On the road again

OUT TO LUNCH: It's not summer yet, but I'm off on a road trip up north. Ain't no time like the present to get a new perspective on life, and of course to do some shopping in someone else's neighborhood.

You're so vain

Well, no, actually, she isn't vain, that's why we like her. On second thought, Brooke is probably incredibly vain, but she just hides it better than most of the other contestants on "American Idol." We're not sure yet who's going home this week, but Brooke is ripe for the plucking, given her false start on last night's show and given her limited vocal range. But we can't help it, we still love that she's not some diva-in-training, Celine Dion-worshipping, power-ballad belting Miss America. She plays her own instruments, she likes singer-songwriters and she plays the piano without shoes. What's not to like?

Food fever

Forget "Top Chef," if you want real drama check out "Hell's Kitchen," which has started it's third season on Fox. Chef Gordon Ramsay's kitchenside manner isn't for the faint of heart, as he regularly belittles and berates the chefs in his kitchen vying for the top prize. There's no playing with weird ingredients or conversations about the subtleties of the dishes. It's all straight-forward cooking classic dishes during a dinner rush. It's definitely a pressure cooker, complete with crying, cursing and week after week of brutal cuts. Rating: two knives up!

What dreams may come

One of my favorite movies ever is the early '90s flick "Until the End of the World." Directed by Wim Wenders and starring William Hurt and Sam Neill, the movie is a worldwide trek that ends in the Australian Outback with an invention that allows people to watch their own dreams, which is dangerously intoxicating for all involved. It's such a beautiful film words don't do it justice. Also brilliant is the soundtrack, which is one of the Top 10 film soundtracks ever. Check it out for great R.E.M and Talking Heads, and for the standout title track by U2. The best track though is Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' "I Love You Until the End of the World." Who else can write a lyric about a blind pencil seller shouting for his dog that lay dead on the side of the road?