Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It in People (Indie Rock)
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Chris Isaak - Always Got Tonight (Rockabilly)
I’m totally a closet greaser and once upon a time wore my hair in a pompadour. There are actually three and a half VERY different Rockabilly albums on my list for 2002!
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Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head (Alternative Rock)
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Counting Crows - Hard Candy (Alternative Rock)
You know? I fell in love with Counting Crows when they first broke out in 1993… and I NEVER would have predicted their longevity.
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Eminem - 8 Mile (Soundtrack - Rap)
Say what you want about Eminem… but he’s a talent. I’m not a huge fan of his… more… shall we say, ‘violent’ themes, but his work on ‘8 Mile’ showed a lot of maturity.
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Frou Frou – Details (Electronic)
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Hot Hot Heat - Make Up the Breakroom (Alternative Rock)
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Johnny Cash - America IV: The Man Comes Around (County/Rockabilly)
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JXL vs. Elvis - A Little Less Conversation (Electronic/Rockabilly)
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Moulin Rouge! (Soundtrack)
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Sum 41 - Does this look infected? (Post-Punk)
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The All-American Rejects - The All American Rejects (Pop Punk)
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The Reverend Horton Heat - Lucky 7 (Rockabilly Revival)
The Reverend puts on the BEST shows. I’ve seen him three times live and each time is better than the last.
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They Might Be Giants - No! (Children’s)
Seriously, life isn’t just good, but GREAT when one of your favorite bands puts out a children’s album that you can share with your kids! God bless They Might Be Giants! BTW: on the video, just after the guys announce the name of their next song you can hear a bunch of kids cheer and distinctly hear on kid say, “I know this one!” Awesome!
Every once and a while I get an idea for something I want to share, but don’t have time to write. So, I simply make a note in my iPod and put it in my SchutzHappens queue. Well… today my queue told me it was time to write about a Burger King on I-26 somewhere between Charleston, SC and I-85… that I visited last July… and had issues with the Kids Meal pricings… and the appropriateness of their Kids Meal toys.
Now… I may have written about this before, if so, please forgive me… but I’m actually a fan of the Kids Meal Toy bans in California and I totally understand where this legislation is going from.
Grayson could care less about the food that comes in his Kids Meal… it could be a cheeseburger with French fries or a tofu lettuce wrap with apple slices, it doesn’t matter as long as he gets his toy.
So yeah… companies like McDonalds and Burger King are paid TONS of money to market movies and various brands to our kids. At the very least they should be able to fill our Kids Meals with healthier food at reasonable prices.
Frankly, I think it’s sad that a local government felt it necessary to intervene with regulations, but hey, we’re talking about kids here. I think it’s admirable to stand up and say, “hey, if you can’t make things healthier, than you can’t use our kids as marketing pawns.”
But don’t get me wrong, I’m not here to poo-poo McDonalds. One of the major counter arguments against this regulation is the availability of alternative healthier options, and I actually think McDonalds does a better job than most Fast Food chains in this category… and most importantly, McDonalds doesn’t seem to trying and charge you more for choosing the apple slices, milk, or 100% fruit juice… plus, McDonalds marketing/toys are always age appropriate and in England they even had this really cool deal worked out with a popular bookstore. The Happy Meal boxes had coupons on them so you could buy a real, honest to goodness, children’s book for 1 Pound (roughly $1.50), now, the book ,of course, was tied into the overall Happy Meal theme, but I still thought it was a great cross marketing (and educational) platform.
So, yeah… now let’s loop back to the I-26 Burger King. They certainly had healthy options to choose from, way more than McDonalds… however each substitution had its own unique added cost. Want a milk? That will be 38 cents extra, but if you want 100% Fruit Juice it will be more like 75 cents. Apple Slices? 45 cents.
I remember there being this really ridiculous board listing all of their healthier alternatives for kids and all the substitution costs. For me, it was a complete turn off and again… by charging extra you’re not encouraging healthier eating habits. For many families eating health at that Burger King would have been cost prohibitive.
Furthermore, that Burger King was pedaling toys inspired by the movie ‘Twilight’… a PG-13 MOVIE! In a kids meal! Seriously? You’re going to pedal a PG-13 movie to my 5 year-old and charge me extra for healthier food options?
Quite a large number of people join the Foreign Service as their first career; fresh out of college and off into the great big world. Honestly, there is something truly remarkable about such ambition, coupled with accomplishment. Knowing exactly what you wanted out of life and grabbing it immediately. It’s cool stuff… and as cool as it is, I am certainly not one of those people… I guess you could say I’m a bit of a Foreign Service late bloomer.
But don’t get me wrong. I LOVE being second career Foreign Service. The perspective of previous experience is invaluable… and sure, many first career folks don’t fully understand those benefits, I think it’s easy to make the presumption that people change careers because they were unsuccessful or got bored, but that’s not always the case, sometimes the simple idea of ‘adventure’ or ‘change’ can point people in new directions.
I, for one, LOVED my work in Arts Management… more specifically, Grassroots Community Arts Management. I’m still friends with everyone I worked with and I still keep tabs (from afar) on programs I started that are still going on, thriving beyond my expectations. I didn’t leave The Art Place (www.theartplace.us) and The Mable House (www.mablehouse.org) because I didn’t like working there… I left because it was time to go and challenge myself in new ways.
