Post-Modern Capitalism: Deconstruct This

* fragmentation of narratives
* the individual's ability to be the artist of his own life

In “The Long Tail”, an analysis of the impact of the internet on the music industry, with wider ramifications, Chris Anderson describes the “shattering of the mainstream into a zillion different cultural shards”. The post-modern “fragment” becomes a “niche” and the mass market is “turning into a mass of niches”. “When mass culture breaks apart,” he writes, “it doesn't re-form into a different mass. Instead, it turns into millions of microcultures which coexist and interact in a baffling array of ways.”

blogs, podcasts, youtube, myspace, etc.

Forgetting Yourself in Function

A happy state arises most often in work that stretches a person without defeating him; work that provides clear goals, unambiguous feedback, and a sense of control.

Status Anxiety

Vervet monkeys at the top of their social tree enjoy more mates and bananas as a result, but they also exult in their position for its own sake.

Meal of the weekend

sausage, eggs, grilled peppers, spinach, onion, cheese, and cornbread covered with hollandaise sauce

Horny Manatee

The Conan O'Brien skit called "New College Mascots" featured a character called the "FSU Webcam Manatee". The manatee was rubbing itself while music played in the background: when I think about you I touch myself. Conan then mentioned a fictitious website: "HornyManatee.com". After the show, the standards department for Late Night explained to Conan that if he mentions a web site that doesn't exist, NBC is legally bound to buy the domain name. Late Night then created the website, giving it the appearance of a fake porn site. The website was introduced on the next show, and Conan asked viewers to submit pictures. A week or so later, the site has received 4.5 million hits and many images, poems, flash games and other media submitted by fans. Check out the Fan Art.

Tom Waits - Road to Peace

I just heard this on 89.3, The Current:

Young Abdel Mahdi (Shahmay) was only 18 years old,
He was the youngest of nine children, never spent a night away from home.
And his mother held his photograph, opening the New York Times
To see the killing has intensified along the road to peace

There was a tall, thin boy with a whispy moustache disguised as an orthodox Jew
On a crowded bus in Jerusalem, some had survived World War Two
And the thunderous explosion blew out windows 200 yards away
With more retribution and seventeen dead along the road to peace

Now at King George Ave and Jaffa Road passengers boarded bus 14a
In the aisle next to the driver Abdel Mahdi (Shahmay)
And the last thing that he said on earth is "God is great and God is good"
And he blew them all to kingdom come upon the road to peace

Now in response to this another kiss of death was visited upon
Yasser Taha, Israel says is an Hamas senior militant
And Israel sent four choppers in, flames engulfed, tears wide open
And it killed his wife and his three year old child leaving only blackened skeletons

It's found his toddlers bottle and a pair of small shoes and they waved them in front of the cameras
But Israel says they did not know that his wife and child were in the car
There are roadblocks everywhere and only suffering on TV
Neither side will ever give up their smallest right along the road to peace

Israel launched it's latest campaign against Hamas on Tuesday
Two days later Hamas shot back and killed five Israeli soldiers
So thousands dead and wounded on both sides most of them middle eastern civilians
They fill the children full of hate to fight an old man's war and die upon the road to peace

"And this is our land we will fight with all our force" say the Palastinians and the Jews
Each side will cut off the hand of anyone who tries to stop the resistance
If the right eye offends thee then you must pluck it out
And Mahmoud Abbas said Sharon had been lost out along the road to peace

Once Kissinger said "we have no friends, America only has interests"
Now our president wants to be seen as a hero and he's hungry for re-election
But Bush is reluctant to risk his future in the fear of his political failures
So he plays chess at his desk and poses for the press 10,000 miles from the road to peace

In the video that they found at the home of Abdel Mahdi (Shahmay)
He held a Kalashnikov rifle and he spoke with a voice like a boy
He was an excellent student, he studied so hard, it was as if he had a future
He told his mother that he had a test that day out along the road to peace

The fundamentalist killing on both sides is standing in the path of peace
But tell me why are we arming the Israeli army with guns and tanks and bullets?
And if God is great and God is good why can't he change the hearts of men?
Well maybe God himself is lost and needs help
Maybe God himself he needs all of our help
Maybe God himself is lost and needs help
He's out upon the road to peace

Well maybe God himself is lost and needs help
Maybe God himself he needs all of our help
And he's lost upon the road to peace
And he's lost upon the road to peace
Out upon the road to peace.

