Here is something that can save your basement from flooding caused by scalding hot water from your washing machine.
When your washer continues to stream out hot water inside even though the cycle ended and the washer point indicator (usually red) in the cycle knob is set to "off", and you try to pull the plug to stop this unnecessary water flow only to have it still continue, especially if it is hot water - you have a faulty inlet water valve leading to the washer, and it needs to be replaced. Otherwise, the unstoppable water will overflow the wash tub (usually after 1 1/2 hours) and will spill over to the basement, creating flood damage close to what you get when a sewer backup happens after an extremely heavy rainstorm. Even worse, touching that hot water - depending on hot the water is - can lead to serious scalding or burning.
Sometimes, you can stop the bleeding temporarily by moving the knob on the washer to any of the "spin" cycles - this usually stops the unwanted water flow temporarily, but after the spin cycle is over and it is set to off, regrettably, the water flows again without stopping.
You can stop the whole process altogether by going to the main water shutoff valve and set it to off. It will stop the water but you probably know that this means....you will have no water flow to the whole area at all. You cannot flush the toilet, do the dishes, take a shower or bath or even water your plants outside. So the only option is to, if you know how to replace the valve, do it yourself.
However, if you do not know how to fix this type of washer problem, let a professional repairman do the job before things go from bad to worse.
Hope all of this helps. Thanks.
Monday, June 9, 2014
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Soujia Boy Dance 2007--Breakdown of the Steps
This new hip-hop
line dance was popular in this year (2007), and was even introduced in the 2007
American Music Awards...
It is a line
dance of 32 steps in 32 counts, that has a few advanced hip-hop elements but it
is still easy to learn.
Steps 1-2 are
called the Kris Kross.
Steps 3-4 are
called a reverse form of the Slap Leather,
and Steps 9-10, the regular Slap Leather.
Steps 5-6 are
called the Wave.
Steps 12-13 is
called the Cross-Tap and Uncross from Tap.
Steps 13-16 are
called the "Superman."
Steps 17-24 and
25-32 are Boxer Hops.
This is a
four-wall line dance. For the breakdown of the steps, it is assumed that you
use the north wall to start.
After the 32
steps are repeated, the dance is repeated on the next wall, counterclockwise,
and so on (so, for example, the first repeat of the steps, if starting on the
north wall first, will be facing the west wall, and then, on the second repeat,
will be facing the south wall, and so on.)
Use these
imaginary walls as a guide to utilizing this dance:
North Wall
West Wall East Wall
South Wall
Soujia
Boy--Breakdown of the Steps
Start in loose
1st position (LF and RF are about a hand-width apart), starting with the north
wall.
1. Jump on both
feet; land so RF crosses over LF
1
2. Jump again on
both feet so that RF uncrosses, 2
ending with both feet back in loose 1st position
3. Flick LF back
and touch that LF with RH 3
(RH should touch L heel)
4. Land LF back
to loose 1st position 4
5. Pull out
whole R arm outside and inside 5
in a wave action (like in breakdancing),
feet
remain in place
6. Pull out
whole L arm outside and inside 6
also in wave action (like in breakdancing),
feet
still remain in place
7. Turning your
body 1/4 L, forward LF to lunge on 7
LF, with a slight pivot L on other foot
(RF); now
you are facing the west wall
8. Hold position
for one count more 8
9. On a diagonal
direction to the northeast wall, and 9
holding body position still on west wall,
cross
RF (tap) over LF
10.Now, turning
your body 1/4 R to face original 10
wall (north), step back on RF (tap) again to
uncross, ending in loose 2nd position
11.Now, do a
slight knee lift on R leg (LF remains 11
in place) and touch RH on R knee on lift
12.Land RF with
full weight, ending in loose 2nd 12
position
13.Now turning
1/4 to the L again to face west wall 13
again, Hop on LF and land with LF lunge, and
extend the R leg back away from you,
horizontal
with the floor (thus the RF is about 5
inches from
the floor but it can vary); at the same
time,
extend both arms straight out and forward,
also
horizontal with the floor (the
"Superman")
14.Hold position
for one count more 14
15.Now, turning
1/4 to R to face original 15
wall again, land RF and recover body from
"Superman" to regain normal
standing position;
feet should be in loose 2nd position; upon
landing, change to equal weight on both feet
16.Hold position for one count more 16 .
17. Slight hop on both feet going to L 17
18.Slight hop on
both feet going slightly to L again 18
19.Slight hop on
both feet going slightly to L again 19
20.Now hop on
both feet slightly, but in place
20
21 Slight hop on
both feet going slightly to R 21
22.Slight hop on
both feet going slightly to R again 22
23.Slight hop on
both feet going slightly to R again 23
24.Now hop on
both feet slightly, but in place
24
25.Slight hop on
both feet going slightly to L 25
26.Slight hop on
both feet going slightly to L again 26
27.Slight hop on
both feet going slightly to L again 27
28.Now hop on
both feet slightly, but in place
28
29.Slight hop on
both feet going slightly to R 29
30.Slight hop on
both feet going slightly to R again 30
31.Slight hop on
both feet going slightly to R again 31
32.Now hop on
both feet slightly, but in place
32
Additional
Notes
For the
"boxer hops" (steps 17-32), be sure that your feet position remain as
long as possible in loose 2nd position.
And also,
"slightly to L" and "slightly to R" is done with
no turn....you
just go down to the L side of a straight line or the R side of the straight
line still facing the original wall or the other wall. Think of a Cartesian
plane
(remember that
in geometry or algebra?) and you are on the x-axis, and you go to the left of
the x-axis on steps 17-24, and to the right of the x-axis on steps 25-32. This
will help you.
Turn 1/4 L
counterclockwise after step 32 to repeat the 32 steps on the next wall.
It is also
possible, if not repeating on a different wall, to repeat the steps, but with
opposite footwork and armwork as already described as above (that is,
"reverse the steps").
Charles Joseph
Smith
"The Little
Lily of Dancing"
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Sample Outline for a 15-Week Course on American Popular Music from the 1970s to the 1980s
Because mainstream popular music's repertory in America equals that of classical music,
it is probably important to cover all of the important pop/rock hits for two semesters,
not just one.
The weeks cover some of the main songs that everyone grew up in the 1970s or 1980s.
Under the weeks covered are the song titles first, then the original artist or artists
(indicated in the parenteses), and then the date the song was released.
