If you're having difficulty getting fired up for tomorrow's World Cup match against Ghana (e.g. you're a zombie; you're Glenn Beck), check out this video immediately.
(Question: Anyone else a huge sucker for the Rudy soundtrack? I swear, every time I hear those strings and brass in combination - with any type of sports footage (even croquet) - I start balling like Vadaduring Thomas J.'s funeralat the end of My Girl.)
If you're in NYC and need a place to watch, come to O'Reilly's on 35th St., between 5th and 6th. In addition to hordes of patriotic and passionate US soccer fans going absolutely bonkers, there will be a $30 All You Can Drink special from 1pm to 5pm (as well as tons of hot chicks looking to hook up*). Hope to see you there.
I know, I know. Last "Photo of the Day" was a shot of the city, but I just couldn't resist. We've had a couple monster storms come through Chicago over the past week, and the last one really provided some amazing scenes. As crazy as this photo is, you really had to be there. Imagine hearing a tornado siren (think off-tune nuclear siren - really spooky), watching a full double-rainbow appear, and seeing the sky light up with multiple lightening bolts - all at once! *UPDATE: Insane HD video of this storm... must see!
Bonus picture and photo description after the break:
Readers, please note that there is nothing "live" about this liveblog. In fact, everything that I'm writing about took place yesterday (except for the third item), which begs the question: what exactly is a liveblog? My answer is the same answer that I give to the questions "What is the point of AMDAL?", "Why do you still let Apple Symbol write for the blog?" and "What happened to Block and Makens?" - I don't know. If I had to come up with something, however, I'd say a liveblog is a post comprising a poorly taken digital photo of people or things that few know or care about, with little or no context whatsoever, to make the author of said post feel important about his or her life. So here I go.
Unless you were living under a rock, you probably heard about or saw one of the most epic days in sports history yesterday. Three major things happened that rocked the sports world. I'd like to chronicle them here, in descending order of importance.
Epic Sports Moment #1 - The Atlanta Dream beat the Tulsa Shock 96-90 in a WNBA game that no one watched.
According to ESPN, "[Angel] McCoughtry, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 WNBA draft, has scored 20 or more points in nine of Atlanta's 14 games. She had three steals and her strong play in the final minutes helped the first-place Dream recover after losing an 18-point first half lead."
Although she had 7 turnovers, McCoughtry scored 29 points with 10 rebounds and scored six straight in the final two minutes. Like much of the AMDAL community, she too was surprised that the WNBA still exists and that both Atlanta and Tulsa are home to professional female teams.
In 2004, I had almost no concept of what investment banking was, except for the horror stories Scos and others reported back to me while on their 48 hour drunken escape from New York during Homecoming. In 2005, I heard the same stories from my classmates, fresh off their internships. The stories were basically the same, but with a few little tidbits, like "It's not that bad" and "I made over $10K in one summer." In 2006, I was interviewing. Why the hell not?
In 2007, the market crashed, with my social and sex life following shortly behind it. After a few 130 hour weeks and at least half a dozen burnt out shirts, my soul was suffering. I had managed to figure out how to turn off the blinking red light on my blackberry and rarely dreamed about excel or pitch decks. But subconsciously, the lifestyle was getting to me.
In 2008, I had 4 pairs of Cole Haan shoes (2 black, 1 brown, 1 burgundy), about 20 Brook's Brothers shirts, and was eyeing a Ferragamo tie. I didn't particularly need $25 worth of Seamless Web delivery food, but I'd use it all just the same (you can buy a lot of Dentyne Ice - I was up to a pack a day at that point). And after all that hard work analyzing the financials of multi-million dollar companies, I deserved that black-car ride home, no? Fuck, I was living the dream.
Clowns told me “ain’t you roc [nation]? well where the fuck yo chain at?” Guess it’s somethin like your girl, it aint came yet. The man make the chain, chain dont make the man How many n[inja]s do we know with hella ice but yet they lame?
