So I spent the last three nights catching up with Legend of the Seeker. I watched the first half of the season pretty regularly as they aired, but I started slacking off during the second half, so after it ended the other week, I knew I needed to catch up. I have to say, I am so happy with the way this series has played out. No, of course it’s not the best show ever, but it’s consistently fun and exciting, and the second half of the season built up in momentum that really paid off in the finale, which actually made good on the promises that it made to its viewers all season.
Unlike Heroes, they actually got the bad guy, rather than keeping him around another 3 seasons because he was just so darn cool, to the point where he wears out his welcome and completely loses his bite. And unlike Lost, each episode is able to stand alone, but the season is a complete story as well. No cliffhangers, no hinting that the bad guy is still alive. Done and finished. And (I think) we can expect a totally new story next season. And also unlike Heroes, they actually saved some budget for the finale so no fight scenes needed to take place behind closed doors (though I am a little disappointed there wasn’t a more climactic sword fight).
But the finale didn’t need a more climactic sword fight because we’ve had plenty of great sword fights throughout the season, and this episode had an amazing plot, which was totally unexpected, but certainly a pleasant surprise. It’s not worth going into detail if you haven’t seen it, but the finale had a time-shifting story that was epic, and beautiful, and reminded me so much of The Lord of the Rings in tone, that I was truly impressed with the writing so I didn’t need a bigger fight scene to entertain me. Plus I love the Mord-Sith and this episode had six or seven of them, which is exactly the kind of bigger and better treatment finales deserve, unlike Heroes and their stupid behind closed door fight scenes (can you tell I’m bitter about that?).
So anyway, I really recommend this show. It’s all on Hulu if you’re interested, otherwise, pick it up when it comes out on DVD!
oh and does anyone have any connections for jobs in Belgium….or an old copy of Rosetta Stone – French sitting around the house?
Joe: You could try at the US Embassy both to Belgium and to the EU. I know lots of Canadian work at our Embassies as locally engaged staff. I’m not sure how they list jobs over there, but it might be worthwhile checking out. Not sure if being bilingual would be required, or course its an asset. But most of the EU Commission business is done in English so its not so important for the EU jobs as opposed to the Belgian bilateral jobs.
I know in Canada you would contact the Mission Admin Officer to find out about vacancies, not really sure how it works for the US missions. Try checking out their website though, might get you pointed in the right direction. Good luck.
jomo, I thought to myself, “There was FRENCH on the Rosetta stone?” Then I realized what you meant.
(I’m so sorry, because I love Canada and the Toronto Science museum has a special place in my heart because that’s where I learned that the mysterious tenth planet, then called Xena and now called Eros, had only one moon and scientists were calling it Gabriella. But Smarties aren’t really as good as M&M. They’re totally the wrong size.)
I’ve never actually seen Xena, btw, but I’ll give Seeker a shot. I need to finish a knitting project in the next ten days, which means I better get off the computer and watch a bunch of TV.
We have M&M McFlurrys which use the mini M&Ms mixed with ice cream. I bet it’s the same thing as Smartie Blizzards. Only better because they’re American.
Craig:
You wish.
I remember when i was little I would go TCBY and it blended with reese’s cups…..mmmmmmmmm
droooooool
Coldstone Coconut ice cream with graham cracker pie crust and chocolate chips. Mmmmmm. I also like banana ice cream with peanut butter cups and pie crust as well.
joemo: are you on a mac or pc?
I thought 9 Dead Gay Guys was funny…despite the title.
I like Rita’s Gelati with strawberries, but maybe Rita’s is a regional chain, and therefore, no one else here knows about it?
HUGS…
Oh, and I was in Belgium once. In June of 1984. Well, just kinda rode through it actually from Calais to Amsterdam. Nice little place it seemed.
HUGS…
And I know what you’re thinking “Oh, NO, here goes Polt again with twentysix comments in a row!”, but you, my friend, are incorrect. This is my last successive one.
HUGS…
We often holiday in northern Vermont / New Hampshire, and a couple years ago finally stopped and toured the Ben ‘n’ Jerry’s factory.
What the guide said: “And here is the machine that adds candy, or nuts, or chunks of cookie dough, or similar ingredients to the ice cream.”
What TwoPi heard: “And here’s the machine that ruins perfectly good ice cream.”
(No McFlurrys for me.)
I love smarties! The candy coating : chocolate filling ratio is higher than it is for M&Ms, thus masking the chocolate flavor more effectively.
