TresSugar

Tragedy: The All Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees

GiggleSugar — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:00:00 -0700

I remember the first time I heard this kind of musical chairs genre mixing. I was at a club in San Francisco and the opening act was a chamber orchestra tribute band for - wait for it - Duran Duran. Somehow, their slow, ponderous songs ("Save a Prayer," anyone?) really worked for string, woodwind and brass instruments. Which brings me to the awesomely named Tragedy, the all metal tribute band for the disco era Bee Gees. (And the guy kinda sounds like Axl Rose!)

Cyber-Bullying - Who's Responsible in Computer Tragedies?

CitizenSugar — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 08:11:51 -0700

This morning Good Morning America had an exclusive interview with Ashley Grills. If that name doesn't ring a bell, the story about the teenage girl who committed suicide after succumbing to a MySpace prank might. Grills, 19, admitted that she was part of the plan to create a fake persona on MySpace to start a fake online romance with a 13-year-old neighbor, Megan Meier.

Grills insisted that she was not the only adult involved in the tragic prank which led the vulnerable Meier to commit suicide after her fake online boyfriend and others began making nasty comments about her. Grills has testified to a grand jury that Lori Drew, 47, the mother of one of Meier's friends, was actively involved in creating the account and wrote some of the messages to Meier. Drew and her attorney deny that charge. To see why the case is being re-examined, read more.

Grills said, "we were just combining ideas about how we can figure out what Megan was saying about Lori's daughter. It was all three of us - me and Lori and her daughter." Drew was never charged with a crime in the initial case, but now may be facing federal fraud charges. Grills said she did the interview to show, "that I'm not heartless. I do know what I did and I take responsibility for it every day."

Megan Meier's mother has said, "It's pathetic. It's pathetic that we as a society do not have laws to protect our children or to protect us in general from somebody being able to hide behind a computer and do these despicable things." Meier's mother has turned her MySpace page into a memorial.

Are laws the answer? Is it even possible to determine in sad cases like this, who is responsible? Should networking sites like MySpace have tighter controls? Should parents more closely monitor relationships their children have online, or should there be tight minimum age controls on networking sites? Is the government responsible for prosecuting fraud when tragedy strikes?

Source

Can Women Have It All?

TresSugar — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:30:17 -0800

A successful career. A loving marriage. Well-loved and well-behaved children. The promise of women's liberation holds that women can have all of this if that's what they want. But one teacher wrote in the Daily Mail yesterday that telling a young girl that she can reach the top of the career ladder and raise a family is passing on nothing more than a fairy tale. This not-so-modern woman thinks:

"The young women we are sending out into the world believe they can have it all - and, if they don't, they will have failed. And what a tragedy that is, because the truth is that modern women can't have it all. They may succeed in their careers and they may succeed as mothers, but to do both at the same time? No, that is not possible without making huge sacrifices which many will find simply too much."

Obviously life is full of compromises and trade-offs, but I don't think that means women have to choose between success outside the home and success inside the home. With a little balance, I think women, just like men, can manage both. What do you think?
Photos courtesy of AMC

Has a Tragedy Ever Brought You Closer?

DearSugar — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:00:00 -0700

As I'm sure you all heard, DJ AM and Travis Barker were critically injured in a plane crash over the weekend but thankfully, both are expected to make a full recovery. Although they are no longer together, I just learned that AM's ex-girlfriend Mandy Moore rushed to his bedside in South Carolina yesterday to support him on his road to recovery. Her presence clearly proves that she still cares a great deal for her ex, which got me thinking about how the worst scenarios have the ability to bring people together. Has a tragedy every brought you close to an old flame or to anyone you had an estranged relationship with?

Bauer-Griffin

School Attack Plots in April. Copycats or Coincidence?

CitizenSugar — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:51:30 -0700

Students at Chesterfield High School in South Carolina are arriving at school this morning to metal detectors and police presence following a weekend arrest of a student accused of plotting an attack on the school. The alleged mastermind, Ryan Schallenberger, 18, is due in court this afternoon for a bond hearing. He was arrested this weekend after his parents alerted police to the 10 pounds of ammonium nitrate that was delivered to their home and their discovery of a disturbing journal. Police said that he'd kept a journal for more than a year detailing his plans for a suicide attack and including maps of the school and that "he seemed to hate the world. He hated people different from him-the rich boys with good-looking girlfriends."

Earlier this month, a group of third graders in Georgia were discovered to have conceived of a plan to knock their teacher unconscious with a paperweight, bind her with toy handcuffs and duct tape, and then stab her with a steak knife. It seems as though the nine boys and girls divvied up tasks to carry out the plan, with one plotting to cover up the window while another would be assigned to clean up the mess. The students were discovered and have been suspended. These April plots were foiled but there's a huge list that weren't. To consider why, read more.

April is a scary month. In the past 15 years, the month has seen the Virginia Tech massacre and the Columbine shootings, not to forget the Waco incident and the Oklahoma City bombing. All of these events happened within the same week of the month. Historically, both Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. were assassinated during this month, which also marked the start of both the American Revolution and Civil War.

