Bastet

I see this has been answered, but for future reference, here is a glossary thread for frequently used abbreviations in this forum. I wasn't home tonight, so I didn't see Mayim's first episode. In fact, today felt like a Sunday all around, so I altogether forgot there was an episode. I'll have to check the rest of the archive tomorrow (I looked up FJ, which I got, but am a bit too tired for the whole game).

I loved Fargo (mostly, but not exclusively, because of Frances McDormand's character), but the others I've seen - probably about 1/3 of their filmography - have generally just been fine. I haven't disliked any of them, but haven't been wowed, either. Shifting gears, my UO is that I'm in no hurry to see the sequel to A Quiet Place. I will see it, but when it becomes available to me for free, just like the original. That one had great performances, but a shit ton of plot holes that were not "icebox moments" I pondered later, but things that distracted me in real time. I hope this one is better, living up to the potential the first one failed to meet (interesting universe, and didn't feel gimmicky, but not properly thought through), but I'm sure not going to run out (even if the pandemic didn't exist) to the cinema to find out.

When this came out, I didn't really know of him. Especially because this film became an immediate favorite (I saw it twice in the theatre, wrote a paper on it*, etc.), I closely associated him with Hal. So when, in the next several years, I saw him in many more things and registered him as that guy who goes all Harvey Keitel on someone's ass in every film, for a long time it was a disconnect for me. I still use one of his quotes from this movie (I say a shit ton of things from this movie on the regular, but lines from the women); I've rarely directly threatened someone with it, but I've said in many times in describing to others how I'm going to take some asshole down: His miseries will be my goddamn mission in life. I still remember my friend getting ticked at me for thinking aloud (and not using my inside voice) during this film, but when Louise declared she wanted an escape route from Oklahoma to Mexico that didn't go through Texas, I exclaimed, before Thelma could, "The only thing between Oklahoma and Mexico is Texas!" Of course, I continue to quote and/or paraphrase Louise's reasoning, "You shoot off a guy's head with his pants down, believe me, Texas is not the place you want to get caught." *I think I still have that paper (it was for an Anthropology Through Film course, and I argued this movie was a study of the white working class woman in the American South [got an A]), and now I kind of want to pull that old box out from the back of the closet and find it.

Alimony being granted for any length of time in CA is not common. So even if she ever qualified for it from one ex-husband (not likely; it would probably just be child support, and that would depend on the physical custody split), if the spousal support order hadn't already expired by the time she married the next one, it would end then. But Rebel has presumably always had her own income (since the whole premise of this is how her passion for her work complicates her personal relationships). And Benji is the only former spouse who has more money than she does; she earns more than the cop, and the entire point of Grady filing for divorce was that he screwed up the timing and thus couldn't get his hands on her money. She's supporting herself, not living off ex-husbands. (This show is based on "the life of Erin Brockovich today", and Brockovich would've had no trouble dipping into her significant net worth for the money to fund Helen's surgery. So this, like most, shows is playing fast and loose and claiming financial problems that wouldn't actually exist - see, also, Cruz needing to let the receptionist and janitorial company go - in order to make their characters sympathetic. But even within their version, Rebel's money is her own.)

Cream cheese can be a sneaky ingredient. I don't like it, but I love spinach, artichoke, & cheese dip. There are numerous ways to make that, and some involve cream cheese. At someone's house, I ask, but at restaurants I didn't used to, because menus describe the dish, so the cheeses were generally noted. But after happily dipping into a bowl of it in a Nashville restaurant and quickly realizing it had the foul fromage, I started asking in restaurants, too, even if the menu description looked comprehensive (and in that example, I blame the restaurant, because cream cheese wasn't just one cheese, it was the primary cheese. Write that down!). My mom, forgetting I don't like cream cheese, once made a pasta dish that used a little bit of it among other cheeses. I couldn't tell exactly what was "wrong" with it, but something unpleasant was in my mouth, and when I asked her what was in the dish cream cheese was pretty far down the list. But once revealed, ah, yes, of course that is the culprit. Even I was surprised that little bit of it surrounded by yummy things could have such an effect, but it did.

The actor's line delivery and facial expressions are perfect. And Maxwell is even funny when he says, "Oh, cool, thanks, Mrs. A," after she snaps him out of it and he realizes he's home. But, holy crap, too much of the wee wee weeing! It hurts my ears and angers my soul.

