Let us consider the “man crush.” According to the website Urban Dictionary, it refers to “a man having extreme admiration for another man, as though he wants to be him.”
Next, let us consider Matthew McConaughey.
I've concluded that I am fascinated with Matthew McConaughey because he is the complete opposite of me. He is handsome, rich, popular and beloved. He makes doing his job look effortless always — he never looks like he's trying to be someone he's not, even though that actually is his job.
I think, and I worry, and, frankly, it's gotten me nowhere. If 7-Up is the un-cola, he is the un-me. He is a tall, muscular Gentile. I don't know if he named his son Levi because of the Bible or because of the jeans, and I appreciate that it could go either way.
The first time I realized that there was something special about McConaughey — that he was no ordinary heartthrob like Antonio Sabato or and Josh Hartnett — was when he made an appearance on “The Daily Show” in 2001. His interview aired in two parts because… well, I'll let the show's website describe what happened:
1. “Jon Stewart shows the pt. 1 of his interview with Matthew McConaughey in which they discuss ‘getting ready' and emus.”
2. “Matthew McConaughey tells and acts out a nasty story about goat sex.”
The man represents the good life, ala Jimmy Buffett. His production company is called J.K. Livin. This is short for “Just Keep Livin',” which is his personal motto. Who has a personal motto? That's adorable!
I don't care much for his action movies. Anyone can do that. I don't want to be Harrison Ford — I'm already grumpy. Chuck Norris? We already know what Chuck Norris can do.
No, I love that McConaughey has carved out his own subgenre of romantic comedies. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, The Wedding Planner, Failure to Launch, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past — his rom-coms seem to be parts of a series, like his own private Bridget Jones. We know that he will play a charming cad who will refuse to grow up — until the end. He will charm parents and children, though he might smoke too much weed, and he will want to spend more time with his bros than with his chick. Christopher Guest might be better known for his unscripted comedies, but I can't imagine McConaughey sticking to anyone else's screenplay, either.
Also, I love that he spent some of his own money to finance a movie called Surfer, Dude, about a “longboarding soul-surfer… (who) returns to Malibu for the summer to find his cool hometown vibe corrupted.”
What happens next, Matt? “He must endure the insanity that comes with no waves or give into ‘The Man.'”
I've always had unpopular opinions about actors. Before McConaughey, I had Burt Reynolds. Burt, though, is much older. Once, I admired Burt for his effortless charm, quick wit and light touch with the ladies. It became too hard to cheer Burt on, though, especially when he does things like pass out in a pool of his own blood after a prescription drug overdose made him fall over and crack his head open. Matthew McConaughey would never find himself in that position — at worst, too many Coronas might make him miss some killer waves.
I can still remember telling a woman in 1996 that my favorite actors were Burt Reynolds and Don Johnson. She laughed at me. A year later, Burt was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Boogie Nights. (Okay, so Don Johnson never lived up to his potential.)
That's the other thing I enjoy about following McConaughey's career — he's 40 now, and I still can't tell if he'll one day be seen as the next Paul Newman. While I spend way too much time thinking about it, Matthew McConaughey just keeps livin'.
c. 2009 Velocity Weekly
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
The Brainy Bunch
Our resident pop-culture guru Peter Berkowitz offers up his ideas about the 2009 Idea Fest lineup:
I live in Louisville because unpredictable events happen here. One is the emergence and evolution of Idea Fest, a four-day celebration of big ideas, new ideas, weird ideas and (hopefully) helpful ideas that might make this world a better place. Or, failing that, a world in which physicists and mathematicians are treated like rock stars.
Given that the concept of an "idea" is a broad one, you can expect to see everything from child prodigies to elder statesmen, cooks to journalists and business executives to farmers.
If that's not impressive enough already, just tell yourself that you're cooler than those nerds, and that smart people get awful lonely 'cause they can't get chicks.
Julian Beever
Remember that time when you saw a crazy story about a European dude who draws 3-dimensional images on the sidewalk which look real but aren't actually, let's say, giant manholes, and you were all, "Woah!"? He's that guy.
