Funny and Tragic: She Robbed Bank, Talks it Up on YouTube

There's a young gal in Nebraska who police say has been busy lately. She robbed a bank and stole a car.

The police investigation was easy. The woman, Hannah Sabata, 19, went on YouTube and discussed her bank robbery and car theft, according to Omaha.com

Hannah Sabata displaying money from her bank robbery
in her YouTube video

The video has her holding up signs describing her bank robbery and theivery.

She even chose her wardrobe carefully. She wore the same outfit in the YouTube video as she did during the bank robbery.

So the cops arrested her pretty quickly, , given it was all laid out for them on YouTube and all.  At first glance the whole thing points to extreme stupidity. That's probably involved. But while all the Web sites and blogs (including this one, to be honest) are picking on Sabata, there seems to be a lot of sadness behind the odd humor of this story.

If you watch the whole video, it's plain that the girl is messed up, and has  given up on pretty much anything. It looks more like a break with reality than anything else.

It's not like I want to give Sabata a free pass. You do the crime, you do the time. But the girl does need help.

 In the video, Sabata explains, in captions superimposed on the blurry images about her reaction to her own bank robbery. "I told my mom today was the best day of my life. She just thinks I met a new boy," it reads, while she displays some of the more than $6,000 she is said to have stolen from the bank.

The picture on Omaha.com of Sabata being taken into custody makes it appear as if she's having a grand old time with this whole experience.

On her deviantArt page, we learn this about her, from what she wrote a year or so ago:

HELLO! My name is Hannah Sabata, and at the time I am 18 years old.

I live in Hicktown Nebraska in a small, sinking home surrounded by many trees and broken-down cars.
I was born 12-08-1992
My social security number is 504-31-5555   
Hahaha just kidding.

Interesting facts:

I can stretch both legs behind my head at the same time
I can do the splits
I can stand on my head
I have HIV
I'm married
I'm pregnant
I've been to jail
I've been to Boys Town
I've been homeless
I have ran away
My hair has been every color (Yes. I promise you.)
I've saved my grandmother
I'm often mistaken as Asian :0
But I do have 11 different nationalities!
I get straight A's in school

Apparently, she had the kid, and things didn't go well, if you take what she says in her YouTube video. She says:

 "The whole system is just a game. But more specifically, because the goverment stole my baby and they took him away before I could even gake him home and they charged me with neglect. I may not be a mother anymore, but I can still find purpose."

So there's a huge, sad backstory going on here. The whole bank robbery/YouTube thing is an obvious cry for help, but she also probably thinks at some level she's beyond help.
Yes, I suppose we can laugh at how easy it was to catch Sabata. All the cops had to do was watch YouTube. But even though we don't really know her, we still want her to somehow get back on track.

For what it's worth, here's her YouTube video:

Why Most Christmas Music is Hideous

I know the Christmas Overlords will take me out to the public square for a stoning, but I'm going to say it anyway.

Most Christmas carols are incredibly grating. 

It turns out I have some company with that opinion. There was a good explanation recently about that hatred for too much holiday music in an NBC article I ran across.

Too many Christmas carols are like this picture: So
incredible  faux cute you want to barf

Here's some of the most pertinent info from the article:

"Endless loops of “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” or any tinsel-y tune can have a psychological impact known as the 'mere exposure effect,' says Victoria Williamson, Ph.D, who conducts research on the psychology of music at Goldsmiths, University of London. There's a U-shaped relationship between the amount of times we hear music that we like and our subsequent reaction to it, she says.

As Williamson puts it, at first we like music a bit, then we like it more and more until it hits a peak. And then we crash down -- we have overheard it. That's when boredom and annoyance at the repetition of the same sound hits home. "Anyone who has worked in a Christmas store over the holidays will know what I'm talking about," Williamson says. When asked why holiday music seems to have a polarizing effect, driving some people crazy while others like, or at least, can tolerate it, Williamson suggests that music's effect on us in any situation depends on our own psychological state.

There are other problems with Christmas music. So much of it is so sticky, icky sweet. It's one thing to hear a cheerful tune, it's another to be overwhelmed by the cloying saccharine tsunami of the carols. . All those sleighbells and rosy cheeked singers and ho ho hos! What kind of drugs are these people on?

Put it this way. If somebody put a cupcake in front of me, I'd happily eat the sweet treat. Put a one pound bag of Dominos sugar in front of me, demanding that I eat it, and I will rebel, big time.

It's the same with Christmas music. A little happiness goes a long way. Too much and I scream.

The overly cheerful holiday music also seems to demand that you be happy. I'm basically a happy person, but one effective way to make me deeply unhappy is to command that I be cheeful. Who are these insufferable Christmas carolers to tell me how I should feel?   I'll manage my brain and emotion, thanks. You just manage your own, please.

Icky, sticky sweet Christmas carols don't
make my heart grow three times over
like they ultimately did for this
formerly negative guy

This isn't to say all Christmas music is bad. Some is tolerable, even mildy enjoyable. A sense of humor goes a long way in holiday music, but it has to be actually funny. Could anyone please explain to me the appeal of "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer?"  An old woman who forgets to take her medication and is brutally mowed down by an animal is funny? And how does that relate to the holiday, other than the situation supposedly hit on Christmas Eve?

Why not put a little edge into some Christmas songs. No need to make them depressing. Just complex. Take Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home.")  It has a variety of emotions, Love belts the song out without hiding behind false cheer and insufferable Santas.

Then there's Eartha Kitt's "Santa Baby," that cheeky, breathless, sexy tribute to over the top Christmas commercialism. The song is a treat.

The music from Dr. Suess's the Grinch is great, too. The lyrics are so goofy you can't help smiling. Who can resist this lyrical description of the Grinch?

"You have termites in your smile
You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile"

The bottom line, though, is most Christmas music is toxicly cloying.   If I for some reason need a dose of seasonal noise, I'm perfectly capable of seeking it out myself, thanks. Otherwise, leave me out of it.