Dingo's Hamster Watch - Big Brother 5

"Position the habitat of your hamster somewhere light and airy,
away from drafts, heaters, direct sunlight and other pets.
Never put it on or near a television, radio or hi-fi or a fridge."

This site isn't about who should win, who will win, who I'd be friends with, or who is cute. It's about watching hamsters: which ones are doing what and why. Which are fun and which are dull. If they aren't entertaining, get rid of 'em! More to come, bookmark & come back! .. that dingo

Linkage

Daily feed recaps & opinion ratings navigation tool for this often-biased site
HamsterWatch Big Brother 8 here we go again
HamsterWatch Big Brother 7 Hamster all-stars in the house
HamsterWatch Big Brother 6 time to do it all over again
CBS Big Brother 5 the official site
Housecalls live web show with Marcellas, also archived shows
TV Updates feed updates, screencaps, and fun boards - easy to use and functional!
bb5fan's 30 second refresh screencaps if you don't have feeds (great at work!)
Hollyisms and Cowboyisms and Lisa-isms from me, that dingo person
Sir LinksALot Big Brother 5 all the links
Reality TV Links emphasis on individual hamsters' sites
Aldav has all of the edgier stuff & the best mini-recaps in town (alternate url)
Bonus must-click special: Marvin mouths off TV Guide interview

9/13/04 - Day 74 >> to the future >> dwell in the past >> latest

No names were changed to protect the innocent

I'm taking a cue from Nakomis and easing up a bit after the last few over-stressful days

There's been entirely too much drama lately for four kids barely out of adolescence, and I'm not their babysitter. I'm going back to my original plan from a couple weeks ago (does that sound like them?) It's time again to simplify, simplify.. or at least try to, if they'll let me

Not a lot happened today except exciting euchre, and a whole lot more deals made, questioned, discovered, broken, and remade again.. I can't be bothered to keep up.. Tuesday will bring a whole new series of secret squirrel handshakes anyway

Nik is fine and back to her usual routine - solitaire, napping, snacking, napping - a little hungover maybe, but no visible after-effects

Cowboy floats between his roles of kindly confessor and grand inquisitor

Drew (to Cowboy): I had this dream, I was in church, but I still had my microphone on.. I had to wear it the whole time
....
Cowboy: After all the stress around here..
Nik: Yea I had my little thing
Cowboy: Well you did have a lot of alcohol
Nik: I wasn't that drunk really.. so did I look like a big giant idiot last night?
Cowboy: No, not at all.. and tell you the truth, there's nothing wrong with a breakdown
Nik: I know, but national television and all..
....
Cowboy (to Drew): Diaries are long today.. I can just imagine what mine's gonna be like.. long
....
Cowboy (to Diane): What kind of agreements did you & Drew have with each other?
Diane: To look out for each other, and to take each other off the block if we could.. same kinda thing you & Nik had.. he doesn't talk game with me much anymore.. that kinda bothers me, makes me feel dumb
....
Diane (to Drew): I'm so sick of lying through my teeth

Diane fleshes out her big sister role by taking over kitchen duties (kinda).. she's still irritated by the cameras, and BB continues targeting her.. but she takes it well, very well!

Big Brother: Diane
Big Brother: Diane
Big Brother: Diane

Now that Drew realizes who really knows stuff, he strikes up a convo with Nik after a lockdown.. and uses everything he learned in cross-examination class

