Blergh

I have to admit there were times I was when I was growing up, I was tempted to change my somewhat hard-to-spell ethnic-sounding surname due to snotty folks making fun and deliberately mispronouncing it . However; between my embracing my heritage AND the fact that more folks than ever with my general background have moved into my world's corner, it's been a long time since that last happened and I'm now proud that it adds to my uniqueness!

backformore and Maharincess, I totally agree! This also used to bug my late father when they'd talk to him like he was five years old (and my mother doesn't like it either but she was always more tactful than he about others' being patronizing). I know that they may LOOK like they're getting frail (and, yes I know that many like my parents HAVE gotten frail) but outward frailty doesn't mean that become total puddin' heads! Well, I guess I have a few decades to work up a repertoire -though the other day I actually GOT a senior discount at the movies. My relief in not paying full price overruled my pride in my actual age and appearance so I just had mixed emotions accepting it.

I'd rather just tell the kids they can use empty soup cans on strings if they wanna chit chat from now on. Yeah, yeah, get off my lawn whippersnappers.

Not conventional but less expected than had it been an R2 D2 replica. That's all I'm saying.

That makes some sense, NewDigs. However; do they think showing them will somehow reap benefits that will overcome viewers considering the network to be laughingstocks and/or hypocrites? I suppose it's cheaper in the short run than just giving the plugs back to Tarek and Christina to use for their own home movies or dart boards.

I don't get why all through the Christmas season and afterwards, the network has continuously shown promos of Tarek and Christina interacting with each other as though they're still every bit as happily married and crazy about working together as we first imagined. It's been quite a few weeks since their split has been revealed (and the network's already said that this will be the last year of the show) so what's the point in showing these promos? How about just a blurb mentioning when the show's on with no commentary whatsoever re how they may interact on/offcamera for those viewers still interested in watching?

If one's an adult, perhaps one could do what one does re coworkers one would prefer having as little to do with possible- be civil when necessary and focus on what tasks are needed to be done with that person but avoid as much as possible. And if any stickybeaks try to butt in how one needs to be close- tell them that you and the other family member/s are going through a tough patch which the you will have to work out entirely on your own so they're just going to have to learn to accept that you two aren't chummy if they want to stay connected to you.

Well, who's left to read this Forum? Goats? LOL Along those lines, I somewhat get peeved when folks praise humanity for positive actions yet blame 'society' for every individual and collective unpleasant choice. So who exactly composes society? LOL

Not to mention, that having seen too many folks lives RUINED by being put on 'reality' TV, I wouldn't want to give them or any other network the means to shoehorn me doing anything more than saying 'THANK YOU!' on camera (which so many of those contests have in the fine print that one agrees to have one's likeness,etc. put out there any way the networks want JUST via entering the contest).

I know how that goes,too! Back to Miss Winfrey, she ALSO doesn't mention that she has at her disposal an entire staff of cooks and trainers (and, of course, is now part owner of the company). Yet, of course, she acts as though she somehow knows and can identify MORE with how everyday, struggling folks live their lives (even those who have gotten married and/or raised children) than they themselves do despite not having any issues of financial struggles in the last 30+ years and never having been married or raised children.

Legaleagle, I want to add my condolences and pray the positive &good memories about your mother will counterbalance the sadness of thinking of her death and last days before too long. I can't say I recall Mr. Kay but that's sad for his family that he's died so young.

Saw it,too- and highly recommend it for those interested in folks overcoming incredible odds -though not without some unresolved sadness involved. Yes, I agree that that child performer was phenomenal, though I have to wonder HOW they kept his person safe if not get haunted by his own issues re the dangerous stunts, settings and plot of the person he was portraying. While Miss Kidman gave a cathartic performance re Saroo's adoptive mother and deserves to be honored, I wish they had done something to flesh out the adoptive father beyond just being a supportive husband and father -especially considering the fact that Saroo apparently had had no father in his life previous to be unwillingly separated from his mother. Also, I couldn't help but feel sorry for both actual person and character of Saroo's younger adoptive brother Mantosh who not only seemed to have had an even more traumatic early childhood than Saroo (though what may have happened to him stayed unexamined ) but also has to live with his troubled onscreen portrayal even if he evidently gave permission re the movie.

