Archery

I love that Keith spent time learning how to swim better. He clearly has the mechanics, but it'll be in the stress of a challenge that he needs confidence. Keep practicing, bro. And good on Wendy and Reem for helping. Someone upthread implied he doesn't seem to have what it takes. To that, I'd say, Go watch Cirie's first season. That said, bye, Reem. I love Jeff P's expressions during the first couple of TCs. The Castaways always pontificate about theory and strategy, and Jeff always has a look like, "You people know I've heard this thirty-something times already, right? It's not gonna go anywhere near what you're expecting. But keep talking."

I probably wouldn't have gone to see this in the theatre, but it was a great airplane movie. Love that the wife was soooo competitive too.

Was watching The Martian with subtitles on. Learned for the first time that in Waterloo, Abba is not singing: Waterloo -- how does it feel now you've won the war? but rather, Waterloo, -- I am defeated, you won the war. Blame it on the Swedish accents, I guess.

This. The first half of the season was a disaster. Even Boston sports talk radio was resigned to the "well, it'll be a rebuilding year" narrative. The Pats lost a SB they were supposed to win; they didn't have Amendola; Gronk was injured a lot of the time; Edelman sat out 4 games -- the analysts were all saying that this was going to be an off year for the Pats. And then there was the neverending narrative of Tom is old and he and Belichick were ready to part ways. People panicked when they were going up against the Chiefs -- that was the worst case scenario. So yeah, in many circles, the Pats were never expected to make it through the AFC rounds. Goff was supposed to do to Brady what Brady had done in the 2002 SB.

Sports brings out the worst even in little kids, apparently. I made the mistake of asking someone I admire greatly why she hates the Patriots. I will not do that again, because her answer left me more disappointed in her than enlightened.

What the over/under on Jackson having a job tomorrow, though. The whole overtime excursion was courtesy of his penalties.

Perhaps I am becoming a softie in my old age. But I am willing to give both teams loads of slack for being able to even grip and catch that frozen ball time and again, let alone having to land on the rock-hard turf. That must have been like throwing and catching a cinderblock.

Seriously. That was amazing football, both games.

I'll never be able to find the article I read it in, but a neutral analysis shows that this is simply not true.

You know, sometimes a call can go the Pats' way without there being a universal conspiracy.

Hi, scriggle! *waves from Boston*

Normally, I'd be right there as well: missed field goal, interception, some mistake that blows the end of the game. Hey, you should have scored more so it didn't get down to that last couple points. But it's upsetting that the game is blown by something outside of the team's control. That feels like theft. If I can recognize pass interference even before the commentator says it, IT IS OBVIOUS. I don't particularly like NO, but wouldn't blame them for being both salty and bitter. Go Pats.

UYI: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Lorrie Morgan singlehandedly kicked off my short country phase in the mid-90s. I watched a Women in Country Music special on TV, and LM did "Something in Red." Newly engaged, I saw my whole life just laid out before my eyes, and was moved to tears. He voice and that song just slayed me. UO: I don't care about Taylor Swift's love life, ex boyfriends, feuds, etc. She writes great songs, and if those are her inspirations, have at it. I'd listen to the acoustic version of "Blank Space" 100 times in a row if I could. Songwriting as therapy\revenge isn't new. Fleetwood Mac was champion at it for a time. Judging from the Reputation special on Netflix, she gives a great concert experience as well.

The lady who had her baby in street yelled something at her husband right before he went to get the midwives. Was she speaking English? No matter how many times I rewound, I couldn't make out what she said. Overall, this was a lovely episode, and a beautiful way to end my Christmas night. ETA: I think Trixie delivered the baby because it was not routine and she was by far the most experienced of the three.

I may have missed it, but was there a Fan Favourite prize?

Nick's jury answers were stellar.

I haven't gotten there yet in my latest rewatch, but I love the scene where Vinick, hungry for real debate on issues, decides to answer every question the reporters have until they are done. He literally exhausts them.

Zoey is kidnapped the night of her graduation, which is May 7. The next episode is set on July 4, but Zoey still has bruises and a sling, and they still have no VP. And they got the commandment "Honour thy mother and father" wrong: it's the 5th commandment, not the 1st or the 3rd--in either the Catholic, Jewish, or Protestant Bible.

My youth choir did that version of Amazing Grace/House of the Rising Sun when I was a teenager--in 1980. I watched Kennedy's performance twice, but the next girl I was was so bad, I turned off the show. I usually start watching at this point in the season but, nah.

I did like that dude lift in Bones' dance, though. Cracked me up. (I didn't watch any of this season, but I was rooting hard for Keo. He has had so many duds over the years, and took a lot of trash from the judges.)

I love that Shallow is the bookend to I'll Never Love Again. Jack takes Ally's fragment and writes a song around it (the first verse is his) and Ally takes the fragment of his love song and turns it into her paean of grief.

Okay, tears with this episode. I love that DW returned for a moment to the original premise: history for kids. I felt like this was an episode that was not so complex and scary that kids couldn't follow. I do like the idea that this piece of resistance had to happen this day for history to run smoothly; done a different day, maybe Rosa gets beaten, or there's a riot, or a massive police response that gets people killed. According to the photo in the Library of Congress site, Rosa's husband was very light skinned. I loved the fact that they knew little trivia details of the story, like the bus driver's name. That rings true. Such a good episode.

I liked Jumanji so much (watched it on a plane), that I made my teenagers watch it immediately. Very clever and totally subversive. I typically don't like Jack Black, and I had really expected the combination of him and Kevin Hart would be a little bit of too much. It was, surprisingly, just right.

I did not know how much I needed that Titus Burgess cover in my life!