Skip to main content

Extreme Weight Loss



The December Harper's treats us to some interpretive riffs on the TV show, Extreme Weight Loss, by novelist Rick Moody.

I've never seen the program, and was not especially intrigued by most of Moody's riffs thereon. I mention it today only because Moody offers us some well-worded descriptions of the shows host, Chris Powell, describing Powell for example as "an average-size guy with the endearing aw-shucks mien of an Arizona State frat brothe who nonetheless manages to volunteer on the local pediatric ward."

I like the word "mien" there. At a less inspired moment, he might have gone with "manner."

I will conclude this blog entry with the two sentences that conclude the review: "In our evangelical nation, where all things are possible if you are born anew -- a straight nose, a good job, six-pack abs, a modicum of happiness -- I would argue that the show's host is just messianic enough. After all, the guy's first name is Christopher."

Italics in original.
Labels:

Comments

  1. BloggerApril 15, 2017 at 9:19 PM

    With bistroMD you can trust that not only will you eat delicious entrees, but that every entree and every day in bistroMD's weight loss programs is balanced to bistroMD's designed nutritional platform to help promote healthy diets.

    STEP 1 - Choose one of the diet plans for 5 to 7 days of entrees.
    STEP 2 - Review your menu before ordering and pick the meals you would like for each day and week.
    STEP 3 - Order your diet plan.
    STEP 4 - Your meals are sent to your home.

    TRY IT NOW - delivered to your doorstep.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJuly 1, 2017 at 6:52 AM

    Nice Post

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownOctober 20, 2017 at 11:02 PM

    Losing weight may be difficult, but it can be done. With the Military diet, you get to have well-planned meals at no extra charge. The food selection is affordable, and your diet will focus on low carb meals that require no tedious cooking and preparation. You'll also learn about portion control and drinking lots of water for good health and faster metabolism. For more information, see http://3daysmilitarydiet.com/results-reviews/3-day-military-diet-reviews.html

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Story About Coleridge

This is a quote from a memoir by Dorothy Wordsworth, reflecting on a trip she took with two famous poets, her brother, William Wordsworth, and their similarly gifted companion, Samuel Taylor Coleridge.   We sat upon a bench, placed for the sake of one of these views, whence we looked down upon the waterfall, and over the open country ... A lady and gentleman, more expeditious tourists than ourselves, came to the spot; they left us at the seat, and we found them again at another station above the Falls. Coleridge, who is always good-natured enough to enter into conversation with anybody whom he meets in his way, began to talk with the gentleman, who observed that it was a majestic waterfall. Coleridge was delighted with the accuracy of the epithet, particularly as he had been settling in his own mind the precise meaning of the words grand, majestic, sublime, etc., and had discussed the subject with William at some length the day before. “Yes, sir,” says Coleridge, “it is a maj...
9 comments
Read more

Searle: The Chinese Room

John Searle has become the object of accusations of improper conduct. These accusations even have some people in the world of academic philosophy saying that instructors in that world should try to avoid teaching Searle's views. That is an odd contention, and has given rise to heated exchanges in certain corners of the blogosphere.  At Leiter Reports, I encountered a comment from someone describing himself as "grad student drop out." GSDO said: " This is a side question (and not at all an attempt to answer the question BL posed): How important is John Searle's work? Are people still working on speech act theory or is that just another dead end in the history of 20th century philosophy? My impression is that his reputation is somewhat inflated from all of his speaking engagements and NYRoB reviews. The Chinese room argument is a classic, but is there much more to his work than that?" I took it upon myself to answer that on LR. But here I'll tak...
17 comments
Read more

Recent Controversies Involving Nassim Taleb, Part I

I've written about Nassim Taleb on earlier occasions in this blog. I'll let you do the search yourself, dear reader, for the full background. The short answer to the question "who is Taleb?" is this: he is a 57 year old man born in Lebanon, educated in France, who has been both a hedge fund manager and a derivatives trader. He retired from active participation from the financial world sometime between 2004 and 2006, and has been a full-time writer and provocateur ever since. Taleb's writings for the general public began where one might expect -- in the field where he had made his money -- and he explained certain financial issues to a broad audiences in a very dramatic non-technical way. Since then, he has widened has fields of study, writing about just about everything, applying the intellectual tools he honed in that earlier work. As you might have gather from the above, I respect Taleb, though I have sometimes been critical of him when my own writing ab...
4 comments
Read more