Babalu

I loved both of those, @ElectricBoogaloo! You probably already know this, but Gabrielle was on Broadway in In the Heights (mostly as alternate/understudy for various roles), so she and Lin-Manuel know each other.

I'm still upset with CBS, but not as much. I'm glad Ian has been promoted, and the other two actors are Samoan (Beulah Koale - definitely represented in HI) and half-East Indian (Meaghan Rath - not common in HI, but still a POC.) BTW, I'm a white chick, and I'm tired of being over-represented.

I do think they could have used something other than Black Mirror as an example of generational fluency//lack thereof. I'm way older than Liza, and I know about it because I read a review in The New Yorker last November. I'm sure that, as New Yorkers in the publishing business, Liza and Charles also read TNY. (Okay, I admit that's very nitpicky of me, but it bugged me a little.)

I'm done, and I told CBS. Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park and their contributions to the team were important parts of why I've watched the past seven seasons, and this is just a shoddy way to treat two of your stars, especially since they're the only two POC leads. If CBS/the production company needed to save money that badly, they could have eliminated shrimp guy, Flippa, the kids, any girlfriends in the past few years (none of whom have added an iota to the show), Jerry, and even Scott Caan, who apparently doesn't want to be there anyway. I'll miss the scenes of Hawai'i, but not enough to get over my distaste at the way this was handled. Edited to respond to @Passepartout: I think you're probably right, but that's not how it was presented. If the story from both GP and DDK had been that their time at H50 was wonderful but they'd decided to pursue other opportunities, that would have been sad but understandable. Instead, it was that CBS wouldn't value them as much as their co-stars.

Of all those (not just B99) I've watched, Stephanie Beatriz's is probably my favorite! Guns and Ships is HARD! And I loved hearing her real voice. Second favorite was Jaime Camil from Jane the Virgin.

I don't think Varga = Trump, but I do think he at least partly represents the Trump/Bannon/Mercer/Koch/Adelson/etc. mind set, which is having so much influence on our political system right now.

I didn't really think of this season having a political slant until today, but now I completely agree with you. We didn't watch the finale until last night, and during the last scene, I knew I'd heard part of Varga's speech before but couldn't remember where. This morning, it came to me - it was in a New Yorker article about Robert Mercer, the conservative billionaire who has made huge contributions to the Trump campaign and Breitbart news. Here's what an employee said about him: link to complete article I wasn't too happy about the ambiguity of the ending (or about the season as a whole), but now, knowing that Noah Hawley cribbed this from one of the most despicable (IMO) people in the country, the open-endedness makes a lot of sense. We're all in the middle of a very unsettled situation, and it could go either way. Most of us are on the side of the Glorias of this world and want justice to prevail, even though we know life isn't always good or fair. But the Vargas have a lot of power right now, and it is by no means certain they won't continue to enrich themselves by whatever means necessary and tell themselves and us that they're completely justifed doing so. I think this relates to why Varga was so physically repellent and also why many of his pronouncements sounded deep and thoughtful but actually made no sense at all.

They're from the same studio. (If you click on that link, there are short paragraphs about both Marks, Pono , Cole Horibe, and a bunch of other dancers from 24-7).

I think Thayne Jasperson (SYTYCD S4 and ensemble/Samuel Seabury in Hamilton) is also an understudy for King George III, but I'm not sure he's ever played the role.

In addition to the Chris/Amanda mask callback, there was another reminder of Season 4's Venice leg when they showed a couple of the actors/clowns pulling "intestines" out of someone's stomach. Wasn't that the Fast Forward in S4 completed by the air traffic controllers a.k.a. the BFGs a.k.a. Steve and Dave?

The title of this episode is Hawai'i's state motto (not that I can ever tell what he episode titles ever have to do with the plots).

That's Rory O'Malley, right? I've also heard he's a gem both in real life and in Hamilton. I'm a little jealous of you because I don't know if I'll ever get to see it again!

Thank you, @ElectricBoogaloo! I had seen a couple of previous coronations, but not that one. I've watched the 3 Georges as the Schuyler sisters numerous times and am always up for a re-watch - my very favorite #Ham4Ham! I saw Hamilton in August 2015 with Jonathan Groff as King George III the 2nd; as far as I know, the only person still in the cast from then is Thayne Jasperson. (I didn't see Chris Jackson or Anthony Ramos, who were out that night.) Oh - maybe Neil Haskell is still back, too - he left for Tuck Everlasting and then returned to Hamilton after Tuck closed. And, of course, alternate Hamilton, Javier Muñoz, is still there, now as main Hamilton but has been out a lot due to injury.

