Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Mass manipulation (part 2)

I was reading a New Yorker article about Taylor Swift's masterfully orchestrated rise to fame (again, apologies that it is not publicly available). The key seems to be authenticity.
Swift is sometimes called a twenty-one-year-old 2.0--the girl next door, but with a superior talent set. She has an Oprah-like gift for emotional expressiveness. While many young stars have a programmed, slightly robotic affect, she radiates unjaded sincerity no matter how contrived the situation--press junkets, awards shows, meet and greets.
***
The car door opened, and Swift got out to chants of "Tay-lor! Tay-lor! " Easing herself onto the sidewalk, she proceeded to the base of the stairs, and struck a pose before a phalanx of cameras: a sultry, fierce expression, one hand on her hip, her eyes narrowed, her head cocked back. She seemed to age ten years.
***
She is in the midst of her second world tour, and every show begins with a moment in which she stands silently at the lip of the stage and listens to her fans scream. She tilts her head from side to side and appears to blink back tears--the expression, which is projected onto a pair of Jumbotron screens, is part Bambi, part Baby June.
***
"Swift is a songwriting savant with an intuitive gift for verse-chorus-bridge architecture that . . . calls to mind Swedish pop gods Dr. Luke and Max Martin," Jody Rosen wrote in Rolling Stone. "If she ever tires of stardom, she could retire to Sweden and make a fine living churning out hits for Kelly Clarkson and Katy Perry."

Like Parton, Swift writes autobiographical songs, a technique that, in the Internet era, is a clever marketing device.
***
Swift is tolerant of her fans' interest in her love life, as she is of gawkers who approach her on the street. "It's human nature!" she told me. While she doesn't talk about dating in interviews, she helps amateur sleuths along, using capital letters to spell out coded messages throughout the lyrics in her liner notes that indicate which boyfriend the song is about. Swift has an affinity for codes and symbols. Onstage, she shapes her fingers into a heart--"I did it at a concert one time, and people screamed, so I just kept doing it," she said--and appears with her lucky number, 13, written on her right hand in Sharpie. More recently, she has been scrawling lyrics, such as U2's "One life, you got to do what you should," on her left arm; deciphering the references has become another fan activity. Swift's ability to hold her audience's interest reflects, in part, a keen understanding of what fuels fan obsession in the first place: a desire for intimacy between singer and listener. She told me that the best musical experience is "hearing a song by somebody singing about their life, and it resembles yours so much that it makes you feel comforted." Her Web site includes video journals and diary-like posts to her online message board, which Swift does not outsource. Her fans, who call themselves Swifties, respond with passionate testimonials--"i would drink her bathwater"--and confessions about their own crushes: "Jake. Jake.Jake. Jake. I can't say it enough. I just love the sound of his name."
Laughing all the way to the bank

Swift's aura of innocence is not an act, exactly, but it can occasionally belie the scale of her success. She is often described using royal terminology--as a pop princess or, as the Washington Post put it recently, the "poet laureate of puberty." In the past five years, she has sold more than twenty million albums--more than any other musician. And, in an era of illegal downloading, fans buy her music online, too. Swift has sold more than twenty-five million digital tracks, surpassing any other country singer, and she holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest-selling digital album, for "Speak Now." Forbes ranked her as last year's seventh-biggest-earning celebrity, with an annual income of forty-five million dollars--a figure that encompasses endorsements, products (this month, she releases a perfume with Elizabeth Arden, which is estimated to generate fifty million dollars during its first year of sales), and tickets. Her concerts, which pack both stadiums and arenas, regularly bring in some seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars a night.
I do a lot of consulting. Each time I show up at a new place, everyone is suspicious of me, looking for reasons not to like me or see me as a threat. It takes a while to build up a rapport with them. At first I am very straightforward, efficient, and professional. I don't want to seem presumptuous, but nor do I want to seem overly available, as if they are on my same level. Because I am talented at what I do, they quickly start respecting me. People become interested in me as a person--what makes me so good at what I do. They develop little crushes on me, which I feed with the selective disclosure of more and more personal information--that I am a musician, that I have a unique background, little stories in which my modesty prevents me from name dropping, but from which it is apparent that I have unexpected credentials/experience/connections. I am never explicit about anything, I make people work for it--draw their own (unavoidable) conclusions, which makes the information seem all the more authentic and valuable to them. Less is more, but I also don't want to seem standoffish. As long as they ask, I will disclose some interesting tidbit to continue to whet their appetite for M.E.

