Forget ‘Fancy’, here are my picks for song of summer 2014

Summer is nearing an end, so it’s time to crown the “song of summer.”
Based on its dominance on the Billboard Hot 100 music chart, “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea and featuring Charli XCX looks like a lock to be the song of summer for 2014. It was No. 1 for seven straight weeks.
Billboard ranks the most popular songs across all genres from Memorial Day through Labor Day, based on cumulative performance on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 chart. It factors in radio airplay audience impressions, sales data and streaming activity for the chart.
Last year, Billboard crowned Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” as song of the summer. It was No. 1 for 12 weeks.
Basically the official song of summer is objective, based on popularity, rather than something more subjective, like a tune that captures the feeling of a particular summer. It doesn’t even have to be about summertime activities.
Music has the ability to take people back in time in their memories. Certain songs make me remember where I was when a track was popular, especially summer songs.
Just check out this Billboard list of the top 10 songs of summer from 1985 through 2013. Many haven’t held up very well. And often lower-numbered tracks get more airplay today than the No. 1s from summers past.
For me, “Fancy” is a faddish track that’s more about swagger and attitude than melodies.
Songs that best capture the summer of 2014 for me include “Summer” by Calvin Harris, “Am I Wrong?” by Nico & Vinz and “Turn Down for What?” by DJ Snake and Lil Jon.
To those chart toppers I’d add an Internet meme tune – “Apparently” by the Gregory Brothers. Seriously.

Summer road trip, part four: The kids’ perspective

As an educational exercise, I had my two children keep journals during our recent road trip. They were assigned to write about their experiences at the end of each day.
From his journal, my son summarized the most memorable parts of the trip. I decided to run my daughter’s journal entries as is.
What follows are guest blog posts from my children about the trip that I blogged about over three articles.

Christopher, age 11

This summer my family and I took a long road trip up to Big Star Lake, Michigan. We stopped at many places on the way there and back.
On the first day of the drive, we stopped at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh. Some of the exhibits were quite interesting, including a toilet that you would have in space.
The next day, my dad brought us to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. My dad got a real kick out of it. I thought it was OK.
In the line to get tickets, we had our pictures taken and those were given to us at the end.
We saw all sorts of costumes from the performers.

After the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, we drove to our final destination: Big Star Lake in western Michigan.
We stayed three days at a cottage there with my cousins, aunts and uncles.
At Big Star Lake, we went boating, fishing and tubing. Tubing is where you sit on an inflatable raft and get pulled by a boat from a long rope. The boat goes very fast and you have to hang on for dear life while the boat is roaring.
We spent a lot of time on the beach. I liked swimming in the water looking for minnows.
My cousin Johnny taught me and my sister to play ladder golf.
I challenged my dad to a game. I played Dad three times and won once and lost twice.
My dad and I also went and flipped a paddleboat. My glasses got lost in the water, but Uncle Doug found them. If he did not, that would have been bad!
I played water baseball with Johnny. The bat had holes so you could adjust how far the ball went when you hit by filling the bat with water.
I tried fishing and caught one bluegill on a hook and another with a net.
One night after dinner we shot off fireworks on the beach. That was cool.
On day six of our seven-day trip, we took one last ride on my uncle Steve’s boat before hitting the road. My cousin Brian went wakeboarding. He is very good at it and did tricks.
After that, we said our goodbyes on got on the road.
We got stuck in a long line of cars trying to get into Canada.
After a long drive, we finally arrived at Niagara Falls. Our hotel was near Clifton Hill on the Canadian side of Niagara. It was like a fair, except year round.
The next morning, we waited in a massive line to get on a boat to go to the falls. We wore cheap pink ponchos to keep us dry.
When that was over, we walked to the Bird Kingdom. It was awesome! We saw all kinds of animals (not just birds). That place was amazing!
Finally we got back on the road towards home.

