Tag Team - Steve and Matt on MLB, NFL, TV and Top Chef

Time for another Tag Team discussion! If you'd like to do one as well, shoot me an e-mail at sgre6768@gmail.com. Today's buddy is Matt, who I knew way back when from when we both wrote online reviews for GameFAQs. Good times, good times - I was like 15 or 16 at the time. We talk about Major League Baseball, the National Football League and totally spoil Top Chef.

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Matt said at 9:18 p.m. on Sept. 7:

Hey,

Hope all is well with you. Figured I would check in with you an e-mail conversation blog entry, which you had proposed earlier this summer. Getting into September with baseball pennant races and Community's fall return seems as good a time as any if you still wanted to. But of course, your blog, so in your court!

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Steve said at 12:42 a.m. on Sept. 8:

Hey, that sounds good to me! Care to start it off? Actually, let's consider your message the jump-off point...

Anyway, I'm annoyed by Red Sox fans. There is a weird sense of entitlement going on. Yes, it's disappointing that the team won't be making the playoffs this year. But Pedroia, Youkilis, Beckett and Ellsbury have all missed significant time, and the Rays and Yankees have both played really well. Who wins the AL East each year is now basically a function of health, since the top three teams are ridiculously good.

As far as the Twins go, I think they easily hold on and make the playoffs over the White Sox. Despite their wicked hot streak, the White Sox couldn't take over the lead. Therefore, I don't think it's going to happen.

How about those Vikings? I find it kind of sad that they again had to beg Favre to come back. And then, they had an odd trade in giving up Sage Rosenfels for essentially nothing. He's at least a below-average to average QB, whereas T-Jackson is just downright horrible. Why not just cut Jackson?

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Matt said at 1:04 a.m. on Sept. 8:

The AL East is always a division where bad luck plays a huge role (unless you're the Orioles, then just being bad plays a huge role). You'd be winning the AL West, and you'd be only four back in the AL Central. And it's generally a given that the Red Sox could win any division in the AAAA NL. At this point, the Red Sox should really shut down some of their older players for the rest of the season and see if they can blood and upcoming people. That might require some maneuvering with the 60 day DL to free up spots on the 40-man roster, but I think it'd be worth it for the long-term health of the team. The Yankees can always sign other people, and the Rays aren't going anywhere.

I realize that Red Sox fans have gotten into this mentality where they feel like they should make the playoffs every year. Twins fans have too, just without the budget to support it. We just have a crappier division to contend with.

I'm thrilled with this Twins season. I wasn't really concerned about the Nathan injury before the season - as far as I can tell, all closers really are replaceable, even the best ones. I haven't really been proven wrong. At most, the Nathan loss swings three games over the course of the season. I'm much more worried about his ever coming back effectively, given his age (36) and his Tommy John surgery. It's one thing to come back if you are Strasburg, but it's another if you're a closer in your mid 30s.

That said, if you had told me that Morneau would miss 2+ months with mysterious concussion-related ailments and the offense would not miss a beat, I'd never have believed you. Prospects have come up and stepped up, Jim Thome has been the elite power threat the Twins have never had, and they've been firing on all cylinders. I expected to win the division at about 85 games. Given how weak our schedule is, we could conceivably make a run at 93-95 wins and contend for the best record in the league, given the 7 games remaining that the Rays and Yanks have against each other.

I couldn't handle the White Sox catching us from behind. I still haven't forgiven them for the ridiculous 2008 decision to let them have game 163 at home despite our having the superior head-to-head. Well, and I hate the White Sox for many other reasons too. Like Ozzie's backhanded compliments. And A.J. Pierzynski's general level of doucheyness.

As for the debacle that will be the 2010 Minnesota Vikings:

This is one of those seasons that is going to roll in as a 7-9 finish despite astronomical expectations, like the Bengals a few seasons ago. I'm thrilled that we have Favre back. I'm thrilled that Peterson has acknowledged he has a fumbling issue and is trying to solve it. I'm less thrilled that we traded a corner for Greg Camarillo when Housh was about to be made available. And then our other corners all got hurt, so we have two corners and Lito Sheppard's corpse in the secondary.

Re: Rosenfels and Jackson. It was a questionable trade indeed. Especially since we gave up our kick returner/4th receiver as well. Given the gaping hole at receiver with Percy Harvin's headaches (ANOTHER mysterious head injury taking away playing time from a star Minnesota athlete this year) and Sidney Rice's secret preseason surgery, why trade more away? Rosenfels is a competent NFL backup. The gamble is that Favre never misses a game, so you won't need to play the backup. Of course, Favre has never been 40 before. Something's gotta give. The real reason that Childress won't give up on Jackson is his shocking degree of pride for a coach who has never won a big game in his life. He traded up to draft Jackson out of a middle of nowhere small college in his first season, convinced he could turn him into the next Donovan McNabb. And dammit, Childress is going to do it, whatever the consequences. Everyone knows that Jackson is incompetent and should be out of the league. Even Childress has to, deep down. But as Childress prides himself on his QB-molding skills, the release of Jackson would emasculate Childress to such a degree, he will not allow it to happen. As soon as Childress is fired - a good bet for this season - Jackson will be among the first cuts by the new coach. Really, it's a level of coach stubbornness usually reserved for aging, formerly elite college coaches.

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Steve said at 12:07 a.m. on Sept. 9:

I'm not even sure who the Red Sox can and should rest at this point. Beltre is a free agent, as is Victor Martinez, so there really isn't any huge penalty to working them into the ground. (In fact, it's a bit of a moral hazard, since the Sox could press them enough to get them hurt, which would then make either one a bit easier to re-sign, potentially.) Pretty much all of the interest and healthy minor league players are up. Lars Anderson got a couple hits tonight, which was nice to see, although I think he and Josh Reddick are more bench types on a playoff contender as opposed to starters.

