Fast Food Nation vs. Omnivore’s Dilemma

We’ve got ourselves the beginning of an intriguing conversation over at the latest Voreblog Readers Forum. Mike Allen, Erik Brueggemann and Erin argue the merits of Michael Pollan vs. Eric Schlosser when it comes to today’s “essential” food writer, plus Steve Heck makes a witty reference that you won’t appreciate unless you’ve seen I ♥ Huckabees. Why haven’t you chimed in yet? Is it because we smell or something? So what if we do? Comment now!

Read This: The Twelfth Voreblog Readers Forum

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In an article entitled “What To Read Now. And Why,” Newsweek recently attempted to compile the 50 books which

–new or old, fiction or nonfiction — open a window on the times we live in, whether they deal directly with the issues of today or simply help us see ourselves in new and surprising ways. … The fact is, no one needs another best-of list telling you how great The Great Gatsby is.

We hate these kind of lists, and we love these kind of lists. They are an invitation to argue and nitpick. We don’t want to take them seriously because it seems like an easy ploy to sell more magazines. But we take them seriously because we care about books.

The writers at Newsweek make some inspired choices (among them Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Tower, Wendell Berry’s The Unsettling of America and Anthony Shadid’s Night Draws Near) and some blinkered ones. We like Lee Child, but does his latest book, Gone Tomorrow, really “open a window on the times we live in”? (The writers all but confess this is a non-essential pick when they write of the book, “Escape into a fantasy….” We don’t have anything against escapism or fantasy, but that wasn’t the point of the list.) Furthermore, after casually discarding The Great Gatsby from consideration, the writers go on to select “Leaves of Grass” and Frankenstein, plus books by Faulkner, Twain and O’Connor, though not the ones you might expect. So which is it? Is The Great Gatsby excluded because it’s too obvious? But other classics are allowed in because they’re somehow “sexier”? Does Gatsby really speak less to our times than Anthony Trollope’s The Way We Live Now, the top pick on the list? (Full disclosure: We have not read it.* Someone else will have to answer that last question.)

All this got us stirred up enough to launch The Twelfth Voreblog Readers Forum. It’s simple: What book would you include on the list, and why? Interpret Newsweek’s criteria as you will. One commenter on Newsweek.com said, “I think any list of important books will differ between any two people.” As it should. Comment now!

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* = “It” being The Way We Live Now, not The Great Gatsby. Just to clarify.

Here Come The Lotus Eaters

We’ll be pulling blogging double duty this week as we’re recapping The Lotus Eaters episode from Ulysses over at Wandering Rocks. Which is to say, the quantity of posts here may suffer, to say nothing of the quality (here or there). We also smell a Readers Forum in the not-too-distant future. Stay tuned.

Things To Love About Ohio: Controversy!

Eighth in an occasional series promoting a positive message about our state.

We feel a strange desire to eat barbeque.

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Even if you don’t live in Ohio, you may have heard about “BarBe Q.” It’s the kind of story that has gotten us some national attention. For you non-Ohioans (or those who simply don’t care about the real world issues affecting our nation today), here’s a quick introduction.

Yes, that was the #1 story of the day back on May 14.

Well, today a local zoning board sided with BarBe Q, citing her First Amendment rights as a mannequin to dress however she dern well pleases if it’s for the good cause of selling more barbeque.

We’ll keep you posted as this story develops.

Ohio: Controversy Resides Here!

Our Cat Is More Patriotic Than Your Cat

Happy July 4th.

Friday Recommends: Battlestar Galactica

Friends, it’s time for a talk.

We realize that you may look at the title of this post and think, Uh oh. They’ve done it. The Vores have finally waved the geek flag. Because — we’ll be honest — that’s how we felt about anyone who recommended “Battlestar Galactica.”

You remember Triumph the Comic Insult Dog talking to Star Wars nerds waiting in line for Attack of the Clones?

That’s basically how we felt about “Battlestar” fans.

Then we became ones.

Go ahead. Judge us. We watch "Battlestar Galactica."

But seriously.

