I believe that the journey is just as important as the destination, as is reflected in one of my favorite quotes by author J.R.R. Tolkein. Sit back and enjoy as I wander through life, keeping in mind that Not All Who Wander Are Lost!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Plugged In

Last night, my family sat down to watch the Paul McCartney concert 1-hour special that had aired on Thanksgiving. We followed this up with the 1-hour Beyonce special that had also aired on Thursday night. Both of these got me thinking about cultural phenomenons and what it is that I find so interesting about following pop culture.

Paul McCartney was great, as always. At several points between songs, bits of an interview with him are cut in... and Paul remarks on all the speculation that he will someday retire. He says with a grin on his face, "What am I going to do? Sit at home and watch the telly?" (I love British-speak :P) "That's fine for about five minutes."

In presenting the show, the editors also cut in some original footage of the Beatles playing the same stadium when they first came to New York. That, along with the jubilant faces of the audience members, singing or dancing along, reinforced the amazing strength and force of the mania that I believe still surrounds the Beatles.

It was great to hear Paul play hits like "Hey Jude" and "Yesterday," but equally fun to see the stunning pyrotechnic-laden performance of "Live and Let Die." I was disappointed that Paul didn't do any of his more recent hits like "Nod Your Head" and "Dance Tonight" -- but perhaps he did and they just didn't include them in the one-hour version of the show.

Paul remarks at one point that he loves that parents and kids and even grandparents can all enjoy his music equally. While I have long appreciated the Beatles hits (who hasn't?) I'm sure I don't hear them with the same rush of emotions and nostalgia as people like my parents who were growing up in the midst of their popularity. My mom was talking about what it was like to follow the Beatles, watching them release hits, break up, get back together, not quite knowing where the group was headed or what would happen next.

I think what really struck me was that the night before, Thanksgiving, I got into a rather heated debate with an old family friend about what made/makes Harry Potter the phenomenon it is. I was trying to explain what it was like growing up alongside the release of the books, not knowing when the next book would be released, who was going to die, how the story was going to end. It occurred to all of my family while watching gracious and talented Paul perform that the Beatles was a very similar phenomenon.

Transitioning from Paul to Beyonce was rather odd, but it was great to get a glimpse of what looks like her very energetic and intimate performance from Las Vegas. I admire Beyonce greatly -- she's gorgeous, sexy, talented... She can sing, dance, and is an inspiration to women with her messages of independence and confidence. There's something lovely and almost hypnotic about watching someone so clearly in their prime, loving what they do every minute.

It really hit me when she performed Single Ladies (mainly because she pointed it out) that the Single Ladies video and dance was a kind of mini-phenomenon of 2009. I remember the first time I saw this video and what an impact it made on me. It's cool to think that it was a major part of the pop culture of this year and that I was somehow a part of it -- that I experienced it.

What I realized through all these musings was that I find immense pleasure from the feeling of being "plugged in" to the larger world, particularly when it involves pop culture phenomena. There's something really satisfying for me of understanding and being part of an experience -- whether it's Michael Jackson's death on Twitter, the VMAs and Kanye bashing, or any of the other big events of this year. Every now and then, I question why I care so much, if it's frivolous, how it really impacts my life... But I think what attracts me to experiencing pop culture phenomenons is the feeling of connection and belonging, the knowledge that thousands of other people love the Single Ladies video and have a memory of watching it the same time. It's the same feeling I associate with Harry Potter book releases, and that I'm sure my parents' generation links to the Beatles albums.

So, we're heading into the last month of 2009... the last month of the first decade of the 2000's. Soon we'll have a new year, a new decade, and new phenomenons to experience. I can't wait!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Gobble Gobble

Love to eat turkey... love to eat turrrkeeey
Love to eat turkey, cause it's good
Turkey for me, turkey for you
Let's eat turkey in a big brown shoe!
~Adam Sandler's Thanksgiving song, Weekend Update SNL

Well, it's that day again... the day when we celebrate pilgrims having a dinner party with the indians, where we're supposed to be spend the day grateful for all that the universe has blessed us with... and where we're supposed to gorge ourselves on the bird that Ben Franklin once wanted as the national animal, along with three different kinds of pie.

Don't get me wrong... I love Thanksgiving. It's a great excuse to not only have the day but the week off from school, to spend time with friends and family, to eat delicious food, and to reflect and respect the life you're living. But really, you gotta love the irony of this holiday.

