It's a topic I feel like ranting a little bit about though. I absolutely CANNOT STAND IT when people cite a particular weather system (specifically this huge ass snow storm) and proclaim "This must mean global warming is false!!!"
Now, before I go any farther, I need to clarify my stance on the subject of global warming. Quite frankly, I don't know what I believe. What I do know though is that each side of the political spectrum uses it as propaganda to manipulate people. Therefore, I don't even know where to try to educate myself on the matter. I don't trust either side to provide me with unbiased data to make an educated decision from.
Anyway, back to the original topic. This rant is inspired by a couple Facebook statuses I read and a segment from The Daily Show where they showed clips from the always fair and balanced Fox News gloating that this snow storm disproves Al Gore. Apparently the existence of snow is indisputable evidence that global warming is simply impossible. Like I said, I don't really know if I believe it exists or not. Maybe it's just a normal cyclical pattern that Earth is going through. Either way though, the existence of snow and cold weather is not a suitable argument against global warming. It seems to be happening a bit more now because of the storm, but it's something I hear people say every winter. To me, it seems like the most unsophisticated argument possible and is just brainwashing bullshit fed to people from the media.
That's really all I want to say about the subject, so this is going to be a pretty short entry. I wanted to put my two cents out there though. Like I said in the religion entry, I'm probably not offering anything new and exciting, but it's sort of therapeutic to just put my thoughts out there in words when I find a topic that bothers me. I'm playing around with a couple ideas for my next entry. I'll either rant about another political topic that bothers me, or I might do a baseball entry since Spring Training is starting up soon. I might also think of something else that interests me. We'll see.
~CB~
----------------
Now playing: ESPN - Baseball Today: 2/11
via FoxyTunes
2/2/10
OMG LOST'S FINAL SEASON STARTS TONIGHT!!!!
CHANCES ARE THERE WILL BE SOME SPOILERS BELOW. IF YOU DON'T WANT ANYTHING THROUGH SEASON 5 SPOILED, YOU MAY NOT WANT TO READ THIS ENTRY.
I'm so pumped for this. It's a show I somehow avoided for its first five years, but I became interested in watching it when I discovered that I could watch all five seasons on Netflix. I had seen the first part of the pilot episode before, but that was it. On December 10th, 2009, I watched the second part of the pilot. On December 30th, 2009, I finished up season 5. Yep...in about 20 days, I watched about 100 episodes of Lost. It probably wasn't very healthy since I was watching episodes into the early morning hours sometimes and not getting much sleep. It sure as hell was fun though.
Anyway, in this blog post, I'm going to list my five favorite Lost characters (in no order) and explain why I love them so much. The list changes often and could very well change by the end of the night. For now though, here are my top five Lost characters:
1. Ben
2. Hurley
3. Charlie
4. Locke
5. Sawyer
1. Ben - Ben might be one of my favorite television or movie characters ever. He's an absolute diabolical genius. What's especially great though is that there are so many instances where you're not sure if maybe this time he's turned a corner and is being honest. Then every single time, he winds up being the same diabolical mastermind he's always been. You can't help falling for it though. Recently his character has been made to look weaker and more human, and again, I can't help but wonder if this time he's an innocent bystander to the situation going on. Or yet again, will he prove to be the manipulative, diabolical, evil genius he's always been?
2. Hurley - Hurley's that big teddy bear you just can't help but love. Not only that, but his character is one of the more deep and interesting ones in the show. He's also a character that has a great deal of mystery still surrounding him. He comes off as one of the most genuinely nice characters on the show, and often can provide the show with a lot of humor. When his character takes a serious turn though, he's so good at making you truly care about him. Also, you gotta love that his dad is played by Cheech.
3. Charlie - He's unfortunately dead now (Or is he? Just about anything is possible in the Lost universe.), but I like Charlie for a lot of the same reasons that I like Hurley. His character is very deep and interesting, and he also comes off as one of the nicer characters on the show (went he isn't loaded or in withdrawal anyway). I loved the storyline of Charlie's inner battle with his drug addiction and how it affected his relationships with other people on the island. Plus in the end, knowing he would likely die, selflessly helped everyone else. You can't hate a guy like that.
