I will confess to being a total agnostic on the question. I love them both.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Things I Don't Get - Fashion
This is an ongoing, occasional series of comments on things I don't understand. It's just me thinking aloud, not passing judgement. I encourage people to help me understand.
This one comes as a complete surprise to all of you who know me. I don't get the whole idea of fashion. Of being in fashion, of being fashionable, of the importance of fashion.
It's that very quality of "now" that bothers me most about fashion. The fashion industry wants you to buy it now because it's the current style, the current rage. A year or two from now they will excoriate you for wearing that same piece. All too often the latest "fashion" seems to have much more to do with some form of primal display behavior than anything else. "Look at me!"
So fashion for me fails on several points:
It is ego driven - Either through the need for self aggrandizement or more often I'd bet, a need to compensate for feelings of inadequacy. In the second instance we need to recognize that fashion not only will not compensate for whatever shortcomings we feel, it is in fact incapable of doing any such thing. In fact it is designed to constantly push new inadequacies on us. Why we would place ourselves on such a treadmill of self inflicted insult is unclear to me. If your level of "cool" or "sophistication" (the adult version of "cool") is based on your ability to be fashionable then aren't you admitting that you are "unsophisticated" by nature? That you must obtain and put on sophistication since you have none of your own? On the other hand if you are already cool then surely your status in relation to a changing and arbitrary "fashion" is irrelevant. Isn't it?
It is materialistic - It's about what you own, what you can possess, what you can acquire. So naturally fashion is kept expensive. Expensive in that it requires an ongoing expenditure of time and wealth. Expensive in that it is kept at a (false, IMO) high value. You, in this moment, are not capable of having what is needed to be happy. You MUST acquire more, acquire the latest, acquire the newest. Fashion in this sense spreads beyond clothing to many other parts of our lives. You must have the fashionable phone, computer, game system, TV, car, eat the cuisine of the moment. When your happiness or completeness as a person is based on things you need to realize that it can be taken away from you. It can be destroyed so very simply. Amazingly we teach just this concept by our actions to our children. And have been doing so for generations now.
There is one other thing about fashion in clothing that I don't understand. It happens almost entirely in the fashion industry for women. It is the circus side show element of the "clothing" presented. So much of what is presented to women as desirable, "fashionable" can not possibly be worn by the majority of the women of the world. Another large portion of it looks like something thrown together by a mad man. They are costumes or fabric art but they are NOT clothing. Well except maybe for Lady Gaga. In the end too much of what is "fashionable" actually makes people look stupid IMO. Like the Emperor we blind ourselves to the reality of our fashion in the vain hope that it makes us better.
For me fashion is a waste of time. It is a tacit admission that the fashion consumer has nothing else to offer except display. In entering into that covenant with fashion we sell ourselves short, we cooperate in our own diminishment. And that maybe the greatest offense of fashion of all.
Spare me the pursuit of the latest and greatest. Give me rather the person who by the quality of their mind, their spirit, their personality puts the petty, ephemeral nature of "fashion" in its proper, minimal light.
Peace
This one comes as a complete surprise to all of you who know me. I don't get the whole idea of fashion. Of being in fashion, of being fashionable, of the importance of fashion.
It's that very quality of "now" that bothers me most about fashion. The fashion industry wants you to buy it now because it's the current style, the current rage. A year or two from now they will excoriate you for wearing that same piece. All too often the latest "fashion" seems to have much more to do with some form of primal display behavior than anything else. "Look at me!"
So fashion for me fails on several points:
It is ego driven - Either through the need for self aggrandizement or more often I'd bet, a need to compensate for feelings of inadequacy. In the second instance we need to recognize that fashion not only will not compensate for whatever shortcomings we feel, it is in fact incapable of doing any such thing. In fact it is designed to constantly push new inadequacies on us. Why we would place ourselves on such a treadmill of self inflicted insult is unclear to me. If your level of "cool" or "sophistication" (the adult version of "cool") is based on your ability to be fashionable then aren't you admitting that you are "unsophisticated" by nature? That you must obtain and put on sophistication since you have none of your own? On the other hand if you are already cool then surely your status in relation to a changing and arbitrary "fashion" is irrelevant. Isn't it?
It is materialistic - It's about what you own, what you can possess, what you can acquire. So naturally fashion is kept expensive. Expensive in that it requires an ongoing expenditure of time and wealth. Expensive in that it is kept at a (false, IMO) high value. You, in this moment, are not capable of having what is needed to be happy. You MUST acquire more, acquire the latest, acquire the newest. Fashion in this sense spreads beyond clothing to many other parts of our lives. You must have the fashionable phone, computer, game system, TV, car, eat the cuisine of the moment. When your happiness or completeness as a person is based on things you need to realize that it can be taken away from you. It can be destroyed so very simply. Amazingly we teach just this concept by our actions to our children. And have been doing so for generations now.
There is one other thing about fashion in clothing that I don't understand. It happens almost entirely in the fashion industry for women. It is the circus side show element of the "clothing" presented. So much of what is presented to women as desirable, "fashionable" can not possibly be worn by the majority of the women of the world. Another large portion of it looks like something thrown together by a mad man. They are costumes or fabric art but they are NOT clothing. Well except maybe for Lady Gaga. In the end too much of what is "fashionable" actually makes people look stupid IMO. Like the Emperor we blind ourselves to the reality of our fashion in the vain hope that it makes us better.
