Once again, we're in for an installment of my random thoughts blogging, wherein I discuss issues briefly, rather than write a full post on each one.
The Bachelor: Once again, I was roped into watching "The Bachelor" - and not just the two hour finale, but the extra hour "after the rose." Ugh. As usual, I found actual finale rather dull - as I said before, Brad Womack is not an especially interesting person on television - but I will say that my prediction as to who Brad would pick was spot-on (here's a hint - Brad's family liked Chantal, but his Mom literally CRIED TEARS OF JOY at the thought of Brad settling down with Emily, it was OVAH), and I predicted Ashley as the next Bachelorette (the makeover in the last episode was a dead giveaway). The accuracy of these predictions came much to the chagrin of my girlfriend, and I did manage to get a great deal of dishes done.
What was more interesting was the "after the rose" deal after the ritual humiliation of Chantal when Emily and Brad were being interviewed. And here's what's interesting to me - Emily was P-I-S-S-E-D at Brad and they broke up just about every Monday evening/Tuesday morning because Emily was watching her "man" romance other women. And that lead me to an interesting train of thought - what if, utter failure of the Bachelor to produce married couples (3 relationships out of 15 seasons) comes as a result of "Bachelor" couples watching the show? Even more interesting, does the fact that more Bachelorette couples stay together after the show ends indicate a difference between the sexes with regard to jealousy? Certainly, the format of the Bachelorette, where men compete for a woman's affection, fits more within traditional social norms. Can we get Malcolm Gladwell to look into this?
Devastation in Japan: When I first saw the news, my reaction was, as with everyone, "Holy Fucking Shit!" From my experience as a Californian, an 8.9 earthquake is ENORMOUS. The Easter earthquake that did a lot of damage to the Imperial Valley, and was the first earthquake that actually scared me, was a 6.9-7.0 quake. Given that the Richter scale is exponential, an 8.9 quake is around TWENTY TIMES stronger than the Easter quake. Yikes. But, if there was ever a country who could withstand such a quake, I thought that Japan would be that country. And from what I can tell, it wasn't the quake so much as the tsunami that caused the damage. Anyway, my heart goes out to them, and I sincerely hope I don't get any radiation sickness from the reactor meltdowns.
Buyer's Remorse in the Midwest: The newly elected governors of Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan are all engaging in various degrees of union-busting, and find themselves with lower and lower approval ratings. And ultimately, that's the rub that we face in America. On one hand, we have the Democrats who generally have beliefs that are popular - like gun control, abortion choice, social safety nets, regulation to keep products safe, etc. - but are either incapable of expressing those beliefs, or incapable of enacting legislation to bolster those beliefs, and on the other hand, we have Republicans, who favor policies that are not popular - union busting, dismantling the social safety net, etc. - but are very capable at governing. The whole thing is maddening, and until one party (*cough*Democrats*cough*) figures out how to govern, we're going to be stuck in this quagmire.
Libya, Bahrain and the Middle East: Like a lot of people, I am both heartened and dismayed by the democracy movements in the Arab World. In countries like Egypt, this movement may well bring real progress. But in Libya, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, I am genuinely concerned that the governments will put down these movements in a horrifically violent way. Given that our military is already stretched (thanks, Dubya), another military intervention, or two, is unlikely.
Showing posts with label the bachelor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the bachelor. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Reality Show Blogging: The Horror, the Horror. . .
In the past few months, I've actually moved beyond random dating, and met someone who not only can I stand to be around for more than a few hours, and who (more importantly) can stand me for more than a few hours. And, as you might guess, I'm happy about this. However, one of the unfortunate aspects of being in a relationship for a lot of straight men is having to watch "The Bachelor." For some reason, my significant other is enthralled by this show and being the dutiful boyfriend requires me to watch with her. Of course, this obligates her to watch all the crap I like as well.
