Hmm...

Spoilers ahead - FYI.

One time, I was reading up on "Top Chef" drinking games on the interwebs. Each version I found was very complicated. One in particular involved having two teams - Contestants vs. Judges. Again, it was confusing, but it was something along the lines of every time Padma said something ridiculous or that she didn't seem qualified to say, the Judges team took a drink. On the other side (and this is the one I do remember very accurately), if a contest said something full of foreshadowing that would probably doom them in the end, the Contestants team took a drink. This is exactly what went through my head during the "Top Chef" finale last night when Carla said early on, "I know I can do this if I just cook my food."

So last night my husband and I rushed home (we were at church for Ash Wednesday, but we have priorities, man!), grabbed some beverages and cookies, and settled in to take in the episode.

The episode broke down like this: Breakfast; pick sous chefs by drawing knives; Hosea-Richard, Stefan-Marcel, Carla-Casey; cook the best meal of your life using what's available at this restaurant; fight over foie gras; sous-vide; TWIST - eat king cake, find baby, dole out Cajun protein for appetizer course - Hosea-redfish, Carla-Blue Crab; Stefan-alligator; alligator sucks; service; judging.

With the aforementioned quote, it did not start off looking well for my buddy, Carla. Alongwith the rest of the "Top Chef" viewership, we wondered who would the sous chefs be? I would like to say that I recognized Richard Blais while they were still in the shadows - it was the hair. The pairings seemed perfect, until it went downhill.

Carla and Casey teamed up for a girl power team, and I was a little excited by this. They are both Southern with French training (Casey learned how to cook from her French grandmother) and super ladies. Oh, was I wrong! The SECOND Casey mentioned doing the steak sous-vide, I knew Carla was done for. This was also when I realized I was really really pulling for Carla. Then came the tart-souffle debacle. It was painful.

The OTHER irritating part was Hosea and Stefan's exclusive competition. Not ONCE did they mention Carla (maybe this was creative editing, but I think they were just being competitive boys). Had Carla cooked her love-soul-food, she would have blown both of them out of the water. Their respective menus are as follows.

Appetizer course: Hosea - redfish on griddled corncake with remoulade, Stefan - alligator soup, Carla - chiso Blue Crab soup with chayote salsa (TIE - all awesome)
First course: Hosea - sashimi 3 ways, Stefan - hamachi, Carla - bouillabasse (Carla wins, but Hosea's is a little better than Stefan's)
Second course: Hosea - scallop with foie gras, Stefan - squab with cabbage, Carla - Meat and potatoes/sous-vide NY strip steak with potato log and excellent sauce (TIE between Hosea and Stefan)
Third course: Hosea - venison with mushrooms and blueberries, Stefan - ice cream with chocolate mousse and a banana lollipop, Carla - something that was missing a bleu cheese souffle (Hosea wins)

Judges Table was just heartbreaking. You could see that the judges were disappointed by Carla and she was even more disappointed in herself - and then just had to count her out and choose between the boys (this same thing happened to Casey during her finale...). Then followed one of the most touching moments in "Top Chef" history (in conjunction with the 12 Days of Christmas challenge earlier in the season when all of the chefs pitched in to help Hosea and Radhika), Carla was explaining why she should be Top Chef while tears were streaming down her face and Stefan was moved and reached out to comfort her. Then later, in the stew room, he wiped away her tears. He may be cocky, but it was nice to see a gentler side.

When it was all said and done, Hosea edged out Stefan, and I was just disappointed. I liked Hosea a lot early on, he was even one of my faves, but then came the dalliance with Leah (didn't you like their lip-to-lip congratulatory kiss?!) and he (and she) just lost all class in my eyes. Although Stefan was overly-confident, he was much more constistent than Hosea. I will concede that his cockiness led to him phoning in the last few challenges, though. And Carla - my least favorite after the first episode, but then my heart's pick to win. She cooked with soul (like Stephanie) and maintained a positive attitude throughout, gaining friends rather than enemies. Good luck always.

Next week we are treated to a reunion special. I'll be tuned in and let you know what I think.

The ballots are in...

and one girl had to win ("Bring It On," anyone?)!

Anyways, the long-anticipated Academy Awards aired last night from the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Clocking in at 3.5 hours, it felt a little eternal. How did I fair in my movie-viewing, you ask? How were my predictions? What did I think? Don't worry, readers, you are about to find out.

