Top Chef Update

Almost two months ago, when the 5th season of Top Chef was beginning, I posted about it and offered up my predictions for who would make it far and who wouldn't. Naturally, those predictions have somewhat changed...but not as much as I thought they would.

The season is continuing tonight after a two-week holiday hiatus...

Here were my initial predictions for who would make it as the top 6:

• Stefan
• Fabio
• Gene
• Hosea
• Jamie
• Leah

And who would be eliminated first:

• Radhika
• Carla
• Danny
• Jeff

The chefs that I thought would make it to the top 6 all still remain...as do those that I thought would be eliminated, aside from Danny. When Danny came onto the scene with his thick Long Island accent, I assumed his attitude would get in the way. Forgive me for stereotyping Long Islandites...but I lived with a few of them at school so I'm allowed to. Danny was a nice guy, but I don't think he had the skills to be a winner.

Carla and Radhika, up to this point, have managed to stay around the middle for the most part, so I still think they won't make it to the top 6. I think Melissa has been sliding by too. As for Ariane, I knew after she struggled in the first few episodes, she would bounce back as a contestant, but I'm still not quite sure she'll make it to the end.

As for Jeff, in his first video, he mentioned how he would ask his fellow chefs if his hair was looking good, and I thought that his vanity would get in the way. It hasn't though...he definitely seems like a hard-working chef with some serious skills.

In fact, I'm going to add Jeff to my top 6 prediction...to replace Gene.

The people in my top 6 all seem to be doing very well...and initially, Gene gave me a really good impression, and he was leaning toward my favorite. But after that DIY sushi disaster, and seeing his arrogance come out a little bit, I don't think he's going to make it. Sorry Gene.

So who do I want to see win? Fabio of course.

I'll update once the top 6 is actually in place...stay tuned...

Letterman's Top 10 Reasons You're Watching Too Much Football

I heard these on the radio this morning and definitely had some lol moments...

10. Only fresh air you've had this month is for opening door for pizza guy

9. You refer to orange juice as Fedex Orange Juice (*I think this was my favorite*)

8. When wife finishes making dinner, you dump jug of Gatorade on her

7. You schedule an appointment to talk to your doctor about Andy Reid's cholesterol

6. Got a telestrator in the bedroom

5. Three words: Norv Turner Tattoo

4. Fantasize about Gisele Bundchen falling in love with you and introducing you to Tom Brady

3. When you go to McDonald's you insist on ordering the McNabb

2. Laura has to keep reminding you you're still President for two more weeks

1. To be more like your favorite New York Giant, you shoot yourself in the leg

#1 was too easy...but I'll take it.

The Best of 2008

Well we just brought in the New Year: 2009. Naturally, most people take the time to look back on what happened in the past year and look ahead to the next year for what they would like to do.

Here are some big things (news/events/topics) of 2008 month-by-month with some of what I found to be the best commercials of 2008 to coincide with each:

1. January: Awards Season Nominations are Buzzed About

Sadly, in 2008, January brought an end to Heath Ledger's career; he sure left us with the best work of his career though.

On a lighter note, I think this ad deserves a Grammy:



Knock it all you want; I think it's hilarious and I'll sing along with it everytime it comes on. "You dippin' on me?"

2. February: The Hollywood Writers' Strike Ends

You don't always need writers for a good commercial - you can use genuine public reactions like the Whopper Freakout series. Get me a whopper!




3. March: Brett Favre Retires...wait, what?

Brett Favre's retirement magically turned into the outstandingly clever catchphrase, "Jet Favre." I'll be honest...this ad's not that great or anything...not that it's bad...but I just couldn't find anything more appropriate...

It's probably the most notable Wrangler's ad though...





4. April: Fenway Park is recognized as being more "Green."

This may not have helped them win a championship this year, but it's always good to be green.

Speaking of cleaning things up, I loved this ad campaign for the Swiffer products:



5. May: Polar Bear listed as "Endangered," the first animal listed due to global warming

You should start watching the Discovery Channel if you don't already; I love this commercial for the network:




6. June: InBev Offers Unsolicited Bid to Anheuser-Busch

All you can really say is...Dude.



7. July: Apple releases iPhone 3G...probably some of the biggest hype to date surrounding the release of a phone/PDA

I generally don't like the Mac vs. PC ads, but I did like this one, especially after seeing that Windows Ad where Seinfeld goes to the shoe store with Bill Gates...what the hell was that about?




8. August: The Beijing Olympics

This Visa Ad almost made me cry whenever I saw it (and I don't think I'm alone on that one):



But then again, Morgan Freeman could talk about what he ate for dinner and it'd probably make me cry.

9. September: The start of the drop of gas prices

People suffered with the price of gas for most of the year. Car ads were certainly stressing MPGs among other things. As usual, I enjoyed these VW spots:



10. October: The Economic Bailout

So the state of the economy isn't exactly something to look back on this year and smile...but hey...atleast the Etrade baby is still buying stock:




11. November: Barack Obama is elected as the 44th President of the U.S.

An inspiring commercial for the new year:




12. December: The NFL regular season, as usual, comes to some surprising endings

You gotta love the MasterCard commercials with Peyton Manning - I love the most recent one:



I wish everyone the best in 2009! Happy New Year!

The Price is Right...Exact Actually

So if you know me well, you know that there's one thing that I hold very close to my heart: The Price is Right. That is, until Drew Carey horrendously made the impossible look impossible by making a piss-poor attempt at taking over for the legend that is Bob Barker.

But horrible hosting aside, The Price is Right is still the best game show in history. And something glorious happened this week on the show: a perfect Showcase bid.

If you're a fan of the show, you may be thinking...THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! It's happened once before. Well, perhaps they illegally gave some inside information to a contestant to boost ratings but I had faith that this was genuine.

See for yourself:



Now, from doing a little research, I've learned 3 things:

1. There are people out there that are wayyyyyyyyy more into The Price is Right than imaginable (See this website)...and it seems that they're referred to as "LFaT"s (Loyal Friend and True)

2. There's some underground muttering about this exact bid. Apparently one of these so-called LFaTs was helping out these contestants on this show, taped about a month ago (perfectly acceptable in the game - contestants always look to the crowd for help). And apparently there was a long delay between the contestant bids and the revealing of the prices, likely due to suspicion over the exact bid, which is probably why Drew Carey seems practically emotionless when announcing it (BOO!)

3. I just spent way too much time coming to those conclusions.

Save Three Sheets - Rally in LA & NYC!

Just last week, I posted about one of my favorite shows and its struggle to get resigned to another network after the ceasing of operations of its original network, MOJO. I mentioned that on his website, you can choose from a list of networks to email in an effort to fight for Zane Lamprey's occupation as a TV drinking host.

Well...news has been released that Zane is rallying next week!!! And by rallying, he means pub crawling of course. Here are the dates and locations:

• December 16: LA
• December 18: NYC

I can't figure out why Milford, CT wasn't the third option...but whatever. Oh yea...it's because no TV executives live here. In both locations, Zane will lead hundreds of fans on routes in supposed areas where TV execs linger, in hopes that an enormous ruckus of drunk people will make a difference. I'm sold...however it's a bit far for me to go.

By the way, the website states that if you plan a rally in a city near you and it's strong enough, they'll consider it if you e-mail your ideas to karen@zanefest.com. For those who can't make it to the rallies but want to express your support, you can buy "Save Three Sheets" t-shirts. But if you live near LA or NYC, and you want to drink with Zane and fight for his show, make sure you go out. You can even register at MeetNowLive.com to get details on which bars Zane will be at and to get some free drink tickets.

There are many more details here.