Hated seeing it ski-slope even faster than TLC and A&E from being intelligent, respectful and helpful to being crass, obnoxious and loud and since everyone else has already gone over the 'usual suspects' of Guy Fieri, Rachael Ray, Alton Brown, etc., I'll skip adding to the dissing of them for now. However; the ones who I believe TRULY deserve disses for how this network devolved have to be the execs/Next Food Network Star personalities Bob Tuschman and Susie Fogelson. Not only were these two incredibly condescending to the contestants but Miss Fogelson in particular seemed to revel in urging contestants to spill their guts at her command like a toxic acquaintance seeking future ammo saying that cooking personalities were expected to totally wash their dirty laundry to appeal to home audiences. OK, when I watch a cooking show or go to a restaurant, ALL I care about is whether the food is good and how clean& efficient the cook and kitchen are. If the cook wants to drop an aside e.g. 'My daughter's soccer teams loves these nachos!' that's fine though not required. However; I truly do NOT need to know their entire life stories, genealogy and psychological struggles. The culminated in Melissa d'Arabian presenting a dish to judges with the tag that it reminded her of her mother who'd committed suicide. Man, I felt sorry for those judges because HOW could they enjoy the food after hearing that bombshell (which was truly no one else's business) yet not feel they'd have been tagged as heels for not praising it to the hilt. Yes, I did indeed feel very bad for her but IMO this is something that one should share with close, trusted friends and family NOT strangers and the whole world. Oh, and to cap it all off, Mr. Tuschman or Miss Fogelson NEVER made the slightest attempt to disclose ANY personal info about themselves (not even any asides about any possible parents, sibs, significant others, offspring or friends). For all the viewers knew they could have been raised by owls and never met another person in their lives before judging this show- despite her dictum that ALL Food Network personalities (which they technically were via this show) were supposed to wash dirty laundry on air .Hypocrites.

You're right about that rather tasteless scene (which ALSO had the leading lady put her hair in bizarre pigtails to make fun of how some folks of African descent wore their hair)- and even back THEN it was not something put in to boost the morale of African-American moviegoers but to amuse tacky, racist,rude white moviegoers [who WOULD have known they were being tacky and rude even if they denied they were being racist]. As for Dirty Dancing? The ironic thing is that moviegoers were supposed to jeer at the jerk who got Cynthia Rhodes's character pregnant and left her high and dry and cheer Patrick Swayze's Johnny character. However; 1963 the Pill had only recently put on the market and the movie made it clear that Johnny wasn't a choirboy but audiences were rooting for him to do more than just hug and kiss Jennifer Grey's character and she could have as EASILY gotten pregnant as Cynthia Rhodes's character under those conditions in that time and place. Yet, evidently by 1987, audiences had forgotten that there it was more than paternal false pride re why Baby's father wouldn't want a fly-by-night crooner making his moves on his younger daughter.

Sun-Bun, at least, she had the excuse of English not being her first language. Then,too, did you ask her if she was doing that to make up for virtually all us US Americans not pronouncing the 3rd of the four S's in the vegetable 'Brussells sprouts'- or could it be that we're merely be taking away an S to from that term to make up for all those extra S's we add to other words? Yes, I confess that I myself call them 'Brussell sprouts' even though they're named after Belgium's capital city and at no point of time did either the city or vegetable drop that tricky 3rd S. My mother is the ONLY person I know who actually pronounces it correctly without having had someone else calling them on it.

If one has vocal cords and not helplessly trapped and incommunicado somewhere, is it too much to ask for someone fed up with their job to actually phone in and utter the words 'I Quit' (or e-mail/text it) rather than not bother to call or show up; thus leaving everyone else scrambling to cover one's work tasks? Talk about burning one's own bridges to try to spite others' faces!

