Below, The RP and JYB3 share their personal fitness goals as part of this elite competition. And later this week, we will hear from their trainer — our web site’s own fitness expert, Josh Bowen.
Click here to watch a video with the official rules of the challenge. (SPOILER ALERT: Everyone’s a loser!)
And stay tuned for many exciting developments in the challenge — where you can join the combatants, and when you can win valuable prizes.
We encourage you to pick sides: We fully expect #TeamRP and #TeamJYB3 to trend on Twitter, blow up Facebook, and do whatever to Pinterest that Pinterest does.
Anyway, here are the big losers themselves:
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JYB3 (#TeamJYB3)
JYB3 BEFORE
I am announcing it to friends and family and anyone else who will listen.
I’m serious this time.
It’s not a New Year’s resolution. Just a December 8th start date. I’m not sure when the end date is. But it won’t be until 2013. And here’s what I’m going to do.
LOSE 15 POUNDS.
(or at least 10 pounds)
Jonathan Miller has challenged me and I told him, in no uncertain words, “I like the idea conceptually, but the working out part concerned me and make me reluctant at first. But I’m in. I’m all in. I mean I’m in. I’ll do it. I guess.”
So “It’s on!” And today is the day. Or maybe it’s tomorrow. We weren’t really clear on that. But what is clear is that I am committed to losing 15 pounds. (Or at least 10).
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I’ve been asked for a “Before” picture. To show beside my “after” picture once I’m through. That assumes two things: 1) I’ll actually finish this commitment and 2) that the “after” picture will actually be distinguishable for the “before” picture.
What I would like to do instead of a “before and after picture” is to reserve the option of
having two “after” pictures, assuming things go well. And a written “before” depiction for comparison purposes. (In addition to the “after” pictures, both of them, if it goes well), I will include a brief narrative description as well.
So, here, goes.
Seth Rogen shirtless
John Y Brown III (Before Description). Imagine Seth Rogan on a beach somewhere without a shirt and nearly knee length baggy shorts. But picture him about two inches shorter and with a slight Southern accent. Eating a Krispy Kreme donut. (I’d say imagine him 7 pounds lighter than he is in the movies….but because the camera adds about 10 pounds, instead imagine him about 3 pounds heavier than he is in real life and not on camera. Or if that’s too difficult because you are struggling to imagine Seth Rogen off camera and 10 pounds lighter, just go ahead and imagine him like in his movies buy 7 pounds lighter. (Just slightly less accurate that way because the added 10 pounds caused by the camera is inexact. But it’s close enough. If you’ve followed this description closely, you have a pretty good idea now of what my “before” picture looks like.
Or, for a simpler image. Just imagine Seth Rogan (movie not real life) shirtless and eating a Krispy Kreme donut. Minus 7.2 pounds (I’m factoring in the donut). And don’t imagine a Speedo. That’s not fair to anyone.
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THE RP (#TeamRP)
The RP BEFORE
About a decade ago, I started training with the extraordinary Josh Bowen. He pushed, bullied and harangued me into shape. By the time we were done, I weighed 175 lbs and was — with no exaggeration — in the best shape of my life.
After a few years, I thought that I had learned all I could from my guru, my fitness sherpa. I continued hitting the gym, this time by myself, using all the advice Josh had given me. A few years later, I was roughly in the same shape.
Then I got greedy, and exercised too hard and did something (used the elliptical in wrong form? put too much weight on the leg press?) that led to a bulging disk in my lower back. My exercise routine shut down as I went to all sorts of places for treatment — doctors, osteopaths, chiropractors, acupuncture, drum circles, etc.
The RP BEFORE BEFORE. Posing with Josh in 2005
Finally, I listened to my wife, found a Yoga instructor, whose stretching and strength routine helped ease the pain. Thank you to the marvelous David and Erin Smith of the Om Place in Winchester!
But without exercising regularly, I gained a bunch of weight. Then I lost it, worked out too hard, hurt myself and gained a bunch of weight again. I simply have never been able to figure out the right balance of working out hard enough to lose weight, but not too hard to hurt myself.
In the meantime, I aged. I developed both borderline high blood pressure and the same stomach acid problem that plagued my dad. I’m on acid blockers, but for both of my conditions, my doctor was insistent: I have to lose at least 10 pounds.
I’m at 190 now. I need to be at maximum 180. I’d love to get down to 175 — where I felt best — but losing those final 5 pounds by myself always led to other physical problems.
So, I’m back to the master for help.
I eat pretty well, but could always use some nutrition tips. But really, I am looking to Josh for a weight-losing exercise program that will not exacerbate my disk problem.
And I look forward to sharing with the RP Nation.
Read the rest of… The RP vs. JYB3 — An EPIC Fitness Challenge
Yesterday the President warned Congressional Republicans not to mess with him and the country when it comes to raising the debt ceiling.
