Archive Page 2
Julia Childs, Spy Chef
I don’t like to post novelty things that I find interesting. It often ads nothing. But Julia Childs, chef extraordinaire, was a WWII spy. And this needs to be shared with everyone. The lede and some Childs brilliance:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Famed chef Julia Child shared a secret with Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg at a time when the Nazis threatened the world.
They served in an international spy ring managed by the Office of Strategic Services, an early version of the CIA created in World War II by President Franklin Roosevelt.
This. woman. was. a. spy.
Filed under: Signs of the Apocalypse | Leave a Comment
Tags: julia childs, spy
It’s Not Viral. It’s Just Sexy.
[Probably NSFW. Unless, you know, you work at American Apparel too]
I wrote before about the July 4 squirt gun video we made over here. I thought that one was okay. Just for fun, sure. This last one? I love it. Though it annoys me that people are calling it “viral”. You can’t make a viral ad. You just make an ad. EVERYBODY else makes it “viral”.
I’m pretty damn sure we get that over here.
(Update: YouTube took the damn video down. I’m sure we’ll get it up in some capacity soon.)
(2nd Update: We got it back up, but it had to be censored. Lame.)
Filed under: Professional | Leave a Comment
Tags: american apparel, underwear, viral advertising, youtube
Be Proactive
I haven’t been posting much. It annoys me. Simultaneously, it annoys me that it can even affect how I feel. I’ve actually been writing a ton, but I haven’t been happy with the end results. My Drafts folder is getting filled up.
Thinking about it, I figured out my problem.
As my last substantive post suggests (still stinging from Favre), I’m still in the midst of a full move into an apartment. Work has been really rewarding, but also doubly maddening. My social life is fair, though I’m usually too exhausted to really try to be too adventurous.
So what’s the issue?
I’ve wrote before about how I felt dependent upon other people for my success, how I was waiting for my big break. And then I resolved that I had to make it happen myself.
Now? Things are going really well in just about every facet of my career and life right now, but I still get the nagging feeling that they can be much, much better. Anything that comes my way, I feel like I’m absolutely killing. Sure, I’m pretty satisfied with that, but there’s obviously a problem.
I’ve become entirely reactive.
Everyone is now fairly familiar with Google’s infamous 20% side project rule. Gmail, Adsense, Google News (which kind of blows, sorry) were all created this way, among other Labs graduates. They’ve institutionalized the idea of innovation among their workforce, while still juggling whatever the hell it is that keeps them busy in Mountainview.
Entering the workforce with an obsession for success (like I have), it’s good to remind yourself not to rest on your laurels. Things are looking up, but I haven’t been reading, innovating, thinking enough. It’s easy to say that I don’t have enough time with everything else on my plate, but I’ve got to make time. Force your reputation resume to proceed you. It’s easy to chalk things up to inexperience, but there’s a big difference between the intern that’s working for resume-building and the wunderkind that brings real success. A big difference between a recommendation that reads that you were a good student and the one that says you were an absolute prodigy.
The distinction between the two is substantive, but the means of getting there is minute. It just takes a concerted obsession with constantly innovating yourself and your strategies. If all of your advancement and success is dependent upon the beck, call and adulation of someone else, you might be lauded, but you won’t be the master of your own success.
Don’t be reactive. Be proactive.
It worked for her, after all.
Filed under: Tacked On The Wall | 4 Comments
Tags: blogging, brett favre, dependency, google, problems, reputation resume, wunderkind
Favre (Update)
Carmella DeCesare is staying.
I’m still dazed.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: brett favre, carmella decesare, jeff garcia, tampa bay buccaneers
We’ll miss you Carmella. Oh, yeah. You too, Jeff.
A few things of note. All personal. As everything lately has been extremely personal for me:
- MOVING. I just moved into my new place. I’ve had a fair amount of problems. These things take up my day. It really sucks. Whatever. At least I have my own apartment in downtown L.A. now, which is actually pretty amazing. Pretty much the main reason I haven’t been posting as much. As soon as I get a couch for the living room, I think things will pick up. It’s just a feeling.
