ombelico

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/02/friendship-files-great-british-bake-offs-selasi-and-val/581578/

And now we have QUEEN Dolly showing up to her own tribute to show these young'uns how it's done.

I wonder if they expected Gaga to win this category too, and hadn't planned for the event that one of the nominees who isn't there actually won. (But I'm thrilled "This is America" won!)

I refuse to click on the link and give them more page views, but I'm sure that any (pseudo)analysis of Meghan's handwriting is complete rubbish especially given that she has worked as a calligrapher in the past, and all other evidence when she has signed her name in visitor books, written on bananas (really), etc. indicates that she has lovely handwriting. These parasites are just jealous.

We need to be careful of survivorship bias in this, though. We know well of those skaters because they were the few whose bodies were able to withstand that level of training. Far more young girls' bodies wouldn't, though. When a 13-year-old is rewarded for doing multiple triple axels by being named US national champion, it only encourages other young skaters to try the same, when it likely isn't appropriate or healthy for them.

Clearly the birth order and differential treatment of the two daughters played somewhat into how their personalities eventually developed, but it is also evident that practically from birth Elizabeth was dutiful and serious, and Margaret was narcissistic and spoiled. Can you imagine if the birth order had been reversed, with Margaret as heiress presumptive? Who knows if the monarchy would have even survived.

This is where the show really failed - there was never a good explanation that Kondo's methods and philosophy are rooted in Shinto. I'm not saying it should have been a show about her religion, but there likely would have been less mockery and confusion if it had been spelled out at the outset what her blessing of the house, the thanking of items, and such are based on. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/?icid=hjx004

Agree with those who see that Alysa is obviously talented but aren't that thrilled about her winning last night. Sorry, but I just can't get excited about a win by someone who hasn't gone through a single ounce of puberty, and isn't eligible for junior worlds, but yet is somehow allowed to compete in the "senior" ranks. I just don't find it artistic to see a child doing jumps that are likely going to ruin her body because she's doing them so young. Let's see how those triple axels hold up over the next 3-5 years, and then we can talk. US gymnastics obviously has its issues but at least they enforce the birthdate rule and only let gymnasts compete domestically as seniors when they meet the international age minimum.

When I had only seen the first episode, which unfortunately featured that annoying couple who essentially distracted from the presentation of the KonMari system, I didn't follow the theory of "thanking" the items you are discarding because it wasn't explained well. But after watching the whole series, I realized that what's she's really doing is asking people to consider their relationship to items - if you have no use for an item, and it doesn't make you happy, then why keep it in your life? And maybe also getting people to realize that if you are clinging to an item for a sentimental reason or to remember someone or an event, getting rid of the item doesn't get rid of the memory (and in some cases, holding on to the item may actually be keeping you from moving on). Rather, it's best to curate a small selection of the most special items so that they are featured, rather than having a mountain of stuff in which nothing special gets to stand out. I think her overarching point is that at the end of the day, you can keep what you want, but have a way to either store or display it so that your environment makes you happy, rather than making you feel weighed down by the extra "stuff" in your life.

Also, when it comes to Edward's patronages specifically, he has lately been taking on more of Prince Philip's patronages and programs with Philip's retirement, since it's understood that he will eventually inherit the Duke of Edinburgh title. Since the Queen was patron of the National Theatre, not Philip, it also makes sense that she would transfer the patronage to Meghan rather than Edward at this point.

Leslie Jordan also plays Beverley Leslie (Karen's nemesis) in "Will and Grace."

I almost died laughing when Marie said that she never needed to use a dog leash because growing up the only pets she had were "eel-like fish."

And in this article, ugh - the shade from Ingrid Steward. How dare the Queen give the National Theatre to Meghan and not Edward! Maybe because Meghan was an actual actress, and thus would know more about the theatre and plays than a tv producer? Or maybe she still hasn't forgiven him for "It's a Royal Knockout?" *eye roll* https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/01/10/meghan-markle-is-taking-over-two-queen-elizabeths-gigs/?utm_term=.f6fff1463136

We're all uncouth compared to Mary.

I've now watched episodes 2-5 - the Akiyamas (empty nesters), the Mersier family who moved from Michigan to LA, Margie the widow, and the young gay couple (Frank and Matt). I enjoyed and got more out of all of these episodes/families' stories much more than the first one, so it really is unfortunate that the unlikeable Friend family was first. The Mersiers in particular were just utterly charming - I'd watch 3 episodes just with them! Margie's story was also very relatable to me - although I haven't lost a spouse, I have a lot of inherited items/photos/papers that right now are cluttered and I know that at some point I need to tackle that, and I think some of those themes that were touched on in her episode will be helpful to me. I can see now that they are spreading Marie's "lessons" across the different shows (e.g., it seems like books only started to get addressed in Margie's episode, although she bailed on that to deal with her husband's clothes). But there's so much emphasis on the "what sparks joy for you" aspect, and not enough on, "ok, you've identified what sparks joy, here's how to store it." Frank and Matt went through their books and papers, but then we never really saw how they ended up organizing them. I don't need the shot of them taking their stuff to the donation shop. Then there was the Marie vignette talking about how to store electronic miscellaneous items, but clearly the subtitles were not really keeping up with what she was saying (I don't speak Japanese but it definitely seemed like she said way more than what was in the subtitles). In person, Marie is probably best in small doses. She is just so twee and giggly, and I agree with the poster above that she can come off as an unfortunate caricature of the stereotypical Japanese ultra-girly woman. Really, you don't need to greet people every time you see them with a high pitched, long drawn out squeal. I love Iida the interpreter, though. One of my favorite bits was when Frank asked Marie to define what "spark joy" means in relation to clothes, and Marie let out this squeak of what the item should make you feel like, and Iida said, "I'm not going to translate that cute little sound she made." My other favorite was in the Akiyama episode when Marie was talking about storing Christmas decorations, and she turned to her daughter and asked, "Does this spark joy for you?" and the little girl just dispassionately said, "Yeah." She gets it.