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Thursday, December 13, 2007

Chismillionare's Thursday Recipe of the Week


Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Bacon and Pear


French or Italian loaf bread, sliced
Bacon, cooked
Bartlett pear
Sharp white cheddar cheese (high quality)
Butter, softened and spreadable

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pear-bacon-sandwich-3.jpg pear-bacon-sandwich-4.jpg

1. Heat a cast iron skillet to medium high heat. Layer your sandwich - bread slice, cheese, pear slices, bacon, bread slice. Spread butter over the top of the sandwich. Place the sandwich top side down (butter side down) on the hot pan. Butter the exposed side of the sandwich. Let cook for a minute and then use a metal spatula to turn the sandwich over to its other side.

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2 While you are toasting the sandwich on the remaining side, press down on the sandwich with a spatula. Alternatively, you can mimic a panini press (albeit without the ridges) by heating a smaller cast iron pan on a separate burner. Use the weight of this pan to press down on the sandwich from above.

The sandwich is done when the sides are toasted and the cheese is melted. Cut in half and serve.

The New Knight Rider coming in February





KITT is actually going to be a Shebly GT500KR mustang

Chismillionare's new West End spot to check out

Looking for a place after a Bruins or Celts game. Chismillionare's reigning champ was Anthem on Portland St. But Johnnies on the Side looks promising as its replacement. Check them out here:

Could Alzheimer's actually be a form of Diabetes?


-by Catherine Arnst

Scientists have been searching for the cause of Alzheimer's disease for more than 100 years, and during that time, theories about why brain cells are destroyed in the course of the illness have come and gone. One of the newer and more unorthodox theories posits that Alzheimer's may actually be a form of diabetes. Some experts have even taken to calling the brain disease type 3 diabetes, as distinct from the insulin-dependent (type 1) and adult-onset (type 2) varieties of the condition.

The diabetes hypothesis stems from growing evidence that cells in the brains of Alzheimer's victims are resistant to insulin; just as in diabetes, the cells don't respond appropriately to this hormone. As a result, neurons are deprived of glucose, which they need for energy. As the evidence mounts, the type 3 label is gaining currency in Alzheimer's research circles and is drawing attention from the pharmaceutical industry. Pharma companies are testing existing diabetes drugs against Alzheimer's, while startup Acumen Pharmaceuticals, in partnership with Merck (MRK), is focusing on molecules that allow insulin to reach brain cells.

SUGAR-STARVED CELLS

If the fundamental understanding of Alzheimer's disease shifts in this direction, it could have a big impact on GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) floundering diabetes drug, Avandia. Sales have dropped dramatically in recent months over concerns that the drug raises the risk of heart attack and bone disease in diabetics. But last year, a small clinical trial yielded intriguing evidence that Avandia might slow the progress of Alzheimer's. Glaxo is now testing the drug against a placebo on 3,400 Alzheimer's patients, with results expected in 2009.

The link between the two diseases was first made about a decade ago when scientists found accumulations of insulin in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Doctors have long known that patients with diabetes were two to five times more likely to develop the brain-killing illness, but most Alzheimer's patients are not diabetic. Insulin creation in the brain is a separate process from insulin production elsewhere in the body, says Brown University's Dr. Suzanne de la Monte. Thus insulin resistance is separate, too.

De la Monte believes that insulin resistance happens early on in Alzheimer's disease and may be the cause of dementia. That's a radical departure from the mainstream theory that accumulation of a toxic protein called amyloid brings on memory loss and brain cell destruction. De la Monte is a longtime skeptic of the amyloid theory, however, and instead suspects that insulin resistance may be a precursor of amyloid buildup.

A research team led by neurobiologist William L. Klein at Northwestern University came up with more supporting evidence for the type 3 diabetes theory in September, 2007. Klein, a founder of Acumen, discovered that a toxic protein called ADDL damages insulin receptors on the surface of brain cells, rendering them less responsive to the hormone. Klein and Acumen are now searching for antibodies that will counteract this toxin. "I think it's likely that if you block ADDL, you will be able to reverse or prevent Alzheimer's," he says—a bold statement given that no drug has yet been able to do either.

The Alzheimer's-as-diabetes idea is still a long way from being accepted truth. Even Glaxo's head of neuroscience medicine development, Atul Pande, cautions that it may not pan out. If it does, however, he says the outlook for this devastating disease could change dramatically. "Some researchers are suggesting you may be able to detect insulin resistance in the brain as early as age 18," says Pande—and take action to correct i

American Gladiators: A Saturday in the Gladiator Arena

December 9, 2007

American Gladiators is back

As you may have heard NBC is bringing back American Gladiators. The revamped version of the classic game show of the early 90s will begin to air on January 6. I wish I would have waited until January 6 for my first chance to see the new Gladiators in action.