4. Locke - For the sake of simplicity, I'm including "fake Locke" from the end of season 5 as well since they're played by the same actor. Even though some of the evidence of it gets thrown off at the end of season 5, Locke is kind of like the Christ figure of Lost (high school AP English strikes again). He's often the antithesis of Jack's beliefs in science. Locke is often willing to take a leap of faith rather than using science and reason to solve a problem. He's easy to get behind because he's so mysterious. I'm not sure where his character goes now, but it seems likely he'll be a major player in the end of the series.
5. Sawyer - Sawyer is a character that really grew on me as the show progressed. I couldn't stand him at first, though I was definitely curious about him from the very beginning. As his character evolved, he became less of a total jackass and much more of a sympathetic character. Especially in the later seasons, even though he still had some asshole characteristics, you could tell that he was a legitimately nice guy that cared deeply about the people that he grew to be friends with on the island. Plus he sort of looks like CM Punk at times. That gave him the victory in the tiebreaker over my honorable mentions.
Honorable Mentions: Daniel, Eko, and Desmond
As I am typing this sentence though, we're only 51 minutes away from the recap episode of Lost. Immediately following that, season 6 begins. Having to wait a week between episodes might kill me since I'm not used to having to wait between episodes. I'm expecting an amazing finale to the series though.
~CB~
I'm so pumped for this. It's a show I somehow avoided for its first five years, but I became interested in watching it when I discovered that I could watch all five seasons on Netflix. I had seen the first part of the pilot episode before, but that was it. On December 10th, 2009, I watched the second part of the pilot. On December 30th, 2009, I finished up season 5. Yep...in about 20 days, I watched about 100 episodes of Lost. It probably wasn't very healthy since I was watching episodes into the early morning hours sometimes and not getting much sleep. It sure as hell was fun though.
Anyway, in this blog post, I'm going to list my five favorite Lost characters (in no order) and explain why I love them so much. The list changes often and could very well change by the end of the night. For now though, here are my top five Lost characters:
1. Ben
2. Hurley
3. Charlie
4. Locke
5. Sawyer
1. Ben - Ben might be one of my favorite television or movie characters ever. He's an absolute diabolical genius. What's especially great though is that there are so many instances where you're not sure if maybe this time he's turned a corner and is being honest. Then every single time, he winds up being the same diabolical mastermind he's always been. You can't help falling for it though. Recently his character has been made to look weaker and more human, and again, I can't help but wonder if this time he's an innocent bystander to the situation going on. Or yet again, will he prove to be the manipulative, diabolical, evil genius he's always been?
2. Hurley - Hurley's that big teddy bear you just can't help but love. Not only that, but his character is one of the more deep and interesting ones in the show. He's also a character that has a great deal of mystery still surrounding him. He comes off as one of the most genuinely nice characters on the show, and often can provide the show with a lot of humor. When his character takes a serious turn though, he's so good at making you truly care about him. Also, you gotta love that his dad is played by Cheech.
3. Charlie - He's unfortunately dead now (Or is he? Just about anything is possible in the Lost universe.), but I like Charlie for a lot of the same reasons that I like Hurley. His character is very deep and interesting, and he also comes off as one of the nicer characters on the show (went he isn't loaded or in withdrawal anyway). I loved the storyline of Charlie's inner battle with his drug addiction and how it affected his relationships with other people on the island. Plus in the end, knowing he would likely die, selflessly helped everyone else. You can't hate a guy like that.
4. Locke - For the sake of simplicity, I'm including "fake Locke" from the end of season 5 as well since they're played by the same actor. Even though some of the evidence of it gets thrown off at the end of season 5, Locke is kind of like the Christ figure of Lost (high school AP English strikes again). He's often the antithesis of Jack's beliefs in science. Locke is often willing to take a leap of faith rather than using science and reason to solve a problem. He's easy to get behind because he's so mysterious. I'm not sure where his character goes now, but it seems likely he'll be a major player in the end of the series.
5. Sawyer - Sawyer is a character that really grew on me as the show progressed. I couldn't stand him at first, though I was definitely curious about him from the very beginning. As his character evolved, he became less of a total jackass and much more of a sympathetic character. Especially in the later seasons, even though he still had some asshole characteristics, you could tell that he was a legitimately nice guy that cared deeply about the people that he grew to be friends with on the island. Plus he sort of looks like CM Punk at times. That gave him the victory in the tiebreaker over my honorable mentions.
