After Jackson, Fame May Never Be the Same

NYTimes

Fame on the level that Mr. Jackson achieved is all but impossible for pop culture heroes today, and quite likely it will never be possible again.

The article cites numerous reason (and most of them very logical):

Michael Jackson has sold an estimated 100 million copies worldwide of the 1982 album “Thriller,” which spent more than 31 weeks at the top of the Billboard charts.

It’s one of those high-water marks that nobody will touch, because record stores are vanishing, and along with them, megahit albums are vanishing, too.

The pop-idol field — like every field that can lead to super-fame — is more crowded than it has ever been, and the variety of routes to stardom keep growing.

When the Beatles were on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964, more than 70 million people watched, that is, more than one-third of the entire population of the United States. Yes, the Beatles were that good. But at the time, there were three networks and the radio.

No Facebook, Twitter, video games, movie multiplexes, Sirius radio, malls or a dozen other potential drains on an audience.

Generation Gap: Greatest in Recent Times

New survey shows 8 out of 10 people say there IS a generation gap TODAY, compared to 6 out 10 in 1979 or 7.5 out of 10 in 1969 at the height of theVietnam War and civil and women's rights.

Social values, manners, religion and technology are at the center of the generation gap.

WASHINGTON — From cell phones and texting to religion and manners, younger and older Americans see the world differently, creating the largest generation gap since the tumultuous years of the 1960s and the culture clashes over Vietnam, civil rights and women's liberation.

Although thes generation gap in 2009 seems to be more tepid in nature than it was in the 1960, when younger people built a defiant counterculture in opposing the Vietnam War and demanding equal rights for women and minorities.

People age 18 to 29 were more likely to report disagreements over lifestyle, views on family, relationships and dating, while older people cited differences in a sense of entitlement.

Younger people are more likely to embrace technology. About 75 percent of adults 18 to 30 went online daily, compared with 40 percent of those 65 to 74 and about 16 percent for people 75 and older.

Religion is a far bigger part of the lives of older adults. About two-thirds of people 65 and older said religion is very important to them, compared with just over half of those 30 to 49 and 44 percent of people 18 to 29.

Michael Jackson - RIP

So, sad....No matter the scandals and the eccentricity, he gave us forty years of great music.

Boring Summer, So Far...

Actually, technically it's only one day of summer, innit?

Hopefully, my classes will be interesting. They start July 7th. Last year this time, at least there was the democratic primary and then the general election. This year the news is BORING. Health Care. Yawn. Even though, I'm all for a government run health care. If the government takes it over it is certainly, without a doubt, going to offer poorer service. Too much is spent on health care today. It's currently a for growth and profit industry. The greatest boon to doctor's income is the growing rate of obesity. Obesity means profits for doctors. The only benefit of a government run health care system is that it will be more equitable. Not that I really care of equitable. But if everybody gets EQUALLY POOR service, why not? I'm all for it.

In other news, the Iran stuff was interesting for about 2 days. Now it's just plain repetitive. It's become clear that the military now controls the religion right in the country, and it's going to stay that way. The countries source of income is oil, oil prices are on the rise again. The current regime controls the countries oil and hence income.

What's interesting is that the internet/twitter was the engine of the opposition's uprising, but in the end, the might of bullets still seem to override the democratic, grassroots capabilities of the internet.

RELATED: I just saw this on Mousavi's Facebook page:

Guns versus 'the greatness of God'; armed forces versus mobile phones, batons versus mourning, lies versus cameras, state-run television versus twitter, bullets versus Facebook, power versus dignity... who wins?

Trees or Not...

"More and More Frightening..."

And this is Fox News reporting!!!

But they're right. There are some ultra-conservative, religious websites out in cyberspace that the are racists, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, pro-gun, etc. The comments are anonymous, so people don't care what they write. But I've glanced at a few of them and the comments are scary. Plus they only fueling more and more hatred.

Homeland Security was right. The greatest of a terrorist attack is from within the U.S. borders. The killing of George Tilman the abortion doctor; the white-supremacist Holocaust killing. What's next?

Another Oklahoma City bombing...

Daily Show All Out MOCKS the NYT

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
End Times
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Newt Gingrich Unedited Interview

"Why AGED news better than REAL news?" Got to love it when a dinosaur such as the NYT is going extinct but the top brass is still holding on to the good old days, oblivious to the changing world.

Obama Drastically Scales Back Goals For America

Obama Drastically Scales Back Goals For America After Visiting Denny's

Education Pays

A college graduates earns 65% more per week than a High School graduate. Okay, this I kind knew. But a professional degree holder earns 55% more than a college graduate. This is kind of surprising. It's no longer enough to just graduate from college anymore.

Krugman: Recession May End this Summer

Nobel Laureate Krugman Says Recession May End ‘This Summer’

“I would not be surprised if the official end of the U.S. recession ends up being, in retrospect, dated sometime this summer,” he said in a lecture today at the London School of Economics. “Things seem to be getting worse more slowly. There’s some reason to think that we’re stabilizing.”
...
Even with a recovery, “almost surely unemployment will keep rising for a long time and there’s a lot of reason to think that the world economy is going to stay depressed for an extended period,” Krugman said.

This is somewhat surprising. Krugman was one of those economist screaming the "sky was falling down" a couple of months ago, pressuring the Obama Administration to nationalize banks.

Moreover, Ten Banks that got a government bailout claim they don't need it.

The Treasury is preparing to announce tomorrow it will let 10 banks buy back government shares, people familiar with the matter said, signaling confidence some of the largest U.S. lenders won’t again need a taxpayer rescue.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is among those cleared to repay Troubled Asset Relief Program funds ... Goldman Sachs Group Inc., American Express Co. and State Street Corp. are also among those that have sold shares and debt unguaranteed by the government ...

