Bastet

In Cool, Calm and Perfected, did I really just hear someone say she cured herself of a variety of illnesses by eating "an inordinate amount of avocados"? This episode has been on for five minutes, and maybe two percent of what I've heard so far is about the contestants' professional lives; the rest is about illnesses. I think I'll watch an episode of The Golden Girls for the umpteenth time instead.

My eyes bugged out of my head when he didn't know that, and there was another DD someone couldn't answer that also surprised me. I was waiting for another, "Time to start reading again" remark from Alex when the contestants blew that authors category, and they'd have deserved it. FJ popped into my head almost instantly for some reason.

I can remember nearly half a dozen things that were posited as the cause of the rapid aging, so maybe it was never decided what was the most likely cause? Unless someone has a better recollection, I think we'll go with a "Whatever contaminated the water" type of answer for that one.

In the recipe, rum is suggested as the alternative to Calvados.

Gargoyles are traditionally for protection, and I thought that's why the guy was drawing them all over the place. Were they evil instead, in some sort of XF twist?

Once I get through the ones I can't remember (which certainly disqualifies them from being interesting) but before I get to the group of compelling villains, I'll be interested in analyzing the middle section of my list, with random things like the Ice worms, Darkness Falls bugs, GitM computer, etc. My plan is to do two seasons at a time going forward; I wanted to do the first season alone to work out any kinks and make sure we all still like the idea of voting on villains.

Help me ID some of the season three villains of the week, too, please: In Grotesque, Mostow committed some of the murders (and claimed to have done so because he was possessed by an evil spirit), but then did Patterson start copycat killing once Mostow was locked up? And WTF in Teso dos Bichos – was there really a clowder of killer cats in the sewer? Was it Bilac (under the influence of the Yaje)? Or was he possessed by the jaguar spirit he talked about? Was someone else possessed by the jaguar spirit?

Looking ahead to the season two "most interesting villain" elimination game ... Help me out with Dod Kalm – that pirate (or whatever he is) killed someone (and I guess Trondheim becomes a villain to Mulder & Scully), but isn’t the trouble ultimately caused by a meteor(ite)? And who’s doing the killing in The Calusari?

From Gillian's most-recent AMA: Q: ... It's Mulder's birthday tomorrow, what would Scully do to make it a happy one? ;) A: Bake him a cake in the shape of a Supersoldier, with a blackberry coulis as black oil. And invite the Lone Gunmen over for a surprise birthday party. You know, I could see that. (Since, like Gillian, I tend to forget the Gunmen are dead.) I can picture Scully rolling her eyes and smiling as she drizzles the "black oil" and I can picture Mulder grinning when he sees it.

I can't believe what good sports she and DD have both become about this sort of XF silliness. I mean, can you imagine someone getting her to do this, let alone cheerfully, in 2002?

Hmm. Well, I'll still go with him for being so uninteresting I couldn't even remember how he came to be using that creepy kid.

I don't remember exactly what these two were doing or why, so I can't give them sympathetic motivation points, and I'll thus pick them for using the people they did: Charlie Morris through Michelle Bishop Dr. Arthur Grable through Roland Fuller

Awarding two points for a "most want gone" vote and one point for a "second-most want gone" vote, we wind up saying goodbye first to Deputy Lyle "Werewolf" Parker from Shapes (five points). But we have a tie for the next gone, so we'll say goodbye to both Leonard Vance from Miracle Man and Mars Face WTF from Space with four points each. Warren Dupre lives on within Jack Willis' body for another day with three points. Eugene Victor Tooms (Squeeze and Tooms) The Jersey Devil (The Jersey Devil) Howard Graves through Lauren Kyte (Shadows) The Eurisko computer (Ghost in the Machine) Parasitic glacial worms (Ice) The Eves (Eve) Cecil L’Ively (Fire) Luther Lee Boggs (Beyond the Sea) Brother Andrew (Genderbender) Warren Dupre through Jack Willis (Lazarus) John Barnett, AKA the salamander hand guy (Young at Heart) Phosphorescent bugs (Darkness Falls) Charlie Morris through Michelle Bishop (Born Again) Dr. Arthur Grable through Roland Fuller (Roland) Vote for the two episodes you want eliminated, in the order you want them booted.

Oh, thank you, TCM. I have a thoroughly frustrating day, come home and endure an equally frustrating football game -- at which point I order up the best dim sum in the neighborhood as I'm too tired to cook and tune in TCM to discover Bringing Up Baby, a film I could watch weekly and never tire of. Although I can watch it any time on DVD, it is just perfect timing. I've noted before that I take Howard Hawks' point that he'd have gone back and made one character "normal," a stand-in for the audience to observe the craziness all around her/him, and I think that helps many a screwball. But I love this one as it is. I recite a good 2/3 of the film alongside the characters as I watch. And thus, I shall get in bed and do precisely that. "I was born on the side of a hill."

My condolences to your friend! We all know life is not fair, but that is a horrible one-two punch for anyone to endure. I have a friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer a few months after losing her daughter to the same disease, and it was all she could do to put one foot in front of the other. I've never made the apple tart as I'm not a big fan of cooked fruit. But with 1/2 cup sugar plus the jam mixture, it sounds sweet rather than bland to me. If not for the jam, I might be inclined towards revisiting the apple/cinnamon combo, but as it is I would be hesitant. But if your friend is one of those who thinks cinnamon makes everything taste better, go for it.

