Big Brother 9 Wrap-Up

So here's what you missed since the last time I posted about Big Brother 9:

Episode 30, Episode 31, Episode 32 and the finale, Episode 33.

Before I comment on tonight's show, I have to say that I was very upset when Sharon got evicted last week. Disappointed actually. I think she played a very good game and handled herself with class, dignity and honesty throughout the game, which is not easy to do in such an environment.

I was not shocked or upset when Sheila got evicted, since she was horrible at the competitions and only won HoH because endurance queen Natalie gave it up in a truly classy move that ended up in her getting evicted.

If I had been in the final three, I'd rather have gone into the final two with an attractive woman rather than another guy, knowing that there would be no competition to determine the winner. Ryan lost himself votes at the end I think with the way Sharon got back doored. I would not have liked to face the questions from the house guest jury panel like Ryan and Adam had to. That would not have been fun.

If you had told me at the beginning of the season that Adam would win and by a final vote of 6-1, I'd have thought you crazy. Yet that's what happened.

Now we get to look forward to Big Brother 10, which will begin on Sunday, July 13^th with 16 new contestants. I wonder what twists will be involved next time?

BB9 update (two weeks left)

Here are your BB9 updates for the week: Episode 27, Episode 28, and Episode 29.

I can't say that I'm sad that Natalie got evicted this week. She had it coming after playing everyone in the house and not being very secretive about it. It's getting down to the end - there are only four people left in the house.

The CBS show showed James arrival at the Juror house and his venting on Chelsia and blaming her for his eviction last week, saying that the way she decided to leave the house was the final nail in his coffin. That his ties to her ultimately led to his undoing. He did later apologize to her. I think his outburst was uncalled for.

The real reason he was voted out was that he is a strong competitor in competitions and would have been a real threat to win the game if he was left in the house. I can understand why they wanted him gone.

Better for me, as a viewer because I thought he was annoying. Just as annoying as chatty Natalie was at the end.

Ryan won HoH this week, so that bodes well for his secret alliance with Sharon and neither Adam or Sheila have a clue about.

My favorite remaining house guests are Sharon, Ryan, Adam and Sheila.

I think it's odd but when I started to leave these BB9 posts, I thought for sure that Adam and Sheila would be gone soon into the season. Somehow they've both managed to stick around until the final four.

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Well, I'm plugging along and am almost finished with season 9 of "Friends." Soon I'll be starting the 10^th and final season and I'm looking forward to it.

This week on BB9

In case you missed any of them, here's a summary of this week's episodes: Episode 24, Episode 25 and Episode 26.

James is out! It's about time, too. They should never have voted him back into the house. Now it's down to five: Sharon, Ryan, Natalie, Sheila and Adam. I have a feeling that Natalie is in danger of being nominated this week, because she's been playing all sides, with her alliance (of Ryan, Sheila and Adam), trying to strike a deal with James before his eviction and also trying to get a girls alliance going. She was telling everyone what they wanted to hear and everyone knows what she's been up to.

I'll admit, I cheated and looked on the BB9 cheater blog to see who won HoH this week, since it was an endurance competition and was going on long after the show ended last night. Sharon fell quickly. Ryan held on much longer but dropped after about three hours and then it came down to Sheila v. Natalie. Sheila won because Natalie gave up after a bit of negotiation. It will be interesting to see who Sheila nominates this week. I'd be surprised if she nominates Adam, since she told him that she would never do that to him after he nominated her last week. I have a feeling it's going to be Sharon and Natalie on the block this week but we shall see.

My favorite remaining house guest is still Sharon, whom they profiled on the show last night. She seems like a really caring person who would just about do anything for anyone. Some of the commenter's on the BB9 blog don't like Sharon's game but I think she's doing great. She's not making any waves, not lying behind other people's backs and not playing off of anyone. I think it's cool that she and Ryan have a secret alliance, which, as secret alliances should be, has remained a secret.

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I'm still flying through Friends and am now halfway through season 8, anticipating and enjoying every episode tremendously. I can tell you this - I have gained a great deal of respect for the acting ability of David Schwimmer, whom I used to think was way too whiny.

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I returned three DVD's to the library today that I never watched. Had them for two weeks, too. Hate it when I do that. So what did I do? Signed out four new DVD's, that's what. Maybe I'll watch one tonight for a later SNMR review....

Weekly BB9 & Friends update

Here are the links to the recaps of this week's BB9 shows:

Episode 21, Episode 22 and Wednesday's Episode 23.

