Bastet

The Patriots winning was not a good cap to my Sunday, but my G-Men managed not to throw the game away at the end, the Raiders had a good win and Seattle won, so I'm having a great opening weekend so far. We'll see what happens tonight with the Rams; I'm working hard at becoming a fan, since I whined and yelled for so many years about not having a team in L.A. anymore, but I wasn't a Rams fan the first time around. Alas, I had another option then. So, I'm working on it. I do not understand what Arizona did on their final drive. They were already in FG range, and Football 101 dictates you call a series of rushes, hoping to pick up some bonus yards to make it an easier shot for your kicker, but primarily to take time off the clock and play it safe with the football by keeping it out of the air. As soon as Palmer stepped back to throw a pass, I yelled, "What are you doing?!" Sure enough, the damn thing was almost intercepted. Thankfully, it wasn't, but the yardage they lost with the penalty meant they wound up going for a longer FG. Toss in a bad snap, and there goes the game, wide left. Hell of a finish between Detroit/Indy, which we were switched to after the Giants game. I don't care about either team, so I was just enjoying the show - and cracking up at the game of hot potato at the end. I knew when it happened that the pass in the end zone was not a lateral, and thus there would be a safety tacked on, but the guys who make the big bucks calling the game didn't even see the forward pass; when they saw the flag, they had to wait for the call.

Melissa's confessional is everything. Back when a roommate getting it on in a shared room was something scandalous that required the other occupants to find alternate lodgings rather than a weekly occurrence for one which simply made popcorn and watched. “Danny doesn’t know where to sleep. He’s trying to jump in Kelly’s bed, there’s already a man up in there; he doesn’t know what to do. He tries to get in his own bed, butt naked, with Jamie – that ain’t gonna work. Try to go up in Matt’s room, Matt’s still over there praying. David’s still servicing some hoes. So he jumps in my bed, not even knowing Julie’s in the bed. So, let me tell you what the sex life is like: Melissa is in the bed with a Mormon on the left, a naked gay man on the right. What am I supposed to do with that?"

Oh my god, Cynthia was quite possibly the most annoying character in the show's history. I very nearly did not watch SVU when it premiered because that's all I knew Mariska Hargitay from. (I quit SVU a long, long time ago - season five or six, maybe? - so I won't see this reunion.) For some reason, I have very few clear memories of this show even though I watched it regularly for quite a few years; it sucks that one of the things I do still have in my mind is Cynthia!

Oh yeah, it will easily be two hours in commuter traffic (it's about 60 miles just to downtown L.A. and a lot of people are commuting further into L.A. than that).

Yeah, no offense to anyone here who lives in Riverside, but I wouldn't live there if the houses were free. It used to be in the middle of nowhere, but as housing costs led people to buy further and further from Los Angeles - while still commuting in - a shit ton of generic developments went up and Riverside (and the areas between LA and Riverside) got more populated. Housing is more expensive there now than it used to be because of this, but still far cheaper than equivalent homes in Los Angeles.

Oh, they'll leave out about half the people who could be included because they weren't popular at the time they died. But TCM Remembers for 2016 may wind up being an hour long.

Over a lifetime with a couple of Hoovers, a Shark, and a Dyson, I've given up trying to use a vacuum to get fur off upholstery. I don't know what brand it is, but there's this thing that looks like an oversized yellow sponge, and that's what I use; works great. Congratulations on the new addition, DeLurker. And congrats to Kokuma, conquering the haunted stairs.

I can't imagine ever having a mattress other than a Sleep Number after several years of enjoying one, but, yeah, I hate that commercial. And my Sleep Number mattress is old, plus I don't have a smartphone, so mine is not sending me any sort of communication about how I slept. I have no desire to add that feature.

If one of my best friends wanted to have a yard sale to get rid of some stuff, I told her no, but I'd buy the box from her, then she didn't go through the box and thus accidentally gave me nearly $50k worth of bonds along with $50 (or whatever) worth of miscellaneous stuff, I would just be relieved she sold the box to me rather than someone else and give her the bonds back. With that said, this isn't an episode I've watched very many times, so I don't remember specifics of how their conversation went once the bonds were discovered. Rose could indeed be selfish - without the self-awareness Blanche generally had about her selfish nature - so if I saw it again I might agree that she handled it poorly.

Director Leslie Martinson, who directed episodes of what seems like every show on TV from the '50s - '80s, died this weekend (at home, age 101, so 2016 finally showed some mercy).

