Bastet

I'm a neat freak, so I can't properly enjoy my meal if I'm sitting there looking at the detritus of its preparation; I love that my kitchen and dining room are separate. And while having the kitchen open to the living room wouldn't be a big deal for me since I live alone, I think I'd find it disruptive if I had others in the house. Even though I don't want it for myself, I don't automatically hate the look of open floorplans. I just get very, very tired of seeing them on this show. And get extremely irritated by people who complain about the presence of walls between the kitchen, dining room and living room in older homes, when they damn well ought to know "open concept" wasn't a trend back then.

Here is the Eater article, Lamb.

I don't get why they're sucking the rolls to their mouths, but I have to get behind the comment about parking in front of their house (which I didn't even notice when I saw the commercial). Yes, it's a public street, so anyone is free to park there. But people who routinely park in front of a house other than the one in which they live/are visiting even though that space is available annoy me as a violation of common courtesy; I park in my garage, and I don't want to look out my window and constantly see someone's car, and I don't want my guests to have to park in my driveway or down the street because someone thinks my tree provides better shade than their own.

I've actually only had one cat in my life - a wild stray who became admirably domesticated - who didn't like belly rubs, so I always have to check myself before petting other people's kitties on the belly. Baxter liked visitors, but he didn't appreciate when they stayed past the time he felt I should be in bed with him. He'd come appear in the doorway with a glare on his face that cracked everyone up, so it wasn't terribly effective, but it sure was cute. Some have been less sociable, but none truly hid when people came over. The late, great Bailey ran down the hall and took refuge on the master bedroom dresser every single time the FedEx or UPS truck went by, though. So odd.

I know he's a behaviorist rather than a nutritionist, but since cats who eat healthier generally are healthier - and thus feel better and behave better - I'd love to see diet addressed. So much cat food on the market is inappropriate for obligate carnivores, and the owners buying it aren't just cheapskates who don't care -- a whole lot of them are people who simply don't know any better. And it's not as if they're getting much helpful advice from their vets, most of whom know little about nutrition. I'd love to hear even a simple overview of the need for high protein/moderate fat/very low carb composition, quality (e.g. no by-products or fillers) and species appropriate (e.g. meat protein, not plant protein, no wheat, corn or soy) ingredients and adequate water intake. Tips on how to make a gradual transition from one food to another - especially for a kibble-addicted kitty who is reluctant to eat canned food - would be useful, too.

This is the only show for which I read fanfic, too. And I read it almost exclusively to fill in the gaps, not to repeat what the show did. By which I mean I almost never read casefile stories; that, the show knew how to do, so I feel no need to supplement what was seen. But the show left much - too much, at times - of the relationship unstated, so the stories to which I am most drawn are those that explore what went on between Mulder and Scully when the cameras weren't rolling (and I don't just mean sex, although, yeah - I'm all over the smut). I'm also not much into AU stories, although there are more exceptions to that than to my general disinterest in casefiles. A good story makes me believe it could have been an episode had someone bonked CC over the head and stuffed him in a closet, and a great one makes me wish it had been.

Hi, badforthefish. You'll always be Scarlet to me since I've been reading your stories for a long time, but whatever the name it's nice to see you here. Stick around!

I got one look at someone keeping a wild animal because they happen to live in one of the few states that doesn't prohibit such a thing and changed the channel. I usually wind up yelling at the owners in any given episode - seriously, do these people learn anything about cats before deciding to get one? - so I figured this one was more than my blood pressure needed to endure.

I can't choose a favorite, but France is certainly a contender. To this day, when a friend and I go wine tasting, we do the "This one we didn't like, the empty one" routine. (This same friend and I, when younger, were also known to open our mouths and let wine rain down while cackling like Eddy.) I love everything that happens at the "chateau," everything that happens among Saffy, Gran and Bubble back home, and really love when they get to Customs - Patsy's realization she actually enjoyed playing ping pong and her outrage at having paid good money for what turned out to be talcum powder. "Shit! Someone has taken the steering wheel!"

From badfic only Padgett would love to stories you'd pay good money to see made into an episode, discuss XF fanfic here.

Yeah, about 15 years on the first one (and it could have gone longer) and I'm at year 16 on my current one. But even if I was only going to drive it for five years, I'd want to choose its features. I just don't get the concept of a car as a surprise gift. A gift, in that someone else pays for it once the person has picked it out, I'm familiar with. But I've never known anyone to do the walk out into the driveway and find a car with a big red bow on it routine, yet it's a total theme in commercials.

