nevver:

NFL logos

Anybody wanna get stoned and go to this?

I didn’t think so. Still, I’d pay a year’s salary to watch him fight Richard Kiel to the death.

My first job out of college was at an advertising agency in Cleveland. I remember buying a few pairs of khakis and some button-down shirts because they had a dress code, which it took me six months to learn to ignore. As far as first jobs go, it was a good find. The pay kind of sucked, but most of the people were really cool. There was all kinds of wacky shit on the walls, and plenty of down time to goof off. One of the copywriters even tried to teach me how to play the guitar—I learned how to switch from a G chord to a C chord and play the opening bars to Wish You Were Here. I’ve since forgotten how to do those things, but I still remember feeling like I was finally a Real Adult Working Man when I went to my first office Christmas party. It was at a nightclub in Cleveland’s Warehouse District called The Funky Budha, which only sounds cheesy because it was. Still, an open bar with all-you-can-eat coconut shrimp is nothing to scoff at, and unlike the office parties I’ve been to here in New York, we were allowed to bring dates. Tracie and I got so drunk that when we got home, she passed out in the bathroom. I wound up peeing in the kitchen sink.

Last week I got an invite to join a Facebook group of ex-employees sharing memories of life at the old company. I accepted the invite, looked through a few posts, referenced an inside joke about the deli in the basement, and didn’t think much more of it after turning off the notifications. I had a lot good memories of my time there, but there were some bad ones as well. When I took the job in 2004, they were the second largest agency in Cleveland with over 200 employees, and a healthy roster of well-known clients. The years between then and now have been tough on a lot of businesses, especially in Cleveland, but for this place it was especially brutal. In the less than two years that I worked there about 80 or so people were laid off. I was lucky enough not to be one of them, but two of my good friends—including the guy who tried to teach me guitar—along with the entire HR department were let go. You know things are bad when they fire the people who do the firing, and after that happened, I realized it was time to move on, and found a job here in New York.

This morning I learned that last week all but 20 employees were let go, most likely without severance.  I talked to some former co-workers who still live in Cleveland but have since moved on to other jobs. The rumor is that the ownership has filed Chapter 11 and are running a skeleton crew to wrap up existing client obligations. Whatever your thoughts on advertising, what makes this story particularly sad is that this was/is an independent, employee-owned company. There aren’t a lot of agencies—or companies for that matter—that can still say this. Also, it’s Cleveland. I know that because I grew up in Pittsburgh the official position is supposed to be Cleveland Sucks, but I still have a lot of friends that live there, a few of which still worked at this company. Some of them are of an age where it’s not especially easy to move on, especially in a business like advertising. Advertising is a shitty business, and I’ve seen a lot of shitty people who do really well by being shitty people, but these people are good people. I guess that’s what makes this extra shitty.

Karl Malone

To put it in perspective, 14 years ago, Newt Gingrich was Speaker Of The House.

I’ve seen a lot of people making the argument that Joe Paterno’s legacy shouldn’t be tied to the sex scandal that engulfed the last 12 weeks of his life, abruptly ending his career in disgrace. The man coached a college football team for almost half a century and he did it well. He won a lot of games, and on the surface, it appeared he did it the right way. Most of his players graduated, and they tended to stay out of trouble with the law. He was seen as a force of good in the lives of young people. Does it mean we give him a pass for turning a blind eye to Jerry Sandusky? I don’t think so. For all the good he’s done for Franco Harris and Lavar Arrington, what about the people whose names we don’t know? What about the alleged victims of his subordinate? Joe Paterno put the reputation and stability of a football team ahead of the well-being and safety of especially vulnerable children. It’s not an argument of 12 weeks negating 45 years; Paterno knew about the allegations for 14 years. That’s a long time, long enough that he could have and should have done something.  But he didn’t.

youngmegadethite:

HEAR AT BK LABS EVERYBUDDY’S WORKIN’ FOR THE WEEKEND IN A HALLWAY

How did you waste your Saturday?

thepittsburghhistoryjournal:

Elizabeth Steel Magee Hospital (via) 

On This Day in Pittsburgh History: January 19, 1911

The Elizabeth Steel Magee Hospital, founded by Christopher L. Magee, began operation. [Historic Pittsburgh] 

My little brother was born at Magee. My dad worked there at the time, and he still works there to this day. My grandfather worked at West Penn, in Bloomfield. That’s where I was born. I first ran the Pittsburgh Marathon two years ago, and by the time I got to Bloomfield—I think it’s mile 21—I felt so horrible that I wanted to die. Is that ironic or is it just a coincidence? Either way, I thought it was funny.

But yeah, when I first signed up for Twitter my friends would ask why I spell my handle, @poopsmagee, the way I do.

“Do you mean, Poops McGee?”

“No, it’s Poops Magee. Like the hospital.”

“What hospital?”

None of those people were from Pittsburgh.

I didn’t want the whole day to go without posting something less someone think I care about soap. I mean, I emailed my congresspeople, but I don’t think blocking out pictures of things on anyone’s tumblr dashboard is going to sway a United States senator’s vote. OK, maybe if it’s one of those Don Draper looking at Ryan Gosling tumblrs.

GPOYW

To me, Batman The Animated Series has the greatest opening sequence in the history of television. There are no credits. The people who worked on this show probably knew better than to ruin something this good, waiting until the end of the show to let you know who was responsible for the 22 minutes of awesome you just enjoyed. Classy, unlike say, Zach Synder, who would have put his name all over the place with a bunch of that slow down/speed up bullshit. That guy sucks. One of the many reasons I don’t want to have children is that I fear the next person to ruin Batman will probably be Zach Snyder, and I’m just not selfish enough to bring a child into a world where that man is allowed to make movies.