The Dumbing Down Of American Culture

I often wonder what people from other nations think of America in terms of what we have to offer within the landscape of "culture". What do they think of our music, our literature, our art, or even fashion and entertainment. The conclusion I often find myself arriving at is that America, by and large, are a nation populated by "consumers", meaning that we desire things to be prepacked in pretty little containers that come with clever slogans that can be easily memorized, repeated, and processed by those we encounter.

It was this story that reaffirmed my beliefs. Not only is modern American culture being poisoned with laziness and ignorance dressed up to be "sexy", we seem to have lost the ability to recognize greatness in the words from our own people.

Christine O'Donnell's TV ad declaration "I'm not a witch" during her U.S. Senate campaign topped this year's best quotes, according to a Yale University librarian.

O'Donnell's quote is cited by Fred Shapiro, associate librarian at Yale Law School, who released his fifth annual list of the most notable quotations of the year. In the ad, O'Donnell was responding to reports of her revelations that she had dabbled in witchcraft years ago.

Where have all the great minds of America gone? According to Yale, they apparently don't exist any longer. As preposterous as that is - as we all know that there have been more prophetic and intelligent words spoken in America over the last calendar year - here are the list of "notable" quotes.

1. (TIE) "I'm not a witch." Christine O'Donnell, television advertisement, Oct. 4.

1. (TIE) "I'd like my life back." Tony Hayward, comment to reporters, May 30.

3. "If you touch my junk, I'm gonna have you arrested." airline passenger John Tyner, remark to Transportation Security Administration worker at San Diego airport, Nov. 13, 2010

4. "Don't retreat. Instead – reload!" Sarah Palin, Tweet, March 23.

5. "Chi! Chi! Chi! Le! Le! Le! Los mineros de Chile!" Chant at Chilean mine rescue, Oct. 13.

6. "I hope that's not where we're going, but you know, if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies. They're saying: My goodness, what can we do to turn this country around?" Sharron Angle, radio interview in January.

7. "We have to pass the (health care) bill so you can find out what is in it." Nancy Pelosi, speech to National Association of Counties, March 9.

8. "I'm going to take my talents to South Beach." LeBron James, television broadcast, July 8.

9. "You're telling me that the separation of church and state is found in the First Amendment?" Christine O'Donnell, Delaware senatorial debate, Oct. 19. (The Associated Press reported the quote: "So you're telling me that the separation of church and state, the phrase `separation of church and state,' is in the First Amendment?")

10. "They should never have put me with that woman. ... She was just a sort of bigoted woman who said she used to be Labour." Gordon Brown, comments about a voter he met while campaigning for British general election, Apr. 28.

While two of these are from Britans and one from the site where the Chilean miners were rescued, are we to actually accept the fact that the quotes from Americans are representative of where we are now as a culture?

From my point of view, I think this shows that our ideas of what America is and what is important is far too often colored by where we get our information and how we utilize it. To an extent, this poll shows America's ridiculous obsession with the Tea Baggers, and the media that either propped them up as the true and accurate voice of Constitutional integrity or were too afraid to take them to task on their rhetoric.

Sunny Days

Sesame Street has come a long way since I was a child first watching it. Coming up with what is arguably the worlds penultimate childrens learning program in it's first decade ( even though I don't remember those early days ) I do have fond memories of the show and it's cast. It's been a long and wonderful journey revisiting the place where it was always sunny and the air was clean.



The aliens would have loved late 80s techno.



It wasn't until I was in high school and discovered Monty Python that I first postulated that it was highly possible that Frank Oz and Jim Henson may have borrowed some from this classic Python skit for the "fly in my soup" scene.



And Bert and Ernie were the lovely blend of the Odd Couple and Jay and Silent Bob



There are far to many great moments from Sesame Street from not only my memory but the entire timeline of the Jim Henson classic series. But as times change, the better the guests get.







And now we have the First Lady taking part in the show.

Shock ----- could this be indoctrination? What would Glenn Beck and Michelle Bachman say?!?!?!?!?!





It's hard to believe that it's been 40 years since we first ventured down the street to meet up with Oscar, Big Bird, and learn about reading and what makes our own neighborhood special.

But there was always something about Sesame Street that no other children's program has ever done. They taught us about life lessons, about how the world around us effects us and shapes us. It they taught us about the end, even when the reality of the show and it's cast met with the message that they gave to the children every day.



Happy Birthday old friend. I'm glad you're still around.

R.I.P. Bettie Page

The world has lost one of it's greatest icons.

Bettie Page died in Los Angeles last night:

Bettie Page, the 1950s secretary-turned-model whose controversial photographs in skimpy attire or none at all helped set the stage for the 1960s sexual revolution, died Thursday. She was 85.

Page was placed on life support last week after suffering a heart attack in Los Angeles and never regained consciousness, said her agent, Mark Roesler. He said he and Page's family agreed to remove life support. Before the heart attack, Page had been hospitalized for three weeks with pneumonia.

More here.



Also, if you haven't watched the 2005 film "The Notorious Bettie Page", Gretchen Mol turned in a fantastic performance as the iconic pin-up queen:

The MTV Ball

I despise MTV.

I often ask myself how a channel that rarely - if ever - plays music can still have the word "music" in it's name.

Granted, there are multiple platforms that MTV has. There's the original sibling - MTV2 - as well as a channel targeted specifically at college students ( MTVU ), as well as MTV Jams, MTV Hits, et al. Then, there are all the music channels that MTV owns. It's worldwide.

