Album of the Weekend

Soul Embraced-This is My Blood

This album, like "A Call to the Martyrs" from Mortal Treason, holds a special place near and dear to my heart. It was my first introduction to the Christian Death Metal genre, and for that I am forever grateful. I'm telling you upfront that with this album I can't be objective. Like "It's Alive" by the Ramones, it is a landmark album for me. There was MormonPunk before this album, and there was MormonPunk after this album.

Warning-it's loud, it's fast, it's hardcore and it'll basically scare people who aren't already into the genre. This is not an album for everyone. In fact, you need to Youtube a few songs before you even think about buying this album. if you like what you hear after a few songs, then buy this album. 

Manny Pacquiao vs Jeff Horn

This fight will apparently be on free ESPN. That's not really a good sign-after all, you get what you pay for. Going to ask you a question-would any Manny Pacquiao fight have been on free tv over the past ten years? Of course not. That alone should send a message to the public. Boxing is a dying sport-I admit and accept this and promoters are getting desperate for attention. Putting a Manny Pacquiao fight on free TV is one of the final steps. 

Manny Pacquiao is a good fighter. He's probably one of the best fighters of all time. While he has always been a little overrated (no, he's not in my top 10, maybe barely in my top 20) he's certainly one of the best of his generation. He'll probably win this match-but I'm worried about the next one. The classic saying in sports is that Father Time is undefeated, and Manny is no exception. If he fights someone with more skill than Jeff Horn, it might be the fight where he shows the world that his abilities have diminished. I'm just praying that he doesn't get hurt in this fight or in future fights. 

Facebook vigilantes and the destruction they cause

I've mentioned it before but I have a deep fear of vigilante justice. Maybe it's because I've read "To Kill a Mockingbird" and actually understood it. A good Samaritan recently got assaulted and Facebook shamed for doing the right thing and trying to help someone.

I've had my own run ins with Facebook vigilantes. One lady posted something about an apparent criminal. The local police asked it not to be shared, but she couldn't comprehend that and shared it anyway. White knight that I am, I tried to tell her about how it was false news, but she couldn't comprehend that either. It depressed me of course-but I moved on. I don't forget though.

Being a vigilante on Facebook and in your real life has grave consequences. If you post something and someone gets their ass kicked-or worse-then yes, you do have blood on your hands. Using ignorance as an excuse will only get you so far. 

Another GOP win in Georgia

It's been a week since the republicans won another special election in Georgia. With the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to see why. The democratic candidate was presented as an outsider to the state, and by objective accounts, he was. He didn't live there until he decided to run for the seat. The voters of Georgia didn't like that, and they chose the republican instead.

What fascinates me about the election is how much money was spent on it-by both sides. I have a rule. You lose the right to complain about money in politics if you spent 50 million dollars, win or lose, on an election. Everyone is against money in politics until your candidate has more of it, and wins. It's not about you being a republican or democrat, it's about how our standards and rules change to suit our views. In politics, the ends always justify the means.

Adventures on a lazy Sunday

I was pretty unmotivated yesterday. Didn't have the energy to go to church in the morning and barely got off the couch during the day. My life partner was away for the weekend with some friends-and she took my motivation with her. However boredom plus laziness has it's limits and I decided to do something I haven't done since last October. Go to the movies. I'm not big into movies so I didn't know what was playing. 

A quick search of Fandango changed that. Out of all the movies playing, the only one that I had even the slightest interest in seeing was 47 Meters Down. Someone online said it was like Open Water (2003), a movie that I love. So in the battle between laziness and the desire to see a movie I knew nothing about-desire won out.

It's nothing like Open Water. I wasn't expecting a cinematic masterpiece and the movie is not one.  The relationship between the two sisters was the best part. I liked watching them interact and thought it was entertaining and believable (their relationship, the entire movie was not so believable) . It's not a movie I'd see again but I didn't regret going either. That alone makes it a win, I guess. 

