One thing that has to stop...

I haven't posted anything in a while, sorry! With the combination of the holidays and I've been feeling a little under the weather...
Recently, while perusing through Facebook, because I was absolutely bored at work, I came across something. It's something that honestly bothers me. Bothers me to no end. There's a certain kind of people. We all have these kinds of people we know. It's those people who say that they're a "fan of all kinds of music". Which just is not possible. I could find some music that you absolutely will not enjoy. If you think you are one of these people and find yourself saying "I like everything" in response to favorite music questions. Answer it this way, "I like popular music". That pretty much defines you as liking top 40's. Or possibly, "I like pop music" so we can define you as a genre. Better yet, get a favorite band. Favorite bands are like Ice Cream. You've always got a favorite, and that can change over time, and that's okay.
Saying "I like everything" in regards to music tells me a couple of things about a person:
A) They're a complete conformist personality.
B) They don't give it much thought, or care.
C) They live in a complete bubble, and don't expand at all.
D) So, closed off that they don't want to give you an actual opinion.
It can be one or several of these these things. All of which are very bad personality traits, in my opinion. Take one of my experiences from my very short stint of active dating. While getting to know someone, when trying to find out their interests, the music question is one that's kind of important. The kind of music you like defines you as an individual a lot of times, and while we try and be unique the kind of music one likes tends to define them. Take myself and my musical tastes.
I like some Industrial and Punk. Industrial basically has a to hell with the system attitude, much like Punk has, but conveys a level of apathy. Punk has the same to hell with the system kind of attitude, but goes in a punch you in the mouth sort of way. Those echo quite a bit of things about my personality. It's the same with most other kinds of musical preferences. When applying this to relationships, Someone who is a to hell with the system kind of guy, really won't mesh well with a "I like musicals" kind of person.
So, for all that's holy, let's stop with the "I like all music" kinds of attitude. It's not healthy, and not very descriptive about yourself. If you need some Facebook examples. Let me know, I can point out some real gems!

The Story. (The Serious Stuff)

The Story. A professor once told me that "The Story is everything. Everything in life stems from a story of some kind." It's something that I agree with. Stories have always had a profound influence on us. Whether they be from the Bible, Koran, Torah, etc. Even to the personal stories from people we know. We can always learn something from a story. Every day we think that our stories may not matter, that they have no point, or that they are only for us and extremely private, or that no one wants to hear it. I'm here to tell everyone that they do matter, and I always pay attention.
I've had a few weeks now without several of my vices in life, and I've been reading and reflecting, only to come to a conclusion. With an uncertain future, the stories are all that I have. I have lost the right to basic human emotion long ago, and it is only through stories that I can feel. It's the same for most human beings. Stories move us and make us passionate. They enable us to do all kinds of things. Be it the story of a parent-less child in Africa, to the story of the abused in the US, to a story of the over-privileged, stories like these have gotten people to act or do things not within their pattern of behavior. It's human kinds ability to adjust and to do things that gives us hope for the future.
Every story I see is beautiful. Whether it's the story of a young LDS Artist struggling to make her way in the world, or an opinionated redhead who has to experience everything the world has to offer, or a man who ultimately desires to do many things for other people but yet has no one who does it for him. All of these stories have different emotions associated with them, some are sad stories, some happy, some are told for amusement. Many of my family and friends have wonderful stories, but are either too embarrassed or too concerned about others passing judgment to share them with the world. Which is a grave injustice to human kind.
A good, but over used saying is "The truth shall set you free". I find this is the case with many of own personal stories. I joke about it to make light of it, but I do have many unpleasant memories of my 2nd step-father. My mother married a man named Bob. Bob was alleged, but unproven child molester. Now, I can't really speak for the truth of these statements and I was only about 6 years old, but I can speak of a meetings with my mother.
Bob had a second story house. After many years, it seems the relationship because estranged, and Bob had the downstairs of the house, while my mother had the upstairs. My mother in a fit of frustration and rage, made me promise that I would NEVER go downstairs. Some of you may, or may not know this story. However, I can tell you how my curiosity got the better of me, and my young self ventured downstairs one day. The only thing I can remember is the darkness and the cold, and the brooding sense of evil in the air that it was nearly palpable. It was a short lived trip. To this day, I don't really remember what occurred after going downstairs.
It took me quite some time before I was comfortable even sharing that story. However, now I can joke about it, and it doesn't mean anything. So, if you have some time today. Share a story with someone. If it's one that you haven't told, all the better. To quote one of my favorite monologues and endings of all time, and one of my favorite movies The Prestige. Applies quite a bit to sharing these life stories of ours. In the climax of the movie the central characters are having their showdown, and the magicians speak to one another about their trade:

