The Grinch

I've always liked The Grinch. I've also always liked Ebenezer Scrooge. Yeah, they go through a rough time in their life (who hasn't?) but in the end they just "Get it".

Unlike most Americans.

Every year I go to the Mall of America/Target/Best Buy and see people frantically buying....stuff. I don't know how else to describe it. It's just stuff. And about 90% of it is crap.

Target sent out a nice looking mini Christmas Catalog last week. It had maybe 40 pages of toys and several pages of coupons for those toys. In the front were the video games and DVDs -- most of which were crap. Followed by about 20 pages of crap toys. Followed by one page of great games from Cadoo. And the last pages were filled with...you guessed it...crap. I just looked at that stuff and stared at how bad it was. I went through the thing again. And again. I shook my head.

I think this sad state of toys started to happen when toys stopped being just toys. It used to be that a Barbie was a Barbie. Sure, you could buy a million outfits for Barbie but that was the whole point. Now you have Barbie and her 100 friends in 100 different packages. You have Beach Barbie, NASCAR Barbie, Redhead Barbie, Ballet Barbie. You have Barbie video games, Barbie DVDs, Barbie chairs, girls clothing with Barbie on it, Barbie coloring books, Barbie fruit snacks, a Barbie board game, and Barbie tennis shoes (I kid you not). It's freaking everywhere.

And I wish it would just stop.

This world doesn't need Barbie tennis shoes. It doesn't need Barbie fruit snacks. It doesn't need 90% of the garbage that has Barbie's logo on it. It really just needs what it had back in the 70's. A couple of dolls and a million different outfits that kids could creatively mix and match.

And don't think I'm just picking on Barbie. You can apply the same thing to Mattel's other cash cow Hot Wheels. Then there's Bratz and Spongebob Squarepants. Just go to Target or Wal-Mart and walk down the toy aisles. Then go to the kids shoes. Then go to the kids bed sheets. Then go to the kids underwear. Then go to the kids DVDs. You'll see who the offenders are.

But guess where everyone goes for kid's Christmas gifts? Yep, Target. And Wal-Mart. So everyone is most likely to end up with a bunch of junky crap toys to give to kids.

It's not much better at Best Buy. Yes, I'd rather see a kid get a cool MP3 player than a 6-pack of Spongebob underwear. Heck, even a Kidz Bop CD is better than that. But most of the stuff that Best Buy features as gift ideas are equally as crappy as the stuff at Target. Want to buy something for an adult? Hey, he's a John Wayne fan. Maybe score him that Deluxe Box Set of DVDs that he probably already has. Or a cheap MP3 player instead of the iPod he wants. Or a battery-chewing cordless optical mouse (those suck, BTW) to replace his corded one. Can't find anything? No problem! Give him a nice shiny Gift Card. The basic problem is that all the cool stuff in Best Buy that you would really want to receive costs a lot more than most people are willing to spend. The odds of getting something cool from Best Buy from your second-uncle-twice-removed defines zero in the dictionary. He's got $20 to spend and there's damned little in Best Buy worth buying for $20. It's all......yup.......junk.

There's a Revolution Calling

Why does your second-uncle-twice-removed feel the need to buy something for you for Christmas anyways?

Because that's the way the retail industry wants it and it works hard to reinforce the fallacy that Christmas will suck unless you give everyone you care about a gift -- no matter how crappy it might be.

I SAY ENOUGH!!

We need to get back to the basics. Everyone talks about it or knows it but almost nobody does it. How many times have you heard "Christmas is about more than just the gifts"? Prove it! People ask themselves "What would Jesus do?" I can guarantee that Jesus wouldn't be buying a crappy $20 MP3 player or a 6-pack of Spongebob underwear for his second-cousin-twice-removed. And he most certainly wouldn't just grab "whatever" at 4:59 PM on Christmas Eve so he'd have something to give someone.

Let's all take a step back and remember what Christmas is all about and flip the bird to mass commercialization. Buy fewer but more meaningful gifts. Spend more time with the family. Enjoy a great dinner. Sing some carols, play some family games, have a snowball fight. Make a Christmas decoration for next year. Start a new tradition. There are so many wonderful things about the holidays that we shouldn't pollute it with the stress and pain of the commercial aspects.

Happy Holidays!!

Another Reason for Microsoft to Get Bent

As if we needed any more...

If you double-click on an M4A file (standard iPod music file) and don't have iTunes installed then Windows XP tells you that it can't open the file and asks you what to do. If you select "Use the Web service to find the appropriate program" and click OK you get this:

File Type: Unknown

Description: Windows does not recognize this file type.

Microsoft doesn't recognize the file format of the most popular portable music device in the world?? BULL. Microsoft damn well knows what the file format is. They just don't want to tell you to because you might choose an iPod over their crappy Zune.

Separation of Church and State?

I voted in a Christian church this morning. I wonder how the local Muslims felt about that? And I wonder how Christians would have felt if they had to vote in a Muslim church? I'm guessing both situations make certain areas of population a little uncomfortable which can affect the voting results.

I would like to see all polling places be either public schools, public libraries, or some other public government building. Keep religion out of it and keep the voting fair for everyone.