BooksRule

Derek (to Alex): 'You might wanna leave before I change my mind and let her beat you to a pulp with her tiny ineffectual fists.' ('Winning the battle, losing the war', Season 1, Episode 3)

Izzie: 'If you wait a few minutes you can have a piece of cake. Baked it chock-full of luv. Actually, chock-full of unrelenting rage and hostility. But, still tasty.' ('The self-destruct button', Season 1, episode 7)

Lifetime started over this morning with season one, episode one, so I'm going to record them to watch in the evenings. Today they had the first eight episodes, and I think they will be showing three episodes each weekday with a few more on Fridays. I'm looking forward to seeing the ones that I haven't seen in years. (I catch part of episodes here and there in the morning before I leave for work or when I have a morning off, but haven't seen entire episodes in a long time.) Picked up dinner on the way home (Pizza! Pizza!) and am settling down to continue my nice quiet evening by watching some more.

Yang: 'Katie competes in beauty pageants.' Derek: 'I know that, but we have to save her life anyway.' ('A hard day's night', Season 1, episode 1)

Oops, that's what I meant. :)

I missed most of the 'juvenile delinquency' films, but I did record 'High School Hellcats' for later viewing and just watched 'The Young Stranger' (with James Macarthur--in his first role! and James Daly and Kim Hunter as his parents). I can't believe I've never watched this one before, being a big Macarthur fan (even as a young'un back in the days of original 'Hawaii Five-o' I recognized his cuteness). It was okay but a little bland. He wasn't really a bad kid, just a teen who mouthed off a little and no one believed him when he told the truth. Funny, when I saw that Kim Hunter was in it, for some reason I thought she would be his girlfriend, but was surprised to see her as his mother. I guess I thought she was younger (imdb shows that she was 15 years younger than Macarthur). Which reminds me, I need to get out my DVD of 'Spencer's Mountain' to re-watch. (and I wish 'The Truth About Spring' was in the TCM rotation. I always had a soft spot for that movie (I'm a Hayley Mills fan as well).

I picked up a pork butt at the store yesterday so I could make some pulled pork. It tasted good, but I've come to the realization that I'm terrible at the last step of the process. I have a very simple recipe: I put the meat in the slow cooker with a little water and chopped onion. When it's cooked tender, I remove it from the pot and place into a pan. This is where I have problems. I have no talent for the shredding of the pork. I know I've seen people on TV shows just taking two forks and working quickly to shred up the meat into nice bite-sized pieces, I'm so clumsy with the forks, getting them tangled, completely missing the piece with one fork, etc. Sometimes it makes me made when I'm struggling with it, other times it makes me laugh. I just don't know how some people do it. Lots of practice, I guess? Anyway, I finally got it all shredded nicely and mixed in some BBQ sauce. The resulting sandwiches were good, and I have plenty left over for a few more meals.

That's the part I missed. Thanks!

Can someone fill me in on a bit of the wedding that I missed? The power went out for just a few seconds, but it was enough to kick the DVR off so that it didn't record for a minute or two. It cut out during a commercial break and picked up again just as Maya was getting upset about not remembering to write vows. I'm sure I didn't miss much, but I did see Maya's mother. Did she just pop up in the background and Maya acknowledged that she was there, or was there some kind of explanation?

When Dr. Charles suggested contacting an old doctor friend who could consult and also translate, I immediately wondered if they had cast the 'HITG' actor that always seems to be hired whenever someone who speaks Russian is needed for a show/movie. And, in comes the 'HITG' himself, Elya Baskin. Are there any other Russian-born actors who are working in the U.S.? I'm kidding, because I like Baskin. He is good in any role he plays. It just seems funny that it's usually him that shows up when the role calls for a Russian character. :)

I thought for sure that Helm (Helms?) was going to go live with Gwen. Gwen made it clear that she was lonely and didn't want to go back to living by herself. Helm is crashing on Jo's couch and really needs to move out. And, it was obvious that she spent a lot of time with Gwen in the hospital and thought of her as a mother figure. I think it would be a win-win. I totally forgot about Jo being in the psychiatric hospital for a while. I was thinking that she failed the background check for reasons already mentioned above (busy schedule, roommates, etc.) but also thought about the days when she was living on the streets (or in her car). But maybe she would have already proven that she could do well even with those problems in her past. Also, I think her being a single mom might not have been too big of an issue if she had some type of support system--a mother, siblings, grandparent, etc. She has friends, but no family to help her.