(While talking to Borden) "You never understood why we did it! It was the look on their faces. The audience knows the truth. The world is hollow, shallow through and through. But, if you get them to believe, even for a second, then you've done something wonderful."

Say it ain't so, Dwayne Johnson, say it ain't so!

While perusing through FirstShowing.net, I found a movie titled Disney's Race to Witch Mountain. I am conflicted about this on so many levels. First of all, it's a movie that is a remake of one that I actually liked from childhood, Escape to Witch Mountain, which I loved as a kid.

Enter 2008, and then they wanted to do a remake. It is directed by Andy Fickman, with such credits She's The Man and The Game Plan. Which explains Dwayne Johnson's appearance. You might be asking, why would I care. The answer is this. I now have to add The Rock to my list of actors that I'll never pay money to see again. All these actors are Disney movie alums who are just looking for a paycheck. I gave him a pass for The Game Plan, but now...It just will not work out between us. So, sorry Dwayne you're going on the list with the likes of:
- Eddie Murphy
- Vin Diesel
- Adam Sandler
- Robin Williams
- Martin Lawrence
- Paul Walker
- Brendan Fraser
- Rick Moranis
- Michelle Trachtenburg
- John Travolta
- Anne Hathaway
- Tim Allen
- Cuba Gooding Jr.
Also, inevitably it's going to be one of those crappy Disney remakes that disappoints on so many levels. Which will inevitably get me into a fight with some soccer mom, at the video counter. For Example (This has happened in the past):

One day, while at a local Blockbuster, I decided that I would buy a recent zombie flick. While checking at the counter, after I asked the blue-shirted Blockbuster rep about the movie, a woman in her 40's brazenly told me "Why would you watch that!? Those movies are crap. The church even says that someone shouldn't watch them. The prophet says you shouldn't watch them."
She then proceeds to ask, "Do you guys have a copy of 'She's the Man'?"
Of course, I had to lay into her, "So, I'm not supposed to watch a zombie movie, but you'll rent a move about a 19 year old who cross dresses and tries to hook up with with pre-marital intercourse with another teen and early 20 year old. That's okay to you? Remind me, how does the church feel about cross-dressing!?"

Personally, I don't want to get into these kinds of exchanges. I want soccer mom's to live in their little diluted world, and I'll live in mine. This is why with humble shame, that I have to throw Dwayne Johnson into the "do not support" category! It was good knowing you Dwayne through "The Rundown", "Walking Tall", and various crappy action movies but those days are gone.

Here's the difference between a good movie and bad one...

Today, I want to make some contrasts. There have been 2 vampire movies released recently in the Salt Lake Valley. The first, Twilight. Based on a series of books.


The second, Let the Right One In. Both are about Vampires, and love and all that stuff. However, one is done the right way, and one is done the wrong way.


Both movies are centered on a sort of love story, which fits based on the psychological and literal history of vampirism. However, Twilight is all about teeny bopper high school kids. It's just another teenager about beautiful kids who just "aren't understood". It's so full on teenager angst, that I almost had to call in a trip to mall, just to calm the kids down. If you don't want to pay the full price for a movie ticket, you can also see the horrible movie, The Covenant and get the same thing.
Let the Right One In, however, is about a young man being bullied and made fun of. It's the perfect story about early adolescence and about gender confusion. It's a simple love and admiration story. There's nothing sexual about it, but there definitely is some sexual tension between characters. The movie itself captures the feelings of trying to figure out early sexuality. The story has some brilliant camera work. Sometimes covering a gruesome scene, and other times giving it an all too real feeling. Overall, it's a great piece of film. Much better than a Hollywood style dribble that's created for every novel written. Anyone who wants to see a good vampire flick. Ditch this Twilight crap, and see Let the Right One In.

