Recent discussion of Facebook’s new privacy settings and the media backlash (mostly by newspapers and magazines financially suffering at the expense of Facebook’s popularity) in many blog du jours of 2009 prompted me to take a closer look at the social networking craze. I also have a vague notion that Facebook will be considered very 2009 come January and I must please the trend watchers by getting on board the blog train before the ship has sailed (that’s for all you “mode of transportation” idiom lovers out there).
Why I personally like Facebook: I’m a voyeur. Ok, maybe I’m just the curious type. But I like seeing pictures that people (unaware of their lack of privacy when posting on the internet) may not know I can see. I also like looking at the content I’m definitely meant to see. I’ve befriended a lot of exhibitionist types in my time. They’re much more fun to be around than voyeurs and they love all the attention that Facebook gives them. In these days of reality television, YouTube do it yourself webcasts, and news sources reporting “anything but” just to keep up-I’m glad I can count on my Facebook friends for entertainment (have you seen the quizzes? ), political commentary (what they “like” and don’t “like), relevant news (like what they ate for dinner) and warm social interaction (touching your keyboard with emotion as you type lol)…But seriously, I love it that I know how many kids that girl from high school that I sometimes said hello to in the halls has, or which virtual fan clubs she’s a member of.
I like seeing recent posts by former best friends, now I know I wasn’t making them up. Even if I never see them in real life, I at least have webidence (evidence supported by the web) that they’re still out there somewhere. Even better, they’re still my friends. Webster defines friend as one that is not hostile, a favored companion, or one that is of the same nation, party, or group. I guess Facebook won’t have any major influence on the general meaning of friendship. In a way it can be compared to the invention of the telephone but with extra whistles and bells.
More meaningful is Facebook as big brother’s wet dream and cash strapped media producers free ride. My new year’s wish is that bloggers (I guess blogger is the correct term these days for investigative reporters who inform the public- journalist just leaves a bad taste in my mouth) expose the potential real dangers of social networking sites. I’m not talking about embarrassment at looking stupid in a picture, or insulting your boss (who happens to be a Facebook friend), or so-called sexual predators (I’m sorry, if your teenager is uploading pornographic material of themselves or engaging in online prostitution, there were “issues” in your family before the invention of Facebook).
One web address, extensive amounts of personal information from individuals all over the world with pictures, videos, chat conversations, mail messages, a huge readership that produces content too without asking for a salary.…if it all fell into the wrong hands…that guy with the Borat profile picture could be in a lot of trouble. Oh well, I don’t “like” him anyway.
The most contentious aspect of President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize on October 9, 2009 was not the award recipient himself, but the general media reaction to the announcement around the world.
We now live within a media landscape in print, television, and online that theoretically increases the amount of news that can be distributed and the amount of individuals that have access to news. You can’t escape the “news”; it’s on 24 hours a day. However, the definition of journalism and news has changed, and finding a news source that follows the journalistic tenet of ” true, accurate and fair ” reporting is as rare these days as encountering a virgin named Britney; it’s probably not gonna happen in our lifetime. Add to that a news consuming population almost unanimously high on legal prescription drugs (does anyone wonder why the pharmaceutical industry has reaped record profits in the same period that autism, adhd, and depression rates have soared or is it just me), diseased by air pollution (can you say record numbers in the petroleum business folks?), and generally weakened by a diet of unsafe food and beverage additives that make a Chinese toy factory look like a nature reserve and you create the ideal breeding ground for conditions that brought us the likes of Hitler and Stalin. All the opinion polls in the world will not erase the fact that the majority of the earth’s population can’t read and doesn’t own a computer and consequently didn’t take part in the statistics being presented as Holy Grail.
Case in point: International reporting on the breaking news of President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Almost every single major news website opened with the information that “the award has always been presented to someone after they accomplished something” (or words to that effect). This statement is false, untrue, just plain lying…and easily disproved by examining the previous list of winners. Why then, is the statement repeated in each and every article or broadcast? Someone forgot to fact check and the zombies are eating it up like brain cakes. Or the lead in many articles about the story stating “The highly contested” award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Obama (apparently we don’t have to use the polite term of President anymore when referring to this one). I want to know WHO (or Whom as the case may be) is contesting the award, and are there enough of these “WHOS” to warrant putting this sentence in every article about the story, don’t you? Just saying that something is true, doesn’t make it a fact despite the entrance of “truthiness” into Webster’s dictionary.
I believe that the general opposition by media outlets and the blabbering idiots and journalistic hacks (I’m talking to all of you now!) getting paid by them is because we have finally been graced with “the real thing”. A leader with the courage, vision, and power to change the world. That’s what they’re all afraid of. Someone who has a good chance of making the world a better place for all of us. All of us except those who’ve been getting rich off our suffering and pain, those who don’t want the human race to succeed further than serving them, those who have demonically and without shame disposed of everyone in their way…everyone until this man came along and ruined their evil plan. The Nobel committee is then the last bastion of good, the final frontier of hope for the human race-they’re still rich enough to not be bought. And President Obama is still true to his promise of change-and this truth that outshines any “truthiness” imposters is what has been recognized and rewarded so that we all might hope and dream of a better tomorrow.
