure I believe what he was saying about how Kristine beat Natalia. Something about that just seems too convenient to me. The electric fence: The electric fence stuff was ridiculous. I really wanted to hear Kristine in her own words justify a 3 foot tall, disabled child physically overpowering her and attempting to drag her into an electric fence (which we later learn wasn't even on). Everything points to Kristine being a drama queen and using the situation as justification for Natalia being "crazy" and a danger to the family and therefore justified in sending her away, when the evidence simply isn't there. Puberty: This confused me. Were the Barnetts lying the whole time about the periods, since Natalia and her new family claimed in the Dr. Phil interview in 2019 that she'd never had a period? Or did her condition give her precocious puberty from a really early age and she had "light" periods then but didn't consider them full-on periods? The period issue aside, Natalia did seem to have more adult teeth during the time she was with the Barnetts, which makes me think she was a little older than the age they were told she was. The birth certificate: So from the pictures of her missing teeth and the short clips of her, I never thought Natalia was 22 and born in 1989, but I don't fully believe she was born in September 2003 either. It's not uncommon for foreign orphanages to doctor birth certificates to make children younger than they really are, as they know younger kids "sell" better. I think Natalia was between 9-12 when she was adopted and living with the Barnetts, which would explain her teeth and periods (if she had them). Anna Gava (her biomom) however is still adamant she gave birth to her in 2003, but she could have also given birth to her in the late 90s and been paid off. English speaking abilities: This was the most bizarre part of the case to me. Natalia being a few years older and having spent more time in the US prior to the Barnetts adopting her would also explain why she spoke so well. I know kids pick up languages fast, but if Natalia spent the first few years of her life in the Ukraine, surely she'd have an accent still, right? Natalia seemed very Americanized and had virtually no connection the the Ukraine. Which made me think she'd been in the US for much longer than a year. Or she's just exceptional at picking up American English and getting rid of her accent. First family: There was very little about the first family that were mentioned in the Dr. Phil episode where they supposedly got rid of Natalia after an incident where she was accused of breaking the son's arm. I want to know what happened there. Natalia's new adoptive family: The family that "adopted" her and tried to get guardianship over her also sends my alarm bells ringing. I'm really surprised they didn't challenge her age status in court if they really believed she was underage (she's not now but still, I mean at the time) and go straight to social services and the police about a disabled child living by herself in appalling conditions. She seems happy and loved by them, but I also wonder if they're using her for the government benefits and fame. Apparently there's a part 2 that's just Natalia's story coming out later this summer. That should be interesting to watch.

I do hope some of the kids take her to court, if not now then a few years from now. I'd be pissed if a decade of my childhood was put on TV and I had nothing to show for it.

She claimed she was desperate and needed a way to pay for her living expenses. She may have brainwashed her other kids into believing they'd be on the streets if she didn't dip into their funds. I think they were supposed to get at least 15% when they turned 18, which may have not even been that much and Hannah and Collin got nothing and didn't know until they got access to their accounts last year. The whole "downsizing" thing also seemed overblown to me. Their house in NC is a cool $750K and comes with a nice lakefront with a private pier and a pool. It may not have the land/square footage of their PA house, but it's very nice for a single nurse's salary and still far nicer than what the average person could afford.

Hannah graduated last year but the other sextuplets are still graduating this spring. Not sure if they finished online or attended a local school. I think the money's most certainly run out, hence why so many of the sextuplets are working part time. Even Mady's mentioned she had to take out a loan for college. Supposedly they had trust funds, but they're only supposed to get a certain percentage each year before age 30 and Kate drained Colin and Hannah's for $100,000 so I'm sure she touched the others too. I too am curious where they'll go to college and whether being away from Kate's clutches will make a difference. It certainly doesn't seem to have made a difference whatsoever with Mady and Cara. I know Leah's into baking, Alexis wants to become a zoologist (no surprise there), Colin planned to join the military this spring, Hannah's studying business at the University of Miami (not sure what happened with her beauty line or if she's still promoting it), and I think Aaden and Joel are pretty private so idk what they're doing. I peek in on Mady's tiktoks every now and then. Hannah has reconnected but Colin is still very much estranged from all siblings other than Hannah. Mady has no interest in reconnecting with him and snipes at anyone who brings it up or anything else she deems "not your business" but she's certainly quick to respond to comments and engage with people on social media.

I loved Kathy Bates as the grandmother and Rachel McAdams as the mom in this! I also felt the millennial director did a really good job depicting the general grunginess of the 70s - I wasn't a 70s kid but the ugly décor and colors all felt very familiar with everything I've seen of that era. No doubt Judy Blume had a decent role in the film as well. The book will of course remain timeless for tweens but I think the movie is a great addition to a digitized world.

Poor Nate, he's conflicted again. At least he's found some happiness. That was sweet of Beard to give Henry advice. He's been very side-kicky yet loveable throughout this show and that was nice to see. How old is Henry supposed to be? The actor looks like he's 10 or 11 but presents as much younger, like he's playing a 7 or 8 year old. Anyway, probably irrelevant. Poor Ted - he's not over his ex. Jack and Keeley - didn't think her and Jack would work out. I wonder if she's going to get back together with Roy. I think he's the only one who really "gets" her. So now that Isaac knows Colin's secret, I guess there will be some tension between them next episode? Hard to say how the finale will turn out.