Mystic Gemini's BigBrother POV
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Big Brother Screen Caps and Commentary

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FAQ

No one can be told what Big Brother is....but that's not going to stop me from trying.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What's this site all about?

I started the mystic-gemini site several years ago as a place to vent my commentary on whatever I was watching on TV.  It was not originally a Big Brother site, but after a while BB became a dominant theme.  In 2008 the name of the site was changed, and it became all about Big Brother.

When a Big Brother season is in progress I watch the live Internet feeds as much as possible and take tons of screen captures from them.  I also do watch the show, but this site is primarily about the live feeds.

2. What are all these acronyms and abbreviations?

I try to post at least one entry a day during BB season, and that's a lot of typing.  Most of the acronyms, etc. are "standard," but there are a few I just made up (at least I think I did).
  • BB - Big Brother; usually meaning the show, but sometimes meaning the "voice" that speaks to the houseguests.
  • BBAD - Big Brother After Dark, a nightly broadcast which is basically the livefeeds on TV for a few hours. Aired on ShowtimeToo, BB8-BB14; TVGN BB15+.
  • BoB/BOTB - Battle of the Block, a competion, introduced in BB16 where the nomiees of 2 HOHs compete to be saved from the block, and overthrow the HOH who nominated them
  • comp - competition
  • CC - Coaches' Competition - In BB14, the coaches compete and the winner gets to protect one of their players and/or other benefits (assign Have-Nots, trade a player, etc.)
  • DR-Diary Room, meaning both the "confessional" and also a reference to the producers (as in "the DR told them to do X.")
  • DOR - Departure On Request/Drop Out Request; when a HG requests to leave the game, forfeiting any benefits
  • end comp - endurance competition
  • FOTH - Front Of The House/Fish Of The House; generic term for any feed blocker screen.  Season 1 used the actual front of the BB house.
  • GK - Golden Key, introduced in BB13, a "pass" given to the HG who survives eviction, making them safe from nominations until there are only 10 HGs left in the game. GK holders cannot play in HOH or POV comps, but do vote for eviction.
  • HG - Houseguest, a participant/competitor on BB, aka hamsters
  • H/HN - Have/Have-Not [comp./room/people].  The recent season BB expansion on food restriction.  In addition to slop/food restriction H/HNs are only allowed cold showers and have to sleep in a far less comfortable room than normal.
  • HOH - Head of Household
  • POV - Power of Veto, or Point of View (thus the pun in the name of the site)
  • TVOVs - TV Only Viewers, people who watch the television show but not the livefeeds (I'm pretty sure I coined this one).
  • noms - nominees for eviction, or the nomination ceremony
  • repl-nom - replacement nominee
  • Tool/Tooling - My nickname for America's Player, the twist of BB8.  It then became sort of a generic term for HGs doing things as the result of an America's Vote.  And with the BB12 Saboteur twist, it became the SaboTool, and then StaboTool from a CBS typo.
3. And what about these odd little catch phrases you keep using?

Over the years I've been doing this site, I've picked up a couple of catch phrases, some which originated within BB, some are just me.

It's all about the POV.  This is a truth in Big Brother.  It really doesn't matter so much who the original noms are, everything can, and often does, change with the POV and repl-noms.   And it's the truth of this site.  It's all about *my* BB POV.

At the end of the day... 
 I know a lot of people say this in every day life, but during BB7 Will and Boogie seemed to say it all the time.  So I ended up using it as the title for my end of the season assessment of the BB7 HGs...and then it just stuck around.

We'll know when we know.
  I often find myself going back and forth both in my head and on the blog about what's going to happen next in BB.  This could go on for ages and sometimes I just have to stop myself by remembering that whatever happens, happens and we'll find out what that is eventually. 

4. I don't watch the livefeeds.  Will I be able to follow the site?

Probably.  This site isn't intended to be a replacement for the livefeeds, but I do try to sum up enough of what's going on that anyone can follow even if they aren't watching the feeds.  No one can watch constantly, so even if you are watching you're bound to miss some significant event.  And if you start out with only a passing interest/familiarity with BB, I'd like to think that this site could help increase your interest.  But, I do have to insert a warning label....BB can be highly addictive.

5. What's your spoiler policy?

If I know something, I feel free to mention it. So, if I heard a spoiler/rumour, it might come up. And once I've seen a show (I'm in the US/Eastern timezone) I may post about it; I'm not going to wait until all timezones have seen it. It's not as if I have some kind of inside connection to the TV industry, though. So if I know something, it's probably pretty widely known. And I'll obviously talk about the live feeds, so I'll be way ahead of what's current on broadcast shows.

6. Aren't the screencaps copyrighted?

Maybe. Here's my take on it: The images and broadcasts are © CBS/Real Networks/etc. But there's some amount of art/creativity to screen capping, so my caps are © me. And in any case I'm certainly not making any money here, or depriving CBS/Real/whomever of any benefit of their material.  In recent seasons Real has been cracking down on people posting videos, but I haven't heard anything about screencaps.  Video is a bit more of a problem since there are people who would not pay for the feeds and just watch youtubes.  The previous big argument for videos was that no one can possibly watch all the time, so it's good to catch things you missed.  But with the "flashback" feature that was added starting with BB10, that argument is a bit harder to hold up.  (Though I still miss the videos...it's a pain to try to get to the right time within the hour each flashback segment covers.)  Okay, jumping off my soapbox now.  And back to screencaps, I did read somewhere that stills are officially okay (not that it's legally binding, just 'cause you read it on the Internet....)

7. You clearly have your favorite HGs.  Shouldn't you try to be a bit more objective?

I absolutely have my favorites, and no, I don't think I need to be more objective.  The site is all about my point-of-view after all.  I'm not passing myself as any kind of journalist here, though I do try to be fair and accurate in reporting what happened.  But when it comes to the HGs, I definitely like some more than others, and more importantly want to see some stay on the show longer. There have been many times when I think a player seems like a really nice person and I'd probably like them in real life, but they're as boring as hell on BB.  That's not who I want to see on BB; this isn't reality, it's reality TV.  I want to see people who are making the feeds fun to watch last until the end.

8.  Something you said on [insert page name here] is wrong.  I saw it/checked flashback and that's not what happened/what was said.

Well, nobody's perfect.  I try to be accurate, but I freely admit that I may mishear things, misremember things, or just plain get it wrong.  If I notice a minor mistake I try to just fix it.  If I realize I made a major mistake, I'll sometimes put a correction/update in.

last updated: June 26, 2014