Bastet

Oh, so there were seven (or more) dishes they had to plug into the right country/dish slot? If so, then I withdraw my complaint on that front and chalk it up to another instance of me not paying proper attention to this fluffball of a show and thus being as dense as the contestants.

Despite all but literally throwing up my hands last week, I decided to watch again when there was nothing else on at the time of the second airing. I made it eight minutes before I wanted to bow out again. How fucking stupid to act like there’s any “we have to taste this again to figure out what it can be!” suspense where you both have only two of the six wrong, and know which two they are – just go switch those two! It reminds me of a baby shower I endured where two peopled had tied in the game where they had to guess how many whatevers were in a jar and whomever came closest to the number would win. The stupid host said A guessed Y and B guessed Z and they were tied, so for the tie-breaker, A and B would guess again. Both just sat there and looked at her like, um, it’s the midpoint of Y and Z? Plus the whole let’s trot out foreign words/foods as fodder, and the silent Asian guy to pull noodles. Bleh. If you were really teaching a total cooking novice, you’d give them easy-peel shrimp. And, in a previous episode, a chicken whose head had already been chopped off. You don’t need to make them jump right to the “gross” aspects of ingredient prep to teach them how to compose a meal. Just more manufactured drama, which requires one to rely on the entertainment value of the contestants in the absence of legitimate instruction and learning, which is why I thought I might like the celebrity version when I can’t stand the regular version. And they’re trying, as are Anne and Rachel, but this is painful sometimes. Fundamentally, I don’t find playing stupid funny. So self-deprecating (or good-natured mocking by the hosts) humor about that of which one is legitimately ignorant and the “duh!” moment when it sinks in is humorous. Faking befuddlement by basic items and terms is not. Especially at this stage of the game (and, gee, all of a sudden everyone was doing well with minor errors - they couldn't possibly have already known the basics of cooking, could they?) Despite her extensive credits, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Vivica A. Fox in anything other than Independence Day, and I definitely don’t know anything about her off camera, but I’m digging her on this. Going back to willfully-ignorant dunces, we come to me -- I haven’t paid proper attention to who was on what team, and who was eliminated. Was Carmen Electra on the team that was lopsidedly depleted, and thus her injury knocking her out of competition was quite a convenient storyline to make it closer to even (and thus no one going home today, to maintain something close to balance)? And is this – unlike Chopped – a series in which those who are eliminated still get a lesser donation for their charity?

Yep, and made popular again several years back via the film Julie & Julia.

Nothing justifies the battery, but even without seeing that extra footage (I don't watch the online-only stuff), I always thought if I had to spend 24 hours a day with Marcel, I would want to wrestle him to the ground. I wouldn't actually do it, and I should at the least be kicked right off the show if I did, but I would want to -- he drove me fucking nuts just from an hour per week.

I don't think the show fires on all cylinders until season two (and is at its peak in season four), but season one is still good, especially once Roseanne was able to get rid of Matt Williams and his loyalists; that's when I can see this is something that's going to be much more special than a funny but generic family sitcom, and season two builds on that.

No, he's not. Tania's dad is Tia's first husband (where the Torres comes from), and Mariah's father is a man to whom Tia was never married but was with for quite some time. The Agua Dulce property was originally theirs together. Oh my, I am losing it - I could have sworn I included a paragraph with that information for the same reason you did - that talking about his release date triggers the thought that he'd likely have to remain in CA for a while even after release - but, lo and behold, I just thought it but didn't type it. Yikes. Anyway, yes, on top of the 15-year-sentence (which, as a "three strikes" offender, he's not eligible to have reduced by work/good behavior credits), Aren would probably have to remain in CA for his parole period after being released.

Yeah, it was burglary and theft charges, not violent crimes, that sent him back to prison, but under CA's disgusting "three strikes" law, he was actually eligible for a life sentence. He took a deal of around 15 years. This happened maybe ten years ago, so he still has a while to go before release.

I take it as a positive sign of the times that I tuned into the immediate pre-game shot of Beth Mowins and Rex Ryan and asked, "What the hell is Rex Ryan doing in the booth?" I mostly watched the game during breaks in other programming, so I don't know if he mansplained, but she did well in the bits I heard.

Michael was always played by the same actor, but there were two Kates. I don't remember Gretchen. Kirsten, Ginella (or however the hell that was spelled), Adam, Charlie Jr. and Bridget, but not Gretchen. Rose had an Aunt Gretchen, so maybe she had a kid named after her and thus had six kids, but I always thought it was five. Yes, I believe she also has five, and Skippy is Matthew's nickname. Except I have no idea what I'm basing that belief on -- no specific dialogue is coming to me, but that's what I have in my head.

Yep, it has been since high school. She never adopted them, but they've been with her since Mariah brought them home as "strays" -- she met them at school, they started hanging around a lot to avoid what was going on at home, and in time they started regarding Tia as "Mom" (and Aren as "Dad") and just never left. That history makes it particularly sweet to hear Kanani refer to the little boy as "our" son, when he may not be biologically his -- Kanani knows very well that's not the only thing that makes a family. (And, yes, one of them was tangled up - and possibly even to a greater degree than what is in the filings - with the items seized during the raid. I can't remember which one, or if it was the same one who was dealing with a drug abuse problem at the time, but it was a big mess.) Speaking of Kanani and M2, and bringing it back to the episode, did Tia introduce her as "my daughter-in-law" when they met with the service dog guy? It was "my [something polysyllabic] Mariah," but I couldn't make it out and didn't go back to check.

