samhexum

Nah, she said Sunday. She's taking next week off to be with her family to grieve for her mom, whom she said died many, many, many weeks ago. Rehab, perhaps?

It's Sunday... as I'd previously posted (& only 15 minutes): https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/kfc-colonel-sanders-romance-novel-for-mothers-day.124020/#post-2025200

FX has renewed its beloved sitcom “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” for four more seasons — making the show the longest-running live-action comedy of all time. “Always Sunny” is breaking its previously set record in May 2020, when it was renewed through Season 15. The previous record holder was ABC’s “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,” which ran for 14 seasons from 1952 through 1966. The announcement was made on Thursday by FX Chairman John Landgraf. It was tied to FX owner Disney’s Investor Day presentation, which also included major announcements for other Disney properties — including Marvel and “Star Wars” series. “Always Sunny” began airing on FX in 2005. The show was created by Rob McElhenney, who also stars in the show alongside Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day, Kaitlin Olson, and Danny DeVito. The unconventional sitcom began as a pilot shot on a digital camcorder by McElhenney, who developed the series with Howerton while both were under-employed actors in Los Angeles. After the show was picked up by FX, Danny DeVito joined the cast for Season 2. “Always Sunny” has cultivated a loyal fanbase and continues to draw viewers through its later seasons. The show saw on average over 3 million viewers per episode during its 13th season, according to Variety. Season 15 of “Always Sunny” is scheduled to debut on FXX in 2021. Episodes will be available to stream on Hulu after they debut.

How do you take an old war-horse and make it the best show on TV in its 17th season? Have a global pandemic. GREY’s has been tremendous so far this season.

Horrible Hallmark movies have been torturing viewers for 20 years By Johnny Oleksinski It’s been 20 long, arduous years since Hallmark released its first original Christmas movie: “The Christmas Secret,” starring Beau Bridges and Richard Thomas. That forgotten piece of tinsel was about a professor who sets out to prove that reindeer can fly, and then meets Santa. Ugh. Some readers will think of that fateful day as the Big Bang of holiday cheer; a tiny spark unleashing two decades of Yuletide merriment. Bah humbug, I say! Dec. 17, 2000 was the K-T Extinction Event for enjoyable Christmas movies, and that little film starring John-Boy from “The Waltons” ushered in an era in which, as the weather gets colder, the American public gets dumber. Because they gorge themselves on Hallmark’s asinine Christ-mush. A whole month before shopping malls put Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” on repeat, Hallmark Channel is already showing its wintry movies around the clock — in freakin’ October. Even worse, the tasteless tradition has started spreading to streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+, and has now grown out of control. Schlock has replaced decent Christmas movies as the main event. It’s the holidays, so allow me to wax nostalgic for a better, classier time. Recall when this cherished genre was packed with well-made films, including many enduring American classics: “It’s A Wonderful Life,” “Miracle on 34th Street” and “White Christmas.” More recent movies from the 1980s and ’90s, such as “Home Alone,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Gremlins,” are also worthy of praise and repeat viewings. And then came hungry, hungry Hallmark. The basic cable network, which is available in more than 80 million American homes, gained popularity in the aughts thanks to appalled audiences who decided TV was kicking good ol’ fashioned family values to the curb. With HBO having aired shows about super relatable mobsters and New York nymphomaniacs, I don’t know what they could possibly mean. The network found its niche with schmaltzy Christmas content. Since 2009, they’ve dubbed the monthslong event “Countdown to Christmas” (I picture Richard Dean Anderson diffusing a time bomb) and have gradually upped the ante. This year they are airing 40 originals, including “Sense, Sensibility & Snowmen” and “A Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas,” which are all roughly the same film. The newbies join the well over 100 formulaic, cheap movies Hallmark has churned out using a rotating roster of popular-on-Hallmark stars such as Candace Cameron Bure, who has been dubbed the Queen of Christmas, Lacey Chabert and Lori Loughlin, who is currently serving two months in the clink for another crime. Back when these atrocities were consigned to the gated community of Hallmark, I couldn’t care less. But their competitors took notice, and the style is everywhere. Lifetime turned into another Christmas machine in the 2010s, and is releasing 30 films this year, while behemoth Netflix has hopped on the naughty list, too. This year the streaming service dropped seven originals including “Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square” and “The Princess Switch: Switched Again.” Frank Capra is LOL’ing in his grave. Even for theatrically released seasonal movies, a sharp downturn in quality began shortly after Hallmark originals came on the scene. That’s when we got “Christmas With The Kranks” (2004), “Surviving Christmas” (2004) with Ben Affleck, “Deck The Halls” (2006), starring Danny DeVito and Matthew Broderick, and “Fred Claus” with Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti (2007). Christmas films, which used to get the occasional Oscar nomination, have become synonymous with badness. This year, they’re gaining particular praise for adding some diversity to the mix. “Are Hallmark movies turning the corner on diversity?,” asked Forbes. “TV’s gay Christmas movies are as benign, charming and cliche as we always hoped they’d be,” cooed the Washington Post. Isn’t it wonderful that multiple groups can share in sub-par entertainment? There has always been an understandable appetite for crummy, campy movies. The Razzies is an awards show dedicated to them. What’s new here is the cynical corporatization of lousiness; how Hallmark, Lifetime and Netflix set out to make rubbish knowing full-well that millennials will cackle at it. And if you think they are legitimately good, well, you can now do therapy sessions conveniently on Zoom. I hope you’ve enjoyed Christmas with a crank.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmMbBMFQbjc:928

