His quote was something about metaphorical size, which clearly means he likes the heft of Cruise's cock.

Consuela, I hope this gives the professionals a chance to shine...or at least a chance to work out a strategy for next time.

Good lord--some days lunch's garlic really sticks with you. I apologise to the world.

And this dress, which looked like an okay idea on the web page, is clearly something my grandmother would think is too fuddy duddy.

Okay, today has clear targets, things that need to be crossed off the list, and I will cross them, damnit. I WILL CROSS.

Yeah that's a thing in the books, always a description of him - big, scars, doesn't work out, but is all muscle. It's not cut and pasted in there like the description of Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield in the Sweet Valley High books but there's almost always a physical description.

Consuela, I hope this gives the professionals a chance to shine...or at least a chance to work out a strategy for next time.

This is never going to end.

And I keep missing calls from the psych. It's as though my phone automatically redirects calls from a masked line to voicemail, so I can never catch the guy. He never answers the phone: you call & leave a message and he calls back, but my phone won't accept his calls!

While I will not watching the movies, I am guessing I should read these books.

YAY NORA!

Consuela, drugs for moms and cocktails for you.

I enjoy a great deal the idea of THE GREAT UNBURDONING! That should be our group effort for the month of December.

UPS might deliver until 7, is my understanding.

I've gotten packages from UPS as late ast 10pm. Not often, but it has happened.

'Suela, fingers crossed you can get your phone to accept the call and the Dr to write PRN benzos. Something to get through a little bit of time so this can be seen as normal and not something so new, scary and to be fought.

I think there's a lot less actor pursuing the role than you might otherwise guess. It's not an efficient use of time, unless the actor in question has an active production company of their own, and even then I think we still overestimate.

I don't think there are a lot of actor who can do this. It's a tiny handful at most. But I'd put Tom Cruise in there. His production company was responsible for the Mission Impossibles. I mean, I loathe him but I suspect he's one of the most bankable actors.

In terms of poker, my Dad was briefly a high level poker player when very young. Took Mickey Cohen for $50 bucks in a poker game. (This was the Depression, so think $500 or may $1,000 today.) Fortunately for my late Dad, Cohen took well, just laughed at his nerve. But the point is that he played damn well and made money at it.

And he said that if you did not do the math you were a sucker, But if you relied only on the math you were a loser. You had to calculate the numbers, read people, and avoid being read yourself. You had to know how to bluff without being detected (and not bluff too damn often.) He never said you had to know when to hold em and know when to fold em, but that was implied. So hiding or getting rid of your tells is something a good poker player needs to do, even if it is not the only skill you need.

Actually my late Father was a gambler in general. He won not only at poker, but roulette. He lost at horse racing, so confied his horse racing betting to recreational amounts. (His system for winning at roulette was one that worked in his time, but would not work today. Bet odd or even or some other method that minimizes losses until you spot a pattern, then bet on the pattern. Roulette wheels are constructed better, and the people who spin them are trained in not falling into patterns and work shorter shifts so they don't have time to get fatigued in the particular way way that would result in spinning the same way every time. While I'm sure some cheating does, on most efforts by casino owners are the opposite of cheating. Make sure your wheels are truly random, and the odds make sure the house wins. My Dad took advantage of the fact that in his time, if you waited long enough a combination of imperfections in the wheel and fatigue by the dealer would result in non-random results, and then you could win by spotting this before the house did.)

All this is just family stories of course, because my Dad gave up gambling before I was born for whatever reason. Once in a while he would let himself get dragged in a poker game. He win during the first half, then tell me that it would be impolite of him to keep that much and deliberately lose until he was a buck or two ahead or behind. That part I witnessed, so while I don't know if all his stories are true, he was good enough to win the first half of every poker game I ever saw him take part in and then start losing the second half after whispering to me that it was time for him to give back the winnings.

I don't think there are a lot of actor who can do this. It's a tiny handful at most. But I'd put Tom Cruise in there

There are enough actors with their own production companies that I don't think of it as tiny--it's just WAY easier for Cruise to get a bankroll with his production company than for Natalie Portman and hers. But a production company represents a way your project can be pimped without you having to do all the legwork.

After listening to quite a few filmmakers discuss how difficult it is to get movies made even after they've made hugely successful stuff, I suspect that they often can't get funding unless there's a big name actor cast as a box office draw, even if that actor isn't really right for the part.

it's just WAY easier for Cruise to get a bankroll with his production company

Which is why it's easier for me to believe that he's got this role because he wants it. Not because he necessarily went to a casting call and was chosen as the best actor to portray this character. But I haven't read the series so maybe he's a good choice for the role.