Originally published on Wed November 21, 2012 10:53 am
Three figures, each more monster than man, cast long shadows over the 19th century gothic novel: a vampiric count, seeking new hunting grounds; a wanderer, cornered after a lifetime spent avoiding damnation; and a sinister, drug-addicted uncle, intent upon securing a wealthy estate even if it means murdering a niece to do so. These three works — Charles Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer, Uncle Silas by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and Bram Stoker's Dracula — represent the cornerstones of the Anglo-Irish gothic tradition.
He may not have a Ninja Turtle named after him, but Tiziano Vecellio of Venice — Titian, to English speakers — has a claim to being the most enduringly influential painter of the Renaissance, even more than his Roman contemporaries Michelangelo and Raphael. Something about him drives his fans to excess. Peter Paul Rubens painted nearly two-dozen copies of Titian's work; Anthony van Dyck bought 19 Titians for his own collection. Velazquez and Rembrandt worshipped him.
Food stylist Lisa Cherkasky, who cooked most of the meal in advance of the taping, checks the temperature on the oven. The trick to Child's Brussels sprouts is to blanch them first, then cut off the ends and place them flat on the bottom of the pan so they soak up all the butter.
Credit Maggie Starbard/NPR
It takes a village to make a Thanksgiving radio segment. From left, assistant Carolyn Robb Schimley, Cherkasky, Kimball and publicist Deb Broide go over the plan for creating a Julia Child Thanksgiving on the radio.
Credit Maggie Starbard/NPR
Morning Edition's Renee Montagne reaches for the prepared turkey as Kimball explains how Child's recipe calls for the turkey breast to be butterflied and separated from the thighs and legs and cooked in different pans.
Credit Maggie Starbard/NPR
An expertly trussed turkey thigh, Child's way, deboned and seasoned with salt, pepper, and sage.
Credit Maggie Starbard/NPR
Putting a foil collar around the stuffing creates a base for the turkey breast to rest on and allows both the stuffing and the meat to cook up moist and juicy.
Credit Maggie Starbard/NPR
Kitchen tip: Corks make a great handle if you don't want to mess with potholders or dishtowels.
Credit Maggie Starbard/NPR
Montagne tastes the garlic mashed potatoes. Kimball, who is known for tweaking recipes to perfection, says this is one recipe that he wouldn't change a bit.
Credit Maggie Starbard/NPR
After a few hours of taping, it's time to eat. Kimball adds a dollop of creme fraiche to his apple tart.
Credit Maggie Starbard/NPR
Montagne enjoys the apple tart as Kimball tells stories of Child, like the time she asked him to shuck a bag of oysters, and he didn't do so well. Kimball cooked with Child on her show several times and developed a close relationship with her.
Credit Maggie Starbard/NPR
While disassembling the turkey to cook it takes some labor, it ensures all the parts are cooked to perfection. Plus, it's easier to serve.
Credit Maggie Starbard/NPR
The America's Test Kitchen and Morning Edition crews call it a wrap.
Credit Maggie Starbard/NPR
Chris Kimball of America's Test Kitchen adds salt to the roux he's made to add to Julia Child's Puree De Pommes De Terre A L'Ail, or Garlic Mashed Potatoes.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Chris Kimball and Renee Montagne share a laugh with Paula Johnson, curator of a new exhibit at the Smithsonian's American History Museum featuring Julia Child's kitchen.
Like many of us who consider ourselves food adventurers most of the year, when it comes to Thanksgiving, we just want the turkey and mashed potatoes we grew up with. Well, OK, maybe just a teensy bit better than what we grew up with, but along the same lines.
Originally published on Wed November 21, 2012 5:30 am
Despite my outward 30-something appearance, deep inside my chest beats the heart of an old Jewish grandmother. I want to make my friends sweaters when it's getting cold, or throw them parades when they've mastered some feat. But mostly, I want to feed them. Especially when they need a little help.
Over the past few years, I've brought dozens of meals to friends who are nursing new babies or broken bones. And I've learned a few things about how to help when it comes to feeding people in need — specifically, that an extra meal or two for the freezer can be the best gift of all.
On June 23, 1940, the day after France signed the armistice that marked the country's official capitulation and partial occupation, Adolf Hitler toured Paris. In black-and-white footage taken on the day that opens the earnest and unconventional French docudrama La Rafle, the visiting Nazi leaders and their military escorts are more or less sightseeing.
From left: Matt Eckert (Josh Peck) and his friend Robert (Josh Hutcherson) join Matt's Marine brother Jed (Chris Hemsworth) on a mission to stop North Korean invaders.
