"Sugar" - Maroon 5

The following single is one of my favorite Maroon 5 songs and is by far my favorite video of theirs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09R8_2nJtjg

It's "Sugar" and it's from V, the band's fifth studio album. What can I say? I love the song but the video is amazing as it involves weddings. Granted, it involves the band crashing weddings by performing at them but the couples at said weddings appear to be delighted by the arrival of the band. It has been suggested that some of the weddings might have been staged (although it's also been confirmed that some were indeed genuine) but regardless, the concept of happy couples should be pleasing.

The Wikipedia article for "Sugar" has a large and well-sourced section about the music video. Honestly, I love this song and its video; I'm surprised I hadn't written about them earlier.

Review of a new husband

(My intention had been to post this on Thursday night.)

I follow Erica Griffin on YouTube. She is a technology reviewer, primarily focused on providing in-depth testing to develop highly-detailed review videos for the latest high-end smartphones. Griffin is skilled at her work: she is technical but makes such terminology sound interesting to the average viewer and she praises technology without sounding like a childish fanboy (quite a few technology viewers seem to be fanboys). When somebody asks what sort of phone they should buy, chances are I'll tell them something that I've seen in an Erica Griffin video.

Recently, Griffin married and, in her usual light-hearted manner, posted a "review" of her new husband:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEWWKKBFBuI

I thought it was cute and wanted to share it here.

Shelford and wedding

My grandfather, brother and I visited a village called Shelford this afternoon. We undertook a two-hour walk around the vicinity and I was sure to photograph the local church:

It's the St. Peter and St. Paul's Church. The church's bells were ringing for the duration of our time in Shelford because there was a wedding taking place. I do not know who the happy couple are but I hope they have a long and enjoyable life together.

On marriage equality

I promised to write a post about my opinions on marriage equality for gays and lesbians. With last month's vote in Parliament to legalise it and all the current activity in the United States over the issue, now seems a fitting time.

I am a strong supporter of marriage; I doubt this will come as a surprise to my family, friends and followers, but in short: yes, I support marriage equality. I hold no animosity towards gays and lesbians, and have no reason to deny them something I have the right to myself. I am entitled to marry a woman I love and vice versa (with each other's consent, of course), so why should the LGBT people I know, and others who love someone of their own gender, not be allowed to marry?

I do not consider gay marriage to be a threat to my future marriage or to anyone else's, nor do I think heterosexual marriage would be devalued by it. After all, in the United Kingdom and United States, on average a heterosexual marriage has a 50% chance of succeeding, greater amounts of straight people are becoming disinterested in marriage and certain celebrities treat marriage frivolously. None of these problems are caused by gays and lesbians, and marriage equality will not exacerbate them.

I reject arguments against gay marriage such as "it will lead to bestiality and paedophilia!", "gays will force straights into marrying them!" and "people will want to marry their kitchen sink!". Marriage is between two consenting adults who (usually) understand what they're doing. The sole result from legalising gay marriage will be couples of the same gender being allowed to marry; nothing more, nothing less. Everything else is paranoia and utter nonsense.

I don't believe in opposing gay marriage based on politics, either: LGBT people can be liberals, moderates, conservatives or even apolitical — my family and I once had a gay friend and neighbor who identified as a Republican, and his partner was a Democrat! I think it's wonderful that both the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom — a Democrat and a Conservative, respectively — support equal marrying rights; never before has this happened, and ten years ago this would have been unthinkable.

It's also been stated that gays and lesbians should not be allowed to marry because marriage is only for producing children. If that were the case, then people who are old or infertile should be barred from marrying, and couples whose children have left home and can support themselves should divorce since their marriages have served their purpose. What about all those children born out of wedlock today, too? While on the subject of LGBT parenting, by extension of my support for marriage equality, I support same-sex couples being able to have and raise children; I might not know of many kids raised by gay couples, but I have yet to discover anyone who went off the rails because their parents were both of the same gender.

Nothing will be lost by granting marriage equality. I find it relieving that in this era of falling marriage rates, at least one group of people thinks marriage is worth fighting for. Who knows? Perhaps after gays and lesbians achieve the right to marry, other people might start valuing marriage again! I like to see the positives, and I think marriage equality will be a great step forward in civil rights, respect...and for marriage itself.

