Fabricationary

RIP to that bright yellow light that inevitably shines over the Flash's shoulder to obscure his face from Iris when they have their not-so-secret rendezvous (for however long Iris decides to stay mad at the Flash, which I'm sure will only be an episode or two).

Looking for a laugh (and maybe a cry)? http://www.stfuparentsblog.com/post/79164903260/yoonique-baby-names-2014-edition and http://www.stfuparentsblog.com/post/42335580459/yoonique-baby-names and this site in general... Although I still don't care for my given name, it definitely could have been (much, much) worse. I am thankful that I am not an Alucard or an Avenyc!

I guess we could always go by our middle names - but I like my middle name even less than my first name! I've heard of parents who let their kids pick their own names when they're 4-5 years old...but I think the world would end up with a lot of Barbies, Princesses, Elsas, Wolverines, or whatever trend it is that kids that age are into.

My parents gave me an uncommon (European) spelling of a fairly uncommon English name. I've never particularly cared for it. I'm used to responding to anything that remotely sounds like it, since it is so commonly mispronounced/misspelled by others. I would have rather been an Anna or an Elizabeth or something more common.

It seems like J'chelle (and now Jill) announce their pregnancies at the earliest possible moments, preferably to as big of an audience as possible (Today show, People magazine, etc.), even if it's before the first trimester ends. On the other hand, Anna with her last few pregnancies seems to be very hesitant to announce that she's expecting (which may also be the case now, if she is indeed pregnant with blessing #4). Why do you all think that is? Do you think her miscarriage a few years ago plays a role?

http://www.jetpunk.com/quizzes/most-popular-j-names-quiz.php I doubt J'chelle and Boob would do very well on this quiz. No Jebidiahs or Jingers to be seen.

To me, she was likeable up until the last scene when she addresses the district and starts spewing metaphors and euphemisms. It seemed like a highly politicized rhetoric. In the rest of the movie, she seemed to act assertively and decisively, as you would expect a successful female CEO of a major corporation to act. Like many others have mentioned, this film seemed very drawn out with lots of silences and pauses. I feel like the time could have been better used fleshing out different characters' backstories. Also, I wish we would have seen more of what was going on in the capitol, besides Snow, Caeser, and Peeta's broadcasts.

Agreed. For anyone who's interested in the more realistic trajectory of PhD or MD degrees - I am 27, the same age as the actress who plays Caitlin. I finished a PhD in the hard sciences earlier this year, which in my case took 5 years of full-time effort. Usually in the US, for hard science/life science/engineering, PhD programs take 5-7 years (unlike our European counterparts who finish in ~3 years due to different standards). Some students start PhD programs at 21-23 years of age, right out of college. Others start after having completed master's degrees at the same or a different institution. Following the PhD, the majority of people go on to postdoctoral positions ("postdocs") lasting 2-5 years, where they (usually) switch institutions and research labs and practice being a more independent scientist. This sets them up for a career in academia or industry (biotech, startup, pharma, etc). However, the job market for PhDs is actually quite saturated, and often PhDs will do more than 1 postdoc before finding a "real job." So assuming Caitlin is intended to be a PhD, unless she was a prodigy and finished her PhD at a much younger than normal age as quarks suggested, she would realistically be in her early 30s (assuming a ~5 year PhD and a ~2-3 year postdoc prior to joining on with Wells). If Caitlin is intended to be an MD, again she would have to be in her early 30s realistically-speaking (unless she started a lot earlier than most). Medical school is 4 years, and the age of students when they start does vary quite a bit. Some students start at 21-23 right out of college. Some students start in their mid- to late-20s after getting another degree, doing research, or working in a health-related field for several years. At the end of medical school, you get "MD" after your name, but you can't actually practice medicine independently until you complete a residency (another 4 years, sometimes longer if you do a fellowship or a research residency) and finish all your licensing criteria. The youngest practicing doctors I know are in their early 30s.

She doesn't seem believable as a PhD scientist/doctor/whatever she is supposed to be (and also, from a real world perspective, she's a little too young-looking to be either of those). She just seems like the resident eye candy who follows Wells around and expresses concern and complains that the ideas being considered are unrealistic or risky. Like a den mother, as it were.

Wait, so Barry calls out Wells on his ruthlessness and playing God with the lives of others, then they go to commercial, then they're all like "that conversation never happened, and instead let's just go get in the van and get out of here!" (Though, it did seem too early for that plot twist.) I thought for a second they were going to sacrifice Eddie to further the inevitable let's-push-Barry-and-Iris-closer-together subplot, but oh well, I guess they can off him anytime.

The complete Elvis/Marilyn wannabe photo set this week, including the eliminated contestants (who, collectively, totally bested those still-in-the-running).

I use Sally Hansen Hard as Nails hardener, which goes on clear, after buffing my nails with a nail block. It's my all-time favorite clear polish, and I've tried a lot. I reapply about every week or two. I love colored nail polish too, but I don't have the patience to fix all the chips.

