The New Yorker: Will Storr: ‘How Millennials Became The Selfie Generation’

Posted on May 21, 2018 by Erik Schneider
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Source: The New Yorker– Narcissism on display

Source: The New Democrat

“We look at how society became fascinated with its own image, and try to find the truth behind selfie-taking. How Millennials Became the Selfie Generation | Annals of Obsession”

From The New Yorker

Just on a personal I note: I’m really glad I went to and graduated high school in the early and mid 1990s and not today with the personality I have then and now. Going to high school today must feel like you’re on a reality TV or daytime talk show or something. With practically every teenager in school feeling the need to talk, look, and act like they’re favorite celebrity that they saw or read about online the previous night. Social media narcissism and faddism is in and individualism is dying with the Millennials and we’ll see what Generation Z is like when they’re out of high school and college as well.

Selfies similar to coffee house cups and smartphones, are props. People use them to tell everyone else that they’re up to date and in style with whoever is cool or awesome at the time. And I’m willing to bet a lot of times when you see someone walking doing a street or out of a building looking down at their phone and holding a coffee house cup, the cup is probably empty and they’re just looking at their phone. And that draw dropping OMG expression that you see, is just that. But there probably isn’t actually anything extraordinary going on with that person at that time because again they’re just looking at their phone because they want people to think they’re just as cool or awesome and in as the people that see them.

Well, selfies are props as well for people who feel the need to be seen doing whatever they’re doing that day and being at whatever the trendy place is and that place will probably be a coffee house or some trendy cafe and they’ll feel the need to get those pics up on Facebook ( or whatever they’re favorite social network is ) almost as soon as their pics are taken. The need to feel cool by the people they believe are cool and who they want to be seen with. Faddism is in with young adults today and the need to be seen like their favorite celebrities and individualism and risk in life is out. Because if people act like themselves the person they talk to in their head and see in the mirror when they’re just being them self in private, they’re worried that person might not be seen as cool with the in crowd.

I’m all in favor of self-esteem and people feeling good about themselves, as long as it’s deserved. When someone fails at something whether it’s in school or at work, the first reaction shouldn’t be it will get get better. Doesn’t mean it won’t get better, but that shouldn’t be the automatic first reaction. The first reaction should be a self-examination and be a question which is why did you fail. Failing and screwing up should be opportunities for self-improvement. “This is why I failed and this is what I can do to prevent future failures and be successful in the future.” Instead of, “that is just a onetime thing and it will automatically get better in the future.” Because if you don’t fix what went wrong the last time, it won’t get better until you do.

Self-esteem, the so-called self-esteem movement of the 1990s, was the start of the rise of narcissism in America. With people feeling the need to be seen and be seen being cool and hanging out with cool people and feeling like if something went wrong in their life it wasn’t because of them and it wasn’t a personal failure on their part. And we see that with selfies today with people feeling the need to be liked and popular and be told they’re great, oh I’m sorry awesome and doing awesome things and being around awesome people and feeling the need to be associated with whatever the popular trend is. And the internet and social media today have just taken those issues in American culture to extreme levels, along with celebrity culture and how important that seems to be with so many Americans.

Posted in Life, The New Democrat | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Alfred Hitch Blog: Wemisse- Vertigo (1958) ‘I Need You To Be Madeline For a While’

Posted on May 14, 2018 by Erik Schneider
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Source:Alfred Hitch Blog– Kim Novak, under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Source:The New Democrat 

“(My analysis of Vertigo will be divided into two parts.)

In 1956 Paramount purchased two books as potential Alfred Hitchcock projects: Flamingo Feather, and D’entre Les Morts (From Among the Dead). He was planning to make Flamingo Feather first; it was announced in the trade papers as his next movie, and he went so far as to take a trip to South Africa, scouting locations for the movie. What he saw there discouraged him. He felt the movie would be costly, and the political subject matter touchy. So after returning to Hollywood, he scrapped this movie for From Among the Dead, the movie that would become Vertigo…

From the Alfred Hitchcock Blog 

” need you to be Madeleine for a while”

Jimmy Stewart & Kim Novak

Source:The Monty Andrew– Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak.

From The Monty Andrew

I saw North by Northwest for like the 200th time last night ( not that I’ve been counting ) because it’s my favorite movie and I hadn’t seen in about like an entire year and it has my favorite actor in Cary Grant, as well as my favorite director Alfred Hitchcock. I was just in the mood to see that movie again and watch Cary make a comedian of himself in every basic scene in the movie, with absolutely no direction from Hitch. The scene where he’s climbing out his hospital room and sneaking into another room from by going out his window into another window, is a perfect example of that. So I’m sort of in a Hitchcock mood, plus I love Kim Novak as well.

