Connected with study of chapter 5 in our textbook, please have a song or tune in mind when you come to our class. I might call on a few of you to sing it (nah!) or play it for the rest of the class on YouTube.
Here, just for the fun of it, are a few of my favorites. Turn your sound up and have a listen.
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Music to our ears...
Hello everyone in my MCOM 101 course. We won’t be spending much time discussing chapter 5, but it still merits our close consideration. After all, who among us, doesn’t listen to music? Imagine a world without the Beatles, or Rolling Stones or Elvis or Aretha or Dolly or Whitney or Beyonce or Adele or Lady Ga Ga, or Lady Antebellum or any of the Motown greats like the Supremes or the Four Tops or Marvin Gaye or Smokey Robinson or The Temptations (and the list goes on and on…)
Speaking of Motown music, did you know it was started by Berry Gordy who founded Motown Records in 1958? I know. Ancient history to you, maybe, but Berry is one of America’s musical pioneers.
Notes/points of emphasis for chapter 5 “Recordings: Demanding Choices”
Be sure after you read this chapter, you can define and explain the “Key Terms” in top left corner of page 104.
And know the answers to the “Critical Questions” (on the same page) just below the “Key Terms.”
Prerequisite for popular music (or music of any kind) was the means of recording and distributing it. In this respect, we owe deep thanks to the early efforts of Thomas Edison. Thanks largely to him, and to Emile Berliner of Germany, the world—in the late 19th century and early 20th century—got the phonograph and gramophone. These inventions led much later to the LP and compact disc.
Phonograph (and eventually radio) allowed vast expansion of people’s access to music and sound. Before invention of phonograph, folks had to go to a concert hall or theatre or other venue to hear music if they didn’t play it themselves.
Phonograph and radio brought a wider range of music to everyone but they also led to loss of so-called social music (music that folks played and sang for one another in their homes or other social settings.)
So what other forms of “technology” or devices have harnessed music and made it more accessible to millions of us down through the ages? Some include: 33 1/3 rpm records, 45 rpm records, 78 rpm records, transistor radios, Walkmans, CDs, iPod music players, Apple’s iTunes online music store, the Apple iPhone.
A few quick important facts about the recording industry:
1. Apple started iTunes, Apple’s online music store, in 2003. Billions and billions of 99-cent downloads later, iTunes has become a household brand in America.
2. Most popular forms of music in America (or the kinds of music that most people purchase) are: Rock, Country, Rap/Hip-Hop, Rhythm & Blues/Urban, Pop, Religious or Gospel…
3. The main (or most important) recording centers in the U.S are: LA, New York and Nashville. But most of you, I’m sure, already, know or have heard that Nashville is “Music City USA.”
4. Many recordings or artists who cut records depend on radio to succeed. The more radio play time of their music these artists get, the more likely they are to sell a ton of their records.
5. One of the most muscially focused magazines in the U.S. is “Rolling Stone.” Read it to get the latest reviews about recordings and profiles on the artists and bands who create those recordings.
6. “Billboard” is another important magazine focused on music. Known as the music industry’s leading trade magazine, “Billboard” regularly publishes the country’s top-selling records.
7. Content labeling is a big issue in the recording industry. So big that the Recording Industry Association of America (which has a lot of clout in the U.S.) has strongly encouraged its members to provide a warning label or to print lyrics on albums with potentially offensive content. This is a form of self-regulation by the music industry. It is not federally mandated regulation. Why would the recording industry want to self-regulate itself?
8. Overseas piracy is another big issue in the recording industry. We’ve all heard or read about countries such as China “stealing” or counterfeit copying American artists’ music. On top of that, the counterfeited music—which is a flagrant violation of copyright laws—is often not of the same high quality as the original. Unfortunately, policing international piracy of music is difficult and costly.
9. Yet another big recording industry issue is file sharing on the Internet. What is file sharing? Our textbook defines it as: peer-to-peer distribution of copyrighted material on the Internet without the copyright owner’s permission. MP3 player technology makes this very easy to do. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against the process of Internet file sharing or illegal copying of music.
