#iron chef japan is iconic

[melmordfjordslorn]

@lovleycrowley

Phase Two: Slowboat to Hades (2002–2008)

After attempting to kill 2-D and leaving Gorillaz, Murdoc headed off to Mexico to get some sun and relax, however after using fake dud cheques at a brothel, Murdoc was arrested and sentenced to thirty years at La Mesa State Prison on October 31st 2002. During this time, Murdoc met cellmates who taught him a bit of black magic, and acquired himself a pet raven named Cortez.

Meanwhile, that same evening, Kong Studios had been shut down tight in its owner's absence by local law enforcement after an unknown man was seen running, naked and in hysterics, in the marshes near the studio. The police proceeded to keep the area secured while they investigated the strange paranormal events surrounding Kong.

After Murdoc left, the next to leave was Noodle. Noodle went back to Japan in a fruitful attempt to uncover the secrets of her own past after suffering from nightmares and visions on the Gorillaz Tour. Noodle left for Japan on October 1st 2002, she checked into a capsule hotel, and began her search.

2-D was the next one to leave, 2-D headed out into the world of L.A., rubbing elbows with Brian Setzer, joining The Viper Room Club, and moving into an apartment flat with actress Britt Ekland. However, after Britt spent every night banging on the walls and building a wicker statue, and getting sick of the Los Angeles life style, 2-D decided to go back to Eastbourne and work at his father's funfair. 2-D returned to England on November 25th 2002. It was during this time 2-D's ego got a significant boost and he re-established his grip on reality, coming to terms with his newfound pop icon status with the ladies. He also began a friendship with Shane Lynch from Boyzone. 2-D also began to grow a resentment for Murdoc, breaking free of adoring his abuser.

Russel remained in L.A. for some time but became increasingly haunted by The Grim Reaper, who eventually banished Del from his body. Luckily, Russel was approached by Ike Turner who offered him sanctuary in his basement to recover.

After a year of searching in Japan, Noodle was close to giving up on her search, she decided to head down to a sushi bar in downtown Hong Kong, to eat in woe. While she was there a waitor called for an order of "Ocean Bacon" and all of Noodle's memories came flooding back. she was reunited with her mentor, Mr. Kyuzo who was working as a chef at the establishment and learned that she was part of a secret government super soldier project and could speak English fluently. Noodle was the only survivor after the project was scrapped. Mr. Kyuzo erased Noodle's memory using the words, "Ocean Bacon" and sent her off to England in the FedEx crate. Armed with her newfound knowledge and iron resolve, Noodle decided to return to Kong Studios. on October 27th 2003, Noodle returned to Kong, and discovered that the building had fallen under a state of disrepair during the band's absence. She also discovered that the building was invested by zombies and a monster infested darkness. Using the Kong security room as a safe house Noodle slowly cleaned the building of it's unwanted inhabitants. Now knowing English, Noodle began to soak up what was playing on her TV in the security room, and discovered society was being fed manufactured shit. It was here that Noodle began writing and putting together the concepts of the band's sophomore album "Demon Days".

While Noodle was clearing Kong, Russel was still recovering in Ike Turner's basement, it was here that Russel began recording demo's for a solo hip hop album. However, after seeing hallucinations of demons flying out the speakers, Russel decided to bury the demo tapes, believing that they were causing several world problems.

Finally, in February 2004, Noodle finally cleared Kong of the undead and began contacting her bandmates, but Murdoc was still in prison!

After spending a year in jail, Murdoc's patience began wearing thin, he teamed up with his cellmates and escaped from La Mesa State. He returned to the Chicken Choker brothel, to commit the same crime he did before, then heading over to the airports, and flying back to England.

Noodle texted her bandmates, and on March 3rd 2004, 2-D, Murdoc, and Russel returned to Kong Studios. Gorillaz were together again. The band caught each other up on what they had been up to, before Noodle unveiled her Demon Days project. Recording for the album began the next day.

Noodle drafted in Damon, and producer Danger Mouse to help out with the record. The main story of Demon Days was to depict a post 9/11 world, with each track dealing with a different topic/demon. Noodle also set out to make the album prove that Gorillaz were more then a marketing ploy gimmick, as many critics accused of Gorillaz in regards to their last album. Recordings completed in November 2004. A month later on December 12th 2004, Gorillaz announced their comeback with the release of a new music video for a new song called "Rockit". Along with this was Noodle setting up the "Search For A Star" contest. A competition in which fans could submit themselves doing a talent, and submit said video or piece of artwork to Gorillaz website. Gorillaz also launched the Reject False Icons campaign, which encouraged fans to reject false celebrity icons. The cherry on top of all of this was a complete renovation to Kong Studios, new rooms and new minigames for fans to explore and interact with.

On May 9th 2005, Gorillaz released the first single and music video off their Demon Days album "Feel Good Inc." featuring De La Soul. The song and video was a huge success. Once more bringing Gorillaz mainstream, charting increasingly well, and properly replacing Clint Eastwood as Gorillaz signature tune.

On May 23rd 2005, the "Demon Days" album released, the album received critical acclaim, topped many charts, sold millions of copies, and was listed on various publications lists of the best albums of 2005, and the best albums of the 2000s.

From June 6th - June 22nd, Gorillaz embarked on The Demon Detour; a series of live radio shows throughout America. Like always however, issues immediately began, when the band's tour bus was being shot at consistently every night. The band tried putting together who was shooting at them, suspects included Paula Cracker, Paulo Skinbacio, Alfred C. Klinker, Dr. Wurzel, and Noodles Government Bosses. To keep his mind stable, Russel began experimenting with taxidermy during this time. Eventually, the band getting sick of being shot at every night (as someone probably would), Murdoc decided to take things into his own hands, asking the tour manager Jimmy Manson, to see what he could do about the shootings. The next night, shootings stopped, and the tour continued as usual.

After The Demon Detour, the band returned to Kong, where Noodle hatched secret plans for the 2nd Demon Days music video. Noodle recorded the "DARE" music video, without letting any of the other band members know. The single and video later released on August 29th 2005, reaching No.1 on the UK Singles Chart, being the only Gorillaz single to do so.

Later that same summer, Gorillaz headed off to the deserts of Africa to record the music video for the track "Dirty Harry" featuring Bootie Brown. The single and video later released on November 21st 2005.

