Last night, these two status updates appeared in my Facebook news feed right next to each other. Oh WEATHER. Will you ever cease to entertain me?
(Sorry, East Coast. It’s still in the 80s here.)
Halloween Time At B-Side Blog
Halloween is just around the corner, and this year, I’m proud to reveal my costume: a Price Is Right contestant. I’ve actually wanted to do this costume for quite some time. Initially, I had grandiose plans of gathering a group to portray a family on Family Feud, but I never was able to drum up five willing participants. Failing that, I moved on to something a bit more manageable: a lone player standing at Price Is Right’s fabled “Contestant’s Row.” I actually thought of the idea about two years ago, but a spate of laziness undermined my efforts back then, and I wound up scrounging up a costume from a random mullet wig and an old vintage cowboy shirt. I called it “Johnny Amusement Park.” It was lame.
Last year, I also procrastinated too long and was unable to procure the supplies to make a decent Price Is Right getup. Instead I went to American Apparel, bought some tube socks, found an old white polo, and became a retro tennis player. It was pretty good, but sadly, I couldn’t find a wooden racquet, and thus my costume was a bit lacking.
This time around I was a bit more judicious. I went to America’s favorite crafts store, Michael’s (said preferably in Will Arnett’s voice), and purchased all my necessary supplies: foam board, poster board, ribbons, glue, etc.. Then, with some assistance from my friend Jash, I spent my Saturday afternoon diligently assembling my costume. I’m hoping that it makes a splash on Friday, at least more than Johnny Amusement Park. Although, truth be told, one never knows what will spark the interest of people on Halloween. One year I cut a hole in a box from Costco, slipped it around my waist, and proclaimed myself a box of crackers. To this day, it still remains the most popular costume I ever wore. People literally stopped their cars and yelled out their windows, “YOU’RE A BOX OF CRACKERS, AREN’T YOU!!!!” Yes, ma’am. Yes, I was.
So who knows what will happen. In the meantime, check out a few more pics after the jump.
HOT HOT HEAT: Succumbing to Jitlada Thai Cuisine
Last week, my friend IndianJones made a random pop-in at my apartment and expressed a desire to consume spicy food for dinner. Where else to go but Jitlada Thai Cuisine, a local Thai restaurant that has made a name for itself as being one of the spiciest  if not the spiciest  restaurants in Los Angeles. I had only gone one prior time, and that visit ended with me literally emerging from the restaurant looking as if I’d just run a half marathon. Yes, I was a sweaty mess, but it was quite delicious. I’d been hankering to go back ever since, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. But would the second time bring beads of sweat anew? Pictures after the jump…
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Sandra Lee Sullies The Legacy of Europe's Most Treasured Queens
This past weekend, the Food Network aired a brand new Semi Homemade Halloween special featuring our intrepid hostess Sandra Lee dressed in a variety of regal costumes as some sort of ode to the most memorable queens of history. As you can imagine, the results were eye-opening. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a busty Marie Antoinette preparing a pumpkin trifle.
Don’t get too excited though. Sandy only had a half an hour of airtime, which meant that when it came to queens, there was no love for the likes of Elizabeth II, Liliuokalani, and of course, Bruce Vilanch (heeyyyoooh!!!). Still, there were plenty of ridiculous costumes, and I’m only too happy to share them with you here.
Pics from the special after the jump…
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Reader Educates Kids, Warms My Heart
If there’s anything I like more than kids getting hurt, it’s kids getting a proper education. That’s why my ice cold heart melted just a little when B-Side Blog reader Rachel emailed me to let me know that a bunch of her students from a public middle school in Crenshaw just got accepted into several elite private schools in the greater Los Angeles region  all on full ride scholarships. Now Rachel and her fellow teachers are starting a nonprofit to aid these students as they move onwards and upwards in their new schools, which I wholeheartedly commend (if only for the potential real life Gossip Girl implications). Great job, Rachel!
To read more about Rachel’s students and their journey thus far, be sure to check out this Los Angeles Times article which ran earlier this week.
Huzzah!
HOUSEWIVES PHOTOCAP: Daddy Issues
I didn’t do a photocap of last week’s Real Housewives of Atlanta because the pics on Bravo’s site were kind of bad, but this time around, we have more material to work with. Plus, in its third episode, the ladies are starting to develop more as characters. We’ve got Nene, who’s just all around hilarious and entertaining. Then there’s Deshawn, who spends pretty much every episode complaining about how she simply does NOT have time for anything (hence her enormous staff). There’s Lisa, who comes off as the brightest of the bunch, at least business-wise (and let’s not overlook her husband Ed, who kind of seems like the best ever). And then there’s Shereé (pronounced Sheray, not Sheree-ay or Sher-ay-ay as her strange accent aigu placement might suggest). Shereé likes to think she’s the smartest of the gang, but really she just comes off seeming cold and mannish. Am I forgetting anyone? Oh yes. KIM. She should be awful, but she’s oddly likable. The only problem: she somehow maintains that she’s TWENTY-NINE.
