Wisdom With Aging

Howard Stern interviewed Jerry Seinfeld and produced this dialogue:

HS: If you could go back to younger Jerry, would you go back there?
JS: Would I want to be young again? No.
HS: You’re happy where you are?
JS: I think if you’re a little lucky in life, you should enjoy getting older. You’re going to see more.When you’re young you can’t see what’s going on so well. You get older, you walk into a room, you meet this guy and that guy and you see exactly what’s going on here. I love that and I don’t care about the physical deterioration. That’s part of it.

 

Aging is OK

Listen to this man.

Listen to this man.

I like Howard but Jerry is more evolved than Howard. I personally love that Howard has gone to therapy for decades and Jerry thinks it’s complete hogwash. You can hear a lot of the therapy at work in Howard’s life and it’s refreshing to hear from a guy like Jerry who has it so together without it.

I lead with this interview because this is one part of life that I’m noticing. If you read my post yesterday, you’d probably think I was a dick if you ever answered one of the math problems on Facebook. This isn’t a post I would have ever written years ago because I have never perceived the world as I do now. I look at life, specifically ads, differently than I did earlier. I’m very aware now of people who I feel are taking advantage of situations. This happens as you experience more life, you start to galvanize yourself to spots that you deem negative (and then critique them in your blog read by dozens).

How I pictured laundry.

How I pictured laundry.

I like thinking about how I thought about life when I was younger. This particular example came into my head when I noticed that every one of my pair of boxers was inside out after doing laundry. Now I know that if I just took the boxers and turned them the right way before I put them in the hamper, this would not be a problem. However, even after hundreds of times doing laundry, I still don’t. This made me wonder about getting smarter with age. It also made me remember this example when I was heading off to college. I had never done my laundry before and my plan was to ask a hot girl how to do laundry to meet new people. I look back on that now and wonder why on Earth a girl would ever want a mentally handicapped guy who didn’t know how to do his own laundry.

Trust me on this.

Trust me on this.

A final move where I think I’m being clever but am really an idiot was last night. I wanted to eat some Chick-Fil-A so I drove 15 minutes to get it and there was a 10 car back up in the drive through. I parked my car, was in an out in 3 minutes, and was proud of how much time I saved. I then drove 12 minutes back and parked my car. As I got out, I thought, “I spent 27 minutes driving to pick up chicken (and 1st class lemonade), what a waste of time.”

Aging-manWhat I’m pointing out is that you are always experiencing more life and you’re worldly views are always changing. When I was 20 I didn’t care what was going on outside my state. My world was a 2 mile radius. Now I’m in my 30’s and my world has expanded nationally and globally (to a small degree). By the time I’m 40 I’ll look back and say, “remember when I hardly ever traveled in my 30’s.”

I like aging. Sure I wish I was 25 again and I have plenty of regrets that I know I will never get the chance to act on again but that’s ok. I am who I am and these were the choices I made to get me to this point. Everyone can choose to live life their own way. There isn’t 1 right way. Literally there are 0 “right” ways. It’s what YOU want to do.

By |2016-02-19T10:23:43-05:00February 19th, 2016|My Life|0 Comments

Listening to the Talent

On the Chinese: “Still sticking with the chopsticks?” – Jerry Seinfeld

screen-shot-2015-06-08-at-11-14-09-amJerry Seinfeld did an interview with Howard Stern in ’13 that I suggest listening / watching if you enjoy Jerry.  I was blown away at how grounded Jerry is.  If you’ve listened to Howard for many years, you know that he’s gone to therapy 3 times a week for who knows how many years.  Jerry is the complete opposite of Howard with regard to psychology and you can tell the difference once you listen to him for an hour and half.

It’s important to pay attention to people of Jerry’s magnitude.  Listening to what they care about and how they live their life gives keys to successful people.  You can hear his determination with just about every sentence he says.  He’s always working.  He even says, “what else am I supposed to be doing?”  This is what connected for me because I ask that question often.  Perfecting his craft is what he is made to do.

s3e6_posterJerry shares praise with other comedians and his respect for the business is admirable.  He gets it.  He makes Howard seem like a neurotic nut which is humorous because Howard points our that Jerry always working is neurotic.  This isn’t taking any part away from Howard either because to conduct an interview for an hour an half with no boring pauses or lack of material is extremely difficult and he is a master.

adele_2013-650-430dI bring this to a town hall I heard with Adele and once again I listened carefully because she’s 25 and has sold the most albums this year in 3 days.  This is not a feat of some lucky schlub.  What I took from her was to always be yourself which is sort of a cheesy answer but I get it.  Not letting record company’s direct your music is why she comes off as so honest and natural.  I could also tell she wasn’t completely self absorbed when a fan would ask her a question, more often than not she posed the question right back.   It also helps when you surround yourself with talent which she has.

