Long time no see

I haven’t blogged in a long, long time.  I started a post in January, but never finished it.  That sucks because I was reading what I had written so far and it was about a jury that I was on. I was going to write all about the case, but now that it’s nearly September, I doubt I would remember enough of the details to make it interesting to anyone.  I wish I had finished it back then because it was such a great experience for me.

I’m having a bad experience right now. Sneezing.  I have to take an allergy pill.  The other day I took one and it made me drowsy.  It was the “non-drowsy” kind, but it put me to sleep anyway.  I really don’t want to have that feeling, but the alternative will not do either.  I’m about ready to die… not really, but…

OK… I just got back from the medicine cabinet and guess what I found out.  There are two packages of allergy medicine in there.  The one I took last time does not say “non-drowsy” anywhere on it.  So I guess that explains that.  I should definitely pay closer attention to medicine I’m taking. 

Changing the subject…  Anyone watching Big Brother this season?  I actually broke down and ordered Showtime so I could watch the “After Dark” shows.  The problem is my stupid DVR won’t always record it.  So unless I’m up at midnight to manually push the record button at that time, I don’t see it.  The night before last I stayed up because my DVR wouldn’t record it… I think it’s temperamental about the date change, but every time I set it to record, I set it to record every episode automatically.  So I shouldn’t have to do it every night.  But most of the time it doesn’t work.  Last night I went to bed early (about 11:30) and asked my kids to make sure it records (they were up playing video games), but either they forgot or couldn’t get it to work and gave up.  Anyway, I’m pissed off and that’s why I’m blogging right now. 

I really like Jeff and Jordan.  Jeff’s not too bright when it comes to book smarts, but he’s the most mature of the houseguests, knows how to play the game wisely and fairly,… and the best looking in a long time.  I thought at the beginning of the season that I wouldn’t like Jordan based on past seasons’ blonde bimbos, but she turned out to be a real sweetheart.  I love them together… they’re so cute.  

I hate how I spend so much time watching these people and once the show is over, they’re never heard from again.  I want to know what will happen between the two of them.  I probably will never know, though.  But for now, I think Jeff is really in love with her.  For some reason, she doesn’t have the same feelings for him.  Maybe she does, and she is just protecting herself in case things go wrong and he has to evict her or she has to evict him.  If there are hard feelings either way, it would definitely hurt more.  But, I think they both understand how the game works and there’s no guarantee that they will be in the final two together.  But I hope they are.  It doesn’t matter to me which one wins.  Jeff is my favorite, but Jordan might need the money more.

If neither Jeff or Jordan win, I would root for Kevin.  I don’t like Natalie that much and although it was smart game play to start the lie about Russell, Kevin did the hard part.  They really lucked out that although it was a lie, it was also true.  I mean, they didn’t actually overhear Russell making plans to get Jeff out, but he really did have plans to get Jeff out, so Lucky Them.  I don’t think Natalie deserves to win just because she got lucky on that one.  She hasn’t won anything… except poker.  You can’t count the first competition because Russell was still in the game at the end, too.  So, unless she wins the next two POV’s or something, she should go soon.  She won’t go this week.  Well, the only way is if Kevin nominates Michelle and either Jeff or Jordan, then either Jordan or Jeff (whichever is not on the block) wins POV, then Kevin will have to put her up.  Then, Jeff and Jordan will decide who goes home.  It probably doesn’t matter which one of the girls leaves at this point, but I would guess they’d keep Natalie since she’s no threat… she never wins.  And in that case, it would be Jeff, Jordan, and Natalie for the next HOH, so chances are excellent that at least one of them (Jeff or Jordan) would be in the final two. 

Assuming that Michelle is nominated this week and doesn’t win POV, I’m pretty sure she’ll be evicted.  If so, I’ve come up with the remaining scenarios.  Since Kevin cannot be HOH, he has the worst chances for next week.  POV is the only way to be safe in this game from here on.  I think Jeff and Jordan would be making a mistake if they ended up evicting Natalie over Kevin.  He’s well liked and could win against either of them… I think.  Jesse did say he might just vote for Jeff.  I don’t know if the others would or not… probably.  I think it’s anyone’s game.  My prediction is that either Jeff or Kevin wins.  Or Jordan. No, Jeff.  Final answer.

