Bastet

If Gabriel is right back on my screen next episode, I am going to be highly annoyed. He’s not even that bad, but he’s awful compared to everyone else, so he disproportionately bugs me. I love mushrooms, so I was drooling over the QF offerings. As has happened several times already, Dawn had the dish I most wanted to eat. Sara and Shota’s EC dish was so creative, I knew they were going to win. I don’t love any of the four proteins in the top two dishes, but Sara and Shota and Gabe and Dawn did such interesting things, I wanted to try them. I love that the conscious effort Maria and Byron took to honor the tribal traditions came through in the food. I knew Maria was right about adding more mole sauce, but I also knew they were in no danger in going home because of it.

Since I'll be watching something else tonight, I just checked the archive. An 800-degree calzone made me laugh out loud. Looking at the game dynamics, Kalee had a really bad day. The Appalachians TS surprised me. So did amphitheater, helicopters, stage fright, and Munich (at least that no one threw that out there as a guess, but it was a $2000 clue, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised no one wanted to risk it). I had another great first round, getting everything but polar bear & grizzly (I thought Duh! when I unveiled it). In DJ, though, I only ran Potent History and On Speaking. I blew the entire roles in common category. Across the remaining categories, I only missed four, so if it wasn't for that category, I'd have had an excellent game, because I got FJ, too.

It's for Greenies, and I love it, too: And, yes, the snowman commercial was theirs too:

Not at all. But maybe it's not readily familiar in some regions (because "I've never had it" is one thing, but "I've never heard of it" could mean something individual or a community norm). About 20 years ago, my mom asked me what a potluck dish was, I said, "quinoa salad," and she asked what quinoa was. Fast forward a few months, and she referred to a side dish on a menu as "kin-oh-uh" and asked me what it was. "Not kinohuh, keenwah, like that salad you liked at M's party." Hearing it pronounced and then seeing it written, she did not connect that it was the same thing.

I managed to run a religion category. That must be one for the record books. I also ran Shakespeare, which is not typical for me, either. If not for I Love Lucy (which was such a V8 head slap moment when it was revealed, but I was trying to think of a two-word title starting with "Love"), I'd have run the entire first round. In DJ, though, I only ran African cities and medical, but I wasn't terrible in any category, missing eight clues total. FJ came to me very quickly, so I had a great game after several lackluster performances recently.

I can't throw away food unless I truly dislike it (like how I dump egg yolks because I only like the white); where I can dip it in creamy goodness and enjoy it, I'm in.

Every time I watch "Party Foul" (which I just watched a few minutes of, because it was one of the scenes that pisses me off and I wasn't in the mood), I am surprised anew by how much I came to like Patrice, because she gets my blood boiling in her first episode. She's not the only one, but damn. "I know a troubled kid when I see one." Except apparently, the one living in your house. "He's a crazy boy who couldn't take no for an answer." Oh, you mean like your granddaughter who stabbed her boyfriend to death when he kindly and respectfully broke up with her? Goddamn, the willful blindness not to see that everything she (rightly) accuses Wesley of applies to Keisha as well (except Wesley didn't, you know, kill Keisha when she only wanted to be friends). And the audacity, to say Keisha shouldn't have to go to prison, because her uncontrolled temper means she's going to get her ass beat. Gee, Patrice, maybe you should have gotten her some help sometime in the past 19 years so she could manage her anger. You were a fucking ER nurse; ask the psych attending for a list of therapists specializing in troubled kids. I hate that the squad goes along with this crap to make a deal. "The court will never let her plead insanity." Yeah, because she isn't! She is guilty of second degree murder, and, under the law, her mental capacity means she belongs in prison rather than a mental institution. Do I think she'll come out of a mental institution better than she'd come out of prison? Of course; I'm not mad at the result, I'm mad at how they got there -- on a show that generally sticks to reality, this is written in a way that really distorts being colloquially "crazy" versus mentally ill and when, legally, mental illness means one is hospitalized rather than incarcerated. There are a disgraceful number of mentally ill people who committed a crime because of that illness, suffering in prisons across America instead of being treated and then released if/when that illness is controlled so they are no longer a danger because of it. Acting as if someone like Keisha can easily avoid prison, when those folks can't, is aggravating.

