Two Lefts Don't Make a Right

Air America, a new liberal radio station, went on the air yesterday. You can read about this on Yahoo! News.

This article states that liberals feel that right-wing activists have dominated the media for the past decade. This comes as a surprise to me, I find the media to be overwhelmingly liberal. Granted, there has been a shift toward conservatism recently; but the media has remained for the most part, liberal. Liberals claim that they growing conservative trend frightens them. Well, it's no surprise that more and more conservative shows are being made-after all, we do have the advantage of being correct. Thus, we can logically infer that the liberals are wrong.

Its been said that there are a lot of different opinions in the world. This may be true, but mine's the only one that's right. Until tomorrow, stay cool...in the right.

For a Limited Time Only!

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I had Spring Break, ya know; and writting seemed a little too much like school work.

So anyway, I was passing by Hardee's and I saw a note on their sign announcing that they had a low-carb hamburger for a limited time only. Limited time? Now, if I'm correct, a low-carb burger is simply a burger with no bun. Does that mean that once this offer expires they will no longer leave OFF the bun at your request. Is it really such a marvel of engineering that it's only available for a limited time? Geez...

By the way, be sure to purchase the new book by Dr. Mac- The Low-Income Diet Revolution. Until tomorrow, stay cool...and cut out the carbs!

Three Readers Strong

To all my loyal readers:

Sorry that the posts have been kinda weak lately. Just not that much going on...not really anything to rant about. Never thought I'd have that problem, oh well. Israel blew up some terrorist dude yesterday. It's America's fault of course. There's a surprise. Did these guys just pull America out of a hat sometime, and decide to blame everything that ever happens on us? I think they might have...it makes about as much sense as anything else.

Until tomorrow, stay cool...and if not, blame it on America!

In Cars...In Cars...In Cars...

Man, that song is actually pretty annoying.

Okay, somebody decided to have this contest to see who could stay in a cable car for a week. You can read about here. What really surprised the people putting on this contest was that 19 couples stayed the whole week. Now, this doesn't really seem like that amazing of an accomplishment to me. I'm no fan of reality TV or anything, but at least on Survivor the people have to live on a desert island! What's so hard about staying in a cable car? Guess what, one time when I was sick I stayed in my house for a week! Amazing, isn't it? I think we should have the ultimate Survivor and drop people off on Mars. They would have to produce their own food, water, and air...it would be great! And it might get people interested in the space program again. You never know...

Man, sometimes I wish I had a cable car to live in for a few days. Oh well, until tomorrow, stay cool...here in my car.

Spring Has Sprung

That means I'm on spring break!

This is kind of a cool thing...but kind of a double edged sword cuz everybody's gone off and left. Oh well. I'm just gonna be chillin around here for a few days. Maybe cause some destruction...I mean, uh...no. Anyway, I don't got much to talk about so...

until tomorrow, stay cool...especially if you're on spring break.

Cactus

"To live the cactus is to live like no man." -Amigados-

Cacti are pretty cool plants, you know? They can store water and have thorns and stuff.

Until tomorrow, stay cool...cactus

Cash or Credit?

Mr. Teaches-by-Television has done it again. Only now he's Teaches-by-CD.

We listened to Johnny Cash's song The Man Comes Around in Teachings of Christ today. Why, you ask? I have no idea...he just wanted us to hear the song. I'm still trying to figure out the connection...my only guess is that Jesus Christ and Johnny Cash have the same initials. Makes about as much sense as anything else. You can view the words to the song here.

The song seems to be based around the imagery found in the book of Revelation, with a few special touches from the man in black. My guess is that the teacher likes the song because of this line:

There's a man goin' 'round takin' names.
An' he decides who to free and who to blame.

That's funny...I thought Christ made a once-and-for-all sacrifice on the cross for ALL mankind, not just a select few. But then again, Teaches-by-television believes that it was only for the elect. Stupid me, I guess.

