El Muerte Rojo is coming for you next!

Everyone had to start somewhere and, for Edward Zagodinski, this was it. He'd come to the ring tonight a relative unknown but would be leaving it a known commodity. Win, lose, or draw, he'd make the name of 'Flying Eddie Z' known to everyone in attendance. There was no way he could fail with this plan.

The crowd reacted negatively as his opponent's music began to play. Eddie's family thought he was nuts, even Karen. That hurt a little. He'd expect his wife to understand this was for the best. Life doesn't always hand you opportunities, he had explained to her, sometimes you have to make your own breaks.

The curtain parted as the man in the red fright mask emerged. The negative reaction from the crowd increased. The boys in the back though Eddie was crazy as well. Had he actually watched any of this man's matches? They were violent. There was a good chance he'd get seriously hurt. Eddie was confident in his abilities. Would there be pain? Sacrifice? Blood? No doubt. Long term injury? Not a chance. He knew he could do this; he knew he would survive to thrive.

While Eddie stretched and tried to stay loose, he kept an eye on his oncoming opponent. As the man grew closer and more visible, a truth became clear to Eddie. His opponent was staring at him, no, rather staring through him. There was no expression on the man's visible face; just a cold stare. Coupled with the sterile beat of the industrial music that was his opponent's theme, Eddie shivered. Even before it began, the match was over. Just like that, El Muerte Rojo was in his head.

Even so, Eddie still tried to follow through on his plan. As El Muerte Rojo entered the ring, Eddie attacked. Punches, sledgehammer attacks to the back, kicks, all the sorts of things that may have been effective had their power not been blunted by Eddie's fear. All these attacks were easily shaken off. Eddie now received the full effect of the cold stare in the eyes of El Muerte Rojo. The stare remained focused on Eddie apart from a brief glance towards the referee, triggering the man to ring the bell, starting the match.

Eddie was promptly overwhelmed by the rush of El Muerte Rojo's attack. Forearm shots to the face. Punches. Kicks. Chops to the chest. Stomps. Elbows driven into joints. There was nothing particularly fancy in El Muerte Rojo's attack: no flashy moves, no jumping from the top rope, no playing to the crowd. There was only a precise, calculated attack that quickly dismantled Flying Eddie Z. Eddie was winded, sore, and unable to defend himself. Falling face first to the mat, he gasped for breath in the middle of the ring.

Then there was pain. It overwhelmed him, shocked him to a degree that he could only scream. El Muerte Rojo had Eddie in some sort of leg-lock that put pressure on his legs and lower back. Once a measure of clarity returned to Eddie's mind, he quickly tapped out, signaling with his hand his desire to submit the match to his opponent. The pressure did not cease. Not only that but the pressure increased. Eddie continued to slap at the ring, begging to be released from the hold, begging for the pain to end. An eternity later, he was finally released.

Face down on the mat while not in a painful leg-lock was not the worst place in the world to be. Eddie gasped for breath and checked in on the status of his pain. His lower back was tight, so he may not know the full impact of that pain yet. His legs were sore in general but it was his right knee that concerned him the most. A sharp, stabbing pain continued to afflict that knee even now. Trying to move the knee proved to be a mistake, causing the pain to increase.

The referee leaned down next to Eddie. “You okay?” Eddie reported the pain in his knee. “Just a knee?” the referee checked. “You got lucky.” Quickly, expecting to be needed, the paramedics rushed out, checked Eddie, and helped him from the ring. As Eddie hobbled to the back, he wondered if he'd be able to wrestle again. If he couldn't, would that really be such a bad thing?

(this is post #600)

Hell's Kitchen Episode 13

Hell's Kitchen Episode 13 aka 4 Chefs Compete

Recap: First Individual Challenge is won by Ariel and Kevin, Dinner service is rocky but gets completed, no winner tonight, Ariel and Suzanne nominated for elimination, Suzanne goes home.

The four surviving chefs return to the dorms. They enjoy the fact that they are the Final Four but its a subdued, tired sort of joy. Ariel knows she hasn't done well of late and needs to pick up the pace. Kevin thinks he has this in the bag because he knows everyone else's weakness.

The next morning, the chefs see a shadow walking about in Chef Ramsey's office as well as his voice. When the door opens, it's not Chef Ramsey but a kid that looks like Chef Ramsey. The kid lights into them like Chef Ramsey, apart from the swearing, but they can't help but snicker. After a minute or two, the proper Chef Ramsey appears and send the kid away. Ha! Tension broken.

Individual Challenge: everyone has to make a vegetarian dish to serve in an hour to 80 vegetarians.

The chefs agreed that this one is tricky. Kevin prepares a Asian style crepe with a beet carpaccio. Tennille works on a vegetable stuffed eggplant with brown rice. Ariel makes a grilled eggplant lasagna with tofu. Dave gets together a polenta tower with roasted peppers.

Dave is still fighting through pain. In Interview, Ariel gives him points for being hardcore. As time elapses, none of the chefs have their 80 portions all ready to go but that doesn't stop the customers from entering. With a grin, Chef Ramsey welcomes in the children...who hate vegetables! The chefs react in shock as we go to commercial. Ha!

The kids are led in by the kid that was the Little Gordon Ramsey earlier in the episode. Each chef has a different color plate for their dish. The kids will get one of each and vote on which dish they liked the best. Since the chefs weren't done plating everything, the 'we want food!' chant starts quickly. The chefs have to run back and forth to get more portions. They also do whatever they can to sell the food to the kids, not focusing on the fact that it's a vegetarian dish but on the things they might be familiar with like using 'sandwich' and 'lasagna' to describe the meals.

We get to watch kids spit out food. The shocked expressions are hilarious as is one kid's 'what was that?!?' comment. They vote on their favorite and least favorite. The ballot focuses on the color of the plate, evidentially trying to remove the kids from the people they saw giving them the food. As a thank you, Chef Ramsey gives the kids a gift bag with candy and silly toys and poppers that shoot string and such. I sense a punishment here: having to clean up after the kids.

Results: 40% voted Kevin as their least favorite. He takes it in stride noting in Interview that he hated beets as a kid as well. The top two dishes belong to Dave and Tennille. 55% voted Tennille as the favorite. Dave takes it in stride as well, noting that he has a history of finishing second.

Reward: makeover and a fancy sushi lunch. She also gets a set of Japanese sushi knives. Punishment: cleaning up after the kids. Called it!

Dave asks what Tennille made. The description explains things to him as he notes it was 'elementary' food. The losers commiserate by guessing Tennille will be uncomfortable in Beverly Hills and not enjoy herself. The first thing we hear from Tennille upon cutting to her is 'I'm ecstatic right now.' They shine her up, dress her up all nice, and make her feel good. Back in the restaurant, they are using a rake on the carpet. A Rake. Dave collects candy that's still wrapped.

Tennille returns and gets back to the Kitchen ready to go with only a half-hour left before service. She's not refocused on work yet. As the pre-service meeting begins, we go to commercial.

They are running ads for people to try out for Hell's Kitchen. I guess there will be another series.

Chef Ramsey notes their general inconsistencies and asks them to show the passion for cooking that he knows they all have within them.

Kevin's running appetizers. As a result he's 'leading the charge'. He calls out times and gets complimented on his work. He's clicking. The Kitchen is clicking until Tennille messes up an order of scallops. Her second try is 'perfect'. A half-hour into service and all the appetizers have been served. Wow, finally a good start!

Entrees are next. Dave is working the Meat station. He goes to take an order of lamb to the pass and his arm gives out. Grunting in pain, he dashes to the back, clutching his arm. Commercial.

Chef Ramsey follows him back. Dave is all sweaty and pale. He notes that he almost passed out. He's taken to the medic. He insists he's fine and the medic lets him return. Despite his injury, he delivers two orders of lamb to the pass at once and they go through. He grunts in pain the either time. He's either dedicated or crazy or both.

Tennille brings up burnt sea bass. Chef Ramsey returns to the fish station with her and finds poorly cooked fish and burnt pans all about her. He grows disappointed and brings the other three over so he can moan at them all. She's brought the Kitchen to a halt. The next order of fish she takes up is all messed up as well. The group gets chewed out again. Everyone has to start over because of Tennille. They ask for times and she doesn't answer. When she finally gives them a time and they act on it, she changes it when Chef Ramsey asks. Frustrated, he takes her to the back for a conversation. Commercial.

It's a desperate plead for her to not give up. It's a pep talk of sorts, not the screaming I expected. She goes out to try again. After this conversation, she finally generates a properly cooked fish and food once again begins streaming from the Kitchen. They crank through the rest of the service successfully. Tennille knows she did poorly. Dave knows his injury could get him eliminated although he feels he can continue.

In the post-service meeting, Chef Ramsey is pleased with the teamwork he saw tonight. He expresses concern over Dave and his wrist. Dave begs to remain, saying that he feels fine now, that he wants to continue and can continue. If Chef Ramsey doesn't think he's good enough as a chef, that's one thing, but not to take him out due to the injury. After a moment, Chef Ramsey agrees but promises to continue keeping an eye on him. He also speaks to Tennille about her problems tonight. There will be no nominations tonight so as not to prolong the agony. He eliminates Tennille and then compliments her for her ability to bounce back. She thanks him and cries. The other three competitors walk to her and meet in this group hug. Wow. That is different and very nice. She waves, throws a few high-fives and seems to get some extra respect from Chef Ramsey and the other three chefs as she leaves. Despite losing, she appreciates the compliment Chef Ramsey gave her as she left.

The three return to the dorms. Dave knows he dodged a bullet. Ariel decides they all need to have a beer together. They celebrate being the final three. And then the phone rings. It's Chef Ramsey. They need to come back downstairs as he has some unfinished business to tend to. Freak out!

They hustle back. Chef Ramsey isn't sure that he did the right thing by letting Dave stay. He's been considering it and his decision is... commercial.

All three chefs look confused and shocked as Chef Ramsey starts saying this. Dave looks like he might pass out. Chef Ramsey's decision is that it was the right decision to let Dave stay. He congratulates them all. This is the moment when the friends and family enter to congratulate the chefs. Tension is broken again. The chefs cry. After some time recharging with them, Chef Ramsey calls it time. Dave and Ariel both have fiancees. Kevin is married with a kid. They are dismissed again back to the dorms all amped up.

Trailer: The three take turns running the pass. 'Who rises to the occasion, who falls apart, and who ignores the rules of the kitchen?' Dave kicks the trash can a lot. The chefs get to yell at each other.

