- I like curling: Read!
- Gibbons + TV cameras = BAD NEWS!
- What’s wrong with 20-somethings? Everything is just so, so hard.
- Is Obama failing? Yes! No! Economist!
- And the only thing worth watching on Youtube:
January 22, 2010
Suburbia: the next inner city?
Source: goodplanet.org
By now most of us understand the impact the housing bubble had on our current economic plight: people bought homes they couldn’t afford on credit they didn’t deserve from banks that didn’t have the moral or financial restraint to responsibly lend thanks to no-good regulators who turned a blind eye to the whole financial clusterfuck in the first place.
But what does this mean for the future of American poverty and where it resides? While more young Americans are relocating to walkable urban centers in lieu of the manicured lawn and strip mall-fueled suburban sprawl, the trend for past 50 or more years has been an exodus out of cramped urban centers.
But after historic economic prosperity in the 1990s, this past decade saw a new trend: suburban America experienced the greatest increase in the number of impoverished people, according to the Brookings Institute, which released a report today detailing the rise of the suburban poor.
By 2008, suburbs were home to the largest and fastest-growing poor population in the
country. Between 2000 and 2008, suburbs in the country’s largest metro areas saw their poor
population grow by 25 percent—almost five times faster than primary cities and well ahead
of the growth seen in smaller metro areas and non-metropolitan communities. As a result, by 2008 large suburbs were home to 1.5 million more poor than their primary cities and housed almost one-third of the nation’s poor overall. (Emphasis mine)
Suburban poor populations grew five times faster than their counterparts in urban centers in the last decade. All of this begs the question: what comes next? Perhaps an eventual tectonic shift in where Americans live compared to the 20th century. From the Atlantic:
Cities, of course, have made a long climb back since then. Just nine years after Russell escaped from the wreck of New York, Seinfeld—followed by Friends, then Sex and the City—began advertising the city’s renewed urban allure to Gen-Xers and Millennials. Many Americans, meanwhile, became disillusioned with the sprawl and stupor that sometimes characterize suburban life. These days, when Hollywood wants to portray soullessness, despair, or moral decay, it often looks to the suburbs—as The Sopranos and Desperate Housewives attest—for inspiration.
January 18, 2010
Crossfit: like a cult or the MOST AWESOME WORKOUT EVER?!
Source: CrossFit Journal
I’ll start this post by admitting I rarely go to the gym and my idea of a good workout is getting an elevated heart rate. That and probably most, if not all, Crossfit adherents could put me in a hospital for weeks. Despite the prospects of a potential ass-kicking, I feel this is worth mentioning:
One of my good friends has been trying to sell me on Crossfit for months now. For those of you who don’t know, Crossfit is an exercise regime that focuses on short, but very intense workouts with little rest. It apparently focuses on all aspects of athleticism, such as accuracy, strength and endurance (think a marathon runner also bench pressing 180 pounds).
But as a New York Times put it in a 2005 article, “some exercise experts are troubled by the lack of guidance for beginners…”
“The short grueling sessions aren’t for the weekend gym warrior. The three-days-on, one-day-rest schedule includes workouts like “Cindy”: 20 minutes of as many repetitions as you can of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats. “Fight Gone Bad” entails rotating through five exercises, including throwing a 20-pound ball at a target 10 feet away. And only veteran CrossFit devotees even attempt, and few complete, “Murph,” a timed mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats and then a second mile run. (A weighted vest is optional.)”
Yikes.
That lack of guidance for beginners has led to six, according to founder Greg “Coach” Glassman, examples of rhabdomyolysis, which is when your muscle fiber breaks down, is released into the bloodstream and poisons the kidneys. (The intensity of the workout has attracted “bulletproof” types such as special forces soldiers and SWAT officers to type-A, competitive people like hedge-fund managers who wind up pushing themselves too hard).
Anyway, the reason for me posing this question is the level of dedication some of my friends have given this workout regime, sometimes spending hours explaining its benefits as if they were sharing what its like to achieve nirvana. To me it boarders on Tom Cruise’s ramblings about Scientology than how to lead a healthy life, but different strokes for different folks, right?
Again, the NYT:
Mr. [Greg] Glassman’s followers call him Coach and share a cultlike devotion to his theories.
