Runway Roundup: Week 3

Well we all knew it was coming and last night it finally happened; the Project Runway judges screwed up. For the first time in this young season I was so disappointed as they chose to keep Keith over Emily. Meanwhile after two weeks of outstanding second place outfits by Kenley, the judges saw fit to reward her with a number one despite it being her weakest work. But I digress.

The challenge for the week was another tweak on an old favorite. Giving the designers cameras and setting them loose in some of the most iconic places in New York is always a sure fire bet for some inspiration. I thought the challenge was tailor made for either Suede or Blayne and so did they. Keith aka BYU, began to rub people the wrong way, especially Stella. If I were Keith I’d watch myself cause Stella looks like she’d cut a bitch without thinking. Speaking of Stella does anyone else think she’s been locked inside her apartment since 1981? I know she says her style is rock and roll, but it’s old rock and roll. I think when she said she designed for Blondie it must have been in ’79. Also, she looked at the digital camera with such fear and wonder that I was worried she thought it would capture her soul. The other highlight from the challenge was the continued sense of fun this season is perpetuating. The challenges have been tough and the judging doubly so, but there is a sense of fun and excitement that the show has been missing. Need we look any further then the impromptu “Holla at cha boy”, lessons Blayne gave Tim. Speaking of which, no one seems more energized and happy this season then Tim himself. Bravo to Bravo for seemingly giving the man more to do. Tim’s insight has never been sharper and he was certainly the first to see Emily’s demise.

Of course, I still hold that Emily has no business going home when compared to her fellow bottom feeders. Her designs thus far have been very sharp. While I thought the mariachi themed corsage on her dress was ass, I really wanted to see where she would go from here. BYU however made a horrible picture choice, horrible fabric choices, and a horrible end product (the toilet paper dress pictured above). I thought he went with way too many white pieces of fabric on his paper Mache/collage dress. Meanwhile Mousey Mc Mouse A-lot (aka Jennifer) failed to deliver on her claim that Salvador Dali knocked up Holly Go Lightly and begat her style. The dress looked poorly made and as the judges correctly stated, boring. Still this was really all about one horribly ugly dress and two mediocre ones.

On the plus side I thought a number of designers rocked this challenge. Suede and Blayne did not disappoint me. I thought both pieces were very fashion forward and very true to the challenge. Terry continued to impress and while I didn’t think her open back worked as well as the judges, I loved the form and shape of the outfit. Kenley’s dress did have an amazing silhouette but I couldn’t get over that print. I thought it was ugly and it did not represent her photo well. Leanne however, blew me away. Her inspiration and design were in perfect sync (the black number pictured above). The skirt was something out of my dreams and the simple top served its purpose. Big time kudos to Leanne for my favorite design of the season.

I suppose now that we’re three weeks in, we’re due for some predictions. I think Kenley will dazzle for many weeks but fail horribly prior to the final 3. Terry I think is a near lock for the final three but has no chance to win. Suede is a dark horse but I think it’s really between Leanne and Daniel. I know Daniel hasn’t made anything earth shattering yet but he seems like he’s on the cusp. Leanne meanwhile took a huge step last night by making an impression on the judges that could last until Fashion Week.

A Summer Day of Food and Drink in Madison

Over the weekend I hosted some of my bestest friends from the MPLS. It goes without saying that whether I’m hosting folks or travelling myself good food and drink are a priority. These folks hadn’t been down to Madison in the summer so our plans were pretty simple: enjoy the outdoors, enjoy each other’s company, and enjoy food and drink. Thankfully we had a weekend of beautiful weather and Saturday we took full advantage by eating and drinking ourselves to complete satisfaction.

12:30 Lunch- Alchemy Café, 1980 Atwood Ave
The latest gastro pub in Madison has been on my culinary radar since it opened a couple months back. Having a large group of folks (7 in all as my best bud and his wife joined us as well), seemed like the perfect opportunity to try the place out. The former Wonder’s Pub can be difficult to find since it seems to make no sense that the strip of road it occupies is still Atwood. Make sure you find it though because this place is soooo worth it. When dining with a group of seven you expect to find some missteps, but the ones we found here were so minor. My Bloody Mary was a little weak and lacked the spice I love, and one companion found the potato salad ok instead of great. Other then that, I think we were all in love with the food. The buffalo melt with fresh mozzarella was tender and had a great sweet savory combo thanks to the caramelized onions and garlic dressing. The already famous wasabi green beans lived up to the hype, and somehow managed not to be overpowering while maintaining the wasabi heat. The thin cut fries were crisp on the outside and full of potato mushiness on the inside. A house salad with glazed carrots and Door County cherry vinaigrette was smarter and tastier then the average salad. Perhaps the biggest star was the simple chips and salsa. The fresh fried chips were the best tortilla chips I’ve ever had. The chips seemed to have been dusted in chili powder right before they were fried. A hint of lime made the chip complete, and while the corn based salsa was tasty, we could have all eaten the warm puffy chips by themselves. One post meal complaint is the lack of website for the new dining destination. I looked this morning to find the details of the tasty burger and ham sandwich other companions enjoyed but came up empty. Get thee to a web designer Alchemy owners…stat!