Oenophile?

I have 6 gallons of Italian Pinot Grigio undergoing primary fermentation in the basement. To begin the process I mixed bentonite and hot water. Then I poured in the juice and topped the fermenter up to 6 gallons. The specific gravity was 1.075 at this point. Finally, I sprinkled the yeast on the surface of the solution. As of Sunday the SG was 1.024; it must be 1.010 or less for me to transfer the juice to my carboy for secondary fermentation. When the specific gravity is 0.996 or less, I will add metabisulphite, sorbate, and isinglass. After a couple weeks, the wine will clarify and be ready for bottling -- 30 x 750ml bottles.

hear hear

I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive. I am not young and I love life. But I should scorn to shiver with terror at the thought of annihilation. Happiness is nonetheless true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting. Many a man has borne himself proudly on the scaffold; surely the same pride should teach us to think truly about man's place in the world. Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cosy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigour, and the great spaces have a splendour of their own.

-Bertrand Russel, What I Believe

Summary

Time does not respond to my entreaties, so there is no time for details.

Mason Jennings concert
Herkimer - Red Fly Marzen
Good times with Ziyad & Jenny, Jose, and neighbors
My first all-grain brew
Bought a wine kit that makes 30 x 750ml
Borat
Chocolate and wine tasting at International Market Square with the Klinkers
Beer extravaganza at John & Jo's at 11:11 on 11/11

List of Beers:
Ichabod Pumpkin Ale
Archadia IPA
Stella Artois
Big Sky Crystal Ale
Anchor Steam Liberty Ale
Pyramid Thunderhead IPA
James Page Burly Brown Ale
Summit Great Northern Porter
Bell's Stout? The head was brown!
I'm forgetting one.

In other news Paul, Tim, and I have formed a denomination that meets every Sunday morning.

Marye and I leave for Nebraska after work today. We will stay the night with the Ritz house in Ames, progress to the Living History Farm race, continue to Omaha, and finish our journey in Hastings, Nebraska, where we will consume mass quantities of food.

Halloween with Conan O'Brien

I watched Conan on October 31. The sound was a rerun of a previous show but the people were replaced with skeleton marionettes. Brilliant.

In the year two thousand...

In an effort to eliminate the middleman, White Castle will start grinding up meat and spraying it directly onto the inside of toilets.

Cut Chemist

On Wednesday night 89.3 The Current played 30 minutes of uninterrupted fresh beats from guest DJ Cut Chemist, who has a new CD called The Audience's Listening.

Butt Sex

The Rev. Ted Haggard, the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals and one of the nation’s most influential Christian leaders, has conceded that some of the accusations that led him to resign are true, a church official said today.

What are the allegations?

A former male prostitute in Denver said in television and radio interviews that he had had a three-year sexual relationship with Mr. Haggard.

Mr. Haggard, who is married and has five children, had initially denied the accusation, saying in a television interview: “I am steady with my wife. I’m faithful to my wife.”

He also said he had never met the man making the accusation.

The evangelical association states on its Web site that homosexual sex is condemned by Scripture, and Mr. Haggard has advocated passage of an amendment to the United States Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

Macalester Is Wonderful

Friday evening we attended the Macalester men's football match versus the Hamline Pipers. It was the first time I had seen the new artificial turf. That's right, no more grass.

Final Score
Macalester 3 - Hamline 2

"The mighty hoof of Dark Goat descended from the skies and answered our prayers. And there was much rejoicing." --Andrew "Grimace" Virden ('96), Leader of Mac Soccer Superfan Society

Grimace was at the match, inspiring future generations of superfans.

I heard few new cheers. Here are two of them:

Macalester's the besticle.
Punch them in the testicle.

Yo baby, yo baby, yo baby, yo
you gots to be a Scot or you gots to go

Here are some other good ones:

give me an S
S
give me an ampersand
ampersand
give me an M
M
what's that spell
domination

who ate all the pie
that fat bastard, that fat bastard, he ate all the pie

And of course the classic:

drink blood
smoke crack
worship satan
go mac

The fans count down to 4:20 on the scoreboard clock, which then shows graphics of balloons and streamers.

