Bastet

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.

I didn't come back from the final commercial early enough, so I missed the FJ clue -- I flipped back just in time to hear the contestants' answers being read, with no idea what they were attempting to answer. So by the time I checked the archive for the clue, I already knew the correct answer -- I think I'd have come up with it, though. I have zero interest in boxing, but I knew Jack Dempsey (and Jack Palance). The Prince of Tides and Tom Wolfe TS surprised me as well. Again with someone pronouncing Iran "Eye Ran" -- drives me nuts. I loved the vowel-less states category. Not so much the architecture one; that is something I know little about. I know basics like rotunda and façade, but am highly unlikely to identify who designed what.

Via the show's website: Jeopardy schedule in Pennsylvania by market.

"Allot" (when they mean a lot, not allot) bugs me even more for some reason. Improper use of apostrophes can annoy me to the point of distraction (and I got a good chuckle out of "An apostrophe does not mean an S is coming" posted above). The double error in something like the 80's (instead of the '80s) is a prime example.

I was going to use the ION website’s feedback form to cast a vote for picking up Cold Case again, but you can’t submit your feedback unless you fill in a bunch of personal information. (Yeah, I can just make something up, but it’s the principle.) While there, I checked out ION’s new schedule. Criminal Minds airs 36 times in one week! One day is nothing but Ghost Whisperer, and another is nothing but Blue Bloods. (I either don’t care about or, in the case of Blue Bloods, hate every show they’re airing now.)

Maybe it did, touting itself as an alternative to traditional fish oil supplements?

I laughed at the Kinky Boots answer for FJ. I had no clue; I knew I wouldn't get it from the hymns part of the clue, so was trying to come up with musicals from that time period that sounded like something that could be a hymn, but came up blank. Major V8 head-slapping moment when it was revealed.

Watching in syndication tonight ... "So you prefer dumb and lazy to religious?" "Dumb and lazy I understand."

That's when she bugged me the most in the episode; she was gloating about beating an Iron Chef, when beating him would mean he put out his best dish, she put out hers, and she won. That and saying she was cooking in between Michael Symon and Marcus Samuelsson ... and they must be nervous cooking against her. That would have been quite an endearing, funny comment had she seemed to be joking. But then in other talking heads, she (seemingly) genuinely marveled at competing against such credentialed members of the profession. Thus my wondering what was her personality and what was an act. (However, I don't much care whether someone acting like an ass is playing a role or just organically being an ass -- it's ... assy.)

I can. Dying of natural causes in my sleep would be my preference, period, and especially over being thrown from a crashing cab and dying on the concrete of the New Jersey Turnpike.

I watched a rerun in the Boston area – Framingham, perhaps, I can't recall – with a pregnant woman and her husband. They were refreshing HHs for their willingness to do some of their own work and appreciation of details most people featured on this show would shrink in horror upon seeing, so I hope they’re happier with what HGTV’s designer did with their kitchen than I would be. A sink located essentially in another room from the fridge and stove, and lots of counter space in proximity to that sink but little next to the stove. A bench of the same height as the table at which it sat. A chandelier that looked like a stick figure hanging from the ceiling, completely inadequate for the medallion adorning it. Countertops blocking off the lower portion of windows (bad enough from inside, but truly hideous looking in from outside). It was very nice looking, but a pretty big fail functionally, at least as I would want to use a kitchen. Again, they were delightful people in contrast with the HHs we so often see, so I hope it works for them. I got a nice chuckle when she - very pregnant - told him, "I wish I could do more to help" and he replied, "So do I." And I related to his reason for doing things himself: "Not just to save money, but because I don't think anyone else will do it as well as I will." (Although, I'd have done the electrical differently.)

Yeah, I wish I was close enough to help you out -- two diabetic cats under my belt. Check with your vet's office if any of the techs or assistants do pet sitting; many of them do to supplement their income. That way your kitty can remain in the comfort of his own home, and you know the person doing the testing and injecting knows their stuff and is trustworthy. Good luck.

Artificial turf is outlawed in many California cities (although a number of city councils are now considering rescinding such ordinances -- and the state is contemplating a prohibition on the bans). And it wouldn't go over well with most buyers in many of the neighborhoods they're flipping in. But other lawn alternatives are increasingly gaining favor - and cities are giving rebates for replacing sod with drought-resistant landscaping - so we might see them change this aspect of their routine as the drought goes on. I catch this show from time to time, but it's not a favorite because their style is not in line with my tastes, and, more importantly, it's repetitive (such is the nature of designing a house as a flip, rather than a personal home). So an episode here or there is enjoyable, as they seem like nice people and they hire contractors who do things properly, but after two or three in a row I lose interest.

