Look, I get that $900 billion is a lot of money, and I understand why people might want to try to find ways to cut costs in any government overhaul of health care, of any sort of subsidies for people to afford insurance, and so forth.
But... it seems sort of odd that the people who are so focussed on the money that they're putting out advertising on the issue don't seem to have a problem with spending tens of millions of dollars on that.
Or, uh. Is it just me?
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
Why I Love Tim Gunn
Because who else, honestly, could possibly say "I am woeful." and not sound like an emo-freak?
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
An Open Letter
Dear Mike Isabella of Top Chef,
You seem to not realize that your audience is composed primarily of foodies and chefs. I base this characterization on the fact that you felt a need to condescendingly let us know that risotto can be made of other things than rice.
I realize that 'condescending' is your normal tone, and what with your obvious hangup about women and bloated self-importance I hardly expected to particularly like you at any point, but that one little interview pretty much guaranteed that I am now actively anti-rooting for you. You probably don't care (I'm a woman and not a professional chef, after all), but let me point out to you something you and certain other past contestants seem to have missed: you are on national TV getting name recognition. That recognition can be good (as in, "Wow, that dish Michael V made sounds excellent") or bad (as in, "I don't care if he cooks food suitable for the second coming of Jesus, that guy is such a douche, I wouldn't eat at his restaurant for any amount of money").
In case it isn't clear, you fall into the latter category for me.
It's a little late now, of course; the season is long since taped and the decision made as to who will be the winner. I predict, however, it will not be you, which means the only thing you will have accomplished by this is alienating a portion of your potential customer base. I hope that outcome is what you wanted.
Sincerely,
Your #1 Anti-Fan
You seem to not realize that your audience is composed primarily of foodies and chefs. I base this characterization on the fact that you felt a need to condescendingly let us know that risotto can be made of other things than rice.
I realize that 'condescending' is your normal tone, and what with your obvious hangup about women and bloated self-importance I hardly expected to particularly like you at any point, but that one little interview pretty much guaranteed that I am now actively anti-rooting for you. You probably don't care (I'm a woman and not a professional chef, after all), but let me point out to you something you and certain other past contestants seem to have missed: you are on national TV getting name recognition. That recognition can be good (as in, "Wow, that dish Michael V made sounds excellent") or bad (as in, "I don't care if he cooks food suitable for the second coming of Jesus, that guy is such a douche, I wouldn't eat at his restaurant for any amount of money").
In case it isn't clear, you fall into the latter category for me.
It's a little late now, of course; the season is long since taped and the decision made as to who will be the winner. I predict, however, it will not be you, which means the only thing you will have accomplished by this is alienating a portion of your potential customer base. I hope that outcome is what you wanted.
Sincerely,
Your #1 Anti-Fan
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Why proofreading is important
The other day I got curious about the whereabouts of past Top Chef contestants, and happened, in my searches, to come across a restaurant run by Season 5 contestant Stefan Richter. The restaurant has a menu, so I thought I'd take a look at it and see what he was offering.
I'm not going to critique the food choices; that's not really the point. I am, however, going to note that it's a really, really good idea to hire a proofreader for one's menu, even if it's just the online version. This particular version of the menu (I'm working off screenshots on the assumption they'll fix it at some point) contains a number of misspelled words, missing commas, and missing spaces. It's really pretty amusing, which probably wasn't the point of putting it online.
For instance, I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as "haricotvert red onions". Sure, I can parse that into what they mean (I assume they mean both green beans and red onions), but it's sort of jarring as one goes along. And I think that "cauliflower puree roasted shallots" is simply missing a comma, though I did find it entertaining to try to decide if they were coating shallots with puree and then throwing it all in the oven.
But I have to admit I'm not entirely sure how to parse "pan seared john dory with lentil parsnip ragout, baby spinach, extra virgin olive oil and micro greens". Are they just serving some olive oil on the side? Is it a spinach, olive oil, and micro green salad? Is the spinach on the side and the olive oil just on the micro greens?
