This song was written during the Bush regime, but sadly, it still applies to the current Obama administration. Presidents of the United States have become puppets of the Military-Industrial Complex, the CIA, and the greedy Bankers, who finance and profit from endless war. Members of Congress, with but a few rare exceptions, also benefit from this same corrupt system and are unlikely to change it. Is a Second American Revolution the answer?

Watch out, Radio City Music Hall Rockettes!
With a little more practice, these dancing robots may one day replace you in the annual Christmas Spectacular.

I normally don't really care for all the celebrity gossip and news that appears on TV and the internet, but all this commotion over the VMA awards incident seems pretty overblown to me.

I think the whole incident was planned and staged, just to generate controversy and get people talking about the VMA awards show. Seems like every year at these awards, something like this happens. Anyone remember the Howard Stern incident, when he appeared as Fartman, with his ugly bare butt showing? MTV then pretends it was "surprised" that something like this happened. Howard himself said MTV executives knew what was planned.

People who don't normally even watch the VMA's heard about this and the artists involved, getting publicity for all of them. And people who like Kanye will continue to buy his music anyway, while Taylor Swift and Beyonce come off looking like innocent victims. The music companies behind each artist gets millions of dollars worth of free publicity on all the news and talk shows for days. Sounds like a win for all involved. This is about as "real" as all the so-called "reality" shows. Which is to say, not at all real--just TV!

Personally, I have never bought music from any of these three performers and don't plan on doing so in the future. I would like to see the sales figures for Kanye, Beyonce, and Taylor Swift for the next week or two, because I believe the controversy will probably increase their sales for all of them.

What a week this has been! First, Ed McMahon, then Farrah Fawcett, and now Michael Jackson.
Most shocking to me was to hear of Michael's death earlier today, as it was the most unexpected. After all, Ed McMahon was 86 years old, Farrah Fawcett had been battling cancer for some time, but Michael Jackson was planning to hold a series of concerts in London in July. There was even talk of a possible "Jackson 5" reunion tour.
Generally, I don't listen to a lot of music, and don't keep up with all the latest artists, but I have always been a fan of Michael Jackson's songs, and his dancing was amazing. Being neither a singer nor a dancer, my opinion may not count for much, but I doubt there will be another talent like him for a very long time.
I chose the following video as a tribute to Michael Jackson, as well as a call out to all people of the world, to work towards peace and freedom for all the people of Earth. In particular, I am thinking of the brave protesters in Iran who have been risking their lives to achieve a greater degree of freedom. My previous post here (below this one) is an account by an Iranian Twitter user, who has not been heard from in more than 24 hours, and the last few "tweets" seemed to indicate some possible trouble. I hope this is not the case.

Michael Jackson may be gone now, but the spirit of his music can live on and inspire everyone to try to "Heal The World"!

If you are not impressed by someone doing 32 songs in 8 minutes, watch this video anyway, because the guy is really cute.

Here's the link to his YouTube page.

BOOMBOX from Ely Kim on Vimeo.


This guy is funny...he kind of reminds me of "Gene, Gene, The Dancing Machine", from the original Gong Show, hosted by Chuck Barris. Speaking of which, The Gong Show was one of the funniest shows ever on TV. And Chuck Barris was just plain nuts! I loved him, 'cause you never knew what he would do next.

Here's a video from "The Gong Show", featuring "Gene, Gene, The Dancing Machine".

Oh, and if you're curious about the songs in the video, here's a list Ely Kim provided:
100 Dances / 100 Songs