I had never seen Penny before watching the all-stars championship episode she was in that just re-aired the other night (I take it she came from FN's "next star" competition show, which I don't watch), and I could not for the life of me decide how I felt about her. One minute I was thinking, "This is just an awful person" and the next I was thinking, "Good for her." I think the former was more frequent - or at least more pronounced - but she didn't strike me as a cartoon villain. It was weird, and I figured she was playing a role ... although I'm not entirely sure at what points, or why. I found it amusing how the judges, in explaining their decision to chop Michael Symon, pretty much came out and said, "We looked for reasons to chop someone else, but couldn't justify it." I wonder who would have been chopped in that first round had he remembered the okra. The guy who lost in the final round (no idea who he is, either) generally made the food I most wanted to eat. His dessert didn't appeal to me at all, and his first two dishes were the least visually appealing of those rounds, but they nevertheless sounded like they'd taste the best. My random takeaway from the episode: Marcus sweats a lot while cooking.

In countless ways?

Here in California, we sure wish there was a way for you to send that rain to us. I completely agree. "Keeping it real" and "I just tell it like it is." These concepts sound decent enough, but in practice it seems to me exactly what you describe - an excuse for ignoring common decency.

It is from a real call, and it speaks well of both parties. The victim finds a terrific way of summoning help, and the operator - who is statistically likely to deal with prank calls on a regular basis - does a nice job of questioning to determine whether this is real rather than just assuming and dismissing.

You're so refined, pulling over to dive into the pizza instead of just reaching over to grab a slice while driving. I'm fortunate to have several great local pizza places, but if I ever had to resort to a chain, Round Table would probably be the one.

Isn't "shipper" an umbrella term by definition -- anyone obsessed with two people - fictional or real - getting together is a "shipper" of that couple, aren't they? The article was about people who want GA and DD to get together/think they are together, so it seems to me that's the particular group of shippers being addressed by the author in saying, "Sorry, shippers ..." Seems proper usage to me (especially since we're dealing with a made-up word, anyway).

What is a snogger? Snogging means making out (in British slang), I know, but I've never heard snogger. Sorry; didn't see that you'd explained it. I've never encountered that term before (but, then, I tend to run and hide from such people).

This revival can never be all things to all people, and is inevitably going to fail to live up to the expectations of several segments of the audience. But I think the easiest way to appease "I only watch this for M&S" and "I can't believe you caved and put them together" viewers alike is to keep the relationship from being a storyline one way or the other -- if it just exists as a given, then they'll get grumbling from one faction that there weren't enough intimate times and from another that they're still together, but nothing like the firestorm they'd get if their personal relationship is a focal point. So, while I have the same fears for this as I did prior to getting detailed spoilers for IWTB, that it's going to open with them apart, I (try to) console myself with the fact that breaking them up forces the relationship to be a major storyline and I just don't think that serves the show well.

Nooooooo!!!!! I was so excited that last night's marathon ended with the series finale, figuring that meant next week I could plop down with a bunch of season one episodes. I even changed a Friday "go for a walk and catch up" plan to Thursday because of it. (Yes, I have a problem.) I'm kicking myself for not recording during one of ION's many rotations through the series. This is major comfort television for me and I should have made sure I could just pop in a disc when the urge struck; I guess I got spoiled by how long it had been on. Hopefully another network will pick it up at some point, or ION will again, but the music licensing costs for the syndicated package may be getting pretty high this many years removed (I have no idea what the contract provides for, so this is just idle wondering, but some have time limits). I liked when TNT aired this and Without a Trace in blocks. I don't particularly care for the latter, because the personal storylines were even more annoying than those on Cold Case, but certain seasons were good and the two shows paired nicely.

I had quite the vest collection for a time. I must say, there is one that if I could have it back - and enlarge it several sizes - I would find a way to work it into my wardrobe.

I remember that trend, although I think it lasted about five minutes.

I really enjoy the Coneheads version for its take on each moment of the original: "Yeah, I'm married. Does it matter?" becomes "Correct, I have a life mate. Is that consequential?" "With whom are you communicating?" "Jake from Planet State Farm at 0300 hours?" "Describe your apparel, Jake from Planet State Farm" complete with air quotes. Et cetera. But, because that's what I like about it, I feel it peters out in the end. In the original, some of the best stuff comes after "Uh, khakis" -- "She sounds hideous" and "Well, she's a guy, so ..." So ending instead on the explanation of khakis is a dud to me. I go back to being happy with "Save mass quantities," however.