In order to get ahead in life (which is an odd way to look at life), people share the same characteristics.  Hard work.  Honesty.  Appreciation and learning from others.  I could probably go on but each person will take out varying ideas from these people.  Jerry also says, “if your only about the money, it will only take you so far.”

 

By |2015-11-28T10:00:42-05:00November 28th, 2015|Celeb|0 Comments

Seth MacFarlane on Howard Stern

stern-howardSeth MacFarlane did an interview on the Howard Stern show today that is worth listening to.  Howard has become the premier interviewer on the planet and his guest list continues to improve year after year with A-listers.  Seth Macfarlane was in town promoting Ted 2 and by doing this interview hits millions of people who share similar comedic tastes.

Seth is so smart that whatever comes out of his mouth is gold and the best part is that he knows this but doesn’t act like he does.  He is a prodigy.  At the age of 2 he drew this picture of Fred Flintstone.

Seth Macfarlane -Fred Flintstone

Age 9 he created this comic strip called Walter Crouton and Friends.

waltercrouton

waltercroutonmouse

igotitigotit

Seth-MacFarlaneI’m not sure I knew my name at 2.  At 7, I cried in art class because I couldn’t cut construction paper into the shape of a heart. Seth MacFarlane is getting paid by his local paper at the age of 9 to contribute a comic strip. Sheesh.

The interview was fairly tame but I think that’s because Howard respects Seth so much. A few spots I enjoyed:

  • The movie Ted grossed $500 million and cost around $60 million.  Seth made, what he completely guessed, $30 million.  Ari Emmanuel is his agent.
  • He graduated from the Rhode Island Design school which is one of the foremost design schools.
  • He is close friends with Charlize Theron but they have never banged.  He lost his virginity at 20 and would like to have a family.
  • He works 90 hours a week and falls asleep with a book in his hand instead of banging supermodels.
  • He had a few drinks before hosting the Oscars.

I thought Ted was average at best and A Million Ways to Die was even worse than that.  HOWEVER, early Family Guy is the funniest show with the best jokes and runs circles against any almost all other comedies .  He was the entire show back in 1999 and there is a dramatic difference between those episodes and what the show has become.  Whatever Seth puts his mind to comes out as excellence because he’s ahead of the curve with regard to intelligence and humor.  Plus he seems like a genuinely nice guy.

By |2015-06-22T17:33:29-04:00June 22nd, 2015|Celeb|0 Comments

Lady Gaga Divulges Rape to Howard Stern

ladygagaonhowardstern

Gaga on the Howard Stern show on Dec 2nd.

I was listening to Howard Stern interview Lady Gaga.  I only caught about 15 minutes of the segment and I heard about an instance of her life when she was taken advantage of at the age of 19.  Her record producer “raped” her.  You can listen on this link about Lady Gaga being raped at 19.  Unfortunately this post will not delve into this further because I have little to nothing to say about this.  Full interview here.

“I believe she’s speaking about Rob Fusari when it comes to the “dating” and rape situation. He told people they were dating when in fact, he was her record producer who raped her. “

howardsternI do have something to say about Lady Gaga revealing to Howard an event about her life so personal.  He must be the best interviewer in the world to get her to confide in him (and his entire listening audience) a moment of her life that probably still haunts her to this day.  My thought was that there must be other people on the planet who can do Howard’s job.  All it entails is asking people questions and having them answer them.  Yet I am certain that if I interviewed Gaga it would go something like this:

T: I really liked the song Just Dance when it came out.

LG: That was probably the most pop, least inspired song I’ve ever written…

T: Oh………………………….

I'd poke her face.

I’d poke her face.

