American Music Awards: Justin Bieber Beats Lady Gaga For Breakthrough Artist

At the American Music Awards, Justin Bieber wins his first T-Mobile Breakthrough Artist of The Year. The vote was cast by fans, so for Bieber that spells victory. Justin has a teen and even kid fan base that's rabid.

But what angered some is Justin Bieber beat the legendary Lady Gaga for the American Music Awards T-Mobile Breakthrough Artist of The Year award. Some are commenting that she "was robbed."

That's not the case.

While Lady Gaga fans are upset, they didn't show up to vote for her in numbers to put her over Justin Bieber.

That's the way this kind of award's going to go.

It's based on who's fans are more likely to use text to cast a vote. Justin's got almost everyone beat, including, it seems Lady Gaga.

That does not mean he's better than she at music.  

Jay Rosen Explains Fox News, Blondes, While On Drunk Scotch Rant

While this blogger was out Friday night celebrating Cal Stanford Big Game week and the game that was to be played Saturday, NYU Professor Jay Rosen was making this video explaining Fox News, while drinking scotch-on-the-rocks.

Jay's too close to the camera and talks for 14 minutes, but is worth listening to, nonetheless. You just have to get over the obvious, which is that Jay's had a few drinks. Still, it's a pretty interesting way to do a serious video: tipsy. He admits this in a way, by stating that his views are not "coherent" in their presentation, but "related."

That's a cool way of saying "I'm about to go on a drunken rant."

Professor Rosen claims that Fox News isn't a news channel because nothing really ever changes in terms of the way the content is presented. Rosen says that Fox News is "resentment news" where Bill O'Reilly represents the "genre of resentment news" and that "comes naturally" because he was looked down on at Inside Edition, but overcame that.

Rosen says all Bill has to do is tap into his emotions from that time. Of course, this is a lot of bullshit, but it sounds good and provides food for thought.

Rosen claims that Fox News taps into the age-old desire to topple the cultural elite and points to Richard Hofstaeder ' book, The Paranoid Style In American Politics, as the intellectual source for his view.  In that book, Richard writes:

I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind.

Jay's point is Fox News content is based on "exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy."

Blondes Are Key To Fox News

But later in the video, Jay takes a scotch-aided right turn and on the matter of the entertainment component in news says "This is why Fox is distinguished by its blondes. Blondes are really important for understanding the formula at Fox."

He forgot the legs and short skirts on Fox News, too:



Jay could have done this video in three or four minutes, tops. But it's Friday night and he's at home.

Getting roasted on scotch!

Camcorder Comparison: Flip Video vs. Sony Bloggie

This is a quick comparison of the Flip Video with the Sony Bloggie. This blogger purchased a Sony Bloggie this Summer 2010 and ended up returning it the next day. The Sony Bloggie's rotating head lens was such that it was difficult to keep exact focus on video subjects.

More to the point of how this video blogger creates videos, the Sony Bloggie's rotating head makes my method of "eye-level" vlogging hard to implement. On top of that, my slightly damp hand was enough to produce what felt like a small electric current, making the camcorder hard to hold.

Where that came from is not known; the Bloggie was taken back to the Sears in Oakland, California that Sunday.

On the matter of Sears in Oakland, that department store carried the Flip Video on its shelves, but for some reason stopped doing so. The camcorder they featured was The Sony Bloggie.

Unless and until Sony gets rid of the rotating head, forget purchasing the Sony Bloggie. The Flip Video camcorder series is easier to use and more reliable. The Flip Video is this video-blogger's camcorder of choice.   That's true for CNN as well:

Rihanna - What's My Name? Ft. Drake - Lyrics

This song by Rihanna on the Def Jam Label, with Drake providing rap backup support, was released on October 29th, 2010. In just less than a month, the YouTube video of What's My Name has gained 18 million views.

But of equal interest is the "behind the scenes" video of the making of the What's My Name video, where we see Rihanna and Drake as they really are: normal people with great talent creating an artistic product. Here's that video:



Lyrics:

Rihanna - What’s My Name Lyrics feat. Drake
[Rihanna]
Ooh na na, what’s my name
Ooh na na, what’s my name
Ooh na na, what’s my name
Ooh na na, what’s my name
Ooh na na, what’s my name
whats my name, whats my name
[Drake]
I heard you good with them soft lips
Yeah you know word of mouth
the square root of 69 is 8 something
cuz I’ve been tryna work it out, oooow
good weed, white wine
I come alive in the night time
okay, away we go
only thing we have on is the radio
ooooh, let it play, say you gotta leave
but I know you wanna stay
you just waiting on the traffic jam to finish girl
the things we could do in twenty minutes girl
say my name, say my name
wear it out, its getting hot, crack a window, air it out
I can get you through a mighty long day
Soon as you go, the text that I write is gon say…
[Rihanna]
Not everybody knows how to work my body
knows how to make me want it
boy you stay up on it
you got that something that keeps me so off balance
baby you’re a challenge, lets explore your talent
[Chorus x2]
hey boy I really wanna see if you can go downtown with a girl like me
www.musicloversgroup.com
hey boy, I really wanna be with you
cause you just my type
ooh na na na na
I need a boy to really take it over
looking for a guy to put in work, uh
oooooh, oooooh
Ooh na na, what’s my name
Ooh na na, what’s my name
Ooh na na, what’s my name
whats my name, whats my name
[Rihanna]
Baby you got me, ain’t nowhere that I’d be
then with your arms around me
back and forth you rock me
so I surrender, to every word you whisper
every door you enter, I will let you in
[Chorus]
You’re so amazing, you took the time to figure me out
thats why you take me, way past the point of turning me on
you bout to break me, I swear you got me losing my mind
Ooh na na, what’s my name
Ooh na na, what’s my name
Ooh na na, what’s my name
Ooh na na, what’s my name
Ooh na na, what’s my name
whats my name, whats my name
[Chorus]

Cal Stanford Big Game First Recap: Stanford Destroys Cal 48-14

As much as this blogger (and Cal Alumni Life Member!) will put Stanford down when its necessary to do so, the need this time is to praise The Cardinal for kicking our collective butts (that's Cal) at home 48-14 for the 113th Big Game.

But there is one thing that must be noted: Stanford Coach Jim Harbaugh calling for a review of a Cal touchdown in the fourth quarter, and long after the game was decided, was classless. That was the talk all over Memorial Stadium in Berkeley.

OK, Cardinal fans (like Tiger Woods) may point to the taunting episode before the game as equally classless for Cal, and they would be correct. BUT. Man. Coach Harbaugh. Two wrongs don't make a right.

David Shaw Take A Bow

For the Cardinal the game ball should go to Offensive Coordinator David Shaw, who produced a game plan that included frequent use of an unbalanced line, where the right side had two offensive tackles. And when Stanford wasn't running from that exotic formation, their passing game approach was equally effective. Particularly Shaw's use of the corner, slant route combination out of slot formation.

In all, Stanford's schemes created the obviously wide-open receiver more often than not, and kept Cal off balance for most of the game.

More later.