I kept hoping that Reyes was not actually thinking that Owen was the arsonist but was going through with the arrest and interrogation of Owen just to smoke out (heh heh) the real arsonist, but I didn't think that Owen was going to be in on it. That was a surprise. I did think that it was the investigator and not Billy, since that would have been too obvious. I did think it was interesting that the first place that Owen's thoughts went to as to where I fire might have been set was the firehouse instead of his own or Carlos' house. You would think he would consider that his own family might be in danger first. Judd: 'I guess you two are just a couple of crap magnets then, ain't ya?' (ha ha) Poor Tommy.

Maybe I read too much or watch too many TV shows and movies, but I immediately thought of the concrete river that runs through Los Angeles. I didn't figure it would be anywhere near a 'real' river, because that would be too obvious. I also assumed that the writer wasn't really dead, since I recognized the actor (I forget his name) and didn't think he would have been cast just to be in that one tiny video scene.

I had to laugh a little at this exchange: Owen: 'You listenin'?' Mateo: 'Um hm. To both of you.' Owen: 'Good, 'cause you need to hear this in stereo.'

My neighbor (the one that now lives there without the country-rock-blasting ex), has three kids and they run around in the backyard occasionally yelling, but I've never heard the ear-piercing screams, which is good. I never had a problem with the kids playing outside and doing some yelling and arguing (even when they were having a birthday party or cookout and there were additional kids around). And 'yard work' noise is okay (lawnmowers, weed eaters, etc.) as long as it's not at the crack of dawn. It was only the music.

I can sympathize with you so much on this. I know I reported here (and elsewhere) a few times about my neighbors who moved into the house next door about four years ago. She was quiet and stayed in the house with their new baby. He would go outside and sit on the screened back porch or play with their two toddlers in the backyard and crank up the country rock music. Or, they would have people over and blast the music. It was so loud that my dishes were dancing in the cabinets and I couldn't hear the TV. When I would complain he would apologize and turn it down but a week or so later it would be the same. He was very nice about it. Nice, but clueless. I mean, if it was too loud a week ago, why wouldn't you think it was too loud today? It had gotten to the point where I dreaded coming home from work because I never knew what was going to happen. Anyway, she booted him out a couple of years ago, and even though I noticed that he's moved back in two or three times, it never lasts and I haven't seen him since Christmas. And, it's been blessedly quiet. She's very nice and has even had a couple of cookouts. She proved that you can have what looks like a very successful party without the loud music. I hope that your ordeal didn't last too long.

A couple of days ago, I watched the episode where Peggy's bathtub fell through the ceiling into the first floor and she didn't have running water for a while. I have to get my main water line that runs out to the street replaced in the next day or so (hopefully tomorrow, but it might stretch out to the next day) and the water's been turned off since this morning. So I just realized that I will have to be taking a 'whore's bath' tomorrow morning (just like Peggy), but at least I'll be in the bathroom and not in the kitchen (if you're not taking it in the kitchen does that make it not a whore's bath?). :)

Well, the plumber just left and I have to get the entire water line from the house connection near the porch all the way to the connection at the street. Not cheap, but he gave me a break because he's going to have his young helpers (sons, maybe?) dig the trench by hand instead of renting a trencher (which would add a lot to the cost and also at least three more days to the job). Hopefully, he'll get it finished by end of day tomorrow or by the next day at the latest. I'm glad I filled up all containers, since I'll have water for cooking and drinking, but it's sponge baths for me for the next day or so! (yay?)

Well, the plumber that I usually use is totally booked until Saturday and since I can't have the water leak going on until then (anyone wanna buy some waterfront property? Cheap?) and I can't do without water until then, I had to call someone else. They can't get here until after 5pm so I'm going to have to get someone to work my evening shift today. I also called the city and had them come out and cut off my water at the street temporarily (after I had filled just about every container I had and my two bathtubs with water). It wouldn't have been such a huge problem (mess) if we hadn't just gotten almost 10 inches of rain several days ago and the ground was still saturated. The water had no place to go so my yard was mushy and it was even beginning to run out of the curb along the street.