Tiffany Shlain
A filmmaker whose very serious new film, Connected: A Declaration of Interdependence, is about being connected and a new dawn and a new era and... I don't know. At least Katherine Heigel isn't in it.
Kjerstin Erickson
My favorite people who appear at this fest are the ones like Erickson, who, at 26, have done more than I will ever do. Her organization works with African refugees. Just like Bono, but in much less annoying fashion.
Kembrew McLeod
The IF speaker whose name sounds most like a starter for the 1974 New York Nets, he's actually an media studies professor from Iowa. Huh. Okay, but he's talking about hip-hop and copyright issues, so that's pretty street, especially for Iowa.
Bert Hoelldobler
This German myrmecologist's topic, "The Superorganism," isn't what you thought it was if you read that too quickly. And no, I don't know what he does. Why do I have to do all the Googling in this relationship? According to the IF website, he is a past winner of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. So there's that.
Leslie Lyons
The photographer, known locally for her "I Live in Louisville" website, will be talking about the impact of T-shirts in our culture. She takes pictures of "real people," not models, which is why she's an artist and not rich.
Bob Berman
The thing about being the most beloved astronomy guy means that you mean a lot to people who obsess over astronomy, but very little to 97 percent of the human race. (Kind of like being the most famous writer for your local newspaper).
Daniel Roth
His ideas about how harsh economic realities can lead to bold new ideas is probably a year or two ahead of its time, but hey, any port in a storm.
Chris Turney
The topic is climate change. Go to this either to be terrified, or to yell right-wing taunts at him. Something for everyone.
A. J. Jacobs
You know that guy who wrote that Esquire magazine piece about spending a year reading the dictionary? That guy. (Actually, it was the Encyclopedia Britannica. Whatever.)
Ahn Trio
A song of theirs was used on So You Think You Can Dance. That's the classical music equivalent of saying that my mom knows who Kate Capshaw is because she married Steven Spielberg.
Moira Gunn
The host of NPR's Tech Nation will explain why my parents can't work their cell phone, and how the robots will enslave us all by the year 2020.
Daan Roosegaarde
From the Netherlands - as you might guessed - a discussion about architecture in the modern era. You people with ideas are really into how things affect us today, aren't you?
Marc Yu
A ten-year-old master pianist is great and all, but I bet he doesn't even have a clothing line or a reality show yet.
John McPherson
I clearly don't need to attend a lecture on the power of humor... even if his comic, Close to Home, is in 700 papers and I'm writing about... him. Maybe I can learn something after all.
Paul Osterlund
The former Intel exec now leads the Abundance Farming Project. If I had lots of money, I'd totally do noble things, too. Who needs a palace in the south of France, anyway?
Kulapat Yantrasast
The co-founder of wHY Architecture, which is renovating our Speed Museum, has a name that would be good for a British psychedelic band, which has nothing to do with what we're talking about here, but interesting nonetheless.
Anthony Bourdain
The chef, writer and host of the Travel Channel's No Reservations is many home cook's guide to a world of gastro wonders, with an endless curiosity and the attitude of an old New Yorker rocker.
Will Allen
An "urban farmer", Allen is the CEO of Growing Power, which has some good ideas about distributing healthy food. He even won a MacArthur genius grant. Someone needs to ask him why it's still so hard to find any healthy food in most urban neighborhoods.
Marjorie Garber
The Harvard professor's book, Shakespeare and Modern Culture, addresses the subtle genius behind modern interpretations of the Bard. I desperately want to know what she thinks of the movie 10 Things I Hate About You.
Po Chi Wu
If you want to be reminded that China is and will continue to kick our ass during this century, come listen to him explain why. Maybe he'll feel sorry for you and hand out $100 bills, just because he can.
Dana Canedy
Canedy is a senior editor for The New York Times, which means that I will never work for her. The Radcliff, Ky. native will discuss her memoir, A Journal for Jordan, about losing a loved one to war.
