You see, UPS does NOT tell you what time they're coming by your house!
So you're expected to wait at home ALL DAY just to receive your package!
Who has time for that?
And if you live in a secured building (like I do), they can't just come
in and leave your stuff by your door. Plus, I don't want stuff left
outside by my door. You never know who'll be thinking "hey, free
stuff".
And even worse, their delivery workers are not allowed to call the customer's phone # when they come by my hometo confirm I'm home!
That is the most stupidest delivery policy known to humanity!
So if you're not home when they come by (and they don't tell you when
they'll come by), you got to go to their facility to pick up your item.
Their facility on Oahu is on an isolated road near the airport! If
you're a bus rider, you got to get off by Nimitz and walk multiple
blocks on Lagoon Drive!
and this paragraph
AndUPS doesn't automatically deliver to the nearest UPS store even if you request it! You have to call the UPS Store yourself and hope they'll allow you to receive your stuff there!
That has changed! :)
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Last week, I ordered a book "Modern Information Retrieval" from the Barnes & Noble website.
In the past, I would receive items from Barnes & Noble via US PostOffice.
But this time, the book would be delivered by UPS!
I was expecting the worst! I was expecting to have to call UPS to hold it at their isolated facility!
But this time, I was able to go to the UPS website and they now offer the option to pick it up at the UPS Store!
Multiple sources who were working at the club on Jan. 16 told
GolfChannel.com that Allenby was there around midnight with "a group of
friends" and ran up a $3,400 bar tab.
Now, That is what I want to talk about!
The $3,400 tab at the strip club!
I haven't been to a strip club in YEARS!
The last time I went was in 2006, and before that last time, it was Halloween 2004!
And you know what? I don't plan on going back!
One reason! It's Money Down the Drain!
You think you'll only spend an x amount of dollars? HA!
You WILL be tempted to spend more! I know I always did!
Those girls don't dance for free!
You just sit in the back, you'd be bored to death! You sit close to the action, you WILL be pressured to pay OR the action goes away from you!
Those girls don't dance for free!
It's Money Down the Drain!
It's not worth it!
You'll get much more satisfaction just going to a regular nightclub!
No, you won't see girls taking it all off at the regular nightclub!
At the regular nightclub, satisfaction is when a girl chooses to dance with you for free!
That is MUCH MOREsatisfying than throwing your $$$$ down the drain at the strip club!
---------------
Also, another reason I no longer go to strip clubs?
I've been working as a substitute teacher for 10 years. That means some of the middle school students I once worked with 10 years ago are old enough to work at the strip club!
That would be extremely awkward seeing them there!
It reminds me of one conversation I heard on TheBus! A group of tourists talked about one friend of theirs who was a teacher. He went to the strip club and guess who he saw? One of his former students! Both him and his former student felt really awkward about the situation! OBVIOUSLY! Now, THAT is a more important reason why I no longer visit strip clubs!
I told that story to a former high school classmate and he thought it was funny! It wouldn't be funny if that was your situation!
And this why why I got so mad at one of my former co-workers at Macy's who kept pressuring me to come with him to the strip club.........................as if I never been there before!
Once I went off on him and told him my situation, he was all apologetic!
But yeah, I wouldn't expect me to say all this when I was in my early 20's! But I'm not in my early 20's anymore!
Many parents want to protect their kids from all kinds of stuff, even stuff they really don't need protection from.
But that's just natural - why wouldn't a parent want to protect their child?
But their child grows up, becomes an adult and want to do adult things!
It takes a certain level of maturity for a parent to be at peace with their no-longer-child doing raunchy adult things!
Which brings me to Brian Williams, the NBC reporter.
His daughter Allison Williams was in a cable TV show "Girls", in which her character ...................................had something freaky but consensual done to her. So freaky that I personally wouldn't do it!
