I’ve been finding amazing things on the “Geheugen van Nederland” (Memory of the Netherlands). Their collection of stamps in itself is noteworthy. Hi-res scans of original art and more.
Here are a few I chose for the crypt.
Holiday Gift Guide extras (but perhaps these wont ship to the US in time…).
DesignMarketo is a really fantastic London/internet based design shop that sells limited edition or short run works by young designers.
I quite like the “FoodMarketo” selections – a range of objects that don’t adhere so strictly to the idea of “food” or “kitchen.”
Here are some examples: 1. Plain wine bottles transformed into beautiful objects by way of simple colored electrical wires, by Arabeschi di Latte. 2. A smart and simple “apple a day” calendar by Ken Kirton. 3. A funny lamp that you stick into a large heavy vegetable, by Peter Marigold.
The “Response from Food Critics” section in this Wikipedia entry on The Simpsons celebrity food episode (“The Food Wife”) is, perhaps, more interesting than the episode itself.
Reception of “The Food Wife” from food critics has been mixed. Before the episode aired, Robert Sietsema of The Village Voice disapproved of it for being outdated. He commented that “this show should have been done, say, two or three years ago, when food blogging was hot. By now, many food bloggers of our acquaintance have out-migrated to paying gigs, and the concept of the food blog has been co-opted by every major media outlet, rendering real food blogs – the old-fashioned kind, where someone stood alone in their kitchen cooking things, or wandered the hinterlands seeking out unique deliciousness – nearly obsolete.”[19] Sietsema also criticized the scenes showcasing molecular gastronomy because he thought they were out of date, since molecular gastronomy is, “by now, long past its prime”.[19] Chris Shott, a food critic for Washington City Paper’s Young & Hungry column and blog, wrote negatively about the character that owns El Chemistri and is a parody of José Andrés. He commented that “For one thing, the character seems far more subdued than the kooky, wild-eyed power drill-wielding cook we saw on Conan recently. The satire here, involving a deconstructed Caesar salad of foams, gels and airs, is more a riff on molecular gastronomy in general than a send-up of Andrés’ over-the-top personality.”[20]
Self-prescribed foodie Katharine Shilcutt of the Houston Press’ Eating Our Words food blog criticized the episode for giving what she thought was an inaccurate depiction of foodies, as people that are “tacky, snotty, slightly racist, hoarders of food experiences that you gather like rare gems and patronizingly hold over other people’s heads.”[21] Shilcutt added that she found it upsetting that what she believes to be the moral of the episode is that “Educated, passionate people are elitists. It reduces all the hard work that people put into creating good, honest food into a joke, and not a terribly funny one. There was no balance in the episode between smug, arrogant, obnoxious foodies and those who have a genuine, guileless interest in food and all its important permutations in our lives.”[21]
