Mark Evanier’s recent post about Skinny Pop Popcorn reminded me of my own experience with homemade popcorn. My mother and I enjoyed many an episode of Remington Steele, Dark Shadows, and Star Trek: The Next Generation among other favorite shows while munching away on a bowl of fresh popcorn.
Popcorn cooked on the stovetop was the not-so-heart-healthy option we originally used.
We’d sometimes splurge on Jiffy Pop popcorn, which when you’re a kid was a night’s entertainment itself.
Professor von Jiffy Pop, who was later tried and convicted for war crimes, doesn’t tell you that trying to eat Jiffy Pop right out of the bag will turn the ends of your fingers into burned corn kernels.
I fondly recall my family’s mid-1980s purchase of Orville Redenbacher’s hot air popcorn popper. The butter that melted in the container as the popcorn cooked was delicious science in action. I also wore a chef’s outfit whenever making popcorn with the device.
I remember the claim of “virtually no unpopped kernels” being slightly less successful in practice. You’d also wind up with a few blackened pieces, but they still went down well with enough butter and “seasoning” (a salty spicy mixture that while advertised as not being salt still puckered your lips after a couple bites).
Tonight perhaps I’ll whip up some popcorn and watch a few episodes of Law & Order on Netflix.
serhasacomplaint 
Now she knows how Joan of Arc felt…
Paula Deen compares her recent outing as a racist to football player Michael Sam’s announcement that he’s gay.
“I feel like ‘embattled’ or ‘disgraced’ will always follow my name. It’s like that black football player who recently came out,” Deen told People Magazine in an interview hitting newsstands Friday, as quoted by The Wrap. “He said, ‘I just want to be known as a football player. I don’t want to be known as a gay football player.’ I know exactly what he’s saying.”
I’m not sure if I believe that Deen knows “exactly” what Sam is saying when she doesn’t seem to know his name. Was it that hard for her to Google? And I don’t think “embattled” or “disgraced” will always follow Sam’s name because the weird, alternative lifestyle here is Deen’s ignorance.
Deen continues to whine about her “embattled” life as a wealthy woman who is interviewed by national publications.
The celebrity chef also said her public fall from grace has made her feel “empathy” for others who have been vilified in the media, like “Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertson. Robertson was heavily criticized and temporarily suspended from his reality show for comments he made about gays and blacks in a GQ interview.
Let me see here: Deen’s post-scandal plan for letting the world know she’s not a racist is to express her “empathy” for one (Phil Robertson) and to refer to Michael Sam as that “black football player.” In the context of her attempt to co-opt his personal experiences for her own use, Sam’s race was irrelevant but yet she still led with it as his most defining characteristic. Wow. Who’s handling her PR? Bialystock and Bloom?
“It’s amazing that some people are given passes and some people are crucified,” Deen told People, as quoted by The Wrap. ”I have new empathy for these situations, though. My dad always told me, ‘Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.’”
Can Deen pause her plantation-style pity party long enough to name one person who received a “pass” for racist statements? Or offensive statements to any group? I’m not claiming they don’t exist but I just think that Deen might take the time to do her research (even learn Michael Sam’s name). It’s not like she’s that busy these days.
And no one — neither her nor Robertson — has been “crucified.” People said “mean” things about you. You lost your job. That’s the beginning of Stripes not a crucifixion.
Quick Comparison.
Stripes:
Crucifixion:
http://youtu.be/ZMBb_jQsHc8
The guy in the second clip doesn’t look in any condition for an interview with People Magazine.
Posted by Stephen Robinson on February 27, 2014 in Social Commentary
Tags: Michael Sam, Paula Deen