Danger Den

space after paragraph

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:17:16 -0400

i bought a tumblr theme that doesn’t have any space after paragraphs and it’s driving me nuts. does anyone know what code will fix that?

Linguisticated: Welcome to Linguisticated

Sat, 18 May 2013 14:56:53 -0400

Linguisticated: Welcome to Linguisticated:

I started a blog just about language. Follow if you want to read stuff …

linguisticated:

I decided to start a blog solely devoted to talking about language. I had something similar to this in college called American English Online, but I don’t think it’s in line with what I want to be doing anymore. Back then I was sassy and into what I was studying, but now I approach blogging with a…

las vegas shot glass

Mon, 13 May 2013 00:01:00 -0400

neil was doing the dishes while i worked and i heard something shatter. when i came out later he very regretfully informed me that my las vegas shot glass had broken. “i hope it’s not a really important memento of yours, like something your mom got you in las vegas.”

the idea of my mom ever going to las vegas and getting me a shot glass really cracks me up. my mom does not drink and her vacations consist of shopping in quaint towns, where she might bring me back a necklace with a fairy on it.

pretty much all of my shot glasses are things that have been left behind in apartments i’ve moved into. i don’t think i’ve ever had a ‘memento’ shot glass.

but i did do a lot of drinking with that shot glass so RIP las vegas shot glass. thanks for helping me measure my drinks.

The ‘log-in’ link is getting edged off the screen,...

Sun, 12 May 2013 23:57:00 -0400

The ‘log-in’ link is getting edged off the screen, Tumblr.

My dream is for website log-ins to be huge, welcoming boxes, not an afterthought. Instead, all the glitz goes into getting new people to sign up. I want it to be like, “LOG IN YOU ARE BACK YAY! … oh, you’re new? go all the way to the edge of the screen to that tiny link and sign up there.”

trexchristine: areyouhappyenough: omg More more

Sat, 11 May 2013 11:50:35 -0400

trexchristine:

areyouhappyenough:

omg

More more

xhxix: nosebleed digital image, 2010

Sat, 11 May 2013 11:47:48 -0400

xhxix:

nosebleed
digital image, 2010

suckmyowldick: I would give everything for the power to fuck up...

Sat, 11 May 2013 11:45:46 -0400

suckmyowldick:

I would give everything for the power to fuck up bitches hair

tallwhitney: Had this. The boom box worked!

Sat, 11 May 2013 11:45:15 -0400

tallwhitney:

Had this. The boom box worked!

Photo

Sat, 11 May 2013 11:44:24 -0400

language blog

Sat, 11 May 2013 11:39:00 -0400

i really enjoy reading ta-nehisi coates’ blog about learning french on the atlantic. i would like to create something kind of similar where i just blog about foreign languages, linguistics and things like that. i have shied away from this because i am not an ‘expert’ but i like how ta-nehisi coates writes as a learner, not an authority, and maybe i could do that.

would anyone want to read about that stuff?

what substances does childhood feel like

Sat, 11 May 2013 11:35:54 -0400

sometimes when i have one glass of wine i think something like, ‘maybe this is what regular, not-neurotic people feel like all the time.’ then i think, ‘maybe this is what children feel like.’

then i start thinking back to what i felt like as a child. it doesn’t seem like adulthood sobriety but something different. if i had to describe it in terms of substances it would be like always being 3 drinks in in terms of willingness to embarrass myself, annoy people and shriek, while also being insanely stoned to the point of being paranoid and anxious all at the same time somehow.

or maybe it was a constant rolling between those two extremes, while playing a lot of typing tutor and ski free.

The "Lost" Generation

Thu, 09 May 2013 22:02:50 -0400

This generation is so lost they are “literally” lost on an island.

They dig around in crashed planes for heroin.

They give themselves pretentious philosopher names.

They don’t wear SPF 30 or higher.

They don’t grow their own food, they just eat on-the-go snacks by ‘the Dharma Initiative.’

They lock each other up in cages.

