Get Me Away From Here...

I'm not dying, but you get the idea.

What's this thing, Hating?

SLP RANDOMS from Don The Jewler on Vimeo.
I think this is the summer of 2005. Damian rips, Quan is there, Vang is there, Vanik Hacobian is there, alternate angles, sun, fun, Nesser filming, pushing, Jr. Mint (Not Jamiel, Bonnie), Sam. I've watched all 18 or whatever minutes twice now. Maybe I'll do it again today. Can't hate.

A Hater Profile: Global Climate Scam Dotcom

Was driving up 35E after a proper session in Mendota Heights, when I spied the billboard above. All I could do was look and point, my friend didn't even notice what I was doing, because he was looking at the same exact thing. WHOA. It's so ridiculous, in, almost, a rad way. Take some stock photo and just get awesome with it, I suppose. I made a point of peeping out the website once I got home, so, here it is, Global Climate Scam.

I'm not going to pretend that I read and re-read and am really ever going to read the whole site. From what I saw, in a departure from the alarmist billboard, the website is at least intelligently written, and it seems to be sourced. The author seems to be approaching this from the at least slightly more compelling Libertarian standpoint that somehow climate change legislation and whatnot will somehow upend our rights, as opposed to some Dick Cheney-ass evil-ass point of view (I of course am trying to do this all fair and balanced, but Dick Cheney is an evil-ass-motherfucker).

Anyways, I'm not one to take Al Gore's documentary hook line and sinker, just like I'm not going to assume that Michael Moore isn't coming from somewhere with an agenda. And the same thing holds true here. Somewhere, once the professional veneer of the blog is peeled away, there's an agenda, and even if this dude is mostly correct, which he, in my opinion, is not, it doesn't matter. The fact that the dude has billboards in the Twincities (it seems to be a local site) and the fact that he does get into a little bit of condesention (take the quiz and see what I mean) makes him another voice in this non-debate that is of no use to me.

Gimmicks Gimmicks Everywhere

Has the World gone gimmick crazy? Why is that I can't go anywhere with out hearing that Diablo Cody was a stripper. There is just so much wrong here. First of all she made money and gained notoriety for documenting her stripping adventures. Let us remember that many journalists also go under conver to do things and write about them. In fact, having experiences is what gives writers things to write about. Everyone keeps talking about how unbelievable her story is. What is unbelievable about it? That a woman from outside the "Hollywood" community can win an Academy Award? Cody (whose real name is Brook Busey) grew up in Illinois, she attended a Catholic school, and then went on to the University of Iowa where she earned a degree in media studies. Is this the unbelievable part? She began writing. It turned out she was good at it. Then she went on to win an Academy Award. Is it unbelievable that she can be such a good writer? because libraries and bookstores are all filled with things written by "good" writers. There are people out there who have a natural aptitude for writing....how is that unbelievable? It is Amazing that Juno was her first screenplay. It is amazing that her first screen play was so successful. But her success has to do with her talent not her back story. To say that her story is unbelievable is to disregaurd her talent and treat her as a novelty....an anomaly. Anyone who has ever taken an interest in reading, especially memoir, can see that the writers they are reading make up a strange cast of characters with all sorts of interesting back stories. Even "common" people with "everday" jobs have interesting back stories. Show me a person who doesn't have an interesting back story and all bet that there is a writer out there who can make it appear interesting.

Anyway, Congrates to Brook/Diablo for all her success and for making Minneapolis look like it breeds so many awesome people. Everyone loves a good rags to riches/ cinderalla story but I think that it's important to remember that in most situations success comes with a grip of talent and a shit load of hard work. I wish that the media would stop emphasising that she is a stripper....it takes away from how truly amazing her success is.