Is the Guardian worse than it used to be?

Yeah, take it to the "Is the Observer worse than it used to be" thread, EK!

"It certainly gave me a few wry chuckles; and I feel much better now about not getting tickets. They sound like a modem! Ouch! Take that, electronic music!"

Where have all these so-called Kraftwerk fans come from? Fuck off and go and watch Mumford & Sons, you cunts!!!!!!!!!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/17/labout-address-migration-impact-britain

This is pretty infuriating.

Deliberately dishonest, factually inaccurate tosh that sees pushing even further to the right than Blair / Brown / Straw / Blunkett as 'opening a dialogue that wasn't previously being addressed' or similar nonsense. Ugh.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2012/dec/20/tv-review-young-apprentice

Patrick's idea is this: a choir of middle-aged women, singing Lady Gaga's Poker Face, in a shopping centre... They wander out among the shoppers. They sing about their poker faces.

Or, as I believe the young people call the song, 'Bad Romance'. Which is jam packed with references to poker faces.

I tell a lie, they had a second go at it which was Poker Face.

Is aldo worse that he used to be?

Yes. Yes, he is.

It happens to us all. :/

anyone heard anything about the print edition going saturdays only next year?

how successful is the ipad edish?

DL keeps the trolls fed and reading the paper: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/jan/01/pop-music-sick-2013-revival

leaveitallbehind

02 January 2013 12:06 PMLink to this comment
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@ladivina69 - totally concur with your comments. The majority of the current pop music is merely background filler!

When was the last time people actually made the effort to listen to an album?

You write about chart pop in the Guardian you get the cranks and their thinly veiled racism, although this thread's faring better than most to be honest. I've only been called a middle-class white hipster once.

At least 20% of the comments left on the Guardian website each month come from only 2,600 user accounts, who together make up just 0.0037% of the Guardian’s declared monthly audience.

http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2012/12/guardian-comments-part-1057.php

That doesn't surprise me -- it seems like most newspaper commenters are made up of a dedicated group of trolls and/or right wing fanatics.

I'd be surprised if it was less than 50℅, particularly on CIF.

Sliders

Mini-burgers, as that nice man off Spooks explains on the M&S advert. First imported from New York, as most things are, by Soho restaurateur Russell Norman. Like the three-thirds-of-a-pint beer "tasting stick" – you've seen one of those, surely? – this is either a great way to taste several different burgers at once, or a ploy to make us pay over-the-odds for minuscule meat patties.

I have no idea what this could possibly mean.

First imported from New York, as most things are

!!!

Like the three-thirds-of-a-pint beer "tasting stick" – you've seen one of those, surely?

wtf?

French dip

Not a euphemism for a sexual peccadillo (see also, pulled pork), but an LA export gaining a foothold in London. And little wonder. We're talking a meat sandwich

And little wonder. this article contains some of the worst writing i've seen in print.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/jan/03/hipster-food-glossary-french-dip-burnt-ends

Like the three-thirds-of-a-pint beer "tasting stick" – you've seen one of those, surely?

It means three small glasses of beer, each 1/3 of a pint. Different beer in each one obviously. But that sentence is appalling and a needlessly complex and confusing way of describing three small burgers lined up next to one another.

I think he's also giving Russell Norman credit for importing most of New York's food ideas, not claiming that most things are imported from NY. The former claim would be pretty dubious in its own right, the latter would be too nonsensical even for this piece.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/dec/28/worst-idea-2012-gourmet-junk-food?INTCMP=SRCH

this was good though

xps

That sentence about sliders seems to imply that Russell Norman was the first person to bring them to London, which I find v v hard to believe.

It's a horrible piece. That kind of perky incoherent lifestylese is too grim.

i think you could all save yourselves a lot of bother if you clocked the byline before reading. marina o'loughlin or jay rayner? read on! certain others, hit that back button asap

Ah Tony seems a decent sort, even if the writing isn't great. They're obviously just mining for "I live in the north, fuck off London with your kimchi, I had a pie last night, 1.50 it cost me, yer bloody daft hipsters" comment-bait.

When was the last time people actually made the effort to listen to an album?

love this, from upthread. i mean in our day when you bought an album you listened to it. really listened, you know. not today!

xpost - i like marina o'l generally but i am now definitely as bored of reading negative shit about posh fast food as i am about the hype. i don't tend to need somebody to repeat a view i hold ad infinitum in the mass media but that's just me.

The writing in that Marina O'Loughlin piece is terrible, Lex.

I mean:

There's no sign of it stopping, either. The latest junk food trend to land is ramen. At last something lighter and healthier, huh? Not a chance. This is tonkotsu, the Japanese version of dirrrty, with extra pipettes of pig fat in case your bowl of squeezed pig writhing with Pot Noodlyness isn't lardy enough.