10. Illegal Internet file sharing of music threatens the entire recording industry. Licensed music is protected by international copyright law, and the recording industry aggressively goes after those unscrupulous users who steal or copy (without permission) an artist’s music. Some of the counterfeiters end up being successfully prosecuted, but many escape. Why? The Internet is vast and wild and untamed (for the most part) and it’s hard, at best, to catch those who steal an artist’s or recording company’s music. Illegal music downloads are a thorn in the side of the recording industry.
11. So where does the recording industry make its money? The pie chart on pg. 100 tells us. Interestingly, according to this chart, digital (Internet) sales account for 50 percent of the music industry’s income. That equals the 50 percent of the music industry’s income from physical sales.
12. In terms of the music or recording industry, what is Pandora? How about Spotify? Look these up, if you don’t already know what they are, and be able to define/describe them.
Okay, enough for now about chapter 5. What are your favorite songs? Who are your favorite artists? We might listen to a few of them soon in class.
Speaking of Motown music, did you know it was started by Berry Gordy who founded Motown Records in 1958? I know. Ancient history to you, maybe, but Berry is one of America’s musical pioneers.
Notes/points of emphasis for chapter 5 “Recordings: Demanding Choices”
Be sure after you read this chapter, you can define and explain the “Key Terms” in top left corner of page 104.
And know the answers to the “Critical Questions” (on the same page) just below the “Key Terms.”
Prerequisite for popular music (or music of any kind) was the means of recording and distributing it. In this respect, we owe deep thanks to the early efforts of Thomas Edison. Thanks largely to him, and to Emile Berliner of Germany, the world—in the late 19th century and early 20th century—got the phonograph and gramophone. These inventions led much later to the LP and compact disc.
Phonograph (and eventually radio) allowed vast expansion of people’s access to music and sound. Before invention of phonograph, folks had to go to a concert hall or theatre or other venue to hear music if they didn’t play it themselves.
Phonograph and radio brought a wider range of music to everyone but they also led to loss of so-called social music (music that folks played and sang for one another in their homes or other social settings.)
So what other forms of “technology” or devices have harnessed music and made it more accessible to millions of us down through the ages? Some include: 33 1/3 rpm records, 45 rpm records, 78 rpm records, transistor radios, Walkmans, CDs, iPod music players, Apple’s iTunes online music store, the Apple iPhone.
A few quick important facts about the recording industry:
1. Apple started iTunes, Apple’s online music store, in 2003. Billions and billions of 99-cent downloads later, iTunes has become a household brand in America.
2. Most popular forms of music in America (or the kinds of music that most people purchase) are: Rock, Country, Rap/Hip-Hop, Rhythm & Blues/Urban, Pop, Religious or Gospel…
3. The main (or most important) recording centers in the U.S are: LA, New York and Nashville. But most of you, I’m sure, already, know or have heard that Nashville is “Music City USA.”
4. Many recordings or artists who cut records depend on radio to succeed. The more radio play time of their music these artists get, the more likely they are to sell a ton of their records.
5. One of the most muscially focused magazines in the U.S. is “Rolling Stone.” Read it to get the latest reviews about recordings and profiles on the artists and bands who create those recordings.
6. “Billboard” is another important magazine focused on music. Known as the music industry’s leading trade magazine, “Billboard” regularly publishes the country’s top-selling records.
7. Content labeling is a big issue in the recording industry. So big that the Recording Industry Association of America (which has a lot of clout in the U.S.) has strongly encouraged its members to provide a warning label or to print lyrics on albums with potentially offensive content. This is a form of self-regulation by the music industry. It is not federally mandated regulation. Why would the recording industry want to self-regulate itself?
8. Overseas piracy is another big issue in the recording industry. We’ve all heard or read about countries such as China “stealing” or counterfeit copying American artists’ music. On top of that, the counterfeited music—which is a flagrant violation of copyright laws—is often not of the same high quality as the original. Unfortunately, policing international piracy of music is difficult and costly.
