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Ok, I watched the video and I’m really trying to figure out what the hell all you parents are so angry about. And yes, I am a mother of two teen girls.

I kept hearing parents say this video is a bad example of how to handle a heartbreak…
–What damn heartbreak. She was clearly raped by that guy in the video and took revenge by shooting him. (didn’t say it was right; just stating what happened in the video, so pipe down)

Parents also talked about the explicit sexual content….
–Where the hell was that?? Just so you know, people from the islands dance that way; there’s usually a lot of hip gyration and it’s nothing wrong with it (it’s a cultural thing). You might want to try stepping outside your tiny box and get a broader world view. #afrocentricdance

Parents said now girls won’t know how to handle heartbreak; they’ll just shoot the guy instead of dealing with their emotions appropriately..
–Really??? You’re saying they’re going to get all that from one damn music video? First all, rape is NOT heartbreak; it’s a violation of your body. Those are not one in the same. So, when your kids watch the news and hear a story about a kid who brought a gun to school and shot up the entire school; your kids are going to follow suit right? Come on. How ridiculous does that sound?

It seems like every time I turn around parents are pissed off to the high heavens about what some celebrity did or said and wants to downright burn that person at the stake. You cannot shelter your kids from people’s bad behavior, which is why it is so important you build an open relationship with them to talk about any and everything under the sun. My girls can and have asked me about things most kids wouldn’t dare ask their parents. But I am here to educate and guide them and it’s better they ask me questions rather than asking some other kid in school and getting mislead. No matter how uncomfortable or embarrassing the question, they ask me and I answer it and we talk about it.

I feel like parents are afraid to talk to their kids and it seems like parents have a much easier time getting spinned up and hurling hate and anger at the “guilty party” when what you should be doing is using that situation as a teachable moment for your kids. Of course we all want to protect our children from harm, but being naive to the fact they will see and hear things they shouldn’t is not protecting them. What Rihanna or any other artist do in their videos has nothing to do with what I’ve already taught my girls. It has no bearing on the existing morales and values I’ve instilled in them. Does this mean my kids will never make mistakes or make bad decisions? Of course not, but that’s not the point. The point is, it’s our job to talk to our kids and share our knowledge AND experiences (good and bad) with them.

My youngest daughter is 14 and I asked her to watch the Rihanna ‘Man Down’ video and tell me what she thought.

Her first statement was, who directed that video, it was a really good video and then she proceeded to tell me all the things she liked related to the production of the video (this is typical of her; always looking at the technical end of things first). Then she said, well, I don’t see what parents were so upset about; it’s just a video. Don’t they know what we see and hear at school (public and private)? And then she said “parents need to get over it and stop whining over things like music videos. If they talk to their kids and teach right from wrong, like you taught me, then their kids will know what to do in these situations.” #outofthemouthofbabes

What are your thoughts on this video?

One more question:
After you watched the Rihanna ‘Man Down’ video and got all incensed, did you have a conversation with you kids about it? What did you say?

P.S. Stop using your energy to block and sensor the artist and put them in the role model category, which they did not ask to be put in, simply because you don’t want to have those hard uncomfortable conversations with your kid(s). Celebrities aren’t their parents, YOU ARE, so act like it. Talk, educate and share with your kids….

And I’m spent………

If a Facebook alternative came along, would you give it try?

Last Minutes with ODEN from phos pictures on Vimeo.

Watch the trailer:

You can watch the 56 minute documentary directly on the Boondoggle Films website.

Here is some information from the Google Docs help page:

Once you’ve uploaded your video to Google Docs, you can watch it with the Google Docs video player. Simply click the file from your Documents List, and the player opens in a new page.

Files that you can play

Uploaded video files can be up to 1 GB. These are the most common video formats that you can upload and play:

* WebM files (Vp8 video codec and Vorbis Audio codec)
* .MPEG4, 3GPP and MOV files – (h264 and mpeg4 video codecs and AAC audio codec)
* .AVI (many cameras use this format – typically the video codec is MJPEG and audio is PCM)
* .MPEGPS (MPEG2 video codec and MP2 audio)
* .WMV
* .FLV (Adobe – FLV1 video codec, MP3 audio)

Tips and notes

* Upload your video in the original format and in the highest quality possible. The maximum resolution for playback is 1920×1080.
* Audio and video lengths should be the same, audio and video should start and end at the same time.

How to play a video and find information about the file

Just click a video file you’ve uploaded to your Documents List, and the video opens in a new page that includes a video player. You will need to have Flash installed for the video player to work.

While some people may really find this new feature useful, I’m still not sure how and why I would use this feature. Not that I’m knocking, but I can’t see using this feature AND still using Vimeo or using this feature and NOT using Vimeo anymore.

Is this a feature you’ll use? Are you currently using another video service to upload and watch our videos? What am I missing?

Facebook, Twitter Revolutionizing How Parents Stalk Their College-Aged Kids

P.S. Check out Baratunde’s blog and folow him on Twitter. He really is a super intelligent funny guy. I not only signed up for his email newsletter, but I actually read it!

In this first installment of SuperDroid G1 App Review, I am reviewing SendContact. This app allows you to select one of your contacts and send their contact information to another contact of yours.  This app can be found on your G1 device in the Market. Just do a search for “SendContact”.

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