Maybe it’s the fact that higher quality reality programming like Top Chef and Project Runway are back on the air, or maybe it’s that I’m also writing columns on those two shows, but whatever the reason, HGTV’s Design Star is becoming more and more bland every week. Even a couple of “firsts” in last night’s episode didn’t spice up the show for me.
With only four designers left, the producers threw a curve ball and set up a group challenge instead of an individual one. All the designers had to work together to design and landscape a huge backyard from scratch, a Design Star first. “35” year old ex beauty queen Torie took on a leadership role that turned out to be in name only. Almost instantly Antonio took command of the team as they walked around the barren space. The clients wanted a modern oasis and it was clear that they’d be lucky if they just got a finished space.
The design and work tasks were pretty much split down stereotypical gender lines. Dan and Antonio were mostly relegated to yard work while Torie and Lonni did the shopping. Dan and Antonio did little in terms of actual design but did a ton of manual labor to make sure the yard was done and useable. Dan’s feeble attempt at river rock art was wisely snuffed out by Antonio while Antonio missed the chance to spruce up his concrete pool patio. Dan and Antonio were at the center of the other “first” in this episode as they helped the team go over their budget. Of course HGTV stepped in and saved the day with money but the mistake was pretty big as Dan signed off on a ten grand pergola when he only had five grand to spend. Antonio contributed to the confusion as well by messing with Dan’s pretty head about the 5 versus 10 figures. Team leader Torie was oblivious to all this as she continued her proud tradition of shopping poorly. She came back with a mish mash of furniture sets that did not fit the modern style of the clients. Lonni was the only designer who stood out for an actual design element as she made some smart plant choices to create a living wall.
When it came to elimination, the $5000 mistake was certainly a deciding factor. Lonni was safe based on her on camera work and plant shopping. Antonio had another strong camera performance which saved him. Dan and Torie were then left and it was clear who had to go. While Dan certainly screwed up, he was not the one in charge of the budget. Also, he really improved on camera this week and he looked cute with his shirt off. Torie was an absentee leader and also came across as a vacant talking head in her on camera, so it was time for her to exit.
Next week it’s a celebrity challenge with Jason Priestly, Tiffani Amber Thiessen and Kathy Griffin. Looks like Antonio gets Griffin which should make for some entertaining times and hopefully some livelier competition.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Runway Roundup: Week 2
I have to start out by saying that after two weeks, the move of Project Runway from Bravo! to Lifetime is a dead issue. Last night as I tuned in it didn’t even occur to me that I was on a different channel. On a side note, hey Charter Cable can we please get Lifetime in glorious HD so we can see all those loose hems (and reruns of Mother, May I Sleep with Anger).
Challenge number two brought a new twist on the design for a celeb standard. A very pregnant Rebecca Romijn joins a for once not pregnant Heidi on the Runway, and introduces the first maternity wear challenge in the history of the show. Having just observed my partner go through a pregnancy I know firsthand how difficult it is to find decent, stylish, maternity wear so this was a challenge that instantly grabbed my attention. All the designers looked a bit crestfallen though as I’m sure they thought “yay celebrity, boo maternity.” I was also a bit shocked that there was no additional twist to the challenge. I’d have loved to see the designers create a non-maternity look inspired by the original piece.
***I’d be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to address the Stamos situation. How many times do you think the designers had to redo their confidentials because they’d refer to Rebecca as Romijn-Stamos and not just Romijn. I know I muttered it wrong at least 3 times during the broadcast. Sorry Jerry O’Connell it’s just not the same.***
Alright let’s get on to the designs shall we. I thought some were really refreshing and well done. Gordana, whose name sounds like it should proceed “vs. Mothra”, did a wonderful job and as the only mother in the group clearly had good insight. Week one winner Chris did a fab job as did Weapon X himself Logan. Then we had the top three which included Shirin, Althea, and Louise. Althea’s dress was beautiful but was not the type of look that the judges were necessarily looking for despite the open door they implied. Her color choice though was spot on. Louise captured the best part of whimsy in her nightgown dress. The intricate lace, the dye work and, the thank god for Tim, under fabric, all made this a knockout that made up for the fact that it had limited wearibility. Shirin was my pick in the workroom and the judges on the Runway. Her jacket along with the detailed waist instantly jumped out at me. Christopher and Shirin are both shining early to me as both have executed strong in the first two weeks.
The bottom three could have easily been the bottom five. I thought Johnny must have gone back on the meth with his grim drab dress while Epperson’s tribute to Karate Kid had me questioning his taste level. The bottom three left those fools out though and instead included Ra’mon whose dress was identified by folks in the workroom and the runaway as a bowling ball bag. Worse yet it was sloppy and the amount of puckering was giving me stomach cramps. I am going to say Ra’mon stayed because of his awesome shout out to season 4’s Stella and her affection for “leatha”. More likely though it was the weakness of his fellow bottom three members, Mitchell and Malvin. Mitchell had a decent concept but again this guy hasn’t designed or made clothes in years and it shows. His shorts looked horrible and somehow he didn’t realize that until a couple of hours before showtime. Malvin meanwhile went out on a limb, a limb that is so far out he might have actually broke the space-time continuum. His egg concept was intriguing but the minute he told Tim that he wanted to make his model look like she had chicken thighs I thought goodbye. Of course that’s just what happened as Mitchell once again benefited from a designer taking risks while he just makes poor clothes. Meanwhile no one suffers more than us viewers as we’ve lost two characters in two weeks. I was just beginning to love you Malvin and you will be missed. Next week we’ve got our first team challenge which means plenty of claws are coming out and boy I can’t wait to see who gets paired with Mitchell.
Challenge number two brought a new twist on the design for a celeb standard. A very pregnant Rebecca Romijn joins a for once not pregnant Heidi on the Runway, and introduces the first maternity wear challenge in the history of the show. Having just observed my partner go through a pregnancy I know firsthand how difficult it is to find decent, stylish, maternity wear so this was a challenge that instantly grabbed my attention. All the designers looked a bit crestfallen though as I’m sure they thought “yay celebrity, boo maternity.” I was also a bit shocked that there was no additional twist to the challenge. I’d have loved to see the designers create a non-maternity look inspired by the original piece.
***I’d be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to address the Stamos situation. How many times do you think the designers had to redo their confidentials because they’d refer to Rebecca as Romijn-Stamos and not just Romijn. I know I muttered it wrong at least 3 times during the broadcast. Sorry Jerry O’Connell it’s just not the same.***
Alright let’s get on to the designs shall we. I thought some were really refreshing and well done. Gordana, whose name sounds like it should proceed “vs. Mothra”, did a wonderful job and as the only mother in the group clearly had good insight. Week one winner Chris did a fab job as did Weapon X himself Logan. Then we had the top three which included Shirin, Althea, and Louise. Althea’s dress was beautiful but was not the type of look that the judges were necessarily looking for despite the open door they implied. Her color choice though was spot on. Louise captured the best part of whimsy in her nightgown dress. The intricate lace, the dye work and, the thank god for Tim, under fabric, all made this a knockout that made up for the fact that it had limited wearibility. Shirin was my pick in the workroom and the judges on the Runway. Her jacket along with the detailed waist instantly jumped out at me. Christopher and Shirin are both shining early to me as both have executed strong in the first two weeks.
