That is all I can say! Ruffin Poole was indicted on 51 charges. He’s being described as ex. NC Gov Easley’s right hand man. He showed up at the Federal Building in downtown Raleigh this morning…in cuffs. I was at the Fed Building this afternoon handing out press packets to local news affiliates for Waterfront Sportsman and the EIC.
I stood across the street talking with a member from our group and as I looked at the Fed Building I thought to myself, “My god…what have we become?”
When I read the press packet information I just shook my head in sadness, disgust, and anger at the opening sentence, “How much damage has the Hunt/Easley/Perdue dynasty of misappropriations of environmental funds done to Homeland Security and the well being of our military and their families in the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) plan?”
How could you? That’s what I would ask these gov’t officials. We ALL have to live on this Earth…regardless of our political affiliations, ethnicity, social class, creed, religious beliefs, etc. etc. etc. Why would elected “trusted” officials ALLOW, CONDONE, and ASSIST in acts that have harmed and killed people in NC. Why would they? How could they? How do they sleep at night? How do they look their children and grandchildren in the face KNOWING the water they drink is contaminated? And to allow our military bases to become contaminated is LOW. I come from a military fam and know quite a few ppl still enlisted. Our military personnel and their families go through a lot…and now they have to be exposed to toxic waste on the bases in NC. Disrespectful, dishonorable, and shameful.
I’ve been working withWFS and EIC for almost a year and not once have I felt that they should give up. The only thing I’ve felt is that the group should not have to exist. We shouldn’t have to band together to expose these atrocities, because these atrocities shouldn’t even be happening. We shouldn’t have to witness the spreading of sludge on the grounds of an elementary school. We shouldn’t have to be banding together protesting the mining of Uranium in a climate that’s not suitable to do so. We shouldn’t be witnessing our shorelines disappearing. We shouldn’t be getting sick from drinking and bathing in tap water. We shouldn’t have to watch our govt officials and their constituents get indicted for the mess that they’ve done.
To quote Michael Jackson, “Look what we’ve done to the world…look what we’ve done.”
Where “he” is The Child, and the time is right after I have poked and prodded him to do his practice drills. I’d hoped for a relaxing return to work after two days out sick, but that was not what my students saw fit to toss at me. Glad to see me and profoundly curious as to why I’d been gone, I spent the entire day involved in one kind of scheme or another. With such a volume of incidents to choose from (and so little time to write about them), I would normally Quick Quips this. But a lot of what happened was situational and so doesn’t lend itself readily to Quips, quick or otherwise.
So, as of today, we have a new style of posting. I’m calling them the: “I Can’t Exactly Choose, Raccoon Enjoy All Memories”. “Raccoon” doesn’t have any significance, I just wanted the acronym to spell “ice cream” and I couldn’t think of what to do with the “R”.
So, here we go. ICE CREAM:
~ I showed my first year students Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal and was rewarded with love and adoration because we like him that much. I have no idea what cosmic forces of the universe came together to inspire such a rabid devotion to a man that they didn’t even know about this time last year (I suppose his death has something to do with this), but I do not question the phenomenon. I just find more videos for them to watch.
~ As I briefly mentioned above, The Child was in rare form on Wednesday. The students were supposed to go through a series of exercises in one of their drill books, and he wanted to copy the answers down from the answer key. After feigning complacency so that he’d put the answer key on top of his desk, I stole it and then prompted, prodded, bullied, nagged, flattered and bribed him until he actually tried the exercises himself.
It was probably one of the more glorious battles we’ve ever had, but that was because I knew that I could win so I was willing to pull out all the stops to get him to do his work. The Child has a variety of moods – sometimes he tells me that he doesn’t want to work and he really means it (and God Help Me if I try to change his mind), and sometimes (like yesterday) he says that he doesn’t want to work and what he really wants is attention. My victory was so fantastically thorough that he worked on all of his assignments until the end of the period. I was gifted with the title of Mighty Teacher just as the bell rang. I don’t intend to let him forget this – it could very well be leverage for our next encounter.
