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Taylor Swift Hype

Posted on: 10/26/09 6:57 PM | by Jonathan McKee

She’s country, but she gets mainstream airplay, she’s clean (wow!)… and four of her concerts just sold out in two minutes!

19-year-old country singer Taylor Swift has only become more popular in recent months, with songs continually in the top 10 of Billboard charts, and winning MTV’s best female video (having that moment swiped by Kanye).

On Friday, tickets to four of her 2010 Fearless tour dates sold out in literally two minutes! According to this article, she was the best selling artist of 2008 and will play 37 shows in the US and Canada and seven down under.

Today, Taylor is all over the charts:

Her album Fearless is #1 on Country Albums, and actually #7 on the Billboard 200 album charts (it peaked at #1)
Her title album (Taylor Swift) is #13 on the Country Albums chart (it peaked at #1)
Her song You Belong With Me is #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 (it peaked at #2)
Love Story is #9 on the Adult Contemporary chart (it peaked at #1)
Fifteen is #11 on the Country Songs chart, #67 on the Hot 100 chart, and #53 on the Radio Songs chart

Keep your eyes on this girl. Our kids are watching her.

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Lil Wayne Pleads Guilty… but Doesn’t Feel Guilty

Posted on: 10/24/09 10:20 AM | by Jonathan McKee

It’s so hilarious to me, it’s hard for me to even report.

Here it is, in a nutshell: Lil Wayne gets pulled over AGAIN because the police smelled Marijuana emanating from his tour bus (not the first time this has happened). When authorities entered the bus, they saw him throw a Louis Vuitton bag to the floor… a bag that contained a .40 caliber.

My words of advice to Lil Wayne:

1. Don’t carry a gun.

2. If you’re gonna carry a gun, don’t brag that you always carry a gun, like in your foul song, Always Strapped

3. If you’re gonna carry a gun, don’t also brag that you carry a gun AND are “ducking the law,” like in your song, F**k the World, or your song She Feelin’ Me where you say “f**k the police” and then describe that your gal hides weed in her… (Well… I just don’t think I should dive that deep into a woman’s anatomy in this blog- peek at the lyrics for yourself if you’re curious) … but Wayne, you’re just daring a cop to pull you over!

4. If you’re gonna carry a gun, brag about carrying a gun, AND badmouth the police, don’t carry a gun in New York, where in 2006, they passed a bill, that then-Governor George Pataki changed into law, where mere possession of a loaded weapon in New York State is a felony, whether you planned to use the gun or not.

5. If you’re gonna carry a gun, brag about carrying a gun, badmouth the police, AND get pulled over in New York, then don’t whine that you’re treated unfairly and act like such a victim. You got caught. Face it. Do your time like T.I. and shut up about it. After all, this isn’t your first run in with the law:

In August, 2006 you were arrested in Atlanta for possession of a controlled substance. During your stay at the Twelve Hotel, management smelled marijuana and called the police, who found two illegal drugs. (Yeah, you eventually beat those charges.)
Out on bond, you got arrested in Boise in October 2007 for a felony fugitive charge linked to your Atlanta arrest (Yeah, you beat those too.)
In January 2008 your tour bus was stopped in Yuma, AZ where border patrol agents found marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy. (You still have to stand trial for that one next March. Beat that one!)
Those arrests don’t even include your legal suits like the one you settled with The Rolling Stones for sampling their song, and the two suits by concert promoters for taking advances and not performing (you’re obviously a real man of integrity!)

But Wayne… I’ve gotta give you props for being smart enough to plea on this New York gun charge. You’ll probably only do 8-10 months, where if you wouldn’t have plead, you’d have been looking at 3 and a half years if found guilty by trial.

Thus endeth my advice to Lil Wayne.

Perhaps Wayne is finally going to eat his words. He talks pretty big in all his lyrics, in songs like, F**k You, where he said, “Murder ain’t nuttin’ but a misdemeanor.”

Well too bad gun possession is a felony!

Even though Wayne is finally going to be held accountable for his actions, it’s interesting that in this country, it looks like he never will be held accountable for his words. This week’s plea by Lil Wayne is rather timely, only days after the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released their report that “the effect that popular music has on children’s and adolescents’ behavior and emotions is of paramount concern.”

