Part 1: Goodbye PECO
In a nutshell, my roommate decided he wanted to fore-go the responsibility of having to collect money for PECO, our electric provider. He and my other roommates insisted I should be the one responsible, but I argued that I'm trying to figure out things with my housing for next year and don't want to have to worry about moving more money around. Plus, I'm only in the apartment another month and a half.
Bottom line, everyone (including me) is being stubborn, and we canceled our electricity. We have 24 hours (well, now about 20). I immediately am choosing to look at the bright side, and now I'm really just downright excited to see what it's going to be like.
1- I can shower at the pool (electricity powers water heater); this will force me to swim and go to the pool every day. Hooray for forced exercise!
2- My apartment complex has a 24-hour computer lab.
3- I really only need to charge my phone. There's outlets in the computer lab.
4- I think natural light by day and candles by night is the right way to go. Not to mention the flashlight.
5- The weather's getting nicer, and there's really no need for heat or cool air quite yet.
So, the only real problem I have is storing and making food. But, I, unlike my roommates, know people in at least 5 other apartments in the complex. One of them has been absolutely incredible and already made space in the fridge for me. Thank God for people like that.
Why is this relevant/pertinent to you? Cliche, but it really puts things into perspective. There are people who lived without any electricity for thousands of years. Why can't I do the same? This isn't even really that bad; there are plenty of people in Philadelphia alone who live without a house, let alone electricity. I'm excited because I think it will be a wake-up call.
I'm currently reading Mitch Albom's (Tuesdays with Morrie) latest book; Have a Little Faith. It tells the true stories of drug-addict/dealer-turned preacher, and an ailing rabbi. Homelessness is one of the big aspects of the book; I just read a passage about an interview Albom had with one of the preacher's patrons. The man lost all ten toes to frostbite from sleeping in the back of a car. How's that for no electricity or heat?
Part 2: Hello Reality
I had the privilege of walking all the way from Center City, Philadelphia to the Art Museum and then up to Temple's campus.
View Larger Map
That is 5.4 miles. There were three great things that came of this walk.
1- Exercise (walked off last night's pizza)
2- Got to explore parts of Philly I had never seen before
3- Yet again, a big reality check/wake-up call.
The walk from the Art Museum down Spring Garden is absolutely beautiful, I highly recommend it. Once I turned onto 15th however, and began heading North, the houses started to change. It was as if someone were telling a sad life-story through a walking tour. Imagine a healthy person in their youth that slowly begins to grow old and neglect his or her own needs. Sidewalks began to become more cracked, grass grew longer, bricks began to crumble, fences became rusty and twisted.
It was like watching a human body go to waste: the once fine-toned muscles began to deteriorate and show only bare, weakened bones. There were skeletons of houses, patches of grass growing like clumps of hair that had not yet fallen out. Fence-posts were worn and weather-beaten, and were like crooked teeth. The peeling paint and collapsing porches were like wrinkles. This was on fifteenth, only one block away from Broad Street. Maybe 100 feet, at the most. It amazed me that people lived in these areas; this wasn't even the worst one I had seen, and this was the middle of the day on a Sunday afternoon.
Part 3: Faith
Despite the dilapidated houses, there was one sweet sound that could be heard during my walk. Beneath the skeletons and crumbling bricks, I could hear a soul, a heartbeat. I passed churches and saw cars parked around them, as to be expected. But then I passed tiny brick buildings, and could hear screaming inside. I soon realized the screaming was accompanied by an organ, and followed by a chorus of "Amen!" These were chapels, small congregations of people praising God on Palm Sunday. It was an extremely powerful feeling, and made me smile as I passed by.
I finally arrived back at campus, and I almost began to feel guilty of my own safe reality as I headed to Palm Sunday Mass on campus a few hours later.
I'm almost done with Mitch Albom's book. The pastor, Henry, runs a congregation in Detroit. They have no heat, and no electricity, just a huge old abandoned church. The homeless are welcome to service, and despite what they don't have, they continue to praise for the things that they do.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Wedding Song for the Commoners
With all the crap going on in the world, simply put, small things like this keep us going.