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Source: Paste Magazine– Hollywood Goddess Kim Novak

Vertigo is not the perfect movie, but North by Northwest is, but Vertigo has a lot things in it that are perfect. Where the movie takes place and is shot which is San Francisco, which is at least arguably the best looking big city in America, if not the world. You couldn’t shoot a movie in a better looking big city than San Francisco. The director who I don’t need to mention. The two lead characters with Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak. Kim playing a woman who in many ways is a lot like herself. Sort of shy and lacking in self-confidence. Which is almost impossible to believe when you look at Kim Novak and then she’s also a very good if not great actress as well, because she’s so real and turns herself into the women she plays.

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Source: WTOP Radio– Hollywood Goddess Kim Novak

And then Madeline comes back, except that Madeline is now Judy Barton ( also played by Kim Novak ) and Scottie sees Judy who he believes strongly resembles Madeline at a store and Scottie is still in love with Madeline and decides he wants Judy to be Madeline and dress like Madeline and go to the same restaurants and places that Scottie and Madeline went to when they had their affair. Except that Judy is really Madeline Elster and she never actually died. She and her husband are just playing this scam on Scottie that he never figures out ( even though he’s a detective ) until the last scene in the movie. Where she actually does die for real.

If I had to do a scale for the best Hitchcock movies of all-time, Vertigo would be like number five. Alfred Hitchcock made a lot of films and made a lot of great films, but North by Northwest, Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, Dial M For Murder, Family Plot, are all better so Vertigo wouldn’t even be in my top five, but again Hitch made a lot of great movies, so number 6 is actually pretty good. But it had a great cast, great director, the writing is a little cheesy with grown men and women using words like darn with no sense that any of these people are very religious at all and there in San Francisco and in the late 1950s when moderate swearing in Hollywood movies was becoming somewhat noticeable. But it has am iterating plot and Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak, are both very entertaining by themselves and Kim is hot, sexy, and adorable enough to get met to watch her in anything that she does.

Posted in Classic Hitch, The New Democrat | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The New Republic: Win McCormack: ‘Are You Progressive’- Differences Between Progressive, Socialist & Liberal’

Posted on May 7, 2018 by Erik Schneider
TNR

Source:The New Republic– A look at the Progressive Era.

Source:The New Democrat 

“What distinguishes a progressive from a liberal? This is one of the more pervasive ambiguities in contemporary American political discourse.”

From The New Republic

Learn Liberty

Source:Learn Liberty– talking about progressivism and the New Deal.

“LibertyCon unites the people who are redefining the pro-liberty movement. For more info, visit http://www.libertycon.com
Looking to bring some company? Invite your Facebook friends to LibertyCon. For more info, visit:Learn Liberty.”

From Learn Liberty

Before I offer you my own personal definition of progressive and progressivism and there really isn’t any official of progressive and progressivism unlike liberal and liberalism, or conservative and conservatism, I want to lay out what progressive and progressivism isn’t. Even if others believe their so-called progressive values are the real progressive values. And people who disagree with those values are regressive or right-wingers.

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Source: The Slide Player– Theodore Roosevelt, Progressive Republican

Progressives aren’t Liberals and they’re not Socialists either. Progressives and Liberals, share similar values, but Progressives also share similar values with Conservatives, which I’ll explain later. You can be a Liberal and believe that people who are down should be able to get help from to help them sustain themselves in their time of need ( for lack of a better phrase ) and to help them get back up. And you can be a Progressive who believes in free speech, the right to privacy, personal freedom generally, but who isn’t a Liberal more broadly.

And just as important, Progressives aren’t Socialists ( democratic or communist ) and Socialists aren’t Progressives. In many cases the opposite is very clear. One of the most if not most regressive ( anti-progressive ) political philosophies in the world is communism. ( For all you young hipsters who think Communists are cool and communism is cool and wear Che Guevara t-shirts ) When it comes to Democratic Socialists, similar to Liberals, Democratic Socialists share similar goals and in some cases values. The belief in a minimum wage, the right for workers to organize, health care for everyone, that poverty should be addressed, etc. But tend to differ in how to accomplish those goals and don’t have a big centralized welfare state tax hike solution, to accomplishing all those goals.

