[Small Talk: Chili's]

1.6 Balance on one, two, three, four, and five body parts.

Five? Like...hands, feet, and head?

 

1.8 Demonstrate the relationship of under, over, behind, next to, through, right, left, up, down,

forward, backward, and in front of by using the body and an object.

This standard is clearly based on the teachings of

, no?

[Small Talk: Chili's]

Oh I don't listen to any particular movie podcasts, but on shows like Pop Culture Happy Hour or Slate Culture Gabfest or Pop Rocket movies do get discussed from time to time. For example, on the latest episode of PCHH Linda Holmes and Bob Mondello gave their run-down of things they enjoyed at the Toronto International Film Fest. Oh, and of course movies are discussed on Doug Loves Movies, but usually only after they're out (when Doug introduces his guests he always asks them what movies they've seen lately). 

[Small Talk: Chili's]

I usually don't see ads on TV except while watching sports and I don't think I've seen any TV ads for any of those movies. I learn about upcoming movies through a combination of word-of-mouth, podcasts, and internet (tumblr, this board, and facebook, mostly). 

 

That's probably why I only really knew about 6 of the movies listed. 

[Small Talk: Chili's]

I definitely plan to see Addicted to Fresno, Freeheld, and The Martian. Likely I will see none of them in the theatre, though. 

[S02.E08: Wildfire]

I definitely watched this entire episode online last year, I think on youtube though I could be remembering that wrong, with all of the original music. I remember because I watched it after I brought up the song "The Leader of the Pack" in one of my classes and none of my students knew what I was talking about except one girl who was like, "Oh, that song was in 90210!", so when I got home that day of course I had to rewatch it.

[Extra Hot Great]

Well, I too do most of the speaking/singing/what-have-you along with the production company logo that people have mentioned. Definitely "Grrr, argh" and "That's some bad hat, Harry" and "and danced by the light of the moon." To add one more, I always say "I made this" (in baby voice, of course) along with 1013 productions.

 

That whole production company thing might be my only TV ritual, though. I really can't think of any others. 

[S02.E13: Future Tense]

I feel a little bad that I'm so glad to see Amy and Reagan break up because i really did like Amy having a girlfriend, but Yvette Monreal is such a terrible actress and it made all of the scenes between them kind of painful for me. However I really have no interest in seeing Amy get involved with Felix. Ugh.

 

I agree with others that it was nice to see Amy and Karma and their friendship take center stage in this episode. This was a really well-balanced episode in terms of focusing on those two but still making good use of Lauren and Shane. 

[The X-Files Revival: The Truth is in Here]

We put some of the tension back in that was relieved by them being together. It added to the storytelling opportunities.

This shows such creative laziness and lack of understanding about the Mulder/Scully dynamic that I don't even know where to begin. I'm not surprised, because CC has always been stupid about that particular element of the show, but...argh. 

[Small Talk: Chili's]

So, not sure if it's spread all over but we have a new prime minister! YAY!

I have heard that great news. I have a question, though. What's the deal with the onions?

[Underrated X-Files Episodes]

Drive is only on that list because of Cranston/Breaking Bad. It's an alright episode, but come on.

I guess I disagree because I've always been a big fan of "Drive". It's not a top tier episode, but I'd put it on the second tier down. I thought that was a popular opinion, though, so I wouldn't have named it as an underrated episode. But maybe it is. 

 

Apart from that I thought the list was pretty much garbage from my perspective. All of the episodes were blah/forgettable or seasons 8/9 (so I just don't care). 

 

The Pine Bluff Variant

I agree with that one. I've always liked it a lot and was surprised when we were choosing best/worst by seasons or maybe when we were doing the elimination game that it's apparently not liked by many. 

[S02.E03: Summer Storm]

And is never resolved. Which I guess doesn't strike very true to me. Most people I know had their sexual identity pretty well ironed out, if not exactly verbalized, by this age.

I could (but won't) provide a fairly lengthy list of people I know personally, including myself, who didn't have their sexual (or gender) identity anything close to ironed out by that age. 

 

Dyan's answering machine message may be the best thing ever. That thing totally ruins all his stupid "bad, dangerous to know" vibes he says he has. Seriously, Dylan, listen to your answering machine!

For real, that must be one of the dorkiest outgoing messages I've ever heard. Yikes. 

[Show & Yell: Season 3 Ends With A Whimper]

I agree with Joe on the best player. I wasn't expecting Pete to do much, but he really impressed me.

