Being Brief

The thing about people, friends, significant others, and family members knowing where to find your blog is that over time it really limits what you can write about. Unless you're a complete and utter asshole, that is. So it forces abstract and brief commentary and statuses, here, there, in all the usual places ... nothing coming together to form anything tangible for anyone to fully understand.

We're currently trying to figure out a way to return to therapeutic blogging, the kind we used to do, because it was a helpful tool in the past. As we slide into familiar old patterns we're mentally clawing and grasping for that old life saver.
The stress and anxiety mounts. It's been so long since we've been able to really write.

Hopefully it will break soon.

Flowers Beneath Your Touch

When it takes years to understand the significance of what it means when you find pure pleasure in gently running your fingers against soft, wet, beautiful flowers after a rain, when you've had "too much to drink"...knowing the petals of those flowers bring you nearly as much joy on a hot and dry day as they do in that moment following a downpour.
And he doesn't drink much anymore, but he says when he did he ran his fingers over the rough terrain of unyielding stone walls, waking up the next day, his fingernails ragged. No flowers there.
Though you know what waking up with bloodied ragged fingers feels like...it's evident that he has never seen the same flowers that blush beneath your fingers in those beautiful moments, that are  just as beautiful on hot dry days. Beautiful beneath your touch.
There grows a vast empty terrain between those kinds of worlds.

The end.

Snapshot of an Average Life

So we're driving down the back road, and about 20 miles from home we see a car alongside the road, facing the other direction, an old classic, a tan Mercury Comet with collectors plates, hood up, an old man sort of ambling around it.

As we pass he sort of waves his hand, low, near his hip. It was difficult to tell if he was waving us off or not.  We drove on, glancing in the review mirror as he got into the front seat of his car...

It's hot out. 80°F. The hottest part of the day.

It wasn't long before we started to slow down...

"You know, he's pretty old. He probably doesn't have a cell phone."

"It's really hot out. He could be out here a long time if we don't turn back."

"It's dangerous to offer roadside assistance when you're all by yourself."

"He's, like, really old. No way is he a threat."

"We don't need more bad karma."

"This is going to be annoying."

"Let's just keep going."

We turn the car around and go back to help.
He was immediately thankful we stopped, as he walked towards us, rambling about his car, and whatever it was that had caused it to come to rest on the gravel and tall grass of shoulder of the road.

Sure enough, no phone, he doesn't even have his son's number, he thinks our cell phone is a phonebook...all things we discovered as it became clear this man had no concept of personal space as we stood wedged between the car door, the opening, and him...inches from us, creeping closer and closer as he tries to see the screen of the cellphone we're holding, his every pore exuding the smell of aging flesh, dirty pennies, and empty Rolaid bottles.
Just like grandpa used to smell. The pervy one who used to pat us on the bottom well into our late teens and early adulthood, skirting the lines of appropriate familial affection.

We stood there for what felt like forever, sun beating down, the smell of him assaulting our nasal passages, while we tried to use Google to find his son's phone number, an impossible task - because No, cellphones are not phonebooks - and search the number of the gas station in the small nearly town (more of a cluster of houses than anything), the name of which has changed hands in his lifetime, probably before the Internet was even a thing. Just standing there at the shoulder of the road while he spit out names of people he figured we should know and be able to contact. Because in his time everybody knew everybody and guess that means so should we, even though we've only lived in the area a few years.

Finally we asked him where he lives, to discover it's barely two miles. We offer him a ride home - he doesn't have AAA, and the area tow truck driver was not available - and at this point we can't just leave him there, he's easily in his late 80s, and we needed him to get out of our personal space.

We got him in the car and drove off to his house. When we got there he offered us a few dollars, which we obviously declined, and told us how lucky it was that he broke down where he did, and I passed when I did, because he could have been out there until dark for all he knew.

He made it home safe, and our karma remains stable.

But now all we can smell in the car, on our clothes, lingering on our skin, inside our nose, is dirty pennies and Rolaids married to the smell of slow fleshy decay.

There is no moral to this story, no real point.
It's just a brief snapshot, a retelling of an average mundane day in our life.
And a good opportunity to write a little, and put something to "paper" again.

Although, for anyone with an aging parent or grandparent who missed the window of keeping up with the rapid evolution of {communication} technology - you know the ones, they're still carrying a checkbook - make sure they are carrying important phone numbers with them at all times (like in their checkbooks).
Their memories may be poor, and it may be very frightening for them to fully depend on a stranger who stops for other strangers on the side of old county highways...even if it is a fairly attractive young lady who looks harmless enough...

Marketing ​Is ​Culture - Reflections on ‘Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture’

It's over.
We've officially been university graduates for three weeks now.
We ended with a 4.0 GPA for the semester, and graduated Magna Cum Laude. It was a pretty cool feeling walking across that stage wearing an honors medal. It felt like we finally got something we deserved.

The last half of the final semester we churned out about nine papers of varying lengths. It's unlikely the bulk of them will end up here for you to read like in previous semesters because they weren't all gems. It being the final semester, and due to the reading and writing load being so heavy (it was another heavy credit load semester at 17 credits counting the internship - full-time is 12 credits - plus an additional part time job), and a smashed laptop closing in on "zero hour", a few of the papers didn't receive the best effort possible.

The following is a paper for an independent readings and study course. As a reflection paper, it is much more informal than most of the papers written over the last couple of years. It is meant to demonstrate that the text was not only read but understood and reflects thoughts, ideas, and viewpoints inspired by the reading.