The other highlight of the class was when he informed us that the road to the crucifixion is known as the "Dia Valorosa." Man, and all this time I thought that it was the VIA DOLOROSA. Once again, stupid me. Apparently Christ carried His cross on account of valor, not along the way of suffering. I guess I need to brush up on my Latin.

I don't try to be this mean, it's just that I'm constantly surrounded by incompetence. Until tomorrow, stay cool...because it is predestined after all.

Let's Make It as Hard as Possible!

Chris, Nathan, and I got to return all the school's sound equipment today! Yay!

Now, I didn't really mind doing it-after all, the school was nice enough to let us use it. I was kinda irritated though, when we had to go BACK to Jamison to get more mic stands. Now, we already had three set up at school...and only TWO people were going to be singing at a time. But, whatever, we just went and got them. When we got back, they had rigged up some cockamamie way of hooking the projector up to the sound system. Rube Goldberg would have been proud. I kindly offered my advise on a much easier way to set it up, which would also give better sound quality. They didn't want to do it though, too logical I guess. So I left and let them figure out the rest themselves.

Just once I wish people would listen to me. Oh well, until tomorrow, stay cool...yeah for real, stay cool, won't you listen to me just this one time?

Taken for Granted

This one's not really a rant so much as it is an observation.

I was recently listening to the song More by Matthew West. The song speaks of the abundant love that God has for us. The chorus goes like this:

I love you more than the sun
And the stars that I taught how to shine
You are Mine, and you shine for Me too
I love you yesterday and today
And tomorrow, I'll say it again and again
I love you more

Now, I thought it was a pretty cool song but my brother John (being the little philosopher that he is) made an interesting observation: that the things mentioned in the song (the sun, stars) are things that we too often take for granted. I mean, how many times do you really stop to appreciate the self-contained nuclear fusion reaction that is the source of life for almost the entire planet? I don't. But God established the sun in a perfect balance to ensure our survival. And as amazing as that part of His creation is, He loves us more. He came to die for us. Wow. We may take things for granted, but God never takes us for granted.

Until tomorrow, stay cool...and remember that God loves us more that we can imagine.

sToP dOiNg ThAt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One thing that really gets on my nerves is peoples' little idiosyncrasies in their emails/IMs/blogs.

Is it really necessary to cApItAlIzE every other letter in a word? It's not cute, it's not unique; it is annoying. Also, multiple explanation points are okay sometimes, but use them sparingly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And FYI, we don't need to abbreviate every single word or phrase in the english language. And stop using @ in place of "at" in common sentences. It saves one whole letter!

Why do you lol? OIC, you find this funny. BTW, I don't want 2 know your ASL TBH. Newayz. I G2G but I'll TTYL. Until tomorrow, stay cool...eVeN if u r @ work.

It Was the One-Armed Man!

Do you ever wonder why people feel the need to egg other people on?

I do all the time. A majority of the world's problems would be eliminated if it weren't for the egging on of others. Hitler probably would never had invaded Poland if it weren't for Chamberlain's neverending appeasement. Hamlet wouldn't have got into all that trouble if it weren't for that troublesome ghost. And we all know that Daffy Duck would never have told Elmer Fudd that it was DUCK season if it weren't for the incessant baggering of Bugs Bunny.

In short, I think we need to remember the importance of blaming others for the mistakes we make. It makes things in life so much easier. Until tomorrow, stay cool...and try to act a little more mature.

Anti-Semitism

I just want to make a public service announcement about a movie that came out recently: Starsky & Hutch.

This has to be the most anti-Semitic film I have ever seen. The villain is a murdering drug-dealer...and he's Jewish. I think that about proves it. Horrible, just horrible. I think we should all ban this movie.

I know it was short, but it's a slow news day. So, until tomorrow, stay cool...and this was sarcasm, okay?

This Motion Picture Brought To You By:

I went and saw the Starsky & Hutch movie today. It was no cinematic marvel, but it was a pretty funny movie. However, before the movie started, I noticed something that's been happening lately at the movies...commercials!

