yet another great reason to move to canada

quite a few years ago on a trip to montreal, i discovered a beautiful thing. lay's smokey bacon chips. that's bacon fume en francais. apparently, the frito lay company has quite a different selection above the border.

you say, "another post about pork products????!!!!"

yup.

man, these were my favorite chips for a long time. authentic smokey flavor, great crunch - artificial and natural flavor! any time someone went north of the border, we would beg them - "get smokey bacon! get smokey bacon!" my friend bryan and i even went so far as to contact frito lay national (bryan made the call) and ask why we couldn't get the same wonderful snacky goodness as the rest of north america. they very politely said no. and that was it.

check out the lay's canadian website. you will see smokey bacon and ketchup flavor (both of which i have tried, they also have ketchup flavored doritos!) as well as several new flavors:

roast chicken!!!!!!

fries 'n gravy!!!!!!

spicy curry!!!!!!

chili garlic!!!!!!

i guess i'm goin' to canada!

the bridge

i saw this documentary on friday night called the bridge. for a year in 2004, filmmaker eric steel camped out at the golden gate bridge in san fran and documented with several telephoto lenses, people committing and attempting to commit suicide. i found this to be a compelling examination of the subject and quite disturbing. to me what was most disturbing was the shock of watching people die right before your eyes, and then becoming adjusted to it, almost numb. it may seem that this could be very exploitative, but the subject matter was not handled that way. it was very real and honest. the footage of jumpers or attempting jumpers was cut together with family and friends talking about the jumper. this film was banned from several festivals, although after seeing this, i'm not sure why. perhaps the subject was too taboo, i'm not sure. here's a great interview with the director. one of the best moments of the film was an interview with a still photographer who happened to be shooting on the bridge when a jumper came up next to him and stepped over the rail and onto the ledge. he continued to shoot pictures for a while, until realizing what the jumper was about to do. he eventually ended up grabbing the person off the ledge and lifting them back on to the road. he talked about how when looking through a camera lens you sometimes forget that what you are seeing is really happening, that you become detached from your subject. The film inter cut interview footage with actual long lens shots of this happening and the still photos that the guy took. this made for an utterly compelling viewing experience. you get to here the tale told and see it happen at the same time. if you like to be challenged, watch this film.

haiku, f. u.

boy george: the sad clown
i saw behind the music
unrequited love

the 9 dollar hot dog

let me start by saying that i love pork. nation of islam, i feel sorry for you. for me, pork is the ultimate meat - let me count the ways:

1. bacon

2. pork loin

3. ham steak

4. ham cold cuts

5. canadian bacon

6. pig roast

7. pulled pork

8. holiday ham

9. hawaiian pizza

10. pork chops

11. ribs!!!!! (you are right, jim, how could i forget???)

this leads me to the 9 dollar hot dog.

big fatty's on main street in burlington has this gastronomical giant on the menu. a couple of months ago, my family and i tried their ribs and chicken. fantastic. the best real barbecue i've ever had (not that i've had a ton, mind you)

take one foot long hot dog and bun. pile on a mountain of pulled pork, cole slaw and extra barbecue sauce, plus a nice cool switchback, and man, you are wanting for nothing. if i could improve on this idea at all, i would say using a corndog would be nice, or a bun made out of corn bread.

this thing must've weighed close to 5 pounds! regrettably, i couldn't finish it. i came close. my friend greg came much closer. anyway, if you love stupid ridiculous over-the-top food and pork, you will be into this.

mmmmmmmmm. pork.

lara logan, i feel for you

cbs chief foreign correspondent lara logan, you are the bomb. i can't get you out of my head. of the 5 celebrities on my "list," you are currently number one. you make me feel like one of those teenage girls you see on the footage of the beetles playing live, screaming and clawing at my face and crying, "please god, oh please." you look good. so good. even with a helmet on, covered in sand and dust. in fact, i think you look better that way. and you have a british accent. and you used to be a swimsuit model. and your reporting. your reporting. you are really good at that. which is pretty rare.

once i saw lara logan live. she had no makeup on (still looked amazing.) they went to a short, short package (less than a minute) and came back and she had full makeup on. wow. quick. and great.

anyway, lara logan. the only reason to watch corporate news.