Chef Tony is a douchebag.

So some of my collaborators had to send me sone stuff they took back from our recenet trip. They always send presents in their packages (wine, etc.) and this time included a copy of Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. I know this guy also has a show on the Travel Channel that I've seen once. I kind of thought he was a douchebag in the show. They're in Las Vegas and he's going from fancy restaurant to fancy restaurant. He goes to Thomas Keller's new restaurant and orders fucking chicken. Now, I'm sure that it was good but I cannot understand how people can go into a fancy resaurant and order fucking chicken. I mean, it's fucking chicken!
Then he has to really see how good this guy's food is by ordering.... fucking french fries! Are they as good as the ones at his restaurant? I can't fucking wait to find out!
Long story short, they are and he's despondent. They remind him of his childhood - they're that good.
Then he walks around Vegas complaining about he wants to see it how it used to be, instead of how it is now. Then he goes into New York, New York. Here we go. See, Bourdain is from NYC and of course he's got to monologue about how great NYC is and how fucked up the casino is and how he misses his city, how it's exciting and dangerous, blah, blah, blah.

So I get his book and my impression that he's a world-class douche are pretty much spot on.
First of all there's a theme running through the book where he tries to convince you that he's "street", rubbing elbows with thugs and he's been around, you know what I'm saying. He refers to some person as a "fellow seventies survivor" 'cause it's soooo amazing he made it out of that decade. He really tries to go all regular-guy on us but clearly he's an arrogant prick. Interspersed with his stories about his rough life (and yes, I know he was in rehab and shit - but we're talking about a guy that went to Vassar, the Culinary Institute of America, and took cruises to Europe and ate better than I do now when he was a kid) he goes totally psuedointellectual on us, explaining culture and using terrible analogies and science. In that way he kind of reminds me of Jim McManus in Positively Fifth Street.
He also goes off on people who eat fucking chicken in resaurants!!!!
He spends a lot of time ripping on the celebrity chefs and the culture that they have created (I guess he fucking hates Emeril). I guess the hilarious part is that this is coming from a chef that has his own TV show (No Reservations) and several books that don't have a single recipe in them. What a fucking hypocrite.
Also, as in the episode I saw, this guy is one of those NYC-is-the-center-of-the-universe-fuggedaboutit dildoes. He talks about when he spent time in Baltimore and says something to the effect of how if someone is resigned to live in a "second-class city" then they deserve what they get. (Mainly because he had trouble finding drugs). What a great choice to host a show where the guy goes to places that aren't NYC!
Anyhoo, I can't believe I just reviewed Kitchen Confidential.

To keep it going, Aeon Flux was as awful as I expected. Staggeringly bad. On every level.
And I still can't believe that they got a fat girl to play Aeon instead of Milla.