For Olympic discussion, or for any other subject you wish to throw out there. It’s “open” after all.
For me, I went to see ‘The Dark Knight Rises” today. I felt that it was 20 minutes to long, and by the end of it I was pretty much “meh.”
Also, the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Dave Camp (r-MI) expects a full recovery from lymphoma. This unrepentant shit head votes against health benefits for the poor and the working poor, and has done so 33 times just this session, all the while using a cadillac health coverage plan provided by the taxpayers.
different-church-lady
How come you never give us any closed threads?
Hawes
They had a great ending for the DKR, but then they had to go and ruin it.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
Actually, I thought it needed more in the middle. A failed revolt by some of the citizens would have actually been more interesting, because it would have at least felt like the population was participating. Or maybe a bunch of citizens trying to rescue the cops, or something like that.
Sarah, Proud and Tall
I’m still in Oz and had to watch the Olympic opening ceremony with commentary by some evil little tit called Eddie McGuire. He made Bob Costas look witty and erudite, and spent most of the quiet moment for reflection on those we have lost telling us that it was a quiet moment for reflection (although at least Australian tv showed that bit).
I would pay good cash money just to be able to watch major public events on tv without some wanker waffling on over the top.
MikeJ
Yutsy or any other Seattlites around? Tapas. Where do you go?
jl
Remember to follow Betty Crocker’s wise and humane advice to root for Ralfalca. Rafalca for the Gold!
some guy
Gator swimmer Ryan Lochte for the Gold!
Go Gators
Shawn in ShowMe
@efgoldman:
Uh .. isn’t shifting demographics spelling doom for the GOP conventional wisdom even in Left Blogistan? The only thing unique here is a Republican actually admitting it.
scav
Guardian
Once again, the fairly explicit and near official assumption that the policies of the President and Nation go to the highest bidder and that this is as it should be.
Reposted here in a form that should make it past moderation.
Narcissus
ryan lochte medals in lack of graciousness
BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman: As a resident of the “Golden Land” for most of my life, I watched this happen.
1. Make it next to imposible to raise revenue(Prop 13).
2. Piss off a substantial and growing portion off the population(Latinos).
3. Say NO to anything and everything the other party wants.
This is what the
ConfederateRepublican Party did in CA. It should be a cautionary tale for the national party. As much as I detest Rove and Shrub the dim-son; they see it. The rest of the party, not so much.a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Actually it would be considerably more fun to Rafalca and her German rider get Bronze, tyvm – still a medal for a member of the US Equestrian team but not the medal. (laughing maniacally) I haven’t looked at who’s on the short list of likely stars yet, as it’s not my discipline.
I do, however, know where to find the information, if anyone were to ask really nicely.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Shawn in ShowMe: yes, but on the left, we’re OK with it. Pat’s looking to set up an apartheid state.
Soonergrunt
@scav: I cleared the mod on the other entry, but you’re cool.
Shawn in ShowMe
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
We already have three of those. They’re called South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi.
Joax
On Olympic coverage, I am kinda in the middle of nowhere, outside a small village to the north of the city of Oaxaca. Mexico. I don’t have cable, only an antenna, and I am getting the games on three channels and I only get a total of five. Most of it seems live. I guess in the city, if one has cable, it is on six channels simultaneously… and no Bob Costas. Just sayin’… ¡Viva Mexico!
scav
@Soonergrunt: Thanks, and sorry. I was checking the other and not seeing it clear so must be a glitch on my end.
some guy
@Narcissus:
being virtually ignored after winning two Golds and two Bronzes in 2008 will have that effect on a swimmer.
dexwood
Re: Camp. One doesn’t want to wish ill upon another. Mom always said say nothing bad about others , it might come true. At 60, I’ve learned that Mom wasn’t always right for the right reasons…
maya
Actually, if Republicans like him had their way with the auto bailout it would be a Lexus health coverage plan provided by the taxpayers.
different-church-lady
@Sarah, Proud and Tall:
What we need is a C-SPAN for the Olympics.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Shawn in ShowMe: Sorry, I meant the whole country. White Rights > States Rights.
