Miss Schrambling’s response to my comments, fyi (scroll to the third post)--in her customary fashion, which is both abstruse and directly cutting, naming no names, and not accepting comment.
Chow.com’s blog, an interesting blog with numerous voices, picked it up, too, entertainingly and with balance. And they also note, helpfully for those as malnourished as myself, where the name panchito came from, of which I was vaguely aware but didn’t know.
All three posts underscore a fact of blogging: that the most successful become that way only insofar as they are entertaining, rather than informative, and that the easiest way to be entertaining, as we begin learning as early as kindergarten, is to be derisive. When you grow up and become a journalist, being mean in print is called snarky. I’m right there with everyone else, chuckling merrily at someone’s misfortunate skewering in print. I find snark facile and unsatisfying, but who can resist clever, incisive digs?
bourdain
Michael! So sensitive!
Schrambling's blog is pure, mean-spirited, fun. Sometimes she's even right. Relax and enjoy.
Agree it would speak better of her and be more effective diatribe if she used real names. Why the coy, Amy Sohn Lite treatment?
You got something to say? Say it.
On the other hand, Michael..if this latest injured squeal from you is any indication, I'm not sure you could handle it if she DID use names.
ruhlman
tony, you ignorant slut, this is hardly an injured squeal. you know i like a good fight. i liked the chow.com post. i liked shrambling's post! at least i knew who she was talking about! schrambling's not the enemy.
on the other hand, if i am in any way responsible for any part of the Iraq fiasco, i for one owe you, RS, and her ten cats an apology.
rockandroller
10 cats, LOL.
3 cheers for mean-spirited fun!
pitofmystomach
Michael,
You and Schrambling should join forces and form the "Rude Food Blog Network." It could be like the WWF of food blogging. I even see action figures and cheesy Halloween costumes. Imagine the money-making possibilities!
http://www.pitofmystomach.typepad.com
ruhlman
and to promote it, we could do a live mudwrestling match, reffed by bourdain, or actually, maybe by bruni--I'd likely need all the help i could get.
kevin
Michael,
It's always about entertainment -- perhaps especially if the topic is food. Even McGee's 700+ page revision of On Food and Cooking is entertaining if you're a food geek.
And Tony's recent piece about barbeque was great fun -- I could just hear him saying, "Squeal like a pig," bless his heart.
Bradley Geist
Totally unrelated to the topic on hand. I'm happy to see you out on your own blog. I'm a huge fan of yr writing. Loved both the the Soul and Reach books...couldn't put them down. Yr ability to direct the readers eye to want's going on in the kitchen is to be commended. Yr enthusiasm for your subject is infectious.
PerpetualCarouse
Schrambling is an acquired taste, one which I'm not sure I've acquired yet.
Her insidery-insider insiders view is interesting occasionally, but I'm not sure I want to have to work that hard.