KittyQ

Sad for Nina that she's finally realized her marriage is over, although it was always more of a fantasy than a reality. Maybe she can move on, now. On a more pecuniary note, I would have kept those rings, unless Sonny asked for them back. Put them in a safe or someplace out of sight, then have them reset.

Yes! I reread the book not long ago and the romance between them was much more emphasized than what was seen in this version. In addition to Blackthorn's attraction to Mariko, he learned a great deal from her about Japanese culture and language. It is clearer in the book, and in my recollection, the original miniseries that Blackthorn adopts more Japanese ways, to the point that he no longer wanted to associate with his shipmates and started to see them as barbarians. While Richard Chamberlain was the most well-known actor and a big draw for the series, his character is only nominally the primary one, because Toranaga is the person who is driving the plot (in both senses of the word).

I wonder if the idea is that Sonny (for a change) is going to "lose" everything he values. For years, he's skated by because he's been mostly careful not to do anything too visibly criminal and does good deeds now and then. It is a nice change to hear Laura and Anna admit that these things aren't enough to ignore that Sonny is a criminal who has been free to operate without much obstruction.

Whoopi asks the guest what would have happened if Obama had behaved like Trump, and the author (and panel) notes that he would never had survived as president. I think this is true, but to be fair, I can't imagine any other president who would have been able to behave that way (publicly, at least, because we now know that a number of them had big personal failings) and get away with it.

Exactly. Kind of a flat learning curve. You'd think that she might make better use of her gossip columnist - implying that Carly and John were involved rather than making a flat statement that would be easily denied.

I'm sure Carly would have replaced the ice maker herself! Seriously, doesn't the Metro Court have regular staff, maintenance, managers and assistant managers? Wouldn't a complaint be routed to one of them for correction? If the food was left outside the room (was the DND sign on?) the people to call are the Room Service organization, which should be on speed dial for the room phone. (Personal experience: I recently stayed somewhere where power to part of the room went out, and we called the front desk to report it. Shortly, a maintenance person showed up to reset what seemed to be a fuse. We didn't talk to the owner.)

I am enjoying this series, but still have trouble seeing the attraction between Anjin and Mariko, at least on screen. Perhaps it is the actor playing Blackthorne, who doesn't convey the "wheels within wheels" theme of the story as it relates to everything, from the power struggle between the regents and Toranaga, the machinations of the Portuguese and Jesuits, the shifting loyalties of the vassals, as well as the love affair between Anjin and Mariko. As far as Toranaga's plans, he keeps everything very close to his vest, which given the various betrayals and intrigues is smart, but sometimes keeping people out of the loop can lead to conflicting and mistaken actions,

It is so annoying when Whoopi decides to get involved when a guest is trying to explain the premise of their book. The main problem is that she doesn't add anything to the topic and in some cases seems to be trying to refute the author's points. Other than that, I thought that the author today made some good points about the importance of being "on the team" at work. I have to admit that there were times when I was working that I didn't take advantage of the "after work" opportunities to network and lost out on the chance of solidifying work relationships.

It does seem as though celebrities expect to have more influence on voters than the average person. Perhaps because audiences have a tendency to conflate their actual personalities with the parts they play - if an actor always portrays smart, articulate people who are right most of the time, then if that actor makes a statement about some political or social thing there's an unconscious response to that that indicates it is the "right" thing. The actor may be a total doofus IRL, with skeevy personal morals and no education, but unless that is all publicized, people will perceive them as the kind of character they play. I think that is why we are shocked when an actor's real personality leaks out and it is a contradiction to their persona (like Mel Gibson for example). I think that many political campaigns specifically seek public endorsements by celebrities for this reason. Why would you listen to some random citizen if a well-known person is available, even if that ordinary person is more informed?

Interesting - in this case, the lyricist and composer of the original are both Dolly Parton, but in a case where the music and lyrics were created by different people? Would the lyricist be out of luck? Sorry if this is going afield of the topic, but your comment made me wonder.

Re: "Jolene" - Can you call a song a "cover" if you change significant parts of the lyrics? I haven't heard the album, but the discussion implied that lyrics of other songs might have been altered as well. Is that the case? I would think that Beyonce asked Dolly for her blessing before changing lyrics (and the point) of "Jolene". I think that would be the polite thing to do, but if she didn't and Dolly (or any other original songwriter) objected, what could be done? Is there legal recourse? It isn't exactly plagiarism, though, is it? Also, if a songwriter didn't like the changes and said so, I can imagine there might be some backlash against them, considering how popular Beyonce is.

I was watching an episode of Law and Order where the defendant did something unexpected in the middle of the trial that could have unknown consequences for the case, and guess what the prosecutors did - they talked with the DA and speculated on what might happen and then said (paraphrasing) "Well, we will find out what the judge does in the morning". No one yelled, cursed, or suggested that they try to "get something on" the defense attorney, the judge, or anyone else, and most importantly, they didn't rush out in the middle of the night on some half-baked quest to change things. Back in Suits-world, Rachel finally told Mike that if he kept giving his word to people and going back on it, his word wouldn't be worth anything, which is what most people would think. Most recently in the last episode I watched, Louis behaved more or less like a grownup, which is a nice change of pace, and I hope it lasts.

They really should have let him explain his ideas without interrupting him and trying to "correct" him. That was rude. If you want to give more than lip service to the concept of free speech, you should allow people to speak, even if you think they are wrong. Maybe Sunny was completely conversant with the text of his book since she read it twice, but it is unlikely that the majority of the audience knew anything about it, and that was the point of having him come on the show.

Haha! We are just watching now to snark at it. So much of each plot is predictable and everyone starts every conversation at level 10, with every issue one of life and death. Every time someone (usually a client) tells Mike off now, I'm rooting for them, because he really does have a god complex - he always knows what's best for someone. We just watched an episode where Mike promised (aka "gave his word") that he wouldn't work on the prison class action suit, and my husband thought that was it, but I told him that Mike was sure to show up in court in the morning anyway, and guess what? He did. Too bad I didn't bet money on that. 💵

Well - Colman Hughes interview - you'd think that <fill in the blank with whatever person Sunny really dislikes> was sitting in that seat. She kept going on tangents to the point where she was interpreting what other authors meant in their books in order to contradict the author's points. Clearly, Sunny disagrees with his POV, but that doesn't mean no one else gets to hear them and decide for themselves. I also thought that the panel's (was it Whoopi or someone else?) suggestion that his age disqualifies his ideas was silly as they often generously praise other young people's ideas. The difference is that they tend to agree with those other people. The age of the author shouldn't really matter. Agree or disagree, he's as entitled to his opinion as anyone else.