Again, about what progressive isn’t, you can be a man-hating, anti-Caucasian, Che Guevara and The Weather Underground loving, radical feminist Marxist-Socialist, or just a Socialist but not a Marxist with those other political characteristics. Who believes individualism and property rights are selfish and capitalism and private enterprise is racist, and personal freedom and free speech are dangerous, or you can be a Progressive. Who is forward looking and believes that progress can be obtained through government action, but isn’t looking to destroy or takeover the American Federal form of government with checks and balances and replace it with a socialist government. But you can’t be a Progressive and a Socialist-Communist. They don’t go together and tend to be at odds with each other. Progressives believe in progress through government action. Socialists and Communists, believe in collectivism, whether it’s democratic or communist.

So what is progressive, what are Progressives and what is progressivism? I actually know the answers to these questions, otherwise writing this piece would be a waste of my time.

As I briefly hit on before in the last paragraph Progressives believe not only in progress, but that progress can be obtained through government action. Doesn’t have to be the Federal Government necessarily, we live in a federal republic with a federalist form of government. Which means the states and localities have a role in addressing a lot of these domestic issues. Also doesn’t mean that the Federal Government doesn’t have any role in addressing issues and problems in the country. Again, Progressives are different from Socialists, but also different from Conservative-Libertarians.

One thing that I like and respect about progressivism is how non-ideological and pragmatic it is. Barack Obama should really be the modern spokesperson and father for what progressivism really is in America, because of how pragmatic he was as President.

Progressives like to solve problems in American society. They’re not looking to nationalize this or that, or restrict this current freedom or take that one away and make the country more collectivist.

And this is true going back to the Progressive Era ( which actually was progressive ) to the New Deal of the 1930s, the Dwight Eisenhower Progressive Republican Administration of the 1950s, where President Eisenhower successfully addressed civil rights in America with school desegregation and gave us along with Congress our national infrastructure system. Or the Great Society of the 1960s, as well as smaller but important accomplishments of President Richard Nixon dealing with the environment, President Carter with energy independence, President George H.W. Bush with civil rights, President Clinton with family and medial leave, President Obama with health care. Which I believe is just as important as anything from the New Deal, if not more important.

The first word in progressive is progress and the second word is ive. Maybe someone will someday define ive for me, ( ha, ha) but nowhere in the word do you see socialist, collectivist, communist, feminist, or even liberal. Our most Progressive President’s have been our most anti-authoritarian and anti-communist President’s. Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Barack Obama even with his major campaign against Islamism and ISIS.

I mentioned earlier ( feels like yesterday at this point ) that I would show you something that Progressives and Conservatives have in common. ( Mission impossible to believe, right ) Well, I just did that with the President’s that I just mentioned. The belief in that America has to be both strong at home as well as abroad. That liberal democracy is a great thing that needs to be defended and supported and that authoritarianism whatever the philosophy, needs to fought and defeated. As well as limited government and fiscal responsibility. Before President Bill Clinton, the last American President to have a balanced budget, was President Lyndon Johnson. something to think about when you’re looking at political philosophy and labels.

There’s been a lot of discussion the last few years, more like going back to the start of the Obama presidency, about what’s the difference between Liberals and Progressives, or are they the same thing and what’s the difference between Liberals and Socialists, or Socialists and Progressives, are they the same things. Senator Bernie Sanders, has been labeled as all three or that he’s all three. Which is not true because he’s a Democratic Socialist and a proud one at that.

When you think of Socialist, think of socialism democratic or communist depending on the person. When you think of Liberal, think of liberalism which is about liberal democracy. When you think of Progressive, think of progressivism through government action, but in a limited form. Not government trying to do everything for everybody and trying to run people’s lives for them. Which if anything is actually regressive with all the individualism and freedom that people would lose as a result.

Posted in The New Democrat, TNR | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Leathered Life: Leathered Life Photos- Lena in Leather Jeans

Posted on April 30, 2018 by Erik Schneider
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Source:Leathered Life– Leathered Life model and goddess Lena.

Source:The Action Blog

“Leathered Life Photos – Hot Girls.” Originally from Leathered Life, but the video has since been deleted or blocked on YouTube.

In about 2009 or so I discovered this website on YouTube called Leathered Life, which also has a YouTube channel and I pacifically discovered one of their models known as Lena. Don’t know what her last name is and I would love to know that, but Leathered Life is a leather fashion website and Lena is one of their models where she models black leather jeans, black leather boots, and black leather jackets for them. The woman in black, perhaps Jim Morrison’s long lost daughter as far as how much she wears and fashions, perhaps loves black leather. The leather jeans, boots, jackets, Jim Morrison would be very proud of her.

