Comments on: Cattle Are Booming

Cattle Are Booming

oneswellfoop — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 12:16:57 -0800

Those wacky but socially responsible burrito pushers at Chipotle (previously, perviouser) are sponsoring a 'satirical' miniseries on Hulu, debuting February 17th: "Farmed and Dangerous" (official trailer) about a plan to make cattle feed from petroleum (fake website) and its unfortunate byproduct: exploding cows. Ray "Twin Peaks" Wise plays the obviously-evil PR guy in charge of damage control in this show "that explores the outrageously twisted and utterly unsustainable world of industrial agriculture." Opinionated much?

Not that "exploding cows" are a totally absurd concept. At a reportedly normal dairy farm in Germany, a herd of 90 cows were crowded into a farm shed when their cumulative flatulence was accidentally ignited by static electricity, damaging the roof and causing burns on ONE of the cows.

By: oneswellfoop

oneswellfoop — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 12:17:47 -0800

Not that I personally disagree with the sentiment, BUT it must be noted that if Chipotle can sponsor this kind of agitprop on behalf of Sustainable Agriculture, imagine the shows that could be "brought to you by" the deep pockets of companies like Tyson. Maybe not a good precedent.

By: nevercalm

nevercalm — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 12:22:27 -0800

Ray Wise has been playing that guy for so long that I have come to actually believe that he is exactly like that.

By: George_Spiggott

George_Spiggott — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 12:23:40 -0800

It looks pretty good, though a concept and some great lines that can carry a trailer may wear out their welcome in a series. However it is exceedingly strange and faintly troubling to see "An original CHIPOTLE miniseries".

By: the jam

the jam — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 12:25:27 -0800

Chipotle has a weird brand message. Between this and the stop-motion farmer spot, it seems they're against industrial agriculture, but not the one that's actually practiced in our world, a fantasy one that nobody could ever justify.

By: (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates

(Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 12:27:50 -0800

Who could forget such classic shows as "The Day the Clown Fed the Children (presented by McDonald's)" or "That Sure is a Nice Hat, Mister (an Arby's Joint)" or "Where'd the Mayo Go? (joint production of Hardee's and Rax)"? Companies making television series is a super great idea and that's why they all do it.

By: George_Spiggott

George_Spiggott — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 12:28:58 -0800

Also what few industrial agriculture settings actually glimpsed in the trailer look pretty clean and presentable -- but maybe we didn't see anything non-laboratory. One wonders if the series will depict anything like real industrial production and if so, would it backfire by making people presume that that too is satire? That aspect at least seems no-win: either they sanitize it and give the wrong impression, or represent it accurately and inadvertently pull the fangs from the truth.

By: dortmunder

dortmunder — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 12:44:20 -0800

One day we're going to find out that all of Chipolte's menu options, even the vegetarian ones, contain ground up children. Mark my words.

By: St. Peepsburg

St. Peepsburg — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 12:57:34 -0800

burrito-pushers man in a suit opens coat "want to buy a burrito? only $6.95 plus tax"

By: mr vino

mr vino — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 13:06:21 -0800

At least they put their pork where their mouth is.

By: Strange Interlude

Strange Interlude — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 13:19:52 -0800

However it is exceedingly strange and faintly troubling to see "An original CHIPOTLE miniseries". Replace "Chipotle" with "Hallmark" and it's considerably less odd-seeming.

By: ilana

ilana — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 13:38:13 -0800

"That Sure is a Nice Hat, Mister (an Arby's Joint)" I thought that was the Grammys?

By: iceberg273

iceberg273 — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 14:09:49 -0800

However it is exceedingly strange and faintly troubling to see "An original CHIPOTLE miniseries". Is it so far from (for example) Johnson Wax and Fibber McGee and Molly or Pacific Coast Borax and Death Valley Days? (I suppose it could still be troubling--but it is, in a way, the American serialized drama returning to its mid-20th century corporate patronage roots).

By: oneswellfoop

oneswellfoop — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 14:23:37 -0800

You're talking about the old sponsorship model, but you never saw Fred Flintstone get into an argument with a prehistoric Surgeon General (even though C. Everett Koop would've made a cool caveman)

By: GenjiandProust

GenjiandProust — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 14:51:18 -0800

You think that exploding shed was bad, you should feel for the poor cows whose flatulence launched their whole shed, cows and all, into orbit! They are known as "The Herd Shot Round the World."

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 15:58:49 -0800

At a reportedly normal dairy farm in Germany, a herd of 90 cows were crowded into a farm shed when their cumulative flatulence was accidentally ignited by static electricity, damaging the roof and causing burns on ONE of the cows. So you're telling me the cow didn't exactly jump over the moon?

By: mullingitover

mullingitover — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 22:00:38 -0800

a plan to make cattle feed from petroleum

Cattle feed, like much of human feed, is kind of a petroleum product. In a way, humans are a practically a petroleum product.

Another mind-blowing way to think about it: On average, half of the nitrogen in your body was synthetically fixed.

Petroleum is used in the Haber Process to make ammonia for fertilizer.

One of the most important uses of petroleum is in the production of ammonia to be used as the nitrogen source in agricultural fertilizers. In the early 20th century, Fritz Haber invented a process that allowed for industrial scale production of ammonia. Prior to that, ammonia for fertilizer came only from manure and other biological processes.

By: agregoli

agregoli — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 06:10:06 -0800

I thought Chipotle was owned by McDonalds?

By: Strange Interlude

Strange Interlude — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 07:07:43 -0800

agregoli: "I thought Chipotle was owned by McDonalds?" From the FAQ on the Chipotle website: McDonald's was once an investor in the company, but divested in 2006.

By: judson

judson — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 09:24:52 -0800

It's funny they call them burritos...