Yes, generally if a door is unlocked, it can be opened from either inside or outside. I don't go wash my hands when I get home, but I do take off my shoes. I'm probably a bit of an outlier (especially these days!) with the former, but the latter is a fairly even split in my experience. In some cultures it's traditional to remove shoes (and to expect guests will do the same), but for many people it's purely personal preference/habit and that varies.

Sounds good to me, since that was an interesting decade in music across genres, especially country. And especially for female country artists. Which brings me to my one hesitation: If CU doesn't, for this project unlike the Sirius list commentary, finally include women, I don't care to give them my attention anymore. Yes, it's nice that the men commenting on the Sirius rankings are aware of the under-representation of female artists in the industry and on the list, but that's not remotely the same as giving women a seat at the table. And, lordy, would I love to hear from a Black music journalist about the country songs of this great era, since they were still almost exclusively by and about white folks - what's it like to be a fan of a genre that, at its least offensive, just doesn't see you?

If I'm expecting someone, and they happen to show up at a minute when I'm outside or in the bathroom and thus don't hear/can't answer their knock/ring, I'm fine if they let themselves in if the door happens to be unlocked. I have a friend who, half the time I arrive, is in the bathroom or out back switching laundry. She leaves the door unlocked because of this frequency, so I can come in and hang with my "niece" (her cat) until she's free. But I think this all comes back to how many more people on TV than in real life routinely leave their doors unlocked. I only make it a point to lock mine if I'm leaving or going to bed (and I sometimes forget in the latter scenario); when I'm home, a door I used may indeed remain unlocked throughout the day. There are people like me, people who always have their doors locked, and even people who don't even know where their key is - we run the gamut. But on TV, unlocked doors are easy to come by.

I'm looking forward to Mayim Bialik's guest host stint. From the basics I know about her, there's a lot I like, and she seems to love the show for the same reasons I do, so I'm happy for her to get this opportunity. And I don't know anything about the specific charity she has chosen, but the cause sounds good. Her victim-blaming Op-Ed in the early days of the Harvey Weinstein revelations and the metoo movement that escalated in response was horrible, and her initial response being defensive with an apology only coming later was disappointing, but in the overall context of what I know about her, I give her the benefit of the doubt that she did realize where she went wrong. Shilling for some "brain supplement"? Well, that's certainly not a good look, but she knows almost infinitely more about neuroscience than I do, and I'm not going to spend any time researching the product or parsing the commercial's language to determine degree of validity. I think I'll just try to ignore it, like @shapeshifter. A whopping two negative things spring to mind for someone who's been in the public eye since she was a kid over 30 years ago (I loved her in Beaches!). She's an intelligent, accomplished woman, with tremendous intellectual curiosity (my favorite trait in people) who marches to the beat of a drum that's very different than mine in many ways but seems - one high profile example to the contrary aside, and, again, I opt to believe the reflection and remorse was genuine - quite non-judgmental of those who choose differently. I'm here for it. I mean, this show allowed Dr. Oz to sully its soundstage. I'm not going to worry about Mayim Bialik. In fact, I think she's a great fit for a show that is fundamentally about embracing knowledge.

I was waiting for that "not impressed" face. I wonder a bit if she's annoyed by constantly being asked to do it, but, then again, she'd probably rather people remember that than the fall which turned gold to silver. And she's not only having fun with it, she's making money off it, so go ahead McKayla.

I love getting updates. Emma's owner having to give her up made me cry all over again, so I was thrilled to see where Emma wound up - that's the perfect fit for her! I hope the former owner is okay, and that she gets word of how well things worked out. My favorite part of the Jessica segment was her lying there looking like, "Can you two shut up or at least go brag about me somewhere else; I'm trying to nap" in the update footage. Samuel, the unaired adoption, passing his family BBQ test was cute, and he immediately looked so incredibly happy with his family. The little boy saying "We're a family of five now" when Samuel made himself at home was wonderful. No wonder M2 teared up. I like seeing bits of the time one of them fosters a dog before taking them to their forever home, so that the simple fact of being in a home is not yet another adjustment the dog has to make once there. I know producers only started incorporating that because there wasn't the usual [activity]-testing footage to use due to pandemic restrictions, but seeing more of it in this special makes me wish they'll continue to use it in episodes from time to time. I remember Glenn with the baboon butt that I found ever so oddly cute; great to hear he's happily ensconced in a home, and him working it like a GQ model with that head tilt was fabulous. I'll take any and all tributes to Earl, one of my favorite people I've never actually met, but I wish we got some former parolee updates in this special; re-watching the series on Discovery+ lately has really driven home how producers shifted focus away from them after the early years. I know it's Animal Planet, but I'm here all of 'em. It's one big ecosystem, and the parolees having an opportunity that is very hard to come by is a particularly important story to tell. I like the behind the scenes stuff, too, all the little goofy things, and stuff like Tia using a boom mic to push a reluctant wolf dog into a carrier because it's soft and, eh, he can bite it if he wants. Oh, it costs $10k? Well, I got it back to you in one piece. It reminds me of Lucky trying to eat the jib camera when they went to shoot the new opening credits in New Orleans. I really appreciate Tia's gratitude that production didn't have to shut down; this show is a huge source of income for them (the money directly from the show, and the increase in donations when it's airing), and to not have to take a year off was a big deal.