J. Cole, you're exactly right. Granted, it's easy to get caught up in the lifestyle - and as much as I pride myself on having my own idea of what's "cool," I was clearly indoctrinated in the New York / finance culture. But how far off is the hip hop world from banking in New York anyway? Both have a culture of wealth and opulence. Both harshly criticize those who challenge the status quo. Both place a high value on things that really shouldn't be impressive (jail stints, Princeton degrees). But here stands J. Cole, one of the most hyped rappers out today, with Jay Z at his back, turning his own back to convention. Take note and keep watching him.
About the video: BBGUN directed the first Cole Jam I showcased on AMDAL, and the two have teamed up again to put an upgraded spin on that video. Check them both out.
Hit the jump for OK Go's latest awesomeness, Pharrell, and the latest BOTW.
MLR and I spent a while trying to figure out how we could use his engineering skillz and my idiocy to create a campus celebrity. I think our winning idea was to create a giant fanny pack that fit my computer and books. I'd wear it around campus and earnestly explain to people how it was better for my back. I always imagined this look would go really well with purple sweatpants. Anyway, we clearly never got to it because if we had, I wouldn't be so lonely.
I wish I had thought more like this guy. This guy is an instant campus celebrity.
Life is a little less sweet when you are a lactard. Sure you can get a tofutti cutie at Dartmouth halal and margarine is healthier than butter, but it's just not the same. People can rave about sorbet all they want but it is certainly no ice cream. Then of course there is the lactard tax-- that miserable $0.40 that Starbucks tags on to for added soy milk. In my younger days I complained to the mighty 'bucks in letter form... Nothing happened. But rather than dwell on this Brie lover's misfortune, I have just worked around it. Luckily I live with another dairily disabled food lover who is usually down to try out my concoctions. For his birthday last week I made him a deliciously rich chocolate cake from my aunt's recipe; adapted to be lactose free without using random soy substitutes or mocolate. For this rich cake recipe (in both lactard and regular versions), continue reading...
I'm pretty sure it's possible to spoon too much. Clearly feels good. But should you get all post-coital cute after your first hookup, or roll the other way? What about the second time? The first sober shag? I bet rappers don't have this problem. I'm not even sure if rappers sleep, what with all the cough syrup, pills and weed. Apparently rappers don't even go down on girls (they find it 'unsavory'), save maybe only Lil' Wayne (success among women: explained). Snuggling, though? Forget it.
OK, of course this isn't true. Ask Drake.
Read more about Drake, including his tryst with a star singer and his latest video after the jump
Many of you know Cam F. For those of you who know him, there's a chance he's said something offensive to you or in your presence. This might have caused you to not like him. For those of you who don't know Cam, there's a good chance you know a Cam.
But how well do you know your Cam? Have you given him or her the chance to see he / she is an interesting person that isn't just an asshole, but also a smart, creative asshole that likes to go on hikes, night bike rides, and have long discussions about the problems of today? In my mind, anyone who's willing to say to himself "I'm an asshole and I'm going to try to be better" gets a second look. After a few rough patches of relationships and friendships gone bad, that's exactly what Cam said to himself. Most importantly, however, he's largely stuck to his promise and I've enjoyed watching the transformation.
Read on to hear about how the above pic came to be and what it turned into.
It's THE FINAL COUNTDOWN! T minus 46 hours until USMLE Step 1. (Picture a sweet studying montage to this song; or blacking out in the Basement. Either way.)
I'd be remiss in my Mad Men duties if I didn't post this. Apparently, Mad Men star January Jones, aka "Betty Draper," was seen coming home early one morning in her night-before best. Benign enough. Well add to that a possibly-drunken driving hit and run of 4 parked cars, and you've got what you call yourself a shitty week.
You know what pisses me off: Bobby Flay. There isn't a lot to talk about there, except that if you were in a car wreck and were distressed, why would you call a celebrity cook? Shouldn't she have called Don Draper? Or better yet, Joan. Definitely Joan.
JOTW has been a staple since this blog's inception. Love it or hate it, in some way, it's hear to stay. That said, I agree that this blog needs more content and less youtube vomit. This post won't be exactly what you're looking for. That said, I am in the midst of writing a modified JOTW, which will center around a music video but also aspire to be more thoughtful, personal, and directed towards particular themes each week. We'll see how it goes. Like Carr said below, people are getting dumber thanks to the internet and I'm no exception (or at least that'll be my excuse from now on). So pardon me if I lose interest and go back to liveblogging and youtube vomiting.
