Wow... I saw this tonight, and it's totally kicked my ass. I've been on the Zone for about a week now, and this movie has done nothing but reinforce the notion that I need to drop a good 40lbs... I've lost 10 so far... 30 more to go...

After seeing this movie, I never will eat fast food again. I nearly ralphed on the theatre floor.

If you knew what went on in the kitchen's of some of you your favorite restaurants you would probly never eat there either. But yeah, fast food is gross in most every way, and SuperSize Me is really funny.

I'm looking forward to seeing that movie due to the fact that Viacom refused to air advertisements for it on MTV and VH1. I guess Mcdonalds is a rather large sponsor for Viacom.

I doubt it.

I feel like the anti-fast food movement will peak sometime this summer, kind of like the "gay" craze a few months ago. I imagine that it will continue to impact what restaurants serve (see: Atkins) and make a permanent impression on our fast food culture. However, the anti-fast food "movement" (I suppose it could be called that) will eventually level off, because some people will get tired of being guilt-tripped into avoiding something that they like.

I eat $3 worth of fast food about five times a week, and I don't really give a shit if it's unhealthy. I understand that going into it. Just as I understand that eating at most "nice" restaurants can be just as bad. I'll go out on a limb and guess that fast food is being targeted indirectly because it is cheaper than food at more expensive restaurants. specifically because, you can afford to eat more fast food (more often) and most people eat at nicer restaurants in moderation, as opposed to eating a lot of fast food during a week. does this make any sense? I'm sorry if it's a little incoherent.

On another note, I am moderately concerned about the fact that I have had about two liters of soda everyday for the past eight years or so...

and that whole smoking thing.

(Edited by richarddawson at 1:15 am on Jun. 3, 2004)

Play on, playa. If you can eat it (or drink it, or smoke it) and still be healthy, why not? My uncle is, in terms of eating habits, very much like the "Big Mac Enthusiast" in Supersize Me. He consumes about 3000 calories per day (most of it junk food), doesn't exercise, and still weighs about 120 pounds. And his blood pressure, cholesterol, etc are flawless. Did I mention he's over 50 years old? I mean, some people are just blessed with bodies that aren't fazed by junk food. RD, you seem like you might fit into that category, so why not live it up?

First of all, I gave up McDonald's (except for breakfast), Burger King, Hardee's, Taco Bell, and Jack in the Box a long time ago, just because they're nasty. But I read Fast Food Nation last year and swore that I would never eat any fast food again. For those that don't know, Fast Food Nation is basically the book version of Supersize Me. Anyway, over time my convictions have faded. I now eat the same fast food that I've eaten for the last few years: Wendy's (only if it doesn't look too sketchy), Sonic, Backyard Burger and Arby's. Call me crazy, but I think that these places serve good food. I don't eat it every day, but once in a while, if I'm in a hurry or especially in the mood or whatever, I'll eat some fast food. And no, I don't get a salad. I know it's not very healthy. But if I learned one thing at Belmont University, it was from the teacher of my weightlifting class. He said, "It's not what you do 10% of the time that determines your health; it's what you do 90% of the time." So if you generally have a healthy diet and exercise, eating fast food every once in a while will not kill you.

I'm reading that right now, and I think it's much better than Supersize Me. Supersize Me was disappointing. I mean, it was entertaining enough and had a couple of interesting factoids, but it came across as some guy's video project for high school or something. The information wasn't that in-depth, some visuals & dialogue were predictable, and the whole thing was a little too centered on the filmmaker for my taste. It wasn't a bad film, just somewhat uninspired. I guess my expectations were too high after I read & heard so many good reviews. I was pretty astounded by the effects on his body, though.

Of course everywhere sells unhealthy food, and of course it's up to the consumer to take of herself and her health. My issue with fast food is more the global corporate dominance/ labor abuses/ excessive waste/ manipulation of agriculture that goes along with the big chains.

Oh, but if Burger King took check cards...

I eat enough Wendy's for a small family.

AMEN

I gave up fast food last semester for my health class and I've kinda stuck to it. I can't eat McDonald's or most fast food hamburgers without getting sick, which is fine by me. Even my love for Taco Bell has diminished. I have discovered a growing love for Arby's mainly because their chicken is so good. And they take check cards.

my question is this....is this movie worth the drive to green hills? or should i just wait for it to be released on DVD.

i try not to eat fast food. Wendy's and Arby's is about as fast as i get. i enjoy places like subway, jersey mikes, schlotzski's, and mcalister's more than mcdonalds and burger king.

