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.

The Golden Age of Pop Music...IMHO

The other day, I stumbled upon a Facebook discussion thread about a photo showing a radio station’s playlist from 1988, to which I commented on how lousy I thought pop music was that year. After composing that remark, I was moved to summon up my opinions about how I thought this genre seemed to be at its finest when I first began listening to it around 1964.

Pop music was thriving during the 1960s. I consider myself to be extremely lucky to become aware of it during this decade as Top 40 radio filled the radio airwaves with distinctive tunes coming from a diverse background.

Most notably, perhaps, the ‘British Invasion’ was in full force with artists like the Beatles, the Animals, Herman’s Hermits, the Hollies and Manfred Mann. My musical standards weren't yet very sophisticated, and I remember that I particularly liked “Get Off of My Cloud” by the Rolling Stones.



However, Great Britain wasn't the only source for pop music during the mid-60s. “Motown” permeated the scene with hits from Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, the Four Tops, the Temptations, and of course, the Supremes.

Artists such as The Beach Boys, the Byrds, Sonny and Cher and the Mamas and Papas led the “Sunshine Pop” movement from California. The Monkees with the 1966 hit,“I’m a Believer”, is an example. It is one of the first songs that I can recall consciously going to number one.



Even country songs from the likes of Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Roger Miller and Buck Owens became mainstream Top 40 hits. This Statler Brothers tune is unforgettable to me because of the reference it makes to Captain Kangaroo, one of my favorite TV show back then. (Hey…I was only nine!)

Ice Storm 2011: A Few Thoughts and Reflections

Local weather forecasters began talking about it almost a week before it arrived as two huge low-pressure systems began forming over New Mexico and eastern Texas respectively. As it became clear that most of the nation would start the month of February off by being slammed with a major winter storm, people prepared for the inevitable by depleting stores of food, milk and supplies…and by forming social networking, groups called “Snowpocalypse 2011” on Facebook.

As it turned out, my home in west-central Indiana lay at the southern edge of the winter storm, but apparently, that wasn't "southern" enough to escape the mayhem. Instead of the thick blankets of snow, which most of the Midwest experienced, our show, here at home, was an inch-and-a-quarter coating of ice over everything.

Unfortunately, electrical engineers still haven't designed power lines that can sustain the weight of such huge quantities of ice. Moreover, it was about 7:30 on Tuesday night (February 1st) amid heavy freezing rain, sleet and high winds when I noticed about a half dozen flashes of light. I first thought it was lightning, but then reluctantly acknowledged the flashes were due to transformers blowing out. Within minutes, our lights began flickering and then ceased to work at all. No more TV, microwave, lights, heat, hot water…and OMG, internet. My family, neighborhood and town were feeling nature’s rage as it decided to make a statement that night.

After 36 hours, we finally had our power restored late Thursday morning (February 3rd). When we arrived home from our overnight stay at the Holiday Inn, we could see our breaths while sitting in our living room. It got down to around 10 degrees the night before and I think our dog and our cat were happier about our return than we were. (The motel stay was rough with the indoor pool, hot tub and room service...LOL!)

Seriously, it is good to be home and at least the food in the fridge didn't go bad!

“Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right
It's all right.” – the Beatles