Pop-soul duo take umbrage at ‘artisanal’ breakfast food firm’s ‘phonetic play’ on their brand name
From: Bob Lefsetz <bob@lefsetz.com>
Date: March 3, 2015 at 6:18:39 AM EST
To: yes@therainbow.com
Subject: Citizenfour
Reply-To: Bob Lefsetz <bob@lefsetz.com>
Loners will save the world.
But our culture has shifted to one of belonging. The millennials are all about being a member of the group, they don't want to stand out, don't want to be ostracized, their goal is to be drones, to play the game so they can win.
True dat.
But I don't want to give a pass to the baby boomers. Ever notice that on HBO the twentysomethings have their show, "Girls," and the thirtysomethings have theirs, "Togetherness," but there's no boomer show? Because the boomers can no longer exhibit vulnerability. They finally took away Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz's license to make television, not that "thirtysomething" was a ratings juggernaut, but the truth is boomers are past introspection, they're in their glory years, or days, listening to Bruce Springsteen without a care in the world, all about lifestyle. But can that lifestyle be challenged?
The biggest story in the world today is that there is no story. And when something dramatic transpires, no one can do anything about it. Putin invades Ukraine and we're mum. But even that did not penetrate our mobile culture, wherein it's all about me all the time, I'm a star in my own world that no one is paying attention to, even though I hunger for the spotlight. Right and wrong are irrelevant. It's all about money and fame. And Ed Snowden hates that.
He laments the change of our culture in to one based on personalities.
And ain't that interesting, isn't that what Brian Williams is? Bill O'Reilly too? The news is subservient to them, they make the big bucks and cozy up to those in power and we're all the worse for it, because the truth is everybody's climbing a greased totem pole and the only ones who know it are at the top keeping the rest of us down.
Towards the end of this highly-reviewed movie, which is nowhere near as riveting as the hype, one of the characters, only in this flick the characters are real people, makes an amazing statement. He says that "What we used to call liberty and freedom we now call privacy. And now people are saying privacy is dead." That's what we're all fighting for, liberty, right?
When we're not fighting the government itself.
I understand the right wing position but I don't agree with it. We need a government, government does good things. Just like John Oliver said Sunday night, that we need highway taxes to fund infrastructure updates. Do you expect the private sector to take care of that?
But even more ludicrous is all the Second Amendment talk, how the government is gonna take our guns away so we must stockpile them, so we can shoot each other, because if you believe a gun can protect you from the government you didn't watch "Citizenfour," you're an idiot, because just like karate is no match for a gun, a gun is no match for the internet and electronic surveillance. You can wait for the drone to get you, but the truth is they'll kill your rep and wipe out your life with a few keystrokes long before that.
You'd expect people to be up in arms about "Citizenfour" but the truth is they're afraid. That's the government's job, with the media fanning the flames. If we don't let the agencies run wild, the terrorists are gonna bomb Oklahoma or Arkansas, so you'd better lay your rights down now. That's right, under the head fake of fighting "terrorism" we're all laying down to the government and the corporations and anybody who blows the whistle is a pariah.
You remember pariahs, don't you?
They used to be people like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, before they revolutionized the world and titillated your fantasies. Were these popular people in high school, did they get along?
Of course not. But at least they were smart. Like Snowden.
That's the revelation. Listening to Ed talk you're blown away. He gets the concepts, he can articulate them. But instead the newspapers are subjecting us to the proclamations of nitwits and clickbait rules online. Because you can't handle the truth.
And what is the truth anyway?
Turns out those climate change-denying scientists were paid for their positions.
But you probably didn't see that, just like you didn't see "Citizenfour," because you don't have HBO. And why would you need it? Susan Wojcicki and YouTube are gonna save the world! But the truth is there are very few good creators out there and HBO got there first.
So what is going on?
Do we live the lifestyle we fight for, or line up and protest?
And if you do protest, expect to be excoriated by the press. Because they're the story, not you. How they hang with the rich and powerful, envious of their perks and frequently partaking of the crumbs that fall off the table.
There's something hollow at the heart of America. Right and wrong used to matter. There was enough money for everybody, you could survive on a service job. But as the classes separated, the rich realized what was going on and desired to maintain their perch and keep the underclass down via subterfuge and fear.
And having gone to crummy schools, the underclass can't grasp the facts, even when they're staring them in the face.
