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stoney321
I've gone on and on before about blood atonement, etc., so I'll not revisit that. I did love having all of the "original" Hendrixes all together - all of the blood relatives, that is. We all know that Frank is an ass, Lois is wacko, Bill is self centered, and now we also have concrete canon on Joey also being self-centered. Ben is, too, to some degree, but I imagine growing up in a "normal" environment for the formative years helped him not be so self-focused. Also, his age has a lot to do with it.Frank The "death bed" confession with Lois about how Roman told him that Bill would grow up and break up the family, and that's why he sent him away just confirmed that he only gives a shit about himself and his "things," and not his deep love for his "wives" as he would like Lois to believe. And she didn't, in true Lois fashion. He flits in and out of his family's lives as he pleases, takes over their money and finances when it suits him, and is King Coercion. He gets people to cow-tow to his whims pretty easily. In the beginning of the show we're supposed to look at him, see his Evil, and then see how kind and loving a father Bill is and think they're totally different. Uh huh.
Lois Her "death bed" confession to Jodene was hilarious. She is in desperate need of sympathy (and boy, no one plays the martyr card quite like Lois) and knows that Frank won't give it to her, and she wants a female to give it to her. And Jodene ain't havin' it. I loved the pissed off exasperation that flashed on Lois' face when she realized that, then decided that it didn't fit in with what she had imagined the response to be, and so carried on with her own agenda. "I'm hugging you and telling myself that you have forgiven ME, because I'm the focus here."
Ben He's freaking out - warranted - but his selfishness is what got him here (just like with all of the others.) He wanted something with Margene, and he got it. He pushed that situation by playing the innocent, when he is far from it. You could tell that he liked the attention Margene gave him, put himself in situations to get more of it, then got really mad at her when she tried to turn the dial back to 1. That's not what he wanted. And so he goes off with his loco Gran knowing it would piss off his parents and got a whole lot more than he bargained for.
Joey He wants revenge. He doesn't care about anything but that red bullseye on Hollis' head, not his wife, his child, their safety or any repercussions that may come from his actions. He murdered Roman for the same reason and with the same lack of concern for what it could mean to his loved ones. He felt it was the right thing to do and roped his crazy wife into the whole ordeal, and now she's alone with her crazy brother (I've got something to say about that whole thing in a minute) trying to hold it together and barely making it.
Bill His wife is dealing with a BOMB THREAT in the casino that she wasn't in support of in the very beginning, and got saddled with the whole job of running it, and he can't focus on anything she needs. Yeah, yeah, he was going to get their son, but Jesus Please Us, they were pulled over by Mexican drug lords who were clearing executing people right there, and he's got it in his head to do something, and he's going to do it. Ana could have a normal life with her new man, but he has to be a part of yet another child's life (and Barb is an accomplice here, too - there's her selfishness to be In Control as First Wife) and it's all about HIS religion and HIS morals etc. Forget that he's going to make Ana miserable, or that Ana wants nothing to do with the lot of them, Bill wants it, and so it is.
They're all the more palatable version of Hollis and his family. Hollis gets what he wants, demands them to obey him, and they all do. He's just way up front with the crazy. And while I adore Grace Zabriskie (Lois) I was pretty disappointed with the final take of her chopping his arm off. It looked pretty cheesy to me, her just raising her arm and lowering it without any effort. You're chopping a man's arm off, for God's sake. And seriously, how awesome is the actress that plays Selma Green, Sandy Martin? That poor tortured soul, so twisted and awful because of the life she's been forced to live. I can imagine that actress is thanking her lucky stars for this role - she's hilarious as Mac's mom on Its' Always Sunny - but this is a character you can sink your teeth into. She's the more tortured, controlled version of Lois, I think. If Lois hadn't run off, she'd be just like Selma.
JJ Theories Okay, he continues to be disgusting and creepy, and that whole thing with him packing up and Wanda freaking out... I'm not quite sure what that's all about, but I have an idea. Nikki goes to see JJ's son about her infertility (and how creepy was that guy with his benevolent smile??) and I think he's "so successful" at getting women pregnant because HE'S impregnating them. If they actually go that route, I'm going to have my mind blown. And Wanda knows this, and she's disgusted by it.
Hmm, we'll see.
I made a "cream biscuit" recipe last night to go with our stew, and holy smokes was it easy and crazy delicious. I'm trying to teach the kids how to make some basics that are straightforward and simple, and this fits the bill. I do have some notes that I've added to the original recipe.
Cream Biscuits
Ingredients
2 C all purpose flour (I used bread flour, made no difference)
2 1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp kosher salt (we used sea salt, and it needs to be reduced to 1/2 tsp in that case - too salty)
1 1/2 C heavy cream (divided use)
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients together with a whisk. Stir in 1 1/4 C of the cream (leaving 1/4 C) with a spoon until it starts to come together, then dump out onto a well floured surface. Make a well/divot in the center, scrape the shaggy bits that are still in the bowl into the divot along with the remaining 1/4 C of cream and knead briefly to get it all to combine. This is maybe 30 seconds worth of kneading, and make sure you have well-flour hands.
