amarante

It's not friendship - it's strategist alliances in terms of screen time and supporting each other's planned storylines and not outing anything embarrassing.

She also completely inflated Sutton's innocent whispered aside as somehow being Sutton screaming that she was going to engage in hysterical behavior at the show. I thought the use of the term "melt down" was just descriptive of how she would be upset if she had to do with seeing the guy. Lots of people would rather not be faced with people in social situations and might voice that they are "nervous" but that doesn't mean they do anything overt as opposed to just being uncomfortable. It was the most ridiculous inflation of an innocent remark said in passing to some kind of threat to hijack the event.

I could discount the old guy remembering that the vet had eaten steak on a specific night many years prior to his testimony. That kind of testimony is notoriously unreliable. However, per my original post, I think he was guilty but I don't think is was proven beyond a reasonable doubt - he was legally not guilty but he wasn't innocent.

The stalking boyfriend murdered the vet logically. However, if I were on the jury I would have acquitted, albeit reluctantly, since the standard of proof was beyond a reasonable doubt. I actually didn't think the lack of steak was dispositive since I think it likely that a guy would have made a late easy meal of eggs. However, the prosecution (at least from what was aired) failed to provide a reasonable explanation for the lack of dog feces. That would have been dispositive for me unless some kind of egress from the trailer was shown.

I think she was heavily Botoxed because her forehead didn't move. The overly arched eyebrows are a telltale sign of a bad Botox job. There has got to be some unspoken reason for why they chose to live inland for starters. I am not a beach person but if I were moving to a tropical location, the only reason I could think of would be because I wanted to live in a beach town.

A lot of forms ask demographics and have Hispanic as one of the choices. I was wondering how Mauricio self identifies since he doesn’t appear to identify culturally versus having minimal identification with Judaism. Not that the Umansku family practices Judaism but as I recall Kyle converted just as Elizabeth Taylor did. 😂 It was just an idle though since a poster said he was a representative of the Brown Community and I have never thought of him in that way.

The Hadid sisters at least had the physical attributes of being a model - or at least Gigi did and Bella was able to after extensive plastic surgery :-). They were lucky to be in a time when celebrity models were a viable business model because of the whole intersection of social media/influencers and the fashion world. Just like Kendall Jenner in terms of combining passable/ordinary model physical requirements with their status as influencers. They wouldn't have succeeded to the extent they did if they entered the modeling world at a different time. The Hamlin girls aren't model material and probably aren't acting material either. They are more like the Bruce Willis/Demi Moore spawn who exist on the fringes of the entertainment business solely because of their parents. Luckily they have no need to earn money. The Hamlin spawn probably aren't going to inherit as much as the Willis kids although by "ordinary" standards they are obviously going to be quite well off living off their parents money.

It could have been the listing for the original owner before it was sold. California property taxes are about 1.5% of assessed value which in California is the purchase price. However because of Proposition 13 property taxes can't be raised so you have people who have been living in their homes for a long time and have low property tax since they are paying on the original purchase price. Originally it was intended to help homeowners from being forced out of their home when their relatively modest homes became more and more valuable. It's a mixed "blessing" because it does protect people from being priced out of their homes, it also prevents government - especially city government - from being able to fund properly. Also while I think it's great for home owners to be protected, it is also in effect for commercial property and I don't think that a commercial owner needs the same kind of protection from increased property values as a homeowner does because it's not the same - elderly homeowner with limited income should be able to stay in their home - owner of office building should be assessed at current property value.

Any apartment in NYC with a fire escape has bars on the windows for the fire escape. They have to have easy access to open so you can't have one that uses a key but they can't be opened easily from the outside. Never under-estimate the ingenuity of a cat burglar. My friends lived in a walk up on St. Marks Place in Manhattan and a guy attempted to enter through a window by lowering himself from the roof.

Add in the dim real estate broker when she and the HH both called the sink in the first home a farmhouse sink when it was just a standard under-mount sink. Add a bonus for when the shower floor color was criticized in one of the homes and she said it was an easy fix. No idiot - if you remove tiles from a walk in shower you have to rebuild and waterproof the ENTIRE shower because the waterproofing is seamless from walls to shower pan. And a tiled walk in shower is one of the most costly things to construct because of the expert labor needed to do it properly. Ballpark of $10,000 minimum in Los Angeles using builder grade tiles and materials. Showers have to be inspected three times to pass inspection here. Of course there are also the standard idiots who tell HH that painting kitchen cabinets is an easy and cheap fix. It isn't when done properly because you can't paint over the doors. They have to be cleaned and primed and sanded and then painted in a dust free environment. Not only will they look like crap if just painted like a wall but the paint will start chipping quickly which is why it's a cheap flipping fix when you don't care what the cabinets will look like in 3 years. :-).

