I wanted to share some special news: I’m going to be a dad! The above picture of Baby Dunn, aka Dunn 2.0, aka The Dunnling, was taken today at Ashley’s first ultrasound. She’s 12 weeks pregnant. We found out on the morning of December 24th, so it was a wonderful surprise for us and for our families. In typical geeky fashion, our way of announcing it to our families was to print out individual Christmas cards (see below) and give them to everyone at the same time – the look of puzzlement, followed quickly by delight, was quite the wonder to behold. Ashley is due August 30th. I wanted to get this quick announcement out the door – I’ll post more ultrasound pictures later, along with the thunderclap that hit me when I saw my baby move for the first time. One word: wow. God is good!
“Amid fears that Canada’s culture is being drowned in a sea of online video from around the world, federal regulators are looking at setting up a $100-million fund to support homegrown programming on the Internet. The controversial proposal, which is aimed at staking out a more distinct national identity online, has pitted the television production community against Canada’s Internet service providers, who may ultimately have to foot the bill, or pass those costs onto customers.”
I can hardly believe what I read in this article. For the non-Canadians out there, the CRTC is the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission. They’re the regulatory body that’s made some very unpopular and rather questionable decisions over the past few decades. Canadian radio stations, for instance, have to play a certain percentage of Canadian content – which means we tend to hear a lot of the same songs over and over. There’s a lot of good Canadian music out there today, but forcing it to be heard is ridiculous in my opinion. Though I understand the concept of having the Canadian voice be heard, I believe that good music floats to the top of the refuse regardless of where it’s from – and that it’s not the job of government or my tax dollars to enforce that. It’s no different for Internet video – I’m a Canadian who makes videos and posts them online, but I don’t need or want my government to somehow “encourage” my fellow Canadians to watch my content. My tax dollars should be going toward health care, defense of this nation, and other government-run areas. Keep your hands off the Internet CRTC – this is one Canadian who doesn’t want your help!
I remember hearing this song on the radio and thinking it was a catchy tune melody-wise, but the lyrics pack quite a punch – I’ve believed for a long time now that the way we treat our celebrities in Western culture is twisted and often-times cruel (and I’m rarely any better). As a society, we hold these famous people to almost impossible standards, scrutinize their every move, and when we finally grind their sanity down to a thread and they finally snap, we all stand and watch shaking our heads and saying “Tsk, tsk, I guess they just couldn’t handle the pressure.” It takes a remarkable person to survive being famous, and with the advent of the Internet and 24 hour news channels, there’s no place for them to hide from their “fans”. I can’t imagine the isolation and loneliness that most famous people must feel.
Bebo Norman’s song really nails the issue, and some YouTubian has put the song to a collection of video clips and included the words to his song. I defy anyone to watch this and not feel sympathy for Britney Spears.
