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I just saw an ad for Zune (the MP3 player) with all these Zunes standing in what looks to be a graveyard, dormant. Then one starts sending another one a song, and soon they all have the song, and they're all alive and showing videos and blah blah blah. Anyway, I mention this only because on one of the Zunes, there's a Hello Kitty-style panda and some other cute little animal standing next to each other...
... doing the Fusion Dance. Trust me on this, I would recognize it anywhere.
Other pop culture trends I've noticed:
* R&B is becoming inspired by rock and synth. Seriously. See "Umbrella" by Rihanna feat. Jay-Z.
* Soft pop is turning into disco. See Maroon 5's new song. Don't remember what it's called. It is still bad, even if does try to be disco.
* Linkin Park is trying to turn into U2. Watch their video for "What i've Done" and be amazed by Chad-Bono.
* Southeast Asia's making a name for itself! Just yesterday Law & Order SVU thought that maybe their suspects would be Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists in Indonesia, and today I see that Road Rules has taken its entourage to Thailand. Most of the twenty-somethings, of course, just want to par-tay in the land without laws. But Brooke says, "I've never been outside the country, much less a place like this. I just want to stay safe." Ah well, she changes her mind about Thailand soon enough - it's "awesome" when they go to an exclusive island hotel. Until she steps on some sea anemone and is convinced it's a jellyfish, then insists everyone else pee on her. Truth stranger than fiction.
* Is it just me, or is everyone getting into the "dark side" of their favorite heroes? Now god only knows I love temptation of the good by the dark side. However, in order for this to work, there's gotta be a good reason. Batman was the original, and of course he is completely dark and awesome. But Spider-Man, now? Please. Peter Parker goes dark? Harry Potter tried and became emo. 'Tis always the danger when people who are not actually dark become taken over by their dark side. Also, if you want to do a radical makeover, the makeover ought to be radical, not superficial. Like, evil Spider-Man kills Mary Jane. Now that movie, I would see.
In conclusion, the mainstream is trying to woo me over, apparently. Synth and disco, dark and rebellious, Southeast Asian and politically conscious! Too bad the mainstream fails miserably at trying to be alternative - pretty much by default. Of course, it only fails for people like me. For the mainstream, it's great, fresh and exciting! The Lincoln Journal Star's new column, "What did you think of 'Spider-Man 3'?" (yes, we actually have columns like this) proves this. One guy says, "I'm sorry but the third installment was horrible. What's up with Peter Parker going emo? People in the theaters were literally laughing at Peter Parker when he starts crying." But the other two say the movie was "fantastic... character development was excellent".
Meanwhile, the battle between teachers and students - or rather, between censorship and free speech - continues.
A teacher at my own high school has been suspended with two weeks left of school (though the school district insists he planned to retire and him being gone the last two weeks is for "personal reasons" - the teacher himself responded to a student email by saying that he was suspended), apparently for showing a video in his geography class called "Baghdad ER", depicting "life in the emergency room of a combat support hospital in Baghdad [that] includes graphic footage." He's known for being the history teacher who wanted to teach history "backwards", starting from the present and ending with the past, something that was apparently horrific for reasons I can't really think of to Lincoln Public Schools. He had been teaching it backwards for years when suddenly LPS told him he had to stop. Around school, he's famous for having a holographic poster in his room that shows Osama bin Laden when you look at it from one side, then turns into President Bush from the other side. Many think that it wasn't really about the video - the video was just an excuse for LPS to get rid of him. Also, according to a girl on a facebook group (and I trust the students in this case), the whole thing with "Baghdad ER" was a girl in the class casually mentioned it to her parents, who freaked out and called Mr. Mann (my biology teacher who doesn't believe in evolution), who told the principal.
In Cary, Illinois, a straight-A senior got an assignment to "write continuously for 30 minutes without making corrections, and without judging or censoring what he produced", and turned out an essay "rife with profanity, obscure pop culture references and hints of violence", ending with the following directed at his teacher: "No quarrel on you qualifications as a writer, but as a teacher, don't be surprised on inspiring the first cg shooting." (cg being short for Cary-Grove, the high school) He was arrested and charged for disorderly conduct after the teacher took the essay to school officials, who called the police. He's been discharged from the Marines' delayed-entry program.
In another case, a student was asked to write in the style of a favorite author - in this case, Stephen King. This of course produced "extreme violence", and the student was suspended pending a psychiatric evaluation (which he passed). The AP article goes on to quote a criminologist as saying "significant episodes normally involve students who are loners and who have expressed previous fantasies of bloodshed" and because this particular student was "an athlete and accomplished... with no record of trouble", this took vigilance too far. And that's like saying preps can express violence if they want, but not nerds. And people, please. We shouldn't decide whether kids "get away" with things based on how popular they are. Right?
Granted, it's not smart for students to tell teachers they're going to inspire a school shooting. It's rare that a student actually means to get guns and shoot up the school, but they often joke about it, even if teachers don't hear - at the cafeteria, online, on weekends. With each other. The sentiment is there. Adults joke about killing co-workers and bosses too, but no one seems to get anxious about that. I also think it's ridiculous to tell a student they're effectively in a "safe space" - don't censor yourself, don't correct yourself, just free-flow - and then freaking have them arrested for what they write. That's entrapment, isn't it? How do you expect students to actually follow assignments when that's the response they get? To actually express their opinions? To say anything at all to you, grown-ups? And if they can't say anything, how do you expect them to get "better" - assuming, of course, there's something "wrong" with them in the first place.