After the "Dirty Harry" shoot, the band returned to Kong, tired and double booked. The band was set to perform at the MTV EMA's, while also set to perform a five night concert at the Manchester Opera House. To fix this dilemma, the band drafted in Damon and the Demon Days collaborators to perform the album live. From November 1st - 5th 2005, Damon and his live band performed the Demon Days album live at the Manchester Opera House. The band attended these gigs in the audience for the first show, before heading over to Lisbon to perform "Feel Good Inc." at the MTV EMA's.

Later that Christmas, MTV Cribs released an episode where they receive a tour of Kong Studios from Murdoc Niccals. Murdoc also delivered the Queen's speech that Christmas Day.

On February 8th 2006, the band headed back over to America to preform "Feel Good Inc." at the Grammy's. After the award show an after party was held at Dennis Hopper's, in which Murdoc got into a drunken fight with ex Archies member, Jughead Jones, who claimed Gorillaz was a rip off of his band.

On February 15th, 2006, Gorillaz performed "Dirty Harry" at the Brit Awards featuring a huge choir of children and guest star, Bootie Brown.

Following the BRIT Awards, the plans began to be made for the final Demon Days music video. Murdoc received contacts from The Demon Detour tour manager Jimmy Manson, who revelated he had been following Gorillaz for awhile. He initially tried out for the guitarist role but was rejected upon Noodle's arrival, he stalked the band for sometime during their time in Hollywood in 2002, and finally got a gig as the tour manager for The Demon Detour. Manson reveled that he was the one behind the shootings and he pitched an idea to kill Gorillaz and cash in on their success. Murdoc agreed to this, and came up with an idea for the track "El Manana". Murdoc pitched the idea to Gorillaz and Jamie, in the video, Noodle would be on the windmill island from "Feel Good Inc.", and the island would be shot down by copters, Noodle would have a parachute, and the copters would have fake bullets. The rest of the band were a bit reluctant to this idea, but ultimately gave in. Especially Noodle who wanted to leave Gorillaz for a break, and had already packed all her stuff up in her room. She planned to leave straight after the filming of the "El Manana" video shoot. Murdoc and Jimmy hatched out the plan, in which Manson would hide out inside the windmill tower with guns, and come out and shoot Noodle. On March 7th, 2006, Gorillaz started the shoot for "El Manana" which starred Noodle on windmill island. Halfway through the video, the island was shot down and exploded as planned. However, after the video's shoot, Noodle was nowhere to be found, leaving behind a used parachute, panic exploded on set. Manson had never come out and shot Noodle. This was because Murdoc had actually double crossed Manson, by locking him inside the windmill, with the guns. The island crashing, with Jimmy Manson perishing along with it. In an attempt to calm fans and save face, Murdoc lied and said that Noodle had escaped by parachute and was chilling out in Maldives. In reality, Noodle was missing and supposedly dead. Murdoc noted that the copters that shot down the island, were not the same fake copters from "Feel Good Inc." but were actually real helicopters that came and shot down the island. Meaning that Noodle was being shot down with real bullets in the video and was not acting. The "El Manana" single and music video later released on April 10th 2006. Following Noodle's disappearance, Kong began falling under a state of disrepair once more, as if her presence was the only thing keeping the building alive.

Shortly after the video's shoot, Damon and the live band once more performed a residency of five shows at New York's Harlem Apollo from April 2nd to April 6th 2006. 2-D and Murdoc attended these gigs in the audience, while Russel stayed behind at Kong. After the Apollo gigs, 2-D and Russel left Kong Studios, while Murdoc stayed behind by himself in the crumpling building. 2-D headed off to Jamaica to get a degree in law, while Russel put together and toured a new Gorillaz project Gorillaz Sound System, a project in which Russel performed remixes of Gorillaz tracks live. Later that year, on October 26th 2006, Gorillaz released their autobiography Rise Of The Ogre, the same day as the book's release, an emergency transmission from Noodle was received in the Brain Room at the ruins of Kong Studios. Murdoc discovered that the coordinates of the transmission were being transmitted from the depths of hell. Murdoc attempted to travel through the bowels of hell in order to bring her back but failed. Following the rescue attempt, Murdoc put Kong Studios up for sale, and headed off on a bender around the world. During this time, Murdoc released another compilation album, "D-Sides". Similarly to "G-Sides", D-Sides consisted of the bonus tracks, b-sides, and remixes off the singles of Demon Days. The album released on November 19th 2007, and performed similarly to G-Sides. Not long after D-Sides, director Ceri Levy was preparing on releasing a Gorillaz documentary titled Bananaz. The documentary was about the making of Gorillaz first two albums from the perspective of Damon and Jamie. The documentary premiered in Berlin on February 7th 2008. Murdoc responded to the documentary via a drunken threating voice message to Ceri. An online war began between Murdoc and Ceri, which resulted in Ceri leaking a audio tape of Murdoc having sex. Murdoc called off the war following the leak.

[glowinginstarlight]

What are your other favorite weird little cooking shows?

guys i loveeee my silly little reality cooking shows i can't lie. i've been watching culinary class wars on netflix which has been the newest thing i've been watching, it's korean but the english dub isn't too bad (i've been watching it subbed though) and it's been a lot of fun.

i also adore the original iron chef from japan because it's just so fun. the editing and dubbing is a lot but it's such a treat to watch, you really get to know the masters and its so fun to watch someone actually win + all the weird little contestants they manage to find.

i love the great british bake off of course, probably my top show, as well as the great american bake off and great american recipe. i really love top chef too because i just love seeing talented people cook.

i do love some more reality heavy cooking competitions, like masterchef, the (insert season here) baking championships on food network, hell's kitchen, the great food truck race, etc. next level chef isn't bad but last season's chefs didn't really stand out to me so i didn't finish it.

for shows no longer airing, i remember liking next food network star because they really did find some gems on that show and i loved the audience participation aspect (as i was a kid when it was airing). i also loved cutthroat kitchen + good eats + the 1st version of american iron chef because alton brown is an icon and has such a good sense of humor. my parents raised me on good eats honestly.

honorable mention to dungeon meshi because it's not similar but it is a cooking anime with a fantastic story

okay well. that was a lot longer than i meant but it's one of my silly little interests i don't get to talk about as much so i love talking about it <3

[mobydicks203-briancarew]

West Haven's New Hot Spot in Town

If you ever catch yourself in West Haven, Ct wanting to enjoy a nice meal and have a drink head down to Moby Dick’s. No, not the book, the oyster bar & grill over at 588 Campbell Ave. It is a newer bar on the Campbell Ave strip opening on August 18, 2022. Even in the short time been open, they have been successful enough to win the Milford Regional Chamber of Commerce’s “New Business of the Year” Award.

