Big Brother 17: Season Premiere Blog Party

Well, here we are. Are you ready to rock? What? I can't hear you ... ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?!?!

First, just so they can be easily found right in this blog party post until we get used to who's whom in the house, here's the random blog pool match-ups from that Awesome ORKMommy:

Audrey - David, Chase, Orkmommy, Nicole K

Austin - Petals, Tammy, marthalight, Dr_Celine

Becky - Glenn, Jackie, Indiana Jane, Brian

Clay - FairieGoddess0714, QuixoticElf, DonnaNY, JonMD1267

Da'Vonne - jessica UNderwood, SueGee, Ed in Ohio

Jace - Becky in TX, CherylinNC, JOKATS

James - uncartie, Marlo, Jackie~juju

Jason - Witt, Sharon, WolfpackRed

John - Sasha, lynn1, clover

Liz - Skyriverblue, jo Chapman, monty924

Meg - Sharon S, Merrilee, MikesGirl

Shelli - Delee, Sharon N, chrob

Steve - KelseyNY, Carrie, K

Vanessa - Chacha, Heather Reyes, T-Town Chick

As the show airs here on the East Coast, I'll update this entry with the major happenings. Refresh the page to get the latest news! As always, the real party is in the comments area -- I hope to see you there! (Just a reminder -- the live feeds don't kick in until after tomorrow's West Coast show ends.)

Not sure I'm liking Julie's hair. A new twist, the BB Takeover will be introduced, but they need to intro the hamsters first. They only introduced eight of them. Da'Vonne, Shelli, Clay, Austin go in the house first. Then Audrey, Meg, Jace and James go in. Where are the rest? BTW - 98 days, the longest ever, is ahead of us. They're popping champagne corks, exploring, and getting to know each other.

Audrey announced that she's the first transgendered person on the show. They all cheer. The reaction with the crowd is happy and accepting.

Onto a commercial break. Julie teases us that a "fan favorite twist" will be coming up. We'll be the judge of that, I say.

Audrey is already working on getting the girls together. They seem to be pretty receptive. The Day One Gals Alliance has begun.

Sigh. Now Audrey is being asked about what she's gone through which includes some sad stuff, but her family is accepting her now. Da'Vonne tells us that Audrey is coming through like a female Ian.

Julie calls them to the living room.

Two twists, a fan favorite: Battle of the Block, not necessarily THIS fan's favorite. It will work just like last year -- 2 HoH, four noms, BoB, one HoH.

Onto the first HoH comp. One must sit out the comp and they must choose. Da'Vonne offers if they promise not to vote her out.

Commercial -- the teaser is that Julie will tell us of the BB Takeover Twist and a third twist only for our ears. Um. Okay. I just want to know where the other six (plus two?) are ...

The comp -- Red carpet, Hollywood movie, Kevin Frazier, BB film UFO Oh No, They have goggles on. Standing on platforms. Film has received horrible reviews. The comp is called Flying Tomatoes, the first to catch 10 and put them in their tube wins. Fall off, you're out. The platforms are moving up and down.

Meg, Clay and Austin out, fell. James is in the lead. Now, Audrey, Jace and James are tied at five. James back in the lead. Whoa! All four fell at once! Onto the replay to see who hit the ground last. Onto commercial for us.

James wins the first HoH!

Julie calls them again. She announces a new twist each and every week. The BB Takeover.  There's a music loop which says "Get Ready for a Takeover" and, when it plays, they have to report to the living room.

To commercial. This teaser is that Julie will introduce us to the next group of houseguests and tell us our "secret" twist that "will have everyone seeing double." I'm not sure I want to see double. That could give me a headache, methinks.

The Twin Twist. One hamster has an identical twin, both will switch in and out. Well, gee. We've seen that before. If they survive five evictions, both can play.

Now, the intro of the remaining six. Julie promises the first surprise guest and BB Takeover start.

Big Brother 17: The Blog Pool Match-Ups!

If you didn't make the cut-off to join in on the blog pool, feel free to just jump on the bandwagon for your favorite new BB17 captive critter!

Here's the random matchings that ORKMommy made along with a bit on how she did it:

Audrey - David, Chase, Orkmommy, Nicole K

Austin - Petals, Tammy, marthalight, Dr_Celine

Becky - Glenn, Jackie, Indiana Jane, Brian

Clay - FairieGoddess0714, QuixoticElf, DonnaNY, JonMD1267

Da'Vonne - jessica UNderwood, SueGee, Ed in Ohio

Jace - Becky in TX, CherylinNC, JOKATS

James - uncartie, Marlo, Jackie~juju

Jason - Witt, Sharon, WolfpackRed

John - Sasha, lynn1, clover

Liz - Skyriverblue, jo Chapman, monty924

Meg - Sharon S, Merrilee, MikesGirl

Shelli - Delee, Sharon N, chrob

Steve - KelseyNY, Carrie, K

Vanessa - Chacha, Heather Reyes, T-Town Chick

From ORKMommy: "All names were recorded in the order they entered the pool, then I put them through the Random.org list generator 3 times to randomize them.  I then went down the list and started assigning house guests, who are in alphabetical order.  1 in the random list went to Audrey, 2 in the list went to Austin, 3 went to Becky, and so on.  Once I got through Vanessa I started at the top and kept going until I ran out of names."

