More Poor

To continue a thread found on SeeNew's page...
http://money.cnn.com/interactive/economy/suburban-poverty/
(Discus wouldn't let me comment.)

 But no one told people to feign a lifestyle which was not their own.
What were once thought to be luxury brands can now be seen on even those from the poorest areas.

 What kids needs a pair of $500 Jordans?

 Does everyone in the hood have to drive a C-Class Benz?

Who told people that it is better to watch the lives of others on a television they cannot afford than it is to make their own lives better?

Whatever happened to "Makin' it do what it do"?

Abercrombie Man

It's just the image they're trying to sell - not the reality.
'Sex Symbol' Rock Hudson starred in a movie in which he played a fishing expert who had never even fished.
The thing about the movie that stood out was that Rock played a character who worked at Abercrombie & Finch.
(Their 'Ideal Man' was a gay dude who had to pretend to be straight in order to work?)
They're just trying to sell an image y'all - the reality doesn't matter.

I (Kinda') Understand

 

 They're trying to sell an image closer to this...

NOT this...!!!

King of Clubs ?

I hate running nightclubs - I'm just good at it.

 

I love it when people come to the club after a hard day or week at work - I enjoy their celebrations.

I hate when people come in to pretend that everything is alright for a few hours only to return to lives most of them hate.

To balance the distaste, I fill my personal hours with philanthropy.

After hours spent seeing the worst in many people, I try to help others build lives from which they feel no need to escape.

 

People often assume that the guy behind the bar always knows what's up.

In the end, the guy behind the bar always ends up knowing what's up.

 

 

In the nightclub business there is no need to seek the latest gossip and/or rumours - most people will tell you all of their business on their own.

The better one is at keeping these secrets - the better one does in business.

(Although, sometimes secrets must be relayed to the appropriate parties to ensure that no mess starts over a simple misunderstanding.)

 

Most of my nights at the club are spent connecting people with their desired contacts while giving only vague descriptions of the problems to be solved.

Most of my nights are spent schmoozing, flattering and sometimes lying to guests. (Sorry, but if you look like Precious you're probably not going to be able to hook up with The Rock. But I have to make even the most unattractive women feel as though such a hookup is possible.)

When people come to me with problems, most assume that I have the right business card from the person who can help them solve them.

Most of my nights are spent pretending as though I'm not working and that I'm just having fun.

 

 

But success brings imitation.

Success bring jealousy and envy.

Once one has made the effort to get to the top, the hard work then begins to stay at the top.

 

In the past two months; five new nightclubs have opened up which target many from the same demographics my club relies upon, two of my employees died, we lost our parking lease (The owner of the property said we were making too much money.) and my partners have become upset that I get all of the media coverage.

"Beware the Ides of March", was an apt warning in my case.

 

We're still full most nights but it seems that everyone now thinks that they can run a nightclub these days.

I still host two community oriented benefits a month giving the money to our guest's favorite charities but that is getting tough to do - I have employees who need to be paid and who rely on their jobs here.

I still help younger promoters, club owners and vendors but that is hard to do when they are helping my competition to succeed.

I still pour the best drinks at the lowest possible price points but with so many new clubs now open our liquor reps don't have the same resources dedicated to hooking us up as much as they used to.

 

It's funny, a group of teachers told me that I am still the 'King of Beaumont', it's just that my crown is just a bit smaller than it was before.

The Collins Twins

 

 Honestly, I care more about the sexuality of these Collins twins more than I would ever care about the sexuality...

...of either of these Collins twins.

I've been a Collins fan for a while.
I followed their careers from their winning CIF in high school at Harvard-Westlake in L.A. to their success at Stanford.
Being away from home, I root for any SoCal native to do well in anything.

But sports is a strange world in which participants often imagine themselves as being 'warriors' or 'gladiators' - where masculinity is thought to be requisite.
(Although I'm sure, if all things were known, some teams could be a modern day Sacred Band of Thebes.)

 

It seems that even in female athletics that the most dominant players are often the most 'manly'.

 

But back to the issue with Jason Collins...
So the dude is gay and playing professional sports - the male interaction in most sports is pretty much 'prison-gay' anyway.
Locker room horseplay is more about the domination of another male than it is anything else - even the games themselves revolve around a man (or a group of men) dominating other men in some sort of physical manner.
Guys often call their teammates, 'my bitch' or 'my ho' as a term of fraternal endearment.
Jokes about ones penis or the penises of others are often the talk of the day.
Men dress in color-coordinated matching outfits for games and shower together after them.
The close bonds formed between most athletes could be seen as getting pretty close to the crossing the line into homosexuality.

 The recent gang rape cases involving athletes is just about as gay as it gets.
In fact, what could be more gay than using a drunken woman as ones frot toy?

(Dude, you're just using the woman as a barrier for you to engage in a sexual act - with... another... man.
You're gay !!!)
The fact that these cases are excused as being part of a team sporting culture just reinforces the gay-ness of many guys involved in sports.

 So back again to Jason Collins...
I.
Don't.
Care.
I prefer these Collins twins.

Money Kids

It's odd. These days many kids think that there is some magical genie who just creates money out of thin air. (Okay, the Federal Reserve does not count in this case.)
I've never seen so many kids walking around with Beats, Jordans, Polo units and G-Shock watches - while I know that their parents are still renting apartments, using payday loans and complaining about being on some imaginary 'plantation'.

I was talking to a nightclub promoter who is sick of the business and wants to give something back to a community plagued by poverty, ignorance, obesity and crime.
As we were discussing his next step, his son asked for money to pay for a week of summer basketball camp.
"These kids are spoiled. They just don't understand money", he said to me.
"What if we started a summer camp for entrepreneurs?", I said jokingly.

The odd thing is is that it's already being done in other cities.
We still have to create our curricula, find instructors, create logos, market the idea, find a building and business project and find a price point for our tuition - yet we signed up four corporate sponsors the first night of discussion.

I'm no teacher.
I know very little about business (even though mine is doing well).
In fact, I don't even know how much to charge or whether I should just make it a not for profit endeavour.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Calvin and Hobbes

Forget Hooked on Phonics or Your Baby Can Read - a good comic strip is much more engaging than either of them could ever be.

When I was a kid, The Silver Surfer was my comic book of choice but as I got older I'd look forward to reading the daily strips in our local news paper featuring a kid and his imaginary tiger.
For over a decade this energetic kid and his sardonic tiger would keep me laughing just for the sake of enjoyment.
Some would say that 'smart' people read Doonesbury - but I'd counter that 'geniuses' read Calvin and Hobbes.
I don't know what it was about this bad-assed kid but even today I'll spend a part of an evening reading the old Bill Watterson crafted panels.

I used to wish for an animated version of the strip yet in ones mind is a better place for these characters to reside.
The mind fills in gaps which could never be translated to film or video.
The mind creates voices to which one can relate and understand.
Calvin's mind is where these characters (along with Susie Derkins, I'm assuming) go in a recently released 'film teaser'.

In the trailer, Calvin wants to grow up but his imagination won't let him.
Jaded and weary parents, revenge-seeking snowmen, monsters lurking under his bed, Dinosaurs and other and familiar manifestations all seem to make an appearance in this fake trailer.

One odd image in the short film struck me as odd.
It showed a seemingly 'crucified' Hobbes being tormented in the depths of the earth.
Hobbes was Calvin's best friend and protector...
Are angels just manifestations of fearful humans created to comfort us when we're alone?

A Different Generation

 How a 73 year old lady works her sexy.

How a 23 year old trap-house model twerks her ratchet ass.

Skylar !!!

 Sorry, Val.