Miss Dee

I'm going to Toronto to see the Bruce Springsteen concert on Feb 2. We'll be there 4 nights. What would people recommend, seeing it's the dead of winter? I want to find an authentic Korean kalbi restaurant, but other than that I'm open to ideas!

I don't think that's what she meant at all. I think she was pointing out that if she makes a decision to cover her hair for a private reason to do with her religion, and someone objects by saying she's having power taking away from her in doing so through repression of her sexuality due to the male gaze, then they're the ones equating what she does with her hair to the power she wields. She doesn't see it that way at all. And since she seems to be a very forthright and honest individual, we're actually insulting her by insinuating she's doing this to placate men and giving up "power" by doing so, as if the only power she can wield is in her appearance and men's judgment of it.

I never watched the Daily Show regularly until Trevor took over. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

I think that's why I like this development so much. It's not that he had sex - if he'd announced he had a one-night stand just to have a sexual experience, it might have been funny depending on the set up but I wouldn't have found it as moving as Sheldon deciding he loved his girlfriend enough to want to express it physically even if it wasn't necessarily his cup of tea.

That would be fantastic, to design my own planner. I find the usual ones are never functional enough for my liking.

I just got the pun in the title. Clever!

Well, it is a standing order in my house now that I do not make the gravy for our Sunday dinners, even when I'm hostess. Let me tell you how this order came about: Gravy Attempt, Family Dinner #1: Used gravy browning to colour gravy - turned out to be essence of ginger instead. (Same type of bottle.) Gravy Attempt, Family Dinner #2: Used cornstarch to thicken gravy. Once gravy bubbled up like a volcano experiment in fourth grade, realized I'd actually used baking soda. Gravy Attempt, Family Dinner #3: Used all the right ingredients. Thickened with flour this time. Gravy coming along nicely, but needed a bit more thickening. So I did it up, poured it in - only to see a dead earwig pour into the gravy along with the flour mix. I know when I'm beaten.

Is this the same as shellac? I really don't want gel nails - I hate how the nail beds always look unnaturally puffy - but a coworker uses shellac nail polish and claims it doesn't chip for a couple of weeks. My nails are very soft and easily torn, so I'm hoping a two-week nail polish might help with that.

I always thought it was stupid that the writers didn't go for the Janeway/Chakotay romance near the end of the series. Not because I shipped them all that hard, but because it was the ONE Star Trek series where such a plot line could be explored with some thematic resonance. Most people would be in the position Picard and Wendy were in "Lessons"...it's not a good idea, so someone transfers off the ship and they keep it long-distance, or someone gives up their career, or takes a demotion, or the two simply break up. The fascinating thing with Voyager was *none of that would have worked*. If Janeway had fallen for a member of the crew, short of a Vulcan "forget" mind-meld, what was she going to do about it? Chakotay (if that's what they had decided to go with) wouldn't be able to transfer anywhere. She can't afford to have him out of the chain of command, so leaving his field commission for a civilian life wouldn't have worked. She can't take a demotion; the crew are relying on her to go home. And they can't get away from each other, there's nowhere else to go. So how would someone deal with an overpowering attraction and heightened feelings in a situation like that? Personally, I think Tuvok would have told her to go for it, not because he thought it was that hot of an idea but because logically none of the other solutions would have worked in their circumstances, and not acting on it would probably cause a bigger FUBAR than if she did. It would have been one of the few times where a romance for the captain and a crewmember would actually have an impact on plots and storylines. Didn't have to be Chakotay, although having it be the first officer would have been the best kind of monkey wrench to make the situation even more difficult. I'm pretty convinced the writers didn't go there because they didn't want the one female captain/series lead in the franchise be the one who had a big romance storyline. But DAMMIT that was a waste of a good plot that literally could not have been done on any other series.

Amy did see it and like it, according to the end tag. Just not as much as Sheldon did (he saw it again with her). But in her defense, she doesn't have the history with the franchise like he does.

I don't want to *hear* Sheldon talk about that, but I really want to *see* Leonard's anguished responses when he does....

