Ashforth
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Posts posted by Ashforth
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12 hours ago, DiabLOL said:
So this has been driving me nuts since the first episode and I have nobody to talk to about it, so here goes.
Elena is supposedly young, right? Like early to mid 20's I'd say. Yet she has a ten year old and a baby AND a studio. That's a lot. No day job? Does her husband have a job? They seem rather poor. YET she has a separate work space? In Manhattan? I don't care if it's in a bad neighborhood or whatever it's still Manhattan. How? Also no working artist is going to rent an actual apartment. It wouldn't give you the space you need (to make sculptures that require that murder hammer). It would be very very unusual for an artist to rent an apartment to work in. An artist who wanted to work in a space separate from their home would rent an actual art studio. Even then I'd be questioning how she's affording this and why. They didn't even bother to let us know that hey maybe she has a gallery and is selling enough to warrant such a rental AND that her husband will give her time to go there alone while he watches the kids. Why would he do this?
Which really makes me fume about the fact that not only is she painting large scale paintings and making labor intensive sculpture in a small apartment, she has a BED there! Why would one have an entire bed in a studio? You don't have one in your office! It's the same thing! She was definitely using it to have sex with other men while her husband looked after the kids. They didn't even bother to flesh her out as an actual person let alone think about what actual artists do.
On a related note, I couldn't really understand why two working doctors in Manhattan need so many handouts from Franklin.
The actress who plays Elena is 25. I think that she has been exploited by this show because she was willing to do nudity. That's been pretty much the sole development of Elena's character. She was nekkid! I expect nothing more from David E. Kelley. To borrow a line from Fernando, he is vile.
There was so much to explore with Elena. Was she a mother at 15? Were she and Fernando happy before Miguel's cancer diagnosis? How did her vulnerability because of her son's cancer throw her life out of kilter and lead to the affair with Jonathan? Did she become an obsessed stalker or was Jonathan assuring her that they would be together? Was she an up and coming artist? So much left on the table.
That being said, perhaps Jonathan paid for the studio space for her from the $500K that Franklin gave to him.
11 hours ago, SourK said:Even taking the dog story at face value, when Jonathan said it was really about his sister, my first question was, "How do you get from that to 'we can't get a dog because I killed mine'?" Like, there's something perverse about twisting the story that way, even if it were true.
Wouldn't it be more likely that Jonathan would have refused to have children? Instead of hhaving a child but refusing to get a dog?
2 hours ago, larapu2000 said:100% right there with you. Lily Rabe serves no actual point in the show unless she did it.
Bingo.
2 hours ago, BC4ME said:And while we're at it...the real Johnathan is 60 years old. For whatever type of cosmetic stuff that has happened to Nichole Kidman, she's still 53. So even fudging their ages in the show, they're still older people. What I want to know is what about the other 30 (or 40) years these people have been adults? They have a young boy. Are they supposed to be in their 30s on the show?
Hugh Grant's character had this accident with the sister literally decades ago. His mother says she hasn't spoken to Grace in ten years since the wedding or something like that. And that he basically hasn't spoken to his family since college. Well, there's a whole lot of time between college and when they get married if the characters are age appropriate. Even Grace, who if age appropriate to real life had a child in her 40s.
The show just conveniently erases literal decades of these characters' lives when you just know shit must've happened.
Again, so much fertile ground left unplowed. Why aren't you and I and our fellow posters in the writing rooms for this?
48 minutes ago, TVMovieBuff said:I wonder what will happen to the baby. Jonathan said he would take her, I don't know if that is good or not. Or whether Grace would raise her.
Lawd, no. Not Grace.
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58 minutes ago, hookedontv said:
JFC, Gayle.
Did anyone else catch Gayle totally interrupting Glenn Close (GLENN CLOSE!) on the show this morning? Gayle busted in while Glenn was mid-sentence, steamrolling over both Glenn and Anthony.
Hold up Gayle and take a minute. Your thoughts and questions are not more important than other people’s.
