The Awl http://www.theawl.com/ Be Less Stupid Mon, 20 May 2013 19:00:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.2 40.727093-73.978644 Your Smart-Person Beach Read Arrived Early: "The Bling Ring" http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAwl/~3/GpSUwAbEYjk/your-smart-person-beach-read-arrived-early-the-bling-ring http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/your-smart-person-beach-read-arrived-early-the-bling-ring#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 19:00:45 +0000 Choire Sicha http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/your-smart-person-beach-read-arrived-early-the-bling-ring

Nicki likes Lip Gloss, Purses, Yoga, Pole Dancing, Uggs, Louboutins, Juice Cleanses, Iced coffee and Tattoos. @blingringmovie

— Emma Watson (@EmWatson) May 2, 2012


Nancy Jo Sales published "The Suspects Wore Louboutins" in Vanity Fair in March of 2010. Sofia Coppola announced optioning the article by December of 2011; Emma Watson was cast by February of 2012; the resulting movie, The Bling Ring, opens in a month.

But first! Tomorrow comes The Bling Ring—the book. Nancy Jo Sales started afresh. She already had, after all, endless hours of interviews with the crowd of young people in Southern California who burgled celebrity homes. In case you missed the original story, or have buried its fuzzy outline under later tabloid scandals, the case concerns five kiddos (and two friends who did reselling) who best liked to steal outfits, shoes, photos, watches and anything else that felt personal. And they did it quite a bit: they hit Brian Austin Green's house just a week after Lindsay Lohan's house, back in August of 2009. Poor Brian Austin Green!

And it turns out this book is basically The Journalist and the Murderer for the TMZ age. It's really pretty devastating. "Corporations are now people and people are now products, known as 'brands,'" Sales writes, in a history of what is either the degradation or the democratization of celebrity. ("Either/or doesn't seem right, but you know.) Both the path to getting fame and the resulting benefits (money, mostly) became obvious to us all. This is true—and happened so quickly—to the point where, Sales notes, theft victim Paris Hilton began to look as if she had an "Old Hollywood glamour to her." (Before noting that Hilton's popularity's rise and fall mirrored George W. Bush's. This is a book, after all, that mentions Bobby Kennedy, Donald Trump, Michael Milken, Richard Nixon, Salomon Brothers and Glenn Greenwald all on the same page.)

The rise of porn stars, of celebrity models, tabloid culture: there actually isn't much difference between Lindsay Lohan and any of these deluded, backstabbing, fame-hungry little kiddos. And then... it's so easy to enjoy them.

"I was surprised," Sales writes, "as I started talking to people about this story, by how many seemed to find what the Bling Ring did amusing or even kind of marvelous. 'Good for them,' said a young woman I talked to in a hair salon. 'Tell them to bring me a Gucci bag.' 'They have enough'—meaning the celebrities, said a New York taxi driver.... they won't miss it.' It made me wonder if there were some kind of growing resentment toward the rich (a precursor to Occupy Wall Street sentiment?). Or was this just a sign of the kind of kick people get out of teenagers doing outrageous things?"

Nancy Jo Sales: The Bling Ring
• Amazon
• Indiebound
• Barnes & Noble

But while the children are amazing—going on and on in California style about the meanings of karma, and the shooting of Alexis Neiers' reality show "Pretty Wild" is, well, pretty horrific—what are particularly amazing are the lawyers.

Yes. You don't really need a DSM to diagnose this, do you? Really, really sick. Disturbing! Anyway, right, the lawyers! These are people who were supposed to assist these kids with legal affairs. Instead, their role was to construct and propagate story lines.

There was Alexis Neiers' lawyer, Jeffrey Rubenstein:

"These kids went on shopping sprees," he said. "It's like they went shopping online. They'd look at a picture on some website of a celebrity holding a Marc Jacobs bag, and they'd say, instead of going to a Marc Jacobs' store and getting a bag like that, I want that bag that Lindsay is carrying—I want Lindsay's Marc Jacobs bag.

And then there was Nick Prugo's lawyer Sean Erenstoft.

My early conversations with Sean Erenstoft, Nick's former lawyer, all took place when he was in his car. Once when we were talking, he told me he was in 'in [his] Porsche" and so, if I lost him, he would call me back.

"I'm in a unique position," Erenstoft said as he Porsched along. "I've got inside information about what's going on."

In the next few weeks, Erenstoft would share some of this information with the "Sunday Styles" section of the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, People The Daily Beast, and TMZ, to name a few of the places he was quoted. I started to wonder whether it was Erenstoft who was the source of the "inside information" about the Bling Ring that was flowing to TMZ, but there were so many other possible candidates—some of the other lawyers, who didn't seem averse to publicity; cops; and the Bling Ring defendants themselves, who seemed to feel no hesitation about trashing each other.

In our initial conversations, Erenstoft sounded like a sharp guy who knew how to help a reporter out while still protecting his client's interests.... But every now and then the lawyer would say something that would make you want to squint. "Even I have been around Paris Hilton when she's snorted coke," he said. "If you're a night owl in L.A., you're gonna run into any one of these people. We all feel like we know Paris."

With his lawyer's instruction, Nick Prugo confessed to crimes that the police didn't know about. Later, his other lawyers would claim the confession was coerced—and would go so far as to say that the police "betrayed" Nick by charging him... with crimes... that he confessed to. Poor lawyers, too!

I'll save you the terrific punchline on that storyline. Actually, there are two punchlines. What more do you want? The Bling Ring comes out tonight at midnight, and it's absolutely terrific. We look forward to watching Alexis Neiers rant about it.