Now if I had shown up on the first day of my consultancy touting my credentials, talking about my personal life, nurturing people's crushes, it would be disastrous. Every once in a while I forget and make a joke too early, show familiarity too soon, and have to immediately back off again with a renewed period of neutrality, but I've gotten better. Now it's like cooking an old familiar recipe.

347 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. This is fascinating and I know where ME is coming from. He is thinking that being "authentic" can be used as a manipulation.

    To take it a step further, one must actually be able to BE authentic in order to FAKE being authentic, in my opinion.


    To to fake being authentic, one must know how to be authentic, in actuality.

    Here is the rub. Most people don't. Therefore, most people cannot fake being authentic.

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  3. Many people believe in the authenticity of the fakery regardless.

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  4. Obviously, people believ in the fakery of the authenticity", or we would not be here, talking about it.


    The larger issue is that the "faker" must actually be able to BE authentic or the "faking" would not work.

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  5. And I'm saying that's not necessarily true.

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  6. Hmm I am not sure, but I think I am right because people have an inner compass which can feel authenticity. They feel it with this compass. What goes on at the level of this compass CANNOT be faked.

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  7. By definition I don't think you can fake authenticity. Conceptually if you could it would be a fantastic maniuplation tool, however 'fake authenticity' is by definition not authentic. You can be a really good con artist, and you can have a really high success rate of getting your mark, but it's not going to be do to a perception of authenticity on the rubes part. It's going to come from playing off of what the person wants to hear done in a convincing manner. The goal is to appear authentic, but there will always be something missing.

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  8. I mean you can convince someone that you are authentic, and have them believe it, if they are naive enough.

    Anon, If everyone's inner compass was working correctly, there wouldn't be blogs like these or personality disorders at all.

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  9. You never have to actually be authentic to fake authenticity. For me I can see someone authentic and become them.

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  10. @Medusa If a persons compass is not working, that person is screwed, to the degree with which is compass is NOT working, in my opinion.

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  11. @UKan You would NOT be able to screw a person with a working compass. They would feel that you were a fake. However, lucky for a con like you, most people are not connected to their compasses.

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  12. All that expressiveness couldn't save her from Kanye West!

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  13. No ones compass is perfect in the same way that there is no perfect beauty lol

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  14. faking authenticity i would never do such a thing ;)

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  15. I think faking authenticity is an oxy moron, but i think if you have enough stupid people in your entourage who needs authenticity.

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  16. Faking authenticity APPEARS to be an oxymoron. That is why the concept is so powerful. Most people, like you, will never understand it.


    It went over your heads, proving how powerful and SUBTLE it really is lmao

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  17. diz is reel shit mang

    1 point-anons

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  18. You can't be truly authentic 100% of the time.. if you're sensitive, that is. I believe that your true authenticity should be reserved for those you trust.

    If you're famous and trust your fans, you are authentic in that moment, but maybe not with your mother who will take a bite out of you the moment you show yourself.

    I think it's important to compartmentalize authenticity selectively.

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  19. Yo, bitch! Man, I gotta tell ya something, girl...Did I ever tell ya how annoying you are to live wit?

    All this stand offish and awkward vibes ya giving off is driving me nuts, dawg..Whatcha playing at?

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  20. Agreed, Bella. My point is some people are so fake that they could not be authentic if they tripped over it. For those people, this whole concept will be impossible to understand, as seen the few brilliant people, here~

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  21. Oil me up! I'm going in..

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  22. Ukant do this! I'm only thirteen!

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  23. rule # 1 never trust anyone to show them your true self if it is ugly (me)

    I fly like paper, get high like planes

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  24. Cock or vagina tonight?

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  25. irl of course which i WOULD NEVER do

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  26. Haven's Roomie said...

    Oil me up! I'm going in..

    LOL!

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  27. I found your balls...

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  28. In your corner! Now!

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  29. Hi, i'm Frank! I stalk young women. But it's ok! Because I'm not real :)

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  30. You pay no fucking rent, but you have the nerve to insult me. Get on the streets where you belong.

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  31. I'm so fucking sick of being this twats therapist...Where's that cold bitch Missus when you need her?

