Alpha Living

Awesome Men Throughout History: Dick Dale

Any Pulp Fiction fans in my readership will be familiar with the song ?Misirlou,? a badass piece of surf-rock that plays toward the beginning of the movie. Unfortunately, they might not be as familiar with Dick Dale, the Awesome Man who made that song famous. That’s a pity, because Dale’s style and onstage persona influenced

The Self-Made Man: Craig Newmark

Craigslist is a modern marvel. It’s part classifieds listing, part dating site, part employment site, and part window into the sad, isolated desperation in which many of us live. Seriously, take a stroll through Missed Encounters when you’ve got some free time. It’s a cabinet of broken toys in there.

Top Five Destinations of Medford

The first thing that pops into my head when I think of Medford, Oregon, other than as the last decent sized city when you leave Oregon on Interstate 5* (or first depending on your direction of travel) is private equity. A couple years ago I read an article (it was probably this or this) that

Top Five Movies of Jessica Alba

Jessica Alba makes me think of magazine covers. A quick internet search and I realize why. Yes, Jessica has been inundating my mind with her magic every time I pick up a gallon of milk, munchies or other miscellaneous sundries. If I was to believe in priming, and I?m not saying I don?t, I would

Awesome Men Throughout History: Abe Sherman

This week’s subject of Awesome Men Throughout History is a Baltimore icon, and something of a hyper-local legend for people who still remember old Baltimore (defined roughly as ?Baltimore before heavy industry went down the toilet?). His name was Abe Sherman, and I’ve been told by people who knew him that he was one of

Top Five Destinations of Reno

When I think of Reno, I reminisce about one of the best bachelor parties I ever attended. I arrived Friday night with the rest of the revelers, and we all found seats at the blackjack table, drinking beers and whiskey as the ebb and flow of the cards washed over our chip stacks. The night

The Self-Made Man: Frank Durkee

Baltimore’s Super Bowl victory (and the post-game interview with a very drunk Mayor Rawlings-Blake) has filled me with unusual amounts of civic pride, so I thought I’d take this week’s Self Made Men column to talk about a local entrepreneur: Durkee Enterprises founder Frank Durkee.

Top Five Movies of Rooney Mara

This may be the first year I didn?t watch the Super Bowl in its entirety. Even when I lived in Ireland and the game started after midnight, I found time and interest to watch it. However, this year, fantasy football broke me at last. I couldn?t watch a game without thinking about statistics instead of

Awesome Men Throughout History: Vince Lombardi

In honor of the Super Bowl (go Ravens!), this week’s Awesome Men Throughout History will focus on a man whose accomplishments as a football coach have made him something of a folk hero in American culture: Vince Lombardi. Lombardi coached the New York Giants, the Green Bay Packers (who transformed from a joke into an

The Self-Made Man: Lowtax

Most of this column’s featured self-starters, especially those who’ve used the Internet to establish themselves, have been fairly serious, earnest, business-oriented people. This is not the case for Rich ?Lowtax? Kyanka, creator of comedy website Something Awful, which has become one of the keystones of Internet culture since 1999, when the site was first founded.

Top Five Destinations of Redding, CA

Part of the reason that I?ve started this series is because I have been on road trips and had no clue where I should go to eat. It?s past nine o?clock, I?m dirt tired and I need to get started by 6 am the next morning, so I barely have time to eat, shit, shower

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