Agreed.  I grew up in Southern California, and I can't stand people that talk about missing the change of seasons.  There's a reason why the cost of living is so high out here, it's because the sun shines 300 days out of the year.  Are there a bunch of Tahitians looking up at the sky, saying "It should snow, because…

I think Wes Anderson's gift is showing us eccentrics, and getting us to care and feel empathy for them.  I think the starting point for Payne's characters and plots are more central, they are more ordinary.  With that grounding, the plot twists, the "fireworks" in his films don't have to be that flashy to make an…

Mike Mills is Superman.  He can do anything.  He knows the pathway to your heart.

I think Payne's films are more firmly grounded in a humanity and the feeling of everyday life that aren't necessarily in those of the filmmakers you named, and thus aren't going to go to their extremes.  I would say I enjoyed Sideways as much as I did Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction, or PT Anderson's Boogie…

"EXCUSE ME?!  MY NAME IS BEVERLY, AND I'M THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON HERE!  I KNOW THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE HERE, BUT ALL MY NEEDS AND CARES MUST BE ATTENDED TO!"

What was the split on Steeves' Friends&Family versus AV Club moochers?  I think I recognized a lot of AV Club faces in there.

Mr. Payne, I certainly didn't think Sideways was too long.  I could have spent another hour with those characters.  My favorite film of 2004, narrowly edging out The Incredibles.

I'm starting to understand why Frank Darabont got fired halfway through filming this season.  The plot just seems to be stuck in the mud, and any advances keep getting blocked by characters acting like idiots.  Everything is DRAGGING.

As they were pulling Daryl back towards that house, I was so hoping for someone to give Andrea a hard slap in the face and take the rifle away from her.

I loved 300.  It was like hearing a great pep talk from your high school coach.  By the end of the movie, I was ready to toss a spear through someone.

"Tom, Padma, you asked me to cook something that showed the essence of what I am as a chef.  So, in this duck dish, you will taste some of the blood that was pumping through my heart just ten minutes ago."

I had to look up "vituperative".

I think Flamingo Road was the first time Mark Harmon entered my consciousness.  He was such a ringer on Battle of the Network Stars.  Former Division 1 QB just trashing those theater nerds.

I'm with Noel in the dragginess of Connor's story for this episode.  Yes, his life has been shitty, but if anything, Connor is a survivor.  I never bought the idea that Connor would just give up and go postal.

SPOILERS

Anyone else catch that commercial with the Voltaggio brothers?  I haven't seen acting that wooden since I watched those Hmong kids in "Gran Torino".  It looked like one of those Reno 911 public safety ad spoofs where the actors are trying to sound dumb.

I'm so glad vegan soup boy got kicked off.  The last thing I wanted on Top Chef was to be all preached to about vegan-ism and how delicious vegetables can be, and great substitutes for animal protein.  Fuck that.  Top Chef should have a challenge where they have to serve an animal that was killed in tremendous agony.

I liked Asian Sara from Season 3, who got all pissed off that she had to cook in her club-wear serving from a food truck.  She looked like she wanted to cry.

I'm expecting some input from the Texas chefs that were contestants before.  Casey and Tre from Season 3, and Tiffany from Season 7 who couldn't stop reminding us that she's from little Beaumont, TX.  Maybe folks that worked with them in restaurants, or they will appear on the show themselves.

He should stick to selling knives, because he sure showed that he couldn't use them.