Jan 2009
Pungent Thoughts, One Blood, and Barack Obama
01/29/09 10:24 PM Filed in: Indiscriminate
Two roads diverged
in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference in the world
It's certainly not scripture, but we can still learn a valuable lesson from the closing line of Frost's poem, “The Road Not Taken.” Something that has always jumped out at me. He didn't come to the crossroads and say, "I stood there waiting indefinitely or at least until someone else made a decision for me."
How can it be that people remain indecisive about such pertinant matters? I can understand when you struggle to decide which sandwich to eat, or whether or not to attend a concert, but how can people idly sit by and let a decision that effects nearly every aspect of their life be left to life's circumstances? In the matter of voting, a lot of people think that their vote won’t matter because they aren’t in a swing state, or they can’t decide between the two candidates so they’d rather just let someone else make a choice for them. The first reason is no excuse, and I’m a little more prone to accept the second if and only if I don’t hear a complaint or praise out of your mouth over the decision for the next four years. If you don’t like something Obama does (or, really, even if you do) in the next four years but you didn’t vote for or against him, you gave up your right to have an opinion. Now, annoyingly, America still gives you that right, and I still have to put up with it.
The thing about indecision is, you think you're taking control by distancing yourself, but in reality you're giving control to everyone else around you. You've been given an amazing freedom and an amazing right in this country, and it bothers me how little people care about that. Whether you like it or not, your inability to make a decision is essentially you consigning your life to everyone else in the world. For you, the wonderful thing about America is that you have just as much of a right not to vote as you do to vote. A vote that someone in a communist country may have given their life for.
I guess I should touch on the “one blood” part of this rant. Ryan a book of that title in which it is proposed that all humans are of one blood. As in, we’re all from Adam and Eve at some point. True story, but the book continues to go on and argue that there’s no such thing as race, and that we’re all exactly alike because we’re from one blood. There’s only one race, and that is the human race. I’ve heard this proposition a few times from speakers in our chapel and in other Christian circles, and this thought really bothers me.
Those attempting to adhere to the fact that there is only one race and ethnicity is irrelevant are living in the past. Maybe in the 1800s that’s what the word “race” meant, but definitions change. You can’t just decide your definition of a word isn’t going to change with the culture. If you’re going to play that game, try to say “faggot” or “gay” in front of a homosexual and see how far that gets you.
Definitions change. Currently, “race” means “each of the major divisions of humankind, having distinct physical characteristics.” That’s the definition. So why would you write an entire book trying to argue a definition? Write about a book about racism, write a book about being counter-cultural, but a book arguing that a definition is wrong is just silly. There are people with darker skin from other parts of the world. There are people with different noses, different eyes, and different hair, and that’s wonderful!
I love the old-school Michael W. Smith song “Color Blind,” but I disagree with its message. It wouldn’t be better if we could all be color blind. We’re all of the humankind, yes, but we’re many of us of a different race, and that’s the beauty of God’s creation. Kristi is short and from the Philippines, and I wouldn’t have her any other way, dark-skin, long black hair and all. If she was any other way, she wouldn’t be Kristi.
All races are equal, I completely believe that, and that’s one of the points Ken Ham is trying to get across on some level, but the extent to which he goes to say this, and the fact that he’s arguing with an indisputable fact (that someone from Ethiopia, by definition, is a different race than me) just doesn’t work for me. That, and I don’t agree with half the examples he uses. And he’s barking up the wrong tree. The problem isn’t race. Race is just another way for God to display his creativity and beauty. The issue is hatred, jealousy, and ultimately sin.
Transitioning very rapidly to a slightly different subject, I found it special, and something that I had previously taken for granted, that the day President Barack Obama was inaugurated was the day after Martin Luther Kind Day. Whether you voted for Obama, agree with his policies, or think he’s the devil himself (yes, someone told me that in seriousness), you still have to give credit to the significance of having our first African American president. Many of our parents and grandparents can clearly remember the days when black people were not allowed to walk beside white people or drink out of the same drinking fountain. Today, equality rules the nation, and where millions of black people were beaten, tortured, and not even considered human, there now stands an African American who is ruling our great nation.
Then there’s those of you who would say we don’t have a great nation. After all, how could a great nation vote such a stark, black liberal into office? (And some of you are offended by that sentence. Good. That’s the proper reaction.) Some of you think that a great nation couldn’t vote someone into office that so quickly signed FOCA and who’s party is for the advancement of choice in defining marriage. I think it’s for those reasons that we’re a great country.
Allow me to elaborate. I am utterly against homosexuality and the mass murder of unborn babies. Not because I’m against you as a person if you agree with those things, but because I believe, in alignment with my relationship with Jesus Christ, that homosexuality and abortion are morally wrong. But this is where it becomes difficult for me. America is not a Christian nation. America never was a Christian nation. It was founded on moral principles by deists and freemasons. And to this begs the philosophical question, “What is morality?” Is it something defined by an all-powerful, all-loving God who’s character is impeccable? Or is it defined by a society and what it chooses to be right and wrong? Well, I know what I believe, but what I believe is not the belief of this country. This country is free. Though the country was founded on moral principles and many of the founding fathers were deists, the country was founded on the principles of freedom. So, tell me, in the name of freedom, religion and morality aside, do you have a choice to marry who you want? Do you have a choice to rid yourself of that baby?
