Recently in TV Category

So from the moment I saw the first commercial for I'm a Major League Eater I pretty much knew I was wasn't really going to be on it. Why? 'cause Pat Bertoletti was nowhere to be seen. I think Pat was supposed to be featured more originally, not sure what happened there. But my "plot line" involved me being number one fan of competitive eating but especially above all else Pat Bertoletti and Tim Brown. Which is, you know, me. So when I didn't see Pat as a featured player I figured my shot at reality TV stardom was gone too. Especially since I knew my interview about Pat went slightly better than my one on Gravy (I am a photographer for a reason). They had interviewed me a few times and had taken lots of interviews with them while I was in the background taking photos of them and such. You know, doing my thing. But none of those got aired. Oh well.

Here are a few behind the scenes photos from the taping of I'm a Major League Eater:

If you caught the show and knew who I was you would have seen me: I was the crazy girl standing there when Tim walked in the bar...and the crazy girl standing behind Tim while he was eating at the bar. I was wearing my Krystal Square Off T-Shirt. Super. Fan. And, well, that was it! Really, I looked crazy. But I guess that is me. Honestly, I have never really liked the way I look on camera, I always look like I'm made of spaghetti and get really shy and nervous and giggly...which does not a reality star make. But it was still a totally fun experience! And I gobble up any chance I get to be involved in competitive eating and see the eaters at work! And who knows, maybe it will get good enough ratings that it will get picked up for a series and I can make a triumphant return!

In the end it was an EXCELLENT show. Truly entertaining and really well plotted. But I have to say that Tim ran away with it. He pretty much was the show. And he was awesome. As always.

I watched the show last night in a bar with my roommate Heather, Pat Bertoletti, Tim Brown, and a bunch of their friends. It was so fun to watch the premiere of a TV show with its star! What a night!

p.s. I still haven't touched the 621 photos I took at the July 4 hot dog eating contest...and still have a gallery left to edit for July 3. But hopefully I will have that tomorrow...hopefully.

I briefly mentioned this earlier...but now that I kind of have a free moment I thought I'd give another mention with a few more details...

So remember a few months back when I said that I might be a stalker of competitive eating? OK, so let's face it, I AM a stalker...but there may have been other photos from that day that I didn't share...

So I might not have been stalking them...I might actually have been filming a reality TV program. I was interviewed a couple times and filmed doing my super fan thing. I have no idea if I will actually be on it because there is no indication at all from the trailer, but you should watch it anyways because it will be awesome. And you might at least be able to spot me in the background.

I'm a Major League Eater
Wednesday, July 8
10pm Eastern/9pm Central
Biography Channel

p.s. The director promised me that he wouldn't make me look too crazy. To that I replied "good luck."

1. Monday was 24 night. No House. JoeJoe made guac with enough avacados! And chilli. and green beans with onions.
Dear 24, really? You can't just have a security guard, you just need to have a security guard with a wife pregnant with twins? Really?


2. Tonight was wine tasting night. I got 2 correct. This did not happen:



3. Here is our current Idol pool standings. Last week I felt so much better about my third choice being kicked out in the first week when Paula's first choice/Eric's second choice was kicked out in the second round.

		Val		Eric		Matt		Paula		Sue
First		Danny		Danny		Lil		Alexis		Danny
Second		Lil		Alexis		Danny		Scott		Lil
Third		Jorge		Kris		Matt		Allison		Scott

BLUE = still in it
GREEN = kicked out
ORANGE = third place
YELLOW = second place
PINK = first place


4. And here are the locations and dates for the Nathan's hot-dog eating contest qualifiers...

View Larger Map
None in Chicago this year :-( Anyone want to take a road trip or 12?


5. It's funny. When someone ignores you it can make you mad. But when that person later tells you that it's not just you that he has pushed away it can make you even more upset because you're no longer special. If that makes any sense. It doesn't.


6. It is really hard to take a self portrait.

Movies
Wednesday night we went to Hollywood Boulevard because JoeJoe had won free ticket for eight. We saw The International because nothing else good was playing. The movie was about a couple of guys who went to a really cool museum for about ten minutes. Other than that I can't tell you a single thing that happened int he movie. My bruschetta was good though.