“We are all drinking the Kool-Aid,” said Eugene Allen, another Tacoma SWAT team member who introduced Mr. Anderson to CrossFit last summer. “It’s hard not to catch Coach’s enthusiasm.”
Now I’m not saying Crossfit is a dangerous exercise program to be avoided – there are plenty of examples of people getting into the best shape in their lives thanks to it – but what I’m concerned about is the level disregard some people have toward their own well-being in their pursuit of the ultimate physique. I suppose the same logic could apply to Dead Heads, sky diving enthusiasts and chocoholics. For the time being I’ll stick to my treadmill and bike.
January 18, 2010
…and I’m back.
I’ve been slacking.
Since I last posted I have moved to Carson City, Nev., as a business reporter for the Nevada Appeal. I basically cover the recession (it sucks, if you weren’t aware).
Anyway, my good friend/hetero-lifemate/fellow booze hound Garrett Hylton posted a blog this week after a hiatus from public writing. It was his “getting his mojo back” blog, so to speak. So, G-spot, thanks for inspiring me to start writing on this site again, which I’m pretty sure is the reason why both of us will either a) die poor, b) potentially make it big or c) devolve into a debilitating mental illness that we will self-medicate with Cutty Sark whilst proclaiming our respective apartments to be sovereign nations.
And now, without further ado, the best thing I’ve seen all month (besides my lovely girlfriend): John Cusack + time machine + 1986 ski resort = YES!
September 20, 2009
36 hours later, I’m in Germany
Freiberger beer, ya!
So this is my first dispatch from Germany during a two-week trip for a journalism exchange program known as Atlantik-Brucke, a post-WWII program that was initially designed to improve relations between the United States and Germany by shipping U.S. journalists to the Fatherland for a tour of the country’s political and business elite. Anyway, I took off from Bismarck for Germany on Friday, flying to Chicago, to Frankfurt then to Dresden ultimately taking a bus to Freiberg, a sleepy socialism-loving mining town in the eastern part of the country where they make solar panels and very pink hotels that only a 6-year-old girl could enjoy. (We’re staying at hotel I linked to.)
We’re going to be spending the next 10 days meeting with government and business leaders in Germany, which will culminate in a stay at one of the best hotels in Berlin (and maybe the world) the Hotel Adlon. I’m on this trip with more than a dozen journalists from around the nation who work for BBC, the Washington Times, the LA Times, the Guardian, and the Center for American Progress as well as freelancers in Washington and Atlanta and journalists from regional papers like me. It’s an impressive group of journalists I get to share these two weeks with, me being the youngest in the group.
Volker Schlegel on our first night in Freiberg.
This is is Volker Schlegel, a former ambassador for the program, which is more than 50 years old. He’s showing us around the country over the next two weeks. He also took us to a restaurant near Freiberg for our introduction to German cuisine, which is as carb-heavy as it is delicious.
My first meal included German toast, which is toast, pinapple, cheese, Mandarin oranges and jelly, layered in that order.
For the main course, wild boar roast with dumplings.
And then finally, ice cream with raspberries
July 26, 2009
Jon Stewart’s ‘Jim Crammer’ moment?
