{"id":3323,"date":"2009-01-30T05:00:15","date_gmt":"2009-01-30T10:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=3323"},"modified":"2009-01-29T21:12:46","modified_gmt":"2009-01-30T02:12:46","slug":"unrequired-reading-jan-30-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-jan-30-2009","title":{"rendered":"Unrequired Reading: Jan. 30, 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Why work? Read a bunch of links today instead!<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->DeShawn Stevenson: 450 on his SATs, sex with a drunken 14-year-old girl, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2009\/01\/24\/AR2009012401784.html \" target=\"_blank\">the most messed-up &#8220;meet your dad&#8221; moment ever<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/id\/2209818\" target=\"_blank\">Karaoke rampage<\/a> continues!<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p>As does <a href=\"http:\/\/vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com\/2009\/01\/yunnipocalypse-now.html\" target=\"_blank\">Yunnipocalypse<\/a>? (that&#8217;s Young Urban Narcissists, in case you&#8217;re wondering)<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p>Motown and the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.popmatters.com\/pm\/feature\/69384-manufacturing-motown\/ \" target=\"_blank\"> evolution of industrial manufacturing practices<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p>Evidently, the FDA needs to warn people <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fda.gov\/bbs\/topics\/NEWS\/2009\/NEW01950.html\" target=\"_blank\">not to take a substance called Venom<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p>a) Because they&#8217;re cretins<\/p>\n<p>b) Because they&#8217;re shitty writers<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.observer.com\/2009\/media\/why-do-young-male-writers-love-icky-tough-guy-deadbeats\" target=\"_blank\">c) Both of the Above<\/a><\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.observer.com\/2009\/o2\/gays-go-ga-ga-over-andrea-mitchell \" target=\"_blank\">Andrea Mitchell<\/a>: &#8220;She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the Golden Girls rolled into one: the body of Sophia, the sassiness of Dorothy and probably a sex kitten like Blanche, and most likely from the Midwest, like Rose.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p>All you need to know about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cracked.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/cracked-article.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">House<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why work? Read a bunch of links today instead!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,27,4,32,19],"tags":[538,536],"class_list":["post-3323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-basketball","category-big-business","category-literature","category-sports","category-urban-issues","tag-andrea-mitchell","tag-deshawn-stevenson"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-RB","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6022,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-may-not","url_meta":{"origin":3323,"position":0},"title":"Unrequired Reading: May not","author":"Gil","date":"June 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Just another honkin' load of links, courtesy of my Twitter feed at twitter.com\/groth18! RT @kylevanblerk (Kyle VanBlerk): Awesome people hanging out together. Early contender for Tumblr of the day. * * * RT @neilhimself (Neil Gaiman): Remembering Douglas Adams in the Guardian. So odd to realise I'm now older than\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Architecture&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004ZM10OE","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1022,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/the-music-of-the-spheres","url_meta":{"origin":3323,"position":1},"title":"The Music of the Spheres","author":"Gil","date":"July 11, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Sorry to be out of touch, dear readers. I was busy finishing up the last stages of the Top Companies issue, plus dealing with our annual conference. For some reason, whenever I finish up this issue, I get sorta down. Maybe all that writing and research leaves me drained, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Religion&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16428,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-563-phillip-lopate","url_meta":{"origin":3323,"position":2},"title":"Episode 563 &#8211; Phillip Lopate","author":"Gil","date":"November 14, 2023","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 563: Phillip Lopate \"I had a snobbish contempt for blogs, but just because I had a contempt for it, I thought perversely, 'Maybe I can appropriate it and push it in a different direction.'\" With his new collection, A YEAR AND A DAY: AN EXPERIMENT IN ESSAYS\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/lopate2023comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C741&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/lopate2023comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C741&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/lopate2023comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C741&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/lopate2023comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C741&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/lopate2023comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C741&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1256,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-dec-22-2006","url_meta":{"origin":3323,"position":3},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Dec. 22, 2006","author":"Gil","date":"December 22, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"It's a short Unrequired Reading session this week, since I'm still getting over the year-end issue blowout, and I'm trying to take it easy during this little\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0holiday trip to Louisiana. Here's a neat interview with William T. Bogart on redefining sprawl and tossing out \"planning\": Why is it that we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Architecture&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1420,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/lala","url_meta":{"origin":3323,"position":4},"title":"Lala","author":"Gil","date":"March 31, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Speaking of world-building and cities (see previous post), I was oddly compelled by this Go Fug Yourself post. It wasn't just because of the insane fashion choices of its subject (which are great), but because it discusses a phenomenon that's wholly intrinsic to Los Angeles, a city I've managed never\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;travel&quot;","block_context":{"text":"travel","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/travel"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4003,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/nwh","url_meta":{"origin":3323,"position":5},"title":"N.W.H.","author":"Gil","date":"June 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I bought a brown fedora at Arnold's Hats \u00e2\u20ac\u201d in the location across from the Port Authority \u00e2\u20ac\u201d about 10 or 11 years ago, so I'm kinda sad that they're closing down. Based on the Wall of Fame in that store, I was pretty sure I was the first white\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Urban issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Urban issues","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/urban-issues"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/bertenernie.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3323"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3325,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3323\/revisions\/3325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}