Here's what's awesome...this was made by "common people." No celebrities, nothin. Yet it inspired celebrities. I can go on and on about how YouTube allows the average citizen to make a name for themselves, but I'll just let TIME Magazine's 2006 Person of the Year article do it for me.
For those that do not know, the song is called "Forever" and is sung by Chris Brown. This was the guy that beat up Rihanna. Just another celebrity couple I guess. But what's interesting is that once the Rihanna-Chris Brown incident happened, the family that posted this video made a link for people to make donations to fight domestic abuse. Talk about taking power and attention and wielding it in the right direction.
The video became a hit overnight once it was posted on YouTube, and was even used in the wedding episode of The Office.
Celebrity talk/YouTube talk aside, this is ultimately one of those things that we need to brighten our day once in a while.
Here's what's awesome...this was made by "common people." No celebrities, nothin. Yet it inspired celebrities. I can go on and on about how YouTube allows the average citizen to make a name for themselves, but I'll just let TIME Magazine's 2006 Person of the Year article do it for me.
For those that do not know, the song is called "Forever" and is sung by Chris Brown. This was the guy that beat up Rihanna. Just another celebrity couple I guess. But what's interesting is that once the Rihanna-Chris Brown incident happened, the family that posted this video made a link for people to make donations to fight domestic abuse. Talk about taking power and attention and wielding it in the right direction.
The video became a hit overnight once it was posted on YouTube, and was even used in the wedding episode of The Office.
Celebrity talk/YouTube talk aside, this is ultimately one of those things that we need to brighten our day once in a while.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Acceptance Speeches that Give Advice
Tonight's Oscars were a surprise, but pleasant at that. You can analyze the winners for yourself, but I just want to bring your attention to Mo'Nique's acceptance speech for Precious. The best kinds are the ones that give advice to an audience. There were a few others like this as well, but hers stood out the most to me. Sorry for the poor quality, these were only uploaded a few hours ago.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Theatricality of the Grammy Awards
Live performance used to be the the performer, a microphone, and the audience. Then lights came into the picture. Then choreography. Then backup singers and dancers. Now, more than ever, live performance of popular music is a spectacle and extremely theatrical. Nowadays it is a rarity that simple performance makes the cut. I understand how many think that this may be a problem, but it seems as though this theatricality adds an interesting dynamic. It adds a sense of facade and cinema to the whole picture. As long as the music is not lacking, there's no problem with it.
Unfortunately, the Grammy Awards did feature some artists that had sub-par performances, mostly because of the use of AutoTune. AutoTune is great when used as instrument by artists like T-Pain. At the same time though, it inhibits the performance. The Blackeyed Peas' "I Gotta Feelin" was nearly destroyed because of live AutoTune.
Good Use of AutoTune (Jamie Foxx and T-Pain): This performance definitely goes along with the theatricality in terms of costumes. It also introduced different "characters" throughout the performance, including Slash.
Bad Use of AutoTune (The Blackeyed Peas):
More about the theatricality:
Every stage performance is obviously theatrical in one way or another, but here's some examples that stuck out.
-Lady Gaga and Elton John had entire set, complete costumes and even a small story line.
-Pink used silks to go along with her Circus theme, and sang the entire song while basically being a trapeze artist at the same time.
-Arguably the most theater-like performance, however, was Greenday's "21 Guns." The sogn was performed with the cast of their new musical "American Idiot," which is based off their album of the same name. (see next post)
The song that Pink performed, "Glitter in the Air," really embodies the theme of the whole music scene and this year's Grammys. It's about spectacle and magic. The music we listen to is reflective of the real things in our society that we deal with every day. In many ways, these every-day occurences and happenings are heightened and idealized so that we may see ourselves more clearly. Each of these artists added a heightened sense of reality to their performances. Call it magic, call it theater, call it cinema, call it "glitter in the air," call it dream-like; the point is that these artists developed a foundation in reality (via their lyrics), but allowed us just enough of this magic to escape into an ideal world without forgetting our foundation.