- Ariel and Kevin made it through tonight pretty clean working appetizers and garnish. Both looked good. Dave's only hindrance remains the health of his wrist. It could be anybody's game at this point. I'd like Dave to win at this point if just for his hardcore spirit.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from This Week

Planetary #27 completes the series. Finally. I'd rather forgotten there was another issue yet to come. I can't even remember when #26 came out. Years ago, it was, literally. This was a wild issue, filled with theories about time travel and with a fine ending but, at the same time, was nothing particularly exciting. No big blow-out, no show-down, just science at work. Well, at least, science-fiction at work.

I wondered why I should continue with the Ultimate universe post-Ultimatum. I was concerned that the Ultimate version of Spider-Man would be too radically changed and I would no longer find it enjoyable. Boy was I wrong. We're 3 issues in to the revived series and we seem to just be stabilizing the new basis for the series. It doesn't feel slow, it doesn't feel unnatural. It feels like we've been shown enough of the character's lives to understand what we missed in the months between Ultimatum and the relaunch of the series. Drat it all but this is still really good reading.

Daredevil #501 shows just how much things have changed for Matt Murdock. The man either has a devious plan in hand for the Hand or he's gone completely insane. Could be both I suppose.

Captain America – Ghost of My Country is another in the line of one-shot stories featuring unusual stories or flashback tales or what have you, stranger type stories of Cap at war. This issue visits a number of different periods of time in American history, starting in 1776 and the reading aloud of the Declaration of Independence traveling all the way to a specific day in 2001. A ghostly figure of Captain America appears as we transition from one time-period to the next. The implication is that these are the events that shape a symbol like Captain America, the good and the bad, the upbeat and the sad. I found it rather haunting. I suppose that's what you'd want from a ghost.

Research into a Stegosaurus Conclusion

I wrote the gentleman first. I laid out what I'd read and what I thought I knew. I included pictures of the placard, the Stegosaurus, and one of the Struthiomimus cause the picture he had on his site was a bit grainy. I accused no one of being right or wrong. I expressed confusion and sought his opinion. Evidentially I phrased things correctly as he responded with enthusiasm and interest. We had a brief conversation via email from which I gained at least two important facts: he was currently living in Sheboygan, WI (what were the odds?!?) and all the documentation he'd seen pointed to the Struthiomimus at the Fair being destined for the Milwaukee Public Museum. He seemed confident. He also pointed out the company that generated the models for the World's Fair. The Jonas Studios still exist and I investigated their website. On it there is a picture of a Stegosaurus in Massachusetts. It looks exactly like my buddy Steggy. My theory became that the information regarding the Stegosaurus' origin wasn't documented necessarily but was one of those passed down stories that had gotten a bit twisted in the telling.

There was only one thing for it: I'd have to ask the Museum.

Luckily for me I had plans for a Museum visit anyway. As we checked in at Member Services, I asked if there was a contact email for questions about the 'Did you Know?' placards, expecting a general email box to be the answer. The lady I asked had a specific individual in mind and hooked me up with her email. Score! I had a great day at the Museum and began phrasing the new email in my head. Once again, I accused no one of being right or wrong. I pointed to the fact that the Museum trip had caused me to do extra research on a topic that caught my interest. I laid out my research, including links to the websites that had caused all my confusion. The information had come from another party in the Museum and she'd have to check with them.

A couple days later came the reply. Our theories were correct. The Stegosaurus was the same model as the one from the World's Fair but not the same exact model. The Struthiomimus was the exact same model that was displayed at the Fair. I was thrilled to be right. To be fair, who doesn't like being right?

I had thought my confusion was due to the phrasing of the placard but, in re-reading it a few more times for this telling, I think the card just has the wrong dinosaur listed on it. It's just a typo, in a way.

And I fixed it. That is awesome.

Website links:

http://www.nywf64.com/sinclair01.shtml - front page for the Sinclair 'Dinoland' section of a larger 64/65 World's Fair site run by Bill Young. Great pictures of the 'Dinoland' as it existed for the Fair.

http://www.jonasstudios.com/customfabrication/exhibitsdisplays/sampleseh/stego.html - The 'Steggy' in MA.

More Research into a Stegosaurus leads to a Struthiomimus

I dug around the Interwebs for more information on the 1964-65 New York World's Fair. One of the first things I learned was that it wasn't a proper World's Fair. There's a committee that would assign out the World Fairs and they decided that it wasn't the US' turn for a Fair, just because some guys in New York wanted to run one meant nothing. Since it wasn't the first time New York had said 'We're having a World's Fair whether or not you like it', they did so again. They were still trying to pay off the 1939 'World's Fair' they'd held. As a result, since it wasn't an official World's Fair, a number of the larger countries didn't attend. In the end, this Fair still didn't make money for the Fair grounds. Some of the buildings still sit there today.

The Sinclair Oil Company sponsored a 'Dinoland' exhibit. This was in accord with their logo which featured the creature formerly known as a Brontosaurus. They had a number of dinosaur models on display with some audio commentary to explain the creatures in more detail. Very nice information but it was just text. It didn't give me any clue if the Stegosaurus they mentioned looked anything like the one I'd been looking at for 25 years. I found a reproduction of the original booklet from the Fair. Still, what were the odds that the Sinclair page would have a picture of the Stegosaurus?

Again, really good.

I flipped through the PDF file to the Sinclair page, saw the black and white picture atop the page and said 'Well, that settles that.' The face of the Stegosaurus was the one I was familiar with, so, question answered. Steggy was from the Sinclair exhibit. Right?

Of course, it wasn't that easy. Everything had been too easy to lead me to this conclusion. There had to be more. There was.

Another site had a LOT more detail on the World's Fair. The gentleman that runs it has written two books on the Fair and its exhibits so he was bound to know something about it. He had color pictures of all the dinosaurs as they were on display at the Fair. Excellent, excellent pictures. This was clearly Steggy there. He also had a 'where are they now?' type page for the dinosaur models from 'Dinoland'. He had the Stegosaurus from the Fair as being on display in Utah.

Huh? The Museum was saying that their Stegosaurus was the one from the Fair and yet this guy was saying it was in Utah. He did say that the Struthiomimus model from the rear of the T-Rex/Triceratops diorama was from the 64-65 World's Fair.

Someone was confused but who? The Museum that I had a history of trusting? This gentleman I'd just 'met' but seemed to know his stuff?

Research into a Stegosaurus

The 'Third Planet' exhibit has been open at the Milwaukee Public Museum since 1983. I would have been nine at the time. I don't remember exactly when my first visit to the Museum was but it was somewhere around that time. I don't have any clear memories of that location in the building without the 'Third Planet' there. I remember the 'Rise of Civilization' that was directly next to it until it was removed for the current 'Rain Forest' exhibit but I do not recall the predecessor to this exhibit. Chances are very likely that I never saw it. As I force myself to think about it, I believe I remember seeing the entrance boarded up with a 'coming soon' sign on it. For the sake of argument, we'll say that I've seen the 'Third Planet' pretty much since I've been going to the Museum, that we've 'grown up' together.

One of my favorite parts of the exhibit has always been the dinosaur models. Kids in general seem to gravitate towards dinosaurs and I was no different in that regard. Of course, that went hand-in-hand with my Godzilla fascination, but I'm trying to stay a bit focused so we'll just move on. As time has gone on, I've explored more of the details of the exhibit, some of the smaller things that inhabit the space but, as a kid, we looked at the rocks, hustled through the cave, glanced at the 'underwater' diorama, and bolted to the dinosaurs. The first of these is 'Steggy'.

It's a model of a Stegosaurus. They ate plants so he was 'safe' in that regard (in other words, he wouldn't eat us). Our model has always had a friendly, dog-like style to it so it felt only right to give him a 'safe' nickname. The T-Rex is mean, the Triceratops is dead (not that any of them are alive, but in the 'story' of the exhibit the Triceratops is dead) so there was no point in naming them, the assorted smaller dinosaurs were no fun, so 'Steggy' was the mascot, the friendly guy.

This summer, the Milwaukee Public Museum celebrated their 125th anniversary. As part of the celebration a number of 'Did You Know?' placards were placed about the various exhibits. The card for Steggy was very interesting to me. For the sake of our discussion, I shall reproduce the Museum's text: 'Stegosaurus at the World's Fair. This Stegosaurus was reconstructed by the Milwaukee Public Museum after it came from the 1964-65 New York World's Fair.'

'Steggy' had a life before the Museum? Cool! I knew very little about the 1964-65 World's Fair but I did know some things about it. I knew about the Disney connection due to my new fascination with the Disney Theme Parks. Walt decided that he needed to be part of this World's Fair for a number of reasons, the most important being that it would give him a chance to see if his Theme Park style would work on the East Coast. In the end, the Company provided four different exhibits for different vendors, pushing their technology to new levels of excellence. The highlight of these was perhaps the Mr. Lincoln exhibit for the state of Illinois. An audio-animatronic Lincoln rose from a chair and delivered a speech. It was the first of the human animatronics and it was based on a real person. It, like all the World's Fair exhibits, returned to Disneyland or the Parks in the future. Lincoln became part of the Hall of Presidents. The Carousel of Progress from the Fair is been updated over the years but is still essentially the same show as it plays at Walt Disney World. 'its a small world' is everywhere, including your brain now as the song is inescapable, like it or not. The fourth exhibit was the 'Magic Skyway' and looked back at Prehistoric times in a largely light hearted fashion. I believe some of it is still on display as part of the Disneyland Railroad.

Wait a minute, there were dinosaurs in the 'Magic Skyway'. Could our Steggy be a Disney product? There was an episode of the Disneyland television show that acted as a preview of the Disney exhibits for the Fair and the clips I had available to me only showed the tail end of a Stegosaurus but that tail end did look like it could be ours. I managed to find a copy of the episode and, no, the Stegosaurus were not alike. Disney's was animatronic. It moved. Translating that moving dinosaur into our immobile one wasn't impossible but it seemed unlikely. Still, what were the odds that there were two dinosaur related exhibits at that World's Fair?

As it turns out, really good.

Hell's Kitchen Episode 12

Hell's Kitchen Episode 12 aka 5 Chefs Compete

Recap: Black coats, team challenge, Dave and Suzanne win, Van sweat in food, Ariel burns lettuce, Suzanne gets called out, Chef Ramsey and Sous Chef Scott leave the kitchen, then return to kick Van, Ariel, and Suzanne out, Tennille complimented, changes her vote at the last second, Van is sent home.

Returning to the dorms, Dave is angry at Tennille, not so much because she voted for Van at the last second, but because they had agreed on something and by her changing her mind at the last second it made him look like an idiot. Tennille counters that was her honest opinion and that they hadn't all agreed but footage from last episode says otherwise; she clearly agreed to putting up Suzanne and Ariel. Kevin just watches all this happen, enjoying seeing the others self destruct.

Suzanne and Ariel talk. Suzanne is shaking from the adrenaline of having been on the chopping block for the 3rd time. She knows she's been lucky and she won't survive another trip up. Ariel's more concerned for herself as she's now part of the substandard group.

A new day brings the first individual challenge: each chef must prepare a dish with focus on presentation. Special judges are the editor and staff of Bon Appetit magazine. The staff will rank the dishes based on presentation. The top two dishes will be tasted by Chef Ramsey and the editor so that the final decision is based on presentation and taste. They have 45 minutes.

Suzanne has made a Grilled Calamari salad. Kevin a Caribbean styled Sea Bass. Tennille an Asian inspired Red Snapper (her fish broke upon removing it from the pan, with no time left, she piled everything up to make it look intentional and try to disguise the break). Ariel made a Prosciutto John Dory. Dave has a hard time describing his dish, noting a problem speaking in front of crowds. Even in Interview he has an issue. We'll go with Colorado Rack of Lamb and be done with it.

5th place – Tennille. 4th place – Suzanne. Chef Ramsey then reveals 1st place for dramatic purposes no doubt – Kevin. 2nd place – Ariel. 2nd and 3rd were 'very close'.

Now the taste test. Ariel is complemented by both. So is Kevin. The judges confer. Their decision is...commercial.

The winner is both of them. The judges couldn't pick a loser so they both win as both were fantastic. They win a photo shoot for the magazine with their recipe in the magazine and everything. Punishment: picking up rubbish in the street that Hell's Kitchen has adopted. They get orange suits and look like convicts. Once they get back to the Kitchen, they have to clean outside the restaurant.

Dave's wrist start to swell up while sweeping up. As he tries to rest it, Kevin chats with him. Does he really want to injure himself for life for this? It's mind games. Dave is too hardcore for that. Commercial.

Kevin decides its time for him to step up and show he's a leader. To him this means running around and keeping an eye on everyone, supervising them as he works on his own prep for service. It doesn't go over all that well.

Chef Ramsey leads the chefs in a positive pre-service meeting, noting that he wants a complete service and all the chefs to shine. He ends with 'Can we do it? Yes we can!' and high fives. Bob the Builder reference? Wild!

The challenge winning dishes have been added to the menu for tonight.

Suzanne, Tennille, and Dave have issues with communication straight out of the gate but it manages to not impede the progress of food out of the kitchen. Tennille works to improve communication on the next order but overcooks her risotto. Ariel sees this, samples it, and tells her its overdone but Tennille thinks its fine. Chef Ramsey does not agree and she has to start over. She's dragging the kitchen down already. Immediately after this, Suzanne has an order of scallops rejected at the pass. Dave is able to get salads out and Chef Ramsey sends incomplete orders out just to get something moving. Tennille's second risotto is no better, much to her confusion. Chef Ramsey investigates and finds that the prepared rice was overcooked... by Kevin. Tennille takes responsibility for not noticing this problem earlier. Chef Ramsey is disappointed and starts expressing this to Kevin because he expects better from him. The 3rd risotto, made with a different batch of rice, just makes Chef Ramsey more annoyed. Commercial.

Oh, he's not annoyed, he's just loud because this one looks correct. Finally. Kevin and Tennille get to look at it again so that they can learn what the dish should look like. Heh. With this breakthrough, appetizers start flying out of the kitchen, even Suzanne's scallops are finally good to go. They move to entrees but Ariel's first order of chicken up isn't consistantly cooked; some portions are cooked and other raw. She tries again and take two succeeds. Suzanne brings up an order of Ariel's john dory that's raw. Everytime one of the chefs fails, Chef Ramsey is bringing all five up to see it and express his displeasure. He wanted tonight to go 'perfectly' and it's very much not. As the night goes on, they continue to be out of sync, to the point where Chef Ramsey complains that the last five tables he's sent food to have been incomplete, a big no-no as everyone at the table can't start eating at the same time. JP even has to go and apologize to people waiting for food and recommending the others start before their delivered food gets cold. Ariel delivers a piece of lamb to the pass that looks like it's been chewed on. Chef Ramsey takes her just into the dining room and chews her out for it. Once they return to the kitchen, Chef Ramsey just starts muttering swears. He calls everyone to the front of the kitchen and tells them he's not busting his butt for this piece-meal service. He tells them all to [screw] off back home. Commercial.

After commercial we see his full statement: either get it together now or they can go. The chefs manage to finish service but it's a messy, clunky process. Chef Ramsey is very disappointed in post-service meeting. No one wins. As a group, they need to pick two nominees for elimination. As they start the discussion, Dave suggests each person just vote for two people. Suzanne picks Ariel and Tennille. It becomes a discussion between them. Suzanne seems to think she did much better than she did tonight. Ariel votes for Kevin and Tennille based on the risotto and that she wouldn't vote for herself. We go back downstairs at this point, and don't hear the rest of their conversation.

Nominees for elimination: Ariel for her inconsistencies and raw food tonight, and ... commercial.

2nd nominee is Suzanne for raw fish, overcooked scallops and she thought she had a good service tonight. Ha! In her defense, Suzanne notes all the good things she was focused on tonight but, as Chef Ramsey notes, she accomplished none of those things. She also believes she's a better chef than Ariel. After noting Ariel's been on a downturn, Chef Ramsey asks for her defense. She believes she's better than this and hopes for another chance.

Honestly, truthfully, Chef Ramsey believes they should both go but he eliminates Suzanne. He shakes her hand and notes all the chances he's given her. She hasn't been at her best and it will only get harder from here. As she leaves she notes that she learned a lot about herself during the competition and that her distance from her team probably hindered her. After her departure, she's sure they're all laughing and giggling like schoolgirls.

If they are, we don't get to see them do it today. They're all pretty somber as Chef Ramsey tells them that the 'playoffs' have begun.

Trailer: The pressure is on. Dave's wrist flares up again. Chef Ramsey has 'unfinished business'. We're warned of 'two shocking surprises' and it looks like kid's meal day.

- If Dave's wrist holds out, I'd say Kevin and Dave for the final two. If Dave's wrist gives out on him or impedes him too much, I'd have to guess Kevin and Tennille at this point. Ariel's picked a horrible time to hit a slump and she isn't showing signs of recovery at this point.

Gap Filled

Being a collector, gaps are a constant source of irritation. I understand how my sickness works and that's why I'll fight against starting certain collections. It's not a matter of 'only getting the ones I like' or 'just trying' something. It tends not to work like that. If I start something and like it, I'll want the rest. For instance, I got a couple of the 'Walt Disney Treasures' DVD sets a few months ago, focusing on the few sets that had theme park related footage. Now I have about a third of the sets because getting a few made me want more. Stupid collectoritis...

Anyway, due to attending Doctor Who conventions years ago, my collection of annual CD releases from one of the local morning DJ teams was incomplete. The CDs are always released in November, happened to be released while I was out of town, and, at the time, would sell out in a day. I had no one to grab me a copy at the time. I had tape copies of the two I was missing so I wasn't missing the footage. Still, the gap irritated me as gaps will do.

I visited one of the local second-hand stores the other day and someone had turned in a big chunk of the DJ team's output. They had both CDs I needed. My collection is finally current.

You have no clue how relaxed that makes me at the moment. Unfortunately, it will quickly fade as another different gap will irritate me, calling for completion. Stupid collectoritis...

Hell's Kitchen episode 11

Hell's Kitchen Episode 11 aka 6 Chefs Compete

Recap: Chef Ramsey in Canada, Blue Team wins the challenge, Teams create their own menus, Ariel drops the ball, Van and Sabrina fail on Fish, the Kitchen is shut down, no winners, Sabrina is eliminated.

Back to dorms. Van knows he can do better.

The contestants wake up to presents: the black coats that the final six receive. The contestants start to joke about not being able to be friends anymore.

Chef Ramsey is cooking as they come into the Kitchen. The dishes are passed around for the contestants to sample. This is the challenge! Now that they've seen in and tasted it, they need to recreate the fillet and truffles they've just eaten. He puts them in teams of two: Van and Ariel, Tennille and Kevin, Suzanne and Dave. Sous Chef Scott brings out another dish and this is the one they are to recreate.

There are four pieces to the recipe and we watch the teams run about trying to work it out. All three teams pick the fish correctly as turbot. All three teams also believe there is calamari involved in the dish. Ariel and Van believe the puree is a celery root. The other teams believe it's a parsnip puree. For the sauce, each team picks a different fruit. Ariel and Van – Star Fruit, Kevin and Tennille – Grapefruit, Dave and Suzanne – Passion Fruit. With seconds left, all the Teams rush to get their dish up.

Chef Ramsey goes through all the dishes, hearing what's in them, looking at them, and tasting them. Turbot – right. Puree was white onion, no hits. Kevin and Tennille forgot to add their garnish to the dish. They made it but forgot it. Fail. It's down to whomever got the fruit correct. Commercial, of course.

The fruit is... Passion fruit! Suzanne and Dave win! Reward: lunch in Chef Ramsey's LA restaurant with it being cooked by Christina, winner of Hell's Kitchen 4! Punishment: prepping for tonight's 'Couples Night' service.

Dave's not thrilled about spending the day with Suzanne. Van knows it and is amused by it in Interview. He's not thrilled he has to deal with 'whistle-britches' JP though. So, you know, balance.

Christina chats with Dave and Suzanne as they eat. The girls seem to be of a similar disposition, leaving Dave clearly displeased. Christina does give them good advice based on her experience and notes 'It's called Hell's Kitchen for a reason'. When they return, Dave enters a minute or so before Suzanne, allowing Van the opportunity to tease Dave with 'So how was your date?' Dave ignores him. Returning to the kitchen, he asks what needs to be done and he's ignored. Dave goes off in Interview, ending with 'they can sit and spin'. Wow!

Tennille finally says 'we need more scallions cut' and Dave gets on it. In Interview she notes that they still need some teamwork otherwise Chef Ramsey will get them.