---

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2 comments

]]>

Nicki likes Lip Gloss, Purses, Yoga, Pole Dancing, Uggs, Louboutins, Juice Cleanses, Iced coffee and Tattoos. @blingringmovie

— Emma Watson (@EmWatson) May 2, 2012


Nancy Jo Sales published "The Suspects Wore Louboutins" in Vanity Fair in March of 2010. Sofia Coppola announced optioning the article by December of 2011; Emma Watson was cast by February of 2012; the resulting movie, The Bling Ring, opens in a month.

But first! Tomorrow comes The Bling Ring—the book. Nancy Jo Sales started afresh. She already had, after all, endless hours of interviews with the crowd of young people in Southern California who burgled celebrity homes. In case you missed the original story, or have buried its fuzzy outline under later tabloid scandals, the case concerns five kiddos (and two friends who did reselling) who best liked to steal outfits, shoes, photos, watches and anything else that felt personal. And they did it quite a bit: they hit Brian Austin Green's house just a week after Lindsay Lohan's house, back in August of 2009. Poor Brian Austin Green!

And it turns out this book is basically The Journalist and the Murderer for the TMZ age. It's really pretty devastating. "Corporations are now people and people are now products, known as 'brands,'" Sales writes, in a history of what is either the degradation or the democratization of celebrity. ("Either/or doesn't seem right, but you know.) Both the path to getting fame and the resulting benefits (money, mostly) became obvious to us all. This is true—and happened so quickly—to the point where, Sales notes, theft victim Paris Hilton began to look as if she had an "Old Hollywood glamour to her." (Before noting that Hilton's popularity's rise and fall mirrored George W. Bush's. This is a book, after all, that mentions Bobby Kennedy, Donald Trump, Michael Milken, Richard Nixon, Salomon Brothers and Glenn Greenwald all on the same page.)

The rise of porn stars, of celebrity models, tabloid culture: there actually isn't much difference between Lindsay Lohan and any of these deluded, backstabbing, fame-hungry little kiddos. And then... it's so easy to enjoy them.

"I was surprised," Sales writes, "as I started talking to people about this story, by how many seemed to find what the Bling Ring did amusing or even kind of marvelous. 'Good for them,' said a young woman I talked to in a hair salon. 'Tell them to bring me a Gucci bag.' 'They have enough'—meaning the celebrities, said a New York taxi driver.... they won't miss it.' It made me wonder if there were some kind of growing resentment toward the rich (a precursor to Occupy Wall Street sentiment?). Or was this just a sign of the kind of kick people get out of teenagers doing outrageous things?"

Nancy Jo Sales: The Bling Ring
• Amazon
• Indiebound
• Barnes & Noble

But while the children are amazing—going on and on in California style about the meanings of karma, and the shooting of Alexis Neiers' reality show "Pretty Wild" is, well, pretty horrific—what are particularly amazing are the lawyers.

Yes. You don't really need a DSM to diagnose this, do you? Really, really sick. Disturbing! Anyway, right, the lawyers! These are people who were supposed to assist these kids with legal affairs. Instead, their role was to construct and propagate story lines.

There was Alexis Neiers' lawyer, Jeffrey Rubenstein:

"These kids went on shopping sprees," he said. "It's like they went shopping online. They'd look at a picture on some website of a celebrity holding a Marc Jacobs bag, and they'd say, instead of going to a Marc Jacobs' store and getting a bag like that, I want that bag that Lindsay is carrying—I want Lindsay's Marc Jacobs bag.

And then there was Nick Prugo's lawyer Sean Erenstoft.

My early conversations with Sean Erenstoft, Nick's former lawyer, all took place when he was in his car. Once when we were talking, he told me he was in 'in [his] Porsche" and so, if I lost him, he would call me back.

"I'm in a unique position," Erenstoft said as he Porsched along. "I've got inside information about what's going on."

In the next few weeks, Erenstoft would share some of this information with the "Sunday Styles" section of the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, People The Daily Beast, and TMZ, to name a few of the places he was quoted. I started to wonder whether it was Erenstoft who was the source of the "inside information" about the Bling Ring that was flowing to TMZ, but there were so many other possible candidates—some of the other lawyers, who didn't seem averse to publicity; cops; and the Bling Ring defendants themselves, who seemed to feel no hesitation about trashing each other.

In our initial conversations, Erenstoft sounded like a sharp guy who knew how to help a reporter out while still protecting his client's interests.... But every now and then the lawyer would say something that would make you want to squint. "Even I have been around Paris Hilton when she's snorted coke," he said. "If you're a night owl in L.A., you're gonna run into any one of these people. We all feel like we know Paris."

With his lawyer's instruction, Nick Prugo confessed to crimes that the police didn't know about. Later, his other lawyers would claim the confession was coerced—and would go so far as to say that the police "betrayed" Nick by charging him... with crimes... that he confessed to. Poor lawyers, too!

I'll save you the terrific punchline on that storyline. Actually, there are two punchlines. What more do you want? The Bling Ring comes out tonight at midnight, and it's absolutely terrific. We look forward to watching Alexis Neiers rant about it.

---

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2 comments

]]> http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/your-smart-person-beach-read-arrived-early-the-bling-ring/feed 2 http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/your-smart-person-beach-read-arrived-early-the-bling-ring New York City, May 19, 2013 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAwl/~3/eNJPg3GS5zI/new-york-city-may-19-2013 http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/new-york-city-may-19-2013#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 16:30:26 +0000 Tom Scocca http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/new-york-city-may-19-2013 [No stars] The newsprint said one thing, but the dark gray outside said something obviously worse. Doing anything nice would be impossible, and doing the necessities would be nasty. Waves of misty rain swept by, streaking the windows. Taking an umbrella or leaving it behind seemed equally futile. Two young men were out in badly-fitting ponchos, possibly made from clear trash bags. They were as well equipped as anyone. Water soaked up into shoes and leaked down through the scaffolding. People winced under their hoods or impeded others with their umbrellas. On the lone dry spot, against the wall of a bank, a busker sat with a guitar, singing a stiff-paced "Let It Be." In the course of seven blocks, the rain had gone from misting to driving. A Fairway worker mopped the floor inside the doors over and over again. Under an umbrella, a dressed-up woman huddled with a man in a pale blue mortarboard-and-gown set. The outboard shoulder of the gown was darkening. All day, the gray stayed, turing to a dirty yellow on its way into a soggy night.

