Bastet

Ooh, thank you for this idea. My mom occasionally does jigsaw puzzles, and a friend of mine is really big on them. Now I know what they're each getting for their birthdays next year -- jigsaw puzzles made from a picture of their cats! I think gift cards are a fine gift from someone who doesn't know me well enough to know the types of things I like, and if they happen to choose a store I wouldn't patronize (e.g. Walmart, because, no, I wouldn't even give them a dime of someone else's money), I can just donate it. But I'd find it lazy and impersonal from someone close to me (which has never happened, so I guess we're all on the same wavelength).

From an episode thread: Yes, she says so in the episode where they throw her an impromptu party thinking she got the assistant job at the meat-packing plant ("The man doesn't even need a secretary, he doesn't do anything." "Sounds like a great job."), but didn't, because she didn't know how to use a computer: "Everyone congratulating me, telling me quitting my job was the best thing I ever did. It was the stupidest thing I ever did. How could I do that, how could I quit my job? I've got three kids. And some guy gives me a little lip, and I toss it all. I tossed my paycheck, my benefits, I tossed my pension. I let him beat me."

Answering in the Past and Present thread ...

The conversation you quoted was about the phrase "lived on the economy", not shooting one's wad, heh, but thanks for inadvertently reminding me to ask: @Clanstarling, I took that to refer to military families overseas living off base rather than on, but, knowing nothing of the military, I'd never heard of it and an internet search didn't help me, so I'm curious to get a piece of trivia for the day.

It's common, and called Morton's Toe. Mine is just the slightest bit longer than my first toe, so it generally doesn't cause me any problems.

I love how it goes hand in hand: The ones who, upon being caught somewhere they're not supposed to be/doing something they're not supposed to be doing, look like Those damn aliens struck again; I told them this was against the rules, but they abducted me and placed me here against my will get visibly embarrassed when they fall off/run into something, while those who react to getting caught with a Yeah, and? What are you gonna do about it? look play those accidents off like How about that choreography, hm?

A couple of weeks ago, Riley and I were playing with her favorite toy, which is one of those fabric strings on a plastic wand things, and she likes me to whip it around really fast; she runs and leaps and twists and all that good stuff for her nightly exercise sessions (which help with regular pooping on top of all the obvious benefits). In a move we couldn't have choreographed if we'd tried, she zigged when I zagged in just the wrong combination so that I wound up smacking her in the face with the wand. Unlike most accidents, this actually scared her; I was forgiven quickly, but when we went to play the next night she ran away, and she has been afraid of the toy ever since. We've been playing with a rope instead (it takes a lot more arm/wrist movement from me to create the same excitement for her, but I could use the exercise). Hopefully she'll soon forget about the wand trauma and go back to playing with it (although, she's still not over whatever traumatized her about fly swatters before she came to me; I can't even walk through the room she's in with one in my hand), but thankfully I had plenty of rope and twine in the garage to find just the right weight and length to fire her up. But, yeah, it's a lot more often with cats where something happens that doesn't hurt them in the least, but they get the awkward Um, I meant to do that look and I have to work hard not to laugh at their misstep and subsequent embarrassment.

NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Kevin Greene died at home today at 58; no cause of death was stated. Starting as a walk-on player in college, he played the bulk of his career with the Rams, but is widely known for helping the Steelers reach a Super Bowl before closing out his playing career with the Panthers (after a brief stop in San Francisco), later serving as a linebackers coach for a Super Bowl-winning Packers team and most recently the Jets. Only two players have had more sacks in their careers. He leaves behind a wife and two (adult) children.

Not just you, my first thought when I saw her as Bev was "Damn, I know Margot Robbie killed it, but maybe Amy Adams should have played Tonya Harding". And when I saw the picture of the real Mamaw at the end, I did a double take at how perfectly Glenn Close was made to look like her and paused the picture to marvel at the resemblance. Per the trivia section for the film's IMDb page, those were Mamaw's real glasses; the family loaned them for filming. And seeing Close done up as Mamaw brought them to tears, as it was like having their grandmother brought back to life for a bit.