Now, I love babies. Sadly, babies don’t love me. And it saddens me that millions upon millions of babies are killed every year. I believe life starts at conception. There’s no doubt in my mind that abortion is murder. But what if the vast majority of our country rules that, even if life is at conception, taking the life of an unborn infant should be the choice of the mother? Should we allow her that choice? If morality for a non-religious person truly is determined by society, this would be a perfectly natural and free turn for America to make.
I don’t like talking about unborn babies so flippantly, but that and the decision of homosexual marriage do bring interesting thoughts to my mind when I realize I don’t live in a Christian nation. What would happen if these things did happen? How would I feel about it? I would be saddened by it and I would try to protect the lives of unborn babies. They have just as much of a right to live as anyone else. But not everyone else believes the same as me. And I don’t recall anywhere in the Bible God telling me to live in a world surrounded by those who have the same ideals, morals, and beliefs as myself. I’m blessed to live in a free country, a country where you have a right to choose your lifestyle, and that blessing comes with heavy potential burdens attached to it.
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference in the world
It's certainly not scripture, but we can still learn a valuable lesson from the closing line of Frost's poem, “The Road Not Taken.” Something that has always jumped out at me. He didn't come to the crossroads and say, "I stood there waiting indefinitely or at least until someone else made a decision for me."
How can it be that people remain indecisive about such pertinant matters? I can understand when you struggle to decide which sandwich to eat, or whether or not to attend a concert, but how can people idly sit by and let a decision that effects nearly every aspect of their life be left to life's circumstances? In the matter of voting, a lot of people think that their vote won’t matter because they aren’t in a swing state, or they can’t decide between the two candidates so they’d rather just let someone else make a choice for them. The first reason is no excuse, and I’m a little more prone to accept the second if and only if I don’t hear a complaint or praise out of your mouth over the decision for the next four years. If you don’t like something Obama does (or, really, even if you do) in the next four years but you didn’t vote for or against him, you gave up your right to have an opinion. Now, annoyingly, America still gives you that right, and I still have to put up with it.
The thing about indecision is, you think you're taking control by distancing yourself, but in reality you're giving control to everyone else around you. You've been given an amazing freedom and an amazing right in this country, and it bothers me how little people care about that. Whether you like it or not, your inability to make a decision is essentially you consigning your life to everyone else in the world. For you, the wonderful thing about America is that you have just as much of a right not to vote as you do to vote. A vote that someone in a communist country may have given their life for.
I guess I should touch on the “one blood” part of this rant. Ryan a book of that title in which it is proposed that all humans are of one blood. As in, we’re all from Adam and Eve at some point. True story, but the book continues to go on and argue that there’s no such thing as race, and that we’re all exactly alike because we’re from one blood. There’s only one race, and that is the human race. I’ve heard this proposition a few times from speakers in our chapel and in other Christian circles, and this thought really bothers me.
Those attempting to adhere to the fact that there is only one race and ethnicity is irrelevant are living in the past. Maybe in the 1800s that’s what the word “race” meant, but definitions change. You can’t just decide your definition of a word isn’t going to change with the culture. If you’re going to play that game, try to say “faggot” or “gay” in front of a homosexual and see how far that gets you.
Definitions change. Currently, “race” means “each of the major divisions of humankind, having distinct physical characteristics.” That’s the definition. So why would you write an entire book trying to argue a definition? Write about a book about racism, write a book about being counter-cultural, but a book arguing that a definition is wrong is just silly. There are people with darker skin from other parts of the world. There are people with different noses, different eyes, and different hair, and that’s wonderful!
I love the old-school Michael W. Smith song “Color Blind,” but I disagree with its message. It wouldn’t be better if we could all be color blind. We’re all of the humankind, yes, but we’re many of us of a different race, and that’s the beauty of God’s creation. Kristi is short and from the Philippines, and I wouldn’t have her any other way, dark-skin, long black hair and all. If she was any other way, she wouldn’t be Kristi.
All races are equal, I completely believe that, and that’s one of the points Ken Ham is trying to get across on some level, but the extent to which he goes to say this, and the fact that he’s arguing with an indisputable fact (that someone from Ethiopia, by definition, is a different race than me) just doesn’t work for me. That, and I don’t agree with half the examples he uses. And he’s barking up the wrong tree. The problem isn’t race. Race is just another way for God to display his creativity and beauty. The issue is hatred, jealousy, and ultimately sin.
Transitioning very rapidly to a slightly different subject, I found it special, and something that I had previously taken for granted, that the day President Barack Obama was inaugurated was the day after Martin Luther Kind Day. Whether you voted for Obama, agree with his policies, or think he’s the devil himself (yes, someone told me that in seriousness), you still have to give credit to the significance of having our first African American president. Many of our parents and grandparents can clearly remember the days when black people were not allowed to walk beside white people or drink out of the same drinking fountain. Today, equality rules the nation, and where millions of black people were beaten, tortured, and not even considered human, there now stands an African American who is ruling our great nation.
Then there’s those of you who would say we don’t have a great nation. After all, how could a great nation vote such a stark, black liberal into office? (And some of you are offended by that sentence. Good. That’s the proper reaction.) Some of you think that a great nation couldn’t vote someone into office that so quickly signed FOCA and who’s party is for the advancement of choice in defining marriage. I think it’s for those reasons that we’re a great country.