One post for American Idol

I didn’t take the time to post my opinions of American Idol this season, even though I enjoyed this season very much and had a few things to say.  I’ll just do it all now… the morning after the finale; the morning of the finale results. 

Right from the get-go, back when they brought on the final 24, I have loved that little David Archuleta. When he first started singing, I remember it just made me smile.  I enjoyed him so much and I was happily surprised at his ability to entertain.

He’s not the only one I like, though.  I enjoyed this season so much because there weren’t any real duds in the entire top 24.  There were a couple I would have put in the top 12 instead of a couple who ended up there, but mostly I liked everyone anyway.  They can’t all win, so I can live with the way it went.

I started to get a little annoyed with the judges, however.  Even though Simon wasn’t his usual obnoxious self for most of the season, it was easy to see who he wanted in the finale.  He knows that “The Davids” were the money makers for him.  David Archuleta will sell to the teen and old lady crowd and David Cook to just about everyone else.  So, when Syesha blew them away last week and several other times before, the judges, especially Simon, gave her false bad feedback.  I mean, as much as I like both of the Davids, they kind of sucked last week. Syesha didn’t in any way.  That’s why I think the judges should just shut up at this point.  If they could sit there and critique without being biased, that would be great, but it’s completely obvious that they were looking at dollar signs or pressured by the producers for that reason.

That said, I would like to voice my opinion on last night’s performances.  During the first round, I thought they were both really, really good.  Vocally, David Archuleta was better, but David Cook was very entertaining and unique.  The second round I liked both songs.  I thought they each picked songs that fit their own styles and personalities… way better than that lame song last year!  Both were performed equally well in my opinion. And the last song for each was also excellent for both of them.  I liked that David Cook sang a song he’d never performed before, but David Archuleta’s rendition of Imagine was so great the first time, I didn’t mind hearing it again.

So, do I care who wins? No.  Would I like to make a prediction? Well, OK.  I think it will be David Archuleta.  Why? I don’t know.  I just think he’s the American Idol type, I guess.  I also think I’ve heard more people say that they like him the most, the judges have favored him all season, and although they’ve been just as nice to David Cook, I have a feeling Cook is like Bo Bice and Chris Daughtry… and Blake Lewis, kinda… not quite pop enough.

********************* UPDATE–after the results show ************************

OK… so I was wrong. Wow! That was a really entertaining show!  I loved all the duets!  One thing about this season that I really didn’t enjoy and forgot to mention earlier is the group songs on elimination night each week.  For one thing, David Cook and Jason Castro, among a few of the others, look totally out of place doing that Osmond Brothers/Mickey Mouse Club kind of performance.  The other problem is that as opposed to other seasons’ finalists, all of these are lead singers and their styles are so different from each other that they didn’t blend well at all.  Last year, maybe because a few of them were professional backup singers, the group songs were quite entertaining.  Anyway, tonight I really loved the song the Davids sang together and a few of the group numbers were good.  I also enjoyed David Cook with ZZ Top, Brooke with Graham Nash, and that they had Jason sing Hallelujah again (I love that song!)  I thought Carly and Michael’s duet was terrific and I liked Kristy Leigh Cook’s parts (I always thought she was better than they gave her credit for).

Good for David Cook! I feel a little bit bad for David Archuleta. Although he doesn’t have anything to worry about.  I doubt his career would be any different. David Cook would still sell more albums in the long run.  But, I think David Cook could have handled second place better.  Oh, well.  They both did great and now my Tuesday and Wednesday nights are completely free, Yippee!!!

Emmy Awards 2007

I don’t have time to post a long, complete opinion of the awards, but I just want to say:  That show sucked!!!

I’m either happy or satisfied with the winners, but the show itself was terrible! The few exceptions I can think of were Tony Bennett and Christina Aguilera’s duet, most of the dresses I saw, and Jeremy Piven’s win.

