[S2 Ep 9: Shiizakana]

*Will's dream; Will wants the truth from Hannibal and he'll tie Hannibal to a tree and make the Ravenstag pull the rope if he has to-and he does!)

*Hannibal throws the word "Love" around way too easily(and people wonder why Hannigram shippers exist!)

*Will doesn't get what he wants from Hannibal so the rope goes so tight we see a geyser of blood.

*a dinner scene with Jack and Hannibal at Hannibal's house(I'd like to see more of people's houses on this show;we've only seen the downstairs of Will's house and the kitchen, the living room at Alana's, and the bedroom at Jack's)

*Guy out walking in the snow-by himself, late at night-you know(this being Hannibal)that it is not going to end well.And yes, he gets attacked by the manbearwolf.

*We get a flashback to the previous episode when Will is in therapy with Hannibal. There are lots of closeups in the therapy scene and in this episode in general.

*Will meets Margot Verger as she is walking into Hannibal's office and  he is leaving.

*Hannibal has the most redoinkulous hat on at the first crime scene.

*Will visits Peter Bernadone(from the previous episode) to see if he had any insight(which he does, and he tells Will that man is the only creature that kills to kill.

*We get a glimpse of Randall Tier, and of his manbearwolf getup.

*The second victims are killed, this time out in the woods.

*Eventually they figure out that it's a man who wants to be an animal.Of course, Hannibal just *happens* to have had a patient that fit that description in the past.

*We get a great Price/Zeller scene(hope we get a few of those in S3!)

*Hannibal goes to Randall Tier to warn him that the  authorities know what is going on, and will be paying him a visit soon

*Which they do. Randall insists that he's OK now and says  he knows who he is now(an echoing/parallel to Will, perhaps?)

*Margot shows up at Will's and they compare notes about Hannibal.

*The next day Will tells Hannibal this-and that Bedelia visited him before she took off-and that she believed him. So now that's out in the open.

*Will is at home and the dogs start freaking out. One of them gets out and run off. Will(rather wisely) gets a gun and goes after him. The dog is hurt. Then Will hears something. Sabre Tooth Randall comes crashing through his window.

*Then the scene goes to Randall Tier, dead, laid out on Hannibal's dining room table. He says that he and Will are even, Even Steven.


Episode insight:

This is a freaky episode. OK, you could say that about almost *any* episode of Hannibal,but this comes right after an episode where someone was stuffed inside of a horse.

This is also the same show that has had "angels",a mushroom farm(don't ask if you're not a Fannibal and are reading this and don't have a strong stomach) and a totem pole made out of bodies.

But this episode's manbearwolf-now *that* is freaky.Especially how he kills is freaky(it's "spot the horror trope" in the scenes where the victims are killed,especially the first victim.

Then we have Will and Margot and their respective damage. This is what leads to the Will-Margot hookup(and the desire to have an heir but more about that in next episode's episode insight!)


Quotes:

Typhoid and Swans..they come from the same place-Hannibal

Adapt.Evolve.Become-Will

The wrong parts and the wrong proclivity for parts-Margot

[100 books-and I've read quite a few of them!]

Our local library had a list of Amazon's 100 books to read in a lifetime in 365 days.

I usually make it to 50 books(and a few more) in the course of a year.

On the list, the ones I read were:

Cutting For Stone-Abraham Verghese

Fahrenheit 451-Ray Bradbury

Unbroken-Laura Hillenbrand

Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas-Hunter S. Thompson

Me Talk Pretty One Day-David Sedaris

Midnight's Children-Salman Rushdie

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao-Junot Diaz

The Fault In Our Stars(and no,I haven't seen the movie)

The Golden Compass-Philip Pullman

Persepolis-Marjane Satrapi

[blog housekeeping,pre-cruise edition!]

 Firstly,I am going on a cruise-a short one-Monday-Thursday next week-I am SO excited! So no posts those days,though I will try to tweet some, and of course I will do a post about the cruise when I got home(of course!)

Secondly:Hannibal posts. So as it stands now, I will continue to review S2 episodes on my blog, and when that's done, I am going to start reviewing S1 episodes(I reviewed S1 on my blog but those all got deleted when I deleted my old blog. This time I will do S1 in order.

There will also be a tweak to the reviews:I am adding a "episode insight" to talk about various aspects of the episode. I realised that if I started re-rewatching S1,that would take us right up to the middle of June. This will be re-evaluated  when we get an air date!

[what's on my iphone]

My lock screen and wallpaper is a picture of my Hannibal Funko dolls(Will and Hannibal). My ringtone is,yes, the theme from Hannibal.

I don't have a lot of apps downloaded; Doodle Jump, Bejeweled and Instagram.That's it.

