Ananayel, I have to ask [rico voice]"What the fucking fuck?"[/rico voice].

Just invite yourself a little before the show. I doubt anyone's there right now. You'd just be chatting with yourself. :)

Crossballs, Hawkwild. It's on Comedy Central. I'm still on the fence as to whether this will be any good.

And then it's all hairy palms and blindness. Don't go there.

And you would know this how?

ThatGrrl beat me to it, Hawkwild. It's on late, and reairs at 1:30 am. I'll give it two episodes to wow me. Other than tonight, which is quite complex, I should be able to swing it, if it's any good.

I'm pissed off that I can't wait for TAR tonight. I'm mad that I'm so addicted to this show and will be in a perpetual state of anxiety until it's over. I hate being in suspense. Why do I torture myself?!

Rachel, I'll put $10 on 7 minutes.

This has got to be the longest day ever...

Can someone post a link to M. Darcy's Jeopardy preview?

I can't join the chat during the show since I'll be watching with my sister, but I'll join you afterwards!

Okay, here's another dumb question re the TWOP TAR chat: Does one have to actually be, like, on AOL to participate? Because I wouldn't load AOL on my computer if it was the last email provider in the world. AOL Instant Messenger I'm willing to use (which you can use without being an AOL subscriber), but can a group chat be done with that? I've only used it for one-on-one chats in the past.

I heard about "Crossballs" because a reference to it showed up on Salon a week or two back - it seems that they fooled a few pundits before people started to get wise to it. One person's experience is here.

It was kind of interesting following links to see who fell for it, and who didn't, but it wasn't interesting enough for me tell TiVo to look for it.

Sadly, Jeopardy's web page doesn't seem to be that sophisticated. But you can go to the "who's playing this week" section, and find her that way - Jenny Miller, Arlington VA.

Happy TARsday and too many TV options day!

Thanks! And you only need AIM for the chat, not AOL.

Could Jeopardy have chosen a worse looking picture to use - I think not. I just listened to my Hometown Howdie. I sound scared to death. Lord, well, at least I didn't do a Cindy Brady.

I am a dope--I use AIM, but I don't know how to get into a chat room unless I'm sent an invite or a link. How do I find the chat?
ETA: Still in a fizzing tizzy here; still not getting any work done. Still having fantasies about Phil in his long leather duster. sighhhh......

Heh. You look like you're in full-on Ken terror mode. Fortunately, you're not the only one who looks like that.

Ooooh, definitely. Wonder what kind of cocktail (no pun intended...much) I could invent in homage to Phil, to sip whilst watching TAR? Obviously, it would include a kiwi garnish.

You know what's worse than all the anticipation for tonight?

The fact that tomorrow, there is no chance in hell I'm getting ANYTHING done. At least I've done 3 things today...small things...but things. Thank goodness Bosslady is away.

Ohhhhh. The Philimination Cocktail! What an intriguing idea! How about vodka, pomegranate juice, spritz lime and seltzer water with a kiwi garnish?

Argh! One of our legal secretaries retired last month and I've got dumped with 2 of her attorneys and they two of the worst in the office. I'm afraid that I'll never catch up with the boards now. I hate this place.

ThatGrrl, someone earlier said that Phil is much more salty in interviews than he can be as host, so your drink could be the kind that has salt around the rim, like some margaritas. Or maybe something like a Bloody Mary, which at least has a color scheme thing going on.

And no, not getting much done still.

Dang it, Hildy, I've always wanted something in which to try using pomegranate juice. That sounds pretty good! Sort of a tropical Cosmopolitan. I like it!

And it shall be called "The Philimination Cocktail" (tm Hildy).

ETA, whoa. I'm a couch potato! RedT, it's a lot more fun inventing drinks, than working, isn't it? So would your option be a sort of margarita with kiwi garnish, perhaps? I'm just getting in a tie-in with his New Zealand origins there. Or see Hildy's pomegranate margarita below. They all sound yummy. Maybe we can turn this into a contest here and vote on the official Philimination Cocktail. No one appears to be getting anything else done, anyway!

I just got some pomegranate juice, which is why I wanted to put some in. We could try to make up a pomegranate Margarita for those who want the salty edge.
Maybe we should just call these cocktails Philiminators.

Thanks for the info, devajd. I'm not sure I'll log in tonight -- the TV I plan to watch on only has Papa Tiger's computer in front of it -- it's bigger than the TV in front of my computer. I don't want to put something like AIM on his computer without his permission, not to mention he totally wouldn't understand my wanting to chat while watching the show so I don't even want to bring up the subject; he puts up with enough of my obsessiveness as it is. Plus I don't know how to get into a chat room with AIM. And last but not least, I'll probably be glued to my couch with a 75-pound scared golden retriever weighing me down, since our weather is somewhat stormy today. Is that enough excuses for why you guys won't see me chatting tonight? Maybe another week!

