Bastet

Sure, it works, but I agree with Penny Marshall that it was more interesting when it was about her guilt and feeling ostracized by her teammates than when she's boohooing about Bob. It also puts Dottie's decision to leave her team, especially at such a crucial time, in a context that at least makes some sense. In the final cut, she's just like Marla - quitting because of a husband. The good thing about all the stuff about Dottie's marriage being cut is that the Bob who remains is a blank slate - all we really know about him is he fully supports Dottie's decision to return to the team and see the season out. But in the original cut, we learn they dated for five years and then abruptly got married the night before he shipped out. There was more to the conversation between Kit and Dottie back on the farm about going with Mr. Capadino to the try-outs: As Kit is trying to persuade her, she says Dottie can't be all that thrilled with life, either, and Dottie says she's only sad that Bob is gone, because if he was home they'd be starting a family. Kit points out she could have married him five years ago and have all kinds of family by now, and Dottie protests she just wanted to be sure -- that's when Kit makes fun of her last-second wedding, married by a preacher in pajamas, with their dad standing there saying, "One down ..." Bob being a dud Dottie married because she was supposed to and remained unsure about would have played true for me, because Bill Pullman comes across to me as a dud in every role he plays. But I like that the backstory is gone, so that instead their marriage is just something that exists. We, not knowing anything about it, take it at face value and assume she happily wants to be married to and have kids with Bob, which means it's not sad that she only played that one season despite being one of the best players in the league.

It was last week's QF, where they had to make a first class airplane meal - he said his grandfather was an executive for one of the airlines, so he always got to fly first class. That, and I think also that she didn't use any cooked truffle in her dish. No one else seemed to know white truffle really ought to only be used raw. The only thing that makes truffles feasible given their expense is how little you need to use per dish. To see Gregory using huge amounts of white truffle and still have a dish that didn't taste like truffle was really something, and speaks to the fact his dish just wasn't a good idea - a delicious bowl of food, but definitely not something that's going to win a truffle challenge.

I forgot to check the archive in advance since I'd be watching Top Chef tonight, so I just read through this game's clues now. I loved the Mister Rogers category. We do indeed miss you, sir. I knew/correctly guessed all but Black Mirror, inspo, and obvy in the first round, and I am very okay with not knowing those last two. In DJ, I missed only another few clues, so I was having a good game. But I had absolutely no idea on FJ. Could have sat here for hours and not come up with it. When the answer was revealed, I was surprised that none of the four of us had at least seen the movie. I like that the scores are so close and it's still anyone's game tomorrow. But: Go, Meggie!

Thirty portions in a QF – wow. Have they ever done anything like that before? I’d have loved to be one of those 30. Stephanie is the only one who made something you could eat with just two fingers, so I was bummed her execution fell short. I really wanted to eat Melissa’s, so I was hoping she’d win. (I also found myself wishing I had some Peroni in the fridge.) Not to mention wishing I had some white truffles. (And could play with those dogs.) Tom going along on the truffle hunt made me smile. It was very dude, this is my show, I’m taking the opportunity to hunt for white truffles. I cannot believe how most of them fell short at highlighting the ingredient, especially that ingredient! They all made great food, but most didn’t make great truffle dishes. Melissa’s was the one I most wanted to eat, even with the salami, so I was very glad to see her win. (And her having to joke about being ostracized by “ew, what’s that smell?” kids about her unfamiliar lunches really hit me.) Poor Gregory having to cook while in pain; pain is distracting and tiring on top of being, well, painful. He chose a meat with a strong taste -- the amount of truffle he used for the dish still to not taste like truffle, yikes. But it seemed like Kevin’s polpette used overwhelming spices, so I wasn’t sure from the editing which way they were going to go between those two. This is an elimination where I really wish I could taste both dishes to properly evaluate what I think of the elimination decision. Stephanie’s braised radicchio puree looked awful and sounded worse, so I was glad it was a small part of what looked and sounded like an otherwise wonderful dish, and I cringed through her acknowledging everyone should be screaming at their TV, because she just made a critical and entirely avoidable mistake. Don’t put something bad on the plate! Especially when it’s not the featured ingredient! (Yes, I was indeed yelling at my imaginary friend through the TV.)