Honorable Mentions: Daniel, Eko, and Desmond
As I am typing this sentence though, we're only 51 minutes away from the recap episode of Lost. Immediately following that, season 6 begins. Having to wait a week between episodes might kill me since I'm not used to having to wait between episodes. I'm expecting an amazing finale to the series though.
~CB~
1/26/10
Fuck It, Let's Start With The Big Guns
I was debating how I really wanted to kick off the topics on this blog. I wasn't sure if I wanted to toss out something big, deep, and potentially controversial or start with something less heavy like a TV or sports post. The first post sets the tone for the blog, so I wasn't sure which direction was the best to take. After thinking about it though, I think this is a good place to start. I'd like to think that I'm a pretty honest person. I'd like to think I can tell it like it is, even if I am definitely a fairly shy and quiet person a lot of the time. Therefore, I'd like to set the tone by starting out with a straight forward honest post with some substance. I'm bringing out the big guns and using my first main blog post as my take on religion.
I'm really not a very opinionated person on a lot of things. I don't believe in black and white. Everything has a grey area. Granted some things have less of a grey area than others, but that grey area still does exist. I bring this up for two reasons. First, I'm not going to ever try to preach and impose my beliefs on anyone else. There's more than one path from point A to point B. Second, it ties in with what I believe is one of the main issues with people's interpretation on religion.
There are no words strong enough for me to express just how much I hate it when people use their own personal religious beliefs as a measuring stick for how those around them should act. To me, that seems like such a narcissistic way to look at the world. I mean, how narcissistic do you have to be to believe that what you personally believe should govern what everyone else does? I mean, I have my own religious beliefs and would consider myself to be a moderately religious person, but it absolutely boggles my mind that people can be that narcissistic.
That being said though, I definitely believe that religion and spirituality are a good thing for humanity. Well, let me rephrase that. It can be a good thing. Unfortunately, it can also be a very bad thing, and history seems to show us that again and again. I think it can be a very good thing though to believe in something, whatever that may be. The people that get so caught up in it though that they feel the need to scream it from the rooftops are not utilizing religion correctly though. My belief is, preach to those who want to hear it. Don't worry about those who don't. Everyone's on the same level. Everyone's human, and everyone has the ability and the right to make decisions for themselves.
Let's look at someone like Pat Robertson. He recently made a comment that the earthquake in Haiti was a punishment from God because the Haitian people sold their souls to Satan. Honestly, here's how I look at something like that. If that's what he truly believes, in all honesty, I don't have an issue with him having that belief. HOWEVER...the fact that he feels the need to vocalize that belief is troubling. It helps no one. I would like to think that a main overlying theme of Christianity is to help other people. Therefore, shouldn't he be trying to help other human beings instead of finger pointing?
I'm sure I'm rambling at this point, but I think my main point is this. Quite frankly, it really doesn't matter what anyone believes. From atheism all the way out to believing that mutant robot squirrels gave birth to a Mexican parrot that formed the universe with its excrement, it really doesn't matter. People need to keep in mind though that these are their own beliefs. Religion can be a very good thing on a personal level, but people need to keep in mind that it's just that...it's a personal thing.
I'm sure this post is jumping around a bit and feels like rambling, but that's because I could make 1,000 posts on this subject. That's not my objective though. I'm sure my views here aren't anything new and exciting, but I think people's actions in society demonstrate that this message needs to be repeated again and again. Religious beliefs can be a great thing on a personal level, but it's very important to remember that they don't necessarily extend to those around you. That's where the problems with religion start. Instead of concentrating about how other people's beliefs match up with yours, concentrate on being a good person. I think it's as simple as that. If you can do that, everything else should fall into place. There's no need to overly complicate things. Just be a decent person.
~CB~
I'm really not a very opinionated person on a lot of things. I don't believe in black and white. Everything has a grey area. Granted some things have less of a grey area than others, but that grey area still does exist. I bring this up for two reasons. First, I'm not going to ever try to preach and impose my beliefs on anyone else. There's more than one path from point A to point B. Second, it ties in with what I believe is one of the main issues with people's interpretation on religion.