I’m quite perturbed that Fox cut Sally Field’s acceptance speech. Fox is so anti-American. If she was spouting off about her love of Bush, they would have simply bleeped the explitive instead of cutting away rudely.

Fox sucks shit.

Big Brother 8 – Post #10

Now, that was interesting! I actually clapped my hands when they revealed the vote.  This is the way it should be.  At this point in the game, strategy is key.  Nobody should trust anybody… with the possible exception of Dick and Danielle trusting each other.  If Eric remains honest in regard to America’s wishes, he could do well in his alliance with Jessica. What I mean is, since he must vote as directed, as long as he can come up with a good reason to, he should be able to be honest with her about who he’s voting for and keep her trust and alliance.

I’m going to make a prediction as to who Daniele will nominate.  I predict Eric and Jessica.  Everyone has to start playing with their heads instead of their hearts.  I think that is beginning to happen as of this episode.  So, why do I predict Eric and Jessica? Let’s look at Daniele’s options: Amber. She has no power in the house. Jameka. Same thing. I’m sure Daniele and Dick both would not mind seeing either of them go, but strategically they’re not a threat at this point so keep ’em. Zach. Not a threat at this point although no one knows if he’s saving it up for a crucial moment.  He could be an asset in the future.  Jen. I don’t know if Daniele realizes but Jen cannot be trusted. She obviously is playing to win, doesn’t care about making friends, and is a fierce competitor.  She would be a good one to nominate except for the fact that she’s really on her own with no known alliance, so not as much of a threat at this point as someone in an alliance. Dick. Well, that would just be stupid.  Eric and Jessica have to be split up.  Actually, she’d be smart to do everything in her power to get Eric evicted.  Jessica is not a threat without him, and he’s the smartest one in the house and the biggest threat, as far as they all know.  His only real alliance, though, is with Jessica (as long as she knew he was voting to evict Dustin).  Amber and Jameka must know that he voted to keep Dick and, I don’t know for sure, but they’ve got to be unhappy with that (again, unless he told them ahead of time).  The point is that the LNC is now defunct.  The only alliance D&D have to worry about is Eric & Jess, so they both have to go up.

I’m making one other prediction and that is who America will vote for Eric to try to get nominated.  I’m voting for Amber, just because she’s the one I would honestly pick if I was on Eric’s side.  He should want her to nominate Dick, but knowing that would be a wasted effort, he’s going to want to push for something realistic.  If I were Eric, I would use the fact that I voted to keep Dick, sacraficing my alliance with Amber, Dustin, and Jameka. Dustin’s gone. So, that leaves Amber and Jameka and it doesn’t matter who goes, but Amber is annoying and Jameka isn’t.  Also, if he likes Amber at all, knowing she’s not a benefit to him anymore, send her to sequester with her good buddy Dustin… she’ll be happy to be there.  So, that’s what I would do, but as for the rest of America, I predict they will vote for him to have to try to get Jessica nominated… FIENDS!

Big Brother 8 – Post #9

Well, now.  I hardly know what to say.  Dick is a dick. I guess I understand his motives, but I think he’s not playing smart.  He wants to be intimidating to throw people off their game and to doubt their alliances, but he should not be alienating himself at the same time.  I hope he goes through with his plan to get himself booted so that Daniele can stay and make a new alliance.  She says that she doesn’t like anyone in the house, but if Dick was gone, I think things would be sooooo much better for her.  He really would be doing her a favor by sacrificing himself.

I might have said this before, but I’m getting a little pissed off that America isn’t being fair to America’s Player.  I’m sure they probably told him from the beginning that America might try to sabbotage his game, or maybe being as smart as he is, he’s figured it out by now, but it doesn’t seem that way.  He seems angry, as I would be if I were him, and annoyed that America’s wishes don’t seem to coincide with his.  But, to me, it’s not only that they don’t coincide, but they seem to be deliberately the opposite of what an intelligent, strategic player would do.  And that’s what pisses me off.  I mean if it was just that we could see something about, say Dustin, that would make us want him out of the house, and we were trying to give him a hint, that’d be one thing, but this is just mean and wrong.  He did a fairly good job in spite of that by mentioning that Dustin said he’d like to be put up just to show Dick who would stay and who would go.  Eric lucked out with that.

