iPod Shuffle

I rarely ever judge a person on his or her musical tastes.  Variety is the spice of life and if I want to listen to Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons, Rhianna and B.o.B. on the Monday after the Grammys than that's my prerogative.  The only exception to this rule is Nickelback; thanks for nothing Canada.  Music transcends geography, age and class as an art form without a pinpointed historical beginning and without a likely end.

My fascination with music as a performing art is likely the result of the fact that I have little of my own skills in this department.  Outside of air drumming and the the "look-I'm-holding-an-invisible-microphone-in-a-bar-while-singing" mannerisms this is sadly a side of me I haven't discovered...yet.  I'm holding onto that hope.

So here are my short takeaways from last night all of which were said by me, out loud, during last night's awards.  Most to another person.

• Lady Gaga's prosthetic "shoulders" reminded me of the aliens in Independence Day and in the worst way possible
• After the Mumford & Sons performance, the lead singer dropped back two steps and threw a 60-yard pass into the side of Dr. Dre's face thereby proving that he is Tim Tebow
• Jury is still out on the relevancy of showing Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman between each commercial break
• Gwenyth Paltrow should only sing on Glee, with her best friend "auto tune"
• Bob Dylan is a legend.  There is no other excuse for that performance
• Was Mick Jagger wearing Skecher's Shape Ups?
• I waited for Eminem's shout out to Brisk Iced Tea during his acceptance speech.  If you're going to sell out, go big
• Katy Perry's best asset?  Boobs.
• Finally, I hope we can all agree that the real winnre of the night was the Jim Henson Company for "The Song Otherwise Known as 'Forget You'"  Cee-Lo looked like he ate Big Bird
• Arcade Fire.  Woop.

Because I dislike Twilight,

and I think this is funny but never posted it.

"If Facebook were a county, it would be world's fourth largest"

A small portion of my day has been researching the "digital space" for tiny tidbits of information that could (ahem, should) be appreciated across clients.  I found these and wanted to share.

This is a word cloud, filtering out reoccurring words from Wikipedia's article on social media.  Thank you Wordle for making Wikipedia even more dummy proof.

Then here is this winner with its warm up music, which makes me want to present to a conference room full of head scratching marketing directors. In a pair of breakaway pants.

I admit that some of these terms and buzz words are overused, underdeveloped and totally boring.  Whatever it is, it's real.  Social media should not be a challenge, but an appreciated asset that compliments existing plans.

"Social media isn't a fad, it's a fundamental shift in the way we communicate"

Vampires, Wizards and Wolves. Oh my.

Nerd alert: I grew up with Harry Potter.  I read Sorcerer's Stone around the age of 13.  Ryan handed me a book and simply said, "read it, it's about a wizarding school."  Thinking it sounded stupid, I opened the book anyway and immediately fell in love.  In the years following I pre-purchased the books, read Goblet of Fire in the bath tub for three hours (old bathwater turns very cool), and bawled uncontrollably when [SPOILER!] Dumbledore died.  Mom walked into the kitchen and found me, head in my hands, violently crying at this huge turning point.  She turned around and went back to bed...granted it was around 4 a.m.  I was dumbfounded as I closed the last book after reading, literally stunned by the plot twists and violence that JK Rowling conjured out of thin air.  She had guts, she killed main characters, she was scary.

Today, I feel like a dirty adulterous.  I am embarrassed to admit, although I am one of millions, that I read the Twilight series.  So sue me I wanted to find some sort of magic in fantastical characters and lacked literature of my own.  Tonight I am going to see "Eclipse" only because I am going for free with work and with old co-worker friends.  I feel like I am at rock bottom when the highlights of a movie are seeing a shirtless 18-year-old and eating free Whoppers (the milk duds, not the burgers).  The more I write this, the more I disdain it.  It blows my mind how much money a sexually frustrated Mormon made off of scribbling sexually frustrated transgressions on paper and somehow making emo vampires "cool."

So just when I was started to really hate myself I found something that saved me.  Time put it well on its twitter feed.  "Forget Twilight: Deathly Hallows trailer reminds us why Harry Potter still rules."  Yes, Harry, yes.

This is me being culturally relevant.

I love when I feel no pressure to write about issues in a timely manner.  Everyone and everything else does it for me.  I am not a journalist in this blog and am, by no means, following the inverted pyramid.

I also don't choose to write about my life, it's not that exciting.  If I actually like you then you will know if something earth shattering happens but I feel no need to write it here.  Instead I offer my opinions, my qualms and some sarcasm.  I don't write to talk a lot of facts and don't read blogs that do.  Let's be honest, most of that information on "informational" personal blogs already came from a credible source that broke the news way early.  Credible sources like CNN, ESPN or Perez Hilton.

So today I read a great article on gawker.com, American Idol: June 2002 - May 2010.  No surprise that Simon Cowell would one day leave American Idol to take on greener pastures and karaoke contests.  I only heard about Britain's "X Factor" through the amazing Onion's AV Club article Internet 1, Simon Cowell 0.  Basically, a social media campaign in support of Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name Of" spanked some whiny cover on Miley's "The Climb" as Britain's #1 single during the week of Christmas 2009.  With his tail between his legs, Simon lost.  Baby Jesus had something to do with this, no doubt.

So now Simon is leaving soon, Paula's coked out little body has already left the chair and lovable Ellen Degeneres is making her debut. AI is changing; my life will hardly be changed by this.  Seeing David Cook perform before the 2009 All Star game actually solidified the fact, for me, that the show is little more than a karaoke contest best used for large sponsorship deals. However, it's pop culture and it's relevant so here we are.

So read the Gawker article please, the picture at the bottom is most definitely worth it.