Would You Like To Hear Some Jokes About The Freud Museum.
Our website is currently down following a hacking attempt (presumably by Jungians).
— Freud Museum London (@FreudMusLondon) May 21, 2013
London's Freud Museum is in a… spot of bother.
@freudmuslondon @mrjohnofarrell Not "hacked" but "penetrated".
— Ms Slide (@sliderulesyou) May 21, 2013
@freudmuslondon Melanie Klein's distributed denial of "difficult conversations" attack?
— Alex (@blangry) May 21, 2013
@freudmuslondon from the error code, looks more like "His host has become ‘uncanny’ to him" to me…. (hope you're back up & running soon)
— Danny Birchall (@dannybirchall) May 21, 2013
@freudmuslondon You know what else is down? The subconscious. (No, sorry, really, I hope you get back up soon.)
— Martin Ackerfors (@ackerfors) May 21, 2013
Noel Fielding Is 40
The Mighty Boosh's Noel Fielding turns 40 today, so this seems appropriate. And also this.
Oh God It Sure Is "Internet Week"
Things, you can do them, or not. Oh my God it's so Internet week today. Robert Scoble is giving a talk! Here is a description of a panel! "From actors and musicians to writers and producers, the Internet has provided unprecedented opportunities for New York's creative class. A panel of content creators discusses how this powerful disruptive digital medium has helped jumpstart their businesses and accelerate their careers." POWERFUL, DISRUPTIVE, DIGITAL. #brands #social #digital #life
Your Smart-Person Beach Read Arrived Early: "The Bling Ring"
Nicki likes Lip Gloss, Purses, Yoga, Pole Dancing, Uggs, Louboutins, Juice Cleanses, Iced coffee and Tattoos. @blingringmovie
— Emma Watson (@EmWatson) May 2, 2012
Nancy Jo Sales published "The Suspects Wore Louboutins" in Vanity Fair in March of 2010. Sofia Coppola announced optioning the article by December of 2011; Emma Watson was cast by February of 2012; the resulting movie, The Bling Ring, opens in a month.
But first! Tomorrow comes The Bling Ring—the book. Nancy Jo Sales started afresh. She already had, after all, endless hours of interviews with the crowd of young people in Southern California who burgled celebrity homes. In case you missed the original story, or have buried its fuzzy outline under later tabloid scandals, the case concerns five kiddos (and two friends who did reselling) who best liked to steal outfits, shoes, photos, watches and anything else that felt personal. And they did it quite a bit: they hit Brian Austin Green's house just a week after Lindsay Lohan's house, back in August of 2009. Poor Brian Austin Green!
And it turns out this book is basically The Journalist and the Murderer for the TMZ age. It's really pretty devastating. "Corporations are now people and people are now products, known as 'brands,'" Sales writes, in a history of what is either the degradation or the democratization of celebrity. ("Either/or doesn't seem right, but you know.) Both the path to getting fame and the resulting benefits (money, mostly) became obvious to us all. This is true—and happened so quickly—to the point where, Sales notes, theft victim Paris Hilton began to look as if she had an "Old Hollywood glamour to her." (Before noting that Hilton's popularity's rise and fall mirrored George W. Bush's. This is a book, after all, that mentions Bobby Kennedy, Donald Trump, Michael Milken, Richard Nixon, Salomon Brothers and Glenn Greenwald all on the same page.)
The rise of porn stars, of celebrity models, tabloid culture: there actually isn't much difference between Lindsay Lohan and any of these deluded, backstabbing, fame-hungry little kiddos. And then… it's so easy to enjoy them.
"I was surprised," Sales writes, "as I started talking to people about this story, by how many seemed to find what the Bling Ring did amusing or even kind of marvelous. 'Good for them,' said a young woman I talked to in a hair salon. 'Tell them to bring me a Gucci bag.' 'They have enough'—meaning the celebrities, said a New York taxi driver…. they won't miss it.' It made me wonder if there were some kind of growing resentment toward the rich (a precursor to Occupy Wall Street sentiment?). Or was this just a sign of the kind of kick people get out of teenagers doing outrageous things?" READ MORE
New York City, May 19, 2013
[No stars] The newsprint said one thing, but the dark gray outside said something obviously worse. Doing anything nice would be impossible, and doing the necessities would be nasty. Waves of misty rain swept by, streaking the windows. Taking an umbrella or leaving it behind seemed equally futile. Two young men were out in badly-fitting ponchos, possibly made from clear trash bags. They were as well equipped as anyone. Water soaked up into shoes and leaked down through the scaffolding. People winced under their hoods or impeded others with their umbrellas. On the lone dry spot, against the wall of a bank, a busker sat with a guitar, singing a stiff-paced "Let It Be." In the course of seven blocks, the rain had gone from misting to driving. A Fairway worker mopped the floor inside the doors over and over again. Under an umbrella, a dressed-up woman huddled with a man in a pale blue mortarboard-and-gown set. The outboard shoulder of the gown was darkening. All day, the gray stayed, turing to a dirty yellow on its way into a soggy night.