Gin & Tonic
@Narcissus: WTF? He kicked ass. He doesn’t need to be gracious.
hilts
@jl:
Speaking of dressage:
lamh35
What the hell? The Chinese Gymnastics team has completely fallen apart! So now all the other teams are actually making it to the medalling finals where before they may never have done so without the Chinese guys just melting down.
sharl
@Sarah, Proud and Tall:
From commenter Comrade Nimrod Humperdink in an earlier post, some background on that Eddie McGuire character:
Sounds like a Wolf Blitzer* clone working as a contract-hire
*or, insert your least loved talking head instead
Raven
Never mind, I thought it was Cole’s post.
lamh35
@Narcissus: I hate watching the after meet interviews. So what did he say?
Bruce S
While I’m glad that Rep. Camp is recovering from lymphoma (don’t wish stuff like that on my political enemies), I am even more concerned that he recover from being an entitled, retrograde asshole. Who knows…maybe this experience with the health care system will be the requisite “bump on the head.” But probably not.
Yutsano
@hilts: Self-awareness, she no haz it.
@Bruce S: Signs definitely pointing to no. His health care will be pretty much completely covered. For the rest of his existence. But see he EARNED it.
hilts
@efgoldman:
Even before Mittens became associated with it, I thought that dressage was a load of horse shit that did not belong in the Olympics.
Mr Stagger Lee
Michael Phelps doing Afroman
I was going for the gold
Then I got high
My Subway promotion sold
Then I got high
But I finished fourth
I know the reason why
Because I got high
Because I got high
Because I got high
different-church-lady
@Bruce S:
There is no known cure.
Bruce S
@efgoldman:
California is the political future of this country. Unfortunately, we are still fiscally in the grip of Zombie initiatives that were promoted by dead or “living dead” Republicans. Our continuing budget woes are embedded in the legacy of a more potent state GOP. Democrats are, again, put in the position of trying to manage disaster brought on by a wildly irresponsible Right. Very tough to get rid of this crap on our shoes.
Anne Laurie
@some guy:
Wow, swimming with gators would certainly improve one’s speed, I guess?
(/tongue firmly in cheek)
redshirt
Anyone else not watching the Olympics and have zero interest in it?
I mean, you can’t play Fantasy Olympics, so what’s the point of paying attention?
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@efgoldman: I personally think the olympics made a bad decision when they decided to inject a subjective sport like wrestling in.
scav
Early research into a complete rebuild from molecular and atomic components, so long as done in a completely different developmental environment has shown some potential though.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@lamh35: I offered some ideas for your mother in the previous thread – bigger savings than even progressive rx. Plus I may know of some local options for her.
Narcissus
Actually it turns out I can’t tell swimmers apart
They all look alike
Odie Hugh Manatee
They can kill cancer in a cancer? Amazing.
amk
@hilts:
oh boy, talk about CD of being serfs.
Jeffro
@Anne Laurie: Have done this before (unintentionally)…it helps one acquire speeds one would not normally think possible…
hhex65
Anyone ever see “Michael-6 The Robot Talk Show Host” from The Peter Serafinowicz Show?– first thing I thought of watching Romney in London.
(link goes to youtube clip)
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Yutsano: “She’s” a he, and indeed lacking self awareness. Lying as well. He’s ridden at that level long enough to know exactly what kind of coin it takes to develop a horse to that level.
different-church-lady
@redshirt:
Why the hell can’t you? I mean, do you realize that with a little effort you just punched your ticket out of this shithole?
chrome agnomen
@efgoldman:
i have some interest, but am not watching it. full disclosure: haven’t owned a tv since the 70s.
Soonergrunt
@hilts: And then if you have two jobs, you can board, feed, and vet’s bills on your cheap foal, as long as you don’t have any kids who want to go college or want to go to college yourself.
redshirt
@different-church-lady: You can? Please point the way. I’ve long dreamt of gambling on Fantasy Dressage.
scav
QI on Early Olympic Events.
