Thursday, July 31, 2008
oh, JIM!
...the other Jim I really like from my other current favorite TV show (which is going to be inevitably cancelled, unlike my primary favorite TV show...), that is. He was my favorite S1 contestant. I always thought Jim had a good possibility of being the Mole just because he seemed so twitchy and neurotic and, well, good to know this is like, his actual personality. It's cool to see past contestants come out of the woodwork to make these Save The Mole videos. I think Jon Kelley has one where he's making pisco sours and offers to fly us out to LA and help us with all our careers. It made me pretty sad, actually, because he seems like such a nice, intelligent, caring guy, and his show's probably doomed.
PS. Jim, you looked better without the 'stache. :(
Paul Grassi's Save the Mole video.
Okay, Paul. You've won me over, outside of the show at least. "If you don't, me and Nicole are coming to your house and we'll live with you for a month and annoy the crap out of you!" HAHAHA AMAZING! Based on this video and the comments he's made back to people commenting about this video, Paul is both a. literate and b. gifted with a really great sense of humor about himself (he loves "Paul Free!"), which I thought he sorely lacked on the show. Though I didn't like his strategy, I guess I've got to respect it. He's right that people are scared of New Yorkers, especially Italian New Yorkers.
Plus, saying Mark is "the epitome of what every man should be" is only going to make me like you more, let's face it.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
The Office Season 5...
So, apparently the first episode is called "Weight Loss" probably, and covers all eight weeks of summer (!!!). The A-plot will involve the Scranton office trying to enter in some weight loss challenge, which they will inevitably lose by a lot or win in some hilarious way (Creed weights himself down at the first weigh-in?!). I'm SO excited, and the summer thing's a fantastic idea. Now, let's get more spoilers!!! NOW NOW NOW.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The Mole, 7/28
Now my only thoughts against Craig being the Mole are... is it too obvious? I mean... Nicole! Paul! At least try to pretend there was another player taking that quiz with you!!!!! That entire episode I had this mental picture of a camera guy/producer in a confessional with, I dunno, Paul, rubbing his temples in worry, saying, "Okay, Paul. You know it's Craig, I know it's Craig, Nicole knows it's Craig, Mark knows it's Craig, we all know it's Craig. But... can you pretend Mark did something suspicious today? Please please please?"
I'm a bit worried about Mark, because there could decidedly be clues for him (could a mission not involve soccer/writing on chalkboards? But, as someone pointed out, there are multiple clues for Craig, and there was a gold rush mission too. Yay Cali.), but once again, if Mark's the Mole: Worst. Mole. EVER!
I also think Craig should be the Mole because it would actually buck the three stereotypes that the Mole almost always is, even in foreign versions, two of which are represented in the finals:
1. the sly, crafty, 29-to-35-year-old woman (Kathryn, Nicole this year)
2. the hottest woman there (all the models from Celebrity Mole)
3. the old guy (Bill, Mark this year - okay, Mark's not old, but he's the oldest guy there)
Two things that further tipped me off that Craig's the Mole and Nicole's not:
1. Nicole's behavior and reaction at the execution. I don't like to read into behavior too much, because everyone seems genuine at times and everyone seems totally fake at times, but that girl was shitting herself and Paul was no better. Craig, on the other hand, was like "laaaa deee daaaa, 'tev." If it was acting, it was really great acting. Yes, the "it's me, it's me" seemed a little fake, but her voice cracked in nervousness a few times, in a way that seems hard to fake.
2. Craig's conversation with Mark about how he didn't want to be left in the final three with Nicole and Paul. If Craig wasn't the Mole, he should have formed a coalition with Mark right then and there, even if he did suspect Mark (because then, at worst, he'd be eliminated and not be in the final 3 with those crazies, which apparently he didn't want). I'm not quite articulating this right, but I think you can follow me here. If Craig had immediately jumped to be cell #4, this would be even more suspicious...
I guess the people who don't think Craig is the Mole are like "oh, well, Paul suspected him and he's gone! Craig isn't the Mole!" This is, well, wrong. If this was the first episode, it would be a pretty big tipoff, but it's not now. In both civilian F4s, everyone knew who the Mole was because they were all bright people or had good instincts (you could make the case that Al didn't in S2, but from his confessionals and such, I think Al really did know it was Bill, he just couldn't bring himself to admit it). It came down to a matter of information. Paul is a lot like Charlie from S1. He's a total jerk who had great instincts and was able to pick out the Mole from day 1, the very first one to do so, but lost in the F4 because he just didn't have the information or memory. I think Paul may have been answering straight Craig through the quizzes this entire time, which kept him safe all season long, but when it's down to him and one other player who also knows who the Mole is, and that other player is far smarter and more observant than he is (sorry, Paul; you've got the better instinct if that's what counts), he's gonna mess up a question here or there and lose.
Likewise, in the Charlie elimination episode of S1, Steven got the total "he is the team's HERO who DESERVES this exemption" edit. He ended up winning the game. Guess who got that edit this time? (God, please let Mark win. I love Nicole and all, but Mark will cry and destroy things if he doesn't. Nicole will just snark "well, I did beat Paul" and then go be a doctor.) I watch too much of this show...
Notice Paul was on the end of the line at the execution, and the only person next to him was Craig? Yeah, go back and watch Bobby, Kristen, and Alex's executions too (and notice who's behind Marcie, Liz, Victoria, and Clay). Oh God, I'm turning into one of those crazy people who sees clues everywhere. Also, loved loved loved Paul's snarky "you going first? Yeah, yeah, I didn't think so" or whatever it was to Craig. He knows Craig's name hasn't ever been called during an execution!
Paul. Paulie, Paulie, Paul. I can't say I'm going to miss you. You were like Boston Rob, devoid of 95% of the charm, humor, and intelligence. You were, by all appearances, sexist, homophobic, possibly racist, and unable to deal with those more intelligent or taller than you. But the last two episodes, you won me over, just a little. Your daughter's so freaking adorable, you were really funny when you were touching Jon Kelley's head ("DO NOT TOUCH THE HOST!!!!"), and I loved your sort of reconciliation with Nicole. Also, you were clearly a fantastic judge of character when you said that Mark was one of the greatest men you've ever met. :D!!! Then again, you had that whiny "I don't know why there's an exemption in the final four" speech, and according to the producers' blog, YOU MADE MY MARK WEEP. NO. NO YOU DO NOT. Bye Paul. If I go to Yonkers to visit family, I will gladly babysit Alexa.
Speaking of the Nicole/Paul reconciliation, when Mark and Craig left the table, I automatically started cringing. But then, I realized, "whaaaa? They're having a civil conversation?" And then later... another one? And then later... yet another one? And then... they toasted? What the heck? That was a dead giveaway one of them was leaving, and... well... I'm glad it was the person who did.
As much as I want Mark to win (because, like I said, he'll cry if he doesn't, and then I will probably cry), I think Nicole's edit or whatever has been fantastic. At the beginning, you didn't even "love to hate" her, to steal a phrase from Paul. You just hated her, like when she started uncontrollably cursing after Marcie assigned her to sleep outside. That's not the Nicole we know now. Then, she stayed bitchy but got smart and became beyond entertaining ("I'ma kill you while you sleep!"). Now, she's a scrappy never-say-die player (even when she wants to say die, like last week) with spunk and smarts. Love that she was sort of sad to see Paul go. I get where she's coming from. Was it just me, or did she look very Carrie Bradshaw at the execution?
Quick stuff after the ridiculously long paragraphs above:
Jon Kelley was, dare I say it, Anderson Cooper-esque in that episode. I loved so much about the things he chose to be in the camera challenge. He's such a great host.
I was bewildered last week when Craig didn't almost die. I'm glad we're back to normal (I kept cringing when that board was bending down).
I thought the last part of the blindfolded/video mission was virtually impossible, so I was super impressed when Mark and Paul actually accomplished it. Oh, and if Mark was the Mole, he literally would have had to waste one second. Once again: Worst. Mole. EVER!
Nicole: "Sweet, gentle Mark with three kids doesn't have a killer instinct!" Um, was she around for the journal burn and All for One?!
Loved all Paul's comments during the word puzzle part of Cell Out. So, so funny. I'm quite sure he had no idea how that worked.
I'm sad there are no "trapped in a crazy hotel room" tests based on next week's promo. The "Tiny Bubbles" challenge was the best of Season 2, and the EPIC Three Rooms challenge is probably the best Mole challenge of all time.
This game is getting in my brain, because when I saw the multiple shots of that guy with the dog, I was like "OMG WHAT CONTESTANT HAS A DOG?!" Damn you, Mole!
Paul: "I nailed one of these guys on day 1." Was I the only one that regressed to third grade and giggled?
Oh, one last thing, because this post is long enough already and... did I mention this yet? PAUL FREE!!!! IN EPISODE EIGHT!!!!!
I'm a bit worried about Mark, because there could decidedly be clues for him (could a mission not involve soccer/writing on chalkboards? But, as someone pointed out, there are multiple clues for Craig, and there was a gold rush mission too. Yay Cali.), but once again, if Mark's the Mole: Worst. Mole. EVER!
I also think Craig should be the Mole because it would actually buck the three stereotypes that the Mole almost always is, even in foreign versions, two of which are represented in the finals:
1. the sly, crafty, 29-to-35-year-old woman (Kathryn, Nicole this year)
2. the hottest woman there (all the models from Celebrity Mole)
3. the old guy (Bill, Mark this year - okay, Mark's not old, but he's the oldest guy there)
Two things that further tipped me off that Craig's the Mole and Nicole's not:
1. Nicole's behavior and reaction at the execution. I don't like to read into behavior too much, because everyone seems genuine at times and everyone seems totally fake at times, but that girl was shitting herself and Paul was no better. Craig, on the other hand, was like "laaaa deee daaaa, 'tev." If it was acting, it was really great acting. Yes, the "it's me, it's me" seemed a little fake, but her voice cracked in nervousness a few times, in a way that seems hard to fake.
2. Craig's conversation with Mark about how he didn't want to be left in the final three with Nicole and Paul. If Craig wasn't the Mole, he should have formed a coalition with Mark right then and there, even if he did suspect Mark (because then, at worst, he'd be eliminated and not be in the final 3 with those crazies, which apparently he didn't want). I'm not quite articulating this right, but I think you can follow me here. If Craig had immediately jumped to be cell #4, this would be even more suspicious...
I guess the people who don't think Craig is the Mole are like "oh, well, Paul suspected him and he's gone! Craig isn't the Mole!" This is, well, wrong. If this was the first episode, it would be a pretty big tipoff, but it's not now. In both civilian F4s, everyone knew who the Mole was because they were all bright people or had good instincts (you could make the case that Al didn't in S2, but from his confessionals and such, I think Al really did know it was Bill, he just couldn't bring himself to admit it). It came down to a matter of information. Paul is a lot like Charlie from S1. He's a total jerk who had great instincts and was able to pick out the Mole from day 1, the very first one to do so, but lost in the F4 because he just didn't have the information or memory. I think Paul may have been answering straight Craig through the quizzes this entire time, which kept him safe all season long, but when it's down to him and one other player who also knows who the Mole is, and that other player is far smarter and more observant than he is (sorry, Paul; you've got the better instinct if that's what counts), he's gonna mess up a question here or there and lose.
Likewise, in the Charlie elimination episode of S1, Steven got the total "he is the team's HERO who DESERVES this exemption" edit. He ended up winning the game. Guess who got that edit this time? (God, please let Mark win. I love Nicole and all, but Mark will cry and destroy things if he doesn't. Nicole will just snark "well, I did beat Paul" and then go be a doctor.) I watch too much of this show...
Notice Paul was on the end of the line at the execution, and the only person next to him was Craig? Yeah, go back and watch Bobby, Kristen, and Alex's executions too (and notice who's behind Marcie, Liz, Victoria, and Clay). Oh God, I'm turning into one of those crazy people who sees clues everywhere. Also, loved loved loved Paul's snarky "you going first? Yeah, yeah, I didn't think so" or whatever it was to Craig. He knows Craig's name hasn't ever been called during an execution!
Paul. Paulie, Paulie, Paul. I can't say I'm going to miss you. You were like Boston Rob, devoid of 95% of the charm, humor, and intelligence. You were, by all appearances, sexist, homophobic, possibly racist, and unable to deal with those more intelligent or taller than you. But the last two episodes, you won me over, just a little. Your daughter's so freaking adorable, you were really funny when you were touching Jon Kelley's head ("DO NOT TOUCH THE HOST!!!!"), and I loved your sort of reconciliation with Nicole. Also, you were clearly a fantastic judge of character when you said that Mark was one of the greatest men you've ever met. :D!!! Then again, you had that whiny "I don't know why there's an exemption in the final four" speech, and according to the producers' blog, YOU MADE MY MARK WEEP. NO. NO YOU DO NOT. Bye Paul. If I go to Yonkers to visit family, I will gladly babysit Alexa.
Speaking of the Nicole/Paul reconciliation, when Mark and Craig left the table, I automatically started cringing. But then, I realized, "whaaaa? They're having a civil conversation?" And then later... another one? And then later... yet another one? And then... they toasted? What the heck? That was a dead giveaway one of them was leaving, and... well... I'm glad it was the person who did.
As much as I want Mark to win (because, like I said, he'll cry if he doesn't, and then I will probably cry), I think Nicole's edit or whatever has been fantastic. At the beginning, you didn't even "love to hate" her, to steal a phrase from Paul. You just hated her, like when she started uncontrollably cursing after Marcie assigned her to sleep outside. That's not the Nicole we know now. Then, she stayed bitchy but got smart and became beyond entertaining ("I'ma kill you while you sleep!"). Now, she's a scrappy never-say-die player (even when she wants to say die, like last week) with spunk and smarts. Love that she was sort of sad to see Paul go. I get where she's coming from. Was it just me, or did she look very Carrie Bradshaw at the execution?
Quick stuff after the ridiculously long paragraphs above:
Jon Kelley was, dare I say it, Anderson Cooper-esque in that episode. I loved so much about the things he chose to be in the camera challenge. He's such a great host.
I was bewildered last week when Craig didn't almost die. I'm glad we're back to normal (I kept cringing when that board was bending down).
I thought the last part of the blindfolded/video mission was virtually impossible, so I was super impressed when Mark and Paul actually accomplished it. Oh, and if Mark was the Mole, he literally would have had to waste one second. Once again: Worst. Mole. EVER!
Nicole: "Sweet, gentle Mark with three kids doesn't have a killer instinct!" Um, was she around for the journal burn and All for One?!
Loved all Paul's comments during the word puzzle part of Cell Out. So, so funny. I'm quite sure he had no idea how that worked.
I'm sad there are no "trapped in a crazy hotel room" tests based on next week's promo. The "Tiny Bubbles" challenge was the best of Season 2, and the EPIC Three Rooms challenge is probably the best Mole challenge of all time.
This game is getting in my brain, because when I saw the multiple shots of that guy with the dog, I was like "OMG WHAT CONTESTANT HAS A DOG?!" Damn you, Mole!
Paul: "I nailed one of these guys on day 1." Was I the only one that regressed to third grade and giggled?
Oh, one last thing, because this post is long enough already and... did I mention this yet? PAUL FREE!!!! IN EPISODE EIGHT!!!!!
HUGE SURPRISE!!!
Entertainment Weekly's already praising Pineapple Express as the funniest movie of the year! (Remember, Judd Apatow either gave them all at EW some good sexin' or walked in on them at like, a donkey show/whatever those things are called, and now has super super dirt)
Monday, July 28, 2008
if you heard...
a nearly hysterically victorious shriek of "YES!!!!!!!!!" at 10:57 PM, that was me from all the way out on Lawnguuuuuyyyyland.
text clue 7/28
00711.
Remember, text clues point to whoever goes home. What's Yonkers' zip code? 10701 (I got that in three seconds, without even consulting the boards, but then again I was born in Yonkers and only lived there for 13 years). If I'm right, I will be so effing happy. But I'm sure it means something else.
Aaaanyway. Let me watch. :D
Remember, text clues point to whoever goes home. What's Yonkers' zip code? 10701 (I got that in three seconds, without even consulting the boards, but then again I was born in Yonkers and only lived there for 13 years). If I'm right, I will be so effing happy. But I'm sure it means something else.
Aaaanyway. Let me watch. :D
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Mole Devil's Advocate: Paul.
Or as he's known in my house, "that asshole who makes me unable to root for the guy from the town I was born in."
PAUL
Over the Falls: missed the bag
So did at least three other players who aren't the Mole.
Robinson Crusoe: stopped running and putting sand in the timer after some time
We didn't see how long he was running for. If he was running up and down stairs with buckets of sand for, say, fifteen minutes straight, I don't blame him for giving up.
Race to the Summit: collapsed on the field after about twenty minutes, then picked on Bobby for doing the same. On the way up the hill to the gondola, stayed back in the slow group.
Before those twenty minutes, he was shown playing pretty hard. Liz, Bobby, Ali, and Clay were also very slow in getting up the hill, and we know they're not the Mole.
