Mindymoo

Nearly all of my dad's side of the family still lives in Poland, and that happened to one of my cousins in Communist Poland. She was a dissenter, and she was drugged, given ECT and forced into mental hospitals. She survived it, and lived with us for a short time when I was young as our nanny. It was sad, because she was paranoid of electrical sockets because of the ECT and would sweep the carpet with a broom. Back on-topic: this episode did give me chills. Nina's death was a long time coming, but it still ripped my heart out. I loved and sympathized with her character so much. For such a petty crime, she was turned into a double, then triple agent, and it led to her execution. Even though Stan is on our side, I will never be able to root for him as a character because of what he did to Nina. And it's weird, since I'm a full-blooded Pole, that I feel this way about a Russian character. I'll just say, as a generalization, that a lot of Poles do not think kindly of Russians in any way. But Nina broke my heart.

I actually liked that there weren't any subtitles in the scene with Penelope, her father and Chip. I don't speak French, but I think it was supposed to make us feel sort of lost, like Chip. We could tell they were arguing over Chip but not exactly what they were saying. Even without Christine, this was another fantastic episode. The scenes with Chip and the street performers were beautifully shot, and it was just a masterfully done sequence. And while I didn't necessarily feel sorry for Penelope, it did humanize her a bit to me. She wanted some kind of identity independent of her father, since the only people in France that wanted to know her wanted to know her because of who her father was. Chip appealed to her on a superficial level at first because he had no clue, and then on an opportunistic level when he had to hightail it back to Bakersfield. And Penelope did let Chip know from the start, before she married him, that it was just for the green card. She said that it wasn't going to end well. I'm not trying to excuse her actions at all, but I can understand them now, and she doesn't seem as cold as she did. She at least seemed to care for him on some level- wanting to get him something to eat after all he had was a carrot; warning him that it would end badly and he would get hurt; telling him flat out that she wasn't in love with him and she was only doing it for the green card. So yeah, I don't hate her anymore. Don't like her, wouldn't want to be around her if she was a real person, but don't actively hate her.

I knew that Chip would eventually find out that Christine sent Penelope back to Paris, but I didn't think he would learn it so soon. I am both looking forward to and dreading their confrontation. My heart breaks for Chip, even though I side with Christine, as she did what she had to. This episode was incredible. The Willie Nelson conversation was so hilarious and surreal. The recurring snake bite gag was just as good as the cricket gag from last week. I'm really going to miss this show when the season ends in a few weeks.

Baskets has been renewed for a second season! http://www.avclub.com/article/fx-still-down-clown-renews-baskets-second-season-232706

You're thinking of El Salvador. The country where women are being arrested, tried and convicted for having miscarriages, because people think they did something to cause them.

Amazing story on abortion, but the sloths? That was a great bit of levity after such a wholly depressing subject.

I don't remember that, but if so, it could be how Chip rationalizes it, the way that Christine rationalizes his suicide by saying he fell off the bridge while admiring the river.

"Suicide is not the answer, usually". This was another hit it out of the ballpark episode for this series. I'm truly stunned at how amazing it's been throughout. Christine and Penelope's little adventure, which ended up with her shipping her ass back home to France, was both deserved and devastating. Chip's attempts at problem-solving were hilarious, and actually had some sort of positive effect on his nieces. I just wonder what will happen when Chip finds out Mama Baskets sent Penelope back home to Paris on a one-way ticket.

I just want Robert to stick around for the commentary and entertainment factor. I'm not attached to any of these contestants on an artistic level at all, but Robert amuses me. He looks and sounds like he just stepped off the set of a Wolfgang Petersen movie. But yeah, when the only contestant you like is one you like because he tickles you, there's not much compelling you to stick around. I'll probably drop it when he's eliminated in the next couple weeks.

I've been sucked in by Neko Atsume. It's basically a virtual pet game, with all kinds of cats you collect and feed and give toys and whatnot. It is stupid, it is adorable, and yet I cannot stop playing it.

I was wondering if anyone got this amazing game for the Wii U? It came out in September 2015, and you can make your own Mario levels from Super Mario Bros, Mario 3, Super Mario World, and New Super Mario Bros. U. You can also play levels that people all over the world have made. I've become quite obsessed with the game lately, and even used it as part of a project for my Entertainment in American Life class. I know the Wii U isn't as popular as the X-Box or Playstation, but are there any Nintendo die-hards like me out there who are completely sucked in by this awesome game?

