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Product of the day
15 Jan 2009 12:05 pm
All right, so I'm kind of an infomercial freak. I can't explain why the raw hucksterism so appeals to me, but there's something in the combination of honest greed and mutually acknowledged prevarication that is deeply compelling.
I like its little bag system. Switch out those heating elements for a water tank and immersion circulator in the same package and you got the sunbeam rocket sous-vide
I just patented that. No stealing
I think I'd be interested in trying home made bags made of parchment paper. T'would either burn the house down or work.
Please fix whatever you have to do so that films don't start playing unless I click something. I never watch them, and it really irritates me to have that stupid thing start playing, so I have to find the stop button.
Dick: if you use firefox, you can use NoScript or FlashBlock to make sure they don't start without you asking them to. I'm not sure how much control Megan has once she's decided to embed them.
If this product is still around in 2-3 years I'll buy it. When it comes to kitchen goods I'm pretty much a laggar. For the people who primarily cook frozen chicken breasts of fish filets it's ideal. I wonder if this product was a concept of that kind of market research... The realization that more and more people want to cook at home, and buy those frozen filets/breasts at costco.
I don't have much to say about the products, but I thought that I'd note that I, too, love infomercials, but I never buy from them. I'll happily watch an informercial from start to finish, and it drives my wife mad. I just find them oddly compelling. I especially enjoy the real estate infomercials that play at night.
Did you know that you could make millions of dollars just by placing tiny little ads in newspaper classified sections?
The issue Megan raises at the end is key. Infomercials are so closely identified with hucksterism of inferior or fraudulent products that it's cognitive dissonance-producing to sell a genuine good product that way--and most people will resolve the dissonance by assuming it's a bad product, rather than by re-thinking their assumption about infomercials.
Personally, I never watch any infomercial unless it stars Billy Mays, though I am starting to cotton to Vince with ShamWow--the guy has HUCKSTER practically stamped on his forehead. In his spare time, he probably runs a 3-card Monty table outside the Greyhound station.
I am personally quite fond of infomercials, although my wife doesn't like to sit next to me and watch me splutter agog at how they lie. Kevin Trudeau is a great example of the ones that make me angry.
It's the same thing at the county fair -- I love seeing all the folks who are clearly just out to make a buck, no matter what. The toxin foot bath things are the best for that.
ShamWow Vince is a master of the genre -- I would never, ever buy anything from him, but I love to watch.
I wouldn't buy something like that - too much chance of them to decide to stop making it, and then the (non-reusable, I presume) bags disappear off the market - and so, you're stuck with an appliance that does nothing but take up space.
I also wonder if the bags won't be found to contain some horrible lurking carcinogen, like BPA and those silvery "crisp up" surfaces that come with microwaveable pizzas are alleged to.
I just hope all the damn infomercials that show up on cable early in the morning (especially on weekends) are actually helping to keep my cable bill down; I'd frankly rather watch a test-pattern.
Given that you're both an avid reader and a fan of infomercials, I'm sure you've read Malcolm Gladwell's profile of infomercial king Ron Popeil, but if not, you will love it. I think it won a national magazine award for best profile and it's one of the two or three best things Gladwell has ever written.
http://www.gladwell.com/2000/2000_10_30_a_pitchman.htm
This seems like the perfect product for people for whom wiping down the Foreman grill with a paper towel and throwing the little grease-catcher into the dishwasher is too much work.
On the other hand, I do own a foodsaver, a perfectly decent little vacuum sealer which preserves food quality noticeably better than ziploc bags.
While I find infomercials mesmerizing on some level, having experience of an elderly family member significantly indebted due to a QVC addiction takes the fun out.
The only people I know that own those food saver vacuum sealers are drug dealers.
mac, my wife has a foodsaver, and if she's dealing, I'm not getting any of the benefits - cash or drugs :-).
But for inveterate coupon and sales users, they work very well. She picks up large quantities of meat at good prices, cuts it into meal portions, vacuum seals it and into the freezer. My meat consumption cost is significantly lower than JIT purchasing, and more than makes up for the cost of the device.
Megan, being a non-meat eater, probably wouldn't see the benefit.
Who has room for all these specialty appliances?
Well I was going to just say that you're a weirdo, but now that I think about I've sat through an infomercial for some machine that lets you do pilates or something at home, and another one for that really absorbent towel, and I watched one another time for the Time-Life collection of soul music. But that's because I actually wanted those things, not because the infomercials alone appealed to me, so that's my excuse.
