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I don't soak grains for more that 10 minutes or so, but I soak beans and some legumes overnight. @DeLurker, I'll try the 40 minutes rice soaking, thanks. I very rarely cook anything in the oven, but one thing I like about oven-made polenta is that you can grate any cheese and crack eggs on top and omg. The downside is that I have no control over the texture. Sometimes I like polenta almost runny until it cools off, to eat with a lighter cheese and sour cream, for example. Btw, have you ever had oven-baked polenta as a dessert? I've never cooked it myself, so I don't have a recipe.

You are right, of course. I just realized, with disappointment, that it didn't also copy the genuine inclusion/diversity. I don't know, something rubs me wrong about this show. For me, it's the gay stuff, and all racial diversity being in the female cast (even more so now with the addition of Vasquez). But there was also the talk about Alex's whitewashed name, and the "dark skin" description... and it's been just 2 episodes. It doesn't seem to me like these show runners and writers are able to copy enough of Shonda's truly good thing (imo). Oh, that's very likely, considering the fact that the guy came on to Simon pretty strongly. That's a winner right there. The one unambiguously gay character will jump the bones of the main character at first sight. If Simon is just pretending to be gay, we might get quite the lovely story line. A real treat!

5x16 spoilers with promotional photos. Synopses for episodes 514 to 518 - they are very brief, nothing interesting.

Maybe I'm just a super lazy anything-goes type, but I've never understood why it's difficult to cook rice. When I used brown rice for the first time I had to add more water at some point, so I just did that, and let it cook for 10 minutes more, and then just checked it again. The one grain-based meal I don't like cooking is polenta because it can make a mess when you lift the lid to stir, which you have to do pretty much continuously at some points. It is delicious though...

Even if the plot will make that guy an asshole like Caleb, I'd rather not hear a line like "There is such a thing as a gay virgin?" followed by tacit approval. It is the "but if you never had sex with a wo/man, how would you know?" awfulness. What's next? "Have sex with me to make sure."? Shonda does well with LGBT stuff in her shows, so this came as an unpleasant surprise. The reason was stated: Alex is too awesome and trustworthy to be a terrorist! She couldn't have done it because she is too good of a person. Also, the fake glasses thing is one of the most stupid things I've seen so far - quite a challenge there. What benefit could he get from them that outweighs the possibility of the glasses being discovered as fake? Is he wearing a camera? But the asshole checked his glasses twice - wouldn't a camera be visible on such close inspection? A transmitter? Why not wear it in a watch or phone? It's not like they strip search them and confiscate their possessions.

Why would a bigger screen matter? Isn't the font adjustable on a Kindle? Scrolling more often is not that much of an inconvenience imo. I'm very near sighted too, but I can read even on my phone by changing font size (Here is your headache, Kromm. :P)

Enter? She is already settled there with a cup of Earl Sue tea after "you are the best" during the gun training, and "Alex is the first recruit in the years we've run this exercise to figure it out. Clearly, her instincts are very strong.", and "You're never gonna catch her. She's too good." The love triangle and possibly the instructor guy falling for her is just the grossly sweet icing on the cake. The cherry on top: she has a mysterious, possibly relevant father. I'd give the show a benefit of a doubt if there was any indication that they weren't writing a Mary Sue. Vasquez besting her a few times in flashbacks doesn't matter because (a) she is The Rival, (b) she is a cop, so starts with some pro skills, but Alex has more than caught up to her, as seen in the present-day fights, and © they are also competing for Carsex, but Alex is obvs winning. The show is not even trying. We didn't even spend 15 minutes with Alex not being better than someone. (Side note: Is there a point in starting an Alex topic? The show might not be popular enough for that many posts. I know I will probably give up after an episode or 2.)

Is it normal that the woman who provided Alex with the security camera footage stuck around to ask questions about who the suspect was and who the agent entering the building was and such? Sure, she provided the requested footage just because Alex was wearing FBI gear, I presume, or maybe she was blinded by Alex's hotness, but it was still supposed to be an official investigation.

That would be great, but that is not what she said. The actual words were "the recruit you fell in love with or the terrorist who rejected you", which describes Alex too well to discard the horrific possibility that it does refer to her. Is the twist that her mother was also a suspected terrorist? Otherwise the question doesn't make sense unless it's about Alex, because Miranda is confronting him about being blinded by spite i.e. the rejection, not about being too soft on her because of having been in love. I am asking this with utter honesty: is this level of focus on potential hookups and/or being motivated by romantic/sexual interest in someone a thing that actually happens? They've recently started the training, and it's demanding and stressful, so it just doesn't make any sense to me that they would have the time and inclination for any of this extraneous stuff. I'm just flabbergasted and bored during those scenes. The twins could hardly be any worse at this. I understand the Simon problem, but any difference in clothing, performing tasks differently, seemingly not updating information at the end of the day? This is not the Spy Twins in FBI, it's "take the test for me" in high school. That Vasquez chick kicked Alex's ass at every opportunity, so why was Alex the best? When? Did everyone read the script ahead to see her bad ass moments? ETA: One more thing. "There is such a thing as a gay virgin?" W.T.F.

You can totally join me at the table, but... (Unpopular Choice incoming!) I haven't watched any of the Star Trek movies. Deal breaker?