When Pigs Fly: didn't seem to be sabotaging anything during the pig catching
He broke one pig for an exemption, costing the team at least $1000.
The team caught 28/44 pigs. Y'all can decide whether that's suspicious or not for yourselves.
Fruit of the Luge: got 5/7 fruits correct for $10000 and didn't speak after the finish line
Though Ali, his partner, called out the fruit order correctly, he was the one to place the fruits and he messed up the last two, causing $4000 to be lost.
Dress Code: made an effort to get clothes and make it to the restaurant on time
Was he trying to throw suspicion off himself?
Midas Rush: his team made it to the top with 34 bricks and 30 seconds to spare. If he was the Mole, it would have been easy for him to waste those those 30 seconds.
He told Craig to stop many times.
Then again, so did Alex.
Who Said That: didn't get his question right. At the journal burn, quickly volunteered his journal to be given up... did he know in advance he would be the only one that would get to keep it?
There was no obvious tip-off in his question. He genuinely doesn't seem to use his journal much.
All for One: no suspicious behavior
He did play a lot of mind games, though.
Travelers: refused to participate in the mission
Even if he's not the Mole, there was no way he was going to be the ass end of a llama with Nicole in the front.
Grapes of Cache: Communicator, mocked Nicole as she tried to solve problems and gave the wrong coordinates once
He's ALWAYS mocking Nicole, and he corrected himself on the coordinates.
Swing Out: jumped but missed the target
So did everyone except Alex.
Go Figure: had the map when his team got lost
It could have been a genuine mistake. If you gave me a map of a city where I didn't speak the language and let me loose there, the chances are likely I'd get lost too.
Ticket to Ride: no suspicious behavior
He wasn't given the opportunity to sabotage other people, and he wouldn't have passed up an opportunity to see his wife and daughter for $10000.
Paul's definitely shady and has done his fair of sabotaging, and I wouldn't mind if it turned out he was the Mole and was, in fact, putting on an act when he's actually a big softie who picked on the players that were on to him, but... I don't think that's happening. The most suspicious thing he's said was during the Travelers mission, when Mark was talking about how it was impossible to travel the distance they had to cover in 45 minutes: "Mark's almost convinced me I can't run an 8-minute mile!" Paul, though he looks athletic, seems to suck at physical missions. If he's the Mole, hiding his athleticism could be a good cover, but he could have just accidentally admitted that he is, in fact, athletic - an 8-minute mile, from what I remember from my two years on high school track, is pretty hardcore. The thing is, I've found literally nothing that could be a clue for him (if the apple = Big Apple = New York thing is indeed a clue, I'll be pissed, because Yonkers isn't New York City!!!!! Ahem. Sorry. New Yorker.)...
Paul, as portrayed, is an asshole who's sexist (when Nicole said that he can't deal with women doing anything other than sitting in the kitchen cooking and making babies: bingo. And I know Nicole must be a pain in the ass to be around 24/7, but remember he went after Victoria too, and his "worst fear" was not catching the bag in Over the Falls when a woman did), homophobic* (the constant inference that Bobby wasn't a man, whereas when Craig screwed up mission after mission physically, Paul said nothing), and possibly racist (I can't tell whether he dropped a garden variety MF bomb on Clay, or something, uh, let's just say more specifically oriented). I totally despise him, and I hate the comparisons more than a few have made between him and Boston Rob. No. Boston Rob had a certain indefinable charm, and he mostly used his deceitfulness and at times abrasive tactics to pick off alpha males and alliance leaders, not the weaker members of the game. Boston Rob could also handle other strategies being used against him, whereas Paul freaks out when confronted with other people using his strategy, like Clay and Nicole. God, I hope he doesn't win, and I hope he makes up with Nicole/she makes up with him.
Is he hot, though? I can't decide. Part of the "eh, not so much" might be his personality, though, and how much I am so not into tattoos. (Does it destroy the power of my "he's sexist" argument when I follow it up with asking how hot he is? Hmmm.)
Okay, I need sleep...
* to be fair, though Paul doesn't deserve it, Bobby had some interview in Advocate where he said Paul was totally cool with him being gay when he originally came out prior to the game actually beginning, and Paul even said he went to gay clubs all the time (straight guys do not go to gay clubs, even in NY, unless they are comfortable with their sexuality. This is pretty much a cast-iron fact. Sorry, guys.). So, who knows.
PAUL
Over the Falls: missed the bag
So did at least three other players who aren't the Mole.
Robinson Crusoe: stopped running and putting sand in the timer after some time
We didn't see how long he was running for. If he was running up and down stairs with buckets of sand for, say, fifteen minutes straight, I don't blame him for giving up.
Race to the Summit: collapsed on the field after about twenty minutes, then picked on Bobby for doing the same. On the way up the hill to the gondola, stayed back in the slow group.
Before those twenty minutes, he was shown playing pretty hard. Liz, Bobby, Ali, and Clay were also very slow in getting up the hill, and we know they're not the Mole.
When Pigs Fly: didn't seem to be sabotaging anything during the pig catching
He broke one pig for an exemption, costing the team at least $1000.
The team caught 28/44 pigs. Y'all can decide whether that's suspicious or not for yourselves.
Fruit of the Luge: got 5/7 fruits correct for $10000 and didn't speak after the finish line
Though Ali, his partner, called out the fruit order correctly, he was the one to place the fruits and he messed up the last two, causing $4000 to be lost.
Dress Code: made an effort to get clothes and make it to the restaurant on time
Was he trying to throw suspicion off himself?
Midas Rush: his team made it to the top with 34 bricks and 30 seconds to spare. If he was the Mole, it would have been easy for him to waste those those 30 seconds.
He told Craig to stop many times.
Then again, so did Alex.
Who Said That: didn't get his question right. At the journal burn, quickly volunteered his journal to be given up... did he know in advance he would be the only one that would get to keep it?
There was no obvious tip-off in his question. He genuinely doesn't seem to use his journal much.
All for One: no suspicious behavior
He did play a lot of mind games, though.
Travelers: refused to participate in the mission
Even if he's not the Mole, there was no way he was going to be the ass end of a llama with Nicole in the front.
Grapes of Cache: Communicator, mocked Nicole as she tried to solve problems and gave the wrong coordinates once
He's ALWAYS mocking Nicole, and he corrected himself on the coordinates.
Swing Out: jumped but missed the target
So did everyone except Alex.
Go Figure: had the map when his team got lost
It could have been a genuine mistake. If you gave me a map of a city where I didn't speak the language and let me loose there, the chances are likely I'd get lost too.
Ticket to Ride: no suspicious behavior
He wasn't given the opportunity to sabotage other people, and he wouldn't have passed up an opportunity to see his wife and daughter for $10000.
Paul's definitely shady and has done his fair of sabotaging, and I wouldn't mind if it turned out he was the Mole and was, in fact, putting on an act when he's actually a big softie who picked on the players that were on to him, but... I don't think that's happening. The most suspicious thing he's said was during the Travelers mission, when Mark was talking about how it was impossible to travel the distance they had to cover in 45 minutes: "Mark's almost convinced me I can't run an 8-minute mile!" Paul, though he looks athletic, seems to suck at physical missions. If he's the Mole, hiding his athleticism could be a good cover, but he could have just accidentally admitted that he is, in fact, athletic - an 8-minute mile, from what I remember from my two years on high school track, is pretty hardcore. The thing is, I've found literally nothing that could be a clue for him (if the apple = Big Apple = New York thing is indeed a clue, I'll be pissed, because Yonkers isn't New York City!!!!! Ahem. Sorry. New Yorker.)...
Paul, as portrayed, is an asshole who's sexist (when Nicole said that he can't deal with women doing anything other than sitting in the kitchen cooking and making babies: bingo. And I know Nicole must be a pain in the ass to be around 24/7, but remember he went after Victoria too, and his "worst fear" was not catching the bag in Over the Falls when a woman did), homophobic* (the constant inference that Bobby wasn't a man, whereas when Craig screwed up mission after mission physically, Paul said nothing), and possibly racist (I can't tell whether he dropped a garden variety MF bomb on Clay, or something, uh, let's just say more specifically oriented). I totally despise him, and I hate the comparisons more than a few have made between him and Boston Rob. No. Boston Rob had a certain indefinable charm, and he mostly used his deceitfulness and at times abrasive tactics to pick off alpha males and alliance leaders, not the weaker members of the game. Boston Rob could also handle other strategies being used against him, whereas Paul freaks out when confronted with other people using his strategy, like Clay and Nicole. God, I hope he doesn't win, and I hope he makes up with Nicole/she makes up with him.
Is he hot, though? I can't decide. Part of the "eh, not so much" might be his personality, though, and how much I am so not into tattoos. (Does it destroy the power of my "he's sexist" argument when I follow it up with asking how hot he is? Hmmm.)
Okay, I need sleep...
* to be fair, though Paul doesn't deserve it, Bobby had some interview in Advocate where he said Paul was totally cool with him being gay when he originally came out prior to the game actually beginning, and Paul even said he went to gay clubs all the time (straight guys do not go to gay clubs, even in NY, unless they are comfortable with their sexuality. This is pretty much a cast-iron fact. Sorry, guys.). So, who knows.
Mole Devil's Advocate: Nicole.
One sassy lady, Doctor Diva/Whiner herself.
NICOLE
Over the Falls: grabbed bag with fake money
Could she have somehow found out she was jumping for fake money and grabbed the bag to create trust at the beginning while knowing it wouldn't give the group any money?
This is very doubtful, because apparently the Mole only meets with the production crews for like twenty minutes every morning.
Robinson Crusoe: Biggest Whiner, seemed to pick well when she was chose to assign people to certain roles
But she still assigned a few people, like Craig and Bobby, to roles that didn't fit them. She also whined a lot the night before they had to pick the group's biggest whiner... did she know about that in advance?
Isn't that just kind of the way Nicole is?
Race to the Summit: suggested the most athletic people to do the uphill bike ride, who were the ones who cost the group money. She also didn't seem to be very helpful at the soccer game, and even started out playing goalie - a position which they didn't even need!
She says she was "told" to play goalie, but not by who (I'm thinking the production crew, because otherwise one of the players would have surely realized they didn't need a goalie and pulled her out of the net ASAP). She also got to the gondola very quickly.
When Pigs Fly: was in the second group to get to the town (which arrived at virtually the same time as the first group). She didn't interfere with Alex using his Spanish to get the pigs. Her team brought back 26 pigs, over half of the total.
Was she just trying to throw suspicion off herself? She could have sabotaged the slingshot part of the mission in some way that would be difficult to tell.
Fruit of the Luge: she was not blindfolded and told her partner, Alex, "green apple" twice in a row, and didn't correct herself even when he asked if it was right or not. Due to the double green apple at the beginning, Alex only placed 1/7 fruits correctly for a relatively minimal $2000. In the recap, she told Clay her and Alex planned to sabotage the mission.
Or is she trying to sabotage so others think she's the Mole, when she's not?
Dress Code: made an effort to get clothes and made it to the restaurant on time
Did she put herself in the group with Craig and Bobby knowing they were the least likely to complete the mission, and thus, if she sabotaged it, the blame wouldn't necessarily fall on her?
Midas Rush: her team made it to the top very quickly with 23 bricks and she didn't fight for the exemption, not causing any drama in her group that could have led to them losing all the money they'd earned during the mission
She was on the Selfish team, giving her an excuse to carry less bricks, and indeed she didn't seem to be carrying many. She repeatedly stopped.
Despite her stopping, her team still made it to the top with plenty of time to spare. She also said that stopping was a strategy to distract attention from "the real Mole."
Who Said That: didn't get her question right, and initially didn't even try to answer it until Jon insisted she did. When Kristen's quote was authored by her, Nicole openly signaled, leading to Kristen's correct answer being disqualified.
Or was she just trying to act super suspicious?
All for One: no suspicious behavior where it would have been very easy for her to... be the way she usually is
Or was she trying to throw suspicion off herself?
Travelers: refused to participate in the mission
If she isn't the Mole, she was probably looking for any excuse not to run around with Paul in a llama costume.
Grapes of Cache: Thinker, basically useless in solving the problems and even got at least one wrong. From what we saw, she did little more than bicker with Paul.
All she EVER does is bicker with Paul. Was she just trying to act suspicious? Was Paul genuinely distracting her?
Swing Out: jumped but missed the target
So did everyone except Alex.
Go Figure: incorrectly calculated several numbers and counted wrong. She also returned to the group after being given an opportunity to correct her original answer with an answer she knew to be wrong.
She could have genuinely counted wrong. Was she just trying to act suspicious?
Ticket to Ride: no suspicious behavior, with the opportunity to do so. In fact, she was praised by Clay at how efficient she was.
Would she have really been so heartless as to sabotage another person's chance at seeing his loved one? Well, besides Paul.
I gotta agree with the guys when they say Nicole's some sort of crazy enigma who is incredibly hard to read, and she's certainly committed many acts of sabotage. She's gotten very far in the game with almost no help from anyone (there was some interview with Clay after he was eliminated, and it turns out Clay, last episode, was lying to Nicole and wasn't lying to Mark) nor any notes.
Still, they made an awfully big deal of Alex thinking she was the Mole the episode he was executed, and I can only find two potential clues to her being the Mole - during Dress Code, she was standing right by a sign that said MODL and looked an awful lot like MOLE with an arrow pointing to her, and the baby noise that we heard over Mark right before the journal burn. Oh, and regarding her and Alex, I so want to see those two crazy kids get together. :D And it'd be nice if she made up with Paul/he made up with her at the end.
NICOLE
Over the Falls: grabbed bag with fake money
Could she have somehow found out she was jumping for fake money and grabbed the bag to create trust at the beginning while knowing it wouldn't give the group any money?
This is very doubtful, because apparently the Mole only meets with the production crews for like twenty minutes every morning.
Robinson Crusoe: Biggest Whiner, seemed to pick well when she was chose to assign people to certain roles
But she still assigned a few people, like Craig and Bobby, to roles that didn't fit them. She also whined a lot the night before they had to pick the group's biggest whiner... did she know about that in advance?
Isn't that just kind of the way Nicole is?
Race to the Summit: suggested the most athletic people to do the uphill bike ride, who were the ones who cost the group money. She also didn't seem to be very helpful at the soccer game, and even started out playing goalie - a position which they didn't even need!
She says she was "told" to play goalie, but not by who (I'm thinking the production crew, because otherwise one of the players would have surely realized they didn't need a goalie and pulled her out of the net ASAP). She also got to the gondola very quickly.
When Pigs Fly: was in the second group to get to the town (which arrived at virtually the same time as the first group). She didn't interfere with Alex using his Spanish to get the pigs. Her team brought back 26 pigs, over half of the total.
Was she just trying to throw suspicion off herself? She could have sabotaged the slingshot part of the mission in some way that would be difficult to tell.
Fruit of the Luge: she was not blindfolded and told her partner, Alex, "green apple" twice in a row, and didn't correct herself even when he asked if it was right or not. Due to the double green apple at the beginning, Alex only placed 1/7 fruits correctly for a relatively minimal $2000. In the recap, she told Clay her and Alex planned to sabotage the mission.
Or is she trying to sabotage so others think she's the Mole, when she's not?
Dress Code: made an effort to get clothes and made it to the restaurant on time
Did she put herself in the group with Craig and Bobby knowing they were the least likely to complete the mission, and thus, if she sabotaged it, the blame wouldn't necessarily fall on her?
Midas Rush: her team made it to the top very quickly with 23 bricks and she didn't fight for the exemption, not causing any drama in her group that could have led to them losing all the money they'd earned during the mission
She was on the Selfish team, giving her an excuse to carry less bricks, and indeed she didn't seem to be carrying many. She repeatedly stopped.
Despite her stopping, her team still made it to the top with plenty of time to spare. She also said that stopping was a strategy to distract attention from "the real Mole."
Who Said That: didn't get her question right, and initially didn't even try to answer it until Jon insisted she did. When Kristen's quote was authored by her, Nicole openly signaled, leading to Kristen's correct answer being disqualified.
Or was she just trying to act super suspicious?
All for One: no suspicious behavior where it would have been very easy for her to... be the way she usually is
Or was she trying to throw suspicion off herself?
Travelers: refused to participate in the mission
If she isn't the Mole, she was probably looking for any excuse not to run around with Paul in a llama costume.
Grapes of Cache: Thinker, basically useless in solving the problems and even got at least one wrong. From what we saw, she did little more than bicker with Paul.
All she EVER does is bicker with Paul. Was she just trying to act suspicious? Was Paul genuinely distracting her?
Swing Out: jumped but missed the target
So did everyone except Alex.
Go Figure: incorrectly calculated several numbers and counted wrong. She also returned to the group after being given an opportunity to correct her original answer with an answer she knew to be wrong.
She could have genuinely counted wrong. Was she just trying to act suspicious?
Ticket to Ride: no suspicious behavior, with the opportunity to do so. In fact, she was praised by Clay at how efficient she was.
Would she have really been so heartless as to sabotage another person's chance at seeing his loved one? Well, besides Paul.