Not to mention, always the assumption that it's the individual, and not the system, that must be fixed.
In the words of Stella Gibbons, there's "something nasty in the woodshed."
... doing the Fusion Dance. Trust me on this, I would recognize it anywhere.
Other pop culture trends I've noticed:
* R&B is becoming inspired by rock and synth. Seriously. See "Umbrella" by Rihanna feat. Jay-Z.
* Soft pop is turning into disco. See Maroon 5's new song. Don't remember what it's called. It is still bad, even if does try to be disco.
* Linkin Park is trying to turn into U2. Watch their video for "What i've Done" and be amazed by Chad-Bono.
* Southeast Asia's making a name for itself! Just yesterday Law & Order SVU thought that maybe their suspects would be Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists in Indonesia, and today I see that Road Rules has taken its entourage to Thailand. Most of the twenty-somethings, of course, just want to par-tay in the land without laws. But Brooke says, "I've never been outside the country, much less a place like this. I just want to stay safe." Ah well, she changes her mind about Thailand soon enough - it's "awesome" when they go to an exclusive island hotel. Until she steps on some sea anemone and is convinced it's a jellyfish, then insists everyone else pee on her. Truth stranger than fiction.
* Is it just me, or is everyone getting into the "dark side" of their favorite heroes? Now god only knows I love temptation of the good by the dark side. However, in order for this to work, there's gotta be a good reason. Batman was the original, and of course he is completely dark and awesome. But Spider-Man, now? Please. Peter Parker goes dark? Harry Potter tried and became emo. 'Tis always the danger when people who are not actually dark become taken over by their dark side. Also, if you want to do a radical makeover, the makeover ought to be radical, not superficial. Like, evil Spider-Man kills Mary Jane. Now that movie, I would see.
In conclusion, the mainstream is trying to woo me over, apparently. Synth and disco, dark and rebellious, Southeast Asian and politically conscious! Too bad the mainstream fails miserably at trying to be alternative - pretty much by default. Of course, it only fails for people like me. For the mainstream, it's great, fresh and exciting! The Lincoln Journal Star's new column, "What did you think of 'Spider-Man 3'?" (yes, we actually have columns like this) proves this. One guy says, "I'm sorry but the third installment was horrible. What's up with Peter Parker going emo? People in the theaters were literally laughing at Peter Parker when he starts crying." But the other two say the movie was "fantastic... character development was excellent".
Meanwhile, the battle between teachers and students - or rather, between censorship and free speech - continues.
A teacher at my own high school has been suspended with two weeks left of school (though the school district insists he planned to retire and him being gone the last two weeks is for "personal reasons" - the teacher himself responded to a student email by saying that he was suspended), apparently for showing a video in his geography class called "Baghdad ER", depicting "life in the emergency room of a combat support hospital in Baghdad [that] includes graphic footage." He's known for being the history teacher who wanted to teach history "backwards", starting from the present and ending with the past, something that was apparently horrific for reasons I can't really think of to Lincoln Public Schools. He had been teaching it backwards for years when suddenly LPS told him he had to stop. Around school, he's famous for having a holographic poster in his room that shows Osama bin Laden when you look at it from one side, then turns into President Bush from the other side. Many think that it wasn't really about the video - the video was just an excuse for LPS to get rid of him. Also, according to a girl on a facebook group (and I trust the students in this case), the whole thing with "Baghdad ER" was a girl in the class casually mentioned it to her parents, who freaked out and called Mr. Mann (my biology teacher who doesn't believe in evolution), who told the principal.
In Cary, Illinois, a straight-A senior got an assignment to "write continuously for 30 minutes without making corrections, and without judging or censoring what he produced", and turned out an essay "rife with profanity, obscure pop culture references and hints of violence", ending with the following directed at his teacher: "No quarrel on you qualifications as a writer, but as a teacher, don't be surprised on inspiring the first cg shooting." (cg being short for Cary-Grove, the high school) He was arrested and charged for disorderly conduct after the teacher took the essay to school officials, who called the police. He's been discharged from the Marines' delayed-entry program.
In another case, a student was asked to write in the style of a favorite author - in this case, Stephen King. This of course produced "extreme violence", and the student was suspended pending a psychiatric evaluation (which he passed). The AP article goes on to quote a criminologist as saying "significant episodes normally involve students who are loners and who have expressed previous fantasies of bloodshed" and because this particular student was "an athlete and accomplished... with no record of trouble", this took vigilance too far. And that's like saying preps can express violence if they want, but not nerds. And people, please. We shouldn't decide whether kids "get away" with things based on how popular they are. Right?
Granted, it's not smart for students to tell teachers they're going to inspire a school shooting. It's rare that a student actually means to get guns and shoot up the school, but they often joke about it, even if teachers don't hear - at the cafeteria, online, on weekends. With each other. The sentiment is there. Adults joke about killing co-workers and bosses too, but no one seems to get anxious about that. I also think it's ridiculous to tell a student they're effectively in a "safe space" - don't censor yourself, don't correct yourself, just free-flow - and then freaking have them arrested for what they write. That's entrapment, isn't it? How do you expect students to actually follow assignments when that's the response they get? To actually express their opinions? To say anything at all to you, grown-ups? And if they can't say anything, how do you expect them to get "better" - assuming, of course, there's something "wrong" with them in the first place.
Not to mention, always the assumption that it's the individual, and not the system, that must be fixed.
In the words of Stella Gibbons, there's "something nasty in the woodshed."