~ I had to give a speaking check to my third years during fourth period. We were working in an empty classroom, and one student came in and actually asked me to extend his speaking check so that we could chat. I suspect that part of this may have been thanks to the test that he was taking with the other third years. Still, whatever the reason, it was a most interesting chat and I had fun with it. I’d actually like to make him a character, so we’ll go ahead and call him Obama for now (because it sounds kind of like his last name). Obama is a funny guy – I’ll be sure to properly introduce him at a later time.
~Right before lunch I went to talk to Mary Sunshine and The Savant came up and snarked at me. I snarked back, and although I can’t remember for the life of me what was said, at the time it was absolutely hilarious and (if memory serves me correctly) eventually degenerated into both of us just shouting “OKAY” at each other.
~ With the powers of my laugh alone, I reduced my lunch table to a mass of giggling hysteria. That was entertaining.
~ My sixth years from the elementary schools came by today for a two-hour orientation about middle school life. I had a lot of work to do, but decided to attend the first half of the meeting so that they could see me and feel (perhaps) slightly comforted by a familiar face. I think that it worked – a number of them came up to chat and ask how my winter vacation was. I was particularly amused by how they took the opportunity during breaks to scout out the school. Some of them have never been to the middle school before and after six years at the same elementary school, they were ravenously curious about this new building. Sixth graders in the middle school setting always remind me of a bunch of puppy dogs.
~ And last but not least, one of my memories from yesterday is total dread because I have about 32 letters to write between now and 12:15 on Friday. It is going to take some divine intervention to make this happen.
It’s a new world, it’s a new start
It’s alive with the beating of a young heart
The Blockbuster location at 5960 West Parker Rd. in Plano will host a Michael Jackson-themed vigil/party tonight in anticipation of the midnight release of This Is It on DVD and Blu-ray.
Plano’s Dance Zone by Sarasue’s Academy will send dancers to — um — dance Jackson’s iconic “Thriller” dance, with performances beginning at 9 p.m. The dancers will also instruct attendees on duplicating smooth moves.
Naturally, those in attendance will have the first opportunity to purchase the This Is It DVD or Blu-ray (beginning at midnight); there will also be unspecified Blockbuster prizes up for grabs.
Admission is, of course, free. (What, you thought the Blockbuster folks would be so crass as to actually charge admission for the opportunity to sell stuff to you? Shame, shame!)
I’m a little late with a Christmas post, but it was only recently that I ran into what I’m posting today.
I think many people are familiar with the holiday special Christmas Eve on Sesame Street which was created in 1978 and still aired annually to this day. However, there was another Sesame Street Christmas special that was created the very same year called A Special Sesame Street Christmas, which sounded like a trainwreck! First of all, it wasn’t produced by the Children’s Television Workshop for PBS like Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (as well as the regular series). Bob Banner, The guy who did The Carol Burnett Show put it together for CBS. Basically, it was really low budget and stripped down… very un-”Sesame-Street” like. He used only three of the muppets (Big Bird, Oscar, and Barkley) and four of the regular human cast! The rest of the budget was spent on special guest stars. The only GOOD thing to come from this special was that Michael Jackson was one of them.. if only briefly!
To view humorous write-up of the special which goes into greater detail, click here.
Below is a write-up of Michael Jackson’s roll in Sesame Street. I edited out the beginning part because it was a little too negative for my liking and this is my blog and I can do as I please . However, you can view the original here.
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How Michael Jackson Saved Sesame Street
by Joe Hennes
Long before MJ [gained a bad rep], he crossed paths with the Muppets a few times. The most notable example is his appearance in A Special Sesame Street Christmas, the goofy special nobody saw because Christmas Eve on Sesame Street completely overshadowed it. Michael’s afro (and Michael) passed by Oscar’s can to donate the book, “Everything You Wanted to Know About Ghosts”, to the Scrooge-ified grouch. He doesn’t count to (Jackson) 5, he doesn’t Moonwalk in the shape of the letter R, he doesn’t organize a cadre of celebrities to sing about how we are the world. He just hands Oscar a book and exits, stage right. Check out the video below for Michael’s cameo, which is sandwiched in between Ethel Merman singing the Christmas classic, “Tomorrow,” and the moustacioed Smothers Brother dressed as an astronaut.