Then I wonder what effect the lyrics of Lil Wayne’s hit song Lollipop had on our kids, a song that adults gave him a Grammy for, the song that rode the number one slot more than almost any other song last year, the song that was the #3 most downloaded song last year.

Hmmmmmmmm.

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Miley in ‘Sex and the City: The Movie’ Sequel

Posted on: 10/19/09 4:11 PM | by Jonathan McKee

I’m DONE sharing my two cents about Miley- I’ll just report the facts. Last time I defended her, she showed up the next day at the Teen Choice Awards… uh… well… just click here if you don’t know.

And now, Miley seems to have made another “interesting” decision, the decision to cameo in the sequel to Sex in the City: The Movie (The MPAA gave the first movie an ‘R’ rating “for strong sexual content, graphic nudity and language”)

Let me back up. Back in 2008 Miley shared with her fans (dare I remind you- girls aged between 6 and 14) that her favorite TV show is HBO’s Sex and the City and she wished that her own Disney kids show could be more like it. (read her exact words here)

Last month, rumors began surfacing that Miley might show up in a cameo in the Sex and the City: The Movie sequel. Now those rumors are confirmed. Miley is going to be in the film as herself, showing up on the red carpet wearing the same dress as Kim Cattrall’s character in the show, Samantha.

Sigh.

Nice collar!

Okay, okay. No other comments from me about that.

I just think that youth workers and parents need to keep in mind that this young lady is definitely a role model to our kids, specifically our young girls. As I type this, her “Party in the USA” song has made it to #1 yet again on iTunes. Miley’s influence is only growing.

She’s in the limelight. The question is, “What are our kids seeing in that light?”

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A Bible for the Digital Generation

Posted on: 10/16/09 10:57 AM | by Jonathan McKee

It’s always interesting to see what new ideas people are coming up with to try to capture the attention of this young “digital” generation.

Enter the GLO Bible, stage left.

Glo’s YouTube ad says, “God’s Word is sacred and perfect. But with Glo, it’s amplified.”

Check it out:

(click here for the video if you don’t see the video above)

Interesting. They’re really marketing toward the fact that, ‘times have changed.”

It’s funny. I wonder how different this is than many of the Bible software that’s already out there. I admit, the maps, and the hours of HD video look pretty cool.

This “Guardian” article quotes the GLO Bible creator Nelson Saba, a former aeronautical engineer and banker:

“There is nothing wrong with the Bible but we have two generations which favour interactive media. Unless you put the Bible on that media you won’t connect with them. It’s not about mimicking paper. It’s about offering an experience.”

The article goes on to talk about some of the ways they, and I quote, “put a fresh spin” on scripture.

Hmmmmm. It will be interesting to see.

(ht to David R. Smith, youth culture guru)

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Kanye Truly “Heartless”

Posted on: 09/14/09 12:54 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Sunday night millions of teenagers watched The MTV Video Movie Awards to catch a glimpse of the best artists of the day… unfortunately the most of what they caught was the “worst of them.” Kanye was sure at his worst.

If you haven’t read the headlines by now, Kanye did one of his dumbest moves yet live on the show, leaving Taylor Swift in tears. As I sit here and write this blog only hours after the event, articles are already appearing like popcorn all over the internet, filled with new news of Kanye’s rude antics, his removal form the awards, and now his weak apology. (Sigh.)

I was watching the show Sunday night, my annual glimpse of one of the biggest pop culture phenomenon’s of the day. (As you know, ever year I encourage you to set your TIVOs and watch the show. The day after the awards, I write an article sharing my two cents on the show- ours will appear on the front page of our site late Monday in the Youth Culture Window magnifying glass.) Early in the show, shortly after Katy Perry’s disgusting crotch grab (that’s actually describing it mildly), Kanye West revealed his true self once again with an out of control outburst, walking on stage when Taylor Swift was awarded Best Female Video. Kanye took the mic from her during a pause in her acceptance speech and said, “Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’m gonna let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!” Beyonce looked a little confused, and slightly flattered. Boos began echoing throughout the room, disapproving of Kanye. As West left stage, applause began again for Taylor. A stunned Taylor stood there with a horrified look on her face. She never got to finish her speech.

Kanye’s name was mentioned a few times later in the show as a nominee for other awards– a majority of the crowd booed whenever Kanye’s name was mentioned (actually flustering Diddy to stumble over his words).

