Sunday Short - Kanye

FACT: You are not required to give a fuck. 

Contrary to popular belief, giving no fucks does not mean that you sit around all day in your sweatpants, smoking weed, and eating cereal (although, mmm...cereal). No. The hallmark of not giving a fuck is self-reliance.

Once you become self-reliant, your self-worth is not dependent on the opinions of others. A person who needs nothing from others is a person who cannot be manipulated or controlled by external forces. 

And that is the ultimate power. Wouldn't you agree? 

Naked in Public * 14 - A Compromised Asset

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• These days, the only thing I have a fetish for is time. 
• Oh...And silk.  
• It's summer; it's crazy. I know. But, 
• Insane is a term that can only be applied relativistically. A genius once said that the definition lies not in the behavior itself, but the repetition of the behavior applied with differing expectations. 
• Well, Sir, I've learned my lesson: Dry cleaning is expensive.But,
• Provacateur is a dirty word. And, 
• Steganography is an art, not a science.  So,
•  If you insist on keeping secrets, I will insist on being kept. 

....
#nakedinpublic. 

Linklettes * 17 - Old Bitch, New Tricks Edition.

Can you teach an old bitch new tricks? God I hope so...Happy monday. 

Source: Colossal. 

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THE ONE: The Fire Alarm is Ringing. What are you waiting for?  

This is a slice from The Examined Life by psychoanalyst Steven Grosz. 

Covering decisions that span from leaving lovers to running out of burning buildings, he observes that 'research has shown that, when a fire alarm rings, people do not act immediately. They talk to each other, and they try to work out what is going on. They stand around.'

If you've ever ignored a dangerous or painful situation out of fear of risk or change, you should read this.  

THE GAME: BUSINESS INSIDER needs real journalists. 

No, that is not the fucking name of an article. The name of the article in question (this time) is "Pot Farmers Alledgedly Kept Girl in Metal Box for Sex." Now, now, BI. Is the fact that they are pot farmers considered salient information here? Or are you just being dicks. Personally, I'd like to separate the need to keep people in unusual combinations of labor and sex bondage from the need to smoke doobies. Frankly, the more pot I smoke, the less I feel the need to keep anyone in my human-sized metal garage box...er...have sex....er...fuck it. At least they're protecting the innocence of the....ah, nevermind. 

THE #LONGREAD: Why Men Need Women. 

Adam Grant's latest NYT Op-Ed responds to a study detailing women's softening effect on wealthy men. I'm mostly WTF about most of the things that men and women say about each other in popular media lately. I don't understand the oppositional tone, honestly. It seems like we've forgotten that micro- and macro-scale observations on gender relations should be continuous, not isolated from each other. (I'm more about leveraging soft power. This is part of the reason why I own a lot of tailored sheath dresses, for example.)

Men are certainly not the enemy of women (not any more than women are, that is). Understanding natural effect is more exciting to me than fighting them. And frankly, balance is more useful to everyone (especially women) than some objective equality. 

Then again, I've spent most of my adult life in male-dominated environments, perhaps I am brainwashed. 

THE BEAUTY: The Pixel Painter.

The fountain of youth, and generalized source of life harmony, is personal growth. Want to enjoy every day of your life, motherfucker? Keep challenging yourself. And make cool shit. 

Need inspiration? Watch this 97 year old artist turn MS Paint into a respectable medium. (via Colossal)

Hal Lasko, better known as Grandpa, worked as a graphic artist back when everything was done by hand. His family introduced him to the computer and Microsoft Paint long after he retired. Now, Grandpa spends ten hours a day moving pixels around his computer paintings. His work is a blend of pointillism and 8-Bit art. Meet 97-year-old Hal Lasko, The Pixel Painter. See more work at hallasko.com Director: Josh Bogdan (joshbogdan.com) Director: Ryan Lasko Editor/Writer: Josh Bogdan Director of Photography: Topaz Adizes (topazadizes.com) Original Music: Jarrod Pedone Original Music: Tyler H. Brown (thbproductions.com) hallasko.com

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THE SOUND: Stavroz - The Finishing 

There is something sexual about actually playing music instruments. Musicians. Try it. 

Since you've all been waiting so long for our new release we thought it would be fun to have Nathan (on saxophone) give you a wonderful story, drenched in a Stavroz sauce. Eat it while it's hot!

There you have it. It's monday, go do something.  

Brookman.

Sunday Short - Machiavelli

FACT: If you trust your barometer of good and evil, the ends will always justify the means. 

As he was holding the sheets up to the light, I took a moment to make a face. I was in the a Superior Court room. The dude in charge was looking at an only-slightly-coffee-stained sheet of graph paper. 

While the paper was between our us, I took an obscured moment to scrunch my face and release the tension from it. Deep inhale, let it out. 

"So...this is....what, exactly, again?"

Honestly? It was just math. The terms were simple. distance, speed, time. force. Fungibles. 

I took one more deep breath, about to walk through the scribblings with him.  But, instead of allowing me, he took my citation and scribbled the word nolle. 

Now. I've been pulled over many times. This once, I had even been written a ticket. (No, I won't tell you the details because go fuck yourself, but let's say that 2006 was a weird year involving several choice encounters with the law  and that Jesus -- or whichever source of creation that you pray to -- did not dream up the Audi r8 for taking tempered joyrides to the local grocery store.) The one constant is that I am not endangering other human lives and I always attempt to excuse myself from interactions with police as quickly, politely, and stealthily as possible.

I don't feel as though I am above the law -- I had shown up in court that day, after all. But last night, I was pulled over again for rolling a stop sign on an empty road at 3am.

So, let me ask you this: If I live in a culture where women are expected to feel threatened in certain situations (i.e. alone, late at night), what's wrong with leveraging that assumption (i.e. acting scared to be alone, late at night) to get out of a ticket?

I didn't ask for a loophole, I just played into one that was available to me. If we don't write the rules, can we be blamed for playing the game?   

Brookman

PS I imagine I'll be asked to take this down in a few days. so enjoy it while you can, suckers.