Big Brother 8 – post #8

I skipped an episode or two, but it gives me more to write this time.  Wow, what an interesting week, huh? Unbelievable!

I think Eric is kind of a jerk.  I think he’s a smart guy, but a bad liar.  He laughs when he lies and it’s completely transparent.  However, I want him to stay in the game for a while for a few reasons.  One of which is that having an America’s Player in the house is a pretty interesting twist and being America’s Player is not advantageous to him, so I believe he should be given a bit of a break.

Now, I said he’s smart… I believe he really is, but that doesn’t make him infallable. It was really stupid of him to tell Dick what he did about Amber.  What good did he think it would do him to tell Dick that he had something on her when she was completely on his side?  On the other hand, why in God’s good name would Amber ever tell a secret like that to anyone in a place where every word is recorded and all of America will potentially hear it?  So, I’m upset with both of them, because they both were pretty stupid.

So, I was fairly sure after she confronted him in front of the whole house that he had no hope of staying.  Boy she was mad, wasn’t she? LOL!!  Then, as they were voting and he ended up staying, I was like: What the heck happened in the meantime?  They didn’t show that part at all.  So, after the show last night I spent quite a while on the message board and then YouTube watching the feeds and then it made perfect sense.  When they show you someone going off on someone like Amber to Eric, and they show you Dick yelling at him for lying so much and Daniele so livid after figuring out that he was the 2nd vote both times and everyone talking bad about him, you kind of forget about the strategy for a while.  I was just thinking he was going home cuz everyone was so mad at him.  But of course his alliance wants to keep him for as long as necessary till they’re a majority without him… then he’s expendable.  I’m so slow!  I would do so bad at this game!  I’m sure most of these guys have watched enough Big Brother and Survivor to know how it’s done… I’ve only seen two seasons of Big Brother and not even a full season of Survivor.  Good thing for me, I guess, that I would never get on either show.

Alright, so now that Jessica is HOH, what do I want to happen?  I know that she won’t nominate anyone in her alliance… at least I don’t see any advantage to that at this point.  My opinion is that they have to split Daniele and Dick up.  Of course, I don’t want that to happen because I like them, but at this point I think I agree with Daniele that it was a mistake to vote Nick out.  She shouldn’t have gone along with the group and maybe Nick would have been able to stay giving her the bigger alliance.  As it is now, her only ally is her Dad, and that’s just not enough against the other alliance.  Given that, I think there’s little hope for either of them.  That’s too bad.  I don’t really have another favorite.  It might be a bit too early to pick one.  You never know what will happen, for instance, if Dick goes next and Eric follows.  Danielle could make a new alliance.  Without Dick, I think people would realize she’s a nice girl who’s smart and strategic and would be an asset as a friend.  Therefore, I really hate to say it, but I think Dick must go this week.  Jess should put him and Danielle up, with a back-up choice of Jen.

Who knows?  I could be completely wrong, but I’m still learning.  Let’s just wait and see if I’m at least close.

Big Brother 8 – Post #7

Tonight’s episode was really, really good!  I knew ahead of time most of what was going to happen cuz of all the digging I did the other day, but I really enjoyed Dick and Eric’s argument at the hammock.  Eric really held his own there for a while.  He’s a pretty quick thinker, it seems.  Although, two things:  He did make the mistake of campaining for Nick to go instead of trying to get more of them to get Kail voted out last time; And, Dick’s no dummy either.  Dick can be so gross, vulgar, and rude, but he is still my favorite in this house. 

I have to go vote for who I want Eric to set up an alliance with, and I hope that America doesn’t try to sabbotage him by voting something stupid like Jen, Daniele, Kail, or Dick.  First of all, Jen and Kail are leaving soon, so that would be dumb of him… it wouldn’t be logical.  And of course, Daniele and Dick have each other, so that wouldn’t be logical.  It would have to be someone that he would naturally approach to form an alliance.  I think either Dustin or Jessica.  He’s got a safer bet with Jessica, because a few more people like her.  Also, she trusted him enough to tell him what Danielle and Dick were talking to her about in the HOH room.  I’m voting for Jessica.  I hope you do, too.