There are no words strong enough for me to express just how much I hate it when people use their own personal religious beliefs as a measuring stick for how those around them should act. To me, that seems like such a narcissistic way to look at the world. I mean, how narcissistic do you have to be to believe that what you personally believe should govern what everyone else does? I mean, I have my own religious beliefs and would consider myself to be a moderately religious person, but it absolutely boggles my mind that people can be that narcissistic.
That being said though, I definitely believe that religion and spirituality are a good thing for humanity. Well, let me rephrase that. It can be a good thing. Unfortunately, it can also be a very bad thing, and history seems to show us that again and again. I think it can be a very good thing though to believe in something, whatever that may be. The people that get so caught up in it though that they feel the need to scream it from the rooftops are not utilizing religion correctly though. My belief is, preach to those who want to hear it. Don't worry about those who don't. Everyone's on the same level. Everyone's human, and everyone has the ability and the right to make decisions for themselves.
Let's look at someone like Pat Robertson. He recently made a comment that the earthquake in Haiti was a punishment from God because the Haitian people sold their souls to Satan. Honestly, here's how I look at something like that. If that's what he truly believes, in all honesty, I don't have an issue with him having that belief. HOWEVER...the fact that he feels the need to vocalize that belief is troubling. It helps no one. I would like to think that a main overlying theme of Christianity is to help other people. Therefore, shouldn't he be trying to help other human beings instead of finger pointing?
I'm sure I'm rambling at this point, but I think my main point is this. Quite frankly, it really doesn't matter what anyone believes. From atheism all the way out to believing that mutant robot squirrels gave birth to a Mexican parrot that formed the universe with its excrement, it really doesn't matter. People need to keep in mind though that these are their own beliefs. Religion can be a very good thing on a personal level, but people need to keep in mind that it's just that...it's a personal thing.
I'm sure this post is jumping around a bit and feels like rambling, but that's because I could make 1,000 posts on this subject. That's not my objective though. I'm sure my views here aren't anything new and exciting, but I think people's actions in society demonstrate that this message needs to be repeated again and again. Religious beliefs can be a great thing on a personal level, but it's very important to remember that they don't necessarily extend to those around you. That's where the problems with religion start. Instead of concentrating about how other people's beliefs match up with yours, concentrate on being a good person. I think it's as simple as that. If you can do that, everything else should fall into place. There's no need to overly complicate things. Just be a decent person.
~CB~
1/25/10
Welcome!
Welcome to the first entry on this brand new blog destined to make the entire internet spontaneously combust from its immeasurable greatness. Well...not really, but I hope if you take the time to read anything I post here that it's worth your time. I don't really have any particular purpose for this blog in all honesty. I'm sure topics on will have a pretty ridiculous range encompassing many different things. To name a few, I'm sure this blog will eventually contain posts about sports, movies, music, politics, personal philosophies, angry rants, and a million other things.
One thing I would like to advertise a bit here should be showing up on the right side of the blog if I entered it in correctly. The Smashing Pumpkins are currently in the proccess of releasing a 44 song album entitled "Teargarden by Kaleidyscope." This album, however, is being released song by song for free over the internet. So far two songs have been released (which should be available for streaming and download on the right), and a new song should be coming out approximately once every month. I'm sure it won't be everyone's thing, but hey, it's free music.
For now, I think that's about it. I don't think I'm going to have a regular timetable for updates. I'll likely just add something whenever I have the inspiration to do so or have some free time.
~CB~
----------------
Now playing: Smashing Pumpkins - To Forgive
via FoxyTunes
One thing I would like to advertise a bit here should be showing up on the right side of the blog if I entered it in correctly. The Smashing Pumpkins are currently in the proccess of releasing a 44 song album entitled "Teargarden by Kaleidyscope." This album, however, is being released song by song for free over the internet. So far two songs have been released (which should be available for streaming and download on the right), and a new song should be coming out approximately once every month. I'm sure it won't be everyone's thing, but hey, it's free music.
For now, I think that's about it. I don't think I'm going to have a regular timetable for updates. I'll likely just add something whenever I have the inspiration to do so or have some free time.
~CB~
----------------
Now playing: Smashing Pumpkins - To Forgive
via FoxyTunes
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)