The Awl http://www.theawl.com/ Be Less Stupid Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:50:49 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.2 Don't Re-Elect the Internet http://www.theawl.com/2011/06/dont-re-elect-the-internet http://www.theawl.com/2011/06/dont-re-elect-the-internet#comments Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:50:49 +0000 Choire Sicha http://www.theawl.com/2011/06/dont-re-elect-the-internet "I’ve never had any luck with publishing companies. Nobody has, really—discounting the handful of Famous Bestselling Authors you read about in the NYT. It occurred to me, a few weeks ago, that I personally know about forty people who have sold books to big or medium-sized publishers, and their experiences are all the same: Long after you’ve written it and long after you’ve spent the advance on food and rent, a forgotten little bundle of words with an inscrutable cover is released in the night, you might do a few readings in empty Barnes & Noble stores on a weekday, and then four or five years later you still can’t get a simple accounting record. Very few writers will mourn the end of the New York Publishing Industry."
—That's not the only notable quotable in this interview with Ken Layne. In fact there is another part so good that, well, let's read on! It's about finding out whether you're better off without the Internet.

We have a remarkable ability to know exactly what things we’re doing are harmful to us …. and then we keep doing those things, until we decide to stop.

For anyone who feels this Internet emptiness chewing at them, I would say, do a little test. Go outside and take a 15-minute walk — around the block, through the park, just a short walk. While you’re doing this, clear your mind of work and of home. Just look at things, birds and cars and trees and the clouds and buildings and dumpsters, and when you think of something internal just say “thinking” to yourself and go back to walking and breathing. Then return to your computer. Do the usual things you do on your computer, like check the news and your email and the blogs you read and whatever people post on Facebook and Twitter.

Do this second part, the computer-looking-at, for just 15 minutes. You can set one of those web timers... hang on, I have one in my bookmarks.

When this stopwatch beeps, honestly ask yourself how you feel. Compare this to how you felt at the end of your 15-minute walk. Ask yourself what, if anything, you learned during those 15 minutes of wasting time on the Internet. Did it help you in some way? Are you better off? This is a question often asked by political challengers: Are you better off than __ years ago? Well, are you better off than fifteen minutes ago? If not, don’t re-elect the Internet.

BOOM. LIVE WITH YOURSELF NOW.

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]]> "I’ve never had any luck with publishing companies. Nobody has, really—discounting the handful of Famous Bestselling Authors you read about in the NYT. It occurred to me, a few weeks ago, that I personally know about forty people who have sold books to big or medium-sized publishers, and their experiences are all the same: Long after you’ve written it and long after you’ve spent the advance on food and rent, a forgotten little bundle of words with an inscrutable cover is released in the night, you might do a few readings in empty Barnes & Noble stores on a weekday, and then four or five years later you still can’t get a simple accounting record. Very few writers will mourn the end of the New York Publishing Industry."
—That's not the only notable quotable in this interview with Ken Layne. In fact there is another part so good that, well, let's read on! It's about finding out whether you're better off without the Internet.

We have a remarkable ability to know exactly what things we’re doing are harmful to us …. and then we keep doing those things, until we decide to stop.

For anyone who feels this Internet emptiness chewing at them, I would say, do a little test. Go outside and take a 15-minute walk — around the block, through the park, just a short walk. While you’re doing this, clear your mind of work and of home. Just look at things, birds and cars and trees and the clouds and buildings and dumpsters, and when you think of something internal just say “thinking” to yourself and go back to walking and breathing. Then return to your computer. Do the usual things you do on your computer, like check the news and your email and the blogs you read and whatever people post on Facebook and Twitter.

Do this second part, the computer-looking-at, for just 15 minutes. You can set one of those web timers... hang on, I have one in my bookmarks.

When this stopwatch beeps, honestly ask yourself how you feel. Compare this to how you felt at the end of your 15-minute walk. Ask yourself what, if anything, you learned during those 15 minutes of wasting time on the Internet. Did it help you in some way? Are you better off? This is a question often asked by political challengers: Are you better off than __ years ago? Well, are you better off than fifteen minutes ago? If not, don’t re-elect the Internet.

BOOM. LIVE WITH YOURSELF NOW.

