Neither The Oxford English nor The Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary has a definition for the verb to facebook. Dictionary.com, my reliable on-line source for definition finding, offered “a school yearbook” as a noun definition and then proceeded to define both face and book separately. It was not until I reached into the far corners of Internet word-defining – the website Urbandictionary.com – that I found a sufficient representation of the verb:
Facebook - verb; It can be used in any tense, referring to the action one does when one uses the facebook. Examples:
1) Aaah! I need to facebook!
2) Becky, have you facebooked lately?
3) I’ve been facebooking for the past three hours.
The facebook.com, which seems all but unknown to anyone older than thirty, took over the world of Internet interaction in 2004. That fall, a group of Harvard sophomores, headed by now millionaire Mark Zuckerberg, engineered a website that allowed people from different schools to make personal profiles, send each other messages, and find common interests. Beginning only with Harvard, the website mushroomed during the 2004 academic year to include schools all over the country, from Southern Methodist University in Houston, Texas to Erskine College in Athens, Georgia, and, clearly, Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. It was all so innocent: taking advantage of the world’s largest communications medium – the World Wide Web – to keep in-touch with far away friends, find out what’s happening on your own campus, and make new friends, by, gasp, friending another person: requesting their “friendship” with the click of a button. Once friended, people could view each other’s profiles, post on each other’s walls, and clearly enjoy all the social benefits of true friendship. Now its own verb, the facebook and facebooking are quickly making a case for all campus life to be confined to a computer lab.
Recently, I was in a room with three anonymous girls who exemplified the social ramifications that facebook.com has had on the future of America.
“No, I mean, she seems totalllly cool!” says girl 1.
“Really? Yeah I think so too. I mean she’s in my soc. class and everyone who takes soc. is kinda cool you know?” Says girl 2, who had met the girl in sociology class and thought she might be cool.
“Well…let’s facebook her.” Says girl 3. The other two agree and all three squeeze into one desk chair to research this poor girl’s social status on the facebook.
“Uhh, she’s only got 44 wall posts.” The room goes silent. Apparently 44 posts is nowhere near the norm and suddenly all three girls are doubting this new girl’s coolness.
“That’s not possible,” says a shocked girl 2.
“Whaaatever, she’s definitely cute though.” girl 3 has clicked just below the picture in the upper-left corner of this girl’s profile, where the girl herself or any of her friends can post pictures of her, viewable to the public. For the next twenty minutes, all three of the girls busy themselves with a comprehensive scan of 122 photos of this other girl. I can’t help but snicker and shake my head from behind the copy of Shakespeare’s Hamlet I’m reading for class.
The original facebook page was fairly basic. A soft blue and white webpage with a photo in the upper left corner and one’s basic information to the right of the picture; this included political views, birthday, relationship status, and sexual preference. Below this section were one’s interests, ranging from favorite quotes to favorite movies. Below this was the message wall, where friends can chat in public. On the left side of the page, below the picture, there was the list of groups one had joined: these included Lion King and Beyond! – a group dedicated to the Disney movie, or Cheese is weird but so good – a group that bonded over an intense love for cheese. Of course dominating the page is the list of the person’s friends: first a total number, then a list of schools where one has the most friends and so on.
As the website’s members and popularity have grown so have the ridiculously extensive elements of the site. Now, you can constantly update your “status” by writing how you feel each day and having it show up on your page. You can give gifts to each other in the form of digital icons. And perhaps most annoying, each person’s News Feed announces everything that one’s friends have done recently, from adding new photos to posting on walls.
The idea is a common ground to exchange information and create relationships; the reality is an addictive site that undermines this very idea. While I admit to frequent use of the website to talk to friends or browse through photos, it keeps me in my room rather than outside meeting or hanging out with the people that I’m looking at on-line. It sounds creepy and in a way it is. However, the unprecedented use of the site by college, and since 2005, high school students –there are currently over 18 million subscribers worldwide – has turned it into a socially accepted and encouraged norm.
Like the three girls I encountered, people measure their social lives by the facebook. It has become a competition to amass friends and when someone is found with a particularly large number, they are awed and revered. In addition, people’s pictures come to represent them entirely. A photo of a drunken guy puking in the road gives someone a first impression who, otherwise, might have had a completely different perception of the guy had they met in person.
