Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - June 8, 2014

Good morning! Soon we'll have all kinds of Big Brother stuff to gossip about! But, for now, this is my off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way.

I realize I'm getting this up late this week. I'm having trouble getting my flower photo slideshow working on the blog. My apologies.

As for the week gone by itself? Blah! It was a rather horrible work week fraught with the usual come back from vacation mess, lots of bad weather while I was walking to or fro, training a new person at my workplace and computer failures there, too. Gah. There really has to be a better way. Who the heck came up with this idea of working for a living anyway?

Oh, well ... onto the photos and let's see if that slideshow finally works ...

What's up, bunny?

Rabbits, the new squirrels in my New Jersey 'hood, are back once again. This one and an occasional friend or two can be found early mornings on the front lawn of the Richmond Towers housing complex on East Front Street in Plainfield.

Rose is a rose

Is a rose ... and so on, according to Gertrude Stein. Roosevelt Avenue, Plainfield. (See the slideshow after the jump for a plethora of flowers!)

Storm clouds move in

This is Watchung Avenue in Plainfield on Tuesday afternoon as I arrived home from work. Although you can't tell from the photo, the winds were horrific. Since it was hot and muggy, all that nasty street dirt kicked up by the winds stuck to me. It got in my eyes, too! Since the weatherman said the storms would start in the EVENING, I didn't bring my umbrella as I was due to come home mid-afternoon. I ended up ducking into one of the taxi places just as the skies let loose with torrents of rain, accompanied by lightening and thunder.

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

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - June 1, 2014

Welcome to my off television topic weekly reflection on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way. I did post a bit about Big Brother and Fargo this past week and will be posting on Falling Skies in the upcoming days as I've seen the two first episodes of that show on pre-release screener copies. I was happy to watch the new season premieres of So You Think You Can Dance and America's Got Talent. Both of those shows are in their audition phases and I'll probably stop following one or another when I get bogged down with Big Brother. The CNN ten episode series The Sixties is going to be a must see for me even if it does go up against the Thursday night live BB eviction!

Hey, this post isn't about television!

Um. What did I do this past week? Well, I napped a lot. I watched television. I read. I hung out on the computer. I cooked. I baked. I did some housecleaning. I napped some more. I didn't take any day trips. I basically goofed off.

But, it was worth it! I feel very relaxed. Onto the photos, as few as there are, for the week --

Scotch Plains Farmers Market

Plainfield has a farmers market each year, but that one's small, on a workday for me and I don't think they've started it yet. The Scotch Plains Farmers Market has several different vendors -- not just one farm with produce and flowers. Lots of produce limited only by the season, but there's also pastries, ethnic foods from different countries, a Picklelicious tent, even a local winemaker. Our growing season has been off this spring. I only bought some asparagus and a few beautiful green peppers.

Deadly nightshade

I keep seeing this in new and different places each year. This time it's growing along a fence at East Front and Berckman streets in Plainfield.

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

What's to like about Fargo, the TV series?

Now, I've never seen the Coen Brothers movie of the same name (forgive me as I have sinned). As a matter of fact, I don't believe I've seen ANY Coen Brothers movies albeit most intrigue me and I really should catch up on them. I guess I've just been living in a cocoon. Or, in New Jersey. Take your pick.

But I'm finding this TV series (mini-series, whatever) adaptation on FX a breath of fresh air, perhaps with a bit of interference from the signs of the apocalypse and a touch of murder in the air. I can't compare it to the movie. Remember? I never saw the movie. But I surely can compare it with other TV fare. Oh, yeah ... there's more than a touch of murder in the air.

Without any spoilers about tonight's episode, especially since I haven't seen it yet, I've been trying to think of just why I'm liking this show so darn much. About the only thing I'm not so keen on is its odd episode timing. One week it's an hour ten minutes, another it's an hour fifteen. I personally would love to watch for 90 minutes each week. Think on that, FX.

