Mondrianyone

I loved how Abigail stood there brandishing her buzzer like Joan of Arc holding her sword, or maybe the Statue of Liberty with her torch. I thought she might say she decided to move to NYC after reading Eloise, which is when I decided to (even though I lived close enough to hop on the subway). Very impressive win, and I hope she's in for the long haul (unless she pulls something really annoying--bottom buttons don't do it for me!). ;o)

All I could think of was that the pot kept the steam more enclosed, to help stop the eggs from drying out. That said, I would gag on eggs that gloopy, although I'm always hearing that that's how the French insist on cooking them. I can't remember ever having scrambled eggs in France, but I'd've sent them back if they were served looking like Big Bird's vomit. Sorry, GZ. That guest really seemed to be auditioning his brains out. Did not like him at all, and the eggs didn't strike me as anything special. It was a true delight to watch Sunny eat hers, though. Who needs cutlery? I would actually make that cocktail, and I think I will this summer. It looked delicious.

Julie got on my last nerve today, with all those dumb, unnecessary guesses and that inexplicable wager in FJ. Worst of all, she guaranteed I'd have to watch Eric squint through at least one more game. Maybe he can use some of his winnings to buy a pair of glasses in the right prescription.

This most recent show, she practically fell on top of Katie while jumping halfway down the counter to grab some food that she'd demanded a piece of (and was very obviously ignored). I don't understand how she thinks that any of this is a good look for her. She seems to want to come across as bellowing, obnoxious, greedy, oblivious to how people perceive her. She didn't used to be like this, so either she has some issues or this is her deliberately re-creating her image to be loud and tough and "street." It isn't working.

I remember that episode, and I remember posting about the hugeness of the cake slices and how revolting the whole thing was. But giant-size portions are kind of a thing with Ina. A friend of mine has an annual women-only potluck dinner, and one year I brought Ina's lemon bars. I cut them in exactly the same way she'd cut hers--diamond shapes, and each bar was the size of a paving block. Almost no one ate any of my offering, which was puzzling, because those lemon bars are divine. So I waited a few years and brought them again, same dinner, same women. The second time I cut them in normal-person sizes, and people were inhaling them and filling their pockets with them to bring to their husbands or whatever (i.e., eat them in the car on the way home). My conclusion was that the Ina-size bars were terrifying to people.

As a white person, I'd probably do the Brando thing. But I also worked on one of Terry McMillan's recent books, so I think I should get partial credit for that. I like a cat named Stella. We used to have an albino parakeet named Blanche. So now all that's missing is a dog named Stanley, and we can act out highlights from Streetcar right here on the J! forum!

And the bartender says, "What is this, some kind of joke?" Rim shot.

It might not be technically correct either, because there were still lots of pay phones in NYC long after the booths started being phased out. The pay phones were basically out in the open, with just a kind of shielded head space to ward off ambient sounds. The booths were structures that enclosed you totally when you made a call. I should say enclosed both you and the overwhelming stench of urine in the later days. They were adorable, but they became public toilets. Couldn't agree more that Internet café was boneheaded. I figured out Baskin-Robbins instantly, but my husband (who always gets to play the dopey boob on this forum) got the 31 part but couldn't get any further. He did get both Oxford and Cardiff, which I just stared at blankly, so he's vindicated.

But not so princely either. ;o)

I'm going to start telling people I was born on Prince Barren Island.

Okay, since no one else is here, a few random thoughts on the most recent episode (mother/daughter vs. mother/son): It's a law of the universe that whenever someone on a team claims to be a master haggler/super negotiator, that person will without fail either accept the first price the seller throws out or counter with some ridiculously insignificant lower price, like $2 less on a $100 item. (Or as in tonight's show, in addition to the rule mentioned above, Lara will do the negotiating or the seller will bargain against himself.) Most of these contestants couldn't dicker their way out of a paper bag. And Lara still needs to back the F up. What she's doing is totally not in the spirit of hosting a game show--i.e., bargaining with a seller, finding a team a particular item, telling contestants exactly what to do with a piece. It's like if Alex Trebek were to answer for a player on Jeopardy! She also needs to stop calling the show Flea Market Flep. Or I wish she would. Please make it against the rules for contestants to say that the other team is "going down!" I may have to take a chain saw to my TV if I hear that one more time. I liked the gray-and-white fabric the mother/daughter team used on their chairs, but the coppery paint job was a little weird. And I wonder why the seller of those chairs sold the same pair to one team for $8 and the other for $1. That seemed sketchy. I'm sure there were other things, but I can't remember them now.

Yeah, but did you get "Carpe Noctem"? My college was an answer--I think that might be a first!

Yeah, I did get to see/hear all the George references. My DVR wasn't nice enough to cut those off as well. I was really glad the other team won.

