SHELL OF MAN

ALT-J — Ms An awesome wave. A wonderful journey. Ms begins...

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:19:00 -0600

ALT-J — Ms

An awesome wave. A wonderful journey.

Ms begins as a lullaby, a youthful stream gravitating toward the unknown, darkness. A beautiful transition. The stream is swallowed by a powerful river, peacefully eroding the earth, soothing jagged rocks, en route to its estuary, a dream. That final moment of consciousness, as your body spells with the tide of a wave-dominated delta (∆), sleep.

You awake to a veiled recollection of your journey. The shadow burns across like embers tide paper.

FUCK COMMITTEES (I believe in lunatics)

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:04:13 -0600

It’s about the struggle between individuals with jagged passion in their work and today’s faceless corporate committees, which claim to understand the needs of the mass audience, and are removing the idiosyncrasies, polishing the jags, creating a thought-free, passion-free, cultural mush that will not be hated nor loved by anyone. By now, virtually all media, architecture, product and graphic design have been freed from ideas, individual passion, and have been relegated to a role of corporate servitude, carrying out corporate strategies and increasing stock prices. Creative people are now working for the bottom line.

Magazine editors have lost their editorial independence, and work for committees of publishers (who work for committees of advertisers). TV scripts are vetted by producers, advertisers, lawyers, research specialists, layers and layers of paid executives who determine whether the scripts are dumb enough to amuse what they call the ‘lowest common denominator’. Film studios out films in front of focus groups to determine whether an ending will please target audiences. All cars look the same. Architectural decisions are made by accountants. Ads are stupid. Theater is dead.

Corporations have become the sole arbiters of cultural ideas and taste in America. Our culture is corporate culture.

Culture used to be the opposite of commerce, not a fast track to ‘content’- derived riches. Not so long ago captains of industry (no angels in the way they acquired wealth) thought that part of their responsibility was to use their millions to support culture. Carnegie built libraries, Rockefeller built art museums, Ford created his global foundation. What do we now get from our billionaires? Gates? Or Eisner? Or Redstone? Sales pitches. Junk mail. Meanwhile, creative people have their work reduced to ‘content’ or ‘intellectual property’. Magazines and films become ‘delivery systems’ for product messages.

But to be fair, the above is only 99 percent true.

I offer a modest solution: Find the cracks in the wall. There are a very few lunatic entrepreneurs who will understand that culture and design are not about fatter wallets, but about creating a future. They will understand that wealth is means, not an end. Under other circumstances they may have turned out to be like you, creative lunatics. Believe me, they’re there and when you find them, treat them well and use their money to change the world.

Tibor Kalman
New York, June 1998

(via youmightfindyourself.com)

Egalitaire

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:04:28 -0600

(Excerpted from SUM — forty tales from the afterlife — by David Eagleman)

In the afterlife you discover that God understands the complexities of life. She had originally submitted to peer pressure when She structured Her universe like all the other gods had, with a binary categorization of people into good and evil. But it didn’t take long for Her to realize that humans could be good in many ways and simultaneously corrupt and meanspirited in other ways. How was She to arbitrate who goes to Heaven and who to Hell? Might not it be possible, She considered, that a man could be an embezzler and still give to charitable causes? Might not a woman be an adulteress but bring pleasure and security to two men’s lives? Might not a child unwittingly divulge secrets that splinter a family? Dividing the population into two categories — good and bad — seemed like a more reasonable task when She was younger, but with experience these decisions became more difficult. She composed complex formulas to weigh hundreds of factors, and ran computer programs that rolled out long strips of paper with eternal decisions. But Her sensitivities revolted at this automation — and when the computer generated a decision She disagreed with, She took the opportunity to kick out the plug in rage. That afternoon She listened to the grievances of the dead from two warring nations. Both sides had suffered, both sides had legitimate grievances, both pled their cases earnestly. She covered Her ears and moaned in misery. She knew Her humans were multidimensional, and She could no longer live under the rigid architecture of Her youthful choices.

