Auto tune the news rocks....

So the new Auto Tune the News was released a few days ago. #7!! if you haven't seen them, do yourself a favor and set aside a half hour to do so.

Musically, its not as good as #s 6 and 3, but thematically...wow, the meta ironies abound.

The lyrics they interject are for the most part about or a comment about the disparate treatment and conidions of whites and blacks. From there, they go into race relations.

Race relations!

oooh, the ironies.

Firstly, the Gregories and their friend are rapping, which is steeped in Black American cutlture: from the funk rap of Grandmaster Flash, to the East Coast, West Coast rivalry, to Topac to Biggie Smalls, to P Diddy, Lauren Hill, to Kanye West, and on and on. Whats more, its an auto-tuned electronica rap, a style popularized by T-Pain and Kanye West.

This is the musical genre a bunch of white kids chose to talk race relations.

ooooh, and it gets better.

They then feature Congressman Dan Lungren, and his speech on the house floor in which he rewrote the lyrics of "Trouble" from the Music Man. This is an - probably unintentional - homage to white's rap roots, and a time when Meredith Willson profited from the popularization of an early form of rap.

And to cap it all off, the end with setting Katie Couric on auto-tune and letting her run wild. (remind me, next time i need a melody for something, to just auto-tune Katie). Whats her topic? Texting. A Millenial mode of communication. Go figure...i saw a Gen-Y connection and i pointed it out =p

And yet...

this discussion ends playing on a Gen-Y matter/device. And when seen through the prism of the Millenial's Laissez-faire multiculuralism, the three white kids rapping - dressed in their rap/hip-hop finest and spouting "Shawty" - doesn't seem out of place at all.

I swear, this thing is an unintentional college thesis on cultrual integration and race relations waiting to happen.

~M

I seem to be writing a lot about gay marriage...

but i'm not going to lie. I want a husband and kids someday. Straight men and straight women the world over refuse this sort of relationship, but i am kinda a romantic. As a side note, i find it funny that its usually the pursuit of a spouse and kids that leads one to conservative values, while that exact same search for me (for future years way off and all...) leads to liberal values.

anyways, not the point

two great articles/posts. This from the NYT about NY recognizing marriages made in other states, like Vermont or Cali.

oh, and speaking of Cali...turns out the people aren't so opposed to same-sex marriage as people might think. (yes, the post is from Andrew Sullivan. Again. I heart him, because he is smart) Yeah the innitiative is going to be on the ballot in November. But i don't think it will (and i pray to the God i don't believe in that it doesn't) pass. And, facinating and apropo to my other recent posts, acceptance of same-sex marriage is greater (read 2:1 in favor) in the younger generation, favored by more than 10 points in the middle generation, and opposed by high teen/low 20's in the 65+ crowd.

and people disagree with me when i say we are a more open and accepting generation....go GenY!!

on another note

Gen X vs. Millenials (Gen Y).

Omg, i laughed so hard at this article i got looks in the office.

...nice wand =P

~M

I am Millennial, hear me....well, roar over the internet!

For those who know me, you know i'm not really a person who has an overabundance of pride in things. School spirit? "eh." College spirit? "we have sports teams? God i hate my school..." patriotic spirit? "have you seen the title of this blog?"

About the main things i take pride in are my friends and my creative stuff (shows, stories, etc).

But i've been having an awful lot of Generational Pride. Or what you can call Millennial Pride, because i realize just how cool our generation is.

Guess what? others are noticing. Thanks Obama.

I can't tell you the number of articles i've been reading about the generational gap that has appeared in national politics (consensus reading something like this: below 45? Obama. Above 65? Clinton/McCain.) . As a result of this sudden noticing of the Gen-Y'ers, more and more attention is being spent analyzing who we are.

For those who don't know, Gen-Y (aka Millenials) is roughly those born 1984/5 onward to the late 90's. We're inventive, and the first tech/internet savvy generation. Oh, and did i mention we lean to the Left (come on, i had to throw politics into this). We grew up under Clinton I, but came of age in the catastrophe that is Bush II.

Don't believe me? looky-looky (i got Hooky!)

If you want a good article, here's Bob Herbert from today's NYT Op-Ed section.

money quote:

--
“Millennials mostly reject the conservative viewpoint that government is the problem, and that free markets always produce the best results for society. Indeed, Millennials’ views are more progressive than those of other age groups today, and are more progressive than previous generations when they were younger.”
--

Anyways, just thought i'd say that we rock. Hooray for inclusive, progressiveness. Take that, Boomers!