Fame

Who is more famous? Elvis Presley or Michael Jackson? I was recently asked this question by my two roommates who were asking for an opinion from someone who, as a citizen of this country, should be able to figure out the answer to such a question.

But how do you pit the King of Rock and Roll against the King of Pop? How do you honestly answer whether "Elvis the Pelvis" is more famous than the man who invented the moonwalk or vice versa?

You can't, because being famous during Elvis' day is much different than being famous during the time when Michael Jackson skyrocketed to fame. Elvis had television and Radio and records. Michael Jackson had television, radio, music videos, later on the internet, and he was adorable when he started out.

And to become famous in today all one has to do is be ridiculous or pretty or funny enough to achieve a small amount of fame, which could result in larger things. Take for example Darren Criss, who is best known among the general public as Blaine on Fox's Glee. However, Darren first became famous as Harry Potter, the boy under the stairs in his college production of A Very Potter Musical which was performed by a group known as "the Starkids" and made overnight stars of them all. Darren put covers of Disney songs on Youtube, starred in another Starkid musical and gradually became more and more famous until reaching Glee, starring on Broadway, and singing for the President.

Or Justin Beiber and Colbie Caillet, both discovered on the internet. People are getting famous for less, and staying famous for longer because of the internet. And honestly, they don't make 'em like they used to anymore.

Let's face it, Darren Criss is beautiful and has the voice of an angel but be's no Frank Sinatra or Marlon Brando. And Justin Beiber is certainly no Danny Kaye (partially because Justin can't act).

The definition of fame includes the phrase "notable achievements". If that phrase must be included why are there celebrities such as Honey Boo Boo, Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton? None of them have done anything worthy of being called "notable". A backwards little girl, a woman most famous for her sex tape and  the woman who inspired Kim Kardashian to make a sex tape have done NOTHING to be called notable and yet they are famous and me, who runs a blog who has 1,000 hits (go me!) and have won numerous academic awards am not famous yet.

Aren't my achievements notable? I need more people to recognize these things so I become famous for absolutely nothing as well.

I think what irritates me the most about the current lot of celebrities is that I meet more people in my day to day journey through life that would be better deserving of fame and fortune than a large portion of the people I see on the television. I met a man at the bus stop once who could sing classic jazz like nobodies business. Let's remove Snooki from television and replace her with a show about the man who stands at the bus stop and sings.

I don't quite remember what the original intention of this post was, but I do know this. While there are many great musicians, actors, and actresses in the spotlight today, there are so many people in everyday walks of life who dream of fame and will never achieve it, but should. If only people got famous for being talented like they did back in Elvis' day.

That would be the life.

What the Bible Has to Say About Homosexuality

After doing a lot of research and going through many debates on the topic and talking to people a lot more mature and a lot older than I am I decided one day to go through the Bible and see what actually had to say about this "hot topic". Just so it is stated up front, I personally believe that everyone should be allowed the right to marry whomever they want without being discriminated against by any group of people. If the LGBT community doesn't vote on straight (I refuse to use the word traditional) marriage, then why do we get to vote on their marriage? Inequality at its finest, folks.

Anyways, these are my humble findings.

• Jesus NEVER said anything about same-sex relations
• The Jewish prophets NEVER said anything about same-sex relations
• There are only 6 or 7 verses in the Bible that address homosexuality, and none of them address homosexuality as it is understood today.

Also, since I know eventually someone is going to bring up the man shall not lie with man thing from Leviticus, let me tell you that Leviticus (the entire book) is a holiness code written 3,000 years ago. I have signed many holiness codes in my life. Ones that state not to drink, do drugs, or have sex, a holiness code not to date till 16, and even one that said not to dance.

Anyways, back to my point. This same book also has a lot of other rules, rules I’m sure we all have broken, which OBVIOUSLY makes us sinners. Wanna know some other rules from good old Leviticus?