Anyway, in my entire life, I have watched two episodes of the Bachelor, and its still not my cup of tea. The Bachelor is. . .dull. Sure, he's got a six-pack, etc., but wow, is this guy dull. Apparently, he was on before, and in a surprising act of honesty, didn't pick either of the finalists. Given that none of the other Bachelors have ever married their picks, much less dated them for any length of time after the show ended. For refusing to take part in the charade, he became a hated man. Still, he strikes me as a decent human being, but completely disinteresting.
What is interesting, and is always interesting in these shows, is how competitive the women get. The first season of "Flavor of Love," where women fought over the affection of Flavor Flav for no apparent reason other than being on television, is a prime example. But given the distinct lack of any discernible personality of the current Bachelor, this season of the Bachelor is right up there. In a few short weeks, numerous women have proclaimed their intense love for the Bachelor, and the cat fighting has begun. The biggest surprise is that the woman who wore fangs in the first episode left the show because she realized she was on it for the wrong reasons.
Anyway, last night's episode made watchable by the crazy antics of a hairdresser from Utah named Michelle. She talked ill of the other contestants and by all appearances, seemed much more interested in the Bachelor than anyone else. Indeed, when on a group date, she actually attacked the poor man for bringing other women along repelling down a cliff or something. She then went to his room and tried to get the Bachelor to change his mind about several other women. All the while, she gave interviews with the producers that screamed, "crazy."
So, I have to admit that at the end of the show, I felt like I was watching a horror movie, wanting to yell out to the Bachelor, "Watch out Brad, she CRAZY!!!" The last 15 minutes, were therefore enjoyable. As for predictions - the woman who's husband died and then she bore his kid is a mortal lock for the finals.
Top Chef:
It occurs to me that I haven't blogged about Top Chef All-Stars yet, and I need to fix that, particularly in light of last week's episode surrounding Rao's Restaurant. As an Italian American, the episode was of particular interest to me because I could actually make a lot of the food shown.
The biggest mistake, of course, was the pasta course, where two contestants tried to make fresh pasta, and one attempted to make risotto. All were. . .less than ideal. Here's the thing about Italian food - its made by home cooks. Unlike the French, there was no King or nobility to really impress (well, there were, but they didn't last that long), so Italian food developed with family in mind. Indeed, Italian women develop power in their communities based upon their cooking abilities.*
That's not to say that Italian food is easy to cook - its not, because everyone cooks it slightly differently. Its also really easy for chefs to screw up because Italian cooks are all self-taught, whereas most chefs are trained in professional kitchens. And that's what we saw in the last episode.
The big sin was the use of fresh pasta over dried pasta. In the Northern part of Italy, where the wheat is soft, people make their own pasta. But in the South, where the wheat is hard, everyone cooks dried pasta. For my money, dried pasta is more consistent, better quality, and holds sauces better than fresh pasta. The only time I use fresh pasta is when I make a stuffed pasta like ravioli. But to make fresh pasta without any stuffing was madness. Had I been one of the chefs, I probably would've gone with manicotti - crepes stuffed with ricotta and baked in tomato sauce.
Tre's risotto was apparently an even worse sin against Italian food. Even though I didn't grow up with risotto (its a Northern thing), I have since learned how to make it, and the best risottos are loose, creamy, and contain only a few ingredients. The whole thing is a trick - its a way to make a cheap ingredient (rice) taste like a more expensive ingredient (cream).
I do think that Antonia winning for a steamed mussels dish was a bit of a stretch, but again, Italian food is all about the home cook and the relationships that people make with the home cook. So, if her mussels tasted like Grandma's** she was going to win.
*I'm not even remotely kidding about this. My Grandma became fiercely competitive with my mother after learning that Mom can cook - even refusing to teach her how to make manicotti. See, the best cooks have everyone over to their house for dinner and become the hub of all social activities.
**Actually, as far as I know, my Grandma didn't make mussels, though given her abilities in the kitchen, she probably could.