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]]> [No stars] The newsprint said one thing, but the dark gray outside said something obviously worse. Doing anything nice would be impossible, and doing the necessities would be nasty. Waves of misty rain swept by, streaking the windows. Taking an umbrella or leaving it behind seemed equally futile. Two young men were out in badly-fitting ponchos, possibly made from clear trash bags. They were as well equipped as anyone. Water soaked up into shoes and leaked down through the scaffolding. People winced under their hoods or impeded others with their umbrellas. On the lone dry spot, against the wall of a bank, a busker sat with a guitar, singing a stiff-paced "Let It Be." In the course of seven blocks, the rain had gone from misting to driving. A Fairway worker mopped the floor inside the doors over and over again. Under an umbrella, a dressed-up woman huddled with a man in a pale blue mortarboard-and-gown set. The outboard shoulder of the gown was darkening. All day, the gray stayed, turing to a dirty yellow on its way into a soggy night.

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/new-york-city-may-19-2013/feed 0 http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/new-york-city-may-19-2013 Talking to Colin Quinn About His New One-Man Show, 'Tough Crowd', and Being the King of Twitter http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAwl/~3/Fn4bD5YdlCM/talking-to-colin-quinn-about-his-new-one-man-show-tough-crowd-and-being-the-king-of-twitter http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/talking-to-colin-quinn-about-his-new-one-man-show-tough-crowd-and-being-the-king-of-twitter#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 16:00:27 +0000 The Awl http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/talking-to-colin-quinn-about-his-new-one-man-show-tough-crowd-and-being-the-king-of-twitter There have been many chapters in Colin Quinn's career since he first appeared on MTV's Remote Control in 1987. The former SNL castmember went on to host the short-lived but brilliant Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn on Comedy Central; more recently, his unique Twitter persona caught the eye of the New York Times. Following on the success of his Broadway one-man show Colin Quinn: Long Story Short, his "history of the world in 75 minutes," Colin Quinn's new show, Unconstitutional, aims to tackle "226 years of American Constitutional calamities." I caught up with after a preview performance of his show to talk about constitutional conventions, comedy nerds, and how sincerity infuriates people.

What was it about the Constitution that made you want to do a show?

Well, it's because it annoys me [that] all this time, everyone's always talking about how brilliant the Constitution was, and I didn't get what was brilliant about it. How can I be so stupid that I don't get the Constitution? So I said I'm going to write a show about it. I wanted to do another show anyway, but I wasn't going to make it, like, "Oh I did world history, now I'm doing American history." Of course, that's what I did, but I wasn't planning that. I was planning to not do that, so people wouldn't go, “Look at this idiot, what a loser. Now he's gonna do a American history.” But that's what I am, and that's what I did.
Read the rest at Splitsider.

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]]> There have been many chapters in Colin Quinn's career since he first appeared on MTV's Remote Control in 1987. The former SNL castmember went on to host the short-lived but brilliant Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn on Comedy Central; more recently, his unique Twitter persona caught the eye of the New York Times. Following on the success of his Broadway one-man show Colin Quinn: Long Story Short, his "history of the world in 75 minutes," Colin Quinn's new show, Unconstitutional, aims to tackle "226 years of American Constitutional calamities." I caught up with after a preview performance of his show to talk about constitutional conventions, comedy nerds, and how sincerity infuriates people.

What was it about the Constitution that made you want to do a show?

Well, it's because it annoys me [that] all this time, everyone's always talking about how brilliant the Constitution was, and I didn't get what was brilliant about it. How can I be so stupid that I don't get the Constitution? So I said I'm going to write a show about it. I wanted to do another show anyway, but I wasn't going to make it, like, "Oh I did world history, now I'm doing American history." Of course, that's what I did, but I wasn't planning that. I was planning to not do that, so people wouldn't go, “Look at this idiot, what a loser. Now he's gonna do a American history.” But that's what I am, and that's what I did.
Read the rest at Splitsider.

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/talking-to-colin-quinn-about-his-new-one-man-show-tough-crowd-and-being-the-king-of-twitter/feed 0 http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/talking-to-colin-quinn-about-his-new-one-man-show-tough-crowd-and-being-the-king-of-twitter Tennis Players: Why Are They Riddled With Cooties? http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAwl/~3/a_bePIHSn7U/tennis-players-why-are-they-riddled-with-cooties http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/tennis-players-why-are-they-riddled-with-cooties#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 15:50:06 +0000 Alex Balk http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/tennis-players-why-are-they-riddled-with-cooties "Professional tennis players are among the world's most finely trained athletes, with bodies that are honed to laser precision to compete in multimillion-dollar matches. Why, then, are so many top-seeded tennis players falling victim to mononucleosis, or mono, the 'kissing disease'?"

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]]> "Professional tennis players are among the world's most finely trained athletes, with bodies that are honed to laser precision to compete in multimillion-dollar matches. Why, then, are so many top-seeded tennis players falling victim to mononucleosis, or mono, the 'kissing disease'?"