Aerin, age 8 

Day 1:
Road trip!
In the morning I was eager to get in the car. Once my mom and dad loaded all of our bags into the car, we started driving.
In the car I had books and video games to keep me entertained. But soon my Nintendo DS had to charge. But I played silly games with my brother Chris.
After four hours in the car, we stopped at Carnegie Science Center.
Then next door was another science center. It was about sports. Chris did a pitching game while I did a bouncing game.
We stopped at a food court and Panera Bread.
After a two-hour drive, we were in Cleveland. Then we tucked in for bed.

Day 2:
Day 2 was mostly in the car but we did some fun things.
In the morning, we got up and went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! They had Katy Perry’s peppermint dress. They had Michael Jackson’s jacket. And we watched a movie about Dick Clark.
Then it was six more hours in the car.
We ate Mexican food for dinner. Soon after we arrived at Big Star Lake.

Day 3:
Most of the day we were outside. But we did a lot of stuff. I played ladder golf and swam.
We had doughnuts for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch. For dinner, we had pasta, roast beef, corn, hot dogs and after that we had s’mores.

Day 4:
Today was stupid because we did not do anything out of the water or that wasn’t near it.
In the morning I went fishing. Chris caught one and named it Squishy.
In the afternoon I went tubing with Claire, my cousin. She fell off once but I stayed on the whole time!
In the night, we had a bonfire. Then tucked in for bed.

Day 5:
Day 5 was a lot of fun.
In the morning, we had waffles. Then we went in the water. It was FREEZING!
In the night, we shot fireworks.

Day 6:
Day 6 was a long drive.
We woke up and had French toast.
We got on the boat and saw cousin Brian do tricks.
Then we went to the cabin and got our bags. Then we left the cabin.
We drove and we made it to Canada! We stopped at the hotel. We went and got pizza for dinner. After that we went to see Niagara Falls at night. Lights lit it up.

Day 7:
Day 7 was a lot of time in the car.
We ate at IHOP for breakfast.
We went on a boat called the Maid of the Mist. Then we went to the Bird Kingdom. Then hit the road and drove home to Virginia.

Photos: 
Niagara Falls;
Water-skiing on Big Star Lake, Mich.;
Beyonce costume exhibit at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland;
Parrot at the Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, Ontario;
Chris throws 52 mph fast ball at pitching exhibit at Highmark SportsWorks, Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh;
Madonna memorabilia at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame;
Aerin playing ladder golf at Big Star Lake;
Pier at Big Star Lake.

Summer road trip, part three: Niagara Falls

The last major destination on our family road trip was Niagara Falls.
We entered Canada from the west, which seems odd because the country is north of the continental U.S. We crossed over the St. Claire River at Port Huron, Mich., and got grilled by a very stern Canadian border control officer in Sarnia, Ontario.
After being waved through, we proceeded to drive several hours across flat, dull southern Ontario.
We entered Niagara Falls, Ontario, in the early evening hours and checked into our room at the Sheraton On the Falls hotel, which had a nice view of the falls.
We then explored the carnival atmosphere of Clifton Hill, shopped for souvenirs, ate dinner and walked to the riverfront park to experience the falls at night. The falls are beautiful any time of day, but at night they’re lit up with colored lights.
The next morning, after a nearly $100 breakfast for four at IHOP, we decided to board a boat to get up close to the falls.
On the U.S. side, the boats are called Maid of the Mist. On the Canadian side, they’re called Hornblower.
Passengers on the U.S. side wear blue plastic rain ponchos, while tourists on the Canadian boats where red ponchos. At least that’s what it looks like from a distance. Up close the cheap coverings on the Canadian side are pink.
You need the rain gear because the falls pelt you with a fine mist of water. It’s like a light rain, but you’re in it long enough to get soaked.
The boat ride took us below the American and Bridal Veil falls where we saw tourists on the wooden walkway for Cave of the Winds. That attraction reminds me of the 1953 Marilyn Monroe movie “Niagara,” which was filmed on location.
The boat then cruises to the Horseshoe Falls where it parks in the mist for a few minutes to let passengers experience the roar of the water and the majesty of the largest of the three falls. My glasses got all wet so it was all a blur after a while.

