Who knew working at a law firm could be fun? #3 in the "Small" category. I guess having a picnic at Secret Island and going on a sunset cruise is fun. Maybe it's that average annual salary of $84,838 that's fun or the 61% female employees? I must say though, the firm does look like it is culturally diverse.
The perennial favorite Top Chef challenge, Restaurant Wars, got a change up this season, converting to Wedding Wars. Top Chef teams catered wedding dishes according to the tastes of the bride and groom, but for the groom's team, Wedding Wars broke down into flat out war.
The team of Dale, Lisa, Nikki, and Spike never gelled and was easily the losing team. The current Chefs admitted to watching previous seasons of Top Chef, but Nikki must have missed Restaurant Wars from Season 3. That's the one where Tre, the Executive Chef for the team, was eliminated for not acting like the Executive Chef. Even with her Italian food expertise, Nikki didn't guide the team to victory preparing Italian dishes for the groom. You know Head Judge Tom Colicchio ain't down with Executive Chefs not stepping up.
The groom's team was an eclectic crew, and I need to get video footage as they stood at Judges' table. Their body language was a telltale sign. Dale went ballistic for right or wrong, Lisa was her bitter angry self, Spike didn't help the mix, and Nikki simply went along for the ride.
Although I must say this episode was probably my favorite of this season. The Quick Fire and Wedding Wars were interesting challenges. More time was spent showing the personalities of the chefs although none of them are still fan favorites. In fact, I think most of the chefs really dislike each other more than other seasons.
The show's producers must realize this lack of fan support as well. How else can you explain the recent "What is Padma Wearing?" addition to the Top Chef website? How does this improve the culinary aspect of the show?
Haven't done one of these for awhile now, so just catching up with Pulpconnection stats for 2008. According to SiteMeter, Pulpconnection has had 86,458 visits over its entire lifetime. Hmmm, 100K visits coming up...
Yup, the youngest competitor of Season 6 of Dancing with the Stars, Mario, was eliminated in Week 8. Mario and Karina Smirnoff were right on the verge of the Semi-Finals, but the pair plateaued, and it was their time to go.
That also means Marissa Jaret Winokur is moving on along with Kristi Yamaguchi, Jason Taylor, and Cristian de la Fuente. I can't believe Marissa's huge turnaround from the beginning of the series. Even with all her improvements, I have to take a chauvinistic stance and say that Marissa simply can't win due to her physicality. She can dance, but lacks that natural elegance of a championship dancer.
Here's a short clip from this week's mambo illustrating this point. Do her back and front kicks look stunted to you?
As Dancing with the Stars heads to the Semi-Finals, the judges introduced a rule exception allowing lifts during performances. What a wily move. The dancers were so excited to do lifts that it threw off the emphasis on dancing, except for one couple.
On Week 8, the one-armed Cristian de la Fuente and Cheryl Burke tangoed and mamboed their way to the top of the leader board. Simply amazing without the use of Cristian's left arm. What this handicapped forced the couple to do was focus on the dancing to mask this disadvantage. While Crisitan and Cheryl did manage to incorporate lifts into their performances, they were well suited and well placed. Lifts weren't just done to wow the judges and the crowds. For this balance, Cristian and Cheryl were rewarded.
Also, Cheryl Burke took it back to Season 2 in 2006 for an inspirational comeback in Season 6. In Season 2, Cheryl partnered with Drew Lachey to revolutionize DWTS with a paso doble to MJ's Thriller. Let's take a trip down memory lane...
With Cristian's diagnosed ruptured tendon, Cheryl looked to Michael Jackson and choreographed a masterpiece to "Beat It." Let's rewind to last night...
Mario and Marissa Jaret Winokur have plateaued. They've come far, but I think the journey is at its end for the both of them. This would leave a finals of Cristian, Jason Taylor, and Kristi Yamaguchi. This is probably an appropriate Finals, but Cristian has a huge handicap with his injury.
Speaking of Jason and Kristi, their recent scores have fluctuated, but that's probably a good sign. Instead of merely working on their dancing skills and techniques, they are expanding their repertoire and feeling out the judges. What works, what doesn't, what do the judges approve and disapprove of. These couples are gearing up for the Finals.
So you spend time watching what you eat, trying to exercise when you can, and getting shown the results through HealthPass. How do you celebrate? You pig out at Sunday brunch at Orchids in Halekulani!!
All hotel brunches are expensive, and this brunch is probably the costliest around, BUT the food is so good! The variety and freshness of all the dishes are all top notch (this is Halekulani after all). You can't beat the service, not only at the restaurant, but from the entire hotel staff starting with the friendly and fast valets.
Back to the food. Check out the slideshow for more pics of gut busting decadence.
And oh yeah, any outing is an open invitation for any LOST members to attend. I was delighted that Sonya Walger decided to take up the offer and came to brunch. Sonya plays Penelope Widmore on LOST and appeared as Michelle Dixon on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Unfortunately, I didn't want to bother Ms. Walger during a meal since that's a celebrity no-no so I don't have a good pic. Instead LOST fanatics have to settle for this LOST-arazzi shot.
The photo album also has pictures from the new Waikiki Beachwalk area and the huge Kapahulu Safeway.
