Nel, c'mon...

My mother's state-funded housekeeper for a couple years there -- who eventually got herself fired by slacking off and then making baseless accusations toward my mom -- used to listen to conservative talk radio a lot.  One of the ones I often got the pleausre (cough, cough) of hearing was Neal Boortz.  The guy would go on endlessly talking about people's mistakes.  Not society's mistakes, not a mistake that some celebrity was making that nobody wanted to admit was indeed a mistake, but just mistakes of random people.  He talked about some student who attends some no-name college who was demanding something or other from the dean of the college.  This was information he was apparently using to draw a parallel to the Occupy movement that eventually dissolved because they had absolutely no strategy for accomplishing whatever it was they wanted, which was for life to be peachy, apparently.
  Even his little sidekick lady was confounded by that one.  She even said "Where do you find these people?"  Some guy called into the show criticizing Neal Boortz for being too negative.  Neal then countered that by saying how he's always talking about positive things -- getting Obama out of office and getting a Republican back in!  The guy was kind of stumped by that and he simply said "That's your opinion".  Neal basically responded saying "Yeah, well it's my show".  Which is entirely the point.  If you don't like the show, don't listen to it.  My question is mainly why do people like the show?  What do people really gain out of it?  I ask because I've known at least two people -- out of a very small group of people I've ever spent a significant amount of time with outside of school -- who seem rather grumpy much of the time.  Their sense of humor is intact, but often snide.  1)  My mom's former housekeeper 2)  A guy I knew several years back during my high school years.  He listened to conservative talk radio for like 3 hours of the day at least, and it really seemed like was just bitter.  He acted like he was justified in that because of the mistreatment he suffered from his ex-wife and the existence of Democrats.  He'd probably deny all of that, saying he told me about his ex-wife because I somehow indicated that I wanted to know, and I don't have a problem with people sharing their sob stories.  I have a problem with people holding grudges and taking them out on other people.  He told me that he knows some people who are ready to make Michael Carneal, a semi-local loner who had come to the end of his rope and opened fire at school, wish he was back in prison if he ever got out.  His argument for the death penalty was that Murderers Are Evil.  I don't think the story of Cain & Able was put in The Bible so that mankind could piss on the grave of mankind's first murderer.  If it were, God would have struck down Cain.  The Bible is a source of wisdom, but you have to take the time to understand it.  He said The Bible supported zealously denouncing homosexuality.  The Bible supports preaching The Good News.  It supports getting people to understand why The Good News is important and encouraging them to keep on the righteous path once they discover The Good News and all of its splendor.  The Bible says we should rebuke each other for our sins, but do so in love, and that when Christians are persecuted, we will be a witness to God to the people who are persecuting us.  Ex-communication is a last resort and something The Bible encourages.  You can't ex-communicate someone who has never experienced the Word of God -- unless that person is a church goer -- someone who has been going to church for a while -- and has made it clear they have no intention of heeding to The Holy Spirit's will.  That is what The Bible refers to as a Hypocrite --- we are instructed to not share meals with them.

Anyway...not only is Neal Boortz a pipeline of negativity, but he obstructs the truth to justify his opinions.  He said rich people pay more taxes than anybody else --- he proved this by reading a half page's worth of information from some IRS document, either something he found online or, whatever.  If that half page worth of information is the whole truth, why does anybody ever use H&R Block?  If it's so simple, why not do it yourself the same way you stamp and address outgoing mail?  George W. Bush said in a campaign rally during his re-election bid that the shortest tax form takes 9 hours to complete.  This is a rather telling statement.  The guy either is unaware that poor people exist or he has no regard for them as human beings.  I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and go with the former.

I'm still half asleep it seems.  I've forgotten if there was anything else I wanted to say.  Either that or I've said everything I intend to say and have no witty way of wrapping it up.  TTFN

Just when it's finally cultrually acceptable to not hate GHOSTBUSTERS II...

