We’re not going anywhere

We’ve fielded a lot of questions (some from our own staff) about us shutting down the site. It makes me realize that we are not a generation of people who pay attention to details. Our previous post concerning the shutdown of our friends over at Quarterlife does not mean that we, here at Quarterlives are going anywhere. We believe in the message and experience of the 20somethings out there that we would never let a little thing like site hosting stop us. We’re here to stay.

In fact, we’re looking for contributors! If you’ve got something to say, let us know! We’re happy to post your writing, poetry, artwork, or any other way you express yourself. So quit calling me staff asking if you’re off the hook for that article I asked for. Go write something about your life and let others know you are going to be heard!

Sign of the times?

When we first started this site, there were few others that even knew what a quarterlife crisis was. One group that did was the team over at Quarterlife.com. The site there was built around the tragically unpopular webseries created by the My So-Called life team. In the early days, we even recorded a couple of podcasts discussing the series. However unpopular the series was, the website there was created as an outlet for creativity. People could blog, post videos, and collaborate creatively with other 20somethings to explore what was unique about being a quarterlifer.

Sadly, the experiment is coming to an end. Today, Quarterlife is shutting down. From the site:

With great sadness, we must report that the three-year quarterlife
experiment is coming to an end. Our current host, Ning,
is raising costs, and it will be impossible for us to keep the site
open. Our deepest thanks to all those who have been a part of this
wonderful community. Please take the next 2 weeks to exchange contact
information with your peers and collect your work from the site.

Members can still connect via Facebook and we welcome contributions here.

Gaga for Gaga

Stay tuned for our upcoming treatise on Lady Gaga as a Quarterlife Hero. In the meantime, enjoy the internet sensation of sixth grade boy rocking Paparazzi. When we first watched this video yesterday, there were 200,000 views. Now there are over 8 million hits. Isn’t the internet amazing?

Activism Alert: Senate Bill 6

We here at QL are a tad biased. We mostly hail from Florida and thus know about all things Disney, orange related, and Bush family scandals. We’re also mostly all products of the Florida Public School System.

Here’s were the activism comes in. Senate Bill 6 just passed the Florida Legislature. Its a terrible bill that puts educators on par with used car salesmen. With the enactment of this bill, teachers will be held financially responsible for the performance of their kids. I don’t know about you, but when I slacked off it wasn’t because my teacher wasn’t trying. It was because I was a teenager who wanted to talk with my friends in class instead of conjugating verbs in Spanish.

More than that, good, experienced teachers aren’t going to want to work in the low performing schools where at-risk children really need them. This bill will set education in Florida back decades. Not only is Florida at risk, but other states are proposing similar bills. The legislature has passed the bill and it is sitting on Charlie Crist’s desk. Take a second and give the governor a call telling him to VETO SENATE BILL 6. I’ll even Google that for you:

Phone number: (850) 488-4441
Fax number: (850) 487-0801
Email address: Charlie.Crist@myflorida.com

Wanna make some money doing something stupid?

More than Myth is providing just that opportunity. Check out the contest at their site. All you need to do is tell a fantastic story about something you’ve done in your quarterlife. Best story gets $5000. If you pledge to use that money doing something elsefantastic, you get another 5k and get published. So go tell your story!

Peeps + Microwave = Awesome

Microwaving Peeps is the ultimate Easter experience. Any holiday that has marshmallow animals covered in sugar and stuck together in rows is for me. There are so many ways to put a Peep in the microwave and watch it explode. You can do one at a time, two at a time, a whole row, a row in the box (which explodes out of its container and when you’re done you have a carton of molten Peep). You can mix colors, you can mix animals, you can have wars between chicks and bunnies, and if you have enough foresight, you can save Peeps from Christmas and have battles between Easter and Christmas.

There is no greater joy than sticking those little buggers in the microwave, pressing “beverage” (there ought to be a “fun” button), and watching the candy eyes melt away while the little chick quadruples in size. It makes me think of Mr. Wizard’s experiment where he put a marshmallow in a vacuum and sucked out the air. There is something I love about forcing a thing to be what it’s not. That’s the essence of creativity- building something out of a mass of nothing, bending the elements to your will in order to create something new.

I don’t have many traditions in my life, but the few that I do have are very dear to me. Throughout a Quarterlife Crisis, it is important to keep these traditions alive.

This is what you wanted to do with your life

The internet is awesome. It brings us the best of what people can do. Synn Labs has just upped the ante.

Admit it- this is where you pictured yourself working. You want to make full scale laser drinking games and get paid to play with Non-Newtonian fluids (rather than just mixing up some cornstarch and water in your kitchen).

Now, they’ve taken the most sacred invention of nerd and geek-kind alike and set it to music. OK Go asked Synn to help them create a Rube Goldberg machine for their new video “This Too Shall Pass.”