The book was merely an okay read and very broad, but it did provide some base material for what could be further papers should grad school be a thing in the future. Jury is still out on that decision.
For the summer it's back to painting and a third year of gardening, and next week is a much anticipated two week vacation in Toronto Canada to really kick off the summer.

Enjoy the Reflection, should you choose to read it. As always comments and debate are welcome. Feel free to leave a message and/or read some of the other stuff around here. :-)

Marketing ​Is ​Culture
Reflections on ‘Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture’ by Terry O’Reilly and Mike Tennant

     O’Reilly and Tennant determine immediately that “we live in an age of persuasion, where

people’s wants, wishes, whims, pleas, brands, offers, enticements, truths, petitions, and

propaganda swirl in a ceaseless, growing multimedia firestorm of sales messages.”(1) These sales

messages add to the overall mass of information that one is subjected to each day, but these

messages also ​add​ to the culture, if not create culture. This is a contrary view to that of O’Reilly

and Tennant who ​seem ​to be hold a stance that it is in fact not adding to culture, but consuming

our culture.

     First, trying to separate marketing from culture in a way that can explain how it is

consuming our culture is futile. Marketing has existed for easily 3000 years, from the time

someone could articulate the benefits of one product over another using “public criers”. There is

even indication that print advertisements existed during those times. (2) Marketing has persisted

alongside culture for ages.

     Advertising and marketing are ​part ​of culture. They are influential forces which not only

are inspired by changes in society, but also reinforce and reflects those changes “Advertising is

the great mirror of society”. (3) While unsavory for many to accept, marketing is information which

imbues “cultural materials” into society (4) thereby becoming culture. As O’Reilly and Tennant

state, when “marketing seeps into feature films, arts, popular music, and even literature, it

changes the relationship between the arts and audiences.”(5)


Cultural Mediums and Advertising

     However, this intermix of art and cultural information, and marketing, is nothing new for

a 21st Century heavily influenced by the growth of branded and marketed entertainment via the

internet. Cultural mediums have always been influenced by advertising and marketing, and in

some cases owe their existence to them. Going back to the time of the first newspapers and

magazines, marketing was often the saving grace of publications, providing the funding required

to keep them in business.

     Looking to the 20th Century we can see Warhol with Campbell Soup and Coke from the

60s and the influence marketing had on the development of pop art. The pop art movement

added​ to the art world, it did not consume it, or eliminate new movements. Art, like marketing, is

always evolving with changes in society. Even in the 80s Lucky Strikes became a constant for all

of Stephen King’s characters that smoked. Theses examples may not have been marketing

directly, or even on purpose, but they were no doubt influential in the relationship between the

medium and the audience, creating associations that have become part of culture.

     Radio, film and television entertainment, on the other hand, owe much of their existence

to marketing ventures. Sponsored content was a staple of radio and television, and companies

would solely sponsor entire shows, such as Ovaltine’s Little Orphan Annie (radio), and ​The

Colgate Comedy Hour and Kraft Television Theatre (television)​. Even lesser known is the first

product placement in films, dating back to the 1920s ­ a mere thirty years into the life of the art 6

medium. In fact, without advertising and marketing there would have been very little newspaper,

magazine, radio, and television entertainment. Even today advertising and marketing are

essential to the culture of entertainment; social media and the internet depend heavily on the

industry for the ability to provide services and entertainment for free or at low cost. These

mediums, like their predecessors, are integral to the evolution and development of culture.

Further, marketing is essential to their livelihood, thereby helping maintain and influence culture.

     Not only does advertising and marketing influence culture, but in some ways it

theoretically inspires democracy, particularly via the internet. As O’Reilly and Tennant confirm,

“[...] a great characteristic of the Internet [is] the fact that it levels the playing field. Everyone has

access, [...] everyone can be heard.”(7) They cite YouTube as a prime example, a “great enabler [it

is] the first hugely democratic mass medium, where any one person could speak to millions if

[IF] her idea was big enough to resonate with the masses in cyberspace.”(8) Without marketing and

advertising there is no way to maintain the platform without heavy usage fees paid for by the

consumer, which would limit access severely, and therefore not be a catalyst to democracy.

Additionally, the internet has reanimated branded advertising, imbuing society with

opportunities to become part of marketing culture.



Branded Marketing and Culture

     Perhaps the second most interesting concept of ​The Age of Persuasion​ is branded

marketing, which has become a huge complex strategy. As earlier stated, the marriage of

marketing and art is changing relationships between art and audience. What marketing is also

doing is change relationships between brands and consumer, attempting to forge “genuine,

long­term relationships” by seeking to “invest genuine personality in their brand [...] invest[ing]

time, [and] finding meaningful ways to engage customers”.(9) They breathe life into a brand,

becoming what a consumer feels, forging emotional attachments. (10)

     One way in which they breathe life into a brand is through stars or personalities who

sometimes themselves are the brand (11) (Think Kim Kardashian) or become an icon. By using

films and their stars, musicians and their music to “influence fashions [and] drive sales” they

create demand and “persuade their audiences to accept their personal messages and viewpoints.”(12)

This branded and marketed entertainment personifies lifestyles, it is about creating a bonds

with consumers (13) while “​being​ what people enjoy and ​still delivering branding​”. Therefore

branded entertainment is about informing and influencing culture through embedded messages

delivered by “trusted” messengers ­ it is about being the culture through icons and “allow[ing]

customers to makes a statement about who they are”. (14)



Out of Touch?

     O’Reilly and Tennant say that in “[...] the living, growing, all­encompassing and

relatively modern culture of persuasion” marketers are vying to “take up lodging in some corner

of your mind”.(15) They seem oddly out of touch with the long cultural history of marketing, as

well as the evolution of the acceptance of marketing in today's modern networked society,

particularly among youth.

