random

That's me reading at Storylab last Wednesday (taken by fellow reader Monte)

Someone broke into our apartment the day before and stole a bunch of stuff -- including my computer. I lost a lot of files, including the revised version of the story I planned on reading. I was kind of bummed because I spent Tuesday night dealing with the police and the insurance company and changing internet passwords, so I didn't get a chance to work on the story.

The next day I searched my e-mail and found an old version and printed it and marked it up on the L ride home to prepare for the reading. I was still kind of drained and wasn't as excited about the reading as I should have been, but when I got up and started reading and heard people's reactions, it was cool. All of their energy just kind of went into me and woke me up and I ended up having a great time. (although it's funny saying that and then looking at that picture and seeing the look on the girl's face to my left.)

So for anyone who saw me at Storylab last Wednesday, thank you!!

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There's nothing I can say to properly preface the link I'm about to share, but if you have a few minutes, click on this and learn about Braco and his magical gaze. And if you're still curious, check out some of the Braco videos on youtube.

I could spend all day writing about this, it's overwhelming.

We live in a strange, strange world.

a fucked up world.

You know, we sit here and try to make sense of it all and try to do all this positive shit and set all these goals and have these ambitions and try to live a good life and do all the right things. And then someone like Braco comes along and just makes you think, "You know, maybe we're just a fart in the fucking wind."

Maybe it's all just bullshit. And in a way that realization is kind of soothing.

It kind of puts your worries in perspective. You think about all of the bullshit stress in your life, and you see a fucking guy like Braco flying around the world and taking money to stare at groups of people and you say to yourself, "What the fuck am I so worried about? This is all just a weird little ride that I might as well enjoy."

(Wow, the crazy thing is, maybe this is the actual effect Braco is meant to have on people and I'm actually getting it! Holy shit, I think you've just witnessed me actually being moved by Braco.)

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I bought a new Macbook to replace my old one. It's pretty much identical to the old one except that the keys light up. I can understand having the option of turning that on if I'm typing in the dark, but I don't understand why that feature is turned on from the start.

Do any Mac owners leave the keys lit up all the time??

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You know how British men sometimes refer to younger women as, "Love."

It's kind of creepy, but I kind of like it.

"Come here, love."

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I also had to buy a new version of Microsoft Word. The one new feature worth mentioning is "Focus View." This basically takes everything off my screen except for the document and a few essential toolbox items (it gets rid of the dashboard at the bottom with the internet browsing icon.) I just tried it for the first time and I think might be kind of effective, but it's pathetic that I don't have the self control to just not surf the web.

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I enjoy whiskey/scotch from time to time, but am far from being any kind of connoisseur. That being said, I had a memorably good whiskey on Saturday night. Here's a link to it on Binny's website in case you're interested.

Without a doubt it was the most I've ever enjoyed a glass of whiskey.

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Knowing I have an SLR camera, my friend Aaron asked for a camera recommendation this morning. I don't know why I find this so funny, but I wanted to send him this link and tell him my photographer friends recommended it as a basic starter kit.

"My eleven year old niece likes taking pictures, so I got her this set."

or maybe, "This kit will probably last you a year or two until you decide what you like shooting and are ready for an upgrade."

ok, probably not nearly as funny as I think it is.

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There are five units in our building, and two washers and two dryers. And there's a girl who occasionally leaves her stuff in the dryer for days. I don't mind this, because she's told me it's ok to take her stuff out and put it on top of the dryer if I need to use it -- and I've done that before.

But today the stuff she left in the dryer was pretty much just a load of underwear, and I felt a little weird handling it. I just kept picturing her walking into the laundry room and seeing me with two handfuls of her panties.

It kind of reminded me of this scene from the Soprano's. (After finding that on youtube, I just spent the last hour watching at Soprano's scenes. I've probably said this before, but that show is underrated.)

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I've written at length about daytime TV before, and just caught myself watching Dr. Phil. Two questions:

1) Is it real?

if so,

2) Where do they find these people?

