ABay

I've been rewatching a favorite British show from the late70s/early80s in which the lead male character and one of the other males appear shirtless in one of the episodes, to the general hilarity of fans. Because they look like actual men who, quite sensibly, prefer to spend time at the pub instead of the gym and not like the boys we've become accustomed to seeing in the last couple of decades. Of course, in fan art, all characters are depicted as being super buff gods. I've been thinking that if the show were remade today the actors would actually have the bodies on screen that they have in fan art.

1. Chocolate 2. Pizza Everything else is tied for third.

That tweet is literally virtually shouting.

Divorced, Beheaded, Survived Terrible Tudors

Oh, yes, I am familiar with squirrels. They have a lovely apartment in my neighbor's shed. But the last time I grew tomatoes, they weren't a problem. The catbirds were the problem then--they liked to peck one perfect round hole in every ripe tomato. I've put up chicken wire and placed a mint plant amongst the tomato plants, and I'll pick the fruit as soon as it turns even slightly orange.

Two pet peeves this morning. 1. Squirrels eating my tomatoes, both ripe and green. 2. Pet sitters who say they administer medication but can't unless it's a single pill in a pill pocket.

It's 2 hours to the nearest Wegman's from here. I'm moving back to WNY when I retire just to be close to one.

It's nice to see he's changed technique since stabbing Jacob. [/Lost]

The heat advisory that was supposed to expire tonight has been extended to tomorrow night. The temps will dip all the way down to the mid to high 80s later this week. Just kill me now.

No! Nonononononoooo! How dare they kill off Boris McGiver? His character. You know what I mean. Damn it.

I'm in the northeast and we're under a heat advisory until Monday night. This is following the heat advisory that just ended this past week. Temps are in the 90s and the humidity is in the 70s. I am not happy.

Now and for all time I fucking hate fucking summer. It's too hot and humid to leave the house except to get in an air conditioned car to go to an air conditioned office. The yard looks like 1313 Mockingbird Lane because I can't stand even the few minutes it takes to deadhead and tidy up. Hate it hate it hate it. Bring on October, please.

I thought of you, @M. Darcy

Is there a dating thread, or is that just for online dating?

One of my favorite podcasts* just had an interesting episode about Uber. Spoiler: they're just as evil as you suspected or should have suspected. They dissect conspiracies and conspiracy theories and one of the hosts is an associate professor. They also do episodes about academic papers about conspiracy theorizing, mostly from philosophy but also political science.

I don't know how "from" was dropped from phrases like "I graduated from college" or why people forget how they were saying things before, but I wish it would stop. If anyone knows who started it, give me a name and I'll fetch my graduated pitchfork and torch.

According to JustWatch Leverage: Redemption (the new series) is streaming for free on FreeVee, formerly IMDB TV, and Directv.

Last week I had to get bubble wrap at Staples and the only rolls were on the very top shelf. I got a yardstick from the next aisle and moved a roll close enough to the edge that it fell and I caught it. I've had to do something similar in grocery stores a few times by getting a utensil from the kitchen aisle.

Yes, go-go boots were not thigh high. Maybe they were Before Their [writers] Time.

The show's social conscience is very good. I can't think of a favorite Sterling moment but, oddly, I can think of a Nate one--when he went to a costume party as Ellery Queen, the character played by the actor's real-life father.

I imagine Ben Linus looking at Leland Townsend and sneering "amateur". Not that Ben was anywhere as evil as Leland but he holds the Gold for manipulation.

Decades ago when the internet was still new and shiny and the web was just emerging from Tim Burners-Lee’s man womb, I was on a mailing list for a TV show I deeply loved. Online fandom was new and I was new to fandom. Some of you are old enough to remember what it was like, people posting their fan coming-out stories as we all found each other online and realized we weren’t alone. As it turned out, I actually preferred being alone with the show although I did enjoy going to cons and making friends in the community. I’m appalled when I think about how badly I behaved. What I learned from that experience was that while fandom as a community and way of relating to texts of all kinds is a thing I very much love, I have to stay away from places where a show I am extremely attached to, one that feels like it’s mine, is discussed and any fan products involving it. I’m perfectly normal, fannishly speaking, when it’s a show I just like. But when obsessed I do not play well with others. (Imagine Daffy Duck shouting “Mine mine all mine”). Other people’s interpretations of the characters felt overwhelming and threatening in a very weird way that I hope I never, ever experience again. I’ve just started rewatching that show for the first time in over 20 years and I’ve had to talk myself out of getting sucked back in and remember that I don’t have to talk to anyone. Well, I say talk but I mean argue. I became extremely defensive and felt like I had to in some way protect a character who was not very popular and was often in opposition to the character everyone, including me, loved. Even watching on my own I had all the negative views of others in my head and getting very worked up if anything happened on screen that I knew would be picked apart by the majority and couldn’t really enjoy the popular character. What a miserable way to be and I generously shared that misery to others. I send my apology to the universe.

The new Leverage episodes were pretty good. I didn't miss Nate, I did miss Hardison, but what I really missed was Sterling. Always the smartest guy in the room, and he might not win but he never loses.

I will love watching Ben Linus and Harold Finch forever and am impressed Michael Emerson could play two such different characters and make me love them both. But Leland...ick. He's not doing anything interesting and I think it's time to write him out.

What an idiot.