Black Knight

Well, after asking if I needed to reread Handmaid's Tale because I'd watched the show, and going ahead and reading The Testaments, I saw a nice deluxe edition of the former in CostCo the other day and couldn't resist buying it. So now I'm rereading it after all! I'm not too far in, so what strikes me most at this point is that June's voice is very different from the voices of the three narrators of Testaments.

I don't know what Brooke intended, GaT, but there's certainly more than enough in the lyrics to validate that interpretation of it. It's not a reach at all.

He seemed older. But you're right about the other thing too, which I hadn't thought about. It's a S1 episode, after all.

It's such a brilliant marketing tactic for Aviation Gin. This will end up being taught in marketing classes. I like how they save showing her ringless left hand for the very end. Also, shout-out to Mercedes from the second season of America's Next Top Model being in it!

I'm curious what to learn what happened to Sami during the time jump. I can't see the show saying that everything stayed status quo for her all year.

Episode 5: The first "Picture it" story! (It's the Mama Celeste one, for the record.) Also, Rose has started telling wacky farm anecdotes, but hasn't specifically said "St. Olaf" yet. But I see that this is how it all began... Episode 6: I don't recall ever seeing this episode, where Blanche's "14-year-old" (suuuuure) grandson comes to visit, which means that when I was watching Lifetime reruns years ago, they either skipped this altogether or showed it only once. And I can see why. The second half's better than the first half, but oy, overall I'd consider this the first dud of the series. Six episodes, and already three relatives have come to visit. I remembered that we met lots of relatives, some repeatedly, over the seasons, but not that the series started with this level of frequency. It reminds me of when I rewatched the first season of Xena: Warrior Princess a couple of years ago and realized how many of the beard boyfriends TPTB shoved into the first season.

I've started watching from the beginning on Hulu. I just finished the third episode, and I can't believe it - not one mention of St. Olaf, or a "Picture it" story yet! I'm excited to see when the writers came up with those.

Maybe they finally heard how tiresome it is to have Nicole perpetually on an Apology Tour, or AZ told them she can no longer cry for months on end, and decided to abbreviate this iteration of it.

Yup. Because the former is a much easier conversation to have than the latter. Good for Camila Banus. She has a platform, she's using it, and at least a few people will listen.

Her GL character, Cassie, was about to be paired with Josh. Wright knew what a character-destroying SL that was going to be - Josh's non-Reva women tended not to survive the Josh/Reva buzzsaw, and Cassie's sister Reva was her main connection to the canvas - and got the hell out. (Predictably, the pairing spelled doom for the recast, leading to the character being written off for good.) I'm not sure that there's anything on GH that would be comparable for the Carly character and thus prompt that type of reaction on Wright's part.

Mind-boggling, isn't it? If you wrote a book with that plot point, it'd be derided as requiring too much of a suspension of disbelief. The high school wasn't even far across the country where maybe the case wasn't as publicized - it's located right here in northern California where the uproar over Brock Turner and the subsequent recall went down. Very, very heavily reported. I'm currently reading Gabrielle Moss's Paperback Crush, recommended by several others here. It's a blast tripping down memory lane of YA 80s and 90s books! I'm impressed by the extent of Moss's coverage and am also enjoying the way she balances her clear fondness with righteous snark.

And the recalled judge? (Who was then strangely hired to coach girls' high school JV tennis, and summarily fired once people pointed out that he might not be an ideal choice for that role.)

Gentle reminder: We now have a Small Talk thread. Discussion of gasoline prices in various places can carry on there.

I re-read Bunnicula last night and am pleased to say that it also holds up well - it's fun for adults, too! I was impressed that even though it was written 40 years ago, the mother is an attorney. (The father is a college professor.) Also, I did not know that Deborah Howe, one of the co-authors, had terminal cancer during the writing of it and passed away shortly thereafter. Her widower, James Howe, submitted the book for publication later on. There is a lot of humor in the book, and James mentions in his foreword that he and Deborah used the writing of the book as a much needed escape from what they were going through.

I was in Barnes & Noble looking for gifts for my younger niece today, and saw that the Choose Your Own Adventure series is being re-released! The cover designs have been updated, but still use the same cover art (I think) as the originals. The bookstore had the first two. My niece is a little young for those as yet, so I got her the 40th anniversary edition (I can't believe it's been 40 years) of Bunnicula. This edition has a red velvet cover and is just adorable, you guys! I plan to re-read it before wrapping it up for my niece, haha. It's been so long since I've read it, but I always loved the Bunnicula series.