Tag Archives: top chef

Favorites of 2006

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I really liked Brian’s post about his favorites of 2006, so I thought I would drop mine onto the internets.

Favorite Book: This is a tough one. I’ve read more books this year than in any year past. If I wanted to seem all intellectual and whatnot, I’d say that The Tipping Point was my favorite read. And truthfully, it was my favorite non-fiction read of the year. Great writing and a fascinating book. However, I would probably say that my favorite book of the year was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Call me cheesy or whatever, but after reading all 6 Harry Potter books this year, I finally see what the big deal is. While I held high acclaim for several books this year (I had about 8 that scored higher than 9 out of 10 on my scale, including The Historian, which I called “the best book I’ve read in the last 5 years”), I can’t think of a single book outside of the fifth in the Harry Potter series that I enjoyed more.

Favorite Movie: OK, so the year’s not yet over, but I’m going to need to categorize my favorite movies…

Favorite Comedy: There were not a lot of terribly funny movies out there this year. Out of the few, I had a great time watching both The Devil Wears Prada and Little Miss Sunshine. Very different movies, but both were a lot of fun. However, my favorite comedy of the year was Stranger than Fiction. Honorable mentions for Clerks 2 and Thank You for Smoking.

Favorite Drama: Another tough one. I would like to retract my earlier statement that Leonardo di Caprio did not deserve two Best Actor nominations. After seeing Blood Diamond, I realized that he deserved every bit of them. Blood Diamond is excellent as was The Departed. I would give a slight edge to The Departed only because Jack Nicholson is so awesome in it.

Favorite Action: Casino Royale. Hands down.

Favorite Animated: Cars. Pixar does what only Pixar can do.

Favorite TV Sitcom: The Office is my clear choice here, but it is followed closely by How I Met Your Mother, which Alli and I have dubbed “the new Friends”.

Favorite TV Drama: Lost has really lost a lot of steam. Even at the top of its game, I don’t think I would enjoy it more than I am enjoying Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip these days.

Favorite TV Reality: Top Chef. Always Top Chef.

Favorite TV New: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Perhaps my favorite show on TV right now. Honorable mention for the late Six Degrees.

Favorite Album: Either St. Elsewhere by Gnarls Barkley or Continuum by John Mayer.

Favorite Event: Changing jobs. It was really hard to leave PSI, but it’s been a great experience so far. I’m really liking my new position. Also, the Chiefs making the playoffs is up there.

Favorite Home Improvement Project: I would probably say the tiling project if Alli and I hadn’t decided to make our bedroom a priority. We just got a bed, nightstands, new lamps, and drapes. Totally changes it (although we haven’t gotten the bed yet). Now we just need a new mattress.

Favorite Trip: VEGAS BABY.

Favorite Poker Night: Coming back from being desperately short-stacked to winning in the longest heads-up match against Darin at Jason’s house.

Favorite Restaurant: Pizza Shack. Would have been Chipotle if not for an AWESOME 30th birthday outing.

Favorite Present: Easily my painting.

That should be all for now. Here’s to a great 2007.

Top Chef

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I have a new reality TV obsession. I bow to thee, Top Chef, O King of Reality TV.

Here’s the deal. I never wanted to be THAT GUY. You know THAT GUY…he’s the one who watches all sorts of bad reality television and can’t help but spout off about it on a regular basis. But I am THAT GUY.

The truth is…the only mainstream reality that I watch is the new Season of The Apprentice. The rest of the reality TV that I watch resides on that station in the middle of the numbers called BRAVO. Owned by NBC, Bravo came to recognition originally with interesting shows like Inside the Actor’s Studio with James Lipton (brilliantly lampooned by Will Ferrell years back on SNL). Then came Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. That show was kind of the Tipping Point for the network, which followed it by Heidi Klum’s Project Runway (a show I can’t watch, but that Alli absolutely loves). As the Project Runway season came to a close, they began advertising a show “from the producers of Project Runway” called Top Chef.

Now, I LIKE cooking shows…I don’t love them, but I like them enough to sit and watch Boy Meets Grill with Bobby Flay in about 3 hour blocks if they are running a marathon of shows and there is nothing else on. But Top Chef intrigued me.

Then, Bravo embraced the awesomeness that is the iTunes Music Store and offered the Pilot episode for download through their video store. I thought that was a brilliant move on their part (one that NBC subsequently copied with its show Conviction, a show I downloaded, but never watched). I downloaded the initial episode and I was totally hooked.

What makes Top Chef so completely genius is what makes reality television so popular. THE CHARACTERS. Depsite the fact that they are “real people”, they aren’t exactly what one would call “normal”. There are some of the largest egos and biggest train wrecks ever on that show and I love it for that.

And it is a really interesting show, too. There are some extremely talented (albeit very eccentric) chefs on the show and I have already found myself rooting for my favorite (Harold) and rooting against the “villain” (Steven). It’s just really compelling television.

As much as I hate to admit it.