Jon Stewart emerged this year as an effective critic of CNBC’s coverage of the economic meltdown but played a slightly different tune in 2006 when former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan stepped down. In its “irrationally exuberant” tribute to Greenspan, Stewart ironically lauded the former fed chief’s policies, namely lowering the fed’s interest rate, a policy many now consider a leading contributer to the ultimately unsustainable housing bubble and subsequent credit crunch.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| The Daily Show’s Irrationally Exuberant Tribute to Alan Greenspan – Intro | ||||
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Regardless, the show’s skepticism of the fed’s policies emerge when resident expert John Hodgman took out a crystal ball to see into a post-Greenspan future. In it Hodgman sees a shack in the middle of a dusty field: It’s New York City after the housing bubble burst, he says.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| The Daily Show’s Irrationally Exuberant Tribute to Alan Greenspan – The Man | ||||
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July 12, 2009
Jay-Z + Radiohead = Jaydiohead
This is from a blog post I had posted to my former Blogger account. Figured it was relevant now that Jaydiohead (a NYC DJ named Max Tannone) dropped a second round of mash-up tracks today:
After all the writing I do about politics, I sometimes forget how much I actually love to write about music/pop culture. (Seriously, the daily drum beat of tax figures and political rhetoric can drive a man insane). Anyway, a friend of mine introduced me today to the newest in a long list of DJs ripping off Jay-z by mashing his tracks with another notable rock band. Everyone, meet DJ Minty Fresh Beats. Simply put, dude has done us all a favor by combining the best from Jay-z’s requiem album with some of Radiohead’s greatest songs (Optimistic, Paranoid Android, etc…)
Listen here for his newest tracks. For the original album: Jaydiohead :: Listen
Sick, huh? I’ve written about the changing nature of music and how independent agents out there can make long-lasting sonic impressions, usually to the chagrin of the original artists. But what’s usually surprising, especially when these mash-ups work – evident with Jaydieohead and DJ Danger Mouse’s The Grey Album – is that it makes the original creative piece that much better. Here’s to EMI having a sense of humor…
So this is from a paper I wrote for an American Music and Literature class I took in 2007 while at the University of Nevada. Figured it was slightly relevant:
Some call it the most important technological revolution to occur in decades. It is fundamentally changing American culture – from the way Americans read the news to the way they listen to music.
They are calling it Web 2.0, a word associated with phrases such as “blogging,” “user-generated content,” and the “democratization of the media.” And this so-called revolution is having a profound effect on a multi-billion dollar music industry that has enjoyed continuous success throughout most of the 20th century, that is, until a college freshman by the name of Shawn Fanning decided to make a pesky file-sharing program called Napster in 1999. The rest is history.
This digital revolution (another one of those phrases) is also taking place just as one of the world’s youngest musical genes, hip-hop, is picking up momentum and coming into its own rite around the globe. The music industry is fiercely trying to figure out how to maintain profits in light of the mass exodus from the record store to the digital store – amid an ocean of digital pirates who steal and swap songs in the Internet’s underbelly. And as music becomes easier to share, through Internet mediums like online radio, YouTube, and podcasting, artists are sprouting up all over the world –such as overnight success and underground hip-hop producer DJ Danger Mouse – all becoming new-media Horatio Algers. Bands are figuring out new ways of marketing themselves, like rock outfit OK Go’s self-produced YouTube music videos, by avoiding the muscular (and expensive) marketing power of the major record labels.
The next big thing for music isn’t white rappers or multi-million dollar pop-princess machines. No. The next big thing is the way Americans – and the rest of humanity – will produce, obtain and listen to music for years to come, all of which will fundamentally change the type of music everybody listens to.
May 12, 2009
Paper cuts
It’s no secret that newspapers, from coast to coast, are struggling. The industry even got its own congressional hearing last week in Washington about the future of journalism to prove it.
Amid this digital transition, newspapers, blogs and talk shows have reported the various cuts newspapers have endured to stay afloat over the past three years. In my young career I’ve already seen many veteran reporters and editors – some of them mentors of mine – at other newspapers leave the industry, sometimes not on their own terms.
The latest casualty of these “cost-saving” measures is a colleague of mine at the Capitol, Janell Cole, who covered state government and politics for the Forum and its parent company for the last 10 years. Her position was eliminated last Saturday.
Cole’s knowledge about North Dakota government and politics is deep, respected and will be sorely missed. With that, thank you, Janell, for helping a newbie find his way around the Capitol.
May 11, 2009
Happy Mother’s Day!
Now that its is well into its 35th season, Saturday Night Live finally looks to be crawling out of its post-Ferrell funk without the aid of a presidential election to give it relevancy (note: Will Ferrell is hosting the show on May 17). The show’s most obvious strength is its Digital Short segment, which usually features cast member Andy Samberg of “Lazy Sunday” fame. It’s probably fair to say that Samberg’s work on the weekly sketch put SNL in a position to capitalize on the viral video culture (One rendition of “I’m On a Boat” has more than 23 million views on Youtube, for example). Also, NBC should consider making Justin Timberlake a full-time cast member. Another win from Saturday: “Motherlover” (for whatever reason, Hulu or NBC videos won’t embed in my blog).
While the SNL Digital Short has evolved into the show’s weekly strong point, it should be noted that Kristin Wigg has also emerged as a key to most weekly sketches. Anyway, here’s what happened five months prior:
