TWILIGHT!!! YES!! What a great. . . um. . . sigh

Twilight: New Moon came out in theaters two weeks ago and once again the Twilight phenomenon is upon us. I haven’t read any of the Twilight books or seen the first film. All I know about this franchise is through my wife who has read all the books and saw both films in the theater.

My wife is an avid reader, and by avid reader I mean she can read a novel that takes me a month in a week. She caught the Twilight buzz a couple months ago and read through all four books. Diana thinks that Stephanie Meyers sets a great premise, has interesting and engaging story ideas however her storytelling, pacing and dialog is sometimes mediocre.

Everyone, especially guys seem to be hating on Twilight. My negative feelings about Twilight are centered on a couple things. First off the cast inability to present them as professionals in press photos (i.e. shave, and wear appropriate clothing) bugs me (I’m beginning to think this is actually a calculated attempt at connecting with a certain demographic).

And well, honestly I can't think of any other reason that I dislike Twilight but that hasn't stopped me from making fun of the franchise.

Is it fair for me to judge Twilight and hold negative feelings towards it without examining the art itself? No. Am I going to spend the time the read the book? Probably not, so instead I’m decided to watch the first film.

After watching the first part of the film, I posted this on my Facebook.com page.

Facebook Status update:
Kingsley Tang k people I got through 45 minutes of the Twilight movie. . I need to take a break. . i mean geez . . it's not a good sign that Diana and I blurted out laughing when Edward said: "I don't have the strength to stay away from you anymore." the things I do to be culturally literate.

Friends comments:
K: Tootsie, don't be mean. Edward is my future husband

S: God does that movie look like dogs&%$

C: The best line is: Your scent is my drug. Oops. I hope I didn't ruin it for you.

E: no one said it was a good movie. it is, in the right mindset, incredibly entertaining though

A: Does that mindset involve a fifth of burbon?

H: wait, Twilight is culture?

Wow. . . lots of people jumping on the Twilight hating here . . .

After watching 45 minutes of Twilight, my initial conclusion is that this film could be a lot better. I believe that there is a good movie in the material and the script. Yes, the dialog in clunky but not any worse than Star Wars. The major detractor here is the actors lack of chemistry with each other and there's a feeling that these actors are trying to act. Robert Pattison seems to be trying really hard to be a vampire as opposed to just being one.

The next day I sat down with my wife and we watched the rest of the film, and I actually enjoyed the rest of the film. Stephanie Meyers has set up an interesting amalgamation of horror with teenage romance with a touch Shakespearian tragedy ala Romeo and Juliet. And frankly it works.

No, it’s a great film, but it has great scenery, some interesting drama and a fantastic story. There's something about the characters and the story that makes you want to see how it all ends. Twilight is not a film that will appeal outside of its target audience but for it’s crowd it does the job.

If you’ve read Twilight or seen the film go ahead and have a ball saying whatever you want about it, but if you haven’t read the book of the seen the film, you really need cut out bashing Twilight. People do not have the right to criticize a piece of art they haven’t experiences as much as they do not have the right to be critical of a person they do not know.

As much fun as it is to hate on Twilight, it’s pointless. You think that some teenage girl who loves Twilight will hear some guy irrationally bash it and then realize how bad the book really is and how stupid they are for enjoying it?

I can’t help but think that gender has something to do with it. Girls as young as thirteen all the through their forties have gotten into Twilight. Many think of it as a guilty pleasure but there’s a lot of people loving these books and watching the films and they are almost all woman.

Female centric art is often referred to with pejorative terms like: "chick-lit" or "chick-flics." That's not really fair, yes there is bad art directed towards woman but there's also bad stuff aimed at men too. The bottom is line that the vast majority of art created in our culture is created for and marketed towards men. So while it's normal for guys to have cultural milestones like the Super Bowl or a summer action film, it's unusual for a book or film to successfully inspire similar fandom in woman.

Look, Twilight: New Moon made $142 million dollars in its opening weekend. To be generous, $15 tickets, maybe 1/3 of the those people say it twice, that leaves 6 million people who saw that film in one weekend, which were almost all woman by most accounts. Stephanie Meyers has created a significant shared cultural experience beyond her books. Anything that brings 6 million people together through art in one weekend and provides them with a meaningful artistic experience.

Yes popularity does not equal quality, but popularity does create connections between people and adds to our shared cultural identity which has far reaching effects not only in our art but in our lives.

Guys, you may not like Twilight or hearing groups of woman arguing about who’s better, Jacob or Edward. If you don't want to see the film or read the book, that's fine, whatever, but think about what you are saying. What does making fun of Twilight really say about ourselves? Are we just jealous or simply annoyed that the ladies have something to talk about that we simply don't understand?

