Klosterman Reading

Posted on

I went to a reading tonight of Chuck Klosterman at Olsson’s in DC.  As expected, he was articulate and very funny.  He read a passage from his new book, Chuck Klosterman IV, and he describes how the book came to be.  When he was on a book tour for Killing Yourself to Live (his 3rd book), he encountered all sorts of journalism students and aspiring writers and many of them had never read his stuff and asked where they could get a copy of his previous writings. That’s how he got the idea of packaging up all his previous works and selling them as a very cheap paperback.  He didn’t want his best fans to feel ripped off so he put in the novella at the end and the few tidbits/observations.  (Note: he also remarked that he’s finished his 5th book which is a fictional novel about a person in North Dakota)

He reading was from CK4 and it was about how to find and deal with your nemesis and your arch-enemy:

What you need is (a) one quality nemesis and (b) one archenemy.  These are the two most important mechanisms in any human’s life.  We measure ourselves against our nemeses, and we long to destroy our archenemies. They are the catalysts for why we do everything.

How do i know the difference between my nemesis and my archenemy? Here is the short answer: You kind of like your nemesis, despite the fact you despise him.  You will always have drinks with your nemesis.  you would attend the funeral of your nemesis, and -privately- you might shed a tear over her or her passing.  However, you would never choose to have a cocktail with your archenemy, unless you were attempting to spike the gin with arsenic. If you were to perish, your archenemy would dance on your grave, and then he’d burn down your house and molest your children.  You hate your archenemy so much that you keep your hatred secret, because you do not want your archenemy to have the satisfaction of being hatred.  

If this distinction seems confusing, just ask your girlfriend to explain it in detail; women have always understood the nemesis-archenemy dichotomy…. 

Matt Damon Interview

Posted on

I’ve been a fan of Matt Damon since Good Will Hunting and he’s continued to rock since then. Here’s a link to a pretty good interview with him. One of my favorite parts is when he talks about how he takes roles where the character doesn’t say much. He references a quote from Clint Eastwood:

apparently he got a script, read it, came to the first rehearsal, handed the script to the writer and almost all of his lines were crossed out. Clint said, ‘It’s such a great script’, and the writer said, ‘But you crossed out all my lines.’ Clint said, ‘I crossed out your lines because now I don’t have to do any work. I know what my character is thinking’.”

(interview link is here).

This is only slightly related, but i read this quote about The Departed

Matt: (on working with Jack Nicholson) I have a lot of funny stories, but I like this one. Marty [Martin Scorsese, director] called me up and said, ‘Jack had some ideas for your scene tomorrow. He’s going to wear a dildo.’ So I thought, ‘Uh, okay.’ I thought he was joking, but he actually did! I was impressed at how obscene he was willing to be. With Jack, you expect the unexpected.

Triathlon: Mission Accomplished

Posted on

As i wrote a month ago, i signed to do my first triathlon which happened this past weekend. Here’s how it went:

The Beginning: “Damn that bouy is far” (Objective: 1 mile swim)

The swim started with a bang and all the other swimmers left me in the dust. First off, we had to swim 100 yards just to get to the starting line! I knew i would need all the energy i had so i was pretty upset about this fact. Also, I was somewhat intimidated by the choppy open water and the madness of all the serious guys. The only advice i got from anyone was, “don’t get too close to the buoy or you’ll get pinched in between it by other swimmers.” Thanks dude. Anyway, the race started and I immediately found myself all alone – in last place! This made matters worse as i tried to catch up and just tired myself out. The 2nd buoy (1/2 mile) seemed to take forever to get to and i will confess that my trusty sidestroke was pulled out more times than i had wanted. But after the 1/2 mile marker, i hit a groove – especially in my breathing. It seemed that i wasn’t exhaling under water and once i realized this i was able to cruise. Nevertheless, i was by far the last guy out of the bay and a good 15 minutes behind every other male and probably 20 minutes behind all the females

Bike Leg: “This shit ain’t no joke” (objective: 27 mile bike)

760700469_347c0ac36b.jpgThe bike started off good. I got a little rest in after the swim and pounded some gatorade. The course was rumored to be “highly technical.” I had no idea what that meant, but i found out quickly at mile 2. At that point, i hit my first hill and my entire right calf cramped (this is understandable considering i had never riden my bike on a hill. I repeat never) Also it seemed that my gears didn’t work. These two happened on mile 2 and I dismounted, walked and stretched. I then got on Commodore Williams and decided to do the rest of course without shifting and using only my left leg. After all, i didn’t want to get a DNF on my first time out. I’m not that guy. Back on the bike, after only a few minutes i realized that my gears weren’t actually broken, i was just already on the lowest gear there is. This was both a great and horrible realization as you can imagine. But i continued on. Left-leg-only riding went well until about mile 15 and then the left leg started cramping. So i decided to use both for a while gingerly. It should also be said that around this point a super-hot woman came out of nowhere and decided to ride in front of me (not drafting, but about 20 yards) for about 8 miles. She was truly an angel (granted, i could have been delirious) and following her got me in the groove. The last 15 miles of the course, i was doing at around 20 mph and by the time i hit the “big hill” i was hauling ass. I climbed that bitch and got back to transition in good shape Continue reading “Triathlon: Mission Accomplished” →

