Different names for the same thing

It never ceases to amaze me how many duplicate listings Amazon.com has of so many different CDs.  There's little to differentiate one from the other because the item details merely specify that they're imports.  The UPC isn't even provided for research/reference purposes.  There's like 15 versions of Phil Collins ...HITS album from 1998.  They all have the same product image/details and most of them are being offered used from sellers based in Japan, so one would assume most of these CD issueances are from Japan, but why?  Why in the span of less than 20 years have the Japanese (and possibly other unnamed countries) put this album on CD when it was already available on CD?
Then you look up MASTER OF REALITY by Black Sabbath or most any other CD and they have a two disc deluxe edition, at least one Japanese mini-LP edition, a MFSL Gold CD edition, and...well, I'm speaking hypothetically, I don't even know if that one was ever released by MFSL, but there's 12 editions of that album, many of which have customer reviews submitted for them and Amazon makes it increasingly difficult to figure out which review is for which item.  Unless the reviewer specifically says which item they're reviewing -- which for many years they didn't need to, so they didn't.  What's the point of reading a bunch of people saying "this is one of the greatest albums ever made"/"drop what you're doing and buy this!"/"I really like this album"...I mean, seriously, how does one EXPLAIN what it is they like about a song or album?  Unless you're a technically minded person, which most music listeners are not, thus explaining many progrockers contempt for pop music...
Anyway...
Haven't posted in a little while...Haven't been obsessing about this a lot or anything, just something I wanted to vent about.

I spent way TOO MUCH money this month.  I bought a bunch of CDs, etc....I wrote out my budget for December and I have enough to get Christmas presents for my small circle of family members, but that's it.  I meant to give $85 to God this month.  I'm only at $50, $10 of which is from re-selling osme of the more or less useless junk I had accumulated from online shopping et al...I need to quit this half assed Christianity I'm half assedly practicing.  UGH.
It looks like I will be moving from Southeast Missouri to suburban Atlanta, Georgia in January of 2016.  Another incredible journey.  It's been almost 20 years since I ventured from mid-state California to SEMO.

SPY (2015)

I saw SPY w/ Melissa McCarthy on Saturday (not a very fitting Halloween movie but oh well).  I was wondering if it was any good b/c it's got overall positive reviews according to Rotten Tomatoes' website.  A lot was riding on my opinion of this film.  If it had been a rotten tomato, I might have very well passed up seeing GHOSTBUSTERS in theaters this upcoming summer.  However, I was actually very pleased with it.  The directing was competent, the script was funny, it was just an overall job well done for writer/director Paul Feig.  I doubt the re-make of GHOSTBUSTERS will capture the visual majesty of the original, but either way, I'm sure it'll at least be entertaining, and not in a trainwrek-that-you-can't-look-away-from way...if it is...o dear God...aaaah!
Anyway.  I have a little more enthusiasm for the film.  That's a good thing.  I'm still skeptical.  Kate Diepold, who wrote THE HEAT starring McCarthy and Sandra Bullock, is also involved with the new GHOSTBUSTERS film, and that lends one to question weather the film will actually be any good, since THE HEAT was not funny in any way that I could perceive.  I guess that type of humor goes well with some people, but hopefully there's more in Diepold's arsenal than what I'm aware of presently...
Hmm...