Anyway, in my entire life, I have watched two episodes of the Bachelor, and its still not my cup of tea. The Bachelor is. . .dull. Sure, he's got a six-pack, etc., but wow, is this guy dull. Apparently, he was on before, and in a surprising act of honesty, didn't pick either of the finalists. Given that none of the other Bachelors have ever married their picks, much less dated them for any length of time after the show ended. For refusing to take part in the charade, he became a hated man. Still, he strikes me as a decent human being, but completely disinteresting.
What is interesting, and is always interesting in these shows, is how competitive the women get. The first season of "Flavor of Love," where women fought over the affection of Flavor Flav for no apparent reason other than being on television, is a prime example. But given the distinct lack of any discernible personality of the current Bachelor, this season of the Bachelor is right up there. In a few short weeks, numerous women have proclaimed their intense love for the Bachelor, and the cat fighting has begun. The biggest surprise is that the woman who wore fangs in the first episode left the show because she realized she was on it for the wrong reasons.
Anyway, last night's episode made watchable by the crazy antics of a hairdresser from Utah named Michelle. She talked ill of the other contestants and by all appearances, seemed much more interested in the Bachelor than anyone else. Indeed, when on a group date, she actually attacked the poor man for bringing other women along repelling down a cliff or something. She then went to his room and tried to get the Bachelor to change his mind about several other women. All the while, she gave interviews with the producers that screamed, "crazy."
So, I have to admit that at the end of the show, I felt like I was watching a horror movie, wanting to yell out to the Bachelor, "Watch out Brad, she CRAZY!!!" The last 15 minutes, were therefore enjoyable. As for predictions - the woman who's husband died and then she bore his kid is a mortal lock for the finals.
Top Chef:
It occurs to me that I haven't blogged about Top Chef All-Stars yet, and I need to fix that, particularly in light of last week's episode surrounding Rao's Restaurant. As an Italian American, the episode was of particular interest to me because I could actually make a lot of the food shown.
The biggest mistake, of course, was the pasta course, where two contestants tried to make fresh pasta, and one attempted to make risotto. All were. . .less than ideal. Here's the thing about Italian food - its made by home cooks. Unlike the French, there was no King or nobility to really impress (well, there were, but they didn't last that long), so Italian food developed with family in mind. Indeed, Italian women develop power in their communities based upon their cooking abilities.*
That's not to say that Italian food is easy to cook - its not, because everyone cooks it slightly differently. Its also really easy for chefs to screw up because Italian cooks are all self-taught, whereas most chefs are trained in professional kitchens. And that's what we saw in the last episode.
The big sin was the use of fresh pasta over dried pasta. In the Northern part of Italy, where the wheat is soft, people make their own pasta. But in the South, where the wheat is hard, everyone cooks dried pasta. For my money, dried pasta is more consistent, better quality, and holds sauces better than fresh pasta. The only time I use fresh pasta is when I make a stuffed pasta like ravioli. But to make fresh pasta without any stuffing was madness. Had I been one of the chefs, I probably would've gone with manicotti - crepes stuffed with ricotta and baked in tomato sauce.
Tre's risotto was apparently an even worse sin against Italian food. Even though I didn't grow up with risotto (its a Northern thing), I have since learned how to make it, and the best risottos are loose, creamy, and contain only a few ingredients. The whole thing is a trick - its a way to make a cheap ingredient (rice) taste like a more expensive ingredient (cream).
I do think that Antonia winning for a steamed mussels dish was a bit of a stretch, but again, Italian food is all about the home cook and the relationships that people make with the home cook. So, if her mussels tasted like Grandma's** she was going to win.
*I'm not even remotely kidding about this. My Grandma became fiercely competitive with my mother after learning that Mom can cook - even refusing to teach her how to make manicotti. See, the best cooks have everyone over to their house for dinner and become the hub of all social activities.
**Actually, as far as I know, my Grandma didn't make mussels, though given her abilities in the kitchen, she probably could.
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