9. Yet another big recording industry issue is file sharing on the Internet. What is file sharing? Our textbook defines it as: peer-to-peer distribution of copyrighted material on the Internet without the copyright owner’s permission. MP3 player technology makes this very easy to do. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against the process of Internet file sharing or illegal copying of music.
10. Illegal Internet file sharing of music threatens the entire recording industry. Licensed music is protected by international copyright law, and the recording industry aggressively goes after those unscrupulous users who steal or copy (without permission) an artist’s music. Some of the counterfeiters end up being successfully prosecuted, but many escape. Why? The Internet is vast and wild and untamed (for the most part) and it’s hard, at best, to catch those who steal an artist’s or recording company’s music. Illegal music downloads are a thorn in the side of the recording industry.
11. So where does the recording industry make its money? The pie chart on pg. 100 tells us. Interestingly, according to this chart, digital (Internet) sales account for 50 percent of the music industry’s income. That equals the 50 percent of the music industry’s income from physical sales.
12. In terms of the music or recording industry, what is Pandora? How about Spotify? Look these up, if you don’t already know what they are, and be able to define/describe them.
Okay, enough for now about chapter 5. What are your favorite songs? Who are your favorite artists? We might listen to a few of them soon in class.
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Quick points about magazines (relating to chapter 4 in our textbook)
More notes--for my MCOM 101 class at EHC--on magazines (SOME OF THIS MAY NOT BE IN CHAPTER 4, BUT IT’S STILL IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO KNOW). Be sure, too, that you've read closely my previous blog post (also dated Feb. 28) on magazines. This will help guide your study of this key branch of mass communication.
1. What is a magazine? A publication of lasting interest targeted at a specific audience. A collection of articles and photos.
2. The Saturday Evening Post
•First published in 1821
•First truly national medium
•Post remained important until the coming of television
3. Birth of Photojournalism
•Photographer Mathew Brady first became famous for portraits, Civil War photography team.
•By 1864, Harper’s Weekly was reproducing his team’s photos.
•Promoted idea that photographs could be published documents preserving history.
4. Types of Magazines
•Consumer magazines. Publications targeting an audience of like-minded consumers
•Trade magazines . Magazines published for people who work in an industry or business
•Literary magazines. Publications that focus on serious essays and short fiction
5. Literary and Commentary Magazines
•Atlantic, New Republic, Nation . Serious publications with progressive orientation published since the 1800s.
•National Review . Conservative response to New Republic and Nation by William F. Buckley.
•Crisis . Published by NAACP to give voice to African Americans.
6. The Muckrakers
•Progressive investigative journalists writing in the late 1800s, early 1900s
•McClure’s --Popular reform-oriented muckraking magazine featuring work by Ida Tarbell.
7. Henry Luce & Birth of Time Life
•Luce developed idea of Time magazine in early 1920s to present the week’s news in context.
•Followed by Fortune covering business
•Life magazine presented the news through photos, featured work of Margaret Bourke-White.
8. Women’s Magazines
•Many of them tend to be Service magazines—about how to do things better, have better nutrition or health, improve your cooking, fashion, chances for employment
•FBL – Fashion, beauty, lifestyle. Vogue, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar
•Cosmopolitan-- Global magazine for young women, focus on unmarried women
9. Men’s Magazines
•1933: Esquire . Literature, pinups, and fashion for an intelligent readership.
•1953: Playboy. Pictures and a lifestyle.
10. Magazines and Body Image
•Critics charge that magazines and ads present excessively thin models.
11. Advertising vs. Editorial Control
•Conflict between advertising and editorial departments.
Magazines, models, and sponsors work together to match ads with stories about models and the products they endorse.
•Blurring of ads and editorial content Ads can be made to look like magazine content.
12. Covers and Race
•American magazines rarely feature non-whites on cover.
•In 2002, less than 20 percent of magazine covers featured people of color.