Happy 4th

Posted on

The first motion in the Continental Congress for independence was made on June 4, 1776. After hard debate, the Congress voted unanimously, but secretly, for independence from Britain on July 2. The Congress reworked the text of the Declaration until July 4, when the 12 colonies voted for adoption and released a copy signed only by John Hancock, President of the Congress, to the printers.

John Adams the unofficial whip of the independence-minded, wrote to his wife Abigail on July 3, 1776:

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

He forgot to mention beers, bbq’s, baseball games and fireworks – but otherwise he pretty much nailed it

Also, a song for today: Independence Day by Ani (click here)

Transformers is Good, But I Have Some Thoughts

Posted on

I went and saw Transformers last night with the rest of the hard-core geeks. My quick thoughts:

  • Going to see a movie on opening day truly enhances the movie going experience. I went to see Star Wars Episode I and having people yelling at the screen, applauding at awesome fight sequences, and booing cheesy lines makes the movie much more entertaining. Similarly, last night people were clapping at cool parts and cheering the Autobots victories. It makes a difference.
  • Megatron as a toy was always a gun but in the movie he is a fighter jet. I don’t know why they did this. Another Decepticon is a plane too – so it sort of sucked having Megatron one as well.
  • The musical score was very similar to the music in The Rock (a great Michael Bay film). The entire time whenever the music began all i could thing about was The Rock. The Rock is a better movie than Transformers because Cage/Connery is a better combo than LaBeouf/Bumblebee and the plot of Rock is much much better
  • Speaking of the plot. I had some problems with it.
    • The whole point of the movie was to see who could get “The Cube” first. To Autobots got hold of the Cube first (wahoo!) but apparently they had no idea of what to do with it once they got it. Their plan was to drive into a city and just hang out there. That doesn’t make sense.
    • Then when the Decepticons are coming to get the Cube, the genius plan is to give the Cube to LaBeouf and have him go to the roof of a building to give the Cube to some US Military helicopters. This would be a good idea except that all the Decepticons are also fighter jets. Don’t you think they’d be able to stop that?
    • Throughout the entire movie, they made it pretty obvious that human weapons don’t do anything to the Transformers. However, they keep trying to kill them by constantly shooting them with army rifles. Again, wtf? Are humans just morons?
  • All Michael Bay movies are edited so that the fight scenes are so fast, you can’t really tell what’s happening. There are a few Optimus Prime fights and i have no idea what happens in these fights. When the cuts are so fast, things look cool but you can’t tell what’s going on. For instance, i know the Prime has some sort of sword-like item, and i know that he kills some guys with it. But i’m not sure exactly what happens and that sucks.
  • LaBeouf has good timing and the scenes with his family are pretty entertaining. The movie is pretty funny. LaBeouf makes the movie work. I’m excited to see him in Indiana Jones 4.
  • Megan Fox (the token hot chick) is SMOKIN’ HOT. She plays a very similar role to Tea Leoni from Bad Boys (another Bay film) but she is much hotter. Seriously, she look good.
  • There are two supporting roles that made the movie infinitely more enjoyable: John Turturro and the super hot Australian computer hacker chick (Rachel Taylor). I was a computer science major in college and have worked in the internet industry for 9 years and have never seen a chick this hot. And the accent puts her over the top. Great work all around. And Turturro, as always, is just great.

But, is the movie good? Basically, if you liked Independence Day (with Will Smith), you’ll like this. They’re very similar and provided the same level of enjoyment for me. They’re both funny and with a like-able lead character. They both have earth being invaded by alien beings and show the process of the military trying to figure out what they hell is going on.

It’s not the best Michael Bay film – that would be The Rock – but it’s not the worst. I think it’s probably the best after The Rock and Bad Boys.

MySpace vs. FB & the Top Social Network Sites

Posted on

As with most people, i’m obsessed with Facebook these days.  But is it the best?