The best thing would be to acknowledge he completely misrepresented what kneeling in protest during the national anthem means, admit accusing his fellow players who engage in it of disrespecting the country was repugnant, and apologize clearly and directly for that. Then go on to say his teammate Malcom Jenkins was spot on in that his comments were self-centered, and that responding to a question about protesting systemic racism and police brutality with an off-topic story about his veteran grandparents that did not even acknowledge black people's grandparents had a very different experience than them in WWII America, just as his black teammates have a very different experience than him in America now, showed he's unaware of his privilege. Not centering himself AGAIN. None of this talking about "the way my comments were perceived" and how the words he chose to have come out of his mouth "misled" people into "somehow" branding him as an enemy, when he's "ALWAYS" been an ally (quick tip: if you have to tell people, especially in all caps, that you're an ally, it's because you've shown them you're not). And certainly not talking about how he can "be a leader for the black community in this movement". No, Drew. Go back to that talking less and listening more thing. An ally's role is to use your platform to amplify black voices, not insert your own. It's not about defending your "heart and character", it's about defending their lives.

I, too, would tell Blue Apron to never let tofu darken my doorstep again. But most people I know like it. If you're on Nextdoor or a Facebook group for your neighborhood, you could offer it there.

For me, it's Mary on Mom, but probably just because that was the most recent.

It's a fundamental, and at this point quite willful, mischaracterization of what staying seated and later kneeling in protest during the national anthem was about, and what it will be about if it resumes when NFL play does. Kaepernick and those who joined him were never protesting against Brees's grandpas or anyone else in the military. They were protesting against the ongoing systemic oppression of people of color in this country, including police brutality against black people, during the pre-game singing of the national anthem. They were saying such oppression, including lethal examples of racism, betrays America's claimed purpose and promise, so they're going to use this weekly moment to protest it, to encourage those working against it, and invite more people to unite in opposition and change so that the America lauded in the anthem ritual is one actually deserving of universal pride. This has been stated by Kaepernick and others in great detail and numerous times over the past four years. There can be no innocent misunderstanding. For Brees to characterize this particular means of protest as wrong, and specifically to accuse his fellow players of "disrespecting" this country by engaging in it? It's not just when he said it. It's what he said. Protest is every bit as American as the anthem or the flag. But some of his fellow players lost their livelihoods for doing it. And he's going to call them out, challenge their patriotism, their very validity as Americans? It's what he said! He's very much part of the problem. Like Jenkins said in the video he originally posted, which was deleted and replaced with the one linked above saying generally the same things to him:

Martellus Bennett is speaking some serious truth on Twitter tonight about all this.

Another preemption, so I just read the archive. I love the "Alex reads the clue with an imitative voice" notations - ha! I'm not sorry to have missed those imitations, though. No one knowing what SRS stands for surprised me, as did the hot rollers TS a bit, but it seemed like a good game (I wish Lauren had won, though). Not a good one for me, as I missed at least ten, although several of those I feel confident I'd have got if I'd been able to see the visual part of the clue. At least FJ was an instaget for me.

Damn, that was good. In other refusing to get it news, Broncos coach Vic Fangio doesn't think racism exists in the NFL. The only way not to see it is to refuse to see it.

I think it's easier to just think in terms of lay = object and lie = no object, but understand it's about the presence or absence of an object of the verb: Subject + verb = lie Subject + verb + object = lay So: Is someone/something lying down or is someone laying another someone/something down? Simple in present tense. And I think the various tenses of lay are fairly easy to remember/figure out because they all still look like lay. But conjugating lie can get tricky: the past tense is lay and the past participle is lain. Come on!

I think lay vs. lie in the present tense is easy. But I have to stop and think about some of the others. Here's a guide: Lie (intransitive verb): To be in or assume a resting position on a surface. Examples in all the tenses: I am lying down. I lie down at 3:00 every day. I lay down to watch TV yesterday afternoon and fell asleep until dinner. I have lain down on the couch in the past, but now I nap in bed. Lay (transitive verb [which means there has to be an objective of that verb in order for the sentence to make sense]): To place someone/something down on a surface. Examples in all the tenses: I am laying my dress on the bed. I lay the baby down in her crib every afternoon. I laid the folded laundry on the dresser yesterday and it's still there. I have laid the mail on the table many times, even though there's a bin for it.

