Filed under: Uncategorized
There are a few paradigms i’ve been struggling with lately…i don’t know how to write about them or deal with them. These are topics in which, i believe, a gray area is the only answer. I can’t be one or the other. Take some time and re-write these topics out in the comments, filling in your own thoughts under each one.
Buying In vs. Selling Out:
Can you buy into an idea, a belief, a company philosophy or a way of doing things without selling out to it? In other words, what if you love sports but the only way to write or talk about sports for a living is to work for a company that makes you do things you hate or play the rules differently than you’d want? Is it possible to find a balance? I love fishing and i used to make money as a fly-fishing guide. I loved being out there with people but i hated getting up early, making lunches, sucking up and trying to teach people how to fish who had no experience or even a desire to learn (but somehow equated how many fish they caught to your tip at the end of the day). I would have made my policy that i only take serious fishermen out, but i would have starved to death. I had to sell out in order to buy in. Is there a way to buy in without selling out? If you were a salesman who loved what you sold but you found yourself needing to use words and tactics that weren’t “you,” what would you do?
Ideas vs. Execution:
Some people are idea people, some people can execute ideas. I’m the former, almost exclusively. How do you find balance in that without hiring an assistant? Or banding together with someone who is an executor?
Financial Success vs. Idealism:
Can you make money the way you want to? Can you have both? What if that job doesn’t exist in the current economy? How do you balance your desire for material success and financial freedom with the ideals that don’t need money (ie happiness, love, etc.)?
Looking forward to your responses.
Filed under: Uncategorized
“Our child has enough self-esteem that we don’t have to tout his minor scholastic achievements on the bumper of our car.”
(Thanks GC)
Filed under: Uncategorized
Focus on the Family has fired 149 people. I wonder if they’re going to spend any focus on those people’s families?
Maybe you shouldn’t have spent so much money on Prop 8 fuckos! HAHAHAHAHAHA.
I despise Jimmy Fallon. I love The Roots. So imagine my conflict when The Roots decided to announce (albeit unofficially) that they will cease touring in March 09 in order to be the house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
The only way this can end well is if ?Love beats him to death with a drumstick on live, local television.
Filed under: zen
This week’s video comes from the Department of Redundancy Department:
I suppose this is obvious but why wouldn’t you, ya know, just run?
Filed under: apocalypse
I’ve mentioned Seth Godin’s genius before. And i hate to pin that tag on someone who doesn’t care if he’s entitled that way but day in and day out, the man impresses me. I read this post the other day…and it kicked me in the ass…actually, no…it knocked me down, kicked me in the head and then, just to make sure i didn’t hit on his girlfriend, it kicked me in the ribs. It didn’t catch me by surprise…so much as it just articulated what my brain has been complaining about for a while.
His post was about creation. About not reacting to what we see. About not looking in our “sent” box and seeing a sea of “RE:”s. About our own ideas.
In the life of this blog, i thought i was creating something. i have seen things. I have paid closer attention to the news and the “weirder” section of Reuters than i care to admit…In reality, i was just reacting to things that were already happening, instead of making things happen. You were too.
I’m not going to lie…there’s a cottage industry to be made from adults reacting to what kids say “are happening.” (ie. Mark Zuckerberg was lucky, the Google guys never went to Happy Hour and Buzz Bissinger hates blogs.) There’s a lot of money to be made by looking at what someone else did and tweaking it (i’m looking at you MySpace). You can live your entire life and not do anything but react to the world around you.
I have numerous beefs about new media, Web 2.0, social networking and every other thing that falls under this new paradigm that we’re all engulfed in. “This place is a prison, these people aren’t your friends.” I won’t go into all of them here…but the one that i am talking about is the world of reactions…of @everyone, of building this “community” that we can hide in without ever facing an opposing thought or idea. Of reacting to everyone else in a shitstorm of conversation that doesn’t end up accomplishing anything.
And, as opposed to others, it isn’t the death of old media i’m afraid of. In fact, FUCK old media. As a journalism student, it sucked…and was replaced, as such. If ESPN and the proliferation of useless news has taught us anything, it’s not that Blogs killed old media…it’s that old media killed old media. The faster we learn to process news, the faster we make ourselves obsolete. Blogs are the 4th most popular way to transmit news and information…and 4th is way too far down the line. Twitter is #2…and have you seen the news on Twitter? It’s not news.
The major point Seth makes is…how far down the line did we get? Did we create something important and new? Or did we just react to the news and to the youtube and to the social interactions we recieved? Have we made anything new??? Right now…i’m sick of reacting (hence the slowdown in the blog).