Talking to Colin Quinn About His New One-Man Show, 'Tough Crowd', and Being the King of Twitter
There have been many chapters in Colin Quinn's career since he first appeared on MTV's Remote Control in 1987. The former SNL castmember went on to host the short-lived but brilliant Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn on Comedy Central; more recently, his unique Twitter persona caught the eye of the New York Times. Following on the success of his Broadway one-man show Colin Quinn: Long Story Short, his "history of the world in 75 minutes," Colin Quinn's new show, Unconstitutional, aims to tackle "226 years of American Constitutional calamities." I caught up with after a preview performance of his show to talk about constitutional conventions, comedy nerds, and how sincerity infuriates people.
What was it about the Constitution that made you want to do a show?
Well, it's because it annoys me [that] all this time, everyone's always talking about how brilliant the Constitution was, and I didn't get what was brilliant about it. How can I be so stupid that I don't get the Constitution? So I said I'm going to write a show about it. I wanted to do another show anyway, but I wasn't going to make it, like, "Oh I did world history, now I'm doing American history." Of course, that's what I did, but I wasn't planning that. I was planning to not do that, so people wouldn't go, “Look at this idiot, what a loser. Now he's gonna do a American history.” But that's what I am, and that's what I did. READ MORE
"Professional tennis players are among the world's most finely trained athletes, with bodies that are honed to laser precision to compete in multimillion-dollar matches. Why, then, are so many top-seeded tennis players falling victim to mononucleosis, or mono, the 'kissing disease'?"
23 Replacement Similes For Humans To Use Once All The Animals Are Dead And No One Knows What "Animals" Were
Now that we're well on into our planet's sixth mass extinction event, and with recent news that we're charging towards environmental catastrophe faster than ever, it's time we start thinking about contingencies not in terms of "if" but in terms of "when." Let's say, just for argument's sake, that the human species will survive. Some people, like Annalee Newitz, author of Scatter, Adapt and Remember: How Humans Will Survive A Mass Extinction, think we will! But even if she's right, certainly, there will be changes we'll have to get used to. Besides the hilarious "Great, I'll have beachfront property" jokes the wittier among us will continue to make, our lexicon is sure to change. For example, similes that use animal imagery—we'll need some new ones, since no one will no understand what most "animals" are (or were). Here's a start, with future generations in mind. READ MORE
If you are still grieving over the year's biggest tragedy thus far, here is some news that might briefly blot out the pain: you can catch the remaining episodes of "Don't Trust the B—- in Apt. 23" on Hulu and ABC.com and some other computer-related places.
Save Your Complaints About The Heat For A Bit
"Residents of Manhattan will not just sweat harder from rising temperatures in the future, says a new study; many may die."
The Tingle Whisperer
Like most people who get tingles in the back of their heads, I didn't know this was a thing until recently. When I was a kid, it was a fleeting and rare experience, but so delightful. It would often happen when someone was explaining a new concept to me and it finally clicked — I thought of it as the physical feeling of being deeply interested in something. Then, a few months ago, I fell down one of those internet rabbit holes into the world of ASMR, or Autonomous sensory meridian response. I won't go into the details of what this terminology means, but go ahead and read the Wikipedia article.
Basically, what I discovered were hundreds of YouTube videos designed to give viewers the tingles. “Whisperers” speak quietly to the camera, sometimes tapping their nails on things or describing items like jewelry collections. The whisperers are usually young and female, although there are some men as well. Many of them also do “role play” videos, in which, for example, they pretend to give viewers haircuts or makeovers, or pretend to fill out their information in a doctor's office. So far, these videos haven't produced head fireworks for me, but they are mesmerizing to watch.
One of the most famous whisperers, and one of the whisperers recently featured on a This American Life segment, is Maria of the YouTube channel GentleWhispering. Her videos regularly have hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions, of views. Maria is blond and charming, with a soft Russian accent, and when I contacted her to ask for an interview, she replied enthusiastically. When we spoke, she immediately put me at ease. READ MORE
"In a time when feelings of insecurity run high and people shy away, the selfie is an instant of boldness."
One Of The Best Rock Albums Of All Time Returns Tomorrow
Tomorrow Matador Records is reissuing Come's "11:11." If you don't remember the 90s, and really why would you, it's one of the great rock records of… all time? Yup, absolutely. Come toured with Pavement and Nirvana, considered their major label options, and put out three more albums in the 90s, even as half the lineup left. And then… everyone sort of drifted away. Now the original four-some is on tour in Europe; they'll wend their way to America in mid-June. Over the weekend, we Skyped with Come's Thalia Zedek about getting the band back together. She was in Berlin, getting lost; she also has a new album out herself, from the fine folks at Thrill Jockey.
I always think of you as a New Yorker, but you live in Boston. Do you… like Boston?
I do like Boston a lot. It’s a really cool town. It’s a very liveable town. I like New York too, but Boston is a little easier to be a musician in: places to play, clubs, rehearsing. I’ve never had a problem getting a show in New York living in Boston. I loved living in New York but I kind of didn’t have my shit together. It’s so competitive. So many people from everywhere trying to make it there.
It’s nicer now that we’re older.