Allow me to elaborate. I am utterly against homosexuality and the mass murder of unborn babies. Not because I’m against you as a person if you agree with those things, but because I believe, in alignment with my relationship with Jesus Christ, that homosexuality and abortion are morally wrong. But this is where it becomes difficult for me. America is not a Christian nation. America never was a Christian nation. It was founded on moral principles by deists and freemasons. And to this begs the philosophical question, “What is morality?” Is it something defined by an all-powerful, all-loving God who’s character is impeccable? Or is it defined by a society and what it chooses to be right and wrong? Well, I know what I believe, but what I believe is not the belief of this country. This country is free. Though the country was founded on moral principles and many of the founding fathers were deists, the country was founded on the principles of freedom. So, tell me, in the name of freedom, religion and morality aside, do you have a choice to marry who you want? Do you have a choice to rid yourself of that baby?
Now, I love babies. Sadly, babies don’t love me. And it saddens me that millions upon millions of babies are killed every year. I believe life starts at conception. There’s no doubt in my mind that abortion is murder. But what if the vast majority of our country rules that, even if life is at conception, taking the life of an unborn infant should be the choice of the mother? Should we allow her that choice? If morality for a non-religious person truly is determined by society, this would be a perfectly natural and free turn for America to make.
I don’t like talking about unborn babies so flippantly, but that and the decision of homosexual marriage do bring interesting thoughts to my mind when I realize I don’t live in a Christian nation. What would happen if these things did happen? How would I feel about it? I would be saddened by it and I would try to protect the lives of unborn babies. They have just as much of a right to live as anyone else. But not everyone else believes the same as me. And I don’t recall anywhere in the Bible God telling me to live in a world surrounded by those who have the same ideals, morals, and beliefs as myself. I’m blessed to live in a free country, a country where you have a right to choose your lifestyle, and that blessing comes with heavy potential burdens attached to it.
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This Site is Bogus
01/23/09 05:12 PM Filed in: Indiscriminate
The subject says it
all. So Jenna was successful in making one of those
cool “Celebrity Look-Alike” things, and not to be
left out, Kylee and I did one too. It failed horribly
for me. Over half of the options it picked for me
were women. I mean, I’d like to think I’m as
attractive as Penelope Cruz, but I’m not. It’s worse
though. It’s not just that Penelope Cruz (and five
other girls) was one of the options. No, she was chosen
as the one that I most resemble ... 73%. On top of
that, three of the guys it actually chose have facial
hair, and a lot of it. This site is bogus.
Kylee’s was better. At least she got all girls picked for her.
Kylee’s was better. At least she got all girls picked for her.
Windows Gets a Face Lift
01/23/09 08:51 AM Filed in: Technology
Microsoft has been
(officially) beta testing their newest operating
system, Windows 7 (previously known under the
codenames Blackcomb and Vienna), for about nearly a
month now, and the results are looking extremely
promising.
According to the "reliable" source of Wikipedia, it's due out in late 2009 with ... *groan* ... numerous editions yet again. With all the notes Microsoft seems to be taking from Apple, why can't they understand one of the most significant notes? And that is, users want simplicity. We don't want seven editions, we want one. One edition that does it all. But really, as far as Windows 7 goes, that's the ugliest monster in the room. No speculations as to the price of the new OS yet, but if it's reasonable, Windows 7 may be promising enough to get me to upgrade from XP on my laptop.
Originally, Microsoft planned for Windows 7 (at the time called 6.1) was supposed to be a minor upgrade from Windows Vista. Sort of like a service pack. Microsoft also decided they were going to pull out all the stops and get the operating system out in less than three years! However, with the horrible publicity and reputation that came upon Microsoft with the release of Windows Vista, they decided to get as far away from the Vista name as possible to regain their name. To do this, they decided to quit with the naming convention and just stick to numbers, and since Windows Vista was technically Windows 6.0, they jumped a whole number altogether to get away from it.
Windows 7 isn't built from the ground up. To do so for a universal operating system like Windows would be grueling and only introduce a tremendous amount of bugs. It is still, in fact, an upgrade to Windows Vista. It's an upgrade to Windows Vista that shows real potential in getting Microsoft back into the game of practicallity and putting them back at the forefront operating systems, a lead they've lost with the growing popularity of user-friendly and eye-candy operating systems like Linux Ubuntu and Mac OS X.
Microsoft decided to take notes. After their advertising campaigns to compete Apple's anti-Windows ads backfired humiliatingly (numerous campaigns, I might add, entailing hundreds of millions of dollars each) and only ended up to increase the popularity of Apple's products, they decided their money might be better suited in actually reparing their horribly broken operating system.
Initial benchmarks show that Windows 7 outperforms both Vista (obviously) and XP in almost every area, including start up time, shutdown time, application launch, the recovery from sleep. It still requires a ridiculous 1GB of memory to run properly and leaves an enormous footprint of nearly 13GB (it requires 16GB to install, though). Users often excuse this, saying it doesn't matter since our computers now come with terabyte hard drives and 4GB of memory straight out of the box. This is not a legitimate excuse. A dual-core 2.4GHz processor can compute some 48,000,000,000 periods per second; do you understand the raw power your computer could harness without an operating system (and perhaps the von Neumann Bottleneck) getting in the way? If Microsoft spent less time bloating their operating system and more time allowing applications to speak directly to the hardware, the supercomputers of the future that we so frequently dream would already be here. Anyway, OS X Leopard only requires 512MB of memory to run and 9GB of hard disk space, numbers that still aren't excusable but are good for comparison.
