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DORK GOSSIP: PROF. "CASS-ANOVA" SUNSTEIN'S NEW LADY

Lindsay Lohan who?  Britney what?  Who's JT? This is the real titillating (heh tit) gossip that has me going "oh. my. god. no. fucking. way!" Professor Cass Sunstein--a brilliant legal scholar and prolific writer--whose books and articles in the endless course packets take me back to my collegiate days, is apparently voir dier'ing Professor Samantha Power herself a formidable legal eagle and until recently an integral member of the Obama brain trust.  I do want to give a high five to myself for my utterly groan worthy headline.  Come on, people!  How awesome is it?!  Get it: Cass is his first name, which I pun'd and pun'd well which acknowledges his lady wooing skills by evoking the legendary player himself, Casanova.  Sheesh.  Tough audience.

Professor Power -- Men's Vogue  

It's good gossip like this that used to make me refresh Gawker 40 times a day.  Now Gawker is crap.  American Idol, really?

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BREAKING NEWS: MOBY DICK FOUND IN ALASKA

Call me Mrod. An extremely rare white killer whale was spotted and photographed in Alaska.  Boats stayed back after it told them, "Back up sucka.  You remember what I did to that Ishmael cat.  I messed him up real good."

"I had heard about this whale but we had never been able to find it," said Holly Fearnbach, a research biologist with the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle who photographed the rarity. "It was quite neat to find it."

The whale had been spotted once years ago in the Aleutians but had eluded researchers since, even though they had seen many of the more classic black and white whales over the years.

[Thanks Clay]

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I'M TOO SCARED TO LOOK AT THIS CLIP

I'm completely too fearful to watch the clip in this link from an old horror movie called Society which I guess was never released in US theaters. Maybe the powers that be decided that the American public really didn't want to or need to watch a movie where a high school kid starts questioning his upper crust family members...where the rich literally eat the poor. Someone watch it and let me know how it is.

I like how horror movies are used, according to film theory and such, to make commentary on social issues. I just can't stomach watching any of them because of the gore and violence. I'd rather watch films about the unequivocal loneliness of space. But that's just me.

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FYI

I like this designer and this flyer.  Fighter helmets are so future looking.  In fifth grade my teacher, a former air force helicopter pilot, gave away a helmet.  I'm still bitter that I didn't win that or the MREs.

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A CONVERSATION

Me: Yo, are you going to that party? B: Blackbook interns! They'll be there.

Me: That makes me indescribably happy.

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LET ME BORROW THAT %&*(#@ TOP MUSIC VIDEO

I don't think this was produced by Timbaland, but this video makes a good argument for MTV showing more music videos again instead of the umpteenth showing of True Life: Pimp My 16th Sweet Crib Special: [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=fPDl2g8Upvk]

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BE ON A TIMES SQUARE BILLBOARD. YES, YOU. WELL, AN ANIMATED YOU.

Follow these easy steps and make like a CK underwear model. 1. Be in Manhattan.

2. Go to Chashama art gallery at 217 E. 42nd Street.

3. Go inside photobooth.

4. Push button inside photobooth.  Do CRAZYINSANEMODELY things immediately as the photobooth will take 30 pictures immediately.

5. You now have less than 15 minutes to walk to the Conde Nast building at 4 Times Square (Broadway between 42nd and 43rd).

6. Approximately 15 minutes after your "photo shoot," an animation from the 30 photos of you will be displayed for all the immobile Times Square tourists to gaze upon and ponder "how did this ugly mofo ever become a model?"  Whatever you do, do NOT use this occasion to write "Be my wifey?" on a piece of paper to propose to your girlfriend.

[via]

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CALLING ALL JOHN SMITHS! DO YOU KNOW A JOHN SMITH?

My friend Brian sent me this on behalf of one of his friends:

Know a John Smith? Yes. We're serious.

For the final episode of  This American Life's second season on Showtime, we have been searching out all the John Smiths we can find. We've talking to John Smiths from all over the country and from all different walks of life. While we've talked a lot of John Smiths, but we need a few more to complete our story:

1. A John Smith in high school or a teacher in high school that have a John Smith in their class

2. Any John Smiths in their late-20s or early-30s that are going through a major life change--moving in with a significant other? career change? getting engaged? married? divorced? buying a house? that sort of thing.

Know someone that fits the description? Contact TAL via email bruce@thislife.org or call TAL's official John Smith hotline at 1-800-463-4505 and leave us a message and mention this email. Please forward this note on to others who might fit the description and want to be featured in the season finale of This American Life.

