My thoughts on everything

Book Reviews, Harvard Weightlifting Madness, Hollywood Sadness

Books I’ve Been Reading

– The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, by Tom Wolfe

This is a classic for anyone who truly wants to understand the origins of the psychedelic movement in the 1960’s. If you’ve ever done a psychedelic and been overly worried about set and setting (quiet room, trip guide, etc.) then this could be a good book to check out. To the originators of the whole movement, set and setting was far less important than partying as hard as possible at all times. The core group out of northern California was tripping 24/7 and tooling around the country in a tricked out party bus. It’s a great read. Ken Kesey is like Keith Richards, Rob Gronkowski and Jesus all wrapped into one.

Quora

Quora is a question and answer site that’s trying to be a better Yahoo Answers. Which is not very hard. Here’s some typical content on Yahoo Answers:

There is no way that question would get 39 different responses on Quora. It’s a site started by Harvard people, so you know they try to keep it classy.

Don’t Be the Benchwarmer Everyone Hates

During the second half of my second year in Israel, I was relegated to the bench. I wasn’t a sixth man. I was the last man. Well, maybe I was just above the 17-year-old who was in the army and was only there half the time. But I certainly wasn’t playing.

I’d never been a bench warmer. While it was miserable at the time, I learned a lot. Like how sometimes you just have to deal with an “unfair” situation. You have no right to become an obnoxious, negative, sarcastic practical joker just because you think you’ve been slighted. That’s a good way to make a lot of enemies.

Here are a few other things you never want to do as a bench warmer:

Why I’m Leaving Los Angeles for Wisconsin

About a month ago, I decided that I was moving out of Los Angeles. Everyone I’ve told has been surprised. The surprise turns to shock when I say I’m moving to Wisconsin.

The bewilderment stems from the fact that people in LA know the following things about Wisconsin:

1. It’s cold

2. The Green Bay Packers

3. Cheese

4. “Really, do you know how cold it is there?”

5. Jeffrey Dahmer

You can see how convincing people of Wisconsin’s merits is an uphill battle. I wouldn’t move there if I thought all I’d be doing is shivering in my apartment, watching football, pounding string cheese and keeping an eye out for serial killers.

But, even if it wasn’t Wisconsin, I’d still be moving. So before I extol the virtues of the midwest, I’ll talk about why I’m leaving in the first place.

Harvard Has No Use for Your Satire

In the next few weeks, I will apply to the HarvardWood mentorship program. HarvardWood may have the douchiest name of any alumni organization in existence, but it’s a great resource for the struggling writer. Not all Harvard grads have instant success when they set out to find a job in the arts. For every B.J. Novak…

imgres — “I feel bad for anyone who hasn’t been cast in a hit sitcom by age 25.”

There’s a D.A. Housman…

Now THAT'S the look of someone who knows what they're doing with their life. — “I’m confused.”

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21 Steps To Get Through an Agency Workday

How to get through the day when you work at Hollywood talent agency:

Show up to your desk in the morning. Realize you forgot to do something the night before. Endure some scolding from your boss.
Blame your bosses previous assistant for the error, no matter what went wrong. “I’m sorry, I guess _____ never filed that. Some people just don’t respect the job.” (Harder to pull off after you’ve established yourself as average and the previous assistant was amazing. But, as the great Wayne Gretzky said, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.)
Start feeling a little down, because it’s only 10:30 and you’ve already shown your boss how to copy and paste four different times.
Cheer up, because while you don’t drive a Maserati and own a purebred labradoodle, at least you know how to fucking copy and paste.
Massage your feet on a golf ball. Don’t worry about the looks you get for being in your socks. Your feet smell great!
Roll your glutes on a lacrosse ball. Again, discard the wayward looks. Tell them to enjoy having limited mobility their whole life and that you hope medicare pays for their knee replacements. Or, something less mean.
Tear the right side of your dress pants with the lacrosse ball. Feel foolish. Let a call go to voicemail while you try to fix your pants.
45 minutes later, rip the left side of your pants with the lacrosse ball. It’s minor. Shrug it off!
Stand up. Do full, deep, toe-touch stretches.
Go to the big bathroom stall for 10 minutes. Do a series of one legged squats and hip stretches. Pause when someone enters to use the stall next to you. Be grateful you can’t smell very well.
Nervously laugh when you return to your desk and your co-workers start making fun of an “agent” they saw doing squats in the handicap stall. Cover yourself by chiming in about how weird that guy must be.
See an online advertisement for a car racing game. Feel smug for not playing video games. Then, remember how many hours of your youth were spent playing Cruis’n USA on Nintendo 64.
Think about Cruis’n USA for a while. Let another call go to voicemail. Contemplate why they chose to spell “Cruis’n” the way they did. Question the sanity of those fans who would stand right behind the finish line while Ferraris skidded toward them at 147 miles per hour.

Just watch from the side! — At least two of those people are about to get badly injured.

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