Whine & Cheese

Life in the Fishbowl

For the most part, I don't spend much time worrying about what happened to the folks who have appeared on reality shows. Sure I don't mind seeing them on a talk show or the occasional "where are they now" feature, but for the most part their 15 minutes are up.. hopefully they are back to their "normal" life.. and for me... I am usually onto the latest crew. Well that is not always the case...

I have blogged about TheFishBowl.com a few times. This is the website where ex-reality "stars" gather and talk about their lives, talk about the latest reality shows, and bicker among each other (like the latest additions from BB5). I am a bit curious about the site name... usually "living in a fishbowl" is considered a negative thing... the inference being that one's life is constantly and uncontrollably watched and scrutinized by others. All these folks did it once when they chose to be on reality television and they are doing it again via their participation in the website (where they call each other "fish" no less). I dare say that most of them probably could have returned to their "normal" lives and returned to some degree of privacy. But I guess the point is that they don't want that...

Is there still that much of a demand from the public for information about them? Having tasted a snippet of pseudo-celebritydom have they become so addicted to it that they can't go back to a private life? Having gone into the shows as future lawyers, engineers, etc... is life as an ex-reality "star" easier or more fulfilling? Are they actually making a living? Is there just some group-think mentality when you get a bunch of people together who have gone through a similar experience?

I am sure the motives vary from person to person. I mean it seems like a fun idea, but it is hard to muster up a lot of respect when one recent articles was subtitled: "promoting calendars by drinking, tanning and schmoozing!" Ah, life in L.A. (where it seems most of them now call home)? Here is a taste of some other articles:

L.A. Traffic ­ Another Kind of Reality!
Getting Hooked on Skin Rejuvenation
Playing "The Price is Right Live" in Atlantic City
Shooting a Magazine Cover
Emmy Events with Ex-boyfriend Jason - Part I
"Wife Swap" ­ My New Favorite Pastime!
Turning 25 ­ Exciting and Amazing!
Help Me Pick My Hollywood Head-Shot!
Travel Weekend Turns into Travel Month!

One of my "favorite" articles was one entitled "Using the Baja Fresh Card to the Limit!" - in this one an ex-MTV Real Worlder was given a Baja Fresh pass as a thank you for being part of a charity dodgeball tournament (yes, you read right "charity dodgeball") for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (btw, the author couldn't even spell Glaser correctly). She quotes that the card "allowed me and 5 friends to eat a free meal, with drinks included, once a day, for a year."

So what did she do? Went to Baja Fresh EVERY day - with a group of 5 always in tow and tried to max out $$ on menu items -- the "best" they did was a 1-day tally of $74.82 worth of food. She proudly boasted that she "saved" $18,000 over the year. She ended the post " I guess no one believed that people who were on television and did charity work would actually bring 6 people for free meals every day. Well, we proved them wrong, didn't we?"

Nice "charity" work huh? I think any iota of goodwill was pretty much wiped out. Why not take a few meals over to a homeless shelter? Or how much would the Glaser Foundation have been thrilled with an $18k donation (or for companies like Baja Fresh to sponsor again, which they apparently did not ... hmmm, I wonder why)? Finally... I go to Baja Fresh myself...and like it... but how the heck can you eat it every day?

Now this was somewhat of an atypical entry -- not all the "fishes" come across as self-centered, "what's in it for me," attention-hungry $*%#$s, but reality television fans... I think we have created some monsters... or some huge psychiatrist bills down the road!

"Jack & Bobby" Gets A Full Term

One of my favorite new shows of the season has been the WB's Jack and Bobby... a hybrid of The Wonder Years, The West Wing, and probably some teenage-angst drama that I don't watch. I was trying to not get too attached -- I've been in too many "new show" relationships to only have my heart broken by cancellation. The early ratings have not been great for J&B... averaging just 3.7 million viewers a week and losing a whopping 1.5 from its lead-in show (Charmed)... and the competition is only going to get harder this week with the debut of ABC's Desperate Housewives. Thank goodness we are a 2 TiVo household!

But alas great news via Zap2it... WB Votes for Full Season of 'Jack & Bobby'... the first new show to get a full-season pickup this year.

"Great television doesn't come along every day, and that's why we're picking up 'Jack and Bobby,'" says WB Entertainment President David Janollari. "It's a beautifully written, sophisticated show with superb performances by an elegant cast. We are so proud to give the entire cast and crew a full-season pickup."

Thank you Mr. Janollari... nice to see that quality sometimes wins over quantity. But I am guessing this was a far easier decision for a "netlet" to make than one of the 4 major networks who are more driven by the ratings.

The article goes on to say that the show is not being watched by the stereotypical WB target audience... the youngsters. Instead it says that the show attracts an "overwhelming concentration" of viewers with household incomes of $100,000 or more.