Nathan is probably done, because as you note, most closers are pretty fungible, unless you're Mariano Rivera or Trevor Hoffman. When Papelbon is a free agent, I imagine that the Red Sox will let him walk, because some stupid team like the Mets will outspend them plenty for him.

I think the White Sox are done. (Note: I have no idea how they and the Twins did tonight.) The only chance they have in my opinion is if they manage to sweep the Twins in a head-to-head series. The Red Sox needed to do that against the Rays last week, and instead, they dropped three of four if I recall correctly. The Twins are a bit odd to watch, because they could be an elite team if they just upgraded some of the gaping holes in their lineup to mere flesh wounds. I'm looking in your direction, the combination of Tolbert, Punto, Harris and others.

Childress, besides looking like a child molester, does strike me as a guy completely overmatched in the NFL. I think he lucked into a contract extension since everything that could have went well for the Vikings last year did, until Zombie Brett Favre finally took over the body of Surprisingly Effective Brett Favre. By the way, as a Vikings fan, how do you feel about him in general? He will essentially be your fandom property for life now, since I can't imagine him being welcome back in Green Bay for a long, long time. Your projection of 7-9 for the Vikings seems about right to me, since they now have to play a tougher schedule this year, at least on paper to start the season.

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Matt said at 12:59 a.m. on Sept. 9:

Danny Valencia has been filling that Tolbert / Punto / Harris hole shockingly well since he got called up in July; he's just hurt at the moment. Valencia has had an OPS+ of 126 this season. Conventional stat lovers can note he is hitting .343. (By the way, the Twins opened it up to 5.5 games today.) Given the rivalry between the two, a White Sox sweep could change the nature of the race, but it seems unlikely at the moment.

By the way, I too am looking forward to the Mets vastly overpaying Papelbon as a rapid recoil from the K-Rod fiasco.

Favre gave us a magnificent season last year, and he's been totally rehabilitated at this point in Minnesotan eyes for his entire career in Green Bay. That said, long term - UNLESS we win the Super Bowl this season - I can't see us being willing to claim him as one of our own. We're actually going through the same scenario with Jim Thome right now, who could be the second most popular player on the Twins after Mauer despite being a part-time DH.

I find the issue of fan ownership to be a really interesting one, though, across all sports. Do Celtics fans feel as though they have equal claim to Kevin Garnett as we do? They may well, and could make a case for it. It's endemic of larger issues of cultural ownership, and it's at a level for which there are no real consequences. But these are the same issues that pop up in the real world as well: do Russia and Ukraine have equal claim to the Crimean Peninsula, given that it was transferred during the Soviet period from the former to the latter essentially on a bureaucratic whim? If both Russians and Ukrainans feel that the Crimea is theirs, does it matter what the Crimeans feel to either of them? Favre will always feel like a Packer, I would imagine, but will that matter to the Green Bay fans?

That said, the issue is most fun when it comes up to choosing players' Hall of Fame caps. I love the arguments. And I find it ludicrous that some players go in with no team on their cap. Be a man. Don't pretend you didn't like one of those teams / fans / cities / public transportation systems better. You did. Just like every teacher has a favorite student. It's all a bucket of lies.

Another area which I find this comes up in is TV shows. When actors are in multiple long-running shows, which show is given "ownership" of them? I think that's part of the reason that the new TV shows that Jimmy Smits and Rob Lowe get every season fail: they can't be disassociated from their roles. It's why Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton's new show failed despite on paper working so perfectly. Alison Janney once described The West Wing as being on the first line of their obituaries. It's part of the problem of getting a good character like that for so many seasons: regardless of how talented you might be (and you need to be that talented to get that deep into a role), it's sometimes not possible to get out of it.

This problem is one of my concerns this fall for Lone Star, which is possibly the only new show I'm excited for this fall. I fully encourage the use of Adrianne Palicki in as many places as possible, but I'm not sure I'll be able to buy her as a wealthy socialite wife in her late 20s after seeing her for so many years as trailer trash Tyra Collette in Friday Night Lights.

Of course, Bill Cosby got around this by just playing the same character with Phylicia Rashad in multiple consecutive sitcoms. Just like Jennifer Aniston and Michael Cera play the same character in every movie as they did in their TV shows. (Unrelated: the casting of Michael Cera as the Facebook guy seems a little bit creepy to me.) Maura Tierney successfully did it with ER and NewsRadio. Current people doing it successfully are a little rare, but I think Peter Krause is doing remarkably well in Parenthood given Sports Night and Six Feet Under, and Alison Brie is simultaneously playing characters on Mad Men and Community that are pretty different. Though she gets the bonus of one being a period piece.

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Steve said at 10:49 p.m. on Sept. 15:

... And since we last messaged, the Twins' lead has swollen to seven games. Yikes! I think the conventional fan underestimates that teams that go on a hot streak and STILL don't wind up with a healthy lead are at a disadvantage. Because of regression to the mean, you figure that the streaking team will eventually fall back a bit. If you streak in September or October, then cool, but otherwise, you have to figure the team will revert to its pre-streak level. Which, for the White Sox, is a .500 team.

I know nothing about the historical territory issues that you propose, so I'll stick to the sports issue. I think at this point, it wouldn't be surprising if Garnett is associated more with the Celtics. He won one championship, and made it to the finals another time, and probably could have gone the year before this one if he had been healthy. (Although, that's a big "if" at this point in his career.) In Minnesota, he put up the majority of his impressive numbers, but only won a single playoff series, right? I don't know how the Basketball Hall of Fame works in terms of the teams, but it wouldn't surprise me if he had either cap on.