The bottom three could have easily been the bottom five. I thought Johnny must have gone back on the meth with his grim drab dress while Epperson’s tribute to Karate Kid had me questioning his taste level. The bottom three left those fools out though and instead included Ra’mon whose dress was identified by folks in the workroom and the runaway as a bowling ball bag. Worse yet it was sloppy and the amount of puckering was giving me stomach cramps. I am going to say Ra’mon stayed because of his awesome shout out to season 4’s Stella and her affection for “leatha”. More likely though it was the weakness of his fellow bottom three members, Mitchell and Malvin. Mitchell had a decent concept but again this guy hasn’t designed or made clothes in years and it shows. His shorts looked horrible and somehow he didn’t realize that until a couple of hours before showtime. Malvin meanwhile went out on a limb, a limb that is so far out he might have actually broke the space-time continuum. His egg concept was intriguing but the minute he told Tim that he wanted to make his model look like she had chicken thighs I thought goodbye. Of course that’s just what happened as Mitchell once again benefited from a designer taking risks while he just makes poor clothes. Meanwhile no one suffers more than us viewers as we’ve lost two characters in two weeks. I was just beginning to love you Malvin and you will be missed. Next week we’ve got our first team challenge which means plenty of claws are coming out and boy I can’t wait to see who gets paired with Mitchell.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
I Refuse to Call them Cheftestants: Week 2
The second episode of Top Chef seemed like a carbon copy of the first. For the most part the chefs that shined last week shined again and likewise, the chefs that failed last week failed again. On top of that we got another 2 or 3 ceviches which brings the total this season to 5…I think. I swear to god if I see another ceviche or twist on ceviche I’m going to lose my culinary mind. Oh, and gazpacho I’m watching you too.
The Quickfire Challenge was one of the surprising points of this episode. While the chefs were somewhat constrained by the dice dictated amount of ingredients, they had a great deal of freedom in what type of dish they cooked. This is the second challenge out of four where I believe they’ve gotten a chance to really cook what they choose. That ratio seems way out of whack compared to seasons past and if it keeps up should help the cream of the crop rise to the top. Jennifer (yes, I’m going to try and use real names this week) looked very strong again as did Yukon Cornelius (sorry Kevin but unless you shave that awesome beard your nickname is sticking). Jesse once again seemed to plan well but her execution was lacking. Kevin aka Brother #1 won the challenge with a gazpacho that had a nice twist with the liquid nitrogen.
The Elimination Challenge was the first of what I predict will be multiple Vegas wedding themed episodes. Ashley had some good points about the show celebrating an institution that discriminates against so many Americans. Tom Colicchio had some excellent points as well on why the show chose the wedding themed challenge that you can read here. As for the challenge itself the idea of the men cooking for the bachelorette party and the women cooking for the bachelor party was pretty pedestrian. Although having the chefs pair their dishes with shots, and not all typical shots, was a nice twist. I loved Jennifer’s outrage over the battle of the sexes theme and had to wonder whether it was because she thought it was sexist or because she knew that except for her, the women underperformed in week 1. If it was the later, then her concerns were well founded.
The men all seemed to have their act together with a few exceptions. Ron and Mattin both seemed to sputter again and should be thankful to their team members. Yukon Cornelius did well as did Hector who bounced back from that horrible deep fried steak debacle from week 1. Eli did a fresh take on tartar (season 4’s ceviche) and brother #1 Kevin did a nice dessert. I’d love to try that goat cheese cookie dough. In the end though it was brother #2’s (Michael) dish that was the top choice of the judges and made me want to jump into my TV and taste it. His sweet and salty macaroon was just inspired, a complete reinvention of a classic tequila pairing.
The women were certainly the opposite of the men this week. While there were a couple of strong dishes headlined once again by Jennifer, there were many weak performances. Ashley made one great dish and then screwed it up by making a second dish of unset panna cotta. Her one great dish saved her but hopefully she learned from her mistake. Jesse once again conceived well but executed poorly. She was saved this week as well which means I’ll most likely be typing that previous sentence again next week. Preeti had a visual mess of a dish and according to the judges one that was a mess of flavors as well. Then, she goes and basically argues that the guests’ tastes were better than the judges. Oooh child, you better watch yourself or Padma will go off. Preeti was saved however by Michigan’s lone representative Eve. Once again Eve screwed up shrimp which is a sure sign she needed to go home. Furthermore she knew the flavors of her dish were off and did nothing to fix them. Upon her exit, she pulled out the old “the judges don’t understand my flavor combinations” excuse. Eve, honey, you went home because you made a series of poor dishes with a relatively forgiving ingredient not because your Michigan cuisine is too complex for the likes of Tom, Padma, or Gail. A predictable exit on a rather predictable episode.
The Quickfire Challenge was one of the surprising points of this episode. While the chefs were somewhat constrained by the dice dictated amount of ingredients, they had a great deal of freedom in what type of dish they cooked. This is the second challenge out of four where I believe they’ve gotten a chance to really cook what they choose. That ratio seems way out of whack compared to seasons past and if it keeps up should help the cream of the crop rise to the top. Jennifer (yes, I’m going to try and use real names this week) looked very strong again as did Yukon Cornelius (sorry Kevin but unless you shave that awesome beard your nickname is sticking). Jesse once again seemed to plan well but her execution was lacking. Kevin aka Brother #1 won the challenge with a gazpacho that had a nice twist with the liquid nitrogen.
The Elimination Challenge was the first of what I predict will be multiple Vegas wedding themed episodes. Ashley had some good points about the show celebrating an institution that discriminates against so many Americans. Tom Colicchio had some excellent points as well on why the show chose the wedding themed challenge that you can read here. As for the challenge itself the idea of the men cooking for the bachelorette party and the women cooking for the bachelor party was pretty pedestrian. Although having the chefs pair their dishes with shots, and not all typical shots, was a nice twist. I loved Jennifer’s outrage over the battle of the sexes theme and had to wonder whether it was because she thought it was sexist or because she knew that except for her, the women underperformed in week 1. If it was the later, then her concerns were well founded.
The men all seemed to have their act together with a few exceptions. Ron and Mattin both seemed to sputter again and should be thankful to their team members. Yukon Cornelius did well as did Hector who bounced back from that horrible deep fried steak debacle from week 1. Eli did a fresh take on tartar (season 4’s ceviche) and brother #1 Kevin did a nice dessert. I’d love to try that goat cheese cookie dough. In the end though it was brother #2’s (Michael) dish that was the top choice of the judges and made me want to jump into my TV and taste it. His sweet and salty macaroon was just inspired, a complete reinvention of a classic tequila pairing.
