Rescued from Facebook: A Retrospective

While cleaning up my Facebook profile, I discovered this note. It's from February 2009 and provided here for fun with some updates three-and-a-half years later. 

1. I own more books that I haven't read than ones I have read. (Still true. I imagine it will always be.)

2. I wrote a 200 page crime novel my senior year in high school. Looking back I think the idea is still good, but the execution was poor. I may return to it someday, but I have other ideas instead.

3. When I was younger, I wanted to be a stunt driver for the movies, because I knew it was the only legal way to drive how I wanted.

4. I want to retire to an Greek island and live out my remaining years laying on the beach, drinking ice cold beer, and trying to catch up on all I missed while working. (No longer sure where I want to retire. Perhaps somewhere in the UK?)

5. Most of the time I prefer the taste of straight scotch, bourbon, whisky instead of mixed drinks. (Still true. Although it's been further narrowed down to Bulleit Bourbon.)

6. My favorite book is Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard. Mostly because it convinced me that I seriously wanted to take up writing.

7. I was Best Man at my brother's wedding when I was 14.

8. I love coffee. A fact most people already know.

9. I never really enjoyed reading until I got into comics books... which very quickly lead to actual books.

10. I take comfort in the fact that the writers who could perfectly capture their world -- their generation -- were confused, conflicted, and at times quite dysfunctional.

11. I want to go back to grad school for English one day. (I expected to be there by now, but things took a very different turn.)

12. The only sport I follow is Penn State Football. (I've started following sports a bit more. Still not an expert in anything by any means, but know a little bit more.)

13. I once read a book as a kid called "No More Coins Please" As I remember, the main cahracter was a boy who was also a bit of a con artist. This appealed to me as a boy for some reason, I have not been able to find the book in print since. I want that book for my kids. (After reading this post, a friend found the book and bought it for me. I know have one to pass on.)

14. I love movies. Top 5: Get Shorty, Die Hard, The Usual Suspects, Pulp Fiction, The Blue Brothers. (Current Top 5: The Godfather, The Blues Brothers, The Big Lebowski, Inglourious Basterds, The Dark Knight)

15. My iPod has over 13,000 songs. I expect a lot of them will never be listened to, but it's nice to know they're there. (It's now over 21,000.)

16. I've seen Bruce Springsteen twice in concert, planning to go a third time -- all with my older sister. (Still have only been to three concerts. Talk about them in a small way in Episode 19 of my podcast.)

17. I've also seen: Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson, B.B. King, Cake, U2 and The Who - All of which were on my Concert Wish List. Still remaining: Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed. (Have seen a couple of these again, but no new ones that stand out.)

18. I have two record players and several dozen albums on vinyl. (Three record players and lots more vinyl.)

19. I wish I was a member of the Rat Pack.

20. When possible, I always prefer to do-it-myself. (Still definitely true. Proven by my work of the last year and a half.)

21. I would buy any CD that Elvis Costello released without listening to a single note first.

22. That which makes my enemy weaker, does not make me stronger. (Forgot I said this. Still completely true.)

23. I've been to London three times and always want to go back. (Haven't gone back yet, possibly planning next year.)

24. I hate silence. I think it's a comfort thing from growing up. I'd go to bed while everyone else in the house would still be up and around. (Getting more comfortable with the silence.)

25. I've decided I need to read more Hemingway ever since my girlfriend told me she thought I had a little Hemingway in me which she thought was pretty cool. (I now realize how terrible of a comment this was because it was not based on my writing at all. Needless to say, this girlfriend and I are no longer together. In fact, I think we broke up shortly after the original post was written.)

Walter White: Evil We Can Get Behind

This may contain some spoilers from the first four seasons of Breaking Bad, but nothing from the first episode of Season 5.

Let's face it, especially after last season, Walter White has done some evil things. He's killed. He's killed a lot for a chemistry teacher. He's put people in danger. He's stood by while people died.

