Bastet

Yeah, the Rose Bowl was traditionally Pac-10 vs. Big-10. I support a playoff system heartily, and I don't particularly care that in setting one up they opted to use the Rose Bowl as one of the games (maybe I did in the beginning, but I can't remember; I don't think so), even though just based on a long history there is indeed a little twinge of weirdness for USC to win the Pac-12 and be in a different bowl game.

Oh jeez, that was second-hand embarrassing. I am a huge cheerleader for Spagnuolo as Defensive Coordinator, and was so sad to lose him in that position, but wished him well and rooted for him as head coach. And, ouch. Fucking McAdoo. Thank all that is good he and Reese are gone, but if it had happened a week sooner Eli's streak would be intact (and a whole extra layer of disgruntlement among players would have been avoided). And, yeah, I'd be fine with a keycard disabling scenario, because I resent him that much. It's like with all the chatter about how awful it was Pat Haden fired Lane Kiffin at the airport, and all I had to say in response was that if I were USC's Athletic Director, I'd have had him summarily executed on the sideline. At halftime.

As that one started, she was annoying me with how long it was taken her to stop talking as if someone could hear her when obviously they couldn't and they'd explained what was going on with her; the constant chirpy chatter was on my nerves. But as it got going, I was drawn into it. I liked little things like her mind wandering to how cute Kovac is. I really liked when she was internally yelling at her husband to grow a pair and consent to the procedure.

So what happens with that storyline? (Assuming it's true; maybe 1013 leaked false info like they did with IWTB, to mix it in with the true info being leaked, in an effort to leave fans unsure what to believe and give up.)

If my grandma had crawled out of her death bed to hand carve me a dining room table, maybe I'd be tempted to say a dining room that accommodates it is a necessity but, otherwise, no - I'd just buy new furniture that fits the new house. People have to sell their pool tables all the time because their new house doesn't have a room in which it will work, and that's getting rid of something full stop rather than just replacing it with a different-sized version. Oh, wait, I actually do have an example that doesn't require unique pieces of furniture and dying grandmothers; if I was married/cohabitating (which I wouldn't be, but go with me here) and we were looking at a place that didn't have a bedroom that would accommodate a king-size bed, I would say, "Well, we can get the house if we take separate bedrooms." Because no way in hell am I sharing a queen size bed with another human being on a nightly basis.

It just depends on how you cook and/or what all you're storing in there; I have a small pantry and it's not filled, because most of my food is in the refrigerator and freezer, and oils and spices are in a different cabinet so they're next to the stove. If I looked at a house with multiple pantries, I'd comment on it, too, because I'd have to use them for something else or they'd be wasted space.

Jed and Abbey's argument Tie-breaker: How can I choose?? I mean, those various "woot canal" conversations? The press conference from hell? Senior staff as errant schoolchildren having to tell the president just how much they managed to screw up during his brief absence, with all of Jed's hilarious dialogue in response? "We've got people down! Who's been hit?" and fade to black to leave me suffering an entire summer? These are ALL my favorite memorable moments from season one. Ugh. Okay, I guess I'll go with "woot canal."

I'll be a Clemson fan for a few hours again, then, as I hate Nick Saban with the heat of a nova. I'll be rooting for OU to win the whole thing, despite Baker Mayfield needing to grow the hell up. I couldn't stand the Bob Stoops worship (he was a great coach, but had some consistent flaws, and the slobbering over him never acknowledged that), so I'd like to see them win their first year without him.

If Dr. Jeff and Pit Bulls & Parolees were on every week of the year, I'd be thrilled.