(Edited by ghostflower at 3:06 pm on Jun. 4, 2004)

Unless you're just dying of curiosity, I would wait and rent it on DVD. It's not the kind of thing that's enhanced by seeing it on the big screen, in my opinion.

Uh oh, better hope Wiyum doesn't read that

Last time that was said about something, it was a narrative film (and Lost in Translation, a gorgeous film that got Lance Accord into the ASC), and as someone that does narrative cinematography, I took offense.

This is a documentary, so it was lit simply to expose the information. It was also shot on a format intended to be seen on a television. So there is a distinction. Call me two-faced, but there is a distinction.

Fast Food Nation is great. I really enjoy its history of the industry. I know more about Fast Food than any of my friends, basically inherited from my father, who was in charge of all of the corporate McDonald's locations in New Orleans for a few years. My friends find my interest in the subject strange, and they find it to conflict with the amount of fast food that I consume (because I know as much as I do about it). Regardless, I think it is an amazing industry, truly fascinating, and distinctly American. The "anti-fast food" movement is very real, and it has been fun to watch the response. McDonald's dropping Super Size, adding water, apples, and other options to combos and happy meals, and the new adult happy meal with pedometer. But I find it unfair that people accuse McDonald's of making them fat because they offer super size, and I think this movement is getting a bit absurd in that regard.

Playing the other side of things a bit: McDonald's used to (as recently as the last five years, I haven't seen it on menus since, but maybe it is still on the books) offer the "All American Meal." It was a hamburger, a small coke, and a small fries. It was, to the best of my knowledge, the first combo meal in fast food history. It was very reasonably priced (even five years ago), but it became obsoleted by the extra value meals. The interesting thing is that when it was introduced, it wasn't a "small drink" or "small fries," it was a "drink" and "fries," in the only proportions they sold. These were the portions people expected at one time. Now we expect more. Why? Because it is offerred, or because people weren't being satisfied. Did customers ask for more, or were they just offerred more? I don't honestly know.

Will

I'm confused by what you refer to. Did I miss something? Are you referring to the marriage rights issue that is still being fought? If so, I'd hesitate to call it a craze.

Will

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! I thought I was losing it when I heard about that for the first time. I really couldn't believe what I'd just heard. I think that's the most ridiculous idea McDonald's has ever come up with. And a pedometer? LMAO!

ALSO...you heard it here first: C2 will be a resounding failure. That is Coke's most ridiculous idea ever. Listen, Coke, if people are on a diet, they'll drink DIET COKE or they'll drink no soda at all. If they're not on a diet, they'll drink regular Coke. It's very simple. Remember Pepsi One? God, sometimes I think the marketing people in these corporations just like to stage big expensive practical jokes every once in awhile.

They still sell that stuff. Obviously someone's buying it.

Does C2 have less *carbs than diet coke? That would be the key. It'll be huge if so.

By the way, for those who care, a "carb" is not a unit. Something does not have 3 "carbs", it has 3 grams of carbohydrates.

No. Diet Coke has 0 grams of carbohydrate. C2 has 18 grams. Regular Coke has 36 grams.

Then, I agree. Completely and utterly ridiculous.

I would buy a grown up Happy Meal if had a cool prize with it... like temporary tattoos or House of Representatives action figures. But what the heck am I going to do with pedometer? Even if I walked regularly for exercise, why would I want more than one pedometer? Can I race them against each other? Or collect 5 of them and combine them to form Mego-Pedo, who will then fight against the evil Odometers? Seriously, after I buy my first adult Happy Meal, I'm done. I'll then have a lifetime-supply of pedometers.

The marketing team blew it on this one. They should sell adult Happy Meals that include a condom or erotic massage oil with each purchase.

no, I was referring to the whole metrosexual thing. and america's subsequent love-affair with the fashion sense of trendy gay persons.