“Battlestar Galactica” is so mind-blowingly awesome, we predict it’ll be our favorite TV show of 2009. And it’s only July! Such is the power that Admiral Adama and his Colonial Fleet have over us. Especially Dr. Gaius Baltar. We’re both over the moon for him. Is he crazy? Probably. Did he practically destroy the human race? Most definitely. Does he have imaginary conversations with a scantily-clad Cylon known as Six (and, worse, himself)? You betcha. At the height of his depravity, did he not look like Jesus, thus seamlessly transitioning from narcissistic psychobabbler to monotheistic prophet? Uh huh. And we loved every second of it.

BEN AND ERIN VORE: We're with mutton-chops. GAUIS BALTAR: So say we all.

Let’s back up for a second.

“Battlestar Galactica” is the story of the end — and beginning — of humankind. Humans are at war with a cybernetic race called Cylons. Most Cylons look like large, dorky, metallic action figures (humans refer to them derisively as “toasters”) with a roving red eye. Twelve Cylon models look like humans though. When one of the Cylons seduces Dr. Baltar and gains access to security codes on a planet called Caprica, the Cylons wipe out all but 50,000 survivors. What few humans escape from Caprica join up with the remnants of the Colonial fleet drifting through space. Their only hope? Finding Earth, the fabled lost colony and prophetic promised land.

For anyone wary of the sci-fi trappings of BSG, you need only watch the 180-minute miniseries which launched the new series. (BSG originally aired in the 70s.) You’ll find it isn’t so much an action geekfest as it is a morally complex drama; it’s the story of Exodus, set in space. The show takes on war, love, politics, survival, torture, abortion, betrayal, guilt, redemption, faith and morality. And at heart it’s a mystery. You know at the beginning there are twelve Cylon models that look like humans. The momentum of BSG stems from figuring out who all twelve are, and the way they are revealed. (We won’t give away the season or episode, but the reveal of Cylons #8, #9, #10 and #11 is just about as brilliant as TV gets.)

About “Battlestar Galactica,” our friend and Notre Dame alum Dr. Mark Andolina said of he and his wife Katie, “It has turned us into losers. We don’t do anything else.”

If it's good enough for an Irish doctor, it's good enough for you.

Hear, hear. “Battlestar” has turned us into losers too, and since we haven’t made the digital conversion yet and are still analog, we literally can’t do anything else.

We don’t know who the final Cylon is (we just finished season 4.0), but we do know this: The final season (4.5) comes out on DVD July 28th — and on that day, these two nerds will be comfortably parked on the couch, eager to press play.

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Thank you to Dan Vore for buying us Season 1 when we wouldn’t have done it ourselves, and to Erik Brueggemann for loaning us every season since. You two nerds are okay in our book.

Voreplay

Thanks to all who offered recommendations for how Ben should spend his iTunes gift card. (Sorry, Tad, but we passed on 2 Skinnee J’s.) We have noted below who recommended what before delivering our critical judgment upon those recommendations, verdicts which may or may not shatter friendships!

First, a concert review of Bonnie “Prince” Billy at The Southgate House on June 11.

Yes, he’s a weird-looking dude. We were pleased he played only a few songs off his latest, Beware, which we have found a bit somnambulant. (Erin: “Somnambulant?” Ben: “Well, it is.” Erin: “You’re pretentious.”)

Bonnie “Prince” Billy band members fall into one of three categories: Weird-Looking Hillbilly; Weird-Looking Nerd; and Hot Violinist. BPB is a theatrical guy who can write some pretty sexually explicit songs, so we won’t mince words here: It sure looked like he wanted to eat the violinist. During duets he would level an almost predatory gaze at her. Given 1) his appearance, and 2) his relative age compared to hers (we’d guess a 20-year difference), this was creepy. Roughly translated, his sultry stare said, “I want you right here, right now, and I don’t care if everyone in this room watches.” She seemed unfazed by it. We felt uncomfortable.

The songs were gorgeous, and we were in good company with our friend Dusty. But it was a bizarro crowd, especially by Cincinnati standards. (We found ourselves asking, “Do these people really live in Cincinnati? And if so, where do they hide when the sun is out?”) We also played a fun game as we walked to Southgate called, “Is That Person Over There Going To The Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy Show?” We were quite good at it. We would’ve scored 100% if not for the man in the button down shirt and dress slacks. We saw him grooving with a chick during the opening act like he took a wrong turn and thought he was at Bang.

In the parking lot after the show, a dozen hipsters bludgeoned him to death … with irony!

Avett Brothers, Emotionalism. Ben was mostly enjoying this (especially the opener “Die Die Die”) until Erin heard it and said, “I know what this reminds me of – countrified They Might Be Giants. Which explains why I find them a little annoying.” That basically ruined these guys for Ben, probably maybe forever. Sort of like how Ben thought he liked Miller Chill (with its smack of lime) until Erin tried it and said, “This reminds me of the aftertaste you get when you throw up.” Ben couldn’t finish the bottle he was holding at the time, and he hasn’t had another since.

Bat For Lashes, “Daniel.” An Eric Bescak iTunes recommendation. Containing what Pitchfork calls “one of the most insidious choruses of the year,” “Daniel” sounds like a long lost 80s single. We don’t miss the 80s that much. We are prepared for Eric’s withering contempt.

The Boy Least Likely To, The Law of the Playground. Recommended by Carolyn. If we had kids, this is music that we could stand playing for them. Meaning, shelve it next to the Curious George soundtrack, Schoolhouse Rock, Renee & Jeremy, Gustafer Yellowgold’s Mellow Fever and Dan Zanes’s Catch That Train. (Zanes’s label appropriately calls this brand of music “age-desegregated,” a moniker both more preferable and accurate than “kid’s music.”) Also along the lines of I’m From Barcelona, who we like. Thank you, Carolyn.

David Byrne and Brian Eno, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. A 2009 favorite (although it released last fall). What the duo calls “electronic gospel,” Everything delivers some real gems (“Life is Long,” “One Fine Day” and the title track) and others you will not want to listen to more than once (“Poor Boy” and “I Feel My Stuff”). But the highs far outweigh the lows.

Bill Callahan “Too Many Birds.” Another iTunes recommendation from Eric Bescak. We’ve confessed our love for all things Bill Callahan and (Smog) before. His voice is so deep, so crisp. Like a coal miner eating Crispy Crunch at the bottom of a shaft. Or Coco Crisp reading Kierkegaard.

Camera Obscura, My Maudlin Career. Think early Belle & Sebastian (fellow Glasgonians) with a dash of 60s girl band twee pop. Which is also to say: We love it. You’d be hard pressed to start an album better than this one does, with its downer-lyrics/sunny-melodies trifecta of “French Navy,” “The Sweetest Thing” and “You Told a Lie.” We intend to atone for missing them recently at Southgate by putting this one on our 2009 Top Ten.

The Decemberists, Hazards of Love. We were a little afraid of this one, though it’s not as bad as some reviews have suggested. But it is bizarre. A prog-rock-tinged concept album without song breaks and a first track that sounds like a overlong vamp for an Elvira “Midnight Madness” show, Hazards of Love has its moments, “Hazards of Love” (the song) among them. That said, we miss little pop gems from albums past like “Myla Goldberg,” “We Both Go Down Together” and “Sons and Daughters.” Come back, Decemberists. All will be forgiven.

Dent May, The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukelele. The title pretty much sums this one up. Whether or not you agree this is “good feeling music” will depend on how feel about 1) an album where the songs all sound the same, and 2) whether the ukelele deserves to be called “magnificent” or not. If so, have we got an album for you!

The Hold Steady, A Positive Rage. We think you know how we felt about this one.

Iron & Wine, Around The Well. Most bands would kill for a b-sides album this good. There are some great covers on here, notably “Waitin’ For a Superman” (The Flaming Lips) and “Such Great Heights” (Postal Service), the latter of which you may recognize from an M&M’s commercial.

Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Outer South. This one is getting pretty well panned by critics. We’ve made peace with the fact that Conor Oberst is not the next Bob Dylan and decided to like him for who he is. There are several tracks on South sung by other vocalists which, depending on your tastes, will either be a relief or a letdown. We’re guessing that if you’re paying for a Conor Oberst album, you’ll probably fall in the “letdown” category. “Slowly (Oh So Slowly)” and “Nikorette” are high points.

