Ze Frank

About five years ago I was introduced to Ze Frank.   

I guess “Internet Personality” might be one way to describe him.  When I originally began getting to know Ze, it was through what he called The Show.  The Show was an online video blog posted every day, Monday through Friday, for one year.  He’d discuss a wide variety of topics including current events, pinky snapping, dressing up your vacuum cleaner, product placement, hotel etiquette and concepts like “hindsight.”  (You know you've had a productive day once you've learned all about pinky snapping, and the effects of hot sauce on said snaps).  I enjoyed my daily dose of Ze until The Show ended, and then to be perfectly honest, I pretty much forgot all about him.  Harsh I know, but I’m pretty sure at the time I was looking for a job or something.  Paying rent on time is an unfortunate but necessary reality. 

It wasn’t until this past year that Ze popped back into my life.  On a particularly uneventful day, I decided to go back and search out a number of websites, blogs, etc… that I used to go to, but for one reason or another had allowed to fall by the wayside.  Delightfully, I realized that when The Show ended, Ze continued to work on new projects!  I saw that he’d spoken at a TED conference in 2010 and talked about the sort of things he’s been doing.  If you take a look at his speech at TED you’ll get to hear all about various projects he’s put together like Earth Sandwich, a childhood walk, angrigami and my personal favorite, the chillout song.

In a time where we all spend so much time online and have so much more information about the world and about each other at our disposal, some may say it has diminished the time we actually spend together face to face.  What I love so much about what he has done and is doing, is how he is taking a medium that could potentially draw people further and further apart, and is using it in a way to bring them together in new, meaningful and creative ways. 

In the chillout song for instance; I just love the idea that he was able to take the voices from people from all different walks of life, and put those voices together in way to provide support and comfort for the woman he wrote the song for.  Perfect strangers are brought together in support of someone they’ve never met.  Just thinking about that as a concept feels so uplifting and hopeful to me. Perfect strangers coming together to feel a real and new connection to their lives and to each other; its kind of a beautiful idea.

And so it begins...

I’ve been thinking about starting this blog for awhile. Ever since I stopped writing my previous one (which shall remain nameless) I’ve had a very supportive group of friends encouraging me to start a new one, and so here I am.

So, what is “District Shenanigans” going to be about? I want to use this space as a place to write about any number of things; things that make me laugh, things that are completely ridiculous or absurd, things that inspire me or leave me in awe. I want to write about things that make me feel connected to others even though I may be reading about them in a virtual place.

Urban Dictionary categorizes “shenanigans” as the following:

1. Deception or tomfoolery on the part of carnival stand operators.
2. An official declaration made by patrons of an establishment who feel they have been cheated. Once a charge of shenanigans has been accepted by an authority figure, said patrons are free to assault the owners of said establishment with brooms.
3. A restaurant preferred by Officer Rodney Farva*. It is known for serving mozzarella sticks and having goofy shit on the walls.
   *from the movie Super Troopers
4. synonymous to bullshit (aka. shens)
5. Acts of misadventure or playful mischief. Frequently involves Lemmiwinks, 1 beer, and Sharpies.

A word itself can have as many different meanings as the number of people who use it in their speech. For those of you that know me, you probably know I use the term quite a lot, and very rarely do I ever mean to make reference to carnies or an impending assault with brooms. Whenever I do use “shenanigans” though, it typically means there will be an excellent story to follow. I very much hope that you, my readers, enjoy the “shenanigans” that will be coming here.