Well, People.com is reporting that Kanye wasted no time in apologizing.

Kanye West Apologizes to Taylor Swift : People.com via kwout

I still do not think this is enough, and really there is nothing that can excuse what he did. Further, if he were truly sincere, he could have not used all caps, which just makes me cringe. I will be interested to see what Taylor does and I would be so pleased if she wrote a song about this. When she got dumped by the Jonas brother she wrote a song and got in on her album, now hopefully we can see the same thing here. Maybe that will help put a stop to the trend of celebrities acting and thinking they can just apologize it away.

I tried to go to Kanye’s site to get the first hand source, but it is currently down. I don’t know if it has been slammed or maybe he has rescinded his apology.

Site upgrades in progress via kwout

In the end, none of this matters compared to the real problems in out world, but it is a little diversion to make life interesting.

First, to MTV, thank you for kicking Kanye West out of the show.

Kanye West Asked To Leave VMAs After Rant Against Taylor Swift – News Story | Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV News via kwout

Now, I would like to say the MTV that, while your VMA show is supposed to be a raucous party, maybe alcohol needs to be banned in the future. Apparently when Kanye went on his tirade at the 2006 MTV Europe awards he had been drinking:

Kanye Admits To Having Had A ‘Sippy Sippy’ (Or Two) Before EMA Rant – News Story | Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV News via kwout

And at the show tonight it was the same thing:

Kanye West Asked To Leave VMAs After Rant Against Taylor Swift – News Story | Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV News via kwout

I may add these incidents to my pre-prom don’t drink speech next year.

Second, to Beyonce Knowles. She looked out raged when Kanye made his outburst during the show which I think was a general emotion and showed that she was in not one bitter than Taylor Swift won. This is probably in part because, as she says, she knows what it is like to be a young kid being nominated for an award because she was only 17 when she was nominated with Destiny’s Child.

Most importantly, after winning video of the year, she called Taylor Swift up on stage to finish her speech.

Beyonce Wins VMAs Video of the Year, Gives Taylor Swift Her Moment | 2009 MTV VMAs, Beyonce Knowles, Kanye West, Taylor Swift : Just Jared via kwout

Pure class and a great photo opp!

1. See It in Color
2. Concrete Angel
3. Waitin’ on a Woman
4. You’re Gonna Miss This

It is a catchy song, but “You Belong with Me” is, in my opinion, better video, it actually tells a story and is clever and creative. Beyonce’s video is different and kind of cool, but to me it is just dancing to music and doesn’t add anything to the song like Taylor Swift’s does. And, even if you did think it was better, it is not “one of the best videos of all time.”

On a side not, I think “Put a Ring on It” is a great song for weddings when the bride throws the bouquet and I often wonder if writes think about that when they write songs. I bet they do.

In case anyone hasn’t seen the videos in questions from the VMA awards tonight, here are links to both.

I can’t embed Beyonce’s but here is a link.

So, I read a story about it on Rolling Stone and I couldn’t believe it.

Before I passed judgment, I wanted to see it for myself. So, after several Google and YouTube searches involving people’s personal responses, I finally found the clip, posted below.

So, I watched the clip and it was surreal that anyone, I don’t care how famous you are, would go on stage and do that. It was almost as bad and as when Faith Hill had a tantrum when she lost to Carrie Underwood at the CMAs in 2006.

That maybe wasn’t quite as bad because she was at least off stage, but she had to know the camera was on.

In any event, I am starting to see a disturbing trend of public figures acting out in ways that are clearly inappropriate. Kanye couldn’t have thought that what he did was appropriate. Especially, and maybe this shouldn’t matter, considering that this is a 19 year old girl who has done nothing but be a shining role model in the media. Kanye apparently proceeded to flip the bird to the crowd while Taylor was crying backstage.

This is the same week that Congressmen Joe Wilson of South Carolina decides he should shout, “You Liar”, during the president’s address to Congress. Again, I fail to see how anyone could think that was appropriate, even if the president was lying! And in the same summer that the governor of that same state, Mark Sanford, went off with his Argentinian girlfriend and abandoned the state.

Then we have Chris Brown who decided that he could beat his girlfriend Rihana to within an inch of her life.

What these people all have in common is that the apologized about what they did after the fact and that was supposed to make it all better. And it seems like we in a America are all to willing to forgive. Now, this may seem contradictory on my part because I have posted that I think Michael Vick should be allowed to play football again, but that is different. The biggest difference is that Vick not only apologized, but he also spent 18 months in custody. Additionally, I don’t have to forgive Vick for him to keep playing football, no one does.

Here is a picture of Kanye leaving the show. Look at his right hand, maybe we will see what the really cause of the outburst was:

I would almost guarantee that tomorrow Kanye West will apologize to Taylor Swift. I would encourage her not to accept it. It can not be sincere. How can a person walk all the way on to the stage, take the microphone from someone, make that statement, and then walk away and flip off the crowd and actually be sorry. President Obama accepted Congressman Wilson’s, I know that, but that is the problem. We live in a society now where public people can do or say what they want and then apologize and it’s okay.

I am not saying we should never forgive people and I am not saying that we shouldn’t move on when conflict occurs, but we also need to hold people accountable when they act irresponsibly when they should know better. The governor of a state should be allowed to just disappear for a week and then just be embraced back into the fold by his state or by his wife.

So, I say, do not just forgive Mr. West. I say boycott his music and his antics until he can behave like an adult. I was thinking about Jay Leno’s return to TV tomorrow, but I will not watch if Kanye is still going to perform. I have occasionally thought of listening to his music because my good friend Jenny likes his music, but that will never happen now. This act stupid and apologize culture needs to end!

