Every week I'll be here to reveal and review some of my favorite moments from the internet. Whether it be binge-ing television shows, streaming sports or simply getting lost down a YouTube rabbit hole, I'm here to give you my top picks every Friday, as well as the perfect pairing to get into an optimal headspace for them.
This week, we're wondering why we're still farting around on earth watching seasons of Top Chef in the year 12,017 instead of living on the moon or Mars or whatever.
The Human Era and the Case for the Year 12,017
Recommended Pairing: A stone goblet of your oldest wine.
I find it odd when people are super up to date on current events but have almost zero interest in the history that got them here. This phenomenon reaches hilariously depressing peaks during contentious political strife. I'm not trying to say I'm some sort of brilliant student of history or anything like that. I'd say I'm familiar with history, more so than most. Let me put it this way: I have a few Dan Carlin Hardcore History Podcasts saved on my phone.
Earlier this week I caught the newest video from the badass team over at Kurzgesagt, the makers of the "in a nutshell" illustrated infotainment videos on YouTube. I'm a huge fan of their videos covering black holes, aliens, biology and cell structure, vacuum decay, and the world's most horrifying parasites. Their latest video tries to put the evolution of humanity on a timeline that allows for a richer perspective of our history:
Immediately after watching the video I hope you felt the same sort of connection to the first wisps of human civilization achieved at "year zero" that I did. I'm going to have to do some digging around before I can safely say I'm fully on board with the concept, but as for removing the emphasis on "modern" religious markers to define our place in history, this is nothing short of a beautifully elegant solution.
Humanity as we think of it didn't start when a guy vanished from a cave and up into heaven. On the contrary, we were telling stories of god, miracles and mythology for centuries and generations before that.
Putting our desire to come together to build a structure, even as a symbol of something greater than our individual selves, is the perfect place to start counting our years in history. Connecting our history back 10,000 years should give people a bright new perspective on history.
Why Am I Still Watching 'Top Chef'?
Recommended Pairing: An amuse-bouche of quick pickled pig's tails and teeth with a shot of Napa wine.
Fourteen years ago, I devoured the first season of Top Chef with the kind of unbridled intensity usually reserved for someone on a juice cleanse using Thanksgiving as their cheat day.
Top Chef was one of my first binge watches, but this was before Netflix really became a national pastime. I remember being stuck to my couch for an entire day as episode after episode played on the television, commercials and all.
I was living on my own and had just started really getting into cooking, and I loved the idea of learning about food while watching a bunch of assholes compete. Now that the show is an institution, it's hard to believe I ever saw it as anything other than a season of the Real World set in a kitchen, but I have begrudgingly seen every episode even though they seem to show less and less of the preparation and technique involved in making such extraordinary dishes.
There's certainly no shortage of brilliantly crafted cooking shows these days with Mind of a Chef and Chef's Table delivering exceptional documentary-style presentations on the subject. This week a new season of Top Chef aired and I would have totally missed it if they hadn't stirred up a bit of controversy by holding an elimination challenge between a black guy and a white guy at a real life former plantation house.
Do I think this is another case of people being overly sensitive and taking to Twitter to air their grievances instead of just thinking to themselves, They could have handled that better?
Yes.
Yes I do think that, but to be fair, it's a cooking show and they obviously made the decision to try and treat the city of Charleston and its history similarly to the way it's citizens do. But maybe, instead of an elimination challenge where Padma Lakshmi says a few words about such a sensitive subject, they should have done the Top Chef trope of bringing all the contestants there and having a historian walk them through the grounds so they can have a proper moment of reflection before getting hit with a quick fire involving hush puppies or whatever.
Yes, I'll watch the whole season. Yes, I'll watch all of the ridiculous Last Chance Kitchen episodes. I hate that I love this show so much.
Living on the Moon
Recommended Pairing: A green cheese charcuterie plate.
One last little gem I found this week was an article about the scientific community discussing a lunar base then slowly nodding while considering the idea.
I wonder if this has anything to do with Time magazine's newest Person of the Year cover? Or maybe we should stash a few extra people up on the moon because of the terrifying prospect of a quick heat death when we get struck by one of the countless rocks hurtling around in space.
Holy shit! Get me outta here.
'Til next week.
Wanna see more of my favorite innerwebs finds? You can read the full "Mike's Favorite Things on the Innerwebs" series right here.
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