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Tuesday, December 31, 2013

2013: The Year of Twerking and Selfies

It has become a customary ritual during the waning days of every year. And as 2013 is poised to become history, like clockwork, folks are reflecting on the people, events, and trends that have made the past 12 months unique.

While having its share of politics and news of great significance, 2013, it seems, has had a curiously high percentage of catchy words and phrases. In my humble opinion, the following two entries are the most memorable:

Twerking

Hands down, “twerking” wins the award for generating the most news, social networking talk, and controversy during 2013. The Urban Dictionary defines a twerk as ‘the rhythmic gyrating of the lower fleshy extremities in a lascivious manner with the intent to elicit sexual arousal or laughter in ones intended audience’.

Pop singer Miley Cyrus and her infamous, and, shall I say, abominable, performance at this year’s VMA music award program catapulted the term into the national lexicon.

Due to my general lack of knowledge of contemporary pop culture, Cyrus’ performance, which was shown on seemingly every media outlet capable of playing video, was my first exposure to the term. My teenage sons, however, say they knew about twerking long before her performance last August.

Selfie

While not quite as earth-shattering as “twerking”, the entry “selfie” has made some significant headlines during the last year. The Urban Dictionary describes a selfie as ‘a picture taken of yourself that is planned to be uploaded to Facebook, MySpace or any other sort of social networking website.’ The picture of me on the right, which I’ve used as profile pic on Facebook, is an example.

The term gained a national audience when President Obama was caught snapping one with other world leaders attending the recent funeral for former South African President Nelson Mandela.

Within hours after its release, Obama’s selfie went viral, and his political opponents saw quickly another way to score some partisan points over his supposed narcissism. (First Lady Michelle’s body language in the pic suggested she was bothered, and this also lent fuel to the fire.)

Again, it wasn’t until the incident at Mandela’s funeral until I learned about the term, selfie. On the other hand, I suspect millenials have known about selfies for quite some time.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Early Resolutions

While not all bad, 2013 was kind of a discouraging year for me. In fact, I've been in kind of a rut. So, I've decided to get a proactive jump on 2014 by carrying out my annual New Year's resolutions before Christmas.


The first resolution I've begun pursuing is my pledge to learn how to play guitar. I've taken several casual stabs of taking up the instrument in the past But this time, I have a certain fire in my belly. After going nearly three decades without plucking a string, I, along with my wife, decided to buy brand new acoustic guitars as sort of a Christmas present to ourselves. So far, I'm really delighted that I have.



I've also begun putting the needed pieces in place that will enable me to act on another resolution, putting together a podcast file I can send to broadcasters as an audition for on-air employment. I've downloaded an audio editing software program called Audacity, and have settled on buying a 'Yeti' USB microphone online. It comes highly recommended from some trusted broadcasting acquaintances.



I'm at a point in my life where I want to work at jobs that I'll really enjoy, and fortunately, I believe that I'm financially secure enough where I can be really picky. Broadcasting is where I want to be. I just need to learn the mixing and editing techniques needed for a decent audition podcast. It will take some resolve, but again, I think I have that fire in my belly.


Tuesday, December 3, 2013

It's Time for a New Moron!

The subject of ignorant and uninformed voters comes up often in the blogosphere. And invariably, bloggers writing posts about this topic utilize this unforgettable image to accompany their story:


Just today, in fact, I had a story appear with that same image in my Facebook news feed from Alternet.org. The post's written content is spot on and enlightening. But I ask, must we fall back so consistently on making use of the not-so-bright looking St. Louis Cardinals fan holding up a sign that misspells morons?

Now, don't get me wrong! The image is a laugh riot. But it's more than 10 years old! So, it's not exactly current. Moreover, as a St. Louis Cardinals fan, I cringe at the thought of what Mr. 'Moran' is doing to pigeonhole the Cardinal fan base, St. Louisans, and Midwesterners, as well. This dude is hardly representative of us. And, we don't need to hand out added ammunition to outsiders that affirms their already-held beliefs that we're a bunch of uneducated rubes and rednecks.


My post, now, is mostly tongue-in-cheek, and I realize that my beef doesn't really touch upon any of the world's most pressing problems...not even close. But this is my blog, and I say right up front that it's my place to rant! Moreover, there is no shortage of political morons in the country. Might I suggest using this dude as the new poster boy.

THE FIRST ROAR

It was sometime during the summer of 1964; I don't remember the exact date. The hometown St. Louis Cardinals were in the middle of one o...