slf

I'm watching The Americans. Very critically acclaimed and while I usually love spy shows/movies this one is taking some real effort from me. In part because, unpopular opinion: I don't like Philip for Elizabeth. My issues with him begin in the series premiere. Their first night in America sixteen years prior, they barely even get checked into their hotel room before he's stroking her hair. She makes it clear she's not willing to sleep with him just yet and he gets huffy, "We're married", and then makes a few woe is me comments that I guess are supposed to make her pity him enough to drop her drawers. Flash forward to the current timeline and he comes up behind her and kisses her neck. She tells him no, to stop, several times and he doesn't. It takes her whipping around on him with a knife for him to back off, but just like their first night in America he huffs that she's his wife. Then a few episodes later, he gets insanely pissed that she had a relationship with a man early into their fake marriage. Am I supposed to find this charming? Romantic? He's her KGB spy partner, her fake husband she's barely tolerated for a decade and a half. She doesn't owe him feelings and intimacy just because he's wanted to make their pretend marriage real right from the jump. And he's out here acting like a) they have a real relationship that she betrayed, b) that she should just have sex with him because she's his "wife" regardless of the fact that she doesn't want to.

First episode I've watched in a season and it features Negan having sex with a woman wearing a walker's face. How has the show become this bad? Not terribly surprised by Carol's profoundly stupid plan. I remember when a flu was in the prison and she decided that she would just murder two innocent people to "prevent" it from spreading, even though a) flu usually has an incubation period of several days so it was impossible to know who all might be infected and therefor killing the sick would be completely pointless (which it was), b) she's not a doctor and didn't even bother to consult the actually medically trained people, c) one of the earliest flu victims looked her dead in the eyes and told her he was going to be sick and she decided it was a sign of personal weakness, not sickness, and dismissed him because again she isn't a doctor and knew fuckall about the flu, d) they had an Council to decide these things but she went behind their backs, and c) her plan not only didn't work it created more problems. So, good ol' Carol.

I'm watching the episode Cheaters, where Dorothy is hooking up with Jerry Orbach. Dorothy is about to introduce him to Sophia and he says he's looking forward to it because, "you meet the mother, it gives you a pretty good idea of what the daughter is gonna look like in 30 years." And Dorothy says, "only if you lock me in the dryer."

I don't think Thad was being passive aggressive, I think he was asking the question all deaf people ask when someone who knows they can't hear decides yelling is appropriate.

Well, I'm bi so I make jokes about my sexuality and so does my family. The son had no issue with it. I thought the jokes were lame, personally, but they weren't offensive or anything. I think something that gets firgotten by people who've watched this kovie is that this wasn't everyone's first time interacting with Meredith. The sister had met her before, which clearly didn't go much better than the Christmas visit, and one of the brithers had spoken to her. Both oretty much described her as stuck-up, which she was. That's literally how her character is written and is the point of the movie. One of the opening scenes is her demanding someone stay at work to send her something even though it's the friday before Christmas ("I don't care if it's Christmas!"). So she was already unpopular with almost half the family. Then immediately upon entering the house and meeting the deaf son she shouts at him. Which isn't just ignorance, though it's also that and rude. By the time they got to the dinner pretty much everyone in the family was annoyed by her, not without reason. Then she went and really put her foot in it at dinner. Yeah, they were visibly annoyed by her being stuck up and did not try at all to hide it. And each was annoying in his or her own way. I just...cannot find it in me to see Meredith as the injured party.

I always took those comments as jokes. Granted, cringey 'the writers are trying too hard' kind of jokes but, imo, it's clear we aren't meant to think the mom is being serious.

Jenn wasn't pissed about Kat being with Justin, per se, but because she hadn't been the first choice again. Apparently, somehow, Jenn has been coming in second to Kat her whole life.

I wish this series had been more about the skating (rigorous training that dominates the athletes life, for example) and the culture of that sport (the kiss and cry scenes were completely underwhelming). It's a soap opera punctuated by mediocre skating, which is disappointing. I'm a little offended that this is being compared to The Cutting Edge, which is vastly superior in every way.

