Sipping pints of ale out the window sill. When I get my fill I'm chilly chill.

Quick Hitters and Random Thoughts

--Extremely happy to hear that Rebecca Masson @sugar_fairy is going to be on Top Chef: Just Desserts which starts up next month. I’m not a big sweets guy, but I make exceptions for her fluffernutters and whatever else she comes up with. Can’t wait to see how she does on the show. Fluffbakebar.com or hit Revival Market to sample her wares.

Houston also represented by Vanarin Kuch from Tiny Boxwoods. There are several Texas connections among the new batch of desserters. Add this to the fact that regular ol’ Top Chef is filming around the state and Uchi’s Paul Qui is on the show and it looks like beginning August 24th it’ll be several months of Top Chef viewing for me. Apparently this will include an episode of Pee Wee Herman at The Alamo. Yay.
Oh and finally Eater Houston has launched. Sweet.

--The Xtreme Eating Awards from the Center for Science in the Public Interest are out and if someone could eat all of these honorees in one day it would be the ultimate Man vs. Food. There were eight heart attack inducing honorees. Cheesecake Factory leading the way with two. First up its Ultimate Red Velvet Cheesecake which checks in at 1,540 calories to go along with three days worth of saturated fat (59 grams). Mmmmm. Its Farmhouse Cheeseburger gets pork belly and an egg and gets you 1,530 calories closer to death. IHOP’s Monster Bacon and Beef Cheeseburger has a ridiculous name first of all. I mean it’s a bacon burger so I assume beef is involved so why is that in the title? Anyway, 42 heart clogging grams of saturated fat. You knew Denny’s would come up a winner with its Fried Cheese Melt. Grilled cheese stuffed with fried mozzarella sticks. A lot of these things sound decent despite how bad they are, but a fried cheese melt sounds and looks disgusting in every way. An assortment of Cold Stone Creamery shakes are included. Applebee’s with its Provolone Stuffed Meatballs with Fettuccine with both alfredo and marinara makes the cut with 43 grams of saturated fat or as the report puts it, the equivalent of two Applebee’s 12 oz. ribeyes and a side of garlic mashed potatoes. Items from Morton’s and Great Steak round out this nauseating list.

--I’d like to thank Louie for making sure every time from now on that I hear “Who Are You?” I’ll think of Louie instead of CSI. Awesome. How good was his youngest daughter at guessing what animal Louie was thinking of? “Elephant. That’s a good one.” I’m liking that there’s been more Louie/daughter time this season than last. That stand-up bit about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn (“that dirty little homeless white trash creep”) was the best we’ve seen this season.

--Wilfred is hitting its stride. I wasn’t sure how much I’d like it going in or how much I’d like it after the first episode, but after five I can say it’s earned a lot of points with me. Rashida Jones doesn’t hurt.
Wilfred pumping up Ryan’s confidence – “How many people can watch a whole season of The Wire in one sitting? Not many I’d wager. That shit is dense!”
IFC is going to show a marathon of the original Wilfred on July 31st.


--I’ve had Waiting for Superman by my TV for about a month. I wanted to watch, but I didn’t want to watch. I knew how frustrating a watch it was and never quite found the time where I felt like watching something I knew was just going to piss me off. I’d just assume bang my head against the wall. I finally threw it in the DVD player and was predictably frustrated. Not to say it wasn’t a great film though. It’s been out almost a full year and Geoffrey Canada still isn’t in charge of our nation’s schools so I don’t know what that’s about. The education system is in such a quagmire I can’t see it turning around anytime soon. The lottery system scenes at the end were nerve wracking and you want the kids you got to know in the film to make it, but it’s at the expense of another kid. Terrible. @Fidoz recommended I watch The Lottery which focuses on just New York City schools, but I don’t know if I can take a whole movie based on the unfortunate idea of luck determining a child’s future.

