>>>YOU HATE IT BECAUSE THEY ARE BUYING DARK CHOCOLATE, WHICH IS IN FACT BITTER.
SoSueMe: Dark chocolate is the ONLY kind of chocolate I like. The higher the cocoa content the better, right up to about 80%, Milk chocolate is disgusting.
Re GWTW: The movie as a movie is okay, if over-wrought. HOWEVER, it is such a shameless pandering to the South that it can never be considered as anything but horrid,
While I agree that dark chocolate is superior to milk, I think milk gets a bad rap because so much of it (Hershey’s and the like) are so awful. Good milk chocolate, Lindt for instance, can be quite tasty.
Specifically, cocoa butter, a fat extracted from cocoa beans which is a key ingredient in cosmetics and skincare products, in particular. White chocolate. Eat it. Smear it on your face. The all-purpose treat.
Also, Al Gore had a real job as a photojournalist in Vietnam. Last I checked, the bullets and grenades are not reputed to care whether they hit noncombatants. He went into harm's way, on purpose, on behalf of news-gathering for the American people. He put an academic education to use in his pursuit of public policy. He led the charge on behalf of the climate, regardless of whether it was popular with his party at the time, or with anyone else. It is entirely possible that he would have been crap as President, but it would not have been because of being a shallow lightweight.
"Gore was assigned a position as reporter covering the activities of the 20th Engineer Brigade in Bien Hoa, South Vietnam. Obviously, this was a non-combat position, and some of those who served with Gore reported that their superiors requested Gore "should cover only military operations where security was good."
And I give hm full credit for Vietnam service. He left early because his two years were over and anyone who was in Vietnam and drove or traveled was open to ambush, mines and indirect fire. Many died from those threats.
Parades? Small town parades are fun. My first in Denton, Texas had Mickey Mantle as GM. Lubbock, Texas was fun and even Rockville, Maryland had great parades with Connie Morella. She rocked. How did we lose those Republicans?
went to an outdoor Stevie Nicks concert years ago with my husband. Saw a brief glimpse of the top of her blonde hairdo once, otherwise condemned to watch the drunk guys standing in front of us chanting "Stevie, Stevie" while waving their bic lighters in the air. Never again, though we think Stevie is great.
I agree about big concerts, they rarely have anything really to do with music. Going to see Springsteen or The Stones in a stadium is just a spectacle. Live music in more intimate settings is what makes life worth living.
Bringing up McConnell again: I don't like the man, and I don't wish him well, but he needs to see a neurologist. He's having absence seizures. I hope to Dog he's no longer driving.
The ONLY movie in the poll that is not overrated is the Wizard of Oz. Perhaps Gene could have listed another movie for the final choice. Any of the Star Wars movies would have been a good option. Any of the three episodes aired at the turn of this century would have been a great option. That's right. I think that Star Wars is an overrated franchise. Almost as overrated as the [Your choice of Houston Astros, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies]. The Yankees are not overrated. They suck.
"Q: Sosumi: Chocolate. My mother loved it. My sister loved it. My wife loves it. I won’t touch it. Tried it a few times and found it bitter and unappetizing.
A: Oh, thanks for this opportunity. If you were here now, I’d hold the back of your head and momentarily peck you on the lips and I don’t care that you’re apparently a guy. YOU HATE IT BECAUSE THEY ARE BUYING DARK CHOCOLATE, WHICH IS IN FACT BITTER."
"Many people out there don’t like chocolate, and they typically fall into two categories: those who specifically don’t like American chocolate, and those who find that all types of chocolate taste overwhelmingly bitter. However, surprisingly, the scientists found that an individual’s genes may determine their affinity for or aversion to chocolate."
"In 1648, according to the diary of English Jesuit Thomas Gage, the women of Chiapas Real arranged for the murder of a certain bishop who forbade them to drink chocolate during mass. In an ironic twist, the pontiff was ultimately found murdered after someone had added poison to his daily cup of chocolate.
Was this an act of blind rage by the women of Chiapas Real or justifiable homicide? For a small percentage of the population, eating chocolate can produce rage, paranoia, and anger that occur without warning. Fortunately, for most of us, this is not the typical reaction to eating chocolate."
And for some people, eating chocolate can make the difference between being human and being a monster. I recall several relationships where I was told to bring home chocolate if I valued my life.
Two Pulitzers, millions of brilliant words of witty and wry takes on the silly human condition and 25 years to consider the matter, and “ W the Dork” is the best you got for that moron? His mother was pro-choice and I often thought she wished abortions were permitted through the 150th trimester. Baby Boomers have much to apologize for, mayhaps none more so than their GOP presidents.
