Micah's Read of the Week, Vol. 45

A mea culpa from Micah, the wild story behind the loose tiger in Houston, "shrinkflation," Show of the Week, recipe corner, and more.

Hello, and welcome to Micah’s Read of the Week.

This is a newsletter filled with things Micah Wiener finds interesting.

Check out the introduction post here and the entire archive of previous newsletters here.

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I was wrong.

Last week, I tried to bring a flame-emoji-hot-take about Naomi Osaka. I went too far. It wasn’t a good idea to encourage the public to shame a 23-year-old. Too much. I apologize.

About nine minutes after last week’s newsletter hit your inbox, Osaka withdrew from the French Open, further igniting the discussion around Osaka and the modern role of the media in sports and celebrity culture in general.

Osaka is smart and thoughtful. She has stood for noble causes. Her second statement, the one she released announcing her withdrawal from the tournament was much better than the first.

Lots of think pieces since then. This one from the NYT summed up the situation well:

The rules for appearing at news conferences, which are set up by the tournaments and the men’s and women’s tours, are considered part of the deal for getting paid to be in the tournament. Ms. Osaka recast this as an irrelevant distraction, a source of anxiety and as damaging to the well-being of athletes.

Some critics have paid particular attention to the language Ms. Osaka used in her explanations, in which she invoked the need to protect her mental health, identified as an introvert and described coping with her depression. Where fans saw a rare example of honestly and candor, some critics saw the use of therapeutic language as a conversation-ending shield, or an example of weakness incompatible with the demands of the job of being an athlete, of being famous or of greatness in general.

Osaka has the right to complain. She has the right to use her power and substantial leverage to change the process. Is quitting a grand slam tournament the best way to effect change? I doubt it, and I’m not ready to anoint her as a hero. But, I suppose time will tell.

There’s no question elite athletes and other celebrities have an unfathomable about of pressure on them at all times. The answer is not to blame the media and try to shut people out of the process, especially when the media is in part responsible for the fame, power, and money these performers hold. Athletes have the right to “own their brand” and build their own narratives, but that takes effort and work. And the pressure to create presents its own problems. After all, avoiding and blaming the media doesn’t diminish the public’s demand.

It’s no longer a requirement of the job of being famous to trust other people to construct your public persona, which is surely, in some obvious ways, a relief. (To Ms. Osaka, an athlete born in 1997, the notion may seem absurd in the first place.) This obligation, however, has been replaced by one that’s easy to underestimate, and even harder to avoid: Once a celebrity has taken control of her story, it’s up to her to keep telling it. The demand remains unyielding. It’s just coming directly from the public.

We’ll see where this story moves next. I hope we see Osaka playing tennis again soon. And I hope that she gets the mental health assistance that she needs. And, I’m sorry I went too far.

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Remember that tiger that got loose in a Houston neighborhood?

The story behind the big cat is WILD.

Here’s a lede:

Weeks after the incident, the answers still aren’t clear. But at a minimum, the tale of the tiger involves a first-degree murder charge, a Venezuelan beauty queen, mixed martial arts, capuchin monkeys in dresses, and Houston’s royal furniture family. It includes lies, half-truths, and things that lawyers say. And somewhere, behind everything, lurks a lot of money that no one has explained.

This is one of the most Houston-y stories ever. Who could have guessed that a city notorious for its lack of zoning laws doesn’t have significant rules against big cat ownership?

It’s illegal to keep a tiger inside Houston city limits, but it’s only a Class C misdemeanor, with a top fine of $500. Victor, though, had other secrets from the neighborhood: He was awaiting trial on charges of first-degree murder.

Let’s learn more about this cat enthusiast:

Awaiting trial, Victor was out on bond, which meant that even a piddling misdemeanor charge could send him back to jail. After bringing India inside the tile-roofed house, he loaded the tiger into a white Jeep Cherokee and drove away, past the Houston police who’d just arrived. They followed the Jeep, but without lights and sirens, and soon lost it.

It wasn’t the first time, since being charged with murder, that Victor risked losing his bond. He’d already been in and out of jail five times after violating bond conditions. Mostly, said Elliott, the violations were “stupid stuff” — failing to charge his ankle monitor, curfew violation, and riding his four-wheeler in a place where he shouldn’t, then fleeing police who told him to stop.