I went all in with this on my re-watch, because by watching all the special features, I watched the film three times -- once normally (but the extended version), once with CC and Spotnitz's commentary, and once with the menu telling me when behind-the-scenes features were available for the scene I was watching (and I watched every single one of them). First, thank goodness for Spotnitz, because apparently he and CC argued throughout the writing process about how much religious stuff to put in; CC, who is "a man of faith," wanted more, and Spotnitz, who is not, kept resisting, saying he had no interest in putting out a movie he didn't believe in. So, I can only imagine the crap we'd have wound up with had CC penned this alone rather than the compromise they reached. Second, as a story, this movie kind of sucks. A gruesome crime is somehow made uninteresting, there are disturbing implications to the characterization of the villains, Scully's job makes no sense (and, my stars, the Googling), and the attempts to tie things together fail. Father Joe's psychic connection being to one of the villains, not the victim, and him sensing Agent Bannon as alive, because her body is hooked up to the villain, after they've found her head and know her to be dead, thus making him look like a fraud, works, actually - I have to give credit for that one thing. But the whole "Don't give up" connection to Scully is awful. They needed to give him something far more cryptic to say for her to take it as an instruction from her god. And they needed something much more X-File-y than "hey, a psychic tells us he has the 411 on our missing agent" and Whitney's crush to explain why Fugitive!Mulder was requested and welcomed back in the first place. But, as a study of Mulder and Scully's relationship at that point in their lives, it's lovely. The relationship, and the improved version of Mulder, presented here sets the stage for the beautiful characterization of their relationship in season ten. So I'm glad the film was made; Mulder actually listening to Scully and respecting the need for balance in their lives, before taking her on a tropical vacation is a far better place to leave them than curled up in some crappy motel room as they run for their lives. (Plus, making and promoting this film is what made DD and GA not only put the past to rest, but start developing an actual friendship, so it's worth it for that alone.) And, had this been a two-part episode, it would come across as a decent offering, one bridging the past and the future. But as a movie five years in the making, it's disappointing. Watching it right after watching Requiem (because I don't have, and don't want, seasons 8 and 9, although I may borrow my friend's discs just to see if I can sit through The Truth this time) made Mulder's pissiness about Scully not wanting to work the case with him jarring, since in Requiem he'd delivered that beautiful speech about the personal costs being too high, there being so much more for her to do with her life, and there needing to be an end. Um, she's doing exactly what you said she should do, Mulder. Watching it right after marathoning the series also made it jump out at me how many actors from the series appear in the film. The doctor Scully is videoconferencing with is Lorena Gale ("Howard Graves is very dead"). The guy running the feed store was in a few early episodes. The SAC for the case is the crazy tree lady from Schizogeny. Agent Bannon is the waitress from PMP. The second victim is Chastity from Rush. One of the villains is Callum Keith Rennie, who was in a couple of early episodes. Plus cameos by CC, Vanessa Morley (Samantha), and producer J.P. Finn.

“It’s like putting a fucking puzzle back together when you’re drunk” – Petra as she uncovers the shattered mess that is the leg of the dog who fell out of a second-story window. I like her. And how cool for the neighbors (or bystanders? I’m not sure whether the daughter heard the poor dog because they live nearby, or just happened to be in the area, concluding with the mom and her fiancé swooping in) to step up and take the dog when the original owners wanted to put him down rather than having the surgery. Watching him happily get around despite two of his three legs being in casts was so cute. I wonder what attacked Capers the cat; I know the owner thought maybe a raccoon, but to come away from a fight with a raccoon with no worse injuries than that would be impressive. I just can’t with people who don’t spay/neuter their pets, so I love that they show on this series the many health risks in addition to pregnancy that can happen in unaltered animals. Shelly, the dark-haired vet tech with tattoos and lots of pit-positive shirts (I believe she has a pit bull or pit mix), is my favorite of the techs; she always gives her patients smooches. Charli’s feet hanging off the end of the table, and Jeff having to raise himself up to be able to operate on her, because she’s so big was funny. And that ginormous cone. Hee.

Jed and Abbey's argument Tie-breaker: Leo finds out about the MS

Yes, if Person A posts something, Person B quotes it, and then you also quote what Person A posted, but you pull the text from Person B's quote of it rather than Person A's original post, the quote will be attributed to Person B in your post.

Beer, wine, and liquor are sold in grocery stores here, but the prices at the chains are insane (e.g. regular price for Maker's Mark [1.75L] at Vons is nearly $60). When the grocery chains put something on sale, it's normally priced -- the same price as my local liquor store. And there's a wide variety on sale every week. So sometimes when need and sale converge, I'll grab a bottle of something while shopping rather than going to the liquor store, just for convenience. But if I needed something that was only offered at regular price, I'd make the separate trip to the liquor store because I find paying an extra $15 way too high a convenience fee. Same with wine; you'd have to be in a mighty big hurry to pick up a single bottle at regular price, because of how much more you'll pay. The sale price, plus the additional discount for buying six bottles, can add up to a really good deal, especially given the convenience of picking up wine alongside the rest of the groceries.

