Lance Armstrong recently announced his team roster for the 2010 season. It includes Mid-West badass Bjorn Selander. A few years ago, he was a local high school kid who kicked the crap out me & everyone else at cyclocross races. Pretty cool to see him at the top of the sport at such a young age.
The team's title sponsors are RadioShack and Lance's LiveStrong Cancer foundation. LiveStrong has raised over $180 million for cancer research.
Which got me thinking - where is the rare motor neuron disease big gun? You've got the Jerry Lewis telethon, Micheal J. Fox's Parkinsons thing, and... well, that's it.
Where's the big celebrity fundraiser for weird/rare/undiagnosed motor neuron diseases? I'll tell you where.
Right here.
I'm gonna be the next big thing in disease-related awareness generation and fund raising. Hell, our ALS Assassination Squad raised $9,150 in like, six weeks. The only problem with my plan is I'm not a huge celebrity. Yet. If there's one thing I've learned from TV & the internet, it's how to get headlines. There's a sure-fire way to the top.
I need to release a sex tape.
I know, without asking, that my wife will not be on board. It's a shame really, since I already have a pretty good lighting setup at home. I'm sure she'd turn me down based on this conversation we had the last time a celeb sex tape surfaced;
me: "I wonder when they're going to stop calling them sex tapes."
Marney: "What?"
me: "Its all digital now. No one shoots tape anymore."
Marney: "You are such a dork."
me: "I guess 'sex file' or 'sex mp4' doesn't have the same ring as sex tape. If I had one, it would be a streaming sex FLV."
Marney: "Gross."
The way I see it, there is a simple solution. I need someone else to send me their sex tape, and I'll superimpose my head on the dude's body. I'll film my head in similar lighting and camera angles, key out the background, plop it on top of the original sex tape and motion keyframe the hell out if it. Then I just re-dub any dialog, render, export and biggity-bam! Fame, here I come.
Hell, I could do it frame by frame in Photoshop if I had to. The hard part (insert your own 'hard part' pun here) will be getting my hands on a sex tape featuring a guy of similar build. Additionally, my tape will get more attention if my female co-star is famous. So, I need a six foot tall, fair-haired famous guy who regularly beds famous women to film the act and then send me an uncompressed MOV file.
Matthew McConaughey, I'm looking in your direction.
Once my sex tape gets "leaked" to TMZ, our celebrity-crazed media will clamor find out who I am and how I scored such a famous babe. Hopefully Matthew McConaughey doesn't have any easily identifiable tattoos or birthmarks. That could blow the whole thing. Tell you what, Matt, just shoot it in that eerie green night-vision mode. That'll make you a bit harder to see. Thanks, big guy.
Anyhoo, the gossip sites will track me down eventually. I'll tell them I'm a fundraiser for those with weird/rare/undiagnosed motor neuron diseases. With any luck it will become the cause du jour! Before you know it Bill Gates will be hosting a black tie fundraiser for ALS research and regular folks will be paying $10 to download my sex tape... with all the proceeds going to research, of course.
This plan can't fail!!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
top shelf
I've noticed a problem developing over the last couple of months. I'm experiencing increasing difficulty with reaching objects higher than shoulder height. I can just barely raise my hands above my head these days. If you need to high five me for any reason, get your ass to Minneapolis and do it quick. At home, my hand raising (or lack thereof) isn't much of an issue. I simply don't put away any item that belongs on a high shelf. I told Marney that my behavior is consistent with that of all men and should be embraced and celebrated.
She did not buy it.
Unfortunately, shopping is a bit trickier. Shopkeepers don't consult me when stocking shelves. Wankers. The lot of them.
The problem is almost all the products I like are on the top shelf. It doesn't matter which store I go in to. For example;
Grocery store: The Kashi cereal I like? Top shelf. Half & half? Top shelf. Tonic water? It ain't on the bottom shelf.
Clothing stores: The shirt I like? Top rack. Jeans in my size? Top shelf. Sweet shoes? Opposite of the bottom shelf. That stupid skinny white belt? Within reach.
...And the worst shopping experience of all, the liquor store.
There are two problems at the adult beverage emporium. First, all the stuff I like is literally top shelf booze. I dare you to find a store where Tanqueray 10, Bushmills & Makers Mark are located at waist level. The fun continues in the beer cooler, where Surly, Sierra Nevada, Bells and other forms of deliciousness reside just out of reach.