Shape into a rectangle and with a floured rolling pin, roll it to about a 1/2" to 1" thick. (Ours were 1 inch thick, and I actually thought they would benefit from being thinner.) Cut the rectangle down the middle into two long and thin rows, half each of them horizontally, then half those, making 8 biscuits. You could make them smaller, it's just whatever floats your boat.
Transfer the biscuits to your baking sheet and bake for 15 - 18 minutes or until golden. Absolutely fantastic, delicate, fluffy goodness. Have butter and jam ready for when they pop out, I'm just saying.
Next time I make these I'm going to work in some freshly grated Parmesan and some chopped rosemary. Cheddar and chives would be nomtastic, too.
We're going to attempt this pastry cream today. We might just have to eat it with a spoon, who knows. :)
And because it's so damn quotable, and also because I can't stop hollering out "Karate Chop noise!" and "We will fricassee they honkey asses!" I give you the Black Dynamite Quote Engine. I said, can you dig it? Yeah, I can dig it. Stick with me, baby, I'll have you farting through silk. (LOL.)
Use kung fu when he wants, has sex when he please! DYNOMITE!
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Date: 2010-02-22 07:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-22 07:16 pm (UTC)And seriously, these are slap ya mama good, even if you don't have my mama. And I know you're laughing at that, which is why you're a winner. CREAM BABY. That could be either very violent (no comma) or with a comma, incredibly dirty.
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Date: 2010-02-22 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-22 07:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-22 07:31 pm (UTC)All of the above strike me as yummy. Must be tea-time. *g*
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Date: 2010-02-22 07:37 pm (UTC)We would call that a cookie - the chocolate chip recipe? Also, any hand held round sweet is a cookie.
Ive got some Earl Grey Biscuits waiting for my afternoon tea, as well! :D
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Date: 2010-02-22 07:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-22 07:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-22 08:08 pm (UTC)Will try it out... *checks calendar* on Thursday. :(
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Date: 2010-02-22 09:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-22 10:27 pm (UTC)1) A microwave.
2) Everything else can be done by hand and the bowl is only there to not make a mess. :D
BL
Date: 2010-02-22 09:52 pm (UTC)The whole JJ sitch is just getting weirder and weirder. Remember how, when he first showed up, he was threatening Wanda by reminding her that he has "something she loves very much"? Then Adelene is pregnant "because JJ said I am". Uh, really? That's how it works these days? Then Wanda freaking out because JJ "promised to stop" whatever the hell she's referring to.
Something is totally up with the doctor, I agree, but if he *is* impregnating women, he's gotta be either knocking them out cold and raping them, or using the ol' turkey baster. I don't think Adelene would agree to have sex with her "son", no matter how much of a quack she is.
And yes, I love Selma. Poor thing.
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Date: 2010-02-22 10:07 pm (UTC)I'm so ready to find out what's going on with JJ/Adele/Wanda, for sure. I just got such a creepy vibe from the doctor when he was smiling at Nikki - something very wrong is going on with them.
I wonder if JJ has a baby that he forced on Wanda? (Blech.)
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Date: 2010-02-23 12:19 am (UTC)They better start 'splainin' some of the JJ/Wanda shiznit soon, or I'm going to implode from rage and annoyance.
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Date: 2010-02-22 10:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-22 10:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-23 02:13 am (UTC)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VdxVeXWBBw
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Date: 2010-02-23 01:44 pm (UTC)I had Hubby Apple it, and
Date: 2010-02-24 03:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-23 02:52 am (UTC)Also shut it, Margene.
And much love for "PEE. [doorslam]"
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Date: 2010-02-23 01:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-23 04:38 am (UTC)I've also got biscuit recipes with yeast in--angel biscuits do. OTOH, I never make angel biscuits, because if I want to fool around with yeast, I'd be baking bread, thank you very much.
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Date: 2010-02-23 01:46 pm (UTC)And I'm right there with you re: yeast. I might as well make bread/rolls.
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Date: 2010-02-23 02:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-23 05:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-23 01:47 pm (UTC)I say that because maybe there's some of that stuff going on - like you mentioned with the hormones. Verrrrrrrrrry interesting idea you have there! I like it.
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Date: 2010-02-24 05:57 am (UTC)...actually, the more I thought about the hormones today, the more twisted it became.
Disclaimer: I'm not a medical person, but I'm an engineer that helps design immunochemistry blood analyzers - Test hormones we canz!
So thinking about what I've picked up in discussions around the office about the various hormones and their effects, I've got a new scenario.
To get a positive result on a pregnancy test, there needs to be hCG in the system. The reason we can have home urine tests for this is because as we say, you're pregnant or you're not. In a normal person, hCG should be zero and if it's up, you're pregnant. (If a guy tests positive for hCG, he's probably got prostate or testicular cancer.)