Saturday morning I got up early and headed down to the Sony lot to be a member of the Gladiator audience. I gave up on sleeping in for a little walk down memory lane. In hindsight, I could have really used the sleep.

Our day started with a short drive from my place over to the lot at 10:30 am. There are no cell phones, cameras, iPods or knives allowed inside. These rules not only got in the way of my plans of shanking a Gladiator while listening to my workout mix on shuffle but also required us to walk all the way back to our car to drop off our cell phones before entering the lot. We were then directed to take another long walk, this time to an empty sound stage. The empty sound stage served as a holding area for us while we waited to enter "Gladiator Arena" better known as Stage 30.



Commercial for the new American Gladiators



The first difference between the new Gladiators and old Gladiators is very apparent from our first step in the stage, I mean arena. This time around there's water. Original Gladiators: no water. New Gladiators: water.

The arena was split into two, on one side an event called something like "Hit and Run" was set up which consisted of a suspension bridge over a pool of water, the other side was set up for "Powerball" which looks exactly like it looked back in the day. The water event was going to be our first event of the day and we unfortunately were sitting on the "Powerball" side. We were going to have to watch on the big screen.

After a lengthy setup we were graced with the presence of the male Gladiators. Massive men in spandex striking poses as their names are announced really gets a rise out of the audience, which is made up of about 50% kids, 40% mid to late 20s guys and 10% scumbags. No more Nitro or Gemini, we now have Gladiators named Wolf, Justice, Mayhem and Titan (they brought that name back). The Gladiators stand on top of podiums while holding a giant ball on a string hanging from the rafters which they will swing at the contestants who will attempt to run across the bridge without falling in the water.

Shouted over the PA, we hear directions given to these muscle-bound freaks of nature. The director says things like, "Howl for me, Wolf," and "More posing, Justice" and my personal favorite - "Look menacingly while you stare at your balls" (he was referring to the giant balls that were swinging from the rafters, I hope).

Co-host Laila Ali shoots an interview with the male contestants prior to the event. Six takes later we are ready to roll. Like her dad, Laila was great with her fists. Her dad was also a great showman with great charm when the cameras rolled. Like I said, Laila was great with her fists so let's just move on.

Actual competition time was about 30 seconds. The time it took to tape was about 45 minutes. That's the magic of television.

The comedian who had the tough task of working the audience in between all of the action got the crowd in a frenzy when he introduced our other co-host, Hulk Hogan. The Hulkster has a really big house and a lot of cars thanks to his ability to talk on the microphone in front of a large audience and it showed. Unlike his counterpart, Hogan can really work a crowd even when he is saying things like "Gladiator maniacs" and "our beautiful Gladiators." There are a lot of adjectives that would fit the female Gladiators, but beautiful isn't really one of them. Where are the writers when you need them? Oh right.

The female Gladiators go by names of Venom, Crush, Siren (that was another old school name that brought back) and Helga, who fittingly, was a mountain of a woman with long blond pigtails. The original Gladiator girls had names that actually sounded feminine like Lace and Sunny. I can't imagine bringing a girl named Crush home to mom, but that's just me.

The female contestants lasted much longer on the bridge than the men did. Total time of actual competition was two minutes, the amount of time it took to tape was also about 45 minutes. After an hour and a half of watching production assistants preparing the "Powerball" arena (we felt for the kids who had the tasks of counting balls, vacuuming the turf and dusting the goals) we were excited to see the action come our way. We were going to be just a few feet away from Gladiators tackling contestants. "Powerball" was always my favorite event as a kid watching it on TV.

Thanks to the production staff of American Gladiators, TV is the only way I will get to see "Powerball." Those great seats we had for the event were taken away from us. An audience coordinator came over to our section and let us know that our row and the row in front of us was going to need to move. A bunch of us asked the coordinator "Where are we going?" but she had nothing for us. She knew, she just wanted to avoid being yelled at by the angry college aged guys who were sitting in front us. We were being brought to the other side of the arena, where the first event was taped. Once again we were going to be left to watch on the big screen while our side of the arena would be left vacant. That was enough for us. We decided to find a side door and get the hell out of there.

I am not upset about the events that took place at this taping, I have been to tapings before and I understand that it pretty much sucks to be an audience member. I had low expectations

I'm not upset but I am offended. Was our section not attractive enough to be on camera? The girl sitting next to us was wearing a Confederate flag doo-rag, maybe they wanted to make sure the show didn't offend anyone so they just moved her entire section off camera, I don't know. Will having our section off-camera increase the show's ratings a half-point? I have watched pretty much every episode of the original Gladiators and do not remember saying, "Boy, that audience looks great."

Until I hear an explanation from an American Gladiators crew member I will continue to feel offended. That doesn't mean I won't give the show a shot and watch when it premieres on January 6, there won't be anything else on TV anyways.




Access Hollywood's preview of American Gladiators

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