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Don’t work. Be hated. Love someone. (2008)

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101–107 of 107 posts

Re: Don’t work. Be hated. Love someone. (2008)

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming your write your own material, the rough equivalent for a comic is getting a writing gig. TV shows, for other comedians, etc. You basically write "session" material as a comic the same way a "session" musician would be a hired gun.

Being a writer for a TV show isn't "making it without making it", it's "making it" proper.

Absolutely - I didn't intend to downplay being a TV writer.

In that vein, being a session musician is also "making it" as well. But "it" is subjective - if "it" is being on stage, you didn't "make it" in either case.

Re: Don’t work. Be hated. Love someone. (2008)

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over here (UK) the corner shop often has some fresh fruit, veg, milk and bread. They are of course more expensive, but in my opinion, the extra cost is not huge for one or two meals worth of food, especially laid against the angst and ennui of a heavy traffic supermarket!

Yeah, you're lucky to find any produce at all in an American convenience store, though you're likely to find milk and probably bread in the better ones. On the other hand, there's all the beer, soda, "potato chips" (crisps to you), and chocolate bars you could ever want; sometimes a better selection than the supermarket! Also, because Americans drive everywhere and walking is impossible in most places, most of our co…

Large US cities have plenty of neighborhood markets / corner stores with fresh fruit and vegetables and meat. I live next to 3 of them in West LA, within walking distance. SF has even more. NY has countless. And yes, they are much more preferable and expensive than supermarkets. The markets in California usually have world class wine and produce, since our state grows millions of tons of the stuff.

But yeah, most American suburbs don't have any of that, which is what you're describing.

Re: Don’t work. Be hated. Love someone. (2008)

#103
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny how technology has made "professional player" a zero-income occupation. It used to be so profitable.

Could you please elaborate on that? I'm genuinely curious - I'm not "hardcore gamer" anymore, but I'm still fairly interested in games - but I didn't know that "professional gaming" became zero-income occupation. What happened?

I meant sports. I don't know if professional gaming ever existed.

Re: Don’t work. Be hated. Love someone. (2008)

#104
post #50

Work is anything that you are compelled to do. By its very nature, it is undesirable. The speaker draws a dichotomy between work and play, as he defines these terms, with work being things done under compulsion and play being things done based on desire (and especially passionate desire). His theme is a clarion call to shape your life, and the way you make a living, around things you love to do and to avoid dying a s…

1) Are you sure it is not simply that you can't bear the thought of somebody else having an easier time than you? How did drudgery shape your skills? Unless bearing drudgery is the skill that enables you to do what you love (what would that be)?

2) Yes, young people might not know if what they want to do is really meaningful. Unfortunately the chance that any job they would take on instead would be meaningful is also rather slim. This is maybe what you missed from the speech, or maybe I read more into it, but I also think it is true: most jobs are completely useless and meaningless. Therefore just taking on a job does not help. At least if you "play" you can make adjustments and have a chance of getting to something meaningful.

Re: Don’t work. Be hated. Love someone. (2008)

#105

I have some issues with this exhortation. You need to survive today and plan for tomorrow. Otherwise you'll never reach your goal. This means that you MUST work. You MUST keep learning. You MUST gain allies. And you MUST keep your eyes on the prize. It's not enough to simply chase your dream; you need a plan and many strategies. Most of your strategies will fail, and some will succeed. What you're really doing in you…

Wonderful counter-exhortation, I applaud you.

Re: Don’t work. Be hated. Love someone. (2008)

#107
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I fully understood your second paragraph, but I found David Foster Wallace's commencement speech to hit the practical advice nail on the head. The story about shopping after work? Pretty brutal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122178211966454607.html

Certainly conveys some sense of 'day in, day out'. I've dithered about reading a Wallace book, mainly because of the length of them. PS: Do you not have corner shops in the US?

"Consider the Lobster" and "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" are collections of his essays. They're still fairly long, but they're generally superb, and you can read them in smaller chunks than his novels.
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