Hiyono

For those of you that don’t know Master Chef, it is a competition where they compete to find the best home cooks in America.  Each week there are winners who get an advantage in the next challenge or a special treat like a limousine ride to a fancy restaurant in whatever town they are filming in. Of course, each week there are losers as well who leave the competition.

The three judges help the home cooks refine their skills to produce restaurant quality dishes. Yes, it is another Gordon Ramsey cooking show, but before you stop reading let me set a few things straight. Number one, Gordon’s TV personality on most, if not all, of his other shows is mean terrible and downright scary. I’m not discounting that. However, on this show he gives sound advice in a nice tone (most of the time). Don’t get me wrong, he still yells sometimes, especially during team competitions, but it is only when a cook makes an elementary mistake. His expectations in the beginning are lower because he recognizes they are not trained chefs and don’t work in a professional kitchen. I know this post is about Master Chef, but one last point about Gordon Ramsey. In case you weren’t unconvinced under all of that intense TV personality, Ramsay is actually a decent guy. He went on Reddit and allowed users to ask him anything. A downtrodden chef wrote about his outlook and if Gordon had ever felt the same. Gordon responded very frankly and his response had the possibility of turning that chef’s life around. He even told the chef to send his resume and he would review it to possible work in one of Gordon’s restaurants.

Ok, now that Gordon’s out of the way, on to the show. Throughout the competition, each week usually switches from a combination of a Mystery Box and an Elimination to a Team Challenge and a Pressure Test for the losing team(s) which results in an Elimination.  I personally enjoy the Mystery Box days and the Pressure test portion of the other weeks. I can’t stand the team competitions. I watch the show to learn about different cooking techniques in an entertaining way and all that really comes across in team competition is drama and yelling.  I usually learn the most during elimination tests and pressure tests. The mystery boxes are good for seeing how a specific set of ingredients can be made into a variety of different dishes. In the couple of years that I have followed the show I have learned the proper way to poach an egg, fillet a fish, shuck a scallop and cook steak and many others. The only lesson I have put into practice has been to poach an egg. It only took a couple of tries. I could try others, but most of the ingredients they give tips on are on the more expensive side of things.

This season there have been a couple of characters, mainly Tommy who went home recently. He is one of the most flamboyantly gay man I have ever seen. Some of the lines he came out with were gut busting funny. He added a whole other layer to the show. You were never sure what he was going to come out with next. My favorites that are in the top 8 are Katrina (she has gained a ton of confidence), Derrick (the drummer), and Claudia (the one with black and pink hair). In this season, Katrina started with extremely low confidence. In the beginning I found her lack of confidence annoying, but slowly the judges helped her build her confidence. You can’t even tell she is the same person. I really admire this show for truly changing people’s lives. You don’t even have to win for your life to take on a new direction. Many of the cut competitors have gotten job offers from the judges.

Speaking of judges, this year Christina Tosi joined the judges panel because Joe Bastianich left. I applaud the addition. She has brought expertise in the dessert area and a unique perspective. It also doesn’t hurt to represent the female chefs of the world. I hope she stays for many future seasons and maybe come on to Master Chef Junior. Well that is my tidbit on Master Chef.

Now for a twenty something take on So You Think You Can Dance by my daughter. If you can’t tell, we like the show.

So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) is one of my favorite shows. It is the only place you can find an adult version of a dance concert that is not connected with a college or grad school. I love being able to watch all kinds of dance especially ones I’m not familiar with such as Bollywood, Krump etc. Another one of my favorite parts, THE TOUR! It is one thing watching the dancing on the TV and quite another to watch the dancing live. I am a sucker for tap so getting to see that anywhere is always a treat. For the curious ones, SYTYCD Season 12 tour tickets go on sale August 25^th. I can’t wait to see this seasons contestants live and in action especially my favorite dances.