Oh debt ceiling. If I had to describe you in one word, it would be seducer. That’s right…seducer, you naughty debt ceiling, you. Members of Congress got together and gorged themselves at the table of deficit spending, ordering up Porterhouse sized tax cuts for their rich friends and a heaping helping of extended unemployment benefits for their out of work neighbors.
Krystal Ball
Now the bill comes due and when it’s time to whip out the national credit card, you whisper your sweet nothings into the Tea Party’s ear and the GOP threatens to dine and dash as a matter of “principle.” After all, who wants to put $16 trillion on the national credit card? Who is pro-debt? No one. GOP extremists get to pretend they are the adults in the room, railing about spending that has already happened and that they agreed to. And the best part, you naughty naughty debt ceiling, you offer them the chance to get some more goodies in the form of more tax cuts for their rich benefactors or the righteous thrill of cutting Medicaid assistance from those Obama-loving takers.
For nearly a hundred years now, you were this boring, nondescript wallflower, never drawing attention to yourself. When Congress, through spending and tax cuts, came up against your limits, you were raised without a word…they barely gave you a second glance. Sure it was a waste of time to have to deal with you but waste of time is what Congress does! You’ve been raised 74 times since the 60’s, 18 times under Reagan alone!
You saw wars, peace, a man on the moon, and no matter how you batted your fiscal eyelashes, nobody cared. Invisible. Now, all of the sudden, the Tea Partiers can’t keep their hands off you.
Like a case of fiscal syphilis you now put the entire body in peril. Yes, I know this disease is no fault of your own. Congressional Republicans have decided that consequences be damned: threatening the country with national default by refusing to lift you (after having already voted to cut taxes and spend until you absolutely must be raised) is a useful tool for getting their way. I know you love all the attention, but seriously, debt ceiling, this isn’t a harmless flirtation.
I know you think that no sane person or party would actually cause a national default for the sake of a temper tantrum and the chance for a few extra fiscal goodies, the chance to cop a fiscal feel, if you will. But alas, we have looked into their eyes, and they actually seem crazy enough to do it.
And so dear debt ceiling, it’s time to say goodbye. You can’t seduce our Congress any more with your promises of phony courage and self-righteous hostage taking…the gig’s up, dear, but I do know this great looking bunch in China that we’d love for you to meet.
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Dec 7, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Advice texted to my son today after we had lunch and he asked an important question I didn’t answer adequately at the time.
Me: “You asked me if there were many dishonest people in government and business. The answer, as I said earlier, is no. There are very few and they are radioactive and never last long.
But there are plenty of people everywhere who can sometimes be selfish or short-sighted or petty. And that is disappointing. You can’t change them and just learn to maneuver around them. And then you must be careful not to get sucked in to their game of playing things small.
Playing small is not a game worth getting good at if you are going to ask a lot of yourself in life–whatever you end of doing in your work.
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Dec 7, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET
We’re truly standing on the precipice of the fiscal cliff. Our leaders have known about this problem since August 2011, and now, with less than a month left, they’re barely even in Washington. They’re flying in Tuesday morning, taking a train out Thursday night, and they only plan on staying in session four more days.
Join us in sending a message to our leaders in Washington: it’s time to park the planes, stop the trains and get the job done. We don’t have much time left — act now!
With business casual all the rage in many offices, the pairing of dress shirts and pants is a hot topic. In some ways, this is actually easier than putting together an outfit where you’re considering suit (or blazer and pants), shirt, tie, and sometimes pocket square patterns. But still, based on empirical data (a.k.a. what I see when hanging out in clients’ closets), a lot of people get it wrong. Below are 7 quick and easy points to keep in mind when selecting a business-casual dress shirt and pants combo.
1) Avoid wearing striped pants with just your dress shirt. This tends to look a little “off,” like you broke your striped suit apart and wore just the pants themselves.
2) If you broke rule #1 and are wearing striped pants with just a dress shirt, don’t worry I won’t hunt you down. Just promise me that your dress shirt isn’t striped too.
3) If your pants have a pattern (plaid, windowpane, check, etc.), go with a solid shirt, and vice versa. Otherwise you border on looking clownish. Some fabrics are “tone-on-tone,” which means they have a subtle pattern to their weave, like a herringbone, but are still all one color. Fabrics like that read as solids and are perfectly fine to wear with patterns. See above how, viewed closely, there appears to be a pattern in the shirt, but overall it reads as a solid.
4) If you’re very tall, you may want to break up your height by choosing pant and shirt colors that contrast one another, creating a horizontal line at your waist (see above left). On the flip, if you want to look taller, choose combinations where the colors are more similar in depth and intensity so as to create one long line top-to-bottom (above right).