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/tennis-players-why-are-they-riddled-with-cooties/feed 0 http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/tennis-players-why-are-they-riddled-with-cooties 23 Replacement Similes For Humans To Use Once All The Animals Are Dead And No One Knows What "Animals" Were http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAwl/~3/z0Aj68zxEn4/animals-what-were-they http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/animals-what-were-they#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 15:20:45 +0000 Dave Bry http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/animals-what-were-they Now that we're well on into our planet's sixth mass extinction event, and with recent news that we're charging towards environmental catastrophe faster than ever, it's time we start thinking about contingencies not in terms of "if" but in terms of "when." Let's say, just for argument's sake, that the human species will survive. Some people, like Annalee Newitz, author of Scatter, Adapt and Remember: How Humans Will Survive A Mass Extinction, think we will! But even if she's right, certainly, there will be changes we'll have to get used to. Besides the hilarious "Great, I'll have beachfront property" jokes the wittier among us will continue to make, our lexicon is sure to change. For example, similes that use animal imagery—we'll need some new ones, since no one will no understand what most "animals" are (or were). Here's a start, with future generations in mind.

1) Busy as a bee = Busy as the phone line when you try to call Time Warner customer service

2) Angry as a hornet = Angry as someone who has to call Time Warner customer service

3) Blind as a bat = Blind as Jamie Foxx in that movie about that piano player

4) Gentle as a lamb = Gentle as a Spring acid rain on our acid-proof bio-dome

5) Drunk as a skunk = Drunk as an oil tanker captain

6) Graceful as a gazelle = Graceful as an algorithm

7) Quiet as a mouse = Quiet as a news broadcast about global warming

8) Quick as a bunny rabbit = Quick as an airborne viral pandemic

9) Free as a bird = Free as a Wikileak

10) Eager as a beaver = Eager as Grindr

11) Sly as a fox = Sly as a FOX news executive

12) Proud as a peacock = Proud as Drake

13) Happy as a lark = Happy as a copywriter for a Geico ad campaign

14) Slow as a snail = Slow as the old person ahead of you in line at Rite-Aid checking the coupon flyer (stacks of which they keep, for some unknowable reason, BY THE CASH REGISTERS and not, say, by the door where people come in to the store) for discounts

15) Strong as a horse = Strong as plastic

16) Big as an elephant = Big as the garage for my four SUVs

17) Tall as a giraffe = Tall as Jonah on "Veep."

18) Brave as a lion = Brave as a freelancer

19) Fierce as a tiger = Fierce as president Nixon

20) Crazy as a loon = Crazy as a Hollywood wedding

21) Hungry as a wolf = Hungry as someone who doesn't like the taste of bio-engineered insect larvae protein

22) Hefty as a hippopotamus = Hefty as someone who REALLY likes the taste of bio-engineered insect larvae protein

23) Dead as a dodo = Dead as all the species of animals that used to exist on earth

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]]> Now that we're well on into our planet's sixth mass extinction event, and with recent news that we're charging towards environmental catastrophe faster than ever, it's time we start thinking about contingencies not in terms of "if" but in terms of "when." Let's say, just for argument's sake, that the human species will survive. Some people, like Annalee Newitz, author of Scatter, Adapt and Remember: How Humans Will Survive A Mass Extinction, think we will! But even if she's right, certainly, there will be changes we'll have to get used to. Besides the hilarious "Great, I'll have beachfront property" jokes the wittier among us will continue to make, our lexicon is sure to change. For example, similes that use animal imagery—we'll need some new ones, since no one will no understand what most "animals" are (or were). Here's a start, with future generations in mind.

1) Busy as a bee = Busy as the phone line when you try to call Time Warner customer service

2) Angry as a hornet = Angry as someone who has to call Time Warner customer service

3) Blind as a bat = Blind as Jamie Foxx in that movie about that piano player

4) Gentle as a lamb = Gentle as a Spring acid rain on our acid-proof bio-dome

5) Drunk as a skunk = Drunk as an oil tanker captain

6) Graceful as a gazelle = Graceful as an algorithm

7) Quiet as a mouse = Quiet as a news broadcast about global warming

8) Quick as a bunny rabbit = Quick as an airborne viral pandemic

9) Free as a bird = Free as a Wikileak

10) Eager as a beaver = Eager as Grindr

11) Sly as a fox = Sly as a FOX news executive

12) Proud as a peacock = Proud as Drake

13) Happy as a lark = Happy as a copywriter for a Geico ad campaign

14) Slow as a snail = Slow as the old person ahead of you in line at Rite-Aid checking the coupon flyer (stacks of which they keep, for some unknowable reason, BY THE CASH REGISTERS and not, say, by the door where people come in to the store) for discounts

15) Strong as a horse = Strong as plastic

16) Big as an elephant = Big as the garage for my four SUVs

17) Tall as a giraffe = Tall as Jonah on "Veep."

18) Brave as a lion = Brave as a freelancer

19) Fierce as a tiger = Fierce as president Nixon

20) Crazy as a loon = Crazy as a Hollywood wedding

21) Hungry as a wolf = Hungry as someone who doesn't like the taste of bio-engineered insect larvae protein

22) Hefty as a hippopotamus = Hefty as someone who REALLY likes the taste of bio-engineered insect larvae protein

23) Dead as a dodo = Dead as all the species of animals that used to exist on earth

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/animals-what-were-they/feed 4 http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/animals-what-were-they Untrustworthy B Makes Brief Reappearance http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAwl/~3/NIFi4at1QCI/untrustworthy-b-makes-brief-reappearance http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/untrustworthy-b-makes-brief-reappearance#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 15:10:24 +0000 Alex Balk http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/untrustworthy-b-makes-brief-reappearance If you are still grieving over the year's biggest tragedy thus far, here is some news that might briefly blot out the pain: you can catch the remaining episodes of "Don't Trust the B—- in Apt. 23" on Hulu and ABC.com and some other computer-related places.

