Small Talk: The Quiver

[lemotomato]

I don't know how available they are in other parts of the country, but in California we have lots of white peaches. They're always sweet and not tart like yellow peaches. 

[Mellowyellow]

30 minutes ago, lemotomato said:

I don't know how available they are in other parts of the country, but in California we have lots of white peaches. They're always sweet and not tart like yellow peaches. 

Yes!!!!! White peaches are the only ones I (and people I know) can eat in Australia! They are super sweet! I thought we aussies just grew sour yellow peaches and people in other countries had super sweet yellow peaches!

Yellow peach does have a slightly better smell though imo!  

[scarynikki12]

We get awesome peaches every summer thanks to Georgia being only one state away.  They sell for couple bucks per paper bag when in season.  And the bags hold anywhere between one and two dozen, depending on the size of the actual fruit.  I like the white ones a lot but I LOVE the yellow ones.  @Mellowyellow if you ever decide to visit Georgia (or a surrounding state), make sure you're there during peach season so you can stock up.

[lemotomato]

I love yellow peaches. I think white peaches are great-- they have a crisper, more delicate flavor-- but there's nothing quite like the sweet/tartness of yellow peaches that screams "It's summer time!"

[Mellowyellow]

@scarynikki12 are you from the south? Okay, totally silly thing but I LOVE ALTON BROWN (have seen ALL of Good Eats three times and Cutthroat Kitchen twice) and he's from the south and he's always talking about peaches and biscuits and gravy (I still think biscuits suspiciously remind me of scones), coconut cake and pie!!!!!! The boys and I want to drive around the US one day and find good pie and cake! And lobster rolls! Although I don't think that is from the south!

ETA: We even tried to drive to the peach farm for 2 years in a row to pick yellow peaches from the tree. They smelled amazing but still as sour as heck! Ended up making peach jelly and cobblers with them! 

Edited January 25, 2018 by Mellowyellow

[BkWurm1]

23 minutes ago, Mellowyellow said:

@scarynikki12 are you from the south? Okay, totally silly thing but I LOVE ALTON BROWN (have seen ALL of Good Eats three times and Cutthroat Kitchen twice) and he's from the south and he's always talking about peaches and biscuits and gravy (I still think biscuits suspiciously remind me of scones), coconut cake and pie!!!!!! The boys and I want to drive around the US one day and find good pie and cake! And lobster rolls! Although I don't think that is from the south!

ETA: We even tried to drive to the peach farm for 2 years in a row to pick yellow peaches from the tree. They smelled amazing but still as sour as heck! Ended up making peach jelly and cobblers with them! 

I love Good Eats and Alton Brown as well. I have 234 episodes on my DVR.   

Biscuits are not like scones at all.  Biscuits have a much lighter, fluffier and flakier texture.  Much more tender than scones.  

[Mellowyellow]

On 1/23/2018 at 10:18 AM, Starfish35 said:

So I've been wondering what our resident gem expert (hi @Mellowyellow) thinks about Princess Eugenie's engagement ring.  I'd never heard of a padparadscha sapphire before, but they're beautiful.

Hehe thought I'd let you know, padparadschas are now trending on Ebay with various businesses starting to hock off stones they claim are pads! 

[tv echo]

I guess it's now a prerequisite that you have to be able to sing in order to be cast on a CW show...

Riverdale Sings! A Carrie-Themed Musical Episode Slated to Air in April
By Dave Nemetz / January 24 2018, 10:00 AM PST
https://tvline.com/2018/01/24/riverdale-musical-episode-carrie-season-2-the-cw-april/

Quote

The CW teen drama will unveil its first musical episode later this season, TVLine has learned, as Riverdale High’s drama department mounts a production of Carrie: The Musical. The episode — airing Wednesday, April 18 at 8/7c — will feature the cast singing a whopping 11 songs.

