The personal has become political. It’s time to get involved, at the risk of alienating yourself from the legions you know, sheltered in a warm blanket of ignorance and distraction.

I just realized 40 minutes have passed while I’ve been playing with this thing.

Charlie Chaplin speaks in a rare, beautiful speech. If we lived by these words, life would be righteously wonderful.

Look closely. The picture on the left is our first look at the upper atmosphere of Jupiter. The one on the right is the surface of Venus. These two shots have had a peculiar impact on me since I first saw them this morning, which led me to a Carl Sagan quote that offered a bit of refreshing perspective in this ever-deepening ocean of chaos we all get swept up in.

Another ad editorial for CraveOnline – this time I put together a rundown of the 10 Best Revenge Films Ever Made, a tie-in for the Last House On The Left DVD release.

Since being assigned to handle the bulk of CraveOnline’s ad campaign editorials, I’ve produced content for various campaigns including Bud Light, Ikea, Smirnoff and several major movie studios.

Here’s one example: a Halloween film retrospective to bolster interest in the upcoming sequel.

A few weeks ago I had the good fortune of taking part in a press trip to the Philippines islands on a Reef Check expedition, sponsored by Malibu. That’s right, a liquor company sponsored a tropical diving trip for a bunch of pampered writers. Jealous yet?

President Abraham Lincoln, shortly before his death:

“Corporations have been enthroned . . . . An era of corruption in high places will follow and the money power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people . . . until wealth is aggregated in a few hands . . . and the republic is destroyed.”

Today is the day that Iranian authorities have promised – and are now delivering – a violent crackdown on what’s reported to be well over a million protesters in the streets, aware that something is very wrong with the results of an election in which a staggering 85% of the country reportedly turned out to vote.