Bastet

As a toast (with milk and Pepsi?) to Penny Marshall's memory, I re-read this wonderful article by Katie Baker honoring the film on its 25th anniversary. (It was posted here at the time.) It really nails what's so enduring and special about about this movie.

Me too; a friend and I just watched that again recently during one of our movie nights and laughed our asses off. I really like the picture of Marshall Ava DuVernay used in her memorial tweet:

So sad; I grew up loving Laverne, and A League of Their Own is one of my favorite movies. Her publicist said the cause of death was complications of diabetes. Here's Variety's obituary. And The Hollywood Reporter.

One for me: Sloop John B. Other than that, I just don't care for The Beach Boys. I don't hate their music by any means, but that's the only song of theirs I actually listen to; anything else, I switch stations to find something better. And I'm the same way with The Beatles, minus any one song I truly like, speaking of unpopular opinions.

No, they had the typical sibling relationship until Original Recipe Becky left. (With their goodbye exemplifying their relationship, where they exchanged I love yous and then segued into the Wind Beneath My Wings joke and ended with the pitch perfect See ya, Bubble Butt/Later, Morticia exchange.) It was when New Coke Becky returned that there was no longer any affection or good-natured ribbing underlying the exchanges, and Darlene was just straight-up mean, all the time. Which was typical of Darlene during that time; after she went to Chicago, she was such an ass she was practically sociopathic. Thankfully, the revival and, especially, this spin-off have added additional dimensions back in. What Becky overheard wouldn't have hurt her so much if that was still the way Darlene constantly talked about her; it was because she didn't believe that was how Darlene really thought about her that it was a gut punch. And I love that it showed the difference between self deprecation and hearing someone else tear you down for the same thing -- Becky offering herself up as a cautionary tale to Mark ("I was really smart, too, and look what happened") played quite differently than overhearing Darlene use her as one in talking to Harris.

Fingers crossed, @bilgistic. (I was unable to join in the group sending of vibes, but that's only 8:00 a.m. here, so I was blissfully asleep.) I'll take the fact you didn't wind up falling face first in dog shit on the way to the interview as a good sign. I hope you were able to impart your knowledge of feline nutritional needs, which likely exceeds that of most candidates for the job, and the fact you could make good suggestions to customers - which could mean they leave having spent more than they'd planned to coming in - will make the employer see you as the right person for the job. I'm going to head out in a couple of hours to finally do my Christmas gift shopping, so I'm sure I'll come back loaded with peeves.

Frak. This is a worrisome loss for the Rams; the Bears showed the league how to beat them, and even the Eagles (fly, Eagles, fly - right into a window) managed to do it. It doesn't bode well for the playoffs without some adjustments the Rams may not have the depth to make. But, I shall console myself with this, which made this otherwise a great day in football:

Fabulous - my mom will love those ginger snaps (as will I). @DeLurker, I only know the soap by sight, and I didn't wind up going shopping last week as I'd planned, so I'll let you know the brand tomorrow.

When a teen/adult relays something they said as a child, they say it as they speak now, not in the toddler babble they delivered it in at the time (unless the whole point of the story is a malaprop their young brain delivered, which is not the case here - the point of the story is the sentiment, not the words used to express it). And kids who have siblings of a different biological sex and thus see naked bodies that look different from their own tend to ask about those differences, and thus hear about penises and vaginas. Which generally, and this was especially true back then, gets expressed as "boys have penises and girls have vaginas." So, feeling like a girl but having a penis, it would flow naturally for young Jazz to say, in whatever simple words were used at the time, that she wanted her penis to turn into a vagina.

I always love - and love that Tia loves - that it was the inmate firefighting crew who arrived to set up the perimeter. And that one guy saying, "We watch your show all the time." And Tania's "I feel like I'm being smuggled across the border" when she hides in a horse trailer to get back up to her own house. And that, once the danger had passed, that's when Tania started crying and Tia hugged her. Their relationship is so interesting, and it's been great to watch it evolve over the years the show has been on. It's just nice to look back and see all around how much everyone has grown, and not just the kids - Tia, too. And that it's easier for Tia to tell a camera how much she appreciates Tania and let her hear it that way than to say it directly to her? I get that.

