This circle of hatred continues unless we react, we gotta take the power back...

So I'm a regular reader of SPIN magazine, and they always have this section where an artist list the albums that influenced them, and they give a little paragraph about each one. So in the spirit of this piece, I've decided to write blogs about bands that have influenced me over the years. These are in no particular order, but just as they come to mind.

One of the bands that has greatly influenced me over the years has been Rage Against the Machine. When I first heard Rage I was in Jr. High and I heard "Year of the boomerang" off the Higher Learning movie soundtrack. I remember hearing that song and thinking what a crazy sound they had, but I was into rap and not really any kind of rock, thus I never paid any more attention to them. Later on in high school I went through this "Christians can only listen to Christian music" phase and so I couldn't listen to Rage because they were so political and they said "bad" words. The first time I really heard them was through my friend who was in love with them, and he would always play them when we Dee Jay'd at lunch during highschool. When I heard songs off their debut I was just blown away, and I decided to go get the album. I remember looking at the cover with the monk lighting himself on fire in protest, and just going "Wow, this is going to be hardcore".

The thing I love about Rage is the ferocious energy, harsh lyrics, and how Tom Morello freaking shreds like no other. Regardless if you agree with their political views, Rage brought the ruckus. And you could either listen or get the hell out of the way. Rage inspired me because they stood up for what they believed and expressed how they felt even if people didn't like what they had to say. At this point in my life, I was facing a lot with my walk with God with people questioning my faith and being challenged to step up as a Christian. Listening to Zach spit out lyrics that challenged the norm and asked people to question what they know, inspired me to do the same. With that, I began searching more deeply what it was I believed, and I began to stand firm against those who tried to knock me down.

Rage also helped me in realizing that things are not as peachy as them seem. Just because the government or any authority says something should be a certain way doesn't make it right. As people we need to seek and discern the information we are given by the media etc and make informed decisions for ourselves, and not be told how to think. I began to realize that their was lot of suffering and atrocities being committed everyday throughout the world and in America, and that definitely broke my little bubble. Rage challenges us to pay attention to what's going on in the world around us. They aren't about money, chicks, or fame, and that's seen in their music.

When they broke up it broke my heart because they were just unbelievably awesome, and I never got a chance to see them live. At a time in music where Limp Biscuit was ruining everything awesome about rap/rock, Rage stepped it up and showed how it should be done. My favorite album is their debut, and "Wake Up" is my favorite song. The Matrix was that much tighter because it ended with "Wake Up" with Zach screaming his ass off. When he gets going I get so pumped up I just wanna break something. Obviously, the members of Rage aren't Christians, and they really aren't down with religion in general, but nevertheless they make good music that makes you think, and rocks your soul. RATM, I salute thee...

Rip the Mic
Rip the Stage
Rip the System
I was born to Rage against them

Come on baby in our dreams, we can live our misbehavior...

So last night I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and the movie is quite amazing. It is visually stunning with lots of humor, and dance numbers by the oompa loompas :o) Anyways, one of the major things I took from the movie is that as we get older we seem to lose our imagination and creativity. The creativity and imagination that we do posses gets limited by the infiltration of logic, reason, and knowledge. Not that these things are bad, but now everything has to have some property of purpose otherwise it's useless to us.

I remember when I was little I would play with my G.I. Joes and Tranformers, and I'd be entertained for hours all by myself. Intense battles would occur with each figurine personified by my variety of voices, including a number of sound effects that I had perfected over time. Or I'd be in the backyard either alone or with a friend, and we'd have forts, castles, spaceships, and treehouses; that needed no rhyme or reason. We did it because it was fun and we loved it. There were no boundaries! It was a time of imagination and innocence. There was no concept of social trends and culture. No reality television. It was awesome.

Nevertheless, as we get older and become more educated we learn that there are boundaries and limitations. There are unwritten laws that we better be aware of if we want to be successful. We have to grab, pull, and scratch our way to the top, stepping on anybody who gets in the way. We are told what to eat, wear, watch, and drive. All this in the struggle for individuality, which really just makes us like everybody else. What happened to the boy who played with his toys for hours and hours? What happened to the boy whose body was limited by the fence in his yard, but his mind knew no boundaries? I know what happened to him. He's in line over there buying my crap he doesn't need.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love the pursuit of knowledge. I love learning about philosophy and history, among other things, but at the same time I see a great difference in my own imagination and creativity. The ideas are still there, but doubt has risen where child-like faith once stood. In the movie, Willy Wonka creates all these crazy ways to make candy, and there's all these strange contraptions, gizmos, and gadgets, and the reason he created all of these is because he wanted to, not because it would make him more profit.

The apostle Paul writes about how as he got older he put away childish things, but I don't think he meant that we should lose our childlike imaginations. Our minds get filled with such garbage from television and video games that we forget what it's like to create anything on our own. Okay, I'm getting tired so I want to finish this up. I hope this makes sense, but it might not. Either way Charlie is a great movie, and it really just reopened my eyes to some childhood memories that I had long forgotten. Cheers...

Run as fast as you can, they're shootin' to kill...

I hate the fact that I always get my hopes up, and I'm walking on air, floating like a kite on a breezy summer day, only to come crashing down like a big rock. Then I always tell myself I'm not going to get my hopes up anymore, no matter what! Then next time comes around, and I do the same thing. It's like I forget what happened in the past, or maybe I think it'll be different, but no the same thing happens. Then I write it all off, I'm done with it all. I'm just never going to risk anything and be content with containing all feeling and emotion and desire. But then another moment comes, and my hopes fly again. Know what I mean....

I don't wanna read the book, I'll watch the movie...

So I was asked by one of my readers why I haven't posted anything in a while, and I guess I just really haven't had much to say lately. But for my inquisitive caring friend here is a blog of what's be on my mind lately.

So gay marriage has been a hot topic for a while now, and the conservative right wing never ceases to amaze me. Without a doubt I believe homosexuality is sin because God created man to be with woman, but I'm not here to debate that, it's just my beliefs, and if others don't agree that's cool because I don't really care. What I do care about is the way that Christians treat people who are homosexuals. It seems that homosexuality has been voted the worst sin of all time by contemporary Christianity. I don't know exactly when the vote was held, but I'm pretty sure it won. Christians will interact with almost any other type of person: a thief, an adulterer, a liar, even murderers, but if they run into a homosexual, oh NO! get away from me. It's like gays are the new lepers. Anyway, this possible constitutional ban on gay marriage just puzzles me because people act like the Constitution is divinely written like the Bible. I thought the constitution was written to protect people regardless of race, religion etc, but it can't protect the rights of gays? That's ridiculous. Now I remind you that the Constitution is not the Bible, and don't give me that crap about America being built on Christian values. If America really cared about Christian values, and Christians cared about the value of marriage then they would get rid of divorce. How many Christians get divorced each year? How many cheat on their spouses? And we're worried about gay people destroying the sanctity of marriage? That's BULLSHIT!!! Yeah, you read that, I said Bullshit. I'm tired of the super conservatives making Christianity look ignorant. I'm tired of Jerry Fallwell attacking the Telly Tubbies and Harry Potter. And most importantly I'm tired of people seeing Bush as some medium by which God speaks and acts. I don't doubt the President's relationship with God, but just because he's a Christian doesn't make all his decisions divine. Can't we be a group of people who seek to build relationships with those that don't know God? Why can't we do this? Why must we alienate and condemn those whom we don't understand? Jesus hung out with the worst people because he knew they needed Him the most. I wish the Bible had a story of Christ hanging out with a gay person because maybe that would have helped, but I doubt it...