You've also got me on the "specials" thing. I can only assume they are speaking about the meals (no Special meals loaded) but why the flight crew would need to know this is beyond me. Perhaps the Purser was speaking to the CSD (was this a Longhaul or Shorthaul flight)?

The lights onboard are dimmed so that your eyes are used to the darkness, should you be required to evacuate in to the dark outside. Different planes, unusually, seem to have a different idea as to what DIM means. There are generally three lighting settings on the 777-200 for example. BRIGHT (for normal cabin service), DIM for landing/departure at night and NIGHT, for mid flight.

On my last trip, I could really see no difference between DIM and BRIGHT, so we turned the lights to NIGHT and then turned all the reading lights ON (we have the power!!!!).