Category Archives: Culture

Friday, Friday, Getting Down on Friday

Culture, Friday Fun, Music

So have you heard the latest song to hate? Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’. If you haven’t seen it check it out. I didn’t see it until she appeared on Good Morning America to dispute critic’s claims she can’t really sing and she’s all auto-tune.

I was a little disappointed I was late to the feeding frenzy a couple weeks ago. I had not heard who Rebecca Black was – and I try to keep up on this music stuff. Not to be swayed by the critics, I found the origin video on youtube and judged for myself. If you know me, you know I say, if you don’t like something you’re not listening to it the right way. Initially its ok – the lyrics are lame, the chorus is catchy, the video starts out bad and really doesn’t get any better. Unfortunately the lyrics get worse and the video gets hokier. Then this aging rapper comes on…

The song has a catchy chorus in an annoying kind of way, the lyrics are horrible, the video is amateur and consistency doesn’t exist – but for an amateur video this is a huge leap – and that is the point. This is isn’t a record company video. This isn’t even an independent label. Well, it is but its a step below. Picture your high school doing a video class, this is just above that. This is Ark Music Factory.

The man behind Ark Music Factory is Patrice Wilson. He helps rich kids reach the dreams their money can buy. And we’re not talking Paris Hilton level rich, just ‘normal’ rich. For $2,000 – $4,000, he will write your kid a song and create a video. He’s a dream maker. But is he a star maker? No. That, honor goes to Daniel Tosh.

Huh? If you watch Rebecca Black’s video on Youtube, you will see “as see on Tosh.0” However, he didn’t feature it on his show – yet. By his posting it on his website, that caused the views to go from hundreds to millions. The first weekend I watched the video go from 12 million hits to 27 million. It is currently over 54 million.

Yes, its the most ‘thumbs down’ video I’ve ever seen. But I find it ironic that Miley Cyrus disses Rebecca (and Justin Bieber). Even with Disney and ‘million dollar studios’, I don’t think she sounds any better. Yes – her songs and videos are better but you get what you pay for.

So finally, is Rebecca and her family laughing all the way to the bank? Apparently Forbes got it wrong when they said she’s sold 2 million copies of ‘Friday’ (though I could not find the original article). According to Annie Lowery Rebecca should clear $40,000 (and probably closer to $50,000 now).

But some may say, “for that crappy song? you should should pay me!” and then you find out she’s donating her ‘Friday’ money to the relief effort in Japan. Really? Could she really be just a sweet kid – with rich parents – that made a video – that got a lucky break from Tosh.o – ignored death threats – and gave the money away? I guess we’ll find out when she releases her next song…

Devil of Detroit Street

Culture, Family

Have you heard this one? A family feud leads to a mother cyber-bullying the family of dying 7 year old girl. Worse then that, her and her husband taunt the child by driving around with a coffin in their truck, honking the horn and telling the kid “I can’t wait until you die.” This happened in Trenton, MI a suburb of Detroit and you can read the article here. And I haven’t mentioned the worst stuff.

The article was released last week and Jennifer Petkov, The Devil of Detroit Street, has already apologized for what she has done. What is impressive is, again, the cyber-response against this woman and her family. Facebook pages have gone up and come down already. Death threats, job threat and school threats to this woman’s family members. ‘They’ have organized a rally for the dying child and her family on October 23rd.

What strikes me is the indecency of what this woman has done. So if the internet not existed, would she have apologized? Had other news agencies not picked up this story would the world even know about this? Had I not selected ‘ABC News’ for my igoogle portal, would I even be aware of this story? And if you hadn’t gone to my webpage, would you be aware of this story? But should this story even exist?

This story hits me personally due to my own story. When my parents died in February of 1975, we were out of school for that week. The following Monday my brothers and sisters and I went back to school. The sixth graders lined up outside on the concrete stairway to a main entrance to the school on that freezing February morning. Patches of ice had formed in the alcove and boys, being boys, began sliding on these patches of ice. Sliding turned into pushing. And, inevitably, someone got hurt. I had pushed a boy who slipped, fell and hit his head on the iron railing. He was obviously in a lot of pain, and he struck back – verbally – “Too bad what happened to your old lady.”

You could hear the hush of the other kids. I could hear the frozen words echo, “to your old lady”  in my head. The doors opened and the sixth graders filed inside. The boy I pushed didn’t cry but we could see he was trying not to. I didn’t cry, but I had fight not to. Over thirty years now, those frozen words still echo, and I still fight against crying.

Eight words and thirty year seems like a long time to hold on to something. How long do you hang on to seeing your dying daughter’s face over cross bones or your dead wife’s face hugging the Grim Reaper last?

A sixth grade boy hurt by another sixth boy’s poor judgement can lash out with evil spiteful words but its a reaction to pain – and he’s only 13 years old. A mother Photoshops a dead wife/mother’s face with the Grim Reaper and posts it on Facebook? This neighbor taunts a dying 7 year old girl – “I can’t wait until you die.”