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Source: ICM Ceast– Lena

Leathered Life has several beautiful sexy models that I like including Laura and Sandra B, but Lena especially caught my attention. She’s this beautiful baby-faced adorable curvy brunette, with a very tight body and a black leather fetish. She fills out leather jeans as well as Catherine Bach, Dyan Cannon, Lyda Cornel, ( for you Too Close For Comfort fans ) Tyra Banks, Janet Jackson, fills out denim jeans. With a tight curvy body, beautiful legs, and of course a beautiful butt. She caught my attention so much that I went online pacifically looking for photos of her and to add to a collection. And I have maybe 15-20 photos of her now. Don’t worry Lena, I have made a penny from them and haven’t even tried to.

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Source: FRS FreeState via Flickr– Lena

As I mentioned before to look good in either denim or leather jeans, you have to have the right body for them, especially if they’re skin-tight. They can’t make you look fatter or skinner than you already are. They have to be true to size meaning they have to show your body exactly the way it is, or you’re going to look silly in them. If they’re too tight, you might spend an hour just trying to take them off and put them on and if they’re too tight and low-rise and maybe you have a sensitive area that you shouldn’t be hi lighting, you’re going to show too much skin and and look like you don’t know how to dress. Lena doesn’t have that problem in her skinny leather jeans. She has a tight beautiful curvy body and her leather jeans just make that more obvious.

Lena is a supermodel when it comes to leather fashion. She has the perfect body for leather jackets, jeans, and boots. She’s the example of why leather jeans for sexy women should be more popular than they are in America, because if a woman or man does have a tight body, leather jeans will make that more clear and obvious and why leather jeans in America shouldn’t just be popular for rock and biker culture. And a certain extent in western culture where you sometimes see cowboys and cowgirl sporting leather jeans especially Wrangler leather jeans.

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Source: FRS FreeState via Flickr– Lena

I think the main concern that American women have with leather jeans, is that they’re so tight especially if they’re skinny jeans and they’re worried about that, plus their legs overheating or something. But you can make the same argument for skinny denim jeans being too tight. But if you get the right fit then both skinny leather and denim jeans, can be comfortable. You have a lot of American women claiming to live in their skinny jeans and always wear them around the house and to most places they go outside of their house and even to work. The right leather jeans can be just as comfortable and denim jeans for women or men.

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Source: AKA Videos– Lena

Lena along with Laura and Sandra B, ( also from Leathered Life ) are perfect examples that leather jeans can be just as sexy ( if not sexier ) and look just as good without being too revealing, as denim jeans and even skinny denim jeans. And examples of why I at least believe leather jeans should be more popular in America and not just see them on biker women and men, or rockers like Joan Jett, Melissa Etheridge, Meredith Brooks, Slash, Alice Cooper, and others. And that leather jeans could become a great alternative to denim jeans especially skinny jeans and something that beautiful sexy women can wear if they get bored with skinny denims.

I’ve loved seeing women in leather jeans since I was in high school ( back in the 1990s ) so no, Lena all by herself did not get me into the look and want to see sexy women in them. She’s just one of the best if not best looking woman I’ve ever seen in them. Not the prettiest or cutest in them, but leather jeans look the best on her that I’ve ever seen. And I just wish Leathered Life wasn’t the only fashion website or fashion organization that prompted leather jeans and we would see them more often and from more people and organizations and publications. Wrangler, Levi’s, and other jeans makers also make leather jeans along with their famous denim jeans and I would love to see more people buying both denim and leather jeans.

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Leathered Life: Andrea- Sexy Woman in Biker Leather Jeans

Posted on April 23, 2018 by Erik Schneider
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Source:Leathered Life– Biker Woman Andrea

Source:The Action Blog

“Andrea – Sexy Girl in Biker Leather Pants.” Originally from Leathered Life, but the video has since been deleted or blocked on YouTube.

Short but very sweet, as far as the woman in this video, but as the person who made the video said, still sexy has hell. Why guys love biker women because of their style, their personalities, their abilities to handle motorcycles as well as men and in some cases better. But what always gets me and the thing I can never forget is their sex appeal. We’re not talking about obese woman who need 5-6 meals a day to be happy with most of that food being junk food. Or stick-figure wannabe models, who only live off of brown rice, rice cakes, dark lettuce.

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Source: Imgur– Biker Chicks

We’re talking about healthy sexy women who not only eat meat but other things as well that help people be strong and live healthy, including salads and fruits. The reason why biker women and men, wear a lot of denim and leather, well there several reasons having to do with the look, but also leather and denim jeans help protect the legs from the heat that is generated by the engine on the motorbike. So we’re talking about healthy strong women, who wear a lot of leather and denim on their bikes and when they’re at biker events and parties.