Cracked up at Adrienne's story yesterday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmMbBMFQbjc:928

UGH! He'll be back on the next SVU episode (1/7?) only this time Barba will be the defense attorney.

DEAR ABBY: My fiancee, "Diane," and her two sons live in a nice home. I also have a nice home, newly constructed. It's located 1,200 miles away, near my parents, my son and my job. Diane currently has no job nor family within 500 miles of her town. Her boys' father (whom she shares custody with) lives within 50 miles of me. My job and the custody arrangement for my son preclude me from living where Diane does. Together, she and I would have three sons. The spacious five-bedroom house I own is more than adequate. Diane has made clear that if I sell my home and buy my neighbor's, which is a larger seven-bedroom manor, she will be on the next flight. If not, she won't leave. We could buy the manor with cash if I sell my home and she sold hers and put her savings into the purchase, but she doesn't want to use her savings. Diane is my everything, but it feels like I may just be chasing a dream. I worry that if I'm not enough, will I be enough when I own a manor? -- IT'S COMPLICATED DEAR IT'S COMPLICATED: I'm proud of you. You are seeing things clearly, which is unusual when emotions are involved. It appears your dream girl, the fair Diane, is attempting to blackmail you. If she can't be the "lady of the manor," she's not interested in uprooting her life. If you give in to her now, do not do it without an ironclad prenuptial agreement. Please stay strong, because if you don't, you may regret it for a long time. Dump the gold-digger and run for the hills!

This is the best I could do: Rose: How could you do this to me, Blanche? You knew I wanted to spend tonight alone. Blanche: Rose, nobody who says they want to be alone on New Year's Eve ever really means it. Rose: I did. Blanche: Well, you're a freak. Besides, it's bad luck if you don't get kissed at midnight. Why, my New Year's Eve kiss is the most important one of the whole year. It sets the tone for the next 365 days. One year, I didn't get kissed at midnight on New Year's Eve, I didn't get lucky till after the Orange Bowl.

Wasn't that from an earlier show? Wanna buy Adrienne's house? https://nypost.com/2020/12/09/the-real-host-lists-calabasas-home-months-after-buying-it/

Does anyone actually call it Target? ?

There was a lot of obvious real affection, like when Tam said she missed hugging Loni (or should I call her Yolanda?) even though Loni didn't like hugging her and Loni nodded in agreement... with a smile, and earlier in the episode when Loni said something and Jeannie laughed and said "You're so stupid!"

