Blergh

OK, I KNOW amputations were (and are) of many a horror of war and I also know that GOING through one has to be FAR worse than seeing it. However; I have to admit I had to keep turning away until it was over because it looked so revolting. I have to give them cred for showing how awful these things can be as much as I would have preferred to have not seen it. I also got rather furious at Dr. Foster for shooting up morphine BEFORE he operated on a patient (and his OWN BROTHER to boot). He knew the effects this would have on him yet he was fixated on numbing himself to what was going on that he put his patient's very life at needless risk while he (barely) performed the ghastly amputation. Ironically, though, it was through the high number of US Civil War soldiers becoming addicted to morphine that medical science recognized that the body had a PHYSICAL reaction to being deprived of the drug as opposed to a mere moral choice whether to not use it. As odd as it sounds, I actually felt a bit sorry for Mrs. Foster (the doctor's mother) for believing one son a traitor, the other one was being needlessly crippled (instead of having very life saved) AND got abandoned by her purser the ONE person she'd relied on. No, I'm not saying her purser should have stayed a slave or felt he could do no better. However; even though Mrs. Foster's beliefs weren't right, they WERE being trampled on and that can't have been easy for her to have endured. As for the purser? Well, at least he has a suit to start out with so MAYBE he can aspired to be part of something besides being in a theft ring (which will likely soon get busted and not so gently prosecuted). Somewhat brave of Belinda (why did it take THREE EPISODES before anyone said her name?) to insist on being PAID but I wonder if the wages she's insisting on will prove comparable if the Greens have their house taken away and she's forced to find a new employer/home altogether? Also, interesting that she mentioned having used this 'remedy' to keep women who'd been dragged to the manor from bearing children. Good question re whether this pertained to Mr. Green himself or Mrs. Green's father/ brothers/ male relatives? It could be that, as the Civil War diarist Mary Chestnut put it, Mrs. Green likely knows the paternity of every biracial child in a ten mile radius except in her own household whom she considers to have dropped from the sky or pretends to. OK, good luck for the Greens to KEEP their house if Mr. Green refuses to sign the Loyalty Oath. Now, will Emma play with fire re that spy/assassin (and could she have KNOWN about the Matron's toothache to give him the means to do his deed)? I somehow think Miss Hastings and Dr. Hale will wind up burning themselves trying to oust those they think have what they've convinced themselves they deserve. Moreover, Miss Hasting seems to be attracted to power so if Dr. Hale gets burned taking down Dr. Foster, she won't be adverse to go after the latter despite her protests last night. I liked how Mary at least momentarily outmaneuvered Miss Hastings re throwing out 'what would Miss Nightingale have done for the wounded' in terms of the supplies. Yes, I think it would be wise if someone would check a roster of names of Miss Nightingale's nurses to see if Miss Hastings was REALLY on it (or if Miss Hastings is truly her name) but, as tough as it would have been to verify credentials re transatlantic sources back then in peacetime, it would have been even more sporadic in wartime. Wonder if we'll ever find out of Dr. Foster's wife made it all the way to California.

random chance, I realize that this falls under the 'to each their own' category. However; IMO the older a person is trying to look like an 'edgy teen', the MORE sad and desperate they appear - not 'whimsical and trying to have fun' (which folks CAN achieve on their own without distorting their appearances). Moreover, IMO, someone with purple hair in their 90s would more likely evoke a 'they must have meant to dye their white hair BLUE and mixed up the rinse. They must be getting senile'. reaction. Back to the ad itself. I wonder if Walgreen's may have overpurchased purple hair dye and was trying to rid its shelves of it by having the grannies use it?

Glad the cat's okay, bilgistic. Here's a driving pet peeve I'd like to share: Why don't people understand that there's a REASON turn signals are easy to reach and attached to the steering wheel yet so many folks REFUSE to use them? WHY? Worst places of this disuse seems to be in multlayered parking garages with dozens of possible directions to drive in where they expect the folks behind them to instantly know that they are turn left to back into a parking space even though they use NO signal whatsoever to achieve this. Come on!

Would it be too much to ask if the GEICO Peter Pan could crash the Walgreen's purple-dyed haired grannies' high school reunion to dis them for thinking THAT would make them look anything other than sad and desperate and not a MOMENT younger in appearance?