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]]> If you are still grieving over the year's biggest tragedy thus far, here is some news that might briefly blot out the pain: you can catch the remaining episodes of "Don't Trust the B—- in Apt. 23" on Hulu and ABC.com and some other computer-related places.

---

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/untrustworthy-b-makes-brief-reappearance/feed 0 http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/untrustworthy-b-makes-brief-reappearance Save Your Complaints About The Heat For A Bit http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAwl/~3/GChGxUdnRCI/save-your-complaints-about-the-heat-for-a-bit http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/save-your-complaints-about-the-heat-for-a-bit#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 15:00:46 +0000 Alex Balk http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/save-your-complaints-about-the-heat-for-a-bit "Residents of Manhattan will not just sweat harder from rising temperatures in the future, says a new study; many may die."

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]]> "Residents of Manhattan will not just sweat harder from rising temperatures in the future, says a new study; many may die."

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/save-your-complaints-about-the-heat-for-a-bit/feed 0 http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/save-your-complaints-about-the-heat-for-a-bit The Tingle Whisperer http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAwl/~3/RoFZGveuDxM/the-tingle-whisperer http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/the-tingle-whisperer#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 14:40:44 +0000 The Awl http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/the-tingle-whisperer Like most people who get tingles in the back of their heads, I didn't know this was a thing until recently. When I was a kid, it was a fleeting and rare experience, but so delightful. It would often happen when someone was explaining a new concept to me and it finally clicked — I thought of it as the physical feeling of being deeply interested in something. Then, a few months ago, I fell down one of those internet rabbit holes into the world of ASMR, or Autonomous sensory meridian response. I won't go into the details of what this terminology means, but go ahead and read the Wikipedia article.

Basically, what I discovered were hundreds of YouTube videos designed to give viewers the tingles. “Whisperers” speak quietly to the camera, sometimes tapping their nails on things or describing items like jewelry collections. The whisperers are usually young and female, although there are some men as well. Many of them also do “role play” videos, in which, for example, they pretend to give viewers haircuts or makeovers, or pretend to fill out their information in a doctor's office. So far, these videos haven't produced head fireworks for me, but they are mesmerizing to watch.

One of the most famous whisperers, and one of the whisperers recently featured on a This American Life segment, is Maria of the YouTube channel GentleWhispering. Her videos regularly have hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions, of views. Maria is blond and charming, with a soft Russian accent, and when I contacted her to ask for an interview, she replied enthusiastically. When we spoke, she immediately put me at ease.
Read the rest at The Hairpin.

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]]> Like most people who get tingles in the back of their heads, I didn't know this was a thing until recently. When I was a kid, it was a fleeting and rare experience, but so delightful. It would often happen when someone was explaining a new concept to me and it finally clicked — I thought of it as the physical feeling of being deeply interested in something. Then, a few months ago, I fell down one of those internet rabbit holes into the world of ASMR, or Autonomous sensory meridian response. I won't go into the details of what this terminology means, but go ahead and read the Wikipedia article.

Basically, what I discovered were hundreds of YouTube videos designed to give viewers the tingles. “Whisperers” speak quietly to the camera, sometimes tapping their nails on things or describing items like jewelry collections. The whisperers are usually young and female, although there are some men as well. Many of them also do “role play” videos, in which, for example, they pretend to give viewers haircuts or makeovers, or pretend to fill out their information in a doctor's office. So far, these videos haven't produced head fireworks for me, but they are mesmerizing to watch.

One of the most famous whisperers, and one of the whisperers recently featured on a This American Life segment, is Maria of the YouTube channel GentleWhispering. Her videos regularly have hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions, of views. Maria is blond and charming, with a soft Russian accent, and when I contacted her to ask for an interview, she replied enthusiastically. When we spoke, she immediately put me at ease.
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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/the-tingle-whisperer/feed 0 http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/the-tingle-whisperer What A Selfie Is http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAwl/~3/5zYDiyBgM8w/what-a-selfie-is http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/what-a-selfie-is#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 14:30:10 +0000 Alex Balk http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/what-a-selfie-is "In a time when feelings of insecurity run high and people shy away, the selfie is an instant of boldness."

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/what-a-selfie-is/feed 0 http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/what-a-selfie-is One Of The Best Rock Albums Of All Time Returns Tomorrow http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAwl/~3/R727U3zZfec/come-reissues-1111 http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/come-reissues-1111#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 13:00:39 +0000 Choire Sicha http://www.theawl.com/2013/05/come-reissues-1111 Tomorrow Matador Records is reissuing Come's "11:11." If you don't remember the 90s, and really why would you, it's one of the great rock records of... all time? Yup, absolutely. Come toured with Pavement and Nirvana, considered their major label options, and put out three more albums in the 90s, even as half the lineup left. And then... everyone sort of drifted away. Now the original four-some is on tour in Europe; they'll wend their way to America in mid-June. Over the weekend, we Skyped with Come's Thalia Zedek about getting the band back together. She was in Berlin, getting lost; she also has a new album out herself, from the fine folks at Thrill Jockey.

I always think of you as a New Yorker, but you live in Boston. Do you... like Boston?

I do like Boston a lot. It’s a really cool town. It’s a very liveable town. I like New York too, but Boston is a little easier to be a musician in: places to play, clubs, rehearsing. I’ve never had a problem getting a show in New York living in Boston. I loved living in New York but I kind of didn’t have my shit together. It’s so competitive. So many people from everywhere trying to make it there.

It’s nicer now that we’re older.

I was kinda screwed up when I was there. But Boston’s actually a really cool town! I know a lot of people don’t see that. It’s a good small big city, tons of music, and it’s pretty and it’s pretty small in a sense. They say it’s the most European of American cities.

So would say Henry James. What’s it like going on off on a big tour again?