Naomi Tutu
Bishop Desmond Tutu's daughter will talk about human rights, violence against women and how much fun it is to be named "Tutu".
Daniel Jones
The co-founder of Louisville's 21st Century Parks program discusses green living and his vision for a future in which... I dunno, new trees will be made out of old tires and all litterers will be executed? I hope so, that would be awesome!
Lee Dugatkin
The U of L biology prof returns to discuss his new book, Mr. Jefferson and the Giant Moose, which is about "the evolution of goodness." Which sounds plausible until you realize that his book will sell 2 million fewer copies than Ann Coulter's last one.
Dr. Richard Kogan
Also returning with a new idea, the piano playin' psychiatrist will play some Tchaikovsky while exploring the relationship between "creative" and "batspit crazy". (Spoiler alert: what gets you arrested at the office supply store can also lead to some fresh tunes).
c. 2009 Velocity Weekly
I live in Louisville because unpredictable events happen here. One is the emergence and evolution of Idea Fest, a four-day celebration of big ideas, new ideas, weird ideas and (hopefully) helpful ideas that might make this world a better place. Or, failing that, a world in which physicists and mathematicians are treated like rock stars.
Given that the concept of an "idea" is a broad one, you can expect to see everything from child prodigies to elder statesmen, cooks to journalists and business executives to farmers.
If that's not impressive enough already, just tell yourself that you're cooler than those nerds, and that smart people get awful lonely 'cause they can't get chicks.
Julian Beever
Remember that time when you saw a crazy story about a European dude who draws 3-dimensional images on the sidewalk which look real but aren't actually, let's say, giant manholes, and you were all, "Woah!"? He's that guy.
Tiffany Shlain
A filmmaker whose very serious new film, Connected: A Declaration of Interdependence, is about being connected and a new dawn and a new era and... I don't know. At least Katherine Heigel isn't in it.
Kjerstin Erickson
My favorite people who appear at this fest are the ones like Erickson, who, at 26, have done more than I will ever do. Her organization works with African refugees. Just like Bono, but in much less annoying fashion.
Kembrew McLeod
The IF speaker whose name sounds most like a starter for the 1974 New York Nets, he's actually an media studies professor from Iowa. Huh. Okay, but he's talking about hip-hop and copyright issues, so that's pretty street, especially for Iowa.
Bert Hoelldobler
This German myrmecologist's topic, "The Superorganism," isn't what you thought it was if you read that too quickly. And no, I don't know what he does. Why do I have to do all the Googling in this relationship? According to the IF website, he is a past winner of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. So there's that.
Leslie Lyons
The photographer, known locally for her "I Live in Louisville" website, will be talking about the impact of T-shirts in our culture. She takes pictures of "real people," not models, which is why she's an artist and not rich.
Bob Berman
The thing about being the most beloved astronomy guy means that you mean a lot to people who obsess over astronomy, but very little to 97 percent of the human race. (Kind of like being the most famous writer for your local newspaper).
Daniel Roth
His ideas about how harsh economic realities can lead to bold new ideas is probably a year or two ahead of its time, but hey, any port in a storm.
Chris Turney
The topic is climate change. Go to this either to be terrified, or to yell right-wing taunts at him. Something for everyone.
A. J. Jacobs
You know that guy who wrote that Esquire magazine piece about spending a year reading the dictionary? That guy. (Actually, it was the Encyclopedia Britannica. Whatever.)
Ahn Trio
A song of theirs was used on So You Think You Can Dance. That's the classical music equivalent of saying that my mom knows who Kate Capshaw is because she married Steven Spielberg.
Moira Gunn
The host of NPR's Tech Nation will explain why my parents can't work their cell phone, and how the robots will enslave us all by the year 2020.
Daan Roosegaarde
From the Netherlands - as you might guessed - a discussion about architecture in the modern era. You people with ideas are really into how things affect us today, aren't you?
Marc Yu
A ten-year-old master pianist is great and all, but I bet he doesn't even have a clothing line or a reality show yet.
