Multitalented — that's one of many qualities I like about the crowd that gathers here each Wednesday night to comment on Top Chef (starting at 10 Eastern.) They can drink. They can tell jokes. They can … presumably do something for a living. And many can cook! And cook fancy stuff, even! So tonight, my "highlights from last week" involve the culinary feats performed not by "cheftestants," but by my fellow commenters. The fact that it was Thanksgiving Eve likely played a role, but everyone seemed to be cooking something special while they were live-blogging last week. Here's a sampling:
- Lizawithazee: Brussels sprouts with brown butter and pecans, chipotle stuffin' muffins, goat cheese and onion tart, cranberries with candied grapefruit peel, antipasto tray, and buttermilk chive biscuits.
- Lillyblue: Oyster dressing, spiced giblet gravy and shrimp remoulade
- minou: Creamy spinach gratin, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and brownies
- TristaButterfly: Fresh-baked bread
- Strehle: Something involving cranberries and heavy cream
- JLynRedux: Five kinds of pie — apple, pumpkin, three-berry, chocolate cream and ricotta
And as for me? Well, I don't mean to brag, but I can heat up a mean frozen pizza. In fact, I've got one bubbling in the microwave now. Before I fetch it, allow me to suggest a few "things to watch for" as we live-blog tonight:
- Expectoration! Watch for the Today Show's Kathie Lee Gifford to become the latest woman on Top Chef to gag and spit something out. (I planned to make a junior prom joke here, but I decided to spare you. Call it an early holiday present.)
- Eggs'n'bacon! The quickfire challenge will be to make a "breakfast amuse-bouche." My French is a little rusty, but I think that means "breakfast funny mouth." Which means … they'll make smiley-face pancakes? If so, you heard it here first.
- Expatriation! Fabio will opine that guest judge Rocco DiSpirito is "not a real Italian." This is ironic because, in one of his great Top Chef recaps on Gawker, Josh Stein theorized that Fabio himself may be as genuinely Italian as Chico Marx. Next, someone will try to tell me Chef Boyardee wasn't a real Italian either. (He was, by the way — his real name was Ettore Boiardi. And I just decided to give Fabio the new nickname "Chef Boyardee" in his honor.)
Well it's almost 10 o'clock, and the microwave is beeping. Let's get ready to gab, gastronomes!
Hail, pilgrims! Ready to talk turkey on Top Chef? Who's up for some candid yammering? (I know. My Thanksgiving puns are awful. I'll do better on Christmas Eve, I promise.) In case you're new to this ritual, it starts at 10PM Eastern, when we all turn on Top Chef and post comments about it. And rest assured that no turkeys will be harmed in the process (although many a cocktail is likely to bite the dust). Before we dig in, here are some highlights from last week's live blog:
Welcome to another Wednesday-night cornucopia of commenting goodness. This is the reality show live blog where (starting at 10 Eastern) everyone can join in — even ignorant folks who think a vinaigrette is an emulsion. But while such people are welcome to participate, I think they are sadly misinformed: A vinaigrette is not an emulsion. I know this because Stefan says so. And who am I to argue with Stefan? Last week I picked him to win this whole thing, and so far he's making me look like a genius.
Welcome, reality-TV junk-food junkies! Our commenter live blogs for Project Runway were such a blast, Gawker let us re-plate the whole concept for new season of Top Chef (in New York!), which kicks off at 10 Eastern tonight. So turn on Bravo, grab the alcoholic beverage of your choice and limber up those commenting fingers. (And here's a tip from the Glad family of products: To protect your keyboard or laptop from drunken spills, just zip it inside an extra-large Glad food storage bag!)
This is Michaela Watkins, and she's apparently the newest addition to the cast of Saturday Night Live, the ancient sketch comedy show that is relevant again because a) you can watch just the funny bits online and b) there was apparently a presidential election this year. (Ok fine and c) they have a good cast and it seems less terrible in its current incarnation than it did the last time everyone talked about how they were watching it again.) In the attached clip, Watkins is doing her audition bit: a pretty great impression of noted blog-runner and grudge-holder and Internet Doyenne Arianna Huffington! Hooray, making fun of Arianna Huffington will soon hit the mainstream! Click to watch.