I wouldn't be surprised. Louie Anderson is a brilliant stand-up comedian, after all. And I've read that the Costco and Arby's thing were all Anderson's idea. What I really, really love though? Is that looking at Louie Anderson, I'm not seeing it as "haha, Louie Anderson in a dress". There's no novelty in casting Louie as Christine, because he actually looks like he could be somebody's mother when he's playing Christine. This is no John Waters, Divine as Edna Turnblad affair.

Have you tried FXNOW? I caught it on that app for the first episode when my On Demand was down and was able to watch it at its regular time slot ever since.

That's possible too! I thought of them as flashbacks because it showed him as he possibly first encountered Penelope, but if they were just fantasies, it was still brilliant filmmaking and cinematography.

This was probably the best episode of the series so far. When Chip and Christine were next to each other at the slot machines, and he gave her the Easter candy as consolation after her day had been ruined and her mother shamed her out of her dessert, it was just beautiful. Add to it the flashbacks to his life in Paris, Christine going all mama bear against that woman who mentioned Chip and that dreadful brunch, and it was really just a perfect episode of television. I am completely in love with this series.

The one and only reincarnation of Elvis Presley and human sloth! And you're fine. I swear that if I die and my family goes through my internet history, they are going to wonder how on earth I got anything done with all of the posting I did on Gawker/Jezebel/PTV/AVClub. That's awesome! But yeah, this may be my favorite episode yet. I got my wife to start watching the show last week and she only caught the second half of the episode, and Louie Anderson is what drew her in. She watched from the pilot and is now hooked too. The characters are so well-written and it's just amazing. Yeah, Penelope is a bitch, but she also told Chip at the very beginning that she wasn't in love with him and only was marrying him for a green card. Martha is an absolute delight, though. I loved Chip's "And what mental disease is this?" line when he came into her home after Boots tore it to pieces.

It took me a second while watching the episode, but I figured it out when Samantha the fish died. And yes, I do post on Gawker and a lot of their subsidiaries.

I think the episode description was a joke. Samantha the fish was Martha's best friend, it was "murdered" by Boots the coyote. Chip helped her with the Boots situation. I thought the episode was fantastic. It's one of the saddest comedies I've ever seen. It's so laden with pathos and I adore it. That final scene with Chip and Penelope in the pool was gorgeous and heartbreaking. I feel so badly for him. And when his voice was breaking as he yelled at Boots, I just wanted to give him a hug. This series is so strange and I just adore it.

So I'm taking an Entertainment in American Life class, and there have been a lot of stories in there that I think would make really fascinating Drunk History segments. *P.T. Barnum, the educated goat, the woman who called the goat a fraud and ate its feces, and how he reemerged with Joice Heth, the supposed 161-year-old woman who allegedly was a nursemaid to baby George Washington. *The Astor Place Riot. Two rival actors, one British and one American, kind of ended up setting off a huge riot that was one part entertainment, three parts class warfare, that ended up with over two dozen people dead. *Sam Patch, the first real celebrity, who jumped waterfalls. He ended up getting killed doing this, unsurprisingly. *The creation of the Penny Press.

Come on, Keith Richards has been dead since the 1970s. He's clearly been taxidermied and is now a marionette puppet. Mick Jagger, too.

Old Ativan may not be as potent, but it doesn't just change the chemical compound and magically disappear from your urine. It is possible that they don't test for it, or that she could say she has some from an old prescription since it is a prescription drug, unlike cocaine and crystal meth.

Well, this has been an awful week, eh? I can't listen to David Bowie without sobbing. I tried watching "The Man Who Fell to Earth" and couldn't make it fifteen minutes. He was one of my all-time favorites, and a huge inspiration to me as an artist and musician, and just like that, he's gone. Alan Rickman was punch in the gut number two. And then Brian Bedford? Most of you know him as the voice of Robin Hood in the Disney film, but he was a brilliant stage actor that I saw in Stratford, ON, and he was such a gentleman. (He also did Broadway and off-Broadway shows as well.) Can I just be put into a medically induced coma until January 1st, 2017? And if any other cool people die, folks like Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Roger Waters or Paul F. Thompkins, just don't tell me. Let me live in ignorance for the rest of my days.

I loved Trapper, personally. I couldn't watch the episodes after he left and Blake died. I hated BJ, didn't like Potter much, and being a Toledoan wasn't even enough to keep me watching for Klinger (though I've met Jamie Farr a few times and he is a lovely man.) This news makes me so sad. I know he was 82, but still.

Amazing finale. Marguerite coming out as trans came out of left field, but I didn't mind it. Patsy was an ass, like always. And Jenna still gave Dawn her kidney, even though she found out what a bullshitter she was and that she was intentionally making her situation worse. What a gal. I'm going to miss this show.

No, that was a dream sequence. He was dreaming about having sex with his wife, and her face turned into Laurie's.