DRW50

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/10/game-of-thrones-rose-leslie-on-ygritte-and-jon-snow-s-reunion-at-the-battle-of-castle-black.html

Geez. There's a line in this episode where Lucinda asks Iva just how many men she'd had at 13, and Iva quietly leaves the room, as Ambrose tells her without saying it that she went too far. I wonder if Liz ad-libbed that because it's really near the knuckle for ATWT at this time. There's a fantastic James and Betsy confrontation in this. I just love Lindsay Frost's work in the role. I love how Lindsay took so much material that should have made Betsy seem weak, and flipped it around. I never knew that Emily nearly split with James for good to go to therapy. Marland's ATWT - therapy always, always the truth and the way.

Wow. This paper has fallen very far. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/washington-post-sexual-assault-marriage

Marland was so fascinating. It's too bad he never got Marsha Clark on ATWT, since he seemed close to her. Great stories. I think the GL episode you were an extra in is available on Youtube and was released on DVD. I think Monty was right to choose Jane Elliot as Tracy, although I do think Geraldine Court would have been a good fit for some GH role in that era. I have some Geraldine Court articles here and there. Do you want me to post any?

In 2009, after the GOP was shut out of Congress and the White House and wanted to rebrand, up popped the Tea Party. Some of this felt like fake astroturf stuff created by Fox News and the like, and some was genuine discontentment. The idea of the Tea Party, according to the spin at the time, was that they cared about nothing but fiscal issues and lowering taxes, and they were angry at both parties as a result. This was a lie, because many of them cared deeply about social issues, and many of them were still Republicans, still voting Republican, and were likely a plan by the GOP higher-ups to get back into power. They did get back into power, but the problem is they assumed that this horde would just stay in their place, as the far right had so often done for the GOP over the years (especially during the George W. Bush years, when they had expected far more than he delivered in terms of conservative legislation). As we've seen over and over in the past 5 years, they are not satisfied with just getting crumbs. They have taken over much of the party. Here's an example from Texas, a state where GOP governors had a fairly long tradition of supporting immigration, and now it's all hardline all the time. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/dan-patrick-texas-republican-party-tea-party The media, which is closely tied to establishment Republicans like Karl Rove, keep waiting for things to go back to normal, keep writing obituaries for the Tea Party. And they keep on being kicked in the teeth.

So am I. I read several times over the last few months that his opponent was getting traction, but I didn't think that meant a loss. His district screwed itself, because goodbye pork, but he was a smug despot-in-training, so I can't complain. I think his smarminess and lack of warmth did him in. This mentions The Rains of Castamere, which cracks me up. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/06/10/no-one-saw-eric-cantors-primary-loss-coming-in-an-endless-number-of-shocked-tweets/?tid=up_next My all time favorite Cantor story. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/25/eric-cantor-attends-britn_n_179160.html This is going to pretty much guarantee no immigration reform passes anytime soon, although that was already a guarantee. And this will push the party even further to the right. And as always the media got it wrong, assuming he was safe. Apparently Dave Brat is known as the "hot professor," which...uh OK. http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/dave-brat-rate-my-professor-virginia-primary-2014-107691.html?hp=l1 Speaking of the GOP, this says it all about their idea of sexism. They get outraged over the Sarah Palin of Iowa being compared to a baby chick. Meanwhile, her husband calls Hillary a hag. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/elections/2014/06/09/joni-ernst-bruce-braley-hillary-clinton-us-senate-hag-facebook/10252117/

In the April one it looked to me like he started the kiss and was a little passionate about it.

I could see that happening. I wish they didn't just have Dean as the "bad" son to Saint Mick though.

I'd forgotten Nathan gave Dru that passionate kiss. Not really sure what was going on there. And he doesn't even seem to realize what he did...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc1mrCjHrfM#t=37

1988 Who's Who? on the Soaps

I think Linda has become something of an afterthought to the show, and the fans, as the story has shifted into being about poor Shirley and how hard done by she is. Their only other story is the domestic violence story that DTC doesn't have the talent to handle properly. I think tying these characters to Shirley will be their death knell. To me she works so much better on her own.