Maybe it's part of the promotion strategy, or maybe PepsiStuff is getting desperate, or maybe people are thinking PepsiStuff is a rip. Whatever the reason, the program is giving away 5 free Pepsi points at PepsiStuff.com. All you have to do is enter an email address and verify the letters you see on the screen. Then you're immediately given a code valid for 5 points.
Five points is good for one MP3 download from Amazon. And I think you can sign up using various email addresses but from different computers. It looks like the system tracks if your computer participated in this promotion.
Are you a member of HMSA? Do you take advantage of their free HealthPass screening service? Once a year, you can survey your overall health and see where improvements can be made with physical activity, weight management, stress management, and nutrition.
One of the interesting aspects of HealthPass is tracking your body measurements over time. During HealthPass sessions, your weight, body fat, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and more are recorded and compared to previous years.
Some stats. This year I'm 4 pounds less than last year but 6 pounds more from 1995. Body fat is the same as last year but 4% more as recorded in 95. Cholesterol level in 95 was 130, last year 163, this year 157. My HDL level was 35 last year but 43 this year (40 or higher is good).
If you're ever in the Nuuanu area or just craving great Thai food, go to the hole in the wall that is Bangkok Chef. Seriously, this place is built like a garage, but the food is awesome.
We always get a curry (red, yellow, or green) and the pad thai. A new favorite is the chicken larb. I'm not sure what's in it, but it's larbilicious. The portions are huge, lasting a few meals and ooh, the different tastes. The curriers are the right blend of creamy, spicy, crunchy, soft, and flavorful.
I've been using IM (instant messaging) more and more recently, both at work and at home. Kinda liking it for its immediate access to people.
I started with OS X's included iChat AV but have been trying out Adium recently. I'll probably stick with Adium since it nicely integrates various IM services into one window, but I do miss the AV part of iChat where I can see and talk to people along with text-based IM discussion.
Was a long week this past week. Everyday was a grind. The most I've dabbled in PowerPoint and Excel in a long time - pivot tables, charting results. Then had to present the stuff.
Falling behind in emails and blog posts. I did forget to write about last week's Top Chef where the other half of the lesbian couple was sent home.
Today was busy with some fun. More training in the morning. Fun at Farrell's at lunch followed by some strategy talk with Wayne's World. More blogging at work? Quite possibly.
Stuck in traffic on the way home.
And rumor has it that the Tabasco Man is cooking up a Coco-licious professional partnership. Some pics from lunch at Farrell's.
I must be going to some dud Starbucks not being able to find musical Pick of the Weeks. But I finally did get picks for Weeks 2 (Hilary McRae, EveryDay) and 3 (Carly Simon, So Many People to Love).
I hope this disparity of distribution within Hawaii Starbucks is fixed soon!
Hard Candy is full of beats and pounding rhythms and is just fun to listen to. Kanye West, Justin Timberlake, and more make vocal appearances. Good overall pop songs with a little edge to them... sugary sweet like pop songs with some attitude and hardness... Hard Candy, I get it.
I like Sarah McLachlan's collection since it contains covers of other popular songs (Rainbow Connection, Time After Time, Unchained Melody), has some classics, and beloved remixes (Silence (DJ Tiësto's in Search of Sunrise Remix).
Check them out, both available for immediate download on iTunes.
Oh those tricky, competitive stars of Dancing with the Stars. Week 7 of Season 6 kicked off the dual dance performances... and some possibly calculated chicanery. This I deem is the legacy of Marie Osmond.
But first, Shannon Elizabeth and her gangly limbs was eliminated after a solid tango and booty busting mambo. Sadly neither Hough sibling is left in the competition with Derek and Julianne relegated to dancing during the musical guest performances.
Back to Marie's legacy. Competition is so fierce amongst the six (now five) couples that deftness on the dance floor just might not be enough to get the fans' votes. Being in the media and getting additional attention was the forte of Marie Osmond of Season 5. She perfected this aspect of the reality-based DWTS all the way to the Finals. Such is her legacy.
Now witness the injury to Cristian de la Fuente. Is this just bad luck or Marie's legacy? Yes, it was reported on the results show that an MRI showed a ruptured tendon in his arm, but with the lowest overall score of the night, Cristian and Cheryl Burke were saved by the fans and will continue on. With only three weeks left in the competition, can Cristian and Cheryl ride this wave of renewed popularity to the Finals? The legacy of Marie Osmond...
Watch at about 1:17 for the injury.
All the competition is forcing the stars to hold nothing back. For her mambo, Shannon Elizabeth donned a prosthetic arse that would make Sir Mix-a-lot beg for a piece of that bubble. Even though Kristi Yamaguchi wasn't the leader of this week, she's addressing her critiques of being too conservative. Her performances are becoming more emotional while her wardrobe is showing more Asian skin. She's definitely gearing up and posturing for a run to the Finals.
Mario and Karina are pushing the sexiness of their dances getting the judges and fans all hot and bothered. The fans responded by getting them out of the bottom two from Week 6. The only couple not employing some gimmicks or shenanigans is Marissa Jaret Winokur and partner Tony Dovolani. In the recent weeks, Marissa has shown breakthrough progress but given the aforementioned action, would you vote for the solid but staid couple? Nope, and Marissa was in this week's bottom two.
Finally, the leader for this week is Jason Taylor and Edyta Sliwinska. That paso doble done to the theme from Monday Night Football while garbed in Miami Dolphins colors was the highlight of the night.
