The 2nd Day Of Fall With A Full Moon Shining Bright Over Texas

No need to wait for the sun to arrive to light up the place this second day of fall of 2010. As you can see, a full moon is sitting on the roof next to my chimney, which only last night erupted with a rainbow.

That chimney sees a lot of celestial activity.

I was cranky last night after a sudden downpour ruined my attempt to go on a sunset bike ride from Gateway Park, in search of some salubrious aerobicized solitude and Fort Worth homeless people.

When I got back here I saw my DVR was in record mode. So, I watched Survivor, followed by Hell's Kitchen. Hell's Kitchen was especially hellish last night.

Being overstimulated by an especially hellish Hell's Kitchen had me up til past midnight, last night, reading a book I got whenever it was I went to a Fort Worth library and successfully found it open.

The book is "For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb and the Murder that Shocked Chicago." The Leopold/Loeb murder of Bobby Franks is a rather well known crime, from way back during the Roaring 20s. But, the movie version did not really tell the real story, in all its shocking horror. Alfred Hitchcock's 1948 "The Rope" did not even use the real names of the killers. I believe there is a second, later, movie version, that may have been more accurately based on the real story.

As far as I know I've only known one sociopath of the ilk of Leopold/Loeb. That particular sociopath has not killed, as far as I know, her particular sociopathic bend is the "Thrill of Thieving and Lying," which has gotten her in trouble with the law a time or two, with a conviction or two and some jail time.

I like the True Crime genre. Particularly books telling the story of a crime from a different era.

The sun is almost due to arrive. The birds should already be in tweet mode. I may be miscalculating the time of the sun's arrival. It has been getting later every morning since sometime way back in June.

Going swimming is in the immediate schedule, followed by being a webpage making machine all morning long til my easily worn out brain needs a rest.

He's Not Speaking English, He's Speaking Texan

Texas provides fodder for a lot of Reality TV Shows. Texans are like some sort of Reality TV Staple. More often than not, in some way or the other, good and bad, the Texans deliver some good TV.

That is Van, the Token Texan on the new season of Hell's Kitchen, in the picture.

The most recent version of ABC's The Bachelorette had this guitar playing crooner from Austin, named Wes, universally reviled as a total slimeball. Wes was on a find a mate show, trouble was he had a girlfriend back home. Apparently a big no-no on a show where you are supposed to be looking for a wife.

Wes finally came clean when the wife wannabe sent him back to Austin. As Wes rode away, into the sunset, he bragged about his #1 hit in Chihuahua, Mexico, bragged about being the first guy ever to make it to #4 on this show, with a girl friend, then trashed the 3 guys remaining, saying he was heading back to Austin and gonna be having a lotta sex with his girlfriend.

Top quality TV, that was. Courtesy of a Texan.

And then, last night, on the season premiere of Hell's Kitchen, we had another Texan. Named Van. Apparently Van is a graduate of the Art Institute of Dallas, which apparently teaches the art of cooking. But not the art of behaving well, and keeping cool. Van cooks in an un-named, supposed "top" Dallas restaurant.

However, last night Van seemed to have some serious anger management issues, and shrimp management issues. Perhaps he'd be better suited to being a Fort Worth Policeman. The local Gestapo is always looking for new angry young men.

Van was assigned to tableside shrimp scampi cooking duty. Van had trouble with this duty. He was flipping pans into the air, with shrimp flying. At one point he was cooking shrimp for one of the other team's tables. Jean-Philippe, the mild-mannered Belgian Maitre'd, was mortified at the havoc Van was wreaking in the dining room. JP tried to reign Van in. But this made Van mad, well, actually furious. Van would not listen to JP, instead he threatened JP with his fists, putting on quite a show for the diners.

Eventually Chef Gordon Ramsay intervened and dragged the sparring pair off the dining floor, screaming at them, asking what is wrong with you two? Basically JP said it was Van's fault, that Van wouldn't listen. To which Ramsay told the pair they needed to communicate, that they both spoke English, what's the problem?

To which JP said, in a classic Reality TV moment, in his best snooty French-Belgian accent, "I can not understand him. I speak English. He speaks Texan."

For some reason I found this funny.

Hell's Kitchen Winner: Christina

I did not get hooked on watching Hell's Kitchen's latest trip to hell. The first season of Hell's Kitchen I watched it all. Hell's Kitchen is not a reality show train wreck like, well, The Bachelorette. You can learn some useful things on Hell's Kitchen. Like new swear words and how to ruin Risotto. I did not know what Risotto was til I watched Hell's Kitchen, so it is quite educational.
I find Chef Gordon Ramsey quite amusing. His other show, Kitchen Nightmares, put me off restaurants for awhile. The new season of that show starts soon. I'll likely watch some of it. And be put off of restaurants again.

The winner of Hell's Kitchen is determined by who Gordon Ramsey thinks did the best job of designing a kitchen, a menu and executing their restaurant operation.

Last week, the 2 remaining chefs worked on their restaurants and then were whisked off to New York City by private jet. In NYC they had to prepare their signature dishes in one of Ramsey's restaurants, to be judged by chefs from his restaurants around the world. There were 5 chef judges. 3 of the 5 liked the chef named Petrozza's steak better than the chef named Christina's steak.

Because Petrozza had the better steak when they got back to LA he got first pick of booted chefs to staff his restaurant. The episode ended with one of those cliffhangers that leaves you on the edge of your seat and wanting more. Who will Petrozza pick as his last chef? The bumbling buffon, Matt, or the lady with an attitude, Jen?

We'll find out tonight. And then Hell's Kitchen opens and Petrozza likely wins. I don't remember what the prize is.

UPDATE: Ooops! My guess was wrong, as usual. Christina won. The finale was actually pretty entertaining.