Will.i.Am of the Blackeyed Peas stated "Welcome to the future" at the end of their performance. If they mean the future is AutoTune, we're screwed. But if the future means flashy costumes and sets and even plot lines in the music industry and not just on the Silver Screen or on Broadway, then that's a good thing. Maybe we're back-tracking, and more singing will be incorporated into films, and more acting will be incorporated into concerts. Wouldn't that be nice? What do you think?
Unfortunately, the Grammy Awards did feature some artists that had sub-par performances, mostly because of the use of AutoTune. AutoTune is great when used as instrument by artists like T-Pain. At the same time though, it inhibits the performance. The Blackeyed Peas' "I Gotta Feelin" was nearly destroyed because of live AutoTune.
Good Use of AutoTune (Jamie Foxx and T-Pain): This performance definitely goes along with the theatricality in terms of costumes. It also introduced different "characters" throughout the performance, including Slash.
Bad Use of AutoTune (The Blackeyed Peas):
More about the theatricality:
Every stage performance is obviously theatrical in one way or another, but here's some examples that stuck out.
-Lady Gaga and Elton John had entire set, complete costumes and even a small story line.
-Pink used silks to go along with her Circus theme, and sang the entire song while basically being a trapeze artist at the same time.
-Arguably the most theater-like performance, however, was Greenday's "21 Guns." The sogn was performed with the cast of their new musical "American Idiot," which is based off their album of the same name. (see next post)
The song that Pink performed, "Glitter in the Air," really embodies the theme of the whole music scene and this year's Grammys. It's about spectacle and magic. The music we listen to is reflective of the real things in our society that we deal with every day. In many ways, these every-day occurences and happenings are heightened and idealized so that we may see ourselves more clearly. Each of these artists added a heightened sense of reality to their performances. Call it magic, call it theater, call it cinema, call it "glitter in the air," call it dream-like; the point is that these artists developed a foundation in reality (via their lyrics), but allowed us just enough of this magic to escape into an ideal world without forgetting our foundation.
Will.i.Am of the Blackeyed Peas stated "Welcome to the future" at the end of their performance. If they mean the future is AutoTune, we're screwed. But if the future means flashy costumes and sets and even plot lines in the music industry and not just on the Silver Screen or on Broadway, then that's a good thing. Maybe we're back-tracking, and more singing will be incorporated into films, and more acting will be incorporated into concerts. Wouldn't that be nice? What do you think?
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Haiti
Youtube User:
"The reason that I was responding to you is because my husband is down there right now with about 80+ men and women of HSC-26 Navy flying medivacs off the island onto the USNS Comfort or sending supplies in from one the numerous navy ships that are down there. And that is just his squadron. Back at the squadron they are doing numerous fund raisers, blood drives, and food banks to send more supplies down to our people that are working 12-14 hour days while they are distributing these supplies."
The purpose of this blog is to discuss trends and lifestyle in the present day, reflect on past trends, and predict future one. In all history, there is only one trend, that has always remained the same: natural disasters. They are not planned, they are not strategic, and they make no biased selection of victims based on economy or religion or society. 9/11 had just short of 3,000 deaths (including the hijackers. That was an act of war. It was strategic. It was planned. It made a biased selection and was arguably based on economy or religion or society.
The Earthquake in Haiti has had 150,000 confirmed deaths. That is 50 times the amount slain in the September 11 attacks. And the number is predicted to rise to 200,000. Natural "occurrences" are the only constant since the beginning of earth. Not people, not animals, not religion, not war.
But the way in which we view these acts of nature are constantly changing. Technology has brought us together more than ever before. Coldplay can sing in London while Justin Timberlake can sing in LA; them doing that allows money to be donated by viewers all around the world to a small poor country located in the middle of the carribean. CNN, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook allow people to find their loved ones faster and to donate money and deliver aid faster. That is the difference and that is our now. Of course, in 100 years, it may even be possible with technology to stop these disasters from occurring. For now, Facebook groups like "Find Family in Haiti" or "Find Me in Haiti" will continue to work to help people connect with their loved ones.
