The State of the Union

The State of the Union: a little History

I want to preface this post first by saying that I'm not going to talk about what President Obama talked about last night. If I did my rage-o-meter would ping off the scale. What I would like to talk about is a little history of the State of the Union address. How the State of the Union's delivery has changed is important to know. As the delivery changed the Address reached more and more people as the people gained access to newer technologies.

Article II, Sec. 3, of the U.S. Constitution requires that, "The President shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." Ok, so we know that the President is supposed to "from time to time" address the congress. Well, we know that the Address happens every year in recent history. But I asked myself was there a time that it didn't happen? When was the first radio Address? When was the first television Address? When was the first Address made? and last but not least, When was the first time that the Address was streamed online? Well I can best answer that with a time line of firsts for the Address.

• January 8, 1790
• President Washington addresses a joint session of the House and Senate in New York, the nation's capitol at the time.
• December 1923
• President Coolidge's Address is the first to be broadcast on the radio
• January 6, 1947
• President Truman's Address is the first to be broadcast on television
• January 1965
• President Johnson decided to move the time of the Address from the morning to the evening to reach a greater television audience
• January 1986
• President Reagan is the only president to postpone the Address due to the news of the time (the Space Shuttle Challenger accident) it is also the only time that the Justices were not in attendance for the Address
• January 1997
• President Clinton’s Address is the first to be made available live online

Thomas Jefferson didn't address the congress in person, instead he sent his address in the form of a letter to be read by a clerk. President Wilson reinstated the live speech in 1913.

The upgrade in delivery, from oral to type, back to oral then to live voice, and then to live video, matches (mostly) the other types of media upgrades. As technology developed so did the delivery of the Address. The president's audience shifted from a purely Congressional audience to an audience of mostly citizens. While the venue of the Address hasn't changed, because the audience has changed and expanded, the style of the speech as followed suit.

If you would like to learn greater details about the State of the Union Address you can go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_the_Union_address
http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/SOTU00/history/index.html
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepresidentandcabinet/a/souhistory.htm
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents

This is worthy of news? say WHAT?!

Scorned Mistress of Married Obama Adviser Posts Billboards Nationwide - Local News News Articles National News US News - FOXNews.com

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I have just one question: how is this worthy of news? I mean really, a woman that commited adultry with a married man sets up billboards proclaiming her love for him and this is news worthy? I am absolutly disgusted by this. Not just that it's made the news rounds but that she even thought to broadcast herself in such a way. What does she want? Her 15 seconds of fame? Revenge? Of couse the only reason why this made the news is probably because it's connected to President Obama.

Author of "Love Story" Dies

picture from Foxnews.com

My first exposuer to this story was the 1970 movie of the same name. I am not old enough to have seen this when it first came out (I was born in 1980) so I watched it, if I remember correctly, on a cable channel or possibly Encore. I remember it being very sad, the music was moving (it won an Oscar for it's music) and the movie's most famous line "Love means never having to say your sorry" and these things have stuck with me for years. The Washington Post has a very nice article about it that you can read at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/19/AR2010011904354.html Mr. Segal has some interesting quotes about his fame and ego. There are also some interesting things about the reviews he had for this book. He was even denied tenure at Yale because of his "fame".

"You think you're invincible, you're infallible and that your star will shine forever, when in fact they'll be looking for somebody else next week." (Segal) This quote is very interesting if you look at it as Postman might have looked at it. In essence he's saying that just because your work is entertaining this week but by next week we'll need something new to keep us entertained. Which is interesting in itself since this is print media and not just about a movie that was also a book.

I'm still digesting this news, I'm always a little shocked when the people that have written things I love pass away.

Welcome to the mad house

I'm going to premise this first post with the statement "I have not blogged before and I don't write a journal or a diary" This is going to be a spot where I'll be keeping track of my media usage and anything else that has to do with modern popular culture that decides to jump in my brain.

For this first blog I'm going to talk about my discovery of Pandora Radio. If you don't know what Pandora Radio is, it's a music search tool where you start with an artist or song that you really like, then the search program kicks out other artists and songs that you might like based on your first choice. I should probably state that I used to be a DJ for an online radio station that's since gone by the wayside. I own A LOT of music and I've got a good couple of hours worth of my favorite artists in a playlist. Pandora Radio has shown me new artists that I haven't heard before most of whom are not on major labels. If anyone is interested in how it works you can go to http://www.pandora.com/mgp.shtml and read how they go about bringing you new music. I also found an interview with one of the creators of Pandora http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c6KCDmEnt8 and what he has to say about music and how he wants to consume music. Also if you don't want to be tied to your computer and you have a blackberry or something like it, you can take the music with you. My question is does this accessibility to music stop you from truly enjoying it? or does it just pass from one ear to the other without stopping in between? I like to actively listen to music, I like to hear the nuances and understand the words that the artist is singing.