Big Brother 15: Live Feeds First Night

Yes, it's Big Brother in all its live feeds glory! Before I get into the happenings, I want to mention a bit about the feeds themselves. In previous years, except for the first season, they've been hosted by real.com. Now they're hosted on the CBS website. I see pros. I see cons.

The player itself is better for me. However, there are glitches galore. When starting the feeds up for the first time, it was hard to get anything other than a black screen. Digging around the Internet, I found the fix -- going into the flashback calendar, then going live. Who woulda thunk it? Then there's been an ongoing problem with only one set of mics going for all four screens. Sure, they do the two cams on one room bit. But then I should be able to hear what they're saying in each room! At one point my feeds stopped and a replay button came up. Hitting it would get two seconds of feeds. I had to exit and start again.

I also checked out Big Brother After Dark for the first time as I have TVGN, but never had Showtime. I ended up turning it off because it was on a slight delay and conflicted with my feeds. Yes, the language seems censored on it. However, the feeds themselves are in line with previous seasons. Well, except for the glitches.

They've been in the house for six days already (blocked to us), so they've already had nominations and the Have/Have Not comp. Here's what's been going on:

• The house is already a pig sty.
• Jessie and Candice are on the block.
• Supposedly as pawns because McCrae told them he plans on backdooring Elissa.
• The Have Nots sleep in airplane chairs in the Airplane Room. They think the words on the wall might have to do with how to recline the chairs.
• Have Nots are: Andy, Helen, Howard, Elissa and Judd.
• They decided to put on a "fashion show" or pageant thing for the first night of BBAD and the feeds.
• Um. Okay.
• Helen won it. Woo.
• That pageant is what most of the wacky screencaps on here are from.
• The girls are all catty already!
• Jealousy abounds. That's what you get with all the kids in the house.
• Aaryn is unduly worried about being nominated and evicted when the MVP comes into action.
• If she keeps it up, she should be worried. She's very annoying about it.
• I'm actually liking GinaMarie a bit more than I thought I would.
• Maybe because so many of the other girls are acting like high school kids.
• Aaryn also made a big fuss because so many in the house don't understand how PoV works.
• While she has a point, it's definitely not a good move to keep harping about it.
• Aaryn is also sure that Elissa will be MVP due to Rachel's fan base.
• I think she's wrong.
• Candice and Jessie (nominees) had a slight misunderstanding, but made up and are still friends. BFFs, even.
• Apparently, before the feeds went live, Elissa got into two fights with people.
• I can't really say as I haven't seen a lot of her on the feeds tonight and what I've seen has actually been better than the catty jealous little girls.
• Mind you, I do NOT want to like Elissa.
• McCrae isn't all that much in favor with his nominees. They think he's weak and couldn't even look them in the eyes during the nominations.
• Aaryn also complained that one of the women had a fishy smell and needed something for it. You can take that one from there. I'd rather not go there.
• Andy and McCrae are tight, but not in a gay kind of way.
• Jessie and Candice think Amanda is super stuck-up.
• They're on an indoor lockdown, apparently for the second night in a row.
• The PoV is supposed to be tomorrow, er ... today. Thursday.
• They took the airplane out of McCrae's HoH room, supposedly because he played with it.
• The plan seems pretty solid to backdoor Elissa.
• Of course, they should know that you can never depend on plans in the house!
• Several are still up as I get this posted. 

Big Brother 15: Season Premiere Blog Party

Everybody ready for the summer? The show is about to start here on the East Coast. As it airs, I'll update this post with the major happenings. If you want to join the pool, the cut-off for jumping in is FRIDAY, 6pm ET. The post to join in is located at this link -- please sign up there as your request might get lost in the excitement here. The random pool match-ups will be announced on Sunday before the show starts.

Well, there just better be excitement, I say!  We're counting on these hamsters to keep us entertained for a very long time. They need to WORK IT!

