In my original article, I noted that "The Cook in Heels" had the tagline "add sizzle to your life". The new web site, "The Well Heeled Cook" sports the line "indulging in food's finer pleasures" however the central idea, the content and presentation seems to be the same.
Each recipe is written out with a list of ingredients followed by instructions on how to prepare everything. But the "hook" for each recipe is a companion video. The author remains out of sight during the videos; you only ever see her hands and her high heels. She never speaks; short text instructions appear periodically and you watch the steps of preparing various dishes. These videos are of a very high quality; they are professionally made. Considering that this is all available for free, I do wonder how this person is paying for all this.
As an aside, about the high quality of these videos, the author states on her About page: I am the alter ego of my creator, a filmmaker who loves food, fashion, glamour and fun, all of which she has uniquely combined to create a whimsical yet mysterious character in touch with her sensual side. It is obvious that she is having fun and the results show that she certainly is talented in producing videos. Is this just a fun hobby of a professional filmmaker? Or could this be a calling card as in an example of her work for a C.V.?
I asked myself originally what financial remuneration the author may be getting from this web site. However, I have noted many times in my travels on the Net that there are all sorts of people publishing not just high quality, but professional quality work as a hobby. The results are there for all the world to see free of charge. For me it is surprising to discover the calibre of the talent which lies out there in the world. There are a lot of unknowns but oh my, with such talent!
Ms. WellHeeled states that eating is a complete sensual experience. We utilize all our senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, and yes hearing (remember the sizzle). So the trappings that surround the food matter: candlelight, music, table setting, clothing and, yes, fabulous high heels.
I have to chuckle at how the filmmaker has deftly managed to combine the art of cooking with the art of seduction. Each video highlights a sensuality coupled with an implied sexual tension in the creation of a culinary aphrodisiac. I just want to kick off my shoes, loosen my tie and... get out a knife and fork. From my original article:
I watched the short clip about stuffing a turkey and preparing a cranberry sauce and holy smokes, even though nothing "dirty" occurred, I still felt I should be holding my hand over the eyes of anybody under the age of 18. Sexy? Gosh, did I see a wisp of smoke rising from my computer monitor?
Antibes
Ms. WellHeeled captured my attention with a dish and a video done in Antibes, a resort town on the Mediterranean coast in southeastern France. Having been in the neighbourhood, specifically Hyères, 1.5 hours or 300 km down the coast, I was fascinated by the scenes shot in the market where our sexy cook is seen purchasing varous ingredients for her next je-ne-sais-quoi. Gee, is everything just somehow better in France? En français, tout est meilleur grâce à un certain joie-de-vivre qui existe partout dans le pays, n'est-ce pas?
S & M
I ran across one provocatively titled video called S&M which starts with our lady zipping up some high heel boots which seem made for a dominatrix but it turns out that the S&M of the clip stands for spaghetti and meatballs. The author introduces her recipe with "Want to experiment with a little S & M? With this dish you are definitely in command and not likely to get any refusals." I'm looking at that plate of pasta and the Sergio Rossi zippered stilettos and all I can say is that I will obey. :-)
How did I originally hear about this site?
It's funny how I run into all sorts of stuff just by surfing around. Last Fall, I wrote an article on the New Yorker Cindy Gallop (see my blog Cindy Gallop: Make Love Not Porn). - She's quite the woman and you must see for yourself her claim to fame. - In researching Ms. Gallop, I followed her Twitter account for a bit and ran across one of her tweets in which she said that The Cook In Heels is fabulous. It was that tweeted comment which led me to Ms. WellHeeled in the first place, although then, it was Ms. CookInHeels.
Well Heeled
I had to double check the meaning of the expression "well heeled". Princeton University's WordNet defines the expression as meaning comfortable, prosperous, well-off, or well-to-do. I realise the author is referring to her high heels but I wonder if this change in the name of the web site is now supposed to be a play on words? Has her status changed? I mean her financial status?
Our author has posed the question on Facebook, "The Cook in Heels is now The Well Heeled Cook! Same sauciness. Different name. Thoughts?" I'm not sure. The problem with a brand name lies with the expression changing horses in midstream. It takes time to build an audience and is that audience going to get mixed up about what is what?
Alexa, the web site ranking company, gives a rating of 329,069 in the U.S. for thecookinheels.com but has no rating for thewellheeledcook.com. Ms. WellHeeled has already built a following as Ms. CookInHeels and it is going to take time to get the message out to all of them. If I google "The Well Heeled Cook", I get 3 hits, but if I google "The Cook In Heels", I get over seven thousand hits.
Cooking and High Heels
The idea of combining the sexy with the tasty seems to be catching on. In perusing the Net, I find a British site called "How to Cook in High Heels" by Sasha Parker and Korin Nolan. Unlike Ms. WellHeeled, these two ladies are on camera with some nice British accents showing us to how to make various dishes.
Shanel Cooper-Sykes has written a book called "Stilettos in the Kitchen" although she seems to working more on the whole idea of relationships as opposed to just cooking.
June Manton
Ah, the power of Google. You can find out just about anything if you know the right keyword. I google "The Cook In Heels" and go down the list of hits and find TradeMarkia which shows the application for the trademark "The Cook In Heels" and there I find a name. Well, it seems that The Cook in Heels or now, The Well Heeled Cook is one June Manton. Her web site redheadshooting explains what she does with directing, webshooting, commercials, presentations, editing, creative solutions.
On the page "My Work", she has example videos from her Well Heeled Cook and some commercials she's done. I found the commercial for Jay Strongwater Jewelry with its older transvestite and the line "Life is such a drag. Is that a pun?" to be amusing.
So, it woud seem as I previously said, The Well Heeled Cook is, amongst other things, part of Ms. Manton's C.V.
Final Word
The author, Ms. WellHeeled continues to present an interesting web site with a quality product. I still can't get over the high quality of the videos; this is professional work. Yes, I don't make videos so what the heck do I know about any of this, but I am still impressed.
I would recommend anybody to have a look; I, for one, appreciate the results. As Ms. WellHeeled points out in her combining all of our senses, taste, touch, smell, hearing and of course, visual, the largest sexual organ is the brain. She has certainly captured my imagination.
References
The Well Heeled Cook
Facebook: The Well Heeled Cook
Twitter: The Well Heeled Cook: @WellHeeledCook
redheadshooting: June Manton
What is redheadshooting?
It’s shooting that gets noticed. Turns heads. Creates an impact in any format with eye-popping imagery and cut-through concepts.
Why redheadshooting & editing for the web?
The smaller format of the internet especially needs attention-getting visuals and stand-out story telling. I bring my extensive experience as a Filmmaker, Advertising Creative Director, and Editor, with work ranging from award-winning documentaries to award-winning commercials, to your project to get the “pop” you need.
2011-03-20
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