Darn, I hate meetings! What did I miss? Mmmm… I love me some Cold Stone Creamery, but my favorite ice-cream place is a little shop in Sebastopol, CA called Screaming Mimi’s. Sometimes they make novelty flavors like jalapeno lime sorbet, which makes kicken’ margaritas!
I thought Smarties were those pastel colored thingies. They come in red?
Bill – what part of San Diego are you from? I went to Helix and we had a Yogurt Mill (I think it was Yogurt Mill… it’s been a while) down the street.
We used to have a restaurant called Farrells. They served something called “The Zoo’. It was a huge trough of ice cream carried by two servers to your table with much fanfare. They also had a huge candy department by the register. It was kiddie heaven. That was back when they sold candy cigarettes. Eesh.
I also remember when DX served ice cream sundaes in little collectible football helmets.
Two Pi – then you probably wouldn’t like Ben and Jerry’s “Everything but the…” which I think has everything but the ice cream.
My friend is performing at Brooklyn Pride, and he wants me to go with him. Is anyone from Puntabuland going to Brooklyn Pride on Saturday? Meeting Puntabu-people is fun. I want to meet more! How about NYC Pride later in the month? I will be marching with the NJ Pride Center there.
Michelle M.: That is what I thought Smarties were as well.
Michelle M.: I totally remember the Yogurt Mill. I lived 2 blocks outside of the La Mesa city border, otherwise I’d have gone to Helix too! I went to Crawford (class of 86). There used to be a whole bunch of Farrell’s around San Diego and I’d go to at least one birthday party there a year for a friend. Of course the parents got the Zoo (which, now that I think about it was just a gigantic ice cream sundae served in a punch bowl!).
Michelle M.: That is my main association with Smarties, but I think that I have had the chocolate kind as well.
john: “Ice cream need defies the weather.” <- I couldn’t agree with you more. Living in Chicago, we have a decent share of cold weather, but ice cream is a way of life.
Phillip: AMEN!
I just read that of all the states, Alaska has the highest per capita consumption of ice cream. Which just shows how right john is.
13% of men admit licking the bowl after finishing their ice cream.
Only 8% of women lick the bowl after finishing their ice cream.
Michelle M: I don’t lick the bowl, but now I feel a little ashamed that I don’t…like I’m not quite the ice cream eater I thought I was.
John & Philip: Frozen custard seems to be the rage here in upstate NY, but sadly most of the IC/FC stands are only open during the warmer months.
Michelle M: I have fond memories of my California childhood, including treats at Farrells. The Zoo even came covered with small plastic toy zoo animals, climbing all over the ice cream scoops. (I got to keep the toy animals after my older brother celebrated a birthday with a Farrells Zoo.)
TwoPi: “…most of the IC/FC stands are only open during the warmer months.” <- Blasphemy! They should have their licenses revoked. They license IC/FC vendors, no? Oh, maybe that was in my IC/FC utopia…
Yeah, I’m surprised they aren’t vandalized during the long winters…
I think UK smarties are the pastel things. In Canada its similar to an M&M but slightly larger and flatter and the candy coating is much thicker as TwoPi noted.
Don’t they look tasty. http://www.timcinel.com/wp-content/smarties.jpg
We don’t even have these http://images.celebrateexpress.com/mgen/merchandiser/50210.jpg I think we call those rockets and are usually give out at Halloween.
And some day I’ll learn how to do the linky thing. Feel free to teach me.
Chris D.: I’ll be attending DC Captiol Pride this weekend, but if any in Puntabuland are gonna be there, it’d be awesome to meet in person.
And I hope this doesn’t get me kicked off of Puntabulous, but….I’m not really big on ice cream. I can get cravings, and I’ll buy a pint of Ben&Jerry’s Cherry Garcia, and then, three days later it’s all gone. And I won’t eat any more for seveal weeks or months. (awaiting the gasps, shouting, surpise that’s sure to result)
HUGS…
Polt: No threesomes after the ice cream social for you then.
I used to work at a Friendly’s and the busiest nights were when it was snowing.
Darn you all, now I want to stop and pick up some B&J’s on my way home from work! And unlike Polt I can polish one of those off in a single sitting.
I wouldn’t mind a some BJs right about now.
Oh wait, B *&* J.
John: Used to work at Friendly’s? I have a hypothetical question: what is an appropriate tip on a $30 check, if the 3 yr old in the group preempts desert by throwing up all over the table during a very busy lunch service?
Well, ok, “hypothetical”.
