Meet Ronnie Coleman. Professional bodybuilder, eight-time Mr. Olympia. By necessity, the guy is roughly the size of a Ford F-150. This weekend, I ran across a video of Ronnie bench pressing a pair of 200 pound dumbbells - for reps, mind you, not just a one-time max - and was awestruck. I also bench press with dumbbells, but you can be dead certain that the DBs I use don't weigh 200 pounds.
I am impressed by Ronnie Coleman: his confidence, his application, his mastery of his sport. There are some who say that Ronnie's...you know...on the juice. I shouldn't be surprised - bodybuilding is rife with supplement use and abuse - but that's not what comes to mind just now when I see Ronnie doing these reps. What comes to mind is this: "Ronnie Coleman is a man, baby."
Meet Ming Tsai. Big-time celebrity chef, noted restaurateur. Not the size of a pickup truck, even though he works around food all day, every day. Every weekend, I watch him dominate his stage of a kitchen, demonstrating master recipes that blend Eastern and Western sensibilities. Food becomes art and performance in his hands. Ming comes off as both a self-assured chef and a regular guy who genuinely enjoys the gustatory pleasures. Additionally, he's almost annoyingly good-looking.
I envy Ming Tsai: his confidence, his dedication, his mastery of his art. There is a voice in the back of my head that discounts the whole celebrity chef phenomenon as not only irredeemably silly but a sign of the coming Apocalypse, but I don't hear that voice when I watch Ming in action. What I hear is this: "Ming Tsai is a man, baby."
(Cross-posted, baby...)
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