Did you locals ever get Coke A.M. or Clear Coke down here? The interesting thing about growing up in the midwest, is that alot of products are test marketed there. I remember Coke A.M. as pretty good... all the Coke less carbonation to take on the coffee drinkers. I don't even know if that came to market. Clear Coke came during that early 90's phase of "everything clear is good for you!!!" Pepsi came out first and then Coke answered. The psychosymantic (sp?) shock of looking at something clear and tasting cola was beyond distrubing. It failed miserably (again if it even came out to full market, I do remember commercials for Coke Clear, though)

They still make Pepsi One JC. We'll pick it up every now and then to break up the Diet Pepsi taste...

I distinctly remeber Clear Coke, but not Coke A.M.

It's psychosomatic. psycho~mental, somatic~physical or motor

Excuse my laziness to go look up the spelling... as of a week ago last Friday I clocked 132 hours of editing... yes folks, that's almost three and a half weeks of work in the standard 40 hour work week... My wife asked me what kind of sub I wanted for lunch today, and I answered "chocolate". That was coming off a 27 hour shift. The scary thing was I was on the road driving, feeling less in control than a night of drinking...

I remember seeing Coke AM in Atlanta several years ago, but I was not aware that there was ever a Clear Coke.

So they still make Pepsi One?!! I have NEVER seen anyone drinking it, so I just assumed it had gone the way of Crystal Pepsi. To me, that's an even dumber idea than C2. At least C2 is kind of halfway between diet and regular. With Pepsi One, it's like, "Do I want zero calories or one calorie? Hmmmm..."

By the way, Pepsi is coming out with their own "mid-cal soda" later this summer. It's called Pepsi Edge.

It's kind of become a tradition on this MB that we have a soda discussion at some point every summer.

Pepsi Blue and Dr Pepper Red Fusion have both survived much longer than they should have.

I think the mid colas is an okay idea.

What boggles my mind is that Diet Coke was one calorie for a very long time, and somewhere around Pepsi One, they changed to no calories, when clearly that calorie made enough difference to sell a new beverage for Pepsi.

For the record, it IS that much better, even at only one calorie.

Will

See, but those have a different flavor altogether, so I can understand. Plus, those are visually stimulating, and the kids are drawn to that.

What I keep hearing Coke and Pepsi claim is that these mid-cal versions will taste just like regular Coke or Regular Pepsi. Okay, so if that's the case, why not just reduce the amount of calories in regular Coke and regular Pepsi? That would be a great PR move, given the current health landscape of our country, right? Sure it would, but the truth is they will NOT taste just like regular Coke and Pepsi. My point is that people who are counting calories (or carbs) will opt for the Diet version (or, OKAY, Pepsi One) and people who are not will drink regular soda. But hell, if Pepsi One has survived, I guess anything is possible.

Pepsi One has a distinctly different taste than Diet Pepsi, so I can see them co-existing together. The half carb thing is a bit weird, it's not like its beer, where there is no such thing as zero carb beer. But, I guess people that can't get used to the taste of diet drinks will embrace it. So I just contradicted myself a bit, but I do it as a hard sell.

My guess (I have nothing to back this up) is that these half carbs drinks proably have a combination of aspertane and high fructose corn syrup, kind of a best of both worlds thing.

Actually, they're half SUCRALOSE (aka Splenda) and half high fructose corn syrup. ASPARTAME is BAD now. In 5 years, aspartame will be extinct.

My guess is that they'll be Splenda based, at least in part. Aspartame is coming under alot of attack lately, and we've yet to find out what is bad about Splenda. Yes, I did say YET...

Will

Man, a chilly Coca-Cola would be good right now. If I don't get it from a fountain, I like it poured from a can into a glass with approx. 2 large ice cubes. Just enough to make each sip pleasurable, but not so much that it will be watered-down.

I sure do like sugar.

As the resident grammar geek, I have to say that I couldn't give 2 shits if "psychosymantic" is not a word- I think it's fucking awesome. Spelled correctly (psychosemantic), it could become the next metrosexual. It could mean that you intentionally use confusing ways to describe things in order to psyche people out...or that you are so adamant about semantics that you make everyone repeat everything 3 different ways to make sure you understand them right...or that your answer to any verbal challenge is "ah, it's all semantics". I could find a lot of use for that word in my vocabulary- thanks, PF.

mmmm....chocolate sub

This stuff is the semen of Satan, horrible and omnipresent.

and yummy

I totally agree.