---

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2011/06/dont-re-elect-the-internet/feed 18 An Excerpt from Ken Layne's "Dignity" http://www.theawl.com/2011/05/an-excerpt-from-ken-laynes-dignity http://www.theawl.com/2011/05/an-excerpt-from-ken-laynes-dignity#comments Fri, 13 May 2011 12:40:00 +0000 The Awl http://www.theawl.com/2011/05/an-excerpt-from-ken-laynes-dignity Dignity, a new book by Ken Layne, is a novel composed of found letters, set in the post-housing crisis California wasteland, when people must learn again how to make food.

My friends in Goleta Meadows,

I think about you always and honor the sacrifices you make for our community.

How is our little group? Are people from the area still showing up for the weekly suppers? Keep your gates open to neighbors, and hide nothing from the honestly curious. We are living without the three poisons by choice, to show the world a new path, in fact a new map of the world. Don’t be weary. Don’t rob yourselves of music and conversation and laughter!

It saddens me that Salvatore and Jane have left us. Why did they leave? I can’t answer that. Maybe it’s because they were the last in your community who knew B. Think of all the questions the newcomers must have, the expectations that those few who lived and worked with B somehow take his place.

You write, “And now we try to live up to what B wanted for us, and not one of us ever saw B face to face.” Maybe that makes it easier. I knew B as well as anyone could, and I often stare at the blank page wondering what to write to our scattered communities.

But I will tell you a story that you can tell the others.

After B was set free from the Los Angeles county jail, those who remained loyal to him gathered at the home of Vera and Tommy in Echo Park, that crumbling old cottage that looked ready to topple down the hillside. We shared a meal around their great wooden table. The blinds were closed because already the unmarked cars were clumsily parked outside and the spies were watching from the street. The table was lit by two great candles and we were about to begin when the garden door flew open and B ran in, laughing, because he was forced to go through the alley and over a fence and then jump down to the garbage cans below and the knees of his pants were ripped and dirty.

We embraced him and he looked at us and said, “This gloom is intolerable. If you can smile and enjoy each other’s company, sit down with me. If not, go outside and scowl at the policemen.”

Then he led us in a song and we filled our glasses and he said, “Honor this food, honor each other, honor this world that is our home.”

Someone, I can’t remember who now, started crying and said, “But what will we do?”

B smiled in the candlelight and helped himself to the food and passed the dish to me, sitting at his left.

“What will we do?” He took a bite and answered, “We are already doing it.”



Ken Layne is the proprietor of Wonkette; Dignity is available for the Kindle.

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]]> Dignity, a new book by Ken Layne, is a novel composed of found letters, set in the post-housing crisis California wasteland, when people must learn again how to make food.

My friends in Goleta Meadows,

I think about you always and honor the sacrifices you make for our community.

How is our little group? Are people from the area still showing up for the weekly suppers? Keep your gates open to neighbors, and hide nothing from the honestly curious. We are living without the three poisons by choice, to show the world a new path, in fact a new map of the world. Don’t be weary. Don’t rob yourselves of music and conversation and laughter!

It saddens me that Salvatore and Jane have left us. Why did they leave? I can’t answer that. Maybe it’s because they were the last in your community who knew B. Think of all the questions the newcomers must have, the expectations that those few who lived and worked with B somehow take his place.

You write, “And now we try to live up to what B wanted for us, and not one of us ever saw B face to face.” Maybe that makes it easier. I knew B as well as anyone could, and I often stare at the blank page wondering what to write to our scattered communities.

But I will tell you a story that you can tell the others.

After B was set free from the Los Angeles county jail, those who remained loyal to him gathered at the home of Vera and Tommy in Echo Park, that crumbling old cottage that looked ready to topple down the hillside. We shared a meal around their great wooden table. The blinds were closed because already the unmarked cars were clumsily parked outside and the spies were watching from the street. The table was lit by two great candles and we were about to begin when the garden door flew open and B ran in, laughing, because he was forced to go through the alley and over a fence and then jump down to the garbage cans below and the knees of his pants were ripped and dirty.

We embraced him and he looked at us and said, “This gloom is intolerable. If you can smile and enjoy each other’s company, sit down with me. If not, go outside and scowl at the policemen.”

Then he led us in a song and we filled our glasses and he said, “Honor this food, honor each other, honor this world that is our home.”

Someone, I can’t remember who now, started crying and said, “But what will we do?”