Only fanning the flames was the fact that her father not only watched the scene, he was also totally cool with it. “She’s always been an actress,” he said of the scene. “For us, watching her is the family occupation andeverybody has to remember it’s acting, no animals were harmed during the filming, and ideally nobody gets hurt.” In fact, Williams has always been nonchalant about his daughter’s sex scenes. In 2012, when Vulture asked him how he felt watching “Girls,” he said, “It’s kvelling, pride. It’s incredibly great.” Then his interviewer clarified, “You’re fine with the awkward sex scenes?” He replied, simply, “Unmitigated joy.”
The article's author Tracy Clark-Flory reacted with these classic paragraphs
This man deserves a “Father of the Year” mug. I mean it. As does any dad who manages to confront the idea of his daughter’s sexualitywithout withering to the floor like the Wicked Witch. The Williams’ case is extreme, of course: Few daughters are actresses starring in a raunchy HBO drama. Few fathers have reason to see their adult daughters semi-nude. But most fathers, most daughters, could learn something from this family.
Dads have so many opportunities to positively influence how their daughters feel about their own bodies and sexualities. They have so many chances to not teach them shame. They have so many ways to communicate that it’s a woman, not a man — be he her father or husband — who owns her sexuality. If more dads did this, we wouldn’t have headlines wondering, “WHAT DOES HER DAD THINK?” about a 26-year-oldgrown woman doing her damn job.
Now, look at that bolded part from the previous paragraph!
I'll repeat it again
They have so many chances to not teach them shame.
Dads have so many chances TO NOT their daughter's shame in whatever sexuality they have! I'm tired of people saying stupid stuff like "she has no self-respect" whenever a woman does something raunchy in the clubs or in a video!
Because when you say "she got no self-respect", you are NOT promoting "self-respect", You are promoting SHAME!
So an adult woman does a lapdance for a popular male celebrity? Well, two did for Tyrese for his recent birthday! It went viral!
And we have chumps who said "those women have no self-respect"
Lighten up FOOLS!
Those woman DID NOTHING WRONG!
They just (gasp.........OMG........nooooooooooooooooooooooo!) did something they considered fun!
They didn't injure anyone!
They just (gasp.........OMG........nooooooooooooooooooooooo!) did something they considered fun!
So they did something you don't consider fun?
SO WHAT?
If you don't want to twerk, THEN DON'T!
But don't give me this crap that adults who twerk (or lapdance or "work the pole" or whatever) lack "self-respect".
Because this "self-respect" nonsense is a bunch of crap from uptight, repressed party poopers who can't stand when people have a different type of fun from them!
This criticism goes out to BOTH the ultra-conservatives (who want everything prim & proper) and Radical Feminists (who think just because they don't want to twerk, they assume all women twerking in videos are being "exploited" by men)
As for parents freaked out by all this, remember, while you can cherish all the memories of your kid's preschool times all you want................................... kids can't be stuck in that phase forever.
Life goes on, they become young adults and some (many) want to try freaky things .......... freak dances, you name it!
It takes a certain maturity to be at peace with it!
Mr. Williams is at peace with it! That makes him the perfect role model for parents out there!
Adjusting to culture shock is one of life's most important skills!
Culture shock is just a normal part of life!
Even if you're from a diverse place, other places have a different mix than yours!
For example, Honolulu and Miami are both known for diversity, yet they have a different cultural mix!
And even within the same city, you can face culture shock going from one school to another!
I remember going from McKinley High School ( an inner-city school with a mostly immigrant population, with an Asian majority as well as Pacific Islanders as a major minority) to the University of Hawaii, which obviously has students from all over Hawaii (meaning I'm attending school with rural and suburban kids too) plus students from continental US (many of whom are European-Americans from Oregon and Washington State). So yeah, I experienced culture shock in my own island!
And yeah, I've been to Mexico, where my dad is from! Culture shock during my visit? Definitely!
However, some people just can't adjust to culture shock! They mistake curiosity and harmless ignorance as "micro-agression".
One example is Priscilla Ward, who wrote about her experience as an African-American living with European-American room-mates and working with European-Americans.
