Big Brother 17: Live Feeds Monday, PoV Meeting - August 31

Does John know James picks his teeth?

Here are today's happenings from inside that Big Brother House No Surprises Today:

• James had his morning talk with Vanessa offering the deal to keep Meg safe. Vanessa nixed it.
• She asked his advice about what to say at the veto meeting so she wouldn't hurt Meg's feelings (any more than she already has hurt them).
• She also told him that he should try to enjoy his last few days with Meg.
• Awww ...
• Meg cried some more.
• The veto meeting went down. No surprises there for us. James saved himself and Julia was put up in his place.
• James told Meg that if he didn't have a family, he would have saved her with the veto.
• Meg told James she thinks Vanessa wants to work with him. He nixed that one -- said he's going to be a solo act and get Vanessa out.
• Julia claimed that she knows for a fact that Audrey was America's Player.
• She doesn't even know what America's Player is. She was recruited because she's a twin.
• Julia, ticked that she's on the block, a Have Not with both Meg and James and just plain grumpy started fussing about James.
• She said he has no chance with Meg.
• No, I don't think he has any romantic chance with her, but I imagine they'll be dear friends for years to come.
• John and Vanessa discussed how they were going to get out Austwins.
• Vanessa thinks it will be better to take out Liz than Julia next week (they don't realize this week is a double eviction -- the last time they were pretty set for it).
• Well, duh. Liz is a stronger competitor that (probably) Austin and (definitely) Julia.
• Liz and Austin spent a lot of time frolicking under covers. I didn't watch. It's bad for my digestion.
• James told Meg that, if he got HoH, he would definitely nominate Vanessa and Steve.
• That's about it for actual game stuff. They exercised, played chess and had many non-game talks.
• It's going to be a long few days.

Please don't obstruct your microphone

Cap and glasses for James talk

Knit hat, no glasses for John talk

Showers with his ponytail beard untouched

Big Brother 17: Live Feeds into Monday - August 31

All asleep as I post this

Here's the latest from inside that Big Brother House of Let's Wait Until October for a Big Move:

• James practiced his veto speech (in which he saves himself).
• Meg is hoping that the upcoming HoH comp won't be physical so she can wear nice clothes for her eviction.
• Oh, this doesn't mean they've given up trying to grasp straws so that she can stay!
• It just means that they realize that it's probably going to take a miracle that Meg will make it through the week.
• No one is thinking that Thursday is a double eviction. They all think that will come about next week.
• Austin is leery of Johnny Mac.
• As he should be.
• Julia is still not keen on the idea of going up as a pawn against Meg. 
• Austin told Meg that he's trying to get Vanessa to put Johnny Mac up on the block as the re-nom. He claims that John would go home over her.
• Well, yeah.
• But he's been trying to get Johnny Mac on the block all along. The Austwins wanted Vanessa to nominate Steve and Johnny Mac.
• But we know why that's not something Vanessa would even consider right now. She wants to work with Steve and Johnny Mac so THEY can break up the Austwins and she remains smelling like a rose.
• Meg and James came up with a convoluted proposal to try to save Meg -- if James wins HoH, he would put Meg up on the block with one of his targets in lieu of Vanessa, no front door or backdoor for Vanessa.
• Of course, James isn't into backdoors anyway.
• Meg went to Vanessa with the proposal and said James wouldn't only be making a promise to Vanessa, he'd be promising her (Meg). So, he would indeed do it.
• It would buy her another week.
• Vanessa listened and told Meg that she wants to talk to James in the morning before the veto meeting.
• Austin really really REALLY sucked up to James, throwing everything on Vanessa.
• Well, it was Vanessa's doing. But only Steve and Johnny Mac know the real scoop on things.
• Of course, Austin ran and reported to Vanessa every bit of everything James said -- but didn't mention he (Austin) threw Vanessa under the bus to James and Meg.
• Despite everything, I still think Julia will go up on the block with Meg and Meg will go home.
• But the double eviction might be interesting! 

Everybody except ...

James teaches Meg pool

Johnny on the hamMAC

Meg proposes a deal

Meg reports to James

Lots of college, video games and home talk

Big Brother 17: Live Feeds Sunday into the Evening - August 30

Vanessa befuddles Meg

Here's the latest from inside that Big Brother House of Misguided Malcontents:

• It's Sunday, so it's rather quiet in the house.
• The only thing looming ahead is the PoV ceremony tomorrow. James is sure to save himself. So, the only real action is trying to come up with the replacement nominee.
• As of now, that's still looking like Julia.
• Vanessa offered to give her $10,000 out of her pocket if she went up as a pawn and ended up going home this week.
• BB dragged Vanessa into the Diary Room and pooh-poohed that deal.
• Vanessa had to renege and reword things as it being a "gambling expression."
• Meg talked to Vanessa, trying to get the target off of her.
• That didn't really work.
• Vanessa found out that James was told two things that she said to Austin in confidence.
• Will she throw Austin on the block?
• Nah.
• She'll let one of her new minions do that bidding. Gotta protect her jury ratings!
• But it does give her more ammunition against Austin. She knew she was lowest on the totem pole before. However, now she knows that Austin continues to betray her confidence.
• Julia is a "safe" pawn as only three votes are needed to keep her. She automatically has Austin and Liz. And, Steve has a crush on her.
• James and Meg vow to not play pot ball or take photos or anything because they're on the block.
• Meg thinks that, as long as she does go out, she'll go out on an hour-long episode.
• Heh.
• Of course, all the shows are an hour, but they're thinking one eviction.
• They are so not expecting double eviction again this week. They figure it will be next week.
• If you hear the expression "camping," it's a euphemism for something else.
• The photo booth opened. It's losing its fun factor.
• That's about it!