Drew: Was that there before?
Nik: The middle camera was always there.. I yelled at it last night
Drew (laughs): Yea, you tried to take it out
Drew: Sounds like Cowboy's still up in the air about you guys
Nik: I got to the point last night that I really don't care anymore.. I definitely want to be here but it won't break my heart if I have to leave.. I got this far
Drew: I have a question.. what was you & Cowboy's thing? That he'd never put you up?
Nik: I'd do my best not to put him up, and if he was up, I'd do what I could to keep him from getting voted out.. that's why I went to you
....
Drew: Ok.. do you guys have agreements like if you were in final two?
Nik: Savage and Jase came up to me 'HEY if it's you and your brother the last ones in the house, don't vote him out, right!'
Drew: Riiiight.. I think I have two people mad at me, that's pretty much it.. Marvin and Karen
Nik (shrugs): It was a fun day.. I got to scream at a camera, lots of fun.. (diary room voice) 'What was your favorite memory?' 'When I got to scream at a camera! Fuck you camera!'
Nik: I didn't know the final HOH was three stage til Cowboy told me
Drew: Neither did I til Cowboy told me about it.. Cowboy knows more about this game than we do
....
Drew: Did Cowboy ever tell you that if he had the final HOH that he'd take you?
Nik: Nuh-uh..
Drew: He never said that to you?
Nik: Not that I remember anyway.. I'd assume he would, but I don't remember him saying that
Drew: Cuz he told me he said that to you.. I didn't think he did.. but..
Drew: He's changed this week.. do you think he's on a kind of power trip?
Nik: Some people, when they get a chance to play God, they change.. 'Cowboy, you and me haven't talked to each other for this whole damn game.. just cuz you have the veto..'
....
Nik: All he talks about is April, Chasen, acting, April Chasen, acting
Drew: I just figured that out last week.. I was talking about girls and stuff, cuz I'm kinda messed up about girls and stuff.. he went on and on about some guy, some car crash, for like a half hour, and I was like jeez man, I want to talk about something, and all you talk about is yourself
Nik: That's all he talks about
Drew: He makes me want to barf and stuff now

In contrast to yesterday's anarchist kindergarten, today's like activity hour at the Home
It's an endless cycle of euchre and crafts and naps.. all are low-key and quiet, even Diane - she's still subdued, good-natured, and downright pleasant.. they make soap..

Nik: I've found out that I'll never be bored the rest of my life
Drew (laughs): If someone says they're bored, we can say 'Oh no you're not! You dont know what bored is'

After many announcements, much pacing and even more whispering, Cowboy announces that he's ready to make his long-awaited Big Announcement..
the others listen attentively, and go back to making soap

Cowboy: Obviously Big Brother has asked me not to reveal my vote to anyone - not even Drew - to preserve the integrity of the game.. the person I've chose is not anyone I hate.. it's a game, unfortunately I only have one golden veto.. I know y'all are two mature people.. I'm not focusing in on the money cuz I know you both need it.. this is gonna be a hard decision, and I want y'all to respect the decision I make.. hopefully it'll come out in the end, the reason I did it.. even Big Brother don't know what's gonna happen so it's gonna be a shock to tell it.. unfortunately, I wanted to tell y'all but now I can't
....
Nik: I just design these things, I don't take them out of the molds
(Diane tells how diary room laughed when she told them about looking for the spyscreen and calling 'open sesame')
Drew: It smells good, it smells like blueberry
Diane (unmolding her soap): That's wretched! (she throws it down.. good-naturedly)

Cowboy follows Drew into HOH to follow up with Drew

Cowboy: So what did you & Nakomis talk about out there?
Drew: Just we wondered if you'd made a decision or not.. she's like cool and stuff about stuff
Cowboy: So are you still thinking Diane would be good to take?
Drew: Has yours changed?
Cowboy: From which one? Ha ha ha!.. yes, I think my mind's set.. I think it's completely set.. and it's unfortunately.. both girls are good girls, I'm gonna have to break one heart
Drew: Yea
....
Cowboy: So what'd you think of my speech.. corny?
Drew: It was ok.. did they really tell you to do that?
Cowboy: No, I did that on my own
....
Drew: I've been having some weird dreams.. I dreamed I lost my teeth
Cowboy: Are you tired? Gonna nap?
Drew: Yea, wake me up in like 20 minutes

The rest of Monday's stuff will mosey up here sooner or later, along with the various gaps from previous days.. check back, as usual

Thanks for encouraging my behavior

Special rock 'n hard place edition

Everyone's bitching about him power-tripping, but hey, he holds all the power today, doh! How will he wield it? Nobody saw this coming, least of all his three cohorts.. and it isn't like each of them didn't get cocky for each of their own power ranger positions.. at least Cowboy apologizes for it. His timing and the real good questions he's been asking everyone make you wonder if the whole doofus thing is an act, but that's impossible (isn't it?) He's got a hardcore deal with Drew and a genetic one with Nakomis, and lots of 11th hour Diane entries. If the guy is as ethical as he portrays, his only real option is to punt himself.. yea, that's gonna happen.

