Trying to post a slideshow from www.danielspictures.com -
my new and improved photo website . Didn’t work.

Wow, another creative talent snatched at the early age of 50. RIP Billy Mays (here).

CNN has a neat calculator one can use to compare costs of living in different U.S. cities. I like just finding cool jobs in different places. Since I make a predictable salary, it’s fun to see what kind of financial lifestyle I could expect in different places. This is particularly useful for me because I receive loan assistance based on my salary. If I was in a larger/coastal city making the same living-expenses-adjusted income, I probably would be ineligible for assistance and would be poorer on a month-to-month basis than I am now.

Anywho: here’s the link.

via [lifehacker]

Oh, Pig-Mobile, how taken was I when I first eyed you in the downtown? How awesome are you, your owners to have clad you with your pigly metallic garb? And how delicious are your sweet, sweet sandwiches, priced at $6 apiece?

More delicious, for sure, if they weren’t quite so over-priced. But Pig-Mobile, I forgive thee. Because Pig-Mobile, you had me at Pig-Mobile.

Magnificent Seven of JttM,

By now you should have received your invitation to my hitchin’. In case you only read digital text, it will be on August 1st in Tulsa at the University of Tulsa chapel. That is a Saturday at 2:30pm. There is also a website . The “save the date” link is sure to delight.

Since all of you are fairly far away, I don’t expect a full showing, although Mohsen has confirmed his attendance. Obviously, I would be thrilled if you can make it. Even more thrilling would be your presence at the bachelor party festivities which will probably take place on Thursday, July 30.

If you want to get in on that action, please shoot an email to my friend Michael. Some of you might remember him. He and I grew up together and sweat it out in the Hump Dump our sophomore year while you guys were luxuriously lounging on the Brain’s futon in Holcombe. He uses gmail; roadbikr is his handle.

As for the wedding, if you are planning to come and need a place to stay, two of the dudes in the party have extra bedrooms, and I have extra floor space and air mattresses.

Sorry to hijack JttM for my personal uses. I’ll try to keep future posts up to snuff. Thanks!

Snuff, nasal snuff, is pretty alright. My buddy Care Bear recently exposed me to it. If you’ve “lived” this long without it: snuff is a finely ground tobacco product, typically perfumed or mentholated, meant to be inhaled through the nose, not snorted, and certainly not dipped, in your mouth, as the famed doctor-farmer Brain was wont to.

Snuff was all the rage in the 18th Century, but has since dropped off. There were brief resurgences of popularity in the 1930s and 1980s; apparently we’re in another minor snuff renaissance. And why shouldn’t we be? Snuff is still provided at public cost (since smoking is not allowed) in the U.S. Senate chambers and the British House of Commons (few members of either apparently partake). Prominent snuffers include Ben Franklin and my friend Care Bear.

Why should hipsters be doing snuff? The fact that you are asking such critical questions suggests that you are not yourself a hipster. But seriously folks.

• Snuff is incredibly good for you

  Hipsters like to take part in sporting events, like kickball, and to jump really high in the air, during freestyle walking competitions. Snuff is slightly better for you than cigarettes, unless you hate nose cancer.

• Snuff is old-timey

  Look at those tins!

• Snuff seems European or at least foreign

  Though the U.S. is cool again, you never know when we’ll elect another yahoo. Best to have some European dry snuff on hand to even out the rough patches.

• Snuff is cheap as sin

  Sin is cheap, dirt cheap. Just like snuff. Most of the hipsters I see in my neighborhood seem to be quite wealthy. But others, in places like Rockford or St. Louis may not be so fortunate. A tin of snuff costs about the same locally (much cheaper online) as a pack of cigs, but lasts a regular user much longer.

• Snuff makes you feel like you can fly

  You know, just like cigarettes. Seriously, try it. It will make your nose burn and you will cry. Once you’ve learned how to do it right, your nose will burn but you will only cry a little bit.

I really don’t get why snuff isn’t more popular. You can do it in bars and on airplanes. It’s the ultimate tobacco novelty product; I recommend it for your next party. Yet it’s also the only way I could ever see consuming tobacco regularly (not that I am, yet).

When/if zmurder ever goes back to get his PhD and becomes a prof, he will totally be the bearded professor from professor brothers. I can’t wait to audit your classes bro.

more fun for your viewing pleasure

My obsession to keep up with new music is still as strong as ever, and paying off. I’ve thrown many of my favorite songs into an iTunes playlist called “JttM - D’s Favorite Music From 2009,” which you can access after you install Simplify Media’s free program (read previous post).

Here are some highlights:
Dark Was The Night Compilation
Andrew Bird’s Noble Beast
The Felice Brothers’ Yonder Is The Clock
The Maccabees’ Wall Of Arms
Phoenix’s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Dan Auerbach’s Keep It Hid
DM Stith’s Heavy Ghost
Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest
The Veils’ Sun Gangs
… and many more.

