Inauguration day 2009

[Meg 368]

I always worry about Presidential kids.

JJ Kennedy had been taught to salute the flag.  So, when his father's flag draped coffin rolled by, this toddler stepped out into the street and saluted.

Susan Ford had to go through the teenage years in the spotlight but managed to come through it okay.

Amy Carter was much younger and the spotlight on her was so harsh I doubt she will ever recover.

Chelsea Clinton fared better, mostly because people didn't want to have a repeat of Amy Carter.

Jenna and Barbara Bush did okay, mostly because they managed to keep some distance.

Sasha and Malia are, so far, getting more attention than I'm comfortable with.  I am very glad they are attending Sidwell Friends.   At least they will have a decent shot at a normal life at school.

 

 

[belfastuniguy 18]

That video was lovely, very nice thing for them to do and as they said, being in that position as a child can be magically. Hopefully the press have matured and know what the limits are.

[Haljackey 17,241]

Change!  Gotta love Uncyclopedia!

I say its about time.

Best,

-Haljackey

[beebs 129]

Found a real neat panorama taken during the inauguration.

Apparently, Yo-Yo Ma's in there taking a picture with his iPhone. Curious to see what else it caught.

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

Did YoYo Ma's phone catch the fact that the music was canned? [link] That's right, they Ashlee Simpson-ed everyone watching. I see the official excuse is because it's extremely difficult to play a stringed instrument in the cold, or to keep it in tune. Which is true, but to have deception as a part of the inauguration doesn't bode well.

Will Elton John go on a tirade against this one, as he did when Madonna lip-synced a live performance?

[Meg 368]

Actually, they were playing live but the taped version was broadcast over the sound system.  Which must have sounded weird for the people who could hear both.

[hym 358]

I didn't see the whole inauguration, but I did see the "Air and Simple Gifts" part.  It would have been nice if someone had said that the music had been recorded earlier, and that, while the musicians were playing live, they were broadcasting a prerecorded version because the instruments themselves couldn't maintain their tune in the cold.  The whole "This occasion's got to be perfect. You can't have any slip-ups." ideology is just going overboard.  We're inaugurating a President, not greeting some visiting deity or something.  Yes, it's a significant occasion, but their's no reason you can't admit that you're having to cut some corners to make it an enjoyable occasion.

[beebs 129]

I don't understand how playing a pre-recorded version made it any less enjoyable. Would anyone have noticed if they hadn't been told?

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: beebs I don't understand how playing a pre-recorded version made it any less enjoyable. Would anyone have noticed if they hadn't been told?quote>

Well, the point is just that - they weren't told. There was deception involved. If it had been made known that a recording was getting played, it wouldn't have been as bad.

Still, stringed instruments don't take well to live broadcast. It's not like rock music where you can just crank up the amps on the guitars, stick a mic in front of the drums, and blast everything. The music itself isn't going to carry from its source all over the national mall. The instruments are far too quiet for that - especially outside where, unlike in a theater designed for such things, acoustics are non existent, and the sound is free to escape in all directions. You'd need to stick microphones on things and rebroadcast it. And trust me, that would sound horrible. Hence, you broadcast a studio recorded version instead, which will sound nice.

But yes, doing so completely ruins the point of having live music, doesn't it?

What's interesting about the piece itself is that it was very different in style for John Williams. Sounded nothing like the music from Star Wars and Harry Potter that he's famous for.

(I assume it was the studio version I was hearing on TV.)

[dev 47]

I think the music was just a little disappointing that we didn't hear the 'real thing'. As for the inauguration, I cannot be happier for the US...though we are far from completely erased racism, I feel that this is one more step in the direction we need to be going in. It's sickening in the culture of the Southern US where I will drive by a KKK Confederate store every day on my way to work, but comforting to know that The White House is official 'color broken'. Hopefully this will lead to a more United States, and World.

[Boggy1 45]

In relation to the music.

Apparently, they put off playing the pre-recorded version to the absolutely last-second, but it was so cold that they were in danger of damaging their multi-tens of thousand dollar instruments. They still played the entire song, but their mics were turned off. I don't see it as being any sort of deception. They'd have been unable to play it at all, and I wouldn't want to risk damaging my instrument if I was them.

[beebs 129]

Yes, it is by definition deception.. but what did you expect them to do? Announce it to everyone before playing the songs? That wouldn't have gone over well.

Either way, they did let everyone know just a few days later. And besides I'm sure if they had just played and their instruments did go out of tune, everyone would be complaining about the poor execution of the music in the ceremony.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: dev I cannot be happier for the USquote>

Well, you were happy enough to drop back in here after having been gone for... over a year, possibly two.

So yeah, that's a good sign.

[Zelgadis 638]

Speaking of presidential kids, Michelle Obama is reportedly not amused by the new Sasha and Malia dolls that have been released by the beanie baby company, Ty.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/us/politics/25dolls.html?hp

Frankly, I would be displeased if it were my children too.

ISF

[_Atticus 10]

Yea, the though of people playing with dolls made to resemble my children wouldn't be a good one at all.

-Pingangster