Oddly subdued today, likely still wondering how Nik upstaged her so noticeably last night.. but even weirder, Diane seemed downright good-natured for much of the day! It was nice to see. She had her usual bedtime angst and mile-a-minute what-if what-if what-if whispers to Drew between smacky kisses, and she took full advantage of her possible last night with him by saying if he wins the money, she'd move in with him. She's pretty confident lately since the only charges she's been cleared of were the ones in which she was really innocent.. the rest of her many lies remain buried in miles of videotape and gigabytes of webspace, waiting to be uncovered. But it's cool, Diane doesn't consider herself guilty of anything unless she gets caught at it. She's the deal slut of the season, having made one of every kind with everyone in there.. that's probably not going to turn out well for her in the end.

He gets a probationary neutral cuz he's been acting like pondscum with Diane lately, and not the whole swamp. He's beyond the pot calling the kettle black by claiming Cowboy's changed, and is on a powertrip - hello? He looks in the mirror enough that he should have recognized that as his own personal style when he's got a bit of position in the hamster cage. But he was decent to Nakomis when somebody had to be, and he made fans of irony & symbolism squeal with delight when he described last night's dream of being in church and still having to wear his microphone. Paging Dr. Freud! He's got an old horsey deal with Cowboy, and a chick-in-his-bed deal with Diane, and he didn't have anything to do with either of them besides signing the dotted line.. so it's not surprising he doesn't take either one too seriously.

Nik rebounded like a trooper from her bad, no-good, horrible rotten day, downplaying the whole event as her 'little thing' and trying not to appear too concerned if she looked 'like a big giant idiot' (nope, not in my book!) She laid all the cereal box cards on the euchre table - and then some - sending them all into a tizzy about their faulty schemes and shady deals, and the crowd went wild. She's got common knowledge deals with Diane due to a lapse in judgment, and with Cowboy due to an accident of birth. She's avoided any secret handshakes with Drew - probably cuz he's the guy who wouldn't even acknowledge her if they'd met elsewhere. I think she's the only one of them who takes her promises seriously.. not that that's a requirement for this sociology experiment gone bad, but it's still nice to see.

What house are they watching?? Drew & Diane came across on Saturday's show like they have a fairly 'normal' (if immature) relationship. The week-old intense kiss 'n cuddle they aired happened right after Drew felt threatened by Nik asking a simple and fair question (and one he expected) along with Cowboy's dogging him (as they'd asked him to do).. Drew attacked Diane with a physical intensity we've never seen from him before or since, along with the guaranteed sure-fire 'I love you' strategy that's fueled everything she's done since. They definitely left out from that incident Drew pulling Diane's eyes up, down, saying 'Chinese, Japanese'.. Nice to see Drew's diary 'she's definitely not my girlfriend' with little finger quotes around girlfriend, but something was drastically lacking from Diane's 'all we do is talk about things we're gonna do after the show' diary - like the fact that only she talks about those things. The BBQ3 SmackDown segment was criminal compared to how it really went down! And worse, feedsters who know better than to fall for CBS airing the whole truth about anything fell for that one! Cowboy's got plenty of footage showing him to be an eejit and a creep - they don't need to fabricate that by using an incident where the real story was everyone else was being downright mean, whiny, and childish. The clothes comp was just stupid and dragged on forever: we don't care about the silly competitions! This show is about personalities interacting, and about how people handle the power they get from winning the comps or how they cope with losing them. Finally, they aren't even trying to be accurate with sequencing anymore.. for example Cowboy getting into Diane's bed happened before Karen left - she was in the room, even. An all-around ultra negative: shame on you, CBS! (A quick P.S. to this too-long rating: showing Drew lingering over the photo wall & key box was hysterical after watching the 'special' live version of the same.. they should have left in BB's stage directions and his confusion over them this time too.)

First out for playing well, but chameleon strategy is better defense than offense. Elevated the game with empathy, Oscar-caliber acting, and right-on-target rants. Most photogenic by far.