The women were certainly the opposite of the men this week. While there were a couple of strong dishes headlined once again by Jennifer, there were many weak performances. Ashley made one great dish and then screwed it up by making a second dish of unset panna cotta. Her one great dish saved her but hopefully she learned from her mistake. Jesse once again conceived well but executed poorly. She was saved this week as well which means I’ll most likely be typing that previous sentence again next week. Preeti had a visual mess of a dish and according to the judges one that was a mess of flavors as well. Then, she goes and basically argues that the guests’ tastes were better than the judges. Oooh child, you better watch yourself or Padma will go off. Preeti was saved however by Michigan’s lone representative Eve. Once again Eve screwed up shrimp which is a sure sign she needed to go home. Furthermore she knew the flavors of her dish were off and did nothing to fix them. Upon her exit, she pulled out the old “the judges don’t understand my flavor combinations” excuse. Eve, honey, you went home because you made a series of poor dishes with a relatively forgiving ingredient not because your Michigan cuisine is too complex for the likes of Tom, Padma, or Gail. A predictable exit on a rather predictable episode.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Madison Restaurant Review: Casa Del Sol
Eating at Casa Del Sol this past weekend turned into a welcomed walk down memory lane. I can’t tell you how many times I ate at their sister restaurant, Casa De Lara on State Street, when I was student here in Madison. Over the years Madison has gained many more Mexican restaurants and while I certainly would rank some better, the folks behind Casa Del Sol and Casa De Lara do make an enjoyable version of Mexican comfort food.
Located in Fitchburg, Casa Del Sol is a mammoth space. The interior though is smartly split up into many small rooms that still maintain an open flow. Their outdoor space manages to avoid the suburban trap of simply overlooking a highway and instead has some green space in play. Service in such a huge space can sometimes be problematic but this is a finely tuned team. We had our newborn in tow on our visit and received great help and also had our food in front of us before we knew it. The place is certainly kid friendly based on the large table we saw in the adjacent room.
The food instantly brought back nostalgia to those old Casa De Lara visits. The complementary chips and salsa at Casa Del Sol are among the best in town. Warm chips and slightly spicy salsa are complimented by picked carrots, onions, and peppers. I could eat those veggies alone. We tried the homemade corn bread for an appetizer. The bread was light and fluffy and amongst the best in town ranking second only to the Hubbard Street Diner's. The only downside was the lone butter packet which was not enough for the bread and the guava jelly which was overly sweet. My partner went for the burrito Monterrey which was filled with shredded beef. The beef was tender and flavorful and reminded my partner of the best brisket she’s had. The "spicy" red sauce was not very spicy but still had a nice balance. My chili verde had huge chunks of pork which came out a bit overcooked. The sauce however was outstanding and so were the accompanying flour tortillas. The rice and beans were alright. The rice had a nice fluffiness but lacked flavor. The refried beans were textbook but good. One regret we had on this trip was not sampling their cactus based dishes which is something I remember Casa De Lara doing very well. My margarita was good not great, but was a relative steal at $6.50 compared to some of our other favorite places. All in all it was a great comfort meal and at under $35 it seemed like a steal.
Located in Fitchburg, Casa Del Sol is a mammoth space. The interior though is smartly split up into many small rooms that still maintain an open flow. Their outdoor space manages to avoid the suburban trap of simply overlooking a highway and instead has some green space in play. Service in such a huge space can sometimes be problematic but this is a finely tuned team. We had our newborn in tow on our visit and received great help and also had our food in front of us before we knew it. The place is certainly kid friendly based on the large table we saw in the adjacent room.
The food instantly brought back nostalgia to those old Casa De Lara visits. The complementary chips and salsa at Casa Del Sol are among the best in town. Warm chips and slightly spicy salsa are complimented by picked carrots, onions, and peppers. I could eat those veggies alone. We tried the homemade corn bread for an appetizer. The bread was light and fluffy and amongst the best in town ranking second only to the Hubbard Street Diner's. The only downside was the lone butter packet which was not enough for the bread and the guava jelly which was overly sweet. My partner went for the burrito Monterrey which was filled with shredded beef. The beef was tender and flavorful and reminded my partner of the best brisket she’s had. The "spicy" red sauce was not very spicy but still had a nice balance. My chili verde had huge chunks of pork which came out a bit overcooked. The sauce however was outstanding and so were the accompanying flour tortillas. The rice and beans were alright. The rice had a nice fluffiness but lacked flavor. The refried beans were textbook but good. One regret we had on this trip was not sampling their cactus based dishes which is something I remember Casa De Lara doing very well. My margarita was good not great, but was a relative steal at $6.50 compared to some of our other favorite places. All in all it was a great comfort meal and at under $35 it seemed like a steal.
Design Me A Star: Week 6
This season of HGTV’s Design Star has flown by. Hard to believe last night’s episode consisted of only five designers and even harder to believe Butthead look alike Jason was still one of them. With such a small group it was about time we got another individual challenge and even more importantly about time we got these fools in front of the camera.
The challenge itself was redesigning rooms for kids and you knew instantly that some folks were going to struggle. Despite their reputation for being difficult clients Torie was predictably excited. Strangely the odd children were the older ones. Nico, Lonni’s client, was a 17 year old baseball player who apparently never wants to get any action as he wanted a baseball themed room. Meanwhile, Jason gets a 17 year old girl who wants a princess room…17 years old. The younger kids were more grown up as Dan’s wanted a green room and Torie’s wanted an artist’s loft. The designer’s were given carpenters to complete their designs and you could just see Antonio not give a crap. Jason fired his carpenter on the first day which I didn’t even know they could do. David Bromstad visited the designers as they worked and offered some pretty boring advice. That didn’t stop Dan from jazzing his pants a little bit and giving us a preview of how he’d be in front of the camera.
The top rooms were from my expected final two. Antonio had a five year old and did a great job creating a fantasy room full of dinosaurs. His description of the room as a "little man cave" was spot on and while his on camera performance was just ok he certainly showed promise. Lonni is quickly becoming the dark horse of the competition despite her uneven performance. Her on camera was great and she managed to make a passable room for Nico despite taking his love of baseball so literally. Torie fell in the middle as she had a strong camera performance but a horribly uneven design. She had a huge dead spot in the room and had some poor fabric choices hanging from the wall. On the plus side her bed set up truly accomplished the artist loft feel her client wanted.
The bottom two included one predictable contestant and one surprise. Dan who has been strong throughout fell apart a bit. First off he admitted he’d never designed for a kid which clearly intimidated him. His green room had some nice touches but he tried to work too many colors into the room. I thought his repurposed gumball machine was a daring move since his client said that was her favorite part of the room. Luckily that turned into a success but Dan’s on camera performance was not. The nervous energy the guy put out there made him almost unwatchable. His giggling was just annoying. Jason meanwhile was ok on camera but once again failed miserably in his design. From his poor choice to leave the room pink to the reliance on a rug he didn’t have, Jason made poor choice after poor choice. Perhaps the most egregious design piece was using placemats as a headboard and holding them up with multicolored pushpins. His design was also once again unfinished with tape stuck to the walls. Predictably he went home and now we’ve got a final four where anyone…except Torie has a chance of winning.
The challenge itself was redesigning rooms for kids and you knew instantly that some folks were going to struggle. Despite their reputation for being difficult clients Torie was predictably excited. Strangely the odd children were the older ones. Nico, Lonni’s client, was a 17 year old baseball player who apparently never wants to get any action as he wanted a baseball themed room. Meanwhile, Jason gets a 17 year old girl who wants a princess room…17 years old. The younger kids were more grown up as Dan’s wanted a green room and Torie’s wanted an artist’s loft. The designer’s were given carpenters to complete their designs and you could just see Antonio not give a crap. Jason fired his carpenter on the first day which I didn’t even know they could do. David Bromstad visited the designers as they worked and offered some pretty boring advice. That didn’t stop Dan from jazzing his pants a little bit and giving us a preview of how he’d be in front of the camera.
