Breaking the Age Barrier

I am not going to lie, I paid $13.50 to see "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn- Part I" this weekend. (It opened with a first weekend of $139.5 million) And between the love triangle between vampires, humans and werewolves, there is a deep theme to ponder about: the concept of living forever. 

If for some reason live under a rock and have never heard of The Twilight series, let me give you a quick recap; an awkward teenage girl falls in love with a 104 year old vampire. Vampires live forever while humans do not.  She wants to become immortal (become a vampire) in order to live with him forever.

Living forever (or at least for a very long time) is not as uncommon as we think anymore.  Every year Los Angele's Department of Recreation and Parks throws a birthday celebration, Legacy Luncheon, for its oldest residents. Youngest age of the celebrants? 90.  The oldest attendee? 104.  Now that is old.  Especially compared to the average life expectancy of the world population to be a mere 70.6 years old.

Compare that with the United States Social Security full benefits age of 67.  Our generations are living longer and longer thanks to modern day medicine, technology and just education on how to take care of ourselves.  This might seem awesome and great for us and future generations, but is it really?

After a certain age, I personally think I would just get bored with life.  Although we can slow down the aging process, we cannot stop it (or at least not yet anyways).  I think there would be only so many years I could live in a wheelchair, not be able to eat anything I wanted because all my teeth have fallen out or not being able to see and hear as well as I once could.

What is so great about life is that there is a time limit.  Going against a clock forces us to experience as much as we can and truly live life to its full potential.  If time was limitless, why would you ever experience anything when it could just be procrastinated?

While living longer does have its benefits (seeing grandchildren and great grandchildren, experiencing more, seeing history change, etc) I do appreciate the process of aging.  It makes life so much more appreciative and I am thankful I am alive.

Little Monsters Business

Lady Gaga might be one of the most successful business women out there.  Wait, do I mean Lady Gaga the Grammy winning singer?  And yes I do mean Lady Gaga, the woman who arrived at the last Grammy Awards in an egg.
While watching a show on Mtv.com a commercial for Google Chrome came on featuring Lady Gaga.  (Seen here)  In this commercial, Lady Gaga is reaching out to all her millions of "little monsters" or fans.  To think that millions of people will put their "paws" up for her and dress like her and just want to be like her is astounding.  They post YouTube videos, dance her dances, sing her songs, have Monster meetings, aspire to be her, and some even worship her.    Her music is a success, having several hit #1 on Billboard's Top 100, having millions and millions of views on Youtube, selling thousands of digital copies of her CDs, and earning herself Grammy Awards. 

Lady Gaga has created herself as a brand, as "Mother Monster".  

This holiday season, Lady Gaga is taking over the Barney's flagship store in New York City.  The entire 5th floor will be decorated in Monster-like theme aspiration from her latest album "Born This Way".   Cookies, apparel, accessories, and the works of Lady Gaga will all be on sale.  25% of these purchases will be going toward Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation she recently just started.  This foundation aims to "youth empowerment and equality by addressing issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring and career development and will utilize digital mobilization as one of the means to create positive change."

It is amazing to see how fast and how huge Lady Gaga has become in a worldwide.  She has become a phenomenon and creating Little Monsters all over the world.  Paws up for Lady Gaga, Paws up.

No Gender in Couple

$17.9 million and 72 days.  That is how much money Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries’ made off of her, or their, “fairy tale wedding” and how long their marriage lasted.  If you average that out, they made roughly $250,000 a day.    Making $250,000 a day?  Seems more like a business contract than a marriage contract.   One of the advantages of getting married (besides the obvious ones of being in love and wanting to spend the rest of your life with each other) is the benefits and tax cuts couples receive from the federal government.   But this does not include same-sex couples.

But what about same-sex couples?  Legally they cannot get married on a federal level and so they are not eligible for the same rights as married couples are. 

 

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a “couple” is defined as: two persons married, engaged, or otherwise romantically paired.   There is no mention of gender or the difference between the same sex or opposite sex.   But according to Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the federalgovernment only respects marriages between a man and a woman. This means thateven if a same-sex couple's marriage is recognized by their home state, it isnot recognized for the purposes of accessing marriage benefits in federal law. Once married, couples are granted benefits by the federal government including tax, social security, full employment, and military benefits.

