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20130318

Striptease

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How very Goyaesque.

I hear what you are saying, Robert, but no one else can—or wants to.

Or not enough people, in any case. And not the ones that matter. None of the decision-makers. And not enough of the decision-takers (those who have to take it, in the end, and wind up living with the decisions made for them by the ®deciders that they voted—or not—into office). It looks like people are jut swallowing it all, hook, line, and sinker. What else did you expect, when all the decision-makers, the representatives of the people, left or right, are practically all on the same page?

Regardless of how many Nobel prizes of economics Paul Krugman is awarded, it doesn't seem like anything of what he or you might be saying about this Orwellian dystopia is going to make one iota of a difference in the end.

And this is why:



In Striptease, a play by Polish dramatist and writer Sławomir Mrożek, two characters - one an intellectual, the other an activist - find themselves inside a room where a gigantic hand instructs them to remove their clothes until both act out an elaborate dance of rationalized submission.



I've often wondered if this is what it must be like to be a "New" Democrat.



Rationalized submission is basically what has been happening to dissent in this country, over the last two decades. Most of the people who were indignant under the presidency of George W. Bush, have now just simply become resigned under the presidency of Obama.

This is what happens when hope is no more.

Is this stage 4 of the Kübler-Ross model, or have we entered stage 5 already?

I wish I could say it is a local phenomenon. But things are just about the same—and worse—on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.



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20130311

Eye of the Beholder

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Am I the only one, here, who finds that TED Talks, as a medium, is a bit dated (in an anachronistic sort of a way), and out of synch with the current interactive digital information age.

A famous SNL sketch comes to mind:



I mean, I understand that no one is forcing anyone to be part of the audience, of course. One would have to submit an application first, and be accepted. So, there is always the off chance they'll reject you. One should be that lucky! But even if one were to have made the big expensive mistake (at $7,500 a ticket) to accept such an invitation; do not despair, there is always a way out (Don't count on getting your money back, though. Nor do expect to be invited again—ever! Even at $7,500 a pop.):



I don't know. If you asks me, the days of the lecturer standing pontificating on a stage or at a lectern—even for just 18 minutes (or maybe especially for just 18 minutes) or so—to a passive audience are numbered.

Snowcloning James Carville's famous slogan: "It's the medium, stupid."

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20130305

Girl Power

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That settles it, then...


   Via RJ Silver Books, via Amazon Whispernet.

I am just going to have to get meself one of these new toys...

Like a Nook or a Kindle.



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20130303

Truth in advertising

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At first glance, for a second or two, there, I just thought it was Anna Faris on that billboard.

It's an easy mistake to make...



She's such a really truly talented professional.

Anna Faris, I mean.

She makes me laugh. It’s no secret that humor is sexy. Who wants to be around anyone who is serious and stiff all the time, right?



Anyway, apparently that billboard didn't stay up very long.



Don't ask me why.

Somebody in Chicago who found it offensive, no doubt, must have made them take it down.

Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said he asked Urban Core Outdoor, the billboard company, to be a good neighbor and voluntarily take down the billboard.

Much ado about nothing, if you ask me.

A kiss is just a kiss.

And a billboard is a billboard is a billboard is....

...NOT a Bill board...



If you know what I mean.

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20121220

Until the End of the World

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When things don't turn out the way you hoped, it may seem like the end of the world.

And sometimes, it's the other way around—it may be somewhat of a downer when the end of the world doesn't turn out the way you had hoped.



I know how you feel.



12.21.12 has come and gone, and here we are—wherever or whatever here might be.

The world is still standing.

Don't feel too bad about it.

If you ask me, for a good end of the world scenario, anything that falls short of Lars von Trier' s Melancholia is bound to feel like a bit of a let down, anyway.

Take heart.

Here are some things you can do to keep disappointment from getting to you:



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