Bastet

It has not been a particularly good day. This episode – which I only saw in bits and pieces - wasn’t helping, especially when Artemis got returned for a bullshit reason. Thank goodness for that final update, or I was going to go curl up in bed with a bottle of something. But I still think I’ll wait until tomorrow to watch the whole thing.

What blows my mind even more is that he and Katharine Hepburn did the same. I have little use for John Wayne, but that always gives me pause.

For many of them, it was the first time they'd worn a suit -- occasions for which one would need a tie were not part of their lives growing up. This was a prime example of how drugs are everywhere, but that equality does not extend to who we lock up for drug offenses.

Bad Boys was the one about the late '80s/early '90s Pistons.

She was 95, and died in her sleep at home. Silly to be sad, but I am.

A friend with whom I regularly have movie nights, often scary movie nights, is a Harry Potter freak and thus we had to watch The Woman in Black so she could see Daniel Radcliffe. I thought it was pretty good. I love the original Halloween. Low budget horror at its best, although without Carpenter’s iconic score it wouldn’t be half the film. I also love the film it spawned, the original Friday the 13th. It sort of gets lost, thanks to the umpteen generic sequels that came after, but that first one is not a typical slasher film. It has an uncommon killer in and the various victims are far more developed characters than became the norm, and played quite naturally by a bunch of NY theatre actors, so that you actually care they’re getting bumped off. In subsequent films, you root for Jason. I like a lot of Wes Craven’s horror films, especially Scream. He and Kevin Williams do a great job of skewering the genre at the same time they’re delivering a good example of it. I also really like The People Under the Stairs and Nightmare on Elm Street. Psycho remains one of my favorites. The first sequel was okay, but they definitely should have stopped after that. And don’t get me started on that gimmicky shot-for-shot remake. When a Stranger Calls sort of lags in the middle – it almost feels that another film got inserted into it – but there’s a good reason “the call is coming from inside the house” became A Thing. Great ending, too. Although its impact is lessened now for the parodies and knockoffs that followed, The Blair Witch Project was really something when it came out. (I know it wasn’t the first faux documentary horror film, but I’m actively trying to forget Cannibal Holocaust.) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is incredibly disturbing. Not a favorite, but definitely a classic. One of my favorites as a kid was the 1978 version of The Cat and the Canary. I was able to catch the original (1927) quite a few years back, and I’ve seen the Bob Hope version (blech), but I like this one best. The Haunting was probably the first scary movie I ever saw, and I’ve been fond of it ever since. I’ve never tried the remake. It’s not in the same league as those listed above, but I have to include Sleepaway Camp on my list of, if not favorite, memorable horror films, for the, well, campy performances and the WTF? ending A lot of the individual films aren’t that good, but there’s something enjoyable about the horror films dragged out of the Universal vaults from the ‘20s through ‘40s. Formulaic on one hand, but directors doing interesting things on the other. The other studios got in on the act, and took the smart route of putting out fewer but better films of the genre, but there’s just something about the slew of Universal offerings taken as a whole. Same with Roger Corman’s B-movie Poe adaptations and the William Castle collection.

Not if you paid me. It's internet-only, and I don't watch programming online. It's at 6:30 in the morning, and I do well to wake up for the start of a 10:00 game. And it's Bills/Jaguars, which needs no explanation.

I didn't even notice that, because I have both. I'm so glad Adele is finally back with new music! I like the song, but I find the video annoying when you can hear his dialogue softly at the same time she's singing; quite distracting.

I remember him, because Rick Rossovich. Yummy. One of them left the other at the altar, right? Because of Doug? I have a vague memory of everybody partying in their wedding attire afterward and some snarky remark about it being on Tag’s dime. That’s it.

I went to my favorite local Italian restaurant last night (and then on to a play), and had whole wheat penne with pesto, sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and shrimp. The leftovers are already calling my name for lunch (I'm home today), but I'm going to another Italian restaurant tonight, so I think maybe a nice salad instead.

A friend and I recently watched The Uninvited. Not the Ray Milland classic, but a 2009 adaptation of a South Korean horror film. It's one of those that has a surprise twist (that I caught on to about a whopping 60 seconds before it was revealed, so I was definitely taken in) that forces you to rewatch it to see if they honored the truth throughout. One tiny cheat, but otherwise they nailed it. It was pretty good - suspenseful, and with some great dry humor as well. Plus, it has David Strathairn.

You raised a good one. A colleague specializes in disability rights law, and she does training every year that counts towards our “elimination of bias” continuing education requirement. One of the things she asks people to do is rank disabilities and explain why those at the “would most hate to have” end of the spectrum are there. She then helps people understand how some of the “Because I could never do X” fears are unfounded; one can do X with Y modifications. I love hiking, or otherwise wandering around in the great outdoors. So I love that your son is helping you get back to doing that.

Hampton Sides is a good author; I enjoyed his Hellhound on His Trail (The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Man Hunt for His Assassin). I’ll have to check that one out, too, as he does non-fiction adventure well.

Tonight I had a craving for the shrimp tacos with mango slaw I make a lot, but mangos are no longer in season <sob>. So I added a pinch of sugar to the dressing to make up for the fruit’s absence, and it came out as a pretty good fall/winter substitute.