Remember ... the season premiere is 8pm ET tonight! The blog party will be AWN (as Monica Bailey BB2 would say)!

Big Brother 17: Get Yer Gossip on the Hamsters!

Before getting started here, I want to remind you if you wish to be in the blog pool, you need to sign up on this linked post. The cut-off is Tuesday at noon.

Okay, let's get to it!

The hamster whose Jeff interview wasn't showing, dentist John McGuire, actually did have the interview and, for some reason, it was only available if you went in through the live feeds link itself. So, I did. He's loud. I'm not sure how well he's going to get along with the others. He's another big fan of the show and not like Clay's discovering the show four months ago! But, more surprising, he does this:



Now, that I like! But, of course, he won't be allowed a guitar in the house.

Then come the mugshots ...

We know that BB17 thoroughly investigates the backgrounds of the hamsters, at least ever since BB2 Justin held the knife to Krista's neck. So, they know when incoming hamsters have arrests in their pasts. We've discovered that, even with no arrests in the past, some hamsters just go whacked in the house. 

First, let's talk Audrey Middleton. She's the new hamster with the big transgender news. My first impression of her was bad because she was chewing gum in the interview and seemed too confident. Now, had she been smoking pot prior to the interview, she might have been a bit more mellow.

Audrey - busted for pot

Then there's good ol' country hillbilly Asian dude, James. He had some contempt of court family court issues. Oy.

James' mugshot. Eek!

Lastly (as far as I know), we have Jace picked up on a disorderly conduct charge.

Chin up, Jace!

Back to good news ...

Remember I liked Austin much more than I thought I would? I like his dedication to the show even more since watching this long video from a few years back. He was the guest on this YouTube show discussing events in the BB15 house.




Your thoughts?

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - June 21, 2015

Good morning! It's Sunday, the first day of summer and Father's Day all wrapped in one! Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! I'd say Happy Summer, but it's not my favorite season of the year -- I'm more into less extreme weather. Give me spring or autumn weather all year 'round and I'd be thrilled. Since it's also Sunday, it's time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way.

If you're looking for Big Brother television show content, check out this link right here for the latest. If you want to sign up to be in the blog pool for the show, you need to sign up only on this linked post. (Otherwise we might miss your request!) Later on today, I plan to post some hot gossip on some of the new house hamsters. Yikes. I said "hot gossip." I feel like a tabloid.

I really don't have much to report on from this past week. Here are some random bits and pieces:

• I managed to catch one of the illnesses going around my workplace this week -- yet another monster cold combined with allergies I've already been suffering. Wah. 
• The weather this past week has been hot, humid and rainy. I don't like that. Make it stop.
• The new guy next door, even when his adult children (maybe in their forties) came with a child about seven carrying a big ball ... hasn't moved my floorboards with thumping, nor can I hear much at all from over there. I still haven't met him. The couple was bearing groceries and I'd guess the child is a grandchild. Oh, and I should add, the boy was CARRYING the ball in the hallway, not bouncing it. 
• We're under a flood watch today. I'm staying in. But it can still stop, please.
• I'm shocked and saddened by the Charleston, SC, massacre this past week. Those folks took him in to pray with them. It speaks volumes about the goodness in their hearts and the hate in his. This world is so messed up. 

Anyway ... onto the photos. Clicking on an image will bring up a larger version.

Mug shot profile

Have you seen this bird? Heh. This is one of the adolescent pigeons born this spring at the Bridgewater Train Station. Similar to how one of the parent pigeons posed for me one day with curiosity about the camera, as did this one and its sibling this past week.

Peapod in da 'hood

I spotted the bright green Peapod grocery delivery truck down the street from me one day. Grocery delivery is really catching on. For the longest time I thought I was the only one around here getting Peapod. Nowadays, at least two other people in my building use the service in addition to this stop down the street and the times I've seen the truck pull in at apartments across the street.

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

Big Brother 17: The Blog Pool is OPEN!

Yep, the blog pool for BB17 is now open, thanks to that rockin' ORKMommy who will randomly match us up with house hamsters!

How it works:

• You need to sign up on THIS post and not in any other place on the blog! It's not that we're being cruel or picky ... it's just that if you sign up elsewhere, we might miss the request!
• The deadline for signing up is Tuesday (June 23) at NOON ET. Be there or be square. Or something like that.
• The pool match-ups will be posted prior to the season premiere on June 24.

What do you have to do?

• All you need to do is cheer on your blog pool pick (even if they could very well be someone you really don't enjoy).

What do you win?

• Because we're just such a large budget operation here, you win ... BRAGGING RIGHTS! Yes, you heard me. From now until the zombie apocalypse, you can brag about winning this pool. This will surely be a life-changing experience!

Please sign up in the comments section and let's have a fun season here on the blog!