Bastet

I'm surprised to see that asked; it's not exactly unheard of for asexual people to date. (If you mean he'd be more likely to find a match on one of the dating sites that cater to asexual people, sure.)

I brine chicken and pork all the time, but it never would have occurred to me to brine salmon. I don't know that I will, but the mango salsa they made to go with their salmon looks like it would be a nice addition. (I generally bake mine, and I don't eat the skin.) I was rather surprised to hear they usually cook with farmed salmon, though; I will only eat wild. The shrimp scampi, poached in shrimp stock, sounds interesting, especially since the stock takes so little time to prepare. I'm definitely going to try it, as I love shrimp scampi. Drinking shots of fish sauce - wow, Bridget earned her money this week. I like when she does taste tests; she has an impressive ability to identify individual flavors.

I'm Hungry is on right now, and pretty much everything about Roseanne's diet quest is a favorite quote. First, when she says Crystal is right, she does need to lose weight, and she's going to pick a date next week to start a diet: "Next week's bad. [Flips pages] March is out." Then when her pants don't fit: "We've got to go on a diet." "What's this 'we' jazz? My pants fit fine." When she tells the kids they're going on a diet (again): "So I guess this means we're going to have roast chicken for three nights and then get back to reality." When Dan asks the kids if they think Roseanne needs to lose weight: D.J.: No, I like you mushy. Becky: [Sexist crap about how it's fine for men to get heavy as they age, but it doesn't look good on women, prompting Roseanne to tell her that's the stupidest thing she's ever said.] Darlene: Oh, face it - you're both tanks. Which leads to: "Oh, you stay out of it. You're the reason I got fat in the first place." "Yeah, like I invented double Dutch chocolate." "No, but I gained 20 pounds with that pregnancy." (Dan) "Me too." "Okay, 40 pounds. With each pregnancy." "Me too." The kids talking to Jackie about genetics ("Oh my god!"), Jackie taking credit for "A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step," Dan coming in from their walk to grab the keys to go pick up Roseanne, the fast food commercials, Coach Dan's pep talk, and then Dan and Roseanne return from a walk as the kids are getting ready in the morning: "You guys were walking for an hour." "The Olympics are only two years away." "Then you still have time. What event?" "Child throwing." And, finally, Roseanne, all fired up because her pants fit, heads out after deciding to walk to work. Ten seconds later: "Oh, it's like 13 degrees out there; I'm not walking to work."

I love that scene (including the beginning, when he says he's going door-to-door to talk to his constituents, and she suggests he go down to the unemployment office where he can talk to everyone at once). The times they explicitly talked politics like that may not have been numerous, but they showed it for nine years. The old adage "the personal is political" is true, and so is the reverse -- the political is personal. This was basically a nine-year exploration of the rigged economy, class, sexism, etc.

I watched Lost for Life, about people serving life without parole sentences for murders committed when they were juveniles, something the U.S. is pretty much alone (certainly in the "developed world") in allowing. It was during the making of this film (which was produced over the course of four years) that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled mandatory life sentences for juvenile offenders unconstitutional. I thought it was well done, so went looking for a little more information; here's an article on how it came to be (what first set it in motion was the filmmaker talking to a judge about the case that most troubles him, which was having to impose a life without parole sentence on a 15-year-old girl). One of the stories that interested me most was that of Brian and Torey, the guys who committed what has been referred to as the "Scream murder" of one of their high school classmates. Brian looks so old for 21; this whole process has aged the hell out of him (he's pretty much haunted by it, dreaming of the victim all the time and tortured by what he did to his parents, as well, in the moment he told them he actually did do it). I think the difference between him and Torey is striking, with Brian spot on in saying Torey is the same now as he was the day he entered prison -- still proclaiming his innocence (at trial, they each blamed the other, despite all the evidence they planned and executed it together [they recorded themselves before and after]) rather than engaging in the painful process of admitting what he did. I thought the recording of the phone call between Brian and his parents, back when he was first incarcerated and still saying it was all Torey's doing, was a terrific juxtaposition -- back then, Brian and his parents sounded just like Torey and his parents still do now, talking about how awful it is that the media lumps Brian and Torey together, as if they were the same type of person/did the same thing (um, newsflash...).