Sorry, all, it's my fault the Jets won. My friend couldn't do our usual Friday night phone call, and I couldn't reschedule for Saturday, so I said that since the Rams were playing the Jets, it would be fine if she called me at 3:30 Sunday - with that game well in hand, that would give me plenty of time to talk before getting ready for the Giants game and dinner at my parents' house (we're a two-house bubble). Yes, I know better than to look past a game. But, I mean ... it was the Jets. Sorry!

My best friend lived in Manhattan Beach for several years (not on the Strand; she rented an apartment several tax brackets inland) and I always had to internally laugh at how much I enjoyed looking into all those interesting homes as we walked/skated/rode by, and how I'd never, ever live in one of them even if I could afford it, because of the oodles of people who'd be right in front of my patio.

Here's number three. Wrapped presents from mom & dad were under the tree, and then Christmas morning there were also unwrapped presents in the stockings and in front of the tree from Santa. My grandpa used to film it back in the Super 8 days, then with VHS the camera got set up on a tripod, so my reactions were captured for posterity. My parents do the Santa stuff to this day - stuff they don't want to wrap is from Santa, heh - and they still record the whole thing (which no one will ever watch, but whatever), it's just now my reaction is to shuffle into the living room, still trying to wake up, because my parents make me spend the night after Christmas Eve dinner and send the cats in to wake me up around 9:00 the next morning (if I'm home in my own bed I will not manage to get up and over there until far later than that).

NO!! '80s Ladies is a fucking anthem I still jam to today. (For it, of all songs - celebrating women "of a certain age" - to result in a woman finally winning Song of the Year at the CMA Awards was so gratifying!) I love many of her other songs, too. I also love her response to being told by a radio programmer the station wouldn't play her song "Younger Men" because it would be offensive to male listeners. She asked if they played "Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time" and upon confirmation asked, "You don't think that's offensive to female listeners?" He hung up on her. Here's the Rolling Stone obituary.

I haven't checked to see if they've edited it yet to include him, but Oscar-winning production designer Peter Lamont died shortly after it was released.

The way Kearran Giovanni embraced Amy's eager beaver tendencies is what landed her the role, and I do like what she does with it, but I'm also glad they backed off on that as Amy settled in. It's possible Amy was like that in each new job, meaning she got off to a similar start while proving herself in the military and SIS. She's still pretty young by the time of her transfer to Major Crimes, so I can go with that. She also has this call me what you want, I don't care because I know what has worked for me (maybe she was like that at the beginning of each new school, too) attitude, so, yeah, the more I think about this, I can definitely see that just being Sykes.

I do occasionally, but the ability to do so is not something that would have ever even crossed my mind in selecting the house; I spend the overwhelming majority of my outdoor time in the backyard.

Well, there's still not a lot of filming, especially of new shows/movies, going on. Plus, several of the cast members are high risk for COVID. Mary McDonnell had her suitcase half packed to film two things in Vancouver when things shut down in March, and has been home ever since. I'm sure the other older actors are in the same boat. (I don't know if Tony Denison has made any recent appearances on All Rise; I only watched one episode.) Michael Paul Chan said a while back he didn't have a tremendous urge to work, so would largely just live off the money this franchise brought him, at least for a time.

I couldn't name the coach or a single player on the Clemson team, yet I keep finding myself having to root for them because of who they're playing. Notre Dame, Alabama, Ohio State? Go Tigers! (Alabama vs. Notre Dame is unwatchable; no one to root for but the meteor. Which means I won't be watching the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day, which irritates me.)

It never was. When they archived the forums for old shows, replaced them with single threads, and did some big server change, the entire M archive went poof. Over 5000 posts in the Major Crimes forum alone, so I can only imagine how many altogether. (Yes, still annoyed.) So there's only what has been posted here during syndication airings, and the little that is accessible via the Wayback Machine (not much from the Past Seasons sub-section). Most of the original discussion is gone. (I didn't watch "Personal Effects" this time around, but I know it well. And, speaking of things that still annoy me, I wish they'd kept the deleted scene at the end where Rusty gets all awkward when Sharon tells him Andy will probably be spending the night sometimes in the future; Graham Patrick Martin nails the ew, gross, moms have sex face guys get.) Well, maybe. 🙂 I knew, as I'm thoroughly convinced no one but Duff would have hired Keene (and, in fact, few but Duff have); he sucks. (As an actor, that is, especially once Duff started giving him storylines in Major Crimes - he was fine enough [other than that hideous surfer 'do he had in the beginning] in The Closer when all he said to do was say "Yes, ma'am" and hit play - but he seems like a good person from the little I know.) Ugh, yes. I think the actor playing his girlfriend does a terrific job in that hospital room scene where she - wired for the police - goes off on him after getting him to say what they need to nail him; the way she breaks on "You made me kill four people!" is great.

