On her website, Marcela Valladolid recounts how almost 12 years ago, she went to Food Network and initially proposed a Mexican food cooking show. She approached Food Network exec Bob Tuschman, who is still the head cheese by the way, but nothing really came of it. Back in 1998, the Food Network was still admittedly a mini-wasteland of basic, uninteresting fare like “Emeril Live” and a lot of infomercials.It’s hard to believe that Mexican food would be given much space back then. Read the rest of this entry »

Breadstick Blues

Before I get started, let me preface this by saying that I’m a big fan of the bay area favorite:  Mary’s Pizza Shack.  The “Shack” serves a variety of homemade Italian food including pizza, pasta, sandwiches, soups, salads, breadsticks, appetizers and desserts at moderate prices.  Now the part about “moderate prices” shouldn’t be ignored, as Mary’s does indeed offer great food at equally great prices.

But what also shouldn’t be overlooked is the fact that Mary’s breadsticks are indeed on offer — but despite the advertised “complimentary” (FREE) teaser, they come at a price. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re like me, still dreading the thought of having to buy those last Christmas presents and thus be even further in debt for the momentary pleasures of another loved one, then I suggest a viewing of Rob VanAlkemade’s “What Would Jesus Buy?, recently aired on the Sundance Channel and produced by noted documentary filmmaker himself, Morgan Spurlock (“Super Size Me”). Read the rest of this entry »

Before the main US trade show for cars, held next month in Detroit at the North American Auto Show, Los Angeles holds an annual display, bringing together many new models and concept vehicles for the public to see.

Overall, the show at the LA Convention Center is important for the volume of cars held in three cavernous halls. And even if Detroit still rules supreme because it attracts the world media for the occasional “world” debuts and the annual announcements of the cars of the year, LA is still a pretty fine show.

Here are some of the more impressive new models that I saw last weekend: Read the rest of this entry »

I defy anyone not to like this amazing clip from a 5-year-old boy in Japan who, armed with a ukulele, plays the hell out of one of the most endearing yet also annoying pop songs, Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours”.  You must know this song –it’s the stuff or earworms, the kind of sing-songy, melodic dross that, according to Billboard Magazine, has spent the most weeks in the Hot 100 (76), received triple Platinum status and has sold over 4 million copies worldwide. Read the rest of this entry »

Leave it to the Chinese to provide the world with a graphic, yet hilarious animated blow-by-blow account of whatever it is that took place near Tiger Woods’ mansion in Windermere, FLA early last Friday morning.

The Chinese, you say? In case this even bears repeating, Tiger Woods is probably the globe’s most well-known athlete, and possibly its wealthiest. And the Cadillac Escalade crash that was heard around the world only underscores the enormous global reach that this suddenly notorious golf titan has. Read the rest of this entry »

We honestly don’t know what more publicity Martha Stewart needs. Or why she has been on TV shows hawking maybe her 500th book of domestic crafty/wedding cakes/cupcakes/papier-mache cabinets or whatever it is that she pays professional photographers the big bucks to capture. We also don’t know why she decided to submit to a full-length interview with ABC’s Cynthia McFadden on “Nightline”. But there she was, in all her imperious glory, tight-faced sometimes, but seemingly not without some things to say.

But let’s back up a bit first. To a couple of weeks back, in fact. Martha decided –in what seemed like an unprecedented move, if you believed the ads that were hyping this—to go on the Rachael Ray show, and at the same time, Rachael returned the favor two days later, on the Martha Stewart show.  Ray’s show, produced by Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Media, is far and away more popular than Martha’s somewhat more staid program –and this year Ray just snagged a Daytime Emmy for her show to boot. Read the rest of this entry »

Of course! What a natural combination! An operating system and a mammoth burger. The number 7. Oh, it’s Burger King and it’s in Japan! It all makes sense now. To celebrate the worldwide launch of Windows 7, Microsoft felt like roping Burger King for a weird promotion, available only in the burger-loving–and-tech-loving—country of Japan. For 7 days, all those who enter a BK in Japan will be able to sink their teeth into this outrageous 7-patty burger, called the Windows 7 Whopper for the not-so-reasonable price of 777 Yen (about $8.50 USD). Who thinks up these cross promotions? Read the rest of this entry »

