blah.

School Creates Contract for School Dance

A High School recently decided to have a contract for students to sign to say that they won't dance like they're having sex. Before that, the dance was canceled because the previous dance was really bad and the students refused to stop, their principal even stopped the dance an hour before it was supposed to end.

At least people actually do stuff about it at their school. At mine, I don't even bother going to school dances anymore. I'm sorry, I have better things to do with my time then pay money to go to school after school and then leave after 20 minutes because of all the kids humping each other. I don't think that it would be very beneficial for me to subject myself to something that makes me want to kick over the music speakers.

I don't know if their contract will work at their school... our school had a contract like that at the beginning of my sophomore year (the first year of High School where I'm from), and I still heard the same accounts of the dances told to me. If I went to their school, I would not get my hopes up. I would still not go, but I would ask my friends about it. If things improved on that dance and then the improvements carried over to a second one, I might consider going to the third one.

Fun with Translating

It seems that about every other time I post in this blog I change the template. The template design I was going for now was trying to be really orange-blue-white Blogger-y. If there is none of these colors in the current design, it's probably because I changed it since I wrote this! As I'm writing I am thinking about adding more white and tan because there is a lot of tan in the Blogger look. Yes.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this post but well, I feel like writing.

Next week is Spring Break, I look forward to it. In my french class journal we are supposed to write about our plans. What I said was

Je ne sais pas que je vais faire. Peut-être, je vais faire un boum du jouer au cartes. Poker, exactement. Je joue avec strict régles, et ettiquette et je n'aime pas jouer quand l'ettiquette st n'est pas ici. Je ne joue pas avec argent, mais je joue avec chips et quelquefois il ya [someone] qui [bets] avec un autre person et le perdre[er] doi [shave] son tête, mais pas moi. J'aime Poker parçe que il y a beaucoup de skill et s'il vous savoir que vous êtes faisait, "chance", est moins un factor et "skill" est plutout importante.

Now I will let Babelfish (a text translator) tell you what that is in English and to show you what happens when you combine non-perfect French with non-perfect phrase/word web translating:

I do not know that I will make. Perhaps, I will make a boom of playing the charts. Poker, exactly. I play with strict régles, and ettiquette and I do not like to play when the ettiquette is not here. I do not play with money, but I play with chips andsometimes there is [ someone ] which [ bets ] with another person and to lose it[ er ] owe [ shave ] its head, but not me. I like Poker parçe that there is many skill and if it to know you that you are made, "chance", is less one Factor and "skill" is plutout important.

That is all!

North and South Are in the Same Direction

It just depends on where you stand. There is one place, actually two places, on Earth in which North and South will be in the same direction, and that direction is down.

Isn't "Happy Birthday" an incomplete sentence? It's like saying "fluffy strudel" or "green grass" or "jak salad".

"jak salad" was a phrase that came up many times in keyboarding class back in junior high. You see, the program could only tell us to type letters that we had learned, and the letters of "jak salad" appear on home row. In fact, that is all the letters except "f".

Imagine what this post would be like without all the other letters.

"a sad lad fad jak salad"

Getting Philosophical

Have you ever been in a position where doing something good would make it appear that you are doing something bad? Here's two examples in my life of what I'm talking about:

• things like erasing pencil marks from a school textbook, where someone might think that you were erasing something you wrote yourself (not a big deal but look at the second example)


• If you were walking down the road and saw sections of a newspaper strewn along both sides of the road and were to pick up some of it then continued on your way... a cop might drive by, see that half of the newspaper is all over the road behind you and then see you holding half of the newspaper ahead of the mess, you could get fined for littering. [but you probably wouldn't get fined because cops know the difference between picking up and littering and they would be able to tell if they asked you questions.]

I guess it comes down to the reason behind doing something right. We all have to ask ourselves if doing what is right is worth it even if it appears that you are doing wrong.

I remember an example of this in the comedian Brad Stine's book, Being a Christian Without Being an Idiot (I'm serious). In one of the chapters he talks about a man who actually went into a first Strip Club and converted all the women to Christianity who then changed their lives. Now, I wouldn't do this nor do I recommend this, because I can't even handle being in a video gaming forum with sexy image signatures appearing below posts without being tempted, so this would be beyond me, but that's not the point.

The point is that there times in everyone's lives where we are in a situation where we feel like God or the conscience is telling us to do something that makes us look as if we are doing something wrong and other people might not understand you. Maybe you're in a situation where someone is hurting someone who is weaker, and you go to pull the assaulter off and end up fighting him. Someone could walk by and think that you're the one at fault.

Sometimes it isn't whether someone knows you made a right choice, sometimes it's whether you know you made a right choice.

A Deal Too Good to Take?

We all have friends and family members who specialize in certain businesses or work at stores in which we benefit from it in some way. My Aunt works at Microsoft (maybe I should pull that line out sometime in this last week of my Xbox LIVE gaming), so twice I recieved gifts of Xbox games for it. Our family benefits because my uncle is a mechanic.

One time, a friend of mine who worked at Burger King was giving me a ride home from youth group, and on our way home we stopped at Burger King so he could help them close shop.

After he was about done closing up, he asked if I wanted a Burger, I said yes. He said, "What would you like?", I looked up at the various elements of the burger above the grill--I was only used to picking how I want a sandwich built at Subway! I asked him if it was legal and his response was that it was a benefit that they should be getting, and it would count as waste anyway. That was good enough for me! I wasn't the one getting me a burger!

Now I'm facing a similar deal in which I can purchase a Nintendo Wii at a lower price and get some extras too, because of a friend working in an electronics video game store. I'm not sure if the deal is too good to take, but then again I could just paint it with some religious words such as "Maybe this is why I felt like God was telling me to wait to buy a Wii", or "This is a blessing," (it is peoples!) and that might be enough to alleviate my conscience.

