Mormon Tabernacle Choir playing at the Trump inauguration

I'm torn on this one. I have an opinion of course, but I could be easily convinced both ways. The church shouldn't be making political statements and this is certainly a political statement-it's not an endorsement of Trump or his policies but if the church was really against them, they'd have flat out denied it and done so publicly. I'm not saying the church is right or wrong in considering to preform at the inauguration-just that it's a very political statement no matter what they do.

The old saying "Just because you are not interested in politics doesn't mean that politics won't be interested in you" is one hundred percent correct. Church, organization or individual eventually in your existence you will be forced to make a choice about something political. Welcome to the real world kids. The church has gotten involved in something political with the Trump inauguration issue but I don't think it'll last. In fact, I think if the church ignores this it'll basically go away. The art of politics is the ignoring of certain problems and picking and choosing your battles.

Putting religion and politics aside, the Tabernacle Choir sounds absolutely gorgeous and it's a crime that more people can't get over "the Mormon thing" about them and just enjoy the music. If they perform at the inauguration-just enjoy it. If they don't preform at the inauguration-fine, that's their choice too.

It's also been in the news that a certain sister has resigned from the choir instead of going to preform. She has every right to do that, but she personally lost me with her comparison of Trump to Hitler. I was with her until then. 

Album of the weekend

Sponge-Rotting Piñata 

Sponge. You might not have ever heard of them, and I don't blame you for not hearing of them at all. They've sort of faded away into memory, and that's tragic because they were one of the truly great grunge bands out there. They were grunge with a metal sound, that might be why I always preferred them over some of the other lighter grunge bands. 

Rotting Piñata is a great debut album and it has two of their most well known songs out there, the amazing "Plowed" and "Molly". These two songs are great-moody and dark and fit the 90's angsty subculture perfectly. The entire album is like this-it's dark, clouded and overall perfect in it's moodiness.  This album should be listened to and enjoyed even if it is depressing in some parts-it's a fantastic one. 

2016 celebrity deaths

Back from the beach. 

Earlier in the year I said that even though there has been a lot of celebrity deaths this year we still live in the greatest era to be alive and while we should mourn their deaths, we still need to focus on gratitude and how lucky we are to be alive today. I stand by all of that one hundred percent.Click here for the original blog post.

It's been a tough year for on the macro level with celebrities, but on the micro level it's been a great year. Things are going great personally but some of the celebrities who died have meant a great deal to me. Lemmy from Motorhead (December 28th was the first year anniversary) epitomized metal and I'll be forever grateful for how much he did for the genre. Muhammad Ali was an idol to millions-his charisma combined with athletic ability and humanitarian work will never be equaled. Prince was the artist who wrote the first song I ever had a slow dance to. Carrie Fisher, who we all know is the original Princess Leia  passed away too. Like many Star Wars fans my age, she was my first crush.

While the death of Johnny Ramone was the hardest celebrity death I've ever experienced this year had what seemed like hit after hit for some of us. Stay strong, it's almost over. 

Beach break

On my annual Christmas break, where the sun and sea are fantastic but the wi-fi isn't. I'll be back soon! 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone. A special shout out given to those who for whatever reason are flying solo and alone today. Stay busy and God bless! 

RIP, Clint Cummings

Another great Ink Master contestant passes away. So tragic.

Album of the Weekend

Metallica-S&M

Back in the late 90's Metallica decided to to record a convert with the San Francisco Symphony. Unlike their other musical decisions in the late 90's, this was a resounding success and one of the best live albums ever recorded. It's their swan song with Jason Newsted and he goes out on top. 

From start to finish this album captures the live show in a unique way. The San Francisco symphony is there as it's own entity-not a novelty act or a character searching for a play/novel. At first people wouldn't think that Metallica and the SF Symphony would fit together but they do. 

Correctly, this album is a greatest hits with a twist. To my knowledge Metallica hasn't released a greatest hits, and they shouldn't because in 2016 you can just download the songs you like so a greatest hits album is a antiquated concept. If you want straight up Metallica at their head banging best, don't get this album. It's still thrash and it's still metal, but it's hard to headbang with an orchestra in the back. If you want just a great album that combines classical with metal to an amazing outcome, buy this album. 

NES Classic

Even though I have most of the games included on the NES classic on other systems, I'm so happy to see classic games get more mainstream attention. While I don't want to say that the historical games are better than the ones today-I don't think you can compare them-they are without question still enjoyable to play today and shouldn't be just dismissed as "childhood toys."

First off, I don't expect my future children or young people today to be entertained by games from 1985. It would be as bizarre as someone from Generation X being entertained by Captain Kangaroo shows from the 1950 in their childhood. Just to be clear in case there are some snowflakes hanging around-that's not an insult to Captain Kangaroo. What it is is a correct assumption that most Generation Xers won't get the appeal of a show that entertained their parents in the 1950s. And just because you know a Gen Xer who likes 50's TV shows doesn't mean my general point is invalid. Yes, I think good music is timeless and intergenerational and the same probably goes for TV shows-but not everyone agrees with me. Same with video games. Some kids today might like NES Classic games but the majority will almost certainly not. Hell, I hope I'm wrong. I'd love for kids today to start going old school with classic Atari and NES games.

It wasn't the first home console (Magnavox Odyssey is widely thought of to be first) and it wasn't the first to take off (Atari 2600 in my view was the first console to get insanely popular) but it's among the most influential home consoles in history. After the video game crash of the early 80's retailers would not touch video games then the NES literally saved the industry with Super Mario Brothers. Super Mario Brothers is unquestionably the greatest game of all time. It's better than Pac-Man, better than Zelda Ocarina of Time, better than Tetris, better than Grand Theft Auto. You get my drift. Ironically even though I obviously love the game, I can't beat it. Still to this day. I can beat Mario 2, Mario 3, Super Mario Land, Mario 64--but not the original.

Will I get the NES classic? For sure. It'll be fun to have all the games on one console that works with modern tvs.

Play on.

Glenn Beck and changning opinions

Glenn Beck has recently said in an article for The New Yorker (which I do subscribe to, much to their dismay I'm sure)  that Barack Obama has "made him a better man." And also expressed his support for Black Lives Matter. Both of those are fine things to support, and of course it's rare for someone to never change their opinions in life. God knows I have on many issues.

But I do wonder what would happen if a prominent leftist had a moment of self critique and examination and suddenly became oh, I don't know-pro-life instead of pro-choice. Or came out against gay marriage after being for it. Or maybe against gun control instead of being for it. Would they be interviewed in The New Yorker? Would they be lauded over by the upper crust media establishment? We both know the answer, I think. 

Many years ago the journalist David Brock wrote a book called "Blinded by the Right". In it, he talked about how he was a conservative hit man for the American Spectator and how wrong he was. He basically begs forgiveness from the left and swears he'll never do it again. He talks about his own hit piece on Anita Hill, the woman who accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. He talks about how Hillary was persecuted by a right wing conspiracy and he seems to think he started it/added to it. If I'm wrong about anything give me a break-I haven't read the book in years in am going from memory. Regardless of how you feel politically about the book, if you think it's an interesting perspective about self discovery and self critique-or as Christopher Hitchens said, "someone taken in by money and fame and would say anything if the price was right"-the same might apply to Glenn Beck. 

