Cocktail Confessions

BB12 Kristen

Yeah, I know…it’s been a while since I made any Big Brother updates, but I have some spare time today and I think I have enough to make some observations and comments on the continuing shenanigans going on in the house.

In the last 2 weeks both Andrew and Monet were evicted.  Personally no big loss to me that Monet was let go, as she was just annoyingly two-faced and had selective memory of some of her antics.  Monet’s eviction was a personal blow to Britney, as the two of theme were the two cackling hens and gossiping bitties in the house, with much of their ire directed towards Rachel.  However, they never said it to Rachel’s face and were thus reduced to gossiping and mocking Rachel behind closed doors.

Britney has bounced back somewhat and is fully admitting to playing the part of being interested in whatever Rachel has to say now to the point of being vomit inducing-ly sweet to Rachel. 

Speaking of Britney, it’s still my belief that Kathy and Britney are mother and daughter, but so far, if it is indeed fact, Big Brother himself is doing a great job of not leading us on to this point.

Ragan is doing a brilliant job of flying under the radar.  He has a good one-liner per episode, but he’s allowing everyone else to play the game without him and so far, it’s a strategy that seems to be working for him against all conventional wisdom.

On the other hand, last week, Andrew was used as a pawn by Matt (third weeks HoH) in order to try and possibly backdoor either Rachel or Brendon.  I didn’t understand his logic then and neither did his fellow Brigade members, and it ultimately backfired.  When Brendon won the Veto competition against all odds and to the Brigade’s dismay, Andrew began to lose it.  Kathy, the other nominee for eviction last week, laid low and kept to herself allowing Andrew to self-destruct.  So, in a blaze of glory, Andrew made a very dramatic last ditch speech which more or less sealed his fate, (although he pretty much figured he was out anyway).  In his speech, he called out Hayden and Kristen’s ‘hidden’ showmance and alliance in which both vehemently denied (BTW: they are in a showmance), and was subsequently voted out.

Next up in episode 10, after Andrew is booted out we have the next HoH competition.  Much to the chagrin to the Brigade and defying the odds, Rachel becomes the HoH for the 2^ndtime in 4 weeks.  The competition seemed very personal between Kristen and Rachel, and when Rachel pulled out the win, it got heated quickly.  Thanks to Rachel’s barbing, she and Kristen had a very vocal debate in front of everyone else.  Within the span of just a few minutes, Kristen went from being a non-threat to public enemy number one in Rachel’s eyes.  Rachel also called Hayden and Kristen on their showmance, which they still denied, but the rest of the house guests aren’t really buying it. 

Behind closed doors, the remaining members of The Brigade (Enzo, Matt, & Lane) tell Hayden he needs to buck up and if it comes down to an either/or situation, that Hayden needs to boot Kristen, feelings or not.

When the HoH room is revealed for the week, everyone attends (begrudgingly and putting on fake interest and congratulatory statements) except Kristen.  This is noted by Rachel.

Hayden tries to do some damage control with Rachel, but Rachel doesn’t buy it.  Hayden then tries to tell Kristen that she should also try some damage control.  Earlier, Rachel tried to extend an olive branch to Kristen, but Kristen rejected Rachel’s attempts at an apology.  Of course this irks Rachel even moreso and is more determined than ever to evict Kristen.  When Kristen ‘finally’ comes around in her attempt of damage control, Rachel is only listening for show, but her mind is made up, Kristen has got to go.

Brendon is starting to get very nervous about the way Rachel is going through the house on her cocky power trip and is hinting to her that she needs to back down a bit, lest they become a target once again after this week is done.

Kathy has insecure fears that she is going to be put up again this week due to her friendly associations with Kristen, but in the end, during the nomination ceremony, its Hayden and Kristen that are now nominated for eviction.

Quick hits:

Okay, I know it seems like a heavy BB week and not enough BBQ’ing, cocktails, stories, and other stuff here on the blog, but this weekend appears as if it is going to be very hot and long (we’re expecting temperatures to be at least 100 if not more). I’m hoping to build my new smoker, work on a model, and do some video and/or podcast editing and have some beers with the neighbor for his 46th birthday.

