Some more photos just to prove that it happened. 10:00am, Sunday, 17/12/2008, Melbourne, Australia

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Even etymologically, ’sport’ comes from the Old French, port colborne, meaning leisure. And what is more leisurely than eating, except when you’re starving. The roots of a legitimate sport in eating sit planted and have hit a juvenile growth spurt in the last ten years, after millenia of gestation. Over-eating has long been a spectacle that is itself consumed. Romans notoriously overate and were purported, though falsely, to purge in unison at a vomitorium designed specifically to aid in over consumption.

Unfortunately however, not much exists in the way of records for eating. Lore abounds about great eaters like Diamond Jim Brady who in the late nineteenth century had a usual evening meal that began with three dozen oysters, six crabs, and turtle soup, followed by an entree of two whole ducks, seven lobsters, a sirloin steak, two servings of terrapin and a side of vegetables. Then dessert came.

Recently though, the spectacle has been observed and money is being made of it. The International Federation of Competitive Eating has been championing gastronomic sport officially for the past decade. They have their own seal. Promoting over a hundred events in three continents, they have under them the famous in the world of competitive eating. Takeru Kobayashi who held the world hot dog eating title for six consecutive years with a record of 53.75 hot dogs in twelve minutes. Only Fox network would set a world chapmion in competitive eating against the ultimate enemy, a kodiak bear. For your viewing “pleasure” click here.

The numbers get staggering, Joey “Jaws” Chestnut broke the record and was the first American in years to win the Coney Island hot dog eating contest by eating an even 66 hot dogs with buns in 12 minutes. In the mastery of gluttony, it seems that the smaller the gourmand, the more they can pack. Sonya Thomas holds records that men twice her size couldn’t come close to. At 47 kilos she polished off nearly 4 kilos of baked beans in 10 minutes. Every minute she increased her body mass by nearly one percent. In those short 10 minutes, she went from 47 kilos to 51.

Eating athletes are growing more and more popular, with stats and bios, even narratives attached to their rise to fame. All that’s needed now are trading cards, but unlike the stick of gum that used to accompany baseball cards, perhaps a pork roast will be included in the package.

With the rapid growth, the numbers can seem just a collection of massive amounts of consumption that are another echo in a prolific cacophony in contemporary civilization. Eventually someone will eat (insert large number here) hot dogs and we will say wow for a moment and then continue our day, observing the next set of massive numbers. This is our cacophony though.

The writer Jason Fagone titled his book on competitive eating, “Horsemen of the Esophagus,” and if the downfall of civilization has been marked yet again, this time it’s with gluttony rather than famine or war. And whether or not the fame and stardom that is attached to being a professional eater continue to grow, remains to be seen. It could be that the eaters and the promoters are in the midst of their 15 minutes. Apparently however, a substantial amount can be pressed into that time, it just might have to be purged out again.

(photo courtesy of Annie Wu)

Jarrod Zlatic // 5 Records (As Of 5:27PM, 18 June, 2007)

JARROD ZLATIC of FABULOUS DIAMONDS goes through his record collection to find the most interesting music he’s been listening to at the moment.

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1. Ocora 74: Musique de Guadalcanal: Solomon Islands

Collection of music from the Solomon Islands on the excellent French label Ocora, Side B is especially amazing with droney harmonic pan-pipes and murmuring lullabys.

2. Hamburger All-Stars - Swinging London Pt. 2 (from Love Not Devotion comp. on Fuck Off Records)

Whilst I don’t know much about the Fuck Off Records scene they occupy a pretty important place within the more independent movements of British post-punk. This particular song is an excellent slice of dubby pop (veering towards a Basement 5 “Silicon Chips” sort of feel but less “up”)

3. Miles Davis - In A Silent Way cassette

In the biggish Salvation Army on Crown St. in Newtown, Sydney I found two cassettes, one had Don Cherry’s “Brown Rice” and Condona “1″ taped to a side each whilst the other had Davis’ “In A Silent Way” on one-side and Coltranes “Giant Steps” on the other. I’ve been falling asleep to this particular tape lately.

4. Shoes This High 7″ EP

Amazing angular angry post-punk from obscure New Zealand group, according to the insert that came with this re-issue half the band died of overdoses whilst the other half just vanished.

5. Blues Control CD on Holy Mountain

New release for New York duo who sound like a muddy scuzzy Musik Von Harmonia with occasional weirdo blues solos. Awesome.

Above Images by Thomas Jeppe

Not Too Proud To Beg // Vote For Us On Dazed

Right now, we’re appealing to your humanity. NowNow has been featured by Dazed and Confused International as one of the ‘Digital 50′ and quite frankly we’re nervous.

So that you know, the ‘Digital 50′ is made up of 50 websites from around the world nominated and voted in by the Dazed and Confused contributor network.

We are both nicely surprised and considerably confused as to how we got selected but there is a voting thing where although we don’t stand to win anything but we do stand to lose our pride. We are up against some amazing websites and rigging it really is our only option so please have a heart just do this…

—> click here and give us 5 stars. It’s really easy, a simple one click procedure with no email addresses or other incriminating information required.

Dazed & Confused Issue 151 Cover

You Dirty Rat // The Pleasure Bar

An experiment was conducted on rats where they were placed in a cage with some food at one end and a ‘pleasure bar’ at the other. The pleasure bar released endorphins (the happy chemical) into their brain whenever they touched it. The rats stayed at the pleasure bar touching it relentlessly until they collapsed. There is no moral to this story but it’s an interesting way to look at heroin addiction, the internet or any other form of ‘pleasure bar’ us humans tap on a nightly basis. Please do not send this post to children or buy them a pleasure bar for Christmas.