I want to draw lengthy parallels between the boys anticipating Star Wars, Shamy (and the girls!) anticipating Shamy sex, and the audience anticipating this episode. And how Wil Wheaton's advice worked for all 3 situations. But to be honest, I'm too blissed out in the afterglow.

I don't know that the show will develop Bruce Wayne/Batman as it ought; that's for more knowledgeable people than myself to thrash out. But if his growth this season is any indication of how far out his limits are, I do think Little Mazouz has it in him to go the distance. Edited to fix "Barman" - that's a completely different superhero.

I'm there too. In fact, I posted in the general UO thread that I think Season 3 is better than Season 1 in a way because it's more measured and sustainable. Season 1 was a beautiful supernova of a story...but maybe that could never have lasted, not at that pace and level of batshit!craziness.

*shrugs* You are entitled to your opinion. It's not what I'm seeing, however.

I love The Pretenders' "2000 Miles"! I also love Coldplay, so I was excited when I stumbled across this version:

Dang. Somebody raised that girl right.

Earworms: --Bad when not being able to place the song makes you fear you will be driven insane. --Good when they inspire you to look up your ex and confess that she's the worm of your heart.

21 Jump Street was enough to convince me. He went all-in for that, and I'd have never thought he had it in him to be that hilarious.

Two of my favourite "Christmas" movies are Last Holiday (Queen Latifah) and While You Were Sleeping (early Sandra Bullock). I say "Christmas" because while the holidays are part of the scene, the plot doesn't really focus on them.

I always look for the casting director in movies. Some have a prescient sense of which up and coming actors are going to eventually make it big.

I did like it, but I get where you're coming from. On sitcoms (and probably more so with Chuck Lorre sitcoms) we're so used to the politics of relationships treating sex and physicality as a given. This is one of the only sitcoms I can think of where each step forward, especially in the physical sense, has been slow and deliberate and fraught with importance and significance. Watching Sheldon and Amy be so vulnerable as to forget themselves and kiss passionately in joy at being back together feels voyeuristic because it's not like with other couples where such action is part for the course. We know we're watching something private that has significant meaning for who these two people are, deep down. Watching them reveal so much of themselves when they're usually so guarded...it's *intimate*. That word is thrown around so much, and it's so very rarely earned on TV when the entire point of television is to have an audience watching the lives of people on screen. TBBT has done something really unique on TV by deliberately and painstakingly deepening this relationship bit by tiny bit, with each step forward taken only after battles with each other and their own mindsets and their own fears.... Allowing us to see the walls Shamy has and see them being dismantled one brick at a time. To get to watch a moment like this... so vulnerable, so intimate, so emotionally naked, knowing what growth these characters have been through to get here...no wonder we feel like voyeurs! But I love it anyway. It cost something to get here, time and tears and courage...a large investment. And not just from the characters, but the audience too. This is one of the most hard-won romances on television, and completely unique. The joy on Amy's face when Sheldon professed his love with no reservations, Sheldon's physicality as he kissed her without abandon, probably doing what felt right for the first time in his life with no deliberation of thought beforehand... honestly, I was truly moved.

Went to the doctor about seven weeks ago and he told me my blood sugar was up, my cholesterol was up and unless I could get them down and lose 5 to 15 pounds in the meantime, I was going on medication. I had a month to do it. I went to see him last Monday (he was away unexpectedly so it took a bit longer than a month). Cholesterol was down to normal. Sugar was in the upper range of normal (after fasting - I have a family history of developing diabetes in one's sixties, so not a shock). And I had lost 17 pounds. Best of all: no medications!! I'm going to keep on. I was at 260 and am now at 243. The doctor told me to aim for 220-230. I'll decide then how much further I want to go, depending on what's healthy and how my body feels. My lowest weight as an adult was 200, and that was at a size 8 and while maintaining an extensive exercise regime that took everything I had to keep up. Not my cup of tea.

God, Bialik's face when Amy said "I love you too..." it was like the sun coming up. Make it work, you crazy kids!

Dang, I didn't even know that was a real legend! That should make for a creepy episode!