...along comes another new spin on GHOSTBUSTERS.  And the pissing and moaning about the choices the writers made and things that should've been included and shouldn't have been included...as if everyone EXCEPT Paul Feig knew how to make a good GHOSTBUSTERS movie.  The most mind boggling thing I hear is the line "It didn't need to be re-make".  My response is always like "It didn't need to be made in the first place."  I'm glad it did get made, it's a great movie, but what would the world have been missing if some other fun supernatural comedy got made in 1985 and 1984 and all the other years since just didn't see GHOSTBUSTERS?  Now that we know what GHOSTBUSTERS **is**, it's hard for some people to imagine a world without it, but I think it's a lame argument to say "The world needed to see this movie!"  If GHOSTBUSTERS were a fully realized movie to begin with, before it got pitched to Columbia Pictures in 1983, I might be able to see how that line of thinking makes sense.  The script by Dan Aykroyd was far from what we saw on the screen in 1984.  Harold Ramis and Ivan Rietman didn't finish revisions before Columbia Pictures granted $30,000,000 for production.  They weren't trying to give the world some Ultimate Movie or a Savior Of Cinema.  Their motives for making GHOSTBUSTERS were most likely just as much a combination of artistic expression and greed as Paul Feig's motives for re-making GHOSTBUSTERS.  Now, Sony -- who now owns Columbia Pictures & all its properties -- is most likely far more motivated by commerce than art.
I can more or less wrap my head around people thinking nothing good of the trailers that have been released.  I personally think the movie sounds entertaining.  But people have been rallying against this movie as if it's a threat to society.  It'd be one thing if the movie were advertised as being something x person wants to see and then x person went in the theater and ended up disappointed.  But people have been rallying against this movie with such concrete venom since well before any trailer was even released.
 A 3rd Ghostbusters movie was never guaranteed to be anything except a 3rd movie from Columbia Pictures/Sony about people busting ghosts.  The Ecto-1 was never promised, the original weaponry was never promised, the no ghost logo was never promised.  Yet the absence of the original Ecto-1, the re-designed weaponry, the added weaponry and the no-ghost logo itself have all been points of controversy and people say that the reason they're upset about this thing is because it's a re-make and not a sequel and that it's got nothing to do with sexism.  Maybe sexism isn't the reason, but being a nitpicky old fart is still not a virtue of any kind.  Unless your nitpickety old fartyness can accomplish something other than pissing and moaning about every fact, factoid and rumor pertaining to a movie nobody ever offered you the opportunity to (re-)make.

Heart vs Head

"That's what you get for thinking".  My mom's ex-boyfriend (post-marriage) got a kick out of saying that.  I didn't understand the appeal.  I don't know if he understood it either.  The guy was a jerk.  But those words come to mind when I think about parenting and how it naturally has a tendency to lessen the effects of evil.
I, for one, don't feel like I have anything to pass onto a child.  Some people have posted on GhostbustersNews.com Facebook about how they want to pass on their love of Ghostbusters to their children.  Granted, that is something to pass onto a child, but I feel like if that's all you have to pass on, there's really no point.  My sister has a very deep bond with Lord God, and I think that is something worth passing on.  A lot of parents in this country are not Christians in the purest sense, and many have no faith in God whatsoever.  But the ideology of this nation was molded by Christians.  Almost everyone is OK with the concept of "The Greater Good".  Not everyone is in agreement with what that means or how to live by it, which is where going back to God and seeking His counsel would help tremendously.
But there's also a secondary factor, I think.  I could be wrong b/c it's not like I'm some globetrotter who's seen it all.  I think parents -- men & women, but especially women -- have a built in desire to do what's best for their children.  There are some exceptions, especially in a dying world where mental illness is increasing, but generally that is how things go.  There obviously is a desire to pursue your own selfish agenda and that conflict of interest and how tangled up it is I think is where cultural concurrences come into play. 
The reasoning behind the first murder that ever took place makes absolutely no sense.  It would make sense if there were some reason to think God's opinion of Cain would change due to Abel's absence.  Abel did not die though.  He simply ceased being able to make Cain feel guilty for Cain's own course of action.  God never intended mankind to die.  Jesus rose from the grave to demonstrate this.  We are all given the opportunity to be children of God as Adam & Eve were originally built to be because of the illustration he drew in His resurrection.  The resurrection obviously has other implications and meanings, but just as Jesus did not speak on his own accord, Jesus did not act on his own accord either.  God gave him the power to perform miracles.  God gave him the seed of life to be birthed by Mary husband of Joseph, and God gave Jesus the power to submit his spirit to Him, and God gave Jesus the power to rise and greet the world again.   If God can raise Jesus from the dead, he could do the same to anybody.  It is a relief to me to know that this life of struggling to trust and obey will someday fall asleep and be painted over with by the most beautiful colors -- colors so beautiful that any bad things that happened in this life will be rendered invisible.
I think what started this cycle of distrust and disobedience was a very key thing that mankind has since been forced to eat daily -- Adam & Eve started thinking.  Thought is extremely over rated.  It's necessary to understand something so out of this world as The Bible, but if we weren't so in deep with dishonesty in various forms, we would not need to use our noggins to the extent that it causes a splitting headache.  That is where The Holy Spirit comes in.  You are not alone in this battle.