 Walking up to the entrance you will see the simple yet sharp black lettering spelling out Moby Dick’s and directly underneath in front of the two glass windows there are two tables for outside dining or just hanging out with the front door to the right. 

Once you enter the door you see their fun, artistic chalkboard menu listing all of their oysters including where they are from. Places range from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine,  and even Japan. They also have their draft beers along with any specials they may be serving at the time whether it be a cocktail or one of the chef's creations.  

By the time you sit down, either at a high chair at the copper bar with a thick wood lining that has been carved into by customers from times before and during Moby Dick’s, or a stool at one of the tables, you realize you are no longer on Campbell Ave but a ship. With portholes showing old paintings of massive ships sailing the seas, strong wooden beams going across the ceiling, and rustic rope trimming the walls you feel like you are in a bottom of a ship with your crewmates having a drink and a meal. 

Now the question is what do you have for that drink or meal, I am going to tell you all about Moby Dick’s menu starting with the iconic cast iron mac and cheese. With this dish, you can have three different ways to approach it. You can just get the mac and cheese or you can add bacon or lobster. I got the lobster and let me tell you I was not disappointed at all. They certainly do not skimp on the lobster. The mac and cheese was so creamy and crisp from the breadcrumbs.  

Although this meal is delicious it is very heavy and can be somewhat of a struggle to finish so keep that in mind if you are just there for some drinks with friends. I would say this dish is more of a dinner-time decision instead. 

Staying with lobster, the lobster sliders are to die for. You will be served a plate with three toasted brioche buns loaded with buttered up lobster pieces with a condiment cup filled with even more butter and oil for you to pour in at your discretion.

Not into lobster sliders? You have to try the fan-favorite meatball sliders. Still being served three brioche buns but instead of lobster, you have fat homemade meatballs with melted parmesan cheese on top of them. The sauce soaking into the bun is phenomenal and the meatball itself practically melts in your mouth. When I am on the clock working at Moby’s this is my go-to because it is quick and extremely tasteful. 

Moby Dick’s also has a variety of flatbreads you can choose from. Some are slab bacon, white clam, and shrimp scampi. Personally, I have never tried the slab bacon however I have heard many customers that they love it. The white clam flatbread was a special when I was home sometime during the school year so I was intrigued because I can get down with some white clam pizza. I thought it was great. The clams were browned but were still juicy and tasty when you bit into them. The bread caught my eye because of the crisped lines going across the pie. My favorite flatbread is the shrimp scampi flatbread. The shrimp is so flavorful in every bite and it is topped with tomato chunks and basil and fresh lemon. 

Now for the standpoint of Moby Dick’s. The raw bar. Getting daily deliveries of seafood you know it is fresh and you certainly can tell. They do shrimp cocktails with big and little neck shrimp. You’ll be given a nice display in a silver tray filled with tiny ice cubes, a cup of cocktail sauce with a dash of horse radish, and a piece of lemon with a cute tiny fork. And that is with all orders coming out of the raw bar. 

  I heard customers raving about all kinds of oysters. Blue Points, which they get from Connecticut, are the biggest oysters they carry and so they are super meaty. They have Wellfleets from Massachusetts and those are also on the bigger meatier side. One of the smallest oysters they offer is called the Kumamoto oyster and it is from Japan. I find that it is almost sweet to a point. If you want to get crazy you can do an oyster shot. It is in a Moby Dick’s shot glass with your choice of oyster and then Bloody Mary on top. 

This brings you to what a bar is truly all about, the alcohol. Of course, they have everyday items like Bud Lights, Budweiser, and simple mixed drinks like vodka sodas or rum and coke. The special drinks are what makes them stand apart. They have many drafts some being Whalers Rise APA, Sea Hag IPA, and the Baby Fuzzy Duck. I love the name of that last one and the others fit the theme perfectly. They also have Captain Campbell Collins as their John Collins which I thought was creative. 

One time I went there with my mom to get lunch and she ordered a peanut butter martini. When it came to the table I was in shock. It looked beautiful and like a dessert. It was peanut butter whiskey, Baileys, chocolate vodka, and creme, with crushed Reese's peanut butter cup rim. They used to have but I am not sure if they still do a pistachio martini. The drink was so bright green that it lit up the room. Not literally but you get the point. 

Around the holidays they put out specialty drinks for a limited time. For the wintertime, it was a winter bourbon punch that consisted of bourbon, fresh orange, cranberry, and simple. During February for Valentine's Day, you could have been drinking “Love Martinis” and for St. Patty’s Day it would have been the “Drunk Leprauchan.”

Overall Moby Dick’s is a great place to experience. It is a very unique small knit community bar and has very good vibes around it. The food is amazing, and the drinks are right along with the food. If you ever get the chance to go you shouldn't miss it.

[bagofghosts]

was anyone gonna tell me hans zimmer wrote the Iron Chef Japan theme (from the 1991 ron howard movie backdraft) or was i supposed to find that out myself

[fyeahironchef]

Good news out of the streaming television industry: The original Iron Chef is returning to airwaves, albeit in a streaming capacity.

The bad news? According to this tweet, it's just the dubbed episodes from the trio of Food Network, Fine Living Network, and Cooking Network. No plans are made to possibly dub the episodes that were never presented to US/Canada audiences through the channels.

At least Iron Chef is back, but only if you don't mind the episodes you already remember.

[maoist-mizer]

Wait you watched gbbo too 😭 I hate Paul Hollywood 😌 also do you watch masterchef Australia too 👀

Oooo I used to watch MasterChef Aus. When I was a kid, the series was top tier chefs kiss. Idk how it is now but I might start rewatching. Ppl in my grade told me to watch Love Island AUS and UK lmaoo.

