Bastet

I wonder if Karen* would have won had she not omitted the fish from one serving (or cut one fish in half to give two people smaller portions but given everyone a complete meal), because she seemed a heavy favorite. *I'll take y'alls word on her name; without photos and names in the opening credits, it is a slow process for me to learn everyone. Angelina was dead to me as soon as she referred to ... aw crap, curly-haired chef who was up for elimination after the QF - as a bitch ("this bitch beat me again"), so I'd have preferred she go home. But it seems like there was a good case for any of the three.

Oh man, that one is like a punch to the gut.

"2016 Episodes: New Year, New Chefs, Same Sob Stories"

Did she give the same answer she always does? I'll confess that at the time the episode first aired, my friend and I took one look at the shape and said, "vibrator," too.

Ha! Yes, that would have been much funnier.

I came in halfway through, and she was driving me nuts with her hypersensitivity, but then I saw the commercial bumper where her mom said it took 20 years to accept her as she is, and I realized she deserved a whole lot of latitude. I intend to catch the entire episode in the later airing (I also missed some bits from the second half due to channel surfing), as - so far - this seems like a fairly respectful, rather than exploitative, exploration of these people's lives. I hope that continues, and with a minimum of the contrived situations that send me fleeing from 99% of "reality" television -- I hope this is more like a proper documentary series.

It has never bothered me; it comes up a fair bit in discussing Jeopardy! categories in which we are particularly likely or unlikely to succeed.

The rhythm of his writing, almost always. The content? That varies wildly, and basically comes down to whether the cast can make me accept the bad along with the good. I liked Sports Night a lot (although, on re-watch, I liked the first season less than I used to and the second season more than I used to, and found Natalie and Jeremy frequently unbearable, together or apart) and loved his seasons of The West Wing, but absolutely could not stand Studio 60. By the time of The Newsroom, I was so tired of his patronizing brand of sexism and habit of thinking of knows more than he does that I had a pretty low threshold and quit after two episodes. He writes far better for male characters, but I'm not particularly drawn to androcentric stories, so I skipped Social Network. I'll probably watch it on TV some day. A Few Good Men I watched, though, and it's pretty good for something that requires me to watch Tom Cruise. I've never been able to get into The American President. Too romance-y for me, maybe? I really don't know, but I just don't connect with it and have never seen it in its entirety.

I'm not sure if CBS Television Distribution is involved with Madam Secretary; it's certainly the network's main distributor, so probably. But it wouldn't be his employer -- his employer should be the show's production company.

Yeah, I think we've discussed it here before, and that's what I flashed back to as well -- the people who waited until the end to start writing out their check, rather than having everything but the total already filled in. And then stood there even longer to record the transaction in their check register.

The ingredient list for my box of whole grain penne reads: whole grain durum wheat flour, semolina (wheat), durum what flour, oat fiber. But Tom would have shit a brick if a chef had used dry pasta.

To me, wheelhouse is a baseball term. A pitch to the batter's wheelhouse means a pitch in the area most likely to yield a great hit. Now, since it's also part of a ship (I think), that's probably not the primary origin. Oh, look - apparently the Chicago Tribune looked into this a few years back.

That one I join you in loathing. Although I dislike far more Christmas songs than I like, it's one of the few that I truly hate to the point that, yeah, I would leave if that was the only way to escape it.

Yeah, I appreciate Grant's objections to the Charade casting, because so many of the men of the studio era thought absolutely nothing of the fact their former co-stars were suddenly not working or relegated to non-romantic roles, and their romantic interests were now being played by the next generation ... probably because many of them, including Grant, were replicating this in their personal lives. I still don't like the film, though. I somehow glossed over this last night. "Murphy" as Cary Grant? I cannot picture that. Poor Little Rich Girl makes me think of one of Edie Sedgwick's Andy Warhol films, and I think that's also the title of one of little Shirley Temple's many films, so I had to go look up this project. It was a Barbara Hutton biopic, and, sure enough, Read played Cary Grant to Farrah Fawcett's Barbara Hutton (Grant was one of Hutton's many husbands/Hutton was one of Grant's many wives -- the whole "Cash and Cary" thing, even though he was not after her money and was doing quite well by the time they wed). Interesting. Was he remotely believable as Cary Grant? I forgot to mention Gary Frank (Det. Jarvis) in my round-up of favored guest stars. I always like him. He has a nice Actor's Studio background. And it's fun to see him with Stephanie, since they'd already worked together (and then went on to do so again).

Not a Charade fan (because I'm not a fan of Audrey Hepburn, or the double standard when it comes to age differences between heterosexual romantic leads), but Holiday is one of my favorite movies. Katharine Hepburn is, hands down, my favorite of Grant's on-screen partners, and with Bringing Up Baby (tied with The Thin Man as my all-time favorite film) and The Philadelphia Story in the mix (we can leave out Sylvia Scarlett), it's near impossible to pick their best pairing. But that is one great picture. I watch it every New Year's Eve. Going back to actors who actually did appear on the show, Geena Davis is one of my favorites - more for her off-screen work than her acting roles, although "Thelma" will always have a special place in my heart as half of my third-favorite film. So it's nice seeing her in Steele in the Chips. It's a bit disconcerting that Pierce was emasculated by the fact she was "towering" over him and Michael Gleason was ready to fire her, but nice that Pierce got over himself and turned in a delightful performance traipsing after Miss Dalrymple. I adore Annie Potts in just about anything, and she's fun in Steele Crazy After All These Years. It's also fun to see Allyce Beasley before she became "Miss DiPesto" (Moonlighting). Then-husband Vincent Schiavelli shows up later in the series (as the talent agent); it's sad that he's been gone so long. One of my favorite guest stars is Judith Light, as she's one of my favorite actors and an underrated gem. Her husband, Robert Desiderio, also appeared, in Rocky Sullivan's second episode (blech). I like James Tolkan, and liked Norman Keyes in spite of himself until he was turned into a cartoon villain. I also like Conrad Janis, including as "Atomic Man." The late, great Beverlee McKinsey ("Alex Spaulding" from my Guiding Light days) was wonderful in my beloved Vintage Steele. And Paul Reiser was delightful in another favorite, A Good Night's Steele.

