Pop Culture Princess

Pop Culture Princess
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Thursday, May 26, 2011

A couple of game changing moves on Game of Thrones,our new American Idol and a meaty taste of Chopped



The stakes were literally high for Tyrion on Game of Thrones,as his capture by Lady Stark and imprisonment at her sister's stronghold placed him in a "sky cell",built into the side of a mountain with one particular wall missing for a deadly view.

In order to get himself out of a situation where he's being accused of crimes that he didn't commit(but more than likely his siblings did),Tyrion resorted to his best weapon and only defense,his wits and intelligence.

His first smart choice was to offer a confession to Lady Stark and Lady Aryn for his "crimes" but the more he confessed,the more amused the assembled audience became. Even that creepy kid of Lady Aryn's was caught up in the very off color tales Tyrion was spinning there:



However,once the fun was over,Tyrion rightly called for a trial by combat to win his freedom ,a request that neither lady could refuse. While one of Lady Aryn's knights was chosen as her championship,Tyrion had only Bronn, one of Lady Stark's hired guns, willing to fight for him.

That turned out to be the best move for Tyrion,as his man was street smart enough to win the day for him. No flying for that little man,indeed. Sometimes the right combination of brains and brawn can be be a real life saver. If I were Lady Aryn,I wouldn't rest easy about Tyrion's departure since a Lannister does pay his debts one way or another:





Too bad Viserys Targaryen wasn't as smart at playing his cards with his Dothraki brother in law,Khal Drogo. Feeling jealous after watching his sister win acclaim from her new people,Viserys got impatient waiting for his promised army and got drunk enough to demand it from Khal Drogo in front of his tribe,using a sword pointed at the belly of a pregnant Dany to do so.



Danerys has been aware for awhile that a)her brother would make a horrible king and b)he's an entitled selfish son of a bitch who has no qualms about hurting anyone to get his way. That knowledge and her new status as a Dothraki warrior queen is what made her stand aside and let Khal Drogo settle the matter once and for all.

It may seem like a cold move on her part but it's not as if her brother cared for her beyond getting what he wanted most,a golden crown. Unlucky for Viserys,he learned the hard way that sometimes you need to be careful about what you wish for:





The tenth season of American Idol wrapped up last night,with it's usual mix of returning contestants,clips from past episodes and guest star performances.

Of the latter half of that,I would have to say that next to Lady Gaga's amazing mountain climb rendition of Edge of Glory, my favorite of the night would be James Durbin rocking out with Judas Priest.

When James left the competition,my interest in the show started to dwindle for awhile(fortunately,Haley and her increasingly annoying performances gave me something to look forward to). Seeing him bring Rob Halford to the stage was beyond awesome and a nice unexpected twist to the proceedings:





The true business of the night was to pick a winner and that honor went to Scotty McCreery,which was rather predictable. Scotty seems like a good kid and he does have the musical chops to put out a great country album there. Congratulations,Scotty and best of luck to you.

Now that this transitional season of Idol is over and done with,I'm still not sure about how long the show will continue to last. As much as Steven Tyler's antics are amusing and the ratings are in the high numbers,the lack of Simon Cowell snark was lingering in the air. Perhaps that longing will cease,once the X Factor debuts this fall but no doubt,I will check out Idol next year just to see what's the what:





Since Top Chef Masters took a week off-a new episode will be on next Wednesday-and with Memorial Day weekend being the perfect opportunity to start off barbecue season,I thought that a look at a handful of grilling meat themed clips from Chopped would be good for our foodie focus.

First up is chicken wings,which a group of chefs had to use as the main component of an appetizer,along with sake and grapes. One chef in particular was thrilled about finding this in the mystery basket but his enthusiasm wasn't enough to cook his chicken fully before time ran out:



We move from chicken to beef,as in deckle of beef,a rather tough cut that appeared in a entree mystery basket. The tricky part turned out to be slicing the meat once it was cooked and the right cut kept certain chefs from being dismissed:



Last but far from least,there was a all grilling episode last season that gave the competing chefs items like fish and country style pork ribs. Yet,there were still a few culinary curve balls tossed in,such as popcorn on the cob during the entree and hot dogs for dessert.

Food Network is doing another Grilling Week and a fresh Chopped grilling challenge is planned,so we'll see if this new bunch can top the grilling gang from last time:



RANDOM NOTES:

TRUE BLOOD: Season Four is set to begin on June 26 and plenty of messes from Russell Edgington's reign of terror need to be cleaned up here. Not to mention that witches are setting up shop to cause more trouble for Sookie and friends-yep,I'm champing at the bit for this party to get started as soon as it can:

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