The most obvious one was her comment about Hurricane Katrina refugees in Houston: "And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them. "
re: Gone with the Wind: When I was in elementary school (in the 80s) I was obsessed with Gone with the Wind, to the point of corralling my little friends to act out a scene from the book. (Really.) I think I was swept away by the drama and big dresses and Rhett Butler. As an adult I wonder now what were my parents thinking and how did they not see and point out the racial violence and inequality not to mention the misogyny and suggested marital rape between Rhett and Scarlett. Definitely overrated if not worse.
Regarding the marital rape scene, here is the part that takes place off camera: Rhett throws Scarlett on the bed and asks, "What are your safe words?" ;-)
I too became strangely obsessed with Gone With the Wind in grade school. And yes, it is terribly racist, celebrates rape etc. I saw it again recently, many decades later, and was amazed by all that and also by how tremendously boring the second half is. It's incredibly long! I don't think I even noticed that when I was 12. Anyway, I went on to a general obsession with old movies, so there was that, a good thing.
I saw it again while in College and it was so long I expected members of the audience to start dying. So happy to get out alive. Everyone in the film was dying or worse.
I used to re-read the book every five years or so, because Scarlett was so like my mother. Then she died, and I didn't have to try to make sense of her any more.
The last time I watched the movie, even TCM (or maybe it was AMC when they still only showed classic movies) had an intermission - about 30 minutes, I think.
We recently watched the second Avatar movie in a hotel room on cable TV (It was the only thing remotely watchable). Man, that movie sure could have used an intermission, despite James Cameron calling me a "whiner" for not wanting to sit through a three-hour movie. This is not a movie you want to leave for a bathroom break, because you will miss some significant plot threads. But dang, all that water! We watched it again when we got home, with better sound, closed captions, and the ability to pause it. Still not my favorite movie, but if you are interested in the special effects, the add-ons were kinda fascinating.
Being able to watch at home on a large screen television with a Dolby sound system is competitive with the theater viewing experience. Yes, you miss the shared experience and huge screen and sound of the theater. But, you can put on closed captioning to catch dialog that you otherwise might miss, or you can rewind and review a scene where your initial reaction is "Huh?" Finally, you can pause streaming if you need to make a pit stop.
I never actually saw the whole thing until the Tara Theater was built in Atlanta to celebrate [some anniversary]. My grandparents had taken me to see it at a drive-in (as a child or young teen), and we left at intermission, possibly because everyone was asleep or possibly because they felt the rest might not be suitable for my tender years. I didn't realize what a close escape I'd had.
Yes --- there are potential health benefits from eating up to couple of ounces of dark chocolate a day (good luck with that...) but, of course as might be expected with anything that tastes good, there is a dark side to dark chockies in terms of two heavy metals linked to a variety of health problems. Just when you were all aquiver in anticipation of unwrapping a Trader Joe's The Dark Chocolate Lover's Chocolate bar, some wizenheimer pulls out the Consumer Report's test results for dark chocolate from December, 2022 (just before Christmas, no less -- and a happy cadmium to you) https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/lead-and-cadmium-in-dark-chocolate-a8480295550/
>>>YOU HATE IT BECAUSE THEY ARE BUYING DARK CHOCOLATE, WHICH IS IN FACT BITTER.
SoSueMe: Dark chocolate is the ONLY kind of chocolate I like. The higher the cocoa content the better, right up to about 80%, Milk chocolate is disgusting.
Oops! I didn't see this before saying the same thing.
Re GWTW: The movie as a movie is okay, if over-wrought. HOWEVER, it is such a shameless pandering to the South that it can never be considered as anything but horrid,
Dark chocolate is delicious. Milk chocolate and (shudder) "white chocolate" are awful. Sosumi.
While I agree that dark chocolate is superior to milk, I think milk gets a bad rap because so much of it (Hershey’s and the like) are so awful. Good milk chocolate, Lindt for instance, can be quite tasty.
Cheap milk chocolate has a distinct flavor of nonfat dry milk.
You know what's great? Condensed milk. Bit of a nonsequitur.
Especially if it's sweetened and used in Vietnamese iced coffee.
Technically, "white chocolate" isn't even chocolate.
I've wondered (albeit vaguely) about this. What is it then? Easter bunny droppings?
It is a mouthful of grease.
Specifically, cocoa butter, a fat extracted from cocoa beans which is a key ingredient in cosmetics and skincare products, in particular. White chocolate. Eat it. Smear it on your face. The all-purpose treat.
I first read this as "a mouthfull of geese" and was extremely confused.
eeeewwww
LOL! Cocoa grease, if you please! Not animal fat, like95% of all bacon.
Right, so instead of salty grease, sugary grease. Eeewww.