For me fashion is a waste of time. It is a tacit admission that the fashion consumer has nothing else to offer except display. In entering into that covenant with fashion we sell ourselves short, we cooperate in our own diminishment. And that maybe the greatest offense of fashion of all.
Spare me the pursuit of the latest and greatest. Give me rather the person who by the quality of their mind, their spirit, their personality puts the petty, ephemeral nature of "fashion" in its proper, minimal light.
Peace
Friday, January 15, 2010
Two More Answers to Ignorance
Two videos showing a much better and more theologically sound response to the tragedy in Haiti.
The first is by Frank Logue a contributor at AskthePriest.org
And the second from our own Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church:
Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) is one of the best things about our denomination. If you would like more information or to contribute go to their website - Episcopal Relief and Development
The first is by Frank Logue a contributor at AskthePriest.org
And the second from our own Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church:
Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) is one of the best things about our denomination. If you would like more information or to contribute go to their website - Episcopal Relief and Development
Because Ignorance requires an answer
Following the devastation of Haiti this week two outspoken idiots aired their intellectual deficiencies for the world to see. Rush Limbaugh decided that political game playing was more important than human suffering and Pat Robertson decided to twist not only theology but history in order to make sure that he could assign blame for the suffering of the nation.
So let me make one thing perfectly clear to the world.
Rush Limbaugh does not speak for me as an American.
Pat Robertson does not speak for me as a Christian.
In fact I don't believe that either speaks for most Americans or Christians of any stripe, style or persuasion.
The Haitian ambassador to the United States offered a wonderful retort to Robertson's astounding nonsense (you'll have to endure Pat's twaddle to get there):
So let me make one thing perfectly clear to the world.
Rush Limbaugh does not speak for me as an American.
Pat Robertson does not speak for me as a Christian.
In fact I don't believe that either speaks for most Americans or Christians of any stripe, style or persuasion.
The Haitian ambassador to the United States offered a wonderful retort to Robertson's astounding nonsense (you'll have to endure Pat's twaddle to get there):
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
View From the Phlipside - Facebook and Grades
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the movies and more. I love 'em and I hate em' and I always have an opinion. Call this the view from the Phlipside
Most parents complain that their kid spend too much time on social media like Facebook or MySpace or Twitter or whatever. And students wish Mom and Dad would get off their backs and leave them alone. Well the argument can finally be put to rest. A survey has been done and the results are in.
The great fear for parents is that the all this online stuff is chewing up so much of our kids attention that their grades are going to suffer. Let's face it we were taught to believe that school work requires all of our attention, that distractions will result in failing out of school, never getting a decent job and living in a cardboard box for the rest of your life! OK, now that we've got the parental angst out of our system let me ask my fellow baby boomers - how many of you did your homework while watching TV or listening to music? Uh, huh. And our parents complained loud and long about it (I know mine did). Surprisingly we've all managed to turn into reasonably productive adults.
So I was excited when I saw that the University of New Hampshire Whittemore School of Business and Economics had done a study looking at the effect of social media use on grades. The big answer that we had all been waiting for, one way or the other would finally be revealed. Over eleven hundred students were surveyed, across a wide variety of majors. Light users were defined as people who used social media (meaning Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, blogs, Twitter or Linkedin) 31 minutes a day or less and heavy users were at 61 minutes a day or more. After careful analysis of the data they discovered...it has no apparent effect on grades at all.
Nope it seems that college students at least have made social media such a normal part of their lives that it has no negative effect at all. The grades were pretty much the same as for the student body as a whole. The people getting the real bad news out of this was Twitter which only drew 14 per cent of the group compared to the champ, Facebook, which drew 96%.
So where does this leave the parent-child dispute? Well I'm thinking that overall the kids probably win this one. There is no inherent negative to spending some time on the social media at least in reference to grades. On the other hand it means there's no easy excuse either for the young people. If your grades stink, you've got nobody to blame but yourself .
Call that the view from the Phlipside
These are the scripts from my weekly media commentary program on WRFA-LP Jamestown
Most parents complain that their kid spend too much time on social media like Facebook or MySpace or Twitter or whatever. And students wish Mom and Dad would get off their backs and leave them alone. Well the argument can finally be put to rest. A survey has been done and the results are in.
The great fear for parents is that the all this online stuff is chewing up so much of our kids attention that their grades are going to suffer. Let's face it we were taught to believe that school work requires all of our attention, that distractions will result in failing out of school, never getting a decent job and living in a cardboard box for the rest of your life! OK, now that we've got the parental angst out of our system let me ask my fellow baby boomers - how many of you did your homework while watching TV or listening to music? Uh, huh. And our parents complained loud and long about it (I know mine did). Surprisingly we've all managed to turn into reasonably productive adults.
So I was excited when I saw that the University of New Hampshire Whittemore School of Business and Economics had done a study looking at the effect of social media use on grades. The big answer that we had all been waiting for, one way or the other would finally be revealed. Over eleven hundred students were surveyed, across a wide variety of majors. Light users were defined as people who used social media (meaning Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, blogs, Twitter or Linkedin) 31 minutes a day or less and heavy users were at 61 minutes a day or more. After careful analysis of the data they discovered...it has no apparent effect on grades at all.