Many of my favorite dances this season have included Gabby. She is a tapper originally and I hope she wins. She is in a class all of her own. Virgil and Hailee danced a robot routine that I have classed as the most entertaining routine of the season. They pulled off the characters extremely well not to mention the actual technique. They even stayed in character during the judge’s comments and walking off stage. I want this season’s top 4 to be Gabby, Virgil, Hailee and Jim or Yaya. Which brings me to the choreographers. The caliber of choreographers on this show is insane. I am glad Sonya Tayeh is back for an episode or two this season. Any dance that Travis touches is amazing. A great choreographer cannot only put together the moves but takes into consideration the dancers he or she has and really works to highlight their best side.

So I have covered the dancers and choreographers, now on to the judges (said the way Cat Deeley says it on the show). The judges this season are Nigel Lythgoe, Paula Abdul and Jason Derulo. I think Paula has finally found the reality TV show that she can give useful feedback on, She has been an excellent judge. Jason has added a refreshingly different perspective and a very helpful tips for the street performances. When I first heard that this season was Street vs. Stage I was very skeptical but I think it has turned out extremely well and is tons of fun to watch and mixed up the competition. Another plus, we get to see Travis (stage coach and former winner) and Twitch (street coach and former winner) every week, who wouldn’t want that? I can’t wait to see what dances they bring on tour and what spectacular dances are yet to come.

There are two main dance competition shows on TV, Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You can Dance. The level of dance between the two is night and day. In Dancing with the Stars, a Star is paired with a professional dancer. Usually the star is out of the lime light and is looking to make a comeback. So we are talking B and C list actors and actresses.

Everyman Dancers

Some of the stars can actually dance and the few who make it to the finals are pretty good. An example would be the Olympic gold medal ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White. In the Olympics Meryl Davis gave off an aura of toughness. In Dancing with the Stars, she was incredibly lithe and exuded an amazing sexuality. But many of the Stars are not particularly coordinated. They do improve as they continue on the show. The show is popular and the appeal is probably that the Stars come off as an Everyman and we can envision ourselves attempting what they are doing.

The judges are probably more important in this show because they need to carry the performers. They are a show unto themselves in a way and are vital to the flow of the show.

Elite Dancers

So You Think You Can Dance auditions hundreds of dancers and the ones they end up with are amazing. In past years the street dancers were at a disadvantage because they had to dance a wide variety of dances, many of which they had never done and possibly never seen before. The stage dancers did have to do other types of stage dance that weren’t their specialty and had to do street dance forms but it seemed like an easier transition.

This year the competition changed format. Stage and Street were separated and each had to compete at first in their own forms. Later, they started pairing a stage and a street dancer in random styles of dance. That gave the street dancers a bit more lead time to start learning choreography and start learning about other types of dance. It also gave the stage dancers a chance to get down and start working of forms of street dancing.

Some of the stage dancers still look very stiff when trying to do street and the street dancers often don’t have the extension and form and pointed toes and flexibility. But the choreographers work to show off the best of each performer and as in past seasons there have been some amazing performances. It is hard to believe they can move and jump the way that they do.

Judging

The judges are less important on this show because of the talent of the dancers. They are probably more important to the dancers than the audience because of the advice and critiques they give that can help the dancer going forward. It is a relief not to have Mary, the screaming judge, any more, although when she stopped screaming and actually gave advice, it was often good. Her replacement Paula Abdul has been a surprise. Her comments are often insightful and show a great knowledge of dance. It is quite a contrast to her time as a judge on American Idol where she often came off as a ditz and was always the one taking the edge off Simon’s biting comments.

We have friends who do tree work, removing trees, pruning trees, planting trees, you name it, they do it. (www.treeservicesannapolis.com) They turned us on to this great show called Treehouse Masters on Animal Planet.

The person the show revolves around is Pete Nelson. He is very personable but so goofy sometimes it is almost embarrassing. We also wonder about their safety habits. Sometimes one wears a hard hat but most of the time no one does. Other times they have to squeeze or push a piece into place or to get it around a branch and it seems like it wouldn’t take much for it to go horribly wrong.