This newest product of the WWW generation, of which I am one, is not only making us lazier, but more introverted, and dependant on the web for social interaction. While blogs and instant messages are simply faster and more convenient ways for people to publish writing or talk to each other –along the same lines as cell phones replacing pay phones and even home phones – the facebook is attempting to revamp basic social concepts that need not be changed: supplanting the age-old process of physically meeting someone with an impersonal, electronic handshake.
In a recent interview with Newsweek, CEO Zuckerberg defended his creation against critics that derided it for moving life too quickly to the web.
“We don’t view the site as an online community,” said Zuckerberg. “We bill it as a directory that is reinforcing a physical community.”
My question to Mr. Zuckerberg, whose site is clearly shifting people into on-line existence: Why not live socially in a physical realm instead of recording, defining and, ultimately, degrading life on-line?
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Random List
Which actor gets teh hottest co-stars?
I've heard this question debated before (weird?). Friends and family inevitably pick Brad Pitt or Denzel Washington or some other leading man who is in their own right good looking and has a formidible list of attractive female stars they've acted with. It is time, however, to break away from this mold of simply matching the attractive male with female and assuming you are correct. It is, in fact, Jim Carrey who has had the longest running, and very diverse, list of hot hot women acting with him. Surprised? So was I, but just check out the list below and then get back to me.
6). Tea Leoni - Fun With Dick and Jane
In this most recent of Carrey comedies, Leoni plays Jane Hardy to Carrey's Dick. Rocking the frazzled, trim blonde look she exhibited in Spanglish, Leoni is the super-hot housewife type that is at once formally pretty and sexually-charged in a manic way.
5). Rene Zellweger - Me, Myself, and Irene
Agreed, she's not exactly a bomb shell, but when she puts her mind, or boobs, to it Zellweger can be boner-enducingly banging. (Think Chicago). The scrunched up, contorted face that she sports in other films is almost no-where to be found as she plays a convict/mafia-boss's girlfriend and her controlling character is utterly attractive. Her body looks tight and curvy on the motorcyle she rides most of the film.
4). Kate Winslet - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Her the diversity of Carrey's co-stars shines. The titanic heroine plays the wacky, extroverted Tangerine and every male whose ever seen this movie has left completely drawn to her and wanting to spend a night in her weird, poetic, substance-abusive world. I mean who doesn't like an artsy chick? Not only does Winslet nail this role, but she plays the hippish, NYU undergrad, jaded, spunky young girl perfectly. Shes warmly inticing in a subtle manner that one only realizes is a strange attractivness a few days after viewing the film (atleast thats what I thought).
3). Jennifer Aniston - Bruce Almighty
I don't think Aniston is that hot. At all. Period. There I said it. But I understand why people do, why a lot of my friends check her out on-line, and why most of mainstream america clings to tabloids about her though she isn't a good actress by any means: Shes the sporty, fun, American girl most dudes would like to end up with. Just not me. Anyways, in Bruce Almighty Aniston has the tight body, flowing hair, and glowing eyes that made her a hit in Friends. And in this underrated comedy about a man (Carrey) becoming God for a week or so, Aniston's cute looks and hour-glass figure shine.
Two oints of reference:
1). Sex scene - best orgasm I've heard in a long time, should have been nominated for best score simply because of her pitch
2). Boob Enlarging scene - while they might not be Aniston's boobs, seeing them enlarge on her petite body is a thing of beauty.
2). Courtney Cox - Ace Ventura, Pet Detective
Because of my lack of interest in Aniston, Cox gets the nod over her former friends co-star. Don't think of the post-marriage, post-kids, post-Scream Cox (who has a phenomenally unfortunate Fupa) although her character in Dirt is fucking amazing. Think of Cox during Friends prime. She was really hot, overshadowed by America's love-affair with Aniston, but she was hot, young, and totally fuckable. In Ace Ventura her trim but still curvy body and jet black hair made her Carrey's second hottest co-star. Carrey seemed to have a knack for landing hot actresses right in the peak of their attraction.
Defining Scene: Sex scene. An immortal peice of cinematic beauty. Not simply because Cox screams out and her shaply form is highlighted between the sheets, but the song "In the Jungle" plays as the bed rocks and all of Ace's animals peek from around the room at the humping. Classic.
