Christian Tee Shirts Hypocritical

From my observation, born again Christians really find it difficult to obey copyright protection laws. The most recent example I have seen was when I was recently at Disneyland. There was a dork behind me with a shirt that initially I thought was for Staples, the office superstore where you can find all of your supplies for home and work under one roof. In reality, it was for "Jesus" with the subtext "It's just that easy".

I have seen similar ones to this before. The most popular seems to be a rip off of the milk advisory's slogan "Got Milk" which is replaced with "Got Jesus. The intent of the shirt is questionable. Is the thumper asking for people to volunteer their answer to them. If so, I am sure more people who will approach him or her will be a yes. Most athiests and non-Christians will probably abstain from answering since they are in the 15% minority within the U.S.

Some other notable examples are here to the right. Ripping off Mt. Dew, Hershey's, Orange Crush, and the Steven Spielberg, Michael Crighton classic. I always found preachy people and those who products free of charge to be dopes. Combine the two and you have a whole new level of geekdom.

You would think that if you are going to be a walking billboard for a faith, that you would first read the religions rules. When geek boy in the line for Pinocchio's Daring Journey was wearing his Staples/Jesus T-Shirt, he should have realized that he was violating two of his religions 10 sacred commandments:
3. Thou shall not make wrongful use of the name of your God - I highly doubt that God would say to his believers, "You know how I would really like my name to be spread across the land, let's take the logo from a 1993 dinosaur movie and slap my son's picture on there".
8. Thou shall not steal - I also doubt that Joyce Meyers or Joel Osteen established an agreement with the good people at PepsiCo to have their message tacked on a Mt. Dew or Orange Crush tee, making this a violation of copyright.

So please, if you are going to be preachy, don't be a hypocrite or more importantly, don't be plain stupid.

Is David Archuleta A Good Singer

We are mere hours before David Archuleta gets crowned 2008 American Idol. I still don't get it but I accept it. To me he is like Queen Latifah or Andie McDowell. People tell me they are beautiful. I really have no attraction to either one of them. Queen Latifah weigths two Kelly Picklers and Andie McDowell has funky teeth. Yet, there they are on Maybelliene commercials selling cheap make-up to millions of women. I could name artists too - Picasso, Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollack - do you think someone is going to look back in 200 years and say, "Damn look at that splattered crap". My son could do that much better and incorporate Cheerios and carrots.

It is the same with "Archu". I don't think he can sing or at least he can sing but I hate his town. Real singers had powerful voices like Elvis, Roger Daltry, or Sammy Hagar. They are not whinny wusses like Archu or John Mayer. But American seems to be keen on the little Utah kid. So, rather than fight the tide, I surrender.

The Cure Rocks Chicago

Saturday night I had a chance to see a band that had been part of my life for the past twenty plus years, The Cure. The British alternative band that most people only equate to "Lovesong" and "Friday, I'm in Love". The show was worth the wait.

The show opened up with the quartet powering into anthems that were less known but still held the audience captivated. During the less familiar songs, I closed my eyes and my junior high and high school days flashed back to me. There were individuals I hadn't thought of in almost 20 years whose faces or voices reappeared. Thoughs of joy and ackwardness resurfaces and awoke me to how you never tell how small little things when you are younger will guide you to where you will be later in life.

My only hope was that they would play one of my top five songs of all time "Pictures of You". Within the first 45 minutes the song unfolded and poured over me like a refreshing winter snow dusting. The only negative thought that crossed my mind was that how could it get any better from here. Fortunately, the hits (and memories) kept me awestruck - "Hot Hot Hot!!!", "Just like heaven", "Wrong number",

Smith was showing his age in his physical appearance. His appearance remind me of character "Old Deuteronomy" from Cats with makeup like Brandon Lee in Cats after he had been out in the rain. Although continually apologizing continually for his voice, the audience didn't mind, gratiously filling in the vocals when he dropped out.

The auditorium was rumbling after the first encore. Hoping for another, when in reality the set-list contained three. Smith did away with his guitar during "Why Can't I Be You" and displayed some of his signature goofy dance moves which brought on added fever. The final encore brought about the post punk early hits that established the band - "Boys Don't Cry", "Jumping Someone Else's Train", and "Killing An Arab". The arena had minor hysteria and for a second hopes of a fourth encore surfaced. Alas, the lights came up and it was not to be.

Three brilliant hours of music, which equates to about 2.25 Morrissey concerts.

Set :

1 - Plainsong
2 - Prayers for rain
3 - alt.end
4 - A night like this
5 - The walk
6 - The end of the world
7 - Lovesong
8 - Pictures of you
9 - Lullaby
10 - The perfect boy
11 - From the edge......
12 - Hot Hot Hot!!!
13 - Sleep when i'm dead
14 - Push
15 - Friday I'm in love
16 - Inbetween days
17 - Just like heaven
18 - Primary
19 - Never enough
20 - The only one
21 - Wrong number
22 - One hundred years
23 - Disintegration


First encore :
24- If only tonight we could sleep
25 - The kiss


Second encore :
26 - The lovecats
27 - Freak show
28 - Close to me
29 - Why can't I be you?


Third encore :
30 - Boys don't cry
31 - Jumping someone else's train
32 - Grinding halt
33 - 10.15 Saturday night
34 - Killing an Arab

Randumb Thoughts

• Way to go putting the Polar Bears on the Endangered Species List Bush administration
• Poor Chinese people in that earthquake. I can only imagine the devastation. It makes Katrina look not so bad.
• Sure the Cubs haven’t won a World Series in 100 years but what about the Royals. Have they every broken .500?
• Although I don’t care for his singing, that Archuleta seems like a nice kid. I thought it was sweet when he wondered where everyone parked for his homecoming
• Has there been a cuter, funnier boy in existence than my son?
• Gasoline prices are pretty elastic. Even though they are hitting $4.00/gallon, I don’t see anyone changing their habits
• Why is Portuguese supposed to be such a hard language to learn
• I am going to see “The Cure” on Saturday and I am geeked. I was supposed to see them 20 years ago at Dodger Stadium with Love and Rockets but my mom made me perform in the school marching band that night.

Labatomy or Cancer

So there is this thing on my head for the last two years or so. I kept thinking it was a scab that would almost go away and they reappear. My justification that is was reappearing was that I am a wild sleeper and probably scrape against the pillow and reinjure the wound.
Last weekend my wife presuaded me to see the dermatologist who quickly diagnosed it as a malignant tumor. He scratched it off like a sushi chef, told me to put bacitracin on it, and covered it with a band aid. The tumor he put in a jar to have a biopsy performed. Yesterday I got the call that it was a indeed the big "C" and I would have to come back in a few months to see if it returned.
My neighbor looked at my scab from where the tumor had been on my head and says "What did you have, a labotomy." I replied, "No its basal cell carcinoma! (under breath: Prick)". I suppose, this is my punishment for posing the not too congenial question to my family at the Thanksgiving table about what type of cancer they would rather have. Mine was always skin cancer.