I randomly stumbled onto this Netflix show called Eat Your Words.  The show recruits random people who have badly criticized the food they ate from multiple restaurants and place these amateurs into a kitchen to cook something for a panel of three judges.  One of the judges would be considered knowledgeable in the type of food these amateurs are cooking.  The amateurs have to score an average of 3 or higher else face the punishment of taking back their “words” on social media and live with their hubris/arrogance.

Honestly, I find this show to be infuriating.

• I don’t understand why people would critique food badly.  Chefs don’t purposely make food taste bad.  Plus chefs cook food under some pressure situations where they have to serve dozens of people every night.  I think it’s a pretty hard job.  These random people should know better than to criticize the food just because the food didn’t fit their food pallette.  Seriously, if you don’t like the food, just move on without having to rip the food apart. Wise words from a rabbit…
• I also don’t understand why you need to have a show that turns the table around onto these random people.  At its heart, this is a show that basically takes down people a few notches under the guise of a cooking show.  It’s like the show is trying to elicit a gleeful wicked laugh at the people’s attempt to make a dish in an hour.

I ended up skipping to the very end of every episode to see what scores they got.  Some just barely passed.  And those that didn’t, I got the feeling that they took this all as a joke with very little remorse of the things they wrote.

So I finished this show and the last episode about dumplings is fantastic.  The guest appearance of Ali Wong at Din Tai Fung was hilarious.

But aside from craving fried chicken, asian dumplings, BBQ, fried rice, pizza and tacos (all of which Chang showcased as a thematic episode), there’s this underlying theme that Chang touches in every episode about “What is American food?”

My friends and I also had this discussion once during an overseas trip.  We came up with only a few food dishes that seemed to be authentically American: Creole/Cajun, Barbeque, and hamburger.  Most of these dishes were derived from other cuisines… but it’s been transformed to become uniquely American.

The show takes this question a step back.  The chefs, food writers, and food critics on the show imply that America embraces these foreign cuisines like Italian, Chinese, French, etc… and then creates a cuisine that is not quite like the original.  When America is talked about as the “melting pot” of the world, the food evolves as the immigrant community becomes assimilated into the ever changing American culture.

Creole/Cajun is a great example of what the show is saying.  Creole food originates from the French settlers in New Orleans in 1690s.  The settlers absorbed the food traditions of other immigrants (Italian, Spanish, African, to name a few) to become what it is today.  Cajun food originates from the Acadian settlers who were transplanted from French Canada in the 1700s.  Although there are differences between Creole and Cajun, the fact that these food cultures absorbed other food culture and traditions is exactly the “melting pot” metaphor of America.  To add even more credence to this melting pot phenomenon, the term “Creole/Cajun” is even synonymous to the Louisiana food region despite their differences.

Perhaps I’m reading a bit too much into the show given the state of our charged political climate, but I think the show is saying that what makes America great is the cultural appropriation of immigrant culture.  What evolves from this appropriation becomes uniquely American yet neither American nor the donating culture.

I just finished this Oscar winning documentary called Icarus on Netflix.  I have to say it’s pretty amazing.  It’s a documentary was made predominantly in 2016 about the Russian doping scandal.  The documentary follows a Russian ex-WADA whistleblower, Grigory Rodchenkov, in his quest to expose the state sponsored Russian doping scheme in the Olympics.  The show goes into detail how the Russians in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics circumvented the WADA testing with the help of the FSB (formerly KGB).  The investigations that followed from the exposé led to Russia being banned from Olympics in 2016 Rio Summer Olympics and a partial ban from the recent 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

Although we don’t know truly the full extent of the Russian doping scheme, I have to commend Grigory for his bravery to release these details.  The show ends with Grigory entering the witness protection program.  Hopefully nothing bad will happen to him unlike the recent double agent spy assassination in London.

On a side note, does Russia view the doping scheme as a “scandal” or more along the lines of #fakenews?

David Chang of Momofuku fame and who starred in a previous Netflix show called “The Mind of a Chef” now has another Netflix show called “Ugly Delicious.”  In Mind of a Chef, that show dived deep into Chang’s inspiration on creating food.  From the first episode of Ugly Delicious, it seems like it’s a deep thematic dive into different food (pizza, tacos, fried chicken, etc) and probably on how they’re made across the different ethnic cultures that have embraced their own version of the food.

All I can say is… the first episode of pizza made me want pizza. =p

There’s this TV show called Scam City that’s on Netflix.  The premise is pretty noble.  The host goes to different famous world cities and search for the different scams that go on in that city ranging from fake “authentic” goods to pickpockets to taxi driver kidnappings and even prostitution.  The shows does all this in an attempt to make potential tourists who are watching at home aware of the disreputable scams in the city.  It turns out that many of the show’s scams are found in every city… 3 card monte, fake authentic goods, pick pockets, “friendly bars” and the list can go on.

Although I’m no expert, I have had my fair share of traveling.  I think the culture of the country and/or city is also a big part of whether or not people will get scammed/hustled.  As a traveler there are certain things to be aware.  Pickpocket is probably the number one concern.  There’s not much a traveler can do without money, without credit cards and potentially without identification (ie Passport) too.  Being kidnapped is also a concern but I think the likelihood is much less in more touristy locations.  Plus with easy access to the Internet, using GPS and Google maps should always be a given to ensure the taxi is going to the correct direction.  In general being aware of the surrounding is important for staying safe.  So… “Don’t walk down that dark alley” or “Don’t talk to strangers” generally works in your favor.   Keep in mind hustlers are trying to relieve your wallet of some money as quickly and as easily as possible.  Making it hard for them is never in their benefit.

Apparently though, some of the episodes are not without controversy per the wiki entry on Prague and Amsterdam.  Is Scam City scamming the TV audience!?

