Bastet

It was indeed just nice to see them again, and I was relieved CC didn't fuck up their relationship, so I came out of the midnight showing happy, but it's not much of a movie and I haven't watched the Blu-Ray since I bought it. The WGA strike is the only reason it was greenlighted, but that also meant no rewrites -- and this movie really needed rewrites. The release date and anemic promotion put the final nail in the coffin, but I don't think it would have been a hit regardless because they basically filmed a first draft. The script is sloppy, and if GA and DD weren't so damn good at being Scully and Mulder regardless of what's on the page, this film could have been an outright embarassment for the franchise.

B is for Bono, as in Sonny Bono, who needs to get off the lanai.

I have no idea why that guy would think a bank was offering frog protection and thus don't expect the customer service rep to think that's what he's asking about, but once they go back and forth several times with "frog/fraud" to make sure they're talking about the same thing, why doesn't one of them spell their word? It drives me nuts. The frog is cute, though.

Some of the members of New Kids on the Block were at Magic Mountain (amusement park near Los Angeles) one day during the height of their fame, and some friends and I were getting on a ride as they were getting off. If I'm remembering correctly, it was the two dark-haired brothers and Joey. Even with all their security, they were swarmed, and you could just see the frustration on their faces even though they were being gracious. I felt sorry for them; those teenage girls swarming around them were the reason they were rich and famous, yes, but they were still young guys themselves just trying to take a break - because while much of their work is glamorous, it is work - and ride some roller coasters. But at this point in the NKOTB mania, they just couldn't do stuff like that; they'd have to either rent places out entirely or deal with being mobbed.

Yeah, I find myself quite annoyed by the attention - and money - Grumpy Cat's owners are getting, since I, too, despise their naming of the cat (and don't buy for one minute their retcon explanation).

That had me shouting at the TV.

I met her backstage before a Tina Turner concert (this was when Reuben was enjoying her stint as one of Turner's back-up singers), and found her the same way. It was particularly noticeable in the midst of the frenetic pre-performance energy.

Q is for Quasimodo, who was alluded to a couple of times by references to Dorothy as a former humpback.

It's that "Would I want to be approached by a stranger in this situation?" self-questioning that too often doesn't happen. I get it - this may very well be your one and only chance in your life to talk to this particular person, but there are ways to go about it and sometimes it's just plain inappropriate under the circumstances. I've sat next to a few celebrities on airplanes over the years, and as a "regular person" I hate when people start babbling at me just because we've drawn seats next to each other*, so I'm very conscious of offering nothing more than a simple nod or "hello". (But Ray Charles is a Chatty Cathy, I can tell you that. That was a great flight!) *Sure, sometimes conversation strikes up naturally, and I've spent some pleasant time chatting with seatmates; it's the automatic jumping into it despite the fact I'm reading, eating, cloud gazing, whatever situations that bug me. To bring this back to celebrity crushes -- I once chatted briefly with Rob Lowe in an airport lounge (about the NFL draft, which we were watching on the same TV). That man is FINE.

Dorothy's clothes frightened me through pretty much the entire series. Rose's wardrobe wasn't anything to write home about, but it was just sort of there. Dorothy's was distractingly bad so much of the time. I didn't like any of her formal wear - and, yes, that construction paper garland on the wedding dress takes the cake - and didn't care much more for her casual attire. And I hated those white boots of hers.

In my experience, celebrities are so appreciative of gestures like that, especially when they're with their families, because what should be common courtesy often isn't -- people just barge up and interrupt them in all manner of situations. Based on how frequently I've seen it happen, it seems rampant. I think many people just get caught up in the excitement, but jeez. I was miniature golfing behind Dustin Hoffman and his family many years ago, and we didn't say anything the whole time we trailed along behind them (there were only two of us and several of them, so we spent some time waiting for them to finish holes). When they finished the course and the kids went to turn in the clubs, Hoffman turned around and wished us a good day and apologized for the occasional hold-up. When we said it had been a pleasure as we're fans of his work but didn't want to interrupt a family outing, he walked up to shake our hands and thank us for that.

