Make Mine Mike

Scattered weekend revelations:

1. Yahoo news is plagiarizing my blog. They had an article recently that echoed my post from a while back about how Facebook usage has diminished real-life interpersonal contact. It's like I've been saying all along. Last week I asked a friend how he's doing, and he said, "Well, if you were on Facebook, you would know."

2. The New York Times also had an article about how Hollywood may have helped America embrace the idea of a black president, simply by portraying the TV or movie role of Commander-in-Chief with an impressive, intelligent African-American actor (e.g., Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact and that All-State insurance guy on "24"). Thing is, I started writing a post saying the exact same thing months ago when Obama was elected, but was too busy to finish it and then it didn't seem timely, until this week, around his inauguration. Great, now the Times is stealing my thoughts, too.

3. My wife has this interesting theory that Huey Lewis & the News are to the 1980s what Hootie & the Blowfish are to the 1990s. She explains that both had a unique (albeit innocuous) sound when they first emerged, were hugely popular -- even with college kids -- with a string of hit songs, and then shortly after the peak of their success, became considered extremely lame. A punchline. But, she says, if you hear their songs now, you can't deny that they're catchy and fun and you feel nostalgic for that bygone era. (This was discussed after hearing "The Power of Love".) But who, she asks, is the corresponding group for the '00 years? I racked my brain, but I realized I don't know too many bands from this past decade. Namewise, none seem be referred to by one guy & his backup; they're all The "something": The Killers, The Shins, The Hives, or three word titles like Plain White Tees, Gym Class Heroes or, I dunno, Off Key Whiners or We Suck Bigtime. In fact, it all sounds pretty lame to me. But I was somewhat pleased with myself for figuring out who was the equivalent band from the '70s -- K.C. and the Sunshine Band. Uh-huh uh-huh, I like it, uh-huh uh-huh.