The Real Victims of The Recession

Part of my job for OneRiot is to scan the constant flow of news coming in through a variety of different sites.  I like to think I learn a lot about the world this way.  I’m constantly reading about Sri Lankan civil war, Jackie Chan’s hatred of freedom and Stephen Hawking’s ever changing medical condition; but probably the most frequent topic that appears in the headlines nowadays is the global recession.  Sure I learn about towns with flagging economies, massive layoffs, and  those just struggling to get by on mediocre wages, but until now, I never put a face to the real victims of recession.  Thanks to a photo essay at Reuters, I now know that the real victims of this darned global economic pandemic are German Brothel workers.  Sure, some children can’t get food because their parents have lost their jobs, but when people aren’t paying for sex as much as they used to it effects us all…well it effects the German brothel workers and then it effects us all.

Bored German Brothel Workers With Time on Their Hands...Time Is Money

See You In Teaneck

In the late 70′s/early 80′s, long before there was Twitter, the only way to tell hundred of strangers entirely too much unimportant information  about yourself in one fell swoop while avoiding conversation altogether was  via the medium of a personalized licensed plate or vanity plate.  This innovation alerted fellow drivers that the douchebag who cut them off who clearly had no regard for directionals was an extremely proud dentist as witnessed by the words “ToothDR” emblazoned on the back of their Beemer.  It also proved surprisingly helpful to police when tracking down hit and run suspects. Even though there are now literally thousands of ways in which you can overtly brag about your life choices, some people still choose to use the back of their car to let other people know just how great they are.

One such recent attempted declaration of smugness in the state of Colorado was thankfully declined by that state’s Department of Motor Vehicles. Kelly Coffman-Lee, a proud vegan woman, decided to put her “I’m better than you because I don’t eat meat” point of view on display by requesting a plate containing the message “ILVTOFU”.  The state did her a huge favor in denying her request as she and her family would’ve almost certainly been the targets of endless ridicule from area teens whilst riding around in the car with said message on their vehicle.  Still the woman insists that she should be able to get her plate even if she wouldn’t actually love to FU, though she would probably have no objections to inviting you over for Thanksgiving Tofurkey.

In a related story, the head of the New Jersey tourism board was also denied a plate when that state’s DMV was offended by her declaration to other drivers that she might “See You In Teaneck.”  Put it together.

Lights, Camera, Cartwheel! With Chris Cartwheel

For those of you too lazy to click on the link in the previous post, here is Team Geniot’s entry into this year’s 24 hour NYC Film race starring yours truly as Chris Cartwheel and Mr. Sulaiman Beg as Vito, not to mention stellar supporting performances by Jason Stefanik, Andrea Palumbos, Rich Mai and Morwin Schmookler.

This film was filmed without a live studio Audience at Schmook’s…It’s A Pizza Place in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.  Enjoy the wonderful graphics courtesy of John Karian and catchy as hell music by Ajay Chaudhary, Ahmad Saeed, and Abdullah Saeed and of course the deft directorial abilities of Andy Seestedt.