If you don’t get why it’s annoying and immature to bash on Twilight just wait until someone complains about something you love in our culture and you’ll understand.

Buffy's family

My mom and dad were born and raised in Taiwan during a transition from rural to urban environment in the cities that they lived in. While modern conveniences were present, people still had farm animals around in the middle of the city and for my mother and father this meant that they played with the chickens they later ate for dinner.

This also included having dogs around.

These were outside dogs which mostly ate table scraps and were mainly utilized for security purposes, however the universal appeal of dogs to children was present for my parents and they would play with these dogs and enjoyed having them around.

When I was growing up, it seemed that all of my friends had golden retrievers and Labrador retrievers. I remember asking my parents if we could get a dog, mostly wanting one so we could fit in and they would say no citing responsibility or allergy issues.

So I was surprised when I asked my mom what she thought about Diana and I getting a dog. She immediately told me it was a great idea. She said that she felt that everyone who was willing to put in the time and effort into to having a dog should have one. To my mom, a dog enriches one’s life. Through caring for someone or something else, it invigorates the spirit and getting a dog is a great way to do this.

I’m thinking my mom may have had some ulterior motives.

My mom followed our first couple months with Buffy closely through my blog and conversations over the phone (my parents live in Seattle). In the Fall, my parents usually visit Diana and I in Chicago and my mom and it seemed like a perfect time for my parents to meet Buffy.

My mom called me a week or two before they came and told me she was worried that Buffy wouldn’t like her. I reassured my mom that of course Buffy would like her but as soon as I hung up the phone, I realized that there was a possibility that Buffy may not like my mom.

Buffy likes people. In general she comes up to people that she senses wants to pet her and is happy to be petted and played with. Now there have been people on the street that Buffy has shied away from but she has never not taken a liking to people Diana and I care about. Regardless of this, Buffy is a dog, and sometimes and you really can’t predict everything they do.

When my mom first met Buffy it took approximately 0.5 seconds for Buffy to fall in love with my mom.

My dad didn’t initially know what to do with Buffy, which was pretty much exactly the same as when I was babysitting a dog before we got Buffy (which I discussed in this earlier post). However, within a couple hours I could see that my dad was enjoying Buffy and within a day, he was infatuated with her.

By the time my parents were leaving for Seattle, we had spent pretty much the whole weekend walking and playing with Buffy. We had a great time, it was beautiful Fall weekend in the Midwest and it was great to see how much fun Buffy and my parents were having with each other.

When my mom got back to Seattle, she called me and told me that she and my dad were already missing Buffy before they got on the plane. She suggested that we move our family trip, which we planned to do in Seattle in the spring to the Midwest so that we could include Buffy.

This really warmed my heart.

I’ve always felt that Buffy, Diana and I are a family. But I didn’t have any expectations that my parents would necessarily feel the same way. I know whatever is important of my life, my parents will embrace and maybe Buffy gets that too. Maybe that’s why Buffy and my parents affected each other so much. Or maybe Buffy just liked the way my parents smelled.

Buffy, you not only got me, Diana and Diana’s family but you’ve also go my parents as part of your family. You’re a lucky puppy to have such a great family and we’re lucky to have you as part of our lives.

Welcome To The Future by Brad Paisley

“The future” in the literal sense is the time that is ahead of us, but in the figurative sense it means so much more. When people in the 1950s talked about “the future” they thought of advancement in technology and a better more utopia-like society. For many, “the future” is an idea, a better day and another chance. It’s reason we get up in the morning, it’s hope.

Brad Paisley reminds us to take a second and realize that we live in the future of our past selves. He asks the question, what has become of the things that we hoped for in the past, what has truly changed, what is this future that we live in?

In “Welcome To The Future” Paisley’s second single off of his eighth studio album American Saturday Night, he crafts a personal reflection on how far we’ve come. He starts with the trivial singing about how much he wished he had a Pac-Man arcade machine when he was younger and ends the verse commenting how he know owns it on his phone.

The chorus immediately breaks into the religious exclamation “Glory, glory, Hallelujah.” There is something amazing about the advancement in technology that has now mad Pac-Man portable, but not in the spiritual sense. At first, this puzzled me, until I listened further into the song.

“Glory, glory, Hallelujah” is a reaction to something he sings about later in the song and by starting with the anecdote about Pac-Man, he slowly draws the listener in with his characteristic charm and silliness to discuss something deeper.

