September 2013 - Matt Ralston's Blog

Why Having a Black or Gay Friend is Not Irrelevant

Sep

29

2013

Pretty much everyday, some straight guy will say something insensitive or poorly phrased regarding minorities or gay people, the media will pick up on it, the guy will issue an apology from a template he found on Quicken, and the scandal which effected nobody will blow over. Often times, the guy who said the insensitive ...

How Streaming Movies are Allowing Pseudo-Intellectuals to Pretend they’re Cultured

Sep

29

2013

Here’s an annoying thing that’s happened to me a few times recently: I’ll be talking to some guy, some L.A. hipster with glasses and bad genes, and the subject of movies will come up. At this point, this guy will bring up an older, seemingly off-the-radar, movie and tell me that I have to see ...

My Yelp Guide to L.A. Restaurants. 1

Sep

26

2013

First of all, I am not the type to write negative reviews. Anyone who has seen my Yelp account knows that I enjoy dining out, and that I respect the hard working people of restaurant industry, however, I would rather starve to death than revisit the following despicable excuses for eateries. Literally. I would rather ...

Have You Laughed at a Dead Person? Part I

Sep

24

2013

The other day I was sitting at the bar of a decent restaurant having dinner. There was a TV to the right and to the left above the bar. The one to the left was airing some previously recorded UFC fights, so every few minutes I was treated to the site of a guy bashing ...

What’s the Deal with Chemical Weapons?

Sep

16

2013

President Obama seems really opposed to chemical weapons. It is indeed a very fear-laden phrase. Sounds like something out of a Batman comic. The following are reasons why drawing a vast moral and categorical distinction between using gas to kill people or simply indiscriminately blowing them up with an unmanned drone are listed below: 1) ...

How to React to a Douchebag 2

Sep

11

2013

A few weeks ago I was traveling near Santa Barbara and I stopped to get gas. This was one of those large rural gas stations, so it contained a fully functioning Subway sandwich stand inside. I was thirsty, and I saw that the Subway had a fountain-drink station. Perfect! So as I’m paying for my ...

The Public Safety Report May Be Endangering Public Safety

Sep

6

2013

Sometimes I read the Public Safety Report of my former hometown paper, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in order to see what my friends have been up to. I’ve noticed a striking change over the last few years. The following is an actual report from last week: Janice Christine Smith, 21, of Fairbanks, was arrested ...

Networking 101

Sep

3

2013

Yesterday I was talking to a woman I know and she began listing the things she’d accomplished that day – went to the gym, had a healthy salad, got an oil change, and, wait for it… Did an hour of networking! Networking? What did she mean by this, I asked. Apparently this accomplishment of involved ...