I gotta agree with the guys when they say Nicole's some sort of crazy enigma who is incredibly hard to read, and she's certainly committed many acts of sabotage. She's gotten very far in the game with almost no help from anyone (there was some interview with Clay after he was eliminated, and it turns out Clay, last episode, was lying to Nicole and wasn't lying to Mark) nor any notes.
Still, they made an awfully big deal of Alex thinking she was the Mole the episode he was executed, and I can only find two potential clues to her being the Mole - during Dress Code, she was standing right by a sign that said MODL and looked an awful lot like MOLE with an arrow pointing to her, and the baby noise that we heard over Mark right before the journal burn. Oh, and regarding her and Alex, I so want to see those two crazy kids get together. :D And it'd be nice if she made up with Paul/he made up with her at the end.
Mole Devil's Advocate: Mark.
Moving on to my favorite, the hypercompetitive, borderline psychotic obsessive Michael-Scott-alike with wonderful comedic timing from the delightfully fake-sounding town of Mukwonago, Wisconsin (land of CHEESE).
MARK
Over the Falls: grabbed a bag with real money
If he's the Mole, this is an easy way of establishing trust right off the bat for a relatively small amount of money.
Robinson Crusoe: Appraiser, picked strange items to put on the table
I'd like to say I don't like this pro-Mark-as-Mole argument, because all three of the items actually found by the Scavengers were put on the table ASAP. What else was he supposed to put up there, the vacuum? The Mole sign?
Race to the Summit: won the uphill battle, costing the team $35000 and getting himself an exemption
Who wouldn't have tried? Kristen did it too, and we know she's not the Mole. In addition, Kristen wanted to take the cab for an extra $5000 out of the pot, but Mark refused. Also, them getting to the top first probably had a lot more to do with the soccer players sucking than him and Kristen being awesome. There's some deleted scene where Jon Kelley says Mark and Kristen got to the top of the hill well over an hour before the soccer team did!
But did Mark know in advance that the second part of the mission was going to be a soccer game, which he would have been incredibly useful in, and take himself out of it?
When Pigs Fly: was in the first group to get to the town, and brought back 18 pigs. Also told Alex to be quicker loading the pigs, which led to all the pigs being launched.
His team got lost on the way back. Was he trying to rush Alex by telling him to be quicker loading pigs?
Or was he just being hypercompetitive Mark?
Fruit of the Luge: correctly called out the fruit order to his blindfolded partner, Kristen, and didn't talk after the finish line. They got 7/7 for the full $14000.
Was he just trying to take suspicion off himself?
Dress Code: practically ripped off his robe when told about the mission, but dropped out immediately after Clay did.
Clay was his partner in a group of two. Without Clay, he (probably) would have been alone, in only his underwear, in a city where he didn't speak the language.
Mark: dropped four bricks in order to carry his team's scale
He was still on the Selfless team, carrying more bricks. His team made it to the top with many bricks and 30 seconds to go. If he was the Mole, it would have been easy for him to waste those 30 seconds. Regarding the dropping four bricks, that was just the weight of the scale, and who else on his team was going to carry that scale? Craig? He carried many bricks and was still far ahead of the rest of his team.
Who Said That: got his question right
But the grammar error made it pretty obvious it was stupid Paul. Would it have been too blatant to get it wrong?
All for One: clearly thinking about taking the exemption, which no one would have blamed him for, but he ended up not taking it
Or was he trying to put suspicion off himself by being the hero of the mission?
Travelers: led the revolt against the mission, calling it "impossible" (did he know something would come up down the road?). Refused to participate.
Kristen also led the revolt, and was, in fact, the original person to say "I can't do this" when assigned her form of transportation. It was clear nobody was going to try (except Alex).
Grapes of Cache: single-handed hero of the mission; solved almost all the brainteasers while running on a treadmill for over 53 minutes straight, much of the time at a top speed
Or was he fed the answers in advance and told to take mercy on the team and suspicion off himself?
Swing Out: jumped but missed the target
So did everyone except Alex.
Go Figure: when Clay miscalculated his number, Mark was the one to correct him, as well as doing virtually all of his team's math, which was all correct. He was also the one that realized they were going in the wrong direction.
Was he trying to take suspicion off himself or take advantage of the chaos?
If he was trying to take advantage of the chaos, wouldn't he have let the group run in the opposite direction even further? Dude, he figured out correct answers while he was running!
Ticket to Ride: no suspicious behavior, with much opportunity to do so. Was chosen by two members of the group as their most trusted person, indicating they don't think he's the Mole, and they've all gotten this far...
Would he really have been so heartless as to sabotage another person's chance at seeing his or her loved one?
Reading this recap, I've got to come to the conclusion that Mark simply isn't the Mole, or if he is, he's got some 'splainin' to do at the reveal. If he'd been the single-handed hero of a mission once, it'd be suspicious, but he's been the hero so many times. If he's the Mole, as much as I adore him, ABC shouldn't be paying him, because he sucks at his job. It's impossible to write anyone off, but unless Mark does some super suspicious stuff in the next two episodes (please let him win!), there are simply no facts to back up the fact that he's the Mole other than insane conspiracy theories/The-Number-23-esque spotting of clues pointing to him everywhere, which all of the other contestants have too.
MARK
Over the Falls: grabbed a bag with real money
If he's the Mole, this is an easy way of establishing trust right off the bat for a relatively small amount of money.
Robinson Crusoe: Appraiser, picked strange items to put on the table
I'd like to say I don't like this pro-Mark-as-Mole argument, because all three of the items actually found by the Scavengers were put on the table ASAP. What else was he supposed to put up there, the vacuum? The Mole sign?
Race to the Summit: won the uphill battle, costing the team $35000 and getting himself an exemption
Who wouldn't have tried? Kristen did it too, and we know she's not the Mole. In addition, Kristen wanted to take the cab for an extra $5000 out of the pot, but Mark refused. Also, them getting to the top first probably had a lot more to do with the soccer players sucking than him and Kristen being awesome. There's some deleted scene where Jon Kelley says Mark and Kristen got to the top of the hill well over an hour before the soccer team did!
But did Mark know in advance that the second part of the mission was going to be a soccer game, which he would have been incredibly useful in, and take himself out of it?
When Pigs Fly: was in the first group to get to the town, and brought back 18 pigs. Also told Alex to be quicker loading the pigs, which led to all the pigs being launched.
His team got lost on the way back. Was he trying to rush Alex by telling him to be quicker loading pigs?
Or was he just being hypercompetitive Mark?
Fruit of the Luge: correctly called out the fruit order to his blindfolded partner, Kristen, and didn't talk after the finish line. They got 7/7 for the full $14000.
Was he just trying to take suspicion off himself?
Dress Code: practically ripped off his robe when told about the mission, but dropped out immediately after Clay did.
Clay was his partner in a group of two. Without Clay, he (probably) would have been alone, in only his underwear, in a city where he didn't speak the language.
Mark: dropped four bricks in order to carry his team's scale
He was still on the Selfless team, carrying more bricks. His team made it to the top with many bricks and 30 seconds to go. If he was the Mole, it would have been easy for him to waste those 30 seconds. Regarding the dropping four bricks, that was just the weight of the scale, and who else on his team was going to carry that scale? Craig? He carried many bricks and was still far ahead of the rest of his team.
Who Said That: got his question right
But the grammar error made it pretty obvious it was stupid Paul. Would it have been too blatant to get it wrong?
All for One: clearly thinking about taking the exemption, which no one would have blamed him for, but he ended up not taking it
Or was he trying to put suspicion off himself by being the hero of the mission?
Travelers: led the revolt against the mission, calling it "impossible" (did he know something would come up down the road?). Refused to participate.
Kristen also led the revolt, and was, in fact, the original person to say "I can't do this" when assigned her form of transportation. It was clear nobody was going to try (except Alex).
Grapes of Cache: single-handed hero of the mission; solved almost all the brainteasers while running on a treadmill for over 53 minutes straight, much of the time at a top speed
Or was he fed the answers in advance and told to take mercy on the team and suspicion off himself?
Swing Out: jumped but missed the target
So did everyone except Alex.
Go Figure: when Clay miscalculated his number, Mark was the one to correct him, as well as doing virtually all of his team's math, which was all correct. He was also the one that realized they were going in the wrong direction.
Was he trying to take suspicion off himself or take advantage of the chaos?
If he was trying to take advantage of the chaos, wouldn't he have let the group run in the opposite direction even further? Dude, he figured out correct answers while he was running!
Ticket to Ride: no suspicious behavior, with much opportunity to do so. Was chosen by two members of the group as their most trusted person, indicating they don't think he's the Mole, and they've all gotten this far...
Would he really have been so heartless as to sabotage another person's chance at seeing his or her loved one?
Reading this recap, I've got to come to the conclusion that Mark simply isn't the Mole, or if he is, he's got some 'splainin' to do at the reveal. If he'd been the single-handed hero of a mission once, it'd be suspicious, but he's been the hero so many times. If he's the Mole, as much as I adore him, ABC shouldn't be paying him, because he sucks at his job. It's impossible to write anyone off, but unless Mark does some super suspicious stuff in the next two episodes (please let him win!), there are simply no facts to back up the fact that he's the Mole other than insane conspiracy theories/The-Number-23-esque spotting of clues pointing to him everywhere, which all of the other contestants have too.
Playing Mole Devil's Advocate: Craig.
Whoo, this is like the millionth Mole post on this page! (There's only so much Office news right now - well, they start filming on Monday hallelujah spoilers!!!!! - and the summer movies either all look terrible, or I saw them already) I'll be playing Devil's advocate here, where I name ways the players were sabotaging/being helpful in missions, and then offer a way they could have been, in fact, doing the opposite. Please note that some of the explanations may be inconsistent or wildly hypothetical, but I was trying to think of any way to defend/attack a player's actions. A few counterpoints may even have counterpoints. I tried to stay away from the "he was trying to fake being suspicious/he was being merciful on the group" explanation, but sometimes it was too hard to do that. Here we goooo, first with our resident rotund Californian.
CRAIG
Over the Falls: missed his bag
But so did at least three other players who aren't the Mole.
Robinson Crusoe: a Scavenger. He was shown not really trying and bringing back items that were mostly useless, including the Mole sign. If he was going to bring back items that were blatantly not the right ones, surely there were items that were easier to carry. He was shown kicking sand onto something - maybe he was hiding a correct item?
But it's hard to tell from the editing who brought back what correct items (and the kicking sand could have totally be an editing thing), so he could have brought back something correct. Alex, Bobby, and Clay didn't seem too useful at being a Scavenger either, and they can actually run. Nicole was the one who assigned him to run around the beach, and he can't be blamed for being a bad runner in his physical condition.
Race to the Summit: played soccer, and was terrible at it. There were several shots where you could see everyone gathered around the ball and he was off in the background, not even trying. The one thing I could see he actually did during the game was score a goal on Team Mole. He was incredibly slow in getting up the hill to the gondola.
But once again, he can't be blamed for being a bad runner in his physical condition. In defense of him hanging back, he might have been playing defense and trying not to interfere with the other, better players. Scoring a goal might have been a genuine mistake.
When Pigs Fly: was, once again, awful at running, but most of the blame fell on Bobby (note that even when Kristen was pushing Bobby around in a wheelbarrow, Craig was still far behind them). He was the one that suggested Bobby get into the wheelbarrow. His team got to the town long after the other two teams and brought back no pigs. He seemed to be wandering around randomly while Kristen was genuinely looking for pigs.
But he fixed the slingshot when Alex was launching it incorrectly. Maybe he was wandering around looking for other places where pigs could be.
Fruit of the Luge: he correctly told the order of fruits to his partner, Victoria, who put down the correct 7/7, but they both talked repeatedly after crossing the finish line, causing their answers to be disqualified
Bobby and Clay also talked, and we know they're not the Mole. It may have been a genuine mistake.
But Clay, who was blindfolded, and who may have not felt the finish line, just asked a quick question and Bobby told him "stop!" Craig, who was not blindfolded, actively encouraged Victoria to chant the order of fruits after the finish line.
Dress Code: made an effort to get clothes and made it to the restaurant on time. He also found the laundromat where everyone's clothes were, and took them to the restaurant with him.
Was he told where the laundromat was ahead of time by the production crew? Also, if he was the Mole, he sabotaged even that part of the mission in a pretty subtle way: he took everyone's clothes, making it impossible for any groups that passed by to get their clothes from there.
But that seems like something I would have done automatically, too.
Midas Rush: He was on the Selfless team, carrying more bricks. His team made it to the top with 34 bricks and 30 seconds to go. If he was the Mole, he would have been able to waste those 30 seconds easily.
But he did stop a lot.
But he can't be blamed for stopping in his physical condition.
Who Said That: wasn't there due to his hypothermia, costing his team an automatic $2000.
Even if he is the Mole, I don't think his medical issue was faked.
But even though he wasn't there, we heard his laugh as the team headed off to the journal burn and over the image of the journals actually burning in the recap episode.
We heard a weird baby crying noise over Mark's face, too.
All for One: no suspicious behavior. Left first because of his medical condition.
If he's the Mole, by leaving early, was he counting on the other players mentally breaking down due to the high stress level of the challenge, causing them all to suspect each other?
Travelers: chosen to assign transportation because he said "exemption" first at breakfast, in a really strange, out-of-context way. He assigned completely impossible transportation, leaving the group's morale to break down and not even try the mission.
But who would have done anything different? At least he did it in a really, really funny way.
Grapes of Cache: Thinker. He was basically useless in solving the problems, including blindly agreeing with Nicole when she got questions wrong.
Maybe he genuinely didn't know. He did get one question.
Swing Out: jumped, missed the target
So did everyone except Alex.
Go Figure: miscalculated numbers in a strange way (55+6=56?). When they had incorrectly entered the numbers into the computer and were given extra time, Clay came up with the correct way of figuring out the right number, but Craig calculated the wrong number (232 instead of 233). When he had to enter the new number, he hesitated as much as possible, asking "231? 232?" repeatedly.
All his calculating errors could have been genuine mistakes. If he was the Mole, he could have wasted those few seconds at the computer.
Ticket to Ride: no suspicious behavior
He wasn't chosen as anyone's "most trusted player," not giving him an opportunity to sabotage there, and he wouldn't have given up a chance to see his loved one.
Looking over these, Craig looks awfully suspicious. I said a lot of this stuff in my post covering the widget/text clues, but it bears repeating. He's sabotaged missions in ways he can blame on his physicality, and ways he can't. Mark and Paul have suspected him since Episode 1, and they're both still in and seem confident in their games. His friendship with Bobby was featured in Episode 3, which was the episode Bobby went home (he probably trusted Craig, so he wouldn't answer him for any of the quizzes). In Episode 4, Victoria had an entire conversation about how she didn't think Craig was the Mole... and then she was executed (to be fair, the same thing happened to Alex). Craig hasn't been shown making any coalitions, and it's not due to people disliking him because of his personality like could be the case with Nicole and Paul... I'm sorry, but it just wouldn't be fair if the Mole was allowed to make coalitions (if they were asked, sure).
Still - is he too obvious? Bobby seemed to be sabotaging missions based on his physicality, and we know he wasn't. Maybe he's the only one that's really picked up on the fact that Nicole/Paul/Mark is the Mole, and he's been trying to throw the others off the real Mole's scent by being ultra suspicious? Or... maybe... not...
CRAIG
Over the Falls: missed his bag
But so did at least three other players who aren't the Mole.
Robinson Crusoe: a Scavenger. He was shown not really trying and bringing back items that were mostly useless, including the Mole sign. If he was going to bring back items that were blatantly not the right ones, surely there were items that were easier to carry. He was shown kicking sand onto something - maybe he was hiding a correct item?
But it's hard to tell from the editing who brought back what correct items (and the kicking sand could have totally be an editing thing), so he could have brought back something correct. Alex, Bobby, and Clay didn't seem too useful at being a Scavenger either, and they can actually run. Nicole was the one who assigned him to run around the beach, and he can't be blamed for being a bad runner in his physical condition.
Race to the Summit: played soccer, and was terrible at it. There were several shots where you could see everyone gathered around the ball and he was off in the background, not even trying. The one thing I could see he actually did during the game was score a goal on Team Mole. He was incredibly slow in getting up the hill to the gondola.
But once again, he can't be blamed for being a bad runner in his physical condition. In defense of him hanging back, he might have been playing defense and trying not to interfere with the other, better players. Scoring a goal might have been a genuine mistake.
When Pigs Fly: was, once again, awful at running, but most of the blame fell on Bobby (note that even when Kristen was pushing Bobby around in a wheelbarrow, Craig was still far behind them). He was the one that suggested Bobby get into the wheelbarrow. His team got to the town long after the other two teams and brought back no pigs. He seemed to be wandering around randomly while Kristen was genuinely looking for pigs.
But he fixed the slingshot when Alex was launching it incorrectly. Maybe he was wandering around looking for other places where pigs could be.
Fruit of the Luge: he correctly told the order of fruits to his partner, Victoria, who put down the correct 7/7, but they both talked repeatedly after crossing the finish line, causing their answers to be disqualified
Bobby and Clay also talked, and we know they're not the Mole. It may have been a genuine mistake.