•As of 2009, Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue had featured only two women of color on the cover.
•But may be changing; teen music magazines often have non-whites on covers.
13. Current Trends in Magazine Publishing
•Targeting narrower audiences.
•Presentation matters; layout and graphics critical.
•Articles are short; busy readers with short attention spans.
•Cross-media synergy; using magazines to support other channels of communication.
Quick/Snappy Quiz Questions on Chap.4. YOU MIGHT SEE THESE QUESTIONS AGAIN ON A QUIZ/TEST IN CLASS)
1. TRUE or FALSE? The Saturday Evening Post was the first magazine that reached a large public or wide national audience of readership.
2. What genre or category of magazines are published for people who work in a particular industry or business?
3. Who was the editor of The Crisis?
A. Langston Hughes
B. Booker T. Washington
C. Benjamin Harris
D. W.E.B. DuBois
4. Fashion and beauty magazines have taken criticism recently for their portrayal of what?
5. Name four magazines that are especially targeted for women.
6. If you wanted to be a writer for a magazine what department would you likely work in?
7. Name an example of a point-of-purchase magazine.
8. Name three magazines that are especially targeted for men.
9. True or False? By 2013, Wired was the number one digital magazine in America.
10. True or False? Each issue of a magazine, according to the Magazine Publishers Association, has at least four adult readers on average.
11. What kind audience was The Crisis (magazine) targeted for?
12. True or False? Benjamin Franklin published one of America’s first magazines.
13. What is Conde Nast?
A. Head of a multimedia corporation based in South Africa
B. Magazine publisher
C. CEO of Gannett Magazine
D. None of these choices
Here's a quick look at some of the world's most powerful and most famous photographs. Many, if not all of them, appeared in magazines:
1. What is a magazine? A publication of lasting interest targeted at a specific audience. A collection of articles and photos.
2. The Saturday Evening Post
•First published in 1821
•First truly national medium
•Post remained important until the coming of television
3. Birth of Photojournalism
•Photographer Mathew Brady first became famous for portraits, Civil War photography team.
•By 1864, Harper’s Weekly was reproducing his team’s photos.
•Promoted idea that photographs could be published documents preserving history.
4. Types of Magazines
•Consumer magazines. Publications targeting an audience of like-minded consumers
•Trade magazines . Magazines published for people who work in an industry or business
•Literary magazines. Publications that focus on serious essays and short fiction
5. Literary and Commentary Magazines
•Atlantic, New Republic, Nation . Serious publications with progressive orientation published since the 1800s.
•National Review . Conservative response to New Republic and Nation by William F. Buckley.
•Crisis . Published by NAACP to give voice to African Americans.
6. The Muckrakers
•Progressive investigative journalists writing in the late 1800s, early 1900s
•McClure’s --Popular reform-oriented muckraking magazine featuring work by Ida Tarbell.
7. Henry Luce & Birth of Time Life
•Luce developed idea of Time magazine in early 1920s to present the week’s news in context.
•Followed by Fortune covering business
•Life magazine presented the news through photos, featured work of Margaret Bourke-White.
8. Women’s Magazines
•Many of them tend to be Service magazines—about how to do things better, have better nutrition or health, improve your cooking, fashion, chances for employment
•FBL – Fashion, beauty, lifestyle. Vogue, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar
•Cosmopolitan-- Global magazine for young women, focus on unmarried women
9. Men’s Magazines
•1933: Esquire . Literature, pinups, and fashion for an intelligent readership.
•1953: Playboy. Pictures and a lifestyle.
10. Magazines and Body Image
•Critics charge that magazines and ads present excessively thin models.
11. Advertising vs. Editorial Control
•Conflict between advertising and editorial departments.
Magazines, models, and sponsors work together to match ads with stories about models and the products they endorse.
•Blurring of ads and editorial content Ads can be made to look like magazine content.
12. Covers and Race
•American magazines rarely feature non-whites on cover.
•In 2002, less than 20 percent of magazine covers featured people of color.