Notables in attendence...

Mr. Furious and Mrs. Happy
Tim
Paul
Derek and Kat
Ian Ritz (who imposed on the silent cheer by talking informatively about the transportation amendment)

After the game, we progressed to the Groveland Tap, where we enjoyed Summit Winter Ales. After leaving the bar, I was tempted to look in the dumpster at SuperAmerica. I didn't see any donuts but I did see a few cookies. I ripped open the garbage bag and procured an M&M cookie. Somewhere along the thought process, I decided the cookie was a frisbee and I threw it at Tim. I didn't intend to strike him directly below his left eye; however, several winter ales apparently do not tolerate inaccuracy. Sorry Tim. Hopefully you can remove the eyepatch soon. Kids, don't operate heavy machinery or throw cookies if you are under the influence of a few beers.

Macalester's the Besticle

Preview.

Last week I attended the North American Hazardous Materials Management Association (NAHMMA) conference. On Friday night we watched the Scotsmen on the pitch against the Hamline Pipers. Afterwards, we visited the Groveland Tap. On Saturday we cheered on the Scots cross country teams at the MIAC championships. Then we went to the Pavlish pad where we had fun fun fun times. On Sunday we played frisbee golf at Acorn.

Beer and Kung-Fu

Here's a look at some of the beers I've drank recently.

Days ago villager Tim Pavlish, Jose, Marye, and I went to the Muddy Pig to enjoy their selection of beer.

-Rush River Lost Arrow Porter
-Young's Double Chocolate Stout (a sip of Jose's beer)
-HeBrew Genesis 10:10 (10 malts, 10 hops, craziness)
-Summit Oktoberfest

Yesterday, coworker John, Marye, and I went to Barley John's Brew Pub.

First Beer
-Dark Knight Returns (stored in a second usage bourbon barrel - yeah baby)

Sampler Quaffed While Ruminating an Angus Beef Burger
-Little Barley Bitter
-Stockyard IPA
-Oktoberfest
-Wild Brunette
-Old Eight Porter

This is good beer. Wow.

Then we joined Liz and Paul at the Walker Art Center where we watched the kung-fu movie My Young Auntie for free. Yes.

Ames Pilgrammage

On October 7 the Klinkers and the Knudsons traveled south to Ames, Iowa, for the Huskers-Cyclones football game at 7pm. It was a beautiful day for football: the high temperature reached eighty, the landscape was variegated and dry, harvest was nigh and so was a Big Red victory.

We checked into the hotel, joining the other Husker faithful who lit up the no vacancy signs in Ames and the surrounding communities. After applying our Huskers tattoos, we fueled up at La Fuente Mexican Restaurant. I walked away a bigger man.

This year was much different than years past:
-there were females present in our group
-conversation was not characterized by coarse indecent humor
-we did not consume copious amounts of beer and spirits
-I did not showcase my moves on the dance floor
-we did not initiate any fights (you have a nice face)
-Klinker did not poke a police officer in the belly
-we were not boisterous and disorderly
-we were not in danger of fighting several frat boys
-there was no homoerotic brinkmanship
-we were not hostile to people who hate freedom
-we did not unwittingly hitch a ride with drunken racists
-we were not extremely hungover

However, I did manage to publicly urinate and Klinker almost fought with the Huskers #1 Fan.

We parked the car and walked through the haze of a massive tailgate party to Jack Trice Stadium. RVs and old school buses dominated the scene. Many ISU fans were wearing golden shirts that said: "The Golden Rule: Beat Nebraska." Righteous, drunk, midwestern college girls walked around in jean skirts so short their piety showed when they bent over. Drunk, overweight fans attempted to take a short cut to the stadium by jumping over a small creek. Shoes were lost.