Anyway, on to Big Brother:

We open the show with the obligatory recap which I tend to hate as they always seem to go on much longer than they should. I know why CBS does this, but it feels like they often do a double recap, once just before the opening credits, and then another brief one just afterwards.

Once the Veto ceremony ends, Annie, the replacement nominee for Brandon produces a little drama by voicing her anger and frustration on being the newest nominee. She snaps at a few fellow housemates, even Brendon, which seems to hurt his feelings. So much so in fact he appears to be on the verge of tears and this greatly troubles his showmance partner Rachel. In a moment in one of the rooms, while discussing matters, Rachel is visibly taken aback at Brendon’s display of feelings for Annie being nominated. She thinks that Brendon should be more concerned about her than Annie. Brendon on the other hand thinks Rachel is insensitive to his feelings and thinks she is making this all out to be about her.

Annie, with very little time until eviction tries a few different times to make a very compelling argument as to why she should stay and Rachel should be voted out. She actually convinced me and the way she lays it out makes a lot of sense. It appears that Annie does indeed plant the seeds of doubt in the other housemate’s heads so we’ll just have to wait and see how it plays out. It appears that Andrew and Kathy are actually thinking that it would be wiser to get rid of Rachel due to her obvious alliance with Brendon.

Meanwhile, us, the viewing audience, are informed that Annie is indeed the saboteur. She was among my short list as I initially thought it was a girl, but I kept bouncing back between a few other candidates as well. I’m still a bit skeeved that it was revealed this earlier, but since Annie is up for elimination I suppose CBS felt it’s hand forced. In the end it seems to be that this whole ‘saboteur’ angle backfired for CBS (no surprise there as it seems other things they’ve tried in past seasons have gotten revealed way before they intended for them to be). They made such a big deal out of it early on, and in one weeks time the person was up for elimination. I’m sure they wanted to get some additional mileage out of it, but…oh well. The pranks were kind of stupid in my opinion as well and really did not do much to shake the house to it’s core.

Once again Ragan, Kristen, Kathy, and Monet fly under the radar for the whole episode.

The live eviction took place and Annie made one heck of a last ditch argument, really throwing Brendon under the bus for his failures in disclosing everything about him, his alliances, etc. While looking somewhat desperate, it made a whole hell of a lot of sense, and had me convinced that Rachel should in fact go. But in a surprise even to me, the houseguests unanimously voted Annie out (not sure that was the smartest thing). There was no love lost on Britney’s farewell message to Annie, and Ragan admitted he might believe that Annie was in fact the saboteur and that’s why he voted for her. Hayden also flat out said that his vote was because Annie caused drama and was a bit too negative.

Annie leaves the house and speaks with Julie Chen. Says she proud of how she played, but thinks she played too hard and too good and that’s why she’s out. I beg to differ. Rachel’s farewell message was also dramatic accusing Annie of trying to woo Brendon. Annie also says that Brendon hit on her first and when she rejected him, made his way over to Rachel calling her ‘sloppy seconds’…Oh, snap!

HoH competition is next and to “The Brigade’s” chagrin, Rachel eeks out a victory in the end and is the new HoH. She is ecstatic and is seen hugging Brendon. The Brigade is probably shitting Twinkie’s at this point.

Finally, the show has picked up a little more steam this episode, but it really had to by the sheer fact that a veto competition was at stake.

It’s still a little hard for me to craft a concise episode recap, so until the pack thins out a bit, I’ll just give a brief synopsis on what stood out for me.

It seems Brendon and Rachel are taking their showmance to the next level by some heavy flirting which leads to a make out session under a blanket, on the hammock in the backyard.  The other houseguests watch the spectacle from the kitchen as if they were all in High School.  Brendon asks if they can go out on a date after the show and she says yes.  Hayden points out in the diary room that this paints even a bigger target on their backs as it proves they are in an alliance.