•As of 2009, Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue had featured only two women of color on the cover.
•But may be changing; teen music magazines often have non-whites on covers.
13. Current Trends in Magazine Publishing
•Targeting narrower audiences.
•Presentation matters; layout and graphics critical.
•Articles are short; busy readers with short attention spans.
•Cross-media synergy; using magazines to support other channels of communication.
Quick/Snappy Quiz Questions on Chap.4. YOU MIGHT SEE THESE QUESTIONS AGAIN ON A QUIZ/TEST IN CLASS)
1. TRUE or FALSE? The Saturday Evening Post was the first magazine that reached a large public or wide national audience of readership.
2. What genre or category of magazines are published for people who work in a particular industry or business?
3. Who was the editor of The Crisis?
A. Langston Hughes
B. Booker T. Washington
C. Benjamin Harris
D. W.E.B. DuBois
4. Fashion and beauty magazines have taken criticism recently for their portrayal of what?
5. Name four magazines that are especially targeted for women.
6. If you wanted to be a writer for a magazine what department would you likely work in?
7. Name an example of a point-of-purchase magazine.
8. Name three magazines that are especially targeted for men.
9. True or False? By 2013, Wired was the number one digital magazine in America.
10. True or False? Each issue of a magazine, according to the Magazine Publishers Association, has at least four adult readers on average.
11. What kind audience was The Crisis (magazine) targeted for?
12. True or False? Benjamin Franklin published one of America’s first magazines.
13. What is Conde Nast?
A. Head of a multimedia corporation based in South Africa
B. Magazine publisher
C. CEO of Gannett Magazine
D. None of these choices
Here's a quick look at some of the world's most powerful and most famous photographs. Many, if not all of them, appeared in magazines:
Hello all in my MCOM 101 class at Emory & Henry College.
Hope you will learn a lot from your close reading of chapter 4 “Magazines: Targeting the Audience” (pp. 69-86) in our course textbook.
We will have a hands-on activity in our class focusing on this chapter. So pay close attention (as I like to reward folks who come to our class and participate).
Be sure, as you examine this chapter, that you remember what I share with you in class about professional opportunities in the magazine industry and about what direction the magazine industry seems to be headed, in terms of content and emphasis.
And bear in mind my advice on how to go about getting something you write or want to write or want to photograph published in a magazine. I will cite some of my personal experience in this regard to help benefit you.
The connection between advertisers or advertising and the editorial content of a magazine is extremely important. Is that connection an unholy alliance? For example, imagine a magazine containing a full page ad extolling the benefits of a certain vodka. Imagine, too, thumbing through that same magazine and finding an article, purporting to be truthful and fair or balanced, that focused on all the good things that can happen to you if you drink vodka. Would that article/ad connection smack of an unholy alliance?
Know, too, the various kinds or categories of magazines and examples of each. We will touch on this in class.
In addition, to help guide you in your study of magazines, be able to answer (on page 85) the five “Critical Questions.”
Other key terms/key points you should become thoroughly familiar with relative to this chapter are listed in blue under “Key Terms” on page 85. Be able to define or explain each of these terms.
In addition, you should also become conversant with the following terms or names associated with our study of magazines. I will try (time permitting) to make it a point to touch on these in class (but if I don’t, be sure to do some research and know how they relate to magazines).
demassification
personality profile
photo essay
newsmagazines
investigative reporting
women’s mags.
men’s mags.
trade, technical and professional magazines
Consumer magazines
Company magazines
Ida Tarbell
Hugh Hefner
Henry Luce
Sara Josepha Hale
Company magazines
The New Yorker
Divisions or areas of work in magazines (see top left of page 78)
Freelancers
Point-of-purchase magazines
Webzines
Idea of targeting for magazines
Pass-along readership
W.E.B. Du Bois
Demographics of magazine readership
What does it take to succeed in magazine portrait photography? Here's an instructive video:
Hope you will learn a lot from your close reading of chapter 4 “Magazines: Targeting the Audience” (pp. 69-86) in our course textbook.
