Kimmel and Kanye

During this past week I checked my twitter feed to find it bombarded with tweets from Kanye bashing Jimmy Kimmel. Wondering what this was about I checked into it.

The feud started when Kimmel made a skit poking fun of Kanye's interview with BBC. The interview is split into four parts on youtube. In the first part Kanye starts off by saying how he is trying to stray from the classic pop songs of today. Kanye wants to be different and he wants to change the face of music. I believe he is changing music and in a positive way, especially with his newest album, Yeezus. 

The interviewer, Zane lowe, goes on to ask "So does it feel like a duty to you to challenge yourself, or capture the listener's ear?" This next part is where Kanye goes astray for me. He answers saying "I showed people that I understand how to make perfect. Dark Fantasy could be considered perfect. I know how to make perfect." There is a thin line between being an egotistical blockhead, and being a musical genius. Kanye seemed to step over that line in this interview, especially when Kanye called himself a "God". 

Kimmel had some fun with this interview and made a "Kanye Kid (re)Kreation". I found it to be pretty funny honestly. Kanye, on the other hand, wasn't to thrilled. Kanye responded with a multitude of tweets and a personal call to Kimmel himself. Apparently Kanye told Kimmel that Kimmel needed to publicly apologize to him. Kanye then further embarrassed himself when his tweets just turned into a mess of incoherent nonsense. Kanye created some memes, such as this spongebob one, that I intentionally cropped, so that the bottom of the meme wasn't shown because of some inappropriate language.

I really am a Kanye fan and enjoy his music very much, but when he says extremely arrogant things like "I am a God" or just stupid things like "how many people do you see with leather jogging pants" I can't help but laugh at the parody's. Kanye's ego is a little out of hand, but maybe if Kanye didn't have that kind of an ego, he wouldn't make amazing music. Do you think this Kimmel/Kanye feud is out of hand? Do you think Kanye needs to calm down? Do you think Kimmel is being to critical of Kanye? Do you think Kanye is out of line to say outrageous things like "I am a God"? 

Gun Violence Out of Control

Last week in Washington DC, Aaron Alexis, a Navy Contractor, entered a navy shipyard and killed 12 people. A couple days ago Obama spoke about the shooting. He mourned the lost lives and told the people "Sometimes I fear there is a creeping resignation ... that this is somehow the new normal." Obama was referencing the amount of gun violence in America. It seems that every week there is a new shooting, or a new tragedy and the violence just wont stop. 

Singling Chicago out of the entire United States of America, the violence is extremely apparent. Last year alone, 443 people were killed by a firearm. Chicago is among the most dangerous cities in America and a huge reason is because of the gun laws. Like Obama said, violence is so common that it is now "normal".

Violence is so normal that I can't see how we can curb the murder rates without somehow changing our 2nd amendment rights. Traditional american freedoms say that all americans have the right to bear arms but it is potentially dangerous for many americans living in ghettos or areas with high crime rates. 

The homicide rate in England is 1 death for every 100,000 people. In England the gun laws are extremely strict, and the death toll stays low. 

Do you think revising the second amendment would be infringing upon the citizens rights? Do you think Obama should take action? 

Voyager 1

Today we learned that Voyager 1 left our solar system. It has in fact been in intersteller space for more than a year. Voyager was launched 36 years ago and is currently on a mission to the nearest star. NASA says this will take 40,000 years.

When I first heard that this mission would take 40,000 years, I immediately thought "how disappointing." Head director, John Grunsfeld, has spent over 45 years on this insanely complicated machine and he will never see what his work will accomplish. Voyager only has enough juice to last till 2020, and then it turns into a piece of metal floating through space headed towards the nearest star.

I can't quite understand if this project seems american to me or not. On one hand America is leading the expedition into the unknown world. Americans take pride in the fact that we are exploring the final frontier. But on the other hand, in 40,000 years will there even be an american civilization. Will there be anyone who will remember that in 1976 we sent a hunk of junk into space? Will Voyager even be relevant in 40,000 years? It is sad to think that all this work is for nothing, but it's most likely that voyager will be smashed into a thousand little pieces by an asteroid long before it reaches its destination. But maybe Voyager is just a necessary step in learning more about the universe and beyond, and it is a very good sign that we are progressing beyond our own solar system.

What do you think this conquest into space says about America? Are missions like this worth it? Do you think we will discover anything life changing through Voyager? Is voyager a necessary step for further information in space?

read more: http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/13/opinion/urry-voyager-spacecraft/index.html?iref=allsearch
watch: http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2013/09/14/lok-zarrella-voyager-has-left-the-building.cnn&iref=allsearch

American Media

Five days ago a man, Matthew Cordel, confessed in a youtube video called "I killed a man". Cordel confessed to being the drunk driver that struck down a person and took a life. The confession told his story of how he blacked out and tried to drive home that night. He drove the wrong way down the highway and killed Vincent Canzani. His attorneys told him that they could get him off free and that there had been cases before where they were able to remove the blood tests. He could have gotten of with a clean slate. All he had to do was lie.

I first heard about "I killed a man" on a 15 second clip that was quickly shown on the news. I couldn't believe that something this serious was given a minimal 15 second time slot while a person trying to sell back to school products was given 5-8 minutes on the air. The whole set up seemed backwards to me.

I feel that American media has desensitized and caused americans to misinterpret what really matters in the world. Because of huge corporate sponsors and television networks trying to get ratings, the real news is being overshadowed by less important matters; like what the newest video game is or how to cook your dinner. Because of the way the media is set up, the news comes is displayed so quickly that it is hard to find it interesting or motivating. American media has desensitized the viewers to the content of the news.

I'm not saying all american media stations are awful and should be shut down, all I'm saying is that maybe they should reevaluate how they prioritize the news. Do you think american media is overbearing? Do you think the media displays the news well or do you think there is an imbalance of news and unnecessary fillers?