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AMATEUR VIDEO: PLANE GONE WILD

Saw this on New York Times blog the Lede of an amateur video recording of a Boeing A320  attempting to land at the Hamburg, Germany airport.  A major crosswind nails it just as the plane touches down causing it to skid like crazy.  The pilot calmly pulls off a deft maneuver to steady the plane.  You gotta watch it (It starts off a little slow).  I disagree with the Times blogger who remarks that this video would never make it as a Lufthansa commercial.  Like those car commercials depicting crunching crashes to demonstrate, as counter intuitive as it may be, just how safe the car actually is, I think Lufthansa should use this video as a commercial to demonstrate how well trained their pilots are.  I'm only half kidding. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueJeC2pxxbM]

Mr. Pilot: You can be my wingman any day.

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WHAT IF SAUL BASS DID STAR WARS?

Saul Bass is pretty much my favorite movie title sequence designer of all time (Yea, I know it's a rather esoteric preference), and is also just an overall seminal graphics guru.  So, what if Saul Bass did the opening for Star Wars?  I saw this first on Kottke and it made me super, super, super happy: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z25t-PQDn5A]

Yea, the original Star Wars introduction that we all know and love is timeless and apropos, especially when it was first released.  The Saul Bass remix gives Star Wars a campy vibe, but I think today the "Bass version" is a more appropriate sequence today because Star Wars nowadays IS camp, especially after the prequel threesome that George Lucas's bank account decided was so necessary.

I first fell in love with Saul Bass's style after seeing It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World when I was younger.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmPEV1SlaTo]

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QUESTION: WHAT TO DO WITH MAGAZINES?

Anyone have any creative suggestions for dealing with old magazines?  I have subscriptions to Mother Jones, GQ, The Economist, Smithsonian Magazine, and the Brown Alumni Magazine.  Just tossing them in the recycling bin...seems like such a sad ending for all the artistic vision and creativity that went into the creation and production of each issue. I've thought about creating a folder of clippings--ripping out articles and pages I find inspirational or noteworthy--but...like communism, it's a better idea in theory rather than applicability, or maybe I'm just lazy.

Any suggestions?

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LAST NIGHT'S PARTY

This is from a pretty fun night a couple weekends ago, and all photos below are stolen from Chris, you know, the John Mayer fan. Because Chris and I were running late and walked into our subway stop just as the train was pulling away, we hailed a cab.  What we flagged down was essentially the 7 series of New York cabs: a brand new SUV cab fitted for handicapped people, which meant for us awesome leg room.  And a couple blocks before it dropped us off at our bar, another cabbie notified ours that he had his emergency lights on, which basically made us feel like minor VIPs what with our luxurious legroom and emergency lights.

Also, I'm really glad more and more cabs take credit/debit cards now.  It's about time.  And while I know a lot of cab drivers are against it (who doesn't prefer upfront cash?), they need to embrace it as it's an inevitable part of our technological progress.  And also, maybe it's me, but I've found myself now tipping a bit more as well in part to offset the delay the drivers see in contrast to cold hard cash tips.

We met up with Chris's friends at Shebeen where a Breakfast at Tiffany's theme party was going on...and we were both in agreement that it was pretty awesome.  Then we walked to the Merc Bar.  Here I'm uh, pretending to reach for my pretend fruity drink instead of my uh, whiskey.  This fruity drink, "the Clementine" is hypothetically quite delicious.

Mike and his girlfriend and birthday girl Tori.  Happy birthday Tori!!!

Mike and Chris deep in conversation.

Haha.  Tori is stoked about turning 20 something.

This picture is titled "Life is beautiful."  I love it.  Haha.  Anyway: Tori's sister Sandra, Tori, and Mike!

Mike and the girls left and Chris and I elected to chill out at the bar for a bit longer.  Funny stuff happened and then we left.

Chris and I walk into the subway platform just as the train pulls up.  Sweet!!!  When this happens late at night it is the equivalent of winning a $50 scratch off lotto ticket.  Chris swipes his metrocard, and then I follow.  Bam!  I try to walk through, except the turnstile refuses to budge.  I look at the display and see this:

Doh!  Story of my life!!  My monthly metrocard expired that night!  Waiting another 30 minutes for the next train versus taking a cab, pay $15 bucks and be home in 20 minutes.  "Fuck it.  Lets take a cab.  I got it."

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