Obama Signs Executive Order To Close Guantanamo Bay
My thoughts on President Barack Obama signing an Executive Order to shut down Guatanamo Bay: This is a step in the right direction, but one which must be followed with intelligent, cautious planning, as well as appropriate alternative methods. It's very important, however, that we do take this as a sign that Obama wants to bring integrity back to our political and military process. As he said to George Stephanopoulos January 9th, 2009, "...we are going to make sure that the procedures we set up are ones that abide by our Constitution. "
22.1.09
ABC News: Lawsuit: Alaska Villages 'Dumping Ground' for Abusive Priests
ABC News: Lawsuit: Alaska Villages 'Dumping Ground' for Abusive Priests
This is unfathomable. I can't even comprehend what kind of a monster someone has to be in order to harm innocent people and to victimize so many children. Utterly disgusting. My thoughts go to the victims and their families and loved ones. My heart breaks when I hear stories like this, of rape or sexual abuse. It's so unreal that someone, an adult, would do something like that. How does a victim ever regain trust for anyone again? Oh to be a fly on the wall in a counseling session. I couldn't even begin to know what pain they must carry with them.
This is unfathomable. I can't even comprehend what kind of a monster someone has to be in order to harm innocent people and to victimize so many children. Utterly disgusting. My thoughts go to the victims and their families and loved ones. My heart breaks when I hear stories like this, of rape or sexual abuse. It's so unreal that someone, an adult, would do something like that. How does a victim ever regain trust for anyone again? Oh to be a fly on the wall in a counseling session. I couldn't even begin to know what pain they must carry with them.
"I am tough to go through cause I'm tangible"
Still can't get enough. Laughter every time I watch:
Seth Green Says Leave Chris Crocker Alone! - Watch the top videos of the week here
Seth Green Says Leave Chris Crocker Alone! - Watch the top videos of the week here
Academy Awards Nominations
Released early this morning, the season's Academy Awards Nominations had many expected nominees (Heath Ledger, Best Supporting Actor; Meryl Streep, Best Actress; Frost/Nixon, Best Picture; Danny Boyle, Best Director)
Full List of Nominees:
Personally, I want to see Heath Ledger win the award for Best Supporting Actor, Mickey Rourke win for Best Actor, and Slumdog Millionaire win for Best Picture. Aside from that, I don't care who wins the other awards (though, Kate Winslet finally winning an Oscar would be nice).
It was a shame that Heath Ledger passed away so soon. His performances were always intriguing. Whether you were a hardcore fan or just a casual movie-goer, you easily remembered his characters.
He teamed up with Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale for The Dark Knight and gave the most electrifying performance of his life as The Joker. The calculated anarchy of his character was everything a Batman fan could have wanted: gritty, explosive, intelligent, without purpose, and most of all, a true parallel to Bruce Wayne/Batman himself. As someone who couldn't wait for The Dark Knight to come to theaters, and who watched it three times in theaters, I am so glad that Heath was cast for the role.
Mickey Rourke's performance has critics buzzing for more reasons than just the character in the movie. Specifically, Mickey Rourke has taken on a character whose life mirrors his own. Who's trials and tribulations, rise and fall from grace/success can be seen so clearly on Mickey Rourke's face, battered raw from years in a faraway boxing ring. As Randy "The Ram" Robinson, we see the comical highs of fame and the terrible bottomed-out lows of failure. Mr. Rourke brought quite an honest portrayal and doesn't shy away from expressing the similarities between The Ram and the life Rourke has lived.
As for Slumdog Millionaire, you'll just have to read an excellent review to understand why I hope it wins.
Roger Ebert, movie critic of the Chicago Sun-Times writes, "When I saw "Slumdog Millionaire" at Toronto, I was witnessing a phenomenon: dramatic proof that a movie is...
Below, the full list of awards to be given for 2009's Academy Awards:
2009 Academy Awards Official Ballot
Full List of Nominees:
Personally, I want to see Heath Ledger win the award for Best Supporting Actor, Mickey Rourke win for Best Actor, and Slumdog Millionaire win for Best Picture. Aside from that, I don't care who wins the other awards (though, Kate Winslet finally winning an Oscar would be nice).
It was a shame that Heath Ledger passed away so soon. His performances were always intriguing. Whether you were a hardcore fan or just a casual movie-goer, you easily remembered his characters.
He teamed up with Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale for The Dark Knight and gave the most electrifying performance of his life as The Joker. The calculated anarchy of his character was everything a Batman fan could have wanted: gritty, explosive, intelligent, without purpose, and most of all, a true parallel to Bruce Wayne/Batman himself. As someone who couldn't wait for The Dark Knight to come to theaters, and who watched it three times in theaters, I am so glad that Heath was cast for the role.
