Lately, my wife and I have gotten into watching Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, a show about how super chef Gordon Ramsay helps restaurant operators and their restaurants (re)gain heart.
There is unquestionably something romantic about the restaurant business. But, there is something tragic about it as well owing to high mortality rates.
So much of Ramsay’s show is about the price of pride and its offspring, willful ignorance. It’s a narrative drama around an interesting topic.
To see what I mean, here is a clip from one of the better episodes (from the original UK version of the show). If you are totally bored, check out a full show online right now.
Meanwhile, New York Magazine has a well researched article on the 'Rudy Giuliani, the leader' versus 'Rudy, the candidate.' Love or hate the guy, most of the article rings true.
As someone who feels forever connected to New York, I can also appreciate the invective many New Yorkers feel towards Rudy. Fortunately, there is a more consistently positive yin to Giuliani's yang, Michael Bloomberg.
Needless to say, the upcoming presidential election presents some interesting forks in the road, making, "The Good, the Bad and the Rudy" truly worth the read.
Here is a nice book-end set of quotes from the article:
“What has really enabled New York to be so resilient in the face of all these challenges—white flight, disinvestment, de-industrialization, global competition, 9/11?” asks John Mollenkopf, a CUNY professor of political science. “New York is trying to sail upwind against some fairly strong storms. Yet the population is going up, per capita income is going up in real terms. How did we do it? It’s kind of crass, but New York has continued to be a place where a lot of people can make a lot of money, which attracts one kind of talent.
“It’s insulting to every New Yorker that he (Rudy) goes around the country talking as if he thinks he was the animal tamer and we were the animals,” Ed Koch says.