Not all gods suffer over this; we can consider ourselves lucky that in death we answer to a God with deep sensitivity to the byzantine hearts of Her creations. For months She moped around Her living room in Heaven, head drooped like a bulrush, while the lines piled up. Her advisors advised Her to delegate the decision making, but She loved Her humans too much to leave them to the care of anyone else.

In a moment of desperation the thought crossed Her mind to let everyone wait on line indefinitely, letting them work it out on their own. But then a better idea struck Her generous spirit. She could afford it: She would grant everyone, every last human, a place in Heaven. After all, everyone had something good inside; it was part of the design specifications. Her new plan brought back the bounce to Her gait, returned the color to Her cheeks. She shut down the operations in Hell, fired the Devil, and brought every last human to be by Her side in Heaven. Newcomers or old-timers, nefarious or righteous: under the new system, everyone gets equal time to speak with Her. Most people find Her a little garrulous and oversolicitous, but She cannot be accused of not caring.

The most important aspect of Her new system is that everyone is treated equally. There is no longer fire for some and harp music for others. The afterlife is no longer defined by cots versus waterbeds, raw potatoes versus sushi, hot water versus champagne. Everyone is a brother to all, and for the first time an idea has been realized that never came to fruition on Earth: true equality.

The Communists are baffled and irritated, because they have finally achieved their perfect society, but only by the help of a God in whom they don’t want to believe. The meritocrats are abashed that they’re stuck for eternity in an incentiveless system with a bunch of pinkos. The conservatives have no penniless to disparage; the liberals have no downtrodden to promote.

So God sits on the edge of Her bed and weeps at night, because the only thing everyone can agree upon is that they’re all in Hell.

Millenials Aren't Lazy: They're Fucked

Fri, 10 May 2013 19:05:19 -0600

Millenials Aren't Lazy: They're Fucked:

The Great Recession officially ended in 2009. How’s everybody doing? Did you need help uncorking the champagne?

Unless you are a one-percenter who followed an errant link on Twitter, you probably aren’t ordering Cristal for the table.

Our economy has been slowly gaining ground since we bottomed out in the 2008 job-pocalypse. That oughta be good for people, right? But, turns out 121 percent of income gains made in the recovery went to the top one percent of the country’s earners. I’m not sure how you can capture more than 100% of something. It sounds kind of greedy to me. An economist at Berkeley got to that number when figuring in the fact that incomes for most everyone else have dropped. Wages are down, household incomes are down, but don’t worry, these are the job creators we’re talking about. If you don’t have an employment scenario figured out just yet, wait a few minutes. I’m sure some rich guy needs someone to give his shoe-shine 121 percent of their effort.

Jobs, jobs, jobs! They’re everywhere. The problem with all this job-creation is the new jobs are all worse than our previous jobs, which, to be honest weren’t all that rad in the first place. Some jobs, they don’t even pay money, which is still a thing you need some of to live.

My mother spent the recession in multiple jobs, the most recent of which paid federal minimum wage. $7.25, baby! This is the reason why, when I hear well-paid pundits say that no one except high school kids work for minimum wage, I want to fly to their home, poop on their doorstep, and set it on fire.

Stories like my mom’s are the new normal. Barely scraping by and taking what you can get is the new normal. Having 500 people show up to apply for jobs at Walmart, who pursues a strategy of paying people such low wages that they qualify for government assistance, that’s the new normal. Let Uncle Sam pick up the check!

If the recession taught me anything, it was how to get my dislocated shoulder back in its socket without going to the hospital. (I couldn’t afford the hospital bill, so if you ever need a makeshift sling out of a flannel shirt, look no further.) But what that taught me was how to be scrappy and resourceful in the face of things that suck. I would have traded that life lesson for a secure career with benefits, but I’m trying to squeeze something positive out this mess.

