Geeky Chic

My mom just woke me up because I promised to judge a Lion’s Club speech
contest on her behalf.  My eyes are plastered shut and I don’t have my voice right now (“Throat, ow…),
and I’ve got 20 minutes now to leave the apartment to make it on
time.  I’m going to be somnambulant throughout the event.  But
this isn’t the thing that has me thinking right now….

10 years ago, I came in second
in this same speech contest to this kid from the local Jesuit high
school.  He was definitely more eloquent, so it was a fair
loss.  He was in my BarBri class last summer, and also ended up
devoting his crunch time days to studying at the UCSF library. 
Each time he went out of a smoke break though, I couldn’t help
remembering that loss, and thought that coming back here meant that my life
(and my career) was (were) an extension of high school.  Now, he’s a
prosecutor over in one of the suburban Bay Area counties, which means
in 20 or so years, he’ll likely be a judge, which again, will make me
slightly envious.  Oh, well, this is how you make big firm SF lawyers envious.

And just to prove that the regression to high school is complete, this is what my Rowerr teachers are up to now (yes, this what my alumni donations are funding.).

Doesn’t this sound like a dream combination, Spike Jonze is directing Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are,
based on Dave Eggers’s adaptation?  (As I type this, Finch says,
“Sounds like a crap combination, actually.”)  So, it’s either going
to be really good, or suck royally.

I’m primarily familiar with Thomas De Zengotita from his contributions to Harper’s Magazine.  Salon conducted an interview with him about his new book,  Mediated,
which I will likely pick up in a few weeks (I think that his central
argument is that we live in a world where everything we do is
performative; every act is full of self-consciousness).  I found
this particular question and answer interesting:

Well, you decide.
That’s your demographic. But of course “deciding” is the problem
itself! Pretty soon, you’ll come to a point and say, “I can’t take this
any more,” living like a piece of flotsam, floating around in a sea of
options, and you’ll get married, or make some other commitment. Even
though it feels arbitrary, you’ll get scared enough to do it. Because
you’ll realize that nothing’s going to happen to do it for you or to
you. No puberty, no ritual moment when all the elders of the tribe
gather around you and slice your penis up the middle or something like
that to convince you that you’ve grown up. You just have to do it
yourself. Grow up, I mean.

But I’m convinced that these Gucci Ice Trays take consumer wh0red0m to next level.

BTW, here’s the limited edition 2005 LV Haircube that’s more expensive than most pairs of designer shoes.

And stop your infringing, “Happy Birthday” singing ways.