Then, yeah, that's improper; you don't ask for gifts, period. That it's a charitable donation, though, means I won't classify it as tacky as I would "For my birthday this year, I'm asking for a blender, a pair of jeans, roller skates, and a gift certificate to my favorite restaurant," even though both are blanket announcements of what one would like to receive as a gift. The Miss Manners column addressed these charitable donation requests (semi-)recently - as expected, they were opposed*, but, then, they are like me and object to gift registries as part of the general rule you don't ask someone to give you a gift, or dictate what it should be, and I think we're the only people in the country who do - but having read that didn't stick in my mind enough to counteract my initial response to reading "I am really tired of people having birthday fundraisers on Facebook" being, "What? People are asking people to fund their birthday parties?" I don't use Facebook, so I'm not familiar with this trend; with no example springing immediately to mind, the description - and the general state of online begging in society - made me think of a GoFundMe type thing, with the goal being subsidizing someone's birthday party/trip. This, though, is something I think - generally; some, I'm sure, are more attention-seeking than altruistic, which is true of any medium - has good intentions but just isn't properly limited in its audience (in other words, suggest the charity donation to anyone who asks what you want for your birthday, or tell your parents or someone equally close who normally gets you a gift "this year, why don't you skip the gift and instead donate to X," rather than inviting your entire social media audience to do so) and thus doesn't rankle me as much as it does you. Then again, not using Facebook, I'm not actually seeing it happen, so I might well be singing a different tune if I did. *As I recall, the suggestion was to talk up a charity you support - the work they do, an upcoming event they'd be holding, any personal experiences with them you have, etc. - and say how happy you are to be doing a little bit to help an organization doing so much good with so few resources, and let that encourage people to donate/ask you more.

Well, you got me curious, so I went looking. VRC would be pretty hypocritical to say a burglary charge means one is unfit to own a dog, but, beyond that, the burglary charge I'm seeing, the one of the relative's house, occurred after Wade and Teresa (Hampton) applied to adopt Smack, so it wouldn't have existed for them to find to begin with. It seems at least one earlier charge against him did exist when they'd have been evaluating him and his wife - in addition to an article about his mom dying in a house fire (she fell asleep smoking) and his dad's obituary, I also found something from a neighborhood gossip site quite a few years before all this about him getting out of jail for burglary/theft and that crime having been committed because of drugs - but, again, a past like that is not something VRC is going to use to deem someone an unfit owner. Whatever they found out on scene (which was clearly more than was shown, and Tia said as much online after the episode aired, but didn't give any details) made them change their mind on him, and there was speculation here in response to the episode that whatever went down was about drugs, so if what they found out was that, in fact, his past was not so much in the past, that he was still involved in this sort of thing and a disaster waiting to happen, that would fit. Re. the availability of pits in their neck of the woods, Nashville is five hours away, so, half the time it would take to go to New Orleans, but maybe once they had to travel, they figured they'd go to VRC rather than the Nashville pit bull rescue because VRC is better, they could get on TV, whatever. I checked the local shelter, and there are three pits right now, so not a non-existent species, certainly, but not a "half the dogs in the shelter are pits, what do you mean you can't find one there" scenario, either. So, after spending far more time on this than I ever thought I would, I'm not seeing a red flag that makes me think it was idiotic for them to not have rejected Wade and Teresa until they did.

I used to - and really ought to get back to doing this - volunteer, through a program run by a local pro bono firm, to represent in administrative hearings those who'd been improperly denied food stamp and/or welfare benefits. Unfortunately, there are social services workers who don't think of their job as "check to see if this person is eligible for public benefits, and, if so, get them enrolled in the appropriate program(s)" but as "look for any reason an application can be denied." Which mindset the person reviewing an application has impacts how they interpret the facts at hand, any discrepancies, omissions, or errors, etc. There are a lot of people improperly denied, yet finally enrolled upon appeal - especially if they have an advocate. If you don't get an answer - or believe the answer you get is incorrect - after finally speaking with someone at social services, check with any neighborhood legal services type organizations in your area to see if any of them run a similar program where you could get an attorney or other legal worker to advocate for you. And you have every right to feel sorry for yourself. I feel sorry for you with all you're going through, and that's not lessened by the fact there are others who are suffering more. You have that sense of perspective; you're not disproportionately wailing about minor problems and acting as if they're the worst things that could happen to a person. Shitty things are happening to you. You are doing what you're supposed to do, and you just keep getting handed more shit. I sincerely hope it will stop soon; you're on my mind a lot.

I love how it doesn't occur to either one of them that they have options in between dropping a big wad of cash on the wedding they'd planned or not getting married right now at all - how about you go get married and have a nice dinner to celebrate? How long had he been renting to that guy, did they say (I was only paying partial attention)? Unless for a very short time, how has he avoided Bonnie ever being at his place for that time? And if it is quite new, how did he think he'd continue to pull it off? Oh, well, minor gripes, and I liked all the gift exchange stuff. Because the actor playing Adam has other projects going on, so once the characters get married, it will be distracting if he's unavailable for a stretch. They've also got to put them living together once they get married, and that will change Bonnie & Christy's dynamic, so I can see why they'd want to keep the relationship going yet kick the marriage can down the road.

