So, to kinda "test" my off-the-top-of-my-head knowledge about modern history and pop culture, I thought it'd be fun to work back and see what events, songs, general popular culture I can remember off-hand from every year, and see how far I can go back without any kind of googling. (I won't try to add EVERYTHING, just a few things.) The year that stumps me and I can't recall anything about it, is the end of this nerd-out.
The 2010's
2013: The Navy Yard shooting. "Blurred Lines" by Robin T
So, there's this Youtube vid that's already garned 183k views after being out for a day, and I thought it had some pretty thought-provoking material there:
If I'm interepreting this video correctly, it seems to be saying: "Please do not denigrate our generation as being lazy and self-indulgent, because we're not as far along in established life goals as the Baby Boomers were. Our parents brought us all up to think that we were special, without having to really work much towards be
So, history was made last night when the first Indian-American Miss America was crowned. And quite predictably, racist comments were made. Ugh. Here's this wonderful response video by a guy basically saying what I think about this:
America is basically defined by the fact that it's a melting pot that has never had any kind of singular culture, given the fact that it's the size of a continent. Even before Columbus got here, you had a pretty big variety, from the Mohawks to theLenni L
University of Delaware students rampage for "I'm Schmacked"
Well, it could have been worse. It could have been like Penn State, who threw a hissy tantrum riot because Joe Paterno was fired for allowing Jerry Sandusky to live outside of prison walls for another 13 years and molest even more boys. Check out the party footage here:
It's funny to watch this, considering that I've walked over that pedestrian bridge umpteen times. I also think it's hilarious because University of
I wanted to post this in the lounge, but I thought the topic of Education in America could get political really quick. There's this video making the rounds on YouTube, where a students rants against what he deems a lazy teacher because she hands out work packets instead of actally teaching. Here's the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQlPGK9wYkg
And here's the Teens React episode:
I do think Jeff Bliss hits a nerve- there is a deep fracture in how children are curr
My grad school posted this video with tips about how to survive an active shooting event. I thought it was interesting and had some pretty good advice.
Hopefully none of us here will ever have to use this advice, but I'll try to keep this in the back of my mind as I go through my daily life.
The O.C.'s 10 Year Playlist
1.
- Phantom Planet2.
- South3.
- Fountains of Wayne4.
- Finley Quaye5
6.
- Alexi Murdoch7.
- The Dandy Warhols8.
- Jeff Buckley9.
- Placebo
The O.C. really had such an incredible soundtrack. I'm glad they used indie music for the most part, so that the soundtrack hasn't been gutted on the DVD's.
I found this really well-written blog post about Ronald Reagan's rise from B-movie stardom to the Republican President Idol he became.
Ronald Reagan Plays the President
The blog basically contends that Ronald Reagan mastered the art of looking sympathetic while simultaneously screwing over the people he was supposed to represent while he was SAG president. I gotta say, she makes her case pretty well. I can't believe the amount of actors he fucked over- no residuals for films that actors
There's this awesome article I just read, written by a 14-year old girl who took part in the protests against the Texas State legislature for the restrictive abortion laws that were passed. She held up a sign with her father saying, "Jesus Isn't A Vagina So Keep Him Out of My Vagina" :
This is the article she wrote in response to internet trolls who've called her a slut:
I'm The 14-Year-Old Who Wrote The "Jesus Isn't A Dick So Keep Him Out of My Vagina" Sign In Texas And Was Lab
I came across
, which focuses on the Just Checking Cheerios commercial that featured an interracial couple . I thought it was really interesting to watch- the kids just did not see what the big deal was. I had to admit that I didn't see why it was a big deal.
I remember when I was in 8th grade, I knew a black girl and a white guy were dating each other and there were some raised eyebrows, but by the time I was in high school I really didn't notice any kind of qualms about interracial da
Today I came close to finishing the inventory on my final box before going into full-on processing.
This box was one of the easier ones, as it mainly consisted of dated photo albums- so far ranging from 2009 down to 1979. One really cool photo I found was a 1981 photograph of then-Senator Joe Biden. I've seen a lot of photos with Senator Tom Carper (he was also governor of the state from 1993 to 2001), but I had never seen one with Joe Biden. Dude still didn't have a full head of hair even
On Day 8 (which was Friday, July 5th) and Day 9 (July 9th), I worked on the inventory for my 4th box. This particular box was mainly the files of paperwork from the parades, going from the 1980's to the 2000's. I had a conversation with the museum leader about the box- he agreed with me that it wasn't really necessary for me to inventory each and every single piece of paper, so I did the inventory by the folder.
Some of the paperwork was pretty tedious(I found memos about catering the ev
From Delaware Online:
***
Tuition and fees for in-state undergraduate students at the University of Delaware will increase by about $430 next school year – the lowest percent increase in about a decade, university officials said today.
