Tag: Thoughts

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Its Not Reality TV…Its Marketing TV

tatiana-and-jason

I’ve heard a lot of chatter this morning on Twitter and some blogs about the outrage that the judges on American Idol brough Tatiana Del Torro back onto the show. It was just a few days ago the chatter on Twitter and the blogs was about the outrage that Jason Mesnick was allowed to dump his fincee Melissa on the Bachelor. After all, she was the girl he selected as his fiancee when he dumped Molly, who is the girl he reunited with as soon as he dumped Melissa. What single guy would not love to be on this show? Really? You get to select from like 25 ladies, make out with them, get an all expense paid vacation to date these girls, and then you get to dump them and watch them cry, but oh wait, if you make the wrong choice, the show will help you get the one you let slip away back.

Tatiana on the other hand is one of the most annoying contestans that has ever been on American Idol. She was not voted by the fans to remain on the show, but apparently American Idol felt we got it wrong, so what did they do? They allowed the judges to do one of those “bring an idol back” sessions (which they have not done consistantly) to bring miss Drama queen back into our living rooms. Haha! And you thought this was reality tv!

No, this is Marketing TV, and part of that is to make you believe you are in control, but you’re not. I am convinced that the Bachelor had to cover their poor video editing, which a normal person caught. It was just a few weeks ago when Twitter and You Tube blew up over a video where someone discovered that Jason was going to select Melissa. See, Melissa wore a pinky ring and in the final shot (where it shows Jason proposing) you cannot see the girl’s face, but you can see her pinky ring. I believe this killed the ratings for the final show. Sure it could have boosted the ratings, but the whole ordeal went a little too far. The reunion show with Jason and Molly was too staged.

Finally, you have Tatiana Del Torro, oh yeah, and Nick Mitchell on American Idol. They define two of the horrible selections made by the judges this season. Of course there is also the swimsuit girl who didn’t get in on musical talent. The problem with American Idol and Tatiana and Nick is the fact that this is American Idol. The fans agree they are not “American Idols” even if they can sing a little. They have preached for years that an American Idol is a complete package. Who knows, maybe they have been wrong this entire time since only about 3 American Idols have ended up being American Idols and there was that guy who lost and made it bigger than the other 4 duds combined. So just remember when you are calling in to cast your vote, most of these people did not just walk in off the street, the show knows a lot more about them than you and I will ever know. Most of the final contestants have been doing music for years! The first few rounds are just to filter out the extra noise the judges allow through for ‘show’ and in this particular horrible season if you don’t have Drama (Tatiana and Nick), you don’t have much of a show.

Join the Conversation: What’s Your Thoughts?

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Octo-Mom versus Grandma: Who’s Right?

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Here is a portion of the video where Octo-mom, Nadya Suleman, gets into a heated argument with her mom, Angela from an interview on Radaronline.com (Click to View Video).

This is post is not an issues or argument about abortion or the killing and preservation of the embryos from Nadya. I want to focus on the attitude of both ladies.

I am shocked and amazed at Nadya’s attitude and tone towards her mom. For those who do not know all of the story, Nadya, and her previous 6 children were already living with Grandma Angela, and now Nadya has added 8 additional children (octuplets). I agree with Nadya that once she had the embryos implanted, it was too late, they were fertilized and were lives living within her, however, I don’t believe she was right by having the procedure done in the first place. She has no job, she has no home, she has no husband, and she has a ton of debt that she is now, basically asking for a bailout on. The procedure for the delivery of the 8 children cost tax payers well over $1 Million Dollars. Personally, I believe she has brought 8 children into a situation that is unhealthy, to provide a temporary fix for her control issues, and she has altered the lives of many others in between, including that of her mother, Grandma Angela.

With every interview, if it is edited, we only hear what we are given, so it is hard to understand the issue in context, however, I am amazed at Nadya’s attitude towards her mom, who provides for her and her now 14 children without any financial assistance from her daughter on behalf of her children. I do not hear an ounce of thankfulness from the part of Nadya. It really is a big mess. Once again, without getting into the issues of Abortion and preserving the Embryos (because that is not the isse) Join the Conversation and tell us who should be more upset and considered “justified” in their frustrations. Octo-mom, Nadya or Grandma Angela?