Facebook statuses about Haiti:
User 1: "has a newfound respect for Taylor Swift. She is performing for the Haiti relief right now, prayers to all those effected. 'The night is always darkest before the dawn.' - BtDK"...who knew that quotes from a blockbuster film (Batman: Dark Knight) would have such a powerful message?
User 2: "Everyone should download and donate to Music For Relief to aid the good people of Haiti in these terrible times. Follow the link on my wall."
User 3: "Amazed how my sister's school raised over $1 million today for Las Vegas Charities and Haiti."
"The reason that I was responding to you is because my husband is down there right now with about 80+ men and women of HSC-26 Navy flying medivacs off the island onto the USNS Comfort or sending supplies in from one the numerous navy ships that are down there. And that is just his squadron. Back at the squadron they are doing numerous fund raisers, blood drives, and food banks to send more supplies down to our people that are working 12-14 hour days while they are distributing these supplies."
The purpose of this blog is to discuss trends and lifestyle in the present day, reflect on past trends, and predict future one. In all history, there is only one trend, that has always remained the same: natural disasters. They are not planned, they are not strategic, and they make no biased selection of victims based on economy or religion or society. 9/11 had just short of 3,000 deaths (including the hijackers. That was an act of war. It was strategic. It was planned. It made a biased selection and was arguably based on economy or religion or society.
The Earthquake in Haiti has had 150,000 confirmed deaths. That is 50 times the amount slain in the September 11 attacks. And the number is predicted to rise to 200,000. Natural "occurrences" are the only constant since the beginning of earth. Not people, not animals, not religion, not war.
But the way in which we view these acts of nature are constantly changing. Technology has brought us together more than ever before. Coldplay can sing in London while Justin Timberlake can sing in LA; them doing that allows money to be donated by viewers all around the world to a small poor country located in the middle of the carribean. CNN, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook allow people to find their loved ones faster and to donate money and deliver aid faster. That is the difference and that is our now. Of course, in 100 years, it may even be possible with technology to stop these disasters from occurring. For now, Facebook groups like "Find Family in Haiti" or "Find Me in Haiti" will continue to work to help people connect with their loved ones.
Facebook statuses about Haiti:
User 1: "has a newfound respect for Taylor Swift. She is performing for the Haiti relief right now, prayers to all those effected. 'The night is always darkest before the dawn.' - BtDK"...who knew that quotes from a blockbuster film (Batman: Dark Knight) would have such a powerful message?
User 2: "Everyone should download and donate to Music For Relief to aid the good people of Haiti in these terrible times. Follow the link on my wall."
User 3: "Amazed how my sister's school raised over $1 million today for Las Vegas Charities and Haiti."
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Philip Defranco
First vlog (video log).
This guy = new hero.
Does the guy have a bit of a foul mouth? Yes. Is he biased towards some things? Of course, who isn't? This is a new way of getting out the news to the people that (unfortunately) don't usually pay attention to it. They think they're getting entertainment (and indeed they are) but they are also being informed. People that don't watch the news but watch Phil: got ya!
I chose "Fanfare for the Common Man" as my theme song for this blog (yes, I have a theme song), because it really is an ode to the way our world is working today and that the common man is now more than ever able to do exactly as he pleases and really find a way to market him or herself as a brand. This term is also called indienomics.
It is unbelieveable to see how far we have come in terms of our broadcast, our technology, and how we really connect with the world. It is no longer a one way dialogue from media outlet to viewer. The closest we could get to responding 20 years ago was writing to the editor of the newspaper and hoping that we could see our response somewhere buried in the pages.
Now it is totally different. We can tweet to CNN, vlog about current events, give positive or negative feedback. We are able to connect with complete strangers in so many ways and on so many levels. That is why I blog and that is why people like Philip Defranco are important to society.
Let me know what you think about all this.
This guy = new hero.
