Bastet

Ugh, not my night! I usually do well at guessing (sometimes knowing, but often guessing based on the clue) where businesses are located, but I only came up with two this time. Missing three was pretty much my MO in the first round - I also only came up with two each in TV shows and stars. I ran 4S and stripes and missed one in Kennedy (I joined the contestants in being stumped by his boat - I knew it was PT-something, but could not come up with the number). In DJ, my MO was missing two per category; geography is normally a strong category for me, but I missed two there and in books, falling, and Victorian. Instead of being better in the others, I was worse; I missed all but one in DDS and three in movies. Didn't run a damn thing. FJ was an instaget (well, another instaguess that after further deliberation I figured was indeed correct), at least.

I read quickly, so "sadness" hit my brain almost immediately after "brother"; thinking back, I believe my mind zeroed in a little bit more on brother, but it was mostly the combination of the two that instantly brought me to Van Gogh. And then the year seemed right. I didn't know (even though I've been to the Van Gogh museum, I did not retain this information) he died in France, but a Dutch artist winding up in/around Paris would certainly make sense, so it all seemed to indicate my instaguess was right.

Cause and manner of death have not yet been determined for Bob Saget (the autopsy was just performed yesterday), but Yahoo cites a source saying he died in his sleep, which is consistent with the incident report's account of how the body was found. Tragic that it happened so young, but hopefully some small measure of comfort to his family if he just went to sleep happy and that was the last thing he ever knew.

Plus, she's just playing in the living room and then sitting at the breakfast table at home - she didn't trot off to pre-school as a dinosaur. And the mom says she refused to wear pants "this morning", not that she refuses to ever put on clothes, so it makes perfect sense to me that instead of battling with a four-year-old who's playing dinosaur in her own home, the mom just jokingly interviews her as to why.

Made-up chess moves; they were real, non-chess, things that shared a word in common with the chess tactic given in the clue -- e.g. insanity defense for Sicilian defense (the only listed chess move I'd ever heard of, as I don't play), gut check for discovered check -- so were jokingly proposed for the "New Chess Stratagem?" category.

Yep. If directed by someone other than Clint Eastwood, I'd have been quite interested in seeing Richard Jewell's story told in the mainstream. Even with that shithead behind the camera, I'd still planned on watching it at some point until that "dramatic license" bullshit was revealed. But telling a story about the defamation of Jewell by defaming Kathy Scruggs does not interest me, no matter how factual it is overall. Good on the lawyer who'd represented Jewell in his defamation cases (including that against the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) condemning the film for resorting to such a "false and damning claim" against Scruggs, instead of sticking to the true story about the FBI and the media, which is disturbing enough without reaching for the tired, sexist trope of female journalists trading sex for information. I doubt the film notes the AJC later (after Scruggs's death) saw the defamation suit against it dismissed, since - thanks to the FBI's smear campaign - it merely published what was substantially true at the time, or that the AJC ran an investigative journalism piece from another reporter on its front page stating the FBI's own timeline means Jewell couldn't have phoned in the threat (in fact, I've read the film credits that "he couldn't have done it" re-enactment to the defense lawyer).

Woo, what a finish! For 99.9 percent of my life, I couldn't muster up a single shit to give about Georgia (or any SEC team), but Saban is such a jackass I am legitimately excited by this Bulldogs victory. That was a fun fourth quarter.

The defense has given up a few big plays they shouldn't have, but, yeah, the offense owes the defense a huge apology no matter how this game ends (and please let it end with Nick Saban miserable, as that's the extent of my interest).

Ha - that is exactly why I got it, too. I didn't know that's what the lobes of a whale's tail are called, but thanks to "The Host" (the first XF episode I ever saw), I know all about the fluke worm, and my affection for that episode means an immediate word association where flatworm = fluke first in my mind. Since I didn't know what the tail part is called, I went with it. And thought, "Thanks, Flukeman," when it was correct.

Archive game for me, and I'm wondering if the "wealth" (instead of "wealthy") typo in the Short Hill, N.J. clue was on the archive, or if the archive is merely accurately reflecting what the show put out there. No big deal if it's an archive typo, but last time this happened, it was the show's typo. And that wasn't all that long ago. Troubling if such errors keep getting by enough professionals to make air. The Copenhagen TS really threw me. I guess they thought it was a trick, and they needed the capital of a country other than Denmark. I expected to suck in the Hugo Awards category, and I did indeed - all I knew was The Twilight Zone. It wasn't a great first round for me. That was the only category I blew, but I didn't run anything. I missed two each in next in line and suburbs. I technically also missed two in chess, but if I'd been able to see the pasta fork picture, I'd have known that one, so I'm giving myself credit and saying I missed one in that category. I also missed one each in the rest. I did well in DJ, though; I ran war and banks (giving myself credit for robot, which, having looked up pictures of the building, I know I'd have come up with had I seen the photo), and only missed one or two in the rest. FJ was an instaget (or at least an instaguess that I figured was right), so I'm off to a good start.

With one of the cats I grew up with, we never did find his hiding place in the 18 years we had him. We'd be looking all over the house for him, 99% sure he hadn't gotten out, but wanting to be certain, looking under and behind things, opening closet doors, calling his name, and then one of us would turn around and he'd be sitting in the hallway like "What?" We have no idea where he was during those times.

I wouldn't have believed a movie with Susan Sarandon, Allison Janney, Kathy Bates, Dan Aykroyd, Toni Collette, Nat Faxon, Melissa McCarthy, and Gary Cole could be anything but great, but Tammy is not at all good. I like Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone, but they missed the mark with that one.