First off, as far as all of the big awards go (not including documentaries, foreign language, and shorts) - we did see all of the movies that won. I did not think that was going to happen because I was almost FOR SURE that Mickey Rourke was going to win for "The Wrestler." I did see all of the animated shorts (shocked by that win, but I should have seen it coming, I'm just a sucker for rabbits), but none of the others. Biggest upset of the night - "Departures" over "Waltz With Bashir" in the Best Foreign Language Film category, I had read some articles arguing that "Waltz" should be eligible for Best Picture. Period. It looks violent, but I imagine we'll see it when it opens in Austin.

So my husband and I printed out scorecards and filled them out while watching the red carpet coverage. We came up with a scoring system that entails making up to two selections for each category - what WE want to win, and what we think the Academy will pick. Last year we had 3 categories - what we wanted, what should win, and what will win (I think it was because of our love for both "There Will Be Blood" and "Juno", and the inevitability of "No Country for Old Men") - this proved to be too complicated. So for scoring you got 2 points if you accurately selected what you thought the Academy would pick and 1 point if what you wanted to win did in fact win. For instance, I thought that the Academy would pick Mickey Rourke for Best Actor, but I personally thought Sean Penn would win. Since Sean Penn won, I got one point. Conversely, I thought the Academy would pick Kate Winslet for Best Actress, but I thought Meryl Streep gave the best performance. Kate Winslet won, so I got 2 points. I ended up with 36 out of a possible 48, while my husband got 26. A few I was just totally wrong on - Best Costume, Best Animated Short - and a few I just didn't amply use my 2 selections (Best Original Song). I was overall happy with all of the awards - especially the sweep by "Slumdog Millionaire." Everyone that won was gracious and I almost choked up a few times (Dustin Lance Black's win for Best Original Screenplay - phenomenal and well-deserved, plus he looked all of 15!).

The show itself...was okay. I thought Hugh Jackman was a good host. Each of his musical numbers went on a little long (plus we all just really wanted to see Beyonce do "Single Ladies"), but they were fun. As per usual, WAY too many montages. I think it's honorable that the Academy was trying to recognize films that were not nominated, but the Oscars are not about those movies. Mostly that was 15 more minutes of blah blah blah. I did like the vignette with James Franco, Seth Rogan, and the DP guy - especially when he told this year's best cinematographer to suck it. I appreciate the "In Memoriam" montage each year, but this year they were trying to do all of this artful camera work to keep Queen Latifah in the shot and you couldn't read all of the names. Cyd Charisse just deserves a little more remembrance than that. The 5 actors/actresses things was kind of cool, but I was disappointed because I had tried to pick out in each movie we saw what scene they were going to show for each nominee as they were announced. I'll just have to assume I was right.

Everyone looked great, no blatant missteps. Didn't love Sophia Loren or Jessica Biel. Lies - Miley Cyrus' dress was terrible. Mickey Rourke was right on and I loved his tribute to Loki, his chihuahua. I mostly didn't like getting to bed after 11, but I don't think this sort of thing will ever change.

To look forward to...maybe some commentary on "The Girls Tell All" tonight, definitely a "Top Chef" wrap-up, the promised look into "Last Restaurant Standing," and I believe Tuesday night will become movie night at our household - so there are still movie reviews on the horizon. Thanks for reading!

Hootie!

EXCELLENT episode of "Top Chef" last night, wouldn't you say?! Spoilers ahead, so be warned!

First up - my one issue with the episode (and I guess reality tv in general) - the bringing back of eliminated contestants to get their hopes up and get in the heads of the remaining contestants. Don't get me wrong - I love Jamie and really wanted her to be in the finale (I suppose I sort of got my wish), but these people already lost fair and square. Fair and square on the other side, the remaining contestants deserve to be there (thank God Leah didn't make it through either time). Basically, I think it's unfair to those who were rightfully on their way to the finale.

Side note - I definitely fell in love with New Orleans over the course of this episode. My in-laws took a trip there over New Year's and told us how much we would love it. I was already convinced, but this made me start planning a visit in my ol' noggin. Gorgeous. All I can think about are grits and gumbo now.

