“The custom in television, as I understand it, is that when you have an interview of this kind, the little chit-chat when you are getting ready to sit down to do the real interview is off the record,” Harwood said.

“It’s one of those things that’s like an understanding, as people have understandings with sources,” he continued. “And if you have a relationship of trust with someone, as I feel I do with the White House and the president, specifically, I felt like I should honor it.”

11:30 PM Personally, I think the Michael Jackson movie This Is It reeks of his family trying to cash in on his death.  These were rehearsals after all, and for a performer who was such a perfectionist, he would probably hate for people to watch anything but the finished product.  Til next year.

11:24 PM Jay-Z closes out the night with Alicia Keys and “Empire State of Mind.”  Props to Young for performing the best song on The Blueprint 3 instead of his latest single like “DOA” or “Run this Town.”  Jay-Z sounds a little husky, which for all I know could be another New Moon cross promotion.  As Sam Schlinkert tweeted earlier today, “Empire State of Mind sounds like sex on my speakers.”  This is in the discussion for greatest Jay-Z track, even with the weird Anna Wintour reference.  And that’s how we’ll remember the 2009 VMA’s, a show that started with a bang, ended with a bang, and had a lot of crap in between.  We also might remember it as the night that we finally buried racism.

11:14 PM Are you happy, Kanye?  Beyonce, predictably and deservedly, wins Video of the Year.  She brings out Taylor Swift, who kind of steals the spotlight.  I think the nation just had another legendary race relations moment.  And we didn’t even need Obama or beer!

11:11 PM How many times tonight do you think Kevin Lincoln has told the people sitting around him that he interviewed Wale?  He should walk around with a yellow sign that reads “Warning: Names Falling.”

11:02 PM The nipple pastie lives!  In a tasteful homage to Lil Kim, Pink performs with only a glittery heart covering her left breast.  She is also on trapeze.  Hey, Pink.  Britney called.  She wants her circus theme back.

10:59 PM Lady Gaga devotes her Best New Artist award to “God and the gays.”  She exits quietly for her date with that South African runner that makes everyone uncomfortable.

10:50 PM This is easily the worst choice tonight, Kanye be damned.  Eminem winning for “We Made You” is simply a catastrophe.  It was a bad song and a worse video.  So Eminem wins an award for making crude, lazy impersonations of easy pop culture references?  He was dressed as Bret Michaels for God’s sakes!  This is disgusting.  I would have even taken Asher Roth over this.  This alone makes me Team Mariah.

10:33 PM Did T.I. just win Best Male Video in spite of being in jail or because he’s in jail?  T.I. couldn’t give an acceptance speech.  He’s a little too busy telling his inmate that he can do “whatever he likes.”

10:22 PM Wouldn’t it be awesome if Taylor Swift came on stage and started doing the dance to “Single Ladies”?

10:19 PM In a movie with this many shirtless men, it’s a little disrespectful that they didn’t offer Matthew McConaughey a role in New Moon.  I also just realized that I bailed on my New Moon references count.  Sorry.  Let’s just say there were a lot.

10:15 PM People are not really understanding Beyonce supposedly getting “robbed.”  She’s going to win Video of the Year, which means she probably isn’t going to win for Best Pop or Best Female.  Sure, it makes logical sense to win those two awards; after all, it would be impossible to be a female with the video of the year and not win Best Female Video, but that would make for a pretty boring awards show.  Who wants to see Beyonce win 3 awards for the same song?

10:11 PM For a band called Nerds in Disguise, they sure look like nerds.  I know, that was an easy joke.

10:01 PM So Russell Brand just made a joke about date-raping Megan Fox.  Guess he’s saving the statutory rape jokes about Miley Cyrus for the second hour.

9:54 PM I’m going to have a lot of trouble wrapping my mind around this Lady Gaga performance.  In the middle of “Paparazzi,” one of the dancers is pushed around in a wheel chair.  Oh yeah, she also simulates her own death and rise to heaven.  I have no idea what to make of this.  Is this some sort of tribute to Princess Diana?  Were they close?

9:49 PM 3oh!3, the “pride” of Denver, performs.  Don’t worry, with Cutler just throwing his third interception, nothing can bring the Mile High City down tonight.

9:45 PM By the way, there’s an interesting debate as to who had a worse meltdown in NYC this weekend: Kanye or Serena?  Maybe Kanye should have threatened to shove that mic down Taylor’s throat.

9:42 PM Taylor Swift sings “You Belong With Me” on an NYC subway car in some sort of spontaneous performance.  Yep, 40 white people 18-24 randomly on the subway who all know the words to a Taylor Swift song in a car equipped with strobe lights.  Just a normal Sunday night in the Big Apple.  But I’ll give her a break on this one because she is not singing through tears.

9:37 PM These sure are slim pickins for the Best Rock Video.  Green Day wins for “21 Guns.”  Is Kanye going to come up and talk about “Viva La Vida?”

9:32 PM Wale is doing the in-house entertainment tonight, which was an interesting choice.  I like Wale, but unless he has a role in New Moon, I don’t think this is his crowd.

9:27 PM Kanye West storms the stage and steals the microphone from Taylor Swift, yelling that “Beyonce had one of the best videos ever!” Taylor Swift doesn’t even get to finish her speech.  I don’t care how deserving she was, that was a classless move.  Between Michael Jordan’s petty Hall of Fame speech and Kanye West’s complete lack of respect, this has been a rough week for Chicago icons.  For shame, Kanye.  For shame.  And this is from one of your biggest fans.

9:23 PM The werewolf from Twilight just told Shakira “Every She-Wolf needs a He-Wolf,” bringing our New Moon references to three.  I don’t know if the right artist has ever won for the wrong song before, because Taylor Swift just won for “You Belong With Me” instead of “Love Story.”

9:20 PM Let me be clear about this: Lady Gaga has the best outfit of anyone this decade at the VMA’s. (Remember, it’s been ten years since Diana Ross touched Lil Kim’s exposed breast.)  The only highlight thus far is how the beep button guy at MTV fell asleep at the wheel and let a “vagina” slip through.

9:15 PM Brand’s first joke is about how he just spent the last ten minutes looking at Katy Perry’s ass instead of the Jackson tribute.  Strike one.

9:13 PM And then Katy Perry and Russell Brand perform “We Will Rock You” and any sense of class exits Radio City Music Hall.  That was short.

9:11 PM Janet Jackson enters and does Michael’s verse from “Scream” as well as her own rendition of Michael’s solo from the video.  This was a surprise hit, just a respectful tribute to Michael’s work.  This could have been incredibly forced, with all the big names fighting to make a Jackson tribute, but they left it to his moves and his sister.

9:09 PM The long-awaited Michael Jackson tribute is actually pretty cool.  Dancers are all in one of three iconic Jackson outfits, the white shirt/ white glove, the red jacket, or the black jacket with a lot of gold glitter.  As Michael videos are shown in the background, they all perfectly replicate the dance moves.  Well done.

9:06 PM “There’s a whole lot of crotch-grabbing and moon walking going on in my house,” says Madonna.  Somewhere, Guy Ritichie just had a horrible flashback.

9:02 PM Leave it to Madonna to make a tribute to Michael Jackson all about herself.  “He never got to have a childhood, and when you don’t have something, you become obsessed by it.”  Getting a little controversial here, Lady Gaga Sr.  Now she is telling a long-winded story about going to dinner with Michael Jackson in 1991, where she tried to make him eat french fries, say bad words and drink wine.  Never a good sign when you’re with Madonna and you look like the weird one.

8:55 PM Sasha Fierce has 9 nominations tonight.  I’d put my money on “Single Ladies” for Video of the Year.  Mom adds, “I think the front of her dress is two inches below her crotch.”  We are five excruciating minutes away from the Michael Jackson tribute.

An interview with Leighton Meester brings our New Moon references to two.

8:50 PM So apparently Pink and Shakira are wearing the same dress, making a very easy “Who Whore It Better?” segment.  Pink hasn’t looked this out of place since the “Lady Marmalade” video.

8:46 PM This VJ just namedropped who is here for about 30 seconds and then introduces a stunning interview with… Fefe Dobson.  Who is Fefe Dobson?

8:42 PM My thoughts on the Fame music video: where is Zac Effron?

8:37 PM Kristin Cavalarri makes a nice cross promotional visit on the red carpet to promote The Hills.  Kristin actually went to elementary school in Colorado with a couple friends of mine from high school.  Quite predictably, they had less than nice things to say.

8:30 PM We are coming to you live from the Axt household in Denver, Colorado (I made the times Eastern).  The city is still riding high from our fluke-tastic football win earlier this evening.  We are joined tonight by my mother, at least temporarily.  It’s Sunday night, so be prepared for a lot of “I have to miss Mad Men for this!” and “I get to miss Entourage for this!” jokes.

The night starts out on a high note with an interesting comment from Diddy on Michael Jackson.  “It’s important that we keep our legacy alive.  I mean his legacy alive.”  Mom remarks, “Well, that was a Freudian slip.”

Also worth noting is that we just got our first New Moon reference.  I’ll be keeping a running tally throughout the show.

Sean’s making his way back to campus this Wednesday for an LDOC performance with Mike Posner, hot off the heels of his April 16 mixtape U Know Big Sean—Finally Famous Vol. 2. The mixtape clocks in at a bloated 30 tracks, nine of which are either skits or shoutouts that clock in at under 1:30, generally focused on establishing the legitimacy of Big Sean. They are unnecessary. While the songs themselves don’t quite leave the listener begging for more, they do point to a not inconsiderable amount of talent and potential.

Being a free mixtape, Sean can lean on the crutch that he won’t have on his upcoming full-length debut, Finally Famous, which is due sometime in ‘09: dynamite, battle-hardened beats. Granted, some of his originals are strong as well, “Getcha Some” and “Desire, Want, Need” especially. But what these mixtapes are really about is the rapper, and by the end of the hour-plus one gets a pretty good idea of what Sean’s about: clothes, self-promotion and being fresh. Kanye doesn’t stray too far when he’s picking these guys, apparently.

“Getcha Some” is one of a few tracks that are essentially lists of brand names, the likes of which will be familiar to anyone who’s ever listened to a Kanye album. Sean’s flow itself is incredibly reminiscent of West’s; measured, clipped verses with varied intonation and overemphasized words and syllables. In fact, it’s too reminiscent of West’s, and ends up just seeming like a pale imitation when stacked up against the greater man’s work. He raps often about his confidence, the “Finally Famous” lifestyle and how well he’s made it, but he doesn’t sound like he believes himself quite yet.

That being said, Sean’s clearly trying to get there. Two of the album’s standouts, “Desire, Want & Need” and “Million Dollars,” revolve around this drive. The chorus of the latter song, “Now I’m gonna make a million and one dollars and do it again/just wait til tomorrow, we won’t borrow ever again,” is one of the tape’s strongest, and the verses—frequently bragging of being able to provide for his mother, yet another favorite theme of Kanye’s—are capable. Sean’s joke of, “But thank God for that Mickey D’s/one-dollar double cheese, or some nights I wouldn’t eat,” is relatable at the least, and it’s a good example of the humorous social analysis that is currently the best aspect of his lyrics.

The metaphors still have some catching up to do, though. “Say You Will”’s claim that, “I Rolexed the situation and just had perfect timing” is cringe-worthy and typical. And basically all of his quips about women are bizarre, half the time stereotypically misogynistic and the other half sappy and cliched. Sometimes he fits both into one song, as on the more experimental “Minds Playing Tricks on Me,” which sports his spontaneous dumping of a girl and then a sullen regret that he was never able to say goodbye to her. The emotional confusion is especially unfortunate because it mars an otherwise strong attempt at something different, where Sean sees his own death in a convenience-store robbery. It’s a necessary broadening of horizons for Sean, whose lyrical content begins to get stale after one listen to the mixtape. He’s got the tools; now it’s time to find some new ways to use them.

Will having children make Kanye happy? Courtesy rapnews.fr

Okay, okay. I am aware that there are other musicians aside from Kanye West, and I promise that this will be the last Kanye/Kid Cudi-related “Pop Psychology” entry for a while. That said, I think the most recent single from 808s and Heartbreaks tackles a very important issue. In a polarizing (and perhaps seizure-inducing) video, Kanye explains how all of his success has come at the expense of any meaningful familial connections. More specifically, he expresses his disappointment in not having kids of his own. In the opening lines, Kanye sings, or I guess Autotunes:

My friend showed me pictures of his kids
And all I could show him was pictures of my cribs
He said his daughter got a brand new report card
And all I got was a brand new sports car.

It’s a poignant and sincere song from a performer more commonly known for his bling than his blatant honesty. Kanye acknowledges that despite the fact that he has, or could have, any material good he would ever want, he is missing out on the deeper happiness that comes with family. Yet, while Kanye’s words seem intuitively accurate, a recent article in The Psychologist points to a different conclusion—namely, that having children actually has no effect on happiness. The author, Nattavudh Powdthavee, discusses how “over the past few decades, social scientists like me have found consistent evidence that there is an almost zero association between having children and happiness.”

In fact, the article outlines some recent research illustrating how children have shown to have a negative effect on multiple measures of personal joy. Having children has been associated with decreased reports of happiness, marital contentment, life satisfaction and even mental well-being. Robin Simon, a sociologist at Florida State University, has gone so far as to argue that parents are more likely to become depressed. The research shows that Kanye West is being a little too hard on himself; the bachelor’s life may also be the good life.

The question then becomes that if having kids actually makes us more miserable, why do so many people have them in the first place? Or more importantly, why do so many people think that having kids will make them happier? One popular explanation, championed by Harvard’s Dan Gilbert (whose work I have previously discussed here), concerns the concept of “memes.” Memes are simply ideas or values that try to replicate much like genes would. A successful meme is an idea that, regardless of whether it is true or not, can spread through a culture or community.

In this case, the notion that “kids bring happiness,” is what Gilbert calls a “super-replicator,” because anyone who believes in such a concept will surely pass it on to their own offspring. On the other hand, those people who think that “kids make our lives miserable” are unlikely to pass on such an idea because, well, there is no one to pass it on to. As a result, the belief that children enrich our lives has been continually selected throughout thousands of years of human evolution, leading to a society today that widely believes in the tenet that having offspring will bring joy.

Personally, I take issue with the conclusions provided by these studies. I think that there are really two very different forms of happiness, and much of this research is only getting at one of them. There is a moment-to-moment type of happiness that assesses how you feel at any one point in time, but there also exists a broader sense of happiness that is based more on a sense of pride and gratification than actual pleasure, a sentiment that is difficult to capture in a short survey. I think a lot of this research is really only assessing the former type of happiness, not the latter. Admittedly, many aspects of parenting are extremely annoying. Changing diapers is disgusting. Attending weekend soccer games is boring. And teaching a teenager to drive is downright terrifying. It’s no exaggeration to say that there are plenty of instances when having kids can seem more like a chore than a blessing.

However, children can also bring a sense of personal fulfillment that outlasts such short-lived moments of unhappiness. During a hilarious interview on The Colbert Report (in a wonderful but rare moment where Colbert gets incredibly introspective), Gilbert likens children to the light in our refrigerators: “Every time you look at your refrigerator light, it’s on. Every time you think about your kids, you’re happy.”

I think that kids bring an enduring happiness that may get overlooked when people have to assess how they feel at that exact moment. I just recently watched Hoop Dreams (go Full Frame!), and I am reminded of a scene where one of the two protagonists, William, describes what it was like to have his first child.

“I was in the delivery room, and the nurses came to me, and she handed the baby to me. I’ll never forget how hard she was squeezing my hand.”

Surely, this kid is going to bring William a lot of hardship, but I seriously doubt he will ever regret having the child. And, despite what the current psychological research may say, I think Kanye West is right in being jealous of what William and so many of his own friends have. I suspect that that Kanye will continue to have a lot of coldest winters until he has an actually baby to call “baby.”

I guess "Still Unsatisfied Life" is less appealing. Courtesy Kanye West.

Kanye West’s 2007 hit “Good Life” is really just a more catchy version of a lot of bad hip hop songs. In the track, which has a very entertaining video that can be found here, West simply lists off all of the possessions and sexual conquests that he believes will make him happy. He raps about a continual stream of flashy cars and flashier women before eventually concluding that “having money’s not everything, not having it is.”

It’s clear that material (and corporal) goods are all that matters to Yeezy, as he poignantly admits, “I always had a passion for flashin.” In the middle of the song, he even rhetorically asks his listeners:

Have you ever popped champagne on a plane,
While getting’ some brain?
Whipped it out, she said “I never seen snakes on a plane.”

It’s clear what makes Kanye happy, or at least it’s clear what Kanye thinks makes him happy. However, a new field of research called Positive Psychology, which focuses on just what brings people the most joy in their life, is directly challenging many of Kanye’s lyrical assumptions. In the past decade, psychologists have found some interesting and perhaps even counter-intuitive findings regarding human happiness.

For example, consider this 2008 paper led by Colorado State University psychologist Michael Steger regarding the differing effects of eudaimonic and hedonic behaviors on levels of life satisfaction. Eudaimonic behaviors consist of those activities that either fulfill personal goals (like training for a marathon) or directly contribute to the lives of others (like volunteering for a local charity). Hedonic behaviors, on the other hand, are those activities that simply maximize pleasure and minimize pain (like buying a nice steak dinner or watching the entire first season of Gossip Girl). Put simply, hedonic behavior is “feeling good” whereas eudaimonic behavior is “doing good.”

While most people seem to believe that hedonic activities are the most reliable source of happiness, Steger and his colleagues nicely illustrate that it is our eudaimonic behaviors that become our lives’ most fulfilling and pleasurable. In the paper, Steger details how he asked 65 undergraduates to keep a daily diary for three weeks. During this same time period, each student also completed surveys designed to assess his or her individual levels of happiness as well as how much meaning a given participant could find in their lives.

As predicted, the researchers found that eudaimonic behaviors were positively correlated with feelings of well-being while “hedonic behaviors were generally unrelated to well-being, but inversely related to meaning of life.” In other words, not only did indulging not making anyone really feel any better or worse, it also was associated with finding less meaning in one’s life. Steger’s research illustrates that the happiness brought on by hedonic pleasures is incredibly fleeting and ultimately unfulfilling. Although eudaimonic behaviors may not feel great while you do them, it seems as if they bring a sense of accomplishment and meaning that is hard to find anywhere else.

However, as Kanye himself admits, the closest thing he has to a PhD is a pretty huge… nevermind. With the help of T-Pain, “Good Life” reads like a laundry list of pitfalls into a false and fruitless happiness. Mr. West, and pretty much all rappers for that matter, should take a lesson from Dr. Steger’s research and begin to understand that doing good is the most efficient means of feeling good.

A lot of people today complain about how rappers only talk about two things; money and women. And, for the most part, these people are correct. But I think this recent research into human meaning illustrates that a lot of people falsely lust after similar materialistic goods, albeit probably less explicitly. For some reason, we keep on returning to the same unrewarding sources of happiness (but then again, who wants to hear Lil Wayne rap about volunteering at a soup kitchen?). To be fair, there is one line in “Good Life” that would make Steger proud. Near the beginning of the track, Kanye nicely rhymes the underlying meaning of all this happiness research:

The good life, let’s go on a living’ spree
S– they say the best things in life are free.

So I guess all is not lost in terms of Kanye’s spiritual enlightenment. But if this is any indication, things might get worse before they get better.