I'm the opposite; coins bug me, because bills are faster and neater. I keep quarters in my car for meters that don't accept credit cards, but otherwise coins get rolled and turned into bills as soon as I've accumulated enough. I have, left behind by my grandfather, a bunch of foreign coins in currencies that are no longer in use. Someone artistic could do something interesting with them, instead of leaving them in a box in the closet like I have, so I should probably offer them on Nextdoor/Freecycle.

Well, that was certainly an interesting way to end the season! The Raiders are one of the few AFC teams I like, so, yay, but a big boo to this letting Big Rapist into the playoffs as well for what is hopefully his last season (so I can go back to having the Steelers on my short AFC list). And, what the hell Rams defense? There are TWO halves, and you have to play both of them. By not doing that, I may have to endure the Cowboys in the playoffs for a game more than I should before they inevitably shit the bed as nature commands.

Re. the bolded: I think he's in the credits even when he's not in the episodes, so I checked IMDb and, yep, those non-Ben episodes are listed - as "(credit only)" - on his page.

I think John Stamos is a jerk, but, boy, I feel for him; the devastation is palpable:

I don't know that I've ever actually seen Bob Saget in anything, so I have no personal feelings of loss, but how horrible for his loved ones -- reading that he was only 65 and in the middle of a tour, it seems this was a totally unexpected death. That's extra hard to deal with.

Candy Spelling had three when she lived in their mansion. I don't know how many she has in her penthouse condo. But, hey, in a house that huge, why not? And she - being a compulsive shopper, but also someone who took the time to know the people who worked for them and for Aaron's production company - personally selected gifts and wrapped them herself, so that's nice.

Me too. I didn't understand how brilliant that song was when I first fell in love with the movie - it was fun, but I didn't get it since I was not even a teenager yet - but in my numerous re-watches as I got older, it quickly became a favorite of the film's many great musical sequences.

There is so much about The Blind Side that angers up my blood (obviously starting with the fact true stories in which Black folks are "saved" by whites get made into movies, while most of the stories in which they save themselves and each other are not, and moving specifically to centering Leigh Anne Tuohy in telling the story of Michael Oher), but my love for sports movies always means I stop when I come across this film while going around the dial until my blood gets to simmering and I move on in frustration. Tonight, I hit on something early on. It's among the film's lesser offenses, and, unlike the more obvious problems, I haven't seen it covered, but it ticks me off: S.J. is an obvious problem for how he's presented as this precocious little white boy who teaches Michael how to play football (of the film's big falsehood offenses in telling this true tale, presenting Michael as not only being "saved" by the Tuohys in terms of a home and a school, but also by them - especially their little pipsqueak - teaching him a game he actually had studied and was passionate about is my biggest objection, as it was Oher's), but also for how he's a sexist creep in training and that gets played as cute. In his introduction to the audience, he's at his big sister's high school volleyball game with their dad. When their mom arrives and asks to be caught up, he says - even though Collins just got a dig, which Sean had just noted, and which S.J. knows on his own as he's a sports fan (but only if men play, apparently) - "It's girls' volleyball, Mom. You didn't miss anything." And even though Leigh Anne is presented in every other frame of the film as a woman who doesn't take shit from anyone, whether it's directed at her or anyone else, and who's more evolved than her bubble, calling out injustice, she doesn't react at all. Doesn't call him out, doesn't even say they'll talk about that sexist nonsense after the game. But then it gets worse. After the game, Leigh Anne admonishes S.J. not to "go into the girls' locker room again" as he runs off ignoring her, and no one follows him. So this kid - eight-years-old in real life, played by an 11-year-old in the film, probably meant to be around 9/10 - has clearly made a habit of this, and no one does anything to nip this inappropriate behavior in the bud.

I love The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas unreservedly, and don't even think it's a bad movie. A masterpiece, certainly not, but it has fun music and good commentary on politics and media.

I love Murder By Death (and think that's one of the greatest titles ever). The Cheap Detective I found fun enough, but I don't have the same enduring affection for that one (and have never re-watched it). If I see anyone drinking Budweiser, I start singing "Drinkenstein" in my head.

That's actually the film of his I chose to watch in toast to him last night. It's one of the greatest casts ever assembled (seriously, Sidney Poitier, Robert Redford, Mary McDonnell, Ben Kingsley, David Strathairn, River Phoenix, Dan Aykroyd constituting just your main cast, and then you've got Lee Garlington, Eddie Jones, George Hearn, Timothy Busfield, etc. in small roles?) and a fun caper, and I was in the mood to celebrate him that way. I'm reserving the heavier stuff for a tribute marathon.

One of my favorite films - to the point I can recite it verbatim - is Clue. In which a bunch of board game characters try to figure out which one of them is the murderer. So, clearly I agree: Silly is not automatically bad. (And Clue isn't dumb; it has intelligent humor and some delicious social commentary.) And I'll even like an objectively bad movie if it makes me laugh. I mean, I own Rhinestone (that Dolly Parton-Sylvester Stallone classic that garnered him his first of many Razzie nods) on DVD.

That was what made me do a double-take at the clue. I knew it was Cher, because I know the song, plus they gave the "turning back time" hint indicating it's her, not Sinatra, but I was thinking of the '80s version at first, so thought, "Wait, that wasn't her first Top 10 hit!" Then I remembered the original.