Let's move on to the Quickfire. Once I got over the initial shock of ridiculous-ness, I was intrigued. Emeril Lagasse was the guest judge and I was expecting the Emeril from tv ("Bam!" and yelling and such). There was none of that. He was simply a great New Orleans chef who is very passionate about New Orleans and its food. The challenge was to cook a Creole dish using crayfish (I would say crawfish, but whatever, they're delicious so what does it matter). It really seemed that they were all successful. Leah, of course, seemed the least motivated, but as Stefan pointed out - she has often had no idea what she was cooking and pulled off a win, so you can never really count her out. Jeff, our friend from Miami, got the win and an opportunity to compete in the elimination challenge. But in a twist straight from "Project Runway" (black and white challenge with Angela and Vincent, anyone?), Padma informs the Final Five that in order to compete in the finale-finale Jeff had to WIN the ENTIRE challenge. In that case, two of the chefs who came to New Orleans originally would be packing their knives. Heavy stuff, man, no pressure.

ELIMINATION TIME - The chefs are taken to a warehouse that stores Mardi Gras floats to hear about the challenge. They must cater a masquerade party at the New Orleans Museum of Art (I would assume thats, NOMA, coloquially) for Orpheus (some group). The catering consists of two appetizers and one cocktail - and one dish must be in the Creole style. They got to do their prep work in the kitchen of one of Emeril's restaurants, pretty cool. So if you win, you're in the final and YOU WIN A CAR. I liked it better when they surprised Blaise with the car last year, but maybe they thought that surprise was blown. I don't know. What follows is typical kitchen drama - will I be done in time? what in the world do they think they're making? I hate this guy, my food is just so much better than everyone's, I hate that guy, blah blah blah.

Party time - the judges arrive in masks. Poor Tom and Emeril, is all I have to say. Padma is kind of dressed like a barmaid, but what does any of that matter because we soon learn that Gail is back!!!! I loved Carla's exclamation of "love you, girl!" As we all know, Carla missed Gail immensely, and so did I. Party food rundown:
Hosea - Gumbo (with a dark roux, this is key), pecan-crusted catfish, and a hurricane
Fabio - rabbit sausage maux chou (?) over grits, pasta of some sort, muffaletta bread, and a bell pepper martini
Stefan - gumbo over grits, apple beignet, and a black cherry and rum beverage
Jeff - fried oyster, Pot de Creme with crawfish, and a cucumber mojito
Carla - oyster stew, shrimp and andouille beignet, and a cranberry lime spritzer
At the end of the party, they all seem to have done a phenomenal job and I had no idea who they would eliminate.

When it's all said and done, the top 3 are Carla, Jeff, and Hosea while the European Duo comprises the bottom two. Carla is announced the winner - as far as I can tell there were no missteps or complaints. Even though her drink was non-alcoholic, Emeril still found it refreshing and her food had soul! I love love Carla now, so I was pretty excited. Jeff was so close on this one, but said he would be leaving with his head held high - and he should, he really stepped it up. Good for him - though it was ok with me because I really thought the other four deserved the chance. I thought they strung Hosea along a bit because he was really in the top, but they left him in there with Fabio and Stefan like he was in the bottom. Ultimately, Fabio was sent packing for the muddled flavors of his rabbit dish and his too-sweet cocktail. Stefan was admonished for his cocky and laissez-faire behavior.

Next week - the finale! with a twist! of course! Soon, I will blog about the best show you're not watching that will also fill the void that "Top Chef" will leave in our lives once it ends next week - "Last Restaurant Standing."

This may be it...

As far as my Oscar posts go. This upcoming week/weekend somehow filled up and I just don't know if I'll make it to anymore movies. One thing I noticed this year is that not many of the nominated films are out on DVD. Last year there was a much more steady stream from week-to-week leading up to the awards. Either way, we've had a productive go since I last posted.

Last...Thursday, I believe, we rented "Frozen River." This was the one movie nominated that had not been on any of my previous lists and I didn't know if we were going to get a chance to see it. It's up for Best Actress (Melissa Leo) and Best Original Screenplay. It takes place in UPstate New York, and by that I mean - on the Canadian border. It follows two single mothers (one white, one Mohawk) as they become entangled and seek to provide at all costs for their children. It was only and hour and a half, but it was a little slow-moving. I did like it, though. I would categorize it with "The Visitor" - definitely could be classified as a commentary on immigration as well as tribal rights (something I know very little about). The two main characters move from the US, Mohawk land, and Canada across, you guessed it, a frozen river. Melissa Leo was great and the story was very original.

The next day we went to the Arbor (every movie they are showing right now is Oscar-nominated and most of the films we have set out to view are only being shown there - way to go, Arbor! Great and friendly staff, too.) to see "Frost/Nixon." I'll be honest with you, I was not that pumped to see this movie. It was lowest on my Best Picture list and it only won out because it was the only Best Picture film we had yet to see. I was actually going to go see it by myself until a friend who had seen it convinced my husband he should go with me. I was VERY pleasantly surprised!!! The movie was great. Outstanding performances - especially by Frank Langella (nominated for Best Actor). I was entertained the entire time and loved having this sort of window to look back on this event (I missed it the first time around). I would highly recommend it - it definitely moved up on my list.

