the slack daily

Agorafabulous!

From sarabenincasa:

HOW YOU CAN MAKE AGORAFABULOUS! A BESTSELLER

with thanks to Baratunde Thurston for the inspiration (buy “How to Be Black” now!)

Now I know we’ve all got limited funds these days, and you don’t owe me a goddamned thing. That said, I’m about to try and convince you to do me a huge favor. I thank you for even reading it, much less following any of the suggestions.

So let’s say we’re buddies IRL or on the Internets, or you’ve come to see my comedy live and not paid any monies, or you enjoy my Tweets or my free (and awesome) podcast, Sex and Other Human Activities. Like the rest of us, I gots to make a living, and I’m trying to do it through art. It’s a silly enterprise, to be sure, but one to which I’m committed. I don’t have a Kickstarter or anything like that, but I do have a book. It’s a good one. I promise. It’ll make you laugh, cry, think, and maybe even feel pretty great about yourself and your life, because at least you aren’t doing the crazy things I do in the book! Also, it’s red and will look great on  your bookshelf. It represents about a decade of effort, and I’m so happy to share it with you.

I’d be so grateful if you’d follow one or more of the tips below to help make this book a bestseller — cuz then I can continue to do free comedy and free sex podcasts and pay my wifi bill and do free Internet things and all that jazz (all while wearing a leopard print Snuggie!) Okay, here goes…

1. Buy it

Easy, right? You can buy it at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indiebound, Powells, and anywhere books are sold. You can get it for Kindle or Nook. I will attempt to have it translated into hieroglyphs and written on the wall of a cave, and we will charge a fine price for access.

2. Write a review

On the ecommerce site where you purchased it. On GoodReads. On your blog. In the sky with airplane exhaust.

3. Tell your friends and family to buy it

Tell them that if they really love you, they’ll buy this book by your friend/friend-of-a-friend/Internet-pal “Sara Benincasa.”

4. Reblog this post.

I’ll see that you reblogged it, and send you magical good vibes straight from my heart!

Thank you so much. And if I can help you out with your art in any way, please email sara@sarabenincasa.com and tell me how. I promise I’ll try if it’s within my power.

Love,

Sara

 

*************************

I haven't even read the book yet (Will has his on his kindle; my hard copy should be waiting for me when I get home) but I will tell you that having known Sara through the Internets*, seen the show, and then gotten to know her in person that not only is she smart and funny and adorable and charming but she is deserving of good things. I wouldn't recommend this book if I didn't think you'd like it. And if you don't know Sara, then you'll find yourself liking Sara and then you'll be doing things like writing her notes on your Tumblr and inviting her over for sleepovers in footie pajamas and Sunday-morning pancakes.

Besides, how often can you help make someone's dreams become a reality?

The point is: Reblog. Buy. Share. Enjoy.

 

There is a Light That Never Goes Out.

I think I knew Lisa for a few months before I knew she was a Neonatologist.

You save babies? I asked.

Sure, she said.

I wouldn't let it go. You're a fucking superhero. If I were you, I'd be shouting that from the rooftops.

After that, I always introduced her as "my friend, Dr. Lisa. She saves babies."

...

There are some people who live big lives but who make you feel small. Who make you feel like you don't do enough. You make you doubt yourself and your place in this universe.

Then there are people like Dr. Lisa, who lived a big life but made you feel like you could, too. No matter what was around her, she had the Midas touch. She was constantly filling things with gold.

She beat cancer twice. She traveled to Mongolia and Haiti, taking her knowledge to save babies and their mothers around the world. After the second surgery on her foot to remove the cancer, she decided she was going to run a half-marathon.

She turned every obstacle into an oportunity. If she couldn't go through, she'd go up, over, around.

She cheered me on as started my running journey, and through her and my husband's encouragement, signed up for my firts 10k a few weeks ago.

I heard the voice beind me as I was coming up on mile 5.

Go, Miss Nina, go!

Lisa ran past me with her team-in-training partners, reminding me that I could do it. I finished the race (slowly, but I ran the whole thing) and somehow, amongst the hundreds (thousands?) of people, Will and I ran into her. We hobbled over to grab a Bloody Mary and some grub and caught up on What Was Next.