     They claim that youth are “becoming increasingly immune to the conventional marketing

messages” and that “they hunker down in front of their computers, putting up fences that most

marketers haven’t yet learned to scale”.(16) However, there is indication that youth is accepting of

target marketing methods because it leads to advertisements that are more tailored to them, and

therefore more relevant and interesting. Some research indicates that trust and value based

approaches work in marketing to youth.(17) Returning to the concepts of branded entertainment,

we can understand one way in which marketers create trust among youth audiences.

    According to O’Reilly and Tennant, “the larger the audience an advertiser strives to

reach, the harder it becomes to forge meaningful relationships with each individual customer”(18)

however, they seem to discount that through niche marketing and target marketing these

relationships can be created, which implies an analogous relationship which would in turn create

a more significant impact for the message at hand.

     Due largely in part to the development of mobile technology the relationship between

brand and consumers are evolving.(19) Another way marketers create trusting relationships with

youth audience is through the creation of social media stars who have established relationships

with their followers.(20) As O’Reilly and Tennant state, “the blunt realities of marketing to young

people are causing vast changes in language and tone of advertising. As their attention shifts

from mass media to smaller, online social networks, they’re sharing information and opinions

about products, brands and fashions”.(21)

Conclusion

     There are so many different topics in ​The Age of Persuasion, ​each of which could be

granted an essay of its own. For instance, the influence of marketing and the internet on the

consumer as a channel and the branded self (22); the power shift taking place between traditional

media and new media (23); the empowerment of consumers in the new two ­way communication

environment relationship with advertisers (24) and advertising as an art (25) ­all of these topics would

be worthy of further research.

     However, while plentiful in potential research topics, ​The Age of Persuasion: How

Marketing Ate Our Culture​ was far too broad and failed to accomplish what the title implies it

set out to do: explain how marketing ate our culture. What is ​did​ accomplish is providing a

wealth of examples on how marketing and advertising has contributed to the growth of our

culture and will continue to do so as it regurgitates the messages of society.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Citations:

1 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. xiii

2 "Advertisement | Promotion." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Accessed 2015.
3 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 162
4 ​Bartholomew, Mark. "Advertising and Social Identity." ​Buffalo Law Review​ 58 (2010): 931­76. 

5 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 161
6 According to a lecture in Advertising and Society (Spring 2015) Red Crown gasoline was the first instance of product placement in the 1920 film ​The Garage
7 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 100
8 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 116
9 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 268.
10 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 187.
11 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 224.
12 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 149
13 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 221.
14 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 196.
15 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. xv, 118.
16 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 77.
17 Sultan, Fareena, Andrew J. Rohm, and Tao (Tony) Gao. "Factors Influencing Consumer Acceptance Of Mobile Marketing: A Two­Country Study Of Youth Markets." ​Journal of Interactive Marketing​ 23 (2015): 308­20.
18 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 117.
19 Sultan, Fareena, Andrew J. Rohm, and Tao (Tony) Gao. "Factors Influencing Consumer Acceptance Of Mobile Marketing: A Two­Country Study Of Youth Markets." ​Journal of Interactive Marketing​ 23 (2015): 308­20.
20 Sloane, Garett. "Meet the Man Who Unlocked the Secrets of Mobile Marketing." AdWeek. September 14, 2014. Accessed 2015.
21 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 95.
22 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 108.
23 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 100­101.
24 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 104.
25 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 35.


Bibliography:

"Advertisement | Promotion." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Accessed 2015.

Bartholomew, Mark. "Advertising and Social Identity." ​Buffalo Law Review​ 58 (2010): 931­76.

Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009.

Sloane, Garett. "Meet the Man Who Unlocked the Secrets of Mobile Marketing." AdWeek. September 14, 2014. Accessed 2015.

Sultan, Fareena, Andrew J. Rohm, and Tao (Tony) Gao. "Factors Influencing Consumer Acceptance Of Mobile Marketing: A Two­Country Study Of Youth Markets." ​Journal of Interactive Marketing​ 23 (2015)

Diary of the Guinea Pigs: Day One

As previously mentioned, in order to pay the remaining tuition for this semester it was decided that we would take part in a research study (like this past June so we could take a trip to Toronto) ... this one, however, is much larger, and longer, and requires some significant sacrifice. But pays a substantial amount of money.

It's a 26 day study, broken up into 13 day stretches, with two weeks in between. Of those 13 days, 11 days require living at the facility (which works out great because it is campus adjacent - no commute!). Leaving the facility is only allowed for work and school, and one of the weekends leaving is not allowed at all, and also the Friday and Saturday the following week. However, guests are welcome.

Now, to the point. Keeping a record of things, how we feel, what the day is like, etc. seems like a good exercise, and what better place to keep it than here. So, you get to go on this journey of what it's like to take part in a scientific study, and we get to do warm-up writing for all the upcoming papers now until December. Seems win-win.

Back to the study.
The thing they are measuring is carbon output, (and given the daily weigh-in, its relation to weight loss), so before each meal they "capture" our breath in a strange little bag made for capturing breath (it's totally the scientific name...). Then we eat, and it all has to be consumed within 30 minutes. Following that, breath is captured again 30 minutes after eating, and then an hour and 30 minutes after eating. This happens three times a day, at strict hours of the day. The weekend operates differently, but you'll read about that in updates.

