Inn of the Last Home

Former WBIR-TV 10 anchor Ted Hall's youngest son has brain cancer, but continues to fight it every day.

So far the prognosis looks very hopeful that he will continue to live a normal life.

Ted is now at a TV station in Atlanta, and the recently did a story about the little boy's battle against the odds.

Watch this, and be inspired by the young man.

I am obsessed.

Actually, my whole family is.

Most of the time the TV is on in our living room. Sometimes we're actually home to watch it. While occasionally we actually sit down to watch a show, most of the time it was just some necessary white noise to our daily routine. But to have a consistent, non-offensive, bland-as-vanilla-pudding TV white noise, we had to pick a channel. Something non-controversial and one nothing would likely come on our kids couldn't see. And that maybe had some interesting shows. We chose HGTV - Home & Garden Television, produced by our own local near and dear Scripps Networks.

Well, that went on for a while. We never really got into any of the shows, but it was nice to have something on the TV to just plop down, watch a few minutes of someone designing a deck or patio we'd never own, or refurbishing a rundown one-bedroom shack into a 10-bed, 9-1/2 bath McMansion. But we didn't really have a lot invested in it.

Then one day, somehow...someway... the channel changed. I don't know how it happened - maybe I pressed the wrong button on the remote. Maybe little elves invaded. Maybe the kids went too far looking for Nickelodean. All I know is now, for the last year or so, we have found a new household obsession that sucks out all the hours of our day, dominates our evening, and has even....yes even caused me to break out the pots and pans, shop for fresh Thyme, and contemplate the finer points of preparing quiche...

The Food Network has taken over our lives.

Oh! Glorious, the possibilities. The varieties! The worlds of culinary sophistication and innovation! Me, who for 40 years has barely been able to make more than a basic cheese sandwich without burning it have now realized that cooking could be....could be..... FUN?

I've made the aforementioned quiche for a gathering of friends. I made Autumn Potato Gratin with cream and sage for Thanksgiving last year. I've been given cookbooks for Christmas, and made a fettucine with sausage tomato sauce, for goodness sake... I may just be getting good at this.

But anyway, in honor of the season finale of our favorite Food Network show, The Next Food Network Star (airing this Sunday at 10pm EDT), I want to share with all of you the amazing shows we love to watch.

The Next Food Network Star - For weeks, 10 contestants have cooked, presented, dished and prayed their way through a competition of food smarts, personality, and likeability in order to be awarded next year their own cooking show on the network. My personal favorite, Kelsey, was eliminated 2 weeks ago, and the finale is between actor and improv comedian Adam, big talker Aaron and closet Romulan Lisa. I'm pulling for Aaron because he has the right combination of cooking skills and personality to make a good show. Two years ago the winner of this reality show was a guy named Guy, who now hosts:

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives - Guy travels the country, profiling off the path, hole-in-the-wall restaurants with the best roadside food in the country. Not long ago he profiled a place on Magnolia Ave. in Knoxville that serves to die for onion rings, which I'm totally going to have to check out.

30-Minute Meals and $40 a Day are Rachel Ray's shows, and she of course is too perky for words. You just want to squeeze her cheeks. You pick which ones. Ahem. Anyway, she's friendly and enjoyable to watch (if she doesn't annoy you too quickly).

Throwdown with Bobby Flay - Bobby Flay competes with other chefs to see if he can best their own signature dish. I've seen him do macaroni and cheese, cheesecake, pulled pork, cakes and other items. At the end of the episode, someone judges to see whose version of the particular dish is best. Bobby usually loses, which is good because goodness knows we don't need this guy to get too cocky...

Good Eats - I want to be Alton Brown. I want to host this show, and I think I'd be pretty darn good at it, too. I may start my own web version of this show, or something like it come to think of it. Anyway, Alton takes a particular aspect of food or cooking each episode and dissects in until you know its history, lineage, background, varieties, molecular structure, DNA sequencing and any other obsessive detail you can think of to say about, like, carrots. Or mac & cheese. Or pasta. Or tacos. Or whatever. This guy is great, and seriously, if I can find a topic I am so doing what this guy does as a vidcast on the web.

