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A haunting new documentary about Anthony Bourdain
- AdamJacobMuller 5y agoI just watched it tonight, really amazing. It had a lot more historical footage than contemporary interviews, I was expecting more contemporary interviews. While the documentary does obviously discuss his suicide it doesn't really focus on it, something I was very grateful for. It's obviously present across the whole documentary, but, not in an overbearing way. The documentary really pulled back the curtain and explained a lot about the history and production of his various shows and gave far more insight into who he was off camera. The documentary also paints a very specific picture of why he killed himself. I don't want to "spoil" it, and perhaps i'm reading too much into it but it felt obvious to me. Overall, really amazing documentary, definitely in my top few documentaries i've ever seen.
- jacobwilliamroy 5y agoSpoil it. I don't feel like watching the documentary.
- samsari 5y agoI do, so don't.
- jacobwilliamroy 5y agoJust close your eyes. Or turn off the screen.
- tgv 5y agoJust watch it.
- _game_of_life 5y agoI won't spoil it in a thread about it, but you can skip to the second last paragraph of this article if you want to cut to the chase. https://slate.com/culture/2021/07/roadrunner-anthony-bourdain-documentary-movie-asia-argento.html https://slate.com/culture/2021/07/roadrunner-anthony-bourdai...
- failwhaleshark 5y agoI loved that guy, his writing and his shows. His end made me sad and it seems like an enigma. Perhaps he had everything material but felt isolated from meaningful human connections, like with his daughter. Undiagnosed/untreated depression, an existential dark place, didn't want to grow old alone, and/or didn't want to stick around for the way the world was headed. It's hard to say what goes on in someone's mind if they don't talk about it. The problem with suicide is it eliminates all future good possibilities and it's likely that this is the only life.
- louwrentius 5y agoOften, the good just can’t cancel the bad. It doesn’t work that way. I understand that suicide is hard on the people left behind, but I also understand that some people don’t want to continue to suffer to prevent others from suffering. Suicide is a very hard step for people and although Futurama style suicide booths are a step way too far, there should be more humane avenues guided by medical professionals for people who are ‘done’. Please if you do have suicidal thoughts, at least go to the doctor hand have a that about it, they can help you further.
- voakbasda 5y agoAt least in the US, seeking help can have seriously drastic consequences on your freedom. Involuntary psychiatric holds, red flag seizures, and worse. I do not think it will ever be worth the risk to seek help, because the potential costs are more than I am willing to pay. My freedom is worth more than my life.
- wayoutthere 5y agoYou could see some of the despair setting in over the last few seasons of his show on CNN. Basically, he had been so many places in the world so he was revisiting a lot of places and was basically in mourning over the fact that they’re all the same now. Even places like Hanoi that shouldn’t be. There’s a lot of mourning over “the old ways” over those last few seasons. If you watch some of his early shows, he was enchanted by the street food scene in Asia. But places like Bangkok and Shanghai cracked down hard on unlicensed street vendors over a decade ago, and the places that were lively environments in the mid-2000s have been gone for a long time. Anecdotally, I tried to find street food in Shanghai and the only places were a few vendors next to the train station. I was told by the guide I hired that there really wasn’t much anymore and that western diets were all the rage among the under-40 crowd. In its place were sterile food courts with bright signs and cartoon mascots.
- neonate 5y agohttps://archive.is/JeGa8 https://archive.is/JeGa8
- hrh 5y agoI used to watch Bourdain on the Travel channel. I've never traveled, Bourdain was my escape. Sidnote, has anyone seen what the Travel channel has turned into? This thing where every show is about UFOs or bigfoot (bigfeet) or goatman. I can't tell if they're scripted or they are genuinely taking advantage of the people they are interviewing. Then they'll drop an ad for you to subscribe to Discovery plus every six minutes (they do this on all their networks). Kind of interesting to watch whatever that business model is. Well, enough of why Bourdain killed himself. Bourdain was brilliant. He was witty, charming, but more importantly you genuinely knew that he cared about every single person he was sitting down and talking to. He always, always respected them and his audience and he never treated you as anything but a friend. When the news came out about his death I was not surprised. I know what depression is like, the secret suffering (I don't want or need pity comment)s. You can be open and loving and happy on the outside but every hour wonder what's the point of helping people hurt other people, which is ultimately what most of us do. I mean, we couldn't all eat and travel like Bourdain without destroying the planet (worse) and you know he was self-aware to know that. He probablys aid it. Bourdain lived a very large life, he'd seen enough like Hemingway and Wallace and Bennington and...there's a pattern here but I'm sure I'm leaving lots of people out...had before him. But the way the world reacted to his death. The absolute incomprehension, the continued downplaying of issues like depression even on "educated" places like HN, the conspiracy theories (happy people don't kill themselves - ergo child trafficking), the way we as people and societies bicker about the smallest and stupidest of things and will kill each other over it...I'm certain that's why Bourdain was the person he was, and I thank him for all he taught me and others.