Dr. Gates achieved something I thought could never happen- he actually made Mr. Kimmel seem sympathetic and likable to me! OK, for reasons I'm not getting into now, I never liked his show or 'tude however, the way Mr. Kimmel actually puddled up over the mere mention of his beloved maternal grandparents AND rooted for his paternal-paternal great-grandfather being a 'REAL' Kummel despite not being born of the union of his alleged parents was quite moving. It's puzzling that Great-Grandpa Kimmel was so estranged from his alleged parents that he wasn't included in eithers' obits AND that he never mentioned anything about his own childhood (that seemed to include about six years prior to the Kummels' union and meant that someone had to have been raising him [his unknown co-DNA Donor with Mr. Kummel?]. Also, quite startling to find out about how bad that earthquake was in that Italian island yet while there HAD been mention re how Mr. Kimmel's maternal-paternal great-grandfather had survived by being in a local theater [spun to being in a Naples one], nothing was mentioned about how the rest of the family had had to struggle to survive in that earthquake and aftermath not to mention their struggles in immigrating. Interesting, too, that Mr. Lear's beloved maternal grandmother and even own mother never mentioned having been separated from the maternal grandfather and enduring Russian progroms in the years before being able to come to the US [nor for that matter Mr. Lear's mother not mentioning that she'd originally had ANOTHER given name in Russia]. Interesting,too, that Mr. Lear's father side came from the VERY same Russian village but left at a different time. Could Mr. Lears parents' families had known each other -then had had their own marriage arranged in the States due to being from the same background? All in all, it's surprising NONE of them mentioned to him about what they'd had to endure before reaching the States! Mr. Hader's background was interesting and I WOULD be surprised that the achievements of his ancestors in World War I, the US Civil War and the US American Revolution had not been passed down to him- except that watching these genealogy shows, it seems rather frequent that achievements get buried as well as shameful secrets.

Hmm, not as good as the first installment. OK, It was gritty (and depressing) how Silas could literally corner the desperate Aurelia into that wretched bond. As despicable as that was, it WAS depicted in a more realistic way than the trysts between Dr. Hale and Miss Hastings. I'm not going to pretend that NO nurses were incapable of doing that sort of that back then. However; for the two of them to get completely NAKED in a rather crowded hospital where every single bed was highly prized and with NO chance of anyone knocking on or peeking inside the ONE closed bedroom much less seeing one or both of them in the altogether (and of course being gossiped by everyone besides JUST the all seeing Matron) was rather bogus. I'd think Miss Hasting would at the very least have found a FAR more discreet way to conduct said trysts (and, of course, Miss Nightingale herself would have likely never hired a East End London slum girl to be a nurse much less put up with ANY of her staff having trysts). I have to admit being intrigued by Mr. Green the Confederate RESISTING his paid workers being re-enslaved. Of course, it should be noted that right up to end of the Civil War the Fugitive Slave Act was ENFORCED even in Northern States. Good luck with Dr. Foster's wife determined to galavant ALL the way to California even without her husband in the years before the transcontinental railroad when she was shown needing a servant (?) to dress. OK, the nameless nun got a name (Isabella) but still no word why she was the ONLY nun working there. And even subtracting the rather heinous behavior that Silas has displayed to Aurelia (and MARY) , exactly what benefit is it to the US Army to have HIM be in charge of the hospital food and supplies since he doesn't appear to even remotely being doing his actual job.

Not to worry, glowlights. I did get home without too much difficulty! Since I had today off, I ALSO walked to the mall [with my regular shoes wrapped in plastic] and got some winter boots! Since it looks like I'm going to be walking EVERYWHERE for the next day or so, it's a good thing I got them and they do a good job . No pet peeve here. However; on the way to the mall, someone decided they had to roll down their window and say something 'smart' to me. First off, this person mumbled too much so I have NO idea what he was trying to say. Secondly, we don't know each other from Adam so what was his point in trying to call me out just because I was walking down a busy street? Lastly, one day HIS ride could get stuck or break down so he may have to be the one walking so what's the point of trying to dis a walker?

Thanks! My area is getting hit hard enough that I wound up having to walk two miles to work (and its an essential business) and I'll almost certainly have to deal with a skeletal crew since buses and taxis are virtually non- existent today (and will likely walk BACK after a very long shift). Anyway, your good wishes are a boon before I rev myself for walking into this in a little bit. As soon as all the dust. .. er s- word settles, I'm going out and buy some waterproof high top winter boots- if they're any left in town!