Unwrapped takes a food product such as processed cheese, margarine, "comfort food", candy, cereal or other commercial product and shows how it's conceived, manufactured, and brought to the store's shelves. This one can be a little dry at times, but when it finds a subject that's really interesting it can be engrossing. Particularly something like candy bars.

Dinner: Impossible - This season there's a new host, one of the Iron Chefs Michael Symon. I'm not totally sold on the new guy yet (he's only had one episode) but the concept of the show is fun. The host is given a task, obstensively by a "Mission: Impossible"-type voice, to prepare a huge meal for a large group of people in a set amount of time. He draws out the menu and is provided with a kitchen, the necessary food material, and a staff of chefs to help him out. It's the time limit and the setting that makes the show exciting - in the past the previous host (Robert Irvine, who was kicked off the show because it turned out he lied about his training and experience background) had to cook at a Renaissance Fair like they did in the past, cook for a Pixar gathering, passengers on a cruise ship, and more. The first new episode Michael cooked a huge meal for the workers on a Boardwalk, and had to "gourmet" up Boardwalk food for them. Good fun.

Food Network Challenge - A competition between three-five chefs, usually pastry chefs, to create the best themed dish. Most of the time I watch this show, it's about cakes. Several chefs and their assistants have nine hours to completely create a cake based on, say, Disney villains, Pixar characters, classic cartoons, "most extreme", etc. Then they're judged on originality and style and the winner gets $10,000. The big challenge in these competitions is to not get too ambitious and try to do too much. One time Scar's (from "The Lion King") head fell off. And Mike and Sully from "Monsters, Inc." collapsed. You never know what's going to happen.

Finally, my personal favorite:
Ace of Cakes - Ah, Duff, you big lug. The bald, goateed baker who frequently sports a backward baseball cap or toboggan in even the most formal of settings. He and the staff of Charm City Cakes (a real, honest-to-goodness special-order bakery in Philadelphia) spend every episode making all manner of cakes for $1,000 minimum order customers. Guitar-shaped cakes, cakes that look like the set of the play "Avenue Q", a cake of Hogwarts castle for the premiere of one of the Harry Potter movies, a Super Bowl Cake for Colts vs. Bears, armadillo cakes, shipping depot cakes, roulette wheel cakes, cakes that move, cakes that explode, cakes that look like Corvettes. But what makes this show great is the cast - Duff is the main guy, Geof is the soft-spoken and dry-witted main assistant. There's the red-headed receptionist that is the smart-alec, and several other young assistants that each have their own personalities. This is a winner.

A couple of other shows on Foot Network I don't care for. I don't like Iron Chef America at all, nor can I stand anything with Paula Dean's face (or *shudder* voice) in it (sorry, mom). Emeril Live! was one of our favorites until his contract ran out and it went off the air.

So check it out. If you already have an interest in cooking, or just the sociology of food in general, you may get stuck there. And if you have no interest in cooking, well watch it anyway!


UPDATE: In researching links, I came across the site for The Next Food Network Star and they spoiled the finale! Interviews with the two people that didn't win are already up on their personal pages! So now I already know who wins... :( Bad form, Food Network.com.

UPDATE II: Looks like they've taken down the videos that spoil the finale. It's safe to view the finalist pages again!

I TOLD YOU!!!! I TOLD YOU!!!!

And did anyone listen? Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!


(Big ol' hat tip to Big Orange Michael for cluing me in that this LOST mobisode was available)

I just watched last year's 2-hour season finale of "Lost" again, in prep for next week's season premiere. This season may be strike-shortened, so get it while it's good.

A few last minute thoughts that occur to me from the finale before we plunge ahead to season 4:

1) Christian Shepherd, Jack's dad, is alive. I'm certain of it. When Jack was confronted by the doc and asked if he was drunk, Jack said, "Call my father down here and if he's drunker than I am, I'll leave." No matter how drunk Jack was, he wouldn't "forget" his father was dead. He remembered which key opened the drug cabinet, he knew the name of the woman that was in the car wreck. Yes, he was drunk and his motor skills were impaired, but he wasn't amnesiac. Somehow Christian Shepherd not only survive his "death" he survived the plane crash.

2) Miles away, baby Aaron knew Charlie was dead. As soon as it happened he began to cry, and while it could be chalked up to dramatic license, I think it's significant in showing the baby's developing abilities.

