Advertisers should die in a fire

I have a complicated relationship with our capitalist system. At a fundamental level I am a libertarian. There is simply no way for a government to control markets or economies. Capitalism and free enterprise are the only just ways to allocate capital. Not perfect, of course, and in need of some regulatory oversight. Part of that "not perfect" is advertising. In a system that allows individuals to make choices (this detergent or that one) producers will naturally do what they can to influence those choices. Great. Fine. I just don't care. The cynicism of advertisers is just too much to take. I love Hulu, but every time I click on a show and the advertisers asks me to select from three fucking "ad experiences" I come close to having a rage stroke. Ditto the text at the top of the video viewer during commercials that asks me if "this add is relevant to me". What genius decided that we had reached the point in our cultural and economic evolution where the consumers would now actually fucking help the cynical assholes at advertising agencies rope them in. If you click those boxes you are a traitor of the lowest possible substance and advertisers should die in a fire.

Remote from nature

Aspens in deep winter with the light fading. This transported me back to the time when I used to find myself outside on a regular basis. Fishing, skiing, even working. I know what this feels like, looks like, and smells like.

A girl named Henry?

Sometimes a cheesy pose works and sometimes it doesn't. File this in the "works" column

Ladies, this why you should resist the lure of the nose-ring

She's absolute perfection. The nose-ring is like the shreek of an ambulance siren in the middle of a Bach cantata. A neon sign in Yosemite. But you know, it's beyond metaphor and simile: it's a nose-ring on a beautiful woman. If I were trying to describe why a neon sign in Yosemite is wrong I'd say, "it's like a nose-ring on a beautiful woman."