Mo money!

I found this token of a website, GlobalRichlist. HA! Rich list! I’m so broke I should be able to put a negative in here for all the money I owe SallieMae, the goddess of liberal arts funding. Oh wait, whats this? With my mediocre salary the past few years being in school, I’m still rich bitch! Damn, look at all those people I’m richer than. After a small social experiment, it’s been established not everyone wants to be made to feel fortunate.

I'm rich bitch!

After sending this link to a friend, I got a lecture about the cost of living. I just thought it was nice with all this downer, economic let down, sucks to be American time, we could at least feel richer than the people that make our sneakers. Since this obviously was unsuccessful, I’m offering up another Survival List. This list is different than the first in that it offers recreational enjoyment that can be enjoyed for little to nothing.

Now you can enjoy the ups and downs of the stock market like moguls on the mountain you can’t afford to drive up to this winter. Forget the season pass for the family, build a fire in your burn barrel next to the shanty, and break out the keyboard skills. Upon completing, you are left with a huge sense of self-worth too, the crowd cheers, and they seem to whole-heartedly mean it.

The next generation of youth obviously are going to have a lot of problems in the future. I bet you’re second guessing that whole Woodstock was a good time thing, because now those burnt out hippies are running shit straight into the ground! You can buck up your youngsters, while having fun and teaching him about the REAL world. Not the MTV crap that won’t ever end, but these lovely realistic children’s books.

I know instruments can be expensive, but with all the people going broke lately I’m sure you might be able to get some for cheap. Or start an a cappella band. Then, sing about how you want money. It worked for these guys, why not you too? And a bunch of girls screaming for you isn’t fun?

Back in the days of settling the west, canning goods was a family past time for all to enjoy. Correction: canning goods is for all to enjoy. Start making preserves that will last you through the economic downturn, but watch out for botulism! You can always have a good ol’ Campbell’s soup party, too.

M M M - GOOD! All rights reserved Handsomecat's Flickr

And although I like to blame this on the Republicans, its pretty much every old rich dude’s fault. Including the Democrats. But for some reason, making fun of the Republicans is so much more fun right now. Including that stuck up Stepford Wife Mutant from Outerspace.

I’m sure more people will come up with more fun ways to experience this hell that is the Great Depression Part 2. I welcome them to try and make this more fun and less depressing. I would like to send our government this site, it might help them save more and spend less.

-posted by samsquared

Something to see, who’s comin’ with me?

Photo by Mike Mergen for the NY Times

There’s a little place in Philadelphia called the Rosenbach Museum. Now, I haven’t been there yet, although the women I e-mailed with was very cordial. You see, I was trying to get in to a members only event, Sendak on Sendak. No, I couldn’t come and have food and drink on the Rosenbach without being a member that night, but there were plenty of hours in which I could come and see the show. I sincerely hope you aren’t asking yourself who Sendak is, because you, my friend, are about to be a bandwagon fan. Oh yes, that’s right, with the advances in computer animation, a Where the Wild Things Are movie is going to be released that is going to be awesome. The only place to have a clip of this still is Gawker. It’s old, but still poignant news for the rest of you.

Get ahead of the times and get your copy of Where the Wild Things Are. If you lost it over the years, invest in the book, because those stocks are going to go up come next year. In spirit of awesome artists whose work appealed to me as a kid, here are some more artists you may have forgotten about:

My numero uno over the years was Keith Harring. Just look at that picture, if he came back today he would be the hugest hit with the hipsters at Urban. His work was fun and being that we came from the same town, he was a hero to me. He was taken too early by AIDS. He still has an awesome store in NYC, and I recently saw a great heavy book that provided a collection of his life’s work. He also made a children’s book or two that I own and love, called Nina’s Book of Little Things. This is a book for you to paste little things into, a sort of guided sketchbook for kids just getting started. (I’m in my twenties and still getting started, lay off the young.)

Chris Van Allsburg was insane (and I believe under the influence of an
earlier form of aderol, or maybe just a really smart brain). Everyone
liked him when we were little, although his work has been forgotten by
most people who don’t have a child. All of his books have some serious
dark humor to them, almost as Charles Adams does, but with much more
subtlety.

Which brings us to Charles Adams, and I swear my friend was raised by
invisible friends who were all characters of Charles Adams’ twisted
world. We can also thank that man for his heavy influence on Tim
Burton as Burton himself created a large part of our childhoods with A
Nightmare Before Christmas and books like Melancholy Death of Oyster
Boy and Other Stories.

Please add your favorite youngster types. Get on Shel Silverstein and comics. Archie? Anyone? Bueller?

-posted by samsquared