Recaps and Comments 10/20/2009

Top Chef 6 - Las Vegas:

The guest judge was Charlie Palmer, who is sometimes credited with making "American Food" a "Cuisine" and not just a derided joke.

Brothers Bryan and Michael had both worked for him. Bryan for about 10 years, and Michael for about a year. Charlie said that he wouldn't give them any special treatment.

The Quickfire Challenge was that they had to pair a new company's (ie sponsor) brand of snack food with something else to make a nice dish. The snacks were 1 of 6 flavors of Alexia Crunchy Snacks that are made from veggies. The chefs had all been eating the snacks back at the apartment they've been living in, so they were all familiar with the flavors of the snacks. Some seemed really good, while others were kinda meh. Poor Jen, she cooked her tenderloin too early, and Charlie and Padma got to her last, so while her meat sat all that time, it continued to cook. Tenderloin has less fat and is easy to dry out, and by cooking it too early and having it sit, by the time it was tasted, it was overdone. Jen, Ash and Robin were in the bottom. The tops were Bryan, Eli and Kevin and Eli got the win. No $15,000 or immunity for him though, his only reward was that he got to pick first in the Elimination challenge.

The Elimination challenge began with everyone drawing knives. On each knife was a type of cut of pork. Shank, shoulder, butt, loin, tenderloin, leg, etc... Jen got "Wild Boar" which was the "wild card" so she could pick whatever cut she wanted. She wisely chose pork belly which is the juiciest, tastiest, and least likely to get dried out. One they had their pig part, they had to pick a brand of Pinot Noir to pair their dish with for Charlie's "Pigs & Pinot" annual charity fundraiser.

The result was a microcosm of this season as a whole (and clearly of the remaining cheftestants.) The Top 4 were the usual 4 that are in the top. Brothers Bryan & Michael, Kevin, and Jen. Kevin got the well deserved win, and he get talking about how much he loves pork that he even has a tattoo of a pig, and once he won, he proceeded in showing it off to the judges. The bottom 3 were the usual bottom feeders, Robin, Ash and Laurine. That meant that Eli and Mike I were where they usually are...somewhere in the middle. Laurine's dish was called "catfood" by Dana Cowen, another Food & Wine person (like Gail) who also is a regular on Top Chef and I think she's been on Iron Chef America too.

For me, anyone who has a dish called "cat food" should be the one sent home. Especially after she explained how she cooked it, and Charlie informed her that her cooking method wasn't even the way the dish is SUPPOSED to be prepared. So, let's see, she didn't even know how to cook the dish she made, and the final product was like cat food. So she went home right? Wrong! Ash who YET AGAIN changed his mind after talking to one of the other cheftestants, and prepared the dish the way the other person suggested, instead of his original idea. He told Charlie what his original plan was, and Charlie thought that it sounded yummy. I think Ash got the boot because Tom was tired of Ash always cooking someone else's idea, and not his own...even after telling Tom that "this time it would be all him." Ash would contend that Padma had a LOT to do with him going. He claimed that she NEVER liked ANY of his dishes, and was ALWAYS critical of him. When he was in front of the judges explaining his latest disaster, she asked him in a VERY condescending tone, "Did you taste the dish?"

Regardless, The Top 4 will most likely always be in the top and SHOULD be the Final Four, the bottom 2 should go next, and Mike and Eli may win another Quickfire or so, but I don't see either winning an Elimination round.


Paranormal Activity:

I am not a horror movie fan.
That said, if a movie comes along that looks interesting, I might try to see it. 10 years ago, it was Blair Witch. That was not really a "horror" movie as we know them these days, but more of a scary movie...like a throwback. It was ok, but by the time I had seen it, the "cat was out of the bag" that it was a movie and not "found footage." I also happened to see the fake documentary (aka mockumentary) that presented all this back story. I think it was called "Curse of the Blair Witch." I've read where some people saw the mockumentary first and then were disappointed that NONE of that info makes it into the film. For me though, I think it enhanced the experience because I understood some of what was happening. Perhaps it would have been better to see the movie first, and then the fake documentary. I dunno, hard to say.

It's been surprising at how few "scary" movies have been made since, and how many gory horror movies have come out. I suppose there have been a few, some would say 28 days later.
Most would say [REC] which was remade as Quarantine. I haven't seen any of them.
I am trying to see "Let the Right One In," but I've heard that the DVD has poor ad misleading subtitles. Like some of the dialogue was misinterpreted or made not as full as seen in the theaters. So, I guess I'll wait for the revised DVD. I also want to see Trick r Treat, which like Paranormal Activity was a small budget film (although it does have some known actors) and for whatever reason, it was never given a proper release. I've heard it's scary as Hell, and I see it's On Demand, so I'll probably try to order it soon.

At any rate, Paranormal Activity, like Blair Witch and Cloverfield, is supposed to be a movie made from footage from a personal camcorder.

I won't give anything away, but the gist is that a young 20 something unmarried couple move in and odd things start happening. The guy doesn't think much of it, but decides to buy a really nice video camera, with great resolution and an expensive mic, to let the thing run at night and see if it picks up anything. He does it more or less to appease his girlfriend.

As such, while the entire movie is filmed from this camera, the main thrust of the film is told while the camera runs during the night while the couple sleep. Watching darkess and a time counter run in the bottom right corner of the screen may not seem very interesting, but trust me, it is.

There isn't any gore. This movie is 100% creepy, suspenseful, scariness. Sitting there watching them sleep and wondering if something is going to happen is pull out your hair, look thru your fingers, bite off your nails creepy. I would say that I found this to be 10 times creepier than Blair Witch because while that took place in the woods, this takes place in their home. I find that to be MUCH creepier. The main problem that people had with Blair Witch was that you really don't see anything. If you like creepy, scary, terrifying, non-gory horror movies, this is for you.

I have NEVER been in a theater with so many people screaming their faces off. Even Sixth Sense was more people being startled than actually terrified. This movie could very well make you lose your shit...both figuratively and literally.

I saw this by myself.
I do not recommend that.
While I personally didn't have any problems sleeping, alone, that night or since, I've read where a LOT of people have had problems. Even those not sleeping alone.

I encourage people to go see this movie. It's the perfect time of the year for it. Also, it's a great story of a movie made for less than $20,000 doing good. In very limited release (still in less than 800 theaters) it's made over $20 million this past weekend, and has topped $30 million total.
If it's not showing in your area, call your local theaters and request it. Go see this movie, and see it with an audience as that is really part of the experience.

Odds and Ends...

Adam, who won Big Brother 9 (the ONLY Spring edition) was arrested for selling Oxycodone.

http://www.silive.com/entertainment/tvfilm/index.ssf/2009/10/adam_jasinski_big_brother_9_wi.html

The headline that lead me to that search for the above article (as that one has a photo) was "Big Brother Winner Arrested for selling Oxycodone." I thought, oh no, Dr Will!?!
I had thought that Adam was a basically decent guy, despite his well known "retard" comment. I guess not. He used his winnings to fund his life of crime. As Bugs Bunny would say, what a maroon.

Recap 8/31 - 9/6 including Big Brother Spoilers!!!

Warehouse 13:

The 2 agents were sent to a prison in Florida as a number of inmates had recently killed themselves, and none were considered to be "at risk." The agents tried to find an artifact that would cause people to despair, but they were unable to find anything. They did happen upon a prisoner who had killed his wife but was now somewhat of a spiritual leader, and they thought that perhaps his medallion was the culprit. They learned that decades earlier there had been similar accounts and then on the night of a bad storm (as the prison is near the coast) there was a full scale riot. As it turns out, another bad storm is approaching and the ionic charges are known to be able to amp up the effects of most artifacts.

They soon realize that the mostly steel prison is built on top of an old quartz mine. Quartz also acts as a magnifier for artifacts, so a metal building atop of a quartz foundation surrounded by an electrical storm is a recipe for doom. Worse, both agents are experiencing hallucinations. Pete sees his father who died on the job in a fire when Pete was young and Pete had one of his "hunches" before his Dad left for work but didn't act on it. Myka, meanwhile, sees her previous partner who died on the job and she blames herself. She had just received the Final Report on the "incident" before she left for the prison, but she didn't open the package to read the report.

The agents discover that the violence and suicides were way down during the reign of the prior warden who had died about a month earlier and that's about when the activity flared up. Artie guessed that he must have had something that could cancel the effects of the quartz underneath, which also would have to be something of quartz that was attached to the building in some way.

The Warden also flipped out and barricaded herself in her office while the staff and prisoners also had been severely affected and a riot broke out. Pete found a large quartz cross amongst the prior Warden's stuff that had been put into storage. Pete remembered seeing a photo on the wall of past Warden's that the cross had been on the wall of his office. Pete and the spiritual leader broke down the Warden's door, but in her frenzy, she shot the inmate. Pete got the gun away from her, but then he and Myka both had intense visions. Pete was able to tell his father that even had he tried, he wouldn't have been able to stop his father from going to work that day as his father was duty and honor bound to work and wouldn't have just blown off work because his son had a bad feeling. his guilt resolved, he tried to tell Myka to do the same. In her vision, she was able to tell her dead partner that his recklessness that day is what got him killed. He didn't wait like he was supposed to, and if he had, the killer might have been stopped but since he rushed in early, he walked right into the trap that had been set.

Guilt resolved, the agents hung the cross back where it was, and suddenly all the mayhem ceased. The Warden didn't understand what had happened, and was horrified to realize that she had shot the spiritual inmate. The inmate was not sorry, he felt that he had made peace with what he had done and was "forgiven" and now it was time for his "journey" to continue "elsewhere."