So how about the interface? Like performance, it's significantly better too, right? Definitely. The new taskbar finally dares to do what Vista was too scared to; it abandons the bulky wordage that Microsoft has kept since Windows 95. All applications are represented only by a larger icon of what they are, a design strikingly similar to that of the Mac operating system. To access your entire list of programs, the start menu is still on the left; it looks nearly identical to the menu in Vista with a few added features for simplicty and an improved search speed. Hovering over any icons on the taskbar will render a preview of the open application.
My Computer seems to have been revamped as well with a new way of organizing thing ... A way that, again, looks strikingly similar to the way Apple has chosen to organize Finder. They now support Libraries (Smart Folders), HomeGroup (Bonjour, anyone?), and a nicely organized tree on the left to sort through all the files on your computer. And thank goodness the device manager has finally been tweaked to be more organized.
Perhaps one of my favorites are the new gestures that Windows 7 employs. Drag a program to the top of the screen to maximize it. Throw it against the left or right side of the screen to maximize it to only that side of the screen for easy cascading. Want to hide all the windows so you can see your desktop? Click on the bottom-right hand corner of the screen. And want to make all those other nasty windows disappear except the one you're working with? Click on the menu bar and shake the window. If you need them all to reappear, shake it again. Shaking windows, Microsoft? Now you have been taking notes from Ubuntu ...
Finally, users can decide what they want and don't want in the system tray. This was allowed, to some extent, in Windows XP (and sort of in Vista), but only through the control of the application itself. Microsoft promised it would be allowed for both XP and Vista, but they have yet to come through on their promise. Until now. In Windows 7, if you don't want that icon in your system tray, or if you want it in a different location, just move it! You decide what and how things go in your taskbar!
After using Windows 7 myself and reading several reviews on the subject, the best quote I've heard yet comes straight from AppleInsider.
"But the company is also focusing attention on new performance and usability improvements over Vista, essentially marketing Windows 7's departures from Vista's originally touted features as a feature in itself. There's much less attention on gloss and a new effort in place to present fewer system interruptions due to warning messages like those associated with User Account Control."
"Actual new consumer-facing features in Windows 7 are slight enough for Microsoft to refer to "screen dimming" as significant new feature related to battery life. The Windows 7 website notes, "Bright idea: With a display that dims automatically, you get longer battery life" (below). This feature has been in Windows for at least fifteen years, so it appears the company is rather desperately scraping the barrel for features it can promote in its new operating system release."
I don't say all this to rag on Microsoft. In fact, I'm quite impressed that they seem to be trying to roll out an operating system in less than six years this time. But whether you like Vista or not, if you understand proper proramming and proper computing, you understand Vista was and is a failure. Windows 7 has huge promise, and I'm not upset one bit that the "promise" it's showing (much like all the promise Windows Vista showed, though it was little) is coming straight out of Mac OS X and popular Linux distros such as Ubuntu. Microsoft is the computing giant in the world, and we all know giants move slowly. The little companies have taken off, and Microsoft is finally getting around to catching up. If the final release even maintains the light shown in this beta release (but I'm hoping it still improves even more), I will gladly purchase a license and finally perform a full upgrade from Windows XP on my ... MacBook Pro.
According to the "reliable" source of Wikipedia, it's due out in late 2009 with ... *groan* ... numerous editions yet again. With all the notes Microsoft seems to be taking from Apple, why can't they understand one of the most significant notes? And that is, users want simplicity. We don't want seven editions, we want one. One edition that does it all. But really, as far as Windows 7 goes, that's the ugliest monster in the room. No speculations as to the price of the new OS yet, but if it's reasonable, Windows 7 may be promising enough to get me to upgrade from XP on my laptop.
Originally, Microsoft planned for Windows 7 (at the time called 6.1) was supposed to be a minor upgrade from Windows Vista. Sort of like a service pack. Microsoft also decided they were going to pull out all the stops and get the operating system out in less than three years! However, with the horrible publicity and reputation that came upon Microsoft with the release of Windows Vista, they decided to get as far away from the Vista name as possible to regain their name. To do this, they decided to quit with the naming convention and just stick to numbers, and since Windows Vista was technically Windows 6.0, they jumped a whole number altogether to get away from it.
Windows 7 isn't built from the ground up. To do so for a universal operating system like Windows would be grueling and only introduce a tremendous amount of bugs. It is still, in fact, an upgrade to Windows Vista. It's an upgrade to Windows Vista that shows real potential in getting Microsoft back into the game of practicallity and putting them back at the forefront operating systems, a lead they've lost with the growing popularity of user-friendly and eye-candy operating systems like Linux Ubuntu and Mac OS X.
Microsoft decided to take notes. After their advertising campaigns to compete Apple's anti-Windows ads backfired humiliatingly (numerous campaigns, I might add, entailing hundreds of millions of dollars each) and only ended up to increase the popularity of Apple's products, they decided their money might be better suited in actually reparing their horribly broken operating system.