Now, Maharincess, are you saying that you haven't ever been tempted to live by the code of 'WWLD' [What Would LUCY Do]? Somehow I think Mrs. Ricardo herself would have loved to have done that. I'll leave it at that. ;)

Might as well start the New Year with a post being grateful for my 80-something mother still being in this world in relatively good health as the year opens. That above ALL is what's important to me regardless of what else happens. Somewhat small potatoes compared to that is being grateful to my neighbor across the street for having had an unexpectedly impressive round of fireworks that lasted several minutes that I could perfectly see all details of. I'm not talking one or two cherry bombs and bottle rockets but something that looked as though it could have been used for a small town's celebrations. I don't know where they got these from and I'm not about to speculate costs. However; I was thankful for the fact that this display alleviated my not having wanted to venture downtown to see the city's display and deal with sardine packed crowds of revelers then bumper-to-bumper all the way back home and hoping to encounter none of said revelers who'd scoffed at pleas re designated drivers, taxis and ubers. Anyway, I was safely home the whole time and STILL got to see a truly impressive display to ring in the New Year so that's something to be grateful for

editorgrrl, I know how it goes. I'm also an Anglophile and a history buff to boot. Yet, not only could I not get into either of the above shows, but I also never got into Downton Abbey . Yes, I've always liked Miss Maggie Smith and am glad she got such a plum role. Moreover I really like that the show's setting was the Real Life home of Lord Carnarvon (King Tut's discoverer's patron) and even has some artifacts on display. Yet, I guess it seemed too much like they were making a jacked up Upstairs Downstairs for me to get into it.

editorgrrl, Hmm, how would anyone consume said shakes without spilling any or all of the contents before it entirely melted? At least put it in a catch-all bowl instead of a top-heavy preserve jar (and please don't tell that they don't bother to provide spoons with them).

JTMacc99, auntlada, Perhaps calling a child 'obnoxious' would work best and it's completely gender-neutral! Alas, there's no shortage of it.

YES! I really liked the joint bio of Messrs. Griffith and Knotts! The great irony is that their iconic sitcom was about celebrating life in a close-knit small town, yet both of them grew up as outcasts in their respective birthplaces. Mr. Knotts especially had an incredibly dysfunctional early life that could have easily doomed him to either an early grave, institutionalization and/or destitute obscurity. While neither performer was a saint and the book doesn't shy away from that, it does an excellent job of conveying not only how they overcame sometimes unbelievable odds but how their bond gave them strength even if they believed their show was both a blessing and curse. It's definitely worth seeking out! As for Miss Arngrim's book? Yes, she grew up in a very different time, locale and environment from either of the above- mentioned men but that doesn't mean she herself didn't have an amazing and if at times infuriating story to tell. No I'm not spoiling that one either but suffice it to say that Nellie not only wound up being the hero of Miss Arngim's life but also gave her strength to follow her calling to become a tireless advocate for so many folks in many walks of life who'd previously had no one else in their corners. Again, I highly recommend it (and I found that I wound up laughing a lot more reading it than many other bios even though it definitely didn't shy away from heartbreaking, appalling and upsetting parts of her and others' life).

I know how it goes! I just say 'Let's hope we call can have as good a New Year as possible despite the insanity that's happening'! BTW, where can I apply for a transfer back to 1979- or an Alternate Universe where no one outside their immediate families had had to hear the surnames of Clinton and Trump after the year 2001?

Thanks a lot Kathy Griffin and Ryan Seacrest for making the last two entertaining New Year's Eve Countdown shows completely unwatchable. Yeah I know this is VERY MUCH an UO!

OK, here's a term I wish would be retired soon (yeah, I know, good luck with THAT in this rude, crass era)- 'slut shaming'. Not only do I find the first part of the term offensive in of itself but it seems ,by using the entire term, one needlessly tags the alleged victim whom others had initially dissed instead of doing anything to help or even verbally support said victim.