Since I ride the bus a lot I like to have music to listen to-here's jus a sampling of what's on my iPhone:

Do You Realise,The Flaming Lips

Clint Eastwood,Gorillaz

Immigrant Song,Led Zeppelin

Take Me To Church,Hozier(I discovered this song after it'd been out for a while;I don't really listen to commercial radio so am behind/out of date.)

Stand By Me,Mona(this song was used in one of the trailers for S2 of Hannibal.Surprisingly few of the songs are Hannibal related.)

Everything Counts,Depeche Mode

[weekend report, January 23-25]

Friday:I met a friend for coffee. My nieces and nephews came over to my parents' house and spent the night which was fun. Watched Tootsie(which they didn't like) and The Sound Of Music, which they did.

Saturday:I went to Pt. Loma with my mom and hung out at Liberty Station, the old Navy Training Centre which is now mixed use(restaraunts, galleries,shops..and even a school and a church!)

We went out to dinner at a local Japanese restaraunt for my sister-in-law's birthday.

Sunday: A chilled out Sunday. Went to Panera, and then over to Barnes &Noble for an hour or so.

[was gonna talk about this during the hannibal trailer post but it got a bit wordy!]

As big of a deal as the trailer was, the announcements about the casting of 2 new characters was pretty big too..

They've cast Molly and Reba!

Molly is being played by Nina Arianda, who Hugh has worked with before, on stage in Venus In Fur. I have to wonder if he had a say in her being cast!

Reba is being played by Rutina Wesley who played Tara on True Blood. SO excited to see her play Reba!

[dot dot dot]

Some days I just don't feel like writing, and yesterday was one of those days. I did have something I wanted to write but I tried to write it and it just seemed weird.

I saw a picture on a friend(well, former friend)'s Instagram saying that their spouse was diabetic. As a diabetic myself, I  can relate.Well, sort of. I'm not here to judge but I do think you can help yourself stay as healthy as possible.

What concerns me is that they post tons of pictures of food. Not very healthy food,either(one of the things she used to always talk about cooking was a crockpot chicken recipe with soup, cream cheese and swiss cheese.

Having such a..searches for a word and settles on "crap" diet is a recipe for diabetes. I used to have a lot of stomach issues-just didn't feel good in general-and as soon as I was diagnosed as diabetic, and started to eat better,they went away. Just from looking at their Instagram(even after the spouse was diagnosed with diabetes), it's not exactly healthy food.

I seriously would not wish diabetes on anyone. For some people it's probably a real  struggle to try and eat healthy and keep their numbers down. I want to avoid the complications that come with being diabetic, if at all possible.

[how about that S3 trailer?]

(My thoughts are in bold)

We see Will in a hospital bed.
My first thought was that he got away relatively unscathed.


Will wearing an oxygen mask and covered with blood looking very intently at someone.It's slightly out of focus(deliberately?)
My guess?He's looking at Abigail.


Will touching his bandages.
I have a feeling we'll see his scar.


Someone in a body bag.
Abigail.


Chiyoh(who is standing in for Hannibal's Aunt Murasaki.)
They are going to have a antagonistic  relationship.More on that in a minute.


Will in a graveyard.He finds a handprint on a grave.
This is going to be significant I can tell already.


Hannibal at a party;he sees someone-seems surprised to see that person.
Will-I have a feeling he's not exactly invited.


Then we see torture(?) instruments.
This could be at the place Hannibal is working at-we weren't given much context.


Hannibal as Dr. Fell(?)
Can't wait to see how he ingratiates himself into society in Florence.

Bedelia running down stairs.
I have a feeling she is in danger. I'd be surprised if she made it through S3.


Will in the graveyard.
We see the graveyard several times;at a guess it's going to hold a huge key to figuring out why Hannibal is the way he is.


Hannibal schmoozing.
Despite the internet, nobody is going to suspect a thing, save for Pazzi(if TV Pazzi is anything like book and movie Pazzi.


Will walking with Chiyoh(who is holding a gun) behind him.
Will was snooping too much for her liking  and found something that would bust the case wide open.


Hannibal touching Bedelia's shoulder.
Inititally I think Bedelia is going to go along with the playing at being a married couple but  she is going to get talked into catching Hannibal.Which will end with her death, unfortunately)


Hannibal making notes  in his office.
It looks like(is) his office at the museum.


Hannibal opening huge doors that go down to  catacombs.You can see torches.
This was my favourite scene in the entire trailer. It has a very medieval feel.


Will and Hannibal in the catacombs under his house. Will: "Hannibal...I forgive you".
O.M.G. That is all.

[don't fool with wild animals/almost a darwin award winner]

I love to watch videos on YouTube, and frequently can sit watch a whole bunch of videos just because they were suggested.

The other day, I had a suggested video that  was a kid almost getting mauled at a park in South Africa. His family are in a car(with the windows rolled down...not a good idea!)

You can see the lion starting to get increasingly agitated and then he charges the car.Fortunately the kid and his sister get out of the way in time, otherwise it could have been disastrous.