We will have a hands-on activity in our class focusing on this chapter. So pay close attention (as I like to reward folks who come to our class and participate).
Be sure, as you examine this chapter, that you remember what I share with you in class about professional opportunities in the magazine industry and about what direction the magazine industry seems to be headed, in terms of content and emphasis.
And bear in mind my advice on how to go about getting something you write or want to write or want to photograph published in a magazine. I will cite some of my personal experience in this regard to help benefit you.
The connection between advertisers or advertising and the editorial content of a magazine is extremely important. Is that connection an unholy alliance? For example, imagine a magazine containing a full page ad extolling the benefits of a certain vodka. Imagine, too, thumbing through that same magazine and finding an article, purporting to be truthful and fair or balanced, that focused on all the good things that can happen to you if you drink vodka. Would that article/ad connection smack of an unholy alliance?
Know, too, the various kinds or categories of magazines and examples of each. We will touch on this in class.
In addition, to help guide you in your study of magazines, be able to answer (on page 85) the five “Critical Questions.”
Other key terms/key points you should become thoroughly familiar with relative to this chapter are listed in blue under “Key Terms” on page 85. Be able to define or explain each of these terms.
In addition, you should also become conversant with the following terms or names associated with our study of magazines. I will try (time permitting) to make it a point to touch on these in class (but if I don’t, be sure to do some research and know how they relate to magazines).
demassification
personality profile
photo essay
newsmagazines
investigative reporting
women’s mags.
men’s mags.
trade, technical and professional magazines
Consumer magazines
Company magazines
Ida Tarbell
Hugh Hefner
Henry Luce
Sara Josepha Hale
Company magazines
The New Yorker
Divisions or areas of work in magazines (see top left of page 78)
Freelancers
Point-of-purchase magazines
Webzines
Idea of targeting for magazines
Pass-along readership
W.E.B. Du Bois
Demographics of magazine readership
What does it take to succeed in magazine portrait photography? Here's an instructive video:
Monday, February 1, 2016
Salute to Iowa
Hello everyone in the blogosphere.
Touching on a few random topics today.
First is my beloved Carolina Panthers. Here's a shout-out for their tremendous season (17-1) and for gaining a birth in Super Bowl 50. (I don't do Roman numerals).
Secondly, the day of all that caucusing in Iowa has finally arrived. All the prognosticators can rest (yeah, sure). The candidates can relax (won't happen). TV viewers, tired of all the debating and speeches and I'll do that or I'll do this, can sit back and see history unfold.
It all happens today and tonight in the Hawkeye State.
"Why Iowa?" someone asked me.
"Why not?" I replied.
Iowans are a smart, savvy breed. And they are tough. Have to be out there in the Midwest with those ferocious winters. (I know because I lived in Iowa about five years.)
My view of the candidates:
1. Hillary Clinton--slippery, deceptive, prickly, borderline arrogant. Needs to learn how to use email. Announced, via a scripted video, that she was running for president. Something fake about that.
2. Bernie Sanders--honest, sincere, frank, friendly (but is he a tad too old to be president?)
3. Martin O'Malley (not sure I'm spelling his name right)--polished and good speaker but doesn't stand a chance.
4. Donald Duck Trump (cause he ducked the last GOP debate)--extremely rich blowhard who claims to have all the answers.
5. Marco Rubio--charismatic and smart, but too scripted in his debating style.
6. Jeb Bush--could step in right now and do a good job as commander-in-chief. But many are tired of the Bushes. I feel sorry for him. Decent man.
7. John Kasich--stay still when you speak, John! Quit waving your arms. You are good, but you won't win the nomination.
8. Mike Huckabee--truly a good man. I believe he's a preacher? Too good to be president.
9. Rick Santorum--speaks well. Intelligent. Has a cool last name. But still a relative unknown on the national scale--even today.