The top rooms were from my expected final two. Antonio had a five year old and did a great job creating a fantasy room full of dinosaurs. His description of the room as a "little man cave" was spot on and while his on camera performance was just ok he certainly showed promise. Lonni is quickly becoming the dark horse of the competition despite her uneven performance. Her on camera was great and she managed to make a passable room for Nico despite taking his love of baseball so literally. Torie fell in the middle as she had a strong camera performance but a horribly uneven design. She had a huge dead spot in the room and had some poor fabric choices hanging from the wall. On the plus side her bed set up truly accomplished the artist loft feel her client wanted.
The bottom two included one predictable contestant and one surprise. Dan who has been strong throughout fell apart a bit. First off he admitted he’d never designed for a kid which clearly intimidated him. His green room had some nice touches but he tried to work too many colors into the room. I thought his repurposed gumball machine was a daring move since his client said that was her favorite part of the room. Luckily that turned into a success but Dan’s on camera performance was not. The nervous energy the guy put out there made him almost unwatchable. His giggling was just annoying. Jason meanwhile was ok on camera but once again failed miserably in his design. From his poor choice to leave the room pink to the reliance on a rug he didn’t have, Jason made poor choice after poor choice. Perhaps the most egregious design piece was using placemats as a headboard and holding them up with multicolored pushpins. His design was also once again unfinished with tape stuck to the walls. Predictably he went home and now we’ve got a final four where anyone…except Torie has a chance of winning.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Runway Roundup: Week 1
Hard to believe that after all this time Project Runway is finally back. Of course the elephant in the room is the whole move to Lifetime instead of Bravo. Except for the annoying Lifetime logo in the lower right hand corner I’m happy to say the changes were minimal. The minute Tim said “thank you Mood” I felt like we were right back at home.
Just like Top Chef the night before we got way too many contestants but I think we can all agree that this might be the best collection of names in Runway history. Gordana, Malvin, Epperson, Althea (the oldest looking 23 year old I’ve ever seen), Qristyl, Shirin, and crazy two name Carol Hannah. Those are some seriously fucked up names and I love them even if they will drive my spell check crazy. Of course the names got overshadowed in the first two segments by former meth addict Johnny. I was so bored with him after the third speech about addiction and then he played the drama up so he could get a pity hug from Tim. Ugh.
The red carpet challenge is a great way to start the season because it really gives the designers freedom. Of course that also means finding a bottom three can be way too easy since you’re leaving the designers to their own devices. Qristyl made a mess out of her dress but you knew she was safe compared to her fellow cellar dwellers. The minute Mitchell explained that he had been working on the business side of the industry; I thought he was in trouble. When I saw his Victorian collar I knew he was in trouble. His pantyhose dress was reminiscent of a dress that belonged on the 1970’s version of Battlestar Galactica except you didn’t see any ass. One way you can tell the names must be great is when a name like Ari Fish doesn’t make the cut for crazy names. However Ari quickly made her mark by declaring that she doesn’t sketch but instead meditates. Then she went and made a shiny soccer ball dress that looked like it was for a space hooker. I prayed that she survived so she could make it to a celebrity challenge where they have to present sketches and instead she would just stand on her head in a corner. The beauty of watching someone like SJP deal with that would be priceless. Sadly that will not happen and we’ll just have to rely on someone else to go bat shit crazy. Johnny made the top 3 but I think the fumes off of guest judge Lindsay Lohan must have gotten to Michael, Heidi and Nina. It was 70’s disco glam and not in a good way. Ra’mon’s dress was pretty boring too yet he made the top 3 too. It certainly was a fine garment but nothing special. His fellow Minnesota resident Christopher had my favorite dress of the top 3. I thought Michael described it best when he called it cute and edgy. Outside of the top 3 I also loved Irina’s gown but Shirin’s glamour/flapper dress which was gimmicky yet functional was my favorite. I thought she did the best but I can’t imagine that her duo purpose style could carry her to the finale. In fact no one jumped out as a favorite. Overall there was a lot of promise but I felt like a lot of the designs reminded me of past winners so hopefully these cats won’t turn out to be of the copy variety.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
I Refuse to Call Them Cheftestants: Week 1
I'm so happy to have Top Chef back and there is no better place than Las Vegas for this season considering the explosion of both new cuisine and celeb chefs. Of course I'll take that back after they do their 13th buffet challenge.
The worst thing about these early episodes is the obscene amount of chefs. In light of that I will only refer to the chefs by nicknames until we get a reasonable amount of chefs. I was hoping that the Quickfire would eliminate someone right off the bat. Unfortunately they did the opposite and gave someone a free pass. We'll call the gold chip winner the big coward for now because she turned down the chance to give up her undeserved immunity to win some cold hard cash. Instead the rest of the chefs competed in the classic relay race Quickfire. I'd be happier to see this if Top Chef Masters hadn't just pulled it out a couple weeks back. Anyway at least they added a twist and let the winning relay team fight it out for an additional $15,000. I liked pierced lady's dish best and was surprised to see the millionith ceviche in Top Chef history win.
I thought that the Elimination Challenge was almost too broad. The lack of restrictions or structure clearly left some chefs floundering. The minute I heard wheat gluten I knew the bland "hot tempered" chef was going home. My only hesitation came after seeing the war crimes committed against shrimp and scallops by the "only chef in Michigan". In the end though the crime against chile releno sent the anger bore home. I'm excited to see more from the Yukon Cornealius look alike as well as the cook brothers. I think we certainly have a group of talented chefs and other than Michigan I don't think there is much fat to trim.
The worst thing about these early episodes is the obscene amount of chefs. In light of that I will only refer to the chefs by nicknames until we get a reasonable amount of chefs. I was hoping that the Quickfire would eliminate someone right off the bat. Unfortunately they did the opposite and gave someone a free pass. We'll call the gold chip winner the big coward for now because she turned down the chance to give up her undeserved immunity to win some cold hard cash. Instead the rest of the chefs competed in the classic relay race Quickfire. I'd be happier to see this if Top Chef Masters hadn't just pulled it out a couple weeks back. Anyway at least they added a twist and let the winning relay team fight it out for an additional $15,000. I liked pierced lady's dish best and was surprised to see the millionith ceviche in Top Chef history win.
I thought that the Elimination Challenge was almost too broad. The lack of restrictions or structure clearly left some chefs floundering. The minute I heard wheat gluten I knew the bland "hot tempered" chef was going home. My only hesitation came after seeing the war crimes committed against shrimp and scallops by the "only chef in Michigan". In the end though the crime against chile releno sent the anger bore home. I'm excited to see more from the Yukon Cornealius look alike as well as the cook brothers. I think we certainly have a group of talented chefs and other than Michigan I don't think there is much fat to trim.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Minneapolis Takeout Review: Burger Jones
Since I no longer live in the Twin Cities, my dining choices every visit are usually split between old favorites and new spots that my friends and family share with me. My latest visit last week had a bit of a twist as I was now sporting around my newborn kid. While he’s a breeze at restaurants, mom and dad get a bit tired at the end of the day and takeout often sounds like the best option. Thankfully Burger Jones, one of the new places I wanted to try, was not only a stone’s throw away from where we were staying but also hype their takeout.
