PBS & Piracy

*This post contains NO SPOILERS about Season 3 of Downton Abbey. Don’t worry.

I’d just like to go on the record (along with Lord Grantham himself) to complain about what American fans of British television series have to endure because of the quirks of PBS.  Shortened episodes of Foyle’s War and airing delays of Downton Abbey leave me with mixed feelings towards the Public Broadcasting System.

I love the fact that thanks to Masterpiece Classic, Masterpiece Mystery, et al, we can enjoy the (usually superior) British miniseries and movies, like The 39 Steps, Sherlock, or Zen.

But delaying the airing of Downton Abbey is just crazy.  Gone are the days when we could expect spoilers not to be leaked across oceans.  We live in a different world than the 1990s, when the Europeans could watch our television series and choose to be happily ignorant of things that we had known for months.  And vice versa.  As far as communication is concerned, there is no ocean between the two continents.  As soon as something airs on television, blog posts and Twitter updates abound.

It’s nearly impossible to avoid spoilers regarding major plot lines, especially when things like Wikipedia are updated the second something happens in the world.  And it seems pretty unfair to demand an entire nation of viewers remain tight-lipped about a popular show just because our television network has chosen to hold the shows for several months.

If you don’t want to know anything about the newest season, you have to avoid the internet completely.  Even press releases from ITV aren’t safe.

Or… you can watch Season 3 “early.”  Rather than stumbling upon some spoiler before January, you can watch it in the Fall and be surprised as the drama unfolds.  Is it wrong to watch the episodes of DA when they’re posted on their Facebook page and they’re available for all to see?  What about using sites like expatshield or tunnelbear, which seem to be perfectly legitimate?

Last fall I was reading a caption on a picture of the girls from DA and saw that Lavinia died.  I didn’t even know who Lavinia was at the time, but I knew she wouldn’t get out of Season 2 alive.  It made portions of Season 2 a bit anti-climatic.

And if there’s anything I hate, it’s knowing the end of a story before its time.  I read series of books in order. I watch television series in order.  I like plots unfolding naturally.

Well, readers?  Thoughts?  Is it wrong to watch Season 3 with Downton Abbey’s natives or should we wait and watch it according to the whims of PBS?

The Great Food Truck Race

The last week has seen many adventures, but I can only post about so many things at once!  Last weekend was full of friends and a wedding and the beach.  This weekend (so far) has been full of food.

I was on the hunt for food trucks.  And not just any food trucks.  Food trucks from the Food Network show “The Great Food Truck Race.”

I had watched parts of both previous seasons, so I knew the basics of what was going down when I saw on Twitter that the Food Network was coming to Nashville.

In short, a number of trucks start on the West Coast.  They make their way across the country, selling in different cities, and the truck that makes the least amount of money doesn’t get to go to the next city.   In addition to selling, in each city Tyler Florence gives the teams some sort of challenge, and the winner of the challenge gets some advantage in the sales (a head start, extra money for groceries, etc).  At some point in the two days of sales in the city, Tyler also calls them with a “speed bump” – something crazy they have to do that may make or break the weekend — they can only sell vegan items or they have to sell everything for a dollar, etc.

I didn’t have visions of grandeur — getting on television, bumping into Tyler Florence, etc — but I did want to try the fare from the trucks if possible.

The key to food truck success is mastering social media.  While the four food trucks still in the competition can’t tweet (I assume they can’t, since they don’t), everyone else can.  And there were plenty of tweets floating around the past few days with the hashtag “greatfoodtruckrace” or “gftr”.

My friends and I were going to an event last night called “Brew at the Zoo” (more about that later), and we thought maybe the winners of the challenge would be there– that would be a great advantage, selling to a hungry captive (drinking) audience.  But no such luck.

They were supposed to be at one of the farmer’s markets this morning, so I headed out to buy some vegetables and see if I could run into them there.  No go.

They were rumored to be the food truck gathering that occurs every Saturday and Sunday in a local park.  So I headed there for lunch.  Nope.

But while I was there, I decided to get lunch at one of the local trucks that was there- Wrappers Delight.  I got a Grilled Chicken Caesar wrap that was fantastic.  So it wasn’t a wasted trip.