Week 1--Monday
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (Diana Ross)--1970
"Evil Ways" (Santana)--1970
"Let It Be" (The Beatles)--1970
"Mama Told Me (Not To Come)" (Three Dog Night)--1970
Week 1--Wednesday
"Knock Three Times" (Tony Orlando and Dawn)--1971
"Mercy, Mercy Me" (Marvin Gaye)--1971
"What's Goin' On?" (Marvin Gaye)--1971
Week 1--Friday
"Don't Anyone Really Know What Time It Is?" (Chicago)--1972
"I'd Like To Teach The World to Sing" (New Seekers)--1972
"Saturday In The Park" (Chicago)--1972
Week 2--Wednesday
"Dancing Machine" (Michael Jackson)--1972
"Hot Butter" (Popcorn)--1972
"Twenty-Five Or Six-To-Four" (Chicago)--1972
Week 3--Monday
"Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown" (Jim Croce)--1973
"Killing Me Softly With His Song" (Roberta Flack)--1973
"Let's Get It On" (Marvin Gaye)--1973
Week 3--Wednesday
"Long Train Running" (Dobbie Brothers)--1973
"Love Train" (The O'Jays)--1973
"Monster Mash" (Bobby "Bones" Pickett and the Crypt Kickers)--1973
Week 3--Friday
"Smoke in the Water" (Deep Purple)--1973
"Supersition" (Stevie Wonder)--1973
"Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree" (Tony Orlando and Dawn)--1973
Week 4--Monday
"Dancing Machine" (Jackson 5)--1974
"Love's Theme" (The Love Unlimited Orchestra)--1974
Review for Quiz 1
Week 4--Wednesday
Quiz 1
Week 4--Friday
"Get Down Tonight" (KC and the Sunshine Band)--1975
"Love Will Keep Us Together" (Captain and Tennille)--1975
"More, More, More" (The Andrea True Connection)--1975
Week 5--Monday
"Boogie Fever" (The Sylvers)--1976
"You Should Be Dancing" (The Bee Gees)--1976
Week 5--Wednesday
"Got To Give It Up" (Marvin Gaye)--1977
"Southern Nights" (Glen Campbell)--1977
"You Light Up My Life" (Debbie Boone)--1977
Week 5--Friday
"Boogie Oogie Oogie" (A Taste of Honey)--1978
"Copacabana" (Barry Manilow)--1978
"Got To Be Real" (Cheryl Lynn)--1978
Week 6--Monday
"Hot Child In the City" (Nick Gilder)--1978
"I Love The Nightlife" (Alicia Bridges)--1978
"If I Can't Have You" (Yvonne Elliman)--1978
Week 6--Wednesday
"Kiss You All Over" (Exile)--1978
"Last Dance" (Donna Summer)--1978
"My Life" (Billy Joel)--1978
Week 6--Friday
"Shake Your Groove Thing" (Peaches and Herb)--1978
"We Are The Champions" (Queen)--1978
"Y.M.C.A." (The Village People)--1978
Week 7--Monday
Review for Midterm Exam
Week 7--Wednesday
Review for Midterm Exam
Week 7--Friday
Midterm Exam covering Weeks 1-6
Week 8--Monday
"Heart of Glass" (Blondie)--1979
"Hot Stuff" (Donna Summer)--1979
"Le Freak" (Chick)--1979
Week 8--Wednesday
"Another Brick in the Wall" (Pink Floyd)--1980
"Call Me" (Blondie)--1980
"Do That To Me One More Time" (Captain and Tennille)--1980
Week 8--Friday
"Endless Love" -(Diana Ross and Lionel Richie)--1981
"Jessie's Girl" (Rick Springfield)--1981
"Nine To Five" (Dolly Parton)--1981
Week 9, Monday
"I Love Rock and Roll" (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts)--1982
"Rosanna" (Toto)--1982
"Tainted Love" (Soft Cell)--1982
Week 9, Wednesday
"Billie Jean" (Michael Jackson)--1983
"Maneater" (Daryl Hall and John Oates)--1983
"Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)" (Eurythmics)--1983
Week 9, Friday
"All Night Long (All Night)" (Lionel Richie)--1984
"Ghostbusters" (Ray Parker Jr.)--1984
"When Doves Cry" (Prince)--1984
Week 10--Monday
"Like a Virgin" (Madonna)--1985
"Part-Time Lover" (Stevie Wonder)--1985
"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" (Wham!)--1985
Week 10--Wednesday
"Addicted to Love" (Robert Palmer)--1986
"Conga" (Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine)--1986
"Kiss" (Prince and the Revolution)--1986
Week 10--Friday
"La Bamba" (Los Lobos)--1987
"La Isla Bonita" (Madonna)--1987
"I Wanna Dance With Somebody)--1987
Week 11--Monday
"The Lady in Red" (Chris De Burgh)--1987
"Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" (Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine)--1987
"Walk Like An Egyptian" (The Bangles)--1987
Week 11--Wednesday
Review for Quiz 2
Week 11--Friday
Quiz 2
Week 12--Monday
"Don't Worry, Be Happy" (Bobby McFerrin)--1988
"I Don't Want To Live Without You" (Foreigner)--1988
"Man in the Mirror" (Michael Jackson)--1988
Week 12--Wednesday
"One-Two-Three" (Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine)--1988
"Sign Your Name" (Terence Trent d'Arby)--1988
"Simply Irrestistible" (Robert Palmer)--1988
Week 12--Friday
"The Way You Make Me Feel" (Michael Jackson)---1988
"Wild, Wild, West" (The Escape Club)--1988
Week 13--Monday
"Eternal Flame" (The Bangles)--1989
"Express Yourself" (Madonna)--1989
"Giving You The Best That I've Got" (Anita Baker)--1989
Week 13--Wednesday
"Like a Prayer" (Madonna)--1989
"Love Shack" (The B-52s)--1989
"Wild Thing" (Tone Loc)--1989
Week 14--Monday
Review for Final Exam--Part 1
Week 14--Wednesday
Review for Final Exam--Part 2
Week 14--Friday
Review for Final Exam--Part 3
Week 15--Monday
Final Exam
Week 15--Wednesday
Makeups for Final Exam
Week 15--Friday
Makeups for Final Exam
it is probably important to cover all of the important pop/rock hits for two semesters,
not just one.
The weeks cover some of the main songs that everyone grew up in the 1970s or 1980s.
Under the weeks covered are the song titles first, then the original artist or artists
(indicated in the parenteses), and then the date the song was released.
Week 1--Monday
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (Diana Ross)--1970
"Evil Ways" (Santana)--1970
"Let It Be" (The Beatles)--1970
"Mama Told Me (Not To Come)" (Three Dog Night)--1970
Week 1--Wednesday
"Knock Three Times" (Tony Orlando and Dawn)--1971
"Mercy, Mercy Me" (Marvin Gaye)--1971
"What's Goin' On?" (Marvin Gaye)--1971
Week 1--Friday
"Don't Anyone Really Know What Time It Is?" (Chicago)--1972
"I'd Like To Teach The World to Sing" (New Seekers)--1972
"Saturday In The Park" (Chicago)--1972
Week 2--Wednesday
"Dancing Machine" (Michael Jackson)--1972
"Hot Butter" (Popcorn)--1972
"Twenty-Five Or Six-To-Four" (Chicago)--1972
Week 3--Monday
"Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown" (Jim Croce)--1973
"Killing Me Softly With His Song" (Roberta Flack)--1973
"Let's Get It On" (Marvin Gaye)--1973
Week 3--Wednesday
"Long Train Running" (Dobbie Brothers)--1973
"Love Train" (The O'Jays)--1973
"Monster Mash" (Bobby "Bones" Pickett and the Crypt Kickers)--1973
Week 3--Friday
"Smoke in the Water" (Deep Purple)--1973
"Supersition" (Stevie Wonder)--1973
"Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree" (Tony Orlando and Dawn)--1973
Week 4--Monday
"Dancing Machine" (Jackson 5)--1974
"Love's Theme" (The Love Unlimited Orchestra)--1974
Review for Quiz 1
Week 4--Wednesday
Quiz 1
Week 4--Friday
"Get Down Tonight" (KC and the Sunshine Band)--1975
"Love Will Keep Us Together" (Captain and Tennille)--1975
"More, More, More" (The Andrea True Connection)--1975
Week 5--Monday
"Boogie Fever" (The Sylvers)--1976
"You Should Be Dancing" (The Bee Gees)--1976
Week 5--Wednesday
"Got To Give It Up" (Marvin Gaye)--1977
"Southern Nights" (Glen Campbell)--1977
"You Light Up My Life" (Debbie Boone)--1977
Week 5--Friday
"Boogie Oogie Oogie" (A Taste of Honey)--1978
"Copacabana" (Barry Manilow)--1978
"Got To Be Real" (Cheryl Lynn)--1978
Week 6--Monday
"Hot Child In the City" (Nick Gilder)--1978
"I Love The Nightlife" (Alicia Bridges)--1978
"If I Can't Have You" (Yvonne Elliman)--1978
Week 6--Wednesday
"Kiss You All Over" (Exile)--1978
"Last Dance" (Donna Summer)--1978
"My Life" (Billy Joel)--1978
Week 6--Friday
"Shake Your Groove Thing" (Peaches and Herb)--1978
"We Are The Champions" (Queen)--1978
"Y.M.C.A." (The Village People)--1978
Week 7--Monday
Review for Midterm Exam
Week 7--Wednesday
Review for Midterm Exam
Week 7--Friday
Midterm Exam covering Weeks 1-6
Week 8--Monday
"Heart of Glass" (Blondie)--1979
"Hot Stuff" (Donna Summer)--1979
"Le Freak" (Chick)--1979
Week 8--Wednesday
"Another Brick in the Wall" (Pink Floyd)--1980
"Call Me" (Blondie)--1980
"Do That To Me One More Time" (Captain and Tennille)--1980
Week 8--Friday
"Endless Love" -(Diana Ross and Lionel Richie)--1981
"Jessie's Girl" (Rick Springfield)--1981
"Nine To Five" (Dolly Parton)--1981
Week 9, Monday
"I Love Rock and Roll" (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts)--1982
"Rosanna" (Toto)--1982
"Tainted Love" (Soft Cell)--1982
Week 9, Wednesday
"Billie Jean" (Michael Jackson)--1983
"Maneater" (Daryl Hall and John Oates)--1983
"Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)" (Eurythmics)--1983
Week 9, Friday
"All Night Long (All Night)" (Lionel Richie)--1984
"Ghostbusters" (Ray Parker Jr.)--1984
"When Doves Cry" (Prince)--1984
Week 10--Monday
"Like a Virgin" (Madonna)--1985
"Part-Time Lover" (Stevie Wonder)--1985
"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" (Wham!)--1985
Week 10--Wednesday
"Addicted to Love" (Robert Palmer)--1986
"Conga" (Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine)--1986
"Kiss" (Prince and the Revolution)--1986
Week 10--Friday
"La Bamba" (Los Lobos)--1987
"La Isla Bonita" (Madonna)--1987
"I Wanna Dance With Somebody)--1987
