supply and demand

Who knew?
This CNN article outlines how the economy of the state of California could finally be getting the boost it needs (the boost that everyone needs) with the introduction of the gay marriage market. Hotels, planners, caterers...all booked up and benefitting from a seemingly un-economy-related court decision.

I think it's a fine reward for a good decision.

Hopefully just as this was a hidden plus, there aren't any bizarrely linked downsides.

That's all for now! Busybusy.

it's all about status quo

I just read an article in the New York Times about how even the rich, or slightly less rich due to the faltering economy, are a bit distressed. The article does mention that no one will shed tears over their woes, but it's fair to say that I think most people haven't given a thought as to how this is affecting the wealthy.

Perhaps a change from 20 million to 2 million doesn't seem as bad to the families struggling to stay middle class, but what it comes down to is change and keeping face. The article mentions random things like fear of spouses leaving and getting divorced because they may have married somewhat for the money. What I found more interesting is that most of the rich were not worried about not being able to eat or have a place to live, but they were worried about other people catching on. It seems that even the common democracies has its pharoahs, and the common people are not meant to see that they are at all vulnerable to things that affect us. The article mentioned taking out loans before art shows just to make it seem like they were going to buy a painting, when in reality they needed the money.

Do we need the upper class to stay that way? What would really happen to the public mindset if we knew that the moneybags of our society were also being affected by the national money problem?

I think that even though the masses are obsessed with tabloid stories of celebrities and the high and mighty falling...that the rich having money, something that has to be true by definition, gave the public reassurance that the money was somewhere. No matter what your income, a making a fifth of what you used to is no joke.

predestination

With primary season finally coming to a close, and a democratic nomination finally on the horizon, a question comes to mind. All I keep hearing is how Clinton has a majority of blue collar workers, and Obama owns the "college-educated" vote. Sometimes I wonder if this correlation has been overemphasized.

If you were an undecided voter, and you kept hearing about the "educated" voters choosing Obama over Clinton, what preconception would you hold? Maybe you'd want to join this league of elite and intelligent people, who must know something great about Obama that you don't. At the very least, if you "choose" Obama then you must have more in common with these college educated voters and be smart yourself.

I'm sure this has no actual bearing on the outcomes of the elections, but I feel that the intelligent college educated bandwagon crowd is probably bigger than whatever the opposite would be -- perhaps some sort of...proud to be a child of or be one of the blue collar working class group of people? It's possible.

it's nice when looks are not deceiving

I'm surprised when I find out that people have not heard about the story of Josef Fritzl, the man from Austria who locked his daughter and secret children he had with his daughter in the basement for...was it 24 years?

A collection of CNN articles about this man and the discovery of his "House of Horrors" here.

When I IMed my friend about it, he had forgotten what we were talking about and thought that the picture of the guy was a picture of a guy I had dated (the previous topic of discussion). At which point we discussed the picture. Is the story (and reading about it) creepier because you have to see this sleazy-looking man's face everytime you read it and it all seems dirtier?...or is it better than he looks sketchy because if he had actually looked like a normal man you might get freaked out that anyone might be a crazy incestual rapist with the ability to cover his tracks for decades?

I think my friend was right with the latter opinion. But I still don't like Fritzl's picture. Can't they replace it with something that just says "WTF???" or "disturbed man." Yeah. I'd like only the alt-text please.

indie is in...

I meant to write this post a long time ago...possibly even before I started this blog. Remember Juno? Remember how its soundtrack was the best selling soundtrack (or most downloaded) by several scales, including the iTunes music store? Remember how it was a "major breakthrough" for indie music into the mainstream?

Here's a question.

What does it mean to be "indie"? Indie rock, pop or otherwise? (As the music Juno is mostly self identified as anti-folk.)

One thing is that I think "indie" means is cool. Cool because it's different. Different from what I'm not sure. But I get the sneaking suspicion that the only reason the likes of Kimya Dawson is a household name is because people saw Juno, realized they could live with the music in the movie, and decided that they wanted to be labeled as cool for liking the music. Will they ever buy another Antsy Pants album? I don't know. They might give it a second take when they next go to Virgin Megastore or browse the iTunes music store, but probably realize they'd rather spend their money on something else.

But okay, I'll stop doing my angry rant against "people" and how I think I understand them even though really I'm just looking for a reason to be sassy.

Here's where my other "indie" music musing comes in. I feel like as I got older, I became more aware of the existence of this elusive genre of music. Is this because:
a) I'm older, wiser, and have approached life with an open mind. I've slowly accumulated the tastes that the top hits radio station failed to offer.
b) more and more groups have chosen to label themselves as indie (as the old term "alternative" lost meaning) and thus there just...is more of it
c) there's some sort of aggressive counter publicity movement going on with the growing number of outlets looking to report on and praise something that's...NOT what is out there
d) none of the above...

What will we do when calling your music independent no longer has any meaning either? I believe there already was a New Age. And punk doesn't mean much anymore either. Given the focus on the environment, I vote that "green" music is next.

the music of our past...

So much to write about and so little time! I have a small list of them!

All I have to offer today that I think I can write in 5 minutes or less...is that I find it amazing what and how you remember songs from your past.

I don't mean past, as in, 20 years ago, as I don't think I can really remember that far anyway.

I mean how when I hear Yui, "Rolling Star" I remember how stressed out I was about procrastinating on a lot of work and how I felt overwhelmed with it and other personal relationship issues.

How I still even remember the Chrono Trigger theme to the smallest detail the second my friend sent me a link to it.

How every word of No Doubt, "Don't Speak" still rolled off my tongue when I heard it in a store.

Among many other things I'm sure, the human brain has a strange capacity for music...

Too random of a post? Nevar!

Adultsitter wanted

College, for most people if they move out of their home, is when you learn exactly what you will do without your parents nagging you. Will you do your laundry on a regular basis? Will you separate your whites and colors? Will you clean your room? Will you take your vitamins? Eat your vegetables? Do your homework?

But college has it's own sort of parental fallbacks. If you don't do your homework, your professor, TA, or a roommate or friend with a motherly instinct will probably get on your case before you completely fail. Laundry's a bit of a necessity if you don't want to smell when you go to class, and you should probably clean your room if you don't want your roommate to hate you or you want to actually have "someone" over. Vitamins and vegetables might be lost forever, but something about gaining that freshman 15 and being around way too many varsity athletes and athlete types that make you far too aware of how you should be taking care of your body. Yes, yes. The list goes on. But I think most of the things you might lose in leaving your parents--a confidant, a guidance counselor, a ruthless dictator--is all somehow made up for by someone in the grand sea of people you meet at college.

Alas, what happens when you're out in the "real world"? All of a sudden "responsibility" takes on a whole new meaning.

I'm not saying that the transition from college to working is hard, per se. I can't say I can think of particular struggles that inherently come from the change, at least in terms of survival and outwardly seeming competent.

I pay my rent, I wake up to get to work, I try not to get robbed. I think...I think those comprise my main focus right now.

But in my situation, who's going to tell me to do my laundry? To get my hair cut because I'm starting to look like a hobo? To do my work better? To eat well and exercise? I don't live with a roommate so my apartment is always in disarray or on the verge thereof. I got my hair cut recently just because, and got a few comments on how I finally look like a competent adult. (Half joking...) I eat what I want and I have no such influences in my life to drive me to live differently. Sometimes I feel like I need someone to check on my every move and tell me what to do. Is that so wrong?

Maybe there should be a service for adults who want to help adults...
I need a nanny. I've never had one. But I think I need one. :-)