From a numbers perspective, MySpace is still the big dog. I read an article yesterday from danah about how Facebook is attracting more affluent, middle-class users whereas MySpace indexes higher for less privileged users.  It’s a good read (article is here)

I also read today that Friendster is still hanging around.  The top social networks in the world are:

  1. MySpace
  2. Facebook
  3. Hi5
  4. Friendster
  5. Bebo

Hi5 is a huge social network in Europe.  I’ve heard from my Romanian friends that this is the go-to place for them.  From what i can tell, it’s a pretty standard site.   Bebo is a UK site that focuses on music, similar to how MySpace does. I think they’re a little more sophisticated in terms of functionality but they definitely haven’t hit it out of the park the way facebook has.

Friendster is a strange one though. It’s functionality is nothing special but it has been around for a long time and has lots of users.  The problem is that it doesn’t have anything unique or special about it and there’s no reason to go back every day.  It is less sketchy than MySpace but less cool than facebook.  It rides somewhere in the middle.  Social networking is such a large phenomenon that there is probably room for a player like this.

What do you think?  What has been your experience with these sites?

What's Going On this Weekend? Let's Talk About What Going In!

Posted on

Why go out tonight? How about 25 reasons why….

  1. If you don’t drink that booze, someone else will – now get off your ass
  2. Bad ass nicknames like “Chuggybear,” “The Alabama Hamma,” “Pukey McPukerson” are not awarded to people who stay home to do laundry (ahem: kmr)
  3. This is the one and only night your soul mate will wander into the bar. Seriously.
  4. Word on the street is the booze has been trash talking you all day.
  5. It’s far better to have a good time you won’t remember than a dull one you will.
  6. Remember your English high school teacher that you used to call “Mr. McTightass?” You are starting to remind me of him.
  7. How the hell can you walk around sober when you’re an insignificant speck in an infinite and uncaring universe?
  8. Churchill and FDR got drunk, Hitler didn’t. Need i say more?
  9. If you don’t you’ll wake up in the morning all bright eyed and bushy tailed, and who the hell wants to go through life acting like a goddamn squirrel?
  10. Your friends can’t have a good time without you.
  11. Or, even worse – your friends might have a great time without you.
  12. There is a 1000 percent better chance you will land a starring role in the upcoming Paris Hilton video Vegas Orgy.
  13. Your lawn is so much more comfortable when you’re loaded.
  14. That feisty barmaid might finally, you know, pick up on what you’re laying down.
  15. Are we down on this little place we call earth to have a good time or watch other people have a good time on TV?
  16. Your girlfriend has rented a bunch of chick flicks you can snuggle to – including Legally Blonde 3.
  17. If you don’t hunt the booze, the booze will surely hunt you.
  18. When you write your memoirs you won’t have to go through the hassle of making up a bunch of decadent adventures.
  19. Modern life is a shit storm and booze is the only umbrella without any holes in it.
  20. You did your goddamn monkey dance for the Man and now you get your monkey treat.
  21. The day will come when you will have to single-handedly face death, and there isn’t a person alive who can tell you what will happen next.
  22. Hemingway shot himself after being sober for two months.
  23. When your coworkers ask “What did you get up to last night?” you can smile all cool like and say “Maaaaaan, you don’t wanna know,” instead of chirping “I alphabetized my DVD collection and found out I have two copies of The Truth About Cats and Dogs! Two!”
  24. Remember your childhood dream of meeting a brewery heiress and jet-setting around the world on her dime? You think that’s going to happen while sitting in your goddamn apartment watching Planet Earth’s Shallow Seas?
  25. It’s so much easier to call up those your ex and explain exactly where they went wrong.

It's All About the Product – Yahoo! Makes a Change

Posted on

Yahoo! announced a change of CEO yesterday.  I love some of Yahoo! products like Flickr, MyBlogLog, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Maps, and Delicious.   When they bought Delicious, Google and Yahoo were neck in neck in terms of who had better products and a better vision.  Delicious opted to sell to Yahoo as they were better in social applications at the time.  Since then – for about a year now –  they’ve been getting their ass handed to them by Google on every front: Mail, Search, Calendar, Maps, etc.. They are just getting dusted.  Their products are no longer innovative nor even best of class.  I see this move as general frustration about this fact.  Jason Calacanis, an entrepreneur who speaks it like it is and is generally correct has a similar statement, saying:

“What this move shows is that–like Facebook, Apple, and Google–the founders are often times the best folks to run the business. Wall Street and investors are too caught up in the ‘professional CEO’ who knows how to ‘talk to Wall Street’ and get deals done. The fact is our business is about one thing: product.”

No One Belongs Here More Than You

Posted on

I just finished this book of short stories by Miranda July. The stories are both funny and sad.  The writing is great and the stories are very unique.  It’s an easy read and I’d recommend it to anyone.

Miranda wrote and directed the movie You, Me and Everyone We Know which was very quirky but still very good.  If you like indie films, i’d recommend you check that one out

← Newer posts

Older posts →