Looks like an exciting night of Diablo 3 and Chopped for me. You know what episode of Chopped I would like to see? One where they don’t give them stupid ingredients like hard candy or gummy bears, and one where they don’t give them a protein that takes four hours to cook and demand they make an appetizer in 20 minutes. Some of the baskets are just really stupid. I’m honestly surprised it has been going for this many years and a chef hasn’t opened the basket, looked at the clusterfuck they gave them, and just said “Thanks dicks, never mind.” Maybe the Food Network thinks they are doing America a culinary favor by teaching me how to re-purpose cotton candy and blackberry brandy as an appetizer, but I fail to see the value.
Also, too, I think DougJ should change his handle to Post-Punk PJ O’RourkeJ.
jl
Cole has a video camera machine with sound. He could set that sucker up in his kitchen and record his own cooking show.
For example: rampsarama in the kitchen! That would be cool.
I would watch that, hoping for a Rosie disaster to inflict itself upon the star.
SiubhanDuinne
John, we’ve had great pictures of both Lily and Tunch recently, but have not seen Rosie in ever so long. Could we just have a little glimpse of her, you know, so we are reassured she’s okay?
Thxbai.
Ron
I just hate when they give completely ridiculous ingredients, like the one where the dessert basket included hot dogs. I’m okay with challenging and maybe ingredients that don’t seem to go together. On the other hand the totally ridiculous or disgusting ingredients don’t make any sense to me.
On the other hand it always kills me when people try doing things like making rice. It’s virtually guaranteed to not be completely done. don’t bother.
jl
@SiubhanDuinne:
I agree. Rosie pics! I miss pics of the little terror. Except Cole says she’s nice now. I want pic proof of nice Rosie.
Raven
Rockin in Miami.
David Koch
Celtics v LBJs
SiubhanDuinne
@jl:
ZACK-ly!
Steeplejack
Proof of Nice: Wasn’t that that movie with Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan?
I was up early this morning–5:30–so the night shift may be packing it in early tonight. Trying to stay awake between Mets-Yankees and Celtics-Heat. Hockey? Meh.
Southern Beale
We’re watching the Stanley Cup playoffs. I want to root for the L.A. Kings but the team is owned by that right wing asshole Phillip Anschutz.
Also, we saw The Avengers today. I thought it sucked. I’m just so over watching New York City get blown apart while some superhero tries to save it from some supervillain.
Emdee
If they’re going to give them non-ridiculous ingredients, they have to make it hard in other ways. No one wants to see four people quickly cook dishes they can quickly cook in their sleep, and that you and I could also. Hell, half the desserts on the damn show are already just some form of bread pudding.
I liked the time they included boxed macaroni and cheese (“Kraft Dinner,” the Canuckistanians call it) but took all the dairy out of the fridge. I’d like to see some pasta dishes with no tomato products in the pantry, and so on. But yeah–give them spaghetti, canned tomatoes, ground meatloaf mix, and fresh basil, and you’re going to get 3 plates of spaghetti and meatballs and one plate of OMG WHAT THE HELL IS THAT.
different-church-lady
For reasons I won’t bore everyone with, my work has been bringing me more into the world of cable TV original programming, and the more I find out about it, the more I think, “How on earth can you people watch this shit?”
Abo gato
Waiting for the day they open the basket and see shittake mushrooms, quinoa, red hots and dog shit.
TaMara (BHF)
It was a 100 degrees today. In June. I managed to get a ride in when it was only 92 degrees, so there’s that, but then I had to bake a birthday cake.
I don’t have air conditioning, mostly because we don’t need it, maybe a week of mid-90s in the summer, with relatively cool nights and well placed fans do a great job. Today I’d rethink that decision if I wasn’t cheap and worried about climate change.
Pictures of the birthday cake later…
Steeplejack
@different-church-lady:
Obviously you haven’t seen such milestones as Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus (which is on Syfy again at 11:00 p.m. EDT tonight). Or that whole series of Love’s Ample Bosom movies on Lifetime/Hallmark Movie Channel or somewhere.
