NFC West Or The NFL's Worst?
Though it true the NFC Worst, uh West no longer has
a winless team in its ranks, this far excuses it
from stinking up the joint. Remove a rejuvinated
49er team ,and the combined winning percentage of
the remaining three is .190. If you combined the
number of wins of Seattle, Arizona, and St. Louis
they would still have TWO less wins than the six
San Francisco currently holds. I picked the Rams
to win this division, so I didn't see this coming,
so it's a good thing they got a fresh, shiny, brand
new Championship in that city to take their minds
off the misery that was supposed to be the Rams
breakout year. For all the talk that is/was Kevin
Kolb, and mind you I never believed it, what is
this 1-6 record they are sporting? Seattle I
thought brought the NFL and pro football to a new
low last season when they won the division with
a sub .500 record at 7-9, but there is no shot
that there will be a repeat of that this year.
I just don't get how parity is the constant theme
in the NFL and these three can't seem to be at
least mediocre. I thing I can tell you for sure
though: there could be at least one more victory
in that division this week, the Rams face the
Cardinals. They could of course always end in a
tie, so no guarantees.
Tweet Thank You Al Davis !
Top Chef Just Desserts Finale: Victory Is So Sweet
Well dessert lovers, we've made it. It's the Top Chef Just Desserts finale. In celebration, Gail Simmons has decided to withhold all puns, and for this I am eternally grateful. As the chefs get ready for their final challenge, we learn how they're feeling. Matthew wants to jump up and down a lot. Chris really misses his wife and daughter. And Sally? Well, Sally doesn't have a spouse or little babies at home. Sally has nothing. Nothing! She is a barren wasteland of loneliness. It's just Sally and her job, folks. She's hoping that she will win so that it will validate all the decisions she's made. Silly Sally, the only thing that can validate a woman is a man and a baby! You fail at life! For real though, she's kind of sad.
In the kitchen, Gail and my future husband Johnny Iuzzini are waiting for them. Johnny congratulates them for making it this far and he looks really cute. I'm just saying. Gail lays out their Elimination Challenge: they have to make a ton of stuff. Specifically an entremet cake, a bread, bon bons, a showpiece and one more "very special" item. What does that mean? Johnny Iuzzini explains that he remembers making his mother's last birthday cake before she died, which was very special to him. Then he gets choked up and my ovaries explode. The chefs will have to do the same - no, not explode my ovaries! They have to create a final plated dessert for someone special in their lives. Uh oh! Sally doesn't have anyone special in her life, remember? She is alone, alone, alone. Maybe she can make a cake for her Kitchenaid Mixer.
To help are three old chef guys who are all French and apparently very big deals. They are Stephane Treand, Jacques Torres and Sebastien Trannone and yes, I had to look that up. These chefs all carry the prestigious title of MOF, which I guess means they completed sort of grueling pastry competition. I don't really know what that would entail and they don't really explain it, but Google tells me that it makes you a "Best Craftsman of France," or something. Sure thing! Each chef picks out a French Master of the Universe of their very own and I would mention who they are working with, but I have no idea who they are. But hey, they're helping. Everyone gets a kick out of how helpful they are, actually. These world class chefs are chopping and washing the dishes and stuff. It's kind of sweet.
Sally is pretty concerned about her showpiece, since it's not something she's very comfortable with. She's used to concentrating on flavor, see. Flavor is what counts, not some stupid showpiece that Sally maybe can't pull off! Honestly, Sally keeps going on and on about her ability. She doesn't make cupcakes like the corner bakery, blah blah blah. This has to be edited, right? Whatever. Matthew feels like he's the underdog, especially since he's a chef in a restaurant while Sally and Chris have won competitions. I didn't realize that being a pastry chef was such a sport? Is it? I mean, I think it's a pretty big deal to be a chef in a restaurant but maybe it's like being a dancer on a cruise ship compared to winning a competitive ballroom title. Or something. I don't know!
The following day, all the eliminated chefs are there! Even the ones no one wants to see and all the people I forgot about. How exciting! Each of the contestants will get two sous chefs and Sally immediately starts eyeing Orlando. Well, it looks like someone found a way to get a showpiece made after all, doesn't it? The catch is that they have to randomly draw their first helper - they can only choose the second. Matthew draws Megan and chooses Carlos; Chris draws Crying Rebecca and chooses Amanda; Sally draws Van and chooses Orlando. Van is some schmuck who was eliminated in the second episode. I wrote about it and I don't even remember him. But she kind of lucked out with Orlando, so I call it a draw. Sally's dishes will be inspired by her mother and sister, who are related to her and therefore special even though she probably shut them out years ago to pursue her dreams and shit. She doesn't trust this Van guy at all, so she basically makes him her bitch while Orlando builds the showpiece. Hilariously, Sally says she wants the showpiece to display "femininity" and really show "that she made it," even though she kinda didn't at all.
