Category Archives: musings

Essay: What Is Fashion?

Posted in fashion, musings, rant, society on by

This is an essay I wrote while attending the Fashion Institute of Technology. I apparently didn’t like the instructor who gave the assignment.

WHAT IS FASHION?
by Monica Neumann

Fashion is yet one more way to control how the mindless millions act and think. It is an outlet for vanity. It is a cause of numerous adolescent heartaches over the years. It is a source for general feelings of ill will worldwide. A small handful of self-proclaimed experts make arbitrary decisions about what colors and silhouettes people will like because they don’t know they can decide for themselves. Money is the root of all evil, and fashion is a branch of that wicked tree.

We need only to look at costume history to see that this is true. When humans first started wearing clothing, it was purely functional. A purely secular view is to say that nomadic tribes didn’t have homes to protect them, so they wore their homes in the form of clothing. Biblically, of course, the first clothing was meant to hide the naughty parts.

It was only when man started seeking beauties and riches and a more far-reaching power that things started getting a little tense. Certain men could go to other lands and bring back things that the folks at home couldn’t, and those certain men would hold these things over their heads. They brought back foreign gems to adorn themselves with, and they brought back dyes. With their rarity in some parts of world, the usage of these dyes became a status symbol. Only citizens of Rome, whose qualifications made them a surprisingly small group, could wear a true toga. And only senators, an even smaller group of men, could wear a red sash, made with those rare dyes.

The expense of dyes and the dying process made colored cloth symbolic of royalty, for they were the only people who could afford them. Time goes by, the middle class rises, and to show this, they start adopting some of the habits of the aristocracy. They wear clothing made of dyed cloth to show they are gaining in importance. Even with this turn of events, a few colors, the most expensive to procure, are still reserved for the kings and queens and princes and dukes, etc.

People developed the habit of dressing to show their importance in their respective cultures. One could see a person walk down the street and know what social class they were in merely by the clothes they were wearing. A perfectly wonderful human being could be reminded of how close to dirt he was by seeing another’s purple robe or red dress.

Our society has talked much of equality. A good human being, some would say, should try their hardest to look at everyone without judgment. Too much of the time, however, clothes get in the way. Fashion is a weight that helps keep too many good people down and lets too many dead fish float to the top.

Spring 1998

Mini Coinky Dink

Posted in memories, musings on by

For about six months of my life, in the mid-1990s, I lived in a Houston suburb. I was taking a semester off from college and working a temp job to save up some money. It was here I had the pleasure of meeting a nice, god-loving black woman named Barbara Harris. She was what I consider a true Christian. She was genuinely kind and had no judgments for those of us who were less – shall we say – pious. After I moved back to NYC, she wrote me a couple times (I can only assume I wrote her back), but then I didn’t hear from her again.

Soon after our acquaintance, I began seeing her name in movie credits, mostly as ADR Voice Casting. When I saw “Barbara Harris” scroll by, I simultaneously thought: I hope my Barbara is doing well, I should write her, wouldn’t that be funny if it were the same person, boy that Barbara Harris works on like every movie! Seriously, it seemed like at least 2/3 of the movies I saw had Ms. Harris is the credits, probably more. I saw her name so much, it became a point to me to look at the ADR credit in every movie I saw. For years I’ve been meaning to look her up on IMDb. For one, to convince myself that my Barbara and the Hollywood Barbara are not the same person, and two, to see just how many movies she’s worked on.

Last night I forced myself to watch Hearts in Atlantis. It’s one of only two books by Stephen King I’ve read, and I had really liked it. When I heard that they were making a film out of the book, I immediately picked out what actor should play Ted Brautigan,  and it wasn’t Anthony Hopkins. I’ve never been able to figure out his name, but there was an actor on an episode of “The X-Files” that really captured the essence of Ted, I thought, and I really wished for him to get the role. But he’s a no-name actor (almost literally) and I knew in my heart of hearts it would never happen. (The movie wasn’t that great, by the way.)

7/15/08: Seems he’s not a no-name actor after all. He’s just been in things I didn’t watch. As it turns out, he’s John Finn and he’s on the show “Cold Case” which I’ve recently been catching in syndication on Saturday nights.  His character on “The X-Files” was Michael Kritschgau, and he was in five episodes.

Anyway, Barbara Harris did the ADR on this movie, too, so I finally looked her up. As per IMDb, her voice casting credits total 659 dating back to 1982. Additionally, she’s got numerous “loop group” and “adr voice” credits. She’s also got a couple dozen acting credits, mostly of the “voice” kind, except for a few key roles. They include “Party Guest” in both Fatal Attraction and Some Kind of Wonderful, and as “Black Customer” on an episode of “Hill Street Blues”.