So, my initial reaction was a little concerned because I didn’t want this to turn into a scenario similar to when Dennis Miller went to the Monday Night Football booth throwing out witty comments like this:

The Top 14 Dennis Miller Monday Night Football Quotes (Part I) via kwout

Now, I’m not saying Dennis Miller wasn’t funny, it just wasn’t the right place for him. I am worried that the same fate might be fall Ellen here. I really think Ellen is quite talented. I didn’t think I would like her show, but I actually find that she is very quirky and funny and runs a good show. I of course only watched it because Taylor Swift was on, but the show was good none the less. So, I still wasn’t sure what Ellen was going to bring to the table because I don’t want to hear Simon Cowell keep saying, “This is a singing competition not a…” insert random weird British saying.

Well, after much reading and think, I may have found the answers in an article on CNN.com:

Ellen DeGeneres joins judges’ table on ‘American Idol’ – CNN.com via kwout

This made me realize that Ellen’s role will be to help the contestants out with their stage presence and how to conduct themselves as a star. This was the one area Paula Abdul had over the other judges because she had been a performer before. Ellen hopefully will be able help them with their ability to be a star. That is a quality the judges talk about throughout the season about “Being it.” Ellen is “It” and hopefully she can teach what that means to the contestants.

I support this decision by Idol. The chemistry will be odd, because Ellen is different than the rest of the panel. I think Paula will try to pick on Kara Dioguardi, and Randy Jackson and Ellen will kind of hang out together in the cool area. I am still not convinced by Kara, but maybe she will feel more confident since she is not the outsider coming in. I will admit I am little surprised they went back to the 4 judge system when they had an easy out. The must really like the idea, and Idol is rarely wrong.

I don’t know if cabaret is the correct word, but there is a style to it. Now, he sings those songs really well, but from what I have seen on YouTube he has already made a living singing songs in that style.

What I would like to see from him tonight would be to come out with his first song and do something different than what he always does. I am not exactly sure what that means, but I think we will know it when we see it. If he does a song like that and one of his normal songs, he should be sitting pretty.

Danny Gokey is probably the front runner because he does seem a little more marketable than Adam. Danny has some variety in what he can do and he can probably sing just as well as Adam. He doesn’t have the same stage presence as Adam, but that can be developed. I think Danny just needs to good songs. Probably I would start with a safe well know song and then come back with something a little more challenging. I have a feeling he will be safe as long as he doesn’t bomb either song.

Kris Allen and Allison Iraheta to me are on the same level which is one step down. I would probably rank Allison over Kris because she is a better singer, but Kris has a better audience relationship. These two need to go big or go home tonight. That probably means different a different approach for each of them though.

Kris needs to show some vocal strength tonight. He also should through in one song those shows he isn’t just a pretty boy. I don’t know what song that would be, but he can’t just sing two big sappy love songs.

Allison needs to get in touch with her teenage self. No songs about lifelong love or anything like that. We know she can sing those, we have seen her do it like with “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.” I want to see her find a song she can connect with and then share that connection with the audience. In a perfect world she would sing “Should’ve Said No” by Taylor Swift or maybe a Reba McEntire song. Maybe “Come to My Window” but that may backfire.

All in all, I agree with the judges. This is the closest race in Idol history. Especially now that we see Adam is vulnerable. I believe only two champs, Kelly and Carrie, were never in the bottom three, so he can still win, but it seems to be anyones game now.

What I find most compelling about Twitter is its real time nature. As news or events happen you can find out instantly. This might be as mundane as your friend going to the grocery store or as big as a plane crashing into the Hudson river.

Twitter broke the story first and this is becoming a big use of the social networking program.

Twitter first off the mark with Hudson plane crash coverage – Editors Weblog via kwout

Twitter has been rapidly expanding in size over the past several months. This article from mashable on September 16th, 2008:

Twitter is Growing Like Crazy: Up 422% in 12 Months via kwout

And this article from mashable on March 16th, 2009:

Twitter Now Growing at a Staggering 1,382 Percent via kwout

both indicate that Twitter is growing at a huge rate. (If you follow the link above back to mashable they have a list of the all the traffic for social networking sites.)

So, Twitter has doubled in usage between January and February, I wonder what prompted that? My contention is that the Hudson River incident really put Twitter into the spotlight. It had already been growing leading up to September 08 but the January 15th crash clearly had a huge impact on the site’s popularity.

Whoa, Twitter Mania via kwout

I don’t think anyone knows exactly where Twitter will go yet and if it will ever be able to achieve full market penetration. One problem currently, is that Twitter is not catching on with the youth.

Nielsen: Twitter’s growing really, really, really, really fast | The Social – CNET News via kwout

It seems that most teens/millenials don’t have a need for Twitter as they have other sites already at their disposal.

The Online Watering Hole – Advertising Age – GenNext via kwout

But the addition of celebrities and politicians, like Shaq, Taylor Swift, and Barak Obama, may be drawing this group in. Additionally many radio shows are incorporating Twitter as a way for listeners to interact with the show and win contests.

Another problem for the site is that recently this huge influx of users seems to have overwhelmed their servers. The site has had several service issues lately that are hopefully going to be resolved soon.

In the end, I like Twitter. I like to be on the front line of technology, so I will keep using it. For me I know it has made it easier to promote my blog via Twitter and via my Facebook profile. I am excited to see where the service goes and what it can do for me and the world.

I also found a bootleg clip of the second of Taylor’s performances. This may be my favorite of her on TV.

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