Bastet

I know her from an episode of Remington Steele, but I'd also seen her on stage a couple of times.

I absolutely love her line delivery on "Condor? Why would I say condor?" It's pitch perfect. Otherwise, the commercial is stupid. Checking to make sure one of them packed condoms should have been done before they left or in the car, but if, once at the house, she realizes she didn't pack any and wants to make sure he did, she needs to scoot closer to ask (and maybe wait until they've been there more than 60 seconds, jeez - are they going to run off for a bathroom quickie or something?!), because apparently everyone - including Charlie - needs one of those Eargo things to hear. Maybe the mom has hearing loss like the dad but doesn't use aids, but how the hell can Charlie not hear her?! And the short version of the commercial cuts out the condor exchange, so that one just sucks.

When my carbon monoxide detector went off and I had to get Riley out (thankfully, I have a game room attached to my garage, both of which are detached from the house, so I was able to safely stash her there while I found and disabled the problem, and then we hung out there while the house aired out), she dove under the bed, but thankfully where I could just reach a paw and pull. Not something I'd normally do, of course, but it was necessary under the circumstances and she forgot all about it in short order. Once before that, when she didn't want to go to the vet and had placed herself under the bed far more strategically (since she was hiding from me, not a piercing sound), I'd had to move the bed around until she ran out and I cornered her at the closed door. If I hadn't been able to reach her, I'd have done that again, only swifter and scarier (short-term emotional trauma trumps long-term physical safety). Ugh, yes - Nextdoor. I'm still on it, because I like reading neighbors' feedback on new (or new-to-me) local restaurants, bars, shops, etc. and I want to read about lost and found pets, but the "Safety" section confirms why I will never, ever have anything to do with a "neighborhood watch" group. Adding to your list, "There's a car I don't recognize parked across the street." Fool, it's a public fucking street. Why have you memorized all your neighbors' cars to begin with, but setting that aside, just because no one ever comes to visit your paranoid ass doesn't mean none of your neighbors have guests. Add in the vitriol towards the unhoused members of the community, reciting "call the police" as the solution to every.little.thing, getting the vapors when a new bar is announced (because the streets will be littered with the corpses of drunk driving victims, and won't someone think of the children?!), and the racism they make minimal effort to hide behind code words, and it's incredibly disheartening. They're a vocal minority, and get told about themselves a lot, but it's still disgusting to see how many of them there are.

The contestants doing the presidents category in order meant I noticed how the dates followed each other, which helped me figure some of them out. I missed two in 5,5, and one each in fouls and Halloween stories, but got everything else in the first round. I was horrible in DJ, though. I didn't run a single category, missing three each in villains, landscapes, fevers, and quechua, and one each in the other two. That may be my worst round ever. Yikes. I didn't know FJ, either. When the correct response was revealed, the title meant nothing to me, so I had to look it up to see if I'd ever heard it. Yes (and now that damn line is stuck in my head on a loop, as that's all I know), but had no idea what it was called, so I'd have never come up with it. Fitting end to a crappy performance.

I know, I know - it's a soap opera, so if people behaved rationally, 80% of the storylines wouldn't work. And I can usually handle Betty's naivete. But Christina is very wise in the ways of Wilhelmina Slater, so when she suspects the baby is hers and Stuart's, the fact she goes to Wilhelmina about it and has her get the DNA test done instead of just trotting that baby - who Wilhemina always has her watching - off to get the test done herself is utterly ridiculous. After looking up why the actor left the show (she had remained based in L.A. when the show moved to NY, and got cast in something local), I was perusing a few other show-related articles, one of which prompted me to remember Judith Light and America Ferrera remained great friends. So I went down that rabbit hole of pictures, and came across a recent interview where Light said she's still in touch with most of the cast, especially Ferrera, Vanessa Williams, and Ana Ortiz. I thought that last one was particularly cool, because they didn't work together as much. I'm at the point near the end of season three where Ortiz is noticably pregnant, and I am so glad they didn't knock Hilda up. I wish more shows would trust their audiences to just roll with it rather than thinking an actor's pregnancy means they need to foist the same condition on the character, even though they wouldn't ever have considered it otherwise.