I started to worry about all the other things I might have to explain:
My hair, the food I eat, why I like Miles Davis, Nina Simone and Marvin
Gaye. Maybe I should have considered it a teaching opportunity. But I
wasn’t feeling generous. I was all twisted up inside, ablaze over racial
dynamics and anxious what other minefields my roommate might stumble
upon. I hoped he wouldn’t say something really ignorant, causing me to
just snap and go off on an angry rant. Then I’d have to make my living
situation salvageable by pocketing my black rage, putting on my best
smile and telling him, it’s all love.
and
I was tired of catering to everyone else’s comforts. How much of my
day-to-day experiences as a black woman do I have to filter? I replace
“hey girl” with boring hellos. I eat my leftover fried chicken outside
the office. In order to have some common point of identifiable
communication, I pretend to care about Taylor Swift, or white movie
stars on their I’ve-lost-count remarriages and those other white pop
stars I could not care less about. “Oh yeah, she’s cute,” I tell them.
“Yeah, that’s cool.”
I'm sorry, but this is just someone who is unable to adjust to culture shock! I mean, I'm not censoring whatever pidgin or hip-hop phrases when I'm interacting in casual conversations with people! I mean, yeah I might be a bit reserved with someone I just met (aren't most of us?) but once you had a few conversations, all this uneasiness should fade already!
And her "not caring about white stars"? I mean, I like hip-hop better than country or alternative, but still .................. I respect what those other genres mean to the cultures they come from! And you know what? I can enjoy the music of Pitbull, Whitney Houston, Bryan Adams, Willie K, Selena and a whole bunch of musicians of different racial backgrounds! It's called being culturally versatile!
And sometimes, I might be working with someone with different pop culture references. They might LOVE talking about "Game of Thrones" or some other TV show that I have never watched in my life? SO WHAT? I don't feel the need to fit-in with everyone anyways! I could sit & chill while others are talking about something I'm not interested in! SO WHAT -- THAT'S a part of LIFE! You can't expect everyone to share your interests!
I know might be saying -- "who are you to talk down to Priscilla Ward, you're not African-American like her". The overwhelming majority of African-Americans I know are much more secure with being around different cultures than Ms Ward is!
Look, my city might not have as many African-Americans as Atlanta, but
it was the birthplace of the 1st black President (sorry Kenya).
Ms Ward can even come here for Rumours Nightclub on Friday nights! Mostly playing modern hip-hop (at least 75% Southern hip-hop) and attract a lot of African-Americans. Theydon't leave the dancefloor just because the DJ played Pitbull or Iggy Azalea! If it's a good song, it's a good song!
(note: Rumours Nightclub is more famous for its Saturday nights with its 70s/80s/90s disco/funk/R&B/old-school hip-hop, and a more multi-racial fanbase. Major reputation as "cougar-town")
And does Priscilla Ward know about the being part-Latino in Hawaii? I do! Here's what I wrote on the comments!
Dear Priscilla Ward, I know what it's like to be an
extreme minority, being a mixed-race person of mostly Latino ancestry
and a German last name growing up in Hawaii with mostly Asian &
Pacific Islanders. However, you take everything way
too personal! I mean, I had Pacific Islanders ask if my dad (who is from
Mexico) use words like "vato" and "ese". Instead of getting overly
sensitive, used that moment as a teaching opportunity to inform those
Pacific Islanders (many of whom are Samoan or Micronesian) who are not
familiar with Mexican culture that movies based in East LA life do NOT
reflect real life in Mexico! Some of them also assume MS-13 is a
"Mexican gang", and I inform them that they're Salvadoran, and just like
how Samoans and Tongans are similar but different, Mexicans and
Salvadorans are similar and different. You see, I use such moments as
teaching moments instead of "agonize with over-sensitivity" moments! I
also didn't have many Euro-American classmates until college. I had a
few college classes in which they are the majority. SO WHAT? I remember
one group project (w/ 4 Euro-American women from the continental US, 1
Euro-Canadian and me) with questions about surviving in the North
American wilderness! They obviously had more experience on that topic, but you know
what? I didn't feel any stigma, in fact we all just joked about it
because that's what Secure, Confident people do! By the way, one of
those Euro-American woman was working part time at an urban Honolulu
high school (which was a rival school to mine) and yeah, she had her
culture shock which me and her discussed like confident, emotionally
secure adults! So yeah, start building your inner
confidence!Start loving yourself! Start understanding that minor
misunderstandings shouldn't be treated as intentional micro-aggressions!
