Deadman's picture

    'Yes, everything you see on this show is for sale'

    Originally published on Aug. 2, 2008

    Truman Burbank is agitated. The main character from the movie The Truman Show is increasingly suspicious that something's terribly amiss in his made-for-TV world, and his 'wife' tries to calm him down with a cup of 'mococa.'

    "All natural," she tells him, holding the package of cocoa up to one of the millions of hidden cameras filming Truman's life without his knowledge. "Cocoa beans from the upper slopes of Mount Nicaragua ... I've tasted other cocoas. This is the best."

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    Deadman's picture

    One woman's trash ...

    So my girlfriend is moving in with me at the end of the week (oh yeah, I'm feeling a whole lot of 'YAY!' and just a little bit of '(gulp)'), and I was at her apartment yesterday waiting for a couple of guys from the Housing Works charity organization. They were going to pick up some furniture that she needed to get rid of and couldn't manage to sell.

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    Deadman's picture

    Ageism may just be the -ism that matters most this election ...

    Many of my liberal friends and family (and since this is New York City, that means basically everyone I know) believe there is no way Barack Obama will win the presidency this fall. Partly, they feel conservatives will at the last minute find or fabricate some scandal that torpedoes Obama's campaign (tho I can't imagine how to top Reverend Wright), but mainly they are convinced that America is just not ready to elect a black man to the top office in the land.

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    Deadman's picture

    Hating hypocrisy

    I can't stand hypocrites. (Of course, I'm pretty sure I have some hypocritical beliefs, and I can stand myself, so I guess that makes me a hypocrite twice over).

    But seriously, a little consistency when it comes to opinions is all I ask for.  Unfortunately, hypocrisy is everywhere. So before numbness to its existence permanently sets in, I wanted to express my outrage at two examples of hypocrisy that strike me as particularly galling.

    1) Pro-choice folks who believe prostitution should be illegal (usually feminists).

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    Deadman's picture

    Pessimism doesn't pay ...

    My dad is an eternal optimist, one of those turn-lemons-into-lemonade people. And yeah, it sometimes annoys the living shit out of me.

    I am, after all, an in-the-long-run-we're-all-dead type of guy, a devout half-empty man (I'd call myself an eternal pessimist, but I don't believe anything lasts forever :) )

    Michael Wolraich's picture

    McCain Ups the Ante

    Two month ago, John McCain challenged Barack Obama to visit Iraq, expecting him to decline, but Obama called the bluff. He saw McCain's Iraq and raised him Afghanistan, Israel, and three European nations. Never one to fold easily, McCain raised Obama right back.

    Deadman's picture

    Bubbling black - revisited ...

    Time for a short self-congratulatory post (For if I don't do it, who will?).

    Right before the Fourth of July, I wrote that the price of oil was a bubble waiting to be pricked and nearing a short-term top. In the past three weeks, the price of oil has fallen by about $20 bucks a barrel, or almost 15 percent, a huge move by any standard. In terms of daily closing prices, July 3rd ended up being the exact top.

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    Deadman's picture

    If Obama was an alien, that would explain a lot ...

    So last Tuesday Larry King interviews Barack Obama and then three days later, he does a show debating the existence of UFOs. It's fucking nutty. (King, who i just found out has done these shows for years, apparently wants to be the first broadcaster to interview an alien).

    Deadman's picture

    Positively posthumous ...

    My mom's mom was far from the best person in the world (This is not the grandmother I discussed a couple weeks ago). She held grudges and often spoke ill of others, including family. She was racist. She belittled and insulted my grandfather, only becoming the dutiful, loving wife after he had a massive stroke and lacked the capacity to resist her will.

    Deadman's picture

    The producing class ...

    So as I see it, in this world, you are either a producer or a consumer.

    Obviously, everyone does both to a certain extent, just as everyone is probably a little gay, but in the end, you lean mostly one way or the other. You're either adding to society or taking from it (and having children doesn't count cuz you're just as likely to raise a bunch of consuming monsters as you are the next Leonardo da Vinci).