And yesss ofc I watched GBBO. I don’t remember much but it was beautiful—I need to find somewhere to watch it lol. Or maybe I should just get a VPN and make an account for Channel 4 asdfgghlkhj

A lot of the shows we watched here (well in my family at least) were from East Asia, like If You Are the One (OG name: 缘来非诚勿扰) and Iron Chef Japan. They were iconic. ✨😌

[nomanwalksalone]

THAT WHICH BRINGS JOY

by Réginald-Jérôme de Mans

Two children’s books come to mind when I think of Marie Kondo.  Fitting, too, as ever since she’s become a sprightly, life-simplifying phenomenon, people on the internet have voiced fears that she would come for their books.  We iGents, though, knew better.  She (or her distaff converts) are coming for our #steez.  Already listings on the resale website Grailed proclaim that the vendor’s been forced to sell by a girlfriend who’s watched Marie Kondo.  And no less a luminary than the irrepressible, unimpeachable @paul-lux has worried about “getting Kondoed.” 

I’ve written that the popularity of Iron Chef Japan and of Chairman Kaga in particular reflected Western stereotypes and prejudices, if not fears, about Japan in the 1990s.  Marie Kondo – bright, charming, cute, creative yet disciplined, twee – reflects our current racism, as much as a show like Aggretsuko… According to this new paradigm, she enters our messy American houses and dispels our XXL hoarded possessions with a sort of new wisdom of the East: not the supposed inscrutable Zen that our old bigotry expected, but an enlightenment of smaller habitations, higher costs of living, greater consciousness of what really matters, more realistic expectations for a straitened future. 

For a long time I considered writing an Alternative Style Icon piece about Eustace Clarence Scrubb.  That was his name, “and he almost deserved it,” wrote C.S. Lewis in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  I wanted to write about him not because of his “special kind of underwear” that Lewis mentioned, but because of what happens to Scrubb when he thinks he’s discovered all he could ever want, a dragon’s horde of treasure. Putting on a gold armlet, he falls asleep on his new riches.  He awakes to discover that “sleeping on a dragon's hoard with greedy, dragonish thoughts in his heart, he had become a dragon himself” and the armlet that had been loose on a human arm had turned into a tourniquet-tight choke on his dragon leg.  That suffocation of greedily amassed possessions resonated with me, what we accumulate thinking that they will make our life better by answering to some internal, extremely naïve image of what we think our lives should be.  I was reminded of that when, my partner having watched several Kondo episodes, I was prompted to get rid of the antique Goyard trunk that had held the bulk of my hoard, the trophy that held trophies.  Even in the pursuit of those things that I thought could render meaning to what had been a horrible life I knew.  What we hoped could complete us would choke us. And I write “we” because I’m a cowardly bastard and don’t want to be alone.

Alone.  The trunk is just an item. An ancient, somewhat rusty, bulky item.  Like Scrubb with that unnatural dragon hide, I’ll soon slough it off to be a better person.  What is worth it?  What actually can bring me joy? It’s pursuing the few things that actually did make my life better and make me feel more like me.  The late Karl Lagerfeld famously said that the last thing he would give away was a Hilditch & Key shirt.  In my case, the pieces of clothing I’ll make sure to hold on to are these rollnecks from Caerlee Mills.  H&K’s longtime competitor Charvet has had an ancient stock of them for years, and knew how to price them.  My first one cost me $17 off of eBay, was soft, dense, tensely knit, warm and amazing. I learned the hard way that quality isn’t fungible, as I tried and got rid of versions from other makers that just didn’t measure up.  Nor in any case could I find the light lavender one that Charvet had – and had had on its shelves for at least 16 years, to judge from the label – anywhere else.  So on a rainy January evening right before closing I popped in and braved the price, many, many times that of my first eBay sweater.  Worth every cent – and irreplaceable now that the maker’s gone out of business, its machines literally smashed up.  I later hunted down versions in every color I could find: functional, warm, easy to wear, some even a half-century old. 

What was the other book Kondo reminded me of?  One of Frank Baum’s many sequels to The Wizard of Oz, in which the Scarecrow and Tin Man, fast friends out of power, are told that they have found the greatest riches of all: the riches of contentment.  To get to a point in life where you can have a heart and a brain, can make space in your life for the needs and hopes of a partner, and find time to read The Wizard of Oz to the ones you love, requires a change in our calculus of what really does bring joy. After all, those trophies of yesterday so easily become regretful reminders of overreach, irrelevant weights on our current lives.  If we can accept those truths and let go of what no longer matters, we may not need to welcome ambassadors of new stereotypes into our houses in order to find a sort of mature but rueful joy.

[tofugu]

This article is part of a series where the Tofugu team visits Iron Chef restaurants, pitting them against each other in some kind of Iron Chef sequel. Come back and see new Iron Chef restaurant reviews, and (coming soon) a final ranking of them all!

Sakai Hiroyuki is one of Japan's most famous, iconic French chefs, having led and inspired many of the country's brightest culinary artists throughout his career. Yet his greatest claim to fame might be his appearance on Iron Chef, the TV show where he served as the second (and final) Iron Chef French—despite having never been formally trained in France.

Sakai was born in 1942 into a family whose father fought in World War II and never returned. He endured Japan's postwar food shortages, eating a lot of sweet potatoes and squash. To this day, Sakai prefers not to use these ingredients, since they remind him of his poor, hungry childhood.

At sixteen, he left home to pursue his dream of becoming a chef on a cruise ship. Early in his career, he worked at a restaurant during the day and went to culinary school in Osaka at night. It was around this time that he saw a job posting for a French restaurant at a hotel in Australia, and he jumped at the chance. Sakai longed to work abroad, even though—as he has joked—no one would have picked Australia as an ideal place to study French cuisine.

Read more!

[bk-lostintranslation]

Review: Godzilla on My Mind - Fifty Years of the King of Monsters by William Tsutsui

Godzilla, according to Tsutsui, has "heart" – an allegorical gravitas coupled with an imaginative charm that allows him to transcend cultural boundaries, becoming both a symbol of globalized modernity and its biggest literal adversary.

