zxy556575

I loved Taraji's acting challenge. She had to work for that! It's good that Seth addressed some of the Carrier fallacies and exaggerations, but I haven't seen anyone drill down to basics and simply point out that Trump has no authority to give State tax breaks to anyone! Pence doesn't either, without legislative approval. According to Politico, the incentives are being given through "the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, a quasi-public entity that doesn't require legislative approval for its deals." Seth also didn't mention the problems with financial incentives, which even goofnut Sarah Palin slammed. Now, Seth isn't a pundit, fact-checker or party mouthpiece and only has a certain amount of time for the desk pieces. Neither do I expect him to adhere to journalistic ethics in humor segments. That said, if he's going to continue going after political targets, I wish some Closer Looks were more than surface skims.

If Netflix really "took money away" from the show's budget, it was probably after they watched the first dailies. Ba da bum! More seriously, the show got a shitload of buzzy press and only Netflix knows how many new accounts from people who wanted to watch. Netflix execs don't give a flip about what happens to the characters.

Finale spoilers: I doubt there will be another season but if so, I'd prefer more quick-witted flimflammery and less crime family violence. The sets, wardrobe, and exterior locations were all really well done.

I just now remembered that she was married to Fred Armisen. It was less than a year but I wonder if her religion had anything to do with their divorce. Maybe more details about Scientology's fees or something came out once they were married. I can't see Fred putting up that.

At least we got some backstory on Ben and Elena, although it made Ben seem even worse to me. He married a women he likely doesn't love, set up a man to be tortured (and watched it!), and put himself and his wife in severe jeopardy, all over a girl he briefly knew 20 years ago at a refugee camp. Come on. Theo's cage fighting is uncomfortable to watch, both because of (1) the violence and (2) the dangerous hole he's digging himself into with Terrance.

I'm halfway through and really enjoying this so far. The cast is good and the suspense keeps me clicking Next Episode. I thought the tone would be more on the flip/glib/snarky side but it's darkly realistic. Charlie and Linda keep digging themselves in deeper and deeper. Get the hell out of the business and L.A., guys! The "cool" therapist is annoying.

Those few years are today! Amazon has opened an unstaffed store in Seattle. From USA Today: "Amazon is testing a grocery store in downtown Seattle that lets customers walk in, grab food from the shelves and walk out again, without ever having to stand in a checkout line. Customers tap their cellphones on a turnstile as they walk into the store, which logs them into the store's network and connects to their Amazon account through an app. The service is called Amazon Go. It uses machine learning, sensors and artificial intelligence to track items customers pick up. These are then added to the virtual cart on their app. If they pick up an item they later decide they don't want, putting it back on the shelf removes it from their cart."

A person on another discussion board always mentions that she volunteers at a homeless shelter but is full of rancor towards people who use those services: "They don't care, they're drunks, never ever give them any money because they'll use it for drugs, etc." Maybe take your hectoring and hatred to a nonprofit for injured possums or something, lady. She's so shitting proud of her "charitable" self. Yeah, this is past peeve and into disgust.

Yeah, no. I wasn't aware that I'd be expected to care about gobs of personal flashbacks to Afghanistan. I deleted the episode halfway through so from now on, that part of the story will be "blah, blah conspiracy whatever" to me. I'm watching to see how Bob Lee survives and how he goes about investigating/exposing those who framed him. The whys of how we got here are of no interest. (I mean, okay a couple of pages of exposition but not almost an entire episode.)

Get thee to the writer's room. Noah certainly filled out that singlet like an unathletic, gangly teen. Yay for Method bodies.

What was up with Seth's joking remark that he cost Hillary the election? Is there an actual theory somewhere that his segments against Trump actually alienated people so much that they voted against Hillary in retaliation? REALLY?!* * With Seth and Amy.

"Is that a doobie?"

I was interested enough to request library loans for Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion and Scientology: A to Xenu: An Insider's Guide to What Scientology is Really All About. We'll see if they go into any detail about actual beliefs and teachings. Tony Ortega's site has an article that describes what happens during an auditing session:

They didn't mention it but the video footage of him being harassed at his former job was a car dealership. I highly doubt he's a mechanic, so car salesman seems about right. That's one of things that would have been interesting to discuss -- how people who leave find jobs and make new lives with little education or relevant work experience. The thought of mass lawsuits is appealing but that's asking a lot of any attorneys, who would then be subject to 24 hour scrutiny and retaliation themselves. Sigh. And maybe no relatives or friends outside to help you. I'd be willing to contribute to a fund that provides contact information for a way out and assistance to members who want to leave. It's the church keeping people prisoner that upsets me the most.

Here's Kelly's chest piece. I could nitpick some minor things but it's a solid American Traditional.

All we saw was George working part time at the family cafe and that doesn't seem like enough to support him and Vicki and their nice house. Same with Shannon and William, but who knows.

Since coming out it seems like Kenny is more comfortable acting however he feels like in each moment, instead of perhaps stifling his desires the way he did when closeted. I like that he's able to celebrate his various hobbies and romantic yearnings, but I agree he is different this season.

This episode was disappointing. Well, the first one was as well but I was hoping that was just an introductory review. I'm tired of Rinder's smug face. He may be well meaning but he's got his 30 years younger wife and new family now and isn't saying anything he hasn't said a hundred times before. I agree that there are secrets he's not telling, probably because they reflect badly on him. It also doesn't seem like Leah intends to talk about how the religion works or what it teaches except for those policies she disagrees with. I was flabbergasted that Rinder lives in Clearwater, but his explanation about his son made some sense. Otherwise, jeez, dude.

I really liked all the live tattoos and was happy that the finalists got a chance to shine in their preferred style. Of the two chest pieces, I liked Gian's better but that's just personal preference. They were both great, technically and artistically. Bummed that we never saw Kelly's piece but hopefully it will be on Spike tomorrow. She seemed to have the biggest crowd of fans there so I hope that was some consolation for her. Overall it was a ridiculous, filler-ful finale, as usual. I have zero interest in hearing from the rejected contestants so they can shutty. The critiques from the judges were especially bland and meaningless -- it might as well have been me up there: "Uh. Nice tattoo. Looks like something you would have done. You're my girl!"

Dang, I really liked the trailer and have been looking forward to this for weeks. It's odd that Hulu is dumping it all at once, for whatever reason. I also seem to recall (?) reading that the release had been pushed back, which isn't ever a good sign. Looks like reviews have been mixed.

I use Metacritic's list of series premieres; it's updated daily. It's fairly comprehensive except it skips many reality/cable channel shows.

Do you think the police who investigated the missing persons claim were lying about having seen her? It's always possible they were bought off. I think Shelly is being held at Hemet, probably in the hole much of the time and believing she deserves it.

Other actors who are more low key about being Scientologists: Jenna Elfman, Juliette Lewis, Elisabeth Moss, Laura Prepon, Danny Masterson, Giovanni Ribisi, Catherine Bell, Nancy Cartwright. That's a lot of boycotting for me! I think Mimi Rogers -- she who has Much to Answer For -- has left the church.

All hail our new secret sign:

On Monday's show, Trevor Noah had a segment on "The Daily Show Crapcatcher Award" for journalists who call out bullshit. First recipients: George Stephanopoulos for that interview and Jake Tapper. Coincidentally, Samantha Bee did the same thing on Monday with her "Thunderc**nt" Award. (It's named after an online troll who calls her that.) She gave it to Jake Tapper as well. I really hope the majority of non-Fox journalists will continue to stand up against the onslaught of lies and abnormal behavior. It's hard not to buckle under the weight of talking Trumpheads who insist that up is down, but the effort needs to be made every time.