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Have you seen the latest Halls commercial? FUCKING HILARIOUS.

I am going to explain why that person you know in a band gets upset or frustrated that “no one” is seeing their band and attempt to give you a glance into how badly that person needs your support.

For the past year and a half I have dedicated myself to an original band that (mostly) plays the kind of music I love, (nu) hard rock: the kind you run to, the kind you scream along to, the kind you drive fast to. I love this shit. It makes my heart race, it pumps me up. It makes me feel good, dare I say a Tony the Tiger grreeat!, that I actually get to sing in a band that is making its own music, and it is my type of music. But something has been troubling me, and I’m not sure how to talk about it without sounding like a whiny brat: people don’t go out to see live, original music unless it’s a national act with which they are already familiar.

To get it out of the way – we don’t suck that much. Yes, we disagree about how awesome or not awesome parts of our songs are, we can always give a better performance, the recording can always be mixed better, but according to the people who have seen us in person and come up to me after the shows, and those I’ve asked to critique our recordings, we’re legit even with the bumps we need to iron out. For chrissakes we’ve been together almost a year, and we already have recordings that don’t sound like they were recorded down the hall? With limited funds, that’s an achievement. While my insecurities run rampant, I am operating under these assumptions:

1. We have a sound going for us
2. We give a decent show
3. We are going to make more music

So please, stick with me if you can. This is how serious I am about it – I wrote this whole shit out on Microsoft Word to make sure I had correct grammar, spelling, and in general, good-looking paragraphs. I am at a point where I am being seethingly angry at people not showing up to our shows after all the advertising, the interested friends, the overall good vibe and buzz I thought we had going. I don’t want to be angry at my friends or anyone who ever said a good word about my band. Every piece of praise and constructive criticism has been absolutely incredible to receive.

Music, like most businesses, relies on word of mouth – its reputation – to be successful. That success can be measured in show attendance, the amount of money it makes, and the praise/attention it receives for the band’s work. With a band being (like) a job, your pay or payoff depends upon how popular you are and your worth to venues depends on how much people want to see you. Here’s where it gets a little rougher.

It’s frustrating as a band member because this isn’t just a hobby, this is a part of your being – as significant others of musicians can confirm. Music typically is an emotional thing, and musicians tap into that when they perform. Playing to an empty room after you swore to that room’s owner your band alone would bring fifty people is heartbreaking. With limited funds, advertising in the paper, the radio, and tv can’t happen as often as a “regular” business. Venues don’t do shit to advertise unless you’re a big, big name. So your word of mouth, your entrance to the show? That’s how the band advertises it is worth a damn and its music is something valued.

When a friend tells a band member he intends to see her show, it is assumed that friend will either come by himself or bring a friend or two along. When neither of these situations occur, you are telling that band member “I don’t like you enough to spare 5 bucks and two hours to see you.” You don’t care to support that huge part of that person’s life. Certain situations aside, regardless of how you actually feel, that is what you are telling that person, because not only did you not show to that particular show, you are also implicitly relaying to the bar or club that you don’t want to spend time in their location to see that band, so they don’t need to bring the band back. That means the band has less good reputation, that means the band is less likely to play again, that means that band is less likely to make more money, and that means that band is less likely to feel accepted or appreciated because the venue doesn’t give a shit and you didn’t give a big enough shit to show up. There is a lot riding on each person’s decision to attend besides the momentary self-esteem of the band members.

I understand this band thing isn’t quite as revered as being a lawyer, a web designer, or hell even a drugstore employee. But don’t you recommend your lawyer friend if someone is seeking legal advice? If you hear somebody is making a website, don’t you point them in the direction of the designer? Don’t you stop by that CVS to say hi and maybe grab a Reese’s or an Arizona? You are helping them with those little shout outs. Those people are working day in and day out to deliver good product, as are the members of a band. They are practicing on their own to fix a little riff, practicing beyond mundane scales and exercises to maintain their range, and rehearsing in a cramped space jammed full of equipment so that when they take the stage and stand up to the microphone, they know what the fuck they’re doing. They want you to see what the fuck they’re doing, and you deciding sitting on the couch watching tv instead of watching them play the music they wrote and perfected is… I don’t know what it is. It’s weird. It’s just fucking odd to have small returns for so much time investment.