10. Carly Fiorina--too strident. Could be the next CEO of Verizon. Needs to chill.
11. Ben Carson--blinks his eyes too often. Overly soft spoken, gentle and kind. Wants to be everyone's friend. Not working, Ben.
12. Chris Christie--Needs to BRIDGE the gap between being governor of N.J. and becoming GOP nominee for president of the U.S.
13. Ted Cruz--The smartest of all the candidates. Has a beautiful wife. Knows the Constitution (or says he does) backwards and forwards. But some claim nobody likes him in the U.S. Senate (where he represents Texas).
14. Rand Paul--I like him but he's never been able to "gain traction," as the pundits put it, in the GOP debates or elsewhere. Comes across as more professorial than the others. Is that good? Bad? I don't know.
Bottom line: Michelle Obama could beat any of them.
Also want to say a good word about an author I have just read. Her name is Adriana Trigiani. She wrote, among other books, Big Stone Gap and Big Cherry Holler. Words roll off her tongue (or through her fingers on a keyboard) like a warm rain soothing your soul. Recommend her strongly.
Finally, on a lighter note, here's a hot song from Darius Rucker. Turn sound up and enjoy!
Touching on a few random topics today.
First is my beloved Carolina Panthers. Here's a shout-out for their tremendous season (17-1) and for gaining a birth in Super Bowl 50. (I don't do Roman numerals).
Secondly, the day of all that caucusing in Iowa has finally arrived. All the prognosticators can rest (yeah, sure). The candidates can relax (won't happen). TV viewers, tired of all the debating and speeches and I'll do that or I'll do this, can sit back and see history unfold.
It all happens today and tonight in the Hawkeye State.
"Why Iowa?" someone asked me.
"Why not?" I replied.
Iowans are a smart, savvy breed. And they are tough. Have to be out there in the Midwest with those ferocious winters. (I know because I lived in Iowa about five years.)
My view of the candidates:
1. Hillary Clinton--slippery, deceptive, prickly, borderline arrogant. Needs to learn how to use email. Announced, via a scripted video, that she was running for president. Something fake about that.
2. Bernie Sanders--honest, sincere, frank, friendly (but is he a tad too old to be president?)
3. Martin O'Malley (not sure I'm spelling his name right)--polished and good speaker but doesn't stand a chance.
4. Donald Duck Trump (cause he ducked the last GOP debate)--extremely rich blowhard who claims to have all the answers.
5. Marco Rubio--charismatic and smart, but too scripted in his debating style.
6. Jeb Bush--could step in right now and do a good job as commander-in-chief. But many are tired of the Bushes. I feel sorry for him. Decent man.
7. John Kasich--stay still when you speak, John! Quit waving your arms. You are good, but you won't win the nomination.
8. Mike Huckabee--truly a good man. I believe he's a preacher? Too good to be president.
9. Rick Santorum--speaks well. Intelligent. Has a cool last name. But still a relative unknown on the national scale--even today.
10. Carly Fiorina--too strident. Could be the next CEO of Verizon. Needs to chill.
11. Ben Carson--blinks his eyes too often. Overly soft spoken, gentle and kind. Wants to be everyone's friend. Not working, Ben.
12. Chris Christie--Needs to BRIDGE the gap between being governor of N.J. and becoming GOP nominee for president of the U.S.
13. Ted Cruz--The smartest of all the candidates. Has a beautiful wife. Knows the Constitution (or says he does) backwards and forwards. But some claim nobody likes him in the U.S. Senate (where he represents Texas).
14. Rand Paul--I like him but he's never been able to "gain traction," as the pundits put it, in the GOP debates or elsewhere. Comes across as more professorial than the others. Is that good? Bad? I don't know.
Bottom line: Michelle Obama could beat any of them.
Also want to say a good word about an author I have just read. Her name is Adriana Trigiani. She wrote, among other books, Big Stone Gap and Big Cherry Holler. Words roll off her tongue (or through her fingers on a keyboard) like a warm rain soothing your soul. Recommend her strongly.