They did the DEXA scan like they did for previous studies, and also 20-30 minute breath capture during pre-screening, the first to determine muscle/fat ratio, and the second to measure how much energy (calories) this body burns at a resting rate (laying completely still in a dark room after laying still in a dark room for 20 minutes prior to get the body into a true resting state). Based on the last study, and very little weight change, the calories this body needs just to pump the blood, complete respiratory function and all the other things a body does, is 1874 calories a day. [This body is a furnace, apparently]. They take that number and multiply it by some activity factor to determine how many calories you need to do things like go to work, think, etc.

The amount they came up with for this body in the last study was over 2400 calories a day to maintain weight. It seems like an utterly ridiculous number (way too high) and as we use the FatSecret app (a great app, by the way), we know that that's almost double our daily intake (which includes alcohol).
So they are packing our first three days of meal at a whopping 2400ish calories. It's a lot of damn food. Disgusting amount. Following this, which is the "balance day", they will decrease the calories by either 20%, or 40% - whichever that don't do will be during our next intake two week following the completion of this one, where it all happens all over again, with the same meals and everything.

So, here we go.

Day One:
Had to get up at 5:20 this morning in order to get to the facility and check in by 6:45 (the commute to this city is at least 40 minutes). Fasting started at midnight last night, which was no problem. Couldn't have any breakfast this morning OR coffee. That's right. No coffee. There will be no coffee for about 13 days (so far there has been no headache on day one, only sluggishness and an slight difficulty taking notes in the first class of the day). The only thing allowed for drinking is water (unlimited)...and the milk they put with breakfast and dinner (gag).
They affix an activity monitor on the arm, which is only allowed to be removed during showers, so they can monitor your sleeping and daytime body stats.

Had breakfast at the facility this morning at 7am. Breakfast for the next 13 days will be at 7am sharp. Lunch at noon. Dinner at 6pm, When we check in Wednesday night bedtimes will be at 10pm, and wake times at 6:30am.

Yeah. Bedtimes. The deal is that they take over the eating and sleeping portions of the life of the subject. As was mentioned. Sacrifice.

So, breakfast was okay food, but at least three times the calories and quantity of food we generally have for breakfast (small-medium apple, slice of sharp cheddar and coffee), and not too far from a breakfast we'd eat on the weekend, save the cereal and milk. Yogurt is served with every meal, it's apparently the control device. In any case, they add sugar and oil to the plain yogurt, which turns into a type of oil slick on the top...appetizing, hey? They will be changing the sugar between HFCS, beet sugar and cane sugar. It's plausible that they are testing how each different sugar effects carbon burned by the body. After doing some light research today it became clear that carbon is a big factor in weight loss, as in the body burns it and what you eat may or may not affect how much you burn. And therefore carbon output, like urine, sweat and...the other waste...are how the fat leaves the body. So, carbon output, and low carbon-output foods become important to weight loss.

You can almost hear a new line of diet foods being created, can't you?

Lunch was again literally three times as much food as we usually consume, very tasty but hard to get down in 30 minutes. Also, a selection of foods that we'd never eat for lunch, or at all really. Like a portion of a Hershey chocolate bar, and a giant turkey taco salad. Usually lunch is just spring lettuce mix, tomatoes, cottage cheese and a small bit of something like cranberries and almonds. By the time lunch was over the milk from breakfast hit full force. Lactose intolerance and all its glory.

Usually the day is punctuated with snacks (celery or snap peas between breakfast and lunch, and plain yogurt with berries, or pineapple between lunch and dinner). But now there's no snacks. So far it's not a problem because all of those frickin' calories just stick.

Dinner, 6pm on the dot. A pasta casserole dish. Ugh. Pasta isn't a normal part of our diet. It doesn't much of the same thing as lactose does once it hits the inside of this body. Not only is it a pasta dish. It's a GIANT amount. Oh, and more milk. A tiny carrot and spinach salad that would have been better without the dressing...but eating everything is required. Licking out the dishes is encouraged. Everything is measured down to the tenth of a gram.

Each meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner) is on a set rotation, so what was eaten today will be eaten again on Thursday, on Sunday, next Wednesday, and next Saturday. Oh joy.

After slogging through the last half of the pasta, and forcing down the yogurt, it is declared a day. There's only one more breath bag left for the day and then there's nothing left to do. Homework, maybe. But no drinking.

Yeah. NO ALCOHOL. Given that nightly drinks have been a very regular thing since moving back to the states three years ago (holy fuck, three years?!), it's going to be interesting to feel 14 days sober.
Fourteen days sober and caffeine free.
It sounds like hell.

The Countdown

Classes start in eleven days.
ELEVEN DAYS.

Meanwhile, painting "season" is coming to a close, there just won't be time (plus we'll have to deal with harvesting and preserving the garden!). Guess this means summer is coming to a close. <sad face>

{Meanwhile, check out the new website and domain for paintings at: www.graphicallyfrank.com}

The anticipation and anxiety have been churning up madness, and we've been doing the best balancing act possible. It feels like this brain is being crushed by the skull, all too often it feels a struggle to grasp a single line of thought and pull it out of the cloud. With only two semesters left before graduation it's the final countdown. The class load is heavier, the topics more focused...but for the forensic science class (yay!) and the class related to problems in political science. By the looks of the books for the POLSCI class, the problem being tackled this semester in the environment and energy in political policy. So...get ready to read a bunch of crap about that.

The mix of classes is really exciting this semester, and there are 12 books to plow through - some really interesting ones, like Smarter Than You Think by Clive Thompson, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr, Connecting Social Problems and Popular Culture: Why Media is Not the Answer by Karen Sternheimer, and Pop Culture Freaks: Identity, Mass Media, and Society by Dustin Kidd (don't worry, those links take you to Goodreads, not Amazon).

