<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[The Dish]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[http://dish.andrewsullivan.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[Andrew Sullivan]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://dish.andrewsullivan.com/author/sullydish/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Kidnappers For Hire]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text/html' width='640' height='360' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/WQs1NEMfDRU?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;autohide=2&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;wmode=transparent' allowfullscreen='true' style='border:0;'></iframe></span></p>
<p>Of a <a href="http://www.gq.com/news-politics/mens-lives/201304/how-to-be-kidnapped-abducted">different sort</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>[Adam] Thick founded Extreme Kidnapping in 2002 after being inspired by the old David Fincher movie <em>The Game</em>. (SPOILER: It was all a game!) For $500, Adam and his crew will abduct you at gunpoint and hold you hostage for four hours. A thousand bucks gets you ten hours, along with a bit of customized sadism. GQ was curious to see what $1,500 would buy me.</p>
<p>If it strikes you as obscene that people would pay to be kidnapped at a time when it happens routinely to other people for real, the fact is that we live in an age when a normal life simply isn&#8217;t enough for many Americans. If you watch enough movies and TV (as I do), you end up yearning for a life that is more cinematic than blissful. Experiences are the newest, hottest luxury items. I looked at it like I was paying for a memory implant, Total Recall-style.</p></blockquote>
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