Millennials, or Gen Y, or whatever magazines are calling the youngins these days, we’re the ones getting the brunt of it in this downturn.

Maligned as a bunch of shiftless, tech-addled children raised to think they’d all get trophies, Millennials are trying to build careers out of the ruins of a job market. Amid a group that’s supposed to be a bunch of entitled kids, all I see around me are young people juggling multiple jobs and unpaid internships while trying to blot their (trigger warning!) student debt from their minds.

Unpaid internships are a particular flaming hoop everyone has to jump through now to land even the most mundane gig. Somewhere along the line this practice went from offering a short, genuinely helpful experience to an experiment in the outer reaches of legal exploitation.

I know people who have worked two years without pay to land a salaried gig or who float from internship to internship while bartending, waiting for something to open up in the field in which they hold a degree.

As the years drag on, the more well-off survive the wage attrition. They are the only ones who can afford working for free.

It might not be as horrendous if the young and paycheckless were graduating with degrees from a public system that leaves students with minimal tuition bills. (Hello, Canada!) As it stands now, student debt has reached a staggering one trillion dollars. One TRILLION dollars! For learning things in schools and there are no good jobs and oh my god I stopped to pour myself a drink since I began typing this sentence.

Let’s review: we have lost a decade of economic activity. There are few stable jobs. The cost of education is so high there literally oughta be a law charging for-profit colleges with extortion. It is in this bleak landscape that people are asked to toil away their twenties in underpaid and unpaid positions that used to provide people a living.

Of course, if you’re rich, there’s a separate system. Arianna Huffington has made a name pursuing a debased work-for-free online media model at The Huffington Post. She eventually started auctioning off unpaid internships to the highest bidder–one went for $13,000. “Jumpstart your career in the blogosphere,” the listing read. Hey, she’s got what people want: a tiny pebble of a stepping-stone to an actual career.

That’s what happens when human work is devalued to zero cents an hour and people are willing to endlessly chase the carrot. Exploiters turn their exploiting up to 11.

When I was traveling around Afghanistan writing cartoons about the people I met, an editor at The Huffington Post emailed me about publishing my work on their site. They said I would receive “very prominent placement” and a “link back” to my website. No pay, of course, but a link. Exposure. The currency of the web economy is attention.

I gave ‘em a polite “nope.”

The HuffPo business model is one that works for exactly one person. When Arianna later merged with AOL for a cool $315 million, her unpaid contributors felt duped. There’s your 121 percent of economic gains right there.

Allen Iverson, NBA Icon, Struggles With Life After Basketball

Sat, 04 May 2013 15:32:00 -0600

Allen Iverson, NBA Icon, Struggles With Life After Basketball:

PHILADELPHIA — Less than an hour before the 8 p.m. tipoff, Philadelphia 76ers employees are scurrying around the Wells Fargo Center, hoping this Saturday night unfolds as planned.

It’s late March, and the team is handing out Allen Iverson bobblehead dolls. Iverson himself is scheduled to attend, a rare public appearance for the 37-year-old former NBA superstar. He’ll be introduced during a pregame ceremony and then watch the game from Sixers chief executive Adam Aron’s suite. But Iverson isn’t here yet, and a troubling rumor is passing through the arena’s arteries: Iverson has missed his flight.

“He’ll be on time,” Aron says assuredly. “That’s all that matters.”

Three years after Iverson’s last NBA game, the spotlight has shifted from his play to his flaws. His refusal back then to play by society’s rules was seen as an independent player’s quirks, part of the character and the brand, same as his cornrows and tattoos.

Practicing with hangovers added to the legend. Skipping team functions and refusing to obey the league’s dress code was a man who wouldn’t be held down. And embarrassing defenders on the way to the basket, in the NBA and before that at Georgetown, was a nightly statement by the 6-foot, 165-pound guard: If a man, no matter his size, is determined enough, he can get the better of giants.

