:(

Another staple of my youth gone: Patrick Swayze.

Who could forget bawling to 'Ghost' in the 80s?

Or his creepy character in Donnie Darko?

Patrick was a brave man whose positive thinking allowed him to survive as long as possible despite his circumstances. The tabloid media had a field day with his cancer, constantly posting pictures of him emaciated and saying he was already dead last year. Patrick valiantly hung on while announcing to everyone that the reports were wrong, he was still very much alive. I can't imagine how hurtful that must have been. His human spirit and bold attempts at fighting for life are an inspiration to us all.

RIP, Patrick.

Pop-Culture-Sensation-I-Don't-Get Of The Day

BEANIE BABIES!

If someone could please explain the appeal of these completely average stuffed animals, please explain. In the early 90s, Ty released these critters by the bucketload to frenzied fans and massive overhyping. Some people were willing to shell out hundreds of dollars for tiny beanie babies considered 'rare', which basically meant they had a slightly different color variation from a few others, turning Ty into a multi-billion dollar business.

Years later, you literally can't give these suckers away. I used to work for a facility that bought used-but-mint condition Beanie Babies from customers who had stockpiled them for years thinking they would retire on their collection. Naturally, we bought the majority for about a dollar (and that was generous). I'll never forget their faces when they excitedly mentioned one was rare and we handed them a dollar bill. Some people literally had thousands. Even the rarest ones weren't anywhere near as valuable as they hoped and in general, we were able to buy up thousands of Beanies a week at .50 and 1.00 prices. People were disappointed beyond belief, but they knew that was a better deal than they could get most places and went for it. We also had a few counterfeits come in, which was pretty amusing. We could always successfully detect them but they were pretty good mimics. The denial of their lack of present value was so great for a few customers they almost got a coronary and refused to sell them to us, only to come back within a few days looking defeated. I felt bad, but then again, what did you expect buying these mass-produced plain jane wannabes? They are so small, you can't even cuddle with them! If this was your nest egg, this is what marketing brainwashing will get you!

So, I ask you again, why did you buy these again??!!

We just don't get it, y'all.

MTV Video Music Awards Wrap-Up

It's been YEARS since I've seen the VMA's. Then again, my generation of artists was far cooler (sorry, kids). MTV 80s was the best. You can't compete with Weird Al and weird hair or the slew of genius and artists and videos. 90s MTV was a bit of a downgrade but still cool, and modern MTV is... NOT music television. Where are the music videos? Where's Beavis? Hehehhe. Yeah.

I remember the classic MTV VMA moments. Even the pre-show was interesting and unpredictable, I very vividly recall Madonna doing an interview and Courtney Love tossing her compact at her in a desperate bid of attention. Though I will say this year's bid of desperation came from Kanye West, who seems to think any of us actually care what he has to say when he's not singing (I THINK HE BURNED THAT BRIDGE A LONG TIME AGO, CAPS INTENDED). Kanye is plain retarded. Yes, he makes good music. I think the praise ends there. Since when is his opinion worth more than a teenage dream? What a jerk. I'm not a big Taylor Swift fan but every winner deserves their moment. The MTV Awards has a huge demographic and clearly Kanye West wasn't the only artist they loved by a long shot. It doesn't matter how good he is, nothing will sink a career faster than a crap attitude, so keep it up. I was touched by the little boy presenter (whoever he was) that gave Taylor her props, it's pretty crazy that a kid has more class than a grown man. I will say, her performance had a fun feel. It must be hard to perform after something like that, but her ability to keep it fun really just made her come out that much better. I'm sure Kanye will apologize now that he has the world's attention, he's like a broken record. How many times does he do this? Yawn.

I can't reflect on the VMAs without my Jackson comments. I highly applaud Madonna for giving one of the best speeches I've heard in a damn long time, makes me proud I wasn't a hater. I think what she said was as on the mark as any comment anyone has made since Michael's passing, and I'm glad she spoke some words people needed to hear, as one of the only other people on the planet who had the experience to say it. I thought the tribute performances were nice and I found it appropriate that Janet only made a momentary appearance as not to make it seem like she was capitalizing on her brother's death (though I have massively mixed feelings about her doing interviews and getting magazine covers suddenly when she refused to talk about her brother during an interview while he was alive). Clearly she is getting a second chance at her career which is certainly deserved, just not in this manner. The 'This Is It' clips were great, I can't wait to watch MJ's final concert. The footage proves that not only was he still a top performer (he was 50, not 80, people) but he also wasn't a drug addict, no matter what the media perpetuates. No one can be addicted to serious anesthetics and be a perfectionistic dancer at the same time. Clearly he battled painkiller problems over the years and bouts of insomnia in the end but a lot of the media reporting is clearly false as usual, as further proven by the people around him who didn't notice anything off. You can't take those types of drugs and not be falling all over the place like a zombie. I think the final show will be great. I always knew he wouldn't do the shows, but I didn't think it would be because of all this. I do think he has been introduced to an all new generation which I am so happy about and I will always remain respectful of this person and committed to my decision to have been a fan for so long. I do still think MTV is totally lame for banning him and his videos off the channel for years and then suddenly acting like they cared, but I guess that's most people. I remember the year Janet Jackson won the first ever MTV Icon award, which was such a slap in the face and MTV basically doing what was socially cool over what was the right choice. MTV has a sad history with Michael Jackson given he basically built the channel into what it became, but it was nice to see them make a momentary ammends. It was also nice to see DJ AM get some respect, we've lost too many artists this summer way too soon.

Pink gave a very acrobatic performance, I had no idea she did that kind of stuff. There was an LA band, 'Powder' that was great and their lead singer does that kind of performance art while rocking out, it's really random and a great visual combination.

Mad props to Lady Gaga, I'd heard a lot about her but never actually watched her in action and now feel I missed out. Dance music isn't necessarily my forte but I love her presentation as an artist, I respect anyone who creates a visual feast that seems to defy comprehension and her performance was definitely madly unique.

Muse was cool, I know they have a huge US following so hopefully they will play more shows out here.

I thought Alicia Keys and Beyonce were elegant and classy as usual, and I can't give enough of a shout out to Beyonce for being so gracious and giving poor Taylor Swift the moment she deserved. Empathy goes a long way and it's clearly not dead. I was proud of the audience for their reaction to the whole crazy situation, people really shouldn't support disrespect.

It was odd seeing Green Day performing, not looking a day older than they did when I was in high school.

Russell Brand was his usual peculiar self, which I personally appreciated. The night certainly needed his energy.

I actually liked the New Moon trailer, even though I have no real love for the Twilight films (though R-Patz does make me a tad giddy, I'll admit). I like a trailer that looks far better than the film will probably be. My inner child wanted to indulge in anything VMAs tonight, so I gave New Moon the benefit of the doubt.

Eminem really has mellowed out in his older age, I guess he's leaving all the madness for Kanye.

I was super surprised Britney won an award. I am really out of touch with the current music scene (mostly for a reason) but I sort of momentarily forgot about her. Lots of old familiar faces at the VMAs that seem rather timeless and there's a lot more cursing in the show among everyone involved than there ever was when I was growing up. Censor timing certainly has improved!

It was a pretty decent show, I've seen more boring award shows as of recent. The performances were all decent and it was nice to relive an old pasttime.