Considering the large holes they drill in the tree and put metal supports in the hole, it is a wonder that they don’t damage and kill the tree. We are not sure this show would work on the East Coast because of the species of trees here. It seems like there aren’t enough of the large trees here to make it work. They have so many large tree varieties in the Pacific Northwest where this is filmed. Redwoods, spruces, cedars, etc. Although a recent show had them building a tree house in a huge old multi stemmed silver maple. It was quite the engineering challenge to build around all the stems / branches.

Actually it might work well in the south with the big old live oaks. If they were on the East Coast, they would probably figure out some way to make it work.

It is interesting seeing the range of projects that Pete and his team create. Some are small, but others are quite extensive. First he meets with the owners and they discuss the vision that the owners want Pete to build. Then they walk the property looking for the right spot and the right tree or trees. In one episode Pete found a spot he liked but the owners nixed it. It turns out that a black bear family had hung out there the prior year and the owners were worried they would come back and that they would invade the treehouse.

Then Pete sketches his ideas based on the owner’s vision. On the show the owners always seem to love his ideas and sketches. Maybe they cut out the segments where he has to go back and rework ideas for them. One recent show needed something built on a very steep hillside that was otherwise unbuildable and was only accessibly from the water. But, it was in Seattle harbor and had a view of downtown, and of Mt Ranier and of the ocean / bay. Pete came up with a light house design.

Then they toss ropes up or use ladders or both and work on getting the tree(s) drilled and the supports put in. Then they create a frame and really start building it out. What is amazing to us is that the final decorations all seem to happen in the last 24 hours. It seems like a lot to get done in a very short time. But they always make it work.

Rizzoli & Isles last week (July 14^th) blew my mind. SPOILER ALERT (for the rest of the post). How could they kill off Susie? She was such an interesting character.

For those of you unfamiliar with Rizzoli & Isles, it follows a Boston Detective, Jane Rizzoli, and Medical Examiner, Maura Isles. Susie was a forensic scientist working under Maura. Although, Susie was a minor character she added another dimension to the show. She had an innocent joy for all scientific inquiry that is missing from other crime dramas (except maybe Abby in NCIS).

I can’t figure out if the actress who played Susie decided to leave the show or if the writers decided to kill her off.  If she made the decision herself it seems odd that the episode she was killed off in seemed very thought out and scripted. It wasn’t quite a traditional two-parter, where the first episode ends in a cliff-hanger and the second (or third) episode resolves all of the remaining questions. I have watched many overt two part episodes with cliff-hangers that make you want to skip ahead in time to figure out what happens, this was the first subtle two-part episode I have seen done extremely well. All of the ingredients were there, intrigue (Susie was suspected of being dirty), emotional turmoil (a close friend and college was murdered), climax (Maura was suspended), a twist (the aspiring Politician did it) and a resolution (Susie is cleared and the murderer is caught). I can’t wait to see what the writers come up with next, hopefully without killing off any other characters. How will the remaining characters handle Susie’s death? Who will be coming in to replace her?

Recap

In the last episode, it was determined that a new group calling itself “The Calling” was responsible for recruiting children for jihadist purposes. It looked for kids who were loners, who were unhappy. But oddly, it was led by a young British guy named Daniel Budd with died blond hair who looked very European. But because of his recruiting kids, they refer to him as a twisted Peter Pan, hence the Neverland title to the episode.

They had been buying S bombs on the black market and had set some off in a hotel in Cairo Egypt that had killed agent Dorneget. But they found that was just a test run and the group was planning coordinated attacks around the world.

It turns out Dorneget didn’t want anyone to know that his parents had important government jobs. Now Gibbs is pushed to break one of his rules and let Dorneget’s mother (Joanna Teague) to work on the case. She is an operative for the CIA in the Middle East.

Gibbs Mental State

One thing that isn’t clear is about Gibbs’ state of mind. At the end of the last episode, as Dorneget’s body was brought out of the plane, Gibbs saw Dorneget and other killed agents standing there watching. Fine, that seemed like a nice tribute to them. But in this episode it is like Gibbs has schizophrenia or something because he is seeing and talking to dead people all the time, especially Mike Franks who is giving him grief about his decisions.