Now, I don't mean previews for upcoming movies or encouragement to visit the snack shack-I'm talking commercials like they have on T.V. What's the deal?!?! I watch television for free, so I understand that the networks have to make their money somewhere and that it usually comes in the form of commercials. BUT, a movie at the theater is different-I'm PAYING to see it. I think that if I just paid $6 to see the thing, I can be spared someone telling me to where Levi jeans.

Commercials on movies, what's next? Oh well, until tomorrow, stay cool...and stay tuned for a message from our sponsors.

Pick a Test, Any Test

Okay, I don't usually complain about not having to take a test...but this is just ridiculous.

Mr. Teaches-by-Television man let us *decide* whether or not we would take our midterms. I'm sorry, but that class is nothing but a huge joke. Students do not decide this type of thing. They study and then take the test. That's it-that's how it works.

Urg...some people. Until tomorrow...stay cool, if you want to.

Un-Civil War

These yankees just don't get it...

The discussion about the War of Southern Independence came up again at school today. Some people just can't understand that...well, let's see; how can I put this nicely...THE SOUTH WAS RIGHT! You see, the south was concerned about an increasingly powerful federal government; and what do we have today? A centralized all-powerful federal government that manages to ruin our lives.

States rights, not slavery, was the main issue of the war. The War of Southern Independence was, like most wars throughout history, fought for economic reasons. It's very similar to an incident that happened in the 1770s actually. Well, I could rant and rave about this one for hours...but I'm not gonna bother. After all, I do have the advantage of having historical facts, deductive reasoning, and plain old common sense on my side.

Well, until tomorrow...stay cool, way down south in Dixie!

No Super-Size?!?! Well, I'll Just Take Two Number 2's.

I heard recently that McDonalds is going to stop offering the super-size option on their menu's. Well, McDonalds is free to do whatever McDonalds wants...but this seems kinda stupid to me. The reason given is that supersizing contributes to obesity. The rest of their menu is just so healthy in comparison.

I would think that the real reason this is happening is because of the morons suing fast food joints for "making" them fat. I mean, heaven forbid that someone actually take personal responsibility for themselves and acknowledge the fact that they're overweight because they have no self-control and therefore eat too much and are too lazy to exercise. In fact, they're too lazy to even get a job, that's why they have to file outrageous lawsuits. But thank goodness, here in America we have judges stupid enough to actually hear these crazy suits.

Well anyway, I guess that from now on if you really want a 55 gallon drum of Dr. Pepper, you'll just have to order a "biggie" drink at Wendy's. Until tomorrow, stay cool...and did you want fries with that?

Smoke and Mirrors

Okay, I know I'm liable to rile people up with this one; but I'm gonna side with the tobacco people this time.

According to a source on Yahoo! News, certain people think that cigarette use in movies should merit a more negative rating. Now don't get me wrong, I hate tobacco. My grandmother has emphysema, and she never smoked a day in her life-she was simply around others who smoked. As much as I disapprove of tobacco, I refuse to limit the freedom of others to inhale poison into their lungs if they so desire.

Now, as for this movie business-this is utterly ridiculous. It almost ranks up there with those brilliant people who sued the tobacco companies for shoving cigarettes into their mouths and forcing them to smoke. After all, who would have thought that inhaling SMOKE could be bad for you? So now we have to give a film an "R" rating just because it has people smoking in it. With all the trash that is released today under the guise of a "PG" or "PG-13" rating, we're going to worry about someone taking a puff?!?! This is what it's come to now...it's okay to have characters cussing up a blue streak as they run around naked killing everything in sight-just as long as they don't have a burning roll of tobacco-filled paper in their mouth as they do it. I think we have a lot better things to worry about before we worry about this.

Now, on a totally unrelated subject (other than the fact that it too is completely stupid) I've been hearing all night on the news that Kerry has just swept four southern primaries. And this is supposed to be a SURPRISE?!?!?! HELLO!!!! He's the only canidate! Dean and Edwards have already dropped out! And what's most amazing of all is that people actually voted for Dean and Edwards after they had dropped out of the race!