People express their appreciation of this holiday in different ways...
Adam Sandler wrote a song about it
Friends always took it as an excuse to be extra funny.
Hank Green
told us 50 things he appreciates in his daily life.
President Obama took it as opportunity to show off his adorable sense of humor.

I always associate it with those construction paper turkeys you would make in elementary school by tracing your hand and decorating it with a little face and drawing in feathers. This year, my family is hosting a large dinner with family and friends - 10 or 11 people and I expect deliciousness and over-eating to be had by all.

I got myself in a bit of a funk today (meaning slightly bad mood but you can't pin your finger on what you feel bad about). It's mostly school related... I'm in the final stretch (2 weeks, 4 classes, 7 major assignments left) and it's hard to be on break and not be fully able to relax. I did see a great, hilarious film with George Clooney and Ewan McGregor -- <3 -- The Men Who Stare At Goats, but I'm not quite in a particularly *thankful* mood tonight. I am in a very talkative, bloggy mode tonight, hence the rambling.

I've said this a bazillion times without it coming to fruition, but I want to blog more. I like how it is similar to keeping a journal, but that it feels more purposeful since you have somewhat of an audience. I think it's important to formalize my thoughts into writing, to take the time to figure out what you're thinking and how you're processing what's been going on in your life. I'm not going to put a goal on it now, but I hope to be on here more.

If you're celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow, I hope you have a lovely holiday. If you're not (probably because you're not American), take it as an excuse to spend a few minutes thinking of what you're grateful... cause it can't hurt, right?

Cheers :)

Monday, November 16, 2009

New this week in Newsweek

This past weekend I decided that I wanted to read the current (November 16) copy of Newsweek cover to cover. This may sound insignificant, unimportant, or uninteresting, but it's something that not only do I never do... I'm not sure I've ever done it at all. In the past, I've read some of the articles, flipped through the stories while eating breakfast, or simply opened it straight to the political cartoon page... but I'm not sure I've ever read every word of every story.

My family has had a subscription to Newsweek for quite some time now -- before that it was Time, or maybe it was both... but they've been piling up in our magazine basket for several years now. I don't know exactly why I'm never drawn to them -- it's partly an issue of time, I think. I also currently get Entertainment Weekly, People, Glamour, Allure, and Real Simple [before you protest, they were all free and I only have them for a limited amount of time. Oh, and I always give them to friends before recycling them] and I barely have time to read those as it is. On top of that, there's reading for school, for my bookclub(s), for fun... Yeah, I just basically never make it to reading Newsweek.

But I had a few quiet minutes on Friday, and it was just sitting there staring at me, so I started flipping through it, then I started reading it, and then I started reading all of it. I actually haven't finished at the time I'm sitting here writing this, but I certainly plan to read the rest. I can't say if this is indicative of a new pattern - if I'm going to be able to read every word of all the Newsweeks from now on, but I certainly have gained a new appreciation of the magazine as a whole, and a new knowledge of how interesting it can be to really read in depth.

The magazine's cover story is about lessons we can learn from Vietnam - and how they can be applied to Afghanistan. The story is really quite interesting, though I don't see what made it timely enough to make it the cover story; but I particularly enjoyed John Kerry's subarticle. He had a very striking conclusion that I think is worth sharing: "One of the architects of the Vietnam War, Robert McNamara, confessed decades later that he knew victory was no longer possible well before the American death toll had reached half its eventual total. He offers a horrific lesson that the time to voice concerns is now." It seems clear to me that America's involvement in Afghanistan is far from over, and I hope to follow its events and debates closer than I did with events in, say, Iraq. I was too unappreciative at the time of what was going on in Iraq to keep up and as such generally don't know what was/is going on there.

I have always admired John Green and other individuals who are very well versed in current events -- people who understand the innerworkings of what's making headlines well enough to explain them to others and debate them intellectually. I guess my reading Newsweek this weekend is, in part, an attempt to follow in those footsteps. Next semester I'll be taking a Modern US Policy/Diplomacy class, which I'm sure with further my understanding of the crazy world of political happenings.

The Newsweek issue had many other interesting stories - lots of chatter about the Berlin Wall Fall anniversary, about the recent elections in favor of the Republicans and what that means for the country, etc, etc. But I'm not going to go into that now... If you're interested, you can read for yourself!

If anyone out there happens to read this, I'd love to hear what YOU read in the realm of magazines, websites, RSS-feeds, newspapers, etc. How do you keep up with current events -- or do you not care at all? Let me know!

Cheers :)