BooksRule

The Texas episode was cute. I liked Georgie's remark after they left the taxidermy place that if they had known about taxidermy earlier, they 'wouldn't have popped father in the old oven. We'd got him standing bolt upright in the living room, giving burglars a surprise'. I know they are acting, but they actually looked like they were having a good time with the cheerleaders. The recording studio part was a little painful to watch, although the reactions of the guys in the studio were funny. The singer was being very gracious (and patient), I thought.

farmgal4, is the orange bundt cake one of Ina's recipes? I did see one for an orange chocolate bundt cake, but I'm not sure if that is the one you mean. While searching, I did see some good recipes for bundt cakes with fresh orange juice in them. Yum! They all (including Ina's) sound good.

That was kind of jumbled-up mess, but hopefully some of it will get sorted out soon. I was hoping that the Chinatown scenes were all in Ben's mind, but I guess not. Are there still any of the 'original' Mechs around? I love anything with creepy robots in it, and really liked the Mechs (humming and all). The new ones are too 'Transformer-like' for me, I'm not sure why. I know they are supposed to be more menacing, but I find them less scary than the old ones. I thought that the most effective scene was the dropping of the 'fence posts' for the perimeter fence.

I wonder how long 'Georgie' had to practice before he could drive on the 'American' side of the road. I thought they might have some scenes with him having some problems staying in the correct lane, but he was doing very well!

I agree, catrox14. When I first saw commercials about the show, I planned to avoid it like the plague because I thought it was one of usual fakey-fake reality shows. Then, I read a little more about it and realized that it was a sitcom-type show with actors. That's when I decided to give it a try. I didn't know until I had seen the first two episodes that it was one of the Borat-type shows where the main characters are actors and others in the show aren't in on the joke (or at least some of them aren't). I loved Poppy's indignation after they attended the Tea Party meeting that there was no tea served (she said she was 'spitting feathers'). Oh, and her observation of the plastic surgeon (after they had left his office) that 'he looked like a frozen cat'.

I noticed the orangey look, too. I thought it was my TV. Spray tan, maybe?

I'm not sure why, but I find Poppy to be pretty likable. She's totally clueless, but she's not mean-spirited to people. I like the way that she has total confidence in herself, especially in her belief that she would be successful as an actress. I loved the scene where she was showing off her acting skills by making her 'angry face', 'sad face', etc. and they all looked exactly the same! And her audition for the soap was hilarious! It takes a good actress to act so badly.

I liked Georgie, too. He's so dim, yet is so interested in everything. I loved the example of 'trash talk' he gave at the baseball game: "In cricket, we might say 'that cake your mother prepared wasn't particularly moist'". And his whole-hearted participation in the Revolutionary War re-enactment: 'Die, American scum!' (or something like that). I'm looking forward to more Georgie.

Wow! I live near a couple of 'Big Lots'. I wonder if they still have some. I have all of 'Fringe' (Wal-Mart had a big sale right before Christmas with lots of movies and TV shows for $9.99--I got all seasons then), but I would love to see what else they have. I want to get 'Warehouse 13' sometime. (My other 'show-to-get' would have been 'Eureka' until recently, when Barnes & Noble had a 'buy two get one free' sale--or something like that--and I filled in my missing seasons). It's been a while since I watched the DVDs (I binge-watched during the Christmas holidays!), but I remember enjoying the gag reels. I think there was one every season. The actor playing Broyles was hilarious--when he would goof a line, he was so serious about wanting to start over that it was funny. I think the funniest one was when Anna and Joshua were 'riding' in a car (the car was obviously stationary against a video shown on a green screen). Anna was driving and all of a sudden Joshua opens the passenger door and gets out. It looks like they are actually driving along at about 40 miles an hour. He just stands there a second and then screams and flails his arms and disappears. It's hilarious!

mythoughtis, I felt the same way. It's like we were intruding on their private grief, and that the car accident scene was filmed 'just for us' (the audience). I would have been perfectly happy if Frost had been transferred and was mentioned several times, and then everyone could move on. Maybe it would have been better (of course, I haven't seen next week's episode yet!) if Korsak had gotten the phone call, announced the news about the accident--and then fade to black (and the end credits). We didn't need to see Maura crouching over a body.