Credit Ron Phillips / Open Road Films
The ragtag group of teens call themselves the Wolverines, after their high school's mascot.
Released during Ronald Reagan's 1984 re-election campaign, the original Red Dawn was denounced as right-wing propaganda. But while director and co-writer John Milius' fantasy of Colorado high-school students who battle Soviet and Cuban invaders was anti-communist, it was principally pro-gun and pro-youth. In spirit, it was closer to Frank Capra than to Leni Riefenstahl.
Julie Klausner has written for television, traditional media, new media, and Joan Rivers. But she's also a very popular comedy podcaster — a job that, only a few years ago, barely existed.
Julie Klausner's podcast, How Was Your Week?, has been featured on all manner of lists of the best shows of its kind — in Rolling Stone, in GQ, and in The New York Times. Comedy podcasting is a field growing so fast that, as NPR's Audie Cornish mentions in talking to Klausner on today's All Things Considered, comedian Colin Quinn recently commented that the only thing comedians talk about anymore is doing each other's podcasts.
When your dad owns a zoo in India, as Pi's dad does, it's perhaps natural to regard animals as your buddies. Cool if you're talking goats and turtles; less cool if the animal you decide you want to pet is a Bengal tiger.
"He's an animal, not a playmate," his terrified father shouts. "Animals have souls," the boy replies gently. "I have seen it in their eyes."
At first glance, a novel in which the main character eats herself to death may not seem like the most felicitous pick for Thanksgiving week; but The Middlesteins turns out to be a tough but affecting story about family members putting up with each other, even in their most unlovely, chewing-with-their-mouths-open life moments. If you have a Thanksgiving family reunion looming before you that doesn't exactly promise to be a Norman Rockwell painting, The Middlesteins may just be the perfect literary corrective to overindulgence in high-calorie holiday expectations.
As the creative director at American Vogue, Coddington is the driving force behind the magazine's fantastical editorial shoots.
Credit Willie Christie / Courtesy of Random House
Grace Coddington, shown above in 1974, is now the creative director at Vogue, but she started her career as a model. "In those days, models had to know how to do everything themselves," she says.
Credit (c) Norman Parkinson Limited / Courtesy of Norman Parkinson Archive
Coddington helps Prince Charles prepare for his official investiture photograph at Windsor Castle in 1969.
Grace Coddington grew up on what she calls "an island off an island," far from the fashion industry. Her new memoir, Grace, chronicles her journey from a sleepy town on the coast of Wales to her current job as the creative director of Vogue magazine.
Originally published on Mon November 26, 2012 2:03 pm
At Thanksgiving, many of us will dig into the pointy tip of our first piece of pumpkin pie for the season. However, this Thursday, that nostalgic moment might feel a little less special.
This year, the word "pumpkin" seems to be creeping its way into hundreds of foods, drinks, and other products. As The Huffington Postnoted recently, you can now find pumpkin-inspired beers, teas, marshmallows, soy milk, Pop-Tarts, and Pringles.
In 2012, several high-profile comics creators added landmark works to their already impressive legacies. With Building Stories, Chris Ware offered 14 volumes of comics, each with its own meticulous, anagrammatic take on despair, and stuffed them into a box.
You would think, wouldn't you, that the man who created such heartrendingly sympathetic children as Oliver Twist, Pip, Tiny Tim and poor Little Nell would be a stupendous father. Well, the Charles Dickens who emerges from Robert Gottlieb's Great Expectations, a compulsively readable if occasionally repetitive account of what happened to the great writer's brood of seven sons and three daughters, is not so wonderful.
The rumors that had been around for a couple of years have finally been confirmed: At long last, there's a film in the works about the turbulent life of Nina Simone, otherwise known as the "High Priestess of Soul."
Simone was famous from the 1950s through the '70s for her music and her civil rights activism. And although she died in 2003, her voice remains popular on TV, movie soundtracks and commercials.
Cooper's character, Pat Solatano, meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) while trying to get his life together after being released from a state institution.
Credit Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images
Bradley Cooper grew up a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles, one of several things he and his Silver Linings Playbook character share.
Actor Bradley Cooper became famous for a bachelor party gone wrong in the hit comedy The Hangover. From that role, Cooper went on to People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive." Now there's talk of Oscar buzzing around his new movie Silver Linings Playbook, directed by David O. Russell.
In the film, Cooper plays Pat Solatano, just out of a psychiatric facility and struggling with bipolar disorder. Pat moves back home, where his parents try to manage his moods.