The school’s production of the Stephen King horror classic will be directed by Betty’s BFF Kevin Keller (referred to as a “future Tony winner” — ha! — by the tongue-in-cheek press release), with snarky redhead Cheryl Blossom playing the lead role of telekinetically blessed teen outcast Carrie White. (Good thing red is her color.) Veronica will play mean-girl antagonist Chris, with Betty and Archie playing golden couple Sue and Tommy.

Edited January 25, 2018 by tv echo

[tv echo]

This is an interesting article...

20 years ago, Dawson’s Creek introduced a love triangle that changed teen soaps forever
By Constance Grady  Jan 25, 2018
https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/1/25/16911234/dawsons-creek-20-years-love-triangle-joey-pacey

Quote

But the real reason we remember Dawson’s Creek 20 years later is something that happened 19 years ago, in the fall of 1999. That’s when a flailing creative team — almost entirely new to the show after a massive staff turnover — was working desperately to come up with new ideas for a show that was quickly running out of story. To save Dawson’s Creek, they had to fundamentally change its formula.

That’s when Dawson’s Creek went from being about title character Dawson and his earnest, possessive love for Joey to being about Joey herself, torn between Dawson and his best friend Pacey.

And in making that change, Dawson’s Creek found itself moving away from the old-fashioned teen love story that reigned supreme in the ’80s and early ’90s, and toward a kind of romance that would become increasingly popular among teen soaps over the next two decades. It moved away from a love story built on the unshakable, unquestionable belief that women belonged to men and that was all there was to it — and toward a love story that could at least gesture at valuing women’s agency and independent worth.
*  *  *
In his book The Billion-Dollar Kiss, former Dawson’s Creek writer Jeffrey Stepakoff describes how Berlanti came up with the plot twist that would save the show. Berlanti, he says, had a simple pitch: “Pacey kisses Joey.”

Quote

What? I remember thinking. “You can’t do that. Joey is Dawson’s girl. Remember, they are soul mates, and that is the closest thing we have to a franchise around here.”

But Greg was so impassioned, as was his usual state, that he jumped up, grabbed a cheerful color marker from Tammy, and drew a triangle on one of the boards, writing “Pacey” at one point, “Joey” at another, and “Dawson” at another. “No, I’m serious,” he said. “Pacey kisses Joey. Think about it!”

And that’s when it hit me. Of course! A love triangle. Heresy is exactly what the show needed. Not only did we have a story, we had a story engine, a dramatic problem that would create many other stories.

*  *  *
So the introduction of the love triangle fundamentally destabilized the show. It suggested the possibility of a universe in which Joey did not belong to Dawson, an idea to which everyone involved (even Pacey, whose crush on Joey kicked off an existential crisis) reacted with deep and profound horror.
*  *  *
This romantic values system is fundamental to a certain kind of pop cultural romance, in which sex and love and ownership are messily intertwined, so that when a man chooses to fall in love with a woman, he takes ownership of her. A woman, in contrast, has no choice: She falls in love because she is loved, and in so doing, she cedes ownership of herself.
*  *  *
Nor did the story entirely avoid the idea of Joey as a prize for Pacey to win. Viewers rooted for Pacey and Joey to be together not because they thought Joey loved Pacey more — her feelings had to remain ambiguous for the love triangle to work — but because they thought Pacey deserved her more than Dawson did. Structurally, as the Joey-Pacey storyline took over the show, Joey stopped representing the prize that demonstrated that the world revolved around Dawson and started representing the prize that demonstrated that Pacey had become a better man than Dawson.
*  *  *
In the 20 years since Dawson’s Creek premiered, teen soap after teen soap has embraced the Joey-Pacey template. They start off with a love story that depends on the heroine sacrificing herself again and again to a chiseled-jaw romantic hero — and then suddenly switch halfway through to pair the heroine with the hero’s charismatic best friend instead.

Veronica Mars had Veronica go from Duncan to Logan. Teen Wolf sent Lydia from Jackson to Stiles. And one of the most recent examples, Riverdale, made the switch in record time, by sending Betty from Archie to Jughead well before the end of season one.