Scripture Sunday 2 Nephi 31:21

All Christian denominations are exclusionary. So are all Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and every other major religion in the world. If I claim that Muhammad got revelation from the Koran and you claim he did not, one of us is right, one of us is wrong. Someone being "exclusionist" in society today is considered wrong. I understand why. Inclusiveness is the buzzword of todays culture. Some people find exculsionary views offensive, which doesn't make sense to me. If you don't believe in something, you generally don't find it offensive, you just find it wrong.  

For LDS, we should avoid embracing the belief that all other beliefs are true. This passage clearly says that there is only one way to salvation, and that is through Christ. It is the only way through which we are saved and it'll continue to be the only way through which we are saved. While some people might take offense to that, scripture is fairly clear. 

The battle against air conditioning

From time to time you'll see some rich elitist babble about how evil air conditioning is. It's delusional of course, and it's to be expected. When you have all your needs taken care of and don't have to worry about comfort or rent payments you'll begin to become deluded and totally out of touch with reality. I live in Florida, where air conditioning is basically fundamental to life during the months of June-September. Without it, no one would live here year round.

You can Google "Air conditioning" and see some people rant about how it's a "luxury" and how we should "learn to live without it, because people before us didn't live with it and they survived!" In reality, modern technology has made out lives drastically, amazingly and stupidly better. Modern technology is like the girlfriend you broke up with even though she did everything for you, like bringing lasagna for you at work. Eventually you'll wake up and realize you took her for granted but by then it'll be too late.

My rule of thumb is this: don't lecture me about caring for the environment or my modern conveniences unless you personally aren't living with them. It's easy for newspapers to make editorials about how to live without air conditioning (click here) when you work in an air conditioned building. It's easy for the Pope to lecture us about "consumption" when he also lives in an....air conditioned building (click here).

Do as I say, not as I do.

Album of the Weekend

The Velvet Underground-Loaded

The Velvet Underground is a band you will either love or hate. I've met very few people who don't have strong opinions about them, but I don't think that they have the cult following that the Grateful Dead have. This album is a bit more commercial for such a avant garde band and it's one that people who have all sorts of music tastes can enjoy.

I've heard Lou Reed didn't like the final cut of this album. I'm not sure why even though he did leave the band shortly after. You've probably heard the the songs "Rock and Roll" and "Sweet Jane"-those are two of the more well known songs. "Sweet Jane" is one of my all time favorites, it's one of the most played songs on iTunes for me.

The Velvet Underground is loved by the music geek set for their unique and innovative style. While still having that, this album is much more approachable for a mainstream audience.

Supreme Court free speech ruling

The supreme court ruled that the government can't refuse to trademark terminology that some find offensive.  It started out with a band called "The Slants" - an Asian American rock band, and they wanted to patent their name. The government refused to do so because some people might find the name of the band offensive.

I do find the name of the band offensive. It's a racial slur and no matter what nationality you are it's in bad taste to use the terms. Sure, these people are Asian themselves and are using the term, but it might be offensive to other people and it's best sometimes to go with a less controversial term in order to further your career. To each their own of course.

Just because I find the term offensive does not mean that it should be banned. I strongly support the supreme court ruling and I think it's a landmark for free speech. Free speech doesn't care about what I think, what you think, or what the band itself thinks. Free speech is so important that it should be given the benefit of the doubt in 99.9% of cases. The supreme court was absolutely right here. 

Michelle Carter update

Michelle Carter, the woman who convinced her "boyfriend" to commit suicide has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Here is the link to the original blog I posted about her.

Evil exists in this world, and sometimes (actually, often) it doesn't get punished. I'm glad she is getting punished because I still feel she committed involuntary manslaughter. No matter what the court punishes her with, she will forever be known as "that girl" whose actions pushed her boyfriend into suicide.  I have a feeling she will have to move to another state at the very least-maybe even another country. She clearly doesn't have a conscience, so praying for her won't get us anywhere.

I've been hearing that she had "free speech" rights and she shouldn't have been charged for what she did. It makes sense. After all, she didn't turn the car on or pull the trigger. In the end, you are accountable for your own actions. I have a lot of sympathy for that point of view, even if I disagree with it. I don't have free speech rights to yell "Fire!" in a movie theatre. I don't have free speech rights to put you in immediate danger. She did just that.