Ha - that's exactly what I said.

I like her excitement when she correctly guesses/figures out something she wasn't entirely sure she was going to get when she rang in. Like the "Paradise Lost" DD. (If she'd heard me shouting Hoop Dreams for that DD, she'd have had another one - damn, everyone should watch that film.) It's one of the reasons I so enjoyed her "Ugh" reaction once "Magic Mike Pompeo" sunk in. She - saying later she loves those word play categories (as do I, so I relate) - was tickled to have beaten everyone to the buzzer to suss it out ... and then the implications of that correct combination hit her and she needed brain bleach.

Oh, jeez - "Women Authors". But I truly laughed out loud at Meggie's disgusted reaction to the thought of "Magic Mike Pompeo". The tip-off, Jefferson, and temporal TS were varying degrees of surprising (the last one the most surprising to me). The Harriet Beecher Stowe TS was disappointing. I'll have to look up the secretary bird, as my ignorance of its existence kept me from running the first round. I only missed one (skateboard) in DJ, too, and got FJ, so I came so very close to a perfect game!

Yep. Which is why Major Crimes is one of the only cop shows I ever watched, and is my favorite of those few - it's led by a former IA captain (she headed the division that, by federal mandate, investigated all uses of force), so she explicitly does not allow her squad to ever pull that "the ends justify the means" shit and there is clear acknowledgment that, in so doing, she made them better cops. Just as a person, but especially as a civil rights lawyer, most cop shows are unwatchable for me, because they normalize, justify, and glorify a wide range of completely unacceptable police behavior. They're a series of "Oh, hell no!" moments and thus unpleasant to watch. (I risk stroking out in rage if a syndicated episode of Blue Bloods comes on after something I was watching and I can't quickly locate the remote.) Shepherd. Sam = Shepard, Cybill = Shepherd.

I got so caught up in talking with friends and watching news analysis that, boom, it was suddenly a couple hours after dinner prep and I found myself with no delivery options and limited cooking options. Thankfully, I had everything I needed to make one of my favorite dishes - chicken, mushroom, and scallions sautéed with ginger and garlic, then simmered with rice vinegar, tamari, and cilantro. Served over cauliflower "rice" this time because I had nothing else. And there's enough of both left over for a second serving (especially with the salad I skipped tonight).

There is no way this won't be preempted by news coverage tonight, so I just read the archive. So I couldn't see any of the flower pictures, but I - giving myself a little extra time - got all of them based on the text of the clues. I missed several other clues in the first round, though. In DJ, I missed all but one of the pop music clues and quite a few other assorted clues. It was just not my game. At least FJ was an instaget. It looks like it was a good, close game for the contestants, though. The cistern TS mildly surprised me, as did vial (not that none of the three had ever seen the ph spelling, but that no one went ahead and guessed it based on the definition). And, yes, Hepburn not resulting in a BMS prompt was ridiculous.

I'm going to make spinach and ricotta gnudi with sage butter sauce tonight. Martha Stewart made it on her show yesterday, and I thought, "I haven't made that in ages! And I have all the ingredients." But I already had my mouth set on the tacos I'd planned to make, and stuck with that for last night's dinner. (Ground beef tacos the way my mom makes them, which is the only way I'll eat ground beef tacos [and those tacos joining burgers as the only way I'll eat ground beef; I'm not generally a fan].) So tonight will be the gnudi (not Martha's recipe, as it's very similar to what I normally make, so I'll just stick with my usual), sautéed mushrooms, and a Caesar salad. The salad selection was made because I'm kind of craving garlic bread with the gnudi, but don't have any bread, yet I do still have some croutons (which are garlic-y) from when I last made them. After Bloody Marys (my Sunday morning tradition), I just finished my go-to breakfast of egg white scramble (this one with chicken, spinach & feta sausage, asparagus, spinach, and some more feta cheese). Now I need to pull some weeds, but I just want to hang out on the patio reading. We'll see what happens.

I saw that in the cinema via NT Live six years ago, and it was phenomenal. I didn't re-watch this time, as watching it by myself on my TV would pale in comparison and I also just wasn't up for the emotional intensity and resulting exhaustion. But it was a truly stellar production.