These storylines never quite succeed in allowing the heroine to have value as her own person: Consistently, she is treated as a structural prize offered to the romantic hero whenever he proves that he is a good enough man. But it’s now something of a TV trope that the hero must prove his worthiness by prioritizing the heroine’s agency and giving her the ability to make her own choices. In the world of teen soap opera love stories, that’s a genuine step forward — and it was pioneered by Dawson’s Creek.

Edited January 25, 2018 by tv echo

[scarynikki12]

That article misspelled Beverly Hills 90210. Dawson’s cemented this change but 90120 got the ball rolling for teen soaps in the US and did the major, game changing, love triangle first.

[BkWurm1]

Ugh.   So I get to blame Berlanti for one of my most hated tropes finding a surge of popularity.  I hate love triangles.  The one in the middle always takes so many hits.  

[scarynikki12]

30 minutes ago, BkWurm1 said:

Ugh.   So I get to blame Berlanti for one of my most hated tropes finding a surge of popularity.  I hate love triangles.  The one in the middle always takes so many hits.  

It also tends to make all parties look stupid. The middle seems to either not be able to make make a decision (Dylan) or comes across as liking all the attention (Kelly), while the two sides seem like dumbasses who are more interested in winning (Brandon and Dylan) than finding someone who may want only them (Brenda and Kelly). 

[scarynikki12]

13 hours ago, Mellowyellow said:

@scarynikki12 are you from the south? Okay, totally silly thing but I LOVE ALTON BROWN (have seen ALL of Good Eats three times and Cutthroat Kitchen twice) and he's from the south and he's always talking about peaches and biscuits and gravy (I still think biscuits suspiciously remind me of scones), coconut cake and pie!!!!!! The boys and I want to drive around the US one day and find good pie and cake! And lobster rolls! Although I don't think that is from the south!

ETA: We even tried to drive to the peach farm for 2 years in a row to pick yellow peaches from the tree. They smelled amazing but still as sour as heck! Ended up making peach jelly and cobblers with them! 

I am, Tennessee specifically, so I get many peach benefits come summertime.

[tv echo]

I am currently unable to 'like' any posts, and I am also unable to see any 'likes' on my posts. Is anyone else having this problem?

I assume it's a result of the server update and will be fixed eventually.

Edited January 26, 2018 by tv echo

[Mellowyellow]

1 minute ago, tv echo said:

I am currently unable to 'like' any posts, and I am also unable to see any 'likes' on my posts. Is anyone else having this problem?

Me! I can like someones post but that's the only like I can see so it looks like I'm the only person who likes that post. 

I thought maybe it was done on purpose? No counting of likes?

[tv echo]

I found the thread on this issue in the Bugs forum here. Now I can 'like' someone's post, but I just can't see others' likes of my or any posts.

It sounds like the problem is being worked on.

Edited January 26, 2018 by tv echo

[lemotomato]

I'm glad it's just a bug and not an intentional change. 

[BkWurm1]

I'm glad Craigs working on making the number of likes visible again.  Also, thanks Tv Echo, without the link I wouldn't looked to the far right for the like button.  

[tennisgurl]

Oh good, I just came here to see what was going won with number of likes! I saw where you could like posts, but I couldn't see how to see how to see the number of likes posts have. I was worried that it was intentional. 

I missed the live thread a lot last night!

[insomniadreams88]

3 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I missed the live thread a lot last night!

Me too! But it would've been worse if it had been last season. There were S5 episodes I only made it through because of the live thread. Otherwise ... 

[Delphi]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Oh good, I just came here to see what was going won with number of likes! I saw where you could like posts, but I couldn't see how to see how to see the number of likes posts have. I was worried that it was intentional. 

 Right!? I was so confused and slightly worried that I wouldn't be able to see my validation anymore. 

[Kymmi]

On 1/24/2018 at 11:14 PM, BkWurm1 said:

I love Good Eats and Alton Brown as well. I have 234 episodes on my DVR.   

Biscuits are not like scones at all.  Biscuits have a much lighter, fluffier and flakier texture.  Much more tender than scones.  

