Thursday, October 26, 2006

My Facsination with Professional Wrestling

It's the early 80's and I'm a young kid living in a home without cable. There's just not a lot of content on TV. that's when I stumbled upon wrestling. More specifically I'm talking about the World Wrestling Federation. My earliest recollection was footage of Hulk Hogan defeating the Iron Shiek for the World Heavyweight Title. Then there are the images of Cindt Lauper helping Hulk, Captain Lou and Mr. T stand up to Rowdy Roddy Piper and Cowboy Bob Orton at Wrestlemania. These were real images of real people fighting for honor, their image, etc. I have to admit I wanted this to be real. Even then I knew it had to be fake, but my heart wouldn't let me believe it.

Every week I'd watch my favorie wrestler battle it out. Each battle would lead to the upcoming live event at the sports arena in Los Angeles. My parents refused to ever let me go. They said it was fake. Sigh.

It would be 2004 before I would attend my first live event.

Next time...Wrestling.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Just a lazy day.

This blog comes to you from my palm pilot. I'm just a little bored. I'm going on vacation soon and I'm overcome with anticipation.

More to come.

Monday, October 16, 2006

My Christian Life

As many of you know, I'm an evangelical Christian in every sense of the world.  Well, maybe most senses but not all.  In my world, there are the extreme's. 
 
On the right, you have the ultra Conservative, take the Bibles literally and live by the strict interpretation.  These are the Bible Thumpers, suit and tie at Church, study the Word of God.
 
On the left, you have the free Spiritual charismatic, who loves God, loves the Bibles and loves to worship.  They love to spend all of their time reading the Bible and studying the Bible and loves being in the spirit when they sing and worship.
 
The difference to me the one likes the intellectual pursuit of God and the other likes the emotional pursuit of God.  I am in the middle.  Although my life is flanked by people on the extremes and the funny thing is.  I don't think either side believes I'm saved.
 
I find it strange that both sides are such polar opposites of each other, but at the same time they feel they have the right to judge me and my Christian maturity.
 
They like to criticize my role in the family, my leadership style has a husband and father, the amount of time that I watch television and my pursuits in witnessing.  Ugh.
 
On the right, they judge me because I don't follow what the Bible says, while on the left, they judge me because they don't feel like I'm following the Lord.
 
My response...I don't really care.  I'm not above criticism, but I am above judgment from others. And that's alright by me.  I gotta go. My TV show is on.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Blog, Blogging, and other Bloggery

It's almost been month since I began this active blogging.  I've somehow managed to create about 5-6 blog sites, all on different topics and created an automated system to post these blogs.
 
If you notice, I have various topics that I'm interested in.  I have a few blog spot accounts as well as a myspace account.  So all I have to do is create a blog in an email, send it.  It's posted to my blog spot site and then it's posted on my personal website (www.mypalal.com) and I'm done.
 
They only way that I can make this work right is to basically make it easy to update.  And I believe I'm at a point where I'm happy.
 
Here's some things to consider if you want to get into the blog business:
 
Have something to say.  I'm still working on this.  I comment but I don't necessarily say anything.
 
Get in the habit.  Just start writing.  Don't be afraid.  Just do it.
 
Maintain your privacy.  You're more or less making your life public on the internet.  Don't do anything stupid.  A few years ago, I wrote about my horrible manager on my website.  That wasn't good.  Good thing now that I have the best manager who ever lived.
 
Sorry, I'm wiping some brown stuff on my nose.
 
I want to let you know what I think, but at the same time, I don't want you coming over to my house.  Let's talk through this forum first.  OK.
 
That's all I have to say now.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Lost, Veronica Mars, Heroes

I'm going to continue to talk about some of the season premieres that I've encountered so far.  If you'd like to know more about previous shows, please read my previous blog - www.mypalal.com. Spoiler Alert.
 
Lost - The season premiere of Lost was awesome.  I like how all of the premiere have started with the plane crash.  This time with the perspective of the others.  It's amazing just how the writers like to mess with your mind.  My understanding is that the first 7 episode will deal primarily with Jack, Kate and Sawyer.  Who will Kate end up with?  I don't care.  The "Henry Gale" character is getting creepier and creepier and I like that.  I also like the fact that the show at this point is very different from the first two seasons.  The whole "others" question is going to be fascinating to watch over the next 7 weeks.
 
Veronica Mars - I missed the first half of the season opener.  My TIVO didn't pick up on the fact that the show moved to the CW and I didn't find out until too late.  Nice start.  Veronica at college.  It's kind of Saved by the Bell - College Years, because lo and behold everyone is going to the same college. I just watched episode 2 last night and I like the fact that Veronica is not perfect and she can ruin two people's lives in one show.
 
The Nine - Great show so far.  I have to give it a few episode for final judgment, but a very strong open to introduce and kill off characters.  This show is in danger of becoming cheeseball very easily.
 
Heroes - I hesitated watching this show for a while.  It was sitting on my TIVO for a few days after the second episode.  I like this show, but it has the danger of becoming cheeseball too.  It reminds me a lot of Unbreakable a movie I loved.  People with powers discovering it's effects in subtle ways.  I think this show is going to go the way of Surface.  Great show but only one season in it.
 
Ugly Betty - Sticks.  I would like to like this show.  I'm not a big fan of the fact that pretty people are on all of the other shows, but It's just not that compelling and a little overrated.
 
The CSI series - So far, kudos to Las Vegas (the original) great start.  Great cliffhanger with Catherine's "rape".
 
More to come on this season.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Compassion Peddlers, Mediums and Ghost Whisperers

If you are in a profession of compassion, you have a responsibility to use your power for good.
 
Remember that I'm a conservative, born-again Christian before you read this.
 
I just ordered the 3rd season of Penn & Teller's Bullsh*t.  I am such a big fan of this show, except for the part where they discuss religion.  What I like about this show is that they expose people who exploit people who are hurting.
 
The biggest villain in my life are those who I will call "Compassion Peddlers."  These are people who use compassion to manipulate others for their own selfishness.  You will recognize they frauds because they will show you a great amount of compassion and in return you'll give them money, fame or power.
 
Who are these people?
  • Psychics
  • Mediums
  • Herbal Medicine Peddlers
  • Some Ministers, Healers and Pastors (especially those on Television)
These people basically tell you what you want or need to hear, take your money and move on with life.  The problem is that rather tell you that you should follow basic common sense, they tell you this advice is from nature, aliens, the psychic aura, a dead relative or God.
 
In the article, I'll discuss for a moment Mediums.  People who claim to talk to the dead.  Watch any show where there is a person talking to the dead, like John Edwards.  I won't go into how they do it but it's all B.S.  Essentially what they do is claim to speak for a dead loved one and then offer a peace of advice, such as I love you, be strong, let me go and be happy.
 
To some degree this is nice, they are at least not telling you to do something stupid like rob a bank.  The problem is that they are Bastardizing the memory of your loved one.  For this example, your father passed away.  You have memories of your father, both good and bad.  But these are real memories and you should cherish them, because it defines that person in your life.
 
Now comes a medium who tells you that your father loves you and admits that he wasn't a perfect father and now is the time to let go and let him "cross over."  The problem is...YOUR FATHER NEVER SAID THAT.  Now you have this "medium's" words and this session to screw around with your real memories of that person.  Sure the words of the medium may be benign but again, that's not your father saying it.  It's a false father and now they have damaged your memories of someone special.