Week 11--Monday
"The Lady in Red" (Chris De Burgh)--1987
"Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" (Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine)--1987
"Walk Like An Egyptian" (The Bangles)--1987
Week 11--Wednesday
Review for Quiz 2
Week 11--Friday
Quiz 2
Week 12--Monday
"Don't Worry, Be Happy" (Bobby McFerrin)--1988
"I Don't Want To Live Without You" (Foreigner)--1988
"Man in the Mirror" (Michael Jackson)--1988
Week 12--Wednesday
"One-Two-Three" (Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine)--1988
"Sign Your Name" (Terence Trent d'Arby)--1988
"Simply Irrestistible" (Robert Palmer)--1988
Week 12--Friday
"The Way You Make Me Feel" (Michael Jackson)---1988
"Wild, Wild, West" (The Escape Club)--1988
Week 13--Monday
"Eternal Flame" (The Bangles)--1989
"Express Yourself" (Madonna)--1989
"Giving You The Best That I've Got" (Anita Baker)--1989
Week 13--Wednesday
"Like a Prayer" (Madonna)--1989
"Love Shack" (The B-52s)--1989
"Wild Thing" (Tone Loc)--1989
Week 14--Monday
Review for Final Exam--Part 1
Week 14--Wednesday
Review for Final Exam--Part 2
Week 14--Friday
Review for Final Exam--Part 3
Week 15--Monday
Final Exam
Week 15--Wednesday
Makeups for Final Exam
Week 15--Friday
Makeups for Final Exam
Friday, May 24, 2013
Lessons Learned From the Eventual Farewell of the Original Evergreen Plaza
It is hitting hard on those who loved a shopping center that has ran for 60 years. And it includes me. And for a few other people, very hard. Almost everyone in the Beverly and Morgan Park neighborhoods knew that shopping center.
I also knew it too. But now almost everyone is hurt about what is going to happen to the old Evergreen Plaza, which was often nicknamed "The Plaza". After May 31st, this iconic shopping mall will be no more...it is going to be razed and re-built as a smaller mall, but not the old Evergreen Plaza a lot of past generations of Plaza shoppers all know (of course, "as we know it").
I remember in the 1970s when this place called Evergreen Plaza had almost all of the bells and whistles that had customers keep coming back:
1. It had almost every store you wanted to go to and most likely the place you can get your shopping done...even if it does not have "groceries" on your shopping list. You can get clothes that you want in a few clothing stores like Carson's, then eat something for a shopping break, and continue shopping for things like jewelry, or shoes, or even appliances (of course, you may remember the Montgomery Ward department store that was there for a long time in the mall) until you finish doing it. When I first came to the store, I can remember that there was a Walgreen's at one end (the north) and the Carson Pirie Scott and Co. store on the other side (the south end). The eateries (restaurants, cafes, coffee shops) were focused mainly in the middle but not too much, and some eateries are spread out along the long corridors of the mall.
2. In the 1980s, they had an arcade-game facility that was located on the south wing of the mall. I remember that on my school field-trips there. Yes, pinball machines and video games galore, and it included race games such as Pole Position.
3. I used to go to its adjacent movie-theater complex, and saw some pretty good movies there, such as "The Red Stallion" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark". A lot of other people who are movie-goers liked their free parking lot that was just outside the theater, to steer away from the heavy Western Avenue traffic.
4. The place had a double-decker parking lot facility for a time, but when the upper deck was decided to be razed in order to save money, I did not know at first that it was going to be the start of the demise of the mall.
My analysis of the reasons why Evergreen Plaza decided to end its 60-year run was this......I researched a bit through the Internet and also my knowledge of this shopping mall from going there for about several hundred times........
1. People are shopping on the Internet right now, and they are loving it so much. Yes, welcome to cyberspace--also known as online shopping. This is how they are trying to cut back on the usual expense related to shopping, which is gasoline prices. Sure, even with new sales taxes that are slapped on the Internet, and shipping and handling costs, still, the added expenses will be much less, and the ploy of "free deliveries" make Internet shopping a lot more.
2. Closing the movie theater complex that was adjacent to the mall (this happened in the 1990s) as a cost-cutting move instead caused a major loss in the mall's revenue, because the mall could not depend any more on ticket admission prices to keep up with some of the revenue expenses to run the mall.
3. The closing of the Drury Lane Martinique theater and the sprawl of a new shopping center complex just across the plaza just north on 95th street, which included the Sam's Club store, accelerated the Plaza's demise. I am guessing that in the 1970s, some people go to the Plaza to get their shopping done before they go see a theatrical performance at Drury Lane. But when Drury Lane was razed, this has an indirect effect on the Plaza I guess...forcing people to go somewhere a bit far to see a theatrical performance.
4. Then there was the housing crisis, which was worsened by the Great Recession of 2008. (You probably know about the so-called "subprime mortgages" which were partially to blame for the 2008 financial disaster.) With that, rent defaults on some of the Plaza stores went up as a result, resulting in shutdowns and/or foreclosures, and I had witnessed the consequences of that first-hand when I went to the Plaza in the new millennium....I saw empty and shut-down stores, and what used to be Plaza stores are now just steel locking, metal doors, and metal covers with no inventory or merchandise at all. This hit especially the discount businesses in the Plaza, including Payless Shoe Source, and you probably know all of this when they announce "Going Out Of Business" sales. An explosion of these "Going Out of Business" sales then spread to over half of the stores in the Plaza.....This meant a further loss of tenants, and that meant a major loss in rent revenues. And just like that, the 60-year party for the Plaza had no choice but to end. McDonald's used to be at the Plaza, and used to be its staple at the mall, but the focus on healthy eating caused McDonald's to first move to a different area where different restaurants were joined with them, and then, it was no longer there. I am guessing that the loss of McDonald's also slightly speeded up the end of the Plaza.
So the lesson here is this....I only hope that other existing shopping malls learn from the end of what we know as Evergreen Plaza, and do whatever they can to keep these malls from coming to their end just like what is going to happen to the aforementioned.
I also knew it too. But now almost everyone is hurt about what is going to happen to the old Evergreen Plaza, which was often nicknamed "The Plaza". After May 31st, this iconic shopping mall will be no more...it is going to be razed and re-built as a smaller mall, but not the old Evergreen Plaza a lot of past generations of Plaza shoppers all know (of course, "as we know it").
I remember in the 1970s when this place called Evergreen Plaza had almost all of the bells and whistles that had customers keep coming back:
1. It had almost every store you wanted to go to and most likely the place you can get your shopping done...even if it does not have "groceries" on your shopping list. You can get clothes that you want in a few clothing stores like Carson's, then eat something for a shopping break, and continue shopping for things like jewelry, or shoes, or even appliances (of course, you may remember the Montgomery Ward department store that was there for a long time in the mall) until you finish doing it. When I first came to the store, I can remember that there was a Walgreen's at one end (the north) and the Carson Pirie Scott and Co. store on the other side (the south end). The eateries (restaurants, cafes, coffee shops) were focused mainly in the middle but not too much, and some eateries are spread out along the long corridors of the mall.
2. In the 1980s, they had an arcade-game facility that was located on the south wing of the mall. I remember that on my school field-trips there. Yes, pinball machines and video games galore, and it included race games such as Pole Position.
3. I used to go to its adjacent movie-theater complex, and saw some pretty good movies there, such as "The Red Stallion" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark". A lot of other people who are movie-goers liked their free parking lot that was just outside the theater, to steer away from the heavy Western Avenue traffic.
4. The place had a double-decker parking lot facility for a time, but when the upper deck was decided to be razed in order to save money, I did not know at first that it was going to be the start of the demise of the mall.
