Journal of a Journalist

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In an early episode of the hit podcast “Missing Richard Simmons,” which aired its sixth and final episode yesterday, the host, Dan Taberski, tells us about the exercise class at Slimmons, Simmons’s Beverly Hills studio. Simmons had led this class for some forty years, from before he got famous and continuing long after he became a multimillionaire. Taberski tells us that Slimmons had a few rules: one, know your place; two, no cell phones, no cameras, no recording devices; three, Richard is going to get freaky. “Richard’s class is a little bit performance art and a lot of bit burlesque,” Taberski says. He’d get flirty, even flash people. And four: Richard will bare his soul. Simmons had cried in every class Taberski attended, telling inspirational stories and sharing his own struggles. Once, when Taberski brought his friend Lauren Weedman to Slimmons, she freaked out. Weedman says that Simmons was hilarious—“until he started crying. Now it’s gone into a zone of, ‘What’s happening?’ ” It was out-of-control crying, she says: “At the time, I remember thinking it was scary.” And it seemed that the students were there not to help but to watch. She compared the idea of going back to Slimmons to going to the bar “where Amy Winehouse drinks herself to death.”
“Missing Richard Simmons” and the Queasiness of Deep-Dive Entertainment Journalism - The New Yorker

(Source: newyorker.com)

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Amazing Things You Should Buy

- “Look Who’s Back” is a comedy where Adolf Hitler suddenly wakes up in 2015 Berlin. People mistake him for a crazy person on the street or a performance artist, and indulge him when he says the worst things. He then becomes a viral social media star. YouTube commenters love when he goes on full-throttle rants against immigrants and leftists, and think he’s either trolling everybody or saying what people secretly think and can’t stay. From there, well… you’ll have to watch the movie.

- You can find fascinating insights into the way governments work around the world in Bruce Bueno de Mesquita's The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics. It argues that the difference between tyrants and democrats is just a convenient fiction, and shows how a savvy leader can consolidate power by playing rivals against each other.

- TurboTax Home & Business 2016 Tax Software Federal & State will help you get a head start on your taxes… and pay the contractors whose work you commissioned.

- Lastly, if you need a escape from a world of constant bad news and fear over what the future will bring, I highly recommend the immersive world of Resident Evil 7 Biohazard.

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