But Iverson isn’t a basketball player anymore. This is something most everyone but Iverson has accepted, and for years a question worried those closest to him: What happens when the most important part of a man’s identity, the beam supporting the other unstable matter, is no longer there?

For the past three years, as Iverson chased an NBA comeback, his marriage fell apart and much of his fortune – he earned more than $150 million in salary alone during his career – dissolved. Now, those who once ignored past signals have recognized that basketball may have been the only thing holding Iverson’s life together.

“He has hit rock bottom, and he just hasn’t accepted it yet,” says former Philadelphia teammate Roshown McLeod.

A few minutes before 8 o’clock, a black Suburban pulls into the players’ parking lot. At 7:59, the passenger door opens, and Iverson climbs out, shouting profanity. Then he notices Aron, who wraps his arms around Iverson. They walk toward the entrance, Iverson still shouting, for one more night under the lights.

“God gave him this great gift,” says Pat Croce, the former Sixers executive who selected Iverson first overall in the 1996 NBA draft. “But you knew one day, he was going to take it away.”

‘I worry about him’

Iverson stood during a divorce proceeding in Atlanta in 2012 and pulled out his pants pockets. “I don’t even have money for a cheeseburger,” he shouted toward his estranged wife, Tawanna, who then handed him $61.

The scene showed a stark side of a man who had captivated crowds, pushed boundaries, and became one of the NBA’s biggest stars. He did things his way, on his schedule, speaking honestly during news conferences and snubbing the professional sports establishment. Crowds connected with Iverson, who’d succeeded despite physical limitations and mistakes, such as a felony conviction at 18 for his role in a bowling-alley brawl in Hampton, Va., his home town.

“For all of the small people, he gave all those people hope,” said Aaron McKie, a Sixers assistant coach and Iverson’s former teammate.

Years later, word has spread of Iverson’s family troubles and that he is essentially broke. Croce called more than a year ago, leaving a message through Gary Moore, Iverson’s longtime friend and business manager. There was no response.

“I just want to see him,” Croce said. “I don’t even know what he looks like.”

Larry Brown, who coached Iverson in Philadelphia, has called often recently, extending invitations to Dallas. Brown now coaches there, at Southern Methodist University, and two of Iverson’s former Sixers teammates, Eric Snow and George Lynch, are on Brown’s staff. Brown thinks it would be good for Iverson to be around the game and people who still care about him, but Iverson hasn’t visited.

“I worry about him,” Brown said. “A lot.”

McKie and others have texted. Iverson responds sometimes, although days or weeks often pass. Other times, there’s no reply. He keeps to himself, something of a recluse, and declines most interview requests. Last year his eldest daughter, Tiaura, asked to live with her father, according to divorce testimony transcripts. She was concerned about how few people her dad interacts with.

“I just don’t like to see it end this way,” Brown said.

Multiple attempts to reach Iverson for this story were unsuccessful; Moore said Iverson has been told to avoid the spotlight. But more than 600 pages of transcripts and court documents from the divorce proceeding suggest that spurts of questionable behavior during his career weren’t just layers to Iverson’s character. They were warning signs.

“For him to be as successful as he was, he had to be determined and have that little chip on his shoulder and that inner voice telling him, ‘Do it your way, Allen,’ ” Lynch said. “And that’s probably his downfall.”

‘Didn’t think about the future’

During Iverson’s prime, teammates accepted Iverson’s unique style, be it hangovers during some practices or his trademark single-arm sleeve. His response to a question in 2002 about missing workouts became iconic: “We’re talking about practice.”

As long as his game was sharp – he was named MVP in 2001 and won four NBA scoring titles – they ignored all else.

Basketball was Iverson’s sanctuary, and he signed huge contracts: a six-year deal in 1999 worth $70.9 million and, four years later, a new agreement worth $76.7 million. Reebok signed him to a huge endorsement deal, including a deferred trust worth more than $30 million, a lump sum he can’t touch until he turns 55.