Chris has also decided that he doesn't trust Gimpy Crying Rebecca, so he doesn't let her do anything. This sous chef thing is really working out, huh? He is making two types of bon bons and will decide which he likes better, while Matthew is making some with key lime pie because it's his wife's favorite. I would imagine Sally would be good at bon bons because she eats them alone on her couch a lot and cries while Grey's Anatomy is on. As the day comes to a close, the showpieces are looking pretty nice. Matthew comments that Chris's is fucking amazing and so is Orlando's- er, Sally's. Hee! Tell it, Matthew! Sally recognizes that she hasn't done jack on the showpiece, but she's too busy screwing up the level of mousse in her entremet to care. But I guess it works out. I don't know. After she gets all rage-y, the subject is basically dropped. Luckily, the showpieces are not dropped, even though they have to move them by hand. Nerve wracking!
Damn, there are a lot of judges. Including the regular judges and the three French MOFs, there are like another half dozen important people there. Sheesh. Chris's showpiece is stunning, y'all. Just stunning. Matthew's also looks pretty nice - not as nice, but nice. It's also worth noting that he made a sugar piece. His bon bons include a key lime ganache and speculoos. Gail does not know what a speculoos is! Neither do I, but Matthew helpfully explains that it's like a cookie dough. This is a relief, because it kind of sounds like "speculum," and that's really something I don't want to relate to desserts. Everyone seems to like Matthew's work. Sally's also got an amazing showpiece, which she didn't make. My future husband Johnny Iuzzini likes the colors, because pretty colors are pretty. Sally's remade entremet goes over well and she is relieved. Chris's showpiece is starting to fall apart a little. Oh no! He makes his case by reminding them that he actually made his, and I wonder if the judges understand that's a dig at Sally and Orlando. Whatever, it's true. Despite the breaking pieces, everyone loves Chris's work. This looks like a tight competition, you guys.
But we're still not done! Now it's time to serve their "special" plated desserts. Oh my God, that useless chick judge? I still haven't bothered to learn her name. She's really stupid. Just an observation. They all enjoy the plated desserts and it seems like Sally comes out on top there. Gail thanks all the contestants and comments that it's not every day she gets a feast like that. Except for Gail, it kind of is. Bitch. At judge's table, everyone reiterates how much they enjoyed Matthew's key lime ganache and
It comes down to Sally and Chris. Johnny can't get over the fact that she didn't actually make her showpiece. Dumb chick judge thinks it was "good strategy" and it really looks like Johnny wants to slap a ho. He thinks it's more like cheating, although he doesn't actually use that word. But I will: it's cheating. So there. After lots of discussion (seriously, it goes on forever) they decide Chris is the winner. He cries and gets sprayed with champagne and says he can't wait to hug and kiss his wife and daughter. Even if you were Team Sally (was anyone?) you can't really argue with a guy who just won a wad of cash to pay for his sick kid's medical bills, right? Oh, you can? Heartless jerks. See you next season!
Jessica Simpson – Multi talented Texan pop-star announces she is pregnant.
A nice story for once to report on. One of America’s favourite female stars, Jessica Simpson has announced that she is expecting a child, just over year after announcing her engagement to former American football player, Eric Johnson. Jessica it seems has much to look forward to in 2012, and today I look at the all American girl made good from the southern state of Texas.
Jessica was born on 10th July 1980 in Abilene, Texas in the US at 07.50 hrs. She is a Sun sign Cancerian, with a lively Gemini Moon and a very showy Leo Ascendant. Her Sun Moon combination is a little bit tricky. The Gemini Moon lives on one’s nerves and yet the Cancers Sun requires to protect one’s position and personal security however is very sensitive. Immediately, one senses that behind the celebrity mask, Jessica does suffer with anxiety and will worry quite a lot. Her mind will be very sharp and her intuition and instinct is something that she should listen too as it will not lie to her. The Leo ascendant sort of comes to the rescue here, as it brings with it a love of being centre stage, a place where she can discard all the indecision and anxiousness, at least for a while.
Jessica’s Sun sits close to Mercury in the 12th house. For such a public performer and personality, this is really a very surprising position. The Sun in the 12th is much happier helping people and working in service behind the scenes. Being on stage is not the place that this Sun likes to be. This of course is completely at odds with the Leo Ascendant. You feel a real clash going on here, and with the nervousness and potential anxiety complex I mentioned earlier, I bet Jessica gets very uptight before she goes on stage. Why she goes on stage and performs can be explained by looking at the chart as a whole.