My analysis of the reasons why Evergreen Plaza decided to end its 60-year run was this......I researched a bit through the Internet and also my knowledge of this shopping mall from going there for about several hundred times........
1. People are shopping on the Internet right now, and they are loving it so much. Yes, welcome to cyberspace--also known as online shopping. This is how they are trying to cut back on the usual expense related to shopping, which is gasoline prices. Sure, even with new sales taxes that are slapped on the Internet, and shipping and handling costs, still, the added expenses will be much less, and the ploy of "free deliveries" make Internet shopping a lot more.
2. Closing the movie theater complex that was adjacent to the mall (this happened in the 1990s) as a cost-cutting move instead caused a major loss in the mall's revenue, because the mall could not depend any more on ticket admission prices to keep up with some of the revenue expenses to run the mall.
3. The closing of the Drury Lane Martinique theater and the sprawl of a new shopping center complex just across the plaza just north on 95th street, which included the Sam's Club store, accelerated the Plaza's demise. I am guessing that in the 1970s, some people go to the Plaza to get their shopping done before they go see a theatrical performance at Drury Lane. But when Drury Lane was razed, this has an indirect effect on the Plaza I guess...forcing people to go somewhere a bit far to see a theatrical performance.
4. Then there was the housing crisis, which was worsened by the Great Recession of 2008. (You probably know about the so-called "subprime mortgages" which were partially to blame for the 2008 financial disaster.) With that, rent defaults on some of the Plaza stores went up as a result, resulting in shutdowns and/or foreclosures, and I had witnessed the consequences of that first-hand when I went to the Plaza in the new millennium....I saw empty and shut-down stores, and what used to be Plaza stores are now just steel locking, metal doors, and metal covers with no inventory or merchandise at all. This hit especially the discount businesses in the Plaza, including Payless Shoe Source, and you probably know all of this when they announce "Going Out Of Business" sales. An explosion of these "Going Out of Business" sales then spread to over half of the stores in the Plaza.....This meant a further loss of tenants, and that meant a major loss in rent revenues. And just like that, the 60-year party for the Plaza had no choice but to end. McDonald's used to be at the Plaza, and used to be its staple at the mall, but the focus on healthy eating caused McDonald's to first move to a different area where different restaurants were joined with them, and then, it was no longer there. I am guessing that the loss of McDonald's also slightly speeded up the end of the Plaza.
So the lesson here is this....I only hope that other existing shopping malls learn from the end of what we know as Evergreen Plaza, and do whatever they can to keep these malls from coming to their end just like what is going to happen to the aforementioned.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Classical Music Appreciation--The Messiah
THE MESSIAH
An oratorio by George Frederic Handel composed in 1741 that uses a chorus, an orchestra, and soloists (bass, tenor, alto, and soprano). It is often used in big-scale and small-scale performances near and at Christmastime.
It is now common tradition for the audience to be the chorus with no chorus in the back of the orchestra in some of the Messiah performances---the concept in this case is the Do-It-Yourself Messiah, which is a tradition especially in the Civic Opera House in Chicago.
Wikipedia’s concept of Messiah: “In English today, in religious contexts, it is used in two major contexts: the anticipated saviour of the Jews, which has to come in the future to bring ultimate peace on earth. And secondly, the one who is anticipated as, regarded as, or professes to be a saviour or liberator.” (Wikipedia 2007)
A Summary of the Messiah Oratorio
First part focuses on the birth of Jesus.
Examples:
“Pastoral Symphony” (for orchestra alone, key of C major)
---this instrumental depicts the Biblical story of the shepherds who use instruments to
announce that Jesus was born
“For Onto Us a Child is Born” (chorus, key of G major)
---this chorus focuses on melismatic runs, that is, a cascade of running notes usually on
one syllable or word (in this case, mostly on the word “born”)
Second Part focuses mainly on the Passion of Jesus (the last seven days leading to his arrest and crucifixion) as well as his Resurrection.
Examples:
“Behold the Lamb of God (chorus in G minor)
--a pathetic, slow moving description probably announcing Jesus’s suffering and death
on the cross, which resulted in the cleansing of the sins of humankind.
“Hallelujah Chorus” (chorus in D major)
--it is now common tradition in a Messiah concert performance that the audience
stand up during the chorus. This is because the text of that chorus announces that
Jesus has risen from the dead. (“Hallelujah” is standard Hebrew for “Let us praise”)
[This was because King George II rose up to his feet during the chorus, although not
certain that he did it.]
--the chorus is the most popular chorus in the oratorio
Third Part----focuses on part of the Biblical events after Jesus’ Ascension
Examples:
“I Know That My Redeemer Liveth” (for soprano and orchestra, E major)
---depicts a witness who felt the presence of Jesus going into heaven
“The Trumpet Shall Sound” (for bass and orchestra, D major)
---a great example of word painting. It is a triple meter piece of praise using only one
herald trumpet in the background with the orchestra. The piece depicts that the
dead will be resurrected to heaven with a clean slate of mind.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
My Picks For Songs for Air Guitar Routines - From Easy To Hard
MY PICKS FOR SONGS FOR AIR GUITAR ROUTINES - FROM EASY TO HARD
Ranges of Difficulty: Easy, Intermediate, Advanced
Easy: Songs picked in this category are chosen because these songs are easy to know almost off the first try to do your air guitar routine, with only at least basic music knowledge.
Intermediate: Songs picked in this category require you to understand at least something beyond basic music knowledge to master the air guitar routine in them.
Advanced: Songs picked in this category require you to have intermediate to advanced (preferable advanced) music knowledge because of heavy intricacies (like very fast shuffle rhythm, extended cadenzas (including cadenzas that sound strange), and complicated intros/outros).
EASY
"I Love Rock and Roll" (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts)
"So Happy Together" (The Ventures)
"Twist and Shout" (The Beatles)
"Vacation" (The Go-Gos)
"War Pigs" (Black Sabbath)
"We Are The Champions" (Queen)
"We Will Rock You" (Queen)
"We've Got The Beat" (The Go-Gos)
INTERMEDIATE
"Atomic Punk" (Van Halen)
"Bang Your Head" (Quiet Riot)
"Come On Feel The Noize" (Quiet Riot)
"Do You Love Me?" (The Contours)
"Don't Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (Rod Stewart)
"Edge of Seventeen" (Stevie Nicks)
"Emotional Rescue" (The Rolling Stones)
"Everybody Wants You" (Billy Squier)
"Evil Ways" (Santana)
"Eye Of The Tiger" (Survivor)
"Fifty Ways To Meet Your Lover" (Paul Simon)
"Foolin'" (Def Leppard)
"Get Back" (The Beatles)
"Glory Days" (Bruce Springsteen)
"Heart of Glass" (Blondie)
"Hit Me, Baby, One More Time" (Britney Spears)
"Hit Me With Your Best Shot" (Pat Benatar)
"I Want To Hold Your Hand" (The Beatles)
"Jessie's Girl" (Rick Springfield)
"Kiss" (Prince)
"Modern Love" (David Bowie)
"Oops, I Did It Again!" (Britney Spears)
"Paint It Black" (The Rolling Stones)
"Paranoia" (Black Sabbath)
"Pretty Woman" (Roy Orbison)
"Revolution" (The Beatles)
"Rock and Roll" (Led Zeppelin)
"Rock and Roll All Nite" (Kiss)
"Rock of Ages" (Def Leppard)
"T.N.T. (AC/DC)
"Walk Don't Run" (The Ventures)
"Welcome To Heartlight" (Kenny Loggins)
"What I Liked About You" (The Romantics)
"You've Really Got Me" (The Kinks)
ADVANCED
"Black Magic Woman" (Santana)
"Brown Sugar" (The Rolling Stones)
"Carnaval" (Santana)
"Dance, Sister Dance" (Santana)
"Detroit Rock City" (Kiss)
"Don't Speak" (No Doubt)
"Don't Tell Me You Love Me" (Night Ranger)
"Eddie's Coming Back [Tonight] (Night Ranger)
"Eruption" (Van Halen)
"Footloose" (Kenny Loggins)
"Johnny B. Goode" (Chuck Berry)
"Love Gun" (Kiss)
"Ice Cream Man" (Van Halen)
"I'm The One" (Van Halen)
"Let The Children Play" (Santana)
"Let's Dance" (David Bowie)
"Let's Go Crazy" (Prince)
"Live and Let Die" (The Beatles feat Paul McKartney)
"Money" (Pink Floyd)
"My Generation" (The Who)
"My Sharona" (The Knack)
"Paradise City" (Guns N' Roses)
"Pinball Wizard" (The Who)
"Purple Rain" (Prince)
"Rosanna" (Toto)
"Sabor" (Santana)
"Separate Ways" (Journey)
"Soul Sacrifice" (Santana)
"Stairway To Heaven" (Led Zeppelin)
"Stray Cat Strut" (Stray Cats)
"Teenage Wasteland" (The Who)
"The Power Of Love" (Huey Lewis And The News)
"The Wall" (Pink Floyd)
"Thunderstruck" (AC/DC)
"Too Hot For Teacher" (David Lee Roth/Van Halen)
"Touissant L'Ouverture" (Santana)
"Transcendence" (Santana)
"Valley Girl" (Frank Zappa)
"Walk This Way" (Run D.M.C/Aerosmith)
"Who Are You" (The Who)
"Won't Get Fooled Again" (The Who)
Ranges of Difficulty: Easy, Intermediate, Advanced
Easy: Songs picked in this category are chosen because these songs are easy to know almost off the first try to do your air guitar routine, with only at least basic music knowledge.