I definitely think that if an actor is talented, they can rise above whatever character role they started in. You mentioned Tierney and Brie, who are good examples, but if you want to go to mega-superstars, Kevin Spacey and Tom Hanks have had really different kind of roles throughout their career, and they've been successful.

And I guess we do need to touch on this Top Chef business! Actually, I view the entire finale tainted because, inexplicably, Tiffany got eliminated. She won like 40 challenges, yet somehow, she seemed to get bounces on a fringe competition. What gives??? Kevin has no business being in the finals, since he was in the bottom for seemingly 50 challenges.

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Matt said at 12:06 a.m. on Sept. 16:

The Twins have essentially wrapped it up now, which is nice. As for Garnett, the Wolves did make it to the Conference Finals in '04, so he won at least two playoff series.

I agree that on the balance of the season, Kevin had no business being in the finals. That said, I knew he was going to win the second Tom mentioned that he had done the best job showcasing the ingredients that they picked. If there's one thing that Tom and Padma love, it's following instructions. (If there's a second, it's simple food, so Ed was doomed.) I also enjoyed the Ilan sighting, he was one of my favorite winners.

Tiffany was pretty amazing throughout, so it was disheartening to see her not make it. Personality wise, she was by far my favorite this season. The elimination order this season was pretty strange. Kenny seemed to be set up for a showdown with Angelo from the start and then vanished partway through. Angelo started out really annoying me with his arrogance, but then he kept revealing creepy details about himself (that he had crabs, that he had a Russian mail order bride) that just made him unintentionally hilarious. His creeping on Tamesha also made for good theater.

This wasn't the best season of Top Chef, not by a long shot, but it had its moments. For the record, Season 4 is the pinnacle of Top Chef seasons, as it had some of the best characters of all with Richard, Spike, Dale, and Lisa, lovingly referred to by New York Magazine's Grub Street blog's episode summaries (http://newyork.grubstreet.com/) as "The Gorgon." The best chef on the balance of the season did not win, who would definitely be one of Tiffany, Ed, or Angelo, but Kevin had a solid last episode and played by the rules.

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For the record, I totally thought the first season of Top Chef was the best. But the fourth wasn't bad either.

Things I've learned from Food Network and Top Chef

There are some universal cooking truths that I've picked up from watching all of the various programs on the Food Network, and Bravo's Top Chef. While I'm no master cook, these sort of tips aren't really about my own cooking anyway - More of a reflection of the shows themselves. On to the list, in no particular order:

1) The Food Network has so many random shows that nobody ever suspects that they're on Throwdown. I've probably seen at least 20 episodes of this show, and nobody ever says, "Wow, since when has the Food Network had a show about the best hot dogs produced by pregnant Middle Eastern women?"

I have a lurking suspicion that it is because the Food Network has so many shows that are actually shows that do not sound like shows. You know, like the one about people making high-end cakes, or the various competitions they show from across the states, or the one where the fat guy with the bleach blonde hair eats greasy diner food and shockingly always likes it. Oh, and they always had an awesome Japanese cooking game show that they turned into a lousy American version, and also, a show where they specifically looked for the worst cooks in America.

At this point, if Food Network knocked on my door and said they were giving me a show, I wouldn't doubt them. "Oh, you're trying to get that important low-paid, mid-20s demographic? Sure, let me just dust off my recipe for lamb shanks in Keystone Light..."

2) The cooking ability of a female Food Network chef is inversely proportional to her hotness. Giada De Laurentiis? I didn't even know she was a cook until seeing her show a couple of times. At that point, I noticed that she did indeed have a spice rack underneath her rack. Likewise, Rachel Ray and Sandra Lee are varying degrees of "easy on the eyes" but clearly inferior cooks to others on the channel. However, there is a corollary to this...

3) Hotness matters not on Top Chef for ladies, but it helps if you're a dude. The greatest proof I can offer is that Tiffany (season one) and Casey (season three) both made the finals. However, it invariably seems like the dreamier Top Chef men make the final rounds at a higher percentage. The best example of this was Sam, who just made me turn a little gay as I thought about him. (Sorry for that TMI.) But there was also Fabio of the glorious accent, and the stoic cool of season one's Harold.

4) In any cooking competition, it is a bad idea to do rice or a risotto. Every single season, someone gets eliminated from Top Chef or Top Chef Ripoff (the Food Network star show) because they do a shitty rice or risotto. If you are on one of these shows, please don't attempt a rice or risotto.

In the past, dessert also fit into this category. However, the contestants wizened up to this, as some of the challenges specifically called for making desserts, and the cooks and judges on the various shows acknowledged that people had troubles making desserts.

The picture of Giada is from here. The Flay picture is from this blog.

Around The Dial: Marcel's On Fire!

Some random news from the television and video game worlds...

- BOOM Shaka Laka! A new version of NBA Jam is going to be released for the Nintendo Wii! This is awesome news, because I loved the original Arcade version of the game, and I actually own a Wii. While this doesn't quite make up for me missing out on the initial release of Final Fantasy XIII (Damn my poverty!), at least I'll be able to play the update of the classic.

For screen shots and a video trailer of the new edition, check out Blast's coverage here, which is where I originally learned of this news. I'm hoping they keep all of the zany extras, like being able to play as Bill Clinton, in the game. And as the above YouTube video implies, on the early arcade versions, you could even play as Mortal Kombat characters! Sweet, eh?

- In television news, Marcel from Top Chef is getting his own reality show! As my friend Kristi said, I'm guessing that there won't be too much foam cooking on the show, but we can always hope, can't we?

For unknown reasons, the show is rumored to be landing on the SyFy Network. This makes almost no sense, but then again, they were also highly interested in the WWE's ECW and still do broadcast some WWE stuff. I guess when people aren't watching your crap like Mansquito, you feel the need to program differently, even if I agree with this Entertainment Weekly writer's take that the network's potential is completely unrealized.