So my Barbara Harris and the Hollywood Barbara Harris are both black women. I’m still left to think, in a tiny corner of my mind – what if they really are the same person?

Review: Seattle Obama Rally

Posted in musings, politics, seattle, society on by

On Thursday, I saw a Seattle Times article announcing a Barack Obama rally was to be held on Friday (yesterday) at Key Arena. Since I live and work just a few blocks from Key Arena, I decided I should go. In the event that Obama is elected President, I thought it would be nice to be able to say I’d seen him in person.

The article and Obama’s website said doors were to open at 11 a.m. I left my office at 10:55, knowing it would be about a five minute walk, to discover that the arena was already two-thirds full. By 11:30, it was filled to capacity – people were being refused entry. Wikipedia states concert capacity is 16,641. Mayor Nichols said later that there were an additional 3000 people outside. Apparently they set up a monitor so they could watch from the outside plaza. I’ve never seen the Sonics draw this kind of crowd.

At first it was chaos, as everyone tried to find seating. I sat with some strangers one section over from a friend I had attempted to sit with. For a bit, it was pretty exciting. There was an energy to the crowd that was contagious. The Wave was done several times in the interim, a couple girls had a dance off in the bleachers. But then time dragged on. In retrospect, maybe they were setting up the video feed for the people outside. But in the moment, it just seemed like bad form to keep us waiting so long.

At around 12:30, three people came up on stage. Pastor Patrinell Staten Wright, founder of the Total Experience Gospel Choir; some guy whose introduction was not clear to me; and Matt Cameron, current drummer of Pearl Jam. Apparently, these three musicians and some others got together (on my birthday, as a matter of fact) and made a video for a song they performed together for Obama’s campaign. After a long-winded speech by the unknown man having something to do with his brother coming back from Iraq, the video was played on the monitors.

The stage was empty for another 10-15 minutes when Seattle mayor Greg Nichols came out. He talked for a while then introduced U.S. Congressman Adam Smith (of the 9th district, which includes Seattle’s south suburbs, Tacoma, and part of Olympia). Rep. Smith talked briefly then introduced Washington governor Christine Gregoire, who had just announced her support of Obama earlier in the day. She got the crowd really fired up, shouting out all the great things about Washington Obama would take away with him in his heart and mind. The Boeing plane that got him there! The beef! The potatoes! The apple pie! among other things (except salmon and geoducks – maybe the candidate is hydrophobic).

Finally, at 1:06, Ms. Gregoire introduced Barack Obama, and a minute later he was on the stage. He is a good speaker, I’ll give him that. And as he enumerated the ills of our country I thought, in the great words of GI Joe, “knowing is half the battle.” But in the time I was there, I didn’t hear any solutions. I know what the problems are, too, but I have no idea how to fix them. Does he?

At 1:36 I left Key Arena, and he was still going.

Barack Obama at Key Arena

It’s My Birthday!

Posted in cinema, food, musings, myself, new york city, seattle on by

McDonald's Sign

There’s nothing I love more than myself. And so when my birthday comes around I try and do something special for me. As some of you know, one of those things is buy myself a cheeseburger.

It all began in, let’s say, 1994 when I decided I did not need to eat beef in order to have a complete diet. I had eliminated pork from my diet at least five years earlier for somewhat religious/spiritual reasons. Why did I need to continue to eat cows? I didn’t, and I didn’t think it would really be that much of a sacrifice. The only things I thought I might miss were cheeseburgers and chicken fried steaks. So I made a vow not to eat beef except for once a year – my birthday. On that most auspicious of days, I would consume a cheeseburger for lunch and a chicken fried steak for dinner.

The first of these birthdays found me in the Houston metropolitan area. I decided I would have the Ultimate Cheeseburger at Jack in the Box. It truly lives up to its name. Or it did back in those days. Back then, it was beef, cheese, bread, and their signature onion mayo. Deliciously elegant in its composition, and totally fulfilling. And filling. I don’t remember the chicken fried steak. It is not difficult to find one in Texas that fulfills all my requirements of such a meal, so it doesn’t particularly stand out.

The following several years I was in New York City on my birthday, specifically Manhattan. There are no Jack in the Box’s to be found, but there are several really good burger joints that will not disappoint. And surprisingly, there is a very good place for chicken fried steak – the Acme Bar & Grill. All the years I was in New York on my birthday (including a year after I moved away) this is where I got my CFS. I love this place, and ate there at other times as well, enjoying the Cajun Chicken instead with mashed potatoes and collard greens. They call it N’awlins Chicken now, the Cajun-fried option.

