If you’ve read Bill Watterson’s books about Calvin and Hobbes, you’ll know Christmas was a huge theme throughout. Calvin constantly trying to stay out of trouble in order to get presents was many strips. In the end he always finds Hobbes and his family as the real gifts. By far the best portrayal of Christmas I can think of. The last one almost makes me cry.
The Christmas gift begins to lose value as you age. When you’re 10 years old and you are working on a $6 dollar a week allowance, you don’t have a ton of spending cash. When you get older and start working, you begin to create wealth which you can then spend on yourself making gifts from other people less appealing.
I tried hard to find the exact one I had but a 20 year old cash center was not internet available.
At around 7, a gift that sticks out to me was when my mom bought me a bank. It had a slot for all the coins and it counted up the money as it was deposited. The front of it would lock but the back could always be opened up which made it not very secure. This gift taught me how to count money and how to save. Even though it lacked the bells and whistles of today’s technology, I will never forget this thoughtful gift.
When I hit middle school it was all about video games. Clothes were boring. Books sucked. CD’s were nice but video games were always the best. New consoles. Controllers. Memory cards. Games. You name it and if I didn’t have to spend my own money on it, that was great. Zero educational value as I pass the time with a screen as my best friend.
In high school you hit a phase in your life where you have a better understanding of the value of money but your stuck in your own world of what’s “in”. I used to have jeans that would expand 3x the size of my ankles. I was still playing video games but was into track and probably thought I was WAY WAY WAY cooler than I really was.
College life turns 180 where you only care about beer and partying. Friends start getting into drugs and you start figuring out what suits you the best. Holiday breaks are more important because you get a break from school and you have free time to do whatever you want. Christmas time is just the mandatory time with your family between doing activities with your friends.
Wrong kind of learning.
Which brings me to post-college life. I have money to spend and have no problem giving gifts. I tend to donate small sums to organizations that I use regularly (wikipedia and friends fundraisers). I spend my money more on education instead of alcohol. Lynda.com for Photoshop education and paying Adobe to use it. I’m not into material items so much except for what I need. If I want to look nice I’ll buy new clothes. If my sneakers have a hole in them I’ll buy new shoes. Mostly though Christmas is about getting together and spending time with family.
Unless you stop and make it happen, you realize that life doesn’t stop and it’s easy to get caught in the rat race of working and trying to make money. Family time gets overlooked for various reasons but it’s important. Material items come and go but family is always there until it’s not. The cliche you don’t know what you have until it’s gone rings true. So ring in this holiday season with your family and tell them how much they mean to you. There is no greater gift.
Here’s a link to the dude map if you want to investigate where “bro”, “buddy”, “fella”, and “pal” are said.
They gathered tweets from white males and broke them down by geography and how often they are said.
Some thoughts:
On Saturday afternoon, 12/21, I was introduced to the first episode of a podcast called Serial. The series concluded just 6 days ago and involves investigating the murder of an 18 year old girl, 15 years later. I binge listened to the series in a matter of 2 days (its about 9 hours of listening) and this method of listening could alter an opinion when compared to listening week by week.
I’m going to write this post like you’ve heard the podcast. There will be spoilers. If this is going to ruin your future plans, stop reading.
Adnan Syed
Jay from Serial
Why did Jay had have Adnan’s car and cell phone? Easy. Adnan had planned this out so that when the time came to investigate who killed Hae, he was off the map. Which worked shockingly well aside from the Nisha call.
Adnan is guilty. With all of the phone records, conversations with key people, and wisdom gained from dissecting a case 15 years later, his inability to disprove where he was that day is cut and dry. Jay’s story is too close to the truth to be fabricated.
Sarah Koenig
Jay’s story is inconsistent. Remember this, “Jay’s testimony is inconsistent because he is an accomplice and he is trying to frame the events in a way that doesn’t implicate himself.
Asia’s note to Adnan was absurd. “I’m not sure if you remember talking to me.” How about, “I remember talking to you.”Realize I’m not Sarah Koenig and being listened to by 5 million people. She couldn’t possibly take a position against Adnan with all of the uncertainty this case provides and the amount of people listening. I made up my mind based on what the simplest answer is and the most important details provided.
I also had no idea what Hae Min Lee looked like.
Two teams rolling today. I expect to win with team 1 and lose with team 2. Nothing to do but sit back and enjoy the games.
The Wild Turkeys – Big pickups with J Hill (thanks Bud) and Odell Beckham. Arian Foster made up for the 1st round pick of Adrian Peterson. Team has been huge late season rattling off 6 straight wins.
