Idle Thoughts

Wow. I was listening to Bob FM, the local "we play anything, we're like an iPod on shuffle" radio station, and The Spice Girls "Wannabe" came on. I listened to it, and, for cheesy pop, it wasn't bad. I'm not about to get their CD, or add the song to my (still pretty meager) play list, but in small doses, like once every year or so, it's okay. I think the same is true for all pop.

I have three random thoughts buzzing through my head right now. I'll get to the others in a second, but since the first is related to my opening, it gets to be first. Obviously. So yeah, speaking of pop music. I've noticed it seems to go in trends. For each time period, it all seems to mostly have the same sound, and pop music as a whole gradually shifts into differing sounds as time goes on.

So here's my question. Suppose, do to a warping of space time, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, are all caught in a time warp while recording their first album together as the Beatles. They never become the hit sensation of the sixties, and instead emerge, well, today, with a fully completed album meant for release 40 years ago.

My question is: Would that album sell today?

Obviously, if someone re-released one of the Beatles albums today, it would sell decently, simply because of the fame and reputation the Beatles have. But in my scenario, there is no popularity, or at least, it's not theirs. They have to start from scratch, basically. Would their sound play in today's music scene? Would the class of 2010 be begging for "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" on TRL Live?

I don't really have an answer, I just thought it was an interesting question. Feel free to comment yourself.

The next item on my mind came to me while I was at work. Of all the toys we sell at Target, the Bratz dolls (dollz?) give me arguably the most ethical quandries. They are, to my mind, hyper-sexed versions of Barbie Dolls, a group of friends who's primary goal in life seems to be getting the hottest clothes and strutting them around to, supposedly, impress the Bratz Boyz. They currently come in three varieties: The normal Adult / Highschooler size, Baby Bratz, which features infants wearing clothes no parent in their right mind would actually put on a baby, and now the Bratz Kidz, which are a bit more toned down, to actually look like the target audience.

Today, though, I was struck by something. No real reason for it, but I remembered something I read in the Wikipedia article on them (hey, I was really bored). Specifically, this line.

...Yasmin (based on CEO Isaac Larian's own daughter, Jasmin)...

How creepy would that be? To know there was a doll based on you, and thosands of little girls around the world were playing with you, probably lots of little boys ripping your head of their sisters dolls, who knows how many perverts doing who knows what to you.... It would creep me out. I hope young Jasmin is okay.

Finally, a hypothetical. Suppose there was a nation with not just supposed but proven nuclear powers. AND the historically proven willingness to use them on nations they consider their enemies. This nation is lead by a group of religious zealots who believe that they are doing God's work by imposing their beliefs in the Middle East. They are a good deal of the reason that region is screwed up, in fact. In addition, they are simply a drain on the world as a whole. They use a huge amount of resources while contributing nearly nothing, and are in debt to nearly every other nation in the world. Plus, their army is kinda occupied at the time.

So basically, what I'm saying is, does anyone wanna invade the United States of America? Here's how I see it. Canada can engage the northern border. I predict that a quick strike to the north-east could take out tactical targets in New England and such. Tactical nuclear missiles launched from North Korea could proably take out military targets on the west coast before we had any real chance to react. China could probably front a large invasion army on foot, and the European Union might be able to bring in its own forces. I suppose the real target would be Washington DC, of course, so that would have to be controlled by European forces. Heck, though, every little bit counts. I'll bet Australia and New Zealand could do a good job of blockading the Hawaiian Islands, and maybe even hit Southern California. Please note, I don't advocate the targeting of civilian targets, either here or abroad. But really, we deserve it. And besides, if nothing else, it will at least help pull our troops out of Iraq.

Actually, someone told me that, if we really got invaded, they'd probably start the draft. I doubt it would help if the whole world was really after us, but I doubt they will be, so yeah... Scratch that.