The Simpsons

The Simpsons is one of the greatest - if not the greatest - animated TV show of all time. However, lately the show has gone down hill. Well, it's more of a train-wreck.

It's hard to explain why the new seasons suck so much, but I was recently discussing it with someone online, and they said something that really made a lot of sense.

Can you identify one classic Simpsons moment from the last few seasons?

The answer that he got was a resounding no. That's the perfect way to explain it. Besides the fact that the characters have totally changed and the episodes are lame rehashings of previous episodes, it's just not as epic as it once was.
In the early days, there were great episodes. Homer tries to climb the 'Murderhorn' mountain, Bart gets an elephant, The 'Flaming Moe's episode, The Mr. Plow episode, and the Episode where Homer finds a portal to 3-D world.

These days, there are stupid episodes. Bart joins a boy band? What the hell is that?

And the characters have totally changed. Homer changed from a lovable, bumbling, regular guy - to a fool who cries all the time.

They need to let The Simpsons die. It had a long and good life, but we shouldn't make it suffer because we are afraid to let it go.

Target

Hey Everyone,

I don't know if there is anyone here who reads The Grande Scheme of Things written by my God-brother Dave, but you should.

Anyways, Dave made a post deriding Target, to which I wrote a strongly worded comment also against Target. Dave has his own very legitimate reasons for hating Target, but here is my reason.

Last Christmas, I came across a news article online, published by the Associated Press.

- By the way, if you want to read the news, I mean the real news, and you want to know what's going on without CNN and FOX News' slant, read AP articles -

Anyways, the article told of how Target stores would be banning Salvation Army "Bell-Ringers" from soliciting outside their stores.

They said it bothered their customers. Well, I said, "Screw you Target."

I am so tired of these huge corporations turning their backs on the communities that make them rich. This was the last straw. I guess I just decided that if Target felt their customers couldn't be bothered to donate to those less fortunate during the holiday season, then I wasn't the type of person who should be shopping at Target.

Here's my feeling: If a corporation turns their back on the community that makes them thrive, I turn my back on them.

Good Riddance Target, I'll see you in hell. Say hello to Wal-mart when you get there.

- Rob

From The Mouth of Rush

Here's a bunch of stupid, offensive, and ridiculous things Rush Limbaugh has said.

About himself:

"Half my brain tied behind my back just to make it fair."

"Talent on loan from GOD."



About Other Stuff:

"There are more acres of forestland in America today than when Columbus discovered the continent in 1492."

"Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?"

"I love the women's movement. Especially when I am walking behind it."

"There are more American Indians alive today than there were when Columbus arrived or at any other time in history. Does this sound like a record of genocide?"

"Our armed forces shouldn't be over there. They're good at killing people and blowing things up, not peace-keeping." - on the US in post-war Iraq

"The difference between Los Angeles and yogurt is that yogurt comes with less fruit."

"Feminism was etsablished to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream"

Use Your Illusion

I've been think a lot about music albums a lot lately. Arguably the greatest Rock n Roll album ever made was The Beatle's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band, which was released in 1967. While this is often considered one of the greatest works ever to be created in music, there are many who believe that the release of this album was the death of Rock n Roll. While I'm not sure whether or not I agree with this ascertation, these detractors make a decent argument: Rock n Roll was originally meant to be pop music, three minute dance songs that were individual. So why is Sgt Pepper's considered the death of Rock n Roll? Because Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was the first album that was meant to be listened to as an album. Until Rock n Roll songs that stood alone and were meant to be fun and simple, the songs on Sgt. Pepper's were meant to run together, they were each unique, but the album itself is closer to what you might call an overture than a group of individual songs. Anyhow, there are many people who hate that this happened. Personally, I think it was the best thing that could have happened to Rock (Rock is the genre that started with Sgt. Pepper's). It changed Rock n Roll from a fad to an artform and thereby made it eternal.

Now back to the real reason for this post. I've been trying to decide what I my favorite album is, and I think I have come to a conclusion. Guns N Roses' Use Your Illusion two disc set is one of my favorites, maybe even my favorite.

I'm not 100% sure what makes this album so terrific, but here are some of the reasons. For one thing, the album has an amazing broad range of music. There is everything from haunting ballads like November Rain to powerful Rock Anthems like Right Next Door To Hell and Don't Damn Me. It amazes me how these two discs can be one continuous album and at the same time be two distinct entities. Use Your Illusion I is perhaps the most powerful and intense music I've ever heard. Don't get me wrong, it's not noise like many of today's metal bands are, it's just extremely powerful music. On the other hand, Use Your Illusion II is amazingly moody and haunting. It starts with one of my favorite songs of all time, Civil War, and from there flows forward with an incrediblely deep blues style Rock.

The thing that makes Use Your Illusion so perfect is the power and the balance of it. It's black and white, hot and cold, day and night, yin and yang. In no other album is there such exultant highs and such deep lows. The most amazing thing about this is that I found this album about 8 years ago in a trash pile while I was on my paper route. At the time, I didn't even know who Guns N Roses were, but I thought the cover of the albums looked cool, so I kept them. Finally, when I heard Guns N Roses for the first time a year or two later, I burrowed through the closet, found the CDs, and the rest is history.

This album is, simply put, one of the most, if not the most powerful and deep piece of art I've ever experienced.