Golden wedding anniversary

It was a delight to celebrate my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary last Saturday; we travelled up to Nottingham in the afternoon to spend a few hours with them before the party and to give our gift to them early. They adored the photo album we assembled for them, to the point where they wanted to bring it to the celebration to show other guests.

Nearly forty people attended the event. Besides obvious people such as my grandparents, parents, brother, and me, others in attendance included my aunt/uncle/cousins from Nottingham, aunt/uncle/cousins from the East of England, Nottingham uncle's brother, my grandparents' nearest neighbours, and several other friends and relatives of my grandparents. At least three-quarters of the people invited to the party came, and one person who was accidentally not invited had the good sense to make it. Some of the people I hadn't seen for a couple of years, but there were others whom I hadn't had any contact with for close to twenty years, and a few I hadn't met at all.

The celebration took place at a fancy Chinese restaurant, with an entire room - which contained four large tables - booked for our group. After people started filling into the room I chose a table and waited to see who would sit with me - there weren't any pre-determined seats, so people could sit where they desired, although my grandparents' and their children sat at the "head table". We did not have to order any food, as my Nottingham aunt had been the primary organiser of the event and had chosen a set menu.

The speeches went very well: Dad was the first to speak - given that he is my grandparents' oldest child - followed by my uncle from the East of England and my aunt from Nottingham (my other uncle is in Hong Kong). Six of the eight grandchildren spoke next (my eldest cousin is also in China, and my other older cousin was briefly away during the speeches), with me going last: the content in my speech made it worthwhile me being the final speaker, and other than a couple of flubs when reading out my script I had no problems in giving a speech in front of nearly forty people. I received one of the largest rounds of applause, so I can safely assume that my speech was well-received!

I have plenty of pictures of the event - as do several other people - and there was more activity there than what I've written about, but in keeping with my personal privacy policy I cannot share any more here. All I can say is that it was great to celebrate my grandparents 50th, and everyone - especially my grandparents - had an amazing time.

In the year...2112 (Part 2)

The second part to my opinions of this article about predictions people had submitted for potential advances by the year 2112. Again for attribution, note that the text highlighted in bold are the submissions themselves, which I have copied from the article. I went over ten of the predictions in my first post, and now I will be covering the remaining ten here:

11. Eighty per cent of the world will have gay marriage
I do not have any problems with this: however, some parts of the world are extremely hostile to gays and lesbians at the moment, and others are still wary of them, but that negative attitude is changing and I am sure the change will accelerate and spread.

12. California will lead the break-up of the US
I am opposed to these ideas of splitting up the United States, and think they are nothing more than jokes, or in some cases mere wishful thinking. By law, no state can declare its independence from the United States on its own accord (see the Supreme Court case Texas v. White), but even if that was not the case, I do not consider it to be in any state's interest to attempt to break up the Union. In the case of California, the only times I have seen its independence or its own splitting up be suggested are by people either with a grudge against the state or those who disagree with it politically (of which I think neither are good reasons for it to secede). I would also be very surprised if Congress ever approved a state's secession, now or in the future.

13. Space elevators will make space travel cheap and easy
I have always been unsure about space elevators: while I accept that technology does change and advance, I have wondered how such incredibly tall structures would even stand up, and get through the atmosphere...not to mention the danger of something hitting the elevator above the ground but below space, or of the elevator snapping outright from stress. I think I would prefer to travel to space on a ship.

14. Women will be routinely impregnated by artificial insemination rather than by a man
I respect and support that a woman should have control over her own reproductive rights, but I do not understand why pregnancy through artificial means would become commonplace just for the sake of itself. I can see why single women, older women, and women in relationships with other women would need to do this, but unless the world decides to enter an incredibly anti-sex period, I think most people will still choose to reproduce via sexual intercourse if they do not need any assistance with reproduction.

15. There will be museums for almost every aspect of nature, as so much of the world's natural habitat will have been destroyed
Actually, I hope that by then attitudes have changed so that everyone is doing their part to protect the environment...therefore ensuring that museums to honour the extinct wildlife and habitats do not come to be. Harming the environment does harm us in the long run, so it is in the best interests of all people to preserve nature.