John McPherson
I clearly don't need to attend a lecture on the power of humor... even if his comic, Close to Home, is in 700 papers and I'm writing about... him. Maybe I can learn something after all.
Paul Osterlund
The former Intel exec now leads the Abundance Farming Project. If I had lots of money, I'd totally do noble things, too. Who needs a palace in the south of France, anyway?
Kulapat Yantrasast
The co-founder of wHY Architecture, which is renovating our Speed Museum, has a name that would be good for a British psychedelic band, which has nothing to do with what we're talking about here, but interesting nonetheless.
Anthony Bourdain
The chef, writer and host of the Travel Channel's No Reservations is many home cook's guide to a world of gastro wonders, with an endless curiosity and the attitude of an old New Yorker rocker.
Will Allen
An "urban farmer", Allen is the CEO of Growing Power, which has some good ideas about distributing healthy food. He even won a MacArthur genius grant. Someone needs to ask him why it's still so hard to find any healthy food in most urban neighborhoods.
Marjorie Garber
The Harvard professor's book, Shakespeare and Modern Culture, addresses the subtle genius behind modern interpretations of the Bard. I desperately want to know what she thinks of the movie 10 Things I Hate About You.
Po Chi Wu
If you want to be reminded that China is and will continue to kick our ass during this century, come listen to him explain why. Maybe he'll feel sorry for you and hand out $100 bills, just because he can.
Dana Canedy
Canedy is a senior editor for The New York Times, which means that I will never work for her. The Radcliff, Ky. native will discuss her memoir, A Journal for Jordan, about losing a loved one to war.
Naomi Tutu
Bishop Desmond Tutu's daughter will talk about human rights, violence against women and how much fun it is to be named "Tutu".
Daniel Jones
The co-founder of Louisville's 21st Century Parks program discusses green living and his vision for a future in which... I dunno, new trees will be made out of old tires and all litterers will be executed? I hope so, that would be awesome!
Lee Dugatkin
The U of L biology prof returns to discuss his new book, Mr. Jefferson and the Giant Moose, which is about "the evolution of goodness." Which sounds plausible until you realize that his book will sell 2 million fewer copies than Ann Coulter's last one.
Dr. Richard Kogan
Also returning with a new idea, the piano playin' psychiatrist will play some Tchaikovsky while exploring the relationship between "creative" and "batspit crazy". (Spoiler alert: what gets you arrested at the office supply store can also lead to some fresh tunes).
c. 2009 Velocity Weekly
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Column #3: It's no sale for this bigoted businessman
It's hard not to notice a 60-year-old man with a white ponytail working at a shoe store. He's even harder to forget when he's pressing his phone number into your hand, urging you to call him directly next time you're looking for more Vans slip-ons.
Lester (not his real name) took an instant liking to me because he liked the Bob Seger concert T-shirt that I was wearing. He never asked my name, but immediately started rambling about the Rolling Stones in the early '70s, how the kids today don't know what good music is, etc.
Curiously un-self-conscious, Lester then began complaining about how, “These young people don't even know about Motown, even the…” He looked behind us at an African American clerk and gestured in her direction. “They only know about the rap. It's all noise with the screaming and the anger and all the…” He leaned in and whispered a curse word, as if, otherwise, I wouldn't have known that part of what's bad about rap is all the cursing.
It could've been worse. When the Aug. 4 flash flood overtook our street, it took my car with it. When the insurance company said that they'd send me a check, my sadness turned into sunny delight. Now, though, came the hard part: shopping for a used car.
At the first dealership we visited, in the East End, we saw a promising ride. After a few more trips across the county came up empty, we headed back to look at the first car again.
We took the promising car out on the road. The test drive was going along just fine for the first few minutes. I turned the radio on to my favorite station, Country Legends 103.9. I like most music, unless it's created by corporate pawns with silly names like Miley or Mraz. The salesman seemed glad to find common ground over our mutual enjoyment of country music, and told an overlong story about meeting George Jones.
Exchanging basic pleasantries isn't amongst the hardest chores one faces in life. From the age of 5 or so, we all get a lot of clues from society about how to talk to people we've only known for a half-hour. He was off to a fairly good start.
