Oh, silly boy, you wanted to write a blog...

...and just didn't realize how little time you have in a day to actually sit down and write in it, now did you?  Going to try to fix that soon. 

Life's good (aka Losing my mind)

So, listen to this.

I just got out of the shower about twenty minutes ago.  I cracked the window in the bathroom to let some of the steam out so I could shave.  And when I was done and just about to get dressed, I walked past the window and felt the cool breeze.  Here we are in October, and we have that nice crisp autumn air blowing.  This has always been my favorite time of year, but today it really struck me.  It felt very comforting.  Almost as if it were saying "It's all good", even though I had no real reason today to be reminded so.  And so I just stood there for awhile, taking in those October gusts, letting myself relax and take solace in the fact that this has been the season that has always meant so much to me and my family.  Halloween, my birthday, my mom's birthday along with so many others in my family.  It seemed liked every other day was cause for a celebration, from beginning to end.  And the end was always best, because it was the night of trick or treating as well as birthday presents for a fine young chap named Josh Hill.  Man, that air just felt so good, I was tempted to run outside and stand out on the back porch with my arms outstretched, just soaking it up.  It seemed like just about all I could want at the moment, other than having my wife and child by my side.

Now, isn't that about the craziest sh*t you've ever read?  I gotta be losing my mind, brother.

What If....

...Roman Polanski were a politican?  What if Roman Polanski were a Catholic Priest?  What if Roman Polanksi were a businessman? 

I doubt anyone from Hollywood would be standing up for him.  They'd be making some sort of movie that runs him out on a rail.  The hypocrisy never ends.

Let's check the scale....

Allison Sweeney says I am 226 lbs. today.  I won't complain about not losing any weight, since I didn't gain any, either.

My favorite Halloween movie (yes, it's only October 4th, but...)...

...is BRIDES OF DRACULA.  It's a Hammer Horror, so it has lots of bright colors and blood and femme fatales.  What it doesn't have is Dracula.  This was a sequel to HORROR OF DRACULA, which starred Christopher Lee in the title role.  He didn't return for BRIDES (for various reasons, although he did come back to do many more Dracula flicks for Hammer afterwards), but his co-star and my favorite horror movie actor of all-time Peter Cushing did in fact come back as Dr. Van Helsing.   This clip features one of my favorite scenes of any motion picture.  You'll find it at 7:41, right after Van Helsing gets bitten by the Baron Meinster (yes, that's the name of the big bad vampire here).  Just a classic portrayal of old-fashioned heroism that doesn't involve anyone violence.  It just involves sheer, personal will and faith for good to triumph over evil.  Enjoy.   

Cancer

I've lost many an important person in my life to cancer.  It's an unstoppable force, mysterious and merciless.  I know I'm not the only one who has been affected in some form or fashion by cancer.  I just wonder sometimes if I am the only one who questions "What would I do if I had cancer?  Would I submit myself to chemotherapy or not?"  Watching so many members of my family, so many friends, suffer through chemotherapy, only to die perhaps a more painful death than they would have without it, I cannot help but doubt if I would even bother.  I'd want to enjoy my life and live it to the fullest every day, and I do not see how chemo can allow you to do that.

The only reason I can think of for undergoing chemotherapy is for the sake of my loved ones.  They are the ones who, when I'd be gone, would ask themselves if they did everything they could to keep me alive.  I wouldn't want to burden them with the thought.  Other than that, you can take chemotherapy and stick it. 

Can someone explain this to me?

Why is it that nearly every hip hop/R & B song has to "feature" somebody else along with the main artist?  I heard someone else on the radio the other day asking the same question, and it really struck me, too.   Ok, for example, let's look at the hip hop charts on iTunes. 

1. Empire State Of Mind - Jay Z (featuring Alicia Keys)

2. Run This Town - Jay-Z (featuring Rhianna and Kanye West)

3. Hotel Room Service - Pitbull

4. Face Drop - Sean Kingston

5. Be On You - Flo Rida (featuring Ne-Yo)

6. I Know You Want Me - Pitbull

7. Young Forever - Jay-Z (featuring Mr. Hudson)

8. I'm Goin In - Drake (featuring Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy)

9. Successful - Drake (featuring Lil Wayne)

10.  Best I Ever Had - Drake

So that's six of the top 10 that have the "featuring..." tag.  And when I scroll down the rest of the top 100, I count another thirty-five in addition.  This equals forty-one songs in the top 100 where the main artist is sharing the billing with someone else.   That's nearly half.

Now, being a new dad and all, the concept of sharing is kind of a positive thing and maybe that's the lesson all these folks are trying to put across to the young kids out there. 

Yeah, somehow I doubt that.  Honestly, I'm not going to try to spin this into a "Well, back in my day, so-and-so didn't need anyone else on their records, they all stood up tall and proud on their own", blah blippity blah.  All I'm saying is, I just. Don't. Get it.    You know, I'm hardly an expert on hip hop music.  I certainly spend very little time listening to it by my own choice.  I do stay aware of what's out there, though, just because I've always been fascinating by the state of pop music at all times.  I will stop and listen to something on the radio if/when I hear enough about it elsewhere to grab my curiosity.  And I just find myself looking at hip hop as having gone from being the genre that was predicted back in the 1990's to surpass rock n' roll (or be the next evolution of rock, whichever), to now being repetitive, lazy, and in some cases absolutely bizarre (see Kanye West) for no apparent reason other than to claim it's in the name of "high art".  Most of all, I just don't see how hip hop can move forward and be respected if it always has to rely on the same gimmicks.  Specifically the need to pack every single with as many name artists as possible.  Not only does it make it look like each artist needs someone else's coat tails to ride on, but it doesn't allow for anyone to stand out on their own.  I'm sorry, but Jay-Z only stands out because he's married to Beyonce.  Not saying the guy isn't talented, not saying he doesn't deserve his success, but the mainstream audience didn't give a damn about this guy until he started dating the lead singer from Destiny's Child.  Or he started to hang out with Gwenyth Palrow and Chris Martin (the guy from Coldplay, for those unaware).  Yes, now he's a successsful businessman, but you gotta have money to make money, and Jay-Z made his money because of the image he made for himself by hanging out with who he hangs out with.  He didn't make it by doing his own music, and that alone. 

There's no doubt that in the music business (and the entertainment industry, in general) it's more often about who you know than what you do.  However, in the long run, the only way to stand out, to elevate yourself and the music you make, is to stand on your own in the public eye.  These hip hop artists today are never going to be remembered one hundred years from now by the mainstream for the songs they did on their own.  To go back to Jay-Z (poor bastard, I keep singling him out), he's only going to remembered for marrying Beyonce Knowles and for that one song he did with Linkin Park.  It's no different than what people like Paris Hilton and other media whores do.  They're not standing out for being creative.  They just stand out for who they stand next to.