What brings light to the imagination?

Most of the people I know, indicate that they just can't get into the show Fringe. The story is really simple, but in typical JJ Abrams fashion, is a series that poses questions that the answers to those questions are answered several episodes later, while new ones are posed. The thing I like about this series is the researching behind it. There are some very deep pseudo-science theories in life, the show implements in it's plot.
These concepts get my mind spinning in many different ways. The one I've been focusing on recently is the concept of group mind, and group unconsciousness. These concepts are that human beings, in their individuality, are composed as and have group thoughts. This is something that has been on the for-front of many people, but not something science can really prove beyond a shadow of doubt.
Most people belong to two different camps when discussing unexplained events, either scientific or religious camps. Most unexplained things are written off as religious, or if science can't explain it, it simply didn't happen. This is a human condition that I don't fully understand, i.e. Group Mind and Group Consciousness. Take, for example, cases of anthropology. We have uncovered evidence of early man using cutting tools in Africa and in Malaysia. The fossil record indicates that Homo Habilis evolved in Africa, but in Malaysia Homo Floresiensis evolved half the world away, but came up with the same concepts of tools. How can two different forms of early man, come up with the same tool concepts? This has given rise and caused scientists to re-formulate how we view early man and how humans came to being. This is where Group Mind and Group Consciousness come into play.
This is all more evident when you talk about the early origins of Algebra. Indian, Greek, and Chinese all came up with primitive origins of the math. All these cultures didn't have any scientific sharing or any way to share these revolutionary concepts, but they all seemed to evolve at the same time.
This is where Group Mind and Group Think come into play. There are some evaluational concepts that are just present in the human mind. Many people can explain this phenomenon by resorting to religion or other alternative lifestyle concepts. There is nothing that can truly explain it though. This is just one of the mysteries of life that always fascinate me and cause me to wonder, what will be the next step for us as humans. What overall thoughts and concepts will we come up with next? What will God or whatever you believe in, want us to overcome next? These are the things that cause my mind to keep me awake for hours on end.

The Research Project.

Quite a while ago, I asked several women about their fears or concerns. I was originally going to use this info if I needed to give a talk. Seeing as to how I'm a wandering church member, I don't know when that should be. Mostly I wanted to center on a couple of simple questions.
1) What do you Fear or worry about?
2) Do you think this is more a Biological concern or need, or Spiritual?
3) If you could change any 1 thing, what would it be?
Now, I was given quite a bit of flak on the questions. Overall, I wanted to see how many of these fears concerns, would be completely selfish, and how many are focused on others. The same is especially true about the 3rd question. It took me a while to get a sampling of 100 people, but this is what I came down with.
Out of 100 people, 35 were LDS. The others were unaffiliated with the major religion in the valley. Out of those polled, 70 were Women. Thirty of those were LDS. Out of the 30 men that were polled, 10 were LDS.
When asked about the first question, 15 of those (all women) expressed concerns about being alone or not being loved. 5 of the responses had to deal with Death or a fear of getting old. 5 of those responded with answers of being a bad parent. 27 of those responses dealt with failure or feelings of inadequacy. 18 had phobia fears of animals (spiders, snakes, sharks, etc). 17 of those polled (one a male), feared instances of rape. 8 of those polled were concerned with losing their job or lifestyle. 3 of those polled were concerned about incarcerated either in a mental intuition or jail. The other 2 responses were thrown out because they were pretty much incoherent babble.
The responses to the 2nd question surprised me, almost all of them (2/3rds) were admittedly Biological concerns. Even to the fear of dying, or being alone 1/2 of the people admitted that it was their biology and not spirituality that was driving it.
The responses to the 3rd question were as follows:
- 6 x Would change/want a worth while relationships
- 6 x Helping Children (ie Social Work, Big brothers/big sisters, etc)
- 9 x Loss of loved ones or the closeness of their family
- 6 x Would like to change Human Nature or Humanity.
- 5 x change their level of Intelligence or Mental Capacity
- 7 x would change their life span or the time they have on this earth.
- 7 x would like to change their families relationship with religious organizations.
- 7 x would like to change their self image.
- 10 x would not change anything or couldn't decide.
- 5 x would like to change Communication within Society.
- 5 x would change the perception of how others see them.
- 7 x would like to change their profession.
- 5 x would like to change their outlook on things.
- 5 x would change their health concerns or alleviate health problems.
- 9 x would like to be more social.