Do we perceive a cloud of tragedy over the month precisely because news of anniversaries of events like Virginia Tech meets new instances like the weekend arrest in South Carolina and prompts people to pay more attention to the possibility for coincidence? Or have these plots truly become a copycat tribute to atrocities that have come before? Some scientists think that the increased light during the month of April lifts the previously depressed into a manic state. Having had all winter alone with dark thoughts, the mentally disturbed awake with new motivation behind their rage.

Police in South Carolina say that in his journal, Schallenberger said he admired the two attackers who killed 13 people at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999 before committing suicide. The Columbine attack happened nine years ago Sunday. Did the parents and police discover a copycat catastrophe just in time, or was it just a coincidence? Is it seasonal? What do you think is causing the plague of April?

Source

Front Page: Indonesia Hit Hard By Second Quake

TresSugar — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:00:07 -0700

After a second major earthquake hit Indonesia today, following Wednesday's 7.6 quake, the death toll has reached at least 529. - Washington Post
Communist China is marking its 60th anniversary today. - AP
A top official military journal has made an unprecedented call for the end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." - New York Times
Both the White House and the family of a Chicago teenager whose beating death was caught on tape are calling attention to the incident with hopes that it will prevent other tragedies. - CNN
London's Tate Museum has pulled a nude photo of Brooke Shields because it was warned that it might violate child pornography laws. - UK Guardian

Is It Unseemly That Filmmakers Are Calling For Polanski's Release?

TresSugar — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:00:00 -0700

There's no question that Roman Polanski is one of the greatest living directors. It's also clear that he's had tragedy in his life: he survived the Holocaust as a child in Poland and grieved the murder of his pregnant wife Sharon Tate by Charles Manson followers in 1969.

But no matter how mishandled his legal case was in the '70s after he plead guilty to having unlawful sexual relations with a 13-year-old after giving her champagne and part of a quaalude - he has evaded punishment and lived a life of luxury as a celebrated artist in Europe for over 30 years. I was taken aback when I read that 138 people in the film industry, including Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese, have signed a petition voicing their opposition to his recent arrest in Zurich, Switzerland, on his way to a ceremony honoring him.

Is there something unseemly about a group (largely made up of men) in a notoriously sexist industry standing up for someone who hasn't been punished for his sexual crime against a child? Is the fact that Polanski is an artist somehow a mitigating factor? I found it particularly galling that Woody Allen - who had an affair with his partner Mia Farrow's adopted teenage daughter and is now married to her - spoke out about what film producer Harvey Weinstein is calling "a terrible situation"? But that's me - what do you think?

Love: The Key to Creativity

TresSugar — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:00:00 -0700

Love has been the driving theme of artistic creations stretching over generations. Researchers from the University of Amsterdam recently decided to verify that love can change the way we think. The study found that love makes us more creative, while sexual desire makes us more logical.

Subjects who thought about a romantic walk with the person they loved performed better on tasks that required creative thinking. When asked to think about a sexual encounter with someone they didn't love, the subjects performed worse on the creative tasks, but better on logical puzzles. Scientists reasoned that romantic love makes us see things from a long-term perspective (which is good for creativity), while sex makes us think short term (which is good for logical thinking).

So now we know that love makes us creative, while lust might have the opposite effect. I'd like to add heartbreak to the list of creative forces. Without that we wouldn't have Shakespearean tragedies or Kanye's amazing song "Heartless."

Does love make you more creative?

Front Page: Tragedy in Kenya, Foreclosures, and Florida

CitizenSugar — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:09:07 -0800

In Kenya, Mugabe Were, a new opposition member of parliament, has been gunned down in his driveway. The killing appears to be a hit. Were was a promising new member of government. He used his own money to build bridges in slums, advocated scholarships for teenage mothers, and was married to a woman of a different ethnic background. Were had been trying to get members of both sides of the conflict to talk and was organizing a peace march the night before he was killed. In response, Kenyans have moved from rioting to tearing their country apart: leveling telephone poles, destroying railroad tracks, and burning government buildings. A friend of Were, Elizabeth Mwangi said, "Whoever did this, has killed the dreams of many."
The number of home foreclosures ballooned 75 percent in 2007, with 405,000 families losing their homes. Comparing December alone, foreclosures were up 97 percent from December 2006. The states hardest hit are California, Michigan, Nevada, and Florida. Despite low interest rates and efforts to quell the mortgage crunch, a sluggish real estate market prevents strapped families from selling their homes to relieve the burden. Rick Sharga of RealtyTrac says, "people are flat out losing their homes."
The polls are open in today's Florida Republican primary. There are 57 delegates at stake in this winner-take-all contest. John McCain and Mitt Romney are polling equally with Rudy Giuliani trailing. Giuliani said of his chances, "we are going to win-of course, if you don't win, you figure out another strategy." Check back here later for the results.

News Anchor Laughs In The Face Of Tragedy

GiggleSugar — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 12:00:00 -0700

But I bet he won't be laughing when he gets fired for his insensitive on-air giggling. While reporting on a deadly highway crash and fire, Jay Warren (who ironically works for the station that claims to be "on your side") can't help but chuckle to himself. What's so funny, Jay?