Does the guy have a bit of a foul mouth? Yes. Is he biased towards some things? Of course, who isn't? This is a new way of getting out the news to the people that (unfortunately) don't usually pay attention to it. They think they're getting entertainment (and indeed they are) but they are also being informed. People that don't watch the news but watch Phil: got ya!
I chose "Fanfare for the Common Man" as my theme song for this blog (yes, I have a theme song), because it really is an ode to the way our world is working today and that the common man is now more than ever able to do exactly as he pleases and really find a way to market him or herself as a brand. This term is also called indienomics.
It is unbelieveable to see how far we have come in terms of our broadcast, our technology, and how we really connect with the world. It is no longer a one way dialogue from media outlet to viewer. The closest we could get to responding 20 years ago was writing to the editor of the newspaper and hoping that we could see our response somewhere buried in the pages.
Now it is totally different. We can tweet to CNN, vlog about current events, give positive or negative feedback. We are able to connect with complete strangers in so many ways and on so many levels. That is why I blog and that is why people like Philip Defranco are important to society.
Let me know what you think about all this.
Monday, January 11, 2010
"Muggle" as a noun and "Google" as a verb
This is a continuation of a post from Floccadelphia.
Every time period has it, but sometimes it's just funny to reflect on how language and vocabulary make themselves known. Google is now a verb. Muggle (from Harry Potter) is a person born without magical power. You are probably a muggle. In some places Obama is a prefix. I found out that "doh" was added to the dictionary. As in...Homer's exclamation from The Simpsons.
These are the crazy ones. But words like internet, blog, high-definiton, are all pretty common now. 30 years ago those words would have been confusing and mind-boggling. 100 years ago they might have been blasphemic.
So what will our vocabulary and language be like in the next 100 years? Maybe some of our language will blend together with that of another planet that we encounter. I dunno. What do you think?
Every time period has it, but sometimes it's just funny to reflect on how language and vocabulary make themselves known. Google is now a verb. Muggle (from Harry Potter) is a person born without magical power. You are probably a muggle. In some places Obama is a prefix. I found out that "doh" was added to the dictionary. As in...Homer's exclamation from The Simpsons.
These are the crazy ones. But words like internet, blog, high-definiton, are all pretty common now. 30 years ago those words would have been confusing and mind-boggling. 100 years ago they might have been blasphemic.
So what will our vocabulary and language be like in the next 100 years? Maybe some of our language will blend together with that of another planet that we encounter. I dunno. What do you think?
Friday, January 1, 2010
Breaking Ground
So last night as I was getting ready to go to my friend's house for New Year's Eve, I decided to go on YouTube and find a playlist of the past decade's music. I found a user named stargirl4ep that had kindly composed a montage entitled "The Most Popular Songs of the 2000s" in 9 parts. Pretty good stuff; I had almost forgotten about the junior high days of "Milkshake" and "Hot in Herre." The playlist made me think of how we use music as a huge factor in defining our decades.
I'm here to talk about the end of the early 2000s and what's coming next. A Renaissance is definitely in the making. Prediction: Gaga/Lambert domination. Largest common denominators: background in theater (as clearly displayed in their performances), and daring to be different. I'm surprised they haven't tag-teamed on a song yet. If Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury and Madonna had a three-way, their love children would be Lady Gaga and Adam Lambert, hands down. David Bowie would be the godfather.
Adam Lambert: Is he the next Michael Jackson or Freddie Mercury (Queen)? Probably not, if anything he's Bowie. Regardless, he definitely is groundbreaking and making efforts to re-shape music and how we think as a society. The glam-rock, high belting notes aren't for everyone, but they really do send chills up and down the spine, and they're higher than anything I've heard in a long time.
We know the music is good, we know that's gonna go somewhere. What's more important about Lambert in terms of revolutionizing society is that he doesn't cater to public reaction. When approached about his sexuality, he stated that his orientation is not important; his music is what got him onto the global stage. Everyone made a huge deal about his 2009 AMA performance and its promiscuity. But Lambert relatiated and made an excellent point in stating that women get away with exploiting their bodies and making out with other women on stage, why should this be any different? Smart man. A little cocky, especially in his interviews, but nevertheless a smart man. What's really great about him is that he's got his feet planted in the 70s and 80s but his eyes looking towards the future. He's looking to add a new spin to music that has worked in the past.