Southern Beale
@different-church-lady:
It depends. If you’re talking “Mad Men,” “True Blood,” “Falling Skies,” etc., easy. If it’s some of the other crap, well … point taken.
jl
Cole should send in his suggestions for a favorite ingredient list.
Preferably with a WV theme.
Probably would end up with a lot of dishes moonshine flambe.
Ramps
Moonshine
Pig
Turnips
Greens
Ginseng (American ginseng, mind you)
What else should be on it?
Edit: by ‘pig’, I mean a pig, probably humanely predead and ready to get cut up, cooked, and etted.
lamh35
@Southern Beale: Speaking of True Blood I’m way looking forward to tomorrow night’s premiere. Can’t wait to see what happens to Tara (I have a sneaky suspicion) and I can’t wait for the first Christopher Meloni shirtless scene! If this season includes more half naked Alcide I’d be a happy True Blood-er!
lamh35
@Southern Beale: Speaking of True Blood I’m way looking forward to tomorrow night’s premiere. Can’t wait to see what happens to Tara (I have a sneaky suspicion) and I can’t wait for the first Christopher Meloni shirtless scene! If this season includes more half naked Alcide I’d be a happy True Blood-er!
YellowJournalism
@different-church-lady: By your reaction, you’ve been keeping up with the Kardashians, haven’t you? (Proud to say I probably spelled it wrong!)
danah gaz (fka gaz)
Chopped sounds interesting if only they’d get really creative.
How about roadkill, salted dicks and mayonnaise?
That food network should hire me. I bet I could increase their ratings.
As for me, I prefer the basics. I’m making potstickers right now. Yum.
namekarB
Would like to see ingredients such as canned dog food and instant noodles like some of the 99%ers normally have.
Ooooh, ooooh, how about some leftovers out of a restaurant dumpster?
jl
@danah gaz (fka gaz): Brilliant. I’d pitch that idea, i were you. See what kind of review it gets at BJ (I am guessing 5 out 5 stars)
Raven
We had blackeyed peas, kale, fresh maters and grilled chicken for din.
Ron
I don’t want easy ingredients. I want non-ridiculous ones. Hot dogs should never be used for dessert, period.
Schlemizel
I agree that the inclusion of an odd ball ingredient or the absence of something ‘normal’ (a desert round with nothing sweet in the basket) is designed to make the thing interesting. When the whole thing is odd ball crap thats a bit much.
I am tired of the sob stories (chefs) and the ego problems (chefs AND judges). Oh – and the fake suspense. I know he is not lifting the cloche before the damn commercial why pretend?
Suffern ACE
I went to see I one of those high fluting circus like things with music and a soundtrack with what could be words in some other language, but im not certain what country. I wish I didn’t have bones so I could run away and join them.
Anoniminous
♪ New ♪ Mexico ♫ is ♪ burning ♫ down ♪
Little Bear fire. Fire is predicted to move into the mountain town of Ruidoso ’bout 3 hours from now. The town of Capitan is under a “Prepare to evacuate” warning as the fire is 6 miles away.
Yesterday at noon it was 100 acres and 100% contained. Today at noon it was over 10,000 acres and 0% contained.
different-church-lady
@YellowJournalism: I’m not even nearly that deep in the cesspool just yet.
But apparently for every Mad Men, there’s 17 Dance Moms. Hopefully I won’t wind up working on too many of them.
Mike in NC
Nothing decent on TV tonight, so the wife wanted to watch a classic movie, and we put on “Bridge On The River Kwai” with Bill Holden and Alec Guinness. Good stuff.
Southern Beale
@different-church-lady:
What about “400 lb Tumor.” Whenever I’m going through the guide I see shows like that listed. Never watched one, but always wondered wtf???
TaMara (BHF)
No hot dogs were used. Or roadkill.
Another Birthday Cake
The next birthday person is getting a fruit salad. I’m not baking again until September*.