My heart broke for Taylor Swift. Kanye’s actions were, dare I say, “Heartless.” As this MTV.com article put it,

“But his verbal attack against Swift had a more vicious tone. According to a tweet from Jay-Z’s DJ, Neil Armstrong, Swift and her mother were seen backstage crying afterward; Beyoncé brought Swift onstage for another chance at her acceptance speech later in the show. Various celebs have lashed out against West on Twitter, including Pink, who had to be escorted away from the rapper by security. “

For those of you read our Youth Culture Window article about Kanye last year, his actions Sunday night might not have surprised you. His “apology” wasn’t much of a band aid. Kanye’s blog reveals a little regret as he apologizes to Taylor. But he turns to defend himself by claiming he was just being “real.”

Yeah… a real jackass! (There I go again!)

Catch the whole Youth Culture Window article about the 2009 VMAs here.

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Sexting “Banned” in Texas

Posted on: 08/31/09 12:05 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Now sexting is banned in a Texas school.

Hmmmmmm. I can just picture the conversations now.

“Hey Blake, do ya want me to send you a picture of me naked?”

“Well Amber, I would have wanted that last week… but now the school has banned it, so we better not.”

I’m not knocking it… I’m just chuckling at the fact that we have to put that policy in print. Don’t get me wrong. I actually agree. But it’s just like I always tell my kids when they get busted doing something that I had never actually never prohibited. “Yes Alec, you’re right. I never outright told you that you couldn’t hang the dog over the balcony by his back legs. But I would have hoped that common sense would have kicked in on this one!”

Well, for some kids, apparently common sense hasn’t kicked in. That’s why a Houston school has put the policy in print. Here’s a snippet of last week’s Washington Post article:

At 19, Melanie Young knows firsthand about the devastating consequences of sexting.

Too bad she didn’t learn her lesson sooner.

“I thought it was fun and just a way of flirting,” the McKinney resident said of sending a nude photo of herself to a male friend when she was 16. “I sent it to someone that I thought I could trust.”

Turns out she couldn’t. The person she sent the picture to promptly forwarded it to others. She was stunned when she went to school soon after and a classmate showed her the embarrassing photo on his cellphone. Other students saw it, too.

One in every five teenagers say they have electronically sent, or posted online, nude or semi-nude images of themselves, according to a 2008 survey conducted by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

And while some youths may see “sexting” – sending sexually suggestive or indecent text messages or pictures – as harmless fun, some Texans are beginning to take steps to stop them.

(the entire article about banning sexting)

For more about sexting, check out our recent Youth Culture Window article on the subject.

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Young People Multi-tasking… Not so Well

Posted on: 08/25/09 8:47 AM | by Jonathan McKee

You’ve probably read a little about this younger generation being better multi-taskers than we are. If you’ve attended my CONNECT workshop or any of my PARENTING workshops, you’ve heard me talk about it.

A new report from researchers at Stanford says that even though they might be multi-tasking… they might not be doing it very effectively.

Yahoo news reports:

The people who multitask the most are the ones who are worst at it. That’s the surprising conclusion of researchers at Stanford University, who found multitaskers are more easily distracted and less able to ignore irrelevant information than people who do less multitasking.

(the entire article on multi-tasking)

I’ve been reading debate about this fact for years (I’ve blogged about multi-tasking before). I recall articles that argued kids can indeed multi-task better, but it creates more stress.

Our kids are growing up in a world that almost demands better multi-tasking skills. As the years progress, it will be interesting to see if the end result of this mayhem is two steps forward… or a step backward.

Ever wish you could just slow everything down two notches? I think of a line from the movie The Shawshank Redemption when Brooks got out of jail after serving almost his entire life behind bars. “The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry.”

(ht to David)

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Social Networking Growth Explodes

Posted on: 06/4/09 9:27 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Just when you thought Facebook couldn’t get any bigger…

Social Networking (MySpace, Facebook, etc.) continues to grow and expand, reaching new age groups and slowly replacing good ol’ email.

You know… those little quizes like “What are you doing right now?” Or “25 Random Things About Me.” According to a recent Nielsen Online study, the latter quiz took 13.9 billion minutes of our time this year, compared to only 1.7 billion last year. “That’s a 700 percent increase,” as this Yahoo Tech News article puts it.

