It's that time of the year again - the MTV Video Music Awards will be airing tonight at 9PM ET and hosted by Chelsea Handler.
Last year at the VMAs the most memorable moment was when Kanye West snatched the mic from Taylor Swift as she had won Best Female Video. He announced that Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time, and then later Beyonce let Taylor come back on stage and give a proper thank you.
Kanye is performing this year at the VMAs, and he has also said that he wrote Taylor Swift a song. Maybe he will be performing a song for her? He already tweeted out an entire sorry letter to her basically.
According to the Toronto Sun, Taylor will be performing a song that lashes back at Kanye, but that doesn't seem like something she would do.
Eminem will be opening up the show, and he is nominated for 8 awards. Other performances include Justin Bieber, Drake, Linkin Park, Kanye, B.O.B & Hayley Williams, and others.
With Chelsea Handler hosting this year's VMAs is already destined to be a hit.
A full list of all the nominees for each category can be seen at MTV.com
While Cal was manhandling a Pac-10 pretender in Colorado, Oregon was taking it to Tennessee, and USC was staying just ahead of Virginia, Stanford, in the only conference battle, totally destroyed UCLA 35 to 0.
The game has fans taking to Twitter to express their displeasure with UCLA Head Coach Rick Neuheisel, who's in his third year at the helm. That awful beating has him in trouble.
Butt Kicking
There was nothing fancy about the win: Stanford used conventional formations, and sound schemes. But they executed with precision and purpose. In so doing, Stanford ended a six-game Rose Bowl loss streak, and told the Pac-10 who the boss was - for now.
Safe On Facebook, Not On Twitter
The game was a butt-whipping that was so bad it could lead to UCLA Head Coach Rick Neuheisel job if he doesn't right his ship. For new Coach Neuheisel's Facebook page is free of any negative comments, but that may be because it's shut them off.
Rick wrote this:
Rick Neuheisel Just over 24 hours until the Bruins are back home at the Rose Bowl! Can't wait. Go Bruins! http://plixi.com/p/44360413.
We're going to pull out all the stops to 'beat the Trees!
Five people liked that post. The only negative comment was from last week:
Jose Perez Coach...I literally felt like vomiting after last week's game. Let's clean up the passing game and the rushing defense...and we can get this "W"!!!! GO BRUINS!!!
Friday at 6:07pm · 1 person ·
UCLA's performance against Stanford made a lot of Bruins lose their dinner. While he's safe on Facebook, on Twitter he's in trouble. Consider:
Sec2Bruin - What has Rick Neuheisel done to my football team? Can it get much worse? This is disconcerting. Unhappy right now.
about 5 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
woodgva - Damn! #Stanford beat the brakes off #UCLA. Maybe Rick Neuheisel (Mr. Passion Bucket) needs to reconsider his options? @raphiellej
about 6 hours ago via web
oscarbaltazar - Question, will Rick Neuheisel be back at #UCLA after this year? he did declare that "The Football Monopoly in L.A. Is Officially Over"
about 6 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
After Stanford, UCLA must beat Cal and USC to make the Bruins faithful happy. Let's see what happens.
As we remember 9-11.. Ask yourself what are u doing to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again? Have we been taking the path of love and understanding or hate and revenge?
In the days after 9-11, I recall how folks came together and tried to comfort one another…I remember for the first time in a long time folks would look and try to find the humanity in each other.
I remember those images of folks reaching out and trying to find deeper meaning in the tragedy that occurred. No one knew what they could really do so folks just started holding or even wearing the flag. Everywhere you looked you saw the American flag. Graffiti artists painted flags. Thugs wore flags as bandanas. Our radio station went and brought a bunch of flags to give to everyone.