Heliopause
In other Olympic news, it seems that Hope Solo is monitoring what the announcers say. Seems like maybe there are better uses for her time right now, but perhaps we should take this as an indication that women’s sports are coming into their own; they can be every bit as much self-absorbed assholes as the men are.
Narcissus
Oh yeah why aren’t the swim teams wearing the space age wetsuits this time?
Gin & Tonic
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): Nothing subjective about the scoring in wrestling.
cmorenc
@efgoldman:
The “gymnastics-as-art-dance-for-girls” is called “rhythmic gymnastics”, and is a hybrid of farcically diluted versions of real (athletic) gymnastics and ballet, with tossed beach ball and twirled ribbons thrown in. It’s as if they wanted to make self-parody for girls an Olympic event, without daring to openly call it that, so they came up with “rhythmic gymnastics” as the most plausible cover story.
Linda Featheringill
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): #42
You’re kidding, right?
Gin & Tonic
@efgoldman: Which is one reason I didn’t comment on it.
Another Halocene Human
@efgoldman:
Good catch, partner. Looks like somebody needs to bone up on his Chinese. The proper translation of 金山 is not “golden land” but “gold mountain”.
different-church-lady
@redshirt: Sure you can. You just have to create the league yourself. And write a book about it. You’re sitting on a gold-mine, buddy.
eemom
They say Lee Atwater repented on his deathbed.
Another Halocene Human
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): Maybe the riot scene from Discworld, when the veteran cop convinces the panicking neighborhood on the barricades that theyre on the same side?
Gin & Tonic
@eemom: Cocksucker’s still dead, ain’t he?
Tehanu
One thing I’ve noticed here and on other blog comment threads is a tendency to argue that things rich people like — such as dressage, or symphony music, or 5-star restaurants — ought to be at least sneered at and at most actually banned, in order to show the 1% what the rest of us think of them. As a dyed-in-the-wool 1%-hater, I think this is exactly backwards. We ought to be working toward a world where everybody and anybody can do or enjoy things that are good things in themselves and that rich people selfishly keep for themselves now. I don’t want to live in a world where I’m only allowed to like what the average person likes. I want a world where the rich aren’t allowed to keep the rest of us from enjoying the good stuff.
redshirt
@Gin & Tonic: How do you figure? It has to be at least partially subjective, as they’re human judges scoring the matches, and by definition, all humans are subjective.
I saw a fascinating study on this subject: The results of the 2008 Tae Kwon Do matches were analyzed, and the color red won a significant percentage of the time (competitors are randomly assigned blue or red as colors). The researchers then edited all the matches, switching the colors assigned to competitors, and had Olympic judges score the tapes. Once again, Red won a majority of the matches, contradicting the actual results at the Olympics.
different-church-lady
@eemom:
And then died. Some cure.
MikeJ
@Narcissus: IOC outlawed them.
danielx
@efgoldman:
Yep. And somehow, some way, Sally Ride managed to live a life that she felt fulfilling and satisfying. Note to Laura Wood: Other women were not put here on earth to meet your expectations of how they should live their lives.
In other news: cats like blueberry pancakes.
Omnes Omnibus
I have been entirely captured by Alan Furst’s eve of WWII spy novels. I have read one and a half books so far today. I don’t remember which of you recommended them, but, curse you, I had things I wanted to get done today. I did manage a 22-mile bike ride this morning though, so I have that going for me. Which is nice.
Gin & Tonic
@redshirt: Here’s a description of the scoring system. While I’ll agree that “exposure” is one that can allow for some ambiguity, takedowns or reversals are really quite clear-cut.
Even gymnastics isn’t nearly as subjective as many spectators think. Having had two children compete for a number of years, there are very many objective standards and very seldom is there much disagreement as to the results of a particular competition. Yes, humans are observing, but they are watching for very specific, easily observable (to the trained eye) things.