Initial benchmarks show that Windows 7 outperforms both Vista (obviously) and XP in almost every area, including start up time, shutdown time, application launch, the recovery from sleep. It still requires a ridiculous 1GB of memory to run properly and leaves an enormous footprint of nearly 13GB (it requires 16GB to install, though). Users often excuse this, saying it doesn't matter since our computers now come with terabyte hard drives and 4GB of memory straight out of the box. This is not a legitimate excuse. A dual-core 2.4GHz processor can compute some 48,000,000,000 periods per second; do you understand the raw power your computer could harness without an operating system (and perhaps the von Neumann Bottleneck) getting in the way? If Microsoft spent less time bloating their operating system and more time allowing applications to speak directly to the hardware, the supercomputers of the future that we so frequently dream would already be here. Anyway, OS X Leopard only requires 512MB of memory to run and 9GB of hard disk space, numbers that still aren't excusable but are good for comparison.
So how about the interface? Like performance, it's significantly better too, right? Definitely. The new taskbar finally dares to do what Vista was too scared to; it abandons the bulky wordage that Microsoft has kept since Windows 95. All applications are represented only by a larger icon of what they are, a design strikingly similar to that of the Mac operating system. To access your entire list of programs, the start menu is still on the left; it looks nearly identical to the menu in Vista with a few added features for simplicty and an improved search speed. Hovering over any icons on the taskbar will render a preview of the open application.
My Computer seems to have been revamped as well with a new way of organizing thing ... A way that, again, looks strikingly similar to the way Apple has chosen to organize Finder. They now support Libraries (Smart Folders), HomeGroup (Bonjour, anyone?), and a nicely organized tree on the left to sort through all the files on your computer. And thank goodness the device manager has finally been tweaked to be more organized.
Perhaps one of my favorites are the new gestures that Windows 7 employs. Drag a program to the top of the screen to maximize it. Throw it against the left or right side of the screen to maximize it to only that side of the screen for easy cascading. Want to hide all the windows so you can see your desktop? Click on the bottom-right hand corner of the screen. And want to make all those other nasty windows disappear except the one you're working with? Click on the menu bar and shake the window. If you need them all to reappear, shake it again. Shaking windows, Microsoft? Now you have been taking notes from Ubuntu ...
Finally, users can decide what they want and don't want in the system tray. This was allowed, to some extent, in Windows XP (and sort of in Vista), but only through the control of the application itself. Microsoft promised it would be allowed for both XP and Vista, but they have yet to come through on their promise. Until now. In Windows 7, if you don't want that icon in your system tray, or if you want it in a different location, just move it! You decide what and how things go in your taskbar!
After using Windows 7 myself and reading several reviews on the subject, the best quote I've heard yet comes straight from AppleInsider.
"But the company is also focusing attention on new performance and usability improvements over Vista, essentially marketing Windows 7's departures from Vista's originally touted features as a feature in itself. There's much less attention on gloss and a new effort in place to present fewer system interruptions due to warning messages like those associated with User Account Control."
"Actual new consumer-facing features in Windows 7 are slight enough for Microsoft to refer to "screen dimming" as significant new feature related to battery life. The Windows 7 website notes, "Bright idea: With a display that dims automatically, you get longer battery life" (below). This feature has been in Windows for at least fifteen years, so it appears the company is rather desperately scraping the barrel for features it can promote in its new operating system release."
I don't say all this to rag on Microsoft. In fact, I'm quite impressed that they seem to be trying to roll out an operating system in less than six years this time. But whether you like Vista or not, if you understand proper proramming and proper computing, you understand Vista was and is a failure. Windows 7 has huge promise, and I'm not upset one bit that the "promise" it's showing (much like all the promise Windows Vista showed, though it was little) is coming straight out of Mac OS X and popular Linux distros such as Ubuntu. Microsoft is the computing giant in the world, and we all know giants move slowly. The little companies have taken off, and Microsoft is finally getting around to catching up. If the final release even maintains the light shown in this beta release (but I'm hoping it still improves even more), I will gladly purchase a license and finally perform a full upgrade from Windows XP on my ... MacBook Pro.
Only the Stupidest Song Lyrics
01/19/09 03:28 PM Filed in: Media
Remember when you were
little and your mom would ask you, “Do you even
listen to the lyrics of these songs?” You usually
replied, “No, I just liked the music.” Oddly, your
parents never believed you. I’ve noticed something
scary. I now find myself asking myself (and my peers)
the exact same question for entirely different
reasons. Not because the lyrics may be deemed
inappropriate, but because they’re completely
illogical and/or stupid! Honestly, how does this crap
get popular? This could be a rather long rant ...
Let’s start with something mild. In 1984, Sade’s single “Smooth Operator” was a little proportionally challenged.
Coast to coast
LA to Chicago
In case you are unaware, Chicago isn’t on the coast ...
In 1998, Des’ree released her peculiarly popular song entitled “Life.” In this song, the British Pop singer singer tells us of her superstitions, phobias, and travels around the world.
I’m afraid of the dark
Especially when I’m in a park
And there’s no one else around
Ooh, I get the shivers
Alright, so apparently our girl is a little freaked out because she’s alone in a park in the dark. That much is obvious, but what has always bothered me is the fact that she knows she fears the dark and yet is still in the park ... By herself. Why are you in the park, ma’am? Metaphorical songs are awesome, but this one has me puzzled. Unfortunately, she goes on.
I don’t want to see a ghost
It’s a sight I fear the most
I think I’ll have a piece of toast
And watch the evening news
Apparently toast is what calms her nerves. And the evening news. To me, watching the news does anything but calm my nerves, but I’m not here to judge. However, if I were here to judge, I would say something about the horrible rhyme in those first three lines. Oh, then there’s the second verse.
