Bastet

I missed most of the first round, but thankfully came home in time for “screw.” The contestants clearly spend less time than I do staring at “404” error messages, to not know it’s “file not found.” I just knew someone was going to answer Pamela Anderson in that TV movie clue, even though she’s not dead. For FJ, “mind and hand” brought to mind an engineering school. Once I broadened my thought process to technology, I first thought Cal-Tech since that’s in my area. Then I thought MIT, and that’s what I went with. So I pretty much lucked into a correct response.

Yep, freeloaders, all of them. Baxter ran up numerous vet bills beyond the usual check-ups and blood tests in his lifetime, some quite expensive (bless him, I'd give anything to still be shelling out the dough), so I often told him, "You need to get a job." Also, "You're lucky you're so cute." Chester the Physical Therapy Supervisor was a "clearance kitty" -- the shelter has a "Seniors for Seniors" program where the adoption fee is really low when people over a certain age adopt a pet over a certain age, and since my mom was 70 and he was 8, they qualified. Well, he promptly cost over a thousand dollars in lab tests, ultrasound, colonoscopy, etc. to determine the source of his significant intestinal issues. (He's fine now; he has IBD, and symptom-free thanks to a raw diet.) So my mom will tell him, "Some discount you turned out to be." They're worth every penny, of course. But it's fun to josh them a bit.

My late kitty Baxter's pet peeve was commercials or other programming that featured whistling. He hated whistling so much he'd leave the room if I didn't change the channel fast enough.

You skipped Y.

Boy howdy. So many of my favorite movies from the '30s and '40s fit in this "If not for that one thing" topic, with the one thing being the ending.

That's one of the new ones with Kristen Bell and Dax Whatever, and I don't like it. They've been charming in their other commercials, but I find them annoying in this one. And isn't this their second kid? I think they'd be over the "Oh, no, the kid is crying!" freak-outs. The baby probably would have been happier keeping the stuffed animal with juice on it, so they could have just washed it later. Instead, they take it away and get it wet. No wonder s/he is crying.

I've never read Little Women, let alone its sequels, but FJ came to me pretty quickly because it just made sense given the title and time period. Most of the clues in the psychology category were over valued for DJ. I was really surprised Catalina was a TS, so maybe they did get tripped up by the Santa vs. the C category. I didn't even think about it; I know the song, but outside the song I've never heard anyone call it Santa Catalina -- it's just Catalina. It sounded to me like Dan appended an S rather than saying Lyme, so I'm surprised Alex didn't at least hesitate.

Oh my, how embarrassing -- I've been using that archive for a while without ever so much as noticing those numbers.

I checked the archive, and, assuming they went down the category in order, Dan had already answered Connery and Swayze by the time the Kevin Dillon clue came up; in those first two, the lesser-known brother had been identified by first name in the clue, and the contestant had to come up with the more-famous sibling. So he was probably just in the habit when he answered Dillon and had to specify which one (although, he gave the wrong one, so maybe he was intentionally trying to get by with just the last name). In the next clue, when he had to identify Casey Affleck by photo, he had learned his lesson and gave the full name.

I had to laugh when one of the contestants tried to get away with just giving the last name one of the "other acting brother" clues, answering "Dillon". The whole point was to challenge them to come up with the less-famous brother, so obviously that’s going to require the full name if they have the same last name. Alex prompted him to be more specific. I was listening to the show and catching up on my filing at the same time, so I wasn't always paying attention -- did anyone get away with a last name only response in that category (where the brothers have the same last name, unlike Martin Sheen and his brother)?

Bingo! The Gold Star is yours. Yes.

ION's schedule for that date lists the usual explosion of Criminal Minds; no Cold Case. I figured that was an error, since it would have been weird for ION to remove CC from its list of shows (not just from the schedule) if it was just going on hiatus for a couple of weeks, but I had to check. Damn.

I don't eat either mustard or ketchup, but I never even knew Heinz made mustard -- when people put out basic mustard and ketchup, all I've ever noticed it being is Heinz ketchup and French's mustard.