I'm a big believer in free speech, for sure. There are limits though. The second amendment makes it clear you can't own a nuclear bomb in your basement, and even free speech has it's limits as well. 

Testimony Sunday and twelve year olds

A 12 year old girl recently announced her sexuality during a "testimony Sunday" (more on that in a minute) meeting. Apparently, her mic was cut off when she started talking about how her views were not in line with those of the church.

You can find the "Fair Mormon" synopsis of it here. It has some links to other sites that tell more of the story.

Testimony Sunday is where the church allows it's members to come up and discuss their testimony, or belief in the restored gospel. Unlike other Sundays where the bishop asks people to speak, this time the mic is open to all members.

I am sympathetic to everyone here in the situation. The girl, her family, the parishioners, and the leadership of the church. You can't blame the church for cutting off her mic-if I walk up there and start dropping F-bombs while talking about my love of scotch and cocaine-they're going to cut off my mic as well-and they should. You don't have "free speech" in a church building. The bishop could throw you out for saying you prefer Burger King to McDonalds. So no, her "free speech" rights were not violated.

I feel sorry for anyone, in the church or not, who grows up homosexual. Even though it is 2017 and views are rapidly changing on how Americans see homosexuality, it still must be very hard to feel so isolated and alone. Childhood can be isolating and miserable in many circumstances, gay or not. So I feel sorry for her as well.

She didn't do the right thing-testimony Sunday isn't the time or the place to do this -but she's only 12. She and the church will quickly get over this and move on.

Big Brother is back!

My favorite guilty pleasures are some reality tv shows (well, that and the band Kiss). Big Brother, the CBS summer show is coming back so along with Ink Master that already started I'm in my nice little TV phase. 

I'm not sure that I'd ever partake in a reality show, in particular one where you have absolutely no privacy. That's hard on the contestants and it's hard on their friends and families. While it's true, with Facebook, Twitter and social media we have less privacy than we did ten years ago very, very few of us would want a camera following us around that chronicles our mistakes, flaws, errors and more-us sitting on our ass doing nothing but vegging out in front of the TV. 

We (myself included) love to preach and judge contestants on Big Brother if they behave in ways we don't agree with. Unfortunately very few of us understand that if we were put in a high stress situation competing against others for 500,000$-I am one hundred percent guaranteeing you that no matter who you are-you'd say or do things that you wouldn't want your mother or father to see either. 

The other interesting thing about the show is how people play. It's a competition based on alliances of course but eventually there can be only one winner. If someone seems a little underhanded or is backstabbing someone-that's how the game works. Very rarely can you tell a person to your face "Okay, we're going to vote you out now." It doesn't really work that way. Who they are in the game might be a different person than who they are in real life. 

Scripture Sunday 1 Nephi 15:8

This passage is brief, but it raises a good point and something that has been on my mind lately. So often in life when we are confronted with a problem or an issue we look to others to help solve it for us. That's a good thing of course-seeking out others with experience and wisdom before you make your mind up is usually helpful.

However, I do wonder if we have  "inquired of the Lord" before, after, or anytime while we seek resolutions to our issues. Like all religious people, I also wish that the answers we got from God are much more clear and direct. Sometimes when we don't hear God answer our questions we also are less likely to ask Him again. To me, one of the most frustrating aspects of praying and asking God questions are idiots who say things like "Well, you just weren't ready to listen." or, "Perhaps your faith wasn't strong enough." How insulting!

It's so important to remember that God listens and responds whenever He can, and that the words of other humans don't really matter. Sure, it's important to listen to others and seek out their advice and wisdom-but in the end, the most important line of communication is between you and God.

Gene Simmons trying to trademark yet another thing

Gene Simmons is trying to trademark the "metal horns", a popular hand symbol that all metal fans have made many times before in their lives.  First off no, it's not necessarily made by Satanists nor does it endorse anything to do with Satan. So if you think it does-you are wrong. Although no one is really sure who created it, we know it was used many times before Gene Simmons did so on the cover of the legendary album, "Destroyer", which is easily one of the best Kiss albums out there.