Gosh...what is the world coming to? Until next time, stay cool...and if you're gonna vote for someone who's not even running, why not put in your vote for me? I'm just as good at making empty promises as anyone else!

Lord of the Dance

Hey everyone...I'm posting from the library today. I got kicked out of the lab...got a little mad about the whole "rolling" thing and started stomping around in protest. I thought they would like my riverdance. Probably shouldn't have done it, but oh well.

By the way, we released our Passing Through demo on limewire today. Just search for Bryan Doesn't Like It. =) Till tomorrow, stay cool...and don't stomp in the lab.

Is LeAnn Busta's Cousin?

Well, she could be...

Not too much going on today. Church service went well and we had a productive youth group meeting tonight. All in all, it was a fairly good day.

Which brings me to my main point...nobody's been bothering me lately! I mean, come on people-what am I supposed to write about?!?!?! You see the title up there? It's Mac's Random Rants and Commentaries on Life!!! I usually don't have this problem, but nobody's really done anything overtly stupid or annoying in the past few days. It's almost like as soon as everyone found out I had this blog, they intentionally stopped bothering me just so that I wouldn't have anything to write about...So you people need to get on the ball and as Weird Al said, "Dare to be Stupid." After all, we wouldn't want every day's post to be this short, now would we?

Of course...if I was really cleaver I'd just find a way to rant about not having anything to rant about. Oh well. =) Until tomorrow, stay cool...but not cool enough that I have nothing to complain about.

The Proof is in the Pudding, Guy

Greetings once again, everyone! I thought I'd do something a little different tonight-I'm gonna do my first in a series of blogs about unique individuals who've done some pretty cool stuff. Tonight's is about David Phillips, a civil engineer who collected 1.2 million frequent flyer miles for buying $3000 worth of pudding...sounds like a pretty sweet deal! No wonder they call him the pudding guy.

You can read the whole story here

I would just like to salute Mr. Phillips for his fast, on the spot thinking that landed him a great deal on travel for him and his family. Well, until tomorrow...keep saving those pudding labels!

"Out, Damned Table! Out, I say!"

Hi kids, do you know what time it is? It's time for another rant!!! YAY!!!!

Wonder of wonders, today's rant refers to the same individual as the "Chair is Rolled Up Yonder" rant. Nothing really major this time, but as usual it's the little things that really tick me off. You see, me and Hans got to school this morning for our Shakespearian Drama class (we were doing Macbeth by the way, which inspired the title of today's column)...and found that some of the tables and chairs had been moved out of the room. Now mind you, Mrs. Shuler gets very perturbed anytime anything is moved in her room. Believe me, she'd notice if air had been displaced from the room since the day before. So, me and Hans took it upon ourselves to move the chairs and tables back into the room. When we couldn't find out where one of the tables went, the very person responsible for this entire fiasco could only tell us, "well, you better find out where it goes." Hmmmm...see if I ever help her again.

That's really all I have to rant about...it was a pretty good day other than that. We had a cool band practice tonight, it went quite well again. =) Allrightty then, till tomorrow, stay cool...and don't move any tables.

Now Available With Comments!

Hey, just a quick note to let everyone know; I've added a feature that lets you comment on any of my rants. Just to let you, I reserve the right to edit or delete anything I deem offensive. Sorry if you don't like that, but its my blog and I can do what I want =).

Passing Through, Broken, and Irish Drinking Songs

Well, believe it or not...I don't really have anything to rant about today. It's been a pretty good day, actually-with the highlight being band practice tonight.

The school was nice enough to let us *borrow* their sound system, so we had so cool audio going and even got to record a little bit. We managed to get a decent recording of Passing Through, and recorded about 8 minutes of us goofing around (that's where the Irish drinking song part comes in.) We also got a little time in practicing Broken. All in all, it was a pretty good practice session. Hopefully we'll be able to get a few demos posted up for ya'll soon.

