Including me
Many people need desperately to receive this message: ‘I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.’
- Timequake
A good sign
On the way to my apartment with a carload of stuff, I stopped by the grocery store for a frozen pizza and a bottle of sake – dinner on the go. Since most of my things are still with my ex, I had resigned myself to eating the pizza whole off a paper towel, for lack of any cutlery or plates. (I did have the foresight to bring an oven mitt, at least.)
I unloaded the car, cracked open the sake – and noticed a forgotten plate, and my old pizza cutter, laying in the sink.
I think that’s a good sign.
Too true
By this time next year, you’ll be 400,000 dollars richer, two cars the better, and just as gullible as you are now.
My Onion horoscope is, as usual, spot-on. And I thought this was supposed to be satire?
My Postmaster thanks you
He is no longer forced to cram bills and magazines into my post box while I forget to check in for weeks at a time. I used to really worry I’d find a nasty note crumpled next to my torn up Vanity Fair. No longer! Thank you, Good Reads, for giving me a reason to check the mail. Their bookswap feature is the shit.
Recently arrived:
Freakonomics by the Stev(ph)ens D. Levitt and J. Dubner
Although I’ve been dying to read Freakomonics, I’d never even heard of Grotesque. Thumbs up for expanded horizons.
And this:
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook by Josh Piven and David Borgenicht
… should arrive tomorrow. (Let’s hope nothing apocalyptic happens before then.)
So now, I’m feeling the pressure to spend less time reading celebrity gossip and more time with more substantial forms of occular entertainment. That’s definitely a good thing.
The 2010 Olympics
Here Steve Nash stars in my fantasy knock-off of American Beauty.
The Olympics started off very sadly – and I’m not just talking about Wayne Gretzky – with the death of a 21-year old Georgian luger. I’d link a news story, but it’s impossible to find one without GRAPHIC DEATH VIDEO!! or AFTERMATH PHOTOS!! and frankly, that’s not the sort of thing we need to see. Why does not one person think of the family? So sad.
(Edit: Here’s one; may I say, stay classy Canadian Olympic officials. Two other lugers experienced issues at the same point before this kid’s death, and you blame it on him? For the exposed metal beam at the end of the fastest point on the track? Shame on you all.)
Barack Obama’s Facebook Feed
Now I don’t have to get all my political news from The Daily Show – I can pop online and read Slate, as well!
Friday Morning Straight Dope Smackdown: Fishin’ Edition
Followup: Did Cecil exaggerate the decline of the world fish supply?
Anyone who knows Straight Dope knows Cecil does not exaggerate, bitch. Bonus: The expert cited through much of the article is named Dr. Worm.
Who are the people in your neighborhood?
This week, not far from my own place of residence, a woman was beaten and relieved of her diamond necklace and her (because this is relevant to the story somehow) 7 carat, $90,000 diamond wedding ring. All this went down in the parking lot of a grocery store she’d patronized for years.
She sent an e-mail out to friends and family after getting her story to the press; that note got forwarded on and on until it came to my boyfriend. Being A Concerned Boyfriend, he then sent it to me.
Yes, there were photos. Gruesome stuff.
I’m so glad she’s okay, and I shudder to think how much worse it could have been.
In the e-mail, she wrote:
I have found out about terrible incidents at Tom Thumb parking lots, CVS parking lots, malls … All of these in nice areas of town by people you would never suspect!!!!!!
It concerns me that people living in one of the most dangerous cities in the nation can’t comprehend there is danger around them. True, the woman in question lives in fairly affluent neighborhood. Speaking for myself, I feel less safe in the wealthier parts of town. Why? Because the people who live there live in a bubble of security, which is excellent for would-be criminals.
In the six years I’ve lived here, I’ve learned a lot of hard lessons about safety. I’ve been fortunate to never suffer any violent crime, and I hope I never do. One thing I was always told, growing up in some not-so-good areas, was to always be cautious. Perhaps being naturally introverted has helped, as I don’t tend to chat up strangers, and generally don’t respond well to their conversation. I don’t know. At the end of the day, you just never know what sets people off, or what makes you, or anyone else, a target for crime.
Having said that, I’d like to remind the people of my fine city of a few important things:
- Being rich doesn’t mean you deserve to get robbed, or beaten, or both.
- Wearing an expensive piece/s of jewelry doesn’t mean you deserve it, either.
- Feeling safe in your neighborhood doesn’t make you stupid. It makes you human.
Also, I am never reading the comments on a local news story again. People are total pricks.
Fairey: In (deeper) Trouble
Apparently the lying-under-oath, Photoshopping-legal-documents thing caught up with the ‘artist’ of the famous – and somewhat incorrect, lately - HOPE poster. That’ll get you every time.
Related: The long, sometimes frightening history of Fairey’s plagiarizing past.
After the poster’s release, I admit I was on Shepard’s side and thought AP needed to step back. After doing a little more research on his career, however, I’m ambivalent. I can’t put my finger on why, exactly. I guess something about taking historically significant works of political art, stripping them of all meaning, slapping on a shitty logo and reselling them to make money for yourself – without once ever mentioning the history of said image – just rubs me the wrong way.