And get professional help!
It took me 13 days to start blogging in 2015. Sorry for the delays
A few thoughts
1) New Year's party
For New Year's, I went to Kakaako Waterfront Park for the New Year's party. It's like a block party, but with grassy hills between stages. There were multiple stages and of course fireworks.
Unfortunately, right after the New Year started, a few guys started fighting. It wasn't a play-fight either, it was rage-filled punches. And it wasn't one-on-one! Security wasn't evenly distributed throughout the park, so I had to look for security to break up the fight!
After security intervened, things were smooth again!
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Here are my YouTube videos from the New Year's event
Finally, there's a playoff in Division 1-A college football!
For a century, college football just determined a champion based on 1 out of many bowl games! So you had years where you had 3 undefeated teams, but only 2 can go to a so-called "national championship" bowl game! This made college football "championships" a joke, and a reason why I used quotation marks around the word "champions" and "championship".
Since a lot of people loved the pageantry of bowl games (especially the classic ones like the Rose, Cotton, Sugar, Fiesta, Orange............................. and the "high-and-mighty" Hawaii Bowl), the NCAA decided instead of abolishing the bowls, let's just use some of the bowls as semi-finals in the playoffs! And those who had winning seasons but can't make the playoffs can still play in a bowl game. It's a win-win for everyone.
Yeah, there's only 4 teams in the playoffs this year. This year is just a test-run. Since the ratings were so good, you can bet the playoffs will expand to 8, and even 16 teams in the future.
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Here in Hawaii, since the UH football team hasn't been great lately (thanks to the "geniuses" who "retired" Coach Mack and replace him with Norm Chow), nearly everyone has been jumping on the Oregon bandwagon. While Oregon has long recruited players from Hawaii, this time, it has a great star QB from Hawai --- Marcus Mariota.
Now, Mariota's family has been telling the media that UH didn't offer Mariota a scholarship! Whoooooooah! Wait a minute there! Yeah, Oregon offered first! But it wasn't as if UH was deliberately ignoring a star high school QB.
Let's talk some facts! Oregon made its offer in the SUMMER BEFORE Mariota's high school senior year! And get this ...................... Mariota wasn't even a star in the high school scene, he wasn't even his team's starting QB! Understandably, UH was reluctant to offer a scholarship to a second-string QB! And get this....................... this was BEFORE Mariota's senior year in high school. He had a one more season to prove himself worthy of a UH scholarship!
Plus, Mariota wouldn't have been able to sign the papers to play for a college team UNTIL the February of his senior year. He could've waited circa 8 months from summer to the following February to see if UH was willing to offer a scholarship!
And Mariota did start and did have a great senior season in high school! His team even won the state championship!
But Mariota didn't want to wait for UH to offer, and Oregon offered first!
Give Oregon its credit for being able to detect late bloomers among high school players!
But please, Mariota's family, stop acting as if UH totally ignored Mariota when it was officially signing day! Just be honest and say Oregon offered first!
-----------------------
While I'm not going to wear the Oregon colors anytime soon, I did like it when the Oregon players taunted their semi-final opponent's QB (Jameis Winston) of Florida State with "No Means No".
So the Oregon players were accused of "poor sportsmanship". But they DID STOP when their teammates said "cut it out"
But did Jameis Winston stop when his rape victim asked him to stop? NO!
And unlike Oregon (which expelled basketball players accused of rape), Florida State and the Tallahassee police department covered up for Jameis Winston
No one other than Winston, his accuser, and several of Winston’s teammates—who were present at the alleged assault—know whether the Florida State quarterback is a rapist. But we now know enough to be appalled by how Florida State University and the city of Tallahassee handled this entire ordeal. We know that police refused to investigate the original accusation of rape for months and that the school did not interview Winston about the incident for over a year. We know that the police—eventually pressured by the press into investigating the incident—had financial ties as security workers for the Seminole Boosters club. We know that Jameis Winston did not testify at his own student conduct hearing to defend his own innocence except by issuing an appalling written statement where he called the accuser a liar, violated her confidentiality by stating her name repeatedly and posited that this was all happening because she was miffed that his door kept swinging open while they were having sex.