The other storyline concerned Claudia. She was still doing inventory, when a flickering light was bothering her. She complained to Artie that it needed to be changed, and he said that those bulbs never needed changing and had been invented 109 years ago. Back to inventory, Claudia just couldn't get past the flickering bulb. She found a lab coat and goggles amongst the artifacts that once worn together, they attracted to metal. Claudia used the outfit to Spiderman climb up a steel girder and tighten the bulb. It then blew out and Claudia noted that apparently, 109 years was the limit. She then changed the bulb, and found that she was stuck, and dropped the old bulb.

Suddenly, metal objects from all over started flying up and sticking to her...like an old bike amongst others. She knew she'd be in trouble, but she began yelling for Artie, and then began banging in Morse code. Artie finally heard the code and tracked her down. By now, the effects of the coat, which increase the longer it's connected to metal, had started dragging a large Hummer towards her, and was causing the metal frame of the warehouse to buckle.

Artie tried several ways to get her down, but finally was able to harpoon her and got her down. They quickly got her out of the coat and goggles and the effects ended. Later, she was shown writing over and over on a blackboard. I couldn't quite make out what she was writing, but after filling both sides of the board, Artie erased one side and had her continue.

Top Chef 6 - Las Vegas:

The Quickfire involved making a dish with potatoes, and the guest judge was Mark Peel who had competed in Top Chef Masters...and mentioned that to the cheftestants to let them know that he understood the limits of the challenge, especially "time." Ashley, Ash, and Jen were the favorites with Jen winning, but alas, no $15,000 casino chip.

The Elimination Challenge was for the full group, as a group, to prepare a meal for 300 Air Force Servicepeople and their families. Some had just returned from war, and some were heading off, so they were implored to try their hardest and do their best.

Since Jen won the Quickfire and had immunity, the Cheftestants was decided that she'd run the kitchen. The rest would be paired off and be responsible for ONLY 1 dish per pair, but they could do 2 if they wanted and had the time. It was a smart decision by the Cheftestants as it allowed for the kitchen to be managed more efficiently as they'd soon find that they'd need.

They arrived at the Air Base and found that the kitchen was stocked with bulk foods, mostly in bags or cans, and there weren't any pots, pans, or burners...only large scale boilers, fryers, and skillet like surfaces. Jen kept them on task and figured out the order that each "team" would get in using the various equipment. So the Cheftestants actually did the right thing and made it much easier on themselves. When they paired up, though, the sad thing was that Jesse and Ron, who hadn't been doing so well, ended up with each other when nobody wanted to work with them. Ouch. So, in the Nevada heat, they decided to make Clam Chowder. Oy boy.

Actually, the Air Force Personnel liked the chowder and for some of the "east coasters" it was like "comfort food." The judges were less thrilled, and weren't sure it was a good idea, but ultimately decided that it was decent. They also noted that spicy chili had been made, so the "hot" argument would have to apply for both, and chili is very much cooked even in Summer in Nevada.

The tops, no surprise, were Kevin and Eli who made southern food including a potato salad that got raves. Michael V, one of the brothers, took Slab Bacon and turned it into a sort of taco inside a lettuce cup with some nuts. it proved to be the winning dish and in their blogs for this episode, Tom and Gail raved about it, especially Gail.

In the bottom, again no surprise, were Preeti and Laurine who made a weak and uninspired pasta salad, and loud moth Mike I. who was paired with winner Michael V. Mike I was pissed, thinking that if his "partner" won, then he should be safe. But, the judges pointed out that the challenge didn't pair up the cheftestants, they did it themselves. As such, Michael was judged for his dish which Mike I admitted was Michael's while his dish was an uninspired Greek salad. Tom accused Mike as just making a "throw away' dish and didn't put any effort into it, and it was bland. The women, though, were ravaged. Not only was it a weak dish for a competition of this level, but it was just poorly made, bland, underseasoned, poorly presented, just terrible. Preeti said she thought it was good and it seemed to be a "crowd pleaser." The judges noted that it wasn't a "judge pleaser." Laurine noted that she realized where they went wrong and was embarrassed by having put it out. In the end, to the shock of nobody, Preeti was kicked off...making her the third woman in a row to go.

At this point, it's clear that the Final Four SHOULD be the 2 brothers, Kevin, and Jen. Either Jesse or Ron will probably be the next to go, and if they're both in the bottom, I see them booting Ron only because just woman have gotten the axe so far. Pretty much everyone else is just somewhere in the middle, they may win a Quickfire or Challenge here and there, but as Tom alluded to in one of his blogs, the chefs stay pretty consistent with the best near the top, the worst near the bottom, and the rest just middling through.



Big Brother Soilers!!!:

That's right, this week these are Big Brother SOILERS not SPOILERS because I feel dirty just typing them. Ick.

NataLIE won HOH because Jordan sucks at comps and Michele choked, and then as HOH she nominated Michele & Kevin. She wore a robe, a crown, and carried a pool cue bridge as a scepter for the nomination ceremony. She laid into Michele, calling her evil and said that Michele "caused" Chima to throw her mic pack and get expelled. Again shows that neither Chima nor NataLIE accept personal responsibility. NataLIE also went on and on about how she never lied...yeah, like she's really 18, and Big Brother just gave her Mike's Hard Lemonade for her HOH fridge. Pandora's box allowed her to have 20 minutes with her boyfriend, who proposed to her. There are reports that Kevin told her to make something up so that she had "something" to tell the others, so the boyfriend and engagement may all be another NataLIE. But, by opening Pandora's box, that meant that she couldn't play in the Veto comp. Whoever wins the Veto, will have the sole vote to evict. Kevin is acting like he's not happy that she put him on the block but is mad that now he HAS to win Veto since NataLIE isn't playing. NataLIE might actually be less intelligent than Jordan since it made no sense to nominate Kevin and tick him off (if he really was mad) since it all comes down to whoever wins Veto...and by electing to not play, she ticked him off even more. Kevin won Veto. Now he has to decide to vote out Michele and make NataLIE happy, or vote out Jordan and keep Michele in the game and hope that she eliminates NataLIE for him because he doesn't think he can beat NatLIE in the Final 2. He will most likely boot Michele because he thinks he can beat Jordan in the final 3 part HOH, while Michele has a much better chance to win. Also, he wants to take Jordan to Final 2 because he doesn't think she could win the Jury since she's only won 1 Veto comp (Jeff "gave" her the HOH she had.)

End SOILERS!!!

Big Brother Spoilers for BB week starting Thursday 8/27

These Spoilers are for the winner of HOH, who was nominated, who won Veto, and who will most likely be getting voted out.

Kevin won HOH. He nominated Jeff & Michele. Michele won Veto. Michele will remove herself from the block and Jordan will become the replacement nominee. Jeff will be voted out. So much for all those people who said that CBS "handed" the game to Jeff.

End Spoilers!

Here is the link to Julie Chen's EW.com blog about this week:

http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/08/28/julie-chen-blogs-big-brother-season-11-elimination-7/

Recap 8/17 - 8/21 2009

Big Brother Spoilers at the end!

Warehouse 13:

Ths episode started out with them playing the song Queen B by Puscifer (the lead singer from Tool's other side band.) I have no idea as to why as it didn't fit what was going on in the scene, but I'll take a gratuitous use of that song any day.

The episode was about an ancient Samurai sword that was going to be presented to the President of the US by Japan after having been uncovered in a dig about a year earlier. To me that made no sense. The sword was supposed to have been from the most powerful dynasty in Japan's history and it had been lost for hundreds of years. So it finally turns up underground, and now they're going to give it to the US President? Huh?

Anyway, it is said to be able to bend light around the user, rendering him invisible. So they are supposed to swap a duplicate that Artie made and store the actual sword in the warehouse.

The 2 agents go to the Japanese consulate and there is a powerful event that takes place. The 2 agents are sucked into a wall. Just as he's falling unconscious, the male agent sees someone leave the room where the "event" was located. After waking up, they tell Artie that it was more like an implosion than an explosion. Artie freaks out.

Artie travels to an electronics store where a guy who he knows has made implosion grenades is located. Only he finds him turned to dust (earlier we saw someone collect a briefcase of grenades and then fry the poor guy.) Artie finds a clue that appears to have been left purposely for him. He now believes that it is a guy from his past. The agents also think that whoever is doing it has Warehouse tech as they catch a masked theif trying to steal the sword's Tsuba (which is the disc like part, usually decorative, that is between the blade and the handle) who has a Tesla gun. They end up being caught by the Secret Service with the Tsuba and are implicated. The Japanese liason also gives a file to their old boss at the Service that alleges that Artie is wanted for treason. It's not looking good for the 2 agents.

The agents are let go but given the file. They don't know what to think. Later, Artie is nabbed while trying to steal the Tsuba away from the Secret Service boss's safe. The agents want to know the truth, but Artie says that Mrs Frederick (who didn't believe that the person who Artie thinks is behind all the commotion is actually the right guy and that Artie is making it personal) had long ago buried all of that information about him and the alleged espionage against the US. It seems that Artie (with a different last name) was once a code breaker, but ultimately got accused of selling secrets to the Russians. So Artie knows that if the file got out, only somoeone who knew about it and had it in for Artie coould have dug it up...meaning that he is correct with his suspicions. Mrs Frederick gets Artie freed and now she admits that she was wrong and Artie as right.

The suspect once worked with Artie and there was a fallout over a woman and their work. The guy, named MacPherson, ran off with a woman Artie cared about, and then went rogue. Artie tracked down the woman who wasn't happy with him and also felt that Artie was wrong, but ultimately didn't care. Now freed, Artie tracks the sword which has been reunited with the Tsuba (making it whole and allowing the power to work) as the Japanese liason turns out to have been working with Artie's nemesis. The guy kills the liason by lopping off his head while invisible, and then stabs Artie. Artie holds onto the sword, inside him, as the 2 agents arrive. MacPherson gets away.