Weight isn't the determining factor. Body shape is much more effective in determining if a cat needs to lose (or gain) weight. Basically: -Looked at from above, there should be a visible waist -Looked at from the side, there should be a visible abdominal tuck -The ribs should be palpable, but not visible Here's a guide (although, personally, I think six is fine, but the yellow is accurate if you think of it not as overweight, but as potentially heading towards being overweight - something to keep an eye on, and if the cat starts getting bigger, reduce their caloric intake [by 20%, that's the standard]):

I don't remember "lady editor" from Designing Women, but it might be from "Julia Drives Over the First Amendment", where the editor of a porn magazine is a woman. So it wasn't surprise that woman would be editor of a magazine, but that a woman would choose to be in charge of that magazine. But, come to think of it, I believe she was the publisher, not the editor. So it's probably another episode I'm just not remembering.

I find the idea of trick-or-treating on a night other than Halloween odd. A Halloween party on the closest Saturday, sure. But I've never seen kids wandering door to door on any night other than 10/31. I'd just love to see some kid ring my bell tomorrow night and beg for candy.

I only get one?! But there are so many offensive shows out there. I'll go with the show about the Duggars. Anything celebrating an exponentially oversized biological family in the midst of a global overpopulation crisis is gross, but showcasing "quiverfull" types is on another level. Even worse is being completely dishonest about that movement, framing your show as just being about a quirky huge family who are really religious and have terrible fashion sense and repetitive names - a benign oddity. The whitewashing is an absolute travesty for which TLC should be ashamed, but, of course, TLC has no shame. The deplorable misogyny, homophobia, authoritarianism, insularity, and other oppressive abuses in the movement could have been unearthed with a toothpick back when the show was pitched; I'd read about it in investigative journalism pieces well before I read about the show, but even a cursory search of mainstream media would have brought up the horrifying Andrea Yates case. That it was greenlit, and then stayed on the air even after greater attention was paid for years to the reality of the "lifestyle" the show was promoting is appalling, and then there's the fact the original only got canceled after molestation within the family was revealed ... but a spinoff was created.

It's one of the only cop shows I like, because police misconduct isn't normalized, justified, or celebrated; the squad is led by someone who spent most of her career in Internal Affairs, so she will not let anyone do the whole "the ends justify the means" bullshit. Anyway, on the fashion front, beware there is one DDA and one defense attorney (both women) who look like they wandered in from another show, dressed inappropriately for court. But the DDA is only on for a season and the defense attorney only appears a few times; everyone else dresses like you'd expect someone in their position to dress.

I'm going to be watching football tonight, so this was an archive game for me. Thankfully, there weren't too many picture clues, and I either already knew from the text (e.g. cockscomb and The Kinks), or still wouldn't have known with the picture (e.g. Butterbean and Columbia). The Glenn Close TS surprised me a bit, just because the clue gave a third role to recognize her from ("We were unable to ignore" refers to her Fatal Attraction character). No one guessing doll or garnet I wouldn't have predicted, either. I understand the two-syllable pronunciation of forte to mean one's strong suit is a mispronunciation (confusing the French word with the Italian one of the same spelling) that has long since become accepted by widespread usage, but it's a personal peeve hearing fortay instead of fort, so I cringed a little at that clue. I only ran geography and potent etymology in the first round, missing two in Anne Rice and one each in actors, bean, and geography. In DJ, I only ran syllables and pop. I blew the entire first name category, and also missed three in Vikings, two in science, and one in ballet. So, another okay game, in which I finished strong by figuring out FJ (Okay, has to be South America, and southern SA at that. What's on the West Coast down there? Chile. And the capital is? Santiago). It's a good thing I do well with geography. I know it's a weak subject for many contestants, but I am surprised two didn't even get over to the right continent. Seven thousand miles!

Apparently two slurs, although only one got widespread attention. That he thinks saying "You're not going to treat me like a [b---h], and you're not going to treat me like a [f---ot]" to Dempsey is okay, because he was "referring to [himself]" rather than directly calling other individuals those words, and, hey, Dempsey had treated women and gay men badly, is mind boggling. Dude, do you not hear yourself, even now? And, yikes, the widespread appalling behavior he describes from jump! He walked into an unfair situation and it only grew more toxic. Dempsey and Pompeo have a lot to answer for, and it's certainly not a coincidence that Washington's wrongdoing is the only one I had come across until recently.