I don’t care for ice cream too much either. It’s kind of boring. I also don’t like cake or (sorry Ryan) cupcakes….
TwoPi: Hypothetically? The wait staff cleaned it up? About 75-100% if I was your waitress. *gag*
M. Nicodemus: That’s my kind of ice cream eating.
Enrico: Are you sure you aren’t feverish? There’s something not quite right about that statement. First you steal the first comment from me and then you blaspheme?
Nah, there’s nothing wrong with not caring for ice cream. We will all live and let live (this is not a cake or death situation). Ice cream makes people happy…”happy people just don’t kill [people]. They just don’t.”
TwoPi: $5-6 as tip and another $5 for clean-up and a solemn vow never to bring a 3-year old into a restaurant again, hypothetically.
How did I miss this whole icecream-conversation? Since my BF left for California almost 2 weeks ago I’ve eaten probably more than 2 gallons. It’s an essential food-group for me. With lots of vitamins F, A and T.
Enrico, you don’t like ice-cream OR cake? But……how do you celebrate birthdays?
OK, first things first: Enrico, what is wrong with you?!?! Tell me you like cookies…
Phillip: Easy with the “there is nothing wrong with not caring for ice cream”. Cake I can understand, but ice cream?!? What’s not to like?!
TwoPi: Oooo, tough call. Well, she was under 5, so you can’t get mad at a toddler. But she did puke on the table. I’d say 30-50% depending on the amount, condition and pungency of said vomitus.
Polt, B&J Cherry Garcia, yummy. I’ve been living of Breyers Cherry Vanilla the last couple of days, doesn’t have those damned, brick-hard chocolate pieces.
Nico, A pint is gone in less than 15 min. And stays for months on my belly… grumble
Thanks, y’all! Good to know the market rates for such things…. It’s been three years, but I still have guilt. Happily this was on a road trip at a Friendly’s we will probably never again visit.
But my kids still love eating there, and I get nervous every time we go.
Next time we go I’ll be on the lookout for post-church families and 10 yr olds saying goodbye to their grandparents.
Cupcake: Can I have a threesome PRIOR to the ice cream social then?
john: When I first read M. Nico’s B&J’s I thought that SAME thing you did. And I thought, “Wow, now THAT’S a change of subject.” But then I reread it and just felt stupid.
TwoPi: Vomit comes off a table much easier than a seat or the floor, (NOT that I speak from personal experience or anything). I think a higher tip would have necessary if it had reached those places.
Or better yet, an offer from the parents to clean it up, no matter where the puke lay, would have been better than ANY increase in tip.
bernd: A pint gone in 15 minutes or less? really? Geez, it takes me like three days. Honestly.
HUGS…
Eh. Cookies are OK. I LOVE Pepperidge Farm’s Raspberry Chantilly cookies but they are IMPOSSIBLE to find. : (
I do love brownies though. And candy.
XI_Heather: Yeah, birthdays…. I always eat one piece of cake. I can stand it, I just don’t like it that much. At my dad’s wedding the other day I had ONE slice to be nice.
Polt: I read the ampersand, I was just feeling cheeky. My attempts at naughty are easy and silly.
And seriously people, what is this a pint takes three days to finish?! As far as I’m concerned, a pint *is* the serving size.
Bernd: You are my new hero. I can finish a pint, but not in 15 minutes. Though, I couldn’t tell you the last time I got a pint. I can, however, tell you it was Strawberry Cheesecake. (I still miss Cool Britannia.)
Enrico: Well, I’ll accept brownies, but cookies are better (yes they are Craig). I also can’t complain as I don’t really like candy.
Puh-lease. Brownies rule, cookies drool.
john – I worked at Friendly’s’ too!!!
Just kidding. But I was going to ask Enrico if he liked cookies.
All this talk of of ice cream/cookies/cake/brownies/candy is making me very hungry. And I’m trying to be gooood. Thank you, Two Pi, for throwing vomit into the equation.
My brothers Adam and John and sister Amanda all worked at Friendlys.
Well, I don’t think I could eat a whole pint in a single sitting (oh who am I kidding of course I could) but when we were in NYC the little store by our apartment had ALL kinds of B&J ice-cream we can’t get up here so we bought 3. I think for dinner AND breakfast the day we left we were madly eating ice-cream because we just couldn’t bring ourselves to toss it. Eat damn it, eat! Life is hard sometimes.
I don’t really like cookies except for oreos. And only some brownies, not the dry cakey ones though. Ick.