Big Brother 12 - Live Feeds Overnight into Sunday Morning, July 11

Meow Meow

For the most part, the house was a bit uneventful after the big new saboteur video. I think the saboteur might just be making things up about two people in the house having a previous relationship. Here's the skinny on the evening:

• Brendon cooked for the Have Nots, even though he's not one. Mmm ... fried pickles.
  
• Britney is still (fairly needlessly) freaking that she's going to be put on the block when Brendon saves himself.
• It's likely the replacement will be Annie unless Britney gets everyone ticked at her.
• What's surprising is that they're not trying to get Rachel out, thus ensuring a power player Blinded By Science showmance duo.
• Rachel and Monet showed off acrobatic cheer moves in the backyard.
• Both Lane and Matt tried to get Britney off her paranoia.
• Ragan thinks he's a walking zombie due to the slop, but is still amazed that he's actually in the house.
• I expect today will be rather quiet until the POV meeting. There have been no announcements, but in previous years it would be late afternoon their time. I'll post when I hear.
  

Matt and Ragan chased each other around in the Have Not Room, now we know that's how guys go gay (according to both Ragan and Matt) -- BB slop and Have Notting


Then again, Matt came INTO the house with numerous pajama bottoms.

Andrew and Rachel. not a couple

Rachel and Brendon, a couple. They were settling in for some hanky-panky. Brendon thought the cameras were off. She told him, "Nope, they're on!" The result above.

Off Topic - That Was the Week It Was - July 11, 2010

I realize I have an influx of Big Brother 12 fans aboard this week. Just to let you know, every Sunday morning I reflect on the week gone by in words and photos I've taken. I will be posting the latest live feeds news from the house a bit later. But, for now, I'm off topic.

This week was one of the hottest ones I can recall in my lifetime. The high on Tuesday was 105. Even when the heat wave broke late in the week, it was 89 with very high humidity. I actually like the winter better than what I went through this week. I'm SO dreading my electricity bill because I kept my AC on so much! We need rain, too. I surely thought I sweated enough to take care of that, but apparently not.

The west side of town and its shootings seemed to have calmed down some. Perhaps the heat kept people indoors more. I guess if folks can afford handguns, they can afford air conditioners.

Beside the heat, the big event of the week was the season premiere and kick-off of Big Brother 12 on Thursday night. For me, it marks the start of a rather grueling three months or so of reporting live feed happenings and reviewing show episodes three times a week for TV Squad. Don't get me wrong, I anticipate the challenge each season! How long can Jackie survive on little to no sleep? ;-)

We tested the elevator at my apartment building. One day this week, the rather large man who lives directly above me, a woman who regularly visits someone in the building, Steve and his bicycle from upstairs and I all got in at the same time. It got us to our destinations! However, I noticed the door doesn't always go all the way into its groove once it opens on the second floor. Today I came home with groceries and ended up running upstairs to push the door into place so it would know to close, then downstairs to load my groceries in once it arrived. I'll have to let the people running the place know.

Onto this week's photos -- clicking on an image will open it larger in a new window ...

As high as an elephant's eye ...

The sunflowers on East Front Street (Plainfield) are way taller than I am. That top peak one has to be over 8 feet high! Alas, due to the lack of rain, I'm seeing a lot of browning and dying leaves at the bottom. The plants themselves aren't as fat as in previous years, either.

Up against the tree, squirrel! Hands up!

Resting on the base of an oak tree at the Plainfield Train Station.

You'll never catch me, copper!

Blue damselfly on a poison ivy vine

These damselflies really need to stay still longer! It's hard to get a shot of them.

Blue fly on a stinkhorn mushroom

Oh my. He seems to be eating the stuff that supposedly smells like carrion off of the mushroom. The stinkhorns have been making rapid appearances and shriveling away within a day lately. No. No sexual innuendo there. Really!

Sign(s) of the times

Open windows and air conditioners. I'm not sure how folks do without screens. I know that I get the occasional outside bug in here and I have screens. Don't birds fly in? North Avenue, Plainfield.

In which I risk my life once again for the shot

This is a yellow jacket, a member of the wasp family. I am allergic. Yet I'm strangely drawn to photograph stuff. And, there he was. I edited the shot to make the background black and white (really, gray) and leave the yellow jacket in color. Do you know that they're one of the most likely to sting and they can sting multiple times? Bridgewater, NJ.