His play kept his shortcomings in the shadows, but at home, his behavior caused increasing worry. Tawanna testified that her husband was undependable and volatile. Alcohol intensified his flaws, she said, leading him to skip milestone events and stagger through others.

He hadn’t been present for Tiaura’s birth in 1994, and three years later, when Allen Jr. was born – they would call him Deuce – Iverson was “very intoxicated” and unable to drive her to the hospital, Tawanna told the court.

He supported family members and rarely said no to a request for money. McLeod, who occasionally went to the bar with Iverson’s entourage, says his teammate always paid the tab, no matter how much. “He never turned down anybody,” Brown said. “He was there to help everybody. He didn’t think about the future.”

Iverson feuded in 2006 with the Sixers, who removed his likeness from the Wells Fargo Center before trading him to the Denver Nuggets, who later traded him to Detroit. When he became a free agent in ‘09, teams were reluctant to sign him.

Moore said he told Iverson to consider life after basketball. In November 2009, Iverson played in three games with the Memphis Grizzles before being released, and the Sixers brought him back for 25 games. In his final NBA appearance, Feb. 20, 2010, he scored 13 points in a 32-point loss to the Chicago Bulls. His career ended abruptly, without closure.

Said Nuggets Coach George Karl: “Finding his last chapter of his career never happened.”

“They don’t want you anymore”

Iverson kept living as if another contract was imminent, and Tawanna struggled to curb his spending. According to a bank statement submitted in the divorce, the couple’s checking account was overdrawn by more than $23,000 in July 2011. In a single day, $23,255.36 was deducted – at a diamond store, a hat shop, a steakhouse and a hotel.

Tawanna testified that her checks bounced that month when she paid for housing and electricity. She sold jewelry and Tiaura’s car to pay for household expenses, including school clothes and supplies.

Before their home in Denver was foreclosed, Tawanna testified, she sold more jewelry at a pawn shop to pay toward debt. Iverson owed thousands to a Georgia home builder, was hit with tax liens, and his wages were garnished to settle a nearly $860,000 balance with a jeweler.

The public image for years had been of a bad boy tamed by his growing family sitting near the baseline. The truth was that Iverson was often an absentee husband and father.

Tawanna testified that during a 2009 family vacation in Orlando, Iverson spent evenings with a friend while his family made plans without him. On the day they were to fly home, Iverson nursed a hangover in a van, lying on the floor with a foot draped on the seat. While their children saw a movie, Tawanna sat for hours with her husband, afraid if he was left alone the driver would take photographs.

Another time, she said, Iverson left his children alone in a hotel room during a weekend at a water park. Tawanna picked them up at 2 a.m., one of the kids still in her swimsuit, with no sign of Iverson. “I always thought that my kids needed their father,” she’d testify later. “And what I’ve learned is that they don’t need him if he’s going to be that destructive in their lives.”

Iverson kept waiting for NBA teams to call. Last August, Iverson’s son Deuce, now 15, enrolled in a Pennsylvania school and families were invited to group counseling. Tawanna testified that Iverson skipped most of the sessions, including a lunch with his son. During a meeting he did attend, the speaker told the children about success, and how Donald Trump had seized opportunities.

Iverson interrupted, telling them that he had been the man with money and fame. Then he said something Tawanna would remember.

“What are you supposed to do,” she recalled him saying, “when, you know, they don’t want you anymore?”

‘He deserves a better ending’

In February 2012, Moore sent Tawanna an e-mail: “THE BLUEPRINT FOR IVERSON RETURN.”

Iverson played in Turkey and briefly joined a team in China, but he believed he belonged in the NBA. One of Moore’s bullet points stood out: “No more drinking!” He also included an article on how to select an intervention leader. A subsequent e-mail suggested Iverson attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

Moore contacted NBA teams, but there was little interest. Besides, Tawanna had filed for divorce, and they spent much of last summer in court. He and Tawanna had been together since they were 16, prom dates and partners through challenges and triumphs.

“I love u,” Iverson wrote to her in a text message submitted in the divorce filing. “I miss your pretty face & I’m sorry! Ppl make mistakes!”

He kept making them. When he met with an investigator to discuss custody of his five children, he “smelled remarkably of alcohol,” according to the investigator’s testimony. Months later, during a scheduled alcohol evaluation, he again arrived with alcohol on his breath.

Iverson didn’t take the witness stand during the divorce hearing or publicly dispute his wife’s claims, and his deposition testimony was sealed. The judge awarded Tawanna sole legal custody, calling Iverson a “hindrance” to his children. He appealed, but it was dismissed last month.

In a statement, released through Moore’s office after the custody ruling, Iverson said the court was biased and its ruling “one-sided.”

A person close to Iverson, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that half of the Reebok trust, established as Iverson’s rainy-day fund, was transferred to Tawanna as part of their divorce settlement. Tawanna’s attorney, John Mayoue, would not comment, and attempts to reach Tawanna for additional comment were unsuccessful.

After everything, Moore said, Iverson loves his children “more than life” and still has feelings for Tawanna.

After the divorce went final in January, Moore restarted the NBA comeback effort. Iverson declined an offer from the Dallas Mavericks’ NBA Development League team, posting on Twitter that “it is not the route for me.”

Moore called Tim Grover, a personal trainer who worked with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Grover said he spoke with Iverson, and they discussed a conditioning program. “Just get the muscles to get firing,” Grover said.

In late March, Grover pulled out of the arrangement, telling Moore he couldn’t dedicate the time for training Iverson.

And that was that. It was over.

Brown called Iverson during the following weeks. The coach is still asked often about him, and when he visits college campuses, he sees players with cornrows and a sleeve on one arm – a generation of influence.

“He deserves a better ending than he’s getting,” Brown said.

‘We talking about love’

Former Georgetown coach John Thompson Jr. was asked about Iverson last month. He was preparing for a radio broadcast before an NCAA tournament game at Verizon Center.

“What I think about Allen Iverson is in my heart,” Thompson said.

Thompson, who took a chance by offering Iverson a scholarship after the bowling alley incident, is protective of Iverson and wouldn’t be interviewed. But he recommended a discussion with Lorry Michel, Georgetown basketball’s longtime trainer.

She answered her office phone, quick to say that she doesn’t do interviews. But for Iverson, she’d make an exception.

“You go along life,” she said, “and you run into people. And some really intrigue you more, maybe, I don’t know. Or they just treat you differently.”

Michel underwent surgery for a brain tumor in June 2011. Amid the emails and cards was a note from Iverson. It wouldn’t be the last time he checked in. She said he remembers people and their paths; because his was so unlikely, he appreciates how others reached their goals. “He would see people for what they were,” she said.

Earlier this year, Michel contacted Iverson. She’d heard about the divorce and wanted to know how he was doing. Fine, he told her, and she chose to believe him.

Shortly before Michel was inducted Feb. 9 into Georgetown’s Hall of Fame, Iverson asked someone to point a camera at him and ask him about practice. The blurry footage would be sent to Washington and played during the ceremony.

He stood at a lectern, his hat crooked, and mimicked his famous rant.

“We talking about love?” he began. “Not Coach Thompson. Not the baddest guard that ever played at Georgetown. Not Alonzo Mourning. Not Patrick Ewing. Not Dikembe Mutombo?

“I’m supposed to be here talking about Georgetown. But we talking about love. We talking about love? Miss Michel? Oh, we talking about love.”

He paused.

“I love you. I miss you. Well-deserved congratulations. I love you. I can’t put it in words how much I do love you.”

‘With truth comes consequences’

On that evening in late March, Aron, the Sixers CEO, leads Iverson into the players’ entrance, through the Philadelphia locker room, and into a tunnel.