But Clay, who was blindfolded, and who may have not felt the finish line, just asked a quick question and Bobby told him "stop!" Craig, who was not blindfolded, actively encouraged Victoria to chant the order of fruits after the finish line.
Dress Code: made an effort to get clothes and made it to the restaurant on time. He also found the laundromat where everyone's clothes were, and took them to the restaurant with him.
Was he told where the laundromat was ahead of time by the production crew? Also, if he was the Mole, he sabotaged even that part of the mission in a pretty subtle way: he took everyone's clothes, making it impossible for any groups that passed by to get their clothes from there.
But that seems like something I would have done automatically, too.
Midas Rush: He was on the Selfless team, carrying more bricks. His team made it to the top with 34 bricks and 30 seconds to go. If he was the Mole, he would have been able to waste those 30 seconds easily.
But he did stop a lot.
But he can't be blamed for stopping in his physical condition.
Who Said That: wasn't there due to his hypothermia, costing his team an automatic $2000.
Even if he is the Mole, I don't think his medical issue was faked.
But even though he wasn't there, we heard his laugh as the team headed off to the journal burn and over the image of the journals actually burning in the recap episode.
We heard a weird baby crying noise over Mark's face, too.
All for One: no suspicious behavior. Left first because of his medical condition.
If he's the Mole, by leaving early, was he counting on the other players mentally breaking down due to the high stress level of the challenge, causing them all to suspect each other?
Travelers: chosen to assign transportation because he said "exemption" first at breakfast, in a really strange, out-of-context way. He assigned completely impossible transportation, leaving the group's morale to break down and not even try the mission.
But who would have done anything different? At least he did it in a really, really funny way.
Grapes of Cache: Thinker. He was basically useless in solving the problems, including blindly agreeing with Nicole when she got questions wrong.
Maybe he genuinely didn't know. He did get one question.
Swing Out: jumped, missed the target
So did everyone except Alex.
Go Figure: miscalculated numbers in a strange way (55+6=56?). When they had incorrectly entered the numbers into the computer and were given extra time, Clay came up with the correct way of figuring out the right number, but Craig calculated the wrong number (232 instead of 233). When he had to enter the new number, he hesitated as much as possible, asking "231? 232?" repeatedly.
All his calculating errors could have been genuine mistakes. If he was the Mole, he could have wasted those few seconds at the computer.
Ticket to Ride: no suspicious behavior
He wasn't chosen as anyone's "most trusted player," not giving him an opportunity to sabotage there, and he wouldn't have given up a chance to see his loved one.
Looking over these, Craig looks awfully suspicious. I said a lot of this stuff in my post covering the widget/text clues, but it bears repeating. He's sabotaged missions in ways he can blame on his physicality, and ways he can't. Mark and Paul have suspected him since Episode 1, and they're both still in and seem confident in their games. His friendship with Bobby was featured in Episode 3, which was the episode Bobby went home (he probably trusted Craig, so he wouldn't answer him for any of the quizzes). In Episode 4, Victoria had an entire conversation about how she didn't think Craig was the Mole... and then she was executed (to be fair, the same thing happened to Alex). Craig hasn't been shown making any coalitions, and it's not due to people disliking him because of his personality like could be the case with Nicole and Paul... I'm sorry, but it just wouldn't be fair if the Mole was allowed to make coalitions (if they were asked, sure).
Still - is he too obvious? Bobby seemed to be sabotaging missions based on his physicality, and we know he wasn't. Maybe he's the only one that's really picked up on the fact that Nicole/Paul/Mark is the Mole, and he's been trying to throw the others off the real Mole's scent by being ultra suspicious? Or... maybe... not...
Saturday, July 26, 2008
You know what really pisses me off about McCain?
Besides, well, kind of everything?
Okay, so all campaign long, McCain's been saying "OBAMA'S GOT TO GO TO EUROPE! OBAMA'S GOT TO GO TO THE MIDDLE EAST! HE'S NOT GOING TO DO IT THOUGH BECAUSE HE'S SO INEXPERIENCED!"
Now, Obama turns awesome, as he nearly always is, and actually does that stuff. And, of course, McCain changes his tune to that of "OBAMA'S ALREADY ACTING LIKE THE PRESIDENT! HE SHOULDN'T BE ABROAD! HE SHOULD BE AT HOME CAMPAIGNING!"
Yes, I'm one of those annoying liberals whose eyes turn into hearts at the sight of Obama. I don't care. I can laugh at his campaign enough (his part of the JibJab election parody is the funniest), but I've backed the guy since the beginning of the Democratic primaries. We match up on most policies and I think he deals with a lot of idiocy and ignorance involving his campaign with class and dignity, making me like and respect him even more. As is obvious from this blog, I fully support him for president and will likely be campaigning for him in September and October.
Okay, so all campaign long, McCain's been saying "OBAMA'S GOT TO GO TO EUROPE! OBAMA'S GOT TO GO TO THE MIDDLE EAST! HE'S NOT GOING TO DO IT THOUGH BECAUSE HE'S SO INEXPERIENCED!"
Now, Obama turns awesome, as he nearly always is, and actually does that stuff. And, of course, McCain changes his tune to that of "OBAMA'S ALREADY ACTING LIKE THE PRESIDENT! HE SHOULDN'T BE ABROAD! HE SHOULD BE AT HOME CAMPAIGNING!"
Yes, I'm one of those annoying liberals whose eyes turn into hearts at the sight of Obama. I don't care. I can laugh at his campaign enough (his part of the JibJab election parody is the funniest), but I've backed the guy since the beginning of the Democratic primaries. We match up on most policies and I think he deals with a lot of idiocy and ignorance involving his campaign with class and dignity, making me like and respect him even more. As is obvious from this blog, I fully support him for president and will likely be campaigning for him in September and October.
Oooh, I didn't hear this before!
The lovely Jesus Amy Adams is engaged! Congrats (because I know all the celebrities read this blog...).
this thread is hilarious.
Here. Basically, it offers the idea that Nicole is the Mole... and that she's a twin, and the two Nicoles work together to sabotage/play. There's Diva Nicole and Sporty Nicky. Haha!
Oh, and if it turns out to be true... wouldn't that be hilarious/awesome/totally ridiculous?
Oh, and if it turns out to be true... wouldn't that be hilarious/awesome/totally ridiculous?
Friday, July 25, 2008
and speaking of Mole clues...
Episode 8's Widget clue: TCELFER.
REFLECT backwards. Craig's glasses (remember, the original Entertainment Weekly clue was "I lie with my eyes," too)? Something that will become obvious in the actual episode? Advice to us ("reflect" on the season?)? Hmm.
I love this show. :)
REFLECT backwards. Craig's glasses (remember, the original Entertainment Weekly clue was "I lie with my eyes," too)? Something that will become obvious in the actual episode? Advice to us ("reflect" on the season?)? Hmm.
I love this show. :)
The Mole clues.
Mole hunting isn't easy to do,
Maybe it's me, maybe it's you...
Maybe it's me, maybe it's you...
So, ABC's been posting these widget clues on their website and sending out text message clues every week. Though I've got no clue about around 90% of them, obviously the crazies on ABC's message board analyze the shit out of everything, so for quite a few, there's a generally accepted solution. Here we go...
Widget Clues
Episode 1: E_E_E_
Episode 2:
abcbb
accbca
Episode 3: s666-LIAr
Episode 4:
EFG
PQR
ZOO
Episode 5:
234
715
Episode 6:
334
631
244
Episode 7: 495
Text Clues
Episode 1: NIC@AT
Episode 2: Heart
Episode 3: Grapes
Episode 4: cf (11) 8
Episode 5: CHNO 111738
Episode 6: X13421
Episode 7: EP: 1245
And the theories are...
Widget 1: E_E_E_ could be ELEVEN or EVENER (less likely). Craig has Journal #11, which was also held up by Jon Kelley. Craig's also 11th in the introduction. I think Mark jumped 11th over the waterfalls. The clue resembles a game of hangman, and Craig made a remark about feeling like a "hanged man" after he jumped over the waterfall.
Widget 2: Some have said all the As, Bs, and Cs represent "grades" on the quizzes depending on where people were sitting during the execution, and as Liz was sitting in a "C" spot this makes sense kind of. However, Bobby was sitting in an "A" spot that week, and was gone the next, so... who knows. This explanation seems totally bizarre (what the heck constitutes an A, B, C, etc., the lowest grade should probably be a D or F), but I haven't seen anything better. Also, it's worth saying that if this explanation is true, Bobby, Clay, and Paul are in the "A" spots; Craig, Alex, Mark, and Victoria are in the "B" spots; and Kristen, Nicole, Liz, and Ali are in the "C" spots. People have also said that these "grades" are simply supposed to represent a teacher, IE Mark.
Widget 3: No idea. I've read multiple interpretations. There's the obvious Ali connection, but, well, she's not the Mole.
Widget 4: If E=P, F=Q, G=R like is suggested, then ZOO = ODD. Either Alex or Paul made a comment about "playing odds" or "being the odd one out" that week.
Widget 5: No idea, other than the missing 6.
Widget 6: There was a fairly long shot of Mark's journal with these numbers in it; like in the clue, they were crossed out. It was an obsessive (IE, Markish ;) ) list of who had answered what questions what way in certain quizzes. "334" was the top number, which had Alex written next to it, indicating it was his answers. Alex was eliminated that week. The "631" under it were Clay's answers, and Clay went home the week after. "244" had both Paul and Nicole next to it, so looking at the way this is going, hopefully it'll come to mean just Paul. ;)
Widget 7: No idea.
Widget Clues
Episode 1: E_E_E_
Episode 2:
abcbb
accbca
Episode 3: s666-LIAr
Episode 4:
EFG
PQR
ZOO
Episode 5:
234
715
Episode 6:
631
244
Episode 7: 495
Text Clues
Episode 1: NIC@AT
Episode 2: Heart
Episode 3: Grapes
Episode 4: cf (11) 8
Episode 5: CHNO 111738
Episode 6: X13421
Episode 7: EP: 1245
And the theories are...
Widget 1: E_E_E_ could be ELEVEN or EVENER (less likely). Craig has Journal #11, which was also held up by Jon Kelley. Craig's also 11th in the introduction. I think Mark jumped 11th over the waterfalls. The clue resembles a game of hangman, and Craig made a remark about feeling like a "hanged man" after he jumped over the waterfall.
Widget 2: Some have said all the As, Bs, and Cs represent "grades" on the quizzes depending on where people were sitting during the execution, and as Liz was sitting in a "C" spot this makes sense kind of. However, Bobby was sitting in an "A" spot that week, and was gone the next, so... who knows. This explanation seems totally bizarre (what the heck constitutes an A, B, C, etc., the lowest grade should probably be a D or F), but I haven't seen anything better. Also, it's worth saying that if this explanation is true, Bobby, Clay, and Paul are in the "A" spots; Craig, Alex, Mark, and Victoria are in the "B" spots; and Kristen, Nicole, Liz, and Ali are in the "C" spots. People have also said that these "grades" are simply supposed to represent a teacher, IE Mark.
Widget 3: No idea. I've read multiple interpretations. There's the obvious Ali connection, but, well, she's not the Mole.
Widget 4: If E=P, F=Q, G=R like is suggested, then ZOO = ODD. Either Alex or Paul made a comment about "playing odds" or "being the odd one out" that week.
Widget 5: No idea, other than the missing 6.
Widget 6: There was a fairly long shot of Mark's journal with these numbers in it; like in the clue, they were crossed out. It was an obsessive (IE, Markish ;) ) list of who had answered what questions what way in certain quizzes. "334" was the top number, which had Alex written next to it, indicating it was his answers. Alex was eliminated that week. The "631" under it were Clay's answers, and Clay went home the week after. "244" had both Paul and Nicole next to it, so looking at the way this is going, hopefully it'll come to mean just Paul. ;)
Widget 7: No idea.
Many have said that the text clues point out who's going home that week, and looking at the evidence, it certainly seems that way in many cases.
Text 1: Marcie = NIC@IT. Not in Challenge @ Initial Task is the best I've seen anyone come up with, but it seems a little bit like it's stretching to accomodate the "person who was eliminated" after the fact. NIC@AT, or NICATAT, can be unscrambled (well, almost) to TITANIC. Craig was shown making the famous Titanic pose with arms outstretched when all the players were on the boat.
Text 2: Liz = Heart. Liz was wearing heart earrings during the quiz/execution. Craig also says he has a big heart in his bio, and that he works to protect the earth (which is heart scrambled).
Text 3: Bobby = Grapes. Bobby was the only one to get a grape massage at the spa. Grapes could also mean Napa Valley, California, and Craig is the only current contestant from California (well, Mark was born there, but as only the creepy internet stalkers know that, I seriously doubt that would be a clue. When the clues start being CHEESE, let me know).
Text 4: Victoria = cf (11) 8. No idea. Maybe she played center field during the soccer challenge in the second episode? Some have said this means "see if 11 ate." Craig has been associated with 11 more than any other player (see Widget 1), and he didn't eat at the dinner that night because he was in the hospital.
Text 5: Kristen = CHNO 111738. C11H17N3O8 is the chemical formula for tetrodotoxin, and Kristen is a neuroscientist who, obviously, works with chemicals and the like.
Text 6: Alex = X13421. A well-known guitar chord (and by well-known, I mean you find it easily when you plug it into Google). Alex is a musician.
Text 7: Clay = EP: 1245. No clue, though the 3's obviously missing. When the clue first appeared before Episode 7, most people thought it meant Nicole would be executed, since in episodes 1, 2, 4, and 5, a woman went home, and Nicole was the only woman left. However, she's obviously still in the game.
I gotta say, looking through these clues and rewatching the episodes, Craig starts to look more and more suspicious. Back in my commentary on the last episode, I wondered why nobody picked him as the person most trusted when he seems so normal and trustworthy in a den of crazies, and it occurred to me: they all think/know he's the Mole! Duh. He seems pretty separate from the rest of the group in general, and hasn't made any coalitions. Mark and Paul have suspected him since Episode 1, and they're both still here. In Episode 3, his friendship with Bobby was pretty heavily featured, and Bobby was eliminated that episode; we can assume that, because of their friendship, Bobby would probably trust Craig and not think he's the Mole. Also, this could be me being nuts/going all The Number 23, but he's the only one who never changes his seat at the execution, and he's always either behind or next to the person eliminated (in that case, the person eliminated is always on the left end of the back row, and he's second from the left. I think they're told where to sit, and it's not simply random.). If he is the Mole, though, I genuinely don't think his emergency was staged. Yeah, Craig seems to almost die every episode, but the producers cast Bobby, so they were clearly going for risks here. ;)
At any rate, if the final three is Craig/Mark/Nicole, I'll be very pleased indeed with almost any outcome (though I don't want my beloved Mark to come that far and lose, boohoo). If Paul makes the final three, I want to see him lose (to Mark, preferrably!) and cry like a bitch, just like S2's Heather... except Heather totally had the right to cry, because she was like, the only one that season that realized who the Mole was and she could have easily won, she was just completely drained of all energy by the end. Poor Heather. Anyway, Paul crying would only be better if Bobby went "yeah, who's the one that's not a man now, Grassi." Oh, Bobby!!! I'm so excited to see your hilarious faces and hear your wildly inaccurate bitching/claims during the reunion (like, seriously, what was up wtih that grudge against Alex).
Of course, all this will be for naught when we learn, in the finale, that there was a terrible accident with the technology screwing up (it's not unthinkable, Jon Kelley and the production crew have talked at length about how the touch screen kept freezing during the original elimination. By the way, I recently rewatched Episode 1 and oh lord that scene goes on foreverrrr. Buuuut I digress.), and the Mole was accidentally eliminated in Episode 4/7. ;)
Could I use more parentheses? No.
Text 1: Marcie = NIC@IT. Not in Challenge @ Initial Task is the best I've seen anyone come up with, but it seems a little bit like it's stretching to accomodate the "person who was eliminated" after the fact. NIC@AT, or NICATAT, can be unscrambled (well, almost) to TITANIC. Craig was shown making the famous Titanic pose with arms outstretched when all the players were on the boat.
Text 2: Liz = Heart. Liz was wearing heart earrings during the quiz/execution. Craig also says he has a big heart in his bio, and that he works to protect the earth (which is heart scrambled).
Text 3: Bobby = Grapes. Bobby was the only one to get a grape massage at the spa. Grapes could also mean Napa Valley, California, and Craig is the only current contestant from California (well, Mark was born there, but as only the creepy internet stalkers know that, I seriously doubt that would be a clue. When the clues start being CHEESE, let me know).
Text 4: Victoria = cf (11) 8. No idea. Maybe she played center field during the soccer challenge in the second episode? Some have said this means "see if 11 ate." Craig has been associated with 11 more than any other player (see Widget 1), and he didn't eat at the dinner that night because he was in the hospital.
Text 5: Kristen = CHNO 111738. C11H17N3O8 is the chemical formula for tetrodotoxin, and Kristen is a neuroscientist who, obviously, works with chemicals and the like.