Even when I agree with Beck on this or that issue I think the guy does not have both oars in the water. 

Winning and losing in politics

No one likes to lose. I hate losing more than I enjoy winning. Many times in my life I can't re-visit times that I lost without it still hurting. There are certain games and seasons when my sports team lost where it still hurts to think about. It's been years in some cases and the pain of it never really goes away. You'll always be thinking about it-what could I have done? What didn't I do? Why didn't it break a certain way?

Add whatever cliche you want too (They wanted it more, the other team tried harder) but that's all bullshit. In the professional world of sports, politics, business-both people want it very hard and both teams try even harder. You can't make it to high level sports/business/politics and not be competent, want it very badly, and try incredibly hard.

Winning makes it easier for everyone. As is common knowledge (and yes, the older you get the more you realize that common knowledge isn't common) people like each other when they win, they hate each other when they lose. This happens all the time in life. People love each other, everyone is happy-then you lost in some way and people become lifelong enemies to the bitter end. This is especially true in politics.

In the election when it looked like Trump was going to lose (and lets face it, most of us thought he'd lose. The polls all showed him losing in a landslide) Paul Ryan and many other prominent republicans all turned their back on him in order to cover their own ass. I wasn't shocked when this happened, it's just life. Now that Trump and GOP won, everyone loves Trump and he gets along with everyone too. If you are shocked at this, you don't understand politics or human nature very well.

Consumerism over the holidays

Are you fed up with the consumerism that invades Christmas? Are you aggravated about how commercial Christmas has become? I know someone who bitched nonstop from Thanksgiving to Christmas about she hated both the commercialization of Christmas and how everyone focused more on receiving gifts rather than giving them. She was first in line to sanctimoniously preach to us about how she didn't want anything. So we took her at her word and bought her nothing. To the surprise of no one she of course complained about it. All goddamn day.

We all like giving and we all like receiving. I think we should admit that upfront. No matter what your age is, it's nice to get a well thought out gift on Christmas. Notice I said "well thought out" not expensive. Sure it's nice to be able to provide expensive things to your family but like most people-I think the best things in life are sometimes (sometimes, I like my nice dinners out) free.

I don't complain about Christmas being commercial. I like it being commercial. It's all about giving and receiving and it's an overall spirit of goodwill. Of course like I've mentioned before you shouldn't over extend credit and go into financial distress to provide gifts to your family-but you should be able to save a little bit from January to December so that you can buy some basic gifts for your loved ones.

I've also mentioned that Christmas was not always easy for me. It was a stressful time growing up and I never got into the season until well into my thirties. I never ruined it for everyone else though, I kept it bottled up that I was miserable. If you want to spoil it for everyone with non stop lectures and preaching, fine. It's your life after all. But I think it's the wrong thing to do. 

Scripture Sunday Alma 50:22

This is a positive little reminder to be faithful to the word of the Lord at all times, no matter what the cost is. It also reinforces something that isn't talked about much-about how people who disobey the will of the Lord will be punished in the end. We don't like to use the word "wicked" in society today because it's a :: gasp :: judgement. Back when the Book of Mormon was written, they obviously didn't care too much about that. Wicked behavior was properly judged as what it was - wicked. 

Post election therapy

If your person lost the election and you need "post election therapy" you've got much, much bigger problems than whoever won the election. I hate to lose too (like many people I hate losing more than I enjoy winning) so watching people I voted for go down is hard, very hard indeed-but it doesn't require me to go to a therapist, grab my coloring books and play dough or cry for two months as I stumble around aimlessly through my life.

Life is going to kick you around, and if you can't handle that you better learn how to damn fast. That doesn't mean life is bad-quite the opposite. We complain about the most irrelevant shit in 2016 America, so I'm actually surprised and happy that people are so involved in politics and it brings out passion and energy. It's better than sitting on your ass smoking weed or watching Family Guy for the 300th time.

Like many things in life, therapy is about balance. A good therapist will make you feel good-but will also make you feel bad sometimes. Yes, you read that right. If your therapy sessions are just filled with cupcakes and roses and warm fuzzy feelings-get a new therapist. A good therapist will make you take responsibility for your actions and stop blaming everyone else for things. I'm a believer in therapy, by the way.

Going to a therapist for the election is probably a good thing, after thinking about it a bit. Perhaps it can help you get to the root of the problem of why you are there in the first place and trust me sweetie-it ain't because of who won the election, that's for damn sure.

Album of the weekend

Anvil-Strength of Steel

The album before this one, "Forged in Fire" is not a good album. It's overproduced with largely forgettable songs. Than again, "Metal on Metal" is one of the greatest heavy metal albums of all time, so you can forgive Anvil for not being able to follow up on a masterpiece with another masterpiece.  Strength of Steel-while not as good or groundbreaking as "Metal on Metal" is an outstanding comeback album. It put Anvil right back on track after a slight misfire.

"Flight of the Bumble Beast" is another great heavy metal instrumental. It's not as good as "March of the Crabs" but it's still very good. I have a personal subjective love of heavy metal instrumentals. "Cut Loose", "9-2-5" and "Kiss of Death" are also great songs-they don't sound overproduced or overdone-if anything they feel somewhat minimalist in their sound and production compared to the "Forged in Fire."

It's always a great thing when a band does a course correction after a less than stellar release. "Strength of Steel" is another classic by perhaps the most underrated metal band of all time. I wish Metallica fans switched to Anvil for a bit-they'd see who the real masters of heavy metal are 

The Ohio abortion law

Abortion is one of the very few issues I don't like talking about. It's just so polarizing and so intense an issue that virtually nothing good can come from it. Very. very few people have the ability to be critical of their own views, and with abortion that problem is multiplied by fifty. While I have heard of stories where people claim to have converted someone from one side to the other, I'm sort of skeptical that it can be done. No, that doesn't mean no one has changed their mind, but on an issue this controversial I don't think people listen to one another.

Abortion also takes reasonable people and shreds them to bits. The simple, blunt truth in politics is that you can't always get what you want and you will never get everything you want. It's political nature. You can jump up and scream all you want too, but it's true. The reason it's true is because people will never agree. So one side wins, and one side loses. It's harsh, it's blunt, it's true-but in the real world and especially in politics-there are no participation trophies rewarded for coming in second place. Ask Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton this.

Ohio recently passed some surprising abortion restrictions. Do I think they'll pass constitutional tests in the federal courts? Of course not. It was still a win for the pro-life cause. Not surprisingly, the hardcore pro-lifers were bitching and complaining because they didn't get exactly what they wanted, which will never happen. At one time I would try and argue and debate with the real hardcore pro-lifers but I've since given up. Instead, I just pat them on the head and say "You keep at it! Go get em' slugger!" They will always end up disappointed because their expectations are so stupidly warped and their ignorance of how the real world works is astounding.