Nope it seems that college students at least have made social media such a normal part of their lives that it has no negative effect at all. The grades were pretty much the same as for the student body as a whole. The people getting the real bad news out of this was Twitter which only drew 14 per cent of the group compared to the champ, Facebook, which drew 96%.
So where does this leave the parent-child dispute? Well I'm thinking that overall the kids probably win this one. There is no inherent negative to spending some time on the social media at least in reference to grades. On the other hand it means there's no easy excuse either for the young people. If your grades stink, you've got nobody to blame but yourself .
Call that the view from the Phlipside
These are the scripts from my weekly media commentary program on WRFA-LP Jamestown
Thursday, January 14, 2010
View From the Phlipside - Leno
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the movies and more. I love 'em and I hate em' and I always have an opinion. Call this the view from the Phlipside
I don't normally do this. I was raised to believe that it was rude and not something that nice people did. It's called gloating and I really, really try to avoid it whenever possible. But I just can't resist this time. I told you so.
When it was first announced that Jay Leno was coming back to NBC to create a five night a week, saving money for the number 4 network in the land while maybe creating something that people would watch I said it was a bad idea. I said it would come to a bad end. I said that the local affiliates weren't going to like it. Turns out I was right.
I told you so.
Over the weekend the Peacock Network finally got the message from the local affiliates . Jay Leno is killing them. So after the Winter Olympics the new Jay Leno show is gone. To be replaced by the old Jay Leno show apparently. All the details are still being worked out as I write this. But it looks like Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon both get pushed back into their old slots. That's still up in the air since Conan is apparently NOT happy about this at all. Even being told he could keep the name "The Tonight Show" doesn't appear to be helping. So the drama over this bad decision isn't done yet. NBC is looking at shifting a couple of other shows around, including moving Biggest Loser later by an hour to fill the gap. They're also ordering up a lot more pilots for the fall as well.
In the end it came down to ratings. The ratings that NBC found acceptable weren't OK with the local stations who saw their 11 PM News, a major money making machine, getting pounded. At least one station dropped from number 1 in their market to number 3. That's a lot of dollars lost. And they weren't going to put up with it. NBC, after 4 months, finally agreed.
This was simply a bad idea. It wasn't about programming, or meeting the needs of the audience or doing something new and exciting on television. It was a dollars and cents, bottom line kind of decision. There was virtually no chance that this was ever going to fly for very long. I caught the new Leno show a couple times and never got snagged by it. And yes that resulted in me watching a different station for the 11 o'clock news more than a few times.
The Jay Leno experiment is officially over. It was a failure. And I get to revel in a moment of anti-social behavior because I get to say - I told you so.
Call that the view from the Phlipside
These are the scripts from my weekly media commentary program on WRFA-LP Jamestown
I don't normally do this. I was raised to believe that it was rude and not something that nice people did. It's called gloating and I really, really try to avoid it whenever possible. But I just can't resist this time. I told you so.
When it was first announced that Jay Leno was coming back to NBC to create a five night a week, saving money for the number 4 network in the land while maybe creating something that people would watch I said it was a bad idea. I said it would come to a bad end. I said that the local affiliates weren't going to like it. Turns out I was right.
I told you so.
Over the weekend the Peacock Network finally got the message from the local affiliates . Jay Leno is killing them. So after the Winter Olympics the new Jay Leno show is gone. To be replaced by the old Jay Leno show apparently. All the details are still being worked out as I write this. But it looks like Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon both get pushed back into their old slots. That's still up in the air since Conan is apparently NOT happy about this at all. Even being told he could keep the name "The Tonight Show" doesn't appear to be helping. So the drama over this bad decision isn't done yet. NBC is looking at shifting a couple of other shows around, including moving Biggest Loser later by an hour to fill the gap. They're also ordering up a lot more pilots for the fall as well.
In the end it came down to ratings. The ratings that NBC found acceptable weren't OK with the local stations who saw their 11 PM News, a major money making machine, getting pounded. At least one station dropped from number 1 in their market to number 3. That's a lot of dollars lost. And they weren't going to put up with it. NBC, after 4 months, finally agreed.
This was simply a bad idea. It wasn't about programming, or meeting the needs of the audience or doing something new and exciting on television. It was a dollars and cents, bottom line kind of decision. There was virtually no chance that this was ever going to fly for very long. I caught the new Leno show a couple times and never got snagged by it. And yes that resulted in me watching a different station for the 11 o'clock news more than a few times.
The Jay Leno experiment is officially over. It was a failure. And I get to revel in a moment of anti-social behavior because I get to say - I told you so.
Call that the view from the Phlipside
These are the scripts from my weekly media commentary program on WRFA-LP Jamestown
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
View From the Phlipside - Avatar
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the movies and more. I love 'em and I hate em' and I always have an opinion. Call this the view from the Phlipside
Well I went and saw the movie. I tried to be as open minded about it as possible and I must admit that some of it was better, even much better than I expected. That's right I saw Avatar and I saw it in 3D.
So where to begin? With the movie or with the effects? Let's deal with the effects first because it was the part I had the greatest reservations about. Color me impressed with the "Real D" three dimensional effects. The glasses sat comfortably on my nose in front of my regular glasses, I really stopped noticing them fairly quickly. They don't do any of the cheesy "3-D" silliness in Avatar, you know the spear flying out of the screen right at your face, stuff. It was very impressive. So I would certainly be willing to give the process another chance in another movie.
