The Resident - Hosted by Lori Harfenist » Personal Videos

Neal Stephenson is Awesome

TheResident — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:36:21 +0000

I have been focusing on things that make me mad lately. Which, you know, was kind of what I started The Resident for anyway.

But I also have used it to showcase people and things I like, too. So this week I thought it was time to show off a new super favorite of mine, writer Neal Stephenson.

A friend had lent me his book, “Snow Crash,” because I had expressed to him the giant black hole in my life at that time, no new good writers for me to explore. About two chapters in, I was hooked.

About a year and a half later, I own every book Mr. Stephenson has written. And they are all supremely dog-eared. Each one is better than the next. Each one has infinite amounts of laughter, wisdom, poetry and hope to offer.

And one is actually 3,000 pages long. If you’ve ever read a 3,000 page book – besides the Bible, get over yourself – then you probably have experienced the kind of grieving sensation I had when finishing Mr. Stephenson’s opus, The Baroque Cycle (which actually spans several books, but is still kind of ONE BOOK). I miss all the characters and their world.

So I thought I’d tell you about this guy, Mr. Neal Stephenson, so that you too can live in that world and make it come alive again.

In all the worlds he creates, actually: go live in them for a while and enjoy. Whether you are a sci-fi nut or a romantic, there is truly something for everyone in his body of work.

Big Bangin’ Theory

TheResident — Fri, 28 May 2010 16:08:51 +0000

When it comes to tracing the path of life as it travels through the universe, I’m pretty sure Stephen Hawking has it all figured out. I’d like to think it’s because I don’t have as much time on my hands as – and have more options than – he does – as awful and WRONG as that might sound – but it’s more that it’s just not as much of a priority for me. The whole figuring out the big picture thing just seems to fall by the wayside over and over again on my list of to-do’s.

But I’m still really interested in it, and I know that a lot of people who tune in to The Resident are a LOT smarter than I am and DO take the time to research these kinds of things, so this week I’m shamelessly asking to hear your two cents on the matter. Do you have a big bangin’ theory of your own, or know of someone else’s that seems right on point? This week, let’s talk about that. If you feel like it. Otherwise, don’t you just love the background in this one?

Conservative Christians Can Suck It

TheResident — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 02:45:18 +0000

I’ve been meaning to do a piece on the hypocrisy of so-called Christians for a while, because I’m REALLY FED UP with people thinking that if they say they’re Christian it means they can act however they want.

It’s the opposite, you hypocrites!

But, being a girl who believes in not throwing stones whilst living in a glass house and all that, I had to make this video first. But now that I did that, I figured it was time to go for it.

So, enjoy this sermon on the green screen where I clearly go for it. NOTE: The southern accent just came out. I am not southern. Apparently my inner preacher is, though.

Who’s With Me?

TheResident — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:37:16 +0000

Vent. A little ventilation is goooood for people.

This week, I just wanted to vent. Sometimes I like to do that, which you probably know by now.

Honestly that’s all I got. I feel better now. You?

Why People Suck

TheResident — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:11:13 +0000

I often have this same thought over and over and over again. When I read a quote from Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri’s Voyage du Tour du Monde (1719) on the first page of Neal Stephenson’s The Confusion (2004), it made me want to video-ize the thought. Here’s the quote: “So great is the dignity and excellency of humane nature, and so active those sparks of heavenly fire it partakes of, that they ought to be look’d upon as very mean, and unworthy the name of men, who thro’ pusillanimity, by them call’d prudence, or thro’ sloth, which they stile moderation, or else through avarice, to which they give the name of frugality, at any rate withdraw themselves from performing great and noble actions.” And now please to enjoy the video-izing of this thought I keep having. Have you thought the same thing, too? I mean, since you’re on my site, I can’t help but think you’ve thought it, too. This week, let’s talk about it!

Keeping the Faith

TheResident — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:19:05 +0000

I like to talk about religion and/or spirituality on this show a lot, don’t I? I can’t help it, though, because these topics are on my mind a lot. So the idea in this video just popped into my head the other day when I was walking down a street in New York. Just, wham! Hey, what if faith is actually some crazy memory we have from before we were born? Like we remember that we totally were just a part of the big master plan out there before, and now here we are trapped in our human forms that can’t possibly comprehend where we were before, but somehow we just KNOW we were someplace else before and hey! That memory is faith. This is probably not going to be the last stab-in-the-dark definition I give to faith, but it’s an interesting one to me. I’m sure I’m not the first one to think it up, either. If you’ve heard of it anyplace else, I’d love to know because if someone else has explored this idea, chances are they’ve probably done it a hell of a lot better than I. I mean, this video is fraught with bad language choices. Not to mention grotesquely unwashed hairs. So please, if you have any related material on this, let me know! And if you think this is the most banal idea you’ve ever heard, feel free to tell me that, too. Though there’s a good chance I won’t respond to those emails. Just sayin’.

