The other day I was thinking about Toy Story 3 and the Toy Story series in general. I'm not a huge fan of them, though I did enjoy the 3rd one. I tried to figure out what about the movies didn't really work for me and it occurred to me that while (some of) the characters are three dimensional their world view is too flat for me.
What do I mean by that? Well, we see how the toys grow and learn from each other. Buzz goes from a tool to one of the gang. Yay. What we don't see is any of the toys actually thinking beyond the set of roles they are presented with. They are told that they are supposed to function as entertainment for children and they follow this role with dogmatic adherence. Even in the 3rd film, in the midst their fears of being rejected possibly coming to fruition they stick to that same role in all their choices: stick with Andy or move on to other children. At no time to they think that after being thrown out the then have complete control over their lives and movement. They are free not only to entertain other children but they can also venture out on their own. While they do derive pleasure from making kids happy we know that they can find emotional fulfillment in other ways. Just look at the happily married Potato Heads.
The only character to question this role is Lotso, the sinister and unredeemed bastard bear who rejects children. But putting this up as the alternative lifestyle against the forever devoted Woody is a bit of a thin and pathetic dichotomy. If children are seen as gods then this is the equivalent of portraying all people as devout fundamentalists or self-assigned anti-Christs. Woody has pure and ultimate faith in Andy and any child who he serves. Bringing them joy, no matter how neglected he becomes, is his only purpose in life. Lotso, alternatively, actively distrusts and hates the capricious children and essentially makes his goal in life to live a completely hedonistic lifestyle while punishing believers.
I understand that this is ostensibly a children's series but it's Pixar. We're allowed to expect more from them. That combined with the fact that this is the third installment means that there's a reasonable expectation that these characters could grow to question the world they've inhabited since 1995.
To be fair, Pixar still brings the Toy Story characters to a level above that of most kid's movies. But they rarely do sequels to by installment number three I'm going to expect new levels of the story and the world to be exposed and played with. With Up we have a relationship blossom in just a few minutes and it's strong enough to fuel the whole movie. In The Incredibles we see a family fighting against society, their nature and see that sometimes not all people are equal. Ratatouille essentially took a bunch of things that should have bored the pants of kids and made them enticing and joyfully appealing. WALL-E was... well, it was WALL-E. That movie was constructed not as a children's film but as an experiment in classical direction but with robots in a post-apocalyptic landscape.
With all that under their belt it's not beyond reason to expect Pixar to push out a bit in the third Toy Story movie and make the characters think beyond raging fundamentalism by both sides of the plot. What was there was good. Don't get me wrong. I liked it. But the series falls flat for me because I expect the world to be a bit deeper. Instead they stop short of any sort of breakthrough. They may push the edges of their roles but they never quite become as self aware as an autonomous, growing character should.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Dining at the chef's table At The London
I'll start by saying that beyond the meal, which was incredible, this was a fantastic experience. Dining at the chef's table is something completely different than just eating a restaurant. Beyond the food and the wine there is the kitchen and the chefs. For each course the chef that prepared it came out to explain what went into that specific dish. The attention to detail regarding both the food and the group I was with was astounding. So now, onto the food.
Amuse bouche
Olive paste on celery
melon soup shot with crème fraîche
I suppose that after this it's safe to say that I'm not a fan of olives. It's obviously not the preparation but the actual flavor. I did not care for the olive paste. The shot of melon soup not only cleared the olive from my tongue but was delicious. It wasn't sweet but rather creamy. Perfectly set up my palette for the canapés. For the life of me I cannot remember what went into them by they were light and delicious.
Seared hamachi and uni with squid vinaigrette
The hamachi was great. Just fatty enough, soft texture, not fishy at all. This was offset by the fishiness of the uni. The hamachi faded a bit while the uni lingered but not in an unpleasant way. Just strong.