I'm sure this isn't the only "almost got eaten by a lion" video on YouTube but it's one that really brings home that they are WILD animals.

[tv ramblings]

Not much interesting among the pilots for the 2015-2016 season.A lot of remakes(Luther, and a modern version of Frankenstein among others)

Supposedly there is going to be *another* Chicago Fire spinoff. I loved that show..until it turned into too much of a soap opera for my liking.

Looking at what *doesn't* get greenlit is rather interesting.Don't get me wrong, there is a lot that makes it through that you wonder "why?'. The answer to that is "(insert name of network here but NBC is the biggest offender) need to fill their schedules and they kinda don't care what they put on".

(Do not get me started on how they're dealing with Hannibal.We'll be here all damn day.Seriously.)

File this one under "Trying too hard because you know the show is shit". Rainn Wilson has been going around saying his show Backstrom is NOT like House. If we're going by the ads, yeah, it kinda is,Actually, it comes off like a(bad) mash-up of House and Hannibal(truly!). House was good(the last season has't aged well though). But every show that has tried to be like it since it went off the air(Rake, anyone?That show was godawful and got  sub-basement level ratings. The promotion for it called it "The new House". Lemme tell you, that backfired on them.Big freaking time. Nothing could have saved that show) has failed.

Backstrom looks like going the same way.Also, it's had a bit of a history-originally it was going to be on CBS but they changed their minds, and I guess they did a lot of tweaks to it..that may not be enough to help it though-and I like Rainn Wilson a lot.He deserves better.

[blog housekeeping]

*My food blog will  only be updated twice a week. But they will be worth the wait..I already have ideas for a TON of posts.

*Since I'm having to stretch out my Hannibal posts 'till summer, you may get some meta posts alternating with episode reviews(I still have a few episodes of S1 to watch-originally I was going to watch-and write reviews of-S1 but I couldn't wait to start on S2 so..yeah. There is a chance that Hannibal  *might* be on on another night;if so,I will adjust my schedule accordingly.

*Cruise Critic is starting to get good again.So expect to see some posts  about that before too long.

[weekend report, January 16-18]

Friday:We went to Brett's Barbecue for my brother's birthday(which was actually Saturday). SO good-I always order the same thing:A brisket sandwich and fries.Then to my brother's house for presents and cake(a spice cake which was different-and it had frosting with a bit of lemon juice which gave it a really good flavour.)

Saturday:Went to the grocery store-it took the cab *ages* to get there because the traffic was so bad. I actually thought about trying to find some way to get home on the bus(Have I ever written about riding the bus?I will one of these times. I have some interesting stories to tell-hell, I could write a whole book about riding the bus.

Sunday:I started walking towards downtown Oceanside-going to have some breakfast-but then I remembered that the Local Tap House does brunch. And I am glad that I did. They don't have a huge menu, but I was able to find something that I liked:A Elvis waffle: A chocolate chip waffle with peanut butter on the top of it with glazed- something had a cinnamon flavour-it may have been the bananas-bananas,fresh blueberries, fresh raspberries and fresh strawberries. And a side of maple-agave glazed bacon. It was one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten.

[am i right to be skeptical?i think so!]

Barbara Barnett, who has a radio show called Let's Talk TV  does not know what she is talking about. It wouldn't be the first time she's been wrong about something, cited "official" sources and said it was legit. But let me back up just a minute:

Before the airdate for S2 of Hannibal was released(February 28th of last year-5 days after my birthday-the best belated birthday present ever) she kept saying "yeah,yeah, it's going to  come back in February, after the Olympics".

(This is someone who has broken promises before, says she is going to have a live show from SD ComiCon every day-and that didn't happen-but that's beside the point.)

The airdate for S2 of Hannibal was announced and it was in.. February! So I felt a little bit bad for doubting her so much, but I felt like I had my reasons.

Fast-forward to this year. On one of her recent shows she said that she had heard(again this  was supposedly from a source at NBC) that Hannibal was going to be coming back in March or April.

However, at the TCA's it was announced that Hannibal is not coming back until summer. The fact that none of the cast or Bryan Fuller or Martha De Laurentiis was there should have been a huge clue that Hannibal is coming back later than usual. The last time I checked, March was in the winter, not summer.

I'm really tempted to say something to her the next time she has a show..to see if she says anything. I noticed she didn't say anything about it on her Twitter..if I had said something like that(getting fans' hopes up and all-I have to say, us Fannibals are taking having to wait until summer for the new season pretty well),then I would trying to avoid talking about it,too.

[weird food combos/seriously considering starting a food blog]

A friend of my mom's was making a dish the other day that had olives and grapes.Which sounds really strange to most people, but sounded delicious to me! Salty and sweet? Yes please!(It  must be said that salty and sweet is one of my favourite combos of tastes-I lovelovelove kettle corn,especially the kind you get at the county fair. It's so good-salty in one bite and sweet in the next-heaven!

