Techtite.com Editorial : My Two Bits, V2

Well I hope everyone enjoyed their summer. It's ironic though it's true: ten years ago I was spending the majority of summer 1999 putting the final touches on my then brand new web site. Ten years later I've been working all summer on some nice self-made improvements to the site you'll all like, which will appear one by one over the rest of the year. I hope in the interim you've enjoyed all the retrospective looks at everything posted in the past 10 years, and are now ready for ten more years of news, reviews, and of course "my two bits," aka the latest editorial snippet.

So here I am ready to post the first post-summer editorial. I honestly had a lot of topics I could've covered, and then, well, two words happened: Kanye West. For the people who missed this news item (both of you!), here's the gist: the award for Best Female Video is about to be given at the MTV Music Video Awards. The winner was Taylor Swift for her charming video "You Belong With Me." Suddenly Kanye West jumps on stage and callously grabbed the mike from the hands of the 19 year old singer, rambling blah blah blah something something blah, and the award should have gone to Beyonce, blah! Out of all the colorful words describing this event, I think musical performer "Pink" described Kanye the best: "toolbox." That's sums him up perfectly.

First things first: yes I saw both music videos. That's two important points right there. One: this was an award not for song but for the music video. Second: do not try to defend what Kanye did in any way until you watch both videos and realize that...Beyonce, we love you, though yes Taylor Swift's video was better. It's a sweet song though it's the music video that is truly adorable, with Taylor Swift dressed like the typical teenage wallflower trying to woo a cute boy who doesn't see her beyond face value. If you love all those independent films in the movie theaters these days, and wish that music videos would similarly be made like they were in the golden days of MTV ---like little short films--- this was the music video you'd vote for.

Yes I also love Beyonce's song, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)." Though consider how cooler a music video of this song would be, if Beyonce wasn't simply in front of a white wall wiggling her tush. "Single Ladies" is about how guys should stop acting like they "own" a girl if they're not going to "put a ring on it." That's a song worthy of a far deeper and more thought provoking music video than three ladies in front of a wall. While that is not all the song is, that is all the video is, and as a reminder: this was the award for Best Female Video. Is this the message we want to deliver to all female singers: save money on a music video by dancing with two BFFs in front of a white wall and wiggle your tush?

The irony of this controversy is that Taylor's video would only earn her the award as Best Female Video. Had Kanye had patience above that of the typical ADD ridden 8 year old, he would've simply waited until Beyonce won the award for...wait for it...Video of the Year. Yes I know this seemingly deserves an additional pair of "my two bits," given my take of the videos above. I've already said my peace. Let's move on.

It's the fact Beyonce would later win an award (and a larger one at that) that makes Kanye's outburst even more upsetting. It's bad enough that some idiot behind the scenes timed every speech and apparently Kanye's "speech" counted as part of Taylor's own acceptance speech. She was barely allowed to speak at all after Kanye's outburst! Yet Beyonce showed both at once why she deserved to be on stage and Kanye did not, by inviting Taylor Swift on stage alongside her, to "have her moment" along with her. That's the sort of class the evening deserved more of.

It's not like the MTV awards show last night began without class. In fact it began with a tribute to the late Michael Jackson that should have been the number one entertainment news story all day. Some entertainment news shows like Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood ignored Kanye's outburst completely and covered the latest tribute to Jackson instead. Unfortunately the majority of the news sources could not deny the facts: that Kanye's outburst, sadly enough, clearly overshadowed the latest Jackson tribute in every major entertainment forum online. Nice going, Kanye. Toolbox.

So what should become of this? For one thing: no, sweeping this under the rug is not an option. No matter what opinion you have, people are getting to be arrogant jackasses lately, and I for one have had enough. One of the house guests on Big Brother 11 this past summer had to be fired and "evicted" from the show, because she constantly told the camera crew to go <bleep> themselves. Then there's the arrogant Senator who actually called the president of the United States a liar on national television. Love or hate any president past or present: they are the president of your country, and they deserve your respect. Oh, and when a 19 year old girl wins an award, do you really snatch the microphone from her and diss her live on national TV? NO!!!

Which brings us full circle to the question everyone's asking: should Kanye be banned from TV awards shows? Well, Donald Trump sure thinks so, and is insisting that he is banning Kanye from anything and everything Trump is involved with. If you think that Trump doesn't have the clout to make Kanye's career a living hell, you'd be thinking wrong. Trump has connections like the internet has portals. "The Apprentice" series might be on life support though in the business world Trump is not a guy to have disappointed in any way.

Sure, Kanye has apologized, though the damage has been done. He made a teenage girl's life miserable and that in inexcusable in any context. America might forgive someone insulting the president though insulting a teenage girl is a big no-no. You have not heard the end of this and neither has Kanye, who will not be allowed to forget this by many a Taylor Swift fan, who outnumber Kanye fans like ants on a dead fly. There are days when I might even feel sorry for Kanye. Today was not one of them.

Agree? Disagree?

...or perhaps just agree to disagree? Feel free to give your own "two bits," via Techtite's Letters page. Editorial Submissions are also allowed. Editorials do not have to agree with the views of other editorials at Techtite.com, though they must be relevant to entertainment topics of this web site (movies, TV, games).

This page's entire content, except for thumbnail photos of products mentioned, was created by Techtite, copyright 2009; all rights reserved. Pictures of product(s) are only for the purpose of review, and by no means are meant to imply any association with Techtite.com and the distributors of that product. For further legalese, click here.

My Two Bits
(The Editorial with one-quarter byte!)

Kanye's Krappy Komments

My Two Bits (The Editorial with one-quarter byte!)

Kanye's Krappy Komments

My Two Bits
(The Editorial with one-quarter byte!)