Peace.

Big Brother 8 – Post #6

At the moment that I’m writing this, the CBS website does not indicate who the new HOH is.  I don’t get the live feeds or Showtime.  So, I did a Google search and I found out.  I’m not going to mention it in this post, though, because I just really want to write about last night’s episode.

Nick is gone.  That’s good.  America wanted Eric to get Kail out and he wasn’t happy with America…LOL.  I don’t blame him there.  He knew before it happened that it would be difficult after everyone agreed on voting for Nick.  Did you see the look on their faces when he changed his mind?  The only person who agreed with him was Jessica, but she ended up voting for Nick to go anyway.  If the majority of the viewers are going to instruct Eric against the house, we won’t have him very long.  The houseguests are going to get suspicious. He shouldn’t have assumed how America would vote… that was stupid.

When I was trying to find out who the HOH is, I went to the website and noticed a posting on the message board about how the show is being ruined because of a banner that flew over the house. It didn’t say what the banner said and, again, I did some digging and found out.  I won’t spoil that either because it will most likely be revealed Tuesday.  I just want to say that it pisses me off that people would deliberately sabbotage this game from the outside.  That sucks!

Now, regardless of who the HOH is, I hope they evict Amber.  She’s my next target.  I can handle a little crying… I’m a big cryer myself… but, she’s starting to get on my nerves.  I’m 98% sure she won’t get put up because people don’t dislike her or consider her a threat.  I won’t say who I think will go up at this point because that will give away who HOH is.

If I read on Ross Mathews’ blog or see it revealed on TV somewhere before Tuesday, I’ll probably come back and edit this post.  But, for now, Amber is my vote.  

**UPDATE**

OK… This Big Brother stuff really got out of hand for me.  I’ve been on all sorts of different BB8 message boards and fan pages, reading about what’s been going on since Thursday night. I’m giving you a **SPOILER ALERT** at this point, if you don’t want to know anything that’s happened since Thursday’s network broadcast.

According to many message board posts and a few YouTube videos, this is what I found out:  During the HOH competition, they had to stop and everyone apparently went inside.  There was an airplane w/ a banner flying overhead that the producers didn’t want the houseguests to see.  Unfortunately, they saw it and I think it said something like this: We <heart> Nick. Amber & Eric R liars. LNC = Nerd Herd.  I don’t know what lie Amber told. Maybe whoever flew the banner wants people to turn against her so that her annoying crying being will be banished.  Of course, I’m sure that what we will see is lots and lots more crying because of it. 

Anyway, when they resumed the HOH competition, little by little people dropped or were disqualified until finally Daniele won HOH!  I saw some video of the reveal of her HOH room.  That was cool because they edit so much out for TV.  They focused on Eric’s face for a good 20 seconds while everyone was having fun congratulating Daniele and stuff.  He looked really scared and guilty… as he should be.  He played that all wrong, which I’ve already stated.

In some of the video they showed him talking to some of the other houseguests trying to worm his way out, rather unsuccessfully.  Several message board posts from viewers who must have the live feeds and Showtime have said that Daniele is going to put Jen and Kail on the block again, but then backdoor Eric after the POV competition.  I hope that doesn’t happen, but I think it will.  I don’t want him gone, yet.  But, if he stays, he’d better smarten up. 

Speaking of live feeds and Showtime, I used to watch the live feeds back during BB1, when I had dial-up.  It sucked. I think next year I might see if I can get a deal on Showtime cuz I was just at my sister-in-law’s house and they have Showtime and I got to watch about 3 minutes of Big Brother. No one else watches it, so I didn’t get to watch longer, but it looked fantastic on their new plasma TV.  It was really cool, though because it was unedited.  My husband would flip out if I spent 3 hours a night watching Big Brother while he was in bed getting rest for work the next day.  Tempting though.

Big Brother 8 – Post #5

Dustin Dustin Dustin.  What have you done to yourself? 