16. Deserts will become tropical forests
I would support restoring forests that have been lost to expanding deserts, but I would oppose replacing the deserts altogether: places such as the Sahara, Mojave, and the Gobi all have their own ecosystems that should be preserved. By all means, recover places overrun by desertification, but still allow the deserts to remain.

17. Marriage will be replaced by an annual contract
I am a strong supporter of marriage: my parents are married, my father's parents are married, my mother's parents were married until one of them died, and I have friends whose parents are married; I have been fortunate to celebrate a couple's 50th wedding anniversary (twice!), and am looking forward to celebrating a couple's 50th anniversary this year. A couple here in the United Kingdom even recently celebrated their 86th wedding anniversary.

Marriage is about love and commitment, and I fear that replacing marriage with renewable contracts would turn it into a commodity and a convenience, rather than something genuinely treasured by both partners. I am aware that divorce can be painful, but changing marriage in this way would hurt people who do make their relationships work. While these are only predictions, this one does contradict 11. much further above: gays and lesbians want equal marriage rights, and I think that replacing/doing away with marriage would be a large step backwards for everyone.

18. Sovereign nation states will cease to exist and there will be one world government
I do not think this would be a bad thing as long as the said government is similar to the Federation government in the Star Trek universe rather than like the one in 1984. I think at the very least there will be much greater cooperation between governments in the future and much less prejudice among people overall.

19. War by the West will be fought totally by remote control
I think it would be infinitely more preferable if there were no wars fought at all, regardless of the means used to fights them. Again, I think there will be more cooperation in the world, and therefore no war.

20. Britain will have had a revolution
What can I really say about this one? Any nation could have a revolution between now at the year 2112, so I would not single any out.

----

To be honest, I do not think the future can really be predicted that accurately: forty years ago it was predicted that we would have eliminated poverty and crime, built colonies on the Moon and developed warp drive by now, but sadly, these have not yet come true. We can give rough estimates based on current and past technology and human behaviour, but nothing exact. As for me, I merely hope for a more positive future for humanity and a more peaceful world: the advanced technologies will come when they come.

That concludes Part 2 of my posts on the Twenty top predictions for life 100 years from now article. I would again like to thank the people who submitted their predictions to the magazine, and I would also like to say that I hope I did not come across as dismissive to any that I disagreed with: I appreciate that the submissions were likely all done in good-faith. 

If anyone has any comments on what I have had to say, I welcome the input. I am open to discussing my opinions, and to changing my mind.

Surprised bride

Now for something lighter, at least for people reading my blog: I really liked this article I found on Yahoo! News UK. It was positive and a nice little read.

http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/marry-me-today-surprise-wedding-for-bride-who-had-no-idea.html

On Fergie's second album

It was about this time five years ago that Fergie (Stacy Ferguson) released her first single, "London Bridge", from her debut and only album The Dutchess. It is hard to believe it has been that long ago: I had always liked her and her vocals from the Black Eyed Peas' music, and I was really looking forward to her solo work. I was not to be disappointed when I heard her music: it was all grand, from catchy tracks like "Fergalicious" to emotional songs such as "Big Girls Don't Cry".

While The Dutchess was a success, five years on, there has not been a second album from her. Over the years I came across information that said she was "going to release it in a few months" or that it was "coming soon", but nothing that was an absolute confirmation, so I dismissed what I read, though I did pay more attention to articles that said she was "working on it".

Even though I think it is unfortunate there has not been a follow-up album to Fergie's debut, I can understand why one has not been released as of now: since The Dutchess, the Black Eyed Peas have had two highly successful albums, so she has been busy with them; but she also got married to Josh Duhamel, and that is certainly a higher priority than a second album.

Of course, in the end it is up to Fergie if she releases a second album or not, but regardless, The Dutchess is one of my favorites in my music collection, and its songs make me think about the period when her solo work was at its most popular on the radio. Anyway, I hear the Black Eyed Peas on the radio nearly every day, so it is not like she is going away anytime soon.