B smiled in the candlelight and helped himself to the food and passed the dish to me, sitting at his left.

“What will we do?” He took a bite and answered, “We are already doing it.”



Ken Layne is the proprietor of Wonkette; Dignity is available for the Kindle.

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2011/05/an-excerpt-from-ken-laynes-dignity/feed 1 Less Stupid: Two for the Road http://www.theawl.com/2010/05/less-stupid-two-for-the-road http://www.theawl.com/2010/05/less-stupid-two-for-the-road#comments Fri, 21 May 2010 15:40:35 +0000 saythatscool http://www.theawl.com/2010/05/less-stupid-two-for-the-road IT'S AN AWL COMMENT?It seems like only yesterday when this website hit the 100,000 comment mark. Which it was. In recognition of that auspicious event, I asked if The Awl would consider regular posts where less stupid comments are highlighted for awl to enjoy.

Why? Because I love the comments and I love you. No, not you. YOU.

I love KarenUhOh's well-crafted one-offs. I love scroll_lock's puns. I love Matt's childish obsession with Green Lantern. I love Bad Uncle's 1970's gear head humor, Nic Fit's references to Michael Alig and Abe's mid-western independence. I love mathnet's conversations with herself and HiredGoons' lively retorts.

You just scanned that list for your name and didn't see it? Well, I love you too. And I am going to recognize your wonderful comments soon in exchange for a sexual favor, to be given to me here in Chicago.

Just so we are all clear, this will not be an award or a game show. There's no funny name and we are not giving away merit badges. What we will be doing is merely trying to offer the noble reader a chance to catch up on some stuff that's easy to miss at the end of the day and the end of the post. Also, I can absolutely guarantee you that I will miss some of your brilliance because I am slow, fairly incompetent and desperately illiterate.

But I also promise you that every day, if I am sober, an interesting comment and/or exchange will be chosen for your reading pleasure. Funny's always good but insight and edification is better. Also, I can't do this alone, so for the love of God, send me some recommendations. awlcomments@gmail.com.

So without further adieu, our let's do two!

Our first less stupid comment comes from old #262, kenlayne, who writes in "Limited Edition Denim" Officially Gets Out Of Hand:

"saw these awful things at the store yesterday. It's good to know our nation's unemployed single parents can start their little corn-syrup blobs on the early path of wearing shit-filled undergarments as clothing. And when they are, as TMZ says, All Grow'd Up, they can move up to these 'pajama jeans.' (That is a 'self link.' Oh please do not ban me, Metafilter.) When the Huggies come with a belly-button ring and neck/ass tattoos, America's work will be complete."

Jedi ramifications aside, Mr. Layne paints a picture with words worthy of a tattooed warbling Cyrus herself (Iron Maiden shirt optional).

Soon I gotta bolt for the Motor City this weekend to go sling some rock and enjoy a refreshing Vernors. So I am going to pack it in early and leave you this nugget from today's post, "Financial Reform Bill: Eh, Don't Worry About It!", by the incomparable #220, lawyergay.

I actually have a "job" (okay freelance gig) that requires me to stay on top of this financial reform trainwreck, and I can't read anything about it right now, either.

The "sausage making" metaphor that everyone invokes when talking about Congress and lawmaking doesn't really do this process justice, because when you make sausage, you shove everything into a meat grinder and something sautee-able and delicious comes out. Pretty straightforward!

This is more like 17 hobos making a collage out of macaroni and back issues of the National Review using safety scissors and airplane glue.

Oliver Wendell Holmes and/or John Curtis Holmes couldn't have said it better.

Have a safe weekend and remember to wear sunscreen. And don't forget to email me your suggestions if you see something you like: awlcomments@gmail.com.

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]]> IT'S AN AWL COMMENT?It seems like only yesterday when this website hit the 100,000 comment mark. Which it was. In recognition of that auspicious event, I asked if The Awl would consider regular posts where less stupid comments are highlighted for awl to enjoy.

Why? Because I love the comments and I love you. No, not you. YOU.

I love KarenUhOh's well-crafted one-offs. I love scroll_lock's puns. I love Matt's childish obsession with Green Lantern. I love Bad Uncle's 1970's gear head humor, Nic Fit's references to Michael Alig and Abe's mid-western independence. I love mathnet's conversations with herself and HiredGoons' lively retorts.

