Lady GaGa

IMAGE VIA DAGUNKZ-REMIX-BLOGSPOT.COM
I can't believe I'm blogging about this - but what I really can't believe is that Lady GaGa is actually American. Because, Really?! When I first saw her video at the gym, I just assumed she was one of legions of Euro pop tarts. Imagine my surprise when it turned out she was American. More than anything, she seems straight out of a terrible SNL skit like "Deep House Dish," a joke-as-emblem of exactly the type of European phenomenon that Americans would label/mock as "Euro," with or without "trash" as suffix. Just look at the crystal mask from the future. Maybe there's some elaborate joke I'm not getting. But otherwise, shame on you, Mark Ronson.

Master Chef vs. Top Chef

PHOTO VIA BBC.CO.UK
I miss a lot of my TV shows. A friend asked recently if I've been watching Big Love, and the sad but obvious answer was no. I briefly considered buying the season pass for Lost on iTunes, but decided I didn't want to shell out actual money for the ultimate wind-up. Top Chef is another show I don't watch anymore - not because it's not on here, but because Belgian TV (on which one channel, Vitaya, appears dedicated exclusively to reality TV) is about three seasons behind.
BBC, however, has its own reality cooking show, or as they call it, "cookery competition" - Master Chef. And I was thinking tonight that I might actually like it better. Here's why:
1. No annoying Padma. Seriously, is she on prescription painkillers? Everything she says is soooo draaaaaawn ouuut. Those commercials where she was dancing were so . . . embarrassing. And she is obviously too skinny to know the first thing about food. I do miss Tom Colicchio, though.
2. I think they make the contestants work harder on Master Chef. Tonight, they sent them to Buckingham Palace to cook for the employees' cafeteria lunch service there. Not an easy job, and not likely to prompt illusions along the lines of "I could do that!" Last week, each contestant went to a well-known London restaurant to carry the lunch service. (Notice that they're not sent during dinner.) This all stands in stark contrast to, say, preparing for a cook-off before a ballgame.
3. There is less drama - the contestants are simply there to cook. Sure, one could argue that this makes the British show less fun to watch. But I can do without - at some point Top Chef began to suffer from Project Runway-itis, i.e., when it becomes obvious that not even the top contender will actually become the celebrity chef (or designer) for whose job they are supposedly vying.
4. Also, MasterChef is on several times per week. And not even at the same time, just to make things more interesting!

Steven Seagal, In Synchrony

As of right now, not one, but two Steven Seagal movies are crowding the Belgian TV airwaves. Wow. (Do you think this might be because Seagal is the closest thing to Jean-Claude van Damme's arch nemesis?)

PHOTO VIA WWW.HEAVEN-EARTH.COM

Magnétoscope

While attempting to DVR Little Dorrit a few nights ago, I was informed by the VOO user guide (which I can barely read, since it's in French) that I needed a magnétoscope. Really?!? Now I am really confused. Because I kind of thought that was the point of getting digital cable.

The Elusive Little Dorrit

(Just in case you're worried all I do is read the Twilight series out here,) I've been intermittently following the BBC series Little Dorrit. I say "intermittently," because the BBC has decided to make it nearly impossible to remember when the show is on - or at times simply not to show it, even when it was scheduled to be aired (as appeared to be the case last Thursday, when I had to sit through a UK version of an Amber Alert show). Alas . . . I suppose there is always replay on the BBC site.

Vampire City (As Opposed to Weekend)

I will go ahead and admit that I have been reading Twilight. Yes, it is poorly written and at times more than slightly idiotic, but it's also not a bad way to pass time in a city that in many ways seems a safe haven for vampires. (Interested, Cullens?)

I also am embarrassed to say that it wasn't until the second book that I understood how a vampire series could be written by (and this is an assumption, but she did go to BYU) a Mormon. Eternal marriage, duh! (But then again, she - the writer, not Bella - is married to a guy named Pancho. Can anyone explain?)

L'il Sis also picked up the book (partly my fault, I have to admit; sorry, Serious Readers of the World) and brought up a good point: Why do the Cullens have to be rich? Why does this point seem so important and . . . souligné? Feel free to weigh in - and admit that you've been reading the series, too.

That G-D iTunes

Just for the record, it takes way too long to download Gossip Girl here. I just purchased it, and the current ETA of "The Dark Night" on my hard drive is: 9 hours remaining. Doesn't that kind of defeat the culture of instant gratification the show stands for in the first place?