All of the fertility hormones are *scary* powerful and largely uncontrolled by the FDA - no really, they aren't. This is why it's so easy for atheletes to obtain steroids for abuse. Also, there are tons of high end hair products that have added estrogen or testosterone. And by scary powerful, I mean that they are absorbed through the skin and that if you exposed 6 year olds to some of the stronger products, they will begin to develop their secondary sex characteristics.
Now back to Big Love:
Adalene has hCG in her system - she's either pregnant or been doped with hCG. Laying aside Nicki's issues, even Adalene is surprised that she's pregnant - that it's a miracle.
I poked at false positive hCG results and sure enough, hCG is sometimes contained in fertility drugs. So why would JJ want Adalene pregnant, right now? I don't think he does. I think he's drugging her to hyper-stimulate the ovaries into producing multiple eggs - it's what they do to egg donors. The eggs can be harvested vaginally and used for artificial insemination.
This is like fundamentalist Mormons meet Frankenstein. They want to encourage tons of kids. Some women are bound to be infertile. They start a business where they harvest eggs off their wives and used them to inseminate women who can't get pregnant. I'm ready to lay money on the idea that Nicki is going to end up carrying Adalene's baby - oh, Adalene and JJs for extra ewww.
Infertility treatments can be nasty business on a woman's body - they use large quantities of the scary-powerful sex hormones. I chatted with some lab techs from a fertility clinic when they were in for instrument training one day. The female tech said that if she ever had to go through infertility treatment, she'd go for a hysterectomy once she had her kid for fear of the lasting effects of the drugs. I'm thinking about that wife with the wig. I'm thinking that she's got cancer somewhere in her reproductive system. I'm also thinking she knows all about it and feels like she's serving god by her sacrifice. ...although, it might not be cancer. Maybe just hair loss due to the drugs.
That's my new theory and I'm sticking with it (for not ;-), because in what universe would they pass up the opportunity to get Nicki pregnant with Adalene and JJs baby?
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Date: 2010-02-24 01:23 pm (UTC)Dude. Well done on the research.
(And The Mormon Murders is another interesting book, if you're curious. It's not as well written as Krakauer's book, which, not many are, but it's interesting to see how it all works, nonetheless.)
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Date: 2010-02-25 05:28 am (UTC)Mind you, I'm coming from a position of almost total ignorance of LDS mores; I know they're big on having kids are they so eager that they will accept the risk of less than healthy babies? What's the big thing about having kids, anyway? Not that I pretend to understand any of it, but it seems to me to devalue the actual adults in the relationship.
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Date: 2010-02-25 01:44 pm (UTC)You're right about the eggs of older women being potentially damaged. I think that JJ doesn't care and/or doesn't understand that. Remember, the FDLS folks also don't seem concerned about the genetic damage that can happen with incest.
I don't think for a second that Adalene knows what's going on at this point. I think that JJ is giving her "vitamins" or some other homeopathic meds, which she takes because she must obey her husband. Also, see above what Stony said about homeopathy and FDLS. In fact there was a scene for next week where she's upset and angry with JJ. She demands to know what did you do to me?. My bet is that JJ will tell her to visit his brother the ob/gyn and he'll extract the eggs. I think that Adalene will be opposed to all of this at first, but knowing how Adalene believes in "perfect obedience," she'll end up going along with JJ.
Actually, I think this is also where Wanda fits in. I think that Wanda has seen women become very ill from the process and at some point JJ told her he wouldn't do it again just to shut it up. This is why Wanda was so upset when she heard Adalene was pregnant.
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Date: 2010-02-23 11:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-24 05:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-23 09:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-23 01:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-23 04:13 pm (UTC)I totally agree with you and the baby doctor being the baby daddy. That was my first thought last night. If they go another route with that story line, I'll be very shocked.
Am I the only one who loves the fact that Margene got married to Ana's boyfriend? OMG I think it's awesome. I've kinda enjoyed her blossoming independence even though she can get on my ever loving nerves sometimes.
Also I'm waiting for Barb and Tommy to hook up. Because wouldn't that just be something?
Bill is the softer version of his father. And by 'softer' I mean more subtle I guess. Because he's just as mean and vindictive, only he pretends he's not.
Now, onto the biscuits...YUM. I'm so gonna try those out.
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Date: 2010-02-23 04:20 pm (UTC)And you're exactly right about Bill - it's definitely a more subtle (and palatable) version of Frank, hit the nose, you did.
Oh man, those biscuits were ridiculously fluffy. Like, no southern woman would scoff at them, even if they were in the DAR. ;)
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Date: 2010-02-23 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-23 08:51 pm (UTC)I was interested to see their expressions last week when Bill showed them the Big House he wants to move into. I felt I could see them thinking: how the heck do we clean that? Because that is a LOT of territory to keep clean to LDS standards, from my impression. Bill's not going to hire household help, I bet. And aren't those standards just another way to keep women around the house and busy? :::she says as she eyes dusty living room:::
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Date: 2010-02-23 09:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-24 12:05 am (UTC)