I love bacon, but don't eat it a lot because I know it's bad for me. I do really like the salty-sweet-savoury combo of..a  French Toast and bacon sandwich.With a little bit of syrup drizzled on the bacon.If you haven't tried it, you really have to. As I said, NOT the sort of thing that you can eat all the time-an occasional indulgence if you will ;)

Earthy tastes are a favourite of mine-hoisin sauce which I like to put in Pho(Vietnamese noodle soup-another thing that you really should try if you haven't-most pho places are really not anything special, but they are inexpensive, and when you order a "small" bowl of soup, it's always really big.

Food fads aren't really my thing, but there have been several that I didn't get at first but when I tried them, totally got it.The first was salt caramels(going back to my love of salty and sweet!).It didn't hurt that I love caramels. The saltiness is pretty subtle, but it's there. The second was dark chocolate with chili in it. That is also surprisingly good.
==================================
I write about food enough that I have been thinking that it might be a good idea to have a separate, food blog where I talk about food, share recipes,that sort of thing. I'm not 100% sure that I am going to do it, but if I do, I will let you know. I would also post restaraunt reviews on there as well.

[S2 Ep 8: Su-Zakana]

Two things before I start:

1) I have to comment on Hannibal not airing 'till summer. I'm not happy about it.But I've(mostly) made my peace with it.

2)Given the nature of this episode, there WILL be bad jokes.Just warning you right now.

*We get Will and Jack ice fishing(this is their version of "girl talk".)

*Will and Jack have dinner at Hannibal's;the fish is one they caught(it's fair to say that there isn't much people in that dinner. Maybe the stock the fish is served in?

*Turducken.  Ohkay. This is a show that has had mushroom gardens made out of human bodies and "angels". When I first heard a description of this episode-a woman stuffed inside of a horse with a bird inside of her(and supposedly we're getting something even more bizarre in S3.Oh jeez.  Too much horsing around. See what I mean?)

*We hear(but don't see) Mason,and we get our intro to Margot. Who just happens to be seeing Hannibal(is he REALLY the only psychiatrist in the Baltimore area? LOL)

*Hannibal and Alana doing the do. The less said about that the better.

*The turducken victim has a pul..oh wait, she has a bird inside of her. a..starling!(love that shout out)

*Will goes to the crime scene(feeling unstable, Will? Sorry,I had to.)

*Peter Bernadone-I love that his name is a shout out to St. Francis-the patron saint of-wait for it- animals, and whose real name was Pietro-Peter-Bernadone. One of my favourite saints, BTW :)

* I used to horseback ride and they always warned us about safety around horses,something that Peter Bernadone forgot(though we don't know-the horse could have been badly spooked or something.)

*Will and Hannibal have a therapy session(really sad that we probably won't get these scenes in S3) Will:Don't lie to me. Hannibal: Will you return the courtesy?

*Will would kill Hannibal with his bare hands.

*Zeller apologises to Will at the crime scene with all of the bodies(soil on the turducken victim led them to a gravesite.) Did Price ever apologise to Will?I don't think we ever found out.Maybe it happened off screen.) That scene always makes me a little emotional.

*It's obvious Margot doesn't have issues, she has a whole damn subscription(and they're  more obvious as Margot and Mason's story arc goes on)

*Will takes Clarice(the starling-the bird that was in the woman-it's not canonically named that;I just call it Clarice because it's a starling.) to Peter Bernadone so Peter can see that it's OK.

*Peter's social worker Clark is a real piece of work. Peter says  Clark did it. Will says he's a predator.NAILED IT.

*They take Peter's animals and we get a strange sort of shaky cam(which is supposed to represent Peter's state of mind?)

*Peter and Clark talk..and it ends with Peter stuffing Clark in a horse.Yup.

*Clark escapes from the horse(I could have done without the closeups to be quite honest) and Hannibal's just standing there petting a lamb like "Look at all the f***s I give". LOL

*Will almost shoots  Clark but Hannibal stops him. The scene with Hannibal holding Will's face like that is awful close to officially being Hannigram. Just sayin'.

Quotable:

You should have taken the chocolate, Margot-Mason

I'm much weirder than you'll ever be, Margot-Hannibal

Peter, is your social worker inside that horse?-Will

You might  want to crawl back inside that horse if you know what's good for you-Hannibal

[randomness on a thursday]

* I mentioned I am going on a cruise.. well, I can give a little more info the closer we get..we're going on a 4 day Princess Cruise on February 2nd. I've never been on  Princess, so this will be a new one on me!

They're quite a bit bigger than the Holland America ships-I never get enough time to explore the ship when I'm on it, and we're going to have a sea day right before we get back to port so that day is going to be dedicated to exploring the ship!

