musings . . .

iPhone.  It does everything except bake cookies.  And they’re probably working on that.  But what practical use could I find for it?  If I buy an iPhone what other object that currently occupies space in my house/pocket/purse/car/etc. can I get rid of?  I get it – it does

• Internet
• phone
• pictures
• video
• music

Can I use it to write documents?  Keep track of my finances?  Record cassette tapes and digitize them?  Can I have it record programs from my TiVo?  Or is it just another gadget someone put together so that I have more to do and less time to myself to focus on that which is important to me? 

I get the feeling that the iPhone is just another iProduct being created on the (highly successful) tails of the iPod and geared to all the kids that want/need (how sad is it that some kids really do need these things to feel good about themselves) the latest iProduct from Mac to feel good.  When they develop a phone that can do more than make a call well, then I will consider dropping one of my household appliances to replace it with the new phone.  Until then, there’s no need. 

Now I never really played role-playing games myself.  Those were more the exclusive realm of boys than football was.  The games themselves seem to be interesting enough.  You build a character in an imaginary world where incredible things are possible. Then you devise ways to make your character interact with other players’ characters within the rules of the game.  But if you are reading closely, you are already seeing the resemblance to reality television (which I never really watched much, either).

See, reality television takes people out of their elements (even the original MTV’s Real World) and places them in imaginary situations, though for extended periods of time.  And while in these imaginary situations, people must create characters.  They do this sometimes to win a game and sometimes to protect their emotions from the cruelty of characters created by the other participants.  Am I making any sense?  The participants behave within the bounds of their characters’ identities and within the boundaries of the rules of the show/game.

I think I have made my comparison well, but there are definitely areas that I am forgetting so please bring them to my attention.  Ugh.  I wish My brain was working better to put this together more clearly.

I heard on the news this morning that it’s Juneteenth Day today.  They were talking about the riots that broke out last year at the celebrations and how the police are trying to avoid that this year.  They showed video of last year’s celebrations and Juneteenth Day parade and explained that the parade starts at 10AM today. 

I had no idea what Juneteenth Day was, so I went to this website: http://www.juneteenth.com/.  I read that it’s the celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation – the end of slavery in the United States.  It seems like this is a celebration in which everyone should be participating.  We should all be happy that slavery is illegal now.  I can’t believe that it’s a holiday I knew nothing about.  People everywhere should be off work for the celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation.  This should be a very important day for us.  Why is it one of those holidays only celebrated in small sections of the city and completely ignored in other areas?  

I’m pretty good at asking these questions, but not so good at coming up with answers.  At least not so good at coming up with answers I find acceptable. 

UPDATE 6/22/07: So sad.  There’s nothing I can say to defend the actions of the people who beat a man after the Juneteenth Celebrations.  Maybe, if we made the celebration more mainstream and put it downtown, it could be safer.  I’m at a loss for words.