Located in a former Applebee’s just off Lake Calhoun, Burger Jones is the latest venture from the Parasole restaurant group. While we opted for takeout, I must say that the design of the place is appealing enough to grab folks as they wander in. The modern diner look might be a little to clean and glossy but you’ve got to love a bar wall that’s full of PBR tall boys and Maker’s Mark. Their outdoor patio also looks lovely although your lake view is a bit obstructed by the insanely busy street it directly overlooks. I can only speak to the service aspect from the takeout point of view and it was fast and friendly mixed with confusion. While our order was ready in less than 15 minutes, a shock given how busy the place was at 6pm on Friday night, we watched the hostess pick up the phone and call us as we sat in front of her. Apparently the other hostess had not communicated to her that we were already there. However, this was more of an amusing incident than an annoying one.
With a name like Burger Jones, it’s obvious who the star of the menu should be. We sampled three of their burgers and the results were mixed. While none of the burgers were bad, two of three had a real disconnect between meat and toppings. I opted for the White Trash Burger solely based on the promise of chicken fried bacon. Of course the cheese curds, Velveeta, and onion ring that also topped the burger didn’t stop me from ordering it either. The result of all this deep fried goodness was mixed. The bacon lost its flavor in the deep fryer and was also painfully dry. I’m wondering if they precook the bacon before frying. Meanwhile, the cheese curds were made of an outstanding cheese but were borderline cold while everything else was piping hot. Also they lacked a sufficient amount of salt. The meat itself though was done quite nicely. Mine was a perfect medium rare and the meat had quite a distinguished flavor despite the mountain of toppings. The bun also stood up well. My partner tried out their Black and Bleu burger and found similar results. While the meat and caramelized onions were great, the cold slab of bleu cheese didn’t integrate well into the burger. Finally our dining companion went with the bison burger and was probably the most pleased of all of us. The cabernet onions were the best topping of the three burgers and the bison which can often be dry was as moist as our beef burgers.
Of course with burgers, there must be fries. In the interest of sampling Burger Jones wide variety we ordered the tri-fry tasting tower which included a traditional fry, a maple-bacon sweet potato fry, and a parmesan waffle fry. The traditional fries were good but not something I’d run back for on their own. The sweet potato fries though were some of the best I’ve ever had and that’s coming from someone who usually passes on such a fry. The crispness and the sweet/salty balance were perfecto. I found the parmesan waffle fries to be an epic disappointment. Some of the fries were undercooked and except for the top two fries, the parmesan was nowhere to be seen. Along with the fries came 3 dipping sauces. The chipotle aioli which was the stand out of the three. The seasoned sour cream lacked seasoning and was a poor comparison to your average sports bar seasoned sour cream (Legend’s on East Hennepin has the best). The last sauce we tried was the night sauce which tasted like a cousin of Heinz 57.
In the end Burger Jones is in a great location and has a great concept but the food just isn’t there yet. Except for the waffle fries nothing was flat out bad. However, except for the sweet potato fries nothing blew my socks off either. Much has been made of the prices but I think they’re reasonable except perhaps for the $6 shake that barely filled up my to-go cup. While my s’more malt wasn’t anything amazing, the touch of having it topped with a roasted marshmallow, graham crackers and chocolate was another sign of potential which is something Burger Jones has plenty of.
Burger Jones, 3200 W Lake St, Minneapolis, MN 612.746.0800
Located in a former Applebee’s just off Lake Calhoun, Burger Jones is the latest venture from the Parasole restaurant group. While we opted for takeout, I must say that the design of the place is appealing enough to grab folks as they wander in. The modern diner look might be a little to clean and glossy but you’ve got to love a bar wall that’s full of PBR tall boys and Maker’s Mark. Their outdoor patio also looks lovely although your lake view is a bit obstructed by the insanely busy street it directly overlooks. I can only speak to the service aspect from the takeout point of view and it was fast and friendly mixed with confusion. While our order was ready in less than 15 minutes, a shock given how busy the place was at 6pm on Friday night, we watched the hostess pick up the phone and call us as we sat in front of her. Apparently the other hostess had not communicated to her that we were already there. However, this was more of an amusing incident than an annoying one.
With a name like Burger Jones, it’s obvious who the star of the menu should be. We sampled three of their burgers and the results were mixed. While none of the burgers were bad, two of three had a real disconnect between meat and toppings. I opted for the White Trash Burger solely based on the promise of chicken fried bacon. Of course the cheese curds, Velveeta, and onion ring that also topped the burger didn’t stop me from ordering it either. The result of all this deep fried goodness was mixed. The bacon lost its flavor in the deep fryer and was also painfully dry. I’m wondering if they precook the bacon before frying. Meanwhile, the cheese curds were made of an outstanding cheese but were borderline cold while everything else was piping hot. Also they lacked a sufficient amount of salt. The meat itself though was done quite nicely. Mine was a perfect medium rare and the meat had quite a distinguished flavor despite the mountain of toppings. The bun also stood up well. My partner tried out their Black and Bleu burger and found similar results. While the meat and caramelized onions were great, the cold slab of bleu cheese didn’t integrate well into the burger. Finally our dining companion went with the bison burger and was probably the most pleased of all of us. The cabernet onions were the best topping of the three burgers and the bison which can often be dry was as moist as our beef burgers.
Of course with burgers, there must be fries. In the interest of sampling Burger Jones wide variety we ordered the tri-fry tasting tower which included a traditional fry, a maple-bacon sweet potato fry, and a parmesan waffle fry. The traditional fries were good but not something I’d run back for on their own. The sweet potato fries though were some of the best I’ve ever had and that’s coming from someone who usually passes on such a fry. The crispness and the sweet/salty balance were perfecto. I found the parmesan waffle fries to be an epic disappointment. Some of the fries were undercooked and except for the top two fries, the parmesan was nowhere to be seen. Along with the fries came 3 dipping sauces. The chipotle aioli which was the stand out of the three. The seasoned sour cream lacked seasoning and was a poor comparison to your average sports bar seasoned sour cream (Legend’s on East Hennepin has the best). The last sauce we tried was the night sauce which tasted like a cousin of Heinz 57.
In the end Burger Jones is in a great location and has a great concept but the food just isn’t there yet. Except for the waffle fries nothing was flat out bad. However, except for the sweet potato fries nothing blew my socks off either. Much has been made of the prices but I think they’re reasonable except perhaps for the $6 shake that barely filled up my to-go cup. While my s’more malt wasn’t anything amazing, the touch of having it topped with a roasted marshmallow, graham crackers and chocolate was another sign of potential which is something Burger Jones has plenty of.
Burger Jones, 3200 W Lake St, Minneapolis, MN 612.746.0800
Design Me A Star: Week 5
Since this is a day late and a design short, let’s just hit the high and lowlights of this week’s HGTV Design Star.