Going into the Wednesday show, Josh and Sharon are the nominees for eviction tonight. Sharon replaced James, who again won the PoV competition - mainly because Ryan didn't have confidence in his guesses - and obviously used the veto power on himself. I'll be seriously annoyed if Sharon gets voted off and Josh is allowed to stay. I cannot stand Joshuah. The kid absolutely drives me nuts. It will be interesting to see who wins the new HoH this week. Hopefully it will not be James, who I also cannot stand. I'd love to see Sharon get it, if she can manage to avoid eviction.

I'm so glad Joshuah is out and I'm glad Natalie didn't have to break a tie. Who knows how the vote would have gone if she would have had to do that? I was very pleased to see a bonding of the remaining women in the house. Once I saw that, I knew that Joshuah was outta there. I'm not surprised James was the only vote to keep Josh. I did feel bad for Sharon though, seeing her partner and friend get the boot. Oh, well, she'll survive.

Now its three girls vs. three guys and Adam has HoH for the second time in three weeks. Adam having the power makes it interesting, since I really have no clue who he might nominate this week. If I had to guess right now, I'd say James and Sheila. I like it that the pressure is constantly on James to keep winning veto to save himself. One of these weeks he's going to crack and lose the veto comp. James is one of the strongest players this season, even though I don't like him, so it's not a surprise that he's a target every week.

My favorite house guests as of now look like this: Sharon, Ryan, Natalie, Adam, Sheila and James.

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Well, I've just finished season six of Friends which ended with Chandler proposing to Monica. I wish they'd bring Ross and Rachel back together again... Please, don't spoil the final four seasons for me, ok? I have some vague ideas of what happens in these last seasons but not how it happens. That's the fun for me right now watching this series that has been off the air since 2004. The fact that I had absolutely no interest in this show before now absolutely baffles me, since the characters are around my age.

I definitely think I'm going to have to own this series on DVD myself someday. I did see the first five seasons at Wal-Mart for $20 a pop, which isn't a bad deal at all. I think that was a week or so ago, so we'll see if they still have them available for that price, when I get around to buying them.

BB9 & Friends update

Here's what you missed this week on BB9: Episode 18, Episode 19 and tonight's Episode 20.

I was happy to see Adam put both James and Chelsia up for eviction this week, since they need to be broken up. Unfortunately James won the PoV and used it on himself, forcing Adam to nominate Sharon instead.

I would be seriously annoyed if Sharon is voted out tonight. I'm guessing that the vote will be 3-2 or 4-1 in favor of Chelsia's eviction, with James the only sure vote of support. We'll see what kind of revenge James can muster next week, especially if he wins HOH. I'm surprised that Joshuah is the only house guest that has never been nominated for eviction so far. I'd love to see him evicted next week. Can't stand him.

WOW!!! What a show tonight! I knew Chelsia would get evicted but had no idea James wouldn't even vote for her! She knew it was coming and I'm glad. Even just watching the CBS shows I could see what a little immature witch she turned out to be. Bye bye. Can't believe at the beginning you were one of my favorite players.

How about Natalie winning HoH for this week!!!! Even though she can be totally annoying I'm psyched that she won! Her revenge for the loss of Matt is almost complete! Bye bye James or Joshuah. I can guess already that your punk-a##es are on the block!

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I'm happily plugging along with season 4 of "Friends" and will finish the third DVD before I go to sleep tonight. I think one of the things that makes the show work so well is that the cast meshes extremely well together and they always look like they are having fun filming the show. It also helps that the show is excellently written every week.

Spring is Here!!

Spring officially begins here in the Eastern United States at 01:48 EDT and I have to say that it's about time!!

Bye bye, winter!!

I love Spring.

Summer is better, but Spring is definitely a step in the right direction.

(Of course you realize that this post was post-dated ahead of the actual time of 1:48 AM, right? I'll happily be in z-z-z-z land by then. Check back once in a while today because I'll be adding more stuff as the day wears on with each entry in a different color and font.)

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Two book stories for you:

1) If you've read here long enough you'll know that I love going to bookstores but that I hate paying too much for the books I want to buy. Yesterday was no exception. I went in to Barnes & Noble to use up a gift card I had left over from Christmas, which had like $4.51 on it. I ended up spending over $50, but here's the kicker: One of the books I bought had a list price of $30. Subtract the discount from my Membership card and my price for the book dropped to $24. Not bad, I thought, until I got home and saw the exact same book here for $19.80!! So I ordered it and will be returning the copy I bought yesterday.