The 3.7 percent increase brings UD’s in-state tuition and mandatory fees to $12,112 for the 2013-2014 school year. Out-of-state students will pay $1,160 more, bringing tuition and fees to about $29,932 – an increase of 4 percent. Graduate students at UD will
Today marks the 150th anniversary of the final day of fighting at the Battle of Gettysburg, which was the turning point of The Civil War.
Thought I'd mark that day by sharing a YouTube documentary about it:
The Battle of Gettysburg (2011 Documentary)
Part of me really wishes I could be in Gettysburg, but eh...priorities change. It's funny though- I did a Gettysburg encampment in 2004, and I was so excited to think that I'd only be 27 for the 150th annivesary encampment. Now it's
I finished inventory on my third box, and now I've got two more boxes to go through. After that, I'll go through actually accessioning the collection.
I found a packet of photos that ranged from 1957 to 1982, as well as a photo album from 2005. This was a very wide-ranging box in terms of the years.
One really cool thing I found was a very old newspaper from Saturday, August 1st, 1987. It was pretty crazy- the paper was actually in really good shape considering that it was twenty-
So on Day 5 of volunteering, I finished going through my box and started on another one. On Day 6, which was this past Tuesday, I started on a new box- in this case, a good chunk of what I saw in the box was actually pretty new, like posters from the 2009 parade and the like, as well as a DVD rip. Which was interesting, because on one hand, it's good to have them, but on the other hand, it doesn't really feel like history.
In main news...Newark, Delaware flooded out. Not like, Mississipp
So the second year of Firefly came and went. It was a pretty good experience, despite how bad my feet are aching right now from all that working.
I wasn't a volunteer this year, so I wound up camping with my friend Mike and his buddy Freddy. It was an entirely different feeling than last year, because the crowd was twice the size that last year had. It took a really long time to get to our campground, and we wound up parked at a spot pretty far away from the festival, which was a shock from
I feel like re-living the 80's right now...some songs to get me started...
1. You Can Call Me Al- Paul Simon
8. Just Like Heaven - The Cure
It kind of pisses me off to think that such a great song was denied being number 1 by that horrid George Michael tune, "I Knew You Were Waiting For Me." Ugh. On the other hand, this song has remained far more relevant than the latter, so yay!
On Day 3, I continued going through my box of Memorial Day photos. I found a couple of pictures of Governor Tom Carper (D, 1993-2001), which made it far easier to nail down a date for that set.
For Day 4 (this past Friday), the volunteer manager had myself and another volunteer go through cataloging basics. Even though I've already done cataloging, I appreciated the refresher. Plus, as I've learned, every museum does things different- a true universial standard for cataloging doesn't rea
So, in my life I've realized that there are two major personality flaws about me- I can be incredibly self-absorbed to the point where I say things without really thinking about how other people will take it, and I'm quick to assume things.
I try to be on guard for those traits, especially the self-absorption bit. When I was a teenager and early twentysomething, I got constantly called on the fact that I talk too much and that I'd "hijack" every conversation and bring it back to myself. I
I started work on another box- this one isn't going to be as easy, because it's not filled with photo albums with dates on the front like the first one I worked on was. It's mostly scattered photographs in packets from photo development shops.
The bulk of the photos I've run across in this box are from the late 1990's into about 2004, although I did find photos from 1988-1990.
That was interesting for me, because I started hanging out around downtown Newark/The University of Delawa
My oldest niece graduated from high school today- Charter School of Wilmington's Class of 2013! It was pretty cool to watch- the ceremony was at the DuPont Theater in downtown Wilmington. The class salutorian was actually pretty funny, the speakers weren't boring, and they had a cool touch with a powerpoint show that showed a large, blown-up picture of every senior as they graduated. It was a pretty stark contrast to my own graduation in 2005- a dark rainy night, really boring speeches, and diso
I thought about posting this in the internet forum, but due to the political nature of the rap, I thought I'd just post it here.
Definitely a very well-done parody. I loved the use of the D.A.R.E. shirt- a program shrouded in good intentions, but didn't really do much to actually stop the children of the 1980's and the 1990's from using drugs.
So today I started doing volunteer work at a small museum near where I went to undergrad, called Newark Historical Society. I decided to do this in order to keep my skills relevant while I look for a paying job.
They started me on a project where I'm going to go through 5 boxes that city hall sent them, which consist of photo albums from the 20th century Memorial Day parades. I'm not doing any real processing yet, just a little inventory. Today I looked at Box 3 of the Collection- it had alb
So, I was at dinner tonight with my family, and we were talking about my 18-year old niece's senior prom. They then talked about a schoolmate named Regina Reynolds who took a calculator to the prom. Apparently, the guy who was going to ask this girl decided to ask my niece instead. So Regina decided to say, "What the hell", and went to prom with a calculator that she dressed up in a little tux while drawing a flower on the screen. Her Tumblr post about the whole deal went viral, to the point whe
