proserpina65

My prediction is that Arsenal will stupidly fail to win their group but will advance, only to draw Barca or Bayern in the next round and go home in ignominious defeat yet again. <sigh>

HBO releases the most recent season of all their shows about a month before the next season of the show in question premieres. It's about getting potential subscribers excited enough to get HBO for the new season.

NBC Sports had matches online last season. They'll probably do that again for the upcoming season.

Lucky dog! It's not part of mine so I have to depend on the few matches shown on regular NBC and a friend who does get NBCSports for my Arsenal fix. (It's only fair - when I had FoxSoccer, I used to tape Chelski matches for her.) I'm hoping this coming season that NBC will use more of their channels for EPL matches; there's nothing on MSNBC and CNBC on Saturdays that isn't worth not bumping for football.

That we saw. For all we know, Ghost might've taken out a dozen, but the production budget being what it was, we only got to see him kill the one wildling. Just like we only got one mammoth - those things are bloody expensive. I think if the giant had made it past Grenn Team Six (love that btw), he'd have already been rampaging in the courtyard, long before the battle ended.

I had no idea that Malta was a former British possession. I just guessed it at random. Pure fluke that I got it right.

I see comments like this but you have to realize that the show isn't catering to just a certain subset of viewers. They have to cover a wide swathe of storylines, and really, what's happening at the Wall (and what will happen if it isn't held) renders everything else kind of pointless in the end. And no way could they have covered the battle for the Wall in 15 minutes; that would've made it all look silly.

Actually it's 100,000 wildlings.

It looked like the scythe would only work once the climbers got up to a certain height, so they had to wait to use it. And I suspect, based on Grenn's comment to Ser Alliser that he'd just brought up the last barrel of oil, that they had a limited supply, and therefore it made sense to wait until the mammoth and its accompanying crew were close enough to get hit by the oil before dropping it; it did seem like they could've done that a few minutes earlier, but it would've been wasting precious resources to do it too early. Nope, you're not the only one. I was glad he told the bear story, but I wanted to hear the rest of it.

The bulimia clue didn't strike me as particularly insensitive, but then again, I don't know anyone with an eating disorder; if I did (or had one myself), I'd probably feel differently. And I found Alex's Hamlet clue voices a bit amusing. Never occurred to me that the voice he used gave away the gender of the character; guess I was just more focused on reading the clue myself to notice. I can't even remember what the FJ was, so we'll just say "Of course I got it. It was so easy." and leave it at that.

I loved that category, mostly because it referenced Arsenal in a clue. Although given their results against Villa over the last few seasons, I'm not sure they'd be considered the favourite. So was I. It was right there in the photo, but I guess if you didn't know that R&H had written a musical named "Carousel", that might not have helped. I rather annoyed at myself for biffing the FJ - for some reason I keep forgetting that Penn is an Ivy League school, and I even have a friend who did her Masters there.

I believe the clue said that it was a 13th century painting of the murder of this 12th century person. I could be wrong, however. I did know it was Thomas a Becket right away, though. I totally blanked on the Kyoto Accords - for some reason my brain was heading for Iceland, even though I knew very well that was wrong. And I couldn't come up with 'Irving' for FJ to save my life. I knew the film/book title, knew Michael Caine was in the movie, knew the author's first name was John and that he'd also written "The World According to Garp" and "Hotel New Hampshire" (although I don't know if he wrote the screenplays for the films), and knew it wasn't John Steinbeck, John Grisham or John Updike, but the correct name just wouldn't worm its way out of my brain in time. I'm sorry to see Julia go, but I did like Brian and hope he stays awhile. Just not more than 19 games. I read a recent piece by Salon's tv critic advocating for the reinstatement of the 5-game winner limit because viewers don't get enough of a sense of contestants' personalities to stay interested in long winning streaks. Funny how he feels this way during Julia's 20 game streak, but thought people who got tired of Arthur Chu during his streak were just haters.

Five was the first Doctor of whom I saw an entire episode (thanks to the randomness of MPT scheduling, I'd seen a bit of Three and Six), and the moment I saw Peter Davison in his cricket whites, that was all she wrote. And I really liked the interaction between Five, Teegan and Turlough; what can I say, I liked the combination of sweet with prickly. But as for favorite companion of all time, for me that's always been Jamie - the kilt, the legs, the combination of quick to act and not so brainy, the humor, it all just works so perfectly for me.