It seemed that the trucks had disappeared.  There were reports of two of them going to a small town south of here, but other than that, Twitter was relatively silent.  Later in the afternoon, there were reports that the Korean BBQ truck was going to show up in East Nashville.  That’s a bit of a trek for me, but I thought it would be worth it if I could find some friends to go with me.  Then reports came that a second truck, an Italian one, was going to be nearby as well.

Everyone was busy, so I was debating about going alone… knowing I’d probably regret it if I didn’t go at all.

Then my friend Manda texted that she was getting out of work early!  My dear friend Manda, who loves restaurants and eating as much as me, who agrees with me that we need to start a Nashville food blog, who was the first person I thought of when I was looking for a companion for this adventure.

So we set out, along with our friend Andrea, on the hunt to find the Food Network.

We saw the Italian truck first — Nonna’s Kitchenette – it had no line and the girl working the window called out to us.  But it looked like they were offering a good dessert, so we decided to check out the Korean BBQ truck for dinner and return to  Nonna’s for dessert.

Down the street was some sort of festival with music and beer, and the Korean BBQ truck — Seoul Sausage — was in a prime location.  We had to wait in line for awhile, but we were hoping it would be worth it.

I got the “Flaming Fried Balls,” which were balls of spicy pork, rice, cheese, and a kimchi garlic jalapeno aioli.  I was worried about it being too spicy for me, so I got a strawberry lemonade too.

The strawberry lemonade was definitely a rip-off — for $3, it was basically colored water.  There was a vague taste of strawberry, but little to no taste of lemonade.  It made me wish the competition wasn’t just based on sales but was also based on reviews, because they would definitely get a thumbs down on that.

But luckily, the fried rice balls made up for it.  They had a bit of a kick, but not what I was expecting at all.  They reminded me of Roman suppli, a great little snack you can find at many pizzerie in Rome.  They were a bit overpriced, but I was expecting all the food trucks to be a bit pricey since the competition was based on profit.

Manda also got a “K-Pop Star,” which was a Cherry Coke float with pop rocks.  She loved it.  Before he put the pop rocks in, she stirred it around, so the whole thing started to overflow– during that hilarity, I noticed the boom microphone for the first time.  I saw the camera just after that, so hopefully the whole thing was captured on film and will make it into the show. : )

It was fun to talk to him — he was hilarious — so it’ll be neat to see him on the show.

Here are the flaming fried balls:

The aioli was awesome.  I may have scraped the extra off the cardboard with my finger.

Andrea had the East Side Korean BBQ burger and said it was fantastic.

They interviewed a girl that ordered right in front of us and a cute family behind us.  The Food Network lady did ask Manda how she heard about the truck, and she gave me credit – and then when the lady asked me, I told her I had followed the race on Twitter.  Apparently that wasn’t exciting enough to merit an interview.  I do wish I could have told her the lemonade wasn’t good.

We decided to head over to Nonna’s Kitchenette for dessert.  They didn’t have much of a crowd, so we walked right up to the window and ordered.   Manda and I both got the Italian waffle cookie ice cream sandwich.  Doesn’t that sound incredible?

Unfortunately, it was overpriced and badly executed.  The “waffle cookies,” which were essentially pizzelles, were really delicious. But it was impossible to eat.   I was glad the cameras weren’t on us while I ate it, because I essentially just had to force it into my mouth and get it all over my face, while it dripped and fell on my shoe.

Yummy… but it would have been far yummier if I could have had it in a bowl with a spoon — and maybe some Nutella spread on top?

We stood around a little after eating, because Manda was telling me a story, and the cameras filmed us standing there for awhile.  They were parked in a pretty lousy location (a gas station parking lot, down the street from the main buzz of the festival), so they weren’t getting any foot traffic other than the people who went to find them because of Twitter.  Of course, that’s a huge part of the food truck network, which is why judging their success solely on profit isn’t such a bad idea.  Food trucks depend on social networking.  Seoul Sausage not only had a good location, they were mentioned all over Twitter all afternoon.  One of the trucks was never mentioned — I still don’t know where they were today, and I was following them all pretty closely.  So in my mind, it’s pretty clear who is going home and who is winning.