This show really needed time to paint the full picture...fill in the blanks...and I am very glad to see it will have the chance to do it (even if it is just for one season).

More on Colin & Christie / More Phil NOW

Okay, suffering some Wednesday morning TAR withdrawal...

TAR5's Colin & Christie have an interesting interview over at TV Guide. Here are some of the highlights:

Engagement: Colin planned on doing it whenever they were on The Early Show, whether they won or were eliminated at some earlier point in the show. He thought about doing it at the finish line - but I guess you don't want to be carrying around an engagement ring around the world.

Behind the Scenes: Apparently there is a lot that does not make the show. Wonder how they got all those parkas and ski pants in Canada -- they surely couldn't fit those in a backpacks?! They had to pick up the clothing at 3 different stores in Banff -- and there was a teepee building roadblock that never aired as well.

Blowout: A more surprising omission from the finale was that Colin and Christie's car had a blowout on the way to the stockyards which set them back about 20 minutes... perhaps it was excluded to keep up the suspense to the finish line - but nevertheless C&C still came in, at their estimate, only 15 minutes behind Chip & Kim.

"We're Nice": Calling themselves "the nicest team on the race" - they blame the editors for getting both creative and selective. Christie defends her "It's okay, run them over" line saying that she was talking about a TAR production vehicle that was following the jeepney...and not the innocent Manila residents that were edited around her comment. They said the weeks the show aired were the hardest (how they were portrayed, how people were reacting to it) - but call the 5 weeks of the race the best of their lives.
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For those of you who can't wait until the TAR6 hits the air to get your Phil Koeghan fix... just a reminder that his new show No Opportunity Wasted debuts this Sunday (Oct 3rd) on the Discovery Channel. The tag line of the show is: "the new series where $3,000 and 3 days turns dreamers into doers."

Ass Advertising & Lycra Shirts

...or "Vanity at the Gym"...

Funny thing... once I blogged about not being very good about going to the gym... I have returned to working out on a pretty consistent basis! [Mental note to self: keep this in mind... and now don't blow it in a fit of reverse psychology]

When I was at the gym yesterday afternoon, I saw a couple of pieces of gym attire that I have been meaning to blog about for some time now.

The first: women wearing shorts with wording splashed across their backside. It could be a word like "STAR" or more often the name of a college mascot (i.e. Huskies...or more likely at my gym either Sun Devils or Wildcats). I am transfixed by these shorts...often times staring... before a mental self-smackdown wondering what the hell I, a gay man, am doing staring at a woman's ass.

At that point, I wonder if that is the point. In spite of my sexuality, have I been lured into some female version of quicksand? Is that the point of these shorts to have one's ass purposely gazed upon? I am thinking that answer may be "yes." The large majority of the time it is a very nice ass. The logo/wording and its placement really does not serve any purpose... other to be read, correct? What bugs me more is when those shorts are worn by pre-pubescent (or heck even teenage) girls -- now that just seems wrong. But I guess that is my hidden parent side creeping out...

Guys don't seem to wear these shorts (though I think they do exist)... guys know that that ass advertising is impossible to ignore... and in the testosterone-fueled gym environment I think most guys are not looking to have their ass stared at...

Guys who want (dare I say...NEED) the attention wear lycra muscle shirts. There is no doubt in my mind that this piece of apparel is ALL about vanity. Look at my chest, look at my chiseled upper body! Yes, I see! I see! Why not just wear regular muscle shirt? It shows off the goods well enough. Heck, I wouldn't even mind if the shirt is one size to small... with every pec and ab muscle just about to burst through the fabric and stitching. Lycra is just overkill.

So the women win on this one. A lot more subtle and subversive in getting people to look. I rarely think negative thoughts about the ass advertisers. They seem like nice gals and okay I admit it, the shorts are usually kinda cute. But the lycra wearing guys...words like - arrogant, cocky, self-centered, jerk - jump to mind. Or maybe I'm just jealous?! Well yeah...but I will take a tad more modesty any day...

TAR6: Amazing Hits

There is something to be said for being one of the first folks to get something out there on the Internet or in a blog. My TAR6 Team Preview that recounted the a TV Guide article about the latest set of racers has been bringing in the hits big time!

It has been reminiscent of that classic shampoo commerical (and they told two friends and so on and so on) - one thing has lead to another. My post was noticed by folks over at a couple of reality television sites. Reality Blurred and RealityTV World provided links to my post and the hits have been coming in by the hundreds (a truly rare event here at W&C!) -- thanks for the mention and sending folks over!

Those of you who have stumbled onto my blog via one of these links...I hope I have provided a little bit of help... and feel free to poke around the rest of the blog. I will certainly post any new TAR stuff I can find!