Anne Laurie
@Yutsano:
“He”, actually. And Ebeling’s not wrong about the economics, either. Here in America, at the base level, dressage isn’t much different than any other equipment-intensive extracurricular, like alpine skiing or playing a musical instrument. Most of the participants are (from my limited outside exposure) young women whose parents buy or lease them a green-broke ‘pleasure ride’ or retired racehorse. Once (if) they get good enough to be noticed, they’ll get sponsorship offers from the local gentry at the next income level up. Having enough money to buy a pre-trained horse with a great pedigree, and to take lessons from the best trainers, is obviously useful but not in itself sufficient to excel. This is not tremendously different from a lot of other Olympic sports — say, tennis or cycling — which are “rich people games” even though the top performers often didn’t come from money.
To look at it from another angle, a lot of haterz sneer “OOOh, baaah-LAY, it’s just a bunch of teenage anorexics ruining their bodies so rich elderly queens have an excuse to go to the THEEE-tah and show off their latest acquisitions”. But that’s not why the dancers practice, even knowing the odds against them. People do what gives them joy, and if it’s not a form of enjoyment I can personally appreciate, well, maybe that’s my problem.
Old Dan and Little Ann
@Narcissus: I had to look it up but FINA, swimming’s world governing body, banned high tech swimsuits in 2009.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’ve read them all, and I’m still addicted–just bought Mission to Paris for the Nook–but I have to say that their big selling point is atmosphere, and there are a few where there is nothing but atmosphere.
I hope you’re reading them in order. If so, you’re coming up on my favorite, The Polish Officer (number three).
ETA: I’m off to bed. I have worked my ass off today, and I need to get up early to be ready for the carpet-cleaning dudes.
Nellcote
AP not so happy to be shut out in Israel.
usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-07-28/romney-israel-fundraiser/56563486/1#.UBRzDZCa0PE.twitt…
scav
@efgoldman:
She rather devoted herself to providing the more useful technical, scientific and practical skills of getting her teammates into space rather than fluttering about providing a feel-good abstract noun to somebody else doing all the work. She moreover, was not so selfish as to restrict her looking up at stars and inspiring love for them to only her direct biological offspring but opted to inspire entire generations.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: The Polish Officer is next in the pile.
Another Halocene Human
@efgoldman: Despite all that’s been said on here in recent weeks, that story, if true, would convince me that Mitt has Asperger’s.
That’s classic aspie thinking right there. (Well, don’t forget the cossetted asshole twist… I mean, your normal aspie would just go into a semi-compulsive fret about it, either saving it ‘for later’ or getting the clerk to sell them a smaller size, not that I would know anything about that… assuming others will share your spit is kinda, I dunno…)
Plus, he’s cheap.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Omnes Omnibus: It may have been me that recommended Alan Furst. I feel your pain. Last Tuesday I hit the library and took out three that I had missed. The checkbook ain’t gettin’ balanced this weekend.
Anne Laurie
@Tehanu:
Seconded, proudly!
Narcissus
@MikeJ: Ah. Figures.
Gin & Tonic
@Anne Laurie:
Can’t speak to tennis, but during most of its history cycling was a *very* working-class sport, at least in Europe.
And fun fact: in the late 19th and early 20th century, the most famous American professional athlete was cyclist Major Taylor. Oh, he was black, too.
MikeJ
@Nellcote: The fundraiser is at the hotel the would-be Israelis blew up, killing many people with whom the US has a “special relationship”. And only one week after the anniversary of the bombing.
Will the winger blogs be up in arms about the lack of moment of silence for the British victims of terrorism in 1946?
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Omnes Omnibus: Just finished The Polish Officer for the second time. I second the endorsement from @Steeplejack.
Omnes Omnibus
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason: I reserved five at the library, and they all came in yesterday and today. As Steep said above, the guy is great at evoking atmosphere.
Another Halocene Human
@efgoldman: Did you see her other posts? Absolutely obsessed with female athletes and their perceived “masculinity”.
Not only is she consumed by some sort of fantasy Gilmore Girl ideal of womanhood (unsullied by consumerism!) but she seems a leeeeeeeettle obsessed with lesbians.
It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
Also, too, she rites darn purdy.
Another Halocene Human
@cmorenc: Given that the “real” athletic “women’s” gymnastics utterly ruins these children’s bodies for life, I say let them have their beach-ball-and-ribbons fun.