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Source: E Biker Leather– Biker Chick

So you’re talking about beautiful, sexy, well-built women, who are always in tight jeans and boots. Tight denim or leather jeans and boots. I believe the sexiest combo there is for women right now and still one of the most popular combos for women which is boots and jeans. Spring, summer, fall and winter, obviously being the most popular seasons for boots and jeans with women because of the weather. So you get to see these beautiful sexy women, in there boots and jeans. Generally denim jeans and boots, but in Andrea’s case and lot of biker women’s cases leather jeans and boots. And they’re a pleasure to check out.

Posted in Leathered Life, The Action Blog | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Washington Post: George Will: ‘Saying Goodbye To Football: Baseball is The True American Pastime’

Posted on April 16, 2018 by Erik Schneider

Source: The New Democrat

I’m a big fan of baseball myself. Along with football, baseball is the only sport that I can follow for the entire season and actually still enjoy watching regular season games. Not just with the Orioles who I grew up with in Bethesda, Maryland and still consider them to be my number one team even with the Nationals now in Washington. And the Nationals who brought Major League Baseball back to the nation’s capital where it’s always belonged.

I just don’t get the same satisfaction from the NBA or NHL with those two leagues today and I’m only interested in those leagues as far as how the Wizards and Capitals are doing as far as their playoff contention and to a certain extent their playoff games. I don’t feel the need to watch the NBA Finals or Stanley Cup Finals anymore. It’s just not that interesting for me anymore. That just might be me growing up and having better things to do in June now, or the quality of those leagues especially the NBA, not being what they were in the 1980s when I was a big fan of the NBA especially.

I’m not a fan of the current Roger Goodell and this league really is his league and he now owns it. It’s a league where defense is discouraged, where the average playoff team probably throws the ball 60% of the time, because the NFL wants scoring and high-octane offense over everything else. Where playoff teams only have enough defense in order to get key stops towards the end of games. Where certain franchises are marketed and weighed more than others, because they’re popular and the NFL believes if those markets are promoted more and better than others, that will somehow make the NFL more profitable. And of course I’m thinking of a certain franchise that plays near Boston, but they’re other franchises that the NFL sees as the faces of the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, and perhaps others. The NFL is now a celebrity oriented entertainment corporation, instead of a major pro sports league.

But where I disagree with George Will, has to do with the MLB becoming more popular than the NFL at some point. Even with the ratings and attendance down in the NFL ( as they should be ) Americans and this goes back to the early 1970s or so, prefer sports where there’s a lot of action instead of seeing a lot of guys standing around on a field waiting for something to happen. Baseball like pool, is very interesting even with the delays in between action on the field.

But the reason why the NHL is a major pro sports league in America now is because of the constant fast paced action on the field. The hard-hitting and seeing these athletes do some incredible things on skates and on the ice. Even with the dangers of football, the only thing that I can see bringing that league down to the point where it’s no longer the most popular league in America ( if not the world ) is Roger Goodell himself.

And Americans get fed up with the corporate celebrity driven entertainment oriented format of the league. With celebrities being taken seriously as real NFL analysts ( to use as an example ) and Americans decide that they want their sports to just be their sports and their entertainment and celebrity news, to just be those things. But not all combined in the same pot. Which is what you get with the NFL today.

The Washington Post: George Will- ‘Saying Goodbye To Football: Baseball is The True American Pastime’

Posted in The New Democrat, The Washington Post | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Economist: Lane Green- ‘Why Do We Swear?’

Posted on April 9, 2018 by Erik Schneider
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Source: The Economist– don’t piss this guy off!

Source:The New Democrat 

“Is there a place for swear words in the English language? F**k yes. Our language columnist Lane Greene explains why. *This film contains strong language. Obviously*”

From The Economist

Warning: this piece could offend a lot of people who are very religious and have a PG-13 mentality.

Before I explain why I believe we (meaning Americans, as if there is anyone else ) swear, first we should know what swearing is and what it isn’t:

“Make a solemn statement or promise undertaking to do something or affirming that something is the case.” That is not the type of swearing that I’m talking about. Joe swearing to his girlfriend Sally that he would never cheat on her again, is not the type of swearing that I’m talking about.:

“Use offensive language, especially as an expression of anger.” That is the type of swearing that I’m talking about.” God dammit, where the fuck is that pizza I ordered a couple of hours ago?” That is more inline with what I’m talking about.