Half-academic, half-playful in tone, Tsuitsui's Godzilla On My Mind stands out as a unique paean to the king of monsters, tracing his – (for Tsuitsui is indelibly convinced Godzilla's tempestuous, teeth-gnashing, fire-breathing persona is masculine) – journey as a pop-cultural phenomenon whose post-WWII roots are a mish-mash of both Western and Eastern folklore, both historical baggage and social quandaries, and both unexpected creativity and unabashed cheesiness.

The brain-child of Tanaka Tomoyuki of Toho Studios, Godzilla – originally Gojira – was created to evoke Japan's nuclear anxieties and the scars of its wartime defeat as much as it was meant to surf a wave of public interest in monster-flicks, following the re-release of the 1993 classic King Kong. A success in the Japanese box office, the film would spawn both flattering knock-offs and outright ridiculous sequels across a multitude of genres: from horror to comedy, from depth-devoid Hollywood renditions to a mindless Showa-era procession of Kaiju-eiga.

The monster, to Tsuitsui's consternation, would also grow increasingly childish as studios pandered to a younger audience, culminating in such saccharine works as Son of Godzilla and All Monsters Attack, that reflected not only declining studio budgets, but also how far these sequels (or perhaps sequelae, giving the "shoddiness" of the output?) had strayed from Tanaka Tomoyuki's original kitschy yet poignant premise. It was not until the 1984 reboot, which kicked off the Heisei series, that the monster would be restored to his former city-destroying glory – but even then, the films would lack the zest and bite of their predecessor, and be criticized for their formulaic nature.

Tsuitsui's approach is engaging, even tongue-in-cheek. Departing from the self-consciously somber style found in similar works examining pop culture, he tackles the subject not from the lens of an impartial observer, but a self-professed Godzilla fan. While the result can be slightly effusive at times, chock-full of grand metaphors and self-indulgent attention to detail, it comes across as entertaining and informative, especially when coupled with Tsuitsui's personal anecdotes, all of which serve to firmly cement his place within the sociocultural phenomenon of Godzilla, rather than standing apart from it.

While some interpretations of what Godzilla symbolizes for Japan, as well as for the rest of the world, can seem far-fetched at times, Godzilla as a cinematic symbol deserves no less, given the bombastic and exaggerated nature of the monstrous oeuvre. Tsuitsui never loses sight of that, and as a consequence, his viewpoint (and by proxy the reader's) is enriched with an exploration not only of pop culture, but history, cultural psyche, and human creativity in all its silly and self-reflective facets.

Continuing to trace the rise and fall of Godzilla's cinematic oeuvre, from the tepid productions of the Heisei era to the disjointed Millennium series which might classify as over-the-top monstrosities in and of themselves, Tsuitsui nonetheless illustrates how each reboot, sequel, tribute and outright rip-off has served to cement Godzilla's place within the fabric of pop culture as a quintessentially Japanese icon – and paved the way for other forms of soft power such as animanga, Iron Chef and Hello Kitty.

Inspiring its own genre of creature-feature films – from Gamera to Gorgo – Godzilla nonetheless outrivals them all in terms of both longevity and uniqueness. This owes largely to the fact that Godzilla, according to Tsutsui, has "heart" – an allegorical gravitas coupled with an imaginative charm that allows him to transcend cultural boundaries, becoming both a symbol of globalized modernity and its biggest literal adversary.

By toppling down buildings and stomping across cities, Godzilla is an unbridled representation of the inner-child, exhorting audiences to let go of post-modern worries and explore their silliest and most self-indulgent fantasies. "Don't worry, be stompy," as Tsutsui puts it.

Reading the final few chapters, one can't help but smile at Tsutsui's unabashed, nearly childlike enthusiasm for Godzilla – both as a cinematic emblem and an international phenomenon. While the adulation can seem a tad far-fetched at times, Tsutsui does not neglect to delve into the more troubling subject matter that underlies Godzilla's popularity. Whether Godzilla represents a defiant perversion of the Japanese psyche during the post-war occupation, or, on its flipside, a dark manifestation of the US in all its war-mongering destruction, are all the questions the book asks – but does not necessarily answer.

Perhaps because, as Tsuitsui points out, he is approaching the material from the perspective of a fan more than an academic – and as such his enjoyment of the work supersedes any attempts at analysis. Yet the undercurrents of analysis lurk throughout the work, coming through most strongly in Tsutsui's ultimate criticism of the Hollywood adaptation, which is derided as a showy shell utterly devoid of the original's substance.

His biggest quibble is the fact that the film takes itself too seriously as purely Hollywood creation – whereas the true charm of Godzilla lies in the fact that, for all its camp and cheese, it is indisputably Japanese, with all the nation's somber cultural and historical subtext padding the more ludicrous narrative armature.

[rrarchive-blog]

five things tag.

TAGGED BY:  @turnedink​,  kinda.

5 THINGS YOU’LL FIND IN MY BAG.

01.   my  wallet. 02.   my  movie  pass. 03.   at  least  three  different  lipsticks.   04.   gum  or  mints  of  some  kind. 05.   there’s  usually  a  hair  tie  floating  around  at  the  bottom.

5 THINGS IN MY BEDROOM APARTMENT.

because  my  bedroom  is  literally  just  a  bed  &  nothing  else.

01.   at  least  thirty  funko  pops. 02.   make-up  products  that  need  to  be  filed  away. 03.   way  too  many  ya  fiction  books  for  a  23  year  old. 04.   dvd  /  blu  ray  collection  in  desperate  need  of  a  bigger  shelf. 05.   posters  of  comic  book  covers  &  pokemon  things.

5 THINGS I’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO WITH MY LIFE.

01.   i  really  want  to  go  to  italy,  greece,  &  japan. 02.   become  a  successful  make-up  artist.   03.   learn  how  to  cook  something  besides  pasta. 04.   master  photoshop  /  learn  about  graphic  design. 05.   finally  finish  my  screenplay.

5 THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY.

01.   going  to  the  movies  —  it’s  my  happy  place. 02.   penn  badgley. 03.   misfits. 04.   my  boyfriend  —  gag. 05.   sephora.   sensing  a  theme  here.

5 THINGS I’M CURRENTLY INTO.

01.   riverdale. 02.   cheesecake. 03.   food  network. 04.   board  games. 05.   green  tea  lattes.