We also now know that Winston did finally talk in his student hearing after being cornered by retired Judge Major Harding. Harding turned directly to Winston and asked, “In what manner, verbally or physically” did he believe his accuser actually consented to sex? Winston’s lawyer’s said that their client did not have to respond, but Winston could not resist. The Heisman trophy winner said that his accuser supplied consent not by any affirmative statement but by “moaning.” Meanwhile his accuser testified, “I remember being raped.… I remember pleading with him to stop clearly.… I remember one of his friends telling him to stop and saying, ‘She is saying no clearly’…. I tried to struggle and resist him.”A victim’s advocate who met with the accuser the next day also testified that her mental state was consistent with someone suffering from the post-traumatic stress of a sexual assault.
So as far as I'm concerned, those Oregon players treated Jameis Winston better than he treated that girl! ------- Congratulations to the Ohio State Buckeyes for winning the 1st REAL national championship in big-time college football!
Before beating Oregon, Ohio State beat Alabama. For years, the talk was "SEC rules, Big Ten going down"! Well, the Big Ten adjusted to the changing times. As for the SEC, they've been winning "national championships" without a playoff for years! Well, what goes up does come down!
My main hope in college football now is for Hawaii to join the Pac-12(or whatever #), go back to the glory days, outshine Oregon, and be able to strongly compete against the likes of Alabama, Florida State and Ohio State in the playoffs!
And hopefully, Hawaii can be as good as Oregon (and Boise State) is in detecting late bloomers among high schoolers, and not have to rely too much on players who got kicked out of bigger name schools (ie. like that QB who got kicked out of Colorado a decade ago, hint, hint)
It's that time of year again, when I do a year in review blog post
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1) My personal life
I have written so much on my personal life, that I'm not going to repeat them all here. Those who are curious can always click on the dated links on the side.
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But one thing that is different this December from the last 4 Decembers was that this time, I'm NOT working at Macy's this holiday season!
Last year, I was finishing the semester at UHM, working as a substitute teacher AND starting my time as a holiday hire at Macy's ---- ALL AT THE SAME TIME! Burnout!
Last year, I also worked shifts that ended 2am (yes, 2am). And yes there were people shopping after midnight, even bringing their kids (yes, even after midnight).
Needless to say, it was exhausting, to the point where I got sick after Christmas. That illness (while kept me out of New Year's celebrations - :( times a million ) also had its blessing in that I finally got some rest after months of non-stop business!
So this year, I decided not to work at Macy's this year, and just focus on finishing this semester at UHM and take the last available shifts as a substitute teacher. While the downside to that is that I have 3 weeks of no income opportunities, I get some badly needed rest!
One more thing, I really miss being the Macy's worker with the Santa hat this year!
For those who didn't know me 3 years ago (or weren't connected on social media back then), then this link will teach you the Legend of The Santa Hat at Macys.
I also regret not being able to show off this Santa hat at Macy's this year!
Pablo Wegesend's photo
The Green UH Santa hat
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Also, this past year was my 2nd year as a student in the Library and Information Science (LIS) student at UHM.
I could graduate this coming semester, but I'll extend my time to take a summer class in Books & Media for Young Adults (I really want this class) and to be able to do 2 internships.
The first 2 years were just taking classes about the library profession. This year is about applying that knowledge for real .....................as an intern.
I'll announce where for facebook & LinkedIn followers tomorrow!
Also, for Halloween, I had the green dress shirt and green Afro!
Pablo Wegesend's photo
I also got tickets for "Heroes & Villains" Halloween party at Hyatt Regency Waikiki. The organizers were great at promoting the event, but were unprepared for the crowds waiting outside. AT one point, they just said "we can't let any more people in", waited for those waiting outside to leave, then allowed people to come in!
It better not be like that for the New Year's party at Kakaako!