Electoral college

First off let's be honest-just between you and I, okay? I want you to ask yourself this: If Hillary Clinton won in the electoral college but lost the popular vote, would those who are calling for it's abolition be doing the same thing? If you answer yes, you are lying. Not only to me, but to yourself. You need to be honest and say "Of course not, I'd be worshipping the electoral college and singing it's praises." By thinking that only the other side engages in dirty tricks and is full of assholes, you are exactly what is wrong with politics.

Believe it or not, states rights is not a code for racism. The laws in California will be different than the laws of Kentucky, and there is nothing wrong with that for either Kentucky or California. What people vote for in California shouldn't effect the citizens of Kentucky. For the record, I'd obviously be much more comfortable in Kentucky than California politically. Kentucky also has the greatest senator in country right now. I'll leave you to guess if I think it's McConnell or Paul.

 The electoral college was created so that the populations of Vermont, Maine and South Dakota have a voice in picking the leader of their country just like the people in California, Florida and Texas do. If we abolished the electoral college Vermont would be ignored because it's so small and in the grand scheme of things, not relevant enough for a politician to spend time there during a national election. California, Texas, New York and Florida would be the only citizens of the country who would be heard. That might be nice for you if you agree with California or New York, but it's grossly unfair to the 48 other states in the union. The electoral college should never be abolished. The founding fathers were right about many things, and this is just another one they were correct about.

Holiday overspending

For the life of me, I don't understand parents who rack up obscene, ridiculous debt on credit cards in order to give their kids a "good" Christmas. Better hope you can eat your PS 5 come March when the bills are past due and Mommy has to work three jobs in order to push off bill collectors.

I get it, I've been poor before. I've had the bill collectors calling me and demanding money. It's not a pleasant experience and it can be downright scary. So I while I don't have kids, I know what it's like to be broke. I think the most frustrating part of being broke for me was realizing that I was mostly responsible for it. My own actions and my own stupidity caused this because I didn't have the ability to stop my own behavior and see the consequences of it.

In general, one of the most unintelligent things you can do to yourself is to charge up credit card debt. Again, I get it-a car can break down or we can have an unexpected expense here or there but buying things you don't need on credit is a truly bad idea. Another bad idea is to take out payday loans where they charge interest that borders on usury. Payday loans and car title loans should be an absolute last resort.

The rise of fake news

Fake news has been around forever. From the yellow journalism of the 1800's to the supermarket tabloids of the 1950's, there has never been a shortage of absolute, complete and total bullshit out there that will be bought by gullible people. There is no iron clad proof that PT Barnum said "There is a sucker born every minute." (ironically, that quote might be as fake as the fake news problem) but that saying is totally accurate. The blunt truth is that we've all been duped before-we want to believe that the other side politically is evil so we're likely to post stories about how negative they are. We believe "facts" about bees dying out and about vaccines giving us autism. We believe what we choose to believe and look for facts that back it up-no matter if you are atheist, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim...you get my picture.

As people know, I am huge believer in technology. I love social media, the internet, Uber, GMO's, smartphones. I think people who are afraid of these things can't accept change and are fighting a losing battle. Living in the past is something I just don't understand, never will. However my beloved internet is surely to blame for the rise of fake news. For whatever else the internet is, it brings voice to people who pre 1999 didn't have an easy way to express their views. This is obviously not changing, and it has it's drawbacks. Thirty years ago if you wanted whack job conspiracies you had to turn to John Birch newsletters and Art Bell. Now, you can get it from the comfort of your living room.

Snopes.com is a Godsend today. We are often much too lazy to cross check anything we post. After all, we want it to be true. A good rule of thumb that no one remembers-if it sounds too good to be true, it ain't true.

Scripture Sunday Alma 5:45

How do LDS know that the book of Mormon is true? It's partially because of this scripture. Mormons believe that we can know things a priori, through revelation. Even for other religious people, this might be hard to believe. After all, how can you "just know" that something is from God instead of just something that you want to believe?

It's a fair question, and one that believers in the LDS church answer with this passage sometimes. If you believe in the book of Mormon, and then logically-Mormonism-you believe that you can achieve this kind of knowledge. This scripture is a reminder to believing Mormons that we can still attain knowledge via pure revelation. Kant would be proud.

What killed MTV?

Ahh, MTV. I remember when it actually played you know, music. Even though my parents blocked it from me as a youth I still found a way to watch it at friends houses and even at home.Sorry mom and dad. I liked watching it's non music shows too-I love Beavis and Butthead (still do, their dvds and music video are critique are fantastic), Aeon Flux and the Real World. Obviously my favorite show on MTV was Headbangers Ball. Sure it was a sanitized and marketable kind of music but growing up in rural New England it was the best we could have done in the pre-internet years.

MTV is dead and buried. The Jersey Shore didn't kill it, but it did kick the corpse a few times and it was indicative of the greater problem. Was it a focus on reality TV? No, because the Real World and Road Rules were also reality TV shows. Among the first of their type and very trendy setting at the time.

What partially killed MTV was the videos themselves. First off it gave the artists visual interpretation of their music, and thus made it harder for the viewer to have their own interpretation of the song. So it was bad for music in that way. Secondly it made musicians become more television friendly. One bad video could kill an otherwise talented artists career. Don't believe me? Go ask Billy Squier who was a very popular and talented musician but had his career killed by one absolutely horrible music video. If you weren't good on TV, you were over as a musician.

The final nail in the coffin for MTV was the internet. Youtube did to MTV what MTV partially did to the radio. Why wait to listen to your favorite song or watch the video on MTV when you can do that on Youtube right now? Video killed the radio star and the internet killed MTV.

Album of the weekend

Pearl Jam-Vitalogy

This is where Pearl Jam got a little weird. They lost the antagonism that their second album had and the Generation X defining angst that their first album had. Weird doesn't mean bad though-it's a good album overall with among their most well known songs on it. My love of Pearl Jam has hopefully been established. I think they are one of the greatest bands of all time, no question. They've lasted an incredibly long time and continue to put out great album after great album.

"Betterman" is up there with "Jeremy" and "Evenflow" as one of their better known songs. It's not even close to my favorite song on the album. "Spin the Black Circle", "Corduroy" and "Tremor Christ" are my favorite tracks. There are some weird ones too, like "Bugs" and "Aye Davanita".

Be careful with this album. If you are new to Pearl Jam their first two albums are better. This one should be bought by fans or with the expectation that you might not like every song. 

Coleman Bonner

If you need more proof that people who claim to be loving and tolerant are not so-click here.

A truly vile man and a self described "liberal elitist" has just lost his job over his repulsive comments about the Gatlinburg fires. I'm not going to repeat them here-you can look for yourself if you wish, but aside from physical violence I hope this guy gets everything that is coming to him. 

Like a true coward after the controversy hit and his comments "went viral" he took down his social media accounts and refused to apologize so far. I get it, we can all say stupid things and we can all make mistakes-but this was a perfect representation that people who claim to be loving and tolerant are almost always anything but. Of course liberals here are bending over backwards to give him every benefit of the doubt and conservatives are licking their lips and ready to pounce, however what he said should be condemned by people of all sides. I think it will be-even liberals have a sense of decency, aside from this guy right here.

I don't think Coleman here understands that his life will be totally different from this point forward. His wedding is coming up soon and I hope he has a good time because life will be very difficult for him for the foreseeable future.  

