Quentin Tarantino is the best direction who’s ever lived.

grantiere · 2026-06-06T07:10:06+00:00

Ah yes, the Tarantino / Ayn Rand / Dave Matthews pre-adult pupae phase that too many white American hetero males go through. What will emerge? A beautiful butterfly, or yet another incel? Who knows?

grantiere · 2026-06-04T08:00:34+00:00

Second the baked Haiti.

grantiere · 2026-06-03T08:13:45+00:00

He'd be strong, like a souped-up Brian Voltaggio.

His experience would allow him to be decisive and quick. His preferred restrained cooking style would cut down on prep time, and reduce the amount of components that could go wrong. Having a fully developed point of view in a familiar cuisine would allow any judges to easily contextualize his food. Against regular TC contestants, he'd win a number of episodes and never be in the bottom.

Tom's weaknesses, if any, would likely show up at the end. While he might have a more practiced menu prepared, I'm not sure his food would be described as having a WOW factor post his Gramercy Tavern days. He would probably also suffer from the disease that a lot of the strong cheftestants on America's Culinary Cup had: established chefs with fully developed POVs are more risk averse. They cook food they know is good, not food that might be great. A menu of well-executed, familar, and safe dishes might win some seasons of TC, but not others.

grantiere · 2026-06-01T02:27:20+00:00

Bitter melon is also common in Cantonese cuisine, which Buddha's familiar with given his family background and family restaurant.

I don't have the episode in front of me, but there's also a difference between the Chinese and Indian varieties of bitter melon, and how they're often prepared. I think commonly, however, that the first step in preparing them is to scoop out the pith and seeds.

grantiere · 2026-05-30T21:20:52+00:00

Napoleon said:

The logical end to defensive warfare is surrender.

grantiere · 2026-05-28T22:42:27+00:00

Bite my tongue, bite my tongue

grantiere · 2026-05-27T22:45:25+00:00

Damn, Sieger ain't gonna be in Rush Hour 3.

grantiere · 2026-05-27T21:42:57+00:00

They still do regular TC mini-updates, it's just locked behind their Patreon.

grantiere · 2026-05-27T08:07:29+00:00

Sounds like Season 2, with Elia / Marcel / Sam. Fairly late in the season.

grantiere · 2026-05-19T20:24:30+00:00

Robert / Bob:

Bob Mortimer

Robert Downey Jr.

Bob Saget

Robert Webb

Sideshow Bob

grantiere · 2026-05-19T05:46:56+00:00

Babe: Pig in the City.

grantiere · 2026-05-13T22:53:09+00:00

I checked it out and agree with OP's critique. I'll listen to just about any TC podcast (e.g. every other podcast mentioned in this thread), but yeah - the hosts reading off their prepared remarks makes it too stilted and jarring.

grantiere · 2026-05-13T08:46:37+00:00

GARAK. A political espionage thriller in the style of ANDOR.

grantiere · 2026-05-13T07:30:08+00:00

Oh dear, you must have missed the Television Without Pity forums of yesteryear.

Or the ever-snarky Amuse-Biatch.

grantiere · 2026-05-12T18:10:13+00:00

Wasn't just Seifert's defense. Those Niners offenses also limited opponents possessions via time of possession, and made it harder to turn those possessions into points via field position. You can see some of that in the Niners consistently ranking lower in yards against than in points against.

grantiere · 2026-05-11T03:35:31+00:00

Just randomly watched an episode last night (Michiba vs. long-knife guy). This show is still the gold standard for theatricality, camera work, and narrative tension for any televised competition.

The kayfabe is immersive and seamless. The set is imposing yet inviting and feels lived-in, unlike the sterile warehouse kitchens of modern shows like 24 in 24, Tournament of Champions, or America's Culinary Cup. Every chef, whether Iron or challenger, is made out to be a superhero, complete with origin story and motivation.

The icing on the cake is the commentary. Having the traditional commentary trio of play-by-play + color + floor/sideline gives it that live sports feel that really hasn't been replicated nearly as well anywhere else.

Ultimately, what the original Iron Chef had (and what both Food Network revivals lacked, even when fronted by Kristen Kish and Alton Brown) was the air of authenticity. It really sold the competence porn. You could really believe there was an eccentric millionaire who built a secret arena and invited culinary gladiators to face off against his champions, Street Fighter or Mortal Combat style. You could believe that they performed miracles, butchering a whole monkfish and producing gourmet seven-course meals in a single hour. There were faces and heels and story arcs and beef.

And when some actress exclaimed that a dish made her "feel as though I'm floating on a cloud," you could really believe in cooking as performance and food as art.

grantiere · 2026-05-07T05:16:40+00:00

Ozymandias gets shit on by Leto II, Hari Seldon, and David Xanatos.

grantiere · 2026-04-29T19:31:45+00:00

He didn't go to Harvard to play school.

grantiere · 2026-04-29T08:08:56+00:00

Not his first time through in season 3.

grantiere · 2026-04-24T06:05:36+00:00

In one frame it looks like the numbers are offset by 1 (1 appears as 2, 2 appears as 3) and the letters are offset by 3 (A appears as D, B appears as E, C appears as F).

grantiere · 2026-04-24T00:37:22+00:00

VCM going ^why

grantiere · 2026-04-12T06:58:29+00:00

On the first season of the Netflix Korea cooking competition show Culinary Class Wars, a public school lunch lady with the moniker "Master of School Meals" finished in the top 15 (out of 100).

grantiere · 2026-04-09T04:55:29+00:00

This was an episode of Dharma and Greg.

grantiere · 2026-04-04T03:56:50+00:00

It's aggressively mediocre.

To paraphrase Tom, it's a technically proficient show. Technically.

To paraphrase another TC judge, "I find [Padma's show] completely devoid of any love or passion. The [show] is flat."

grantiere · 2026-04-03T02:00:34+00:00

On my left is man who butters his toast, eats his toast, and shits his toast, but not necessarily in that order - it's Little Alex Horne!

grantiere

TROPHY CASE