Obscenity

I heard Rush Limbaugh talking on his radio program one day a few years ago about how the Great Depression is an example of how welfare isn't needed.  He either is extremely ignorant or he just doesn't care.  I'm going with the latter.  He was very vocal about the negative effect of "social conservatives" during the 2012 voting season.  Social conservatism is a good idea, IMO, but it should be something parents and neighbors act on.  Putting someone in jail because they defy social convention is just stupid.  The principles that the USA was built on were not socially accepted at that time.  However, if neighbors/friends/family have strong ideals that they wish to pass down to the upcoming generation(s), then they should work together to do so.  It is not congress' fault that the youth of the 1950s were drawn to Elvis Presley.  It is not congress' fault that TV stations felt compelled to air live recordings of Elvis Presley.  The fact of the matter is that congressman and religious organizations have been kicking and screaming about "American values" long after their voice became a joke in and of itself.  The sexual revolution started over 50 years ago.  Yet it's always "gay marriage" that becomes the subject of political squabbling.  Politicians and organizations defend it by saying "we don't care what they do in private, but subjecting children to it...", as if marriage had anything to do with children.  Yes, I realize a long long time ago, marriage was a means of having sex in a socially approved manner that would thus lead to parenthood.  But abortion is now legal and more or less safe (for the adult), and 30% of society doesn't even see the point of marriage.
This is indeed troubling information for those whose heart goes out to God.  And yes, if it were illegal for Elvis to be on TV it would have maybe kept the sexual revolution from happening and thus kept abortion from being legalized.  But how many souls are being saved by Kim Davies' actions?  Some guy on the news that supports her was asked by a reporter if he thought he was fighting a losing battle and he cited a passage in The Bible that talks of Christians being on the winning side.  That doesn't explain what verse in The Bible supports acting like a snooty holier than thou bigot.  Really, nothing in The Bible says to prevent marriage between gay people.  The Apostle Paul didn't force the fornicating church members to stop what they were doing.  He simply told them they would not enter Heaven if they kept it up.  It was their choice.  In Biblical terms, the issue IS gay sex, not gay marriage.  So if you're trying to conserve what's left of Christian influence in society, you either abandon the freedom of speech & religion clause and all the legislation that has been written surrounding it over the past 50+ years or you can love your neighbor the way God intended us to love each other and just hope your neighbors see and embrace the truth.  The battle against evil is not going to be won by man.  The antichrist WILL rise up and take over the entire planet.  It will be God's victory over evil that we will have the opportunity to witness and be astonished by.

But as I was saying, social conservatism is a fantasy.  It was once a reality 75 or so years ago but there's nothing to conserve anymore.  There was a time when "obscenity" was considered something akin to pornography.  It is no longer the case.  However, most lukewarm Christians and heathens alike can say that it takes a truly despicable soul to stand for children starving over malnutrition.  The obscenity laws of yore are no longer relevant, but if you want an obscenity law on the books, there's one to think over.  It's not a matter of forcing good will on others.  It's a matter of Hitler ending the holocaust voluntarily or facing a bullet in the head.  Obviously, the rich pay their taxes and welfare recipients get a tiny fraction of that, but if they don't, Rush Limbaugh and his ilk are indeed correct - Society will stand up and hunt you down.  You will go to jail or die in a police altercation.
I do however think Obama is being stupid making the investigation of welfare recipients a partisan issue.  His solution makes a little sense, but it doesn't solve the problem as far as I can tell.  The GOP proposal makes even more sense, and although it also wouldn't solve the problem, it would at least minimize it.

Is It really stripped?

I bought some Jones Stripped Green Apple soda (basically a near-diet naturally flavored not-drenched-in-sugar soda) a few+ hrs ago and though it'd been about 30+ minutes since eating any - ahem - chocolate (ggggggggggh), I couldn't help but be less than satisfied.  Jones Naturals is supposedly no longer being made, having been merged with the Jones Stripped product line.  My local Hastings still has some Jones Naturals, and between the Naturals and the Stripped, I bought 4 total.  The problem is I don't remember which one I bought first.  The first one I tried I loved.  It was great!!  The second one tasted very plain and I was not impressed at all.  Then I tried another and it was great.  I might have had another one in between then and now, but that's how confusing this whole thing is, right?  I don't know if i should contact the company and let them know and hope they can refund my money or something or what.  I know I had some Jones Naturals Orange Mango and that was freakin' fantastic!  I looooved it!  However, I can't buy it just any old day.  Hastings didn't have any today, nor were they carrying any Jones Stripped Orange Mango for me to make a comparison.  I don't know where else to buy it.  They sell it on their website for $26 a 12 pk, which is more expensive than Hastings and is a lot of money to plunk down out of my budget for something i don't even know if I like.
rrr.
My average calorie intake from today and 4 days prior is 2,050 apprx.  That's not quite worth bragging about, but it's close (!)

weight loss and nostaliga...