As a Giants fan, this has been one strange football weekend. First I thoroughly enjoyed an Eagles victory, then I had to hold my nose and root for the Cowboys.

That commercial has aired multiple times during the football game tonight, but I've never been looking at the TV at the time so I'd only heard it. That is one incredibly cute doggy face.

Cary Grant hadn't been ill; he was doing his one-man show at the time of his unexpected death. I think his presence on the show might have been almost, I don't know, distracting, since Steele is rather reminiscent of him. Just like I'd have loved for Myrna Loy to appear, but having "Nora Charles" on the show when they had already outright acknowledged their dinner party allusion by having Steele say, "You make a splendid Myrna Loy" in the second episode would probably have been a bit much.

Or, "You don't know what you're missing." Let's review. If I don't like something, I'm not missing a damn thing by not eating, drinking, watching, or engaging in it.

The situation with Elaine makes me angry all over again about the SPCA refusing to release that dog who was dumped in a crate by the railroad tracks to VRC. They made the decision to euthanize based on one week's evaluation in a crowded, noisy shelter. Maybe after months in a calmer environment, Tia would have made the same choice, as she may do with Elaine; we've seen several times on the show that she believes dogs with human aggression that cannot be managed should be put down, for their own sake as well as people's. But that dog would have had a proper evaluation as Elaine is getting. Elfie's love of presenting her belly - to be rubbed, sun-tanned, whatever - is adorable, and I hope she remains cancer free and happy for years to come. Mammary tumors are scary. I've been more beside myself at finding my lost pet after an hour and a half than Gaga's owner was at finding hers after a month and a half, but people are different, there were cameras there, etc. All that matters is she gets an ID tag, a chip, and a better-secured yard. I finally watched the episode from two weeks ago, with Moe and Lizzy's wedding. It was sweet the way the dogs were included, and sad to see the "In memory of" at the end. Very sweet to hear Moe say her moving in with him wasn't just a commitment to their relationship, but to becoming a mother to his dogs. The rehearsal dinner and wedding both looked great; very relaxed and enjoyable. It taking a dozen people to capture one little dog versus one or two for a pit gave me a chuckle. That was a cute dog, and I'm glad the vet was able to fix her leg. Tania was funny, asking Perry if his mom knew about the port-a-potty in the canal incident and, when he said no, declaring, "I'm going to tell her right now."

I'm not a huge Judy Garland fan, but I'm so irrationally annoyed by the revised lyrics to Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas that hers is my favorite rendition. I'm not a huge Christmas music fan in general. Of traditional tunes, Carol of the Bells is about all that comes to mind. Unless Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer counts. Others that make my list: John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Happy Xmas (War is Over) Mariah Carey, All I Want for Christmas is You Jon Bon Jovi, Please Come Home for Christmas The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacColl, Fairytale of New York Band Aid, Do They Know it's Christmas? Dean Martin, A Marshmallow World The Ramones, Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight) The Band, Christmas Must be Tonight Louis Armstrong, Christmas Night in Harlem Tom Waits, Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis Joni Mitchell, River Elvis Presley, Blue Christmas Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers, Christmas Without You Wham, Last Christmas Pretenders, 2000 Miles Brenda Lee, Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

I thought it was a terrific post, and made me want to do a little cheer for its insight. In response to wondering why an extrovert might seek out an introvert, Knox took a look at her ongoing behavior towards a co-worker and realized she'd been projecting her extrovert outlook onto his introvert behavior and thus trying to draw him out, include him, etc. in the way she'd like if the roles were reversed, when in reality is he's probably quite happy being left alone to keep his head down (literally, in his case) and get his work done, and might even be annoyed by her attempts.

The Pac-12 championship went pretty much the way I expected it to -- USC looking at first to be dead in the water, coming back to make it a game, and then ultimately losing. Fitting end to a very frustrating season, but the fact they were even in the championship game with their record means I can't huff about it. What's important is we beat UCLA, heh. (It had been three losses in a row, and we lost to them all four years I was there in the '90s, so I'm glad this year's seniors were spared a similar fate.) Go OU! They're the only team I care about among the top four. I hate Nick Saban, and the SEC in general, so I'll be rooting for Michigan St. in that game ... despite the fact I've probably watched a combined lifetime total of an hour's worth of Michigan State play. I've just never been a Big Ten viewer for whatever reason; geographical, probably. I'm Pac-12 (where I grew up and attended college), Big 12 (where my dad did the same), and then some scattered games. The New Year's Eve thing is interesting. I'm on the West Coast, so even if I went out on NYE (which I haven't since my early 20s; I just cannot deal with the crowds, jacked-up prices, and amateur drunks on the road), it wouldn't interfere. (As it is, it doesn't interfere with my bubble bath and Thin Man marathon routine.) But I'm curious to see East Coast ratings.

Co-sign, on both. With respect to having kids: Parenting comes with responsibilities - you are shaping a human being, teaching them how to be a person, and how to be a member of society - and if you're not up for them, skip it. Kids aren't accessories or vanity projects. As I've said many a time here, I don't like kids. At all. However well behaved your child is, I do not want to be around her or him. But I have tremendous respect for parents who take their job seriously. More and more every year, as it seems fewer and fewer do.

Ah, I'd probably repressed that memory -- unlike far too many writers, I don't find pets being killed humorous.