I just saw on Twitter that these food trucks aren’t allowed in metro parks — which explains why I struck out so often this morning.  That seems odd to me, but they are working on statutes for food trucks in the city right now, so that might be part of it.  It’ll be interesting to see where they end up tomorrow.  There are so many better places to be than a gas station parking lot in East Nashville.

The lady with the orange purse placed a large order to go (luckily, she ordered the meatball sliders and not the ice cream sandwiches), so it created a bit of “drama” for the cameras.  Hence the close up shot of the girls discussing this large order.

I’m really happy we went — I’m really glad that Manda was up for the adventure, and that Andrea came along too!  I wish the other trucks the best — Mamma’s Grizzlies was downtown tonight, so hopefully they found some crowds.  And Pop a Waffle was nowhere to be found.  So unless the “speed bump” (which Twitter says will occur tomorrow) throws a wrench in Seoul Sausage’s success, I think there’s already a clear cut winner this weekend.

Gray hats

I recently watched the first season of the BBC series “Sherlock,” a modern-take on the Arthur Conan Doyle stories.  (Two disclaimers – I have not seen season two of the series, but wouldn’t recommend it based on a few things I’ve heard, and I’ve never seen the Robert Downey, Jr movies, so I don’t know how they compare.)  I found the series highly entertaining, especially for avid Holmes fans, who will notice many clever tributes to the original stories.  It was intriguing to see how the writers adapted not just the characters (Watson, for example, was wounded in modern Afghanistan, just as the Doyle has him wounded there in the Second Anglo-Afghan War, but he blogs about Holmes’ escapades instead of publishing them) but also the small details of the cases (Holmes surmises someone is an alcoholic — not because their pocketwatch is scratched where an unsteady hand wound it every night, but because their cell phone is scratched where an unsteady hand plugged it into the charger).  While the homosexual jokes got old, I found the three episodes, on the whole, quite enjoyable.

They did inspire me to re-read the original stories, something I haven’t done yet but hope to soon.  One thing I’d like to investigate are the character traits of Holmes. In the BBC series, he is odd, rude, and conceited.  Was he always like this?  Did I just manage to look the other way?  I always really liked Sherlock Holmes… was I blind to his personality?  How much of this Holmes was the product of the writers’ interpretation and how much was authentic?

By the third episode, my hero was no hero at all.  He saved lives and outsmarted criminals and his eccentricity was strangely charismatic.  He had grown on me.  But a man in a white hat, he was not.  And then he admitted himself:

“Don’t make people into heroes, John. Heroes don’t exist and if they did I wouldn’t be one of them.”

How depressing.

That led me to ponder the rise of the antihero.  I remember reading an article after the release of Spiderman 2 that bemoaned that fact that even our superheroes had become melodramatic and fickle.  Peter Parker was going emo on us, wondering if he should still be Spiderman.  Superman Returns gave us another emo superhero that lacked a little super and that almost lost Lois to James Marsden.  What was the world coming to?

It’s nothing new, of course – antiheroes have been with us in literature for quite some time.  But these days they seem to dominate the landscape.  The larger-than-life, white-hat-wearing heroes seem almost non-existent in television and movies, and coupled with the fact that they seem less prevalent in real life, too, the antihero seems to be the best we can do.

I know some will say it’s art imitating life.  We live in a fallen world, and it’s not realistic to have sinless, irreproachable characters.

But golly, can’t we have something to strive for?  Maybe every father isn’t Ward Cleaver.  But every father isn’t Al Bundy, either.  I think our lives could use a little more Mr. Cunningham and Dr. Huxtable. (This is an interesting look at the way television father’s have changed since the days of Mr. Cleaver: Ten TV Dads, chronologically)

What’s wrong with holding someone up as a model – a hero-  someone we can really emulate?  When my favorite character from a current BBC show fell last Sunday, I almost threw something at the television.  Until now, he had been strong, wise, and loving while his world was at war (literally).  He had shown compassion to servants, love to his wife, constancy amidst strife, humor and patience with the six women in his life.  He seemed to be the rock, the one who held the world together.