The song was LOVED by EVERYONE! Children, teenagers, college students, old people all danced to this song!
It was an international hit, with dancing flash mobs dancing from all corners of the globe.
Last year, I said Bruno Mars was he next King of Pop. While he had a GREAT Super Bowl halftime show, I think he's got competition for the throne from Pharell. That guy can do it all - produce, dance, sing, rap, whatevers!
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Of course, you can't have another year without hits from Mr WorldWide ........ Pitbull!
Towards the end of last year, he released "Timber", his song with Kesha, which became a hit in the early months of this year.
Pitbull was just getting started. He collaborated with GRL for "Wild Wild Love"
Then Mr WorldWide made The Official Song for this year's most popular sporting event...........The World Cup!
Being that the World Cup was in Brazil, the official song had to have some Latin flavor. So it Pitbull (world's most popular Latino rapper) with actress/singer J.Lo and ..................Brazil's ownClaudia Leitte.
But Pitbull's not done, he ended this year with a New Year's celebration song "Time of Our Lives" featuring Ne-Yo
The video starts with the end of 1999, prepping for 2000. This was before Pitbull became a star, so the video reminisced about the time when Pitbull was still living in the barrios of Miami, when he was still struggling to pay the bills and couldn't afford to party at the elegant nightclubs that now play his songs!
But even in tough times, Pitbull reminded us
This for anybody going through tough times Believe me, been there, done that But everyday above ground is a great day, remember that
Pitbull w/Ne-Yo
"Time of Our Lives"
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Australia's Iggy Azalea went from underground to mega-star this year.
Of course, we all know that "Fancy" song (w/Charli XCX)
We also had "Black Widow" (w/ Rita Ora), as well as songs with TI, Ariana Grande, J. Lo and more
However, with all success comes jealousy, made even larger due to her being of European ancestry. So another rounds of cries of "it's another Elvis, stealing our music". It's like any "white" rapper who has a hit (even a minor hit) is accussed of being the next Elvis to outshine "black" artists! I wish those wolf-criers would STFU already! Iggy isn't taking away success from black artists, she just made songs that people like.
Lesser known artist Azealia Banks was on the attack, whining about "cultural appropriation" and Iggy stealing her "shine" (as if she was entitled to popularity)
Iggy tells it like it is with this
Take that Azealia Banks!
Q-Tip also stereotyped Iggy with his assumptions that a suburban "white" girl hasn't done her research on her own genre. Then he tweeted the whole history of hip-hop to Iggy as if she was some 12 year old!
Here is her classic response
AMEN to THAT!
Though if Azelia Banks & Q-Tip want a history lesson, they could learn from Dr Dre who was making hits when Beastie Boys, House of Pain and Vanilla Ice all had mainstream radio play! Did Dr Dre whine about "cultural appropriation"? No! He kept making hit records, kept introducing new artists (ie Snoop, Dogg Pound, Nate Dogg, etc), started several rap labels and ........................he found his own white rapper to mentor! (that would be Eminem)
Or they could rev-visit the history of T.I., who was making hit records when Eminem, Paul Wall & Bubba Sparks all had mainstream radio play! Did T.I. whine about "cultural appropriation"? No! He kept making hit records, became "King of the South", and .he found his own white rapper to mentor! (Iggy)
Why can't Azelia Banks just STFU about "cultural appropriations", start MAKING hit records, be the example where even white rappers have to look up to her?
Though it would be funny if Iggy goes on stage and rap's W.C. diss of Q-Tip! (W.C. fans would know what I'm talking about)
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Last few years, people wondered if Lil Jon was done making hits. Nope!
His comeback song was "Turn Down for What", with its crunk beats and crazy video
(and check for the remix with JuicyJ, 2 Chainz & French Montana
he also had a hit with Tyga, yelling "bend over touch your knees with your elbows". But the video didn't show people trying that! :( It would've been classic if it did!
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Other hip-hop hits
Juicy J, Wiz Khalifa, Ty Dolla $ign all came together for the theme song of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Big Sean had the song with E-40, with the title ........... well, you can find it! The beat to the song is irresistible, even if the title is very explicit!