But anyway, focusing back on Marcel. I could see this show being momentarily entertaining, but it won't have staying power if they're just some catering company doing wacky meals. Marcel isn't really that likable, but on the flipside, he is not a monster like Gordon Ramsey. I don't think he will be a good anchor for the show week-in and week-out, unless it becomes a bizarre sort of Top Chef affiliate, featuring a bunch of the ex-chefs from the show.

The picture of Marcel is from this story about his DWI arrest.

Around The Dial: Top Chef thrives while Mancow dies

In great news, Top Chef: Masters will be back for a second season! TV Guide had the news last night, along with some other entertainment news web site. Interesting to me is that two of the featured chefs - Jody Adams and Ana Sortun - are from restaurants in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which is kind of close to me. I could conceivably taste one of their dishes!

But beyond that, I'm most excited for all of the special guests hinted at in the article. I could careless about Mekhi Phifer or the skanks from The Real Housewives of Orange County, but some of the other guests - the cast of Modern Family, Matt Groening from The Simpsons - definitely sound interesting. Hopefully Toby Young can make an appearance or two as well.

Speaking of the usual judges, I'm happy to hear that Gail Simmons is getting her own show, Top Chef Just Desserts. I'm assuming that Tom didn't want one, so Gail is the next-best choice of the judges. (Padma would probably just standoff-ishly ask asinine questions. "Did you think you were cooking us... something good?")

- In other news, while it isn't television news, I did get this item from Roger Ebert's Twitter: Matt "Mancow" Muller has been ess-canned from the conservative talk radio show job he had.

First, I didn't realize that Mancow was a political commentator now. My memories of him are from his short time on Rhode Island radio, for the few short months he was on The Edge / The X, a local station that tries to compete with WBRU and WHJY when it came to alternative and hard rock. The station failed and was split into a couple different pieces. 99.7 was The Score at first, but it was crushed in the ratings by WEEI and is now the FM wing for WPRO.

And second, I never really thought much of Mancow, even though he was my first exposure to "shock" jock radio, outside of Don Imus. Even though I was 12 or so when I was listening to his show, I realized it was stupid then, and I can't imagine he has gotten any better now after reading up about what he's had on his show.

The picture of Gail's... talent... is from this site.

All your cakes are belong to us

Tis the season for mouth-watering dishes.

So folks, I need your help. Not this weekend, but next, I'm going to a potluck Christmas dinner slash party, and as part of the festivities, I need to bring a dish. It will be mostly high school and college friends at the event, and mostly people that I know pretty well. As a result, I'm trying to avoid bringing, say, just a bag of chips or a 30-pack or store-mix brownies.

When it comes to my skill cooking, I think I'm an adequate chef. While I will say straight-up that I'm not looking to hand knead 50 pounds of day to individually make a big batch of cookies, I'm willing to put some effort into something I cook. My past "good" cooking moments are mostly with big cuts of meat (that's what she said). I've done well making things like a rosemary roast leg of lame and corned beef with potatoes, and I am good at following a recipe on the back of a box or off an online sheet of directions.

As a practical thing, ideally, I should be able to make it the night before, or the day of in a couple of hours. Because my hours are so weird from reporting a lot of the time, there isn't a guarantee that I'll have time the day of to make something piping hot, although that is what I'm shooting for. Also, because I imagine other people will be bringing mostly baked goods / desserts, something more savory would go over better, I believe. My spending range is between $20 and $60.

Anyway. If you have any good suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments to this post, or to e-mail me (sgre6768@gmail.com) or to IM me on AIM - ChemBros15. I must get back to watching television and napping, which is why this post is unfortunately about two hours late. It is a ridiculous television night, with the season finales of Top Chef and Glee tonight, and a new episode of Modern Family. Woohoo! I'm glad this is the one night this week that I don't have to work. Tomorrow is football picks day, but I will probably post some reflections on all three shows either Friday or Sunday night.

Prime rib picture from here.

Storytime with Amanda Meyer: Jeffrey Steingarten and for the love of foie gras

Every Saturday, my friend Amanda Meyer writes a blog entry. One, because I think she's an excellent writer, and two, because I like to have a day off. Questions, comments or concerns? Leave them at the end of this entry, gawd!

Something I have learned about myself this week is that if I could trade lives with anyone in the world I would choose... Jeffrey Steingarten! Shocking, oui?

So he doesn’t have much going in the looks department, he has a funny sounding voice and I’m willing to bet most people don’t even know who he is. But you know what I have to say to those people? Get you butt to a couch and start watching some Food Network!

Steingarten happens to be one of the world’s leading food critics, a field I wish was easier to break into. This guy has a sweet gig going on. First of all, he works for Vogue. Hello! Who doesn’t want to work for Vogue? That magazine can singlehandedly solve any of my life’s problems.

He is also a regular judge on Iron Chef. Not only does this mean he eats delicious food, but he gets a lot of opportunities to meet Bobby Flay (my ultimate celeb crush). I also have a great appreciation for the fact that he graduated from Harvard and then Harvard Law, worked for Boston’s Mayor White, but left politics behind to be a writer. That’s admirable, and he’s really good at it; I highly recommend his book, The Man Who Ate Everything.

This leads me to my next point - The guy is paid to eat (everything!). I blame my love of food on my very Italian family. It was not until I was about 15, when I invited my then-boyfriend over for Christmas Eve dinner, that I realized most Americans do not eat seven courses of seafood over the holidays. I grew up assuming that raw oysters and calamari were every day fare, although I now realize that could not be further from the truth. Silly me.