There are several sites providing monthly lists of what's being added and what's being removed from Netflix. Here's one.

I don't generally care for flavored ice cream beyond vanilla -- I like vanilla ice cream with chunks of other things mixed in, rather than ice cream made of the other things themselves (e.g. vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips I love, but chocolate ice cream I can't stand). So, in theory, nuts would fit into that. However, I am strange about nuts - I love them, but I don't often like them in things. No nuts in my cookies, chocolate bars, brownies, etc.

Ha; I cannot read that without automatically thinking, "Everywhere in L.A. takes twenty minutes." (Clueless)

I think most of us, when we know more about a subject than the average bear - and, apparently, the writers - have to decide whether to just roll with it because we like the characters and other things about the show, or spare our blood pressure and move on. Or just treat it like a "spot the errors" game and sit back and laugh (and, yeah, sometimes grumble, "You get paid how much, and you can't do the most basic research on a fundamental aspect of your show?").

But when it comes to his inappropriate talk about/to women, "we've tried and it's just not sticking" is not what they describe, nor is the issue unaddressed in their interviews so that we don't know how they've dealt with the situation -- we have repeatedly seen them, in real time and in talking heads when they're alone and have had time to reflect, treat his inappropriate behavior as cute, laughing at and thus encouraging his "ladies' man" crap. (And we've heard from the poster who knows these folks that, yep, that's what they do.) There are a ton of areas in which I'll give these parents benefit of the doubt, because there's a lot we don't see, what we do see is edited, there is no one right way for most things, etc. This doesn't qualify. And every parent falls down in some ways; it's an inherent part of the job. It doesn't make them bad parents or bad people, but it is what it is. In this particular aspect, I think they have and are continuing to fail Sean, and the women he comes into contact with.

Maggie's "Gross" when Mark told Emma he'd join her in the showers was perfectly delivered. I also liked Maggie and Mark pointing out all the ways in which Emma's "You have basketballs up your butt and can't see what's happening" statement was absurd. Mark's attempts to get thrown out of the game, and his reaction when he inadvertently made Maggie cry, were great, too. Very cute moment between Maggie and Bruce after that, despite the blindingly awful clothing. I love the end of the game, that looks like every feel-good sports movie but is the opposite, concluding with the last-second slow-mo shot that comes nowhere near the basket. I adore Mark; I don't remember the last time I liked a TV character's boyfriend this much. I'm not sure I ever did. I loved episode three, and four was good, too, except for Maggie being so catty about a woman she knows nothing about. That was stereotypical crap and annoying, but the rest was the show I love. Carbo-loading to teach a bike safety class. Yay - the brother is back! I love him, and I love him and Bruce together. "Melon on, melon off." I wouldn't have thought I'd like this potential romance between Maggie and the doctor, but I should know to give this show more credit; I like the way he's being written. My heart sank when he mentioned the breast exam, making me remember the cancer is being worked into the show and realizing it's already going to happen. Their faces when they got the news, and knowing they went through it for real -- very moving. "Cancer has picked the wrong duo to mess with." I've been a bit lax about my self exams lately, which is particularly bad since my mom is in remission from metastatic breast cancer and I've had three benign lumps myself, so thank you to this show and Jessica's PSA for making me give myself an overdue exam during the final commercial break. (Everything feels normal.)

