I’ve been watching The Next Food Network Star. A friend of my roommate’s was one of the contestants. I was rooting for her along with my roommate. I am a big dork. I decided to post a comment in the forums, which is how I feel about reality shows in general:

I have to take these reality shows with a grain of salt. I watch [them] wondering why the editors and producers show the clips and interviews they do. I wonder why the judges give certain advice one week and seem to renege on it the next week. Hmm, what do they want me to think? What kinds of reactions are they trying to get from me? How will they keep me tuning in every week? There’s probably a bunch of tape left on the floor we won’t ever get to see, and I hate trying to make an informed decision from information which feels so absolutely manipulated. All we see of the contestants is what the TV gives us; we like whom we like because for the most part, the TV tells us whom we should like. But wake me up and call me confused if I were a contestant and the judges suggested something to help me improve and then condemned me the next week for implementing their suggestion. Serious inconsistencies and cop-outs, people. I understand that TV isn’t the most straightforward business; it’s some pretty intricate puppetry, even with the judges. I don’t know about anyone else, but I feel pretty jerked around. And I can’t imagine the stress the contestants are going through.

At least I understand why I keep watching.

I added a playlist to the sidebar. It opens in a new window. WordPress doesn’t accept Javascript anything, but that’s okay in this case, because whenever I go to a blog and music starts playing, it scares me. At first I don’t know where the music is coming from, and sometimes the music is lame. I’ll probably change the list every once in a while, so you can get an idea of the tunes rolling around in my noggin at any time.

Due to Sarah’s sheer enthusiasm, I’ve started listening to Raising Sand, by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. I mean, when you put two phenomenal musicians together, they can’t help but be amazing.

Hmm. I like when Patty Griffin and Emmylou Harris duet.
And Tori Amos and Damien Rice.
And Elmo and Norah Jones.
Chicken and Pig sing wonderfully together, too.

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