As always, the parents and your attitude and relationship to them affects your whole life, as does your education and formative years. These would have been difficult for Jessica, and would have driven her on to prove people wrong. With squares between Moon and Saturn/Mars, I can assume that her relationship with her mother would have been difficult, aggressive and quite upsetting. Her relationship with her father would have been compulsive and powerful, possibly easier than with her mother. He was a minister and her faith is shown by Pisces the sign of spirituality on the cusp of the 9th house of faith and education. Her first singing experience was at he local gospel church. As Uranus sits in the 4th house trine to her Sun, her home life would have been chaotic, and Jessica would have craved independence and freedom. Seeing a potential music career, she dropped out of school at 16 (shown by Pisces’ ruler Neptune being square to a malefic planet, Saturn) to pursue a dream of performing, after being discovered by a Colombia record executive, Tommy Mottola. She was on her way to escape her difficult home-life.
We have two t-squares on this chart. The first connects the Sun Mercury conjunction to Pluto in the 3rd house of communication and Jessica’s active Aries Ascendant. An Aries ascendant wants a very active career. One wants to be the best and has to always have new challenges. Pluto being square to the Sun and Mercury and opposite this Midheaven absolutely demands to be someone special and well known. Jessica requires personal recognition. The second t-square connects Saturn and Mars to an opposition of Neptune and a Moon/Venus conjunction. We have three very influential and powerful planets, Pluto Saturn and Mars in the 3rd house of communication. Certainly, Jessica is someone who needs to get her message out, through her work indicated here by the presence of Saturn.
The square to Neptune in the 5th house of creativity and entertainment brings motivation to create music, to sing and to act. Jessica as her Aries ascendant demands has not just stuck to pop music, but has branched out into country and and she has appeared on TV and acted in films. This Neptune also feeds into the Pluto/Midheaven opposition via a sextile and a trine as well as making sesquisquares to the Sun and Mercury. Despite the planetary conflict I mentioned earlier, the tension and drive of Saturn and the love of music and creativity in her chart overrides the fear of being in the spotlight.
Jessica is a very hardworking girl and her energy to keep going and to push on very much shown through the constructive Saturn/Mars link. With both these planets in Virgo, Jessica will be very much the ultimate perfectionist and hugely self critical, very demanding and possibly temperamental and somewhat irritable if things don’t go her way. She will be rather serious and powerful in voicing her opinions, but only after some serious thought and consideration. In truth, she will not like voicing her opinions, but when she does, she will do it with utter conviction.
The other end of the t-square sees the Moon in conjunction to Venus opposite to Neptune. This aspects softens her personality immensely, bring a real sensitivity and kindness to her. She will love children and the news announced today will utterly delight her. When her child is born, it will propel Jessica into dreamland. For someone who seems to be very gentle, impressionable and on edge most of the time, I think that the birth of her first child will bring her a lot of confidence and great amounts of joy.
This opposition goes a long way to explaining her moving into the beauty industry, with fragrances and fashion part of the range she promotes. Jessica will blind herself in love and relationships, and she would have had several let downs and disappointments in her love life before she met Eric Johnson. Moon Venus opposite Neptune in the 5th does look for the perfect love, something which is ultimately difficult to find. Through this aspect we also see an understanding of suffering (Neptune) and a need to help charitable groups and associations (11th house), especially with children (5th house). I think this is something that will make up a large part of Jessica’s life as she gets older.
Jessica has been known for her altruistic and generous nature, and this is shown by Jupiter which sits alone in the 2nd house. This Jupiter dominates the whole chart. We have here a love of money and spending it, not only on oneself, which she will do constantly and possibly recklessly, but also in being generous to other people too. No matter what happens to Jessica, she will always have an open optimistic attitude the colours her whole character. Of course right now, she has a lot to smile about.
The baby I believe was conceived as transiting Saturn was approaching her natal Pluto at 19 Libra, which through Scorpio rules Jessica’s 5th house of children. Notice that this connection activated her Midheaven and her public profile. Saturn hit 19 Libra in the first week of October, and the influence of Pluto means a complete change in her way of life. The announcement also came while the transiting North Node was moving through her 5th house of children and as the transiting South Node connected with Jessica’s natal Venus. Transiting also Mars connected in the past 48 hours with her North Node, Mars of course rules her public image, so this is positive news bang on time. Transiting Jupiter is trine to her natal Jupiter so this is a happy and optimistic time for Jessica and here is another link to children with Sagittarius intercepted in the 5th house too. Transiting Saturn is about to enter her 4th house, so Jessica and her fiance may be house hunting in the next year or so for the perfect family home, and I would expect them to officially tie the knot in the next year or two as Saturn moves through the 4th house of home and family. The next year I think will be wonderful one for her.
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