Sautéed Hudson Valley foie gra, cippolini artichoke, foie gras ice cream with shaved truffle served with toast
This was a bit of a shock. The ice cream on the left was very salty on its own while the artichoke and foie gra was much more mild. It seemed overpowering and an odd choice until combined together and eaten on the toast. The salty from the truffles mixed with the butter foie gras. My only complaint is that I think there was too much truffle in the mix. At times it was a little overpowering.
paired with Riesling Spaetlese, Schloss Vollrads, Rheingau 2005
One of the smoothest sweet wines I have ever had. It wasn't mouth puckering sweet but was still a very strong fruit bouquet. The finish was smooth beyond measure. Highly recommended.
Maine diver scallops, pressed octopus, white asparagus, crispy potatoes, grilled watermelon
On the way over the the London we were discussing what foods we didn't like, though agreed to try everything served. My named food was scallops. I have never liked scallops. Well, they served scallops and this is up with the beef course as one of my two favourite dishes of the night. It tasted as scallops have never tasted to me before and the watermelon complimented it. The octopus was dense but not chewy. Each part of this dish was great and together was amazing.
paired with Viognier, Triennes, Sainte Fleur 2008
I believe that this is the wine that tasted strongly of apricot. The crispness of it went very well with the seafood.
Caramelized veal sweetbreads, lemon poached endive, marinated spring onions, English peas
Well, I've tried sweetbreads. The onions lent an nice edge to the soft flavor of the sweetbreads. The taste was actually tasty. The soft texture is what took me out of completely loosing myself in this one. More interesting than great but still damn good.
paired with Weingut Knoll, Loibner, Federspiel, Wachau 2007
Mediterranean sea bass wrapped in eggplant and stuffed with ratatouille, crème fraîche gnocchi, Meyer lemon and crispy garlic, tomato and gin consommé
This was the other surprise for me that night. Normally I don't like cooked fish because it becomes flaky and sometimes fishy tasting. This had a mild sea flavor which was perfectly augmented by the tomato and gin consommé, which was the secret heart of this course. The eggplant had a great texture to it that really pulled the fish together and the ratatouille in the center made for a perfect finish to each bite.
paired with Jean-Noël Gagnard, Les Masures 2007
Triple seared dry aged NY strip loin, smoked beef tongue and broccoli, romanesco, tamarind sauce
The cube of tongue is hidden between the broccoli and the strip. It was great. Incredibly smoky and verged on too much but since it was just one small cube it was just enough. The aged strip loin was essentially a perfect piece of beef. It tasted like meat rather than spices. It was tender. It was cooked just enough to be considered cooked all the way through. Wonderful.
paired with Bodegas Mas Alta, Artigas 2005
Brillat-Savarin, truffle honey, candied almonds
The almonds went wonderfully with this butter-like cheese. My one complaint is that, once again, it tasted as if there was just a bit too much truffle in the honey. I know, to complain about too much truffle, right?
White chocolate with lime, mango and coconut
A number of people thought this was the dessert. The coconut crème fraîche on top was fantastic. It didn't have that dry element that a lot of coconut tends to. The mangos and lime were fantastic, and the white chocolate on the bottom was so creamy and delicious that I didn't mind it being (falsely) called chocolate. That means it was really good.
Vanilla parfait with passion fruit curd, young coconut water and sorbet, coriander
It's hard to see but they poured coconut water into the bottom of the bowl so it soaked up. This was delicate and delicious and the passion fruit curd is wrapped up in extremely thin sliced mango. Eating those pouches put a fantastic closing fruit flavor to a soft pelleted dish.
Single-origin Venezuelan chocolate mousse, passion fruit, balsamic reduction and crème fraîche sorbet
My favourite dessert of the two. The chocolate mousse was slightly on the dark and bitter side, exactly how I like my chocolate. The passion fruit matched that perfectly and, like a negative of the previous dessert, the crème fraîche was a smooth and light finish to an incredibly rich and striking chocolate dessert.
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