Hostile Blogger Gets Friendly Email from Lisa Garza
In the interests of fairness--also because I feel like a worm--I have to tell you guys that Lisa Garza, the Demonic Diva of The Next Food Network Star, sent me an extremely good-natured letter explaining her point of view and linking to the Monday-morning blog which she is writing for the local Dallas magazine, "D", during the run of TNFNS.
I no longer have the email (ACCIDENTALLY deleted it--I'm switching from PC to Mac and am very, very confused) but she is sending it again. Today I wrote in my blog (Annie's New York Eats) about the letter; with luck she will send again and I can reprint it.
She's not angry, defensive, fiesty or mis-spelled. She's a high-profile person who has an individual point of view.
So, you draw your own conclusions, but I think she's a class act.
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13 Comments:
http://www.annienewman.typepad.com/
Come on now girl, don't be shy. :)
FastFoodCritic at 3:23PM on 06/11/08
Thanks, pal. Told you I was feeling confused. And humble.
annien at 4:35PM on 06/11/08
I never got why people don't like her (I missed the first show, so maybe that's why). She cooks well and seems likable. She's also got personality, which is more than I can say for Nipa who seems stone-cold at all times. Her breakdown wasn't even that emotional. I was also expecting Lisa to take forever getting ready for the early-morning challenge, but I like that she didn't. My 2 cents.
bitchincamero at 4:40PM on 06/11/08
She was such a pompous ass that first episode that it was hard not to dislike her. She was more concerned about her appearance, walked in wearing huge "Posh Spice" sunglasses, and kept talking about fashion and cooking in heels. You missed her pissing of Alton Brown twice, that was fun to watch.
But I did warm up a little to her on Sunday's episode, like you, I totally expected her to hold up her team while she coiffed her sharp bowl cut and spackled her face, but I wasn't surprised to find that Nipa had taken that position of 'linger longer'.
I'm still looking forward to Lisa slipping in her heels and cracking her head... maybe she'll realize that in that venue heels are ridiculous, and dangerous.
Southern_bella at 5:00PM on 06/11/08
First episode I called her Pretentious Pompous Posh. Second episode, whole different woman/chef. I even liked her headband and didn't have to think about hair falling in the food. She can cook and didn't act like a prima donna. That job was totally Diva Nipa's.
PerkyMac at 5:45PM on 06/11/08
I would like to say that I called her Pompous Posh from the first episode, but was totally diggin her on this weeks show. Totally different chef/person-as Perky has stated. I actually wanted her to win the challenge and was glad to see she did. I still want Diva Nipa (made me chuckle Perky) gone though. I wanted her ousted.
Was also glad to see Lisa did not hold up the team in the AM. I gave her points for that. And man, she was going to town when she was whipping. WOW.
Butrflygirly at 7:42PM on 06/11/08
I think being in the bottom two was a wake-up call for her. Definitely much more focused in last Sunday's show. Diva Nipa! @Perky, Right on!
izatryt at 9:54PM on 06/11/08
Oh, cool...no one has yet called me wishy-washy.
annien at 10:19PM on 06/11/08
Wishy-Washy!
Just kidding. :)
FastFoodCritic at 10:35PM on 06/11/08
Annie, two things. First, I'm not at all surprised that you wrote what you wrote in the first place . . . it's almost what reality TV aims for - to poke at people in a way that stirs them into emotions that equal at best a football game with a beloved home team playing, at worst what kids do to each other in middle school.
They do this exceptionally well, and it gets the blood boiling, the characters chosen and parlayed against each other.
Liza Garza had all the pieces that people love to "hate" in a character.
And my goodness, your piece was well-written and fun to read, really! I enjoyed it.
That she turns out to be a real person is the surprise, isn't it. Not merely the character but a complex being with aspects of humanity.
I've seen this happen once before, with Amanda Hesser - on a forum. There was the original post picking out the stuff that was waiting there to be picked out (ah - it does exist in us all, in every single one of us in some way) and played with (hopefully with great wit, as your post held) and there was the joining in and the trashing of her and her work, and then voila! A surprise. She personally contacted the OP (no, it was not me ha ha) and turned out to be not only human but rather nice and generous with her time in trying to explain something the OP had questioned.
It happens. It's a part of virtual realities.
I don't think you're wishy-washy, I think you wrote a great blogpost, then you had a surprise encounter because of it that put a new face on things. A real face, the one that belongs to Liza Garza off-screen.
Not wishy-washy at all. A good writer and an honest one. :)
Karen Resta at 9:02AM on 06/12/08
Oh man, I gotta catch that first episode...
bitchincamero at 11:03AM on 06/12/08
Thanks very much, Karen.
I would like to say that if a certain someone wrote to my personal blog and asked me to understand him better as a person, I would spit in his eye.
Senator McCain, you've been warned.
annien at 11:42AM on 06/12/08
okay now seriously I hate this woman! She has no clue what the average viewer wants (the episode with the brownies she told the girl what she would like to eat) and thinks we all walk around in $300 shirts (episode where they cooked for coast guard she was wearing super expensive clothes to cook in the kitchen) and designer sunglasses ? Her clothes cost about as much as 1 months rent for me! I would never watch a show with her unless she got off her high horse and got back in touch with what normal people are like. Stop being so concerned about looks and wear your glasses so you aren't always squinting at people! If she makes it to the end and becomes the next food network star then the judges were basically there to eat and had nothing to do with deciding what the viewers would want!
Jeff2040 at 4:41PM on 07/23/08