Dead Man Walking

I've always been pro death penalty. I know it's an unpopular view and I accept that the death penalty will be abolished but I'm still for it. I've been accused of not being a "true libertarian" because of that, and that's okay. A demand for idealogical purity is the chief reason why libertarians aren't taken more seriously outside their own circle.

In college we had the Catholic nun Helen Prejean speak to us. I went to a Catholic college at first but did not graduate from there-I graduated from the public UNH instead. Prejean also wrote the book "Dead Man Walking" chronicling her relationship with two death row inmates who were eventually executed. Remember-relationship doesn't always mean "sexual"-even between men and women. She was falsely accused of being "intimate" with one of the inmates, and that's truly disgusting of people to level that charge against her. 

When she spoke to the class people were allowed to ask her questions afterwards. These question were total softballs like "How does it feel to be a living saint?" (verbatim question). No one had the :: backbone :: to challenge her. I did. I asked her how it felt to the families after seeing the man who killed their daughter die? Does she feel any guilt being an advocate for the killer while the victim has no advocate? People were shocked and stunned than I said those things-after all, this was a "living saint" that I had the audacity to question. A few professors understood and I was eternally grateful to them for not agreeing with me but for advocating my right to ask tough questions.

I think that is lost partially in society today. We are so quick to not just obey authority, but to do so with non questioning obedience. Both the right and left, the old and young and everyone in between is guilty of this. So guilty in fact that when people in authority are questioned often times they have no idea how to handle it because it happens so rarely.

War on Christmas?

We hear social conservatives every year talk about a "War on Christmas". They mention  a news story here or there about a store or company forbidding people to say "Merry Christmas" or a some building taking down it's christmas decorations. In reality I'm sure this happens-some buzzkill asshole of a boss lectures people about inclusion and flips out over someone putting up a small Christmas tree on her desk.  So yes, there are incidents where people act like idiots.

In reality though, there is no war on Christmas. No, not even from Starbucks. Virtually every mall has a giant Christmas tree in the center. (Like I mentioned before-stores put up displays early, they are criticized. Stores put up displays late, they are criticized). I say "Merry Christmas" to people at Dunkin Donuts, Barnes n' Nobles, Publix- and all of them respond with "Merry Christmas". Some states even have Christmas trees on display near or on property. As of last year, a few still even had a nativity scene. Disney goes all out for Christmas. New York City does as well.

So is there a "war on christmas?" If there is, they aren't fighting it real well.

Banning Books

Upfront-yes, the language in many books written in a different time period is offensive and shouldn't be used in polite society today. No doubt whatsoever that certain terminology from the 1950's is rude and classless to use today. Not only is it rude but frequent use of certain words does indicate a racist, pure and simple. No, that's not me being PC or an obnoxious social justice warrior. Racial, religious and ethnic slurs are rude and highly insulting.  

None of that is to say that books containing those words should be banned. Quite the opposite. If you can't get by the language used in those books you are no better than a right wing zealot talking about vulgar language in a book about World War II or Vietnam. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien is one of the greatest war novels ever written. It's rated R for content and certainly should be. I am sure that a fussy religious person would raise hell about reading something like that but they are missing out as well, big time. It's their loss in the end and does make them a philistine. The exact same thing can be said about the left wing social justice warriors who also want to ban things. 

An LDS in favor of banning books should seriously reconsider their belief immediately. If they are in favor of banning Huckleberry Finn or To Kill a Mockingbird, who is to say that the Book of Mormon won't be next? I'm not saying that banning books is an LDS thing, it was just the first thing to came to mind. We all know that the stereotype of book burners is that of religious people-in the past that was true but now it's more likely to be left wing social justice warriors who find the language in Huckleberry Finn or To Kill a Mockingbird offensive. 

Scripture Sunday Mosiah 3:19

Ah yes, the famous natural man passage. This scripture tells us that the "natural man" is an enemy of God and has been since the fall of Adam. To me, the "natural man" in Mormonism is sort of like the original sin concept in Catholicism. We are born with original sin tainting us in the Catholic view (no, I'm not an expert and yes, that's an oversimplification) while in Mormonism the "natural man" is an enemy of God.

The passage also talks about how there should be battle between yourself and the "natural man". It tells us to "be submissive, meek, humble patient and full of love." All well and dandy, but that doesn't mean that LDS should be pushovers and never assert themselves. "Submissive, meek, and humble" doesn't mean "pushover who will be convinced to never stand up for themselves."

Buzzfeed

According to Buzzfeed, if you like a TV show where the stars might (key word, might) not support same-sex marriage you should be outraged.

I'm old school, as evidenced by the fact that I prefer blogs to video blogging and other emerging technology. It's part of the entire English major thing-we prefer writing to any other activity known to humanity including making money and making friends.

The article talks about a popular show on HGTV called "Fixer Upper". Upfront-it's not a show I've ever heard of and I don't think I've watched HGTV in my entire life. It appears to be a popular and well liked show starring a decent couple. This "decent couple" might not be decent to the writers at Buzzfeed because it turns out this couple has the audacity to attend church. It's left unsaid what the couple thinks of gay marriage-for all we (or Buzzfeed) know they might be radically in favor of it.

In the minds of Buzzfeed you can't be a decent person and be against gay marriage. Like I mentioned several times I am in favor of gay marriage, in fact I was in favor of it back in 2000 before it became cool and trendy and I will always be in favor of it. However unlike Buzzfeed and obnoxious social justice warriors I don't think it's the hallmark of what a "good person" is.

It's also disturbing to me that this couple is having their religion and personal beliefs thrown out there just because their show is popular. In the end who cares what they believe personally if you like the show?

Album of the weekend

Kiss-Music from the Elder

Does it live up to it's reputation? Is it as terrible as said? Is it true that people turn to homicide rather than listen to it in full? 

As someone who has listened to it throughout several times, I've only turned to minor crimes afterwards. Usually involving drugs. Which is what the band was surely on when they created this album. 

It's really bad but worse? It's uninspired. I admit that Kiss was never the most artistic band out there. But they really sank to the bottom with Music from the Elder. Apparently it's about a boy who was the "chosen one". Yes. There's talk about prophecy and some group that apparently gives the "chosen one" (God, just writing that makes me cringe) his powers. I can't really tell. With great concept albums like Mechanical Animals by Marilyn Manson and The Wall by Pink Floyd it tells a story that you can easily figure out. With The Elder you can sort of stumble though it, but you aren't sure what the hell is going on. 

The "tragedy" is that a few good songs are on the album. Dark Light sung by Frehley is pretty good. "The Oath" would be if it didn't have weird synthesizer sounds three minutes in. So it's not all bad. 

It's still bad though. Urban legend was that no one who worked for the band could mention this album in Stanley/Simmons presence. That's pretty diva of them, but then again I'd be ashamed of it as well if I created it. 

Things I have learned from getting tattoos

I love tattoos, I will always love tattoos. To me, they are many things, but at least partially a  roadmap to where I've been in life.  All my tattoos represent something, but there is no "big picture" and theme to them. Like many tattooed individuals it's not just the art that we like (though it is certainly party of it) -we're also making a statement.