My friend has had the same problem since her gall bladder removal several years ago, lordonia. She asked her doctor if he could put it back in, as in hindsight she preferred the problems it was causing her to the one its absence is causing. My peeve of the day: Seeing/hearing "nonplussed" used to mean the exact opposite of nonplussed (non-nonplussed, as José Chung on The X-Files would say). I know, I know -- it's one of those words where the incorrect use has been so common for so long it has become accepted as an informal definition, but these are peeves, right?

I'm glad Steven and Sean living together is for the show, because if poor Steven was actually stuck with Sean on an ongoing basis ... Notice how the guy helping them said the picking of rooms (in which Steven compromised by giving Sean his way) was last night as compared to the deciding of where the dance floor would go (in which Sean had to be all but sat on to compromise by giving Steven his way [and outdoors was the better place to begin with])? I wonder how long they filmed in that house -- just a long weekend? I liked Megan saying she did nothing wrong, so she'd like to just move on when Sean was trying to continue his fit, and especially when Steven also said they'd done nothing wrong, Sean was being rude to their guests, and he was just trying to put on some music and lighten the mood. Sean is exhausting. Steven expressing his opinion is bossing Sean around. Compromising means Steven bends to Sean's will at every disagreement because otherwise Sean gets mad. Oh yeah - great roommate. And is there anyone worse to defuse a situation of ridiculous drama than Elena? I was on a phone call during much of the scene between Megan and Kris in the car, talking about celebrity crushes and confusing those for actual connections. Did Megan do the same thing with someone Sean is doing with Meghan Trainor? (And dear god, please don't let Trainor's people get wind of this and set up something for the show; unlike Rachel with Adam Lambert, Sean cannot handle it) If so, who? I tuned back in to hear Kris' Anderson Cooper crush. The "yeah, that's not going to happen" was perfectly delivered. The 5K where you get a doughnut and chocolate milk for completing it cracked me up; I've done "Detox Retox" 10Ks where you get beer afterward. Rachel was spot on to suggest they split the doughnut rather than skipping it.

I love pretty much every fruit that has been discussed recently, except bananas; those, I absolutely cannot stand. Shifting gears: Confronting the physical signs of aging in the mirror can be tough some days for anyone, so I can only imagine what those routinely presented to the world on giant, HD screens go through. Thus, my personal feelings about plastic surgery/lesser cosmetic procedures aside, the people who give celebrities (usually women) shit for looking old and the people who give them shit for doing things to try to look a little younger are all on my peeve list. And I find myself most annoyed by those who simultaneously give women shit for the ways they look their age and the ways they don’t -- you can’t huff about someone’s Botoxed face in one indignant breath and then make fun of the natural skin on their neck, hands, etc. in the next. I’ve got a “I miss her/his old face” list of celebrities I wish had left well enough alone and, not being blind, I certainly notice the changes when someone I haven’t seen on screen/in photographs since they were 40ish turns up again closer to 60 and – gasp – looks different 15-20 years later. But, good lord, the level of criticism and outright vitriol heaped on these people, especially the women, for daring to get older is just ridiculous. No wonder they get their wrinkles injected and such, but then they get shit for that, too. It’s not the taking note, it’s the relentless commentary and nasty tone, no matter what they do or don't do.

I also found the look on Maura's face as she turned out the lights much more appropriate to the scene than crying would have been, since she's just taking a short leave of absence to go write in Paris. Nicely played by Sasha, who, unlike Maura, won't be back, so great job of reining in her own emotions. In fact, I think that's something they all did well -- there were times the actors' emotions were on full display, but in conjunction with the characters'. There have been finales where I'm taken out of the moment because actors, having a hard time saying good-bye to a co-star/role, are much more teary and choked up than is right for the characters under the circumstances. Here, we only saw it when it made sense for the characters, too. Kudos to the cast. The penis cake was a silly distraction (and made me think of Rose making a similar cake-ordering mistake on The Golden Girls ["I thought it was in the shape of Florida!"]), but set the stage for a needed bit of humor to break the sadness when Angie perfectly delivered the line, "Now can I have some beer and penis cake?"

The whole series is available on DVD (season by season; I don't think there's a complete boxed set) at good prices. It's been a while since I saw this in syndication anywhere, but I pull out the DVDs at least once a year to relive the glory.

Full disclosure: I was tipsy when I watched, so maybe I'll watch it again sober and wonder what the hell I was thinking, but -- I liked this. Yeah, I still fundamentally find it ridiculous to change up every character's life at the end, and have no earthly idea why Jane is leaving. Allowing for the fact that ship has sailed, this episode in a vacuum was cute. Honoring Lee Thompson Young/Frost was beautiful, and then I just up and cried when Jane and Korsak said goodbye. And then Jane and Maura hanging out on the bed again, like old scenes, and knowing they - who have finally, these last two episodes, felt like best friends again - are going to have a nice vacation before Jane starts her new life (or comes to her senses and begs BPD for her job back)? Thank you, show! Jane using Maura's miles (for a first-class ticket no less -- so I'll let slide no one gets paper tickets anymore, and if that was a boarding pass she wouldn't have it so far in advance), Maura declaring Jane's wardrobe is inadequate and she'll have to wear that dress the whole time - and Jane grumbling she can't breathe in it - the home stretch was awful, but they pulled things out in the end enough that my final image is one that makes me happy. Oh, wow. Talk about raining on my parade. I'm Shipping Up to Boston.

