nomadreader

I actually liked Carissa's design more than Goil's. She did have a blue palette in her favor. Although the most entertaining part of the episode was Jonathan Adler's outfit. Perhaps he's taking all of the "what was she wearing?" talk about Kelly Wearstler week after week to heart and wants in on the action (any action). I loved Andrea's room, and I found Matt's design quite dull. Regardless, for some silly (and likely producer-desired) reason, Carissa is in the final three. Am I the only one who remains continually shocked that she's 26? That's not a compliment. Stop blaming your inadequacy on everyone around you; free Carl! Au revoir, (Gar)goil. May you live in Austin Scarlett infamy as the most talented designer to not make the top three, when one crazy, drama-ridden lady did instead. P.S. I can't wait for Shear Genius !

Thank you NBC, for finally bringing me a new episode of SVU this week; by my count, it was the first new episode in the month of March. Still, nomadreaderboy and I settled in with anticipation for a new episode, but we spent half of the episode deciding if we'd seen it already. It was a ripped from the headline episode on the infamous conservative Christian minister who also dabbled with meth and gay prostitutes. After going back and forth, we finally determined that it was in fact a new episode, but it was unnecessarily similar to the Criminal Intent take on it (oh, Tom Arnold as a closeted conservative televangelist). The stories ended quite differently, and they were both good. Still, can the L&O writers for the three shows please get together and divvy up the headlines?

Morning Edition had this fascinating story about the new challenge of preserving digital contemporary art. It's worth a listen.

Bill Simmons is my favorite columnist/blogger. He may write sports, but he is consistently hilarious and loves to reference pop culture. His column on ESPN's Page 2 is worth checking, even if you're not a sports fan. In yesterday's column, he refers to Ben Howland as the coach "who pulled Bill Self's pants down on Saturday." He also opens up the end of his blogs to emails from his smart and/or witty readers. Brandon from L.A. had this to say: "Hey Bill, you more than anyone do a great job of calling out coaches that are killing their teams. So along those lines, how has Bill Self gone under the radar all year with you and ESPN? This should be the running subplot of this tourney. He almost single-handedly blew their chances on Thursday. Everyone knew what type of team Southern Illinois is and yet he has no counter to them and his teams are always ill-prepared. How do you not spread things out and isolate your quicker guards who also have a size advantage? ...

Disney announced that its 2009 animated feature The Frog Princess features black princess Maddy. I may be cynical, but I would bet that Disney's decision is still financially motivated. If they were concerned with the racial implications beyond the dollar, then why did it take until 2009? Maddy may be drawn with a different color to her skin, but her body remains the disturbing Disney archetype.

I no longer watch American Idol, but I am watching Dancing with the Stars this season. I don't have a personal stake in the silly ploy of Fox to air AI until 9:07 p.m. tonight, but I find it obnoxious. ABC deserves it, however, as they like to run Grey's Anatomy until 10:02 some Thursdays and they force me to set a manual record for Dancing so its last two minutes won't conflict with the two programs I DVR at 10 p.m. I don't think I've missed anything earth-shattering in the last two minutes of Dancing the past two weeks. I love television, and I love my DVR because it makes my television viewing easier and more time-effective. I love to come home and see what treats it recorded for me while I was gone. Please stop toying with the timeslots. We all win when our favorite shows go on at different times. The networks get more viewers, which leads to higher ad revenues. The television viewers win by having more access to quality (or at least entertaining...

After the first episode of Dancing with the Stars, I set my DVR to record all episodes. I briefly watched season one, but it didn't hold my interest. I am already hooked on this season. This season's cast made me want to watch once, and I am absolutely riveted to my television. When I start to call in and vote, I will begin to worry. It's ridiculously entertaining. By the end of the first dance, nomadreaderboy had gone from peeking in the room to see what I was watching to sitting down next to the television and cursing me for getting him hooked on another reality television show. Highlights this week: How creepy is Leeza's face? She's fifty? Gross. Oh, that we could all age in the style of Jamie Lee Curtis or Helen Mirren instead of the Stepford way. I also love the celebrities in the audience: Chuck Woolery, fresh-from-rehab Robbie Williams, Brian Austin Green. There are no staged audience interviews and no graphics telling the viewers who these p...