I thought Tamera looked beautiful. Loved her hair like that & her blouse was nice, too.

Widowed otters move in together after meeting on dating app After Asian short-clawed otter Harris, 10, lost his longtime best friend and romantic partner Apricot, who died at 16, he became a lonely bachelor otter, and his caretakers grew worried. In an effort to find him a new mate, those charged with his well-being at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary in Cornwall, England, configured an otters-only dating app called Fishing for Love, where he soon met Pumpkin, a lady otter from Yorkshire’s Sea Life Scarborough Sanctuary who was also seeking a new mate after losing her longtime lover. Now, the two are doing swimmingly — recently, they even took the big relationship step of moving in together. “Sea Life Scarborough otter has found love in time for Christmas,” the sanctuary wrote in a press release announcing the good news. Pumpkin’s carers answered an ad on the otter dating site after her elderly partner, Eric, passed away. “After searching the entire lonely-hearts section, and a few bad swipes later,” they discovered Harris’ profile and determined him to be a worthy “significant otter” for their beloved Pumpkin. “[it’s] best to introduce a new male into a female’s territory so that the male more easily submits to the female on first meeting,” the release explained. Following the pair’s initial meeting and romance at Sea Life, they’re officially shacking up there. “After an extremely sad period for both Pumpkin and the animal care team here at Scarborough, we are delighted to report that not only is Pumpkin happy once again, but Harris has settled in extremely well,” said Sea Life curator Todd German in the release, adding he sees no reason the lovers should not continue to exist in harmony and live happily otter after. Many male otters are not so lucky, however: A disturbing study published last month found that river otters’ penis bones are weakened by pollution and that toxic chemicals from Canada’s oil industry are causing the critters’ members to become less dense and more breakable.

What is it with crazy Californians (or is that redundant?) and cookies? Man pays for bizarre ‘Cookie Monster’ mural on building — that he doesn’t own An Illinois artist was left baffled after a man paid him to paint a mural of “Sesame Street’s” Cookie Monster on the side of a building — that he didn’t actually own. Joshua Hawkins said he recently got an angry phone call from the actual owner of the Peoria building, “asking why the hell I painted this ‘crazy sh-t’ on his building.” “Evidently the guy that hired me to paint the mural was NOT really the owner of the building!,” Hawkins wrote on Facebook. The artist said a man he knew only as “Nate” called him the day after Thanksgiving and asked him to paint a mural of the beloved puppet with a caption in Russian that roughly translates to “World, Peace, Cookies” on the side of his vacant building. Though he was hesitant to take the job because of the tight deadline, Hawkins said it was “one of the best paying commissions” he ever got — so he recruited some pals to help him finish the artwork in time. Hawkins was given half of the “good amount” of money up front in cash, and “Nate” paid him the rest upon completion two days later, he told the Peoria Journal Star. That was the last time Hawkins ever saw the mystery arts patron. Meanwhile, the real owner of the building, Nate Comte, was fuming when he got back from Thanksgiving vacation and spotted the massive mural on his property. “He threatened to call the police on me,” Hawkins said. “After that, it started to click.” Hawkins explained the backstory — but Comte didn’t believe him, telling the Journal Star that: “I don’t think anyone is that stupid.” While he believes the work to be graffiti, Comte said he won’t press vandalism charges. “I don’t hate art,” he said. “But don’t know what the hell that was.” He’s since painted over the mural. Looking back, the artist said he probably should have gotten more information from the person who commissioned the work. “It was definitely a weird situation from the beginning, and we should have asked more questions,” Hawkins said. His phone calls and text messages to the enigmatic “Nate” have gone unanswered. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. THIS IS INSANE,” Hawkins wrote on Facebook. “I do apologize to the owner of the building, and while this is stressful and confusing– the fact remains that we were paid by someone!?”