True, but it is the difference between taking home $1000 and $2000. I'd rather watch everyone play all out, but I don't blame someone who figures they have no realistic chance of winning for betting small with the aim of ending up second rather than third. And I say that as someone who did go through the process and got on the show, but bet too much on the FJ and came in last when I could've been safe and finished second. I do get that it's not as exciting or interesting to watch, but that late in the match, I can understand why someone would do that.

This. If Derek had actually discussed the possibility of the job with NIH and a move to DC with Meredith ahead of time, rather than just announcing that it was happening and oh, by the way, I found a job for you too, that would've been different. She might've agreed to the move and gone about finding herself a place at a great hospital where should wouldn't be known as the great Derek Shepherd's wife or Ellis Grey's daughter. But that isn't what happened - once again, he did what he wanted for his career and her career was an afterthought. (And I can't believe I'm actually defending Meredith after what she did to the Alzheimer's study.)

Sandra Oh and Justin Chambers, and with Sandra gone, I'm pretty sure Justin won't be enough to keep me around. But it has been a wild and mostly fun ride. Overall this was a good send-off for Cristina. Loved the interaction with Alex, and the last dance party with Meredith, and am so, so glad she made Mere see the light about Derek and how he views her career as much less important than his. Could've done with more resolution to the heart family story, and Dr. Lovechild (ty to whoever thought that one up) just made me roll my eyes, but in the end, it was a fitting goodbye to the best character on this show, and one of the best tv characters ever.

It took me most of the episode to figure it out. And you could've knocked me down with a feather when I saw the credits and realized her husband was Renly Baratheon from Game of Thrones. I also don't understand Father Hotness's obsession with Trixie. I think she's cute (even though I hate the haircut) but she seems to be too vapid for him. More importantly, she's made it pretty clear that she's not the religious type, doesn't believe in the Bible, so I'm wondering what kind of relationship does he think they'll have, long term? But I guess it worked out in real like because they got married. I must be thick as a brick, since I didn't get the Patsy thing at all. And while I agree with you about Trixie and Father Hotness (boy, was she a bitch to him about the dance or what?), I actually think the haircut is very cute on her.

I think you're absolutely right. It distinctly sounded like he wasn't at the right mic, even though he was, and yes, if it had been anyone but Alex, the judges would've pointed out the problem and made sure viewers knew it wasn't the singer's fault.

I'll confess to having a massive Jeopardy crush on Brad Rutter, so I was thrilled to see him win his semi, but I really wanted Chuck Forrest to make the final. I don't hate Ken Jennings (at least, not as much as I used to), but Chuck is one of my very favorite players ever, up there with Brad and Frank Spangenberg. Still hoping Pam Mueller will be the last finalist, but I fully expect it to be either annoying Colby or deathly dull, personality-less Roger; I guess I'd prefer Colby but jeez . . .

Because I'm at work and can't be bothered to write a whole new post for this show anymore: Boy, they really want JENA$#%@+&"! and Caleb (does this go to 11!!!) in the final, don't they? How much do I hope one of them goes home this week? (If you guessed 11!!!!, you're right.) My judgment of the performances, from best to worst: Jessica - You and I - who knew Lady Gaga could sound so great as country? Jess sounded wonderful, and she really sold the emotion in her face and eyes, not just her voice this time. She shoulda been singing to whoever the guy was all along. Alex - Yellow - That was glorious. He tweaked it just enough without destroying the integrity of the song, and sounded terrific in the process. Alex - Too Close - He actually reworked this one quite a bit, Keith, and made it his. I'm not a big fan of the original song, but Alex's performance made me like it a lot more than I did. Caleb - Maybe I'm Amazed - Hey, he can sing softly! At least at the beginning before he started yelling at me again, but there was some actual emotion to back up the volume this time. Jessica - Since You've Been Gone - It wasn't the best song for her, but she did sound quite good on it, and didn't get as yelly as most people do on the chorus. Alex - I'm Yours - Yes, he didn't do a lot different to it, but really, Alex not deconstructing a song is something of a change for him. Not his best performance, but his voice sounded strong and lovely on it. Caleb - You Give Love A Bad Name - Okay, it was bar band frontman stuff all the way, but pretty good for what it was. Not a patch on Blake's total overhaul of that song, though. JENA?!*} - I Can't Help Falling In Love With You - Parts of this I really, really liked (the verses, the first chorus) and parts of it sounded loungy (the bridge, the final repeat of the chorus), so I'm torn about where to rank it, but I guess the parts I liked win out. Still with the weird vocal affectations, though. JENA#%@&"() - Heartbreaker - She didn't change it up much (if at all) and her stage movement didn't suit the song, but vocally it was okay if not great. Caleb - Oh man, I can't even remember what his second song was; I guess that says all I need to say about it. He owns the stage, and I'd probably go see the bar band he was born to front, but I don't see where he'd fit in the current musical scene at all. Jessica - So What - Yeah, this song sucks even when Pink does it. It's not a song, just a bunch of shouting. Her pitch was good, and her voice sounded fine, but this isn't the song to choose for a singing competition. JENA!!! - Bad Romance - That flat out stank. Changing the key (or whatever she did that fucked up the melody) was a huge mistake. And gee, Harry, how about that 17 year old singing about leather studded kisses in the sand? So basically, I loved Alex and Jessica, and liked Caleb. JENA<!></> can take her weird vocal affectations and sense of entitlement right the hell out the door as far as I'm concerned; I can't believe I was happy that she got one of the wild card spots. But unfortunately it'll probably be Jessica leaving tomorrow night.

