30,000 feet up and nowhere to hide

So, I like kids, and can generally deal with them in any circumstance, but I actually sympathize with this woman — sitting next to an obnoxious child on an airplane is never fun.

Making Friends by Amy Ozols

taxing on the brain

The fortunate thing about having little to do on a Wednesday afternoon is that it allows one to take a nap as well as watch some mindless television. Then there’s the time one can spend perusing the internet. Perusing the internet is great: it’s informative, and funny, and though-provoking; right now, it’s that last quality that’s got me screwing up my face, pondering the merits of an email tax.

Yes, that’s right, I just wrote email tax.

And you just read it.

And I’m not quite sure what to think about it.

when help becomes hurt, or dependence incorporated

It’s been quite some time since I gave African aid and the issues surrounding it much thought; perhaps too long, really. I used to be all too happy to debate the benefits and downfalls of giving financial aid to the world’s poorest countries, and I was, at one time, completely dedicated to spreading the word amongst my friends and relatives. This, of course, was before I realized that most people didn’t care about it nearly as much as I did.

The reason that I became aware of these issues in the first place was Bono. I’ve been a U2 fan for most of my life, and so when Bono started speaking up about aid to Africa in a serious way, and helped found DATA (Debt Aid Trade for Africa) back in the early years of this decade, I was all over it. I did a high school project on DATA, and aid stats, and (apparently) intimidated the Hell out of my classmates with my knowledge and passion. If asked about it today, I will still become fairly impassioned, but I am not up on the current stats, nor do I have enough money to truly give to the cause. Still, I am aware of a lot of the persistent issues surrounding aid, and I have Bono to thank for that. I would rather be in the know than not.

Given my history of interest in aid to African countries (specifically — I realize that there are many countries receiving/requiring aid), I couldn’t help but read The Anti-Bono when I came across it on the New York Times website, this afternoon. The interview is short, but concise, and I’d really like to get my hands on Dambisa Moyo’s book “Dead Aid”, in order to really sink my teeth into what she’s got to say. As much as I was for aid and debt cancellation in Africa (and other countries) when I was younger, she makes some simple and pertinent points. And she seems to know what she’s talking about, given the education she’s got.

life-changing coffee

Life-changing coffee cup?

I regularly drink Starbucks coffee. It’s true. I used to wonder about the politics involved with coffee, but I have quit that. I have bigger fish to fry, and coffee is not my hot-button issue.

Meanwhile, I do wonder about the things that Starbucks chooses to put on their coffee cups. You know, those “The Way I See It” blurbs that remind me a whole lot of those TV spots they used to (do they still?) run on one of the big American TV networks called “The More You Know”. I know it’s not the same thing, but the positions these two “spots” occupy in peoples’ lives are similar: we now interrupt your regularly scheduled programing/routine to inform you of the following factoid/inspirational quip.

I did pay attention to those TV spots, and I do pay attention to the little blurbs on my cup. In fact, I had a Venti Vanilla Latte last week that actually affected me:

The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating – in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life.

The Way I See It #76 by Anne Morris

Now, I realize that I am/was affected by this little inspirational quip because it spoke to an issue I was already having, but I suppose that’s the genius of Starbucks’ marketing strategy — Starbucks may (or may not) have helped change my outlook on my life, and therefore will (consciously, or unconsciously) become dear to me, making me even more fond of their coffee, even if it isn’t as good as the stuff I make at home on my own. It occurs to me that coffee branding is also lifestyle branding, and Starbucks apparently knows that — really well.

I pondered on the seemingly foolish thought that a coffee cup would have helped change my life, and initially, I was angered by it. I was angered by the fact that such egregious capitalist life-branding helped to surface an issue in my life that I should have been able to recognize on my own (being an intelligent, self-aware, young woman). Then I thought, “Well, if a coffee cup helped to affect change in my life, why should I care that it was a coffee cup that did it? It got the ball rolling on positive change, and that’s something to be thankful for.”

Maybe that’s a bit happy of me. Maybe I’m not poisoned enough by it, and I should be. I am not, nor have I ever been, one to rail against capitalism or life-branding. I am a pretty laid back sort, that way. And ya know what? Anger at a coffee cup just isn’t worth the effort, but perhaps the changes that it implied I should make, are.

Hurrah for the life-changing coffee cup?

I just got lost

I might be totally behind in having discovered this (I’m pretty sure I am, actually), but I couldn’t help but post it. Coldplay and Jay-Z have made my night with this re-jigging of Lost! The percussion on the track had me hooked on the first listen, but the live version makes me want to marry the drummer. No joke.

I should remember never to underestimate the healing power of a truly solid beat.

the Hurt Locker

I have never — and I really mean, never — been so anxious to see a war movie as I am to see this one.

The Hurt Locker

on hate

I find it remarkable that there are still people in the world who would see expressions of love extinguished before they even have the chance to ignite.

I find it bothersome that there are still people in the world who would see the fulfillment of happiness and joy angrily and forcibly stamped upon and beaten, with the futile goal of seeing it die, simply because they don’t understand it.

I find it disheartening to think that there are still people in the world whose closed-minded arrogance and pride stands in the way of a happier, more diverse, cooperative existence.

…and then I remember — Oh right, we’re human.

the shape of my heart

I stumbled on this song the other night while wasting time. I love Sting. I have for a very long time. This song (particularly this version) just does me in on so many levels. It should come with a warning that reads:

Caution: this song will take you to another place and make you terribly weak in the knees. Please do not do anything (other than make love) while listening.

that word

I find myself a little bit perturbed at the moment. Ever since I finished writing my last entry, I’ve had a sour taste in my mouth that has persisted so mercilessly that I truly can’t help but write about what’s caused it.

there’s no line to cross, so they just keep on going

Considering that the last few days of my life have consisted of very little outside of listening to the new U2 album and reading, I thought I should spend a bit of time writing. I’ve got a few things lined up to write about, but, I have to say, I am enjoying the new album so much that I really need to share some of my thoughts on it, lest I burst. I will say that I’ve been blown away by No Line on the Horizon even more than I thought I would be. There are some peculiarities and patterns that I am seeing in it, and that I expect will carry over into the next album, which I hear is to be released in early 2010.

Track by track, I was taken for a bit of a ride the first time I listened to No Line. It seemed to come more naturally than How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, and the order of the tracks creates a musical mountain range of sorts, a metaphor that seems apt, considering. Bono’s lyrics seem a little more dynamic and have a great deal of depth, even for him; Edge’s guitar is gritty and soulful in places, and it soars so high at times you’d think it would easily fly over Kilimanjaro. Adam and Larry remain solid as always, though they’re working in what seems to be a very lush rhythm section populated with strange and wonderful sound techniques. All of this together sets the stage for an incredibly well layered set of songs that form an album that, I can certainly say, I will still be discovering years from now.