At the end, they show the 2 agents stashing the real sword in the warehouse while a recovering Artie talks with Mrs Frederick about the danger that MacPherson presents to them all.


Top Chef Masters:

This was the season finale. The final 3 were Classic French Chef Hubert Keller, Italian influenced Californian Chef Michael Chiarello, and Traditional Mexican Chef Rick Bayless.

They started by treating the Final 3 by taking them to the Getty House where they got to relax and dine in elegance.

Then they had to made a 4 course dinner that told their "history" as chefs. The first course would be their oldest food memory. The second course would be the dish that made them want to be a chef. The third course would represent their first restaurant. And the fourth course would be where they are and where they are heading.

The diners were the 3 Top Chef Master judges, the TC:M host, the 3 judges from "regular" Top Chef (Tom, Padma and Gail,) and the 5 winners of the 5 seasons of Top Chef. Good mix! Padma seemed very quiet, and didn't seem like she wanted to be there and hardly said anything.

Michael took note that the one judge from Saveur Magazine was always hard on him, never giving him anything over 3.5 stars. So, Michael took pages of his magazine, and burned the edges, and made them a "doiley" for his second course. Everyone laughed...but the judge was still a putz.

Hubert's courses: 1 - Great, 2 - Hit & Miss, 3 - Miss, 4 - Hit

Michael's courses: 1 - Hit, 2 - HUGE Hit (Gail wanted to bathe in it,) 3 - Well cooked but boring, 4 - Collassal hit (Padma said that he had won her heart with that dish, and Tom was impressed by how complex it was to make yet seemed so simple.

Rick's courses: 1 - Hit, 2 - Probably the biggest HIT of the night out of all of them, 3 - Hit & Miss, 4 - Miss (especially the Chorizo Foam.)

So, looking at that, who won? Michael, right?
Wrongo friendo!
Rick won with 18 stars, Michael had 17, and Hubert had 16.5

As much as the jerk from Saveur magazine bagged on Rick's 4th course and loved Michael's 2nd and 4th course, he STILL only gave him 3.5 stars and gave Rick 4.

I knew it.
Everyone just LOVES Rick Bayless. He's so soft spoken, so friendly, and has such passion for Mexico and Mexican food, and his charity benefits Midwestern farmers. I picked him to win from the start.


Top Chef 6 - Las Vegas:

17 Chefs (Is that the most ever?)
They are the most qualified and respected they've ever had as a group. Many are executive chefs. Some are James Beard nominees (and I think even a winner,) 1 woman is the head chef for one of Eric Ripert's restaurants, and TC thinks of Daniel Boulud and Eric Ripert as like "The Gods."
2 are brothers.
1 guy always dresses like he's about to run with the bulls. I think he's from France.
1 Indian (as in the nation) woman looked like a guy, but this gal named Ashley looks just like musician Beck. I mean, I can't see anything "feminine" about her at all. She seems to cook well.
Oh, and the oldest gal has 2 forms of cancer.

For the Quickfire, they had to pull out poker chips to see who would be on the same team, and the cancer woman pulled a gold chip which meant that she didn't have to compete in the race (17 is uneven as they had 4 teams of 4,) and it also meant that she had immunity from elimination. She also got to pick which group she would compete with in the Elimination challenge.

The Quickfire was the dreaded mise-en-lace relay race, and the poor Indian gal was told to open clams (she didn't ask for it, they all picked the other 3 items and she got stuck with it.) It was the first part of the race, and she'd never opened clams before and tried to do it liek they were oysters (which is wrong.) I'm not sure she ever finished by the time that the first team had finished all 4. One gal cut her fingers and was bleeding all over the place, and then suddenly I saw her wearing a purple sanitary glove. I bet they stopped everyone while they put that on her so that she didn't get blood everywhere as the winning team then had to each cook the items that they prepared so that only 1 person would win a $15,000 poker chip!

The Elimination challenge had each group from the Quickfire compete against each other as a group. The best of each group would go to a winner's judging where one would win the week. The worst of each group would go to the bottom where the worst of the worst would be eliminated. Wolfgang Puck was the guest judge.

The dish they had to create had to represent a "vice" of theirs. Some chose drinking, some procrastination, etc. The guy from Haiti chose the memory of his 21 days at sea when coming to America. Tom didn't see how it was a "vice" but he ended up as the best from his group. This one guy with a big red beard (looks like Kris Kringle from the old Santa Claus Is Coming To Town puppet Christmas classic) ended up winning.

I thought for sure the only person from Michigan, Eve, would be booted. They TRASHED her dish as though she was someone who had just began to learn to cook. But, they sent packing this Hispanic woman with tats all over her, including this big one at the base of her neck. She wasn't very good either, but as a viewer, I thought that her dish was better than Eve's.


Eureka:

This episode had a lot going on.

Kim 2.0 was degrading and all of her data would die with her. Billy Campbell guest starred as an expert at extracting data, and showed that just one lock of her hair was FULL of data, but that his laser and radiation combo could extract all of it quickly. When they tried to run the laser/radiation scan on her, it wasn't working and it was harming her. So they tried putting her into a bath of anti-biotics and nutrients, and while it worked briefly, ultimately Kim shut herself down (essentially killed herself.) They brought her back but she knew that her existence was to bring back data so if she must die to do it, then so be it. They ran the laser/radiation scan on her again, but this time in a vat of acid which would cause all of her cells to disperse, allowing the laser scan to read all of the data more efficiently. Henry cried while watching "Kim" "die" for a second time. They got all of the data.

3 women in charge of varying baby items of the future threw a baby shower for Allison. One gave her a superabsorbant diaper, one gave her a special bottle that allows all of the liquid inside to come out (nothing clings to the bottle,) and the third gave her a device that connects the mother to the unborn baby in a unique way.

The day after the party, the monitor woman is found drowned in her car that is full of water. The next day, the bottle woman drowns in the Cafe's bathroom. A third person, a cleaning woman, is found drowned ni the sauna at GD. Since Henry is dealing with Kim 2.0, Fargo does the autopsies and discovers that the water each woman drowned in is a synthetic water made at GD intended for space colonization. The water compresses and so an ocean could fit into a drinking bottle...that's how the women drowned, the water decompressed inside them and spilled out.

Tess and the diaper lady are found to also be full of the water, and are now slowly drowning. They are in the GD infirmary where their lungs are being drained as quickly as possible, but even then it would take a month to drain out all of the syn water...and both women would die of organ failure before that. Carter (!) realizes that perhaps the syn water lady and Billy Campbell's laser/radiation device could be made to work together to remove the compressed water as if it were data. They put it together and tell Tess that it will feel like she's drowning but it should work...unless it causes all of the water to decompress all at once. They try it out and at first nothing seems to be happening and she struggles like she's drowning. Eventually, they get the water out.

Now, Carter is supposed to be about the least intelligent person in Eureka, and yet with every crisis, HE seems to be the person who comes up with the solution...usually by thinking of combining 2 or more GD techs together. I mean, come on. Also, how many times is that going to happen before the writers come up with something new?

Big Brother Spoilers:

I'll update the Veto winner Sunday, and if any replacement nominees are made it won't be until late Monday. To see spoilers, hold down the left mouse button and drag it down to where it says End Spoilers. That will highlight the "inviso text."

It seems to be much quieter in the BB house, but there still has been some tension and little fights. Jeff is HOH, Russell & Michele are Have Nots, Kevin & Natalie are nominated but depending on the outcome of the Veto (all 6 remaining HGs get to play) Russell could be the true target to be backdoored, although Kevin seems to be the primary target for now.

End Spoilers. Check back Sunday for Veto winner and late Monday for the outcome of the Veto Ceremony.

Veto Winner Spoiler!!!

The veto competition was yesterday, and all 6 HGs got to play. Jeff won. It now looks very likely that he will "backdoor" Russell which has both pros and cons.

End Veto Spoiler!!!

Veto results spoilers!!!

Veto meeting was held. As expected, Jeff used the Veto to remove Kevin and put up Russell. Russell is PISSED. Jordan was screaming at him that he's just mad because Jeff was able to "get" him before Russell "got" Jeff. Kevin and Natalie are laughing their butts off. They call it the Last Minute Lie (LML) that they believe will now cost Jeff the game and perhaps win it for one of them. They laughed that they told Jeff & Jordan that they'd be in Final Four with them, but if either of them wins, they're going to nominate both Jeff & Jordan so that if either wins Veto, they'll remove themself and then the other will go.

End Veto results spoilers!!!

Big Brother Holy $#!+ !!!!!

Suffice to say that this is ALL SPOILER!!!
Man, I KNEW I should have ordered the 14 day free trial!!!
Left Click and then drag all the way to the end to highlight in order to see the "Inviso text" spoilers!!!

After the eviction on Thursday, Chima, Lydia and Natalie all threatened to quit. To appease them, BB gave them skin and hair products. They also drank a lot and cried and cried like Jessie had died. Lydia was not thankful to have been saved by Jeff and instead ranted at his booting Jessie. The 3 went on a rampage, saying all kinds of disgusting things about the other HGs and the BB staff. They went through Jeff and Russell's stuff. Chima found Russell's rosary beads. Apparently, they've been blessed by The Pope (I wonder if his family got them blessed when he had been paralyzed?) She hid them, some think in with her stuff. She said that she didn't know why Russell had them as he is an extremist Muslim terrorist. Yes, she actually DID say that, it was captured on the live feeds. They also hogged the laundry. They put their stuff in ahead of Jeff's who had his stuff waiting to go in. They put it in on the longest cycle, and then would rewash their stuff over and over so nobody else could use the laundry.

