9 posts tagged “work”
I one day hope to make this place at least, like, semi-substantial in the content department, but I seriously have a lot of writing crap to do, and not a lot of hours to do it. But, one thing I do for sorta fun is read random crap online, and Stuff Hipsters Don't Like is my new favorite random crap, probably only for the next two weeks until I like something else for two weeks.
Coincidentally, I am watching an example of Hipster Eye Deficiency Syndrome (HEDS) in action right now by observing a hipster who is sitting in my place of work! He came in wearing tight jeans and a tie that probably came from my grandpa’s contribution to the Salvation Army, and at first I was surprised to see that he had no type of lens sheilding his eye. But then, as he took out a book to read, he donned a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses! If I did not know about HEDS, I would be completely baffled by this behavior, as most people require light to read.
Fun, fun.
The wonderous Webmd (because how else would you know you have herpes?) has a peice--I think it's just a blog entry, but it's researched, so that puts it on the level of real journalisms. Anyway, it's about this movement by these college presidents (about a hundred of them) to have the drinking age lowered from 21 to 18 (this age limitation is federal law, not state law, as the states no longer have a say in the matter). Anyway, they have a bunch of points, a couple of which follow this colon coming up:
- Adults over 18 years can vote, marry, sign contracts, serve on juries, and enlist in the military. How can we as a society then tell them they are not mature enough to have a beer?
- Some studies suggest that a higher drinking age barely reduces underage consumption. Worse, those under-aged youths who do drink are much more likely to do so behind closed doors and drink to excess in the short time they have access to alcohol.
- The higher drinking age gives alcohol the allure of "forbidden fruit" and serves as a badge of rebellion against adult authority.
- There were few differences in the incidence of drinking problems in colleges where the drinking age was 18 versus 21 years.
The bottom line is, according to the president of Johns Hopkins College: "Kids are going to drink whether it's legal or not. We'd at least be able to have a more open dialogue with students about drinking, as opposed to this sham where people don't want to talk about it because it's a violation of the law."You can read the rest over thar. [WebMd]
Over at Peter Bart's Variety blog, home of the cognizent Variety-bot, word comes around about the 'recession' and the effect it's having on hollywood douchebags' abilities to take home huge paydays. Apparently, agents are having a hard time negotiating, worse than, like, ever or something.
Agents tell me they’ve never had a tougher time negotiating paydays for their top stars. Upfront salaries are shrinking along with percentage slices on the back end.
I probably could've said that myself without quoting the article, but quotes are entertaining and take up space. The article immediately becomes a Look-how-broke-you-are rundown of the Forbes list of the most powerful celebrities. Living the legal life never looked so foolish:
I knew 50 Cent (Curtis Jackson) had a good year at $150 million, but did Pharrell Williams really pull in $20 million? Miley Cyrus scored big this year ($25 million), but did Daniel Radcliffe also haul in $25 million for Pottering around and yanking off his shorts in Equus?
I thought actresses like Keira Knightley and Gwyneth Paltrow devoted too much time to art movies to become big-time earners, but Paltrow pulled in $25 million according to Forbes; Knightley, $32 million.In the actor category, Bruce Willis got his act together well enough to make $41 million this year, which still paled next to Will Smith’s $80 million. Even Howie Mandel dealt himself in for $14 million.
First of all, fabulous wordplay with the 'Bruce Willis' and the 'act together.' Secondly: Howie Mandel?! Jesus Christ. I mean, a lot of this work is soul-stealing (like Howie) so I guess he's earned it, and some of it probs rewarding (like whatever Keira Knightley was doing) so I'm happy for some of these guys, but, jeez. Whatever, I'm gonna go think about the Olympics and force myself not to break my no-drinking-on-work-nights rule.
Source Variety.
What I hate is being in the bathroom at work (or anywhere), washing my hands, then someobody walks in. That person makes the bum's rush for the nearest stall and locks themselves in. Now, I'll be done and out of here in two seconds, but does he use this time to make himself comfortable, warm up the pot? No. He unleashes a hell-torrent squeaky-explosive ass rips that send me staggering out of the restroom in shock. Dude--we get it: you're taking a dump. Give me a chance to leave you with some privacy, bro! Is this not etiquette, because it should be.
Further, I got like no hours of sleep last night, so have minimal energy. I blame my roommate, because I only have one for a couple more weeks, and I've gotta get my blamin' in while the blamin's good. Plus, it's his fucking fault.
Nothing a Red Bull can't fix...
Since I don't watch a lot of TV, but have the Olympic bug this year, it's been kind of tough going as far as actually being able to watch them. I spent a good deal of my time in front of a computer, and so the fact that the Olympics can largely be viewed online would seem like a good thing. Except that it's not, because I, like a lot of people, want to watch the swimming events, among others, but NBC is to good to let me watch that shit online, so I have to watch it on the telly, except my TV gets shit reception of NBC. So I'm forced to read about it and look at pictures, like the poor person I am. (I tried a youtube hack [or did I? i didn't] that bypass Universal's rules so that I could watch the games there, but they figured that shit out and cut me off [sad face]).
Anyway, here are the top five countries at this point, courtesy of NBC, who should just let me watch the Olympics online, 'cause it's not like the online videos don't also have commercials (who watches TV anymore anyway, jesus!) [NBC] (picture via NYT).
