dear clusterflock
Spike Lee.
dear clusterflock
Favorite Daily Show correspondent.
this unique 18-minute genre has its own requirements
From a Wired article on how to ace a TED Talk:
“I’m surprised to see that half the people here know my career in some detail and the other half don’t know who I am,” he says.
Science is fine, but not when it messes with our illusions.
If she had included solar power and African child warriors, it would have been so perfect a TED talk that there would have been no need for others.
Wolfram wraps his talk by saying that when it comes to trying to boil down the universe to a simple algorithm, “it’s almost embarrassing not to at least try.”
“Just because someone has an ego,” he says, citing a writer whose name I can’t read from my scribbled notes, “doesn’t mean he’s wrong.”
Proportions and entitlement
For the last six months or so, I’ve had this guilty pleasure. It’s a blog called, Why There Are No Girls in San Francisco.* Here’s an example of the content:
SF females (a scattering of honeys from Serbia and Turkey aside) don’t aim for sexy in their dress or carriage. They aim for anti-Florida. They are reserved, borderline haughty in demeanor and fashion themselves in one of three looks: the always vogue “I run Iron-Mans” guy-girl look, the cluttered Hipster, or the famous and very popular “SF black”, where you cover up every square inch of your body but are still fabulous because the fabric is black and black is daring and sexy, right? Not right. Boobs are sexy. Legs are sexy. Black is just a color. Black is what Batman wears so he can be stealthy. When Bruce Wayne wants to impress the ladies he wears a tank top.
Today I read a story in the New York Times about the shortage of men on college campuses, and how it’s affecting more than just the admissions offices:
“Women do not want to get left out in the cold, so they are competing for men on men’s terms. This results in more casual hook-up encounters that do not end up leading to more serious romantic relationships. Since college women say they generally want ’something more’ than just a casual hook-up, women end up losing out.”
W. Keith Campbell, a psychology professor at the University of Georgia, which is 57 percent female, put it this way: “When men have the social power, they create a man’s ideal of relationships,” he said. Translation: more partners, more sex.
The pseudonymous author of WTANGISF probably attended one of these disproportionately female universities and now strugges with the reality of living in a disproportionately male city, but I wonder if both situations are just a symptom of Love in the Time of Darwinism:
Women can take a Chinese-menu approach to gender roles. They can be all “Let me pay for the movie tickets” on Friday night and “A single rose? That’s it?” on Valentine’s Day. This isn’t equality, say the male-contents; it’s a ratification of female privilege and, worse, caprice. “Women seemingly have decided that they want it all (and deserve it, too),” Kevin from Ann Arbor writes. “They want to compete equally, and have the privileges of their mother’s generation. They want the executive position, AND the ability to stay home with children and come back into the workplace at or beyond the position at which they left. They want the bad boy and the metrosexual.”
What’s your take? How do you navigate the modern labyrinth of gender roles better known as sex, dating, and marriage?
* I should mention that I am a girl. And I live in San Francisco.
Dear clusterflock
Two questions, separated by your ability to answer each:
1. Do you have a beard? Why or why not?
2. Are beards sexually attractive? Why or why not?
Inglorious Basterds
We finally watched Inglorious Basterds last night, and after two or three moments I thought the movie might ultimately break or fizzle or go kaput, by the end I felt I had seen something really good. Have enough people watched yet to have a discussion?
wtf
We lose nothing by having closed systems
There is a complaint running around that the iPad is a closed system, that people aren’t free to customize it, that it’s not opened up so that we can all poke around inside it. Complaints are that the iPad is killing off an idea of computing that’s open and free for all.
To which I say: Good! Does anybody remember what using a computer is like? I spent a week after reinstalling my operating system picking out the right tweaks and gizmos and gadgets to make things more manageable. Weblogs exist that do nothing but teach you how you can make your experience on a computer less shitty. On a closed system, you can’t do that. You work with what you’ve got. Even if what you have is suboptimal — and guys? We live in the future; suboptimal for us is leagues beyond what the poor savages of 2008 had — when you’re using a device, you have to use it do do something, not just to fuck around.
Some of the biggest complaints come from programmers that say the closed system means people won’t be able to satisfy their computer curiosities. To which I again say: Good! Then they’ll have to satisfy their curiosities about emotional maturity and social interaction and possibly even thinking about making the world a better place.
I like this guy. Never heard of him until this but I can’t wait to dig through his archives, Amanda Mae-style.
Acting!
Philip Seymour Hoffman is often mentioned as the best actor of his generation. I’m beginning to think Maggie Gyllenhaal is the best actor of whatever generation she belongs to. Discuss.
fyi
from the dissent
While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.
the first legal male prostitute
I think for a male, if you want to be successful in this type of venture, you’re not a prostitute. You’re a surrogate lover. You encompass everything that’s required of you—not only emotionally, physically—but psychologically. Because women are wired differently. They’re much more sensitive creatures. You actually have to enjoy what you do. You can’t necessarily say, “Oh, it’s just a job.” You actually have to say it’s a passion. I think it’s the same situation as with anything that happens when you break apart a social institution. There has to be some kind of change in terminology to describe persons like myself. And it’s more of a civil rights thing now. Basically this is the first time in the economy of the United States that a male has actually stood up and said, “I want to do this for a living.” And be protected under law to do it. It’s just the same as when Rosa Parks decided to sit at the front instead of the back. She was proclaiming her rights as a disadvantaged, African-American older woman. And I’m doing the same. I’m actually standing up now, and hopefully I can be supported by the male community and be understood as a person. This actually isn’t about selling my body. This is about changing social norms.
