Important Announcement

Due to a family emergency, This week's The Brian Factor will be postponed until later this weekend.

More details to follow first chance I get....


-Brian Rodriguez

TBF will resume Dec 1st

Hey y'all! Marie and I are taking this week off for the holiday and we'll be back on Dec.1st with an all new exciting edition of The Brian Factor. So from us here at TBF have a Happy Thanksgiving, be safe and remember that just cause you're full of turkey...

Don't Stop Thinking for Yourself!!!!!

With Love,
Brian Rodriguez (Radical Genius) and Marie Pierce (Super Editor Extrodinaire (and no less of a genius))

A little Tool to help your Monday

Parabol
By : Tool

So familiar and overwhelmingly warm
This one, this form I hold now.
Embracing you, this reality here,
This one, this form I hold now, so
Wide eyed and hopeful.
Wide eyed and hopefully wild.

We barely remember what came before this precious moment,
Choosing to be here right now. Hold on, stay inside...
This body holding me, reminding me that I am not alone in
This body makes me feel eternal. All this pain is an illusion.

Echoes: Ageism

All Responses Posted On 11/16/06

Question From Daniel:

How come you've never shown any pics of yourself? Are you like totally disfigured or have you just been really lazy to take some pics or is it something else entirely?

Response From Brian:

There are many reasons to why I'm faceless:

1. I'm no supermodel, and in the world of the superficial, I'd stick out like a sore thumb.

2. I read two very useful books:

"How To Be A Writer And Still Keep Your Identity A Complete Mystery" By Thomas Pynchon

And

"How To Be Controversial And Still Be Alive To Tell About It" By Salman Rushdie

3. I just don't take great pics, everytime the flash goes off, my eye twitches all weird or my head turns and hell last time I chose to grow out my beard and hair and walk around without a shirt on, the Bigfoot footage started showing up on TV again.

4. I also believe that I don't think I need to show my face, I've often believed that when you create something, you aim to create something that will resonate through time both in your lifetime and beyond, You listen to pieces from Beethoven, Bach, Tchaikovsky. Everyone knows their works but few recall what they even looked like. Now I'm not claiming to be on their level of fame, I AM NOT THAT FULL OF MYSELF TO BELIEVE THAT I AM THE GREATEST THING TO HAPPEN TO THE WORLD SINCE JESUS, WHO DO YOU THINK I AM, KANYE WEST?

Even though I'm also not looking for a gold digger... but that's just common logic.

5. Yeah I'm pretty lazy about certain things, Shit... I was supposed to be involved in the NANO writing competition THREE YEARS AGO!!!! I'm still getting reminded about it to this day...And I do plan to enter, it's on my things to do list, behind running with the bulls and reading "War And Peace".

(By the way the NANO writing competition is not affiliated with Apple even thought you were thinking it.)


Question From Viktor:

I loved having Pink Floyd open up this week's column, Where did you come up with the idea of using songs to open your column?

Responses From Brian:

Well, I listen to music everyday for around 8-12 hours a day, I listen to various types of music: Rock, Metal, Electronica, Israeli Goa Trance, even Classical (both rock and orchestra music) if the mood hits. An ongoing theme in every song I open with is obviously the fact that the lyrics and even the title fits in the theme of the column's subject. Majority of last season's columns were started up with Nine Inch Nails' songs but this year, I wanted to expand with other new artists so this year you'll be reading songs from various artist: Killswitch Engage, Nine Inch Nails, Pink Floyd and others TBD.

Question From Robbie:

What do you really think about age differences in dating?

Response From Brian:

Everyone has a different idea of what's right and wrong. Perception exists but really it's our own perception that hinders us from enjoying life when you should embrace it. Everyone acts like it's a major taboo to date someone who's older or younger than you, when it's not. If you're with someone who makes you happy, then that's all you need to know. If I had to say it in a fancier way then here it is: "Age is a number, and love is beyond a number."

The first woman I ever loved was younger than me (A little over a year in difference), and I was blissfully happy cause with her I had everything I ever wanted (which goes to show you how simple a guy like me can really be in matters of what he wants in life.) Unfortunately it didn't last... But no matter what divided us in the end, all the love and happiness that we did have is permanently etched in my being, I use it to remind me that if you're patient enough you can have your heart's desire, the journey may be long, and the reward may not even last but in that one instant, you have everything you can ever want and you feel absolutely complete...

that's something that no one can ever take away from you....

I've since continued on in my life, I've met many beautiful women that vary in age, all of which have become great friends in my life. In fact the last woman I showed genuine interest in was older than me, we had great conversations and I felt a genuine connection. It never went anywhere because at the time I was still recovering from my previous relationship. The point I'm really trying to say is that when you click with somebody then age becomes what it really is... just a number and like any random number, you toss it aside and just live it up if you both want it bad enough....

Soundboard: This is gonna be fun

This is gonna be fun

Headphones are on

Aphex Twin is playing

I love 'Drukqs'

Always leaves me inspired

Going through the questions

Giving great answers

Echoes will be good this week.

