Bastet

The Instagram post from Genevieve quoted in that article is sweet. And I love this quote of Frank's from a couple of years ago about Doug: "Doug is an incredible designer. I have a huge love for him. He would throw you under a bus if it fit his agenda and then give you his kidney. Go figure it out."

Yep! That episode aired here today, and some ingredients I didn't have and some I didn't like, but I had enough to build on the general idea for the pork loin and I love chimichurri on just about anything. It came out nicely, and I always want a sauce with reheated pork, so I'm looking forward to leftovers, too.

Chimichurri here tonight, too. I'm roasting a pork loin stuffed with artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, and spinach, and made chimichurri earlier to go with it. (It's a "loosely inspired by, using what I have" version of something I saw on an episode of Milk Street today.) The salad will be spinach with mushrooms and bacon, and roasted Brussels sprouts will be the side dish. Breakfast/lunch was an egg white scramble I make all the time, with bacon, asparagus, spinach, and cheese (gruyere this time). I normally make it with two slices of bacon, but I had three left in the package. Instead of just using more, or eating the third slice on its own, I used 1-1/2 slices, so I can get another scramble out of what's left. I was quite impressed with my bacon restraint.

“Jailbait” shows how Sharon has influenced the way the squad operates; I love seeing them anticipate defense objections and conduct the investigation in a way that will avoid them. And I enjoy how pleased she is by their initiative. It also includes what has to be near the top of the long list of things Sharon has done right with Rusty: getting him more comfortable with talking to Dr. Joe by saying those who are “emotionally injured” can benefit from seeing a doctor about that pain. That conversation when she distinguishes mental illness and emotional injury is wonderful, and one that can possibly help a therapy-resistant viewer or two. Sharon has played the therapy thing perfectly all along; she knows Rusty would greatly benefit from it, but also knows it will be ineffective if forced. So she offers it repeatedly, but always accepts when he refuses. Then the opportunity comes along to require a psychological evaluation; with the opening she needs finally at hand, she takes it, but still makes clear he doesn’t have to go into therapy, he just has to undergo this evaluation, and now shares an experience with him that gives Mr. “I don’t need a shrink, I’m not crazy” a better perspective on what a therapist can offer to a wide variety of people. I like Rusty hovering in the background when Dr. Joe shows up at the station, and how Dr. Joe handles him. “I’m performing a psychological evaluation of your personality, and so far that evaluation reads uncommunicative, uncooperative, and easily irritated” is perfect, but it’s also important that Rusty hears someone other than Sharon say the “choices” he made as an abandoned teenager actually amounted to being raped. And it works – not as a magical fix, as both Dr. Joe and Sharon have to remind him of that at times, but when Rusty (in imagining Dr. Joe's "hypothetical" scenario) references having to do some bad things, he stops and corrects himself to bad things happening to him. I’ve always found Esai Morales a handsome man, so it’s too bad he spends the episode in an ugly uniform. He plays Manny Diaz well, the never-ending guilt of not realizing how traumatized by the rape his daughter was until he heard a gun go off in her bathroom. His actions were inappropriate, especially when you look at how far he seemed prepared to go if he couldn’t lure Eric Riley back into jail, but we understand his state of mind. The murdering father’s state of mind is an interesting one; I can only imagine his frustration with his wife’s refusal to see “her boy” for what he is, and the way he feels knowing it is just a matter of time before Eric rapes another girl, but to jump right to killing your own son rather than even trying to have him re-incarcerated on a parole violation? As usual, there are some nice comedic moments in the midst of a dramatic episode, and my favorite is tipsy Dr. Morales (“just don’t expect my usual genius”). I also like Buzz and Mike running into each other like the Keystone Cops when they’re both trying to get Sharon’s attention, and Provenza shooing Andrea off her perch on the edge of his desk then putting the chattering teeth in her vacated spot so she can’t sit back down (earning him a great little look from Sharon). And, of course, Sharon's “Let me reassure you, Deputy Diaz, I’m not the kind of person who likes to get bogged down in all the rules” and the reactions to that. I never noticed until tonight that when Amy hands Provenza the picture of Eric Riley in the opening scene, he uses it to fan himself (since it’s 85 degrees in December). I also found myself wondering if the positioning of Eric Riley’s body was created by clever camera angles or if they hired a contortionist.