I'm pretty sure it was the other female backup singer, the blonde one. Count me amongst those who thought Alex was the best of the night, followed by Jessica. And JENA!#$^*&@% can take herself the hell home as far as I'm concerned; she sounded like absolute crap on My Body, and her personality bugs to no end.

Exactly. There's so much else in a lot of the storylines that could've been fleshed out, and they choose this? I don't mind some deviation, but rewriting this much is really starting to piss me off. (Pardon the appearance - I'm having issues with the quote function right now.)

That's just about the only part of the Wall/Beyond the Wall section I liked - that, and Grenn and Edd standing up to join Jon's suicide mission. The rest of that storyline has been screwed up beyond recognition most of the time, and I just can't with it at all.

The name of the song is "Every Breath You Take". Regardless of how one feels about Alex's version, getting song titles correct is a pet peeve of mine.

I apologize for just repeating my TWOP, but I'm at work, so I have to do this quick. This week's duets were forgettable. And in the case of The Girl Is Mine, milquetoast (which suits that lame song just perfectly in my opinion). So let's just pretend they never happened. Although Jessica and Dexter did sound good on theirs. Can we keep David Cook as a mentor and get rid of Randy? David gave the contestants such good advice (even if they didn't always take it) and we actually saw him working with them as both a musician and a performer. Randy is, well, Randy. Jena - I could barely hear her over the band, and what I heard was okay but nothing special. Malaya - See Jena's review above. Plus, she's no Chaka Khan. This performance puts her back into the "eh" category for me. Dexter - I liked this quite a bit. He has a good voice and never sounds bad, but this upped his performance level. Still needs to work on the enunciation a lot. Jessica - Vocally, this was very good, but she still really needs to loosen up on stage. A lot. Sam - He sounded terrific, and I think there was more genuine emotional connection, but he's still somewhat robotic. He just seems so young. Harry's advice about watching videos of Ricky Nelson's performances was spot on. CJ - Well, he sounded good-ish on the chorus, but that started off-key as usual. I like what I've seen of CJ's personality, and I get what the judges are saying when they talk about his tone, but he really needs some serious professional training if he wants to make music his career. Alex - I suspect this will be a polarizing performance for a lot of people. I get what JLo was saying about being put off by the arrangment, and I kinda was at first, but then the intimacy and sheer brilliance of Alex's performance pulled me in. For me, this was by far the best of the night, and part of the reason he's my pick to win this thing. I really like the coffee house/indie vibe, and he doesn't have to change that up for me. Caleb - It was good to see Caleb go quieter and subtler for once. It might not have been quite as on point vocally as usual, but it felt more emotionally connected and more genuine and less karaoke-y. And when he took it up several notches at the end of the song, it felt liked he'd actually earned that for a change. My top 3: Alex, Caleb and Jessica My bottom 3: CJ, Malaya, Jena Real bottom 3: CJ, Malaya, Dexter (or maybe Sam) Should go home: CJ, although I personally would rather get rid of Malaya Will go home: I think it'll be Malaya or Sam (if he's in the bottom 3) - they've both been in the bottom 3 several times