It’s a lot of money. At Victor’s bond hearing, Giorgi testified that her husband makes a living as an MMA fighter, a barber and helping with a friend’s AirBnB. Sherdog.com, which tracks MMA fights, shows no professional fights for Victor; and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation shows no barber’s license.

But Victor, it seems, has friends with money. Before that bond recent hearing, Elliott, Victor’s lawyer, was speaking to a gaggle of reporters when a white Bentley pulled up behind him and Victor emerged in a beautifully tailored three-piece suit. Asked who the Bentley belonged to, both Elliott and Giorgi said vaguely, a friend of Victor’s. Neither knew the friend’s name.

In Fleetwood, speculation about Victor’s friends leans heavily toward upper tiers of the drug trade. “We’re not talking about the street-level guys in ‘The Wire,’” said a neighbor. “This has to be ‘Ozark’-level.”

Of course, you can’t have a story about Houston without Mattress Mack:

Owner Linda McIngvale, wife of furniture tycoon “Mattress Mack,” told KHOU’s Adam Bennett that she didn’t exactly become friends with Victor and Giorgi, but after a couple of visits to her wildlife club, she could tell they shared her love of animals.

But McIngvale was looking for a home for a couple of aggressive capuchin monkeys, and Giorgi and Victor volunteered. “They took them thinking they’d be able to handle them,” McIngvale said, “but I think they were too aggressive for them too.” She believes they found another home for the capuchins, but that may not be the case. On Cinco de Mayo, only a few days before the tiger got loose, a Fleetwood resident photographed a man who definitely looks like Victor. The man was at Lupe Tortilla’s restaurant, accompanied by a monkey wearing a dress.

So this Victor guy seems like a real character. If only there was another interesting person involved. Maybe a Venezuelan beauty queen with a sketchy backstory?

What did the couple do with the rest of their time? At the bond hearing Giorgi testified that she’s a UCLA student, and during the pandemic, had been studying remotely from Houston. She said that she’s a pre-med double-majoring in computer science and physics, and this summer would do a subclinical neurosurgery internship at Houston Methodist Hospital. After the hearing, however, UCLA could find no student under any variation of Giorgi’s name, and a Houston Methodist spokesperson said the hospital system had accepted no interns with a name that resembled Giorgi’s, and no interns at all from UCLA.

Strangely, Giorgi did not mention her verifiable credits as a beauty queen and a model.

Needless to say, the tiger incident got the couple evicted from the home they were renting. It all worked out fine for the owner.

The empty house where India was first spotted loose had been on the market. A few days after it appeared in videos all over the world, the Realtor added a line to the sign in its front yard: “THIS HOME IS GRRREAT!”

It sold soon after.

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One way companies are concealing higher prices: Smaller packages

Inflation is real. It’s here and it’s not going anywhere. Gas prices and other commodities are headed up as well. There are many reasons behind this rise: the promise of increased government spending, COVID supply-chain impediments, and low-interest rates amongst many, many others.

So, what does this mean for the average American?

Consumers are paying more for a growing range of household staples in ways that don’t show up on receipts — thinner rolls, lighter bags, smaller cans — as companies look to offset rising labor and materials costs without scaring off customers.

It’s a form of retail camouflage known as “shrinkflation,” and economists and consumer advocates who track packaging expect it to become more pronounced as inflation ratchets up, taking hold of such everyday items such as paper towels, potato chips and diapers.

“Consumers check the price every time they buy, but they don’t check the net weight,” said Edgar Dworsky, a consumer advocate and former assistant attorney general in Massachusetts, who has been tracking product sizes for more than 30 years. “When the price of raw materials, like coffee beans or paper pulp goes up, manufacturers are faced with a choice: Do we raise the price knowing consumers will see it and grumble about it? Or do we give them a little bit less and accomplish the same thing? Often it’s easier to do the latter.”

This is far from a new phenomenon. We’ve seen this before.

Such cutbacks, economists say, typically coincide with economic downturns, when shoppers tend to be more mindful of cost. There was similar product shrinkage during the 2008 recession.

Since the 1970s, he said, conventional packages of coffee have gradually slipped from 16 ounces to about 12. Standard sizes for tins of tuna, cans of tomatoes and bottles of orange juice have all gotten smaller, too. Even the bar of Dial soap Gourville has been using for decades has become more concave, he said, in a bid to disguise its shrinking form.

