Last post for a while.

This is going to be my last blog post for probably quite a while. I find I have been monitoring what and how I think in too much connection to what I write here, and want to have free thought unconstrained by what people think or might think.

In short, I have decided to get my head sorted, to get my life direction clear, and to do so without documenting it all on here so I don't get too swayed by the desire for public blogreader approval.

signing off.

Jimmi,

Stone Roses Lyrics, Jesus and Satan

The Stone Roses, although they were incredibly over-hyped for what they were, recorded some really great songs. They had a ton of catchy songs, and as a teen in the 90's I listened to all of them - literally every song.

Something I noticed in their songs however is a consistent theme of Jesus-bashing... almost to the point of Jesus hating. I wonder why that is?

Here are some interesting lyrical quotes all from Stone Roses songs which wild conspiracy theorists can put together however they want...

"I am the resurrection and I am the life, I couldn't ever bring myself to hate you as I'd like" [Bible quote from the song I am the resurrection, from their self-titled first album]

"

Love spreads her arms, waits there for the nails

I forgive you, boy, I will prevail
Too much to take, some cross to bear
I'm hiding in the trees with a picnic, she's over there, yeah
Let me put you in the picture, let me show you what I mean

The messiah is my sister, ain't no king man, she's my queen

"
[Some mega-weird crucifixion lyrics from 'Love Spreads', on the Second Coming album]

"Heaven's gates won't hold me, Ill saw those suckers down, laughing loud at your locks, when they hit the ground" [From Breaking into Heaven, on Second Coming]

"You ain't too young or pretty, you sure as hell can't sing, any time you want to sell your soul, I've got a toll-free number you can ring, 0800 666 oh yeah" [Reference to the number of the beast in the song Driving South on Second Coming]

"I don't need to sell my soul, he's already in me" [from the song 'I wanna be adored' on their self-titled first album]

This is just a small sample of the lyrics; the theme of selling your soul to the devil for fame and Jesus hating etc etc etc runs through their whole catalogue. I wonder if it was an intentional plan on their part to weave this theme through their music, or if they believe they actually sold their souls for fame... Who knows.

Ginger and Redhead Veiled Racism

I have a 1 year old son, baby Joel, who has red hair.

My family on my Dad's side are Irish Catholic, and although me and my wife are both brown-haired, Joel has curly red locks. This is a picture of the handsome rogue himself, walking around pretending his blanket is a superhero cape:

Since having a ginger baby, I have started noticing the way ginger males (and some females)  are depicted in kids media. They are always annoying little gits covered in freckles, or baddies. Why is that? Maybe I'm over-reacting, but there aren't any male ginger goodies that I can think of... Walt Disney and Pixar, those towers of righteousness, may have finally introduced a black Disney Princess (the princess and the frog), but surely its enough worrying about my one-year-old getting picked on at school without worrying about him being categorized and stereotyped by two of the leading children's media companies. I remember the way people ripped on ginger kids at school, for just no reason whatsoever: it was equivalent to racism; persecuting someone because a part of them was a certain colour; skin or hair, it still boils down to the same principle.

This is Titan, the baddie from 'Megamind', the kids animated movie.

This is Syndrome, the baddie from 'The Incredibles', the kids animated movie.

This is Darla, the only human baddie in 'Finding Nemo', the kids animated movie.

I find it annoying enough that the baddies in Hollywood movies are historically always British thanks to the Revolutionary War (Shere Kahn in the jungle book, everyone on the death star + the evil emperor in Star Wars etc etc etc), but find the caricature of redheads just inexplicable. Female redheads do alright (Wilma Flintstone, Lois Griffin, blah blah blah) but male redheads are just always being subtley (or not so subtley) ridiculed. Leave my one-year-old alone.

In the middle ages, and in Shakespeare, Judas Iscariot is described as having red hair. Also, in the middle ages, having red hair was indication that you might be a witch, werewolf, or vampire. A UK woman recently won an award from a tribunal after being sexually harassed and receiving abuse because of her red hair; a family in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, was forced to move twice after being targeted for abuse and hate crime on account of their red hair; and in 2003, a 20 year old was stabbed in the back for "being ginger". In May 2009, a British schoolboy committed suicide after being bullied for having red hair.

(For more info, see the wikipedia article here)

Prejudice against redheads or gingers is just veiled racism, which on some subtle levels is perpetuated by the media, and needs to be addressed. Fight the power, baby.