Lisa's gone and I think that can't be it. I have to have better words to honor someone who lived her life like a beacon. It was never dark when she was around. I hope you'll consider donating to  Lisa’s Fundraising Page for Team in Training's Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to keep that light alive.

I wish this was a better eulogy. But I never wanted to write a eulogy at all.

Lisa, I love you. I think you knew that. I hope you did.

Season's Awesomes.

Will & I don't buy presents. For each other or anyone else (except our niece and nephew, who are 6 and 3.)  we've had good financial years and bad ones, but we've always preferred having experiences over stuff.  Or we buy each other stuff during the year.

(This isn't a dig on anyone who does presents. I love presents! But I like the right gift for the right person rather than just HEY I BOUGHT YOU CRAP TO OPEN.)

With friends that I see regularly, I don't buy presents because I feel like we're giving each other the gift of company. We make food together, or make each other drinks, or they pick me up to take me to the ER when I've busted my ankle.

But there are times I wished that I was organized enough to do cards or somesuch every year, for those people I don't see.

I always have this grand plan for the holidays where I'm going to send out cards and buy gifts and donate to charity in people's names and then suddenly it's December 20th and that scrap of paper with your address that I saved from that time you sent me that thing is buried on my desk but it doesn't matter because I didn't buy holiday cards and my donations have gone southwards because things were a little more tight than usual this year and I think well, crap, I want to do something.

So starting last year, I started sending emails to those people. Think of it like a Christmas letter, but instead of it being about ME, it's about THEM and their awesomeness.

Maybe it's cheesy, but I figure people aren't told how awesome they are on a regular basis. So it's a little Season's Awesomes.

Anyway, feel free to steal this idea. It's recession-proof!

CATS ARE EVIL, or How I Twitter Through Anything

If you think you've broken your ankle*, I suggest you do it on Twitter.

 

 

Thanks to everyone who kept me company (and kept me laughing): Virginia, Caissie, Gene George, Nutcase, John, Miss Grace, LateandSoon, Mocoddle and finally NOVYSAN for realizing he was closer to me than Will was and picking me up and taking me to the ER.

 

*It was only a bad sprain. The nurse was shocked. I HAVE BONES OF STEEL.

A Love Letter.

At some point, we may have met. At a panel, at a conference, at a meetup, at my house.

We may have crossed paths holding bourbons in a dark, crowded bar, or clutching margaritas in our house. You may have been invited for a cocktail party, for our Christmas Potluck, for no particular reason except that we met you and weren't embarrassed to say YES WE WANT YOU TO BE OUR FRIENDS.

People are still laughing at the Internet. I'm still saying there are so many people that I have been privileged to meet (and have over to our house!) and there is still a host of people that make me think I need to purchase more glassware.

This is not a love letter to the Internet. The Internet is a tool.

This is a love letter to the people who have learned to use that tool.

You have made my life so wonderfully full that I'm fit to burst.

If you think this is about you...you're probably right.

 

Soul Botox?

 

On Twitter: Me, Jan Libby, & Virginia Corbett.

Like Chocolate in your Peanut Butter.

Me & Will.

The cast of LAGenX. (Jason, Gina & Jeff!)

Nutcase 101.

ALL IN ONE PLACE!

LISTEN to LAGenX tomorrow - Saturday, May 29 at 11am PST at LaGenX.com (click on "Listen Live!)

Then as the show is wrapping up, get in your conveyance device and get THEE TO:

Laurel Tavern
11938 Ventura Blvd
Studio City, CA 91604

Laurel Tavern opens at noon...so we'll get there at (or around) noon.

See you there...?

GirlCrush: Sara Benincasa

Remember when girls were supposed to hate other girls? Especially girls who were funny and pretty? Or was it that we were supposed to hate girls who were prettier and funnier than we were? Oh media, you get so confusing with your mixed messages. Thankfully I have supermodels to tell me that every woman is beautiful, and I shouldn't listen to the evil media.

Supermodels: What CAN'T they do?

Now that we've got that all cleared up, I am now free to to express my abject girlcrushiness on other women. (And if I am to believe the evil media, this will help retain my male audience. I guess we can still be friends, evil media.)