Once a brand downsizes, competitors typically follow. Shoppers tend to compare the price of products that appear to be the same size, he said, without stopping to distinguish between a jar of peanut butter with 16 ounces and another with 15.

The bad news? Things are almost certain to get worse for the average consumer.

Costco executives said last week they were paying higher prices for inventory — as much as 20 percent more for beef, for example, and up to 10 percent more on clothing. Though the warehouse chain has so far shouldered most of those increases, along with rising costs for freight, transportation and labor, Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said it may have to raise prices on such staples as its $4.99 rotisserie chicken or 40-pack of bottled water, now $2.99, to maintain profit margins. “Inflation pressures abound,” he said in an earnings call.

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Show of the Week

“Hacks” on HBO Max. 8 half-hour episodes. Easy, fun watch. It’s built around a Joan Rivers-like legendary comedienne at a career crossroads. It’s funny and witty and quick. I like it.

Also, it features a tremendous performance by a legendary villain. This guy:

Shooter!

Streaming now. Don’t believe me? The show has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

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Recipe Corner

Grilled Flank Steak with Toasted Spice Vinaigrette

Flank steak szn rolls on. This one is a favorite of mine when summer tomatoes are at their peak.

• ½ pounds flatiron or skirt steak, cut into 4 pieces

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

• 4 beefsteak or heirloom tomatoes, sliced ½" thick

• Toasted Spice Vinaigrette (click for recipe)

Prepare grill for medium-high heat. Rub steak with oil; season with salt and pepper. Grill about 4 minutes per side for medium-rare. Let cool 5 minutes before slicing against the grain.

Serve steak on top of tomatoes with vinaigrette spooned over.

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Grilled Carrots with Cumin-Serrano Yogurt

This looks like a killer grilling side dish that is likely to impress at your next weekend barbecue.

• 3 pounds carrots with tops, scrubbed, tops trimmed to 1 inch

• 2 bunches spring onions or scallions, tops trimmed, halved lengthwise

• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

• Kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds

• 1 serrano chile, finely chopped, plus more sliced for serving

• 1 cup plain whole-milk Greek yogurt

• ¼ cup fresh lime juice

• 2 tablespoons chopped mint, plus leaves for serving

Prepare a grill for medium-low heat. Toss carrots and spring onions on a rimmed baking sheet with 2 Tbsp. oil; season with salt. Grill (covered if possible), turning often and moving to a cooler part of the grill if they are browning too quickly, until crisp-tender, 15–20 minutes.

Meanwhile, toast cumin in a dry small skillet over medium heat, tossing often, until slightly darkened and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Let cool; grind in spice mill or with mortar and pestle. Mix in a medium bowl with chopped serrano, yogurt, lime juice, chopped mint, and remaining 2 Tbsp. oil; season with salt.

Spoon yogurt onto a platter; arrange carrots and onions over. Top with mint leaves and sliced chile.

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Fresh Mint Panna Cotta With Blackberries

Here’s a low-sugar, simple-to-make dessert with seasonal ingredients. And it’s cool. Perfect for summertime.

¾ teaspoon powdered gelatin
1 ¼ cups whole milk
8 to 10 fresh mint leaves, cleaned and torn roughly
⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
1 ½ tablespoons light brown sugar, lightly packed
fresh blackberries

1. Bloom gelatin by sprinkling the powder over a few teaspoons of cool water in a small bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes. 

2. Heat milk on stove, with fresh mint and salt, until just before boiling. Remove milk from heat and steep with the mint for 15 minutes.  

3. Strain mint from the milk; discard. Use ¼ cup of the scalded milk to whisk into the gelatin. In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining milk with the brown sugar until everything dissolves. Add the gelatin/milk to the mixture and whisk gently to dissolve.  

4. Portion the mixture into four small glasses; refrigerate overnight to set. Serve with fresh blackberries.

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Where else can I find Micah content?

• Podcasts: Mind of Micah, Back Door Cover, Too Much Dip

• Twitter: @micahwiener & @producermicah (Why two twitters? It’s a long story)

• Instagram: @micahwiener

• LinkedIn: @micahwiener

• Peloton: #badboysofpelly@micahwiener

• Dispo: @micahwiener

• Clubhouse: @micahwiener

• Email: micahwiener@me.com

Until next time, buh-bye.