Nellcote
@efgoldman:
There was an article in the SF Chron about how the state goopers wanted to push a voter id law but they’re too broke to pay their rent so passed on it.
Omnes Omnibus
@Another Halocene Human: Is there another sport where the participants are over the hill at age 20?
ETA: I do actually enjoy watching it, but still.
JasonV
@MikeJ: I don’t think anybody answered you about tapas in Seattle, so here goes: Ocho in Ballard (first choice, but it’s terribly small and always crowded and just plain amazing); Pinxto in Belltown (not quite as good, but still quite pleasant).
Yutsano
@Anne Laurie: I think I crossed genders in my brain somewhere. That or the pain drugs. I can claim both right? :)
Gin & Tonic
@Another Halocene Human: My daughter competed in USA Gymnastics-sanctioned club events for about 8 years, until she graduated from high school, working out at least 5 days a week. She had no Olympic ambitions, but she also grew up to be a normally-proportioned well-adjusted woman with no significant health issues. Methinks you may be generalizing a bit much.
Gin & Tonic
@Another Halocene Human: My daughter competed in USA Gymnastics-sanctioned club events for about 8 years, until she graduated from high school, working out at least 5 days a week. She had no Olympic ambitions, but she also grew up to be a normally-proportioned well-adjusted woman with no significant health issues. Methinks you may be generalizing a bit much.
Another Halocene Human
@Tehanu: ???? Have you read the NYT reviews of michelin-starred snooty restaurants lately? The 4-hour “entertainment” which is supposed to surprise, stun, and delight the presumably jaded client (who clearly has nothing to do with his/her time)?
Sure, average people SHOULD be able to taste the food of great chefs, in a country with a saner Gini index, not every night of course but on special occasions.
But when inequality gets out of hand the “good” (let’s say the skill of the chef and the quality of the ingredients) gets left behind in the stampede to CONSPICUOUSLY CONSUME. And that is nothing more than conscious waste. It is wasted precisely to show the value of the waster (which is money).
So be careful what you wish for? Also, too, not getting your deal about music since proper governments subsidize concerts for the filbert-munching crowd, eg Massachusetts, Bavaria….
MikeJ
@Omnes Omnibus:
Chess isn’t quite there, but I think I got my highest rating at 24.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: I took a passing glance at a few of her other ones. Let’s just say that I don’t think she is someone with whom I would voluntarily spend time.
Hypatia's Momma
@efgoldman:
No coffee but they can have hot chocolate? That’s stupid.
Name Required
Inkblot died :(.
See Kevin Drum’s blog.
Another Halocene Human
@efgoldman: Well, who listens to classical music channel? Apparently broke musicians and either old money or nouveaux riches trying to pretend to be old money.
I think there are some other people too but the advertisers never figured that out.
Gin & Tonic
@Another Halocene Human: I like to eat, I admit it. And I like to save my pennies to eat well. Eating at an absolutely top-tier restaurant, one of, say, the 50 best in the world, can be done for somewhere in the neighborhood of $150-250 per person. This is an experience that typically runs for 3.5 to 4 hours. It’s not really different from paying $100-125 per seat for a 2+- hour Broadway play. Paying around $50/hr to participate in artistry of the highest order is not, in my opinion, unreasonable. It’s not something you do every Saturday, but if I want to save up for a couple of months to go eat a really really good dinner, that’s my choice. It also supports an entire ecosystem of farmers, fishermen or women, service personnel, etc.
Another Halocene Human
@Gin & Tonic: Early history of cycling in the US was rich jerks showing off on their boneshakers. Kind of a 19th century Segway.
Bicycles never got real big for adults in the US the way they did in the 20’s in Yurrup.
lamh35
@Anne Laurie: @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Thank you both. I’ll look into both your ideas.
@Anne L, I am gonna look into the pharmacy chain Rx drug programs, but my mom is NOT a senior citizen. What makes her predicament so much different is that she’s only 53 years old, but she’s a Type 2 diabetic who had not been taking her insulin or controlling her diabetes and so her heart was not clearing blood as well as it should have been and she had a heart attack with 2 blockages of 95% and 100%.
So the “senior” drug programs are not open to her. That’s why we hope she can get on the Medicaid program
Gin & Tonic
@Another Halocene Human: Professional bicycle racing in the early 20th century in the US was more popular than baseball. Boneshakers were the 1850’s and 1860’s.
Omnes Omnibus
@Another Halocene Human: I think the point is similar to the one that gets made with respect to public employee benefits. The question the right encourages people to ask is “Why should those people get benefits that you (the ordinary worker) don’t?” The question that the left should be encouraging people to ask is “Why don’t I have those benefits as well?” Good food, good music, and certain athletic activities shouldn’t be attacked simply because they are currently the province of the wealthy. Instead, a society that makes such things available to a wider population should be encouraged.
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: Why did they need two rooms? Fucking elitists.
mainmati
I don’t go into the Olympics much except as occasional the theatrics. The Brits did it outstanding.
So instead of watching boring swimming I am re-listening some old Bent music like “Always”. Sorry.
Mnemosyne
@Another Halocene Human:
You have it backwards — bicycles were hugely popular in the US before they were popular in Europe.
And, as efgoldman said, there were sound infrastructure reasons for why bicycles were popular in post-WWII Europe while the US was being rebuilt for the convenience of cars. Plus, let’s face it, what’s a more convenient country to bicycle from one end to the other — the US or the Netherlands?
Darkrose
@Another Halocene Human:
I don’t think that’s as true as it used to be. Several members of the US team look like adult women. It was a pleasant surprise.
Another Halocene Human
@Gin & Tonic: sorry, forgot to include the word “Olympic-level”, which, of course, is what I was referring to.
And I don’t know about proportions (Southern sorority girls seem somewhat… off… don’t know if it’s diet or, what someone once told me, drinking coffee which makes them short(???)), but my concern is with the joints and tendons.
Ridiculous? No. Look at what’s coming out about football, with the helmets and the brain damage. There may be some issues with soccer, too, especially the women’s sport which has excessive use of the head as a bludgeon. Some of these sports have gotten way too flipping extreme and dangerous. (By contrast, boxing has always been ridiculous.)
What bothers me most about gymnastics, though, is that men’s and women’s is judged on totally different criteria. The men’s sport is more boring but doesn’t look like it’s going to ruin anyone except the weekend warrior who decides emulate the teevee and gives himself a raging case of rhabdo. The women’s sport demands things that a human body just can’t sustain.
At least when Pedro and other fastpitchers ruin their shoulders they get paid a fuckton of money and get all the sex they want, kind of like the old Aztec sacrifices, for doing so. And they’re grown and can make that kind of decision. That’s what kills me. These little kids aren’t old enough to know if it’s really worth it to them. They may think they do but their frontal lobes haven’t fully developped yet. That process gets going around 15/16 and finishes in the mid 20s.
Jebediah
@efgoldman:
Here’s something more fun, because it’s never not time for Phineas and Ferb and reverse engineering.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne:
What was the middle part again?
Another Halocene Human
@Hypatia’s Momma: Eh, there isn’t much cocoa in a Starbuck’s hot chocolate.
Sugar is defs not on the Mormon no-no list. Heck, it’s practically a commandment!
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne:
Let me think about that…
Another Halocene Human
Also, coffee and camellia sinensis may be banned in Provo, but it’s not as if all stimulants are off limits. Ever heard
of a little
thing
called
Mormon Tea?
Omnes Omnibus
@Another Halocene Human: Is it anything like purple drank?
Mnemosyne
@Another Halocene Human:
The vast majority of women don’t have the upper-body strength to do the rings or the pommel horse, and forcing girls and women to develop it so they could do the same events the men do would probably be more harmful than having them do the events that women are better built for, like balance beam or uneven parallel bars.
I mean, maybe I missed the news, but I haven’t heard that, say, Nadia Comaneci or Mary Lou Retton have suffered the kind of lifelong damage you seem to be positing. Her Wikipedia article says that Retton had hip surgery in her 30s, but she also had congenital hip dysplasia.
Hypatia's Momma
@Another Halocene Human:
Theobromine is also a stimulant. I had thought the ban was on “hot drinks” all together. Prohibiting green tea while drinking hot chocolate is pretty weaselly.
Another Halocene Human
@Gin & Tonic: Well, sure, if you want dinner and a show…
Let’s think about this. If all the clients were pinching their pennies, and granted this is a niche affair, then the market would not support very many of those $195 prix fixe “tasting” menu extravaganzas, now would it? So much for the “ecosystem” we are “supporting”.
These places stay in business because there are a good number of people with cash to burn nightly. (In fact, these people have so much cash they could not possibly spend it all in one lifetime, at least not on ordinary things like yachts and helicopters and trips on russian spacejets.)
But there are more than one or two people aspiring to be chefs. Perhaps they can exist in an ecosystem of $50-75/person meals that only take an hour? Perhaps there are more who can afford such prices, or it doesn’t take as long for them to save up, so more jobs for the chef-and-supplier set?
Yes, it’s even possible to imagine scaling back even more than that without compromising quality, perhaps not too much more if one wants truly amazing ingredients, but of course, always the little economies can be made, they teach this to chefs, you know, it’s part of the “good” they bring to the table, economically speaking.
The conspicuous consumption fest is bullshit piled upon bullshit and it supports very few. A full economic analysis will show that luxury spending does not, in fact, provide enough gas to power an entire economy. It never can because so little of it is actually engaged. Most of it floats from one rich punter’s bank account to another’s, to be speculated with or stuffed under a mattress in tbills. Not invested, not spent, not multiplied in the greater economy.
If we had a more equal economy destination dining or whatever you want to call it would not go away, but it would be reserved to holiday spots, catering almost exclusively to those who have saved up to go once a year… or once in a lifetime.
It would be so common and Disneyfied I suppose then… lose its cachet… of course, the rich in a more equal society (say US late 60’s early 70’s) would have much more subtle signals of class status.
Ruckus
@Gin & Tonic:
Cocksucker’s still dead, ain’t he?
Yes. And for number two of the plus side, he no longer acts like an entitled prick.
Hypatia's Momma
Which is my tired way of saying, “I’m not surprised by their weaselly behaviour”.
Ruckus
@different-church-lady:
And then died. Some cure.
Worked didn’t it? Made him a better person and we don’t have to put up with him.
Gin & Tonic
@Another Halocene Human: I have eaten a $75 tasting and I have eaten a $200 tasting. I can do the former more often than the latter, but the latter is really, truly three times as good. It may or may not be conspicuous consumption, but it really is artistry of a very high order, that very very few people have the skill to execute. Consuming a $300 bottle of wine is far higher on the conspicuous consumption scale than eating a $300 dinner.
In many of the places I eat, they are proud of the sources of their ingredients, and I can assure you there are no “rich punters” involved in catching fish or raising lamb.
Another Halocene Human
@Omnes Omnibus: And what I’m saying is that some of our judgment of “good” these days is muddled by the extremely aggressive conspicuous consumption going on.
Conspicuous consumption is not good for anyone–it’s not good for workers and the economy, it’s not good for the environment and posterity, and it’s not even good for the Jones because even if you have more than enough money to play the game it’s an endless vicious circle which induces more than enough status-anxiety to send you to an early grave.
US-Americans live 2 years less than Brits on average, and that’s accounting for class status and income.
GUYS, THIS IS NOT A GOOD THING.
Please, let’s not get stuck in the fallacy of the divided middle. A just and equal society does not mean the end of classical music (seriously?). A just and equal society doesn’t mean that you’ll never get to eat a fantastic meal prepared by a top chef. Come on. But explain to me what, exactly, adding gold leaf does to a dessert, culinary-wise? Enough to jack to price to $1000, as a restaurant in NYC did right before the bubble burst? The “good” is not the amazing flavor profile (mmm, metallic just bursts in my mouth), IT’S SHOWING OFF TO YOUR ASSHOLE WS DICK FRIENDS THAT YOU’RE A BIG FUCKING BALLER. Okay, so that’s an extreme example, but if you think about it, it pervades our lives.