I love that I get to create music, and I love that I get to perform it. I love that my family emotionally supports my alternative life choice. Sometimes, though, the bad outweighs the good, and when it’s a lot of bad, all of this bad stuff is a reminder of how asinine thinking of becoming a respected, appreciated band can be. I don’t want that to take hold. Bad juju, man.

So when I’m talking about my band in a social setting and I’m being negative, I’m mostly upset with the situation at hand. It takes a group of people to create a situation. I want to ask people – to ask you — to help change this situation for the better – if you can afford to, go see a local band playing their own music. I don’t care who you’re seeing, be it my own band or the classic rock/blues/your-favorite-type-here stylings of another band. There are scores of bands that exist in your area of many different genres. You can find the ones you like. In my town, we seem to be one of the few nu hard rockers around. I’ve come across bluegrass, dirty southern rock, blues, jazz, heavy metal, jazz metal, punk, rockabilly, atmospheric, progressive, ska, and folk in my eight years in this town. That’s just the rock n roll spectrum!

There is something out there for you, you just have to find it. With the advent of the internet, you can find SO much on Facebook, Reverbnation, Youtube, even Bandcamp allows you to search keywords to find music near you. The bands are making it as easy as they can for you to sample their music. Hear about a show on the radio or see a flier in the coffee shop? Check out the band online. You might like what you hear.

So, to go with the old refrain: support local music. They need you more than you realize.

Apologies for any repetitiveness: I’m very tired and practice makes perfect.

They’re dogs, not some object that can be thrown away. They are living things that depend on the people around them to shape their lives, regardless of their breed. A dog breed is essentially like a human’s race: each animal/person is a unique individual to be judged as such. Whether they be a pom, a pit, a daschund, or a dobe, it’s a dog.

I am in the midst of three photo projects, and what am I doing? Looking up philosoraptor’s words of wisdom.

see more Memebase

see more Memebase

see more Memebase

see more Memebase

see more Memebase

see more Memebase

see more Memebase

One woman, famous in Pakistan as an entertainer, stands up to the obvious slut-shaming set up on the January 21st, 2011 interview show she’s on:

So Veena Malik, a pretty lady that doesn’t wear burkas and performs as an actress, was on the Indian show Big Boss, the Indian equivalent to the US’s and the UK’s Big Brother. She is prompted to acknowledge, then agree with or defend against the idea that she wore inappropriate clothing, acted inappropriately towards others on the show, and did nothing to promote Pakistanis or Islam. She gets hit with some Islamic wordy words with no clear reason why she defied any religious law and slams the guy, Mufti Abdul Qavi, right back with how he is not supposed to look at her more than once and is therefore breaking Islamic rule. He says he did not watch the show at all but that ALL of Pakistan thinks she’s a dumb bitch for being on the show and doing the things she did. I don’t know what these things were she is accused of other than being attractive and a nice lady. She calls out the interview mediator on how nobody in the media seems to want to emphasize any of the good she does for her country. He doesn’t say shit.

Talk about composure. Keep strong, lady.

yes totally fearless! pnasty: Oh my god. What an amazing,… feminism is for lovers

From October 1, 2009

Michael Vick’s agent Mike Principe felt comfortable enough to say that Vick signed a new endorsement deal with Nike, to which Nike representatives were like “WHOA GUYS PLZ HOLD TEH PHONE.” Okay it went down more like this:

“Nike does not have a contractual relationship with Michael Vick. We have agreed to supply product to Michael Vick as we do a number of athletes who are not under contract with Nike.” official statement

They aren’t endorsing him, but he is getting free things from them as other athletes do in many types of sports without much bravado.

Nike Denies Vick Deal washington post
Nike: There is no new endorsement deal with Michael Vick USAToday
Getting Free Shoes Does Not Make You A Celebrity Endorser deadspin

Just a reminder of what dogs look like after surgery after fighting. nsfw.

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\o\ hey!
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\o/ puppies!

(12:59:26 PM) SJ: i have just been informed that bruce willis was on the daily show last night
(12:59:45 PM) SJ: how can you go wrong with that?
(12:59:54 PM) Sara spelled without an H: hahahahaha
(1:00:00 PM) Sara spelled without an H: The answer is: You can’t.

