Archive for the ‘thoughts’ Category

just checking in

today i saw a photo of a times square billboard advertising foursquare, and i couldn’t help but laugh at the typical moment where big brands jump on the new technology train. not that it’s a bad idea to give coupons to people that ‘check in’ as being at your store (a bit rude to people without foursquare accounts, maybe — are their paper versions available at checkout?). i’m just fascinated by people’s fascination with this new ‘checking in’ thing.

the technology is cool, and if you’re a big urban adventurer, i could see the novelty in getting points for going to lots of bars and restaurants. in fact, the one time i fully support the use of foursquare is when i go somewhere new and it’s either really great, really bad, or just really novel. i can easily fire a quick link to the name and mapped location and just let everyone know, ‘hey, this place is great, check it out!’, or ‘hey, stay away!’ in a few button presses, where i might forget to tell them in our next conversation, or not feel like writing a full review on my own blog or something (which no one reads anyway). if yelp’s iphone app were better, i’d probably use them instead, because at least they link to real reviews.

otherwise, it seems like a game where you’re rewarded for behaving compulsively, and that’s a game i don’t really want to play. there are probably some great uses for this beyond my current experience — i love the idea of gps scavenger hunts, the nike+ running trackers are genius — but for now it seems like an idea without a benefit. a hat for fruit, if you will. especially with facebook getting into the race, they better hurry up and figure out what exactly they offer the world, or this billboard is going to seem like a hilarious waste of money in a few years when they merge with myspace.

emerging adulthood: is it too late to sign up?

“With life spans stretching into the ninth decade, is it better for young people to experiment in their 20s before making choices they’ll have to live with for more than half a century? Or is adulthood now so malleable, with marriage and employment options constantly being reassessed, that young people would be better off just getting started on something, or else they’ll never catch up, consigned to remain always a few steps behind the early bloomers? Is emerging adulthood a rich and varied period for self-discovery, as Arnett says it is? Or is it just another term for self-indulgence?” — NY Times, “What Is It About 20-Somethings”

I couldn’t help but be terribly disappointed in this article, mainly because these big, profound, philosophical questions about the nature of growing up that it asks on page 2 get almost no resolution by page 10. The end takeaway seems to be, “Some people think yes, some people think no.” I would also venture to guess that people past their 20’s think “No, these kids need to grow up,” and those in or before their 20’s think, “Yes, I would love more time to be a freewheeling half-adult! Thanks, older generation, for supporting my delaying of responsibility!”

It’s extra funny when you pair this thought with another common understanding: ‘kids getting older younger’. By 5 or 6 kids are done with toys that use imagination, already graduated to computers and video games and already wanting to act, talk, and dress like the pre-teens a few years older than them. It’s as if everyone who isn’t adolescent yet can’t wait to get there, and once they’re there, they want to hang onto it for 20 whole years.

What’s wrong with these people? Adolescence was terrible! Awkward, confusing, often lonely, frequently boring — or was that just for me?

Maybe we’ve reached the real problem; America has made being an adolescent too sweet a deal. They’re protected from any kind of real failure or pain or even hurt feelings, and so who wouldn’t want to stay in that stage forever? Life without consequences must be great. And I just missed it by a few years. Damn.

the post-event twitter crawl: creepy or not?

tonight i saw a movie called catfish. the marketing is all very secretive — the tagline is actually “don’t let anyone tell you what it is”, ugh — in a ploy to generate buzz for what’s actually a pretty fascinating, but really not that edgy or out there movie. but this isn’t about the film; i’ll talk about that more over here in the next few days probably.

what i wanted to put to a vote was something i’ve done a few times now. i go to some event in los angeles that i really enjoy. say, the pavement show i mentioned yesterday, or the new pornographers show from last month. or in this case, an early screening for a film that was a big hit at sundance. then a few hours later, i come home and do a twitter search for other people that just did the same thing, and click on a few to see if there are any rad locals whose blogs i could read or tweets i could follow, or so on.

on the surface, this may sound a little weird and obsessive, sure (especially if you happened to just see the film catfish). but isn’t this out-of-the-ordinary behavior of mine exactly what social technology should be used for? connecting people digitally who might be friends if only given the ice-breaking opportunity in real life?

admittedly, it’s only led to a few people worth following (one onion writer, for example, and a couple all-purpose nerds), and it’s not like i’ve forged any friendships this way — but i’d like to think it could happen, and it could be great. in fact, what i find more depressing is that a lot of the people i click on who share my interests still don’t seem that cool. either my standards are way too specific, or an awful lot of LA people just aren’t very interesting.

