TKTKTKTKTKTKTKT.
(Will link and flesh out argument once the article is live on NYT.com,)
God, is there anything more trite than being anti-New Year’s resolutions? Being anti-prediction comes in a close second.
If nothing else, resolutions make for a good way of measuring your frame of mind at a given time. For example, for 2009 I resolved to read all of Human Action. I didn’t do it, but as a reflection of where my mind was at in late 2008 — during the worst of the financial crisis — it makes for an interesting mile-marker.
So, blah blah blah, here are my resolutions:
Fashism, a social shopping site and mobile application, has gained a following for letting its users get instantaneous feedback from fellow fashionistas on ensembles and clothing items they want to purchase.
On Friday, the New York-based company announced it came into a little cash to help fuel the company. Fashism, which has been self-funded until now, raised around $1 million in a Series A round of venture financing.
For the funding, however, the company sought out investors beyond the traditional financier circuit.
Ashton Kutcher, a well-known actor and former model who has gained credibility in the technology community for his social media mastery and keen investments, led the round for the start-up.
His wife, actress Demi Moore along with fashion critic and Project Runway judge Nina Garcia, also participated. Highline Venture Partners and SV Angel, managed by noted Silicon Valley investor Ron Conway, also contributed to the funding.
We are totally honored and thrilled to have not only a great group of investors, but a kick-ass team and community full of Fashists! Thanks to everyone for all the support!
Fuck yeah!
The Fashism iPhone app is now available in the iTunes store!
* Vote on the latest looks right from your phone
* Upload your look and get instant feedback on the go
(This invite I posted on Facebook, but since my goal is to have a party big enough where we order everything on the menu, I’m trying to go multi-platform. Besides, I have plenty of friends (or quasi-friends, anyway) who I’m not Facebook friends with. Just email me if you’re gonna come. Seriously, show up.)
When: September 2, 2010. 7:00 7 PM ET
Where: Grand Sichuan on Canal St.
What: I’m not inclined to throw a huge party for myself, but I am inclined to eat Chinese food at any opportunity I get, and I only turn 30 once, so… I’m trying to get everyone to come eat Chinese food with me. Ideally, we’ll order like a million things off the menu and try everything, and it’ll rule.
And then afterwords we’ll go Karaoking somewhere, and I’ll do some Social Distortion and Cheap Trick and maybe some Hank Williams. (And you can do whatever you want).
And then when it’s all over I’ll just head to my office and start cranking on the early market stuff. (That’s how I roll)
If you’re not on the list, don’t worry, come anyway (your omission was an accident).
And if you are on the invite list, and we’re not actually that good friends, don’t be weirded out or anything. I’m taking a more-is-better approach.
Seriously, unless you’re on vacation you just gotta come, because it’s rare that I go out, and once I’m post-30, I’ll probably go out 1/10th as often, and I’ll seriously never see you. And I never see you as it is.
I’m taking the day off celebrating my 4th anniversary, but Brooke’s on the phone, so I’m playing a few games of online chess…
Anyway, I happened into this position, and I really like it, because it represents my favorite type of chess game, which is asymmetrical unbalanced.
By that I mean, both my opponent and I have very different types of advantages. He has a tiny material advantage (He has 2 rooks, 1 bishop vs. my 1 rook, 1 bishop, and 2 extra pawns), and in exchange I clearly have a better pawn position. His pawns are disconnected like “grandma’s teeth” whereas mine are nice and linked, and on E7 I have a passed pawn (which means that he has no pawn either directly in front of it, or on either of the files right next to it, potentially blocking it).
These types of asymmetrical games tend to be the most rambunctious and unpredictable, and I’ll try to get into them everytime if I can.
(FWIW, I ended up winning the game on time, though that passed pawn I mentioned earlier proved to be crucial later on, and would have given me the win sans-time constraints. As the great Aron Nimzowitsch once said, in what is arguably one of the greatest quotes of all time: “A passed pawn is a criminal which should be kept under lock and key. Mild measures, such as police surveillance, are not sufficient.”)
Me & the half pig-head I shared with Frommer at Fatty Cue last night.
Second time I’ve had it. It really is as delicious as it looks.
I really, really hate “50 things a man should be able to do” lists, and the latest one I’ve seen, which was posted at First Things is no exception.
Part of it, I admit, is that I can’t do any of these things. Well, I can do like 5. So either I’m totally inadequate as a man (possible) or the list is pointless.
It’s also annoying, because you figure that people who make these lists construct them in such a way that they can do all 50. Magic! Even on the First Things list, the author notes upfront that he did not include “know how to tie a bowtie,” which I’m guessing means he doesn’t know how to tie a bowtie.
Of course, I have my own ideas about what every man should be able to do. Of course I do. But I couldn’t think of 50 because really, no man in the world needs to know how to do 50 effin’ things! Not in this day of hyperspecialization, at least. To be honest, the average man probably needs to know how to do 3 or 4 things (tops!), but that’d be a pretty boring list.
So here’s 25 things, and I think it’s defensible as any other list out there. Seriously.
Fashism was on the early show this morning, and you can watch the video here.
But what I liked best was “The Rock Shot” seen above.