2) Most Saturday mornings, V, M and I go to Borders for the kids' story time. When I'm there I usually find a book to glance through while I'm waiting. About a month ago I was reading one of these books that I thought would be nice to own eventually, so I put it on my wish list at another store's web site (not Borders though because they are consistently on the high end with their prices). Two weeks ago I was looking over online what I wanted to get at the Warehouse Sale and happened to notice that the price for the exact same book at Amazon was around $9 lower. I emailed CBD to let them know of the wicked price discrepancy and included Amazon's link for reference. They sent me an email back thanking me for letting them know about the pricing issue. A few days later they sent me another email again thanking me for letting them know about the price problem and that they were going to send me a free copy of the book! Last Saturday my free book arrived in the mail(woo-hoo)! I love it when I get free stuff! It's not a big book, but hey... if you want to send me a free copy of a book I'm going to buy anyway and save me some money, who am I to argue? Seriously.

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In case you missed anything on BB9 this week, here are the recaps of episode 15, episode 16 and episode 17.

I've decided that I'm not going to read the spoiler blogs and such before the actual CBS shows, which I had been doing over the last week and a half or so. I like BB9 but am not addicted to it. I don't need to watch BBAD or subscribe to the 24/7 feeds to enjoy the show. I am surprised at the events that happened this week, with Sheila being taken off the block and being replaced by Matt and then with his eviction last night following James casting the deciding tie-breaker vote. Natalie is right to be angry at James the hypocrite for nominating and then evicting Matt after he promised Natalie he would not (as a condition of him winning the HoH instead of Natalie) and saying that your word is all you have in this game, then going back on it. I hope he gets voted out this week.

It will be interesting to see who new HoH Adam decides to nominate this week. I'm pretty confident it will not be Sheila, Ryan or Natalie. My guess is it will be either James or Chelsia and Josh or Sharon. I personally would like to see him nominate James and Chelsia. Neither one is my favorite but I'd love to see James get his comeuppance. Right now my favorite players are Sharon and Ryan. Sheila, Josh and James are my least favorite houseguests.

I wonder what Evel Dick from BB8 will do on the show next Tuesday?

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This speech is a great example of why I'll cast my vote in November for Barack Obama, assuming he'll win the Democratic nomination for President.

BB9 update & Friends

BB9: Episode 14.

The endurance competition came down to James and Natalie. After over four hours of swinnging around and around on a disco ball, Natalie asks James for protection this week for she and Matt. James promises, Natalie pukes then drops. James wins HOH and goes from eviction to HoH, just like Ryan did last week.

I so wanted Natalie to win HoH! That would have turned the house up side down. It would have been fun to see everyone sucking up to Natalie this week. But this seems a lock: With James as HoH we can assume that Chelsia, Joshuah, Sharon, Natalie and Matt (if James keeps his word) are safe this week. That puts Ryan, Adam and Sheila at risk this week. Right now, my money is on Ryan and Sheila being the nominees for eviction this week.

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I've just finished watching the first half of Season Two of Friends. I was half on the floor because I was laughing so hard! I hope the show stays this funny for the next 8 1/2 seasons. I keep asking myself how in the heck did I manage to never watch this program when it was on? In fact, I laughed at my parents for being addicted to this show during its last two or three seasons. Hmmmmm....

I agree

In blogging, there are rare occasions when the unthinkable happens. One of them is when scribe and I agree on something, which doesn't happen too often.

But the Scribester is totally right in that y'all need to get your wonderful blogging selves over to our wonderful movie blog more. Create a link for your sidebar or something, but visit! and comment! (Comments are always niiiiiice....)

Believe it or not, we do put considerable time and effort into that blog, though we may not always post as frequently as we (or you) may like.

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In case you missed anything: Episode 12 and Episode 13. I'll post the link to tonight's episode tomorrow.

WOW, what a weird Big Brother tonight! I have to say I was totally disgusted that the house chose to bring back newly evicted James, instead of going with America's vote for Alex. I really wanted to see his red haired mohawk butt out. It will be interesting to see who wins the HOH competition this week, since the show ended with an unresolved contest, and I do not subscribe to the live feeds. Well I guess I'll find out by going to one of the BB spoiler web sites to see who is going to win.

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Sorry I haven't had much time for blogging this week so far. I've been busier than normal this week. I hate it when life prevents me from my writing/blogging.

Fear not though, nothing tragic has happened to me. I'm not sick, either.

