Mondrianyone

You're not the only one. Am I misremembering, or could John have put the game away if he'd wagered bravely on that DD he got correct? When a DD is in the second position, odds are it's going to be pretty easy. That was a gift, and he blew it by being ridiculously cautious. That's how women usually wager. (I'm allowed to say that, since I am one. I've spent several decades screaming at female contestants to bet big. I think some of them finally started to listen.)

I remembered Kristen because she's married to another TOC contestant, whose first name I can't recall--but he looked a lot like Howdy Doody and was always smiling. I knew the reference in FJ had to be to the Era of Good Feeling, but I'm always mixing up Madison and Monroe, and I ran true to form again today. But I'm saying I redeemed myself by knowing "terza rima" when none of them did. I doubt the judges would agree with me.

Charley kind of did have one of those froufrou poodle cuts. I say we blame Steinbeck's wife, but compared to the poor poodle I've got as my avatar, Charley didn't look all that bad.

For those who aren't signed up for Netflix, Season 1 is also available on Amazon Video, all episodes for free if you happen to have Amazon Prime. Now I wish TPTB would get off the stick and release another season already. I agree about the meaninglessness of Star Baker if the wins aren't taken into account in some way. And if they aren't, there should at least be some tangible prize awarded each week for whoever's named Star Baker. I didn't find an article written by Ruby at your link, GaT. But when I went looking for something like it, I found this: http://www.nowmagazine.co.uk/celebrity-news/ruby-tandoh-mary-berry-bake-off-twitter-312449. Apparently she's not the delicate little flower she seemed to be during the show. I get people wanting to say snarky things about Paul, but being mean to Mary??? It makes my luscious lower lip want to quiver prettily and my big green eyes fill with tears.

One of my first jobs in publishing was in an allied field to the romance genre. Most of the men--and there weren't a lot of them--wrote under female assumed names. Just the opposite of what women had to do to get published in the olden days, ironically. So that might be why these two guys weren't promoting their titles. Probably want to preserve the illusion. Pretentiously Intellectual Sauté Syndrome. Good name, unfortunate acronym. ;o

I don't even know if it was vocal fry. There wasn't a lot of scratchiness. But it was so pretentious-sounding (even though otherwise she seemed like a nice woman) that I'm going to call it vocal sauté. At least until I know what the official term for it is.

I'm sorry Beca's gone, too. It's awful that they insist on having you endure an interview when you're barely able to speak for sobbing, but I guess that's part of the deal. She did make me laugh during the first challenge, when she had flour all over her nose. It looked as if she'd dunked her face into a big bowl of cocaine to get through the weekend! And way to suck all the attention toward yourself, Ruby. Even when she's not the one eliminated, it's her suffering that takes center stage. I honestly don't know why someone who seems to find the whole competition such a weepy ordeal is in it in the first place. Just in passing, I don't think I realized till this episode how beautiful Frances is.

Maybe the I is only silent if you have really low self-esteem.

Her tops were nice both days. But whoever's been picking out her pants is not her friend. And oh, Damien. Maybe it's the name. The Exorcist, The Omen, leprosy, and now this. Do not name your child Damien, that's my advice.

That really made me laugh! Just the quickness of it and how if you blinked, you missed the joke. Sue and Mel were a teeny bit annoying to me at first, but they've both completely grown on me now, and I think that what they bring to the show is priceless. Not to mention that you need to be extraordinarily well read and well educated to be as funny as they are in just the way that they are. I may be in the wrong thread on this, but the gingham joke (and I'm about to do my whole kitchen floor in a gingham pattern, so I really appreciated that) forced me to acknowledge how much I love these two.

It was for a clue in the "Bet" category where the answer should've been "betray" but she said "betrayal." And her answer was wrong, but they gave it to her. She was getting all the mercy rulings for some reason. I'd like to force those judges to sit through a tutorial on parts of speech someday. Because sometimes a noun and a verb are the same, but sometimes they aren't. It's not that hard.

I'm donating my body to science fiction. (I stole that from Rodney Dangerfield. But it needed to be said.) From what I could see of the bits of chandelier in the photo, the idea that it appraised for $24K is beyond laughable. I went through a crystal-chandelier phase (never actually bought one, but I did shop a lot online), and if that one was worth even $1K, I'd be shocked. Kind of telling that after the verdict he said, "I can't believe she didn't buy my story about the chandelier!" Because that's what you always say when you've told the truth and nothing but the truth.

Well, he is a Special Snowflake. Because ultimately he wants to direct.

Sometimes it doesn't matter, but sometimes if you reverse the order, the response doesn't satisfy the clue. The clue in this case was "Any action word used in a short publicity statement." So the key part of the answer would be "word." A blurb isn't a word, but a verb is. So the answer should be "verb" modified by "blurb," not the other way around. A blurb verb is a word used in a short publicity statement. A verb blurb would maybe be a blurb made up of verbs. One's the right answer for the given clue, the other isn't. Not that it makes a difference to anybody but me and Totale, even though it should to the judges.