I have also learned that conversations with new friends about favorite foods seldom go well. Usually they talk about their love of pizza or lasagna or even ribs, to which I express my undying love of foie gras and cioppino (for those of you who care, that’s goose liver pate and Italian fish stew). My obsession with Food Network shows as well as Bravo’s Top Chef only continue to encourage me to try new things, which in turn encourages more and more strange looks from people I tell about them.

But when you’re a famous food critic, I bet you don’t get funny looks. Mr. Steingarten makes these same dishes sound so fantastic that everyone who reads his book will immediately be inclined to book a flight to France for some authentic escargots! I would love that kind of power.

Luckily for me, I have found a great way to share this love of food with other foodies via the Internet. Yelp! is not only a great way to rave or rant about a meal out, but also a wonderful way to find some hidden gems in your area that you just have to try. So maybe this doesn’t put me quite on the same level as my new-found hero, but everyone has to start somewhere. Oh, and if you’re curious, you can find all my reviews under my username: amandabanana.yelp.com.

The picture of Jeffy is from this site here, which has several humorous photos of chefs and others downing some sort of booze.

The Wikipedia groupthink

[Left] The first result on Google Images for "wikipedia monster." Thanks to this site for providing it.

Over the years, Wikipedia has morphed from a quirky, somewhat-encyclopedic place that I could find out everything I ever wanted to know about Top Chef, Top Cat and Topps baseball cards to some weird organization paralyzed by a collective mind. Just in case you can't tell from the wording I've used, and the title of this entry, I'm somewhat against this shift.

Slate reporter Chris Wilson has done a couple good articles, here and here, which show that a small percentage of Wikipedia users are responsible for the vast majority of the edits to the site. Now, this isn't necessarily a bad thing – The accuracy of Wikipedia has improved as a result, and silly (but funny) things like Stephen Colbert getting everyone to change the elephant page are edited out pretty quickly.

The downside has been an adherence to some destructive policies, namely, the elimination of trivia and fancruft from articles. Maybe it is just because I have a journalism degree, but I think this is the new weak spot of Wiki's collective editing mind. While trivia sections, by their definition, are not important information, they are interesting. I like reading quirky little facts in articles about obscure subjects; they help flesh out characters, whether you're reading a novel or an encyclopedia entry. I understand that the editors are shooting for a collection of objective fact, but why not shoot a little higher and go for a collection of interesting, objective fact? It seemed to work out quite well for Hemingway, when he was a journalist, and George Plimpton.

Because the groupthink has been given the edict to cut down on the trivia, Wikipedia is now a less interesting place for me to visit. Oh, sure – When I want to read up on a certain subject, it and Google are still the two sites I consult first. But it has traded the sheer, utter depth it used to possess for a sort of quasi-professionalism. There didn't seem to be much thought given to the idea of integrating tidbits, regardless of how small they were, instead of making “yes no” value judgments.

And getting personal for a second, looking at some of the edit histories for Wiki's most active editors can be downright scary, in terms of the time devoted. While there should be some praise given for what is an altruistic deed – contributing to a common encyclopedia for all of the Internet to use – I feel that the personality type of such an editor is showing through in the writing. If you have the time, and more importantly the drive, to do so much editing, then creativity and art are probably secondary concerns, and I definitely think this is reflected in the current quality of articles.

Tag Team: Amanda and Steve on bad music, politics, celebrities and Steven F'ing Tyler

I tried to find a decent picture of Amy Winehouse, but it was an impossible feat. The Steven Tyler picture that you'll see later in this entry is disturbing enough.

To rip-off the disclaimer for Bill Simmons' BS Report, Tag Team is a free flowing discussion between two adults that sometimes touches on mature subjects. Amanda Jean Meyer was just working at the ads desk, minding her own business, when an entertainment editor saw her not doing anything and made her start writing things. She also had a knack for having weird celebrity encounters that were among the more popular features I ever printed, and that knack continues to this day.

Want to do your own Tag Team with me? Send me an e-mail (sgre6768@gmail.com) or leave a comment.

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Steve said at 4:31 p.m. on August 20:

Heyyy Amanda Meyer! I'll get this party started, as Pink would say. And, by the way, speaking of her, I'm a bit surprised she has had some staying power. I definitely thought she would just be a one-hit wonder, a la Amy Winehouse, but she has now had a couple of hits, so I suppose she has elevated herself past that territory.

Anyway! I am a bit sorry to hear that you haven't had any real celebrity run-ins lately. To refresh some of the new readers here, maybe you could share one of your past brushes with celebrity, like how your friend babysat for Asante Samuels' kids, or another tale. How did you get in on a Celtics autograph session anyway?

Also, since you are politically-motivated at times, being a poli sci major and all, what are your thoughts on Obama so far? There seems to be hellish, crazy opposition to his health care plan, which kind of surprises me. I view America's health care as relationship as similar to a woman locked into a tangle with an abusive boyfriend: The situation is clearly out-of-hand and not good, but yet when they have an option to leave, they just cling on tighter and don't want to quit the person. At this point, I'm in favor of just about any new plan, simply because it's not the old plan that sucks.

I don't want to end this on something so heavy, so I'll ask - What's a good band you can recommend to me? I like the new Taking Back Sunday song, and a Kings of Leon song (but not the other two on the radio). Outside of that, I haven't heard a lot on that radio that has appealed to my delicate sensibilities. And Guster still stinks; it's whiny music that teenage girls listen to when a boy dumps them. Very, very light presence in my iTunes, along with their imitators, like Dispatch.

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Amanda said at 12:50 p.m. on August 22:

I am really, really glad Amy Winehouse did NOT stick around... Talk about someone I truly hate to listen to, and seriously, that's rare.

I still have all my celeb encounters saved on my hard drive somewhere, mixed in with school work and the like. I think my favorite is Bob Saget even though it wasn't so much an encounter as it was me freaking out that he was 200 feet away from me.

