As a long time worker of the service industry, I have worked with several chefs of varying talents and eccentricities. I have also been a long time boycotter of reality television. But reality TV has finally found my weakness: the reality of the culinary arts. The only thing that disappoints me is that those in the reality televsion business have focused strictly on chefs and ignored the rest of the service industry.
But shows like Top Chef and Iron Chef America: The Next Iron Chef, the drone-like world of reality TV has finally sucked me in. The atmosphere that is created in a kitchen is a perfect forum for a drama-laden reality show. Emotions are flowing, egos are boiling over and the expletives are flying faster than the chopping knives. Not only to you get a glimpse into the lives of chefs, who are truly their own breed, but we get to witness the creation of some the best (& worst) looking dishes some of the finest chefs in the country have to offer.
As much as I hate to be a slave to TV, most notably reality TV, shows like Top Chef and Iron Chef America keep me wanting more. The shows boil down to one main thing, the most important thing in the culinary world. Whose food reigns supreme?
Monday, December 10, 2007
Keeping Hippies Alive
Every so often, I make a pilgrimage to Half Priced Books and "splurge". I did this one Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks ago. For a mere $27, I was able to purchase 2 T.C. Boyle's (Drop City and Talk Talk), a Dostoevsky (Devils) 3 Vonnegtus and a book of shorts. Quite the steal in my opinion.
Having read Vonnegut over and over, as well as being in a rut with just reading short stories, I decided to start with "Drop City" by T.C. Boyle. I have read "Budding Prospects" by T.C. Boyle so I already knew I liked his writing style and in the midst of school, I just wasn't ready to commit to anything by Dostoevsky.
Drop City tells the story of a commune in California in 1970 that due several mishaps and government run-ins, moves to Alaska to start fresh. To really get back to nature. The book moves quickly transitioning easily from several differnt point of view characters. We see life through the eyes of Star, a girl in her early 20's embracing the ideals of the hippie movement. Pan, a friend of Star's from back home who wrestles with issues of jealousy and actually embracing the idea of brother and sisterhood. And it all couldn't happen without the "leader" of Drop City, Norm. A portly fellow who inherited a fortune and started Drop City.
The novel chronicles their lives as well the lives of several members of Drop City as they struggle with the ideals of going back to nature, full heartedly embracing brother and sisterhood all the while just trying to stay alive in the unforgiving country of Alaska.
Having read Vonnegut over and over, as well as being in a rut with just reading short stories, I decided to start with "Drop City" by T.C. Boyle. I have read "Budding Prospects" by T.C. Boyle so I already knew I liked his writing style and in the midst of school, I just wasn't ready to commit to anything by Dostoevsky.
Drop City tells the story of a commune in California in 1970 that due several mishaps and government run-ins, moves to Alaska to start fresh. To really get back to nature. The book moves quickly transitioning easily from several differnt point of view characters. We see life through the eyes of Star, a girl in her early 20's embracing the ideals of the hippie movement. Pan, a friend of Star's from back home who wrestles with issues of jealousy and actually embracing the idea of brother and sisterhood. And it all couldn't happen without the "leader" of Drop City, Norm. A portly fellow who inherited a fortune and started Drop City.
The novel chronicles their lives as well the lives of several members of Drop City as they struggle with the ideals of going back to nature, full heartedly embracing brother and sisterhood all the while just trying to stay alive in the unforgiving country of Alaska.
A Country for "No Country"
"No Country for Old Men", the gritty and sometimes disturbing adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel, is being heralded as one of the best films of the year. It is easy to see why. Directed by the legendary Coen brothers, this film offers unforgettable acting by an A-list: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Woody Harrelson. Set in southern Texas in the early 1980's, the film leaves the viewer enthralled.
For the majority of the moview, the film follows the everyday Texan Llewelyn Moss after he finds 2 million dollars at the site of a drug deal gone wrong. But with every gift of that magnitude comes a curse, and in "No Country, this curse comes in the form of Anton Chigurh. Chigurh is a ruthless, emotionless killer whose weapon of choice is a pressurized device used for killing cattle. While Chigurh hunts Moss and his money, he is being tracked by small town sheriff Ed Tom Bell who is unable to make sense of the carnage left in the wake of Chigurh.
The intentionally slow pace of the film mixed with the lack of mood-cuing music, "No Country" leaves the viewer wandering what this country is really coming to. With a brilliant attention to technical deatil by the Coen brothers and Oscar worthy performances from Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones and especially Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men" is easily on the best movies in years.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
The Tradition of Friendship
As is the case with many college students, I return to my hometown over Thanksgiving break to celebrate the holidays. While in Dallas, I dropped by a few bars with some old friends of mine who I had not seen in a couple of years.
