Tag Archives: Grammys

Tales of the tape

Posted on February 13, 2013 | Leave a comment

Remember the very first scene of Downton Abbey in Season 1, when the operator learns the Titanic has sunk by reading the telegraph machine’s paper tape?

Is reading Twitter really all that different?

reading telegraphOn Sunday evening, I was one of maybe 10 people on the planet who wasn’t watching the Grammys.

(Doing so would only highlight how little I know about music.  Plus, Downton Abbey was on.  Please.)

Of course, I was checking Twitter while I was watching PBS.  And by evening’s end, it felt like I had watched the Grammys…because every news outlets, friend and celebrity I follow had blabbed all the details from the ceremony.

The Twitter version, that is — 140 characters or less.  So I had been reading a kind of modern version of the telegraph tape.

Look how far we’ve come in 100 years!

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Posted in Commentary, Entertainment, History, Humor, Internet, Music, Television, TV

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Perspective

Posted on February 18, 2011 | 2 Comments

I had my first migraine headache in the first grade.

I thought I was dying.

I got to go home from school early where I laid in a dark room and cried because the pain was excruciating.  I eventually threw up and felt much better.

This cycle repeated itself a couple of times each month.  After a few years, I was put on two different types of medications that I take to this day — one to keep the headaches away, and one to take if I get one (which I still do).

Migraines suck.

I never felt lucky to get them until this week, when I saw the television footage of CBS2 reporter Serene Branson have a ‘complex migraine’ on-air that garbled her speech so badly, viewers thought she had a stroke.

You see, as bad as my headaches are, they are considered ‘common migraines,’ which are characterized by severe, throbbing headache, nausea and sensitivity to light and sound.

Check, check and check.

A ‘complex migraine’ — like Serene experienced during her report — can have neurological symptoms in addition to the headache, including weakness, loss of vision, or difficulty speaking.

Serene received medical attention after her attack, and is back at work and doing fine.

How’s your head?

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Posted in Commentary, Entertainment, Health, Internet, Life, Music, News, Television, TV

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Manners

Posted on February 16, 2011 | 3 Comments

Have you seen what’s trending on Twitter?

MEAN-SPIRITED CYNICISM

Seriously.  I check Twitter’s Worldwide Trends each day, and at the top of today’s list was “RIP Mick Jagger.”  I hadn’t heard that the Stones front man had died, so I suspected it was hoax (although it wouldn’t be the first time Twitter was my news source for celebrity death).

I clicked the link to see what folks were saying — yep.  Hoax.  And a whole lot of jabs at Mick Jagger, too.

“RIP Mick Jagger“? He isn’t dead, he just looks like he is.

“RIP Mick Jagger“? Nice try, twitter, but you can’t kill a zombie.

Just because there’s more meat on a chariot’s whip than on Mick Jagger doesn’t mean he’s dead.

Why would someone trend RIP Mick Jagger? I mean really, he may have looked dead at the Grammys, but he’s very much alive.

Wow.  I’ll bet Mick Jagger feels vindicated, now that all his fans have spoken up in support of his being alive.

A walking dead zombie, of course…but very much alive.  You can’t buy support like that.

At least, I hope not.

Would the tweets have been that much different had he really died?  Would they simply have said they weren’t surprised since he was so old and/or skinny and/or had lived a hard life?

Do we no longer keep any thoughts to ourselves to spare another person’s feelings anymore?  Does a celebrity’s choice to live a public life mean they are stripped of every nicety?

I think not.

Live in peace, Mick Jagger.


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Posted in Blog, Blogging, Blogs, Celebrities, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Internet, Life, Music, Relationships, Television, TV

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Stop the music

Posted on February 13, 2011 | 1 Comment

There’s an awards show on television tonight that I’m not gonna watch (and not just because I’m on an airplane headed east).  I’m not even recording it.

The Grammy Awards.  Yep — Not. Gonna. Do. It.

I’m sure there will be much spectacle.  Lady GaGa and Adam Lambert are performing, so that’s kinda a given.  But when you’ve only heard of about half of the musical groups — and have no clue what songs they currently sing or what awards they have been nominated to receive — well, you feel like one of those folks who hang out by the buffet table at a party.

LOSER.

I could blame it on circumstances.  I used to be better informed when I had a car and actually listened to the radio.  Then I moved to the Northeast and adopted the walking lifestyle.

“So, listen to music on your iPod, Carla.”

It’s a legitimate idea.  But I hate headphones and ear buds — just can’t stand having anything jammed in or around my ears — so music as part of my commute has pretty much disappeared.  And TV is my background noise of choice when I’m working on my laptop.

So this time, The Egg is depending on you — give me the skinny on what goes down at the Grammy’s pre-, during and post-show — complete with your more informed translation.

I may not like headphones, but I’d still like to hear an ear full.

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Posted in Airplanes, Celebrities, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Life, Music, Singing, Television, Travel, TV, Walking

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Oscar unworthy

Posted on February 10, 2011 | 2 Comments

I’m headed to Los Angeles this weekend — for work,  of course.  But my hotel is located right next door to the Grammy Awards venue.

I know, right?

Another red carpet, another round of celebrity self-congratulations.  And as the Academy Awards draw ever nearer, I have to say — this year’s awards season seems even more shallow than usual.  The nominees, the producers, the directors, and even the Oscar voters, I dare say, have abandoned even the appearance of giving out the statutes based on quality.

You just gotta be popular.

Producers always run elaborate pre-Oscar marketing campaigns for movies and their stars, but this year, even the actors are purchasing full-page ads in industry publications ‘for your consideration.’

Case in point: Melissa Leo, Best Supporting Actress nominee for her gritty performance in  “The Fighter,” (which has already garnered her three other trophies).

Chillax, Melissa.  You’ve been considered.  And shee-shee pics like these may swing opinion in the other direction.

The popularity of  the leading actors in The King’s Speech is also one of the main reasons it has of late pulled ahead of The Social Network in the awards race — not because Speech is a better film.  (It’s not.)  This became especially clear during the SAG Awards telecast.

When the casts of both movies appeared on stage during the show, the good feelings that washed over the cast of The King’s Speech were palpable…. whereas the young entourage from The Social Network was prickly, awkward and off-putting.

Heck, I wanted TSN to win, and I didn’t like their attitude that night much either.  But I would hope — if I had the opportunity to vote for any of the awards — that I could separate my personal feelings about any of the nominees from their work in the films.

If the Oscars are going to mean anything now and in the future, the voting community has to man up, act like adults and vote based on the quality of the filmmaking…not just ‘who’s their buddy.’

But then again, maybe none of them are that good of actors.

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Posted in Celebrities, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Life, Movies, Television, TV

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