Bastet

That's Regina King, whom I really like, playing herself, so I want to like it, but I hate that commercial! Until the dog is properly trained, she needs to hire a dog sitter when she goes out and stop dragging his undisciplined ass over to people's houses and businesses to ruin their stuff. That she can afford to replace it doesn't excuse the irresponsibility in the first place.

If they actually had paper tickets (assuming you can even get those anymore), like he says, that would make sense to mock. But what they're actually holding are paper boarding passes, which have not yet become obscure.

Riley is pretty good about drinking from her bowl, but what makes her an excellent water drinker is how much she loves drinking out of my glass. Maddie and Baxter liked to drink out of a flower vase on the coffee table (Riley does that, too) and out of a tabletop fountain (Riley ignores that), but hardly ever touched their water bowl. One of the cats I grew up would hop up on a bathroom vanity and demand we turn on the faucet. Chester drank a lot of water (too much at once sometimes, as I mentioned earlier), but the rest were pretty typical cats who got most of their water from their canned food, because they hardly ever drank any by itself.

Because they say "our new room", I assume they're referring to seeing what it looks like when all the new stuff they picked out is put together in their room. I'm glad I don't live where it airs, as that cheesy jingle has taken up residence in my head for about five minutes now!

I like her because I know her (as an acquaintance, not a friend, so I only see her occasionally as part of a group) -- she's smart, compassionate, and generous, and makes delicious food.

There are half a dozen fast food/fast casual kabob places near me. Yes. He's a twit. He also once went on a ridiculous rant that a cheftestant had "disrespected" the protein, because she used tongs to handle a piece of fish she was filleting. But she used tongs because she'd cut that hand! And, of course, there's the wage theft. I can't stand that guy.

I re-watched this season this weekend, and was surprised to find myself only infrequently annoyed with Mike. He is the quintessential Ugly American, but he does come to realize that about himself. I doubt he'd changed all that much, but it probably doesn't matter, because he wasn't malicious. And he had the slightest awareness of his economic privilege, which is more than I can say for Jacinda. Oh my gods. "Worrying about money is just so silly." Fool, that's because you've been rolling in it since you were 14 (and maybe before; I don't know if she grew up wealthy). She was just utterly insufferable with her "I'm so worldly and non-conformist" attitude, but she wasn't malicious, either. Too much of a prankster, but not mean. Just really out of touch, but in a way that was inevitable given her background. I knew absolutely nothing about modeling back then, so it was interesting to learn through her what's involved, and how often she had to stand up for herself on shoots. I totally thought Jay was gay when I originally watched, and I remember hearing that he'd come out, but then I read he was married to a woman, so I have no idea, and it doesn't matter anyway. Like Kat, he was painfully young. And so stuck in his high school glory days, complete with having a girlfriend who was still in HS and going home to see a play at his old school. But I felt for him with all the pressure on him to produce another play. I remembered Jacinda buying a puppy (do not get me started), but had forgotten she also surprised Kat with a kitten to cheer her up. I was pretty fired up about the irresponsible approach to pet ownership, but the two of them had the pets with them at the airport, so they didn't get dumped as I'd feared. I had also completely forgotten their trip to Kenya. It was interesting for Mike, of all people, to be among those confronting the problem of treating the Massai like spectacles, objects of entertainment. What I had not forgotten is how truly terrible I found Neil's music. I liked him, but damn. And, speaking of music, there are some seriously sly song choices this season. I enjoyed revisiting it. They're a group of good people who had the typical squabbles that come from living together but didn't get into melodramatic bouts over personality differences. They all just did their thing, but they also sat down to dinner a lot when everyone was home.

No, not on screen (but given their sensibilities and prior engagegement, they probably did, for those to whom that matters). He accepted her career needed to dictate their location, and his to adapt since it could be done almost anywhere; one final flipping of the sexist script, where women usually have to sacrifice for a romantic relationship against all logic of the individual situation. Angela initially did just that, going back and forth to Iowa, before they acknowledged it wasn't feasible -- her career and whole life was in Connecticut, his fledgling but on the rise career was in Iowa. They broke up and she moved back home. The finale scenario is this: Tony is getting some kind of teaching award in Iowa. Later that night, Angela is fresh from the shower in Connecticut, like in the pilot - same robe and towel ("Do you always wear that outfit when you're interviewing housekeepers?") - to answer the door, but this time Tony, award plaque in hand, is in a tux, and says he quit; after the presentation, he went back to his apartment and realized he had no one to show his plaque to. He jokes about taking the housekeeper job again, she says that's very sweet but they agreed, and he interrupts to say they were wrong: "I can apply for jobs in the area. I just know now that it's very important I be in the area." "Tony, I don't want you to ever resent-" "Angela, the only thing I resented was being without you." [beautiful sly grin] "So, what are your qualifications?" "Uh, well," [kisses her] "You got the job." "No kiddin'." [another kiss] The end. A fantastic one. For all the contrived gobbledygook it took to get there, logic prevailed, and they're going to make it work in the greater CT area because she needs ready access to the NYC market. His career, exponentially less location-dependent than hers, will adapt, and for any interim where one is employed and the other isn't, he'll take care of the house, since he's better at it. It's a subtle revolution presented in a tidy little family sitcom of clichéd '80s hijinks.