PS: I have to see Glenn’s new movie Hillbilly Elegy. It looks great.Gayle interrupted, then Anthony interrupted, then Gayle interrupted. Sigh. It's apparently a pissing contest at this point. Since Gayle has been anointed as the Queen of CBS This Morning, I guess it won't be long before Anthony is imprisoned in a castle tower, or moves to a more exciting opportunity at CBS with vastly less air time, or retires to "spend more time with family". Something like that.
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I give kudos to CNN's on-scene reporters for the gauntlet they have run for the past few years. Through pepper spray/teargas, rubber bullets, hecklers, being verbally attacked and undermined by people in power, and more, they have done their jobs and reported the news. That's a cornerstone of our freedom as a nation and we forget it at our peril.
CNN as a business isn't perfect, but it's pretty darn good.
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I may have to watch this. John was a gifted comedian and comedic actor, but I think my favorite work of his is Continental Divide. It has drama, romance, and yes, humor. Many were surprised by what an appealing leading man he was.
It's sad that his addiction made him miserable through much of his life. Sadder still that understanding of and treatment for addiction hasn't made many strides in all of the years since his death.
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13 minutes ago, In2You said:
It's been awhile since I've been to the It's a Wonderful Movie blog and I see they're still being racist and prejudice over there while claiming to align themselves with Christian values.
"You may have noticed that I did not include the Tuesday night Thanksgiving week premiere. As a believer in traditional marriage and Biblical values I will not be promoting "A Christmas Tree Grows in Colorado" since learning it's subplot will include a same sex couple. I wanted to be certain you all were aware of this as you are watching Christmas movies this week possibly with your families."
Also from that very over the top website:
"“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." I guess the 'God as Santa Claus' approach is appropriate given the focus on Christmas movies. 🙄
My view is that one doesn't present lists of demands or grievances or wishes to your higher power. YMMV.
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On one of the Thanksgiving reruns yesterday, they were in the studio. Katie was "making" a turkey but Geoffrey was doing all of the work - he used a dowel (wood rod) to separate the skin from the flesh, applied the spice rub, and was rubbing sage butter all over it when Sunny hollered something like, "get in those thighs!" and Geoffrey said, "Oh, I'll get in there" and they all started laughing or trying really hard not to laugh. Their facial expressions were hilarious. I did not expect sexual innuendo humor about prepping a turkey on The Kitchen. It was heartily amusing.
Now they need to roast a turkey while celebrating the neck and gizzard like this (spoiler tagged for the faint of heart):
Spoiler
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20 minutes ago, spaceghostess said:
I still can’t figure out why anybody in this show—including attorneys—thinks it’s a good idea to bring children of suspects and/or victims to a murder trial.
For the drama, dahling. The DRAMA!
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1 hour ago, roughing it said:
And these same faces are getting older, way past the "ingenue" stage. Not that mid-40s can't find true Christmas love with the single dad, but it seems to me these movies are more suited toward mid-30's characters.
I'm happy to see women in their 40's and 50's play lead roles. I think the problem is that the characters they play in these movies are written exactly the same as the ones played by actresses in their 20's and 30's. Same level of maturity, same inability to communicate, same never married with no kids life, same immediate connection with the widowed love interest's preferably 6 year old, but never older than 10 year old child. Same career insecurities. Same pressure to complete a new work assignment or save the store or save the town in the two weeks before Christmas. Same need to be taught about true love and the meaning of Christmas (i.e. true love). Not that the way the roles are written is okay for the younger actresses, either. It's pretty insulting to all.
We're not seeing a divorced woman with teenagers who is able to use her words when she has a question for her new beau.
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4 hours ago, cardigirl said:
A friend convinced me to catch up on this show. And generally, I love Hugh Grant. But Nicole's idea of reacting to anything is to stare at the camera and lick her lips or stick out her tongue and after awhile I was just yelling at the teevee.
And the courtroom scenes were so laughable. Grace's friend, the lawyer, who walks into the courtroom while the D.A. is questioning someone and then WAVES at her as she sits down? Okay, show. That happens in court. Especially in criminal cases.