For example, this guy,

Looks normal enough, but, 

He says he likes acting like a baby. They showed a clip of him wearing baby clothes and diapers and sleeping in a crib and crying like a baby and making noises like a baby and sucking on a pacifier. 

And there's more. 

He has a girlfriend.

She's been dating him for six years, and is basically forced to treat him like a baby all the time.

What must their initial courtship have been like?

They show a clip of him crying while she feeds him with a bottle. 

Dr. Phil pleads with her to leave him.

Just absolutely begs her.

She tentatively agrees to leave him.

But there's more. 

The people at Dr. Phil have found a man who actually wants to take care of Brett and treat him like a baby. The bring the guy out.

 He has a slight southern twang and has a masters in theology.

Phil asks, "So you studied in the seminary?"

"Yes, that's correct." 

And then there's one more thing,

He's a daddy to another adult baby!


I don't understand why anyone would want to do the things these three people are doing, but I respect their fearlessness for being on national television talking about it.

Maybe they were inspired by Braco's magical gaze.

makeup and wherever it may lead

I don't know what women look for in make-up, but I've been noticing make-up ads lately and I don't think they're as effective as they can be.

For example, here's a makeup ad:

Here's another one:

I don't understand.

Maybe the makeup is working, or maybe these women would look just as good without makeup. How am I supposed to know?

If makeup manufacturers really want to consumers to see what their products can do, shouldn't they use before and after pictures?

Wouldn't it make more sense to show the product in action?

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(I started reviewing Fifty Shades of Grey, but I think it deserves its own post. Stay tuned.)

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Here's a clip from an interview with former CIA Director Jose Rodriguez who admits that the CIA tortured terrorism suspects after 9/11 and defends the practice as being effective.

Some of the torture methods involved were waterboarding, slapping, sleep deprivation, confinement to small spaces with insects, stress positions, and humiliation. Rodriguez argues that the suspects had information critical to national security and weren't going to give it up without being tortured. And not only that, but many of the suspects were so determined that it took prolonged torture to get them to talk.

Ok, I hate to be the one to say this, but I imagine it's what we're all thinking, so here goes:

Wouldn't these methods be more effective if instead of torturing the suspects, we made them watch while we tortured their mothers?

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What do they call black people in Europe?

I always enjoy listening to Juice rant about the term African American.

"Where the fuck would I go in Africa? I don't know shit about Africa. That's a big ass continent and I don't know anything about anyone on it --- except Nelson Mandela."

It's not like he's rooting for Angola in the Olympics. It's not like he's going out to Ethiopian restaurants. Black people have been here longer than most white people, there's gotta be a better way to describe their race. Maybe the only real Americans are the ones whose ancestors were here before the revolution.

Plus, if we're going to discriminate against people, shouldn't we be discriminating against Irish and Italians?

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I'm reading at Storylab later this month. It's a show where people read personal stories, I've gone to watch a few times, it's an interesting show. I love watching amateurs telling true stories, I feel like professional/experienced memoirists become a little too skilled in embellishing.

I must admit, I'm tempted to write something extremely boring and read it the night of the show to see how people react.

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Game of Thrones is a great show. If you haven't watched the first season, don't click on this link, but if you have, this is probably my favorite scene.

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Here's kind of a funny/serious article about Edward Conrad's new book that might as well be called "In Defense of Income Inequality." It's funny because although he makes some good points ---- he doesn't mischaracterize anything about the need for risk taking and how discovering efficiencies benefits society and how those who invest in the discovery of efficiencies deserve to be disproportionately rewarded (I agree with all of that ) ---- but he also shows how crazy you have to be to want to get out there and compete for those "rewards" these days:

 “God didn’t create the universe so that talented people would be happy. It’s not beautiful. It’s hard work. It’s responsibility and deadlines, working till 11 o’clock at night when you want to watch your baby and be with your wife. It’s not serenity and beauty.”

The funny thing about listening to people who believe they know the one true economic theory is hearing the crazy assumption that holds it all together --- like Conrad's which is essentially, "Look, we all have to be miserable to make it work, but as long as we're ok with that, it'll work."