"Where do you all live?"
"Germantown."
"Oh, yeah? Bardstown Road?"
My wife confirmed this before I could clarify his error.
The next thing you want to say probably isn't what he said next: "I like it over there. There's a lot of good, wholesome white folks there."
To clarify his perspective, he added, "Yeah, I don't care much for darkies myself."
Though you might think that we should've immediately told him how hateful he was, we didn't. We both knew that there wasn't anything we could say to make him understand just how wrong we thought he was. We also both knew that behavior like that catches up to someone pretty quickly. And we both knew that I have the power of the press behind me, to tell this story.
When I admit to stereotyping, it's usually with generalizations such as the following: When I think of people in the East End, I usually don't assume that they might be blatant, unrepentant racists. I also usually forget that country music fans are thought of, by some, as racists.
I like country music, but I also like reggae, salsa and not being a racist.
We left, and found another car for $1,000 more on Dixie Highway. That salesman might have been a racist, too, but if he was, he didn't burden us with his ignorance.
I don't expect to find bigotry in a business where thousands of dollars can depend on personal relationships. Here's an example: I would not buy anything from a blatant, unrepentant racist. I do not care if such a person loses his job — in fact, I look forward to it.
c. 2009 Velocity Weekly
Lester (not his real name) took an instant liking to me because he liked the Bob Seger concert T-shirt that I was wearing. He never asked my name, but immediately started rambling about the Rolling Stones in the early '70s, how the kids today don't know what good music is, etc.
Curiously un-self-conscious, Lester then began complaining about how, “These young people don't even know about Motown, even the…” He looked behind us at an African American clerk and gestured in her direction. “They only know about the rap. It's all noise with the screaming and the anger and all the…” He leaned in and whispered a curse word, as if, otherwise, I wouldn't have known that part of what's bad about rap is all the cursing.
It could've been worse. When the Aug. 4 flash flood overtook our street, it took my car with it. When the insurance company said that they'd send me a check, my sadness turned into sunny delight. Now, though, came the hard part: shopping for a used car.
At the first dealership we visited, in the East End, we saw a promising ride. After a few more trips across the county came up empty, we headed back to look at the first car again.
We took the promising car out on the road. The test drive was going along just fine for the first few minutes. I turned the radio on to my favorite station, Country Legends 103.9. I like most music, unless it's created by corporate pawns with silly names like Miley or Mraz. The salesman seemed glad to find common ground over our mutual enjoyment of country music, and told an overlong story about meeting George Jones.
Exchanging basic pleasantries isn't amongst the hardest chores one faces in life. From the age of 5 or so, we all get a lot of clues from society about how to talk to people we've only known for a half-hour. He was off to a fairly good start.
"Where do you all live?"
"Germantown."
"Oh, yeah? Bardstown Road?"
My wife confirmed this before I could clarify his error.
The next thing you want to say probably isn't what he said next: "I like it over there. There's a lot of good, wholesome white folks there."
To clarify his perspective, he added, "Yeah, I don't care much for darkies myself."
Though you might think that we should've immediately told him how hateful he was, we didn't. We both knew that there wasn't anything we could say to make him understand just how wrong we thought he was. We also both knew that behavior like that catches up to someone pretty quickly. And we both knew that I have the power of the press behind me, to tell this story.
When I admit to stereotyping, it's usually with generalizations such as the following: When I think of people in the East End, I usually don't assume that they might be blatant, unrepentant racists. I also usually forget that country music fans are thought of, by some, as racists.
I like country music, but I also like reggae, salsa and not being a racist.
We left, and found another car for $1,000 more on Dixie Highway. That salesman might have been a racist, too, but if he was, he didn't burden us with his ignorance.
I don't expect to find bigotry in a business where thousands of dollars can depend on personal relationships. Here's an example: I would not buy anything from a blatant, unrepentant racist. I do not care if such a person loses his job — in fact, I look forward to it.
c. 2009 Velocity Weekly
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