3:00 Snack- Chocolate Shoppe, Multiple Locations including 519 S Midvale Blvd
After our filling lunch we took a walk through Atwood’s street festival in an attempt to work it off. Of course right after our hike through hippy-ville flanked with tasty street fair, our hunger pains raised right back up. Thankfully after a short drive back to my neck of the woods, an oasis of frozen goodness arose in the form of the Chocolate Shoppe. While the University’s Babcock ice cream is the undisputed champ of Madison ice cream, Chocolate Shoppe is a very close second. On this visit I went with a green tea ice cream that was smooth, velvety and dangerously creamy. The Shoppe’s soy based ice cream also got high marks from two of my companions who were looking for a less dairy and more health based option.


7:00 Dinner- Tex Tubb’s Taco Palace, 2701 University Ave and 2009 Atwood Avenue
When we were in the Atwood neighborhood my visitors were all intrigued by Tex Tubb’s original location. Both my partner and I are huge fans of Chef Kevin Tubb’s food and regaled our visitors with tales of his food. His El Dorado restaurant is our favorite brunch place in town and I own and use his cookbook full of Tex-Mex goodness. His Taco Palace on Atwood is a favorite of my fiancée and when he opened the near Westside operation last fall we flocked to it as well. Our first visit there last September was a bit rough, as service was more miss then hit, and the food had an uneven quality. I’m happy to report that on our return visit Saturday night, there were no such deficiencies. While the chips themselves paled to the Alchemy’s, Tubb’s salsas and queso are top notch. We devoured the cheese sauce, and found that mixing the hot salsa with it made for dip heaven. The margaritas were a bit on the small side for the price but that was made up for by the amount and quality of the tequila. I still prefer the choices at El Dorado but given the more casual atmosphere of the Taco Palace, one can’t find too much fault there. My fried avocado flour taco, which was a miss last visit, was a complete hit this time round. The meaty flesh of the avocado was warm but raw and the tempura like coating made for a satisfying crunch. The pork filling in my second taco made me run home that night and search for the recipe in Tubb’s cookbook. I think I found it which means I’d like to have a slow cooker of pork butt going in my house for the rest of my life. Mmmm….pork butt. Other highlights were the mild nutmeg accented chorizo and an avocado burrito whose size put Madison’s LaBamba’s to shame. As for the service, what a difference nine months makes. Not only was everything speedy and correct, but our server was also very knowledgeable about the menu. One companion has a real distaste for cilantro and the server was able to steer her to a cilantro free meal.


9:00 Drinks Part 1- The Memorial Union Terrace, 800 Langdon Street
Despite the fact that my visitors have been to Madison a number of times, they had missed out on a couple of landmarks. Friday night we solved one by taking them to the magical LeTigre Lounge, and Saturday it was off to the Union Terrace. Sadly I’ve only made it to the Terrace a couple of times this summer, so I was equally happy to enjoy $7 pitchers, live music, and of course, the best people watching in Madison. As much as I know that the students drive the Madison nightlife, I prefer the summer crowd at the Terrace as you get a broader mix of old and young. What was intended as a pit stop before a night carousing the State Street bars, turned into four hours of perfect relaxation on a beautiful night.

12:00 Drinks Part 2- Blue Velvet Lounge, 430 W. Gilman Street
So there are times when drinking downtown makes me feel old. After enjoying the Union we decided to grab a couple more drinks on the campus end of State Street. After a shot at the completely dead Pub, we walked up to the Blue Velvet Lounge. Certainly not a regular pit stop on my State Street journey the place is a narrow bar that seemed like a good idea for a couple night caps. What we saw was a den of debauchery and sin. It seemed the other patrons were all hopped up on goof balls and thought they were on the Real World. There were faux-threesomes, nose twitching snorts in the bath room, and a general sense that this could all go downhill fast. Thankfully I can report that the staff there seems to have an awareness or at least a willingness to keep it under control. One over served patron leered and drooled at our table all night long and when it became clear that it had gone from funny to creepy the staff responded to our complaint and cut him off. Still I couldn’t help but walk away feeling old and dammit, somewhat responsible, two things I don’t normally associate with drinking. In the end though, it was the right dash of excitement to end an absolutely perfect day with some of my favorite food, favorite beverages, and most importantly favorite people.

Runway Roundup: Week 2

Project Runway might as well just change its name to Project Suede…at least for this week. Elliot thought Suede killed the challenge and managed to annoy more then anyone. Before Elliot gets to that though let’s talk about the challenge.

Thank god we’ve finally got an original challenge after a year plus of corporate sponsored challenges and rehashes (last week was fun but ultimately unsatisfying). Having the models shop for their own fabric certainly brought out the best and the worst in the designers. Kudos to the producers for truly limiting the amount of pre-shopping chatter between models and designers. Elliot loved that many of the models were just as scared as the designers.