Very nice tweet from Ava DuVernay about Lynn Shelton:

I love Bridget telling Jack "I'm not even listening to you" because she's so happy munching away on artisanal bacon. I've had the winner, Vande Rose, and I agree it's particularly delicious. But I'm just not interested in spending that much on bacon. (I also agree with them that Oscar Meyer is the best supermarket bacon.) I don't eat French toast very often (it's probably been two or three years since I last had it), but seeing it on an empty stomach made me crave it. Alas, I don't have any bread. I had been debating whether to just heat up some sausage and kale soup or make one of my usual egg white scrambles (with asparagus, spinach, bacon, and gruyere), so once I saw their scrambled eggs, I had to go that route.

Aw, Frank. He was at the bottom (yes, below Hildi) of my list of people I'd want designing my house, but at the top of those I'd want to work with at my neighbor's house.

Nice voice, but I'm not a fan (and let me offer up an FU for "Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time"). I agree with the CU writers that if you're going to put him on the list, this inferior cover isn't the song to do it with. This is another pick - which the list has been randomly littered with - that smacks to me of the Sirius dudebros throwing a dart at the listing some intern put together of "old-school artists we know nothing about" and then picking a random song from the artist the dart lands on in an effort to look knowledgeable about the genre's history. And I heartily endorse the CU writer's suggestion that "You're So Good When You're Bad" take its place. I love that song, and it was used wonderfully in an episode of Designing Women, which I recently re-watched. I enjoy the argument between the two CU writers over this one, and agree with the one who likes it. He's also on the "so wrong" side of a disagreement about Brad Paisley's "Little Moments", a song I had to look up, and I'm with him there, too -- "everything I don't like about Paisley in one record" indeed. I love me some Ronnie Milsap, and I like this song. But I agree with both CU folks that it's ranked too high (even on this craptastic list). I love the lyrics, and like the song well enough, but I'm not sure I agree with both CU writers that it's ranked too low.

Tia has answered the female parolees question before. Unfortunately, I can't remember what she said. At all; it could have been "we do, they just haven't been profiled on the show" or "we don't and here's why"; I literally have no recollection of the answer, just a clear memory that it was asked and answered. And I can't find anything with a quick internet search, which probably means it was a Facebook Q&A or something like that, sent to me by a friend who uses social media and passes tidbits along to me. Yes, this I distinctly remember Tia noting several times, how donations decrease when the show is on hiatus (out of sight, out of mind). Every time a new crop of episodes pop up, I'm excited for my viewing pleasure, and also because I know it's going to result in increased donations.

My mom has a sewing helper, too:

With Clancy Brown as the husband, Laura Palmer Sheryl Lee as the wife, and the debut of Moira Kelly ("toe pick") as Cinnamon. Back on topic, I just watched several of Oprah's WW commercials online, because I'm oddly fascinated by the idea of her shooting one in a shirt that doesn't fit, and thought I'd hit on the right one when she was walking in some sort of field, but that was in the beginning, not the end, and she never touches her shirt. So I ran out of interest before I could find the one that was mentioned, but remain curious enough to hope someone posts it.

Well, that was evident even before whatever the hell went on with the guns and jewelry, since instead of staying the fuck at home during a pandemic, they were partying (at least two within the span of several days) around the greater Miami area.

That was Karen. She was late in deciding on her second dish, because everything she thought of doing involved eggs, and she thought that would make for too many egg dishes in one buffet. That didn't seem odd to me, since they don't normally say anything to the middle group, they just announce the top three and the bottom three. It's just that with seven contestants this round, the middle "group" was Stephanie. I fault her because she wasn't forced to make her second dish out of whatever was left after everyone else picked through an already limited selection, she bizarrely chose to say eh, I'll just wait and see what's left.