(yeah, okay, shut up bay area, NY, pac NW, and all other regions of non-LA friends who tagged a mental ‘duh’ onto that last sentence. i like it here.)

so yes, the question: creepy or not creepy? good idea or waste of energy?

i don’t wanna be an old man anymore

Last week, we found out via an interview that Weezer are toying with the idea of doing a whole tour playing only their classic first albums, the self-titled “Blue” album and Pinkerton. As someone who was infatuated with those two albums during my formative years, this struck me as an outstanding idea. Only later did it strike me how weird it is for a band that’s still recording new music to essentially admit publicly that there’s a whole load of people who’d prefer just the old stuff.

Not that this is an entirely new idea; the Pixies did a whole tour just playing their classic album Doolittle. I recently saw a show by the reunited Pavement, part of a tour that singer Stephen Malkmus said flat out in an interview was all about playing the songs everyone wanted to hear. And I ate it up. That show was incredible.

Of course, the fact that these sort of shows are now appealing so strongly to me does point out that I have officially become part of a new age bracket in some definable form. Not unlike the people in Chuck Klosterman’s essay on people who take classic-rock-themed cruise vacations.

My theory is that I have crossed over an apex, which everyone will probably do some day, just not necessarily at the same point in their lives. Before this apex we are hungry for newness, as much as possible, so we can sort through it and pick out what we like — the things we’ll grow to love and use to define who we are. During this stage we wrap ourselves in cultural artifacts that match the personality we imagine for ourselves. Manly men (football players/fans who know what a nickel package is) or sensitive artists (people who can quote poetry or Smiths lyrics), we all soak up our identity from stimulus in the world. And whatever we immerse ourselves in during this phase will always be a part of us. This was the phase during which I loved Weezer, for example. I don’t just like that music, I have a relationship with it.

The apex is the point we essentially figure out who we are. Sure, this might happen at different points for different people (going to college surely extends it a few years, for example), and even for different aspects of life (our career apex may not coincide with our personality apex, for example), but eventually things get more or less decided. After that apex, we know well enough who we are, and well enough what we like, and just want to get on with enjoying it. The need to keep endlessly searching for something or trying to prove ourselves to the world starts to diminish.

This isn’t meant to be depressing, as if I just realized I’ve peaked and it’s all downhill from here. (Since I haven’t had calculus in a while, I’m probably using the wrong term or drawing a bad mental graph. Should asymptotes be involved?) What I really mean is, at least with regards to music, I’m on the other side of urgency. New bands come along that I love, and that’s great. Old bands release music and maybe it’s not the best, but now I have enough of a frame of reference to know that. I grew up with some great music, and I’ll always love hearing those songs no matter what. But my relationship with any of it — all of it — has changed, because I’m not desperate to fill the empty vessel of me-ness anymore.

Nostalgia is an acceptable indulgence as long as it doesn’t erase all critical capacity; it’s okay to have a soft spot for fond memories, as long as we’re still open to creating new ones. I’ll totally see Weezer play all their old music, just like I’ll go to FYF Fest next month and see a bunch of cool up-and-coming bands. But it’s comforting to know I’m past the point where I’ll have to pretend to like all of them.

creative juices, get flowing

so today i was reading a blog post that some person on twitter linked. because that’s what i do instead of blogging much these days — i click on links in tweets. this is what life has become.

anyway, my first reaction was, ‘oh boy, another person who’s made an infographic that claims to be insightful merely by being visual.’ it’s a cute chart, sure, but clever charts are just how designers write essays, because they hate words. i was ready to brush it off.

then i kept reading, and well, it’s not that. it’s actually a pretty thorough, friendly explanation of how one game designer gets more creativity out of his team. nothing groundbreaking here — we all know there’s no secret sauce beyond lots of work, a little fearlessness and a smart editor — but still, the kind of thing it’s good to read once in a while, to remind ourselves that we’re all struggling to be cleverer than we sometimes feel. if a chart or some new terminology helps, have at it. but i’ll admit, by the end i was a little bit inspired.

