...so much, I would even watch the Japanese version. (if it were real)
Since it's Super Tuesday, I thought it would be appropriate for me to vent a little about politics. Usually I care about more about politics, but this year I've had a hard time getting into it. I guess my perspective has changed in the last few years. Anyway, I'm not writing this because I think I know how you should vote or I'm really excited about a certain candidate; actually, it's the opposite. I have just noticed a few things this year that have made me think.
First, the fact that so many Christians have latched onto Barack Obama's "Change we can believe in" slogan bugs me. (I'm not saying that you shouldn't vote for Obama. If that's where your conscience leads you to vote, then by all means, vote for him.) Change we can believe in. Maybe it's just me, but the change I believe in won't come from a politician. I think this slogan embodies the attitude that many people have. Let's depend on the government to change things. As a Christian, I think it's just wrong for me to buy into this. Because Obama wants to lead the government to help people that as a Christian I should be helping (i.e. the poor, neglected, ect.), it's easy to want to go with it. But real change doesn't come through subsidized housing. Real change comes through gathering a group of people and building a house for a family who needs one. Real change doesn't come through sending money to Washington and letting them try to help people. Real change comes by getting out there and actually helping people. Here's my reasoning behind this: First, Jesus didn't try to change things through politics and if I'm going to follow His example, I think that means following the principles which he set out. Jesus didn't go out and protest for the government to change more water into wine or run for Caesar so he could dictate prayer in schools. He got into the world and helped people. He invested in people so that they would do the same. I understand the church has generally done a bad job of meeting people's physical needs in the past, but this emerging push to do that seems to be swinging to far in many instances. Yes, the Bible says we should help the needy, the widows, the children, but isn't it important that we don't forget to meet there spiritual needs as well? That's something the government can't do. Second, if you want to help people, why would you send your money to the government to do it? When has the government ever been shown to be efficient or prudent with money? I think if churches started to operate how they were intended to, by using their resources to show the love of Christ to the world, more needs would be met than the government could ever dream of meeting. On a side note, is it really charity if you're forced to give?
I don't mean to be just getting down on Obama. I don't really think the problem is with him as it is with us. I think hope and love are contagious, and if I started showing more of them, people could really be changed.
P.S. I think I'm going to vote for Ron Paul in the republican primaries. If you don't know much about him, check this out.
Andy Zipf played at Pour Cafe the other night and it was the most innovative show I've ever seen. So, Andy and his drummer wore all white, covered the back wall in a white sheet, covered their instruments in white sheets. Throughout the show, a "Media DJ" projected images on Andy and the stage that corresponded with the music. It was incredible how well the images were in sync with the music. At some parts, they even had live footage of the show projecting on the stage from a camera set up by the projector. Andy's always been a little ahead of his time, but this show was unlike anything I've ever seen. You can kind of get an idea from the pictures below, but they don't really do the show justice.
Here's a video I made for church:
So, the TV in my bedroom is set to come on every morning at 7 am on ESPN so I can catch SportsCenter as I wake up. I used to have it set to turn on Saved By the Bell, but that's lame. Anyway, for the last week, it seems every morning there's been about 57 minutes of talk about the Mitchell Report (that exposed steroid use in major league baseball) and about 3 minutes of stuff I care about, i.e. people dunking. While I generally could care less about baseball, I don't really mind if SportsCenter plays baseball highlights, but this Mitchell Report coverage is driving me nuts.
First of all, the players who were named in the report are coming out with such lame excuses for why they had steroids. I heard a guy just this morning say he "only used them once," and then beg for forgiveness. Another guy claimed he bought them but never used them. I swear, these guys must have 15-year-olds for their publicists. I can see the conversation now:
MLB Player: "Jimmy! I got named in the Mitchell Report. What should I do?"
Jimmy, High School Sophomore and MLB Player's Agent: "Oh, dude. Just say you were holding the steroids for a friend. That worked when my mom found some cigs in my jacket pocket."
MLB Player: "No, they have a check with my signature on it."
Jimmy: "Well, just say you bought them but never used them."
MLB Player: "Someone's already used that excuse."
Jimmy: "Well, just say you only used them once and that you happen to have gotten caught the one and only time you used them. Everyone will believe that."
MLB Player: "Thanks Jimmy. You're a lifesaver."
Jimmy: "Alright, I've got to go. I'm going to be tardy for math."
When will someone just come out and say, "Yeah, I used a lot of steroids and I thought people would be too stupid to realize that getting older doesn't give you the ability to hit 20 more homeruns a season." I would honestly prefer that over "I used them once." That excuse is as obvious as a kid who got beat by his parents saying he "fell down the stairs" or an actress who got plastic surgery saying she "getting more rest and drinking more water."
This all brings me to my second point: everyone knew they were doing steroids, and we mostly didn't care. Yeah, it's a bad example for kids and it's probably unhealthy, but so is "My Super Sweet 16" and over-eating, and you don't see SportsCenter devoting 57 minutes to those. I think now everyone has to pretend to act shocked so they don't look like a bad person. We get it. Baseball players cheated and used steroids. It's common knowledge. I'm not saying its ok for them to use steroids or that they should keep using them. I'm just sick of reporters covering this story reminding me of the look on my sister's face when she would open a present on Christmas that she had found 3 weeks earlier: "I'm so shocked by this present! I had no idea! Really, I never thought you would get this for me!" To me, this story is like when Lance Bass came out of the closet and People magazine put him on the cover with a headline saying, "I'm gay." Yeah, I thought everyone already knew that. Is that really front page news?
So SportsCenter, if you're reading this, get back to showing nasty dunks and one-handed catches (probably made by guys on steroids) and leave the steroids stories in the old news section.
This is the video I made for the Christmas series at First Wesleyan.
Enjoy! (I hope)
I couldn't get motivated to do anything last night. Brooke was doing homework and I didn't feel like doing anything productive, so I decided to take a picture of 360 degrees around where I spent my night (on the couch, flipping between different basketball games I didn't care about).
I may start blogging.
Maybe not though. We'll just have to see. In a year, this might still be the first post. There's really no way to know.
The commercials for e-surance (that run non-stop) make me wish there was also a commercial writers strike. I have to resist the urge to throw something at the screen every time one comes on. They don't make sense at all. Special Agent "Erin E-surance" fights some sort of monster or races a car against a monster or plays basketball against a monster and I'm suppose to want to buy car insurance from e-surance?
Evidence:
Invasion of the Car Snatchers
My favorite part is when the male e-surance special agent says, "But everyone loves their cars! They'll never believe it!"