Bastet

Given the years CC spent practically putting his hands over his ears and running screaming from the room when the idea of Mulder and Scully's relationship turning romantic/sexual came up, I think it's safe to say his intentions in that regard evolved over the seasons. He's always been prone to revisionist history and contradictory statements.

I just looked it up, and while the ranch dressing is 200 of the just over 700 calories, the salad also has two kinds of cheese, tortilla strips, some sort of glaze, and "buttermilk crispy" chicken.

I can deal with the timing issues, because that's par for the course with TV, but hauling the body away with family in the room was just too much; that very deliberately does not happen. Even if family members think they want to be there when the body is removed, they are told, compassionately but forcefully, that they really don't. I haven't watched it again, but I've been thinking for a week now I much I love the presentation of Mulder (bear in mind, Babylon hasn't aired here yet), and of the M&S relationship, in this revival and in this episode in particular. It's really a shame about the disjointed feel from cramming two story lines that don't go together into one episode, but the M&S stuff is beautiful.

No, as I said, what annoyed me was CC's coy game playing. I was frustrated, not confused.

Answering in the Partnership thread since I'm talking about much later than season one ...

From another thread: I feel the same way - sure I’d watch a love scene, because M&S are hot and hot together, but it would need to be in keeping with the style of the show not to feel out of place and I don’t care that we’ll never get one unless someone shoves CC in a closet, points a camera at David and Gillian, and says, “Go.” That’s not what bothered me the first time around; what bothered me was the show twisting itself into knots to play coy rather than just acknowledge what was happening. To me, that’s what all things did – finally confirmed the physical aspect of their relationship (it didn’t feel like a first time to me, it felt like the first time after Scully came to terms with the fact her life was where she wanted it to be, even though it bore no resemblance to what she used to want) in a way that wasn't "Hey, this is XF, not Melrose Place!" distracting. The chemistry and connection are so great, the relationship always felt very natural to me for the first five seasons or so and does again to me now (and did in IWTB), but there was that middle period where the failure to just acknowledge the progression of their relationship and move the hell on was a bit of a frustrating damper on what I was seeing.

I only ever watch the finale of this series, because I learned in the first season or two that the lead-up to that final showdown was too fake for me, so I know nothing about the contestants going in and just like looking at the food. If I take the packaging of comments at face value, I see no issue with the judges' decision -- they liked Tyler's chef's entree far more than Anne's chef's, but they liked her chef's appetizer and dessert more, and called the dessert the best thing served all night. So, probably a decision that involved some real deliberation, but not surprising it was unanimous.

I saute onion, garlic and fresh thyme in oil and butter, then sprinkle in some flour to thicken. I reduce some dry white wine or vermouth, then add vegetable stock and half and half (or just milk if I don't have any half and half) and that's my sauce. I mix the spinach and chopped artichoke (rough chopped; I like it chunky) into the sauce, then melt in cheese (three or four depending on what I have on hand -- always provolone, parmesan, and mozzarella, maybe some asiago or pecorino romano). It's all done on the stovetop, so it's nice and quick.

I don't quite understand there being a whole spread devoted to analyzing Gillian Anderson's face for signs of Botox (I know, it's the Daily Mail) -- one of the things I loved about the first episode of the XF revival was seeing her forehead wrinkle like a Shar-Pei when she raised her eyebrows.

Roxy Mama's reunion with her owner, and transformation from snarling, detached mess to loving bundle with a repertoire of tricks, is one of the most jaw-dropping things I've seen. Seeing Alabama briefly again tonight (when the new parolee was giving the tour) reminded me he (?) is a dog I'd love to know more about. I haven't seen all the episodes, so maybe we got the backstory and I just haven't seen it, but from the glimpses in those I have seen of this high-spirited ball of energy with the adorable face and the sensitive stomach, I am enamored.

