Bastet

Wow. That turned out to be one hell of a wildcard game, and a lot of fun to watch in the 4th quarter and OT.

I don't care about either team, but this Bills-Texans game got interesting. I guess I'm rooting for the Texans in OT, because I enjoy seeing the home team crowd react to a comeback win in a big game. (Well, unless it's in Dallas or Foxborough, of course.)

It's interesting to see this thread pop up again; all I've ever read about this movie (here; I don't know anyone in real life who has seen it and I've never read any professional reviews) is how awful the other characters are to Sarah Jessica Parker's, so when I was recently going around the dial and came across this just several minutes into its run time, I thought I'd give it a whirl to see what all the consternation is about. Her character annoyed me so much in about three minutes, I went back to channel surfing. The other character may indeed be disproportionately awful to her, because being annoying isn't a reason to be treated like shit, but I found her unwatchable. Maybe that was just a bad scene (although, given the run time, it had to be pretty much her introduction to the audience - she was the passenger in a car, and I can't remember who she was with). I'll try again next time I stumble across it.

I'm not Asian, and I still get some odd looks whenever I turn down rice. I don't dislike it, and even vaguely like brown or jasmine rice (white rice is just there as a neutral, neither good nor bad), but it's a completely unnecessary filler to me, and I stay away from carbs I don't love; I see no point to eating the ones I just think are fine. So the only time I eat rice is to sop up something like curry. And I often use cauliflower "rice" instead now since I like the taste of that just as much.

I wish the NFC games were today instead of tomorrow; I'm not getting up early to see the Vikings vs Saints game from the start, and if it aired today it would start at 1:30 and I wouldn't have to. I have no dog in the race between Bills and Texans, but of course I will be a one-day fervent fan of the Titans; if they knock the Patriots out in the Wild Card round, I'll still be laughing next weekend. Hell, I'll still be laughing at the start of next season. On the NFC side, I have actual rooting to do -- Saints over Vikings and Seahawks over Eagles. I feel good about the Saints; it's in the Superdome and it's payback for the Minneapolis Miracle. The Seahawks I'm a little unsure about; whoever wins isn't going far, so it's not a big deal long-term, but of course I'd like the Eagles dispatched with quickly.

Is there anything about TV sex that resembles real life sex? On TV: - Women routinely keep their bras on during sex - Everyone has sex under the covers - There are only two positions to choose from - There are L-shaped sheets, which naturally pull up to a woman's chest and a man's waist - No one is sweaty and sticky afterward, and there's no need to clean up (or take that uncomfortable "please, no UTI" pee); just go to sleep (cuddled up, of course) - Gay folks don't have sex; they just kiss and fade to black - Neither do women over 50 (men that age do, but with younger women)

And a good song. But, yes, it amuses me that cruise lines have now used "Lust for Life" and "White Rabbit" in their commercials, since you'd have to get me quite high before I'd think going on a cruise sounded like a good thing.

I love that Sharon never assumed she didn't; she accepted Amy's ambition from the beginning. There is such a sexist double standard, where "ambitious" shifts to a negative when talking about women, and it makes sense that Sharon would be someone who would reject that. She respected it as one of her skills, and didn't figure it meant her career was the only thing Amy cared about. They've done a nice job of showing Amy's various skills in these early episodes, rather than only showing the eager beaver suck-up. That kicks up a notch in "Citizen's Arrest", but in the first episode she, based on her status as a veteran, theorized the guys met up at the firing range, and also twigged to the idea they used the FPS chat feature to communicate. And then in "Medical Causes" she takes down the boyfriend one second and comforts his girlfriend the next. Speaking of "Citizen's Arrest", heads up that it is not airing tonight in my market as it would per the normal schedule, so things may be shifting in other markets as well (since we all get variations on the same general schedule). Instead of getting the next two season one episodes this weekend, we are getting the next season one episode (episode four, "The Ecstasy and The Agony") and then the first season four episode ("A Rose is a Rose"). Next weekend will follow suit: the fifth season one episode, "Citizen's Arrest") and the second season four episode ("Sorry I Missed You"). Odd, but possibly a good thing for those whose markets were only showing one episode per week, meaning they skipped every other episode and made watching range from frustrating to pointless. Maybe now those folks can see things in order from week to week starting with S1E4.

Calling it the vagina instead of the vulva bugged me, too (as it does whenever I hear it, which is frighteningly often), but I didn't even think about the missed opportunity in not having Otis correct them (either in the moment or later) -- that would have been a very Otis thing to do, and nice little PSA to boot.