Matt Ryan
Arian Foster
Jeremy Hill
Vincent Jackson
Odell Beckham
Gronk
Fred Jackson
Justin Tucker
The Rams
Lacey’s Out – Not as formidable a squad as the team above. Saved with rookie receiver picks in the draft who have come through. Montee Ball was a bust 2nd round pick and I played Jay Cutler over Stafford most of the season. The team has won 7 straight but it’s been more matchup dependent instead of blowing teams out of the water. Brandon Oliver and Denard Robinson were fill ins for my 2 spot most of the year and this week I get the luxury of playing Asiata. I could choose between Colston, M Wallace, and Charles Johnson. I’m projected to lose so I’m going with the eyes closed, boom or bust, Charles Johnson.
Matthew Stafford
Eddie Lacy
Matt Asiata
Mike Evans
Kelvin Benjamin
Gronk
Charles Johnson
Connor Barth
The Vikings
This headline:
Made me watch the video. Why? Because my brain says, “21 punches in 10 seconds”, that doesn’t add up. A headline that makes me think that it’s not possible gets my interest. When my mind has to translate words into a scenario that I can’t visualize, I wants to see.
Another funny headline that Jeff and I look at are a certain amount of reasons why something….
Most of the time you only need 1.
Now you combine the two methods and put numbers into an idea and you get the headline I posted.
A note about the video:
Not to diminish the fact that Ali was almost inhumanly talented, but this was an exhibition match for fun. Michael Dokes (19 at the time) was legitimately trying to hit him, but he was WAYYYYYYYYyyyyyyy outclassed.
There’s a good chance if you watch any TV that you’ve seen this commercial with Kate Upton inspiring an army to go to war. I give major thumbs up to whoever thought of hiring Kate Upton for this as it targets teenage boys who love video games and big boobs.
Why does she talk so slow? Is Kate’s speech supposed to be funny or uplifting? The dialogue was oddly chosen and could have been refined as one or the other, I’d personally leaned more to the funny.
The boob bounce towards the end is a 10/10.
Nice view.
It’s advertised as ADDICTIVE!
I enjoy breaking down advertising because it gives perspective on how people make money. #1 point to notice is that this game is making enough money that they are hiring Kate Upton who must command top dollar.
The point of the game is building an army, making alliances, and battling other players. How does this free download make money? It’s FREEMIUM! Here’s a pricing structure:
28000 Gold $99.99
3900 Gold $19.99
1200 Gold $4.99
In order to progress faster through the game, you save a credit card on file and with a single click you give away your real life (parents) money for gold. Machine Zone, the maker of the game, becomes rich and hires famous people like Kate Upton to attract more players and to become richer. These people are smarter than you.
None of what I’ve wrote so far should wow you.
These video games are bad for society. They suck the life, money, and time from the youth. When I was young you’d buy a console and you could play for hours with no repercussions.
This one’s for you Sam.
I was a gamer through high school and some of college until one day, around 20, I said enough. The skills you get from video games are not applicable to real life. I can’t remember the last time I was stuck in an isolated room with 2 entrances and surrounded by enemies where my only move was a shotty charge.
My concern is that nothing comes from these types of games aside from a drain to the individual and a boost to a company to design more games like it. There’s a reason South Park went out of their way to dedicate an entire episode to it.
I don’t think there’s anything to do except hope that the people playing these games stop giving their money away. Once that happens, these games won’t exist. This post is also not a shot against video games, they are fine in moderation but these games have a negative impact and should be evaluated as such.
The football season was a let down for me when I consider fantasy, gambling, and Fanduel.
My $350 investment in fantasy (4 leagues) has a chance to win $1,400 if I win both championships I’m in. Most likely I’ll go 1/2 and net about $350. I’m still kicking myself because in a $150 dollar league I made a bad start that cost me and my team would have won this past week. In the two leagues I’m in the championship, I’ve ripped off 13 straight wins. The good.
My gambling on the games can be viewed near 0 sum because I was playing with Billy Horschel money but the reality is I lost ~250. I tapped out 2 weeks ago so I had roughly 13 weeks of action. The bad.
I’m down $600 dollars in Fanduel over the course of the season which is quite disheartening because I pay way more attention to football than the majority of people. When viewed over the course of 3 months at about 50 bucks a week, I can’t find better entertainment on a Sunday. The ugly.
To give something in the post that people may find more interesting, here is my work in Photoshop.
A Special Guest
A Nuclear War
Bat Baby – This one looks the simplest but the original picture had his wing clipped (you can actually still see the discoloration). Learning how to edit the picture to put the wing back takes some practice.