Oh, and there's another really cool nutritional study coming up that we'll be taking part in, which requires strict diet (set and provided by the scientists), heavy monitoring and staying at the facility (while still allowing for work and classes) twice, for eleven days at a time. Why would we do that, you ask?! It's going to cover just about all the remaining tuition costs for Fall semester, so, really...it's just logical. Plus it'll be a savings on
a) gas ($90 dollars for each eleven day stay)
b) groceries
c) alcohol
d) time (80+ minutes of travel a day).
It would almost be stupid not to do it. It would be. It would be totally stupid to pass it up just because of the inconvenience of not sleeping at home (and having all meals and liquids dictated by strangers).
But, we can have visitors. :-)

It feels like the summer went too fast and we didn't do enough writing. It's unfortunate because there were a lot of events some of us would have liked to cover, if only to keep our writing in check, because it feels like this semester is going to be heavy in essay writing, since there is only ONE actual textbook for one of the six classes, the others are destined to be springboards to further research and writing. Having not written all summer, suddenly it's hard to remember how to write anything, let alone in the style of essay, despite having written a stack of them last semester.
Surely just the most average of the anxiety creeping into the space between skull and skin.

So, eleven days and our schedule changes again (schedules are sort of a linchpin in our mental health)...we'll stay positive until proven otherwise.

As always, thanks for reading even though you probably had something better to do.

A Midnight Birthday Poem

Yesterday,
turned this body,
a new age;
many old pages,
keep sticking,
resisting decay.

Don't Freak Out, We're Reading Your Tweets

Writing has been slow (because we haven't been doing it), as we've been doing a lot of painting this summer/year - we're working on number ten. The goal for the year is 12, but once classes start again this fall there just won't be time to paint.
Painting has also been very therapeutic, as usual. So that's good, and lends to less writing.
It's providing a lot of time to think about things...and people...in between trying to get shadows and angles right.

But we're not here today to talk about painting, or writing. Nope. We're here to talk about reading tweets.

Tweets. Wow. Pretty sure it's been literally years since we've done a post on social media. Back in the day they used to occur fairly often. It all changes so fast now to actually be relevant weeks later though, so it's not a great use of writing time.

Anyway.

In case you're freaking out because all of a sudden it seems like we're reading your Tweets, or reading them more than usual, (you'll know if we've been giving you "stars" [for your interesting/sick/funny/insightful/good tweets] when we previously haven't) there's something you should know.

After Twitter's most recent update it was nearly impossible to see the Tweets of the people we follow, but for all of the Retweets. (soooo many retweets... - and a lot of people aren't exactly judicious in selecting what they retweet...ya know?)
Talk about unmanageable. And repetitive. AND, it kinda sucks the ability to see the Tweets of people chosen to read by following them back. Not to mention when you only have 10 or 20 minutes on a break at work...forgettaboutit.

It's not that retweets are bad. We LOVE to see them actually (the good ones, anyway), but when they again) after the last update we had to take "drastic" measures.

Image Source

ended up in the lists (
So, over the past two weeks or so we've been turning off everybody's retweets.

Wait. It's not so bad. Don't be angry (some people think it's a bad thing to have their retweets turned off)!

They're almost all turned off now. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it.

NOW, we just go to people's timelines/bio page and see RTs that way, and then, of course, there are the retweets in lists. Lists, which we have always found to be essential to the enjoyment of Twitter. Organize. Organize. Organize.

So, what this means is we see the actual Tweets of the people we follow in our timeline stream now, and that's it, which makes it much more fun/interesting/efficient...but also, it might creep you out...because now we can cover more ground and read YOUR Tweets.

So don't freak out.

Blurb

Got a letter saying we made the Dean's List for last semester.
Meaning we were in the top 15% of the students on campus.
There must be some really dumb kids at that university.

Almost all of the books for next semester have been ordered (CHA-CHING!$$).
What are we taking?
Glad you asked!

• Digital Communications Fundamentals (easy peasy)
• Popular Culture
• Social Implications of the Information Society
• Media Law and Ethics
• Problems in Political Science
• Intro to Forensic Science (because of morbid curiosity)

Last semester was 12 credits...this semester will be 18...plus...if it goes as planned...work will be all year, instead of seasonal. 18 credits PLUS working...
Should be...interesting.

After this coming semester only one more semester to go!

Now for all of those awkward..."what are your plans for after graduation" questions.
At nearly 35 years old...those questions become SUPER awkward. So don't ask.

~F

Guinea Pigs

Tonight is the second Thursday in a row we're taking part in a medical-related food consumption study.

We got accepted to the program about a month ago after seeing a sign on campus and applying.
The draw was the subject (it's food/health related) and the money.
Mostly, the money.
It pays half of the amount we make at work in a month; it's basically paying for the trip to Toronto next week (a combination Tweetup/anniversary celebration/summer vacation trip). Couldn't really pass it up.

After the initial meet which involves a blood draw after 12 hours of fasting, and a second two hour meeting (following another 12 hour fasting) which measures body composition (how much fat versus muscle your body is made up of) using a dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) machine and then a test to determine RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate), which is basically the base amount of calories your body needs to function. That involves putting a big space-helmet-like hood over your head for about 45 minutes while you lay very still and it collects your exhaled breath and analyses it.
It's kinda weird.

It's all very interesting to someone who loves learning new things. Hopefully they release both of the results after the study is over. That kind of information would be really empowering to someone with a lifetime of battling weight issues.