The 7pm game time led to superb attendance: 55,000+ spilling from the stands onto the grassy hillsides where we stood with many Big Red fans. Several fanatics decided face paint was not enough, the whole body must be painted... link a corn cob. Shuck the Cyclones. The 7pm game time also means people have had the chance to drink for several hours. Some drink more than others. One of those people was standing behind Klinker. The man was sloppy. Klinker asked him if he was okay, did he need a bucket. The man took umbrage. "What did you say! I'm feeling great. Don't you know who I am? I'm Nebraska's #1 fan. I love the Huskers. You don't know me." I took a picture of Nebraska's #1 Fan shortly after this incident.

He remained like this from early in the first quarter until the end of the game, sleeping it off on the hillside. This man will be in more pictures than he will ever know. People were laying down next to him, mocking his state of drunkeness. One guy even spooned with him. Nice. We also saw a fight by the port-a-pots. Apparently there was disagreement about who had to piss worse. Differences were reconciled and those bitches hugged it out.




Final score: Huskers 28 - Cyclones 14. The game was tense, a good victory. We celebrated briefly by eating a gyro and drinking a couple beers.

And now for the anticlimax...
The next morning we ate at the continental breakfast offered by the hotel. I saw an eight-year-old kid come back to his table with at least a dozen sausage links. That really made me laugh.

So there you have it, a vignette of our pilgrammage.















Until fall 2008.

New Web Site

I have great difficulty posting with regularity. The reason is simple: work is a little too busy and at home I become immersed in other pursuits. One of those pursuits involved the creation of a website: www.maryeandben.com. The site includes a photo gallery and a blog.

63 Mac Update

I talked to Kofi the other day.

Here's the word:

As you may have known, Kofi was contemplating a internal job offer in Toronto. But the Big Dirty will be staying in Chicago and switching from the Kellogg's account to the Coca-Cola account. In addition to the work at Leo Burnett, Kofi is taking two night classes a week at Northwestern University.

TCM Narrative

Kevin was up first. I joined him when the alarm woke me at 6am. I called Tim to make sure he was awake - buddy system. Tim and Paul met at our house shortly before 7am, the designated departure time. Marye drove us to the Metrodome, where the search for a shitter with a short line commenced. Paul and I were lucky enough to have closed our major business deals at home earlier. However, Kevin and Tim were still haggling for closure, which eventually came in the women's bathroom.

Then we successfully entered into the Wave 1 chute. Tim and I were not qualified to start in Wave 1 because we did not have a recent qualifying marathon or half-marathon time. So, I stole Kevin's number and made two color copies at Kinko's. Welcome to Wave 1.

Kevin was aiming for 2:50 and the remaining three of us were hoping for 2:59:59, which is 6:52 per mile pace. Kevin hammered out a good run, steady and then strong at the end. We (Tim, Paul, and I) crossed the first mile marker when my watch read 7:07, at which point Tim freaked out like a spooked gazelle because we were behind our desired 6:52 pace. That explains the 6:18 second mile. Thanksfully we hit 6:52 on the nuts for mile three. After that, we cruised and enjoyed the spectators. We (Tim and I) eased into a faster pace after rounding Nokomis and put together a string of quicker miles. At mile 20 Tim told me that he was going to relax the pace in anticipation of the approaching climb. I decided to continue the current pace because I was afraid my body would react to the slowed pace by voting for additional slowing of the pace, and so on. Of course, quadriceps fatigue made its presence known on Summit. I noticed that my left and right quads do not fatigue in a similar manner; because of my running form, there is asymmetrical fatigue, which amused me for a few minutes. When you are traveling at the speed of fatigue, time and distance dilate. Summit is a long stretch. As I ran by the cathedral I saw motivation ahead: Kurt Goetzke. Seriously. What a great ending. The Mac Alumni Team gathered in the finish area, exchanging congratulations. Tim was a hurting unit. Kevin was enjoying the final moments before his intestines turned into bowels of evil, prostrating him for the remainder of the day. The rest of us sat and dined.

Will any of us ever run another marathon? Yes. We plan on running with Jude in 2009.

The week following the marathon is known as fat week, and thusfar it has been a pleasure.

Feast/Feest

Here is a list of things I remember ingurgitating after the big run:

bananas
yogurt
granola bar
many pancakes
2 x (english muffin + cheddar cheese + sausage patty + egg)
sausage links
fruit salad
donuts and pastries
bean dip and chips
3 beers
1 coke
rootbeer float
pizza