Since I've only been on one(two if you count the other short cruise we went on when I was a teenager;I didn't care for it) it'll be interesting to contrast and compare-it seems like there is a lot to do-shopping, shows, and the like-I am always up for going to the casino when I'm on a cruise ship :)) and also, the food. The ship we're going on has several specialty restaraunts(extra charge.) I've never been, but everyone raves about the Pinnacle Grill and the Tamarind(which is only on a couple of the Holland America ships) and the Canaletto which kind of is a specialty restaraunt(it's in part of the Lido) and which used to be free, but now there's a charge for it, and apparently,now that there is a charge for it, the quality of the food is not nearly as good.

*My new favourite food combo:  smoked  almonds and dried cherries.I can't explain why it's so good, it just is!

[happy flailing]

We went for ages without any new Hannibal news, and now..we get the news that Richard Armitage is going to be playing Dollarhyde. I cannot.freaking wait.

Then, today there was a story on TVLine that we are going to meet Molly in Episode 8 after a very long time jump(two time jumps in one season..I normally am not a fan of time jumps but I see what they are trying to do narratively)..and she is going to have a son named Walter. With every version of Red Dragon, Will's stepson gets a new name(in Manhunter he was Kevin, in Red Dragon he was Josh, and now he's Walter)

[meme]

Which do you prefer?Coke or Pepsi? Coke.

Do you miss anyone?If so,tell about this person you miss? My friend Patricia.

The last time you washed your hair, did you use conditioner?Yes..I  use a conditioner from Lush  called Veganese

The last time you skipped school, what was the reason?God, I can't remember!

If I was going to fix you something to eat, what would you like? BLT on sourdough, no mayo, onion rings.

And what drink would you like with that?Sparkling water.

Do you own a lot of socks?Yes I do!

Any summer plans yet?Well, my nephew's high school graduation is in May.Not quite  summer..otherwise, no.

Do you tend to memorise random, somewhat pointless facts?Yes!

Pizza Hut or Domino's? Even though it's greasy(and I call it Greasy Hut)..Pizza Hut.

Favourite type of cheese?Sharp cheddar.

[weekend report January 9-11]

Friday: Went to UTC(University Town Centre, a local mall). Later on I went to a talk given by the Civic and Historical Society they belong to(the town they live in has a lot of historical places!)

Saturday:We went to Point Loma Seafoods(which I wrote about the other day).The weather was really nice and we walked around a bit before we took my aunt to the airport..that night though,the weather changed, and it rained!

Sunday: A lazy rainy day..I went to Whole Foods to get the makings for my eggplant parm.It always takes me *ages* to shop when I go to Whole Foods because I am so unfamiliar with it! The making of the eggplant parm hit one snag but it was fixable(didn't really matter, to be honest!) and it tasted SO good! We watched the Golden Globes whilst we ate dinner.

[i have writer's block!]

I have a zillion ideas for things that I want to write about(and I want to do a mega post about  what happened in  Paris-and that will be later this week sometime-I try to write out a schedule for what I'm going to write about-and I do have a set schedule for certain days-Fridays are Hannibal review days(though it's going to move to Saturday when Hannibal comes back-whenever that is :) )

This week, I'm not..well, I already have things readied for tomorrow and Tuesday, but Wednesday and Thursday need topics :) )

[not new to me..the new look is,though!]

My mom, dad and I went to Point Loma Seafoods before we dropped my aunt off at the airport(she was going back to Colorado).

I've been going to Point Loma Seafoods for years..It's a great place, but the way you order is a bit haphazard(it's hard to explain unless you've been there)and the side room and outside tables-and some areas nearby-are the only seating.

HowEVER, they recently remodeled, and it looks *amazing*-very open and bright, and lots of space-you could see how there was plenty of space to move in there even when it's crowded. They made the side room open and brighter, and they also have seating upstairs too.

The food is just as good as I remember it,too. My mom,dad and aunt all had the tuna sandwich and I had the fish and chips(which was delicious-it's my second favourite fish and chips in San Diego-the first is at Anthony's which is nearby-Point Loma Seafoods-I am a creature of habit in that respect-at both of those places I always order the fish and chips.)

The next time I go to Anthony's,I'll have to do a little write up on it;it's one of the oldest, most established restaraunts in San Diego;some say it's touristy;I've been going there since I was  very young, and I have yet to be disappointed(mind you, as I said, I only order one thing there;that *could* have something to do with it.

[S2 Ep 7:Yakimono]

*We pick up right where we left off, with Miriam being transported to the BAU(and here we get a nice callback to Savoureaux  and it's repeated later on in the episode)

*I have wondered many times how much does Miriam remember(or not..) but as we go through the episode it's quite clear that she has been thoroughly brain washed by Hannibal.