I don't think it would have been safer to choose different women. This film took a very cowardly approach to Carlson, Kelly, and Fox in general. It barely touched on their treatment of other women and the culture they helped support. The thing about Kelly and the others is that they were angry it had happened to them and other women very much like them. But when it was women who didn't fit inside this one very specific demographic? Fuck those lying whores. And yeah, you could get a movie out of that if you were willing to really dive in but this film wasn't. And I'm sorry but I just really dislike this insistence from Hollywood that movies that tackle major issues through the lens of despicable people are somehow deeper. Like, everyone knows Lindsey Graham is gay but that doesn't mean I want to watch a movie about homophobia with him as the fucking hero. Now that I get. I mean, I think that's true for a lot of people - that you care more when it finally happens to you - but for me it's also what they continued to do, all the ways they have propped themselves up as defenders of women and as the right kind of victim. I remember reading that someone Gretchen Carlson helped get fired from Miss America said she was told that one of the talking points she had to push was that a Miss America (meaning Carlson who is a former MA) started #MeToo. Just the fucking gall. A black woman named Tarana Burke started the movement 14 years ago. But of course Carlson has tried to erase her and take credit for her work. And it bears repeating, calling this movie Bombshell is just so fucking gross.

I feel bad for them. Misogyny, sexual harrassment, etc., are never okay, no matter how awful the woman being targeted is.

@MargeGunderson I'm so sorry for your loss. I know Kitty Gunderson was a deeply loved and cared for kitty. She couldn't have asked for a better cat mom. You're both in my thoughts.

This looks fun and I spotted Amanda Zhou (she was pretty much the best thing about Netflix's figure skating show Spinning Out) so I'm gonna give this a shot.

Sheldon and Penny had more chemistry together in the first season of TBBT than either had with anyone else during the rest of the series.

I'm only interested in a reboot if they can match the energy, humor, and adventurousness of the first four seasons and can find actors as perfect as the original four (reboots tend to pick generically attractive people with very little talent or charisma). Since lighting rarely strikes twice in this kind of situation I don't have any hope for a reboot, even if it does happen.

I'm so sorry to hear about Chester's situation, @Bastet. It's heartbreaking to watch a beloved pet decline despite our (and their) best effort. Thankfully his quality of life is still good and he's still himself. No doubt Chester's resilience and strength comes in part from how well cared for and how loved he is. I'll continue to keep him, your parents, and yourself in my thoughts and I truly do hope that Chester is able to pass away peacefully at home in his sleep.

Having romantic feelings for someone should make you a better person but they often don't. So I don't hold it against the show that the characters never seemed to have a Jerry Maguire epiphany. My issue with most of the ships is that they were more often than not poorly thought out and often involved a lot of shitty things like attempted rape or mind control. And IIRC they wrote Oz off the show not because supernatural and normal can never be together but because the actor wanted to do other projects.

Great minds think alike as that's exactly what I've been doing for Amber. The heating pad whenever she wants it (which is frequently due to her thinness), whichever foods she's willing to eat, etc. She's always been the queen of the house and has ruled it accordingly but the pampering has gone into overdrive. She's thankfully been very content this past week. Thank you for your response and kind thoughts, I really appreciate it. I just want to start by saying thank you for all the good advice you've previously given me. It started getting harder this past week to get Amber to eat but I remembered the advice you gave me a few years ago when my cat Bella was experiencing kidney failure. Among other things you recommended baby food and that was the only thing that would tempt Amber to eat for a few days. I'm so sorry to hear your parents' cat has been going through a similar situation and will keep them all in my thoughts. Amber's always been a very fastidious cat but she hasn't tried to clean her bottom at all. I think it would definitely stress her out and cause some pain if I tried to remove it and it's not causing any issues with her going to the bathroom. So I'm going to leave it. Thank you for the advice, again. Thank you so much for your response, I appreciate it so much.

Tomorrow at 4 pm, the last cat I have with be put to sleep. Amber is 20 and has a tumor that is eating every calorie that enters her body so it's time. I've (mostly) made my peace with it so this post isn't about that. Earlier today she sat on the porch and got into some mud. It's dried very near her rear. But the tumor is on her lower back starting at the spine, continuing out and down about and inch and a half so she does not respond well to having her tail lifted because of the tumor (and has completely given up on cleaning herself) and I'd definitely have to lift her tail to get the mud off. I'm torn on whether or not to try to get at it. I don't want her in any pain or cause her more stress coming into her last day so I'm very tempted to just leave it. On the other hand I feel bad that she might die with dirt crusted on her bottom. Any advice or tactics?

Gee, writers, excellent decision to prioritize shock value over coherent storytelling. The Netflix summary for Badgley's new show about a violent psychopath You is: boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, boy obsesses over girl- how far will boy go to get girl? And, hilariously, you could almost describe GG the same way because of the finale.

It's time for this show to end. All their biggest storylines (Densi, Callen's identity) have peaked. The newer material is boring, ridiculous, or stupid. They should end the show with Deeks and Kensi leaving NCIS and whatever for Callen, Sam, and the others.

