I like how Substack lets you upload videos now. YouTube is so predatory that I don’t like to post there. True story - I have a project on YouTube that has a long Internet history, a unique name and a .com domain of that unique name. When you search for it on YouTube not only does it not come up first - it doesn’t come up at all.
Are parents pretentious if they give you a hyphenated surname?
Here’s a video showing me at Uwajimaya ogling yellowtail collars that Seattle food influencer J. Kenji López-Alt filmed himself purchasing days earlier. I have a love/hate relationship with Kenji. I admire him and his hard work — filming yourself every day must be exhausting — but I’m also horrified by his occasional cringeworthy lack of class consciousness. And I found his wok book The Wok: Recipes and Techniques to be about a hundred pages too long.
Throwing yellowtail collar on the grill sounds amazing, but three pounds for 54 dollars is probably out of most people’s price range. And it’s not all meat, like, say, a similarly pricey halibut steak. The precious collar meat is still attached to some skin and fins and whatnot.
Food Influencers face sleazy temptations
I’m a fan of chef Kev, a TikTok food guy with stage 4 cancer who works for a sorority. I guess he can be forgiven for slapping his name and likeness on expensive olive oil products that he does not produce, package or ship. This seems to happen to lots of food influencers that I follow and then unfollow.
Nirvana WOK: 2020-2027
If anyone wants a turnkey situation for a possible 501(c)(3) nonprofit (or a restaurant!) with a .com domain name, an LLC and attached bank account and associated social media real estate please let me know. I can’t recall working on any project (other than marriage and child-rearing) that has lasted more than two years, and now it’s time to move on from this one. I have big (top secret) plans for a new direction in 2027 that do not involve a state of enlightenment or woks.
In the meantime I will be posting videos here over the next few months. I’m planning on buying new filmmaking equipment next year - an iPhone. My iPhone 12 (the second smart phone I have owned) needs to retire.
—Alex
I'm your number one fan.