Good gods, I hope we never figure out the mechanism by which truffles cast their spell. There's way too much of that take-it-apart mentality in American culture. The greatest reason for the attraction of truffles is precisely their mysterious nature. Pick it apart and it becomes boring, mechanical.

Besides which, knowing the chemical components of a food means nothing as far as understanding why it does the things it does. It only reduces the complexity of our relationship with food to a set of Tinkertoys, cancelling out the intricacy of it all. Fine if you have a simplistic, reductionist mindset, I suppose. I prefer my dishes to have that magical synergy that happens without my knowledge.

Who's "we", white woman?

I'm appalled at how often Broadsheet writers seem to think that all their readers must necessarily be of the same mindset as they are. YOU may be interested in tabloid crap and all its "implicatons", but many of us have brains and know how to use them. WE have better things to do with our time than slaver over what mindless celebrity is doing what to whom, thanks.

Whatever. Yet another industry-led fad. I've got several hundred DVD's in my collection, and I can't see any reason to change formats. They're perfectly good discs, and if you take good care of them, they last just fine. As far as I can see, the quality is excellent already, so why should I dump more money on a new player and more expensive discs? I certainly won't be buying a Blu-Ray player if it won't accommodate what I already have, thank you.

(MisterMarker - DUH. You're watching RENTALS. If you want a guarantee of condition, you'll have to buy your own. Otherwise, Netflix is an incredible bargain, so maybe not so much whining?)

But it seems an awful lot of people have more than a little lemming in them, and will happily drop money on something just to be able to say they've got the new one. Big whoop. Until something comes along that really is new in some radical way, and not just a coat of gloss, I'll heed the words of one pointy-eared logician: "A difference which is no difference makes no difference."

...Who's "we", white woman?

WHY do critics insist on writing as if every viewer shares their outlook? I saw this film and John Huston never occurred to me. Instead, I saw Daniel Day-Lewis, a fine actor, playing an interesting character. I didn't like him much, but that's the idea with this character, isn't it? After all, Huston isn't the first or last guy to have a gravelly voice and gruff demeanor. Hell, there've probably been hundreds of guys who sounded like him without trying, or who had never even heard of him.

This is the problem with being paid to give opinions. After a while, you start believing that your opinions are right, rather than yours. Art is viewed differently by every person that looks at it, and assuming that your view MUST be correct, and that everyone else MUST share it, is arrogance of the highest order.

So how about replacing that the royal "we" with the more humble and honest "I" next time? You'll come off more realistic, as well as a lot less snottier. I promise.

Abuses which clearly imply an industry-wide culture of abuse and dodging regulations are trumpeted as being the work of just a few bad apples. That way, a big stick can be wielded against one company by politicians eager to look like they're actually doing something, when in reality they're not taking any meaningful action. Five'll get you ten that there'll be big fines levied against this factory, a lot of hot air will be blown over it, much tsk-tsking will be heard, and in the end, it'll be business as usual.

Why? Because Americans in general simply don't want to know anything about how their food is produced. They want to believe that their food is safe, that beef is an excellent thing to eat every single day, that there are no bad men being mean to the poor cows. (Actually, they'd rather believe that beef doesn't really come from cows, but that it just comes in those little plastic wrapped-packages from the beginning.) They certainly don't want to face up to the fact that the kind of gluttonous ingestion of meat this country indulges in is unsustainable, hideously inhuman and extremely unhealthy. That's just too much reality for most people to stomach, so they'll be happen with a little hot scandal, some harrumphing and punishment to make us all feel good about Getting The Bad Guys. Then they can go back to their Big Macs.

(Don't get me wrong - I'm not against animal consumption per se. It's the ridiculous way the modern world goes about it that I find disgusting. Everything has to be to extremes! There's no moderation in our culture. That's why we're falling over from clogged arteries, heart attacks and hypertension while simultaneously torturing our bodies trying to achieve impossible physical goals. Gluttony, gluttony, gluttony, whether for food, toys or self-hatred.)

And arresting the WORKERS? Are you fucking kidding me? Arrest the OWNERS. Arrest the guys who SET COMPANY POLICY. Arresting the guys who make $8 an hour working 12-hour shifts is ludicrous. Do these regulators really think putting Joe Schmoe in jail is going to change a damn thing? Give me a break!