[Population: One] <A HREF="http://popone.innocence.com/ar

Sadly, Kwame lost, but it won’t hurt his career. Which is good — I think he’d have been a better hire than Bill, although I’m sure Bill will do a good job for The Donald. On the other hand, Bill certainly did a better job on the final task than Kwame. Kwame was stuck with Omarosa no matter what, but he should have at least tried to sideline her.

Even given that he’d kept Omarosa, he might have had a chance to win if he’d defended himself in the boardroom. I’d have used the situation as an excuse to trot out the “I always hire people who are smarter than me” line, which has the advantage of being true. I’m pretty sure Kwame’s management style works better when he’s had the chance to build and/or mold his own team rather than inheriting a bunch of subpar workers.

I’m already looking forward to Apprentice 2, in large part because competitors can think about strategy now. This season, since nobody knew how the final few shows would work, strategic planning was a shot in the dark. Now, I think it’s clear that you want to ally with another strong competitor; the goal is to get to the final four and then out-interview your ally. That way you get him or her back on your team for the last task; it’s immensely important to have a strong employee there.

Mind you, that’s not exactly what Bill did (unless Bill and Amy had a stronger alliance than we saw) and it’s more or less what Kwame did. So it’s not a guaranteed win. Still, I think that if Kwame had dealt with Omarosa better he’d have won because of Troy’s strong support, and it’s certainly the strategy that got Kwame and Troy into the final five.

[Population: One] <A HREF="http://popone.innocence.com/ar

Poppy Z. Brite’s new book, Liquor, is a pretty huge change of direction from her early work. It’s not horror, it’s not gory, and it’s not the work of a writer fascinated by young gay men in New Orleans…

Strike that last; maybe it’s not such a huge change. Still, no vampires or other creepy-crawlies. It’s a foodie novel set in New Orleans, and it’s well-written, so it’s pretty much perfect for people who love cooking. I wouldn’t call it terribly deep but I enjoyed it. Her husband is a cook, and she’s got the feel of the restaurant world down pat as far as I can tell based on the summers I spent running dishwashers on Nantucket.

As a novel, it’s got a fairly loose plot and a paucity of tension. As a slice of life piece, it’s a lot of fun.