Yeah, absolutely.  For beginners, I'd recommend starting with what's mostly referred to as ga kho gung, which is just chicken braised in that sauce.  It's also pretty easy to make at home, although I needed to take the batteries out of my smoke detector the first time I tried it.  There are tons of recipes for it…

I'll definitely concede that point, yeah.

I was surprised to see Harrison Ford pop up in the trailer for the Jackie Robinson biopic 42: http://youtu.be/BoziHLz9aoI

I'm very excited for the new Local Natives album this year.  "Breakers" was previously mentioned here, but there's another single, "Heavy Feet", on soundcloud.

A true Top Chef All-Stars competition with Hung Huynh, Stephanie Izard, the Voltaggios and Kevin Gillespie, Richard Blais, Paul Qui, and both Kristen and Brooke: amazing.

Colicchio always takes care in the LCK episodes to briefly discuss why the dish succeeded or didn't, what made it a failure or what could have been improved upon, etc.  I wish more of that made it into the main episodes.

He's way too nice of a guy for that.  I'm not surprised Looper (and my other current favorite, Moonrise Kingdom) didn't receive any love, but it's still a mild disappointment that I'll soon forget about until the actual Oscars, and then I'll be disappointed again, and then maybe I'll eat a hamburger.

One of the most frustrating aspects about Top Chef's structure as a show is that, recently, it hasn't been taking the time to develop its narratives.  I don't just mean shoehorning real people into ersatz archetypes; I mean drawing out its competitors' stories in meaningful ways beyond just showing baby photos.…

Considering the grueling schedule and most chefs' lack of affinity for baking, I don't fault them.  Even for challenges, competitors have used store-bought cake mix…to mixed results.

I'm confident that a contemporary reimagining of balut, if executed well, would blow the judges' minds.

True was great.  She has excellent taste in collaborators, so I'm looking forward to the full-length.

The Bleeding Edge is Thomas Pynchon's guide for girls on how to weather adolescence in a post-Twilight world.

I feel like meth and glue are more likely paths for this demographic.

Not really, because this was a great review.

Reposted songmeanings.net comments:

Yeah, the time taken up by the DRAMATIC SWOOSHES at the judges' table over the course of the entire season has to be worth at least a few LCKs.

As with mashed potatoes/potato puree, the consistency is really important, because no matter how good your ingredients, you don't want to feel like you're eating Oscar the Grouch's backfur.  I like heating up some garlic and red peppers while the peas tenderize, either in olive oil or leftover bacon fat.

I feel very conflicted about this episode.  Although in Bygone Days of Top Chef Yore I used to enjoy this type of redemptive showdown, now it feels like yet another tentacle of LCK creeping out from a murky pool of risotto to drag the dramatic momentum down.  John gets a second chance in the episode, then a third…

Standing behind him, Michaelis saw with a shock that he was looking at the eyes of Doctor T. Dre Eckleburg, which had just emerged, pale and enormous, from the dissolving night.

Amores Perros was great, yeah, but I was definitely not sad about Babel.  Despite its faults, that film still contains some extremely powerful images and sequences.  My personal favorite is the Japanese dance club section.  The entire Japan narrative was also the film's most successful story to me.  I recall reading…