Simmons seems determined to be remembered more for his "business sense" than his musical talents and abilities. Sadly, so many people dismiss or downplay his bass playing abilities because of his obnoxious behavior and lousy personality. You have to give the devil his due-his bass playing abilities are actually quite good and yes, he's been vastly influential. He doesn't need to tell everyone what a "shrewd" businessmen he is-we know the guy isn't an idiot. He's a jerk and a walking sexual harassment case-but he's not an idiot. Basically, he's the Donald Trump of music.

I hope and pray that he doesn't get the trademark, simply because he didn't create it. Like the article says, John Lennon, Texas Longhorn fans and whoever created sign language "created" it and Ronnie James Dio made it legendary.

Album of the Weekend

Twisted Sister-Stay Hungry

All rise for one of the greatest anthems in Rock History, "We're Not Gonna Take It". Okay, you can sit back down now.

Ahh, Twisted Sister. Remember the days when this band was considered the number one menace to society? They were called in front of congress and it's largely because of them that the "Parental Advisory" logo was created. Even though like all glam rock it's become a bit of a joke in 2017, this was cutting edge and and very dangerous at the time.

It's a great album for the genre, for sure. Full of party rock classics like "Burn in Hell", "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock" this is bound to make your road trip go by in a heartbeat. The entire album isn't as good as those three songs, but those three songs certainly make up for it. If you don't want to download the entire album, then download just these songs. They are 80's classics.

DC Shooting

I really do wish that inspirational social media posts saying "It's time for unity" and "Let's put politics aside in the face of the this tragedy." worked in the real world. Not to sound overly cynical, but they don't work-at least not for long. The political parties are so vastly different with contrasting views and thoughts that there is little room for unity in politics. You also have the troubling fact that when one party says "Unite" it means "unite under my values and ignore yours." 

But I am glad that everyone is condemning the shooting at the baseball practice in the harshest terms. It turns out that the guy who shot the congressmen was a Bernie Sanders supporters and of course, most Bernie supporters are condemning the shooter-as they should and I'm very proud of them.  Of course, the right are classifying all Bernie supporters as prone to violence and the left is washing their hands of the actions of this one lunatic. It must be said that if the shooter was a right winger all the roles would be reversed. 

And that's the problem with politics today. 

All of us-you, me, Carlos, Karen do the same thing. We don't look inward and admit that our side has just as many fools, maniacs and zealots than the other side. We're so obsessed with being right that we can't look inward and engage in self critique. Would that have stopped the shooter yesterday? Of course not. A maniac with a gun can only be stopped by a good guy with a gun. It's a reminder though that hatred and anger have real consequences in the real world and they can be very dangerous. 

Sandy Hook Conspiracy Theory

Believing in conspiracies usually shows your ignorance of a subject. Believing in this one shows your cruelty. 

If you wish to believe that vaccines cause autism, that JFK was assassinated by a race of lizard people and that 9/11 was really an inside job-fine, it's you who has to deal with that kind of idiocy and frankly, I don't care what you believe. You can poison your friends and family with your views and that's between you and them. However, when you believe that innocent children who died were all part of a grand scheme and that nothing really happened or if it did, it's a "false flag" to take away your gun rights than you sir or ma'am, are a sick bastard. 

What happened in Newtown took the lives of innocent children. It was the deliberate actions of a psychopath who I have no doubt is rotting in Hell for eternity. If you can't handle that there is such evil in the world-I get it, that is a hard thing to fathom. If you make up a belief that the in any way, shape or form downplays the horror and sadness that the parents and families of those were died went through-than you might very well be onto the same place that the shooter is. 

I obviously feel very strong about the InfoWars/Alex Jones people of the world. 

Dennis Rodman and North Korea

I've always liked Dennis Rodman. Back in the 90's I loved how he had the backbone to express himself with the tattoos, piercings-wearing a wedding dress isn't my thing, but kudos to him for being himself. Obviously he has all sorts of personal problems that I wasn't aware of back then. I feel sorry for him and I hope he gets it together before the inevitable.