While there are still WAY too many designers to cover, let’s talk about those that failed first. Elliot hated Korto’s (wasn’t that the thing that lived in a person’s belly in Total Recall) inside-out look. It looked unfinished and just plain ugly. Fusilli Joe made a fine garment but it showed his age and does not bode well for his future. Of all the whorishly short dresses, Wesley was clearly the worst. Thankfully, we won’t have to look at his 1980’s shorts and sport coat look anymore.

On the flip side, Elliot thought there were some great standouts this week. Kenley made a great garment for the second week in a row. However, Elliot was put off by the Cristian flashback collar. Blayne (sorry for the name misspell last week brotha) showed what he can do when not making designer diapers. He also managed to bring enough of the funny to offset the continued habit of adding “licious” to everything. His Stella/leather routine had Elliot and his partner rolling on the floor. Speaking of Stella, Elliot’s so glad she’s staying, as her blunt honesty is the most entertaining thing on the show. In a perfect world, there’ll be a spin off with Blayne and Stella living together sharing their coke and putting up with their bisexual Sagittarius neighbor Suede. Ah yes, that brings us to Suede. The strip solution to his difficult fabric was brilliant, different and completely appropriate for his model. Elliot often doesn’t agree with judges, but Suede’s dress was so good that Elliot almost forgot about the annoying speech pattern problem that Suede has.

A Second Chance and A New Low

Ah summer is there a more desperate time for the TV addict. With many already sub par summer shows ending their runs (Legally Blonde, Next Food Network Star, Design Star), these are truly the dog days of summer. So as I try to avoid direct sunlight, my search for new things to consume lead me to revisit a new show from Fall 2007 and to discover a new low in reality TV…even for me.

Kitchen Nightmares, 7pm CST, Tuesdays on Fox
Now that Hell’s Kitchen has ended it’s run (how bout a pat on the back for me turning my back on that trash…at least this season), Fox is determined to give us more Ramsey by airing reruns of Kitchen Nightmares. I actually had this on my Fall Preview last year but thanks to it being crammed against Bionic Woman, Gossip Girl and Pushing Daisies it quickly faded on my radar. The British version of this show is Ramsey’s best work as he goes from place to place fixing up restaurants and dressing down their owners. The US version amps up Ramsey to his overly obnoxious US persona and seems to pit him every week against folks that have no business serving food. It’s still a notch down from his annoying Hell’s bravado and that makes it tolerable.

Tori and Dean, Home Sweet Hollywood, 9pm CST, Tuesdays on Oxygen
Perhaps the oddest thing about this show is that Tori Spelling comes across as very real, which was certainly a surprise to me. Unfortunately she’s also a recovering spoilaholic still reeling from the fact that her mommy won’t share dead daddy’s fortune. Her hubby seems like a breath of fresh air though and you do get the sense that this couple struggles like real folk do. Then again you are reminded that their struggles often include deciding between a $500,000 and a $750,000 house. Their baby is absolutely adorable and I found myself practically drooling over him. Of course that adoration quickly turned to sickness when I saw the thousands of dollars wasted on his 1st birthday. (All that money and the best celebrity you get is Denise Richards: I’m Desperate For Attention?) This back and forth is ultimately what makes Celebreality both pleasing and disgusting but then again when faced with fresh air, what’s a guy to do?

Madison Restaurant Review: Fresco

I’m not sure where to begin here other then to say it’s been almost a month since I dined at Fresco and I can’t get it out of my head. Part of the reason for the delay in posting the review was that I needed some time to see if the meal’s grand impression stayed with me. The other reason was selfish, in that I wanted to hold off until my partner and bride-to-be secured a large table for our small unification procedure. Now that both reasons have been satisfied it’s on to the review.

Fresco sits atop the non-ugly part of the Overture Arts Center in downtown Madison. For those not in the know, it’s the part housing the Madison Museum of Art. The restaurant’s simple clean lines and open space blend perfectly into its modern setting, right down to its place mats. We arrived on a Saturday night in June and the space was beautifully lit by the summer sun. There’s not a bad spot in the house as you have views of the Capital, State St., and the adjoining sculpture garden.

