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.