Mondrianyone

Oh, no, I didn't mean she ever said anything like that. That would be beyond tacky. Yes, just one of those dopey sites that claim to know celebrities' net worth, whose crazy claims are then taken as gospel by people who should know better, for reasons I can't quite fathom. I read it on the Internet, so it must be true.

Apparently Carole has never heard of epistolary novels. She could Google it on her laptop. Also, can we have a show of hands from anyone who believes that she's really worth $50 million and isn't doing this show at least in large part because she needs the paycheck?

On an almost unrelated subject. Somehow it didn't occur to me until reading all this divorce stuff, but I just realized that that poor little boy will have to go through his entire life saddled with the name Jagger Wainstein. It's almost like an R. Crumb character or something. Probably the least of his problems right now, but still . . .

Actually, they do say that: "Real News Public Relations is the country’s first all-journalist Dallas based PR firm, staffed exclusively by former award-winning reporters, editors, producers, and marketing experts." Right above the display of corporate logos. Apparently no award-winning proofreaders, though.

Are they actually her designs? (This is a legit question--I don't know the answer for sure.) I had the impression she was ordering caftans that were already manufactured--the box she carried into the dressing room tonight said "Made in China" on it--and selling them online. That somehow morphed, as it always does on Bravo shows, into "her fashion line." But if she's really got any part in the creative end, credit to her. There's not a lot to designing a caftan, but whoever creates those prints has a nice eye for color. And now we have another "Is this a real disease or is it Memorex?" storyline. Seriously?

The camera was on Anna so seldom during the actual match that I don't remember if she was doing it then, too, but during the chat segment and again when FJ answers were revealed, she was leaning sideways with one arm on the podium as if she were nursing a beer. I found that kind of odd. I remember reading somewhere about a study concluding that people's reflexes were better and their brains sharper if they were sitting or standing straight. So maybe there's something to that. And if you've already dug yourself a hole, you're not going to climb out of it by picking the hardest clues--you've already kind of proven you can't answer the simpler ones, so where's the logic in that? On a shallow (shallower?) note, I did like the colors she was wearing, and I loved her pink flats.

It is hard to get published by a major house, but it's a whole lot easier if you're a famous person--or fame-adjacent like Carole was. And it was especially easier in the years following JFK Jr.'s death, which kind of revived the whole Camelot nostalgia. I worked on a book by one of his friends, who was someone that nobody had ever heard of (and it was a book that had literally no merit). They were practically hunting people down who had the most tenuous connection to JFK Jr. and handing out book contracts like pizzeria flyers. So maybe Carole, who hadn't spent years in the trenches (the trenches of developing skills as a writer, not the TV-news-producing trenches), didn't have a clear sense of what a gift she'd been handed and thought it was something she'd always be privileged with in the future. And since she didn't have to work toward it in the past, assumed she wouldn't have to work for it in the future. I don't know. People think they're entering some sort of magic circle that they'll never be evicted from. It kind of looks as if she's in the process of being delivered from that delusion. I think that the building code requires every dwelling place to have a means of ingress and egress, so I'm going to say yes, it has a drop-seat. Carole does need to go walk the dog occasionally.

I agree with this. It isn't nearly a big enough word to convey the breathtaking shittery that she's pulling on other people while doing far worse--in the same category of behavior--than they are. If you took "hypocrite" and threw it into a blender along with "charlatan" and "mountebank" and "four-flusher" and "whited sepulchre"--then tossed in "wolf in sheep's clothing" for good measure, in honor of how she was raised--along with a jigger of Skinny Girl swill, and set it for frappé, the result might be a word equal to the breadth of the giant chasm between her own behavior and the standards to which she holds others. But not just "hypocrite" for sure. Not to mention that trying to get other people fired from their jobs just because you personally don't like them is lower than dirt. It would be fun to see Bethy drink the wrong water in Mexico, come down with a raging case of Montezuma's revenge, and watch Carole come shooting out along with all the rest of the flotsam and jetsam that must be lodged up there to create such a poisonous personality. Why she's not marketing a drink branded Angry Girl is anybody's guess.

I suspect there are actual wolves walking around in the woods wearing T-shirts that say, "REALLY, WE'RE NOT THE ONES WHO RAISED HER!" Because if I were a wolf, I'd want to make sure no one thought she was mine. Seriously, that was ugly, as Scoobie says, in the usual figurative sense, but it was also scary ugly in the literal sense--the expression she got on her face was horrific--eyes glittering, lips drawn back over her teeth in some kind of rictus predator grimace, veins standing out behind the stretched skin on her forehead. If I were Bethenny (and I'm grateful not to be), I'd avoid letting that level of rage show just on an aesthetic basis. Very ugly look for her. With every new utterance from her, Carole is solidifying my suspicions about her as a writer. The smart glasses and the laptop balanced on her knees aren't enough to convince me otherwise. I think she's just Googling for sweatshirts with cute sayings on them.