Since you used the magic word (I am absolutely crazy about Root), I'll give it a shot. To be fair, no one could quite match Root's perfection? :D (I think that's an UO right there.) What was your issue with Cassandra? Damn, I'll drop what I was doing and watch The Librarians ASAP.

In what way? Physically, her acting, or the character? I could barely finish the first episode of the The Librarians, but I would check out this Cassandra depending on your answer. Thanks.

I'm curious about this. I haven't watched the first 2 seasons of Grey's Anatomy, but was Christina so different back then that this comparison holds or is it a "pair the spares" thing?

I very rarely watch trailers. Between the plot being spoiled like it doesn't matter and the chances that it is misleading, it's easier to completely skip the trailer... unless it's a movie I'm excited about. Probably extremely UO: I don't give a shit about the new Star Wars. The prequel movies were so awful that I lost all interest. Also not interested in JJ Abrams as a director.

I got a kick out of your idea that action soaps are the new procedural dramas. I never thought about it but they sure multiply each season. I haven't commented on Quantico yet because it really made no impression on me whatsoever. I will give it more episodes and that's it. For comparison, I dropped that one show you mention after a few episodes as too procedural for me. I was interested in the mystery, but couldn't take the completely irrelevant Cases of the Week anymore. I really hope Quantico will balance/entwine the two in a better way. I didn't enjoy the soapy elements, and I can give you a reason why I avoid shows with them: I could never watch a soapy show for very long, so it's a red flag. Why not? Because the typical soapy story line needs to top the last twist, the last drama, over and over, and it gets to a point where I tune out. Even if I like the characters, I just lose interest or can no longer suspend my disbelief. I watched 2 seasons of Revenge because Emily was awesome, but then I just could not care anymore; had the show moved on to a completely different plot instead of retreading the same things and becoming more and more unbelievable, I would have kept watching. Soapy story lines feel like circles to me, spirals at best, and characterization deteriorates to accommodate this structure. What pissed me off the most about the Mormon guy joining was that he was so jumpy from almost the beginning! Considering the fact that the FBI hadn't known about it (which... so much fail) and that Caleb was a no-talent nobody, it didn't take enough provocation for him to panic. He acted like he expected his secret to be discovered, which just no - if you expect this to be discovered, do not join the FBI no matter how much you want to help and atone and whatever. I don't even buy that motivation because he could have joined a less intelligence/investigation-oriented branch of We Help People, for example the police, or he could have gone to med school. This was just contrived nonsense to show something intense-gritty-shocking in the pilot.

And a drinking problem, and will fuck hookers or hang out in strip clubs (thus covering the gratuitous sex/nudity angle).

This just occurred to me like that moment when you see the train wreck becoming inevitable, in slow motion. The way the writers love babies, Rosalee and Monroe could have one or plan to have one next season. I just can't with this. Actually, can it be that no one gets impregnated again on this show? No one at all. Just no more children. That would be marvelous. Wish granted! And as dead Eric is Diana's father, Nick raises both of Adalind babies. Adalind and her babies live with Nick and are in each and every episode until the show is cancelled.

Sadly, this can be said about so, so many other characters. That's the show's main problem right there! The good/bad guy switch is where it was headed with Adalind too, and in reverse, with Juliette. The writers do this shuffle like they can't think of any other plots at the moment. And the neutering is what they did with Monroe too. The more the show goes on, the worse it gets. Of course, the fact that Renard got pulled into the baby drama, then the Juliette drama, did not help one bit. I'd rather he had his own plot line for a bit, like he had with the keys and with the Resistance meetings. I'd take Royal intrigues over the endless baby daddy stories.

At this point, it doesn't make things more watchable for me. The thing is that when the writing sucks on a large scale, an actor delivering a line in a watchable way, especially when it was not the writer's intent, does not help the plot and character arcs being huge messes. In a movie, yes, a great actor can overcome bad material, can even transform it by delivering a performance that was not fully intended in the script, but imo in Grimm it just snowballs into an inconsistent potpourri of fails.

^ And Sleepy Hollow had the single worst drop in ads cost to show for it (-51%, that's so terrible nothing even comes close). American Idol dropped -39%, and then there's already The Blacklist (-32) and Grimm (-30). So yeah, that -30% is one of the worst drops this season. I can't see them not taking notice of it.

I read in bed, don't have a book light, and never used one, so I would buy one of these. Can you tell me some models please? Or what the side-lightning feature is called, to know what to look for?

Brown rice is amazing.

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes. I'm just at the beginning, but the world building is so good. Noir urban fantasy in a crumbling alt-Johannesburg, with an interesting take on discrimination. The people who have an animal companion were all guilty of something; and not having an animal companion means a lack of guilt, with the possible, game-changing exception of psychopaths who just don't feel it - not sure if this will go anywhere. I expected the setting to have racial tones, but the interaction with the police was an ex-con type of situation. Navigating a world where you carry a visual representation of a previous crime while others invoke moral superiority by its absence is interesting.

Solar Fields, aka Magnus Birgersson, EarthShine - Summer. I'm sleepy, drinking coffee, and this is a good song for mornings/awakening. He did the Mirror's Edge soundtrack and is working on the sequel now.

5 Things to Know About the Mid Season Premiere The only unexpected/exciting bit is the "stay away from the darkness eating people. oops, there goes the light!"... which is not an original idea, so I hope it's well executed.