And there are variations in biscuits.  Buttermilk biscuits are very different from cream biscuits.  I make a version of William & Sonoma's Smoky Bacon Biscuit Dressing for Christmas every year, but use buttermilk in place of cream biscuits.  Mmmmm .... biscuits.

[scarynikki12]

My scone recipe is basically a buttermilk biscuit with extra sugar. I like traditional scones but this recipe suits my tastes better. 

[tennisgurl]

My daily validation has returned! Praise Beebo!

[SmallScreenDiva]

I find the green box for the number of likes annoying and intrusive. Why was it changed from just the plain number?

[leopardprint]

51 minutes ago, SmallScreenDiva said:

I find the green box for the number of likes annoying and intrusive. Why was it changed from just the plain number?

I agree it is very distracting. At least make the box the same size and color as the heart. Or put the number in the heart. 

Edited January 26, 2018 by leopardprint

[lemotomato]

I'm using Chrome on my computer and Safari on my phone, I don't see a green box.

edit: Hmm, weird.

Edited January 26, 2018 by lemotomato

[Mellowyellow]

I'm using Chrome on the computer and it's there in all it's green glory! My favourite colour so I don't mind!

On that note are we allowed to change usernames? Cuz I feel a bit silly with my username considering I'm always pining over green gems.

[Starfish35]

I see it, and I'm using Safari.

[bijoux]

10 minutes ago, lemotomato said:

I'm using Chrome on my computer and Safari on my phone, I don't see a green box.

I'm on Chrome on my PC right now. Can you check the post I've quoted to see if you can see it now that I liked it?

[lemotomato]

2 minutes ago, bijoux said:

I'm on Chrome on my PC right now. Can you check the post I've quoted to see if you can see it now that I liked it?

Yup, I see it.

[JamieLynn832002]

I'm using Amazon Silk, which I think is a weird version of Chrome, on my Fire HD 8 and I don't see a green likes box either. I can see the number of likes but no box.

[catrox14]

It looks like the heart doesn't stay filled in either after clicking it which makes it seem like I didn't click  it. I'm so confused.

ETA: I'm using FF and see the green box

[SleepDeprived]

16 minutes ago, Mellowyellow said:

I'm using Chrome on the computer and it's there in all it's green glory! My favourite colour so I don't mind!

On that note are we allowed to change usernames? Cuz I feel a bit silly with my username considering I'm always pining over green gems.

I'm using Firefox and there was a green box around the number of likes of posts I was liking earlier (as well as a heart-explosion graphic-type thing) but they're gone now. Maybe they fixed that colored-like box thing.

Yes. You can change your username. I think the mods allow you to change your username only once every 30 days, though. It's under Account Settings of your profile.

[tennisgurl]

I am using Chrome on my laptop and my phone and they're both green. It isn't a deal breaker or anything, but its weird. I wonder if its a bug, or a feature? 

[BunsenBurner]

By any chance on the Flash site is it red?

[Mellowyellow]

13 minutes ago, SleepDeprived said:

Yes. You can change your username. I think the mods allow you to change your username only once every 30 days, though. It's under Account Settings of your profile.

ohh thanks! Now I gotta work out if I can change my A03 account as well before I dare make a universal change! Lol maybe it's not worth the work! 

[catrox14]

I didn't really like Charmed but I watched it from time to time. But seriously. Who writes this article? That show was about as feminist as it gets. WTF? LOL. And Holly Marie Coombs is not a happy camper

https://twitter.com/H_Combs/status/956918071515475969

Do you guys know how to get Tweets to embed again? It hasn't worked since the update

Edited January 27, 2018 by catrox14

[Kymmi]

2 hours ago, catrox14 said:

I didn't really like Charmed but I watched it from time to time. But seriously. Who writes this article? That show was about as feminist as it gets. WTF? LOL. And Holly Marie Coombs is not a happy camper

https://twitter.com/H_Combs/status/956918071515475969

Do you guys know how to get Tweets to embed again? It hasn't worked since the update

Charmed is my jam, my comfort food.  I lost interest when Brad Kearns took over, but I still watch the reruns on TNT whenever I'm home.  I'm here for it.