I'll never go on one because my motion sickness is severe on the water, but they don't sound at all appealing to me anyway -- too restricted. I like to wander when I travel, and with a cruise you're beholden to an itinerary. I would hate to pull into port, fall in love with the city, and have to get back on the ship rather than being able to decide to hang out there for several days. I wouldn't like the "at sea" days, either, stuck on the ship; I want to explore someplace in which people naturally live, not lounge around a floating mall. And, oh my god, no way in hell would I go one of those cruises where you're assigned a table (or meal time) for eating! I'll eat when I want to, not at an assigned time, and I'll eat alone or with someone I've chosen on my own, not random people to whom I've been assigned. I won't stay in B&Bs because of the limits on freedom, either. My parents are going on a Mississippi River cruise, from New Orleans to Memphis, in September; my dad thinks cruises sound like hell, too, but figured this sounded a lot less awful because there's so much time on land (and they're going about a week early to New Orleans [they've never been], staying a few days in Memphis [they have, but long ago], then driving down to visit family in Oklahoma before flying home, so the cruise will be bookended by stuff more to his liking).

No, I don't have one, either; I only use my cell phone once every couple of months or so, and have no need for one that does anything beyond make calls (or texts, but I text even less frequently than I call, and only ever in response to someone sending me one), so my flip phone suits me just fine.

Kenny Rogers. Oasis .The only other one I can come up with is The Velvet Underground.

There were some pretty amusing "You people are dead to me" and "What show were you watching?" type posts in the X-Files elimination games. It was all in good fun, but people's minds do inevitably get blown at other people's votes from time to time in these games. I think the ++/-- version of the game gets people even more riled up, because you can directly counteract votes with which you disagree (until you get to the rounds where you can still give two minus votes, but only one plus, so you can't cancel out anymore).

No. Sorry, I should have written it phonetically rather than continuing the "rhymes with" theme, since the whole point of the conversation was that what it rhymes with varies regionally. The comparison I made, when you asked how else tour could be pronounced, with lure and tour is lo͝or and to͝or.

Amen. Hmm, what order to put my usual suspects in today? Danny Concannon Ainsley Hayes Will Bailey Annabeth Schott Simon Donovan

Okay, ha ha, runway, but how can the passengers see the models? I think this question was raised in another thread already, but they're walking towards the nose of the plane and not swinging out very far upon turning and walking back, so the window passenger would get barely a glimpse on the return trip, and the aisle passenger - who's tilting his head slightly, not leaning over her - wouldn't see shit.

Rhyming with lure.

So all of his negative qualities are because of his disability? He, and the rest, can't just, like everyone else, have ways in which they're assholes? Because that's one of the things I like about this show -- they're not edited to look like saints because they have a disability (which is so common, and, of course, totally unrealistic - and patronizing), but are instead shown to have good and bad qualities, like everyone does. And everyone's bad qualities are a mix - inherent, cultivated by family, socialized by environment, etc. Add in "typical of those with Down Syndrome" for these particular people.

Ha - I'm so used to thinking of him as Swimtern (right? something like that, a play on his Swimfan role), since that how he was referred to on the forum, I didn't recognize the actual character name at all.

Well, I wouldn't wish Megan on anyone, either. I'm not sure I can picture any of them as good romantic partners, really. I love Cristina, but she has a long way to go as a fianceé and I'm not really sure she'll get there. I also love Rachel, but when it comes to potential dating we saw she needs to learn to slow her roll. She's probably the one I can most see "getting it" at some point and truly understanding how to be part of a romantic relationship. John seems to have no interest in it. I can't remember if Elena has ever expressed an interest, but she's really just starting to deal with her own issues, so she's a ways off from being ready to date seriously.

Sean likes every woman who crosses his path. How many has he declared to be his future wife? The two Megans - "our" Megan and Meghan Trainor - at least. I wouldn't wish Sean on anyone.

I do that a lot when I wake up to an alarm - fall right back asleep, dream I'm up and going through my morning routine, and then have that illusion shattered when the alarm goes off again and I realize I'm still in bed.

I have no idea who any of the eliminated people other than Mandy are. Different order today, but most of the same characters: Danny Concannon Will Bailey Simon Donovan Ainsley Hayes Annabeth Schott