I was impressed by the falls. But the kids were antsy and could only be calmed by agreeing to take them to the Bird Kingdom.
I was expecting a tourist trap, but I actually enjoyed myself. The Bird Kingdom has lots of different feathered friends on site and the kids were entertained by a scavenger hunt game.
Soon it was time to hit the road and head home.
We could easily have spent a few days in Niagara Falls enjoying the sites and attractions. On the Canada side, I would like to have seen the White Water Walk and maybe done the Whirlpool Aero Car. On the U.S. side, I would have done the Cave of the Winds walk and checked out the Niagara Falls Observation Tower.
But we had a long ride home ahead of us.

Up next: The kids’ perspective

Summer road trip, part two: The drive and the cottage on the lake

The old saying goes that road trips are more about the journey than the destination.
In truth, both are important. On my family’s recent seven-day road trip adventure, we drove 1,652 miles and visited six states and one Canadian province.
The route we drove took us through Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, New York and Ontario. Basically we took a wide loop around Lake Erie.
I did all the driving so I got to enjoy the scenery while my wife read books and my two kids played video games.
What follows are some random observations from my loop across the eastern Midwest U.S. and southern Ontario, Canada.
On our trip we passed by a number of places that would have made interesting stops if we had more time. In Pennsylvania alone there was the Flight 93 Memorial in Stoystown; the Zippo Case visitor center, home of the Zippo lighter, in Bradford; and the Penn-Brad Oil Museum, also in Bradford.
I also could have extended my hall of fame tour with a stop at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Mary’s, Ontario.
We drove through two national forests: the Manistee National Forest in western Michigan and the Alleghany National Forest in northwestern Pennsylvania.
We visited the Kinzua Sky Walk at Kinzua Bridge State Park in Mt. Jewett, Pa. It’s located near the Allegheny National Forest. The skywalk was built on what remains of the Kinzua Viaduct. The viaduct was the highest and longest railroad bridge in the world before much of it was destroyed by a tornado in 2003.

We stayed three days at a rented cottage on Big Star Lake in Baldwin, Mich., located in the Manistee National Forest. The lake is spring-fed and the water super clear. We went boating, fishing and swimming during our stay. We saw loons and an eagle diving for fish on the lake. The sunsets were spectacular.
The Manistee National Forest is largely sandy terrain covered with trees and dotted with wetlands. We took several hikes through the mostly piney woods and enjoyed the natural beauty. We saw quite a few monarch butterflies and milkweed plants. I also spotted a blue-tailed skink and a few toads.
Big Star Lake is located in Lake County, Mich., reportedly the poorest county in the state. We saw lots of abandoned businesses and homes in little towns nearby, especially Idlewild, Mich.

As the sole driver on the trip, I enjoyed seeing all the large factories along the highways. We passed by the General Motors factory in Youngstown, Ohio, where it currently makes the Chevrolet Cruze and the GM plant in Flint, Michigan, where it makes trucks. Other big factories along our interstate route made automotive parts.
We drove by the Duck Tape headquarters in Avon, Ohio, and the Dow Corning plant in Midland, Mich., the birthplace of Dow Corning.
We also saw the Brockway Glass factory in Brockway, Pa. The bottle-making plant is owned by Owens-Illinois. My first newspaper reporting job was in Streator, Ill., site of another O-I glass bottle factory.
Our drive also took us through the oil town of Bradford, Pa., site of the American Refining Group.
Lots of minor league baseball stadiums were spotted on our travels. Teams included the Altoona Curve, a AA affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, in Altoona, Pa.; the West Michigan Whitecaps, a single A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, in Comstock Park, Mich.; and the Lake Erie Crushers, part of the Frontier League, in Avon, Ohio.
Other interesting sites along the way were the giant wind turbines in Middlesex County, Ontario. There are scores of them, making for an impressive sight.
On the way into Michigan, we kept seeing road signs for Beef Jerky Unlimited in Luna, Mich. The retail shop’s advertisements said “We are not a gas station.” We found that humorous.
After checking online we discovered that there are competing beefy jerky shops there and one does have a gas station. Maybe they should have just said, “We’re the one without the gas station.”
Our trip also took us into Pittsburgh, with its great architecture and scenic waterfront, and Cleveland, which has a surprisingly nice downtown area.