Wow, Bd'AJ looks so young! And is very impressive, as you noted. I'm conflicted about him and Christian Borle because I saw both of them in Something Rotten a couple of years ago and have had a tremendous crush on CB ever since. On the other hand, Brian is reported to be one of the nicest guys around, and I'd love to see him as King George III the 1st and 6th. And I, too, saw a video of The Candy Man song and, like @DisneyBoy, wasn't particularly impressed.

I love that you have a Babalu! My Babalu (hence my screen name) was the love of my life. He was the most engaged, vocal cat I've ever had, and we could have full conversations. He was also fluent in duck, which he learned from the birds in the pond next to our house. His favorite game was hide-and-seek, which he always initiated. He understood the concept of taking turns, but wasn't so great at hiding (always under the bed; I had to pretend to look elsewhere for a while) or finding (he'd mew pitifully until I gave away my hiding place by calling his name).

I agree - $2000 for a family is not excessive at all, especially because you'll have lovely shirts and lovely memories as mementos. Thanks for the good wishes about my Dad. He's had pneumonia and various infections and wasn't breathing on his own but is now recovering. He's almost 90 and hasn't been in good health for many years, so it's been a tough but not totally unexpected week.

@Pixel has my permission! In fact, I insist she have twice the fun, if possible, because I've been spending my days with my Dad in ICU (things seem to be improving, though) and I miss Hawai'i horribly, so have three times the fun so I can enjoy some of your leftovers vicariously!

I never knew catios were a thing someone could build for you, but my husband jerry-rigged one for our cats when we lived in Hawai'i. It wasn't pretty, but they loved it, especially the seven-foot, three-level cat post he built. We now live in a house with a caged courtyard, and, like @Jamoche, have an insert with a cat door so they can go in and out at will. it works really well, EXCEPT Skeeter fell in the pool a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately, she figured out how to climb out. Both our cats are feral rescues, though only Skeeter acts wild. We think she may have some neurological damage, too, and was biting and scratching us a lot for quite a while. Our vet suggested de-clawing, but I couldnt do that; luckily, after years of working with her, she's much better now - not perfect, but better. She's very sociable and we love her a lot, but I think a lot of people wouldn't have had as much patience with her and she would have been euthanisized if she'd ended up in a lot of other homes.

I'm so jealous, @Pixel! I've been wanting a corgi for years, but I don't think my cats would do well with a dog. I hope you'll post pictures sometimes and tell us cute corgi stories. Do you have a name picked out?

My teenage years were a looong time ago, but the first book I thought of was Catch-22. It was my bedside book, and I read it and re-read it, often opening it and reading a chapter or two at random before I'd go to sleep. I think it was the very randomness that resonated with me - you can't really rely on something happening just because it makes sense that it will. I also liked the non-linear plot, told from different perspectives; I think it made my perspective a little more flexible as I started to enter adulthood. I haven't read it for years, but think I'll order it from iBooks right now, although I'm a little scared it won't live up to my memories.

Late to the boba discussion, but I agree with everyone who doesn't like to chew their beverages, so I've never tried it even though boba shops are quite prevalent in HI. They tend to serve boba in other ways, too - for example, at a fancy buffet, you might find a liliko'i (passionfruit) panna cotta with lavender-infused boba. I HATE flowery flavors, so I'd just scrape the boba off. No snow here in FL, of course, but I did 33 years in Minnesota, so I can empathize. It was in the 50s yesterday, and about 9:30, I was surprised to hear sloshing because it was way too cold to swim. I went into the living room, where my husband was watching TV. He noticed the floor was wet, and then our soaking-wet cat walked by us. We think she just fell in (and, thank God, figured out how to get out) but aren't entirely sure cat #2 didn't push her.

I'm pretty sure Mark didn't dance with Gaga at the Super Bowl, although there was a dancer who resembled him.

Maybe? Ok, maybe not? Time isn't really a thing in the afterlife, so "past" motivations could be adjusted based on "current" perceptions. Or, as I said, I'm probably wrong.

I didn't realize he lived here, either, @possibilities. I thought he was still in Maine. Maybe he's a snowbird. When I looked it up, I found he'd bought a very expensive house on Casey Key, which is sort of between Sarasota and Venice, where I live.

I marched! It was a little scary for me because I'm new here, so went alone, but I talked to a lot of nice people. Since it's only little Sarasota, there were probably only 10,000-20,000 people, but that still seemed like a lot. And there was an earlier March in Sarasota + 3 more within 2 hours + 14 more than that in the state of FL. Stephen King spoke at mine, but I didn't know that until I got home and read it on-line since I could neither hear nor see the speakers.