Text 6: Alex = X13421. A well-known guitar chord (and by well-known, I mean you find it easily when you plug it into Google). Alex is a musician.
Text 7: Clay = EP: 1245. No clue, though the 3's obviously missing. When the clue first appeared before Episode 7, most people thought it meant Nicole would be executed, since in episodes 1, 2, 4, and 5, a woman went home, and Nicole was the only woman left. However, she's obviously still in the game.
I gotta say, looking through these clues and rewatching the episodes, Craig starts to look more and more suspicious. Back in my commentary on the last episode, I wondered why nobody picked him as the person most trusted when he seems so normal and trustworthy in a den of crazies, and it occurred to me: they all think/know he's the Mole! Duh. He seems pretty separate from the rest of the group in general, and hasn't made any coalitions. Mark and Paul have suspected him since Episode 1, and they're both still here. In Episode 3, his friendship with Bobby was pretty heavily featured, and Bobby was eliminated that episode; we can assume that, because of their friendship, Bobby would probably trust Craig and not think he's the Mole. Also, this could be me being nuts/going all The Number 23, but he's the only one who never changes his seat at the execution, and he's always either behind or next to the person eliminated (in that case, the person eliminated is always on the left end of the back row, and he's second from the left. I think they're told where to sit, and it's not simply random.). If he is the Mole, though, I genuinely don't think his emergency was staged. Yeah, Craig seems to almost die every episode, but the producers cast Bobby, so they were clearly going for risks here. ;)
At any rate, if the final three is Craig/Mark/Nicole, I'll be very pleased indeed with almost any outcome (though I don't want my beloved Mark to come that far and lose, boohoo). If Paul makes the final three, I want to see him lose (to Mark, preferrably!) and cry like a bitch, just like S2's Heather... except Heather totally had the right to cry, because she was like, the only one that season that realized who the Mole was and she could have easily won, she was just completely drained of all energy by the end. Poor Heather. Anyway, Paul crying would only be better if Bobby went "yeah, who's the one that's not a man now, Grassi." Oh, Bobby!!! I'm so excited to see your hilarious faces and hear your wildly inaccurate bitching/claims during the reunion (like, seriously, what was up wtih that grudge against Alex).
Of course, all this will be for naught when we learn, in the finale, that there was a terrible accident with the technology screwing up (it's not unthinkable, Jon Kelley and the production crew have talked at length about how the touch screen kept freezing during the original elimination. By the way, I recently rewatched Episode 1 and oh lord that scene goes on foreverrrr. Buuuut I digress.), and the Mole was accidentally eliminated in Episode 4/7. ;)
Could I use more parentheses? No.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
so what the heck...
...is Pineapple Express about? Because so far, all I can tell from the trailer is that it looks like an extended version of the cop subplot from Superbad. And we all know that was the best part of that movie. *eyeroll* Oh, Judd Apatow. Just go away already.
PS. Seth Rogen's still totally cute and really talented. If you're going to stay infuriatingly popular, keep casting him.
PS. Seth Rogen's still totally cute and really talented. If you're going to stay infuriatingly popular, keep casting him.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Dammit dammit dammit.
So, I have goddamn "Dancing Queen" stuck in my head from back when I saw Mamma Mia!. And I... just downloaded it. I'm so sorry, gods of good taste!!!
Much "word" to this article:
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20213980,00.html
I don't like that Katherine Heigl insults everything she's involved with, but I'm tired of her being labeled a bitch just because she has an opinion and says it, and isn't just another Hollywood Blondebot. Nobody was complaining when her big mouth was like "he should just SHUT UP" about Isaiah Washington, because everyone agreed with her. But, oh no! She insulted Judd Apatow! She MUST be a bitch. And the writer's totally right - if they kill off her character on Grey's simply for revenge, it only serves to prove her point!
I don't like that Katherine Heigl insults everything she's involved with, but I'm tired of her being labeled a bitch just because she has an opinion and says it, and isn't just another Hollywood Blondebot. Nobody was complaining when her big mouth was like "he should just SHUT UP" about Isaiah Washington, because everyone agreed with her. But, oh no! She insulted Judd Apatow! She MUST be a bitch. And the writer's totally right - if they kill off her character on Grey's simply for revenge, it only serves to prove her point!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
and, The Mole last night...
Since the episode with the Gold Rush mission, this show's really stepped it up a notch and has been A+ all the way. Unfortunately, I severely doubt The Mole will be back after this summer, but hopefully they'll release all three civilian seasons on DVD or something, so I can be the only person on earth who buys it!
You gotta love this dialogue exchange -
Clay: The way I got that number was I added 8 and then [insert overly complicated speculation here, involving square roots, negative numbers, and the imaginary i]
Mark: Yeah, but 7 minus 2 is FIVE!
Clay: ...oh. [quiet]
I can't believe no one picked Craig as the person they trusted the most. Who'd they pick? Clay, who's a robot. Mark, who might be clinically insane. Why they shouldn't pick Paul or Nicole should be terribly obvious (though Nicole rocked at memorizing).
All television editors should WORSHIP that episode. First, Mark had about 800 confessionals in the running-around-the-plazas-getting-numbers mission, so I thought he was out for sure. I also thought the entire mission was a giant neon flashing arrow saying "HEY HEY HEY!!! CLAY IS THE MOLE!!! HE IS REMARKABLY SUSPICIOUS IN A NUMBER OF WAYS!!!" I think that mission was the only one that was sabotaged in any way. Then, after the loved ones came, Nicole had that whole "it's time to go home, I don't want to get beaten by the boys" thing. I don't follow reality TV editing very well, but even I can tell that's the Villain Who's Leaving Is Redeemed arc. Heck, she was wearing Execution Red, Carmen Sandiego-style! Up until the very second she got that green thumbprint, I could have sworn she was leaving (she even got the music change/overly long focus on her face/the results). Then, when she was safe, and they turned to Clay, I just said "OH SHIT" out loud. Maybe it was so obvious it was going to be Nicole that it was too obvious, but... I dunno. This game messes with your head just watching it on TV; I can't imagine living it 24/7, though GOD I WOULD WANT TO (be on this show).
If I were a producer, I'd be drooling over Nicole's "this is my final confessional" confessional. If she's not the Mole, I know she's staying and this is a great, great way to hide whoever is leaving. If she is the Mole, it's a great "performance." If Mark or Nicole is the Mole, he/she is a great actor/actress.
The loved ones were great. Craig's girlfriend was cute, Clay's wife was sweet and they were adorably in love, Nicole's mom was sassy and hysterical (she called Nicole Omarosa!!!!), I adore Mark's wife by association, and Paul's daughter and wife, but especially his daughter, were simply delightful. "Open sesame!" Poor them, living with Paul, though he certainly seemed sweet and loving with the two of them. Awww, I actually liked Paul for like two minutes!
I may have been secretly wishing, before we met Tori and Alexa, that Jon would ask Mark all the questions Paul skipped, and Paul would be the only one who wouldn't see his family. He'd become so infuriated he would lose focus completely and bomb the next quiz and leave. But, yeah. You don't do that to a Yonkers boy unless you want murder on your hands! Also, remember. You didn't read this paragraph here. Shhhh.
Bye, Clay. You were so the Mole. As many in your goodbye said, you were a really classy guy in the midst of complete insanity who played the game with smarts... and I also thought you were hysterically funny in a very wry, dry, lawyer-ish way. No one in history will ever wear as much yellow as you did.
Mole list (based entirely on instinct, since everyone who's left sucks as the Mole until Jon points out the ways he/she was genius in the final reveal):
Mildly suspicious
Mark
Craig
Nicole
Not suspicious
Paul
You gotta love this dialogue exchange -
Clay: The way I got that number was I added 8 and then [insert overly complicated speculation here, involving square roots, negative numbers, and the imaginary i]
Mark: Yeah, but 7 minus 2 is FIVE!
Clay: ...oh. [quiet]
I can't believe no one picked Craig as the person they trusted the most. Who'd they pick? Clay, who's a robot. Mark, who might be clinically insane. Why they shouldn't pick Paul or Nicole should be terribly obvious (though Nicole rocked at memorizing).
All television editors should WORSHIP that episode. First, Mark had about 800 confessionals in the running-around-the-plazas-getting-numbers mission, so I thought he was out for sure. I also thought the entire mission was a giant neon flashing arrow saying "HEY HEY HEY!!! CLAY IS THE MOLE!!! HE IS REMARKABLY SUSPICIOUS IN A NUMBER OF WAYS!!!" I think that mission was the only one that was sabotaged in any way. Then, after the loved ones came, Nicole had that whole "it's time to go home, I don't want to get beaten by the boys" thing. I don't follow reality TV editing very well, but even I can tell that's the Villain Who's Leaving Is Redeemed arc. Heck, she was wearing Execution Red, Carmen Sandiego-style! Up until the very second she got that green thumbprint, I could have sworn she was leaving (she even got the music change/overly long focus on her face/the results). Then, when she was safe, and they turned to Clay, I just said "OH SHIT" out loud. Maybe it was so obvious it was going to be Nicole that it was too obvious, but... I dunno. This game messes with your head just watching it on TV; I can't imagine living it 24/7, though GOD I WOULD WANT TO (be on this show).
If I were a producer, I'd be drooling over Nicole's "this is my final confessional" confessional. If she's not the Mole, I know she's staying and this is a great, great way to hide whoever is leaving. If she is the Mole, it's a great "performance." If Mark or Nicole is the Mole, he/she is a great actor/actress.
The loved ones were great. Craig's girlfriend was cute, Clay's wife was sweet and they were adorably in love, Nicole's mom was sassy and hysterical (she called Nicole Omarosa!!!!), I adore Mark's wife by association, and Paul's daughter and wife, but especially his daughter, were simply delightful. "Open sesame!" Poor them, living with Paul, though he certainly seemed sweet and loving with the two of them. Awww, I actually liked Paul for like two minutes!
I may have been secretly wishing, before we met Tori and Alexa, that Jon would ask Mark all the questions Paul skipped, and Paul would be the only one who wouldn't see his family. He'd become so infuriated he would lose focus completely and bomb the next quiz and leave. But, yeah. You don't do that to a Yonkers boy unless you want murder on your hands! Also, remember. You didn't read this paragraph here. Shhhh.
Bye, Clay. You were so the Mole. As many in your goodbye said, you were a really classy guy in the midst of complete insanity who played the game with smarts... and I also thought you were hysterically funny in a very wry, dry, lawyer-ish way. No one in history will ever wear as much yellow as you did.
Mole list (based entirely on instinct, since everyone who's left sucks as the Mole until Jon points out the ways he/she was genius in the final reveal):
Mildly suspicious
Mark
Craig
Nicole
Not suspicious
Paul
something hysterical in "A Benihana Christmas" (because it wasn't funny enough already)
Watch what happens when Jim sees the waiter/cook at Benihana do the trick with the onion. He looks at it completely dumbfounded, like it's the most amazing thing he's ever seen in his life. SO FUNNY.
The Daily Show last night...
I feel like such an awful Office fan for not realizing this before, but... along with Ed, there's Captain Jack and Mr. Brown too!!!
WTFGD
So let me get this straight, Greg (can I call you Greg?). You want The Office... and a spinoff of The Office... and a totally new show that has nothing to do with The Office but is by the same production team and is similar "in spirit" or something? I'm confused, and I don't think this is a very good idea...
however, though I wasn't around then, I can't imagine people were too thrilled, in, I dunno, late 2004/early 2005 when you were like "hey!!! we're remaking the unbelievably venerated British Office!!! with this random guy from The Daily Show*, this other guy from the blockbuster House of 1000 Corpses, the guy who didn't know what oral sex was in Kinsey, and some ginger chick who you've never heard of!!!!" We'll see.
* Steve Carell also stole the show in Anchorman and Bruce Almighty, but nobody really remembered him until 4oYOV hit it big. And, for that at least, I'll always be grateful to that awful movie.
however, though I wasn't around then, I can't imagine people were too thrilled, in, I dunno, late 2004/early 2005 when you were like "hey!!! we're remaking the unbelievably venerated British Office!!! with this random guy from The Daily Show*, this other guy from the blockbuster House of 1000 Corpses, the guy who didn't know what oral sex was in Kinsey, and some ginger chick who you've never heard of!!!!" We'll see.
* Steve Carell also stole the show in Anchorman and Bruce Almighty, but nobody really remembered him until 4oYOV hit it big. And, for that at least, I'll always be grateful to that awful movie.
Monday, July 21, 2008
OMG YAYYYYY!!!! (again)
Ed Helms just made a random cameo on The Daily Show!! Oh my gosh YAAAYYY!!!
PS. My two original Mole suspects are now gone so I won't feel at all "ha ha I knew it" if, say, Mark (the next on my Mole pecking order) is the Mole. BOOOOOOOO. Great episode though, and the editing was fucking godly. More tomorrow!
PS. My two original Mole suspects are now gone so I won't feel at all "ha ha I knew it" if, say, Mark (the next on my Mole pecking order) is the Mole. BOOOOOOOO. Great episode though, and the editing was fucking godly. More tomorrow!
THANK GOD!
So when I saw there was a new spoiler for S5 over on OfficeTally, I was a little afraid to click on it. However, I am a spoiler whore, and I knew I would inevitably see it, and when I read it, I WAS SO EFFING HAPPY!!!!
Here's the full article, an interview with Mindy Kaling. And here's what she has to say about S5:
Q: Can you give us any hints on what we might expect for the upcoming season?
A: I would, but I’d probably be fired. (Laughs). There’s going to be -- and I, like many Americans, when I saw Jim almost propose to Pam at the end of the finale, I was so upset. My own mother was like, “I cannot believe that you guys pulled the rug out from under us like that.” So people who are annoyed about that or just want to see some resolution with that or some movement with that are going to be very happy. You don’t have to wait too long to find out. And Amy Ryan will be back, who’s amazing, so it’s going to be such a good season, I think.
Oh, Mindy. Sometimes I find you kind of annoyingly shallow, your S4 episodes were the two worst of the season (though I don't hold that too much against you considering you wrote both "The Dundies" and "The Injury"), and I don't get the worship your character gets, but I fucking love you right now. HAAAAALLELUJAH!!!! And yes, I knew it, but it's really nice to see it pretty much confirmed. Whew!
Here's the full article, an interview with Mindy Kaling. And here's what she has to say about S5:
Q: Can you give us any hints on what we might expect for the upcoming season?
A: I would, but I’d probably be fired. (Laughs). There’s going to be -- and I, like many Americans, when I saw Jim almost propose to Pam at the end of the finale, I was so upset. My own mother was like, “I cannot believe that you guys pulled the rug out from under us like that.” So people who are annoyed about that or just want to see some resolution with that or some movement with that are going to be very happy. You don’t have to wait too long to find out. And Amy Ryan will be back, who’s amazing, so it’s going to be such a good season, I think.
Oh, Mindy. Sometimes I find you kind of annoyingly shallow, your S4 episodes were the two worst of the season (though I don't hold that too much against you considering you wrote both "The Dundies" and "The Injury"), and I don't get the worship your character gets, but I fucking love you right now. HAAAAALLELUJAH!!!! And yes, I knew it, but it's really nice to see it pretty much confirmed. Whew!
Sunday, July 20, 2008
I forgot to post Emmy predix.
Drama Series
Will win: Mad Men
Should win: Mad Men
Snubbed: The Wire (but can we all stop acting like this is a surprise?)
Actor - Drama Series
Will win: Hugh Lawrie - House
Should win: Gabriel Bryne - In Treatment
Snubbed: no one I can think of but I don't watch that much TV drama
Actress - Drama Series
Will win: Glenn Close - Damages
Should win: Glenn Close - Damages
Snubbed: Chloe Sevigny - Big Love
S. Actor - Drama Series
Will win: William Shatner - Boston Legal
Should win: Zelkjo Ivanek - Damages
Snubbed: Blair Underwood - In Treatment
S. Actress - Drama Series
Will win: Chandra Wilson - Grey's Anatomy
Should win: Chandra Wilson - Grey's Anatomy (though I've never seen Griffiths and I normally love her)
Snubbed: Yunjin Kim - Lost (the one episode I ever saw was the one focused on her this season, and she was awesome)
Comedy Series
Will win: 30 Rock
Should win: The Office
Snubbed: Pushing Daisies
Actor - Comedy Series
Will win: Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock
Should win: Steve Carell - The Office (Baldwin is also spectacular and deserving)
Snubbed: no one I can think of
Actress - Comedy Series
Will win: Tina Fey - 30 Rock
Should win: Mary-Louise Parker - Weeds
Snubbed: Marcia Cross - Desperate Housewives
S. Actor - Comedy Series
Will win: Jeremy Piven - Entourage
Should win: Rainn Wilson - The Office... no, Neil Patrick Harris - How I Met Your Mother... no, Jeremy Piven - Entourage...