Actually, I remembered 2 encounters since then: I saw Steven Tyler when I worked at Apple. He bought iPhones for everyone he knows and his daughter (not Liv, the other one) got a laptop. Then he played "Dream On" on a keyboard we had on one of the displays.

Also, when I worked at Flour Bakery in Boston, I served coffee to Conan O'Brien, though I did not actually talk to him (or realize it was him until after he left and I was like "who was that tall man?"). As for the Celtics, a friend of a friend has season tickets and gets to see practices, at which players sign things. I was most thankful for meeting [Celtics' power forward Brian] Scalabrine. He's basically saving the team one three-pointer at a time!

Though really, I think that the Steven Tyler story is the best one here... Did you know he wears those NASTY Croc shoes?? Ugh... And I honestly thought he was an ugly woman sauntering into the store. No joke.

At times I think I may be the only conservative in this wicked blue state... I could write you a whole book of my thoughts on Obama and his health care plan but your liberal readers would hate me!

As far as I am concerned, yes the private health care sector has its issues, but the government's plan has just as many issues. Obama says it will create a competition between the two but I disagree, the second companies find out they can drop health plans they will and no one will pay out-of-pocket for private insurance. It will effectively leave the government options as the only ones there, and I'm sorry but I don't think health care is a right (call me callous, but if you are unemployed why should I pay your health care [keep in mind currently people laid off still get 1 full year to find a job and get a new plan]) but rather something we should be responsible for ourselves.

Hey, the government can't figure out MediCare or MedicAid, what makes you think they can handle insurance for ALL of us? They need to think through a much better system before implementing it... I'm certainly not defending the state of the current private insurers, I think there is most definitely a need for reform, I'm just not convinced Obama is the man for this.

A good band (other than Guster of course, I'll ignore your comment on them) would have to be... Paramore! I'm a big fan lately. I don't usually like female singers but this would be an exception. Other than that most of my music tastes are stuck in the 1980s; I'm not sure if this is good or bad really. As of late one of my good friends has been filling my iTunes library with his band's music, and I think it's really good. They're called The Jims and are on iTunes, if you are into punk music with slightly ridiculous lyrics (their new album has a song called "Face Fuck" as well as a song called "Fuck Face").

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Steve said at 9:49 p.m. on August 22:

The odd thing about Amy Winehouse was how popular and yet destructive she is. Given how horrible her life is / was, being addicted to crack and all, it probably was a horrible idea for her one big hit to be about how she wasn't going to go to rehab. So, not only were my ears subjected to that horrible song, someone out there no doubt heard that song and didn't think they needed to get help for their crippling drug addiction. Awesome.

Okay, now see, that Steven Tyler story is SO FRIGGIN' COOL! The most recent pictures of him are... not flattering... So I can imagine that he looks awful with Crocs. And the Conan story is cool as well. Sad thing about him: My friends worked at the Watch Hill cabanas, where Conan's parents have a cabana, so they would see him from time to time roll up in his Porsche. Of course, I never did.

I *still* don't have a good celebrity story to share. The most famous guy I've talked to is Aaron Schatz, who is the head of Football Outsiders, an awesome pro football almanac. That's cool, and he's an awesome guy, but nothing I can brag about. I talk regularly with Marc Normandin, a writer at Baseball Prospectus, but I'm also one of his writers for Blast, so I'm not sure if that counts.

See, my eyes glazed over just a bit as you talked about politics. I used to be in Model Legislature, and somewhat motivated about politics, but as I've aged I've just lost interest. It happened even before I became a reporter, too, so I can't attribute it to that. On the plus side, it does help me in reporting, since I'm not super motivated politically. My voting record skews a bit toward Democrats, but this is normally because Rhode Island doesn't have a ton of strong Republican candidates.

Can I tell you a secret? I enjoy Paramore quite a bit. They are very much bubble gum punk, but they kind of remind me of a female Blink 182 or All-American Rejects. Not in terms of sound, but because they're a band that just plays catchy, melodious music. A couple of their songs are in the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games as well, and while I stink at them, I do like to play on normal difficulty.

I'll give The Jims a chance. Reel Big Fish sings "The Fuck-Off Song", so they do have some competition. By the way, Reel Big Fish is a very underrated band - that song is hilarious, and they have some other funny stuff like "She Has A Girlfriend Now", and "Sell-Out", and a good cover of "Kiss Me Deadly."

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Amanda said at 10:07 p.m. on August 22:

I LOVE RBF, and "She Has A Girlfriend Now" is probably one of my all-time favorite songs! My friends were obsessed with them in high school and I think I'm the only one still listening, but I don't even care. I also like their cover of "Take On Me."

Somehow I don't picture you in model legislature... But wait - Didn't you win some election as a joke or something? Receiving as many votes as some fictional character?

I really wish I had noticed it was Conan - I really like him but he came in during the lunch rush! He's so friggin' tall. I would've said something witty... (Okay, NOT really, but I've had time to think about what I could have said.) I would've liked your friend's story better if he had seen him in his Ford Taurus and not the Porsche. You should have more celebrity encounters considering all the cool ones are from New England.

Now down to business:

Amanda's Brush with Celebrity: Steven Tyler
The first thing I did upon moving to the great city of Boston was sell my soul to Steve Jobs for $11 an hour. Working in Apple retail was always exciting, we got some real characters in the store.

One day my friend Chris was unusually excited, he had a "personal shopping" appointment with someone, but of course the manager yelled at me to get back to work before I found out who. About an hour and a half later I could not get over how ugly this old woman was who just walked in. No wonder everyone around wanted a picture. Oh wait, it wasn't an old, ugly woman at all... it was Steven Tyler!

