Not so Fantastic Feasting Essay Example for Free

Not so Fantastic Feasting Essay All around town people have been talking about the new Mexican restaurant, El Fogon (The Stove), by the movie theatre on the Interstate Parkway in Green, OH. People are excited to have a new restaurant and are anxious to try it. But take my advice and don’t waste your time on visiting this joint unless you like greasy and grimy food. El Fogon has an unusually clean dining area and a deceivingly inviting and personal atmosphere, none of this corresponds with the staff in the least bit. Although the workers act and dress conservatively, we waited for our orders to be taken for more than fifteen minutes. The menu was laid out nicely and made it easy to see what food they offer at the restaurant. The print on the menu was small but I personally had no problem reading it. All the items on the menu ranged from four dollars to ten dollars. The food I was served was not fresh and the presentation was sloppy. I ordered the taco salad but it looked like something my four year old younger sister would make out of mud. My friend, Shannon, always orders quesadillas when going out to eat. She didn’t like the quesadillas at all; she described them as being greasy and had suspicions that the cooks had cooked her food in old frying oil. We both ordered the two dollar tacos, which were served with your choice of chicken or steak on top of a hand full of lettuce on a store bought shell. They were very disappointing and neither of us finished them; they were dry and tasteless. On a positive note, the portions were extremely large for the prices listed on the menu. I have visited El Fogon once prior to my previous visit. I had ordered the taco salad during my first visit; it was presented very nicely and tasted so good that I had finished my whole plate, leaving nothing behind. Our waitress was very friendly and attentive. She seemed to really enjoy working and greeted us right away. Our waiter during our second visit seemed to have had something better to do for our entire visit at the restaurant an d only approached us when we called him over to our table. He was hard to understand, much like many of the other employees and the restaurant, having a deep Mexican accent. Once or twice we had to ask for our waters to be re-filled, if he heard us he came right over to our table, but many times he just walked away. He didn’t seem too happy to be at work and appeared to have something else on his mind. He did not add to my  experience at all. Above the bathroom door reads, Baá ¿â€ o meaning restroom and above the kitchen reads Cocina meaning kitchen, there is a lot of very strongly Mexican influenced artwork throughout the restaurant that I thought added to my experience. Mexican restaurants should provide their customer with an experience that is relative to the origins of whichever Spanish speaking country it is based from and El Fogon did an excellent job. There was a large bar in the restaurant that was completely empty and made it very easy to see into the kitchen behind it. The kitchen looked very clean and organized. The restaurant is very large and has too many tables for the number of customers at any given time. The restrooms were very clean and large. The door to the women’s restroom reads niá ¿â€ as meaning girls or women, and the men’s restroom door reads niá ¿â€ os meaning boys or men. Ginny R. from Green, OH, has praised the restaurant for the quality of its food, portion sizes and low-priced menu. I do agree that the portions are large and the menu is extremely reasonable, but the quality of the food served at El Fogon is so cheap and bland that it is not worth half the price that the menu claims for it. â€Å"Great food for a reasonable price†, claims Aaron H. from North Canton, OH. The only thing that is good on the El Fogon menu is the cheese sauce that you can order for the chips, but even the chips are greasy, bland, and tasteless and not to mention under salted. Another Mexican restaurant in the area, Ponchos, has great food. The prices are a little bit more expensive but the atmosphere and service always leaves me coming back wanting more. Even though Ponchos is not an authentic Mexican restaurant the food is still much better than at El Fogon. The owner of this establishment must have not done their homework when picking the site for their restaurant. Although it is close to the local cinema theatre, and you would expect a busy out turn of customers into El Fogon, the exact opposite happens. The restaurant is almost always empty. Restaurants in this same location have not lasted more than 6 months without going out of business due to lack of customers. Unfortunately I see the same outcome for El Fogon as well. After an hour visit to El Fogon, I left unsatisfied, hungry, and full of displeasure. While El Fogon is not worth a trip or the money, it was surely an experience regardless of how bad it was.