Lady Gaga: Now she's a different animal. Is she the new Madonna? I don't listen to Madonna but I know how groundbreaking she was and is. Gaga tops it. She's definitely bigger than Lambert, but is trying to push alot of the same ideas both musically and politically. She is the only artist in history to have four number one singles off the debut album. The style of music really works, and the best part about her is that she sounds even better live than she does on her recordings. Hopefully we'll be seeing more of her belting voice on future albums; it's a really good tool that she has.
She's a package deal. Yeah, her costumes are scary as hell to some but they can be pretty snazzy. Not only is she a talented musician, performer and singer, but she also has a message that she is passionate about. Lady Gaga stresses that it is ok to be different and unique. She completely overrides social norms, but in a positive way. At the same time, she really is just like any other human with big dreams. Instead of conforming to the Hollywood public eye, as so many have done, she takes a bold step to re-define what is the norm and what is accepted in mainstream society. That is what is groundbreaking. The fact that she is Italian also gives her automatic bonus points.
Both Lambert and Gaga are doing what many celebrities fail to do and have a responsibility to do; redirect their own spotlights on issues or discrepancies in our society that they are passionate about. Their progressive voices (both musically and politically) help to shape Our Now.
I'm here to talk about the end of the early 2000s and what's coming next. A Renaissance is definitely in the making. Prediction: Gaga/Lambert domination. Largest common denominators: background in theater (as clearly displayed in their performances), and daring to be different. I'm surprised they haven't tag-teamed on a song yet. If Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury and Madonna had a three-way, their love children would be Lady Gaga and Adam Lambert, hands down. David Bowie would be the godfather.
Adam Lambert: Is he the next Michael Jackson or Freddie Mercury (Queen)? Probably not, if anything he's Bowie. Regardless, he definitely is groundbreaking and making efforts to re-shape music and how we think as a society. The glam-rock, high belting notes aren't for everyone, but they really do send chills up and down the spine, and they're higher than anything I've heard in a long time.
We know the music is good, we know that's gonna go somewhere. What's more important about Lambert in terms of revolutionizing society is that he doesn't cater to public reaction. When approached about his sexuality, he stated that his orientation is not important; his music is what got him onto the global stage. Everyone made a huge deal about his 2009 AMA performance and its promiscuity. But Lambert relatiated and made an excellent point in stating that women get away with exploiting their bodies and making out with other women on stage, why should this be any different? Smart man. A little cocky, especially in his interviews, but nevertheless a smart man. What's really great about him is that he's got his feet planted in the 70s and 80s but his eyes looking towards the future. He's looking to add a new spin to music that has worked in the past.
Lady Gaga: Now she's a different animal. Is she the new Madonna? I don't listen to Madonna but I know how groundbreaking she was and is. Gaga tops it. She's definitely bigger than Lambert, but is trying to push alot of the same ideas both musically and politically. She is the only artist in history to have four number one singles off the debut album. The style of music really works, and the best part about her is that she sounds even better live than she does on her recordings. Hopefully we'll be seeing more of her belting voice on future albums; it's a really good tool that she has.
She's a package deal. Yeah, her costumes are scary as hell to some but they can be pretty snazzy. Not only is she a talented musician, performer and singer, but she also has a message that she is passionate about. Lady Gaga stresses that it is ok to be different and unique. She completely overrides social norms, but in a positive way. At the same time, she really is just like any other human with big dreams. Instead of conforming to the Hollywood public eye, as so many have done, she takes a bold step to re-define what is the norm and what is accepted in mainstream society. That is what is groundbreaking. The fact that she is Italian also gives her automatic bonus points.
Both Lambert and Gaga are doing what many celebrities fail to do and have a responsibility to do; redirect their own spotlights on issues or discrepancies in our society that they are passionate about. Their progressive voices (both musically and politically) help to shape Our Now.
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