I have never heard Samhain pronounced that way. Poor girl. To just dump an old dog to fend for herself like that; I hate people. I'm glad she was able to be put to sleep by people who cared, rather than enduring a protracted death alone. Mossy is adorable. I wonder what the granddaughter thinks about Grandpa giving her dog away, but if she was worried about it, she shouldn't have got a puppy knowing she'd be heading off to college. I feel sorry for the dog, and hope she's still able to stay in someone's home since she freaks out so badly in a kennel environment. I'm kind of glad Louie got to just be someone's pet.

That was an embarrassing performance by the Giants offense. That would have ruined my opening weekend against any team, but against Dallas?! Ugh, just the sight of Jerry Jones makes me angry. The Raiders won, but Seattle lost, too. Overall, I did not have a good football day.

Has there ever been a perfume/cologne ad that wasn't completely obnoxious? Okay, the answer is almost certainly yes, but if I change the question to whether there has been one that's enjoyable, the list just as certainly shrinks dramatically. We don't yet have Smell-O-Vision, so there's no way to accurately advertise a fragrance on its merits; instead, commercials have long been based on dramatic plots and/or celebrity endorsements (from Axe to White Diamonds to the various designer fragrances). Why those storylines are almost always so obnoxious and if the commercials influence those sniffing their way through a department store's fragrance counter is a yet-unanswered question.

Go ahead, Trojans! After a typical USC opener in which they play like ass against a team they should dominate, to have Stanford be the second opponent was frightening. For many years now, that has been a total wildcard game -- anything can happen. Terrific victory, and it's nice to see such a robust offensive line. Vast improvement over last week overall; I like Coach Helton, and hope he continues to pull things together.

I love that one, too. Here it is:

One of my favorites, too, and a real hidden gem of the Katharine Hepburn/Cary Grant pairings. Two of my three favorite movies happen to be black and white (The Thin Man and Bringing Up Baby, with Thelma & Louise being my other favorite). I don't like very many movie musicals (I like a lot of stage musicals, but probably don't need more than one hand to count the movie musicals I truly enjoy), but one of my short list is b&w: Love Me Tonight.

I've heard some stories indicating he's a good guy, and I like the passion he had for getting Dances With Wolves made (including putting up some of his own money, the ultimate dedication in Hollywood), so I want to like him, but something about his acting has always bugged me, whatever role he's playing. The movies of his I watch are few, and it's always in spite of him, and because of his co-stars or the story.

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I have no doubt it was the right thing to let him go this morning. It would not be possible to have taken better care of him than you did in life, so it follows that you did what was best for him one last time. I hate that you're going through this; the cat-less house is brutal. You remain in my thoughts.

I love that part! If that wasn't the closer, I'd skip right past the commercial, because, jeez, folks, help your poor friend out of the dress she's stuck in. But the actor playing the bride so perfectly delivers that line that I must stick around for it every time.

I would rather stare at my wall for an hour than watch a show with those two asshats.

@bilgistic, my heart aches any time I hear this news, but I am gutted to hear it about Bilgisticat. I'm at a loss for any words beyond saying how sad I am for you, and how you will be at the forefront of my thoughts this weekend.

Boy, what a bad day for country music. That's particularly sad about Gentry, at only 50 years old. I don't think I know any Montgomery Gentry songs, but I love the Gentle Giant's Tulsa Time. He had a couple other songs I didn't particularly like the lyrics to, but his voice was so soothing I listened to them anyway.

Although I only watched one soap then, I received Soap Opera Digest and thus had a passing familiarity with many more, but I don't recognize anyone -- who is that? I hate tighty-whities. There's an episode of Remington Steele in which Pierce Brosnan is sporting them, and I take the fact even he looks ridiculous in them as definitive proof they ruin everyone.

Aww, when I was a kid we had a one-eyed black semi-feral cat show up, whom my dad promptly named One-Eyed Jack. Well, it became apparent in short order that Jack was a Jackie. We couldn't capture her in time for a spay-abort, so she had six kittens (sigh) under the neighbor's house, but when the time came we were able to capture all of them, keep one, find homes for the other five, and keep Jackie. We never could touch her belly, and could only rarely pick her up for a few seconds, but she came to love being petted, sleeping on the bed (alone or with our other cats for a nap, but not with us overnight; nights she spent sleeping in the garage as it felt more secure to her), and playing with little foam soccer balls - including summoning someone to come throw them for her. She was both tough as hell and a class act. (And she once came barreling over a gate to get between me and a baby rattlesnake as I stood oblivious in the driveway washing my grandpa's car.) We only had her a few years before cancer claimed her, but it was an honor to give her a home after a rough life. (The "missing" eye was there, but way down and completely covered over by scar tissue; she'd likely lost it in a fight.)