“You guys need a ride?” asks one of the men.

My cohort, Mitchell, smiles as if he’s finally been recognized as the important person that he truly is. He’s really into it now, I can sense it. He’s arrived in Vegas and he’s ready to indulge in everything this treacherous city has to offer.

“Why, yes we do,” Mitchell responds. He points to a large, black Cadillac Escalade with windows so dark, I’m not sure that it’s safe to drive. “But I think we’d like that one.”

The men in suits acquiesce instantaneously and begin to load our luggage into the back of the Escalade.

“You boys know how to ride in style,” says one of them. He has an effortless swagger, even as he takes our bags, the sort of fellow who makes you feel like he’s letting you in on a little secret every time he speaks. “I’m Earl. And boys, I’m here to get you anywhere you need to go.”

I used to love R/C cars as a kid, so maybe I’m a being a little biased when I say, “coolest idea for a car commercial ever”.

The making of video:

I’m no expert, but I think it’s a pretty safe bet to say that the floor of the Senate is probably not a good place to open emails that your buddy Mike (you know, the guy who always sends you those hilarious-but-sometimes-gross forwards?) sends you.

Article here.

This is the kind of problem that sneaks up on you, like alcoholism or cigarette smoking. I hadn’t noticed before, but whoops, I have a problem: I live in the city but really, I live in that short distance I walk between my front door and the bus stop, I live in the back of the street car, I live in the 2nd subway car from the front of the train, and in my cubicle at work and in the food court downstairs. Sometimes I forget that there’s more to my world than the worn-down path I’ve carved out during my 9-to-5 routine; sometimes I forget that it’s healthy to take the blinders off. But there I was, standing face-to-face with a stranger in need of the expertise of a seasoned Toronto-veteran, not able to recall the name of a major hospital only 1 street over from the subway station I’d been through nearly every day for the last two-and-a-half years.

As sad as that sounds, I’m far from the worst offender. There are many whose urban myopia has progressed into a much more advanced state than my own. I often find people coming to me for advice—I want to try a new restaurant downtown, where should I go? or What’s a good first-date place? But there is hope, there are cures: Ride your bike through the streets. Have a camera in your pocket and use it like a tourist. Go to neighborhoods you’ve never been to before, and without a specific reason to be there. Remember why you moved to this city in the first place.

So Obama goes to NYC to speak on Earth Day and the NYPD clips locks and steals all the bikes along Obama’s planned motorcade route. The fuck? This is would be as dumb as a CEO taking a private jet to a hearing to beg for bailout money. Oh, wait.

I suppose I can only speak for myself, but when I imagine myself 10 years from now, reminiscing with friends about the late noughties, I just don’t see myself regretting not being able to respond to the question, “Remember that time when that chick who had 8 kids lost on that dancing show to that other chick with the fake tits?”

I guess there isn’t much value in making high-budget music videos anymore, if MTV isn’t playing, you know, music videos.

http://URLology.tumblr.com/

My friend Tyler (internerd extraordinaire) described tumblr as a nice mixture of twitter and blogging.  I’d come across a few that the “authors” were using as a sort of media dumping-ground—a place to quickly blogify inspirational pictures and links and videos.  I liked that idea.  That will leave this blog open for (weak) attempts at actual writing while all the “wow, cool” stuff will go to the tumblr site.  I’ll figure out a way to integrate the two, at some point.