I voted for Obama because i wanted to see “change.” However, I think my definition of change was more along the lines of “Let’s give someone besides a silver-haired Republican white male a chance.” than “Obama won, now i won’t have to pay rent!” kinda change.
I get the vibe from a lot of people that they voted for a freebie, like this “redistribution of wealth” thing meant that they would be off the hook from their taxes, or working for a living or something. Or that white people voted for him so they could use the old “I’m not racist, i have a black friend!” line of thinking.
I’m happy he won. I’m happy that there is something different going on. I’m extremely interested to see what happens over the next 4 years. I am going to be weary about declaring some new paradigm in American thinking, however. If the world doesn’t get better in the next 4 years, if America’s economy doesn’t rebound quickly, if there aren’t significant moves made in Iraq quickly, Obama will be blamed far faster than any other president in history. Whether it is his fault or not, the progress that the talking heads are claiming will face an enormous setback if this man doesn’t come through on some tangible results in a hurry. This could be bad. Overall, however, i’m disappointed in the results of this election.
In Arizona, we re-elected Joe Arpaio and Andrew Thomas, two of the biggest criminals and law manipulators this state has to offer. We didn’t make any significant changes in our local, county or state governements. And we voted to add a Gay Marriage Ban (when gay marraige was already illegal in this state) to our frigging state constitution.
The biggest disappointment Tuesday…What i think got lost in all of this back-patting by guilty white liberals who voted for a black guy is that every single gay marriage ban in the country passed. In an election where everyone is cheering about the huge strides we’ve made in social progress, they seem to have completely forgotten about another major minority group who took an enormous step back. We have a black president…huzzah…now wake the fuck up. We just voted to continue the marginalization of a group of American citizens. If you voted against Gay Marriage and for Obama and his “change” you should be fucking ashamed of yourself.
No matter what side of the issue you are on, i think we can agree that the self-congratulations by all the people who are cheering “change” is ironic, at best.
Filed under: Uncategorized
If you’re stressed at work, sick of talking about politics and voting and just otherwise not wanting to do anything but laugh, here ya go:
Is there a world in which that sentence would be true? Up until a few hours ago, i wouldn’t have even risked joking about it. Then, this morning, with the catalyst of an intelligent comment left on a blog post that has become known for its stupidity (There is intelligence on the Internet! Shock, i know.) my brain started mulling over the possibility…should i vote for John McCain?
About 27 months ago, when the candidates started campaigning, there wasn’t a chance i was voting for anyone but the democratic candidate. I’ve often felt that the only way to hold elected officials responsible for their actions is to boycott their party. If the Republicans fuck up for 8 years or so, then you have to put them as far out of business as you can…that is, until the Democrats screw up and then you do the same to them.
When it appeared that Obama would be that candidate, i was cautiously hopeful. I read (well, 100 pages) of Audacity of Hope, tried to believe in what he said and was absolutely MOVED when he gave his speech on race back in March. For about half a second, i actually thought that –regardless of experience or other issues — he was a leader and a person who actually had the best qualities of this country at heart. And then the last 8 months happened.
Both candidates have flip-flopped, back talked, shown ugly sides, pandered, coddled special interests, answered everything but the questions asked of them and acted, well, like politicians. Fine. Whatever. I’m not upset about this. I expected this. But at the heart of all his stirring oratory and thunderous rhetoric, i had been told by Senator Obama that he was different, that he was above that behavior. He wasn’t. He could not stay on that road (the road being the one less travelled, or even the high one). At the end of the day, he was a politician trying to interview for a job.
If you haven’t seen this clip of the two candidates at the Alfred E. Smith Dinner a few weeks ago, check it out. It’ll melt your skull. These two guys, in front of a wealthy, influential audience in tuxedos, actually act human…and you know what? It looks like they’re making fun of each other, but no. They’re making fun of us. THIS IS HOW THEY ACTUALLY ARE…WHAT WE SEE ON THE CAMPAIGN? IT’S ALL A FUCKING ACT! They’re not bad guys. They don’t hate each other. They’re actual people with a sense of humor. Why can’t we see this side of them? This proves to you how dumb they really think we are. Hands down.
One of my favorite quotes regarding presidents goes something like this: “Presidential candidates spend millions to get elected to a job that pays $400,000 a year. Must have one hell of a health plan.” I digress.
