This Is How We Live

The article "This Is How We Live" by Ellen DeGeneres is a hilarious take on the advancements in technology. She points out several new inventions that we all know, the hands free dryer and sinks, the automatic toilets and the cell phone. The funniest part is when she talks about the packaging on products though. I don't know how many times I have cursed out a package that I literally felt like I need the jaws of life to break into; seriously one of the more frustrating advances. Ellen says it's "government plastic-civilians can't buy this stuff." and she's right! The best part is when she says about needing scissors to get into any package "You need scissors to get into scissors. And what if you're buying scissors for the first time? I mean, how can you possibly get in there?" I just found this whole article to be so funny, she's definitely voicing the thoughts that I'm sure many of us have been having.

Pearls Before Breakfast: Joshua Bell on the Subway

Before I read this article, I had no idea who Joshua Bell was. I still can't say that I would listen to his music, I'm not a big classical fan. So it really didn't surprise me that he only got a little acknowledgement for his performance in the train station. I've seen performers in Boston while taking the train before, and I pay them little attention myself. The only time I have ever really stopped to listen to them is when they are playing on the platform I'm on and the train is late. I have never given them any money and really, the thought didn't cross my mind. I think that as a culture, we are on such a time crunch all the time and we are always rushing too much. This article gave plenty of examples proving it; even the one man that did stop to listen only had three minutes to do so before he had to rush off. For a world class musician to go unnoticed and unappreciated is kind of sad, but I think it says more about our culture than it does of his playing. We just don't have time to enjoy something like that unless we have planned ahead of time to do so.