--After the first couple of episodes of True Blood this season I figured I’d watch it like I did last season which is fast-forwarding through the parts I didn’t care for like anything in Hot Shot or anything with Tara or the Merlottes. I did the same for this week’s show and stopped a couple of times when I saw Eric, but I hate what they’re doing with that character so I ended up fast-forwarding through the whole episode. I think that means I’m done watching this show. It used to be popcorn fun, but now it’s gone beyond camp to just being stupid and I really can’t stand this season’s protagonist or antagonist (depending on what side you’re on) witch. Eric, Jason, and Andy used to be reasons to watch. Used to be.

--AMC is really missing out by not selling green box cutters and Kenny Rogers T-shirts on its online store.

--FX set some premiere dates including the all-important Thursday 9 o’ clock hour. Sunny starts up September 15th with The League not joining the party until October 6th. Sons of Anarchy resumes September 6th and I anticipate a much better season than last. I do hope Tig or someone sarcastically mentions taking a trip to Ireland.


--Non-FX dates you should know – Dexter October 2nd. Walking Dead October 16th.

--Honestly Marc Anthony, I don’t know how you survived her that long.

--Joy Division covers? I’m in. If you've never seen Control you need to fix that.

--JB Smoove interview in Rolling Stone where he only teases us with a Leon spin-off called “The Ruckus” or “That’s How I Does It.” Rolling Stone also talked to Richard Lewis which is nice, but this picture is golden.

Classic.

--Congratulations to the home country of the Flight of the Conchords for banning weird baby names. It seems like it shouldn’t have to come to that, but when you have parents naming their kids “89” or “Mr.” well you do what you gotta do. Your move America.

--Kim Kardashian is suing Old Navy for using Melissa Molinaro in its ads because she looks a little too much like Kim? Okay, got it. Doesn’t sound like a waste of time or money one bit. Not sure celebrities should be allowed to sue or name babies.

--Very cool Children’s Book Imagining of Possible Community Couplings. Obviously “The College Experiment” is strong.

--Don't go away mad "owling and "planking" just go away.

--Rob Neyer tweeted this stat or retweeted it…either way it’s pretty incredible to me. Wednesday night was the 698th straight game in which the Rays have started a pitcher younger than 30.
A Jayson Stark nugget concerns the Astros going 31 straight games without a save for the first time since 1974. Oh, Astros.

--Nicole? Nicole Eggert? Are you in there? Did you take the Xtreme Eating Award challenge I laid out previously. That was just a joke you know.

--I’m a big David Cross fan whether we’re talking the actor/comedian or this David Cross from Portsmouth. This David Cross has a wife who bought a used car. After taking it to the mechanic David found out he had himself an uninsurable lemon. So he tried to return it to the used car lot. No dice. Then he tried to negotiate a price on another van. No dice. So David waited until his wife went to sleep then drove the lemon down to the used car lot and smashed into every car he could find that had a sticker price over $25,000. Awesome. He turned himself in to police and is ready to pay the consequences as evidences by this money quote, "I'm stuck with it now. But I got my point across." Point taken.

--Of course this was next from Trader Joe’s…


--I’m not sure what Love Bites was, but NBC cancelled it. Yay?

--Paranormal Activity 3 trailer seems as forgettable as Paranormal Activity 2, but it does have two kids and kids are always freakin’ scary.


--Maybe not the most hateable people in Houston, but probably in the top 10.

--I’ve never watched a second of Basketball Wives, but that may change now that I see they’ve gotten the wives or future wives of some of the craziest players in the league or at least players who’ve had the craziest moments. In the mix are Ron Artest’s wife, Stephen Jackson’s fiancée, Matt Barnes’ fiancée, and of course Doug Christie’s husband, Jackie. Oh and Jayson Williams’ estranged wife.

--“Heidi Fleiss: Prostitutes to Parrots.” You can’t even make up a title like that, but somehow Animal Planet did. Brav-o. Premieres July 31st so adjust your DVRs accordingly.

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