According to today’s Wall Street Journal, marketers claim to have sold at least 2,000,000 of those perforated pasta pots. (oooo, alliteration…) That’s 2,000,000 people who either are, or are perceived by “friends” or “family” to be, too fucking stupid to be trusted with a colander.
We’ve all seen the ads, right? Ain’t that the clear message? They open with this poor woman who’s completely anguished at the challenge of dumping water from a pot that doesn’t have holes in it into another pot that does.
Christ on a cannelloni, fucktard, instead of the pasta pot, use your fucking head! It’s at least as empty and has just as many holes! And it’s free!
I’m waiting for the new Kitchen Challenged Barbie: Colanders are hard!
I mean, I could understand this thing if its point was to eliminate one more thing you have to wash. But I guess the pinheads-with-dishwashers market is just too tempting.
And don’t get me started on people who can’t handle spatulas.
My five-year-old son says that I need one of those every time the ad comes on, which is frequently on Nickelodeon. It’s quite humourous because he says it so solemnly.
“I think you need to get one of those.”
When the ordering information comes on and they add “must be 18 or older to order,” he invaribly adds, “you’re over 18.”
I think it’s because he knows I cook a lot of pasta. I have to, he wants macaroni and cheese every day.
OxyMoron, if may I ask, when you write with a pencil what kind do you use? Is it the type with the eraser on the back or do you have one with a flat surface and just accompany it with a hand held eraser?
OK I have seen the commercial and didn’t realize that it is perceived to be stupid product.
I get the OP that the commercial makes the task of using the colander a lot harder than it is but isn’t it a space saver as well? Instead of having to store/wash a pot, pot cover and the colander you just have the pot and pot cover.
I also sometimes have other things in the sink and don’t have room for the colander so this makes it easier too.
Mind you I didn’t say I was going to buy one but I haven’t said I wouldn’t buy one either.
I thought it was a good idea but what do I know.:rolleyes:
I think perhaps what OxyMoron is getting at, and what I’ve noticed about these commercials (like the perfect pancake maker) is that the people in these ads shouldn’t be allowed to live and breed in our world.
My god, these people are throwing pasta around the kitchen, setting themselves on fire, ruining lives, all because of a collander. My favorite one is the husband grimly looking at his watch, waiting for dinner because the collander method just TAKES TOO LONG.
I mean, it’s sort of a cool product, but let’s admit it together, using a collander to drain pasta just AIN’T THAT BIG A DEAL.
And don’t even get me started on the pancake maker…jesus christ, these people are getting batter everywhere, using knives to try and flip pancakes, covering their kids in failure pancakes, wailing at their own culinary defeat. I mean people…let’s get a hold of ourselves. The perfect pancake maker is neat and all, but it’s not because Pancakes are the world’s most difficult food.
As yet we don’t have the ad here, but I’d find one of these quite handy.
This scenario happens quite frequently: I’m parboiling potatoes to mash, as well as boiling carrots. They need to be delivered pretty simultaneously. If I tip out the potatoes into the colander, I then have to wash the colander before I tip out the carrots (because the potatoes are fluffy). With one of those little beauties, I’d be able to use the colander on the tatties, and the perforated lid on the carrots. Sweet.
I haven’t used those since I took the LSAT in 1989.
Now, as for whether it’s a good idea - note that in my OP I said I could understand the idea as a way to avoid washing one more thing. I’m not sure I buy it as a space-saver, since there are other things where a colander would be less troublesome (for example, rinsing fruit) so I’d end up having to find cabinet space for both. I certainly don’t think I’d be able to get rid of any of my other pots and pans for it.
But anyway, that isn’t how these folks are selling it. They’re selling it as a solution to a Problem That’s Too Hard to Solve. And that’s ludicrous for anyone who usually breathes through their nose.
I love the ads for these things- they always show someone ruining their ravioli by using an evil collander or spilling spaghetti all over the place because they miss and dump it all down the drain.
The reality is that the pot would be damned handy for cooking pasta or potatoes, or whenever you don’t want to get two kitchen items dirty. I also hate draining pasta and such, because I’ve been steam burned when the rush of steam comes blasting up from the collander. Anyway, if they would just promote products as being convenient rather then for people too dumb to operate basic equipment, they wouldn’t appear so ludicrous.
Same goes for Citrus Express. That thing is SO nice for cutting up grapefruit- makes perfect little sections in about 10 seconds, but they show people on TV too stupid to operate a knife. My favorite is that they always shoot themselves square in the eye with grapefruit juice. My husband and I love to act these commercials out, especially because I buy “As Seen on TV” items quite a bit.
Um, Ender, the other thing is that a pencil complete with an eraser costs about 10 cents, not whatever ghastly sum they’re charging for this thing.
I am the original Ensign Pulver in the kitchen. I sweat when I have to do anything more complex than broiling. And I know how to operate a fucking colander.
I agree that the commercials are stupid, but the product looks damned handy. Especially since the size and layout of my sink combined with my colander make for a very unstable colander with a high tippage risk. And that doesn’t even take into account the sink-full-o-stuff that is often the case.
Haven’t seen the ads so I can’t speak to them, but–
A pot of water weighs more than some of my clients (old, disabled) are allowed to pick up. They can’t pick up the pot and pour it in the colander. I don’t wear glasses, but friends who do tell me that pouring out a pot of boiling water fogs them up so they can’t see what they’re doing.
Mine is a multi-colander household, with both freestanding and integral colanders (4 total). The combined product is the easiest to use. This frees my mind for Great Thoughts.
I love the part of the ad where the woman drops the pot of spaghetti in the sink and then starts shaking like she just witnessed a murder. Overact much?
My grandfather bought one for my mother for Christmas, but it hadn’t come it. So he just told her that it was on its way. My mother proceeded to tell us that she bought one for him, my dad, my brother and me.
I can’t wait to get mine, because I always have a seizure when I drop my potatoes in the sink, then I curl up in the fetal position and suck my thumb. :rolleyes:
Actually, IIRC, it’s something like $20 (plus S&H which is where they really make their money), for the whole setup plus a number of extra features which is somewhat of a reasonable sum for kitchenware.
But my point was that even if something is easy to do, making it even easier isn’t a crime. Yeah, pouring pasta from a pot to a colander isn’t that difficult. Hell, I don’t even have a colander and I still manage the task. But making it even easier than that doesn’t make it worse. Yeah, I’m sure everyone can use an eraser all by its lonesome but putting it on the back of a pencil just simplifies the process immensely.
I will agree with those who say these actors are overreacting to the whole pasta-water conundrum.