I've always been curious as to what would happen if the Cuba embargos were lifted. Would our beverages return to using sugar? It is my understanding that the US was dependant on Cuba for sugar, and when relations went south between our countries, the beverage industry had to change to the corn syrup.

The thing is, even if these new beverages DO taste exactly like their counterparts (and I'm willing to believe they will; sucralose tastes really good [I've never been able to abide aspartame], and they'll still have corn syrup), there would be an outcry against modifying the formulas. People don't go for that, at least in the Coke camp, where the "classic" formula is regarded as sacred (nevermind the aforementioned replacing of sugar with corn syrup). Oh well. We'll see. I could see something to this C2, if it tastes good. I know I'd move to that if I didn't feel like I was giving up any flavor.

Will

I'll third that. Does that make me gay?

Actually, it's already out. I saw it at the grocery yesterday, and I'm very curious about both of the mid-cal sodas. I shall try them soon.

Then why do I like 2% milk so much? You'd think if I wanted full flavor, I'd get whole milk, or if I was watching calories, I'd get skim. I personally like the in-between which is why I'm curious about C2 or whatever.

i tried c2, and it tastes exactly how you would expect. right in between diet and regular.

Corn syrup is way cheaper to produce and manufacture with than sugar. Being an Iowa boy, I'm kinda like Forrest Gump's friend Bubba when it comes to corn and soybean by-products. I don't think they'd go back to sugar. There's a corn syrup plant not to far from my hometown. I always loved going by it a s a kid because it smelled like cotton candy.

C2 is actually really good. I've always resorted to Diet Coke, because regular is so sicky-sweet, but C2 is just right. It tastes a lot like regular Coke, but nothing like Diet Coke.

i dont think it tastes as good as regular or as bad as diet.

Milk is totally different. I like Sweet Acidophilus.

I stand by my prediction. Within two years, these mid-cal sodas will be history.

By the way, since you guys mentioned that Pepsi One is still in existence, I have been specifically looking for it. And I have not seen it yet in any gas station/convenience store I have visited. And I have visited several.

Alright this is killing me. Breaking thread to get attention here. Am I the only one whos heard of Napolean Dynamite, Surely you kids who listen to indie music know somthing about indie films. . ? there has to be a correllation. Look, I know JamieC. will love this movie as will Keith, and since their opinions weigh in heavy on this board I predict most all of you will love it too. But dont go looking for the trailer, see it on blind faith, it'll make it that much better. And Keith & Jamie, if you dont get it at the Green Hills Cinema 16, then I will do everything in my power to get you both a copy of this movie (if not just for using your endorsement sans permission). Find it! Search It Out! Beat the streets and see it! for the happiness of yourself and the good of humankind. THE ENd.

Yeah, I saw the commercials for this movie all last weekend. It looked interesting. As soon as I've seen Saved and Garfield, I'll see it.

(Edited by jamiecarroll at 2:04 am on Jun. 16, 2004)

And while we're at it: really, is there anything better than Brie and crackers, preferably Carr's Table Water Crackers? Seriously.

Another thing that I'm all about lately is swimming under a big beautiful sky of stars.

And those Shrek M&Ms.

Yeah, I've heard about it, and I'm looking forward to it. What more do you want from me?

Will

my mom makes this amazing baked brie and its really easy. you just buy a tube of pilsbury crescent rolls and wrap the entire thing around a big ball of brie. then you bake it for as long as you would bake the crescents and then drizzle [cover] it with honey when its finished. she slices up granny smith apples for dipping.

Attention. . . ?

There is very little that is actually better, though there are several other cheeses which are on par -- I really like Stilton and Camembert as well. I prefer good thick wheat crackers or some nice French bread to Carr's Table Waters.

I am looking forward to making a good summer picnic with cheese, fruit, crackers/bread, and wine. I wish I could take it down to the river on Saturday. The Features and Brie together would be quite surreal

Yes!

I have read fast food nation, and it is really gross. The only fast food I eat is subway, and sometimes wendy's if I'm hungover.
I want to see this film, although I'm scared it will make me feel guilty for eating chicken again.

mmmm that sounds amazing-i am going to have to try that. also good is the pepperidge farm cranberry relish and pecans instead of the honey.