Lady Whistleup

I wish they had other photos up besides those oatmeal field grass photos. Those look so contrived and no one looks good. Do they not have any cute family photos?

Jessa and Ben both suck. Both such joyless, sulky people.

Remember the time she said Derick was coming home early and she had these dancing banana emojis?

Kyrie comes back tomorrow from his seven game suspension. He's making the apology tours. Also, Giannis showed a not-so-shining moment last night. After a very rough game in which he went 4-15 from the line, he took his frustration post-game on a ladder:

I saw Some Like it Hot (still in previews). I wrote a review on my personal blog: https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2022/11/some-like-it-corny.html

My guess is that Jill couldn't cope being home alone with the newborn baby and a new town, so she kept the boys at home with her. That, plus she's getting money to shill homeschooling products. It totally sucks because Izzy and Sam deserve so much better. Both seem like bright, inquisitive kids.

It really breaks my heart if Izzy was pulled from school. He seems like such a bright boy. He would have flourished.

It seems as if Jill and Joy (and Carlin) are all getting money to shill popular homeschooling products. Money talks.

The thing is this ... divorce and remarriage are visible. Adultery is usually hidden in the bedroom, unless one of the parties speaks out about it. For this reason, in any deeply religious community, you'll find a lot of adultery but very few divorces. In real life, Elizabeth made a lot of arrangements for Margaret to be happy with Peter. I wish the Crown had shown that because the show made her seem like a shitty sister, when in real life it was actually the opposite. Elizabeth and Margaret were very close.

I agree the lack of Harry is weird, but it's a very Peter Morgan thing to do -- he only writes about people who capture his imagination. If you watched the Crown you'd barely be aware of the existence of Prince Edward, for example.

I too found this season underwhelming. I think because it focused so much on the soap opera/trainwreck of Charles and Diana. The Crown has always been great at weaving the story of the Royals with the current events of the time. Like last season I might have found Margaret Thatcher insufferable, but they did capture the essence of Thatcherism. I also really liked the episode which ended with the Queen giving her first garden party. But this season, there was almost none of that. We instead got John Major, who apparently had no duties as PM and could just play divorce lawyer for Chuck and Di. I've mentioned that I found Dominic West really off as Charles. I also found Imelda Staunton strangely bland as QE. Claire Foy and Olivia Colman were better at showing the emotion behind the stoic demeanor.

I was so irritated by Charles' convo with John Major. It simply rung very false. Would PM Major have the time to counsel Charles about the divorce settlement? I really don't think so. This is more like Peter Morgan fanfic than an organic drama. The show makes it seem like John Major was almost a divorce lawyer.

I felt horrible for William. You could tell that when she told William about the new "special friend" that he had already been down this path many times before. I also enjoyed William helping his granny get a satellite TV. It was the nice human touch that this season has actually lacked. I also liked the conversation between Diana and Elizabeth. The Crown is good at doing this sort of thing -- I could see Elizabeth's point, but I could also see Diana's. I also think this was the first time I could see why Imelda Staunton's casting "worked" -- Staunton's steeliness and toughness were perfect for that monologue she gave to Diana. Otherwise, this episode was rather boring. I didn't care about the suits debating the Bashir interview.

I think it's also this season's writing for the Queen. It's been ... not good. The other seasons had moments where the Queen showed her humor and joy. This season's Queen has been as miserable as Charles and Diana's marriage.

Jill is shilling the disappearing ink notebooks again.

C diff is an awful intestinal infection. I got it last summer. Had a 105 degree fever, truly frightening diarrhea (like going 20 times an hour), needed to be in the hospital for three days with an IV. Truly awful stuff. I could not picture anyone taking a picture of me in that condition. Luckily my mom isn't psycho. What gets me is that Jessa isn't taking pictures of Spurge to "share experiences with her followers." I could sort of get that, although it's gross, bc I get that sometimes social media influencers feel as if they have to share personal experiences. She's doing it to PLUG A SHITTY CHRISTIAN HEALTH-COST SHARING NETWORK.

By the end of her marriage Diana was complaining to anyone who would listen, including reporters and paparazzi. It was a vicious cycle as the more she complained, the more leaks happened and then that was another round of complaints.

Nothing changed. In real life, in the 1950's Elizabeth already made an arrangement so Margaret could marry Peter, keep her titles, inherit a castle, and receive a generous allowance. But Margaret lost interest in Peter by the time Elizabeth had finalized the arrangements. The real life Elizabeth remained fiercely protective of Margaret her entire life. While the show does demonstrate their closeness as sisters, they don't really show how protective Elizabeth was of Margaret.

I really felt for William this episode. It couldn't have been easy being all of 13 and having a mother that dependent on you. I'm glad they had William signing the book with his left hand. William is in fact a lefty. Little detail they got right. I also enjoyed the talk William had with his granny. QE like many people seems to have found being a granny easier than being a mother. I also really like the juxtaposition of how sweet and natural Diana is with hospital patients with how troubled and neurotic she is in her private life. Martin Bashir -- good lord, what scum.

I'm actually team Philip here. We've seen nothing inappropriate with the relationship between Philip and Penny. Furthermore, when two people have been married for 47 years, it's exceedingly naive and even selfish to believe that a spouse will be the EVERYTHING for that one person. People are allowed to have different friends, different interests, as long as no boundaries are crossed and people behave appropriately. Otherwise, I thought this episode was mostly wonderful. I feel like the episode captured just how curious people were about "D.N.A" as the Queen pronounces it. I liked Imelda Staunton having more to do. I feel like this season QE is almost a supporting character. I did think it was nice she invited Penny to Sandringham. This is the sort of grace and practicality that Charles and Diana could have used in their marriage. The stuff with the Romanovs was hard to watch. Those poor children.

I think this season Peter Morgan wants to peel back Diana's saintly public image and show more of her calculation and manipulation. And honestly, it's a valid take. Many people in Diana's life eventually became disenchanted with her when they ran first hand into her volatility and neediness, and saw that the saintly public rep masked an extremely difficult person.

I think the Queen also considered a day at the races more of a friends/family time. She doesn’t feel like she’s on the clock at those events. She resented having to sit with some rich dude who wanted to get close to royalty.

This is a good fact check of the episode: https://time.com/6226938/the-crown-mohamed-al-fayed-dodi/

I think the major gap in understanding by Diana's time was how marriage works. The older generation (like Philip and Elizabeth) just believed in 'making it work'. If you couldn't stand each other, sucks to be you. By the 1970's and 80s we had more women saying enough is enough. You can see that with Anne -- Anne is not a rebel, but when her marriage is failing she also doesn't feel obligated to stay. Philip's "grin and bear it" talk was probably meant well, but it was out of touch.

There are more photos from different occasions. Again, I don't think these two were friends in any sense of the word, but it does seem like they had a cordial enough relationship.