The title of this post is from the real article on the Guardian website. Yeah, the Guardian now gives you the possibility of posting their news (albeit with their ads) via a WordPress plugin they have developed for their Open Platform. This is just a quick post to try it out. I’m looking forward to see how this move will turn out for them. Read more about it in the article on GigaOm.
The benefits of Twitter are legion. You can tell random strangers that you’ve just purchased a new phone or keep your friends abreast of your latest bowel movements. Alternatively users can join forces with stand-up comedians in exciting witch hunts against homophobic columnists. Celebrities meanwhile can use the service to reveal how normal they are by telling us they’ve just purchased some hummus. From a real shop.
Not that any of this was relevant to a 28-year-old comedy writer from San Diego called Justin Halpern who, after being dumped by his girlfriend several years ago, had to face the hipster lifestyle catastrophe of returning home to live with his parents.
The arrangement did have one particular upside. It allowed him to spend more time with his then 73-year-old father, Sam, a man who – not always deliberately – happened to be one of the funniest and simultaneously rudest men ever. Justin didn’t realise his dad was hilarious when he was a kid; his father’s preference to wander around the house naked and use phrases before dinner such as “let’s just shut the fuck up and eat” were the source of embarrassment rather than fun. But then as a teenager he began writing down his father’s quips, foul-mouthed pearls of wisdom and blunt advice in notebooks.
Years later, returning home as an adult, he found a whole new use for the 140 characters or less on Twitter and began posting his father’s philosophies and TV-watching asides for the amusement of family and friends.
Going from zero to a million followers in nine months, Shit My Dad Says become the first viral Twitter success story. The site has spawned a book and a sitcom which begins airing in the US this autumn and stars Star Trek legend William Shatner as the cantankerous lead. The book shows Justin inherited his father’s comedy genes and, as well as being very funny, also paints a great story of regular American family life – albeit with added swearing and an obsession with bowel movements. Halpern Sr’s quotes, though, remain the main attraction. Here, are some of our favourites; and feel free to add any Shit Your Dad Says below …
PARENTING “A parent’s only as good as their dumbest kid. If one wins a Nobel Prize but the other gets robbed by a hooker, you failed.”
NATURE “Science and Mother Nature are in a marriage where Science is always surprised to come home and find Mother Nature blowing the neighbor.”
CHRISTMAS “Everybody’s broke, so here’s the rule for Christmas this year; if you still shit your pants, you get a present. Otherwise tough shit.”
TECHNOLOGY “Son, no one gives a shit about all the things your cell phone does. You didn’t invent it, you just bought it. Anybody can do that.”
KIDS’ HAIR “Does anyone your age know how to comb their fucking hair? It looks like two squirrels crawled on their head and started fucking.”
VOICEMAIL “Why would i want to check a voicemail on my cell phone? People want to talk to me, call again. If i want to talk to you, I’ll answer.”
MUSIC “What are you listening to?…I know who Hall & Oates are goddammit. It’s the moustache guy and the gay man.”
EVIL “The worst thing you can be is a liar … OK fine, yes, the worst thing you can be is a Nazi, but then, number two is liar. Nazi 1, Liar 2″
THE X FILES “So, the woman and the dopey-looking guy screw, and then look for aliens – or they just screw and sometimes aliens follow them?”
FEAR “When its asshole-tightening time, that’s when you see what people are made of. or at least what their asshole is made of.”
BULLIES “You’re gonna run into jerk offs. But remember, it’s not the size of the asshole you worry about, it’s how much shit comes out of it.”
WATER SLIDES “You go on ahead. I’d rather not be shot out of a tube into a pool filled with a bunch of nine-year-olds’ urine.”
A shot from my latest trip to Stockholm. I’ve been in a photographic slump these past few months and it felt good to be shooting again.
We went by the new photo museum Fotografiska and I really enjoyed The Birthday Party portraits by Vee Speers. There’s nothing like great photography to fire up your enthusiasm to shoot.
The Mt. Marathon race in Seward, Alaska looks really fun. Reminds me of the time I was hiking in Tongariro National Park, New Zealand. Steep climbing and going down in loose gravel. Great!
Watching this makes me a bit more determined getting in shape to next years challenge – running the Swiss Alpine Marathon Davo K78.
Last Thursday I took a short ride on my bike hoping that I would get to my destination in time. As I had been hovering over my keyboard too long I didn’t make it. I was on my way to photograph a giant pillowfight in Sankt Hans Torv. The pillowfight was a part of the ongoing streetfestival Distortion.
I was hoping to get shots like these, but unfortunately I was too late to get a good spot. As you can see in the group shot below there wasn’t a lot of space for the ‘participants’ to get into a real pillowfight or for photographers to get in close.
Here are some of the shots I got that day walking around Sankt Hans Torv.
Despite a few small problems with my left leg I’m feeling good and have been training more than I usually do at this time of the year. I began logging my training 19th January and up til now I’ve run 699,50 km. That’s a first for me. Being challenged by friends on Endomondo has been quite motivating and I actually like seeing I’m in front
I’ll be doing my best in May to not only run, but am planning to do a bit of astanga yoga and hopefully I’ll try crossfit training. As a part of the Sparta pacesetter team I’ll be going to Stockholm Marathon in June and as my last marathon in Stockholm turned out to be a bad race for me I’m hoping the next will be better and a bit more fun.
For a while there I spent some time tumbling and this blog has suffered because of it. Well, I’ve been lucky enough to do some more portraits shoots.
A bitterly cold Saturday January morning I met up with my former colleague Ronni Egeriis.
We spent some hours at different locations in Copenhagen trying to cope with a strong wind which made our eyes tear up, but we got some great shots.
BTW, if you’re into Icelandic music you might want to check out Slice of Ice. Ronni is one of the founders of this non-profit organisation and they’re trying to attract Icelandic bands to give concerts in Copenhagen.
For my second portrait shoot I met up with a good friend. Mette had seen my post on Facebook and we quickly booked a date to do some portraits. Once again I learned some pratical stuff – don’t forget your gloves when you’re photographing in winter time.
Nikolaj was first to respond to my offer of free portrait photography and we met up in Frederiksberg Park on a bitterly cold Saturday. Nikolaj is a Twitter contact of mine and we got right to it. I got some much needed practice photographing and learned some practical stuff about doing portraits.
I’ve been surprised about how many have gotten back to me in so short time. I did shoot #2 yesterday and am doing a double shoot on Saturday. I’m still offering free portrait photography so if you’re interested mail me {preben at arentoft dot org}.
This article was written by Johnny Dee, for guardian.co.uk on Saturday 3rd July 2010 08.42 UTC