I'm finding myself running around Rhapsody's on-demand streaming service like a chicken with its head cut off.  So much of what I used to listen to is negative, even blasphemous.  And there wasn't a whole lot of "great" music back when I was a heathen anyway.  I've found Michael W. Smith's SOVEREIGN to be a good album, but it gets rather boring sitting there thinking about how awesome my God is.  It's a good worship CD, but not something I'd listen to for entertainment.
It does provide some comfort to know the wife of the guy who put together my congregation's small group study THE STORY (Mrs. Randy Frazee, not sure of her name) is often melancholy in her mood.
My pastor was marveling about the fact that God is the author of laughter.  I'm not sure he's correct.  Maybe I have a serious attitude problem, but most things I laugh at are negative.  Most sources of humor and most content of jokes stem from something negative.  Dan Aykroyd, co-writer (and one of the stars) of GHOSTBUSTERS, stated that it wasn't hard to find a balance between comedy and horror (considered a Satanic genre by many) because so much of what makes us laugh is the same things that scare us (severe paraphrasing, not an exact quote by a long shot).  Coming from a successful and respected professional, it somehow seems to carry more significance than coming from an unschooled, unenmployed crazy dude who says stuff on the internet.  I guess Dan Aykroyd may suffer the same or somewhat similar attitude problem(s) that I do.  It's not unthinkable, given Hollywood's tendency to bash Christianity.  Christians do exist in Hollywood, but just as in general society, they are not the norm.  Most voters, Christian and otherwise, say they would not vote for an Evangelical Christian as POTUS.  I try to find out why and nobody has any answers that make any sense.  Some guy on Yahoo! Answers said it's because "Evangelical Christians" have a distorted view of The Bible (or something to that effect) and I asked him what is distorted about it and he never responded.
Anyway...on the physical side of things, I've consumed in the span of 4 days (including today -- fingers crossed!!) 8,000 net calories apprx.  That is...1,600 x 2 (yesterday and the day before the day before then) + 3,000 (the day before yesterday) + 2100 (today)...8,300, actually...which comes to 2,050 per day on average, which is good...so far.  It needs work, but it's better than it's been.  If I consume 1,800 or less tomorrow, that average will go down(!)
I sometimes wonder though if losing weight will really cause anything good.  I want to be healthy overall.  I want to FEEL good.  I feel fat.  It's hard to explain.  I want to feel less clouded in the head.  I want less sweat.  I want my skin to not feel like a wad of plastic tangled up in itself.  I want to feel more awake.  I feel sick!
Anyway...

lifestyles of the unlawfully impatient...

Darn it.  I'll probably miss seeing THE INTERN in theaters.  Ditto with BRIDGE OF SPIES.  Oh, well.  At least I have enough to see them on video when they come out.
I think I could afford to see THE INTERN in Nov if it's still playing, but that would depend on if I can get a ride to and from.  BRIDGE OF SPIES I have less faith in.  It'll either be shriek out loud awesome or leave me pissed off wishing I could leave the theater midway.  Plus, it's a Spielberg movie, so it's bound to generate revenue even if the Rotten Tomatoes consensus is somehow incorrect.  Nancy Meyers is not well liked by the movie critics.  On THE INTERN's Wikipedia page, it mentions that someone writing for The Guardian believes the poor critics' reception is due to the female movie critics being severely outnumbered, which sounds plausible, I suppose.  Meyers' IT'S COMPLICATED had the same critical reception as THE INTERN, although I haven't seen IT'S COMPLICATED either.  I did rent it a couple weeks ago along with another movie, but I only watched the other movie, which I wrote about earlier titled CRAZY STUPID LOVE.
Don't really have much to talk about I guess.  This is a much shorter blog post than what should be, given the low-number of blog posts over the past month(?)...
 If anyone's dying for more of my dry insight...then...sorry...if not, then perhaps a thank you is in order?  No, don't thank me.  Thank boredom.  Here's to boredom!  Cheers!