Finally, on a lighter note, here's a hot song from Darius Rucker. Turn sound up and enjoy!
Friday, December 18, 2015
Stephen King wrote it...
Now reading another novel--Doctor Sleep--by Stephen King.
Hard to make sense of it over the first 108 pages (as far as I've gotten), but I can tell you the story harkens back to King's earlier masterpiece--The Shining (about an old haunted hotel, the Overlook, in Colorado).
Never knew until I read the preface that FEAR is an acronym for: Fuck Everything And Run
Oh well.
Other memorable lines:
1. "All we see or seem is but a dream within a dream." (Quoted by King from the writings, I believe, of William James)
2. "You better stay somewhere soon, or you won't be able to stay anywhere."
3. "Take me to the movies... Pay my way and buy me popcorn. The dark makes me amorous."
4. "You don't want to date, do you?" (Great pickup line!)
And my favorite:
5. "You take yourself with you wherever you go."
Translation (my opinion): It really doesn't matter where you run off to. Or who you might escape with. You can't get away from yourself.
Hard to make sense of it over the first 108 pages (as far as I've gotten), but I can tell you the story harkens back to King's earlier masterpiece--The Shining (about an old haunted hotel, the Overlook, in Colorado).
Never knew until I read the preface that FEAR is an acronym for: Fuck Everything And Run
Oh well.
Other memorable lines:
1. "All we see or seem is but a dream within a dream." (Quoted by King from the writings, I believe, of William James)
2. "You better stay somewhere soon, or you won't be able to stay anywhere."
3. "Take me to the movies... Pay my way and buy me popcorn. The dark makes me amorous."
4. "You don't want to date, do you?" (Great pickup line!)
And my favorite:
5. "You take yourself with you wherever you go."
Translation (my opinion): It really doesn't matter where you run off to. Or who you might escape with. You can't get away from yourself.
Dogs--God's chosen animals
Can't resist commenting on two stories I recently read about dogs.
(Found them both on CNN.COM)
One was about cancer-sniffing canines. That's right. Scientists are finding that dogs can detect cancer better than some kinds of high-tech machines.
More research, as they always say, needs to be done. But the day may come when dogs will be used to smell you for cancerous tumors or moles.
Makes sense to me. After all, dogs have a sense of smell hundreds (thousands?) of times more keen than ours.
Second piece I noticed about dogs was from Istanbul, Turkey. Hundreds of dogs (many of them golden retrievers) are roaming the streets there. Once they were puppies and had good homes. But now, bigger and not as cute, their owners have left them to fend for themselves in Istanbul.
They don't have a chance making it on their own because they're so used to being taken care of. As one of the women in the story noted, "All a Golden wants is food, love and affection."
Many of the dogs, thankfully, are being adopted by an agency in Atlanta, Ga., which is helping them find good homes.
Excellent program!
I love dogs. Some dogs are better than some humans. Hate that so many of our four-legged friends are being abandoned in Turkey.
Shame on their Istanbul owners!
(Found them both on CNN.COM)
One was about cancer-sniffing canines. That's right. Scientists are finding that dogs can detect cancer better than some kinds of high-tech machines.
More research, as they always say, needs to be done. But the day may come when dogs will be used to smell you for cancerous tumors or moles.
Makes sense to me. After all, dogs have a sense of smell hundreds (thousands?) of times more keen than ours.
Second piece I noticed about dogs was from Istanbul, Turkey. Hundreds of dogs (many of them golden retrievers) are roaming the streets there. Once they were puppies and had good homes. But now, bigger and not as cute, their owners have left them to fend for themselves in Istanbul.
They don't have a chance making it on their own because they're so used to being taken care of. As one of the women in the story noted, "All a Golden wants is food, love and affection."
Many of the dogs, thankfully, are being adopted by an agency in Atlanta, Ga., which is helping them find good homes.
Excellent program!
I love dogs. Some dogs are better than some humans. Hate that so many of our four-legged friends are being abandoned in Turkey.
Shame on their Istanbul owners!
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