I'll have to think about my favorites for a while and post about them later. Right now, I think that my least favorite episodes include (I don't remember episode titles) the one where they took the train trip (I found it kind of boring). The only really funny moment I remember from that one was when Penny answered Sheldon's call with 'Whassup, Moonpie?' I also didn't care for the one where Howard and Sheldon were fighting over the parking space. Finally, in general, I didn't care for most scenes with Priya, even when I found the rest of the scenes in those episodes funny. I thought she was a little snotty, and looked down on the group, like she was better than them or something. As I said, I'll post about favorites later, but as for favorite scenes, any with Raj's parents are hilarious. I love them!

I'm rarely happy with pregnancy storylines, but this could be interesting, with Jane wanting to continue on like nothing was going on, her mom hovering over her and Maura constantly telling her why she feels like she does and maybe offering 'natural' remedies for everything from morning sickness to swollen ankles. The last five minutes were tough, which means next week will be a bad one (emotion-wise). However, I wasn't too impressed with the murder plot this week. I knew it was the ex-husband's girlfriend even before Maura said that a woman had murdered the jogger. No surprises, except that I wasn't sure if the ex-husband was in on it, or if the girlfriend had killed the woman and then given away the baby so that she and the guy could be by themselves. One thing I noticed, was when Jane found the abandoned stroller at the water's edge and they realized that the jogger had been running with her baby, I reversed the DVR recording and re-watched the attack. I didn't see any evidence that she was running with a baby stroller. I've seen people running with those made specially for that, and even if you are tethered to it, you have to use your hands to hold on to it. You could see her arms moving freely just like it was just her. Shouldn't her arms have been down if she had been jogging with a stroller? It just didn't seem to be an effective scene to me. However, I'm glad this show is back!

tarotx, I immediately thought of Doctor Who when I heard the name! (Great minds think alike?)

One of my favorite episodes was the one where it was bitterly cold and they were running short of all supplies, including heating oil (so the guys all had to bunk together). In addition to the '[Rats!] I've gotta go to the sandbox' (quoted in a post above), there were some of these (I'm probably paraphrasing, it's been awhile since I've seen it): Hawkeye: 'Why are your feet hot, Frank?' Radar: 'They're hunting socks' Klinger: 'I once had a bra like that' (Henry comes in and wants to know about the ruckus) Radar: 'They're hunting socks, sir!' Henry: 'At this hour?' Henry: 'Better keep the brass monkeys in tonight! Father Mulcahy: 'Now I lay me down to sleep. A bag of peanuts at my feet. If I should die before I wake, give them to my brother Jake' (Hawkeye's expression is priceless) But my favorite has to be near the beginning when Henry comes into his office and finds out that his desk is now about a foot high. Radar: 'They'll burn anything they can get their hands on' Henry: 'But to cut off a man's legs and steal his drawers!'

.From the description in the book, I always pictured them looking and tasting a little like New Orleans beignets (only without the powdered sugar on top)--since they were fried and would puff up as they cooked and would be hollow inside. They always sounded good. Also, the description of eating so much fish made me think of how having beef for a meal was a treat. I remember the description of how they enjoyed the beef that Pa got as part payment for helping drive some cattle across the plains near their homestead.

I've re-read all of the books countless times (I have one of those boxed set of the paperbacks that I got years and years ago--they are ragged by now). I love the food descriptions in the books. The Wilder family in 'Farmer Boy' ate very well, didn't they? I always wanted to fix some 'apples 'n onions', but never have. However, when I read 'The Long Winter' I always have to have a snack beside me the whole time. Imagine having nothing but brown bread and tea for months! Reading about the food can also make me appreciate what I have (not to get too preachy). I remember the scene in 'By the shores of Silver Lake' where (to celebrate their first meal in the Surveyors' House) they each had a dish of peaches and saltine crackers as a treat. And, in 'Little house on the prairie', (I think it was that one) Laura and Mary were each given a little snow white cake (which were delicate and white because they were made with scarce white flour instead of coarse wheat flour--and maybe white sugar instead of brown--I can't remember).

