Mondrianyone

Ain't that the truth. My nephew was a child model (not the bratty, obnoxious kind) for about a decade. He made a few TV commercials for Wendy's, with the late Dave Thomas. I think it was one of those that featured M.C. Hammer. All the kids were given strict instructions for how to behave when they were on set with Hammer: Don't make eye contact with Mr. Hammer. He doesn't want anyone to look at him. I guess eventually he got his wish!

Because I am a merciless and vengeful judge (well, I'm not a judge at all, but if I were), I wouldn't have given Chandreyi credit for a right answer in FJ. Armand Hammer's parents didn't name him Hammer--that was just the surname they had to work with, so that part was a given unless they changed their family name when it came to him. They named him Armand Hammer. The clue about the Socialist Labor Party symbol doesn't make sense without his whole name. Fortunately, it didn't make any difference as to who won and lost. But it's the principle of the thing. Isn't it? Merry Christmas to all of you! http://jewishcurrents.org/may-21-armand-hammer-36665 I thought so, too. I kept waiting to hear how his decision to be a stay-at-home dad was a crisis of conscience. I think he might not know what that means. He did know a lot of other stuff, though!

Actually, the syndrome is Munchausen, one h. It was named after Baron Munchausen, who was a literary character based on a real person named Münchhausen (an umlaut and two h's). So the syndrome is one h removed from the person who inspired the literary Munchausen who inspired the syndrome. Which makes about as much sense as the syndrome itself, but I think that's accurate and why you pretty much always see the syndrome spelled more simply than the original and now fairly obscure name. (See webmd, mayoclinic.org, medicinenet, nih.gov--all the official clinical sources.)

I was joking. I'm Jewish (with a fomerly Catholic father). I just thought it was funny, especially that none of them noticed or mentioned the humor in it.

I would make that pasta for sure. And I'd make the pork if I knew enough people who actually eat pork. (It made me laugh to see four Jews chowing down on ham for Christmas. What's wrong with that picture?) The rest of it was pretty much a waste of time. I think I've finally had enough of Jeffrey as a dim-witted but adorable boob who can't be trusted to spoon his own yogurt out of the container. And I found myself hoping that the real-life conversations Ina and Jeffrey have with their friends are more scintillating than the filmed-for-TV ones. I also had a fantasy while I was watching the cocoa-at-the-cabin segment that the Libermans own progressively smaller and smaller dwellings in the Berkshire woods, and they and the Gartens have to have a meal in each one, until all four friends are huddled in a doghouse around the world's tiniest table. But with an amazing centerpiece, of course.

I came here to see if anybody else noticed that the center seam of Zachary's ass cape (or whatever you'd call that thing) was horribly puckered. Nobody's mentioned it, so maybe I was just seeing things. I did notice that no one asked the model to turn around during close inspection, so maybe they just didn't want to have to acknowledge the pucker (assuming it really was there!). I have a feeling that Jaxson was saved over Jesse, whose work was so much better, to avoid embarrassing Tim, who kind of led him in the direction of using that silver fabric. Tim was definitely working overtime to talk Jaxson up and minimize his poor choice during the judges' discussion.

Superficial note: Loved Bianca's necklace.

If I found the host of a show so distasteful, I probably wouldn't be able to watch. I do think that Alex does some doofy and cringeworthy things, but IMO, on the "young lady" front, all of that negative interpretation may be freighting a whole lot of evil intent into a pretty innocent turn of phrase. A definite case of mileage varying, I guess.

He calls people "young man" as well. He's 75 years old. It's a thing people often do when they get to a certain age. It doesn't bother me. I think it's meant affectionately and in a fatherly/grandfatherly way.

I also loved it when at the end, Alex said, "Well done, young lady," and she said "What?" This could be fun.

It seems like they're being asked to dial it up, if anything. Somebody apparently thinks it's cute or entertaining. Nobody in my house, though. I agree, virtually nothing worthwhile in this episode, certainly nothing worth getting a headache over. Their days are numbered with me. And I used to really enjoy this show.

No, no--I was kidding. Please don't try this at home! Crushed Styrofoam, however, makes a great low-calorie substitute for mashed potatoes. (I'm kidding again. I'll stop now. Even though I'm privately envisioning an entire menu made of packing materials. Thanks, Jarrett.)

Boy, either the population as a whole has gotten a lot dumber very suddenly or whoever is in charge of choosing the contestants from the pool of qualifiers has totally checked out. (And how did some of these people qualify?) It's gotten embarrassing. In Jarrett's defense, my friend who does the turkey every Thanksgiving used Bubble Wrap (it's a trademark, believe it or not) instead of Stove Top this year, and it was delicious. Very light, with such an otherwise heavy meal. Kelly's granddad should take the test. And Alex might want to stop editorializing. That's our job.

