The OtherArena

[Midline Shift]

Holy shit was the Detroit episode depressing. It was as sad as the Haiti or Cambodia shows, maybe even worse just because we expect that kind of stuff in the third world but not right here in our fucking backyard. New Orleans would be the comparison but I don't remember it feeling as hopeless as this. Not saying it was a bad show because I liked it quite a bit but for example when Tony in all seriousness compared Detroit to fucking Chernobyl, I was blown away. I mean I knew things were bad, but Chernobyl?!

I went to Detroit a few years ago and didn't see anywhere near the shit hole I expected, i.e. what was shown in this episode. I suspect this was because we were only there a couple days and more importantly had a local showing us around that probably steered us away from the bad parts of town. Anyway, it was a great town and we had tons of fun, and it makes me sad to see it like this.

Things got a little more upbeat as the show progressed, with stuff like Greedy Greg, the lawn mower guys, and the chef at the art gallery, but it felt more like people making the best of a bad situation rather than things that are going to turn the city around. Or maybe that's where it starts.

Depressing or not, it was a very good end to a very good season. Oh, and I forgot to post about it, but last week's Tokyo episode was insane. Just chock full of wonderfully wacky shit.


Simon

[jdw]

I've got them both on the dvr and need to watch them.

The city of Detroit is depressing. It was a great city, and in some ways still is. But it's been destroyed, with a lot of people all all sides helping in destroying it. Some unintentionally, some in the traditional ways of graft and corruption, and a lot who have intentionally sucked the life blood out of the city (and MI in general) and shipped it elsewhere while beating Detroit down more and more.

The most depressing aspect of it: a large part of the country just thinks, "Fuck 'em" without grasping that what happened in Det can (and will) happen in every city and industry in the country, and on some level already is. We have the attitude of "I've got mine", not understanding that you simply are next. :/

John

[Midline Shift]

I missed seasons three and four of Parts Unknown due to a wonky DVR and my even wonkier memory, so I've been catching up recently. I'm about halfway through the third season and it's typically good Tony. The Lyon and Mexico City episodes in particular were exceptional. Great shows for totally different reasons.

Lyon was focused on food, or more accurately on cooking. Tony visited Daniel Boulud from Lyon and they traced the history of Lyon cuisine through several of its famous chefs. I always enjoy Tony marking out so I really loved seeing him eat next to one of his heroes, Paul Bocuse.

Mexico City had plenty of food - street food, as usual, plus some good stuff about Oaxaca's pre-Hispanic cuisine - and a lot about Mexico's drug trade and the endemic violence and corruption resulting from it. Really depressing stuff. ISIS is front page news and rightfully so, but the drug cartels right next door are still torturing and killing people left and right but no one seems to give a shit. They may not be religiously motivated (or rather they're killing in the name of the West's real deity - money) but they're just as depraved and sadistic. The War on Drugs has been a monstrously embarrassing failure and I have no idea what the solution is, but we've got to do something about these assholes.

Anyway, Tony is still fantastic and I'm looking forward to the rest of seasons three and four.


Simon

[jdw]

I need to get off my ass and watch these. I kind of got annoyed by how my DVR was treating every airing as "new" and the work it took to delete them, at a time when my dvr was clogged up with lots of other stuff I needed to watch. So I deleted my series recording.

Have Netflix now, so I might take a look to see if they're on there and go on a binge. :)

[jdw]

Damn... not in my neck of the woods:

http://www.foodrepublic.com/2015/04/07/anthony-bourdain-will-tour-america-2015

[guren]

Anthony Bourdain on Sichuan Peppers, Sex, Eating Dogs, and Political Correctness

[Midline Shift]

I would've sworn that Tony has said he's eaten dog meat before, but nothing turns up on a perfunctory Google search. The video from the link in the interview of him heckling the heckler was pretty funny.

My mother-in-law gave me Tony's new cookbook for Christmas (autographed!). It's great and I'm looking forward to trying out some of the recipes.


Simon

[guren]

Just awful news.

CNN's Anthony Bourdain dead at 61

[jdw]

Just devastating

[guren]

The Last Curious Man

This was a great read.