Happy Halloween

Went to a Pre-Halloween late night showing of the 1920's silent film classic, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horrors, on Friday night. The showing we went to at Nitehawk Cinema in Williamsburg, Bklyn. was really great because the film was screened with a live band playing the score. The band was really the highlight of the experience - I never knew instruments could produce such spooky sounds!

Nosferatu was written as a film adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, but they did not have the film rights. Changes were thus made to plot line, locations, and character names, so as not to infringe of the Dracula story. In contrast to the Dracula character, Nosferatu's Orlok does not create other vampires, but kills his victims, causing the townfolk to blame the black plague for these mysterious deaths.

The film itself, while creepy, is also comical as well. The overacting necessary to hold a silent film together rings especially humorous when played out in the horror genre. The night time scenes that were clearly shot during the day and the prosthetic face coming apart at the edges, ruined the illusion just a bit. These elements of disillusionment made for a far less scary experience than was remembered from seeing the film in childhood - that's for sure!

I must make a side note about the venue however. Nitehawk (the semi-newish theater in W'burg) has a GREAT concept going - get served food and booze (yes, they now have there liquor license INSIDE the theaters) while watching a movie. Sounds like a dream come true. But this place seriously needs to get their act together if they want to survive. They were completely understaffed, confused and confusing. The prepubescent fetus of a bartender was not only incompetent behind the bar, but also incredibly rude to top it off. Concept alone is not enough to impress the harsh critics of NYC.

Get your shit together, Nitehawk, we're rooting for you!!!

The Meat we Eat

Watching the documentary "Forks Over Knives" got me thinking about the consequences of the food I eat. Don't get me wrong, I am not one of those Americans who is out gorging on fast food everyday. But I do like my take out. Yes I do. I was raised with a high awareness of "good" and "bad" foods, and when I cook I make sure that my produce is organic, fresh, and local if possible, and that my meat is humanely raised and hormone-free. But is this enough?

"Forks Over Knives" makes a compelling argument that these efforts are not enough. Showcasing the work of pioneering researchers Dr T. Collin Campell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, the film endorses a plant-based diet as the only way to assure healthy living. They link the ingestion of animal byproducts to degenerative diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. They even go so far as to show cases in which food is used as medicine, reversing degenerative diseases through diet alone. This part of the documentary, I found to be highly convincing.

The film gives a rich depiction of the social climates that led to the current animal-heavy diets of most Americans. From the horribly unbalanced food pyramids of late to the dairy industry's advertising propaganda, it is clear that our society's conception of what food to eat has gone terribly awry. In the 1950's a "good" wife's duty was to provide her family with a hearty well balanced meal. A way to a man's heart was through his stomach. Wonder bread, fluff and a glass of milk for the kids, steak and potatoes for the hubby. All in a days work. This clearly is not the way to go.

But is an animal-free, plant based diet the only answer? While the film argues yes, I have a hard time buying it. The studies highlighted in the film were all conducted on populations eating processed, factory raised meat. OF COURSE these meats are bad for you! Feeding growth hormones to developing children is NEVER a good idea. There is no doupt in my mind that the general population will benifit from eating more fresh produce in general. But what about good meat? Where is the study on grass fed beef and free range chicken? Show me a study that links organically raised, humanely butchered poultry to breast cancer and maybe I will reassess my perspective. I'm proud to say that I am a meat snob. And until facts surface that prove that my "good" meat is "bad", I will stick to my carnivorous ways -- thank you VERY much.