Thursday, May 27, 2004
The way we eat
I read an interesting article this morning in Harvard Magazine about the way we eat now and about the obesity problems affecting America and other civilized nations. I'm really interested in seeing the new documentary Super Size Me about a man who eats McDonalds for one month during which time his health deteriorates dramatically. Our nation has become extremely obese and sedentary, and I'm very curious to see how the latest Atkins diet craze pans out in the big picture of things. Anyway, you should read the Harvard article, a bit long, but very interesting.
Thursday, May 13, 2004
American Idol psychology
Somehow I managed to get sucked into watching American Idol this season, and after watching last nights episode, I just had to post something. Last night La Toya London was voted off. La Toya was arguably the best singer, and definitely the most polished and consistent performer on the show. I have a few theories as to why she got voted off while Jasmine Trias, who definitely had a horrible performance stayed.
I think that the problem comes down to fundamental psychology, and the way that people are encouraged to vote or get riled up about an issue in general. Diana had a great performance and definitely deserved to stay as happened, and I think that people get excited about really good performances and will vote for their favorite and that person is likely to remain.
Jasmine however didn't perform well, but was so obviously in trouble with Simon saying that she was definitely going and that she better hope that every household in Hawaii had 5 phones because she was going to need all the help she could get. That set up a basic challenge, and people rose to the occasion to save someone that they loved.
Here's the real kicker. I believe that if Jasmine had performed well and received even mediocre votes (rather than horribly bad) from the judges then she would definitely have been voted off. My question then is do the judges and show people know this and tell Simon who to really rip if they are bad or does he just come up with it himself? I know that in an ideal world people would all vote (like the U.S. elections) and everyone would vote only one time for the person they thought was best, but that isn't how it works. Both Fantasia, and La Toya were great and should have gone on, but as La Toya said (which I think probably also lost her some votes) she was already a winner and would end up with a good record contract anyway, and I think that is true. She is the most polished and professional performer and will do just fine.
These votes definitely make for exciting television (if you can skip all of the boring group performances and delay tactics in the second show of each week) and should push next weeks American Idol viewership up. The real question then is whether or not the network is involved in some sort of scam to create controversy and get people watching or if all this is just how it works out.
Everyone thinks that the people who do really well will already get a lot of votes so they don't need to vote (don't make this mistake in the next election) but that isn't the case. Every vote counts, and everyone should vote, and vote for who they think the best candidate is. I of course say all of this and am the ultimate hypocrite and have never voted in an American Idol show although I have some excuse since I always watch it a few days later after recording it with my PVR. Jasmine will definitely be gone this week no matter how the other girls perform (unless they really suck and she is really good) and I think it is going to be a very very tough call between Jasmine and Diana unless one of them blows the final.
That's it, now back to my life!
I think that the problem comes down to fundamental psychology, and the way that people are encouraged to vote or get riled up about an issue in general. Diana had a great performance and definitely deserved to stay as happened, and I think that people get excited about really good performances and will vote for their favorite and that person is likely to remain.
Jasmine however didn't perform well, but was so obviously in trouble with Simon saying that she was definitely going and that she better hope that every household in Hawaii had 5 phones because she was going to need all the help she could get. That set up a basic challenge, and people rose to the occasion to save someone that they loved.
Here's the real kicker. I believe that if Jasmine had performed well and received even mediocre votes (rather than horribly bad) from the judges then she would definitely have been voted off. My question then is do the judges and show people know this and tell Simon who to really rip if they are bad or does he just come up with it himself? I know that in an ideal world people would all vote (like the U.S. elections) and everyone would vote only one time for the person they thought was best, but that isn't how it works. Both Fantasia, and La Toya were great and should have gone on, but as La Toya said (which I think probably also lost her some votes) she was already a winner and would end up with a good record contract anyway, and I think that is true. She is the most polished and professional performer and will do just fine.
These votes definitely make for exciting television (if you can skip all of the boring group performances and delay tactics in the second show of each week) and should push next weeks American Idol viewership up. The real question then is whether or not the network is involved in some sort of scam to create controversy and get people watching or if all this is just how it works out.
Everyone thinks that the people who do really well will already get a lot of votes so they don't need to vote (don't make this mistake in the next election) but that isn't the case. Every vote counts, and everyone should vote, and vote for who they think the best candidate is. I of course say all of this and am the ultimate hypocrite and have never voted in an American Idol show although I have some excuse since I always watch it a few days later after recording it with my PVR. Jasmine will definitely be gone this week no matter how the other girls perform (unless they really suck and she is really good) and I think it is going to be a very very tough call between Jasmine and Diana unless one of them blows the final.
That's it, now back to my life!
Sunday, May 02, 2004
New Blogger Interface
It seems like Blogger has dramatically changed their user interface. I think that it may have had a few bugs that hopefully are worked out now because I posted an update the other day that turned out blank and I just had to remove it. As I mentioned before I got a Google Gmail account a couple of weeks ago because of my blogging activity using the Google owned Blogger. I since received an invitation from Google to invite two other friends to get account there so I did. The next day I discovered that the Gmail accounts were selling on eBay for up to $200. So crazy! I should have kept my other one and sold it. I don't think that I would have though although I'm thinking that I would have liked to get another account for myself. Maybe I'll get another invite in a bit and can get a second account. Sometimes I like to keep different types of mail divided up.
Well, that's about it. Another beautiful Sunday from here in Santa Clara, CA.
Well, that's about it. Another beautiful Sunday from here in Santa Clara, CA.
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