BB18: Live Feeds into Monday Evening - August 22

I'm seeing no friendship here

Here's the latest from inside that Big Brother House of Hapless Hamsters:

• Paul thinks this coming care package will be the "mother" of care packages. So, he wants to see friendship from America and be the recipient.
• Let me know how that goes, kid.
• Actually, if enough show only viewers vote, he just might get it. They don't have to put up with him on the live feeds.
• The veto meeting was relatively early for them. It's a wonder they were out of bed.
• Despite the fact that she'd prefer Nicole out for personal reasons (and her idea that Nicole will "skate" to the finals), Michelle put Corey on the block when Paul saved himself with the veto.
• Michelle has developed a Paulphobia. She doesn't want to be anywhere near him.
• Of course, he was her original target.
• How will she achieve Paulvoidance? 
• Apparently by hogging the bed in the HoH room day and night.
• She's not avoiding Victor. He even told her that putting Corey up was the better strategic choice.
• Paul and Victor plan on telling Michelle that Corey, Nicole, James and Natalie have a final four pact.
• Um, unless she's blind, she can see that. She might have to win HoH, not have it fall out of the sky!
• Paul is sure that unless he wins HoH or veto this week, he's a goner next week.
• Well. Yeah, that's about right!
• Interesting ... Victor said he had to speak to a psychiatrist before they let him re-enter the house.
• Now, if one has to talk to Paulie if he wins re-entry, he just better mention that claustrophobia issue!
• Victor cleaned the kitchen and played pool. He mingled.
• Paul had little to no friendship.
• He tried talking to Nicole and just irked her and got no satisfaction.
• Victor is holding out hope that he can get James to save him.
• I doubt it.
• James would save him if it was Paul on the block with him though.
• No friendship there!

Cool enough for the bunny hat

"Paulie planted seeds."

I'm a re-nom. What's a re-nom?

BB18: Live Feeds into Monday - August 22

Holding onto safety ... for now.

Here's the latest from inside that Big Brother House of Dwindling Numbers:

• No real action in the late night hours.
• No kerfuffles.
• No brouhahas.
• Certainly no fisticuffs.
• Mostly small talk went on, with a few revealing bits and pieces.
• Y'know, Paul is so great ...
• ... how great is he?
• Why, he's so great that he doesn't think there's any problem if he texts and drives?
• Attn: Police departments all over -- be on the lookout for this!
• Victor seems to know he'll be the one going out the door.
• James is worried that he might go up as a replacement nominee.
• If he did, he'd have Nicole and Corey voting for him to stay. Victor would only have Paul.
• If the scenario is Corey on the block, James and Nicole would vote to keep him. Paul would vote for Victor to stay.
• If it's Nicole on the block, just substitute Corey and James for keeping her.
• Whatever scenario plays out, only three people can vote.
• And Victor goes home.
• The main reason James is worried is because Michelle mentioned possibly putting up Nicole as the replacement with the line that she hasn't been on the block yet.
• Of course, she's telling this to James ... who also hasn't been on the block.
• Natalie advised James to please come to her for advice and not to have any one on one talks just before nominations. 
• She thinks he only gets himself in trouble when he does that.
• She's right. While James has been playing a quiet game, he's occasionally spoken up and exposed his cards at inopportune times.
• Michelle seriously needs to stop calling herself a superfan.
• She just doesn't qualify as such in my book (and the book of many who have seen every episode and watched the live feeds since the first season).
• I think she perhaps has three or four seasons under her belt.
• That's no superfan.
• Paul told Victor not to say anything confidential to Michelle because she'll run and tell "them."
• Hey, why would Victor care now? Paul will save himself, not Victor.
• Not that I'd blame him for saving himself.
• Victor talked about getting up at the veto meeting and saying, "Friendship."
• Victor tried to tell Michelle that if she put up Nicole, he (Victor) would go home. But if she put up Corey, he (Victor) would stay.
• I don't think so. Victor is too great of a target (no matter how much people like him) in the game. All scenarios lead to him going home.
• I think Paul and Victor both know that and they're grasping at straws.
• James put in a request for America - "Please send Corey the next care package, not Paul."
• Who knows what the aired TV show fans will do?
• They might think Paul is a hoot and want to reward him.
• Yeah, he can be funny. He can be interesting at times. But he's also very annoying.
• So, they can send a package to either a dullard or an annoying guy.
• What a quandary!
• Victor kept trying to get closer to Michelle. Um, dude ... she has no vote this week and Paul ain't you. She doesn't like Paul at all and he will save himself this week.
• Victor went on about truth in the game and how he'd rather know than not know if he's the target.
• James told Natalie that he'll tell Victor on Wednesday that he's voting him out.
• Of course, we all know the real target was Paul this week.

Yes, I can laugh. I cry, too.

We wish it was Paul going away

You need to listen to MY advice, James!

Reminiscing about the early days of BB18

BB18: Live Feeds into Sunday Evening - August 21

Needs to get his game on!

Here's the latest from inside that Big Brother House of Bamboozled Bros:

• Nicole and James talked about how much harder this season is than they had expected.
• No, it's not summer camp, Nicole.
• James thinks if the next care package comes to Corey, it will show that America thinks Paul and Victor are villains.
• Hmm. I think America might think that of Paul. Victor? Not so much.
• James, Corey and Nicole want to target Paul and Michelle next.
• That is, if they themselves get through this week intact!
• On the whole, the day was rather uneventful.
• Lots of talk from Natalie, Corey, Nicole and James about Victor going home and final four plans.
• Victor put on a fun, albeit a bit adult, puppet show with Baldwin.
• That was the hit of the day for me!
• Paul, of course, is scheming to get Michelle to put Corey on the block.
• Not that she needs much convincing, mind you.
• Michelle locked the door of the HoH room to take a nap and wouldn't let anyone in ... not even Natalie, the person who won the role!
• Victor cleaned the bathroom.
• He can come over here and clean mine, too!
• It's pretty certain that Michelle is going to put up Corey as the replacement nomination as it seems that move will create fewer problems in her own game.
• The James/Natalie/Nicole/Corey plan is to act like Corey's going home ... like James and Natalie have turned on him, then Victor goes home.
• They really wanted PAUL out.
• This week, James is the swing vote. He will definitely vote to keep either Corey or Nicole rather than Victor.

