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blodeueddAs you'd expect, Christmas is not a big holiday in Japan. New Year's, however is. Traditionally, people will try to finish up things, offer apologies, and get unpleasant tasks out of the way so that they can usher in the new year with a clean slate. Think I'm up to finishing all my knitting and sewing projects by the 31st? I'll certainly try!
For today's review, let's change it up a bit and go for some reality tv maybe-not-so goodness:
Top Chef, second season:
Cooking isn't something I much like doing myself, and I'm perfectly content to dine simply, but I do appreciate good (and good-looking) food. Of course, a reality tv show about food can't help but be unsatisfying, because the viewer can't smell of taste any of it, but it should be appetizing enough to make us drool, right? Right. And it would have been, if only the editors had chosen to show us the food for more than a few seconds at a time. Instead, we get to see and hear the contestants bitching at and about each other. Personally, I would have enjoyed it much more if we'd seen more of the actual cooking and preparation. As it was, we got quick cuts of chopping, dicing, frying and flambéing, followed by the explanation given to the judges, which sometimes didn't seem to have anything to do with the dish itself. And while the challenges themselves were usually interesting, I wish we'd been shown how the contestants came up with what they ended up serving.
As for the contestants themselves, I have to admit that I was rooting against Marcel from the get-go. That hair? Seriously? It also took me several episodes to come to the conclusion that the distracting smudge beneath his lower lip was actually facial hair. On top of that, I really, really wish that people -- and by people I mean reality tv show contestants -- would realise that "I'm not here to make friends" is not the same thing as "I'm here to piss everyone off", nor does not excuse acting like a five-year-old. The other contestants were thankfully more mature (for the most part), but I just have to say that Betty was like a real-life version of Corner Gas's Wanda, only not half as smart and funny, and Josie was obviously on crack, because how else could she have described pho' as "Vietnamese STEW"? (emphasis mine)
Final verdict: 6.5
For today's review, let's change it up a bit and go for some reality tv maybe-not-so goodness:
Top Chef, second season:
Cooking isn't something I much like doing myself, and I'm perfectly content to dine simply, but I do appreciate good (and good-looking) food. Of course, a reality tv show about food can't help but be unsatisfying, because the viewer can't smell of taste any of it, but it should be appetizing enough to make us drool, right? Right. And it would have been, if only the editors had chosen to show us the food for more than a few seconds at a time. Instead, we get to see and hear the contestants bitching at and about each other. Personally, I would have enjoyed it much more if we'd seen more of the actual cooking and preparation. As it was, we got quick cuts of chopping, dicing, frying and flambéing, followed by the explanation given to the judges, which sometimes didn't seem to have anything to do with the dish itself. And while the challenges themselves were usually interesting, I wish we'd been shown how the contestants came up with what they ended up serving.
As for the contestants themselves, I have to admit that I was rooting against Marcel from the get-go. That hair? Seriously? It also took me several episodes to come to the conclusion that the distracting smudge beneath his lower lip was actually facial hair. On top of that, I really, really wish that people -- and by people I mean reality tv show contestants -- would realise that "I'm not here to make friends" is not the same thing as "I'm here to piss everyone off", nor does not excuse acting like a five-year-old. The other contestants were thankfully more mature (for the most part), but I just have to say that Betty was like a real-life version of Corner Gas's Wanda, only not half as smart and funny, and Josie was obviously on crack, because how else could she have described pho' as "Vietnamese STEW"? (emphasis mine)
Final verdict: 6.5
