"Jealous Girl" - Ben Kweller

If you haven't bought Ben Kweller's newest cd "Go Fly a Kite" I highly suggest you do. Or at least go listen to it. BK is amazing and his latest album is just wonderful.

Valentine's Day

As you all can tell by looking at any social media today (or, if you're looking at this at a later date, the date posted) you all know that it is Valentine's Day. Be prepared to see women posting pictures of roses and chocolates on Facebook and Twitter, talking about fancy dinners they have planned, and everyone talking about how much they love that special someone. There will also be quite the abundance of single people talking about how ultra-consumerist it is or how sad they are to be alone.

I personally can't, and never have been able to, stand Valentine's Day. I find it to be a completely phony holiday that actually detracts from the love felt between two people. Even on all of those Valentine's Days that I spent alone or just in the company of other single friends, it seemed like a very pointless holiday that cheapened real love and affection. When I have had someone special to spend these days with, I found myself feeling the exact same way. I never really liked roses in any situation and would much rather have another flower. I don't care for sweets. I don't like diamonds and feel that they should not be worn before you're fifty (with the only exception being your wedding/engagement rings), I prefer other gemstones.

Valentine's Day forces men to buy flowers and chocolate and jewelry for the special lady in their life. Women have come to not only hope, but expect all of these gifts. And not just any flowers will do for Valentine's Day, it has to be roses which are not only out of season, but already severely over priced to begin with. Chocolate must come in the shape of a giant red, heart shaped box filled with several different varieties that are sure to be thrown out later. Not just any jewelry will do, it has to be something with diamonds that sparkles and shines and probably came from Africa and caused the death of many. If the woman works, the man is supposed to send all of these gifts to work so other female coworkers can look on in jealousy and see just how much this woman is loved. If the woman is still at school, they should be delivered at school and if it interrupts a class, that is even better because it causes even more attention to be drawn to this super special lady. After the woman is showered with all of these gifts, the man is supposed to to her out to an extremely over priced dinner just to drill in the fact that he does care about her.

For people not in a relationship, this extreme show of "affection" only goes to point out just how alone they are and how little they matter in society because they are alone. To all of the people that may have recently ended a relationship, it makes them feel even more alone and draws attention to the fact that they recently lost someone special in their life. Valentine's Day also puts the sole responsibility of showing affection on the man. Women don't have to do anything at all for the special man in their life, they just sit back and receive gifts and complain if what they got wasn't enough to show how much their man really cares. Women measure the love of a man by the number of gifts they receive.

I don't know how it became the rule that you can only do nice things for someone one day a year. If you want to send me lilies, you can send them in May or November. If you want to take me out to a special dinner, we can go other days of the year. If you wanted to make a special dinner for me or have us cook something together, we can also do this year round. If you want to get me opals or sapphires, feel free to do so because you actually love me any other time. I'll be doing the same for you. I love someone so I will do everything I can to do little things for them throughout the year. If you care about me, show me you love me other times. Love is not meant to be hidden away for 364 days a year. Love is not just for February 14th.

It's Time for Changes in the Stars

Well, the NHL is more than halfway through the season. Tonight, the Stars are scheduled to play game 54 of 82 against the Buffalo Sabres.

The last time I wrote a  piece about the Stars was barely a month into the season. The Stars were leading the NHL in points, they were winning games. There were major goal scorers and the entire team was fighting to prove themselves. Players like Jamie Benn, Loui Eriksson, Brenden Morrow, and Sheldon Souray were making game changing plays. Even though the ownership of the team was still unknown, the team was making huge progress from the season before. Glen Gulutzan, the new Stars head coach, had created great lines and had made this group of players into a real team.

Oh how the times have changed...

The star players for this team have faded into the background lately. While Jamie Benn is great, he hasn't been as good as he was. Even after the boost of the All Star Games, Benn really hasn't been producing for the team like everyone thought (and still thinks) he should.Loui Eriksson has been all but invisible on the ice lately.Does anyone remember the last time Eriksson actually scored a goal? The captain, Brenden Morrow, hasn't even been in most of the games lately due to injuries. And for a while, any game he was in Morrow was getting more penalty minutes than shots. Sheldon Souray went from scoring and having goalies in fear of the Wonderbomb to the fans wondering why he's afraid to touch the puck. And these aren't the only players that have faded, the entire team has become lackluster at best.

Going into tonight's game, I really do worry about the Stars' hopes of making the playoffs. As it stands, the Stars have not won a single back to back game. Currently, the Stars are 0-7-1 in back to backs. That would be a total of 15 points that have been lost in back to backs alone. The Stars have another five back to backs left in the schedule, if things stay the way they are everyone can just count those ten points as lost. The Stars still have a game against the Red Wings, one game against the Blues, four games against the Canucks, and two more games against the Sharks. That's eight more games against the teams that hold the top four places in the Western Conference. If there aren't some major changes soon, the fans can be guaranteed another year of not making the playoffs.