My first tattoo was a Union Jack on my right calf. As many of my friends know I was adopted and I have an Irish last name even though I am not Irish. When I met my biological family I found out I was virtually one hundred percent English. To celebrate my heritage I decided to get the Union Jack tattooed in a very visible place. It was my first, and to this day it's one I'm most proud of. That tattoo was a victory celebration for me and the culmination of twenty six years of wondering. It taught me that I can take something "negative" and turn it into a positive. While adoption is certainly not a negative growing up in the 1990's in a devoutly religious school/environment you were looked down on slightly as defective in some way.

Tattoos also taught me that a bit of temporary pain is worth it in the long run. Tattoos hurt, that's a fact. Some hurt less than others. Like the motivation posters say though-pain is temporary. I have a nautical star tattooed on my left arm. For some reason, the pain was absolutely horrific for such a small tattoo. The artist who did it was outstanding, he's done several others on me but none hurt as bad as this one. I almost tapped out. I didn't though, and now I have a great tattoo on my arm that matches one I have on my right arm. If I tapped out I wouldn't have that. Life is the same way. If you quit at the slightest difficult time in life and can't go through the pain-you'll never succeed and worse, you will never be happy..

Another tattoo I have is a skull and crossbones on my left leg. While getting it there was a guy in the next room over getting something done on his arm. He was really struggling and obviously in a lot of pain. When I saw him afterwards he looked a former football player. Very big, strong looking and someone who could easily shot put me 40 yards to my death. I was stunned he was acting like such a baby during the tattoo. Seeing my surprise, my artist whispered to me "It's always the big dudes who can't handle the pain and the little guys who sit like rocks." That's true too. In life you generally don't have to worry about the bullies and the posturing jerks who talk about about how wonderful they are. It's the people who downplay their own skills and abilities who usually get the job done.

Finally, tattoos taught me about diversity and individuality. And not the kind that your delusional Bernie Sanders supporter cousin thinks is "cool". I have the Atari logo tattooed on my right shoulder. It's a symbol of my first love (video games) and I also had a dog named Atari who passed away. Some might look at it as geeky or nerdish (and it is!) but it means a lot to me. It's the same with your tattoo. Your father might love bowling and you might get a bowling pin or someone bowling on your body to honor him.   What is a weird and boring hobby to you might mean the world to someone else.

Flag burning

Flag burning is repulsive, disgusting, abhorrent and shows a jarring disrespect for the men and women who died to give you that right you abuse by burning it.

But it's also protected speech, is legal, and should never, ever be banned. The blunt truth is that freedom of speech and freedom of expression protect things that are disgusting, not things that that we agree with. Look at the scumbags at the Westboro Baptist Church. They have every right to protest, even though 99.9% of people disagree with them and find that repulsive-they still should have the right to speak.

Trump has said he wants to make flag burning "illegal". He's playing to his base and they are, of course, eating it up. 

There are no "safe spaces" in the real world. If you don't like something, you have to be a big boy/big girl and ignore it. This used to be common sense but lately it's becoming controversial to say it. That's depressing, because society shouldn't be forced to accommodate your fragile feelings, no matter what side of the political spectrum you are on. 

Colin Kaepernick III

Sorry everyone, but Kaepernick is basically impossible to ignore. Even if you've talked about him as much I have lately. In that way, he has won. He's brought attention to himself and to his causes. 

In every other way, he has lost. The final straw for people-even liberals and those who agree with him!-is the news coming out now that he refused to vote because "it wouldn't have counted." Oh Colin, once again your naivety and ignorance is speaking volumes. Perhaps if Colin visited places in the world where votes truly don't count he'd change his mind. So often the left accuses the right of being insular and and cut off from the real world, but in reality it's the total opposite. Kapernick is very willing to critique his country, but he is not able to apply the same level of critique to himself. 

And now that dumbass was talking about Castro and how Castro did things "for the people" of Cuba. He was praising Castro from the comfort a country that gives Kapernick the freedoms that he'd never have in Cuba. Is Kapernick a coward? No, but he is a naive. 

In a way, Donald Trump should thank Kaepernick. It's because of people like Colin that Hillary Clinton lost. A large amount of people in the world are very tired of social justice warriors and those who enable them. This election was many things, but it was a reputation of what those people stand for. The establishment enabled them-but the establishment forget that the people who pay the bills and buy tickets to NFL games matter too. I'm not saying that Kaepernick shouldn't be allowed to protest-not at all. But just because he is allowed to protest doesn't mean he is allowed to pick the consequences of his protest. 

Fidel Castro, do not RIP

No, I hope he doesn't rest in peace. In fact, I hope he is turning a crispy brown right now. Sound harsh? It should be.

Generally, I don't wish death upon people I disagree with. Sure, I'm human and like every other human I'm an emotional guy who sometimes says things in the spur of the moment that he disagrees with later and wishes he did not say. However, in this case, I have no regrets. When an evil person like Castro dies, it's time to celebrate. No, nothing he did in Cuba was worth the deaths of his own people that he caused. No, he did not "advance" the cause of "regular people." In fact, most regular people were put to death or locked up in a Cuban prison because they looked at Castro funny or in some way angered him or his psychotic family. You need to ignore your leftist friends on this one-Castro was a serial killer who ran a country. There was a reason that people would flee Cuba on home made rafts to get to Miami. It wasn't because Cuba had all their shit together.

And that brings me to celebrating (yes, celebrating) when evil dies. The world is no nursery and bad things happen to good people. There isn't much justice out there sometimes. When someone like Castro finally dies, it's time to celebrate with the Cuban population of Miami-and they are celebrating, as they should.

In junior high school I was lectured to because I suggested that you should kill Hitler as a baby if you knew he'd do what he eventually did. Obviously this isn't uncommon - if I asked the question to random strangers I'm sure 85% of people would answer the same way. If you say "No, I'd let him live even though I know what the future would hold" then yes, you are a bad person and no, there is no getting around it. Castro would have been Hitler if he had the chance. I'm glad he is not resting in peace. I'm confident his eternity looks very bad at the moment.

Scripture Sunday 3 Nephi 13:5-7 part two

I like this passage so much that I split it in two passages.

When you pray, pray in private. This seems counter productive because like you, I am sure that we've seen people in public pray. These people are not breaking scripture in my opinion, unless they make a huge deal of it. If before you eat a meal in a restaurant you pray loudly to show how holy and wonderful you are, this passage is speaking right to you. Be humble in prayer, and do not be obnoxious.

Finally, this passage talks about praying in repetition. In direct contrast to Jesus telling us to pray the Lords prayer in the bible (Matthew 6:9-13). Most LDS don't use this pray, but I still do. To me this passage is a warning that you need to actually believe the words, not just repeat them foolishly and with no passion.

Hamilton

Mike Pence was recently in the audience of the wildly popular Hamilton musical. Apparently the cast saw him and decided to "speak truth to power!" and to "question authority!" and after preforming they called him out. I'm all for "speaking truth to power" and "questioning authority"-hell, I've been doing it since 2008-but I have some issues with this one.