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  32. lmao Sweetcheeks Roomie

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  33. Now, where is that shit head hiding? *Heads towards the forum*

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  34. *Gives the finger* Right back atcha gay boy!

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  35. We're gonna need a whole lot of Vaseline...

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  36. More Roomie Requests, please:

    David
    Frank
    Harv

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  37. My loyal anons! Go forth and spread irritance and mischievious!

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  38. I can't help it..Her hobbling just turns me on so much! Drives me nuts....

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  39. Hi, i'm Frank! I'm having some boy trouble :( I just can't pick between that darling Harv and that adorable Gary..What's a boy to do?

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  40. ……(\_/)
    ……( ‘_’)
    …./”"”"”"”"”"”"\======░
    /”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”"”\
    \_@_@_@_@_@_/

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  41. He's a chip of the old cock..

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  42. That hobble...So sexy..

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  43. Lets have sex!!!! :D

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  44. @Harv's Roomie
    LMAO !

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  45. Frank, can you FIND the right hole?

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  46. no one knows what i am packing down there! its like a Xmas surprise :D

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  47. *Moans* Ohhh yeah baby! This is the best sex ever! *Yells down at Medusa* Hey! I bet you wish you were up here instead of down in that dinky little basement!

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  48. Very interesting. I don't know much about Swift (other than her music annoys me), but this reminds me of a research paper I did on Eminem in college.

    I compared Eminem's success to Vanilla Ice & why one white rapper succeeded in the business & the other did not.

    Vanilla Ice was contrived & fabricated this "bad boy" image that the black culture immediately identified as completely fraudulent. Meanwhile, Eminem essentially approached the black audience with a more "authentic" personality. He was quick to appear vulnerable and self effacing. His background was not one of pristine whiteness. And as Swift points out, he gained trust and respect by allowing his background to naturally seep out. Vanilla, on the other hand, forced his "story" down everyone's throats.

    I wish I had had this information when I was writing the paper, it would have added another layer of insight that hadn't occurred to me several years back.

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  49. We KNOW you are the smartest and hottest thing that ever lived. Just shut up, already.

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  50. Give it to me Zhawq!!!!!!!!!

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  51. @Medusa's Roomie
    LMAO @@@@@







    @-- That icon is applause

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  52. ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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  53. i like it when they cry

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  54. *bows* Thank you, thank you!

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  55. Making people get little crushes on you? 100% sure M.E. is a girl

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  56. @Roomie Joker Please accept SW's Best Humor Award. It is given by the Anons. I am the Anons Spokesperson----Ms/Mr Anon.

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  57. *Sinister voice* Hello Luke. I want to play a game...

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  58. how can i rape people when i hobble?

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  59. *Emotional tears* I want to thank SW, my mum, my loyal anons...Thank you! *Runs off stage in tears*

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  60. You can live here, rent free, if you only use your mouth on me, that way.

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  61. @Roomie Joker @@@@@










    @ = applause

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  62. Dear Luke, would you please stop writing diry, dirty lies about our company. You do NOT work here...and never will..Please, stop over compensating for your tiny cock by pretnding to work in our company...Do what other guys who have to over compensate do! Buy a Ferrari!

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  63. hey gaiz I ESCAPED :DDD

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  64. you can't hide from me forever MOMMA needs some loving

    ::sinister::

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  65. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-ZJ4m7j51k

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  66. i love her craziness

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t89Q_oXRr5Q

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  67. I feel alive!

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  68. love that laugh!

    irl i mimic others laugh i steal from one and used it on another

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  69. Where's that lil bitch from yesterday? Delicious, i'm VERY dissapointed in you! YOU'RE MINE! *Bites hard*

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  70. that movie is awful.

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  71. Did anyone ever tell you that grown med do not sleep in twin beds, together?

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  72. Tasty is Eden-------busted

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  73. Don't test me Tasty! I will kill, for my Delicious

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  74. i was impressed with rob zombies remake of halloween the first one i didn't think it would be that good after that movie

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  75. SLEEP BABY SLEEP.. NOW THAT THE NIGHT IS OVER

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  76. rob zombie is a fucking disgusting pos with no taste.

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  77. rob is sheep in wolfs clothing

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  78. Kyle Towns would disagree HAHAHAHAHA

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  79. This isn't a test! *Bites harder* I claim Delicious motherfucker.

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  80. he has a losers mentality. i don't expect him to know. we all can't be born winners.

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  81. i am sugar and spice and everything nice!

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  82. @Sweet Cheeks Frank is a sugar junkie

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  83. You wanna rock me, to sleep, Frank?

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  84. Obama! You are such a wolf

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  85. @Sweet Cheeks I need to check with Little Frankfurt, first.

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  86. Remember the days when Frank used to hate Sweetcheeks? Now he's had one look at her pic he's put her bitched up, junkie ways behing him..Romantic!

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  87. Kyle stop posting your muse and rob zombie videos.

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  88. Frank is a romantic. Almost forget... Hi Gar. Hi Harv. What up Dawg(s)?

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  89. My Sweetcheks, would never, be a junkie

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  90. That Frank is not the real Frank. The real Frank is, now, Frank 1 to avoid detection.

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  91. @Frank

    Shut up Jason.

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  92. so tasty, you need some lovin?

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  93. Not from you Ugly Bitch. I'm having a Delicious treat.

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  94. Ok Delicious, the choice is yours, dear. You can have Tasty, or you can have me.

    I, however, am not opposed to a party of 3.

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  95. I will, dip both of you, in chocolate and lick it, lick it, all up!

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  96. I thought you didn't want to share me, sweet anon...

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  97. Delicious, I don't want to share you. You are my scrumptious secret. If I have to, I will, the choice is yours.

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  98. You can take my Mom. I will put her on the next bus. What destination should I write on the ticket?

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  99. I don't want Tasty to bite into me....I want you...You will never look back when I share my delicious taste with you...You need it..

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  100. god...make me scream for god...

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  101. booty calls are overrated.

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  102. Delicious and Tasty------sweetcheeks and eden

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  103. fuckin mal narcs. how do they work?

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  104. Good bye Mom Don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.

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  105. They work by forcing their pussy on you, Ami.

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  106. I want to be violated.

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  107. Lukes son

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6D7P8seNH8

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  108. my name is lukes son. i am the author of lukes son, lukes son revisited.

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  109. speaking of Jon Roberts

    'According to his ex-wife, officers at Fort Lauderdale Police and various other sources, he uses his past to gain trust within the criminal community and reports these activities to the authorities in order to maintain his prison free status. He has 1 son and an ex wife, who has filed several restraining orders against him, and has also been arrested in the past for stalking his ex-girlfriends. He continues to be heavily involved in criminal activity, but is able to remain free because of the information he provides to law enforcement. He is in ill health with dying stage 4 cancer. ["

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  110. He gives us attention everyday :)

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  111. I'm get more attention than the right :)

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  112. One is bigger than the other..Can you guess which one?

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  113. its like warm milk to me

    Something semi intelligent:

    It's amazing that such a powerful man would stalk women when he could have nearly any woman he wanted with that kind of money. The thrill of the fear/control that he imposed maybe?

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  114. His index finger is giving me a rash!

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  115. Delicious, you brought me pleasure, with your words.

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  116. Yo, yo, yo.

    It's Shizzle, yo.

    I was walking the streets.

    While playing dat beat.

    I met my man Ukan.

    I told him my plan.

    I fooled the fool who fools the fool.

    I held his head under my $33,000 swimming pool.

    I pulled him up and told him to strut his stuff.

    He spluttered and coughed, suddenly not so tough.

    I says, "Man, where's the finesse?"

    He says, "Please Shizzle, i'm a mess!"

    I was like, "Aight Dawg, I'll let you go this time."

    He was all, "Oh thank you Shizzle! I'm sorry to whine!"

    Shizzle, yo. Peace out.

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  117. I will bring you more...

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  118. Advertising for New Meat For SWNovember 16, 2011 at 2:45 PM

    SW has run away the old meat. We need new people to abuse, vilify, torture and demean.
    If you care to apply, just comment. Make sure to whine. The best thing to whine about is a sociopath you love. Talk about how you miss him and want to get him back.

    Emphasize that he REALLY loved you, alone. You just know it. If you cannot meet this criterion, whine in general. Be needy and act like you really care what people have to say to you.

    This will allow the low functioning sociopaths, like UKan, to have some new meat.


    Thank you.

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  119. Report to the blog.

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  120. I genuinely miss the old days. They were more innocent and simple. You're all a vacuous, pointless mass of pseudo voices. Pathetic, ingenuine and dissapointing. Where the fuck is the truth in this place?

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  121. @notme

    The truth, my dear, lies up your ass.

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  122. about the post, all of the regulars have got the balance pretty good. except david.

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  123. lol, how about this, fuck you.

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  124. I'm with you notme. It's pretty sad really. How've you been doll?

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  125. @notme

    Poor baby has a few feathers ruffled...Instead of attempting to steer the conversation back to somehing intelligent, she makes half assed insults..Ok, we'll just listen to you and Haven's little exchange of, "Hellos!" and, "How are you's?"

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  126. Shut the fuck up! All of you! Especially those fuck nuts Haven and Notme. Thank fuck that's not me! Ha!

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  127. Ukan Low Functioning SociopathNovember 16, 2011 at 3:27 PM

    I ran off everyone due to being in the immature, low functioning categorization. My name is UKan and I am a low functioner, NOT sperm count, you idiot, functioning.

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  128. @haven tell us a story!

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  129. WHICH Regular was the Roomie person? I think it was Jason.

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  130. What kind of story would you like to hear?

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  131. Someone could probably get off on thisNovember 16, 2011 at 3:38 PM

    http://g.e-hentai.org/g/429127/9fa788cb98/

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  132. i'm ok Haven baby, how u doing?

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  133. I will caress and tease you into a dreamy submission...

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  134. Haven, I love your profile pic. Where's it from?

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  135. Team Anonymous Wins.

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  136. Being anonymous turns me on.

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  137. Lets have a gang bang, guys. We will be locked in a sweaty, erotic, play of pleasure.

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  138. We, Anons, are intelligent and witty. We rock. I have a theme song for us. Listen up


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFfCKy0nKr0

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  139. Sure thing, Buddy. I look forward to drilling your tight little ass.

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  140. Don't believe ANY Frank unless he identifies himself as Frank 11. That is Frank, himself.

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  141. I hear you, Frank 11. Harv, do not listen to anyone who tries to imitate Frank.
    I get home at night and have to deal with this. Fuck you all for putting me through this.

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  142. fabricated bullshit is not real bullshit. Real bullshit, as in feelings, is what makes an impact. The rest is pathetic desperation. Don't get me started on all the faux romantic aspirations that are originated by the likes of you. And yes, I say 'you' cos I'm pretty sure you are one of the culprits. lame, and most importantly boring. Unless you're genuine, just shut the the fuck up.

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  143. You ready to pound me, Harv?

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  144. Delicious, you are naughty.

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  145. FUCK THIS PLACE. Frank 111 cannot even have his own identity. Harv and Gary, please do not listen to any other Frank than Frank 111. He is himself.

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  146. Who are you talking notme? You seem to be talking to yourself. Which is L-A-M-E.

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  147. Attention, if Frank 111 has to go in to the thousands, he will leave. Sorry, Gary and Harv, Frank 111 is a man of high personal convictions. Fuck this moronic shit.

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  148. Perfect theme song for us. We ARE the champions my friends. Not time for losers (notme).

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  149. Prouder Anonymous Fan ClubNovember 16, 2011 at 4:17 PM

    No time for low functioning sociopaths like UKan.

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  150. Delicious, you scared my panties off :D

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  151. I'm going after you drill me senseless, Harv.

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  152. We have dominated once again!

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  153. Frank takes the hill in the battle of the Bulge.

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  154. We are the Champions :) :) :)

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  155. Take me with you, Harv!

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  156. Delicious exists only to give pleasure, sweet anon...

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  157. This is our revolution!!!!!!!!!

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  158. I give up. Harv and Gar. This place is crazy. Did you know that?

    Hello Beautiful Cheeks. Sorry for the confusion over your Frank. Are you OK?

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  159. Whatever happened to the muppets from yesterday? Didn't they break up?

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  160. i am shocked that none of the regulars have put a stop to this yet

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  161. I don't want Sweetcheeks! I'm only trying to make you jealous Harv!

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  162. Frank 11,111 How could you do this to me?

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  163. Muppet? Muppet who?

    *snorting coke* *strippers on each side*

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  164. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLnWf1sQkjY&ob=av3n

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  165. Sweet Cheeks I am sorry for all this confusion. Are you mad?

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  166. Kyle Towns is behind all those names.

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  167. I will only pop up for you Harv.

    ReplyDelete
  168. Search for him on facebook and threaten him. That will shut him up

    ReplyDelete

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