The Horrid Commercialism of the Fast Food Industry

Believe it or not, this is actually a book review. I just finished Chew on This! by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson, a book for teens about the fast food industry and how it affects every aspect of Americans' lives. It's basically a slightly dumbed-down and shortened version of Eric Schlosser's other book, Fast Food Nation, which I also read.

The book addresses many good points:

1. How the industry was started, beginning with the invention of the hamburger

2. Who the big thinkers were, such as Carl Karcher, Ray Kroc, and even Walt Disney

3. How fast food is made, from the fries to the burgers to the artifical flavoring

4. How it is marketed to us

5. What goes on behind the scenes at the slaughterhouses and the industrial farms and meat-packing plants (ugh, do you really want your burgers from a place known as a PLANT?)

6. The affects it all has on society: soda rotting teeth, bad food causing obesity, etc

I found the book very informative. And the best part is, Eric Schlosser presents it all in a straightforward, mainly unbiased manner, unlike Morgan Spurlock, for instance. But still, even with the lack of bias, it's still EASY to see the harmful effects fast food has on society and how WRONG it is.

Take this Ray Kroc quote, here:

"We have found out... that we cannot trust some people who are nonconformists... We will make conformists out of them... The organization cannot trust the individual; the individual must trust the organization."

Ray Kroc is the man who promoted McDonald's and made it what it is today, one of the founding fathers of fast food, if you will. And look, doesn't that sound more like a totalitarian takeover than a way to run a restaurant? No, there is no way to portray Ray Kroc as anyone except the man who wanted to start a revolution with his business, using any means necessary. How can we trust an industry that was build on people like this?

Huh. That last paragraph was pretty good. I should have included that in my research paper. Yeah, I wrote my research paper on the fast food industry. Let me just say, as far as reliable sources go, WATCH SUPERSIZE ME. That movie will change your life.

Video teaser! This guy, Morgan Spurlock, also has a book out that I read. Again, very informative but very biased. He's my second-favorite advocate against fast food besides Eric Schlosser.

Another thing I liked about Chew on This! was that it included real life stories of people who are affected by the industry: the teen working behind the counter at a McDonald's, the boy getting a gastric bypass surgery from having too much fast food and becoming obese. It makes it so much more real.

Seriously, how do we sit back and let this happen? How do we let good potatoes become THIS? It's no wonder America has an obesity crisis today, we fry our dang vegetables! How hard is it to figure out? And sure, we got there over a long period of time, but everything has grown exponentially since TVs have become commonplace and advertising runs rampant.

We need to stop sitting back and doing this to ourselves. At least educate yourselves, people. I love fries as much as the next person, but I saw Supersize Me and I no longer have an urge to eat them quite as often.

For more sources on fast food, read:

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, a novel based on the true horrors of the meat industry in the early 1900s

Don't Eat This Book by Morgan Spurlock, his book about the Supersize Me project

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, which I mentioned above

All of these can teach you a lot. Open your eyes. You don't have to become a vegan zealot or anything, just choose buying some dough and some sauce at Trader Joe's and throwing it in the oven with a salad as a side instead of ordering that pizza with the free breadsticks and the liter of soda.

Anyway, all my preaching aside, I really enjoyed this book.

The Inevitable After-Holiday Crash

That's right, folks, it's happened. People around the world (or at least in Christmas-celebrating regions) are sacked out on their couches, casting glazed stares onto football games (or Food Network or Spongebob or whatever) as they sleep off their food comas from the holidays. My brother and I are no exception. We camped out on the couch all morning in sweats watching Toy Story and sipping tea (or in my brother's case, sparkling apple cider; don't know why).



We got all three of the movies for Christmas, and even though 2 was definitely my favorite, 3 was the most fun to watch today. I haven't seen it since I saw it with my best friends over summer, and it always gets to me! It's even better because I'm part of the generation that grew up with the movies. The fact that we're growing up and leaving our toys behind really applies to our lives as we go through it.