Sunday we rented "Wanted." My husband had actually already seen this one in the theaters and I had pretty much vowed not to see it. But then it got nominated for the two sound awards and I am not one to discriminate. I still didn't like it very much. I really did try to be optimistic, but I generally don't like action movies that are made for the sake of being action movies. The violence was way too gratuitous, you pretty much dislike James McAvoy's character the entire time (or at least, I did), Morgan Freeman is a villain, and Angelina Jolie's range as an actress is way underused. Then there is this Loom of Fate subplot, could have been cool, not fleshed out at all. Overall, a disappointment with no real commentary on anything. But if you love action movies, this is your film.

So...what's left to even see, you ask? If I had it my way, we would really push to see "Rachel Getting Married," "The Wrestler," and "Revolutionary Road" in the the theater by Sunday evening. And if I was pressed to pick one it would be "The Wrestler" - I have heard nothing but raves about Mickey Rourke's performance and I feel like that's the only way I could accurately have an opinion on Best Actor. As far as renting goes, our only options are "Changeling" and "Hellboy II: The Golden Army." I have already seen "Changeling," and although my husband hasn't, it's kind of long and I don't think Angelina Jolie is going to win Best Actress. As I said earlier, I'm trying not to discriminate against films I generally wouldn't go see, but I didn't see the first "Hellboy," so...we'll see about that one. I may post my picks before the show, but if not I will definitely blog about it all afterwards.

TOTAL side note - anyone watch "The Bachelor" last night? I am embarrassed to admit that I do watch it, but it is my guiltiest of pleasures - I kind of love it. The elimination shocked me, but what I really want to discuss are the teasers for the finale and the "After the Final Rose" special. First - DeAnna - lame plot twist. We don't like her anymore, ABC! Second, Chris Harrison (who may have the best job in the world) and his "intimate, too dramatic" taping announcement kind of got to me - and I have to wait 3 weeks to find out. No thank you, but I will be watching. Dang it.

More and more Oscars!

Well, I think I am on pretty good pace so far this week as far as my Oscar viewing goes (not to mention I have been able to stay on top of my DVR as well, but that's another post). This week I tried something new with my husband and some friends - we headed down to the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar to watch the Oscar-nominated Animated Shorts. As a bonus, we were also shown some "Highly Commended" shorts - I wish I would have known this in advance so I would not have inhaled my 'Once Upon a Time in Mexico' salad to the point of discomfort, but what can you do.
The first short shown was "Lavatory-Lovestory" - the second-longest short. Very, very sweet as love stories should be, and yes, it is set in a lavatory. It was drawn in black on a white background, with color used for effect. A great start to our short-viewing.
Next was "Oktapodi" - computer-animated story about two octopi in love. I would have to agree with this sentiment from Vanity Fair's Oscar Blog (linked to at the end of this post): "one long action sequence of the type that Pixar does much better." This is true. It looks cool, but at two minutes it is just too short - especially when Pixar has an entry this year.
This was followed by "La Maison en Petit Cubes" - again, very, very sweet. I loved the idea and concept of literal reminiscing and it was pretty - hand-painted. Again - I defer to Vanity Fair's opinion on this, the best chance against Pixar's offering.
The next short, "This Way Up," was very weird, but in a good way. I found it reminiscient of "Not Without My Handbag" a short done by the team that does "Wallace & Gromit." It follows the trials and tribulations of a father-son undertaker team trying to deal with getting a casket to a cemetery. Cute, and may be my husband's fave.
The last short shown in the Oscar-nominated section was "Presto," done by Pixar. I'm sure this is the most widely seen short in either category as it was shown before "Wall-E" in theaters. I loved it when I saw it in the theater and wanted to be a short-snob and like one of the other ones more, but I really do love this one! Cute bunny! Magic! Foils! It is really fun and I have read it compared to old Looney Tunes cartoons. I would agree.
After that they showed some more shorts, mainly ones that I didn't get ("Varmints," anyone?). Maybe they were only 'Highly Commended' because they failed to get a narrative across in a short time? I don't know. There was one that was really cute called "John and Karen." I would say that is the only one worth watching outside of the 5 nominated ones, plus it's only 3 minutes.

We had planned on seeing the Live Action Shorts at the same theater last night, but plans fell through. Instead, we rented "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." This is a Woody Allen film that is up for Best Supporting Actress - Penelope Cruz being the actress nominated. Confession - I have only seen two other Woody Allen movies and they weren't necessarily even his finest, so forgive me. First off, I liked the movie. It was narrated, so that really reminded me of "The Royal Tenenbaums." As in, the narration was spoken in such a manner that you felt like the story had already happened and was being recounted to you, rather than feeling like you're smack in the middle of an ever-unfolding plot. It is about two friends (Vicky and Cristina) who spend the summer in Barcelona and what and who they encounter there. Though the movie kind of peters out in a subtle way, upon further thought the ending is kind of shocking. The acting is stellar all around - the Golden Globes had it right nominating 3 of the 4 main actors. Penelope Cruz gives a great, spitfire performance as per usual, so it's no surprise she was nominated. I definitely recommend it.

This week we will probably rent "Frozen River" and we are definitely seeing "Frost/Nixon" on Friday. This will complete our Best Picture viewing. There has been talk of seeing another movie in the theaters on Saturday, but I don't know what yet. Also - I read that the shorts can be purchased on iTunes, so we may give the Live Action Shorts a go that way. It will probably cost as much as renting and much less than going out to see them, so that will be fun, I'm sure.

As promised, the link to Vanity Fair's take on the Animated Shorts:
Can Any Animated Short Take on Pixar?: Julian Sancton Vanity Fair#entry-more#entry-more#entry-more#entry-more#entry-more

Next Round of Films

Well, apparently I'm going to be doing these reviews in batches. Although I was out-of-town last weekend, we still made a lot of progress on movies. Let's get started!

"Milk" - This may be my favorite of the last few we saw. I didn't know much about Harvey Milk or the political climate of San Francisco/the country (give me a break - I was born in the 80's), so it was fascinating to learn about. I know a movie isn't fact, but in reading more about it after the viewing, it stayed pretty close. I was really impressed with the cooperative-ness of Harvey Milk's contemporaries in the production of the film. Anyways, the acting all around was great - Sean Penn in particular, and Josh Brolin and Emile Hirsch were great as well. I have to say this is probably my runner-up to "Slumdog Millionaire."

"The Duchess" - Blah. I don't typically seek out period films when I'm selecting movies on my own, and I have figured out why. While the costumes were insane (that's what it's nominated for), the plot was terrible. I know that women didn't have many choices or rights or anything back then, but I certainly don't want to watch a glorified story about how she became a great wife by condoning the very thing her husband wouldn't let her have. Blah blah blah. I wouldn't recommend it.

"The Visitor" - Really good, undiscovered gem. Probably would have never stumbled upon it had it not been nominated. Richard Jenkins (best known to me as the dad from "Six Feet Under") is nominated for Best Actor for his portrayal of a widowed, aimless professor. He comes upon some illegal immigrants living in his city apartment and embarks on their life with them. I really liked it. See it any time you can - it is a great commentary on immigration in our country.

"Iron Man" - I really wish we would have seen this in the theatre. I know we meant to, and heard we should, but somehow it didn't happen. So we borrowed it from my brother this week and watched it on our regular tv. It was cool and all, but I think it would have been a lot better on a big screen with loud sound. I read that Jon Favreau was looking for someone who could portray a "likable a-hole" and Robert Downey, Jr. really did the job. Plus Gwyneth Paltrow looked so young and fabulous! 'The Dude' (who I thought was John Malkovich for a while until my husband pointed it out) was unexpected and a good villain. This movie is nominated for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Editing. Good shot at Visual Effects unless the Academy decides they like old Brad Pitt better. I will probably see the second one, but surely in the theater.

"The Reader" - We saw this last night and my husband and I discussed it for a while this morning. Kate Winslet is up for Best Actress for this one, and it's also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography. This movie is very complex and they all pull it off. It's uncomfortable, but not in an off-putting way. The subject matter is tough (I mean Kate Winslet plays a former Nazi guard who was stationed at Auschwitz), but don't let that deter you. Kate Winslet and David Kross give powerful performances. I thought Ralph Fiennes was holding back, but maybe that was the point.

This upcoming week holds "Frost/Nixon" at the theatre and since we have the advantage of living in the wonderful Austin we may catch all of the nominated Live Action Shorts or Animated Shorts at the Alamo Drafthouse. Renting will probably entail "Vicky Christina Barcelona" and then probably either "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" or "Wanted" - seriously.