Now about the movie itself. It's a science fiction action adventure film. I want to get that out there right up front so we can be fair. This isn't Shakespeare or Bergman or even Woody Allen. So let's keep the standards reasonable for what to expect from the movie. Having said that the plot was pretty simple and predictable. It didn't have to be, there are always ways to keep the storyline interesting. But I'd say the plot was the minimum needed to keep the story going. So give it a passing grade of C. Not doing quite as well was the dialogue, which struck me as trite, boring and utterly uninspiring. There were one or two lines late in the movie that struck me as almost exciting but I can't quote one of them to you right now. When I walked out of Star Wars the first time I could do a half dozen or more. So dialogue gets a D.
Characterization was the real loser here. We're talking cardboard cutouts. We're talking stereotypes, shallow, one dimensional. And the worst part is there was some real room for character. Giovanni Ribisi's character had the chance to work on some real internal conflict, as could Sam Worthington's lead character of Sully and several of the Navi characters. But we don't get it. And that's a real loss to this movie. Call characterization a D minus.
So is Avatar any good? Should you go see it? I would say absolutely see this movie and see it in 3D. My bet is that the defects are much more obvious without the effects. You'll have plenty of fun and you'll talk about it for days. My bet is that if you're really into the movies it's going to leave you feeling a little empty. As if some important inner piece was missing from the experience. Like disconnecting your avatar.
Call that the view from the Phlipside
These are the scripts from my weekly media commentary program on WRFA-LP Jamestown
Well I went and saw the movie. I tried to be as open minded about it as possible and I must admit that some of it was better, even much better than I expected. That's right I saw Avatar and I saw it in 3D.
So where to begin? With the movie or with the effects? Let's deal with the effects first because it was the part I had the greatest reservations about. Color me impressed with the "Real D" three dimensional effects. The glasses sat comfortably on my nose in front of my regular glasses, I really stopped noticing them fairly quickly. They don't do any of the cheesy "3-D" silliness in Avatar, you know the spear flying out of the screen right at your face, stuff. It was very impressive. So I would certainly be willing to give the process another chance in another movie.
Now about the movie itself. It's a science fiction action adventure film. I want to get that out there right up front so we can be fair. This isn't Shakespeare or Bergman or even Woody Allen. So let's keep the standards reasonable for what to expect from the movie. Having said that the plot was pretty simple and predictable. It didn't have to be, there are always ways to keep the storyline interesting. But I'd say the plot was the minimum needed to keep the story going. So give it a passing grade of C. Not doing quite as well was the dialogue, which struck me as trite, boring and utterly uninspiring. There were one or two lines late in the movie that struck me as almost exciting but I can't quote one of them to you right now. When I walked out of Star Wars the first time I could do a half dozen or more. So dialogue gets a D.
Characterization was the real loser here. We're talking cardboard cutouts. We're talking stereotypes, shallow, one dimensional. And the worst part is there was some real room for character. Giovanni Ribisi's character had the chance to work on some real internal conflict, as could Sam Worthington's lead character of Sully and several of the Navi characters. But we don't get it. And that's a real loss to this movie. Call characterization a D minus.
So is Avatar any good? Should you go see it? I would say absolutely see this movie and see it in 3D. My bet is that the defects are much more obvious without the effects. You'll have plenty of fun and you'll talk about it for days. My bet is that if you're really into the movies it's going to leave you feeling a little empty. As if some important inner piece was missing from the experience. Like disconnecting your avatar.
Call that the view from the Phlipside
These are the scripts from my weekly media commentary program on WRFA-LP Jamestown
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
May Our E-mails Be Simple
Great story by NPR on the update Anglican blessing of the tools of the work force. Seems the Rev. Canon David Parrott offered a prayer at a service in London:
"...a modern take on a prayer for laborers that dates to medieval times then: plows and hammers. Now: smart phones and laptops. The blessing: "May our tongues be gentle, our e-mails be simple and our Web sites be accessible."
Amen and amen.
Story HERE
Hmmmm, wonder where I can get my iPhone and laptop blessed around here...
LOL
Peace
"...a modern take on a prayer for laborers that dates to medieval times then: plows and hammers. Now: smart phones and laptops. The blessing: "May our tongues be gentle, our e-mails be simple and our Web sites be accessible."
Amen and amen.
Story HERE
Hmmmm, wonder where I can get my iPhone and laptop blessed around here...
LOL
Peace
Friday, January 08, 2010
View From the Phlipside - The Emmys
These are the scripts from my weekly media commentary program on WRFA-LP Jamestown
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the movies and more. I love 'em and I hate em' and I always have an opinion. Call this the view from the Phlipside
What would happen to a major media award if it lost the support of the industry that it supposedly served? What would happen if the industry itself decided it wasn't sure it was worth the time and effort to even promote the awards show itself? We may get the answer to that question sooner than you might expect. Amazingly it's the television world that is standing at the brink with their award, the Emmy.
