Picture Perfect

My coworker Scotty Karate has this picture set as his desktop background. It's perfectly positioned for me to stare at over the notice board of my desk. I love the picture. It's like a little piece of heaven.

Better Made in Detroit

I love Better Made potato chips. The traditional chips are light, crispy and mouth watering while the BBQ chips use a fantastic balance of sugar and spice. After looking into their history, it's pretty amazing that Better Made set up shop in Detroit during The Great Depression and has remained successful for 80 years.

Their site offers a quick glace at the Better Made plant on Gratiot, highlighting a 7 minute "Bin to Bag" packaging process, as well as a pretty diverse recipe section which features creative ways to cook with Better Made chips. Delicious!

A Must Read

Recommended by Julie, and further by myself, Gang Leader for a Day is a must read. This true story takes place in the Chicago Projects during the height of the Chicago gang era. Author Sudir Venkatesh details the ins and outs of life as a gang leader in the Black Kings, corner squatter, ruthless project leader, street hustler and average resident of the city's solution to mass housing. If you read Freakononmic, then you've experienced an excerpt. But, the whole story paints the best picture. I can't stop thinking about it! I felt like I was reading "True Life: I live The Wire".

Lessons on Vinyl

The very fancy and talented Ben Blackwell has a great article featured in Collectors Weekly this month. I enjoyed a mini science lesson on how vinyl records are made followed by the fantastic pic of Ben on his analog banana phone. Thanks for the smile!

Circles & Squares

The term L7 Weenie reminds me of The Sandlot. You know, when Squints is describing Smalls, "Come on, Benny. Man. The kid is a... L7 weenie!". But, it's ironic that with time the term evolved from a compliment to a slang insult. When referring to a person, a Square originally meant someone who was honest, traditional and loyal. An agreement that is equitable on all sides is a "square deal".

American culture transformed the term from a compliment to an insult to an obsolete term. The Square shape reference is created by putting together an "L" made with the left thumb and index finger and a "7" made with the right thumb and index finger. Makes total sense.

Personality Check

I'm a fan of Seth Godin's writing. His blog post today is straight forward and accurate. Light enough to make you think and strong enough to make you change your path.

Exploration and the risk of failure

People seem to be in one of two categories:

* Those who seek stability, affiliation, work worth doing and the assurance it (whatever it is) will be okay.
* Those who explore, need to know that failure is an option and quest to make a dent in the universe.

You can be in either category, the world needs and rewards both. But pick a brand and a job and a posture that matches your category, or you'll fail, and be miserable until you do.

Hint: there is no category of: "does risky exploration, never fails."

Hampsterdam

The Wire is by far the best TV series to date. This video sums up the best 100 quotes throughout all 5 seasons. Watching it reminds my why I gave 60 solid hours of my life to such a great cause. And, for the record, I still don't believe that Snoop is a girl.

Long Island Lolita

I was too young to really remember the whole Amy Fisher saga when it hit the news but I did catch Casualties of Love: The "Long Island Lolita" Story on Lifetime. And, I feel like I'm a better person for watching it. I can't believe IMDB only gave it 4.1/10 stars. Round of applause to Alyssa Milano. Who knew that the former Who's The Boss child star would go on to play such a pivotal role in a historical masterpiece... then create her own sports fashion line?

Now, I'm just wondering how I missed the Amy Fisher Story staring Drew Barrymore?

Anyway. That whole crew is still finding a way to make a dollar. This store in The Daily Beast, makes Mary Jo Buttafuoco the normal ones in the situation. If anyone reads her book, let me know. I'd love a full report.

Detroit Tigers

Last night, Vic renamed the Detroit Tigers, "Miggy and the Minors" then "Miggy and the Mud Hens". The recent loss of Magglio Ordonez will make for a tough finish to the season. Detroit is faced with a 9 rookies on a 25-man roster. I've stopped counting the times that I've asked, "Who is that and where did they come from?".

So, what do we have to work with?

Austin Jackson, even though you're not really a rookie to us, please keep hitting over a .300 and making exceptional plays on the warning track.

Boesch, you proved early in the season to Detroit fans that rookies can play essential roles. Even though your momentum has slowed down, we're waiting with our fingers crossed that your lull ends and you're back to hitting grand slams.

Ryhmes and Worth - we don't really know you yet but feel free to step up and start making plays. If you play your cards right, you'll be a household name in no time. Promise.

Needless to say, the Detroit Tigers have an interesting second half ahead of them. However, looking back over the past couple years, I can't help but think... if we survived Todd Jones - we can overcome anything.

Hipsterrific

My coworker, who is annoyingly singing Morrissey songs right now in an attempt to make fun of The Smiths, sent over this Hipster breakdown. Surprisingly, it does a fantastic job of showing the both the fashion and emotional evolution that started with The Emo back in 2000. If I had to pick a persona, I'd probably be Miss 2005. I think the fur hat is fancy and she look genuinely happy on that teal Vespa. It will be interesting to see what 2010 holds - I'm guessing face tats, ipads and gladiator sandals.