Here's a Mashup of Shakira's "Hips don't lie" and Pink's "Stupid girls" that I created with Soundtrack.

I stopped by my local Starbucks for a Venti Chai Latte today. Upon entering the Starbucks I couldn’t help but notice ALL the ads for the movie “Akeelah and the Bee“. First I noticed all the signs on the windows. Each sign depicted a different winning spelling bee word from various years. They all had bright green backgrounds with large words reversed out like “shalloon” - winning word from the 1971 spelling bee. They had a travel edition of Scrabble that had “akeelah and the bee” spelled out on playing board. A very crafty ploy but perhaps a bit over the top. Okay, I get it. Starbucks is now shoveling movies down my throat. I guess it wasn’t it enough that I frequent the store to buy an overpriced tea or coffee. Now they need to make more money by putting advertising all over the place.

As I sauntered up to the counter to place my order, a lovely young girl asked if she could get a drink ready for me. I asked for a Venti Chai Latte. She asked my name so she could write it on the cup. I replied “Akeelah” She said “REALLY?” I said “No”. “With all the advertising about “Akeelah and the Bee, I thought it was only fitting to have a hand written advertisement.” So she says “great!” and proceeds to write my so-called-name on the cup.

When the barrista finished preparing my drink she announced “Akeelah?” “Akeelah?” I picked up my drink and noticed that the girl who had originally written the name on the cup actually SPELLED IT WRONG. Interestingly enough the movie is about a spelling bee. The wrapper that’s on the cup has the movie name on it. Funny enough, there are signs all over the store. How ironic that a movie about a spelling bee and that has signs and tons of advertising should be spelled wrong by a Starbucks employee! Nice attention to detail.

A more interesting movie may be Akeelah and the Bee and a Starbucks employee. Yeah, that’s a movie I would go to see.

Last time I checked it was still 2006. This is the age of the internet, right? I can jump on the internet and google any address and get a match in mere seconds. Not only that but I can get an amazing map to go with it. From there, I can customize the map view, print it out and can be out the door a minute later. So why are the yellow pages still being delivered? Last year I think I received two or three shipments. They get tossed right into the recycle bin.

I want to know where the concerned environmentalists are. Shouldn’t they be complaining about our poor trees being killed? Don’t they care about the massive amount of waste that is taking place? Surely they must be concerned that across the U.S.most people are also tossing the yellow pages in the trash as well. The good news is that some may recycle. Whoopee!

Because of this nifty new invention, called the internet, I see no use for the yellow pages anymore. I can see it for the older population who still prefer traditional methods. But let’s be realistic here. Most companies have web sites and would be better off spending some money improving their sites rather than spending it on a yellow pages ad. Apparently a major paradigm shift hasn’t occurred here yet.

Of course the flip side is that people are still buying the ads in the yellow pages so some must still be using them. As for me… NO. I’m not using the yellow pages. I may use a book to light a fire the next time I go camping. I could stockpile a bunch and have a great camping trip. No need for kindling.

The yellow pages are dead! Viva el internet!

The past few cities I’ve visited I’ve snapped shots of the Apple store. Not only are the products works of art, the stores are as well.

By now everyone has witnessed the large immigration rallies and protests in Dallas and L.A. It’s been the hottest topic on the cable news stations.

My stance on immigration is simple. If you want to live or work in the United States there are a couple of things I want to know:

1. Who are you?
2. Where are you?
3. Are you paying taxes?
4. Are you law abiding?
5. Do you want to make a contribution to this country or just in it for yourself?

Sure, it could sound harsh. However, millions of Americans each day are subject to these rules. The government knows exactly who I am, how much tax I should pay, and where I live.

What about the people who are waiting in line to come to the U.S. the legal way? What about a Chinese person who has been waiting for more than nine years to get a Visa. What about my Romanian friend? He immigrated to Holland to make a better life for himself. He has been trying to get a visa just to visit the U.S. for a week and has been denied for the past five years!

What about people who gave up everything to come to live in the US via political asylum?

Hey, if you’re ex-Taliban leader, you can easily come and live here and attend an Ivy League school! Terrific!

So what’s the message here about immigration?

Immigrate to the U.S. the legal way and you may be waiting years. Hop across the border and you are rewarded for breaking the law.

Yeah… That makes sense.

Most of the photos that I shoot eventually get cropped. Not this one.

- Amsterdam, Sept. 05

Below is my mash-up of an excerpt from the famous Martin Luther King Drum Major Instinct speech delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, on 4 February 1968 that I created in Soundtrack.

