Restaurant Iris

Have you visited Restaurant Iris? If not and you like French-Creole food (or just good food in general), you should. Chef Kelly English has been nominated by the James Beard Foundation for an award. Pretty big deal. I expect the more awards this guy gets, the harder it'll be to get a reservation!

Lady Gaga 'Telephone' photo stills released

And they're very pretty.

Gus

Gus's first mommy, Deanna, sent the cutest picture EVER of Gus when he was a baby. He's the kitty on the left.

Under our care, he's, um, grown just a tad.

Disbelief

This weekend I went to Vegas, Baby. I'm not a big gambler, so I decided to take in a show or two. Zumanity was gorgeous and amazing and everything you think it would be when imagining a Cirque du Soleil show. Love it and recommend it to anyone 18 or older.

Criss Angel? I have been pretty much unaware of him until now, so I had neutral expectations for his Believe show. The ads I saw posted all over Vegas promised great things - kind of a macabre Alice in Wonderland. My hopes ran high upon arrival: red velvet curtains parted just so in which an occasional puff of smoke would erupt; a lush, Victorian proscenium hanging over the stage; the creepy pluck of musical box tunes slightly off kilter. The best thing about the show was the occasional glimpse of a Cirque du Soleil dancer, unfortunately. He showed a few movies of his Mindfreak tricks, killed a fake rabbit, and punctuated attempts at a surreal narrative with tired, predictable tricks.

Anyway, if you're going to Vegas and want to see a show, I recommend Zumanity. If that is too racy, I have high hopes for Ka and O.

Here's a video that pretty much sums up my opinion of Mr. Angel.

Criss Angel: Mindfaux from Electric Spoofaloo on Take180.com

Super Bowl ad rejected

So, CBS rejected a commercial pitch by ManCrunch, a gay male dating web site, as a potential spot for the Super Bowl. CBS's statement reads as follows:

After reviewing the ad - which is entirely commercial in nature - our Standards and Practices department decided not to accept this particular spot. As always, we are open to working with the client on alternative submissions.

ManCrunch thinks that among all of the other racy stuff they air (erectile dysfunction ads, etc.) this should be a piece of cake. They feel they're being unjustly discriminated against. CBS thinks that Mancrunch is pitching an ad that will obviously be rejected just for the free publicity.

Obviously, I'm all for airing the commercial and I land squarely on the side of ManCrunch. But I do think there's a little truth to both of the above viewpoints. I'm all for them getting some free publicity, so it seems to work out in the end even if they don't get their Super Bowl space.

My main point is it's a pretty fun ad. Check it out.

Valentine's Day

For the past few years George and I have stayed in and cooked on Valentine's Day, so we might mix it up and go out to eat. You know, so we do something different for a change. Um. 'Cuz we never go out to eat.

It's National Pie Day!

What a fun holiday to celebrate!