Anderson Cooper’s new show!

Oops…while sitting here drinking my coffee and watching Anderson Cooper interview the cast of “Sister Wives” I realized that I had left Cooper’s new daytime talk show off our list of “must see TV” in my previous post. Sorry, Coop!

I’ll admit I was a bit skeptical at first, but, Cooper’s new show is kinda awesome. He’s hard-hitting, probing, sarcastic, geeky and best of all, he is totally hilarious. Yep, I said it, the dude is funny!

We’ve been hardcore Cooper fans since his days hosting the late, great reality show “The Mole”, and though I dig his “serious” work on CNN, I gotta tell ya, Cooper looks really comfortable on daytime TV. Seriously, he’s a natural…

Still not buying it? Well, consider this. Christine stayed home sick from work yesterday, watched several Tivo-ed episodes of Cooper’s show and was totally, 100% healed. Now, if that’s not a glowing recommendation, I don’t know what is. The age of Oprah is officially over…long live the new king of daytime TV!

David Lynch Signature Cup Coffee Commerical…

As you know, I’m still not a huge fan of his David Lynch Signature Cup coffee (organic-smorganic, give me my chemicals!) but, I’m still a mega-fan of Mr. David Lynch, the artist. So, when I heard that he’d directed a super-creepy 4 minute online ad for his coffee, co-starring Barbie? Well, how could I not share that shit with you?

The ad runs a bit long and like I said, is a tad disturbing — a couple times it looks like Barbie’s pretty little head is gonna pop right off in Mr. Lynch’s hand, yikes! — it is also really darkly hilarious as well, so, enjoy!

David Lynch Signature Cup Coffee

OK, first off, who even knew that David Lynch made coffee? I mean, I’m a David Lynch geek from way back, and even I had no idea that the multi-talented Lynch also roasted his own blend of gourmet coffee! Wow…so cool.

Anyway, my friend Ginger and I literally stumbled upon David Lynch Signature Cup coffee in the Book Soup booth at this year’s Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Apparently, Lynch had been there earlier in the day signing copies of his book on meditation, “Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity”, which had just come out in paperback.

Seeing that stack of Lynch books with the little “signed copy” stickers totally threw me. Wait, whaaa? David Lynch was here at the Festival…signing books while Ginger and I waited in line for the Alicia Silverstone cookbook signing? Are you kidding me?! Urgh…damn you, Cher Horowitz!

Of course, it wasn’t really Silverstone’s fault. The Festival of Books printed catalog and website is almost impossible to decipher and Lynch was just one of many cool author events we missed that day. Thanks, Los Angeles Times!

Anyway, back to the coffee. So, right beside the pile of signed meditation books at the Book Soup cash wrap was a tiny pyramid of David Lynch Signature Cup coffee cans. Seriously, I just about died. I mean, right there before me was the perfect marriage of two of my lifelong passions…movies and coffee…in a darkly-beautiful, collectible can to boot!  How insanely awesome!

I immediately purchased a can of the Organic House Blend — David Lynch Signature Cup also makes an Organic Espresso and Organic French Roast Decaf — and popped that thing open the minute we got home. I didn’t make the coffee for a few more days, but, I just about died (again!) at what was inside the can. Nestled beneath the bag of coffee beans at the bottom of the can was a very cool “Eraserhead” coffee coaster!

Like the nerd that I am, my first thought was: “Wow, I wonder if the other coffee flavors have different coasters! I must buy them all!” Cooler heads prevailed and I decided to try the coffee first. And thank God I did, because that shit was nasty! Blech…watery, flavorless, probably one of the weakest cups of joe I’ve ever had. I tried making it several different ways too…regular drip, press pot, blended with a darker roast…but it always tasted the same.

If I had to pick a Lynch film to describe that gunk, I’d probably go with his bloated, big-budget disaster “Dune”. I know that sounds harsh, but, I was expecting something dark and murky, like “Twin Peaks”, but what I got was straight-up “Dune” in a cup. Only, you know…wetter.