There is swearing and there is swearing. Which I know sounds like a great impression of Captain Obvious, but it makes my greater point. There is moderate swearing like damn or hell. And there is stronger swearing that will still get you bleeped even on network TV today. Like what the fuck, holy shit, mother fucker, fucking, etc, words and phrases that if you don’t use when you’re on HBO or Showtime or whatever the current action/thriller movie is today, you’ll sound like you just flew in from Planet Zolkon or someplace and sound alien to the people who normally live on Earth. You can’t watch an HBO, Showtime, or Cinemax show or movie today, without not just hearing those hardcore swear words, but hearing probably a hundred times in any given hour.

But what the hell is common on network TV not just today, but going back to the early and mid 1970s with shows like All in The Family, Maude, M*A*S*H, and others, but now we’ll hear hell in the nightly newscasts and all over cable news. Like: “They’re going to have a helluva time putting that back together.” Or,:”What the hell was he thinking?” Which seems to be a common question today when talking about someone involved in the Trump Administration. ( Ha, ha )

But damn might sound like moderate cussing, especially with today’s reality TV/HBO/Showtime/Cinemax, etc audience, but when you’re damming someone, you’re condemning them to hell. Damn you is not a complement. “Damn you, Tom! You’re doing a great job” That might sound like a complement, but it’s not. Now: “Damn you, Tom! You’re an hour late. Where the hell have you been?” That is more inline with how damn you is used which is to express anger at someone because they pissed you off. Pissed off again with today’s reality TV slash cable TV Millennial audience, might sound like moderate swearing, but it isn’t.

Now, why as a country does America swear so much? And again I’m not talking about moderate swearing, but the favorite swear words of cable TV and reality TV? I believe it has to do with America’s obsession with sounding cool, as if the people we are as ourselves is not cool enough. The more pissed off we sound as people in America, the cooler we come off. Cool in the traditional sense as someone who is level-headed and takes things as they come, we’ve been here before, no big deal, like Joe Montana quarterbacking the San Francisco 49ers when the game is not online, someone with a personality like that would look really cool 25 years ago even.

But now with this obsession with being part of whatever the latest trend in awesome or whatever is and becoming famous celebrities in our own right and people feeling the need to be cool and famous so badly, anger sells now and sells a lot. If you’re caught on camera or video getting into a fight at a nightclub looking real pissed off and cussing your ass off, that video of you could go viral and you could become famous just based on that with someone later contracting you and wanting to get to know you and probably have some entertainment business opportunity for you.

But if you’re just at that club having a good time and perhaps you just have one girlfriend and to go back to Joe Montana with that Joe Cool personality, you’ll just be another guy at that club. You want to be famous, show up to that same club with multiple girlfriends and that will improve your image with the people that you want to see you as cool.

Posted in The Economist, The New Democrat | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Consumer Affairs: My Sick Week With The Flu

Posted on April 8, 2018 by Erik Schneider

Source:FRS FreeState

Last Saturday not yesterday, but the Saturday before that, I was at my desk in my office working on my blog doing some updating on some of my pieces. I generally don’t blog on the weekends as far as adding new material, but I do like using Saturday and Sunday to do stuff with the blog that I generally don’t have time for during the week when I’m writing full-time.

I felt fine up until about 4-5PM Saturday when I started developing a big of a headache. I guess sort of the how the passengers from Airplane 1980 ( great movie ) felt fine until they had the meal on the plane before everyone started feeling sick from food poisoning. By Saturday night I was in bed trying to feel better and recover and hopefully get some energy. Which didn’t work because I did fall asleep but woke up with no appetite and not feeling very well. I’m sitting at my couch watching and old NFL game on TV and all the sudden I felt like I was outside in Alaska sitting on a frozen pond in January naked. I was so damn cold I was literally shivering. It wasn’t even that cold, it was about 50 degrees outside and even somewhat humid and I’m fully dressed and have a big blanket around me trying to stay warm.

Sunday wasn’t much better. Tried to have some cereal and get some food in my stomach but only managed a few spoonfuls. And spent most of Sunday in bed. If there is anything that is positive about the flu, at least in my case is that I tend to sleep very well with it, because I’m always tired and have no appetite. Monday I was just tired and achy the whole day, but I did managed to get something to eat and had some spaghetti around 7PM. Tuesday was worst than Monday. Again I was in bed a lot with nothing to eat I believe the entire day and that shivering feeling came back where I’m in bed fully dressed with a couple blankets around me, but I did sleep well and managed to get through that.

