Music Monday: Beautiful

Moving song by a short-lived European band, Mandalay:

Political Thoughts: Part I

Politics is not something I've historically been involved--or even interested--in. Perhaps because I've never found a politician who really exemplifies my own political beliefs. Maybe it's because I'm one of those individuals who tends to believe that even if a politician begins a career in politics their good intentions are overpowered by greed. I don't know. But what I do know is I'm making a concerted effort to involve myself in the 2008 Presidential election -- I'm 32-years-old and it's time I made some sort of [political] contribution to our country. (I refuse to debate whether or not it's a privilege or a civic duty.)

Now while the influence of my contributions aren't necessarily the topic of this particular post--which is the first in a series--I do wonder about the contributions of other citizens. Specifically, celebrities who endorse political parties and/or given candidates. Of course this is brought to the forefront right now because Oprah Winfrey has publicly endorsed Barak Obama for the Democratic Presidential candidate. I've got no problem with that; however, I have my own ideas & opinions about how this impacts the political scene.

I have a friend who holds the opinion that celebrities--actors, musicians, television personalities--should not inflict their personal beliefs out into the general public...for fear that this might "mislead" some people to believe a certain way, just because said celebrity does. My own personal opinion on the matter is that celebrities have a perfect platform for getting people involved. I love the quote Madonna* gave a reporter, as featured in the documentary ''I'm Going To Tell You a Secret'': "I'm not here to cause turmoil or tell people what to think. I'm here to wake them up." (I'm paraphrasing here, so don't hold me to the quote.)

I feel that the general public should already have their own political beliefs, and they're going to vote for their ideal candidate. For those citizens who don't typically participate in politics, then what's the harm in a celebrity bringing a certain platform to light? (It's certainly some celebrites into trouble.)

So while Oprah's choice of candidate to endorse isn't particularly my personal preference, I say more power to her!

What do you think? Do you think it's OK for Oprah to publicly endorse the candidate she prefers? Or should she just keep her opinions--and her mouth--shut?!?!



*As I'm crafting this post, I just heard it announced on E!'s The Daily 10 that Madonna is about to "officially" endorse Hillary Clinton. Interesting....

Music Monday: Must Be Dreaming

Today's music video comes from a fantastic group called Frou Frou. I discovered them a few years back, and purchased their debut album based solely on a magazine article I'd read about them. One half of the group--the non-singing half--is Guy Sigsworth, who's done quite a bit of production on both Madonna and Bjork albums; that was the determining factor for me. The second half of the group is Imogen Heap, who about two years ago released one of the best pop albums in recent history.

Given that, here is one of the standout tracks from Frou Frou's debut. The song is called "Must Be Dreaming."

Meat Pies Get Mobile

OK, so that's a really lame attempt at punning but it's the best I've got. But it somewhat relates to the content ahead.

I've recently learned that both Papa John's and Domino's Pizza offer-up mobile ordering. In fact, Papa John's is actually promoting their services on the homepage. Ordering a pizza via your web-enabled device? Are you kidding me? That's fantastic! I love, love, love pizza! It's probably my main food weakness, besides french fries. I recall a time not too terribly long ago that I I was having a horrible day and didn't want to converse with any other human beings, so I ordered a pizza online. It's the best.

So now to make it that much easier by ordering "mobily" seems like the next logical step. While I'm not really a fan of Domino's Pizza, I will eventually try this method of ordering with Papa John's (my favorite) and will let you know how it goes.

If anyone has tried ordering from a pizza place via their mobile device please provide feedback!

Music Monday

As I mentioned in a previous post not too terribly long ago, it's been quite some time since I've blogged. I think much of this has to do with my job, and the nature of our industry. To be honest, it's bothered me for a while because I started this blog, think I have something to say, and I don't like the fact that I've allowed for it to be dormant as long as it has.

The thing is, I don't want to "write just for the sake of writing." I'd like to produce content my [very few] readers enjoy and find relevance in. Of course, this is ultimately the goal of every blogger, I think. Or at least I hope. Anyway, I started thinking about the things that are important to me, and decided if I stick with that I'll always have some interesting content. At least for me....

So I've decided to interject some theming with my blog. Music is extremely important to me; I think I was a musician in a past life. Even more, I love the artistry of music videos. Quality music videos -- not the crap they show on MTV these days. Now I'm sure many people would argue about what I find "artistic" and whay they find "artistic," but that's the fantastic thing about this being my blog -- I can say what I want! So every Monday I'm going to start posting a video I think is interesting, and has a certain artistic integrity to it. Hopefully you'll enjoy the videos I post...or at least be exposed to something new.

That being said, it's only appropo that I launch Music Video Monday with Madonna. If you have any awareness of music or pop culture then I need not say more.

VIDEO : HOLLYWOOD

While certainly not one of the best Madonna songs, I feel both the video and the album it on which it appeared were severely overlooked. Perhaps that was due to the political controversy surrounding the title track and its accompanying video (I'm sure that will show up here at a future date). Regardless, this video shows Madonna at her best...in the sense that she is a chameleon and always looks good no matter what. (Of course, there are also pop culture implications that come along with the song.)

Bonus:

A few years ago "Hollywood" was segment of the high-grossing "Re-Invention Tour." The backdrop to the scene was incredibly cool so I thought I'd include it here. I hope you enjoy it.

Some bitter OJ

I'll be honest, I don't like orange juice with pulp. I never have and chances are that will never change. Pulp is just unnecessary -- it gets stuck in your teeth, hits the back of your throat in a creepy way, and just doesn't make any sense. I kinda feel the same way about OJ Simpson. He gets stuck in strange situations (i.e., "the teeth of life"), is most definitely creepy, and certainly makes no sense. OK, maybe that's a lame analogy but hey...I try. Seriously though, what have OJ's contributions to society truly been (and don't mention playing football because that is a worthless contribution). I feel bad asking that about any human being but I look at this guy and have to wonder what his value to our community is.

So now that OJ is back in the news--with a vengeance, it seems--I haven't really been paying too much attention. I'm not really even aware of what he's battling in court. I was just trying to find some information but couldn't even anything on the homepage of CNN.com. Something to do with stolen goods? I don't know.... But it leads me to ask the question, are we seeing karma in action?

I know my answer. What's yours?

All's quiet on the blogging front....

I have been quiet for a while now -- much longer than I was hoping, or care to be -- but I've been very busy with work and other things. I apologize for my hiatus. I suppose working at the kind of job I do, it's like being an OBGYN: when you're around something specific all day the last thing you want to do when you get home is look at the same exact thing.

I'm hoping to resume my regular blog statis shortly.