First and foremost-the audience didn't vote for Trump. I'm guessing probably 75-80% of the audience voted for Clinton and out of that-the other 25% or so probably didn't even vote. It wouldn't be surprising to me if no one in the audience at the time, and I mean no one with the exception of Pence himself and maybe his wife-voted for Trump. So the cast of Hamilton did not put themselves at risk by calling him out. What they did at the time was high school bullying.

Luckily it went viral that they did that. It might cost them some tickets but in the end it won't cost them much. Average tickets to the show will probably cost about 250 dollars so it's out of range for many people-like those nasty, red state Trump voters. There is a lot of snobbery from the left in NYC and it probably cost them the election, at least in part.


I waited a bit to post this, I know it's "old news" but I wanted to see what would happen after the initial hype died down. I think all parties have handled it with class at this point. 

Album of the weekend

Red Hot Chili Peppers-Californication

Some bands try to be reborn or change styles and it fails (think Kiss with Music from the Elder). Some bands stick with the same sound and it gets stale after awhile. You can't force a band to go from frat-boy party rock to a deep album dealing with topics like regret, innocence lost, addiction and loss. No one forced the Red Hot Chili Peppers to do an album like this, but they did and it came out fantastic.

The Chili Peppers were just that-a frat boy party band that only occasionally had a deeper, more introspective song like "Under the Bridge", and that wasn't until Blood Sugar Sex Magic-one of their later albums. Californication is filled with songs that really make you think-we aren't talking Bob Dylan here but I didn't think Anthony Kiedis had the ability to write songs like this. There is nothing wrong with being a party band and the Chili Peppers did it quite well-but they proved their emotional maturity with this album. From what little I know about the lifestyles of members of the band it's fairly auto-biographical as well. This is one of the rare times bands changed their styles and sound and it came out successful.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We all have so much to be thankful for. It is my hope and prayer that all of us enjoy the day counting our blessings and celebrating what makes us happy in life.

JFK conspiracy

You want the truth? You got it.

JFK was killed by a psychopath who wanted to kill the president because he was, well, a psychopath. JFK was not killed by the CIA. He was not killed by Lyndon Johnson. He was not killed by the mafia. He was not killed by the Russians. He was not killed by multiple people. He was killed by a gravely unstable lunatic who couldn't hold a job, bounced from place to place (Oswald went to 14 schools or something), lived in Soviet Russia and hated it, was basically kicked out of the Marines for being such a degenerate loser, and would have killed many more people if he wasn't offed by a lunatic who owned the local nudist bar. While most people out there believe in some whack job conspiracy, there simply isn't enough evidence to support the theory. 

Conspiracy buffs will ignore books that don't support their own views and take "evidence" totally and drastically out of proportion. I have people whom I love and respect greatly that believe that Kennedy was killed by a wide variety of people/organizations and while I still love and respect them, they are wrong. I wish more people would turn their skepticism of religion/government into skepticism of conspiracies.

Scalia and Ginsburg

Justice Scalia passed away recently. He was a judicial heavyweight and his legacy will not be forgotten for many years. He was a loud, abrasive and pithy to those who disagreed with him. Frankly, he was correct more often than he was wrong. No, that doesn't mean I agree with him on everything but I generally do agree with him. You know who one of his best friends on the court was? Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Yes, that one. The ACLU member who disagreed with Scalia on virtually everything political. For all we know, that could have been why they were good friends.

"We disagree on everything so vehemently that it's quite a pleasure to drink with him."-Hunter S Thompson on his friendship with Pat Buchanan. To the shock and dismay of many Larry Flynt actually considered Jerry Falwell a friend too. In case you have to be told, Larry Flynt and Jerry Falwell don't exactly agree on much. Neither did Thompson and Buchanan or Ginsburg and Scalia.

While my closest friends and I generally agree on things, there are exceptions. I'm super close to my little brother even though we disagree politically. Luckily we agree on music, sports, movies and books. When we do talk about politics it's always polite, which is important. He's taught me more about his side than I could ever teach him about mine. The same goes for several other close friends who I wouldn't vote for at gunpoint and I'm sure the feeling is quite mutual. Friendship is more important to me than politics and it's rare that disagreements ever become personal.

I can't recommend enough getting friends who disagree with you. It helps you remember that intelligent and decent people can disagree with you and remain intelligent and decent.

Experience, logic, and intuition

The older I get the more I distrust intuition and instinct. 

I have seen people follow their gut, follow their feelings and sometimes it leads to good experiences. On the other side, I've also seen people "follow their instinct" and it leads to disaster.  Following your heart on relationship drama is one of the biggest mistakes I've seen. I've mentioned it before, but you can save yourself a world of pain and difficulty if you judge your potential relationships with your head as well as your heart.  

Passion and chemistry are wonderful things and you certainly need them in a releationship. You also need to judge relationships with your head. You might think that the stripper you met and proposed to at your friends bachelor party has "long term potential" but it probably doesn't. Neither does asking your prom date to marry you after you graduate. Women, you might think the married man at your office will be faithful to you but he probably won't either. If the guy followed his heart, he'd marry the stripper and develop a nasty cocaine habit. The girl at the office would find herself on the bad end of two nasty divorces-the first being her boyfriends and probably within a few years, her own. 

Your instinct might lead you to believe that homosexuality doesn't occur in nature and isn't biological-even though it does occur in nature and is clearly something you are born as. Your instinct might also make you think GMO foods are "dangerous". After doing five minutes of objective science research-you would find out you are wrong and GMO foods are not only healthy, but could cure world famine. Yes, look it up. 

I don't think instinct is bad-Immanuel Kant did teach me that A Priori knowledge is important and an effective source of well, knowledge. But experience, thought and logic are also important. More people need to follow those than their feelings. 

Scripture Sunday 3 Nephi 13:5-7 part one.

This is one of my favorite passages in all of scripture.

What isn't talked about much in mainstream churches is how much Jesus detested hypocrisy, legalism and pedantry. They hypocrites are, in some ways worse to Jesus than the other sinners. CS Lewis also agreed that the sins of the flesh are secondary to sins of pride, hypocrisy etc.

Do people read too much into this passage?
We see so many people claim to be holy. They might avoid temptations like addiction and adultery-but they make sure everyone knows how holy they are. They pray louder than everyone else in church. They sit in the front and make sure everyone sees how involved they are in the church. In the LDS world, they are the first to tell you how often their husband has been bishop. Or how they know an apostle. Or how their family is so involved in the church and yours just isn't up to their level.

Christ warns them in this passage. "Verily I say unto you, they shall have their reward."

Women drivers

There is an annoying, incorrect stereotype that women are bad drivers and men are better. This is total, complete bullshit. I have yet to see a mom of four giving me the finger as she drives seventy five in a school zone. Men are much, much worse drivers than women and it's so blatantly true that it's actually a bit hard to understand why people believe otherwise.

Women get defensive about it and in fairness they have every reason to be. I bet you that some saw the title to this blog and immediately thought I was going to make stupid jokes about women drivers or claim that men are superior in some way. I don't blame them-even in 2016 women are innudated with stupid jokes and annoying cliches that portray them to be somehow incompetent behind the wheel. Hopefully any female readers will finish reading this and realize how I really feel about this.

