Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 298

Love is in the air.

Love is in the air.

“She settled me down for a little while, but soon my demons...

“She settled me down for a little while, but soon my demons caught up with me. I started getting bored, so I started going out in the evenings. Ever since I was young, I always had this fear that if I stayed home for the night, I was going to miss out on something. So I’d go out drinking, then I’d wake up the next morning with her wagging her finger at me, and I’d feel bad, which would make me start drinking again. The final straw was when her six-year old son saw me drunk. He’d never seen me drunk before, and it scared him. So she broke up with me. That’s when I really went crazy. After a couple years, I checked myself into rehab. After I got out, I met a new girl. But after awhile my demons caught up with me.”

"He does math problems out loud in his sleep.""She collects...

"He does math problems out loud in his sleep."
"She collects vintage teacups."

ONE LAST CHANCE for anyone who missed out on last week’s...

ONE LAST CHANCE for anyone who missed out on last week’s fire sale. HONY BOOKS ARE $10.42 on Amazon until midnight tonight. The book retails for $29.99. Cheapest I’ve seen them in stores is $21. Amazon is actually taking about a $3 loss on the book, hoping you’ll get greedy and round off your order with a family set of Snuggies or an industrial strength juice blender. But that’s completely up to you.

http://amzn.to/1FBuzy4
Use the coupon code BOOKDEAL25

"I’m finding out that being an adult is a lot more than...

"I’m finding out that being an adult is a lot more than learning how to cook."

"I tried being a commodities broker for awhile, but everything...

"I tried being a commodities broker for awhile, but everything turned bad in 2008. Things got so bad that my boss checked himself into a hotel room and shot himself. I think he had lost something like ten million dollars in side trading. The weirdest thing was that the last few days were the happiest I’d ever seen him. Up until then, he’d always had such a sad, dour look on his face. He was constantly obsessing over how he could turn things around in the market. It was almost like he was stuck in a video game and he couldn’t get out. I think he felt a lot of relief once he decided to end it. He’d never called me into his office for any other reason than to talk about the markets. But right before he died, he called me into his office to talk about Star Wars.”

"I’m the lead designer for Stetson hats. I’ve never...

"I’m the lead designer for Stetson hats. I’ve never met someone as crazy about hats as me. My goal in life is for everyone to understand that there is a hat out there for them. I’m not even selling hats. I’m selling romance."

"I thought we had a close family until my grandmother died...

"I thought we had a close family until my grandmother died without leaving a will."

"I don’t think the library is threatened. Circulation of...

"I don’t think the library is threatened. Circulation of physical books has never been higher. But I wouldn’t even agree that libraries are in the book business. I think they are in the information sharing business. And it just so happens that books have been the primary method of sharing information for half a millennium. The library isn’t going to compete with the internet. It’s going to be part of the internet. New York libraries have one of the greatest collections of information in the world, and one of our goals is to have it all curated, linked, and navigable.”
"But once you’ve uploaded all your information, haven’t you made yourself obsolete?"
"Absolutely not. Libraries provide a third space that is neither home or work, where people can come together and do thinking work. There will always be that need. And a third of New York depends upon the library system for not only free books, but free computers as well. This is especially important to immigrants, because you don’t have to prove anything to get a library card."

“We met on a dating site. My username was ‘JeffFromBrooklyn’ and...

“We met on a dating site. My username was ‘JeffFromBrooklyn’ and his was ‘Philodemus’— which is the name of a 1st century philosopher or something. But what I noticed most was the part where he listed the films that he loved. Not only did he list great films, but he also chose specific scenes. He wrote things like: ‘In Casablanca, the look in Ingrid’s eyes when she sees Humphrey Bogart.’ Or ‘In Crimes and Misdemeanors, the desperation on Angelica Houston’s face when she knows the relationship is slipping through her fingers.’ As I read through the list, I noticed that each of the scenes he chose had something to do with intense love.”