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Be a good little doobie and go now over to read Scribe & Green on the BIG Screen! I'll still be here when you get back. GO. NOW!! (Please?)

Brett Favre, BB9 and Friends

I've never been a Green Bay Packers fan. If you read here regularly you know or can guess what team I root for. But because I love football and am a football fan, except for one instance (Super Bowl XXXI), I have been a Brett Favre fan. So it was also somewhat of a surprise this week when Favre announced his retirement from the NFL after 17 seasons. After the excellent season the Packers had in 2007, I, like many other fans, assumed that Favre would want to come back in 2008. As a fan of the game, you have to appreciate and respect the high character and level of play of arguably one of the NFL's greatest players ever and certainly one of the top ten quarterbacks of all time. Watching Favre over the years and at his televised farewell press conference this afternoon, I'm impressed by his humility and emotion. It's no surprise that Favre was considered one of the nicest people in the league. Good luck, Brett. Thanks for the memories.

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If you missed any BB, you can catch up on episode 9, episode 10 and episode 11.

Last night's episode was really good. I was a bit surprised that the warning buzzer meant that the couples were going to be split up. I really don't think it was the intention of the shows producers to split them up - or at least not so soon into the season and with so many players left. I mean, why pair them up in the first place if you're just going to undo it later on? It also wouldn't surprise me if, in a few weeks, they resume the couples game but not necessarily with the same pairs of people. I think this greatly depends on who gets evicted in the next three weeks or so.

I was not surprised to see Allison get evicted by a 6-0 vote, since she had the whole house turned against her. I was also glad to see Ryan escape eviction and win the first solo HoH. It will be interesting to see who he decides to put on the block this week, since I don't see that he has conflicts or drama with anyone in the house. My guess is that it will be two of the other guys, since they might prove to be his strongest competition later on. On the same token though, whomever he puts up for eviction that stays in the house might turn against him.

I can't stand Joshuah and think he's just as big of a drama queen and attention seeker as Allison was, so would love to see his butt get evicted next Wednesday. Wouldn't it be sweet if Amanda or Allison get voted back into the house if/when Josh gets evicted?

On the viewer voting, I can't see one of the guys getting voted back in but I'd pick either Parker or Alex. Jacob doesn't have a chance. I think one of the women will be voted back into the house and I really can't see it being either Allison or Amanda, which leaves Jen. Of course I'll vote for her as many times as I can between now and when the polls close on the 11th.

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Would you believe that during its 10 year run on television, that I never once watched an episode of "Friends" ?


If you know me its really not that hard to believe. I'd much rather pop in a DVD of some kind than watch what is currently on the tube (not counting baseball and football games!). There are only a few shows that I watch regularly and they are few and far between, with "ALIAS" and this season's "Big Brother" being the most recent exceptions. Usually when I get into a show, I do so once it has reached syndication, is available on DVD or both. One early example is "Beverly Hills 90210" which was on regularly but never watched when I was in college and that I watched religiously in my early married days in the mid 1990's and would have K tape for me when I would miss it. "ALIAS" was another example of this. As longtime readers of this blog know, I started watching "ALIAS" at the start of season four and had to go back and watch the first three seasons on DVD. I'd like to get into "CSI: Miami" but would rather start from the beginning, rather than pick up the show in the middle of the current season six.

I digress: regarding "Friends", thanks to my sister owning the entire series on DVD, in the last few days I've now watched the first half of season one and am sufficiently amused to continue watching and watching and watching...

BB9, extra days and sad news

Here are the links to Big Brother 9 episode 6, episode 7 and episode 8.

I was sad to see Alex/Amanda get evicted last night but was more happy that Matt/Natalie got to stay. I'm a little concerned that Joshuah/Sharon won this week's HOH. I like Sharon but can't stand Joshuah. My guesses for the nominated couples this week are Adam/Sheila and James/Chelsia. I just don't see any alliances between the HOH and those two couples forming. Though I do miss out because I don't subscribe to the 24/7 live feed on cbs.com or BBAD on Showtime 2. My judgments are solely based on the Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday regular episodes on CBS.

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V and M have been on their February school vacation this week. As a result of that and due to a meeting K has at work at the hospital tomorrow, I have agreed to take the kids for an extra day and a half this weekend, so I'll have them this afternoon through Monday morning. It'll be good to have them for the extra time but sadly I get less done when they are here. Ah well, such is life. V and M are great kids and I love them dearly.