3) Apparently one of the people that died in the finale is Not Quite Dead. That means either Charlie, Mikhail, Bonnie and the other woman in the Looking Glass Station, Mr. Friendly, Ryan, or one of the rest of the "Others" killed on the beach. I'm banking on Mr. Indestructible, Mikhail. He's survived cranial sonic disruption and a speargun to the heart - what's a little hand grenade?

4) It was apparently confirmed over the summer that the body in the coffin was Michael. Why would Jack get all broken up to the point of ending it all over Michael's death? What could happen in Season 4+ that would re-endear Michael to Jack, but not to Kate (who said she would not have gone to his funeral)?

Any other loose threads from the finale I missed?


UPDATE (01/25/08): I kept the 2-hour finale on my DVR since last May when it first aired. It's one of the first shows I "taped" (still use that word since it's easiest to understand, though there's no actual "taping" going on) when we got DVR last year, and it's almost been an old friend - first on the menu list by a long shot for several months. When I'm scrolling through the recorded menu, I always use "LOST (2 hrs)" as my starting point and work backward to find the most recent shows. I'm not sure I can stand to get rid of it now, it's like part of the family...

I finally dragged myself to the TV and watched a little of "American Idol" - not because I have the slightest bit of general interest in the show, but because Knoxville teen Amy Catherine Flynn is a contestant.

Amy Catherine (or "AC" as she introduced herself) is a junior at Knoxville Catholic High School, and more relevant to your family, is a former student at the my kids' school. When she was in 7th and 8th grade, I helped her out a couple times in the school talent show so I'm acquainted with her and her singing.

She's developing into quite a nice talent, with a soft voice and good tone. We wish her a lot of luck!

Oh, and the best part was she really got under Simon Cowell's skin during the audition, which is always a plus. Has there ever been a less-likable person on TV?

Since the kids' school was closed today on account of the massive (ahem) ice storm (unlike Knox County schools, which were closed, they were to be open today) I stayed home with them.

Having a laptop and wireless access to work means I can be almost as proficient here as I can there. I don't quite have a dungeon to work in, but the kitchen table filled in nicely.

But what made the day was all of us spending our day watching the Gilligan's Island 1st season DVD I got for Christmas! I think we watched 15 episodes of classic B&W comedy gold...

Question of the Day: Does anybody remember if the Beverly Hillbillies ever went to Hawaii, or tried to wear Hawaiian-type clothes?

If so, leave a comment - I need to find some images of hillbillies in tropical/vacation clothes (don't ask me why, it'd only confuse you).

...or should I say, "Scrantonicity"? (sorry..."Scrantonicity II")

Trip Advisor Traveler review of "Shrute Farms"

Schrute Farms is the number one beet-related agrotourism destination in Northeastern Pennsylvania. We offer the finest accommodations for the casual traveler and/or beet enthusiast. Come join us and experience majestic Schrute Farms. ROOM AMENITIES: -Three Themed Rooms: America, Irrigation, and Night-time...-Handmade mattresses... -Beds do not conform to traditional sizes; closest is twin.PROPERTY AMENITIES:-We cater to the elderly...-Field and barn tours...-Side car Rides...-Table-making demonstrations...-Tractor Mosey...-Homemade Beet Jam demonstration...POLICIES:-Check in time: After 5:30pm on weekdays, 3pm on weekends...-Check out time: Before 9:00am, 11am on weekends. This description is based on information provided by the B&B / inn.

Try the wonderful complimentary breakfast beets!



I wonder how many people who don't know it's fake will really try to reserve a room?

A good set of questions from Will of Hit Coffee:

Here are some questions that y’all can answer here, on your own blog, or not at all:

1. What are the TV shows that you miss the most? Not that you necessarily wish they were still on the air because perhaps they had run their course and had a good conclusion.

2. What TV show do you think was the biggest victim of circumstance or not given a chance to find its market? For instance, last year CBS’s The Class was cancelled despite decent ratings. A lot of people really believed that it could have been The Next Great Show. More popular examples are Arrested Development and Firefly, which had dedicated followings but not sufficiently large ones.

3. What fiction TV show (no reality TV) are you dumbfounded as to its popularity and longevity?

4. Have you ever discovered a band from a TV show? Ever heard a song that you really liked, looked it up, and bought the CD it was on?