Luke in Protective Custody

So to start, they are protecting Luke, whose “friends” killed his adoptive parents when they thought he was turning on them. Joanna tries to buddy up to him since she lost her son and Luke lost his parents.

Luke opens up a little but both the ghost of Mike Franks and Joanna at different times tell Gibbs that Luke is playing him.

Somewhere in here McGee discovers that The Calling is sending songs to all its followers. Luke still had his mp3 player and Gibbs didn’t bother to take it from him. Why? Maybe he felt bad for Luke? Not like Gibbs.

Luke Snatched

Somehow an older kid who has been tasked by Sadiq Samar, the local honcho of The Calling, to find Luke manages to find Gibbs house and take Luke. The person who was guarding Luke was knocked out. But she was hit in the back of the head. By Luke? At some point video was found of the killing of Luke’s parents. Everyone seems horrified, but we never find out who did it. Luke?

Coded Songs

Then Abby discovered that the songs being sent out had messages in Morse code in the base notes of the music. That seemed far fetched to us. You never see Luke carefully writing down things, just listening to music. All these kids are so talented that they can listen to a base line and translate the Morse Code in it? Seems dubious. In any case, Gibbs should have taken the mp3 player.

It turns out that Daniel Budd was a popular DJ in Britain who was popular no longer. Somehow he got kids to follow him and started using them in small crimes. This escalated. It is not clear exactly what Budd is looking to accomplish now.

Enhanced Interrogation

So Gibbs and the team try to find Luke before anything happens to him. They are looking for Sadiq but can’t find him at first. Then there is a scene where Joanna has used her sources to find him and has him tied up in his trailer and is beating him and interrogating him. She gets some information about where Luke is. There is a knock at the door and you think Joanna is screwed, that some of Sadiq’s people are going to get her. It turns out to be Gibbs.

Gibbs is not happy that Joanna went behind the team’s back, after all they bent the rules to have her take part and he was definitely not happy with her questioning techniques.

Trip to Iraq

They find that they were not able to stop a plane from taking off in time and that Luke was on that plane heading for Iraq. So the team heads for Iraq.

They are walking through the market place and notice a girl with bright tennis shoes and figure she has been brought from the US as well. They follow her and then they find Luke. Gibbs starts talking to him and DiNozzo gets a phone call. It turns out to be Daniel Budd who is watching from a room above. At this point Luke pulls out a gun and shoots Gibbs three times. Not rapidly, but slowly and methodically.

Cliffhanger?

So will Gibbs die? If it had been Duckie it might have you wondering, but many people feel it isn’t much of a cliff hanger because Gibbs is so central to the show.

This episode is called Lost Boys. At the end of the last episode, Troll, a boy named Brad blows himself up on a bus.

Bishop and McGee feel horrible because if they had caught Brad at his house instead of him giving them the slip, he would still be alive. Gibbs sees a boy who runs and Gibbs gives chase but can’t catch him. Ducky sees  what looks like a tattoo on Brad’s arm that looks sort of familiar.

Dorneget MTAC and The Calling

At HQ, Dorneget is about to lead his firs MTAC briefing and Tony and McGee are messing with him and trying to get him nervous. But, they fail. Dorneget has found that adopting another persona helps combat nervousness. His is named Gilroy Libbs. Amusing.

Three weeks ago I thought the story line was good but was frustrated that is was a To be continued… So I figured it would all be wrapped up the following week. But last week, once again, To be continued… So I figured they would wrap it up for the season finale. How stupid of me.

Troll

It starts with the Troll episode. Bishop’s husband Jake turns out to be talking to Gibbs on a regular basis. The team is then called to a murder scene. Surprise, surprise.  The woman was Navy Ensign Janine Wilt who had her neck slashed. The team can’t find much about her because everything about her seems to be classified.

McGee is having trouble cracking the firewalls in Wilt’s computer. Ned Dorneget of NCIS Cyber is sent over to help. Dorneget thinks the likely culprit is Alfredo Montez, who is out on parole for drug trafficking. He created the cartel’s secure messaging system.