Snubbed: John Krasinski - The Office
S. Actress - Comedy Series
Will win: Vanessa Williams - Ugly Betty
Should win: Vanessa Williams - Ugly Betty
Snubbed: Jenna Fischer - The Office and Jane Krakowski - 30 Rock
Will win: Mad Men
Should win: Mad Men
Snubbed: The Wire (but can we all stop acting like this is a surprise?)
Actor - Drama Series
Will win: Hugh Lawrie - House
Should win: Gabriel Bryne - In Treatment
Snubbed: no one I can think of but I don't watch that much TV drama
Actress - Drama Series
Will win: Glenn Close - Damages
Should win: Glenn Close - Damages
Snubbed: Chloe Sevigny - Big Love
S. Actor - Drama Series
Will win: William Shatner - Boston Legal
Should win: Zelkjo Ivanek - Damages
Snubbed: Blair Underwood - In Treatment
S. Actress - Drama Series
Will win: Chandra Wilson - Grey's Anatomy
Should win: Chandra Wilson - Grey's Anatomy (though I've never seen Griffiths and I normally love her)
Snubbed: Yunjin Kim - Lost (the one episode I ever saw was the one focused on her this season, and she was awesome)
Comedy Series
Will win: 30 Rock
Should win: The Office
Snubbed: Pushing Daisies
Actor - Comedy Series
Will win: Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock
Should win: Steve Carell - The Office (Baldwin is also spectacular and deserving)
Snubbed: no one I can think of
Actress - Comedy Series
Will win: Tina Fey - 30 Rock
Should win: Mary-Louise Parker - Weeds
Snubbed: Marcia Cross - Desperate Housewives
S. Actor - Comedy Series
Will win: Jeremy Piven - Entourage
Should win: Rainn Wilson - The Office... no, Neil Patrick Harris - How I Met Your Mother... no, Jeremy Piven - Entourage...
Snubbed: John Krasinski - The Office
S. Actress - Comedy Series
Will win: Vanessa Williams - Ugly Betty
Should win: Vanessa Williams - Ugly Betty
Snubbed: Jenna Fischer - The Office and Jane Krakowski - 30 Rock
Dark Knight's records shattered:
1. largest number of opening theaters (4366)
2. biggest midnight previews ($18.5 million)
3. biggest IMAX midnight previews ($640000)
4. biggest single-day box office gross ($67.9 million)
5. biggest opening weekend gross ($155.3 million)
6. biggest opening weekend of 2008 (see above)
Yeah, notice #5 there. Damn. Oh, and Mamma Mia! apparently broke the records for biggest musical opening ever, which I'd be excited about if the movie wasn't a steaming pile of shit.
2. biggest midnight previews ($18.5 million)
3. biggest IMAX midnight previews ($640000)
4. biggest single-day box office gross ($67.9 million)
5. biggest opening weekend gross ($155.3 million)
6. biggest opening weekend of 2008 (see above)
Yeah, notice #5 there. Damn. Oh, and Mamma Mia! apparently broke the records for biggest musical opening ever, which I'd be excited about if the movie wasn't a steaming pile of shit.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
July Oscar Predix.
Best Picture
Changeling
Defiance
Milk
Miracle at St. Anna
Revolutionary Road
Prediction at this point: Milk
Best Director
Clint Eastwood - Changeling
Spike Lee - Miracle at St. Anna
Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant - Milk
Edward Zwick - Defiance
Nothing more would amuse me than an Eastwood/Lee bitchdown here.
Prediction at this point: Van Sant - Milk
Best Actor
Benicio Del Toro - The Argentine
Leonardo DiCaprio - Revolutionary Road
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn - Milk
Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Prediction at this point: Del Toro - The Argentine
Best Actress
Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Natalie Portman - Brothers
Meryl Streep - Doubt
Kate Winslet - Revolutionary Road
Prediction at this point: Winslet - Revolutionary Road
Best Supporting Actor
Jamie Bell - Defiance
Josh Brolin - Milk
Robert Downey Jr. - The Soloist
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Michael Sheen - Frost/Nixon
Prediction at this point: Downey Jr. - The Soloist
Best Supporting Actress
Kathy Bates - Revolutionary Road
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Christina Barcelona (ugh)
Viola Davis - Doubt
Amy Ryan - Changeling
Debra Winger - Rachel Getting Married
Prediction at this point: Davis - Doubt
Best Original Screenplay
Changeling
Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Vicky Christina Barcelona
Wall-E
Prediction at this point: Wall-E
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
House of Lies
Revolutionary Road
Prediction at this point: Revolutionary Road
Why am I ignoring The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Australia in the majority of the major categories? No idea.
Changeling
Defiance
Milk
Miracle at St. Anna
Revolutionary Road
Prediction at this point: Milk
Best Director
Clint Eastwood - Changeling
Spike Lee - Miracle at St. Anna
Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant - Milk
Edward Zwick - Defiance
Nothing more would amuse me than an Eastwood/Lee bitchdown here.
Prediction at this point: Van Sant - Milk
Best Actor
Benicio Del Toro - The Argentine
Leonardo DiCaprio - Revolutionary Road
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn - Milk
Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Prediction at this point: Del Toro - The Argentine
Best Actress
Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Natalie Portman - Brothers
Meryl Streep - Doubt
Kate Winslet - Revolutionary Road
Prediction at this point: Winslet - Revolutionary Road
Best Supporting Actor
Jamie Bell - Defiance
Josh Brolin - Milk
Robert Downey Jr. - The Soloist
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Michael Sheen - Frost/Nixon
Prediction at this point: Downey Jr. - The Soloist
Best Supporting Actress
Kathy Bates - Revolutionary Road
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Christina Barcelona (ugh)
Viola Davis - Doubt
Amy Ryan - Changeling
Debra Winger - Rachel Getting Married
Prediction at this point: Davis - Doubt
Best Original Screenplay
Changeling
Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Vicky Christina Barcelona
Wall-E
Prediction at this point: Wall-E
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
House of Lies
Revolutionary Road
Prediction at this point: Revolutionary Road
Why am I ignoring The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Australia in the majority of the major categories? No idea.
I just read it on a blog somewhere and I didn't realize how true it was until I did:
In Mamma Mia!, all the dance numbers involve either women running up stairs or men jumping into the water. Did I mention this movie is shit? This movie is shit. Go see The Dark Knight instead (or even Wall-E, which is still playing in a lot of places), even if you are an 80-year-old deaf lady.
Act III of Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog?
Holy abrupt tone switch, Batman!
(Ha, that's especially appropriate this weekend.)
(Ha, that's especially appropriate this weekend.)
Heh!
As of ~9:15 PM on July 19, 2008, according to IMDb, The Dark Knight is the greatest movie of all time.
Friday, July 18, 2008
so, Emmy reactions.
oh well, guys. There's always next year. Though it's kinda cute you both got horribly snubbed together.Best Drama Series
Boston Legal
Damages
Dexter
House
Lost
Mad Men
Boston Legal is still on? Who watches it? The Emmy board, I'd guess. Damages and Mad Men, or at least what I've seen of them, are great, House is crap, and I've never watched the other two.
Actor - Drama Series
Gabriel Bryne - In Treatment
Bryan Cranston - Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall - Dexter
Jon Hamm - Mad Men
Hugh Lawrie - House
James Spader - Boston Legal
I love Bryne and Hamm, don't like Lawrie much, and haven't seen enough/any of the others to comment. Bryan Cranston WTF?
Actress - Drama Series
Glenn Close - Damages
Sally Field - Brothers and Sisters
Mariska Hargitay - Law and Order: SVU
Holly Hunter - Saving Grace
Kyra Sedgwick - The Closer
I enjoy hearing the BSG fans whine about McDonnell's snub here, like they really thought the Emmys would recognize their show. Don't you people ever learn? Anyway, GO GLENN.
Supporting Actor - Drama Series
Ted Danson - Damages
Michael Emerson - Lost
Zelkjo Ivanek - Damages
William Shatner - Boston Legal
John Slattery - Mad Men
Blair Underwood was pretty robbed for a bunch of already-recognized series. Not that I can complain much about Danson, Ivanek, or Slattery.
Supporting Actress - Drama Series
Candice Bergen - Boston Legal
Rachel Griffiths - Brothers and Sisters
Sandra Oh - Grey's Anatomy
Dianne Wiest - In Treatment
Chandra Wilson - Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is hardly the best show, but Oh and Wilson (and for that matter, Heigl) are really always terrific on it and deserve their nominations. Same with Wiest, and though I don't watch Brothers and Sisters Griffiths is awesome by virtue of being Rachel Griffiths. Shocked, but not disappointed at all, that Bryne didn't make it in here; I thought she was the biggest lock of the category, but she's not great, so I'm happy.
Comedy Series
30 Rock
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Entourage
The Office
Two and a Half Men
Errr... way to change it up, Emmys. I love Entourage, but I feel like it hasn't been on since 2004. Two and a Half Men is a shit show. On the other hand, let me stop complaining, because the best show on TV, and one that you know, ain't too shabby, are also on this list. I'm shocked Pushing Daisies was snubbed, because apparently it went over spectacularly at the screenings and it did so well elsewhere.
Actor - Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock
Steve Carell - The Office
Lee Pace - Pushing Daisies
Tony Shalhoub - Monk
Charlie Sheen - Two and a Half Men
Sheen's awful, but this category's great otherwise. Baldwin and Carell, though, are truly giants. C'MON, STEVE. AND ALEC. AAAHHH!!!
Actress - Comedy Series
Christina Applegate - Samantha Who?
America Ferrera - Ugly Betty
Tina Fey - 30 Rock
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - The New Adventures of Old Christine
Mary-Louise Parker - Weeds
It's pretty hilarious that all the Desperate Housewives were snubbed here. The Emmys sure as hell got over that show fast. C'MON, MARY-LOUISE. (though I know Tina Fey's probably a lock.)
Supporting Actor - Comedy Series
Jon Cryer - Two and a Half Men
Kevin Dillon - Entourage
Neil Patrick Harris - How I Met Your Mother
Jeremy Piven - Entourage
Rainn Wilson - The Office
Save Cryer, a great lineup, but oh, John... I'm just going to have to assume John Krasinski's never going to get an Emmy nomination. Maybe he's, despite all appearances, secretly a horrible person who drowns puppies for a hobby or something, because that's really the only excuse that he's not here. Ugh. As long as anyone but Cryer wins, I'll be pretty pleased, though.
Supporting Actress - Comedy Series
Kristin Chenoweth - Pushing Daisies
Amy Poehler - Saturday Night Live
Jean Smart - Samantha Who?
Holland Taylor - Two and a Half Men
Vanessa Williams - Ugly Betty
Crap category. Jenna was snubbed (though I soooort of understand why, at least more so than for John). Go, Vanessa, I guess. Oh, and I'm sure ya'll have heard Amy Poehler is in The-Office-spinoff-that-isn't, but I'll talk about that once I get some confirmed news. Like I said up top, though, it's kinda cute that JAM got snubbed together. But more sad :( :( :(
Other notes: Amy Ryan was totally robbed too, grrrrrr. I love Tina Fey, but the Emmys love her a wee bit too much. "Money" getting a nom for Directing and "Dinner Party" for Writing made me cheer out loud. Oh, and "I'm Fucking Matt Damon" for Best Song (though, unfortunately, not "That One Night")!!!
On the other hand...
Mamma Mia! is one of the worst pieces o' shit I've ever seen. Apparently Meryl Streep can suck. Who knew? There are three good things I can say about it:
1. Greece is pretty.
2. The costumes had a lot of glitter, and I appreciate that.
3. Meryl Streep saying "internets" and wearing overalls the entire damn movie was pretty funny.
1. Greece is pretty.
2. The costumes had a lot of glitter, and I appreciate that.
3. Meryl Streep saying "internets" and wearing overalls the entire damn movie was pretty funny.
THE. DARK. KNIGHT.
YES. YES. YES. YES. HO. LY. CRAP.
(Wall-E's still the best movie of the year, but this is just AMAZING.)
(Wall-E's still the best movie of the year, but this is just AMAZING.)
Thursday, July 17, 2008
because I'm avoiding talking about the Emmys
Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. (They disappear June 20 at midnight, so watch while you can! Oh, and it's so funny that I just might buy it when they start charging for it.) Because Neil Patrick Harris is basically the greatest ever.
"The hammer is my penis." Amazing comedic timing. Nathan Fillon is the second-greatest ever.
"The hammer is my penis." Amazing comedic timing. Nathan Fillon is the second-greatest ever.
Before I complain about the Emmys...
One last thing I loved in Monday's Mole: all the shots of Mark and Clay in their room, Mark blabbering on and Clay facing away from him going "uh huh, yeah, yup, totally, you're right." As we all should know, I love Mark, but he's so high-strung and paranoid and game-obsessed that he must be totally annoying to room with! (Especially for Clay, who's kind of a robot. I mean that in the best way.)
My theory is also that either Mark or Clay is the Mole, and the other one knows it.
My theory is also that either Mark or Clay is the Mole, and the other one knows it.
"(excited flailing) I love this game!"
Jon Kelley is doing more than a great job, but Anderson Cooper just might be the best reality TV host of all time.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Oh, dear...
So last night's guest on The Daily Show was Pierce Brosnan, and they showed a clip of him singing from Mamma Mia!. And, well, um. His singing... I thought it was Jon Stewart yelling in mockery over his actual singing.
Lord, this movie looks like shit on a stick. (Then again, so did Hairspray. But The Dark Knight is going to kick its ass, at any rate.)
Lord, this movie looks like shit on a stick. (Then again, so did Hairspray. But The Dark Knight is going to kick its ass, at any rate.)
Tomorrow are the Emmy nominations.........
...so let's make a novena for all things Office - series, Carell, Wilson, Krasinski, Fischer, Ryan, writing, directing, tech stuff, all of it. They certainly deserve nominations, but as we all know, awards shows aren't always about who's most deserving. Hopefully, though, in this case they will be. :)
Hey, it worked for Laura and Tommy over Oscar season!
Hey, it worked for Laura and Tommy over Oscar season!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Mole 7/14
I love The Mole. Another fantastic episode. The first challenge was so typical Mole, and thus awesome.
Those barrels they focused on right before the execution had to be a clue... but I have no idea what they mean. N20 = I think Craig's birthday is November 20?
The recap show was pretty useless. Three points that I'll mention, though:
1. When they were talking about the episode where Liz was eliminated, I swear the announcer (well, Jon Kelley) said, "If Paul didn't have an exemption, he would have been going home that night." Obviously, that blatantly says Paul isn't the Mole. I wish I had DVR/TiVo/whatever so I could rewatch that to confirm, but I swear it said that.
2. They showed Clay and Mark forming their coalition, and Clay told Mark, "I won't lie to you, I'm not the Mole." Then, Mark replied, "I won't lie to you either." Notice he didn't say anything about not being the Mole. Hmmmm...
3. Watching Bobby confuse gaydar with, uh, I dunno, ESP or something was pretty effing funny.
It's taken this long to decide my season favorite, and I've finally found it: I LOVE MARK LAMBRECHT. That man is in. It. To. Win. It. Or, possibly, Mole it. I want him to either win or be the Mole, so he can get some money. MARK! What a BEAST.
So uh, is Nicole the last woman left in the game? Cuz I didn't get that the first 538 times she said that in the episode.
Besides who is the Mole/winner, I think everyone needs to guess in what new way Craig is going to almost die every week (aaargh, splitting an infinitive. But "almost to die" or "to die almost" just sounds way lamer.).
Mole suspicions: 1. Clay 2. Mark 3. Craig 4. Nicole 5. Paul
Clay and Mark are both quite Mole-y in that they sabotage/don't go through with tasks in one episode, and then they're the big heroes in the next. Mark's a hero much more than Clay is, though, and Clay was the least visible in the first few episodes (the editors, I assume from S1 and S2, try to keep the Mole hidden). Craig's cost the group an enormous amount of money, but he really tries his heart out in every task, even if he simply can't perform it, and using his weight as an excuse every episode is just... lame. Bill in S2 didn't use the fact that he was old/not really in shape every episode (in fact, Bill's best sabotages were out of the games, like when he bought the ice cream with Darwin. Oh, Darwin!). Nicole and Paul are too obvious, and have been since Day 1, to be the Mole. Plus, I don't think they'd want to make the Mole as vile as either of those people (though I gotta say, I love Nicole. She's so clever and snarky. I love the snark, which is why I like Karen on The Office.). That said, if either of them is the Mole, it could be an act, but I don't think so. Like, I went to middle school in Yonkers, and, oh, how do I say this...a lot of guys from Yonkers, even at that age, are a lot like Paul.
Goodbye, Alex (and, as I said, it's been nice, hope you find your paradise)... though it was kind of funny that Mark and Clay were trying to get you drunk! I shall miss you being really cute, your hair that was oddly tall and somehow reminded me of soft-serve ice cream, your terrible songs (it was Craig that came up with "Paul Free"), your random outbursts over nothing in particular, and, of course, your enthusiasm and sanity. Alex love!