Could he be the culprit?

I'm seeing a lot of beetle-type damage to the poison ivy and other plants at the Bridgewater Train Station -- obviously not so much on the leaves pictured here. I haven't seen the usual suspects, Japanese beetles, around. Yet this tiny kind of iridescent blue beetles are there. By the way, not only the leaves of three, but the "hairy" vines are indicative of poison ivy.

The yellow jackets have appropriated some real estate

This is where I'm getting the yellow jacket photos from. I think they're building a nest or something in there. The two on the right side are dead. Almost like a whale beaching, they nudged themselves into that crevice and got stuck. I wasn't about to rescue them! There are about ten honor boxes in a row there. Only this one has yellow jackets in it. No one has tried to fill it lately. I wonder why?

Just a weed

But if you look closely, there's a small bee and a large ant on it!

Trouble ahead, trouble behind

"And you know that notion just crossed my mind." - 'Casey Jones' by The Grateful Dead. Nah, nothing to do with drug troubles. I'm talking heat problems. I never realized that intense heat will swell railroad tracks and slow down the trains. Plus, the new engines running these double-deckers automatically shut down (and stop the train) when they reach 140 degrees. The railroad lines with electric engines had more trouble than mine with diesel. But we were still late a lot. Plainfield Train Station in the early morning haze.

Yay, sunflower in bloom!

Can you find the honeybee in the shot? I saw chocolate-covered sunflower seeds in a store. Now, had they been dark chocolate-covered, I would have had to give them a go. East Front Street.

In which I mess with the colors

East Second Street in Plainfield.

Dog Day Afternoon

The black chihuahua is my downstairs neighbor. He has a friend staying with him. Yes, I hear yaps and yips. I could send Vincent down to put them in their place! Notice how brown the grass is. We're not under any water restrictions here (that I know of), but many places in New Jersey are. "Man, it's a hot one, like seven inches from the midday sun ..." - 'Smooth' by Carlos Santana and Rob Thomas

More sunflower action

These are really great! I love me some sunflowers.

No, I'm not going inside!

I played a bit with the editing of this shot. I liked the sun and shadows on the building and its letters. I've never been inside. I'm sure my knee would set off the metal detectors. Watchung Avenue.

Hot town, summer in the city

"Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty, been down, isn't it a pity, doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city ..." - 'Summer in the City' by The Lovin' Spoonful. I messed a bit with this one, too. Watchung Avenue and Court Place, Plainfield.

Gravity-defying moth

He's just hanging around.

There he is, right-side up!

Some kind of wasp ritual?

The Real Estate yellow jackets are forming a new society, I guess.

Quiet morning

I worked on Monday, a holiday for many people. The streets of Plainfield were deserted. Watchung Avenue. And, yes, I edited it just to leave the railroad bridge in color.

Johnny on the Spot

Thankfully these only remained up three days after the parade. One year one sat on the lawn at my building for almost two weeks! East Front and Richmond.

What? You say it's hot outside?

Vincent remains comfortable during this horrid weather. If you recall he was a stray picked up in Riverside Park in Manhattan. I adopted him from New York City Animal Care and Control, the shelter system which covers all of the boroughs. Well, some creep is beating up women in the park now. I'm so glad Vincent isn't wandering the streets of NYC these days. He probably is, too.

How was your week?

Big Brother 12 - Live Feeds Into Saturday Evening, July 10

Kristen eats

Now, doesn't Annie have a Lily Tomlin thing going on?

Great housekeepers, eh?

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends -- the Big Brother 12 live feeds! Here are the happenings into Saturday evening ...

• I don't believe I mentioned it before, but the Have Nots are Rachel, Matt, Ragan, and Kathy.
• Annie talks way too much about herself and they all come across as "woe is me" kind of stories.
• The Saboteur appeared on the screen again telling the hamsters that "two people in the house are lifelong friends or have a previous BB alliance."
• The speculation started. Of course, it's the saboteur, so it might be just a spool of lies.
• Some think that Kathy and Britney are mother and daughter. Both are from Arkansas. Others think Andrew and Brendon are related.
• Annie told Ragan that Britney is turning everyone against her. There's no need for Britney to do that. Annie does that well enough on her own!
• Britney is worried about being put on the block.
• The target to replace Brendon (when he saves himself) still seems to be Annie with the vote going her way, thus keeping the Blinded By Science Duo intact.
• Brendon can cook and likes to do so.
• Lane isn't as dumb as he seemed at first. He is quiet, though. I think he's taking everything in.
• Brendon told Hayden that if he and Rachel stay in the house, he won't be going after him (Hayden).
• Brendon also told Hayden that he can't trust Britney as she's sure to flip.
• Hayden is irked that Monet never cleans house. Most of them don't -- the dishes were way piled up and every room except the HOH is a disaster zone. I know they're going to scramble to clean for the live show. Don't the hamsters ever realize we see their messy rooms?
• That's why I don't have a webcam.
• Hayden and Kristen have an alliance with Andrew as a shaky third. He's too spontaneous and misbehaving to trust him with much information. I should note that Kristen is also kind of close to Brendon.
• But not as close as Rachel is to him.
  

Brendon cooking. He looks good in that blue shirt.

Kathy from Arkansas

Britney from Arkansas. Related? Hmmm ...

Big Brother 12 - Live Feeds Through Saturday Morning, July 10

Brendon will be responsible for the next worldwide toothpaste shortage. I mean ... is this necessary?


Lane has a tattoo that, unlike Matt's, doesn't need to be covered up with a bandage for the duration.

Pale people sunning. Ow.

Yep, I'm here with the latest. But first (as Julie Chen says), I need to fuss and whine. First off, I kept getting errors whenever I'd try to post a photo or save a post on Blogger. That was all morning. Argh.


Then there's the new format for the live feeds. Real.com went web-based this season and eliminated the RealPlayer. There are tons of glitches in the new format, most of which they should have solved BEFORE they went live to the paying audience.

• We're talking no audio on the quad cam. They claim because it's "too confusing" with all four cams. Um, they still tend to show us only two rooms at the most at one time, albeit from different views. So, it's two conversations, not four.
• They finally put a sound control on the window overnight. Before, I had to adjust the sound on my computer itself and it was always way too soft or suddenly loud as they changed cams.
• The little feed image from cam 4 has vanished, yet if you click on it, the cam itself is active.
• There's some kind of odd jerk in the action, almost a stuttering, as I watch the feeds. Way annoying.
• I can't resize the window and full screen isn't.
• With the web-based, BBReloader went out of business. I can no longer run four separate windows with four separate feeds going. I figured a way to record feeds, but it's very time-consuming and thus far, nothing worth the effort.

Oh, well ... onto those Happenin' Hamster Hijinks ...

• I finally realized who Annie reminds me of (in looks) -- Lily Tomlin! She has those same thin lips and the eyes are similar, too. I like Lily Tomlin much better. Annie isn't really that funny at all.
• Lane thinks Enzo reminds him of Russell and will need to be eventually backdoored. He doesn't remind me of Russell. Yeah, he's a bit overbearing. But the guy can be way entertaining in a houseful of dolts. Meow.
• After her long heart-to-heart talk with Hayden, Annie ran to Britney and spilled all. Of course, Hayden heard about it. She's solidifying being the first hamster out, methinks.
• Enzo and Brendon want Andrew out next week. But, when they're with other people, that can change.
• Kristen thinks the house is already divided into two sides -- Hayden's and Brendon's. Um, that should be good for the week until there's a new HOH.
• Kristen told Hayden he needs to trust Enzo and Andrew. Hmm ...
• Enzo entertained a group with a Meow Meow story. Meow!
  
• They do have fish in the house again. Once again, at least one fish has died.
• I believe the life expectancy with critters in the house was better the year with the tarantulas.
• Kathy told Brendon that she won't compromise her dignity for the half-million. She also told him she has no alliances. That's pretty much the truth. She gets along with just about everyone. She really needs to up her performance in comps, though. I expected much more from an active law enforcement officer. She's done poorly and gotten injured (not seriously) in both the HOH comp and the Have/Have Not comp.
• Brendon told Rachel she needn't worry because he's the POV holder and has control in the house -- the others will do what he wants them to do.
• Yeah, right.
• Unfortunately (as I want Rachel out due to her Irks Jackie Factor), he might be right. It still looks like Annie will be put up and out this week.
• Annie is annoying in her own way, but at least she doesn't stick her boobs and butt out everywhere.
• I expect today to be rather non-eventful as the POV meeting is probably slated for tomorrow. I'll post later this evening.
• Meow.
  

Rachel

Ragan

Big Brother 12 - Live Feeds Late Friday Night, July 9

When I last left you, the POV comp was done and over. Brendon, who's on the block with Rachel and is the main target for eviction, won and squashed the plans of everyone. So now they're all scrambling to decide who to put up on the block. Here are the latest happenings of those Merry Little Hamsters in Nevernever Land:

• A core group of the guys -- Hayden, Enzo, Matt, and Lane seem to pretty much be running things. Meow Mafia? Not so sure on that as Enzo isn't really leading them. They don't seem to have a leader. In some ways they're coming across as confused boys to me. They're not sure where to turn next and are all over the place.
• Ragan, albeit fairly popular when he's around, is almost invisible. He hangs out with the women more than the men.
• Andrew's antics around the house have probably ruined any game he had. If he weren't safe this week, he'd definitely go out unanimously.
• After the POV, at least Hayden and Annie got new clothes, supposedly picked by family members but Annie is dubious of that. Her sister would NEVER shop at The Gap! BB apparently wants them to be "colorful." Enzo wore his plain old "Meow Meow" t-shirt through the evening.
• I want a Meow Meow t-shirt. It's nothing to do with Enzo.
• Brendon, Matt and Annie think that Monet should go on the block.
• Annie, of course, has her secret alliance with Brendon.
• What they don't know is that Hayden promised Monet he wouldn't put her on the block.
• Enzo told Monet that he would talk Hayden into putting Annie on the block.
• Annie is really not Ms. Popular. They know she's been talking a lot to Brendon and no one (except Rachel) seems to trust Brendon at all.
• They all think Brendon is a strong and dangerous player.
• Enzo thinks Annie is the saboteur.
• I haven't seen anything definitive on the feeds with the saboteur. I'm hanging onto my Matt theory.
• The general feeling of the house is that Annie should go on the block and go home.
• Ragan, Kristen and Hayden think it's too early to form alliances. Um, looks like Hayden might be lying.
• Brendon spilled the beans to Matt about both his own and Rachel's education levels.
• Maybe Rachel blinded him with science (science!), I don't know.
• Hayden told Matt he wants to put Kathy up as a pawn and vote Rachel out.
• Kathy doesn't want to be a pawn.
• Hayden then wants to put Annie up but is worried that she might not go home and will be miserable and vindictive about it.
• Most of the girls are getting very leery of Annie as she works her way through hanging out with the guys.
• Annie also went to Hayden for a long talk, claiming she was just getting to know people and it's apparently the wrong thing to do in the house as everyone is now thinking she's up to something.
• Well, she is.
• Andrew tried to smooth things over with Hayden. He just doesn't understand why all the girls hate him. Well, the pulling off of blankets and yelling "Gyno exam!" just might have something to do with that.
• Hayden told Andrew that he should apologize to the girls and that he doesn't think he (Andrew) is the saboteur.
• I don't think it's Andrew either.
• Rachel approached Hayden. He told her there were two others he could choose to go against her who would be voted out instead of her. They made a deal lasting until week seven. Hmm.
• Rachel thinks Monet is one of those two. She thinks that if she was on the block with Monet, she (Rachel) would be evicted.
• I think she's right.
• Andrew seems to have redeemed himself with Enzo, Hayden and Rachel from what I can see. He can be fine when he's not being a clown.
• Annie talks way too much. She would be in better straits if she'd just stop talking for a while.
• BB gave them alcohol at midnight their time. Which is 3 AM here!
• That's about it. It looks like Brendon will save himself and Hayden is likely to put Annie on the block with Annie voted out.
• If that's the case, her own mouth did her in. Woe is her. But it would leave the Blinded By Science Duo in the house. As an observer, I don't think that's a good thing. Not only that, but Rachel irks me to no end.