I’m a superstitious girl
I’m the worst in the world
Never walk under ladders
I keep my rabbit’s tail
She was so careful to rhyme the first verse, what happened here? Additionally, she must have been asleep in History class when they covered European Celtic culture; it’s a rabbit’s foot that’s good luck, Des’ree.
But we’ve all heard comedians and critics alike rant about this song’s stupidity, right? Unfortunately, lyrics haven’t gotten much better in recent years. 1999 saw the release of Crazy Town’s “Butterfly,” a much more catchy song (if you ask me, which you are) than “Life,” but there was one line that always bothered me.
Hey, Sugar Momma, come and dance with me
The smartest thing you ever did was take a chance with me
Whatever tickles your fancy
Girl, it’s you like Sid and Nancy
I’ve never had much success referring to an bonnie lasse as “Sugar Momma.” What’s always really bothered me is the reference to Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen here. Sid was suspected of the drugging and murdering of his girlfriend, Nancy. Very romantic. I wonder how much success Bret Mazur of Crazy Town has with the ladies when he says their relationship can be like Sid and Nancy’s, if that’s what she’s in to. Creep.
Timbaland appears to be as geographically challenged as Sade is with his 2007 single, “Give it to Me.”
I’m a real producer and you just a piano man
I’m respected from California way down to Japan
Google Map it, Tim. Japan is pretty much 4,000 miles directly west of California.
Then there’s Hawk Nelson’s 2004 song, “Letters to the President.”
If I was brave I’d write a letter to the President
And have him pass it to the leaders of our parliament
I don’t even need to list the remainder of the chorus. They repeat this line at least three times in the song, and it has always bothered me immensely. Look, I understand that you’re from Ontario, but you still have no grounds to speak such idiocy. Canada has a Parliamentary Democracy and a Constitutional Monarchy; they do not have a president. The United States (which is presumably what the song is referring to since they live here now and address our issues and reference “states”) has a President. We do not have a parliament or any form thereof. There’s really no way you can even try to bend the rules to excuse the lyrics in this song.
I could go on with about ten more that I’ve got up my sleeve, but I’d rather cut to the chase and get to my favorite one. Taylor Swift’s most recent release, “Love Story,” potentially takes the cake on having either horrible analogies or blatant ignorance.
The song entails the story of how she fell in love with some guy when she was young. They refer to themselves as Romeo and Juliet. I’ve never understood the songs (or stories, or whatever) that glorify Romeo and Juliet as both a happy and wonderful story of love. Sure, Romeo and Juliet defied all odds to be together, which is a pretty awesome tail of love. But they ended up both dying, of by their own hand, in the end of the story. Why would you want to emulate that relationship?
See the lights
See the party, the ball gowns
I see you make your way through the crowd
And say hello, little did I know
That you were Romeo
You were throwing pebbles
And my daddy said stay away from Juliet
Okay, first big mistake you make: you didn’t listen to your daddy. See, we have those for a reason. They can pick out the creepy guys pretty well, and when they tell you to stay away from a guy, it’s usually for good reason. And there you go comparing yourselves to Romeo and Juliet, which means you’re pretty much setting yourselves up for failure or a horribly depressing fling.
So I sneak out to the garden to see you
We keep quiet cuz we’re dead if they knew
So close your eyes
Escape this town for a little while
Great. Now he has you sneaking out for him. See? Bad guy. You should have listened to your dad!
Cuz you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter
First your comparing your love story to Romeo and Juliet, and now the Scarlet Letter? Question: have you ever actually read either of these works before writing this song? Or, perhaps a more relevant question, do you proof what your ghost writers come up with? Or are you, for some reason, happily calling yourself an adulteress? Because that’s what the scarlet letter represented in the book.
You’ll be the prince, and I’ll be the princess
See, here’s the thing, Romeo was the son of Lord and Lady Montague who were just that ... A Lord and a Lady. The son of a Lord and a Lady is wealthy, to be sure, but by no means a prince. Similarly, Juliet was not a princess, and neither is Taylor Swift. At least, as far as I know.
The most drastic transition comes with the final verse, and it comes with little to no explanation. Romeo has apparently been gone for a while when one day, as Juliet is peering out of the the highest window in the tallest tower of her castle, she sees Romeo coming in the distance and sings the final verse.
Romeo save me, I’ve been feeling so alone
I keep waiting for you but you never come
Is this in my head? I don’t know what to think
He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said
“Marry me, Juliet. You’ll never have to be alone
I love you and that’s all I really know
I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress
It’s a love story, Baby, just say, ‘Yes’”
What’s the deal with Juliet’s father? I thought he didn’t like this guy. He must be really convincing or something, and he needs to give me a few pointers, because Emilie’s dad doesn’t like me and I’m trying to work on that. Anyway, this guy apparently disappears for an extended period of time, leaving Juliet hanging (not a good way to impress the ladies from what I’ve learned), and he comes back with a ring fully expecting her to marry him now? If I were her father, I wouldn’t let them get married. Anyway, aside from that, if Juliet is truly the scarlet letter that she refers to herself as, she couldn’t wear a white dress, and I find it interesting that she specifies that it’s a white dress. I know our culture doesn’t respect the white dress thing anymore, but they would have in the ‘ol days.
