Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown – Kenya
The late Anthony Bourdain was one messed-up guy. But it’s the messed-up people who seem to have the most interesting stories to tell. Thus, at least at some level, I can relate. He had a TV food blog that morphed into a travel blog.
“Behold my friends as you pass by
As you are now so once was I
As I am not so you must be
Prepare for death and follow me
What thou art reading o’er my bones
I’ve often read on other stones
And others soon shall read of thee
What thou are reading now of me” – William E. Kimball
The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort
I stayed here about thirty+ years ago. How the time does fly. I look at the calendar and sometimes I feel old. I know, that’s because I am. (Jules, don’t punch the old man)
This is just too funny. From Chelsea’s Twitter feed…
He could tell a story, for sure. However, Kitchen Confidential was largely fiction. He did inspire a large number of people to go into restaurant work, an interesting and creative way to not actually earn a living (in most cases.
I’ll never forgive him for his HUGELY two faced double standard (is that redundant?) in his treatment of Cuba compared to Singapore. He totally washed over the government of Cuba and literally grilled some local kids over the horribly right wing government of Singapore. He really was just a complete sh***ead.
I don’t usually watch cooking shows on tv and his was no exception. Of course, he was a leftist prog. When was the last time that a conservative had their own show?
I watched a few of his travel shows and found them mildly interesting and then he offed himself, or somebody ended him – there is a debate on that and I don’t have a cracker in that soup.
I’d guess it was suicide but I’m going to look into the murder claim.
I can’t watch drama these days. Just not interested in fiction so it’s travel and food shows for me. They are, of course, often combined. I really enjoyed the Ewan McGregor and Charlie Borman shows (Long Way Around, etc.) which led me to watch the rest of the Charlie Borman motorcycle shows. It appears to me that Charlie is fairly conservative.
Also, Joanna Lumley has a few good multi episode travel shows, added benefit that she’s easy on the eyes.
Yeah, Bourdain’s Pinkness was unsurprising, but he could be an entertaining guy.
In fairness re: Cuba/Singapore. it’s possible he just didn’t want to die (yet) and knew that with all Singapore’s flaws it was still safe to criticize, there, at least for a famous Westerner.
-Kle.
Web Hubble’s kid does not understand the cartoon was not supposed to be funny. Fruit of the poisonous tree, that one.
At least Web didn’t have to pay child support.
He paid it in full by tapping that thing…
I shudder to think that any human being could sink so low.
Bourdain drank like a fish, but he could do it…he could cook, knew food, and was interesting. But being self-destructive doesn’t lead to a happy life. In the end some say he had dirt on the Clinton’s so was “Epstein-ed” in France…maybe knew the Lolita Island activities.
The daughter mirrors the mother, a chip off the old windbag block who hasn’t worked a real job in her life. Elitist to the core, that one.
Yours is my go-to blog (obviously, with my daily spleen-venting bloviation)…very informative and interesting, a reflection of the Proprietor. h/t
Sometimes I think that I should pack the blog in. Then sometimes I think otherwise. It’s a creative outlet, PaulM, and a way to blow off steam in a somewhat constructive way. Everyone has a story to tell. Bourdain made a living out of it, and yes, he drank hard, had a self-destructive life, knocked up teenagers, and so forth. The guy is not a role model. But even though he was a leftist puke, I think that he could cook, and he could spin a yarn.
How you could go from being so prolific that it is hard for me to keep up (and work a day job) to not blogging is surrreal.
I use smoke and mirrors, Ed.
The newest update to the SkyNet AI sure has some amazing features, eh?
Your blog is filled with interesting perspectives on a multitude of subjects.
Much appreciated on this side of the screen!
Ah, the mentally unstable TV chef.
It’s like people watching at the Mall. Fun as long as they stay far away, but when they get close and in one’s personal space, the mental illness overpowers any fun from observing.
Not my circus, not my mentally unstable totally fubar’d up monkeys.
As to the Clintonista? Gee, complains about white privilege and everything else while getting a more expensive than a royal wedding wedding and a cool half-mil just-show-up-once-in-a-while job straight out of college. (Translation – Bitch, Shut the F UP!)
And, Larry? You are old. So am I. We can remember fondly places that no longer exist, even if they’re still there. One of the joys of past-middle-age is knowing shit that other people don’t. Embrace it.
L.P. Hartley: “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” Ain’t THAT the damn truth!
I WILL punch you then!
God, that place in the Maldives looks fabulous! It’s not fair that the likes of Chelsea can afford to go there and I can’t. That’s just outrageous. And back to reality I go..
AND YOU’RE NOT OLD!
I need to go to the Maldives for a month of R&R. You can even enjoy that sort of life if you’re aging.
Look on the bright side, Jules – if you could afford to go there you might have to be around the likes of Chelsea.
-Kle.
To write or not to write, that is your decision. Know what you write makes one old fart in Colorado think outside his narrow box.
And fills in knowledge voids in another old Colorado fart…..
Yeah, I’d really miss this place – but don;t make yourself miserable on our accounts, LL.
-Kle.
Someone left me with this idea that life gets better as you go along – 30s are about understanding that 20s were stupid, 40s is when it starts seeming pretty, 50s you’re on a joy ride and as you go along, it only gets better. I don’t know how true it could be. I’ve seen some complicated lives and adults. Somehow, suicides don’t seem strange – from Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf to Robin Williams, like a moth to a flame.
Sometimes it seems like a game or a simulation. Some parameters are defined- where you are born, who you start it out with (family), and the rest are all variables – wherever it all takes you is a result of some choices and some external factors. Sometimes, when I compare it to that of my dog, it seems like this is heavy with so much ‘cost’ being borne, but then again, how could I ever really know. There can’t be a tomb stone, if there ever was, maybe it could say – it wasn’t worth it.
Maldives is beautiful, that resort looks pretty. If the sanity keeps along, maybe I’ll go there one day.
I don’t know that life gets better as you age. My sense is that it’s subjective. Sometimes sewing what you reap is not a very pleasant experience. Personally, the only problem with getting older is more carefully defining what you can and can’t do physically. I’m not 25 anymore, personally. Bungee jumping has no appeal. I used to climb tall mountains. Now I set my sights on more modest peaks. If that makes sense.
I have this crackpot theory that grief (annoyance, whatever) is constant across space and time, but the form it takes varies. The trick is to find a spot where the prevalent forms of grief don’t bother you. An example: some people like a strict 9-5 job where there is no spillover into the rest of your life. Sure there are all kinds of mandatory diversity seminars, arbitrary rules and dress codes at the job, but come 5pm you’re free. That would give me an ulcer in a month. My current job really has no quitting time (and I’m working at least 6d/wk) but apart from client meetings no one cares where I am, what I wear, or what I’m doing any particular moment since the only metric is what I produce. The work is non-evil (various cardiovascular therapeutics; I’m not emptying the pensions of widows, as the Inner Party money boys do, for example). And about 10% of the time I get to actually use my brain on something interesting.
Same with aging — some things are worse, other things are better. I sometimes miss being able to do the physical stuff I used to do at 25. Heck, I miss being able to eat like I did at 25. Or 40. I went from having a hollow leg to having the Pretty Korean Girl mock me at buffets because she’s out-eating me. On the other hand, I have a LOT more peace of mind. Many things that bothered or worried me when I was young now roll off of my back because I’m much better able to judge what is important, and in which domains are they important. I find that up to 50% of my “mentor time” with my junior people is spent helping them deal with interpersonal and organizational stuff, figuring out what is important, rather than the strictly technical.
I’ve done a number of things in life. Some of what I do now is best described as liaison with governments other than my own. I don’t find it stressful because I can usually keep my hand on the throttle. I don’t think that I could handle an office job at this point. Been there, done that. It’s in the R/V mirror. I’m with you 100%.
Good for you, Mike! Mentoring is, or should be, an important part of being one of the people that’s “Been Around A While”. Whether it’s patiently explaining policy matters, or giving out Sage Technical Advice to the youn ‘uns, it kept me in touch with them, and I had several thank me over the years for freely giving them the Sage Technical Advice.
And yeah, growing old sucks. I’ve got some yuge knot in a shoulder muscle from my Great Wood Cutting Adventure, and now have an ultrasound scheduled to see WTH it is.
Bourdain was talented, no doubt about it. And a lefty. Then they killed him.
I like Jules’ place in the Maldives. Relaxing.
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