Idolatry

Though I recently espoused the evils of idolatry and putting people on pedestals. I’ve gone hypocritical and am deciding to let you in a bit to my life. Mostly I was running out of things to say, and to be blog worthy (I set very high personal standards). So I was going to try a classic what I did in my summer holidays. As we know summer hasn’t arrived and if I’d pasted one from last year people would’ve noticed I’m sure.


On a recently long public transport trip, after the last of my waning iPod battery died I found myself having an odd time. I was examining my life. A little DNM with the inner happier, more physically appealing me. But it was rush hour on an mundane Tuesday, I wasn’t under the influence, no fire to stare into and I wasn’t philosophically refurbishing my life with a close friend. It was deep thought at random and it was strange. In this process I realised I’d never had a true idol, a person to admire, to look up to and be inspired by. And though I abhor the use of celecbrity and trying to emulate them, I can set a point at which thinking ‘yeah there a good dude, maybe I’ll be like them’ and ‘ I want to wear their clothes and crap in their toilet’ crosses a line. At a push, I would’ve said Warren Buffett, he’s got it all going for him in most ways. The kind of guy you‘d love to hate if he wasn‘t such a good guy (e.g. Dan Carter). So as I sat in a rickety bus headed west, I decided I needed someone to admire.


With much deliberation I settled on A.J. Jacobs, editor at large of Esquire, regular contributor to Weekend Edition (a popular culture, society & history sort of show on American public radio) who has also contributed to The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly and New York magazine. Jacobs has written 3 books, The Know-it-all where he reads the entire encyclopaedia Britannica (great trivia), The Year of Living Biblically where he tries to follow all the rules of the bible for a year (not as subjective as you may think), and The Guinea Pig Diaries where he details all the experiments he’s ever been a subject for like when he outsourced his entire life to India (including arguments with his wife and bedtime stories for his kids, a best of Esquire sort of).


These are the reasons I idolise A.J., he has an awesome job, he is paid to be witty and observant plus his outlook on life is that it’s a “series of experiments in which I immerse myself in a project or lifestyle, for better or worse, then write about what I learned” and as a sucker for knowledge I get a bit giddy thinking like that. When I grow up, which comes sooner than one may think, I’d love to have a life like this, its not about money or prestige its about having fun and following that truly crazy “What if I…?” thought.


On a slightly deeper level, he seems insanely wise, thought provoking and has the most loving wife in the world with all the shit she puts up with (and let us be honest here, I’m a slight romantic, and she’s damn good looking, which gives me hope).
My choice was hard, and if in 20 years I think I’m closer to Jacobs than now I’d be a very happy man.


People who make up the top 5
1. AJ Jacobs
2. Warren Buffet (billionaire philanthropist who doesn’t flash it around)
3. Sherlock Holmes (mainstreaming reason - who said they have to be real?)
4. Bill Bryson (a man who makes history hilarious and education exciting)
5. Ryan Reynolds (two words = Scarlett Johansson)




As an interesting aside, and slightly more in touch with the creative world. Radio survey results came out today. The Edge got dominated, lost in a box seemed to drive listeners away I wasn’t a fan.
Newstalk ZB while still on top, lost appoint to Radio Live. All the urban stations grew, and for the first time they included Rhema & life, and Radio Waatea who are taking listeners away (or at least are being shown)

Check out the results at TRB.co.nz or try finding a survey party tonight with a massive bar tab. Watch all those famous radio Celebes getting paralytic just in case the get the old DCM*.

Talk next Friday (it’ll be about my job hunt – exciting yes!)








* For those of you under the age of forty or never heard the saying DCM – don’t come Monday, i.e. you’re fired!

Overload

I am fucked off.

I have 6 assignment due.

2 weeks of university left.

And I’m watching 17 again.

I thought I’d save you the stress of 500 words this Wednesday night.

And save myself the time of writing this because I am max stressed.

Again. I am a well of pure anger and rage.

Cheers.

One Flew Over the Zombies Nest.

Some thing has been concerning me recently.

You could say I’m almost afraid.

It’s not the fear of my own mortality, the fear that I’ve made the wrong decisions in life, the fear that no one will remember me, or geese.

It is something that is (debatably) more real.

The Zombie apocalypse.

Yes with each passing day the fear of Z day grows however I think I’m prepared.

My plan, involving stealing a yatch and the cleaning a cruise ship of any and all inhabitance and living like a king sailing the 7 seas like pirate king.

Many things must be taken into account.

Are the zombies smart, organized? How do they find me? Smell? Can they run? Or are they those lame limping zombies? How do I kill them… again? And most importantly how is the infection spread?

Yes the infection. If it is one, and lets face it the crazy shit scientists are up to they probably will create something like a zombie virus very soon. Or they already have but the CIA is keeping is under wraps. (Ponders own place on the Internet and wonders if I’ll ever be powerful enough to create a conspiracy theory. *cue elaborate scrubs style cut away to a magical land were I am king of the internet and all the famous internet memes are my minions and I force the lighting bolt guy into a battle with all the LOL cats*)

But before I get to off topic, and I think I already have, I should link this somehow to advertising (because, aside from Ben’s ‘50 ways to get that pesky tomato soup stain out of your favorite slacks for less than $5’, that is what this blog is meant to be about. I think.)

So, uh, here it goes.

Zombies are like ads. You can’t escape them. If the world is being over run with them (remembering zombie apocalypse in this metaphor is = Capitalist society) you kind of just have to accept the fact. Zombies/ Ads are part the way the world works and whether the ads walk (print media) or run (the internet) your probably going to get swallowed up some how and if you don’t, if you think you can avoid it, if you plan to live the rest of your days alone and paranoid, well then your not going to be part of the new society.

In a speech at Tedx last year the Bloodster put it far more eloquently than I could ever hope to so I’ll let you discover more for yourself (partly because I’m lazy, partly because you need to stop being lazy and partly because it’s a really nice speech and you should all listen to it.)

So just linked that up nicely (*cue scrubs flash back to me dressed as Hannibal lighting a cigar and saying “I love it when a plan comes together.*).

P.S. The Zombie rant was brought to you by a book I have a manuscript of (its not out yet so I don’t think I can say the name but its really really good. I also have the book that’s meant to be better than Steig Larsons stuff and he is pretty choice.) and we have to do a campaign for it.

P.P.S the CIA is covering shit up that’s not a joke if I get assassinated tomorrow you all know why.

P.P.P.S How many of these can I do before they get old.

P.P.P.P.S Not this many.