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I'm not sure she'd want me to say anything, but I will anyway since she has had not the time or energy to do so herself: Please pray for and/or send good thoughts or whatever your belief system allows you to for our dear blogger friend Esther, whose father passed away on Tuesday. She'll be heading out of town Thursday or Friday for the wake and funeral this weekend. More than that I'll not say. Whatever, if anything, she chooses to share about it on her blog in the coming weeks will be entirely up to her.

Lunar Eclipse and BB9 updates

The moon entered and emerged form the Earth's shadow during a total eclipse over Titusville, Fla., in this composite photograph. (Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images)

Were you able to see that really cool total lunar eclipse last night? For once the weather cooperated and here in the Boston/Manchester, NH area we had a clear starlit sky and unobstructed view. Saturn and the star Regulus flanked the eclipse, which started at 20:43 and ended at 00:09 this morning. The eclipse was total from 22:00-22:52. I watched it for a while at the beginning and end of the full stage. Before I went to sleep at 00:20 it was all done. You can see some more pictures here (including the one above) from The Boston Globe.

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Big Brother 9 updates: episode 4 and episode 5.

Well it certainly was an interesting week in the Big Brother house. I figured that Jen/Parker would get evicted and they did by a 3-1 vote. That's too bad. I liked them as a couple. Jen however, sealed their fate when she secretly told Sheila that Ryan was a racist. Of course that gossip soon got back to Ryan who was understandably upset. She's dating Ryan in real life - why would you say something like that about your boyfriend and then deny you said it if you really care for the guy?

Amanda may be the house gossip queen but Chelsia and Joshuah's remark about the noose was dirty play. I don't like Joshuah at all and I'm beginning not to like Chelsia, either. This doesn't bode well, since Chelsia and James won the new HoH competition and get to nominate the next couples for eviction. I wouldn't be surprised if Alex/Amanda and Adam/Sheila were the next couples nominated.

Going back to episode 4 for a minute - at the very beginning it was revealed that Neil, Joshuah's partner, left the game for personal, family reasons and because this is a couple's game, Joshuah was allowed to invite back in either Jacob or Sharon, who were the first couple to be evicted last week.

Big Brother 9 on CBS

"'Til Death Do You Part"

Last night was my first actual foray into the world of Big Brother. I've never watched this show in any of its first eight seasons, primarily because I have a hard time getting into this "reality television" thang. But this show does look interesting, based on the season premiere...

This year they've thrown a few twists into the mix. Instead of competing as singles, the housemates have been paired off into couples. The couples will form teams and work closely together. Even though they just met, they'll share the same rooms and the same beds. The sixteen contestants are split into seven male/female couples and two homosexual men make up couple #8. Furthering the twist is that a real life couple, Ryan and Jen (not paired together), are going to try and secretly cause trouble among the housemates. Two other housemates (Sharon and Jacob) just ended a 12 year relationship and have been reluctantly and unknowingly reunited on the show and as a couple for this season.

After the introductions and pairing of the couples, the first competition was held, called "Falling for You", where each couple was suspended in the air, holding on to rach other for dear life. As the couples separated and the bottom partner fell onto the mattress, they were eliminated from the competition. The last couple hanging, Jen and Parker, won $10,000 for grabbing a heart pillow and negotiating with another couple for the win, promising that they'd be safe. The winning couple is the first BB popwer couple and will themselves decide the first couple to be evicted from the house. Jen already mentioned in an interview the possibility of those two being evicted first. We will see tonight @ 20:00.

My guess is that Sheila and Adam will be the first to go, since she is vocally unhappy (a whiner and likely would upset the house dynamic) with Adam as her match and is 16 years older than he. Plus, they were the last couple paired and did not get a bedroom, meaning they'll have to share a sleeping bag on the floor.

I'll throw in an update after tonight's show. If you miss anything during the season, go to cbs.com and find out what you missed.

23:00 update: Open your mouth and get yourself kicked off the show. What a dumba** Jacob is. Talking trash about Parker, saying someone else said it and then refusing to rat out who did. His subsequent silence did him in, since it seems that he did the trash talking himself. Too bad. I was looking forward to seeing how Jacob and Sharon would get along this season with the tension of their past relationship simmering constantly. Sheila and Adam would have gotten the boot otherwise, and they know it. Weird though is that during the "Tunnel of Love" game tonight, they seemed to be getting along better. Perhaps they talked at some point and formed some sort of truce. I wonder who will claim Sharon and Jacob's bed out of the two sleeping bag couples.....