pigs-in-space

I recall the sister (Renee) seemed to be very attached to Pepper/Rhonda/Ronique, in a way that almost seemed co-dependent because of the abuse they suffered from Shirley. She mentioned being in awe of Pepper's childhood bedroom, because she had never experienced anything so nice, and then feeling abandoned when Pepper finally left Shirley in her teens. I was so happy for her when she found out that Pepper was her biological sister - whatever the adults did in their lives, it seemed like these two at least had each other and I thought it was sweet.

I can't remember if it was in YMRT or the Jeff Guinn biography, but I was surprised to learn that Manson went to the scene of the crime after the Tate murders and staged it some more (with the American flag and the glasses, I believe). That somehow was the creepiest thing of all to me. And thanks for the other recs, I'm going to add those to my to read/consume list! ETA: And I just read somewhere else that the crime scene staging is contested as to whether or not it actually happened. I think it's possible but not provable, still creepy to think about though!

I'm fascinated by this crime, but this one hour just barely scratched the surface of things. I think they did the best they could in the time given, but there was a lot glossed over or omitted for time. I will say, though, that mostly I've just read/listened to things regarding the murders, so seeing video/still photos (especially in color) gave me a better idea of the look and feel of things. If you're interested in learning more, there is a wealth of places to go, but my favorites are: -You Must Remember This (podcast: http://www.youmustrememberthispodcast.com/): Far and away my favorite (which is saying something!). This was recommended by someone on the Aquarius board, and I've gotten totally hooked. The podcast was created by a film historian, Karina Longworth, and she had a whole series last year devoted to "Charles Manson's Hollywood." I like this one so much because it not only talks about the family and the details of the murders themselves, but also goes into the culture in LA at the time, the lives of the victims, and the different Hollywood personalities Charles Manson interacted with, and how their relationships to Manson ultimately affected their lives. -Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson by Jeff Guinn: A more recent biography of Manson, really well done. The author of this was interviewed by Dateline. -Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi: I only rate this one the lowest because if you're not into courtroom drama and the inner workings of the legal system, you'll find it hard to get through. But it too is a fascinating look at how the investigation progressed and how the trial went down.

I also got the impression from one of the neighbor couples that before he bought the land, he was more than happy to use those trails, but then when he bought the land, he didn't want anyone else using them. If that's the case, it seems pretty hypocritical of him. I mean, I think he murdered the guy in cold blood, so hypocritical is probably the least of his problems, but still...

Has anyone watched the episode "True Lies"? It's been repeating a lot on Dateline on ID, and I've watched it a few times. This is the episode where a woman is killed, and both her husband and son (the husband's step-son) call 911 within minutes of the crime and claim the other person did it. The father had previously been widowed when his wife fell in their pool and drowned, although that was at least officially ruled an accident. I keep wavering on which one I think did it, but I'm leaning towards the son (who was prosecuted for the crime). It sounds horrible to say, but I felt like he was the one stupid enough to commit the crime with someone else in the house and had the most motive. He also just creeped me out a bit when he was talking. I think one of the other most memorable episodes for me is "Deadly Desire" which I know has been discussed here before, but what I like so much about this one is that Keith Morrison's narration is freaking hilarious. Some highlights: Intro: "Careful when you stir the hot pot of desire." On discovering her husband was having an affair: "But of course it was devastating, crippling. Every day she went to work and every day she went to work and every day her friend Sophia saw her friend turn herself inside out, and just seemed to wither." and (my personal favorite) "Boring old Kandi Hall. Rejected, apparently unlovable. And nearly forty." On Kandi finding out she was losing her job: "Such problems." (This one is all about Keith's inflection!) "Sitting here, now, is Kandi still thinking only of Kandi? Perhaps as you hear the rest of the story, you can be the judge of that. Anyway..." On Kandi's affair: "But, for the many reasons that plainly escape those who aren't seated smack in the hot stove of desire themselves, Emmett and Kandi thought otherwise. Oh, they tried to keep their hands off each other for a little while, said their coworkers, but if they believed they were hiding their obvious infatuation, their suddenly messy hair, their hastily rearranged clothes, they were only fooling themselves." "Such timing. Now that Rob seemed to want to fix their marriage, Kandi became a study in pretense. Honesty took a holiday." He so obviously dislikes Kandi (and who can blame him) and it's hilarious.

I'm sure there are a number of reasons, some of which were elaborated on in the show: -They were in an area where they couldn't use a helicopter to medivac in, since the terrain was rough, therefore the ranger had to hike to their location -The husband purposefully took them off the main trails that hikers are encouraged to stay on -It also sounded like he didn't give great instructions on where they were to the 911 dispatch Yes, the parks service budgets are in pretty terrible shape, and they should absolutely be increased (I used to work for a nonprofit that advocated for NPS), but it wasn't the ranger's fault she couldn't get there in time. Even if they had more staff, given the conditions that day, no amount of money could have gotten someone there much faster. Which was exactly what the husband probably wanted.

Dumbledore feels mostly like a plot device to me.

Thank you for the recommendation! I've started listening to it and it's really fascinating.

And did I hear correctly, or did he say years later that the box had been filled with Little Golden Books, not comics? I know it had been years, but you'd think if you were lying about something that big to cover up a murder, you'd try to remember the details like that that you came up with.

I just watched the '76 version of Helter Skelter, and I didn't find it all that creepy. I thought the guy who played Bugliosi was great, but I wasn't scared or really enthralled during it. I thought the '04 remake was creepier. But maybe it's just because I knew the whole story and had read the book already. That said, I have Lost Girls set to record tomorrow night.

I was hoping we'd find out she was in the witness protection program. I called the "strict parents" angle though.