*This week's death tabeleaux is the tree dude-not deliberate that all of the flowers that have been planted in his body are toxic(but Hannibal is being slightly sloppy here-or maybe it's deliberate- just throwing that out there.)

*Alana interviews Hannibal-now, surely this is a huge conflict of interest, given last week's episode-especially since Jack knows that she spent the night at Hannibal's house,

*Jack blames himself for what happened to Miriam-however Miriam corrects him and says that it was her fault too(Stockholm Syndrome much?)

*Hannibal doesn't seem too worried,especially when Miriam is all "Yeah, he's *not* the Ripper."

*Will is free, and he's calling  Chilton out. Guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurl. Given the way that this episode ends, Will's telling Chilton to watch himself seems like an anvil.

*Will seems unsurprised by the news about Miriam. Jack is sorry,I guess.Kinda?Sorta?

*Then it's back to Hannibal's Haus Of Horrors In The Woods.

*Will sees the tree dude in Hannibal's office in Will's recreation.

*Will tells Jack he can't trust Miriam- No.Shit.

*Will is finally reunited with his dogs, yay!

*And he tries to warn Alana and, well, look what happened in Mizumono.

*Chilton wants to stay alive.Well, by the end of the episode that was a big question mark.

*Will visits Miriam(at the FBI? a safehouse?) and they compare notes. Hannibal was doing his form of "therapy" on both of them.

*Will pays Hannibal a visit..of course Hanni has to make a snarky comment about his aftershave.Really Hannibal?That's all you've got?

*Miriam is definitely brainwashed, because she sees the Wound Man drawing in Hannibal's office and it doesn't ring any bells with her. I would think that if anything made her remember,*that* would.

*Chilton goes home..and finds(what's left of) Gideon..only to be knocked out by Hannibal, and wakes up to find two FBI agents who have been sent to pick him up(because he is supposedly the Ripper) dead. Of course they're going to think Chilton did it(and he's already a suspect-earlier in the episode it was established that they would be led away from Hannibal as a suspect, and that's exactly what happened. And we all know Hannibal's REALLY good at framing people.

*So where does he go?To Will's(who must have known that  Chilton was going to show up to his house or else he called Jack as soon as Chilton got to his house and Jack sped the whole way to Will's?)

*Chilton tries to make a run for it but doesn't get far. The next scene is at the BAU and we get a callback to the start of this episode.

*Chilton gets shot..by Miriam.In.The.Face. I am amazed that he survived that, TBH.

*Will shows up-all cleaned up with a haircut and everything-to Hannibal's. "I have to deal with my feelings about you"(understatement of the decade.) Will says "I want to resume my therapy". Oh Will.Oh honey.

Next week is Su-zakana. I am going to have a lot of fun writing a review for that.

Quotable:

The Chesapeake Ripper has set you free.Mazel Tov.-Chilton

All of this has been my design-Will

[huge shout out to the apple store]

Because my dad and I went there this morning, almost right when it opened, and we were able to get a problem(albeit a minor one-me not being able to set up a new Apple ID on my iPhone-I tried-on Christmas, quite possibly the most hectic day last year-not a good idea!)

However,I was walked through the signing up process by one of the guys working at the Apple store, and it was easy-one or two snafus along the way but they were minor and I was downloading music  right away(and now I have a few songs on my iPhone, which is good!)

I know some people like to say that they don't get very good service when they go to the Apple Store.You want to know my honest opinion?I think it depends on what time of the day it is.Early in the morning, it's going to be much easier to walk in there and someone help you without a appointment for the Genius Bar. Frequently, they get too backlogged, and I have heard of people waiting  an hour plus past the time of their actual Genius Bar appointment.

Another factor:The store, and where it's located(as an example:The Apple store at UTC(University Town Centre) always seems much more crowded  than, say, the one at the Forum in La Costa. The only notable exception being Christmastime. they're always crowded at Christmastime-with good reason,obviously :) Admittedly I don't like the Forum Apple store since Borders left..on the other hand, it *was* replaced by a BIG Urban Outfitters store so there is that.

[food post]

I just got Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything for Christmas and I love it. I don't know how many recipes in there I will actually wind up trying,but I have already tried one(chocolate chip cookies) and they came out really well.

For me, it's about trying new stuff-I have a lot of things that I cook that are favourites of the family(Shepherd's pie is one of them-and my mom's  chicken tortilla casserole which I have started making among others.)

Bittman's book is good because there are not a lot of steps in a lot of the recipes(for people who  are more visual, there is a iPhone/iPad version of How To Cook Everything!) I'm glad that that exists.

Something you might not know about me:I am an experimenter. Yes, I do like recipes and recipe books, but I sometimes like to get in the kitchen and throw a bunch of ingredients together. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

When I was first learning how to cook, I did a lot of that. My mom was trying to be nice so she held back her feelings about some things(though I remember one dish that I made that had too much cumin in it. *that* I can't blame her  for not wanting to eat it.Even I didn't want to eat it, and I love my own cooking.