Johnny Mac knows he's safe ... for now

Twinz

Wants to win HoH

 

Friends fun

Big Brother 17: HoH and Return a Hamster Outcome, Nominations Show Blog Party - August 30

Good evening! Ready for a blog party? While many of us already know the results of the PoV comp, tonight's television episode will focus on the  HoH comp outcome from Thursday evening including which jury member returns, as well as the nominations.

Surprisingly, the show is on time tonight despite the Barclays PGA golf (from about a mile away from where I live). I'll update this entry with the major happenings as it airs here on the East Coast. Refresh the page to get the latest. As always, the real party is in the comments area. I hope to see you there!

Already they've made the comp longer than it was in actuality. 

Julia out first. Steve out. Meg out. (That's by the time the show ended although they stretched it out now.) James out. Liz out. It's down to four jurors and Vanessa. Jackie out. Becky out. Shelli out. So, John has earned his way back into the house. 

Vanessa tells JM he's safe. JM says he has stuff to do. He doesn't want the others to think he might work with Vanessa. Johnny Mac is down and Vanessa is the new HoH. 

Johnny Mac knows that Vanessa is the biggest liar ever, but will work with him because she's the low person on the Austwins totem pole. The twins are super upset that he's back in.

James and Meg hope Vanessa will be ready to take out one of the Austwins trio. Steve and Johnny Mac think working with Vanessa is going to give them safety this week. 

Who wants to see my HoH room?
Not me. I'll pass. 

Talks time. First, Austwins. She tells them that Steve and Johnny Mac are a layer of protection and she has to do what's best for her own game. She wants to target James and Meg.

James and Meg think she should target Steve because he does whatever Austwins want. Vanessa reports back to Austwins that James and Meg want to target them. 

Oh, geez. Liz agrees to be Austin's girlfriend. Gag me now. 

Julia wants to prank Austin because she can't get James. He laughs more than being scared, but she and Liz declare victory. 

Vanessa pries James and Meg for info (dirt) on Austin. She gets some info, but not on Austin. She wants to know if they're willing to be a pawn (against Johnny Mac target). They argue over who should be a pawn ... both James and Meg offer to go up. James said he'd target Austwins. But Vanessa had wanted him to give her a reason to target Austwins (to see if she could work with them).

Nominations Today. Vanessa nominates Meg, then James. Game move, not personal. 

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - August 30, 2015

Good morning! Welcome to my weekly off television topic reflection of the past week in both words and photographs I've taken along the way; This post is a year 'round "feature" on the blog. If you're looking for Big Brother posts, they can all be found at this link right here. If you're not interested in this particular post, please feel free to skip on by it. I'll be posting a Big Brother blog party post coinciding with the East Coast airing of the show and, late this evening, another live feeds post. Stay tuned.

Yet another week in the (seemingly never-ending) countdown to Staycation for me. Here's some random notes on the week:

• I woke up very early one morning this past week smelling smoke -- like house-burning smoke -- in my apartment. That was one of the first nights that I had turned off the air conditioning and threw the windows wide open as the heat had lessened.
• It turns out that two homes were destroyed and one damaged in a huge three alarm fire with 80 firefighters responding right on the street in back of my building. The fire was actually across the street from the Mexican Polka live band people. I'm so running on empty these days that I slept through all the hoopla.
• (Side note: The Mexican Polka live band people were at it until nearly midnight last night. Grr.) 
• In the urban jungle news arena: There I was, resting on the ledge by the Plainfield Police Annex waiting for the bus home from the train last night and this creepy drunk non-English speaking dude plopped down practically on top of me. "Ola!" I reacted with exaggerated shoo hand motions and "Go away! Shoo!" I already had plans to knock him to the ground if he didn't go away -- I'm larger and sober, he's drunk. I scared him. He stumbled away. A cop who had been sitting at the traffic light watching called out to me, "Nicely played!"
• I find it very depressing that I'm old enough to join the Plainfield Senior Center which I don't have time in my life to join because I'm not old enough (or financially set) to retire.
• Not that I'd really want to join. I'd probably rather do something like join a whitewater rafting club than do many of the activities they have going on for seniors.
• In more urban jungle news: One early evening on the 59 bus, a guy tried to board with one of those personal shopping carts well overloaded with scrap metal (he probably stole). The bus driver wouldn't let him board and started screaming, "No! No! NO!" -- thus scaring an innocent dude who was paying his fare. I was looking at the scrap metal pieces haphazardly piled atop the cart and thinking it would be dangerous. I was glad the bus driver told him no and drove off forcing the guy to get his foot out of the bus door.
• We're expected another heat wave this week.
• Wah.

That's about it. Onto this week's photos! Clicking on an image will open it in a larger window.

I love the flowers

But I'll love autumn temperatures a lot more! Of course, autumn has its own flowers, plus glorious fall foliage.

Fireworks at the TD Ball Park

On Monday night, just as the 10pm train was coming in, they started the after game fireworks in Bridgewater.

East Second Street fire scene

Despite the local newspapers saying the fire was at 240 East Second Street, it was not. It apparently started in the attic of 640 and spread to 642. Both of those homes seem totally destroyed, with the roofs caving in on them. 644 has its siding all melted, but the building didn't catch on fire. No one was hurt. More of the fire scene photos after the jump ...

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