proserpina65

Wow, two days in a row I got the FJ for a category that tends to be the kiss of death for me! I guessed Niels Bohr because they obviously wanted a Scandinavian scientist and he's the only one I know. Then I guessed Taft because, for some odd reason, I actually knew he'd become a Supreme Court Justice after being president. I'll take "Categories In Which I Usually Suck" for $2000, Alex! I was going to say treason, but then thought maybe that was too broad for the definition and said insurrection instead. But at least I answered something. Sheesh! I suck at political categories and got pretty much everything in the CIA category wrong, but in my defense, I wasn't in the room and didn't see the photo - even I would've gotten Leon Panetta if I'd seen the picture.

Thanks for the info, Attica.

I knew it from Big Bang Theory. But all I could think of for FJ was something to do with parachutes, and I knew that wasn't right. Kind of a pleasant surprise to get stumped for a change, because lately the FJs have been on the easy side.

I'm from Maryland, and would've felt like an idiot had I not gotten the first of two successive Maryland governors to be convicted of financial/legal improprieties which occurred while they were in office. (The second was Marvin Mandel, btw.) Yes. It sucked. I came up with "Dolphin" followed immediately by "Lepus" - no jackal here.

Well, without knowing their intent, we can't say for sure that FBI wesen and co. are evil, just unscrupulous. Time will tell. I'm still hoping that maybe they aren't evil.

Damn you, NBC! Use some of those useless cable channels for Premier League matches rather than informercials so that maybe, just maybe, I can watch Arsenal win once in awhile! 'Cause trying to watch on my computer, what with all the buffering, is impossible.

Maybe if I was gay, I might've taken offense, but I didn't even notice that exchange at all (had to actually wait for another poster to describe the 'shenanigan' in question), so maybe not. I think the editors would've used it either way, since it sounds like a bit of silly conversation.

"Death Comes To Pemberley"? More like ridiculous Victorian melodrama comes to Pemberley, starring woefully miscast caricatures of some people that may or may not have been in Pride and Prejudice. The only characters who came close to resembling those in Austen's original were Lydia and Mrs. Bennet, and, to a much lesser extent, Georgianna and Lady Catherine (great to see you again, Penelope Keith, don't be such a stranger). Seriously, what the hell was up with ruining Col. Fitzwilliam, who was by far the nicest and most-easying going person in all of the original book? Even the attractiveness of the actor wasn't enough to keep me from hating the character assassination performed on him. And the entire notion of poor Louisa being able to raise her illegitimate baby in an area when everyone would've known the child was illegitimate, I'm to assume without anyone caring, was utterly absurd; obviously the writers and producers knew nothing of Georgian societal mores when they wrote that crap. Or maybe that falls on P. D. James' shoulders, but still total crap.

I have problems with US presidents too - pretty much eveyone between Monroe and Teddy Roosevelt. I mean, I know some, but not all, of their names, but when they were president and who followed who - just not happening for the most part.

I loathed her character too, but, working in the legal system as I do, I can verify that there is a certain subset of defense attorneys who are exactly like Melnick, and yes, I do hate how they do their jobs in real life too. So bravo to Tovah Feldshuh for playing the character so well - true to life and so, so hateable. Every time I see Lorraine Toussaint in anything else, all I can hear is Ben Stone referring to her as "Miz Shamabala Green" - in fact, I often say that to the tv screen when she appears. Loved the character and her amazing performance. And she and Michael Moriarty had terrific chemistry on screen.

Thanks to Ben Stone, that actor will forever be known as Mr. C-Squared to me. I loved Ben - he wanted to do good and put criminals away, but he really didn't want to cut corners or do anything ethically questionable in the process. Sort of the anti-Jack McCoy in a lot of ways. I really missed him when he left.

When I was on Jeopardy, the production assistant who prepped my group of contestants told us we could self-correct and have the answer be ruled as correct IF Alex hadn't yet said the answer was wrong. (Wished I'd remembered that for my one really stupid answer.) But he did seem to pause longer than usual on the Hawk thing and the not responding in the form of a question occurrence last night. I was both overjoyed and pissed when I saw the category, because that is one of my dream FJ categories and I so wish I'd gotten that as my FJ. Then I saw the clue and was annoyed that it was so bloody easy. (N.B. Naming all the rulers of England from Edward the Confessor to Elizabeth II, and some of their spouses as well, is one of my party tricks. Yes, I go to really lame parties. lol)

Chris March is the only one of these people I even recognize, so, because I really liked him and thought he got robbed in his season by not making Fashion Week, I'm gonna root for him. (Although, yes, the fact that he's from the Bravo glory days will probably send him out early.)