That's why I liked the "He was your back-up plan" conversation between Becky and Dan. It was like their talk after that preaching Packer fan she thought she was supposed to like because of the stability he could offer Beverly Rose, when Dan said to let Beverly Rose find her own guy; Becky deserved someone right for her. Here, he made her realize she had held onto this idea of settling for Emilio at some point because, even though she wasn't into him, he was all in for her, and he's a good guy, so it wouldn't be a bad match-up, but "not bad" isn't what she deserves. She either finds someone who's a great romantic partner for her, or she doesn't, but she doesn't need to slot someone good enough into that role if it doesn't happen. That's the advice Becky needs, and I like the way Dan says it but ultimately makes her realize it on her own. I just don't trust the writers to finally and fully embrace the concept that a one-night stand resulting in an unintended pregnancy doesn't mean the woman choosing to continue that pregnancy means there's more of a connection between the two parties than the resulting baby. They've seemingly wiped out Jackie, Fred, and Andy, but that was a well-done tale of how two well-intentioned people who love their shared child cannot force a nuclear family relationship to work. Becky realized that well before her aunt did, that they shouldn't try to in the first place, and it would be quite refreshing for her to stick with that accurate reading of the situation. But the writers just can't let go of this Well, maybe notion with her and Emilio and keep trotting it out from time to time. I hope this will be the end, but I'm not holding my breath.

Roseanne was very good about that, too. (I haven't noticed the re-wearing aspect as much on The Conners, but I don't re-watch that show like I did the original; presumably it still happens.) With characters further up the economic spectrum, Major Crimes was just as good, especially with Sharon's wardrobe. And there's an extent to which I appreciate it even more there; it's one thing to be "forced" to acknowledge working class characters don't have an endless wardrobe, but it's really easy to be lazy and treat upper middle class characters as if they do. Sharon's home furnishings included a custom couch and IKEA curtains, plus everything in between, and that's a totally logical blend for someone of her financial status - a much-used item that's a focal point of the room and will be kept for 15 years, she'll drop big bucks on to get exactly what she wants in terms of both construction and cosmetics, but if she's wandering through IKEA and sees curtains she finds cute, she'll happily grab those and put them up. Some lamps will come from a boutique on Melrose, some will come from Macy's. Because she shops at a variety of places. Her wardrobe was the same. She had Armani suits and at least half her blouses were high end, but she re-wore the blouses multiple times, mixing and matching them with different suits and individual skirts and trousers. She also tossed in knit tops, paired dresses with blazers, etc. - she had a totally realistic professional wardrobe that prioritized quality over quantity where it mattered but mixed things up enough to create a wide variety of options while still repeating most pieces at least once and often several times. She had several nice dresses for fancy evenings out. And she had a cashmere pajama and robe set (which had everyone on set asking Mary McDonnell if they could "pet" her sleeve that day). But she also had more casual sleepwear, and sometimes lounged around in yoga pants, a basic cotton shirt, and a cardigan. Again, balance. And, most wonderfully, Sharon's wardrobe was spot on for a woman in her 60s who'd navigated a not just male dominated but paramilitary organization like the LAPD; she came through the ranks when things were even more rigidly sexist - dress "mannish" and get called a "dyke", dress "feminine" and get even more dismissed as a "girl" too frivolous to do this most "manly" of jobs - there was no winning. By the time we meet her as a captain in charge of a division, her wardrobe is never showy, but it's not overly buttoned-up, either; some cuts show cleavage, some don't, but there's never any dressing that looks designed to hide her breasts or put them on blatant display. She's got killer legs, but, again, she wears both skirts and pants and the skirts are neither long nor short. It was all a very natural blend of stereotypically masculine and feminine styles, like a basic black suit with a colorful patterned blouse with a flowing element, a soft knit dress with a structured blazer. And then add in that gorgeous hair which was neither put in a bun nor tousled (not that there's anything wrong with either; again, I am speaking to the balance a character in Sharon's circumstances would likely adopt in styling herself for that workplace). It not only looked good on her, it made sense for how she'd have absorbed the "rules" placed upon her and how she - particularly as a feminist - would have pushed against those rigid notions of how a woman should dress professionally. Kudos to costume designer Greg LaVoi, because he did well keeping the whole cast's wardrobe fitting their personalities and budgets, but particularly with Sharon's, and kudos also to Mary McDonnell, because their discussions were never about how she wanted to look (he said in nearly 10 years there was exactly one outfit she just plain hated, but acknowledged Sharon would like it so she did not use the veto power she easily could have and instead wore it), but how Sharon would dress herself at work given all these factors she'd given extensive consideration to in developing the character. These two examples are far from the only ones, of course, and in fact these days I think it's more common that note, but I wish even more shows would put more thought into wardrobe as an expression of character rather than as a platform for showcasing pretty clothes.