You got something to say?

Do it now.....


-B.R.

Soundboard

"Perhaps Imagination is only Intellegence having fun."
- George Scialabba

I don't know why I wrote that.... The lack of November rain has officially messed with my thought process.

Also remember that you have until THURSDAY EVENING!!!! to turn in any submissions to 'Echoes'.

Thank You,

-B.R.

TBF: Ageism

"Time" (Pink Floyd)

Ticking away the moments that make up the dull day,

You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way.

Kicking around on a piece of ground in your hometown,

Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.

Tired of lying in the sunshine, staying home to watch the rain,

You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.

And then one day you find that ten years have got behind you,

No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.

And you run and run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking,

And racing around to come up behind you again.

The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older,

Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time,

Plans that either come to naught or a half page of scribbled lines.

Hanging on in a quiet desperation is the English way,

The time is gone, the song is over, thought i'd have something more to say...

In life there are two absolutes: We will be born and we will die, so without question we are taught to cherish our lives and everything that we experience. Notably one aspect is common amongst everyone...is that we don't feel different than the person we were ten years ago. In essence our minds and our souls are
still the same through out life, it's really the body that changes, not the person.

Yet today we live in a society were youth and beauty are promoted beyond reason. In Hollywood you'll hear a name as if they're to be the next great Hollywood actor, then next year another name is thrown out and in the following year another... notice a trend? What once held as the center hub of great talent is now a revolving door of fresh young faces who don't go to create the next great cinematic classic but instead go for their 15 minutes of fame, and step aside for the next young hopeful.

Even outside of Hollywood, In business, politics, pop culture, and without question the dating scene, this pattern arises to discard the talented and the true for the appealing... So tonight we examine this great flaw in society today.

Our topic on this week's The Brian Factor: Ageism

Ageism is bias against a person or group on the grounds of age. When that bias is the primary motivation behind acts of discrimination against that person or group, then those acts constitute age discrimination.

Ageism is usually divided into two forms: Against the old citing bullshit claims as dependency and senility. Ageism also effects the young often calling them immature, insubordinate and irresponsible. Thus leaving the question, Who the fuck do you want working for you... The Justice League?

THE TWO DEVILS OF AGEISM

Without question it all comes down to two specific factors (No Pun Intended)

First up: MONEY

On average older workers make more money than their younger counterparts, for that reason alone many firms and employers are reluctant to hire them. In truth being older and experience as a whole is a double edged sword in the job market, with age comes experience thus allowing for jobs to be finished with a often a very high degree of professionalism.

Thus they are entitled to a higher wage than someone else, but with economics, demand can change overnight, and the company can go from the "go-go" it once had to pretty much comatose. and when looking to salvage their company, they'll either cut loose the person who makes the most or the least amount of money, and while it'd be easier to cut the newbie loose, yet they'll often cut the higher paid individual due to the fact that they can always train the newbie in everything that you did and so they'll have someone who can do your job (although not as well as you) and is overall cheaper to keep around.

As for the young, Let's face facts, that whole "immature, insubordinate and irresponsible" statement is true without question. Yet it is only through working do you shed your immaturity and irresponsibility. And as for being insubordinate, when you're young, you think you know it all, that the whole world revolves around you, that you are the king.

THE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND YOU, SO WAKE UP AND SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!

The fact alone that you think you're hot shit only goes to prove that you're an idiot! If you think that respect and faith in your abilities as an employee is automatically given to you the minute you apply for the job, then it only convinces me further that you should never have children on the grounds that you will reverse the current course of known human evolution.

While it is true that having the right experience will take you further in business, you can't buy experience, you earn it yourself by going out and busting ass.

NUMBER TWO: STRAIGHT UP SEX APPEAL

Beauty and Youth pretty much go hand in hand. No matter how old you are, you will see someone who is attractive and you're entranced automatically. So would you base this fact for hiring the perfect employee, well NO!!! but it happens anyway. The end result on average: Sexual Harassment suits.

MY TWO CENTS

Let's face it, There is nothing remotely fair about ageism, to say that a person is unable to do a job because they know their history by living the 80's as opposed to watching "I Love the 80's" is bullshit. If you can do a job really well then you should be the person to do the job, as for youth, they have the potential to work hard, but you can't assume for them to know it all, you learn to do something by being taught to do it.

One of the oldest and truest beliefs is that your elders are there to teach you, to prepare you for life and everything that can and usually does lie ahead. Now call me crazy, but you might want someone like that in the office to help the young bloods get the job down and of hire some young bloods who can learn the job.

The idea for this column came from a good friend of mine who kept insisting that she was approaching the old woman lifestyle and is en route to a rocking chair so she can work on her needle point, and while I can always use another sweater (I prefer a dark color, go with black) I have to tell her what I think, so news flash:

YOU ARE NOT OLD, YOU'RE NOT EVEN 30!!!!!

