It's All About...

Kentuckians on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

ABC

A two-hour episode of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition that aired Sunday helped out a Louisville family, plus the entire University of Louisville marching band.

Patrick Hughes, who is blind and uses a wheelchair, plays trumpet in U of L's marching band. The house rebuilt by scads of volunteers and the EMHE crew was more accessible for him and a better fit for his family. (At the end of the episode, we heard that the family's mortgaged was paid off, and then some, too, which is particularly impressive.)

The crew also rebuilt the marching band's practice field, creating a level, green field and a adding new lights. Fancy.

ABC

Lexington artist Jessie Dunahoo was featured on the episode in segments that told how the 75-year old man, who is blind, deaf and can't speak, creates artwork based on touch. Here's a Herald-Leader article written in 2000 about the artist. He works out of the arts studio Latitude in Lexington, which saw its name splashed across the television when it aired.

Missed it? Watch the full episode here.

 

Real food in tv, blogs and books.

I like real food -- the items along the edges of the grocery store, the stuff my great-great grandma might've had in her pantry, the dishes with ingredients I recognize and pronounce with ease.

I like bad-for-me things, too -- say, just about anything in the cookie aisle.

But it's easier to enjoy the real, the local, the nature's candy kinda foods now that it's gaining a following.

Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma , will be on Kentucky Authors Forum on KET. The forum was taped at University of Louisville on Jan. 11, but you can watch it again at 10 a.m. and noon Feb. 17 on KETKY, the new Kentucky-focused digital station or 10 a.m. and noon March 23 on KETKY.

I like his take on things, the very simple and clear advice gracing the cover of his latest, In Defense of Food: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. (Also, I'd like to point out that I'm 40th in line to borrow the book from the Lexington Public Library. Apparently other people like it, too.)

Similarly, I'm smitten by the New York Times new Bitten blog, by cookbook author and Minimalist columnist Mark Bittman. In cooking and baking, I am daunted enough by long ingredient lists and many-step processes to give up and flip to another page. Happy to eat the complicated creations of others, but in my own kitchen, it needs to be simple, clear and preferably healthy.

The man posted a recipe for winter squash in coconut milk, for heaven's sake. ::groan::

It's 12:08 p.m. Lunch time for me. I swear, just making this post is like walking past a bakery on an empty stomach...

Hardy Strictly Bluegrass on KET tonight

I'm easing back into this whole music-listening, TV-watching, cultural awareness thing. The DVR still has recordings from November on it. The only new music I've heard comes from CDs my lovely pals foisted upon me, maybe because they want to share it, maybe because they're tired of me talking about the Once soundtrack like it's the only album released in the last year.

Emmylou Harris/PBS

But this, I know: Highlights from the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival will be centerstage on Austin City Limits tonight on KET. The show debuted Feb. 2, and features Emmylou Harris, Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Ricky Skaggs, and Bruce Hornsby, among others, on KET2 and KETHD at 9 p.m. Wednesday, KETHD at 11 p.m. Feb. 8, KETHD at 10 p.m. Feb. 9 and KET1 at 2 a.m. Mar. 1.

Live outside the KET area? Look for your local listings at PBS.org.

---

Read: Mutts!
One of my favorite new comics on the H-L comic pages got all Lebowski on us this week. I just love it.

A true story of rabbits, guns, friendship and family -- on KET.

Last weekend, the national PBS audience got a look at a KET-produced documentary: The Everlasting Stream, a film about Walt Harrington's hunting trips in Barren County with his father-in-law and a few unlikely pals.

Full disclosure: Harrington was once a faculty member in my MFA program, which is to say I worship at the Altar of Walt. I haven't met him, but he's a former Washington Post reporter with a heady list of works I'd happily recommend to you.

Anyway! The film was based on Harrington's memoir, The Everlasting Stream: A True Story of Rabbits, Guns, Friendship, and Family. (You can read the first 70-some pages of it free. Thanks, Google!) There's a short clip and an interview with Harrington on PBS' Web site. Check it out here.

If you missed it this weekend, you can watch it at 9 p.m Nov. 22 on KET1 or 3 p.m. and 10 p.m. Nov. 21 on KET2. Hoping to watch from outside the area? Check your local listings.

---
Relax: Kynt and Vyxsin are still safe!
Louisville's Gothtuckians came in fourth on last night's episode of The Amazing Race. They weren't much of a focus on the show, which required the racers to travel to Africa, learn a bit of the local language, milk a camel and -- gah -- drink it. YUM. Click here to catch up on the episode.

KY girl gets gold star on Kid Nation

Kennedy, kid and a gold star/CBS

This post is a bit late, but if you haven't been keeping up with Kid Nation, it'll be news to you.

One of the pioneers from Kentucky was given the highest honor in Bonanza City when she was awarded the gold star on last week's episode. (Really, it's a big deal: it's worth $20,000.) Kennedy, from Ashland, took the stage during the town's talent show and made a complete fool of herself with a rap-and-dance routine. The kids loved it, and most importantly, it helped Kentucky's other pioneer, Savannah from Letcher County, to brighten up after homesickness set in.