My jaw dropped at the willingness to go on television and officially state their very low expectations for the girl. The absolute horror that college requires one to actually go to classes and write papers and take tests which takes time. Actors are essentially rich trailer trash and not particularly bright. There are of course exceptions like Meryl Streep and others who studied acting seriously versus those like Rinna and even Hamlin who were the best looking people in their podunk towns and came to Hollywood to become rich and famous - e.g. "acting" was not their ambition per se. And the absolute idiocy of even claiming that learning the actual business of fashion in a place like Parsons is equivalent to having a store or third rate clothing line agree to allow a kid's name to be used in exchange for the promotional consideration of appearing on a television show is ridiculous. The devaluation of any kind of expertise in any field is something I feel is exacerbating our current crisis - but I will say no more on THAT subject.

I think he wasn't sure what the "script" was. The whole idea of "investing" in a Buca di Beppo restaurant is ludicrous. If the restaurant is established, he doesn't need an investor. And decorating a Buca is equally ridiculous. As others have posted, the whole point of the Buca is that they are supposed to be completely kitschy and tasteless with a Frank Sinatra room and a Pope room. There is nothing to decorate since they all need to conform to the corporate look just as a McDonalds has a look and feel that needs to be complied with. I think he was uncomfortable because they were pressing him on Lisa and I suspect he remains a good friend with her and Ken. Why wouldn't he? Dorit especially seemed to want to get him on camera saying something derogatory about her restaurants and/or Lisa herself.

Technically speaking Mauricio is of European Jewish descent. His grandparents (or whoever) fled to Mexico instead of the US. I don't think of him as Latino but it would be interesting to know how he classifies himself on the census.

I have never spent a Nano second wondering. It is the loss of the lifestyle that is causing her to rage at the universe about life being unfair. Is this woman for real? And given her salary and other financial benefits from the show, I don’t understand her having economic issues. Obviously her expectations are high but she didn’t lose what she surely got on his death in bad investments like Sonja who was literally facing bankruptcy for awhile.

Don't you remember the season when that was Sonja's major story line. She even had a prototype box designed with a big photography shoot that Heather (I think it was Heather) assisted her with. And she also was shown cooking in her toaster oven and claiming that she was testing out recipes. She would talk about how she would bring her toaster oven to the yachts and cook for the people there although she didn't mention *John John* as being one of the people she fed 🙂 Also there was another storyline where Bethenny attempted to give her business advice and was pretty harsh about it. As I recall, this was NOT the season when Bethenny was pissed about the Tipsy Slut liquor but was regarding the toaster oven. Sonja's new line of clothing is terrible even by Real Housewife standards as it truly looks as though cheap clothing was randomly selected to be licensed. I thought Luanne's clothing line was pretty terrible but at least she attempted to justify each piece in her line as part of her style. Her necklace line was a great fit but the price point was too high - in my opinion - to work as items for fans to purchase. Dorinda's video greeting for sale is not unique. Other housewives including Bethenny sell video greetings through some kind of company that has a website. Bethenny's are the most expensive as she charges $299. Kameron from the Dallas franchise sells one but it is $75. There are also other D-list celebrities, sports figures etc that are on the website. I guess it might make a fun gift for someone who has everything and is a fan of a person. Back in the day when people had answering machines celebrities would do greetings for your machine for a certain amount.

When I saw the photos of Dorinda and Richard together I realized how much of a cliche trophy wife she was. While not as obviously so as Sonja, the restaurant greeter 🙂 who married a true alter kocker, the difference in age, class and intellectual prowess were still significant. Except for looks, Dorinda and John really are on the same level culturally and socially.

Living in Manhattan is expensive - a starter apartment can be $1 million and Dorinda does not live in a starter apartment. Sonja actually had a very good settlement as I recall. She got the townhouse free and clear plus about $10 million. She squandered it so she is essentially living on what she earns from the Housewives gig which includes revenue streams from social media which is also very lucrative. I think Luanne - except for whatever insanity went on with attempting to buy the $5 million house - is pretty smart financially. She made striking costume jewelry her signature versus expensive jewelry and - matters of taste - aside, she wear obviously designer clothing. Of course none of the NY women are gauche fashion plates like Erika and Dorit from BH but Dorinda wears much more obviously designer clothing than Luanne does - who knows if it is filched from Joh's dry cleaner. But Dorinda's clothes are much more expensive than the stuff Luanne typically wears.