I’ve been touring with my solo band fairly consistently, it’s not like I haven’t toured in 20 years. It’s really cool. I would say that … none of us have really changed that much. It’s all coming back to me. Everyone’s changed a little bit but not actually that much.

In my make-believe mind about your world, I imagine you guys making this dark album and tearing each other apart the whole time.

I think we weren’t tearing each other apart. To us, it was what came out of us when we started playing with each other. I guess we’re all sort of, we had our separately—we’re a good combination of people. It didn’t come out of fighting, but it’s where our heads were at. We weren’t like 'we’re so depressing, why don’t we write something less depressing.' We'd all kind of met before in various ways. Chris used to be in the Barbecue Killers. They were insane, they had this singer Laura Carter that I went out with briefly, and they toured with me with Live Skull and we got in a lot of trouble. Arthur never got in trouble, he was a good boy. I was hanging out with a lot of Athens peole. And they both ended up in Boston, and I knew Chris from a mustual friend—when you live in New York, you have a visitor every weekend. So we'd all been through a little bit of stuff by that time. I was probably 27 or something.

It’s nice that you weren’t kids.

I remember, after two years in Come, having my 30th birthday party on stage, thinking it was all over. No I didn’t feel that way: I thought I’m 30, I don’t have to give a shit.

So you guys liked each other and each others' bands and wanted to play.

We all met through music. The first time me and Chris met we played together. I was playin in a band called Via, actually, which is the name of my new record. We only did like three shows. One was at the Pyramid Club. I was playing with these guys from Boston and got the gig with Live Skull. Chris played with that band and I think our third show, 'Off to One Side' was originally a Via song, and the first time I ever played it with Chris he was playing drums. I thought, this is great, this is someone I wanted to play with. He was the first person I called when Live Skull broke up. Then I kinda ropped out of the scene to try to get my life together. Then I went to see Chris and Arthur and Sean. At some point they all deserted ship. By that time I was like, what are you up to? It was pretty immediate. We knew each other’s sorta musical history. Sean used to be in a band called Killkenny Cats in Athens.

And now it’s been like 20 years. It's weird when a band breaks up, but there was no breakup drama, and you’re like, oh you're still cool.

There wasn’t much breakup drama. Arthur and Sean left the band after the second record. It was a suprrpise to me and Chris. But before we got back together—it wasn’t like, 'Oh we’re going on tour, we have to talk about that.' But we’d talk to each other and we’d seen each other a fair amount, those guys would all come back. And I was like, why did you leave Come, I was so shocked. And Arthur was like, I dunno! Just weird sorta misunderstandings. It was never acrimonious. I don’t know exaclty! It was kind of a harsh split, but we never pissed off each other. I think me and Chris never quite got it. There was sort of management stuff, and not everyone wants to go on tour for the rest of your life. And they both went on to do other stuff. We were together with this combo for about three years. That’s a pretty good lifespan for most bands. Most bands and most relationships. I’m saying that now but I’ve been in a relationship for 12 years. But before that there were a lot of three-years.

Ya gotta learn how. But you did wanna stay touring, van-style. Like, Louisville, Cleveland—I would die. But that’s what you wanted.

Chris has become like a total professional musician. He’s on the road, 250 days a year. That’s his main gig. I’ve always been kind of, I dunno. I can’t really play with just anybody. I have some kind of talent, but it’s not the kind of talent where I can sit in with the wedding band. I tried to do more different stuff but I usually end up having to form my own thing. I don’t get asked to join many things. I don’t get a lot of calls that are like, 'Come on tour with us, we want a guitar player.' Chris is amazing, he’s an absolute prodigy. And I’ve been putting out music and writing songs, a little less on the road most of the time. Arthur like has another career, other stuff that he does. He’s actually a really great singer, he’s in coutry band called The Fritters. Though they haven’t gone out with the fervor me and chris have, they’re at heart musical people. It hasn’t been weird at all. It’s not like 'Oh my god, how do I play my instrument.' Sean works in the film industry now, and Arthur works in the, I dunno, literary world. I think he really likes it, he’s an editor.

Do you have a regret about the band, when you though you were doing this wrong?

I was thinking, because I’m playing with the guys—it’s a very different time in the music industry. We had this big label buzz and major labels wanted to sign us. And I thought the other day maybe it was stupid not to sign with a major label. There was a crazy time in the early 90s, they wanted to give everyone tons of money. And we knew that would kill us, just after meeting the people: they have no idea what we are, we’ll never be a big band. I dunno, maybe we should have taken the opportunity when we had it. Maybe we were thinking long term—the label after one album will drop us. But we ended up breaking up anyway! I questioned our idealism at one point a few days ago. Maybe we should have taken the money and run. Mmm, that’s putting it in a cynical way. What I mean is: maybe we should have had more confidence in ourselves. We were offered opportunities that maybe we should have taken advantage of. But that’s hindsight, it’s not a big regret or anything. I think we just assumed that the music was pretty dark and not very pop and we don’t belong on a major label. It was probably the right decision. We got offered by like Geffen, Atlantic, and we were like, we’re going to be one of those bands that happened all the time, and but who knows

Well right, back then anyone could be on the cover of Spin or Sassy and then Geffen would come—

Once Nirvana made it, and Subpop, they were like, shit we missed the boat. They were sending out droves of people to tiny rock clubs. And offering half-a-million record contracts. They didn’t know what was going on but they had the money to blow.

What do you think about now? How much do you think about how you put music out there?

I don’t think about it that much. I’m on a record label now, Thrill Jockey, that’s just an incredibly supportive label. I’m really really lucky and I really appreciate it. That’s been kind of working for me. I try to, they do the distribution and stuff and I throw my hat in with them.

Great!

