So much happened around the world this week, stuff that I would love to write individual posts on, but can’t find the time…gah! So here is an abbreviated version.
You had to be sleeping under a rock to miss this story (and I nearly did…). The only reason I picked it up is because it was picked up in a weekly round up by Six Apart’s Best in Blogs e-newsletter. As usual I scanned the contents, and would have probably trashed it except for this quote:
“In our world today we think only the pretty can be successful. We think respect and honor should be reserved for those who look and act a certain way…I got nauseous watching this video wondering how many Susan Boyles come in and out of [church] each week unnoticed, unloved and undiscovered.”
Man that is a powerful statement, and unfortunately true. I was a total geek in high school and didn’t run around with the in crowd (although I had GREAT friends!) but I remember what it felt like to watch from afar and not be included. That is why you couldn’t pay me a million dollars to go back to age 16-17-18 or high school. I am (and was) an awesome person and I let others define me for a very long time, but as I aged (as most people do) confidence grows and you “grow into yourself”. Susan Boyles despite what she looks like, has gumption and more power to her if she rides this wave and gets a professional singing career out of it – you go girl!
If you have not seen the video, I highly recommend it!
This topic was even top of mine for the French! Hunky Hugh Jackman was in Paris for publicity for Wolverine and he was interviewed on the French news. The interviewer asked him if he had heard of Susan Boyle! He did not immediately associate her name to the phenomena but when the newscaster starting explaining, he knew what she was talking about! I knew Jack was in Paris because he was Twittering about it. His most recent tweet has him landing in Berlin and looking for Susan to do a duet with! No need to ride on her coattails Jack, you do just fine on your own! Wolverine comes out during SOBCon at the end of the month, I personally think it would be a good team-building event to do a field trip to the local move theater…hear that Liz? Okay, just kidding, I made my husband promise not to see it without me, so I better not see it without him first!
And we could not talk about Twitter this week without mentioning Oprah. On Friday, she had Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter on to teach her how to use it. I blogged on Thursday that she had 35k followers (and through out the day she added more) without even doing a single tweet. Her first tweets were all to celebrities, she will have to engage with followers if she wants to follow in the foot steps of Ashton, Demi, Shaq, etc. The main reason they are successful is because they are in engaging with real people. An interesting experiment to watch, and I imagine she will bring a lot more of new users with her.
Lastly, I leave yo with some animal cute-ness. This is polar bears Bill and Lara on their FIRST meeting, at the Zoom Erlebniswelt zoo, in Gelsenkirchen, Germany! Animal love at first sight – how cute is that! Surprisingly enough there was just a study released this month that “discovered that at the genetic level, some males and females are more compatible than others, and that this compatibility plays an important role in mate selection, mating outcomes, and future reproductive behaviors.” Huh. Wouldn’t it be cool it you could do a genetic scan of potential boyfriends to find out if they were meant for you? Sure would have saved me some early heartache!
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
this has to be one of my favorite posts. i’m tuning into you for my weekly news update – i’m betting if i scanned everything these stories would have been my favorite – and i only knew about susan (courtesy of my husband) so huge thanks for bringing me up to speed on the rest in a way that make smile and think the world is actually a miraculous place. and i agree – no returns to high school for me either! although maybe for a million…
I can totally relate. I too, felt like an ‘outsider’ throughout high school years (although I didn’t realize it at the time) because I always felt different from the rest. My experience was a little different from yours because I was one of those ‘cool,’ rebellious kids, but unlike you, I can’t consider my HS friends as great. I know everyone’s adolescent stories are different but one thing I know for sure is..we need more Susan Boyles in this world.
I just don’t get Twitter. I’m on there.. but it kind of confuses me…
great post!
I hope that Susan Boyle doesn’t let them make her over into some horrible version of a middle-aged Brittney Spears. This world prizes youth and beauty far more than intelligence and talent. Susan Boyle is very talented. Shehas not received the attention she would have if she were 1/2 as talented and 2x as pretty.
Regarding Hugh Jackman: What can I say, he is goregous and talanted. That is a rare mix.