Hack comedians are comedians that can't think for themselves or find things funny that weren't funny even back in the 1950's. They'll yell out "Men never stop for directions, ain't I right? Haw haw haw." or "Women can't drive. Know what I'm saying? Haw haw haw." Sure, they'll get some laughs from the neanderthal set-but that's not the audience you should aim for.

Album of the weekend

Metallica-Hardwired to Self Destruct

Metallica will never be as good as they were pre-the Black Album, and we need to accept that. This album is as good as Metallica will ever get. Older bands can create outstanding albums. Judas Priest and Megadeth both released great ones in the last three years. Metallica has always been the most popular and well liked thrash band-but they were never the best. This album is better than St. Anger or Death Magnetic that's the good news. The bad news is that it's still very hit or miss. Like Muhammad Ali when he fought Leon Spinks and to quote Megadeth-The end is near, it's crystal clear. 

The singles released from the album including the title track, "Atlas, Rise", and "Moth into the Flame" are the better songs on the album- though the best is clearly "Spit Out the Bone". It's loud, aggressive, angry and could easily be placed on Justice for All or Kill Em All. It's my personal favorite and a truly outstanding song. In fact, I think it's their best song in years. Better than anything off Death Magnetic or St. Anger. "Now That We're Dead", "Dream No More", "ManUNkind" are all mediocre to bad and would be filler at best on a better album. "Murder One" sounds a little like the classic song "Sanitarium" and it's actually a bit sad to listen to because it reminds you of better times and what they could do a long time ago. Not a pleasant experience. 

This is it for them. Sorry for the boxing metaphors but Metallica is like the boxer who can still win one round in match-but the lose the fight overall. 

Narcissism

I see a lot of people putting on their psychologist hat and proclaiming those who disagree with them or those they don't like personally are "narcissists". That's a loaded word and in all honesty, one that might be among the most overused words going around right now. When people say "Narcissist" they really mean "person I don't like". It's a term that should only be used by a qualified psychologist after many evaluations with the person they are talking about.

In the world of the internet and Godwin's Law it's easy to throw words around that you don't understand. Let's be frank-if you deliver pizzas for a living (a noble job that I've done before so no, this isn't an insult to pizza deliverers) you probably lack the institutional and educational training that requires you to label someone you don't like a "narcissist".  The anonymity of internet makes it easy to throw words and accusations around. Keyboard warriors unite. 

The other blunt truth is that everyone-yes even you reading this-can be condescending, arrogant, rude, disrespectful and nasty at times. That doesn't make any of us narcissists or sociopaths. It simply makes us human. In fact, the people who admit they have flaws and try to work on them are in much better shape than those who accuse everyone else of having flaws but can't look inward to discuss and fix their own.

Replica Titanic

It might be very realistic click bait, but apparently they are building a new Titanic.  It looks just like the real one too-like a prop from the Edwardian age suddenly thrust into 2016. It'll also be much "safer" than the original one-this time complete with all the life boats, radar, and things that in 1912 we're not even thought of. It's apparently popular too, reports coming in that tickets are in high demand. 

If you want to do this, knock yourself out. It's not for me though. I'm not a cruise ship guy first off and second-I find the entire thing kind of creepy and incredibly disrespectful. Imagine this-would an  amusement park experience based on the Orlando shooting be cool? How about a ride that simulates crashing into the Twin Towers. This time, instead of dying you shake it off and talk about how cool it was. Better yet you are charged two hundred bucks per person to enjoy the experience. Sure, if it's your thing and you should be allowed to do it. But lots of people died on the Titanic and they were innocent victims. It happened long before any of us were born, but their lives still matter. 

I am a raw, naked capitalist.  You should be allowed to do what you want, when you want, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone in the process. So just because I think it's sick doesn't mean that you should. The really cool part about capitalism/freedom is that I can also voice my opinion, judge you, and even mock you-but I can't stop you. 

Kindness, love, peace and tolerance

Everyone is stressed out over this election and a lot of people are talking about promoting "peace, love, kindness to others, etc." It's sweet and very nice. We should be kind to others and we should of course speak out against injustice and cruelty if we see it happening. Or even if we don't see it happening.

"Everyone wants to change the world, no one wants to change themselves." Is a wonderful and very introspective quote. It's credited to Tolstoy, but I've seen it credited to other Russian writers. It cuts right though me. It's so easy to talk about others needing to show more kindness, tolerance and love while we scream at people who disagree with us. I also get the sinking feeling that people who are promoting "love" do so to feel really good about themselves one minute then cut the lady off in traffic ,snarl at the cashier and leave no tip when they go out to dinner.  The true sign of a "good person" is how they tip, in my view. This is how these people feed their families. Remember that.

Instead of telling everyone else to be kind it's probably best for all of us to remember that it's sure easy to critique everyone else but very few of us have the power to turn inward.

The Primus theory

As I've mentioned before (sorry for the self-plagirsm and repeating myself. I'm so egotistical that I repeat myself all the time and still like it) I had a cousin who was very fascinated with his "obscure" music taste. When I grew up it was without the internet and in the middle of no where there were no good radio stations. Sadly you were stuck with what Strawberries record store sold and the local pop classic rock station. First world problems aside it was another reason childhood sort of sucked.

My cousin was one of those ironic hipsters who loved to show off his obscure and cool music taste. He also liked to rub in our faces how "with it" he was and stupid we were for :: gasp :: liking more mainstream artists like Kiss, Megadeth, Metallica, The Ramones...etc. Think of Jack Black in High Fidelity combined with the snotty arrogance of a social justice warrior. He was the guy who wore the beret in freshmen English talking about how "deep" the book we were talking about was when in reality, he didn't read it all the way through.

So it was with great enjoyment one day when said to me "My favorite band is a band you've never heard of, Primus." Of course I answered back with the name of their most popular song (thank you MTV. Thank you) and he was crestfallen. I stole his thunder. I upstaged him. I became the one thing I never wanted to become-the music snob with the ironic taste and disdainful glare. But it really felt good.

I created "The Primus theory" after him. The Primus Theory states that the best way to show off your superior music knowledge and show others how hip and obscure your music taste is is to name an obscure band. But if you aren't obscure enough and the other guy starts rattling off songs by them-you will never be able to achieve the dominant position again. There are no second chances here. Once you jump, their better be a safety net or you will die.

Test it out in your private life and let me know how it goes.

Scripture Sunday 2 Nephi 2:27

Jesus Christ and His (and our) Heavenly Father are great believers in choice and free agency. He will never, ever force beleif on you. If you choose to live your life without His assistance, you are certainly free to do so.  After all, you are free to choose your actions. What you are not free to choose, are the consequences of them. 

As a believer it should come as no surprise that I think choosing to follow Satan instead of Christ is a bad idea. A real bad idea that has grave effects for your soul in the next life. Even though I think it's terrible idea to choose to follow Satan, I can't stop you from it. I would pray for you and try to convince you otherwise-but I can't stop you. What I can tell you though is that you will not appreciate the outcome. 