Me too. I found that I really enjoyed watching him. He wasn't exciting, but I guess I just liked his approach. He was capable (except for some unfortunate blanking in the final game), and he took the games seriously without being obnoxious. I found myself thinking he'd be welcome at my game nights. 

 

Kevin Nealon was good too, though, so I think they were both good choices for top celebrity player. 

[Discuss the Games]

I'm okay with Scary Poppins. In a way it's the same premise as Clue-Boom--except instead of timing being the decider it's a balloon. Really in the end it's that same element of valid questions combined with luck.

The major difference I see between these two games in terms of enjoyment of watching is that Clue-Boom has the hot potato aspect, which makes it fast-paced and a little chaotic. For me that's a big part of why I enjoy it. Scary Poppins seems to take the luck aspect and the explosive aspect and combine them with a much more boring game.

 

Be Kind, Rewind

I really like this one. I think it's my favorite new game.

[Small Talk: Chili's]

Cider donuts are awesome and yummy (and yes, are cake donuts) and a great part of the fall. Oh fall...what a concept. It feels so distant given the weather we've been having this week and the fun times I've had teaching in a 90ºF classroom (not even a slight exaggeration, btw). 

 

I don't know much about the Apple watch, though a student had one last year and demonstrated some of the features to me. I have a Pebble, which I'm very fond of. It doesn't do nearly as much stuff as an Apple watch, but I mostly like the notifications, music controls, and fitbit-like capabilities. 

[Show & Yell: That Choke Isn't Funny Anymore]

Regardless of whether Atlanta was a gettable clue (probably should have been but I think Michelle was already caught up on The Walking Dead part and was too focused on that) the bigger issue I had with it was that The Walking Dead and Sesame Street are not comparable culturally. One is a show that's been around for 40 years, that most people have seen and I'm willing to bet at least one person in that room had guest starred on the other is a fairly new show watched by a much smaller audience who is into sci-fi/horror/gore.

In fairness, The Walking Dead is the most watched show in cable TV history and is one of the most watch shows on TV across the board, so it's not exactly niche. I don't watch it myself, but I think it's fair to say it's a Big Deal even if its cultural impact isn't nearly as far-reaching and significant as Sesame Street's.

 

But the more important fact when it comes to the game is that the clues don't rely on any knowledge of the show. They're just words that are related to the show, but the words are related to plenty of other things, too. 

 

This is why I had said that it's tricky to label something 'common knowledge.' I admitted there are gaps in my pop culture knowledge, as I'm sure there are gaps in yours.

Yeah, nobody knows everything. And not knowing about a particular celebrity does not mean that a person is generally not "in the know". A person can be very tuned in when it comes to pop culture but certain names/stories/etc. just don't particularly catch their attention or sink into their memory. 

[You know you have an X-Files problem when...]

Yeah, I tried going there a couple days ago and it didn't load but I didn't think anything of it but it still won't. Chrisnu's still working, at least.

[S03.E09: Everything's Coming Up Jonas]

For me the quickest way to get me to guess Forest Whitaker would have been to mention Last King of Scotland (that would have done it instantly) and Good Morning, Vietnam (for that he would be my second guess after Robin Williams). But I can understand how he'd be a kind of challenging pull for a lot of people, so I think it might have been a good idea to clue his first name either by something like "His first name is the name of a place with lots of trees. A synonym for 'woods'" or "Has the same first name as Mr. Gump, the Tom Hanks character". Because if you can get the person trying to come up with an actor with a first name of Forest I think most people would get it. Basically, a lot of the time if a person's name is also an actual word I think it's a good idea to consider cluing the word rather than only describing the person.

[Small Talk: Chili's]

All the kids back to school now?

I mean, I don't have any kids of my own, but my students come back tomorrow. I've been back since yesterday.

 

I don't recall "1st day of school" pictures being a big thing when I grew up.

It was a thing in my family for Kindergarten only. Here is my first day of school (I'm the littlest one, with pigtails):

Not exactly the most posed picture, as you can see. I guess my mom or dad just figured any old snapshot would do. I think somewhere there's also a picture of me getting off the bus at the end of the day, but I'm not certain of that.

[Show & Yell: You Can't Almost Spell 'All-Star' Without 'Paul Scheer']

In defence of nanaparticles, or whatever her grandkids calls her, "you can get yourself clean" is an actual line from "Y.M.C.A." Just not the one Jane was looking for.