Dear God, what’s my point? Why wax on about first career vs second career… and reminiscing about old jobs? Get to the point!
Well… sometimes, the sum of all of your experiences comes together into one very awesome moment.
We use media arts, film precisely, to teach children and young adults to recognize and begin to understand the social issues pervading their immediate community that prohibit the development of the project's ideas and principals.
The curriculum and programming to teach children to recognize those social issues focuses on learning the process of making films. At its foundation, the curriculum will also provide life-skills for addressing those issues AND for moving forward as responsible, productive members of whatever society or culture they should choose to inhabit.
We produce the Lahore International Children’s Film Festival and Children’s Performing Arts Festival, hold film-making workshops for children and young people, organize workshops in photography, digital art, stop motion, animation and performing arts.
We curate and develop arts education projects for schools and organizations. We provide arts education consultancy services to organizations working for children and young people, specially marginalized and from low income backgrounds.
We aim to grow in the area of career counseling for young people, while introducing arts-based tools so they can make appropriate career choices.
So, back to my point.
I don’t think it takes much for your average person to recognize a really cool program with a lot of heart like ‘The Little Art’.
I, however, identify with this program on a much deeper level. And this perspective, of course comes from my first career… but I never would have been in the position to truly appreciate ‘The Little Art’ if it wasn’t for my second career.
The folks at ‘The Little Art’ in Pakistan are doing exactly what I was doing in The States. And I’m not just throwing around the word ‘exactly’ arbitrarily… I mean I was doing the EXACT same thing: using arts education to instill life-skills in an underserved community.
And I tell you what… the respect for Arts Education in The States is a steep uphill battle and I can guarantee you that my job was WAY easier than what’s facing the folks at ‘The Little Art’.
A couple of things have been going on behind the scenes at SchutzHappens.
First, people have been asking me a lot about music. I tend to prattle on and on about television and movies, but I almost never talk about music… which is a key component to my monthly Family Videos and most months I’m getting emails regarding music choices.
Second, I’ve been on this whole ‘decade in review’ kick… so, it’s only natural to start throwing some of my favorite songs, albums, and musicians your way.
But don’t worry, I can guarantee to things up front:
1) No in-depth analysis: I don’t follow the music industry AT ALL, so I don’t really have anything enlightening to say about… anything. I just know what I like and that’s what I like. Music is a pretty chill part of my life… which leads me to my next point…
2) An easy pace: My pace for the Oscars and my Top 25 Movies posts was pretty darn frantic. I’m not in a hurry… so who knows how long it will take me to honor a decade of music, but at any rate… here we go!
TOP 15 ALBUMS OF 2001
Ben Folds – Rockin’ the Suburbs (Alternative/Singer-Songwriter)
I absolutely adore Ben Folds. I have his entire discography on iTunes and I swear every one of his songs is rated at four or five stars. “Rockin’ the Suburbs” is epic. Every song on this album is amazing, but one stands out with the largest play count: ‘The Ascent of Stan’
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Blink-182 – Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (Pop Punk)
That’s right folks, Blink-182. Hands down, they are a great band with a lot more depth than people gave them credit for when the broke onto the scene with their trademark naked videos and concerts. It’s not just fun and games for the Blink-182 guys, the deal with some deep issues, like “Stay Together for the Kids”:
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CAKE – Comfort Eagle (Funk Rock)
CAKE put on a tremendous show AND they insist on playing at non-smoking venues, which is always a plus!
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David Gray – White Ladder (Folk Rock)
As you quickly realize, although I have an eclectic taste in music, it leans pretty heavy to the mellow singer/songwriter. When I first heard David Gray’s song ‘Sail Away’ from White Ladder I knew I would be a fan for life. And like Ben Folds, I have his entire song list loaded in my iTunes.
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Destiny’s Child – Survivor (R&B)
Surprised you on this one, huh? Yes, I am man enough to admit it. I REALLY like ‘Survivor’… the song. I can’t really say much for the rest of the album ‘Bootylicious’ isn’t really my style, but ‘Survivor’ is a solid R&B Hip-Hop song and the song, itself, is strong enough to put the album on my top 15 list.
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Dido – No Angel (Adult Alternative)
Dido is my female David Gray. Brilliant.
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Enya – A Day Without Rain (New Age)
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Jack Johnson – Brushfire Fairytales (Folk Rock)
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Jimmy Eats World – Jimmy Eats World (Alternative Rock)
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Muse – Origin of Symmetry (Progressive Metal)
I <3 Muse. When I need to listen to something a bit harder, this is my go to band.
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Sum 41 – All Killer No Filler (Pop Punk)
What can I say? I dig the Pop Punk movement… they’re great for hitting the gym.
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System of a Down – Toxicity (Alt-Metal)
Okay, I misspoke before. When I’m in the mood for something hard Muse is my go to band when in mixed company. However, if I have my headphones on and I’m looking to tear up the gym… System of a Down wins every time.
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Soundtrack – O’ Brother, Where Art Thou? (Country, Bluegrass… Old Timey Music)
Yes, even a soundtrack is allowed to make my list. This is one of the best country music mixes available.
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The White Stripes – White Blood Cells (Garage Rock)
There is something incredible special about Jack White. He’s an incredible song writer and ‘Hotel Yorba’ is my FAV!