My parents would be wonderful grandparents, but I'm not depriving them of something they're owed by not having children. That's ridiculous. But, as those of us who are not parents can attest, there is no end to the ridiculous nature of things said to and about us. I think my "favorite" is being grilled as to why. Nobody hears a woman mention her kids and pounces on her with, "Why did you have children?" Child-free men aren't asked "why not?" with the same frequency as their female counterparts, and when they are questioned about it the tone is almost always different than what's directed at women. Yes, the majority of women have children. That does not mean motherhood is the default, deviation from which is some bizarre thing that must be explained.

Yep, same here. What it amounted to was not caring enough about the game to do more than have it on as background noise, but as much as I dislike Harbaugh, I'd rather have him win half a dozen bowl games than Saban win one. Alas. At least Oregon won the Rose Bowl, even though it was disgusting to see how many Ducks players would have been Trojans in better recruiting years and know USC inexplicably kept Clay Helton and thus continue the recruiting class plummet.

I don't think the theme song needed an entire segment - and if something my dad pounded out in a minute and half on a piano given to him by Marlon Brando constituted over $80 million to date of the estate I inherited, said piano would be in my house, not a storage unit - but it was fine. I'd have liked more details on how a taping day goes; it barely scratched the surface from any one perspective, and the only one I was familiar with from previous coverage was Alex's, so I'd have liked more from the writers' room, control booth, and stage. I had it on in the room with my smallest TV and was in and out a bit, so I didn't get as good a look at the writers' room as I wanted to -- I didn't spot a single person of color, and among all the white folks I saw three (of eight?) women. For those who got a better look: Are those number accurate? I always appreciate the honesty in acknowledging they choose for personality in selecting from among qualified applicants, and wish they'd be similarly explicit in addressing how they select based on how people will look on camera. And, good gods, get that twit Austin off my screen! In general, they could have done a better job in selecting former contestants to interview. All in all, pretty much a network fluff piece promoting the upcoming GOAT tournament. So, fine for what it was, but certainly nothing to write home about.

TVLand is probably the least of the offenders. Hallmark censors content (including the word "butt") in addition to cutting for time, but is overall not much worse than TVLand. Logo, though, I find unwatchable unless it's my only option to see something; between the cuts and the utterly stupid and unnatural places they insert the commercial breaks, I find myself perpetually frustrated.

Same here, and tolerate is much as I'll do.

My dad grew up having black-eyed peas and cornbread on New Year's Day, and that - along with cornbread dressing on Thanksgiving - is one of the nasty-ass family recipes my mom nicely makes for my dad each year. (He's a terrible cook and she's very good at it, so she does almost all the cooking.) I have not at all fond childhood memories of the kitchen stinking of those things all day as the crockpot did its thing. Thankfully, we snacked all day long while watching bowl games, so my mom and I would just have a bit more of that for dinner (although I'd have a piece of cornbread, especially when I started making it and adding jalapeño to it). I'm still a bit full from the football snacking (that's a tradition I carried on!), so I'll probably just have a salad for dinner -- I have some candied walnuts, so I'll make a simple arugula salad with the walnuts, shaved Parm, and balsamic vinaigrette.

I just read through the archive during halftime, and while there weren't as many TS as last night, there were still more than seems typical (although that may be completely off; I'd have to look up the average if that's calculated somewhere). No huge surprises among them, but I'd have thought George Eliot, Nick Hornby, San Jose, Clark, few, and grizzly bear would have been known/guessed by at least one contestant. FJ came to me quickly, and I was surprised by that as I haven't seen the film and don't pay much attention to entertainment media anymore. Cobra.

I just looked that up, and it sounds good (minus the capers, which I don't like). I don't like traditional spaghetti, but get the occasional hankering for Aglio e Olio with shrimp. Next time I do, I may try that lemon recipe instead.