They threatened to put red M&Ms into Michele's food and drink as she is allergic to red dye. They threatened to put hot sauce on the other's clothes. Jeff warned them to not touch his stuff again. Natalie kept pouring over the BB rule book to try to find a way to have them removed from the game. Lydia wanted to see if she could have another HGs touch her so she could claim that she'd been assaulted. Chima actually sat on the laundry machines trying to get Russell or Jeff to try to physically remove her.

Michele nominated Chima and Natalie. Apparently, when Lydia got her key, she ran out of the room crying...I guess she'd rather be sent to the jury house to be alone with Jessie so they could mess around more than she would like to stay in the house to try to win $500,000. Natalie said that God will give Michele a disease for what she's done to Chima. Chima hid under covers and cried. She said that unless she won Veto she'd go home (not sure if she meant quit or leave the BB house.) Production set up a putting course in the backyard and it was for practice for the POV competition today. The girls (yes girls because they're NOT acting like adults) said that they'd go out there and practice 24/7 to not allow the other HGs to be able to practice. Chima wouldn't come out, but Kevin was finally able to get her to come outside to practice. She wouldn't put her mic pack on. Production kept telling her to put it on and she refused. Natalie handed Chima her mic pack and Chima tossed it into the hot tub...destroying it. Production came over the speaker and told all HGs they had to go to the living room for a mandatory full house meeting with Allison Grodner, the executive producer.

The live feeds were out for a looong time. When they came back, nobody could see Chima on any of the feeds and finally Jeff said into his mic "and then there were 7." He later said in a discussion that Chima had quit the show. An insider Twittered that at the house meeting, AG told the HGs that they had to behave and that if they continued to try to mess up the production that they'd be removed. If they tried to harm a HG that they'd be removed. If they damaged another HG's stuff, they'd be removed. She told Chima that since she deliberately destroyed the mic pack that she would have to pay for it out of the stipend that they earn each week in the house.

Apparently, that was it for Chima. She had a total meltdown. She said F this S and tossed her mic pack and then demanded to be released. She pounded on the diary room door and then crawled into bed when they wouldn't open it. She is now gone. It appears that she took Russell's rosary beads with her too, let's hope that he gets them back. In an earlier season of BB, a HGs said that quitting also means that she has forfeit her earnings up to this point, so her stay in the BB house has cost her her sanity, reputation, and LOTS of money. Jeff or Natalie said something about how they were told that Chima was now going to have to deal with CBS/BB/AG legal team.

This presents a problem as they now only have 6 jury members. Someone said on a prior season of BB that if a jury member quits or is removed that BB can have "America" cast the 7th vote.

Holy Schnikes!

Recap 8/3 - 8/7 2009

Big Brother Spoilers at the end!

Next Food Network Star:

As I predicted the past few weeks, Melissa won. Her show starts tonight. Rachael Ray is probably PISSED! Melissa's show was called "Kitchen Survival Guide" in the demo that she made for the finale, but is now called "Ten Dollar Dinners," which sounds like a combination of Rachael's 2 shows "30 Minute Meals" and "$40 a day." For her demo, Melissa showed a 4 step cooking process to make chicken, but her technique is easily interchangeable so that you could use different proteins and different veggies but follow the same method and get a good dish. The thing was, she didn't show how she made her side dish. It was like, "Oh, and here's a mixture of potatoes and cheese that I cooked at 450 for 15 minutes in a cupcake pan, but didn't show HOW she made it.

Jeffrey's demo called "Ingredient Smuggler" was FAR superior to Melissa's. He brought out a West Africa spice called Harissa and he showed how to make everything he cooked, why he was cooking it that way, and made everything look and sound yummy. I'm going to head out and look for Harissa the next time I go spice shopping.

I stated after the first episode that Jeffrey SHOULD win, and I stand by that. He won the most challenges and is just more interesting. He'd also be FN's only host of Arabic descent. So like last year, the person who won the most didn't win the big prize. At least this time that person made it to the finals. Melissa hits their demographic better, and most of the NFNS winners have been men. I also think that had Rachael been one of the judges instead of Bobby that Jeffrey would have won. Throughout the series, Jeffrey cooked in a Southwestern flavor mode...and that's Bobby's gig. Had Rachael been the judge, she would have seen Melissa as a threat and pushed for Jeffrey to win. I'm pretty sure of that. I also am CERTAIN that Jeffrey will get hired.

Kathy Griffin:

This episode dealt with Kathy's book. She did the photo shoot for the cover and then picked out the cover photo. She also met with Jackie Collins for advice on how to maximize sales, and Salmun Rushdie for advice on how to turn controversy into sales. She also was photographed and measured for a wax figure for Madame Tussaud's in Vegas. The end result looked JUST like her, except it didn't have ANY wrinkles or Crow's Feet (Kathy mentioned it too.)

Warehouse 13:

This episode dealt with a guy who could walk through walls to steal objects. The way he did it was an ancient magical Native America cloak. The agents found a feather from the cloak stuck partially through a wall and they realized that just by holding the feather they could put part of their arm through solid objects.

The first item noticed to be stolen was a sculpture by a Native American artist. It was said to depict one of the 4 prime elements. The agents found that there had been a bidding war between an older Billionaire and a younger Billionaire who inherited his money from his unscrupulous father. The younger guy was played by Joe Flannigan from Stargate:Atlantis. The female agent was attracted to Joe. Shocker.

It turns out that all 4 sculptures would point to a cave hidden under Manhattan that would give the person who found it great powers. The agent's realized too late that the older guy was the thief and they arrived at the cave after the guy had absorbed 3 of the 4 powers. The male agent killed the old guy by stabbing him with a magical arrow (one of the items that had imbued the guy with a power) while he was receiving the final power. The resulting clash in power incinerated him.

Oh, and the young girl who infiltrated the warehouse in the last episode was staying with them until she and her brother figured out what to do, so when he left to pursue his life, she was left behind. She helped them find the cave and now it appears that she's been offered a job at the warehouse.

Superstars:

This was the final episode. They had to kayak around 3 buoys and try to pass another team to eliminate them. Bode and Paige passed David and Lisa and then quit to save their strength so Maks and Kristi won.

In the next event, they had to pull 3 buoys out of the water. One weight 100 pounds, 1 was 200, and the 3rd was 250. As David's wrist was still messed up, they basically quit early to save their strength for the "rubber match." Kristi pulled the 100 pounder while Maks pulled the 200 pounder. Then they both worked on the 250. Paige pulled the 100 pounder while Bode pulled BOTH the heavy buoys at the same time. Once he got them to the beach, he pulled up on, and then Paige helped him pull in the last one. Bode and Paige won, sending Maks and Kristi to the "rubber match" for the first time (as they have won more challenges than anyone and never been at risk of going home.

In the rubber match the gals had to run then swim to a bridge where the guys dove off, swam around a buoy and then swam to shore. At shore, the teammates would join up and body board across the lagoon. Kristi and Maks kicked their ass, but what was funny was that Maks was on the board right behind Kristi's ass. She held her legs in the air so that Maks could use his arms to paddle better. From the front view, we see Kristi moaning and gasping while Maks looks like he's behind her and his head would bob up and down and side to side while her legs were in the air. Discuss amongst yourselves what that looked like.

They had a LOT of filler and showed behind the scenes stuff and DRAGGED out the start to each competition. For the final, they had to run the obstacle course and the best 2 of 3 would win. Maks & Krist had never run it, so they must have asked them 5 times about how they felt about that fact. Ugh! It didn't matter, Maks & Kristi won both heats and won 2-0. In fact, their last heat was the fastest time of ANY team the entire season. Wow. They TRULY deserved to win.

Top Chef Masters:

The Quickfire Challenge had them make their version of burger and side. All of them looked really good but Anita made a "cheeseburger soup." She got 1.5 stars. Hubert made a burger he sells at his restaurant (he also is famous for selling the most expensive burger...like $10,000!) He got 3 stars. Art got 3.5 stars. Michael and Rick both got 4 stars.

For the elimination challenge, they had to make a 5 course meal for actress/singer Zooey Deschannel (her sister Emily is the star of Bones, her mother was an actress, and her father was a cinematographer.) Zooey is a vegetarian with a vegan diet. She also is gluten intolerant, and doesn't eat soy. I had to think, I guess she only gets protein from Beans and Lentils. She said that NOBODY ever cooks for her (shocker) and she usually just eats fruits and veggies.

Beans are a staple of Mexican so I figured that Rick would do well and he ended up with the second best score. Lentils are big in Indian cooking,and since India is in Asia, I figured that Anita would do well. She did make an Indian inspired dish, but still flopped. Michael cooks Italian and a LOT of Italian food is vegetarian. He got around the gluten issue (since it's a BIG part of pasta) by finding noodles made from Quinoa. Hubert made a gazpacho inspired dish that looked better than it tasted apparently. Art made a dessert and used store bought rice ice cream. he either should have found coconut ice cream or made it, or made a sorbet. In the end Anita and Art had the lowest scores and as predicted here, Art was sent home as he was the lowest by 1/2 star.

Burn Notice:

This was the "Summer finale" and it had been teased that Michael & Fi's relationship would be put to the test. After last episode, she was going to leave Miami to return to Ireland. Instead, her brother showed up and said that a radical Irish nationalist bomber (terrorist) was in town hunting Fi. He thought that Michael was Irish from his cover when he met Fi, so Michael had to speak in an Irish Brogue much of the episode.

The gang took Fi and her brother to a safe house that Sam procured after the baddies showed up at Fi's place. Michael tried to work an angel with the guy where he'd turn over Fi if the guy delivered some weapons for him. The plan was to get him caught with the weapons and a bomb that matched bombs that the guy has used but has never been pinned with. Instead, they attacked the safehouse, shot the brother, knocked out Michael, and kidnapped Fi. They had planned to take her by boat to a plane and then fly her to Ireland to "sell" her to people with a grudge against her.