Now, out of all of those motives, I could only find 19 people who in effect are choosing something that they would change that would benefit others. The rest are those that choose something that only affects themselves. Yes, the questions are simplistic. That's the way it's supposed to be designed. I was also surprised how many people said they "couldn't decide anything". This is all just food for thought. We should be more concerned about how, what, and why we do the things to others that we do, and much less about our own needs and wants. The other piece of the puzzle is acceptance. Many of these concerns or fears have to deal with problems that they have no control over. Whether it be your health, your family members, or your own future. Many of those things you can't even control, so why worry about them? To tell the truth, most of them are pretty trivial by nature.
I was amazed at how many LDS people worried about their families relationship to their own religion. That's an aspect of humanity that I just do not understand. Most religions of the world preach that there is an afterlife. As long as someone is a good person, we'll typically be a good situation, so why does it matter. To automatically think that every family member has to think or do the same things that we do, makes for some pretty boring lives. The only thing I can think of relates to my father. My father is always proclaiming how much that I am "like him". When the truth of the matter, is that we are nothing alike. When something occurs that isn't remotely the same thing he would do, he gets upset, judgmental, and has an irrational anger that occurs in him. The only thing that occurs to me is this incessant human need to leave a little replica of ourselves for the world to continue on with. When, all it takes is to realize that this world is a big and complex place. There is no reason that we should be compelled to have copies of ourselves left for the next generation. Those kind of compulsions are just genetic throw backs. There are almost close to 6 billion human beings. The survivability of our species is almost assured in many cases. Many people just need to get out of their own human programming and just deal with the facts of life.

Surprise, surprise from the BCS.

I am admittedly a BCS hater, but there's something that I have to give them props on. The Mountain West is getting their props. For those of you who don't know, the high money games to be in the BCS, you have to be in the top 8 at the end of the season. Currently Utah is ranked #8 in the BCS poll. Which means, that if they do go undefeated and provided they get some losses from those ahead of them, they could get in the championship. It's a real remote chance, but it's possible (Penn State has had many seasons where they've been undefeated and still get snubbed for a championship game).
Right now, the Mountain West conference has the same number of teams (3) in the top 15, than the beloved and over rated SEC. This indicates that their computer formulas are some what working. The mountain west has creamed the Pac 10 this year, and the Mountain West has been elevated in the standings because of it. This should go to prove to athletic directors 1 thing. You need to schedule some more decent non-conference games to even crack the current ratings. There is absolutely NO REASON to schedule crappy teams that are in state! I am looking at you Weber St and Utah St. There is no reason to play these other teams. The nature of sports now days is turning to a "who you beat" and not solely on how many wins you have. This is the case with Basketball, Football, or pretty much any NCAA sport.
Admittedly, it will change because Utah or TCS will get knocked out of the top 15 tomorrow when they play against one another. However, most of this season, the conference as a whole, has been earning their stripes.
So, I will admit, as much as it pains me too... The BCS has been getting it better. I mean, it's still a shame that a team on it's own is penalized for the performance of the conference, but it's going to work to benefit of some other teams this season. The Utes, for example, play teams both ranked in the top 15 the last 2 weeks. The same statistic that media darling Texas Tech, done as well.
I'll hold out my final statement to see how it all shakes out. However, if the Utes were going to make a run for national championship, It had better be this year.