Tonight Nadia and I went to see Bride Wars. We were the only two in the theatre except for a random dude. Random dude, why did you go to see a chick flick alone? You know you are in trouble when ten minutes into the movie a girl gets engaged and I cry. You know you are really in trouble when fifteen minutes into the movie another girl gets engaged...
The movie was good except I am confused about how they exactly got double booked...the planner said the assistant turned in the wrong paper work and gave the other girl the date one of the brides had...but wouldn't the planner have still told her in the first place the correct date?
Kate Hudson's dress was awful. I hate dresses that point towards the crotch (sorry Miss Sleeping Beauty). Anne Hathaways was pretty though and I spent the entire movie trying to figure out if I could get my hair to look like hers.
I also thought the ending was a little forced and they didn't build it up enough.


Cars
On my way home from movie one I tried to stop my car at a red light and instead ended up spinning around and facing backwards. Luckily the guy behind be who I was then staring into the windshield of was able to stop. Eh, didn't hit anything so I just backed up and kept going.

On my way home from movie two the truck I was behind put on his blinkers and started moving to the side of the highway. And then I got hit with a massive amount of smoke.

Saturn might be spinning off into their own company. Does anyone remember that back in the day (before I had one) Saturn used to through picnics and stuff for its drivers? If they do form a new company they better throw a big picnic. I am so there.

p.s. Did you know Saturn has their own social networking site? Awe-some. Right?


TV
If I am nice, Eric is winning our Idol pool. If I am mean, we are tied. He had picked two of the three winners from last night...but when he sent me his official list he had only sent eleven names instead of twelve and forgot to write one of the names he had said he was going to add...and that person happened to have ended up making it...so technically according to his official list, she is not on it :-)

I am 1 for 3 so far. I am bad at these things. I am one of those people who will never win at horse racing because I insist on betting on the horse who is going to suck, but if they do happen to win you get paid a lot more.

Spoiler Ahead:

Val	Eric
Danny Gokey	Danny Gokey
Anoop Desai	Anoop Desai
Tatiana Nicole Del Toro	Ricky Braddy
Adam Lambert	Adam Lambert
Jasmine Murray	Jasmine Murray
Matt Giraud	Matt Giraud
Megan Corkey	Mishavonna Henson
Nick Mitchell	Ju'Not Joyner
Scott McIntyre	Scott McIntyre
Arianna Afsar	Kendall Beard
Von Smith	Lil Rounds
Kristen McNamara	HAHA, Eric forgot #12

BLUE = Performed and Made it to the Top 12
GREEN = Performed and did not make it

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My top 12 picks for American Idol (most of these have absolutely no reason behind them, because I don't remember any these people, but I had to pick people before anyone got kicked off! We were going to do this office pool, but it was too confusing with the way Idol is working this year...so Eric and I are in a head to head battle!)

Adam Lambert
Scott McIntyre
Tatiana Nicole Del Toro
Danny Gokey
Anoop Desai
Jasmine Murray
Arianna Afsar
Matt Giraud
Von Smith
Megan Corkey
Kristen McNamara
Nick Mitchell

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Monday night was 24 night at Joe/Meredith's. A lot of people brought dip. You needed to know that.

1. Someone sang a Tally Hall song as an American Idol audition. I believe the judge's reaction was "What kind of song was that?"

2. Yes, I am watching American Idol.

3. The new official portrait of Obama was shot with the same camera I just bought. What is good enough for the president is good enough for me.

4. Wednesday Chelsa and I went to the Blackhawks game. It was awesome because we totally dominated. And 'cause there was some good fighting. I totally failed at remembering the "name of the guy with the awesome name" from the hockey team at U of I. Two of the three people I texted remembered. How can you forget a name like Superfine? I don't know, but I totally did. JenP looked him up and he is apparently married now! :-( Anyways, here are pictures...

5. Thursday I went to see The Hold Steady at House of Blues. I met up with Walter and we got taco bell. It apparently isn't gross that I eat melted cheese ground beef with my fingers. It is apparently not gross that i will put a cinnamon twist in my mouth and then take it out (I didn't want to talk with my mouth full). But I apparently am bad for not pointing out the lady with the ridiculously large tall fur hat. Then we almost died from cold walking to HOB.

Jeff and Lindsay and James and Emily and Sean and Jeff's brother all came. Yay.

The first band was a guy from some band who played the guitar and sang. I agreed with Lindsay's assessment that all his songs sounded like something else. Mainly I agree with that as I felt like I knew most of the songs but obviously I had never heard them before.

Before I go on I should explain the two rules of Val concert going:
1. I can (and do) dance to anything.
2. I pretend to know the lyrics to every song even though I don't know the lyrics to any song.

And three subpoints on how to accomplish part 2:
a. After you hear the chorus once you can easily repeat it.
b. Most songs rhyme and aren't really clever enough to not be able to figure out.
c. When all else fails just repeat watermelon over and over.