Seems that the Emmy, the award that's actually ABOUT television hasn't been doing very well on television. The ratings have been terrible. The latest news is that the broadcast TV networks that air the show have been cutting back on their promotion of the event which doesn't help either. There's been lots of talk about the awards shows for the last couple decades. They're too long, the artists do silly things or blather on and on and on, they're old fashioned and more than a little dull sometimes. In reality though both the Oscars and the Grammys, the awards for movies and music, have managed to hang onto their ratings and both finish AHEAD of the televised television awards program. You'd think THAT alone would be enough for the TV industry to pull together to get things fixed.
Ah, pull together, there's the other major problem that the Emmys have. You see the TV industry is a lot like a dysfunctional blended, Brady bunch kind of family. On one side you have the "older kids" meaning the broadcast networks and on the other side we have the "younger kids" the cable networks. Add in that the cable kids have been racking up a LOT of victories and multiple award winners like "Mad Men" and you have the making a major family fight. You see the award show is always on a broadcast network, this year it's NBC, yeah the news just gets worse and worse. The broadcast children are tired of being the stage for the glorification of the little kids. This despite the fact that the old paradigm is dead, dead, dead. Something like 80% of homes get TV from cable or satellite. It's really not "big brother broadcast networks" any more. Besides LOTS of those cable networks are owned by the network owners too.
TV needs to understand that they are all part of the same industry. They need to use their own medium to showcase their own medium. It's a chance to really let all the great things on television to really get a moment to shine. In other words it's time to stop acting like children.
Call that the view from the Phlipside
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Who is that smiling devil?
My friend Bronwyn, who is the Youth Officer for The Episcopal Church, has a blog dedicated to youth ministry in our denomination. She asked me to share the 52 reviews in 52 weeks series with the larger church and I agreed. So now the world has to endure an entirely too large photo of my smiling mug on her blog. Worst part is that's what I really look like. I'll let you decide for yourselves how frightening it is.
I encourage you to check out the first of her "Illumination" series and the entire EpiscoYouth blog. And for the many other Episcopal youth ministers out there, let's see what you've got!
Don't forget you can find the reviews all on one "page" HERE
I encourage you to check out the first of her "Illumination" series and the entire EpiscoYouth blog. And for the many other Episcopal youth ministers out there, let's see what you've got!
Don't forget you can find the reviews all on one "page" HERE
View From the Phlipside - Most Important Tweets?
These are the scripts from my weekly media commentary program on WRFA-LP Jamestown
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the movies and more. I love 'em and I hate em' and I always have an opinion. Call this the view from the Phlipside
Now I know I just finished last year by wondering why I spent so much time talking about Twitter, the micro-blogging service that I'm not entirely sure I buy just yet. So naturally we will begin the New Year with....a program about Twitter.
But when I saw the folks over at buzzmarketing today had put together a list of the "10 Most Important Tweets of the Year" I just couldn't resist. Since I'm not sure it's possible to say something important in 140 characters I wanted to see if they could change my mind by showing me the light. So let's see what they have to offer.
Numbers 9 and 10 didn't do much for me. Number ten was a tweet from Google where they printed their catch phrase "I'm Feeling Lucky" in binary. If you're a computer code geek maybe that's cool. Number nine was from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg assuring everyone that yes it was really him. That was it. Let's see we also got a tweet from the Yankees victory parade by a player, we discovered that Oprah Winfrey is some kind of internet newb since her first tweet was IN ALL CAPS! A tweet from an astronaut and one from Ashton Kutcher. I'll admit there's only a subtle difference there. And at number one was a tweet from Barak Obama. From November of 2008. Ummm, isn't this the 2009 list? Yes it is, but apparently they couldn't come up with 10 that could even pretend to be important. And all of these so far are definitely pretenders to the crown.
Were there ANY tweets of any importance? Actually I'd give at least a probationary nod to three. All of them showed Twitter's ability to advance the concept of instant coverage of current events. These would be a tweet following the emergency plane landing in the Hudson river, Michael Jackson's death and news from inside Iran as anti-government forces protested and were being suppressed. To my amazement these three finished at numbers four, five and seven respectively. That put them behind the astronaut, Ashton Kutcher and the slightly out of date Obama tweets.
So those are the ten most important tweets of the year. At least according to one source. The latest update on show topics from The Phlipside didn't make it somehow. I'm rather astounded by that actually. Surely my withering analysis of the Jay Leno show deserved at least a mention. No? There is another possibility, of course. That Twitter really IS just a vehicle for minor marketing efforts and major ego massage.
Call that the view from the Phlipside
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
View From the Phlipside - 2010 Movies - ReMakes and Sequels
These are the scripts from my weekly media commentary program on WRFA-LP Jamestown
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the movies and more. I love 'em and I hate em' and I always have an opinion. Call this the view from the Phlipside
The start of a new year and that means a whole new year of movies to see! So let's take a look at some of what's coming. This week we'll start with remakes and sequels. As always I expect this to be a mixed lot. Too often the second or third or whatever in a series or the remakes are just lacking in whatever it was that made the original work.
For example in June we can look forward to the "Kung Fu Kid" a remake of 1984's "Karate Kid". This time around the teacher will be played by Jackie Chan and the young boy by Will Smith's son Jaden. Could be a hit or a total disaster. Other remakes include Clash of the Titans which as I remember was awful back in 1981. The effects were all done in stop motion and looked tired even then. New generation computer animation will certainly help I'm just not sure how many people will jump at the chance to see the story of Perseus on the big screen. Made plenty of money the first time though.