I'm quite perplexed by the number of car commercials - especially luxury cars, and especially at the holidays - in which someone surprises their partner with a car as a gift. I'd feel like an ingrate, but I'd be annoyed if someone bought me a car without my input (and particularly uncomfortable if it was a partner); it's not like a sweater I can exchange for one more to my tastes, and if I'm going to be driving something for 15-20 years, I want to be the one choosing its features.

Maddie is remarkably well trained, as was my late Baxter (they were adopted from a shelter 13 years ago, Baxter at just six months old and Maddie at probably around three years, both having been turned in as strays). People think I'm some sort of cat whisperer, but I'm convinced I just got lucky; although these were the first who were only mine, I had family cats all my life and co-parented a roommate's cats when I was first starting out, and none of them were quite so easy to manage. Certainly being able to let cats outside and know they'll either stay in the backyard or venture no more than one house away and immediately return if I simply call out, "Come back here, please" was NOT the norm in the past. My next two will probably be holy terrors.

Let's make actor threads (for their social media activities, other projects, interviews, etc.).

Favorites: Monty Python's Life of Brian, Mixed Nuts, The Apartment, Better Off Dead, In Bruges, 8 Women and The Thin Man (with the second Thin Man film being a New Year's Eve staple). Basically, I like laughs or suicide. Least favorites: Every single thing Hallmark Channel airs when they suspend regular programming for two months each winter to air holiday dreck on a constant loop. I want my Golden Girls fix, dammit!

I haven't seen it in a long time, but I love that episode. My favorite parts are Miles diving under Murphy, Jim looking at the contraction monitor and saying, "Good lord, she's going to blow" and Murphy noticing that the baby has a little hat and saying, "Mother would have liked that."

Yes, per the promos I've seen on HGTV, "Off the Grid" is the theme for this week's HHI episodes.

The stunt double, or the actor's stand-in? I don't know; I hardly ever watch that episode.

I remember Mary J. Blige being one of them, but that's all that is coming to me right now. I'd put Myrna Loy on the "unhateable" list, too. I mean, I love Katharine Hepburn just as much (they're my two favorite classic movie actors), but I can understand her rubbing someone the wrong way. Actively disliking Myrna Loy is unfathomable to me, though. I can't think of many others. Helen Mirren, maybe.

I think that comes into play, but, good lord, if I can do the math then so can she. As I said above, my first step with any Ina recipe is to cut it in half. And that's if I'm serving it to guests; if she says it serves six, it serves at least ten and usually twelve.

Bwah -- it's the "Gillyramp" hashtag* that makes it art. And that line about her feet reaching the pedals is one of the few snippets of dialogue Gillian remembers from the series, so - nicely played, DD. *I got that right, didn't I? The purpose of Twitter eludes me, but I think I know the lingo.

Sacré bleu! Now I'm craving a piece of mango mousse cake from Porto's.

Season two is when I started watching; The Host was my first episode, and I found it wonderfully bizarre. Since the show aired on Fridays then, and I was young and thus usually out, I didn't see it again until Duane Barry. For obvious reasons, after that I was hooked and started recording it weekly -- an obsession was born. I like the first season - and came to hate the mytharc - but I'm not sure how sustainable a series of MOTW episodes was, so I think Gillian's birth control issues saved the show in a way. Among the MOTW episodes, I love Irresistible, Die Hand Der Verletz, Fresh Bones, Dod Kalm and Our Town. And I have such an appreciation for Humbug, the first humorous episode. I'd seen the Jim Rose Circus as an opening act at a concert, so seeing them pop up on what was now my favorite show was a hoot. I'm glad it came together so well even though it was a departure for the series, because future humorous episodes wound up being among my favorites, too.

My stupid satellite receiver decided to have an issue about ten minutes into it, so that's all I got on my recording. I know I've seen it before, but I barely remember it. I hope TCM airs it again. I'm also recording this afternoon's special about 1939 as Hollywood's greatest year, because there sure were a lot of good films that year.

I make that tequila lime marinade a lot, because it's made up of ingredients I always have on hand. It makes for good seafood tacos, among many other things; quite versatile.