So ... here's what to like about Fargo --

• THE STORY - Well-written with great character development. The characters are as imperfect as anybody we know. I have to admit that no one I know has acted on murderous impulses and I know no one like Lorne Malvo. I should be clear on that. I'm talking the OTHER characters!
• THE QUIRKY - Maliciously evil, yet delightfully quirky in its execution. Dark humor tends to catch my fancy and so does Fargo.
• THE CASTING - Wow. Billy Bob Thornton is the epitome of intelligent evil as Lorne Malvo. The woman who plays Deputy Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman) is a stand-out new face and is probably the best "man" on the police force. Colin Hanks has perfected his Minnesota/North Dakota accent (he's not from there, don'tcha know) as the Duluth Animal Control cop tied up in the big time murders investigation and going agog over Molly. Keith Carradine is believable as Molly's father and is probably as smart as she is. Adam Goldberg, although I recall we had a to-do with him and weren't allowed to mention him back when I was writing for Blogcritics, seemed out of place in North Dakota, but that's as it should be. The interactions between him and his deaf thug partner were priceless. I could go on and on. I'm loving this casting. Kudos to the casting director!
• THE MUSICAL SCORE - Creepy at times, quasi-classical ... it's perfect for the action and the series itself.
• THE LOCATION - I really like the vast frozen tundra when I don't have to commute to work in it. Snow is beautiful and a bit magical -- especially when I'm watching a series during the spring and today it's very warm and muggy here.
• IT'S EDUCATIONAL - Why, yes, it is! In the episode 'Shades of Green,' Malvo posed a riddle to Gus (Colin Hanks) about why humans can see more shades of green than any other color. Molly came up with the answer, stating that it dates back to when humans lived in the wilds as prey and predator. I looked it up. There's some factual evidence of that. Cool. 
• IT'S BIBLICAL - Well, perhaps not in a way that really religious folks would enjoy, mind you. Malvo's ongoing taunting of annoying mega-businessman Stavros Milos (Oliver Platt) follows the signs of the apocalypse. Okay, the locusts were crickets. We ended last week with dead fish falling from the heavens.
• I FEEL A BIT AKIN TO BILLY BOB - As with anything that intrigues me, I read up on Billy Bob Thornton as a result of getting hooked on Fargo. I read where he has an OCD obsession with silverware -- he doesn't like big clunky real silverware. Oh my gosh! A kindred spirit in the world! Sure, I have a real (cheap) silverware set, yet I have two remaining from previous sets THIN forks which, if I have my druthers, I use in lieu of the new and more acceptable forks I own.

If you aren't watching Fargo and you're a fan of quirk with a strong stomach for violence and gore ... it's on tonight at 10pm ET/PT on FX.

	Loop
	Start playing when buffered ( Only Notify ) -
	% Smart Buffer
	Estimated Time:
Donate to SmartVideo! Global Preferences

	Loop
	Start playing when buffered ( Only Notify ) -
	% Smart Buffer
	Estimated Time:
Donate to SmartVideo! Global Preferences

	Loop
	Start playing when buffered ( Only Notify ) -
	% Smart Buffer
	Estimated Time:
Donate to SmartVideo! Global Preferences

	Loop
	Start playing when buffered ( Only Notify ) -
	% Smart Buffer
	Estimated Time:
Donate to SmartVideo! Global Preferences

	Loop
	Start playing when buffered ( Only Notify ) -
	% Smart Buffer
	Estimated Time:
Donate to SmartVideo! Global Preferences

Big Brother 16 News and Stuff

Hey, BB fans ... ready for another summer of voyeurism as we watch silly house hamsters? The season premiere is set for Wednesday, June 25 at 8pm ET/PT. Based on previous seasons, I don't expect any cast announcements for a while yet. We should hear more on that about a week or ten days before the premiere. I do know that they kept casting open longer than initially planned. I can only hope that means all NEW hamsters, none of these repeat "15 Minutes of Fame" types.

The show, in its second year of an early start (remember it used to start around the July 4th weekend) will air Sundays 8pm ET/PT, Wednesdays 8pm ET/PT with the live eviction shows remaining on Thursdays 9pm ET/PT.

CBS.com will be hosting the live feeds once again. Huh. I wonder if RealPlayer is even still in business after losing that account? They've announced the Early Bird Special prices to sign up between now and June 26th ...

I don't have, but really should look into it, an affiliate status with CBS for getting your live feeds subscriptions through this blog. I suggest that you either pick them up via the CBS site offerings or via my longtime fellow BB site friend, That Dingo at hamsterwatch.com. One thing I'll say about CBS hosting the live feeds instead of Real.com is that it's a heck of a lot cheaper! It's at least a third less for the season pass. And, at about $24 for the whole season, if you're a fan of the show, it's really cheap entertainment at any time, day or night! (With some hamsters, cheaper than others!)