They wear Old Navy cargo pants for days on end, and layer Old Navy tanks and call it “style.”

They have “flashbacks.”

They are Unitarian (presumably from that finale).

They are going nowhere (except back and forth in time).

journalism stuff

Thu, 09 May 2013 20:54:35 -0400

I have started writing stories for Vita.mn recently and it struck me that the type of ‘reporting’ I’m doing for these is much different from the usual arts reporting. Basically, it’s calling up normal people and asking them about their lives, relationships, ideas about our generation, etc.

I am used to interviewing bands and pretending to be an expert on their music and talking about that. Which can be fun, of course. But, I will say, this new kind is more rewarding.

I would like to have a job that involved calling regular people I don’t know and listening to them for awhile.

The fate of today’s book bloggers | Tobias Buckell Online

Wed, 08 May 2013 14:13:29 -0400

The fate of today’s book bloggers | Tobias Buckell Online:

tomewing:

charmian:

1) When you get to a point where you’ve read an amazing number of books, you change. You’ve read so much that what may seem new or interesting to most (and even to the writer of the book you’re reading) is just a variation to you. Your expectations regarding the work change.

Due to subjectivity being what it is, many writers can mistake what’s happening and view it as the books getting worse, not their own aesthetic changing. Two things can happen. One, despair at what they perceive is the dying of quality. You see this a lot with people who hit a certain number of books read: they begin to rail against the dreadfulness of everything. It can lead to bitterness, cynicism, and outright hatred of something they previously loved.

Secondly, and you see this with a lot of artists, is that they begin to gravitate toward something that feels new to them. They seek out ‘artist’s artists’ and are not happy when those voices aren’t welcomed by the mainstream, because these are stories aimed at people who’ve simply consumed a terrific amount of fiction to be able to enjoy the work.

2) If you’re able to either unconsciously or consciously navigate the above, what you’re left with isn’t a raw, initial passion for reviewing what you love, but a more craftman’s-like examination of the book for an audience you may no longer really be a part of, but can remember being a part of. It’s easy to slip into this vein, by will or luck, because it does allow you to keep reading a ton while reporting back on the basics of what you read.

What those reviews are basically covering is “If you like X sort of thing, this hits X okay, with some additional Y and Z, if you also are into that.” Do they feel sucked dry of a bit of the reviewer’s authorial voice? Yeah, probably, because the reviewer has had to step back out of necessity in order to report back to a larger audience.

My thoughts: I don’t know if I can be said to have read an amazing number of books (or manga) but I think I have felt a bit of 1). Also, when you blog for free and are not paid, doing 2) seems kind of boring, because don’t you want to read things that you find interesting?

Relevant to music writers. To say the least. Though music writers have a third option - endlessly re-tracing and bearing witness to the times that did seem fresh to them.

very interesting

thepeoplesrecord: The troubling viral trend of the “hilarious”...

Wed, 08 May 2013 13:24:07 -0400

thepeoplesrecord:

The troubling viral trend of the “hilarious” Black poor person
May 7, 2013

Charles Ramsey, the man who helped rescue three Cleveland women presumed dead after going missing a decade ago, has become an instant Internet meme. It’s hardly surprising—the interviews he gave yesterday provide plenty of fodder for a viral video, including memorable soundbites (“I was eatin’ my McDonald’s”) and lots of enthusiastic gestures. But as Miles Klee and Connor Simpson have noted, Ramsey’s heroism is quickly being overshadowed by the public’s desire to laugh at and autotune his story, and that’s a shame. Ramsey has become the latest in a fairly recent trend of “hilarious” black neighbors, unwitting Internet celebrities whose appeal seems rooted in a “colorful” style that is always immediately recognizable as poor or working-class.

Before Ramsey, there was Antoine Dodson, who saved his younger sister from an intruder, only to wind up famous for his flamboyant recounting of the story to a reporter. Since Dodson’s rise to fame, there have been others: Sweet Brown, a woman who barely escaped her apartment complex during a fire last year, and Michelle Clarke, who couldn’t fathom the hailstorm that rained down in her hometown of Houston, and in turn became “the next Sweet Brown.”