It is nice. I’m able to deal with the business angle of stuff, I’m not like, 'oh it’s too much for me,' but I don’t like to. But I don’t think most musicians like to. But I’m happy I have friends, they’re on labels, it’s all Internet-pnly releases. So they’ve got distirubtion, I don’t have to deal.

We’re all getting older, and I think people don't know how they retire off it.

I think a lot of musicians have given up on selling records. You make money off shows, off t-shirts, or songs in movies, commercials. A lot of musicians have given up on the idea of selling records outside of shows.

But you put out an album and and I go buy it and I think that works for us.

I like it, thank you.

I mean, you already have a job. Do songs come easily to you?

I kind of go though phases of doing a lot of writing and phases of not. In a sense they come—the music comes pretty easily to me, and the lyrics come harder. And it does take a certain amount of time alone, just screwing around, and sometimes the kick in the ass of having a deadline helps. I tend to record at home, tons and tons and tons of half songs. I’l record a melody and a riff and think I'll go back to it tomorrow and I don’t usually. I end up with all these things. I’m not disciplined at actually finishing it. I don’t like to force things, it doesn’t usually work well. It’s hard to finish stuff. But when you start something and it’s not finished, you’re not committing. By the point you get to, this is the song, you know. I feel like I don’t write a lot of songs but I do write a lot, I just never finish them. I’m not saying they’re good, but.

What are you listening to and loving?

I haven’t been listing to like tons of music lately.

That’s interesting that you don’t, too. Do you need the quiet?

I play instruments at home. And I listen to music some of the time, and I think I listen to a lot of—I don’t listen to a lot of rock music, which I’m realizing with the band. When your’e driving you get to program the music with the band. So I’ll be like, I haven’t listend to this much David Bowie in like twenty years—and I realize I listen to a lot of different kinds of—I don’t really like that much American music. I don’t want to say I’m into a certain type, but I really like Indian music and Spanish music, and maybe not so much rock music anymore.

Well we haven't done that much with it recently.

Maybe that’s what it is. I recently did a tour with Low, with my solo project, and I love them. Maybe I’ve gotten a little bit lazy. I actually played last night, the first Come show in Copenhagen, we played with two amazing bands. Maybe I’m just a little bad on my follow-through.



Come's 11:11 returns to the world tomorrow. This interview has been very mildly tidied.

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]]> Tomorrow Matador Records is reissuing Come's "11:11." If you don't remember the 90s, and really why would you, it's one of the great rock records of... all time? Yup, absolutely. Come toured with Pavement and Nirvana, considered their major label options, and put out three more albums in the 90s, even as half the lineup left. And then... everyone sort of drifted away. Now the original four-some is on tour in Europe; they'll wend their way to America in mid-June. Over the weekend, we Skyped with Come's Thalia Zedek about getting the band back together. She was in Berlin, getting lost; she also has a new album out herself, from the fine folks at Thrill Jockey.

I always think of you as a New Yorker, but you live in Boston. Do you... like Boston?

I do like Boston a lot. It’s a really cool town. It’s a very liveable town. I like New York too, but Boston is a little easier to be a musician in: places to play, clubs, rehearsing. I’ve never had a problem getting a show in New York living in Boston. I loved living in New York but I kind of didn’t have my shit together. It’s so competitive. So many people from everywhere trying to make it there.

It’s nicer now that we’re older.

I was kinda screwed up when I was there. But Boston’s actually a really cool town! I know a lot of people don’t see that. It’s a good small big city, tons of music, and it’s pretty and it’s pretty small in a sense. They say it’s the most European of American cities.

So would say Henry James. What’s it like going on off on a big tour again?

I’ve been touring with my solo band fairly consistently, it’s not like I haven’t toured in 20 years. It’s really cool. I would say that … none of us have really changed that much. It’s all coming back to me. Everyone’s changed a little bit but not actually that much.

In my make-believe mind about your world, I imagine you guys making this dark album and tearing each other apart the whole time.

I think we weren’t tearing each other apart. To us, it was what came out of us when we started playing with each other. I guess we’re all sort of, we had our separately—we’re a good combination of people. It didn’t come out of fighting, but it’s where our heads were at. We weren’t like 'we’re so depressing, why don’t we write something less depressing.' We'd all kind of met before in various ways. Chris used to be in the Barbecue Killers. They were insane, they had this singer Laura Carter that I went out with briefly, and they toured with me with Live Skull and we got in a lot of trouble. Arthur never got in trouble, he was a good boy. I was hanging out with a lot of Athens peole. And they both ended up in Boston, and I knew Chris from a mustual friend—when you live in New York, you have a visitor every weekend. So we'd all been through a little bit of stuff by that time. I was probably 27 or something.

It’s nice that you weren’t kids.

I remember, after two years in Come, having my 30th birthday party on stage, thinking it was all over. No I didn’t feel that way: I thought I’m 30, I don’t have to give a shit.

So you guys liked each other and each others' bands and wanted to play.

We all met through music. The first time me and Chris met we played together. I was playin in a band called Via, actually, which is the name of my new record. We only did like three shows. One was at the Pyramid Club. I was playing with these guys from Boston and got the gig with Live Skull. Chris played with that band and I think our third show, 'Off to One Side' was originally a Via song, and the first time I ever played it with Chris he was playing drums. I thought, this is great, this is someone I wanted to play with. He was the first person I called when Live Skull broke up. Then I kinda ropped out of the scene to try to get my life together. Then I went to see Chris and Arthur and Sean. At some point they all deserted ship. By that time I was like, what are you up to? It was pretty immediate. We knew each other’s sorta musical history. Sean used to be in a band called Killkenny Cats in Athens.

And now it’s been like 20 years. It's weird when a band breaks up, but there was no breakup drama, and you’re like, oh you're still cool.