- itronitron 5y ago>> I can't tell if they're scripted or they are genuinely taking advantage of the people they are interviewing. A friend of mine used to live in a small town near another small town where one of the episodes of Ghost Hunters was filmed. That particular episode focused on an "old historic hotel built in the 1800's" and the frontier-era ghosts haunting it. It was a very compelling episode but I found out after watching it that the hotel had been built only a few years prior to the episode being filmed. My personal opinion is that most of those shows are entirely scripted.
- poorjohnmacafee 5y agoFyi they used deepfake AI to have him say various things. Apparently it's not clear in the doc where it's a fake and where it's the doc makers guessing what he might say. If ask me pretty disturbing the producers claim to know him and his mind so well that they're comfortable speaking for him.
- WillPostForFood 5y agohttps://nypost.com/2021/07/15/director-of-anthony-bourdain-admits-to-using-a-i-voice-over/ https://nypost.com/2021/07/15/director-of-anthony-bourdain-a... It is weird, but they are using the AI generated voice to read actual emails, so they aren’t guessing what he might say.
- ycombobreaker 5y agoIt's weird, and it crosses the line into misrepresentation. The written word and the spoken word are different forms of communication. A deepfake is using his words but synthesizing his facial expressions, pacing, and tone. Everything we know about how information is lost from face2face to text--why /s is a thing in the first place--should reinforce this. A deepfake is still a small fiction. (edit for spelling)
- mthoms 5y agoIt's my understanding that the deepfake is voice only - but I might be mistaken.
- ycombobreaker 5y agoYeah maybe voice only, but my point stands. They are inventing inflection, tone, pacing, etc.
- mthoms 5y agoagreed.
- Kosirich 5y agoA few months ago one of the major Croatian news channels did an interview with a Croatian chef that was a host of Anthony Bourdain in Croatia while filming "No Reservations". Amongst other things they talked about Anthony and his stay there. One of the things the Croatian chef said about A.B, that kind of stuck with me, is how different he was off camera and on camera. Off camera he was very quiet and kept to himself until he would have few glasses of wine. His theory was that A.B was an 'introvert' acting to be an 'extrovert' and that (according to this chef's opinion) must have been taking a toll on him all these years.
- hrh 5y agoThere logically have to be lots of Tonies like this. I think people can move across whatever that spectrum of introversion and extroversion is, but for people who are truly introverted and prefer solitude but also really like people, it can be hard to balance because your internal and external lives are inherently different.
- kubami 5y agoExtroversion and introversion do not work like that. In layman terms, it is where you "get your energy from". For introverts they spend energy when they have to interact with lots of people and be the "center of attention". But it doesn't mean they don't like it. Or that it's bad for them. It just means they have to go and be by themselves after to recuperate.
- Tycho 5y agoI suspect introversion and extroversion are just two different sets of competences and are not mutually exclusive or unlearnable. Attempting to do something you are not good at is tiring.
- MillenialMan 5y agoIs there any evidence people are actually wired this way? Because as far as I can tell people mostly gain/lose energy based on whether they like the people they're interacting with, and everyone likes some time alone. Extroversion strikes me as liking the average person over anything else, and extroverts stop being extroverts when they're interacting with people they find objectionable. A person who exclusively gains energy from being alone is likely schizoid, which is an outright disorder (and relatively rare).
- gorgoiler 5y agocook What other jobs are named so brutally after the thing one does? Very much looking forward to this documentary.
- DocTomoe 5y agoPretty much all jobs that existed before the industrial revolution, many of which have become surnames. A miller mills, a smith smithes, a butcher butchers, a farmer farms.
