Comments on: Banned. Should I gatecrash?

By: Ed

Ed — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:47:25 +0000

Andrew gave me an idea about thinking before commenting. To everyone who wants to know whether to eat at Rice Spice – the answer, and I’m afraid this is post modern, is in the subtext.

By: Ed

Ed — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:30:09 +0000

Andrew, I can asure you no planing went into the comments and my Mother just hopes I phone or visit one day this year.

Thanh, the subtext is chose Longrain.

By: Thanh

Thanh — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:14:47 +0000

Grocer, hahaha, you’d be surprised how many times I get called Tanh, or Fan, or Tharn or Tan etc.

Sticky, I agree with you that it is only one person’s opinion, so we should reserve full judgement until experiencing ourselves.

Duncan, I too agree that food should be at the fore of a food review. It can contain lots of other things around it making it funny, poignant, whatever. But there always needs to be some focus on the food.

Ed, I have to say that when I first read your review, I really don’t know anything about what food is served at this place. I found the review funny with all these other references and hence like Sticky, I love reading your blog. But as a review, it wasn’t entirely helpful if I really wanted to go eat there. I’ve never been to Longrain so cannot compare to them.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:43:51 +0000

Robust discussion indeed. More planning & articulative skills have gone into the comments than into the original 2 posts.

Ed, you may call yourself a snob, but I bet your mother thinks your a very naughty boy

By: Ed

Ed — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 05:56:58 +0000

Duncan, glad to have a robust discussion which is part of what I am for.

By: Duncan | Syrup&Tang

Duncan | Syrup&Tang — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 05:13:32 +0000

Ed, I said that *I* think food should be at the fore (though of course not the sole focus), so just like you, I was expressing an opinion. I also think it’s entirely possible to write a brief, humorous review without heaps of detail. What I have an issue with is a review which uses a variety of techniques to create a negative impression, regardless of how relevant the elements are. No-one else knows about the bosoms of your companions. What you ate is unclear. Some readers might think you’re making a connection between professional competence (serving of alcohol), language problems or ethnicity and quality of employee (‘drag in’) (though I agree it’s probably just an unfortunate choice of words). And the urinal meme easily carries more connotations than just the shape of the bowls – your post title (Urinal restaurant. Shit bar.) strongly evokes an image that the place is completely crap (if you’ll excuse my mixed excrement). Maybe the crowd who were there on that night were representative of the clientele, though for me the article looked like it was conjecture; you clarified above.

As I wrote earlier, if someone did something similar when writing about foodblogs, you wouldn’t have a bar of it.

It would seem I’m a minority in my reservations, and am happy to acknowledge that and leave it there. And I’m glad to know I share your dislike for the stupidly wide tables at Longrain.

By: Ed

Ed — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 03:52:05 +0000

Phew! It’s not just hot in the kitchen but outside too. Sticky thanks for coming to the rescue.

Sarah, I wouldn’t say I’m small minded or bigoted. But I am a snob.

By: stickyfingers

stickyfingers — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 03:11:00 +0000

Sarah, As someone with Asian heritage, I do not find Ed bigoted. Rather I understood the context of his words as to mean that it is a poor paradigm to have an Occidental with not so exceptional Oriental cooking skills heading a kitchen serving Asian food, while Asians with mediocre front of house skills have been hired as waitstaff, perhaps to add to the Oriental theming of the venue. His conclusion is that it adds up to a less than sensational result. Lateral thinking, not racism.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 02:35:36 +0000

Interesting and humourous, I doubt it. I personally found it to be a vulgar, ill conceived and self indulgent. It’s a biggoted small minded view you have to think you have the right to expect a Chinese waiter to deliver you exquisite english language skills. No doubt when the conversation broke down you helped him out with your fluent Cantonese Ed? Or was it Mandarin? 0/10

By: stickyfingers

stickyfingers — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 02:07:05 +0000

On a personal level, I like:
Ed’s writing voice
Ed’s Sense of Humour (all wit needs to be taken with a grain of salt)
Ed’s lack of timidity in his posts
Lateral thinking that draws abstract yet effective parallels
That Ed does his homework before writing

I find blogs are an interesting insight into people’s observations. They are entertaining. But until I have experienced the same, I reserve my judgement. After all it is but one opinion on one occasion – no?

If we strive to move the world forward, we have to encourage free thinking which breaks out of the box and tests boundaries. Effective and frank reportage is bound to draw the ire of some, that is the risk that is taken by the adventurous and committed Writer.

To some degree this kind of notoriety can manifest professional success in the media, as in the case of Antony Bourdain and other out-spoken commentators.

Love it or hate it, Ed’s posts shine out from the blandness of much online content. For that I don’t believe that he should be censured, but rather serve to inspire more creativity with the written word.