The second band was The Hold Steady. Who hadn't heard of either. But Jeff had said I should come so I did. They were good though. But I was way tired after working a 10 hour day and not really sleeping much for weeks.

Afterwards everyone else drove Walter to the same place I was going. And I had to walk the 20 minute walk there. After midnight. In downtown Chicago. In negative degree weather. All alone. I ran into Walter when I got there.

1.
I really should actually book my flight to DC instead of just putting the itinerary on hold every day.

2.
Apparently Jeff would rather sleep with Lindsay than me and James would rather sleep with a dude. :-( I

3.
Do not let one random act of kindness blind you.

4.
American Idol starts tonight. I don't want to watch it but I don't want to not watch it.

5.
I always think I like the movie Butterfly Effect but then I watch it and it makes me feel queasy.

6.
I think I am going to start a segment on my blog in which I rate Lean Cuisines. The Sweet and Sour chicken is very tasty.

7.
Saturday afternoon I met up with Joe and Alina and JoeW and Meredith for a second shot at seeign Slumdog Millionaire. We all managed to get tickets this time. The movie was great. Usually I think movies based on (semi) current popular culture phenomenons tend to be horrible. But maybe since this was foreign it was able to do it better? I dunno. But it was really good. Afterwards we went to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch (or as Alina says "California Pizza Chicken"). The mushroom pizza on honey wheat is delicious.

8.
Sunday night I went over to Joe and Alina's for 24 night! Joe had said that we would "eat what Jack Bauer eats and drink what Jack Bauer drinks." I assumed that was a clever way of saying "we are not feeding you" because Jack never eats. He did make sausages, but I don't really eat sausages, so this is what my plate looked like:

The cat tried to eat it.
Speaking of the cat, here are a few pics of Remy and Kahlua.

And one of JoeJoe eating a margarita with a spoon.

9.
Monday the weather warnings said there was a blizzard and that you should only go outside for emergencies...the second night of the 24 premiere is an emergency, right? So I braved the snow and went back to Joe and Alina's and we watched two more hours of 24. Chloe is back! She was really the only one I cared about. Unless of course Edgar came back from the grave.

So apparently Barack Obama was on Check, Please!.

To those in Chicagoland, the full episode will air on WTTW twice on January 16th, again on the 18th and once more on January 20th, the day of Obama's inauguration.

***

I do not remember under what circumstances I left this on Sid's answering machine. But I did. Maybe 7 or so years ago... Why he still had this, the world may never know.

1. On Friday I discovered that Animal Planet one-upped themselves from the Puppy Bowl by presenting the Puppy Olympics.

2. I was excited to have one weekend that I didn't have anything going on. But then I did stuff.

3. Friday night I went over to MattyK's and we watched GoldenEye with BobbyK and KariK. I forgot that whenever you have more than one yK in a room you get trapped in a vortex of insanity.

4. Stupid movies with Hilary Duff should not make me cry. Neither should every episode of Made.

5. I totally fucked up and did something really stupid. I don't know what aspect of it makes me madder at myself. val=fucked up.

6. Dear Radio stop playing "All Over You" when I need an anthem.

7. Dear McDonalds, please don't turn off your milkshake machines all night because sometimes I need a chocolate shake at 1am.

8. The British sure know how to make good zombie movies. Especially when they have titles like "Boy Eats Girl" and involve a zombie going down on a guy. That ended badly for the guy.

9. Saturday I went to Stir Crazy with Nadia, Jenny, and Adam. I had a yummy stir fry of steak, flat rice noodles, onion, scallions, mushrooms, pineapple, peppers, garlic, and teriyaki sauce. Pineapple and beef do go together. Val has spoken.

10. Dude at the Gap went into a huge explnation about all the different colors this shirt came in. At the checkout he said "How am I not surprised she went with the pink!" I looked down at the pink shoes, pink shirt, and pink purse I currently was wearing and declared "I think everything I own is pink."

11. Sleeping in until 11am on a Sunday is nice.

12. Waking up to a message from work on a Sunday morning telling you that your website is fucked is not nice.

13. All I've watched of the regular Olympics so far is half a game of mens volleyball. Those Chinese dudes are fucking tall. I never knew actual volleyball was played bump set spike. I just thought they taught you that in gym class. They should mix it up a bit and surprise attack the opponent. I should be a sports coach.

none of you will ever understand how brilliant of a moment this was. Damn you all for not embracing the horribleness of reality tv...

May I present Paula Abdul's critique of Jason singing...after he'd sang his first song of the night...