Heaven isn't too far away

Now if you religiously read my blog (ha-ha...see it's funny because you don't) you'd think that all I do is bitch and moan. Well that is true and false. I only bitch and moan on THIS blog, what else would I do on here. No one likes reading about happy things (eg. The news). You might also say that I complain about things that are seemingly harmless, nay, even good for society and general life. Such as the pope visitation. But, the fact of the matter, as it often turns out to be, is that behind any good deed in society usually lies a trail of deceit and personal agendas.

Call me negative but I seem to notice that change, positive change, only occurs in society when the situation is dire. The corporations and the conglomerates strive for good cause only when it follows their bottom line or when market value and reputation is on the line. This is why this whole eco-friendly movement bothers me.

"Eco-friendly movement bothers you, you say...but why?"

I'll tell you why...because it's totally spearheaded in the wrong direction. Now don't get me wrong, any help to this planet is appreciated (it's the only one we have) and now that Al Gore has told us global warming is bad (all those un-sexy scientists warning us for decades didn't have the same celebrity oomph) everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. This is exactly what bothers me. Where was the general public's conscious in all of this? or their common sense? Rather than promoting social change, which many would argue is the prominent way of curbing our carbon footprint, the major businesses made it a change of buying habits. Rather than face the carelessness of our industrialist and capitalist system which got us here in the first place, we are choosing to solve this problem with capitalism...by buying more things.

The whole solution seems to come down to this: Buy Green. Buy shit you already have but this one is eco-friendly. Eco-friendly car, food, toys, bulbs, clothes, furniture, TV, PC, shoes etc etc etc. Yes, that's what will help Earth, buying more things which are marginally less pollutant. No where is personal discretion advertised...no way, god forbid a business of consumer goods actually point the glutinous attitude of the common American. No where is this more prevalent than in the automobile business. It's downright laughable that hybrid luxury SUVs are advertised as alternatives to regular SUVs, because getting a 23mpg instead of 20mpg is an exercise in conservation. The notion that you can drive 3 miles further per gallon and be more of a nuisance to this planet is heartwarming. The fact that Hummers exist is testament to the arrogance we display as a nation.

No where is personal responsibility accounted for, nope, let's keep buying overblown monstrosities and overly priced goods in order to feel good about our selves. We want to have our cake and eat it too.

Simple things that, simple life changing habits that can be a positive force over time have been long ignored...like using grocery store bags as garbage bags, turning off water while putting soap on your self, turning off water while brushing your teeth, recycling (remember that one before Al Gore got all uppity about it), reusing newspapers for cabinet liners etc etc....something pretty much every other nation does (Japan has a 60% recycling rate due to it's limited size as a country and limited resources) But lord knows when George Clooney buys an all electric vehicle, the rest of elite follow suit.

This is why the whole eco-friendly movement bothers me. It's not about personal change, it's about buying more expensive stuff. We're still getting pedaled the same crap, now it has a green sticker on it. You can't help the planet and manage to keep the shareholders happy at the same time. But I digress, change of this kind is glacial...the situation hasn't gotten REALLY dire yet.

But it will...and you won't be able to buy yourself out of that problem.

Where are the balls???

This is something that has been bothering me for the past 2 years or so. Something must be said. Where are the balls in rock? or in music general?

I am reffering to mainstream music, excluding rap and r&b. Where is the music that use to have power, badass riffs, and that special touch of machismo but not ovebearing chest thumping (unlike hip-hop) to get you off your seat and shout. All the new artists I am seeing today have one of these or all 3 of these very annoying qualities to them;

1) Dangerously skinny guys in very tight jeans and thick framed glasses looking stoned and retarded.
2) Bands with heavely bearded, granola looking wimpy dudes and one pasty chic. All looking incredibly pretentious and stoic.
3) Soft voiced, coffee shop favorites, British song birds...enough with those already.

We all know this is music age for the hipsters right now. We passed through the R&B phase, got through the Rap-rock phase and now we are in the "god im so sensitive" hipster douche bag phase...problem is that this phase is taking incredibly long. I can't remember the last time I pumped my fist in excitement over a totally bad ass riff filled song that came from a new emerging band. Ever since Audioslave broke up, no creative, unique hardrock band has stepped up. What we have instead is hordes of introspective, soft voiced, sensitive, thesauraus humping, simplistic beats creating sissy bands.

None of them even display any lasting power but god knows I can't fart without hearing about some mind blowing, next-it-thing band of, what else...but some hipsters, fruity looking people. When did eccentricity become a talent, enough to warrant praise!

What happened to The Artic Monkeys huh? they were suppose to be the next Beatles. I can't even count how many times I have heard Joni Mitchell comparasions about some new, cool-eccentric, female singer out of Britian. These bands and the media outlets that promote them need to be stopped.

..and speaking of Starbucks friendly British female songstresses...please stop already, enough. I am tired of going to starbucks and listening to a 10 BPM song about a broken heart from another chick who opened her mouth and soon enough had a record deal shoved in it. People go to Starbucks to get coffee (well normal people, not, attention whore, hipster trash with their macbooks) so they would likely prefer upbeat, dare I say, violent music. Why isn't RATM blaring in the speakers to alleviate the 3 p.m energy drain? Starbucks could sell this as a "Discover the classics" promotion because Sia certainly ain't doing it for me.

I miss the days of AC/DC, music that was fun. Well there is hope RATM will reunite.