• Team challenges are all well and good but how about another individual challenge (spoiler alert: looks like next week I get my wish).
• The old trusty military family challenge is similarly played out. “Thanks for volunteering to be in the military let’s reward you with a new living room.”
• The way the teams broke down made the outcome academic. No way were Lonni, Jason and Nathan going to create anything worthwhile.
• Lonni did actually show me something for the first time this season with her chevron wall. At first I questioned her choice because what happens to the symbolism if the soldier gets promoted or more likely killed. However in the end it’s a striking graphic that made for a stand out design accent.
• The rest of Lonni’s team was horrible. Jason continued his streak of average work mixed with incompetence. I thought it was hilarious when he started off the episode noting how all the fat had been trimmed off of the group of designers. Hello Jason, you are still here. His decision to nail in curtains along with his wall of keepsakes would have been enough to send him home if not for one slow ass teammate.
• Nathan was one of my favorites to win after week one but it’s clear now that Dan was the driving force on that team. After spending the entire challenge on one entertainment center I expected Nathan to reveal a stunning final product. Instead it looked like a cheap solution that may have worked for staging an open house. Also his decision to skip the desk, a primary element of the room, made his cancellation a slam dunk. While I think he may be more talented than Jason I have a hard time disagreeing with the judges once again.
• Antonio continues to surprise and frustrate. Loved his color scheme and the entertainment center. However he let himself get pushed out of shopping once again and still has not had a coherent complete design. He was right to push back on the colors and he should have pushed back on the shopping too.
• Dan continued to be the Rick Bayless of Design Star. His helpful attitude and peacemaking skills were certainly put to the test this week as Torie and Antonio had their dust up. He also managed to create a wonderful table/study area that was my favorite piece in the room.
• Torie took a small step forward this week. Her inability to see beyond the walls in reference to the client’s soft request for warm colors made her a target for possible cancellation. However she finally had a successful shopping trip. I felt like the couch wasn’t great but I loved the accents including those wood panels that flanked the TV area.
• Team challenges are all well and good but how about another individual challenge (spoiler alert: looks like next week I get my wish).
• The old trusty military family challenge is similarly played out. “Thanks for volunteering to be in the military let’s reward you with a new living room.”
• The way the teams broke down made the outcome academic. No way were Lonni, Jason and Nathan going to create anything worthwhile.
• Lonni did actually show me something for the first time this season with her chevron wall. At first I questioned her choice because what happens to the symbolism if the soldier gets promoted or more likely killed. However in the end it’s a striking graphic that made for a stand out design accent.
• The rest of Lonni’s team was horrible. Jason continued his streak of average work mixed with incompetence. I thought it was hilarious when he started off the episode noting how all the fat had been trimmed off of the group of designers. Hello Jason, you are still here. His decision to nail in curtains along with his wall of keepsakes would have been enough to send him home if not for one slow ass teammate.
• Nathan was one of my favorites to win after week one but it’s clear now that Dan was the driving force on that team. After spending the entire challenge on one entertainment center I expected Nathan to reveal a stunning final product. Instead it looked like a cheap solution that may have worked for staging an open house. Also his decision to skip the desk, a primary element of the room, made his cancellation a slam dunk. While I think he may be more talented than Jason I have a hard time disagreeing with the judges once again.
• Antonio continues to surprise and frustrate. Loved his color scheme and the entertainment center. However he let himself get pushed out of shopping once again and still has not had a coherent complete design. He was right to push back on the colors and he should have pushed back on the shopping too.
• Dan continued to be the Rick Bayless of Design Star. His helpful attitude and peacemaking skills were certainly put to the test this week as Torie and Antonio had their dust up. He also managed to create a wonderful table/study area that was my favorite piece in the room.
• Torie took a small step forward this week. Her inability to see beyond the walls in reference to the client’s soft request for warm colors made her a target for possible cancellation. However she finally had a successful shopping trip. I felt like the couch wasn’t great but I loved the accents including those wood panels that flanked the TV area.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Quick VOD Review- Green Lantern: First Flight
Caught the latest animated feature from DC and Warner Brothers over the weekend and I’ve got to say this is by far the most impressive attempt since the old Justice League TV show. Green Lantern: First Flight is a complete effort and delivers enough winks to diehard Lantern fans while still being a great stand alone story. The story opens with a brisk origin segment for Hal Jordan and the speed in which this was delivered was a relief considering a similar version was just told in the animated adaptation of JLA: The New Frontier. Once that is out of the way, the story picks up at a pace that suits the 78 minute running time. Hal is brought out to space by a group of Green Lantern Corps members, meets the Guardians, and is soon out on patrol with his new mentor Sinestro. The rest of the story takes some liberties with the DC cannon but the important thing is that it feels right. The scope of the GL universe is huge and the film certainly captures that by displaying the diversity in the both the universe and in the Corps. The animation is top notch especially in the space battles. The final piece to the film’s success is the voice work. Christopher Meloni does a great job of capturing the cockiness of Hal Jordan while Victor Garber gives us a definitive interpretation of Sinestro. If they ever attempt to adapt the Sinestro Corps Wars storyline, WB and DC need to sign Garber. Finally Michael Madsen does a wonderful Kilowog and I’m hoping he gets a shot at voicing the eventual CG version in the live action film. All in all this is clearly the best film the Bruce Timm animated team has done and it’s got me super excited for one of my all time favorite Batman/Superman stories coming this Fall.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Design Me A Star: Week 4
Double elimination…is there any sweeter two words in the world of reality TV competitions? Last night’s HGTV Design Star teased us all week with the promise of just such an event and it delivered, all be it in predictable fashion. Predictable was the buzzword for the challenge itself as well.
Having our final eight designers redo garages into useable extra rooms was one of the more creative challenges I’ve ever seen on the show. Unfortunately the two couples resided in Boringville and asked for designs that but me to sleep before even seeing them. That said the two teams really seemed to embrace the challenge. Janey and Lonni both stepped up and took leadership of their teams during the planning stages. Unfortunately we learned that neither of them is very good at leading. Once again Antonio and Dan stepped up and became de-facto leaders but also took on the biggest tasks. A quick thought on Antonio: he must stop volunteering to do the construction and carpentry tasks. His design input is not coming across in these team challenges. Dan on the other hand has to stop being a mother hen. He endangers himself by helping and assisting others when he should be working on his own tasks.
Team Dan looked particularly shaky early on thanks to two things. On one hand you had Dan’s daft idea of building a platform in a tiny garage with a low ceiling. It was an interesting concept to solve for the floor but reducing the overall size in any direction of that room was a poor decision. In my sophomore year of college my roommate built a false floor into our tiny rectangle of a dorm room and while loved the hidden storage space (you could put your weed in it although we mostly just but our moving boxes in there), it did make the room feel smaller. The other major obstacle on Team Dan was Tashica. It was like grade school all over again when the designers split into teams and no one wanted to include Tashica. In her smartest move all season, Tashica just stayed put knowing that one group would have to stand where she was. Once the challenge began she proved to be utterly useless once again. Her lack of skills held up Dan. Her inability to come up with any design elements turned her into an irritating idea regurgitation machine. The rest of the team really should have got points for just completing their design with her on the team. For a while it certainly looked like that might not happen but in the final two hours they slapped together their Spanish style garage. The results were underwhelming to say the least. In addition to the odd platform, Team Dan chose not replace the old garage door that didn’t even lock. This is not a good thing when your garage has been loaded up with new furniture and a new flatscreen. The colors were ok but it looked like a garage that had been cleaned up rather than a true separate room.