Him traveling to North Korea really bothers me though. This country is run by a psychopath who enslaves the millions of people under him. I don't care if you call it socialism, communism, Juche-the real title is a literal Hell on earth. Rodman going to the country and trying to buddy up to Kim Jong-Un is like Babe Ruth trying to buddy up with Adolph Hitler. No, I don't like the Hitler references either but in this case, I want you to think about it. Kim Jong-Un has prison camps where he locks people up for no reason at all. Christians, Jews, atheists who piss him off-anyone gets sent here by him. Is he as bad s Hitler? No, of course not. But if he had the power he would be.

Dennis, you really should know better.

Can you have an opinion and the political and social affairs of a country you don't live in?

Like all political junkies I like to follow worldwide affairs and politics. It's obviously much more difficult when you don't understand the language to fully follow what is going in a country, but often times with a little bit of research you can form an intelligent opinion about what is going on.

It's true, I've never lived outside the USA. It's also true however that some views transcend your country. For example, if you live in a country with nationalized health care that you think is the greatest thing in the world, odds are quite high that you'll be in favor in socializing American health care. Same with abortion. No matter what you think about it, you probably think that your view should be the one accepted by others in other countries. So while you'll never know the individual and subtle nuances of other countries until you live there, you still can have political views about how a country should be run.

It is a big world out there and what happens in your own country certainly effects other counties. Sometimes you really need to open your eye and look at what is going on in the world aside from what is just going on on your street.

Scripture Sunday 2 Nephi 12:2-3

Outside of Utah and big cities, no one knows what a LDS temple even is. Growing up, I had no idea. I had never seen one before I joined the church. When I would visit a big city I wasn't exactly looking for spiritual enlightenment, and I either never noticed the LDS temple or I was in a part of the city where there was not one.

This scripture shows a vision in which Isaiah sees a latter day (which means modern day) temple. I'm not sure if all temples are built on a hill or if that's metaphorical but this passage seems to indicate that a temple should be built on a mountain or hill. It also mentions how the people of the nations will flood into the temple doors-this is true, to a point. It's been reported that in some countries LDS temple attendance is slowing down. That doesn't surprise me-in some countries secularization is greatly effecting church membership. I should make it clear that I don't go to the temple. 

Temples are a bit strange to non members. The LDS church doesn't talk about what happens in them and only more serious members of the church can go in. However, the church is getting more open with what happens in temples. Most members who have been view the ceremonies as "too sacred" to discuss outside the temple. I'm not sure where temples come from in the long run-but this scripture might be where they started.

Pro Trump Gay group barred from a pride parade

Click here to read the latest story about tolerant, open minded people once again showing great limits to their tolerance and open minded attitudes. 

Apparently, a group of homosexuals who have the audacity to think for themselves and support Donald Trump are not welcome to march in a gay pride parade. I am not gay, but I've always been very sympathetic to the gay rights movement. I was in favor of gay marriage before it was trendy and cool. Being adopted, I'm also for gay adoptions. In fact, I'm very glad that both issues aren't really "issues" anymore. Gays have the right to marry and adopt and it's not going anywhere, so...

No one is more brave than a conservative minority. If you are any type of minority and you can think for yourself on various issues, be prepared for open minded and tolerant people to hate you with a passion they should save for ISIS. A committee barring homosexuals from marching in a parade just because they support Trump (and I don't support him. At all) is as bad as refusing to let black people march in a parade just because they are black.

I'm not a big fan of lawsuits but I'd be contacting a lawyer damn fast if I were a member of the gays for Trump group.

Album of the Weekend

AC/DC-Stiff Upper Lip

With AC/DC, you know what you are going to get. I compare AC/DC to putting on your favorite band shirt after each laundry cycle. You don't wear it every day because it would get weird and boring-you don't want to be like that lady on Seinfeld, after all-but you eventually know you'll come back to it. 

You come back to it because you like it and it's good. They do what they do very well. AC/DC won't try to do "Music from the Elder" or that album which must not be named that Metallica and Lou Reed collaborated on (saying the name of it removes any chance of eternal salvation). 