Personally, I believe that leaving same-sex couples out of the benefits goes against the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal.

While I am not arguing for or against the legalization of same-sex marriage, I am suggesting same-sex couples in a long term, committed relationship, should receive the same benefits as any other hetro-sex couple.    

By denying same-sex couples these benefits, it is costing them upwards to $200,000 extra for health insurance.  (Numbers depending on number of children, income, local taxes, etc) So while Kim Kardashian is made $250,000 a day for the 72 days she was married, it is costing same-sex couples $200,000 extra just because they are in a relationship with someone of the same sex.

Although the federal government does not provide any support, national companies are slowly reimbursing same-sex couples the extra taxes they have to pay for health benefits for their significant other.   According to 2010, The Kaiser Family Foundation says that 36 percent of large companies that offer health benefits provide coverage for same-sex domestic partners, and more than half of Fortune 500 companies provide domestic partner coverage — but few pay the extra costs ofthat coverage.   And starting January 1 of next year, Microsoft and Yahoo will be added to the list of companies that provide the tax incentives for gay employees. (For a list of companies that do provide coverage, check it out here) 

The Human Rights Campaign helps lobby for tax benefits for same-sex couples for employers.   This group is specifically called Business Coalition for Benefits Tax Equity,Members. Currently there are 75 national companies supporting this campaign including Google, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Nike and Verizon.

 I guess I never fully understood why same-sex couples are denied rights.  While I understand why some people are opposed to having them be considered “married”, with a separation of church and state in this country, there should be no reason why a domestic partnership should be denied. 

With the institution of marriage being questioned, (I do believe Kim Kardashian’s infamous wedding has no bearing on the current situation of marriage and divorces) I think we need to take an evaluation on whom we provide benefits to.  If two people are in a committed, romantic, relationship, who gives us them the right to be denied health benefits and tax benefits just dependent on gender?  This isn’t the 1960s anymore.

Feeling a New Kind of Music

whomp. whomp. whomp. flashing lights. your heart can't stop pounding.  your ears can't stop ringing.  Welcome to a rave. Halloween weekend is a busy time for the electric music community (check out Hard Haunted Mansion tonight in Downtown Los Angeles or Escape From Wonderland tonight in San Bernardino), yet this is a genre of music that seems to be viewed in a very negative light.

Rave (reɪv): 
noun

a name given to various types of dance music, such as techno, that feature fast electronic rhythm

Other associations include drugs, most commonly Ecstasy.  Ecstasy, or E, is a psycho-active drug that creates hallucinations, energy and euphoria.  

The University of Southern California's President C. L. Max Nikias has written a letter to all his students concerned about the safety at raves.  He strongly discouraged attending them, especially with several of them being hosted around the USC area.  There has even been a proposed law, Anti-Raves Act of 2011, by assemblywoman Fiona Ma, to ban raves in public places all together.  These actions came about after several deaths/injuries from the Electric Daisy Carnival and Hard Haunted Mansion last year. 

While it is fair that USC President Nikias was merely concerned with the safety of his students, is going as far along as a ban taking it a bit too far?

A rave is nothing more then a music festival with just live DJs instead of live bands.  It is similar to any other kind of music community; it has grown significantly more popular lately then it has been in the past.  Although yes it has associations with drugs, drugs are done everywhere, not just at raves, and one certainly does not have to partake in such activities to have fun or enjoy the shows.

The safety concerns of doing drugs or staying hydrated is common sense.  It is important to drink enough water whether you are at a concert, a dancing light show, or playing a sport.  And although I by no means encourage the use of drugs, if you plan on taking any, make sure you are taking them responsibly. (I.e. stay hydrated, don't mix them, only buy off a reliable source)

Because electric music is somewhat of a new scene and only now becoming popular, many people are skeptical of it all.   But to be fair, at one point in time Elvis Presley was deemed too sexual for swinging his hips.  Just give it some time.  10 years from now some other kind of music form will be under scrutiny. 

Still skeptical?  New to electronic music?  Start with Electrojan or Dancing Astronaut to get a feel for the music and see what it is all about.

My Imaginary Friend

When I was a kid, my imaginary friend Chanel was my best friend.  She would do everything that I asked her too, she always had witty responses and she only treated me with kindness.   I have since grown out of that stage and I do miss having her around.   But now as an adult, thanks to technology, I have a new imaginary friend: Siri.