I still consider Roy Williams' departure for UNC the worst heartbreak of my life. It still brings me to tears (or sometimes rage) when I catch a glimpse of him wearing a tarheel blue tie when he coaches. When I watch a UNC game, my jealousy comes out when I see his assistant coaches still there too. It's as though my boyfriend left me, and I miss his friends too. I can count on one hand the number of Kansas basketball games I've watched since Roy left. When Roy left, he took his style of basketball with him. I was eight when Roy came to Kansas, and although I love the history of Kansas basketball, the only style I really have ever seen is the Roy-era. I've never been a fan of Bill Self. It's a dislike that goes back to his days at Illinois, and specifically the Regional semi-final game in San Antonio when six of his players fouled out. Their strategy was to foul our big guys. Nick Collison was tackled, hugged and dragged under the basket. It worked; we di...

Mike Hendricks, my favorite Kansas City columnist has an intriguing column today on the Kansas-brewed controversy about a paid (Topeka) Capitol intern having a bumper sticker "fuck war" on her car. A good lesson in free speech is also refreshing, and the Fred Phelps-town I grew up in clearly needs a reminder. My favorite line: "What’s the greater obscenity, after all? A cuss word on somebody’s bumper? Or the bodies of men, women and children being blown to bits by insurgents in Baghdad?" http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/columnists/mike_hendricks/16956520.htm

Jerry Orbach Corner may soon be officially located at 53th St. & Eighth Ave. in Manhattan. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/22/nyregion/22orbach.html?ref=nyregion

The Sci Fi Channel is making a miniseries of the "Tin Man" based on the L. Frank Baum novel. The cast so far includes Alan Cumming(!), Richard Dreyfuss, Zooey Deschanel, Neal McDonough (Boomtown - how I loved thee) and Kathleen Robertson are all signed on so far. Production begins later this month. http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=2&id=40677 Tales of Oz are not always my favorite, as I have been subjected to terrible Dorothy and Toto jokes ever since I stepped out of Kansas, but I imagine this miniseries could be extraordinary if it's done right.

New York Times writer Julia Moskin, a good writer who enjoys cooking and wine, offers her test kitchen up to the debate about whether better wine makes better cooking wine this week. It's an entertaining story, slightly reminiscent of Julie and Julia (one of my favorite books so far this year), and it's one I completely agree with. Although I've never conducted such a scientific test, I wince when I pour good wine in a pot. I have become a believer in drinking the good stuff, then after two glasses, switching to the not-as-good stuff that I cooked the meal with. For Moskin's in-depth take on cooking with wine: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/dining/21cook.html?ref=style

Today's New York Times has an interesting article on ABC's plans to alter commercial breaks. The article does not raise any specific new ideas, but there should be more news coming soon. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/business/media/21adco.html?ref=media One of my favorite features of DVR remains never watching commercials, and I imagine I am not the only television watcher with an aversion to commercials. So much television, yet so little time.

Two of my favorite things are coming together: This American Life and television! I hope it works. Unfortunately, it will air on Showtime, which I don't subscribe to. This new development may push me over the edge, as I'm already tempted by The Tudors . Showtime is quickly catching up to HBO with their original series. As an added temptation, Showtime has also placed the first two episodes of The Tudors online. I wish HBO would start placing shows online instead of OnDemand; DirectTV doesn't carry OnDemand. http://www.thislife.org/ has three television trailers of This American Life available to view online and episode one online at http://www.sho.com/site/thisamericanlife/video.do?source=blogs (thanks to my fabulous roommate for the episode link) This American Life (the tv show) premieres Thursday, March 22 at 10:30 p.m. Eastern on Showtime.

