Not for Nothing

I have been slowly making my way through Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, which I recently started watching on Netflix. I became a fan of Bourdain’s unflinching and sardonic style on his Travel Channel program The Layover. Where The Layover highlights the great eateries in specific cities, Parts Unknown uses food as the lens through which Bourdain examines the major socio-political, cultural, or economic issues inherent to that region. Part travelogue, part cooking program the CNN produced Parts Unknown eschews the many well-trod locations for lesser known, and arguably, more interesting places like Quebec, Detroit, and Sicily.

There is something alluring about how Bourdain approaches talking about food. He’s clearly a fan of food and how it’s prepared beyond just a professional interest and so are many of the people we meet through the program. Bourdain wants us to see more than just the typical tourist experience, he wants us to eat where the locals eat, to show us that it’s safe to step off the beaten path or dip your spoon into strange bubbling cauldrons. Yet, we only spend about a third of the program watching food being prepared or eaten. When we do see food, it often serves as a launching point to a larger discussion about local issues that directly affect the cook or the other diners at the table. These conversations are like so many conversations we have at our own dinner tables; fraught with concerns over family, life, and the topics of the day. 

My favorite scene comes in the fourth season of the program when Bourdain is in Shanghai having dinner with some of China’s nouveau-riche. The meal is held in the host’s massive wine cellar and is a menagerie of excess: fresh Antarctic Shrimp, Australian beef, wines from every region of the world, all prepared and served to white glove perfection. At one point in the scene, a guest mentions that there are many Chinese restaurants in New York, Bourdain’s hometown. The host asks Bourdain if he would do a New York accent. Bourdain hems and haws before spitting out, “not for nothing,” which he repeats several times before the host fully understands. Now, the phrase is a colloquialism used in the Northeast, and in New York, to soften the blow from unwelcome or difficult advice. It’s not clear how off the cuff the comment was or if the selection was a calculated choice made in the moment, but the effect in context is amazing. The exact words, in conjunction with the excess on display, are in and of themselves a comment, a statement that this meal has a price beyond the money that the host paid for it, a bill that has yet to be paid. It is a moment made all the more poignant due to the most recent economic collapse that is only starting to unfold in China.

Now I will be the first to say that I have a tendency to read too deeply into things. I often am left spinning on imagined intentions of friends and family that I have to ask my wife to help me clarify. It’s a habit that occasionally leaves me avoiding people until I can find clarity about what happened or at least forget why I am being weird. Maybe it’s also a little bit of Monday morning Quarterbacking.  Maybe it’s a bit of clever editing made by a producer in post.  Yet, from what I have seen of this show, the depth of coverage in other parts of the world like Israel, South Africa, Toyko, or Mexico City, this does not feel like coincidence. It feels like a conscious choice made by a sharp storyteller masquerading as a food critic. 

Anthony Borudain: Parts Unknown sixth season can be seen on CNN on Sunday’s at 9 PM.  

This makes me feel like a kid again

One more post today... I am sure have seen it at this point, but I want to share my excitement.

It's 1-21-2015! The Future is now!

For those of you that are not currently under a rock, the internet is ablaze with all kinds of tributes to Back to the Future. While I won't add an oft repeated  complaints about not having a functional hover-board or flying car to the heap, I do want to point out one interesting bit of Fandom ephemera. Toyota is using today's date to announce the release of their new fuel cell powered auto-mobile with a co-branded Back to the Future themed ad campaign complete with guest appearances by Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox. Since it's an ad I will skip the technical specs and point out what I find interesting. 

There are a couple of things that interest me about this ad. The first is the pure nostalgia that Toyota is using to drum up interest in this product. To this day the brassy opening theme that threads through BTTF or its subsequent sequels takes me back to countless holidays, rainy summer afternoons, or slow weekends.The films' constant rotation through TNT, USA, or any one of the many pay channels turning it into a pleasant sound track for people my age. Much like Star Trek, this movie purposed a future filled with wonder and hope that was just a decade or two away. We even get a glimpse of an alternate future where it seemed like every possible decision had been made with a greedy intention. It gave us hope that our mediocre present could be changed with the right bit of technology and good intentions. 

I was also interested at the center of the ad, Misha. Misha is an engineer at Toyota and is a big fan of the BTTF series and credits it with inspiring him to become and engineer. We watch as he bebops around the fictional Hill Valley on Universal's back lot and to the various locations that were used in the filming of the movie collecting trash to put into the land fill. The video ends with  graphic that explains how Toyota is collecting the methane gas from the landfill and stripping away the hydrogen so it can be used for fuel.

This is an really fascinating application of fandom as a selling tool. We are witness to resultsof Misha's passion for the films, the Toyota Mira. Not only does his work take root in his love of BTTF, but also our trades on the audiences enjoyment as well. Christopher Lloyd says it best in the video when he calls Misha, "a real Doc Brown."  Misha has done what we all wished we could do, change the future for the better, with noting more then a pile of trash and a fantastic car.    

Cheadle Lake Reenactment

On Sunday September 27, I visited the Northwest Civil War Council’s Cheadle Lake Reenactment. This visit was research for a larger project that I am working on about the elements of fandom that are inherent in a reenactment. The three-day event depicted not only military camp life but also had a community of civilians as well. The NCWC is one of the few, if not the only, Civil War reenactment group that includes depictions civilian life alongside the military camps and battles. In addition to the afternoon battle, I also saw a field medicine demonstration and a tour of women’s fashions of 1863. Sadly, I only had half a day to see everything and I am sure that I missed out demonstrations and conversations with the participants, so I am plan on going again to another reenactment next spring.

These are some of the images that I took of the battle itself, which included several infantry, artillery and cavalry units from both sides of the conflict.

In the foreground a line of Confederate troops.  Across the field Center and to the right are an advancing line of Union troops. 

This is closer to the end of the battle. In the foreground medics tend to a downed Confederate General from a Louisiana army. 

These cannons are no joke. I was seated about thirty meters away from the battery when the battle started, and I could feel the concussion of the blasts in my chest and the report left my ears ringing. I highly recommend earplugs when you go. Strangely, the mortar (the tiny one on the right side of the picture surround by bodies ) was the loudest.