OK more remakes still to come - Poltergeist (despite the rumor that the first three movies in this series were cursed. Seriously). Red Dawn, with the Chinese invading this time instead of the Russians. Look for a return of the "Wolf Man" and the folks at Disney return to "Alice in Wonderland", get ready to dance again with a new "Footloose", oh and Freddy Krueger is back with a new version of "A Nightmare on Elm Street".
Turning to sequels there are PLENTY of those this year too. The animated film Hoodwinked 2: Hood vs. Evil is coming. If you're ready for a return of the old "Greed is Good" motto watch for "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps" in April. Then we have "Iron Man 2", "Shrek: Forever After" and "Sex in the City 2" in May. Later in the year you'll find "Toy Story 3", "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1", "The Chronicles of Narnia - Voyage of the Dawn Treader", and "Tron: Legacy"
I've probably missed at least a couple more re-makes or sequels but that's more than enough for one year. I'm not sure I'd bet on any of them other than Harry Potter being a guaranteed hit. I know I'm interested in the Narnia, Tron, and Iron Man films along with Harry. Most of the rest I can wait till they hit DVD and a few I'll skip completely. Next week I'll take a look at what's new and interesting in the movies.
Call that the view from the Phlipside
Monday, January 04, 2010
Things I Don't Get - Tattoos
This is an ongoing, occasional series of comments on things I don't understand. It's just me thinking aloud, not passing judgement. I encourage people to help me understand.
This may get some of my favorite people a little riled. I know a LOT of people who have tattoos. Every time I see someone getting one I ask the same question. "Why?"
I don't mean the question in any judgemental or derogatory sense. I really don't understand why someone would do that. I don't understand any of it.
The pain - I've heard some people claim it doesn't hurt much. They're in the minority. Simple understanding of physiology tells me it will hurt. Repeatedly jabbing a pen into the skin and injecting a foreign body. It's going to hurt. I'm not into pain. In fact I'm a self confessed weenie about needles. So I would have to really, REALLY want a tattoo to go through the pain. I don't understand wanting it that much.
Choosing a permanent mark - You're going to live with this for the rest of your life. (There are some processes for removing tattoos. They only work to a certain degree and I hear they hurt, maybe more than getting the tattoo to begin with. So there's really no going back). There are very few things I like enough to want to have around for years, let alone decades. Virtually all of them are people (I don't count things like music or movies because I can put them away for as long as I like), virtually none of them are "fashion" items. Even my taste in religious icons have changed over the years. How much consideration goes into being a 60 year old woman with a "tramp stamp" when you're a 20 year old? I just think there are going to be a whole lot of embarassed middle aged and senior citizen folks coming down the pike.
Marking your body - Gotta be honest, I don't like getting a tiny spot of pen ink on my hands. While I'm not compulsively clean I don't much like having "stuff" on my body. So the idea of permanently putting a mark on it (Confession time - when I first started to type this item I was going to type "Disfiguring your body". It seemed a bit judgemental so I didn't but it IS how I feel. At least in regards to my own body.) I only get this one body. I was raised to believe that you keep your stuff clean and tidy.
Clearly I'm not a candidate to get a tattoo. Reasons number 1 and 3 are also the reason why it's unlikely that I'll ever get a piercing. I'm not asking this question to try and find a reason to change my mind. I'm comfortable being pictorially bland and unadorned.
Please be clear, I don't think any less of people simply because they get a tattoo. Certain tattoos make me wonder about some folks and what they're thinking. My hunch is that they're not thinking much at all when they do it. But then I'm fairly certain that a percentage of the population doesn't think much about most things. My opinion on the size of that percentage varies with how grumpy I am that day with my fellow humans.
In the end it comes down to just this. I don't get it.
Peace
This may get some of my favorite people a little riled. I know a LOT of people who have tattoos. Every time I see someone getting one I ask the same question. "Why?"
I don't mean the question in any judgemental or derogatory sense. I really don't understand why someone would do that. I don't understand any of it.
The pain - I've heard some people claim it doesn't hurt much. They're in the minority. Simple understanding of physiology tells me it will hurt. Repeatedly jabbing a pen into the skin and injecting a foreign body. It's going to hurt. I'm not into pain. In fact I'm a self confessed weenie about needles. So I would have to really, REALLY want a tattoo to go through the pain. I don't understand wanting it that much.
Choosing a permanent mark - You're going to live with this for the rest of your life. (There are some processes for removing tattoos. They only work to a certain degree and I hear they hurt, maybe more than getting the tattoo to begin with. So there's really no going back). There are very few things I like enough to want to have around for years, let alone decades. Virtually all of them are people (I don't count things like music or movies because I can put them away for as long as I like), virtually none of them are "fashion" items. Even my taste in religious icons have changed over the years. How much consideration goes into being a 60 year old woman with a "tramp stamp" when you're a 20 year old? I just think there are going to be a whole lot of embarassed middle aged and senior citizen folks coming down the pike.
Marking your body - Gotta be honest, I don't like getting a tiny spot of pen ink on my hands. While I'm not compulsively clean I don't much like having "stuff" on my body. So the idea of permanently putting a mark on it (Confession time - when I first started to type this item I was going to type "Disfiguring your body". It seemed a bit judgemental so I didn't but it IS how I feel. At least in regards to my own body.) I only get this one body. I was raised to believe that you keep your stuff clean and tidy.