I was kinda screwed up when I was there. But Boston’s actually a really cool town! I know a lot of people don’t see that. It’s a good small big city, tons of music, and it’s pretty and it’s pretty small in a sense. They say it’s the most European of American cities.
So would say Henry James. What’s it like going on off on a big tour again?
I’ve been touring with my solo band fairly consistently, it’s not like I haven’t toured in 20 years. It’s really cool. I would say that … none of us have really changed that much. It’s all coming back to me. Everyone’s changed a little bit but not actually that much.
In my make-believe mind about your world, I imagine you guys making this dark album and tearing each other apart the whole time.
I think we weren’t tearing each other apart. To us, it was what came out of us when we started playing with each other. I guess we’re all sort of, we had our separately—we’re a good combination of people. It didn’t come out of fighting, but it’s where our heads were at. We weren’t like 'we’re so depressing, why don’t we write something less depressing.' We'd all kind of met before in various ways. Chris used to be in the Barbecue Killers. They were insane, they had this singer Laura Carter that I went out with briefly, and they toured with me with Live Skull and we got in a lot of trouble. Arthur never got in trouble, he was a good boy. I was hanging out with a lot of Athens peole. And they both ended up in Boston, and I knew Chris from a mustual friend—when you live in New York, you have a visitor every weekend. So we'd all been through a little bit of stuff by that time. I was probably 27 or something. READ MORE
"So maybe 'hoping it doesn’t rain' isn’t the best business model for an outdoor food and wine festival in New York City?"
Busta Rhymes Is 40
Trevor Tahiem "Busta Rhymes" Smith, Jr. occupies a singular place in hip-hop history. He is a super-good rapper, blessed with a flow as quick and nimble and flexible as any we've ever heard. He's never put together truly great songs, though, or albums you want to listen to all the way through. He's perhaps most famous for his guest appearances on other peoples' songs—beginning with his jaw-dropping verse on A Tribe Called Quest's "Scenario" in 1991, he earned a reputation as the genre's greatest scene stealer. (Andre 3000 has since stolen that crown.) What Busta is, though, I think, is hip-hop's greatest video artist. He is the very definition of "animated" and his collaborations with Hype Williams in the late '90s set a new standard for rap video—showed how they could be something more than, better, beyond, the music they were set to. Busta turns 40 today.* Let's celebrate with five of his groundbreaking performances. READ MORE
"New research suggests chronic smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and increasing age are all associated with increased oxidative damage to brain tissue."
—I am not sure what they're trying to say here, although that probably proves their point.
Terrible Combination In Your Mouth Explained
You know, if you gargle with bourbon none of this is ever a problem.
"If you like using online tools to hunt and gather your food, take note: Seamless and GrubHub, two of the better-known players in the mobile food-delivery business, announced today that they will be merging their services."
I Made $570K Last Year, But I Don't Feel Rich (In Fact, I Feel Worried)
Jake Smith is a name I've made up for the person who sent me this email:
I'm a physician in my early forties. I make $450-500K. I read a lot about finance and I know that technically I am in the 1%, but I don't feel rich at all. I don't know if it was the way I was raised or because for a time I was living paycheck to paycheck or if it's because I have three kids (and hence, eventually will have three tuitions to pay), but I don't feel wealthy yet. Maybe it's because I live in an affluent suburb of a big city and most of my neighbors seem to be doing really well. I don't know. Have you run across other folks like this?
I had not, personally. So we arranged to speak on the phone. READ MORE
I don't know what you did from Friday to Sunday, but I spent the weekend putting together the proposal for the book I have so long refused countless entreaties to write. Boo Hoo Hoo I'm Sad: A History Of Why I Suck is pitched as a memoir—because, really, that's the only way to sell anything these days; unless it happened to you (or, you know, "happened" to you) apparently it does not appeal to the only prurient interests that remain susceptible enough to manipulation in our post-literate society to entice the purchase of a piece of print carrying no perfume samples within its covers—but is less a recounting of all the terrible tragedy I've experienced in my life than it is an examination of why I feel everything so much more strongly than the rest of society, most of whose members seem perfectly capable of conducting the quotidian activities of existence blissfully unaware of the rampant anguish that comes at them from every corner. Why is it possible that almost everyone else needs not contend with the staggering wave of sorrow under which a simple stroll down the street submerges me? It can't simply be because my emotions are more finely calibrated or my empathy levels are much more attuned to the manifest misery humanity wears on its sleeve. I mean, yes, that's part of it, but it can't just be that; in the absence of some kind of higher power who has designated me as the back upon which the suffering of the world must be borne (although how much easier would things be if I could just blame God for everything? A lot! A lot easier!) an alternate explanation, probably involving my superior intelligence and considerably more powerful capacity for compassion, needs to be found. So the book will be an attempt to understand how it is that I am seemingly the only one who sees the sadness while the rest of you continue with your callous indifference and insensitivity to the agony all around. Again, this is not the work I wanted to write, but more and more it is clearly the work I have to write, particularly now that the new edition of The Big Book of Crazy is causing so much controversy. I mean, if we can piggyback off that I can totally retire and be sad from the comfort of some tropical island. Email me if you're interested.
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