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What Holds You Back?

chainedI was at a church training event this past weekend. One of the pastors at the event gave a great morning devotion. He opened by talking about some of the things that hold him back from fully obeying God or fulfilling the call that God has placed on his life. One of the reasons he listed was simply that he knew how messed up he really was. I have to agree with him. Someone can tell me how they think I am going to be successful at an upcoming endeavor and I appreciate the encouraging words, but too often I find myself wanting to hold back and to sit still versus progressing because I get to looking at how messed up I am. After all, I know the thoughts I thought or the attitude towards other people that I had…the people saying the encouraging things don’t see the junk, they only see the shining parts of my life. In the end, I know I have to step out fully trusting that God knows what he is doing by leading me to do anything, but its not always easy!

Join the Conversation: What do you let hold you back?

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Sex and Alcohol

beer

After reading this article by Newsmax, I’m wondering if I should rethink my choice not to drink alcohol. Maybe this is why my alcoholic Grandpa (mom’s dad) was a womanizer?

Rather than damaging a man’s sexual performance, a good, stiff drink actually improves a man’s sexual prowess in the bedroom. Australian researchers found that men who drink report as many as 30 percent fewer problems than those who didn’t drink at all.

Dr. Kew-Kim Chew, of Western Australia’s Keogh Institute for Medical Research told London’s Sunday Telegraph that men who drank within safe, moderate guidelines seemed to have the best erectile function. In Chew’s study of 1,580 Australian men, even binge drinkers functioned better sexually than those who never drank.

“We found that, compared to those who have never touched alcohol, many people do benefit from some alcohol, including some people who drink outside the guidelines,” Chew said.

The study found that low risk drinkers (those who consumed up to twenty drinks a week spread over five days) had the fewest sexual problems. Those who drank on weekends only and those who were binge drinkers suffered lower rates of erectile dysfunction than those who drank only one day a week or drank none at all. Men who performed the poorest were heavy drinkers who had stopped drinking and those who smoked or had heart disease.

I think I’ll take my chances. I’ve seen Alcohol destroy too many lives in our family, so I’ll stick to the soft stuff, plus my wife would tell you I don’t need alcohol to…okay, I’ll just leave it there. 🙂 What’s your thoughts?

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Conditioned

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I have a battle that wars within me constantly. Its a battle between desiring to be the Christian that Christ wants me to be and to do Christianity the way I was taught to do it.

I believe football has more conditioning and training drills than any other sport. I’ve played all of the major sports in school; football, basketball, baseball, and soccer. I missed out on underwater basket weaving. Football has so many positions and each position has a different function depending on the play, so the training is extensive. If you are an offensive lineman, one play may call for you to run block while the next requires a pass block, then an entire new play may require that you perform a pull block to open a bigger hole for your running back. This process of training is often referred to as “Conditioning.”

When I got out of High School, I held several jobs. One of my greatest closing lines when interviewing was to assure the company that I had the skills to perform the job, but because I had never worked in the specific position or for a competitor, I would do the job exactly the way they trained me to do it, unlike career employees, I was not conditioned in any other method of doing the job, basically I was a blank slate. I was communicating that I had not been programmed to do it any other way, rather I would perform the job only in the manner that they conditioned me or trained me to do it in.

I struggle with this in Christianity. I grew up being programmed that a lot of Christianity was a duty instead of a relationship. Even though I know better, I find myself reverting back to this approach in my faith walk. Don’t get me wrong, some of my Christian conditioning was good for me, and I use the skills all the time, but then there are some areas that are toxic to my relationship with Christ. I don’t want to do Christianity, I don’t want to have a checklist to make sure I am not making God mad. I fight against some of the opinions that were taught to me as ‘fact’ and as ‘the Gospel’. I’m left questioning a lot, is this (particular issue) a non-negotiable or is it a mere opinion of a righteous individual? In the end, I guess God uses this struggle to keep me reliant on him during the times I have this war raging within me. Join the Conversation: Have you been conditioned?