Stiff Upper Lip is one of their better albums with more memorable songs, such as "Safe in New York City", "Can't Stop Rock and Roll", "Hold me Back" and "Stiff Upper Lip". Most people only think of the early stuff with AC/DC and they should think of it-that's some great stuff right there-but if you like AC/DC, this album is definitely one of their best. 

Ink Master is back!!

My Tuesday nights are suddenly getting a lot better. Ink Master, the great tattoo competition show on Spike, is back! There aren't many shows I go out of my way to watch live. I don't watch a lot of non news/sports tv, and the shows that I do I usually just DVR so I can watch later at my own convenience. Ink Master is one of the very, very few shows I watch religiously. I've waited so long for this season, it seems like it's been forever since I've seen it new.

Amazon Video is a godsend-it lets me watch whatever I want to as long as I have cell phone service and a few dollars. I've been going though an Ink Master phase lately and I've been watching all the old seasons. I've thought about applying to be on the show, but I'm not sure I'd do. Imagine if you are the victim of another artists manipulative ploy to advance themselves at the cost of you and another artist. You could be stuck with a bad tattoo for the rest of your life at their expense. I also know that I'd never be an open canvas. It's not fair to me or the artist that deserves a truly open minded person who is willing to trust an artist the don't know.

This time, the contestants are working in pairs of two, representing their shops from home. It's going to be interesting to see how the interaction between the teams effects gameplay and strategy. I'm also happy that there are no return players. I wouldn't mind seeing an Ink Master All Stars II some time in the future, but for now it was definitely time for some fresh faces on the show. 

Trial begins for a girl who convinced her friend to commit suicide

Have you heard about this? Apparently a woman convinced her "boyfriend" to commit suicide.

There is no question that this case is incredibly disturbing. The woman who did this is sick, disgusting, and she'll have to carry around a very heavy burden for the rest of her life. What she did was reprehensible. While she didn't "pull the trigger" on the kid, her text messages clearly demonstrate a pathological disdain for his life. Reading the text messages for about three minutes made me want to take a shower.

There is a huge difference between "something said in anger" and what this "person" did. While driving one time I was almost hit by another car. I was pissed, and I rolled down my window and told the driver to drop dead and yes, I said some other choice words. Then I drove home, stewed about it for a few hours and let it go. If the driver took their own life after I said that, I would feel horrible about it but it was said in anger and well, my bad. I'm not perfect.

This is totally different. She gave him direct instructions and encouraged him to take his own life. Anytime she could have stopped this and gotten him the help he desperately needed. This girl is a monster. She is 100% guilty of involuntary manslaughter. I'm not a lawyer so no, I don't know if she is legally culpable of it.  Morally though, jail is too good for her. I am in favor of the the death penalty and she really should get it. 

Evergreen college drama

There is a small college in Washington state named "Evergreen College". I never heard of it before a few days ago, but there apparently is a lot of drama going on there right now. I follow a guy on Facebook named "Michael Shermer". He's a famous professor and the founder of the Skeptics Society. I am religious (obviously) but I deeply admire his skepticism and his iconoclastic views. I highly recommend reading his work if for no other reason than to see how the other side thinks.

A professor at Evergreen, Bret Weinstein, is an admitted socialist and big Bernie Sanders fan. He's also a free thinker who dared to question something that the students at Evergreen College did. The New York Times wrote a fascinating opinion piece about it. I don't agree with this professor on anything but it is incredibly disturbing to me that classes have been cancelled and threats have apparently been made on his life.

I've mentioned before that I don't expect integrity and courage when it comes to college administrators. Evergreen has agreed (so far) to not fire Weinstein, but I'm not optimistic that it'll keep that way of thinking. The kids at Evergreen are worse than snowflakes, they are bullies who demand obedience and demand you conform to their way of thinking.

Snowflakes

I am increasingly beginning to believe that the term "snowflakes" can't be applied to just thin skinned college kids, which is where it started. There are thin skinned fragile people who are 80, there are thin skinned fragile 19 year olds. There are religious people who can't handle hearing anything negative about their religion and their are atheists who go into fits of sputtering rage when you say you believe in God.