If you like the tracks I’ve picked out for the playlist, you can also use Simplify Media to access my whole library and listen to entire albums.

Please enjoy the benefits of my months of reading, searching, sampling, purchasing, and listening.

A revolution in music sharing is here - Simplify Media. After you’ve installed the FREE Simplify Media program, just add up to 30 friends, then view each friend’s entire music library over the internet through iTunes. I am Darman27. To celebrate this momentous occasion, I have made a special playlist called “JttM - D’s favorite music from 2009.” I will be posting about this playlist next.

Holy god, lest anyone keeps an Utopian image of the liberal West Coast, here’s a story about a couple from nearby Whidbey Island (but not Broady, Murder) who are saving everything– and they mean everything, kissing included– for marriage:

“Instead of a smooch, Ritter says they will rub their noses together, sometimes nicknamed an “Eskimo kiss.” And to avoid temptation while dating, they limit the amount of alone time they spend together.”

H/T Slog.

According to two recent Slate articles (here and here), the influence Wes Anderson is pervasive. Consider this trailer for the movie “The Brothers Bloom.”

As Elbert Ventura of Slate notes,

The Brothers Bloom is only the latest addition to a burgeoning subgenre. Over the last few years, Anderson’s movies have become touchstones for indie culture. In the 1990s, it seemed every NYU graduate and Sundance contender was making his own Tarantino knockoff. These days, the Tarantino imitators have been replaced by the Wes wannabes. A popular strain in recent American indie cinema has been the Andersonian quirkfest, a tendency that runs through movies like Juno, Napoleon Dynamite, Son of Rambow, Charlie Bartlett, and Garden State, among others.

Elsewhere, Seth Stevenson of Slate says,

A recent essay made the claim that Wes Anderson is the “most influential American filmmaker of the post-Baby Boom generation.” I’d argue that Anderson’s influence extends to the realm of television commercials.

The list of clips they cite as examples is pretty compelling. Consider this Decemberist video, this Vampire Weekend video, this Cars.com ad, or this GEICO ad.

North Korea announced on Wednesday that it considers itself no longer bound by the 1953 armistice agreement that halted the Korean War. It’s too bad. The armistice had a solid run, lasting 56 years or so.

Mancow, a semi-obscure radio personality whom I’ve blogged about before, recently agreed to be waterboarded with the hopes of proving that it’s not torture. His reaction, after enduring only 5 seconds, is surprising, yet still predictable: “absolutely torture.” [video here]

Incidentally, I foresee a new niche industry: obscure to semi-obscure media personalities agreeing to subject themselves to special “enhanced interrogation techniques” for attention. Who wouldn’t want to see Glenn Beck slammed against a fake concrete wall after nine days of sleep deprivation?

Joel asked.

1) Joe Johnson
Ronnie Brewer
Steve Nash
Amare Stoudemire
Lebron James
Leandro Barbosa
Josh Smith
Tony Parker
Dwight Howard
Anderson Varejao
Birdman (Chris Anderson)
J.R. Smith

Most behaviors, customs, etc. are obviously influenced by both ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’, but I tend to see things in terms of genetics and evolution. So, when I’m confronted the unfamiliar practices that count as “human nature” in other cultures (polygamy for instance), I have to admit I’m a little overly biased toward the ‘nature’ camp. According to this article, maybe I’m not. It gives some good arguments that, among other things, the same genetic motivators might actually promote polygamy in some cultures and monogamy in others, and even why the seemingly obvious cultural bias toward blond-haired, blue-eyed women might be human nature too.

I’d take this with a few grains of salt; The article often mentions data that would motivate it’s explanations, but rarely mentions data that would further justify them. The explanations are certainly plausible, though, and for people like me who are predisposed to ‘nature’ arguments, they’re pretty compelling.

Thanks to Robert Cheek for sharing the article.

Let the “the economy is not as bad here” smack talk begin!

P.S. I hope this gives y’all extra incentive to make it to T-Town on August 1st of this year.

Shep lets another one rip on live television. Will this ever get old?

I created an NBA playoff bracket competition for us. I tried to email all of you, but if I missed you, please send me an email and I’ll send you an invite. The playoffs start on Saturday.

League name = JttM
password = Joe (or maybe it’s “joe,” not sure about the capital letter)

The Fayetteville Athletic Club (a/k/a F.A.C. or the FAC (pronounced “fak”)), the place where I spent a large chunk (and best part) of my teenage years, is unhappily featured on the front page of the New York Times business section.

Some (and maybe all) of the Denver JttMers are talking about a little Seattle excursion for Potlatch / Independance Day / Zmurder’s bday. As per Zach’s request I’ve created an rss feed for updates on our plans. Slap this ridiculous, hand edited, lo-fi yet hi-tech bad boy into your feed reader on the off chance I remember to add to it.