Team Antonio faired a little better in terms of their finish but their design details were lacking. They had the burden of the more difficult clients who wanted an office, home theater, and work out room all in one, while done in the overdone boring ass style of the Hamptons. Antonio came up with a brilliant fix for the uneven floor but made a huge mistake in deciding to buy but not put together an elliptical trainer. Instead they stuck the box in the corner and put a rather unsightly bow on it. Janey and Torie made the majority of the design choices and they were as boring as possible. It’s clear that Torie does not work well with others and that Janey just graduated from design school. Butthead look alike Jason coasted by this week by being Antonio’s right hand man on the construction projects.
While the double elimination was satisfying the results were predictable. The spiciest moment came as Vern Yip did his best Vito Corleone impression and called a mid evaluation confab of all the judges. This juicy moment came in the middle of Tashica spinning a web of lies that even confused me. Anyway Clive delivered the news and Tashica was finally sent packing. As for the other elimination it came down to Janey and my early favorite to win Nathan. I think Nathan was being sent a message by the judges as his biggest commitment to his team, a Spanish mural, looked cheap and unfinished. Of course he was safe though and Janey took her text books and left the building.
Having our final eight designers redo garages into useable extra rooms was one of the more creative challenges I’ve ever seen on the show. Unfortunately the two couples resided in Boringville and asked for designs that but me to sleep before even seeing them. That said the two teams really seemed to embrace the challenge. Janey and Lonni both stepped up and took leadership of their teams during the planning stages. Unfortunately we learned that neither of them is very good at leading. Once again Antonio and Dan stepped up and became de-facto leaders but also took on the biggest tasks. A quick thought on Antonio: he must stop volunteering to do the construction and carpentry tasks. His design input is not coming across in these team challenges. Dan on the other hand has to stop being a mother hen. He endangers himself by helping and assisting others when he should be working on his own tasks.
Team Dan looked particularly shaky early on thanks to two things. On one hand you had Dan’s daft idea of building a platform in a tiny garage with a low ceiling. It was an interesting concept to solve for the floor but reducing the overall size in any direction of that room was a poor decision. In my sophomore year of college my roommate built a false floor into our tiny rectangle of a dorm room and while loved the hidden storage space (you could put your weed in it although we mostly just but our moving boxes in there), it did make the room feel smaller. The other major obstacle on Team Dan was Tashica. It was like grade school all over again when the designers split into teams and no one wanted to include Tashica. In her smartest move all season, Tashica just stayed put knowing that one group would have to stand where she was. Once the challenge began she proved to be utterly useless once again. Her lack of skills held up Dan. Her inability to come up with any design elements turned her into an irritating idea regurgitation machine. The rest of the team really should have got points for just completing their design with her on the team. For a while it certainly looked like that might not happen but in the final two hours they slapped together their Spanish style garage. The results were underwhelming to say the least. In addition to the odd platform, Team Dan chose not replace the old garage door that didn’t even lock. This is not a good thing when your garage has been loaded up with new furniture and a new flatscreen. The colors were ok but it looked like a garage that had been cleaned up rather than a true separate room.
Team Antonio faired a little better in terms of their finish but their design details were lacking. They had the burden of the more difficult clients who wanted an office, home theater, and work out room all in one, while done in the overdone boring ass style of the Hamptons. Antonio came up with a brilliant fix for the uneven floor but made a huge mistake in deciding to buy but not put together an elliptical trainer. Instead they stuck the box in the corner and put a rather unsightly bow on it. Janey and Torie made the majority of the design choices and they were as boring as possible. It’s clear that Torie does not work well with others and that Janey just graduated from design school. Butthead look alike Jason coasted by this week by being Antonio’s right hand man on the construction projects.
While the double elimination was satisfying the results were predictable. The spiciest moment came as Vern Yip did his best Vito Corleone impression and called a mid evaluation confab of all the judges. This juicy moment came in the middle of Tashica spinning a web of lies that even confused me. Anyway Clive delivered the news and Tashica was finally sent packing. As for the other elimination it came down to Janey and my early favorite to win Nathan. I think Nathan was being sent a message by the judges as his biggest commitment to his team, a Spanish mural, looked cheap and unfinished. Of course he was safe though and Janey took her text books and left the building.
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Quick DVD Review: Watchmen
My movie viewing habits have been off to say the least over the last few months. During the time leading up to becoming a first time dad, my priorities began to change. So much so that I just now got around to watching a movie I’ve dreamed of seeing for over 15 years…Watchmen.
Loyal readers will know that I’m not only a film geek but a comic book geek. Watchmen is one of my all time favorite stories and I’ve followed all the twists, turns, and false starts as it’s transitioned to the silver screen over the years. While I never saw 300 I was apprehensive when Zack Snyder was announced as the director simply because he was an unknown to me who seemed to value style over substance. That apprehension quickly dissipated over the last year when footage began to air and when news emerged that Snyder chose to cast relative no names in the leads. I never could quite see Brad Pitt in a fat suit playing Night Owl II. The first trailer set to a classic Smashing Pumpkins tune had me very excited as it seemed Snyder was going to be very true to the book. Turns out he was and it still wasn’t good enough.
Watchmen the movie is a faithful adaptation that leaves you devoid of feeling while still marveling at the skill of the filmmakers. Count me as a fan of Zack Snyder as I truly think the man did everything he could to make this book translate to screen. My only complaint in the production was the over the top use of pop music to indicate shifts in time. On the plus side, the cinematography is brilliant. The cast strong and the flow of a difficult narrative is pulled off. The shot for panel match ups are amazing. My jaw dropped as I see every panel of the comic brought to motion. Notice I say motion and not life. The film feels very mechanical and lacks soul. I really don’t think you can blame Snyder or the cast I think this was just an unwinnable job. The book is dense and the characters are drawn far deeper than most in comics. While the film does deviate on some plot points, I think the changes work and are certainly not the cause of the failure of the film. I’m coping out a bit here as I have not firm reason for the lack of emotions the film produces. It just doesn’t connect but I think huge kudos go to Snyder for trying.
Loyal readers will know that I’m not only a film geek but a comic book geek. Watchmen is one of my all time favorite stories and I’ve followed all the twists, turns, and false starts as it’s transitioned to the silver screen over the years. While I never saw 300 I was apprehensive when Zack Snyder was announced as the director simply because he was an unknown to me who seemed to value style over substance. That apprehension quickly dissipated over the last year when footage began to air and when news emerged that Snyder chose to cast relative no names in the leads. I never could quite see Brad Pitt in a fat suit playing Night Owl II. The first trailer set to a classic Smashing Pumpkins tune had me very excited as it seemed Snyder was going to be very true to the book. Turns out he was and it still wasn’t good enough.