Ha, NO ONE in that cast photo in the link here looks happy. I mean, maybe they were asked a rude question or something, but I still laughed out loud.

The person who writes this blog plans to write "a book or a play or both." And while she rightfully points out that no one will be forced to read/watch her efforts, I get the impression she likes the attention being a "friend" of a convicted murderer gets her. ((ETA: I just read more of the blog, and in the beginning posts the writer keeps talking about how she wanted to find a "cute" picture to send him and be remembered as "hot" which...ick. Definitely reads like an attempted prison romance.)) I also don't really understand how Daniel planned to get the $60k. The only time that he logically could have gotten it was just after he killed Sam/before Julie's body was discovered. After that any idiot would know that the police would be monitoring Sam's bank accounts. I felt so bad for Julie's mother, especially when she mentioned that every day on her drive home from work she listens to the last mix CD her daughter made her and cries. How heartbreaking.

The only one I can think of is the character of Kurt on Glee.

I may be in the minority, but so far I didn't like this quite as much as the first season. I thought the songs were a lot weaker. However, it's only the first airing, so my opinion may change later. I did enjoy the plot line, but none of the songs were very memorable to me.

He beat a woman to death with a hammer and a baseball bat. I think they both deserved the life in prison sentence they got.

This one was interesting. I do wonder what evidence the DA would even have for a trial without the confession being admissible in court. It sounded like there was absolutely nothing else beyond that to go on.

I also forgot to mention, the daily newspaper that is given out in DC (the Express paper, a Washington Post publication) mentioned Stephen's gaffe in their last page which profiles celebrity updates/gossip. I was surprised to see it, since I've never seen him in it before, and I didn't think he was that well-known among the average non-CW viewer.

Yep, this x100. The latter was what really bugged me. Because the first part...we've all been there. We've all been insensitive, or clueless, maybe even unintentionally racist or misogynistic at times. I feel like anyone who claims they've never been in a situation like that would be either lying or completely lacking in self-awareness. It's how you handle that misstep that I'm interested in, and he definitely messed up bad on that. I'm not exactly optimistic at this point, as his apology to that really great video still didn't seem all that great to me, but it's better than nothing. I hope he keeps an open mind about this kind of stuff in the future. For his own benefit, if nothing else. I do like the radio silence on it from his cast mates, though. They all seem smart enough to keep out of this mess.

I thought all three safe ones were hideous. But I also thought two out of the three bottom ones were hideous too (I didn't mind Lindsey's), so it's hard to rank which ones I would've put in the bottom. Edmond had a good idea, and I liked the effect of the upside-down keys, but I hated the shoulders. Hated. Jake's greyhound was adorable. My parents have Italian Greyhounds (the small ones), and if they're anything alike in temperament, they are the sweetest things. Lindsey should always wear her hair up. I kept noticing how cute she looked in this episode (I found her annoying in earlier ones, so I guess she's worn me down).

Blake would've been much better off sticking with his ombre look from the beginning. I would have liked a few less close-ups on Jake's model's bikini area.

Me too! As a fellow tea-drinker I appreciate her love of tea, and she seems like a really nice, interesting person that I'd enjoy having a conversation with. And not to keep beating a dead horse, but there's no way Edmond's skirt came from the bags or from cards - it had to be large pieces of paper he cut. You can zoom in on the Lifetime site and there are clearly no seams, no writing (the Hallmark bags had writing on them) or creasing at all. Why the heck I care so much, I don't know, but in the hour and a half (minus the commercials) I wish they'd taken twenty seconds to explain where they came from because it's seriously bugging me.

I looked at the episode pictures on Lifetime's site, and the big "petals" on Edmond's dress definitely weren't from the Hallmark bags. If you look at them here you can definitely see that the petals were too big to be from the bags. Also, those of you who don't know who Ashley Tisdale is obviously haven't been around many tweens! ;) She was a Disney Channel staple a few years back, both on The Suite Life and in the High School Musical movies. Looking at the outfits again, Ashley was REALLY lucky she had immunity. That stiff poncho could have definitely gotten her sent home. Interesting how Merline's obnoxious chatter suddenly stopped this week. Was it editing? Did she have major anxiety/nerves during the first challenge? I had suspected she was trying to play a "character" (I found her comments roughly as tone-deaf and potentially offensive as Blake's) to get screen time and give the producers a reason to have her stick around. But maybe it was genuine(ly annoying).

Edmond's concept was good, but I didn't think his execution was great, especially compared to some of the other outfits. To my admittedly unfashionable eye, his top just looked like he randomly threw pieces of the cards on it, rather than actually creating an attractive or thoughtful pattern. And I guess the skirt being made out of paper that presumably was not cards was okay, because it was still paper? I felt like Ashley Tisdale's HSM character would have worn Blake's glittery creation.

I really like both Under the Banner of Heaven and Going Clear. Definitely two of my favorites. Going Clear I first listened to as an audiobook on a long car trip, and I usually prefer actual books to audiobooks, but it was an entertaining listen. Lately I've read/started reading: -Room 1219: The Life of Fatty Arbuckle, the Mysterious Death of Virginia Rappe, and the Scandal That Changed Hollywood by Greg Merritt. I'm about halfway through this one, so no strong opinion on it yet. -Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood by William Mann. Obviously I'm on a bit of an old Hollywood kick. Very interesting, but got a bit repetitive at times, and even though the author claimed he wasn't embellishing, it definitely felt like he was adding in his own spin a lot. He was also quite emphatic about how one of the women grew up and gained weight, and described her as "waddling" and stuff like that. Maybe she did, but it turned me off for sure and was an unnecessary descriptor. I just added American Eve, which was mentioned earlier in the thread, to my library holds, since it seems like it would be a great follow-up to these two books.