Indiscriminate use of fireworks. I don't even care that they're illegal here; if they're not set off in a place/manner that's actually a fire danger (the reason behind the ban), have at it despite the law. Just don't, despite covering the safety issue, do it in a way that's unreasonably disruptive to neighbors. Fireworks don't bother me, or my cat. But it's not about those of us who have no reaction; it's about those who have a strongly negative one. If fireworks were just used a few hours the evening of July 4th and for a short time at midnight on December 31st, those with PTSD that is triggered by the noise, those with pets who are frightened by it, and anyone else for whom it causes real problems could plan ahead -- noise masking, thunder shirts, anti-anxiety medications, safe spaces, even leaving if possible, whatever. With advance knowledge of a reasonable time frame, people for whom it's an issue can protect themselves/their pets, while the rest can have their traditional celebration if they want. But, just like when people set off fireworks for an extended period before and after Independence Day, when people set them off to mark the New Year in every major time zone, instead of just the one they're living in, it's hard for the vulnerable to protect themselves because they a) can't predict when it will occur and thus b) may very well be unable to take protective measures the whole time. And, for the love of all that is right, please secure your pets whenever it's likely fireworks will be going off despite the law and/or common courtesy. Every time, there are people who thought their yard was escape-proof and/or their pet was unflappable who wind up posting "Help! My pet ran off!" notices. It's obviously horrible for the animal and the owner, even when it ends in reunification, and it can also be devastating for animals awaiting adoption in the municipal shelter -- if space becomes an issue because of the influx of temporarily lost pets brought in, the adoptables who've been there longest may find their number is up.

I'd heard of Manhattan, KS prior to it being mentioned in an episode of The West Wing, and after that it was firmly stuck in my head, so I got it. I didn't know it was called The Little Apple and thus dropped an apple at midnight. In fact, while I got all those "ball" drop ones right based on the clues in their entirety, I didn't specifically know the New Year's Eve fact about any of them; I'm not much of a NYE person, but I found myself wishing the remaining clue in that category had been revealed so I could learn another little bit of such trivia -- should I ever actually host another NYE party, I could regale my guests with these tidbits. (Quite a shindig that would be, I know.)

I would have sworn I had a ribeye steak in the freezer from when I (over)stocked up last time they were on sale, but I'd have been wrong. Boo. I'm craving one, but I'm not going shopping on New Year's Eve to get it. I'm pondering pork chops, but I don't have any kale or collard greens, and I really like to have greens with pork. Maybe I'll do spinach and mushrooms. Or I may just use the alfredo sauce I have left from my stuffed shells and make fettucine alfredo with chicken, spinach, and mushrooms, and save the pork chops for Thursday when I go the market and can pick up some greens then. While I decide, the olives in my martinis will tide me over.

I read the archive during breaks in football play, so it was a choppy game for me, but I still did better than the contestants - with at least a dozen TS and two missed DD, this wasn't a very good game to end the year. FJ was an instaget (I've never had one, but TV dinner = Swanson). I guess Karen got distracted by turkey. I'm not surprised Cleveland was a TS in the sense of being surprised none of them knew it (and I didn't, either), but I am a little surprised only one of them made a stab at it, knowing it had to be a Midwest city. Even more so with the Dearborn TS; I'm not really surprised no one knew it, just that no one even guessed when it was narrowed down to a city near Detroit. Quite a few of the numerous other TS did surprise me to some degree, though: Loyalists (given the category and wording of the clue) and Brink's the most, but also Public Enemy, moose, Cal Tech, Operation, Kansas, Robert Galbraithe (I didn't know that one, either, but with so many Rowling fans in the world, I thought at least one of them would).

He could. It's more common in widowed women than men, but of course it does happen. I like the way they're handling it on the show; it may never turn romantic with Louise, and if it does, it will only be after Dan took quite some time to get comfortable with the idea. This way, either path they ultimately take with the relationship is believable.

That's Entertainment does absolutely nothing for me, so that's definitely not what I'll be watching tonight. I miss when TCM did a Thin Man marathon on New Year's Eve in prime time, but it's airing right now instead. (I have the DVD set, so I can have my own whenever I want and it's thus a silly gripe). Being set on New Year's Eve, After the Thin Man and Holiday are common choices, but it's whatever strikes my fancy among my DVDs.

I just read the archive, and add me to the list of those surprised only one contestant got FJ. (And to the list of those sad hobgoblin was a TS, since that's a great word.) I got all the TS other than King James Bible, and did pretty well overall, but had two big mistakes: I said "Timberlake" instead of "Timberlands" and, incredibly, drew a total blank on "commandment". I mean, I know I don't know much about religious texts, but come on. For some reason covenant wouldn't get out of my head to make room for the "-ment" word to come forth. That is pretty much go see a neurologist just in case level of brain fart.

I work out of my home office most of the time, so I just have to diligent about getting my work done by 5:00 (I usually work until about 7:00), but when I worked out of an office, I practically had to take a half day to be home in time.