So much of the economy is psychological. Market panic feeds on itself.

The two big unknowns now are the labor market and inflation (equities, housing, commodities, and bonds markets seemed to have stabilized). Will it be Japan in the 1990's (flatline economic growth and inflation) or will banks start lending again, expanding the economy and job market? Everybody seems to be afraid of inflation. But if EVERYBODY is afraid, its probably nothing to worry about.

Official Revised Map

Click on to embiggen.

How I Select Movies...

Someone asked me the above question recently, this is how I responded.

I'm a Netflix junkie.

As I view notices and adverts for movies (filmmaker mag, NYT, blogs, film festival winners), I add the movies to my Netflix queue. Virtually, all movies I want to watch enter my Netflix queue under SAVE.

I check "Rotten Tomato" and "Metacrtic" weekly and add movies to my Netflix queue based on: 1) critical acclaim, 2) box office, and 3) favorite actors/directors. I also view Ebert's website periodically and add most of the movies he rates with a 3.5 stars or greater to my Netflix queue. My taste in movies, more or less, matches his.

And lastly, I have two "friends" on Netflix. I watch their movie queue, viewing their trends and ratings. If there is something they rate high that I'm interested in, I'll add it to my queue.

I gave up my cable TV two years ago and I only attend the theatre about 10 times a year. All my movie viewing is either Netflix DVD or Netflix streaming.

I was a huge independent film watcher, but recently (say last five year) anything "independent" typically means "bad". Sundance Film Festival seems to be the kiss-of-death for film. I'm back watching mostly international films now, in leu of independent films, and a lot of older films and documentaries.

I'm finding it much more satisfying to watch a great, older film than to watch a poorly conceived, new film. Netflix makes this very easy to do. Plus my current rate of viewing is about films per week, so I've seen most new films.

Convergence Culture

This video of Henry Jenkins is couched in highbrow academia speak, which makes it a bit jumbled towards the middle, but I do wholehearted agree with his first three points.

1) Old Media is dying (network TV, national newspapers, music companies, etc.) and New Media is being born.

2) We are transitioning from a spectatorial culture to a participatory culture (kids today aren't happy to sit in front of a "screen" 100% of their time and have their entertainment dictated to them. They have YouTube where they can upload videos and comments, play video games, commune on social networks, blog, post, text, chat, etc.) All of the participatory activities consume significant chunks of time.

3) The few large corporations that once controlled the storytelling apparatus are no longer in control of the "storytelling" content anymore. Average citizens now have the means to control the content dictating/influencing what society views and participates in. The concept of "copyright" - and what it means has been tossed into flux. Especially, when average citizens are now making their own "stories" for "no profit" entertainment.

Revolutionary Roads - Book, Script & Movie

A while back, I read in the entertainment press that this book was going to be made into a movie. The book was very popular in the 70's. I've never heard of it, prior to reading about it, but thought it would be interesting following the process of how a book gets made into a film, in concept anyway. I read the book, and then the screenplay and today I watched the DVD.

First of all, I have to say I have no idea why this book got make into a movie, other than the book was popular back whenever. Personally, I though the book was boring, but it did have an interesting premise. The book was basically about how a city bohemian/dreamer marries his adoring girlfriend upon find out that she is pregnant with his child. Fast forward a couple of years, they are stuck in suburbia, paying a mortgage, raising two kids, and he is a cog in a wheel at a large corporation, and basically they begin to wonder if this is IT? Or is there a third act in their life somewhere?

They are in their early 30's and they realize if there is going to be an Act III, they need to start working on it now, otherwise time will pass and they'll become more entrenched in their mundane life. Granted, this is a good premise, however the story takes place in the late 50's and a lot of the minor issues in which the couple struggle with are not relevant today, most notably abortion wasn't legal back then today it is. Because the struggle are somewhat dated, the story seems dated.

If the story was brought current, and the script actually followed the book more carefully then this might have been a good movie, but it didn't. In the book it is clear who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist. In the script and movie, it not clear, but it almost seems like they switched the protagonist with the antagonist. My recommendation skip all three. None are worth the time.

But what I don't understand is how does something like this get made into a movie with very talented actors? I'm guessing the movie probably broke even after DVD sales, but it was definitely no blockbuster.

Cool Space Shuttle Picture(s)

More incredible space shuttle photos.

Breana's - All Grown Up Now - H.S. Graduation

Breana (my niece) graduated from Preddie Prep this past weekend. In the fall, she's headed to Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh to study Environmental Engineering. I'm getting old!

The Woman Who Killed the Newspapers

According to the Washington Post she is "one of the accused killers". The killers of the newspapers is the lame ass newspaper management. The world is changing and newspaper management refused to change their business model. Good-bye.

New Project: Watch All of Federico Fellini's Films

I've had this on my things-to-do list for sometime now. I also started reading "Fellini's Films" by Frank Burke and "Comments on Film" by Federico Fellini. My goal is to finish the list below by July 7th when classes start.

1950 Variety Lights
1952 The White Sheik
1953 I Vitelloni
1954 La Strada
1955 The Swindle
1957 Night of Cabria
1960 La Dolce Vita
1962 Broccaccio
1963 8 1/2
1965 Juliet of the Spirits
1969 Fellini Satyricon
1972 Fellini's Roma
1974 Amarcord
1979 Orchestra Rehearsal
1980 City of Women
1984 And the Ship Sails On
1985 Ginger and Fred
1987 Intervista

After I'm finished with these films, Kurosawa's films are next in my Netfix list.

Some years back, I watched all films made by Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen, Francois Truffaut, Ang Lee, and Alexander Payne.