A while ago, Pete Townshend was arrested for downloading child porn. His defence? He was researching an article. That was in 2004. I’ve yet to see that article materialise.
My point? Not all research is done in the spirit of philanthropy.
This tenuously links to hospitality by means of a Monsieur Francois Simon, the critic who “spills the beans” on restaurants. I presume not literally. He has been sloping his way round Parisian restaurants over the past years with a hidden camera, filming the street, interior, table and dishes, before gently describing the food to camera in his hushed French tones. The footage is edited to a three minute film uploaded onto his blog, Simon Says.
It’s all filmed on a home camcorder. Imagine the Blair Witch Project, except replace snotty teenagers with Michael Winner and haunted woods with London’s Charlotte Street and you’ll have a fair idea of the standard of camera-work. Unfortunately though, in this case, the protagonist survives.
The French can’t get enough of Simon’s reviews; angling his hidden camera at the waiter’s groin and whispering sweet nothings to camera as he shovels an umpteenth baby mullet into his gob. I’m not sure how surreptitious it is, or how well the camera is disguised. You’d think that a lone diner murmuring into an oversized papier-mâché pepper mill might arouse a modicum of suspicion, but apparently not.
Back to my original point, is this research fair to the restaurants? I can’t see why not. A restaurant critic by definition tries his best to describe a restaurant’s look, feel, service and food on a normal night. Simon does this but backs up his opinions with hard, filmed evidence. Sort of like winning an argument by using facts.
On a side note, I heard a rumour that someone offered the same service to a TV station but reviewing brothels. It was turned down.
Check out one of the reviews (restaurant not brothel):
Comments (1)
I have to agree and found this very interesting :-)
Posted by Alex Belay | January 30, 2010 2:44 AM
Posted on January 30, 2010 02:44