Intermediate: Songs picked in this category require you to understand at least something beyond basic music knowledge to master the air guitar routine in them.
Advanced: Songs picked in this category require you to have intermediate to advanced (preferable advanced) music knowledge because of heavy intricacies (like very fast shuffle rhythm, extended cadenzas (including cadenzas that sound strange), and complicated intros/outros).
EASY
"I Love Rock and Roll" (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts)
"So Happy Together" (The Ventures)
"Twist and Shout" (The Beatles)
"Vacation" (The Go-Gos)
"War Pigs" (Black Sabbath)
"We Are The Champions" (Queen)
"We Will Rock You" (Queen)
"We've Got The Beat" (The Go-Gos)
INTERMEDIATE
"Atomic Punk" (Van Halen)
"Bang Your Head" (Quiet Riot)
"Come On Feel The Noize" (Quiet Riot)
"Do You Love Me?" (The Contours)
"Don't Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (Rod Stewart)
"Edge of Seventeen" (Stevie Nicks)
"Emotional Rescue" (The Rolling Stones)
"Everybody Wants You" (Billy Squier)
"Evil Ways" (Santana)
"Eye Of The Tiger" (Survivor)
"Fifty Ways To Meet Your Lover" (Paul Simon)
"Foolin'" (Def Leppard)
"Get Back" (The Beatles)
"Glory Days" (Bruce Springsteen)
"Heart of Glass" (Blondie)
"Hit Me, Baby, One More Time" (Britney Spears)
"Hit Me With Your Best Shot" (Pat Benatar)
"I Want To Hold Your Hand" (The Beatles)
"Jessie's Girl" (Rick Springfield)
"Kiss" (Prince)
"Modern Love" (David Bowie)
"Oops, I Did It Again!" (Britney Spears)
"Paint It Black" (The Rolling Stones)
"Paranoia" (Black Sabbath)
"Pretty Woman" (Roy Orbison)
"Revolution" (The Beatles)
"Rock and Roll" (Led Zeppelin)
"Rock and Roll All Nite" (Kiss)
"Rock of Ages" (Def Leppard)
"T.N.T. (AC/DC)
"Walk Don't Run" (The Ventures)
"Welcome To Heartlight" (Kenny Loggins)
"What I Liked About You" (The Romantics)
"You've Really Got Me" (The Kinks)
ADVANCED
"Black Magic Woman" (Santana)
"Brown Sugar" (The Rolling Stones)
"Carnaval" (Santana)
"Dance, Sister Dance" (Santana)
"Detroit Rock City" (Kiss)
"Don't Speak" (No Doubt)
"Don't Tell Me You Love Me" (Night Ranger)
"Eddie's Coming Back [Tonight] (Night Ranger)
"Eruption" (Van Halen)
"Footloose" (Kenny Loggins)
"Johnny B. Goode" (Chuck Berry)
"Love Gun" (Kiss)
"Ice Cream Man" (Van Halen)
"I'm The One" (Van Halen)
"Let The Children Play" (Santana)
"Let's Dance" (David Bowie)
"Let's Go Crazy" (Prince)
"Live and Let Die" (The Beatles feat Paul McKartney)
"Money" (Pink Floyd)
"My Generation" (The Who)
"My Sharona" (The Knack)
"Paradise City" (Guns N' Roses)
"Pinball Wizard" (The Who)
"Purple Rain" (Prince)
"Rosanna" (Toto)
"Sabor" (Santana)
"Separate Ways" (Journey)
"Soul Sacrifice" (Santana)
"Stairway To Heaven" (Led Zeppelin)
"Stray Cat Strut" (Stray Cats)
"Teenage Wasteland" (The Who)
"The Power Of Love" (Huey Lewis And The News)
"The Wall" (Pink Floyd)
"Thunderstruck" (AC/DC)
"Too Hot For Teacher" (David Lee Roth/Van Halen)
"Touissant L'Ouverture" (Santana)
"Transcendence" (Santana)
"Valley Girl" (Frank Zappa)
"Walk This Way" (Run D.M.C/Aerosmith)
"Who Are You" (The Who)
"Won't Get Fooled Again" (The Who)
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
My Own Synopsis of the Guerrilla Documentary, "We Live In Public"
NOTE: THIS SYNOPSIS CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS. SO IF YOU CAN TOLERATE SPOILERS, READ ON.......
This is constructed from a letter I was going to give to the film director of "We Live in Public", Ondi Timoner...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I adore "We Live In Public" so divinely. I love the Internet, I also love Facebook, but I also had seen changes in the world that affect almost everyone.
We know what happened when 9-11 happened. And ever since I saw your film at I-Cubed Hypermedia, I backtracked every part that I liked about the film and hence I made up my own synopsis that I hope that you really like...
SYNOPSIS OF "WE LIVE IN PUBLIC"
(by Charles Joseph Smith)
Down in the vast, vast city which is known as New York City---a man who would be coined as "The Andy Warhol of the Internet", Josh Harris, had got caught up in the explosion of computers when he lived in this city.
In the 1980s, Josh Harris had seen the computer/electronic age bud with the Commodore computer keyboard, the IBM chip, dot-matrix printers, large VDT screens, and of course, 8-track tapes and hi-fi stereo systems like Zenith's Allegro and a defunct brand, Electrophonic, that were about to be dead. Reel-to-reel tapes, cassette tapes and its boomboxes, and filmstrips, were popular in those years, as well as the Kodachrome, the Polaroid camera, and the traditional video projector.
He also had seen the birth of the cellular telephones as bulky telephones at first before the smaller cell phones came up in the later 1990s.
He also had started to see IBM's rival....Apple, which presented the Macintosh computer, take full bloom. He had also seen the rise of the telephone and its big, big contributions to Internet communications at its very onset in the 1980s when interest in computers start to explode in earnest in this decade thanks to songs like "Mr. Roboto" by Styx and "Computer Blue" by Prince.
He had seen the power of the first thing the computer "per se" is now known for---the Internet, and with the help of the telephone, the Internet led to a new form of electronic communication....chatting, or chat rooms. He also knew that the Internet would be the most popular computer trend not only for the United States...but also the rest of the world.
He also had seen the power of TV networks spreading news, game shows, sports, and talk show programs all over the world.
So with that, he set up something radical...very, very radical...he formed his own "counter-broadcast" television network that he vowed would take the big broadcast networks like CNN, CBS, and NBC out of business.
He teamed up with mainly up-and-coming young middle-class and upper-class hipsters, counterculturalists, LGBTQ people, and other free-lovers and flower-people that he really knew to set up this network, which eventually would be called Pseudo-TV. ("Pseudo"--means false.)
The opening for Pseudo-TV was wild enough before his own big "experimental bunker party" that happened in the 3rd Millennnium. Josh Harris threw a big alternative party for this network, that would attract very quickly about 200-300 potential clients that would be either participants in his forming of Pseudo TV or fans of it.
In the end, about 1,000 to 1,500 fans were made by just one party!