Maybe she ran into Matt as he was leaving the ToC. And he smiled at her.

I'm glad I made you laugh, prin. Hop in and I'll give you a ride back up to the top of the board.

But the whole point of the category was that the words didn't rhyme, even though the way they look suggests they should. So losing a rhyme that doesn't exist shouldn't be a basis for ruling against it.

Another sympathy vote for Rob from me (I can't bag groceries right either), and I think he's got a basis for appeal. I just checked Webster's 11th (that's the dictionary of choice in most of the publishing industry, so I creepily have it open on my desktop all the time), and they give the phonetic version of "foilage" as a tertiary pronunciation, although that spelling is called nonstandard. It's probably the only way he's ever heard the word spoken in his neck of the woods. I may write the producers, because I don't already have enough to do. I liked Joyce least of all three fairly lackluster contestants tonight. Half the time she looked on the verge of stroking out. She behaved as if her life depended on winning this game. I hope it didn't.

I answered Denmark for the Tivoli Gardens clue, and I was a little surprised when they accepted Italy as the answer. But then there was an obviously edited-in comment from Alex saying that the "much more famous" one in Denmark would've been acceptable, too. I'm wondering if those of you who are asking about Denmark didn't get that addendum.

I don't really think that Colin was deliberately imitating Laura on his "pear" answer, but it would be pretty funny if he were. I imagine it might've gotten slightly more annoying to have to stand next to that for an entire show than just hear it on TV. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K0Tz8SmST8 Okay, now I'm done making fun of her. If she wasn't aware of it before, she sure is now. Maybe she'll figure out how to stop.

That segment was sponsored by Hidden Valley Ranch. You must've missed it when they flashed it on-screen, along with showing the Hidden Valley logo several times. If that kind of thing is going to be a regular feature, I'm totally giving up on this show. Even the stars are starting to look as if they're over it. Was it just my TV, or did all of those turkeys look really dry when carved? And everyone was making a point of saying how moist each one of them was?

I'm voting for bone-stupid. In the hallterview he said, "Watch out for people like her dog." Indeed.

Aaaargh! https://vine.co/v/eLtrdFKXDv6 It's not vocal fry, and it's not really a regional accent. It's clearly some kind of affectation, but I've absolutely run up against a brick wall trying to identify it. What it reminds me of most is something we used to call, when I was growing up in and around NYC, "Larchmont Lockjaw," although this piece by William Safire reminds me it really should've been Locust Valley Lockjaw: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1987-01-26/news/0100310012_1_lockjaw-larchmont-locust-valley I think it has a similar basis to vocal fry--wanting to identify with a more sophisticated group than the one you really belong to--but the fryers emulate people like the Kardashians and Katie Perry, and Laura's trying for the socialite, country-clubby speech mannerism. Either way it's like fingernails on my nerve endings. I guess I should get over it. But I'm really hoping some speech pathologist will come out of the woodwork to explain it all to us. There are no coincidences.

Scooch over and make room at the kids' table, mojoween. "CU next Tuesday" was my first thought, too. But then it occurred to me that this was Jeopardy! so . . . no. I would've just said Benedict for the pope clue. Since there wasn't a Benedict before XVI for something like a hundred and fifty years, I think they might've accepted the name without the number. (Like I know what's in the judges' minds.)

I've only watched about the first half of this so far, so maybe something really exciting happened that I've missed. But it occurred to me that Andy could've saved himself a lot of excess verbiage in that disclaimer at the beginning and just said, "Please be advised that everything this shitbag is about to say is a lie."

Yeah, I get that they're all playing "strategically," but strategy is only as good as the context of the moment. He was playing against Matt the Monster, and fate threw him a DD in the second-easiest position. And it turned out to actually be a very easy answer. Sometimes you have to bend with the breeze. (I don't know what that means, but it seems wise.) Weirdly, after today's show, I thought I'd go check out that "Hear what Alex and the contestants are talking about" video on the show website, except they had yesterday's post-show chat up instead of today's. And Alex was agreeing with me--which I know isn't necessarily a good thing in these parts, but . . . He was kind of chiding John for letting that exact opportunity get away. So I may not be right about that, but at least I'm in hostly company. My brain froze on Uncle Junior's nickname, but I remembered his much more obscure real name--Corrado. I wonder if they'd have accepted that?