In the first 8 years I lived in Seattle I’ve struggled each year (minus the one I was back in NYC) to find a cheeseburger and a chicken fried steak that meet my criteria. On the CFS side of things, I suppose it’s not all that surprising that I can’t find a good one in the Pacific Northwest outside of Claim Jumper. I even went to Claim Jumper one year – it was good but grotesquely large, and I spent a lot of time agonizing over wasting it versus eating it for more than just the one day. Then a couple years ago I gave up searching. I decided that instead of the CFS, I would have a real turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, something I was beginning to miss more each year since I stopped eating poultry shortly after arriving in Seattle.

That just left the cheeseburger. There are a lot of “legendary” burger joints in the Seattle area. I think I had my birthday cheeseburger at a different place every year. The possible exception could be Luna Park Cafe, which I used to love. (They changed management and while it is virtually the same, there is something just a wee bit different and I don’t like it.) None of the burgers was quite what I wanted and every year I was a little disappointed. So last year, after lamenting that nothing was quite the Ultimate Cheeseburger, my friends convinced me I should just go for it. So, for the second time since I started this tradition, I had an Ultimate Cheeseburger for my birthday, only to discover that those clown-faced jerks changed it. It was more or less the same, but they served it with ketchup and mustard instead of the onion mayo. So, instead of just being able to walk up to the counter and say, “I want an Ultimate Cheeseburger and spicy curly fries,” I had to special order. The burger was amazing, but I was still disappointed.

This year, I decided to do something different. As it does some years, my birthday fell on Martin Luther King Jr Day. While not a holiday at my company, I took the day off anyway so that I could eat my cheeseburger in solitude. I considered trying to find a place that only sells organic free range beef (does that even exist?). I nixed that idea when I figured a place like that would probably want to put sprouts and avocados on my patty. So, instead, I thought that a high-quality steak house should be serving high quality beef – at least something higher grade than McDonald’s. I hope. There were a few steakhouses that came to mind – really just three after I eliminated the national chains. The Brooklyn, Daniel’s Broiler, and the Metropolitan Grill. I checked their menus online and opted for the Met, as it had the simplest cheeseburger.

The “American Kobe Style Beef” Works Burger
American Wagyu sirloin, cheddar and swiss cheeses, caramelized onions, drive–in sauce, lettuce, tomato.

I only made a couple requests – herb mayo instead of “drive-in sauce”, and no tomato. The sauce is their own 1000-Island dressing, something of which I’ve never been a fan.

Birthday Cheeseburger

 

I ordered it medium, it came medium well, which is fine for a burger. There were a bit too many onions, but that was easy to remedy. The first bite was pretty much heavenly. After that, it was just really good. Some bites brought back memories of the mesquite barbecued brisket of my childhood. My meal was accompanied by Sinatra, Gershwin, and other standards, as well as a vodka collins.

Ivan Collins

It was followed by a dish of Burnt Cream which had the consistency of thick pudding or slightly warm butter. After the burger and a few fries, I could only manage a few spoonfuls of the cream, so I boxed it up for home.

Burnt Cream

After my lunch, I walked it off by the Lusty Lady where I snapped their latest marquees, and then up to Pacific Place where I watched Charlie Wilson’s War. Another piece of evidence that there are some good things – besides myself – that come out of Texas.

And now My Day draws to a close. The only thing I regret is not telling my waiter it was my birthday. I probably could have got a candle in my Burnt Cream at the very least. C’est la vie. Next year I plan to celebrate my birthday in Baltimore, near the grave of fellow January baby and literary hero Edgar Allan Poe. Not sure if there’s a Jack in the Box nearby, but perhaps someone will give me a recommendation between now and then.

Aside: Considering the county Seattle resides in is named after Martin Luther King, Jr., you’d think this holiday would be a much bigger deal. Unless you’re looking, it is difficult to find any kind of celebrations or observances anywhere around the city. Quite sad.

Top 10 of 2007

Posted in baking/cooking, cinema, driving, food, friends, memories, music, musings, pop culture, silliness on by

It’s the end of the year, and everyone is thinking back to all the good stuff and bad stuff from the last 12 months. All the DJs are putting out their Top Ten songs and albums of the year. There are probably Top Ten news stories in various places. Top Ten This, Top Ten That. I thought I might make my own list. So I thought and I thought, for at least five or ten minutes, but nothing came to mind. Well, one thing did come to mind – the Top Ten Indescribable Things That Happened in 2007 That Made it Unique From All the Other Years I’ve Been Alive.