The Simpsons and their fans

Do you remember the Simpsons episode where Itchy and Scratchy introduce Poochie, the new character that Homer provides the voice to? I'm a big Simpsons fan, but I'm not so big where I have every line from every episode memorized-so if I'm off by an episode or, my apologies. Comic book guy gives the great line "Worst. Episode. Ever" to express his disgust with the Itchy and Scratchy episode. It's a line that has broken into pop culture, for sure. In response, Bart says "What could they possibly owe you, they've given you countless hours of entertainment for free? If anything you owe them!" Well far be it for me to argue with an eight year old, but that line has always bothered me. Probably because it's exactly how too many people in Hollywood view their fans and the people who watch their shows.

At first, Bart has a good point. After all, we've been entertained by The Simpsons for over twenty years now. It is probably the best tv show in history and it's longevity and ability to stay fresh is truly amazing. Not many tv shows can do that. I love how fearless it is-taking shots at everything, including the network that puts it on the air. Without the Simpsons, we wouldn't have South Park or Family Guy. So don't we owe them?

Um, no.

Because of them entertaining peons like you, they've become rich. Very rich. In fact, they've become part of the one percenters they dislike and despise. They can afford lives that put them totally out of touch with the lowly commoners. Sure their jokes about Fox are funny as hell, but without the evil Fox network-they'd still be broke and struggling. The money puts them out of touch in many ways, but it makes them forget that at one point McFarlane and Groening were totally unknown and could never have imagined the heights their shows would take them to. Here's the part they need to remember-if their fans didn't watch their shows, regardless of how good they were-they'd still be broke and unknown. The world is littered with great bands and great tv shows that just never took off and their creators would sell their souls for what Matt Groening has.

Album of the weekend

Nirvana-Unlpugged

Like all unplugged albums there is an initial shock hearing your favorite plugged in songs that are stripped down. I'm not a musician but I've heard that electric instruments are bit more forgiving than acoustic ones. So you have really have to avoid mistakes and be very careful.  This album also has a particularly somber mood-I'm fairly certain it was the first release after the death of Kurt Cobain.

The album is (surprise!) outstanding. It's Nirvana after all, and I remain convinced that they simply cannot create a bad album. Nirvana is so acclaimed that they walk right up to the line of being almost overrated. In fact, some backlash has occurred against them-did they define the music of the era or did they just come along at the right time?

They defined not only the music, but the era as well. As a closing chapter to their band this album is five stars. Moody and sentimental but still with the giant middle finger to the world that Nirvana epitomizes-every song on the album is unforgettable. 

Stores setting up Christmas displays early

Like I mentioned last year, until very recently christmas hasn't always been a wonderful time of year for me. I don't have wildly positive memories of past Christmases. No, that doesn't make me a Scrooge because I don't spend my time ruining it for everyone. In fact, no one even knew I usually had a rough time at Christmas because I kept it to myself. So no, no Scrooge here. I try not to bring everyone else down if I'm not comfortable or wildly positive. That might be me acting "fake" but it's also me putting others feelings and consideration first. Aren't I wonderful?

I know that people like the Christmas season. Some people go insane and put up incredible decorations everywhere. In order to get these decorations, they need to buy them somewhere. Some people buy them at department stores. And if people like the Christmas season (I admit that me feeling uncomfortable around the season is not common) why do people complain about seeing decorations out early? Doesn't it make people feel better about the season? Stores are in a no win situation. If they put out Christmas decorations early, people complain. If they don't put them out till after Christmas they might be accused of being part of the "war" on Christmas. I've seen this happen on Facebook several times-people bitch about seeing early Christmas displays and then next week complain about stores being part of the war on Christmas. 

In other words, be like Punk on this one. If you don't like decorations being put out early, don't complain about it. If you like it, great. Enjoy.

This election is finally over, thank God.

It's brought out the worst in people but it's also brought out the best. There is so much to despise in both Trump and Hillary that most good people have spoken out against these lunatics and have really come together in their dislike of the major parties. Who says dislike and distrust can't breed unity? It sure has in that way. I admit I'm grasping at straws here.

It's important to remember that life continues. I've been a political junkie for twenty years now (I was a pretentious, obnoxious and yes, lonely child) and I've taken political losses with great agony and sadness in the past. I was devastated when my candidate lost and I thought life would end. While I'm still not happy when my candidate loses-I realize and understand now that life continues. There is a morning after and we still live in the greatest county in history. 

Why people post a lot about politics

I get it, some people who aren't political junkies don't understood why those of us who are post so much about politics. 

There are many reasons for this. One-it is an interest to us. Not everyone has the same interests as you do, and what you find terribly dull and boring some people might find very fascinating. in this society today, people take everything personal and can't fathom that their own interests might be boring to others. No, that doesn't mean you personally are boring-it means everyone is not the same. So while you love reading about true crime, zombies, Asian cooking-some of us prefer politics instead. Ironically just by me mentioning true crime, zombies and Asian cooking I'm sure someone might read into and think I'm insulting people who like those things. I'm not, just using them as an example. 

Next, people share political ideas to show others that they aren't alone. In 2016 it can be very isolating to not be in the majority. If you are in the majority, you don't know what I'm talking about. If you aren't, you know exactly what I'm talking about. When you think differently about everything it's a chilling feeling. The left knows how this feels and the right knows how this feels. Speaking from personal experience the internet has helped me a great deal in meeting people who have share interests. So those of us who are political junkies talk about that to reach out to others. 

And yes, we get it-we probably won't convince you to see things our way. You won't convince us to stop posting about it either. 

Things you learn about politics as you mature

I have always thought that it's a sign of laziness (and in some cases, stupidity) to be totally ignorant about politics. Sure, it can be frustrating to take the time to learn things about how politics and government work-but these things have a direct impact on your quality of life. When talking with people who are ignorant about politics you'll often hear "Opinions? Oh everyone has one and it's not worth a damn." Wrong. People who downplay or dismiss others opinions are usually intimidated by them or simply too stupid to form their own opinion about issues. 

As you grow up, you being to to learn two things about politics that the extreme right and the extreme left will never understand. One-good people can and do disagree. Two-the extreme right and left are truly the problem. 

The first one isn't obvious, but it should be. If you can't figure out how two people who are diametrically opposed in their views can still get along and be good people than congratulations. You are partially why things are so messed up here. Getting your morality from politics is a terrible idea for many reasons but perhaps the worst is because it teaches you to think that you are noble and wonderful and everyone who disagrees with you is a scumbag. Your own political heroes can be personally reprehensible people and yes, that goes for liberal and conservative heroes. If someone doesn't lie, cheat, steal gives to charity and thinks of others in their actions-they are a good person. Regardless if they are liberal or conservative. 

The second is obvious. The extreme right and extreme left are both part of the problem. This isn't an argument for the mushy middle-but as you get older you begin to realize that governments and politics require compromise in order to keep everything going. There is "sticking to what is right and sticking with your morals" and there is "being stubborn and unrealistic." The perfect examples of this are the right on abortion and the left on guns. Banning all types of abortion is impossible and will not happen-and it shouldn't. Sadly pro-lifers can't celebrate even minor restrictions on abortion because they demand all or nothing. What I just said about guns is the exact same. Leftists who want all guns banned are just as silly as the radical pro-lifers.