*Not meant to be a factual statement as I have blueberry pie planned for Bad Horse later this month. Sigh.
Southern Beale
@different-church-lady:
You know what I love? Those aerial travel shows. Smithsonian Channel has U.S. ones and HD-Net has European ones. Last night I watched an aerial tour of Maine and this morning it was the Austrian Alps.
I know, I’m weird.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mike in NC:
Hitler has only got one ball
TaMara (BHF)
@Anoniminous: It’s been bad this year for you guys. We’ve got another fire burning too. Just north of here above Fort Collins(and northwest of Denver). Third fire in as many weeks.
Schlemizel
And since talking about the ego problems on Chopped makes me want to also pick nits:
The pretensions of the show and judges is unnecessary. That thing that Ted lifts is a plate cover more than a cloche. But cloche sounds so much classier.
On a lighter note, I heard a very good swing band, Delco Nightingale. Very cool sound. Lead singer has a very good voice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug1c00A9DuA
redshirt
I feel so guiltily bummed: I had an awesome weekend planned and the weather is perfect and I was all packed and ready to go on Friday when I got the call my sick Aunt was in an ambulance on the way to Boston for her major surgery. I, being the only family member nearby, am of course obligated to visit. So bummed. And guilty for feeling bummed, because I love my Aunt and wish her all the best… but, couldn’t this have all happened on Monday instead? /conflicted. But I am the dutiful boy and cancelled all my plans and have spent many hours with her since Friday.
She’s touch and go by the way. Surgery scheduled for Monday. Also, the new wing at MGH in Boston is like out of the 21st century. So freakin modern. And so many hot nurses/doctors. Kind of amazing, really. I’m terrible, right?
Southern Beale
@redshirt:
Nope, they never do, trust me. Been there a thousand times. It’s okay to feel bummed, of course you’d rather be doing the fun thing you’d planned, but you’re a good nephew for canceling to be there for your aunt.
Steeplejack
@Anoniminous:
I have been wondering about Stuck. Haven’t seen him around here in a while, and he is in the fire zone in southwest New Mexico.
Raven
@redshirt: You did what you should have done. It matters what you do not what you think.
burnspbesq
Jeez us, I listen to some weird shit sometimes.
http://www.allmusic.com/album/alto-saxophone-improvisations-1979-mw0000866387
In other news, the kid passed all of his classes and will actually be graduating from high school on Thursday. Yippee! I get to start writing tuition checks in two months!
J.W. Hamner
Shows like Chopped aren’t meant to teach you anything about cooking… that’s what the “dump and stir” shows are for. I mean, what exactly does anyone learn about cooking from Iron Chef?
Personally I really like Chopped… even when they get the wacky ingredients… because pretty much every time they all figure out something good to make out of it.
Steeplejack
@Southern Beale:
The “original” ones are very good, very scenic. But one of the local PBS stations here ran one on the Chesapeake Bay, and it was really low-rent. “Hey, we’ve got a pledge drive coming up. Get some of the interns to rent a helicopter for the day and shoot some footage while they follow that one road down the coast for a while.”
Suffern ACE
@Steeplejack: He has a new name. He posted this afternoon.
Anoniminous
@TaMara (BHF):
It’s summer. It’s New Mexico. Wood burns.
Whitewater-Baldy fire in the Gila is now 270,000 (and change) is now 32% contained. It’s running into areas that were previously “control burned” to prevent a major fire (like Whitewater-Baldy) from becoming a major disaster. It’s big but not that big a deal. Hurrah for ecologically sound forest management! (not snark)
Who knows what Little Bear is going to do. Yet it’s something that has to happen. Lincoln National Forest should have somewhere between 20 and 40 trees per acre. Now there are 300 to 400 trees per acre. The forest is water stressed, diseased, and infested with bark beetles.
Fire is Nature’s Way of renewal.
Jewish Steel
@burnspbesq:
Yeah. That does sound like a strange listen.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@redshirt:
As I tell my kids, if a decision is easy for them while in a difficult situation, they are probably making the wrong one.