• No round haircuts
• No tattoos (your body is a temple, my friend!)
• No working on the Sabbath (that includes killing insects)
• No wearing garments of mixed fabrics (so, uh…go naked?)
• No eating pork or shellfish

There’s even one about playing with pig skin. (Sorry, football just got outlawed by God.)
A holiness code is not law forever, it is simply a list of things people find offensive at a certain place and time. Leviticus was actually written for priests only and was mainly written so the priests of Israel would be more highly esteemed than the priests from anywhere else. Since there are not many priests around anymore, I’m assuming this code is a little archaic.

I would just like to remind the general public of some other things the Bible says about sex.

• DEUTERONOMY 22:13-21 If it is discovered that a bride is not a virgin, the Bible demands that she be executed by stoning immediately.
• DEUTERONOMY 22:22 If a married person has sex with someone else’s husband or wife, the Bible commands that both adulterers be stoned to death.
• MARK 10:1-12 Divorce is strictly forbidden in both Testaments, as is remarriage of anyone who has been divorced.
• LEVITICUS 18:19 The Bible forbids a married couple from having sexual intercourse during a woman’s period. If they disobey, both shall be executed.
• MARK 12:18-27 If a man dies childless, his widow is ordered by biblical law to have intercourse with each of his brothers in turn until she bears her deceased husband a male heir.
• DEUTERONOMY 25:11-12 If a man gets into a fight with another man and his wife seeks to rescue her husband by grabbing the enemy’s genitals, her hand shall be cut off and no pity shall be shown her.

Hmm…shoot. But the list continues my friends.

• The Bible clearly states that sex with a prostitute is acceptable for the husband but not for the wife. 
• Polygamy (more than one wife) is acceptable, as is a king’s having many concubines. (Solomon, the wisest king of all, had 1,000 concubines.) 
• Slavery and sex with slaves, marriage of girls aged 11-13, and treatment of women as property are all accepted practices in the Scriptures. 
• On the other hand, there are strict prohibitions against interracial marriage, birth control, discussing or even naming a sexual organ, and seeing one’s parents nude. I choose to strictly abide by the no nude parents rule. 

Also, I would just like to add in that in the last three decades alone, 1.5 MILLION healthcare professionals have been able to state, without a single doubt, that homosexual orientation is just as natural as heterosexual orientation and is caused by a combination of pre and post natal influences.

Remember that awkward time when masturbating was considered sinful? Or how about stopping sex before ejaculation so that the woman didn't end up pregnant? Those were ridiculous and were things that people came up with after looking into the Bible. I pray that one day everyone will be able to look back and say "Remember when people said the Bible prohibited gay marriage? What a bunch of loonies."

Love is love, even God knows that.


If you would like to debate this topic with me or speak to me about it, please keep in mind that while I am open to debate or conversation or comments I refuse to accept any of those three things if they are presented without respect. My opinion may differ from yours, and that's just fine. However, don't treat me less because of it. 

Dear Sandy Hook Dissenters

Dear Sandy Hook Dissenters,

Jesus Christ people. What do you want, photos of dead children to prove to the world that this event actually happened? Do you want parents wearing sackcloth and groveling in the ashes whilst gnashing their teeth and pulling out their hair on the evening news to prove that they are really grieving? Do you want minute by minute updates from the teachers who died? Seriously. Let me know what it is you need to allow me to stop hearing and seeing all the bullshit I've had to endure for the last week.

Alexis.

Today has been a low point in my faith for humanity. I thought I'd seen terrible things in my life. Let's face it, people in my generation have lived through 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Sandy, The Virginia Tech Shooting, and countless other things. I've always regarded these things as the most tragic events to occur in my life until today when I wasted thirty minutes of my life listening to a conspiracy theorist ramble about how the whole thing is a fake. While many things were addressed, one was never brought up. If the whole Sandy Hook Elementary massacre is a staged event in order to raise money for a so-called beautification project and all the people seen in interviews are actors, where are they hiding the 26 victims?

Answer me that, conspiracy theorists.

I will admit right now that my arguments are all stemming from the thirty wasted minutes that I spent watching the video I will post down at the bottom, because even though I think it's all stupid and America just needs to learn to accept the fact that terrible things happen and that yes, 26 people are dead as a result of a shooter's actions, I do believe that people should be allowed to decide for themselves.