Oh, and you gotta read the Behind the Scenes blog of The Mole. Next week is "a REAL shocker" (for whatever reason, my gut tells me that means Craig or Mark is out. NOOOO I LOVE THEM BOTH!), but, more importantly... ALEX/NICOLE SHOWMANCE WHAAAT?!?! That we find out more about on the reunion show?! Oh God. He's gonna propose to her Boston Rob-style, isn't he? We're gonna get a promolesal... sorry about that one, guys. It was pretty cute when they kept going "Mole!" to each other. :)
Those barrels they focused on right before the execution had to be a clue... but I have no idea what they mean. N20 = I think Craig's birthday is November 20?
The recap show was pretty useless. Three points that I'll mention, though:
1. When they were talking about the episode where Liz was eliminated, I swear the announcer (well, Jon Kelley) said, "If Paul didn't have an exemption, he would have been going home that night." Obviously, that blatantly says Paul isn't the Mole. I wish I had DVR/TiVo/whatever so I could rewatch that to confirm, but I swear it said that.
2. They showed Clay and Mark forming their coalition, and Clay told Mark, "I won't lie to you, I'm not the Mole." Then, Mark replied, "I won't lie to you either." Notice he didn't say anything about not being the Mole. Hmmmm...
3. Watching Bobby confuse gaydar with, uh, I dunno, ESP or something was pretty effing funny.
It's taken this long to decide my season favorite, and I've finally found it: I LOVE MARK LAMBRECHT. That man is in. It. To. Win. It. Or, possibly, Mole it. I want him to either win or be the Mole, so he can get some money. MARK! What a BEAST.
So uh, is Nicole the last woman left in the game? Cuz I didn't get that the first 538 times she said that in the episode.
Besides who is the Mole/winner, I think everyone needs to guess in what new way Craig is going to almost die every week (aaargh, splitting an infinitive. But "almost to die" or "to die almost" just sounds way lamer.).
Mole suspicions: 1. Clay 2. Mark 3. Craig 4. Nicole 5. Paul
Clay and Mark are both quite Mole-y in that they sabotage/don't go through with tasks in one episode, and then they're the big heroes in the next. Mark's a hero much more than Clay is, though, and Clay was the least visible in the first few episodes (the editors, I assume from S1 and S2, try to keep the Mole hidden). Craig's cost the group an enormous amount of money, but he really tries his heart out in every task, even if he simply can't perform it, and using his weight as an excuse every episode is just... lame. Bill in S2 didn't use the fact that he was old/not really in shape every episode (in fact, Bill's best sabotages were out of the games, like when he bought the ice cream with Darwin. Oh, Darwin!). Nicole and Paul are too obvious, and have been since Day 1, to be the Mole. Plus, I don't think they'd want to make the Mole as vile as either of those people (though I gotta say, I love Nicole. She's so clever and snarky. I love the snark, which is why I like Karen on The Office.). That said, if either of them is the Mole, it could be an act, but I don't think so. Like, I went to middle school in Yonkers, and, oh, how do I say this...a lot of guys from Yonkers, even at that age, are a lot like Paul.
Goodbye, Alex (and, as I said, it's been nice, hope you find your paradise)... though it was kind of funny that Mark and Clay were trying to get you drunk! I shall miss you being really cute, your hair that was oddly tall and somehow reminded me of soft-serve ice cream, your terrible songs (it was Craig that came up with "Paul Free"), your random outbursts over nothing in particular, and, of course, your enthusiasm and sanity. Alex love!
Oh, and you gotta read the Behind the Scenes blog of The Mole. Next week is "a REAL shocker" (for whatever reason, my gut tells me that means Craig or Mark is out. NOOOO I LOVE THEM BOTH!), but, more importantly... ALEX/NICOLE SHOWMANCE WHAAAT?!?! That we find out more about on the reunion show?! Oh God. He's gonna propose to her Boston Rob-style, isn't he? We're gonna get a promolesal... sorry about that one, guys. It was pretty cute when they kept going "Mole!" to each other. :)
IMDb's not the only board infested with morons.
Over at BroadwayWorld, a bunch of people think Mamma Mia! is going to beat The Dark Knight, specifically this weekend.
Excuse me one second.
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAH OH MY GOD HOW STUPID!!!!!!
Okay. I'm back!
Excuse me one second.
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAH OH MY GOD HOW STUPID!!!!!!
Okay. I'm back!
Actual show at the Fringe Festival.
Haha, dawesome.
The only thing I'm like ? about is the fact that they're like "GOD I HOPE SHE DOESN'T SUE". Laura Linney seems pretty awesome and not one to get easily offended over what I'm sure is a not-really-offensive show.
The only thing I'm like ? about is the fact that they're like "GOD I HOPE SHE DOESN'T SUE". Laura Linney seems pretty awesome and not one to get easily offended over what I'm sure is a not-really-offensive show.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Double Mole Monday.
Thoughts tomorrow. But a preview: goodbye, Frostee-hair man (it's been nice, hope you find your paradise). I shall miss your lame songs. MARK IS MY FAVORITE.
Ha ha!
New York Magazine's terrible The Dark Knight review causes outrage.
I'm not one of those people that's like OH MY GOD THE DARK KNIGHT IS THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER EVEN THOUGH I HAVEN'T SEEN IT. But the movie reviewer of New York Magazine really is quite terrible; he loves too many movies that are frankly bad and hates those that are awesome. In addition, a lot of his review seems to be "THIS IS VIOLENT WAAAAHHHH" which, let's face it, is total bullshit. I mean, provided the violence is justified - and it, so far, always has been in Nolan's great movies - this isn't much of an argument. The reviewer, quite frankly, also seems to be simply trying to stir up trouble and controversy in his assessment of Heath Ledger's performance. In conclusion, you're a douche, NY Mag writer, and you always have been, but I'm glad others are with me now... even if it took a fairly massively overhyped movie to do it.
I'm not one of those people that's like OH MY GOD THE DARK KNIGHT IS THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER EVEN THOUGH I HAVEN'T SEEN IT. But the movie reviewer of New York Magazine really is quite terrible; he loves too many movies that are frankly bad and hates those that are awesome. In addition, a lot of his review seems to be "THIS IS VIOLENT WAAAAHHHH" which, let's face it, is total bullshit. I mean, provided the violence is justified - and it, so far, always has been in Nolan's great movies - this isn't much of an argument. The reviewer, quite frankly, also seems to be simply trying to stir up trouble and controversy in his assessment of Heath Ledger's performance. In conclusion, you're a douche, NY Mag writer, and you always have been, but I'm glad others are with me now... even if it took a fairly massively overhyped movie to do it.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
GODDAMN.
Every single midnight showing of The Dark Knight in any place I would go to see movies is sold out. A lot of places added 3 AM shows, and a lot of those are sold out too. So, they've got 6 AM shows, which are selling incredibly well. Damn!
Wall-E?
Fuc. King. Per. Fect.
<333333333333
How is it that an animated, G-rated movie is so much less obvious and more complex than like 85% of the Oscarbait movies that come out?
Cutest thing ever.
Hot not so much, but I guess this is Superbad's premiere weekend on HBO etc. (why oh why am I watching it, I think this movie is crappy and kind of gross), so he's like on every channel, and frack, he's totally cute.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Ugh.
Chelsea Lately's a completely repulsive show, with the host being one of the worst on television. It's always so awful when I catch ten minutes of it while waiting for The Soup or something else far superior. Then again, I suppose I deserve it for watching E!.
Just to reiterate: I love me some Colby Donaldson.
And this is funny in a "oh no you DID NOT SAY THAT" way (which, of course, it's trying to be).
I hate the Hancock poster.
Why the heck is he pursing his lips like that? Compared with that and the weird glare there always is on sunglasses, it just weirds me out. But it's mostly the lips.
Scariest. Thought. Ever.
Matthew McConaghuey's (I spelled that wrong) a dad.
AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!
(Oh, but congrats to Nicole Kidman. I actually think Sunday Rose is a beautiful name, though I am normally horribly opposed to peoples' names being nouns.)
AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!
(Oh, but congrats to Nicole Kidman. I actually think Sunday Rose is a beautiful name, though I am normally horribly opposed to peoples' names being nouns.)
Friday, July 11, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
so I've got the TV on in the background right?
And I hear this commercial for deodorant that talks about chronic body odor and how the narrator used to be a fake doctor. I'm not watching it, really, just paying attention to the computer, but I'm like "ew, this is gross and sounds dumb." But THEN! I turn to the TV... and the fake doctor speaking? NEIL PATRICK HARRIS. This fact turned that commercial from stupid... to the best one on TV thankyouverymuch.
Neil Patrick Harris owns you. In fact, he is so awesome, I would not mind so much (okay, I'd mind a little.) if he beat John Krasinski this year at the Emmys if they're both nominated. No, really!
Neil Patrick Harris owns you. In fact, he is so awesome, I would not mind so much (okay, I'd mind a little.) if he beat John Krasinski this year at the Emmys if they're both nominated. No, really!
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Ben Affleck's effing hot in Dogma.
(Wow, that's a crappy picture. Sorry about that.)
It's too bad he's trying to, you know. Destroy the world in it. Also, did you know Bill Murray was considered for Jason Lee's role? And why does Jason Lee only seem to do movies and television shows that are far, far below him? (Not that Dogma is. It's a really awesome movie, actually.)
It's too bad he's trying to, you know. Destroy the world in it. Also, did you know Bill Murray was considered for Jason Lee's role? And why does Jason Lee only seem to do movies and television shows that are far, far below him? (Not that Dogma is. It's a really awesome movie, actually.)
Emmy finalists (that we know of) thoughts.
Best Actor - Drama
Gabriel Bryne - In Treatment ("Paul and Gina: Week 4")
I really like what I've seen of In Treatment. Gabriel Bryne is always quite good. In fact, of all the actors on this list that I've seen a lot of, I think he might be my favorite.
Kyle Chandler - Friday Night Lights ("Last Day of Summer")
I've never watched but I've heard great things. From now on, this scenario will be referred to as NWHGT, because there are a bunch of 'em.
Bryan Cranson - Breaking Bad ("Pilot")
NWHGT.
Patrick Dempsey - Grey's Anatomy ("Freedom")
He's better than he often gets credit for (like, he's not just "acting with his hair"), but a win, and maybe even a nomination would be overkill.
Michael C. Hall - Dexter ("There's Something about Harry")
NWHGT. And I liked him in the couple of episodes of Six Feet Under that I saw, but really, both TV shows creep me out, a lot, and I'm not struck by any sort of desire to ever watch Dexter.
Jon Hamm - Mad Men ("The Wheel")
What I saw of Mad Men is really great. I'm actually going to try to watch this season, no, for reals guys. All the acting's very good, and though I watch far too little TV to make personal awards, I think it's between him and Bryne for me.
Eddie Izzard - The Riches ("Last Temptation of Wayne")
NWHGT.
Hugh Lawrie - House ("House's Head")
I despise this show and think this performance is remarkably overrated. If he never wins an Emmy, I won't be sad about it.
Denis Leary - Rescue Me ("Babyface")
NWHGT.
James Spader - Boston Legal ("The Court Supreme")
Like I said when I first reviewed the series, this is still on? Coulda fooled me. Does anyone watch this? What channel is it on?
Best Actress - Drama
Patricia Arquette - Medium ("Aftertaste")
Never seen, never heard much.
Glenn Close - Damages ("Pilot")
She's like 80% of the reason to watch this show. Please, please, please give her the Emmy.
Minnie Driver - The Riches ("Dead Calm")
NWHGT.
Sally Field - Brothers and Sisters ("History Repeating")
I find Sally Field incredibly abrasive and obnoxious (she was awesome in Norma Rae, though). She might be great, but I'm not watching her show.
Marisa Hargitay - Law and Order: SVU ("Undercover")
Yes, she's very good. Not quite Emmy-worthy, but I wouldn't be annoyed with a nomination.
Holly Hunter - Saving Grace ("Tacos, Tulips, Duck, and Spices")
This show looks incredibly awful and I don't watch it, but Holly Hunter is an absolute goddess.
Elisabeth Moss - Mad Men ("The Hobo Code")
She was excellent indeed, but... I'm pretty surprised to not see January Jones anywhere on these lists.
Mary McDonnell - Battlestar Galactica ("Faith")
NWHGT. God, BSG fans tick me off (we get it. It's the best show on TV. No one watches. The Emmys don't appreciate it. It's amazing. We get it.)
Kyra Sedgwick - The Closer ("Manhunt")
NWHGT.
Jeanne Tripplehorn - Big Love ("Take Me As I Am")
I've watched a few episodes and though she was great, I gotta say it, as much as it pains me... Chloe Sevigny was much, much better.
Best Supporting Actor - Drama
Naveen Andrews - Lost ("The Economist")
NWHOKT. (which, of course, stands for "never watched, heard OK things")
Bruce Dern - Big Love ("Good Guys and Bad Guys")
Eh. From what I saw, he's not really deserving to be here.
Christian Clemenson - Boston Legal ("Roe vs. Wade: The Musical")
Never watched, never even heard of this guy.
Ted Danson - Damages ("Jesus, Mary, and Joe Crocker")
He's spectacular (though not as good as Glenn).
Michael Emerson - Lost ("The Shape of Things to Come")
NWHGT.
Zelkjo Ivanek - Damages ("I Hate These People")
I like him here too. He's a really underrated actor in general.
TR Knight - Grey's Anatomy ("Freedom")
Eh. There are worse choices, though, I guess.
William Shatner - Boston Legal ("Mad About You")
He'll probably win... oh, the Shat.
John Slattery - Mad Men ("Long Weekend")
Like I said, the cast of Mad Men is all really tip-top.
Blair Underwood - In Treatment ("Gina: Week 6")
He's truly excellent. Love him here. Would love to see him win.
Jake Weber - Medium ("Wicked Game Part 1")
Never watched, heard nothing.
Best Supporting Actress - Drama
Jane Alexander - Tell Me You Love Me ("Episode 10")
Never watched, heard nothing.
Candice Bergen - Boston Legal ("The Mighty Rogues")
Doesn't she win every year...?
Rose Bryne - Damages ("Because I Know Patty")
For one thing, she's lead, and for another, she's blank and overrated. I think the nomination's a lock, unfortunately.
Jill Clayburgh - Dirty Sexy Money ("The Watch")
NWHGT. I heard the show sucks, though.
Sharon Gless - Burn Notice ("Identity")
This is always being advertised. I've never watched it, nor do I know anyone that does.
Rachel Griffiths - Brothers and Sisters ("Domestic Issues")
Again, my dislike of Sally Field makes me not watch this show, but in theory I loooove me some Rachel Griffiths.
Christina Hendricks - Mad Men ("Babylon")
Yep. Any member of that cast is absolutely worthy of a nomination. I'm still appalled January Jones isn't here, though.
S. Epatha Merkerson - Law and Order ("Bottomless")
I haven't watched the original Law and Order in a long, long time, so I can't really comment. She's very talented, though.
Sandra Oh - Grey's Anatomy ("The Becoming")
She's fantastic and I hope she gets nominated.
Dianne Wiest - In Treatment ("Paul and Gina: Week ?")
She's always great, really.
Chandra Wilson - Grey's Anatomy ("Lay Your Hands on Me")
She's always been the best actor/actress on that show... sorry Katie Heigl. But, if Heigl could win last year, I hope Wilson does this year.
Best Actor - Comedy (three are missing)
Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock ("Rosemary's Baby")
I love him to death, duh. If Steve Carell can't win, hopefully he can... and I think he will anyway.
Steve Carell - The Office ("Goodbye, Toby")
Um, obviously. Few things will make me happier than the day when he finally wins that Emmy. I'm so glad he changed his episode; this one is a far better choice.
Larry David - Curb Your Enthusiasm ("The Bat Mitzvah")
I haven't seen enough of the show to really say if he's deserving or not. I don't hate him, but I don't think he's in Carell or Baldwin's league.
David Duchovny - Californication ("The Last Waltz")
NWHGT.
Lee Pace - Pushing Daisies ("Pie-Lette")
He's quite good, and really cute. That said, the supporting people are the real stars of this show.
Tony Shalhoub - Monk ("Mr. Monk and the Naked Man")
I'm so tired of him. He never deserved to win over far better candidates.
Charlie Sheen - Two and a Half Men ("Is There a Ms. Waffles?")
Like all of Two and a Half Men, I despise him. Ugh.
Best Actress - Comedy
Christina Applegate - Samantha Who? ("The Restraining Order")
Never watched, but I think she's so effing adorable. I'd love to see her win.
Marcia Cross - Desperate Housewives ("Now You Know")
Desperate Housewives sucks, but she's absolutely outstanding. My other favorite in this category.
America Ferrera - Ugly Betty ("Odor in the Court")
I adore her, and she's a big part of why her show is still watchable, despite having, as I've said before, an awful sophomore slump. But I can't pretend she's half as good as Marcia Cross or Mary-Louise Parker.
Tina Fey - 30 Rock ("Sandwich Day")
She's very, very funny, but it's far from the most nuanced or varied portrayal. She's absolutely deserving of the nomination, and absolutely not deserving of the win.