Nas and Damian Marley are the rap equivalent of the Liger. It's pretty much my favorite group. It's like the best rapper and the best reggae/rapper mixed... bred for its skills in awesomeness. I haven't heard the full album yet but from a few of the tracks I've heard, I'm excited. This song, though, is my favorite and I'm very happy it got the video treatment. Now that I think about it, this might be the first Nas JOTW. That is fucking atrocious. If I can rant, Nas is considered one of the best rappers ever. I think "Illmatic," Nas' first album which he put out when he was 21(!), will probably forever be in iPod/iPhone/Android/Spaceship device until the day I die. Many people say the same about Bob Marley, so Damian, Bob's son, isn't far off. Together you have a match made in hip hop heaven. Are you listening / watching yet?
In the WSJ this weekend, Nicholas Carr makes the point that all bloggers hate to believe: the plethora of links, articles, videos and the internets as a whole in fact makes you dumber. A couple snippets:
"In one experiment conducted at Cornell University, for example, half a class of students was allowed to use Internet-connected laptops during a lecture, while the other had to keep their computers shut. Those who browsed the Web performed much worse on a subsequent test of how well they retained the lecture's content."
"It is revealing, and distressing, to compare the cognitive effects of the Internet with those of an earlier information technology, the printed book. Whereas the Internet scatters our attention, the book focuses it. Unlike the screen, the page promotes contemplativeness."
I hate this, true or not. I also don't think the answer is less internet / more books. Carr probably isn't saying that either, though he doesn't offer any helpful suggestions (I also despise when authors aren't willing to stick their necks out and make a suggestion - digression).
Well, yes, sort of. When I started writing for AMDAL over a year ago, I vowed never to write about a girlfriend or ex-girlfriend on this blog. The key words there are the last three: on this blog.
Last week I experienced what you might call two of the worst days of my life. But I cannot chronicle them here because they center around a girlfriend – or ex-girlfriend, rather. The story, in its entirety, can be found over at a great website www.handmaidofhonor.com. It's run by a friend of mine, whom I tried to recruit here a long time ago, but to no avail. She is hilarious, very much into all things wedding-related, and most importantly: an AMDAL fan (unless the content is about obscure techno gizmos or produced by The BMar*).
Her site's slogan (I think that's the right word) is:
"Life. One day [engagement, bachelorette party, bridal shower, and wedding] at a time."
If you're into that kind of stuff, please support her by following HMOH on Twitter and Facebook. I'm sure she'd appreciate any and all witty (i.e.g. not nasty) comments. And please, tell your friends.
Much obliged,
Scos
*BMar, relax. That was a joke. Hope you had a good graduation. It's my bike.
This is actually pretty tragic/ interesting and has worldwide ramifications. Apple followers know that most of our products are made by Foxconn Technology Group, a China-based manufacturing company and one of the world's largest employers with a workforce that exceeds 400,000[sic]. That's incomprehensibly large.
What's interesting and concerning about this company/workforce is that for a few years now they've come under much scrutiny for a seemingly dangerously high rate of unhappiness and suicide.
Tomorrow is like Christmas. No, no! Tomorrow is like BIGGER than Christmas! It's like for us half-Jew Christians where we get to celebrate Hanukah AND Christmas in the same month! And like for me, when it's followed the very next week by my birthday!
Tomorrow is Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
The poll has closed and the votes are in: the "L!VE" icon is the winner! Sure, the poll yielded a tie, but due to some offine votes and me not caring about the results, MLR and I picked the better of the three. If you frequently find yourself bored on the go, or if you ever use the bathroom, make it easier on yourself and save this page to your homescreen on your soon-to-be-obsolete iPhone. For a quick 4-step process on how to bookmark a website, hit the link...
Bored at work? Odds are we at AMDAL are too. Don't be selfish - share your wit with us either as comments or in email form (allmydealsarelive@gmail.com).
"Jerry decided to pitch the tent a little early."
The only thing gayer than this picture, I think, is a Josh Pence photo shoot.
See?
The only thing gayer than this picture, I think, is a Josh Pence photo shoot.
See?