I’m sure they get a lot of people who just want to be on TV (and I feel sorry for Dana – volunteer who adopted Mister Meaner – being shown right when the VO hit the point with Tia talking about that; bad implications by the editing) and workers who bail after a hard day shoveling shit. I’m glad the show doesn’t shy away from acknowledging that. Joe seems like a good soul. It’s funny that Sui feels a bit of a bond with him, because his connection to and interest in each dog reminds me of Sui. I hope to see more of him. I love that they do regular senior wellness exams for their old dogs, rather than just taking them in when there seems to be a problem – I know the clinic works with them on costs, but they have SO many dogs, and those exams add up, especially if you’re doing the senior blood panel each time. Even people who subject themselves to so much heartache have emotional lines to draw, and I completely understand Moe and Lizzy not being up for hospice fostering Gidget so soon after losing two dogs. They’re going to be sad when Gidget dies, regardless, but to have her in their home would make it even worse. Kudos to Rosanna and the small percentage of the population like her who do hospice foster/adoption so that an animal can spend her final days in a loving home; it’s something I’d love to be able to do, but I don’t have the emotional fortitude. People who do have my utmost respect. That shot of Gidget sunning herself in the courtyard did my heart good. Oh, those three dogs with their tails tucked between their legs in fear, but simultaneously bouncing around. Another reality it’s nice to show – there’s just a certain attitude towards pet ownership that is pervasive there, and Tia’s peeps have to check their frustration sometimes and try to help by employing the honey vs. vinegar theory. And Tia was right – it was clear Portia loved and felt safe with her owner. Better to work with him and help him be a decent owner. He’s probably never going to win Pet Parent of the Year, but he can learn to provide the basic care and love that gives them a safe home that beats a kennel. I am all over the cat story next week. I wonder if it will include that VRC has already constructed cat houses, designed by Jackson Galaxy, on the new property in the country. They're really cute -- little kitty cabins. Also, one of Tia’s ultimate goals for that property is to use part of it to provide shelter to domestic violence victims – a place they can come with their pets, since most DV shelters don’t allow pets (and pets are frequent targets of DV, especially in retaliation when a victim leaves, so this lack of options is one of the many reasons people stay when they want to get out). This is something that has been part of my work for a while (I do, among other things, DV policy work and used to do direct representation until it got to be more than I could handle) -- working to get DV shelters to allow pets or at least partner with local rescue organizations to provide foster homes during the transition period. I know from national conferences the situation for victims of DV in Louisiana is about as good as it is for neglected, abandoned, or abused animals -- the resources just aren't there -- so this would be another instance of putting a bandage on a gaping wound, but someone has to.

Siggy was in that redemption episode, but the French chef from nitrofishblue's post (who made it to the dessert round despite burning her legs but ultimately lost to Lance) was Yoanne.

I haven't worn make-up in nearly 20 years, but when I did I used an eyelash curler -- my lashes are fairly long and thick, so they really looked good curled. I still use it occasionally, just without mascara.

I knew most of that already, although not in such detail (as one example, the details of Archie's involvement were new to me, and I'm really looking at him differently now), but I had never before read that there was an incident prior to the locker room assault:

F is for The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. Dorothy did fist pumps all the way through it. Blanche was disappointed; from the title, she thought it was about something completely different.

"Do you have to do that right in my ear?" The bickering reminds me of the one with the owls. "Who?" "Seriously, you met her like three times."

Truth. (I haven't seen Babylon, but any time he got near religion in the original series, I hated it.)

Nor would I, which aggravated my friends -- "But you're taping it. Can't you just watch it when you get home?" Yeah, for the second time. I can't wait until then! Mine was called Mulder, It's Me, and it was dialogue snippets that led into songs. I remember Scully's "I'm here to tell you that if he dies because of what you've done ..." to Boggs led into Luscious Jackson's Daughters of the Kaos. The "What do you want me to say, that I believe it even if I don't? Is that what you want?" conversation from Elegy introduced Fiona Apple's Sleep to Dream. And of course Sarah McLachlan's Building a Mystery was on there, because that song IS Mulder, but I don't remember what dialogue I paired with it. I made a montage of Scully saying, "I'm fine," and put that with Tracy Bonham's Mother Mother. Scully's message on Mulder's answering machine from Duane Barry went with She Cries Your Name by Beth Orton. Damn, now I want to find this thing and play it (uh, in my car, I guess, as I no longer have a working cassette player anywhere else) to see what else is on it. We listened to it driving up to San Francisco for WonderCon in '08, so it's not like I haven't heard it since '97 or something, but I'm blanking.