 One of the first things I learned how to cook was grilled cheese sandwiches, and whilst I make an amazing grilled cheese now,I had to burn a lot of them before I got  good at it(my mom used to burn grilled cheese sandwiches when I was a kid-she would have to scrape all of the burnt parts off. So it's not just me!)

[Coachella 2015]

How about that lineup, though? AC/DC and Steely Dan on the Friday?It *almost* makes me want to go again.

(a slight digression here: I *have* been to Coachella.Once. Several years ago. I went on Saturday. There were a lot of bands that I wanted to see.. but quite frankly, it's the kind of thing I can say I've done *once* and be happy with that. It's hot, it's out in the middle of the desert, there's a lot of walking involved(I had a blister by the end of the day. Also, we booked our hotel last minute so it was a bit of a drive from Coachella(which is in Indio) to the hotel but it was worth it.)

The prices are what keep me from going every year.That, and I really don't want to go all 3 days. This year,Sunday is the only day without any bands that I'm particularly interested in. There's a couple of bands(Belle and Sebastian who I've seen live..sort of..I had to leave the show early because I didn't have a ride home..it's a long story..)and Ride, the shoegazing band from the 90's.

(Digression numeros dos: Back in the early 90's I was a big fan of the Britpop/Shoegaze etc. bands from the U.K. I would devour anything I could about them from Melody Maker(r.i.p) and the NME. I was a Ride fan, and I bought pretty much everything they put out there for a while. They got a lot of play on Rodney Bingenheimer's show(he's always been a Anglophile, and played all of the latest  music from the UK, sometimes even before the record stores got it.)

Ride had a good erm, ride for a few years there.Then the shoegazing thing was not as big of a deal as it had been before.By I think, 1994 or so,they weren't as popular as they had been. I remember seeing them at the ballroom at UCSD and I always rate that show as one of the worst shows that I've gone to.

Ride broke up not long after that, I remember reading that in  the NME and not being a bit surprised. The band members were not very friendly at the time I met them and that could have had something to do with inter-band issues. Also, their support act had a really nice tour bus and Ride had..a church van. Yes, really.

(Digression numero tres: One of my favourite bands is Travis, from Scotland.They are the sweetest, loveliest guys you will ever meet. I have been spoiled for meeting other bands after meeting them.Seriously.)

[my creative side]

I have been reading about writing sprints,where you write for a set amount of time(as short as 10-15 minutes and as long as an hour.)

It's a group activity, but it is probably possible to find places where you can find prompts for writing sprints. Which is something that I really want to do. I am hoping that this will help me do more writing-who knows, I may even try doing Nanowrimo(National Novel Writing Month) this year(I keep saying that I am going to do it but I never get my shit together  in enough time this year. It would something I'd be able to cross of the 'ol bucket list that is for sure!

You know, I have a ton of ideas for Nanowrimo but they're kind of half-realised ideas-I feel like maybe they're not the most original ideas on the planet but if I tweaked them a bit I could purpose them in a way that it would be readable. Let's be honest-this is more about doing Nanowrimo, and finishing it-in a month-than it being published

(Though has anyone gotten a publishing  deal because of something they wrote for Nanowrimo?I'm too lazy to Google....Wouldn't surprise me if someone had, to be honest.)

One of my blocks on writing a book is bad reviews. That's probably not that uncommon of a fear. Even established authors probably feel that way at times.There are a few hack writers, especially the ones who write Twilight knockoffs-who [A Few Good Men] Can't handle the truth[/A Few Good Men]

[riight noww]

I am doing pretty well. I have a lot to look forwards this year;my oldest nephew(who lives in Oklahoma City) is graduating from high school which is a big deal. Then, he'll be going to college in the fall(an even bigger deal.) He's applied to a bunch of different places-a few places on the West Coast(USD-University of San Diego) among them, and then some places closer to where he lives(The University Of Arkansas which would be a easy drive when he wants to come home for weekends and holidays.)

My niece is in a relationship, for quite a while(and, because of timing and the like) I only just got to meet him the other day.I approved, of course. :)

It's coming up on a year since my dad got his cancer(and a year since he had his surgery, in April). I honestly have to say that I am relieved that he is doing so well, but it doesn't mean that I don't still worry about him.

Honestly? I feel like I have gotten a lot out of talking to someone a couple times a month.Especially when I feel like I've had a rough time of it(which I definitely did at Christmas-I LOVE Christmas, but we had so many people visiting I felt overwhelmed more than once

[make.it.right.]

United's reputation just keeps on getting worse. There is an airline who has no intention of dealing with issues as they come up-matter of fact, the way they deal with them is to just try to act like it doesn't exist. Which is pretty douchey if you ask me.