Omarion came back, this time with Chris Brown and Jhene Aiko on "Post to Be". Aiko shined the most on this song, But the most important verses on the song, where Omarion and Brown sang
But I know that she your girl
She chose up, are you mad, or nah? (Bruh!)Bruh don't be mad about it, these chicks be for everybody
hey, sharing is caring
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And while Azelia Banks was whining about "cultural appropriation" (as if Iggy brings in a flood of Euro-Australians to take over rap), Aloee Blacc succeeded in a mostly "white" alternative music world.
Late last year, Aloe Blacc worked with Avicii with "Wake me Up"
But this year, Aloe Blacc was THE MAN! His song appeared in "Beats by Dre" ads with mega-start athletes like Richard Sherman, Kevin Garnett, Colin Kapernick and Ces Fabregas! He was THE MAN!
Ariana Grande was the new princess of pop this year. Last year, she had her hit "The Way" which featured the sounds from Big Punisher's "Still Not a Player". This year she had several hits with "Problem" (featuring Iggy) and "Love me Harder" (w/The Weeknd, who sounds like Chris Brown)
Of course, you can't talk about 2014 without talking about Taylor Swift. This year, she decided to take a break from country roots and go into pop full-time. (She'll probably dabble into country again in the near future, so all you whiners yelling "sellout" should just chill)
Tinashe "2 On" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s7TCuCpB5c
(note: i remember hearing this in the club right after Cassie's "Me and U", those songs are perfect when played back-to-back)
Lorde, known for last year's "Royals", had this follow-up "Tennis Courts"
people onced said let's settle it in the b-ball courts or the football field, Lorde will settle in the tennis courts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3CyuxqH8e0
Chainsmokers had their stupid "Selfie" song, but they had a classic with "I Wanna Be Like Kanye", which was better than anything Kanye West did the last few years.
(remember seeing the video and thinking "the singer is Asian? She sounds European", and later in the video, we see the real singer on stage, who is European)
Not a major alternative fan, but there's a few alternative stuff that I like.
Phantogram had their hit "Fall in Love", while a love songs played on alternative rock stations, has a beat that reminds of the sounds for New York gangsta rap groups Mobb Deep, Dipset or Wu Tang Clan
(yep, I could imagine Mobb Deep, Dipset or Wu Tang rapping along to the beat)
Phantogram also has a smoother song that I really liked, but didn't get mainstream radio attention. That would be "CPU 2.0" with Big Boi (of Outkast fame) and Sade.
That song was about loving someone on a computer screen.........which makes it the modern verison of Zapp's future prediction 80's hit "Computer Love"
I dont listen to heavy metal as much as I used to! With so much on my mind, I don't really keep my ear to the underground like I did when I was a teenager.
But I was really happy Mastodon defied the stereotype of heavy metal being too serious.
Back in the 80's, metal videos had party videos with girls dancing. But with the comings of grunge, trash metal and nu metal, the heavy metal genre has gotten a reputation of being too serious. Yeah, I know Andrew W.K. had his party songs a decade ago ....... I loved it..........but it wasn't enough.
This year, Mastodon, who is from Atlanta, highlighted another Southern craze in their videos........... twerking!
Yep, a metal band FINALLY had girls twerking.
And it was controversial .............for something that has been common in hip-hop videos for at least a decade.
Here's an article where one of the twerk dancers in the video defend Mastodon against the Radical Feminists and other politically correct morality chumps!
Whereas Bod Geldof was trying to guilt other British artists into doing charity songs for Africa, many Africans standing up to Geldof patronizing ways.
Here is my facebook post on that issue
and a comment I added to this
One of the songs mentioned is a collaboration of various African artists, titled "Africa Stop Ebola".
Hawaii radio stations play so much Hawaii reggae songs that when I heard Magic's "Rude" I thought it was just another song from local reggae band. Then to find out the band is from Canada? And the singer looked like this?
I got to close this section of my blog post with Weird Al Yankovic, the man who outlasted so many artists he parodied over the decades. Even with so many amateurs doing parodies, the King of Musical Parodies still shine.