1). Cameron Diaz - The Mask
Absolutely, drop-dead gorgeous. Before Diaz struck it big as the airhead/goofy/comic-relief role she plays in most of her movies, in The Mask she plays the damsel in the distress and it is (from an attractive stand point... well screw it from any standpoint) her best role ever. Long Blonde hair covers part of her face, striking green-eyes peer from slightly closed lids and give that "come and get me" look. Her body is unbelievable. Protruding breasts, a perfect butt and firm legs that go on forever. In her opening scene in the Club, her red dress, her sultry demeanor, and her amazing figure are stunning. I better slow down before I blow it. I literally haven't scene this movie in about 7 years but I remember that scene like I saw it last night. Fucking great. Diaz should have stuck to these type of roles, if not for her own good then the good of every prepubescent boy growing up ever.
The list should be longer than this. I mean think of Liar Liar. Carrey bones the devilishly sexy lawyer and ends up getting is sweetheart wife back. But how can you doubt it now? Sure Pitt has had Angelina Jolie and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Depp has had Kiera Knightly and Penelope Cruz. But, hell, Billy Bob had Halley Berry (and Jolie in real life...gross). When it comes down to a lasting list of hot girls that have acted with him, Carrey takes the cake and probably will continue to.
I've heard this question debated before (weird?). Friends and family inevitably pick Brad Pitt or Denzel Washington or some other leading man who is in their own right good looking and has a formidible list of attractive female stars they've acted with. It is time, however, to break away from this mold of simply matching the attractive male with female and assuming you are correct. It is, in fact, Jim Carrey who has had the longest running, and very diverse, list of hot hot women acting with him. Surprised? So was I, but just check out the list below and then get back to me.
6). Tea Leoni - Fun With Dick and Jane
In this most recent of Carrey comedies, Leoni plays Jane Hardy to Carrey's Dick. Rocking the frazzled, trim blonde look she exhibited in Spanglish, Leoni is the super-hot housewife type that is at once formally pretty and sexually-charged in a manic way.
5). Rene Zellweger - Me, Myself, and Irene
Agreed, she's not exactly a bomb shell, but when she puts her mind, or boobs, to it Zellweger can be boner-enducingly banging. (Think Chicago). The scrunched up, contorted face that she sports in other films is almost no-where to be found as she plays a convict/mafia-boss's girlfriend and her controlling character is utterly attractive. Her body looks tight and curvy on the motorcyle she rides most of the film.
4). Kate Winslet - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Her the diversity of Carrey's co-stars shines. The titanic heroine plays the wacky, extroverted Tangerine and every male whose ever seen this movie has left completely drawn to her and wanting to spend a night in her weird, poetic, substance-abusive world. I mean who doesn't like an artsy chick? Not only does Winslet nail this role, but she plays the hippish, NYU undergrad, jaded, spunky young girl perfectly. Shes warmly inticing in a subtle manner that one only realizes is a strange attractivness a few days after viewing the film (atleast thats what I thought).
3). Jennifer Aniston - Bruce Almighty
I don't think Aniston is that hot. At all. Period. There I said it. But I understand why people do, why a lot of my friends check her out on-line, and why most of mainstream america clings to tabloids about her though she isn't a good actress by any means: Shes the sporty, fun, American girl most dudes would like to end up with. Just not me. Anyways, in Bruce Almighty Aniston has the tight body, flowing hair, and glowing eyes that made her a hit in Friends. And in this underrated comedy about a man (Carrey) becoming God for a week or so, Aniston's cute looks and hour-glass figure shine.
Two oints of reference:
1). Sex scene - best orgasm I've heard in a long time, should have been nominated for best score simply because of her pitch
2). Boob Enlarging scene - while they might not be Aniston's boobs, seeing them enlarge on her petite body is a thing of beauty.
2). Courtney Cox - Ace Ventura, Pet Detective
Because of my lack of interest in Aniston, Cox gets the nod over her former friends co-star. Don't think of the post-marriage, post-kids, post-Scream Cox (who has a phenomenally unfortunate Fupa) although her character in Dirt is fucking amazing. Think of Cox during Friends prime. She was really hot, overshadowed by America's love-affair with Aniston, but she was hot, young, and totally fuckable. In Ace Ventura her trim but still curvy body and jet black hair made her Carrey's second hottest co-star. Carrey seemed to have a knack for landing hot actresses right in the peak of their attraction.