Congratulations.
(via marginal revolution)
dear clusterflock
How was your weekend?
Clustersource
Without thinking, comment: What’s the first thing you think when you see…
VC?
bubbles and fog
The machine puts out lots of bubbles. The kids absolutely loved it. One word of caution. Be very careful if used indoors. There are so many bubbles a hard floor becomes very slick very fast. We had children falling left and right. Overall great product.
Decent product. Heats up quite a lot when turned on. I have installed this inside my mini-van (it is powered by an inverter,) still there is not enough density in the fog generated even in such a small space. also the fog has this slight burnt odor. I am hoping the odor will subside in time. The unit needs a good 5 min to heat up before use. Subsequent uses are much quicker once element inside is hot. Would i recommend it? If your on a budget then yes sure, else find a slightly larger unit.
I have had two WalMart fog machines. They both worked reasonably well, for the price, but neither machine lasted longer than two years. I used them at home, not commercially. I was tired of dealing with the WM machines and did research on machines built by companies that specailze in fog machines for commercial use. This one fit for me. It was priced just slightly higher than the retail store machines shipping was free! It arived in about a week and it kicks but in the fog department. Puts out plenty of fog, is very quiet and the fog juice tank even lights up. I used it a few times over the last few weeks and I really like it. I had no problem totally filling my whole living room up with fog so thick I literally could not see through it. Good customer support from Chauvet as I called with a few questions. So we will see how long this one lasts but if you want an economical fog machine at a reasonable price this is a good one to look into.
Avatar
Was awesome, y’all.
Happy Christmas, Clusterflock!
I’m snowed in from this terrible blizzard. Hmm..should I drink wine or Sam Adams this Christmas Eve?
the decade from hell
According to the poll, a combined 58% said the decade was either “awful” or “not so good,” 29% said it was fair, and just 12% said it was either “good” or “great.”
It’s as if I wrote it myself
Mouth-frothing for Malcolm Gladwell is at near-fever pitch this year. I’m not saying the guy doesn’t make an interesting argument for how success is nurtured (or can’t be nurtured . . . or whatever the theory of “Outliers” is), but can we get some love for author and McSweeney’s publisher Dave Eggers? Firstly, the guy is seriously committed to educational reform — setting up his 826 tutoring centers in cities across the country. More importantly, perhaps, he’s putting out some of the most compelling contemporary writing on victims of injustice (both domestically and internationally) through titles like “What Is the What,” “Zeitoun” and his “Voice of Witness” oral history series. But beyond being worthy endeavors, they’re actually really good stories.
From The Top 10 Unsung Global Thinkers.
Americans prefer white
International and North American car color preferences.
Cast y’all’s votes, y’all.
Should I be the next Oprah?
A murderer is a murderer.
Rosie Rojas, from Fulton, serves up a coffee refill to Dave, left, and Kay Lawton of Thomson, at the Sunrise Restaurant in Thomson. The restaurant adjoins a motel only a few hundred yards from the exterior wall of the Thomson Correctional Center. (Lane Christiansen/Chicago Tribune)
“I don’t want (enemy combatants) walking the street, so they have to go some place,” said [Gary] Harris, 64. “Might as well come here.”
“A murderer is a murderer no matter where he’s from,” [Thomson Village President Jerry "Duke"] Hebeler said. “That’s the way I look at it.”
My neighbors down the road apiece discuss news that the federal government seems interested in transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the Thomson [Illinois] Correctional Center.
Icy Failure
A product review for Ben and Jerry’s Pumpkin Cheesecake took a delightful turn.
Of course nothing can compare to Ben & Jerry’s raspberry brownie shit, which is the best ice cream I’ve ever had. I always imagine the CEO of Breyer’s or Edy’s taking it home in a brown paper sack, eating it furtively in his home office, and wanting to kill himself right on the spot because he knows he could never, ever, not in 2,000 years, make an ice cream as good as that.
(Edy’s is known as Dreyer’s out here on the Best West Coast.)
all the single babies
Like some rogue Baby Einstein offering, the black-and-white “Single Ladies” video provides visual and aural stimulation well suited for the under-2 crowd. Babies love high-contrast colors, steady beats and smiling women’s faces. “Single Ladies” has all of these things. It’s almost as if Beyoncé designed it for children.
There’s always gotta be the asshole.
“What putting babies in front of this video does is deprive them of hands-on creative play, which is the foundation of learning,” says Dr. Susan Linn, director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and author of The Case for Make Believe. “Babies aren’t asking to be put in front of these videos. They’re not congregating in front of the watercooler to talk about Beyoncé. They don’t get anything from the video that they couldn’t gain from parents who play music around the house.”
from the moderated comments
hi
you are forgeting two main points here
1-verginity is not that important, but rather the commitment, you have sex with a person becuase you love him/ her, or you need sex, not money,
2-do you really want to have you first memory of sex and love cheeply, feeling like a prostitute for the rest of your life.