Of course, every time I see a Toy Story movie, I want to take all my stuffed animals down out of my closet and host a tea party. Which is weird, because I was NOT a tea party kid when I was little.

I could watch these movies a million times and they wouldn't get old. The plots are amazing and very in-depth for kids' movies, and they could almost be watched as comedies or classics instead of just Disney kids' films. I still love the movies just as much now as I did ten years ago, and I can still quote the first two word for word.

I also love how every movie they introduce new characters: the first, Buzz; the second, Jessie, Bullseye, and the aliens; the third, Lotso, Big Baby, Barbie, Ken.

And oh, how we all loved Barbie and Ken in this movie. They were so vapid and so superficial and so... STOREBOUGHT that you just had to laugh.
I think Barbie's actually my favorite, and I could use a full-size poster of Ken striking a pose in his hippie costume for my room (if you've seen it, you know what I'm referring to). And even though they were goofy, they made nice assets to the film. Plus I think all Toy Story fanatics were reminded of Tour Guide Barbie in the second one who led them through Al's Toy Barn.

Plus, this movie solved the question of "What would happen if Barbies were brought to life?" It was exactly as I thought it would be.

Stay tuned, part two of my after-holiday crash post coming up, just since it's on the horrid commercialism of the fast food industry, I thought I would keep it separate from this bright, optimistic movie review. =)

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Well it BETTER look a lot like Christmas, since it's December flippin' 23rd. Hello, tomorrow's CHRISTMAS EVE! This is a picture from our Christmas last year (thanks to my mom for her photo skillz). We got the tree set up, we got lights, we got indoor heating, everything's all nice and cheery. And although you can't see it, we have cashews and candy canes in the kitchen and I'm sliding around in my pajamas and uber-fuzzy socks, which means it's pretty much the best day ever.

I gotta tell you, we have a lot of good holiday memories. Especially last year. Last year was the year I got SOCKS for Christmas. I know it's a cliche... kid gets socks for Christmas and realizes they must have been naughty, because, hello, who in their right mind wants socks for Christmas? I DO. I'm a sock FANATIC... I gotta upload a picture of my sock drawer, it's like an explosion of rainbow cottony KABLAM. It's pretty intense. This is why my grandpa thought it a good idea to get me a cardboard packing box filled entirely with... socks. Rainbow socks, camouflage socks, striped socks, knee highs, leg warmers, fuzzy socks, mismatched socks, socks with dogs on them, and my favorite, BOOK SOCKS. That's right, THEY EXIST! *cue Holy Grail-esque music here*

This year, we're hanging out at my Aunt Janet's on Christmas Eve. They always have a party and serve tons of seafood, and even though I'm a vegetarian there's usually a lot of dessert, so, you know, I'll survive. Even if it means I have to eat only chocolate, I refuse to go hungry! I'm slightly disappointed because I kind of wanted to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" this Christmas Eve and I can't because we're going out for the night. Maybe I'll TiVo it. (Does anybody even say "TiVo it" anymore?)

Saturday Night Live did an awesome parody of "It's a Wonderful Life". Cracked me up, plus it had Jeff Bridges, how good can it get? Unfortunately I can't find the video anywhere, so you'll just have to take my word on how great it is.

After Christmas Eve this year, things get tricky. We go to my grandparents' on Christmas Day for a food-and-presents FRENZY, then the next day, the day where normally we're all in food comas, lethargically cleaning up wrapping paper and drinking leftover peppermint tea, we'll be hightailing it to the Bay Area to see my dad's side of the family. I haven't seen my cousins in FOREVER, so I'm really excited. Plus I have a ton of reading to do, so I don't mind the 7 hour car ride.

Doesn't this look like my kind of Christmas tree? I kinda like it. Maybe I'll do this when I grow up. It's kind of... festive. Although I still love the SUPER decked out, mega tree with tinsel and popcorn chains, so weighed down with ornaments that it looks like Atlas holding up the world. Just saying. Our tree looks more like that. Although my mom's convinced it's crooked this year, even though we keep reassuring her IT'S FINE...

Well, I better go finish Breaking Dawn (just club me now) so I can get around to reading some better books. Like my library books. I NEED TO SPREAD SOME CHRISTMAS SPIRIT!

Holed Up Inside

I've been holed up inside ALL DAY. No, more than that... ALL WEEK. Since LAST SATURDAY. And it's NOW WEDNESDAY. That's a PROBLEM, if my caps can't get that point across to you.

It would be fine if I had some awesome new book to rave about... but I don't. No, I have Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. It's kind of sad because I couldn't read when we went to Target for Christmas shopping today (okay, maybe my holing-up hasn't been SO drastic) because I was too scared to take that book out in public. Can you imagine the humiliation? I even hid it under the seat so my mom's car wouldn't get keyed.

No, talking about books is out of the question. Nobody wants to hear about the Twilight saga, its hype is over (HALLELUJAH!). Instead, I've been occupying myself with music. And more Brian Regan, but I already buzzed about his hilariousness last post. Seriously, how much better can you get than "TAKE... LUCK!" or "When's that BABY due?"

Back on topic! My music buzz is going strong, with the new stuff I bought off iTunes. Got some Jet, some Shinedown, some Wallflowers... yeah, I have diverse music tastes. Got a problem? It's better than my friend Adrie... she gets all hyper-aggressive if you let her listen to too much Rage Against the Machine. But how can you not? I think everyone has that problem, they're pretty... Rage-ful.

I've been obsessed with One Headlight by the Wallflowers for oh, say... 24 hours now. I actually put my iPod on repeat last night and fell asleep to the song over and over, something I haven't done since Dani California hit its peak.

"Me and Cinderella... we put it all together..." *starts humming blissfully* This song originated as a Bass Lake song in my family, meaning it was playing incessantly one year on our big Bass Lake family vacation. Sure enough, I remember the first time I heard this song was... on a boat. Before I almost drowned tubing.

And now I introduce to you... Rag and Bone by the ONE AND ONLY WHITE STRIPES!!! I cannot impress upon you how great this band is. Two words: Jack White. Two more words: Meg White. Last two words, I swear: MUSICAL TALENT.

This song cracks me up. I love when he gets REALLY into it with the houses:

"Got plenty of places to go, lots of homes we ain't been to yet. West side, southwest side, middle-east, rich house, dog house, outhouse, old folks house, house for unwed mothers, halfway homes, catacombs, twilight zones. Looking for techniques, turntables to gramophones. So take a last lick of your ice cream cone. And lock up what you still want to own. But please be kind. And don't rewind."

He sounds so wound up! This song's unique (even for them) because Meg actually speaks up in it. You have to understand, she NEVER talks. Sure, she sings a couple tracks, but she's got anxiety problems and she's painfully shy so you almost never hear her talk. She never even talked this loud on their documentary, Under Great White Northern Lights (yes, I own it and have watched it obsessively, yes, the White Moon scene makes me tear up)!

Unfortunately the White Stripes seem to be over, which REALLY sucks because they're one of my favorite bands. It seems I always get into the good bands too late: White Stripes, Nirvana, the Beatles, Johnny Cash, Tori Amos... sure, Tori is still producing, but let's face it, everybody, her glory days are OVER.

But yeah, they're split up for now while Jack goes on to bigger (but probably not better, or as-good) things and Meg copes with her anxiety issues. Hopefully one day she'll get over them and the White Stripes will reunite, but until then, no dice.

For now, I'm stuck replaying their CDs endlessly (especially Get Behind Me, Satan) and trying to appreciate the Raconteurs or the Dead Weather. And they're good, but I miss Meg's simply epic drumming.