On couples night, there will be table side cooking done, a tossed salad for two and a porterhouse steak for two. Kevin is assigned this duty. There are no winning teams, just winning chefs.

Suzanne is working the appetizer station. She needs to coordinate with Kevin if a salad is ordered at the same table as a hot app. She manages to mess this up on the first table. Kevin gets through it with his charisma but it means he can't trust her either.

Van is back on fish. He drops an entree before appetizers and then gets yelled at for sweating in the scallops. Well, it is hot.

Tennille gets them back on track. She communicates well from the Meat station, coordinates the team,and gets her order perfectly cooked. Chef Ramsey compliments her.

Van rushes and brings another raw fish order to the pass. Chef Ramsey starts pacing and muttering. In Interview, Van says he feels bad that something he's not done right has lead to Chef Ramsey being curled up in a corner of the kitchen. Chef Ramsey takes Van in the back, tells him he needs to do better, and the next time, he's out. Both men are surprisingly calm through this, even though Chef Ramsey is clearly mad. He returns to the kitchen, calls out an order, and sees a pan of burning garnish from Ariel. He's stunned. She notes in Interview that it was an accident and that she didn't think the burner was on. Chef Ramsey calls Scott over and they walk out of Hell's Kitchen. It's not worth it. We go to commercial with them walking down the street. Wow! I've been that guy and wanted to do that at times. Wow!

The chefs are stunned but Tennille keeps them moving. Ariel is struggling and is upset that they're not slowing for her. Dave tries to help but refers to her as looking 'defeated'. They get food ready, but without Chef Ramsey and Sous Chef Scott, there's no one to plate the food and decide it's good to go out. Kevin takes charge of this before popping back out to the floor. Suzanne is left behind to take change and she won't. Van takes the responsibility. He still struggles with fish but the Team continues to push.

Chef Ramsey and Sous Chef Scott return. Chef Ramsey calls them together and kicks Ariel, Van, and Suzanne out of the kitchen, leaving the other three chefs to complete service. Upstairs, Van is pissed because he's working hard and continues to catch flak. Van has had enough. As we go to commercial, it looks like he's decided to leave.

Well, he's not leaving as he's not a quitter. Van tries to calm himself down.

Kevin, Dave, and Tennille finish service. Chef Ramsey calls Tennille forward and compliments her performance. Speaking to Tennille, Kevin notes “I think we found the A Team”.

The post-service meeting is just Kevin, Dave, and Tennille. He compliments them, thanks them, and explains that his frustration tonight had nothing to do with them. None of them are going home tonight. As a group, they are to select two of the other three chefs as nominees for elimination.

They return to the dorms and explain the situation. Tennille jumps on Suzanne for not plating at the pass. She tries to defend herself by saying she wouldn't know if it's right but Kevin believes she should know by this stage. He offers Suzanne and Dave agrees. They've selected one. Tennille mentions Van but Dave mentions Ariel as the burnt garnish was the last straw for Chef Ramsey. Dave uses the logic that he's trying to pick 'who Chef wants to see up there' but notes in Interview that eliminating a strong chef like Ariel is a good strategic move. Tennille agrees both in public and in Interview, using the logic that Chef Ramsey expects better from Ariel. They select Ariel and Suzanne.

Nominees for elimination: Suzanne for refusing to push things out and Ariel for the burnt garnish. After Dave reports this, Chef Ramsey seems a bit surprised. He asks Tennille is she thinks they are the weakest chefs in the kitchen and she answers honestly, stating that Ariel is not the weakest chef in the kitchen, that it should be Suzanne and Van. Commercial.

Chef Ramsey notes that he has mixed feelings about all three of them and calls them all forward. Ariel's defense is that she's disappointed with herself and wants the chance to redeem herself. Suzanne blames her failings on her 'nerves' which Chef Ramsey doesn't think much of as a reason. He believes she's out of her depth. Van flips out a bit, expressing his frustration with his failings, knowing he's better than this, and how he's tired, tired of being on the chopping block and being yelled at and just tired. It's a passionate outburst.

Ariel is sent back in line. Van is eliminated. Chef Ramsey shakes his hand and compliments him. Van still has confidence in himself, He's still young and feels he can do it. Good man. It's not a 'Chef Ramsey is dumb for cutting me exit' or a 'I don't care what anyone says I can cook' exit but a simple ' I will get better and can do this' exit. Very nice.

Chef Ramsey thanks Tennille for being honest but we see she's crying at this point. Emotions run high in Hell's Kitchen! In Interview, Dave expresses his displeasure with Tennille for 'blindsiding' him. In Tennille's Interview, she expresses a lot of love for Van but that she had to be true to herself.

Trailer: Dave and Tennille fight. Kevin works to get in Dave's head. Dave knows that the others are hoping his wrist will give out. Service does not go well. Another bad week for Chef Ramsey.

I'm not sure who's going to win this anymore. Ariel's been dropping off. Tennille's been rising. If Dave can gut through it he has a chance. Kevin is solid and could do it. Suzanne... yeah, that isn't happening.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from This Week

Amazing Spider-Man #607 wasn't unpleasant but it did sum up one of my problems with the whole Brand New Day concept. In the last issue, the Black Cat returns and with it returns the on-again, off-again relationship between her and Spider-Man. I do mean Spider-Man because they originally broken up because she didn't like Peter Parker, only Spider-Man. The idea behind 'breaking up' Peter and Mary Jane was to tell stories that they couldn't with them married. Spidey and Black Cat fooling around with Cat's bad luck powers suddenly working again... it just feels like the Spidey books I was reading twenty years ago when I started reading comics. One step forward and two back. Again, it's not that the story was bad or anything, just that it felt too familiar. I supposed it was new to someone.

Thor #603 starts the wrap-up of JM Straczynski's run on the book. Things are moving quickly now. Sif's back. Loki and Doc Doom are working together. The mortal fellow that went with the Asgardians when they moved to Latveria shows how hardcore he can be. The Warriors Three take over his diner while he's gone. Good stuff.

Secret Warriors #8 is a lot of running. A lot. Norman Osborn is not happy.

Mickey Mouse and Friends #296 is the first issue of the title from Boom Kids! It's also the first title of the series in...years! We get a translated story from Italy, maybe, featuring Mickey as a Sorcerer's Apprentice that fails in his duty when he's tricked by Peg-Leg Pete, also a magic user in this world. Mickey goes to the big city in order to retrieve the crystal that Pete stole and ends up needing to enter a a tournament to do so. He needs a team and happens to bump into magic users Goofy and Donald, both of whom have a reason to join the tournament as well. So they form a team. It was a fun book but nothing too special.

Hell's Kitchen Episode 10

Hell's Kitchen – Episode 10 aka 7 Chefs Complete

This episode is from last week, when they aired two episodes. I accidentally saw a spoiler for this week's episode today and it gives away so much! Grrr!

Recap: Crepes don't go well, Dave's dessert loses the challenge for the Blue Team, during the French themed evening, Suzanne, Sabrina, and Andy all get kicked out of the kitchen, but the other complete service. Andy goes home and Suzanne to the Blue Team. Kevin insists he'll be the winner.

Everyone returns to the dorms. Tennille is thrilled to be rid of Suzanne. Kevin is very clear to Suzanne that the Blue Team does not want her, does not like her, and will not tolerate her messing up their sync. She claims that she received her wake up call. Red Team does their best to bond but Ariel expresses concern over Sabrina's recent performance.

Next morning, the contestants are greeted by Sous Chef Scott who explains that Chef Ramsey wants a word with them. A television drops from the ceiling and links up with Chef Ramsey in Whistler, British Columbia, the location of the restaurant that is this season's prize. Via the video link, Chef Ramsey gives them a tour of the place. The contestants get pumped. Chef Ramsey also explains the challenge: 15 ingredients local to Whistler have been flown into Hell's Kitchen. Each Team put create 3 entrees from the ingredients, using all of them only once. He's returning to Hell's Kitchen with 'special guests' to help him judge the challenge. They have about 2 and a half hours before they arrive.

Both teams take the ingredients and start planning things out. Sabrina and Suzanne are both ignored by their teammates. Sabrina laughs in Interview that Tennille and Ariel keep referring to the one meat as 'lamb' when its venison. Since they won't listen to her, she doesn't bother to try correcting them. With seconds left, the Teams finish plating up their entrees.

Chef Ramsey returns and introduces the guest judges: Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen and gold medalist Jonny Moseley. Since the Winter Olympics are in Whistler, this makes sense. Kevin vs Ariel to start. Both medalists vote Blue as Ariel's sauce was considered too heavy. Dave and Tennille approach the table. Tennille identifies her 'lamb' dish and stumbles once Chef Ramsey questions her. Once it's clear that the dish isn't lamb, she's totally thrown off. Commercial. Ha!

After a moment's stumbling, Tennille identifies the meat as venison. Chef Ramsey is clearly disappointed by this and checks that they knew it was vension. Ariel and Tennille insist they knew and that it was a slip of the tongue since they work with lamb all the time. Ariel remains silent, except in Interview where she relishes the situation. Both medalists vote Red as it was more complex.

Van and Sabrina are last. Sabrina is fine. Van's brain locks up and he sounds like a complete knucklehead. Both medalists vote Blue and the Blue Team wins!

Reward: fancy lunch and presents from Canada. Punishment: a day spent on a local farm, milking cows, cleaning out a pig pen, etc. This is rough cause pig mess is pretty much the worse smelling stuff you can be around.

A New day. Chef Ramsey rips up his menu and announces that it's time for each Team to develop their own menu. The Blue Team clicks, even Suzanne. The Red Team is not in sync with Tennille. Sabrina and Ariel don't find her ideas gel with the idea of fine dining. As time runs out, the Blue Team is ready, the Red Team is not and aren't pleased. Commercial.

Van walks Chef Ramsey through their menu. He approves. Ariel walks Chef Ramsey through the Red Team's menu. When he asks if they're happy, Sabrina answers honestly about one of Tennille's suggestions, adding conflict. Chef Ramsey tactfully states that he's not something he'd enjoy but if the spices are balanced right, it could work. See? And you people think he's just rude all the time.

The guests in Hell's Kitchen have the option of choosing from either the Red or Blue menu tonight. The Blue Team is very confident. The Red Team isn't. The announcer points out that everyone on the Blue Team has an idea on their menu. On the Red Side, Sabrina suggested nothing. Ouch! Sous Chef Heather tries to fire up the Red Team but it doesn't seem to work. It's as if now that they don't have Suzanne to hate, they've lost their focus.