Good on you. Best wishes to your Aunt.
Steeplejack
@burnspbesq:
Weird. For some reason I was flashing on Anthony Braxton before I even clicked the link. I used to have some of his free-form stuff from the ’70s. Not “easy listening,” that’s for sure.
Guess I’ll throw in Pharoah Sanders’s “Elevation.” I was standing on a New Orleans streetcorner (Canal and something) in 1974 and heard this coming out of a music store. Hypnotic, and it seemed to fit the Big Easy vibe.
Steeplejack
@Suffern ACE:
What is the new name?
Anoniminous
@Steeplejack:
The fire in the Gila, Whitewater-Baldy, is pretty well clear of any populated areas.
Is him/her an Emergency Worker?
ETA: An “evacuee” (a good friend) has pulled-up so I got to go unload a truck and oversee pizza.
bye
Jewish Steel
Also: Too: @Cole: When I can make you laugh, I feel that my work for the day is done. Stretches languidly… uh, but not in a sexy way (ew).
WaterGirl
@redshirt: Well, you may be bummed, but I am shocked. I assumed you were female, and now I find out I’m wrong.
P.S. As a single person with no kids, I say yay to nephews who care enough to do what you are doing this weekend.
yet another jeff
Yeah…my German friend Marcus was on Chopped…done in by the mahi mahi being a bit dry…although if he’d known there was going to be more than an hour between cooking and when the judges ate the dish…he would have compensated. So it goes.
Yeah…who decides someone should make a sauce out of hard licorice candy and asparagus…WTF?
NotMax
Chopped is way too contrived. And some of the judges so desperate to score pretentiously nasty points that they go beyond nitpicking and tip into ludicrous criticism for the sake of criticism.
Too, that the set apparently has only one food processor and one ice cream machine is just silly. Why not just one set of knives? Professional-grade chefs should be able to cook in a professional-grade kitchen, constrained only by the clock.
Might like it more if they mixed it up a little. Say, by having them spin a wheel to see which course they make first.
And again for the second challenge. Often folks who claim their specialty is desserts never get a chance to shine in that round.
Or take a cue from Let’s Make A Deal and have a choice of baskets for each of the group’s challenges behind closed doors. Whoever wins the short straw has to choose a door and that basket’s mix of ingredients are what they all have to use.
And should any of the producers be reading, please, please ditch the black outfits and black baskets. Morbid, dull and downright depressing.
redshirt
Thanks everyone. I’ve actually enjoyed my time spent at the hospital with her. She’s a Spinster Saint, seriously. So kind and sweet and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her angry in my 40+ years. She was like a second mother to me when I was first born. But she’s been afflicted with so many dread health issues: Diabetes since age 19 with all kinds of attendant conditions – blindness, loss of walking ability, kidney problems. She’s had a bypass, and now the strangest condition, which I can’t remember the name of – her voluntary muscles are failing – eyelids, jaw, back muscles, tongue. All caused by a tumor on her thalamus, which is pressing against her bypass artery to her heart. She’s also on MaineCare – Maine’s subsidized healthcare. So all of Lepage’s shenanigans have rattled me, since my Aunt is someone who could be affected.
Her surgery is probably on Monday, and it’s no easy task – hence the move from Bangor to Boston. I’m realizing this might be my last time with her, and it’s good, because she’s lucid and still funny and if this is to be her time, she’ll have been surrounded by people who love her (everyone else in the family is arriving tomorrow).
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: In case Suffern Ace is gone…
Stuck in the Funhouse, I think. (or something like that)
Egg Berry
@NotMax:
That’s sort of what they do on “MasterChef.”
redshirt
@WaterGirl: Sorry to disappoint. :)
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Good late-night music: Pharoah Sanders, “Astral Traveling.”
WaterGirl
@redshirt: Not disappointed! Just surprised.
I wonder if we subconsciously assume the same gender as we are, until or unless there is a data point to show otherwise?
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
I thought he has been that for a while.