- As my About section will attest, I am a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan. We’re on the verge of trading for Brett Favre. I think it’s an excellent move. If you’re going to have an old quarterback, why not have the very best one? I was confident that we’d get him the moment he said he wanted to come back and the Packers said they didn’t want him. I know he’s more prone to mistakes, but his ceiling is much higher than Jeff’s. I was initially going to use a photo of Favre, but instead opted to include one of Jeff Garcia’s Playboy Bunny wife Carmella. I think it’s much better.
- I used to be against Law 4 of Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power. “Always say less than necessary.” I used to think that it could be just as disarming by being sounding completely honest. The thing is, that only works if you somehow live in a delusional state. I’m a damn good conversationalist, an expert at regurgitating the company line for whatever idea I’m pushing, and I still manage to say too much. Out here in L.A., it seems like, “You know, I don’t know if I’m really qualified to answer that question. I’ll make sure to check for you though,” is becoming my best friend.
Filed under: Meditations | 1 Comment
Tags: 48 laws of power, brett favre, carmella decesare, jeff garcia, law 4, robert greene, sports, tampa bay buccaneers
Commenter “mark” touches on my fear of being watched in order to do a good job in one of my recent posts.
you’re working in the opposite direction that you need to be.
in this post, you attempt to pass fear as work ethic. being afraid of a camera does not make you a good worker, it just makes you a better worker than you think the cameras will accept.
it’s fine if you don’t have a passion for what you do, but don’t try and act as if you do because you’re scared someone will find out.
I don’t think he understands my concept, though.
I had passion for what I was doing. Not because I loved the job, but because my passion was in not doing a poor job. Completely and fully completing my obligation to the customer and thusly my employer.
So, my passion was then for doing a damn good job, the best that I could, even given the menial task of cleaning cars. If anything, there were real, tangible results immediately in front of me that brought gratification for my work. falkjdfals;kfj makes it sound like fear isn’t necessary. Only a love for the job.
But I was AFRAID of not doing a job, I used the panopticon device as my own self-motivator and I was constantly PARANOID that I would lose that LOVE for what I was doing. Not necessarily vacuuming a Honda Civic, but, rather, a respect for my obligation. Sit complacent for a moment, not afraid that you’ll lose your own sense of motivation (in whatever outlet of your choosing), and don’t be surprised that love and charity won’t carry you as far as an acceptance of failure and the fear to commit the same ills again.
On a related note, I’ve opened a dialog with the people from the apartment complex. I’ll post anything if it yields anything of interests.
Filed under: Professional | Leave a Comment
Tags: fear, paranoia, reputation resume, responses
How Not to Treat Your Customer
I’ve been apartment hunting. And re-reading The Dip by Seth Godin, where he implores everyone to be the best in the world at what they do. For a certain apartment complex, their world is “downtown L.A. apartment seekers looking for a clean, comfortable new home”. For the said apartment seekers, their world also includes “that doesn’t neglect me, that makes me feel like a unique snowflake”.
I’m not one of those people that complains at restaurants, anywhere really. But e-mail is different. There’s a time stamp and a record and reminder why one should be annoyed. I’m sure I am being Googled anyways, trying to figure out who this prick is. Hi, Leasing Office. Here’s that e-mail I just wrote you.
Hi Jesse,
I am a young professional working in the area, looking for an apartment with a Loyola law student roommate. As of today, I have yet to sign a lease downtown, though it is imperative that I do by August, and was really interested in looking into Bixel at Fifth as a possible destination. I received an e-mail about an hour ago with the leasing information that I formerly requested. But therein lies the problem: I asked for said brochure in early June.
My experience with downtown L.A. apartments, so far, has been near disastrous. I’m certain a lot of effort and work goes into opening up a new complex for moneyed, young urbanites, but you might expect a more prompt response than a month and a half later. I’m not writing to get anyone in your office in trouble. But when I get an e-mail about a “follow-up” e-mail, it’s almost insulting. It’s one thing to get that kind of service from someone at McDonald’s. It’s another thing when you’re thinking about moving in next door.