Michael was parodied and referenced a few times here and there: a Muppet Babies comic book cover, “Beat It” in the Muppet Show on Tour show, “Billie Jean” light-up sidewalks in the “I’m Gonna Always Love You” music video. But Jackson only had one other significant connection to Sesame Street, which Chris Cerf related at a book signing last winter.
For all of the musical parodies that Sesame Street produced, very few of them resembled the original song enough to warrant legal action. “Letter B”, a parody of The Beatles’ “Let It Be”, had the unfortunate distinction of being too similar to the original. Northern Songs, which owned the Beatles’ library, threatened to sue the Children’s Television Workshop for $5.5 million. Thankfully, before the case went to trial, Michael Jackson swooped in on wings of angels and purchased the Beatles catalog. He decided not to pursue legal action, and CTW was only fined $50, which Cerf paid out of his own pocket.
Did Michael decide to drop the suit because of his appearance in A Special Sesame Street Christmas? If so, maybe the special wasn’t so bad after all. It might’ve saved Sesame Street $5.5 million (minus $50, of course). And we’ll just tack that on as one of the many, many ways Michael Jackson left his mark on the world.
More MJ Muppet trivia pulled from wikia:
-[In Muppet Babies,] Baby Kermit portrayed Michael Jackson in issue #18 of the Muppet Babies comic book.
-Jackson’s song “Beat It” was included in the 1985 stage show The Muppet Show on Tour: 2nd Edition.
-Sequences parodying the video for “Billie Jean” featured in the video clip for “I’m Gonna Always Love You.”
-A clip of Jackson’s “Beat It” video appears in the fourth season Muppet Babies episode, “Twinkle Toe Muppets.”
The Muppet Babies as Michael Jackson on the cover of Muppet Babies issue #18.
Kermit, dressed as Michael Jackson for the live show The Muppet Show on Tour: 2nd Edition.
Iata o clasificare cu cele mai vizualizate filme pe youtube, folosind criteriul de cautare “michael jackson” sau cum spunea un prieten (misel lacson).
1: ☆”Britains Got Talent ♥ Connie Talbot, age 6, WOWs Simon Cowell !”
2: Michael Jackson – BEST EVER MOONWALK
3: we are the world
4: Michael Jackson – Thriller PV
5: *Michael Jackson – Earth Song *
6: Michael Jackson – Thriller live (1987)
7: michael jackson – moon walk
8: Michael Jackson Ghost? During CNN Larry King Interview with Jermaine Jackson
9: How to moon walk like Michael Jackson
10: Michael Jackson Will You Be There
Preferatele mele sunt nr 2 si nr 10, dar cu siguranta nu va intereseaza asta.
Melodia de pe fundalul nr 2 se numeste Sound System – Holy Ghost
Intrebarea e: Valoarea lui este determinata doar de niste cifre?
I’m doing today’s entry about Haiti instead of Michael. If you’re reading this, please consider donating what you can while being mindful of people trying to take advantage of this tragedy for their own personal gain. Please research the charity prior to donating.
Here are some charitable organizations that offer aid to Haiti.
To help easily and immediately, simply text “HAITI” to “90999″ and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill. (Source)
Quake-stunned Haitians pile bodies by fallen homes
By JONATHAN M. KATZ, Associated Press Writer
Photos by Daniel Morel. (Please be aware that clicking on his linked name will take you to photos which may include one or more dead bodies)
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Haitians piled bodies along the devastated streets of their capital Wednesday after a powerful earthquake crushed thousands of structures, from schools and shacks to the National Palace and the U.N. peacekeeping headquarters. Untold numbers were still trapped.
It seemed clear that the death toll from Tuesday afternoon’s magnitude-7.0 quake would run into the thousands. The Roman Catholic archbishop of Port-au-Prince was among the dead, and the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission was missing.
International Red Cross spokesman Paul Conneally said a third of Haiti’s 9 million people may need emergency aid and that it would take a day or two for a clear picture of the damage to emerge. The United Nations said the capital’s main airport was “fully operational” and open to relief flights.
Aftershocks continued to rattle the capital of 2 million people as women covered in dust clawed out of debris, wailing. Stunned people wandered the streets holding hands. Thousands gathered in public squares to sing hymns.