I don't know how I found Sara Benincasa. I may have my husband to blame. Say what you will about him, the man has good taste. Like any decent gateway drug, a little taste of Sara Benincasa does not go a long way. You need more. So I sought her out. On Twitter! On my Facebooks! On the YouTubes!

Thankfully Sara has not realized that I am stalking her, probably because I have no desire to wear her skin for a suit. (She does have beautiful skin. But I can't sew.)

No, I want to drink wine in our pajamas together and design matching unicorn tattoos, and perhaps be lucky enough one day to catch her live. (Los Angeles needs some Sara Benincasa in its life. Trust me.)

I will have to put our time of puppies and kittens and rainbows on hold, and in the meantime, enjoy her take on  Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and explore my awkward and confusing feelings toward her Sarah Palin.

Internet friends, may I present my GirlCrush: Sara Benincasa.

You're welcome.

#CelebratetheWeb

You know how there was that ceremony on Sunday that didn't go so well?

Last night's #CelebratetheWeb was the exact opposite of that.

In just a few days, Jenni Powell and Kim Evey located a venue, compiled a guest list, assembled videos from speakers who couldn't be there in person, printed programs and assembled Streamy winners, nominees and Web Folk for an event that was, by all accounts, pitch perfect.

Names were picked from the center of a Streamy to decide on the order of speakers.

After opening remarks from Sandeep Parikh (who was absolutely charming and prepared enough that he asked me how to pronounce my name should he pick me to speak first), the night was off and running. A little over an hour later, everyone had spoken - either in person or via video. The night was seamlessly, technically and personally. We all had two minutes to speak on why we love working on the web.

While I can be glib naturally, speaking from the heart requires a little more effort. I prepared some notes, which I revised as the evening wore on. Unfortunately I forgot to bring a writing implement, so as my name was called (the second-to-last-speaker of the night, not actually the last) those notes were a smear of violet eyeliner.

You can watch the entire evening above (I'm about 59 minutes in.)

Again, thanks to Kim Evey and Jenni Powell. And thanks to the web community for being like a delicious cake made of awesome.

(Friends of) Friends of Tom.

Following up on my last blog post.

While we didn't reach 100 reviews, I still chose to make a $100 donation to The Best Show on WFMU last night (on behalf of Will, myself, and Daisy J Dog.)

With a few minutes left in the broadcast, Tom Scharpling announced (and John Hodgman tweeted!) that they were $500 away from $80,0000. Knowing that we were going to end up pledging the cash anyway, I picked up the phone. It's like being a cheaterpants. But in a good way.

We appreciate EVERYONE who left a review on our podcast.

As we will have two Premiums from The Best Show (Will's pledge nets us three premiums, mine a single one) we will still give away the Premium* to one of our reviewers. If you want in, you have until Saturday at 4pm PST to leave a review of our podcast on iTunes. We will announce the winners on our show BetheMarriage on Saturday night.

(If we pick a winner who already has a Best Show premium, please let us know so we can select someone else and share The Best Show love.)

I have to say that when Will and I met, I didn't understand why he was so into this show. On Tuesday nights I left him to his computer while I did something else. I thought it was funny, but it was a guy on a microphone over a thousand miles away.

What I learned over the course of the past three years is that that guy on the microphone has built an  amazing community around him. It started when Lisa Jane Persky took Will's picture for her "Friends of Tom" photo project, and later that night I met her and her husband Andy Zax. From there it was a cavalcade of artists and weirdos and funny people.

(You can see why I felt like I fit right in.)

It was being a friend of Friends of Tom that I ended up a fan of the show. And of their cranky ringleader, who is a little bit mad, a little bit brilliant, and a whole lot funny. Having him out there DOING IT is a reminder that we can DO IT TOO. 

You can check out The Best Show which streams live every Tuesday from 8pm-11pm EST on WFMU.org, or check out their various podcasts.

Thanks again to all who participated, and we'll announce our winner on Saturday night!

*Please note: It'll take some time for the Premium to get to you, as we have to get our pledge cards and pay before the Premiums are sent. Just a heads-up!