I’m still apartment-less, but I’m writing in hopes that none of your customers have a similar experience as me. It wasn’t so bad, really, because I completely forgot about it. Similar to what your office did with me. I would still possibly look into moving into Bixel at Fifth in the future. I’m sure it was just a simple mistake, and I hope that my e-mail can only help serve as a minor lesson. Thank you for your consideration.
Best,
Shawn Shahani
If you’re not trying to be the best in the world, then you’re not trying hard enough. I used to work at my family’s car wash, vacuuming dirty vehicles for 10 hours straight. Easily the worst job I’m ever going to have. Not exactly easy either. But I remember thinking that there could be one of those hidden cameras from a local news station in any of these things. I knew it was a small chance, but I didn’t want to relax for one second because it could mean the ruin of the business. And I didn’t want to disappoint the customer when they got their car.
The above sounds trivial, but it’s an idea—that paranoia—that should resonate with every business in the entire world: Seek anything less than perfection and your customers will notice. I sure as hell did.
Filed under: I Had a Bad Experience | 6 Comments
Tags: bixel at fifth, business, customers, marketing, seth godin
Radiohead and Bugs
One of the graphic designers that has a desk next to me (there’s a good chance that any Legalize L.A. literature you pick up was made by him) usually commands the music throughout the day. He just played Radiohead’s “All I Need,” which is an absolutely gorgeous song. I found this a while ago, but I implore you to watch it if you haven’t seen it. J. Tyler Helms splices the Radiohead track with the 1996 French film Microcosmos, a slow-motion documentary about insects.
Now, who doesn’t want part of Matt Mason’s remix revolution?
Filed under: souvenirs | Leave a Comment
Tags: radiohead, matt mason, insects, Legalize L.A., remix revolution
How Do You Become a Good Writer?
Smaller than life.
You listen and read with an EXTREMELY open mind.
I know my voice comes from liberally watching movies that refined my vocal cadence. It wasn’t Billy Shakespeare or Cyrano de Bergerac that taught me how to talk to women. I’ll thank John Cusack and Trent Walker and the faux Cyrano on my wedding day.
And I didn’t just read the classics. Lots of fantasy novels, Star Wars fiction and Multi User Dungeon games can present prose that you wouldn’t—couldn’t—find anywhere else. Introduce the words “scimitar” or “candied cordials” to a kid and there’s no going back. It’s just giving yourself options. Language is just imitation. I don’t think the best writers are revolutionaries. They’re just damn good counterfeiters.
Ron Rosenbaum recently touched on his opinion of the greatest prose writers ever, special emphasis on Jimmy Breslin. No way that any of us ever makes that list without picking up a book. You don’t learn beautiful prose or cadence or diction by perusing the dictionary; you learn it from the masters. Thing is, they aren’t always assigned in high school English, and different situations call for different vernaculars. If you want to be a versatile writer, you’ve got to absorb everything.
So, when I come across Sean Collin’s review of The Dark Knight, I don’t just read it as someone interested in seeing the film (this Wednesday at the Arclight on Sunset… very excited), but as someone that is constantly on the look out for something to copy. Got this via Jim Henley at the the new and very impressive Tor Books Web site:
Ledger’s Joker is a creature in that vein, but instead of being larger than life, he’s smaller than life. I know that seems counterintuitive given the for-the-ages performance he turned in–surely this will be the most-referenced portrayal of a Villain since Anthony Hopkins’s Hannibal Lecter–but what the Joker is is a human being reduced to only cruelty and glee.
I’ll be damned if I don’t use that metaphor in the next week. Gorgeous.
(As an aside, I even programmed a MUD for a while when I was 13. It was the motivation behind learning basic C++. Not sure how I made it out of my childhood without a complete and utter lack of social acumen. Now I work at the hipster mecca, the American Apparel factory in downtown L.A. It’s all about perspective.)
Filed under: Experience | 2 Comments
Tags: reading, writing, MUD, dark knight, heath ledger, star wars, john cusack, redwall, sean collin