Wednesday is when my body started to recover noticeably and got hungry around 2PM with some energy and felt well enough to go out and get some lunch. It wasn’t very good, a chili dog from my neighborhood 7-11. I was literally disappointed because their hot dogs tend to taste good. Their chili and cheese sauce tends to taste good as well, but at least I was eating lunch again and had something for diner as well and I was also able to get outside without worrying about I was going to puke or something ( sorry if you’re currently eating ) and felt well enough to get outside, run an errand and have something to eat. Thursday was even better and was able to get a real lunch, and do some bike riding again.

Friday, went out to McDonald’s, did a little shopping and rode through Little Falls Park ( here in Glen Echo and Bethesda, Maryland ) beautiful day with the weather being about 65-70 degrees that day with it finally feeling like spring in this area. I was so sick and had no energy this week that I wasn’t even up to checking my email and opening up my computer for anything. Relying exclusively on my I-phone for updates and information. Didn’t check into any of my social networks all week until yesterday when I finally checked back in online and caught up on my email. Which is what I did yesterday.

I still don’t feel as well today as I did the Friday before I got the flu the last weekend, but I’m moving around feeling well with some real energy flow again and I’m obviously blogging, so I guess I could feel a helluva lot worst than this. Not that I want to put that theory to any test. One week with the flu is all I need for a year. Actually this would be enough for two years.

Not sure about anyone else, but when I have the flu all I want to do is get a lot of sleep and get a break from the aches and pains, whatever headache I might have and be in some place where I’m not in pain. I drink a lot of water, showers provide real relief from the flu. Milk and soft drinks, help out as well and they also help me with my energy level. I’m generally a 24-48 sometimes even less than 24 hours guy when it comes to the flu, but my sick week with the flu might just be a sign that I’m getting older and my immune system is not as strong as it use to be.

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The New Republic: Jeet Heer: ‘Why Film Critics Were Blind To The Big Lebowski’s Brilliance’

Posted on March 26, 2018 by Erik Schneider
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Source: The New Republic– The Dude ( played by Jeff Bridges ) on one of his marijuana trips

Source:The New Democrat

I sort of look at The Big Lebowski as a parody of hipsters as a movie that makes fun of hipsterism and sends America the message that this is what can happen to you when you don’t grow up and completely dissolve your yourself from society. The Dude ( played by the great Jeff Bridges ) is a middle age hippie radical from the 1960s who still believes it’s 1968 or something. Well, when White Russians are your main beverage and you don’t seem to drink anything else during the day, except when you’re at the grocery store drinking out of a carton of milk ( which did happen in the movie ) the world can pass you by because your brain lacks the braincells to keep up with everyday life. Same thing when you smoke pot on a regular basis. Not that I’m against legalizing pot, I just wouldn’t recommend that people smoke it several times a day. Love Snickers bars, but I make sure that I eat other things as well. Like potato chips.

The Big Lebowski is a movie about hipsters and hipsterism and people who see hipsters as losers and bums and hipsterism as a loser lifestyle for bums. The hipster outsiders played by Jeff Bridges, as ( The Dude ) John Goodman, ( another great comedian as Walter ) and Steve Buscemi. ( As Donnie ) Who are looked down upon but perhaps seem useful even in a limited way by the successful establishment, the winners in Los Angeles in 1991, or at leas some of them. David Huddleston, ( as the successful Jeffrey Lebowski ) Phillip Hoffman, ( as Brandt ) and Julianne Moore. ( As the radical 1960s feminist Maude Lebowski )

And the movie turns into a private detective crime story/soap opera where the Jeff Lebowski claims his trophy wife who is young enough to be his granddaughter, not just daughter, ( played by Tara Reid ) is kidnapped and believes The Dude is useful here in trying to bring is trophy wife back to him. The theory being that the people who supposedly kidnapped Bunny ( played by Tara Reid ) are also hipster/losers and The Dude can work with them speaks their language and so-forth and bring the girl back to her husband.

The problem that Mr. Lebowski, has is that The Dude is not as dumb as he looks. Sure! He’s missing brain cells from his constant pot and alcohol consumption, but he’s smart enough to know when he’s being played and when someone is lying to him. Of three hipsters in the movie who are all friends and very close to each other, The Dude is the only one who figures out early in the story that Bunny, was never kidnapped. How did Dude put it? “There was never any real kidnapping. Bunny kidnapped herself.” He figures this out after the first attempt to payoff the kidnappers with a million dollar ransom fails. And The Dude tells his buddies that the girl kidnapped herself.