As Pseudo-TV reached its peak with its out-of-this-world programs---half of them derived from or inspired by independent media's "talk radio", several of Josh's subordinates formed a Pseudo-TV talk show program named for an illicit firecracker...."Cherry Bomb", which would feature its host, lively Tanya Corrin, which would eventually become Josh's temporary love-interest.
As Pseudo-TV's fanbase blossomed to 20,000 or so, the FCC had become concerned about Josh's "counterfeit" network as well as the big TV and radio networks. At that point, Josh Harris decided to make a move that he thought would beckon the big communication juggernauts like CNN or similar stations to pay attention to Pseudo-TV...only to lead to the slow decadence of this alternative station in approximately 5 years.
In the spirit of being indirectly inspired by the young life of autistic Temple Grandin, who used an alter ego of hers to create her unusual dreams and worlds, Josh Harris decided to become a clown with a stage name (and eventually his alter-ego)....called Luvvy. Josh's plan was what I call "The Luvvy Project."
Sadly, the disheveled clown face and garb--as well as his unusually erratic clown behavior----created an intolerable reaction to most of the Pseudo-TV fans, and even betrayed Josh's best friend.
And at the same time, the big broadcast networks and the FCC went on an "counterinsurgent quest" to bring not only "Cherry Bomb" down...but also the whole Pseudo-TV network with it.
Eventually, Pseudo-TV had enough and had to call it quits....and pull its own plug.....for good.
With the complete destruction of Pseudo-TV, Josh who had became "Luvvy" still, had decided on a mission. A mission on a grand, grand scale in the counterculturalist world.
I speculated that Josh found a tenement loft in New York that was abandoned, and decided that this would be the perfect place to launch one of his most radical counterculturalist projects in the whole wide world!! People who are fans of or participated in "Burning Man" would adore his project very, very well! I would call this "The Millennium Bunker Project."
"The Millennium Bunker Project" was designed for a simulation of complete protection from the outside world...probably against the end of the world....when the Millennium struck on January 1, 2000.
Definitely this was based on the people's fears that Y2K could cripple entire computer systems and even stop atomic clocks from functioning.
The setup for this perhaps one of the Josh's wildest counterculturalist parties since Burning Man begins. Sandra Bernhard was not one of the invited guests (although I guessed she would be there)....but Missy Galore....was. I had known Missy Galore personally when she was doing VJ stuff at the Boneyard Arts Festival in 2005 in Urbana, IL. Now, she was in NY in this experimental hotel, preparing to survive the ultimate countercultural test--joining the other 100 or so partyers in the most radical space of all, dealing with closed quarters, occasional bangs of gunfire from a nearby shooting range (since the guns used in the compound were allowed thanks to NY film permits for the firearms), and of course...hundreds and hundreds of survelliance cameras set up not only at the compound's living quarters...but also in the party area (the "bar area") and the interrogation room area.
As the partyers enter in the first minutes inside the compound, they are almost like cattle...milling around the beds, the firearm range, the bar area, and are searching the bunk beds to find the perfect bed for them.
As more partyers enter, there is a type of noise level that you probably only expect probably if this was the 4th of July. More people are in the firearm range shooting guns. Some people in the compound are starting to become scared of the bangs. But some others start to be impervious to the gunfire and are using anti-fear techniques like free-love and friendship with all of the mates inside this unusual hangout.
Then, the interrogation room opens and actors pretending to be
interrogators suit up and make their way to this room which I would call the "torture room."
As the last partyer enters the bunker, the interrogation room already had several participants acting as "victims". Then the "fuzz"...partyers who volunteered to pretend to be cops and security guards, mill around the area in a benign way at first at the partyers. The food and drink starts to flow, television screens go on, and the party starts off like any other alternative party.
As the big millennium party approaches and the last hours of midnight approaches as well, the fake cops and security guards start to become a bit more belligerent, a bit more violent, a bit more sadistic. The music starts to become louder, and the bar starts to serve more alcohol than cocktails.
Meanwhile, half the participants are scared of those video surveillance cameras, and those who got out of the interrogation room are afraid of their emotions and afraid that they could be sent to that dreaded room again.
Quick exchanges of friendship and what I call "hipstery" are starting to explode gradually in the bunker's living quarters and in the bar (Hipstery is, in my words, mainly friendships and relationships related to the LGBTQ or any free-love attitudes, or attitudes relating to "flower love" or "flower girls"). The music starts to grow louder and...you probably guess that something is going to turn "ugly" at the bunker soon.
As the food runs out near the millennium, participants attitudes' change. What started out as simple foreplay, debonair joys, and hunky-dory communications by partyers under the veil of video cameras started to turn gradually chaotic.
More people are joining the "bang"---firing guns at the firing range...in the tradition of Americans firing guns in the air at midnight to celebrate the first minutes of the first midnight hour of the first day of the New Year.
At the same time, about 10-15 more people had gone out of the interrogation room in shock, and this shock spreads almost all over the compound. Chaos starts to gradually grow as midnight approaches.
As the Millennium approaches and midnight is struck, the scene becomes progressively more chaotic. People are flying beer cans, and overt sexual activity exponentiates to the stratosphere, especially in the shower area, and others are starting to scream their hearts out and even fight with fists at themselves...at each other...and even at other found objects.
More gunfire explodes into the air, and then, the whole bunker scene turns into the most chaotic....leading to the most climatic scene of anarchy ever in any guerrilla documentary that I had ever seen!. People start to pillage the place with brute force, tear down papers and make messes on the floor with juices and beer; there is even more explicit sex, and even more screaming explodes into wildfire.
This ultimate anarchy is definitely reminiscent of the Disco Demolition Night in White Sox Park on July 12, 1976, when 12,000 fans out of the 52,000 in attendance decided to storm the field after the 50,000 disco records in center field were blown up by DJ personality Steve Dahl and his Insane Coho Lips Army (with the help of Lorelei, the Loop Lady) with pyrotechnics and dynamite.
Sadly, the loud chaos was overheard by those in the party outside that were supposed to work as counterculturlist security guards...I call them CDGs. CDGs were stationed outside the entrances of the bunker to keep NYPD officers from getting into the party and playing off any attempt by NYPD officers to enter the ultra-countercultrulist compound. But the exponential explosion of noise complaints inside the compound forced those CDGs to give up to the police upon threat of arrest and they (the police) had no choice but to enter the compound. And when the NYPD came right into the "compound", with a search warrant in a form of a "vacate order", it meant one big thing...
THE "COUNTERCULTURLIST PARTY TO END ALL COUNTERCULTURALIST PARTIES" IS OFFICIALLY SHUT DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!
YOU ARE ORDERED TO VACATE THE COMPOUND IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All of the partyers were escorted out of the compound 12-14 hours after the millennium struck by NYPD police, citing several things: a very dangerous cult that got out of hand, forced confinement without giving the partyers additional food and water, and hosts allowing the partyers to resort to criminal mischief and a litany of disorderly, lewd, and dangerous acts, which included mob action and of course, the firing of guns, and not having a general permit to hold such a party.
Then, Josh Harris entered the already closed compound and saw 3 other partyers who successfully hid from the police after the partyers were ordered vacated. He tells them with a point of a finger and gives the heave-ho signal and says to them....."OUT! OUT! OUT! I don't want to see you in this place anymore...Out! Out! Out! OUUTTTT!!!"
As the final people are forced out, Josh is feeling extremely depressed and dejected.
With his "bunker project" flatlined, Josh had decided to hold the "After the vacating of the bunker" party with 25-30 of his bunker party participants on a boat on a New York river. He went to one of his love interests, Tanya Corrin, who appeared as the host of "Cherry Bomb" until Pseudo-TV came under, and proposed marriage. Tanya very gladly accepted, and then with that, Josh Harris started his new project that came out of the defunct "millennium bunker" project.
He and Tanya decided to retrofit their apartment (probably a condo) with 50 to 60 survelliance cameras. I watched "Enemy of the State" and I had seen the awful power of the denuding of a person's privacy when surveillance cameras are rolling at that person...it happened to Will Smith. But Josh's and Tanya's project of having their entire intimate relationship life on survelliance cameras was extremely shocking. I see their private talkings, their conversations in the bathroom, sex in the bedroom, and even domestic violence!! Then, as the crash of April 14, 2000 wipes out half of Josh's financial assets....and eventually a lot more assets than that....Josh and Tanya resort to more fighting, more arguing, and even more talk about money. Eventually, Tanya's realization that Josh cannot afford expenses to keep up with her causes Tanya to say, "THIS RELATIONSHIP....IS OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
As Tanya leaves the camera-ridden house, Josh is left alone in the apartment to suffer for a long time not only the loss of Tanya, but also the pain of nearly being homeless.
