Bastet

Oh yeah, those watery, bland Florida avocados are just an affront to food. I like Fuerte best, but Hass and Gwen are also delicious. But, really, any of the California varieties other than Zutano are great; I think it's sad that Hass is pretty much the only one sold in supermarkets.

I'm sure Angela will have such sage words of wisdom for the werewolf guy, she'll cure his condition. But at least it doesn't say "Maura asks Angela to help her solve the crime."

Oh, it was just a spark -- like what would happen around a campfire. Hot as hell for the moment before it fizzles out, but doesn't even leave a mark. There's a thread in the Food topic about growing one's own food, but I don't believe there's a general gardening topic here. I think that would be great, so start one up and tell us what you're working on.

Yeah, a bunch of the Daily Show staff bring their dogs to work with them. As much as I loved seeing Charlie Brown and Rita find each other, I think my favorite part of the episode was seeing Tia's menagerie of dogs only she can manage. Especially grumpy old man Arnold. Bloat is scary, and I really hope that tacking surgery holds for him. I feel bad for sweet Brandi who keeps getting passed over.

It is the story of my life that I will spend twice as long fixing my tools than I will using them on what I set out to do. Today has been no exception. I'm getting ready to put in air conditioning, and I'm boring the holes through my exterior wall where the line sets will go from the compressor to the crawl space under the house. The bottom-most hole necessitates notching out some of the soleplate. No problem. Except, first, I had to go to the hardware store for a longer blade for my reciprocating saw. Then, about 30 seconds into cutting away at that wood, a hot spark hits me in the leg and my saw dies. The ancient cord finally gave out on me -- the neutral wire broke. And, of course, it broke right where the cord meets the handle, so the only way to get to enough of the existing wires to attach them to a new cord is to take the handle off. So, yeah, half an hour in the garage getting the saw working again so I could come back out and spend about three minutes sawing. Now it's time for a lunch break. The cord I used is the last one I had - and one I had earmarked for another project (lengthening the cord to my warming tray set) - so now I'll have to go raid my parents' garage.

I just hope she wears those shirts because they're comfortable and she likes the way she looks in them. If she's wearing them because she thinks she has to hide her shape since she doesn't meet some narrow standard of what's acceptable, that would be too bad (and counter-productive). That's pretty much the extent of my caring - except for being amazed someone would go to such lengths to acquire something so basic; it's like finding out someone has white cotton briefs tailor made.

We've moved on to another topic, What in The -- shady decisions or outrageous schemes perpetrated by the Girls.

B is for breeding minks. B is also for Baby, the pig Dorothy and Blanche were (temporarily) willing to let suffer so they could get their hands on his inheritance.

Since the wine only required me to stand long enough to open and pour, I skipped the pasta and just had wine for dinner. Tonight I'm off for a short walk with a friend to get caught up as we've missed the last two weeks, and then I'm going to bake some salmon and reheat some roasted cauliflower. And, you know, more wine.

Going through a bunch of old records last night and coming across one by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, I was reminded of one of the many quotes I love from the episode in which Becky and Dana get drunk. As they're talking about the lame music their parents listen to: "Have you ever heard of Albert Herbert? He's from Tijuana."

The Client is the only Grisham adaptation I like (thank you, Susan Sarandon) and I watch it every time it's on TV, so I knew Edwards and Whitford were both in it, but I didn't know they'd bunked together during filming. That was a great article; Love's Labor Lost is one of the few episodes I remember with any clarity, so that was a nice walk down memory lane. That was definitely "water cooler" television. Not on par with the thirtysomething episode in which Gary died, but lots of "Oh my god, did you see that?" discussion the next day.

Yikes, that's depressing.

While those actors' performance of Satisfaction is intact on the DVDs, I'm reminded of the season one DVD release of Remington Steele, in which - as originally aired - a drunk Laura stumbles into the office singing the same song. Cut to her "where the hell is she?!" worried co-workers in Steele's office as they hear this and head out to the reception area to find their loopy boss, and carry on with an entertaining scene. In the "we don't want to pony up" DVD release, however, there is no licensing of Stephanie Zimbalist's performance. No replacement music, either, however -- just silence. So we see her stumbling out of the elevator, and cut to Steele, Murphy and Bernice reacting to the sound of ... nothing. Since such performances are almost always cheaper, failing to re-license them for DVD release really annoys me.