Oh, he's just so cute. Just ask Nicole.

Talking showmances

Being friendly

Baldwin's puppet performance

Scheming to keep Victor in the game

BB18: HoH Comp, Nominations Show Blog Party - August 21

Hamster watchers ready?! After Friday night's non-show clip show, this one should be interesting!

As the show airs here on the East Coast, I'll be constantly updating this entry. Refresh the page to get the latest news! As always, the real party is in the comments area!

Let's start off with a recap! 

The scariest HoH yet is ahead. Michelle is going in with an advantage of some sort from the pie-eating contest at the backyard carnival.

In the Black Box, it's smelly and sloppy. They can't see anything. They have to hold a button until a voice tells them they have 30 seconds to search for disks. It's coming back to me -- Michelle has an extra 30 seconds search. 

In a pre-HoH comp segment, Nicole (accurately) reports to James that Paul came to them about targeting James. So, there is more reason for James to move targets to Paul or Victor.

Michelle gets her 30 second advantage. She blows it and gets nothing except a decoy disk. Nobody seems to be doing well. 

Michelle accidentally lets go of her button and is eliminated. She whines.

James slipped and fell with four disks in hand more than a few hours into the comp. It's soon over and they go to the yard to tally their disks.

Paul - 5
Nicole - 5
Corey - 10
Natalie - 10

It's a tie for the win. The tiebreaker is when they brought the tenth disk back. Natalie wins by four seconds!

That puts her and James in a bit of a dilemma -- they will have to choose which side of the house they're on. 

Victor is worried they might flip on him and Paul. Nicole is worried, too. Nicole tries to talk to Natalie and James. She's pushing for a four with them (and Corey). Natalie sees sense in the idea. Nicole thinks Paul is the more dangerous of the two and that Victor and Paul together are really a team to worry about. 

Paul talks friendship, but Natalie doesn't think targeting James is friendship. In an awkward moment, Victor goes to HoH to talk to Natalie and she's in there talking with James and Corey. He reports back to Paul. 

After a Friendship Time with Paul, it's the arrival of this week's care package. It's for Michelle! Tissues, brownies and CO-HOH power! She's safe and gets to name one nominee. Nicole is super worried!

Natalie and Michelle talk. Michelle says she wants Nicole out. Natalie says they need to nominate the two strongest players in the house. Paul interrupts them. Michelle remembers that Paulie warned her that Paul is sketchy. Michelle is certain that she wants Nicole up. Natalie pushes the Paul/Victor ticket. Even Corey tries talking to Michelle. 

Michelle feels there are three duos in the house and then there's her. Natalie says that she'll put Victor up since Michelle doesn't want to do that deed. She sees the long term game sense in getting Paul out rather than Nicole. 

Nominations ceremony time! Another red alert and Paul has to do his stuff. Natalie nominates Victor. Michelle nominates Paul. Natalie tells Victor to win PoV. Michelle makes it clear that she wants Paul to go home. 

Michelle is keeping in the idea of backdooring Nicole.

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - August 21, 2016

Good morning! Since it's Sunday morning, 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 here for Big Brother news, everything I have for you can be found at this link. I'll be posting another live feeds report late tonight as well as live-blogging the aired show. But this ain't that. This post is a year-round regular "feature" while Big Brother is a summer obsession. Or, something like that.

Gah. Although I took some photos I really like this past week, it's been yet another hot, sweaty, painful and exhausting week. My appetite has been off, probably due to the heat and humidity. That's okay -- losing a few pounds is always a good thing. Unfortunately, the sciatica has been hanging in and, I believe that due to it, my right knee has given out on me twice. I didn't fall either time. I don't think it's a problem with the knee replacement itself. I do think it's the sciatica affecting my use of the knee. And, people wonder why I'm so anxious for retirement ...!

There was a horrific NJ Transit bus accident with two fatalities in Newark one morning this week. It was a t-bone type accident with the driver of one bus passing away. The second fatality was a passenger on the other bus. The bus which crashed into the other was a 59 bus, the bus route I take for jaunts across town or into Westfield. When I saw photos of the deceased driver, I've been on his buses before. While I didn't know him well (as I do some NJ Transit train and bus folks), he wasn't a crazy driver at all. I'm thinking it might have been a medical issue. He was 70 years old. Either that or the other bus ran a light. Very sad.

I really don't have much more for you other than the photographs. For some reason, this week turned out to be Bird Week. Hey, I shoot what I see! Clicking on an image will bring up a larger version ...

Yes, I see you

An American Goldfinch in its autumn colors looks at me as I take his photo. His black cap is gone, with just a hint of ashy grey in its place. It's good to actually see the New Jersey State Bird for a change!

A seagull now guards North Avenue

While there is a similar pedestal for birds on the east side of the Chotola Apartment building on North Avenue in Plainfield, this one on the west side of the building is always the prize perch. Last week I shot pigeons there, this week it's the seagull.

A crow poses for me

I've read and heard on nature shows that the crow is one of the most intelligent of the wild birds. They supposedly remember individual people. I wonder if this one will remember I made him famous on the internet! Plainfield Train Station.

Then there was a bunny

I always get a kick out of rabbits standing still thinking I can't see them! Bridgewater Train Station.

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