I've heard a lot of different opinions from friends and fellow fans about changes that need to be made to the team. I've heard that the Stars need to trade Morrow, something that can't be done because of his no trade-clause with the Stars. I've heard that the team needs to trade for one of the top players, but if there's any hope of getting a game changer the Stars would need to give up someone like Benn or Eriksson. I've heard that Benn just needs to start scoring more, but he's still young and he's been amazing for a kid that's only 22 he's been amazing. I've heard that Gully needs to start putting the Nystrom line against other teams' top lines, but this really wouldn't work if this line stays the way it is. The  reason the third line was able to score against other teams is because they were up against other teams' third or fourth lines. When this line has been up against first or second lines, they've given up a lot of goals.

It seems to me that there are more reasonable ways to make changes in the Stars and see improvement. Why doesn't Gully actually switch up the players in the lines? It seems like he's picked out who is on which lines and refuses to make changes unless there's an injury. If you were to make big changes (like putting Nystrom with Benn) what would happen? The team needs to make changes and see who could work better with other people. The Stars also rely heavily on the goalies for most of the games they play. If the only factor stopping the other team from scoring a goal is Kari or Bachman, there needs to be a serious talk with the rest of the team. You can't depend on your goalie to stop every shot. There needs to be effort from the rest of the team as well. I've also noticed a heavy tendency for a lot of the players to play defensively instead of offensively. I don't see a lot of shots being taken. It's pretty simple, really, if you don't take a shot, you will never make the goal. So when the Stars are shooting half as much as their opponents, there really isn't much of a chance to win the game.

Every fan saw the potential that the Stars have at the beginning of the season. I know that the Stars could have made the playoffs this year if they had played consistently. Maybe not everyone will agree with me about how to make changes, but we all know that something needs to change. And soon. Even when they are losing, I'll always root for the Stars, they're my team and always will be. I just really hate watching the Stars lose. And this is a sentiment that I know I'm not alone in.

"Poor Ol' Broken Hearted Me" - The Trews

I'm fed up with Susan G. Komen

I'm absolutely disgusted with the entire Susan G. Komen foundation. As I'm sure you all know, last week there was quite the controversy when Komen decided it was no longer going to be sending funds to Planned Parenthood. Then, within a few days, the decision was reversed. Both of these decisions were entirely political and have been the last straw for me.  Before you continue to blindly support Komen, take a good look at what they actually do for women and where they actually stand politically. You may be surprised.

Komen decided to pull it's funding from Planned Parenthood on the basis that they have a new rule that states that Komen is not allowed to give out funds to a company that is under investigation by the government. Oddly enough, this rule was created shortly after Karen Handel was hired by Komen. Handel is a very outspoken anti-abortion advocate and has been reported on several occasions as saying that she is "pro-life, I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood." Is it really that surprising that shortly after she was hired this new rule has come out about who may or may not receive Komen grant money and the only ones affected by this decision is Planned Parenthood? 

It is quite obvious that Komen has folded to the religious right in this country and is putting politics before the health of women. Komen has folded to the conservative propaganda that continually spews the lie that Planned Parenthood is an abortion factory and that all Planned Parenthood does is provide abortions. Apparently the fact the Planned Parenthood provides support and often the mammograms (or pays for the mammograms) of women that cannot afford them. The religious agenda ignores the fact that Planned Parenthood has saved countless lives with their services. All they focus on is the fact that Planned Parenthood offers abortions, a service which is only a tiny percentage of the services actually performed. 

Big deal, Komen decided to see reason and reverse the decision. Did they reverse the decision because they care about women? No, they did it because they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars with this widely publicized decision. They aren't reversing the decision because there has been some change in the mindset of those at the top of Komen. All they see are the dollar signs, dollar signs they lost with this poor decision. 

If this was the only problem with the entire Susan G. Komen foundation, I may be willing to forgive the organization and continue to support them. But this is the final act of a long list of grievances that Komen has committed. Komen has continued to take thousands of dollars from companies like Bank of America, a company that is under government investigation I might add. Komen has a history of going after small charities for using phrases like "for the cure" and using thousands of donation dollars to pursue these lawsuits. Komen pays the top executives a disgustingly high salary, all while trying to siphon more money from people that want to help a worthy cause. Komen uses sexist marketing hooks in order to draw attention to their campaign. Komen is known to partner with extremely unhealthy companies such as KFC to raise money. 

The Susan G. Komen foundation is nothing but a money making campaign that only looks out for itself now. It has lost sight of the fact that it is supposed to be helping women. I know that I will never send another penny towards this farce of an organization. I was sending them about $50 a month, a total of $600 a year and that dropped in the past year as more and more of their true nature has come to light. Now, all of the money I was sending will be split between Planned Parenthood as well as a few other select organizations that I am still trying to decide between.