Jeff Benner

"Therefore, the odds of being on [a] given departure which is the subject of a terrorist incident..."

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 04:49:00 -0800

“Therefore, the odds of being on [a] given departure which is the subject of a terrorist incident have been 1 in 10,408,947 over the past decade. By contrast, the odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are about 1 in 500,000. This means that you could board 20 flights per year and still be less likely to be the subject of an attempted terrorist attack than to be struck by lightning.”

- FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: The Odds of Airborne Terror

Maybe if Obama wasn’t so soft on lightning we could all sleep more soundly.

"The moment he recognized what exactly was on one cartridge he had a strong anxious feeling that..."

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:59:00 -0700

“The moment he recognized what exactly was on one cartridge he had a strong anxious feeling that there was something more entertaining on another cartridge and that he was potentially missing it. He realized that he would have plenty of time to enjoy all the cartridges, and realized intellectually that the feeling of deprived panic over missing something made no sense.”

- David Foster Wallace in Infinite Jest, describing the same irrational anxiety that caused me to dump The Crying of Lot 49 so that I could read his massive book.

"I think that surprise…whether it occurs in love, war, business, or what have you, produces the..."

Tue, 26 May 2009 14:07:00 -0700

“I think that surprise…whether it occurs in love, war, business, or what have you, produces the greatest effect of any single element. It gives the added momentum to the sort of see-saw of emotion from one position to another, and you get this extra push of thrill and discovery.…People don’t like to be told anything—I mean I don’t think they even like to be told their pants are open.”

- Stanley Kubrick from Doctor’s Orders by Bilge Ebiri - Moving Image Source

A Disturbance in the Force

Sun, 10 May 2009 16:05:00 -0700

You feel a disturbance in the force…
Me: Why did you disturb the force for no reason?
David: ??
Me: On Adium when you start typing me a message the window opens and says, "You feel a disturbance in the force…"
David: As if a thousand keys typed out in horror, and were suddenly silenced.

David Lynch: Problem Solver (Via Laughing Squid). (More videos...

Mon, 04 May 2009 12:00:00 -0700

David Lynch: Problem Solver (Via Laughing Squid). (More videos here)

The Dirty Projectors - Stillness is the Move (from the upcoming...

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:51:00 -0700

The Dirty Projectors - Stillness is the Move (from the upcoming album, Bitte Orca.) The digital single is available here.

The Avalanches - Since I Left You (via malcolmturnbull)

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:47:00 -0800

The Avalanches - Since I Left You (via malcolmturnbull)

All Politics Is The Wire

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:15:00 -0800

David: Blagoyavich = Clay Davis
Me: haha. that would mean Obama = Carcetti
David: shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit

Shugo Tokumaru - Green Rain (from Exit, available DRM-free on...

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 17:21:00 -0800

Shugo Tokumaru - Green Rain (from Exit, available DRM-free on iTunes).

"The next real literary “rebels” in this country might well emerge as some weird bunch of..."

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:19:00 -0800

“The next real literary “rebels” in this country might well emerge as some weird bunch of anti-rebels, born oglers who dare somehow to back away from ironic watching, who have the childish gall actually to endorse and instantiate single-entendre principles. Who treat of plain old untrendy human troubles and emotions in U.S. life with reverence and conviction. Who eschew self-consciousness and hip fatigue. These anti-rebels would be outdated, of course, before they even started. Dead on the page. Too sincere. Clearly repressed. Backward, quaint, naïve, anachronistic. Maybe that’ll be the point. Maybe that’s why they’ll be the next real rebels. Real rebels, as far as I can see, risk disapproval. The old postmodern insurgents risked the gasp and squeal: shock, disgust, outrage, censorship, accusations of socialism, anarchism, nihilism. Today’s risks are different. The New Rebels might be artists willing to risk the yawn, the rolled eyes, the cool smile, the nudged ribs, the parody of the gifted ironists, the “Oh how banal.” To risk accusations of sentimentality, melodrama. Of overcredulity. Of softness. Of willingness to be suckered by a world of lurkers and starers who fear gaze and ridicule above imprisonment without law.”

- David Foster Wallace in “E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction” published in A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again.