Anna Friel - Pushing Daisies ("Bitter Sweets")
Yeah. She's adorable. Hopefully, she can get a nomination.
Felicity Huffman - Desperate Housewives ("Now I Know, Don't Be Scared")
She was fantastic in the earlier seasons, but then her performance got a little too dramatic and not so much comedic. I've definitely always preferred Marcia Cross to her.
Eva Longoria Parker - Desperate Housewives ("In Buddy's Eyes")
Yeah, I liked her. I gotta say, the main four in Desperate Housewives do a fantastic job, even if the show is terrible. And not so much a comedy.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - The New Adventures of Old Christine ("One and a Half Men")
NWHGT.
Mary-Louise Parker - Weeds ("Bill Sussman")
I love her. S3 of Weeds sucked, but she's awesome.
Sarah Silverman - The Sarah Silverman Program ("Bored of the Rings")
I've never watched this show, but much like Sally Field, I can't stand her and so I'm not going to watch it.
Best Supporting Actor - Comedy
Jon Cryer - Two and a Half Men ("Meander to Your Dander")
He's the best thing on this show. That's not saying much, but he is. Still, he doesn't deserve a nomination over so many deserving candidates.
Kevin Dillon - Entourage ("The Dream Team")
I think he's awesome, but again, there are more deserving candidates on this list. Sorry, Kevin.
Justin Kirk - Weeds ("Bill Sussman")
Much like Mary-Louise, he remained awesome even while the show wasn't so much.
Neil Patrick Harris - How I Met Your Mother ("The Goat")
I watch this show for him and I haven't given it up yet. He's so effing awesome. If Krasinski or Wilson can't win, I'm cheering for him hardcore.
John Krasinski - The Office ("Branch Wars")
Oh, so obviously. Please please please please pleeeeaaaase give him a nomination!! While I don't understand the original Office outpouring of "Branch Wars" love (series? Carell?!), it makes total sense here. I seriously doubt he'll win - even the nomination is doubtful, because in the category that's normally "wacky sidekick" he plays a totally normal guy with, gasp, nuance - but he certainly deserves to.
Jack McBrayer - 30 Rock ("Episode 210")
He's outstanding and pretty darn adorable.
Tracy Morgan - 30 Rock ("Secrets and Lies")
He... plays himself. Sorry, guys. I really hope 30 Rock doesn't get both nominations here, because Morgan isn't terribly deserving. Wouldn't complain about McBrayer though (as long as he's not over Krasinski :P).
Jeremy Piven - Entourage ("The Day Fuckers")
I. Love. Him. He's the continued reason I watch Entourage. That said, three Emmys in a row, when the competition is so strong (Krasinski, Wilson, Harris, even Kirk and Dillon), is overkill. But I still wouldn't mind it, actually.
Fred Willard - Back to You ("Cradle to Grave")
Never watched, heard nothing.
Rainn Wilson - The Office ("Money")
Can we please just give him a fucking Emmy already? PLEASE?????
Best Supporting Actress - Comedy
Kristin Chenoweth - Pushing Daisies ("Girth")
I find her incredibly annoying, and I used to love her. Oh well. She is pretty darn adorable in this.
Conchita Ferrell - Two and a Half Men ("Fish in a Drawer")
Meh. So many better choices.
Jenna Fischer - The Office ("Fun Run")
I love her to death and she was absolutely robbed last year, but if the voters had actually watched the tapes instead of just voting for a name, Angela or Melora would be in her place (or rather, along with her in this category). That said, I'm still hoping she gets the actual nomination, and I'd be totally thrilled with a win.
Jane Krakowski - 30 Rock ("The Collection")
I adore her here. I wouldn't mind a nomination. She's certainly better than the Two and a Half Men ladies.
Judith Light - Ugly Betty ("I See Me, ICU")
She's pretty good, but Vanessa Williams is spectacular.
Elizabeth Perkins - Weeds ("Risk")
Yeah, she's awesome. It's funny, the three awesome performances from Weeds are actually recognized at the Emmys, and the rest of the performances on this show are... not. so. awesome.
Amy Poehler - Saturday Night Live ("Tina Fey")
Okay, now I know they're just doing it by voting for "names." Because if they weren't, Kristin Wiig, who's far, far better, would be here. Though I'm not all that crazy about her, either, certainly not as much as many magazines are (cough, cough, I think she blew Entertainment Weekly too, cough). Bill Heder is probably the best member of the Saturday Night Live cast right now.
Jean Smart - Samantha Who? ("The Girlfriend")
Never watched, heard nothing.
Holland Taylor - Two and a Half Men ("Media Room Slash Dungeon")
Ugh. She's awful too. This show is awful. Why can't the Emmys just get over it?
Vanessa Williams - Ugly Betty ("Bananas for Betty")
As I said before, she's absolutely spectacular and divariffic. I'd love to see her get the nomination.
WHEWWWWW.
Gabriel Bryne - In Treatment ("Paul and Gina: Week 4")
I really like what I've seen of In Treatment. Gabriel Bryne is always quite good. In fact, of all the actors on this list that I've seen a lot of, I think he might be my favorite.
Kyle Chandler - Friday Night Lights ("Last Day of Summer")
I've never watched but I've heard great things. From now on, this scenario will be referred to as NWHGT, because there are a bunch of 'em.
Bryan Cranson - Breaking Bad ("Pilot")
NWHGT.
Patrick Dempsey - Grey's Anatomy ("Freedom")
He's better than he often gets credit for (like, he's not just "acting with his hair"), but a win, and maybe even a nomination would be overkill.
Michael C. Hall - Dexter ("There's Something about Harry")
NWHGT. And I liked him in the couple of episodes of Six Feet Under that I saw, but really, both TV shows creep me out, a lot, and I'm not struck by any sort of desire to ever watch Dexter.
Jon Hamm - Mad Men ("The Wheel")
What I saw of Mad Men is really great. I'm actually going to try to watch this season, no, for reals guys. All the acting's very good, and though I watch far too little TV to make personal awards, I think it's between him and Bryne for me.
Eddie Izzard - The Riches ("Last Temptation of Wayne")
NWHGT.
Hugh Lawrie - House ("House's Head")
I despise this show and think this performance is remarkably overrated. If he never wins an Emmy, I won't be sad about it.
Denis Leary - Rescue Me ("Babyface")
NWHGT.
James Spader - Boston Legal ("The Court Supreme")
Like I said when I first reviewed the series, this is still on? Coulda fooled me. Does anyone watch this? What channel is it on?
Best Actress - Drama
Patricia Arquette - Medium ("Aftertaste")
Never seen, never heard much.
Glenn Close - Damages ("Pilot")
She's like 80% of the reason to watch this show. Please, please, please give her the Emmy.
Minnie Driver - The Riches ("Dead Calm")
NWHGT.
Sally Field - Brothers and Sisters ("History Repeating")
I find Sally Field incredibly abrasive and obnoxious (she was awesome in Norma Rae, though). She might be great, but I'm not watching her show.
Marisa Hargitay - Law and Order: SVU ("Undercover")
Yes, she's very good. Not quite Emmy-worthy, but I wouldn't be annoyed with a nomination.
Holly Hunter - Saving Grace ("Tacos, Tulips, Duck, and Spices")
This show looks incredibly awful and I don't watch it, but Holly Hunter is an absolute goddess.
Elisabeth Moss - Mad Men ("The Hobo Code")
She was excellent indeed, but... I'm pretty surprised to not see January Jones anywhere on these lists.
Mary McDonnell - Battlestar Galactica ("Faith")
NWHGT. God, BSG fans tick me off (we get it. It's the best show on TV. No one watches. The Emmys don't appreciate it. It's amazing. We get it.)
Kyra Sedgwick - The Closer ("Manhunt")
NWHGT.
Jeanne Tripplehorn - Big Love ("Take Me As I Am")
I've watched a few episodes and though she was great, I gotta say it, as much as it pains me... Chloe Sevigny was much, much better.
Best Supporting Actor - Drama
Naveen Andrews - Lost ("The Economist")
NWHOKT. (which, of course, stands for "never watched, heard OK things")
Bruce Dern - Big Love ("Good Guys and Bad Guys")
Eh. From what I saw, he's not really deserving to be here.
Christian Clemenson - Boston Legal ("Roe vs. Wade: The Musical")
Never watched, never even heard of this guy.
Ted Danson - Damages ("Jesus, Mary, and Joe Crocker")
He's spectacular (though not as good as Glenn).
Michael Emerson - Lost ("The Shape of Things to Come")
NWHGT.
Zelkjo Ivanek - Damages ("I Hate These People")
I like him here too. He's a really underrated actor in general.
TR Knight - Grey's Anatomy ("Freedom")
Eh. There are worse choices, though, I guess.
William Shatner - Boston Legal ("Mad About You")
He'll probably win... oh, the Shat.
John Slattery - Mad Men ("Long Weekend")
Like I said, the cast of Mad Men is all really tip-top.
Blair Underwood - In Treatment ("Gina: Week 6")
He's truly excellent. Love him here. Would love to see him win.
Jake Weber - Medium ("Wicked Game Part 1")
Never watched, heard nothing.
Best Supporting Actress - Drama
Jane Alexander - Tell Me You Love Me ("Episode 10")
Never watched, heard nothing.
Candice Bergen - Boston Legal ("The Mighty Rogues")
Doesn't she win every year...?
Rose Bryne - Damages ("Because I Know Patty")
For one thing, she's lead, and for another, she's blank and overrated. I think the nomination's a lock, unfortunately.
Jill Clayburgh - Dirty Sexy Money ("The Watch")
NWHGT. I heard the show sucks, though.
Sharon Gless - Burn Notice ("Identity")
This is always being advertised. I've never watched it, nor do I know anyone that does.
Rachel Griffiths - Brothers and Sisters ("Domestic Issues")
Again, my dislike of Sally Field makes me not watch this show, but in theory I loooove me some Rachel Griffiths.
Christina Hendricks - Mad Men ("Babylon")
Yep. Any member of that cast is absolutely worthy of a nomination. I'm still appalled January Jones isn't here, though.
S. Epatha Merkerson - Law and Order ("Bottomless")
I haven't watched the original Law and Order in a long, long time, so I can't really comment. She's very talented, though.
Sandra Oh - Grey's Anatomy ("The Becoming")
She's fantastic and I hope she gets nominated.
Dianne Wiest - In Treatment ("Paul and Gina: Week ?")
She's always great, really.
Chandra Wilson - Grey's Anatomy ("Lay Your Hands on Me")
She's always been the best actor/actress on that show... sorry Katie Heigl. But, if Heigl could win last year, I hope Wilson does this year.
Best Actor - Comedy (three are missing)
Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock ("Rosemary's Baby")
I love him to death, duh. If Steve Carell can't win, hopefully he can... and I think he will anyway.
Steve Carell - The Office ("Goodbye, Toby")
Um, obviously. Few things will make me happier than the day when he finally wins that Emmy. I'm so glad he changed his episode; this one is a far better choice.
Larry David - Curb Your Enthusiasm ("The Bat Mitzvah")
I haven't seen enough of the show to really say if he's deserving or not. I don't hate him, but I don't think he's in Carell or Baldwin's league.
David Duchovny - Californication ("The Last Waltz")
NWHGT.
Lee Pace - Pushing Daisies ("Pie-Lette")
He's quite good, and really cute. That said, the supporting people are the real stars of this show.
Tony Shalhoub - Monk ("Mr. Monk and the Naked Man")
I'm so tired of him. He never deserved to win over far better candidates.
Charlie Sheen - Two and a Half Men ("Is There a Ms. Waffles?")
Like all of Two and a Half Men, I despise him. Ugh.
Best Actress - Comedy
Christina Applegate - Samantha Who? ("The Restraining Order")
Never watched, but I think she's so effing adorable. I'd love to see her win.
Marcia Cross - Desperate Housewives ("Now You Know")
Desperate Housewives sucks, but she's absolutely outstanding. My other favorite in this category.
America Ferrera - Ugly Betty ("Odor in the Court")
I adore her, and she's a big part of why her show is still watchable, despite having, as I've said before, an awful sophomore slump. But I can't pretend she's half as good as Marcia Cross or Mary-Louise Parker.
Tina Fey - 30 Rock ("Sandwich Day")
She's very, very funny, but it's far from the most nuanced or varied portrayal. She's absolutely deserving of the nomination, and absolutely not deserving of the win.
Anna Friel - Pushing Daisies ("Bitter Sweets")
Yeah. She's adorable. Hopefully, she can get a nomination.
Felicity Huffman - Desperate Housewives ("Now I Know, Don't Be Scared")
She was fantastic in the earlier seasons, but then her performance got a little too dramatic and not so much comedic. I've definitely always preferred Marcia Cross to her.
Eva Longoria Parker - Desperate Housewives ("In Buddy's Eyes")
Yeah, I liked her. I gotta say, the main four in Desperate Housewives do a fantastic job, even if the show is terrible. And not so much a comedy.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - The New Adventures of Old Christine ("One and a Half Men")
NWHGT.
Mary-Louise Parker - Weeds ("Bill Sussman")
I love her. S3 of Weeds sucked, but she's awesome.
Sarah Silverman - The Sarah Silverman Program ("Bored of the Rings")
I've never watched this show, but much like Sally Field, I can't stand her and so I'm not going to watch it.
Best Supporting Actor - Comedy
Jon Cryer - Two and a Half Men ("Meander to Your Dander")
He's the best thing on this show. That's not saying much, but he is. Still, he doesn't deserve a nomination over so many deserving candidates.
Kevin Dillon - Entourage ("The Dream Team")
I think he's awesome, but again, there are more deserving candidates on this list. Sorry, Kevin.
Justin Kirk - Weeds ("Bill Sussman")
Much like Mary-Louise, he remained awesome even while the show wasn't so much.
Neil Patrick Harris - How I Met Your Mother ("The Goat")
I watch this show for him and I haven't given it up yet. He's so effing awesome. If Krasinski or Wilson can't win, I'm cheering for him hardcore.
John Krasinski - The Office ("Branch Wars")
Oh, so obviously. Please please please please pleeeeaaaase give him a nomination!! While I don't understand the original Office outpouring of "Branch Wars" love (series? Carell?!), it makes total sense here. I seriously doubt he'll win - even the nomination is doubtful, because in the category that's normally "wacky sidekick" he plays a totally normal guy with, gasp, nuance - but he certainly deserves to.
Jack McBrayer - 30 Rock ("Episode 210")
He's outstanding and pretty darn adorable.
Tracy Morgan - 30 Rock ("Secrets and Lies")
He... plays himself. Sorry, guys. I really hope 30 Rock doesn't get both nominations here, because Morgan isn't terribly deserving. Wouldn't complain about McBrayer though (as long as he's not over Krasinski :P).
Jeremy Piven - Entourage ("The Day Fuckers")
I. Love. Him. He's the continued reason I watch Entourage. That said, three Emmys in a row, when the competition is so strong (Krasinski, Wilson, Harris, even Kirk and Dillon), is overkill. But I still wouldn't mind it, actually.
Fred Willard - Back to You ("Cradle to Grave")
Never watched, heard nothing.
Rainn Wilson - The Office ("Money")
Can we please just give him a fucking Emmy already? PLEASE?????
Best Supporting Actress - Comedy
Kristin Chenoweth - Pushing Daisies ("Girth")
I find her incredibly annoying, and I used to love her. Oh well. She is pretty darn adorable in this.
Conchita Ferrell - Two and a Half Men ("Fish in a Drawer")
Meh. So many better choices.
Jenna Fischer - The Office ("Fun Run")
I love her to death and she was absolutely robbed last year, but if the voters had actually watched the tapes instead of just voting for a name, Angela or Melora would be in her place (or rather, along with her in this category). That said, I'm still hoping she gets the actual nomination, and I'd be totally thrilled with a win.
Jane Krakowski - 30 Rock ("The Collection")
I adore her here. I wouldn't mind a nomination. She's certainly better than the Two and a Half Men ladies.
Judith Light - Ugly Betty ("I See Me, ICU")
She's pretty good, but Vanessa Williams is spectacular.
Elizabeth Perkins - Weeds ("Risk")
Yeah, she's awesome. It's funny, the three awesome performances from Weeds are actually recognized at the Emmys, and the rest of the performances on this show are... not. so. awesome.
Amy Poehler - Saturday Night Live ("Tina Fey")
Okay, now I know they're just doing it by voting for "names." Because if they weren't, Kristin Wiig, who's far, far better, would be here. Though I'm not all that crazy about her, either, certainly not as much as many magazines are (cough, cough, I think she blew Entertainment Weekly too, cough). Bill Heder is probably the best member of the Saturday Night Live cast right now.
Jean Smart - Samantha Who? ("The Girlfriend")
Never watched, heard nothing.
Holland Taylor - Two and a Half Men ("Media Room Slash Dungeon")
Ugh. She's awful too. This show is awful. Why can't the Emmys just get over it?
Vanessa Williams - Ugly Betty ("Bananas for Betty")
As I said before, she's absolutely spectacular and divariffic. I'd love to see her get the nomination.
WHEWWWWW.
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