You know you remember the awesome treadmill video that you showed to all your friends. Well here is the next one to pass on. I’m pretty sure that’s really what they meant by “This Too Shall Pass.”

Avatar- a rebuttal

I finally got around to seeing Avatar. I had four hours to kill and found a theater that wasn’t charging $18 bucks, so I figured I’d get it taken care of. I went begrudgingly- much in the same way I went to the Matrix 2 and 3.

I don’t regret going, but if Avatar wins best picture I’ll eat my hat. I only have one hat, and it’s really nice. Felted and everything.

I get it, I really do. Fantastic feat of digital movie making and incredible advances in zzzz… But where is the story? I’ve seen Dances with Wolves. It’s fantastic. I’ve seen Ferngully, Pocahontas, and Final Fantasy. I’ve seen Last of the Mohicans, which happens to be the best movie ever. White man comes in, mission is destruction, white man learns the way of the indigenous peoples, changes mind, fights for what is right, becomes one of said tribe.

I knew it was bad when I could recognize the voice of Wes Studi as the Chief instantly. Wes Studi is perhaps the most prominent Native American actor ever. His IMDB page is peppered with characters like Black Coyote, Cherokee Jack, Richard Two Rivers, Sheriff Mike Nighthorse, Black Kettle, Frank Lightfoot, Indian in the Desert (from the Doors), and the biggie- Geronimo. I have had a love affair with Wes Studi since Dances with Wolves (where he played “Toughest Pawnee”) but having him in a movie gives an obvious and definiate connotation of white man vs native.

Even with Mr. Native American, It just wasn’t that good. Predictable every step of the way, and not in a fun Shutter Island kind of way. I’m glad I saw it in the theater, in 3D because, yes, the visuals are amazing and won’t translate to a tiny plasma tv screen. But more so I’m glad I saw it so that I can say with complete confidence that it’s nothing to be so enamored with.

And can poor Sigourney Weaver ever get a break in space?

Dear Nancy Elliott

Today, New Hampshire Representative Nancy Elliott tried to make a case for repealing same sex marriage in her state because it teaches fifth graders about anal sex.

I’ll let you read that sentence again before I continue. Don’t believe me? That’s why I love the internet age- there’s video!:

So I have some things to say to Rep. Elliott.

Dear Ms. Elliott,
I know that the gays scare you. I know that they have sex that is unfamiliar to you and that you’re concerned that this scary sex is going to make it into the minds of the youth of America- eventually turning them gay. Please, Ms. Elliott, calm the fuck down.

When you go home to your husband tonight, with whom you’ve shared a deep and committed relationship, consider how your boring vanilla heterosexual sex is ruining the youth of America. Nancy- missionary isn’t the only way to do it? Have you ever let him be on top? And no, Nancy, you don’t have to be the only one on the receiving end of anal sex. Let me direct you to Bend Over Boyfriend where you too can learn to be a top. You obviously like throwing your weight around, maybe you’ll like being in charge in the bedroom.

And really Ms. Elliott- 5th graders? I know that sex ed hasn’t changed that much since I was in middle school. I remember being in fifth grade and learning about tampons and body hair. When we finally got to the sex part- in tenth grade- it was all abstinence all the time. I guarantee that NO educator in your state is suggesting that fifth graders should try anal sex. I guarantee that no educator in your state is suggesting that fifth graders try the boring missionary sex that you seem to readily enjoy with your legally wed husband. If they are, I promise to never again enjoy the insertion of a penis in my rectum.

You’ve lost your effing mind Ms. Elliott. I suggest you take a moment and get your shit together. You’re going to need it when you’re booted out on your ass come reelection time. You are not the future and you are just plain wrong. Marriage is not just sex. Gays and lesbians are not just sex. Heterosexuals are not just sex. Your state took an amazing step forward in giving the people of this nation the right to share their love with one another on an equal playing field.

Do you really want to be the one to take those rights away?

What the Buzz?

Google is trying to put their user friendly little fingers into more of our lives. The just launched Buzz, a social networking tool that is meant to rival Facebook status updates and Tweets.

The real question is, Google, do we really need what you’re sellin’?

What I’d like is a version of Chrome for Mac that allows me to edit my bookmarks. Or the ability to control my contacts better so that everyone I email on Craigslist about a free coffee table doesn’t get added to my contacts, and subsequently my phone. Or a real reason to use Wave and Reader.

Generations after us won’t remember life without status updates. They won’t know about waiting for your mom to pick you up at the mall and not being able to call her to find out where she is. The question isn’t should we- I’m not sure there is a way to stop it anyway. The question now is why? What is the best format for social networking so that it makes our lives better, rather than just more wasteful and intrusive.

Or maybe we can get Buzz hooked up with Rambler, the shoes that tweet your every step, so we can kill two birds with one buzztweet.

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