You do well to flee, townspeople! I will pillage your lands and dwellings! I will burn your crops and make merry sport with your more attractive daughters! Ha ha ha! Mark my words! Ooh! Ale! I smell delicious ale!

Olaf the Troll ,'Showtime'


Non-Fiction TV: I Reject Your Reality and Substitute My Own

This thread is for non-fiction TV, including but not limited to reality television (So You Think You Can Dance, Top Chef: Masters, Project Runway), documentaries (The History Channel, The Discovery Channel), and sundry (Expedition Africa, Mythbusters), et al. [NAFDA]


JZ - Aug 10, 2007 6:21:05 am PDT #1504 of 23273
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.

Finally saw Top Chef. Brief notes:

1. Howie is such a dick. And not bulldoggish at all. This is a slur on bulldogs, who are stubborn as all hell, but mostly incredibly sweet-natured and affectionate and not Howie-like at all. Can we call him rat terrierish instead (marginally tractable one-on-one, agitated and snappish and bitey in large groups), please?

2. He so should have gone home instead of Sara N, except that she sounded in her interview like she'd just hit a wall and gotten so weary and so done with it all that she was relieved to go. Still, he should have gone. Howie gone probably would have gone a long way toward restoring her spirit.

3. OMG I love Ted so much. The thoughtful and classy apology in his blog was lovely on its own, but almost as good was "Two words: Ba. Con." Now I'm all mournful and missing Queer Eye all over again.

4. Tre in a wifebeater and apron, making beautiful comfort food at aught-o'clock in the morning: GUH.


SuziQ - Aug 10, 2007 6:44:20 am PDT #1505 of 23273
Back tattoos of the mother is that you are absolutely right - Ame

4. Tre in a wifebeater and apron, making beautiful comfort food at aught-o'clock in the morning: GUH.

Oh yes. Bunk.


sumi - Aug 10, 2007 6:55:34 am PDT #1506 of 23273
Art Crawl!!!

Tre in a wifebeater and apron, making beautiful comfort food at aught-o'clock in the morning: GUH.

Yes. This alone should have won him the challenge.

I agree with what you said about Howie cf bulldogs. Howie is a much more bitter and angry creature and more difficult to work with. Possibly more of a snapping turtle.


Lee - Aug 10, 2007 7:03:17 am PDT #1507 of 23273
The feeling you get when your brain finally lets your heart get in its pants.

Yes. This alone should have won him the challenge.

Seriously. From the way the show was edited (completely unnecessary but hot scene of Tre talking about taking off his shirt), I think the powers that be knew that too.


Liese S. - Aug 10, 2007 5:33:43 pm PDT #1508 of 23273
"Faded like the lilac, he thought."

Hmm.

I'm not sure how I feel about this.

Part of the problem I have with the challenge was the way in which it sexualized and effectively demeaned the women. I'm not altogether comfortable with sexualizing Tre's cooking here as well. Or I guess, if I'm going to do that, I better not rant about the women's clothing.


Liese S. - Aug 10, 2007 5:35:35 pm PDT #1509 of 23273
"Faded like the lilac, he thought."

Adding a post to say, I don't mean to harsh anyone's squee. Tre is a fine, fine looking young man, and also, I would eat his bacon wrapped shrimp on cheesy grits any day, and by that I mean food.

But I was getting ready to get all shirty about the women's clubbing gear and sexualization, and I guess I'd better get all equal opportunity shirty.


sumi - Aug 10, 2007 5:36:33 pm PDT #1510 of 23273
Art Crawl!!!

Obvously, the producer's should have brought working clothing to the site so that they could all change.

Also, I really thought that they were going to go out and be caught to do the elimination on their way back after clubbing.


Liese S. - Aug 10, 2007 5:38:10 pm PDT #1511 of 23273
"Faded like the lilac, he thought."

Yeah. I think it would have been a better challenge that way, with at least a minimal amount of gratification for the subjects of this psychological experiment that is reality competition. But I figured they didn't want to in case everybody got wasted.

But then, Tom commented that they wouldn't stop anybody from drinking whilst in a challenge, so maybe that wouldn't have been an issue for them.


Jesse - Aug 11, 2007 5:24:58 am PDT #1512 of 23273
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

There's a difference between grabbing a drink in the middle of cooking and going out DRINKING and then being thrown into the kitchen, though.

I thought Casey's statement about how she wouldn't even want her coworkers to see her dressed to go out was weird. Would she flip out if she ran into someone randomly?


sumi - Aug 11, 2007 6:12:25 am PDT #1513 of 23273
Art Crawl!!!

I think she should have explained it better. I think that professional kitchens are still so male-dominated it's like when women had to wear suits that looked totally like a men's suit with a skirt in order to be taken seriously. So, if you come into work all dresssed up to go out - who is going to take you seriously?