Watchmen the movie is a faithful adaptation that leaves you devoid of feeling while still marveling at the skill of the filmmakers. Count me as a fan of Zack Snyder as I truly think the man did everything he could to make this book translate to screen. My only complaint in the production was the over the top use of pop music to indicate shifts in time. On the plus side, the cinematography is brilliant. The cast strong and the flow of a difficult narrative is pulled off. The shot for panel match ups are amazing. My jaw dropped as I see every panel of the comic brought to motion. Notice I say motion and not life. The film feels very mechanical and lacks soul. I really don’t think you can blame Snyder or the cast I think this was just an unwinnable job. The book is dense and the characters are drawn far deeper than most in comics. While the film does deviate on some plot points, I think the changes work and are certainly not the cause of the failure of the film. I’m coping out a bit here as I have not firm reason for the lack of emotions the film produces. It just doesn’t connect but I think huge kudos go to Snyder for trying.
Monday, August 03, 2009
Design Me A Star: Week 3
Episode 3 of HGTV’s Design Star evoked memories of an old TV favorite and memories of designs from past seasons of Design Star. The first individual challenge was introduced and it was the white room challenge. This year’s twist: all the shopping had to be done at a grocery store. Still with a $1000 budget and two cans of paint this didn’t sound too bad to me at all. It screamed Project Runway rip-off but then again how many variations are there to reality show challenges. Watching Clive set the shoppers of on their way brought back memories of Supermarket Sweep. This used to be my favorite distraction from studying back in the college years.
Anyhoo, I saw all sorts of questionable choices during the shopping period. Nathan says he’s going to poor milk on the walls and my first reaction was “gross” and the second was “it will never work.” Lonni’s choice of using plastic cups seemed predictable to me as I thought she’d use Solo cups to cover something. The only one that jumped out to me was “35” year old Torie’s choice of charcoal. I wonder if Whole Foods is exclusive to Bravo! and what this non-descript grocery store got out of this deal. All in all, the shopping choices left me uninspired but thankfully some did translate into beautiful rooms. Let’s break them down by the good, the blah and the ugly.
The Good
Nathan- Who knew that his milk wall would work so wonderfully? Now granted he did cheat a little by mixing the milk with primer but the result was spectacular and I’m happy to eat crow on this one. His graffiti couch reminded my partner of Jen’s graphic pillows from last year but was also a standout, as was his oatmeal floor. My only gripe was his choice of blue tables. I didn’t think that fit at all.
Dan- His deconstructed orchard was not only a bold concept but an original one. I loved the color pallet and the crisp execution of everything he did. It was one of the few rooms I’ve ever seen on Design Star where I had nothing at all to bitch about.
Antonio- While I agreed with the judges that his room was a bit sparse and I didn’t love the whole watermelons in his toy wheelbarrows, the graphic design elevated this room near the top for me. Also the fruit loop bins were one of the best accessories in the challenge.
Torie- While this room didn’t appeal to me I had to give it props for execution. Her floor design was painstakingly detailed and her wall of crumpled paper looked like art and not a rushed exercise in design.
The Blah
Jason- While Jason’s hair gets weirder every week his designs get more boring. The yellow and brown was boring but not enough to get me fired up enough to send him home.
Janey- Speaking of boring, Janey continued to just slide by from week to week. While using the asparagus as flower stems was a great idea, her graphic looked awfully familiar to one from last season and her odd choice of word art really did not work. Respect what?
Lonni- So she went a completely different route with the cups then I thought she would and in the end it failed. Thankfully she had a safe and boring back up plan that saved her ass. I must say I appreciate her being competent enough to pull something off last second.
The Ugly
Tashica- Once again Tashica had my least favorite room. Hated the design, loathed the copy cat light fixture, and was struck by how incomplete and sloppy the execution was. Her feigned ignorance of copying her light fixture from a past contestant made her look even worse than her room. I thought for sure she’d be going home finally but then we had…
Jen- The color maven once again proved she has no sense of color. I don’t buy for one second that we’re missing something because it’s not translating to TV. Her room looked unfinished and lacked anything resembling polish. Also did anyone else notice that she aged like 10 years in the span of three episodes? TV was not kind to you honey.
So Tashica lives to fight another day and Dan, Nathan (despite last week) and Antonio continue to stand apart from all others. Let’s hope next week brings an end to Tashica and maybe some better work from the
Anyhoo, I saw all sorts of questionable choices during the shopping period. Nathan says he’s going to poor milk on the walls and my first reaction was “gross” and the second was “it will never work.” Lonni’s choice of using plastic cups seemed predictable to me as I thought she’d use Solo cups to cover something. The only one that jumped out to me was “35” year old Torie’s choice of charcoal. I wonder if Whole Foods is exclusive to Bravo! and what this non-descript grocery store got out of this deal. All in all, the shopping choices left me uninspired but thankfully some did translate into beautiful rooms. Let’s break them down by the good, the blah and the ugly.
The Good
Nathan- Who knew that his milk wall would work so wonderfully? Now granted he did cheat a little by mixing the milk with primer but the result was spectacular and I’m happy to eat crow on this one. His graffiti couch reminded my partner of Jen’s graphic pillows from last year but was also a standout, as was his oatmeal floor. My only gripe was his choice of blue tables. I didn’t think that fit at all.
Dan- His deconstructed orchard was not only a bold concept but an original one. I loved the color pallet and the crisp execution of everything he did. It was one of the few rooms I’ve ever seen on Design Star where I had nothing at all to bitch about.
Antonio- While I agreed with the judges that his room was a bit sparse and I didn’t love the whole watermelons in his toy wheelbarrows, the graphic design elevated this room near the top for me. Also the fruit loop bins were one of the best accessories in the challenge.
Torie- While this room didn’t appeal to me I had to give it props for execution. Her floor design was painstakingly detailed and her wall of crumpled paper looked like art and not a rushed exercise in design.
The Blah
Jason- While Jason’s hair gets weirder every week his designs get more boring. The yellow and brown was boring but not enough to get me fired up enough to send him home.
Janey- Speaking of boring, Janey continued to just slide by from week to week. While using the asparagus as flower stems was a great idea, her graphic looked awfully familiar to one from last season and her odd choice of word art really did not work. Respect what?
Lonni- So she went a completely different route with the cups then I thought she would and in the end it failed. Thankfully she had a safe and boring back up plan that saved her ass. I must say I appreciate her being competent enough to pull something off last second.
The Ugly
Tashica- Once again Tashica had my least favorite room. Hated the design, loathed the copy cat light fixture, and was struck by how incomplete and sloppy the execution was. Her feigned ignorance of copying her light fixture from a past contestant made her look even worse than her room. I thought for sure she’d be going home finally but then we had…
Jen- The color maven once again proved she has no sense of color. I don’t buy for one second that we’re missing something because it’s not translating to TV. Her room looked unfinished and lacked anything resembling polish. Also did anyone else notice that she aged like 10 years in the span of three episodes? TV was not kind to you honey.
So Tashica lives to fight another day and Dan, Nathan (despite last week) and Antonio continue to stand apart from all others. Let’s hope next week brings an end to Tashica and maybe some better work from the
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)