top yawn III + random reality rant

at the request of my friend chris, i'm resuscitating the blog. here's an
excerpt from an email exchange about the current season of top chef.

\i thought tre and cj were destined to be in the finale. it's hard to
muster a lot of excitement about casey - rob's pick, because she's a
girl, and TC is due for a female winner. she seems nice enough, and
does well every week, but she's kind of...meh.

frankly, though i dutifully tune in week in and week out, it's hard to
muster much enthusiasm for any of them. i watch to see padme's outfits
(and the scar. i can't stop looking at the scar.) and to see who hung
will almost kill and surely alienate. despite all the assertions that
this is the most talented group yet, there seemed to be a lot of dead
wood this season. i couldn't believe that sara (of the rare chicken)
was in it for so long - until i realized that until 2 weeks ago - so
was howie! (by the way - do you watch the wire?? howie is such a
dead-ringer for one of the characters.)

hung is amusing, and i think he has a pretty good shot - my logic is
that it's time for the marcel/stephen character to win, which explains
why cj (harold/ilan) was booted. cj was my favorite, despite the
disturbing confession that he had survived testicular cancer. i mean,
kudos and all, lance, but do we really need to know about that? does
it help me understand why you served that rapini?

so that leaves dale of the fauxhawk and malarkey. malarkey bores me. i
don't care that he worries about colicchio's opinion of him and his
ability to cook something other than fish. he works at a seafood
restaurant. ilan cooked only spanish food, and he still won (though
sam's premature ouster still rankles.) i like dale, this season's
answer to season 1's dave. he's funny as hell, but i'm not sure i
think he's a very good cook.

one thing is for certain - ramsay would boot them all in an instant.
"No! bloody hell...tell me that didn't just happen...you donkeys! get
out, all of you!!" god, i love that man./

while i'm on a rant, here's another thing that slays me about these
shows, reality shows, which, god help me, i watch all too many of -
why do i want to vote (and pay!) for the pleasure of sharing my opinion
about food i can't really see, can't smell and can't taste with total
strangers? do i care who they like best? um, no - i don't care.
i watch a new HBO show called "tell me you love me." i'm on the fence
about the show (though the acting is excellent,) but there is this segment
after the show where "real" couples discuss the situations the characters
go through on the show. as if my opinion of a tv show can be influenced
by derek and lafawnda. insanity! if i cared about the opinions of the
general public - i'd talk to people on the bus. am i really paying for
HBO so that i can hear what bus people think?