For a long time, the French have been the butt end of countless jokes. When you would google “French Military Victories” google would return “You mean french Military defeats“. There’s the French military in a nutshell, any Monte Python episode, etc.

The youth unemployment in France is a stagering 20%. In an attempt to decrease unemployment amongst the youth and create a more competitive marketplace, Mr. Chirac and his protege Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin drafted a new law. Here’s an excerpt from a BBC article:

The law introduced a new work contract, known as the First Employment Contract or CPE for under-26s. It was to allow a two-year trial period, during which employers could end a contract without explanation.

Of course the plan was shelved after the worst protests in 40 years. The kids protested and our man Chirac listened. Of course Prime Minister Dom De Villepin is the favorite successor for the presidency. Easy to understand why a speedy change was made especially after De Villepin’s approval rating fell from 49% to an uncomfortable 25%. OUCH.

Of course President Bush’s approval rating has fallen. I believe it may have dropped below 25% as I’ve been writing this. That’s the difference between a leader and a sheep herder. The leader makes tough decisions in the best interest of all people, the sheep herder listens to a few of the sheep and makes a decision at the expense of the rest of the people.

I really thought the French might be on to something worthwhile by creating some competition in the workplace. Actually doing the right thing for a change. Once again very predictable. Keep waving that white flag my fine frenchmen. Way to go Jacques Chirac!

Does Starbucks corporate have a kitchen where employees deposit their lunches inside the community refrigerator? Do they have the regular coffee office brew stations with Starbucks coffee? Or, do they have a Starbucks store inside corporate headquarters. If they have a corporate store… is the coffee FREE? I mean do employees pay for coffee at the corporate headquarters? If they get the coffee FREE, how many cups are they rationed to per day?

In Cuba, its well known in most cigar factories employees can smoke as many cigars as they wish during the course of a day. They are also allowed to take home three cigars per day. So we know that nicotine is an addictive substance. Consequently, the employees who smoke are hooked. Not a bad thing, just an observation.

If coffee contains caffeine, another addictive substance, how many Starbucks employees drink the coffee? I once worked for a General Motors subsidiary at the Tech Center in Detroit. One of the persons in my department drove a Honda. She was not looked upon very favorably for obvious reasons. This brings me to my next question. What if some of the Starbucks corporate employees do not drink the coffee. Better yet, what if there’s a rebel running around Starbucks corporate drinking Dunkin Donuts coffee? That can’t be good. Or does that person disguise the fact by drinking from a thermos?

Everyone is so concerned about spam. Every time you open your e-mail just take a look in the inbox all the unwanted mail. There are Spam filters, programs, everything under the sun to keep this pesky mail from entering our inboxes.

My friends, there is a bigger problem than spam. What to do about all the paper junk mail that’s waiting for us everyday in our mailbox. No one seems to really be bothered by all the junk mail we receive on a daily basis.

Everyone is very concerned about spam though. With spam, you may have to actually click on the email and hit the delete key. Of course I would love to have a delete key that worked for my junk mail. But no, I have to go through my snail mail using the following steps:

1. Grab all mail lingering in my mailbox
2. Attempt to carry without dropping any mail
3. Carefully screen into three piles:

A) The “I know this is junk mail” pile
B) The “This might be something actually worthwhile” pile
C) The “Definitely keep because it’s important” pile

4. Open and go through the B and C pile
5. Screen the B pile and put important mail into C pile
6. Discard the A and screened B piles
7. Get rid of all envelopes and keep only necessary inserts from C pile

So this is quite a daily chore. There is no simple delete key for my junk mail. Where are all the wack jobs complaining about all the wasted trees that were used to create the paper my junk mail is printed on. They are nowhere to be found. Rest assured, these are the same people complaining about their spam filters not working correctly. Somebody please explain this to me.
Imagine all the wasted paper that is shipped daily to U.S. residences. I’m no numbers expert but I can only imagine how big this number must be. Multiply that number by 365 days and I believe we have entered into a danger zone. Frightening isn’t it. But hey, I can always revel in the fact that I have a delete key for my spam. Big deal.

There is a do not call registry for unsolicited phone calls.

There are filters and spam software for unsolicited emails.

Where is the “DO NOT MAIL ME CRAP THAT I DIDN”T ASK FOR” registry? Huh? Anybody?

I told you it was addictive!

So I’m cruising around the internet reading my blogs and such and I happen upon this cool little site called Strip Generator. It’s basically a Flash comic strip generator hence the name. They have a cast of characters pre-built and ready to use. I just started clicking and dragging. I didn’t know where I was going. It’s a interesting way to create. It’s very similiar to how I write music and lyrics. Give it a try…. It’s addictive. At least for some of us!

Strip Generator