Ugh...be damned whatever these 0's are

I remember seeing an item page for a book on Amazon, the title of which I don't remember...it was supposedly about how Google has pretty much censored the internet by way of "personalized" search results.  They of course don't look at it as censorship...they look at it as being helpful.  By way of censorship.

Really really BAD

I decided the easiest and most sensible thing to do is unleash my mini LP copy of BAD from its plastic sleeve and keep it.  The OBI would be nice to have, but this item is obviously not worth very much to anybody.  It's apparently still in print --- Amazon LLC is still offering it, and their price (brand new) isn't too bad either.  The only real concern I have as of now is the bright white cover-art printed on cardboard could fade rather easily.  Oh well.  I'll cross that bridge when I have to, if...
I copied the disc to my computer and then transferred it to a thumb drive.  If the thumb drive goes kaput, I'll just have to do it again.  It's kinda cumbersome to get the disc out of the case -- which is inside of a sleeve, which is inside of a different sleeve.  Many times I've thought I was in the mood to listen to it, and then I realized I wasn't.  Then I have to  start putting it back into the sleeve, and then put the sleeve into the outer sleeve and then back in the case.  You can't just slide the sleeve into the case either; you need to keep from damaging the other myriad of inserts that are included in the package.

FYI, I'm an uncle

My sister gave birth to my nephew Joseph yesterday.  I haven't blogged in so much time, I'd forgotten to let all you people whoever the heck you are know that my life has forever changed!  Well, not really.  I haven't even met him yet.  Yes, I'm a heartless old fart.  "How could you forsake your only child!"  Yeah, whatever.  I'll meet him when I have a reason to.  I'd prefer not to have to visit him at a hospital.  My sister had a terrible time.  He was supposed to be born on the 19th, so they put her in something called "induced labor", which still took over 24 hrs to get done w/.  Luckily, she's still alive, but she's got some wounding from the process --- the dude's 9.5 lbs!!! --- and the doc wants to make sure the antibiotics for the wound are fully absorbed and do what they're supposed to do before letting her back into the MUST DO HARM segment of planet Earth.
My sister probably has much more intense and detailed blogposts you can read.  As for me, I just hope the little interaction I do have with him in the future will not steer him away from The Lord's desire for him.  I hope this is the beginning of a happier chapter in the Cardwell/Stephens/Conway family tree.

Add comments, quantity & priority

NOTE: This blogpost is a substitute for the "Comments" section of an item on my Amazon wish list.  You can find it by typing in the Amazon search bar: B01B2M9RM6.  Amazon's wish list comments allow for up to 300 characters per item. 
NOTE2: It sounds like I'm miserable b/c I don't own this item, but I'm fully aware this item means very little to my life overall.  I'm posting all of this here b/c I'm an obsessive nut and a stickler for detail dying for attention.  I understand if nobody wants to read all of this.