I always liked the film adaptation of 'The Dead Zone'. I'm not sure why, because although I like Christopher Walken okay, he isn't my favorite actor and I haven't seen most of what he's done. I think I liked the atmosphere and the visuals of having so many scenes take place in the snow. Something about that stark look and the sound of the crunching through the snow was every effective. And, the music was good, too.

Dagney, I've never eaten at Doe's Eat Place, but I've heard that the steaks are really, really good (although the reviews at Doe's other locations aren't always as good as at the original--although I'm just quoting what I've read--I can't speak from experience). Here is a link to the restaurant, with the history of the place: http://www.doeseatplace.com/history.html (my first link: I hope I did it right!)

I also think that Amy is the 'first risen', since they didn't show the photo that the B&B lady was pointing to--it isn't Kieran or they would have shown it. I'm wondering if the 'second rising' actually means that the risen will revert back to human, not that others will rise. If Amy is the first risen and she is becoming 'human' again, this might be what it means. I was watching Simon as he was having dinner with his dad. I don't know about the fish, but I did see him put a chip in his mouth and then take it out uneaten. Then, he pretended to chew and then wiped his mouth. I think that the people who are eating with their PDS family members see what they want to see (they want to pretend that everything is okay). Although I agree that making Kieran sit with the family and act like everything's normal is not the right thing to do. The final episode of the season will be aired on BBCA this coming Saturday. I'm sure there will be many unanswered questions at the end. Does anyone know when the next season will begin? (I'm assuming there will be one.)

Jill (paraphrasing): 'It's okay to eat that. It's not puffy'. Lots of hoarders said this: 'I don't know what happened. It just got away from me.'

'Cookie spray' (instead of 'cooking spray') 'Doll it up' - adding ingredients to a dish will help 'doll it up'. 'Salmonella sleeves' - When SLoP would wear those loose, dangly sleeves and drag them through the food.

I echo the fondness for the Barishnikov/Hines dancing in 'White Nights', especially when they are dancing together in that dance studio. Their styles were different, but they worked together beautifully. I always liked the number 'The best things happen while you're dancing' from 'White Christmas'. Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen make it look so effortless. When they are dancing along the dock and then on the overturned boat, I sometimes have to reverse the DVD and watch it all over again!

I would recommend 'Feed' by Mira Grant. It's the first book in the Newsflesh trilogy, but I haven't read the other two yet. It's technically a zombie apocalypse novel, but the zombies aren't really the main focus. I would label it a scifi/medical/political thriller. It takes place 20-some odd years after the ZA and it's fascinating to read about how 'life goes on' when you are faced with the constant threat of the people around you becoming infected and turning. There is some 'adult' language and it is a fairly lengthy book, but there isn't much gore, so you could probably recommend the book to YA readers (high school level, anyway).

Hello! Long time poster at TWoP, but I don't think I ever posted on the DW forums. ...looks around... Is there a Shop? I love a little Shop. I got into DW back in the 1980s. Tom Baker was my first one. I came home one day from class and my part-time job, turned on PBS and there it was. I watched it on and off for a few years after that, but lost track (I think none of my local channels were carrying it) after the Davison years. I would catch one now and then when SyFy was showing them. When they stopped, I missed all except the occasional Christmas special (when the family was together at my dad's house--he gets BCC America). Now that my cable company has added BCCA, I've been catching up. I'm up to the early Amy/Rory days. BTW, it looks like most if not all, the DW threads were archived on the Wayback machine over on archive.org. I checked a few, but didn't click on all of them. I saved them a while back, but it's nice to know that they are there. I look forward to lots of posting and reading here. Now, it's back out into the yard to pull weeds, cut limbs and the like.

Thanks, Carrie Ann, I'll have to give the cupcakes a try soon! I don't like FN's site. I find it clunky. I'm like you, maggiemae, I just google. I do it for America's Test Kitchen's recipes as well. (BTW: I have a cat named Maggie May. Very spoiled rotten, along with her sister Alice Faye. I hope you don't mind me mentioning this!) I love lemony recipes, and I have a copy of Ina's lemon pound cake (and her orange pound cake version). When the weather gets hot, I want to fix desserts with a citrus taste. I wonder if those are any different than the usual lemon loaf cake. I have several recipes for that type of cake, and don't want to try still another one if it isn't really different from the usual (I guess I should compare ingredients and see if I can tell).