That's what they get for not wearing masks... Four lions test coronavirus-positive in Barcelona Zoo, third worldwide instance since Bronx Four lions have tested positive for coronavirus at a Barcelona zoo, most likely infected by an asymptomatic staffer, zoo officials said.

https://www.companyofmen.org/threads/the-biggest-one-ive-ever-seen.161748/

'Massive' goldfish weighing 9 pounds found in South Carolina lake A goldfish weighing nine pounds came under the spotlight Monday after being discovered during a fish population survey at a lake in South Carolina, park officials said. Ty Houck, an official with Greenville County Parks, said the “massive” fish was found swimming on Nov. 16 in a 12-acre body of water in Oak Grove Lake Park in the county of Greenville. Greenville Rec, which oversees the park where the fish was discovered, posted a photo of the golden spectacle on Facebook on Monday. “Anyone missing their goldfish? This 9lb goldfish was found in Oak Grove Lake during some recent testing at our lakes,” the organization wrote in a post. “The work included electrofishing, a method of measuring the health of the fish population.” Wildlife officials were conducting a fish population survey analogous to a “fish sticking its finger, or fin, in a socket,” Houck said. “A weak electrical current is run through the water and stuns them for a few minutes.” Houck said he believes the giant goldfish is the only one swimming in the lake because park officials did not encounter any others in their survey. He added that while the goldfish is non-native to South Carolina, it was not considered an invasive species to the lake. The average lifespan of goldfish is between six to seven years, while those found in the wild can live up to 30 years, according to the United States Geological Survey. According to the agency, goldfish can grow upwards of six pounds — far below the weight of the nine pound pond fish found in South Carolina. As for the goldfish's current whereabouts, Houck said he placed the fish back in the water after snapping a photo of the large creature. “At the advice of professionals we decided to leave the bachelor, or bachelorette, back where we found it,” Houck said. “Obviously, they’re really happy here.”