Yeah, during the episode I thought it was ridiculous that Jane was making fun of Ginger for those lyrics considering those are actually lyrics to the song. So in my living room at home I was mocking Jane Lynch for ignorantly (I assume) mocking Ginger. Then I was surprised to hear Tara also making fun of it. Is it really that big a goof to give lyrics from a different part of the song? It seems like an easy mistake to me and a lot less mockable than just making shit up, which some of the other people did.

 

Man, I completely agree with this line from the podcast: "Not a good idea for civilians to try to match celebrities' charisma."

Absolutely. Leave the mugging to the celebs. I didn't actually find Brian particularly obnoxious, but I think that's partly because after his intro I was bracing myself fort he worst and then when he wasn't totally over-the-top I was relieved.

[Extra Hot Great]

It feels weird to say this as a big-time X-Phile, but I actually disagree with the acceptance of "The Unnatural" into the canon. I think Sarah's description of it as not being very substantial but being a nice bittersweet story about baseball is dead on, actually. I basically consider it to be a lovely and entertaining episode of...something. But that something isn't really The X-Files. Mulder and Scully are barely in it and not at all connected to the actual x-file. Scully is out of character (I like the attempt to explain it as weekend behavior but I don't buy it). The actually alien story is as likely as not just a fairy tale made up by bizarro Arthur Dales. It just doesn't really fit with the show, imo. And I say that as someone who really likes the lighter episodes. Having said all that, I still really enjoyed listening to the submission and discussion. And I know from my many years of discussing the show online that my opinion is a minority one.

Also, I want to back up Tara on the Beverly Hills vs. 90210 issue. Because the thing is, when people (by which I mean me and my sisters/friends/peers) talk about the show we always call it "90210". Never "Beverly Hills" and rarely-if-ever "Beverly Hills 90210". Just "90210". That's what it's called, as far as I'm concerned.

[Show & Yell: Great Scott]

Ooh, now I'm having eager thoughts of a special episode of Show & Yell with former HGN civilian contestants discussing behind-the-scenes stuff with Tara and Joe. 

[S01.E20: Spring Training]

Wow, I always look at the visual aids for the entertainment factor, but this is a case where it really seems essential just to see Dylan in that baseball uniform. Because...wow. I actually always found Dylan attractive (and still usually do when I look at the caps even with the ridiculous clothing!) but good lord that is not a good look for him at all. Yikes.

 

Oh man, and then I started scrolling and the Steve Sanders outfits are unforgivable.

[S01.E19: April is the Cruelest Month]

I realize I come from a place of privilege but so do these kids and I can't believe they're excited over an 1190.

I agree. As Sarah I think said on the podcast, that's doesn't seem like something to be so excited about. Now, I took the SATs in 1997 which was after they recentered the scores (which happened after my oldest sister took them and before my I did) so I know that the 90210 kids' scores would have been higher if they'd been my age, but even so the way they at least paint Brandon as a total brain, that does not seem at all impressive.

 

ETA: I was curious so I looked up a score converter so I could better understand these scores (because they'd compare with what I knew in high school) and an 1190 would have been more like a 1260 if they'd taken the test after 1995. 

 

And maybe this is an urban legend I've simply believed for over 20 years but I always thought you really couldn't score below a 200, so maybe Donna really did spell her name wrong?

Donna said she got over 300 on both parts, didn't she?

[S01.E18: It's Only a Test]

Just for the record, I teach high school and based on how my students approach them I'd say that SATs are still very much a big deal to students and they seriously stress out about them. Much more than I did when I was in high school (class of '98), but I'm not sure I can compare the attitudes in general because I think I was generally more chill about grades/tests/applications than a lot of other people were. Actually, I had at least a few friends who took SAT prep courses, which I thought was kind of ridiculous (I'm sure I would have felt differently if I hadn't been confident I'd do well). But seriously, my students get pretty crazy and panicky about SATs.

[S03.E06: Mr. Smith Goes To Game Night]

I have no problem with the black actress clue but I wouldn't even need that in this case. I don't know any other actor by name (series regulars) by name and in a lot of way she IS that show.

I agree. Any physical description is unnecessary when someone is THE star of a big show. Name the show and you've got the actor. Unless the guesser just doesn't know about the show, in which case you're probably out of luck even with physical descriptions. Sadly in this case it seemed neither clue-giver could come up with the name of the show, which mostly just strikes me as weird and surprising.