Mysterious DC food blog comment about Comet Ping Pong in 2009: "One things certain: Comet is *really* far from where most of Washingtonians readers live." (pizzagate)

submitted ago by Psalm100

"One thing’s certain: Comet is really far from where most of Washingtonian‘s readers live." - Kriston Capps, Online Food Association blog.

https://internetfoodassociation.wordpress.com/2009/08/14/fair-and-balanced-breakfast-august-14-2009/

That's a comment that appeared on a DC-based food blog in 2009.

The Washingtonian is obviously a magazine about DC. Its motto is "The Magazine Washington Lives By." Comet Ping Pong is in DC. So why would would anyone running a food blog based in DC say "One thing’s certain" about Comet - it's "really far from where most of Washingtonian‘s readers live." The comment is a play on the magazine's motto, but it also may say something about Comet Pizza. Apparently, it's for "certain" that it's not something for "most people."

Kriston Capps of "The Online Food Association" blog was discussing a contest that the Washingtonian held in 2009. Readers voted on the best pizza places in DC. 32 places competed, and readers got to choose between two places at a time in a playoff with brackets, until one place would eventually be declared the winner.

The OFA blog apparently made the remark about Comet after it lost its contest to a restaurant called Piola. OFA linked to an image showing a "pizza pool chart," but that image no longer exists. And The Washingtonian's main page for the pizza contest no longer exists either.

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/6007/pizzapoolchart2.jpg

https://www.washingtonian.com/blogarticles/restaurants/bestbites/13172.html

On the Washingtonian's broken link page, there is a message that says, "Page Does Not Exist, But Here Are 404 Pandas For Your Enjoyment," and the image of 404 tiny pandas. Pandas showed up in at least a couple of the jimmycomet Instagram photos.

You have to wonder why the OFA blog would single out Comet Pizza for that remark. The image the remark linked to is gone, so one can only speculate. But one possibility is that Comet has a reputation for being seedy, at the least. A look at the acts that have performed there and the wall art would suggest that, as would the public jimmycomet posts.

And a note on the "Online Food Association" blog, too. While it sounds like an industry group, it's actually made up of prominent, high-powered young professionals. Kriston Capps is a contributor to The Atlantic, and Ezra Klein (of Vox and "journolist") and Matthew Yglesias (who worked for Podesta's Center for American Progress) also blog on OFA.

I came across the blog and the pizza contest after finding an entry by Yglesias that links to a story that discusses how John Podesta had a job that involved slaughtering pigs to earn money while in law school.

https://internetfoodassociation.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/killer-of-pigs/ http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24575_Page3.html

There's a thread about Podesta butchering pigs here:

https://voat.co/v/pizzagate/1443931

Yglesias writes about the Washintonian's pizza contest:

"Washingtonian magazine is currently running a DC pizza bracket of some kind that foolishly lets the audience vote on which pizzas are best. Pizza, however, is best understood as a draconian autocracy in which the masses should be told which pizzas are best. That said, contemplating the question simply brings home the fact that in my almost six years of living here, Washington has been transformed from a deplorable pizza town into actually quite a good pizza town."

Yglesias also lists places which he says have good pizza, and Comet is one of them. So is that possibly why Capps says Comet is " really far from where most of Washingtonian‘s readers live" - because most Washingtonians can't judge really good pizza? It's hard to say without seeing the image Capps linked to that no longer exists. But it doesn't sound like it. Capps didn't add that he thought Comet had terrific pizza. It seems more likely he was referring to something else about Comet that makes it "really far from where most of Washingtonian‘s readers live."

And on pandas and pedophilia, here's something:

"Pedobear is an Internet meme that became popular through the imageboard 4chan.[1] As the name suggests ("pedo" being short for "pedophile"), it is portrayed as a pedophilic bear.[2] It is a concept used to mock pedophiles or people who have any sexual interest in children or jailbait.[3][4][5] The bear image has been likened to bait used to lure children or as a mascot for pedophiles.[3][5]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedobear

The bear pictured is a brown bear, but it seems possible that panda bears could be a variation on the idea.

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pizzathrowaway ago

I think the writer was making fun of Washingtonian, which is not a very cool magazine. It's mostly read by suburbanites.

Psalm100 ago

I do see how that could be what the writer meant. And perhaps if he did that's the only thing he meant, but on the other hand, he could also mean both - that the Washingtonian's readers are mostly suburbanites and that CPP is not for them. From the looks of it, including just the public things like the wall art in the place, and the acts that have played there, we have to think that many people wouldn't go there and especially wouldn't take their children there, any time of day. It's like Tony Podesta's art, as the Washington Post described it - their set think it's great, but many people find it disturbing. You see those images in there on the walls, and how many Americans would stay with their families and/or take them back there?

pizzathrowaway ago

Well, the wall art wasn't even there when this was posted (2009) and isn't there any more. And the bands don't play until the late evening. But it's true that the clientele is maybe distinct from the Washingtonian audience in a number of ways.