So we're dependent on lone wolves to shake it up. Snowden says he's only the first, you can get him but others will follow in his wake.
Is this true?
Yes, for a small cadre of selfless people who put their morality before their pocketbook.
But everybody else is hustling to get ahead. In an ill-defined game where the cards are stacked against them and the odds keep getting longer every day.
Once upon a time, "Citizenfour" would incite a national debate. Now it's just grist for the mill, Snowden's character has already been assassinated, the flick will come and go as quickly as Beyonce's overhyped album.
Then again, Kanye lobbies for her recognition over and over again. With no one shouting him down.
And that's the way it is in America today, the sideshow is the main show.
And you know what happens when you're not paying attention to the main event... Your pockets get picked and you end up broke and busted on the side of the road. But now it's even worse, you'll have nowhere to go, you'll be powerless, because the government will limit your movement.
That's right, all this hogwash about taxes and government employees are the sideshow. The main event is how they've got our number and we're living in "1984" and if you believe it can't happen here...
The truth is it already has.
Watch this movie.
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International study of 15,000 penises is being used to reassure men concerned they are not within the ‘normal range’
The numbers should help “reassure the large majority of men that the size of their penis is in the normal range”, said British researchers who had assembled data from studies where participants had their member measured by a professional.
The team then used the collated numbers to devise a graph that doctors can use in counselling men with “small penis anxiety”.
Graph for flaccid, flaccid stretched and erect length of the penis. Illustration: Veale et al. 2014In the worst cases, men may be diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder – a debilitating psychological condition that can lead to obsessive and anti-social behaviour, depression and even suicide.
In reality, only 2.28% of the male population have an abnormally small penis, said the study – and the same percentage an unusually large one.
The study participants were men aged 17 to 91 who had their penises measured in 20 previously published studies conducted in Europe, Asia, Africa and the United States.
The team found no evidence for penis size differences linked to race, though most of the study participants were of European and Middle Eastern descent and a full comparison could thus not be made.
Nor did the researchers find any convincing correlation between a man’s foot size and the length of his manhood.
They acknowledged their results may have been somewhat skewed by the possibility that men who volunteer to be examined may be more confident in their penis size than the general population.
The team said their work, published in the BJU International journal of urology, was the first to combine all existing data on penis length and girth into a definitive graph.
The information may be useful for reassuring men worried about their size. But it may also have the unintended effect of denting the egos of those who thought they were abnormally well-endowed.
Doctors may also use the graph to help men find well-fitting condoms, said the team.
Producer says Dylan has ‘made two records’ from his sessions of songs associated with Frank Sinatra
Bob Dylan has recorded a second album of standards associated with Frank Sinatra, according to his former producer, Daniel Lanois.
Lanois, who worked on Dylan’s albums Oh Mercy and Time Out of Mind, told the Vancouver Sun that he had heard all the songs Dylan recorded for the project. “He came to my house eight or six months ago and spent a few hours,” Lanois said. “We listened to 21 songs – because he’s made two records of this [Sinatra project].”
Before he played the songs, Lanois said, Dylan explained the reasoning behind the recordings. The singer told Lanois that when he was a child, music was hard to come by, “but the music he did hear really touched him and he felt that a lot of that music was written not only by great professional songwriters at the time, but a lot of it was written from the heart, from the wartime, and people just pining for a lover. He felt there was a lot of spirit in that music. He felt there was a kind of beauty, a sacred ground for him.”
Though it was known Dylan had recorded more than 20 songs for the project, this is the first time anyone close to him has suggested there are to be two albums. His engineer Al Schmitt last month said 23 songs had been recorded, but he didn’t know what would happen to the extra ones.
Dylan’s first album of songs associated with Sinatra, Shadows in the Night – which features 10 tracks – was released in February, reaching No 1 in the UK and No 7 in the US.
In the meantime, Dylan has released a new video from Shadows in the Night, a film noiresque clip for The Night We Called It a Day. This certainly appears to be the video for which a casting call was leaked earlier this month. The call read: ““[DANCER] Female, 40+, full figured. Burlesque dancer, will need to dance in audition. Think timeless a la Lana Turner or Ava Gardner. [SKETCHY GUY] 50s, rough trade, pock marked face, etc. [FAT GUY] 45+, all around huge. [BARTENDER] Male, 30s+, looking for characters.”