Dorinda did quite well financially for a second "trophy" wife who was married only five years from 2006 to 2011. She got the Berkshire house outright - it was probably a present to her during the marriage. Based on how rich people handle their estates and second wives who are relatively short lived and who you didn't have children with, I would imagine she got enough to support herself nicely but not enough to purchase and maintain a $10 million New York City residence. She might even have only income from a trust with the corpus going to his children on her death. Luanne was the mother of the Count's children and had been in a relatively long term albeit open marriage and she walked away with the house in the Hamptons and enough to live nicely but not lavishly.

So Sonja's new business venture consists of buying fugly cheap clothing from a wholesaler and slapping a label on it? She isn't even pretending to have any kind of design input or process the way Kyle is on the BH franchise. I saw a preview of a show called America's Worst Cooks (or something like it) and Sonja is a contestant. So I guess the toaster oven and toaster oven cookbook is permanently on hold. I remember her reminiscing about cooking for the cream of society on her yacht on her toaster oven back in the early seasons.

Ramona seems to have successfully parented her daughter so she must have high emotional intelligence when it suits her or at least she and Mario were a successful team. Vicki from OC is loathsome and her kids turned out seemingly normal although they appear to have fled as soon as possible whereas Ramona and her daughter seem to have a good mother daughter bond. When compared to other franchises, the NY housewives seem to have been successful in raising their kids - they went to college and while there might have been a few youthful flings along the way, nothing that is completely out of the ordinary. There aren't any porn movies or arrests for attempted murder or complete failures to launch Dorinda is probably a size 6 in designer clothes. Literally designer size 6 is what used to be a size 12 or even 14 when my mother was young. One only has to compare the measurements of the pattern sizes. And the camera does add 10 pounds so I totally believe she is a size 6 but a size 12 in vintage clothing :-).

There is money to be made because advertising is for very specific target group. Who would be reading these blogs for the most part except those who are thinking about traveling. They would also get comped travel and leisure stuff in exchange for mentioning it in the blog. They don't need to make a huge amount of money but it seems to be an income stream even for those with relatively few followers. Of course the whole social media income has been wiped out by the pandemic and not just for the obvious like travel blogs.

Before Aaron went off into complete LaLa-Ville, I thought Denise was worried that if he made "claims" about healing the FTC or other regulatory bodies would come after him and therefore he should be quiet. I am an equal opportunity hater of all of crackpot stuff and people who visit mediums, have crystals inserted in their walls and believe in other idiocies should not roll their eyes at someone who believes in whatever incoherent crap Aaron was talking about. Does anyone else think that part of Aaron's treatments consist of "happy endings". Vibrators were originally used by medical doctors (quacks) in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to treat their "hysterical" female patients because it was easier than manually "treating" them if you get my drift 🙂

You are right - I had forgotten back when Tardy was supposed to be a duet with Kim and Nene sang and actually had a voice - unlike either Kim, Melissa Gorga or Luanne. However, for whatever reason Chicago has cast non-Broadway musical comedy people versus other shows which don't have stunt casting. I am not an expert but I suspect that the range of the songs and the dance moves can be adjusted although Erika can dance well enough. There's never been any kind of stunt casting that I am aware of for the Maria Van Trapp role in Sound of Music which really requires a strong singer. Rex Harrison couldn't sing and much of My Fair Lady's songs were specifically written in a range so that he could sort of "speak" rather than sing them.

Selling this small stuff is pretty desperate. None of the stuff bought new is expensive so what kind of market exists for picking up used small weights - unless she thinks her fan base wants to own a piece of her 🙂 The place is definitely closing down - or rather not opening because there is not enough profit to cover overhead by doing personal training at a small gym. It's simply not a viable business model. And the CBD business is so over-saturated with people peddling it, I can't imagine there is any kind of significant sales volume on that end. And the real estate market is going to be completely dead even when the worst of the pandemic is over. Even if one still has a job, there is going to be so much cutting back since the products sold by corporations have to be bought be people - and so many people are economically in terrible shape. Even the relatively wealthy are scared based on what is happening to the value of their investments. So much of the spending was fueled by people thinking their jobs were stable and their assets and home values were appreciating. House of cards 🙂

FWIW Chicago has traditionally used "stunt" casting for some of the roles. They cast "celebrities" rather than traditional musical comedy performers because it sells tickets. Erika is probably more talented than some of the stunt performers like Nene.