Grace walking all over New York and not being bothered by the press, but when she shows up at school, there's a full frenzy going on, and it's all so fakish.
I'm going to have to seriously reconsider my friendship with the friend that recommended this to me. Not really caring who killed the poor woman, but I kind of hope Grace did it. LOL.
Love your whole post. I have to admit that for a hot second I thought someone had killed your poor-tv-taste friend and you didn't care. I guess I have a little Jonathan lurking around inside me.
3 hours ago, Bluesky said:I’m disappointed in how much the attorney sucks. Her whataboutism, pointing the finger at others wouldn’t work. And her telling her clients it’s all circumstantial is ridiculous. First, DNA evidence is not circumstantial. Second people are convicted of murder with only circumstantial evidence all the time.
I can understand why people thought the kid did it but I can’t imagine him having the strength to do that type of damage.Her job is to sell reasonable doubt, so pointing the finger at other potential killers and undermining confidence in circumstantial evidence are exactly what she would and should do.
Jonathan's DNA at the crime scene proves that he was there, but not that he killed her, so in that regard, it is circumstantial evidence. And yes, many or most criminal convictions are based on circumstantial evidence, because that's what there is. Most crimes aren't captured on camera or audio (yet, I guess more and more will be as people use Alexas and Ring doorbells and other technology in their homes and businesses).
3 hours ago, BingeyKohan said:Is next week the finale? There is a lot to resolve - or, more likely, we won't get resolution on a lot of things. If Jonathan and Grace both take the stand then I guess they'll get pressed on the fake Cleveland trip (J) and her real dynamic with Elena (G).
Unless she heavily factors into flashbacks next week it's very strange how little time or energy were given to making Elena feel like a real person. There wasn't even much point in making her an artist.
I agree about the prospect of satisfying answers to lingering questions. I'd bet that a lot of them are just ignored.
You captured my thoughts about the development of the character of Elena. There was so much there to work with, but she was left one-dimensional.
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2 minutes ago, DakotaLavender said:
Wouldn't the detectives and cops who searched Grace's apartment so throughly have looked in that violin case or was it in school with Henry at that time and if so, how did his violin fit into the case? Was Henry carrying the murder weapon around all that time in school?
Such good questions.
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It seems pretty apparent that Henry found and hid the murder weapon to protect his parent - but which one? He probably doesn't even know.
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The courtroom stuff is the usual bullshit. A Judge would not allow a graphic murder photo to be displayed without warning the victim's family in advance, particularly if the victim's young child was in the courtroom. A detective would not testify about the science of DNA. A high powered criminal defense attorney prepares her client who is accused of murder for weeks in advance of testimony (if any, because it is always stupid for a criminal defendant to testify) not the night before.
I have a feeling that I'm going to be pissed off at the end of this.
So the "dog story" that sounded like a total fiction made up on the spot when Grace told it to Henry was true - except the dog was Jonathan's 4 year old sister. Jonathan has a meltdown at a fancy restaurant to confess the sister story to Grace. Jonathan's mother tells Grace that he is a sociopath.
I thought Kidman's acting was especially bad in this one. The scene on the balcony with Daddy was such a vanity shot that it was ridiculous.
I'm going out on a limb that Henry found and hid the murder weapon but is not the killer. My money is on Grace again now, but why wouldn't she have thrown the hammer away on her long walk home after bludgeoning Elena to death? Well, she hasn't proven to be a mental giant thus far.
Grace or Jonathan may or may not may have committed the murder. Looks like Sylvia probably didn't, but I think there is still a strong possibility that she did, otherwise I don't understand her recent prominence. Or it could be Daddy, or Henry, or Fernando, or the school principal, or Jonathan's former colleague, or the janitor in her building, or a killer unicorn. Maybe Elena was so crazy that she sculpted a suicide-made-to-look-like-murder machine. 🤨
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So Jonathan is one sick ticket.
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In regard to PureWick, I'm pretty sure an iteration of this device is what a hospital used for my mother recently when she experienced severe fluid retention after a surgical procedure and was on diuretics. She was relieved (no pun intended) and so was our family. We couldn't be there to look after her as we normally would be. The device they used was comfortable, not intrusive like a catheter with its inherent risk of some kind of infection, and she didn't have to try to get out of bed and to the bathroom, which would have been very risky for her.