As we sat around and reminisced about old times, we also touched on the present. A few of my female friends told me that I looked really good, despite having lost about an inch to a receding hairline. They reassured me, telling me that, in combination with my glasses, the follically challenged look gives off a mature vibe.
This little holiday moment made laugh and reconsider the importance of frank friendship. — Stephen Fish
As we sat around and reminisced about old times, we also touched on the present. A few of my female friends told me that I looked really good, despite having lost about an inch to a receding hairline. They reassured me, telling me that, in combination with my glasses, the follically challenged look gives off a mature vibe.
This little holiday moment made laugh and reconsider the importance of frank friendship. — Stephen Fish
A Creative Venture
Scott Kaukenon is the award winning author of a tale of short stories, “Ordination” and is an English Professor at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX. He has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona and a PhD in Creative Writing from University of Missouri-Columbia. I got a chance to sit down and talk to him about anything from his history as a writer to the processes in obtaining a degree in Creative Writing.
I) How long have you been writing? Specifically, how long have you been
writing creatively?
It sort of depends on what you want to count as "writing." I was writing
stories in elementary school, ten-, twelve-page handwritten short stories
with central characters who looked a lot like me and who had the sort of
experiences you often find in made-for-TV movies. I recall writing, when I
was in fourth grade, about a blonde-haired ten-year-old downhill ski
champion who was in Finland trying to win the world junior downhill title
while also battling leukemia. Finland, because my family's heritage goes
back to Finland (though I've never been there). A ten-year-old with blonde
hair, because I was ten years old with blonde hair. Leukemia, because
nothing's more melodramatic for a story than a child's bravery in the face
of a deadly disease. Even at ten, I understood this.
In terms of thinking professionally about writing, I first had the inkling
to write, especially fiction, as an undergraduate, partly under the
influence of my professors at Hope College, Jack Ridl, in particular. They
introduced me really to the idea of writing as a means for thinking about
and exploring the world, of wrestling through story with the world in
which we live and all its complications. Until that point, as much as a
read as a child and as much as I enjoyed stories, I tended to see writing,
at least in a professional context, as merely a skill you needed to have
for a job--memos, cover letters, reports. I really had no idea how one
became a fiction writer.
I did spend six years after undergraduate as a sports writer in Michigan,
two years with a small local paper and then four years with the Grand
Rapids Press, a larger regional paper. The experience of writing daily, of
writing on deadline, of trying to find new ways to tell the same stories
(someone won, someone lost), of listening to people speak served as
another layer in my development as a writer.
II) Your collection of short stories "Ordination" was well received in the
writing community. Are you going to stay with the short story genre or
branch out to the novel genre?
I'm currently at work trying to finish a novel. I love the challenge of
the novel as a form, its breadth and scope, the freedom it allows, setting
so much in motion and then trying to get it to all work together in some
way. I'm sure I'll continue to write in both genres as time goes along
since each genre provides its own challenges and pleasures.
III) After receiving your Masters from the University of Arizona, what
made you to pursue your PhD in creative writing?
It was at the University of Arizona that I believe I began to find my
voice as a writer, and while in the MFA program, I'd discovered as well
that I thoroughly enjoyed teaching at the university level. But then
suddenly that brief span of 2 1/2 years was over, and I wanted to find a
way to keep doing both of those things. I taught briefly as an adjunct at
U of A, but I didn't see it as viable way of maintaining a career, and so
I began to investigate Ph.D. programs with a creative dissertation option.
It was one way of "staying in the game," as I often say, while continuing
to develop as a writer, a scholar, and a teacher, and to give myself a
chance to write those stories that would eventually find publication and
truly get my career off the ground. Mizzou provided an excellent situation
and a supportive environment for that to happen for me.
IV) What are the major differences/challenges between the process of
earning a Masters compared to the work in obtaining a PhD in creative
writing?
Well, MFA programs are distinct in many ways from Ph.D. programs. MFA
programs tend to require two to three years; Ph.D. programs four to six.
MFA programs are studio programs, generally speaking, and so the emphasis
is on the writing workshop itself with a relatively lesser emphasis on
literature and theory (though this varies greatly from program to
program). In general, the Ph.D. expects more of the writer in terms of
academic scholarship, in terms of course work in literature and theory,
and in terms of the traditional comprehensive exams. But it does vary
greatly from program to program, though fundamentally both come down to a
lot of reading and a lot of writing.