Of Mice And Men - Curleys Wife Essay -- English Literature Essays

Of Mice And Men - Curley's Wife â€Å"I never seen no piece of jail-bait worse than her† (George) what is the reader supposed to think about Curley’s wife? In the Steinbeck novel ‘Of Mice and Men’, he introduces us to the character of Curley’s wife. She could be interpreted as a mis-fitting character in the novel, as no one relaters to her. This essay will go on to examine the character of Curley’s wife and how characters perceive her and how this influences the readers interpretation of her. The social setting of the novel is also important, as it could later explain characters attitudes towards other people. It is set in the U.S. in the 1930s; this is the time of the Great Depression. This was a result of the First World War. It affected the rich and poor alike, factory workers and farmers, bankers and stockbrokers. In short, it affected everyone; no one was left untouched. But of all the people hurt, farmers were the worst off. John Steinbeck chose to write about farmers hoping that Americans would recognize their troubles and correct the situation. The great depression is known to be the worst economic disaster in the U.S history. For this reason the depression caused many people to change their ideas about the government and economy. Curley’s wife is probably the most loathed on the ranch. The way she looks and acts leads other characters in the novel to see her as a â€Å"tart†. George makes his opinions clear just after he first met her â€Å"Jesus, what a tramp†, and â€Å"So that’s what Curley picks for a wife†. She just wants some one to talk to. Males on the ranch don’t like her because they think she will get them into trouble. They make judgments without getting to know her first. They judge a book by its cover. Curley, her husband doesn’t trust her with the other ranch hands. She was just out of place on the ranch, and because of that, must have been a really lonely person with lonely feelings. Curley’s wife is given a reputation of causing trouble between other characters from different characters in the novel. There is no evidence of her living up to all of the reputation in the novel. Candy says â€Å"Well she got the eye† which could have many meanings and then he backs that up with â€Å"I seen her give Slim the eye† and finally he says â€Å"Well I think Curley’s married†¦a tart.† This explains his views on Curley’s wife. And when she dies he calls her a ... ...mass of emotions between the men, the conflict of killing Lennie. And Curley finally showed some caring emotion â€Å"I know who done it.† â€Å"That big son-of-a-bitch done it† Is when he begins to show the love for his wife. Curley talks about going to kill Lennie, which shows that his wife may have been a big part of his life a nothing is going to replace her. Curley’s wife is a difficult character to understand. Steinbeck hasn’t named her; this could be for a number of reasons. He may have wanted her to be seen as lonely therefore not naming her shows no one gets close enough to her to call her by her first name. He may have done it to show the other characters only see her as the wife of Curley rather than an individual. He may also have done it to show the male attitudes towards females. Curley’s wife also helps to provoke mixed emotions in the reader. We often feel sorry for her such as when she talks of her loneliness, but on other occasions the reader can find her cold hearted. This is seen when she is racist towards the other characters. Most of Steinbeck’s characters are stereotypical, or have some form of a stereotypical view towards them and Curley’s wife is no exception.