Anyways, during the course of the video the interviews with a man named Gene Rosen are mentioned. They talk about how inconsistent is story is, how he is a member of the Screen Actor's Guild and how he's just generally wrong about everything. I do think that Gene Rosen discredits Sandy Hook because I also think that Gene Rosen is a fake. Whenever something huge happens there are people that are going to want to gain their fifteen minutes of fame from it. Especially say, a member of the S.A.G who has not amounted to any fame because answer me honestly, have YOU ever heard of him? I think that Gene Rosen saw an opportunity to get some attention and ran with it.

But what irritates me the most about this whole thing is that whenever the conspiracy theorists jump on a new disaster they completely discredit the fact that the world is a strange and terrible place and that coincidences do happen.

Apparently the day that the Sandy Hook shooting occurred both FEMA and Homeland Security were conducting classes 20 minutes South in Bridgeport, CT on how to deal with crises involved children. Oh no, let's call a red flag on the whole operation, Jim. FEMA AND Homeland Security were there, obviously the government, Newton, CT and 26 different families were all working together to play on the sympathy of Americans so that Sandy Hook Elementary could become renovated. I mean, that's the logical conclusion, correct? No. Please, go see a shrink.

Another moment during the video where I questioned the judgement of ThinkOutsideTheTV (user name of OP) was when they sat and questioned why there were no children being rushed out of the school when the entire building was on lockdown and people were just milling about the parking lot. First of all, the building is on lockdown. That means no one enters and no one leaves. HELLO. That's why there is no footage of anyone leaving, especially children, who would probably be the intended targets during an elementary school shooting.

And the whole people milling about the parking lot thing. "Where are the parents, why is everyone so calm?" The parking lot was blocked off, I doubt the parents were there, and just a guess, but I'm sure the people in the parking lot were individuals who were trained to remain calm in such situations.

I have a lot more thoughts on this video and the whole situation but it's three a.m. and I don't have the patience to type them out. What I will say is this. Fake or not, and I'm on the side of the people who say it really happened, the whole tragedy should no longer be making national news.

Why? Because the number one cause of mass murders in America is the overexposure of the public to mass murders in America. Read more on that fact here.

And now, as promised, the video that upset me so much that I decided to blog about it at 3 am instead of going to sleep and getting enough rest to do a good job at work the next day.

Kudos to conspiracy theorists everywhere for being the group of people on the face of this planet to have the audacity to question tragedy that will leave groups of people traumatized for their whole lives and a big shout out to the news channels of the world for making it possible for conspiracy theorists to draw crazy conclusions from your faulty reporting.

I urge you to always keep an open mind and to think logically about every piece of information that is ever presented to you. But at the same time, remember that there are loonies living among us. 

Peace and Love. 

New Years Resolutions I'll Actually Keep.

To write

To learn

To achieve 

To conquer. 

Four two letter statements. Four goals for the new year. Write more, because I know that its something I’m good at, and should be doing more because when I sit down and write, suddenly the world is at peace and even though my mind is a tumultuous sea of paradoxes, confusion, and bad decision making, it all stops for a few moments and I feel whole again.

Learn things, because life is a never ending education that we as humans would be fools to ignore. Even the flowers that come back year after year have something to teach us. That sometimes we have to go underground for a while before we’re able to bloom once more. One of those “even the darkest night will end and the sun will shine” sentiments that I’m so fond of. There’s so much to be learned while we’re here, from a stranger’s smile to the way the sun reflects off of the snow, so why be a fool and be ignorant of that?

Achieve something. Maybe I’ll start with being able to spell achieve correctly on the first try. And then I’ll move on to something grand. Maybe the achievement will be in my finally understanding that not all achievements will be noticed by the world, some will only be seen by a few people and others still will only be noticeable to me. Maybe I’ll finish a book, or lose five pounds, or go back to school, or change someone’s life. I don’t know yet, but I plan to find out. 

Veni vidi vici (or something like that). I will conquer this year. I will emerge from 2013 a better person who has done something worthwhile with their life. Last year I fell off the wagon, this year I’m getting back on it. 

Look out world, Alexis is on her way to a new existence.