Anyways, watching this show leads me to a few questions…

1. Why would anyone want to go to these cities now?
2. Why does the show seem to portray certain non 1st world cities in a much more negative light?  The Mumbai and New Delhi episodes make these two cities out to be pretty bad as does the Bangkok episode.
3. I sometimes feel like they are actively looking for scams that happen.  And that tourists would have to be really really stupid to fall for some of these tricks.  Maybe it’s to build suspense up similar to how ABC’s The Bachelor and the contrived storylines.
4. Pickpockets are still the world’s most dangerous petty thieves.  Some of the pickpockets on the show are really good and have great finger/hand dexterity.  The Jerusalem Mount Olive pickpocket scene was pretty interesting.  He used slight of hand and a common magic trick of directing attention away from the wallet.

Ideally, the tourist needs to be aware of the hustle and take whatever precautions needed to minimize the hustle.  Ultimately as a tourist, staying safe is the ultimate priority to enjoy the city.  Happy traveling!

Netflix has a neat feature that allows users to download a limited number of episodes of selected shows for offline viewing. I took advantage of this and downloaded AMC’s Breaking Bad. Netflix has all 5 seasons to watch and more importantly for download.

On a recent trip to Asia, I started watching these episodes and downloading them at the hotel wifi for future offline watching. I finished the final episode before returning to US.

My thoughts on this show is mixed. I thought the first 3 seasons went very well. The final 2 seasons seems to be dragging out a “good thing” by meandering through these plausible storylines. The character development was varied depending on the character throughout the seasons.

Walter White’s transition from a high school chemistry teacher into a meth cook is an interesting study into his psychology. As the series progresses, his psychological state begins to drastically change as his demeanor and ambitions grows bigger while fear and paranoia grips his every day life. He has a quote “I feel alive” that sums up his adrenaline filled days of meth cooking, conspiracy and thug/underworld life (for lack of a better word). As the series progresses his ambitions start to get the better of him. Mike towards the end of the show pointed out how good it could have been if it were not for his “pride.” As correct as Mike is, I think it was more than pride that fed into his hubris and eventual downfall.

Jesse Pinkman could have been developed even further. His character doesn’t grow nearly as much as White. Throughout every season, I found him going from one emo state to another emo state. He feels like a tragic hero that the writers used to dump all the horrible results on while Walter White gets away with just about everything. Ultimately, he was not ready to be the partner White needed him to be. He never was developed to be as ruthless as White but more of a sniveling underling that was in way over his head.

Although this show is 10 years old, it’s worth watching all 5 seasons. Just be prepared for some exasperating moments.

Aziz Ansari (wiki) has recently been in the news as part of the #MeToo (wiki) movement.  Before this event, he’s originally a stand up comedian who transitioned into TV show fame.  Some of his stand up routines on Netflix (here, here) are pretty funny.  I’ve read his book Modern Romance which held a few hilarious dating anecdotes that are relatable to the singles dating life.

Master of None is his latest TV show on Netflix.  Ansari recently won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in TV Series, Musical or Comedy.  As one of the series on my “To Watch” list, I started watching sometime last month and finished watching it yesterday.  As I watched the show, I began to realize that I was more interested in the dating and relationship stories between Rachel and Francesca.  I think what makes this such a great show is the relatability of the characters and their backstories.  The Thanksgiving episode is a great example and is one of the better episodes from both seasons.  It’s well written and well directed and shows the evolution of Denise and her family’s acceptance of Denise as a lesbian.

Towards the end of season 2, I related to Ansari’s character of how he felt and with his emotions with relationships.  I understood just how Ansari’s character felt as I had felt the same way many times in the past.  That physical pain and heartache in the chest, the constant thinking in my own head space, and the irrational decisions were all relatable emotions and attributes.  The last two episodes of season 2 made me reflect on my emotional, physical and rational state when I was experiencing these emotions.  Watching these episodes made me sad that the relationships never worked out.  Unlike the happy ending in season 2, the potential for a positive relationship wasn’t even an option in my case.

This show is worth watching.  The cast and storytelling are relatable in this modern day.

David Letterman has a new Netflix show.  It’s not quite the same late night talk show format in his previous career but I think it suits him fine.  The first guest of this show is none other than Barack Obama.

There’s so much Letterman can talk about with President Obama but there’s clearly not enough time given the show’s format.  Obama speaks eloquently about a number of topics from family, Obama’s use of social media, the financial crisis, and even the current political system.  I find myself entranced at their conversation… so much so, I listened to it a 2nd time to digest the parts that I missed the first time.

I truly think 1 hour is nowhere enough time to cover all the topics that are of interest to Obama and in some ways interest to the US population in general.  I really look forward in seeing what Obama can do in the future to make his legacy even more enduring.

Looks like Bill Nye Saves the World has a 2nd season on Netflix now.

I’m amused by opening the season with a discourse on marijuana.  Is this Nye’s effort to engage the Netflix audience to open a broader national dialog into marijuana?  Nye approaches this subject from a scientific curiosity/inquiry viewpoint regarding the unknown effects of marijuana through the investigative reporting of groundbreaking Israeli scientific work into understanding the effects of marijuana.  Since marijuana is a Schedule 1 drugs/substance in the US, little is known about the effects on humans since controlled research can’t be performed due to it’s drug classification.  Using this scientific curiosity/inquiry approach is interesting to get the conversation started but ultimately the FDA/DEA will need to have one key question answered: Does marijuana usage lead to a “high potential for abuse”?  Without satisfactorily answering this question, the FDA can’t possibly condone further experiments to fully understand marijuana effects on humans.  Or can they?

Aside from marijuana, the other episodes also look to be interesting. From the quick synopsis of each episodes, there is one about cybersecurity, sleeping, and super resistant “superbugs.”