The Devil’s husband Scott says his wife’s “brutal honesty” has caused his family to “not get along with a lot of people.” “Brutal honesty”? Is there some truth that this woman is speaking that this dying child needs to hear? Is there some lesson this family needs to be taught? Isn’t the death in a family reason enough to back off of your feud? Doesn’t watching a second death unfold in the same family cause you to pause? to reflect on what’s really going on? You can only wonder how people justify their bad behavior to themselves.

The internet has gotten hold of her story and backlash, as you can imagine, has been harsh, immediate and quick. They have give the spending spree at a toy store. They are organized a rally for her.

And the Devil? She’s been arrested for trying run a neighbor over with her car, and has two of her own kids taken away.  You can call that Karma, Justice or God’s Will. But Kathleen Edward will never forget the words and the actions of that devil – even if she could live until she was 50, or even a 100, trust me.

The “I.D. Ten T.” Error

Culture, Family, Tech

” I.D. Ten T.” This is one of my favorite tech jokes. The premise is that two helpdesk people conversing on the phone, one is remote, the other is with the end user.

“Yep, it’s an I.D. Ten T. error” the tech with the end user will tell the second. Written out, the error code becomes – “I D 10 T” (or if you still don’t see it – ‘IDIOT’).

You all know a tech support person. They may not work as a tech support person, but in your life, they are the person you call when your computer (assuming a PC here) isn’t doing what it should – or at least what you think it should be doing. I play that role with many people I know. There are many evenings spent discussing computers problems or stops after work, or on the weekends to look at, install, uninstall, tweak, backup, restore, repair, reply, burn, download, delete, diagnose, quarantine and, sometimes, confirm a piece of hardware will be moving on to the next electronic recycling program…

“End Users”, the people using the software, are constantly ridiculed within the tech industry. Working in the tech industry, I am amazed on the lack of understanding of Windows by both technical and non-technical people.

So – to avoid an “I-D-10-T” Error, here are my suggestions:

  1. Don’t say NOTHING works unless its true. “Nothing works” means you have a power issue – first step is make sure things are plugged in. If you can’t get into windows then something must work for you to know that.
  2. Errors are important, tell your techsupport person if you have received one. Machines aren’t great communicators but when they do its usually pretty important so its important to let them know there is an error BUT…
  3. Don’t read the entire error message – unless asked to do so, a brief summary is usually sufficient. But some people insist on reading all 15 lines of the error message (Exception: this did mess me up with Phil when he found some spyware  on mom’s computer and the installed malware was a print driver that was called “Absolutely Bogus Printer Driver“)
  4. If you think you may have clicked on something you shouldn’t have, admit it. We don’t care if you were at a porn site – we’ve all been to one or two of those sites – it could save us both hours of wasted time.
  5. Advice: DON’T click on anything you’re not sure who it’s from. Really! All the techies say it and that’s because its true. IF you click on something you shouldn’t and you’re faced with a decision (“Would you like to install?”) DO NOT click on a button – ANY button. Instead, use the red ‘X’ in the upper right corner. Despite what the buttons are labeled, both buttons mean ‘Yes, install your malware and mess up my computer’.
  6. BitTorrents (Peer-to-Peer, or P2P) are easy ways to get free stuff (mp3’s, movies, etc.) but they are not to be trusted. I know Limewire is a favorite among kids for music but be sure your spyware and virus are current and up to date. It’s like paying for your drinks with raw steak in a tiger’s cage. And you wonder why the kid gets mauled? A kid once told me that Limewire does not affect laptops. “Now I know why tigers eat their young!”
  7. Spyware and Viruses are two different things. ‘Current’ and ‘updated’ are two different things. You could, and should, have two different spyware protection programs. I recommend Spybot and Ad-Aware as free programs. Keep them ‘current’ – meaning you have the latest versions of the program. Also, keep them up to date – meaning they have the latest listing of malware programs to protect you from.
  8. For virus protection programs, most (and I think all) ISP’s (Internet Service Providers) provide free virus protection programs. No one wants you to get a virus. In fact, it means more work for all of us. We have Comcast for our ISP. They currently offer a free version of Norton. AT&T/Yahoo offer a free version of McAfee. You will need to log into your accounts to get them. If you need a different program, I recommend Avast! (fyi – do not use the CNET download button, its an ad!). Same rules – keep your program current – meaning the latest version of the software and keep your program up to date – meaning the latest version of virus definition patterns. First thing I will do you make your stuff is current and up to date.
  9. Backup your data! Yea, more stupid advice that no one listens to but believe me it will happen to you. I once lost a new data drive 6 months after I bought it. My brother lost his external drive when it fell off his desk. I use Syncback. However, this program is not free – its $30 and you can put it on up to 5 pc’s (that’s $6 a PC). Do it and someday you may thank me.
  10. Finally, if I do work on your computer, don’t call me up and complain about my work. I don’t charge for working on computers (though I have taken beer for work I’ve done). It worked when I left. If you do pay for support, keep in mind they will make sure it works. Sometimes that shortest distance is a complete reinstall (see #9). And if I leave a note in your startup folder that pops up every time you start your computer – that just means I like you.