001. Heart of Glass / Blondie
002. Jimmy / M.I.A.
003. Deceptacon / Le Tigre
004. Im on Fire / 5000 Volts
005. Je Veux Te Voir / YELLE
006. The Way I Are / Timbaland
007. Too Young / Phoenix
008. Over And Over / Hot Chip
009. Stick It To The Pimp / Peaches
010. Say My Name / Destiny's Child
011. Pin / Yeah Yeah Yeahs
012. Geremia / Bonde Do Role
013. Let Me Clear My Throat / DJ Kool
014. Point Of No Return / Expose
015. Bubble Sex / The Seebach Band
016. Pump Up the Jam / Technotronic
017. Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above / CSS
018. Hella Nervous / Gravy Train
019. Me Plus One / Annie
020. Don't Go / Yaz
021. Bootylicious / Destiny's Child
022. Electric Feel / MGMT
023. Boys Don't Cry / The Cure
024. Lose Control / Missy Elliott
025. Ride The Lightning / Evans And Eagles
026. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough / Michael Jackson
027. Hearts On Fire / Cut Copy
028. Tainted Love / Soft Cell
029. Between Us & Them / Moving Units
030. It Feels Good / Tony Toni Tone
031. Polaris (Club Mix) / Cyber People
032. You Never Can Tell / Chuck Berry
033. Huddle Formation / The Go! Team
034. Pump That / FannyPack
035. My Love / Justin Timberlake
036. Hung Up / Madonna
037. Justice - D.A.N.C.E (MSTRKRFT Remix) / Justice
038. Cybernetic Love / Casco
039. Creep / TLC
040. When I Hear Music / Debbie Deb
041. B.O.B. / Outkast
042. Bubble Pop Electric / Gwen Stefani
043. Miss You Much / Janet Jackson
044. You Spin Me Round / Dead Or Alive
045. Slide In / Goldfrapp
046. Kelly / Van She
047. Mine Fore Life / The Sounds
048. Disco Heat / Calvin Harris
049. Nighttiming / Coconut Records
050. Club Action / Yo Majesty
051. Pogo / Digitalism
052. Lip Gloss / Lil Mama
053. Heartbeats / The Knife
054. Enola Gay / OMD
055. Goodbye Girls / Broadcast
056. Kids In America / Kim Wilde
057. Kiss / Prince
058. Tenderness / General Public
059. Push It / Salt N Pepa
060. Circle, Square, Triangle / Test Icicles
061. Day 'N' Nite (Crookers Remix) / Kid Cudi
062. Shadows / Midnight Juggernauts
063. Paris (Aeroplane Remix) / Friendly Fires
064. Out At The Pictures / Hot Chip
065. Me Myself and I / De La Soul
066. AudioTrack 10 / Diplo
067. Girls & Boys / Blur
068. Heater / Samim
069. I Wanna Dance With Somebody / Whitney Houston
070. Hands In The Air / Girl Talk
071. Limited Edition OJ Slammer / Cadence Weapon
072. Meeting In The Ladys Room / Mary Jane Girls
073. NY Lipps / Soulwax
074. Lex / Ratatat
075. Gravity's Rainbow (Soulwax Remix) / Steve Aoki
076. Once In A Lifetime / Talking Heads
077. Leave It Alone / Operator Please
078. Half Mast / Empire Of The Sun
079. Hardcore Girls / Count and Sinden feat. Rye Rye
080. Dance, Dance, Dance / Lykke Li
081. Never Gonna Get It / En Vogue
082. Blue Monday / New Order
083. Crazy In Love (Featuring Jay-Z) / Beyoncé
084. 10 Dollar / M.I.A.
085. Love To Love You Baby / Donna Summer
086. Steppin' Out / Lo-Fi-Fnk
087. Karle Pyar Karle / Asha Bhosle
088. Love Will Tear Us Apart / Joy Division
089. Straight Up / Paula Abdul
090. My Drive Thru / Santogold, Casablancas, NERD
091. Like A Prayer / Madonna
092. Freedom 90 / George Michael
093. Black & Gold / Sam Sparro
094. B-O-O-T-A-Y / Spank Rock and Benny Blanco
095. Great Dj / The Ting Tings
096. In A Dream / Rockell
097. Don't Stop the Music / Rihanna
098. Hong Kong Garden / Siouxsie & The Banshees
099. It's Tricky / D.M.C.
100. Bizarre Love Triangle / New Order

Here I am, blogging at 5 AM in the morning, and why? Because I have been up all night playing with the new tech toy I just bought yesterday afternoon. Yes, the geek in me finally overruled the more sensible part of my brain and went out and got an Apple iPod Touch (16 GB). I just couldn't resist the lure of all that cool gadgetry any longer. Even though I've been telling myself that it was too expensive, some extra holiday pay from my otherwise crappy job was enough to convince me to go for it. So out to the Apple store at a local mall I went, cash in hand, before the more frugal part of my brain had a chance to complain.

Up to now, I've been using my little Creative Zen Nano 1GB MP3 player and it works fine. But it doesn't automatically sync to iTunes , nor can it do video, or any of the other things the iPod Touch is capable of doing. Ever since the iPhone and then the iPod Touch came out, I've been reading and hearing how remarkable they are, and I can now see what people were raving about. I don't listen to a lot of music, but I love podcasts and have been downloading them with iTunes and dragging and dropping the files onto my Zen. Of course, when I plugged in the iPod, it began to sync immediately and transfer them without me doing a thing. Very nice!

There are video podcasts, such as "DiggNation", that I download as well and now I can watch them right on the iPod Touch. And since I spend quite a bit of time waiting for, and riding buses to and from work, this is an especially cool feature. Not to mention the games you can add to it!
Can you tell I'm impressed by this piece of technology? I may have been a bit late in "hopping on the iPod bandwagon", but no doubt will make up for that lost time! I spent most of last evening browsing through the iTunes store looking for some of the free aps that are available and got a few games and other useful or fun little aps. There are many more available for a price, but I figured I'd spent enough for today.

And I have not even used the built-in WiFi on the Touch yet ! I have a wireless router, but don't have it connected at the moment because I only had a single desktop computer, so connected it directly to the cable modem. But now, with the iPod, and my little Acer netbook computer I got a few months ago, I'll have to get that router working. Then when the weather gets warmer, I can go outside to a tiny little park outside my house and still be able to log onto my internet connection. Now I need to start ripping songs off all those CD's I have and never listen to, 'cause I'm too lazy to get them out and put them into a CD player.

Well, its now 6 AM, so no sense in going to bed now. Luckily, I don't have to work today as the university I work at is closed for a 'winter break' this week. YAY....more time to play with my new toy !

Just got home from attending a concert of the boys' choir "Libera" from England. They have the most incredible voices and the songs have an atmospheric, hauntingly beautiful sound. This is Libera's first tour in the United States, so I was lucky they came to my area.
If you haven't heard them, check out the videos below or visit their website here.



This video is a sample from their "Angel Voices / Libera In Concert" DVD. (I bought the DVD at the concert tonight)

Below is their brief tour schedule in the U.S. If you live in Pittsburgh or NYC, you may still have a chance to catch their concert.
Libera Tour the USA!

Apr. 4 - Asbury Hall - Buffalo, NY
Apr. 6 - The Bushnell - Hartford, CT
Apr. 7 - The Egg - Albany, NY
Apr. 9 - Byham Theater - Pittsburgh, PA
Apr. 17 - Riverside Church - NYC

That's a photo of the place in which I saw the Libera concert. Can you guess which of the 5 sites listed it is?
If you guessed "The Egg", you're correct! Not too hard, as the building is shaped like an egg. It contains 2 theaters inside, but no right angles--even the elevators are round!