Mickey Rourke's performance has critics buzzing for more reasons than just the character in the movie. Specifically, Mickey Rourke has taken on a character whose life mirrors his own. Who's trials and tribulations, rise and fall from grace/success can be seen so clearly on Mickey Rourke's face, battered raw from years in a faraway boxing ring. As Randy "The Ram" Robinson, we see the comical highs of fame and the terrible bottomed-out lows of failure. Mr. Rourke brought quite an honest portrayal and doesn't shy away from expressing the similarities between The Ram and the life Rourke has lived.
As for Slumdog Millionaire, you'll just have to read an excellent review to understand why I hope it wins.
Roger Ebert, movie critic of the Chicago Sun-Times writes, "When I saw "Slumdog Millionaire" at Toronto, I was witnessing a phenomenon: dramatic proof that a movie is...
Below, the full list of awards to be given for 2009's Academy Awards:
2009 Academy Awards Official Ballot
Publish at Scribd or explore others:
H.R. 390: College Football Playoff Act of 2009
To prohibit, as an unfair and deceptive act or practice, the promotion, marketing, and advertising of any post-season NCAA Division I football game as a national championship game unless such game is the culmination of a fair and equitable playoff system.
Moderate Republican Joe Barton of the Sixth District of Texas has sponsored and presented a bill to begin adjusting the way the "Bowl Championship Series" promotes its "BCS National Championship". Following a season when multiple teams felt they had an opportunity to play in the "Championship Game," most notably undefeated (13-0) Utah (The Utes), this bill lays the groundwork of what many hope is a road to an 8-team playoff to determine the best team of the season.
Personally, I hope the playoff occurs. I think that the current "BCS" rating system is flawed. Teams that have a great deal of media attention and hype create a hype for an unproven talent (A perceived-"great" school will increase an opponent's strength of schedule, regardless of whether that perceived-great school actually IS Great). There should be a system that enables undefeated schools not involved in the Bowl Championship Series to play for the privilege of a National Championship bid. The best way for this would be a playoff. Teams with one loss should not overstep teams with zero losses and quality victories.
111th Congress 1st Session HR 390
Moderate Republican Joe Barton of the Sixth District of Texas has sponsored and presented a bill to begin adjusting the way the "Bowl Championship Series" promotes its "BCS National Championship". Following a season when multiple teams felt they had an opportunity to play in the "Championship Game," most notably undefeated (13-0) Utah (The Utes), this bill lays the groundwork of what many hope is a road to an 8-team playoff to determine the best team of the season.
Personally, I hope the playoff occurs. I think that the current "BCS" rating system is flawed. Teams that have a great deal of media attention and hype create a hype for an unproven talent (A perceived-"great" school will increase an opponent's strength of schedule, regardless of whether that perceived-great school actually IS Great). There should be a system that enables undefeated schools not involved in the Bowl Championship Series to play for the privilege of a National Championship bid. The best way for this would be a playoff. Teams with one loss should not overstep teams with zero losses and quality victories.
111th Congress 1st Session HR 390
Publish at Scribd or explore others:
"A Class Divided", PBS Frontline exclusive
via videosift.com
Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes experiment - Jane Elliot.
A teacher from Riceville, Iowa, Jane Elliot proposes an experiment so well-crafted that it exposes its participants, Middle-American third-graders, to the reality of racism and discrimination.
My child psychology class in college studied Jane Elliot's experiment a couple of years ago and it was fascinating to me how she affected these children for the rest of their lives. I would be interested to see whether this kind of activity would carry the same weight in today's internet age as it did in the 60's and 70's.
Garfield Minus Garfield
Garfield Minus Garfield by Dan Walsh
A very interesting concept. Garfield, the famous fat cat with criticisms about everything except lasagna, is removed from his comic strips to reveal angst and loneliness of his owner, the deeply isolated Jon Arbuckle. Spawning from cartoonist Jim Davis's nationally syndicated comic strip, Garfield, G-m-G has taken a humorous comic and turned it into an interesting observational piece about what would appear to be (in Garfield's absence) a strip about a schizophrenic loner with poor interpersonal skills and a skewed understanding of the opposite sex.
Insightful? Perhaps not, but this unique idea makes me wonder whether readers had ever considered doing this with Snoopy, Blondie, or perhaps Dilbert? And you know what? There's a Dilbert Minus Dilbert!
21.1.09
Pamelia Kurstin
Performing on the theremin, Pamelia Kurstin shares with the TED Talks Forum a new take on "Autumn Leaves", "Lush Life" and David Mash’s "Listen, Words Are Gone."