While the setting is stunning it’s the food that takes Fresco to another level. Easily my best meal of 2008, Fresco’s contemporary cuisine stunned us at every turn with its layers of flavor and presentation. We started with the lamb sliders, which layered perfectly cooked slices of lamb on a buttery bun with a beet aioli. The accompanying Napa cabbage/ apple slaw nearly stole the show, as its bitter/sweet balance was truly masterful. The shrimp Diablo was a slightly less successful starter and the only misstep from the kitchen on our visit. While the spicy shrimp were cooked perfectly and had nice flavor, the jicama orange salad that came with, was bland and non-descript. As we were vetting the restaurant for our dinner party, we thought we’d try a salad that was the furthest from our comfort zone, figuring that if we enjoyed that then we’d enjoy everything. With that said, we tackled the spring beet salad as neither of us liked beets. Consider us beet fans now. The meaty selection of beats contrasted with the warm chevre cheese, and the subtle bacon flavor in the walnut vinaigrette was a joy to discover. Entrees continued to impress as my halibut in spring lemon beurre blanc exceeded the halibut I recently enjoyed in Alaska. The goat cheese mashed potatoes that lay under the halibut may have been the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever had, and believe me I’ve had a lot. My partner’s beef tenderloin was cooked perfectly and topped with caramelized bbq onions that could have been a starter all on their own. A subtle bleu cheese melted into roasted potatoes and asparagus made for yet another strong side dish. Again since we were trying everything we opted for two desserts as well. My beignets were ever so slightly infused with chocolate sauce and once dipped in the crème anglaise sauce literally melted in my mouth. The dark chocolate cake filled with orange cream was yet another success as it stood out from your standard molten chocolate cake.

The accompanying drink selection certainly compliments the food and holds it own as well. We sampled two of their summer martinis. The lush (a combo of Ketel one citron, Chambord, and sour) was the star of the show while the succulent (midori & champagne) was slightly less successful but still very enjoyable. The wine list is extensive especially when taking into account their reserve list.

Service lived up to the high standards set by the food, drink and setting. Our server allowed us to go at our own pace and the kitchen matched that perfectly. Not since my last visit to Madison’s venerable L’Etoile have I been so pleased with service. The front house staff was equally seamless and was wonderful in answering our questions about large parties.

Fresco has a changing seasonal menu, so when you read this you may find some changes. However, based on the exceptional meal we had I think you can consider it truly a dining experience for all seasons.

Fresco, 227 State St, Madison, WI, 608-663-7374

Quick Review: The Dark Knight

Not even sure why I’m writing this blog today. I mean, according the early box office returns you’ve all seen the flick already. Still I see a flick, I review it. So in short, here we go.


The Dark Knight is the greatest Batman flick ever. This is my Batman, the gritty, dark, borderline psycho that I grew up on. Bale’s Batman improves by leaps over Batman Begins as he brings a violence to his performance that is superb. My only regret is that this Batman still relies a bit too much on his gadgets, but that’s a minor quibble. Chris Nolan has written a script that exposes all of Batman’s strengths and weaknesses for the audience and it’s bloody brilliant. His action direction has grown from the first film too, and I can honestly say there’s not a slow point in the film. Aaron Eckhart and Maggie G are welcome cast additions. Eckhart particularly shines as DA Harvey Dent and while most folks knew the arc his character would take (based on previous films and comics), I think that made his tale just that much more tragic. Then of course there’s the Joker. Heath Ledger does give the performance of the year (so far). His Joker, like Bale’s Batman, is pitch perfect. Here’s a man that embraces chaos fully, whose origin doesn’t matter, and who literally floats above the “sanity” of the world. I think the Oscar talk is premature but certainly warranted.

I saw the pic on the IMAX and if you live near one, this is how you MUST see The Dark Knight. The 6 revolutionary scenes that Nolan has committed to film show how IMAX can be used for both mind blowing action, and intimate conversational scenes. The depth of field and crispness is amazing and certainly deserving of some kind of award recognition.

Finally you’ll notice that I started my review saying this is the best Batman movie ever and not the best comic book movie ever. I think Iron Man might hold that category but I think The Dark Knight is the better movie overall. Confused? I see Iron Man as a perfect example of bringing to life a comic book that kids of all ages could pick up off a rack at their local Open Pantry. The Dark Knight reads like a graphic novel aimed at young adults and up, and that my friends is a different category of comic altogether. Call me a super geek for making the differentiation but I truly think The Dark Knight is a fully realized, deep piece of art where as Iron Man is a piece of fluffy super entertaining pop art. Both are amazing films and I love them, just trying to make a differentiation, as I know summer 2008 will link these two franchises forever.

Because I Should…Emmy Reaction

Every year they come out and every year I muster up a little indignation and a whole lot of apathy. Yes folks it’s Emmy time. The nominations for the 60th Annual Emmy Awards were announced Thursday and surprise, surprise they’re mostly boring. Please don’t be fooled about the entire historic brew ha ha about the cable networks. The Emmy’s are still more wrong then right. However no matter how much I detest the Emmy's I still got a few cents to throw in on the nominations.

Comedy
Love that 30 Rock owns almost every category. I’m praying for Will Arnett and Carrie Fisher to walk away with the Guest Star cats. Also glad to see Lee Pace and Kristin Chenoweth get nods for Pushing Daisies (so ready for that to be back) but I struggle with them being in the comedy category. Then again if Emmy thinks that Betty and Housewives are comedies, let alone funny, that says a lot.

Drama
Where's Jorge Garcia? Where's Battlestar? Where are the stars of Friday Night Lights? Blah, blah, blah. Yeah that’s all I got. Glad Dexter got some attention, although I think the second season was lesser then the first. Hoping this is the year that Michael Emerson pulls a Ben Linus and steals an award. Why is Nip/Tuck a drama when Housewives isn’t?