Passion Pit, Manners. Recommended by Dan Vore, who knows our tastes well. An instantly likable album in the same mold as MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular. This is the soundtrack of choice for those spontaneous, late night living room raves for which we have become both famous among our friends and reviled by our neighbors.

Sam Phillips, A Boot & A Shoe. Recommended by Mark Hoobler. And we are glad he did. As we were unfamiliar with Sam Phillips until this album, it took us until track two to realize Sam is a she and not a he. Further research revealed that Phillips played a mute terrorist in Die Hard With A Vengeance, is T-Bone Burnett’s ex-wife and was once dubbed the “Christian Cyndi Lauper.” She’s also featured in The Believer’s 2009 Music Issue.

Regina Spektor, Far. This one is actually still in the shrink wrap, but given the joy that Begin to Hope brought us, we’re excited for what’s in store. We’ll report back next Voreplay.

St. Vincent, Actor. A Matthew Leathers recommendation. He calls this the best album of 2009 (thus far). But gauging from his review, it also sounds like listening to St. Vincent, a k a Annie Clark, might cause vehicular catastrophe. So … should he really be recommending it so enthusiastically? What kind of person desires seeing a twenty-car interstate pile-up? A monster, that’s who. Clark, a former member of The Polyphonic Spree (for whom we have a very soft spot in our hearts), has also played with Sufjan Stevens and will open for Andrew Bird this fall. Confession: We don’t love it. We like it, but it hasn’t inspired us to veer into a guardrail. We’ll keep listening.

You Shall Know Us By The Trail of Our Dead, The Century of Self. Recommended by Erik Brueggemann. This is not exactly our cup of tea, but we’re all for expanding our musical horizons. May we also say that there’s no family we’d rather share a van ride to Lexington with than the Brueggemann clan. (Although young Lena isn’t very good at coloring inside the lines!)

Separate reviews of Wilco’s Wilco (The Album) and Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse’s Dark Night of the Soul coming soon!

LocaVoreblog Roasts a Chicken!

PART II:  MAIN COURSE

Last week, I (Erin) detailed my trip to Green Acres Farm where I picked up my very own locally-bred, hormone-free, humanely-raised chicken (named “Darryl”). After thawing Darryl in our fridge, I prepared to cook what, by Vore standards, qualified as a feast. Usually our “dinner” is a bowl of pasta, a salad, or a slice of stromboli. An accompanying side dish is practically a buffet, so Friday’s meal constituted a miracle. Somewhere, my mother cries silently to herself that she failed to make me a proper woman.

Adios Self-Esteem: Even illustrations have perkier breasts and superior domestic skills!

Before we could please our palate with the succulent breast, thigh and wing of poultry, I had to do the inevitable: Face the chicken. I did not want to face the chicken because raw chicken, especially a whole chicken, is slimy and gross. And decapitated.

On the bottom shelf of the fridge, Darryl was still next to that Yuengling but thankfully the Mexican leftovers had been tossed out. As I placed him in the roasting pan, delicately spreading his legs and wings, I was acutely aware that Darryl was an animal. Since reading Omnivore’s Dilemma, I’ve more or less reconciled my guilt over eating animals, but even still, the nausea set in and I couldn’t help but feel sad when looking at the stump that used to hold a head. Pollan writes that as he got closer to his food (both on an emotional and geographical level), he felt overwhelmingly thankful for it. There was a story behind his meal. It wasn’t faceless or pre-packaged. It was Darryl, who had been sacrificed for our appetite.

Into the oven went Darryl, along with some butter, rosemary and sea salt.  An hour and fifteen minutes later, out came a fragrant, oven-browned bird that looked camera-ready.

Who wants my butter pecan thighs?

I fixed steamed vegetables from my parent’s garden and cheesy-tomato rice (a Vore staple) to go along with the chicken. I felt proud of my meal, which then made me feel embarrassed that normal people have real meals every night of the week. Oh well, guess we’re a different type of normal.

Suck it, Betty Crocker!