You may not know of Pamelia Kurstin, but she has been performing for many years and has created for herself quite a critically-acclaimed career. Her album "Thinking out Loud" was released in April 2007 and has been reviewed as being "a doozy of weirdness" as well as "haunting and quirky." Personally, I recommend "Thinking out Loud" because of its uniqueness as a "contemporary theremin" album (you'd be hard pressed to find another such album in the last forty years). The dark tones and exceptional use of pitch are evident in my favorite tracks, "Edinburgh" and "Copingheaven".
The Theremin is a monophonic electronic instrument developed in the USSR by Lev Termen and first demonstrated by him in 1920. It operates on the principle of heterodyning two radio frequency oscillators and is customarily played by moving the hands to-and-fro in mid-air before two antennae, one controlling pitch, the other volume. There are also versions with a keyboard or a fingerboard. (definition from Answers.com)
Independent Lens: "A Dream In Doubt"
"Watching Independent Lens... is like going into an independent bookstore--you don't always find what you were looking for but you often find something you didn't even know you wanted" - The New Yorker
A Sikh American faces and confronts hate crimes, xenophobia, fear and deep loss in the wake of 9/11. -Filmmaker Tami Yeager
Independent Lens, an Emmy Award-winning program released by PBS, gives independent filmmakers a forum for the stories they feel need to be told. It's pretty interesting that this show hasn't gotten the exposure of other similar shows. Though awarded Emmys for its production and story selection, Independent Lens is still 'below the radar' on the national scale. This Season's host is Terrence Howard and fans of cinema or passers-by can watch the show on Tuesdays at 10p.m. on PBS, or through Hulu.com. Please check this show out for yourself and see how independent filmmakers use this medium to share some very interesting stories that otherwise would have trouble being told.
A Sikh American faces and confronts hate crimes, xenophobia, fear and deep loss in the wake of 9/11. -Filmmaker Tami Yeager
Independent Lens, an Emmy Award-winning program released by PBS, gives independent filmmakers a forum for the stories they feel need to be told. It's pretty interesting that this show hasn't gotten the exposure of other similar shows. Though awarded Emmys for its production and story selection, Independent Lens is still 'below the radar' on the national scale. This Season's host is Terrence Howard and fans of cinema or passers-by can watch the show on Tuesdays at 10p.m. on PBS, or through Hulu.com. Please check this show out for yourself and see how independent filmmakers use this medium to share some very interesting stories that otherwise would have trouble being told.
Gran Torino, released by Warner Brothers for Matten Productions
Watch more viddler videos on AOL Video
And a link to the At The Movies review by Ben Mankiewicz and Ben Lyons:
20.1.09
Benjamin Bixby Clothing Line
Musician/Actor Andre Benjamin (Andre 3000 from Outkast) has a creative third career: Fashion Designer. A very compelling stylistic debut from a relatively new fashion designer, the spring line for Benjamin Bixby is inspired by 40's prep and 'super hero' proportions. See the spring fashion collection in the United States, featured exclusively through Barney's (Click the picture below)
Stockholm, Yowza! How cool!
"A Working Class Hero is Something to Be"
Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. -- John Lennon
1,850 jobs will soon go by the way side for Clear Channel, Inc. Effective immediately, about 9 percent of the Clear Channel Staff will be losing their jobs, New York Times columnist Stephanie Clifford reported today.
This comes in the wake of Viacom and NBC Universal's recent layoff of approximately 1,300 jobs in December, 2008. Also affected by the recent economic decline is Media Company for the auto industry BBDO Detroit, which lost 22.4% of it's employee base after massive cutbacks were reported on November, 8th, 2008.
As a recent graduate with a mass media degree, I'm worried for my peers who are searching for work in these bleak times. It's difficult to see so many of them work so hard to acquire a very specific set of skills, only to find employers hesitant to increase their company's work force (and indeed, even releasing more-experienced professionals). What is a fresh-faced, degree-carrying job-seeker to do?
This leads me to an explanation of my own career path: A twenty-something with aspirations in the media business, I directly followed my graduation with a job in Media Litigation services. I was tasked with being a videographer for law firms requesting visual records of depositions. My career had begun! I was excited for a time, legal enthusiast that I am... This title, 'legal videographer' shifted to office drone searching the web and reorganizing our stacks of video records. The work had dropped off until I was finally told by the big guy, "I'm sorry, but I have to let you go. There just isn't enough work to justify carrying the number of people that I currently employ."
Bitter, but not jaded, I wallowed in my shock and grief for all of one week. I took the initiative to see this layoff not as (doom) but as a (Boon) for my life. I began assisting on a production for a local media arts company, and then followed that up with a three-month telemarketing experience. This eventually led to my current position, as a marketing coordinator and office representative of one of the most successful insurance companies in the United States.
