Zachary Forrest

I absolutely love this video.

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:14:44 -0800

I absolutely love this video.

This is important. Call your representatives today. I did.

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:27:01 -0800

This is important. Call your representatives today. I did.

The next Steve Jobs will be a chick

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 09:22:30 -0800

The next Steve Jobs will be a chick:

Louis C.K.

The next Steve Jobs will totally be a chick, because girls are No. 2—and No. 2 always wins in America. Apple was a No. 2 company for years, and Apple embodies a lot of what have been defined as feminine traits: an emphasis on intuitive design, intellect, a strong sense of creativity, and that striving to always make the greatest version of something. Traditionally, men are more like Microsoft, where they’ll just make a fake version of what that chick made, then beat the shit out of her and try to intimidate everybody into using their product.

First seen on Daring Fireball.

71 loans on Kiva.

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:44:00 -0800

71 loans on Kiva.

Looks like Scientology is trying to catch up with Christian...

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:20:00 -0800

Looks like Scientology is trying to catch up with Christian music videos from 1996. It’s good to see these guys give it the ol’ college try.

Awesome.

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:28:56 -0800

Awesome.

Liem Neeson wants to do comedy.

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 11:03:18 -0800

Liem Neeson wants to do comedy.

Made by Hand is one of the best web series that I’ve had...

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:48:51 -0800

Made by Hand is one of the best web series that I’ve had the pleasure to watch.

Starlings

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:10:00 -0700

By Michael Burns

I won’t say that I didn’t hear peeping
when I started up the ladder to take a look.
I could just reach far enough to hook
a swatch of straw as big as a pillow
and pull it loose, and down came

three half-grown baby birds
with eyes wide open, and heads too big
for their necks. I stared at their ancient,
blameless stupidity, and then I whacked
them over and over with the edge of the rake.

I had a pile of limbs that needed burning,
and with the straw I made a funeral fire.
My guess is you think you can see me there
watching them burn, a sad but satisfied
look on my face. Coldness. Maybe you can.

What if I told you now that none of this
was true, and that what I really did
was put them back, like a movie rewound?
My guess is already I’ve gone too far.
You smell the singe of feathers in the air.

Michael Burns wasn’t a poet whose name you could drop in a...

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 23:09:00 -0700

Michael Burns wasn’t a poet whose name you could drop in a circle of well-read poets and expect instant reverence. Outside of the Ozarks, it’s hard for anyone to know who he was as a writer, hard to understand what a great teacher he was, how much you could both hate and love him.

And I loved him.

He had this gift. He could take your poem, and with a few strokes of his editorial pen and three minutes, tear out all the shit you didn’t want to tear out. I can’t count how many times he would take a poem of mine and show me how to make it stronger by eliminating the cruft.

How many times he told me that “this is a so-what poem.” In another words, who gives a shit.

It hurt every time. But he was right. He was always right. And now, after finding out that he died from a heart attack last Friday, I find myself missing his mustache, his pen, his no-bullshit demeanor.

I found a book of his that he signed for me. And he wrote:

For Zach,

whose own poems I enjoy, and I look forward to seeing more of them.

Michael
1-30-01
Springfield

I wish I could show them to Burns. I’ve never wished for something so much in my life.

I Drop My Daughter Off at the Early Morning Prayer Rally

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 22:25:00 -0700

She has forgotten her coat. It’s red, white and blue.
The car radio says an icon is dead: Spiro Agnew.

Suddenly I remember
my eleven-year-old brother,
with whom I shared a room,
kneeling, in his underwear,
to pray at the foot of our bed.

I was ten.
I stood there watching.
I can’t swear by this time
I had given up God.

Maybe just to get this memory back
out of a morning’s fog
should be enough
for me to say

I haven’t yet.

By Michael Burns

Obama Has Written Personal Checks To Struggling Americans

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 19:58:26 -0700

Obama Has Written Personal Checks To Struggling Americans:

I doubt a staunch conservative Republican President would do this.

Girlfriend Changes Man Into Someone She's Not Interested In

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:16:36 -0700

Girlfriend Changes Man Into Someone She's Not Interested In:

“The reason I fell so hard for Brendan was that he was totally different from the guys I used to date,” Nickles said. “He had beautiful long hair, and he was really smart and cynical. Now he reminds me of my boring ex-boyfriend Kevin, who’s an accountant in Raleigh.”

Steve Jobs Is Dead.

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 22:54:00 -0700

(A small little something I wrote for a visionary I honestly admired.)

He had lost too much weight, strangers could see that,
and weight is the first thing to go say the experts, first thing
that’s missed and it was gone, the fleshy weight of him,

his black turtleneck loose on his frame, jeans that used
to fit, cinched tight. We saw the cancer keep pace
with him, in the pixels of our screens, a pale horse that

trotted next to the man’s excitement. We watched the keynote,
and he talked about numbers, about the future, about
something he once dreamed about while he slept, a dream

he remembered when he woke up and covered in aluminum,
brushed metal, a dream his developers filled with Cocoa and
Webkit and no idea what else, we didn’t care, it was beautiful,

this machine, it was something we wanted, something we were
promised, like jetpacks, like hover cars. He talked about the future
and we applauded, we criticized, we made our requests

like prayers, just one more feature and we’ll be happy, we vowed,
we swore, we lied. It was over too soon. We saw the horse
nibble his ankle to prod him along. Slow exit stage right.

Steve Jobs is dead.

The first five songs of this soundtrack are epic.

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:44:21 -0700

The first five songs of this soundtrack are epic.

Nice.

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 09:37:10 -0700

Nice.

I love this man.

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 20:00:38 -0700

I love this man.

Poets ranked by beard weight

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 15:37:07 -0700

Poets ranked by beard weight:

A great idea. You can purchase the book here. I’ve now discovered why I’m not successful at poetry. My beard isn’t worthy.

The amazing portfolio of Andreas Englund.

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 15:33:39 -0700

The amazing portfolio of Andreas Englund.

Airport Pat-Down for Breast Cancer Patient

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:10:10 -0700

Airport Pat-Down for Breast Cancer Patient:

But Ms. Dorn says that last week, on her way to San Francisco to visit friends, she was treated with hostility and humiliated after the tissue expanders were detected by a body scanning machine at Kennedy Airport in New York. She said the workers from the Transportation Security Administration would not let her retrieve a medical card explaining the implants, a situation she wrote about on her blog.

I told her that I was not comfortable with having my breasts touched, and that I had a card in my wallet that explains the type of expanders, serial numbers and my doctor’s information and asked to retrieve it. This request was denied. Instead, she called over a female supervisor who told me the exam had to take place. I was again told that I could not retrieve the card and needed to submit to a physical exam in order to be cleared. She then said, “And if we don’t clear you, you don’t fly,” loud enough for other passengers to hear. And they did. And they stared at the bald woman being yelled at by a T.S.A. supervisor.

I have been through emotional and physical hell this past year due to breast cancer…. I understand the need for safety when flying, but there is also a need for those responsible to be compassionate and sensitive to each situation.

Ms. Dorn said she is not opposed to being patted down, but believes she should have been given a chance to explain her medical situation and taken to a private area for the pat-down. She said a private pat-down was never offered.

Someone explain to me why we are still putting up with the TSA?