But he’s only human, the show’s creators seemed to want to show us.

Oh, so it’s too much to expect all that from a man?  Strength, love, wisdom, constancy, compassion, humor, patience.  That’s not realistic?

What a sad view of the world.

Bring back the white hat, and maybe some men will rise up to be worthy of it.

Redneck First-World Problem

My friend Liza has this hilarious quip when she has a complaint that can hardly constitute a real complaint if you stop to think about how lucky we all are.  For example, if you have trouble scheduling your pedicure appointment, or if your iPad has trouble keeping a charge, she quips, “I know, first-world problem.”

Well, tonight I have a redneck first world problem.

Coverage of the Bristol night race has been bumped by a dumb NFL exhibition game! ARGH!

Do I blame ABC?  Or do I blame every single Titans football fan?

This is the Bristol night race, people!

ARGH!

Now, I realize that our country is currently suffering from a natural disaster.  So it hardly seems fair to complain that I can’t watch my NASCAR race.

But I’m still doing it.

UPDATE: Hey, this was my 200th post.  Exciting!  And I used it on a first-world rant.  About Nascar.

Next Food Network Star

I’m sitting here watching my guilty pleasure– the Next Food Network Star.  But it’s actually “guiltier” than that — it’s the one hour “reunion” special before the finale.  We’ve watched these people for the last few months, and now we’re watching a “reunion”???  Shouldn’t that word be reserved for people who have been apart for, say, several YEARS?

Anyway, I thought about “live-blogging” the finale, but I realized all I really want to say is:

Bobby Flay in a three-piece suit.

Awesome.

The end.

reflections on reflections

I am sitting here drinking coffee and eating my breakfast, in an attempt to remain awake for a few more hours- at least through morning Mass.  My sleep schedule is so thrown off that it’s hard to believe it’s only 6:43am.  I’ve been up for almost 5 1/2 hours.

I went to bed yesterday afternoon at 6 so that I would be refreshed enough to take in the beatification with all my sense faculties.  I drove over to my friend Maria’s house, where we watched it together in the wee hours of the morning.

I contemplated “live blogging” through the event, knowing that no one would be reading it as I wrote, but just for the sake of capturing my thoughts during the historic Mass.  I decided against it, preferring to reflect on it at a later moment when I have had time for it to sink in.  In this era of instant communication, there’s a desire to express oneself immediately, to share thoughts as they come so as to live the moment together, in a way.

But in sharing thoughts as they come, we often sacrifice sharing insights and reflections.  Experiencing a moment, ruminating on it, and expressing one’s thoughts afterwards is too slow, too tardy for audiences who have gone on to the next event.

So as I sit here and drink my Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, wishing it was espresso from Sant’Eustachio, I put off blogging about the glorious events of this morning for another day – at the risk of being outdated, but in the hopes of being worthwhile.

Since I didn’t live-blog, you are saved from comments such as, “Why won’t they tell us the identity of that bald man they keep showing?” (the president of Italy) or vents like “Why did EWTN stop coverage so soon?” (I turned to YouTube and was able to watch the Holy Father go into the Basilica to pray in front of the casket.)

U-Mark, let’s compare notes — I counted three appearances of Msgr. Ganswein, although I was distracted at the start of the homily (or maybe it was the end) and so I didn’t see if he delivered the homily to the Holy Father or took it back at the end.  He was visible at the entrance procession in the PopeMobile, at the Regina Coeli, and at the end when they went into the Basilica.

I do think some network should hire me to do commentary, however, because all morning I would make comments just before the commentators would or I would answer their questions.  But I’ve been saying that for awhile now. My acquaintance Mary will be doing the commentary tomorrow for the Mass of Thanksgiving, thank goodness.

Blessed John Paul II, pray for us!

thank you, Duchess of Cambridge!

I love it. : )

hat tip: Kate Middleton for the Win

I’ll watch the highlights

A lot of people asked me if I’m going to wake up early tomorrow.   I’m sort of jealous of my friends that live in Hawaii.  They can catch at least the beginning of the wedding before heading to bed.

No, I’m not waking up to watch the wedding.  Like I told my mom — it’s like a sporting event.  At the time, you feel like you should lose sleep watching the game/match/race.  But in the end, you might as well go to bed.  You can see the score in the morning.

So I’m not going to lose sleep over it.  I’ll check out the highlights for the next month when everyone continues to talk about her dress, the flowers, the procession, and the color of the Queen’s hat.

I’m basically interested in two things — her dress and the music.  (Anglicans have good music.)  The music question was pretty much answered here: Music for the Wedding Service.  And really, this website answers almost any question you might have, minus the dress: www.officialroyalwedding2011.org

As for Sunday — well, I’ll be waking up early to watch the beatification of John Paul II.  That’s different. : )

apologies

Sorry I haven’t blogged lately.  And I’m sorry I left a post about ice cream up so long into Lent.

I don’t have enough for a real post, so I thought I’d give a smattering.  Sort of like “quick takes,” a wonderful idea from Jen of Conversion Diary.  The only problem is that it isn’t Friday, so I’m either a little late or a little early.  And I don’t think I have 7.  but here we go.

1) I read all weekend.  Well, almost all weekend.  After I saw the BBC mini-series North & South (fantastic– please, go watch it right now) I decided I wanted to read the Elizabeth Gaskell novel on which it was based.  After seeing the mini-series Wives & Daughters, also based on an Elizabeth Gaskell novel, I began that book and really liked it, but unfortunately began it on a plane to Rome… so I didn’t finish it (Rome got in the way) and then had to leave the book behind in Rome because it wouldn’t fit in my suitcase.  (I also had to leave a pair of shoes.  Among other things.)

So I got North & South from the library, but had to get it from Inter-Library Loan — and then forgot to renew it when I needed to… and it was due today.  I’m really bad with overdue books, so I really wanted to return it today.  That meant I had 300+ pages to read this weekend.  And I did it!

It was a good book, although I wouldn’t say go out and read it right now… while I would tell you to go watch the mini-series right now.  Oh, wait, I already did.

2) This Saturday was absolutely gorgeous.  So I did take a break from reading to go on a walk.

3) I love OnDemand.  I missed two of my food shows last night — Next Great Restaurant on NBC (which I watch almost exclusively for Bobby Flay and Curtis Stone) and Chopped All Stars, but I was okay missing them because I knew I could watch them tonight OnDemand.

4) I’m throwing a St. Patrick’s Day party on Thursday.  It was something I had been thinking of for awhile, and yet I feel like I just decided to do it out of the blue.  Maybe because I have absolutely nothing I need for it.   Except for Irish music.  I have that.

5) Why hasn’t anyone told me that eggs & cream cheese together on a bagel is really good?  It’s probably really bad for me, but its so yummy.  There’s a little coffeeshop near my apartment that serves bagel sandwiches until 10am.  I went once after Mass and had a really delicious one… but it was sort of a fluke, because it was after 10 and they still made it for me.  (I didn’t even see the sign that says they only serve until 10).  The next time I went, they said they couldn’t make it — it was 10:15.  Jeesh.  10:15 is still breakfast time!  Well, it’s impossible for me to go to 8:30am Mass, make a nice thanksgiving after Mass, socialize with anyone outside of church, and then get to the coffeeshop by 10.  So I decided to just make my own sandwich.  It’s slightly modified from their recipe:

1 multigrain bagel

1 egg, scrambled.

1 slice of Havarti cheese, melted on one side of the bagel

a thin layer of vegetable cream cheese (Neufchatel, to be exact) on the other side of the bagel

fresh spinach

Delicious.

That’s it for now.

 

8 minutes of hilarity

I saw this last night, after getting lost in youtube for a bit, and I was still laughing this morning at work when the thought of Raymond would pop into my head.  I don’t usually laugh out loud when recalling youtube videos.

It’s long, but it’s worth it.  One of my favorite parts is at 5:41.  But really, there are too many funny moments to count.

Oh, and Pat Sajak is fantastic.