On Friday, January 29th, Ecuador President Rafael Correa went to visit earthquake damaged Haiti, with 12 doctors, and while making no monetary donation, blasted donor nations.
"There is a lot of imperialism among the donors. They donate first, but most of it goes back to them," Correct said at a joint press conference with Haiti's President Rene Preval.
That's the kind of politics Rafael Correa's known for. To mask the fact that Ecuador's not giving money to Haiti, Correa blasts those countries who have done so, which includes the United States.
To hide the fact that Rafael Correa wants to nationalize oil production in Ecuador, he asks for money to avoid oil extraction and production in what is considered an Ecuadorian biological preserve, then when he doesn't get the money, makes plans to do so with Ecuador's state-run oil company.
If Ecuador wanted to help Haiti, they would have spent money. With an economy projected to grow in 2010 and a budget in the billions, Ecuador could afford at least a few million for Haiti. And if Ecuador really wanted to protect the Amazon, it would not work to produce oil in it, itself.
Stay tuned.
Monday, February 01, 2010
Oakland's iGrow weed Superstore in video
CNN's Dan Simon pays a visit to the new Oakland iGrow Superstore. The weed house is 15,000 square feet and just next to the Oakland Airport on 70 Hegenberger Drive. iGrow is developed for medicinal marijuana cultivation and they have a doctor in the building.
At iGrow, you can learn how to grow marijuana, get a cannabis card, and by all the equipment you need to have a growing crop of marijuana.
With this, and the blessings of the City of Oakland, America has taken one more step toward the eventual full legalization of marijuana.
Stay tuned.
At iGrow, you can learn how to grow marijuana, get a cannabis card, and by all the equipment you need to have a growing crop of marijuana.
With this, and the blessings of the City of Oakland, America has taken one more step toward the eventual full legalization of marijuana.
Stay tuned.
Green Day wins Grammy Award for Best Rock Album
Green Day, who's American Idiot musical is set to debut on Broadway, won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. At the Grammys, Billie Joe Armstrong and the Berkeley-born Green Day band did "21 Guns," from their album 21st Century Breakdown, which won the Best Rock Album Grammy.
Here, CNN captures the band practicing for their performance at The Grammys.
Green Day took the 2004 hit American Idiot and turned it into a popular play here on the West Coast. According to Wikipedia, American Idiot is about..
Stay tuned
Here, CNN captures the band practicing for their performance at The Grammys.
Green Day took the 2004 hit American Idiot and turned it into a popular play here on the West Coast. According to Wikipedia, American Idiot is about..
The album's protagonist, Jesus of Suburbia, emerged out of Armstrong asking himself what sort of person the title of "American Idiot" referred to. Armstrong described the character as essentially an anti-hero, a powerless "everyman" desensitized by a "steady diet of soda pop and Ritalin". Jesus of Suburbia hates his town and those close to him, so he leaves for the city.
As the album progresses the characters St. Jimmy and Whatsername are introduced. St. Jimmy is a punk rock freedom fighter. Whatsername, inspired by the Bikini Kill song "Rebel Girl", is a "Mother Revolution" figure that Armstrong described as "kind of St. Jimmy's nemesis in a lot of ways".
Both characters illustrate the "rage vs. love" theme of the album, in that "you can go with the blind rebellion of self-destruction, where Saint Jimmy is. But there's a more love-driven side to that, which is following your beliefs and ethics. And that's where Jesus of Suburbia really wants to go", according to Armstrong.
Near the end of the story, St. Jimmy apparently commits suicide. While the singer did not want to give away the details of the story's resolution, he said the intention is for the listener to ultimately realize that Jesus of Suburbia is really St. Jimmy, and Jimmy is "part of the main character that pretty much dies". In the album's final song, "Whatsername", Jesus of Suburbia loses his connection with Whatsername as well.
Stay tuned
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Taylor Swift wins Album of The Year at the Grammy Awards
The 2009 fairy tale story that is Taylor Swift continues in 2010. While Beyonce took home more Grammys than any female artist in Grammy history, Taylor Swift got three awards, including Album of The Year for the awesome Fearless.
Last year is seemed Taylor Swift could do no wrong, as she scored every award, major and not, that was in sight, including Country Music Entertainer of the Year.
At the Grammys, Taylor may have expected her long ride to end; it didn't. That should explain her wonderfully enthusiastic reaction to her award. (The video from that is not yet up as of this writing.)