5 THINGS ON MY TO-DO LIST.

01.   drafts.  memes.  icons.   everything  rp  related. 02.   shave  your  legs  you  fucking  bridge  troll. 03.   wash  make-up  brushes  because  the  cat’s  been  shedding  all  over  them. 04.   catch  up  on  this  month’s  movie  watchlist. 05.   you.

5 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME.

01.   i  was  kicked  out  at  nineteen  &  have  lived  with  my  boyfriend,  his  dad,  &  his  brother  ever  since.   i  usually  call  them  my  housemates  because  it’s  just  an  easier  explanation. 02.   i  started  rping  back  in  2012  on  a  forum  site  called  rpnation  before  moving  to  tumblr  a  year  later.   i  actually  began  on  indie,  switched  to  rpgs  for  a  while,  then  came  back  early  last  year. 03.   my  passionate  gossip  girl  related  opinions  get  me  in  a  lot  of  trouble  here  on  tumblr. 04.   i  had  a  vaping  phase  —  yikes  —  i  stopped  when  this  girl  told  me  smoking  makes  your  nipples  fall  off.   oh  yeah,  my  biggest  fear  is  just  randomly  waking  up  without  nipples. 05.   i’ve  joked  ironically  about  being  sexually  attracted  to  certain  food  network  chefs  for  so  long  that  now  i’m  not  sure  if  i  was  actually  kidding  or  truly  want  to  fuck  guy  fieri.

TAGGING:  you!!

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Provides perfect for everybody from the passionate home cook to the restaurant obsessive

It’s holiday time, and thus the mad dash for the perfect present begins. Let this list take over for the food lover in your life, with items ideal for everyone from the avid home cook to the restaurant obsessive.

Find merchandise from the city’s institutions, food that is sure to be a hit at any party, stunning ceramics, and plenty of items in between. The best part is that everything is either locally made or created — and it’s all tested and approved by the Eater New York staff.

Scroll through for all the items, or simply click into the categories below that interest you most. If you’re still stumped after this list, check out Eater’s national guide for more ideas.

For fancy homeware

Dollop dish

Inspired by oyster shells, each of these small dishes — perfect for holding spices, garnishes, sauces, or even rings — is one of a kind. Long Island City artist Nicole Pilar adheres to the philosophy of wabi-sabi, a Japanese view of embracing the imperfect, and small-scale ceramics allow her to employ it in utensils. Restaurants like Gabriel Kreuther and Blanca use her craggly serveware, which brings an organic feel into kitchens.

Price: $38

Mugs and cups

Red Hook-based ceramicist Helen Levi is a total Instagram darling, and her playful mugs and colorful serveware — at NYC restaurants such as Sushi Ko — make it easy to see why. Ceramics made locally and by hand won’t come cheap, but Levi’s mugs and cups make for an affordable, but still luxurious-feeling gift. The mug selection is vast, and inspiration varies from nature — as on the best-seller rock candy mountain style, left — to iconic artists, easily seen in the giant Jackson Pollack-y middle mug.

Price: $48 to $62

Pie plate

These deep pie plates, made in Brooklyn, look good with just about any sort of sweet placed on top. Two sizes — nine and 12 inches — and various colors ensure for understated yet deliberate last-course plating at a dinner party. Creator Wynne Noble is a leader in NYC-made ceramics, with 50 years of experience under her belt and products at restaurants such as Momofuku Ko, Fausto, and Oiji.

Price: $60 to $75

For bringing to holiday parties this season

Japanese green tea bag set

Tea lovers might dig this green tea set from Tea Dealers in Alphabet City, which sources from ninth-generation family producer Inokura in Nara, Japan. Included in the set are two teas — a sweet green sencha and a toasty houjicha — from shaded yabukita plants, the most popular for green tea in Japan. The best part is that these aren’t loose-leaf; while tea obsessives swear by making it that way, this gift allows people without specialty equipment to try this high-quality product, too.

Price: $36

Smiley cookey cakey

The benefits of cannabidiol — a non-psychoactive compound found in the cannabis plant said to relieve anxiety and induce relaxation — are questionable at best, but walk into any holiday party with this puppy, and you will be the star of the show. There are 2.5 milligrams per serving of CBD in each cookie cake, which feeds eight to 10 and comes in a stoner-friendly pizza box. Anyone can partake, since this mischievous sweet is from fashionable vegan brand By Chloe.

Price: $55 at Sweets By Chloe or by e-mail with 48-hours notice

Brigadeiros

Brazilians already know and love this special-occasion treat, present at every birthday and holiday. Shaped like a truffle, brigadeiros are much softer and creamier, made with sweetened condensed milk, butter, and rolled in chocolate sprinkles. They’re traditionally flavored with chocolate, but Mariana Vieira at Soho’s Brigadeiro Bakery puts together various gift boxes with flavors ranging from passionfruit to pistachio, easy to hand to a host at the season’s myriad parties.

Price: $24 for 12

For the home cook who values style

Steak knives

Knives are a point of pride for any chef, but for dinner at home, they just need to be sharp and look good. These, from hip steakhouse Quality Eats and made by Fortessa, do the job. The restaurant’s name “quality eats” is inscribed on the stainless steel blade; handsome zebra-wood handles seal the deal.

Price: $60

Korean Home Cooking

With the modern Korean restaurant boom in full swing in NYC right now, it’s natural for home cooks to want to bring the cuisine into their own kitchens. Insa chef Sohui Kim is all over that, with her new cookbook Korean Home Cooking, which has approachable recipes for classic Korean home staples. Each recipe — kimchi pancakes, Korean fried chicken, pork bulgogi — is accompanied by a full-page photo and clear instructions for cooks at any level of experience with Korean cooking.

Price: $22.48

Dutchess oven

This saucy dutch oven is the hottest gift of 2018. Created by former New York magazine editor Sierra Tishgart and Warby Parker alum Maddy Moelis, startup Great Jones is trying to millennialize cookware with bronze accents and attention-grabbing colors like bright blue and mustard. The interior is made of a gray enameled cast iron, which reduces staining while allowing to see changes in food like butter browning. It’s a significantly cheaper alternative to a Le Creuset, with just as much cultural cachet — Gwyneth Paltrow is a fan, David Chang is an investor — to proudly display on a stove.