I thought it was assumed to be about her work, as an investigative journalist (until they came up with the dumb-ass kid storyline in the end), rather than her being the typical cannon fodder. But I don't know this show the way most here do, so that may very well be wishful thinking. My favorite memory of the convoluted and contradictory Trudy murder storyline is in one of my favorite episodes, "Mr. Monk and the Three Pies", when Ambrose responds to Adrian's bitterness by saying his lack of communication in the wake of Trudy's death was because Trudy's presence in that parking garage was (again, as I may improperly recall, believed to be her meeting a source on a story [maybe something with Dale the Whale?]) - to get Ambrose cough syrup from a drugstore.

That's one school of thought, certainly, but I've not understood it to be the conventional wisdom other than for giant breeds. Granted, my knowledge is of cats, but my outsider's understanding of dog rescue is, absent special circumstances, early spay/neuter is the better option.

I'm so happy Brooke won, just on general principle that she's one of my favorites (she is seriously impressive as a competitor on this and Top Chef, and as a chef; I've had the pleasure of eating her food several times), but also that she sent Malarkey packing. Those edamame fritters as croutons were a good idea, so I was really happy they worked. Her whole dish looked delicious. (Not that I'd have turned his down, certainly; I just really wanted to grab a spoon and try hers.) I love that even when she doesn't have nothing but this is the greatest feedback, she still wins by seven points! In the first match-up, I wanted to taste both dishes so badly. I was rooting for Tiffany, since I really liked her on Top Chef and was pretty neutral on him (personality wise; I liked both their food), but I think Michael did a better job showcasing the randomizer ingredients. And he had me laughing out loud with his reactions as one by one chefs who know their Italian food came out to eat his faux pasta. And with his explaining the pattern is not in his favor, since Brooke beat him in round one the first time and in round two the second time, and now he's going to face her in round three the third time. Tonight was the most I'd ever enjoyed Michael Voltaggio as a person in addition to a chef. In the second, I was rooting for Karen, and was surprised she got fewer presentation points than Aarthi. Nancy Silverton must have given Aarthi a lot of points for that "erotic" presentation. I'm not at all familiar with either chef in the third match-up, and I got interrupted a few minutes into it and missed the whole thing. For anyone keeping track, this time the answer to "Does Simon always present the higher-seeded chef's food?" was half the time.

Yes! I like quite a few musicals (only a handful of movie musicals, though), but I am not at all a student of musical theatre. That doesn't mean I can't discuss what I liked and disliked about an individual play or film just because I can't put it in the context of the composer's entire oeuvre.

I like yelling characters (as long as it's not abusive), but, yeah, they were particularly good at it. I don't actually mind bugs, I just relocate them outside, but I still declare, "That's it, we're moving. I will not tolerate infestation!" I've also been known to shout "SERENITY NOW!"

Yes. At least the London season, which I am almost through re-watching, and thoroughly enjoying how sly many of the song choices are.

As I said in the Celebrity Deaths thread, Estelle Costanza can at first glance seem like a broad character on a wildly popular sitcom that any actor could have succeeded at playing, but if you think about it at all, there's a deft touch required to knock it out of the park, and Harris was pitch perfect. "What am I going to do with all this paella?!"

I never read the books, but saw the films because of my utter adoration of Myrna Loy, and to this day when I'm scrolling through my program guide, see "Cheaper By the Dozen", and realize it's the Steve Martin film of the same name instead, I'm disappointed (even though I love Bonnie Hunt).

Obviously 93 is a great run, but my condolences to Harris's loved ones. At first glance, Estelle Costanza was a broad role on a wildly popular show anyone could have succeeded at, but take a second look and you realize it needed just the right actor to knock it out of the park, and Harris was pitch perfect. I cannot eat paella without shouting - in my head, or sometimes aloud depending on the company - "What am I going to do with all this paella?!" because she made so memorable a simple line.

Tyler Perry. One of the few things I know about Denzel Washington off-screen is he's quite Christian. Same with Tyler Perry. I have no idea about Will Smith.

Since we didn't see Shelly (head vet tech) in this episode, either, I just checked Planned Pethood's website, and she's not listed in the staff section, so she must have retired or gone to work elsewhere. I'll miss seeing her on the show; I enjoy how much she loves on the patients.

