Big Brother 15 - New Twists Revealed

Most valuable player, eh? Julie Chen goes into the twist more here, but here are a few excerpts --

• The first twist is a series’ first: instead of two Houseguests being nominated each week for eviction, as in past seasons, contestants will nominate three in this summer’s edition.
• The second twist will allow BIG BROTHER viewers to play a crucial role in the game by casting votes for the Houseguest they feel is playing the best game.  The Houseguest who receives the most votes will be anointed that week’s, “Big Brother MVP.”  The full scope of the MVP’s secret power will be revealed during the season premiere.
• “The Big Brother MVP will force the houseguests to rethink their strategies.  With America rewarding good game play, it doesn't pay to be a floater this summer,” said Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan, Executive Producers of BIG BROTHER. 

Hmm. Not sure how it will all work out. But I'm thinking I'm liking it a bit more than some of the other twists we've seen over the years. At least it doesn't look like the hamsters will be family (except the maybe Rachel sister) or know each other!

The cast reveal should be tomorrow ... probably while I'm at work. But I'll post on it as soon as I can!

BB15 Tour with Julie and a few hints

Okay, we have 16 hamsters expected. One is supposed to be a familiar face, but "not what you're expecting" -- rumors have it that the familiar one is Rachel's sister. I don't know. Plus, America somehow has a hand in nominations with the new twist. I'm wondering since they replaced the nomination chairs with a couch ... could it be they nominate two, we nominate a third? I'm just throwing that guess out there. What do you think?


BB15 Tour with Julie by DreamersVids

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - June 16, 2013

Good Sunday morning to everyone! I hope all the fathers out there have a great Fathers Day. My own father died young, so please cherish your dads while you still have them in your life. A good father is priceless.

As it is 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. On television topic for a moment -- there should be news tomorrow on the new Big Brother house and, by the end of the week, on the new cast of hamsters. You can still get the Early Bird Special on the live feeds at cbs.com. If you're having trouble signing up for the live feeds, my only advice would be to clear your cache or reboot your computer. It might be easier to sign into the CBS site with your Facebook account if you have one.

Onto the week ... it rained. And then it rained some more. On Wednesday, my day off, it actually did NOT rain! Woohoo! I took a trip into nearby Westfield to visit Mindowaskin Park for a photo stomp of flowers, water fowl, bugs and the cicada "invasion." Here's a video I shot at the park with the cicadas singing their mating song as the background ...

Once I hit Trader Joe's, I was thrilled to find out they're expanding and taking over the whole building at their location. It's now twice the size! YAY! Although everything is still under construction, I already found new items I've never seen before. Trader Joe's is my favorite grocery store and the Westfield location was so tiny. I'm overjoyed for sure!

On the home front, the new landlords sent me the notice of a lease quit/renewal and rent increase. I had been worried as, even though I'm paying above market rate due to past mismanagement, they've been doing a lot of improvements to the building. My lease isn't up until September 1st, but I usually get this notice this time of the year. Okay, they raised my rent $5 more a month. I can deal with that. About the only thing better would have been no increase or a decrease. I can't see that happening!

One thing the new landlords should do, however, is learn their math. The state legal form was led off with an apology for the way it was worded (these notices required by the state always sound like you're getting the boot), how they understand how tough the economy is and blah-blah-blah. Then they said my rent increase is so tiny that it ends up being less than 75 cents a day! Um. Do the math. I believe it's more in line with 15 cents a day.

I found six dollars on the ground at the Bridgewater Train Station last night. I'll put that towards my rent increase! Onto this week's photos ... due to the never-ending rain for most of the week, the majority of these were taken on my Wednesday in nearby Westfield. 

Is it an ALIEN?

Nah, it's just a Magicicada. More on these in a bit.

Hey! Paparazzi! Stop shooting my butt!

My, what a big mouth he has! I guess he wanted to let me know he wasn't just a sitting duck.

Morning glory!

These are lining the chain link fence at the back of my apartment building.

Whatchoo lookin' at?

You know, it's rude to honk with food in your mouth, Goosey Lucy.

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

Falling Skies: Chicken Little Ain't Got Nothin' on the Overlords!

I'm sure I'm dating myself here a bit. But, one of the things I love about Falling Skies are the special effects. Y'see, I grew up in the days when black and white television went color. I grew up suspending my disbelief at poorly depicted aliens and their turfs in The Outer Limits, Star Trek: The Original Series, The Twilight Zone (original) and Lost in Space. The stories in those series had me compelled to watch and I forgave the somewhat ludicrous and fake-looking monsters and aliens akin to the way I forgave them in early Japanese Godzilla movies. At least I wasn't dealing with subtitles!

Fast forward to today's summer TV fare from TNT -- Falling Skies. It's Steven Spielbrg, for goodness' sakes. It's Robert Rodan, the writer of Saving Private Ryan. It's computer effects so realistic that one might think skitters, mechs and overlords really could exist somewhere in our nightmares of an apocalyptic world.