I'm far from a slob, but I'm no fashionista, either. So for me to notice clothing - good or bad - is uncommon. That pink dress that was such a focal point? I found it ugly as all get out.

Yeah, I'd probably find the commercial rather amusing (a rarity for commercials with children) if I wasn't so distracted by his sickly face, especially his eyes. The kid looks like he won't live to see driving age.

I have cramps, so probably a large bowl of pasta and a bottle of wine.

According to her bio on the show's website, she has her hand in several things other than dog rescue. So she's probably not around as much.

I'd pay to see that. Maybe with some empty picture frames hanging on the walls.

Sorry, I don't remember which interview it was as I watched a few. One of the ones on the show's website, possibly the one about answering fans' Facebook questions.

Revisiting season six now (I'm about halfway through), I'm struck by how my perception differs from frequent fan reaction to two things: First, Becky is widely - and deservedly - described as a brat. But, wow, is Darlene also a ridiculous, self-centered, conniving little snot once she moves to Chicago. First, her parents let her boyfriend move in with them. Not so she can have her boyfriend around, because his parents are shitty people, but still. Then, they let her quit high school and move out of town. She has a scholarship and a job at the bookstore, but they are also sending her a regular allowance. They continue to take care of David. So what does she do? Every time she comes home to visit, she spends all her time with David -- then fights with David, and stomps back off to Chicago. Then she and David concoct this scheme where he'll say he's going to live with his mom, but he's really shacking up with her in Chicago. They carry on this charade for months, and Darlene even skips Thanksgiving in order to stay with David. Then when they get caught and Dan kicks David out, she comes home with the attitude she shouldn't be in any trouble because learning the lesson that she and David weren't ready to live together is enough, no real apology, and even after Dan says they can put it behind them and move on, she sneaks David into the house. She acts like she's an emancipated minor instead of a teenager who happens to be living away from home. I love Darlene, and her attitude and actions reflect her age, but she's almost out-Beckied Becky here. (I know Darlene's limited time at home is a direct result of Sara's limited availability to film, but I'm just going by what we see on screen.) Second, Roseanne and Jackie take a lot of flak for the way they treat Bev, but the true meanness doesn't start until Bev moves to Lanford and buys into the Lunch Box, forcing them to deal with her hypercritical and passive aggressive commentary full time. Until then, Roseanne runs a lot of interference between Bev and Jackie trying to keep visits relatively civil. Jackie's relationship with Bev is more strained, but it's more nuanced when Bev is just visiting. There are nice little moments of affection in the midst of all the frustration; Roseanne tends to touch Bev a lot. I think the shift to a more relentlessly nasty disposition towards Bev is less about the characters becoming less three-dimensional as the series wears on that about the fact Bev is now always there - and always has something to say. And in this case, it takes three to tango. Bev is no bullied victim here; her first reaction to everything her daughters do is negative.

One of the reasons TDS' false equivalency segments piss me off so much is they ran a piece long ago (when Stephen was a correspondent) just annihilating the practice. Stephen was, of course, the arrogant but clueless reporter going on about how he was an objective newsman because he reported what one side said, and then reported what the other side said. Jon pointed out that what the other side said was clearly a lie, and therefore shouldn't Stephen's job as a journalist be to provide the public with the facts exposing it as a lie. So the recurring habit of engaging in the same crap for which they rightly mocked the mainstream media annoys me all the more.

I loathe Jimmy, and am perplexed as to show she's "not helping." Let's review, Jimmy -- you rear-ended someone in the middle of nowhere, so your mom teleported herself and her kitchen phone to the accident site in order to sit on hold with your crappy insurance company. You, on the other hand, have restricted your activities to grumbling, pouting, and discouraging your son's obvious affection for his grandmother. How is she the one not helping?

That's just what I was coming here to say -- this is the "Monana" plot from Friends.

I bought the first season on Hannibal on Blu-ray after I heard people whose tastes often align with mine raving about the show, and GA's character/performance in particular (of course), but I still haven't watched it.

I missed tonight's episode, too (and I never bother to record much of anything other than the occasional film; I have a stack of unused discs because if I'm not home to watch when a show is on, that's pretty well it, as I'm not likely to sit down later to watch). But even without having seen it -- a picture of Mussolini?!