Is it just me or does the inauguration seem more like a concert than a boring political event?

I completely agree. In fact, all I hear is which celebrities were personally invited such as beyonce and jay z. So ridiculous.

I second that. I’m excited that it’s finally time for the inauguration but the all the other stuff is pretty ridiculous.

I think it’s just Obama. He’s young, semi-hip(ish), and exciting. Also it’s such a historic occassion. It’s pretty damn exciting :)

Clinton’s first was pretty rock ‘n’ roll and celeb-heavy, too, IIRC. Then again, this was a guy who went on a late night chat show to play his saxophone with the house band.

I think the hoopla around Obama far exceeds Clinton in ‘92.

I’m actually upset that I’ll be working while all the excitement is occurring. The baby boomers are retiring and the hippie/yuppie generation is taking it’s place. A generation that has never lived without a TV or rock music. Will it be like this from here on after?

The DNC knows how to throw a shindig…...

@tinyfaery – You’re probably right.

I’m not paying much attention to the balls and concerts being scheduled. I’m only going to watch the one on CNN Monday night because I know a kid singing in the Chorale Le Chateau choir.

But that thought crossed my mind, too, about the whole “rock star” momentum of the campaign and the inauguration.

Obama: The New Hotness!

Inaugurations have not always been boring. I watched JFK’s live on TV and found it thrilling.

It will be important because O knows how to write and think, and he’ll tell us something we’ve needed to hear, and set the tone for what we’ll need to deal with.
I find the hoopla (especially the many opportunities to offer more money) humiliating. I just want to see what he says. I’m going to a downtown movie theatre with a whole lot of other boomer/hippie/yuppies at 7 in the morning to see in happen in real time.

THE BIG SHOW

• On Sunday, tradition will be upheld with a free star-studded concert on the National Mall, starting at 2:30 p.m. Among the many performers: Bruce Springsteen, U2, Beyonce, Usher, Garth Brooks, Stevie Wonder, John Mellencamp, Shakira, Mary J. Blige, Herbie Hancock, Josh Groban, John Legend and James Taylor. Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, Martin Luther King III and Queen Latifah will read. Obama will stop by and HBO will broadcast “We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial.”

Yeah—it seems like it will be completely awesome. Which it should be! Politics shouldn’t be boring! It’s about shaping our lives and our future. Even if Obama is the worst president we’ve ever had (unlikely) he’ll be remembered as completely amazing for getting everyone interested in politics again.

I’ll bet that commercial time during this event will cost as much as time during the Superbowl. The networks will be making a killing!

Psh. It’s going to be streamed live on Hulu. I think that’s my “winning plan” for watching.

Great idea, @EmpressPixie !!! I like to avoid the networks myself. Will the Hulu stream be with or without a running commentary?

It doesn’t say. Right now it just says, “Watch it live” with a countdown.

Yay empress! Since I stupidly forgot to plan to be in D.C., Hulu’s the answer here.

I never heard of Hulu. Can you fill me in a little? I can see what it’s about, more or less, from the home page, but what’s the user experience like? Do you pay? Are there ads? Are there availability problems during high-demand offerings? And where are the inauguration countdown and schedule?

It’s free, I’ve never seen problems during high-demand offerings, it’s a joint venture between a couple of major companies so it is on the level, I think the user experience is great—the stream is very smooth and almost never has jerky starts and stops due to buffering issues (it had a few when it was in beta, but I think they fixed them). It is free, there are usually ads every 10 minutes, they last 30 seconds. I do not know how the inauguration will go because I’ve never watched anything live on it before, but everything else is wonderful.

If you create an account and log in, it will remember where you left off on a show and you can start from there or start over entirely.

The inauguration will be here: http://www.hulu.com/spotlight/obamapresidency

But I found out they would be streaming it by going to the front page and watching the stuff that scrolls through. You can watch entire tv shows and movies. They also have clips of many more shows. If you want to watch a show or movie, you can tell it to only list full episodes or movies (thus it removes anything it only has clips of). Lately I’ve been watching Arrested Development because it has all three seasons.

Hulu is less likely to have all the episodes of a current show, then it usually only has like every fifth episode and the most recent five or something. But it does have a lot of current shows. It also has Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog.

I like it.

i don’t think it’s that fact that politics has become commercial but rather that the commercial has become involved in politics for the first time. celebrities and music artists have never given a crap because let’s face it, they make enough money not to really be worried about the economy that much and they’re pretty protected from typical society life. but this time, it was different. ol’ bush made things so bad that he actually prompted everyone to get involved. the celebs supported obama almost 100% so they feel like they won just we feel like we won. it’s definitely going down for obama but that’s because we all love him so and we all need him! america’s happy and when we’re happy, we party!!!

There have always been some celebrity activists. Many celebrities have used their status to promote causes or political positions. This may be the first time that a politician has so conspicuously embraced the popular culture.

Inauguration parties really reflect the winner and the mood of the country The 1st one I remember when I was a kid was Eisenhower’s 2nd. It was very familiar, like the Elk’s Club annual dinner dance.

Kennedy’s was so glamorous and sopisticated to a teenager and everyone looked so young compared to the previous administeation. I remember they had different venues including one with music I liked.

Nixon;s seemed both over the top and stodgy, like a party Queen Elizabeth would feel comfortable attending.

Bush I and II seemed pretty similar and “mature” Most of the participants were interchangeable. It was the country club set, the smug, the sleek, the self satisfied——and their wives.

The Clinton inaugurations reminded me of the 84 Olympics, all Hollywood glitz and glam. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had 50 classical pianists in baby blue tuxes at baby blue baby grands with Barbra doing a set on a revolving stage as entertainment.

Wow, @gg, what a recap. My compliments (& lurve).

i think in an attempt to involve the younger generations in politics, politics in general have become more youth-aimed. i mean, politics is still politics, obviously, so those who don’t care for all the glitz are still going to remain involved. but catching the younger generation and making them realize that just because you’re interesting in politics doesn’t mean you’ve completely given up your youth is another thing i guess. i don’t know. aren’t politicians celebrities with a different name anyway?