Dumplin's mom sticking her face inside his cone to kiss him while he was in recovery was cute. Max's eye injury looked so bad, it was great that it turned out to be a simple fix. Dr. Hodges was very sweet with the owner. I liked the employee giving Dr. Ferguson a hard time that since she started working there, she's taken home the office cat, and now she's fostering reptiles, which she didn't even know was a thing.

I lost track of time so missed the first few minutes; how did Chaos fall out of a moving car? And how old was he that he wasn't yet neutered? He was so cute plopping down in the back of the car and then getting right back up, needing to go cuddle his people. I'm glad Mufasa just had a minor injury - for his own sake, and his owner's. Poor woman, recovering from surgery and then her cat disappears and comes home hurt. Poor Ludo was so sick! His face was breaking my heart, so it was great to see him so transformed by the time he went home. I went through something similar long ago with a year-old cat, who was suddenly terribly ill and needed hospitalization including a transfusion. We never did find out exactly what caused it, and thankfully she lived 15 more years without it ever happening again. I love how the woman at the bunny barn knows the names and stories of all those rabbits. That's a true rescue person. Dafni is so sweet; it's going to be hard for her to say goodbye to those puppies. I love her "We can't keep any of the puppies. Well, maybe one would be okay" and Hector's immediate "Nope, that is not happening" being followed by "Which one are you keeping?" and "I don't want to talk about it" on spay/neuter day, concluding with her "Sucker" at the end -- after they adopted two of them. Ha! I was very glad to see in the update that the mom got a home, too; I hate when all the puppies/kittens get adopted, and poor momma is left behind.

Yeah, I think almost all the changes the actors and director made to the script made it better. Callie is really snarky about Susan's role in making changes - "Susan saved the picture. We've marveled for years at what kind of a ham-fisted mockery we would have made of it if it had not been for Susan" - but I think the original script was something wonderful and necessary, and the finished product became something even better with the actors' input. I understand Callie's general frustration, like any writer's -- she lives and breathes it for months or years on end, and then has to turn it over and wait to see what all the people who actually get to be on the set do with it. Add in the special circumstances, where she's made a movie about women, and not only gets told she can't direct it, but Ridley Scott of all people is going to be in charge of these women? And then when it's a hit, more publications interview the stars than the writer, so there's disproportionate coverage of Susan's role in shaping the story. I get it. But several crew members (and, remember, these are men) thought Susan's shadow direction kept the performances just where they needed to be. "Because this was a women's film, and Ridley is about as far from a feminist as you could get," says one, "Susan was leading the way."

I like Brooke. I love her food (not just through the TV screen; I've eaten it) and she's quite impressively skilled as a competitor in these types of challenges -- she's been on Top Chef twice and Tournament of Champions twice (well, three times, but we don't know the results of III yet as it's still airing), and of those four times competing against other highly acclaimed chefs, she's won twice and come in second twice -- so I enjoy when she's a guest judge, because of her experience as a cheftestant. (And I've never had any problems with her personality, so there's nothing to turn me off her.)

I finally had a chance to watch the latest one, and I liked it as a transition piece. I rolled my eyes at a few things (e.g. the killer chick who'd been a big fireball on the floor coming back barely singed and the most deserted hospital since Halloween II), but I liked a lot of the allusions to the original. Once I accept - which I knew was the case going in - the OGs are not the focus in the same way, I think they used them very well. Including killing off Dewey, as sad as that was. The weak link was the junior cast, in that most of them are fine but nothing special. I'd never seen Jack Quaid in anything (and didn't realize that's who he was until the end credits), but I thought he was great. I knew immediately he was the killer, but just based on the rules, not any weakness in his performance. I wasn't sure who the second killer was, skipping around with my guesses, and never really honed in on Amber, probably because the actor playing her was terrible. I've seen complaints about the actor playing Sam, and I agree she's not charismatic enough to center (and the actor playing Mindy had much greater presence), but at least she was fine, not distractingly bad. Another thing I rolled my eyes at was how much more violent this was than the previous entries; everyone got stabbed eleventy times with vicious force. I mean, it's a slasher film, so fine, but it was an Okay, get on with it thing for me. Another difference was how many murders took place in daylight and/or out in the open. The sheriff's was ridiculous on that front, and also that she'd called for the whole cavalry to converge on her house, and there still wasn't a single squad car in the distance by the time her kid got killed. Woodsboro isn't that big! Oh, and here's a little thing that irrationally bugged me: This takes place in CA, where the mayonnaise brand is Best Foods, not Hellmann's (the Rockies are the dividing line). But the mayo in the basement fridge was Hellman's. But, in general, I thought it was a solid entry in the franchise. I always love Sidney and Gale working together, and I laughed out loud at them casually deciding who was going to kill Amber. The OGs were the best part, so my enjoyment of future installments will hinge on how they're used. But this one worked for me.

That was another of Harvey's ad-libs.