You just scanned that list for your name and didn't see it? Well, I love you too. And I am going to recognize your wonderful comments soon in exchange for a sexual favor, to be given to me here in Chicago.

Just so we are all clear, this will not be an award or a game show. There's no funny name and we are not giving away merit badges. What we will be doing is merely trying to offer the noble reader a chance to catch up on some stuff that's easy to miss at the end of the day and the end of the post. Also, I can absolutely guarantee you that I will miss some of your brilliance because I am slow, fairly incompetent and desperately illiterate.

But I also promise you that every day, if I am sober, an interesting comment and/or exchange will be chosen for your reading pleasure. Funny's always good but insight and edification is better. Also, I can't do this alone, so for the love of God, send me some recommendations. awlcomments@gmail.com.

So without further adieu, our let's do two!

Our first less stupid comment comes from old #262, kenlayne, who writes in "Limited Edition Denim" Officially Gets Out Of Hand:

"saw these awful things at the store yesterday. It's good to know our nation's unemployed single parents can start their little corn-syrup blobs on the early path of wearing shit-filled undergarments as clothing. And when they are, as TMZ says, All Grow'd Up, they can move up to these 'pajama jeans.' (That is a 'self link.' Oh please do not ban me, Metafilter.) When the Huggies come with a belly-button ring and neck/ass tattoos, America's work will be complete."

Jedi ramifications aside, Mr. Layne paints a picture with words worthy of a tattooed warbling Cyrus herself (Iron Maiden shirt optional).

Soon I gotta bolt for the Motor City this weekend to go sling some rock and enjoy a refreshing Vernors. So I am going to pack it in early and leave you this nugget from today's post, "Financial Reform Bill: Eh, Don't Worry About It!", by the incomparable #220, lawyergay.

I actually have a "job" (okay freelance gig) that requires me to stay on top of this financial reform trainwreck, and I can't read anything about it right now, either.

The "sausage making" metaphor that everyone invokes when talking about Congress and lawmaking doesn't really do this process justice, because when you make sausage, you shove everything into a meat grinder and something sautee-able and delicious comes out. Pretty straightforward!

This is more like 17 hobos making a collage out of macaroni and back issues of the National Review using safety scissors and airplane glue.

Oliver Wendell Holmes and/or John Curtis Holmes couldn't have said it better.

Have a safe weekend and remember to wear sunscreen. And don't forget to email me your suggestions if you see something you like: awlcomments@gmail.com.

---

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64 comments

]]> http://www.theawl.com/2010/05/less-stupid-two-for-the-road/feed 64 Not Only, But Also http://www.theawl.com/2010/03/not-only-but-also http://www.theawl.com/2010/03/not-only-but-also#comments Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:30:25 +0000 Alex Balk http://www.theawl.com/2010/03/not-only-but-also The meaning of life AND the making of Nick Denton's fortune, all in one handy advice column. Contains hobbitry.

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]]> The meaning of life AND the making of Nick Denton's fortune, all in one handy advice column. Contains hobbitry.

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2010/03/not-only-but-also/feed 7 The End of the 00s: Horrible Decade of Constant Terror Doesn't Officially End Until the World Does, In 2012, by Ken Layne http://www.theawl.com/2009/12/the-end-of-the-00s-horrible-decade-of-constant-terror-doesnt-officially-end-until-the-world-does-in-2012-by-ken-layne http://www.theawl.com/2009/12/the-end-of-the-00s-horrible-decade-of-constant-terror-doesnt-officially-end-until-the-world-does-in-2012-by-ken-layne#comments Tue, 29 Dec 2009 10:00:58 +0000 The End of the 00s http://www.theawl.com/2009/12/the-end-of-the-00s-horrible-decade-of-constant-terror-doesnt-officially-end-until-the-world-does-in-2012-by-ken-layne Here is the only known photograph of the entire decade.Y2K was the thing that was going to Destroy Earth when this dumb, nameless decade began. It's hard to remember the pre-Muslim threats, but this was a big one: All the planes were going to fall out of the sky, at midnight on January 1, 2000... based on the time zone they were flying over, I guess? It was never very clear, which is why it was such an effective End of the World scenario. Also, your teevees and ATMs would stop working. Because of those rotten computer programmers! Me? I was drunk in Madrid, which had not yet been blown up by Muslims, and also airfare was incredibly cheap because nobody wanted to fly around New Year's (because of Y2K), and flying was still "fun," as in, you just showed up at the airport maybe 20 minutes before your flight, drink in hand, shoes on your feet, laptop closed and actually left at home because what was WiFi, anyway?