Up next: Niagara Falls.

Photos: 
Sunset over Big Star Lake in Baldwin, Mich.;
Daytime on Big Star Lake in late July;
Another shot of Big Star Lake;
Wind turbines in Middlesex County, Ontario.

Summer road trip, part one: Halls of fame

Readers of Tech-media-tainment know that I like halls of fame – those shrines to the greats of every profession and talent.
At the start of my family’s recent seven-day road trip vacation, we visited two halls of fame: the Robot Hall of Fame in Pittsburgh and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

The Robot Hall of Fame

I love robots – robots for science, exploration, industrial use and fictional robots from movies and TV shows. I’ve followed the Robot Hall of Fame for many years. I attended the 2008 induction ceremony and voted online for the 2012 class of inductees, the first time voting was open to the general public.
The Robot Hall of Fame has a physical presence in the Roboworld exhibit at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh. While the Carnegie Science Center is a great attraction for families, the Robot Hall of Fame section needs a major upgrade.
For starters, not all of the enshrined robots are represented in the exhibit. Because it’s a children’s museum, all are fictional robots from movies and TV shows.
The display features reproductions of R2-D2 and C-3PO from “Star Wars,” HAL 9000 from “2001: A Space Odyssey,” Dewey from “Silent Running,” Robby the Robot from “Forbidden Planet,” Maria from “Metropolis” and Gort from “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” That’s just seven of the 30 robots that have been inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame to date. The pop culture robot display also includes Robot B-9 from “Lost in Space,” which has yet to be inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame.
The exhibit is simply a taste of the Robot Hall of Fame, not a complete experience. The individual robots on display are mostly static with blinking or flashing lights to make them seem more active. Each includes a descriptive plaque. HAL 9000 has a small video display with the villainous computer’s dialog from the movie.
But a true Robot Hall of Fame deserves a more fitting presentation. Funding has been a problem, so a larger, standalone shrine is unlikely. A small theater playing a looping video showcasing all the robots in the hall of fame would be nice.
Ideally each robot would get a display with animatronics, interactivity and multimedia.
The rest of the Roboworld exhibit is a lot more compelling. There’s a basketball-throwing robot, a robot that plays air hockey with you and a humanoid robot that acts out scenes from movies.
Maybe one day the Robot Hall of Fame will get its own museum that will feature all the real and fictional robots inducted. It would include such real robots as the Unimate industrial robot, the da Vinci Surgical System, Mars exploration robots Spirit and Opportunity, and the iRobot military robot PackBot.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has been a bucket-list destination of mine for some time. I’m glad to say that it’s worth the trip to Cleveland.
The hall of fame is packed with memorabilia, costumes, instruments and other possessions of some of pop music’s greats.
The downstairs level is the largest and best section of the museum. It features a dizzying array of unique items from hall of fame inductees and current stars who aren’t yet eligible for inclusion.
On our visit, the museum had just opened a fashion exhibit devoted to Beyonce, which was terrific.
I enjoyed seeing the tour clothing, musical instruments, handwritten song lyrics, set lists and other items from the likes of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, U2, Billy Joel, Madonna, ZZ Top, Michael Jackson and many more.
Much of it was a trip down memory lane for me, having grown up listening to and watching these artists. I got a kick out of the Dick Clark tribute film and seeing all the then-young artists appear on “American Bandstand.”
I liked some of the unique items on display, such as Janis Joplin’s psychedelic-painted 1965 Porsche.
My kids appreciated seeing items on display from younger artists, including Katy Perry, Kesha, Rihanna and Lady Gaga. Perry’s peppermint candy-themed dress was a big hit with my 8-year-old daughter.
The other levels of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are a bit of a disappointment in terms of content and layout, largely because of the odd shape of the I.M. Pei-designed building.
One thing that is sorely missing from the museum is a prominent exhibit that spells out who all the inductees to the rock hall actually are.