Here's an obituary (from NPR) on B.J. Thomas. He died today at home, from complications of lung cancer (he had just announced his diagnosis in March), at 78.

Because of that episode, when my mom and I play Scrabble, "disdam" counts as a word.

Their filming bubble made using the guest host chefs far easier than using home cooks would have been, but on general principle I think it was a better fit anyway. Before it went into a cookbook for a home cook to rely on, it would undergo a lot more testing, the recipe would be reviewed by an editor, etc. Under these circumstances, I like instead seeing if another chef can make it turn out well following the recipe as written and in the time allotted. (And, yeah, restaurant wars is a totally ridiculous challenge compared to the preparation a real-world restaurant undergoes before opening, so it wouldn't be unprecedented for them to challenge make this once, write a recipe, and we'll see if a home cook can do it in 90 minutes - I just like it better this way. And the judging shows the primary element of the challenge was to make a great dish, as per usual, with writing a good recipe being secondary.)

I made shrimp soft tacos tonight, too (not an uncommon thing for me to say; I make many versions and would make tacos even more often if I didn't keep half an eye on carbs). I seasoned the shrimp with cayenne, garlic, onion, and cumin, and added that to a slaw dressed with a lime juice, cilantro, and garlic dressing plus avocado and cotija cheese.

Yeah. Does anyone really think they invited those actors on as guest judges and then aired a cut in which Padma resented them for taking over? As I mentioned before, I don't know the show or the actors, so I just liked Dawn's fangirl reaction imagining how I might do the same with some other shows, so I don't know what might be a specific nod to their characters, but, yeah, their shtick and Padma's reaction to it was clearly planned.

No, you're a logical person. It's a dead body. Significantly decayed and maybe of no practical use by this point, but perhaps the heart valve - being synthetic - within can still prove useful as evidence in the case. Sharon isn't going to get any more dead, or be disturbed, or whatever superstitious nonsense led some of them to not want the remains exhumed, if they retrieve the valve and evaluate it as potential evidence. Patient X's removed valve is long gone and Helen's was stolen. This whistleblower may not pan out, and even if he does, hello, physical evidence. Clearly by planting Angela and stealing Helen's valve, Stonemore is playing very dirty; the plaintiffs need every shred of possible evidence they can get. And, given how pragmatic Sharon was in her final months per that memory of Rebel's, if she could somehow weigh in now she'd have told them to dig her bag of bones ass up.

"How often do you meet an underwater archeologist who's taken an entire class on the Uluburun?" Montana made me laugh one minute on the Puerto Rico trip (which I completely forgot they went on), and then had me tearing up later when she talked about sending her dad a letter when she was eight years old, saying he didn't have to write back, but she wanted him to know who she was; here's a picture, I like hopscotch and science, etc. And getting it back unopened with "return to sender; don't write to me again" on it. Ouch. Timber: "You'll have to tell me when I'm being too needy and dependent." Me: How about when you MOVED TO BOSTON because Jason had been gone for two months and wouldn't be back for four more? Good grief. She and Vaj should have gotten together, they're both so clingy and babbling on about the depth of their love. And, poor woman, she's undoubtedly heard this her entire life, but every time someone called her name like they were felling a tree, I laughed. Lastly, I am loving the songs used this season; this was one of my favorite years in music.

