What are you...

[Alelou]

A decent choice. At least it's got protein. Add an apple and you've got a balanced meal there.

Until very recently, before my two daughters showed some interest in cooking, unless I wanted grilled meat with a side of nuked frozen broccoli for dinner (which my husband does very skillfully, I must say, but that's all he does) then I had to cook it myself. Cheese and crackers aren't an option for a family of five, so when I was lazy or busy we'd order pizza or chinese. The other day I bought cubed round steaks, though, and put them in the fridge early in the week. Then I just called home after work and told my 17 year old that I had errands to run and that if she wanted rice and gravy she needed to cook it herself. I told her step by step how to do it. She'd done it before with me standing there helping but never by herself. I got home to dinner already cooked. It tasted great! (Even though I did have to add a little water to the gravy which was more the consistency of meat flavored pudding.) And my eleven year old makes killer blueberry pancakes.

I'm impressed with anyone who can make pancakes. I am just terrible at making pancakes, and after sweating over them, in a tedious process that seems to take forever, I always think, "Why did I bother?" I sure do enjoy OTHER people's blueberry pancakes, though. (I also like an excuse to put maple syrup on anything.)

My husband makes great Puerto Rican entrees when he's in the mood, but he can't be bothered with vegetables. (He'll say, "Why? I made rice!") If I push him towards doing one anyway, I can usually count on horribly overcooked frozen broccoli. So usually the nice break of him doing dinner for a change still involves me getting in the kitchen to put some veggies together.

[Distracted]

What is it with men and frozen broccoli? I personally think it's because you can put cheese on the stuff.

[WarpGirl]

I HATE Broccoli! In all forms I loath it. Which was bad for me as a kid because it was mom's favorite veggie. I ate it as a kid, not because I had too but because I didn't want to hurt mom's feelings. But I stopped as a teen, I had put in enough time. And I figured out mom didn't care if I hated the stuff.

[Alelou]

I wish he WOULD put cheese on it. Usually it's just plain mushy broccoli with too much salt on it. It's the "my WIFE thinks we need a vegetable dish, so I'll show her" dish.

[WarpGirl]

Woah! I would not take that well at all.

[TPoptarts]

Playing: Justice League Unlimited on Facebook. Whoa ADDICTIVE I don't usually play any games on Facebook but I couldn't resist a Justice League game. And I get to play Hawkgirl

[WarpGirl]

Don't take this the wrong way, but sometimes you're very cute. BTW I'm reading Batman/Catwoman fic on ff.net but not enough! And there is less Richard/Barbra.

[TPoptarts]

Eating: a marshmallow candy thingy shaped as Hello Kitty

[WarpGirl]

Reading CSI NY Danny/Lindsay stuff. Finished all the good Batman/Catwoman stuff last night.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

...watching?

So this evening I was finally able to watch Jolene Blalock in I Dream of Murder (it was on TV here the other day).

I was fully expecting it to be rather mediocre if not cheesy, the presence of Jolene notwithstanding. So imagine my surprise when it was rather good. It wasn't stellar or anything, but quite watchable. It was a fairly interesting story that was no more or no less predictable than your average TV drama. I figured out pretty early who the bad guy had to be. But it was all competently executed.

Jolene was very good here and showed that she does have range as an actress. Very different from what we've been used to see her. She really should get meatier roles. She played an insecure and stumbling, but not incompetent, psychiatrist who struggled with her feelings and a guilt-ridden memory from her youth. (But I didn't like that they cast another younger, and not nearly as pretty, actress as her 18 year-old self in the flashbacks.)

And she looked absolutely beautiful! Sigh! She didn't wear a lot of, if any, makeup, and thus proved beyond doubt that she is a true natural beauty (but we all knew that already). She looks so much better when she's not so heavily made up.

No nudity (drat!) apart from a brief glimpse in her underwear during a steamy sex scene. But there were some good bum shots even if she was just wearing normal slacks.

I would normally give this a grade of 5 or 6, but since Jolene is in it I'll give it a 7-.

[WarpGirl]

Isn't that a Lifetime Movie?

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

I think so... I'm not so familiar with the concept!

[Aquarius]

I almost NEVER watch the Lifetime channel. At my house we call it "The Victim Channel,."

[WarpGirl]

OK I'm as much a feminist as an ordinary 25 year old American woman, but there are some Lifetime movies that aren't horrid, yes there isn't a lot of them but there are some good ones. For example the bio pics of Coco Chanel, and Georgia O'Keefe were OK. And a movie called "Speak" with that young girl in the Vampire movies rocked my world. That was an amazing movie. So while I agree 90% of Lifetime movies are very predictable, I think catagorizing it as a "victim's channel" is a little harsh. Because it implies that the people who do watch Lifetime enjoy women being portrayed as helpless victims. And that's not too cool. Besides two words Project Runway... If nothing else sometimes you see a reality show with people with some real talent acutally doing something constructive.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Like I said, I don't know a lot of what Lifetime is (apart from a TV channel).

As for "victim"... Well, Jolene was certainly playing weaker character than what we're used to. But she wasn't helpless here. She actually managed to throw in a few punches...

SPOILER!!!:

...and even if he did show up in the end she didn't need "the hero" to save her from the bad guy. By then she'd already punched that guy out.