The study requires the subject to not be on medication (we're four years clean this month!), not be on birth control (no problem there!), and be free of health conditions (such as high blood pressure and low blood sugar/diabetes) - on that front we're as healthy as a horse.

The study also includes staying three separate nights at their facility, at least a week apart. Before each stay the test subject (that's us!) is required to record everything consumed for the three days prior. EVERYTHING. All foods and coffee, water, alcohol too. It gets recorded using a program and then it spits out detailed calorie information for the day. It's quit interesting, not really being too much of a calorie counter when it comes to a whole day of eating, only individual items and recipes, (we were studying human nutritional science at one point in time) to find out how few calories, on average, we actually consume in a day. Also interesting, it became apparent that 25-30% of calories a day is from alcohol. That's not very good.

1200 calories of food.

Once checked into the facility they provide a meal. It's the same menu and amount every time (it's also three times the calories we generally consume for dinner, so we don't finish it all and some of it we don't even eat) and has to be consumed by 7 pm. After 7 pm there is no food aloud, only water.

The room.

Each room is private, with a TV, a bed (that's more like a flat rock with bedding, sadly) and a shared bathroom (but there's never a full house). There's a pool table, and a big commons area with big comfy couches and a large television with cable - plus free wireless (which is terribly slow and glitchy). But it's comfortable, and has air conditioning (which we don't have at home). We don't have to cook, or clean, or talk to anybody...just hang out. It's kind of like a mini vacation.

Fashionable.

Six am starts the day, with a half an hour for showering and...stuff...
Then they insert the arterial catheter into the inner elbow and there it stays for over four hours while they periodically draw blood following the consumption of breakfast (which is sickly sweet strawberry Greek yogurt). They leave us in a small room with a monitor, which provides questions after each blood draw, and provide water as much as requested (though however much water you drink during the first of the three sessions is how much you'll be allowed the final two sessions).
Other than that it's a good time to catch up on reading, or watching Netflix - last week we watched 'Butter' and 'The Best and the Brightest' (both hilarious movies, by the way).

At about 11:30 am they take out the catheter and bring lunch and place it on a scale that looks like a giant mouse pad so they measure how much you eat, and likely how fast you eat it. They say to eat as much as you like until full/satisfied. It's a GIANT glass casserole dish, and it's chicken (clearly canned), cream of mushroom soup (clearly from a can), and egg noodles with some hint of some sort of cheese product (could be Velveeta?). It's atrocious [but the first few bites are delicious if hungry enough]...and unlike dinner where everything is labeled with the calorie content, this is just screaming death into a calorie abyss (egg noodles are severely high in calories, not to mention cream of mushroom soup...and whatever that cheese is).

After that they send you home. This is where the request for coffee comes in, because until then it's not allowed.

It might sound weird to do such a thing like take part in medical-related studies, but since we're not allowed to donate blood, or take part in medication testing (which, is probably for the better), this is an easy and interesting way to earn some extra cash through the summer. It's been a good learning experience. After tonight we have one more stay to go before the big "pay out".

If you ever need some extra cash, search local government and private organizations that do various types of studies and check out if they're "hiring" guinea pigs. You never know what you might learn.

You Might Call It Antisocial...

Some people just don't want to talk to faces very often,
because after tens of years of recognizing disinterest in eyes,

the not-so-subtle look at a watch, the quick glances away,

the heart detaches, only knows despise.

Some find comfort staring at a screen,
writing words that two or three might acknowledge...
even some words never seen.

Because at least then rejection isn't as obvious...
Being ignored isn't so direct...
Every part of being, becomes easier to protect.

You might call it unhealthy, anti-social, 

but you refuse to see, 

the alternative is simply loathful,

painful, for someone like me.

Somebody...

Somebody needs to create bodies for the people in this brain right now...
Someone wants to paint.
Someone wants to read.
Someone wants to listen to music.
Someone wants to play on social media.
Someone wants to sleep...
Some people are asleep (some have been for too long, and are missed).
It's shocking, but nobody wants to eat. (fatty must be asleep)

Sometimes you can only pick one someone. 

Untitled...2014...Part 1

Sometimes you can't share a lot of personal feelings and events that happen in your life, after meeting your spouse online through social media and your blog...

It just causes extra problems.

Especially if it's complicated.

Sometimes there's nowhere to put things.

If we've learned anything...it's that.

Most Mind-Blowing Thing Watched Last Week: The Double Slit Experiment

Not being able to put things into words sucks. And Spring Break has not been conducive to brain relaxation...if anything it's making it itchy.
So, in the interest of being semi-active here, and providing something to consider and/or think about...
Last week in 'That Wednesday Class' part of the discussion was about this...(since the chapter being read was on implications of quantum physics in religion).
Check it out.
If you have a basic understanding of atoms, matter, and a very basic awareness of quantum physics, and have never seen this...your mind will be blown by the the possibilities.
Also, the chapter three reflection that will be posted about a week from now, that we wrote, touches on quantum atoms in a re-defined idea of what God is.
So, anyway...

The Real Cure For A Hangover

Monday, and more or less this entire weekend, is a big drinking holiday.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Yeah, we won't be doing anything special to celebrate it (a.k.a. leaving the house to drink), but that doesn't mean we can't talk about it.

Now, of course we're not going to advocate drinking. (that would be irresponsible...)

No. But we are advocating for not getting hangovers.

We found this video today, and thought you might like it.

HOW TO CURE YOUR HANGOVER (important stuff!)

Now, if you can't afford the guaranteed cure that this video promotes, which costs $250 (no, it's not an advertisement), we have a NUMBER ONE TIP to cure a hangover...but first, watch this video...