Have you ever had a piece of wedding cake, or any highly decorated cake? They use lard. Crisco. Yep, grease. With sugar, you betcha! Mmmmmm. :)
Also, Al Gore had a real job as a photojournalist in Vietnam. Last I checked, the bullets and grenades are not reputed to care whether they hit noncombatants. He went into harm's way, on purpose, on behalf of news-gathering for the American people. He put an academic education to use in his pursuit of public policy. He led the charge on behalf of the climate, regardless of whether it was popular with his party at the time, or with anyone else. It is entirely possible that he would have been crap as President, but it would not have been because of being a shallow lightweight.
"Gore was assigned a position as reporter covering the activities of the 20th Engineer Brigade in Bien Hoa, South Vietnam. Obviously, this was a non-combat position, and some of those who served with Gore reported that their superiors requested Gore "should cover only military operations where security was good."
And I give hm full credit for Vietnam service. He left early because his two years were over and anyone who was in Vietnam and drove or traveled was open to ambush, mines and indirect fire. Many died from those threats.
Get off me, you big lummox
Parades? Small town parades are fun. My first in Denton, Texas had Mickey Mantle as GM. Lubbock, Texas was fun and even Rockville, Maryland had great parades with Connie Morella. She rocked. How did we lose those Republicans?
Before I get to chocolate, thanks to the person who [also] spoke of concerts. Just. The. Worst.
went to an outdoor Stevie Nicks concert years ago with my husband. Saw a brief glimpse of the top of her blonde hairdo once, otherwise condemned to watch the drunk guys standing in front of us chanting "Stevie, Stevie" while waving their bic lighters in the air. Never again, though we think Stevie is great.
I agree about big concerts, they rarely have anything really to do with music. Going to see Springsteen or The Stones in a stadium is just a spectacle. Live music in more intimate settings is what makes life worth living.
Exactly. Even comedians or other performers, it just loses the feeling of the personal moment.
Well....Lewis Black puts on great shows, especially if you sit in the first 10 rows.
Bringing up McConnell again: I don't like the man, and I don't wish him well, but he needs to see a neurologist. He's having absence seizures. I hope to Dog he's no longer driving.
The ONLY movie in the poll that is not overrated is the Wizard of Oz. Perhaps Gene could have listed another movie for the final choice. Any of the Star Wars movies would have been a good option. Any of the three episodes aired at the turn of this century would have been a great option. That's right. I think that Star Wars is an overrated franchise. Almost as overrated as the [Your choice of Houston Astros, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies]. The Yankees are not overrated. They suck.
Thanks, Gene. Now I can’t get the “Car 54” theme out of my head. Got anything else?
Another officer in the "Car 54" precinct?? Al Lewis, who played Grandpa on the Munsters. Also had black police officers in the cast.
Sosumi: Brussel Sprouts
When I was a kid, my mother served them to us and my brother and sister hated them.
Not me--I loved them! Yum.
You are welcome to all the Brussel Sprouts you want. You can have mine, too.
"Q: Sosumi: Chocolate. My mother loved it. My sister loved it. My wife loves it. I won’t touch it. Tried it a few times and found it bitter and unappetizing.
A: Oh, thanks for this opportunity. If you were here now, I’d hold the back of your head and momentarily peck you on the lips and I don’t care that you’re apparently a guy. YOU HATE IT BECAUSE THEY ARE BUYING DARK CHOCOLATE, WHICH IS IN FACT BITTER."
Here are more explanations:
https://www.btrtoday.com/read/featured/the-science-behind-the-people-who-hate-chocolate/
"Many people out there don’t like chocolate, and they typically fall into two categories: those who specifically don’t like American chocolate, and those who find that all types of chocolate taste overwhelmingly bitter. However, surprisingly, the scientists found that an individual’s genes may determine their affinity for or aversion to chocolate."
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-brain-food/201011/chocolate-the-good-the-bad-and-the-angry
"In 1648, according to the diary of English Jesuit Thomas Gage, the women of Chiapas Real arranged for the murder of a certain bishop who forbade them to drink chocolate during mass. In an ironic twist, the pontiff was ultimately found murdered after someone had added poison to his daily cup of chocolate.
Was this an act of blind rage by the women of Chiapas Real or justifiable homicide? For a small percentage of the population, eating chocolate can produce rage, paranoia, and anger that occur without warning. Fortunately, for most of us, this is not the typical reaction to eating chocolate."
And for some people, eating chocolate can make the difference between being human and being a monster. I recall several relationships where I was told to bring home chocolate if I valued my life.
I've seen the joke, "Gimme the chocolate and no one gets hurt".
If you're gonna put ANYTHING on cantaloupe, use vanilla ice cream.
And wait 'til the cantaloupe is VERY ripe.
If in Italy, get prosciutto and melon. Fantastic. In the US, just not the same.