ETA: Anyway, don’t remember seeing a comment from Stuck anybody the last day or two.
FlyingToaster
@redshirt:
Nope. Not in the least. Observant, though :)
I tried to explain it to my mom down in Flawrida — look, we have really good teaching hospitals and therefore attract really good interns/residents/nursing students/etc. A non-trivial number of them look like Hollywood’s idea of a hospital. Which is why so many shows who have scriptwriters educated in Bwahstin write for the hospital dramas and honestly seem to think that’s what hospitals are like. Not like MountAuburn’s maternity ward where you have to turn off your cell phone lest you fuck up the monitors.
All the local hospitals seem to have done facelifts over the past few years; the new entryway at MountAuburn looks like a movie set (5th floor BirthPlace — not so much. Eh.). MGH’s satellite facilities seem to be remodeling, as well.
redshirt
@Raven: Wise words. But thoughts can leak into deeds, and given the freaky nightmare that has been my day to day since Friday, I’ve had to remind myself not to let it show how bummed I truly am to her, cuz that would be lame as hell, given her condition. But! So bummed! :(
redshirt
@WaterGirl: I always assume EVERYONE on the internet is a 400 pound male. Till proven otherwise!
S. cerevisiae
@Steeplejack: It can never reach the depths of Sharktopus
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: Stuck posted last night around dinnertime. If he has a new name since then… when you find out, let me know. :-)
@redshirt: You made me laugh!
Edit: wise words from Raven. I always say if you can’t do it graciously, don’t do it. But I’m with Raven, it’s what you do not what you’re thinking that counts. Even Jimmy Carter sinned in his heart.
Raven
@redshirt: You’re cool. Thoughts are like clouds. I buried a buddy last week. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in January and said he had maybe a year, maybe a lot less. There was one get together scheduled (he lived 3 hrs away) and it was called off at the last minute. I waited to hear from him and after a couple of months I emailed him. I was feeling guilty as shit for not doing SOMETHING. Last week at his memorial his daughter told me that was just the way he wanted it. So much for guilt.
WaterGirl
@Raven: I wondered, when I read about you burying your buddy last week, if that had been one of your two friends who got terrible diagnoses within the same week. So sorry.
My mom was diagnosed as terminal with 6 months to live, but she lived for 18 months. She did not count that as a blessing, she said that once you know you’re going to die, it should be just as long as it takes for you to come to terms with it and get your affairs in order, and not one day longer. We will hope that your buddy was ready.
WaterGirl
Steeplejack, are you still here? I got a new TV and I am having technical difficulties, and I think you know a lot about stuff like that. If you’re still her and won’t mind a description of the problem, let me know.
gloryb
@Southern Beale: Hey, I happen to find those arial tours of European countrues absoluteky mesmerizing! I have a hard time turning away.
Raven
@WaterGirl: Yea, it was one of those. I went on and on about it last weekend and I’m sure people got tired of it. He was an ecology prof and had a farm that he had turned back to the woods over the past 25 years. He had his wife and girls bundle up his unembalmed body and drive him from Charlotte to the farm. They buried him in a shallow grave so he could participate in photosynthesis. That’s going out the way you want.
Raven
The Celtics have nothing to be ashamed of.
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
I’m here. What’s up?
(And I’m sure a lot of others could help as well.)
Raven
out
WaterGirl
@Raven: I saw a comment something like that, but it seems like lately ‘ve been reading BJ when it’s too late to comment. He sounds like a great guy and well loved. Can’t ask for much more than that, I guess. I’m glad has family honored what he wanted.
Edit: Just saw your “out”. Sweet dreams.
burnspbesq
@Steeplejack:
Trying to convert the titles of Braxton compositions into metadata illustrates the limitations of iTunes pretty concisely.
redshirt
@WaterGirl: This is what I’m talking about.
Sorry to hear about your Mother. My Mother is only just a bit over 17 years older than me, so we’re peers in many ways, now. I’ve long suspected I’ll go before she does. Back in the day, of course, she was just, Mom. It’s funny how your parents evolve from “Things” to people, with all attendant flaws/foibles.