Clearly I'm not a candidate to get a tattoo. Reasons number 1 and 3 are also the reason why it's unlikely that I'll ever get a piercing. I'm not asking this question to try and find a reason to change my mind. I'm comfortable being pictorially bland and unadorned.
Please be clear, I don't think any less of people simply because they get a tattoo. Certain tattoos make me wonder about some folks and what they're thinking. My hunch is that they're not thinking much at all when they do it. But then I'm fairly certain that a percentage of the population doesn't think much about most things. My opinion on the size of that percentage varies with how grumpy I am that day with my fellow humans.
In the end it comes down to just this. I don't get it.
Peace
Friday, January 01, 2010
2009-2010 - A Life Lived and Yet to Live
So the new year is here and 2009 has been firmly and finally to rest. A few thoughts on the year that was in my life and the year to come.
I see a lot of folks talking about how terrible '09 was and I understand. At the same time this has been a wonderful and memorable year for me. We had some financial challenges even though we didn't lose our jobs (Thank you Lord). I wondered if my job would last through the year. We had to cancel or postpone two events. My least favorite part of the job. I had to make a very difficult decision that angered someone very special to me. It was the correct decision and I will shoulder the responsibility and the burden of it. I've struggled with the usual issues. No doubt they'll be back this year as well. We've had a modest number of car issues, including getting hammered by a deer (still waiting on getting the damage fixed. Maybe this week). At the end of the year I've backslid on my weight loss, putting about 10 pounds back on.
On the other hand:
Our health has been good. In fact I received several pieces of great news concerning my health. I lost 40 pounds in 18 months. I have to re-lose some of them and then a few more but I KNOW I can do it now. What a huge difference that makes. The weight loss and working out helped pull my blood tests back to normal and improved my outlook both short term and long term.
I blew away several physical/workout challenges this year. I climbed the Westfield hill a rise of just shy of 800 feet in the span of about 5 miles. For me it was like climbing Everest. And I did it first thing in the summer. I looped the lake a couple times (42 mile ride) and rode to work several times (21 miles in 90 minutes). In fact by summer's end that 20+ mile ride wasn't even a big deal anymore. That's simply astounding. I discovered I can play volleyball without embarrassing myself.
I cooked a couple spectacular meals, a whole lot of very good ones and only a couple really bad ones.
I wrote 50,000 in 29 days in the NaNoWriMo challenge. The kid always believed even when I didn't. Turned out she was right. Takes after her mom. I wrote 52 reviews of youth ministry resources in 52 weeks. Wasn't sure I'd finish that either.
I was named to a Standing Commission of the larger church.
I travelled to visit friends, on a mission trip to New Orleans (and saw my aunt Dorothy Dexter!), added some successful new wrinkles to our Senior High program, supported Sleep Away and served as Head Pop for a Happening Weekend. I made some life changing decisions at Lay CREDO #9 and made some great new friends.
I passed 27 years as a married man and 22 years as a father.
On the whole 2009 wasn't such a terrible year for me.
So what's happening in 2010?
A few more landmarks coming, 52, 28 and a child with a college degree. Amazing.
Starting in March I will be taking a Sabbatical. That's both very exciting and rather scary. As we get closer I'll be writing more about that. There will be some changes and challenges associated with that.
Later this year we (the Diocese of WNY) will elect a new bishop. That will be very important for me and the rest of the staff. Fairly important for the diocese too of course. Again exciting and a little scary.
More programs to get up and running and healthy again.
I have decided (and announcing here publicly for the very first time) that my new physical goal for this summer is to run a 5k race. You should have heard the silence at the other end of the phone when I told my middle brother that. He knows I don't run. Period. Full stop. So this is a challenge that is completely out of my comfort zone. And so it's a very good challenge. I will continue to ride and hope to extend my goals there as well.
I'm going to finish the process of losing weight. From where I am today I need to drop 20-25 pounds. The first half will be easy, the second not so much. But I will do it.
I'm going to love my life, my wife, my daughter, my family and my friends. I'm going to enjoy the young people that God brings me to serve.
I'm going to laugh, dance, pray, sing and finally really learn to play the guitar.
I'm going to read books and finish writing one. Then maybe write another. Or maybe some more poetry. Or maybe do some really serious work on my photography. Or teach myself to draw. Or all of the above! Why the hell not?
I'm going to stop being afraid. Fear has had far too much sway in my life for far too long. This old travelling companion can disembark, right here, right now.
I can hardly wait. Let's get this part started.
Peace (and love)
I see a lot of folks talking about how terrible '09 was and I understand. At the same time this has been a wonderful and memorable year for me. We had some financial challenges even though we didn't lose our jobs (Thank you Lord). I wondered if my job would last through the year. We had to cancel or postpone two events. My least favorite part of the job. I had to make a very difficult decision that angered someone very special to me. It was the correct decision and I will shoulder the responsibility and the burden of it. I've struggled with the usual issues. No doubt they'll be back this year as well. We've had a modest number of car issues, including getting hammered by a deer (still waiting on getting the damage fixed. Maybe this week). At the end of the year I've backslid on my weight loss, putting about 10 pounds back on.