mostly, this struck a nerve because i’ve been feeling creatively insecure lately, like i’m a B+ guy in a C- world that’ll never catch up to the A team. a fool to be pitied, as it were. maybe i am, but i hope i’m not. or at least that with a little well-directed effort, i don’t have to be.

so as i pack tomorrow for a little short vacation/long weekend (depending on the fullness of your cup), i will be thinking of a few things: 1) how much beer i can consume over four days in atlanta, and 2) how to sharpen up by putting this blog to better use. i mean, the chart says that ideas follow from ideas, and more cycles means more green ribbons. wait, maybe i’m reading it wrong. nonetheless, maybe i can kill two birds with one stone by not wasting this space and trying to inject a little more inspiration into my day and yours.

but first the beer part.

new habits to replace old ones

once it’s been over a month i get some serious blog-guilt. sorry handful of friends i’ve let down by not relaying my adventures.

VEGAS, though. jessica’s birthday provided the occasion, and over a dozen friends provided the party. man, it was a good one. afternoon poolside, evening eating and drinking, late night money-evaporating… all the good things we rely on sin city to provide every year or so when we visit. not sure if there were any great hilarious stories this trip (at least not until the ride home, which i’ll save for tomorrow), but it was certainly a long, full weekend of fun. i will say this though: if you are looking for something outside the typically pedestrian casino-attached meal options, take the short drive or cab ride out to firefly for tapas. holy balls, i don’t think we had anything that wasn’t just good, but delightful. and all for very reasonable prices.

so, now we’re back. and did i mention i’m quitting smoking? it will probably help to make that as public as possible so there can be a nice mountain of shame to prevent me from slipping up. in fact, i’ve been trying to look for replacement distractions to partake of when i get the urge to go out and smoke, so maybe blogging can be one of my new crutches? i do have a wordpress app for my iphone, so maybe a good plan would be to step outside, write a paragraph, and come back to my desk. expect a lot of short, scattered thoughts if that plan ends up working.

i’ll also accept as many possible words with friends games — as many as i have friends with words with friends, if i have any that read this — so please, help me out fellow nerds. i need a break from normal web surfing.

awesome sale

walking back from breakfast on haight street this past sunday — a gorgeous sunny san francisco morning helped along mightily by the hangover-fighting effects of a wrap full of eggs and cheese and spicy sausage — the sign across the street said, ‘AWESOME SALE!’ in neon bubble letters, and i joked to josh that if we were running low on awesome after the previous day’s extensive barbecuing and beer drinking, now was our time to fill up.

of course at that particular moment we just laughed. ha ha, no need for awesome here, we’re having a great weekend in san fran with a bunch of college buddies. the weather’s perfect, we’re having a great time, we’ve got awesome pretty much covered. (heck, i even won a bunch of games of beer pong, which i never do; as much fun as i find that immature game, and how often i indulge, i never seem to get any better at matching ball to cup. this weekend though, i was on fire. maybe away games are my specialty?).

so yeah, it was an awesome weekend. it usually is when all the guys decide to do these road trip reunions once or twice a year.

but what about the rest of the time? i think i need more awesome, and possibly less comfortable. i mean, i have two blogs, neither of which i’ve written on in over a month — and i like writing. what’s the deal there? i watch too much tv and don’t read enough. i should probably find more ways to activate my brain instead of just stimulate it. i should probably learn new skills and do impressive things with them. i should probably get a new something and get rid of an old something i’ve had for too long, just to break the routine. i should take my girlfriend out on a fancy date to a place we’ve never been to celebrate once i’ve done whatever awesome thing i can.

i just have to figure out what that thing is first, and get down to it.

food truck-xtravaganza

ah, the food truck craze. it’s interesting to see the back and forth over whether it’s a fad, whether it’s good or bad for businesses, or the city, if they’re parking or serving illegally, blah blah blah. All that seems like a lot of whining, frankly.

in the past few weeks we’ve gone on a bit of a food truck spree. several we drove to specifically because we wanted to try them: frysmith’s fries with mediterranean beef or thai chicken were excellent; lee’s philly makes a decent sandwich, and the gogi beef variety is not bad.

i’m lucky enough that a few have found the neighborhood where i work, so i’ve had a killer cheesesteak from south philly experience, fantastic saltado from lomo arigato, and well, a decent effort at the dim sum truck.