If I have a pizza where the outer edge of the crust doesn't have any sauce or toppings on it, damn right I'm dipping that bare crust in ranch; yum. I love Parker and her "side" of ranch.

Once Darlene went to Chicago, she was an asshole every time she came home.

Emily had some big misses, and Hanna ran away with the game in DJ; it was interesting that Bill said she had "a big lead" rather than "can't be caught" like Alex did. (Or "can't be beat"? My goodness, I'm already forgetting.) The furniture TS was surprising, but I suspect they, like @Browncoat were trying to think of a specific type of furniture. I was also surprised it took three tries to get Masters and Johnson. I only ran truce, crossword clues, and ding dong in the first round, but missed three each in pop culture and witches. Just one each in the other two categories, but it didn't bode well since I'm usually worse in DJ. Indeed - I didn't run a single category. I mostly missed one or two each category, but I was terrible in Brits in Boats, missing four. I didn't know FJ, either, so it was not my night. I've been saying that more than usual lately, so hopefully I snap out of my J! funk soon. There were several responses that, once revealed, I either thought Duh! or that if I'd had a little more time I'd have correctly reasoned my way to or at least correctly guessed it, so I think recent stress is affecting my focus. That's my story, anyway, and I'm sticking with it.

I'm surprised, too; I figured they were talking with candidates with game show hosting experience, taking plenty of time to decide who will take over next season, and the guest host appearances were just fun placeholders to close out this season, not on-air auditions.

I like the guy who asks, "What is that, a loofah?"

I, too, was wait, what did you just say? about Bill Whitaker's pronunciation of a couple of things, but I enjoyed him and really liked his opening remarks. The edict TS surprised me. I learned what phrenology is via an awesomely bad '80s movie starring Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez, so thanks Men at Work. I only ran food, vice, and E in the first round, but just missed one each in the others - except history, in which I was terrible, missing four. In DJ, I had two bad categories -- I didn't get a single author, and missed three in prom music. I only ran African-American women, but just missed one each in the rest. I didn't get FJ; I deduced it was referring to "Go West, young man," but didn't come up with who'd said/written that. I had the vague sense that was one of those sayings where it was disputed who'd first said it, so I will have to look that up.

1. I already talk to animals. Oh, you mean they'd understand me? Well, they're cats, so that still doesn't mean they'd listen. But I'll take it. 2. Butterflies. We have plenty of squirrels, but not enough butterflies. 3. Food stuck in my teeth. That happens to me more frequently than getting a paper cut.

I love that when Clairee is telling everyone about Anne Boleyn ("Who's Anne Berlin?") having six fingers ("What happened to the other four?"), she's sitting on the toilet with the door open. It's a great little bit of staging that shows us how close they all are, and how Truvy's salon is their women-only clubhouse. The play was set entirely at Truvy's. (So that, not the funeral, is where M'Lynn's outburst occurred in the play; it's the day after Shelby died, and she stops by, explaining what happened [in the play, as in real life, Shelby had been back on dialysis for months because her body rejected the kidney, and had been in the hospital for about a week before slipping into the coma and being taken off life support]. The play ends with the conversation after that, Annelle saying she's going to name the baby Shelby and M'Lynn concluding life goes on; M'Lynn leaves the beauty salon, and that's the end.)

The Conners always had a mildly cluttered house unless company was coming. I love when someone showed up unexpectedly, and Roseanne said, "You'll have to excuse the mess; we live here." (It's even messier now, with half of Lanford living there.) And they had realistically-sized wardrobes, too. I like that on Major Crimes, Sharon Raydor didn't have an endless collection of business attire. She had a lot, and nice stuff, which comports with her financial status, but there were very few items we didn't see her in several different times. I hate when characters have a new suit and new shirt every episode, when there's no way they could afford that. Sharon had a realistic professional wardrobe, with a lot of different blouses and a much smaller collection of suits, slacks, and skirts to mix and match them with.