And this is why some Democrats are pure poison to their party and the public. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/report-philip-puckett-resigning-virginia-gop-medicaid

I tend to like swordfights, instead of people just running around screaming. Both episodes had both, but this one had a little more swordfighting and getting to see some cool combat sequences. This episode also seemed to have less focus on who is a hero or who saves the day. It was collective efforts, not one person. I've seen some reviewers saying this episode "proves" that Jon isn't a hero. I don't really feel that way, but I'm not sorry that they didn't focus on his eternal heroism. All the focus in Blackwater on Saint Tyrion and his sacrifice kind of annoyed me at times. Blackwater as an episode was better than this though. The battle scenes, I'd give this episode the edge, but both were good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJdb33lNr4E

I think the show also realized that we barely knew the Wall guys, as Pyp and Grenn have had larger roles this season, to prepare us. I do think the actors made it work in this episode. I was saddened mostly because I liked that group in the first season, and I'm sorry we only got that back as they were about to die. (I know they had to be separated, for plot reasons, in the other seasons). I wasn't sure how they won either. I assume their leaders being killed or captured scared them into retreat for the night? Were those mammoths killed? I hope not. I want to see Jon or Sam riding a mammoth...

Rose Leslie and Kit Harington interviews. http://tvline.com/2014/06/08/game-of-thrones-season-4-spoilers-kit-harington-rose-leslie-ygritte-death-jon-snow/

I was infuriated, which I know I was supposed to be, that the huge coward, Janos Slynt, lived. I was infuriated that I was so scared he would rape Gilly. I'm so glad that didn't happen. A little too much time spent on talking about Sam's relationship with Gilly, but the battle scenes were first-rate. The emotional resonance wasn't there compared to Blackwater or the Red Wedding, but the fight scenes were truly alive in a way that other episodes haven't always managed. Glad to see more of Aemon, and that he lived. Glad that Ghost lived, and that he got to rip out some throats. Direwolves ripping out the throats of horrible people is always a good time. I knew Ygritte was going to die, but my heart still broke for her in this episode, as she was so solemn (and had been for a long time - I don't think her heart was in any of this) and she kept to herself most of the time. She was dead long before the arrow hit her. I do think she would have killed Jon (and that he knew this and was still so happy to see her made me want to cry), but it clearly was not the righteous vengeance she would have wanted. Rose Leslie has always infused Ygritte with such passion and such integrity, elevating her beyond the manpain/crazy ex trope she could have been. Ygritte was so gutsy and she always challenged her place in a man's world. She's similar to other women on the show, yet also very different. There was something very modern about her. I'm really going to miss my Bianca Jackson Wilding, I truly am. Rose and Kit Harington had such chemistry to the end. I had a feeling the few "good" Night's Watch guys would bite it, since they'd had more airtime this season than they'd had since the first few episodes, but I was surprised both Pyp and Grenn died. Grenn was one of the hottest guys on the show, so that's a big loss. I was pleasantly surprised that Alliser Thorne truly did what was right in the end, and had that awesome fight scene. Yay for complex characters. We don't actually get to see that much of the Jon/Sam friendship but it's clearly changed a great deal over time and has become both more intimate and less intimate. It's a very believable friendship. I have a books comment, but those just lead to ugly flame wars in this thread, so I'm not going to bother.

More fun with the liberal media, trying to tell us how Ed Gillespie, longtime Beltway hero and talk show guest, can win in Virginia. My favorite is the one about how a black woman introduced him at the convention, so he's already on his way! http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/how-ed-gillespie-could-pull-off-an-upset-107569.html

Aiden Gillen interview (I guess this was out before the last episode aired). Looks like the Jon Arryn reveal was originally supposed to happen last season, from what he implies. http://www.westeros.org/GoT/Features/Entry/Season_4_Interview_Aidan_Gillen

Richard Simmons, GH name that he is, was a guest judge on Sing Your Face Off. He was restrained by his standards.

Dru felt like the star of that first episode. So young and impulsive and silly, but you can't help feeling for her. She looked like a million dollars. You can see the effort Bill Bell was trying to make with the black cast at this point. And it paid dividends for years. Too bad the show lost sight of that fact. For all the talk of how weak Brenda's Ashley was, she seems very strong to me in episodes like this.

Iris just can't catch a break. I can see her side and the side of the other Corys, but I tend to side with her, just like I did on the show. Reginald is a very busy man. Poor KC. Christy is a trip.

She looks gorgeous, and I'm sure he looks fine in real life, it's just...on him it's a little much around the forehead.