If you haven't followed the blog before, you might want to check out what it's all about during the Big Brother season right here in this post. The Big Brother After Dark show is on TVGN tonight (and every night) for two hours starting at midnight, ET. The live feeds themselves kick in after the West Coast airing, again midnight ET. My first live feeds report of the season probably won't be until extremely early morning here on the East Coast.

Now, let's settle in with our tasty snacks and cold beverages and watch some silly hamster hijinks! Remember, these hamsters have already been in the house probably since Friday or so. So, we've already missed a lot!

As always, the real party is in the comments ... come join us!

Howard, Spencer and Jeremy already formed a secret alliance. A bunch of the girls want a pretty girl alliance -- that was Elissa's idea. Now, Jeremy, Jessie and David are in an alliance. Silly hamsters.

Julie tells them there will be three nominees every week. HoH will still nominate two. She won't tell them yet where the third comes from.

The first HoH comp is Popsicle Factory. They each climb on a huge popsicle and hang on, last one remaining up wins. Down: Judd, Howard, Candice. Then stuff is squirted on them by a giant tongue. Candace figured out Elissa is Rachel's sister and mentioned it to Judd. Down: Amanda, Spencer. Now flavoring is being squirted on them. David is upset about his hair. Another girl went down, then Jessie down, then Elissa, GinaMarie. Andy out. Caitlin down. Last girl up Aaryn is down.

Julie offers a Never Have Not Pass (good all season) in one of two pails to the first two to drop. David drops first and will have choice of pail. He did NOT get the pass. Jeremy goes for the pass. Nick deals with McCrae and drops.

McCrae is the first HoH!

Julie gathers all in the living room. The third nomination will be made by someone in this room -- she tells them America will vote MVP and that person makes the third nomination. The MVP is all secret stuff, the others won't know.

Sunday is the Have Not and noms. Tuesday is PoV. Wednesday is live eviction. 

Big Brother 15: How We Do What We Do

Anybody excited about the season starting tonight? Yep, it's our guilty summer obsession, for sure. If you're checking in on the blog for the first time, I'd like to explain a bit of what we do here. I realize that I'm an "I" and not a "we." But, while I do the writing and posting here, it's the "we" part who makes this place great!

What I do:

• Two or three times a day, I'll be posting live feeds reports from the activity inside the house. These are often SPOILERS, so beware. Spoilers are a big part of what this blog will be about all summer.  These reports won't be on every breath the houseguests take as I'm only one person. I try to snag the important happenings or events which catch my fancy.
• Screencaps from the live feeds events will be posted in each report.
• On show nights, I host blog parties posted at the start of the show East Coast time. These are posts updated with the major show events in real time as the episodes air on the East Coast. The party is in the comments!
• Unless life circumstance or blacked-out feeds dictate otherwise, I provide live coverage updates and screencaps of endurance competitions which generally don't air until the next aired television episode.
• If I post something as a rumor, it's just that -- a rumor. If I verify that something happened, you can bet your bippy that it's the truth!

What WE do:

• We have a blog pool! The esteemed ORKMommy is the lifeguard for this particular pool. Right now, we're a bit delayed and the pool is STILL OPEN for those who want to come aboard. Until Friday, 6pm ET, you can sign up at the pool blog post. Please sign up there rather than here on this post as we don't want to miss anyone. We'll be announcing the random match-ups before the Sunday episode.
• We have the BEST community aboard in the comments area! Things I might miss on the live feeds (as I do work a full-time job on top of this obsession) are discussed by community members with the live feeds, the blog parties rock, the cyberdrinks flow. What more could you ask for?
• Lively discussion, good friends and fantastic show fans. Be there or be square.