I was really just going to say that the foodsaver is very good for bulk freezing vast quantities of meat from Costco and prevents freezer burn. Foodsavers are popular among the kinds of people who do a lot of bulk food storage, you know, suburban housewives, drug dealers, Mormons, survivalists.
I've always assumed the cost of vacuum bag would offset whatever savings you managed to get by buying meat in bulk.
You should smoke less pot.
I've got a foodsaver. I buy whole ribeye sides at Sams/Costco, cut into steaks, and freeze in pairs. Given that I save at least $4/lb over buying at the grocer, the cost of the bag material is easily recouped. I also buy chicken chests, thighs, and ground beef on sale and freeze. Be sure to have a sharpie around to label the items.
Wrapping meat in aluminum foil and then putting into a standard freezer bag is also very good at preventing freezer burn and off flavor. I'm not sure if this is a cheaper than the freezer bags but it doesn't require special equipment. It at least allows me to buy the Costco pounds of meat and not have to worry about it going bad. Luckily the fresh chicken breasts from Costco are already vacuum sealed 2-3 per bag, which is what I eat the most of.
The Foodsaver, while fine for the applications described above, is a real champion at preserving prepared foods, such as homemade spaghetti sauce, chili, sloppy joes, soups and stews, etc.
When we were both working full time, we would spend a Saturday preparing gallons of the above and then portioning and freezing them. It takes the same amount of time to prepare one meal's worth of these items or 6-8 meals' worth. However, the remaining meals from the batch take very little time and effort.
Only thing my family has ever bought were the Miracle Blades, as sold by Chef Tony. They're AWESOME. Seriously, they cost literally $35 for a whole set of blades, include a chopper, carver, steak knives, etc., and they haven't dulled a bit. Best knives I've ever used.
I received a Magic Bullet for Christmas after salivating over the infomerical for months and I must say the little bugger is amazing.
Much easier to use/clean than a blender and it has multi-uses as a chopper/coffee grinder, food processor/juicer.
I have always assumed that the good products don't have infomercials. Infomercials are about selling crap to people who enjoy buying crap. People who buy stuff on infomercials must not be aware of all the great things they could be using their money on. The Wii doesn't need an infomercial.
Miracle blades are crap. The thing to do is to buy quality knives and then sharpen them when they get dull. Sharpening knives is not hard or time consuming. I am not sure these are the brand I use but these sharpeners are pretty easy to use:
http://www.discountcutlery.net/en-us/dept_22095.html
I love how they talk about cutting tomatoes being hard. A knife that I would consider dull would cut a tomato with no problem.
Each time I open your blog, this thing begins to play automatically. That's a GREAT way to drive readers away.
I'm going to have to stop coming here until this post falls off the front page.
Web pages that play audio and video without being asked are one of my biggest pet peeves right now. I just don't understand why anyone thinks that's okay.
I'm deleting your bookmark.
Funny...My pet peeve is internet comments boards where people insist on displaying their self-absorption.
Delete the frigging bookmark.
Who gives a fuck?
OH. MY. GAWD. you ruined my day when the video started playing because I've NEVER EVER watched or listened to a commercial before. You are morally bankrupt Megan, I will delete the bookmark and bit$$ about this to everyone I meet today. You've offended me for the last time. Get over yourselves people, Jesus. You guys are like some of the awful people I served when I worked at Starbucks.
On a serious note, Vince and Billy have all the hype, and it's well deserved, but my absolute favorite is the group that did the magic bullet infomercials. I love the drunk old lady character, the skeptical (but ultimately wowed) balding guy, and the rest of the bunch. I saw another infomercial recently with similar characters, I wonder if it's the same fabulous production crew?
If I wasn't already familiar with your site I would blacklist it based on having to listen to the audio for the commercial. It was so far down I didn't see it at first to be able to stop it.
I am sure you can find a way to post videos that will allow the reader to determine if he wants to play it.
Having this video autostart whenever I visit your main page is deeply annoying...that's a long way to scroll to shut off the sound for every visit.
Thank you for your removing the front page annoyance. I was avoiding your blog for a while though I love your insights.
It wasn't a huge thing and people have apparently overreacted on this comment thread both ways, but it is nice to see that you are responsive to your readers.
Keep up the great work!
Thanks for fixing the video thingy.