Turns out that Strickler, the "Spy Agent" is the one who let the guy know where Fi was and set the whole thing up to get Fi away from Michael as he thought that it would help Michael's case with the CIA, as well as pull Michael more towards him. Michael shot the shit out of him. Michael then planted the guy's body and the bomb on the terrorist's boat and Sam called in the Coast Guard.

The episode ended with the brother telling Michael that although he lied and was actually an American, he was still the great guy that he respected and was glad that Fi had found him...but that the terrorist had told people of Michael's true identity so Michael can never go back to Ireland as his Irish cover. Fi and Michael also had a moment, unspoken as it was, but a moment none-the-less.

Eureka:

Things were disappearing all over town and it was found that teens, while sleeping, were building a device out in a field using the missing items. It was found that they were being controlled via some remote calling but nobody knew from where or by whom or what the device was. Later as the teens were contained and prevented from going out to build, the control started affecting other people, even elderly.

Meanwhile, product placement abounds as Joe got a suped up Subaru and then Fargo traded in his old clunker, with it's on board AI, for the same new Subaru. His car didn't like being "dumped" and kidnapped Fargo just as he had figured out what the device was.

The Eureka folks realized that the signal was affecting the automated traffic system and that's how people were being affected. Anyone who had a "remote controlled car" was being controlled by the signal. They shut down the traffic grid, but not long after the people were still being affected. The Sheriff realized that the signal from outer space was probably the cause and it was confirmed that as the object was so close, the signal was exponentially growing and now they had no way to stop it.

Allison was ready to destroy the object coming towards them when the car finally released Fargo and he was able to tell them what the device was. Essentially, it was going to use the clouds and atmosphere to "catch" the object, like in a catcher's mit. So they let it arrive, and Henry walked up to it and wiped off some grime on the bottom...and there was an America Flag!

In order to see the "hidden or inviso text" hold down the left mouse button and drag it to the end.

Big Brother Spoilers:

Actor Jeremy Piven was in the house and some of the HGs would get to see his new comedy movie. Jeff, Michele, Kevin and Lydia are the Have Nots. Jordan, Russell, Jessie, Natalie and Chima won the movie. As predicted here, Chima nominated Russell and Lydia. Kevin won Veto and wants to use it to take off Lydia but Chima told him no that she was safe and she wanted to have ALL THE POWER. The HGs believe that Jeff or Jordan (probably Jeff) has the Coup d'Etat which they call the "Wizard Power" since they don't know for sure what it is. Process of elimination. Neither Ronnie nor Lydia had it or they would have taken themselves off the nomination block last week. Jessie, Natalie and Chima don't have it as they would have taken down Ronnie. Kevin doesn't have it as he would have taken down Lydia. That leaves Russell, Michele, Jeff & Jordan. They doubt people would have given it to Russell since he was HOH, and they doubt people like Michele. Chima has said that if CBS "ruins" her HOH reign by allowing someone to use some power that she will "ruin" the live show by yelling and screaming and swearing all throughout the next HOH competition and going nuts if her nominees are changed. Wow. I can't wait! I just hope that Jeff DOES use it to put up Jessie and Natalie, and I hope they are encouraging him to use it when they talk to him in the DR.

I'm going to pull back on my recaps as I've gotten so busy lately that I'm having trouble keeping up. I'll post BB spoilers, but probably not much else. At some point when we finish watching Torchwood: Children of Earth I'll post about that, plus maybe some movie and DVD reviews if I can.

Recap 7/27 - 7/31 2009

Doctor Who - Planet of the Dead:

This is the second (of 3?) "movie specials" featuring Doctor Who until the new season starts with the new Doctor.

This one starts with Michelle Ryan who played the Bionic Woman 2 years ago, as a burglar who steals a goblet from the British Museum. She then boards a double decker bus, and gives the driver her diamond earrings as payment as she doesn't have a bus card, called an Oyster Card. She is quickly followed onto the bus by the Doctor.

The cops see her on the bus and give chase. The bus heads into a tunnel and the cops block the other side. The Doctor suddenly gets worked up that his device is acting oddly, and tells everyone to hold on tight. The bus then disappears right in front of the chasing cops.

The bus lands, in a worse for wear condition, on another planet. One with 3 suns, and appears to be entirely a desert. The Doctor says that there's something weird about the sand. Meanwhile, one of the passengers had been complaining about hearing screaming while in the tunnel and now says that "death is coming."

The Doctor is accused of causing the problem but he explains that his device only tracked the hole, it didn't create it. He then shows the location of the hole by tossing sand at it. The bus driver runs to it, intending to go back through to Earth. The Doctor (barely) tries to stop him. As soon as the driver hits the hole, he starts screaming. On the other side, a skeleton emerges from the hole. The Doctor explains that the forces would tear the skin off people, but that the metal of the bus protected them, and caused all the damage to the bus.

The Doctor and the Thief get the others working on putting planks from the bus under the tires so that they can maybe drive the bus back through the hole. One of the 2 young guys on the bus works on the planks, while the other works on getting sand out of the engine.

The Doctor and the Thief head towards what looks like a coming storm, but are captured by a fly-man (or would it be man-fly?) They are taken to a ship that has crashed and find another fly person. They are accused of causing the ship to crash, but the Doctor explains that they're on the planet by accident as well. The Doctor is able to get their systems working, and they send a probe into the coming storm where they find out that it's not a storm, but billions of manta-ray type creatures. The Doctor realizes that they fly around a planet faster and faster until they tear open a worm hole which they then fly through and devour everything on the other side. That is why the planet they are on is all desert, the creatures ate everything on it. And now they are heading towards the wormhole to Earth. Their bodies have metal exo-skeletons so they can pass through the wormhole without dying.

The Thief uses her burglar equipment to lower herself down to the engine room where she nabs the power crystal, and all the control equipment attached to it. She awakens one of the creatures who had been sucked inside the ship causing it to crash. Another creature apparently also was inside and it eats the 2 fly people. The Doctor and the Thief make it back to the bus, where the Doctor discards the gem as useless, and the Thief nearly cries at the thought. He uses the control device on the tires, and attaches the main part to the steering wheel, but the 2 technologies won't interface. He needs something metal, conductive, and malleable...like gold. He takes the stolen artifact and hammers it into the shape that he needs, and make the connection.

The bus goes airborne, and flies through the wormhole. On the other side UNIT is waiting and the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to fix one of the teen's cell phone so that it could call anywhere...like he had done to Rose's phone. He got one of their scientists to work on the wormhole to try to figure out how to close it as it was getting larger. The UNIT command personnel ordered the scientist to close the hole, trapping the Doctor, even though he is UNIT's highest regarded being. The scientist wouldn't do it, and once the bus flew through (followed by 2 or 3 of the Alien Manta-Rays) he closed the hole. UNIT takes down the aliens, and the bus lands safely.

The Doctor recommends UNIT hire the 2 young boys. The Thief wants to travel with the Doctor, but he tells her he has had many companions and has lost them all, so no. She is then arrested. He uses his sonic screwdriver to release her cuffs and she escapes to the bus, which she flies off in escape. The psychic woman who heard the screams of the dead from the planet they were on tells the Doctor to be careful, that his song is ending, and that it is coming back through the dark...and that he will knock 4 times. Uh oh.

Being Human:

This is a new BBC series that aired on the BBC in the Spring (I believe) and is now airing on BBC America on Saturday nights. It is about an apartment being shared by 3 young 20 somethings, 2 men and a woman. Nothing special, sounds like Melrose Place or something right? WRONG! The girl is a ghost, and one guy is a vampire and the other is a werewolf.

The premiere episode began with the woman narrating the back story (somewhat) of all three characters. First, it shows her lying dead on the floor, eyes open, while a pool of blood forms around her. Then it shows her, heartbroken and terrified, yelling and screaming at her wake, trying to figure out why nobody is responding to her. Heartbreaking, but at least we only hear her narration and not her pleas to her loved ones. Then we see a WW1 soldier stumbling onto 3 men feeding off a dying soldier. We next see him waking up amongst a pile of dead soldiers, only now he is a vampire. We don't get the back story on the werewolf until much later, but we see him waking up in the woods with a terrible wound on his upper left chest, and he's lying next to a dying guy who has been essentially disemboweled. Later we get a little more detail about the 3.

The girl ghost is finally at a point where some people (but not all) can see her. She also can interact with objects, but for some reason, can only wear the clothes that she died in. Her fiancé who owns the apartment where the 3 live finally stops by and thanks the vampire (obviously not knowing that he is one) for staying at the apartment because nobody else has lasted there very long since her death. When asked how it happened, he said that nobody really knows, it appeared that she just fell down the stairs. Later she uses the werewolf's cell phone (without his knowing it) to text the guy to tell him that a pipe in the kitchen is banging (it was) so he'd come over and she'd reveal herself to him. When her fiancé arrived, he couldn't see or hear her...although he did seem to pick up something. He arrived with his new girlfriend, a woman who the ghost told the others was probably all over him the minute she died. I guess she was right! So, she is upset that he is with this other woman, and that is possibly why he couldn't see her.

The ghost girl asks the werewolf what happened to him and he said that he was vacationing and got caught in the woods by this "monster." He said that he was offended by the mere thought that such a thing could exist. It chased him in the woods where he stumbled on another guy. That guy got slaughtered. He was merely gouged by the creature before it was chased away. Apparently, that was all it took to infect him.