[Mellowyellow]

What is everyone's stance on bugs, worms and rodents in general?

I am the spider and cockroach killer in my house. In general unless it's a redback or a funnel web nothing phases me much, except rodents! Am petrified of rodents!

Was chatting to my friends the other day and they are even scared of compost worms. They refuse to touch the compost worms and their husbands all handle the worm farms. They thought it was completely gross when I told them that every day I have to check for and pick up migrating worms to move them back to the compost heap.

hehe thought I'd find out what the forum's stance is on bugs and such. 

Edited January 28, 2018 by Mellowyellow

[SmallScreenDiva]

The other night I was walking out of the subway when a giant rat, almost the size of a small cat, crossed in front of me. I paused, let the rat scamper to the other side of the stairs, then continued walking. After years of living in New York, rodents don't faze me anymore.

I haven't seen a cockroach in years but in the past I've had no problems killing them with a slipper or a rolled-up newspaper. Never been the squeamish type. 

[BkWurm1]

I have a hard time killing bugs unless it's a mosquito.  It doesn't know it's inside where it doesn't belong, so I've gotten comfortable with trapping and releasing things like bees or the harmless boxelder or lady bugs.  Plus I hate the crunch and the guts.  Spiders I kill but feel bad, lol.  There are no dangerous spiders where I live. 

I have three cats.  I occasionally have heard mice in the walls but thank goodness I've never seen one in the house. (I'm in the country, they are inevitable)   

I've dealt with worms for fishing but that's about the extent of it. I am compost free so ignorance may be bliss there. 

In the summer if there's leftover food at night in the outdoor catfood dish, I have to bark at possums to scare them away.  Huge, ugly suckers who couldn't care less if I'm there yelling at them even two feet away.  But pretend I'm a crazed dog and they scamper off.  I've embraced the sit com of it all.   

Edited January 28, 2018 by BkWurm1

[scarynikki12]

1 hour ago, Mellowyellow said:

What is everyone's stance on bugs, worms and rodents in general?

I am the spider and cockroach killer in my house. In general unless it's a redback or a funnel web nothing phases me much, except rodents! Am petrified of rodents!

Was chatting to my friends the other day and they are even scared of compost worms. They refuse to touch the compost worms and their husbands all handle the worm farms. They thought it was completely gross when I told them that every day I have to check for and pick up migrating worms to move them back to the compost heap.

hehe thought I'd find out what the forum's stance is on bugs and such. 

Bugs are monsters from the depths of my nightmares. They scare me enough that I can’t even step on them. I’m willing to spray if alone but I mostly grab the closest man and make him do something (I could never ask another woman to deal with the monsters and this is the rare, boy-only, job). I have friends who love them and post up close photos on their Facebook feeds so I routinely get scared as I scroll. 

I’m aware that bugs are important for the environment and I’m fine with them existing so long as they stay away from me. 

Mice and rats don’t bother me at all. During my only trip to New York I was actively looking for the famous subway rats and was disappointed. Didn’t see a single one. Maybe next time. 

[bijoux]

Bugs I'm fine with, at least the varieties I'm familiar with. But rodents, yeesh. Cue the cartoon scream and jumping on chairs. 

@BkWurm1, I'm dying at the possum story. 

[Mellowyellow]

@scarynikki12 not even a lovely spotty ladybird? I'm always so happy when I find one! I pop it on one of my fruit trees if I find it wandering around! 

Unsavoury rodent story ahead.

Spoiler

We have this rat/mouse trap that electrocutes the rodent as it steps on two plates to eat the food. A while back Hubby found a rat's nest in the garage so he set up the trap. There is a light that blinks red when it kills a rodent. I caught a glimpse of the blinking light and a tail sticking out and that was enough to horrify me. To this day I am nervous about going down to the garage.