Defining Scene: Sex scene. An immortal peice of cinematic beauty. Not simply because Cox screams out and her shaply form is highlighted between the sheets, but the song "In the Jungle" plays as the bed rocks and all of Ace's animals peek from around the room at the humping. Classic.
1). Cameron Diaz - The Mask
Absolutely, drop-dead gorgeous. Before Diaz struck it big as the airhead/goofy/comic-relief role she plays in most of her movies, in The Mask she plays the damsel in the distress and it is (from an attractive stand point... well screw it from any standpoint) her best role ever. Long Blonde hair covers part of her face, striking green-eyes peer from slightly closed lids and give that "come and get me" look. Her body is unbelievable. Protruding breasts, a perfect butt and firm legs that go on forever. In her opening scene in the Club, her red dress, her sultry demeanor, and her amazing figure are stunning. I better slow down before I blow it. I literally haven't scene this movie in about 7 years but I remember that scene like I saw it last night. Fucking great. Diaz should have stuck to these type of roles, if not for her own good then the good of every prepubescent boy growing up ever.
The list should be longer than this. I mean think of Liar Liar. Carrey bones the devilishly sexy lawyer and ends up getting is sweetheart wife back. But how can you doubt it now? Sure Pitt has had Angelina Jolie and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Depp has had Kiera Knightly and Penelope Cruz. But, hell, Billy Bob had Halley Berry (and Jolie in real life...gross). When it comes down to a lasting list of hot girls that have acted with him, Carrey takes the cake and probably will continue to.
Monday, June 11, 2007
What can you say to a player like Daunte Culpepper?
I used to love the guy, part of me still does. From the seventh grade on a was a die-hard Minnesota Vikings fan living in Washington D.C. larger due to Culpepper exploits. Assuming the reigns of a franchise at the peak of its talent and capablity in 2000, Daunte led an out-of-this-world offense, rivaled only by the Rams 00s greatest show on turf, to the NFC championship game. Though buttressed by the phenomenal Randy Moss, Cris Carter, forever underrated running back Robert Smith, and offensive line anchor Center Matt Birk, Culpepper put up numbers that came close to Dan Marino's record-setting numbers for a first-year QB: a 98.00 passer rating, 33 touchdowns only 16 interceptions while completing 67% of his passes. In 2002, Culpepper's rating was 96 as he passed for 3,400 yards. In 2004, the QB passed for 4717 yards, 39 tds, and a passer rating of 110 -- the 4th highest in league history. If not for Payton Manning's record-setting season in 2004, Culpepper would have easily been the league MVP that year. Culpepper was the face of the franchise, particularly after the retirement of Carter and Smith and the departure of Moss via trade to Oakland. With pride, I sported my Purple and Gold #11 jersey around the halls of my high school. In fact, during one thanksgiving break when the Vikings faced-off against the Cowboys on Thanksgiving day, I actually slept and showered with the jersey on.
Oh how the mighty have fallen.
While other quaterbacks have been more successful than Culpepper (see Tom Brady and Donovan McNabb) and even put up better numbers (see Manning, Michael Vick, and McNabb again), the Quarterback's future seemed set and after consecutive trips to the pro bowl, his place amongst the elite in the NFL seemed similarly concrete. Now at the might-as-well-retire, yesterday's-news, over-the-hill, own-franchise-is-drafting-to-replace-you, shit-out-of-luck age of 30, Culpepper's future could easily be hued as pitch black. In a 2005 regular season game against the Carolina Panthers, Culpepper's knee exploded and 19 months, two surgeries, two teams, and a variety of rehabs, Culpepper is only just been cleared to practice again.
Blame it on the injury or the situation.