I recall folks breaking down and crying uncontrollably in the streets and strangers would reach out and comfort them. For brief moment the world or at least things here in the US, seemed to stand still. All the planes were grounded and people seemed to genuinely care for one another. I’m not sure if we kept building off those feelings of upliftment. I’m not sure when they went away
In the days and weeks after 9-11 while folks were still vulnerable the seeds of revenge were planted in our heads. I recall President George Bush sternly warning theTaliban, they better give up Osama Bin Laden or there would be hell to pay. He was soon joined by British Prime Minister Tony Blair who gave a prime time speech on our networks to the nation saying the same thing and pledging Britain’s unconditional support.
I remember President Bush standing in a church with a flag in the background stating ‘Either your with us or your with the terrorists’. He was making it clear folks had better pick sides. Slowly we started to see the warm feelings we had toward one another move in the direction of war and revenge. The words ‘Love’and ‘understanding‘ was being replaced by the word ‘payback‘.
For many our sentiments really began to turn when Bush gave his famous bullhorn speech from the middle of the rubble at Ground Zero, where he declared the ‘World hear you and soon the people who knocked down the towers would hear you’.. The crowd began chanting real loud ‘USA, USA, USA..’
I recall Reverend Jesse Jackson announcing that he was invited to meet withTaliban leaders and he wanted to go. He felt, perhaps there was a chance for us to negotiate and take a path for peace. That was quickly shut down when he got a call from then Secretary of State Colin Powell who told him fall back. There would be no peace negotiations. Such peace talk would be seen as a sign of weakness. Anyone talking about peace as a resolution was deemed un-patriotic and weak. Do folks recall that?
So as revenge became the order of the day, we began to hear lots of talk from high places about how we were gonna kick some major ass and take no prisoners. This was epitomized by football star Pat Tilman, a San Jose native with rugged GI Joe looks who gave up a lucrative contract with the Arizona Cardinals and volunteered to go fight.
The question we need to ask ourselves is 9 years later is ‘Do we feel satisfied’? Were our revenge efforts worth it?
9 years after 9-11 Osama still has not been caught. Pat Tilman is dead at the hands of friendly fire and we’re still at war in Afghanistan. The Taliban has returned and seem more defiant then ever. Even the president we installed in Afghanistan Hamid Karzai has turned out to be a corrupt, conniving individual who we’re forced to keep in power and deal with.
9 years after 9-11 we’re knee-deep in war. Why aren’t we knee-deep in love?
9 years after 9-11 why have we allowed all sorts of politicians to pimp 9-11 and send us off to fight un-winnable wars?
9-11 has been hijacked by a 2 bit charlatan Pastor named Terry Jones
9 years after 9-11 the love we’re supposed to have for one another has been hijacked by a charlatan 2 bit, ‘Koran’ (Quran) burning preacher from Florida namedTerry Jones. How did this happen?
How did 9-11 become hijacked by angry people attacking one another over their religion? How did this day become hijacked opportunist politicians like Newt Gingrich and Congressman Peter King demanding that a community center/ Mosque not be allowed 2 blocks from ground Zero even though one Twin Towers actually had a Muslim prayer center?
How did we allow the memory of everyone who was killed many of them Americans of Muslim descent be obscured and demonized by Islamaphobes who are running around slashing the throats of cab drivers and vandalizing mosques 3000 miles away from Ground Zero?
photo credit ABC News
9 years after 9-11 I can still I recall the distinct smell from the towers that permeated Ground Zero months after the towers fell. The plan in those waning days was to build a serene tree lined park & memorial. People spoke emphatically about not allowing any buildings or any commercial development. It was to be sacred ground. Sadly over the 9 years that somehow all that changed. The area around Ground Zero has everything from strip clubs to fast food joints and on the day we should all be remembering those who lost their lives we have angry mobs shouting at each other.
I still cant get the sight of people trapped on those floors jumping out of buildings or those eerie photos showing people still alive crying for help on those top floors moments before the tower fell. Such memories should not be obliterated by the circus that is now 9-11. Shame on all those corporate owned mainstream media outlets for their participation in this. They could’ve easily set a vastly different tone.