Speaking of alliances, Britney hints that Allie is spending a bit too much time with Brendon and Rachel and thus plants the seed to ‘The Brigade’ that Allie must also be in an alliance with Brendon and Rachel.  When Allie eventually finds out that Allie is dropping this ‘hint’, whatever semblance of a friendship they did have is now out the window and both Allie and Britney are now rivals.

Kristen, Ragan, Monet, Kathy basically have zero screen time this episode and are largely forgettable for the most part.

Saboteur comes in at one point and proclaims that two of the houseguests are life-long friends.  Of course this starts another round of wild speculation with everyone looking at everyone else and drawing to draw connections.  The only plausible one that I might be able to agree with is that *perhaps* Kathy and Britney may actually be mother and daughter!  There are a couple of times when the camera pans to them sitting on the couch, so I paused the DVR and my wife and I began to study their faces intently for a resemblance.  All I can say is this is very ‘plausible’.  They are both from the south (AR), blonde, have similar features, and I believe Kathy said she had a child when she was 18.  Well, Britney is 22 now and Kathy is 40.  The math works.

Andrew makes for a very odd moment after the saboteur clip plays, boldly proclaiming he can’t be the ‘saboteur’ due to the fact no one knows about his belief in Judaism.  He also makes yet another comment about kosher food in the house.  Andrew to me is a wild card at this stage in the game, not making any alliances with anyone, seems a bit on the outside, but does these strange things that bring him into the spotlight for few minutes or two when there really isn’t a need too based on his explanation of his strategy.

Meanwhile, ‘The Brigade’ runs through various scenarios on possible outcomes of the Veto competition.  They all want to see Brendon leave, but can’t seem to agree who is the best replacement nominee if either Rachel or Brendon win and take themselves off.  The names of Kathy and Allie bounced back and forth, but leans towards Allie as they think she may be in an alliance with the two nominees.

The Veto competition takes place, and ‘The Brigades’ worst case scenario comes true: Brendon wins by a landslide and takes himself off the block.  Hayden then places Allie up as the replacement, which she expects.  Allie vows to fight (they all do) to stay and blames Britney for her situation.  Brendon also vows to go after Hayden now.  Rachel feels a bit safer, but not by much. 

Finally, host Julie Chen announces that the saboteur will be revealed to the viewers next week.  Still a bummer to me as I like trying to guess this out, but it appears that he/she survived week 1 as eviction takes place tonight.

Crackpot

Here is the long overdue is a 30 minute podcast catching us up the last 3 weeks of Big Brother season 11.

I didn’t really realize how hard it was to keep up with this once a week and before I knew it, time slipped by pretty fast and I was three weeks behind.  To those that have sent me e-mails asking where they are, I’m happy you find them somewhat interesting enough to point out I’m behind. 

For this recap, I was surprised how hard it actually was to try and remember all the stuff that happened.  Needless to say I cut alot out just to get to six pages of written notes.  That works out to be about two pages per televised episode.

Anyway, suffice to say Chima is a crackpot and I’m glad her days are numbered.  Natalie the gnat is annoying and has a warped sense of reality when it comes to the game….she forgot she’s actually playing a game and takes everything so personal and now that Jessie is also gone, Natalie actually has to start playing her own game and not riding on his coattails.  The funniest line from her was this week when she says she was ‘running’ the house…..LOL….No ‘Gnat’, you weren’t, Jessie was manipulating everything and you were his ‘Yes’ girl.  Then to hear her explain and actually convince herself of the truth of her ‘alterted’ facts is mind blowing.  I told Monica I don’t even think Gnat can comprehend her own reality right now.  Jeff of course is level headed, and Russell has calmed down quite a bit.  Michelle is finally emerging as a player, and I give props to Kevin for being a very smart player, but he’s just hooked up with the wrong people.  Finally, my thoughts on Lydia are really shifting now.  Her messianac complex when it comes to Jessie is down right disturbing and she’s next for the loony bin.