CRAZY STUPID LOVE (2011)

I rented CSL from Family Video a week and two days ago, and watched it about 3 days ago.  It was great.  It was a relief to know that some people still know how to write well-paced, focused and entertaining screenplays and that they can be filmed in a competent manner w/o the assistance of Martin Scorsese or Steven Speilberg...I wouldn't say it was the greatest film I've seen, but it's still really good.  I liked it a lot.
I bought it at Hastings' website (gohastings) and saved almost $3 off the already low price.  I guess it's considered "an old movie" by Hollywood execs, or, idk, but for some reason it's in the budget DVD section at Hastings ($5.99) and by buying on their website I only paid $3.25 + tax, and no S&H due to the sweetness of in-store pickup (yay!!!).
My mom had watched in on cable a few+ months ago and I was in the room for part of it.  The little I did see of it stuck w/ me tho.
Anyway...another cool thing, I saw the film in ONE sitting.  I didn't even get interrupted by a bathroom urge.  I just watched it.  For me, this is a pretty big achievement.  Me?  No, the real achievement in in the film's success.  It's a tasteful, stylish, spirited, engrossing film.  I liked it a lot.  I wouldn't say "I love(d) it".  Love is a strong word, although people act like it isn't...I did very much like it tho.  I'm glad I finally got around to seeing it.

90% off Rhapsody - yeah..

Still a waste of $.  I'd been using ad-supported Rdio all September along with YouTube via my Sony blu ray player.  Rhapsody sent me an offer of THREE MONTHS for $1/mo.  Not bad.  It'll prolly come in handy.  Still confused as they said they'd included "customized recommendations" as part of their pkg, but I guess that's only for the mobile version...I don't see that feature at the desktop site.  They'd had recommendations, but they sucked.  They seldom updated and they relied upon things I'd only listened to a few seconds of.  I guess that's standard across all streaming music services.  I listen to Genesis and they start recommending Phil Collins and Steve Hackett...like, seriously, they think I don't know who Phil Collins is??!  I could see that being the case if I was listening to FOXTROT and SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND and leaving DUKE and ABACAB untouched, but when I'm listening to INVISIBLE TOUCH and WE CAN'T DANCE, how much more obvious is it that I would know who Phil Collins is??!
Time for church in another 15 hrs apprx.  I've spent way too much time away from my Bible.  I haven't prayed in almost as much time.  I imagine going to church tomorrow and having it be some surreal nauseating out of body experience...ughm...
I find myself searching high and low for something to await the arrival of in the mail.  Amazon has thousands upon thousands (if not millions) of items.  Only a few of them are attractive, none of them are worth buying that wouldn't deplete my fund.  I have like $18 plus some money for groceries etc....I owed my Mom $60 and my sis $110...I would have $0 but I decided to repay her $55 and the other half in November.
Hmm....that pretty much sums up the day.  Been trying to enjoy music.  Haven't had any luck.  Yesterday I managed to enjoy The Story So Far's WHAT YOU DON'T SEE.  It'd been awhile since I've enjoyed it.  Not a hugenormous amount of time, but probably a couple+ months.
My weight loss is hit and miss.  I did OK for most of the past 7 days.  Then I ate 3500 calories on Thursday.  I cold have cut 1K of those if I'd known how many were in Bob Evan's brioche french toast.  I ordered two servings of it!!  Plus one of their bottomless capuccinos, another 500+ calories I'm sure....
Friday I stopped right about 1900 or something like that, I think...maybe I'm misremembering...I'll have to look again.  Today I've eaten about 2500.  Including about 200%DV (recommended daily intake of) saturated fat(eek!).  It'll take at least 3 days to make up for that one day...weather or not I've managed to make up for the cloggery of the other days past, especially when I was living in my apartment and eating what the fucc ever the HELLLLL!!!z breaking loose!, I've no idea.  I don't keep close enough track....eeee!  Say it with me, eeeeeee!  EEEEE...na, nvm...
(sigh) (literally, I just sighed...and it wasn't just for show either, this is some seriously f8**d sh****!!!!!)