At 8 p.m., the lights are lowered, and flames blast from tubes. The announcer’s voice booms through the arena’s speakers: “A six-foot guard from Georgetown,” extending the syllables. The crowd erupts.

Iverson stands at midcourt, wearing a throwback Philadelphia Phillies warm-up jacket and dark sunglasses. He smiles and soaks in these seconds, cupping a hand around his ear the way he used to.

This is the closest Iverson will get to an NBA comeback. If the past three years have been this chaotic, what awaits him as he drifts farther from his basketball career – inching toward June 2030, when he’s eligible to receive what’s left of the Reebok money?

Moore has implored the Sixers to hire Iverson as a consultant. Friends and former teammates think he should travel, tell his story – the whole story, not just highlights like the arena’s big screen will show.

“Sometimes we don’t want to accept the fact that with truth comes consequences,” Moore says. “I just don’t think that he ever really grasped the fact that that existed. And maybe he never really accepted that fact because so many times, he didn’t have to.”

A moment later, Iverson retreats backstage and conducts a brief interview with Comcast, the team’s partner station. The reporter asks what’s next.

“I put it in God’s hands,” Iverson says, his voice cracking. “I’ve accomplished a lot in the NBA, and if the road ends here, then it does.”

He continues, looking contemplative, choosing the right words.

“And I’m not bitter about it. I don’t feel no type of way. I just understand that He helped me accomplish a lot of things in the NBA. I’ve done so many things that people thought that I couldn’t do . . .

“But at some point, it comes to an end. And regardless of however it comes — regardless if it’s retirement, injury, or whatever — at some point, it comes to an end.”

Then he smiles.

“Now, if I get a chance to play again,” he says, pausing at the thought, “I would love the opportunity.”

Jonathan Hobin Re-Creates the World's Most Infamous Tragedies with Children

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:18:00 -0600

Jonathan Hobin Re-Creates the World's Most Infamous Tragedies with Children:

The Future of Advertising

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:46:36 -0600

The Future of Advertising:

By: mnmlist

One of the biggest reasons people buy so much, and are so discontent with their lives, is advertising. Advertising creates false needs — all of a sudden we need an iPhone or a new car or a diamond ring, just because an advertiser put the need in our heads.

What is advertising? It’s a company (or political candidate, etc.) paying a publishing platform (TV, newspaper, website, billboard, etc.) to get its message/brand in front of people. Companies are paying for our attention, and trying to get us to buy what they’re selling. And the publisher makes money by selling the attention of its readers/watchers/users.

Of course, for us, the users … it sucks. Ads make the watching experience much worse. Ads make the reading experience much worse (imagine reading this article with 10 ads surrounding it).

Ads make our lives worse.

Isn’t that amazing? Companies build entire businesses aroundactively making our lives worse. And they do it because it works. Because we buy what they’re selling, so advertisers make more money through this model, and publishers also win.

But we lose.

Many people, of course, would rather not have ads if given the choice. I prefer to watch a TV show on iTunes (where I might pay a dollar or two for the show) rather than pay for cable TV where I might get many more shows for the same dollar or two, but also have to put up with advertising. Honestly, I don’t need that many shows, and I’m not willing to pay less in order to make my life worse.

Lots of people will put up with ads to get content for free. But it’s not free, because:

1. Your life is worse for having to watch the ads.
2. You are paying for the ads, and thus the content, by buying more. If you weren’t, advertising wouldn’t exist.
3. The time you spend watching ads is worth something.

This is becoming more important than ever because of the amount of time our lives are spent online and in front of screens, and thus potentially in front of ads. There are two directions I see advertising going in the future:

1. All pervasiveness. This is the direction it seems to be going. We spend so much time on things like Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, and other websites, and they’re all covered in invasive advertising. And with iPhones and Google Glass, that’s expanding to fill almost every moment of our waking lives. Advertising will be everywhere, tailored specifically to you now that advertisers and publishers have so much data about who you are.