Recently, as I think I've written about here before, Epic (Sony) rectified a problem that had been in existence since 2001.  Michael Jackson BAD was re-issued at that time, with remastered sound, (surprisingly good) bonus tracks, and RE-VAMPED COVER-ART.  The iconic front cover-art was left alone, except for a slipcase which was later done away with, but the back cover-art, which went hand in hand with the front cover-art (IMO) was totally wiped away and replaced with some lame concert photo.  They reinstated the back cover-art in 2012, when the 25th Anniversary edition came out (identifiable as BAD25), but re-vamped the front cover-art.  They weren't so dumb as to do away with the entirety of it, but they didn't need to do anything to it.  It was iconic b/c it was perfect.  I don't think the photographer just asked Michael Jackson to stand in front of a white backdrop and snapped a pic at random and submitted it to Epic Records for approval.  It's possible for an icon to become an icon at the first try, but icons generally need grooming.  This was a work of art -- and it's not as if it it was just some random thing that nobody cared about that the creator wasted his time and money on b/c it was important to him; this was part of a cultural phenomenon that is synonymous with the entire three years that remained in the 1980s at the time of the album's release.  The 2012 cover-art seemed more akin to a ripoff or an amateur (hack) paying tribute.  If you want to post your fan art publically, go ahead, but for Epic/Sony to slap it on the front of the album is a huge disrespect to the music and the good memories it made for those who lived it through back then.
This issue has been addressed.  Apparently I'm not the only who has felt this way.  In 2015, the remastered sound, bonus tracks and amateurish meddling with the graphics were removed and we now have the exact same item I remember owning and loving when I was a toddler and as a teenager wishing I was a little younger.
The only problem is the jewel case.  It's not a problem with the particular jewel case.  It's an industry problem.  CDs are considered on the verge of extinction.  The return of the vinyl LP is only exacerbating that fact.  So record cos have to cut costs.  Jewel cases are no longer as durable.  Sometimes you go into a store and the case seems OK, but you open it up and the center that holds the disc in place is in shatters.  And it's not just that.  The cases scratch much easier.  A lot of CD cases used to be fat and shiny upon unwrapping.  Now they're often dull and fragile.  If you treat your stuff right, your fat and shiny jewel case can stay just as shiny as it was when you bought it.  A lot of people don't, and that makes buying used CDs often less satisfying than buying them brand new.  But in this case, you're not buying it brand new.  You're buying a historic relic (classic) that most people don't care about and probably wouldn't consider buying if the prices of older CDs weren't so low nowadays.  The CDs that just came out this year often do still come in shiny thick cases.  Usually they don't come in a jewel case, but rather a combination of cardboard and plastic or sometimes they'll just wrap them in cardboard which I hate b/c the disc is no much more prone to scratches.  But the new recordings released on CD that aren't housed in cardboard or hybrid packaging are very nicely packaged usually.  That fact is not exclusive to Billboard Top 20 musical acts either.  I bought a CD called NERVE ENDINGS by Too Close To Touch.  The music was good, not great, got boring after awhile and I really hesitated to get rid of it because it was so nice to have a good quality jewel case in my hands.  But record companies will often repress a CD when the band that makes it follows it up with another.  When  Hot Band releases their follow up to HB2014 titled HB2016, HB2014 is considered "old" and instead of discontinuing production of the older sibling to HB2016, the factory continues to produce copies of HB2014, albeit on cheaper quality plastic inside of an even cheaper plastic casing.
Oh, and as if that wasn't annoying enough, I've recently come to realize that replacement jewel cases are also hard to find.  Nobody is making them anymore.  Staples is the only place I could find any w/o paying an arm and a leg.
The vinyl LP edition that was recently released (listed as an import on Amazon) is the way to go.  The CD edition has never been THE BEST way to go.  Vinyl is usually better at capturing iconic cover imagery anyway, especially for albums that came out before 1988.  I have a mini-LP CD, but the plastic sleeve is dirty.  I don't think it was like that when I got it in the mail from someone on Amazon selling it super cheap.  I'm afraid to buy another one 'cause I'm likely to ruin that one too.  The design is striking though.  The disc is housed in what they call a gatefold cover.  It opens up like a book and the disc is housed inside a slot on one end.  I even like the way the track list is printed on the back cover.  It doesn't specify "Side A" vs "Side B".  The lettering is bold and in all caps, just like the thugs in the beginning of the music video questioning the degree of the others' "Bad"-ness.
The vinyl edition is expensive.  It's always been the best way to go and at the current rate of $20 apprx, it's really not bad.  If one wants to send me a birthday present, christmas present, or let me know I have a stalker (it could happen...right?), then it's also not only a terriblly outrageous price to pay, but it also saves the time of inquiring to sellers on the Amazon Marketplace and Discogs' about weather or not their copy of Michael Jackson BAD comes in the original jewel case and if the original jewel case is damaged and if so how badly etc. etc...nobody that I know has the time and inclination to do all that.

My excitement renwed...is it worth it?

Ok, I'm still pretty much broke, at least broke enough to seriously question weather I can afford paying for a movie theater ticket x2.
But I'm not nearly as down about seeing the new GHOSTBUSTERS film.  I think it gets to seem more depressing when sitting haunched waiting for the kill...that is two months down the road...it gets to feeling like idol worship and S&M combined...ig...
I still highly doubt it will be as good as the first or anywhere near.  BUT -- I am indeed in better spirits about it.  I figured I was being a little critical of the movie basing it soley on a trailer.  I knew there was a lot of stuff that wasn't included in the trailer...there still lots of stuff that isn't in the trailer.  The movie's got to be at least 90 minutes long and the two trailers released have a combined total of maybe 4 minutes of that footage.
I think the best thing at this point for my sanity is to sit back and see how things go.  If I don't see it in theaters, so be it.  I need to at least get a $5 concession at the counter or whatever + pay the movie ticket price which is between $12 and $21 depending on what time of day I see it and if I go the Fandango route or not.
hmmm...