The aforementioned comment that started all this reads as follows:
For a different and perhaps more pragmatic point of view… I voted for McCain and against Obama, simply because neither party distinguishes itself when it has control of Congress and the Presidency. Seems they all come down with a fatal case of “Potomac Fever”, when given the opportunity to stick their hands in the cookie jar, without opposition. Since we can’t send them out of town on even more vacations, then gridlock is a fairly effective way to keep them out of mischief. Look, the first priority of politicians is to be elected, then re-elected, or to run for higher office. All of ‘em will take care of their main campaign contributors FIRST, whether it’s through obscure holes in the tax code, sweetheart govt contracts, or favorable legislation. Doesn’t matter which side they are on, or how pure they were when they first decided to seek public office. The reality of how the game is played, will mold most of them into relentless fund raisers and panderers to monied special interests. By the time they are elected, most have completely sold out. This last, dismally long campaign cost probably a billion dollars. Who gained? Media consultants, media outlets, sign makers, and caterers. Each could have had 24 hours, on one of the c-spans to tell interested voters exactly what their platforms are… probably 12 times over, and then re run it weekly until the election. They’ve squandered donated funds, with the same reckless, self serving, abandon with which they will spend taxpayer dollars.
The current Democrat Congress has been in power for two years and has accomplished nothing, aside from ignoring Fannie, Freddie, etc, as well as addressing domestic energy policy. They’re as worthless as the Republicans, when they controlled both House and Senate.
Bottom line, it’s not going to be good when Obama wins. Democrats will spend like there is no tomorrow, and you can be darned sure no obsolete, inefficient, or redundant programs will be cut. The Treasure is firing up the printing presses, and if you thought you lost your arse in the market crash, just wait until the dollar really plummets. We’re in for a prolonged and very deep recession. All the politicians will do is point fingers, fund raise, and hope for re-election, while our economy tanks.
I hope someone can come up with an argument that refutes this…but honestly, it floored me. I’ve never considered voting like this. Voting to retard the system. Maybe it’s all the Anti-Obama emails my dad has been sending me, but i’m starting to believe that in the current state of our economy, Obama isn’t the one who will make it better. As liberal as i have always leaned, i despise big government. I don’t want it to be a free-for-all for democrats who seemingly are going to spend on their own states just to get re-elected again. This comment shook me because i’m that cynical. I don’t believe they have our best interests at heart and i don’t believe that any of these candidates are willing to make the tough choices needed to get this country back on track and at least begin to clean up the clusterfuck that was Bush Part Deux. So is gridlock the only answer? Is voting so that the parties oppose each other at every turn and have to work together to get anything done the only solution? Will they really take full advantage of having a more streamlined process of completely fucking the American people? It’s hard to believe they won’t.
At the end of the day, i’m voting for Obama. I want history. I want to tell my children of the first black president (hey kids, it only took 230 years!). I think that the President of the Unites States should be mostly a figurehead. A person who can stand up and make amazing speeches and fill the country and the rest of the world with awe and faith and trust in the U.S. Even if it is all smoke and mirrors…i don’t care. JFK, LBJ, FDR, even Clinton recently…these were men who didn’t always have the answers or make all the right decisions but they let us think that everything would be ok so we could go about our daily business of going to work and paying our taxes and making this economy roll the way it should without fear that it was all going to end in chaos and anarchy (or totalitarianism.)
If gridlock is the only answer, then doesn’t that prove just how fucked the system is? (and maybe it is busted beyond repair at this point.) I’m not willing to believe that just yet.
McCain is an angry, curmeodgenly old-fuck professional politician. Sarah Palin was barely qualified to be the principal of my high school (3,000 students, just 6,000 less than Wasilla AK). These people do not signify anything better for our country. They signify the status quo. And maybe at the bottom of this, i am scared of Obama. I am scared of change. I am the status quo. I am going to be a middle-aged, middle upper class white man here pretty soon. Fine, i admit it. I don’t want to be taxed because i’m succesful. I don’t want to hand over half my paycheck to people who are abusing the system (i’ll most likely give it to them myself out of my own charity work and my own goodwill towards people, but that’s different then being fucked out of it by a large federal government, isn’t it?) Happy now Dad?
At the end of the day this upcoming Tuesday, we need a change. No matter how bad the democrats are, or how bad they will act over the next 4 years, we have to give it a shot. If George W. Bush has taught us anything, it’s that no matter how shitty a president is, the world won’t end. It’ll get ugly. It’ll get embarrassing. But it won’t collapse. I hope that President Obama will do what he said he would. I hope the democratic majority House and Senate won’t go apeshit and plunge us further down this toilet of debt and stupidity and corruption we’re currently sitting in. I hope the world starts to hate us a little less now. Maybe that is an audacious hope.
Here’s your chance Junior Senator from Illinois. Don’t fuck it up. Or else i’ll see you in the voting booth in 2012, where i’ll absolutely hold you accountable for your actions…by voting Republican.