Of course, you don't need the live feeds to hang out here on the blog and get multiple reports daily. While I work a "real" full-time job and tend to lack for sleep over the summer, often other blog readers pick up on happenings and post them when I can't. Everyone is welcome to read and join in on the action here!

As I'm only one person, I simply cannot report on every breath the hamsters take. Sites like Jokers Updates have many folks posting every minute. Sometimes you need to take the reports there with a grain of salt as anyone can post updates and people sometimes make up events or results, exaggerate things and such. Eventually, their moderation staff takes those down as I do I when there are falsehoods in the comments area here. However, if you see content in a post I make here ... it's the truth. True, I might have a bit of bias at times, but all competition outcomes, etc., that I post are really what happened.

I will post two to three times a day with what my readers call the Reader's Digest condensed reports of the live feeds, along with screen caps. Every show night, I'll host a blog party right here on the blog and invite y'all to watch the show and post your comments. Unlike places like the CBS chat room, we try to act fairly respectable. I keep this place on a PG level at the most and ask you to respect that. I also ask that commenters respect each other and understand that people can have differences of opinion about houseguests without insulting each other. I remove that kind of interaction here. No, the 1st Amendment does NOT apply to blogs. Nope, not at all. I'm in no way part of the government!

It's just about a month away until the premiere. What kind of hamster houseguests do YOU want to see this season? I personally would rather a mix instead of buff dudes and swimsuit model gals. But, I doubt CBS sees it that way. They think sex and hook-ups sell. @@

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - May 25, 2014

Remembering those who served

Now, of course I'm not old enough to know anyone who lost his life in the Spanish-American War, mind you! I took this photo about three years ago right around Memorial Day and it seemed fitting to lead off today's post with it.

Welcome to my off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I've taken along the way. I'm posting a bit later today because ... I'm in STAYCATION mode! Yep. This is the first time since last fall that I'm taking time off from work not due to health reasons. Naturally, I have my little aches and pains, but nothing debilitating such as the sciatica I had for months. I actually slept in this morning. Woot!

Since the slideshows were such a big hit with the readers last week, I made another flowers slideshow with the photos I took this week. Too many flowers, too many shots I liked to post each photo individually here. I hope you enjoy them!

Just an on television topic word of warning -- I'll be posting some Big Brother, Falling Skies and other TV topic news during the week ahead. Just because The Amazing Race and Survivor had their finales this past week doesn't mean I'm not watching television! Anybody watching Fargo?

Let's see ... what happened this past week? Well, we had quite a bit of rain. Nothing like last spring, but you'll see raindrops on many of the flower photos. Work was hectic trying to get all set for me to not be there for a week. Surely I'll come back to problems. But I refuse to think of it this week!

I had plans yesterday to go to the farmers market in Scotch Plains. But then I woke up really early (as per my work sleep schedule), decided to take a nap when the skies turned gloomy in the morning hours and woke up to sunlight at just about the time the market closes down. Just as well as the skies once again turned to rain. I'll go next Saturday.

The apartment hallway noise situation remains improved. Apparently the offenders are quite worried that we (the normal tenants in the hallway) will turn them in for too many people squashed into a small one-bedroom apartment. I plan to speak to the landlord anyway. I'm just waiting my latest rental renewal letter before I complain. I don't want them to think of me as a whiner or a problem before I know the latest increase. I'm hoping it's only the $5 once again (or less). I'm still above the market rate for the rehabbed units in the building while I have a thirty-year old stove and original kitchen cabinets and such.

Onto the photos for the week ...

Urban bunny

This rather large wild rabbit was grazing on a lawn on Berckman Street in Plainfield. I haven't seen many rabbits in the 'hood yet this year and definitely no babies. I'm sure they'll be coming soon. After all, rabbits are the new squirrels around here.

The magical iris

The stunning irises are growing across the street (on Berckman) from where the rabbit was grazing. There are blue irises growing on East Front Street, too. But I love the colors on these. All are included in the flowers slideshow after the page jump.

Adolescent squirrel resting

You never see adult squirrels resting! This week I've only seen the late bloomer young squirrel hanging around the bridge at the Bridgewater Train Station. The two more adventurous siblings seem to have moved on.

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