5. Are there any shows that you prefer watch on DVD rather than watch in week in and week out?

Land of the Lost film a go

Universal Pictures has just signed Brad Silberling to direct the big screen version of the '70s cult hit Land of the Lost. Silberling joins Will Ferrell on the project which is set to start shooting in March.

The original Saturday morning series told the story of explorer Rick Marshall who, while on a "routine expedition" with his children (for some reason) Will and Holly, fell through a fault in the Earth and ended up in a prehistoric world filled with dinosaurs, cavemen and evil lizard creatures known as sleestaks.

This is great news - even though Will Ferrell is involved and that can only lead to trouble, at least there will be a film. Unlike a certain animated fantasy movie that's supposed to be out right now but is having trouble seeing the light of day.

But I digress. I was troubled after reading on in the article:

The big screen version of the film will cast Ferrell as a disgraced paleontologist who ends up in the prehistoric land with his assistant and a tour guide.

Wait-wait-wait-a-minute!!! assistant?? Tour guide???. No, uh-uh, no way. Will Marshall finds himself in the Land of the Lost with his son and daughter. The charm of the show is not the dinosaurs, or Sleestak, or even the cute little neandrathal Paku - it's the fact that a dad and his young children are forced to work together to survive in a hostile environment. The kids must grow up and learn about their own strengths and weaknesses. That's what made that show fun. If you take the "family" away and have it be about three unrelated adventurers - that's it, the movie's "Lost" before it even films a frame. I hope this is either early information, or that the assistant and tour guide are actually Will and Holly. And even that won't work, because Holly's a young girl. You can just throw in a 20-something tour guide daughter and call it "Land of the Lost". Grrrrrr

Then there's this:

The original creators of the series, '70s TV legends Sid and Marty Krofft are on board with the film and have expressed excitement over the script. "What they did is keep the integrity of the show," said Marty Krofft "but they made it very funny for Will. The adventure is all there. There are going to be 50 Sleestaks!"

I think the next quote they cut for space would have been, "And there will be ponies! And lots of candy for everyone! And maybe some puddin----zzzzzzzzzzz" as an obviously senile Marty Krofft drifts off to sleep. Or rather this demented puppet substitute for the real Marty Krofft (who last I heard he and his brother Sid were in good health). If he really said this, and is enthusiastic about the fundamental altering of the premise... I fear for his mental faculties.

Wait and see...wait and see...

Rex has challenged me to the ultimate cross-genre survey....

Who do you prefer:

Mary Ann (Dawn Wells) from Gilligan's Island

or...

Bailey Quarters (Jan Smithers) from WKRP in Cincinnati?

Ah lahks mah iced tea.

Pardon the Southern patois for a moment, but it's true. I love iced tea. More specifically, sweet tea. The kind that only comes south of the Mason-Dixon line, east of the Mississippi River. And even then, there's a particular variety in East Tennessee unique for its intense sugar content. Those of us who've traveled abroad (meaning, like, New York or even Texas) know the looks waiters and waitresses get when you order your iced tea sweetened.

"Pre-sweetened??," they think. "What kind of barbarians are you, anyway? You order sweetened iced tea...yet you wear shoes. What manner of madness is this??"

Anyway, that's beside the point and another post away. Suffice to say I love it and drink it almost exclusively in whatever restaurant I happen to patronize.

I also love it so much I usually get one or two refills, and very often will get some in a to-go cup to take with me--

Wait a second, something's coming on TV...


------------------------------


Cue X-Files music


Mulder: No, that's ok, Scully - I've got the check this time.

Scully: Mulder...what's that sitting on top of your go-cup?

Mulder (looking down): It looks like a straw, Scully. (squats down to peer at the straw, sitting innocently on top of the lidded cup) And it's still wrapped. Scully, this is a new straw!

Scully: Mulder, that's impossible. That can't be a new straw. I mean, look at your glass you were drinking out of bef-- (stops in puzzled disbelief, as she examines Mulder's empty glass on the other side of the table, slightly bent and chewed straw sticking out the open top)

Mulder: I'm telling you, Scully, believe it with your eyes or not, the waitress brought me a brand new straw. Still wrapped and everything.

Scully: But why, Mulder, why?? It doesn't make sense...

