I just got back to my desk after a quick walk around the block.
There was a man washing the sidewalk in front of the Freemont Hotel. He was scraping up the gum, which made me look twice at the sidewalk as I continued on. Every square of cement looked like a leopard it was so littered with gum. Scraping it up has got to be the worst job ever.
Also, I sometimes feel like an old woman because of how I dress. Girls my age and older wear short skirts or low-cut tops or heels. I don't wear heels because my toes are deformed. I don't wear low-cut tops or short skirts because I feel like I'm not attractive enough for those clothes.
But there are people out there on the sidewalk wearing things they really shouldn't: very heavy women in very short skirts, girls wearing heels they can hardly walk in, not to mention the cornucopia of bad hair and bad outfits. I didn't pass a single person who I thought was well-dressed enough that I'd emulate them. I passed at least a dozen people that made me think, "Does this one have a mirror at home?" (my mother's favorite line when judging the fashion choices of strangers.)
So as I looped around the corner back towards my building, I thought, maybe I should be a little more adventurous with what I wear and not be so uptight that I have to cover everything all the time.
I passed the guy scraping gum. He hadn't made any visible progress.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Author Deceased
I'm editing the bio of a recently-deceased author, changing is to was, has been to had been, specializes to specialized, and for the past thirty years to for the last thirty years of his life.
Here is now a whole life in a paragraph, being tweaked by an office peon.
Here is now a whole life in a paragraph, being tweaked by an office peon.
Big Brother FAQ
Tom,
I'm very excited to answer your Big Brother questions. This must be how the Jehovah's Witnesses feel when finally someone wants the pamphlet. Anyway, where do I begin?
Thursday episodes are live. That's when someone gets voted out, and also when they crown a new "Head of Household" (or "HOH"). Tuesday and Sunday episodes are edited from the previous couple days of footage.
The HOH nominates two people for eviction. Then comes the Veto -- there's a competition and someone gets the power to save one of the nominees. The power is rarely used, unfortunately, because people don't want to go against the HOH's wishes. (If the Veto is used, the HOH must nominate another person to take the saved person's place on the chopping block.) Finally, by secret ballot, the houseguests vote out one of the two nominees.
The competitions you asked about are for HOH, Veto power, food, and sometimes for perks (like a phone call from home).
What sets BB apart from other reality shows for me is the fact that it's live, so unlike in Survivor or The Real World, which are long done filming by the time we see anything, the producers can't craft any storylines or anything. That can lead to unpredictability...
In earlier seasons, there were all kinds of spontaneous or accidental happenings, such as trespassers throwing things over the wall of the otherwise-isolated BB house, or planes flying overhead with banners revealing game secrets (who's stabbing who in the back, who threw whose toothbrush in which toilet, etc.). The cast in Season 1 was so boring and agreeable, that the producers offered $25,000 for someone to voluntarily leave the house so they could replace that houseguest with a floozy Las Vegas bartenderess. But no one would take the money -- time with their friends was worth more than $25,000, they said, refusing briefcase after briefcase of CBS's desperate cash. The producers, I imagine, were tearing their hair out as ratings continued to plummet. It may have been the greatest moment of television I've ever seen (the houseguests' rebellion was, yes indeedy, broadcast live). Because the rebellion denied any opening for the floozy, the producers instead sent in a three-legged dog. I kid you not.
After 8 seasons, the producers have gotten much better at imposing their totalitarian regime. They've also made sure to cast interesting people. And by interesting I mean nasty and horny. In the early seasons, there were a lot of old people, married people, etc. Now they're almost all beautiful and single. I want to feel bad about this beautisizing of society, but how can I argue with it when fratboy Nick's rippling pecs are blown up to 30 inches on my widescreen television? The answer is, I can't.
Any other questions?
Ben
I'm very excited to answer your Big Brother questions. This must be how the Jehovah's Witnesses feel when finally someone wants the pamphlet. Anyway, where do I begin?
Thursday episodes are live. That's when someone gets voted out, and also when they crown a new "Head of Household" (or "HOH"). Tuesday and Sunday episodes are edited from the previous couple days of footage.
The HOH nominates two people for eviction. Then comes the Veto -- there's a competition and someone gets the power to save one of the nominees. The power is rarely used, unfortunately, because people don't want to go against the HOH's wishes. (If the Veto is used, the HOH must nominate another person to take the saved person's place on the chopping block.) Finally, by secret ballot, the houseguests vote out one of the two nominees.
The competitions you asked about are for HOH, Veto power, food, and sometimes for perks (like a phone call from home).
What sets BB apart from other reality shows for me is the fact that it's live, so unlike in Survivor or The Real World, which are long done filming by the time we see anything, the producers can't craft any storylines or anything. That can lead to unpredictability...
In earlier seasons, there were all kinds of spontaneous or accidental happenings, such as trespassers throwing things over the wall of the otherwise-isolated BB house, or planes flying overhead with banners revealing game secrets (who's stabbing who in the back, who threw whose toothbrush in which toilet, etc.). The cast in Season 1 was so boring and agreeable, that the producers offered $25,000 for someone to voluntarily leave the house so they could replace that houseguest with a floozy Las Vegas bartenderess. But no one would take the money -- time with their friends was worth more than $25,000, they said, refusing briefcase after briefcase of CBS's desperate cash. The producers, I imagine, were tearing their hair out as ratings continued to plummet. It may have been the greatest moment of television I've ever seen (the houseguests' rebellion was, yes indeedy, broadcast live). Because the rebellion denied any opening for the floozy, the producers instead sent in a three-legged dog. I kid you not.
After 8 seasons, the producers have gotten much better at imposing their totalitarian regime. They've also made sure to cast interesting people. And by interesting I mean nasty and horny. In the early seasons, there were a lot of old people, married people, etc. Now they're almost all beautiful and single. I want to feel bad about this beautisizing of society, but how can I argue with it when fratboy Nick's rippling pecs are blown up to 30 inches on my widescreen television? The answer is, I can't.
Any other questions?
Ben
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Ad Vandalism
A defaced Boston Globe ad that made me both laugh (the cow) and feel bad about the state of the world (the car on which someone wrote "fueled by dead Iraquis"). 
8:03
I took the 8:03 train this morning instead of the 7:33 because there isn't much happening this week at work.
The 8:03 train is a completely different experience. It's only single level: one of the old beat-up trains. The conductor on the 7:33 is a handsome fit guy. The conductor on the 8:03 is an out-of-shape woman with bad red hair.
The 8:03 crowd isn't well-dressed. There are more backpacks than briefcases. Fewer laptops. And you don't get the sense that any of the ladies in sneakers will be changing into nicer shoes once they reach their destination.
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