Artist sues museum and city of L.A. after his work is accidentally thrown away But is it art? That’s the question at the center of a dispute between a Los Angeles museum and an artist who showed there. Artist David Lew, who goes by the name Shark Toof, has sued the Chinese American Museum and the city of Los Angeles, among other defendants, for throwing his work in the trash after displaying it. Lew, who splits his time between L.A. and Detroit, was one of nine graffiti artists and muralists featured in the 2018 exhibition “Don’t Believe the Hype: L.A. Asian Americans in Hip-Hop,” which was on view at the Chinese American Museum from May to December. Lew said he contributed a site-specific installation called “Shayu De Yi Nian Lai See (Year of the Shark Red Packet)” for the museum’s courtyard. Eighty-eight empty canvas sacks were adorned with hand-applied gold leaf paint and suspended on burlap twine with wooden clothespins. It was meant to evoke the history of Chinese immigrants in the laundry business. The number eight symbolizes prosperity and good fortune in Chinese culture. How the individual bags weathered the natural elements — the canvas fraying or the paint fading and cracking in the sun — was part of an artwork about longevity, Lew said. The bags were meant to develop individual character over time, as people do. The museum is part of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument, a department of the city, and is located downtown in the historic Garnier Building, the last surviving structure from L.A.’s original Chinatown. The building is owned and maintained by the city, and the museum is a city entity. Around Dec. 7, according to the lawsuit, days before the exhibition was to end, a city maintenance crew took down the canvas bags and threw them out. According to the lawsuit, no one from the museum or El Pueblo management was there to supervise the removal of the bags. The crew may not have known the intent behind the bags and instead saw them as deteriorating objects to be discarded. “Not being able to see these things after eight months, at the location, was gut-wrenching,” Lew said in an interview. “It’s like you’re watching the Super Bowl and they say, ‘We’re not gonna call a winner, we’ll just end it in the third quarter.’ There’s no resolution.” Fourteen of the 88 bags were not thrown out. They had fallen down during the run of the show, Lew said, but were never reinstalled or returned to him. The lawsuit presumes the bags to be destroyed, but in response to The Times’ query, the museum said the bags were put in storage. The museum said it had not been informed by the city or El Pueblo that Lew’s pieces would be removed that day but, perhaps more important, the museum said it did not see the bags as art in the first place. Several of the bags had been promised to Lew’s collectors after the show, and others were to be sold at the museum for $88 each. The museum said the bags were merchandise hanging outdoors — courtyard decor as opposed to an official art exhibit. A vendor agreement provided to The Times by Melvin N.A. Avanzado — the attorney representing Friends of the Chinese American Museum, the nonprofit that operates the museum — specified that his client would receive 20% of the sale revenue, not unlike a consignment arrangement. The museum’s executive director, Michael Truong, declined to comment and referred all inquiries to Avanzado. “We are still reviewing the allegations,” Avanzado said in an email to The Times. “However, the Friends of the Chinese American Museum did nothing wrong with respect to the tote bags that decorated the courtyard outside the museum. I look forward to proving that the claims against my client have no merit.” Exhibition cocurator Justin Charles Hoover — who had a one-year contract at the Chinese American Museum that ended in December 2018 — said he did view the installation as art. “We always saw David as an artist, and we saw this as an outdoor art installation,” Hoover said. “The work was always meant to weather and fade outdoors. It was meant to fall apart and be sold. Whoever took it down thought, because it was weathered, it was garbage. But I assume it was a completely innocent mistake.” The lawsuit, filed by Les Weinstein and the law firm One llp, names the city, El Pueblo, the museum and Friends of the Chinese American Museum as defendants. El Pueblo general manager Arturo Chavez declined to comment. Rob Wilcox, a representative from the office of City Attorney Mike Feuer, said staff would review the complaint and had no further comment. Lew said he was not consulted about deinstallation of his work and found out the bags had been tossed when he received an email from cocurator Hoover on Dec. 12. “We have a major issue with the bags,” Hoover wrote in the email. “The team that was tasked to bring the bags down from their lines thought they were to be disposed of. Like thrown out.” Hoover added: “Obviously we are horrified by this.” Lew said he was speechless. “It took months to develop the concept and measurements and diagrams and logistics,” he said. “It was like a break-up or a death: You knew this one thing, and then it leaves your life in an instant, and you’re left to pick up the pieces and grieve.” Lew, who has other work in the museum’s permanent collection, showed a large painting of a shark, titled “Qinru (Trespass),” as part of the same exhibition. It was returned to him after the show, undamaged. Other artists in “Don’t Believe the Hype” included Gajin Fujita, Hueman, Kenny Kong, Defer and Erin Yoshi. Ninochka McTaggart cocurated the exhibition. Lew declined to give a monetary value for “Shayu De Yi Nian Lai See” but said it was “priceless” to him “because it’s part of a body of work that I can’t ever, in a future retrospective setting, revisit.” The work also has familial value, he said. Lew’s great-grandparents worked in the laundry services business after immigrating to L.A. from China in the early 1920s. He said it offended him that the bags were discarded. Lew did not specify how much he was suing for in the lawsuit. Under the Visual Arts Rights Act, better known as VARA, the court allows for damages ranging from $750 to $30,000 per item, unless the court finds that the defendant’s action was intentional. Then damages can go up to $150,000 per item. In addition to suing for damages, attorney’s fees and other costs related to the case, Lew is asking the court to issue an injunction preventing the city and museums under city control, such as the Italian American Museum, from taking down an exhibit without advising an artist first. Lew’s attorney, Weinstein, represented artist Kent Twitchell, who sued the federal government and the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles, among other defendants, when his 1987 mural of artist Ed Ruscha — on a Hill Street building for nearly two decades — was whitewashed in 2006 without his permission. In 2008, Twitchell won a $1.1-million settlement. Lew said he hopes his case draws attention to perceptions about what constitutes art, what’s worth saving and what’s disposable. “Most people’s understanding of high art is Michelangelo,” he said. “If these were American flags, how carefully would they have been placed in a pile? But these look like something we’d eat fried rice off of — this can’t be from a master. And sadly, the bags were thrown away like dirty laundry.”