Silly me, I thought the basement would become a family space since there were five people in that house. Instead, an oversized master suite - complete with "lounge area" and a closet with room for her umpteen pairs of gravity-defying heels and his shirts to all be placed an inch apart - and the kids were shoehorned into the "bedrooms" that aren't legally bedrooms in most jurisdictions since they have no closets and that new room not much bigger than the kid's twin-sized bed. I'm as tired as the next person of HHs who need a separate bedroom and bathroom for each child, but that kid got screwed.

Although Washington is a division rival, I only root against them when they're playing the Giants; in fact, I'd go so far as to root for them to come in second in the division (hapless though they may be) since I do dislike the Eagles and loathe Dallas. There's zero justification for the name/mascot in my book, though, and the intransigent owner - and like-minded players and fans - does make it difficult to root for them. Of the many things that got to me about Victor Cruz's injury last night, the most affecting was seeing him wrap his arm around the trainer who accompanied him on the cart back to the locker room. I think that guy's voice was the only thing he could hear through the agony.

There are a whole lot of things that may or may not exist acting through actual people constituting the perpetrators of XF cases, so this will be a recurring problem - how much to separate the two. Where the person being used to carry out the villain's deeds is being completely controlled by that villain, I'm going to take them out of my equation (It's like those Modell uses to act, only here we just happen to have only one person being controlled by these particular villains). Where they're being influenced, but not totally without free will, I'm going to consider them alongside the villain. I think I'll give the Mars Face thing a point for at least stirring up a WTF response and give my first votes to villains that don't register at all: Leonard Vance (Miracle Man) Deputy Lyle "Werewolf" Parker (Shapes)

I, too, loved Beverlee McKinsey's Alex with just about anyone. Especially India. And I liked the temporary friendship of sorts she formed with Holly when the teamed up to take Roger down in Acapulco; they had a really nice conversation when Holly was in hospital. I know McKinsey and Michael Zaslow couldn't stand each other off screen, but they sure were fun to watch together on screen.

And here we go with our latest elimination game: Most Interesting Villain. (We’re choosing from among the villains of the week and thus excluding CSM, Krycek and the like, but of those we are including humans, monsters, spirits, critters, computers, what have you.) Whether they scare you, make you sympathize with their motivations, amuse you, disgust you … whatever it is that makes them interesting, which one of them does it best? (While the episode in which they appeared is certainly a factor in our enjoyment, the focus is on evaluating the villains on their own.) We’ll vote by season, then vote among the top three from each season to come up with an ultimate Villain of the Week. The perps of season one: Eugene Victor Tooms (Squeeze and Tooms) The Jersey Devil (The Jersey Devil) Howard Graves through Lauren Kyte (Shadows) The Eurisko computer (Ghost in the Machine) Parasitic glacial worms (Ice) Mars Face ghost/alien/whatever-the-hell-it-is through Lt. Col. Belt (Space) The Eves (Eve) Cecil L’Ively (Fire) Luther Lee Boggs (Beyond the Sea) Brother Andrew (Genderbender) Warren Dupre through Jack Willis (Lazarus) John Barnett, AKA the salamander hand guy (Young at Heart) Leonard Vance (Miracle Man) Deputy Lyle "Werewolf" Parker (Shapes) Phosphorescent bugs (Darkness Falls) Charlie Morris through Michelle Bishop (Born Again) Dr. Arthur Grable through Roland Fuller (Roland) Vote for the two you want eliminated first, in the order you want them gone.

That Giants game was physically painful to watch ... and that was before Victor Cruz ended his season (and hopefully no more than that). What a debacle. I hate everyone.

I like Seattle and loathe Dallas, so that was a tough game, but the above was a shining moment in the midst of it. I'm so nervous for tonight's game, wondering which Giants team is going to show up.

All these years, I never realized that was Dennis Lipscomb! Of course, in all these years I have probably only watched it twice, but still. (I don't know him by name, but by several '80s shows.) Okay, it looks like all the gaps have been filled - thanks, all - so I'll put up the complete list tomorrow morning and we'll be on our way.

Face on Mars alien/ghost through Lt. Col. Belt?

I can do season one at least, but need help remembering who the villain is in some of the episodes. Here is what I have: Eugene Victor Tooms (Squeeze and Tooms) The Jersey Devil (The Jersey Devil) Howard Graves through Lauren Kyte (Shadows) The Eurisko computer (Ghost in the Machine) Worms (Ice) The Eves (Eve) Cecil L’Ively (Fire) Luther Lee Boggs (Beyond the Sea) Warren Dupre through Jack Willis (Lazarus) John Barnett, the salamander hand guy (Young at Heart) Bugs (Darkness Falls) Charlie Morris through Michelle Bishop (Born Again) Dr. Arthur Grable through Roland Fuller (Roland) But I can't remember WTF is the villain in Space, Shapes (werewolf?), Genderbender (Brother Andrew? Or the Kindred as a whole?) or Miracle Man. If y'all can fill in those gaps, I'll post a complete list tomorrow morning (late morning, Pacific time) to open up voting. (With the Pilot, Deep Throat, Conduit, Fallen Angel, EBE and Erlenmeyer Flask, the villains are aliens, the shadow government, etc. so I left those out.)