I mentioned in December how an obnoxious pair of parents was trying to bully the public education system into changing the rules for their daughter in an extracurricular activity because she is a senior. Guess what? They won. Now a girl has been removed from a part a month before the show because the family knew enough people in the board of ed to toss in the suggestion that, with 1.8 million to cut from the budget, Drama was expendable. Of course, they'll now go back on those rumblings and point out how maybe the varsity sports team doesn't need, say, 4 new uniforms per student each year. And the oh so popular cut the music programs. Apparently, the school system thinks instrumental, vocal, and orchestral performance are luxuries, and all students actually need is music appreciation. I could rant for a while, and I won't. My job is safe, and even safer now that the awful choreographer has been forced into early retirement by the principal and replaced. Safest of all is the drama teacher's desire to ensure she has a source of income coming in just in case by starting a for profit community theater group. So, yay? Students don't have performing arts anymore but at least I keep my job? I'll end on this: does the school need to spend a half a million dollars on two robotics teams? Or provide free room and board to cheerleaders traveling to competition when music students always had to pay out of pocket? I think there are clear budget cuts (like, why is the superintendent earning $600,000+ a year or why do three Pre-k through 2nd grade schools need vice principals, deans of discipline, and 8+ member secretarial pools?) The 2009 Grammys: Part 3: There are some categories that seem very strange to be honoring. For example: why is there a category honoring promotional material that often results in record labels really losing a lot more money than they should on an artist? I'm speaking, of course, of Best Short Form Music Video. Although it might be nice to think in more idealistic tones, the fact is that music videos are roughly 4 minute commercials to sell records. They really don't earn money for television stations, and attempts to commercialize the medium (do you remember Music Video Singles? or what about iTunes downloadable videos?) have not been particularly successful. If commercial success didn't include such a strong need for televised advertising, there wouldn't be nearly as many flashy, over the top, bloated, lumbering, monstrous music videos produced. These were the nominees for Best Short Form Music Video: Erykah Badu - "Honey" - Honestly, I thought this was the clear winner. It's the most innovative and interesting of the nominees, and arguably the most polished presentation: Gnarls Barkley - "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" - This is also an interesting video, but the production of it overshadows the song by quite a bit. Let's be honest: way too gore-intensive for non-horror awards:

Jack White and Alicia Keys - "Another Way to Die" - It's a James Bond song with a slick video; in other words, it's an honor to be nominated: Radiohead - "House of Cards" - Another cool, strong, weird video from Radiohead: Which leaves us with the winner, the video that leaves me with a wtf reaction to the Grammys this year: Weezer - Pork and Beans - Oh look, they copied Internet memes. How...special? Precious? Really, really irritating to see creative theft be rewarded over four nominees who had different ideas?:

I'm leaving it there. Still really upset about those awful parents. Not even joking: I almost quit the show. I was closer to physically attacking the father, and closest to telling him what I really thought of his daughter's "incredible" "talent". And I'm not an angry person. It takes a lot to work me up. New topic on Tuesday. See you then.

Labels: alicia keys, drama, erykah badu, gnarls barkley, grammys, jack white, music video, Radiohead, weezer