Theater Play of the 1960 Broadway Musical Bye Bye Birdie

Who will ever forget Susan Watson? Or Dick Van Dyke? Or Chita Rivera and Dick Gautier? These very renowned Broadway actors and actresses played the key roles in the theater play Bye Bye Birdie (1960) that, for more than fifty years now, has been successfully revived and passed on from generation to generation. Would you ever forget the 1950s rock sensation of America? The vibrant era of the number one American rock star Elvis Presley? Well, of course Elvis Presley wasn’t there in the play, but Conrad Birdie—played by the gorgeous Dick Gautier—looked and sang and acted like Elvis Presley.The first time I saw a poster of the original theater play, I even thought the actor was, indeed, Elvis Presley. There are so many aspects of them that appeared the same. Well, so much for Elvis Presley†¦ As I was saying, Dick Gautier played the key role of Conrad Birdie who was supposed to be a gorgeous and dazzling rock star of the 1950s. All the teenage girls were struck b y his beauty and his sex appeal, yet when they heard that he was about to leave and join the U. S.Army, the girls of Sweet Apple, Ohio were so horrified at the news to the extent that Conrad had to give a farewell performance for his very devoted fans, the next time he guests live at the Ed Sullivan television program. One very fortunate fan of him will get a free kiss from the astounding Conrad Birdie. His manager, Albert Peterson who was played by Dick Van Dyke, decided that the lucky girl should be the sexy and luscious Kim McAfee, who is actually Susan Watson of the original Broadway version of the play.I might have to say that I preferred Ann Margaret to play the role of Kim McAfee in the movie version of the Broadway theater play. Ann Margaret was very attractive and charismatic. Do we still have to ask why she was chosen to give a solo number at the very start of Bye Bye Birdie? Well, 22-year-old Ann Margaret was in her yellow dress, and with all her charm and magnetism, flir ts her way through the camera and straight to the eye of the beholder, which is the audience. That’s how the play starts, and I think I have seen her first song for about†¦ uh†¦ twenty times?Nope, don’t think of anything else†¦ I was merely in the process of getting out the true magic of the song. Then next in line would be the songs ‘The Telephone Hour,’ ‘How Lovely To Be A Woman,’ ‘Put On A Happy Face,’ and ‘A Healthy, Normal, American Boy’ for Act I. Then for Act II would be songs like ‘What Did I Ever See In Him? ’, ‘A Lot of Livin’ To Do’, which is my favorite, also the songs ‘Baby, Talk To Me’, ‘Spanish Rose’ and, finally, Albert’s love song for Rose Grant, the song ‘Rosie’.