Why is the same bag $10,000 when sold through legitimate channels and $35 when smuggled out by the same factory burning the midnight oil? Or $300 in the mall, $4 on a card table in the street? The only thing stolen is the intellectual property. (And the bag is ugly.) Doesn’t it strike you that there’s something, er, a little wrong there? Sure, the designer gets some of it, but let’s not kid ourselves. The designer is not getting that $296.
SOME PEOPLE NEED TO BE SEEN WITH $10K BAGS. So some merchant was clever enough to provide. Of course there is no bag in the world to have $10K worth of value (maybe some fantasy bag from Q’s workshop in a Bond movie?) so the rest must be made up by the brand cachet, artificial rarity, imagined stylistic merit, the unseen-yet very conspicuous price tag.
Of course we lust after these goods, we are meant to. My issue is not with them existing, it is with the pricing structure. The big picture.
(I also have an issue with shit like diamond-encrusted phones or soups made from clubbed baby seal tears but that’s a rant for another time.)
Another Halocene Human
@Omnes Omnibus: It *will* fuck you up, so a little bit, yeah.
ETA: and both will alleviate cold symptoms, so there’s that.
Omnes Omnibus
@Another Halocene Human: There is a difference between conspicuous consumption, which I agree is a net negative, and appreciation of quality. The original comment by Tehanu that sparked this little contretemps was simply saying that one should not condemn certain sets of activity because they are today primarily accessible only to the wealthy. That is a view with which I agree and that was all I was trying to support with my comment. Spending $10K on lunch just because one can is simply assholish behavior much like idling one’s Hummer all day just to piss off liberals.
CW in LA
@efgoldman: My 78-year old Obama-supporting mother says she thinks this story is an urban legend. But I really want it to be true, dammit! Any chance there’s corroborating evidence anywhere?
Tehanu
@Another Halocene Human:
Couldn’t agree with you more. I’m referring to a comment I saw on another blog some time back – might have been alicublog or Digby – from a commenter whom I normally admire and agree with; she made a really slighting reference to symphonic music as that boring stuff only rich snobs like, or words to that effect. All I’m saying is, just because rich snobs do something for bad reasons, like conspicuous consumption, is no reason to knock the something; it’s a reason to do whatever it is, or enjoy whatever it is, for good reasons.
@Gin & Tonic:
Also, what G&T says.
@Omnes Omnibus:
Also, OO, thanks for backing me up. That’s exactly what I was trying to say.
Caz
Apparently, despite pressure to show it live, NBC decided to show the opening ceremony on tape delay so that it would air during prime time here in the U.S. The decision was a great one, as it got higher ratings than just every sporting event in recent history except for the Super Bowl. I’m surprised it beat out the College Football Championship Game and game 5 of the NBA playoffs.
And it looks like celebrity life has already taken its toll on Michael Phelps. He didn’t even medal in his first event, finishing a disappointing 4th. The U.S. still won the gold, but I think Phelps has put more time and effort into endorsements, girls, and pot smoking since the last Olympics than toward actually training. He’ll probably still break the record for most gold medals.
AA+ Bonds
I have not seen the Batman film yet but the problem is bound to be that Christopher Nolan wants to make a movie but instead has to tell some version of an atrocious 1993 Batman story
AA+ Bonds
As for the complaints that The Dark Knight Rises is a fascist anti-democratic elitist power fantasy:
Yes, it is indeed a Batman story
Yutsano
@Caz: He already has that record, so if he wins three more of any colour he’ll have the most of any Olympian.
bob h
Camp joins Ann Romney in the category of people getting the best healthcare in the world while determined to kill the promise of good care for millions of others.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@AA+ Bonds: I was pretty “meh” on the movie, but that part of it worked.
henqiguai
@chrome agnomen (#54): All the times I have been seeing your nym, and I’ve been more or less lurking around here for a couple or few years now, and it is only now that I fully read it and realized it’s “agnomen” and not the “Agamemnon” I had been thinking. And I don’t do drugs.