Great article. I encourage you to read it. Other interesting tidbits from it:

Twitter saw a 3712 percent year-over-year increase, clocking in nearly 300,000 total minutes for that site in April 2009
MySpace still rules the video streams. Users spent 384 million minutes viewing video on MySpace in April vs only 113.5 on Facebook
Facebook holds our attention more than any other site
People like blogs and social networks better than email
The greatest growth for Facebook has come from the 35- to 49-year-old crowd, and has added twice as many 50- to 64-year-old members than it did of the under- 18 group.

Hmmmmmm.

Personally… I’m not sure that these trends are healthy. Even though technology can be a positive thing, I don’t like how much it’s replacing face to face conversation. Don’t hear me wrong. I think these technologies can be great, when used in moderation. But there’s a point where we need to just say, “enough.”

I touch on this subject quite a bit in my upcoming book, Connect. (I’ve posted about this social isolation trend before)

I’ve been resisting the pressure to twitter, Facebook, etc. for a while now, with some criticism. But for me, personally, I have enough technology in my life. Any more, and it’s gonna start hindering my face to face relationships (with my wife and kids especially). So I will continue to use some technology (I text my son and my daughter, I use email and a social network site to keep tabs on friends), but I’m resisting others.

Marko (Youth Specialties CEO) made a recent decision to cut off his blog, Twittering, etc. He talks about it in his last blog post. I respect that decision. It’s an individual decision- one we have to moderate ourselves.

Food for thought!

(ht to David)

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No Dancing

Posted on: 05/12/09 1:10 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Sigh. No matter how this one turns out… it won’t be pretty. Christians are going to be dragged through the mud once again. It’s the age ol’ story:

Kid goes to strict Christian school that doesn’t allow dancing.

Kid signs contract agreeing he won’t dance.

Kid gets asked to prom at other school.

Kid asks principal if he can go.

Principal basically tells him, “If you don’t want to graduate.”

Kid goes to prom anyway (years of TV have taught him well).

School says, “Your suspended, you can’t take finals, and you can’t graduate.”

Kid shows up on CBS News whining about school, announcing he is going to sue the school.

There it is. Here’s the video:

Who’s wrong here? (how’s that for a discussion starter with your kids?)

The Christian school is definitely going to take a beating by the press with this one (the comments below the CBS video are hilarious. Wow. They remind me of the comments from 12-year-olds to my recent blog about ‘Twilight’)

Stupid rules aside… it’s sad… people’s word (even contracts) just doesn’t mean much to anyone any more.

That’s right. Even though I think this school might have some rules that are way more strict than I would have… the kid agreed to a contract. Don’t sign up for something if you don’t plan on sticking with it.

(ht to David R. Smith for the link)

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Miley’s Reaction to Miss California

Posted on: 04/28/09 12:14 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Most of us are aware of Miss California’s statement about Gay Marriage. But how many of us have heard what Miley said just days after? Read below… because I want your feedback!

It all started when Miss California, Carrie Prejean, answered a question about same sex marriages. I quote:

“We live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And you know what in my country, in my family I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody there, but that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think it should be, between a man and a woman.”

You can read all about it here.

As a guy who is very sensitive about this issue (because we as Christians have really messed up and said hateful and judgmental things), I was actually really pleased with Miss California’s response. I think she was not condemning, and at the same time, she shared her honest opinion based on her Biblical values. She has come across really strong through this whole ordeal.

I’m not going to debate the issue in this blog. I’ve shared my two cents on the homosexuality issue before in blogs and articles. But I was very interested in Miley’s response to this whole thing.

I keep an eye on Miley because… well… most of the young girls of this nation are doing the same. Miley has had some ups and downs in the press. She is a proclaimed believer, and I think she’s been a pretty good role model overall.

A couple days after Miss California’s comments, Miley twittered about the subject. Her words:

“Jesus loves you and your partner and wants you to know how much he cares! That’s like a daddy not loving his lil boy cuz he’s gay and that is wrong and very sad! Like I said everyone deserves to be happy. I am a Christian and I love you — gay or not. Because you are no different that anyone else! We are all God’s children!” (MTV News)

Hmmmmmm.

We, as Christians need to follow Christ’s example on this issue. That means

1. Showing love and compassion.

2. Pointing to the truth in love (not changing our morals to be politically correct)

Unfortunately, we (Christians) have failed on both extremes in recent years (you’ve heard me rant about this recently).

Where do you think Miley’s comments fall?

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