Second Chances

TheResident — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:26:18 +0000

I’m not sure I’ve ever told you guys this, but I was raised Catholic. I went to Catholic school and everything, can you believe it? Maybe that’s why I basically went bananas in college in terms of bad behavior. I had been a goody-goody all my life, so I lived my teenage rebellion in my twenties. I regret nothing! Even though I went through this raucous time, I still managed to hold onto a lot of what my Catholic upbringing taught me. I mean, I have largely dumped the religion, and all religions, in general, because all of them have major, fundamental flaws. I consider myself to be extremely spiritual, but religious I am not. One of the main takeaways from Cathocism – and probably for many Christian religions – for me is the power of forgiveness. There’s nothing like it! The bottom line is we’re all human, and we all mess up, so who are we to hold it against other people when they screw up? I think very few people do bad things on purpose. I think most people are trying to do their best and are usually just ignorant or forgetful or something else benign when they transgress other people’s boundaries of goodness. And then when they realize they messed up, most people feel really, truly horrible about it. We’ve all been there. So why NOT forgive that person? It makes them feel so much better, and it also makes YOU feel better. Plus it eliminates all that residual crap, the resentment and the bitterness and all that lingering crap that eats you up inside. So just FORGIVE and move on, and it’s better for everyone. So freeing. So this being my general attitude, it was difficult when I heard that Michael Vick was getting a second chance. Watch the video to hear more.

Why Me?

TheResident — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:22:52 +0000

I’m pretty sure everyone has asked themselves that question at some point or other, right? Everything just seems to be going wrong and you can’t catch a break and one more stupid thing happens and you look to the heavens, shake your fists, and ask, Why me? This happened to me recently when I was having a really, truly, lousy day. At the end of it, I went to catch a train home, and as soon as I reached the platform the doors closed and I had to wait a half hour for another train. And yep, I said it: why me? And then I saw all the other people waiting for the train, too, and laughed at my dumb self. I started to wonder if those people who had just missed the train along with my lame self were thinking the same “Why me?” question. And that got me thinking about the idea that every human on the planet experiencing the same amount of pleasure and pain. What if everything was balanced, and every human had a certain amount of happiness and sadness that they felt that was relative to their circumstances, yet came out to the same amount as everyone else? Rich people might seem to have more happiness than poor people, but what if that wasn’t the case? What is rich people aren’t able to experience some happinesses because they never have to work for some things? Just by getting things easily, they don’t get to experience the thrill of getting something through really hard work? I’m not saying I really think that things are balanced, but it’s an interesting idea and it COULD be possible. The bottom line either way, though, is that everyone has Why-Me moments, so the answer to that question should always be, Why-NOT-me?

Cancer Sucks: This Time’s a Charm

TheResident — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:01:20 +0000

For those of you who are new here, a little personal background: my dad died of cancer not too long ago. I talked about it publicly, which resulted in a lot of people sharing their cancer stories, well wishes, and words of wisdom. It was really great to hear from people who have gone through the same thing – watching a loved one die of this wretched disease – and to hear what they learned from it and how they have learned to live with it. So to all of you who wrote in, I really want to say thanks. It’s taken me a while to revisit the subject, even though many people wanted to continue the conversation. Well, I’m ready to talk about it again, and I thought a great way to do it would be to interview Don Wilhelm, FOUR TIME cancer survivor. When my dad died, he wrote to me to share his experience, and he told me about the book he wrote, “This Time’s A Charm: Lessons of a Four-Time Cancer Survivor.” In it, he chronicles his 9-year battle with cancer, which continues to this day. But the book mainly focuses on what he sees as the key to his getting through: a positive outlook on life. Sounds so simple, but it might be the hardest thing – especially in the face of adversity. So, this week I’m sharing his story and his words with a phone interview I did with him recently. I hope you find some inspiration in it, because it’s my way of sharing a little positivity back with you, for all the good vibes you guys have sent me.

You Suck at Email!

TheResident — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:45:12 +0000

This video might be funny, and it might contain some social commentary, but I’m filing it under personal videos because I’m so pissed off at people and their crappy email etiquette that it has become, indeed, quite personal. I have friends that think they’re too cool to spend time being considerate in their email replies. They want to come off as witty or interesting, too cool to be nice, full of quips, that kind of thing. And they, for years, have annoyed me with their three-word email responses which rarely address what needs to be addressed and always leave me with the quandry: do I email back and say, please re-read this email and answer my question, I really need to do the answer!? Or, do I just give up on the medium and call them so they are forced to actually listen a bit more. The worst. I hate it! And it’s been going on for years. But now, crappy email etiquette seems to have gone outside the realm of just lame friends and into the realm of business. More and more, people just feel like it’s ok to not respond to email that needs responses. Hi, client, where’s the check you’ve owed me for 6 months? You know what the response is to that email? Crickets! Silence! Nada! Who in their right mind thinks this is ok? I would NEVER treat someone I owed money to like that. I pay out my crew even before I get paid for the job, which means I never have money and it always sucks, but you know what? I’d still rather do that then owe people money. And yet here are these companies that owe me money actually not responding to my email inquiries, which I’d like to say are always polite and nice. Then there are people who ask me to pitch them ideas or send them spec work for potential future work, and I do, and they just don’t get back to me. If you don’t like the work, just say it! It’s not like I’ve never faced rejection before. That’s part of the territory. What SHOULDN’T be part of the territory are people leaving you wondering, what happened? Did they look and not like it? Did they not have time to look yet? What’s the deal? Just tell me the deal so I can move on. We’re all adults here, I can handle it if you didn’t like the work. What I can’t handle is you just ignoring me like we didn’t just have meetings for a month. Again, I’d never do that! Face the music people and just be honest. Tell me you haven’t looked at it, tell me your company ran out of money, tell me you hated it – I don’t care, just let me know where I stand. The last bad email etiquette issue that I’ll vent about this week is how people whip off 3 word email responses that literally have nothing to do with the email I sent. Can you not read? Did your school never focus on reading comprehension? Are you really just too busy to grasp the main points and questions of a 100-word missive? Worst. l People’s email etiquette is the WORST these days, I hate it, and I want them to stop being such bad emailers. NOW. See? Told you it was personal. I feel better now.