I just drove myself batty trying to find the thread for that version in the TV Movies/Specials category, so I could link you to it, before finally realizing it didn't have its own thread, it's discussed in the Lifetime Movies thread.

I don't feel well and am about to conk out, so I couldn't properly appreciate this episode, but I still laughed at: - “I will watch any show that humiliates both Tucker Carlson and Rick Perry.” - Avery flashing back to when he was six, and Corky would lure him into her office with toys to keep him from bugging them at work - “Figure out whatever the hell you want, and I will give you whatever the hell I’ve got.” - Murphy thinking she trained Avery to get up for school, only to find out he trained her to bring him breakfast in bed And, aww, Eldin’s mural – complete with his signature – and his picture in Avery’s room is almost as sweet as Avery and Murphy with the adorable dog (especially Avery's continued sheer glee over the little guy). That legit choked me up; best nod to Eldin since the season premiere. I like the discussion of how shuttering international bureaus has affected journalism; boy howdy. Yay, more Jim next week! Boo, last episode of the season (and maybe of the revival, period).

Did he have the butchers do something to it? He was checking in on whether it was ready, so maybe that was just packaging it, but maybe it was something that meant he couldn't go back to the meat counter and exchange it because they couldn't just put the lamb back in the case. But even that assumes there was time to get from the meat counter and stand in the check-out line with something new; by the time he saw the total on the screen versus the bad math estimate he'd come up with in his head, there wasn't, so I don't think another meat was an option, period.

What a weird QF; just have Gail do the video intro and Padma and her friend judge rather than doing the bizarre “fly the ingredients up, cook them, and tell you tomorrow” storyline. Gail is deciding immunity based on food she cooked – it takes the details of how each chef executed their dish out of the equation. But the asshole didn’t win, so I’ll take it. Padma apologizing for making the new mom cry was nice, because that was a rude question to ask, and I think, especially as a mom herself, she realized it – just too late. I love Maker’s Mark (in fact, I’m having a glass right now), so I enjoyed seeing the distillery, especially them learning how to put that wax on the lid. The food was not my style at all, but it was nice seeing how into trying it everyone was. In general, the cheftestants’ twists on the dishes sound better to me. But, even though the originals aren’t my thing, I’m not an asshole about the entirety of southern cuisine like the, well, asshole is. I understand the pressure on the hometown chef, but I love the way her teammate shut her down – okay, you can do everything, so pick which one of those you want to do, and then we move on. Cooking when it’s 91 degrees and 97% humidity sounds like hell to me. Add in all the ingredient stress, and I’d have been extra cranky on the black team. I laughed out loud at how tiny the lamb dish that ate up more than $500 of the budget was. Their dessert was one of the things I liked most in theory, so the execution was disappointing to see, especially because I like the chef who made it. She should have been less a “team player” and more a “um, LEMON curd, and I already put lemons back at the store; all that remain are mine.” It’s funny that Eddie is now one of the only names I can put with a face, since his blowing the budget earned him the nickname Eddie Money (and now I have Take Me Home Tonight in my head). I’m biased by the asshole being the one person I cannot stand, but I wanted him to go home because his failures weren’t affected by the budget/ingredient mess; they were his. Other than possibly seasoning, so where the other guy's - he made a dish that couldn't be done properly in that amount of time. Natalie (I learn a name just in time to say good-bye) screwed up the crust by not accounting for the heat, but the "it's not lemon-y enough" was because she didn't have enough lemons. I'm bummed, because I'd have liked to see a few more offerings from her - winner last week, bottom this week really makes me want to see what she'd even out to over several challenges - and I could happily go the rest of my life without seeing the asshole. I’m constantly on about oversized portions in America, but the red team’s dishes were so small in the single-serving plates for camera! Good thing it was served family style. Padma’s face when Tom was underplaying the problems with the chicken & dumpling dish was fabulous. There was no question they were the winning team. I’m glad Nini (another name!) won, based on her food and how she handled the hometown chef during the planning stage.

Oh, he was every bit as pissed at Mark as he was at Becky when they came back to get her stuff; he wouldn't speak to either one of them - or even come in from the garage - and when Mark tried to talk to him, Dan threatened, "You're in my way. Are you gonna move, or do you want me to move you?" When Dan finally ended his silent treatment and called Becky, he started talking to her about window insulator, and she said he should be talking to Mark about this stuff. Dan hesitated, then said, okay, put him on.