And yet, every roots for him to win. Why? Because he's a great character. At the core of him, there's one simple thing that we can relate to: Survival.

Intially, everything Walter does is for the survival of his family. He wants to make some cash so his family isn't screwed when he dies. But he doesn't die. Instead, he's threatened and finds himself way over his head in the drug business. The cancer didn't kill him, and he's realized he has this strength in him that he didn't know he had before. So when he's threatened, when he's in danger, when his family's in danger, he does these terrible things to survive.

He does some pretty fucked up stuff at the end of Season 4 with the bomb and the poison, but it's all for survival. And who wouldn't go to extremes to survive? Maybe not those extremes, but Walter has been through so much, he's found a part of himself he didn't know he had, that lets him do these things.

I think that part that Walter taps into, he likes because he spent so much of his life being pushed around. But I don't think that necessarily means he likes what he does. There's that scene in the Season 4 finale when he calls his neighbor to check out the house because he's worried someone is there to kill him. The old lady goes in and the bad guys leave. When she calls him, he does sound legitimately relieved that she's still alive. He didn't necessarily want to send her in there, but it was the only way to go.

Based on the first episode, I'm really curious how the end will play out. Walter essentially took out all his competition in Season 4. So now that survival aspect that's been driving him his gone, what kind of man will he be? I feel like they have to keep something in there throughout the end that forces him to go into that survival mode. God help whoever is standing with him when that happens.

Let's Keep Those Memories Untarnished: A Letter to The Other Penn State

Today was a rough day for Penn State, one of many still to come I fear. Men seriously screwed up, mistakes were made, and people were hurt by a monster. I wish there was more I could do than apologize to the victims and tell them that my thoughts are with them.

It's hard knowing that this tragedy will loom over all of us for years to come. People will automatically think of this failure of men as a reflection of the school as a whole. And that's simply not the case. Penn State will always hold a special place in my life. Not because of the men that were in charge. Not even because of football. It was The Other Penn State. It was all the people I met there -- all the friends I made, all the conversations we had that helped me figure shit out in my life. All the times we waited at Canyon for pizza at Halloween, all the times I ate R U Hungry, and all the times we had Monkey Boys at The Saloon. I had teachers there that gave me truly inspiring words that lead me down this wonderful path.

And most importantly, it's where I met the most amazing woman in my life, who I would be lost without.

Tonight, as every headline badmouths Penn State, and the alumni feel as bad as I do, I just want to say, "Thank You," to all the people there that actually did things right and helped me become the man I am today. Those are the memories that I hold highest.

Let's keep those memories untarnished.

The Larger Point The Tosh Incident Raises

Content aside, a lot of what happened with Daniel Tosh at the Laugh Factory stems from an audience member yelling out a comment during his act. If you don't know the details, here's an article.

What is amazing to me is that this woman decided to interrupt the performance and include herself into the show, then was insulted after essentially attacking Tosh and his art. Yes, it's a sensitive topic with people. Not everyone is going to laugh at jokes about it, but the correct response isn't to start attacking the individual.

Standup Comedy is as much an art as anything else. With any art, if you don't like something, just stop paying attention to it. My mom doesn't like comedians that swear too much. What does she do? She doesn't watch comedians that curse. If she's watching TV and sees something she doesn't like, she changes the channel or turns it off. If I watch a movie or I read a book, and I don't like it? I stop. I don't finish it. If it offends me, I don't finish it and I walk away. I don't recommend it to people in the future. Maybe I'll fire a tweet off about it. But I don't go up to the writer and start telling them I don't like their work.

If you don't like something, just walk away from it. If you're at a performance and you don't like something, just walk out. Tell people later on that you don't like it and don't recommend it. But don't attack the artist or performer. If we all started directly attacking artists that we didn't like, then artists would get scared and stop creating. What kind of world would that be?

This Video Just Seems Sad Now...

I should have figured their relationship was short on time.