The meal did not come without a cost, as in the amount of money we paid for it. Darryl was no cheap chicken. (He was about $3.50 a pound.) But what did we get for that price? Chicken that tasted as fresh as any we’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. Could we afford to eat Darryl on a nightly basis? No. Are we willing to pay more every so often for a gustatory experience of this kind? Based on LocaVoreblog experiment #1, the answer is “absolutely.”

POSTSCRIPT FROM BEN: Darryl was delicious. Erin said I should write that I ate two pounds of him, but I’m certain it was not two pounds. But it was a lot. A delicious lot. This locavore thing is deliciously good!

POSTSCRIPT FROM ERIN: For an absurd and hilarious encounter with Danish film, allow me to recommend The Green Butchers, starring one of my favorites, Mads Mikkelsen, better known as Le Chiffre from Casino Royal. It’s about two Danes who are in the very bad habit of killing people and then selling those people disguised as chicken. Also, Mikkelsen sports a mean male-pattern baldness look.

Ben og Erin Vore sige: Watch De Grønne Slagtere for dit helbred!

Boozer is Back

“The dog ate my opt-out clause.”

Two Jazz posts in two days! And it’s June!

Contrary to what he said in December and what most everyone was expecting, Carlos Boozer will return to Utah next year. He joins Mehmet Okur and Kyle Korver in exercising the last year on his contract to stay in Salt Lake.

What to make of this?

1. Boozer wants to get paid. Given that he played just 38 games last season and that Utah started tanking as soon as he returned to the line-up, Boozer was not getting a better offer from Detroit (or anyone else) this summer.

2. Boozer really wants to get paid in 2010. I can’t believe that Boozer wants to stay in Utah, especially after the bridges he burned last season. So I’m guessing he’ll come to play this season in the hopes of landing a sweet deal as an unrestricted free agent next summer.

3. This might actually be the dream scenario for Utah. A motivated Boozer looking to get paid + a consistent starting line-up + scrappy Eric Maynor = 2010 NBA Champs? A man can dream.

Locking up Boozer long-term would have been a bad terrible move. He’s reached the ceiling on his potential. He might be an All-Star again, but he’ll never be the dominant, go-to guy who could take a team to the Finals. Maybe he wouldn’t need to be with Deron Williams around. Regardless, Boozer’s not suiting up in a Jazz uniform beyond the upcoming season.

While I don’t expect anyone picking Utah to win it all next year, I like the way the pieces are fitting together. The question mark is Paul Millsap, who would’ve really had a chance to shine with Boozer skipping town. The two don’t play well together. Millsap is the keeper of the two, and the guy I’d prefer as a teammate. I can’t imagine he’s happy today. Keeping him next year would mean paying the luxury tax, but word is the Jazz would be willing to pay it. It should.

Eric Maynor to the Jazz

Hello, Salt Lake City!

I know virtually all of you have been dying to know how Ben felt about Utah’s showing in the 2009 NBA Draft. I apologize for making you wait an entire four days for this report.

I really like Eric Maynor. (Chad Ford called him “the most underrated player in the draft.”) You may recall that he hit the game-winning shot against Duke in the first round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament.

I really like anyone who beats Duke.

I also really like anyone who plays four years of college basketball. The fact Maynor is also VCU’s all-time leading scorer and assists leader is, shall we say, not a bad thing.

Bottom line: I really like Maynor. I think he’ll be a great back-up for Deron Williams and Ronnie Brewer. This doesn’t seem to leave room for Ronnie Price (who I like), but Price had plenty of opportunities last year to leave his mark.

Should we be concerned that Maynor will exact bloody revenge on Jerry Sloan for cutting Maynor’s dad 29 years ago? Somebody needs to make sure he’s not keeping an ice pick in his locker.

As for Utah’s second round pick, the Jazz picked Kosta Koufos Goran Suton out of Michigan State. I like that he’s also a senior. I don’t like that his game is indistinguishable from that of Kosta Koufos. Look for Suton to play in Europe for a couple years, grow a beard, then attempt to be the second coming of Mark Eaton.

I invite fellow NBA aficionados to sound off on how their favorite teams fared in the draft.

Let me also reiterate just how much I hate the Spurs and their savvy front office moves.