You don’t know the 90’s if you’ve never seen this station wagon.
The 90’s were a simpler time. Internet access only existed in Al Gore’s basement, social media was over a decade away, and kids were still going outside. Here are childhood memories that I want to make sure I remember when I’m 75 years old and look back at this post and shake my head up and down like old people do when they remember the “better days”.
Writing in Cursive
Reasons not to use cursive:
Pencil Sharpener
Do kid’s still know what this is? Back in the day your #2 Ticonderoga would get dull and need to be sharpened. Sticking a tiny pencil into the hole was always awesome to see how small the pencil could get and still be able to be used. Answer, very small.
Sierra Video Games
You buy Leisure Suit Larry 6 and it would ship with 14 1.44mb discs to install. The anticipation builds!
Sierra made 3 series that come to mind that I spent countless hours playing – Kings Quest, Police Quest, and Leisure Suit Larry. I can sum up the games quickly: you pick up items and try to use them on any and everything until they work. Plus Larry almost saw BOOBS!
The game below is Kings Quest 6 and my memories of watching Bill struggle through the game opens up after I watch it.
Number Munchers
Prime Numbers! FUCK!!!!!
I don’t even remember the level below. This was the pinnacle of using a MAC.
Definitely never got this far and I still wouldn’t beat this today.
AOL & You’ve got mail
This dial up followed by the You Got Mail was done thousands of times. AOL would send out free hours and as a kid I totally didn’t understand what free meant. I would peruse the chat rooms looking to cyber by typing ASL to anyone who would respond. Then get on GIF mailing lists where they’d send pictures in large quantites to huge mailing lists. Also raising hell with HellRazer was awesome with punters and chat spams. The glory days.
Swings
Swings may still be universal but I haven’t been to a playground in a decade. When I was a kid the swings were constantly being used. I’d jet once recess was called to make sure I would get one. The obvious activity to do on a swing was to jump off. Get as much speed as possible and vault off at the last second. Dangerous by today’s standard and why I have a feeling swings are not viewed as a recreation activity. Many bumps and bruises.
Just before I banged her.
Rolling Stone asked me to follow around the band Stillwater for a piece in the upcoming issue. Lester Bangs has been giving me some confusing advice while I’m trying to understand my job. Aside from Penny overdosing on Quaaludes and our plane almost crashing, it’s been pretty a fun time.
That story was going to suck so I decided to publish my own article on which artists have the most followers on Spotify. Last year’s Spotify post was well received so why not repeat what works.
21. Taylor Swift – 48.5 million Twitter followers- Making headlines by pulling her music from Spotify, my list needed to be expanded one spot for the long legged damsel in distress. Her album 1989, selling in conjunction with smashes Blank Space and Shake It Off, certainly helped her rise from a year ago. She’s red hot right now and I wouldn’t be surprised to see her in the top 10 next year if she reverses her decision.
20. Justin Bieber – 57.9 million Twitter followers – The Biebs is going to be a polarizing character. Even with his negative press he managed to add about 400,000 followers from last year. His album Journals was released about a year ago and his music is becoming secondary when compared to his relationship status and interactions with Floyd Mayweather and the money team. Why focus on music when you can make a living being a bad boy?
19. Beyonce – 13.7 million Twitter followers – Sasha Fierce didn’t make the list last year and her appeal is every woman on the planet. Jay Z has a mere 1.3 million Spotify followers so it’s clear who wears the pants in this marriage. Drunk in Love has over 100 million listens but that’s relatively small when compared to the bigs on this list. Her new album Beyonce was a major reason for her jump.
18. Adele – 21.4 million Twitter followers – By far the biggest surprise on the list. Adele hasn’t released new music since 2011 and still increased her following by over 300,000. Ryan Tedder (One Republic’s frontman) is working on her new album which may be released this year. He says it’s going to be insane and there will be millions of people waiting.
17. Calvin Harris 5.1 million Twitter followers – New to the list but with the summer smash Summer and consistent hits, Calvin is hot in the EDM world. His collaborations with Ellie Goulding have been wildly successful. From not making this list last year to #17 this year, expect the rise to continue.
16. Fun. – 685k Twitter followers – No new music in 2014 but that should give a good explanation of how strong Some Nights was. The band has been working on new material but nothing in the way of an album yet. It should also be noted that Jack Antenoff released an album with Bleachers which was well received.
My Ana…garden snake don’t want none.
15. Nicki Minaj – 18.5 million Twitter followers- Adding about 600k Spotify followers is nothing to sneeze at. Nicki had a busy year releasing a new record (the Pinkprint), making bootylicious videos, and even appearing on SNL. With easily the most jaw dropping body in the industry, Nicki is a combination of song and showmanship which is impossible to ignore.