Among the various things they're offering are: sandwhiches, sourkraut, sunchockes, bannana split, and 'redwine icecream lolipop', which... well, let's just say I had an image for a very, very scary anime series, okay? You're lucky my scanner is broken or I might try to share the image. (And, yes, I've reproduced those words accurately.)
But the one that finally made me and my sweetie crack up was when I read 'aged smoked goud'. It really shouldn't have been that funny, except I said "I guess they just dropped the 'a' from gouda." And then he said, "Unless there's such a thing as 'goud'." So I looked it up, and said "Not unless they're offering smoked Indian dudes."
It was... uh. It was really probably a lot funnier if you were there. Trust me.
Anyhow, I imagine they'll get that cleaned up at some point, and while the food doesn't seem to be much to my tastes (a few items excepted), I imagine there will be some happy customers. Even if some of their smiles are at the menu, and not the food.
I'm not going to critique the food choices; that's not really the point. I am, however, going to note that it's a really, really good idea to hire a proofreader for one's menu, even if it's just the online version. This particular version of the menu (I'm working off screenshots on the assumption they'll fix it at some point) contains a number of misspelled words, missing commas, and missing spaces. It's really pretty amusing, which probably wasn't the point of putting it online.
For instance, I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as "haricotvert red onions". Sure, I can parse that into what they mean (I assume they mean both green beans and red onions), but it's sort of jarring as one goes along. And I think that "cauliflower puree roasted shallots" is simply missing a comma, though I did find it entertaining to try to decide if they were coating shallots with puree and then throwing it all in the oven.
But I have to admit I'm not entirely sure how to parse "pan seared john dory with lentil parsnip ragout, baby spinach, extra virgin olive oil and micro greens". Are they just serving some olive oil on the side? Is it a spinach, olive oil, and micro green salad? Is the spinach on the side and the olive oil just on the micro greens?
Among the various things they're offering are: sandwhiches, sourkraut, sunchockes, bannana split, and 'redwine icecream lolipop', which... well, let's just say I had an image for a very, very scary anime series, okay? You're lucky my scanner is broken or I might try to share the image. (And, yes, I've reproduced those words accurately.)
But the one that finally made me and my sweetie crack up was when I read 'aged smoked goud'. It really shouldn't have been that funny, except I said "I guess they just dropped the 'a' from gouda." And then he said, "Unless there's such a thing as 'goud'." So I looked it up, and said "Not unless they're offering smoked Indian dudes."
It was... uh. It was really probably a lot funnier if you were there. Trust me.
Anyhow, I imagine they'll get that cleaned up at some point, and while the food doesn't seem to be much to my tastes (a few items excepted), I imagine there will be some happy customers. Even if some of their smiles are at the menu, and not the food.
Friday, September 4, 2009
WTF?
So, President Obama wants to broadcast a speech to schools encouraging kids to study and finish school.
And judging from the response, apparently, "study and finish school" is a code phrase for "kill their parents, get pregnant, abort the fetuses, and eat them, while singing praises to Satan and dancing the Troika".
I'm glad there are so many helpful right-wingers out there to help me with this translation. After all, here I was, thinking "That's a great message, particularly coming from an important, well-placed black guy". Little did I know about the horrible, unsafe, Un-American message that lurked beneath those simple words.
I know, I know. What was I thinking? It's terrible that Obama thinks that encouraging kids to get their education will do anything for this country. Why, people might learn to think! They might learn how to research facts, analyze them, and make up their own minds about issues and situations...
Or is that the problem?
And judging from the response, apparently, "study and finish school" is a code phrase for "kill their parents, get pregnant, abort the fetuses, and eat them, while singing praises to Satan and dancing the Troika".
I'm glad there are so many helpful right-wingers out there to help me with this translation. After all, here I was, thinking "That's a great message, particularly coming from an important, well-placed black guy". Little did I know about the horrible, unsafe, Un-American message that lurked beneath those simple words.
I know, I know. What was I thinking? It's terrible that Obama thinks that encouraging kids to get their education will do anything for this country. Why, people might learn to think! They might learn how to research facts, analyze them, and make up their own minds about issues and situations...
Or is that the problem?
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