Please. Those are the only margaritas.

geebs criminy, that mirror is the biggest hole in the book, in my opinion. Because Harry could have used it to contact Sirius instead of speaking to that demented house-elf whose name I've forgotten, which was a lot safer than using the floo network. But then, don't get me started on the holes I've found in the series -- love the books, but wish they hadn't been rushed into print without a decent clean edit.

A big fat heaping order of Word for you, please, Delta888. That hole bugged the hell out of me, too. And I'm just praying that the last couple books have an editor that knows how to say, "This is long, and redundant. Cut it by one third please, Ms. Rowling."

With the chat, I think before we just called it TAR(insert number here)Chat, so if we're using TwopTARchat tonight, it might be good to keep an eye on TAR5Chat too just in case to let anyone unaware know where we've gone (I wouldn't be sure where to go tonight if I hadn't thought to check here).

For the people who said they don't know how to get into the chat, here's what I do: log onto AIM (if you're already logged on, go to your buddy list). Go up to the menu where it says people (it should be in between My AIM and Help. Scroll down the list of options to one that says "Send chat invitation." A window will come up with two big sections, one for "screen names to invite" and one for "invitation." Go to the "screen names to invite" section and type in your own screen name. At the bottom of the window will be a small bar with the words "chat room:" beside it. It'll usually say something like "YourScreename ChatNumber" -- for example, right now mine says "Klitch18 Chat17". Delete that and type in the name of the room, in this case "TWOPTARChat". In the bottom right corner of the window there should be a button that says "Send." Click it and viola! You're in the room. Hope that helped someone.

The Philiminator: it should have ingredients from all around the world, right?

How about Vodka for Russia/Eastern Europe, Rum for South America, kiwi for Asia and in honor of Phil's origin, watermelon for North America, pomegranite for Africa, and a little soda to tie it all together...

Garnished with a nutbunch, of course.

Yeah, delta888, Harry could have done that, but he didn't know he had the mirror. He didn't open the package because he was mad at Sirius. He only found out about the mirror after Sirius died when he was packing up his stuff and came across it. He had forgotten all about it, what with everything else going on.

I can't wait for tonight, but I don't know how I'm going to get everything done. We've got a friend coming for dinner (and TAR, since really that's why he's coming), and the house is still a mess. I've got dishes to wash, floors to vacuum and mop, junk to pick up, etc. And I need to buy a new tablecloth because the old one has had it from the projects we do at the kitchen table. (I keep cutting it with the scrapbook cutter things and burning it with just blown out matches.) And I have to actually finish work, when all I want to do is be here and then watching TAR. If I don't finish work, though, the newspaper is going to have several blank pages tomorrow. On the plus side, today's what to watch tonight on TV column is devoted entirely to TAR. I found other stuff to put in, but by the time I finished writing about TAR, there wasn't any space.

Mmmm, count me in. HA! I loved the garnish.

ETA, leaving work now, enjoy the show everyone.

Automatics are more expensive in Scotland. If you have the cash, I'd go for it, especially in the UK. Driving on the wrong side of the road will freak you out, shifting with the wrong hand will freak you out more.

And also, Happy TARSday!

Can't join you for AOL Chat--gotta go quaff with the guy who got me addicted to this. You kids have fun and don't take all their bandwidth. :)

Quick question: jackass that I am, I forgot to set my DVR to record TAR tonight (as the odds of me getting out of work in time to see it are about the same as me suddenly becoming a 6'5 blond man). Did someone say that they're going to be showing the episodes twice each week this season, or do I really need to stop adding hallucinogenic mushrooms to my lunch salads?

(If they are re-aring it, any idea when??)

It will be repeated this Saturday night. I can't remember the time off the top of my head though.

BartEnder, for the previous poster you quoted: we rented a car in Scotland last fall. I think we rented from Avis - it's best to call and speak to a human in reservations rather than try to request it online. I'm a travel agent, and I don't book international cars via the computer, either - there's just too much info that you want to get right.

As long as you specify an automatic transmission, you'll get one. My husband coped with driving on the left but it was definitely unnerving at first. Fortunately, adjusting doesn't seem to take that long. I would have been stuck driving if it had been a manual, and I didn't want to think about shifting with my left hand instead of my right. So automatic was the way for us.

Also, if you get verbal directions, ask the person to write them for you too. We were told to 'take the Aiskeen brig' by an agent in London who booked our B&B, which was north of Glasgow airport. She spelled it that way and everything. Then I spoke to the owner of the B&B to reconfirm when we picked up the car, and he also pronounced it "Aaaaiiiiskeeeen Brig." However, the map spelled it "Erskine Bridge." Hee!

