Dinner Party Download ... "Up!" gets best pic nom, we talk with Ed Asner ... Queena tastes a bacon donut ... Steve Julian tastes at least six tequilas but no margaritas ... Remembering journalist and author Tomas Eloy Martinez, who bared the soul of Argentina.

Ringo Starr in concert and conversation ... Providence's Michael Cimarusti learns secrets and legacy of Japanese cuisine ... the DineLA family tree of chefs ... CyberFrequencies on life on the web ... Animators hold benefit auction to help comatose teen ... Local troupe performs Steve Martin play with Picasso and Einstein.

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez name-checked in The Simpsons; Barry McGovern and bleak, black Beckett; the Whisky's business model; and a visit to Night Vale.

We mark the 20th anniversary of the 6.7 magnitude Northridge Earthquake by starting our show at the epicenter of the disaster; and we consider Sheriff Baca's sudden resignation.

Piper Laurie on Paul Newman and Ronald Reagan; Pepe Aguilar's musical legacy; What is God?

Too much rich food and drink for the holidays? We help you recover with more work from outsider photog Vivian Maier, good news about Rubel Castle, and some Coals for your empty stocking.

We work out our Feliz Navidad earworm issues, hear an all-star cast read "Night Before Christmas," listen to the Hollywood Park bugler, and talk about kids who see numbers as colors.

Merry Lepper broke the rules and, in Culver City, became the first US woman to run a marathon. Shifting ground broke the Baldwin Hills dam; we talk with a woman who has never told her story before.

David Dean Bottrell's Crafty Christmas, counting pools in LA, a man who hates Christmas songs, and Jonathan Gold on the impact of King Taco.

"Walking Out of History," John Rabe's documentary about Ernest Shackleton's remarkable Endurance expedition.