Problem number two is weight. Glass is heavy. Water-based beverages are heavy. Combine the two and you've got a recipe for uhh... non-liftability.
Obviously, I need a solution to my top shelf woes. Here are my options:
The Billy Mays Gopher
Who doesn't need this product?! Bless you Billy, you cacophonous, coked-up sage.
Scissor Lift
I would change the hell out of every lightbulb in Minnesota if I had one of these.
Jet Pack, a la James Bond
Q tested, Moneypenny approved.
Super Stilts
These must have been built on a dare.
A Compliant Giant
I couldn't find a clip of my favorite quote of his, "Be careful. Men in masks are not to be trusted."
P.S. This is beautiful. We're all on the brute squad.
She did not buy it.
Unfortunately, shopping is a bit trickier. Shopkeepers don't consult me when stocking shelves. Wankers. The lot of them.
The problem is almost all the products I like are on the top shelf. It doesn't matter which store I go in to. For example;
Grocery store: The Kashi cereal I like? Top shelf. Half & half? Top shelf. Tonic water? It ain't on the bottom shelf.
Clothing stores: The shirt I like? Top rack. Jeans in my size? Top shelf. Sweet shoes? Opposite of the bottom shelf. That stupid skinny white belt? Within reach.
...And the worst shopping experience of all, the liquor store.
There are two problems at the adult beverage emporium. First, all the stuff I like is literally top shelf booze. I dare you to find a store where Tanqueray 10, Bushmills & Makers Mark are located at waist level. The fun continues in the beer cooler, where Surly, Sierra Nevada, Bells and other forms of deliciousness reside just out of reach.
Problem number two is weight. Glass is heavy. Water-based beverages are heavy. Combine the two and you've got a recipe for uhh... non-liftability.
Obviously, I need a solution to my top shelf woes. Here are my options:
The Billy Mays Gopher
Who doesn't need this product?! Bless you Billy, you cacophonous, coked-up sage.
Scissor Lift
I would change the hell out of every lightbulb in Minnesota if I had one of these.
Jet Pack, a la James Bond
Q tested, Moneypenny approved.
Super Stilts
These must have been built on a dare.
A Compliant Giant
I couldn't find a clip of my favorite quote of his, "Be careful. Men in masks are not to be trusted."
P.S. This is beautiful. We're all on the brute squad.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
the epic battle between man and bear
This is pretty self explanatory:
(click for larger view)
Actual explanation here.
This is what happens when I have the day off and 2 hours to kill before dinner.
(click for larger view)Actual explanation here.
This is what happens when I have the day off and 2 hours to kill before dinner.
Friday, November 6, 2009
test time
A while ago, a co-worker asked me to critique pictures of a couple dozen laptop bag designs. His wife's marketing firm was looking for feedback before moving from designs on paper to prototypes. Incidentally, all it takes to be a design authority is hip glasses, a T-shirt that says "helvetica" and using "Photoshop" as a verb.
I spent the last few days playing around with three prototypes. I found the features I like now wouldn't have been on my radar 2 years ago. Magnetic and velcro closures are much easier for me to use than buttons, zippers or snaps.
In fact, most of my purchasing decisions are now made based on function over style. Don't get me wrong, I'm still dapper as hell. I just pay closer attention to things like how the lid to my coffee cup opens or the zipper on a jacket.
As such, I will now offer my services as a gimpy product tester to all industrial designers. I'm sure this will become a full time job. My blog is insanely popular amongst the Auto-CAD set. Priority will be given to those designing ergonomic beer bottles, coffee cups, cutlery, sports car transmissions and large-screen TVs.
I spent the last few days playing around with three prototypes. I found the features I like now wouldn't have been on my radar 2 years ago. Magnetic and velcro closures are much easier for me to use than buttons, zippers or snaps.
In fact, most of my purchasing decisions are now made based on function over style. Don't get me wrong, I'm still dapper as hell. I just pay closer attention to things like how the lid to my coffee cup opens or the zipper on a jacket.
As such, I will now offer my services as a gimpy product tester to all industrial designers. I'm sure this will become a full time job. My blog is insanely popular amongst the Auto-CAD set. Priority will be given to those designing ergonomic beer bottles, coffee cups, cutlery, sports car transmissions and large-screen TVs.
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