Taylor Swift also had another dream come true when she got to perform with her childhood favorite, Stevie Nicks. The two performed songs from Fleetwood Mac and You Belong with Me, from Swift's Fearless album.
Stay tuned.
Last year is seemed Taylor Swift could do no wrong, as she scored every award, major and not, that was in sight, including Country Music Entertainer of the Year.
At the Grammys, Taylor may have expected her long ride to end; it didn't. That should explain her wonderfully enthusiastic reaction to her award. (The video from that is not yet up as of this writing.)
Taylor Swift also had another dream come true when she got to perform with her childhood favorite, Stevie Nicks. The two performed songs from Fleetwood Mac and You Belong with Me, from Swift's Fearless album.
Stay tuned.
Stephen Colbert's Opening Speech bombs at Grammy Awards
Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report is hilarious and his show is an American Cultural treasure. But Stephen Colbert's opening speech at the 2010 Grammy Awards just plain bombed. Either Stephen Colbert was before the wrong audience or he had the wrong material.
Whatever the case, watching Colbert struggle through his almost four minutes of his common "let's play the out-of-touch conservative trying-to-be hip, but not" character hurt as much as having the needle of a flu shot driven into your arm.
It was that bad.
The only part that saved Stephen Colbert from being a totally awful opening was pulling his Apple iPad out of his suit. "Does this make me cool?" He asked Jay-Z, for whom he slightly annoyed with his "What up, Z?" question at the start of the disaster. The look on Jay-Z's face was enough to make Stephen Colbert's skin crawl, and that's where it went bad. Stephen Colbert never recovered from that.
Yes. The fact that Colbert was bombing was the "in joke" but it ventured too far into his bombing actually not being funny. Colbert's humor is perfect for events like the White House Correspondents Dinner, but it wasn't a good idea to have him give the opening speech at The Grammys. Watching someone who's so talented just major league bomb at The Grammys was not fun at all.
Whatever the case, watching Colbert struggle through his almost four minutes of his common "let's play the out-of-touch conservative trying-to-be hip, but not" character hurt as much as having the needle of a flu shot driven into your arm.
It was that bad.
The only part that saved Stephen Colbert from being a totally awful opening was pulling his Apple iPad out of his suit. "Does this make me cool?" He asked Jay-Z, for whom he slightly annoyed with his "What up, Z?" question at the start of the disaster. The look on Jay-Z's face was enough to make Stephen Colbert's skin crawl, and that's where it went bad. Stephen Colbert never recovered from that.
Yes. The fact that Colbert was bombing was the "in joke" but it ventured too far into his bombing actually not being funny. Colbert's humor is perfect for events like the White House Correspondents Dinner, but it wasn't a good idea to have him give the opening speech at The Grammys. Watching someone who's so talented just major league bomb at The Grammys was not fun at all.
Grammy Awards 2010: Beyonce performance wows the crowd
Beyonce's militaristic, head-banging performance was the Twitter talk of the 2010 Grammy Awards. Escorted by a group of black armored suit wearing dancers, Beyonce looked more like a super hot drill sergeant than a pop singer.
The design of Beyonce's performance brought up memories of Michael Jackson in This Is It performing HisTory. And it was very much like Emimen's 2002 MTV Music Awards performance of Slim Shady when he walked into Radio City Music Hall with an army of white men all dressed and cut to look just like him.
One thing you have to say: Beyonce is hot. No question about it. She's also the hottest Grammy winner, taking home six Grammys, the most by a female performer in one year.
The design of Beyonce's performance brought up memories of Michael Jackson in This Is It performing HisTory. And it was very much like Emimen's 2002 MTV Music Awards performance of Slim Shady when he walked into Radio City Music Hall with an army of white men all dressed and cut to look just like him.
One thing you have to say: Beyonce is hot. No question about it. She's also the hottest Grammy winner, taking home six Grammys, the most by a female performer in one year.
Grammy Awards 2010: Miley Cyrus greeting fans with her mom
YouTube user Michalyse was one of the fans at the Red Carpet for the 2010 Grammy Awards, when superstar singer Miley Cyrus walked in and came over to sign autographs.
Miley Cyrus, wearing a short black cocktail dress, was with her Mom Tish, and not her boyfriend Liam Hemsworth. (They're not engaged, but reportedly they are still dating. Still one wonders where he was.)
You can hear the crowd, which sounds like her demographic of females 13 to 17, screaming her name. It's a very good video uploaded rapidly.
Miley was a presenter at the 2010 Grammy Awards.