Yeah, there's an interview with Matthew floating around somewhere about how he developed his new clothing line (No Labels or something to that effect) during all the down time he had while in Korea for the show. So just think, the Mirjana/Denzel hookups didn't end when they were both eliminated!

The complete photo set (including eliminated contestants) for this week Good riddance to Chantelle. After the panda storyline was played out, I guess Tyra found no reason to keep her around, fake (?) hookup with Keith notwithstanding.

Wait, so Adam though the reason that Tyra was beckoning him at last judging was she wanted to kiss him to loosen him up? Really, does Adam think he's Keith all of a sudden?

I think he was referring to Glinda's light blue, poofy, sparkly bubble dress? Even if it was the wicked witch's dress, in Wicked her act 2 dress is actually quite intricate with colors besides black in it.

Hi Patricia! https://twitter.com/JenniBarbs/status/530814958247096320

I was very uninspired by everything that came down the runway. The "wicked" costumes (except for Chris's gray and pink dress) were all black and looked like skimpier redesigns of Elphaba's act 2 dress (the dress the Elphaba actress wore at the beginning of this episode). The "good" costumes were all white/cream, and many looked bridal (I guess we can all be thankful that Kate drew "wicked;" otherwise she might have created another bridal gown). I was hoping to see more creativity here - "wicked" dresses in colors other than black (dark green, dark blue, crimson, etc.) and "good" dresses in colors other than white/cream (pastels, etc.).

The unofficial Wikipedia tally is currently 75 love its vs. 55 list its for the original show (Hilary and David in Toronto) and 23 love its vs. 15 list its for the Vancouver spinoff (with Todd and Jillian).

Part of my morning beauty routine is spraying a little hairspray on a bristly brush (like this one), and using it to comb my eyebrows into place for the day.

Nice! I know Bertolli's frozen steamers are still sold, at least at my local Target, but they're pricier ($3.29ish where I live), so I don't buy them unless they're on sale/I have a Cartwheel offer or a coupon/both. There's a cheese tortellini variety with a yummy sauce/mozzarella cheese that I really like, and also a pasta primavera type dish, and they'll all around ~350 calories. (Unlike the tortas, which are like 700-1000 calories apiece! I saw that on the package and was flummoxed.)

Circa 2009-2010, Healthy Choice (I think) had an awesome frozen entree of long grain rice with some other components inside, including some veggies, some sort of bean and, I think, cranberries. It was my go-to work lunch and was a reasonable ~300 calories per serving. It was sadly discontinued. Being a vegetarian, finding an egg-containing breakfast sandwich in the frozen food aisle is a surprisingly difficult task, since most have sausage, ham, bacon, etc. along with the egg patty and bun. Smart Ones used to sell a product like this, with an English muffin as the bun, an egg patty, and a slice of cheese, for around 200 calories. Then they discontinued it (or at least the stores around me stopped carrying it), but they still have the meat options available. Happily, in the past year or so, both Lean Cuisine and Special K have started selling vegetarian egg sandwiches for breakfast. I've tried the Special K flatbreads - their egg patty also has some vegetables and some spicy-infused cheese (which I don't really like). But I really enjoy the Lean Cuisine version, which is an egg patty with spinach and tomato cooked into it, along with a slice of cheese on an English muffin for 180 calories. It's my go-to breakfast most days (with a generous dab of ketchup, since I'm the kind of person who almost always eats eggs with ketchup!). More recently, in the last few months I think, I have been unable to find the only Marie Callender's frozen entrees I eat - the steamers. They come (came?) with two plastic dishes inside each other - sauce on the bottom with vents, and a top dish with the pasta. You would stick them in the microwave as-is, and then after cooking, you'd transfer the pasta from the top dish into the bottom sauce dish. I loved the tortellini romano variety, but as of August or so, I've been unable to find them anymore.

This reminds me of: http://www.theonion.com/video/horrified-subway-execs-assumed-people-were-buying,36800/ I presume the sugary sodas and chips at Subway are to appeal more to the mass consumer who's satisfied that he or she is eating healthily by choosing Subway, and therefore doesn't mind adding some less healthy foods to their order (or just the people who are conditioned to the fast food way of dining, where there's always one or more extra components to the meal - burger and fries, burger and milkshake, sandwich and chips, etc.).

Tyra's headgear this episode was brought to you by:

Given that Wicked is one of my all-time favorite musicals, I'm excited for next week's episode (though from the preview where designers are drawing "good" or "wicked" out of a hat, it's unclear how much, if at all, the garments will be inspired by the musical). I would love a PR challenge where designers reimagine costume ideas for Wicked. The show's been running on Broadway for over 11 years now, and some of the costumes could definitely use a rework, such as: Act I Elphaba, ready to enter the convent, and Act I G(a)linda, ready to sell Avon cosmetics to Madame Morrible, to help with her pasty complexion. Elphaba's austere navy sleeveless "party dress" that looks like a community theatre costume and G(a)linda's overworked pink poofy dress. Obviously it's unlikely that the Wicked costume design team would drastically change things at this point, but I'd like to see some fresh takes, especially on Act I costumes.