I didn't watch very many cartoons or animated movies when I was a kid, and they were even less my thing as a teen and adult, but once when visiting family when I was about 15, my cousin's little kid became obsessed with me and at one point wanted me to watch a movie with him. Fine, that seems far less annoying than everything else I've been roped into, and he'll be quiet. He picks one of his favorites, The Land Before Time, which I know nothing about. It starts, and, okay, it's an animated dinosaur movie. Certainly not my pick, but fine, and I find the little dino quite cute. Well. I wind up bawling - and wondering what the hell is wrong with this child that this is one of his favorite movies. And why in all hell are all the moms in animated movies dead/killed or missing?!

The episode is preempted here for NBA playoffs tonight, and I don't feel like waiting until 9:30, so I just checked the archive (I'll still watch later, to actually see the game play, but I went ahead and read all the clues): Well, boo, but congratulations to Sam on a good championship. The Joan Baez TS surprised me, that no one even guessed her - there aren't a ton of Joans to chose from. Maybe they were thrown off by rock & roll, just associating her with folk music? Anyway, I love her, so that TS bummed me out a little, too. I ran geography, toys, imbiber's lexicon, and garbage in the first round. I missed one in philharmonic, and one in "house" - the name of the house where Lincoln died, even though I've been there. In DJ, though, I only ran nonfiction and Joans. I missed three each in movies and 18th century, two in math, and one in 10-letter words. Not bad for this ToC, though! And I got FJ, which I believe means I wind up at 50% for correct FJs in the whole tournament.

So far, I'm not seeing indications Sean would go on to be as awful as he is. However ... "Just because my grandpa enslaved your grandpa, I shouldn't have to be punished." Okay. Good to see his keen understanding of affirmative action already existed back at 25. But he at least listened to Syrus explain how things were and are very different for him than they are for Sean. He only got it through his privileged skull maybe 10% of the time, but the potential was there. It's a shame. Speaking of him being older than a lot of the roommates, I love that in addition to telling him not to ever say that again, Kameelah's reaction to him calling her a "bitch" included saying to Genesis and/or Montana, "Really? He's 25 years old and in law school, and that's how he argues? Is he going to stand there in court and object by telling the judge, 'She's a bitch'?"

Yeah, this is such a non-story; he's waiting for a ruling from the state Supreme Court on his appeal, so of course he hasn't admitted guilt, completed the sexual violent predator program, and expressed remorse, so of course the board told him he ain't getting out in September (when he'd first be eligible for parole, after serving three years).

Maybe they didn't know they were night vision cameras. Because I tend to think they knew cameras were there due to how everyone pulled the covers entirely over themselves and their partners at an early point in the action - it wasn't just to shield themselves from other roommates, because Tonya did it when Justin came to visit while everyone else was gone.

I’m glad the cheftestants were as surprised as I was that Sara, not Gabe or Chris, was the one sent home last challenge; I’m still kind of irked about that, especially since Chris finally went home tonight for yet another dish lacking focus and screwing up dough. I hope she winds up emerging from LCK whenever they bring someone back. Dawn’s fangirl reaction to the Portlandia stars was fun to watch. I don’t know the show or the actors, but I enjoyed their presence just because of how giddy she was. I was surprised this was her first QF win. I liked the challenge - playing with hipster clichés. I also like – and have - some of those vintage appliances and gadgets (not because I’m hip, because I generally don’t get rid of things that still work). I have an electric GE stove from the late ‘50s, so I was looking to see if anyone had my model (not that I saw). I also like the EC parameters. Gabe obviously did a good job writing the recipe, for how close Gregory came. As did Dawn with the recipe Kristen had to follow. And, really, Maria’s, too, it just made a shit ton of food, but I think a home cook would have become flustered by the overly complicated way she wrote it. Byron’s and Jamie’s recipes seemed relatively easy for their chefs to replicate, but weren’t great dishes to begin with. It’s interesting that Kwame left off a component that didn’t come out right, while Melissa served raw gnocchi because that’s how it came out per Chris’s recipe. I was under the impression her approach was what they were supposed to do, and Kwame should have served his with the watery sauce because that’s how it came out by following Shota’s recipe. Because of that, I also found it odd Shota was in the top group. I knew he wasn’t going to win (nor was Maria; the top four all had great dishes, but the recipe component of the challenge meant Dawn or Gabe was going to win), and he wouldn’t have been a candidate for elimination compared to the three that had conceptualization, not just execution, problems, but I was expecting three top, three bottom, and him in the middle.