People pulled bodies from collapsed homes, covering them with sheets by the side of the road. Passers-by lifted the sheets to see if loved ones were underneath. Outside a crumbled building, the bodies of five children and three adults lay in a pile.
The prominent died along with the poor: the body of Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot, 63, was found in the ruins of his office, said the Rev. Pierre Le Beller of the Saint Jacques Missionary Center in Landivisiau, France. He told The Associated Press by telephone that fellow missionaries in Haiti had told him they found Miot’s body.
The United States and other nations — from Iceland to Venezuela — said they would start sending in aid workers and rescue teams. The international Red Cross and other aid groups announced plans for major relief operations in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country.
Many will have to help their own staff as well as stricken Haitians. Taiwan said its embassy was destroyed and the ambassador hospitalized. Spain said its embassy was badly damaged.
“Haiti has moved to center of the world’s thoughts and the world’s compassion,” British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said.
Tens of thousands of people lost their homes as buildings that were flimsy and dangerous even under normal conditions collapsed. Nobody offered an estimate of the dead, but the numbers were clearly enormous.<
"The hospitals cannot handle all these victims," said Dr. Louis-Gerard Gilles. "Haiti needs to pray. We all need to pray together."
An American aid worker was trapped for about 10 hours under the rubble of her mission house before she was rescued by her husband, who told CBS' "Early Show" that he drove 100 miles (160 kilometers) to Port-au-Prince to find her. Frank Thorp said he dug for more than an hour to free his wife, Jillian, and a co-worker, from under about a foot of concrete.
An estimated 40,000-45,000 Americans live in Haiti, and the U.S. Embassy had no confirmed reports of deaths among its citizens. All but one American employed by the embassy have been accounted for, State Department officials said.
Even relatively wealthy neighborhoods were devastated.
An AP videographer saw a wrecked hospital where people screamed for help in Petionville, a hillside district that is home to many diplomats and wealthy Haitians as well as the poor.
At a destroyed four-story apartment building, a girl of about 16 stood atop a car, trying to see inside while several men pulled at a foot sticking from rubble. She said her family was inside.
"A school near here collapsed totally," Petionville resident Ken Michel said after surveying the damage. "We don't know if there were any children inside." He said many seemingly sturdy homes nearby were split apart.
The U.N.'s 9,000 peacekeepers in Haiti, many of whom are from Brazil, were distracted from aid efforts by their own tragedy: Many spent the night hunting for survivors in the ruins of their headquarters.
"It would appear that everyone who was in the building, including my friend Hedi Annabi, the United Nations' secretary-general's special envoy, and everyone with him and around him, are dead," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on RTL radio.
But U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy would not confirm that Annabi was dead, saying he was among more than 100 people missing in its wrecked headquarters. He said only about 10 people had been pulled out, many of them badly injured. Fewer than five bodies had been removed, he said.
Brazil's army said at least four of its peacekeepers were killed and five injured, while Jordan's official news agency said three of its peacekeepers were killed and 33 injured. A state newspaper in China said eight Chinese peacekeepers were known dead and 10 were missing — although officials later said the information was not confirmed.
Much of the National Palace pancaked on itself, but Haiti's ambassador to Mexico, Robert Manuel, said President Rene Preval and his wife survived.
The quake struck at 4:53 p.m., centered 10 miles (15 kilometers) west of Port-au-Prince at a depth of only 5 miles (8 kilometers), the U.S. Geological Survey said. USGS geophysicist Kristin Marano called it the strongest earthquake since 1770 in what is now Haiti.
Most Haitians are desperately poor, and after years of political instability the country has no real construction standards. In November 2008, following the collapse of a school in Petionville, the mayor of Port-au-Prince estimated about 60 percent of buildings were shoddily built and unsafe normally.
The quake was felt in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, and in eastern Cuba, but no major damage was reported in either place.
With electricity out in many places and phone service erratic, it was nearly impossible for Haitian or foreign officials to get full details of the devastation.
"Everybody is just totally, totally freaked out and shaken," said Henry Bahn, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official in Port-au-Prince. "The sky is just gray with dust."
President Barack Obama offered prayers for the people of Haiti and said the U.S. stood ready to help. Rajiv Shah, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, said a disaster response team would fly in Wednesday.