She did react. Nowhere near as strongly as I would have - Annelle would be high-tailing it back to Sammy's truck and telling him they needed to move to another town if she'd said that to me - but she snapped. Annelle initially said, "It should make you feel a lot better that Shelby is with her king." Which I think is still inappropriate, even if M'Lynn is also a Christian; keep that thought to yourself unless she brings it up, especially when the poor woman is just minutes past burying her daughter. M'Lynn just said, a bit tightly, "Yes, Annelle, I guess it should." Then Annelle doubled down by saying, "We should all be rejoicing." M'Lynn snapped, "You go on ahead. I'm sorry if I don't feel like it. I guess I'm a little selfish; I'd rather have her here." Then Annelle gives her "I don't mean to upset you" apology (like, "hey, we should all sing and dance; you're daughter's dead, yay!" is going to cause a reaction other than upset), which M'Lynn thanks her for. It is possibly my least-favorite exchange in the movie, something I sit through to get to the iconic "I just want to hit something"/"Here, hit this" brilliance.

Yes. At least those who don't grasp that not everyone has the same interest in such things as they do, and thus maybe they can limit their babbling about it. One of my closest friends is all about this stuff, and every time she finds something new I have to hear about it. I don't care about my own ancestors, let alone someone else's. Thankfully, she has come to keep it brief, so we've achieved that balance where I listen and comment, because it's something important to her and she's important to me, but she doesn't drone on about it because she knows I'm not interested. My peeve for today is that my plan to spend this afternoon Christmas shopping was thwarted by the fact I spent this morning dealing with cramps that did not let up once for nearly six straight hours. Heating pad, check. Pills, check. Okay, one more pill. Not one minute of relief in all that time. I haven't had them this bad in a long time. Now they're mild (well, for me) and in waves, so I've plowed through some work, but taking the afternoon off to shop is out of the question now, and I can't tomorrow, either. I can take Monday off entirely, and will (I do not shop on weekends, period, never mind during the holiday season), but it's going to be more crowded than I'd like. I really wanted to get to half my stores this week, rather than having to do one full day of running around next week. And I wish I had more things in mind than I do; it's going to be a lot of wandering in and out of stores waiting for something to jump out and say, "Mom/Dad/Best Friend (the only people I exchange gifts with) would dig me." Oh, well - first world problem.

There's been a long time between then and now; Murphy may have had the kitchen remodeled, and never used her new oven since it was put in.

The Medicare card clue that was a TS was in the AMA category, and said the organization told doctors to prepare for a redesigned version of these cards, aimed at stopping identify theft, going out to 60 million people.

As I've mentioned before, I don't often shop at TJ's, because I'm lazy and like to do as much of my shopping in one place as possible, and while TJ's undoubtedly has the best prepared/packaged offerings around, that's a tiny percentage of my usual shopping and their comparatively small offering of individual, raw ingredients, no matter how high the quality, means it doesn't fit my regular needs. But every year for the holidays, I go to pick up some goodies for my parents (the TJ's brand of Kona coffee beans for my dad, a local honey they carry that I can blessedly pick up at TJ's without having to rise early to buy at the farmers' market for my mom, and a regional brand of great-smelling soap carried at TJ's for better than anyone else's price for my parents), and I'm always open to additional treats. For my dad in particular, as he has quite the sweet tooth. So, as always, I'm interested in hearing of any great treats to be found, since I have vowed to finish my work early tomorrow and spend the afternoon shopping.

Good gods, I didn't misinterpret that in my typical limited attention (if that) paid to the interviews? I'd be embarrassed on her behalf, but that's so utterly lame she is on her own. I have liked precisely two sci-fi shows in the history of television – The X-Files and Battlestar Galactica (the reboot, not the original) – and I hated their episodes that were traditionally sci-fi versus their many that did something different with the genre, so I bet zero of my imaginary dollars on FJ. And good thing! Among things I knew nothing about but sounded like alien races, I considered and rejected Vulcans and Klingons, so had nothing. When the answer was revealed, I had to look it up to see what show it came from. I know it was the first round, but the first half of the “Read It” and most if not all of the “Famous Women” and “Tools Are Confusing” categories were Teen Tournament level. And all but one of the “Seven Deadliest Synonyms” clues were hideously over-valued for DJ. The Medicare card TS was stunning. And art deco may be one of the dumbest wrong guesses I’ve heard on the show. On the flip side, like with my serious ignorance of sci-fi TV shows, boy, the 21st Century Films category was filled with movies that are not my thing; I only knew one. Oh, and “the other one” for Jackie Joyner Kersee being the wrong answer and FloJo going unanswered – piss off, Alex. I hate most times he does that, but it’s particularly egregious in a clue with a black woman as the answer!