then there was the week i took off in january and went to a new one almost every day on wilshire for lunch. barbie’s q hooked me up with some yummy tri-tip sandwich action and india jones slung some tasty chicken frankies (like a bombay version of a burrito).

my favorite might be nom nom though, just because there’s hardly anywhere you can even get banh mi (vietnamese sandwiches) near where i live.

overdone? yeah, you might say that. it has all the signs of a gold rush that’ll get saturated and over-exploited and end up leaving people cold and bitter. and possibly hungry. we can make jokes about not eating in restaurants anymore, or be angry at cops who give citations and keep us from trying out the ones we’ve been waiting to come to our corner, but it all seems immature. it’s a new entrepreneurial business model. aren’t small businesses the one thing america has the biggest fetish for?

what this is all about for me though is sidewalk culture. if i can walk five blocks, — in los angeles, where no one walks — to get a lunch, i’ll do it. but if there are only a few lunch spots in walking distance, i’ll get sick of those things and walk less over time. if, instead, a different truck comes by my neighborhood every day of the week, i’ll walk more often, eat out more often, possibly chat with neighbors more often while we’re waiting for our food.

it’d be stupid to think these people will destroy restaurant culture, because the food is not better, and come on, people like to sit down to eat. but there’s a unique personal element to buying from just a few people in a truck versus the formality of a restaurant, and a sense of community that comes from waiting in a group on a sidewalk that doesn’t happen when waiting for a table in a restaurant. i’m a big fan of that part of the equation, even if the dumplings aren’t quite what i’d hoped.

and until we live in the world of the fifth element, and mobile food vendors come right up to our balcony at lunch, i’ll take any chance to get out on the street and mix with some friendly fellow gluttons. bring on the trucks, i say.

tweetquake

twitter and facebook have made earthquakes a lot more interesting as events, because within seconds you see a bunch of reactions from everyone you know. it’s strange and funny, everyone trading cliches as if we’d all been in the same room when it happened. that same sense of togetherness when a crowd experiences something as one, only all through our social networking addiction.

only i always seem to miss out. i swear, at least half of the minor shakes that hit the city, i’m in my car and don’t even notice them. then i see everyone’s chatter and feel left out. what a ripoff.

i know earthquakes are terrible and all that, but when they happen far out and it’s not a major catastrophe, i’ve always found them kinda fun. like being in a giant bounce house for a few seconds, by surprise, and wondering if it’ll tip over or not. maybe saying that will jinx me, and now i’m doomed to be buried in rubble when the big one hits. let’s just hope my iphone still works so i can tweet about it.

cause i can’t take it anymore

i think i eat up entertainment almost compulsively. every minute not occupied by work, or social obligation, or eating, or say, making out (and there’s always time for that!) — or in other words any minute of downtime — i have to be working through my many backlogs of entertainment options. netflix queue, video games to play, books to read, all that. there’s so much out there and i’m only gonna be around for so long, how can i not feel pressure to fit it all in? (wow, that sounds a lot darker than i meant it to).

anyway, a side effect of that compulsion is that the more i see/hear/read/watch/play, the more desensitized i get. what for most of america seems like a really rad movie, like, say, avatar, to a zealot like myself falls so much farther down the scale even if i can enjoy and appreciate it for what it is. by the same token, the things that get me really excited — the cool, groundbreaking, out-of-the-box stuff like synecdoche, ny or oldboy — a lot of the population would probably find impenetrable, boring, super-weird or just confusing. same thing with music. so much of what i hear i think, ‘that is garbage, how can people love that?’ essentially, i worry sometimes that i’m so far immersed into entertainment that i’m distancing myself from normal people’s experience of it. and then i worry that it’s making me a worse critic, a worse writer, possibly a worse person, and that ’snob’ isn’t just a playful jab but a justified condemnation.

but then i hear something like yeasayer’s ‘O.N.E.‘ and think, ‘holy shit, this is just pure and simple goodness. anyone who doesn’t like this really is wrong. i don’t like it because it meets some lofty standards of rigorous intellectual examination. i like it because it feels good on a totally non-critical level that demands a proper turning of the volume knob toward radical.

then i feel better and get back to writing about how what you think is awesome is actually kind of stupid and what you think is crappy is actually really great, and i can go on with my day.