(From Kottke.) I love this quote from this Michel Gondry interview:

I hate cynicism. I wipe it from me. I don’t like cynical people. I don’t like cynical movies. Cynicism is very easy. You don’t have to justify it. You don’t have to fight for it.

I’ve seen people suggest it, but I have a hard time believing that optimism is genetic. My podcast is basically about complaining, but I remain a very optimistic person at the core, and I think it’s available to anyone. I also believe it’s gotten me most of what I have today.

FYI, you probably like Michel Gondry if you’re white.

Filed by Julien at 5:26 am under random
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I mentioned in my podcast last week that I’d been fasting for weight loss. I’m doing that again today and, let me say, the results are very interesting.

I used to be addicted to feeling full. My girlfriend can attest that, before this, I used to be unable to go to sleep without eating something in order to not feel hungry. It was probably costing me a few extra hundred calories a day which, over time, definitely helped me put on a few pounds.

This has changed a lot. This is my second fast– I haven’t eaten in almost 24 hours now, and feel totally fine with the ‘discomfort’ that occurs from being hungry. In fact, I’m more comfortable with hunger than I’ve ever been in my life. It’s almost relieving.

If you’re interested in finding out more about how I’m doing this, I recommend looking at Brad Pilon’s blog– I’m following what he wrote in his book Eat Stop Eat, which was super informative. I’ll probably blog about it a few more times too, as I adjust to it and see what effect it has on my system.

Filed by Julien at 6:01 pm under random
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I swear to God, I thought Harvey Walden and RuPaul were the same person for a sec. Check out the cover of Harvey’s book and RuPaul in But I’m a Cheerleader. Crazy.

Filed by Julien at 12:52 pm under random
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Probably the best gift I got this Xmas was Phaidon’s amazing book, Sculpture Today. For anyone that doesn’t know, Phaidon books are unbelievable– well made books that discuss art and design at depth. Great stuff– get one for the art lover in your family.

I’ve been interested in sculpture for a long time. In college I pursued a brief Fine Arts career, which ended with me pussying out over the amount of sweat involved in sculpting metal. But I’ve been impressed by large-scale stone, concrete, and metal work since I don’t know when.

Last year, because of my girlfriend (who also gave me the book this Xmas), I became interested in Land Art as well. I knew then that my passion for this kind of stuff hadn’t died. I don’t know where it’s going, either, but I do feel like it’s going somewhere.

Filed by Julien at 2:49 pm under random
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If you know Chris Penn, you probably know about Myspace friend adder applications. Basically, these applications log onto Myspace for you, add friends, comment on their pages, etc. I don’t know who uses these anymore, but guess what? Now you can get one for Twitter.

I’m not going to link to the site (remember, every link is a vote), but by typing in wwwTwitter.com into your address bar (no dot between “www” and “twitter”), you can find it.

It adds 20 random Twitter friends for you. Imagine that.

Filed by Julien at 3:11 am under random
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I just placed an order for the One Laptop Per Child program. It’s 400 bucks well spent, and I recommend you do the same. It’s available as of today for the US and Canada. You get two right now under their Give One, Get One program.

In addition, if you Canadians can find a way to get an American to place the order (like I’m doing), you’ll get yourself free wifi at T-Mobile hotspots for a year. If you travel enough, that alone is worth the price of the machines.

Also, as Chris Penn put it, marketers have yet another reason to buy the machines: Thousands of them will be coming online during the holidays, so getting to know them is a great idea.

Anyway, so I get one of them, and the second one I buy is automatically going to someone in need, which I feel great about. Go and order one today.

Filed by Julien at 4:48 pm under random
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Took a quick video in a dark bar last night where we were hosting FacebookCamp. I’m starting a Youtube channel, I think, so you can go see it there (or here on the blog, obviously).

I honestly think we need to reinvent the *camp. So do a lot of others. So let’s talk about it.

Filed by Julien at 2:06 pm under random
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Last month, there was this meme floating around– what would happen if Google had to do SEO for its own homepage. It was all a big joke, but now take a look at what they’re testing for China.

I think watching what they do is going to be really fascinating. They’re the underdog over there (with only 22% market share– Baidu has over 50%), so they have to try a bunch of different stuff. They’ve already basically admitted that their untouchable homepage may not be the best answer– it worked for the Western world, sure, but it may not for China. And their population is going to be undeniably powerful in the coming few years.

If you’re interested, take a look-see over here every few days. I’m sure it’ll be changing as they try and figure out what works. What’s really fascinating is that the page is starting to look a lot like Yahoo looks right now– trying similar tactics, maybe?

Filed by Julien at 11:11 pm under random
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Chris and I almost never talk, but somehow, it makes sense that he’d make weird, colourful sculptures like this one. Must look crazy in person.

Filed by Julien at 6:17 pm under random
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Let’s not lie to ourselves: Neither you, nor I, nor anyone will be anywhere near as cool as this guy. Sigh.

Filed by Julien at 1:06 pm under random
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