When the council decided who had earned the gold star that week, they turned to Kennedy, for her fearlessness and selflessness, but also for her pure art and entertainment value.

Kennedy and Savannah/CBS

You can watch a clip of the talent show, the announcement that Kennedy won the gold star and the phone call to Kennedy's mom. (You can also read my Q&A with Savannah by clicking here.)

Watch the next episode at 8 p.m. Wednesday on CBS, when the green district argues that it should be renamed the gold district, thanks to its many gold stars. CBS also promises a "shocking announcement."

The Amazing Race: KY couple comes in second.

Kynt and Vyxsin, donkey charmers.

The Kentucky couple rocked the season opener of The Amazing Race on Sunday night.

Kynt Cothron and Vyxsin Fiala from Louisville came in second after racing from Los Angeles to Ireland, riding a bike through mud and leading a donkey to victory.

Like every episode of The Amazing Race, there were screamers and sweethearts. Kynt and Vyxsin have a hard-core look about them, but they were as calmed and measured as the clergy members. Lots of cheerful support, energy, kind words for the donkey.

I didn't think people could love any Kentucky couple more than they adored David and Mary, but Kynt and Vyxsin are pretty charming...

By the way, if you want to know who came out on top last night -- and it wasn't any of those L.A. natives who were off to such a good start -- just look here.

___

Read: Paste! For cheap!
Paste is one of my favorite magazines, up there with Wired, ReadyMade, Mother Jones and, because I'm a woman in her 20s addicted to attractive storage units, Real Simple. Word came last week that they're going the Radiohead route and letting you spend what you want on one year of issues. You must pay at least $1; if you pay the going rate of$19.95, you'll be recognized in the magazine. Before you go on the cheap, consider what it's really worth to you.

What did you look like at 7? 14? 21? 49?

Let's just lay it all out there.

Jamie Gumbrecht, age 7:

Do you think, looking at that picture, that there was any hint of what was to come? Obviously, I was way cooler then than I am now, but in the chipmunk cheeks, grown-up teeth, crimped hair and Tetris-styled dress, could you have predicted my future?

Hmmm.

And what if you knew that my favorite things on the earth were learning to read, Rainbow Brite, Red Delicious apples, drawing, my Red Schwinn and my big brother? Or that my least favorite things were learning math, the whale scenes from Pinocchio, meat and onions, regular old games of tag and my big brother?

Still not sure?

Deal or No Deal: She got close to the million!

In case you weren't watching, Kentucky-native-Ellen-bride-budding-actress Alecia Whitaker won more than $300,000 on Deal or No Deal last week. She could've had the million! It was hers for the taking! But hey, if I were her, I would have taken a few hundred grand and some primetime air any day.

Want to see more? Here's a video from NBC's Web site featuring  Alecia and UK grad-hubby Jerrod Pace: "Let's go to Italy and let's make some babies!"

Look at that anticipation! EEK!

I'm rock-climbing or something crazy like that today. Check back tomorrow!

Kentucky's Ellen bride on Deal or No Deal tonight.

Alecia Whitaker. Alecia Whitaker. Alecia Whit--don't we know that name?

Oh yes. Yes, we do.

The Cynthiana native will be on Deal or No Deal tonight, but you've probably spotted her on TV before. She was half the Kentucky couple that got engaged, prepped and married on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Maybe this will bring it all back to you?

That's Alecia and Jerrod Pace at their wedding at Spindletop in 2006. There are a few posts about it on the crusty old It's All About blog, but you have to hunt around for 'em, and the photos are all gone. The short version: Jerrod proposed on Ellen's show, Alecia accepted, Ellen continued to shower them with gifts and grand wedding plans and then followed them through the ceremony here in town. The couple lives in New York now, where they'll be watching the NBC game show tonight.  You wanna see? It's on at 8 p.m. tonight on NBC.

---

Watch: Forgot to mention that my favorite new show of the fall season debuts tonight. Watch Pushing Daisies at 8 p.m. on ABC. It makes the world feel warmer, and not in a greenhouse gas kinda way.

Review: Hillbilly: The Real Story

Last weekend, as Ken Burns' much-buzzed-about documentary The War began on PBS, The History Channel debuted a special that came a little closer to home: Hillbilly: The Real Story.

With Flatwoods native Billy Ray Cyrus narrating, the show documents some of the history and traditions of Appalachia, from settlement to stock car racing to snake handling. It's typical History Channel in its depth, mixing quick mentions with more developed topics. It's never exhaustive or academic, but mostly respectful and fair of mountain dwellers who "developed their own sense of America." Rather than focusing only on the best-known stereotypes, for instance, one segment points out that only about 2,000 snake handlers remain in the region, and most people in Appalachia don't want to be identified as such.

Eastern Kentucky is featured prominently when the history shifts from moonshine to marijuana, calling the drug "Kentucky's No. 1 cash crop."