Long story short... I took my skill set and morphed it to fit the available jobs in my market! I know it's very difficult to have the strength and resolve to adjust your way of thinking after losing your job--especially if that job is all you knew for 10-to-20 years. Within all of us, however, lies an understanding and belief that we will get through our trials. This faith in ourselves must also come with an awareness of our surroundings and skills. We must be resourceful. We must not only make the most of what we have to offer, but also of what is available to us. We must not close our minds or hearts to opportunity. We must not look at this cutback as 'shattered dreams' but as a puzzling future, ready to be skillfully pieced together.
Let's rise up and keep moving forward.
1,850 jobs will soon go by the way side for Clear Channel, Inc. Effective immediately, about 9 percent of the Clear Channel Staff will be losing their jobs, New York Times columnist Stephanie Clifford reported today.
This comes in the wake of Viacom and NBC Universal's recent layoff of approximately 1,300 jobs in December, 2008. Also affected by the recent economic decline is Media Company for the auto industry BBDO Detroit, which lost 22.4% of it's employee base after massive cutbacks were reported on November, 8th, 2008.
As a recent graduate with a mass media degree, I'm worried for my peers who are searching for work in these bleak times. It's difficult to see so many of them work so hard to acquire a very specific set of skills, only to find employers hesitant to increase their company's work force (and indeed, even releasing more-experienced professionals). What is a fresh-faced, degree-carrying job-seeker to do?
This leads me to an explanation of my own career path: A twenty-something with aspirations in the media business, I directly followed my graduation with a job in Media Litigation services. I was tasked with being a videographer for law firms requesting visual records of depositions. My career had begun! I was excited for a time, legal enthusiast that I am... This title, 'legal videographer' shifted to office drone searching the web and reorganizing our stacks of video records. The work had dropped off until I was finally told by the big guy, "I'm sorry, but I have to let you go. There just isn't enough work to justify carrying the number of people that I currently employ."
Bitter, but not jaded, I wallowed in my shock and grief for all of one week. I took the initiative to see this layoff not as (doom) but as a (Boon) for my life. I began assisting on a production for a local media arts company, and then followed that up with a three-month telemarketing experience. This eventually led to my current position, as a marketing coordinator and office representative of one of the most successful insurance companies in the United States.
Long story short... I took my skill set and morphed it to fit the available jobs in my market! I know it's very difficult to have the strength and resolve to adjust your way of thinking after losing your job--especially if that job is all you knew for 10-to-20 years. Within all of us, however, lies an understanding and belief that we will get through our trials. This faith in ourselves must also come with an awareness of our surroundings and skills. We must be resourceful. We must not only make the most of what we have to offer, but also of what is available to us. We must not close our minds or hearts to opportunity. We must not look at this cutback as 'shattered dreams' but as a puzzling future, ready to be skillfully pieced together.
Let's rise up and keep moving forward.
Feeling quite good....
Today was officially the day that we received in our highest political office President Barack Obama. The throng of supporters numbered in the Hundreds upon Hundreds of thousands (almost millions) as Mr. President was sworn in, using the same bible President Abraham Lincoln used during his inauguration! President Obama's inauguration was followed with a speech about a new era of responsibility for America:
Barack Obama Inaugural Address
I can say that I'm truly excited to be an American. I'm truly blessed to have the opportunity to practice the kind of community involvement alluded to by President Obama. Despite the down economy, and the gloom and doom job market/house market/auto industry/banking industry... I can say that this presidency alone has me feeling good. So I leave you, my fellow blogger, with "Feelin' Good", a song by Canadian-Italian singer Michael Buble!
Michael Bublé - "Feelin' Good"
Commemorating a special American:
The famous "I Have a Dream Speech" by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. given on August 28, 1963.
And now, 46 years later, we live in a land where a Negro Man shall lead our country forward... Free at last, Free at last, Thank God Almight, our country's people are free at last.
May we rest well and awaken to a new America.
Let us remember Dr. King's speech as a testament to the great will of those who would impart upon their fellow men and women the equality we must all experience and we are all blessed to receive.
19.1.09
"Sombody's Heine' is crowding my ice box"
John Turturro in a new Heineken Commercial?!?! Saying things only Yogi Berra could understand ("he who wanders with purpose has no purpose to wander")...
Excellent! I hope Heineken keeps this up for the upcoming Super Bowl ads Could you imagine someone like Conan O'Brien in one of these? Stephen Colbert? Ricky Gervais? It would be absolutely fantastic.
Anyway, click on the image to go to an article from New York Times "Media & Advertising" Columnist Stuart Elliott about the use of actors in Beer Commercials during these tumultuous times in America.
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