Here are the links:

For the Reality Blurred link ... click here
A very cool and informative site... I knew about it even before I noticed all those hits coming in today. The site DOES contain possible TAR6 spoilers (i.e. team sitings from around the globe), so if you want to remain spoiler-free read with caution.

For the Reality TV World boards... click here
Later in this community board post, scans of the TAR6 teams from TV Guide article have been added. Click above and scroll down the post to check out the team pics.

My blog post that started it all... click here

Chaos at the Grocery Store

Well, with no more Big Brother or Amazing Race (well until TAR6 gets underway) to blog about, I am going to have to come up with some new subject matter. This is the best I could do today, so bear with me!

I am a bit of a creature of habit....well, okay A LOT of a creature of habit. As much "fun" it is to embrace the new and different things in life, there are times I would just prefer things to stay the same. One of these things is my grocery store.

Unlike a hurricane, I have a steady and predictable path when those automatic doors slide open... a supermarket strategy so to speak. And yes, I am pretty compulsive that I must be the one pushing the cart. My other half has surrendered to my idiosyncratic behavior at the store. I hit the refrigerated section first, then work my way up and down each aisle, skipping some aisles on purpose (i.e. the greeting card aisle unless I need one, the diaper and "women's products" aisle - always!), working my way over to the produce section, doing a back sweep of the meat section, and finally return to the frozen food aisles before heading to the checkout. I accompanied my Mom to the market as a kid (and heck even well into my teenage years)... this is how she always did it... and it has proven to be a hard habit to break. I even set up my coupon envelope to follow the "order" of my shopping path. Yes, I clip coupons (another Mom holdover) and save usually $10-20/week between coupons and the market's savings card. While this all sounds quite anal, believe it or not I rarely make a shopping list -- only an occasional "absolutely don't forget" list (i.e. toilet paper or ingredients for a new recipe).

So the current renovation/overhaul of our supermarket has been quite troubling.

The soda and snack food aisle is now at the beginning instead of nearly at the end of my path... the breads are now in separate aisle from the cheeses... stuff that used to be on the right side of the aisle are now on the left, as are things that I was used to seeing while going "down" an aisle instead of "up" it. Worse yet, while the store in still in transition mode -- items have been in different places from week to week. Ugh! Hopefully, they will just get done with all of this moving around... I can learn the new "routine"...and get back to the usual mindless/robotic weekly trip. Just have to think too much these days?! Did I miss the pasta or is it still ahead?

The only good news coming out of all this is that the store is getting its own Starbucks. Well, maybe bad news since this is seriously going to feed right into my cappuccino/frappuccino addiction...

Fine Wine #10: Josh Duhamel

I warned you this was coming! The #10 (how appropriate since he pretty much is a 10 in my book!) entrant onto my Fine Wine List is one of my biggest schoolboy crushes of the past year or so - Josh Duhamel.

For the uninitiated, Josh currently stars on the NBC series Las Vegas. As predicted, his character, Danny McCoy, needed only a week to recover from post-traumatic war syndrome. He was back to his normal cute 'ole non-tortured self this week...and even put his marriage to boobalicious Mary on the backburner.

Before hitting primetime, Josh earned a loyal following thanks to his role as lady killer Leo du Pres on the ABC soap All My Children. Josh was nominated for 3 Daytime Emmys and took home the award for Best Supporting Actor in 2002. He landed his first major big screen role last year in Win A Date With Tad Hamilton.

However, even before then Josh did a little nude modeling for acclaimed photographer Greg Gorman. A couple of those pix can be seen in Gorman's book As I See It - which I now see has been re-issued (could it be because of Josh?) and available at a fairly reasonable price.

These days his modeling gigs are a bit more conservative ... and unfortunately requires him to wear clothing! He currently part of the Gap campaign, the same one that features Sarah Jessica Parker and Lenny Kravitz. Most of Josh's work seems to be print (including the pic included in this entry).

To attempt to satiate those who have or will land on this site thanks to Google, Yahoo, AOL, or other search engine -- here is some further assistance...

If your Josh search included the any of these words:
naked - nude - speedos - shirtless

I recommend clicking on this link: Celebrating the Soaps: Men of All My Children
While it is a soap opera web site, the pix are not exclusive to his time on AMC. Scroll down the page a bit and find his name... a bevy of pictures await for your viewing pleasure... one caveat, this site contains a cropped shot of the Gorman's frontal shot of Josh -- the unedited pic is kind of in a shadow anways - but you still get full views of the very fine back side. ;-)

If you are not as concerned about his state of (un)dress, below are a couple of good fan sites to check out. These are good places to go if you are looking for a particular magazine shoot, screen caps, etc.
Josh's Destiny: A Josh Duhamel Fan Site
and
Josh Duhamel Net // The Source for Everything Josh

Finally, I must bid a fond farewell to BB5's Drew who leaves the Fine Wine List with the all-time record -- an impressive 52 consecutive days (next closest: 35 days) on the List. The bar has been set...and I have a feeling Mr. Duhamel is up for the challenge.