Unless you find a good restaurant or great host(ess). Couldn't trust myself to select good prosciutto.
Everywhere we went it was great regardless of the restaurant. My wife became addicted to it.
If you can't get good prosciutto or other thinly sliced smoked ham, ripe cantaloupe benefits from the addition of a bit of salt.
Two Pulitzers, millions of brilliant words of witty and wry takes on the silly human condition and 25 years to consider the matter, and “ W the Dork” is the best you got for that moron? His mother was pro-choice and I often thought she wished abortions were permitted through the 150th trimester. Baby Boomers have much to apologize for, mayhaps none more so than their GOP presidents.
Don’t lump me in that group! I’m 75 and have NEVER voted for a republican candidate for president.
Okay, Boomer
Dog damn you to hell, Jon. You, too, will be old one day. You won't like it.
As Dylan said, I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now. 70 is well in the rear view mirror.
Then why the hell would you ever say Okay, Boomer?! Geez.
Honestly, Barbara Bush was not a nice person. To the extent that GHWB was more generally polite and GWB was more of a jerk, GWB got that from his mom.
Really? Got any examples of Barbara Bush that you'd like to share? Thanks!
The most obvious one was her comment about Hurricane Katrina refugees in Houston: "And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them. "
This article covers a lot of ground: https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/1992/08/williams199208
With all the junk on Boomers, I am so happy that I was nearly five years old when they arrived. However, I favor Bush over Trump. He hates them.
Tens and tens of thousands of dead Iraquís and Afghans might respectfully disagree.
What were our options?
Kill bin Laden in Tora Bora and be done with it
Saddam was a problem, too.
re: Gone with the Wind: When I was in elementary school (in the 80s) I was obsessed with Gone with the Wind, to the point of corralling my little friends to act out a scene from the book. (Really.) I think I was swept away by the drama and big dresses and Rhett Butler. As an adult I wonder now what were my parents thinking and how did they not see and point out the racial violence and inequality not to mention the misogyny and suggested marital rape between Rhett and Scarlett. Definitely overrated if not worse.
Regarding the marital rape scene, here is the part that takes place off camera: Rhett throws Scarlett on the bed and asks, "What are your safe words?" ;-)
I too became strangely obsessed with Gone With the Wind in grade school. And yes, it is terribly racist, celebrates rape etc. I saw it again recently, many decades later, and was amazed by all that and also by how tremendously boring the second half is. It's incredibly long! I don't think I even noticed that when I was 12. Anyway, I went on to a general obsession with old movies, so there was that, a good thing.
I saw it again while in College and it was so long I expected members of the audience to start dying. So happy to get out alive. Everyone in the film was dying or worse.
I used to re-read the book every five years or so, because Scarlett was so like my mother. Then she died, and I didn't have to try to make sense of her any more.
The last time I watched the movie, even TCM (or maybe it was AMC when they still only showed classic movies) had an intermission - about 30 minutes, I think.
We recently watched the second Avatar movie in a hotel room on cable TV (It was the only thing remotely watchable). Man, that movie sure could have used an intermission, despite James Cameron calling me a "whiner" for not wanting to sit through a three-hour movie. This is not a movie you want to leave for a bathroom break, because you will miss some significant plot threads. But dang, all that water! We watched it again when we got home, with better sound, closed captions, and the ability to pause it. Still not my favorite movie, but if you are interested in the special effects, the add-ons were kinda fascinating.
Being able to watch at home on a large screen television with a Dolby sound system is competitive with the theater viewing experience. Yes, you miss the shared experience and huge screen and sound of the theater. But, you can put on closed captioning to catch dialog that you otherwise might miss, or you can rewind and review a scene where your initial reaction is "Huh?" Finally, you can pause streaming if you need to make a pit stop.
I never actually saw the whole thing until the Tara Theater was built in Atlanta to celebrate [some anniversary]. My grandparents had taken me to see it at a drive-in (as a child or young teen), and we left at intermission, possibly because everyone was asleep or possibly because they felt the rest might not be suitable for my tender years. I didn't realize what a close escape I'd had.
Where can I find Muldoons by Paul Muldoon? My Googling skills are failing me.
Yes --- there are potential health benefits from eating up to couple of ounces of dark chocolate a day (good luck with that...) but, of course as might be expected with anything that tastes good, there is a dark side to dark chockies in terms of two heavy metals linked to a variety of health problems. Just when you were all aquiver in anticipation of unwrapping a Trader Joe's The Dark Chocolate Lover's Chocolate bar, some wizenheimer pulls out the Consumer Report's test results for dark chocolate from December, 2022 (just before Christmas, no less -- and a happy cadmium to you) https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/lead-and-cadmium-in-dark-chocolate-a8480295550/