V) You teach at Sam Houston State University. Do you think your approach
to teaching your writing classes is different with a PhD than with a
Masters?
I don't know that's it different. I've written more, taught more, been
more intentional in my pedagogy since I earned the Master's, but that
reflects experience (both life and classroom experience) as much as it
reflects the degree.
I) How long have you been writing? Specifically, how long have you been
writing creatively?
It sort of depends on what you want to count as "writing." I was writing
stories in elementary school, ten-, twelve-page handwritten short stories
with central characters who looked a lot like me and who had the sort of
experiences you often find in made-for-TV movies. I recall writing, when I
was in fourth grade, about a blonde-haired ten-year-old downhill ski
champion who was in Finland trying to win the world junior downhill title
while also battling leukemia. Finland, because my family's heritage goes
back to Finland (though I've never been there). A ten-year-old with blonde
hair, because I was ten years old with blonde hair. Leukemia, because
nothing's more melodramatic for a story than a child's bravery in the face
of a deadly disease. Even at ten, I understood this.
In terms of thinking professionally about writing, I first had the inkling
to write, especially fiction, as an undergraduate, partly under the
influence of my professors at Hope College, Jack Ridl, in particular. They
introduced me really to the idea of writing as a means for thinking about
and exploring the world, of wrestling through story with the world in
which we live and all its complications. Until that point, as much as a
read as a child and as much as I enjoyed stories, I tended to see writing,
at least in a professional context, as merely a skill you needed to have
for a job--memos, cover letters, reports. I really had no idea how one
became a fiction writer.
I did spend six years after undergraduate as a sports writer in Michigan,
two years with a small local paper and then four years with the Grand
Rapids Press, a larger regional paper. The experience of writing daily, of
writing on deadline, of trying to find new ways to tell the same stories
(someone won, someone lost), of listening to people speak served as
another layer in my development as a writer.
II) Your collection of short stories "Ordination" was well received in the
writing community. Are you going to stay with the short story genre or
branch out to the novel genre?
I'm currently at work trying to finish a novel. I love the challenge of
the novel as a form, its breadth and scope, the freedom it allows, setting
so much in motion and then trying to get it to all work together in some
way. I'm sure I'll continue to write in both genres as time goes along
since each genre provides its own challenges and pleasures.
III) After receiving your Masters from the University of Arizona, what
made you to pursue your PhD in creative writing?
It was at the University of Arizona that I believe I began to find my
voice as a writer, and while in the MFA program, I'd discovered as well
that I thoroughly enjoyed teaching at the university level. But then
suddenly that brief span of 2 1/2 years was over, and I wanted to find a
way to keep doing both of those things. I taught briefly as an adjunct at
U of A, but I didn't see it as viable way of maintaining a career, and so
I began to investigate Ph.D. programs with a creative dissertation option.
It was one way of "staying in the game," as I often say, while continuing
to develop as a writer, a scholar, and a teacher, and to give myself a
chance to write those stories that would eventually find publication and
truly get my career off the ground. Mizzou provided an excellent situation
and a supportive environment for that to happen for me.
IV) What are the major differences/challenges between the process of
earning a Masters compared to the work in obtaining a PhD in creative
writing?
Well, MFA programs are distinct in many ways from Ph.D. programs. MFA
programs tend to require two to three years; Ph.D. programs four to six.
MFA programs are studio programs, generally speaking, and so the emphasis
is on the writing workshop itself with a relatively lesser emphasis on
literature and theory (though this varies greatly from program to
program). In general, the Ph.D. expects more of the writer in terms of
academic scholarship, in terms of course work in literature and theory,
and in terms of the traditional comprehensive exams. But it does vary
greatly from program to program, though fundamentally both come down to a
lot of reading and a lot of writing.
V) You teach at Sam Houston State University. Do you think your approach
to teaching your writing classes is different with a PhD than with a
Masters?
I don't know that's it different. I've written more, taught more, been
more intentional in my pedagogy since I earned the Master's, but that
reflects experience (both life and classroom experience) as much as it
reflects the degree.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
TO and Touchdowns
Wow. The Cowboys remain undefeated in divison play as they beat the Washington Redskins in a nail-biter (twenty-eight to twenty-three). The only loss, out of ten games, has come at the hands of the (undefeated) New England Patriots.
In today's game against the Redskins, Tony Romo and Terrell Owens connected on 4 occasions for touchdowns as Terrell Owens passed receiver Marvin Harrison for most career touchdowns with One Hundred and Twenty-Five. At the same time, he broke into the top ten all-time reveiing yards of all time.