It would have been around 1992 or 1993 that I met one of my favorite American artists, Liza Lou.
Her atelier was around the corner from where I worked. She was crafting her now famous beaded kitchen and had recently moved from Los Angeles to San Diego. I served up hot drinks and pastries at the Pannikin Coffee and Tea in Downtown San Diego located at 675 G street, (now Hessian Global Goods.) Upstairs from the coffee shop was an art gallery and bead workshop where Darcy Bergh created one of a kind jewelry and Bob Sinclair, the owner of the Pannikin, could display his amazing ethnic arts and crafts collection. (He had another address down the road at Café Moto for his array of Italian motorcycles).
I don’t recall what she used to order. Her husband (or boyfriend) would come and get coffee for her. Sometimes they came in together and stayed for a chat. Often it got philosophical, maybe everything gets philosophical if you drink enough double espressos. The impression that remained with me was her kindness, down to earth personality, and focus. At the time, for a malleable 20 something like I was then, it was inspirational to see a female artist doing her thing.
I remember downtown San Diego in 1992 as a diverse mélange of all things funky and urban; lots of artist studios (all in the vicinity of the Pannikin café) great shops owned by young and independent movers and shakers (like the Catwalk and Behind the Post Office shops), local architecture and fashion businesses with national potential. City kids (including myself), skaters, bankers, and businessmen would eat no frills sushi on Broadway at lunch time with 30 minutes left to stop by the immense public library and read the latest Interview magazine for free (featuring a frumpy but cool mousy brunette Gwyneth Paltrow) and check out pristine vinyl gems of everything from vanguard jazz to Lithuanian folk.
Most mornings, I opened the shop alone and greeted the long line of un-caffeinated customers with a floral vintage dress, Peruvian pipe tunes, and the aroma of fresh brewed Margogype. Along with the days when television crews for locally filmed shows like Silk Stalkings and Renegade (aah Lorenzo Llamas you handsome devil) parked their busses out in front and ordered cappuccinos for the entire cast and crew-these were the moments that kept me on my toes.
One of the many improvements to Antwerp in recent years was the addition of a TRIX, a music center for professional recordings, music and voice lessons and workshops tailored to an ever more demanding youth population of wanna-be rock and pop stars, and venue for great sonic talent of the lesser and better known varieties. On the weekend of February 13 and 14, the newest concert space will have its grand opening (the former Hof ter Lo-still to be completely restored in the future) and it promises to be chock full of exciting musical interludes and an all around buzzing and funky atmosphere.
What a great moment then to premier the new CD by Belgium’s own Star Club West-with the fitting title WE ARE OPEN! Many international music lovers may already be acquainted with another related group The Go Find and Start Club West adds some depth and melancholy to the mix of classic pop and quirky melodies that intertwined their previous releases.
Sinds ik in België woon, voel ik mij niet geroepen om “Amerika basher” te zijn. Trouwens, het is hier ondertussen beschouwd als beschermd beroep en die mogen alleen uitgeoefend worden volgens strenge normen en mits dat mijn vader ook ene was, een beetje zoals notarissen. Op dit vlak is er wél sociale mobiliteit, want de limieten op dit beroep, zoals op kinesisten, wordt elk jaar opgetrokken, en de kwaliteits- eisen kruipen steeds neer naar een lagere niveau.
Ik zou mij ook geen België basher noemen, want dat zou niet mogen van de meerderheid van de bashers zelf; omwille van mijn bloedlijnen die niet afstemmen van Hitler of een of andere vrouw die Ingeborg of iets gelijkaardigs heet. Uiteindelijk is België bashing voor zover ik het ooit heb gezien beperkt tot grapjes verteld door Fransmannen of Nederlanders, of met de vinger wijzen naar…de Vlamingen, de Walen, de vreemdelingen, de politiekers, de Amerikanen enzovoort en zo verder. Neen, daar doe ik ook niet aan mee.
Als het weer wat beter zou zijn, kwamen er misschien meer teksten over mijn favorieten pralines, of de beste van de Belgische cd’s van 2008. Wanneer ik naar de bakker, supermarkt, districtshuis, school, of werk ga, ben ik mij volop aan het inburgeren, al 15 jaar nu. Heel de dag hou ik mijn gedachten voor mij en probeer ik iets positiefs te zeggen over België, net zoals veel andere expats die hier wonen. Maar alle gedachten stapelen op; de verhalen van vrienden, de krantenkoppen, alle absurde, frustrerende, en dikwijls oneerlijke taferelen dat een mens in één dag kan meemaken.
Recent discussion of Facebook’s new privacy settings and the media backlash (mostly by newspapers and magazines financially suffering at the expense of Facebook’s popularity) in many blog du jours of 2009 prompted me to take a closer look at the social networking craze. I also have a vague notion that Facebook will be considered very 2009 come January and I must please the trend watchers by getting on board the blog train before the ship has sailed (that’s for all you “mode of transportation” idiom lovers out there).
