it's a film and book that should have simply remained a blog. this story's played out. as an admirer of childs, i'd rather remember her as she appeared on television, not as someone would portray her, even if it is la streep.
Seriously folks? This is a film about one women's path to finding herself through the lens of a culture she grew up in. No where in the book does the author write abut Julie Child as the topic of her story. If the author's story had been set against a backdrop of learning to play the guitar through a childhood connection to John Lennon no one would utter a peep. Child was a cultural legend...culture is a lens through which we see ourselves. Why is this an insult to Child and why does it provoke people so much? If we all look a little deeper here you can read the story as a commentary on women...not cooking.
When Julie was blogging, I remember rushing home every day from work looking forward to reading her latest cooking adventure for the day.I used to sit in the living room with my Nana and read the entry aloud to her. It was the first food blog I had heard of and loved her irreverent, yet respectful, attitude towards food and cooking. It was funny and serious and dramatic. And knowing that I was reading an account of some drama that had just ended in someone else's kitchen was just so cool in 2004 or 2005 or whenever it was.
I am kind of, um, particular about food--but all of these critics are really taking this way to seriously. Julie, to me, seemed like she undertook the blog to have fun and prove something to herself--not to show the world what a serious cook she was. Can no project be taken on just for fun? Does a person need to be an expert to do anything? How boring is that. I liked learning along with Julie and knowing she wasn't perfect and had an opinion. Just as Julia, on The French Chef, wasn't perfect, made mistakes, and had opinions about food and life. Qualities that makes both women much more personable and lovable in my mind.
@GooberSaysHey: Yeah, why couldn't we have just gotten a really interesting film about Child's life? I'd've paid good cash to watch Meryl Streep play a chef/spy.
Whatever. I'm sure Amy Adam's part in this movie is going to be cringe-worthy. Girl's got an annoying voice, and frankly, her hair in this movie looks like a Hasidic wig/son from recent olive garden commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLpuJ6U9oOk
And for the record, just because she cooked at home and blogged about it doesn't mean Julie Powell embodied the organic food movement. If I cooked a Foster Farms chicken and covered it in bernaise sauce, it would still be chemically engineered poop, regardless of my TLC.
@TiNK: Does she have to embody the organic food movement to be worthy of a film? I think she just had an interesting and ambitious cooking project. It's probably a more interesting movie because she's not an expert. Who wants to see some cynical, self-professed food expert snarking on Julia Childs for 2 hours?
If anything, she represents the humbler class of food bloggers who just enjoy food and are seeking to learn more, not just pretending they already know all the answers.
@Steverino Begins: I'm getting a bit caught up in semantics here, mainly cause I hate the word organic. Let me clarify.
My point: I dont think she embodies any organic movement whatsoever, in any definition of the word. What she's doing isn't new (people have blogged, people have cooked, people have devoted their lives to famous people--ie that cray cray lady who did all things Oprah), it's not natural to her, she's not growing her own veggies, the list goes on as to why this is not organic. I do think, however, that Ryan's done a good job proving an interesting point that she embodies the principles of the slow food movement. But since she never got into arguments with foodies over "slow food" like she did over "organic" shit, that stupid word has to be used at the end of the article to make a point.
My opinion: I DEFINITELY dont think you have to embody any movement of any kind in order to write an interesting blog, make an interesting movie, cook interesting food. My original point was that Amy Adams bothers me and her hair makes me want to rip mine out and donate it to her. Linguistics be damned.
I like good food and I like good writing. After reading all this commentary I plan to read Powell's book, see her movie, and, maybe, read Julia Child. I will not, however, go near the work of the "foodie bloggers." Writing and food should be good and satisfying, not preciously exclusive. And I hope I speak for Julie Powell when I say, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
@dragonhorse: Julia's biography, "Appetite for Life," is a ripping read. What a dame she was. What a life she enjoyed. Fully.
What's ironic to me is that Julia seemed like someone who didn't cotton to putting on airs about food. That was her trademark. That her devotees are getting all snooty about this goes against the spirit of what Julia Child was all about.
I never really considered it to be a foodie blog at all. I considered it more of an attempt to do something beyond just going to a crap job, going home to a crap apartment, having a crap social life, and repeating that. I always viewed making Julia Child's recipes as more of a means for Julie Powell to have a goal and something to push towards.
I loved the book not because it had ANYTHING WHATSOEVER to do with cooking. I don't cook. I make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and stir fry. I was enchanted by it more because I could relate to the New York experience of taking the trek to LIC, living in a hovel of a loft space, and sometimes hating the day to day grind.
From my view point, Foodies, TOTALLY missed the boat and don't get it. And Julia Child didn't like Julie Powell. Who cares. I like Julie Powell. Good for her for getting into blogging while it was still new and unchartered. She took a risk. It paid off.
@Lindsay Meeks: A lovely defense of Powell's book, although it'd have been so much lovelier with better grammar + without the 3rd graph. Cheeri-o. Take care.
It couldn't be "film rights envy", could it? I mean, it really was a genius cross-marketing idea, and seven figures can buy a lot of truffles.
And though I will freely admit to my crush on Bobby Flay, somehow I can't see any double Oscar winners starring in anything fashioned from, say, "Throwdown".
@Rooo sez BISH PLZ: i agree with @truly on the haterade these bloggers are sipping, but i have to disagree with you on liking bobby flay... can you (or anyone!) explain to me his charm?!?!?! (i do like that he's married to the lesbian d.a. from law & order who had to go into witness protection and them came out of it...)
@tigolbitties: I'm with you on Bobby Flay. It makes my skin crawl when people describe him as handsome or sexy. Although he's said to be a very successful womanizer so it's working for some of the ladies out there.
@gladys_kravitz: Bobby's such a.. jock! The coarse looks, the macho attitude, the bad hair, the dorky chef smocks, the EVERYTHING! Got so annoyed when he bested a cute, classically trained French chef with hipster floppy hair the other week on "Iron Chef."
Yet I am sure I'd fold if he personally hand-fed me bites of duck pâté seasoned with jalapenos.
These snarky foodees are close cousins to the depressives who hate Elizabeth Wurtzell for scoring a bestseller off her illness. (Gah! I hate her! And all those bi-polars who end up looking like fey, tortured, creative pixies in the movies while Mildred Morose ends up as a tedious cutter in the back story.) I'm just saying.
I live in San Francisco, which is spelled NORTHERN CALIFORNIA to foodies and means "HEAVEN."
You cannot breathe in this town without almost choking on the saffron-scented exhalations of self-righteous, obsessive-compulsive foodies of every persuasion.
Raw food, vegan, lacto-ovo, organisists, nitrogen-dusted victory gardeners, market farmers, traditionalists, alchemist chefs, WAP fanatics (of which I am one), etc. etc. etc.
Fresh, artful and organic fare is the religion of California.
We have a vegan cafe called "Cafe Gratitude" where they will not serve you unless you order the dish by it's exact title on the menu. The dishes names are "I Am Humble," "I Am Energized," "I Am At Peace." I think they should have a dish called "I Am a Food Nazi."
Anyhoo...I was actually mildly interested in this movie because I think Child is incredibly interesting. Not liking Nora Ephron so much I was going to wait until it came out on DVD.
BUT NOW...I will have to go see it in the theatre, just to spite the food bloggers with their oh-so-hyper-precious photos and their adamant stances on mushroom foam ingredients.
@themediatrix: The sentence "You cannot breathe in this town without almost choking on the saffron-scented exhalations of self-righteous, obsessive-compulsive foodies of every persuasion" is beautiful. You are a sliver of Caciocavallo Podolico in a congealed Velveeta world, my friend.
@themediatrix: Ha, that just about sums up about 70 percent of the SF resturant scene. Don't forget the "biodynamically engineered" ciders and $7 beers you can get for $2.50 at a bloody BevMo.
I recently read (in the NYT?) that Meryl Streep's inspiration was Dan Ackroyd's "SNL Julia". I intend to see this movie and laugh loudly, hopefully spitting pop corn on everyone.
@MissVero: I used to know a relative of Julia's, and I once asked her if Julia had ever seen the Dan Ackroyd sketch. The response was, "Are you kidding? Give her two glasses of wine and ask her about it, and she'll do the whole routine for you!"
07/30/09
07/29/09
It does work out that way sometimes.
07/29/09
07/29/09
I am kind of, um, particular about food--but all of these critics are really taking this way to seriously. Julie, to me, seemed like she undertook the blog to have fun and prove something to herself--not to show the world what a serious cook she was. Can no project be taken on just for fun? Does a person need to be an expert to do anything? How boring is that. I liked learning along with Julie and knowing she wasn't perfect and had an opinion. Just as Julia, on The French Chef, wasn't perfect, made mistakes, and had opinions about food and life. Qualities that makes both women much more personable and lovable in my mind.
07/29/09
07/29/09
07/30/09
07/29/09
I'll probably wait until it comes around to HBO, then I'll DVR it and fast-forward through the crap half.
07/29/09
07/29/09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLpuJ6U9oOk
And for the record, just because she cooked at home and blogged about it doesn't mean Julie Powell embodied the organic food movement. If I cooked a Foster Farms chicken and covered it in bernaise sauce, it would still be chemically engineered poop, regardless of my TLC.
07/29/09
07/29/09
07/29/09
If anything, she represents the humbler class of food bloggers who just enjoy food and are seeking to learn more, not just pretending they already know all the answers.
07/29/09
My point: I dont think she embodies any organic movement whatsoever, in any definition of the word. What she's doing isn't new (people have blogged, people have cooked, people have devoted their lives to famous people--ie that cray cray lady who did all things Oprah), it's not natural to her, she's not growing her own veggies, the list goes on as to why this is not organic. I do think, however, that Ryan's done a good job proving an interesting point that she embodies the principles of the slow food movement. But since she never got into arguments with foodies over "slow food" like she did over "organic" shit, that stupid word has to be used at the end of the article to make a point.
My opinion: I DEFINITELY dont think you have to embody any movement of any kind in order to write an interesting blog, make an interesting movie, cook interesting food. My original point was that Amy Adams bothers me and her hair makes me want to rip mine out and donate it to her. Linguistics be damned.
07/29/09
07/29/09
What's ironic to me is that Julia seemed like someone who didn't cotton to putting on airs about food. That was her trademark. That her devotees are getting all snooty about this goes against the spirit of what Julia Child was all about.
07/29/09
07/30/09
I said this above, but definitely read Julia Child ("My Life in France"). It's the better book, and the better half of the movie.
07/29/09
07/29/09
I loved the book not because it had ANYTHING WHATSOEVER to do with cooking. I don't cook. I make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and stir fry. I was enchanted by it more because I could relate to the New York experience of taking the trek to LIC, living in a hovel of a loft space, and sometimes hating the day to day grind.
From my view point, Foodies, TOTALLY missed the boat and don't get it. And Julia Child didn't like Julie Powell. Who cares. I like Julie Powell. Good for her for getting into blogging while it was still new and unchartered. She took a risk. It paid off.
07/29/09
07/29/09
And though I will freely admit to my crush on Bobby Flay, somehow I can't see any double Oscar winners starring in anything fashioned from, say, "Throwdown".
07/29/09
07/29/09
07/29/09
07/29/09
Yet I am sure I'd fold if he personally hand-fed me bites of duck pâté seasoned with jalapenos.
07/30/09
07/29/09
07/29/09
I live in San Francisco, which is spelled NORTHERN CALIFORNIA to foodies and means "HEAVEN."
You cannot breathe in this town without almost choking on the saffron-scented exhalations of self-righteous, obsessive-compulsive foodies of every persuasion.
Raw food, vegan, lacto-ovo, organisists, nitrogen-dusted victory gardeners, market farmers, traditionalists, alchemist chefs, WAP fanatics (of which I am one), etc. etc. etc.
Fresh, artful and organic fare is the religion of California.
We have a vegan cafe called "Cafe Gratitude" where they will not serve you unless you order the dish by it's exact title on the menu. The dishes names are "I Am Humble," "I Am Energized," "I Am At Peace." I think they should have a dish called "I Am a Food Nazi."
Anyhoo...I was actually mildly interested in this movie because I think Child is incredibly interesting. Not liking Nora Ephron so much I was going to wait until it came out on DVD.
BUT NOW...I will have to go see it in the theatre, just to spite the food bloggers with their oh-so-hyper-precious photos and their adamant stances on mushroom foam ingredients.
07/29/09
07/29/09
07/29/09
07/29/09
07/29/09
07/29/09
07/29/09