For instance, I started this blog in 2007. I got the Tassajara Bread Book this year after seeing the film How to Cook Your Life. I played Quake again after like 10 years. I used Flexcar. My buddy Alex finally came to visit me after years of my badgering. I bought a new DVD player. The QFC opened two blocks from my apartment. The Tower Records two blocks away closed then became a Silver Platters which I never go to. (I rarely went to Tower, either.) The only marriage for which I’ve been a member of the wedding party (since my sister’s when I was 18) ended in divorce. I finally bought rain boots after living in Seattle for nine years.

I think that’s 10 things. I don’t know if that’s Top or Bottom, and I’m not sure what the long term effects of those things are – hence the “indescribable”. But they happened. And who cares?

So here’s my real Top Ten.

The Top Ten Wasabi Peas of 2007:

Top Ten Wasabi Peas

And then there were none.

The Grocer Makes House Calls

Posted in consumer, musings, society on by

One of the things I loved about living in New York City is that anything and everything could be delivered. Very few people have cars in Manhattan, and it’s a bit cumbersome to carry bags of groceries on the subway. I very rarely took advantage of the delivery option. For one, I felt uncomfortable being an able-bodied young person and having someone bring my produce to me. For another, I was a poor college student and felt the time and effort it took for me to pick up my own lo mein was worth much less than that tip I’d be saving.

I did have a full size futon cushion delivered to my apartment one time – there was absolutely no way I could carry that thing home myself. And another time, my roommates had a washer and dryer delivered to our fifth floor walk up apartment. I stayed in my room, as I did not want the delivery men to think I had one iota to do with that ordeal.

More than a decade later, I’m in high-tech Seattle in the age of internet shopping. One can get most anything delivered through any number of online stores. Yet, grocery delivery seemed to elude us. Back 5 or 6 years ago I think it was, we had Home Grocer. I loved that company, with its giant peaches on the sides of its trucks. I had them deliver once or twice but the service never really took hold and they went out of business. I still have the magnetic image of their delivery van on my refrigerator.

About a year after Home Grocer went away, Safeway began online shopping with home delivery. For some reason, I never tried it out. They’re still offering the service, but now I think I know why I never did it. There is a delivery charge no matter what the size of the order is, and the minimum order for delivery is $50.

And now I bring you today. Several weeks ago, I got a notice from Amazon.com telling me that they have started home grocery delivery and that my neighborhood was one of the first to be offered this service. Naturally, I would have to avail myself. It was not until this last week that I placed my first order. I have general and specific reasons this appeals to me. Generally, I have an affinity for Amazon.com since they are a local Seattle company (despite their global tentacles). This service also complements my Flexcar experiment.

One of my concerns with not owning a car is not being able to make big grocery trips. I was raised to buy all the groceries for a full week in one trip, rather than taking daily trips to the store. This type of shopping helps to keep you on budget and prevents frivolous spending and spontaneous purchases of “bad” foods. This way of thinking is quite ingrained in me. However, since I’ve moved blocks from my workplace, I have begun making more quick trips to the grocery store. I can stop by on my walk home, or else now I can walk two blocks to the supermarket that opened earlier this year. This way of grocery shopping has been detrimental to my kitchen. I no longer plan meals ahead or shop with any real foresight beyond keeping stock of a short list of staples. As a result, I’ve been eating a lot of crap.

Adding to the mindset that I should walk as much as possible, and take public transportation/flexcar when walking is out of the question, a couple weeks ago my car become non-functional. For various reasons, I’ve not got it repaired yet. So, realizing I should get back into the habit of buying groceries for at least a week at a time, not having a car to carry all those bags home, and not wanting to spend $15-20 to take a Flexcar to the supermarket, I decided this week it was time to try out AmazonFresh. Unlike Safeway, you don’t have to place a minimum $50 order. There is no delivery charge for regular daytime deliveries over $50. The prices seem the same as regular grocery store prices, and in some cases better.

I got my first delivery this morning. I got everything on my list. The only “problem” was that I ordered a 5-lb bag of sugar and they substituted a 10-lb bag for the same price. I think I’ll let it slide.

The AmazonFresh logo has what appears to be a radish instead of a luscious peach, but I’m pretty sure I’ll order from them again. Even if it does make me feel a bit like an invalid.

Can a Candidate Call Themself Green . . . ?

Posted in musings, society on by

. . . if they are sending out hard stock glossy mailers? Maybe they’re printing with soy ink, and maybe the stock is 10% post-consumer waste, but that’s still a lot of paper and power generation. How does a proponent of the environment and environmental issues get their message across without contributing to the very forces they are ostensibly attempting to defeat?

Phone calls are intrusive. Door-to-door campaigns are time-consuming and perhaps dangerous. Are there enough voters on the internet regularly that banner ads could be sufficient? What should they do?