That's about all I gots for tonight...slow news day, I know-but we'll see what tomorrow brings. So, until tomorrow, remember: Brian Doesn't Like It.

The Agony and the Ecstasy

So much to rant about...so little time...

Well, I know I'm kind of late to jump on the bandwagon, but I thought I might as well put in my two cents worth about The Passion of the Christ. Why is this rant-worthy, you ask? Because, certain intellectually challenged individuals have condemned this movie as being anti-Semitic! Why? Because it gives [shudder] the view that the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus. And don't forget those that bash the movie for being too violent.

First of all, I have actually seen the movie-which is usually a good thing to do before you give your opinion on it. Second of all, since this is a movie about the death of Christ, I'll let everyone know that I am a Christian. Now, religious views aside, common sense should tell you that this movie is in no way anti-Semitic. As a student of the Bible, I found the film to be very accurate in its portrayal of the death of Christ. The teachings of Jesus Christ presented quite a problem to the corrupt Jewish hierarchy: they saw Jesus as a threat to them and their way of life. Notice, I said the Jewish hierarchy, not the entire Jewish community. In first century Judea, just as today, there were good people and bad people-and this included the Jews. In fact, if you had actually seen the movie, you would know that many of the Jews in the film are presented in a good way. By the way, just in case you didn't know Jesus and his disciples were all Jews! It is a simple historical fact the Jews were among those who called for the death of Jesus. However, it was Gentiles (Romans, in this case) who actually performed the execution. Furthermore, Christ's very purpose of coming to earth was to die as an atonment for the sins of mankind. This means that everyone of us is, through our sins, responsible for the death of Christ.

Whew...okay. Now, about the violence, I'll be short: as I said before, the movie is quite accurate to the Biblical view of the death of Christ. It is also quite historically accurate regarding crucifixion. Remember people, the Romans were not known for the mercy. Crucifixion was a method of execution, one that effectively tortured and humiliated the victim before finally killing them. Many complain that the scourging scene goes too far. Well, once again if we look at the historical FACTS, we see that this was a terrible ordeal. In fact, the scourgings could be so terrible that some prisoners were killed by this act alone.

Now, as for what I thought about this movie: I found it to be very powerful. I can't really say that I liked it per se, but it deeply touched me. It helped me to better realize the extent of the sacrifice that Christ made for me. I would advise against any younger people seeing it because it is very, very graphic. To everyone else, I highly recommend that you see this film.

So, until tomorrow-don't judge something until you've experienced it for yourself, I'll think much higher of you if you think for yourself.

When the Chair is Rolled Up Yonder

Well, greetings all! This is my first post and thought I had better start off the right way-with a rant!

Our story begins yesterday afternoon...in the computer lab. You see, apparently someone in the office directly BELOW the computer lab became quite upset about the rolling going on in the lab. Now, by rolling, I mean people had been moving around in the little wheelie computer chairs (you know, the ones designed for the sole purpose of rolling around in.) Well anyway, this upset a certain someone tremendously. But, as we all know, there are some people who's sole purpose in life is to get upset.

To make a long story short, those accused of this alleged "rolling" were not happy; and the bitter feeling continued on into today. It was at this point that I realized the need to immortalize this historic incident in song. And what better way to do it than to the tune of a well known hymn? =) Here goes...

When you hear a thunderous sound above
much like a mighty roar,
And the noise seems to be coming from upstairs-
When you're trying to have a meeting
and your head is getting sore,
And the chair is rolled up yonder-
I'll be there!
When the chair is rolled up yonder,
When the chair is rolled up yonder,
When the chair is rolled up yonder...
When the chair is rolled up yonder,
I'll be there!

Yes, yes, thank you, hold the applause. Remember, I'm here to point out the little things in life...that really get on your nerves! So, until tomorrow, stay cool! (just don't roll any chairs)