Tonight, the third season of the show kicks off with the high action, the superb effects and a decent, albeit perhaps a bit derivative, tale to tell. A few new characters are introduced; we bid adieu to a few other folks we've gotten to know over the past season or two. After all, unless your name is Mason on the show, you're probably expendable. Heck, I'd say even a Mason might not protect them from the latest onslaught.

My own personal favorite character on the show is Ben Mason. If this were real life (what? it's not?), he'd be the guy I want in my corner -- harnessed by the aliens, saved by the humans kind of sort of only to become a liaison between rebel skitters and the humans while, in actuality, he has traits of both species. Not only that, but he's easy on the eyes to watch, especially if I were decades younger!

Thanks to the kind folks at TNT, some weeks back I received the first five episodes of the new season. They don't tell me I have to like them. They don't even tell me I have to post about the show. If I do post, I can be as critical as I want with no repercussions from the network. They pay me nothing to promote the series.

But, this is one summer series I don't want to miss.

I'm posting this before tonight's series premiere airs, so I won't give you any real spoilers, per se. I will go as far as to say there's a new overlord on the scene and it's a bit of a shocker. And, then there's a Chuckie kind of thing going on. That's all.

Will you be watching? Or, if you're reading this after the show ... what did you think? Favorite characters? Comments on the special effects? Talk to me, 2nd Mass followers! 

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - June 9, 2013

Good Sunday morning to all y'all out there! Yes, I know I don't have the proper Southern accent for that. However, writing is cool. You can have any kind of accent you want when you write. Since it is indeed Sunday morning, that means it's time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken.

I posted a bit on Big Brother live feeds earlier this week. If you're a fan of the show, check it out! On a totally different television note, Falling Skies has its season premiere this evening. I've already seen (thanks, TNT) the two hour two episode premiere and plan to post on that. I don't think I'll be doing that throughout the series as it's on the same night as Big Brother and BB is why a lot of folks come by.

After a pleasant week's staycation, this past week started off very rough. As many of the folks reading this aren't on Facebook, here's a rather long FB post I made Monday evening:

Wah. After spending my entire staycation waking up early enough to go to work, I overslept today. Then it rained on me as I walked to the train station. Then my office was typical office upon return from vacation (stuff moved around, stuff not done, etc.) and I had a new person to train in there. Then I stayed late because I came late. Then I got rained on again heading to the train station. (Yes, I had my umbrella, but still ...!)

Then I got home, hit the elevator button because it's NEVER on the floor I want, got my mail out of the mailbox, made it back to the elevator in time for the door to open. As I stepped onto the elevator, I was fumbling with my keys to get my apartment door key ready. I accidentally dropped my keys ... DOWN THE CRACK FOR THE ELEVATOR SHAFT! Wah! Wah! Woe is me! I went down to the basement and tried putting my umbrella in the shaft. No go. It didn't even touch bottom. I almost lost my umbrella down the elevator shaft.

Where is my 24 hour number for the super? Is it in my cell phone? No, of course not. I have it on my refrigerator. Thankfully, there are some good neighbors I know well enough to ask for help. Cletus from the first floor called Mario, the super. He got me into my apartment with his copies. He's going to make copies and leave them for me tomorrow. And, he's going to have the landlord call the elevator people because they're the only ones who can get down in that below basement level elevator shaft. I told him any money they find down there is mine. Any small children or rodents they find are NOT mine.

It all ended nicely, though. The super fished out my keys himself using a string and hook with a flashlight to see them. I don't know how long it took him. But I bet it wasn't on the first try. I had planned to do the same once I got copies of the keys and could secure my apartment as I fished in the basement. I gave him a decent tip as he didn't have to do that for me.

Meanwhile, the old landlord for my apartment building was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for his multimillion dollar Ponzi scheme. Karma, baby.  The new landlords have been making building improvements, keep the elevator running (although it steals keys!), have a super who is bilingual, intelligent, trustworthy and a nice guy, too. The supers under the ex-landlord usually didn't speak English, didn't know how to fix stuff, weren't anyone you'd trust alone in your apartment and two even got evicted!

The week did improve for me, but the weather did not. It rained for about two days straight with the remnants of Andrea. Had we had the rains from this "post tropical cyclone" mixed with the winds of the last one (Sandy), we'd be in dire straits right now. Right now the reservoirs are full and we've had more rainfall than average for the year. I'm sure by August we'll be crying drought.

Onto the photos I took this week ...   

My chauffeur arrives

Although it was cloudy when the train picked me up Saturday morning for work, Andrea's constant rain was gone.

Starling on a wire

Perhaps not the prettiest bird, but the array of songs, chirps and such are beyond cool.

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