Watch here http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/361078/tue-october-05-2010-bruce-willis

I’m super tired right now and I can’t feel my hands (yay wrist problems) but I wanted to post this before it becomes of of those “yeah I’ll get to it” doodles.

There’s a project out in the world called It Does Get Better, started by Dan Savage and his partner. It targets teenagers who identify somewhere in the LGBT-Q spectrum who are or have been harassed by others for being “different,” specifically for being some form of non-heterosexual.

When I clicked onto the It Gets Better Youtube page, this mohawked dude was the main video:

This is fucking brilliant. This project is connecting people who have been there to people who are there, going through all the bullshit. I wish this type of resource was available when I was a young person being pushed around for not being cool. I think a ton of people, not just the queer, can benefit from seeing people who have gone above and beyond the bullying. I can only hope that there are outreach programs that seek to connect IRL with people struggling, like the Trevor line, that can help people connect in an active way past the passive connectivity of internet video.

and here’s Dan Savage and his husband Terry’s own video:

Ellen DeGeneres speaks out against bullying ontd
Dan Savage Aims to Save LGBT Kids The Advocate
It Gets Better Project youtube
The Trevor Project

Instead of working on things like photographs, I ended up writing an email to the detective on the flier concerning the dangers of pedobear. Hey, let’s make it an open letter!

Detective Jones,

I came across an article on the website Gawker about the notice given out concerning the Pedobear Meme. As a frequenter of the internet and all its lame jokes, I wish to explain the gist and usage of Pedobear in case the posted flier is real.

The dumpster of all things internet-insane, 4chan, has a way of policing itself. As zany as the website and its users may be, they have common rules about right and wrong. Pedophilia is one of those things labeled wrong.  4chan procured this cartoon figure from the obscure and slowly made its way into mainstream internet culture. Pedobear is typically used to call out a person as taking a joke about pedophilia too far. The character has even been seen on billboards in Malta, commenting on how badly the Catholic Church as a whole was handling the pedophile issue by not firing the men accused of molestation.

The pedobear joke has been around long enough that people now wear watches with his face on it. His character’s absurdity has led his appearance to be funny rather than menacing. Wearing his image on a t-shirt is equivalent to wearing a t-shirt with Hello Kitty, who is pretty creepy-cute when you think about how she doesn’t have any eyebrows or a mouth.

While I agree that joking about something like pedophilia is a rather dark humor, generally people who use the pedobear image do not support the practice of sexually abusing children and are actually against it. Using the bear’s image is typically a social bullying technique to get the offending user to stop a poor joke or as a way to point out the absurdity of a situation. Pedobear is more of a mocking label of bad things rather than an obvious badge used by child-seeking predators.  I am more concerned with those people who participate in chat groups designed specifically for men and women who actually do want to engage in sexual activities and who go into chat groups to prey on young people. They tend to be a bit sneakier.

Thank you for your time and good luck catching the bad guys,
Stephanie Haddad

PS: I don’t want you to think you’re getting any viruses from the links. They’re legit sites! It’s more fluid to put the link into the words rather than having the giant url written out. All the links from my message above are listed here.

Gawker story: http://gawker.com/5636011/stupid-california-police-warn-parents-of-pedobear-the-pedophile-mascot?skyline=true&s=i
pedobear in Malta: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/12/pedobears-pope-billboard_n_534106.html
4chan: http://www.4chan.org/faq
the pedobear store: http://www.pedobearstore.com/
hello kitty toilet seat cover and more: http://inventorspot.com/articles/hello_kitty_toilet_set_adds_cute_your_commode_23978
pedobear.org and their latest tshirt: http://www.pedobear.org/
pedobear pointing out the hypersexualization of teenybopper singers: http://i28.tinypic.com/2rfu6g2.jpg

Filmed in Pittsburgh, this movie stars Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, and Liam Neeson. It’s a giant poster for my hometown’s city, complete with gratuitous aerial shots. I am okay with this fact. The plot focuses on Russell Crowe trying to get his wife, Elizabeth Banks, out of jail because she allegedly didn’t kill whoever they say she allegedly did.

Pirates sweaters are all the rage. The building they are alluding to as the prison is the actual county jail. When you drive over the Liberty Bridge you can sometimes see the inmates playing basketball through the windows.

THAT’S MY CITY. eeee. I wonder if they managed to make it look clean.