If I had significant urinary incontinence at night, this sounds better than an adult diaper.
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3 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:
It's a device that collects urine for women who have night time incontinence, or when they're lying down.
I'm going to Small Talk with this because I haven't seen and can't comment on the ad, but I do have a personal (once removed) comment about the product.
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1 hour ago, Kohola3 said:
A Child's Christmas in Wales is an annual viewing at my sister's house. You will never find it on TV but a lovely, charming, funny story.
It's on YouTube, if this is it:
In other news, How The Grinch Stole Christmas is on TBS right now! I found a schedule:
“How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is a holiday classic. If you’re looking for a place to watch it this Christmas season, you’re in luck — the 1966 animated film will be airing on broadcast TV, cable and streaming.
Here’s where you can watch “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” this year.
Nov. 27 — 7 p.m. MST — NBC
Dec. 6 — 6:30 p.m. MST — FX
Dec. 6 — 8 p.m. MST — TBS
Dec. 7 — 1 a.m. MST — FX
Dec. 13 — 9 p.m. MST — TBS
Dec. 18 — 9 p.m. MST — TNT
Dec. 25 — 7 p.m. MST — NBC
You can also rent “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” on Amazon Prime, iTunes or YouTube Movies for $3.99.
I love Max.
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8 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:
Something bad must've happened to Sunny in a kitchen cause today, on Turkey Day Sunny's Way (a new show?), she's again on a patio, complete with grill & other portable appliances. It sort of looks like a studio, though, which is odd. *She's* odd!
Yeah, I just watched this strange show. Sunny was amped up to the max. I think it was to promote the Thanksgiving edition of Food Network Magazine, which Sunny guest edited. The FIRST GUEST EDITOR EVER. And the Ninja Foodi Oven.
I cringed at Sunny's cackling and screeching. I rolled my eyes at Aarti's last-minute cranberry sauce made of ingredients none of us have on hand. I laughed at the graphics for and and the viewer-dictated dressing that actually looked pretty good. The product placement for the Ninja Foodi Oven was front and center. There was more, but yeah. As it neared the end, I glanced at the TV guide and was shocked to realize that it was a thirty minute show. It felt like at least an hour.
FN must have built the set (sponsored by Ninja Foodi) so Sunny can continue to work outside her home. I know a lot of people think that's weird, but I respect her for drawing the line. She doesn't want to be filmed inside her home and she has stood her ground. Why she doesn't want to do that is a matter of curiosity, but not really any of our business. Though that won't stop us from speculating. That's our job 😄
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52 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:
It's during the holidays that wonderful memories of our moms' cooking our favorite meals really come through. I loved my mom's stuffing. She'd simmer various parts of the turkey with celery & onions, but I can't recall what she did with them! Loved the stuffing made with dried cubes of bread, seasonings, and of course, dried parsley. I bet fresh parsley wasn't available in November back then.
She made gravy with the stock and the turkey drippings! My mom would dice the meat from the neck and gizzards, along with a boiled egg, and add them to the gravy. Never the liver! Mom hated liver so it was quickly disposed of. Now I think the liver would be a good addition (not long-cooked with the stock because that would make it bitter), but sautéed in butter, chopped up and added in.
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1 hour ago, annzeepark914 said:
I missed the first half of the show today. Was Alex not on? I saw a promo of her new show so maybe that's why. GZ's gravy is intriguing to me...soy sauce?
You know, Alex wasn't on this episode. I didn't even notice, LOL. I wasn't paying much attention to most of it.
Katie's dressing looked good, but why Italian sausage? It seems like breakfast sausage, which already has sage and warm spices, would be better.
Of course, no dressing will ever be as good as my mom's. Cornbread/white bread, onions and celery sautéed in a lot - a lot - of butter, sage, parsley (I think she used dried parsley, oh my), salt, white pepper, some of the turkey drippings, chicken stock, bind it with an egg or two depending on your proportions. No meat or mushrooms or anything "fancy". The taste of my childhood.
