Drew's View

The Secret History of Paul Thomas Anderson

Paul Thomas Anderson (IMDB page) is my favorite movie director. Magnolia, Boogie Nights, and Punch Drunk Love all have spots on my list of my ten favorite films.

As part of their feature on the 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century, Esquire Magazine profiles Anderson in the article The Secret History of Paul Thomas Anderson by John H. Richardson. Well worth reading if you are a fan of any of his films.

Garage Sale Follow-Up

I got several notes from readers asking whether it is worth the hassle to sell all that junk on eBay. It most certainly is.

The first time I ever tried it was many years ago. I had a broken digital camera. And when I say broken, I mean BROKEN. I had dropped it on concrete, and it had literally broken into two pieces. I was trying to figure out what to do with it (this was before there was e-waste recycling), and was close to just tossing it in the trash. Then I thought I'd try selling it on eBay. Why not?

I was very clear in the description that this thing was broken, and it ended up selling for over $50.00. The guy was going to fiddle with it to see if he could fix it!

Anyway, now whenever I buy something that I think I am likely to re-sell eventually (for example, a computer, iPod, or other electronic device), I keep the original packaging around. When it is inevitably replaced with a newer model, the old one goes on eBay. I actually sold my old iPhone for more than buying the newer model cost!

Anyway, all the junk I posted last week is gone now. A couple of things did not sell, but overall I took in nearly $500.00. Not bad, considering I wanted to get rid of that stuff, and it only took about an hour or so to list them and ship them!

25 Things

This crazy "25 Random Things About Me" meme on Facebook is incredible. You know you've got something big happening when both TIME Magazine and the New York Times do a trend piece on it the same day.

The TIME piece (25 Things I Didn't Want to Know About You by Claire Suddath) is a tongue-in-cheek look at when sharing becomes oversharing, and also includes this amazing fact: "An estimated 5 million of these notes — that's 125 million facts — have appeared on [Facebook] within the past week."

The NYT article (Ah, Yes, More About Me? by Douglas Quenqua) goes a little bit deeper, exploring the value of the game as a writing exercise, and the fact that having a friend ask you to do it makes it compelling.

I've been fascinated by the meme since I saw the first one a few weeks ago. I must admit I read them all--even ones by people I barely know. When I finally got tagged and took the time to write my own, I found it to be a very interesting exercise. And getting the responses has been fun.