JY "Hey Guys" List v.3: "The Motel" and memories of puberty, dressing down Paul Newman

How two weeks zipped by so quickly is a complete mystery to me, but here we are with another SFGate.com column, plus a quick note on Newman's Own "Kinda Racist!" salad dressing.

First the column: This week, I spend a few hours with Michael Kang, director of the skankin' new feature film THE MOTEL, reminiscing about how much adolescence sucked and how we were total geek-boy losers. Back then! Now, of course, we rule. Ha ha. Ha....

Anyway, click here to read:

GIVE ME PUBERTY, OR GIVE ME DEATH
Unblocking repressed adolescent memories with Michael Kang, director of "The Motel"

Now about that salad dressing...all you card-carrying members of Costco out there know that Paul Newman is the proud proprietor of a line of tasty comestibles known as Newman's Own. (I believe that at one time he may also have been an actor--gotta google that.)

Newman's Own actually makes pretty good products. They use natural ingredients, eschew preservatives, and best of all, Paul Newman donates all profits from his produce to charity--over $150 million at last count. However. As grocery junkies know, a distinctive part of Newman's Own packaging is the presence of Paul Newman's grinning blue-eyed mug, generally decked out in some kind of wacky regional or ethnic outfit, e.g., a toga for Caesar dressing, a cowboy hat for Ranch, etc.

Well, on the label of Newman's Own lowfat sesame ginger dressing, Paul sports none other than a conical Chinese coolie hat, a fu manchu moustache, and get this, slanty eyes. Is it my imagination, or has his skin complexion also been tinted yellow? Hard to believe that a straight-shootin' progressive entrepreneur (and yes, celebrated showbiz legend) would allow his image to be draped in the trappings of anti-Chinaman caricature, but there you have it. Read this week's SFGate column for more, with pictures. And after you do, visit and drop Butch a line to politely let him know that while his sauces are yummy, he really needs to change that label. Because, you know, it's kinda racist.

(And yeah, I know the low-fat dressing line is called "Lighten Up!" Whatever, man. I'll live with the irony.)