When people call them out(as with disabled passengers, which happened twice recently) United's MO  is, well, no MO. Well, more like they sic all of the trolls(who seem like paid employees of United. One of them has been confirmed to be a pimply faced 15-year-old boy(the nephew of a United employee, perhaps? this is the kid(because he IS one) who told the parents of a disabled child who was wronged by United:"Choose to to comply with rules or find another airline.Do I make myself clear?" Asshole, much? The fact that the United employees who occasionally try(and fail) to help customers...that they see the troll posts but ignore them says to me that is's sanctioned by United.Which is just really pathetic.

The other airline Facebook pages are a recipe for success and how to deal with stressful situations(weather, missing luggage, etc.) they also had bad problems with trolls but have all but troll-proofed their Facebook pages(especially Southwest-pretty much the only airline I'll fly anymore-gotta love their low prices!)

The troublemaker trolls don't have ANY original material, and nobody is safe, including the disabled, and people who are trying to see sick/dying family members. You could poke all sorts of holes in the trolls' posts-repeating the same things-and the typos.Usually I don't nitpick people for typos..but if they're trying to come off as credible, they're having the opposite effect.

Not only that, there is identity theft going on, on a HUGE scale. People are getting their identities stolen on Facebook-have no idea it is going on- the identity thieves set up fake Facebook accounts-

Facebook(and United, too) are aware of what is going on.. doing anything about it, well, that's another thing entirely. You can do a LOT before Facebook will consider kicking you off. It's one of the reasons I've given serious thought to leaving Facebook lately..the only reason that I stay is because a lot of my family(out of state family) are on there.Otherwise, I would have been gone a long time ago.

[S2 Ep. 6:Futamono]

*Hannibal playing the harpischord(and very well-d'you think Mads has experience?)

*Jack is not happy with Will for trying to have Hannibal killed.

*We get a call back to "Sounders Of Three" from Sorbet

*Jack is still not believing..much.

*Hanni makes heart skewers..delicious..not. Hanni says he has he has to get his appetite back..I'm sure you do, dude.

*Tree guy with flowers growing where his guts should be. The flowers inside of him are all toxic.

*Not long into the episode and Jack has been given a lot to think about.

*Will talks to Gideon. I love the scenes with Hugh and Eddie Izzard.

*"The Chesapeake Ripper is killing again..and Hannibal Lecter is throwing a dinner party". OK Jack, maybe NOW it's time to start thinking about questioning what's going on with Hannibal. How much damn proof do you need? JFC.

*Hannibal makes a notation on his composition which turns into a flower which turns into the Tree Guy at the FBI morgue.They find out that tree dude has done some stuff that pissed people off(Jack: "He paved paradise and put up a parking lot".

*Hannibal visits Will. Hannibal isn't too happy with Will(that whole "trying to have me killed thing", you know..) Hanni is his usual douchey self.

*Hannibal goes "shopping"(I.E. looks in his Rolodex, ROFL)

*Jack talks to Gideon, who isn't much help. On the way back to his cell Gideon sasses one of the guards and gets the shit  beaten out of him. The blood dripping into a cup of coffee is especially memorable.

*Hannibal has his dinner party(Chilton gets the line of the night: "Hannibal the Cannibal".)

*Jack wants a doggy bag;Hannibal suspects that Jack may be on to him.Alana is being fiercely protective of Hannibal. He gets a doggy bag and takes it to the BAU to have Zeller and Price analyse it.

*Meanwhile, Hannibal knocks  Alana out(there's some sort of residue on her wine glass) so he can kidnap Gideon(in his Dr. Hannibal get-up-WTF Hannibal-you're not a surgeon! LOL.) The guy guarding Gideon gets strung up with fish hooks.


*Hannibal gets home in plenty of time;Alana vouches for him when Jack shows up wanting answers.(Hannibal:"The last time someone rang my doorbell this early it was a census taker". OMFG.

*Hannibal cooks Gideon's leg in clay. Understandably, Gideon doesn't want to eat himself but does("My compliments to the chef". OMGWTF forever.) This begs the question:Did Alana know that Hannibal was hiding Gideon in his house? This is something I'll expand on a bit when we get to Mizumono..

*The lures were not Will's doing-they were the Ripper's. Because of the lures, they get a clue which leads them to a farm out in the middle of nowhere where they find..

*Miriam Lass! It's safe to assume(unless you see an actual body)that people who are dead may or may not be(Miriam is a good example of this, as is Abigail..)

Quotable:

He's got varicose vines-Zeller

Anyone who gets too close gets got-Will

[new year's resolutions for 2015]

*Read 50 books

*Go to the gym regularly

*Get my financial/legal  stuff figured out

*Be more organised

*Meditate for 20 minutes-half an hour every day

*Try to only have one bag of trash a week(I recycle a lot so I do pretty well at this already.But I can do better.)