No special driver's license was required for England or Scotland.

At least you people on the East Coast only have a few more hours - it's not even 2PM here!!!

I had already planned my Philiminator cocktail this past weekend:
1 part Guava/Kiwi juice
1 part ginger beer
2 parts vodka
garnished with kiwi

But I'm liking Hildy's and BhP's ideas....

Word! BartEnder. I have no hand-eye-foot coordination on the left side of my body evidently because the last time I was in Great Britain and rented a car with Mr.Duchess I was hopeless. I couldn't even get it out of the parking lot and I've been driving a manual trans for 15 years!

Happy TARSday, everybody! I feel like I've been away for a long time, and there are lots of people here I don't know! I'm shy, so come talk to me! Well, I'm not really all that shy, but I still want you to talk to me. For now, I'll just say that I'm psyched for a good race, and I wish all the racers the best, may the best [wo]man win, blah blah blah fishcakes. And don't forget! CBS was being shifty (are they run by monkeys, too?) so the TAR goodness starts at 9:25 EST! You'll miss the first few minutes if your tape is set for 9:30!!!

Now I totally want to get Philiminated (hic).

I'm glad I'm not the only one!

We're like a bunch of 5-year-olds on Christmas Eve. Heh. I'm in for the chat tonight (yay DSL, which I did NOT have last year) if I can manuever my way into the room. My AIM id is nothing like my real name or my screenname, though, so don't be alarmed.

*bounce bounce bounce*

It's scheduled to re-air Saturday at 8 Eastern/7 Central.

And as long as we're discussing showtimes, Papa Tiger is in transit and flying standby, so will either be sitting in a Minneapolis hotel room or a Denver hotel room watching TAR tonight. So the Important Question of the Day for him is: What time will the show air in Denver, by Denver time? Will it be on the same schedule as Central, i.e. at 8:30? Can anyone tell me so I can tell him? Because he's been a TAR fan since the first minute of the first episode (although not to our degree of fanaticism) and is anxious to not have to wait till tomorrow to watch it!



vibbs, where do you get this info from? I thought NBC was the only network farting around with their scheduling like that; certainly all the CBS listings I've seen -- including both online and print -- have said 9:30.

MamaTiger - this says 9:30pm on Channel 4...

Duh, I should have thought to check the Denver CBS affiliate website. Okay, I can reassure him that he should be able to watch it even if he does have to take the later flight!

pseudostudent:


Watch for Bermuda then, we're always wearing our bright yellow shorts or something at these Games Opening Ceremonies!

Hope your Jeopardy! experience is/was great, M. Darcy.

Ack! No, the show will be on at 8:30 pm MST (Denver local time). Our local news comes on at 10pm. Check the program guide here.

Back to this huge pile of work that I have to get finished by the end of the day. Count me in for several of those various Philimination cocktails!

Thanks for the re-airing info, kids-- now I just need to make sure I don't re-jackass on Saturday night!

Also, I luuuuuurve driving on the "wrong" side of the road. Particularly in Ireland, or as I call it my delightful teeny-tiny-roaded ancestral home, "One Big Game of Chicken". FUN!

Happy TARsday everyone! It is so cool to be able to say that again.

I am going to watch the episode at Cafe Nostra. I am so excited!

Good save - double ack on me! Never noticed the "ET/PT" notation. I hope Papa and Mama Tiger see it in time.

Yup, see it and note it. Now I just need to wait for Papa Tiger to call me -- hopefully not hearing from him in the last hour means he got on the earlier flight -- and then I can give him the good news. He was just concerned that it would be on at 7:00 or something and he'd miss it, so either 8:30 or 9:30 will be good news for him, I suspect! Thanks for the help, guys!

I am a virgin TAR poster (oops, not anymore). Tonight will be my first time to watch, and I'm ever so excited. Wait, I mean, I'm ever so excited! I would never have been interested in watching it if it wasn't for the recent Pixel Challenges. Here's hoping tonight lives up to everyone's expecatations.

[Carl from the Simpsons]Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod.[/cfts] I can't believe it's TARsday again. I have a bajillion and one things to do before I hop on a plane tomorrow (after only getting home from another trip at 1 am this morning), but all things are on hold from 9:30-11:00 tonight. Hubby had the nerve to ask if I could tape it so he could watch a repeat of Chapelle's Show on Comedy Central. Not only a repeat, but a repeat of an episode he's seen a hundred times. I told him that was fine, and then I'd be serving him with divorce papers first thing in the morning. You would think that by season 5 he'd understand that I'm just a wee bit obsessed with this show?