14. Bruno Mars – 19.4 million Twitter followers – The definition of a cool, ladies man. Bruno was well received following the Super Bowl performance and continued to grow even without producing many songs. Mark Ronson’s (w/ Bruno) new jam Uptown Funk will hit the airwaves nationwide (if it hasn’t already) and he’ll once again be climbing the charts. He is on of the top artists under 30 and receives little negative press.
13. One Direction – A new album Four helps propel the boy band to almost a million new Spotify followers. It’s common knowledge that you name your 4th album 4 (Led Zeppelin, Huey Lewis, Beyonce) if you want it to be big. Whether One Direction had this is mind is unknown but a million new female followers is marketing power. The band’s logo over last year shows a band growing up.
12. Ed Sheeran – 11.4 million Twitter followers – A HUGE album drop in 2014 with Don’t. 4 songs on the album have over 100 million listens which is incredible. He’s worked with Taylor Swift and One Direction before so it’s nice to see him going out on his own. Pretty impressive year for Red Sheeran at only 23.
11. Drake – 18.7 million Twitter followers – Drake seemed a bit out of the 2014 action but still managed to add 700k followers. I’m sure he’s being asked to collaborate on many projects and a solid 2015 is almost guaranteed even though his new album has not begun being worked on.
10. Lana Del Rey – 4.8 million Twitter followers – Inexplicable following. This number must be a huge global number because the popularity doesn’t feel that way in the States. Rumors surrounded her and James Franco, which we’re denied by him, but he’d still have sex with her. Her new album Ultraviolence was released this year.
9. Skrillex – 3.92 million Twitter followers – As noted with Calvin Harris, this music sector is the fasting growing, most popular segment on Spotify. Skrillex is on of the top draws and not surprising added 500k followers with much anticipation for his album Recess. He did fall to #9 on the list from #5 so his publicist is probably not pleased.
8. Katy Perry – 61.5 million Twitter followers – Adding around 900k followers and maintaining the #8 spot on the list. Dark Horse was one of the most played jams of the year with over 200 million plays. Prism didn’t even come out in 2014 and didn’t have as many hits as previous albums. It’s not her music that is driving her, it’s the total package. Looks, concerts, philanthropy, MASSIVE twitter following, and now dating Diplo. She gets it done.
7. Eminem – 18.9 million Twitter followers – A 1.2 million add to his Spotify totals is substantial. Big numbers from Eminem who is seemingly ageless. Any time Eminem speaks, people listen.
6. Avicii – 1.5 million Twitter followers – Also adding around 1.2 million followers, Avicii is coming in strong even with health rumors flying all over the place. Nobody can deny Wake Me Up and Hey Brother as some of the biggest songs of the year. With the Days / Nights coming out recently, he is still making music that everyone is listening to.
5. Flo Rida – 5.58 million Twitter followers – Please fall off this list. The king of the hook and making bad music that everyone keeps singing. This is a strategy to sell records but his staying power will fade. There were basically 0 followers added this year.
4. Coldplay – 13.6 million Twitter followers – Adding over a million followers, Coldplay isn’t going anywhere soon. Magic and A Sky Full of Stars show their ability to adapt and evolve with the current music trends. Well done Chris Martin. Good luck with Jennifer Lawrence.
3. Maroon 5 – 9.3 million Twitter followers – A new album “V” hit the charts this year and a few hits, Maps and Animals, were produced. Adam Levine on the Voice is boosting the band’s popularity as another 800k followers were added. Maroon 5 is very poppy and appeals to a huge audience. Trending upward.
2. Rihanna – 38.4 million Twitter followers – A staple of music and that’s what was seen in 2014 – doing nothing keeping everything together. No new music was released and almost 700,000 followers were added. This is because anyone who downloads Spotify knows to follow Rihanna. Although not much was produced, her brand is so strong she’ll be firing on all cylinder whenever she chooses.
1. David Guetta – 16.1 million Twitter followers- The powerhouse of Spotify and it’s not even close. 1.1 million followers added and an 18 track album that keeps everyone happy. He works with the biggest names and his formula is the most popular in the world. He has huge global appeal and he won’t be leaving the Spotify list anytime soon.
Off The List?
Usher, Kanye, Pitbull, Gotye, and Mumford and Sons were removed from the top 20
Too Lazy to Change Their Logo?
Fun, Adele, Rihanna, Drake, Katy Perry, Flo Rida, and Justin Bieber