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55 minutes ago, Ellee said:
The daughters ‘bothered’ me. It seemed to me that their mother has been in their ears telling them what to think.
I hope that they haven't spent their parts of the life insurance money to pay for her lawyer, but it wouldn't surprise me if they have.
1 hour ago, Madding crowd said:The weight loss didn’t happen before the murder as she was still heavy in her first Dateline interview.
The weight loss timeline is wonky. She had the weight loss surgery before the murder, but how long before? It was suggested that she didn't lose weight post-surgery, but the detective said that she claimed it couldn't be her in the videos because that person was way bigger than she was. In the videos from the day of the crime and the interrogation room, I didn't think she looked as heavy as she did in the 2013 Dateline interview. Then after she thought she was getting away with killing Todd, the weight just "melted off".
I'm unduly fascinated by this story.
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4 hours ago, Lizzing said:
I was freakin' astounded that a payphone still existed in 2013. The last time I encountered a working payphone was 2011. I'm not debating that fact of the case--I was just floored.
The lead detective struck me as an idiot. He certainly wasn't fluent in the English language, though it was his first and probably only. I think the collar on this one was the matter of "a broken clock is right twice a day". Two things gave me pause though--first, the husband texted his old girlfriend "wanna play?" which isn't exactly the opening salvo of an otherwise faithful married man after 15+ years of marriage. While he may never have gotten physical with that particular woman, I suspect he'd gone, or attempted to go, outside his marital bonds on other occasions. Second, the person captured on the video surveillance looked much smaller (espeically around the neck & face) than the wife did at the time of the first round of Dateline interviews (which were close to the time of the murder).
More likely than not, the wife did it. But there could have been a third woman who was pissed at him too. He could have had a second phone that disappeared with her. Probably not, but I get crazy conflicted when I strongly dislike the investigating detective. And if the detective really did tell the eldest daughter that all of the video was the same day as the Walmart footage of her talking to the greeter, that's witness tampering. Cops are allowed to lie to suspects (which should be unconstitutional, but that is a screed for another day) but they're not allowed to mislead or lead witnesses. I might need to follow the appeal progress of this one, because it seems (with the usual caveat--from what Dateline has told us) there is some shenanigans that are worth pursuing.
Remember phone booths? With three actual walls and a door? How times have changed.
There are a lot of questions I have about the investigation (did they really go searching for random video footage of the cab instead of, say, calling the cab company to get the record of the ride? Where it went? How it was paid for? Whether the driver could identify Jenea?). Why didn't they get surveillance video of Jenea after the crime to compare to the video on the day of? Or did they? Why didn't Dateline mention the two family friends who testified that they recognized Jenea in the crime scene video? I know that Dateline and its ilk leave a lot of things out and play up others to prolong the "mystery", but they leave out interesting things such as that her first trial ended in a mistrial because the public defender's office had a conflict of interest. Yes, I did do some internet research after the show.
The detective struck me as one who decides a suspect is guilty and will play dirty to make the case. He apparently withheld evidence that could arguably have been exculpatory. But I think the bottom line is that there was a ton of evidence against Jenea and between the gun, the car, the timeline and the video, a third person outside the family as the killer just doesn't add up.
Her lie about the contacts destroyed her credibility, but the evidence was already there. I think that like many murderers, Jenea thought she was smarter than anyone else and could explain away all of the evidence against her. She still thinks so or she wouldn't appear on Dateline again. How about when her lawyer told her not answer the reporter's question about the contacts and she ignored him? Arrogant and stupid.
1 hour ago, Madding crowd said:Point Blank was one where I really wondered about her motive. I know there were life insurance policies, but no mention of her living some grand life besides getting weight loss surgery. As a school principal, I would think she had insurance to pay for that.
I agree the detective didn’t seem too sharp. I wonder if they looked into other women he may have been involved with. This woman got caught because of contacts!