So, if you’re on the market for a groovy collectible coffee can and “Eraserhead” coaster, by all means, order yours today! But if you’re looking for great gourmet coffee from a great filmmaker…keep on waiting.

The results are in…Via rocks!

Contrary to popular belief it did not take me twenty days to decide what I thought of Starbucks new Via Instant Coffee — I knew what I thought the second I tasted it! — but it did take me that long to find time to blog again with the wee one taking up almost all of my waking hours, so, many apologies. The truth is, I’ve missed you guys, probably a whole lot more than you missed me (ha!) but, in any case, it’s very good to be back.

And now, at long last I can tell you that the new Via Ready Brew is absolutely fantastic. I was so shocked at how good it was that I literally failed my taste test.

Seriously. I made such a face when I found out I’d guessed wrong that the barista actually laughed out loud. It was hilarious and I must say, completely surprising. Who would think instant coffee could taste exactly like brewed? Amazing.

I can’t vouch for the Colombian, but the Italian I had was so good that I actually bought a three pack to take home. And next time we go anywhere, you can bet your ass that a couple dozen of those cute little packages will be stashed somewhere in our Vue! Add some hot water at a gas station, stir, and I can drive all night, baby! Que viva la Via!

FREE COFFEE ALERT: Starbucks Via Taste Test Challenge starts today!

Just when you thought Starbucks had done it all, the mad scientists from Seattle have outdone themselves yet again. Starting today Starbucks will be selling their very own line of instant coffee — you know, the stuff your Grandparents drink — in the form of the beautifully-packaged Starbucks Via.

Available in two flavors, a mellow Colombian Roast and a more bold, dark roast Italian, the coffee comes in little packets that look to me like those fancy sugar containers at hotels and such. And though the mere mention of instant coffee brings me back to the bad old days of my Maxwell House-filled youth, I have to admit, I have been dying to try Via since I first heard about it. So, hooray!

Even more exciting than the launch of this new coffee product is the fact that Starbucks will be giving it away all weekend long as part of their Via Taste Test Challenge. All you have to do is show up at your local Starbucks, ask to take the taste test and you’ll be given a cup of Starbucks’ traditionally-brewed coffee and a cup of the new Via Instant Coffee. That’s right, two free cups of coffee all weekend long. Awesome, huh? I mean, hell, even if it sucks, it’s still free, right?

I might not be able to take the test myself till Saturday, but in the meantime, am dying to hear what the rest of you think of the latest and greatest from Starbucks. So, by all means, comment away…

Starbucks store closures…

I’m sure you’ve all seen “the list” by now, but this week Starbucks finally announced exactly which stores would be getting the ax in the coming weeks. Surprisingly, there were very few in the Los Angeles area, but some major U.S. cities will be jonesing for a Caramel Macchiato fix very soon.

Cities with the highest store closures are: San Diego with ten stores, Baton Rouge and Dallas tied with nine, Houston with eight and the fair city of Indianapolis is losing a whopping seven Starbucks! But the real shocker here is that the Las Vegas metropolitan area will be losing a staggering sixteen stores! Yep, you heard me…sixteen Starbucks are closing in Sin City alone. Crazy, huh?

The fact that Las Vegas even has sixteen stores to close reveals the heart of Starbucks’ problem. They grew way too fast for their own good and are now reaping what they roasted. And don’t even get me started about their ill-advised forays into music and pseudo-Indie art films. “Akeelah and the Bee” coffee cozies anyone? Yikes…

So, even though I have grown to re-love Starbucks in the last few years — I really hated them when I worked at Peet’s, but since I got fired for being late a few years back, I kinda hate Peet’s now instead! Ha! — I still think they could seriously simmer down on all the extraneous crap they sell in their stores and focus on their coffee.

Sure, I’ve had better lattes at smaller non-chain coffee houses, but when you’re on the road or at an airport and you really want something consistent, Starbucks is still king, baby! So, though I feel for the 12,000-plus people being laid off in the coming months, here’s hoping the belt-tightening makes Starbucks a leaner, meaner latte machine…