Does anyone really consider stuff like this to be good writing?

ah sure who cares as long as you agree with her

Whenever I see the TN byline I'm wont to think 'they asked three busier/more clued-up people to write this first, and all of them said no'.

Aren't those tasting sticks normally known as a 'flight', as with wine? OMG the stuuupid in this piece. French dip is not gravy. It's a roast beef sandwich (think posh cheese steak) on a French roll with a ramekin of jus for dipping, melted Swiss on sandwich optional. And sliders? Fucksake, that was White Castle before it was anything else (although in my mother's house, we call them Gut Bombs).

Aren't those tasting sticks normally known as a 'flight', as with wine

no. no, they're not.

Tony's generally decent. but now I want a French dip :(

Tasting flight, actually - and yes; yes they are. xp

And tbf most Brits would call what you get with a French dip 'gravy'

I've had a beer flight, yeah

And tbf most Brits would call what you get with a French dip 'gravy'

that's the sort of logic that leads to calling a bit of wood a 'stick'

Stick o'bisto, next big thing

NB I don't know who Marina O'Loughlin is, I rarely read food writing bar the occasional Time Out restaurant review, and I basically agree with her central point but that's still a very very badly-written piece. And the "don't you just all agree?" schtick is as irritating as it is whenever journalists resort to it.

Whenever I see the TN byline I'm wont to think 'they asked three busier/more clued-up people to write this first, and all of them said no'.

Again, his decency and good spirit makes me prefer him to others. I wouldn't normally value that in a writer but he is fairly good on beer too. Plus if someone corrects him he's usually pretty gracious. I'm really being too charitable I guess.

On the burger thing, I just noticed Marina says something in the comments about "contrary to what social media would make you believe, there's more to London" - this see a point she should have made in the piece, that most of the hype/ennui, as ever, exists on the internet echo-chamber. And also that fine dining and grander establishments don't use Twitter.

I mean it's just reacting to Twitter really, not sure how hype about restaurants or even loads of them opening could ever be annoying in real life, you just wouldn't go, and nobody "talks" about things in the same repetitive, competitive and shrill way in real life as they do on Twitter.

Turn off the computer and go somewhere else for dinner, imo.

those tasting paddles are known as a flight, what are you on about.

more than the outdatedness (bubble fucking tea? is this the year 2000?) of all these apparent 'hipster foods' i'm irritated by the fact that he falsely got my hopes up by stating that Zhonghua was in Oxford (it's in cambridge).

i've been reading marina o'l's restaurant reviews for a while now - she used to be at metro

I like MO'L a lot; that sentence, not so much.

French dip jus is not 'gravy', it's un-thickened stock sieved from the pan scrapings ie. 'pre-gravy'. Sorry to be such a sticking pedant about this.

My mom makes prime rib of beef for Christmas dinner every year and leftovers are generally French dip for every meal (including breakfast) until the beef runs out. Then we wander down to the sports bar where my sister used to wait tables, Mom sees French dip on the menu, and orders it. *books quadruple bypass appointment*

And also that fine dining and grander establishments don't use Twitter.

Sure about that? Many do.

thanks for the clarification, Matt.

bubble fucking tea? is this the year 2000?

lol!

They're not as feverishly all over it as the street food and burger places tho, not by any means. The noise on twitter is definitely dominated by the trendier end of the spectrum, and it's understandable, given the target markets. Xpost.

Plus you know, the growing obsession with pics of food lends itself to fast food being posted about, it's not that edifying or classy for a high end restaurant to bombard you with images of their latest creation to prompt replies of "ooh salsify porn" or whatever.

I Like MO'L; she can actually do the style that lots of food writers are shooting for – descriptive, engaged, casual; and she has a likeable persona – not too foodie, not too cynical. I do think she's been a bit over-stretched over the last while – her tics show through more, there's an autopilot that just chugs along without anything interesting happening – but she's better than most in that world.

I usually find TN a bit flat – worse than that here – but he's definitely a reliable professional. Not-London is part of his appeal for editors I think.

Agree about Marina. She has a wide range too. Worth noting she herself did a lot to build up all the current burger temples. That Metro job is a hugely influential one.

And also that fine dining and grander establishments don't use Twitter.

My sister tweeted Le Manoir to say my mum was visiting for her birthday and they gave her a book signed by Le Chef when she arrived.

Also useful if you find you're stuck in traffic and will be late to arrive for a reservation.

i really, genuinely do not comprehend the thought process that would lead a person to tweet the restaurant rather than call them

Ever tried getting through to a really busy restaurant during service? I'd do both just to cover my arse, since the time I was late to interview Elvis Costello because of traffic, phoned the restaurant to tell them I was stuck in a taxi but on my way, and although the waitress assured me she'd pass on the message, she did not. Arrived to find EC cross and on point of leaving - to be fair to him, he instantly became lovely when sheepish waitress admitted she'd forgotten. Afterwards I discovered that this charming man was supposed to be Lou Reed-level nasty to interview, just not to me.

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