As for the vampire, apparently he made a deal with the vamps to allow himself to be "sacrificed" so that his company of soldiers would be spared. The vamp who apparently "sired" him, said, oh yeah, some sacrifice. You live forever, can't get sick, while all his men either died in the war or at some point since as it's been nearly 100 years since WW1 and none of them are still around yet he is.

The vamp "leader" is now a cop, and the vamps have members in all parts of society in order to help and protect them. The vamp star of the show has sworn off blood, but we see that he killed a girl in a moment of passion during sex. Turns out, she worked at the hospital where both the vampire and the werewolf work. The Vamp appears to be a doctor, while the Wolf is a custodian type. The vampires claim to be on the verge of something big, maybe even revealing themselves to humans and seeing what happens. The boss vampire asks where the doctor vamp stands, and he replies that he stands with the humans. This took place just after the hospital girl who the vamp "turned" ended up killing another hospital girl who was on a date with the vamp, but who the werewolf was interested in. The girl vamp said that the girl from the date could be "saved" if the doctor vampire "turned" her. He wouldn't do it, because he knows that it was a mistake to turn the other girl, and so she died.

The werewolf wants to lock himself down in the basement of the hospital in a secured but abandoned room as it is "that time of the month." He finds workers are fixing the place up, and they comment how the walls are all scraped up. Now not having anyplace secure to "change" he has the vampire drive him into the woods. The vampire says that their home would be better and safer, but the werewolf wouldn't hear of it and ran off into the woods. He stumbles onto a camping family, then a couple making out, then some other people, and finally some creepy guy. The wolfman then goes back to the car and tells the vamp to drive him home. Once there, they removed as many breakable stuff as they can and the vampire sits outside on the porch. The ghost wants to stay and see what he goes through and maybe be able to help calm him down in his wolf state since she can't be harmed. The wolfman doesn't think it's a good idea.

Then, he changes. I have to say it was one of the most brutal transformation scenes I've ever seen. The guy sounded like someone was pulling his intestines out of his nose. I mean, it was horrible. The vampire covers his face from the sound, which they try to drown out with loud techno music. The girl starts crying and turns away. Once he's changed, she calls his name. The wolf sees her, and loses it. So, she sits on the porch with the vampire. The next day, the place is trashed.

I kinda jumped around with how the story was told, but I think I covered most of the main points. It seems to have potential, and from the "coming attractions" it appears that the creepy guy who the wolfman ran into in the woods wasn't there by accident. The vamp leader (the cop) seems to have something very big planned and it looks like the 3 stars are not in for an easy time of it.

Next Food Network Star:

I've always said with these cooking contest shows that I'd love to have them give the contestants enough time and money to make something great. It's like either giving them enough polish to truly shine, or enough rope to hang themselves. This episode of NFNS did just that.

They met with Emeril at his Miami restaurant and he told them that they'd be cooking for a dinner party of about 20 ELITE food people and that they'd have $1,000 to spend and 3 hours to cook a 3 course meal. I kept waiting for Bobby Flay to show up at the grocery store and take away half their money, but he never did. But before they went shopping, they got to see an advanced screening of the new movie Julie & Julia which tells the true stories of a woman who cooked from Julia Child's famed cookbook every day and then wrote about it, and Julia Child's story. The movie was to serve as inspiration for them as they, like Julie & Julia, are following their dreams in the culinary world.

They brought out many of the FN talent like Morimoto, the Neeley's, Sunny Anderson, Anne Burrell, my "twin" Tyler Florence, and then chefs/restaurateurs like Alex Guarnaschelli, Marcus Samuelsson, Emeril and my favorite, John Besh. It was an AMAZING lineup of people to have to present to.

Each made a 3 course meal of an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert. They also each hand to live demo one of their dishes. To help out, the last 3 booted contestants returned to be their sous chefs. Melissa got Jameka, Debbie got Michael, and poor Jeffrey got Katie who puts the NUT in nutritionist.

Melissa went first. She made a pastry dish for dessert, but also made a pastry dish with sliced potatoes and bacon inside. Originally, that was going to be part of her appetizer, but they hadn't cooked enough, so she swapped it with the orzo from her main dish. Her orzo also had issues. She made so much that it was in 2 pots, which was a good thing because one pot was too salty. She seemed to imply that Jameka must have over salted it. She gave her presentation where she revealed that her mother committed suicide. How is that a topic for a dinner party? It was another revelation from her that just seemed oddly placed. She cooked an herb-cheese chicken for her demo. The guest all seemed to like her and her dishes, although some said that her chicken was over done and the skin wasn't as crispy as she intended. Her dessert pastry was said to have been the single best thing everyone ate the whole night. One of the dinner guests is an elite chef from France and he's a renown pastry chef, and even he raved about it.

Debbie went next and if I had to do a shot everytime she said "Korean" I'd have died of alcohol poisoning. All of their dishes were similar in that all 3 had something sitting on a bed of something else. Her food was so so. Some didn't like her Korean ribs as they were tough, but Debbie rightfully noted that that is the way the Korean's make ribs. They don't make them "falling off the bone." Her appetizer was said to be 100% Soul and no Seoul. Bobby complained about needed more flavors. For her demo, she made her dessert and most thought that she did well, but some complained that her egg roll dough wasn't fully cooked.

Jeffrey went last and right out of the gate, everyone liked him. He is VERY charismatic and polished and told some good stories. His appetizer got VERY high marks, as did his dessert. Tyler commented several times that the guy is money on tv, that anyone would want to watch and learn from him. Jeffrey's main course of seafood risotto; however, was a disaster. A risotto must be made to order and served right away. Jeffrey knew that it would end up sitting, so he tried to undercook it a little so that by the time it was served, it should be dead on. As Jeffrey was explaining the dish, the faces on the diners told it all. The French chef told him it was the worst risotto he'd ever had, and this one chef who I've seen many times as he competed for Next Iron Chef and like Jeffrey brings tastes of the world to his cooking, said that the risotto was an affront to Italy. Wow.

For me, it seemed like the judges should look at the season as a whole. If there were 16 challenges, and Jeffrey had won 6 and Melissa 3 and Debbie 1, that would tell it all for me. In the end, that may have been what sealed it. Jeffrey is CLEARLY the best chef there and is great in front of people and on camera. Melissa is EXACTLY what the FN audience loves, a home-cooking mom. Debbie has never wowed them with her food, and head judge Bob even alluded to that in his blog BEFORE this season even began that he wrote once the casting was completed. So, Debbie got the boot. The final now is the cool trained chef against the home cook with great cooking tips. No matter which one wins, I think they BOTH will end up on FN.

In order to see the "hidden or inviso text" hold down the left mouse button and drag it to the end.

UPDATE: The finale of NFNS was yesterday. They both made "pilots" and I thought that Jeffrey's was better. He showed more of what he was doing, and explained the why, the how, and made you want to eat it. Melissa did a good job, but for some reason, just showed a potato dish she had made, but didn't tell how to make it. The selection committee revealed that in the 5 seasons, this was the hardest decision they've made. Bobby Flay made a point during the deliberations to ask,"We can only pick one, right?" That wasn't the only hint that they both might get a contract. Even Melissa said that she thinks they BOTH should win. As expected, they chose Melissa. Most of the winners of NFNS have been guys, and the only woman to win won due to controversy and then left FN after her 6 episode deal that each winner gets. So, I figured that she would win as she fits their demographic better and because people might complain that they only pick men to win. I still think they see a star in Jeffrey, so I'm betting that SOMETHING will be coming with him soon.

Kathy Griffin:

This episode was all about Kathy opposing Proposition 8 in California. It was a voter inspired ballot proposal that repealed the California Supreme Court supported gay marriage law. This was one of those bills where voting yes meant no and voting no meant yes. So if a voter chose yes to Proposal 8 that meant they were voting no to gay marriage.

Kathy started by visiting singer Melissa Etheridge, her wife, and their 2 kids. Originally it was just to ask for her opinion on what cause or causes Kathy should become an activist for, since A-Listers all have causes. It was by talking with Melissa that she decided that since "the gays" always have supported her and that she was so adamant about this issue that she should take it up.

So, Kathy went to a gay community center which as part of their programs allows homeless gay youths to stay there for up to 18 months, but they have to either attend school or get jobs. Kathy has performed there at their auditorium many times, and felt that she could enlist some of the youths to help her in this cause.

The kids are there for many reasons including having been shunned by their families for being gay. None of them had done any advocacy work, and none of them knew the story of Matthew Shepard who was lured from a bar and then tied to a fence where he was beaten, robbed, and left to die...all because he was gay. Kathy said that she had flown to Wyoming and been at the candlelight vigil for him while Matthew was still alive and in a coma after being found, 18 hours after the beating, still tied to the fence. Shepard died a few days later.

So, she took the kids to a place that teaches how to work in an advocacy campaign. Kathy and the kids were then sent out (with a "babysitter" to try to make sure Kathy didn't get out of line) and they went to a neighborhood in Sacramento which overwhelmingly voted for Prop 8 (so against gay marriage.) Kathy and the troupe (camera in tow) knocked on doors and spoke to people who happened to be outside. Many of the people were found to have been confused as to if yes meant no or yes. Since the proposal only won by 4%, the confusion alone could have turned the tide. She said that many of the people were firmly against gay marriage, but several people seemed to reconsider after Kathy spoke with them, including a 90 something woman, a white woman, and a black woman who was working on her yard.

Kathy then took the kids to a rally decrying Prop 8 and trying to get publicity for it's repeal in 2010. There they met a gay couple who has been together for 10 years. One of them has developed a condition to where he is slowly losing his ability to walk. His job is only part time, in part because of his physical limitations, so he doesn't qualify for health care through his job. His partner's employer doesn't recognize same sex domestic partnerships, although it DOES recognize opposite sex domestic partnerships! So, this poor guy doesn't have any health benefits, and can't seem to get them. If he were allowed to marry, then the problem would be solved. I guess they must not have been from California, or I'm sure they would have gotten married while it was legal there. They didn't specify, or I missed it.

After that, Kathy showed the kids a youtube video about Matthew Shepard and that seemed to really energize the kids who finally had a face to go with the name. Then they showed Kathy and the kids at another rally where Drew Barrymore gave a famous speech, about how "civil unions" is separate but not equal, and that all gay people want is to be treated equally under the law as the Constitution mandates.

The last bit showed Kathy give a benefit performance at the gay community center where she raised $30,000. She also auctioned off 2 big tubs of cookies that were made by Melissa Etheridge and family and some woman bought them for $1,500! Those are some expensive cookies!

Warehouse 13:

I wasn't that crazy about this episode. Again it started with a cutesy bantering with the 2 lead agents who were assaulted by monkeys, in various ways, while retrieving an artifact.

Meanwhile, it turns out that the experience Artie had at the end of last week wasn't a time travel or anything, it was like a waking dream, a memory that he interacts with. He has another episode and wakes up to find that the warehouse has been breeched and he's in electrified handcuffs at the mercy of the person who broke into their computer and then their electrical grid to spell "knock knock."

She is a 20 something gal who is the sister of a person whom Artie worked with 12 years prior and she blames Artie for her brother's death. She claims that her brother is alive and needs Artie's help to bring him back. He thinks that she's nuts, and the agents find out that she was recently in a mental institution while they are trying to track down Artie. They go to her apartment and it's the standard "walls covered with clippings and photos" of Artie and Warehouse 13 related stuff.

Like Artie, she also had been having those waking memories/visions and that led her first to the mental hospital and now to the lab. She takes Artie to her brother's old lab and there they see her brother appear in a ghost like state. His appearance though affects the sister's health and is slowly killing her. Artie realizes that the brother had been working on teleportation (Fringe, anybody?) and appears to have instead gotten stuck, for 12 years, between the 3rd and 5th dimensions.

The brother appears and Artie is able to hold him in our dimension long enough for the brother to tell Artie to cut his tie to the lab, which would kill him, but would save his sister. Artie agrees, but the girl wakes up and tries to stop him. Just then the 2 agents arrive. They tell Artie that the guy was missing a piece of the solution and that it is hidden in a compass that the guy used to make the teleportation thing work. Artie grabs the girl and grabs the brother when he appears, and all three disappear together.

Artie tells the brother what he has just learned. The guy show him the compass. The brother and sister are happy to be in the same place, but not happy that it's in the 5th Dimension. Artie unlocks the compass and solves the final part, which happens to be how to get back home, and all three arrive back at the lab safe and sound. So now the brother is back, but he hasn't aged a day, while the girl went from like 12 to 24, so they're about the same age now.

Back at the warehouse, the boss lady shows up and is unhappy that the computer, electrical services, and the warehouse itself were all breached, and that now this girl knows too much...and there aren't many options for her now.

Top Chef Masters:

We're finally at the Champion Round and the final six chefs are: Classic French Chef Hubert Keller, Classic French/Asian Fusion Chef Anita Lo, Authentic Mexican Chef Rick Bayless, Contemporary Italian Chef Michael Chiarello, Fresh Modern American Chef Suzanne Tracht, and Oprah's personal chef Art Smith who cooks Southern Comfort food.

The Quickfire has them draw knives and they become 2 teams of 3. They have to compete in one of my favorite Top Chef challenges which is the mise-en-place relay. There would be 4 tasks to complete, so 1 chef on each side had to do 2 tasks. The task were, shuck 15 oysters, dice 5 onions, butcher 4 chickens and separate 6 eggs and then whip the whites co that if they invert the bowl the whipped whites would stay in the bowl for at least 5 seconds. TC head judge Tom Collechio judges this portion (as it wouldn't be him judging their cooking skills, only their prep skills.) he noted that none of them probably has done any of this in a looong time as they have sous and line chefs to do this kind of work.

The French judge did the oysters against Suzanne, and then did the onions against Art. Each round was a virtual tie. Then Chef Anita and Chef Michael did the chickens and that too was essentially a tie. Art came back to do the egg white against Bayless. Art had yolks mixed in and had to get them out, and Chef Bayless kicked his ass. As a result, each member of the winning team got 5 stars, while the losing team only got 4 stars each.

The chefs were then allowed to make their "signature dish" and share it with the others. All of the food looked pretty good, but I didn't especially like Chef Anita's dish. Then they were told that the Elimination challenge would have one chef remake one of the other chef's signature dishes their own way. Chef Hubert got to choose which dish he wanted to do since he was on the winning team and he was the one who did 2 tasks. He chose Anita's, so that meant that she had to recreate his dish. The others had to drawn knives with either a 1 or a 2 on it. Chef Michael didn't want to do Rick's dish because he knew Bayless was very precise and used a lot of ingredients. They drew knives and Bayless got 1, Art got 2, then Suzanne also drew a 2 meaning Michael had to do Rick's dish. He exclaimed, "Hosed!" since he never even got to choose a knife.

Along with the regular judges, some of the former competitors returned to eat the reworked dishes. Anita ended up with the highest score, ending up with 24 of a total possible 25 points. Wow! Chef Suzanne ended up last and was eliminated which doesn't upset me because I had never heard of her and she was so dour the entire time. Until she left smiling, she never seemed to enjoy the experience. I think she was just doing it to try to win money for her charity, otherwise she couldn't have given 2 shits.

A new season of regular Top Chef returns on 8/19, and this time, they're in Vegas Baby!

Burn Notice:

I wasn't especially fond of this episode. It might have been that my work has picked up, and on Thursday when this aired, I got SLAMMED with orders! So, my focus may have been off.

The episode started with Michael getting ready to go do a job for the "Agent to the Spies." He showed up to pickup Michael, and Fi snubbed him pretty harshly. She grabbed Michael by his arm as he headed out and told him that if the job doesn't feel right, to walk away.

The guy drove Michael to a US Military storage house where they store weapons and ammo seized out in the field. A group of guys were stealing from it, and loading it up. Michael wanted to stop them, but the Agent told him that wasn't why they were there. He wanted Michael to follow the "cleaner" in order to find out where they were ultimately going to trade those weapons to other people. The "cleaner" then blew up the facility.

Mike then got a call from Barry the money launderer who told them that his ledger with all his names and contact numbers and accounts had been stolen, and he got a ransom call. He told Michael that he kept his records "old school" because he was afraid of being hacked if he kept it electronically. He told Michael that ALL of the favors he owed Barry would be forgiven if he got the ledger back.

Mike and the gang found that the "cleaner" was staying near an outdoor bingo place, so it was decided that Michael's Mom would be the perfect person to watch for him, as spies don't pay attention to kids and old people. Maddie called Michael once she saw him, but at this point Michael and Sam were tied up so Fi (who doesn't want Michael to get his old job back, or work with the Agent, and wasn't happy that they were using Maddie as a spy) had to now follow the "cleaner" to see if he would lead her to where the weapons drop would be made.

Following some leads, Michael and Sam found a place where they believed that the person who stole Barry's ledger was staying. They turned the place upside down, but didn't find anything. Then the people came home. Knowing that they didn't have time to tidy up, and once the people saw that their place had been ransacked, they'd hit the road and put the ledger online as they warned Barry they would do if he didn't pay up. So instead, Michael and Sam waited for the people to come in and made them hostages. When the baddies entered, they saw Mike and Sam and one was a woman and she "panicked." This caused the guy with her to back hand her pretty hard. Mike and Sam then took the 2 to the place where Sam and his new lady friend were going to stay for the weekend as it was currently empty.

Fi returned and told Michael that the guy scouted out a park next to a canal so it made sense that they would drive up and unload the crates of weapons onto a boat and be gone. Sam wasn't getting anywhere with the woman hostage who essentially broke down. Michael wasn't doing too well with the guy hostage as he had been an interrogator for the Soviets.

Mike & Sam first went to the house where Barry (using his skills) was able to determine that he had been staying. Inside, they found a "burn safe." It's inside of a fireplace and if someone tampers with it, everything inside gets torched. Sam & Michael were able to substitute the fire expellant with a liquid coolant. So when they opened the safe, instead of everything burning, everything got frosted. They found 3 passports, one for the woman, one for the former Soviet interrogator, and one for another guy, but not the ledger. Sam went back to interrogate the guy with the knowledge of his name, but the guy tried to get the upper hand. He spit in Sam's face, then burned him with a cigarette in the face, and grabbed Sam's gun. Only, Sam was smart enough to keep it unloaded. Fi went and talked to the woman who told them that the guy forced her to drive him around to look at places and that he threatened her son. Sam & Mike went to the one place that was on her list of locations that also showed some activity that Barry was able to find on the third passport that they found in the burn safe.

Sam & Mike made it seem like they were part of the "gang" and the third guy let them in. He then opened fire on them from the other room with a powerful but wildly inaccurate machine gun. Mike got the drop on him, and he revealed that it was the WOMAN not the Soviet who was the ringleader! Oh noes! Fi is alone with her! Mike & Sam sped back to the house, all the while calling Fi, and trying to get Barry over there as well. Meanwhile the woman was working Fi and got her to call her "son" and then got her to take off her handcuffs. She had just gotten them off when Mike & Sam arrived.

