Big Brother: In hindsight, did Johnny Mac and Steve make a mistake by getting rid of Meg?

There has been a lot of criticism of John and Steve for their lack of moves in the game. I however believe they have been playing the game this whole time, but their moves are more subtle and personal than the moves an aggressive game player would make. Week after week they have been making moves to keep themselves in the game. Even if those moves are to make themselves invisible it is still a move. People criticized Johnny Mac for wanting to get rid of Meg over Austin & Liz. But for Johnny Mac's game it made sense. He is the goat, and you don't need two. However he did recognize the fact that he needed to pad his resume with a win so he could have a legitimate argument to win the game. But the problem for him is that Vanessa recognized that he was a goat that could take her spot in the final three. So now his back is against the corner and he has to win. He has no other choice, he must win this veto if he wants to stay in the game.

You could argue that if he had only kept Meg in this game that this final four could be very different and much more favorable to him. And perhaps that is the truth. He could have been in a final four alliance with James, Meg and Steve and could have run Austin, Liz, and Vanessa out of the house. But the fault for that decision lies with James and Meg. They only needed Steve and Johnny Mac to vote their way and they survive. But they didn't try to win their vote. They didn't try to make an alliance with them. That is their fault, not Johnny Mac and Steve's. Promise them final four if they vote for Meg to stay. So at this point Johnny Mac and Steve are on the block and that may not have been the case had Julia been voted out instead of Meg. But lay the blame on James and Meg, their inadequate gameplay caused their poor situation.

Johnny Mac and Steve made their best decision at the time that they could have. They lasted another week and they were one dropped egg (by Vanessa) away from being safe a second time. It was not a mistake to vote out Meg, it was the right call, it just turned wrong like it can so often do in the Big Brother house.

Big Brother: Vanessa's best move

When you look at the game from Vanessa's perspective, what is her best move going to be at this point? She has won HoH the week before a double eviction. Despite the fact she has no idea it is coming how best can she better her game and ensure her safety at the next eviction? This is the question that I would like to figure out the answer for.

Vanessa has put Meg and James on the block for eviction. She in her eyes, gave them an opportunity to form an alliance with her, or at the very least give her a reason to not put them on the block. So she feels justified in putting them up for eviction. Despite the popularity of James and Meg, putting them on the block is the best option for Vanessa. They are not loyal to her and in fact would be the most likely to put her on the block in case of an unlikely HoH win. However with this double eviction looming there is a very real possibility of James winning that HoH and evicting her unless she can win that POV comp. For the other houseguests with the exception of Steve and John, this is the prime opportunity to get rid of Vanessa. She is someone who can talk her way out of anything. And with a sped up eviction she will not get that chance.

At this point Meg and Julia are on the block together, Vanessa needs Meg to be voted out, but she needs Austin and Liz to take the blame for it. Unfortunately, with Julia on the block it looks like their hands are tied and they have no choice but to vote out Meg. Perhaps she can mend fences with James now that he is safe, and try to convince him that the Austwins are the bigger threat and they absolutely cannot make it to final six. It is the truth after all if they make it to final six intact then they control half the votes and it will make it very hard to get them out of the game.

I think getting Meg out, smoothing over her relationship with James, keeping the alliance with Steve and Johnny Mack, and secretly turning on the Austwins in the next two votes would be her best move. Let Meg take the fall for James, and get him on your side. She absolutely does not want him to go to the final two, but if she can get him on her side for at least one to two votes then she will be golden. But she still needs to be okay with the Austwins because if she openly turns against them and then they happen to win HoH at some point soon then she will be their target.

This will be a tough road for Vanessa to make it to the final two but she can do it. And if she does I think she has the most compelling case to win the game, provided that she owns up to her game.

What I Like About Fear the Walking Dead

Fear the Walking Dead is a companion show to the Walking Dead. It is set in the time where Rick Grimes is in a coma. This is about the world descending into chaos and death. 

What is cool about the Walking Dead is that it does feel like a comic book sometimes. The characters are real and the emotions you feel for them are real, but the situations they are in feel like they are pulled from an amazing novel, or comic book. I love that about the Walking Dead. But Fear is different. This is a world which we can see ourselves in. This family could be any one of us. That is what makes it different yet still exciting. It feels like a completely different show. The direction, the photography, the setting, the actors, the music, it is all unique to Fear. 

The show starts off (after the intro with Nick) in a very domesticated place. It has all the simple problems of the first world, and the mundane of everyday life. But there is an underlying tension throughout because we know that this is all going to be gone in a matter of days perhaps even hours. 

After only two episodes I truly care about these characters and what happens to them. After the Walking Dead I had the same feeling, so they have that in common. Yet in this show I care about them all, and the most favorite character of mine is the troubled drug addict son. Perhaps because he is the true underdog of this show, and has the furthest to climb is what makes me root for him so much. He is the first character you meet in this show, and you are introduced to the zombie apocalypse through his eyes, just like Rick. I can't wait to see what happens to this kid and who he will become in the future.  

You really need a bread box!

So in all my life I knew what a bread box was. It's a place where you keep bread. But I had no idea of the actual purpose of the bread box. It is not just a place to keep your bread or to stop a mouse from nibbling off its end. It is a place where you can extend the freshness of your beloved bread. I used to keep the bread for less than a week and then it became stiffer and stale. When I placed it in a cupboard one night because of a mouse in our house. To my surprise when i left the bread there for close to a week it was still as fresh as when I had bought it. So thank you to that mouse that opened my eyes. For now after two weeks our bread is still a prize. :)

Big Brother: How does Johnny Mack get to the end? (Spoilers)

America's favorite contestant Johnny Mack is so close to the end of this game. But how can he make it the rest of the way? Does he need to win competitions and start sending people home himself? Does he need to continue to lay low and fade into the background and let the bigger dogs take each other out? The truth is probably more of a combination of the two.