I can't watch her, either. I don't want to, mind you, as I don't like the kind of food she cooks, but I can't even have it on for a few minutes to see if for once she might be making something I'd want to eat -- there is something horribly off-putting about her to me. Part of it is that demented smile. And indoctrinating her kids with a parade of gender stereotypes. But it's also just something visceral; I truly cannot stand to look at or listen to her.

This makes me think of the Katharine Hepburn quote: "Show me an actress who isn't a personality and I'll show you a woman who isn't a star.”

Put me in the nay column; I dislike cheesecake and, while I like ice cream, not so much pumpkin (and even less so pumpkin-flavored things).

I love when Provenza is huffing and puffing that LAPD will inevitably make a new rule after the suspect who was not properly searched pulled out a gun and shot himself in an interview room (after intending to kill Brenda) and Gabriel says, "If there are people getting into the building with guns, maybe there should be a new rule!"

Part of the settlement of the federal suit included the defendants agreeing not to pursue ethical violation charges against him. Goldman was an interesting character, because he was a stereotypical weasel of a lawyer brought in as an antagonist to the main character, but the plaintiffs he was representing were spot on. Brenda - brought in to get confessions by the book in the wake of all the corruption that had been revealed - had a disturbing history of arranging extra-judicial executions when she couldn't. I felt bad for Gabriel, but stepping back and looking at the timeline, he started sharing information he shouldn't have with Ann very early on in their relationship. It's easy to look at him at the end, in love with her, living with her, thinking he'd marry her someday, but even that is only a year into the relationship. Working backward, he was baring his soul from jump. And Ann is such an idiot, all crying and asking him to talk to her and forgive her. Again, the timeline -- the overwhelming majority of their relationship was spent with her knowing he was not a crooked cop (she's realized it at least as early as when she keeps him from being subpoenaed at the same time everyone else is) yet still going along with the original plan. Quit, report Goldman to the state bar and pay your own way through law school, jeez. As a huge fan of Raydor, I love that whole lawsuit arc. She has Brenda's back when no one else does (right up until the bitter end; she tries to refuse the "Johnson Rule" settlement on behalf of LAPD, even though it's absolutely in the department's best interest to accept) and it's nice to see Brenda slowly come to realize and appreciate that. I think Brenda offered more genuine "thank you"s to Raydor in those final months than she ever has to anyone else in her life.

If you keep it reasonably sized, and take the time to properly select your sod and the type and placement of sprinkler heads and the times at which they run, level out excessive slope to avoid runoff, etc. you can have a lawn that will stay green even with the water restrictions imposed by most cities. Not a lot of people who didn't do that originally go back and fix it now, so it's largely down to those putting in new lawns -- so T&C could do their research (or, for them, hire landscaping contractors who do) and provide environmentally responsible lawn space. It's increasingly common to see an overall landscape design that mixes lawn, drought-tolerant plants, and hardscape. (And sometimes artificial turf, but that comes with its own negative environmental impact, and used to be banned in many municipalities before such bans were themselves banned, so it isn't as favored.)

Oh my god, this may be another long season as a USC fan. I really wanted an upset against Kiffin and that turd Saban, but just wanted a respectable performance showing things were gelling. And I got that - on one side of the ball, and for about a quarter and a half. Yikes! When the defense gave up that huge TD, the wheels fell off the wagon. That has been a problem for every time since Carroll left; something ugly happens, and they implode emotionally. I'm certainly not throwing in the towel, but we have such a tough schedule -- I'm going to make sure the beer fridge and liquor cabinet stay fully stocked. I wasn't able to watch the Oklahoma loss, so I don't know whether they got beat or beat themselves, but I'm not having a good opening weekend. At least UCLA lost. And LSU.

Have I mentioned how bummed I am at not getting MTV Classics? I'll live vicariously through you guys. I, too, enjoyed this season - at the time, and even more in hindsight once the show went off the rails for me.

Very well, thank you. I'll do a proper update later this weekend, but speaking of belly rubs -- she's put on some of the weight she needed to, so now when she flops over and presents her belly to me, there's actually something to rub. That tummy makes me so happy.