Ok.  Is saying "The End" too dramatic?  Seriously, I see sunshine over the horizon.  It's not THE END.  Just don't have anything more to say.  Nothing positive to counter all this b.s.  Hopefully that will change.  I need to get my emotions in check and just do what God asks me!  READ, PRAY, BE KIND...quit being so boring!!!  Maybe I can partially succeed...even 1/5 would be progress enough, maybe?!!!!?(???????)

Funk you!

Funko hit a home run with their "Pop!" vinyl doll thingies.  I was glad when the finally about f***ing time introduced GHOSTBUSTERS Pop Vinyl's.  I was further encouraged when they introduced other toylines and made GHOSTBUSTERS a part of them too.  Vinyl Idolz, Titans, and now there's these Dorbz figures.  I don't know if Dorbz in general are a new thing, but I'm getting sick of this.  The Pop! figures are an utter waste of $10 (give or take + tax), and the Vinyl Idolz are slightly less stupid but double the price.  The Titans are the only ones that I have *any* interest in simply because they look like actual toys and not some kind...whatever the hell the Pop! and the Dorbz are supposed to be...they may strike a cool factor with anime fans...idk...
Mattel is supposed to be doing their own GHOSTBUSTERS stuff in conjunction with the 2016 movie.  I can't wait 'til the trailer comes out.  The only film I've seen of the director's is THE HEAT (which I didn't watch much of b/c it was just flat out dumb in every respect).  The new SPY movie is supposedly better and I haven't seen BRIDESMAIDS but that came out before THE HEAT and I get the impression the director may have learned how to do full length motion pictures "on the job"...from a visual standpoint, THE HEAT looked to me like what a cartoon would look like if it was acted out instead of drawn/painted...
However much the film does (or doesn't) suck, it's going to be nice having a tidal wave of GHOSTBUSTERS merch around me again.  I keep thinking "I can't buy any of it!" because I could very well not be getting any more money from October (?) 2016 onward.  I had no idea until a couple (?) months ago that SSI was slated for depletion so damn soon.  I thought SSI was funded alongside Social Security.  Turns out there's some kind of trustfund that was set up independent of Social Security.  I guess this was in the news back in 2012, but apparently I wasn't keeping up enough with tings.
Weird thing is I don't even care.  Maybe I'm just due for a nap, but I don't care.  That strikes me as both sad and worrisome.  What is there to keep a person from dying on the inside if they find nothing that "makes" them happy?
I guess I'm just stuck in this perpetual state of "Let's go to the mall!".  I always loved the mall as a little kid but we rarely were able to go.  Between my dad not wanting to spend money on anything but himself and my mom being so depressed, it was not as common as I would have liked.
It's weird.  It's been a nerve wracking thing, the whole experience of "shopping".  It's not a whole lot of fun by yourself.  My mom can once in a great while enjoy it.  Or seem to anyway.  It was like 1996 or so, I was 13, give or take a few months, and I asked my mom to take me to the mall.  We got there and she was like "so what did you want to do here?"  I was totally caught off guard.  I didn't have much if any money (allowance) and I doubt she did either, so the only thing I could think of that didn't cost a boat ton of money was sit down and eat.  We had some cinnamon rolls, very good ones.  My mom insists they were Cinnabon roles.  Maybe they were.  I remember it being a very plainly laid out eatery type place.  Like one of those pizzareas on some corner of downtown Chicago or something...maybe that was Cinnabon's angle back then.  The one the mall in Cape, Missouri used to have was more sparkling et al. 
Anyway...shopping in general has gotten to be more of a game than it should be  A difficult one to win at that.  It is imperative that I fold.

"The only K we're going to is college!"

Barista spelled my name Jonathen.  I've seen my name spelled Jonothon, but not Jonathen.
That's not as bad as the one my mum got.  Her name is now Karol-Ann.  Not Karl Ann.  Karol Ann.  How many Carol's spell their name with a "K"?  I guess it was at one point long long ago somewhat common...like in the '40s maybe?  idk...I don't think it was the same spelling with the exception of a K instead of C...I think it was like Karollee...idk...seems vaguely familiar...maybe I'm thinking of Clark Kent's birthname...idk...