Miley Cyrus, wearing a short black cocktail dress, was with her Mom Tish, and not her boyfriend Liam Hemsworth. (They're not engaged, but reportedly they are still dating. Still one wonders where he was.)
You can hear the crowd, which sounds like her demographic of females 13 to 17, screaming her name. It's a very good video uploaded rapidly.
Miley was a presenter at the 2010 Grammy Awards.
Lady Gaga and Elton John get Grammy's started
The rumored and much anticipated Grammy Awards pairing of Lady Gaga and Sir Elton John happened, and go the Grammys off to a rousing start. Lady Gaga and Elton John are both piano wizards, so it was fitting that they produced a piano duet of a number of songs from past and present:
Sir Elton John had his own signature glitter glasses and both had a kind of "soot' makeup. Elton can still jam on the piano. It was cool: young and old, past and present, both massively brilliant.
Other performances that will be featured are Beyonce Rocks doing Alanis Morissette's 'You Oughta Know', Pink literally "up in the air" for 'Glitter in The Air', Taylor Swift And Stevie Nicks singing the Fleetwood Mac song Rhiannon, and Taylor Swift's You Belong With Me from her album Fearless.
Stay tuned.
Sir Elton John had his own signature glitter glasses and both had a kind of "soot' makeup. Elton can still jam on the piano. It was cool: young and old, past and present, both massively brilliant.
Other performances that will be featured are Beyonce Rocks doing Alanis Morissette's 'You Oughta Know', Pink literally "up in the air" for 'Glitter in The Air', Taylor Swift And Stevie Nicks singing the Fleetwood Mac song Rhiannon, and Taylor Swift's You Belong With Me from her album Fearless.
Stay tuned.
Zennie62 Widget beats SFGate Widget, approaching NY Times Widget
Last year, my friend Steve Kloft (who's a consultant to several top New Media companies), came to me by my surprise having already created a widget for me called "The Zennie Abraham Widget". The best thing is I never asked for it or even thought of it. It was Steve's creation; his idea to promote me.
That's a friend.
Steve was then and still is now a consultant to WidgetBox, which I later featured in a video on the firm here:
That's a friend.
Steve was then and still is now a consultant to WidgetBox, which I later featured in a video on the firm here:
YouTube has President Obama's full State of The Union Address
Thanks to The White House and YouTube News and Politics Editor Steve Grove, YouTube has the full, high-definition video presentation of the State of The Union Address President Barack Obama gave on Wednesday, January 27, 2010. If you missed it, you can watch it right here on video without leaving this post:
The speech was one of the greatest President Obama has made in history because it came at a time when he, and America, needed a great speech. Obama needed it to reset the course of his young presidency. The United States needed it to establish a vision of a possible, full employment economic recovery.
The problem America has suffered under is that while America's economy has grown at a three percent rate in the 2009 third quarter and at 5.1 percent in the 2009 fourth quarter, unemployment is still at high levels.
This is so because before the last two quarters of growth, America's economy was on a steady path of recession for almost two years. Job production has not yet followed this growth and credit is still tight.
The result was a feeling that America was not on the right track. But President Obama's State of The Union Address changed that. According to a CBS poll, 83 percent of Americans supported the proposals President Obama described in his speech.
The full text of the speech is presented by the New York Times, here.
Stay tuned.
The speech was one of the greatest President Obama has made in history because it came at a time when he, and America, needed a great speech. Obama needed it to reset the course of his young presidency. The United States needed it to establish a vision of a possible, full employment economic recovery.
The problem America has suffered under is that while America's economy has grown at a three percent rate in the 2009 third quarter and at 5.1 percent in the 2009 fourth quarter, unemployment is still at high levels.
This is so because before the last two quarters of growth, America's economy was on a steady path of recession for almost two years. Job production has not yet followed this growth and credit is still tight.
The result was a feeling that America was not on the right track. But President Obama's State of The Union Address changed that. According to a CBS poll, 83 percent of Americans supported the proposals President Obama described in his speech.
The full text of the speech is presented by the New York Times, here.
Stay tuned.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Miss America 2010 Winner: Rush Limbaugh dancing to Lady Gaga
The official Miss America 2010 Winner was Miss Virginia Caressa Cameron. But the real Miss America 2010 Winner was Rush Limbaugh dancing to Lady Gaga, which is becoming a YouTube and Blip.tv hit.