[Morrigan2575]

If I lived in Australia my stance on spiders would probably be different. However, here in the USA I take a live and let live mentality to spiders, they leave me alone, I leave them alone. If they invade my space (shower, bedroom, etc) I reassert my boundaries. ?

Lady Bugs are totally cool and will be kindly escorted outside. Ants, flies and, mosquitos are killed on site. Worms are good for dirt and totally acceptable outside the house. Snakes are to be shot on site...I hate snakes of any kind.

[jay741982]

On 1/25/2018 at 3:06 PM, scarynikki12 said:

It also tends to make all parties look stupid. The middle seems to either not be able to make make a decision (Dylan) or comes across as liking all the attention (Kelly), while the two sides seem like dumbasses who are more interested in winning (Brandon and Dylan) than finding someone who may want only them (Brenda and Kelly). 

Yep! Reasons why I hate love triangles. And I still have a fear that they will have Betty torn between Archie and Jughead somehow down the line and ruin those Charcters and I'll end up giving up the show like I gave up VD with their gross Elena being with two brothers triangle 

[BkWurm1]

6 hours ago, Mellowyellow said:

@scarynikki12 not even a lovely spotty ladybird? I'm always so happy when I find one! I pop it on one of my fruit trees if I find it wandering around! 

Unsavoury rodent story ahead.

  Hide contents

We have this rat/mouse trap that electrocutes the rodent as it steps on two plates to eat the food. A while back Hubby found a rat's nest in the garage so he set up the trap. There is a light that blinks red when it kills a rodent. I caught a glimpse of the blinking light and a tail sticking out and that was enough to horrify me. To this day I am nervous about going down to the garage.

Speaking of unsavory rodent stories.  

So I mentioned I'm out in the country.  I don't live on a farm but there's a working dairy farm behind our property and the guy adjacent keeps horses.  The result is even apart from my cat's stash of food, there is feed available for the plundering everywhere, so the rodent population is robust.  Quite a bit back from the house we have a large outbuilding.  I mean, it's twice as long as the house.  Long story short, my nephews used the front section as a hang out but in the last couple years, had do something to control the rodents so they bugged their dad to get some traps.  He was busy and kept putting it off.

Being creative, weird boys who I swear are not at all future serial killers, they decided not to wait and made their own traps. Some simple things along the lines of the traditional cartoon idea of boxes ready to fall (which meant a LIVE rat in a bucket that they didn't know what to do with when they went to check the trap (it got away) and then there was the thing that involved a bunch of nails and heavy weights to make sure they did NOT walk away.    That one worked far too well.  

Their dad took them shopping for real traps the next day.  

Edited January 28, 2018 by BkWurm1

[scarynikki12]

7 hours ago, Mellowyellow said:

@scarynikki12 not even a lovely spotty ladybird? I'm always so happy when I find one! I pop it on one of my fruit trees if I find it wandering around! 

Unsavoury rodent story ahead.

  Hide contents

We have this rat/mouse trap that electrocutes the rodent as it steps on two plates to eat the food. A while back Hubby found a rat's nest in the garage so he set up the trap. There is a light that blinks red when it kills a rodent. I caught a glimpse of the blinking light and a tail sticking out and that was enough to horrify me. To this day I am nervous about going down to the garage.

Ladybugs, flies, and butterflies won't have me cowering in a corner but I don't seek them out either.  From a distance I'll agree that flies are merely annoying, and ladybugs and butterflies are pretty, but, up close, they have multiple legs just like the other monsters and I want none of it. 

The only time I've ever been nonchalant about a spider was the last day of my first Bonnaroo.  After four days of sleeping in a tent, getting covered in dust from walking from the campground to Center Roo and back, and using baby wipes to maintain some sense of cleanliness, the random spider that crawled on my hand during a show didn't bother me.  I just brushed it off and continued watching the band.  If being ok with bugs means I have to forgo showers then I'll keep the phobia. 

[Sakura12]

I caved and started The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. I'm enjoying it so far. I can see why it won awards. It's way better than Gilmore Girls.