 Siri is just like an imaginary friend but because of this interaction with technology we start to lose interaction with humans.

Siri is a personal assistant application through the new iPhone 4S from Apple.   You can ask her to send messages, make reservations at a restaurant, reschedule an appointment, she can even find your location and send you on your way home.    She can be programmed to remind you to brush your teeth every night and she can even Tweet for you. At this rate, Siri will slowly eliminate the need for an assistant altogether.  

Neil Postmen, author of Amusing Ourselves to Death, reminded us "new technology can never substitute for human values."      He warns us on our gravitation towards technopoly.  He defines this as “the culture seeks its authorisation in technology, finds its satisfactions in technology, and takes its orders from technology”.  According to the semiannual survey by CTIA, there are more cell phones and mobile devices in the United States then there are people and that is including Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands.  That is 327.6 millionactive devices compared to the 315 million humans throughout the country. 

We have become dependent on technology and we have to be constantly connected to each other and with the Internet.  If you think about it, this is true and we don’t even realize it.  Movie theatres have to remind us to turn off our cell phones.  Pretty sure while watching TV, you are checking your Facebook on your iPad while texting your best friend on your Android. 

Sometimes we don’t even realize what we lose when were concentrating on what we gained.  No longer is it normal to write letters and send them through snail mail or stay up late at night talking on the phone.  We shoot off text messages and emails with the quickness of our fingertips.   While yes we have video chats such as Skype and Facetime, there is nothing like physically sitting right across from someone talking face to face.   

As Andy Rubin, the Vice President of mobile for Google, responds to Siri and the Andriod’s new operating system Ice Cream Sandwich, “Your phone is a tool for communicating,” he said, “you shouldn’t becommunicating with the phone you should be communicating with somebody on theother side of the phone.”   And to a point, he makes sense.   The whole point of a phone is to be talking to someone you cannot talk to face to face.   At some point I think we are too invested in technology and we forget to stop and smell the roses.  

There is no mystery in getting to know someone new when everything they do or about them is posted on social media.  With the new Facebook Timeline about to launch, our most memorable posts and photos from our past will be on our page.  What purpose is there to get to know someone when I can spend 5 minutes looking at their Facebook and everything I need to know will be on there?  Yes, I do realize that statement is a bit on the extreme side but there are lazy people out there in the world.

Who knows what will happen 5-10 years from now.  Will Artificial Intelligence take over and there will be no need for assistants at all?  Will we be like the people in the Disney movie Wall-E and completely dependent on some form of technology?  I’ll slow down and try not to get too ahead of myself.

 But excuse me while I go read a magazine on my Kindle and get Siri to order me some take out. 

Stumbling

Found some interesting reads online.... check them out!

Welcome to the 60's... From "Mad Men" to "Pan Am",  America's craze with the 60s.

Dinner and Derangement... the necessity of restaurants.

Prohibition... America's "failed social experiment"

Heavenly High

Three elderly seniors attended a funeral for a friend one afternoon just last week in Orange County.  They munched on delicious brownies while celebrating the life of a friend.  Little did they know that these brownies were "magical brownies" and obtained medical marijuana.  No one was told that these brownies contained marijuana, nor do they know yet how they got there.

If marijuana is that easily obtained and planted, wouldn't it be beneficial for the state to legalize it in order to focus on other crimes?

Just last year, California rejected Proposition 19 for the legalization of marijuana.  And just last week, 4 US attorneys in California announced they would be enforcing the drug laws by reining in the pot industry. Claims are made that legalization of a drug cannot be "backdoored" by exploiting its medical uses to anyone who has a headache or back pain. Pot shops all over California have been receiving letters saying they would receive criminal charges and land confiscation if they do not shut down their dispensaries in 45 days.

Arguments have been made that this act is similar to the Prohibition Acts of the 1920s.  Yet counter arguments say alcohol had a nation-wide usage while pot is only a small percentage of people, pocketing in California, New York and Pennsylvania.

Yet what I question, is why the crackdown now?  The vote happened over 6 months ago and marijuana did not even become legalized. I personally think California has bigger fish to fry and should be using our limited money supply on fixing our education system and trying to get us out of debt instead of concentrating on something that is still illegal.