- gorgoiler 5y agoOh no, it’s a bit more subtle than that. A Thatcher does thatching with his bundles of thatch. A Carter does carting with his horse and cart. But the poor sod who braises your partridge? Just “cook”, not “cooker”. Somewhat less noble, I thought, and in keeping with Bourdain’s 1999 Kitchen Confidential essay of counter-glamour. Kinda like Bones from Star Trek. Camaraderie through occupational diminutives.
- silicon2401 5y agoThe other commenter already replied to your comment explaining the title. I think this is a classic case of somebody misunderstanding something and then reading too much into the misinterpretation. And as another commenter said, it's easy to find other examples like nurse.
- vtbassmatt 5y agoProgrammer?
- Terretta 5y agonurse the verb is the noun, no -er
- spywaregorilla 5y ago> https://www.etymonline.com/word/cook https://www.etymonline.com/word/cook You have it backwards. The verb cook was derived from the profession name
- alva 5y agoI used to work in a small hotel as a student. Most of my job was taking guests' luggage up 4 flights of extremely narrow stairs of the historic building. The only guest who ever tipped me (not common in my country) was Anthony Bourdain, who was very generous.
- spywaregorilla 5y agoOn one hand, I think things like financial incentives make it really weird that family gets to own rights to your likeness and voice. Would we feel comfortable if they licensed this guy out to do a deepfake porno for $50? On the other hand, it sure does feel like likeness is better off in the public domain once you're dead. Because you're dead.
- ddingus 5y agoI wish he were here to talk with us, show us how Covid ripples through the world, impact, all of it. Safe travels AB, and thanks for all the people, places, food, culture you brought to me. I am better for it.
- steve_adams_86 5y agoOne thing I wonder is if his popularity is part of what caused him so much pain. I know when people express positive things about me, all I can think of is why that’s wrong. I think I’ve manipulated people, albeit unintentionally, to believe I’m something I’m not. I believe they just haven’t figured me out yet. It makes me feel isolated and/or deceitful. It drives home this belief that even the people I love don’t really know me. If I were in his position, the constant praise and love would annihilate me. Especially being in a position where my name is my brand and I’m actually intentionally producing content a certain way for people. Even if he was very genuine, or if I was for example, I couldn’t escape the thought that it was all a ruse and I was doing something wrong in order to have all these fans. I don’t know. I don’t know a lot about him, but this is a significant component of the depression I experience and if I were in his position, it could very likely take me to very dark places.
- alexose 5y agoI understand this feeling. When you don't feel good about yourself, hearing praise from others (Especially people who don't know you well) can be crushing. As if they're being dishonest, in a way. I can't speak for Tony, but he fit the pattern of a highly intuitive person with sky-high expectations for himself. That's what made his journey so fascinating to me, anyway-- his constant pursuit of and personal and professional ideal that's always just out of reach. “If I get hit by an ice cream truck and they’re peeling the bumper out of my head while I’m dying, I’m not going to wish that I had eaten more or traveled more or taken more drugs. I’m just going to regret how much I disappointed people in my life.”
- steve_adams_86 5y agoOof, wow. That quote. That's very relatable. Thank you for relating. I find it helpful to know I'm not alone, although it's saddening too to think others feel this way.
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- crispyambulance 5y agoI've long been a huge fan of Bourdain ever since he started on his television career. The most important thing I learned from Bourdain shows is very simple and also very true: When you visit a place that is unfamiliar to you, whether it's another city in your own country or someplace on another continent, go to the traditional food markets. That's where you can best encounter the culture and flavor (literal and figurative) of a place. It's really good advice (modulo cautions about tap water and uncooked foods).
- spookthesunset 5y agoAlso to take things on their own terms. Too many of these shows try to project somebodies existing values onto wherever they are traveling too. AB always acted as a humble guest anywhere he traveled and with whomever he was speaking with. It was always refreshing.
- SirLJ 5y agoWasn't there an early reports in french media about cause for death to be Autoerotic Asphyxiation? And this brings the question, why are we, as a society, so ashamed of something like this and prefer to cover it up as mental illness (suicide) and blame ex girlfriends, etc...
- anm89 5y agoNothing haunting about deep fakes. Just trashy
- TheRealPomax 5y agomods: this should probably be "A deep fakes based haunting new documentary about Anthony Bourdain".