Steeplejack
@burnspbesq:
Whoa. Hadn’t thought of that. Most people have enough trouble translating Braxton into their concept of “music.”
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: I’ve had Tivo Premier efor about 18 months. No cable box – I hate comcast – so I have a dual band cable card in my Tivo Premiere. Everything works great. Connected with “component” cable, I believe. Something with a “c”, anyway. :-)
Fast forward to last tuesday when I got a new TV. Connected the new TV to the Tivo Premiere with HDMI cable. TV keeps flashing to black, then comes back, sometimes so fast that you don’t see an error; sometimes you actually get to see the hdmi error message. It’s like it can’t find it, then a split second later it does. Often predictably to a count of 20. One one thousand, two one thousand, etc. That was HDMI-1.
Tried HDMI-2. Every 5 seconds, or more often than that. Shoot me now.
Tried HDMI-3. No flashing from TV (or recordings) just constant HDMI error message on the screen.
Tried HDMI-4. It’s all a blur. I was too frustrated by then to recall the details, but it was bad.
Best Buy came out today with a new TV. (I would have tried a new cable first, but that was their suggestion, and i didn’t mind at all – after 4 maddening hours, I had no faith in that TV and I kind of hated it.
New TV today. HDMI-1 acted like HDMI-2 on the previous TV. Time to try a new HDMI cable, I think. Any ideas?
Yutsano
@Steeplejack: Don’t get me started. And what really bites is she can actually sing. She overemotes like crazy but I blame the producers for that.
gbear
Broke down and put my bedroom window AC in this evening. It’s 80 outside as of 10:00 and the room temp was 87. It’s an upstairs bedroom with a SW exposure so it always heats up late in the day.
I have to add a contraption to the bedroom door that I made out of 1×6 boards that keeps the door open about 6″ but seals it on the top and side. There’s a cat door at the bottom so the cat can come and go, but the cool air still stays in the bedroom. I don’t want to have to shut her either in or out of the room, and I don’t want to bother with or pay for central air.
Steeplejack
@Yutsano:
Sorry, dude, we’re talking Anthony Braxton, not Toni Braxton. Weirdo jazz saxophonist.
WaterGirl
@redshirt: I think you’re doing it wrong. :-) Given the choice, I will presume everyone looks like Mark Harmon . Much more fun, I think, than imagining your 400-poiund guy.
Your description of you and your mom is nice. I’m not sure my parents every got to be more than parents to me. I used to play volleyball a lot, and there was one fellow my age who started bringing his 17-year old daughter to play, tool. I thought “how cool is that, to get to play volleyball with your dad”.
Nice that you have that, or something similar.
asiangrrlMN
I am now playing D3. I started a female character in each class, but I am sticking to my wizard (GuanYin) and my Demon Hunter (Kali). I’m having a lot of fun, but I have a weird tick in that I have to keep them at roughly the same level at all times.
redshirt
@WaterGirl: Naw, she’s terrible at all sports. ;) Super small, but spunky, but not sporty. Her entire family save 2 brothers (out of 5) and a sister (out of 2) are dead, from the cancer. I believe they were exposed to some cancer causing agent as a family, but perhaps the youngest were spared, as they are the only ones still alive, and cancer free (for the most part!).
I had cancer last year, bummingly enough. Melanoma. Caught early and removed (with a huge scar cuz I ripped it open exercising), and I’ve been religious with the checkups. I’ve not told my Mother this, for fear of worrying her. Bad son, or the worst?
Linda Featheringill
Only a little OT:
Probably nobody will agree with me, but that picture of DougJ reminded me of Truman Capote.
Linda Featheringill
@redshirt:
You can tell Mom about the melanoma when it recurs.