Essay on Heart of Darkness as a Racist Novel - 1466 Words

Heart of Darkness as a Racist Novel Because of Conrads constant use of light and dark imagery in this novel, it can be difficult at times to ascertain whether his use of this imagery is meant in a racist manner, or whether he is using it simply to show how the Europeans actions are bigoted because of their naivety, or their seeming overwhelmed ness due to the new and strange landscape they have conquered, and their actions are a result of over eagerness on their behalf to civilize the blacks. The River Congo is compared to the River Thames in the book because Marlow is telling the story while they are sitting at the bottom of the Thames, yet his story takes place on the Congo. Right off, there†¦show more content†¦C.P. Sarvan states that, As for pagan rites and savage dances, the Europeans with imbecile rapacity were praying to ivory, that is, to materialism, and one red-haired man positively danced, bloodthirsty at the thought that he and the others must have made a glorious slaughter of the Africans in the bush. Next main argument relies on the people in the novella. We will first look at a selection from the text of Heart of Darkness near the middle of the story: We were wanderers on a prehistoric earth, on an earth that wore the aspect of an unknown planet. We could have fancied ourselves the first of men taking possession of an accursed inheritance, to be subdued at the cost of profound anguish and of excessive toil. But suddenly, as we struggled round a bend, there would be a glimpse of rush walls, of peaked grass-roofs, a burst of yells, a whirl of black limbs, a mass of hands clap- ping, of feet stamping, of bodies swaying, of eyes rolling, under the droop of heavy and motionless foliage. The steamer toiled along slowly on the edge of a black and incomprehensible frenzy. The prehistoric man was cursing us, praying to us, welcoming us -- who could tell? We were cut off from the comprehension of our surroundings; we glided past like phantoms, wondering and secretly appalled, as sane men would beShow MoreRelated Prejudice in Heart of Darkness: Racism is a Relative Term Essay1026 Words   |  5 PagesHeart of Darkness: Racism is a Relati ve Term Racism is a relative term. While many people argue that Conrads novel, Heart of Darkness, contains the theme of racism, they tend to ignore the fact that this novel was written around the turn of the century. During this time period it was accepted practice to think of a black man as savage because that was how the popular culture viewed the African American race. If someone called a black man savage today, that someone would be considered a racistRead More Prejudice and Racism in Heart of Darkness? Essay872 Words   |  4 PagesHeart of Darkness: Racist or not?    Many critics, including Chinua Achebe in his essay An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrads Heart of Darkness, have made the claim that Joseph Conrads novel Heart of Darkness, despite the insights which it offers into the human condition, ought to be removed from the canon of Western literature. This claim is based on the supposition that the novel is racist, more so than other novels of its time. While it can be read in this way, it is possible to lookRead MoreAnalysis Of Joseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness 1396 Words   |  6 PagesResearch Paper Heart of Darkness is a novel by Joseph Conrad that centers on Marlow, a man who goes to the Congo for a job opportunity. He meets a man named Kurtz, who is well known by many. Once he gets to the Congo, he sees colonialism first-hand. He sees that the natives of the country were practically enslaved and forced to work under very harsh conditions. The two major characters of the novel are Marlow and Kurtz. There are many minor characters throughout the novel as well. The novel shows readersRead MoreMajor Themes And Societal Importance Of The Heart Of Darkness1302 Words   |  6 PagesMajor Themes and Societal Importance of the Heart of Darkness Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is one of the most well known novels written about Africa in U.S history. This novel provides individuals with a look inside the horrid functioning of the Congo, highlighting many imperialistic, inhumane, and discriminatory acts that made it one of the most cruel and insatiable colonies in African history. Conrad expresses his anti-imperialist views through Marlow, illustrating the horrors Marlow witnessed onRead MoreRacism And Sexism In Joseph Conrads Heart Of Darkness1108 Words   |  5 Pagesundertaking VCE. From the time Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad was published in 1899 the novel has been held under considerable scrutiny as many interpretations have been developed over the novels true intent as well as the overall message portrayed within. Chinua Achebe’s â€Å"An Image of Africa† is a well-known criticism on Heart of Darkness that focuses on a Post-Colonial perspective to describe the nature of the novel. Jeremy Hawthornâ⠂¬â„¢s â€Å"The Women of Heart of Darkness† is another well-known criticismRead MoreAnalysis Of Conrad s The Heart Of Darkness 1612 Words   |  7 PagesThe 9th plague was Darkness. A darkness so thick, people could not see for three days. Darkness restricts vision and thus the way man understands the world. Conrad explores a similar darkness throughout The Heart of Darkness. He writes about how this darkness, a blindness towards others, can lead to the moral degradation of mankind in his novel. Throughout the novel, the reader is able to see Conrad’s perspective of humanity by discussing two integral issues of the time, Racism and Colonialism. MoreRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book Heart Of Darkness By Chinua Achebe1364 Words   |  6 Pages In Chinua Achebe’s essay, â€Å"An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad s Heart of Darkness,† Achebe purports that Joseph Conrad’s short story, Heart of Darkness, should not be taught due to it’s racist caricature of Africa and African culture. In Conrad’s book, Marlow, a sea captain, is tasked with venturing into the center of the Congo, otherwise known as the Heart of Darkness, to retrieve a mentally unstable ivory trader named Kurtz. Marlow narrates his adventures with a tinge of apathy for the enslavedRead MoreEthnocentrism: with Whom Resides the Heart of Darkness?790 Words   |  4 PagesEthnocentrism 1 Ethnocentrism With Whom Resides the Heart of Darkness? Antonio Arevalo James Campbell High School Ethnocentrism 2 Abstract This paper discusses Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrads most acclaimed novel, and attempts to determine what the heart of darkness that Conrad speaks of is. I found, through my interpretations, that the heart of darkness is the ethnocentrism that Europeans maintained in the age of colonialism. More specifically, this ethnocentrism broughtRead MoreHeart Of Darkness Essay1426 Words   |  6 PagesJoseph Conrads novel Heart of Darkness uses character development and character analysis to really tell the story of European colonization. Within Conrads characters one can find both racist and colonialist views, and it is the opinion, and the interpretation of the reader which decides what Conrad is really trying to say in his work. Chinua Achebe, a well known writer, once gave a lecture at the University of Massachusetts about Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness, entitled An image of Africa:Read MoreHeart of Darkness971 Words   |  4 Pagesreally otherize, or impose racist ideology upon, the Africans in Heart of Darkness, or does Achebe merely see Conrad from the point of view of an African? Is it merely a matter of view point, or does there exist greater underlying meaning in the definition of racism? br2. How does Achebes personal history and the context in which he wrote An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrads Heart of Darkness reflect the manner in which he views Conrads idea of racism in the novel? br3. Taking into account