THE GURGLING COD

Adventures in shelf tags.

Via OatSoda, and Yeh, Yeh, Yeh:

Moskin's in the kitchen with Foucault?

Late to the party on the Moskin cookbook thing, but in my self-appointed role as peacemaker, allow me to suggest that Moskin, the Times public editor, Paltrow, Mario, Rach, et al, just need to chill out and read some Foucault,* ( specifically his "What is an Author" esssay, or better still, maybe read up on auteur theory. 

Gwinnie, et al, seem to be in the throes of an heroic romantic notion of authorship, which is a relatively recent phenomenon, and exists for the sake of copyright as much as anything. But to be an author is to be that kind of author, so there is an idea that a book springs from the brow of its creator. For novels, sure, maybe, academic monographs, sometimes, but for cookbooks, less so. Recipes in a cookbook need testing, in a way that chapter 12 of the new Marcy Dermansky novel does not. It is, by its nature, a collaborative product. Here is where auteur theory might help. Scorsese, for instance, makes movies, but Thelma Schoonmaker edits them. It's silly for Gwinnie to beef, much as it would be silly for Scorsese to insist that he shot every frame of Raging Bull himself. It's not true, but it's also not the point. Scorsese makes Scorsese films, and other folks help him realize his vision, just like if Mario does a NASCAR cookbook. Moskin's article seemed to be more of a memoir ("I was the literary equivalent of a plongeur"), than an expose', but the reaction from various cookbook producers turned it into a scandal. 

*See also. 

My campaign promise? Diabetus!

Usually, it's hard for the Cod not to be cynical about student government, or its various grown-up versions. But! These guys just look like they might deliver on a campaign promise to make the student bodies at the day job more obese and diabetic! 

Guiteau twofer

So, we'll opine only that that TV program last night unhelpfully blurred the line between hot makeup sex and criminal spousal rape, and move on to the Guiteau business. First: 

A restaurant called "Chops and Hops" ran a "Chris Brown Black & Bleu Burger" special. The apologies for these things are always the worst part: 

The owners of C&H would like to make sure everyone knows that we and our staff DO NOT SUPPORT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. Many of us have been affected by domestic violence in some manner and realize that this is no joke.

Better? "The owners of C&H realize that we're dicks, and we're just gonna go die now. Sorry." And speaking of dicks? Balls! 

Further reading for #asecs12 18thc. Novel panel.

Further reading from today's panel.

Martha Bowden: The Reform’d Coquet, Familiar Letters Betwixt a Gentleman and a Lady, and The Accomplish’d Rake, an edition of three novels by Mary Davys (1674?-1732), University Press of Kentucky, 1999.

Ann Campbell:http://english.boisestate.edu/contact/faculty/ann-campbell/

Jenny Davidson: http://jennydavidson.blogspot.com/

Sophie Gee: The Scandal of The Season, Scribners, 2008

David Liss: See Davidliss.com

Gordon Ramsay eats a penis

No, really:

 

Guiteau Monday, St Pats remorse ed.

So the Cod's on vacation, sin laptop
and everything. But even when the Cod is of the clock, Guiteau Monday punches is like usual: http://thehairpin.com/2012/03/horrible-things-to-do-to-a-perfectly-good-online-recipe-for-plain-irish-soda-bread-2#more

Grits n Mitt?

Shockingly, Romney's strategy of condescending to and essentializing Southerners is not giving him the push he needs to defeat a raving loon and the least popular man in contemporary politics. And Obama's people are not shy about pointing this out. From the inbox, thank to that time I gave money to the moderate who is actually President: 

Mitt Romney has got to stop saying "y'all."
Campaigning for the Alabama and Mississippi primaries the last couple of weeks, he's been making his way through the South and coming out with stuff like this:
"Mornin', y'all. Good to be with you. I got started right this morning with a biscuit and some cheesy grits."
He's been calling himself an "unofficial Southerner." Yesterday he said he thinks catfish is "delicious" when, month before last, he said he didn't like it.
I'm not sure it's actually physically possible for a person to be any more phony. And this is a guy who thinks we'll be fooled into thinking he's got our best interests at heart because he uses a contraction.
Actually, he's a career politician from 1,200 miles away who would give tax breaks to millionaires over the middle class and roll back everything President Obama's done to create jobs and make sure our families have health care. And catfish is the least of what he's changed his mind about: unions, Roe v. Wade, climate change -- the list goes on.
He thinks he's got a chance to win our votes. I can only figure that he thinks we're stupid because we talk differently than he does. No matter how he does in today's primaries, let's get together and send a message from us straight to him: We're not stupid, we're not buying what you're selling, and you don't get to say "y'all."

The picture is from the SC primary. Somehow, it makes sense that a native Midwesterner with a strong New England patrician vibe who professes a left-field religion popular in the West would claim a Southern foodways staple. 

Nous Sommes Tous Hagerty

Lazy Links:

The Awl, smarter on Internet Sensation Marily Hagerty than I was. 

Jonathan Gold, less smart on Olive Garden than Hagerty was.

And Carolina food kingpins!

From the folks who brought you whorepresents:

So, I ran across Oprah's former personal chef on the Twitters. Seems like an accomplished fellow, but chefartsmith has some drawbacks as a Twitter handle: