Vintage Time - Yawn

This should have probably gone over to our famed taste-testing blog - but since we really don't care about either parties involved here nor do we really give a damn about the whole ''debate'' we are about to instigate - the lukewarm blog is just fine for it, all of a sudden, just like that!

(And it's not the first time we've crossed over to another blog for something like this either: the languishing blog saw its share of odd musical topics, back in the day... But we're digressing!)

So, once again up north, past that insufferable 49th parallel and a little, not a lot, to the east side of things...  There's this guy who loves music so much, see, that he just has to pilfer it a little and a lot and exploit it to the max by mounting an entire show (solely centered upon himself though - somehow he manages that feat while pretending to pay homage to the stars of yesteryear - not bad, eh?) and he calls this... ''Vintage'' - simply vintage!

Here is an excerpt:

Now, didn't a Frenchman already do that, like, a long, long time ago? A Frenchman who is a true master of this artform; one who is much more a master of this craft than this ''Jack of All Trades - Master Of None'' G.C. who routinely improvises himself author, actor, talk-show host, musician, songwriter, even orchestra conductor (in LAVAL - of all Godforsaken places!!! Believe us when we say to you that it is God-Forsaken: WE'VE BEEN THERE! But as for this guy: it's not even funny anymore: the old joke was that ''le talent lui sort par les oreilles'' - he has all the talents, he can do it all and he can't stop trying to prove it to his captive, if not truly captivated audience up there...)

The Frenchman we refer to is, ironically enough, also, shall we say... mulato?  And a ''stranger in a strange land'' kind of guy, trying to fit in perhaps by doing so...?  When in Paris your last name is Voulzy, you know...!  Laurent knows! Laurent Voulzy; ever heard of the name, Gregory?

It worked too: Laurent is popular - since 1977!  Have a look:

Think L.V. overdoes it here..? 
Be grateful we spared you the long version... OK? 

It's not even necessary to pin it straight on Voulzy's work - Charles (no relation to Ray - at all) is simply following a trend here: the retro trend, the vintage wave; heck, it's the ''blast from the past'' shockwave now!  With retro shows based upon ABBA, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley (gotta precise which one; lest you'll thin it's Costello or even... Stojko?!? Or worse still: Gratton!!! Aaaaah!) 

And there are many more coming right up, very, verrrry soon (the Bee Gees, for instance!) - so, it is truly the time to say it now: everything is VINTAGE! 

It is another obsession of G.C. we think: no, we don't merely think it - IT IS AMPLY EVIDENT NOW!  For there is a pattern emerging from all this chaotic criss-cross path that his career has taken over the years: everything he does has to touch upon REMEMBRANCE in some way or another!  It isn't music anymore: it really is MEMORIES that obsess him so!  Aye, he has an indomitable obsession with the past, which has affected his talk-show hosting, choice of roles too, and his ventures into classical music as well - it all pints at this!  He obsesses over such things; over recollections (not rockollections so much - ha!) about anything and everything that is LONG GONE... 

When he wrote a song and his local radio stations kept playing ad nauseam: the chorus line was clearly that too!  It said ''NEVER FOR-GET... THAT I THINK OF YOU-UUUUU...!''

The book he just authored (or had ghostwritten?) is clearly titled (and deals with) something along the exact same lines too: N'OUBLIE JAMAIS ... My, it's French for... NEVER FOR-GET!!! What consistency - what redundance, too - what an obsession!  

(But what am I doing bashing a book here - when I've got the Literati Blog to do just that?  Oh right - it is because I am merely lukewarm about this one: not outright outraged or a tiny bit ticked-off by it!)

And now  this - VINTAGE...  

G.C. needs counseling, we think (or merely suspect) - but his place to let out the anguish is the arts, so more power to him, we suppose?  It is the exact same outlet we and many of our pals have, here and elsewhere: so we know the feeling! 

Carry on, then, Gregory... 

Laurent Voulzy doesn't care... 

Neither do the hundreds of artists whose material you pillage so shamelessly...

And nor do we! 

;-)

Go Further Than The 1st Round? Not Meant To Be!

Aller plus loin que la première ronde?  PAS POSSIBLE!!!

We've talked about these commercials running north of the 49th parallel elsewhere on this vast, far-reaching and near-omniscient TLB Prime Network, quite recently at that - but we just had to tackle it again and, this time, with a full frontal as also exclusive one-on-one assault...!

Because this is just too much:

Can you still see the video? Or has the shame, the sheer devalued worth of it or plain ol' common sense made them drop it from sight altogether already...? 

I mean look at this mark...

Une tête de Turc all right - uh, de Marc, I mean! 

All Rights Belong To FORD - and YouTube 

AND that CH organization there, I guess... 

(Intentionally pulling one like the Ottawa Walrus did there, 

before eliminating Bergevin's team in their own building) 

Thus, ''No Copyright Intended''  as they say on YT -

none whatsoever!!! 

In their latest desperation move to boost sales of their production, Ford has enlisted a bunch of ''local flavour'' guys in order to make it all look like it is ''local'' - when it is not.  How could it be local everywhere at once - hmm?  In this particular case, they want to boost sales in the good ol' Belle Province (now getting uglier by the second, as it ages so ungracefully - just look at their infrastructures; it looks like a nuke already blasted through the city, in most cases! But let's not go there now...)  and so one of those guys is the local pro-hockey team's general manager - aye, the G.M. - nothing less.  And nothing more.

Now, to exemplify best the ethics of Henry Ford, they mirror some of his quotes up against some of the personality they have featured in the commercial, which acts as a mini-bio of the guy's entire life and accomplishments, and how the crowning one has to be that he is seen driving a Ford Escape through the streets of his city...!  The message is actually quite frightening: it says that we get better with time (the slogan being ''allons plus loin'' - let's get farther, literally; in the sense of let's constantly make progress. TOGETHER is strongly implied, too, for Ford wants to be the main vehicle utilized in this process!  But does it mean, also, that the cars they make need improvement, too?  Just as the guys driving them need to constantly improve - six months from now, one then two years from now as Marc here says so word-for-word in the commercial...!  Say it isnt so, Ford! 

The other thing about this is the scary implication made about Henry himself, by association: all that talk about passion implies hard work and a total team effort, as Marc here attributes his ''success'' to his entourage, not at all strictly to himself.  Henry Ford was the same, yes.  Further more, Marc here reiterates that ''plain skill won't suffice: you need to also have dedication, commitment, hard work to succeed'' - something like that! (I paraphrase.)  Since he is mainly talking about hockey and not the auto industry, it makes complete sense.

And yet, the very next thing said is that he never worked a day of his life.  Marc; don't be such a Marc now. Please don't contradict yourself so fast like that!  But he did: and, one guesses that his entire team did the exact same thing on ice, as they were schooled on how to approach playoff hockey by a 7th seeded team that nearly missed the playoffs altogether. That seventh seed played harder, showed more dedication in doing the little things required in order to win, their coach displayed far greater strategical prowess and their players far greater ability to work cohesively as a team while putting into execution a team strategy for quasi-assured success!  Ottawa won four out of five games against the favored team managed by our Marc here: it didn't seem so evident that his coach was the right one for the job or that the players he assembled were the right ones either; heck, it didn't seem like his work was done well at all!  He needs to improve, all right - but then, how can he when he feels his getting the cushy job was ''destined to happen'' coupled with the fact that, since it is a childhood passion to play street hockey that started it all, he feels as though he has never worked a day in his entire life...  How can you be dedicated, committed, hard-working under such conditions?  

You just can't!!! 

Henry Ford must be... well, not rolling in his grave but at least rolling his eyes in the great beyond over this one...!   Plus it must be, for sure, displeasing for the big man to see the focus on a statue of Guy Lafleur in the vid - instead of a statue of himself!

And as for Marc Bergevin - the fact that he was attributed (not implying here that he was given a car in order to do this - no, no, no! He was merely remunerated a standard fee, as proclaimed due by the UDA there, for his, ah, ''efforts'' and participation...!) it is ironic and perfectly-suited, ultimately, to see him drive a Ford ESCAPE - he will need it to escape from Montreal once his team mires itself into more and more mediocrity in one to two years' time...!

They really missed the boat when they picked this Marc 

to show peeps up there HOW TO ''GAGNER"...!!!

HA-HA-HA - ROTFLMAO

All in all, though, the video campaign can have found its niche in the YouTube family: since YouTube has (in late May 2013 anyways) a special week devoted to comedies of all kinds - this stuff is perfect for that, as I strongly suggest it on the montage seen above...! 

It was meant to happen, as Marc says so well...

;-)

Success Versus Failure - WHO'S GONNA WIN? (DUH)

Or it is it a contest between 

optimists and pessimists, 

in truth...? 

They say that it is all about perception 

and so this is how you define your level of success.

Is it about being a good honest person 

or is every aspect of life to be measured 

by pure (sarcasm fully intended here) materialistic gain? 

www.exposingthetruth.com

sought the answers to that time-honored one 

- and the answers they found, 

via vox populis, 

kinda sucked eggs indeed...

But not entirely... 

Excerpts of FB shares -

totally ad libbed 

and totally under the 

Fair Use amendment too...!

C. Dawson, a 'Share Information and Data' specialist,  commented: 

Oh yep just a bit of subliminal bullshitting in there eh?? Unsuccessful people Hoard Info and Data. So if we don't sell out to the corporate machine and tell more powerful people everything we know, we're gonna be unsuccessful. Maybe true, but that's not because of the type of people we are, it's because of the state of the machine. This is crap.

A. Boggs (any relation to great success Wade, I wonder?) added:

 I found it very hard to make sense of this myself, 

it's certainly contradictory in most aspects to the point that it's confusing.

A. Braksator said something uplifting, in retort: 

Pessimists assume the worst outcome first. Open your mind, son. Be optimistic.

R. Neal seconded that - or did he - with this bit:

of course, this is in a "perfect world"

C. H. Ryan ironized: 

not in a 'perfect world' just in the manual for trainee human resource workers.. 

trust me.. as someone who was 'taught' this kinda shit, it's all bollocks.

M. K. I. (initials only - by request) had a LOT to say on this: 

I get what you mean, but it's not about selling out. So you have some great idea, of course you don't want it stollen and corrupted. But that doesn't mean you should hoard it. What's the point in having a great idea if you're just going to let it collect dust while you sit there, all anxious and defensive? 

Too many great ideas have died that way, with their creators. There's no success in that.

And yes, it does suck that our world today is so corrupt that we have to worry about protecting even the unrealized stuff in our heads. There will always be a readily available population of jerks on the planet. But great ideas? They get rarer every day. 

And maybe they'll go extinct, if things keep going as they are.

You just have to be smart about who you share with. That goes for every aspect of life, work, personal etc. I know too many musicians who refused to share their melodies with people out of fear they'd be stolen, even to the point that they never wrote them down. 

And then they forgot the songs. Such a waste.

And sure, this may be a 'perfect world' scenario. Like world peace and such, Dalai Lama on how inner calm can save the world. But that doesn't mean you have to try and prove it isn't possible. That's what makes it impossible, people who choose to deny the possibilities. People who are so locked into 'the system' that they spend their lives peeking miserably out of the window 

at the sun without ever attempting to open it.

C. Dawson came back to the front for the first of many times:

Yeah I see what you mean, but wouldn't your examples fall under the 'talk about ideas' heading above it? Share Information and (importantnly) Data. Coming from an IT background, this to me is exactly the way I saw it! Sharing data between corporates and marketing mobs to indoctrinate the consumer.

To which all Y. Maranello could add was a succinct... 

fuckin A

Then a certain King Drake gave us this:

I think they mean as in networking with those with similar goals and interests... letting others know "Hey! This is what I do, and what I'm into, and if you have any ideas I can help with let me know, and can I count on you for help developing my own ideas? Thanks!" That kind of shit. Not giving out your personal information or giving away your trade secrets.

to which A. Ryan replied with this:

It's a generalization on how to be successful as a human being. 

Not something to get all trivial about :|. 

You can find contradictions or trivial disputes in just about anything 

if you're truly looking for it. 

Take note of the picture, try to learn and master yourself. 

If you can't do that because of "contradictions" etc.. 

Then you need to relax, take a step back 

and look again with a more open minded minded perspective.

K. DiFiore was next at bat:

Pessimists dont get blind sided by the truth or others as in,,,

"I'm sure he has the best intentions",,,hey where did my watch go?

C. Dawson chimed in again:

lol Kenny good call. In many ways Pessimists do have the upper hand. In many we (yeah, I admit it I'm a pessimistic misanthrope) fail miserably.

OK so more open minded perspective on this (Andrew Ryan, King Drake) I can see how the left is likely to be a far happier individual (my take on 'succes's is happiness, not riches) but the words information and data throw me into fits of conspiratorial rage.

J. Chapa was up next:

I know right!! Look at all the corporations on The Pirate Bay, they LOVE sharing!!!

C. Dawson strikes again: 

They'll make damn sure your information is shared to them though.