Stupid World Series pre-game show made me miss last night's game. Pooey! I've heard it pronounced two different ways. Not sure which one is correct. Hope the way I say it is. I've heard the word, and knew it refered to the muse of dance, but never heard it used as a direct synonym for dancer. As you say, learning something new, yay!

This was Peter Jackson's chance to improve on the book, because the multiple ending thing in the book is bad writing. If Jackson had kept the scouring of the Shire, I might've been okay with keeping the never-ending endings, but the way he handled it just felt endless. And I adore the books.

Colonial, not Edwardian. But, yes, colonial women of the middle-to-upper classes did wear stays under their gowns which would've emphasized the cleavage. Although apparently during this time period, shoulders had to be covered, 'cause, you know, SHOULDERS. Ichabod should be more confused by women wearing pants, and quite snug ones at that, but cleavage being displayed shouldn't cause him a moment's consternation.

I'll have to wait until Fox re-runs it, alas. But I'll give it a try. ;-)

I like Sophie Kinsella but she's very uneven. The two you mentioned are great, and so was the first Shopaholic book, but the other Shopaholic books got increasingly weaker and more ridiculous. I was rather fond of Jane Green, but I've found her books don't always hold up to repeated reading. Jemima J is particularly problematic in that respect; I loved it the first time I read it, but found the whole 'massive weight loss in short period of time for internet guy without any surgery to take up the stretched-out skin' aspect of it really annoying on my second time through the book. The Go To Girl by Louise Bagshawe handled the weight loss aspect much better by not having the protagonist lose anywhere near as much weight. (Love that book, btw.) I do love Marian Keyes' books. The escapist element is not usually quite as out there, and the characters' lives are often grittier than one would expect in chick-lit. Although the last one I read by her did have the extremely far-fetched idea of the main character being a guardian angel - must confess to returning that one to the library mostly unread.

In my teens and early twenties, I was all about historical romances, the more bodice-rippier the better. Pirates, highwaymen, smugglers - I loved them all. Heck, for a long time, everything I knew about the reign of Charles II came from trashy romance novels; most of it turned out to be surprisingly accurate. Now, my guilty pleasure is chick-lit novels, but only British ones. (Although I refer to them as 'palate cleansers', thank you very much.) It's how I vicariously live in Britain with my great flat, interesting job and hunky Scottish boyfriend. Or Irish, or Welsh, or English . . . (For the longest time, fantasy novels were my guilty pleasure, but since the success of Game of Thrones, they're kind of respectable now.)

Hallelujah to that. I didn't like Mark at first, and would never have imagined missing him, but damned if I don't. And you're so right, he was surprisingly able to look at these relationships from the somewhat outside and see things pretty clearly. And he would've been there for Sofia during the stupid month of not talking to each other while living in the same house, so at least she would've been spare that trauma. That makes sense, and is far more of an explanation that we've gotten (and are likely ever to get) from GA. I wish they would. That would at least give Alex a storyline for the season, and would be far more interesting that pretty much anyone else's right now. All these people needed to start dating outside the hospital years ago.

Unless you're someone like me, who can't remember what years were election years and who got elected when half the time. I got the Clinton one right because I remember the jogging to McDonald's jokes, but got most of the rest of the chef questions wrong. (Heck, I couldn't even figure out when Obama got elected the first time. Well, not in time to answer first anyway.)

That was my first guess, but I did change it to "Eve and the Snake" (yes, snake was what I said) before the music ended.

I don't know, there are plenty of people who never grow up. I've just always imagined Lydia being perpetually that vapid, self-obsessed airhead she was at 15. Not having read the book (and not really paying that much attention to the ball talk), I can't speak to how this particular ball would be handled. I was just speaking more generally based on my reading of historical accounts of the time. But yes, if the guest list is mostly comprised of local people, then cancelling the ball would be less problematic.

His entrance at the end of the film prompted me to turn to my friend and say "He can invade my country any time".

The biggest surprise to me and the friend with whom I saw Hamlet, was that Jack Lemmon stank to high heaven and Charlton Heston (!) was terrific. So this explains a lot.