This made me laugh. If you want another laugh, google this: Jeanne Robertson don't send a man to the grocery store. The video is really funny. (I didn't know if I could post the link or not.) Pet peeve: Living in an aging house. Mine is a mid-60s ranch-style house. I've lived here nearly 20 years, and I think I've been having to get things fixed for the last 10 or more. I guess it's still cheaper than buying a newer house, but it's just kind of a pain. The latest problem is that when I got home from work and went to the back of the house to change clothes, I could hear water running in the quiet house. I checked all of the faucets, tubs, under the cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms, couldn't find any leaks or wet spots anywhere along the floors or walls, looked around the outside of the house on the back nearest the bathroom walls...nothing. I still haven't gotten the shower valve replaced from months ago that I need to get fixed (I've been using the other shower and gearing myself up to spending the big amount quoted to get both the pipes/valves replaced in both bathrooms). So I thought maybe there was another leak inside the walls. But when I did some googling, I got really scared because the symptoms seemed like a leak under the slab which could definitely be a big deal. I finally went out to check the front of the house and found that my flower bed along the outside of the front porch was awash. I could see water bubbling up from the ground a couple of feet into the yard. So, there's something else to have fixed. At least it will spur me to get the bathroom pipes done, since I don't want it to get bigger and flood the neighborhood. A couple of good things, though--I pay a flat rate for water, so at least I won't get a huge water bill and at least I don't have wild water on the loose in my walls.

Here's a sentence I never thought I would write: "He painted on a pair of mustard shorts and slipped on some tater tot shoes."

The doctors at Chicago Med obviously don't watch enough medical dramas on TV. When they couldn't find the bullet in the leg I immediately knew that it had traveled through the artery to somewhere else in the body. I've seen it several times on other shows. I thought it wasn't a hugely rare thing, so the fact that they didn't figure it out for a while seemed odd. For a minute or two (until I saw her face clearly), I thought that the pregnant woman was being played by Amy Madigan. As for the deal with Goodwin's son, I'm guessing that she's not going to say anything about this incident (and will assume that he's 'learned his lesson'), but something else will happen and she'll have to confess to the higher-ups about this incident and will get everyone involved in trouble for keeping quiet about it. Crockett's backstory was interesting.

I've never been a huge fan of foreign language films, because I always find myself either reading the English subtitles and forgetting to look at the action on the screen, or watching the characters on screen and forgetting to read the subtitles. So I hesitated about watching a movie that TCM showed recently-- Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 'World on a wire' (Welt am Draht). One reason was because of the subtitles, but also because I saw that the running time was almost four hours. But the description looked interesting (and we have some of Fassbinder's films in our film studies DVD collection at work so I thought I should give him a try), so I recorded it and watched it a half hour at a time over the last several days. The host (I think it was Alicia Malone) said that the movie was a little bit of 'The Matrix' mixed with a little 'Bladerunner'. I agree, but I would have added a little of 'Inception' as well. This was apparently Fassbinder's only science fiction film and was re-discovered not too long ago and released on DVD by Criterion (I sent an e-mail to my film faculty asking if they think I should add it to our collection, but haven't heard back yet). The sets were very interesting (very 'European 70s' with groovy furniture and fixtures, lots of chrome, faux furs, etc. And the mirrors! So many mirrors in almost every scene!

That's what I'm guessing. It was interesting that they made a point of having the mother say that the father had signed away his parental rights so that we won't be constanting expecting the father to show up and try to claim the baby. But, this is Grey's so who knows what will happen. DeLuca wasn't my favorite character, but I saw potential for some interesting storylines about him and his coping with manic depression (I think that's what he has) and taking his meds for it. There could have been stories about whether or not he could be trusted and how they would look at him/treat him if he acted the slightest bit differently than usual. I hoped he would live, but as soon as Carina was in the room all happy and joking and then a little later we saw him give a 'thumbs up' (and I saw that there was still a few minutes left in the episode) I knew he was toast.

Actor Cliff Simon, who appeared in a bunch of 'Stargate: SG1' episodes (and lots of other shows as well) has died. He was Ba'al, the villain that I loved to hate. https://www.gateworld.net/news/2021/03/stargate-actor-cliff-simon-passed-away-age-58/?fbclid=IwAR05YDIUDTXBhy-xqngA6L_CFFIr6rSzfnoNJbzvBmpa-FSdnZmSJgoccB0