First, Limbaugh, the Couch Potato Conservative blowhard and radio star - who made news first by being named a judge in the wake of his blast of a female caller "April", telling her to get the "tampon out of her ears" (as he was insulting Haiti after the earthquake) - was named judge of the pageant.
Second, Rush Limbaugh, discovering he was happy to be alive in the wake of his unfortunate chest pain incident on New Year's Eve morning, got off a what can only by called a "dry heave" of a dance to Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" during the pageant. It was a hilarious scene worthy of analysis on video:
All kidding aside, it's great to see Rush Limbaugh getting lose and enjoying life. No word on Lady Gaga's opinion of Limbaugh's dancing. But if you're interested in what a "dry heave" dance is, it was created by the writers of Seinfeld and done by Julia Louise-Dryfus as "Elaine" and seen here:
Stay tuned.
Rush Limbaugh cuts ..something (photo by Alan Colmes)
First, Limbaugh, the Couch Potato Conservative blowhard and radio star - who made news first by being named a judge in the wake of his blast of a female caller "April", telling her to get the "tampon out of her ears" (as he was insulting Haiti after the earthquake) - was named judge of the pageant.
Second, Rush Limbaugh, discovering he was happy to be alive in the wake of his unfortunate chest pain incident on New Year's Eve morning, got off a what can only by called a "dry heave" of a dance to Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" during the pageant. It was a hilarious scene worthy of analysis on video:
All kidding aside, it's great to see Rush Limbaugh getting lose and enjoying life. No word on Lady Gaga's opinion of Limbaugh's dancing. But if you're interested in what a "dry heave" dance is, it was created by the writers of Seinfeld and done by Julia Louise-Dryfus as "Elaine" and seen here:
Stay tuned.
001 - Sfist Oscar blog post gets Zennie story wrong
UPDATE: Zennie62 video views according to TubeMogul.
If there's one thing I can't stand it's getting the story completely wrong about another person. Like "Lady Gaga is dead" or "Johnny Depp is dead" for example. The blog Sfist has taken things too far with respect to this blogger and I'm calling them on it. The Sfist making fun of my Oscar predicament was the last straw. They got it wrong.
First, SFist refers to me, Zennie Abraham, as their "Old Pal, Zennie". Well, I'm asking them to stop it, or if I am their "Old Pal" then take the "Old Pal" to lunch. I've never met a single soul over at SFist and would not know any one of them if they walked past me, and they probably have.
I do not know Sfist Editor Brock Keeling by face or any of the other editors at SFist. I've invited Brock to lunch, but he's never taken me up on the invitation (until an email I got as I was writing this). Meanwhile, I feel that at times, and as I've added up, SFist is trying to selectively take some of the 800 blog posts I've written on SFGate.com alone and make me look like a black buffoon.
Yes, it started with my take on Star Trek and black men, which I stand by. At the time, there was a question of how minorities would be shown in a show that was known for its racial diversity and that I grew up with.
While the Star Trek movie was much better than I expected, and I'm a fan of it, the movie was still a wee bit off. What I want of the World is for people to think in terms of diversity first and that's a battle, along with advancing women in business and politics, that I will fight forever.
I try to help people by showing them, openly, how to make money with videos on YouTube. (How many times have I talked about the YouTube Partner Program?). I like helping people, as my friend Sarah Austin shows:
I wish Sfist would present that side of me.
SFist always of late uses a video that's of me doing something not serious (Zennie Abraham goes to White Castle) or if its a blog, about race (Harry Reid). SFist skipped over my blog posts on Haiti. They didn't even pay attention to my Haiti donation list. Matters about Oakland's draconian parking problem are not there at SFist. My interview with Craig Newmark was ignored by SFst. Why?
No. I'm not perfect. I'm a terrible proofreader. I'm at points undisciplined. I talk alot, to a lot of people. I hate tech event where there are a few folks of color. I hate it when people segregate themselves by race. I'm not an ideologue. I favor big business. And I'm perhaps too wonkish. But I am extremely creative. I do know how to write for the Internet. Bots love me and some people, too. It's the reason I'm the highest traffic generator at SFGate.com.
I've generated over 1 million visitors at SFGate.com for three straight months including January, and discovered and developed a formula that allow me to cover both the national and World traffic generating content, then once I reach a point, mix in the local news with it.
I use the strategy for my own blog system and only Google's irrational protection of news websites over blogs keeps the same performance from being repeated by my blogs. If anyone were smart, they'd pay attention: SFGate.com does.