Reality
Amazing Race always wins although I think Top Chef may be closing the gap. This year they’re giving out host awards and Probst better win based on his years of service. Where’s the supporting host category for Tim Gunn and guest host category for Anthony Bourdain? Hope Kathy Griffin repeats as last season was her best, especially in light of this season’s down turn.

Everything Else
Hope J Stew wins Variety show, and he’s got a good chance since it’s an election year. Carlin will win from beyond the grave not because he’s dead but because he’s funnier then everyone else in the category (especially James Taylor). I think it’s great that the Extras finale got Made for TV Movie nods but Recount will run those categories while John Adams will do the same in Mini-Series.

Maybe I’ll do a set of predictions as we get closer…then again maybe I’ll just stab my eye with a pencil repeatedly. Just about as much fun. Happy 60th Emmy!

Runway Roundup: Week 1

There’s been more drama about Project Runway in the last few months off screen then there was in the entirety of season 3. The show is leaving Bravo! (lawsuit pending), losing its production company, moving for part of season 6 to LA, and Nina and Tim were in contract limbo. Thankfully last night’s season 5 premiere allows us to put the off screen intrigue aside for the time being, and enjoy all the cat fighting, runway theatrics and German accents we’ve grown to expect.

It’s clear that Bravo! and the producer’s want to end their run with a bang. Right off the bat the contestants were treated to a blast from the past as the grocery store challenge from season 1 once again reared its head. Guest judge Austin Scarlett, in full on glam mode, tried to give the designers some inspiration but unfortunately we soon saw the problem of recycling a classic challenge. Many of the designers (clearly students of past seasons) had over prepared for this type of challenge and had a game plan going in. A big reason challenges like this one have worked in the past is that the designers are forced to confront a situation with unconventional materials and designs.

While many designers played it safe with tablecloths, a few did stand out by embracing the challenge. Daniel’s plastic cup dress was a marvel and it was so much fun watching it come together. Challenge winner Kelli truly made a self described “ugly” dress but the care she took in staining the vacuum cleaner bags certainly was note worthy. I just wish the top half looked as good as the bottom. My favorite had to be Kenley’s (pictured above with the cup dress in background). Her lawn chair number had a great silhouette and the colors popped big time for me.

I agreed completely with the judges about the worst two designs. It was one of those moments where you want the show to just cut two people at once. I liked Jerry and was hoping to see more of his designs based on his bio video but good god there’s no excuse for that Dexter inspired raincoat. How could anyone think that pairing those gloves with that outfit would turn out good? Stella on the other hand showed no “wow” factor in her design and instead featured the “whine” factor. I’m so over her and can’t wait for her to go. Oh and don’t think I’m giving Girlicious a free pass, Blaine needs to have his pass revoked the next time he tries to start a new catch phrase.

Overall I’m pleased that the premiere went back to its roots. While the challenge results weren’t that dazzling it’s a good sign that we won’t have Hershey’s presents the Kit Kat challenge next week. Still too many to pick a favorite yet but I think next week we’ll get a clearer picture.

Quick Review: Hellboy II- The Golden Army

Remember the first time you saw Godfather II? If you’re like me, you were amazed at how Coppola improved in every aspect of filmmaking, turning out a sequel that improved ten fold on a movie that was already pretty damn good. Hellboy II is Guillermo del Toro’s Godfather II. Here the director not only takes a huge leap forward in the world of the big red ape, but he also takes a huge leap forward from his previous film Pan’s Labyrinth.

Both the original Hellboy and Pan’s lacked a bit of soul. One because of studio interference and the other because it appeared the director was more focused on gore and picture then story. Hellboy II has got soul in spades and it doesn’t come at a cost to the visual style that del Toro is famous for. A large part of that soul comes from the apparent lack of studio insistence that there are more normal folks in Hellboy’s world. In the first film we got Rupert Evans mugging about, but here he’s been cleverly shipped off. Instead we get much more screen time with Abe Sapien, now both voiced and physically acted by the immensely talented Doug Jones, Selma Blair’s Liz Sherman, and new comer Victor Klauss (voiced by an indistinguishable Seth MacFarlane). In short, the freaks are large and in charge. Jeffrey Tambor’s bureaucratic paper pusher is the lone “normal” human in the flick and his one dimensional character from the first film, has also been flushed out a bit. Ron Pearlman seems to have fully embraced the horns in this second film as his Hellboy drives the story in both tone and action.

Allowing the freaks to run the movie is a smart choice and a clear sign del Toro was given creative freedom. Thankfully this freedom wasn’t a determent as it was in Pan’s. Here del Toro has created a truly unique world of magic, fantasy, and reality. The three aspects blend together in perfect harmony. Take the troll market sequence or the initial arrival of our heroes in Ireland. You never feel like del Toro is overindulging or showing off. He’s using these tools and images to tell a story that echoes Pan’s but improves on it exponentially. Gone is the gore and sadness but the darkness and remains along with a healthy dose of humor and action. The visual and vocal tone of the film never strays and to say it’s a gorgeous piece of celluloid is insulting it. Cinematography and art direction Oscars should be set aside this very minute.