Many people used to say George Bush and hawkish-revenge seeking policies squandered the good feelings and good will people around the world had toward us after 9-11. However, after hearing and seeing the vitriol & hate we’ve allowed to dominate our space over the past few months, we can’t say Bush alone squandered this. We did.. All of us
Condolences to those who lost loved ones. Special prayers to the families of restaurant workers, janitors, secretaries and regular 9-5 man who woman who was barely making it prior to 9-11 and hence their families did not get a hefty payoff when settlement checks were issued. Many of them have been hidden in the shadows all but forgotten after all these years.
Some say revenge is a dish served cold. I say revenge is a dish not served at all.. How about we try loving those who lost and loving those we have before they are lost..
F— You Terry Jones and people like him for reminding us just how ugly people can be even on the most sacred of days.
Cindy Paoletti of Syracuse, N.Y appeared on the Ed Schultz show on MSNBC yesterday. Paoletti, 58, understands those costs of long term unemployment. Laid off from her job as a bookkeeper at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s operations center in December 2007, she used a severance package to pay bills, and then began collecting $330 a week in unemployment benefits. She exhausted her 99 weeks of benefits in March 2010, and still can't find a job. Employers "just don't want to hire anybody in our age group," she says.
Cindy has worked tirelessly as a vocal advocate for the 99er Nation. She has done countless interviews for print media, radio shows and Tv as well. Her experiences as a 99er advocate in her own words: “
My life as an activist for the 99ers has been a fruitful yet frustrating one. I fight for all 99ers and have been doing so since EUC Tier 2 was close to expiring. It has taught me to respect all mankind and that everyone is at a different level of devastation. I have talked to people on the verge of desperation thinking about taking their own life. I have done television, radio and newpaper interviews for our cause. I spend a couple hours each day calling my Senators and Congressmen, expressing the need for a Tier 5.
I've read tons of letters I've received from other 99ers that have made me cry more then once. My heart goes out to all of the people that have exhausted UI benefits. I am here as a cushion for anyone that needs to vent, and I will continue to fight until our Government does the right thing and passes a jobs bill that helps everyone and supplies all unemployed with a safety net to survive until the jobs appear. Will everyone have a normal life like we once had? I doubt it, but I look at it as starting over and making my life as good as I can with what I have to work with. I am praying that eventually our Government will wake up and deal with the disaster that millions of Americans are going through. The suffering has to stop, and I will not give up until it does.”
When asked what the experience of being on national TV, with the reach of the Ed Schlutz show, Cindy replied:
"Being on the Ed Show was quite an experience. I had to sit in a chair and look at a camera. I could hear Ed speaking through the ear piece but could not see any of the show, just a camera! There was a camera man in the room with me, that kept giving me a thumbs up...he could see me on the screen. I rolled my eyes a few times forgetting that I was supposed to keep them glued to the camera. Being the first time on camera like this it takes some getting used to. If I have the opportunity again then I'll know what to do. There was a guy ahead of me that they were filming for another show and he was running late, so we didn't have much time to get me set up before I had to go on the air. All and all, I enjoyed doing it and I hope that the message I got across to the country about the 99ers will be taken to heart by Congress and all those that are up for re-election. Thank you all for the support and the kind emails and messages I've received. We need our Tier 5 NOW and I don't intend of giving up the fight until we have it."
Cindy represented the 99er Nation very well on the Ed Schultz Show yesterday and will be back on his show very soon to tell more about our message to Washington. Cindy appears at the end of the video clip below.
As i type this blog mobile entry, I am standing in the cool provided by an open concession area at Cal Memorial Stadium. For the Bay Area it is a hot day. About 80 degrees. But even hotter is Cal.
The stars mentioned in the first blog post have driven.this obvious win. QB Kevin Riley was 7 of 13 for 81 yards. WR Keenan Allen had 3 catches for 49 yards. And Shane Vereen had 45 yards rushing.