True. I just always assume it was cheating in that instance based on Ross' reactions in that episode. He made sure to hide it from Bonnie while he tried to make up his mind which wouldn't really have been necessary if he and Bonnie weren't exclusive, I thought.

@FilmTVGeek80 Look, I get it. You, for some reason, took my criticism of Ross personally. But here's the thing: these things that Ross did that I criticized? Didn't work out for him. Ross' approach to relationships was deeply flawed (and something of a long-running joke on the show). Don't date a student. Be upfront about the fact you're living with your baby momma, why you're doing that, etc. Don't share deep, meaningful kisses with a woman you've had feelings for since you were 17/18 years old when you're involved with someone else. Say the right name at the altar. And, as I said in my original post: I don't believe that Ross' desire for a relationship is some kind of virtue or an appealing trait as I have often seemed claimed. Which was my point. Monica's most overrated trait was her OCD. While they'd sometimes play it up I didn't think it was so outlandish. Put the caps back on pens, please use coasters and don't put your feet on the table, don't get crumbs all over the floor, etc. Her 'quirks' were, for the most part, reasonable. Perhaps not fun but certainly not outlandish. I'd consider Joey and Chandler's super lax approach to be weirder (throwing wet paper towels at the wall, intentionally dropping spaghetti in the floor, etc). The eleven towel categories was nuts, tho.

'And' what? I doubt D&D wanted their show to decline in quality but that's what happened.

While it's true that things we've experienced can negatively impact our relationships, Ross' decision to cheat on some of his girlfriends or to speak disparagingly about the work of another is up to him. Trust issues, in my opinion, didn't play much of a role in Ross' failed relationships. Ross and Rachel's relationship failed for a number of reasons of which trust was only one. Trust had nothing to do with why his relationships with Bonnie, Julie, Mona, and Emily ultimately imploded. As for Rachel- so what? My post is about Ross. Despite how he sometimes acted on the show, Ross was a grown man entirely responsible for his own actions. I don't believe women are filthy harlots who entice men into cheating on their girlfriends or wives. Ross made a choice, more than once, to step out on the person he was with. There's nothing wrong with hoping to find the right person and to get married someday. But there most certainly is a problem when someone Just Wants To Be Married. (In my experience people who are in love with love, prefer to be in relationships, or Just Want To Be Married, are people who don't know how to be happy when single for extended periods of time. They often rush into ill-advised relationships or implode the ones they're in and they don't often choose partners who want the same things as they do.) Marrying the first person you've ever been in a serious relationship with is going to end in heartbreak a lot of the time, especially if you became involved young. One of the biggest predictors of divorce among het marriages is age. If the relationship began when either or both was under 25 then there's a high chance of divorce because most people don't want at 35 what they wanted at 19 or 20. People learn about relationships and what it takes to make them work over time, by having them. Yes, lots of people do get married young and/or to the first person they've been in a serious (or any) relationship with, and many of those people get divorced. For some it might work but it didn't work out for Ross, obviously. For Ross, this clearly wasn't the way to go. I disagree that kissing Rachel because he had feelings for her and wanted to be with her isn't cheating. How does that work? Either he was in a monogamous relationship with Julie and then with Bonnie or he wasn't and he clearly was. He stepped out on both. Rachel's dismissive opinion of Bonnie is irrelevant, not least of all because we know her opinion was motivated out of jealousy and anger. As for Emily, yikes. One of two things happened there: either Ross still had feelings for Rachel, in which case marrying Emily after less than four months of knowing her was a huge obvious mistake, or Emily was a very controlling person and perhaps, just perhaps, Ross might have found that out had he not married her in under 70 days of knowing her. Maybe taking things more slowly might have worked out better for him.

Ross' most overrated trait is his desire to be married. I've seen it said that this makes Ross a catch, and ultimately a good guy even if he was terrible at relationships, because so many guys aren't focused on marriage but I disagree. Ross was into marriage for the sake of being "settled". He wanted that sort of generic, suburban house with the yard and two or three kids in a neighborhood near a good school lifestyle he had growing up. As he told Rachel. He married the first woman he was ever in a relationship with, cheated on Julie with Rachel, completely screwed up his relationship with Rachel by telling her he expected her to realize her career was "just" a job because he felt she wasn't prioritizing him, married Emily after knowing her less than four months and then said another woman's name at the altar, and he cheated on Bonnie with Rachel. Not to mention the Vegas marriage disaster and his relationship with like a nineteen year old student.