Can you tell me which clue involved lobster and Maine? I have absolutely no memory of that one! I must've blacked out. (Too much lobster?)

I think the larger point is that a person who isn't a member of a particular ethnic, racial, religious, whatever group should not be telling a person who is a member of that group what the right way is for that person to refer to him- or herself. It's beyond the height of arrogance.

I haven't watched tonight's ep yet, but after coming here to read, I can't wait. Last year I relentlessly tracked down those statuettes and posted what I found out about them. Here you go (the post is about halfway down): http://forums.previously.tv/topic/27586-s07e10-pop-of-crazy/?page=3

Yeah, the BMS was wrong on Northern Ireland, but then again he was also clearly about to be prompted for a BMS when he just said Loyola, like there are hundreds, or even twos, of Loyolas to choose from. So it's kind of a wash. Mot/hot was definitely ridiculous, especially for an English professor, who surely should have heard someone say that phrase in the course of her education, somewhere. Buzzy did kind of win my heart when he talked about being excited to be watched by Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner. The 2,000-Year-Old Man albums are about as good as comedy gets, IMO. So I can't hate on him.

Oy, PTV went offline just as I clicked "Submit." I got pareo, The Moonstone, both Young TSs, and some others. I forgot my recorder. And I got Duchamp after briefly considering Georges Braque. Of all the multi-win champs I can think of, Buzzy seems to be benefiting from really weak competition more than most. There was really crying at the end? I missed it. There's no crying in Jeopardy! ETA: I meant to say that I thought Buzzy told us on day one that he played at Carnegie Hall as a student pianist, yes? Which makes it odd that he misses so many classical-music clues. So many clues in general, actually.

It sounds like a combination intimate shaving and feminine hygiene product when you put it like that.

This was supposed to be the first night I actually kept a record of TSs I got. All you guys keep track, and by the time the game is over, I've forgotten 90% of what I meant to remember. I hate to write things down, so I thought I'd try a recorder. I chose a very bad night for my bold experiment. Sorry about the T-shirt. I agree that Buzzy's no Hall of Famer--he manages to be better enough than his competition, but that isn't saying much lately. I wish he would stop douching it up at the beginning and end of the show. He's fine the rest of the time.

Okay, I would never advocate violence against another human being, but if Victor decided to punch himself in the face after that game, it wouldn't break my heart. Today was the very first time I remembered to have my little micro-recorder on hand so I could keep track of the TSs I got. But after only two of them (and there were a lot more than two), I was so distracted by screaming at Victor not to keep starting at $2,000 when he never once knew the answer to the hardest clue and groaning every time he buzzed in and then took ten minutes to guess that I completely forgot. What an annoying guy, and boy, did he slow things down. Even Alex was fed up with him.

Maybe he meant "bris-ened."

Yay! I was rooting for Matthew Weiner from the get-go (before the get-go, actually), and he won! No one I root for ever wins. I wonder if Melissa would've liked it if Weiner had tossed his hair (which in itself would've been an amazing accomplishment) and said that his soul was broken every time she got something wrong. What an assholey, bad-sport move. The "Mad Tom" part of the clue confused me, so I didn't get the Sherman answer. I wonder where they got Tom out of William Tecumseh? Google probably knows. I'm glad this is done. Carpe and I both can't wait for Buzzy Redux. ;o)

[Embarrassing shallow observation] It didn't hurt that he was cute as a button either. [/Embarrassing shallow observation]

Toni Morrison, one of the greatest American writers living or dead, worked as an editor at Random House for something like thirty years, while also writing novels. Jackie Kennedy worked as an editor and had a pretty good reputation, but I don't think anyone considered her a writer. Some editors are terrific writers, some aren't. Some people can do both very well, some can't do either. I think that generalization just ignores reality.

I typed that and then deleted it. I figure by the time you're famous enough, we'll have moved past that crap. I know, I'm delusional.

My cat's name is Fontina! (It's also her favorite cheese, which vindicates me in having given her what my husband at first said was a really stupid name.) You can't go with "macaroni" to rhyme with "baloney"? Or "Silvio Berlusconi"? Or "pepperoni"? Or "zamboni"? "My little pony"? I don't think you're really trying. I love the Stella poem! I wouldn't be surprised to see you in the Famous Poets category someday. Assuming your real name is Prevailing Wind, that is.

They're actually not deadly to cats (or dogs either), although they're listed as "toxic" in the broadest sense. The sap can be a mild irritant to their mouths or give them an upset stomach. I've had both cats and dogs around poinsettias, and nothing bad ever happened. I think Vinny should be okay.

I think LuAnn's gaydar temporarily broke over the summer. Or maybe they really were just sleeping together. I always get the feeling when Bethenny walks into her office that the women who work there look at her as if D. B. Cooper just parachuted into the room. I don't get the sense she's there a lot. "Parted ways" sounds like a euphemism for Carole's publisher dropped her after she failed to deliver on her contract. If so, that's not going to help her and her boyfriend find a place for their manuscript, assuming it ever materializes.