I think it's that psycho mom who chases her child around the house over "one more bite" - a child whose protest is that she's full, not that she hates broccoli or whatever is on the fork - who ought to be sent somewhere. Why ruin dinner for yourself and your kid over one damn bite? Next time, put one more bite than you want her to eat on her plate. Problem solved.

I love “Curve Ball” – with Provenza selecting a Venice head shop as the place to buy kites, how could I not? – but it drives me nuts every time that they didn’t cast a kid with curly hair to play Rory in the flashback. That stick straight hair is all I can see! But I like the way Rory/Reed is written, because the psychological trauma his kidnapper inflicted on him, and the unimaginable difficulty he's going to have trying to transition back into an identity he was so deliberately conditioned out of, makes him incredibly sympathetic, but he’s also an obnoxious teenager. (I love Sanchez’s “You’re welcome” about the chips.) The victim’s son is another sympathetic character, and very well acted. When he realizes his dad had been watching old home movies shortly before he was killed – ouch. I love Garrett’s palpable relief when Sharon redirects Buzz to another file, and the little comforting pat on the back she gives him. He’s also very touching when he watches mother and son reunited, knowing his dad died for it, but it would never have happened if not for him. And he’s funny when he says helping his dad set up his cloudsaver account was a 40-minute phone call; I like Mike’s sympathetic smile and nod over trying to explain technology to people. The Rusty/Rory similarities are a bit too heavy-handed (the cuts back and forth are blatant), but Rusty’s overlapping emotions about his mom and Sharon are poignant. Dr. Joe is making him confront just how bad life with his mom was, but he still loves and misses her, so he feels guilty being happier with Sharon. For the longest time, all he wanted was to be with his mom again; he’d have answered Dr. Joe’s question about whether he’d go with her if she came back or stay with Sharon with a definitive “go”. By the time Sharon Beck does return, it’s a firm “stay” – he tells Sharon he wants to support his mom in her recovery, but doesn’t ever want to live with her again. Right now, though, his answer is “I don’t know”. The scene after Dr. Joe finishes their session is lovely; I like Rusty genuinely thanking him (and offering a handshake like an adult, looking like the awkward kid he is in doing it [he’s probably never shaken anyone’s hand in his life]) and Sharon giving the card Dr. Joe had given her to Rusty – all she required was the evaluation, she’s still not going to force therapy, and she wants him to be able to call Dr. Joe should he ever want to, without having to go through her. I also love the scene in Sharon’s office where she’s trying to get information out of Dr. Joe. I like her little it might work shrug as she heads in, and the absolute best is the look on her face when it doesn’t – the way that forced smile morphs into a scowl as soon as he leaves makes me laugh every time. Provenza’s ties were one of my favorite Christmas traditions. I miss them. And I love all the “Christmas just got even more depressing” stuff. Notoriously tight-fisted Provenza asking Mike to use his credit card buy a train set like the one the broke guy who found the victim’s credit card tried to buy so his kids would have a gift to open is sweet.

It's not his dad, but his grandpa - his grandpa was an executive for one of the airlines, so Kevin always got to fly first class. In Restaurant Wars, when waxing rhapsodic about the food he wanted his restaurant to serve and the aura he wanted to evoke, he referenced "the plantation South". As if it was a wonderful thing.

They do that most years, along with plenty of "Happy Holidays" and snowflakes. It's still far more Christmas-centric than any office, let alone a government office, should be, but I've always appreciated that the décor is more inclusive than average. I like that Sharon waves Provenza off, letting Rusty have his say against Emma after she gets into the this SIS operation could be dangerous to my material witness (and I'd lose his testimony, tanking my case) crux of her snit fit about the psych evaluation, and like that what Rusty tells Emma is if her "concern" for him was genuine, she wouldn't be trying to prevent him from seeing a doctor, as that's really messed up. It shows Sharon's talk about being "emotionally injured" and thus able to benefit from a doctor's care stuck with him. And Sharon concluding the scene by telling Emma she legally has all the rights and responsibilities of a mother and doesn't need anyone's permission to seek "medical attention" for her son is a wonderful reiteration of the fact mental health care is just health care, like treating any other part of the body in need of help.