All this to say, you apparently don’t need to have much knowledge of history, geography, or literature to write a song and compose stupid love analogies. You can be pretty much anybody and write pretty much anything and still, somehow, get popular. It really is all in who you know. Also, listen to your daddy. He knows best.
End rant.
Let’s start with something mild. In 1984, Sade’s single “Smooth Operator” was a little proportionally challenged.
Coast to coast
LA to Chicago
In case you are unaware, Chicago isn’t on the coast ...
In 1998, Des’ree released her peculiarly popular song entitled “Life.” In this song, the British Pop singer singer tells us of her superstitions, phobias, and travels around the world.
I’m afraid of the dark
Especially when I’m in a park
And there’s no one else around
Ooh, I get the shivers
Alright, so apparently our girl is a little freaked out because she’s alone in a park in the dark. That much is obvious, but what has always bothered me is the fact that she knows she fears the dark and yet is still in the park ... By herself. Why are you in the park, ma’am? Metaphorical songs are awesome, but this one has me puzzled. Unfortunately, she goes on.
I don’t want to see a ghost
It’s a sight I fear the most
I think I’ll have a piece of toast
And watch the evening news
Apparently toast is what calms her nerves. And the evening news. To me, watching the news does anything but calm my nerves, but I’m not here to judge. However, if I were here to judge, I would say something about the horrible rhyme in those first three lines. Oh, then there’s the second verse.
I’m a superstitious girl
I’m the worst in the world
Never walk under ladders
I keep my rabbit’s tail
She was so careful to rhyme the first verse, what happened here? Additionally, she must have been asleep in History class when they covered European Celtic culture; it’s a rabbit’s foot that’s good luck, Des’ree.
But we’ve all heard comedians and critics alike rant about this song’s stupidity, right? Unfortunately, lyrics haven’t gotten much better in recent years. 1999 saw the release of Crazy Town’s “Butterfly,” a much more catchy song (if you ask me, which you are) than “Life,” but there was one line that always bothered me.
Hey, Sugar Momma, come and dance with me
The smartest thing you ever did was take a chance with me
Whatever tickles your fancy
Girl, it’s you like Sid and Nancy
I’ve never had much success referring to an bonnie lasse as “Sugar Momma.” What’s always really bothered me is the reference to Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen here. Sid was suspected of the drugging and murdering of his girlfriend, Nancy. Very romantic. I wonder how much success Bret Mazur of Crazy Town has with the ladies when he says their relationship can be like Sid and Nancy’s, if that’s what she’s in to. Creep.
Timbaland appears to be as geographically challenged as Sade is with his 2007 single, “Give it to Me.”
I’m a real producer and you just a piano man
I’m respected from California way down to Japan
Google Map it, Tim. Japan is pretty much 4,000 miles directly west of California.
Then there’s Hawk Nelson’s 2004 song, “Letters to the President.”
If I was brave I’d write a letter to the President
And have him pass it to the leaders of our parliament
I don’t even need to list the remainder of the chorus. They repeat this line at least three times in the song, and it has always bothered me immensely. Look, I understand that you’re from Ontario, but you still have no grounds to speak such idiocy. Canada has a Parliamentary Democracy and a Constitutional Monarchy; they do not have a president. The United States (which is presumably what the song is referring to since they live here now and address our issues and reference “states”) has a President. We do not have a parliament or any form thereof. There’s really no way you can even try to bend the rules to excuse the lyrics in this song.
I could go on with about ten more that I’ve got up my sleeve, but I’d rather cut to the chase and get to my favorite one. Taylor Swift’s most recent release, “Love Story,” potentially takes the cake on having either horrible analogies or blatant ignorance.
The song entails the story of how she fell in love with some guy when she was young. They refer to themselves as Romeo and Juliet. I’ve never understood the songs (or stories, or whatever) that glorify Romeo and Juliet as both a happy and wonderful story of love. Sure, Romeo and Juliet defied all odds to be together, which is a pretty awesome tail of love. But they ended up both dying, of by their own hand, in the end of the story. Why would you want to emulate that relationship?
See the lights
See the party, the ball gowns
I see you make your way through the crowd
And say hello, little did I know
That you were Romeo
You were throwing pebbles
And my daddy said stay away from Juliet
Okay, first big mistake you make: you didn’t listen to your daddy. See, we have those for a reason. They can pick out the creepy guys pretty well, and when they tell you to stay away from a guy, it’s usually for good reason. And there you go comparing yourselves to Romeo and Juliet, which means you’re pretty much setting yourselves up for failure or a horribly depressing fling.
So I sneak out to the garden to see you
We keep quiet cuz we’re dead if they knew
So close your eyes
Escape this town for a little while
Great. Now he has you sneaking out for him. See? Bad guy. You should have listened to your dad!
Cuz you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter
First your comparing your love story to Romeo and Juliet, and now the Scarlet Letter? Question: have you ever actually read either of these works before writing this song? Or, perhaps a more relevant question, do you proof what your ghost writers come up with? Or are you, for some reason, happily calling yourself an adulteress? Because that’s what the scarlet letter represented in the book.
You’ll be the prince, and I’ll be the princess
See, here’s the thing, Romeo was the son of Lord and Lady Montague who were just that ... A Lord and a Lady. The son of a Lord and a Lady is wealthy, to be sure, but by no means a prince. Similarly, Juliet was not a princess, and neither is Taylor Swift. At least, as far as I know.