Now, Mike & Sam showed up with guns out expecting the worst, but since they saw Fi was ok, and the woman was still there, Mike went into Plan B. Except, he didn't have time to tell Fi. Instead,he walked over and slapped the SHIT out of Fi! He yelled at her for letting the woman out of cuffs. He then tossed the woman back into a bedroom. Fi looked like she was about to kill Mike. he had to quickly whisper that he was sorry, but that the woman was the boss and he had to make it look good. Fi still wasn't happy. She yelled at him about his hitting her, he told her to shut up and that they'd now have to kill everyone. he told her to kill the woman, while he and Sam took care of the former Soviet dude. The true plan was to make the woman THINK they had killed the guy and were coming for her all while Fi would then set her free so they could follow her.

Sam & Mike took the guy to the bathroom with duct tape on his mouth. They told him to start screaming, but as soon as they started shooting, for him to stop screaming. If he said ANYTHING after they were done shooting, they'd have to shoot him for real. He understood and obliged. The woman heard all of it and was freaking out when Fi let her go and gave her the keys to Sam's old convertible (as it would be the easiest to follow.) They let her go and gave her some lead time. Barry had gotten close, so as soon as she got to him, he told them which way she was heading. Sam, Mike, and Fi then played tag team car pursuit and followed her to a park.

The woman sat at a table until a guy on a bike rode by. They made a swap, she gave him the ledger and he gave her car keys, so Fi followed the woman while Sam & Mike followed the biker. They clotheslined the biker, and recovered the ledger. Fi followed to woman to the car which had a BUNCH of money in the trunk. Unfortunately, it also had a gun. She and Fi were at a standstill, but my money was on Fi...even though they learned that this bitch was a highly trained killer. A group of kids went by and she told Fi that if she flinched, she start shooting kids, and that she had no problem using the kids as shields nor to start shooting at Fi from among the kids and their parents. So, she got away. The Soviet got turned in with the car and stolen cash so he's screwed.

Michael now was heading out to take photos of the people unloading the guns. he was not happy that all he was doing was shooting photos of the people involved, and not stopping it. Fi told Michael that if he's going to try to get back to being a spy and work with people like the Agent and let stuff like this go down without stopping it that she was leaving Miami. So, Michael now had to do his spying solo although it really needed 2 people (Sam was now at his weekend getaway with his ladyfriend.) The episode ended with the Agent being highly impressed with the photos that Michael took. Just then, Mike got a call. It was his CIA contact from the airplane hanger (from the previous 2 episodes) he told Mike that he had been called and that people were now taking a serious look at his file. This could be the start of Mike's "getting his life back." But at what cost?

Eureka:

There were 4 things going on in this episode. (1) The Sheriff's sister and her boyfriend were at odds over her pregnancy and her running off on him and not telling him, and then surprising him with the news by pulling up a shirt that had made her belly disappear. (2) Fargo and his team were taking on a team from Area 51 (no, no aliens there, but Fargo and his team like to mock the Area 51 people about it in order to throw them off their game.) The leader of the Area 51 team is named Bismarck. Get it, Fargo...Bismarck. Ok then. (3) Something kills one of Fargo's teammates, and it is learned that it feeds on radioactive stuff, so it ends up eating up all of GD's recovered nuclear material (see # 4,) except for what powers the Sheriff's house. (4) GD needed ALL of the fabricated nuclear material that various people use to power things around town (like the Sheriff's AI House) so that they could use the power to boost their electronic telescope in order to try to see the object that is heading towards them from space, emitting a signal that hasn't yet been decoded.

(1) The Sheriff's sister says that apparently it was too much for the guy and she never wanted him to give up his job that requires him to travel the globe saving people. The guy shows up and says that he was upset at what she did and how she did it. She tells him to just go away and go back to his life because she didn't want or need him. Eventually, he convinces her that he wants to be with her and that she can travel with him when she can, but otherwise he'd be fine staying in one place. At the end of the episode, they decide to leave town.

(2) The Area 51 team exposes Fargo's team to low levels of Gamma radiation, turning them all green...like the Hulk only without the strength. The Sheriff's sister's boyfriend was able to create a cure based on some work he had to do with people suffering from a radiation leak in some Third World nation. But, while exposed, an organism is attracted to them and their radiation. This is what kills the "ringer" on the team, who it turns out had been stealing all of the fabricated nuclear power around town in order to feed this thing as part of an experiment now gone horribly out of control. Eventually, Fargo and his team, now cured, go on to finally beat the Area 51 team for the first time in years as Fargo makes a 7-10 split, by using a ball that splits in 2. I'd call it cheating, but apparently it's allowed.

(3) The creature was made to "clean" places that had been exposed to radiation, but now it was ravenous. It devoured its creator who was Fargo's ringer on his bowling team as he once had been a pro-bowler to earn money for his education. Jack thinks that cold might stop it because it attacked Fargo while he was showering, but slithered off after touching him so the thought was that it didn't like the cold. Jack went down into the plumbing system of GD where they thing was traveling through the pipes trying to get more radiation in other rooms, and where it had been trapped by GD securing all of their external pipes. Jack froze it, but it only froze the surface, so it managed to continue on. Now having grown to a massive size from devouring all the fabricated nuclear material that had been recovered, it was able to bust out of GD. It headed for Jack's house as it is powered by the material, and it hadn't yet been collected. Jack and the mayor figured out (with some help from Allison's friend from CETI) that it wasn't Fargo's cold shower that it didn't like, it was the Sheriff's sister's boyfriend's radiation cleanser. They managed to put a bunch of it inside an exploding bowling ball that was coated with radioactive material. Jack was able to toss it into the gooey mass and then explode it, killing the creature from within.

(4) Now that they weren't able to recover the fabricated nuclear material from around town, and it would take weeks to make more of it in the amount that they needed, they missed their window of opportunity to get a look at whatever it is that is coming to them from outer space. This required Allison to order extra defensive measures. Her friend from CETI was alarmed because they don't know the intention since they can't decode the signal. Allison said that she had no choice. Next week, the start of the arrival.

Big Brother SPOILERS!!!:

Right now you can call in and leave a message for the HGs. Here is the number:
1-323-386-2350. Here is the link: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/big_brother/interact/

Here is the link to vote for the Coup D'Etat winner:
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/big_brother/i.../americas_vote/

In re: the internet voting for the Coup D'Etat winner...the official rules state that only 10 votes per IP address will be counted. On the website, it only shows the first part of the rules. The full rules were posted elsewhere, and here is the pertinent part about online voting from the full official rules:

>>Big Brother Description: During the Voting Period, viewers of the Big Brother television program will be asked to interact with the show by answering a poll type question related to the Big Brother television program. The announcer will invite viewers to vote either by sending in a text message on their text messaging capable mobile phone or by going online at www.cbs.com/bigbrother. There is a maximum of ten (10) votes using the text message method of voting and ten (10) free online votes.<<

Not only did the HGs figure out the end of the cliques, but the true BB fans in the house realized that the power must be the Coup D'Etat. Ronnie keeps going on and on about it and how he'll get chosen. Natalie says that America will either give it to her or Jessie since BB11 is the "Jess & Nat" show. PUKE!!! Kevin told Lydia that since Julie asked about her and Natalie, that they must be editing the show to make it look like there is a "love triangle." Which is funny, because they really haven't done that.

(Personal side note: I wish that when Jessie was talking to Julie in the HOH room that after he said that his dealings with the women is strictly Platonic that she would have said, "Jessie, you DO know that the cameras are on you 24/7?" And left it at that. It has been confirmed that Lydia has not only given him "hand release," but also that they "did the deed" and Jessie was a 2 pump chump.)

As one of the first 5 out, Kevin won the money, and Lydia won a TV. Jordan also was one of the first 5 out and won the ability to make 3 people "Have Nots." She said that she wouldn't put up any of the "Brains" since they were just Have Nots and had been Have Nots twice. She couldn't make herself or Russell Have Nots since he's HOH. So, she had them draw names. Natalie got drawn, but she has a slop pass. So, while I think she's in the Have Not room, she can eat. Natalie said she'd go without showers...like that's anything new or different. Eww. Kevin got drawn. Jeff was drawn but the others said no since he had been up there vying for HOH with Russell for so long, plus Jeff got mad at her for even allowing his name to be considered. On the redraw, Jessie got the "Have Not." He was pissed so Jordan had people guess numbers and he lost again. Lydia offered to take his place since he needs food for his muscles, but he said that he lost twice. Natalie told Jessie that she'd give him her slop pass, but BB told her that she couldn't.

All Jessie and Natalie did next was whine and complain...for HOURS!!! Natalie complained that she can't sleep next to a guy, even Kevin, since she has a boyfriend. Then she ended up trying to sleep between Kevin and Jessie. It sounded to me like she just wanted to be next to Jessie. Jessie heard the camera guys laughing at him while he was whining, so he flipped them off. It's probably just that Natalie wasn't allowed to give him her slop pass so he's mad at BB for not allowing her to give it to him. Whatever, he's a sore loser and is taking it out on the BB people.

Russell won HOH and nominated Lydia & Ronnie. Michele won the Power of Veto for the second week in a row. She has said that she won't use it to take down Ronnie. Since then, Russell has been yelling at Ronnie that he'll be going home. Ronnie has been trying to rally people to his side, and also still thinks he will win the Coup D'Etat. He thinks America LOVES him because he is "so good" at playing Big Brother. Whoever goes home this week is the final person who will NOT be eligible for the Jury House. Apparently, Ronnie's wife was soliciting people online to make a "voting bot" that would plug votes for Ronnie, but as there appears to only be a limit of 10 votes per IP address, it shouldn't work. Also, people have been critical of her for that, so I don't know if anyone took her up on the offer to help out Ronnie.

I will post as to if the Veto was used or not and if any of the nominees changed or not once that info is known, so you may have to check back sometime later today or tomorrow (I think the Veto Ceremony used to be on Sundays but is now on Mondays. I'm not sure.)