Well, Now I've Seen It All...

Dear Readers,

WHY?!?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-q4kZDIfk0

Bowtie,

Bowtie

5 Things that Made Me Laugh This Week (Vol. 2)

Dear Readers,

Again, it's time to address the hilarious and wondrous things that the internets and teevee have gifted us this week!

1. Collar clips to keep those darn collars from popping up off the shoulders of the salmon threaded-clad douchebag. Great ad by Miller.

2. Appalling racism in a 1980's informational video - not even sure what it's about, a harsh warning on the consequences of perms perhaps? Regardless, I'm flummoxed by the dialogue.

3. Lindsay Lohan being sued for stealing the formula for a spray tan and marketing it as her own. How humiliating that the first big suit against you is for something as ridiculous as spray tan! That's like a porcelain veneer company suing Paris Hilton. Oh, and how I wish they would.

4. Finding out my UCB teacher David was in this video. AND this one.

5. The fact that the below dog even exists, and that its name is Josh.

Happy weekend!

Bowtie,

Bowtie

Positive Exposure - the Documentary

Dear Readers,

My friend Rachel Pikelny now works for Kartemquin Films and has a personal message to share about a special project she is working on right now, so listen up! (or, rather, read up!)

Dear friends and family,

As many of you may know, I am both thrilled and proud to now be working at Kartemquin Films, one of the longest-running and most prestigious documentary companies in the world. Kartemquin's documentaries (including its best-known film, "Hoop Dreams") have won prizes at festivals throughout the world and have been broadcast nationally and internationally. Kartemquin brings the study of humanity to film by making documentaries that investigate and critique society through the lives of real people.

I'd like to tell you about an exciting project that I will be co-producing. “Positive Exposure” will follow former fashion photographer Rick Guidotti (www.positiveexposure.org) as he skillfully employs his lens to redefine beauty by photographing children who are often relegated to the shadows because of elongated limbs, cleft palates, facial markings, lack of pigmentation, and other differences that make some turn their heads. His images are not the grotesque medical studies of the past; they are celebrations of life.

Through his amazing work, Rick Guidotti is redefining beauty. Our film will have a enormous educational component, especially in middle and high schools, sensitizing youth to difference. In a society obsessed with perfection and body image, Rick’s images and the words of his young subjects will challenge the way their “normal” counterparts see and experience difference and disability.

I truly believe in this project, its message, and its power to stimulate positive change. This is why I am writing to you for your attention and help.

We are desperately seeking funding to get this project on its feet. We will use these initial development funds to travel to two genetic disease conferences this summer in order to create a demo reel that will convey to our future funders and distribution partners the far-reaching benefits Rick Guidotti’s work has on the disability community. We will also use the funds to travel with Rick this fall to Africa, where he is using his photography to fight widespread discrimination and prejudice against the Albino population.

I realize that most of you are not in a position to give at this time. However, I ask that you please pass along this information to anyone you may know who might have a personal connection to this film -- the parent of a special needs child... a friend with a disability... or anyone else who might be interested and in a position to make a donation to this important project.

Thank you so much for reading this long email. And thank you for any help you can send our way!

So if you have interest in this project in any way, let me know and I'll put you in contact with Rachel. Thanks!

Bowtie,

Bowtie

Applicant FAIL!

Ok, you guys, really? REALLY??

If you're applying for the position as an assistant to our President, chances are we're going to cyberstalk to vet you. And if this is one of the first google matches that comes up for you - HOLY ISH - you are screwed in this town. Or any town. Or industry. Chances are this video will impede your professional aspirations in general.

Good luck shakin' that booooootaayyyyy. Idiot.

Bowtie,

Bowtie.

Hurtling Towards the Singularity

Dear Readers,

After watching the documentary on the (questionably sane) prophetic futurist Ray Kurzweil and having seen the feature-length pilot for the new Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica, I'll admit it: I'm totally hooked on all things Future and the computer's inevitable entangling with humanity. Not just socially or figuratively, but physically.

Fathers cloning their dead daughters via a Cylon in "Caprica"

A friend visiting a virtual reality world where a

computer version of her dead friend exists

Actually, ever since I saw MINORITY REPORT and heard that they consulted "futurists" to determine how new technologies will interact with humans on a daily basis, I thought, "Wow, The Gap will scan my retinas to suggest what I might like buying on this trip based on what I bought last time??" Well, no, my first thought was "Futurist is a job? WTF kind of qualifications does one need for that?" But anyway, you get the point, I was sold on this whole philosophical and academic community devoted to predicting things to come. I realize I must be wary of every prediction that comes to pass - this community is just ripe for crackpots preaching dystopian battlefields a la the first TERMINATOR movie. However, I remain cautiously optimistic...

New developments such as robots downloading other robots' personalities or using tiny robots for medical purposes are just the next steps to Kurzweil's prediction about humans and robots becoming hybrid beings. No longer do the ethical concerns just consist of cloning yourself another human you, but now, downloading your thoughts and memories into a hyper-intelligent robotic entity that is given the conscious capacity for thought, reasoning, and emotions. At what point do we declare it worthy of the rights of humanity? Does it share your identity, and therefore, social security and bank accounts? Or at what point does a robotically-enhanced human lose the status of homo sapien sapien? We mock surgically-enhanced women of not being all real, but truly we soon will have robotic joints and potentially memory-enhancing microbes injected into our brains - so will we then become not human?

I suppose when we reach this "Singularity" as the experts call it, we will have to breach from the current taxonomy and create a new species: Homo Sapien Computus? This is no doubt an inevitability - but how exciting it is to think of a whole world of Chips from NOT QUITE HUMAN??

But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself with the human robots - if you want to think of computer progress helping humans in the next 5 years - the key words are: information, portability, access, technology, metadata, economy. And with those in mind, I think of this great presentation at the last TED conference of how augmented reality (soon to be in contact lenses??) will literally be worn around our necks. Don't even get me started on Apple's patent for using piezoelectricity in their future handhelds....Ok, I'm getting worked up, must. stop. nerding. out.

If you're on Twitter, follow @futureaware for amassing all news and trends of the #future as they tag it.

Bowtie,

Bowtie

Grossness Outside my Office Window

Ok, so I'm 25 floors up, I get it, there are a lot of birds and helicopters up here. But I usually don't pay much attention to them. Until today.

I heard a bird screeching noise getting very close to my window. I looked out and saw a very pretty, but large hawk sitting on the ledge. That's when I noticed it had something in its talons.

A small bird. And it's been devouring it for the past 20 minutes...blood, sinewy tendons, and feathers ALL OVER the ledge now. Have officially lost my appetite.

5 Things That Made Me Laugh This Week

Dear Readers,

It's technically "Friday" since it's a holiday weekend, so are you ready to check out and have a laugh? Allow me to share some of my favorite funny things from the week:

1. 50 Best Pun-Named Stores

2. Canadian Football League Player's Tribute to MJ in the Endzone

3. Michael K from DListed's account of Danielle from Real Housewives of New Jersey's stint as a soap opera actress

4. The below email exchange of my sister explaining why her wanting a sub shop to cater her 2010 wedding may be the reason it's not happening:

5. This account of Bernie Madoff's Handjob ponzi scheme in jail from Daily Show, courtesy of John Oliver. The financials get tricky!

Enjoy, Dear Readers, and have a great 4th of July!

Bowtie,

Bowtie