A New American Idol,The First Top Chef and another book contest

Well,at last,it's over for now-we have our American Idol and his name is Taylor Hicks. Despite the fact that I would've preferred Chris and Paris to be the Final Two,it's so good to see a guy like Taylor win. Yes,he's as wacky as wacky can be and would be voted Most Likely To Goofy Dance At A Family Wedding but that just makes him more human. It's great to see a regular person who doesn't fit into the usual cookie cutter pop star mold hit the bigtime.

That being said,was this finale show insanely over the top or what? I don't know what is but celebs are drawn to AI like flies to a barbecue. If they're not sitting in the audience(I confess to having a Whedonverse moment seeing David Boreanaz with his son clapping together),they're onstage or doing skits. The "Puck "N Pickler" bits were a bit too Hee Haw for my taste. I'm not Southern but when Kellie fell off of her chair,trying to run away from the live lobsters on the table,I felt embarassed for her.

Also,that duet with Meatloaf and Kat was horrible. It was like watching a Mack truck collide with a sportscar and then seeing them both burst into flames,with people struggling to crawl away from the wreckage. That surpise duet with the real Clay Aiken and the obnoxious wannabe was nicely staged(didn't recognize Clay right away-he really had some major hair styling done there). It was cool to bring back some of the almost rans for some stage time-yay,BrokeNote Cowboys!

The best moment of the night was Prince,performing on his own with only two backup singer gals. Prince is the only star I know of today that can comb his hair while singing and still be totally badass. Also,he was being the Prince we love the most,the sexy song Prince,not the preachy,boring Musicology guy. Maybe he'll be an advisor next year-Prince night would be a good theme.

Another winner was crowned last night-Harold is now Top Chef! I was so happy to see two good guys who deserved to win actually win. Tiffani's attitude is what did her in. She was ambitious in doubling up her menu but cold as ice to everyone,not to mention trying to take all the credit for Dave's dessert(which she did NOT "discuss with him at length"). Not cool,Zeus!

It was really telling that not only did three out of four of the former contestants want to work with Harold on the final challenge but afterwards,all four of then agreed that he should win. Tiffani seemed to think Harold conspired against her with that"my back just met your knife" comment but his look of confusion at that remark was genuine. Harold has always been a stand-up guy thru out the whole show and stood by his fellow chefs and taken responsiblity for any mishaps. He's the kind of boss any one would want to work for,in any field. Best of luck to him and I hope to eat at his restaurant one day soon.

I mentioned in my Fall reading post that there was a sweepstakes for a book I was interested in and now I find out that one of the ones I have is holding a trivia contest with advanced copies as the prize. If you click the title link above,you'll be at the Interpretation Of Murder website where you can get your chance to sign up to win as well as find out more about this rather intriguing book. Winning is fun but even tho it's not everything,it's worth trying for. Sometimes,the nice guy finishs first.