There wasn’t much breakup drama. Arthur and Sean left the band after the second record. It was a suprrpise to me and Chris. But before we got back together—it wasn’t like, 'Oh we’re going on tour, we have to talk about that.' But we’d talk to each other and we’d seen each other a fair amount, those guys would all come back. And I was like, why did you leave Come, I was so shocked. And Arthur was like, I dunno! Just weird sorta misunderstandings. It was never acrimonious. I don’t know exaclty! It was kind of a harsh split, but we never pissed off each other. I think me and Chris never quite got it. There was sort of management stuff, and not everyone wants to go on tour for the rest of your life. And they both went on to do other stuff. We were together with this combo for about three years. That’s a pretty good lifespan for most bands. Most bands and most relationships. I’m saying that now but I’ve been in a relationship for 12 years. But before that there were a lot of three-years.

Ya gotta learn how. But you did wanna stay touring, van-style. Like, Louisville, Cleveland—I would die. But that’s what you wanted.

Chris has become like a total professional musician. He’s on the road, 250 days a year. That’s his main gig. I’ve always been kind of, I dunno. I can’t really play with just anybody. I have some kind of talent, but it’s not the kind of talent where I can sit in with the wedding band. I tried to do more different stuff but I usually end up having to form my own thing. I don’t get asked to join many things. I don’t get a lot of calls that are like, 'Come on tour with us, we want a guitar player.' Chris is amazing, he’s an absolute prodigy. And I’ve been putting out music and writing songs, a little less on the road most of the time. Arthur like has another career, other stuff that he does. He’s actually a really great singer, he’s in coutry band called The Fritters. Though they haven’t gone out with the fervor me and chris have, they’re at heart musical people. It hasn’t been weird at all. It’s not like 'Oh my god, how do I play my instrument.' Sean works in the film industry now, and Arthur works in the, I dunno, literary world. I think he really likes it, he’s an editor.

Do you have a regret about the band, when you though you were doing this wrong?

I was thinking, because I’m playing with the guys—it’s a very different time in the music industry. We had this big label buzz and major labels wanted to sign us. And I thought the other day maybe it was stupid not to sign with a major label. There was a crazy time in the early 90s, they wanted to give everyone tons of money. And we knew that would kill us, just after meeting the people: they have no idea what we are, we’ll never be a big band. I dunno, maybe we should have taken the opportunity when we had it. Maybe we were thinking long term—the label after one album will drop us. But we ended up breaking up anyway! I questioned our idealism at one point a few days ago. Maybe we should have taken the money and run. Mmm, that’s putting it in a cynical way. What I mean is: maybe we should have had more confidence in ourselves. We were offered opportunities that maybe we should have taken advantage of. But that’s hindsight, it’s not a big regret or anything. I think we just assumed that the music was pretty dark and not very pop and we don’t belong on a major label. It was probably the right decision. We got offered by like Geffen, Atlantic, and we were like, we’re going to be one of those bands that happened all the time, and but who knows

Well right, back then anyone could be on the cover of Spin or Sassy and then Geffen would come—

Once Nirvana made it, and Subpop, they were like, shit we missed the boat. They were sending out droves of people to tiny rock clubs. And offering half-a-million record contracts. They didn’t know what was going on but they had the money to blow.

What do you think about now? How much do you think about how you put music out there?

I don’t think about it that much. I’m on a record label now, Thrill Jockey, that’s just an incredibly supportive label. I’m really really lucky and I really appreciate it. That’s been kind of working for me. I try to, they do the distribution and stuff and I throw my hat in with them.

Great!

It is nice. I’m able to deal with the business angle of stuff, I’m not like, 'oh it’s too much for me,' but I don’t like to. But I don’t think most musicians like to. But I’m happy I have friends, they’re on labels, it’s all Internet-pnly releases. So they’ve got distirubtion, I don’t have to deal.

We’re all getting older, and I think people don't know how they retire off it.

I think a lot of musicians have given up on selling records. You make money off shows, off t-shirts, or songs in movies, commercials. A lot of musicians have given up on the idea of selling records outside of shows.

But you put out an album and and I go buy it and I think that works for us.

I like it, thank you.

I mean, you already have a job. Do songs come easily to you?

I kind of go though phases of doing a lot of writing and phases of not. In a sense they come—the music comes pretty easily to me, and the lyrics come harder. And it does take a certain amount of time alone, just screwing around, and sometimes the kick in the ass of having a deadline helps. I tend to record at home, tons and tons and tons of half songs. I’l record a melody and a riff and think I'll go back to it tomorrow and I don’t usually. I end up with all these things. I’m not disciplined at actually finishing it. I don’t like to force things, it doesn’t usually work well. It’s hard to finish stuff. But when you start something and it’s not finished, you’re not committing. By the point you get to, this is the song, you know. I feel like I don’t write a lot of songs but I do write a lot, I just never finish them. I’m not saying they’re good, but.

What are you listening to and loving?

I haven’t been listing to like tons of music lately.

That’s interesting that you don’t, too. Do you need the quiet?

I play instruments at home. And I listen to music some of the time, and I think I listen to a lot of—I don’t listen to a lot of rock music, which I’m realizing with the band. When your’e driving you get to program the music with the band. So I’ll be like, I haven’t listend to this much David Bowie in like twenty years—and I realize I listen to a lot of different kinds of—I don’t really like that much American music. I don’t want to say I’m into a certain type, but I really like Indian music and Spanish music, and maybe not so much rock music anymore.

Well we haven't done that much with it recently.

Maybe that’s what it is. I recently did a tour with Low, with my solo project, and I love them. Maybe I’ve gotten a little bit lazy. I actually played last night, the first Come show in Copenhagen, we played with two amazing bands. Maybe I’m just a little bad on my follow-through.



Come's 11:11 returns to the world tomorrow. This interview has been very mildly tidied.

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