Edwidge Danticat, an award-winning Haitian-American author was unable to contact relatives in Haiti. She sat with family and friends at her home in Miami, looking for news on the Internet and watching TV news reports.
"You want to go there, but you just have to wait," she said. "Life is already so fragile in Haiti, and to have this on such a massive scale, it's unimaginable how the country will be able to recover from this."
I found this piano version of “Human Nature” earlier and thought it was beautiful and worth sharing.
From the pianist’s Youtube info:
Me, Terese @ Young Artist Piano Recital 09 – Human Nature by Michael Jackson
To People asking for sheet music: Unfortunately I seem to be having problems when emailing the sheet music to people, it doesnt work all the time, Im very sorry I know how much you want to learn it and I really wish everybody could but I dont think I am able to email it. I will try, but it might not work.
If youre interested, I bought the sheet music at
www.musicnotes.com
Join us for Prince vs Michael at Madrone this Saturday night before we move to a bigger venue in February. On this special night we will premiere the exclusive DJ Design remix of Prince’s song The Ballad of Dorothy Parker.
The PRINCE vs MICHAEL Experience
with dj’s Dave Paul and Jeff Harris
Saturday, January 16th @ Madrone Art Bar
500 Divisadero Street @ Fell, San Francisco, CA 94117
music starts at 9pm / $5 / 21+
The Prince vs Michael Experience – BIGGER AND DEFFER
You asked for it, you got it. We’re moving to a bigger location!
Larger dance floor, two bars, coat check, and free booth reservations available for birthday & bachelorette parties. Beginning in February, The Prince vs Michael Experience will take place every 2nd Saturday of the month at Milk Bar on Haight street. As usual, no dress code. Dress up or throw on a t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. It’s all about good times, and the boogie!
The PRINCE vs MICHAEL Experience
with dj’s Dave Paul and Jeff Harris
Saturday, February 13th @ Milk Bar
1840 Haight Street @ Stanyan, San Francisco, CA 94117
9pm – 2am / $5 before 11pm, $10 after 11pm / 21+
My older brother was a huge comic book lover. His excitement about the medium was contagious so entering my teens, I also ended up getting into them. I knew Michael was a fan of them, as well, so I decided to google Michael Jackson + comic books to see if I could find any trivia to post. Here’s one of the sites:
The 5 Greatest Michael Jackson Moments in Comics
by Laura Hudson
The King of Pop is dead. Michael Jackson passed away to the sadness and shock of millions of fans worldwide — including me. Some of my earliest musical memories involve songs like “Bad” and “Beat It,” and I still remember standing in front of a mirror at age 8, trying to imitate the “leaning” trick in the “Smooth Criminal” video, falling over again and again. His music was irresistible and brilliant, and despite his best tracks coming out anywhere from 15 to 40 years ago, they still sit at the top of my iTunes — and remain embedded in the minds of hundreds of millions.
Although he lived his life in the spotlight from a very young age — and spent a great deal of his later years in the tabloids — one thing that few people seem know about Jackson is that he not only loved comics, but influenced the comics industry in some interesting ways.
If nothing else, check out #1 — It’ll knock your socks off.
5. He Made a Guest Appearance in the “Longshot” Comics (Kind Of)
Although not an “official” appearance, “Longshot #2″ featured a flashback sequence where the X-Men hero Longshot recalled flying through the air on jetpacks with a handsome, dark-haired man who looked an awful lot like Michael Jackson — and happened to be named Jackson.
4. He Dressed Statues of Himself Like Batman
Earlier this year, Jackson auctioned off a whole host of comic book stuff, including “a life-size replica of Batman and his complete molded rubber costume mounted to a base. The Batman suit is fitted over a life-size replica of the likeness of Michael Jackson.” So basically, a statue of himself dressed as Batman.
3. He Took His Kids Comic Book Shopping
Last fall, Jackson took his three kids — Paris, Prince Michael and Prince Michael II (a.k.a. Blanket) — to peruse the racks at LA’s famed Golden Apple comic shop. Granted, they showed up in crazy Halloween masks and got mobbed by the press, but you gotta appreciate a parent who wants to share his love of comics with his kids.