ANTHRAX: Some people still remember 9/11 and the outrage caused by 1980s political rap group Public Enemy's dismissive song about the future, 9/11 Is A Joke, but did you know there was a second 9/11, also in September 2001, involving not Arabs flying planes but Arabs mailing poison to you? A bunch of people died, and well-off people with health insurance freaked out and bought this prescription drug called "Cipro," which maybe would help if you got the Anthrax, and entire U.S. Postal Service mail processing centers were shut down, and even our most important network news anchors (ha, remember them?) were at RISK. But it was actually just some psychopaths from Our Own Biological Weapons Labs having a bit of Joker-style fun at America's expense, ha! Nobody was ever arrested or anything, because WHOA AVIAN FLU!

AVIAN FLU, known by its Chinese name "SARS," was going to decimate the world's population — or worse, as "decimate" technically means, "take out every 10th person," which was the actual political strategy of the Roman Army motherfuckers, who punished mutiny by having each group of 10 soldiers partake in an early form of Iowa Straw Poll, and one of them got clubbed to death by his buddies. Anyway, during the Avian Flu Horror, everybody with health insurance got prescriptions for Tamiflu, which was invented by Donald Rumsfeld before he also invented SARS in his underground Pentagon laboratory, where he stood up torturing "SARS cats" all day.

HURRICANE KATRINA actually did kill thousands of people, but they were poor blacks so nobody really made a fuss, except for typical liberals.

ACTUAL 9/11 also killed a teeny tiny fraction of the people in a single (liberal) city, but it magically made the Entire Nation freak out to such an insane level that even Appalachian townships suddenly had "terrorism czars" to actually terrorize their own dim-witted citizenry, "just in case." Everybody was pretty much freaked out all the time for three or four years, until about half of the nation's voters woke up one day around January 2004 and said, collectively, "Hey wait a minute ...." Bush was re-elected anyway. Suckers! (Runner-up: Warbloggers!)

MEXICANS were supposed to pour over our porous border and do all kinds of nasty shit to Americans, such as a) speak Spanish, b) rape white women, c) take our janitorial and spinach-picking jobs and d) something about MEChA and/or Shakira. But then the economy collapsed and even Lou Dobbs couldn't be bothered to whine about Mexicans. Now he, too, is jobless.

SPINACH itself was the culprit in another nationwide freakout, over "washed spinach," because some of it had some poop on it. Nobody ate spinach, tomatoes and other vegetables ever again. But they did continue to enjoy the Baskin-Robbins Pig Bucket, a 72-ounce "ice cream shake" made of candy-bars, corn syrup and trans fat.

H1N1, commonly known as Mexican Pig AIDS, was going to kill off a third of the nation, Spanish-flu style, but seems to have faded out before doing too much damage, just like everything in the terrible 2000s.

The only real horror visited upon most Americans in this dumb decade was the Greatest Recession, still doing its special dark magic in the areas of employment, housing, social services, etc. This decade will one day be remembered by economists (in China) as the last period in American History when people had a reasonable expectation of employment and comfortable housing. Because it's pretty much a hilarious "mash up" of The Road and Idiocracy from here on out, and the soundtrack is a perpetual YouTube loop of Bob Dylan's "Must Be Santa" party polka, the end.



Somehow, Ken Layne owns Wonkette.

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]]> Here is the only known photograph of the entire decade.Y2K was the thing that was going to Destroy Earth when this dumb, nameless decade began. It's hard to remember the pre-Muslim threats, but this was a big one: All the planes were going to fall out of the sky, at midnight on January 1, 2000... based on the time zone they were flying over, I guess? It was never very clear, which is why it was such an effective End of the World scenario. Also, your teevees and ATMs would stop working. Because of those rotten computer programmers! Me? I was drunk in Madrid, which had not yet been blown up by Muslims, and also airfare was incredibly cheap because nobody wanted to fly around New Year's (because of Y2K), and flying was still "fun," as in, you just showed up at the airport maybe 20 minutes before your flight, drink in hand, shoes on your feet, laptop closed and actually left at home because what was WiFi, anyway?