The second verse goes deeper into his past as he thinks about his grandfather fighting in World War II having to write letters to his grandmother to stay in touch. He wonders what they would think about the fact that now he video chats easily with a company in Japan.

Brad examines the human part of technological advances making us think more about how these changes have affected the way we interact with each other. As the second verse moves closer to the human conditions, in the last verse Paisley takes us one step further into the heart of what has truly developed in the future, not the technology, but our humanity.

The final verse begins with the story of a football player he knew in high school who was African American that asked a Caucasian girl to prom. Members of the Ku Klux Klan reacted to this by putting a burning cross on his front yard. Focusing on this experience, Paisley reminds us how far we’ve come from a woman on a bus, Rosa Parks, to a man with a dream, President Obama.

Glory, Hallelujah

Maybe Paisley was referring to Martin Luther King Jr. but for some reason my mind went straight to President Obama. Regardless of your political viewpoint and how you feel that President Obama is doing with his job currently it is amazing that only 40 years ago the idea of an African-American President was preposterous and now it’s a reality.

The President invited Paisley to perform at the White House to celebrate country music last summer. Before he performed “Welcome To The Future” for the President he explained how the election inspired him and how he wrote this song to capture how it made him feel.



One of the things that I love about Brad Paisley is that his music has a shine to it. You can feel the sunlight between the notes. Brad Paisley not only sees the glass as half full but cherish every drop of water that is left. Listen to “Welcome To The Future,” and you’ll understand why.

I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues by Elton John

In 1975, Elton John released Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy which became the first album ever to enter the charts at #1. Riding a huge wave a critical and commercial success, John seemed to do no wrong.

Two years later, John announced he was retiring from performing and his next album Single Man, had no top ten singles and was a critical and commercial disappointment. By the time he released Too Low For Zero, Elton John was a shadow of his pass self. Drug and alcohol abuse as well as personal challenges including negative reactions to a 1976 Rolling Stone Interview in which he admitted to be bisexual were taking its toll on not only Elton but also his music.

Instead of having five or six singles off of an album that were hits there were one or two and instead of toping the charts they merely broke the top 10. Amidst this, there were a few songs from this era endure quite like, “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues.”

Featured on the album Two Low For Zero, “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues,” only reached #4 on the charts competing with monster hits like “Billy Jean” by Michael Jackson and “Every Breath You Take” by the Police. Once Elton John’s music was at the edge of popular music experiment with form and creating unique sonic landscapes like in the opening of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road with the epic “Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding.”



Now Elton sat squarely in the safe and adult contemporary sound of the early 1980s synthesized rock, but this couldn’t overshadow the warm nostalgia and emotional honesty of the “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues.”

Elton divided the beat into the three small parts giving “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues,” a lilting, almost childlike quality. Elton’s voice contrasts from lines sung as manner of fact statements “don’t wish it away, don’t look at it like it’s forever,” to earnest expressions of support “before you and me run. . . ” at the end of the first verse.

At these moments and also during the chorus, “laughing like children . . ” John uses a rhythmic musical device called a hemiola. Instead of having note last over three small beats like 1-2-3 1-2-3, the notes hold over two small beats 1-2-3 1-2-3. This make the notes seem like they are lagging behind slightly creating drama by accenting the offbeats.

“I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues” is about being away from the ones that you love. Reflecting on a relationship, John figures that this feeling of being away from each other must be “the blues.” However, the overwhelming feeling of this song is not “the blues” or sadness from being apart but instead is love, glowing out of soul like a warm memory.

While the most famous lines of this song “Laughing like children, living like lovers, rolling like thunder under the covers” are fun to sing along with juxtaposing child like joy with sensuality, it’s the end of the second verse that says it all: “I simply love you more than I love life itself.”

The 1980s didn’t last forever. In the early 1990s, Elton John wrote the music The Lion King and the release of Songs from the West Coast in 2001 a return to John's piano roots which many considered one of his best albums featuring songs like “America Triangle” (which I discussed in this earlier post). Whether it be shows in Las Vegas or his success on Broadway with Billy Elliot, it seems that Elton is back.

It seems that many things left Elton during the 1980s, his health, his commercial success and his creative drive, but "I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues” reminds us that he never lost his heart

Buffy, Come!!!

Looking at Buffy, from across the room, I yelled “Buffy come,” and she ran across the room right up to my feet. Ignoring Diana who was holding her collar, ignoring the trail of treats on the ground and the other dogs and owners in the class Buffy came ran right up to me when I called.

I slipped into her mouth the piece of hot dog that was in my right hand, scooped her up into my arms and joyfully carried her back over to Diana as the other owners and Brandi the dog trainer in our puppy class applauded.

Weeks earlier in our first Puppy II class, I called Buffy over to me and she completely ignored me. I went up to her, gave her some treats and ran away hoping she would follow. Nothing. Buffy just wandered over to sniff another dog. We put Buffy on her leash and two feet away from her, Buffy finally came over to me. Embarrassed and frustrated, I knew I needed to make a change.

Earlier in the fall we took Puppy I class at Diana at Barker Behavior. The instructor is Brandi Barker. (Really, if your last name is “Barker” doesn’t that pretty much predetermine your career path as a dog trainer?). This is a fantastic dog training company and if you have any need of training help or classes for puppies or older dogs, I highly recommend you look into taking a course from Barker Behavior. I discussed Buffy graduating from Puppy I in this earlier post.

When we signed up to take Puppy II and it was clear that Buffy wasn’t responding as well to me in class as Diana. For various reasons, I was training Buffy less and it became apparent in Puppy I that Buffy was responding much better to Diana than I was. This concerned both of us. Buffy is our dog, and it’s important to Diana and I that Buffy has a strong relationship with both of us.

After that first class of Puppy II, I committed to working with Buffy more inside and outside of class. I realized that my training with Buffy would improve but probably wouldn’t be at the same level as Diana and Buffy as well as the other dogs and owners in class. This frustrated me, but I couldn’t do anything about the past so I focused ahead.

As the weeks of Puppy II progressed Diana and I made an effort to better split the training time with Buffy in class more evenly and I spent a significant more time with Buffy doing training not only at home but also during her walks.

Here's the thing, Buffy really enjoys training. Often during walks, she will look up at me looking for some praise or direction. Sometimes during walks, it's easy to just go through the motions but Buffy likes to have some variety and who could really refuse to engage a puppy with those cute eyes looking up at you.

We first practiced comes from two feet away on leash and eventually Buffy and I got pretty good at comes around the house, but I didn’t really expect that she would be all that great with comes in class. So when Brandi set up Diana at one end of the class with treats in the middle to distract Buffy, I didn’t really think that Buffy would come all the over to me. However, Buffy surprised me as she ran right over and I was ecstatic and everyone in the room applauded knowing how far Buffy and I had come.

Buffy is still not perfect with coming when she’s called. It’s not one of those things she’s naturally good at like sitting or rolling over on her back to get her tummy rubbed (ok that’s not so much a training thing but it’s REALLY cute). But we’re getting there.

With dogs, just like kids, it’s the little moments that make it all worth it. Whether it’s a lick on the face, a wagging tail (I’m talking about dogs here btw), or a little fuzzball responding to a command.

Buffy and I have a long way to go, but we’re getting there. At the end of Puppy I, Buffy was hardly responding to anything I was doing in class and at the end of Puppy II, I was the one commanding Buffy as she passed her final exam and we more than caught up with everyone else in the class.

I am really proud of you girl.
I can't wait to see you when I get home.

Only The Good Die Young by Billy Joel

In our culture there are two prevalent stereotypes of “Catholic school girl.” Either it’s a girl who is incredibly chaste and innocent or a girl who in response to her upbringing is mischievous and rebellious.

Now I married a Catholic school girl. Diana was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school from grade school all the way through high school. Diana doesn’t fall isn’t either stereotypes. She is well balanced and has almost never felt a need to rebel from her upbringing (unless you count marrying me, which is a whole separate issue). ANYWAYS. . . .

Billy Joel on the other hand is dealing with one extreme: the Catholic girl who under the power of the Lord has not done anything bad, never takes a chance and of course would be seen with the protagonist that Billy Joel portrays.

Joel’s character uses brilliant “Barney Stinson” logic to convince this girl to go out with him and to loosen up and live a little.
Saints, the people who are good always seem to die young so wouldn’t you rather sin a little bit and have more time on earth to party? What young person wouldn’t rather “laugh with the sinners than die with the saints?”

With an upbeat boogie-woogie baseline and a celebratory swinging horn section Joel revels in the glory of enjoying sin. What Joel is talking about isn’t anything really all that bad. He’s commenting on the atmosphere that he grew up in during the late 1950s. This was a time when the reaction Elvis Presley was that his dance moves were sinful and that his music was evil ala Jon Lithgow in Footloose. Do you remember all the things people said about Marolyn Manson being a bad influence on children? Yeah, the exactly same things verbatim were said about Elvis. Sigh, isn’t it nice to see how far we’ve gotten?

While this song is silly portrayal of teenage logic, it does have some interesting things to say about the nature of teenage sexuality. Joel makes statements about the Catholic education, “Virginia, they didn’t give you quite enough information.” Now I’m not here to judge Catholicism stance on sexual education, but Catholic schools aren’t exactly leaders in this field. The idea of a protagonist like Joel’s character doing the teaching to my daughter? ‘shudder’ This is why we need to really think hard about what we are teaching our children about sexuality.

Back to my wife. . .

Did I have to do a little persuading to convince Diana to go out with me? Yes. Did she reject me the first time I asked her out. . . kind of. . . but it was all worth it. Now it’s not like I was Billy Joel’s character. I wasn’t out to corrupt Diana. I did teach her how to better utilize expletives in her daily discourse and I am responsible for her enjoying of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, which does feature pagan witchcraft. However, Diana found the Harry Potter books herself so I can’t be held responsible that level of sin she has sunk down to.

Joel sings, “sooner or later it comes down to fate, I might as well be the one" which reminds me of convincing Diana to go out with me. I wasn’t going to leave it to fate, Diana was too special a person to pass up. And I thank God every day that she chose me to be the one.

Tracks Of My Tears by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

When people think of hot producers and song writers, names like Timbaland, will.i.am & Rick Rubin come to mind. In the early 1960s at the headquarters of Motown called "Hitsville U.S.A." the hottest and most important song writer and producer was Smokey Robinson.

With over 1000 songs to his credit, Robinson wrote and produced some of the most influential and well known songs in popular music history including "My Girl" by the Temptation. Working with Berry Gordy the founder of Motown, Robinson changed the face of music earning the title, "The Poet Laureate of Soul."

If all Smokey Robinson did was write and produce “My Girl” (which I wrote about in this earlier post about in this earlier post about my brother) he’d be fondly remembered as a significant influence on popular music. Fortunately for us, he did so much more than that.

There are many great Smokey Robinson songs but one that keeps coming up in our culture is “Tracks Of My Tears.” Most recently covered by Adam Lambert in a beautifully crafted and intimate performance on American Idol, “Tracks Of My Tears” like so many of Robinson’s songs has stood the test of time.



Conceptually this song is amazing. The idea of a man crying so much that it leaves tracks, but only if you look closely is original and poignant. Smokey Robinson has such utility with his words. Like Hemingway he uses as few words as possible to get his message across. What he creates is straight forward simple words and rhymes that resonate with depth and meaning.

Check out the second verse:

Since you left me if you see me with another girl,
Seeming like I'm having fun.
Although she may be cute,
She's just a substitute
Because you're the permanent one.

There is extended alliteration with “see me” being soon followed by “seeming.” The rhymes are subtle and smooth in an ABBA pattern, "fun" with "one" and "cute" with "substitute." Listen closely to that “she’s just a substitute” line. It could not fit with the melody any better. This is one of the greatest pop lyrics I’ve ever come across. It’s so great that Pete Townsend of The Who wrote and recorded “Substitute” as an homage to this great line.



Then there’s the vocal. The falsetto of Smokey sounds masculine and is full of soul and blues. This is what every pop singer strives for their falsetto to be like but never quite captures. If we didn’t have Smokey, we wouldn’t have singers like Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake or Adam Lambert.

Take a listen to this a cappella edit of the recording.



Note the shape and the harmony in the Miracles vocal introduction and the way that Smokey effortlessly ends his phrases. My favorite thing about the interaction between the background vocals and Smokey is how the vocal introduction comes back in the last half of the second verse as a background vocal adding emphasis to the words.

Then there’s the chorus and the way that the background instruments continue the vocal line with descending triplets that Smokey starts. The melodic baseline, the snap of the tambourine on the offbeats. . . OMG EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS SONG IS INCREDIBLE!!

‘exhale’ okay. . .

I’m back sorry. This song really gets me excited. I could go on forever about this one. The craft is so artful and beautiful expressing a transcendent feeling of joy.

Yes, this song is about a breakup, heartache and desperation, but it’s also about the how good love feels.

Oliver Stone perfectly captured what this song feels like, what it means in his film Platoon. A whole bunch of young guys trying to deal with the stress of a war that makes no sense to them, finds camaraderie, release and pure joy in Smokey Robinson’s music.

Platoon - Tracks Of My Tears
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It’s like what Butters once said in an episode of South Park

“Wuh-ell yeah, and I'm sad, but at the same time I'm really happy that somethin'
could make me feel that sad. It's like, it makes me feel alive, you know? It makes me feel human. And the only way I could feel this sad now is if I felt somethin' really good before. So I have to take the bad with the good, so I guess what I'm feelin' is like a, beautiful sadness. . .”

Amen
Could not have said it any better myself little man.