The majority of the early tickets are for the Blue Kitchen. Since individuals at each table can order from different menus, the kitchens need to work together to have food go to the tables at the same time. I feel this will not go well.

Tennille starts slow, cooking something she's never cooked before. She clearly states she has no way to tell if it is right and looks for help from Ariel as it was her idea. Ariel can't spend time on it and Tennille incurs a tongue lashing from Chef Ramsey because of it.

Van's first order of scallops has an extra one in it. Chef Ramsey tries to explain what happened and Van gets all confused leading to a 'Yes, I can count' moment in Interview. Van's looking a little simple today. It doesn't help that his next order is scorched.

Ariel has a order return. Then another. Then another. And it's her dish. Chef Ramsey is legitimately ticked off.

Blue Kitchen is rocking so it's clearly time for something bad to happen. Dave lifts a heavy pan too far out over the stove while twisting a little, the sort of thing that clearly looks stupid from our angle but probably made sense to him at the time, and it hurts him. He describes it as a pinched nerve. He hustles out to see the medic, leaving his Team confused and shocked. The pain is in his already damaged hand. We go to commercial while he winces in pain 'backstage'.

Dave sucks it up and returns to the kitchen to muscle through the pain. Hardcore!

Sabrina gets busted for being slow. Tennille decides to start sweeping up in the middle of service. Not a quick 'get some of this out of our way' but a clean sweeping. This gets her a big 'what the heck?' from everyone else.

Van spills some sauce while coming to the pass. Chef Ramsey chastises him for not cleaning it up promptly and it becomes a THING very quickly. Van can't look at Chef directly in an effort to keep himself calm and that becomes part of the THING. It doesn't help that the next order of fish he brings up is undercooked. Kevin and Suzanne check his next order, note it's not close, but he takes it up anyway. Van cooks fish all the time, he feels confident he has this. Chef Ramsey notes it's not even close and slams his hand into it, sending bits of fish everywhere. Van's spirit is visibly fading.

Sabrina can't cook fish either. Chef Ramsey is well ticked now. He calls Van and Sabrina forward. Commercial.

Both kitchens have ground to a halt because of the fish problem. Chef Ramsey closes down the kitchen because of this.

No one won tonight. Chef Ramsey is very disappointed. Each Team needs to volunteer someone for elimination. Kevin logically points out that Van screwed up the most tonight so he should go up. Van volunteers Suzanne but she doesn't want to go up just because she's the newbie to the Team. Behind her back, Van lobbies for Suzanne. Neither Dave or Kevin has an issue with that. Sabrina and Tennille argue for each other. Ariel becomes the tie-breaking vote.

Nominees for elimination: Red Team – Sabrina. Since she is volunteering the information she notes that she believes it's due to her past work, not so much tonight. Blue Team – Commercial.

Dave identifies the nominee as Van based on his performance tonight. He also identifies Suzanne as the weakest chef on their Team. Sabrina and Van step forward. Van tries to defend himself, that he's not a quitter. He shows some energy. Sabrina is much calmer but generic.

Sabrina is eliminated. Chef Ramsey shakes her hand and thanks her. He compliments her but says she's not his head chef.

Chef Ramsey warms the remaining contestants that tomorrow will be their most difficult challenge yet.

Trailer: Presents! The Black Jackets arrive which normally mean one Team. After that, it's all out war. Things get so bad that we see Chef Ramsey and Sous Chef Scott walking out of the restaurant completely and out into the streets. Wow!

- Ariel and Kevin seem to have the biggest chance of surviving to the final at this point. Dave still has the hand to overcome and it seems to affect him more than Kevin's ankles. Van is stumbling. Tennille is fading a bit.

Comics Aren't Just Super-heroes

It's not often I buy a 200+ page graphic novel and read it that same day but it happened today. I went to flip through 'Johnny Cash - I See a Darkness' and could not put it down. Wow.

It's a biography of the man told primarily in flashback from the point-of-view of Glen Sherley, writer of the song 'Graystone Chapel' and former Fulson Prison inmate. Leading up to Johnny's famous concert in Fulsom, Glen works to get a copy of his song to Johnny and explains his fascination with the man to a fellow inmate, going through the history of John R. Cash. We see his childhood, the death of his brother, his first marriage, forming the Tennessee Three, recording at Sun Records, his growing addiction to uppers, accidentally burning down a national park, and so much more. An entire chapter is dedicated to the concert at Fulsom and Johnny playing 'Graystone Chapel' in front of Glen for the first time. The main story ends there, wrapped up by a coda section which is mostly an old man Johnny speaking with producer Rick Rubin as they record some of Johnny's last works, filling us in one what happened to certain people.

The art is of a sketchy style but totally works, capturing the emotions of the moments, and accurately rendering the people in a way that a photographic reproduction wouldn't achieve. While song lyrics are used, more fascinating are the graphical versions of some of Johnny's songs, some as little 'movies', others as a series of 'snapshots'. Certain classic photographs are used as reference, intentional reproductions of familiar moments from the history of the Man in Black.

This was well worth the $18. In fact, I'd go so far to say it was a steal at that price.

Very recommended. Thank you Reinhard Kleist!

Ramble

I think people get stuck using certain words for certain actions or things. They have a problem rewriting their brains to the new verbiage. I am not any better or worse at this than anyone else.

For instance, in conversation the other weekend, my buddy used the word 'taped' to refer to something he'd recorded on a DVR. There's no tape involved in that process. It's the sort of word that probably dates us to the age of the VCR. I also come at the tail-end of the generation that still talks about going to 'record stores' in order to buy music. Of course, they were going to buy CDs at the time. Most of those stores weren't carrying records anymore and, when they started again, called them 'vinyl' instead.

I was at one of those type stores the last couple days: Best Buy. Some might have called it a record store before because of all the music it offered but I wouldn't now. The music section shrunk again. I think it was four half racks of CDs at each store. Man, Target has more music available than that.

I'm sure it's due to online sales, either of the CD type or the download type. I do a lot of that myself. Part of it is price and part of it is selection. A big online warehouse type retailer can do better on both of those. Alternatively, with mainstream music being so stagnant of late, I've been buying a lot of used CDs again as they can be so cheap. Downloads work good for that as well. If you only like one song, you can just get one song. It's probably not healthy for music in general, but it's healthy for the customer. There are a lot of CDs I've bought over the years that I didn't like that much the first time listening but did the second or third time. You don't get that option when you download a song.

That said, I need to stay away from the used haunts for awhile again. I filled some gaps of late and, unfortunately, started a few gaps. The itch to fill them is getting overpowering. Must...slow...down...

Stupid multiple interests...

A Few Thoughts on Comics from This Week

Pile of books this week and two of them have Muppets in! Yaaaaaaaay!

Some books don't need a lot of discussion.

Nova #29 was good fun. Same excellent writing team, a different artist, but certainly a good artist, and the return of a character that I barely remember. Wow! I remain happy.

Avengers: The Initiative #28 continues the upward trend of the book, showing me why it deserves to exist post: Secret Invasion. One of the teams in the 50 States Initiative figures out Norman Osborn is up to no good and secedes from the Initiative. Norman doesn't care for that and orders a buttwhupping. The team of resistance Avengers goes to lend a hand. The twist at the end of the issue elevates it to that next level.

Issue #57 of The New Avengers features a new artist. The old artist was perfectly acceptable but I'm fond of Stuart Immonen's stylized but clean artist style. Another 'elevate to the next level' type change.

I'm really enjoying the storylines running through Incredible Hercules right now but am not sure what to say about it. The book is currently coming out twice a month with one storyline following Hercules and the other following his buddy Amadeus Cho. Both are wild stories. Both have humor in them. Both are building to something. I'm enjoying the ride.

Fantastic Four #571 has a lot of Reeds in it. A lot. This is a good thing.

Just when Peter Parker thought his love life couldn't get more complicated, Amazing Spider-Man #606 features the return of the Black Cat. Pete just goes with it. I can't blame him.

This week saw the appearance of both the Muppet Show Comic Book #3 and Muppet Peter Pan #1. Can I like one more than the other? Yes, barely.

The Show Comic finally delves into the history of who Peg Leg Wilson, the collection of the treasure that's being searched for, is and he immediately becomes Gonzo's hero. We also see Animal continue his search towards a higher consciousness. That's the only problem I had with this issue. It's still funny as everything but the main storylines for the mini series stall out here, waiting for the next issue to get wrapped up.

Muppet Peter Pan has the advantage of being a beginning and contains all the excitement of a beginning. The story is moved to Boston at Sam the American Eagle's insistance and it just goes from there. Little Kermie becomes Peter Pan. Piggy as Tinkerbell. Scooter, Janice, and Bean Bunny (yes, Bean!) are the kids Peter invites back to Neverland to not grow up. We still have the excitement of seeing Neverland and all that casting ahead of us. The art for this book is sharp, looking very, well, Muppety. There's comical stretching of the characters, but they look a lot like themselves, as opposed to the stylized versions that appeared in the other books. These books just keep getting better and better.

The last Brewer tailgate of the Year

The Brewers home season ended today. The regular season ends for the Brewers next weekend. For our attendance purposes, the season ended on Friday. There was one last tailgate, one last game, and one last post-game celebration to be had.

Thankfully it wasn't a standard evening.

We got there as early as we could in order to maximize the entertainment value of the evening. We got the fire started and curled up in front of it with beer, chit-chatting until it was time for food. The past couple times we grilled we had issues with the fire. Whether it was the charcoal, the fluid, or something we were doing, probably the latter, the fire had a habit of going out. It did so on Friday, a couple of times. As I'd forgotten matches, restarting the fire took a little more risk than it should have. I think my arm hair is mostly intact. Eventually the fire stumbled towards warm and we used the trick we've used the past few times: put food on the grill and let the food juices stimulate the fire. A couple pounds of wings got things slightly going. Some baked potatoes wrapped in foil started warming as well. We had some food related hopes.

The weather was also a concern. Rain had been predicted. Checking in on the radar showed distressing news: there was a band of rain heading for us. With a bit of luck it wouldn't hit until we were already ready to go in or it wouldn't last long. Yeah, no.