A few weeks ago Howard let one of his staff, Benjy, interview his wife and it was atrocious.  The feel of the interview was choppy and the questions asked had me feeling bad for both parties involved.  This got me thinking that Howard is probably the absolute best in the entire business.  He has done thousands of interviews and has so much experience that only he can get people to share information that they probably never thought they’d be sharing to millions of people.  It’s a tremendous talent.

An another amazing talent of Lady Gaga is her voice.  She believes auto tune is cheating and she is honest to god singing.  Her singing is next level.  It’s unbelievable.  I was blown away by her voice.  As wacky as she is, I’m a fan.

 

 

By |2014-12-04T23:34:03-05:00December 4th, 2014|Celeb|0 Comments

The Favorite to Tweet Ratio

Twitter-StarFavoriting a tweet is a nice way of giving a thumbs up to what you like. You can favorite tweets that are in your feed or favorite tweets that are sent directly at you. Getting a tweet favorited by the person you send it to is a huge overlooked element to why Twitter is popular. What is shows is that the person actually interacts with you which makes you feel special. Feeling special has an earthly aura that is indescribable except using the words earthly aura. I’ve taken 7 personalities ranging from various industries and broke down their interaction with their fans by creating a Favorite to Tweet ratio.

 

The Twitter Personalities

Howard Stern – King of All Media aka @howardstern
Joined February 2011 – 5,179 Favorites, 2,756 Tweets

Howard Stern Twitter

Favorite to Tweet Ratio – 1.87.  This is pretty interactive considering how busy his day must be.  The key to Howard’s success is his interaction with his fan base and this shows some dedication to staying involved.  I have a feeling someone helps maintain his account because with America’s Got Talent and all the people that rely on him, I don’t think Tweeting is his top priorty.  I would tweet a lot too though if I had 1.57 million followers.  When Howard Tweets, people listen.

 

Madison Ivy – Queen of the Nude Selfie aka @madison420ivy
Joined October 2009 –  3,423 Favorites,   4,800 Tweets

Madison Ivy Twitter
Favorite to Tweet Ratio – .71 – A pornstar should interact with the people that masturbate to them.  She tweets mostly pictures of her naked or smoking weed which is pretty sinful but I enjoy it because she’s truly being herself.  I’ve followed some pornstars in the past and usually unfollow them for lack of interest but she keeps me up, to date.

 

Katy Perry – Queen of the Katy Cats aka @katyperry
Joined February 2009 – 855 Favorites, 5,990 Tweets

Katy Perry Twitter
Favorite to Tweet Ratio – .14    The thing with Katy is that she doesn’t need Twitter.  She performs in front of 30,000 people on a nightly basis which is about as interactive as it gets.  This low ratio shows she is all about self promotion but she’s doing it to interact.  She seems to be a good person with her philanthropy and I read her article in Rolling Stone and she seems all there.  I find her Twitter game pretty bad and rarely see anything out of her feed that I like. Her Instagram account though is another story.

 

Jim Cramer – Mad Money aka @jimcramer
Joined March 2008 – 3,521 Favorites, 44.7k Tweets

Jim Cramer Twitter

Favorite to Tweet Ratio – .08    Cramer joined Twitter earlier than anyone else on this list which shows his advanced thinking towards technology.  His ratio is a very deceptive number because Cramer’s tweets are actually all about helping people invest.  Technically, his Tweets should also be counted towards his favorites.   He is a human being who has embraced Twitter as a means of connection and more power to him because he understands the potential it has.

 

Johnny Manziel – Johnny Football aka @JManziel2
Joined July 2011 – 701 Favorites, 3,724 Tweets

Manziel Twitter

Favorite to Tweet Ratio – .18  I’d perceive Johnny as egotistical as they come and this number is actually much higher than I’d think it would be.  The fact that he favorites anything surprises me.  If you aren’t on the money team, you aren’t qualified to hang with Johnny.  I just started following him so my sample size is small but I’d guess he tweets about himself and hanging with other famous people.

 

McKayla Maroney – Ms. Not Impressed aka @mckaylamaroney
Joined September 2011  9,485 Favorites, 4,515 Tweets

McKayla Maroney Twitter

Favorite to Tweet Ratio – 2.1  If you follow McKayla on Twitter you’d know there is a buzz about her intentions.  Some argue she knows she’s gorgeous and plays coy for the camera and others say she is just a kid.  The one thing undeniable are her pictures are steaming.  She’s also on the younger side so she is more with how the younger generation tweets.  This amazing 2.1x favorite to tweet ratio is tremendous interaction with fans and I think she pretty much embraces celebrity status without even trying that hard.