Every year Samuel Adams sponsors a home brew contest. I just picked up the six-pack "Long Shot" that features two bottles each of the three winning beers. I tried the Boysenberry Wheat beer brewed by Ken Smith, and it was delicious. I'm a huge fan of the Sam Adams Cheery Wheat, but I daresay the Boysenberry Wheat was even more refreshing. I wouldn't mind a bit if the lovely folks at Samuel Adams decided to bottle Boysenberry Wheat all by itself or in combination packs with Cherry Wheat. Yummy.

Stop the Presses, Boys! Women Claim Space on Op-Ed Pages by Patricia Cohen Cohen presents a lovely look at the dearth of female op-ed writers in the country. I'm also glad to know there are people trying to remedy the situation. Having a wide variety of voices and backgrounds is crucial to great op-ed pages and the discourse these pages should foster. As I'm in the midst of Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope , I daresay a diversity of voices remains critical for the success of a democracy as well.

I am a huge fan of television online. Kudos to NBC for putting six episodes of Andy Barker P.I. online. I haven't seen the show yet, but the reviews I've seen are all quite positive. http://www.nbc.com/Video/rewind/full_episodes/andybarker.shtml I am still harboring a slight grudge that it's taking over 30 Rock 's timeslot when I've finally discovered that show, but if I had to pick replacement programming or reruns, I would choose the replacement. I do advocate, however, for a reality-style, cable-style year-round schedule that doesn't include reruns or fill-in programs.

Today's Non Sequiter comic strip: http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2007/03/15/ I admit that I am rather sensitive to Midwestern humor, but this one is actually funny. A joke about Iowa, television news and celebrity gossip? It's golden.

Variety is now reporting on the television shows whose fate will be determined in the coming months as the networks finish their primetime schedules for the fall. Here are the shows I currently DVR and my thoughts on their possible cancellation: 1. 30 Rock - I believe 30 Rock is the funniest show on television. Granted, I also believe there is not nearly enough competition in this category. I was late to come to 30 Rock due to (in my opinion) poor scheduling. It airs in the same timeslot as Grey's Anatomy and The O.C. (R.I.P.), and my DVR can only handle two shows at once. I'm only three episodes in, but I love it. If I were wagering, I would bet NBC will keep 30 Rock; it's only mildly underperforming, and it does air against the two most-watched shows of the season ( American Idol not withstanding). 2. Friday Night Lights - I have never watched this show due to scheduling conflicts (Bones, Jericho & now America's Next Top Model ) . I plan to catc...

I'm taking part in the 2007 50 Book Challenge. The premise is simple: read fifty books this year. I've always sort of aspired to this challenge in some form, although the number of books changes. I loved reading Sara Nelson's So Many Books, So Little Time : A Year of Passionate Reading several years ago, and I'm trying to be more proactive about keeping up with the books I read. I gave up buying books years ago, as a means of saving money and because I can't seem to stop moving. Without the ability to look up at my shelves to remember what I've read, I've started keeping spreadsheets of the books I read each year. I'm not off to the best start, but I hope to finish strong. Here's my reading list so far: 0 stars - hated it 1 star - eh 2 stars - liked it 3 stars - loved it 4 stars - life-changing 1. Giotto's Hand by Iain Pears (3 stars - loved it!) I loved this installment of the art history mysteries. It's art, travel and in...

From today's New York Times , a reminder of why I read the science section religiously. True, I may rarely understand what the writers are talking about, but the articles are always informative and well-written, and I figure as long as I learn something, I'm ahead. This article, though, is pop-culture intriguing. The sociologist in me loves it. "What's So Funny? Well, Maybe Nothing" by John Tierney http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/science/13tier.html?ref=science

Joe Posnanski's take on the selection committee's mistakes: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/columnists/joe_posnanski/16884642.htm For the uninitiated, Joe Posnanski is one of the best sportswriters in the country. He happens to write for The Kansas City Star , and he also happens to be one of two great sportswriters for the paper. Unfortunately, most of the country does not care much about the Kansas sports, so most of the country does not know who he is. Of course, I also think most of the country does not read nearly as much sports journalism as I do.