Perhaps the only negative about the film is that we may never see this world again. With work beginning on two Hobbit films, del Toro has a plate that’s not only full but overflowing. That’s at least a six year proposition, which means the third Hellboy film that’s tantalizingly set up may never see the light of day. That might be ok though as we all remember how Godfather III turned out.

First Impressions: Big Brother 10

Oh lordie, my first impression of Big Brother 10 is that an intervention needs to be held to stop Julie Chen from using all that glitter. I felt like there was a disco ball in my living room the moment the Chen-bot came on the screen. I almost didn’t hear her as she proudly proclaimed, this is the most diverse group of Big Brother contestants. Apparently she also needs a dictionary. One gay cowboy and a Rudy from Survivor clone do not make this show historic. However, I was very glad to hear that there are no surprise relationship twists. These are truly 13 strangers stuck in a game of deceit and betrayal. Early on I gotta say I’m in love with Remy (or Reny), the soon to be first evicted houseguest from New Orleans. She’s my kind of crazy, which unfortunately means she’s already stirred the pot too much. Also, loving the fact that there are no less then two sanctimonious Jesus freaks. My only hope is that like so many “god fearing” contestants of season’s past, they find themselves on the wrong end of the game and America’s public perception. As for the great grandfather, who never taught his kids about birth control, I loved seeing his eyes pop out when he touched one of the blond airheads rack. If the old coot had up and died there, who would have been given the HoH? Far too early to predict a winner, but I think based on the egos and the personalities, this might not be the most diverse edition but it should be one of the most cringe worthy.

Minneapolis Brunch Review: Edina Grill

As a south side resident for many years, my family became regulars at the Edina Grill. Of course with my move back to Madison it’s been a while since I’ve hit the original hot spot of 50th and France (all apologies to Pearson’s). A lot has changed over the last couple of years including a number of new buildings and a new home for the Edina Grill. The new location places the restaurant on France instead of 50th but the real change is the shear size. Gone are the Saturday mornings spent waiting in the doorway. The new space is huge and includes both a private room and a good sized patio that brushes with neighbor Salut. The interior space builds on the previous clean modern lines of its former residence and emulates their sister restaurant the Longfellow Grill.

It’s a definite improvement especially considering the massive bar located in the front room. Again like the Longfellow the mixology of the place is on full display morning, noon or night. On our recent brunch visit I took the opportunity to sample their Bloody Mary. While on the pricey side, the flavor and spice were top notch. It’s always a nice touch when the server asks you for your choice of vodka and chaser. On top of that she was knowledgeable about the vodkas and her recommendation of the Absolut Pepper was spot on.

The most important carry over from the old location of course is the food and I’m happy to say the transition shows nothing was lost. I went with my brunch standby of the Farmer’s Breakfast. At least three scrambled eggs covered with a thick mound of perfect hashbrowns, sweet seasonal onions and Tillamook cheddar. While the ingredients are simple they are of the highest quality and the flavors are pitch perfect. Likewise my companion found her Egg White Scramble to be simple but spot on. The egg whites mixed tomatoes, mushrooms and herbs blended together perfectly and the side of fresh fruit was most definitely fresh. The scramble usually also includes green beans but my partner passed on that, which lead to a kitchen mix up that delayed our meal ever so shortly. Again the service was prompt and kept us informed which was nice since I could have easily attributed the wait due to the fact that the place was certainly hoping.

I’m more then happy to say that the high quality of the old Edina Grill has only been enhanced by its swankier digs. While we only did brunch recently I can say that their turkey burger and sweet potatoes are the best in Minneapolis and their eggplant parm is one of the better ones as well.

Edina Grill, 5028 France Ave S, Edina MN, 952-927-7933

Whimper not bang...

Last night The Real World-Hollywood wrapped up, and all I can say is...snooze. Sure there was a bar brawl and it was delightful to see the ignorant blonde get her comeuppance but yawn, it was boring. Back in April I assessed the premiere and found the cast to be lacking, and after 12 weeks or so that statement holds true. Not one of the "characters" grew. As a matter of fact, some regressed especially fun loving Will who turned into a homophobe, a cheat, and a liar. That transformation was sadly the most interesting piece of the show. Does he really think Key West vet Janelle won't watch the show and see him cheating and lying?

Now these 9 folks can move on to pasture or The Real World/Road Rules Challenge (MTV if you have a soul please keep Joey away from that) and we're left to ponder the future of the show. MTV has announced another season back in NYC (Brooklyn to be exact this time round). Looks like it will hit this Fall and while I'll come back for more just like an abused spouse, it's getting harder and harder to see any good left in The Real World.

The Point Game

Yes, it’s that time again for me to randomly assign some points and to take some away from things in pop culture. It’s a dirty job but someone’s got to do it.

