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Talking Sweet About Nothing

Thursday, October 30, 2008

"Wasting" My Vote

I’ve been told too many times that voting for anyone other than a Republican or Democrat is a “wasted vote." I’ve heard all the reasons; a third-party candidate can’t win so why vote for them, or if you don’t vote the lesser of two evils, the greater evil might win. Seriously people? Is this what it’s come to? To quote one of my favorite movies, Beautiful Girls, "one comes to a decision based on what one wants, not based on what one doesn't want." Well, here's what I want:

I want real change, not just change of hands. And real change will never come by supporting that which we do not agree with out of fear of who might win if we don’t. I think we’re on a slippery slope to fascism and both parties are to blame. Supporting the status-quo with a vote sends the message that one will tolerate what they are doing and I refuse to have any part of that.

So, friends, I challenge you to NOT waste your vote by supporting the status-quo...because the status is NOT quo.
|| Adam, 8:17 PM || link || (1) comments |

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Bertucci's - Columbia

I must admit, Bertucci's was never even on my pizza radar, as it is a chain. And I'll admit, I was off in my pre-judgement. I had assumed that because it was a chain that they didn't use fresh ingredients or make a quality pie. I was talking pizza at work with my friend Keith. We were chatting about the lack of serious pizza in Baltimore and sharing our local faves. Teaching is a second career for Keith as he spent many years as a chef in Little Italy, so I tend to really listen to and respect what he has to say about food (especially Italian). Keith told me that Bertucci's has a wood-fired brick oven and I couldn't believe it. A chain restaurant not built upon standardization and cutting costs? I had to see it to believe it.

Jim and I had tickets to see the Capitals vs. NJ Devils last weekend, so I figured it was a good opportunity to convene an emergency meeting of the Pizza Club. We shared a large Margherita and you know what? The thin crust was pretty darn good. It held up nicely and had a decent char. I ripped off an edge of the crust to taste it by itself. It wasn't a world-class pizza crust, but it was certainly way better than any chain pizza I had ever tasted. The dots of white cheese on the pizza were obviously fresh mozzarella, another pleasant surprise. The sauce was a deep red and a little chunky. The menu said "crushed roma tomatoes," could it possibly be true? I gotta give 'em credit, this was a pretty great pizza, and the only other place besides Iggie's making an authentic Neapolitan pie. Their pizza tasted better than Iggie's, cost the same, but was a few inches larger in diameter, so definitely a better deal. I'm still pretty sour on most restaurant chains, but Bertucci's gets a pass.

BertuccisMarg
|| Adam, 4:43 PM || link || (0) comments |

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Pizza John's - Essex

Wow, what a disappointment. Pizza John's gets consistently great reviews and has a rabid following among Baltimore Pizza-Hounds. Naturally, it was on my list of places to try and I finally scheduled a pizza club meeting this weekend. Judging by the packed parking lot and ABBA on the soundtrack, I started to get my hopes up.

I should have realized they weren't making serious pizza when I noticed their menu only offered cheese pizza plus toppings. They didn't even offer a Margherita (the original!) Now there's something to be said for simplicity. One of my biggest pizza-pet-peeves is too many toppings. But to only offer a basic choice of toppings with no thought or effort put into creating a specialty or even a classic just shows a lack of originality or caring.

Tipoff number two would have to have been the small pools of grease on the cheese pizza. If you really want to separate yourself from the average pizza makers, you can't overload your pie with tons of questionable quality cheese. If the crust can't support the weight of your cheese and toppings, you're doing it wrong.

Speaking of the crust, there wasn't much to distinguish Pizza John's crust from the Pillsbury tube of pizza crust you can get at the grocery store. It's made in-house and is hand-stretched with an even, thin cornichone, but there was little to no flavor. It was under-cooked and chewy, and drooped from the weight of the cheese. It's a bad sign when half of your pizza slides off of the crust and onto your plate, leaving you with a limp slice of soggy, mediocre crust.

One positive thing I can say about Pizza John's is that they make a really great sauce. It's just too bad that it's buried under an avalanche of cheese. And unfortunately, it's just not enough to save this pie.

pizzajohnscheese

pizzajohnspeponion
|| Adam, 9:10 PM || link || (0) comments |

Thursday, October 02, 2008

You Want the Truth?

Boy everybody sure is excited about the debate tonight. I think everyone is excited because there's a chance somebody is going to screw up. Joe Biden may say something potentially offensive or Sarah Palin won't know what to say at all. If Americans really wanted to see an exciting debate, however, they would demand that the debates be open to voices other than the two corporate parties. As it is, the debates are a joke. They are just another carefully scripted campaign event.

It hasn't always been this way, either. Up until 1988 the League of Women Voters sponsored the debates. The League had a history of offering fair, unbiased debates that were open to third party candidates. That was until the League withdrew their sponsorship, declaring, "The League of Women Voters is withdrawing sponsorship of the presidential debates ... because the demands of the two campaign organizations would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter. It has become clear to us that the candidates' organizations aim to add debates to their list of campaign-trail charades devoid of substance, spontaneity and answers to tough questions. The League has no intention of becoming an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public." (click here for the full statement)

More reading!
The Nader Campaign's Stance on the Presidential Debates

What you can do!
Open the Debates
|| Adam, 8:15 PM || link || (0) comments |