It's centerpiece channel completely ignores any forward-thinking programming in favor of ratings-boosting-tweeny-nonsene.

MTV is throwing an inaugural ball for President-elect Barack Obama.

The network announced Tuesday that it will host the "Be the Change Inaugural Ball" at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington on Jan. 20. The event will be televised live across MTV's many channels and platforms, including MTV and MTV.com.

The Viacom Inc.-owned network said the event will feature leading artists, celebrities and government officials. To celebrate the large youth voter turnout in the election, hundreds of young people will be chosen to attend based on their demonstrated volunteerism.

Considering that fact that a massive majority of young voters got out and voted for Obama doesn't mean that all these people watch MTV. So, to malign that voting block with the channel that hasn't had barely anything on the air of value in over 15 years would be patently unfair.

It will be interesting to see who they have on as guests. Are we going to have to sit through lip-synched duets between Britney Spears and Taylor Swift? Is there going to be horribly choreographed dance numbers to remixed patriotic music. I can already hear the right-wing stuff-shirts gearing up for this one. I'm sure they'll be getting a lot of miles out of that thesarus they keep next to their laptops.

Who knows. This could be a really enjoyable evening that shows that MTV still has something relevant to offer and it took something like this to bring it out, or this will be just another chance for Kanye West to make as ass out of himself.

Of Alternate Titles And Dark Stories Of American Life

Alan Ball is quite possibly one of the greatest writer/directors of his generation.

I can still recall, time after time, working what seemed like endless hours in a local video-store while in college and asking people if they had seen American Beauty.

Believe it or not, one of the most frequent answers I got was, "I've been told not to watch that."

Now, these statements weren't coming from some 15-year-old who was referencing a warning from his/her parents; this was from adults in their early 40s.

Who would tell them to not watch a movie? I'll bet you can guess without me even hinting.

That being said, Ball's latest film - who's title was originally Nothing Is Private and now it's Towelhead - is going to tackle some material that some people might not be ready to accept happens in American society.

Towelhead follows the dark, bold and shockingly funny life of Jasira, a 13-year-old Arab-American girl, as she navigates the confusing and frightening path of adolescence and her own sexual awakening.

When Jasira's mother sends her to Houston to live with her strict Lebanese father, she quickly learns that her new neighbors find her and her father a curiosity. Worse, her budding womanhood makes her traditional and hot-tempered father uncomfortable. Lonely in this new environment, Jasira seeks friendship and acceptance from her neighbors Mr. Vuoso, an Army reservist, and Melina, a meddling but caring expectant mother.

Thrown into an unfamiliar suburban world, Jasira must confront racism and hypocrisy at home and at school - and at the same time struggle to make sense of her raging hormones and newfound sexuality. Her boyfriend, Thomas, though a few years older, provides some comfort - but even that relationship causes problems when her father discovers that Thomas is black. Surrounded by adults who are just as lost as she is, Jasira yearns for understanding, even amidst often brutal acts.

While the subject-matter of the film mirrors what we have seen from Alan Ball in the past, the title itself carries a bit of uneasy weight itself.

Taking that fact into consideration, Ball is going to film a discussion with the Council On American Islamic Relations:

Towelhead director Alan Ball has agreed to videotape a discussion with members of the Council of American Islamic Relations, who have opposed the title of his new film, and release it as a DVD extra.

Council officials urged Ball and executives at Warner Bros. to rename the film because they felt 'Towelhead' was derogatory and "offensive and exploitative".

But the moviemaker has stood firm, insisting the title - which echoes the crass nickname his heroine is given - will remain, even though he accepts it's "offensive hate language".

Ball hopes to explain his decision to Islamic leaders at an upcoming roundtable meeting, which he has agreed to film for the movie's DVD release.

He says, "We have gone out of our way to allow the Council of American Islamic Relations to post their response on our website and my roundtable discussion with them will be videotaped... I think, ultimately, what's really important is the dialogue."

Don't look for this to play in anywhere other than your larger theatre markets. The DVD is a must-have for anyone looking to gain a glimps into the darker portions of life for some in America.

Here's some video clips:





More here at IMDB.

MTV Is Screwing Up America v 1.0

If you ever come across someone from the midwest, or the west-coast, or even the south that says, "I remember the watching MTV the day it started" they are a liar.

MTV started as a station that was only available in Jersey and parts of NYC. It wasn't until much later that cable station started carrying the "music channel". Remember the "I Want My MTV" campaign? That's what I remember.

But, long gone are the "music channel" days.

MTV, some years ago, tried to be clever and started running an ad where people complained about there not being music on MTV anymore. All you had to do was get MTV2 on your cable service - and not everyone had that.

Now, there are multiple versions of MTV on various cable platforms. Sadly, the major ones ( MTV and it's original sister MTV2 ) aren't a "music channel" in even the most minimal sense of the phrase.

A larger problem has emerged.

MTV is ruining "music".

Most people who are able to think for themselves already know this, and there are some pretty vocal people out there that are wanting to go on record in reference to the corporation that is dumbing-down America.

The latest voice is --- Bette Midler?!?!

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"Video really did kill the radio star," Midler told us after wowing a sold-out crowd with her "Showgirl Must Go On" extravaganza at The Colosseum at Caesars Las Vegas. "After MTV came along, people were seeing their favorite singers in videos, and suddenly there was a certain vision of a song - how it should sound, how it should look. Then [in concert], there was no room for improvisation - everyone wanted an exact replica."

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