My parents were gone for a long weekend to attend a memorial service for my mom's cousin who died in November of COVID; it was outdoors, but, not being fully vaccinated nor knowing how many would attend, and, quite frankly, not trusting any other precautions to be taken, I stayed home. Which is good for Chester, their cat with cancer that is terminal yet has somehow not only not yet killed him but hasn't yet diminished his quality of life to where euthanasia seems around a corner or two. But he's incredibly attached to my mom, and last time I did my normal 24 hours at my house/24 hours at theirs routine (to give equal time to my cat and theirs whenever my retired parents travel) he got very stressed out, stopped eating, and spent about 24 hours pretty sick; after he rebounded to something stable and I gave a small dose of appetite stimulant, I did a very quick Thanksgiving in order to come back to him until they returned. So, this time, I've been staying at my parents' house other than going home a few hours each day to visit Riley. It makes me sad for her, but Chester needs me far more, and she's the type to get over it almost immediately. Chester has been doing great; no change in appetite or attitude (or poops - he has intestinal lymphoma) at all! As always, if you just looked at this cat - skin and bones and on the brink of actually having more bald patches than he has fur - you'd think it was cruel to keep him around, but he's still such a happy little guy. Even with just me, he summons me for cuddles several times a day; he purrs and does the cutest little grunt when he's particularly happy being petted. And he loves being cuddled up with his brother. I'm relieved this likely means my parents can start getting out in their motorhome again, that Chester will do well if I base myself out of their house. I'm going to ask them to limit themselves to short trips, of course (because of Riley, and because, even though I work remotely even pre-pandemic and a lot of what I need is on my laptop or online, it's easier at my house than theirs), but it seems like we have something that works; in fact, this is the best Chester has done with me kitty-sitting in a couple of years!

Even worse on stage than on screen - it has nothing to do with any particular acting process, just the inevitable result of inhabiting those characters and experiences night after night.

I hate recurring super villains, too, but I root for them to be incarcerated, not killed. Obviously extrajudicial executions are far worse than necessary shoots in defense of self or others, but I'm just sick of shows celebrating punishing violence with violence, death with death.

I've loved Olympia Dukakis in everything I've ever seen her in - even when she was just about the only thing I liked - and admired her steadfast support of worthy causes, but by far this film is what I most associate her with. I don't give a shit about my luggage, but I will still say "You know I love you more 'n I love my luggage" as an endearment just because of her delivery. And "If you don't have anything nice to say, come sit by me" pre-dated Clairee, but damn if Dukakis didn't wipe that all away.

I do, too. And I frequently side with Kerry. These folks are there to do a job, not win a popularity contest, and they do it. Now, you are more effective at your job if you don't turn people away from your message with your delivery, but we're talking about a woman (and one with a disability) and a Black man in positions of authority, so they're held to a higher standard and would have to make far more of a "likable" effort than white men like Mark to be acceptable, and they both reject that; I am here all day to back them for that on general principle and any time they're speaking truth someone doesn't want to here (and to call them out when they're behaving selfishly or underhandedly).

"This shit ain't right." True that, Toney. The way those three dogs of the guy who OD'd were being kept was horrible. That contraption Chip was in?! I'm not sure they ever even opened it, because they had a tube hooked up for pouring in food. I'm glad stubborn little Rocky has such a good prognosis under the circumstances, and I hope someone who sees this turns out to be the perfect person to let him spend the years he has left in a home. And it's great that the anti-social older puppies were able to go into the prison program at just the right time; they're much improved already but will benefit so much from one-on-one socialization and 24/7 attention, and be highly adoptable. Same with the little ones. Deuces peeing on the laptop right after putting on a perfect performance during his virtual meet and greet made me laugh so hard I almost peed myself. And then as soon as Lizzy said he doesn't cross to the other side of her while running, he does that. Fun personality. I love that Kalista's owners wanted to adopt another senior, and it's great he has a home at long last. The way King looked like wait, where are you going; we've been having fun when the good samaritans handed him off to Earl made me sad, but I knew they were going to find his owner. Watching him bound across the street to them was great.

Here's the whole Risk storyline:

Kramer and Newman had an epic game going on Seinfeld. "It's a game of world domination, being played by two guys who can barely run their own lives."

Damn. I loved Olympia Dukakis in everything I ever saw her in. On the bright side, she was 89, she worked up until the pandemic hit, it sounds like her health was good until her final months, and she died at home.