Kathira

East of Eden popped into my head instantly. Then I hesitated, because I've never read it and I wasn't 100% sure of the plot. I've only read any Steinbeck at all because I was forced to as a school assignment. Not a fave. But I couldn't think of anything else. The only TS I got was Patton. But at least I knew it was wrong when he was guessed for the DD. It had to be a WWI guy, but I couldn't make Pershing come to mind.

Farewell, Liam, and good luck. One thing I thought was amusing in this episode was when Paul criticized the size of Steven's showstopper and asked what he'd been doing for 4 hours. I wanted Steven to ask if he had seen all the gorgeous fondant roses he made. Those things don't make themselves, especially in the heat. I am really relieved that this season has been going so well. And that Noel, who had the potential to be annoying, has turned out to be funny and sweet and an excellent host. He's what I would call "gently loopy" in a good way. He and Sandi seem to balance each other out.

2/5 for me. Bauhaus and Guillotine. The two "easy" ones.

Maybe they think that Joan killed him where he was found. That she sustained her injuries fighting with him, then got a cab back home. We don't see how she got to the hospital, but presumably Sherlock came home, found her and called an ambulance. I suppose Joan could have gone downstairs and found her phone to call. I don't think either of them have cars. There's plenty of evidence of a fight at the brownstone, even with the clean-up work that Sherlock was doing (and the general mess of the crash debris), but I suppose they could claim that either she staged it, or that Sherlock did to protect her. Plus, the brownstone is in various states of disrepair on a regular basis, which they could force Marcus, etc. to attest to. I'm not saying it makes a whole lot of sense, but it could be theoretically possible. They could claim that Joan was frustrated with their inability to catch Michael, combined with the architect guy's suicide, and that drove her to confront him.

Joining on the Isaac hate. He also had very large ears, which I wouldn't care about (it's obviously not his fault) except that I thought it was funny that his last name was Loeb and he did indeed have rather impressive lobes. That almost made me feel sorry for him, realizing that he must have been teased for his ears. Then he started with the category-hopping looking for the DDs. Ugh. I liked Caitlin - bad luck to be on with a great player like Rick. Glad to hear he's apparently got a teaching job. How fun would it be to be able to put under "Jeopardy contestant" on your resume? I also enjoyed Alex TreeBeard. I've always been favorably disposed towards men with beards. My husband has a lovely beard which is just starting to get gray.

I have mixed feelings about some of these wacky historical weapons they come up with. The Sengese really seemed dubious. I have a hard time believing that historical smiths made them better than the modern ones or that ancient blades could have survived that kind of strength test either. I'm glad they tested both blades though. I don't like it when one blade fails and they don't finish the testing with the other one. Anyway, congrats to Ashe. (On a shallow note, he was pretty cute.)

Aww, you guys don't like Bob Dylan and the friendly chickens! My only problem with it is that it's a bit of an ear worm, which is what led me to seek it out. Sometimes listening to a whole song will cure an ear worm, especially if you have just one line or phrase stuck in your head. I also thought his family were "taking the piss" which is a very British tradition of saying the opposite of what you mean when you like someone or are proud of them.

I don't know if this should go here or in the Media thread, but it relates more to PBS generally than the media about the show. In my area anyway, the show is sponsored by Nellie's Free Range Eggs and they have a super cute promo spot featuring Bob Dylan's "All I Really Want to Do (Is, Baby, Be Friends with You) and I've become fascinated with it over the weeks of watching the show. If anyone else has seen it and is interested, here's a link with more infornation about the company, which seems really cool. The article has a link to the full ad. http://www.unionleader.com/Monroe-egg-company-goes-for-the-gold-with-TV-campaign-during-Rio-Olympics It makes me want to spend a couple extra bucks on fancy eggs. To add some on-topic material, I was glad John won. His cake really looked fantastic. As soon as I saw Brendan's, I could see that they were going to ding him for being old-fashioned and stodgy. Apparently, James was the big heartthrob for the season, but I really thought John was a cutie-patootie. I'm glad he is finding success as a baker. I really felt for Brendan, though. It was obvious that he really wanted to win and was very disappointed. I'm sure he's a private person, but I think an American reality show would have made more of his traditional, repressed Irish Catholic family upbringing, his difficulty coming out as a gay man, etc. I barely realized he was gay until they showed his (young, handsome) partner in the final. John was gay, too, wasn't he?

This was fun to see. I agree about the pacing problems, which I think are typical of the era, especially for a six episode story. I found it helpful to take a break about an hour in, at the end of what would have been the third episode. I found the episode ending cliff-hangers to be fairly obvious. The animation style didn't bother me and I was pleasantly surprised that there was as much live-action footage as there was. The costumes and ridiculous monsters were a real blast from a past, and I found a real fondness in my heart for it.