Last April, KFC announced an “UNfry Day” to launch its new grilled chicken. All KFCs all over the country were giving out free pieces of chicken. We featured it back then, and even went through a fearless taste-test (reminder: it’s just OK). That promotion wasn’t such a success, even if Oprah herself got into the act, announcing on her show that people could go in to their local KFCs and demand the free food. The pandemonium soon followed. The long lines at my local KFC told the story: a lot of KFCs simply ran out of chicken. All this excitement for a perfunctory chicken thigh. Read the rest of this entry »

Your life has to really be in the proverbial toilet if the voice of reason who is pwning you on national TV is none other than Nancy Grace. And that most pathetic of  all-American tools is the greasy, tight-Ed-Hardy-untucked-shirt-with-the flip-flops Jon Gosselin. His handlers apparently think nothing of going from TV program to TV program, from Larry King Live to The Insider and others, to tell his side of his very public split from his wife, the erstwhile Kate Gosselin. Read the rest of this entry »

David Letterman’s admission of an extortion plot and sexual liaison with his own female staffers at the Late Show on Thursday night’s broadcast was surely disturbing, but it also made for compelling TV. Letterman revealed that he had been blackmailed by someone for $2 million who had information about sexual relationships Letterman had had with female members of his own staff over the years. Letterman claimed he had testified with a grand jury and that he had been cooperating with authorities to expose the extortion case. He was also coming clean, so to speak, as a way of saving himself, his family, friends and co-workers, and, he said, his own job.  It’s probably a good idea that Letterman was so forthcoming, but the way he did so in front of his studio audience was unsettling, at times humorous, to say the least. Read the rest of this entry »

This Friday, October 2, at 9:30 am PST (or 11:30 am CST), the world will know which city has been chosen as the host for the 2016 Summer Olympics. For those who live in Chicago, Madrid, Rio and Tokyo, the four finalist cities, they are especially anxious. Read the rest of this entry »

Where did Summer ’09 go? It’s Labor Day weekend and we’re already making plans to go back to school or work after our much-deserved vacations. Time to pack up all our gear and tuck away all of our memories that kept us on the beaches and parties during these past warm months of summer. With it, we remember all those songs that somehow made the summer distinctive. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re big fans of “Top Chef”. The other night the new season of “Top Chef Las Vegas” began just as this past summer’s “Top Chef Masters” was ending. The “Masters” series focused on 24 of the best and most accomplished chefs in America, pitting them in challenges each week. The winner, announced on Wednesday night, was awarded $100,000 that went to the chef’s charity. This year’s Master, went to famed Chicago restaurateur and owner of  Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, Rick Bayless. Read the rest of this entry »

Who is Eric Moore?

Honestly, I haven’t the foggiest idea who Eric is.  But I did find his camera’s memory card at a Vista Point in Oregon about a week and a half ago.  The mysteriously abandoned 2 GB Kingston SD card was chock full of memories (398 to be exact) and was laying conspicuously face-up, undamaged on a curbside along Hwy 5 at an unmarked Vista Point.

The card, was labeled “Eric Moore #3” by way of black Sharpie. Read the rest of this entry »

Times of Yore

How well do you remember the pop songs when you were younger?

I remember being 8 years old one Christmas morning when the best gift I got was a small Panasonic transistor AM/FM radio. That silver radio, about the size of my palm, was with me all the time, including the endless Sunday mornings from 9 until noon, when I faithfully listened to Casey Kasem’s American Top 40, and all those mawkish “long distance dedications”.

Obsessive pop music fan and data collector that I am, I used to write down every #1 song and kept track of this for years. It’s a shame, now, that as of last week, Kasem, at the ripe age of 79, has finally (finally!) decided to retire. It’s the end of an era indeed. Read the rest of this entry »