After BRAD JOHNSON, the then 36 year-old former Viking stepped in to replace Culpepper and lead the Vikes to an improbable play-offs birth with an 8-8 record, Culpepper was shipped to Miami. Inexplicably, new coach Brad Childress would stick with Johnson (then pushing 38) in 2006 and may as well have stamped void on the entire 2006 season. Yet I digress. Culpepper was heralded as Miami's solution to long standing line of sub-par qbs to follow after the retirement of Marino. He even stared in the summer 2006 Madden commercials, completing passes to Cris Chambers and "getting his role on" in videogaming glory. The roll, however, didn't make it to the field. Culpepper's knee kept on nagging and after four games he sat for the rest of the season. Though he was signed through 2013, Culpepper would not take another live-action snap for the Dolphins.
Blame the agent.
To me it does not make sense for athletes to be their own agents. I understand the worry. Young players, especially those like Culpepper from small towns, don't want to fall to the corruption of money-shark agents ala Bob Sugar and so they elect to rep. themselves. I recently discovered Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards has assumed the role of self-agent. It is dumb. As a professional athlete your daily routine, your monthly, yearly, careerly routine is dedicated to preformance. Off-season work-outs, meetings, and training sessions, mini-camps, summer camps, spring training, in-season games, road trips, morning meetings, all one has time to focus on is the result. Win games and others will do everything else. Yet Culpepper, Arenas and others have elected to take the challenging route of self-management. Adding significantly to their own duties and possibly distracting them from what really earns them the money: their success. A note to athletes considering this idea: DON'T DO IT. There is nothing noble about it, about repping yourself. You are a paid professional there to preform, they are their to get you your money. It works, has worked, let it happen. While pundits might say, "look at the contract Daunte got himself" it is about to be terminated and where is Daunte then? With training camp less then two months away, Culpepper now has to contact teams himself, apply to the NFLPA himself for help, and what else? Oh yeah still find time to work out and show teams he's still worth their time. Having an agent would allow him to focus solely on football in this trying process.
In 2005, after his big-money deal to the Dolphins went through, it may have seemed like a great example of a player representing himself and doing well. Well it is only when things go bad that self-agenting becomes a mistake. When an athlete gets injured or seems ineffective, everyone is quick to bail on him and usually the agent is the last to go. The agent will work for the athlete until there isn't anything to work for. It may be because of money, but that is the way things go. With Culpepper, he is in dire straights and he has no agent in his corner wheeling and dealing for him. It could be possible that Daunte can still navigate the field in the superd way he did only two years ago, but without an agent navigating the business side, he is at a distinct disadvantage and his window is closing very, very fast.
I used to love the guy, part of me still does. From the seventh grade on a was a die-hard Minnesota Vikings fan living in Washington D.C. larger due to Culpepper exploits. Assuming the reigns of a franchise at the peak of its talent and capablity in 2000, Daunte led an out-of-this-world offense, rivaled only by the Rams 00s greatest show on turf, to the NFC championship game. Though buttressed by the phenomenal Randy Moss, Cris Carter, forever underrated running back Robert Smith, and offensive line anchor Center Matt Birk, Culpepper put up numbers that came close to Dan Marino's record-setting numbers for a first-year QB: a 98.00 passer rating, 33 touchdowns only 16 interceptions while completing 67% of his passes. In 2002, Culpepper's rating was 96 as he passed for 3,400 yards. In 2004, the QB passed for 4717 yards, 39 tds, and a passer rating of 110 -- the 4th highest in league history. If not for Payton Manning's record-setting season in 2004, Culpepper would have easily been the league MVP that year. Culpepper was the face of the franchise, particularly after the retirement of Carter and Smith and the departure of Moss via trade to Oakland. With pride, I sported my Purple and Gold #11 jersey around the halls of my high school. In fact, during one thanksgiving break when the Vikings faced-off against the Cowboys on Thanksgiving day, I actually slept and showered with the jersey on.
Oh how the mighty have fallen.
While other quaterbacks have been more successful than Culpepper (see Tom Brady and Donovan McNabb) and even put up better numbers (see Manning, Michael Vick, and McNabb again), the Quarterback's future seemed set and after consecutive trips to the pro bowl, his place amongst the elite in the NFL seemed similarly concrete. Now at the might-as-well-retire, yesterday's-news, over-the-hill, own-franchise-is-drafting-to-replace-you, shit-out-of-luck age of 30, Culpepper's future could easily be hued as pitch black. In a 2005 regular season game against the Carolina Panthers, Culpepper's knee exploded and 19 months, two surgeries, two teams, and a variety of rehabs, Culpepper is only just been cleared to practice again.