2. His 3-D “Moonwalker” Comic Helped Bankrupt Blackthorne Publishing
The 1989 3-D “Moonwalker” comic, based on the Jackson video of the same name, was put out by 3-D comics publisher Blackthorne Publishing, which paid enormous licensing fees for the property, thinking it would be an automatic hit. Sadly, they thought wrong, and the comic flopped — a significant financial hit that helped sink Blackthorne later that year.
1. He Almost Bought Marvel Comics
For real. In the ultimate “What If…?” story, Jackson met with Stan Lee and businessman Peter Paul in 2000 to discuss the possibility of buying Marvel Comics. As The Comics Journal reported, “Jackson, who was an avowed fan of Lee’s work at Marvel, was reportedly interested and sat down with Lee and Paul to discuss the possibilities. [Jim] Salicrup, who was also present, recalls Jackson saying to Lee, ‘If I buy Marvel, you’ll help me run it, won’t you?’” The deal ultimately fell through when the current owner refused to accept less than $1 billion.
I’ve recently had publications you might want to check out. The first is a brief essay in the Mark Fisher’s excellent collection, The Resistible Demise of Michael Jackson, called “The King of Pop’s Two Bodies”. It’s an allegorical (in Benjamin’s sense) interpretation of the Thriller album and videos as eerily chronicling Michael’s real-life downward spiral. The book also has great pieces by Mark, David Stubbs, Alex Williams, Steve Shaviro, Evan Calder Williams, Dominic Fox, Owen Hatherley, and many others. Also, if you have read it or plan on doing so, consider posting a review on the Amazon US page, which got hit early with a few rather harsh ones.
The second is a paper in the current special issue of the International Journal of Zizek Studies, Zizek in Tehran, called “Iran’s Utopian Melancholy”. It’s a bit problematic, but came out rather well I think. It also is relevant to the debate about revolution spurred by my last post. You can get the pdf here.
Michael Jackson’s funeral has been nominated for an Outstanding Variety award by the NAACP Image Awards. (Crickets) (Crickets) (Crickets) No disrespect, but …. were we supposed to be entertained? As much as I enjoyed the service, uh … I just have mixed feelings about it. What do y’all think?
-”The BklynBandette.” Mr. Hollywood’s Co-Defendant.
Happy New Year everyone! Boy oh boy, are we happy to be starting a new year. Can’t imagine 2010 could be any crummier than 2009, right? As we get this year underway, seems that every form of media is talking about the highs and lows of 2009, and there certainly were plenty of both.
We continued to struggle through the economic crisis and faced the loss of some great, and not so great, talent: MJ, Farrah, Patrick, Teddy, and let’s not forget Billy Mays.
But there were bright spots among all those low points: Susan Boyle, the hot air balloon boy, the Gosselins, and Bo the “first dog” of the USA. Hopefully you read the humor in this last line-up.
But so it goes, and so we carry on. Here’s wishing you and your’s a happy new year. We hope its full of peace, hope, joy and prosperity.
Michael Jackson secretly donated semen to an astonishing 200 sperm banks on four continents between 1991 and 2009 in a sweeping and unprecedented bid to leave his genetic “mark” – and legacy of love – on every race. Read More
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I stumbled across an article this afternoon about prosocial song lyrics and people’s attitudes and behavior’s after listening to such music. It is some interesting research, and I have seen much like it, discussing the impact of music/lyrics on our feelings, thoughts and behaviors.
In general, music does not = people behaving a certain way. Much like just playing let’s say, violent video games does not equal you will be violent. What cultural products like this do is create environments and social realities, that can make some actions easier to enact. Hence, living in a violent culture or unsocial culture, being expose to similar media, hence make it easier to do such things. But just watching or listening to something does not guarantee behavior.
Anyways, that said, the article was interesting and basically found that students who listened to pro-social song lyrics as opposed to neutral song lyrics were more likely to be empathic, and help the other researcher when they spilled some items during the study, filled in fragment words with pro-social words, (like “give” for g—), asked what the would do if a friend’s children needed a place to stay after their parents tragic death, or how they felt about reading an essay about someone’s personal troubles.
