manunderstress.com

freewheel brakeless is the new fixie..

What’s worse than a man-child? A child-man. The new face of the Republican party:

LOST finds its perfect mate in the interwebs, where it receives unlimited psychedelic analysis from user communities around the world with way too much time on their hands. The show itself however, is perhaps just a comedic play on apophenia:

Apophenia is the perception of patterns, or connections, where in fact none exist. Most psychologists agree that this condition exists in everyone, to some degree; it is a bias of the human mind.

I’m a big fan of online chat vs. telephone when it comes to dealing with account shit. Here I try and get the bank to drop some overdrafts, having some good fun with it. This dude was hilarious.

Parker: After reviewing your account, I see that your account was assessed with the overdraft fee correctly and no banking error occured.
You: true, there were several overdrafts. i am asking that perhaps you can find a soft spot in your heart and remove some of them since I am a long standing customer.
Parker: Your satisfaction is of highest priority for me. I am trying my best to help you resolve this issue.
You: thanks. i made a mistake and i am sorry for it.
Parker: I will give you my honest best efforts realizing your situation and considering your valued relationship with us.
Parker: I understand you, however it is my job to trust my system and allow a refund only for a banking error, however as a human it is also my responsibility to help you.
Parker: After reviewing your account history and valued relationship with Bank of America, I am able to refund $70.00 as Courtesy.
You: thanks for being a human and helping the humans over the machines.
Parker: I seriously imagined myself in your place and trusted you, also I expect you would place yourself in my place and realize that it’s not easy to make a refund if the bank does not authorize it.
You: your empathy is outstanding. it is true, refunds must be difficult, since the banks made some bad bets and certainly need all the
money they can get.
Parker: Yes, and I found you a very nice human being Charles.
Parker: Also, I expect you would not overdraw your account in future.
You: but i am confident that our government will bail them out with taxpayer money and save us all
You: i will not make this mistake again. i have learned my lesson, Parker. already i am punished for it.
Parker: Definitely! We all would be happy and back where we were 2 years ago.
Parker: I have submitted the request for the fee refund and the same you will be able to view under the pending section, once you refresh your account.
Parker: I hope I was quick?
You: thanks. you were great. the best ever. faster than a machine.
Parker: You’re welcome. I was happy to help you.
Parker: Have a great day ahead. I am sure it is going to be bright day for you and I hope it gets brighter for you everyday.
Parker: Thank you for being a wonderful customer and giving me an opportunity to assist you. I hope I again get a chance to assist you in future !

Happy Ash Wednesday. Money quote, “You don’t perform black metal if you are not a warrior.” And dig the complete 2 minutes of awkward black metal affected silence at the end. -Hugs, Satan.

This is a must see. A stark and minimal vampire “coming of age” classic. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen a better vampire film, and even without regard for genre it would rank in my top 20 movies of all time. The horror is subtle, Japanese style. Much is left to the imagination. But there are two scenes in particular that put it on par with films as visually creative as The Exorcist. A+ and favorite film of 2008. It’s playing at the Plaza in the ATL now.

My latest waste of time obsession is creating ecards on someecards.com. I had no idea that you could design your own. Good fun.

Perhaps there is no getting around pork when it comes to a good redistribution of wealth sandwich.

When congressional leaders began to assemble the mammoth economic stimulus bill, top Democrats and the Obama administration decided that there would be no earmarks: no “special projects,” no pork-barrel spending. In so doing, they gave up some control over how the money is spent, leaving the decision to public servants around the country.

“Someone has to decide how money gets spent. It’s either going to be Congress or the executive branch or states or municipalities,” says Fred Wertheimer of the congressional watchdog group Democracy 21.

Local crime youtube voyeurism is becoming a favourite pastime of mine.