There are a few ground rules:

• For the most part, dissing the hamsters is fair game. They chose to be on the show and (often) humiliate themselves in front of the world.
• That said, there are a few lines which, if crossed, might get comments deleted -- the really nasty comments about weight, looks, racial stuff, slurs, etc. It's better the comments focus on what the hamsters DO in the house, how they interact with others and such.
• I'm not too personally keen on nicknames for the hamsters. Sometimes it's hard to know whom you're talking about when you call someone outside of their name. They're often confusing enough, especially right in the beginning!
• Your fellow commenters in the community are NOT the topic of the blog! Folks are allowed to like or dislike any house hamster without being harassed about their choices! If you disagree with another about a hamster, state your case for (or against) the hamster without resorting to insulting the other commenter.
• Not to be done example: "You're an idiot if you like Julie Chen! How stupid can you be?" Instead, a comment saying why YOU don't like Julie would stay aboard, not one being nasty to the other commenter.
• Any trolling posts, especially from those who don't like reality shows and really have no business wasting their time here, will be removed. It's a show WE like and WE follow. It's OUR home.
• Any spam will either not post to begin with or will be removed. I will be checking out any links posted and, if they're not related to the show or are suspicious, they will be removed.
• I do ask folks to be leery about clicking on links not posted by me as sometimes it might be a few hours before I can check them out. I want everyone to be aware that viruses are out there!
• If you want to be a part of the community here and you're posting as "anonymous," please come up with a sign-off name at the end of your comments. Otherwise, you'll be lost in a sea of anonymous posters and we won't "know" you by your comments.

Wow. That seems like a lot of rules, doesn't it? But, folks who have been aboard for years here will definitely understand why I'm posting them. We have a basically friendly and welcoming community here -- nasty to others in the community isn't a welcome thing. There are other sites to troll if that's your goal!

Hamster watchers ready?

Big Brother 15: Blog Pool Sign Up is ON!

Due to pool cleaning after the recent storms, we're a bit late in getting the blog pool sign-up going. Well, to be honest, things just kind of sneaked up on me ... my profuse apologies!

As a result of my lackadaisical ways (yikes!), the sign-ups begin NOW. The cut-off for signing up to be in the pool will be Friday evening, June 28, 6PM ET. The pool match-ups will be announced here on the blog Sunday evening, June 30, before the show.

The rockin' ORKMommy once again will be your lifeguard for the season. She'll randomly match up pool participants with house hamsters. You get to cheer on your blog pool hamster throughout the season until evicted, sequestered or sole Survivor ... hamster in the house. If your hamster wins it all, you get bragging rights until the next season! It's all in fun, no wagering, please!  I have no desire to take part in anyone's gambling addiction problems!

If you're posting as "anonymous," please sign off your comments with a name, some name, any name each time you post. You need to at least have a sign off name to be a part of the pool. Better yet, sign in with your Google account or Blogger account!

Hamster watchers ready? Dive in the pool NOW!

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - June 23, 2013

Good Sunday morning to you! Me? I overslept today. It felt good, so I'm not too upset about it. However, it makes this post a bit later than usual. What's this post? Well, it's my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way.

For the television fans -- make sure you check out my hamster introduction post. I plan on checking out the videos today and will probably post more on the upcoming Big Brother 15.

I spent the early part of the week getting caught in downpours on my way home from work. Yes, just as I was leaving, we'd get thunderstorms and torrential rain. Grr. One day, one of my co-workers was kind enough to tell me -- "Oh, they've put up a tornado watch. There's rotation in the cloud." Thanks, like I needed that news as I was heading out into it! No, there was no tornado. I just got soaked despite my umbrella.

Thankfully, by midweek, we actually got in some days with no rain whatsoever. That's been very rare the last month or so. I just know that come August we'll be worried about drought and the lack of rain! That's how things seem to go. I'll put up with it as long as I don't have to deal with another storm like Sandy again. I just ask that the timing be a tad better -- for four days in a row, it started to storm right as I was leaving work. Y'know, Mother Nature, overnight rain would work out much better for me. Thank you in advance!

There isn't much else to report on this week. I worked. I ate. I slept some. I got stuck under a cat for long periods of time. So, we may as well go onto the photos for the week ...

Tiger Lily

Last week I saw these had bloomed just a half-mile away from my 'hood, but hadn't come to life here yet. This week, they're going wild and I love it! Berckman Street, Plainfield.

Weed or nature being creative?

Even in its most common efforts, I find nature so intricate and stunning!

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**