There are plenty of numbers and Likert scales later, but listening to these lyrics produced more emphatic feelings and actions amount that research group.
Pro-Social Lyrics: “Heal the World” (Michael Jackson), “Ein bißchen Frieden” (Nicole), “We Are the World” (Liveaid), and “Help” (Beatles), “Love Generation” (Bob Sinclair) and “Feed the World” (U2 with Band Aid).
Neutral Lyrics: “On the Line” (Michael Jackson), “Spiel um deine Seele” (Peter Maffay), “An Englishman in New York” (Sting), and “Octopus’s Garden” (Beatles), “Rock This Party” (Bob Sinclair) and “Vertigo” (U2).
The only problems I have with this study was song choice, clear definition of pro-social, and how do you account for the sonic qualities of music’s effect on emotions?
1). I think the artists should have been varied. Too much Michael Jackson, Beatles, and U2 (not that I don’t like either of them). I would not have repeated artists, and I would have added some more female musicians. (Of course I would).
2). What exactly is pro-social? Is it song lyrics about helping people, giving money/time, being nice, not being racist/sexist/classist, non-violent lyrics, or just lyrics about getting out there and not hiding in you room twittering?
3.) The actual music, not just lyrics can affect our thoughts and actions. Doesn’t your heart beat thump faster when you hear a fast-paced drum line? Doesn’t your pulse slow down when you hear a slow, smooth bass line? We listen to music at times to change our emotions and actions. Some people listen to music to pump them up before a football game, others to feel better about a bad breakup.
I think this research is great, just a few unclarified issues from my point of view.
If you can, you can read the article here: http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/35/11/1500
Effects of Songs With Prosocial Lyrics on Prosocial Behavior: Further Evidence and a Mediating Mechanism by Tobias Greitemeyer at University of Sussex, 2009.
Photo Credit: Sheet Music by jrossol, Woman Holding Microphone by skyfaller on Flikr Creative Commons.
Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger became a household name last January 15th when he landed U.S. Airlines flight 1549 safely in the Hudson River despite losing power minutes after takeoff. All 155 passengers and crew, including a baby, were saved. The man known as “Sully” became an instant hero.
The year ended with another airline story. This time there was another hero, an unlikely passenger by the name of Jasper Schuringa. The Dutch passenger jumped on “Underwear Bomber”, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, after the 23-year-old student allegedly tried to detonate explosives he had hidden in his crotch, as Northwest Airlines flight 253 was on its descent into Detroit. The 289 passengers and crew were safe, although shaken up.
The media jumped on the “Underwear Bomber” story, making it the biggest story of 2009. Of course, that’s because the Christmas Day incident was the last major story of the decade. It didn’t hurt that after a few days of waffling on the subject, the Obama Administration admitted lapses in national security.
President Obama blamed “human and systemic” failures for the terror attempt. Then Dick Cheney burst back onto the scene and blamed Obama for “pretending we are not at war.” It should be noted that Obama just sent 30,000 troops to Afghanistan and the U.S. military has taken out more terrorists in 2009 with unmanned Predator drones and other strikes than in any year of the Bush Administration.
The fact that the Nigerian “Underwear Bomber” was trained in Yemen and was on a terrorist watch list (but not on the no-fly list) is a little unnerving. Also troubling is that his actions should have set off alarms at the two airport checkpoints prior to entering the U.S. He paid $3,000 cash, had no luggage, and was dressed for a trip to Southern California, not Detroit. I’m not saying that we should use racial profiling, but it seems odd that the guy wasn’t pulled aside at any checkpoint.
More troubling in the discussion of airplane security is the fact that it is up to the public, and not trained law enforcement, to be in charge of apprehending suspects. The near-disaster brought back memories of 9/11, when passengers joined together to foil one airliner from reaching its destination, the White House. They all died, but they died as heroes.
What is the head of the Transportation Security Administration doing to prevent further attacks? Nothing, because the TSA is still waiting for leadership as the Republican party has blocked President Obama’s nomination, former FBI agent and security expert Erroll Southers. The TSA is an important part of national security and has been politicized to the point of having no power to do anything. The Republicans are blaming Obama for taking too long to appoint someone to fill the post. Obama nominated Southers in September. South Carolina Republican Jim DeMint has been the major obstacle to nominating a TSA chief. The TSA is the division of Homeland Security that oversees airport security, but DeMint is concerned that Southers might let TSA screeners join a labor union. DeMint called the failed bombing attempt a “perfect example of why the Obama Administration should not unionize the TSA.” He claims unionization of TSA workers would give the “union bosses” the power “to veto or delay future security improvements at our airports.”
