Things I did and didn't do last night
Oct. 14th, 2003 10:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thebratqueenYarg. Why, why, why did I wake up hours before I had to today? And then not fall back to sleep? Whiiiiiiiiiiinnnnne. Now I'm all zombie-like.
This may put off the next installment of Pet, we'll see. I don't like writing when I'm tired and zombie-like, even indulgence fics that are being done off the cuff.
Finally saw The Ring last night. My only comment is what was the scary part again? Because boy did that strike me as a lot of buildup to a very predictable payoff. I shouldn't be able to quote dialogue to a movie I haven't seen and I shouldn't be able to snap my fingers at the exact same moment the scary cuts occur. Way to telegraph, guys.
But in happier news, there's Jamie's Kitchen.
I've been looking forward to this show since I first heard about it when it aired over in the UK. So far I'm enjoying it. Though I do wonder why they aren't emphasizing the fact that Jamie is trying to take these kids and teach them a trade so they can make a life for themselves. They sort of mentioned it once, possibly during the commercials, but after that not really. If I hadn't read about what he was doing first I might come away from this thinking that Jamie was trying to open a restaurant using unskilled labor for the sheer pleasure of making life difficult for himself. It's a little odd.
I'm fascinated by the Italian kid. I want him to succeed. Like Jamie, I like that he was savvy enough to wear a suit to the interview, plus he looks like he really enjoys food.
I like how it's not all about showing Jamie off too. I'd heard that the documentary didn't always show him in a good light and in fact you basically saw him being himself, and it's a nice touch.
I found myself disagreeing with some of the way he handled things, for example. Case in point the salmon test. Now granted it might be hard for me to judge because they didn't show all that he did while teaching them, and he did go over it twice, but even still some of the calls he and his judges made (and btw how much of a geek am I that I was happy to see Gennaro?) were not ones that I would have agreed with.
For example, the kid who threw away the wrong part of the asparagus. They seemed to count a lot against him for what was a simple mistake to make. What if the kid had never eaten it before? He remembered to cut, he remembered to throw away, in all the pressure he got a fifty/fifty shot wrong. I mean I suppose he could have taken better notes but I personally would have gone easier on him for that. (And I'm surprised Jamie didn't teach the "bend it until it breaks" trick, which tends to be a fun factoid to learn and might have helped the kids remember why they were breaking up the asparagus and thus which part to get rid of).
Also, while I like how he's trying to cultivate an instinctive love of food I think he and the judges needed to pick what they wanted. Either they want the kids to be instinctive or to do what they're told. Don't say you're judging based on the kids acting from their guts then punish them when they do that. Case in point the kid who arranged the veg in a style that he preferred. I got that food critic's point that someone who was constantly trying to enforce his own viewpoint over that of the head chef would be a pain in the ass to work with in a kitchen, but when you keep saying over and over that what you want is for the kids to love the food and care then why not be happy that this kid was attempting to do that? Esp when the kid explained himself and said that it wasn't that he thought Jamie was wrong, it was just that this was something he personally thought represented his own style. When you're mad at kids earlier because they can't even form an opinion enough to say that a dish is too hot or too salty then I think this kid had every right to think that he could get decorative with his food arrangement, even if he was wrong in the execution.
Another thing I disagreed with was Jamie asking "Did you see me do that?" Admittedly we don't know what the kid in question was doing so for all we know s/he was dumping the food directly on the floor, but the kids don't have his skills and instinct yet and if he's telling them not to follow him by rote but rather react to what's in front of him then he needs to allow them to do that. I mean we saw him quote times at them but then get annoyed when they watched the clock. Pick a team already.
But admittedly this might be due to my own personal and long-standing pet peeve with teachers who say they want you to think outside of the box then jump all over you when you don't parrot everything they do or say right back to them.
Anyway, it's a good series. I can't wait for more.
And did I mention how tired I am?
This may put off the next installment of Pet, we'll see. I don't like writing when I'm tired and zombie-like, even indulgence fics that are being done off the cuff.
Finally saw The Ring last night. My only comment is what was the scary part again? Because boy did that strike me as a lot of buildup to a very predictable payoff. I shouldn't be able to quote dialogue to a movie I haven't seen and I shouldn't be able to snap my fingers at the exact same moment the scary cuts occur. Way to telegraph, guys.
But in happier news, there's Jamie's Kitchen.
I've been looking forward to this show since I first heard about it when it aired over in the UK. So far I'm enjoying it. Though I do wonder why they aren't emphasizing the fact that Jamie is trying to take these kids and teach them a trade so they can make a life for themselves. They sort of mentioned it once, possibly during the commercials, but after that not really. If I hadn't read about what he was doing first I might come away from this thinking that Jamie was trying to open a restaurant using unskilled labor for the sheer pleasure of making life difficult for himself. It's a little odd.
I'm fascinated by the Italian kid. I want him to succeed. Like Jamie, I like that he was savvy enough to wear a suit to the interview, plus he looks like he really enjoys food.
I like how it's not all about showing Jamie off too. I'd heard that the documentary didn't always show him in a good light and in fact you basically saw him being himself, and it's a nice touch.
I found myself disagreeing with some of the way he handled things, for example. Case in point the salmon test. Now granted it might be hard for me to judge because they didn't show all that he did while teaching them, and he did go over it twice, but even still some of the calls he and his judges made (and btw how much of a geek am I that I was happy to see Gennaro?) were not ones that I would have agreed with.
For example, the kid who threw away the wrong part of the asparagus. They seemed to count a lot against him for what was a simple mistake to make. What if the kid had never eaten it before? He remembered to cut, he remembered to throw away, in all the pressure he got a fifty/fifty shot wrong. I mean I suppose he could have taken better notes but I personally would have gone easier on him for that. (And I'm surprised Jamie didn't teach the "bend it until it breaks" trick, which tends to be a fun factoid to learn and might have helped the kids remember why they were breaking up the asparagus and thus which part to get rid of).
Also, while I like how he's trying to cultivate an instinctive love of food I think he and the judges needed to pick what they wanted. Either they want the kids to be instinctive or to do what they're told. Don't say you're judging based on the kids acting from their guts then punish them when they do that. Case in point the kid who arranged the veg in a style that he preferred. I got that food critic's point that someone who was constantly trying to enforce his own viewpoint over that of the head chef would be a pain in the ass to work with in a kitchen, but when you keep saying over and over that what you want is for the kids to love the food and care then why not be happy that this kid was attempting to do that? Esp when the kid explained himself and said that it wasn't that he thought Jamie was wrong, it was just that this was something he personally thought represented his own style. When you're mad at kids earlier because they can't even form an opinion enough to say that a dish is too hot or too salty then I think this kid had every right to think that he could get decorative with his food arrangement, even if he was wrong in the execution.
Another thing I disagreed with was Jamie asking "Did you see me do that?" Admittedly we don't know what the kid in question was doing so for all we know s/he was dumping the food directly on the floor, but the kids don't have his skills and instinct yet and if he's telling them not to follow him by rote but rather react to what's in front of him then he needs to allow them to do that. I mean we saw him quote times at them but then get annoyed when they watched the clock. Pick a team already.
But admittedly this might be due to my own personal and long-standing pet peeve with teachers who say they want you to think outside of the box then jump all over you when you don't parrot everything they do or say right back to them.
Anyway, it's a good series. I can't wait for more.
And did I mention how tired I am?