HEED THE DISCLAIMER. THERE IS VOMIT.

So here it is...our big reveal...

WHY CURE A HANGOVER WHEN YOU CAN PREVENT A HANGOVER
The solution is clear.
WATER. (ha, see what we did there...)
Drink lots of water before and during.
About 22oz within the 3 hours leading up to your binge drinking, and then at least 8oz every hour*. [Yes, you'll probably pee a lot, but at least you won't feel like a zombie who was the victim of a bloodsucking vampire the night before.]
This has long been a tried and true method that we've tried to promote for years in order to help friends we were drinking with (back when we had a social life) avoid those debilitating sometimes two-day hangovers. It even got us the nickname of "Water Nazi" at parties because people didn't appreciate constant suggestions that they should drink some water. Yeah, we hung out with some really mature people.
Honestly though, it had more to do with the fact that a) who wants to listen to a hungover person bitch about being hungover anyway and b) being the only person not hungover after a long day and night of drinking, especially on vacations, is a real drag.
Of course, they hardly ever listened, and even after realizing it works, would go back to the same bad behavior. Don't be dumb like that. Drink water and feel human the next day.
Another good tip is:

• Avoid excessively sugary drinks, and make sure to eat a little something during your evening out. Even if it's just a handful of chips.

For more tips see How To Hold Your Liquor -> http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/how-to-hold-your-liquor

Now you know, the real cure for a hangover is prevention...and it's a damn site cheaper than an IV.

Have a Happy and Safe St. Patrick's Day! Drink responsibly.
Cheers!

___________________________________________

*There should be an implied disclaimer. But some people need things spelled out for them, so...
If you go out and drink and this doesn't work, or if you have adverse side effects, that's not our fucking problem. Take some responsibility for fuck sake.

About A Dabble At Journalistic Writing

This past week we did something we've never done before.
We performed an interview, and wrote a "feature article".
It was for a media writing class. Of course we write, all sorts of things, and have for over 20 years now. But never this. And never around the context of an interview-based story. Every kind of writing is different. For instance, we are rubbish at writing fiction, but can pen decent poems/prose, and write some wicked essays and opinion pieces, so it was nice to experiment with journalistic writing.

At first we were really scared, not just nervous. Being social is intermittent, and the interview was with a local group of people in the town we moved to just a year ago. It was first contact! Aside from the next door neighbor, two people who work with James, and the chiropractor, anyway. Hey, that's probably, like, half the town actually.

It was an amazing experience, in that it was an exercise in "keeping our mouth shut" when it comes to writing. Turns out it was a lot easier than anticipated. It helped that the interview subjects were very friendly and genuine, and didn't say anything subversive that we would have wanted to pounce on or shove against.

Believe it or not, real journalism requires that the writer/reporter not interject their own bias or opinion into the piece of media they create. When they do, they are no longer a journalist, they are a news commentator (which it seems like most of them are these days anyway, even those under the guise of news journalism), often (usually) paid by one side or the other to give their bias opinion and push their agenda.

In any case, as any regular reader of this blog knows, keeping our opinions out of things isn't really a forte in our writing toolkit...but with this first major assignment, it seems it could be. As the instructor said today "sounds like you opened up a new vein"...which sounds about right for those who are fond of bleeding words.

The grade is still pending, but we have it on good authority that if it doesn't receive an 'A' the "professor has problems". [Special thanks to Charles Bivona #njpoet of http://charlesbivona.com/, for the editing assistance]

Of course, when we suggested to James that maybe being a journalist was a possible career path...he said he'd probably file for divorce.
Incentive?

Friday Nights Are Not For Homework

To be honest, most nights aren't (for homework) around here.
*takes a drink*
Having all of our classes compiled into Monday, Wednesday and Friday, in varying amounts, means all day Tuesday and Thursday are for homework (meaning: reading, reading, reading...and more fucking reading)...and anytime spent on workout equipment that doesn't make our eyes cross at the campus "fitness center". Tocqueville's Democracy in America is too heavy to hold on to [it's over 800 pages!]...aim for the light reading...like the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.

What we're saying is...
*takes a drink*
Wait. What were we saying?

Oh, Friday nights aren't for homework.

Also, the internet has been digesting the remains of our soul.

It's actually almost full body consumption.

Some heathen fare, at that. (it's fucking cold, we could do with some Hellfire)

So, put down that homework, and pick up a drink, (no homework? Just drink) and let's take a trip around the internet universe with Frankie, shall we? (If you follow us on G+ or Facebook, some of this may be "old hat") The highlights, anyway.

*takes a drink*

First stop: Reading!

5 Facts Everyone Gets Wrong About Depression
by Mark Hill
http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-facts-everyone-gets-wrong-about-depression/

(If you don't laugh at least once, please have your funny bone checked out by a professional. Also, he's spot-on)

Odd Jobs: Turning Your Ashes Into a Vinyl Record
By Eric Spitznagel

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-06-07/odd-jobs-turning-your-ashes-into-a-vinyl-record

(Press us into some records, scatter the rest)

*takes a drink*

Second Stop: Music!