In between airline stories, there were other highlights in 2009. The historic inauguration of Obama, on a cold day in January, brought more than a million people to the National Mall in Washington D.C., to witness the swearing in of the 44th President of the United States. “We must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America,” Obama said in his inaugural address. It may not be all that original, but Obama’s oratorical skills made it possibly the sound bite of the year, except, of course, for the unusual breach of Congressional decorum when Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) shouted “You lie!” during a speech to Congress in September. Wilson blurted out his famous line immediately after Obama said, “There are those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal aliens. This too, is false. The reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.” So much for health care reform.
The economy went from bad to worse to a little better. Sarah Palin cashed in on her memoir “Going Rogue” as most Americans were going broke. President Obama continued Bush’s policies of bailing out failed banks and the auto industry. The swine flu, renamed H1N1, was deemed a major pandemic, but most of us are still waiting to see what all the hype was about. As the news media were fixated on two wars and a cratering economy, a little political scandal seemed to come as a breather.
Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, a Republican, saw his presidential ambitions go up in smoke as he made national news by disappearing after telling aides he was going for a hike on the Appalachian Trail on June 18th. He surfaced six days later, saying that he actually had been in Argentina “with his soul mate.” The media went wild… Until Michael Jackson died a few days later.
The news of Michael Jackson’s untimely death at the age of 50 caught the media by surprise, but they stayed with the story, even delving into Anderson Cooper’s discovery of Jackson’s old friend Bubbles the Chimp, whom he dressed in matching clothes and taught to do the “moonwalk”. Bubbles has been found living in retirement in Florida.
From “Balloon Boy” to Tiger Woods, pop culture news gave Americans a respite from the actual horrors of two wars and the global economic catastrophe. Carrie Prejean went from first runner-up in the Miss USA 2009 beauty pageant to media star when she famously objected to same-sex marriage in favor of “opposite marriage”.
While we’ve all been trying to figure out how our government gets anything done, as the health care reform bill passed in the House and got torn apart in the Senate, President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, and everyone scratched their heads wondering why.
As the symbol of economic excess, Bernie Madoff, is serving 150 years for bilking investors of millions of dollars, the economy is slowly making its way back. Cash For Clunkers was supposed to be a much-needed boost to the auto industry, but overall sales fell over 25%. General Motors and Chrysler filed for bankruptcy protection.
After hijacking the news media for much of the year, the Michael Jackson story ended on a fitting note. As the year wrapped up, it was announced that the “Thriller” video has been added to the film archives of the Library of Congress, the first music video to be so honored.
“And that’s the way it was…”
-Walter Cronkite (1916-2009)
Don’t run screaming when a young Michael Jackson shows up with your prom date, complete with old school Afro and a signature bow tie.
. However, you can view the original here.
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The King of Pop is dead. Michael Jackson passed away to the sadness and shock of millions of fans worldwide — including me. Some of my earliest musical memories involve songs like “Bad” and “Beat It,” and I still remember standing in front of a mirror at age 8, trying to imitate the “leaning” trick in the “Smooth Criminal” video, falling over again and again. His music was irresistible and brilliant, and despite his best tracks coming out anywhere from 15 to 40 years ago, they still sit at the top of my iTunes — and remain embedded in the minds of hundreds of millions.
5. He Made a Guest Appearance in the “Longshot” Comics (Kind Of)
4. He Dressed Statues of Himself Like Batman
3. He Took His Kids Comic Book Shopping
2. His 3-D “Moonwalker” Comic Helped Bankrupt Blackthorne Publishing
1. He Almost Bought Marvel Comics
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I stumbled across an article this afternoon about prosocial song lyrics and people’s attitudes and behavior’s after listening to such music. It is some interesting research, and I have seen much like it, discussing the impact of music/lyrics on our feelings, thoughts and behaviors.