On the other hand:
Our health has been good. In fact I received several pieces of great news concerning my health. I lost 40 pounds in 18 months. I have to re-lose some of them and then a few more but I KNOW I can do it now. What a huge difference that makes. The weight loss and working out helped pull my blood tests back to normal and improved my outlook both short term and long term.
I blew away several physical/workout challenges this year. I climbed the Westfield hill a rise of just shy of 800 feet in the span of about 5 miles. For me it was like climbing Everest. And I did it first thing in the summer. I looped the lake a couple times (42 mile ride) and rode to work several times (21 miles in 90 minutes). In fact by summer's end that 20+ mile ride wasn't even a big deal anymore. That's simply astounding. I discovered I can play volleyball without embarrassing myself.
I cooked a couple spectacular meals, a whole lot of very good ones and only a couple really bad ones.
I wrote 50,000 in 29 days in the NaNoWriMo challenge. The kid always believed even when I didn't. Turned out she was right. Takes after her mom. I wrote 52 reviews of youth ministry resources in 52 weeks. Wasn't sure I'd finish that either.
I was named to a Standing Commission of the larger church.
I travelled to visit friends, on a mission trip to New Orleans (and saw my aunt Dorothy Dexter!), added some successful new wrinkles to our Senior High program, supported Sleep Away and served as Head Pop for a Happening Weekend. I made some life changing decisions at Lay CREDO #9 and made some great new friends.
I passed 27 years as a married man and 22 years as a father.
On the whole 2009 wasn't such a terrible year for me.
So what's happening in 2010?
A few more landmarks coming, 52, 28 and a child with a college degree. Amazing.
Starting in March I will be taking a Sabbatical. That's both very exciting and rather scary. As we get closer I'll be writing more about that. There will be some changes and challenges associated with that.
Later this year we (the Diocese of WNY) will elect a new bishop. That will be very important for me and the rest of the staff. Fairly important for the diocese too of course. Again exciting and a little scary.
More programs to get up and running and healthy again.
I have decided (and announcing here publicly for the very first time) that my new physical goal for this summer is to run a 5k race. You should have heard the silence at the other end of the phone when I told my middle brother that. He knows I don't run. Period. Full stop. So this is a challenge that is completely out of my comfort zone. And so it's a very good challenge. I will continue to ride and hope to extend my goals there as well.
I'm going to finish the process of losing weight. From where I am today I need to drop 20-25 pounds. The first half will be easy, the second not so much. But I will do it.
I'm going to love my life, my wife, my daughter, my family and my friends. I'm going to enjoy the young people that God brings me to serve.
I'm going to laugh, dance, pray, sing and finally really learn to play the guitar.
I'm going to read books and finish writing one. Then maybe write another. Or maybe some more poetry. Or maybe do some really serious work on my photography. Or teach myself to draw. Or all of the above! Why the hell not?
I'm going to stop being afraid. Fear has had far too much sway in my life for far too long. This old travelling companion can disembark, right here, right now.
I can hardly wait. Let's get this part started.
Peace (and love)
View From the Phlipside 2009 Review pt 3
These are the scripts from my weekly media commentary program on WRFA-LP Jamestown
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the movies and more. I love 'em and I hate em' and I always have an opinion. Call this the view from the Phlipside
I'm closing out the 2009 series of A View From the Phlipside by taking a look back at what we've been talking about this year. I have to admit that even I had forgotten about some of them.
For example there was the big flap over the title of a new Britney Spears song back in January. Like most things about Britney these days the memory fades pretty fast. Then there was the great Stephen King - Stephanie Meyer flap. If you'll recall the horror king had some very nasty things to say about the queen of the new glittery vampire series. With the money the books and this summer's movie have raked in I'm sure she's weeping all the way to the bank. Of course people said the same thing about King early in his career too.
This past year was the time of the discussion of how much coverage the new president's daughters should receive. I'm happy to see that the answer has been - very little so far. Let's hope that trend continues.
We marked anniversaries and milestones this year! We noted the Viewmaster and Tetris. We commented on Sesame Street and Rolling Stone magazine. It was a tough year for Viewmaster which has pretty much died. Sesame Street is going strong by staying flexible but the verdict has been delivered on what happens to Rolling Stone (or pretty much any mainstream magazine. And isn't it weird to realize that Rolling Stone has become a mainstream magazine?) Speaking of milestones the TV soap opera The Guiding Light reached its finish line. The show was canceled after decade upon decade upon decade of story line.
High tech stocks were added to the Dow Jones, Spiderman was turned into a musical, Facebook was turned into a movie, Windows 7 was released, so was Google Chrome OS and Jon and Kate got divorced. There was an amazing number of dumb advertisements trotted out for us to see and plenty of dumb people too. I considered lots of cheap jokes right here but I'll let you fill in your own. I took the opportunity to rant about a few things. The downside of fame. The art of the public apology. How Santa gets his mail. The pointlessness of 3D movies (no I haven't seen Avatar yet). And Archie marrying Veronica instead of Betty.
It was a busy year with lots of things going on in the world of the media. I'm pretty certain that there will be new movies and TV shows to test in the new year. The world's supply of people doing stupid things appears to be in no danger of thinning out. There will be at least one unexpected development. And I'm certain to plop down behind this mic ready to rant about something.
I'm looking forward to 2010.
Call that the view from the Phlipside
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