There are a whole bunch of reasons why people act thin skinned. Some of it is immaturity and a lack of real world experience. Living in the real world provides you with experience. The more you experience life, the more you realize that your own troubles (for the most part)  are truly a "hill of beans", to quote Casablanca. Acting like a snowflake and getting upset and offended all the time shows many things but to me, it's always showed a lack of real life experience more than anything else.

We all have our snowflake moments. For some of us it's hearing someone say something negative about our favorite band. For others it's hearing that someone likes Trump or Sanders while we don't. It's very rare indeed to meet someone who never gets offended, after all it's human nature to take offense at some things. We should all try to look inward and see the inner snowflake in us and try to make it tougher. Of course, like all advice it'll be ignored by the people who need it most.

Scripture Sunday Mosiah 24:13-15

This is certainly an uplifting and positive scripture in the Book of Mormon. I've always found the Book of Mormon to be...well, uplifting and positive in many places. If you believe that the Book of Mormon is true than I assume that this passage also gives you great hope. The Lord can seem like He has forgotten you and sometimes it seems like He gives you a burden that is much too heavy for you. In these verses, He is stating that he will ease the burden on you and lift you up, so that you can testify on His behalf. Not a bad trade off, really.

Kiss to retire soon?

Gene Simmons has insinuated that Kiss will retire soon.

I can't blame him. Like the story says, Jagger and Bono don't wear fifty pound outfits when they preform. Time waits for no man and the guys in Kiss are getting older. I don't have to like it, but I do have to accept it.

Sure, Gene Simmons is full of bull and is a compulsive showman who will say anything if he thinks it'll boost ticket sales. I have a feeling he's telling the truth with this one. Paul has had surgery several times over the past few years. The guys in Kiss are not exactly begging for food stamps or worried about their mortgage payments. You'd think they would want to spend some time with their grandchildren and children before the Grim Reaper arrives. Shockingly, I'm surprised that death hasn't visited Ace or Peter yet. Morbid comment? Yup. Truthful? Yup.

Whatever happens, I'm glad I got a chance to see them live a few times. I hope they don't go out like Muhammad Ali did when he fought Leon Spinks or worse, Larry Holmes. Some say that Kiss has already outlived their prime-that's true, but they haven't embarrassed themselves yet. Yet being the key word.

Oh yeah-Gene also says that Kiss might do something free for their last concert. That sound you just heard was every Kiss fan bursting into laughter. Kiss? Do something for free? That idea is so absurd that no sarcastic comment or joke is needed.

Album of the Weekend

West Side Story Soundtrack

Like I mentioned, this punk loves musicals, and West Side Story his favorite. I'm an emotional guy, and I cry easily. When it's a good performance (and even when it's bad, I still greatly enjoy it) you can usually find me bawling and my Lady Punk is there comforting me. While people who live in the rough parts of town object to the over romanticized view of the ghetto that this story presents, I ignore them. This musical is the only perfect musical out there. No bad songs, engrossing characters and a story that you get hooked into.

It's also incredibly ahead of it's time, addressing social concerns that wouldn't come into play till much later than when it was created. The root causes of crime, gun violence, transgenderism (my sister wears a mustache, my brother wears a dress), gender roles-this was probably the first musical to achieve mainstream success that dealt with so many controversial issues. In that way, it was Rent before Rent was Rent.

You don't have to like musicals, they aren't for everyone-but this one is fantastic.

Kathy Griffin

The Kathy Griffin saga has shown which side is full of hate, and it's not the right or the left. In a rare feat of unity, virtually all decent people of all political stripes are condemning this. It's only the true believers that are excusing her actions at this point. 

Griffin had a show called "My Life on the D List". If she calls herself a D lister, who am I to argue? When you have no talent and are near the end of your career, you need to do two things-1) be vulgar and 2) be politically correct. Griffin is both vulgar (and I'm not talking about what she did just now, her entire act is...well, vulgar) and politically correct. 

If a washed up conservative comedian did this to Obama, what would happen? The same thing. Both sides would come out and that comedians career would be over. To me the Griffin saga has shown who are the good people on both sides. All decent people have come out against this.