Mulder: I know, Scully. Why waste a perfectly good unused straw to go with the to-go cup, when the one I was using is fine. (picks up the straw and examines it closely)

(Scully surreptitiously takes notes for her secret report to the Cancer Man)

Mulder (blowing through straw lightly): Why would a waitress think I'd want to take the time to unwrap a new straw when I have my own still here... I guess it's just one of those weird things, Scully. Let's go - the Lone Gunman won't wait much longer for us...

(Scully stops writing, quickly sticking the notepad back in her pocket)

(Mulder shrugs, pokes the nicely used and ready straw into the hole in the to-go cup lid and takes a sip as he walks out behind Scully.)

(A moment later the wrapped straw, resting alone on the empty table, begins to writhe and morph into a black-oilish substance. It slithers off the table to the floor and oozes away)

(In the corner of the room, The Cancer Man frowns)

---------------------------------------------


Ok, well it may be an insidious ploy by my enemies to unwittingly introduce a dangerous alien presence onto my person. Or it may not. Still, it's pretty pointless and wasteful to throw away a new straw.


On a brighter point: The X-Files II, coming soon!

Yeah, I'm going to be using titles like that all day. Get used to it.

Picket Fences, Season 1 DVD is released in stores today, and I'm going to head off and pick up a copy - thanks to an excellent Father's Day gift card to Target.

If you've never watched Picket Fences, treat yourself and either pick up the DVD set or rent it when it's available at Netflix or Blockbuster. It's an early David Kelley series (it's basically the one that eventually made him so full of himself to create "Ally McBeal" and "The Practice") about a small town named Rome, Wisconsin, the sheriff his family, and the people of the town.

Strange things happen in Rome, and while never quite supernatural they're all unusual and the underlying quirks of all these seemingly normal people are exposed for us to see. It's a fantastic show, and I can't wait to start watching all over again.

Now it all makes sense...


Po' * ke * mon - noun
    badly animated cockfighting


Thank you James Lileks for clearing that up after all these years!



Oh, and Michael Vick...call your bookie.

Pardon me for a moment, while I indulge myself in a bit of geeky nostalgia.

Michael will likely appreciate this, maybe others of you as well.

Twenty years ago in 1987 I was a junior in college, the home VCR trend was really starting to take off in a big way and units were affordable even for the average student. It was actually close to the fall before my senior year at UT and I had entertained thoughts of buying myself my first VCR. I was getting ready to move into Andy Holt Apartments on campus (cable!) and it was time.

Plus there was another little event coming up....the premiere of an obscure new TV series - some kind of update to an older show. Maybe you heard of it - "Star Trek: The Next Generation"?

TNG was set to start, so I figured this was as good a time to buy my first VCR as any and tape the episodes. Which I did. Myself and a number of friends (this was before I met Michael, or he would've been there) camped out in the living room to watch this new show, brand new VCR humming.

So I taped. And taped. And taped.

Eventually I had all 178 episodes of Next Gen taped. And all 176 episodes of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine". And almost all the 172 episodes of "Star Trek: Voyager" (I missed a couple here and there, what with being married and a father by that time). Plus the first couple of seasons of "Star Trek: Enterprise".

Suffice to say, my videotape collection was quite extensive.

And they didn't just sit on shelves, at least not at first. I watched and re-watched, and eventually reintroduced some of them to Brainyboy. They've been a well thought of collection.

But now it's at an end.

For the past several years, the set of tapes has resided in the top of a closet in the kids' playroom. We're in the process of moving Brainyboy out of his small room upstairs and into the bigger playroom downstairs, and moving what's in there to his old room. And that means the tapes have to go.

*sniff*

It wasn't a terribly difficult decision, since all the series are readily available on DVD anytime I want to buy them. It's just the history of it all, and the time I spent making sure every episode was taped, labeled and stored.

But alas, this weekend they've all been boxed up and put in the garage to be tossed. What with the advent of recordable DVD's and the DVR on my cable, I have no more use even for blank videotapes. I remember the days I'd hoard any scrap of blank tapes to record shows on. No longer.

Well, for almost 20 years it's been fun guys. Remember me fondly.

Wait...ok, confession. I kept the first and last tapes from each series, the premiers and finales.

Gotta have something to hold onto.

The Trouble With Lolcat Tribbles




(HT to Kit)