Price: $145

For those who crave experiences over products

Butchering and wine-tasting classes

Couples just love gifting each other experiences, so partners take note. Top options in NYC include pig butchering and sausage-making classes at esteemed meat shop the Meat Hook in Williamsburg from Eater video hosts Ben Turley and Brent Young, as well as a wine bootcamp at Little Italy bar La Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels. While many classes around NYC can be overpriced, both of these offer real value: sessions at the Meat Hook come with lessons, snacks, and two Threes Brewing beers, while La Compagnie offers education alongside several blind tastings centered around topics such as orange or Portuguese wines. Both are for meat and wine lovers of all levels, and classes are kept intimate.

Price: $49 to $95

For the craft boozer

Babka beer

Babka and beer are not the most likely of matches, but if there’s anyone who can make it work, it’s Brooklyn brewer Grimm. The East Williamsburg taproom uses Mekelburg’s chocolate babka as inspiration for a beer that is definitely for those with a sweet tooth. The imperial milk stout is brewed with vanilla, cacao, and salt for an ultra-thick, syrupy, and dark result. The sumi babka stout has 12-percent ABV and comes in 16-ounce stylized cans or takeaway growlers. It’s a novelty better for sharing and likely to delight New Yorkers well-versed in Jewish traditions.

Price: $8 to $39 at Mekelburg’s in Williamsburg

Marseille amaro

This ultra-local amaro blends together 36 different tree barks and roots, seeds and berries, and leaves and flowers before getting sweetened by raw honey from Ithaca. Forthave has been making spirits in Bed-Stuy for a few years, but the amaro is a standout. It’s served at restaurants like Frenchette, Contra, and Gramercy Tavern and best enjoyed neat or over ice, which allows the complex earthy and bitter, yet sweet flavor profile to shine. Bust it out at a holiday party, since after-dinner drinks are the ideal dessert.

Price: $30 at Chambers Street Wines, Astor Wines and Spirits, Uva Wines, and Thirst Wine Merchants

Sake and sake cups

This tandem gift will thrill a sake drinker, as well as those keen on becoming one. Industry City’s Brooklyn Kura produces a line of unpasteurized sakes made from American rice, NYC water, yeast, and koji and served at restaurants such as Simon & the Whale and Ivan Ramen. They’re fruity and fresh, ideal for a sake beginner. Serve them chilled in a set from Felicitas, an up-and-coming Brooklyn ceramic serveware company that only sells on Instagram.

Price: $16 to $125

I’m Just Here for the Drinks

Big-name bartender Sother Teague’s (Amor y Amargo, Blue Quarter, Windmill) new drink recipe book will make a cocktail expert out of anyone. I’m Just Here for the Drinks is split up by liquor, with each section full of patient spirit explanations and foolproof instructions. There’s even guides on the proper way to mix drinks, measure ingredients, and choose ice — so much so that the hijinks of your local suspender-wearing bartender will soon be illuminated.

Price: $16.50

For quirky wearables

“I Am Still Hungry” pouch

Carry this sassy pouch, and heads will turn. That’s because everyone can relate to the cheeky siren call of “I am still hungry,” stamped on this handy pouch made by NYC designer Pamela Barsky. She’s been making bags for 10 years, and this particular one came to be after her and her husband feasted at a restaurant and agreed they were still hungry enough for dessert.

Price: $16.50

Anti noodle noodle club t-shirt

Only those in the know will know that this too-cool-for-school shirt reps East Village Vietnamese restaurant Madame Vo. It’s a play on streetwear brand Anti Social Social Club and was originally only made for staffers before customers jealously started requesting their own. Now anyone can join this very inclusive club, preferably while eating chef Jimmy Ly’s deeply flavorful pho.

Price: $35

Special thanks to

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Madame Vo

212 East 10th Street, Manhattan, NY 10003 (917) 261-2115 Visit Website

by CHLOE

185 Bleecker Street, New York, NY

Foursquare

Amor y Amargo

443 East 6th Street, Manhattan, NY 10009 (212) 614-6818 Visit Website

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Quality Eats

1496 2nd Avenue, Manhattan, NY 10075 (212) 256-9922 Visit Website

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Meat Hook Sandwich

495 Lorimer St, Brooklyn, NY 11211 (718) 302-4665 Visit Website

29B Teahouse

29 Avenue B, Manhattan, NY 10009 (646) 864-0093 Visit Website

Foursquare

Grimm Artisanal Ales

990 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211 Visit Website

328 Douglass Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217 (718) 855-2620 Visit Website

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When Football Gets Boring, Watch Netflix’s ‘The Final Table’ on Thanksgiving

New Post has been published on https://www.articletec.com/when-football-gets-boring-watch-netflixs-the-final-table-on-thanksgiving/

When Football Gets Boring, Watch Netflix’s ‘The Final Table’ on Thanksgiving

Netflix knows how much you love food. It’s why the streaming giant has put big bucks into a slate of programming about exactly that, including Chef’s Table, Salt Fat Acid Heat, Ugly Delicious, and so on. And since the only thing better than watching shows about food is actually eating it, they couldn’t have picked a better week to roll out their latest binge-friendly original series, The Final Table, available now.

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The Final Table is an ambitious “global culinary competition” featuring some of the world’s most talented chefs—24 of them as contestants, and nine, all culinary icons, as judges. Representing their home countries, those nine are Mexico’s Enrique Olvera, Spain’s Andoni Aduriz, the U.K.’s Clare Smyth, Brazil’s Helena Rizzo, India’s Vineet Bhatia, Italy’s Carlo Cracco, Japan’s Yoshihiro Narisawa, France’s Anne-Sophie Pic, and Grant Achatz from right here in our own backyard.

Each episode focuses on a different country’s cuisine, and with a master in the room judging each chef’s every move, shake, and garnish, the pressure is on. The goal is to make it to the eponymous Final Table, where there’s no money on the line—this is all about respect.

If that’s not enough culinary talent in one room, the host is no slouch, either. After 18 years of eating and critiquing his way around the globe as an editor for Bon Appétit magazine, Andrew Knowlton is picking up where he left off from his Iron Chef days (minus that hair) as the emcee of this global affair. Knowlton recently relocated (with his wife and daughters) to Austin, Texas, where he’s consulting on the menu at The Carpenter Hotel, a place for food, drink, coffee, and a pool (“for hot, lazy days”). “I would gladly choose breakfast tacos over bagels any day,” he laughs.

Knowlton talked to Esquire.com about the show, chef egos, and what it’s been like to work on his own restaurant.

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Netflix

He thinks people are ready for a different kind of cooking show.

This is the next generation of cooking competition. It’s amazing A-list competitors and gods of cuisine who are judging them, and its all just to celebrate the culinary arts, what these men and women are able to do when they put their best foot forward. It’s about the sheer artistry and the beauty of cooking, combined with interesting personalities. I didn’t wanna be involved with a show that was making a game out of everything.

Even among professionals, egos are inescapable.

If you and I got into the kitchen together, after a couple of days, I guarantee you, we’d be angry with each other. Even though these people are professionals, some of them have Michelin Stars and all kinds of things, tension came naturally. They still have egos and all that. But we didn’t have to put some artifice up and that’s a cool thing.

Working on the restaurant side has given him a broader perspective.

Customers notice things that restaurateurs don’t, and restaurateurs dwell over things that customers don’t even look at. I’ve always been sympathetic to restaurants but now I’m empathic—I can really understand the nuances. I’m not trying to open a restaurant that has Michelin stars, just a classic hotel restaurant that I want to be a neighborhood place. Plus, being able to work with my wife has been pretty rad, too.

Never read the comments.

Unless you have worked in food, you don’t understand the sacrifices to a quality of life that people in the front and back of the house make. It is the most backbreaking—literally backbreaking—and feet numbing job you could have. So the way people use social media to make quick judgments about people or their places, it’s devastating. I’ve watched a chef bust his ass for a week, then he reads one review and it turns him into this feeble thing. I tell him not to worry about it—I’d like to see diners do the same. Just because your food is slightly over-seasoned or a steak is slightly over-cooked, it’s a night out, your world’s gonna go on.

If nothing else, food should make people happy.

People wanna have a good time when they go out to eat. They have a good time most of the time. I hope they feel the same way about the show. I think they will. But at the end of the day, I walk away being like, “that was cool.” It celebrates the things that I value most in restaurants: the pure artistry of it, and making people happy.

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[nomanwalksalone]

ALTERNATIVE STYLE ICON: TAKESHI KAGA

by Réginald-Jérôme de Mans

For some reason, recent years have seen a surge of discussion of how people could be so gullible they believed the obvious distortions of so-called reality TV shows and their stars. If my memory serves me correctly, I, too, was that credulous several decades ago.  I was so disappointed to discover that Kitchen Stadium was not a real place in Japan, and that Takeshi Kaga was not an eccentric millionaire obsessed with discovering the most refined experiences for his jaded palate, at least those which could be prepared within an hour by a stable of specialized iron men of cooking. I suspect he was not even a real chairman of any organization. 

The conceit was attractive, and looking back obviously flavored with an exoticism that was only the flip side of the West’s racist (yeah, I said it) 1990s cultural perception of Japan: imperious, unpredictable, hypercompetitive, with incomprehensible motivations and indeed appetites.  Perhaps those features and perceptions, as well as our realization those were ridiculous attitudes, are why the original Japanese Iron Chef still seems so much better than its American adaptations. To this day one of my daydreams is to eat at the restaurant of “The Delacroix of French cuisine,” Iron Chef French Hiroyuki Sakai. 

Chairman Kaga played up that bizarreness, infamously taking a vigorous bite out of a yellow pepper in the show’s intro and generally wearing outfits that could make Liberace blush.  Frilly lace jabots, frock coats and some sort of garment patterned to look like the spots of a Holstein cow were among his most memorable.  Be reassured, those don’t make him a style icon, although given the current state of runway fashion, give him a few seasons.  No, he becomes a style icon for his most memorable garment, and perhaps the only elegant thing he wore on the show apart from his Japanese robe: an uncharacteristically sober black overcoat with silver astrakhan collar and cuffs he sports during a visit to France, in the train to Pierre Gagnaire’s restaurant in Saint-Etienne and then in horse-drawn carriage to the chateau of the Duc de Brissac.

No doubt some of the unusual wardrobe choices for Kaga’s character sprang from a desire to portray an individual completely immune to the class and value judgments of others, a man beyond the dress and behavior strictures of his time, beyond everything except his single obsession with finding and tasting the creative and unusual.  His regal astrakhan-accented coat might be the only one that succeeds outside the luridness of Kitchen Stadium, not just a garment against the chill but almost a royal robe.

Astrakhan has regal, or lordly, connotations, after all.  It returned from fashion limbo a few years after Iron Chef ended, atop the head of Afghan head of state Hamid Karzai.  Rare and expensive, it lined coats for the Duke of Windsor; I’ve read that the young Benjamin Disraeli, a notorious dandy before he became British prime minister, used some of his writing earnings to add an astrakhan collar to one of his coats.  Tightly curled and brilliant, astrakhan stands out from afar as almost suspiciously decadent and self-indulgent, qualities that the British often preferred to attribute to foreigners or cads.  Arthur Conan Doyle put “heavy bands” of it on the coat of an incognito German ruler in A Scandal in Bohemia and an astrakhan collar on a society blackmailer in The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.  

Arnys, the defunct Paris outfitters that incarnated the French exception in its fussily complicated clothes, even offered an opera cape with an astrakhan collar, while Belstaff put it on officer collars on a small capsule collection of expensive coats. 

Perhaps astrakhan is best left to the defunct, decaying yesteryear, being sourced from very young Persian lambs of the karakul breed.  Once I learned that I didn’t want responsibility for adding to the trade.  Eventually, I did discover that there’s a trade in remnants, pieces of fur that were either the remains of a closed shop’s inventory or that were part of an old hide that had otherwise been used.  With that slight ease to my conscience, I eventually accumulated enough odds and ends to put a collar on one of my coats.  A furrier, rather than a tailor, is necessary for the task.  

I have no idea where Kaga sourced his astrakhan. On my coat, it appears as eccentric, novel and refined as the character Kaga invented, even getting me good service at a British shop notorious for its staff’s diffidence.  As I’ve gotten older, I’ve decided it’s a bit too eccentric to wear as often, being better suited to the fairytale fancy of invented reality.