All posts by Brendon Lemon

A gig, a joint, a position, a role, a racket, a profession, a grind, they’re all still a job. Employment. If you’re a creative type, living in the rust belt, or were as foolish as our staff and majored in liberal arts, you’ve probably found yourself unemployed or scrambling from project to project in this post-career employment economy. At some point you’ll have to make ends meet and this will mean one thing: working for someone else. And if your only skills take place outside of cyberspace, or you speakRead More

By the time you read this I’ll be 29, probably. One last year of my 20s. It’s settling on me like the realization that five compartments were flooding settled on Thomas Andrews, my 20s will be over. I will become 30… I wished that I had developed a better vision for what I wanted my life to be like when I was 30. If I had I probably wouldn’t be broke & living in my parents’ house in west Michigan. Maybe not majoring in Philosophy would’ve helped too. But thisRead More

“Everyone in the neighborhood rejoices?” or “A bunch of meatheads have to look for something else to talk about?” you’re probably thinking. You’re right, there’s a tremendous and well-deserved reputation for Crossfit gyms to be full of braggadocios who are constantly throwing around jargon like “WOD,” “PR,” “AMRAP,” and the like. The Crossfit experience has definitely bred these things into members, but what it’s also bred is what’s given rise to the cultish following: fitness, healthy habits, weight loss. I can already feel your eyes rolling at your computer screen,Read More

As the economy teeters back from it’s near seven-year dance of riding on a single rail companies are once again starting to hire. And with so many eager participants to no longer be underemployed, HR departments are barely treading water above a deluge of applications. This perfect storm has given birth to the unhallowed beastie of employment-seeking, the kraken of job-getting: the group interview. In the wide and awkward world of acutely uncomfortable moments that is attaining employment, there is almost no greater circus of discomfort than the group interview. ARead More

1. It’s really hard, and you enjoy a more casual amount of exercise. Walking from the couch to the fridge, for example. 2. Those weird pull-ups thy do look dumb and probably don’t even work. I bet you can do 30 of them in a row already. Go ahead, try it. 3. Your ego would really take a hit getting put to shame by a ripped and gorgeous Crossfit girl, better not risk it. 4. You don’t want to lift weights and get bulky like a man, you prefer yourRead More

First, step back and realize how totally insane the events in Paris have become. Take a deep breath and exit Tweetdeck. Close your Facebook tab on Chrome. Now wander over to the window and look outside. Notice how unless you’re in Paris, nothing has changed. Anything still sitting with you? The frustration and anger you feel toward someone thousands of miles away murdering a couple of satirical cartoonists is justified. Don’t feel anything? No worries, I’m not going to hound you about it. The reactions to the Charlie Hebdo shooting,Read More

Hey Brian!   How’s it going man? Still rocking that 8th grade haircut?   So I was recently watching The Daily Show when I saw a brief clip of what you said to Jon Stewart (http://youtu.be/9To_NyVryxM), and boy, Jon is right.   Giving you the benefit of the doubt, maybe it’s just the lying (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2014/07/08/punditfact-scorecards-show-false-statements-on-fox-news-nbcmsnbc/), horrible news network you work for and their destructive culture that has got you saying things so petty. I mean, I can’t believe you really support eugenics (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/20/brian-kilmeade-apologizes_n_241135.html). Maybe being on TV everyday and having to just keepRead More

If the rise of superhero movies has taught us anything lately, it’s that audiences still crave stories about lone heroes taking on a world of injustice (seriously, to the tune of $95 million for the second weekend of Captain America: The Winter Soldier). Spider Man, Batman, The Man of Steel, heck, even movies like Divergent, 300, and The Hunger Games all prove it; people are obsessed with stories about someone with powerful, unique inner potential. Has anyone ever watched Bond, James Bond, kicking ass and taking names while looking slickRead More

I knew it right away, after our first date, heading back to my apartment on the Metro line eight; this girl was different, awesomely different. We talked for hours as we wandered at dusk from the bars on Ile St. Louis to bars on Cité, listening to street musicians. Maybe it was Paris, maybe I became mature enough to chill out and go with the flow (probably not), or maybe it’s that she’s just a uniquely awesome girl (probably so), but also, maybe it’s just European women. In any case,Read More

Barbecue sauce, weekend benders, porn, television, movies, Hulu. What do these all have in common? In reasonable doses they can add new dimensions of fun and texture to your life, but too much and the law of diminishing returns kicks in. What’s delicious? Hot wings and barbecue. What’s disgusting? One wing in a tub of Stubb’s. This is what personal media has become to me: a constant binge of distraction. Let me clarify something. I’m 28. I’m in the doldrums of the twenty-something. I’m now filling the void which wasRead More