Yet she thinks she's old. why? Because now society has this insane rule that if you're over 28, then you should be collecting social security. Now you see people going around sticking botox, getting implants, ridiculous surgeries, spending all their money on age defying makeup wrinkle reducing creams and of course shaving your bodies to resemble what you looked like when you were 10.

First off.... ewww. I feel like I should call Chris Hansen and Dateline and arrange a sting operation by claiming to be "12 year old girl who digs older guys" with a bulletin on MySpace.

Honestly, I look at all this hoopla of dating and I don't want a girl who looks young enough to be high school, it's too creepy, besides like my last date in high school, she'll probably ditch me to go smoke out with the defensive line of the football team...Aww Prom Memories...

I've explained to my friend that:

A) She's Beautiful and any guy would be lucky to be with a girl like her.

B) She's Nuts for thinking that she's not good enough for a man.

C) ....Well I forgot C, but it was really inspiring.....

D) That if all else fails, fuck 'em, they're not worth it, switch teams and enjoy "visiting the south" regularly.

So in closing, cut the shit on the value of a person because of their age, do what's right cause you have to remember:

We'll be old too one day, and what goes around, comes around....

I dedicate this column to T.W.

"Thanks for your friendship"

Soundboard: Search and Destroy

"I'm A Streetwalking Cheetah With A Heart Full Of Napalm"
-Iggy Pop,

As always, a new TBF this Fri. and a thanks to all who participated with "Echoes" last Fri. I know it can be a little nervous to voice an opinion, but all good things are worth the wait, so for those of you who want to voice your two cents but are a little nervous
to do so, take your time, Hopefully I'm not going anywhere anytime soon....


-B.R.

Echoes: Drugs

Responses Posted on 11/03/06

Comment Submitted By "Angel Feathers Tickle Me":

Love to all.....

Response from Brian:

And all for love..... wait, sorry I was in a "Musketeer moment"

Thank you, though, that was very sweet.


Comment Submitted By Marie:

Brian admitted that he was hyped up on caffeine while writing this. I berated him for hypocrisy, then for putting Scientology right up there with Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.

Response From Brian:

YOU DAMN JUDAS!!! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE ON MY SIDE!!!!

Also I explained that I needed caffeine since I had spent a better part of the night working on last week's column and combine that with my day job, I was starting to make little to no sense.. and when I ramble incoherently, I want it to be because I'm pissed about something and that I'm so flustered that I can't focus on proper sentence structuring.

Plus technically, i was using caffeine for it's intended purpose, so (Raspberry)

And who knew you'd freak out this much over a Coke....

And as for Scientology, I simply pointed out a well known fact about their beliefs system. Granted I believe they'll eventually seek "enlightenment" through drinking the kool-aid and a "How to" book written by Jim Jones (with a forward from David Koresh) but that's for another day of discussion.


Question Submitted By Nathan:

So now you have an "Editor"? Who would be crazy enough to work with you? and how did you even find someone to work with you?

Response From Brian:

Yes now I have an Editor, and she's a damn good one I think, and as for how she and I came to work together.. I think she could best answer your questions..

Take it away Marie....

Response From (Editor) Marie:

"Once upon a time there was a college student. In the summer her parents brought her to their house on the top of a mountain with a very long and winding road isolating her from Civilization. She had no car, video game console, or Reliable Internet Connection. The college student soon grew very tired of watching TV and reading books, for that was all there was to do on top of the mountain.

"So the college student got an idea. Why not put her rusty Web Skillz to use? But what to make? She had a blog, and didn't need another webpage. One day she grew tired of the sub-par RSS feeds provided by MySpace.com, so she decided to play around with making a blog version of her good friend Brian's weekly column "The Brian Factor".

"It killed some time, slowly and violently and with much yelling at the Unreliable Internet Connection, but after a couple weeks she had archived everything and done a Pretty Spiffy Job, she thought. She the college student asked Brian how he would feel about having an official TBF website, and he said "Cool, Yo," or something to that effect, so she sent him the link to the monster she had created. Brian was very impressed and begged the college student to put it online and manage it, because he was very busy doing Important Things and didn't want to be bothered with the responsibility of managing TBF website himself. The college student agreed, partly because she thought it would be Very Cool if TBF reached more people and partly because she wanted the chance to Capitalize the Lowercase I's and do other Editing Changes to Brian's writing, because the college student was something of an OCD Grammar Nazi.

"And so the college student became the Official (though Unpaid) Editor and Archiver or thebrianfactor.blogspot.com."

So there's the whole story, related in a specifically crazy way. And, despite not being paid in cold hard cash, I am getting reimbursed for the small amount of time I spend updating TBF with Brian's compliments about my awesomeness and sexually suggestive remarks to me via IM.

...Though a couple bucks wouldn't be turned down.

~Marie

Response From Brian:

For someone who agreed to do this for free, she keeps bringing up the money issue alot.... and I think that whole IM thing just transformed me from a free thinking revolutionary type to Pat O'Brien's protege....