I don’t think Dustin was thinking straight.  Maybe he’s not too smart because I don’t think he was being strategic.  I wondered why anyone would have spent their money no matter what the prize was.  I was really confused at first and thought maybe I didn’t hear the rules correctly or something.  If the winner would be the one with the most money, and you had the most money, why would you subtract money on purpose?  It was a pretty dumb thing to do and now everyone is mad at him.  He’s not a bad guy and I really don’t think it was deliberate, but I don’t know if everyone else feels that way.

Now then, Jameka.  Don’t make promises you may regret.  That’s just my advice as an outsider and with 20/20 hindsight…LOL!  At first I didn’t understand why everyone was mad at Jen, including Jameka.  It took me a while, but now I see that since Jameka gave her word that she’d take Jen off the block, Jen answering that last question wrong on purpose guaranteed safety for herself.  If it was anyone other than Jameka, Jen might not be so sure, but Jameka made a promise and we know her word is good.  That Jen is a pretty smart cookie… I think she’s so smart and so great at playing dumb that no one suspects that she’s smart.  Even when they accused her of doing that on purpose, she acted as if she didn’t know why she would do it on purpose.

OK, and now for Nick’s nomination.  I don’t know why most of them want him out.  Dick, yes, but it seems like they all dislike Zach so much and neither one of them has been competitive in the game.  So, whatever.  I wanted him out so I’m happy, I just wish I understood everyone else’s motives. 

Poor Daniele.  I feel bad.  I think what I said before about Nick leaving being better for her is still true, but he is an ally, so strategically maybe not so good for her.  She’s got a lot of friends in the house so I think she’ll stick around without him for a while.

Anyone watch Entourage?

I love Entourage.  I don’t know what made me start watching it.  I think it had something to do with Mark Wahlberg.  I love him and he is the executive producer of the show and upon whom the main character is supposedly based.  I was instantly hooked the first time I saw the show.  It was on HBO On Demand and I think it was an episode with Mandy Moore.  After that, I watched every episode available. I didn’t plan on keeping HBO past my $5 per month for three months offer, but this show and Sex and the City changed my mind. I can watch Sex and the City on TBS, but it’s far from the same show as on HBO… you know what I mean, I’m sure. And Entourage would never be the same either.  Ari Gold would not be the same.  No broadcast network could handle Ari Gold. 

I have to say that right now he has to be my number one most favorite character on TV.  A while ago, maybe a year or two, there was a list. You know, one of those probably on VH1 or Bravo.  It was a list of the top 100 TV characters of all time.  I don’t think Ari Gold was on it.  A couple of my favorites at the time were in very good standing: Lennie Brisco and Andy Sipowicz.  Of course Archie Bunker was at the top. The cast of Seinfeld for some reason was counted as one character… that’s cheating. Anyway, where I’m going with this is that if I was to make a list of my favorite characters on current, non-cancelled TV shows, Ari Gold would be Number 1, hands down.

Here’s my top 10 CURRENT TV CHARACTERS:

1. Ari Gold “Entourage”
2. Betty Suarez “Ugly Betty”
3. Justin Suarez “Ugly Betty”
4. Barney “How I Met Your Mother”
5. Amanda “Ugly Betty”
6. Gabby Solis “Desperate Housewives”
7. Lynette Scavo “Desperate Housewives”
8. George O’Malley “Grey’s Anatomy”
9. Cristina Yang “Grey’s Anatomy”
10. Hurley “Lost”

I could come up with more, but ten’s enough.  As much as I love all 10 of these characters, Ari Gold is MILES above the other nine. That’s how much I like that character.

So, back to Entourage.  I love the other characters, too.  Lloyd and Drama are the funniest and E and Vince are great looking.  I love that the show has famous people playing themselves all the time.  I also love the famous people who play characters who aren’t themselves, like Martin Landau, Malcolm MacDowell, and Beverly D’Angelo.

One great thing about this series is that it could go on forever.  With all the crap celebrities go through… rehab, relationships, bad movies, great movies, dry patches, scandals.  As long as they keep their agent, I don’t care what happens.