I cosign you! I've already gone over WHY I'm not going to see it so I'll skip my reasoning for now but just tell all those who claim that ' You HAVE to see it and you'll LOVE it!' , nope! To paraphrase George Bernard Shaw, you don't have to eat the whole egg to know that it's rotten and I've gotten enough whiffs conclude it re this movie without needing to eat a single bite - regardless of whether others believe it's a caviar omelette !

Not unless she herself converts to Judaism since she doesn't have the matrilineal DNA required to be automatically Jewish . I suppose her father and grandparents could have had rabbis convert her when she was a child but they didn't seem interested in doing that since they themselves had no interest in Judaism for themselves. I have to admit how touched I was by Miss Rudoph's crying at the thought of an ancestor being on a slave roll at the age of FIVE and identifying with her own small child. What's even more tragic is having to imagine being a mother who not only was enslaved but knew that the baby she's borne was ALSO a slave with no chance of being anything BUT a slave the rest of their lives. As for Mr. Wayan's ancestor who was kidnapped/'kidnapped' by Canadian abolitionists? Perhaps we might consider looking at it from the aspect of someone who'd been a prisoner their entire life who had been burned too many times by false promises to want to chance believing that this new 'offer' could be legit so opted to stay with the Devil he knew rather than chance a new Hell. Well, in any case, he DID stay on the staff long after Emancipation so I suppose he felt comfortable with the family and maybe thought it a boon he'd henceforth have to be compensated for his labors he'd done with nothing more than castoffs from that point on.

Co sign re the winter hysteria. In my area we've had ONE day of school on Tuesday. Monday was understandable due to the MLK Observance but they cancelled it due to yesterday's dusting thru today and already cancelled tomorrow's due to this majorly hyped system. And what's with everyone wiping out milk and bread at the supermarkets? Are there French toast parties going on during winter storms I don't know about [and would they still be on if power outages offed the stoves]? I just wish everyone would learn to accept if not like that these systems are part of life in temperate climates and calmly prepare ahead rather than react to them as though they're imminent tsunamis or Godzillas.

Medically speaking in terms of how appalling the conditions and 'treatments' were in what were termed 'hospitals', they definitely seemed to do their homework. However; why was Mary constantly drawing attention to her widowhood, yet calling herself ' Miss FInney' and not 'Mrs. Strudelmeister' [or whatever her late husband's surname was]? Even if his family had refused to allow a dynastic marriage to a non-noble and compelled him to have a morganatic union with Mary[which would have explained why she was NOT a baroness] , virtually no married or widowed woman besides Lucy Stone in that time would have used her birth surname . Also, had the late baron become a naturalized US citizen before his death [which could have ALSO explained Mary's non-baronessness in that US citizens have always been required to renounce any foreign titles as a condition? However; if the late baron still retained his Germanic subjecthood, then wouldn't that have automatically made Mary a Germanic subject instead of a US citizen since she'd have been the wife/widow of one? Two other minor points. Unless Emma Green had spent her ENTIRE time in a force field bubble while visiting and tending her sister's wounded suitor in that hospital, NO WAY would have had JUST a few tiny blood drops on her skirt's hem rather than have blood and all manner of filth covering a large portion of it. I'll also bet that, in addition to not wanting Emma to be punished too badly for sneaking into the hospital, the reason why the older 'house servant' quickly dragged her out of there then made up a pig slaughter story to explain away Emma's soiled dress was that she knew SHE would be severely punished for not having kept a closer eye on Emma. And who was that lone nun who had no dialogue and even if she was supposed to be a nurse, wouldn't she have been working with at least one other nun rather than being all one her own AND wouldn't she have been wearing a sleeved apron and hat to protect her habit from the filthy conditions she'd be exposed to. Still, I'll be watching to see how this plays out.

OK- here's another classic feud. WAY back in 1936, the movie "Garden of Allah" starring Charles Boyer and Marlene Dietrich was filmed in Death Valley under 100F+ temps. In spite of the fact that it was one of the very first Technicolor movies, with its rather convoluted storyline, it bombed in the US. Anyway, Dietrich scoffed at Boyer putting ice cubes on his hands to combat the horrible heat while she herself stoically endured until finally she had enough and staged a dramatic faint in front of the entire cast and crew. This achieved her desired effect of having the rest of the movie shot back in Hollywood on studio sandboxes. Not too long after the movie's release, it's director Charles Boleslawksi suddenly died at age 48. This prompted Dietrich to say that 'We ALL should have died shooting that movie but he should have died BEFORE. '

Here's another linguistic pet peeve: Using the term 'we' when referring to oneself. Sorry but it just makes you sound pretentious NOT royal [much less clever] so knock it off.