However, I submit that there will be more and more services in the coming years that help us to block out ads. Obviously in the browser there are ad-blocking plugins/extensions, and people use things like Tivo to skip ads on television. We can pay to have no ads on sites like Hulu. This is a worthwhile service, to pay to make your life less crappy, though of course not everyone will be able to afford this kind of service. So some will pay to have zero ads, and others will not afford it and have ads everywhere, all the time. The difference between these two kinds of lives will be huge.

2. Choose no ads. Some smart publishers will choose to have no ads. I have no ads here on mnlmist, nor on Zen Habits. How do I support myself, if not with ads? By selling my own services. This obviously is like advertising, but I think it’s better. I don’t have ads ruining your experience, and the only thing I sell is what I already have for free on my site (help for improving your life). And because you already know me and come to my site for this, you’re more likely to trust me than some random advertiser. If I violate that trust, you will stop going to my site. I have a strong incentive to keep your trust by being trustworthy.

I’m just one publisher on the Internet, but there are others. We are the exceptions, but I think we’re important exceptions. Readers/users/viewers can choose publishers who don’t have advertising, and avoid/block those who do. Opt out. Be conscious about who you go to, who you trust. If enough people do this, having no ads will become a competitive advantage. That will then encourage others to do the same, and then we will be able to choose a life without crappy ads, without having to pay extra.

Which future happens is up to you. You can opt to not read/watch/use sites and services with ads (and if you’re a publisher, you can create an ad-free business model), or you can put up with crappy ads and let the all-pervasiveness win.

COLD WAR KIDS — Lost That Easy Amazing! Favorite track...

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 11:40:00 -0600

COLD WAR KIDS — Lost That Easy

Amazing! Favorite track from the new Cold War Kids’ album Dear Miss Lonelyhearts.

“It’s a lonely life by candlelight to make believe you talk to the dead.”

LIP CHASER

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 11:35:22 -0600

Ears ringin’ teeth clickin’ ears ringin’ teeth clickin’ ears ears ears ringin’ teeth clickin’ ears ringin’ teeth clickin’ ears ears ring.

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:56:00 -0600

"My defeat sleeps top to toe with her success"

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 19:34:02 -0600

LOCAL NATIVES -- Ceilings

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:11:00 -0600

This is the best track off Local Natives’ new album Hummingbird. It slowly builds into an amazing performance…

"…not visual or aural stimulation but a convenient way to shut oneself off from the ugliness of..."

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 17:54:09 -0700

““…not visual or aural stimulation but a convenient way to shut oneself off from the ugliness of a money-grubbing society…””

- THIS is the next great invention.

REGRETS OF THE DYING

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 09:16:25 -0700

REGRETS OF THE DYING:

By: Bronnie Ware

For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.

People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone’s capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.

When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.

2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.

"Like all good fruit the balance of life is in the ripe and ruin."

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 12:12:09 -0700

Photo

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 19:34:39 -0700

"The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to..."

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 19:06:37 -0700

“The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present, and future, always have existed, always will exist. The Tralfamadorians can look at all the different moments just the way we can look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, for instance. They can see how permanent all the moments are, and they can look at any moment that interests them. It is just an illusion we have here on Earth that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone it is gone forever.”

RA RA RIOT — When I Dream Jazzy-Sassy. Really...

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 12:14:00 -0700

RA RA RIOT — When I Dream

Jazzy-Sassy.

Really anticipating Ra Ra Riot’s new album, Beta Love. Love this band, but like them just a little bit less without the sexy cellist, Alexandra Lawn.

Is introspection just a complicated term for vanity?

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 14:56:00 -0700

ALT-J -- Breezeblocks

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 10:07:05 -0700

Alt-J’s debut album An Awesome Wave is far and away my favorite album of 2012. And of course they countered this great song with a compelling video.