B. C. Walker walked by:

Really? Then why do the "unsuccessful" people RUN THE FUCKING PLANET.

S. Larsen involuntarily channeled Eddie Guerrero next:

Maybe because they are willing to lie, cheat and steal to get ahead.

And then she added, as to clarify her thought:

It's interesting how some people just want more and more and more, 

and they become afraid of losing/sharing that which they hoard, 

whilst others share everything and see the joy in sharing 

and that there really IS enough to go around.

M. Le Blanc added:

It's all about perception and how you define your success

D. Sherman then confessed this truth about himself: 

I'm a bit of both ;-;

J. Mo chimed in for a first of many two cents' worths:

Hmm... unsuccessful people hoard data and information?? 

That's bullshit, you know that ETT.

C. Dawson raised an interesting interrogation then:

Yeah I often wonder about ETT. A lot of it is unfiltered rhetoric...

J. Mo went off on quite the tangent on this one, too...

That's true.

A lot of what makes successful people and unsuccessful people isn't black or white, though, which is a far more important point that I just realised. 

A lot of successful people watch TV every day, secretly hope others fail, talk about people, fear change, and criticise... yet some unsuccessful people embrace change, exude joy (ETT WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!), talk about ideas, and, of course, compliment people. Usually.

Exposing The Truth Things are a lot more complex than this image portrays. 

I think the author of the image was going for a "successful human" image, 

as opposed to success in one particular realm e.g career.

In this scenario, a successful person is someone in touch with their community, interconnected, interested in learning, and striving to do better. Of course reality is more complex than the image implies, but luckily we have comments where people can discuss the ideas. 

We create a lot of content, and nothing pleases everyone. It isn´t an empty message, it is a chance to discuss what success means to us, and compare our notions to that of the author of the image.

J. Mo then added some more to that: stating that he could 

 ''see the method in the madness.'' 

before adding quite a bit more - yet again: 

I agree, at least in part, with what you just wrote, being that this picture also doesn't portray reality and only portrays a utopia (of sorts), therefore it's also partially invalid because in addition to the black and white there is also a huge grey box which this picture hasn't covered. I think I can see what you're trying to say with this picture, but there could be a more appropriate picture - with which to say, I have no idea if there is one.

 and our friend M. K. I. expanded on that:

I think that what this chart is really about is helping us to recognize traits in ourselves, rather than identifying which people are 'successful'. Unsuccessful people are people who get caught in a cycle of negativity via bad habits (like those described). Of course not everyone will fit these descriptions, and of course there's a grey area (everything is grey, really), but that doesn't change the fact the the characteristics on the 'unsuccessful' side are characteristics that will hinder one's 'success', 

no matter how you define it.

Adam H. added his own two cents' worth whimsically enough 

with this statement that he made: i think i'm successfully unsuccessful

Hilarious, Adam - keep it up! 

Finally, A Rose Among Thorns summarized it all with this lengthy bit: 

 Actually many people who have the negative traits have been "successful", narcissistic or even psychopaths, not all but some have. It also depends what you define as successful. Some define it only with money but really success can be many things and on a personal level. When I say successful I mean career wise not on a personal or social level. You only need to look at the world leaders and the people in government who have more of the "unsuccessful" traits than the "successful" ones but that's only one definition of success. Like I said define success because we will all differ.

Me?  

I say it like it is: 

success is not to be bothered with 

for what does it accomplish 

to win the world 

(either to its side 

or literally so - if that is possible!) 

when one loses one's soul 

in the balance.

WHAT DOES IT BRING YOU 

to reap everything there is to reap 

here, in the ephemeral, 

when you damn well know 

that NOTHING IS FOREVER - 

except the ethereal! 

Just live your life, 

strive to do good, 

harm no other 

and share... 

happiness 

- all around you -

while knowing that 

happiness 

is not all about 

accumulating riches, 

spoiling brats rotten 

or taking away 

from others, 

selfishly hoarding up goods 

in a total complete show 

of unadulterated avarice! 

No, folks - 

you cannot be happy that way!

Luminous Luciano 

has spoken! 

+++ 

ho-hum!

The problem with that is, 

given all the conflicts that arise out of thin air 

in our day-to-day activities, 

that none of the know-it-all morons 

we enter in conflict with regularly 

will ever admit that - EVER! 

And maybe -just maybe- 

we're not so wise 

ourselves... 

hmm?