I laughed at the story of the contestant’s mom correcting the pronunciation of his last name. I remember when I graduated from law school, the card we filled with our name for the master of ceremonies to read had a place for phonetic spelling. The professor who’d be doing the announcing knew me, so I knew it wouldn’t be an issue, but I filled it in and wrote underneath it, “If you say [common mispronunciation], my mom may rush the stage.” I ran the anatomy category, yet a medical doctor got some of them wrong? A little surprised no one had heard “You can be sure if it’s Westinghouse.” Or maybe they just didn’t make the connection with the clue. No A or B governors sprang to mind, so when Cuomo popped into my head, I got Christie quickly.

The smile gave me pause, but I found the words preceding it sincere (especially since she apologized following a benign comment on her frustration rather than to an outright criticism of her behavior) and thus chalked the smile up to embarrassment. To me as well -- really bad form, but rooted in non-asshole emotion.

There is no comma needed before the "and" in that sentence because it is not joining two independent clauses (there is only one subject).

I think beyond their enjoyment in revisiting the characters and working together for a while, they both feel a bit beholden to CC to do XF projects when Fox actually lets him do one (hell, she dropped out of another film to do IWTB, and they both did it for peanuts up front in order to stretch the budget). I think the "this is the last one" line of comments is simply based on the assumption this is all they're going to get, not on any sense of this is the last one she wants to do. I don't generally care if finales don't "wrap things up" (and, in fact, tend to prefer ones that don't -- not in a cliffhanger sense, just in the sense that I feel like I have a handle on how the characters will carry on in future, even though I won't be looking in on them anymore), so I'm not invested in how much resolution they work into this revival, or what specific avenues of further exploration they leave open. I just don't want it to suck.

No, that's the title of the award (it looks just like the ones elementary school teachers used to stick on your homework).

Okay, now name what type of abbreviation that is and you'll get the PTV Pet Peeves Gold Star.

I picked up some scallops, but want to try something new. Since all the dishes I usually use them in involve seared scallops, I’ve decided to try poached scallops with leeks and carrots. Here's hoping I don't miss the sear and wish I'd made seared scallops with leek ribbons instead (especially since I just made pesto the other day).

P is for the Poconos, where Dorothy and Stan went on their honeymoon. (Well, maybe - it depends on what episode you go by.)

Certainly vacant houses are vandalized, things are stolen, people losing a house to foreclosure wreck the house on their way out the door, etc. But I, too, thought this particular trashed house didn't look natural. Like these were all the things they were going to replace anyway, so to make good TV they staged scenes of destruction before going ahead with the planned demolition.

I knew 200 (Monopoly dollars), 400 (Blows, in the film title), and 600 (Charge of the Light Brigade), but I didn't even think about the pattern in the answers until 800 - which neither Choyon nor I knew. Then I thought, "Oh, duh." I was surprised Alex didn't say something after the $1000 clue.

I was rooting for Anne; I'm not familiar with any of the other chefs, I love the recipes I've made from her Secrets of a Restaurant Chef show, and she was the only woman, so ... Anne for the win. Her entrée made me want to lick my TV screen. I figured after that if she tied or won in the dessert round, she'd be the champion. Good food in this episode. I don't like potatoes, so I wouldn't have eaten any of the appetizers, but they were so visually appealing I was bummed they had potatoes. Both desserts looked tasty, and I think I'd have loved Anne's ice cream as much as Geoffrey did. Jet was bugging me in the beginning, but as it went on I liked him. I didn't dislike Art, but I didn't miss him. Anne's frustration manifested itself in an embarrassingly ugly way in the second round, and I'm glad she called it what it was -- rude and disrespectful. Knocking the seafood tray onto the floor because it was getting my station wet is the kind of thing I could see myself doing in the privacy of my own home under the wrong emotional circumstances - unfortunately, I throw the occasional hissy fit - but if I ever did that thing in front of anyone, let alone colleagues and never mind a camera, I'd want to crawl in a hole until someone invented a time machine.

This "I healed myself with avocados/The only time I ever use something out of a can is to feed a cat/Stoves are trying to kill me/I've never seen a block of salami in my life" chef must be an absolutely perfect match for her client Gwyneth Paltrow. The insufferable feeding the insufferable.