I've never used it as a seasoning, but I've heard a lot of positive feedback about it being used that way. I've only ever used it to make dressing; I don't buy the bottled Hidden Valley ranch dressing (I don't particularly care for most bottled dressings), but I like to make it using their dry mix. (I replace half the mayo with fat free sour cream as that reduces the fat content with very little difference in taste, and sometimes add fresh dill or jalapeño.) Other than those with mustard or blue cheese, I like most salad dressings. Which one I want depends on the salad; I have a side salad with every dinner, and sometimes have a Big Salad (TM Elaine Benes) for lunch, so I make a lot of them. I mostly make a variety of vinaigrettes, but also make ranch, caesar, cilantro pepita, and green goddess dressing. I have to ensure I don't have too many going at once lest I not be able to use them all up in time. Ranch is the only one I also use for dipping - onion rings, fries, Buffalo wings, unadorned pizza crust. If I'm arranging a vegetable platter with a mayo/sour cream dip, I usually make the dip with onion, parsley, dill, and Beau Monde seasoning, but when someone else serves it with regular ol' ranch, I'm perfectly content (unless it's a sweet ranch - the tang is the point! - and then I just eat the veggies plain).

Thankful for the opportunity to do something important and hoping to be entertaining, but nervous about the responsibility and worried if - like a college student teaching kids not much younger than him - she has the right qualifications to do something previously done by someone with extensive experience?

I don't think moving in with someone he's been dating for five minutes when he has kids living with him is something he has going for him, just another of the umpteen ways this relationship is a giant mess, and that's before adding in that she's a teenager. I don't know if there's anyone Harris would listen to - it's certainly not going to be Darlene, and the lack of regard Darlene has shown her kids at multiple points during this Ben saga doesn't give her much of a leg to stand on - but maybe Becky could at least try cautioning her this is a bad idea. I mean, as long as she doesn't have a kid with this guy, it's also pretty easy to get out of, but it's such an inherently unbalanced relationship. Of course, this is a family that specializes in bad ideas, so no wonder.

This did not even try to maintain the legacy of Halloween episodes; I wish they'd just skipped the holiday altogether than done this half-assed Tossing some costumes on everyone for one scene counts, right? offering. Enough with Darlene's soul. But Eastern philosophy at least makes more sense as something for Darlene to be interested in seeing if it has anything to offer her. And "One stop shopping for things I find ridiculous" from Harris about the combination vegan restaurant-spiritual bookstore made me laugh. As did Aldo's creepy-ass kids - especially Dan scaring them off - even though this whole relationship of Harris's is batshit crazy. Becky and Emilio were fine, but I like them so much better co-parents than as having any type of romantic interest in each other, so I'm not interested in whatever the writers won't just let forkin' go of. The best part of that was, as always, Becky's conversation with Dan.

They're totally ridiculous. First, there were adequate signs Rose's take on Holly's actions was accurate, but even if Rose was being ridiculous, they acted over-the-top insulted by it, as if she was dissing their children instead of her own sister they'd known for five minutes.