Wings had been consumed and the sweet corn was ready to be eaten as well. As I bit into the buttery goodness, the rain started. I'd hoped for a couple minutes of light rain in order to enjoy the corn properly but the rain quickly grew heavier. I ate it quickly, was thankful it was still good, and quickly got sick of being this wet. Burgers were thrown on the grill and I went in the car. My official excuse was that I didn't want my beer to get watered down. Moppy soon hopped into the back seat. He chose this for two reasons: drinking beer in the driver's seat would just be wrong and the windows of the car had started to fog up and he figured that looked bad enough without him sitting in the front seat too.

It poured. The potatoes and burgers managed to get done eventually, almost accidentally. It didn't help that we were parked in an area near a storm drain so it was like being in the middle of a stream. Empty cans and other assorted litter swirled past the car. So much for getting in on time.

By the time the rain had settled down, the game was off and running already. By then we were both stuffed having taken in about a pound of wings, two baked potatoes, an ear of corn, and two hamburgers each, along with assorted beers. There was still some picking up to do before we started the three beer walk and filled up even further.

In the midst of all this, the lights in the parking lot went out. I dunno if they always do and we never noticed because it's generally not that dark when we head to the stadium or what but it added an extra element to the evening, especially after we noticed the lightning in the distance.

In the end, we made it inside relatively dry. The Brewers won. We played some bad Frisbee in celebration. I was full for all the next morning. Woof.

Busy busy

Extra baseball games. Trip to the Museum. Research. Interview. Woo-boy.

Tomorrow evening is the last of our regular set of baseball games. Since there's only two more home games for the season after that, it's highly likely that tomorrow night will be the last game we attend for the season. Even with the way the season has gone badly for the Brewers, it's still a bit sad to reach the end of the season.

Moppy and I are trying to figure out how to tailgate before hockey games.

Further and Yet Not

Well, my completely trivial research has becoming more interesting than I expected but no less trivial. This is probably for the best. I'm hoping to be close enough to 'done' to explain it in more detail in a few days and then I will have other people also going 'my word that is trivial'.

Well, maybe not word-for-word going like that. I'd say that. I'm not trying to put words in your mouth, honestly.

Whatever.

Hell's Kitchen Episode 9

Hell's Kitchen Episode 9 aka '8 Chefs Compete' orig aired Sept 8th, 2009

Recap – Red Team win the challenge when Andy fails (and Amanda, who gets eliminated, was against him, didn't catch that). Andy's service has issues. Dave and Van are praised in Blue Kitchen. Red Kitchen = disaster. Tennille makes a comeback, while Suzanne, Sabrina, and Amanda are singled out as having had problems. Amanda is sent home.

The Teams return to their dorms. The Red Team talk together and Suzanne tries to explain that she's not out to get anyone, presumably apart from the fact that only one person can win the prize at the end. Ariel tells her directly that it's a matter of how she interacts with the rest of the team. We're left with the possibility that Suzanne may now understand better and will try to work on this.

Challenge Time! Chef Ramsey discusses his own history and his time spent in France. Today's challenge: each team will create four crepes: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. JP and Chef Ramsey demonstrate how it should be done. The Teams have 20 minutes to knock this out.

On the Red side, Suzanne tries to be helpful to the rest of her Team but in Interview we find out that they're not in tune yet. Both Teams have issues getting the crepes to cook properly. The technique they saw hasn't translated to their hands. As a result, both Teams are rushing to plate in the final seconds of the challenge.

JP helps judge. The Red Team wins the breakfast crepe, in part because Ariel's crepe was crisp and brown as opposed to Van's spongy one. Andy's crepe wins the lunch section for the Blue Team as his was nicely done and Tennille's offering was considered too spicy. Both Teams get a point for their dinner offerings. Both Teams are also seen in Interview commenting on the fact that Suzanne wouldn't shut up about her crepe, what she liked about it, how she cooked it, etc. As Sabrina and Dave bring up the dessert crepes, Kevin comments on how easy the dessert crepe should be. We don't see Dave's offering, only Chef Ramsey's reaction to it as we go to commercial.

Dave's crepe looks like a mess. Chef Ramsey says it looks like worse and won't touch it. The Red Team's offering is good and they win. Apart from Dave's messy crepe, no one really got jabbed over their creations, even if they didn't get a point, so it was more of a success than I expected from watching them fail during the challenge.

Reward: lunch at a French restaurant. They also get mime lessons. Punishment: prep both kitchens for the next service, Hell's Kitchen French night. They also get a lunch of head cheese and cow tongue.

Both Teams are trying to get a handle on all the new dishes they have for tonight. While slicing potatoes with his left hand, Andy suddenly cries out and pulls his hand away, calling for a medic. Commercial.

It's an hour before dinner service. Andy has sliced the tips of his three middle fingers. When they show them briefly they are not bleeding much but the cuts look deep. I cringed. The medic takes him to the clinic for stitches. Dave is the only one that had a moment to check on him and Dave's opinion is that Andy will not be back tonight. That leaves the Blue Team with three guys and only one, Van, is uninjured in any way. They realize this is going to be rough.

Chef Ramsey remains positive in the pre-service meeting, pointing out the previous injuries that have been overcome. Tonight's a night of French flair and he wants success.

Andy returns just as dinner service starts. Understandably he's a bit rattled and has issues remembering the changes to the menu. He's working appetizers and Dave jumps in to lend him a hand, getting the Blue Team off to a good start. Chef Ramsey is so pleased with Dave's risotto that, when Sabrina's don't measure up, he gets one of Dave's to show her how it should be done.

Andy's trying to do crepes but still hasn't got the hang of the process. Kevin says its easy and knocks a few out without issue. Andy's issues with the crepes means he needs to focus on them exclusively. He calls on Dave to assist, as Dave said he would. We see Dave knocking himself out to do appetizers and his own Meat station at the same time. He manages it, getting a compliment from Chef Ramsey in the process.

The Red Team starts entrees. They are communicating well, calling out times, and closing in on sending an order up... until Suzanne on the Meat Station changes her estimated timing about a half-dozen times. She does not sound confident at all. Chef Ramsey catches the tail end of this and yells at Suzanne when she doesn't give him a proper answer for the reason behind her timing, which is the oven. She later slices up the lamb order before it's time to go to the pass, and doesn't answer Chef Ramsey properly, getting another chewing out before we go to commercial.

Andy tries to do salads but puts too much dressing on them. He blames it on a lack of dexterity which Chef Ramsey doesn't accept as Dave's been cooking for one hand for most of the competition.

Suzanne finally has lamb to bring to the pass but it's not right for the order. She admits in Interview to being lost and disorganized. Sabrina brings an order of frog's legs to the pass which is also rejected for being bland as she was concerned with overwhelming the meat. Chef Ramsey reminds her that he's looking for things to be done his way.

Back on the Blue Side, Andy can do nothing right tonight. Kevin comes to assist him with another crepe but Chef Ramsey catches him, noting that Kevin's not helping, he's doing it for Andy. Andy is kicked out of the kitchen, back to the dorms. The next person to cross Chef Ramsey will receive the same fate. He walks over to the Red Kitchen to see overcooked lamb. Suzanne and Sabrina are also sent upstairs. As Ariel and Tennille try to figure out what's next, Chef Ramsey announces he's not done. Commercial.

Both sides have stagnated. Chef Ramsey assigns Tennille and Ariel stations and off they go. Sous Chief Heather also jumps in and assists. Both Teams thrive with these members out of the kitchen and complete service successfully. Wow. That I did not expect. Those who were sent upstairs must have been hoping they wouldn't be the last or that things fell apart without them but this does not bode well for any of them.

In the post-service meeting, Chef Ramsey expresses his disappointment about how things went and surprise on completing service down three chefs. Since the teams performed incompletely, there is no winner. Everyone will get together and nominate two people for elimination.

Upon going upstairs, Andy admits that his Team was carrying him all night but apparently he's left handed and blames his poor performance on his injury. He also doesn't want to head to the chopping block. Suzanne admits her mistake but tries to explain it away. Sabrina also admits to not seasoning enough. The Blue Team simplifies the discussion by asking who Chef Ramsey came down on the hardest. When Red answers 'Suzanne', Kevin offers 'Andy and Suzanne' as the nominees. It's voted on and accepted. Suzanne doesn't get why she's the 'bad guy' and argues her defense. When asked if she's a Team player, she answers 'yes' but her Team disagrees, which ends the conversation. She walks away and the other chefs discuss how they can arrange this to force Suzanne's departure. Kevin observes that if it's Andy and Suzanne, there's a better chance that Andy will be sent packing. They start discussing who they can put up instead of Andy and Sabrina balks, not wanting to take the chance, noting if asked she'll say she was put up to 'protect Andy'. As they head back downstairs, we don't hear their final decision. Wow, I don't think this has ever happened, at least not with this many chefs left.

Ariel is asked for the nominees and why. Suzanne for bringing down the pace of the kitchen and team down tonight. We get a commercial before she can announce the second nominee.

Second nominee is Andy due to inconsistencies with service. So no surprise then.

Chef Ramsey notes that Suzanne has been on a downward trend. She says she can cook but Chef Ramsey notes that it hasn't been happening. He asks Ariel and Tennille if they feel the Team is better off without her and they answer yes. Andy's defense is that he had been improving of late and that his injury through him off completely. I'm starting to wonder if someone will be switching Teams tonight. Chef Ramsey again dismisses the reduced dexterity excuse, pointing out Dave's performed in the last four services with the use of one hand and another with a sprained ankle. Andy notes he's not trying to compare himself with them, he doesn't know how it feels for them but, for him, his left hand is the hand he primarily uses.

Andy is eliminated. Chef Ramsey does give him a bit of a nod as he heads out and tells him to stop panicking. Andy politely and cheerfully says goodbye to everyone as he leaves. Very nice. That can't be easy. Outside, Andy is disappointed as he feels he was making a comeback.

Sabrina is now pulled forward! Chef Ramsey notes they've both headed downhill. He wants the old Suzanne and old Sabrina back but it may be too late for that. Suzanne is told to remove her jacket... and is sent to the Blue Team. Ha! Called it. Well, sort of. Sabrina is counciled and returned to line.

In Interview, Tennille is disappointed that Suzanne is still around but happy that she's gone from her kitchen. Kevin doesn't want her on his Team but notes that it doesn't matter cause he'll be the last man standing.

Trailer: Both Teams design their own menus. Surprise guests. Ariel and Tennille seem to get annoyed with each other. Kevin doesn't trust Suzanne. Dave injures himself further during service and may need to leave the competition. Pity if he does because I think he has a chance of winning this thing.

