I've been pretty quiet thus far concerning the recent Grammy Award Nominations, although the irritation has been steadily brewing inside. I think we all know that the Grammys are a sham. Their view of artistic integrity is badly skewed. The list of the nominees can be found here. What the Recording Academy is trying to tell me is that Avril Lavigne with her teenager pop kind of music has the "best" song of the year? Or that Britney Spears has the "best" pop vocal performance? Or that Nelly has one of the best albums of the year? Is this the MTV Awards or what? I don't consider these "great" artists, and there are far better musicians/vocalists than most of the nominees. The Album of the Year category is a parody of itself--Nelly, Bruce Springsteen, Dixie Chicks, Eminem, Norah Jones. These artists are so wildly different (2 rappers, 1 country act, 1 rocker, and 1 pop-jazz act) that I don't even know how they can be compared. Sticking a country act against a rap act? That's like apples and bananas. How can you rate these against each other? It doesn't even make SENSE to me!! There are a lot of artists that just don't get the respect of the Academy, and that just ain't cool. It seems that the awards are based on top sellers (many of the nominees are platinum-selling plus), and not artistic merit, and that stinks even worse. The Grammys are about on par with the Billboard Music Awards or the People's Choice Awards, which I can't STAND either. The people's choice is most often BAD. These award shows need to get their act together and truly acknowledge "the best."

You know when you go to a restaurant and the waiter/waitress asks you what you want to drink? Me being a big Coca-Cola fan, I always say "I'll have a Coke." But some places don't have Coke, they have Pepsi, so the waiter/waitresses says "Is Pepsi all right?" Well, what would happen if I said "No! That's not all right! I want a Pepsi dammit!" What would they do? Would they run out to the nearest supermarket and buy me a bottle of Coke? The customer is always right you know. And if they didn't satisfy my request they might lose me as a customer. I'd try that, but I'm too much of a wimp. I just say "*whimper* Pepsi would be fine." But someday I might say it!

Yesterday, The American Dialect Society announced their 2002 "word of the year." The word they chose is "weapons of mass destruction." Now am I wrong, or is that FOUR words? Weapons, of, mass, destruction. That's four words! So how can that be the WORD (singular) of the year? It makes no sense. It's not even interesting words either. It's a PHRASE. This is not the "Phrase of the Year." Words "winning superlatives" from the Society were: Iraqnaphobia, Neuticles, Wombanization, and Blog. Now those are words, why couldn't they have won? Whoever is in charge of The American Dialect Society should be FIRED and given a thesaurus cause he don't know words.

Now I don't watch MTV very much, only to keep tabs on what the kids like these days, but I am so sick of the them proclaiming 2002 the year of the The bands, i.e. The Strokes, The Hives, The Vines, The White Stripes, etc. That is the DUMBEST thing I have ever heard. Just because they have a The in their name they're deemed "hot?", That is the only connection grouping them into Best Of status? So if bands with a The in their name are the hottest thing around, then that must mean The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, The Cardigans, The Sundays, etc. must also be equally as hot. But I don't see any Cardigans videos in heavy airplay on MTV now do I? Remember when there was a band in the 80s called The The? If they reformed they'd be the HOTTEST thing around--they have TWO The's in their name...wow. I'm in awe of them. Anybody seen the Sum 41 video with Will Sasso? It's right on. How long can it be before people start jumping on the The bandwagon? If we get The N'Syncers soon there's going to be heck to pay.