+3 points: Shear Genius (Wednesday 9pm CST, Bravo!)
Yes I know it’s a competition for hair dressers. In fact I’m one of those people who firmly drew a line in the sand after Top Chef and said no more Bravo! reality competitions. Again yes it’s about hairdressers. It’s also a pretty fun show. By no means is it appointment television, but in these dark (sunny) days of summer it’s a nice time killer. I loved the first challenge where they had to do hair inspired by a cartoon icon. At the very least this cast of characters and harsh judges makes for a good mini marathon.

-2 points: Kathy Griffin-My Life on the D-List (Thursday 9pm CST, Bravo!)
As one Bravo! show surpasses expectations, another fails to meet them. After 3 seasons of highly entertaining “true life” adventures Kathy has fallen into a rut. There’s only so many different ways to see this C-list (she sells herself one letter grade short) pander to the press for free publicity. The fact that her assistants have become even more front and center then seasons past further proves the show’s inability to source new scenarios. The show has run its course which is something Griffin herself has stated publicly. Let’s hope she sticks to that when Bravo! comes to her home with a dump truck full of money.

-1 point: Entertainment Weekly
I’m going to be a bit generous and give EW’s new look some more time to grow on me but my initial reaction is ewww to EW. The reorg of the mag seems dumbed down and the font highlighting seems bush league. On the plus side their new issue marked the debut of former TV Guide writer Michael Ausiello, one of my favorite TV writers so its got that going for it…which is nice.

+5 points: Buffy the Vampire- Season 8
Ok nothing new here. I love Whedon and I’ve praised this comic continuation of the TV series for the last year. However, I feel new praise is due in light of recent issues. The return of Dracula in the last arc by TV vet Drew Goddard was one for the ages. It felt the most like the TV show then any previous work and it was funny and sad as hell. Pick up the Wolves at the Gate trade paperback when it hits later this summer. Also I’m giving points for continuity as the latest arc penned by Whedon himself finally bridges some of the gaps between his previous future slayer comic Fray and the world of Buffy. Plenty of laugh out loud moments in the first issue including Buffy’s first trip to New York. This series continues to surprise and astonish me in its consistency and quality.

-10 points: Anyone that paid to see Hancock!
Are you f’ing kidding me!?!?!?!? Hankcock?!?!?!!? Please tell me one thing that looked good about this movie. Was it the horrible looking special effects? Was it the promise of Will Smith acting all tough? Was it the air conditioned theater on a 90 degree day? Seriously folks I just don’t get it. I know critics have little barring on the box office but I haven’t seen anyone with anything nice to say about this flick. And when was the last time Will Smith made a good movie…ummm never? Ok, I’ll give you Six Degrees of Separation. Anyway, I just don’t get it. When you’ve got a new classic like Wall-E, a good (not great) comedy in Get Smart, and you should be saving pennies for gas, how do you justify paying money for this schlock? Clearly Will Smith has made a deal with the devil…or at least Scientology.

Museum Review??? Star Wars- Where Science Meets Imagination

This may well be the one and only time you’ll see me review a museum exhibit but then again how many exhibits have the geeky pop culture relevance as one devoted to Star Wars. The touring exhibit currently at the Science Museum of Minnesota (then heading out to LA) is a combo of props, costumes, and science. In short it’s a geek’s dream.

I arrived at the museum located over the river in downtown St. Paul with a spring in my step but unfortunately the first part of the exhibit dampened my spirits. Showing in the Omni Theater (IMAX) of the museum was a film titled Special Effects and by my judgment it must have been filmed in 1932. Sure like any IMAX film it had moments where you thought you were going to hurl as the camera careened over sand dunes and landscapes, but when the star attraction of the film is a sneak peak of this summer’s blockbuster pic Independence Day you can’t help but feel cheated. It was as if the curators looked in their vault and said this old film could bilk a few more dollars out of the geeks. The lazy narration of John Lithgow along with the dated films and technologies made for a painful 45 minutes that drained the excitement out of me and my companions.

Of course all that began to change once we got to the next step…the gift store. Yes I know I should talk about the exhibit first but come on this was a pretty awesome assembly of Star Wars schwag. From cardboard cut outs to framed film stills this was an impressive array of toys, books, and memorabilia. I picked out the functional yet creepy Yoda backpack pictured above. As I went through the museum and out to the bar afterward, I got plenty of double takes as people had to make sure I didn’t have a sickly green colored baby on my back. Commerce always makes me feel better so with that purchase in the bag we set off for the exhibit.

With an exhibit this size and this popular the museum has taken to assigning entry times which meant when we got to the entry point we still had a half an hour to kill, thankfully there was an even cooler distraction…the Millennium Falcon. Yes in another effort to shake us down for a few bucks, the museum and the exhibitors give you the opportunity to ride in the Falcon and at $3 a pop this was a ride worth taking. You enter in a corridor that looks straight out of the movie and sit yourself into the cockpit. From there C3PO comes on the loudspeaker describing the images you’re “flying” through. He talked about some real life solar systems or something but honestly I didn’t pay attention as I was busy posing and snapping pictures of me and my friends in the god damn Millennium Falcon! The jump to light speed was awesome and you even got a free pin for taking the ride. (On a side note they don’t seem to be real efficient at collecting your cash as the three of us got in for free.)

