Lessons learned from the Top Chef finale

Spoiler alert — if you don’t know who won and you don’t want to know, don’t read on.

This is what I learned (all over again) last night:

1) Be true to yourself — the second Carla started taking Casey’s suggestions I knew she was doomed to third place. (And seriously, CASEY? maybe I’d listen to Richard, but never, ever Casey — there’s a reason she wasn’t chosen by the other two chefs)

2) Everything is subjective — watching experts argue over whether or not a dish is exceptional means there are no absolute “rights” or “wrongs”.

3) Admitting you screwed up with grace takes courage, but the end result leaves people feeling good about you.

4) Cowardice pays — Josea stuck Stefan with the alligator because he was afraid to cook it. He cooked his venison dish because he was afraid to make a dessert.

Early birthday presents

(and yes, I’m including Hugh Jackman hosting the Oscars in that list because I thought the opening number was fantastic — special kudos to Anne Hathaway, who knew she can sing?)

My birthday’s not ’til next week, but this year I’ve gotten a bunch of gifts early.

First the universe granted me a Creativity Coach for four months — how cool is that?!

The Crafting Queen gave me two wonderful creations — Jeremiah the Bullfrog (who was sitting on my desk, but is now tucked into the bookcase since the bird thought he was a little too interesting) and a GORGEOUS quilted pillow with a center panel featuring coffee — how perfect for me!

J & J gifted a new blender (with a food processor) which is so shiny and pretty that I haven’t used it yet.

And last night Long Suffering presented me with the Knifty Knitter (which is the Crafting Queen’s fault since she showed me hers and I HAD to have one). I LOVE it! It’s perfect for someone with the attention span of a gnat who’s always losing count.

This is officially a great birthday.

R.J. Colleary and the Red Fish

I looked up the writer of the “I Heart Mom” episode of LIFE and it was written by R.J. Colleary.

LIFE redeemed itself with it’s Red Fish

Any crime show that can tell you EXACTLY who the red herring is with just a character name deserves two enthusiastic thumbs up. Once again, I’m convinced it’s the smartest show on TV.

(And Adam Arkin deserves an Emmy nom for his comedy work, which’ll never happen since he’s on a “drama” but his Ted rocks)

They say the devil’s in the details

I haven’t watched much HOUSE lately, but I do remember that it takes place in NJ. According to my sister, they don’t have anyone reading over the scripts that actually resides in NJ. She was so annoyed that they kept referring to the Division of Youth and Family Service as “D.Y.F.S”. Now if you live anywhere other than NJ, you’d think that Dee Why Eff Ess would make sense, but here, everyone knows it’s called “DieFiss” (DY FS).

Now in the writer’s defense, how the hell would you research that?

I READ that book, didn’t I?

The strangest thing happened to me this week: I realized I haven’t read a book I was convinced I’d read. The reason I KNOW I didn’t read it? The author hasn’t written it.

I’ve read the first few chapters, and the detailed synopsis, and the author is so adept at world-building that I KNEW the characters and their entire story.

It was a strange, strange realization.

Coming soon to CBS

CSI: TARGET

TARGET has their own crime lab, why not their own show? They could even have the silly TARGET dog as a sidekick…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/28/AR2006012801268.html

LIFE is back

My favorite TV series LIFE starts airing again tonight. Yay! This is the ONLY show that surprises me on a consistent basis, so I’m really looking forward to it. I mean, I hadn’t guessed that opening the door to one’s home could be so dangerous…

Unique = ?

One of my neighbors told me earlier, “You have a unique way of looking at the world.”

I don’t think he meant it in a positive way, so unique is code for what? Odd? Strange? Weird? Bizarre?