If Tony Romo, Terrell Owens and the rest of the Cowboys keep this up, the rest of the NFL is going to have a difficult time keeping the Cowboys from the Super Bowl.
In today's game against the Redskins, Tony Romo and Terrell Owens connected on 4 occasions for touchdowns as Terrell Owens passed receiver Marvin Harrison for most career touchdowns with One Hundred and Twenty-Five. At the same time, he broke into the top ten all-time reveiing yards of all time.
If Tony Romo, Terrell Owens and the rest of the Cowboys keep this up, the rest of the NFL is going to have a difficult time keeping the Cowboys from the Super Bowl.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
zappa plays kinda
Review: Zappa Plays Zappa
By Stephen Fish | Wednesday, November 14, 2007, 05:59 PM
I thought it was odd that a concert promising so much energy was playing at Hogg Auditorium on UT’s campus, a sit-down venue with hardly any room for standing, let alone dancing. But just as I thought this, Dweezil Zappa and company took the stage; Zappa announced that the Tuesday night show would be filmed for a Zappa Plays Zappa DVD. This seemed to rally the crowd, who stood up and cheered as the first notes left the speakers.
After the first two songs I was impressed with the succinct sound, especially considering the variation of instruments on stage: gongs, xylophones, trumpets and saxophones, along with the usual guitar, bass, drums and keyboard. The backdrop to the second song was live footage of Frank Zappa in his prime, while Dweezil and the band filled in the blanks. The third song was a tribute to Austin, coming from the album “Bongo Furry,” which Frank recorded in Austin.
Dweezil and the rest of the musicians played for nearly three and a half hours and at times the music stalled. Guitar solos tended to drag on, leaving the rest of the band with little to contribute. But then Dweezil and company would bring the crowd back with ballads like “Quaalude Thunderclap,” a technical but emotionally charged song.
Midway through the concert, the band asked the audience for random phrases and special guest guitarist/vocalist Ray White went backstage and wrote a song with the offerings. The band performed the song through the vessels of jazz, then gospel and then finally in the form of an ’80s rock hyper ballad, showing the band’s range and diversity.
Dweezil has done a good job of mastering the technical art of his father’s music and I was surprised by how much emotion the music evoked. Frank’s music has been compared to a modern orchestra, and the band on Tuesday demonstrated its mastery of this “orchestration.” As the concert came to an end, the crowd members rose from their seats and began to dance, some making their way to the front of the stage. As the final notes played, Dweezil leaned into the microphone and uttered his father’s famous sign-off, “Goodnight Austin, wherever you are.”
By Stephen Fish | Wednesday, November 14, 2007, 05:59 PM
I thought it was odd that a concert promising so much energy was playing at Hogg Auditorium on UT’s campus, a sit-down venue with hardly any room for standing, let alone dancing. But just as I thought this, Dweezil Zappa and company took the stage; Zappa announced that the Tuesday night show would be filmed for a Zappa Plays Zappa DVD. This seemed to rally the crowd, who stood up and cheered as the first notes left the speakers.
After the first two songs I was impressed with the succinct sound, especially considering the variation of instruments on stage: gongs, xylophones, trumpets and saxophones, along with the usual guitar, bass, drums and keyboard. The backdrop to the second song was live footage of Frank Zappa in his prime, while Dweezil and the band filled in the blanks. The third song was a tribute to Austin, coming from the album “Bongo Furry,” which Frank recorded in Austin.
Dweezil and the rest of the musicians played for nearly three and a half hours and at times the music stalled. Guitar solos tended to drag on, leaving the rest of the band with little to contribute. But then Dweezil and company would bring the crowd back with ballads like “Quaalude Thunderclap,” a technical but emotionally charged song.
Midway through the concert, the band asked the audience for random phrases and special guest guitarist/vocalist Ray White went backstage and wrote a song with the offerings. The band performed the song through the vessels of jazz, then gospel and then finally in the form of an ’80s rock hyper ballad, showing the band’s range and diversity.
Dweezil has done a good job of mastering the technical art of his father’s music and I was surprised by how much emotion the music evoked. Frank’s music has been compared to a modern orchestra, and the band on Tuesday demonstrated its mastery of this “orchestration.” As the concert came to an end, the crowd members rose from their seats and began to dance, some making their way to the front of the stage. As the final notes played, Dweezil leaned into the microphone and uttered his father’s famous sign-off, “Goodnight Austin, wherever you are.”
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