We now have 8 people left in the house. And it seems as if Johnny Mack is in a good spot this week. He has aligned himself with Steve and the Austwins. He chose their side for a few reasons, they keep winning, and the likelihood of the James/Meg combo of winning HoH's is small. So an alliance with James and Meg is not that beneficial to him. He also sees them as a threat to win the game if they did make it to the end because they are so beloved to the rest of the houseguests. However the only way he can make it past final five is if he actually wins that HoH. If he loses it to the twins or Austin there is no way both him and Steve can make it. That threesome is unbreakable and will need to be broken before final five.

Next week a juror comes back in the house. If the Austwins send home anyone other than James then they are screwed because whoever comes back in the house will be an alliance member for James and Meg and will give them three votes.  If they try to backdoor Vanessa this week it would be a huge mistake for their game.

However for Johnny Mack to make the end of the game I think he might need to align with Vanessa. He can't align with James and Meg, they are too close and too popular. However Vanessa is disliked by most of the Houseguests. She could turn from a strategic threat to a very good goat to take to the final two. He needs to let the Austwins take out James or Meg, then hold off one more vote to see who makes it back from the jury. He may not even want to work with the returnee because those houseguests are very popular (except shelli).

This is my plan for Johnny Mack to make it to the end step by step.
1. Vote out James this week.
2. Vote out whoever returns (unless they win HoH) (if they do convince them to break up the Austwins before going after Vanessa)
3. Sell the Austwins out to Vanessa and one of the three wins HoH
    (hopefully Vanessa and then she can get the blood on her hands)
4. Vote out Austin
5. Get that next HoH and get out Julia or Liz
6. Pray that the remaining twin doesn't win HoH but if she does then work on evicting Vanessa
or possibly Steve to secure yourself a vote
7. Stay alive through that last vote out so you can play in the final three
8. Make a deal with both houseguests remaining to go to the final two
9.Plead your case for the win and make sure you have all your moves laid out so that everyone will respect your game.

Obviously this is all just an idea and could go horribly wrong at any moment. There are so many obstacles in Big Brother that you have to get through each and every work. So there are multiple opportunities for it all to fall apart. But the best players can pick up the pieces and continue on.

Passive Parenting: It's not a thing!

I apologize in advance for this rant. 

So you take your child to the pool, the park, the playground so that she can have a fun time and play with other kids and make friends. I try to sit back so she can learn social interactions on her own.  And if she is misbehaving then I will intervene and correct her behavior however few and far between it happens. 

So what do I mean by passive parenting? There are few different types of parents that annoy me at these public places. One would be the type of parents who ignore their child completely and let them do whatever the hell they want to even if its destructive. But the one I would like to talk about I call a passive parent. So when their child does something inappropriate they make the attempt to correct the behavior but when the child ignores them they just let them go like they actually did something. No you didn't. If your child is misbehaving correct their behavior. Make them stop whatever it is they are doing that you don't approve of. 

So your child is taking toys from other kids. You tell her to come over to talk to you and when she finally does she's angry because you stopped her from doing what she wanted, so she walks over and kicks you. Then you say hey what are you doing? hey stop taking toys, be nice. And then they walk off angry. You yell after hey did you hear me. She says nothing. Goes back to playing and takes somebody's toy again. And you shake your head and continue to sit there. I'm sorry but come on. That child ignored what you said, kicked you, and they continue their inappropriate behavior. It is okay to embarrass your kids and yourself when you correct their behavior. Even if they kick and scream and shout it doesn't matter. You can't let that behavior continue. Even if you have to leave five minutes after you get there because your kid isn't listening then that is what you have to do. And if you do this a few times they will start to listen to you and behave. 

So do not be a passive parent. Take control of your kids and teach them the behavior that you want them to have. And if they do not, then they will need to have consequences. 

Big Brother: Vanessa & Steve alliance

***************************Live Feed Spoilers************************************

Is this a real alliance between Vanessa and Steve? I caught a bit of the live feeds last night. I came in the middle of a conversation between Vanessa and Steve. I believe their alliance name is Students of Sound. I am hoping beyond hope that this is a real genuine alliance for Vanessa that she plans on being loyal to. They were talking game to each other, and she was asking for help figuring out this whole Austin situation. Apparently Austin had spilled the beans to Jason about the twins and about their alliance. And of course Jason went back and told Vanessa. So now everyone wants Austin out of the house. And Steve was trying to convince her that the right thing to do would be to evict Becky instead. Because Becky is for sure on the other side, whereas Austin would go after that other alliance rather than Vanessa. He brought up the comparison to when Derrick changed his mind about evicting Zack in the previous season because everyone was saying Zack was a snake. But he was on Derrick's side and he was loyal so why vote him out when he will never come after you. It's a sound strategy. Why evict someone who is on your side and leave someone in the house who can win a HoH and will for sure come after your alliance? But can she rebuild that trust with Austin so that if he does win HoH he won't put her up?

The thing that worries me about this alliance is that in the middle of their conversation Jackie comes in and interrupts them. Vanessa hides her real conversation with Steve, which is smart. But when Steve leaves the room she changes her tune completely and is making fun of Steve with Jackie. Just watching this one bit of live feeds has made me so much more on Steve's side. I am now definitely a fan. 

But the questions remains who is she loyal to other than herself?