Blame it on the injury or the situation.
After BRAD JOHNSON, the then 36 year-old former Viking stepped in to replace Culpepper and lead the Vikes to an improbable play-offs birth with an 8-8 record, Culpepper was shipped to Miami. Inexplicably, new coach Brad Childress would stick with Johnson (then pushing 38) in 2006 and may as well have stamped void on the entire 2006 season. Yet I digress. Culpepper was heralded as Miami's solution to long standing line of sub-par qbs to follow after the retirement of Marino. He even stared in the summer 2006 Madden commercials, completing passes to Cris Chambers and "getting his role on" in videogaming glory. The roll, however, didn't make it to the field. Culpepper's knee kept on nagging and after four games he sat for the rest of the season. Though he was signed through 2013, Culpepper would not take another live-action snap for the Dolphins.
Blame the agent.
To me it does not make sense for athletes to be their own agents. I understand the worry. Young players, especially those like Culpepper from small towns, don't want to fall to the corruption of money-shark agents ala Bob Sugar and so they elect to rep. themselves. I recently discovered Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards has assumed the role of self-agent. It is dumb. As a professional athlete your daily routine, your monthly, yearly, careerly routine is dedicated to preformance. Off-season work-outs, meetings, and training sessions, mini-camps, summer camps, spring training, in-season games, road trips, morning meetings, all one has time to focus on is the result. Win games and others will do everything else. Yet Culpepper, Arenas and others have elected to take the challenging route of self-management. Adding significantly to their own duties and possibly distracting them from what really earns them the money: their success. A note to athletes considering this idea: DON'T DO IT. There is nothing noble about it, about repping yourself. You are a paid professional there to preform, they are their to get you your money. It works, has worked, let it happen. While pundits might say, "look at the contract Daunte got himself" it is about to be terminated and where is Daunte then? With training camp less then two months away, Culpepper now has to contact teams himself, apply to the NFLPA himself for help, and what else? Oh yeah still find time to work out and show teams he's still worth their time. Having an agent would allow him to focus solely on football in this trying process.
In 2005, after his big-money deal to the Dolphins went through, it may have seemed like a great example of a player representing himself and doing well. Well it is only when things go bad that self-agenting becomes a mistake. When an athlete gets injured or seems ineffective, everyone is quick to bail on him and usually the agent is the last to go. The agent will work for the athlete until there isn't anything to work for. It may be because of money, but that is the way things go. With Culpepper, he is in dire straights and he has no agent in his corner wheeling and dealing for him. It could be possible that Daunte can still navigate the field in the superd way he did only two years ago, but without an agent navigating the business side, he is at a distinct disadvantage and his window is closing very, very fast.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
'shower'
The shower calms me. Miniature geysers spray warm currents across my shoulders and down my back. Arching my spine vertebrae by vertebra, I lean backwards into the spherical curtain. The water trickles down the tangled runways of shaggy, blond hair on my forehead. Timid, the aqueous droplets linger on the longest strands that hang at eye level and drop down to my chest – slipping through sparse, scraggly chest hair, past small nipples that are unnaturally low on my body and a slim, flexed stomach that I look at and believe is fit – rolling eventually towards hairy toes. Eagerly, I enjoy the abstracted cascade of liquid warmth that upon contact dulls sleepless hours, months of stress, or simply a bad day. The streams become rivers then floods; toenails and fingertips shoot an excited tingle along the veins and nerves of my arms and legs; water reaches my extremities and a sensation like the opposite of goose bumps runs across my skin; Mouth agape, I inhale steamy mist. Regardless of time or emotion, the constant, thermal blast from dozens of holes in the silver showerhead on the wall kneads my mind into a flowing relaxation: the watery masseuse of the early morning, pre-work hours, of the Saturday afternoon, post-sex moments, of the refreshing thirty-minute break at 3 AM when pulling an all-nighter. Having let the shower coat me in shimmering wetness, I shift slightly back on my heels. I’m immediately drenched. My matted hair plasters to the sides of my head and I stand in the momentary buffer that the careening spray creates between my naked body and the rest of the world.
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