In ‘holier than thou’ fashion, Metallica pulled their videos from Youtube.com and other video hosting sites last week.

Rather than using one of the internet’s most popular video sites, the band opted to remove all official music videos from Youtube.com in order to allow users to see their movies “hassle-free.”

It seemed pretty hassle-free to me before the switch when I could just go to youtube.com/metallicatv and play any of their movies that I wanted. Now, fans are required to go to metallica.com, click on ‘Media’ then “Misc Video.” When this page loads, scroll down to “the videos” and click. Now we can watch them! It is so much simpler … not.

Youtube.com offered the videos in a ‘playlist’ that would play all of the videos, one after another and metallica.com makes you select each one individually to play it.

Now on Youtube, instead of the music videos, there are very short clips of the songs with a image that states, “If you would like to actually SEE this video HASSLE FREE go to Metallica.com.” Besides the inconvenience, the message is made annoying by the fact that whoever created the image cut off half the first line of text, also making it look amateur.

Metallica.com also boasts about using the newest version of Flash Player to allow higher quality videos. It looks like the boys didn’t get the memo about Youtube offering high quality and widescreen formats.

The official site does offer more videos than were originally on Youtube as well as alternate versions of the originals, which is kind of a plus. I still don’t see why they chose not to just upload these videos to Youtube as well as hosting them.

So although Metallica released an amazing album last fall (Death Magnetic) it looks like they are still stuck in the days of “Napster – BAD, beer – GOOD!”

My opinion on Metallica: “Lars – BAD, Music – GOOD!”

What a historic week we have on our hands. We now have our first African-American president officially running the show in Washington, and after eight years of Bush jokes and mudslinging, we have a fresh new line-up in Washington. Whether it is the team of rivals, or team of change or whatever they want to call themselves, we have something new.

So now that we have a president who is standing up for America and implementing new and improved policies, our country will turn around, right? Not necessarily. Let us not get ahead of ourselves and think that the work is over by simply electing a new party to the White House and majority of Congress.

If I recall correctly, two of the biggest blunders of the Bush administration as stated by liberals are the war in Iraq and the recent economic slumping. Aside from the lack of ability to speak coherently at times, this is what now former President Bush was ridiculed for time and time again. So let’s take a look at what Mr. Obama is going to do about these two problems.

As far as foreign policy matters go, he is not too far off from the policies of Bush, and in some cases even more “hawkish.” Obama was the most outspoken during the election about the possibility of sending troops into Pakistan to follow some of Al Qaeda who were previously in Afghanistan, and he has said, although at times somewhat shielding it, that he will not pull out of Iraq unless the conditions on the ground are adequate to keep the United States military safe.

He said what needed to be said during the campaign to sound like he was the “anti-war” candidate, but he also spoke pretty openly about the positives outcomes of the troop surge and the need for more military action in Afghanistan.

Foreign policy is not the only issue facing us though, for we now have an economic crisis on our hands that has left the foreign policy matters somewhat forgotten and less important in the minds of many citizens. So what is the magic fix that Obama has for this one? I don’t see one.

Aside from the talks of the economy improving simply because of the strong positive feelings for the new president, he hasn’t stated many details of a plan. And we cannot hope to survive solely on goodwill toward an incoming president to save our financial troubles. So will he regulate, deregulate, bailout more companies, offer more loans to companies, or hesitate and not get much of anything done? That is for the next four, and possibly eight years to show us.

So we know that we cannot count on much change in the foreign policy department, be it for better or worse, and the economic situation is still questionable on how he will handle it, but that doesn’t mean we can’t hope for the best. I am as excited as the next person for the inauguration of the new president, and I happily casted my vote in favor of him in November, but let us not think our troubles are over.

We can all hope for change in the next four years, but let us remember as the journalist Christopher Hitchens said, “the election of Obama is the effect not the cause of the changes.”

Twenty-seven miles. That’s how far my driveway is from the Renaissance Center in Detroit.

Twenty-seven miles may not seem like a lot, but it is enough to separate two worlds. On Jan. 11, “Detroit Free Press” columnist, Mitch Albom, had his article ‘Detroiters carry on amid all the hardships’ originally published in “Sports Illustrated” reprinted in the “Detroit Free Press.”

His article was written in response to the “Sports Illustrated” editor asking him, if anyone cared about Detroit. You can read his article at freep.com.

Upon reading his column, I felt pride in the great city that lies just on the other side of the freeway, 27 miles away, and the great skyline that can be seen from my high school.

Jay Leno and other late night comedians have made Detroit the butt of their jokes. Even here in Big Rapids I have heard misconceptions about the city I call home.

It’s a great city and one that still takes pride in its past. This is because, at the moment, the past is the only thing Detrioters have to cling to. A mayor that has humiliated us and a football team that made Detroit the laughingstock of every news station, including ESPN does not do much for our morale.

Riots and urban sprawl did nothing to help the city back in the 1960s. People moved out to the suburbs where neighborhood barbecues danced in their heads, but it’s the city that draws us back.

The Detroit Institute of Arts, the Detroit Orchestra, the Fox Theatre, Red Wings, Tigers, the restaurants, the comedy clubs, concerts, and more bring people back into the city that we love, and always will.

We fight traffic on I-75 and M-10 (aka The Lodge), to go back into the city for a night on the town. We happily walk down the streets from restaurant to theatre, to stadium, to Opera House.

Walking with ease on the darken streets, we take in the architecture of the sky scrapers that hug us close: the Fisher Building, the Leland Hotel, the buildings that come up on Grand Circus Drive, Woodward, Lafayette, Gratiot, Michigan and Trumbull.

Detroit was one of the most important places of the French Fur Trade, a stop on the Underground Railroad, and one of the keys to Americas success in World War II.

This great city it the birthplace of Motown music, the automobile (Mr. Tennessee senator, you would still be riding on horses if not for this great city).

Detroit is the home of former NFL running back Jerome “The Bus” Bettis, Kid Rock, Eminem, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, founder of Boeing Company William Boeing, founder of Google David Overton, and Dave Coulier (Joey, from “Full House”).

The city has been called home by Aretha Franklin, Joe Louis, Bob Segar, Stevie Wonder, Xzibit, Kirk Gibson, Ty Cobb, and Al Kaline.

Of all the Detroit papers and magazines not one hosts a “Page 6” like New York City. Our celebrities don’t become loved based on the parties they attend, or the clubs they hang out at. They become the heart of this city because they are there, and they seem to enjoy all it has to offer.

It’s a blue collar city, where hard work and wise money spending are valued more than the Jimmy Choos, or dress from Barneys.

Detroit is a city built on hard work, first by manufacturing cast iron stoves, then automobiles, and even bombers during World War II. It is a city where rush hour matches when the shifts begin and end at the automotive plants.

Yes, the plants still exist, but more and more are closing, forcing more and more people out of work, as the credit crunch is taking its toll on a city that never recovered from the 2001 recession.

It is a city that takes pride in its sports, from little leagues to the pros. It is a city unlike any other, you can mock it all you want, but it is a place I and many others will always call home.

Other cities may draw us away to fancier jobs than Detroit can offer, other states may be able to lure us away with a stronger economy, but Detroit has a way of always luring us back home, to a city we know, and back to the city that is hanging onto its glory days and trying to survive the more recent dark ones. Detroit lures us back to the city that has amazed us since we were young.

This city’s survival relies on the automotive bailout, something senators from the south do not understand. It’s a city we love, and a city you may not fully appreciate unless you can call it your home.

On Jan. 13, after classes and work, I didn’t have too much to do and I decided to Facebook (notice the use of Facebook as a verb).

Letting time slip away, I browsed around looking at friend’s pictures, reading notes, writing on walls, searching for friends from high school and looking for books on the marketplace.

I took the opportunity to think; if I read or focused on my classes as frequently as I spend time perusing Facebook I would be more successful. I then decided to delete my Facebook account.

I joined the "in" network during 2005, my junior year of high school. At that time you had to be invited to Facebook.com. It was more of a social network to stay in contact with people you were close to.

It wasn’t long into my freshman year until I had over 300 friends, as I started traveling to other schools and getting involved in organizations the number got to be a little over 3000.

Facebooking is taking over my spare time. While working orientation, one of the advisors from University College shared that the eleven o’clock hour on Tuesday and Thursday is set aside by the university for students organizations to have meetings, study time, or meet with an advisor or professor.

As she went on in talking about the eleven o’clock hour she suggested that students do not go back to there residence halls because the things that we would do were: Facebook, sleep, or watch The Price Is Right.

After laughing at the joke, I realized that during the eleven o’clock hour every Tuesday and Thursday I spent time on Facebook. When I was at work and had nothing to do, I was on Facebook. When I was in class and the lecture got boring, I was on Facebook mobile. Before I would get ready to go to bed, I would get on Facebook. When I woke up, I would Facebook.

Here it is people: MY NAME IS NAKIRA HOWARD AND I AM ADDICTED TO FACEBOOK!

I have a problem and I just took the first step to recovery in admitting it. I challenge you all to utilize your time more wisely. Perhaps you could teach yourself time management skills because no one wants to be like me and Facebook their life away.

It’s only been two days without my account and I think its time for me to come back. My goal was a month but, clearly this is a bigger issue than I thought. I feel out of the loop, not knowing about events and missing out in the conversations that take place in the common interest groups.

Can you not spend time enjoying your friends’ photos, chatting with people, or just writing on people wall? Take it upon yourself to stop Facbooking. Please, help me out here. Become a master at it and then give me the tools to help me make my one-month goal.