OK. Not big numbers but with Cal's Defense they aren't needed.
Today marks the 9th year since the tragic events of September 11th 2001, when The Twin Towers Of The World Trade Center in New York City were destroyed by two hijacked Boeing 767 planes in an elaborate crime plot, the Pentagon was damaged by another plane, and the third plane, reportedly headed for The White House, crashed in Shanksville, Pa after a passenger revolt.
Over 3,000 people were killed, countless families impacted, and the sprit of America damaged, perhaps irreparably. And so because the New Freedom Tower's design is not the aggressive, confident, proud one that marked the original World Trade Center Towers. It's almost as if the new design is afraid to be tall.
In retrospect, part of the reason for the way Freedom Tower was designed is due to design strength concerns. But I personally favor Donald Trumps' idea of rebuilding the same design as before. Taller and stronger.
Two videos mark this day.
The first video is this blogger's explanation of where he was on that September 11th Day.
This second video is of my good friend Bill Chackhes talking about, and giving a brief tour of, Ground Zero at World Trade Center, New York City.
Never forget, yes. But also, don't hate either.
Stay tuned to Zennie62.com for live mobile blogging today.
Cal hosts Colorado today, and this blogger's excited to see what Freshman Wide Receiver Keenan Allen does against a real good opponent in Colorado in two hours, plus.
Again, if Cal Offensive Coordinator Andy Ludwig can install a plan that gets Allen on-one against a defender consistently, he will be the Heisman front-runner.
Too much pressure on him? Hey, brother. It's COLLEGE FOOTBALL! It's the big leagues. Want less pressure? Go play intramurals, brother.
September 11th 2001 was marked by the murder of not just the 3,000 people that were in the twin towers of The World Trade Center, but the towers themselves. The World Trade Center symbolized American ambition, wealth, power, and purpose.
Moreover, since it was developed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, its completion in 1973 showed what American government could do. A constant symbol of the potential for a competent government.
The World Trade Center was New York City, and it held a prominent position at the tip of Lower Manhattan.
That the towers have not been replaced is an unfortunate symbol of how America has lot its way. Donald Trump is right: the real towers should have been remade - taller and stronger.
9-11 was a criminal act. But some Americans, so intent on having someone else to hate to cover up for their own shortcomings, insist on making it more than what it really was. We need to get over that, and get on with the task of rebuilding America.
In the Kanye West at Twitter blog posts it was mentioned that Twitter employees also know how to get their drink on at work. Here's an example: the Social Bar event September 4th.
Since that was a Friday, it's fair to assume that the Social Bar's a Friday thing at Twitter. A great way to relax and unwind.
In the last post, we saw Twitter Founder Biz Stone announcing that Kanye West was joining Twitter on July 28, 2010.
The subsequent Flicrk photos apparently show Kanye West singing there as well, and perhaps it's his new single. Whatever the case, clearly Kanye was having a good time.
But this blogger can't help but wonder if he was the only black man in the room. Hope not, but looking through the photos, it seems that way. Someone Indian, but not someone black.
When this one looks at that, it's hard not to think of who's applying to work at Twitter and who gets hired? I do know Twitter has at least one black lawyer on staff because that person's a friend of mine.
Twitter headquarters in San Francisco is certainly a blast of a fun place to be. Twitter has hosted such celebs as Wil.I.Am from The Black Eye Peas and here, Kanye West on July 28, 2010. And when they're not hosting celebs, they can get their drink on, as we'll see in another blog post.
But back to Kanye.
What's Kanye doing there with Twitter Founder Biz Stone? Annoucing he's joining Twitter. According to the LA Times The Envelope, Kanye announced he was drawing followers at the incredible rate of 80 per second.
Now, @kanyewest is well over 1 million Twitter followers.
The question is, what will he tweet at the Video Music Awards Sunday? He's already apologized to Taylor Swift.