ANTHRAX: Some people still remember 9/11 and the outrage caused by 1980s political rap group Public Enemy's dismissive song about the future, 9/11 Is A Joke, but did you know there was a second 9/11, also in September 2001, involving not Arabs flying planes but Arabs mailing poison to you? A bunch of people died, and well-off people with health insurance freaked out and bought this prescription drug called "Cipro," which maybe would help if you got the Anthrax, and entire U.S. Postal Service mail processing centers were shut down, and even our most important network news anchors (ha, remember them?) were at RISK. But it was actually just some psychopaths from Our Own Biological Weapons Labs having a bit of Joker-style fun at America's expense, ha! Nobody was ever arrested or anything, because WHOA AVIAN FLU!

AVIAN FLU, known by its Chinese name "SARS," was going to decimate the world's population — or worse, as "decimate" technically means, "take out every 10th person," which was the actual political strategy of the Roman Army motherfuckers, who punished mutiny by having each group of 10 soldiers partake in an early form of Iowa Straw Poll, and one of them got clubbed to death by his buddies. Anyway, during the Avian Flu Horror, everybody with health insurance got prescriptions for Tamiflu, which was invented by Donald Rumsfeld before he also invented SARS in his underground Pentagon laboratory, where he stood up torturing "SARS cats" all day.

HURRICANE KATRINA actually did kill thousands of people, but they were poor blacks so nobody really made a fuss, except for typical liberals.

ACTUAL 9/11 also killed a teeny tiny fraction of the people in a single (liberal) city, but it magically made the Entire Nation freak out to such an insane level that even Appalachian townships suddenly had "terrorism czars" to actually terrorize their own dim-witted citizenry, "just in case." Everybody was pretty much freaked out all the time for three or four years, until about half of the nation's voters woke up one day around January 2004 and said, collectively, "Hey wait a minute ...." Bush was re-elected anyway. Suckers! (Runner-up: Warbloggers!)

MEXICANS were supposed to pour over our porous border and do all kinds of nasty shit to Americans, such as a) speak Spanish, b) rape white women, c) take our janitorial and spinach-picking jobs and d) something about MEChA and/or Shakira. But then the economy collapsed and even Lou Dobbs couldn't be bothered to whine about Mexicans. Now he, too, is jobless.

SPINACH itself was the culprit in another nationwide freakout, over "washed spinach," because some of it had some poop on it. Nobody ate spinach, tomatoes and other vegetables ever again. But they did continue to enjoy the Baskin-Robbins Pig Bucket, a 72-ounce "ice cream shake" made of candy-bars, corn syrup and trans fat.

H1N1, commonly known as Mexican Pig AIDS, was going to kill off a third of the nation, Spanish-flu style, but seems to have faded out before doing too much damage, just like everything in the terrible 2000s.

The only real horror visited upon most Americans in this dumb decade was the Greatest Recession, still doing its special dark magic in the areas of employment, housing, social services, etc. This decade will one day be remembered by economists (in China) as the last period in American History when people had a reasonable expectation of employment and comfortable housing. Because it's pretty much a hilarious "mash up" of The Road and Idiocracy from here on out, and the soundtrack is a perpetual YouTube loop of Bob Dylan's "Must Be Santa" party polka, the end.



Somehow, Ken Layne owns Wonkette.

---

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2009/12/the-end-of-the-00s-horrible-decade-of-constant-terror-doesnt-officially-end-until-the-world-does-in-2012-by-ken-layne/feed 16 Talking Hats: The Awl & Wonkette's Promo Reel For Advertisers! http://www.theawl.com/2009/05/talking-hats-the-awl-wonkettes-promo-reel-for-advertisers http://www.theawl.com/2009/05/talking-hats-the-awl-wonkettes-promo-reel-for-advertisers#comments Fri, 08 May 2009 13:00:50 +0000 Choire Sicha http://www.theawl.com/2009/05/talking-hats-the-awl-wonkettes-promo-reel-for-advertisers This week, in our little Friday afternoon video chats, I wanted to ask Ken Layne of important politics site Wonkette a bit about the White House Correspondents Dinner, which is happening down in D.C. this weekend. That was exciting, if slightly terrifying, but! Then Ken showed me our new promo reel, that he made for advertisers for both our sites. Wow! This is going to bring in the big bucks, man! It's just like the one Gawker Media released this week. I think this will really knock your socks off. ARE YOU READY?