 

Jonah Hill – Mr. “Suck My Dick, Faggot” aka @jonahhill
Joined February 2011 –  1 Favorite, 1,587 Tweets

Jonah Hill Twitter

Favorite to Tweet Ratio – 6.3 e-4  Not much to say on the worst ratio in the history of Twitter (this is unverified but has to be close).  I’ve heard interviews with him on Howard Stern and how he says he comes off the wrong way in the media.  He does seem like a genuinely good guy but it’s hard to look past the favorite number.  He either doesn’t care about other people or is doing it on purpose.  Probably the latter but I’m unsure of the reason.  Maybe I’ll tweet at him and get it favorited!

 

 

Conclusion

Everyone likes having their tweets favorited and it shows something about your character how often you do it.  Any ratio that gets to be 1:1 is phenomenal.  It shows you tweet as much as you interact which is probably ideal.  Anything above that starts entering the you favorite everything category which means the favorite starts to lose meaning.  Anything under means you are selfish or don’t like anything.  Just kidding, it just means you don’t know the power of the favorite.  My 52 favorites to 793 tweets is pretty pathetic for someone spear heading a ratio but until I had someone else favorite my tweet in recent days, I didn’t understand.  Now you do.  If you read this post and like it, how about a comment or a follow.   Interaction takes the cake.

By |2014-08-20T11:23:08-04:00August 20th, 2014|My Brain|2 Comments

Don Jon on Howard Stern

Don Jon Promo

The movie Don Jon is written and directed by Joseph Gordon Levitt and he was interviewed on the Howard Stern show today. The interview went for about 45 minutes and Levitt came off as a genuinely likeable guy. He was there to promote the movie Don Jon which took him 5 years to get onto the big screen. It stars Gordon Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, and Tony Danza. It’s about a bro, who resembles the my new haircut or Dom Mazzetti type guy, and he has some issues balancing life and a porn addiction. It’s hard to say how much the porn addiction comes into play but they are running clips for it during pornhub videos so I assume they know their target audience. The ad is pretty funny when it shows Don Jon spanking it and the camera zooms to a male pornstar’s face and the thought process that takes place. Levitt tries to appeal to both male and females because the counter part of the movie is that Scarlett is addicted to romantic comedies and I assume she expects real life to be as it is in a movie. The movie received a 7.5 on IMDB and is set to hit theaters on 9/27/13.

That’s the brief write up of the movie but I thought the interview was well done by Howard as usual. You could tell that Levitt was really gracious and couldn’t stop saying how thankful he was when Howard said he liked the movie. Howard’s generally not a dick to big named guests so whether he was being genuine or not was tough to tell but I think he was. The interview touched on Levitt as a child actor in 3rd Rock From the Sun to some indie films he did to making it big with Inception, Lincoln and The Dark Knight Rises. Levitt went into his time on set with Spielberg and Daniel Day Lewis on Lincoln and that was a good story. He described Daniel Day Lewis as never leaving character during the movie filming which I thought was funny and Spielberg having an uncanny ability of catching the right energy and moment with the camera. Levitt wouldn’t discuss his personal life which I thought was admirable although doesn’t make for the best interview. Howard knows this. Overall though I could see how Levitt could develop some dick head qualities being a child actor and probably feeling entitled to the world but that wasn’t the case at all. He seemed like a hard working guy who did a good job of moving up the ranks. It was also revealed that he smokes more weed that you’d think.

By |2013-09-24T12:29:55-04:00September 24th, 2013|Celeb, Movies|0 Comments

Jerry Seinfeld and the Delivery

Start at 1:06:30 and listen for about a minute and a half. This is Jerry Seinfeld at his finest. This video may be removed and I’ve linked the radio spot as well below.

The way Jerry talks about his work should show everyone what it takes to rise to that next level. The meticulous nature of how he cares so much as how to the word sounds during the delivery. He is probably unbelievably anal about what word he chooses, how he pronounces it, the pause between, and “the 100 steps” that make the joke work. This interview got me to start using the thesaurus more often when I’m writing these posts. It got me to understand how important every aspect of the trade needs to be nailed down to be the best quality and Jerry is one of the all time greats. I also like how Jerry doesn’t always agree with Howard because it makes him more genuine.

