John Talbott's Paris

Words on Wednesdays: No wonder print is dying; no one reads anymore: A New York Report.

Thursday I took Metro North from Grand Central to White Plains and I swear, hardly anyone was reading anything. Everyone seemed to be either texting or talking. Sad.

Words on Wednesday: the NYRB comes through.

I realize I've already dumped on poor Andy Warhol in April and he's no longer here to defend himself but the article on What is an Andy Warhol in the NYRB seals the lid on the coffin better than I could ever do.

And then there's statement by Steven Weinberg that "A few years ago, I decided that I needed to know more about the history of science, so naturally I volunteered to teach the subject."

Who is around to appreciate this stuff?

Words on Wednesday: The New Yorker Cartoons in Le Figaro.

A friend suggested that this would make a good non-food essay on my blog and I hastily agreed.  But upon reflection, what can one say about the New Yorker cartoons that appear daily in Le Figaro?; they are worth more than pictures, which themselves according to wikipedia are worth one or ten thousand words.

I suppose they prove that some humor is translatable, a concept I find difficult to believe if one compares humor on US and French morning radio; and maybe that American New Yorker readers have much in common with French Le Figaro ones. 

A sidebar, however, is to realize that Conde Nast/McKinsey's axe spared the New Yorker, whose circulation and demographic are not all that different from Gourmet's.

Wednesday's Words: Susan Orlean on Raising Chickens.

The September 28th New Yorker had a delightful article by Susan Orlean of The Orchid Thief fame on "The It Bird: the return of the backyard chicken."

Wednesday Words: Mediterranean diet and depression.

Living on the boundary of psychiatry and gastronomy as I do, I was interested in the October issue of the AMA's Archives of General Psychiatry which published an article by Sanchez-Villegas et al showing that the Mediterranean dietary pattern potentially protects against depression.

Bill Safire: Another treasure gone.

With the death of Bill Safire I lost one of my guiding lights, a man whose love of language and words was inspirational, prompting me to write several articles on language, slang and jargon.

Since I first encountered him in his 1968 book "The New Language of Politics" I've reveled in all he has written, considering him a national treasure akin to Niagara Falls and the White House even though our politics were 180° apart (except on Clinton and abortion).

From 1973-1979 I enjoyed reading his Op Ed pieces except those where his irrational devotion to Nixon and Agnew induced nausea, but from 1979 to this month I loved reading his views "on language." 

The one time I was able to sit down with him and chat (I usually communicated with him via his wonderful research assistants) I found him to be witty, humble and most assuredly human.

What a loss to literature, writers and readers; I hope the New York Times has the good sense not to try to replace him; it would be impossible. 

Bye Bill, you've guided me more than once through sticky thickets (a malapropism I think he might like).

The death of "You're welcome" - No Problem: Words on Wednesdays

Does no one else mourn the death of "you're welcome" in response to "thank you?"

Since I started speaking, I've sort of gotten used to the to and fro that constitutes civil exchanges: "May I?" "Of course;" "Please" "Thank you," Oh that's so nice of you" "It was truly a pleasure."

Now everything seems to deserve a "No problem."  What?  "No problem."  It doesn't matter if acts are effortless, one never hears, "You're welcome,"it's always "no problem."

And with Bill Safire's death, I have no one to complain to.  And that is a problem.

Francois Simon: Pique-Assiette: La Fin d’une Gastronomie Francaise. Grasset 11.90 E, 2008 Paris.

Another book on the death of French cuisine?  I’m afraid so.  But this one is by the French critic we love to hate – Francois Simon of Le Figaro.

 

Will you learn anything?  Not if you stayed awake the last 30 years. 

 

Why? It’s a repeat of known history and his known opinions; a very long essay not a book.

 

Nothing? Actually I did learn that the giant Metro store which I go by every morning running/walking/limping is source to many chefs rather than Rungis.

 

Is it entertaining to read?  Well, I guess if you like Simonspeak laced with clever English.

 

Would you have completed it if you weren’t writing a review/report?  No.

 

So what does he write about?

-         That Bocuse is so 1960, Choukroun, the current fog-master

-         The Fear of Ferran (Adria)

-         The joke of their trying to get the UNESCO to call only French cuisine a world treasure

-         The metastases of chefs all over the globe (a point made over and over and over)

-         The obligatory slaps at the Michelin and the other guides

-         The plague of copying of dishes rather than innovation

-         The high prices at fancy places vs the solid, well priced food at Chez Georges

-         The death of the good butter and ham sandwich

-         Their deafness to the Slow Food movement

-         The story of Gordon fucking Ramsay and the fact that the Veranda is better than his primo place

-         The silliness of the “Restaurant” magazine rankings

-         The deserved but cruel kicking of Allard in the shins.

Wednesday's Words: Michael Jackson

You have to love a country where 3% of the population (according to a weekend sondage) is more concerned about the death of Michael Jackson than the economy or Swine Flu.  Of course, compared to the Us of A, where half of US believe in the creation, it sounds pretty good.

Summers in Ontario and Maine (Words on Wednesdays)

While "eh" and "eh uh" seem similar, my boyhood summers in Ontario and Maine offer proof that they mean quite different things; "eh?" closer to "correct, my good man?" and "eh uh" closer to "of course,  you idiot."