THE RETURN OF THE KIDZ

Sony and Mattel will soon be trying to remind kids of how awesome Paul Feig's new GHOSTBUSTERS film is so they don't forget how awesome it is.  How?  By mass merchandising.
And just like a lot of other things in this modern world, they are cheaply made and overpriced.  Amazon has them in stock and the hero figures are $20 a pop.  The ghost figures are $12.  I haven't bought any of them.  The Melissa McCarthy hero figure has 5 Amazon customer reviews and an average of 1.5 stars or something like that (out of 5).  That is just pathetic.  One reviewer said the plastic feels dangerous to have young kids playing with.  So not only will these toys be lucky to survive the next 20 years if they're NOT opened, but the kids who play with them are lucky to survive childhood doing so.  Ugh.  I think I'll pass on this whirlwind of b.s.  I'm not feeling the love.  I get the impression the film will be Ok, but nothing to shout about.  I'm starting to wonder if I even want to see it in theaters.  Two tickets would be cheaper than a DVD or Blu ray copy of the movie, but then I always feel the need to buy popcorn and soda to go with it...I'd be saving money just buying it on DVD if I end up doing that...(sigh)...

MM/DD -- still kinda lukewarm

I attended a seminar thing on May 1 at a church I've been regularly attending for about a month now.  It was a very convincing and informative session about having zeal for the Lord God.  I have been making more of an effort, but I still fall into the lull of not praying.  I prayed kind of extensively 5/8 (I would just say "the day before yesterday" except in 3/4 of the United States it's still Monday). 
Anyway....as I was saying, I prayed more than usual then, but I still ran out of things to say to Him after a grand total of maybe half an hour of prayer (that's a generous estimate too...I'm not really convinced it was that much time, but it's possible).  I then proceeded to read where I left off in His word, and then found myself kind of half following along.  I sorta lost track of who is who and what is what.  I'm on the sequel to the book of Kings.  I'm under the impression I missed something.  It keeps talking about King so and so of such and such land, and it keeps mentioning these nations that are not explained, as far as I am aware.  I have the freedom to assume that they are neighboring nations, but somehow I got the impression that at least one of those nations are fragments of Israel.  The nation of Israel was split into two nations as was explained in my small group's study of THE STORY, but I don't know if there was any further division of the land or if I read something that I forgot I'd read or if my eyes were looking at a critical verse or series of versus while my mind was wandering in whichever direction(s)...Anyway; I found myself rather lost in the midst of God's word on...I guess it was Sunday.  And now I should be in bed, I'm sleepy as all get out even though I really don't want to be (!)...and I didn't read a lick of God's word and I prayed very little if at all today...I don't specifically remember praying, although I think I may have thanked Him for a few things.  And Saturday went by in a rather similar fashion -- just wasted...I was rather exctatic about a nice fantasy I had about going to see GHOSTBUSTERS on opening day and then walking into Target as if I was 5 years old again and seeing all the GB toys gracing the shelves with their twinkling presence.  And then of course topping it off Chick-Fill-A.  Me and my mom were going to go to Chick-fill-A today in fact, but we had some trouble finding it.  So we went to an Italian dine-in restaurant instead and spent almost all my money and some of my Mom's (it was my idea mainly, so I shouldn't have even asked her to pay for any of it, but I did...drats!  The day after mother's day too!)
I've been eating homemade pumpkin bread that my mom made over the last few days.  It's loaded with fiber as it's made with whole grain flour (1 cup of it per loaf), and so I've had a more healthy amount of BM than I had been, but I the downside to that is I really need to take a shower...if I weren't sleepy as heck, I would still be trying to think my way out of it since I just don't like the ordeal of taking my clothes off, getting in the shower, and then getting dried off etc and then getting dressed.  The whole process takes like half an hour and it seems bigger to me than it apparently does to most people...like a giant leap forward for myself and a step back for man kind...ugh...
Ok...
g'night