Indirectly, it is the attitude of Josh being "Luvvy" that caused Tanya to opt-out, and eventually, with exponential expenses of living hitting at Josh very, very hard, Josh had no choice but to leave the apartment about a short time after Tanya left the place for good. And like Tanya, Josh leaves the place for the last time...as I say again, for good!
He resorts to a partial exile by temporarily living on a tree farm, where bits of "Luvvy" still continue. He uses his rifle to shoot at an abandoned barn in the farm in angry gest to the "big brother" and all of the juggernauts that ruined his life. Eventually, Josh had enough of living in the country and had thought of an idea of going back to the city to try to create a brand new pitch that could rescue him from his downfall. Will this thing work for Josh, and will he do it without Tanya Corrin at his helm?
In one last pitch, Josh goes to the city, to a software developing company that also is home to the corporate offices of MySpace, for his pitch...he was telling that company about his strong tech-savvy accomplishments in the 1980s decade of the computer world, to try to make his own company...Josh's. He already founded a netcasting company, Operator 11, which ran quite well for a time, and had thoughts to expand the company. Regrettably, the software developing company declined his offer and he was left holding the bag in shame. The reason for the rejection was simple...his "Luvvy-like" behavior when he was living it up when Pseudo-TV was on the air and the domestic fight with Tanya Corrin in Josh's second project. Soon afterwards, Josh ran out of money very quickly--so quickly that he had no choice but to end his "Operator 11" project forever.
With the "Luvvy" ego completely destroyed in his life and Josh on the ropes to severe penury, he resorted to Garveyism (acting like Marcus Garvey, an African-American who had Pan-Africanist ideals when he moved to Africa to escape the racism of the United States of America)....he moved out of the country in exile, almost like Romeo was when he was forced to in "Romeo and Juliet."
His exile was under raps for awhile until Josh Harris was spotted in another country....in Africa.
Even with the exile to Africa complete, at the end of the movie, Josh said his newly ascetic behavior cleansed him from all of the toxic cravings that ruined his business, his former girlfriend, and his sanity, and he declares that he had seen the effects of the exponential growth of the Internet in the form of social networks like Facebook, Linkedin and MySpace, where any person joining such networks, regrettably, have to give up privacy in return for trying to create their own fame.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am no Roger Ebert...but I give the movie FIVE STARS! I am not kidding....FIVE STARS!! Good job, Ondi, but I am sorry that I was unable to see you Monday night in Chicago......
Very good job, Ondi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
:):) :)
Most sincerely yours,
Charles Joseph Smith
Fan of "We Live in Public"
This is constructed from a letter I was going to give to the film director of "We Live in Public", Ondi Timoner...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I adore "We Live In Public" so divinely. I love the Internet, I also love Facebook, but I also had seen changes in the world that affect almost everyone.
We know what happened when 9-11 happened. And ever since I saw your film at I-Cubed Hypermedia, I backtracked every part that I liked about the film and hence I made up my own synopsis that I hope that you really like...
SYNOPSIS OF "WE LIVE IN PUBLIC"
(by Charles Joseph Smith)
Down in the vast, vast city which is known as New York City---a man who would be coined as "The Andy Warhol of the Internet", Josh Harris, had got caught up in the explosion of computers when he lived in this city.
In the 1980s, Josh Harris had seen the computer/electronic age bud with the Commodore computer keyboard, the IBM chip, dot-matrix printers, large VDT screens, and of course, 8-track tapes and hi-fi stereo systems like Zenith's Allegro and a defunct brand, Electrophonic, that were about to be dead. Reel-to-reel tapes, cassette tapes and its boomboxes, and filmstrips, were popular in those years, as well as the Kodachrome, the Polaroid camera, and the traditional video projector.
He also had seen the birth of the cellular telephones as bulky telephones at first before the smaller cell phones came up in the later 1990s.
He also had started to see IBM's rival....Apple, which presented the Macintosh computer, take full bloom. He had also seen the rise of the telephone and its big, big contributions to Internet communications at its very onset in the 1980s when interest in computers start to explode in earnest in this decade thanks to songs like "Mr. Roboto" by Styx and "Computer Blue" by Prince.
He had seen the power of the first thing the computer "per se" is now known for---the Internet, and with the help of the telephone, the Internet led to a new form of electronic communication....chatting, or chat rooms. He also knew that the Internet would be the most popular computer trend not only for the United States...but also the rest of the world.
He also had seen the power of TV networks spreading news, game shows, sports, and talk show programs all over the world.
So with that, he set up something radical...very, very radical...he formed his own "counter-broadcast" television network that he vowed would take the big broadcast networks like CNN, CBS, and NBC out of business.
He teamed up with mainly up-and-coming young middle-class and upper-class hipsters, counterculturalists, LGBTQ people, and other free-lovers and flower-people that he really knew to set up this network, which eventually would be called Pseudo-TV. ("Pseudo"--means false.)
The opening for Pseudo-TV was wild enough before his own big "experimental bunker party" that happened in the 3rd Millennnium. Josh Harris threw a big alternative party for this network, that would attract very quickly about 200-300 potential clients that would be either participants in his forming of Pseudo TV or fans of it.
In the end, about 1,000 to 1,500 fans were made by just one party!
As Pseudo-TV reached its peak with its out-of-this-world programs---half of them derived from or inspired by independent media's "talk radio", several of Josh's subordinates formed a Pseudo-TV talk show program named for an illicit firecracker...."Cherry Bomb", which would feature its host, lively Tanya Corrin, which would eventually become Josh's temporary love-interest.
As Pseudo-TV's fanbase blossomed to 20,000 or so, the FCC had become concerned about Josh's "counterfeit" network as well as the big TV and radio networks. At that point, Josh Harris decided to make a move that he thought would beckon the big communication juggernauts like CNN or similar stations to pay attention to Pseudo-TV...only to lead to the slow decadence of this alternative station in approximately 5 years.
In the spirit of being indirectly inspired by the young life of autistic Temple Grandin, who used an alter ego of hers to create her unusual dreams and worlds, Josh Harris decided to become a clown with a stage name (and eventually his alter-ego)....called Luvvy. Josh's plan was what I call "The Luvvy Project."
Sadly, the disheveled clown face and garb--as well as his unusually erratic clown behavior----created an intolerable reaction to most of the Pseudo-TV fans, and even betrayed Josh's best friend.
And at the same time, the big broadcast networks and the FCC went on an "counterinsurgent quest" to bring not only "Cherry Bomb" down...but also the whole Pseudo-TV network with it.
Eventually, Pseudo-TV had enough and had to call it quits....and pull its own plug.....for good.
With the complete destruction of Pseudo-TV, Josh who had became "Luvvy" still, had decided on a mission. A mission on a grand, grand scale in the counterculturalist world.
I speculated that Josh found a tenement loft in New York that was abandoned, and decided that this would be the perfect place to launch one of his most radical counterculturalist projects in the whole wide world!! People who are fans of or participated in "Burning Man" would adore his project very, very well! I would call this "The Millennium Bunker Project."
"The Millennium Bunker Project" was designed for a simulation of complete protection from the outside world...probably against the end of the world....when the Millennium struck on January 1, 2000.
Definitely this was based on the people's fears that Y2K could cripple entire computer systems and even stop atomic clocks from functioning.
The setup for this perhaps one of the Josh's wildest counterculturalist parties since Burning Man begins. Sandra Bernhard was not one of the invited guests (although I guessed she would be there)....but Missy Galore....was. I had known Missy Galore personally when she was doing VJ stuff at the Boneyard Arts Festival in 2005 in Urbana, IL. Now, she was in NY in this experimental hotel, preparing to survive the ultimate countercultural test--joining the other 100 or so partyers in the most radical space of all, dealing with closed quarters, occasional bangs of gunfire from a nearby shooting range (since the guns used in the compound were allowed thanks to NY film permits for the firearms), and of course...hundreds and hundreds of survelliance cameras set up not only at the compound's living quarters...but also in the party area (the "bar area") and the interrogation room area.
