god bless the googles

Google Alerts are way cool. You can sign up to be immediately notified when your name (or the names of your compositions) make it onto the Internets. Unlike some friends of mine, I have a name that isn't common but also isn't unique at all (Jocelyn and Abbie probably never have these experiences) and, consequently, there are other gentlemen out there who I get notified about that have nothing to do with music composition.

Occasionally I'll search my name on Google to see if there are any performances I should know about (one of the downsides of having your pieces published is that you never know who is presenting them) and there have been some fairly interesting hits on "Joshua Shank" over the past couple of years that have nothing to do with me. I say interesting because, although our names are essentially the first definition of our character, the other Joshua Shanks out there worthy of Internet inclusion are quite a bit different from me. Here's the "greatest hits":

There's the graphic designer from Youngstown, Ohio who is also a pastor in his community.

Then, on the Shank Obituaries Page, there is the Indiana coal miner who passed away in 1961. The only thing stranger than seeing my name on an obit page is the fact that he was born in 1890 and I was born in 1980. I know it's just a coincidence but it's still a little weird.

But the one that prompted me to write this blog entry was this gem. I'm sure these pictures are copyrighted or something but, for comedic effect, this will be our little secret.

Res ipsa loquitur.

The upshot of it is that these were entered into some sort of contest (which I found out a few Google pages later) and...they lost! Damn you, Court Bates! Damn you! (Check out that link to get that maybe-funny joke.)

p.s. Not really. I'm sure Court is a perfectly nice kid (after all, he is apparently "St. Theresa's Most Eligible Fifth Grader") but how can you beat an argyle sweater vest? How, I ask you!