USC’s fourth quarter goal line stand, followed by a 99-yard TD drive, was a thing of beauty. Especially after the USC penalty, I thought it would be pretty incredible to hold Stanford to three, but to leave them coming away with nothing once the Cardinal decided to go for it? And then for the Trojans to get out of their own end zone via a 54-yard pass? Holy crap, that was great. And then USC’s defense squandered chance after chance - more than usually happens in one drive - to put the game away. Way to take it down to the wire, Trojans, but it made for a great ending. Other than the flags, that was a good championship game.

Thanks. I don't remember seeing him (original or re-cast), which is one of the inevitable hazards of only paying sporadic attention, but with three episodes per day - and the knowledge I'd never actually sit down and catch up if I recorded rather than having them on as background noise - that's just how it goes for me. Another question: I didn't see hardly any of today's episodes, so did I miss anything in terms of personal storylines other than Mädchen Amick dumping Carter?

When the game is over, I'm going to use the last of the leftover turkey in place of chicken in a simple pasta alfredo - whole wheat fettuccine, broccoli, mushrooms, and turkey breast meat with alfredo sauce.

It started at 5:00. Between two CA teams, on a Friday, a later start would have been nice, but we're also kind of used to having to get home early for big games here. And when it's not 5:00, it's 7:30, so that can run pretty late on a Friday night. A Saturday afternoon game would have been nice! Good rematch so far, after a rocky start.

Who is Steve?

The funeral Tie-breaker: "Stand there in your wrongness and be wrong" argument

Costco has Balvenie 12-year (single malt Scotch) at a good price, too. In general, Costco's liquor prices are what my local liquor store charges as a sale price. Which is significantly lower than what BevMo charges as a sale price. Recently, BevMo and my local liquor store both had Macallan 12-year on sale, and the BevMo price was ten dollars more.

I can do that; it's my superpower.

If she thinks Kerry's sexual orientation is a sin, so that while she can love her as a person in theory, but regards being gay as a sin ("hate the sin/love the sinner," which, yes, in this instance, is unequivocally crap to me, because it assumes being gay is a sin; that's equating it to saying someone I love committed murder, and while I loathe what she/he did, I still love her/him despite that horrible act, and that's crap as an analogy since being gay isn't an act, let alone a sinful one) and is thus perpetually hoping for her to renounce that "sin," then how is acceptance that she is who she is, it's not a choice, it's not a sin, ever going to change? It's not. Peace out, Frances Fisher; DNA isn't a reason to endure her shit for longer, despite the inevitable end. Now, yes, I agree having Frances Fisher (Helen? I have seriously already forgotten) be a more nuanced character, and giving Kerry a longer arc with problematic relatives as have other characters, would have been nice. But I don't think she's a remotely unrealistic character, and find Kerry's reaction to her, once she saw the writing on the wall, brave, beautiful, and heart-breaking. Oh, that's definitely past whenever I quit watching. I'm surprised they pursued that; if she hadn't been pregnant with his child, I see no reason they'd have been hung up on each other for more than their time in the Congo, so the tragic end seems a logical reason for them both to return to their inevitably divergent lives and move on. I like Carter, too, and wish he'd wind up with someone who is as well-suited to him and makes him happy personally as does his professional life.

The only things I will buy that require dry cleaning are suits; even my curtains are machine washable. Ironing, I'm also resistant to - I have one set of curtains that require ironing (and I made them, so I have only myself to blame, but I only wash them once a year, so I can deal), and one or two blouses I can't steam the wrinkles out of yet love enough to keep in spite of that, but I might as well donate them along with the others that proved in need of ironing to look right, because I iron them so infrequently they're not worth keeping. And I have one of those ironing boards that pops out of the wall (like the one that whacks Colonel Mustard on the head in Clue), so I don't even need to store a full-size board. I just hate ironing that much. I don't know why I hate dry cleaning so much, since it takes nothing out of me other than money, and there are options that aren't quite so awful environmentally, but I do.

I missed a few days (which means quite a few episodes) at the very wrong time -- when I left off, Carter was with the pregnant Kem, and then by the time I came back the fetus was dead, she was gone, and he was doing whatever with Mädchen Amick. I know about the stillborn trauma, and assume Kem decided - since the upcoming baby that was now not going to exist was really the only connection they had - to go back to her usual life, and then Carter met this new person, but if there's more to the in-between, please let me know.