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    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Save the Ha Ha

    I stood by him when he defended his racist minister and threw his dear grandmother under the you-know-what. I dismissed his terrorist connections and shady real estate deals. I defended his FISA cave and his faith-based whatevers. I even excused his bowling. But I have just learned that Barack Obama is anti-humor, and as I am a lifelong member of humoritarian wing of the Democratic party, I have no alternative but to offer my vote to someone else this November.

    Deadman's picture

    Ah, perfection: It comes with a price ...

    So the other day I was talking to a softball teammate who's about to get married, and we were discussing why more and more people in their 30s and 40s - at least in New York - seem okay with the prospect of staying single. I know that many of these older bachelors and bachelorettes want children and I'd have to think that few of them relish the prospect of aging without a constant, dependable companion and lover. Yet they can't seem to find the one worth taking the ultimate plunge.

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    Deadman's picture

    You can't force compassionate capitalism (or 'My BuschInBev is fine. How's your pikken?') ...

    As a native St. Louisan who always feels some sort of odd civic pride whenever those clever beer commercials end with a dude intoning 'Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis, Missouri,' I know I'm supposed to be upset about the recent acquisition by Belgium-based InBev. Yet I can't muster any passion over the loss of the historic brewer and one of my hometown's few remaining independent corporate behemoths (TWA, McDonnell Douglass, Ralston Purina all bit the dust long ago).

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    Deadman's picture

    Fireflies and Mondays ...

    Ah, Mondays. Always such an unpleasant beast, a day only meant for enduring and muddling through in the best of circumstances, but sometimes gearing up for the workweek feels particularly difficult. I've just finished a relaxing weekend and I'm struggling to find my motivation mojo right now.

    My weekend was enjoyably capped yesterday by my adorable three-year-old cousin's birthday party, followed by a few fun sets of tennis with my brother, all done under perfect midsummer weather and in a Riverdale park that brought back memories of my Midwestern suburban upbringing.

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    Deadman's picture

    A few of my favorite things ...

    So the IPhone is out today and I'm itching to get my hands on one (even though I'd rather stay with T-Mobile, which has awesome customer service, especially when compared to my nightmarish memories of AT&T Wireless). I'm going to wait a bit to get the phone to try and avoid some of the launch madness, but the device certainly has strong potential to end the year as my favorite thing of 2008. In the meantime, I decided to share some of the stuff I'm really enjoying right now, as well as some of the things that are on my nerves.

    THINGS I'M LOVING

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    Deadman's picture

    Linkgasmic ...

    The Internet is making us lazy, shortening our attention span, dulling our senses.

    We still read, but our eyes glaze over anything more than a couple of paragraphs (140 words or less please).

    We still listen to music, but now download a single onto our IPod one day and forget about it the next (how quaint the concept album now seems).

    We still have friends, but now often substitute brief, vacuous messages or a 'Second Life' for physical contact and real intimacy.

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    Deadman's picture

    Fade, Fade With the Dying of the Light ...

    (Continued from Part 1)

    ... I told my dad after my grandmother died that I believe we will one day in the not-too-distant future view the way we currently handle death and dying as barbaric. Tip-toeing around the subject - by removing machines or using copious amounts of morphine as a way to hasten death - seemed quite silly to me when the issue was as important as watching a loved one suffer unnecessarily.

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    Deadman's picture

    Go Gentle Into That Good Night ...

    95-plus years old, maybe 58 inches tall, maybe 80 pounds big. A colon that had stopped working. A silenced voice that could no longer tell her gathered family she loved them. Lips that were dried and cracked. A sunken face grimacing with each wheezing, irregular, hard-earned breath.

    This is the opponent Death chose to take on in February 2007. But if He expected a quick battle, then He hadn't been paying attention.

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    Deadman's picture

    Bubbling Black ... Pop Goes the Diesel ...

    OK, I know nothing about the oil market, but considering I distinctly remembering the then-CEO of Exxon-Mobil saying on CNBC that oil was way overpriced based on the fundamentals some 2-plus years and $100/barrel ago, I don't see why my lack of knowledge on the subject should keep me from commenting.

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    Deadman's picture

    Smoke 'em if you got 'em ...

    OK, I'm determined to try out this 'very short' blog post thing, so I want to wish everyone (which according to my blog stats means basically no one except for my girlfriend ... hi babyyy!!) a Happy Fourth!

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