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COUNTRY | MEDALISTS | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE | TOTAL | |
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China | see names | 8 | 3 | 2 | 13 |
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United States | see names | 3 | 4 | 5 | 12 |
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South Korea | see names | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
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Italy | see names | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
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Russia | see names | 0 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
Deadspin writes a lot about this stuff too, better than I ever will. Actually watching the events in real-time probably helps, but I'm at work, and thus am not required to think too much about that.
China sure is on a roll, seemingly ready to put its Darfur-genocide-apologizing/communist-empathizing days behind it, at least for the next several days or so. For some reason, I'm into the olympics. I think it is largely due to my recent vow to be athletic in some way (after years of being the Kate Moss of boys), drawing me toward people who exemplify the idea. Anyhoo, the hours are effing crazy because of time zones and shit, but the New York Times, my friend and yours, has a handy-dandular interactive schedule to appease your olympic god/goddess fetishizing needs. Go for the gold here: 2008 Beijing Olympic Event Scheduele [NYT; pictures from there and Zimbio]
The guy who crafted the Hulk movie that it's cool to hate, and that I haven't even seen, and probably won't for a long time, has announced his next project. And if you're asking, yes, Emile Hirsche is attached. From the all-knowing Variety-bot:
(in robot voice)
Focus Features will begin production late this month on "Taking Woodstock," scripted by James Schamus and to be directed by Ang Lee.
Demetri Martin ("The Daily Show With Jon Stewart") had already been set to play Tiber, an aspiring interior designer in Greenwich Village obliged to run the family business, a Catskills motel. In summer 1969, he found himself at the center of a generation-defining experience when he volunteered the motel to be the home base for Woodstock concert organizers after his neighbor, Max Yasgur, made his farm available for the event.
...[Emile] Hirsch will play a recently returned Vietnam vet, Eugene Levy will play Yasgur, and Schreiber is in talks to play a transvestite named Vilma.
Did the robot voice ruin it? Me too. Also, Eli Roth might be in Inglorious Bastards for some reason, and Leo Dicaprio won't be, because QT wants to get some German guy to do it, instead of some guy who will make sure the film doesn't tank. Thanks, Variety, for writing this post for me!
One of the most e-mailed articles at the New York Times the other day was a little something about literacy, and how kids these day don't read actual books. When I was younger, I'm pretty sure it wasn't "cool" to read it, but I did it. I had friends who read, but, then, most of my friends were as socially outcast as myself, so we were in no way a barometer of what people (who don't want to be called fags) should be doing. I had RL Stine and the girls had their Babysitters club, and people with no taste had their Hardy Boys, and all was right. Nowadays, what is there even? Harry Potter can only teach so many of us how to read (right, Fantasia?). But the article mostly focuses on high school kids and they'd rather read fanfiction and flirt on Facebook than read Catcher in the Rye. Plus, books have too many fucking rules, right, dudes?
Clearly, reading in print and on the Internet are different. On paper, text has a predetermined beginning, middle and end, where readers focus for a sustained period on one author’s vision. On the Internet, readers skate through cyberspace at will and, in effect, compose their own beginnings, middles and ends.
Young people “aren’t as troubled as some of us older folks are by reading that doesn’t go in a line,” said Rand J. Spiro, a professor of educational psychology at Michigan State University who is studying reading practices on the Internet. “That’s a good thing because the world doesn’t go in a line, and the world isn’t organized into separate compartments or chapters.”
Yeah, chapters suck, bro! Life doesn't have a beginning...well, birth, but...and I guess it has an end too, with there being no cure for death or anything. Whatever, I read as many blogs as the next asshole, but I'm not trying to act like doing so makes me any smarter. I mean, I don't read Perez or anything, but I do read Gawker, and those guys can actually write, for the most part, but it's not a substitute for literature. And I don't care how good your Gossip Girl fanfiction is--read a book, it's different. It doesn't have to be Hemingway, but it would help if it's not just Buffy novelizations (though I've read that shit). I understand not reading a book to study (I have never read a book assigned to me at school except Gatsby, but I've read a lot of fucking books) or write a paper, since I also use Wiki and other information resources for tasks like that. And if a kid who only gets credit for his physicality has trouble reading, but likes reading online, then that's a solid; it's helped someone not feel inadequate, and maybe even a little brighter.
But...there's something to be said for someone devoting their life to a style and expressing themselves through writing, and focusing their energy on getting their work out there, and suffering just to be heard. There's a million stupid quotes from the article, so I shall direct you to it (I wrote a whole diatribe on it, but my work computer didn't save it, so fuck that) but i'm over it:
There's a new Harry Potter trailer out, though! It looks good. David Yates, the director, won over every Potter fan I know with OotP, but I'm still diggin on Azkaban pretty hard, though I'm rooting for this guy to kick my ass. He's got three tries, including the 2-part final movie, so we'll see.
The movie comes out on the 21st of November. Go read a goddamn book!
The New York Times peice.
Today I finished a manuscript. I took a while (but not too too long) and so I am pumped about this. To celebrate, I will have one last drink then get up at 6 for work tomorrow. (So best!) I just wanted to share.