Yes, THE Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, waltzing into the Apple store to supply all of his posse with iPhones and to buy his daughter (not Liv, the other one) a nice new laptop for college. Unfortunately for fans of Mr. Tyler, I have to share some bad news: he wears Crocs, black ones that were really worn in.

Now to make this a "normal" shopping experience, my friend Chris and the managers were the only ones allowed to approach the star, but it's not like the store was all that big, so he was maybe fifteen feet away.

After leaving for the day, he did the cheesiest thing ever: he went up to one of the display computers with a USB musical keyboard attached and played "Dream On" for everyone in the store. I would've rather heard an impromptu rendition of "Sweet Emotion," but I guess you can't be too picky. And as an FYI, he came back at a later date when I was not working to buy more iPhones for everyone on his Christmas list. Apparently he's a huge Apple fan and frequents the Braintree location often when he is visiting his hometown.

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Steve said at 10:36 p.m. on August 22:

That story about Steven Tyler is tremendous, and it stands on its own without any needed comment from me. Bravo! Very impressive.

Responding to the rest, yeah, Reel Big Fish got kind of a bad rap when I was in high school. Everyone thought their big single, "Sell-Out", was all that they could do, so they ironically became what they sang about. I actually didn't even hear their other songs until my sophomore or junior year of college, when I noticed the titles and thought, "Hey, these tracks might be worth a shot." You're right about their "Take On Me" cover, that is also wonderful.

I wasn't just in Model Legislature, I was in LEADERSHIP on Model Leg. I'm still not entirely sure how - I think it was because I was one of the few super-left kids who wasn't a huge hesher. Yet ironically, I did want to legalize marijuana (and still do, but purely for tax reasons). Although I wasn't nearly as out-of-my-shell as I was in college, especially at the Cigar, I was loosening up a bit in my senior year of high school, so I probably did a better job with the public speaking interview they make you do than I give myself credit for.

And yes, I did in fact win a URI Student Senate election for the commuter seat, while I was entertainment editor. I did it solely as a joke, and because you needed about five votes to get a seat, since there weren't enough people on the ballot. I won with about eight votes. Here was the sad part - They told me one kid actually wanted to be on Student Senate, yet he lost to me with FIVE votes. What the hell? If you can't get eight other people to vote for you - remember, you can vote for yourself - then I don't really think you deserve to be on Student Senate.

I totally called Conan out on him not actually driving a Ford Taurus. Like Adam Carolla, I always think it's weird when celebrities try to act like they don't have a lot of money. Especially Conan, since his contract figure - about $8 million per year - is out there. It's not like he's a local talk radio guy, who actually makes $100,000+ a year, who is complaining about how much things cost.

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Amanda said at 11:04 p.m. on August 22:

Gracias! Not going to lie - I did double check to make sure he was a Steven with a 'v' because I really didn't know. And I wasn't kidding about selling my soul - that place is more like a cult than an employer, and they suck you in! It's insane. But I still use my trusty MacBook despite these findings.

I tend to be of the mindset that music people didn't like in high school was probably a lot better than music people did like... but maybe this is a trend that was only true of my high school. I haven't done terribly much research on the theory. RBF's latest album is still pretty good, the cover art is also really funny and 1980s.

So I noticed on your blog you are a Top Chef fan. I DVR-ed it while I was on vacation and it just finished up. Yes, I am cool, sitting on my computer and TV on a Saturday, seriously.

What do you think of the new season so far? I'm glad that girl went home because I don't like to look at people with huge plugs like that... It seems like it may be a good group and I like the dynamic of the brothers so far. The only thing that sort of irks me about the show is that I don't love Padma... I feel like she isn't entirely knowledgeable about the food and I think it would be easy to find a host who is equally good looking (since I'm sure that's the point) who also knows food! Like that other judge from Food & Wine magazine.

I also enjoyed the Arrested Development reference. Despite becoming one of those shows with a cult following after the cancellation, I still don't know nearly enough people who love it. I just recently re-watched all 3 seasons and it really is better the second time through. I like how it gets to the point where it's just too ridiculous. And I really like Mr. F. Those were my favorite episodes.

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Steve said at 11:15 p.m. on August 22:

My friend Chris used to work at an Apple store, and now that you mention it, I didn't really see him that much when he worked for it... hmmmm... It all fits together now. I would have guessed it was "Steven" Tyler, just because I'm narcissistic and wouldn't want him to spell it the same way I do. "No Steven Tyler, PH goes in my name, not yours... bitch."

I don't think I can completely sign off on your music theory. When I graduated high school, the music people did like was trendy, but more trendy-artsy than trendy-popcrap. For example, The Strokes were really big, but so were Radiohead. It was a mix of stuff I loved listening to, and stuff that people were clearly trying too hard to appear cool about.

And yes, I love Top Chef! It is the bomb-diggity. I will admit that I was only half-watching the season premiere, just because the first episode almost always means nothing. In fact, I'd say the first four shows of the season are just filler, where they get rid of people who clearly can't pass the muster. You know, like the silly dietitians who can't actually cook anything delicious, and the head cases who break down sobbing after every challenge.

That being said, in the short time I saw her, Crazy Tattoo Lady was clearly the one who was going home, especially when she got indignant during the judging. The judges don't normally like the chefs who can't tell that they fucked up at all.

The "Mr. F" story arc is probably the best of the show's three seasons, just because it is so bittersweet, funny and poignant. I'm always amazed at how good "serious" actors are at comedy - Charlize was perfect in those episodes, and similarly, Tom Hanks and Alec Baldwin and Christopher Walken always kill on Saturday Night Live.

Okay, one more response, and then this can be posted. My question for you - Do you watch Dinner: Impossible? And if not, why not? Because it's on Food Network, and it's awesome. Even though I think Top Chef trumps anything on Food Network, I still love several Food Network shows: Good Eats, Unwrapped, the crazy BBQ competitions they show from time to time, etc.