No kidding? Well, that's a little embarrassing. For them, if they actually keep the prize money.

MY DVR, bless it, cut off both the very beginning and the very end of tonight's show. So I don't know, but I'm guessing that these "celebs" were playing for charity? I also missed the intros, so I didn't know who the actresses were. I used to watch Katie Brown's show a million years ago. She totally disappeared off the radar (or maybe just my radar?), so it was strange suddenly seeing her again. She didn't seem to know much about how to use any of the tools, which was odd for a DIY expert. Tonight I actually paid attention to the flip list, and it did seem pretty optional.

All of the above! Here's some info. Although the engineering professor doesn't know what she's talking about. "Tinker" doesn't begin to mean the same thing as "MacGyver." I didn't know what the FJ category was, so when I heard the clue, I said "Rube Goldberg," but that didn't sound right. As soon as I looked up and saw that the category was TV Characters, it was an instaget. I like Jessica, too. Glad she won! But she could've wagered more boldly, especially in that DD that was close to the top of the category. That's my main gripe with women players. Couldn't fault Annie on that score.

That was the other possibility that occurred to me. Whichever way the accident came about, I'm left with little doubt that he caused it. And conveniently, we have only his word for what happened. The three strikes law couldn't apply to a better person.

Okay, I'll concede that Annie was annoying, today more than yesterday. I think I liked her better when she seemed almost too nervous to speak. But at least she saved us from the sparkling (and swaying) bowl of effervescence that was Rachel. If she'd won and then held on for a few days, some of us here would be jumping off bridges by midweek. Great story, too, Rachel. I got lost and then I asked for directions. She should have her own talk show.

Thanks, Zahdii. I do wonder, with that harridan sociopath he has for a mother, if he ever even had a chance to be anything but what he turned out to be. I also wonder if he was really the one driving way back when.

Wow. You mean that stupid-looking marshmallow of a kid who could barely conceal his smile while talking about the death of his friend? I'm not surprised about the murder charge, but anything that involved actual movement really would surprise me. Not that he wasn't raised well, of course. Do you have a link to this info?

I haven't either, so I also don't know. I guess it depressed me. I tend to prefer the comforting fiction that everyone has a terrific job they love. Now I need to delve into something that's been mystifying me for decades: What's the difference between being "from Topeka, Kansas" and being "originally from Topeka, Kansas"? I've always suspected it's a way of disguising how many contestants are from Southern California. Or is this another thing the contestants choose themselves?

I wonder who here could possibly be qualified to diagnose Katie as either anorexic or bulimic. Maybe she's just naturally thin. There are people like that. I married one of them. I agree with MerBearHou--she looks very healthy to me. Her skin is beautiful, her hair is always gleaming. I, too, wish that she'd go to a voice coach, but other than that (and some of the stupid dishes she agrees to prepare--they're all guilty of that, though), she seems like a lovely person. I guess it's easier to pin an eating disorder on her than say, Gee, isn't she lucky to have that metabolism!

I also had to check my mental calendar to make sure it wasn't April Fools' Day after the first two intros. "An unemployed bartender, a go-go dancer, and . . . [I was expecting] a crack-house manager!" In retrospect it seems really kind of mean to introduce someone as unemployed. I can't remember ever hearing them do that before (which doesn't mean they haven't), even though there've been plenty of contestants who've themselves admitted to being between jobs. Way to be respectful. And on International Women's Day, too. I was glad Annie won for that reason alone.

Crazy rerun (new to me) today, involving two Children of the Corn cast members (who I thought were brother and sister but turned out to be bf/gf--maybe both!) suing a former roommate. Another instance of JJ just not getting it. The def was kind of a mouth breather, so although he was essentially in the right, she decided he was too inarticulate to possibly have a point. Skipping over all the details, I'll say he got screwed, and she was wrong about almost everything. It was brave of him to even consider going to sleep in the same apartment with those two, though. He's lucky he didn't end up dead in the cornfield. I may be coming to the end of my JJ career. My husband says I watch because I want the illusion that there's still some justice in the world, but I feel like I'm getting that less and less from this corner of it. I mostly watch now to see the video shots of my old hometown. Probably not worth it.

I'm so sorry for your struggle and sadness, configdotsys. I don't want to be presumptuous, because I've never been where you are now, and I hope not to be for a very long time. But if you can, try to let your friends back into your life. Even the most loyal people can grow tired of being pushed away, and eventually they stop asking. I would hate for you to make your grief a permanent condition. If I knew you were nearby, I'd take you out to lunch myself. Counseling is an excellent idea. So is a bit of faking it till you make it. I have been there. I wish you peace and the possibility of joy again in the future.