I'm trying to help advance media's future. We can disagree on a lot of things, but one thing we can all agree on is we need to fashion a course for news that's sustainable. News, like it or not, is now a commodity market. But the reason many news organizations fail is they treat it like its at their whim. The idea that "the editor knows best" is the reason many news efforts fail.
In the old days, blacks were shut out of newsrooms. Today, in this tech-led culture, any one can make a difference regardless of race, color, or sex. That's what I'm trying to prove and I love it when some get pissed off about it. Tech can overcome racism and prejudice, if one knows what they're doing. Why Sfist can't present that is beyond me.
But the bottom line is SFist got it wrong. AMPAS (the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)invited me to apply for a press credential for The Oscars. Anyone would be excited if they were given such an opportunity. The Oscar invite was to me a gauge - a measure - of the impact of what I've done. I have the metrics; I should be at the Oscars. But if not, I just want to know what I need to do to change that for 2011. There's nothing wrong with that.
If there's one thing I can't stand it's getting the story completely wrong about another person. Like "Lady Gaga is dead" or "Johnny Depp is dead" for example. The blog Sfist has taken things too far with respect to this blogger and I'm calling them on it. The Sfist making fun of my Oscar predicament was the last straw. They got it wrong.
Sfist never shows this side of Zennie
First, SFist refers to me, Zennie Abraham, as their "Old Pal, Zennie". Well, I'm asking them to stop it, or if I am their "Old Pal" then take the "Old Pal" to lunch. I've never met a single soul over at SFist and would not know any one of them if they walked past me, and they probably have.
I do not know Sfist Editor Brock Keeling by face or any of the other editors at SFist. I've invited Brock to lunch, but he's never taken me up on the invitation (until an email I got as I was writing this). Meanwhile, I feel that at times, and as I've added up, SFist is trying to selectively take some of the 800 blog posts I've written on SFGate.com alone and make me look like a black buffoon.
Yes, it started with my take on Star Trek and black men, which I stand by. At the time, there was a question of how minorities would be shown in a show that was known for its racial diversity and that I grew up with.
While the Star Trek movie was much better than I expected, and I'm a fan of it, the movie was still a wee bit off. What I want of the World is for people to think in terms of diversity first and that's a battle, along with advancing women in business and politics, that I will fight forever.
I try to help people by showing them, openly, how to make money with videos on YouTube. (How many times have I talked about the YouTube Partner Program?). I like helping people, as my friend Sarah Austin shows:
I wish Sfist would present that side of me.
SFist always of late uses a video that's of me doing something not serious (Zennie Abraham goes to White Castle) or if its a blog, about race (Harry Reid). SFist skipped over my blog posts on Haiti. They didn't even pay attention to my Haiti donation list. Matters about Oakland's draconian parking problem are not there at SFist. My interview with Craig Newmark was ignored by SFst. Why?
No. I'm not perfect. I'm a terrible proofreader. I'm at points undisciplined. I talk alot, to a lot of people. I hate tech event where there are a few folks of color. I hate it when people segregate themselves by race. I'm not an ideologue. I favor big business. And I'm perhaps too wonkish. But I am extremely creative. I do know how to write for the Internet. Bots love me and some people, too. It's the reason I'm the highest traffic generator at SFGate.com.
I've generated over 1 million visitors at SFGate.com for three straight months including January, and discovered and developed a formula that allow me to cover both the national and World traffic generating content, then once I reach a point, mix in the local news with it.
I use the strategy for my own blog system and only Google's irrational protection of news websites over blogs keeps the same performance from being repeated by my blogs. If anyone were smart, they'd pay attention: SFGate.com does.
I'm trying to help advance media's future. We can disagree on a lot of things, but one thing we can all agree on is we need to fashion a course for news that's sustainable. News, like it or not, is now a commodity market. But the reason many news organizations fail is they treat it like its at their whim. The idea that "the editor knows best" is the reason many news efforts fail.
In the old days, blacks were shut out of newsrooms. Today, in this tech-led culture, any one can make a difference regardless of race, color, or sex. That's what I'm trying to prove and I love it when some get pissed off about it. Tech can overcome racism and prejudice, if one knows what they're doing. Why Sfist can't present that is beyond me.
But the bottom line is SFist got it wrong. AMPAS (the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)invited me to apply for a press credential for The Oscars. Anyone would be excited if they were given such an opportunity. The Oscar invite was to me a gauge - a measure - of the impact of what I've done. I have the metrics; I should be at the Oscars. But if not, I just want to know what I need to do to change that for 2011. There's nothing wrong with that.
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