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CNN is reporting that Anthony Bourdain has died.

FrauBlucher wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 11:22 am CNN is reporting that Anthony Bourdain has died.

And they just confirmed it was a suicide. I'm really shocked about this.

My God, what is going on with all these suicides lately?

Fuck.

I love watching Bourdain’s shows. No matter where he was he always approached new cultures, people, and food with empathy and genuine enthusiasm. He was cynical at times but never punched down. His greatest gift was showing Americans why they shouldn’t be afraid of other places and people. He often shined a light on darker places and gave humanity to voices that are all too often unheard or intentionally silenced. He inspired curiosity in me to explore foods and places I might not otherwise have taken.

He was a giant and it’s such a monumental loss.

Success is not a vaccine for depression.

This incendiary op-ed by Leah McSweeney in Penthouse [so site is definitely NSFW but content of article is SFW] has been 'liked' and retweeted by friends, coworkers, and family members of Anthony Bourdain, including his wife and his friend Eric Ripert's wife. So while normally this is the sort of thing that I would recommend approaching with a giant grain of salt, maybe you could just go in with a regular one.

It's all very tragic at any rate, sticky gender politics aside.

Honestly, this mostly reads like just another article claiming Argento and McGowan werent raped but merely were using sex for their careers. The rest doesn't fare much better, blending tabloid styles discussions about what was happening in Bourdain/Argento's couple, or how McGowan has hired for lawyer "accused child killer Casey Anthony’s lawyer". There isn't much discussion about "toxic feminity" really, but just seemingly the rumblings from someone who clearly seemed to prefer Bourdain over Argento. Anybody looking for a deeper discussion about "toxic feminity" or the #MeToo movement going too far will be disappointed.

The endorsements it's received (for example, Bourdain's wife hasn't posted on Twitter in months and rarely does, but she made a point to 'like' this article) is what takes it beyond mere tabloid speculation to me. But you make absolutely fair criticisms otherwise, though I find the author's perspective compelling.

Yeah I took you linking it here for these endorsements. I suppose I thought the endorsements meant it'd be a deeper analysis.
Note that I don't per se complain about the author's perspective, but the arguments used are really tabloid-like and as a whole quite shallow-looking.

I agree with mfunk about that account. Anyone can make an account and accuse but the fact that it was endorsed makes me raise an eyebrow. If Asia was indeed attempting to control his life and was in any way abusing him she needs to be held accountable. It strikes me as complete bullshit that she can be photographed with another man and then still have the audacity to make claims that he was her rock after he killed himself. If she's done something abusive she doesn't get a pass any more than anyone else.

I obviously don't know any of them personally and certainly couldn't judge how their couple dynamic was functionning, but a journalist friend of mine's first reaction was "Asia has more lovers that there are days in the calendar and never hid it. If Boudain just discovered that, he was not only blind but also a fool."
I also can't judge the possibility that she could both deeply love him but also hang up (and possibly more) with someone else. I've seen couples going way past this.

I don't want to defend her either if that's the case. I mean : I just don't know, and probably not many people do. It just seems very possible to me that she was in love in Bourdain but in an open relationship with him.

That's all well and good (I don't have any problem with open relationships.) it's the controlling aspect that raises the eyebrow (His show etc.). Again I don't know anymore than you do it's just the whole thing just makes me go "Huh". I imagine we'll find out more in the future if there is information that is there.

Argento says Bourdain urged the payout-- shifting blame to someone who can't defend himself, great strategy here

mfunk9786 wrote: Sat Jun 30, 2018 2:36 am This incendiary op-ed by Leah McSweeney in Penthouse [so site is definitely NSFW but content of article is SFW] has been 'liked' and retweeted by friends, coworkers, and family members of Anthony Bourdain, including his wife and his friend Eric Ripert's wife. So while normally this is the sort of thing that I would recommend approaching with a giant grain of salt, maybe you could just go in with a regular one.

It's all very tragic at any rate, sticky gender politics aside.

Not sure if it's a coincidental bullseye or not, but this reads a lot better now than it did then!

In a rare instance of men being worse off than women it IS statistically unlikely she'll be in as much trouble as male perpetrators. Speaking from my own experience my biggest problem was/is is that people don't often see older women doing this as abuse and if it is understood as having occurred it's seen as a good thing. I'm hoping this can move forward because of the movement but past experience tells me the victim should not expect much in way of support in certain venues.

As for Asia dragging Bourdain into this that's some serious bullshit.

I still can't really believe Bourdain is gone, and that Argento's psychological abuse is the leader in the clubhouse to explain why. It really is something that no one saw coming except for those close to the situation, and I so wish someone could have stopped it if the rumors surrounding this are true.

Things like this usually aren't isolated incidents and if Asia has done this to multiple men or heaven forbid, boys I hope it gives them enough courage to come forward. Tenia mentioned on a previous page that Argento was known for having multiple boyfriends at once. That in and of itself isn't a problem but if she was abusing them in the process, that's just not okay and it needs to be addressed. It's one thing to have a bad break up (I imagine more than one of us on this forum as had that) but if the breakup came about from abuse I hope she gets nailed to the wall.

mfunk9786 wrote: Tue Aug 21, 2018 4:50 pm

mfunk9786 wrote: Sat Jun 30, 2018 2:36 am This incendiary op-ed by Leah McSweeney in Penthouse [so site is definitely NSFW but content of article is SFW] has been 'liked' and retweeted by friends, coworkers, and family members of Anthony Bourdain, including his wife and his friend Eric Ripert's wife. So while normally this is the sort of thing that I would recommend approaching with a giant grain of salt, maybe you could just go in with a regular one.

It's all very tragic at any rate, sticky gender politics aside.

Not sure if it's a coincidental bullseye or not, but this reads a lot better now than it did then!

I didn't read it then as I wasn't really following the coverage around her and Bourdain's relationship, but Jesus, this is not a woman who should be speaking for the metoo movement. Is this (partly) why the Italian media has been pretty hostile towards her?

In answer to hearthesilence's question, I don't think the Italian media has a very good reputation covering anyone, animal mineral or vegetable

Our New York members will likely get a kick out of this past weekend’s Part’s Unknown which covers 70s/80s LES. Covered are a lot music/performance artists, not a whole lotta food, but he did visit Veselka which is one of my favorite winter time restaurants.

It also happens to be Bourdain’s last complete episode.

More profiles should be written like that. Having done the hard work of obtaining and organizing all these anecdotes, the writer steps back and lets the material speak for itself.

Yeah, that was a fantastic read. Oral history is an excellent approach.