Almost Worth Knowing: Well, I said I'd follow it up...

I got a little busy since I wrote Part 1 of this series, but here is a small update. One of the best athletes turned artist I came across in my research is Major League Baseball first basemen and designated hitter, Aubrey Huff. At the time of my original research, Huff played for the Baltimore Orioles, but was traded to the Detroit Tigers on August 17, 2009. From what I can tell, he is a pretty decent baseball player. As pertains to this post topic, Aubrey Huff also has a really good voice.

In 2005, Huff was named by his teammates as someone who could sing "a little." In turn, he was approached by the producers of a would-be album, called Oh Say Can You Sing, featuring MLB players singing different songs. When the producers heard his voice, they were blown away. Me too. Check Huff singing "Letters From Home" below.

Almost Worth Knowing: My favorite...

Almost Worth Knowing: and Back to Kanye...

So the other night, Kanye West committed an one of the more memorable pop culture atrocities in recent memory... I blogged about it already, but I have to come back to it. Now, I'm sure that, for some time now, this was cause for people over at E! to go into seizures about; but apparently, it has also become somewhat of an internet phenomenon.

Here it is... ImmaLetYouFinish.com. Below are some of my favorites... you get the gist of what the website is about...

This one is my favorite of favorites...

Also, Obama called him a jackass.

Almost Worth Knowing: Patrick Swayze Dies at Age 57 of Pancreatic Cancer

It has been well-known for some time now that Patrick Swayze was battling Pancreatic Cancer. The cancer, which he contracted in early 2008, finally completed its course last evening. It is sad to look at pictures of him from his last days- gaunt, old, and generations apart from the graceful, vibrant star he was in his youth. This summer has been a summer of death for many large figures in Hollywood, and, for me, this is another striking reminder of how old my parents are getting. My father is a year older than Swayze.

Nonetheless, I will try my best to remember my father in his youth, as I'm sure Swayze's image will be preserved forever in classics like Dirty Dancing and, one of my favorites, Ghost.

Jennifer Grey, in remembrance of her days working with him on Dirty Dancing, had this to say: "When I think of him, I think of being in his arms when we were kids, dancing, practicing the lift in the freezing lake, having a blast doing this tiny little movie we thought no one would ever see. ... Patrick was a rare and beautiful combination of raw masculinity and amazing grace."


Even if we never see him again, maybe Whoopi or Demi will?

Challenge: Without using the internet, link Swayze to Kevin Bacon in the fewest number of degrees possible.

Almost Worth Knowing: Kanye's Gotta Do What Kanye's Gotta Do

If you haven't heard yet, some pretty exciting shit went down at the VMA's tonight. About an hour into the show, Taylor Swift won the in the Best Female Video category for “You Belong To Me,” which beat out Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It).” God, am I glad. I rather like Taylor, and, even if I didn't, Beyonce sucks.

Of course, none of this was very exciting, until Kanye West decided to rush the stage during Swift's acceptance speech. Apparently, Kanye didn't agree with me (that "Single Ladies" is the worst, most grating song ever) and wanted to make that notion known. He quickly took the mic away from a stunned Taylor Swift, and announce to the world “Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’ll let you finish, but Beyoncé has one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!” Ha... sigh... my goodness...

Needless to say, everyone at the Radio City Music Hall was shocked, Taylor was soon crying in the back, and West was immediately ejected from the event. You can read more about it here or check out the clip below, but the quality is not that great. Honestly, I just feel kinda bad for Taylor. She's so cute. In my opinion, the only good thing to come out of this is a comment someone posted, listing his screen name as Kanye West:

Kanye West | 9/13/2009, 10:54 pm EST

I’m a stupid Nig with no respect for anyone. I gotta get mine!

Almost Worth Knowing: Japan's changing Government

Let me begin by saying that the nature of today's post is based more in fact and politics than my usual hash. For that reason, I think it is important that I mention this topic is not heavily researched by me: the information presented is based only on one article and is presented because I find it interesting. It may be speculation and may be wrong. For that I apologize. With that said, I recently read an article in The Economist entitled "The Vote that Changed Japan."

As all of my readers well may know, Japan has long been among the closest of America's trading partners and allies. This dates back to the drastic ends of World War II and America's enfranchisement in Japanese politics during the cold-war. In 1955, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) came into power - the pro-American, pro-Business influence that is responsible for much of Japan's breakneck growth. Though the LDP lost once in 1993, it remained the biggest party in Japan's parliamentary system, and was back in power in less than a year. The LDP has been in power since, until the results of the recent general election were announced on August 30th, this year.

Now, the LDP has only 119 of 480 seats in the lower house of the Diet, down from 300. The tides have turned, instead, in the direction of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which now occupies 308 seats.

The DPJ is largely a reaction to the failings of the LDP. Ultimately, what the LDP did well was provide "cheap finance for big business, contracts for construction companies, jobs for the masses, subsidies for farmers, and re-election for the LDP machine." It is not surprising that, half a century later, corruption is a problem and the temporary boom associated with improvements in infrastructure are no longer sufficient. Bureaucracy and patronage undermined the LDP's attempts to deal with these deficiencies; the task of creating an "open and accountable government" now falls on the shoulders of newly appointed Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. Yet, there are curiously large ambiguities surrounding how the DPJ hopes to affect this change.

A few things are known, however; the DPJ is not the same pro-business, pro-American party that came before. While the article attempts to diffuse concerns (and logically so) that the DPJ would be hard-pressed to suddenly reject American influence, the article is not concerned with the American-felt consequences of this transition ("from export-led growth towards domestic demand"). I worry; there is already a quiet buzz that speaks of subtle anti-American change, and this drone will only grow louder. In a time when the world is withdrawing from American dependence, one cannot blame Japan for attempting to make itself more self-sufficient - but America is not in a position to lose friends in that region of the world.

I wonder how much the world has changed after this global recession. I find it hard to picture a world where America and Japan are not close allies, where Japan has changed its focus from corporations to people, and where a nation, as successful as Japan, could choose to turn its back on technological innovation towards investment in doctors, nursing homes, and suburbia. It may not be so drastic and it may be the right choice for the people, but I find it strange when efficiency is declined in favor of creating a more simple lifestyle. Japan is the most successful (maybe the only successful) example of America's attempts to export democracy and capitalism. When the world's second-biggest economy turns its back on exports, what does that spell for the rest of us?