How Soon Is Sometime Around Midnight?

"Sometime Around Midnight" by The Airborne Toxic Event – When I heard this song on the radio today, I was reminded of how much I love it. A haunting story about running into an old flame, it breaks conventions by foregoing a chorus and instead building verse by verse into a desperation that tears at your heart. It was written by the band's lead singer Mikel Jollett, who had such a run-in with an ex-girlfriend and spent two days pouring his heartbreak into lyrics. I have never gotten through this song without crying.

Jollett did not begin as a musician, but was pursuing a writing career when a particularly rough time in his life (in one week, his mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, and he went through a painful breakup) led him to focus on songwriting as a way to process his pain. Soon after, he joined up with a musician friend, and eventually others, to form The Airborne Toxic Event. The band became the breakthrough alt rock act of 2008.

I applaud and envy Jollett's writing talent in this song, both his choice of words and the song's structure. And although the song was both unique and perfect for the resurgence of smart, alt rock in the 2000s, it also evokes the moody New Wave acts of the 1980s like The Smiths and The Psychedelic Furs. (Is it any wonder that an 80s geek like me is in love?)

One last note before you rush off to hear the song (as you should if you've somehow missed it up until now). Just as it's important to read a good novel before seeing the movie version, it's better to listen to this song first before watching the video. There's nothing wrong with the video—it's well done and a fitting match to the music—but give yourself a chance to first focus on the lyrics and the band's performance, particularly Jollett's heartbreaking pleas. And get ready to cry.

Here's a version of the song without the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m53cWa-CdUg

And here's one of the song's videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYPoMjR6-Ao

Un-chef-sessful

I'm going to take a moment to rant about last week's Top Chef finale. 

Top Chef is one of the few competition reality shows that I watch. It was the first of several skill-based competition shows that Bravo attempted to launch following the success of Project Runway (including the awful The Fashion Show that replaced Runway after it departed for Lifetime). But unlike Top Design and Work of Art, Top Chef is actually good and has lasted for 10 seasons.

Here's what's good about the show. The "cheftestants" are genuinely talented. These men and women can cook amazing dishes in a short amount of time, something that would challenge even the most seasoned chefs (as spinoff Top Chef Masters has shown). Each episode begins with a short quickfire challenge that requires the cheftestants to think and cook quickly on their feet. Much of the rest of the episode focuses on a big challenge and shows the cheftestants deciding on their menu, shopping for ingredients, and preparing their food. Near the end, after the judges and guests have tasted all of the dishes, the judging takes place. Some seasons have had more drama among the chefs than others, but that doesn't seem to matter. It's a successful formula whether the show has fighting personalities and a villain that everyone "loves to hate" or if all the chefs compete in a respectful rivalry.

Season 10 was particularly strong and featured a lot of talented competitors. So what went wrong with the finale? Well, everything. First, the finale was taped live in front of a gallery of more than 100 diners, including all previous Top Chef winners and members of the two finalists' families. Instead of seeing Kristen and Brooke, the two finalists, decide on their menu and then cook, we spent a lot of time watching the gallery, meeting their families, and sitting through a video retrospective of each of their experiences that season. (Thank you, but we're watching the finale because we've already watched this season.) As a result, we saw very little of what each finalist was cooking until it was served. And with that, one of the show's biggest strengths was left out of the final showdown.

The other big piece that was ruined—the competition. Typically, the judging begins after all dishes have been served and tasted. But in the finale, the judges had to pick their favorite dish after each round, and the first chef to win three rounds would be named the overall winner. After the first three rounds, Kristen was leading two wins to Brooke's one. When the judging began for round four, a quick check of the clock revealed that there was not enough time remaining for another round. And just like that, before the judges uttered a word, it was obvious that Kristen would be declared Top Chef. And so, my enthusiasm dried up like specks of culinary foam left under a heat lamp.

In the end, there was just one thing that made me happy. You know that feeling you get when you're upset about something, that it would be nice to know you're not alone? I googled "Top Chef finale." I'm not alone.