"Lost" and "NY"

Caught the series premieres of two new shows last night - Lost and CSI: NY.  Mind you we do not really need to be adding ANY new shows... it is starting to feel like we are Lucy in the chocolate factory... way too many shows coming down the pike with not enough time to absorb them into an already crowded existing schedule.

Both shows earned quite a bit of pre-season hype - so figured we would give 'em a try.  Apparently we were not alone. Lost dominated its time slot while CSI:NY earned what many felt was an unexpected victory over the stalwart Law & Order.

So here are my initial thoughts:

Lost - Pretty impressed with the production value.  The show definitely has the feel and scope of a big-screen movie.  Thought Matthew Fox was a solid leading man despite having the character go through some Superman-like heroics before the first commercial break.   Was a little confused about the actual airline crash -- the commercials have given away the big "ta-da" special effect of the plane breaking apart...so I was wondering where the heck it was in the opening episode.  But I guess the complete disaster will be spoon-fed to us in flashbacks.  I think it is going to take some time to get into.  It has an immense cast (which I suspect will be whittled down over time) and there were a lot of people to meet.  I am a bit iffy on the "monster" aspect of the show.  I knew about it ahead of time and was told to just go with it...but I still found it more of a detraction than something I was totally sucked in by.   Bottom line: the show is different and has potential.

CSI: NY - Never got into the CSI shows... didn't get on board the original before it took off and gave CSI: Miami a try -- but it was a victim of the omnipresent "not enough time to watch this" syndrome.  As with Lost, this show is very well-done. The visuals were very stylized - it was both kinda cool, but a distraction as well.   Does any crime investigation office actually look like that (funky loft, circa 1940)?  Was any shot done without the use of colored filters (grey, blue, green)?  The tone of the show and the characters were also pretty dark and dank.  I wasn't expecting bright skies and snappy one-liners... but I was thought it would be a tad less "heavy."  Bottom line: pretty torn... appreciated the production value and the actors, but just don't really know if the shoe fits.   

Another Future Republican

I am already getting search hits on this one...so I thought I'd just put it out there. Yes, Elizabeth Filarski Hasselbeck is pregnant. Yes, Elizabeth of Survivor Australia, current co-host on The View, and a recent speaker at the Republican National Convention.

The short scoop: In her 13th week pregnant (so due late March/early April), the pregancy was a bit of a surprise, she didn't know about it for the first 7 weeks, and she and her husband (Washington Redskins quarterback Tim Hasselbeck) do not want to know the sex of the child in advance.

The show promised a big announcement ... the 4 full-time co-hosts entered the studio wearing fake pregnancy bellies. The funniest moment came when Barbara Walters announced that one of the co-hosts was preggers and asked the audience to guess who. The first person to be heard shouted out "Barbara!"

Not that it says anymore than the above (actually I think it says less), but here's a link to the Yahoo! story:
Hasselbeck of 'The View' Pregnant.

The Amazing Proposal

In case you did not catch The Early Show yesterday morning, the big news was the Colin proposed to Christie on the air. After rambling on about how much he loved her and all that, he got down on his knee and popped the question... as with most highly public proposals the answer was "yes." I have to say Christie "cleaned up" well and looked absolutely beautiful (far better than model Nicole in my opinion).

Colin clarified that his "I hate you" comment was directed to the ox and not to Christie... he also tried to distance himself from his on-camera personae: "Christie and I, we have a rotten edit: I'm a raging lunatic psycho and Christie just puts up with it - which couldn't be farther from the truth. We actually have a wonderful relationship and I'd like to just state for the record that I am the luckiest man alive being with Christie." Good luck to them...as I try to remember we shouldn't pass serious judgment on folks based on their reality show "character"...but let's just hope that they don't end up on the next Dr. Phil Primetime Special.

Also on the show, Chip & Kim happily accepted their $1 million check from host Phil Koegan and said that there first priority was to to donate money to their church. Chip also mentioned some involvement in a record company that he has/will be investing in. Brandon & Nicole are still a couple calling their relationship "great" and "taking it one day at a time". Brandon, still with a hornet's nest worth of hair, seemed a bit groggy - maybe he just did roll out of bed! Bowling Moms Linda and Karen were their normal enthusiastic selves and told the audience that they managed to keep their order of finish a secret from their family and friends...now that's amazing!

[Picture and quotes courtesy of the CBS website]