I haven't watched this tournament at all leading up to the finals and only saw a few minutes of last night's game. I have to root for the Trojan, but I like the young woman from Pitt.

In my previous career, when I got my first promotion that involved getting my own office, I was more excited about having that door to shut than I was about the title or the money. I hated being out in the open (I started out as an assistant, and basically had a desk outside my boss' office). And I worked in a small department with people I liked (we're all still friends 20-some years later). I think I'd have hated a cubicle even more - at least I could look out the window, which is why I love in Office Space when he gets rid of the front wall of his cubicle so he can actually see something - but anything other than my own four walls (actual walls, that go all the way to the ceiling) and that blessed door is just blech.

Marjorie for VIP, stepping into a managerial role when it was no longer her turn because she was better able to do so at the time than the one who should. That’s a team player. I love that it’s just roundly accepted she’s the best baker TC has ever seen, but she’s also respected for her cooking. I might have to read the post-viewing blog posts on this one. LOL at District priding themselves on a free cocktail; people love free booze, but not if it tastes like a cheap fruit juice with a splash of liquor. Especially in a scenario like this, where everything is free. If there was room in the budget to do a proper cocktail for every dinner guest, that could have been wise in terms of diner feedback (but not something to hang their hat on, since such feedback is a drop in the bucket during judges’ deliberation), but a half-assed effort garners nothing. And the way it was presented was so lame, with the host sort of hijacking people. Tom’s comment on Philip that he’d bet anything Philip was talking about his local restaurant rather than the one for the show cracked me up. And I don't even hate Philip; I just think he's delusional. I really hate how the appearance of the women on this show is scrutinized, but I think Padma mixed up her daytime and nighttime attire. Amar’s dish looked tasty to me, but obviously those who actually ate it disagreed. So I think this shook out the way it should have, and agreed – to the extent I can, on the other side of a TV screen – with Tom saying, unlike in some previous RW challenges, someone was deservedly going home for a weak dish.

Is that Golden Corral commercial the one touting "all you can eat" prime rib? Is prime rib something one sits down to eat a shit ton of? It's bizarre. Between a Golden Corral gift card and a giant teddy bear, I guess I'd rather have the gift certificate because that can easier be donated to someone who will enjoy it. But I sure as hell won't be eating there. I don't even know that there is one in my area (I've never driven by one), but years worth of ads for it have led me to believe I want no part of it. The food actually looks gross in the commercials half the time, and even where it looks edible it's offered at a price that makes clear they are not sourcing quality ingredients, even accounting for mark-up and volume discount. Blech.

This is in my top three of season one episodes. I've said before that, knowing how utterly miserable Gillian was with pregnancy sickness while being hoisted up in trees and rocked around in a Jeep so that the poor woman had a bucket just out of camera range at all times, I can kind of get distracted by that on re-watch, but it's such an enjoyable episode. Interesting case, suspenseful danger, hot-ass Jason Beghe ... I love it.

It's funny that both Ice and Space were born out of the need to produce cheaper episodes than they'd been doing. So Ice is written to take place almost entirely on one set, and Space to fill time with stock footage. One motivation, two very different results. Gillian, David, and Chris have all talked about it as a pivotal episode, saying it was the first time everything truly clicked, and they felt the importance of what they were doing and the potential of what the show could be. And Morgan and Wong were very focused, from when they first started writing it, with exploring how much Scully trusted Mulder rather than just continuing the theme of whether Mulder was starting to trust her. Morgan and Wong had so much more of an eye towards Scully than Chris did, especially in those early days, and director David Nutter always got extra great performances out of Gillian. It's a terrific episode all around, and part of that for me is that it's the first good Scully episode.

And her strawberry-scented hair. I swear, it was like there was a memo sent through the fanfic community, decreeing that Scully used hair products that smell like strawberry. Ah, yes - the FBI ball fics. Missy Pennington (of Tempest fame) did one (Hardball) that was at least readable, but I'm pretty sure that's the only one I could even get through. That genre went hand in hand with all the stories from back when Scully had friends, where she was in someone's wedding and took Mulder with her.