On another note, the detective said he was suspicious of her going to see the true crime show in Las Vegas ( was in a NCIS thing?). If that’s the case we are all suspect for liking true crime. And would you really try to recreate a crime that your whole family heard about? Not too smart.
They mentioned casually that she had the weight loss surgery before the murder. The insurance policies didn't add up to that much money and Todd's parents managed to get some of it to the daughters. I think the rest hadn't been paid out because she was the prime suspect.
I think her motive was that she did know about Todd's renewed relationship with the ex-girlfriend. On of the articles I read said that in addition to the flirty texts and nude pics, they were making fun of Jenea in their messages.
The thing about CSI: The Experience being a tutorial for getting away with murder was silly. There are a ton of "real life crime" shows on TV that can provide all of the do's and don'ts.
49 minutes ago, LakeGal said:I was surprised that the wife was not a suspect immediately. I kept asking why were they not suspecting her. It took them quite awhile to get to that point. It was sad watching the daughter recognize the bag and realize her mother was guilty. Then she went back and talked with family and changed her mind.
I believe the wife did it.
She was the prime suspect from the very beginning, but the prosecutors wanted enough evidence to get past reasonable doubt at trial.
The moment when daughter Jessica realized that her mother was guilty was striking. She denies it now, and feels responsible for the conviction, but she knows the truth.
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8 hours ago, Irlandesa said:
Because they've committed to diversity, we are also seeing new actors in these roles and not the same people 10 times a year.
So much good stuff in your post! This stood out for me. I hope the same will be true for the leads as well as for supporting roles. I get tired of the Hallmark "stars". If they didn't relentlessly rerun the movies from past years, maybe it wouldn't bug me as much.
I swear one weekend they aired a marathon of Christmas movies starring Alicia Witt. I used to like her, but now, not as much. She's developed a thing (or maybe I just started noticing it) of saying "s" as "esh".
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On 1/19/2020 at 2:24 AM, Corgi-ears said:
I feel like we haven't sufficiently memorialized Sergio's intricate embroidery. I mean, if we don't, the amazing technique will just die with him.
I watched Austin City Limits tonight and when I saw Jackie Venson's outfit, I thought of Sergio's pitiful attempt at making a political statement through fashion. Here's how it's done, Sergio:
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On 11/8/2020 at 11:31 AM, CraftyHazel said:
I agree that she didn’t seem as bright as she apparently is. Her GPA and speaking several languages prove she’s intelligent. But her affect is so incredibly flat. When you hear her in the taped calls, asking her father the hard questions about why there was no death certificate, no ashes, etc., she sounds beyond calm, she sounds like she’s reading a grocery list. There’s no animation, no emotion. Never a crack in her voice, never sounds upset or like she’s been crying. It’s very strange.
She may have seemed emotionless because she and her cousin had literally rehearsed the questions and charted out follow up questions depending on his responses.
42 minutes ago, CraftyHazel said:“Point Black”. First of all, anytime someone uses the phrase “I spoke my truth”, I flat out believe they’re a liar. I hate that phrase.
Jenae Chance told lie after lie and tied her own noose. I absolutely believe the jury got it right. I feel so sorry for the victim’s parents.
I think Jenea was a pretty convincing liar in the first Dateline interview. Not so much in the post-conviction one. "I'm an elementary school principal, which proves that I didn't kill my husband."
I liked that Dateline sprinkled hints along the way, like showing Jenea saying she couldn't have her contacts in jail the first time she was arrested. Likewise, nothing was said at the time, but when they showed the footage of Jenea walking into the courthouse for the civil suit over the life insurance policy, I immediately thought, Damn! That's the woman who was walking down the street in that video. The long stride and exaggerated arm swing were exactly the same.
I didn't like the detective.
I feel bad for Todd's parents and even worse for the daughters. It's heartbreaking to see kids whose one parent killed the other cling so desperately to denying the killer's guilt and become estranged from family members who love them. Jenea really screwed her children with her selfish, vicious actions.
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Holiday and Seasonal Commercials
in Commercials
Maybe if Anna Kendrick really ate some Frito-Lay products she wouldn't be so painfully thin.