A friend made a Lebanese rosewater drink for a party last weekend, and I'm sad to report that it tasted like cherry Koolaid or possibly Hawaiian Punch. Either way, the flavor was definitely overwhelming and very sweet. It's possible that it's suposed to be that way, but it definitely wasn't to my taste. It was one of those awkward situations where someone has gone out of their way to make something fancy and you just have to smile, say nice things about the effort the person put in and dump it discreetly.

In WWII, my father was rejected by the Navy for red-green color blindness. The reason was that at that time anyway, the Navy still used signal flags that could be misinterpreted. He had no idea he even had a problem until he tried to sign up for the Navy, as it wasn't tested for in schools back in those days. The Army had no problem with it, however, and signed him right up. I looked it up and although you can join the modern US Navy with color blindness, there are a lot of areas that are restricted in addition to the SEALS, for example, all submarine duties. Interestingly, my father was a pharmacist, a field where you would think color blindness would be an issue but it was never a problem. As I understand it, he could still tell red and green when they were separate, but they looked muted to him, especially when they were blended together. It's a sex linked characteristic and my son is also red-green color blind.

2020 would be two more seasons, right? I can see wanting to retire at 80, especially since he's had some health issues. I can also see them wanting to go with someone who has exerience as an announcer or tv commenter. As long as it isn't Buzzy or Austin. Or Ken Jennings, who apparently has a problematic twitter history.

What is Breed's Hill?

I was away on Friday, being bored at my high school reunion, hanging out with people who I was barely friends with 40 years ago. Also, it was a smallish venue and the music was so loud you couldn't hear yourself think, let alone talk. I mean, isn't talking to people you haven't seen in years the point of a reunion? Having to yell into people's ears made it impossible to catch up with even the few I did remember fondly. And the one gal I was hoping to see, who really was a good friend, ended up not coming. And another one turned out to be there to sell us on her new social media scheme. Ugh. I would have had more fun watching Jeopardy and hanging with you guys. Anyway, I did get Shirley Chisholm and the FJ. I'm glad to hear that Concord and Lexington would have been accepted. Bunker Hill was very close.

Yes, but Adam is the one who gets the "credit" for Original Sin. It's weird, sexist and patriarchal, but that's oldtime religion for you.

We do it that way in my church all the time. It saves having to wash all those tiny cups and is more sanitary than having everyone drink from a common cup. The priest/pastor doesn't dunk it for you. You take a piece of bread, dunk it and eat it. One person (an elder or deacon) holds a dish of bread pieces (we don't use the pre-made wafers) and another holds the cup. They either stand at the front and the congregation files past them, or they come around, depending on how large your group is or how the seating is arranged. For a big group, you may have more than one station. I'm Presbyterian, but I think the practice is pretty widespread at least in Protestant churches. As a note, we don't use actual wine anymore. We use grape juice, due to concerns for allergies, medication interaction or alcoholism.

What happens if Dave is still winning at the end of the season? At that point, he would qualify for the TOC. Does he just start again when they begin filming season 35? Or if not Dave, then whoever is the champ on Friday?

I always figure that early people must have observed animals eating various things and followed suit. Also, hunger is a powerful motivator. Our ancestors were curious and inventive, clever with a mix of daring and caution that allowed them to survive and pass on their genetics to us. I can't seem to get my quote function right, but I think you would have gotten credit for the Latter Day Saints. LDS is pretty common abbreviation for them.

Top Chef Seattle (Season10) also featured geoducks prominantly. It was pretty funny. http://bravotv.com/top-chef/season-10/videos/everyone-wants-geoduck

Wow, Dave really is a dominating player, although I agree that his FJ betting is frustrating. Especially since he's a high better on Daily Doubles. I got Mormon (I'd never heard of the Council of the 12 Apostles thing but it seemed obvious that it had to be the Mormons. Pretentious, American + patriarchal = LDS. My apologies to any believer here). Also Bull Mastiff (which should have been a BMS), gear, cornet, Virginia and the super easy FJ. As for Tara's interview about her alma mater - way to make it all about yourself, Alex.

OK. I guess I didn't catch that he was Indian. My bad.

Neel got off to a fast start, but Dave is just too dominating. I got pin (to make 10-pin rather than the traditional 9 pin bowling), Ron Howard, clamming and the very easy FJ. I guess Neel's parents were afraid his name would be pronounced wrong if they spelled it Neal or Neil. Instead they ended up with a name that looks like it's spelled wrong.

There is, however, a Dave Mattingly who's an NPR reporter. He looks a bit like the new champ, but I don't think it's him. There's also NASA astronaut Ken Mattingly. Anyway, congrats to the new champ. He really dominated the board. I don't think I got any TS's tonight, but I did get FJ.

I like Bosch, too. It's good to have a wide range of tv viewing habits. You never know what will come up on Jeopardy! Personally, I'm waiting for the category on the Great British Baking Show.

OK, there are a lot of people around there. I'm going to tell myself that someone else helped the puppy. Can we stop talking about it now?