If I had to pick a top two at this point I'd think the finalists will be Ariel and Dave (assuming he makes it through next week). Top four will be Tennille and Kevin. Suzanne needs a quick comeback to survive. Sabrina may revive removed from Suzanne. I like Van and believe he has a chance but Dave and Kevin seem an extra notch stronger than him. If Dave gets knocked out by injury, Van could sneak through. Kevin just is very solid.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from The Past Few Weeks

There's a couple reasons why I haven't talked about comics for a few weeks. One reason was that I was busy with other projects, as I've already mentioned. One was that the couple weeks prior to this one were relatively light for me. Another was that I picked up my books on Thursday so it left me less time to talk about them before the rush of the weekend. One week none of the books demanded discussing, neither excellent or awful, just decent. I guess technically that's a few reasons. Whatever.

Muppet Robin Hood #4 came out last week and completes the miniseries. I've discussed the joy of this story before and therefore will focus on the Monty Python like twist in this issue to explain to you why you want to read this book. Early in the issue we find out that the Merry Men can hear the narration of the book. They track down the narrator and he's identifiable to us as the Muppet Newsreader. They get ahold of his script and find the ending to the story isn't a happy one. The Narrator gives them the address of the book's writer and, well, it gets weirder for awhile. This is laugh-out-loud funny stuff. Very recommended.

The Marvels Project #2 was also from last week. The mini-series seeks to fill in the gaps during the WWII era and tell the 'origin of the Marvel Universe'. What we're seeing is the early days of the modern superhero with masked men without powers fighting crime as well as the early days of the original android Human Torch and the build up to the creation of Captain America. At the same time, we are being told a story by a Dr. Thomas Halloway. He narrates the story in flashback, apparently having lived through this already as both Dr. Halloway and as the hero known as the Angel. It's written by Ed Brubaker and drawn by Steve Epting, the team from the regular Captain America book. If you've been enjoying Cap, then this is for you as well.

Speaking of Cap, Captain America Reborn #3 came out this week. The story continues to bounce between the present day and the time periods that Steve Rogers is revisiting. This story is being told by Ed Brubaker and artist Bryan Hitch. Here we have a wild action adventure with great dollops of science-fiction that, for me at least, has been holding together surprisingly well. Each issue has advanced both storylines carefully, at a pace that neither feels too rushed nor too slow. There are still mysteries to resolve but the pieces to resolve them are building up so it doesn't feel like the series is just a big waiting game for the final issue. Good stuff, as it should be!

Invincible Iron Man #18 is the 11th part of the 'World's Most Wanted' storyline. Good grief! In non-story terms, this story's goal appears to be redeeming Tony Stark in the eyes of the fans, after his 'heel turn' during the Civil War a few years ago. The Civil War storyline could be seen as Captain America vs Iron Man and many fans sided with Cap because, well, as readers we trust in Cap. This 'World's Most Wanted' storyline has seen Tony Stark on the run from the new regime lead by Norman Osborn. In order to prevent the information in his head from falling into Norman's hands, Tony set up a virus in his head that's deleting his mind. Over the course of the story, Tony's been getting dumber and dumber, having to revert to older Iron Man armors as they are easier to operate. In this issue, he returns to the original 'tin can' armor. The storyline has been interesting, with a number of twists and turns that start to pay off in this issue. It's also been interesting to watch Tony's reactions to the situation he put himself in, having to relearn things and deal with the emotions of knowing that certain tasks that he can't accomplish would have child's play for him a week previous. While I'm reasonably sure that we'll have a super-intelligent Tony Stark back in the Marvel Universe soon enough, I'm keen for the next issue to see how this will end.

Transformers – All Hail Megatron #15 holds two flashback stories, setting up how Kup and Perceptor came to be the way they were for the main AHM storyline. Kup's recovery, and how incomplete it may be, is detailed as well as Perceptor's need to be more useful on the battlefield. The issue gets points for me as the first story shows how Prowl's abilities as a tactician work and how devious that can make him in a positive way. It added a lot to the Prowl character for me.

Hell's Kitchen Episode 8 (I think)

Hell's Kitchen Episode 8 aka '9 Chefs Compete' orig aired 9/1/2009

Recap: High Roller challenge, the Blue Team's weird choices win out but Blue Kitchen shut down in service, Van and Robert singled out, Red Team win but Suzanne's meddling is pointed out, Robert is sent home.

Teams return to the dorms. Dave and Van seem surprised that Robert was sent home, Dave even pointing out that Robert was a strong chef. Even Andy agrees that he has no room for error at this point. Once Suzanne leaves the presence of the Red Team (apart from Ariel, not sure where she was), they vent their annoyance with her.

New Day, New Challenge: Blindfolded Taste Test. Tennille sits out in order to even the teams. Van versus Ariel to start. Ariel gets 2, Van 1. Dave versus Suzanne: Dave 1, Suzanne – 2. Kevin vs Sabrina – One each. Andy vs Amanda – Andy and Amanda both get one, making the score 6-4 Red with two items left. If Andy fails, the game is over. So it's commercial time.

Can Andy rally for his team? Get some points with his crew? No, he can't. Disappointing considering he felt this challenge was right up his street. He defends himself slightly by pointing out the rest of his Team didn't do all that well either. Had they gotten everything right and he had failed, he'd look like more of an idiot than he did.

Reward: lunch in the dark. Punishment: hand making sorbet and cleaning all the glasses for them, as well as unloading the fruit for the sorbet.

Sous Chef Scott makes the guys a fancy lunch but purees it so they have to drink it like a protein shake. The Red Team's lunch is all night vision green and hard to watch. The Team accuses Suzanne of kissing up to Chef Ramsey, fueling their annoyance with her. This continues into prep for service and the Red Team, aside from Suzanne, forming a circle to 'cuddle' up and keep Suzanne out. Suzanne is aware that something is going on and comments on how catty women can be. Commercial.

Pre-service meeting: both teams will be offering a palate cleansing sorbet between courses. Ariel is assigned this on the Red Team. As the Blue Team has one less member than Red, they are assigned as a group to make sure it gets done. Chef Ramsey also calls for consistency.

Tennille and Andy both assume charge in their respective kitchens. This is an odd moment as we rarely see the members of a team do this. It does happen, it's not that unfamiliar, but I'm more used to seeing someone look like they've taken command rather than someone going 'I'll run it tonight'.

On the Red Side, Tennille councils Suzanne on the scallops Suzanne is preparing, feeling that they are overdone. Suzanne rejects this comment, takes them to the pass, and they are sent out without comment from Chef Ramsey. While in Interview Tennille treats this as an attempt to help, Suzanne takes it as an attempt at head games. To be honest, while I'm not a fan of Suzanne, I believe that was the intent as well. Interesting.

The appetizers go well for both teams and the sorbets start. Ariel heads out and Kevin volunteers to do this round for the Blue Team. Van takes over the appetizer station for Kevin while he's away. Van's first risotto is 'bland' but is able to fix it for Chef Ramsey. Unfortunately, while Kevin is serving sorbet, he comes across a table that received one of Van's risottos and they note that they found it 'disappointing'. Kevin is concerned that the Team falls apart without him. Kevin speaks like this often and manages to not sound like he's bragging about his abilities, most of the time anyway. He's a strong chef but I don't feel that he'll be in the final two for some reason.

On the Red Side, Amanda catches flak from Chef Ramsey. She notes that it's because she was working the garnish station, it's highly visible to him, and therefore you become more of a target.

On the Blue Side, Andy's lost track of what's going on, a clear failure while leading. Kevin returns from sorbeting to find the kitchen is lost. Chef Ramsey catches them in this state and hollers. They manage to find their footing and recover.

Back in the Red, Sabrina is working Meat Station and Suzanne the Fish Station. Their timing is off. In Interview, Sabrina accuses Suzanne of being off, of starting her fish too soon and making her look slow. She gets pressured into sending a lamb order before she's comfortable with it. Chef Ramsey lets it through but the customer sends it back as it's raw. Chef Ramsey tells Sabrina to leave the kitchen, sending her into the restaurant to eat her mistake. We go to commercial with Sabrina feeling bad and Suzanne apparently a point up on the rest of her team.

Sabrina eats her mistake. Tennille is sent to the Meat Station while she's gone. She sets a time for completion and will not waver when pushed to change it by Suzanne. Her meat goes out successfully, even from a customer perspective. Sabrina returns to the team clearly humbled.

The Blue Team is clicking. Andy reports that his supply of mashed potatoes is running low and he's concerned they won't have enough to complete service. While he is the bearer of bad news and it's not taken well, the Team and Chef Ramsey are able to adjust because he said something. Chef Ramsey is clearly not pleased but he would have been angrier had Andy not said something until he ran out.

Sabrina returns to the Meat Station. She and Suzanne call out times, agree that they are both ready, and Sabrina takes her lamb to the pass. Only Suzanne now needs another minute, having changed her mind. This is like bamboo shoots under his fingernails and Chef Ramsey quickly gets annoyed. The entire table's order is ready apart from one order of sea bass that Suzanne is working on. She checks and apologizes as she's messed up. They had to cook the entire order again. Sabrina shoots Suzanne the dirtiest of looks. I think they just lost the night right there. I'm wondering if she did that deliberately? Part of me argues yes, as some sort of revenge, but this is the sort of thing that will lead you to the chopping block and elimination so, if it was intentional, it would be a stupid thing to do. I don't think she's stupid so I'm leaning towards unintentional.

Andy does run out of mashed potatoes. Dave helps him generate more but Andy is sent to the three remaining Blue tables, who are stuck waiting because of the lack of potatoes, to apologize.

Suzanne asks for assistance from nearby Amanda. The order Amanda works on ends up not being cooked when taken to the pass. Chef Ramsey squats in the corner, watching the Red Team fall apart as we go to commercial.

Chef Ramsey expresses disappointment with Suzanne and Amanda: Suzanne for not checking on Amanda who was busy with her own work, and Amanda for not cooking the fish enough.

Dave, who you might remember has a broken wrist and is wearing a big cast, cranks out the needed mashed potatoes. Sous Chef Scott and Chef Ramsey discuss Andy's slowness aloud, feeling he's given up, to Andy's displeasure. I think Andy tries not to panic and shows a deliberate pace because of it. On the flip side, this doesn't seem to help him and with his earlier inability to keep track of the orders seems to indicate that this pace is probably not for him. The Blue Kitchen heads to desserts first. Both Teams complete their service.