OK, here's [what may not be] an UO re the recently announced "Friends" cast reunion. I think I'll find something else to do when it comes on- as IMO, the show ended about four years too late and I was sick of how annoying and unappealing every single one of the characters had devolved to. It had all the appeal of cereal that had sat in milk that had long since curdled by the time it ended.

Here's a phone pet peeve: Strangers who call my voice mail and leave 'Hello. Are you there?' messages and don't even bother to say who THEY are. No, I'm NOT going to call you back to find out who you are if you couldn't bother to tell me in the voice mail- much less why you called me!

Thanks for clarifying, Foghorn. No way was I gonna watch the show but I just wanted to know if they did this.

JaneDigby- That sounds rather bad. Sad when a biographer is more interested in 'famous' names than the purported subject of their own work. Also, a good biographer gives the readers ALL possible documented reasons for a subject's MO rather than foist their own preconceived and/or agendist notions. BTW, did you by chance pick your name after Lady Ellenborough the 19th century British iconoclast who was known to marry at least nine times and was the inspiration for the work "Lily of the Valley".

Did they in any way refer to David Bowie's passing or did they think NO ONE in their audience knew or cared who he was?

Perhaps the former Mrs. Bowie could have opted to leave "Big Brother" to at least attempt to console her and the late Mr. Bowie's son over the loss of the parent who raised him solo most of his childhood (which could have gone far in healing their own rift) . However; she did not. And Duncan Jones is forty-five years old so he can decide for himself whether he wants her in his life so it's high time she quits blaming the late Mr. Bowie for their son's call on this.

He had the distinction of starring in the flop "Just a Gigolo" in 1978 in which he called his '30 Elvis movies' due to the scathing reception. HOWEVER; it was notable for being the last movie in which Marlene Dietrich appeared in and she sang the title song almost as an autobiographical ode to herself and a warning to Bowie himself. -even though the performers never actually met (they mostly filmed in what was then West Germany and had a mockup made of a set in Paris for Dietrich's scenes then edited the parts together to make it appear as though they interacted). Considering how he DID have a stable life the last 20 years (his creativity not a wit daunted), I wonder if he may have actually listened to the song's lyrics and Dietrich's poignant rendition and that may have helped spur him away from the cliff edge he'd been dangling on for so long? Good for him that he KEPT doing what he loved and created to the very end while being a vital center of a family AND good that he was able to deal with the cancer on his own terms rather than have a bunch of 'Last Sad Days of Bowie' junk foisted on him. RIP, Major Tom.

I know this is decades old and it was supposed to be a joke/spoof (complete with a video featuring both performers playing themselves supposedly having a torrid affair) . HOWEVER I always thought Bette Midler DID sing 'Beast of Burden' better than 'anyone'( including Mick Jagger) if for no other reason than she genuinely sounded as though she was rebelling against that condition that had been imposed on her rather than just whining about being asked to be monogamous.

Pepper Mostly, Glad you enjoyed Miss Ronstadt's IMO lacking bio. I'm afraid, though, this attempt it could enable some hack to attempt a hatchet job that she will have little recourse re self defense since she verified too few autobiographical details in her own work .

Funny new GEICO one with the spy being chased by thugs on a highrise roof and getting cornered with a chopper- only to have his MOTHER call him to complain about the attic squirrels her husband wants to try to take out himself instead of calling an exterminator. Maybe James Bond being an orphan may explain why he's lasted so long.

OK, the new GEICO one with the two guys working out while using derivatives of 'bro' is a head scratcher for me for several reasons. Maybe I'm not in the loop re current slang but is somehow using derivatives of 'bro' supposed to be a frenemy deal? Secondly, the older one appears to not only use have increasingly larger curling weights with each shot of him but he appears to transform to Herculean proportions so does this mean the commercial was shot over the course of quite a few months while the older performer increased his strength and muscle mass OR was it entirely done via CGI and I'm too dumb to spot it? Now if only the older one can drop his heaviest curling weight on Peter Pan to permanently ground him.