Getty ImagesAfter being honored at the White House for his lifetime achievements in the performing arts and outstanding contributions to American culture, Merle Haggard is forming an opinion about President Barack Obama based on character, not political agenda. The 73-year-old country legend, who has actually visited the White House as a guest of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan in years past, made an appearance in Washington D.C. for the 33rd Annual Kennedy Center Honors. While there, he mingled with the President, the President’s wife and several other notable honorees.
“It was also nice to meet Obama and find him very different from the media makeout. It’s really almost criminal what they [the media] do with our President,” Haggard tells Rolling Stone. “There seems to be no shame or anything. They call him all kinds of names all day long, saying he’s doing certain things that he’s not. It’s just a big old political game that I don’t want to be part of. There are people spending their lives putting him down.”
“I’m sure some of it’s true and some of it’s not,” he continues. “I was very surprised to find the man very humble and he had a nice handshake. His wife was very cordial to the guests and especially me. They made a special effort to make me feel welcome. It was not at all the way the media described him to be.”
“He’s not conceited,” he adds. “He’s very humble about being the President of the United States, especially in comparison to some presidents we’ve had who come across like they don’t need anybody’s help. I think he knows he’s in over his head. Anybody with any sense who takes that job and thinks they can handle it must be an idiot.”
While his post-event conversation was deep and thoughtful, the actual evening wasn’t all so grave. Haggard enjoyed chatting with fellow honorees Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey and more, and he had the chance to kid around — and bond — with the President for a moment, too.
“I told him, ‘You and I have something in common: Our wives are both taller than we are,’” Haggard jokes. “And he said, ‘No! She’s got on three-inch heels! And she is not that tall!’ He was like me. He grabbed that real quick.”
Haggard’s most recent album release is 2010′s ‘I Am What I Am,’ but he’s also revealed an inkling of an upcoming musical project: a “Musketeers” supergroup of sorts with Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. “I’m sure if we’re healthy and live to do it, we’ll do it,” he says.
Utah is considering a bill that would allow patients with certain debilitating conditions to be treated with edible forms of marijuana. If the bill passes, the state's wildlife may "cultivate a taste" for the plant, lose their fear of humans, and basically be high all the time. That's according to testimony presented to a Utah Senate panel (time stamp 58:00) last week by an agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
"I deal in facts. I deal in science," said special agent Matt Fairbanks, who's been working in the state for a decade. He is member of the "marijuana eradication" team in Utah. Some of his colleagues in Georgia recently achieved notoriety by raiding a retiree's garden and seizing a number of okra plants.
Buying a major appliance has never been a ton of fun.
But two entrepreneurs have come up with a different approach. Pirch is a new kind of retailer that lets you bake artisanal pizza in its ovens and flush its fancy toilets.
Today, the chain of seven Pirch stores across the country sells products for indoor and outdoor kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms and floor care. It lets you interact with them on a personal level, while providing a staff of carefully trained salespeople, plus installation and service options. Pirch encourages customers to stop in and browse to see what’s available, not just rush in when their washing machine has died and they are in panic to replace it.
The concept was hatched in San Diego in 2009 when Jeffery Sears and Jim Stuart, two seasoned business executives and entrepreneurs, experienced bad karma trying to design kitchens and bathrooms as part of remodeling and home-building efforts. They decided there had to be a better way to shell out big bucks on large-appliance and plumbing purchases that have so much to do with function, convenience and family logistics in a home.
Pirch stores aren’t buried in gritty industrial parks; you’ll find them in high-end shopping emporiums next to Tiffany & Co. or Nordstrom.
The eighth Pirch opens in March alongside a Neiman Marcus at the Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, N.J.; a Manhattan location, in SoHo, is slated for 2016. (Store executives are on the hunt for a Washington area site.) Inside Pirch, shoppers are greeted by a barista who will whip up a latte and put you in touch with an employee if you want help navigating the merchandise. Upscale brands such as Fisher & Paykel, Miele, Franke, La Cornue, Toto and Sub-Zero are displayed to show off the latest trends and materials. If you go to the ladies’ room, you’ll be able to test drive a Kohler toilet that has adjustable seat temperature and warm-water cleansing. Chefs will show you how to operate the ranges or bake you some gourmet mac and cheese. You can test the aromatherapy shower yourself in private — bathing suit optional.
I love great art, no matter the medium.
I love great art, no matter the medium.
I love great art, no matter the medium.
Men are too insecure about penis size to ever stop worrying about it