Anyway, enjoy….

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Casey faces eviction in week 3

 In this Podcast recap I run down episodes 7, 8 & 9 from Big Brother season 11 on CBS.

I played a litte bit with the settings on Audacity (recording software) and how I did my recording.  Seeing that this is just a recap and nothing fancy, I recorded this in mono (single channel), and tried to cut to the chase in many instances of what was going down in the house.  This made for a leaner and overall shorter podcast both in size and length.

But long story short: Ronnie is an idiot, Jessie loves Jessie but not as dumb as he looks, Russell is a snake, Casey is getting the short end of the stick, Kevin is smarter than he lets on, Chima is starting to chill out (for now at least), Lydia is a whiner, Michelle is a cautious kiss-ass, Jeff is sane, Jordan is not, Natalie likes to stir up trouble.

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Ronnie - Not a Jedi.

This podcast episode is indeed published out of order  as I haven’t finsihed editing episode 5 yet (w/ guest Brian Liles & the Grand Canyon), so don’t fret.

After a few false starts, I did this one again in one take, so it may sound a little rough around the edges.  I still feel I need to cut this down in length as even I was surprised it was close to another 1/2 hour.  But it was trying to condense the highlights of three hour long televised epsiodes into a sub 30 minute podcast.  It was a tad bit scripted (5 pages….ugh) as I had to write notes for each episode that aired so I could remember the sequence of events.  Maybe next time I can cut it down to three pages or so and get it closer to 20 minutes.

As always, feel free to leave comments below, or write me at cocktails1@hotmail.com.

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Big Brother 11 cast

Until I either: A) get a portable recording device, or B) can convince my neighbors/friends that my upstairs spare office/studio is not that scary of a place (despite copious amount of posed Star Wars action figures and comic books lying about), I have to rely on myself to provide a little audio content to ensure I have regular podcasts.

With that in mind, and the fact that continual practice will hopefully make myself somewhat nasaly voice sound somewhat more comfortable on the mic than Obama does on socialism, I decided to do another impromptu recording session last night on the first week of Big Brother 11.

Why Big Brother?  Well, I happen to like ‘good’ reality television like Survivor, Amazing Race and Big Brother…..not the pseudo train wrecks like ‘I Love Money’, ‘Flavor of Love’ or the myriad of other degenerates that VH1 can coax out of the shallow end of the gene pool.  Basically you have 13 strangers that live in a house together with no contact from the outside world, and each week through a series of challenges and nominations, a house guest is ‘evicted’ for the next 2+ months until 1 is left standing and wins the money.  Obviously there’s a bit more to it than that, but that’s the general gist and concept.  It’s a wildly popular show not only in the U.S., but has spawned Big Brother’s counterparts in many other countries around the world.  The bonus to those shows that are absent here in the U.S. is that many of these countries have much more lenient Standards & Practices and much less in the way of censorship, so viewers can expect a bit more nudity and house guest hook ups.

Anyway, this episode is a bit longer than I anticipated, clocking in around 25 minutes and I give a little background and introduction on the individual house guests and explain a little about how this season is set up into the various ‘cliques’.  This recap covers the first three episodes of the show from it’s July 9th preview through the 1st Veto ceremony on July 14th.  It’s a bit early right now to discuss in much depth how things are settling out between house guests and individual strategies, but clearly a few standouts are already forming in brainiac’s Ronnie and Chima, outcast Lydia, and the whole entire athletic clique (I predict this group will be the subject of it’s own eventual demise based on the arrogant personalities of three of its four current members).

Bear in mind that I’m still getting use to this whole recording thing, and after listening back to it once (and I didn’t edit it one iota…it’s 100% raw) I need to adjust my mic levels down a bit, I get tongue tied a few times, and there’s a bit more “um’s” that I’d like to admit to.  But please enjoy and as always, feel free to leave comments and criticisms by emailing me directly at cocktails1@hotmail.com or sound off in the comment section below.

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