I was rooting for Nancy again. Alas. Persecution surprised me as a TS. Andy Warhol, shattered, and ignoramus a bit, too. I missed two Andys, two states, and one rewrite, so I had an okay first round. Same with DJ, where I only ran international disputes and words, missing four in TV, three in artists, and one each in food and forests. A letdown after the two great games I had to start the week, but not bad. Plus, I rebounded to get FJ; I knew Greta Garbo had played her (but didn't know she'd done so twice), was pretty sure Vivien Leigh had, and a Russian actor being listed confirmed I was right. (Keira Knightly did nothing for me, which is how I usually feel about her.)

Yes, guns are only one danger. The conversation needs to encompass unsafe working conditions and unfair labor practices in general. Which is, of course, very much not limited to Hollywood; if anything good can come out of a high-profile incident on a film set (a location where people of numerous different occupations work) in an era where information is disseminated and public attention gathered more easily, it would be sustained calls for workplace protections and employer accountability across the board.

Probably not even anti-vax (he's going to have to answer as to what other vaccinations he has or hasn't had in his attempt to fabricate a religious objection), just anti-this vaccine. He never mentioned religion, just spouted off a bunch of batshit crazy conspiracy theories and non-existent side effects he'd read on the internet, had those calmly and factually refuted by one of the state's foremost experts on vaccines, someone who "completed a postdoctoral fellowship in vaccine immunology, leads disease control programs in Africa and Latin America and has been heavily involved in WSU's COVID-19 testing program and vaccine rollout", and still decided he was going to refuse vaccination - for, of course, what multiple staff members told ESPN was "about politics". Since that wouldn't get him anywhere with the university, he - probably after talking to an attorney - decided to go with religion. The overwhelming number of religious objection requests have been granted by the university, but he didn't get one, so clearly his evidence was lacking. So his stupid, selfish ass got fired. Good riddance. And way to let your team down, Coach. Very, especially that her dad was one of the many saying "I should have gotten vaccinated" from his deathbed and that she then stood on that field while her late father's impact on her life was publicly honored, realizing that right over on the sidelines is a guy who can hear this tragic tale of a death that didn't have to happen, "But this isn't going to change his mind, and that hurt".

Of course it's a legitimate topic in a trivia competition. Even though religion/mythology is one of my weakest areas, I've never advocated for the show to stop including it; that's on me, not the show. I've never even previously advocated for them to include it less frequently. Christianity being asked about far more often and in more detail than any other religion was always present, but what's new is that recently, since last season at least, religion - again, particularly Christianity - showed up more often than has been typical. As I noted, one of the times I had an Another Bible category already?! reaction last season, I went to the archive to review the previous ten games to see if I just perceived there to have been a lot of them recently. I hadn't. In six of those ten games, there was an entire category about religion. Four of those six were specific to Christianity. Then there were additional religion - usually Christianity - clues in other categories. It's too much. If Shakespeare, opera, the Constitution, or any other topic came up that frequently, it would be too much. There's a wide word of trivia out there, and J! needs to get back to a better percentage when it comes to how often writers reach for the bible when looking for clue ideas.

That's me. As I said, I only went trick-or-treating once as a kid, so I don't feel any "well, it's my turn to give back" obligation. I don't like being around children and I don't like being interrupted by a damn doorbell all night, so the porch light is off. There's a section of several blocks near me that goes absolutely nuts at Halloween (pretty much all the houses are decorated to the nines; some people put up really cool and creative displays [that part of Halloween I like, looking at the decorated houses on my nightly walks], especially those working in TV/movies who borrow props and equipment), so I don't think many kids beg for candy trick-or-treat on my street anyway - I never see any when I look out - they just walk my street on their way to the party zone. I would be so pissed if I bought a house on one of those blocks without knowing about this madhouse tradition (there are hundreds of people); what an unpleasant surprise that first - and last - Halloween there would have been. I was ticked enough when I went for my nightly walk my first Halloween in the neighborhood and encountered that madness, and all I was doing was crossing that street. Thankfully, last year a lot of people were smart enough to stay home, but I expect it will be big yet not quite as big this year. I will be happily ensconced in my house, watching football.

"He says Michael's been terrorizing this town for 40 years." "Hasn't Michael been locked up for 40 years after killing three people in the late '70s?" I loved that whole pitch meeting, but the above and "Oh, is that how writing works? Neat" are my favorite parts.