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Amanda said at 11:25 p.m. on August 22:

What a silly question... of COURSE I watch Dinner: Impossible! I liked the one where he did the New York Times Crossword dinner and all the meals were "puzzles."

I basically watch Food Network and nothing else, switching to Bravo for Top Chef. I have a crazy crush on Bobby Flay so I especially like Throwdown and Iron Chef, but I am also a big fan of Chopped with the guy from Queer Eye hosting, and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

I must say, even if I didn't find Bobby (yeah, we're on a first name basis) attractive, Throwdown still has one of the better premises and I get so many awesome recipe ideas - Like puffy tacos! I'd never heard of them before.

Good Eats is really good, I like the host a lot on that one but I don't think I've seen Unwrapped all the way through. I tend to like the shows with an element of competition in them. Iron Chef always baffles me, how on earth will they get steak into a dessert? Steak ice cream you say! Wow! But the judges LOVED it. The insanity.

I watched The Next Food Network Star but found it to be a cheaper version of Top Chef, which I also rank above the Food Network shows. I really like Tom and I think that the prizes are a lot more substantial - Not everyone can be a TV chef.

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Well, considering that this is now about 3,400 words, I think this is as good a place to end as any. Want to do your own Tag Team? E-mail me at sgre6768@gmail.com.

Cooking with Top Chef

[Left] Note to self: Scruffy facial hair = Super Awesome Chef.

Top Chef starts its sixth season tonight, this year in Vegas, and I'm naturally thrilled about it. I've been following the show since its initial season in March 2006, which saw the utterly awesome Harold cook his way past Tiffany the Snake and super amazingly over-the-top gay David and super-snarky before he reformed Steven.

While that season remains the pinnacle of the Top Chef viewing experience, I still find it one of the most enjoyable hours of my television week. Even seasons without interesting scenes still features mouth-watering meals, and doing my own judging via my vision is strangely enticing. It's also one of those shows that appeal equally to both sexes, meaning I could always watch it with my past girlfriends. So, it has that going for it, which is nice.

Not surprisingly, my two favorite meals have been steak / beef dishes, by Harold and Casey. I think Casey was robbed the year she competed, and of all the seasons, Ilan has definitely been the weakest overall winner. Every week, he would have some weird Spanish take on some dish. While they weren't ever awesome, they didn't ever suck, and as a result he kind of coasted to a win.

I think the seasons after that one have done a better job of rewarding excellence and risk-taking as opposed to just base competence. That being said, one way the show would definitely be improved is by keeping, say, the last three weeks in mind while at the judges' table. It would cut down on the Andreas and Michaels who barely squeak by week-by-week, and keep in the actually great cooks like Richard Blais, Stefan and Fabio. (By the way, Fabio is so ridiculous that he even charms me a little bit.)

Top Chef Masters is a nice little appetizer, or an amuse bouche, as they would say on the show, but it doesn't really substitute for the real thing. It's not surprising to me that Hubert Keller was doing so well, since he definitely seems like he knows what he's doing when he judges the contestants. And it doesn't surprise me that the nerdy-looking dude that won with Richard Blais did pretty well, because he was also a good job. (Sorry about the lack of analysis; I missed the last two episodes, unfortunately.)

I still maintain that they need to bring Katie Lee (no longer, woohoo!) Joel back to replace Padma. First off, Padma is only hotter if you prefer the female-female impersonator (Pamela Anderson) look, because she is about 80 feet tall with ginormous, cartoon breasts. The Hardee's commercial she did is just gross. Katie Lee Joel is the foxy girl-next-door. I don't really mind that her personality is a bit wooden, because it gives more opportunity for Tom and Gail Simmons (also kind of foxy) and the guest judges to shine. To use an oblivious cliche, having Padma in the mix is an example of having too many cooks in the kitchen.

Top Chef back on top tonight

Another Top Chef season starts tonight, although it is a spin-off show, Masters, as opposed to a proper season. Still, anything is better than nothing, since we have hit the dead zone (not The Dead Zone) of the television season. All of my favorite shows - Family Guy, Heroes, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Office, Life on Mars - are either on break or canceled completely. Only wrestling and baseball are on to entertain me, and both can be quite hit or miss.

Anyway - focusing. I like Top Chef because, although it is a reality show, the contestants are all professionals. The focusing is on the cooking, and as far as the meals go, what they make looks far better than almost all of the things made on the Food Network. This is surprising, since most weeks the challenge is something ridiculous. "Make a gourmet meal out of these 20 things from a convenience store!"

Sadly, the more recent seasons haven't been as good as the initial ones, as the focus has shifted subtly to the drama between contestants. The first season was special because Harold just STFU and cooked awesome food. But the lesson the producers seemed to take from it was that we needed more Stevens, the pompous wine guy who lecture incessantly. (Shockingly, Steven is the one reality show contestant ever to look at his behavior on TV, then to come back and admit that he was a gigantic tool and to completely reform his ways.)

I understand the need for some drama, since it is television and all. But the drama on a show like this should originate from the tension over what the judges will pick as the best dish, as opposed to relying on relationships between contestants and their personality traits.

I think this is an underrated aspect to American Idol's success - You don't see behind the scenes vignettes about how Kelly Clarkson hates Justin Guarini. (Timely reference, I know, but I don't really watch Idol, and their god awful movie deserves more attention.) You might see a piece or two about their home lives, but the bitterness from other reality shows isn't present. The focus is on singing and popularity and the judges, which is smart, because the judges (at least the mains) don't really change from year to year.

On a random note, Masters has different judges than the main show, which is unfortunate, because Tom is awesome. Anyway, one is Kelly Choi, who last appeared on TV in... Eat Out NY. What an unfortunate name.