5) White goes with everything. In fact, the white dress shirt is a wardrobe cornerstone — about as important as, say, a belt or a navy blazer. It comes in especially handy on the inevitable running-late mornings when you need to grab-and-go.
6) A contrast collar shirt is mostly worn with a suit for a Wall Street-y look. But if you’re going to wear it with just dress pants, opt for pants in a dark hue.
7) For specific color recommendations, I like brown pants with pink, light blue, ecru and yellow shirts. And gray pants provide a solid anchor to brightly colored or boldly patterned shirts.
Do you have trouble pairing dress shirts and pants? Leave me a comment or question below. I’d love to hear what’s on your mind.
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Thu Dec 6, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
The Politics of Tech
This news hit late last week and didn’t make it into the previous post, but it’s still relevant now; Syria has been disconnected from the Internet. All 84 of its IP addresses have become unreachable. [renesys]
In response Google and Twitter have opened Speak2Tweet – international phone lines where Syrians with internet connection cut can leave a voicemail which will be automatically tweeted. [Google+]
The U.S. Dept. of Energy creates “Manhattan Project” with the goal to develop battery and energy storage technologies that are five times more powerful and five times cheaper than today’s within five years. [ComputerWorld]
The US House has voted 397-0 to approve a resolution to keep Internet control out of UN hands. [The Hill]
Tim Cook, who took over as CEO of Apple after Steve Jobs, has announced that beginning next year one of the lines of Mac computers will be built exclusively in the US. This has to be considered a smart PR move considering what a PR disaster their relationship with Chinese manufacturer Foxconn has turned into. [NBC News]
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Dec 6, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Take me out to the ball game. Take me out to the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack. I don’t care if I never get back.
The immortal words of the time honored “7th Inning Stretch” –a moment of pause to stretch, relax, refocus and retool for the final two innings of the game.
And it’s for the fans more than the players.
So….I propose the healthful benefits of the few minute long 7th Inning Stretch be extended to Corporate America.
Of course, we’ll need a catchy tune with easy to remember lyrics. But I’ve already thought about that. Every weekday at 3:15 I propose everyone in every business organization, profit and non-profit, be encouraged to stand, stretch, peel away that glaze over their eyes as they get ready to bring the day home. And the anthem should be “Boogie Nights” by Heatwave.
This could work. And insurance companies can even sponsor personal service announcements encouraging participation.
I mean, c’mon, who doesn’t like the song “Boogie Nights,” and knows the words, and feels a little bit more hopeful and energized after hearing?
Jeff Smith spent a year in prison. But what he discovered inside wasn’t what he expected — he saw in his fellow inmates boundless ingenuity and business savvy. He asks: Why don’t we tap this entrepreneurial potential to help ex-prisoners contribute to society once they’re back outside? (From the TED Talent Search event TED@NewYork.)
By Jonathan Miller, on Thu Dec 6, 2012 at 9:15 AM ET
Must read book review by Ashley Fetters at Atlantic.com about what’s bound to be my next Kindle purchase: Alan Light’s The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah.” Here’s an excerpt:
Click here to review/purchase book
Pop standards don’t really get written anymore. Most of the best-known standards were composed before the arrival of rock and roll; perhaps something about the new brand of mass-marketed, Ed Sullivan-fueled stardom just didn’t quite jive with the generous old-world tradition of passing songs around the circuit, offering to share.
So when an obscure Leonard Cohen song from 1984 was resurrected in the ’90s, then repurposed and reinvented by other artists so many times it became a latter-day secular hymn—well, that was kind of like a pop-music unicorn sighting.
Alan Light’s new book The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah” traces the bizarre cultural history of that very unicorn: “Hallelujah,” a song that lay dormant in Cohen’s vast repertoire for more than a decade before its popularity surged up again with a posthumous Jeff Buckley single. “Hallelujah” has metamorphosed over the years from a cheesy, reverb-heavy B-side oddity on an album Cohen’s label rejected to a mystical, soul-stirring pop canticle that’s played today at just as many weddings as funerals. Light reverentially details every stage in the evolution—and along the way, he reveals the compelling stories behind some of its most iconic interpretations.
So what’s your favorite version? The original Leonard Cohen? The Jeff Buckley masterpiece that made it famous? The mournful use of the song in Shrek 2 or the third season of The O.C.?
I will go first: As I reluctantly admitted in my column last year, Top 5 Pretty Boys I Begrudgingly Admire, I’m a closet J.T. fan, and his gritty collaboration with Matt Morris at the 2010 “Hope for Haiti Now” benefit concert is my second favorite performance in the Timberlake portfolio. (Behind, of course, his globally significantwork on The Barry Gibb Talk Show.)
Please share your favorite in the comments section. And to guide your selection, we’ve posted some videos below of the most popular renditions:
Read the rest of… What’s Your Favorite “Hallelujah”? Listen & Vote Here