A few quick hits –
6:30 – “The worst part of comedy is getting comfortable.”
16:11 – “The Louie CK model should be the model for comedians. Not telling the executives what he was going to do.”
21:38 – “I like how their hanging in there with the chop sticks. They’ve seen the fork.”
22:19 – “I’m never not looking for material.”
28:50 – “If your a comedian and you’re playing golf, you’re going nowhere in this business.”
31:55 – “The blessing in life is finding the torture you are comfortable with.”
34:45 – “If you’re a little lucky in life, you should enjoy getting older.”
39:35 – “You can get any moron to talk about themselves, and you’ll find some weird thing about them that’s kind of interesting.”
44:53 – “Jay Leno was THE BEST stand up comic.” Howard hates Jay Leno.
50:35 – “Pop tarts can’t go stale because they are never fresh.”
53:10 – On another season of Seinfeld – “The love affair between the people making the show and the audience was so intense, it was so white hot, I had to respect that and I could not go to that point where it starts to age and wither. And it doesn’t take long… I wanted it to end with a firework burst of it that never was bad.”
55:30 – “I have a sense of timing.”
1:10:15 – “You’re worth 800 million dollars.” “Can I dispute that, please? Way off.”
1:24:40 – “I have never been in it for the money.”

This is Seinfeld’s new project, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.

Listen to the part on the radio here.

By |2013-07-01T22:06:13-04:00July 1st, 2013|Celeb, Videos|3 Comments

Rolling Stone Interviews Louie C.K

louieck
I’m not a huge Louie C.K fan. I find him practical but not nearly as funny as other people. I’ve attempted to watch Lucky Louie on HBO and also Louie on FX and can’t get into them. That aside, I read his entire interview in the Rolling Stone and it’s obvious he’s a pretty down to Earth guy. I also heard him on Howard a few weeks ago and he was a great guest. My general take on Louie (and the thumbs ups on the video) is how real he is. Another noteworthy point about him is that he doesn’t repeat his material and is constantly coming up with new thoughts which I think separates him from other comedians out there. Here are a few excerpts from the Rolling Stone interview that I want to give my thoughts on.

Q. In general, do you hold on to grudges or do you forgive people?
A. No, I don’t hold grudges. I don’t have a grudge in my life. I forgive people. I just don’t believe that you owe anybody in your life a relationship. It’s healthy and fair to opt in or out, and it’s actually more fair to do that than to hold people’s feet to the fire for everything they’ve ever done.

I liked that comment because I feel some people hold onto a thought or idea and never let it go. It’s a stereotypical thought that allows no room for growth.

Q. Did you get the idea of how to be a father from your mother, then?
A. Yeah, “because I’m your father” is just a cheap cop out, and it robs the kid of an opportunity to understand something. I engage them. A lot of parents don’t talk to their kids. I learned that from my mom. I provide for them but also let them experience their disappointments and their difficulties. You’re not going to keep your kids from harm, not in a million years. All their life is going to be is harm. It’s narcissistic to try to give your kids a utopian life – when they leave your house, they’re going to be in a world of shit. The only thing you can give your kids that’s going to be of any use is a mechanism for dealing with all the awful shit that’s coming. Then it won’t be that awful. As a matter of fact, it will be great.

I thought of Sam when I read this because our mom was none too pleased about his recent incident. Know that your not alone in this world of shit. Getting through it makes it that much better.

Q. That may be where the genius part comes in.
A. I’m just studying it and figuring stuff out. The only way to learn that stuff is by failing; all this is learned by having bad times. You have to be willing to have a bad time. People that need to feel like a star and like they’re succeeding every time will not ever get better. But if you are willing to feel bad, do badly, have a stale, boring version of yourself out in front of everybody, you can find this stuff in the muck that’s very useful. What I just told you about comes from having gotten really stale and having written a joke an having it stay thin and shitty until it wasn’t getting laughs anymore.