I CAN SEE THE INCOME FROM HERE!

Also please note you can see the flipside of the video on Wonkette. It's like the space-future!

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14 comments

]]> This week, in our little Friday afternoon video chats, I wanted to ask Ken Layne of important politics site Wonkette a bit about the White House Correspondents Dinner, which is happening down in D.C. this weekend. That was exciting, if slightly terrifying, but! Then Ken showed me our new promo reel, that he made for advertisers for both our sites. Wow! This is going to bring in the big bucks, man! It's just like the one Gawker Media released this week. I think this will really knock your socks off. ARE YOU READY?

I CAN SEE THE INCOME FROM HERE!

Also please note you can see the flipside of the video on Wonkette. It's like the space-future!

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14 comments

]]> http://www.theawl.com/2009/05/talking-hats-the-awl-wonkettes-promo-reel-for-advertisers/feed 14 Talking Hats: Wonkette's Ken Layne Explains Swine Flu And OMG THE TERORR SEND HEL-- http://www.theawl.com/2009/05/talking-hats-wonkettes-ken-layne-explains-swine-flu-and-omg-the-terorr-send-hel http://www.theawl.com/2009/05/talking-hats-wonkettes-ken-layne-explains-swine-flu-and-omg-the-terorr-send-hel#comments Fri, 01 May 2009 16:40:37 +0000 Choire Sicha http://www.theawl.com/2009/05/talking-hats-wonkettes-ken-layne-explains-swine-flu-and-omg-the-terorr-send-hel
In today's video with Ken Layne of Wonkette, I wanted to get him to explain the politics of swine flu. BUT I STUMBLED INTO A ZONE OF FLU TERROR.
Previously: Talking Hats One.

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In today's video with Ken Layne of Wonkette, I wanted to get him to explain the politics of swine flu. BUT I STUMBLED INTO A ZONE OF FLU TERROR.
Previously: Talking Hats One.

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2009/05/talking-hats-wonkettes-ken-layne-explains-swine-flu-and-omg-the-terorr-send-hel/feed 31 Talking Hats VIDEO BLOG: Ken Layne With Choire Sicha On Wonkette, Teabags, Traffic And The End Of The World http://www.theawl.com/2009/04/talking-hats-video-blog-ken-layne-with-choire-sicha-on-wonkette-teabags-traffic-and-the-end-of-the-world http://www.theawl.com/2009/04/talking-hats-video-blog-ken-layne-with-choire-sicha-on-wonkette-teabags-traffic-and-the-end-of-the-world#comments Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:30:38 +0000 Choire Sicha http://www.theawl.com/2009/04/talking-hats-video-blog-ken-layne-with-choire-sicha-on-wonkette-teabags-traffic-and-the-end-of-the-world

On behalf of all of us here at The Awl, I wanted to ask Ken Layne, proprietor of Wonkette, some questions about how to run a website, and also about the politics, which he supposedly knows about. And about how the world is flat, and how bad that last fake "Star Wars" movie was. Also the hobos in our neighborhood. So we did it on video! (PLEASE NOTE: It takes a second to buffer. PLEASE NOTE: Please don't be horrified by The Awl's offices. ALSO: I am an idiot.) Anyway, it's just like BLOGGING HEADS, but half as long and with slightly more cursing, and with more drinking and smoking. We like to call it: Talking Hats. (But we are open to suggestions.)

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On behalf of all of us here at The Awl, I wanted to ask Ken Layne, proprietor of Wonkette, some questions about how to run a website, and also about the politics, which he supposedly knows about. And about how the world is flat, and how bad that last fake "Star Wars" movie was. Also the hobos in our neighborhood. So we did it on video! (PLEASE NOTE: It takes a second to buffer. PLEASE NOTE: Please don't be horrified by The Awl's offices. ALSO: I am an idiot.) Anyway, it's just like BLOGGING HEADS, but half as long and with slightly more cursing, and with more drinking and smoking. We like to call it: Talking Hats. (But we are open to suggestions.)

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