Mike and the Mad Dog Afficonadoes Rejoice
From Bill Simmons’ weekend mailbag:
Q: I was watching a shortened Mike Francesa show on YES today. Giants fans only wanted to talk about the blown call on Greg Jennings’ fumble. Mike went on to use the phrase “under the hood” a ridiculous amount of times over the next hour to describe the action of the ref looking at the replay. I finished watching the show but it was bothering me how many times I heard “under the hood”. I was sure it was 40 times at least. I decided to go back and figure it out. Mike used the actual phrase “under the hood” 36 times. Callers used it twice bringing the total to 38. This is where it gets dicey. Mike once said “blew the call under the…” before trailing off. I counted that as 0.75 times . He also used “…before the hood” once. I counted that as 0.25 times bringing the total to 39 and that was it. I missed my theory by one “under the hood”. Now I know how you feel after not covering that Texans-Ravens game. So close. Notes from my study: Mike used the phrase “underneath the hood” once which I counted in his total and all but 1 of the “under the hoods were said in a 60 minute time frame. For the entire 2 hour show Mike’s UTHPM (Under the Hoods per Minute) was 0.65 narrowly edging out Dog’s 0.63 “Unbelieveable”s per minute from 1999 about Darryl Strawberry’s recovery from cancer. If Mike had done the full show he would have been at 195 “under the hoods.” This may or may not be a cry help.
— Mike Z, Decatur, GA
amazing infographic on facebook
Created by: Accounting Degree Online
What should I read into this targeted advertising on Pandora?
“Since moving to New York I’ve been continuously hunting for what I like to call the “10-year parka.” Basically an unassuming, non-technical, weatherproof coat that will hold up to a decade of near daily winter use. It should eschew fads, break-in like a proper pair of boots, and keep me alive should I find myself huddled overnight at a gusty abandoned bus terminal.
The Isle of Man parka is the best option I’ve found.”An epic product review by Jace.
Freemans Sporting Club — Isle of Man Parka ($200-500) - Svpply
I hope you get a cut of all the extra sales this review is going to produce, Jace.
An Aaron Dispatch
I’m having a day where my mind can’t keep up with my typing. I need to bullet point it out.
- @eisenberg’s this am I listened to an NPR podcast about a woman in Wheaton, IL who lost a good 75k enviromental mgmt job and now works at Target for minimum wage. She’s 45 and doesn’t know what to do and sounded smart.
- #Occupy has all kinds of challengers and supporters. VCs @bijan, @fredwilson, @aweissmann have all embraced it very publicly on twitter, tumblr and at last night’s tech fashion show.
- Speaking of fashion show, a very glitzy fundraiser held last night for a non-profit dedicated to bringing more engineers to NYC. Essentially Evan Korth and Chris Wiggins created an economic development corporation to support the Internet scene here and everybody turned up to donate money to create more interns for our startups.
- Meanwhile my 6th grader son is using google docs in school to do group work with his classmates, but nobody is teaching him to code even though a zillion articles like this one say he must.
There seems to be a massive disconnect between the tech industry and the rest of the world. SOPA is part of this. Media companies have been furious for years. Frankly, non-tech people have been confused, initimidated, resentful, angered and envious of the wealth creation that started with MSFT and has continue through Twitter. With the exception of Hedge Funds, nobody has made more money so quickly and easily.
BETABEAT just published a list of the 20 most poachable executives and most of these non-founders were making 200k plus. The industry sometimes feels like the only one we have awash in capital and open to experimentation. Most normal Americans are grinding it out in a tough economy but @arrington and Kleiner Perkins are investing in high end time share plays.
Something feels Delilloesque to me. It’s like things are slipping away a bit.
That said, here’s some good news. I’m sending my kids to codecademy to preserve their futures. At least somebody is spending time hacking education instead of that brutal problem that so much of the world faces: renting the right mansion in Cabo or Gstaad.
Priceless
How I’m working on my film
I’m getting ready to launch my Kickstarter campaign for the Aaron Cohens. This morning, I realized I spend very little time sharing what has influenced me during the writing and production process. So here are a handful of creative products that are influencing me.
- Before I was 20, 4 films had a huge influence on how my sense of humor developed. You should check them all out: Annie Hall, This is Spinal Tap, and Sherman’s March, and Swimming to Cambodia.
- Here are some others worth considering as well as they pop into my mind: Manhattan, Better off Dead, Delirious, Raw, Life of Brian. Richard Lewis concerts.
- Philip Roth — in particular The CounterLife.
- I go the movies some mostly to watch cinematography. Lately I’ve loved Tree of Life and Tower Heist.
- I listen to a huge number of Podcasts. I’m working my way through WTF by the very talented comedy nerd, historian and comic Marc Maron. In particular, I’ve been blown away by Andrew Dice Clay, Norm MacDonald, Chris Rock, Judd Apatow, and Richard Lewis. Long way to go though. I’m learning a lot about the comedy craft. See all the stuff here.
- Aaron Cohens influence me a lot. In particular, I work closely with AFC and Chris.
- Kickstarter has broadly influenced me. I don’t support as many projects as I would like, but probably up to about 6 or 8.
- I think this writer Jonathan Tropper is pretty smart. You should check him out.
I’ll add more to list as it evolves.
Emptyage: Generation X Doesn't Want to Hear It
Earlier generations have weathered recessions, of course; this stall we’re in has the look of something nastier. Social Security and Medicare are going to be diminished, at best. Hours worked are up even as hiring staggers along: Blood from a stone looks to be the normal order of things “going…
(Source: New York Magazine)