Dude explains why he believes that with the girl being a trophy wife who owes money all over town who s simply using her grandfather, I mean rich old husband, to finance her expensive lifestyle and to pay off her pimps. The fake kidnapping was about getting a million dollars from Mr. Lebowski to pay the girl and her friends off. Except for maybe her pimps, Bunny was completely safe the entire movie.

And then the rich 1960s radical feminist daughter Maude ( played by Julianne Moore ) comes into the story, because her father gave Dude one of her valuable rugs. If you’re familiar with the great 1970s CBS sitcom Maude, Maude Lebowski is not that different from Maude Findlay ( played by Bea Arthur ) except that Maude Findlay loves men and Maude Lebowski, I believe at least comes off as a man-hating lesbian, not just as a radial feminist. Maude comes into the story because again her father gives away her rug to The Dude and she wants it back. And sends her thugs to Dude’s apartment to steal it from him.

Bunny is the real problem in the story, as well as having two main characters with the last name Lebowski, because she’s a former ( perhaps current prostitute ) and not just gold digger who owes her pimps money and her pimp wants his money back and sends his thugs over to Lebowski’s place to get his money back. The mistake that Jackie Treehorn ( played by Ben Gazzara ) and his thugs make other than breaking and entering into a private home without permission, is that that break into the wrong Lebowki’s home. The Dude lives in a fair small apartment and probably doesn’t have 20 bucks on him, let alone million or whatever Bunny owes. The rich Lebowski lives in a mansion.

Again, I kind of see this movie as the establishment in society ( however you want to define that ) taking on hipsters and perhaps using this movie as a lesson to young people and saying this is what happen when you don’t finish school and don’t seem to care about anything in life other than having a good time and living one day at a time. The problem that the so-called winners have is that the hipsters, the bums, the losers, come out on top. The Dude and his buddy Walter, figure out the the kidnapping never happened and was simply just a lie and they fend off and so-called kidnappers and the good guys come through in the ninth and win the game.

This is one of the funniest movies you ever possibly ever see and a represents the 1990s very well as what it is which is a great decade for movies and American life in general and I believe the best comedy from that decade.

Posted in The New Democrat, TNR | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Onion: Pros & Cons of Free Speech on College Campuses

Posted on March 19, 2018 by Erik Schneider
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Source: The Onion

Source:The New Democrat

To be completely serious second ( which seems to go against everything that The Onion stands for ) a pro for being in favor of free speech on campus is that you get to learn other views and what people who don’t think or look like you. Perhaps who’ve gotten through an entire school day at least without their favorite fancy coffee drink, perhaps don’t even have a favorite fancy coffee drink and perhaps even gotten through a whole hour without staring at their smartphone, or least gotten through that hour without a jaw dropping OMG expression on their face.

Well, that was mostly serious, but you get to hear views that are different from your own. You get to experience what living in a liberal democracy is like. What life at college is like and again we’re talking about college which is supposed to be an institution of higher learning. Even in Alabama and Mississippi where perhaps their higher learning doesn’t reach the top floor and in some cases struggles to get to the second floor. ( Hey, when you produce the Roy Moore’s of the world, you’re going to get jokes like that. )

A con I guess if you want to look at it that way and perhaps tend to look at life from a glass half empty I need I anti-drepressent pills right away or I going to die, is that of course you’ll hear opinons and views that you not only disagree with but find offensive. And you might actually hear views that literally are offensive and not just critical views that some narcissistic tight ass who thinks they’re the only perfect person God ( unless you’re an Atheist ) has created believes are offensive even if they’re just critical and even accurate.

But so what, what were you expecting when you decided to go to college? You learn about life there and what life will be like once your’e out of college and can hopefully afford and more expensive and bigger place to live than you parent’s basement. If you want to be part of world where everyone thinks and acts the same, join a cult, or move to some communist or other authoritarian state. But if you want to live in a free world you have to accept responsibilities and realities that life there is not the same for everyone and not everyone thinks and believes in the same things.

And in that world you have people who didn’t get any higher learning. Perhaps that was because they went to college in Alabama or Mississippi, or were to busy staring at their smartphone, when they should’ve been listening to their teachers and studying. Freedom is not free and life certainly isn’t free either. When you live in a free society you have the freedom to be yourself and think for yourself, but what comes with that is that everyone else has that same freedom that you and might not look at things and think like you. Which is also a plus because it’s how people get to know each other and learn about each other. Which make freedom and diversity so great which is the ability to learn and self-improve.

The Onion: Supreme Court Revokes Access To Annoying Man’s Free Speech Rights

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