Wednesday, April 7, 2010

There really is nothing worse than..

..waking up at 7am to your intestines in upheaval and having to spend the next few hours violently spewing forth from every orifice. Yup, nothing quite like the sight and smell of red vomit and burning hot liquid pouring out of your ass. Not. fucking. cool. Fucking sucked! I don't know what it was but I'm never eating it again! In any case, that was what I'd been up to since early yesterday morning..

The fucked up thing is I called in sick half thinking I could get something done with the time off and possibly even enjoy the lovely weather outside later on. As opposed to not setting foot outside once along with shitting and sleeping nearly the entire time. Not to mention my asshole feeling like a giant throbbing cold sore that got a peppercorn stuck in it for fucks sake! I could barely even muster the effort to reply any emails much less do something productive. What a fucking waste of a day. It was so wicked nice out yesterday and it's even nicer out today! Oh well, with any luck I'll get my diseased ass out there tomorrow..

As if to add insult to injury, a friend sent me this video from Mission Workshop about their new Vandal Cargo Backpack..

That backpack commercial has so many ironic hipster things going on in it you can't even start a list you're so flabbergasted by it all. Which was the intention behind it I'm sure.. Well, I'd at least like to think so anyways.. more like I hope.. Having said that the bag def looks like a great product! I just know for a fact that I would never use something like that to it's full potential. I'd rather build something like this for myself. But that's just me..

I think the thing that still manages to blow me away is just how far reaching the whole DIY digital media and interwebz has proliferated in the last few years. Just about any mofo out there with a semi decent camera and computer can make a really nice video or whatever for what they're trying to sell and or show off. The problem with that of course is that like 90% of the people engaged in that activity have absolutely NO IDEA as to what they're doing or a proper education in that field- AWESOME! While I totally dig the idea of people being able to make great looking and relatively well put together videos etc on a shoe string budget, it also kind of scares the living shit out of me. Just think Fall Out Boy and you'll know EXACTLY what I'm talking about..

The major problem with having the ability to wield such great power comes a certain amount responsibility to which no one really seems to take into account. A lot of these videos and commercials hit a lot of kids way harder than the makers of said videos may have intended in the first place. The part that scares me most is that they leave out a lot of the realities of the situations the people are in. Like, you may think it's really rad to fly down a busy street on a fixie doing wheelies with an awesome backpack full of yummy food and beer. However the reality of the situation is that having 50lbs of shit on your back while riding a 20lbs bicycle with no helmet on is FUCKING DANGEROUS to say the least. Esp if your narrow ass only weights 120lbs in the first place! Imagine someone tossing an anchor off a boat that's attached to your back..

The main thing I've noticed and is a really good reason why I rarely post any videos on here at all is that with the exception of a small few, almost every video I see is severely lacking in any and all substance. There's just nothing going on in the video worth taking note of. I mean, really special and worth all the time and effort put into producing and publicizing said video. Unless you truly impress me (or send me free shit to review :D ), I'm not going to bother wasting my readers time with it. To me it's more about quality than quantity and content over process. Those are the things I look for and care about most. While it's not necessarily about winning or being the very bestest, it's a genuine strive for excellence that I feel deserves the most reward..

We're living in a time where big corporations and advertising is no longer necessary to sell products or a lifestyle and help push the boundries of whatever trivial thing we're into at the moment instead of being concerned with the more important and larger issues at hand. It's like, okay, if I'm going to feel guilty about being more concerned about something I'm into rather than like, people dying or suffering from WTF ever, it had better be something really good you know? Something well built that'll last a really long time and is totally worth the $200+ price tag..

Don't get me wrong folks, I'm totally behind everyone that makes a concerted effort to do their own thing, make and sell their own quality hand made products. Every. single. person. who does this and supports those people and their companies, help to steer things in a more positive direction and away from the proliferation of larger corporations who just put out genuinely shitty products made in overseas sweat shops. I guess a big part of me just wishes I could be more apathetic and enjoy things for what they are instead of the ambivalence I'm constantly overwhelmed with as my face falls into the palms of my hands within the first 5 seconds of seeing right through just about everything. In other words I'm just jealous and a complete asshole. Oh well!

In any case, I would like to see Mission Workshop keep up the good work with their products and well put together videos. Just try and tone down the fixie gheyness a little bit wouldjaplz?

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5 comments:

Cort said...

Though backpacks distribute weight better than a messenger bag, after years of riding with a +/- 15lbs messenger bag (shoes, lunch, lock, tools, misc.) it's my opinion that it is better to carry it on the bike than on your back. I use a BOB trailer for my grocery runs and hauling shit to the bike co-op. I recently put a rear rack and trunk bag on my bike for day to day stuff and my back has never been better.

Anonymous said...

tecate? fuck that! PBR! while that bag offers some convenience to someone, i can't imagine carrying that much weight on my back and creating such a high level of gravity. i'm guessing that bag probably costs almost as much as a decent set of panniers and a rack. panniers FTW!

Rob said...

...they also never show how annoying it is to undo all those zippers and straps to get your lock out once it's all tucked in. He'd rather risk a walk home than dig out his big fancy yellow lock!

jerm said...

oh damn... you got the intestinal evil that ruined a good 2-3 days for alot of people out here on the left coast. fucking sickest i've been in like 20 years...

chris said...

Damn Alan!! That shit (literally) sounds awful. On the bright side (for me) that cold soar/peppercorn reference had me crying with laughter!!