Tryptophanic Haze Would Make a Good Name for a Techno Artist November 26, 2008
Posted by Amy Yen in General.Tags: Amy Yen, StrawGrasping, Top Chef, live-blogs, Thanksgiving, Foo Fighters Top Chef, Top Chef Richard, Rocco DiSpirito
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As you might have guessed, all live-blogs will be pre-empted this week. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
EDIT: I did manage to catch Top Chef after all. Overall, I still don’t think Ariane is very good, but good for her for getting the turkey right. I thought Richard probably did deserve to go, but he had an excellent exit speech. On par w/Daniel from this past season of Project Runway. I give it a 9 out of 10, bravo, Richard.
Also, great to see the Foo Fighters…it almost felt like one of their behind-the-scenes videos, with Dave cracking jokes left & right. And next week? Looks like we’re getting our yearly Rocco DiSpirito appearance! I’m actually super excited.
Live-Blogging Top Chef 5.2 Show Your Craft November 20, 2008
Posted by Amy Yen in TV, Top Chef.Tags: Amy Yen, StrawGrasping, Top Chef, Tom Colicchio, Top Chef 5.2, Top Chef Show Your Craft, Craft restaurant, Craft, Top Chef Jill, Top Chef Fabio, Top Chef Ariane
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9:59 – Previously on Top Chef, we were introduced to waaay too many chefs. The gay & lesbian chefs immediately form Team Rainbow. Stefan is a Finn, yet also kind of a jerk. And two chefs who totally never deserved to be there in the first place were promptly dismissed. Working our way through the 3 second intro openings, yo.
10:00 – Man this show comes on late. I’m tired, y’all.
10:01 – Apartment open. One of the Team Rainbow members laments Patrick’s deserved elimination. Hey, if he didn’t want to get eliminated, maybe he should cook good food. Meanwhile, Team Incomprehensible Accents (Stefan & Fabio) interview incomprehensively.
This Week, Give $5 to Someone Besides Starbucks November 17, 2008
Posted by Amy Yen in Social Media.Tags: $5 Twitter Challenge, Amy Yen, cancer, charity, Lance Armstrong Foundation, non-profit, StrawGrasping
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Hey, I love Starbucks too, so I really don’t mean to belittle your need for a daily caramel Frappachino. However, this Friday, I will ask everyone who visits my blog to please donate $5 to a great cause instead. As you might know, my ASL colleague & friend, Amanda Mooney, started the $5 Friday Twitter Challenge several weeks ago. Each Friday, we ask the Twitter community (and all of you) to donate $5 to a cause that one of our fellow participants is most passionate about. Check out what happened on our first week.
This Friday is my cause & I really hope to be able to do something very cool. My cause is the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which helps people affected by cancer live strong. If you know me, you know it’s 
because LAF was my first PR internship. It was the only job I’ve ever taken that was unpaid & it was the one I loved the most. Part of my job was to read & respond to letters—the most meaningful of fanmail. Some of the letter were to Lance, talking about how he’d inspired them to get through their own battle with cancer or with their own private struggles. Some were to the Foundation, from people who’d been helped by what they do. Some were just people sharing their own stories, like Lance shared his. Let’s just say I spent a lot of time weeping in the intern room.
My grandfather died of stomach cancer. I didn’t know him that well (he stayed in Taiwan & we just didn’t see him much once we moved to America), so I don’t really know if I have the right to say I wear my yellow 
LiveStrong wristband for him. But I do still wear it. I haven’t stopped wearing it since I got it on the first day of my internship, back in summer of 2004. And I don’t plan on taking it off.
The LAF has always been my favorite non-profit because I think it’s rare to truly know, to actually see, the difference you can make, at a job, or with the money you could spend on your morning coffee.
You can donate your $5 (or whatever you want to give) here:
http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2008/twitterchallenge
Drop me a line if you donate, so I know who you are. You are appreciated more than you know. If you want to keep up with our $5 Twitter Challenge, join the Facebook group. Thanks again for your generosity.
Live-Blogging Top Chef Season 5 Premiere November 13, 2008
Posted by Amy Yen in TV, Top Chef.Tags: Amy Yen, StrawGrasping, Top Chef, Tom Colicchio, Top Chef season 5 premiere, Top Chef season 5, Top Chef 5.1, Top Chef Patrick, Top Chef Padma
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9:59 – Brand spanking new season of Top Chef, baby! Let’s hope this goes better than the brand spanking new season of Project Runway. But in theory? This should be AWESOME.
10:00 – Padma reality show premise introduction speech. 17 chefs this year, good God. Did they think last season wasn’t long enough? Product placement prizes have not changed this year. And neither has the 3-second personality title introductions. Ah, I’ve missed you, tiny snippets of reality show personality.
10:02 – Predictably, we open on shots on New York. The chefs, whose names I will not be learning for another 3-5 weeks, arrive at Grand Central Terminal. (more…)
Live-Blogging Heroes 3.8 Villains November 11, 2008
Posted by Amy Yen in Heroes, TV.Tags: Heroes, Amy Yen, StrawGrasping, Heroes Villians, Heroes 3.8, Heroes Trevor, Heroes Thompson
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8:59 – Previously on Heroes…well, Barack Obama got elected president. Also, the series called Heroes happened. Also? Hiro & Ando are still in freaking Africa with Joe the prophet. I wish they’d stay there & never come back. Okay, not really, I want Ando to come back & find a new, more interesting scene partner. Like maybe HRG. Everyone’s cooler when they’re with HRG.
9:00 – We open in the past. Nathan & Peter are at an event with their mom & dad & Linderman. Nathan is still DA at this point. Linderman asks Nathan if he’s being investigated. Awkward! Linderman goes to Arthur & asks him what he sees in Nathan. Arthur does the Matt/Maury type mind-reading/projecting thing toward Nathan. Huh. Interesting. But neither Matt or Maury has lost their power at this point, so how could Arthur have taken it? Linderman asks Arthur to reason with Nathan one more time. Arthur says he will & if he doesn’t listen, then he’ll kill him. Touche, daddy dearest.
Apartment, Disconnected November 9, 2008
Posted by Amy Yen in Social Media.Tags: Amy Yen, StrawGrasping, digital native, Internet
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Some of you who follow me may have noticed that my online chatter has quieted down recently. This is 
because I have finally, FINALLY moved into a new apartment, one that is NOT an hour away from my new job. Here’s the twist…I’m moving in with these two girls, right? They’re very nice people & we get along & everything about the apartment seems normal…until you realize that these girls have been living there at that apartment without cable and Internet.
And I don’t mean they just moved in & are waiting on the cable company to come out. They’ve been there for months & CHOSE to live this way. Offline. Disconnected. The opposite of being a digital native.
When they first told me this, I didn’t understand. Wait. You mean…no blogging? No updating Facebook? No checking email? No looking stuff up on Wikipedia? No Twitter?? How do you live like this?!
The answer is: I don’t. I lasted exactly one day before I called the cable company & promised them my firstborn child to get them out here. And logically, I know there are people who do live like this. After they get home from work, they don’t feel the need to be tied to everyone they know through cyberspace. They feel like it’s a burden.
I do not pretend to understand these people. You would have been proud if you saw my performance in front of my roommates, acting as if I wasn’t completely shocked & frankly, judging a little, at what they told me. Just call me calm, cool & collected. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t practically hug the cable guy when he showed up.
It’s good to be back.