Birp!
http://www.birp.fm/
Blalock's [no idea who "he" is] Indie Rock Playlist. Yeah, we're those kind of people (eeek, music hipsters!)...sometimes. And actually, we found this website because...uh...we totally have never illegally downloaded thousands of playlists, albums and/or songs using torrent sites. Nope. Never. Except...that once. And it was yearsssss ago. But it got us thinking. Were there more of them?
And then we found the mecca.
You can totally download playlist after playlist of [indie] music via .zip files. No torrents! (unless you want them) Or even stream the playlists and purchase the best ones (from Google Play. What? You buy things from iTunes?! WITCH! WITCH!)
And yes, we actually purchase ones we really like...because...it's the right thing to do. *sigh*
But we also bought this gem recently (among others), and she's apparently singing in the Grammy's this year (which we wouldn't be caught dead watching), but still...IT PROVES WE'RE NOT HIPSTERS (right?!)

*takes a drink*

Last Stop: YOUTUBE!

This week in things that will anger theists...

DarkMatter2525
http://www.youtube.com/user/DarkMatter2525?feature=watch

You love cartoons. And making fun of things, while being enlightened. No? Well, then what the hell are you doing on the internet.
Just kidding. (but seriously...)
Can't remember how we stumbled upon this YouTube channel, but sure glad it happened...because it led to others...

(Click Play, You Know You Want To)


...others like...
The Bible Reloaded!
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheBibleReloaded
Which makes up for lack of cartoonage with hilariously chosen pictures while they commence with their very entertaining "Bible studies".



So, the point is, Friday night is not for homework...it's for letting the internet consume the remains of your soul while you laugh hysterically, or wish you could exist inside of a record now, OR...become a music hipster [the true sign of no soul...]. Or maybe continue being balls deep into that social media stuff (yay, balls!)
It's also, sometimes, for writing completely random blog posts to feel relevant, and promote awesome things.

To Friday!

*takes a drink*

Weeds

Could have finished a painting tonight, if not for amazing amounts of pain (mostly back and neck) and a wicked headache (no doubt all related). Do you ever just move and sound like a bag of popcorn? Ugh.

It's a strange thing to think a lot about, but yesterday I worked on planning out the garden for this spring. While it produced a reasonable amount of produce, last year's garden was late getting in and had too much empty space due to poor planning. Best to get a start now...there's no telling how much time anybody else in this brain will put in it's planning once classes start, and then work again...and before you know it it will be the end of May and it'll all fall apart. So much distraction birdbrain. Who even knows where the time goes.

Have you ever considered weeds? We've been thinking about weeds a lot lately. What are weeds good for and why do they persist, season after season, despite diligent efforts to pull them up and kill them? They aren't edible. What's the purpose? Even wild animals prefer the plants that grow foods humans eat, so that can't be it. It can't simply be a case of CO2 production, after all, weeds or food plants, they all die in the Fall and have the potential to return in the Spring. Why can't something edible be that easy to reproduce?

Weeds...they don't seem like a practical part of theoretical intelligent design, but then again, very little does.

Random

Two repair men are coming to the house tomorrow between 10 am and 3 pm.
One to calibrate the television. One to fix the elliptical machine.

This is not something that should feel so stressful...but it does.
It's making us all squinty and blinky and scrunchy.

On the upside, next Wednesday by this time the first day of classes will be over. Since we got to drop the earliest class we have less credits, which is fine because the workload appears to be insane (all the books, 16, for just 4 classes!)

There will be strangers in the house tomorrow...

Transcribing Crazy

We had been searching for a short story we wrote in 1995 for several years. We mentioned some of its content once in a blog post in February of 2011 (Franks First Love).
A couple of months ago Mother returned two plastic totes of stuff she'd had in storage for lord knows how many years. Stuff we hadn't even remembered we had, reeking of musty moldy old paper.
They turned out to be veritable time capsules, which included a 1999 screenplay adaption of a 1984 book called Virgins by Caryl Rivers that we did for fun - it had been a favorite book at the time. (We had even contacted her back then, she wouldn't give us "rights" to do anything with it, claiming she was writing an adaption herself. Still remains to be seen).

Anyway, in all these musty belongings was the story. Fifty cursive written pages of the first, and only complete, short story we ever recall writing.

Surprisingly we weren't as eager to page through it as anticipated, instead flipping to the back pages where we remembered that people who had read it in those days had written short "reviews". Raves of "excellent", "couldn't stop reading!" "very impressed" "gave me shivers".
Eleven people had read it and liked it.
Apparently it was easy to impress tenth grade high school students.

The story was so transparent in nature that a few of the readers knew exactly who the male character in the story was based on. Perhaps that's what made it more titillating to them.

Anyway, four months ago after being reunited with the document, we left it on the coffee table...and then put it in a drawer...or so we thought.
Somehow it had gotten misplaced the last few months while we were engrossing ourselves in University classes. It took quite the search today, which resulted in accidentally cleaning parts of the house, (Oh, the horror of accidentally cleaning!) but we finally located it.
Sitting down with a mug of coffee we started typing, cleaning up the horrifying grammar, the atrocious use of language, the repetitive sentences...and that was only into the fourth page...where we had to stop.

It seems that a page at a time, with breaks in between, will have to do for now.
Turns out we were fucking crazy, like, darkly fucked in the head. It's supremely disturbing that at the age of sixteen we wrote this story. By the fourth handwritten page the female protagonist had two vivid "hallucinations" about wanting to kill the boy that she had loved. The fuck. She totally makes us look sane.

Honestly though, it's also not written very well. Okay, it is written well for the first story of a sixteen year old. Reworking it a bit will help. WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY! (haha!)
Perhaps even expanding on it would be a fun task. One of the common themes in the reviews was that many who had read it would have liked a different ending.

Of course, since the man who the main character was based on hasn't been a complete stranger over the last few years, it could easily turn into a short novel at this point.

It still doesn't change how disturbing it feels to be transcribing the manuscript. Maybe it'll be a good drinking activity.