Jeez, I'd forgotten how much teen winner Mikey annoys me. And I want to like him, because good on anyone being that comfortable with themselves at 14, let alone someone who doesn't fit the popular mold. But, no. Oh my god, now it's Hunter. No freakin' way I'm living through that again.

For years after that episode aired, my mom and I would just look at each other and burst into laughter any time we entered a restaurant with a salad bar.

I remember a coworker using Priceline obsessively back around 2001, and she got some great deals and was always happy with the airline/hotel/whatever she wound up with. I'm way too picky a traveler to be surprised like that, though.

I mentioned the litter box in one of my rants about the episode, but forgot to ask, and maybe since it's fresh in your mind you'll remember: Did Jackson say anything about it? I know there were bigger fish to fry, but that was appalling, especially since he was shut in the room with that stinky thing.

Unless they've changed it, it's "Who's behind those Foster Grants?" -- their tag line since the '60s. I loved when Raquel Welch - one of the many celebrities featured in those ads - reappeared semi-recently, this time wearing Foster Grant reading glasses.

I feel the same way about each of them. Henry and Matt I liked initially, but Matt turned into a total ass. Henry I didn't come to hate as a character, but I sure hated his storyline and thus wanted him gone. Walter and Gio I never could stand, especially Gio.

I thought the first season was spectacular, the second a jumbled mess, and then the show was just sort of there from season three on -- an enjoyable enough way to spend an hour, but not appointment television. Betty's love life was always the weak point for me - which is usually the case; in life and on television, I find that the least-interesting aspect of people's lives, so when it's a focus I get bored - but I liked watching her find her way professionally. And I loved the wacky cast of characters at Meade, especially Judith Light's character (Claire?). Betty's family, other than Justin, drove me nuts much of the time, but in a realistic way that was necessary for the show. I could not stand Gio, so the episodes with him are definitely not my favorites. I was prepared to hate the ending for the suggestion of Daniel and Betty possibly dating in the future, but it wound up being ambiguous enough to pacify me.

I had this on in the background while painting my dining room, so I didn't pay much attention to it. I did, however, absorb enough to yell, "Shut up, Angela!" over my shoulder. She needs to back the hell off. Why would Jane want to be Daphne? Danger-prone Daphne never figures anything out; all she does is fall through trap doors and wait for the gang to rescue her. Velma can be annoying, sure, but at least she can put clues together. First mooning over high heels, and now wanting to be "the pretty one"?

Monkeybread, you can put it in the episode discussion thread.

D is for Deadbeat, as in Michael (or not, depending on which episode you watch).

For me, it's Jean Smart's delivery on that one.

Wal-Mart and sexism? I'm going to go with "doesn't care." Among its workers, women are disproportionately placed in lower-paying jobs and, regardless of position, earn less money than men with the same title. The majority of its workers are women, but the majority of its managers and higher-ups are men. And then there's that weirdness when it deemed a shirt with a cartoon character proclaiming "Someday, a woman will be president" offensive and refused to stock it. The list truly goes on and on. The way many of you are with ice cream is how I am with potato chips. I like sweets, but my real kryptonite is salty/crunchy. So I can easily eat their silly "serving size" - or less - of ice cream and put it back in the freezer. But a bag of chips? I cannot even buy, because I'll have eaten the serving size before backing out of the market's parking space, and the entire bag will be gone by bedtime.

They've cycled through a lot of celebrities - and "celebrities" - in their ads already, so his series is probably done, although I don't know for sure.

How they write her handling of the situation is annoying (advertising execs really think all woman are irrational, jealous nags, don't they?), but her initial "Who are you talking to?" suspicion isn't as far-fetched as her later persistence; he's not just speaking in hushed tones, he's saying, "Yeah, I'm married; does it matter?" and "You'd do that for me?" at 3:00 in the morning. Speaking of annoying State Farm commercials, I loathe the one with Jimmy. Of all the made-up jingles characters use to try and summon their insurance company, "I have blah blah insurance, so person come help" is my favorite. But Jimmy is awful. He rear ends someone and his mother teleports herself to the middle of nowhere to sit on hold while he stands around griping and discouraging his son's love for his grandmother. "You're not helping." Really? Because she's filing a claim while you do nothing, jackass.