Q. A lot of people dream of overnight success, rather than sloggin it out for 20 years and gradually improving a craft.
A. It’s understandable for people to want all their favorite things to happen, but the crazy thing is to think that they can avoid all of the hard things. To want everything that you ever dreamed of, to the exclusion of anything hard, that feels common to me now in a way that is hurting people. They’re ignoring how much good there is in being present for the hardest parts of your life. I wouldn’t trade those years for anything. I loved all that time; it was hard and I suffered. Times where you’re like, “I think it’s over, and I’m in too deep to start anything else.” There are really scary moments in a showbiz career, but it’s so great that they got to happen. It’s a very unforgiving field; it doesn’t say goodbye nicely and there’s no one there to keep you going – it’s all you. But if you survived that time, that’s always there.

By |2013-04-22T21:53:28-04:00April 22nd, 2013|Celeb|0 Comments

Same Name, Different Talent

Robert Smith & Robert Smith

The better known Robert Smith is the lead singer of the Cure. The Cure have a cult like following and great songs like Just Like Heaven, LoveSong, and Pictures of you. The other Robert Smith was a running back for the Minnesota Vikings who retired at 28 and in the prime of his career. He does some college commentary on ESPN and picked LSU against Alabama in the regular season of 2011 and won me like 300 bucks, which is why I continue to like him.

Chris Wallace & Christopher Wallace

Chris Wallace reports for Fox news and Christopher Wallace was the Notorious BIG AKA Biggie Smalls AKA Big Poppa AKA The Black Frank White. Chris Wallace has received 3 emmy’s to give him prominence to this prominent list. Biggie died at 24 and that always shocks me because he was able to do so much at such a young age. I sit here at 28 with nothing to show and at 24 he established himself as one of the highest figures in the business. I also liked the parody of these two, which is why it made the list.

Joe Jackson & Joe Jackson & Shoeless Joe Jackson

The first Joe Jackson is famous for the songs “Is She Really Going Out With Him” & “Stepping Out” and is currently the feature of my spotify radio station. It’s Different For Girls is also worth a listen. The next Joe Jackson was the father / manager for the Jackson 5 and most notably Michael and Janet. He’s not the most respectable character as he had engaged in extramarital affairs and abused his children. He’s 83 years of age. Shoeless Joe is probably the least well known. His prime time came in the historic 1919 World Series where he played a role in conspiring with gamblers to help his team lose the Series. Another not so reputable Joe Jackson.

Howard Stern & Howard K. Stern

I listen to the Howard Stern show and I find it so comical how unfavorably biased people are towards him. If you don’t listen to Howard you probably know him as the shock jock who stands for lewd & crude humor. In reality he’s a very honest, hard working individual who speaks the truth about a variety of topics. He just has a bad rap and perhaps in his younger years that was the case, but as he’s matured, he doesn’t deserve the disrespect people show him. Howard K Stern was the attorney for Anna Nicole Smith and the “alleged” father of her child Dannielynn. This turned out to be incorrect and just a ploy for Stern to gain access to the millions of dollars Smith left behind from her cold hearted inheritance from some aging billionaire.

By |2016-11-01T23:21:07-04:00April 24th, 2012|My Brain|2 Comments

To Be The Best, Show Your Best

I was listening to Howard Stern the other day and he made a profound point. I still feel that the outside world views Stern as a lewd, crude, dirty shockjock and he doesn’t get the credit he deserves. The segment involved Howard telling his two joke guys that the material they had wasn’t funny. Howard was explaining to them this certain bit wasn’t good enough for radio and it didn’t represent their abilities. It would tarnish their reputation. He gave an example of a professional photographer who only shows his best work. He might take 100 pictures but they all aren’t going to be presented, he might choose one out of the bunch. Giving your work your best thought and ability is how you produce good content. The difficult question to answer is, how can you tell if your work is that good if you don’t present it? Take these post, I don’t know if I what I write is any good. I have to continue honing my skills until I actually come up with a formula for success. Stern’s life is a great story in that he spent years upon of hard work to get where he is. He says he was awful in the beginning of his career and with effort and his talent for creating content, he rose to the top. His hard work shows to, he gives the most entertaining interviews. These aren’t predetermined, stage interviews where both parties know what they are going to say. He has learned how to make interviewing interesting. His advice should not be taken lightly.

By |2016-10-29T13:50:14-04:00November 30th, 2011|My Brain|0 Comments

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