Whhhaaaaaa????
Even better, she boasts that she looks pretty damn good for twenty-nine, which is patently false. Even if she were that age (which she simply cannot be), she looks terrible. I mean, she looks ten years older. Big Poppa better hire some stylists to come down to Atlanta and fix her up.
Speaking of stylists, I can’t help noticing that all these women spend an inordinate amount of time with their stylists, more so than the other housewives of New York and Orange County. I’m always wary of people whose best friends are their handlers. There’s something hollow about it (mostly in that these people are hired to hang onto them), and watching women do nothing but gab with their makeup artists or personal shoppers feels… sad. I’m looking at you, Sher-AY-AY.
Nevertheless, last night’s episode was fairly entertaining. Kim tried to launch a singing career, which seems instantly destined to fail (first clue  she never sings). Deshawn spearheaded a quest to raise a million dollars (um, no) for her foundation, which has the vague mission of improving self-esteem in girls  again, good luck with that fundraising. Nene learned that her dad might not be her dad (not that he really seemed to care). Lisa did nothing in particular beyond trading some barbs with her hubby. And Shereé continued to make bold proclamations about herself in her pseudo Claire Huxtable voice. Good times all around.
Dartmouth Students Burn Themselves, Steal Dump Trucks
This past weekend, Dartmouth College celebrated its homecoming, and as with any school holiday involving booze and fire, there were arrests aplenty. Most notably there was the drunk freshman who somehow fell over into the embers of the burnt bonfire. When he tried to get up, he put his hands on hot coals, and well, he totally Travis Barkered himself (too soon?). Whilst he was sent off to Boston for non-life-threatening but severe burns, another student later suffered a case of the hots after his friends dared him to walk across the still heated coals. Balms and ointments ensued.
Perhaps the most interesting turn of events, however, was the case of the missing construction equipment. According to the school’s daily newspaper, The Dartmouth, “two pieces of heavy equipment were stolen from Red Rolfe Field, the construction site of a new Dartmouth baseball field, on consecutive nights… Both items, a front loader and a dump truck, were found by Safety and Security on the front lawn of Chi Heorot fraternity on Saturday and Sunday morning, respectively.” Nothing like a good old fashioned dump truck-on-the-lawn prank!
For more gory details about the Homecoming shenanigans, click here.
The Crusade Continues, Albeit with Perks
Free Starbucks!
Two weeks ago, I implored all of America to revolt against Starbucks and their straw-destroying lids. I was hoping to generate a crusade or at least a low-grade revolution, but sadly, the cause never really caught on with Digg and whatnot. Still, I got some traction  getting linkage from Eater LA and Serious Eats and some other blogs. Reading the comments on those sites, I was struck by how many people thought it was their fault that they couldn’t get their straws through their lids. Fear not, my fellow countrymen. It’s not you. It’s them. Shame on any corporation who lets the consumer take the blame for their own shortcomings!
Luckily, Starbucks has shown slight remorse. After I complained on their website, a customer representative sent me coupons for two free drinks. This is a step in the right direction. I would like to publicly thank Starbucks for throwing me a minor bone. Of course, while I’m always happy to get free nourishment, but I must face the realization that all I’m going to do is march over to the nearest ‘bucks, order a mocha frapuccino, and face the dreaded lid ALL OVER AGAIN. I suppose I could request the alternative domed lid, but honestly, why should I change my habits for their poor plastic choices? I refuse! Vive la resistance!
Nevertheless, I’ll keep all updated on the Starbucks front…
Top Ten GOOD Ina-isms
Starting tomorrow, the Food Network will be airing brand new episodes of The Barefoot Contessa, and in honor of this GOOD event, I’ve decided to rank my top ten “Ina-isms”  those familiar phrases Ina Garten employs time and time again, much to my continued entertainment. The best part about Ina-isms, however, is guessing when they’ll pop up. Sure, words like “GOOD” are a dime a dozen, but don’t act like you don’t get excited when she cracks open an egg. Will there be perhaps a cautionary tale about BAD EGGS? You never know when you’ll get one!
Anyway, the list of my favorite Ina-isms are after the jump…
PROJECT RUNWAY PHOTOCAP: All's Well That Ends Well
I was more than pleased with the outcome of last night’s Project Runway finale. I won’t spoil it here in case you haven’t watched it yet, but be warned, the following photocap does reveal the winner.
So what else is there to say? The season is over, and now we have to wait until January for the next run. Will it be on Lifetime? NBC? Who knows. I’m excited for it.
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