That's how I take it (I didn't see it yet, but based on comments here), but since Bonnie delighted in telling people he died while performing oral sex on her, it feels like something missing that she didn't make some sort of joke about her being the last thing he ate.

Now that you mention it, I can see that. Koehler appeared in an episode of Major Crimes a few years ago, the first time I'd seen him since Kate & Allie, and, yeah, Brayden does look like he could represent what Koehler would have looked like about halfway between the two shows.

That's the right call for your blood pressure - there are so damn many breeders among their clients. It's one of the reasons I hardly ever watch anymore.

Catholic, no, Italian, yes. When Rose says grief takes time (about Blanche holing up in her room after finding out about the bigamist), Dorothy says "If you're Irish, you have a wake; you eat, you cry, you drink, you vomit, and you're done. If you're Jewish, you cry, you sit, you eat for 7 days, you put on 10 pounds, and it's over. We Italians scream, dress up a donkey, hire a band, and that's that. It's these Southern Protestants who make it a way of life." There are explicit references to being Catholic later (e.g. "I'm Catholic, I can't spread a wise man on a Ritz cracker" and when Sophia says it's time for Temple and Dorothy reminds her it's Tuesday, and they're Catholic), but I could have sworn there was one odd episode where Dorothy says they're not Catholic, except it's not coming to me so I must be mixing it up with another show.

This was rather simplistic. Fundamentally, I have a problem with the fact behind the "we're just telling true stories!" excuse that white folks overcoming these generational obstacles to success through a combination of their own hard work and help get movies, while black folks only get movies when they're "saved" by whites. These people are pretty awful, and we acknowledge they're frustrating products of their environment, but make this about a Black inner city family and see how sympathetic the film - and its audience - is to the mom and grandmother. The performances, especially Glenn Close's, are good. But, again, it all feels tiresome - play ugly, get the Academy's attention (But, in Close's case, I wouldn't complain - she nailed the complicated feelings for her husband and daughter behind how she treated her grandson.) I did get emotional in spots, though, so I don't want to imply this isn't effective. Bev was poorly developed, which is a real shame since she's such a victim and perpetrator at the same time, but her mom and kids' reactions to her rang true, simultaneously resenting the hell out of her but feeling obliged to help her. Through J.D., this did a good job showing how hard it is to break free from toxic family, even when you're among the few with an actual path out. His lifelong push-pull was well done. The daughter's life was depressingly realistic, too - she's a happy ending under the circumstances because she's raising her kids in a long-term marriage, even though she's living in the same going-nowhere town, working in a shitty retail establishment getting bitched at by a boss ten years younger than her, and still feeling responsible for her mother after a childhood spent feeling responsible for her brother. The differences in the Ohio town's set dressing between when the grandparents arrived, when J.D. was a kid, and when he came back were perfectly done. I can't decide if not explicitly addressing the dramatic decline in employment options, and all that inevitably follows from that, is admirable restraint from a director not known for it or a storytelling flaw. I'm glad I watched it (I was unfamiliar with the book, and am not terribly impressed with Ron Howard as a director, but I like Close and Adams in most things I see them in), but it feels a lot more like Oscar bait than a great film.

Yes, that's why they aired the Q&A program last week - they often wrap up a season with some sort of look-back episode. Tonight there's a bunch of zoo crap, but then we start back up with Pit Bulls & Parolees (I think a compilation episode and then truly new content in January). Hopefully The Vet Life after that, but I can't remember what order the rotation usually goes in, and they don't always stick to it anyway. It probably depends on what shows had enough in the can prior to COVID hitting.