I choose to take the lack of anyone asking Randy about her to mean she quickly snapped out of the temporary insanity the writers inexplicably put her in as the series came to a close, and they haven't been together since about five minutes after that. I thought it was just okay, but Monk microwaving his mail for ten seconds was made of win. My favorite part was at the end, the dog's look when Tony Shalhoub disturbed him by removing his lap to go clap for healthcare workers. Was this special the first time it was publicly reported that Shalhoub and Adams had the virus? I don't remember reading it anywhere.

It was nice to see Kelsey and Brooke again, two of my favorite winners. I hate every kind of bean I’ve ever tasted other than edamame, so this is the first QF I haven’t drooled my way through. Lots of visually appealing dishes, but none I’d actually eat. I was really glad they were cooking for adults, not kids, at the camp. But then it became immediately apparent the twist was going to be the ingredients available (personally, I'd have found getting up at 4:00 in the morning equally challenging). A few of the dishes didn’t seem very brunch-y. But I’m far from a brunch buffet expert; I’m not much of a buffet person in general, and I don’t like to eat in the morning. A lot of the dishes looked great, though. I couldn’t believe when Melissa was so blasé about just making a salad out of whatever was left. If she said she was going to make a salad after shopping in Whole Foods or the TC pantry, I’d be greatly looking forward to it; it’s not the salad that gave me pause (a great salad is one of my favorite things, and Lee Anne just got praise for hers from Gregory’s restaurant). But from what might be left in that camp kitchen?! She made me so nervous. Odd showing for her in this challenge. But Lee Anne was the clear loser since both dishes had big problems. I take their point about her concept being better than Malarkey’s and Melissa’s, but a major execution failure on both dishes seals the deal. She went out with a great attitude. I knew Bryan was going to be the winner because he’s the only one of the top three where they really liked both dishes, rather than just being blown away by one and “that was fine” about the other. Cooked carrots don’t excite me (in fact, I generally don’t eat them), so I’d have liked to try that dish to see if he’d created the one variation that would. I really wanted that bacon dish, because, well, bacon. Served pretty. Sign me up!

Between the menu and having to sit at a table with strangers, that sounds like my own personal hell. No wonder I wasn't interested in Kevin's restaurant. Gregory's, on the other hand - a week later, and I still randomly think about that roasted fish every once in a while. Which is rather odd, as I hardly ever eat red snapper, but it looked so good.

Those two were via an anonymous sperm donor. Julie Cypher - being adopted, and having gone through the process of finding her biological parents - wanted the sperm donor to be someone known to them, so the kids would always know who they came from, even though the donor would have no parental duties. They thought about asking Brad Pitt, but they knew how much he wanted kids, and they wanted someone who'd already had a family. So, they asked Crosby. Tammy Lynn Michaels was the opposite - didn't want it to be anyone known to them. (An US Weekly article about the announcement of Beckett's death is where I read all this.)

I suspect it's not about the name itself - meaning whatever his first name was, he'd want everyone other than his wife calling him by his rank instead - but about how his entire identity is wrapped up in his job. Even once he no longer has to split his pension with Liz, he still wants to die at his desk with his stapler in his hand. He is never happier than at that job. He lives for it. He loves his kids and his grandkids (who also call him Lieutenant, heh), but he's really not involved with them - he only sees them on holidays, and isn't a meaningful source of advice or emotional support to them (which makes his relationship with Rusty particularly touching). He knows he's no great example of a husband or father; throughout both shows, we see several times his resignation that if he ever needs to be taken care of, it will be in a facility, not by his family. But being the lieutenant - that's where he shines, and where he's dependable and respected.

