Thursday, April 26, 2012

Drafting some thoughts on junk.

The National Football League is a marketing machine.  They have figured out how to make working out (The Combine) and choosing-up sides (The Draft) into prime-time television programs that run for several nights on big-time cable television stations.
What is more amazing is that people watch.
It reminds me of the saying:  Nobody ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the general public.

Is he really going to have GRIFFIN III on his jersey or was that just a prop for the draft?

I love the coconut water drinks that have started showing up over the past year or so.  I wonder if it's real coconut water or just a mix of chemicals designed to simulate coconut water?  I saw "Cast Away" and it didn't look to me like Tom Hanks was getting a lot of water out of those coconuts.  At least not enough for somebody to think that they could bottle the stuff and earn a profit.

We're a conflicted people.  Every day (or so it seems) we hear about how obese we are and how our bodies are ticking time bombs, yet every other day some restaurant chain comes out with a more grotesque version of something that is already hideous to eat.   One pizza chain is touting a crust that has little hot dogs in it and another surrounds the crust with cheeseburger sliders.
In February I read about someone who, while eating at the Heart Attack Grill, suffered an actual heart attack while eating a Triple Bypass Burger.  You'd think that their marketing people would have had a talk with them over the name.  But then, when your restaurant is called the Heart Attack Grill, how much could marketing help?  I wonder if the heart attack victim will be signing an endorsement deal?  You can't beat actual customer experiences.

The Quadruple Bypass Burger with 8,000 calories has been identified as one of the "world's worst junk foods". It consists of four half-pound beef patties, eight slices of American cheese, a whole tomato and half an onion served in a bun coated with lard.  It's the lard that gets you.

Walking across the common area on my way home from the grocery store, I could see that my downstairs neighbor was watching "American Idol" - with the closed-captioning on.  I thought, "what a perfect way to watch that program - with the sound off." It reminds me of the saying:  Nobody ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the general public.

As I passed the lobster tank at my local Shop Rite, a wave of sympathy came over me.  There they were, rooting around in a five-by-eight tank of stagnant filtered water, with their claws bound together with no hope for release.  It occurred to me that being thrown into a pot of boiling water is a preferable option to that life.
And then, I thought that I could be looking at my eventual animal reincarnation destiny.  And that didn't help me any.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

(junior alien)
... at least you get fresh lobster over there. Well you get them here, too, but the Atlantic Ocean seems so far away, measured on a European scale...

Concerning the lard: Have you ever tried Italian "lardo"?
I used to think that I couldn't eat pure animal fat, but then I tried lardo and changed my mind. It's not just fat, it's terrifically seasoned tenderest pork fat. It's one of the yummiest things to eat there is! Ask Elizabeth Gilbert.
As you probably know, fat is a flavor carrier. That's why a fatty cheese tastes better than a "light" one, fat mayonnaise better than the light version, etc. Nearly all "light products are an impertinence for the palate.
Of course you should feed yourself reasonably and find the right balance. Or else the Italians would be the fattest nation in the world. Lardo in northern Italy is one of the presumably thirty courses you have when you go out for a meal. Usually the whole extended family sits there for hours and hours blocking half of the restaurant, eating and ENJOYING one course after the other.

I think that people tend to get fat when they pay TOO LITTLE attention to taste and pleasure in their lives. When there isn't enough pleasure in your life, you will use food as a surrogate for your lust for life.
So food is misused then.

susan said...

Anthony-

You are going to come back in your next life as one of your two kitties. Much loved and spoiled.