After exiting the Falcon with smiles as wide as a Dewback, we finally entered the exhibit proper. While I expected to see a fair amount of props and costumes, I was blown away by the amount of stuff from the Lucasfilm archives. The actual landspeeder from A New Hope greets you and I was instantly in heaven. Chewie looked real behind the glass case and seeing his impressive height in person left me awestruck. The collection of blasters and lightsabres was fun as were the various ships. In the interest of education, there were also plenty of real world scientific examples that showed how science fiction can be, and is reality. Of course, I skipped all that. Who needs science when you’ve got full sized Wampa models? My partner liked it though as she built robots with magnetic stabilizers and learned about air compression propulsion. Again I was just happy to snap my picture with a tauntaun. There was a great balance of material from both the original trilogy and the prequels and again I can’t stress enough how overwhelming the volume of stuff is.

Of course on the way out of the exhibit there’s one more money draining opportunity that I highly recommend. For under $10 you can take a picture against a green screen and get dropped into some of your favorite Star Wars moments. For example my partner and I went to the Jedi council for a sit down (or float down) with Yoda (check out the nice t-shirts). Sure it’s frivolous and I’m sure more industrious folks can do something with Photoshop, but we all walked out of there with a few pics that we will treasure for a lifetime.

In closing, aside from a boring outdated IMAX film the exhibit is worth every Imperial credit. If anything the exhibit is overwhelming to the point where you geek head might explode like the original Death Star (strangely not on display).

Wii Review: Guitar Hero-Aerosmith

As great as Wii Sports and Wii Fit are, I’m not sure I’d still be in love with my Wii as much if there was no Guitar Hero. The third installment of the uber popular game has been the most played game on my console and still is the most popular game for afterbars, parties, and shindigs. While I still play all the GH3 songs over and over again the announcement of a new “edition” of the game made me all tingly. Of course that quickly dissipated when it was announced it was to be an Aerosmith-centric edition. Now I’d be lying if I said I didn’t purchase my fair share of Aerosmith cassettes back in the 80s but it goes without saying that I’ve got little love for the Alicia Silverstone, Armageddon version of the band that’s played Super Bowls and Orange Bowls. My partner on the other hand was thrilled as she could look past their most recent crap and focus on the old 70’s blues rock that made the band. So it was off to Best Buy this weekend to pick up a game that turned out to be about what you’d expect.

GH-Aerosmith has enough tweaks and trims that it can justify the fact that it’s a stand alone game. My biggest concern was I was paying $50 for a bunch of new songs using the exact same stages, guitars, and characters as GH3. The game definitely gives you some new stuff including Aerosmith itself. Career mode is similar to GH3 except that you need to complete certain songs to move forward instead of picking and choosing. The stages are all centered around Aerosmith’s career, and starts out at the high school they first played and ends at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In between you get some ego stroking crap from the boys.You open each stage as one of the normal GH3 characters (although there are some fresh new looks and styles) and play two “opening” songs from the likes of the New York Dolls, Joan Jett, Lenny Kravitz and so on. Once completed you take control of Mr. Overrated, Joe Perry himself and he’s joined by the rest of Aerosmith. The game certainly hits the mark when it comes to Aerosmith as all the character models are very realistic. Steven Tyler moves like the doped up rock star you’ve come to know and love. Perry hams it up ever chance he gets and the drummer even has that obnoxious teenage haircut he’s held onto for the last 20 years. The game looks fantastic compared to GH3 on the Wii so its nice to see the developers actually put in a little effort. I was distracted from playing a few times by the camera movements and backgrounds which is a compliment to the environment. Not all the tweaks work, specifically the glaring omission of co-op career play. I’m guessing they decided they couldn’t fit that many people on a stage or Joe Perry said he should be the only playable career character right off the bat. Either way, as a two guitar family, we were very disappointed that we could only use Quickplay together.

Perhaps the most surprising thing I learned is that I don’t hate Aerosmith as much as I thought. With 25 plus Aerosmith tracks I’m finding myself enjoying a lot of the deeper catalog stuff from the 70’s and I gotta admit playing Love in an Elevator is pretty sweet. The “opening” band stuff is a nice mix too and I especially gotta give the developers credit for the Run DMC tracks. On both King of Rock and Walk this Way, DMC takes the stage and its an absolute blast. I found myself rapping and playing all at the same time.

The end verdict is that this game is pretty much a must for Wii owners who have exhausted the GH3 playlist. I’d imagine that people with other platforms might want to stick to replaying GH2 or the 80’s edition. Either way this is a nice way to tide us over for Guitar Hero World Tour which is expected to hit in October (read Rock Band done GH style…aka better) and the Metallica edition coming early 2009.