If I ever come across the season six and seven DVDs really cheap (or if the show airs on a station I get), I'll re-watch those seasons, because I haven't seen them since they aired (I only bought through season five on DVD). They were nowhere near as good, but I remember liking the episode about the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings and "Carlene's Apartment", and I liked B.J. (because I love Judith Ivey). Sometimes when I hate later seasons of a show at the time, when the superior seasons that preceded them are so fresh in my mind, I'm more receptive to them years later upon re-watch. The quality is already visibly slipping in season five, with Linda's attention on Evening Shade's first season (and with Delta's ability to perform so unpredictable that Suzanne's role was minimized in case her lines had to be cut out or redistributed on the fly), but it still has great moments, and even great episodes. Because, while the writing was different, you still had the camaraderie and chemistry to bump up weaker scripts. In season six and seven, I was always focused on what (namely, who) was missing, but all this time removed from that experience I might find more to like in what's there.

I love that scene! By Provenza's own rule - "unless you outrank me or I divorced you, my first name is Lieutenant" - she was always entitled to call him by his first name, and with the rest of the squad she started early on alternating between their names and ranks. But she respected his weird little name hang-up, and didn't do it, until the perfect moment to pull out "Louie" arrived, when she was refusing to let him even mention the possibility of retiring in "Intersection".

No, the first time he did it was in "Out of Bounds", when Amy got the shit beat out of her -- it was the "Sharon puts her job on the line, and Amy puts her physical self on the line, both earning Provenza's respect" episode of season one (with the dead high school football player, where the victim's brother goes after the other QB but it's actually that other QB's father who did it): When Provenza returns from the hospital to report on Amy's injuries, Sharon readily acquiesces to his experience as compared to hers and asks in front of everyone what went wrong with her plan. Just a short time prior, this would have resulted in a condescending tirade about how he knows more about homicide investigations than she has time to learn, but instead it yielded an honest response that she did everything right but shit can still happen, and he calls her Sharon in a way that is a means of connection and support, not at all disrespectful. It's a turning point episode on many fronts.

That's beautiful (I've never seen the film, but beautiful dress). I also love the last Grace Kelly dress in the post above mine (that one I've seen). I respond most to something I can imagine actually wearing under the right circumstances - and so long as I wouldn't be uncomfortable, which rules out a lot of historical dresses, so while I appreciate many of the costumes posted thus far, it's on an abstract level (like looking at Met Gala red carpet pictures); it's things like these that I truly like. (It's why, in classic movies, I'm more drawn to designs from Dolly Tree than Adrian.) While I hate Woody Allen, I love the "Annie Hall" look created by his costume designer and Diane Keaton on that film. Probably because it brings to mind a bit of Katharine Hepburn and I grew up loving pictures of her, in addition to her films. I also like the spiffy wardrobe of Bonnie and Clyde. And, holy '80s, Batman, but Working Girl is a terrific example of wardrobe as characterization. As is Cher's Holy '90s, Batman: The Fabulous Version wardrobe (everyone's, but especially hers) from Clueless, as posted above.

I made it for lunch today with green goddess dressing. I was going to make a lemon vinaigrette, but then your post had me thinking creamy instead, so I went with green goddess (I already had some made). So thanks for the inspiration; it was a simple, tasty dish I didn't have in mind until you mentioned your meal. And it was nice to make a little larger lunch than normal, because it allows me to make a halved serving of fettucini alfredo tonight -- I somehow made a bit too much alfredo sauce several days ago, so I'll use it over some whole wheat pasta with chicken and broccoli.

Major Crimes is one of the few cop shows I've ever loved, and one of the many reasons for that is its realism, but there was an episode in which they had video footage from inside a bar and needed to identify the bar. From what was visible in the background, they knew it had a karaoke machine, hosted trivia tournaments, and had held a viewing party for a particular boxing match. This leads to Provenza saying yes, they need to find that bar so he can make sure to never accidentally walk in there, so I can't hate the scene, but it also leads to a detective's magical computer not only having a handy listing of all local venues that had licensed that fight (nearly a year prior), but somehow being able to cross reference so that in less than a minute, he knew which one of those bars was somehow the only bar in Los Angeles to also have karaoke and trivia.

One of my favorite Seinfeld bloopers, when Jerry Stiller is so funny Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jason Alexander cannot keep it together: JLD said that happened a lot: