Travel Channel - Anthony Bourdain in Beirut - Days before attacks

[XOKCowboy]

Coming on right now. This oughta be interesting.

[XOKCowboy]

1. Hate to bump myself but this is HEAVY!

Filmed in July '06. Shows a resurgent city. Lots of activity, building, commerce. It's normally a food show but it ended with being evacuated because of the shelling.

[Subdivisions]

10. This is why I thought this show would be so

compelling. They are a professional film production team, albeit for a food show, but they all would understand their obligation to report and record their experiences that is untainted (hopefully) by external pressure and is as true a representation of a street-level experience by someone caught in the middle of it.

Anthony also has not hesitated to editorialize the chaos and his feelings as the film progresses.

[DemoTex]

2. Watching. Thanks for the heads up.

Mac

[Gloria]

3. The young man who published "Time Out" woke up the next

morning to find that the airport had been bombed.

A great city, just so sad.

[CatWoman]

4. back to the top!!!!

[Subdivisions]

5. I was waiting for this and it's as

compelling as I thought it would be.

It's a HELLUVA lot better than anything else on at the moment, ie: JMK


EDITED TO ADD: Holy crap! Did Anthony just say that everyone in his party was devestated to see *'s callousness and cavalier at the G-8 Summit when Tony Blair was trying to discuss the Hezbollah/Israel debacle and muching on a roll?

[CatWoman]

6. describing his and other stranded Americans

reaction to the video clip of Chimpy eating the buttered roll at the G8 summit - they had to keep watching it over and over -- you could just see Tony's disdain for that embarrassment of a leader we are stuck with.

[Subdivisions]

7. Yes! I edited my post to say the same thing, basically eom

[LSK]

11. I caught that too

[DemoTex]

8. "There go the Brits"

Everybody getting out but Americans. Bu$h eating roll, while Beirut burned .. devastating. Tony in his "mis en place." Great stuff.

[CatWoman]

9. Tony fucking rules!!!

I ordered a copy of "Kitchen Confidential" today.

[DemoTex]

14. Read "A Cook's Tour" too.

Excellent writing, both.

[NYCGirl]

18. And a fast read, and amazingly brilliant is Tony's "Urban Historical"

about Typhoid Mary:

[Subdivisions]

13. This is award-winning stuff. The boat pictures are ( K & R )

awesome and profound. If you are not watching the Travel Channel, get there NOW!

[Moochy]

12. K&R!

Watching it now.. thanks for the heads up!

[DemoTex]

15. Award-winning stuff.

Great program.

[Subdivisions]

16. Agreed eom

[NEDem]

17. Fantastic, agreed

Anthony and his crew deserve an award, what an excellent broadcast.

[XOKCowboy]

19. You guys are certainly welcome. What a show!

It's going to be shown again at 11P Mountain in case anyone missed it.

[DemoTex]

22. One more kick, for the graveyard shift.

[XOKCowboy]

20. I had a friend who actually said that the people in Beirut deserved

to be stranded there. He knows better to spout that FoxNews crap at me and I told him that Lebanon was one of those "democracies" that Bush said were spreading freedom in the Middle East and that it was being rebuilt, popular support from the people, etc. He had no reply but his support for Bush is quicly waning anyway.

Anyway I just sent him an email about the show. He's a Travel Channel junkie too. We do what we can.

[DemoTex]

21. Thanks for the original heads-up XOK. I would have missed it otherwise.

Also, the quality of this piece has kept the Bourdain-haters at bay (and there are a few on DU!).

Mis en Place!
Mac

[JI7]

25. why would anyone hate Bourdain ?

he is amazing

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

26. There's an assortment of reasons but mostly it's his view on vegetarians.

Honestly, I think he's a major asshole on the vegetarian issue, but I like him enough on his other views, that I'll turn a blind eye to the vegetarian attacks.

[Kablooie]

23. I just caught it here in L.A.

I wouldn't have known without finding this thread. Thanks.

An Emmy winner for sure.
It's the first time I can feel a little of what it is like to be out there.
And the contrast of the normal city on the first day is very
effective. It draws you into the world in a familiar way.

Anyone who didn't see it, catch the reruns.

[JI7]

24. that was way better than i thought it would be

from seeing the moments before the fighting started of him just having food and learning about the culture and history of the place as he does in all the other shows to how everything changed when the fighting started. even though we already knew what happened , i still watched the show wanting to hear what would happen next based on the way Bourdain told it.

and then hearing his thoughts of everything that happened was great too.

you really see people as just people like us living each day. not just the people over there in the troubled lands or even the people who are victims. but the day to day lives.

[jarnocan]

27. hope they re-show this or have a link on the web.

If anyone finds a link please post