Hardrock, Coco and Joe

Culture, Family

It’s hard to get the kids to understand how we watched TV. During the holidays we would rush home in time to watch Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. For an hour we were hypnotized by the stop-go animation of Rankin and Bass. After it was over we would be shooed off to bed and spend the next few weeks discussing what we saw with our friends, not to be repeated until the next year.

Another sign of Christmas were the short holiday cartoons on our local Garfield Goose show. There were three magical cartoons – Frosty The Snowman, Suzi Snowflake and The Three Little Dwarfs or more commonly known as ‘Hardrock, Coco and Joe’; of which we would sing endless at recess to our teachers’ chagrin.

So, if you are old enough, feel free to see along – “Ol-die old lady o lady eye oh….”

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We Need Historic Change

Culture, Politics

As we begin to see the biting winds of this economic whirlwind bear down on us we begin to cling to what is most important. Remember when I start my blog I said we do not want to see ‘historic’ changes – be it weather, economic or in our lives.

Ah, you caught it – sometimes ‘historic changes’ in our own lives are good – weddings, births, etc. and some are bad – deaths, accidents, etc. We want the good things and accept and grow around the bad things.

Of course we all want everyday to be 78 degrees, a slight breeze and sunny. But we take the rain, survive the cold and pray through the hurricanes. With the economy we take advantage of the good years, hunker down to weather the slow downs and tell stories of how bad it was during the last recession. Well, the times they are a changin’ – and they are changing in historic ways.

We are in another Vietnam with the Iraq War; we are trillions of dollars in debt; Wallstreet is sending our retirement years further away; and we are watching a recession (or depression?) develop before our eyes. These are historic events.

I am not a political person. I like technology, I like science, I like music. My friend Ralf is very current and much more politically aware then myself. Personally, I believe both major parties to be corrupt and a tragedy to democracy.

When W came on the scene Ralf said, “this guy is bad news.” My thought was, well of course he is, he’s a politician. I voted Libertarian, but Ralf was right. Our turn of the century Joe Six Pack with the White House address was pissing off foreign dignitaries repeatedly. We were beginning to see he really was just a regular guy and maybe he wasn’t presidential quality. Though when 9/11 happened, it was comforting to see ‘our father figure’ reflecting our anger and the injustice done to us as a nation. But then we again saw – he wasn’t presidential quality. The only way to lead is by example, and he led us into an unjustified war with Iraq and made-up WMD.

The next term Ralf begged me to vote against W. I could see we went to war under false pretenses. While I wasn’t a democrat, I could see Ralf was right – W couldn’t get another term. So I voted for John Kerry. And I was floored when W won a second term, many of us were. A month ago I saw a bump sticker that said “Jan 20, 2009 – The End of an Error.” Thank God for two term limits.

In this presidential election, we are faced with historic obstacles. Such obstacles demand a historic response. We need to elect the first Muslin president of these United States.   Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I find it incredible that there are people out there that a) still think Obama is Muslin and b) that it matters. Well, it matters as much as it would that he’s black.

As both candidate profess – we need a change. Logically, you must first decide, are you electing an individual that can actually cause change or are the presidential candidates merely figureheads in front of political machines? Personally, I believe the Bobblehead Theory – they will nod forever telling us yes to everything we want to hear. In this scenario, the only answer is to vote the Democratic party in and change the current machine that’s running. My personal plans is to vote out everyone who is in office or replace the previous party.

If you believe an individual truly can lead dispite their party affliation and think McCain is the Mavrick he proclaims to be, check out why William F. Buckley’s son Christopher, a long time Republican and until recently McCain supporter, is now supporting Obaman (thanks for the article Ralf). McCain has been very pointed with his critism of ACORN and “what may be one of the great voter frauds in history.” And there is some truth in that statement – some (thanks Jeff). And can anybody honestly say, Sara Palin was the best choice for VP from the Republicans? Especially when she doesn’t know what the vice president does (thanks Dave)?

Obama is currently ahead by 8 points, he has 277 electoral votes and now has reserved Grant Park in Chicago for his victory party. It appears we are on the verge of a historic presidential election. But before the Democrats get too full of themselves – realize once again our country is not run by one man, or woman. The current state of our country is more like thirty flaming bags of dogshit on the White House porch. And as much as Obama and the Democratic machine tries to stomp out those flames, there’s going to be dog shit everywhere. And believe me, its going to stink up more than just the White House. From what I heard, it was a historic turd Spot’s been taking for the last eight years.

Funny But Important Too…

Culture, Politics

Just caught up with this episode of the Daily Shaw and again Stewart makes great points. Not only that but its hilarious! The show begins with ‘The Angry Mob’ the McCain-Pallin ticket has raised with their Ayers/Obama comments. And, of course, the sweet old lady that is afraid of Obama because he’s Arab – and McCain’s response that he’s not Arab, he’s a decent family man. Stewart pokes fun on the implication that an Arab man cannot be ‘a decent family man’ (Italians beware!).  Check it out: