They’re only eating burgers

I don’t mean to continue on with the theme of food, but burgers are in fact related to what this post will be about.

Today the New York Times posted a news story online, covering the US President Barack Obama having a meal with Russian counterpart (aka. President of Russia) Dmitri A. Medvedev at a local hamburger joint.

I'm hungry

Writer Elisabeth Goodridge briefly discusses where they ate – Ray’s Hell Burger in Washington, for those of you playing at home – what they ordered and what they talked about whilst chowing down on some proper American feed.

A typical soft news story; good chance for a photo-op. Nothing substantial – right?

Well not so, according to the 138 comments on this story.

“Yet another example of out of control government spending under the Obama adminstration,” says one commenter.

“A carefully choreographed lunch… Does reporting that our world leaders eating slaughtered cow really instill us with some false sense that they’re masculine or alpha in some way?” writes another.

The oil spill even manages to come into the discussion with someone asking “meanwhile the oil keeps coming a shore. Hope he asked if Russia has any ideas on how to cap that well?”

One commenter even busts out a list of issues with America today (unemployment rate, housing issues etc etc) before finishing off by saying “it’s apparent to us all that Obama has simply given up on his Presidency. He’s gone on a burger run.”

Now, I don’t know if these people are being overtly sarcastic or the like, but I think they are just reading too much into the picture; making something out of nothing.

Look at the comments of a similar story last year, in which President Obama takes Vice President Joe Biden to the same burger spot for a meal. You’ll find nothing as vindictive. Just people praising the President for being a ‘normal guy’ – which is what I thought today’s story was trying to portray.

I’m not too sure what exactly is wrong with going out for a quick bite to eat – whether you be the President or not. You gotta eat, right? (Right, Christine Nixon? Haha.) Or maybe these online commenters are just trying to stir the pot and rile things up a bit, all in the name of friendly discussion.

Well whatever they’re trying to do, it’s kinda annoying to me.

I guess I could go on to talk about the strengths and weaknesses that the online medium offers for news, but I think I’m going to end it here. After all, I’m just talking about two guys eating burgers…

Parmas won’t help you here

Last night I went out with a few friends to our former local drinking hole, where they had their ‘uni night’ going on. I say former because over the years patron numbers dropped, the same songs were being heard and to turn discussion slightly to the masculine, the ‘talent’ was becoming sparse.

But all that aside, our midweek hang-out was revitalising itself to reel people in – with their star attraction being cheap chicken parmigiana:

They say it twice just in case you don't believe it reading the first time

So how did the night go?

Well, arriving there at around 8:00PM the carpark was uncharacteristically full for the time. Walking inside also revealed a surprising amount of revelers – many with knives and forks waiting to get their cheap parma.

After 9:00PM however, the numbers dropped off drastically and the ‘dancefloor’ was feeling very empty. We were out of there by 11:00PM.

So while the prospect of cheap parmas may have attracted a few people, in the end they didn’t stick around and proceed to get drunk (which I assume was their plan behind the relaunch all along).

So, to those reading who run a ‘uni night’ – cheap parmas don’t work in attracting customers!