As the partyers enter in the first minutes inside the compound, they are almost like cattle...milling around the beds, the firearm range, the bar area, and are searching the bunk beds to find the perfect bed for them.
As more partyers enter, there is a type of noise level that you probably only expect probably if this was the 4th of July. More people are in the firearm range shooting guns. Some people in the compound are starting to become scared of the bangs. But some others start to be impervious to the gunfire and are using anti-fear techniques like free-love and friendship with all of the mates inside this unusual hangout.
Then, the interrogation room opens and actors pretending to be
interrogators suit up and make their way to this room which I would call the "torture room."
As the last partyer enters the bunker, the interrogation room already had several participants acting as "victims". Then the "fuzz"...partyers who volunteered to pretend to be cops and security guards, mill around the area in a benign way at first at the partyers. The food and drink starts to flow, television screens go on, and the party starts off like any other alternative party.
As the big millennium party approaches and the last hours of midnight approaches as well, the fake cops and security guards start to become a bit more belligerent, a bit more violent, a bit more sadistic. The music starts to become louder, and the bar starts to serve more alcohol than cocktails.
Meanwhile, half the participants are scared of those video surveillance cameras, and those who got out of the interrogation room are afraid of their emotions and afraid that they could be sent to that dreaded room again.
Quick exchanges of friendship and what I call "hipstery" are starting to explode gradually in the bunker's living quarters and in the bar (Hipstery is, in my words, mainly friendships and relationships related to the LGBTQ or any free-love attitudes, or attitudes relating to "flower love" or "flower girls"). The music starts to grow louder and...you probably guess that something is going to turn "ugly" at the bunker soon.
As the food runs out near the millennium, participants attitudes' change. What started out as simple foreplay, debonair joys, and hunky-dory communications by partyers under the veil of video cameras started to turn gradually chaotic.
More people are joining the "bang"---firing guns at the firing range...in the tradition of Americans firing guns in the air at midnight to celebrate the first minutes of the first midnight hour of the first day of the New Year.
At the same time, about 10-15 more people had gone out of the interrogation room in shock, and this shock spreads almost all over the compound. Chaos starts to gradually grow as midnight approaches.
As the Millennium approaches and midnight is struck, the scene becomes progressively more chaotic. People are flying beer cans, and overt sexual activity exponentiates to the stratosphere, especially in the shower area, and others are starting to scream their hearts out and even fight with fists at themselves...at each other...and even at other found objects.
More gunfire explodes into the air, and then, the whole bunker scene turns into the most chaotic....leading to the most climatic scene of anarchy ever in any guerrilla documentary that I had ever seen!. People start to pillage the place with brute force, tear down papers and make messes on the floor with juices and beer; there is even more explicit sex, and even more screaming explodes into wildfire.
This ultimate anarchy is definitely reminiscent of the Disco Demolition Night in White Sox Park on July 12, 1976, when 12,000 fans out of the 52,000 in attendance decided to storm the field after the 50,000 disco records in center field were blown up by DJ personality Steve Dahl and his Insane Coho Lips Army (with the help of Lorelei, the Loop Lady) with pyrotechnics and dynamite.
Sadly, the loud chaos was overheard by those in the party outside that were supposed to work as counterculturlist security guards...I call them CDGs. CDGs were stationed outside the entrances of the bunker to keep NYPD officers from getting into the party and playing off any attempt by NYPD officers to enter the ultra-countercultrulist compound. But the exponential explosion of noise complaints inside the compound forced those CDGs to give up to the police upon threat of arrest and they (the police) had no choice but to enter the compound. And when the NYPD came right into the "compound", with a search warrant in a form of a "vacate order", it meant one big thing...
THE "COUNTERCULTURLIST PARTY TO END ALL COUNTERCULTURALIST PARTIES" IS OFFICIALLY SHUT DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!
YOU ARE ORDERED TO VACATE THE COMPOUND IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All of the partyers were escorted out of the compound 12-14 hours after the millennium struck by NYPD police, citing several things: a very dangerous cult that got out of hand, forced confinement without giving the partyers additional food and water, and hosts allowing the partyers to resort to criminal mischief and a litany of disorderly, lewd, and dangerous acts, which included mob action and of course, the firing of guns, and not having a general permit to hold such a party.
Then, Josh Harris entered the already closed compound and saw 3 other partyers who successfully hid from the police after the partyers were ordered vacated. He tells them with a point of a finger and gives the heave-ho signal and says to them....."OUT! OUT! OUT! I don't want to see you in this place anymore...Out! Out! Out! OUUTTTT!!!"
As the final people are forced out, Josh is feeling extremely depressed and dejected.
With his "bunker project" flatlined, Josh had decided to hold the "After the vacating of the bunker" party with 25-30 of his bunker party participants on a boat on a New York river. He went to one of his love interests, Tanya Corrin, who appeared as the host of "Cherry Bomb" until Pseudo-TV came under, and proposed marriage. Tanya very gladly accepted, and then with that, Josh Harris started his new project that came out of the defunct "millennium bunker" project.
He and Tanya decided to retrofit their apartment (probably a condo) with 50 to 60 survelliance cameras. I watched "Enemy of the State" and I had seen the awful power of the denuding of a person's privacy when surveillance cameras are rolling at that person...it happened to Will Smith. But Josh's and Tanya's project of having their entire intimate relationship life on survelliance cameras was extremely shocking. I see their private talkings, their conversations in the bathroom, sex in the bedroom, and even domestic violence!! Then, as the crash of April 14, 2000 wipes out half of Josh's financial assets....and eventually a lot more assets than that....Josh and Tanya resort to more fighting, more arguing, and even more talk about money. Eventually, Tanya's realization that Josh cannot afford expenses to keep up with her causes Tanya to say, "THIS RELATIONSHIP....IS OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
As Tanya leaves the camera-ridden house, Josh is left alone in the apartment to suffer for a long time not only the loss of Tanya, but also the pain of nearly being homeless.
Indirectly, it is the attitude of Josh being "Luvvy" that caused Tanya to opt-out, and eventually, with exponential expenses of living hitting at Josh very, very hard, Josh had no choice but to leave the apartment about a short time after Tanya left the place for good. And like Tanya, Josh leaves the place for the last time...as I say again, for good!
He resorts to a partial exile by temporarily living on a tree farm, where bits of "Luvvy" still continue. He uses his rifle to shoot at an abandoned barn in the farm in angry gest to the "big brother" and all of the juggernauts that ruined his life. Eventually, Josh had enough of living in the country and had thought of an idea of going back to the city to try to create a brand new pitch that could rescue him from his downfall. Will this thing work for Josh, and will he do it without Tanya Corrin at his helm?
In one last pitch, Josh goes to the city, to a software developing company that also is home to the corporate offices of MySpace, for his pitch...he was telling that company about his strong tech-savvy accomplishments in the 1980s decade of the computer world, to try to make his own company...Josh's. He already founded a netcasting company, Operator 11, which ran quite well for a time, and had thoughts to expand the company. Regrettably, the software developing company declined his offer and he was left holding the bag in shame. The reason for the rejection was simple...his "Luvvy-like" behavior when he was living it up when Pseudo-TV was on the air and the domestic fight with Tanya Corrin in Josh's second project. Soon afterwards, Josh ran out of money very quickly--so quickly that he had no choice but to end his "Operator 11" project forever.
With the "Luvvy" ego completely destroyed in his life and Josh on the ropes to severe penury, he resorted to Garveyism (acting like Marcus Garvey, an African-American who had Pan-Africanist ideals when he moved to Africa to escape the racism of the United States of America)....he moved out of the country in exile, almost like Romeo was when he was forced to in "Romeo and Juliet."
His exile was under raps for awhile until Josh Harris was spotted in another country....in Africa.
Even with the exile to Africa complete, at the end of the movie, Josh said his newly ascetic behavior cleansed him from all of the toxic cravings that ruined his business, his former girlfriend, and his sanity, and he declares that he had seen the effects of the exponential growth of the Internet in the form of social networks like Facebook, Linkedin and MySpace, where any person joining such networks, regrettably, have to give up privacy in return for trying to create their own fame.
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I am no Roger Ebert...but I give the movie FIVE STARS! I am not kidding....FIVE STARS!! Good job, Ondi, but I am sorry that I was unable to see you Monday night in Chicago......
Very good job, Ondi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
:):) :)
Most sincerely yours,
Charles Joseph Smith
Fan of "We Live in Public"
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