Just this annoying seasonal allergy thing. Actually, probably more annoying for the people around me who have to listen to it. Thanks! I'll be past it soon. Not just you. I said the same thing above. Sometimes I wonder if the judges can read. Or are awake.

Ah, Thanks. I must have been coughing over him when he answered, since that's all I've been doing for the last couple of days. I thought he said yes to Alex's question. Either way, rent control or inheriting an apartment with a river view--pretty sweet deal for him.

When I was in grade school, they would show us films in the auditorium over lunchtime if it was raining. One day--I think I was about eight or nine--some genius ran a film about the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya, featuring a scene showing the victors drinking the eyeball fluid of the people they killed. It was a tough school district. If it's rent-controlled, which he said it was when Alex asked him, then he wouldn't own it. Rent control goes away when an apartment is purchased as a co-op or condo. I agree about "tropical" being unacceptable. There was also an answer in the rhyming category that I thought shouldn't have been accepted--the correct answer should've been "blurb verb" but "verb blurb" was allowed--which wasn't responsive to the clue. I can't remember the wording, but it was clearly wrong. I usually appreciate it when a contestant mispronounces a word or name and Alex says it again, but correctly. That way people who don't know the word won't get imprinted with the wrong pronunciation. Today, though, the outgoing champ (I think that's who it was) answered Nah-BOW-kov and Alex corrected him to NAH-boh-kov, which is the anglicized version, but the way the contestant said it was actually correct. I know this because my husband speaks Russian, and that's how he says it. Sometimes Alex is a little too impressed with himself. My husband watched with me tonight, and he could only think of pinko, too! I told him that we have a giant bleeding-heart plant a few feet from our front door, but he just blanked on it. I wasn't sorry the champ flamed out tonight. I could be on the verge of yelling at kids to get off my lawn, but I thought that reenacting the invasion of Normandy with paintballs seemed really disrespectful. I'll just go drink some prune juice and go to bed.

If a guy who's running for president of the United States can restyle himself as Jeb!, then I guess it's hard to fault some jerk on Jeopardy! (hmmm, maybe that's where he got the idea!) for doing the same thing. I'm pretty sure Josh! will be gone soon. It's a pretty small price to pay for seeing the back end of Matt and his Mephistophelian smile. I'm still having nightmares.

But asking Connie would force him to acknowledge that he doesn't know everything, which seems to be an impossible thing for him to admit. (Leon strikes me as the kind of guy who if you said to him, "Leon, the primary would like you to come to the table and show the guests how to do cold fusion," he'd say he knew how to do it, but the quality of the electrodes available down there was too poor, so he wouldn't try. In other words, a know-it-all asshole.) Plus, Connie is a woman, so putting himself in the position of asking her to show her expertise as greater than his will not happen in our lifetime. Too bad he's a father of girls.

I don't think the runner analogy holds up. Competitive athletes like runners aren't required (or even able, for the most part) to be conversational and to interact personally with their fellow runners or with referees or timers or other officials during the event. There's no "Let's stop at the end of the first lap and tell interesting anecdotes about our lives" feature in any athletic contest. But things like that are absolutely built into this one. I don't find much pleasure in watching someone robotically spit out strings of factoids and congratulate himself along the way. (And it's a skill I value, because I'm pretty good at it myself, except not absent any likability). But mileage obviously varies. I'm one of the anecdotally insignificant viewers who'll be signing off until this particular run is over.

But Matt isn't just there to play the game. He's there by invitation, as a guest of the production company and of Alex, and he has the same duties that a guest in any context would have. If you went to someone's house for dinner and found that the host was a bit of a boob (or knew he was in advance and went anyway), would that justify your being rude to him? Being unpleasant and interrupting him at every turn? A big part of your job as a guest (which the contestant people reminded us of frequently when I was on two different shows) is to be personable, and entertaining, and at the very least polite to the host and the other guests (no Pow! Bam! Victory sign! if you finished your soup before everybody else, let's say). Alex has no duty to adjust his style to Matt's. It's the other way around,, especially when the host is handing you a big check at the end of this particular "dinner." Matt may be fast and smart, but he's a complete boor.

I guess this is more of a rhetorical question than a real one requiring an answer, but can you tell me what Kate did that could be interpreted as racist, if one were so inclined? Unless I missed it, I can't think of any interaction that Kate has had with Leon that's indicative of racism on her part. When he came aboard, she greeted him in a cordial, informative way, and he replied with the sorts of demands that one would make of a maid--or at least a menial subordinate. No kindness, no friendliness, just "Get me this and do that." So I see what looks like sexism coming from him (or at best coldness and an air of superiority), but until he froze the air between them, I didn't see anything except friendliness from her in their first interaction. Edited for typo.

I suspect that Leon also has trouble taking anything resembling an "order" from a woman. Just a feeling.

I would prefer to watch an actual human play the game. Matt's wiring doesn't seem to be all properly hooked up.

I can't remember anything about what I saw on today's show, except . . . when did Woody Allen become Mexican???