Photos:
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame exterior;
R2-D2 at Robot Hall of Fame;
Dewey at Robot Hall of Fame;
Beyonce costume exhibit at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame;
Beatles collection at rock hall;
Janis Joplin’s psychedelic Porsche at rock hall;
Katy Perry’s peppermint tour costume at rock hall.

Sexy women scorned: a review

Tech-media-tainment has long covered how government and societal leaders seek to punish women for celebrating their sexuality.
What follows is a list of articles on sexy women scorned.
While most of my coverage centers on the United States, similar attitudes exist in Europe.
In April, model Georgia Eden was kicked out of a Miss England competition because she posted a topless picture of herself online to promote a breast cancer campaign. She covered her nipples with a hand and an arm.
Eden was told the selfie photo violated the rules of the competition because it brought the event into disrepute, the Daily Mail reported. The 22-year-old model was participating in the Miss Oxfordshire heat of the competition.

Conservatives want young women to cover up more (July 13, 2014)

America hues to its puritanical roots when it comes to nudity (July 12, 2014)

Society needs to stop ‘slut shaming’ (July 11, 2014)

Duke student/porn star Belle Knox turning lemons into lemonade (April 5, 2014)

Porn stars invited to high school proms. What’s the harm? (March 28, 2014)

In defense of streaking (Oct. 13, 2013)

America continues to punish sexy women (June 5, 2013)

Prostitution cases frequently a waste of law enforcement resources (June 4, 2013)

Absurd morality against sexy women who model extends to Europe (Jan. 18, 2013)

Public treats porn performers, nude models like criminals (Jan. 17, 2013)

Being a porn actress isn’t a crime, so women shouldn’t be harassed because of it (April 3, 2011)

Photo: English model Georgia Eden takes a controversial selfie to promote breast cancer awareness.

Conservatives want young women to cover up more

Some conservatives won’t be satisfied with how young women dress in the U.S. until they’re covered head to toe in burkas.
They find a bare shoulder or too much leg offensive.
What follows are some recent examples of what I’m talking about.
In May, a 17-year-old Virginia girl was kicked out of the Richmond Homeschool Prom because several fathers complained that her dress triggered “impure thoughts.” The student, Clare Ettinger, said the dress met the prom’s “fingertip length” dress code.
Two women acting as chaperones confronted Ettinger and told her that her dress combined with her dancing made several fathers supervising the dance uncomfortable.
“I’m not responsible for some perverted 45-year-old dad lusting after me because I have a sparkly dress on and a big ass for a teenager. And if you think I am, then maybe you’re part of the problem,” Ettinger wrote in a guest post on her sister’s blog.
Media coverage of the incident included reports by NBC News, the New York Post, WWBT and Gawker.
Another incident that made headlines this spring was the Utah high school that Photoshopped yearbook photos to add more clothing to girls. The editors digitally covered bare shoulders and cleavage and, in at least one case, removed a tattoo. (See examples at Uproxx and Cosmopolitan.)
In a sexist double-standard, last year’s Wasatch High School yearbook included a page called “Wasatch Stud Life,” which featured photos of male students pulling up their shirts and showing their underwear. (See articles by Jezebel and Cosmopolitan.)
Adults in Utah must be especially conservative about young women’s clothing.
In June, a female reporter with the Ogden, Utah, Standard-Examiner was barred from the courtroom for wearing a sleeveless blouse. She put on a colleague’s winter coat and returned to the hearing she was covering.
(See the article that started the fuss in the Standard-Examiner. Jim Romenesko was among the media who followed up on the story.)

Photos: Claire Ettinger prom photos (top), edited and unedited Wasatch High School yearbook photos.