The most drastic transition comes with the final verse, and it comes with little to no explanation. Romeo has apparently been gone for a while when one day, as Juliet is peering out of the the highest window in the tallest tower of her castle, she sees Romeo coming in the distance and sings the final verse.
Romeo save me, I’ve been feeling so alone
I keep waiting for you but you never come
Is this in my head? I don’t know what to think
He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said
“Marry me, Juliet. You’ll never have to be alone
I love you and that’s all I really know
I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress
It’s a love story, Baby, just say, ‘Yes’”
What’s the deal with Juliet’s father? I thought he didn’t like this guy. He must be really convincing or something, and he needs to give me a few pointers, because Emilie’s dad doesn’t like me and I’m trying to work on that. Anyway, this guy apparently disappears for an extended period of time, leaving Juliet hanging (not a good way to impress the ladies from what I’ve learned), and he comes back with a ring fully expecting her to marry him now? If I were her father, I wouldn’t let them get married. Anyway, aside from that, if Juliet is truly the scarlet letter that she refers to herself as, she couldn’t wear a white dress, and I find it interesting that she specifies that it’s a white dress. I know our culture doesn’t respect the white dress thing anymore, but they would have in the ‘ol days.
All this to say, you apparently don’t need to have much knowledge of history, geography, or literature to write a song and compose stupid love analogies. You can be pretty much anybody and write pretty much anything and still, somehow, get popular. It really is all in who you know. Also, listen to your daddy. He knows best.
End rant.
First Week Ramblings
01/09/09 05:40 PM Filed in: Academia
Passing Out
How many people have to pass out in chapel before we’re considered charismatic? I said at least ten, but Dave thinks we can probably get away with just five. Either way, I don’t think we’re up to charismatic yet ... But we’re gaining fast.I’m back at school again, and this week is the Spring Missions Conference. Yes, we’ve already had two people pass out. In chapel. On the same day. I think this may be a hint as to how stellar our speakers have been thus far, specifically two days ago when the two people passed out.
The first guy was the camera man. I’m guessing he locked his knees, but I think it’s more fun to blame it on the speaker who couldn’t even hold Jessica’s interest enough to keep her taking notes. And she always takes notes.
The second one was somebody in the back. I didn’t see them, but just as chapel was just getting out, Jesse Jones (my hero) flipped open his phone to view a text message. I then heard him mutter, “Oh, crap, somebody else passed out.”
“Wait, what? Besides the camera guy?”
“Yah, they’re in the back,” he replied as he threw his backpack over his shoulder and darted to the back of the chapel. Jesse is an EMT. He’s also a stud. And yes, ladies, I do believe he’s single.
Elevator
Campus Safety has it out to get us. By us I basically only mean the dorm of Brock. The elevator hasn’t worked all year, but at the beginning of this semester our RD sent out an email informing us that it has been turned on again. It was turned off at the beginning of the year due to “improper use.” We’re not sure what that means; all we did was put a bench and a lounge chair on it ... Repeatedly ... After they kept getting taken off, presumably by Campus Safety or Maintenance.Anyway, our elevator is back on, and Dave and I are making the most of it. We’re pretty lazy when it comes to stairs. However, the elevator is really creepy to use ... It makes all sorts of creaking sounds and sways back and forth as it crawls up and down. I honestly think we’re going to end up getting stuck in it one of these days. Dave’s motto is, “Never ride in an elevator with someone you wouldn’t be willing to make out with for a few hours if the elevator got stuck.” I’m not sure what this means considering he rides up and down with me regularly, but we inform anyone riding on the elevator with us of our motto, just so they know.
Kristi’s Still Small
It turns out Kristi hasn’t grown any over break. She still fits just as snugly as before in one of these chairs.
Classes, etc.
Except for lab, I’ve now attended all of my classes. I have all my classes on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and one of them (which is a five-credit class) is also on Tuesday, Thursday. I’m taking Calculus II, General Physics I, Discrete Math, and Programming Language Survey. It’s going to be a lot of work, but I think I’ll be able to handle it. This afternoon I finished putting all of my assignments into a calendar entitled “Schoolwork” on Google Calendar. I found a way to properly synchronize Google Calendar with iCal, which syncs with iTunes, which syncs with my iPod! Now my entire schedule and all my homework with me wherever I go!Random Quote
“Wow ... Well now I’ve seen everything!”“Really? Have you seen a man eat his own head?”
I don’t know if it was just too late at night or ... What, but this quote was about the only redeeming quality to this movie, which shall remain unnamed for security reasons.
Weekend
I’ve officially made it to my first weekend back at school. It’s Friday, and I’ve finished all classes for today. Kylee and I (and anyone else that decides to tag along) are going to see Seven Pounds tonight. Tomorrow I’ll start on getting ahead on all my homework.The first week always seems to be the worst. It’s when you’re experiencing that shock of going from waking up at eleven in the morning and doing absolutely nothing all day back to waking up with the sun to stress yourself out all day. But it always gets better. The semester is almost never as bad as the syllabi or prof make them out to be the first day of class (and one of my profs certainly made the class out to be awful ... But it won’t be).
All-in-all, it’s great to be back with friends and at the school I love. And I’m really looking forward to this semester. And, yes, I do realize this is the most random and unorganized post I’ve ever written. You’ll have to give me a break. It’s just the end of the first week, which both similar (in terms of your mind being fried) and completely different than (in terms of amount of stress and workload) than Finals Week.