Chef Ramsey is pleased that service was successfully completed but is disappointed that it's not a smooth process. He notes that both Teams are equally weak. The Blue Team wins service. Dave is singled out for praise. With one less Team member than the Red Team, the Blue Team whipped the Red Team's butt. Tennille is identified as the Best of the Worst, with Chef Ramsey noting that he wanted her gone a couple services ago but is now happy that she's around.

In Interview, Tennille loudly declared that her first choice is simple: Suzanne as she doesn't know how to work as part of a team. Privately, Tennille makes her aware of this and why. Suzanne is confused by the declaration that she threw people 'under the bus' and, rather than get into it with her, Tennille takes her to the rest of the Team so that they can express themselves to her. Suzanne tries to defend herself but Tennille tries to hammer it into her brain that Suzanne's reactions in the kitchen are not team oriented, even down to her verbiage, like saying 'I'm ready' as opposed to 'the Team will be ready in two minutes'. Tennille declared that, if she didn't need to pick two people, Suzanne would be up there by herself. Her second choice is less clear, noting issues with both Sabrina and Amanda as we go to commercial. I like sequences like this. Suzanne really doesn't seem to understand the problem that the rest of the group has with her but Tennille is able to clearly state the problem without it being a personality conflict. It's just not a matter of not liking someone as a person; it's a conflict in the way they work.

Nominees for Elimination: Suzanne – lack of teamwork amongst other things and Sabrina – hasn't stepped into the role that the Team needs to move forward. Chef Ramsey also pulls Amanda forward. Suzanne believes that this is a personal decision, not a work related issue. When asked, Tennille defends her decision, noting that she explained her reasonings earlier and that they were largely related to the cooking failures of today. Sabrina defends herself as a good cook and team player. Chef Ramsey says she was inconsistent tonight which Sabrina defends as Suzanne's fault. As Suzanne tries to defend herself, the rest of her Team agrees with Sabrina. Amanda defends herself rather generically.

Suzanne is sent back in line. Amanda is eliminated. The Red Team is clearly confused by this decision. To be honest, I am a little as well. It's not that I don't think Suzanne is awful and Amanda awesome, it's just that Amanda didn't really fail that badly this evening and Suzanne did show some serious issues tonight.

Trailer: Andy cuts the tips of his fingers off 'and he may never cook again'. Service looks to go horrible on both sides and it looks like Chef Ramsey ends up kicking the chefs out of the kitchen one-by-one as the night goes on. Good grief.

Note: If You are Near Me When I'm Driving, I Probably Hate You

There's nothing quite like driving crosstown at the wrong time of day to make you hate humanity. Irritations grow to anger, especially when you get stuck behind the one car that's putting along at 5-10 mph under the speed limit. Rough afternoon. Had to walk around the mall to relax once I got there. It all worked out in the end but it was rough.

DVD/Home Theatre Update

There's been a few changes since the last time I mentioned this project. It's not quite done yet but here's where I'm at with it.

The OS of the Mac Mini has been upgraded to 10.4.whatever. This allowed me to install XBMC as suggested. The Mini is using my TV as its monitor. Today I got an audio cable adapter to export the audio through the TV rather than some relatively small speakers that I was using as a stopgap.

I've tuned the colors and brightness settings on the TV in order to get a nice image. The audio is a little quiet out of the Mini but I did just get it set up through the TV so there's probably something simple I missed. Then again, it's always been a little quiet so this may be normal. There's also a bit of a hum coming through the speakers but that might get resolved after I tidy up the cabling.

One thing I haven't gotten yet is an Apple Remote. I've been looking around and have found some inexpensive ones so that won't be a problem. That will add a lot to the experience. XBMC is a decent program but it's clearly set up for use on a XBOX. Despite it being converted for PC/Mac use, it doesn't have menu options like a 'normal' computer program would have. The controls are very remote based.

Right now, I'm liking the set-up but I'm not in love with it yet. I'm using the computer as a computer to do some other video work and I don't like splitting the processor to watch something and convert something at the same time. Also, price-wise, the project is not that far off from me having gotten a new multi-region, DIVX compatible, DVD player. The OS upgrade was $35ish, the video cable $20, and the audio cable another $5. The remote will be another $10 or so which totals out at $70, only $10 less than the player I was looking at getting. Once I get the remote and become more comfortable with what I can do with this new set-up, I'm sure that'll change.

Long story short, it's a work in progress. It's getting close to done. It's going well.

Expressing an Opinion on Something I Could Care Less About

I didn't watch one second of the MTV VMAs on Sunday night. For those of you who may have followed my lead, young country singer Taylor Swift won an award for something or other. Before she could completely relish the moment, rapper type fella Kanye West hopped up on stage, took the mic from her, and informed everyone that, no offense to Ms. Swift, but Beyonce should have won. Later in the evening, when Beyonce was on stage, she invited Taylor back to the stage to have her moment and everyone was happy again.

Now, I'm pleased that everyone is still mannered enough to see that this was a very rude thing to do. Living in a country where people will interrupt the President made me wonder if we'd gotten rude as a group. By that, I'm not trying to imply any political interests; I'm just saying it's rude to interrupt the President during a speech. That's just a duh no matter who the President is and what you think of him.

Beyond the basic rudeness of the situation, what changed? What was shocking about this? Everyone performed according to their known character: Kanye is an idiot, Taylor is a sweet girl, and Beyonce is a lady. According to my pal Andy, reporting in after he'd met her, she's an angel. Not having met her myself, I'll go with lady and mean that in the politest way possible. There was nothing new here. The only 'shocking' part of it is that it actually happened as it sounds like the sort of thing guys would talk big about but never do. 'Hey man, if Beyonce don't win this award, I'm gonna go up on stage and tell everyone she should have won.' Then all your buddies giggle and egg you on. 'Do it man, do it!'

I read someone that postulated he was drunk. I could believe that. That would make a lot of sense. That would certainly add to my 'his buddies egged him on' theory.

Long term, this is not going to affect any one of these people's careers. Short term people will growl at Kanye but it's not going to affect his long term sales or anything. It's not like MTV can fine him or anything. Now, what would have ended his career and have been truly shocking would have been Taylor Swift going all Shaolin on his butt and reclaiming her microphone. Then his career would have been dead. You can't be a tough guy after a little blonde girl beats you up on live TV.

There is a big winner in all this: MTV. I wouldn't be shocked if Kanye's buddies egged him on and one of them was a MTV employee, helping get him drunk. Why? Everyone's talking about this event. It makes it more likely that people will watch their next awards show to see what crazy stuff will happen. The repeats of the programme will get a bigger rating as people go to check it out. The Internet will gravitate to the clip.

MTV wins.

This is stupid. It's an awards programme, which are dumb anyway, and it's on MTV, which is dumb, for music videos which I'm not sure MTV even plays anymore.

Rude? Yes. The worst thing ever? No. I was doing a fine job of ignoring Kanye before this and, now that I've gotten my two cents in, I think I'll go back to ignoring him.

Hopefully getting back on track

I know reports here have been a bit spotty of late. Video project, busy days, family outings, sore back, and abnormal tensions all led to a lack of text. I'm not here promising that all is back on track or anything like that. I'm working on an investigation or two. I've got comics to talk about. There are episodes of Hell's Kitchen to watch. In short, I've got stuff to do here and I'm hoping that the three people that bother to read this will soon see a more regular feed of information again. I consider myself a content provider and it annoys me to not generate content.

One step at a time we'll see if we can get some momentum back here.

Child of the Corn

Yesterday I ended up helping grill corn at the family reunion. My cousin's wife had volunteered to do it but had no recent corn grilling experience. I did. I went from 'supervising' to 'helping' to 'doing'. This was fine. There were two grills. There was a lot of corn. We had a good time doing it.

Just in front of the grills was a table with a pot of melted butter and a salt shaker. My cousin, the husband of the lady grilling with me, was helping people butter and salt the completed ears while we continued to grill and we chattered good-naturedly, trying to 'sell' the corn. People came up, got corn, got buttered and salted. People claimed to like that. Enough people claimed it that I was inclined to believe it. Hooray for that.

Later into the process, the young daughter of one of my many other cousins came for corn. She's maybe six or seven, just old enough to be clever, but not old enough to really be snotty about it or anything. Rather than just dip her ear of corn in the pot of melted butter, she decided to use the brush my aunt had supplied. "Ah, painting your corn I see." I commented.

Her brow wrinkled slightly. "I'm not painting," she noted, sounding confused.

"You're using a brush, sure looks like painting from here."

"But it's not changing color," she insisted. "When you paint something, it changes color."

"It is changing color," noted my cousin that wasn't her father. "It's turning butter colored. Butter yellow." Over the course of the next minute or so, we playfully did our best to convince her that the corn was yellow and the butter was yellow so the color change wasn't obvious but that she was painting. I was amused.

Sometime later she returned. "I want to paint another corn." We had plenty of corn and were happy to be rid of more of it. If she was eager to eat it, go right ahead. "I didn't know you could paint corn."

"Well there you are, you learned something."

While focusing on her painting of the corn, she answered "You should learn something new everyday."

This kid is using my lines on me. Outstanding! "There you go then; you've learned your thing for today. You can be done now."

My mother happened to be going past. "Don't tell her that!" Mom started chit-chatting with her about going to school and learning more than one thing a day and whatever else. They headed off.

Did I tell you that I grilled a LOT of corn? We were nearly done when she returned again. We had a lot of corn done at this point, over and above what would be eaten. I had yet to eat at all but at least my cousin had been nice enough to get me a PBR at one point. "I wanna paint more corn. Do you think anyone else wants any corn?" We had no clue. There wasn't really anyone else around us at the time. If she found someone that wanted corn, have at her. She started walking around the house, asking people if they wanted any more corn. She got a couple 'buyers' and was able to paint corn for them.

Luckily for her I hadn't eaten and was keen for corn at this point rather than sick of it. She got to paint my corn. I watched as she carefully brushed the ear, going side-to-side, rotating it to catch every angle before going over the ear again with a downwards stroke to ensure every crevasse of the corn had received butter. She did something similar with the salt that was a little too much salt at times but wasn't a bad thing.

When I was done with the first, she asked about a second. I was keen for another, perhaps a third after that, depending on how full I was after the second. I selected an ear for her to paint and off she went. When it was ready, she offered me a napkin as well because it is messy eating. When I was done with the second, she was waiting. "You need another one, don't you?" Yes I did.

Three was my limit. She did a good job. If anyone needs a corn painter, I'd be a reference for her in a heart-beat.