WaterGirl
@redshirt: Yikes! (on all the cancer) And yikes for you on the melanoma. Scary. Not sure how to answer the question in your final sentence. I think I could argue both sides in a debate. (Not bad son vs. worst, but whether your mom should know, or not.)
burnspbesq
@Steeplejack:
Also worth remembering that the money Arista made on Barry Manilow made it possible for them to keep recording Anthony Braxton. Which is why you’ll never hear me say anything bad about Barry Manilow.
handy
@burnspbesq:
Copacabana. Best. Pop song. Ever.
Gravenstone
@Southern Beale:
That’s actually a running joke within the Marvel universe. In the later 80’s they created a group of limited series comics called Damage Control, all about the exploits of the construction firm which often had to clean up after such battles.
The prophet Nostradumbass
John, you have described why I never watch Chopped. It’s stupid.
Steeplejack
@Gravenstone:
Okay, that’s hilarious. I’d love to see Jack Kirby on that, with a beefy foreman eerily similar to the Thing.
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
Okay, as I understand it, the only thing that has changed is your TV: you want to hook up the new big-ass HDTV to your existing setup.
Try connecting the new TV with the old component cables. That would be the simplest test to see if everything works as it did before. If you get that working, then you know there’s not a problem with the new TV, it’s some problem getting the HDMI connection to work.
Usually, in my experience, the problem is some simple error. Just go slow and check your work. You want to plug your HDMI cable into the HDMI OUT jack on the TiVo box and into the HDMI IN jack on the TV. A lot of people reverse this, for some reason.
Also, it’s probably a good idea to turn off the TiVo box while you do the connections and let it reboot afterwards.
Finally, stupid question, do you have an HD TiVo box? I know there is a TiVo Premiere and a TiVo Premiere XL. Does the Premiere do HD? I assume it does.
I can’t tell you much more than that. Possibly useful (or useless) guide here.
Shorter version: Can you successfully hook up the TV with the old component cables?
jill
lovely husband and I are convinced that Alton Brown is the evil genius behind what goes into the baskets. Who else is that wickedly brilliant?
Mister Papercut
I watch Chopped mostly for the chefs’ “Well fuck my life” faces. But yeah, they could stand to change it up a little. Maybe every other episode they can have the contestants try to make dessert out of Spanish moss, jujubes, and a thrift store soccer cleat.
Anne Laurie
@gbear:
We hang a blanket or quilt over the doorway so the dogs can come in & out without leaking all the cool air in the bedroom. Our multilevel older (c1950) house has three or four different electrical systems, all untrustworthy, so there’s one window a/c in the living/dining/kitchen level where the computers live, and another one in the upstairs bedroom we sleep in, and until we can afford to move out for a couple weeks while all the wiring is replaced, that’s as much chill as we’re gonna get. The doorway ‘drape’ really does make a difference — the tighter the weave, the better — and even the dimmest of our pets has figured out the system quickly.
Montarvillois
The chefs appear to make do with the weird ingredient combos and I like their introduction, but I concur about the candies.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
I like “Post-Punk DougJ O’Rourke”
Bubblegum Tate
@Ron:
Yeah, this. Good baskets force creativity in trying to make disparate elements work together. Bad baskets have useless crap like “ha ha, you have to use this stupid thing that nobody would ever actually cook with.”
On a related note, I had a dream the other night that I was on Chopped and just failing miserably. All I remember about the basket was that the first thing was pork chops, to which I thought, “Oh, cool, I can rock these.” Then everything else was “WTF is this thing?!?”
Bubblegum Tate
@NotMax:
One of my favorite Chopped judge routines is when they sit there and watch somebody mismanage the clock and not get everything on the plate, then feign ignorance about it during the tasting: “What happened with the [missing ingredient]? I don’t seem to have any. Did you just overlook it?”
Tata
Sometimes the way the Chopped contestants are presented is reeeeally hinky. Alan Harding talks about himself as a food truck guy? That’s bullshit. He’s a pioneer and a master and I spit beer when I saw him. His show Cooking In Brooklyn was completely watchable. And there he is on Chopped, but why?
Jebediah
@redshirt:
Me, too – even the ripping open part. I didn’t tell her until I knew I was clear.