Senator John McCain will appear on the popular "sketch comedy" television program Saturday Night Live this weekend. McCain hosted the show in 2002, so he's no stranger to their fun-loving antics. The only difference is that this time out, McCain is, we're told, running for president, and the election is on Tuesday. So, sure, hanging out in New York City sounds good, why not. Barack Obama was rumored to be considering an appearance too, but it seems like he might spend the weekend before the election campaigning in swing states? He has spent enough time on network TV, thank you. (Though someone could still make a stilted, unfunny, stunt cameo during SNL's Monday night prime time election special! Keep hope alive!) [
Yes, I know the last presidential debate is on tonight, but stay here and live-blog last episode of Project Runway with us instead. After all, we can watch more presidential debates in 2012 — but who knows when, if ever, we'll get to see Project Runway again?
I love the word "penultimate." So forgive me if I use it repeatedly in reference to tonight's commenter live-blog, which is the penultimate posting party for the penultimate episode of this season. Let's just hope it's not the penultimate Project Runway episode of all time. (C'mon Harvey — get all those lawyers together in a room and make it work!) At 9 pm Eastern, it'll be time for this penultimalooza to get started. Then penultimania will break loose! (If either of those words becomes popular, just remember that I coined them here, OK?) Until then, let's revisit a few highlights from last week:
Hello troops! I'm sorry I missed you last week (and also that I drank so much at the commenter meet-up), but like General MacArthur, I have returned. It will be good to live-blog with you all again tonight. And as we do, allow me to offer this advice: Type, drink and be merry, because tomorrow … who knows what will happen? Certainly not Harvey Weinstein, who was just 
Well kids, it's hard to believe over two months have flown by. Remember July, when this commenter live-blogging party began? Those hot and halcyon days when the financial world had not yet collapsed, we'd never heard of Sarah Palin and ... people still liked Kenley? Remember? She was everyone's favorite spunky, talented, retro Bettie Page doppelganger. But that was before the crying, back-biting and bitching, and before her designs started sucking. Now it seems like the whole blogosphere is hating on her. But I have to confess: I still like Kenley. I liked the Good Kenley then, and I like Bad Kenley now. The bad, bad Kenley...
Willkommen, netzvolk! Guten abend! I'm Hippity Klum, your host for another fun-filled hour in which Gawker commenters live-blog TV's fiercest reality show. And as your host, I hereby make this solemn pledge: I will never bail on you with some lame excuse. I say this because J. Lo 
Hello, you asstastic people! Are you ready for another asstastic hour of group live-blogging madness? Oh, am I saying "asstastic" again? Sorry. It's become my favorite new word, ever since commenter downlow used it (aptly) to describe Leanne's winning design last week. Now it's my catchphrase — my "fierce," if you will. Everything lately is asstastic! 
Hello again, campers! I trust the Republican Convention won't distract from our 9 pm commenter gabfest as much as the Dem one did last week, given how little the worlds of fashion design and the GOP overlap (apart from some rich male Republicans marrying fashion models, that is). But those planning to watch Sarah Palin's speech tonight (whether due to some accident-gawking impulse, or the hope of glimpsing her hunky future son-in-law) should know that it probably won’t start till after 10 pm Eastern. So why not sit tight with us until then?
Hear ye and welcome to the Project Runway Commenter Live blog — the weekly convention where Gawker delegates use their keyboards to vote for awesomeness! To those of you jonesing for a political fix from the Dem Convention: Biden’s speech probably won't start until after 10 pm, so why not kill time before then by helping us liveblog tonight's Project Runway episode? Before I bang the gavel on tonight's festivities, here are some "random highlights" and "things to watch."
Ah, the Olympics: the 
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Hello everyone, and welcome back to the greatest liveblog on earth — created by you, the Gawker commenters. It's like an Olympics here every Wednesday night, but a special one: the Olympics of live blogging. Before things get underway, I have a couple things to suggest we watch for tonight, followed by a special request. First, the "things to watch":
Brought to you, as always, by commenter 
You might be wondering what Alternadad author Neal Pollack has been writing about lately. Oh, the same thing he's been writing about for years now—quotidian life with his five-year-old son, Elijah. (We've been 
Commenters, for this week's challenge, you will have 60 minutes — starting at exactly 9 pm Eastern — to construct a Project Runway "liveblog" using nothing by sandpaper, twine and fruit rollups. If you don’t have access to those materials, then please just use the wit, perceptiveness and itchy posting fingers that are the hallmark of Gawker commenters the world over. Your moderator, commenter 
Everybody has dysfunctional relationships—even those young marrieds who refer to themselves as "we." With that in mind, Gawker alum Doree Shafrir 
That's right, as we mentioned earlier, Julia Allison has generously agreed to answer your questions. 
Sometimes, the idea of cutting-edge art is worth