I loved the scrambled decades category, but it was way too easy. The state fair category was over-valued for DJ. As was spay and neuter, and universal donor as a DD in DJ. I also loved the songs category, but take issue with “old.” I ran the directors category, too. Also veterinary medicine and Hemingway (and got all but one “um” clue). It was a good game for me. I got FJ fairly easily, as geography is a strong suit, so it was a quick mental spin of the globe. Kelly’s “welfare” answer for the preamble DD was an oddly understandable mistake despite it also being rather dumb, and she was just so sure of it. I could not for the life of me remember where the Sandy Hook shooting took place.

Yes. I had already been using it for some time when that UC Davis study came out, so I was pleased to see I wasn’t deluding myself – I really was getting a quality product for a great price.

Around here, the police would laugh if they got called for that. "So you both had your dogs unsecured outside? Tough lesson, then. If you want to sort out percentage of fault in civil court to try for reimbursement of vet bills, knock yourself out." But no one would be impounding a dog over that. Unless it was a pit, of course; then people lose their minds and don't bother trying to learn what happened. Susie didn't exhibit any signs of aggression around other dogs at VRC's satellite location. It may be different with strangers than with Ed, though; maybe she had crazy defensive or resource guarding tendencies when it came to other dogs around him (not other people, it would seem, since she didn't care about Tia and crew being around him in the trailer). I just think it's a shame there was no evaluation by anyone knowledgeable before the decision was made - the sheriff made the call, the lone AC officer had to carry it out, done. Backwoods justice at its finest? There's a lot we don't know, but I feel sorry for everyone involved.

I got many of the TS (Hillary Rodham Clinton, Apollo, bonobo, The Heidi Chronicles [this one was quite surprising, since her name was in the clue], The Front Page, and butte [also surprising]) but I had no clue on FJ. I tried to think of books released around that time that featured a green character, and came up with nothing -- it might have helped had I known Wicked was a book. (I know it's a prequel to Wizard of Oz, and Kristin Chenowith - whose voice annoys the snot out of me - was in it, but that's it). I don't know why Alex ever credited "ambidextrious" as a correct response when he knew very well she added a syllable, since he corrected her pronunciation. No one should have needed to tell him that was wrong. That was an easy clue, too, so one of the other contestants could have easily rung in and picked up the money had he ruled her incorrect. I hate when contestants repeat superfluous information rather than just supplying the word being sought (e.g. "What are kaleidoscope eyes?" when the clue sought "these eyes"), and they all did for the movie titles category. It drove me nuts!

Uh-oh. Maggie better keep an eye out for an angry mob with pitchforks. Josh didn't bother me except for his first episode, and even that wasn't too bad once I managed to make some sort of mental adjustment for his volume. (I don't watch the interviews, which probably helps). But it's disappointing that a contestant coordinator for this show would be so taken with someone based on behavior easily described as obnoxious. Go work for Wheel of Fortune or The Price is Right.

Notice fans aren't clamoring to thank Munn for Rodgers' performance (on the field, that is). Not that they should. But it's telling that the coincidence between who a QB is dating and how his team is doing only gets turned into a causal connection, for which she should take all the blame, when they're losing.

That may be the most unenthused reaction by NFL announcers to an interception in recent history. I get that the Giants are playing like crap – and haven’t even hit the fourth quarter yet – and are down by 17, but there are 20 minutes left of play time in a division rivalry game. You’re really going to say, “Giants intercept the ball” with the same enthusiasm you’d use to announce a team had picked up three yards on first down?

I think this was only the second Josh episode I saw (and I didn’t think I’d see this game, either, but it coincided with halftime); he didn’t bother me tonight, either, and I didn’t have to adjust my brain’s volume control this time. He definitely said Birgenstocks rather than Birkenstocks, and I’d have ruled it incorrect. I didn't catch the appended S on the Groundhog Day answer, though. I knew carbon, but it didn’t surprise me as a TS. Antipasto did, though. As did Bill Withers. And, yeah, I wanted to get back to that category. I was even worse than the contestants in the island category, though. There were some pretty brutal brutes; I’m not sure I’d want to meet the creator of that category in a dark alley. Fulton was a Teen Tournament level clue. Same with Aztecs. Shouldn’t Methodist have been Methodism instead? Y’all know religion is not my category (and I had no idea on that clue), but Dean’s answer sounded weird given the phrasing of the clue. Martin reminded me of someone, but I can’t place who. For FJ, I came up with Javier Bardem right away, knowing he’d won an acting Oscar, and then guessed Penelope Cruz, not knowing she'd won one and having no idea who either was married to but not coming up with any other Spanish potential Oscar winners. So I lucked into that one.

Well, it worked wonders for George Costanza. (Seinfeld)

I don't get twitchy to organize other people's stuff (well, not very often, anyway), but I must have my own things organized. I have a friend who has absolutely no system for anything, anywhere, so she never knows where anything is -- from books/CDs/DVDs to pantry items to clothing, there's no logic to where things are placed in relation to each other. At her place, I twitch.

Venetian shrimp and scallops, a Rachael Ray recipe. I can't really stand to watch or listen to her, and I usually make an adjustment or two to her recipes, but there are some quick and easy gems in the mix. This is one of them. (And I need something I can get done during halftime, so quick and easy is the name of the game tonight.)