Granted, the buzzworthy tactic of reporters interviewing the most loquacious witnesses to a crime or other event is nothing new, and YouTube has countless examples of people of all ethnicities saying ridiculous things. One woman, for instance, saw fit to casually mention her breasts while discussing a local accident, while another man described a car crash with theatrical flair. Earlier this year, a “hatchet-wielding hitchhiker” named Kai matched Dodson’s fame with his astonishing account of rescuing a woman from a racist attacker. But none of those people have been subjected to quite the same level of derisive memeification as Brown, Clark, and now, perhaps, Ramsey—the inescapable echoes of “Hide yo’ kids, hide yo’ wife!” and “Kabooyaw,” the tens of millions of YouTube hits and cameos in other viral videos, even commercials.

It’s difficult to watch these videos and not sense that their popularity has something to do with a persistent, if unconscious, desire to see black people perform. Even before the genuinely heroic Ramsey came along, some viewers had expressed concern that the laughter directed at people like Sweet Brown plays into the most basic stereotyping of blacks as simple-minded ramblers living in the “ghetto,” socially out of step with the rest of educated America. Black or white, seeing Clark and Dodson merely as funny instances of random poor people talking nonsense is disrespectful at best. And shushing away the question of race seems like wishful thinking.

Ramsey is particularly striking in this regard, since, for a moment at least, he put the issue of race front and center himself. Describing the rescue of Amanda Berry and her fellow captives, he says, “I knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man’s arms. Something is wrong here. Dead giveaway!”

The candid statement seems to catch the reporter off guard; he ends the interview shortly afterward. And it’s notable that among the many memorable things Ramsey said on camera, this one has gotten less meme-attention than most. Those who are simply having fun with the footage of Ramsey might pause for a second to actually listen to the man. He clearly knows a thing or two about the way racism prevents us from seeing each other as people.

Source

Now that you know this is a thing, please stop sharing these memes. Poor Black people speaking candidly about various serious incidents isn’t a hilarious joke.

what's the funniest thing you've read lately?

Wed, 01 May 2013 22:38:50 -0400

looking for things that remind me what ‘funny’ is.

this cracked me up recently by virtue of being weird.

shortformblog: thehedrick: After a lot of delay, I’m proud to...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 21:25:00 -0400

shortformblog:

thehedrick:

After a lot of delay, I’m proud to announce the big news you’ve all been waiting for…

The Thought Catalog e-book reissue of my book is now available!!

Isn’t that cover sick?

Anyway if you feel so inclined to buy it (only $2.99 btw), it’s available at Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00CEGR4FW
Apple iBookstore: http://bit.ly/12etgRy
or Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/Yi0rI7

Hopefully this’ll make me a little scratch, I’m not expecting a lot but wouldn’t it be awesome if I could actually make a living doing this stuff?

Also, if you guys wanna share this, well, I’d like that.

Thanks Tumblr!!

Our pal is selling a book … Read more about it above.

i will read most books about schizophrenia, especially if they are $3. (although why is it called “an original” if it’s a re-issue?)

braiker: Reblog. Every. Year.

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 13:47:26 -0400

braiker:

Reblog. Every. Year.

thedsgnblog: Ben Geier | http://bengeier.com “Ongoing...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:36:54 -0400

thedsgnblog:

Ben Geier | http://bengeier.com

“Ongoing side project where I redesign all the logos of my favorite record labels in a retro style. Taking lots of Inspiration from the Batman Animated Series.”

I drink Coke Zero because I am a man. You drink Diet Coke because you are a woman. Men like black cans. Women like silver cans. Men like acesulfame potassium and aspartame. Women only like aspartame.

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:32:50 -0400

it really confuses me that coke zero is marketed toward dudes that like sports since i love it a lot and think diet coke sucks. #gendermarketing boo