Xbox LIVE is full of Racism

Now listen. I've had Xbox LIVE for almost a year, so don't be thinking I haven't gone through the same motions as any other LIVE gamer. Yeah, I know the motions. First phase is "suh-weet I got LIVE, and I'm not as good as I thought! It's so cool, you can talk with the people and hear them with the headset, give strategies, learn what they call each part of the terrain on each of the multiplayer levels."

I've even read multiple news articles on this very subject.

Then on the first night of LIVE gaming in February of 2006, a year ago, I ran into some CORRUPT people who start saying, "look its a buncha [n-word]." "Looks like they run in packs."...

If that doesn't shock you, maybe it's because of your own negative experiences on LIVE. My conscience was violated! That was so wrong! In the postgame lobby, I said, "You shouldn't say things like that."

Their response? "Shut up [n-word]. (laughter)." second person from their team: "Get a job!"... third person from their team: "Get off welfare [n-word]!"(all laughter)...

I was shocked that someone would say such a thing anywhere, and on Xbox LIVE! Seriously! I left feedback and left the game.

For the next few days I pondered about what happened. I was surprised. Surely, these people would've been caught by the moderators of Xbox LIVE before they got to me! I looked at the refund policy and noticed that I had a couple weeks to decide if I wanted to return the 70-dollar LIVE starter kit, that I saved for months for, and get a refund. I thought about it some more and I decided to give Xbox LIVE a shot because I could get a refund later in the next week if I changed my mind. I thought that maybe this was just an anomaly.

I looked over the LIVE packaging again, I looked at the photos of happy people with their LIVE headsets on, large smiles, I thought, "This is the way it should be, why isn't it? Why would someone pay so much money to get onto a fun way to play video games with people all around the world and then yell and cuss and put me down?" They did this in ways I didn't think a human could really be capable of.

I leave feedback. I've left feedback nearly every time someone was a jerk. And guess what? Now it is a year later and last night I ran into more jerks. Not less. More. I don't understand what drives people to be mean. Well, I know because I've been mean, it's because they're hurting, but that's no excuse. I just wish that they would change or leave. Leave!

Yeah sure, this is probably a huge epidemic that Microsoft didn't envision happening and didn't prepare for. I know I didn't expect it. That's obvious as it turns out there is actually no moderators on LIVE. If it was only a few people being [jerk]s as I'm sure they only expect a few, feedback would work. But in this time, society has gone through the motions of decaying as have societies in the past (we're merely repeating history except we have technology), and the amount of jerks on LIVE is so large that feedback alone will not make the online gaming experience what it is meant to be.

I know the cool feelings. Where you walk down the road and see random strangers and think, "Hmm, I wonder if ever played against him on Xbox LIVE." I've even wrote multiple positive stories about Xbox LIVE and Halo 2 and strategies and how to have a good time on it on my Halo 2 blog (http://sdtektivh2.blogspot.com).

Xbox LIVE does not create fun that could not be experienced in some other way. The only time I've had good fun on it is when I'd call up a bunch of friends and agree to meet on LIVE at a certain time... But, if you're going do that, why not just have LAN parties? Halo 2 LAN parties are always fun. I once had a friend over who had Xbox LIVE but never went to a LAN party, and he made the comment that "Wow, in postgame lobbies at LAN parties no one is cussing each other out!"

That's how much it is ingrained.

Now, I could give some "call to action" right here, but all that people from the Xbox LIVE crowd or from Microsoft would say is either "leave feedback," or "there's nothing we can do about it. That's just how it is."

If you decide to get onto LIVE, I cannot let you without first giving you this warning: LIVE is not filled with friendly people who want to play a game with you. It is filled with people who want to cuss you out, put you down, say that they raped you, and all-in-all be a complete [jerk]. There are nice people occaisionally, and it is true that if you can have some solid friends to play it is possible to have a good time one out of ten LIVE sessions. But even then, whether they're your enemies, your friend's friend's friend, or a wanderer, there will always be jerks on LIVE. A lot of them.

That's just how it is.

The only way you can be sure to have a good time on LIVE is to schedule in advance, through a Halo 2 community that is right for you, an event. But by the time you've scheduled one of those events, you could've had three LAN parties. That being the case, it's no wonder why I am cancelling my LIVE account before it renews.

UPDATE:
I changed all the words that said [donkey] to [jerk] because I know that there are people out there who get hung up on specific words. I do feel that it was in context and I'm sure anyone else who has had Xbox LIVE felt the same way.

Book: Wild at Heart

My discipleship leader recently gave me this book for Christmas. It is amazing. I don't think there is any book I liked better than this one. It's about how society and the church have repressed and taken way what men need... and how to get it back.



It's the sort of book that you only pay attention to a page number if you have to stop in the middle of the chapter and want to remember your place. Otherwise, you might forget that the numbers even exist. It's that enjoyable.

It worked just right for me because Christianity and life had grown to be boring for me. This book helped revitalize me.

Have you ever watched a movie where there was a bunch of things that happened in it and you didn't know why they happened or how they related to each other and all that was revealed near the end of the movie? That exhilarating feeling is a sensation I felt a few times throughout the book. Except it meant a lot more to me because it was events in my life!

I recommend this book for anyone, whether they are male or female, this is a great book.

UPDATE: April 16, 2007: A comment on my friends' reactions to the book.

One Family Friendly Checkout?

Grocery stores have been notorious for putting strange, gross, and even unnecessary things at their checkouts. Strange? The "U-scans." Apparently a lot of research has been put into people having as little face to face contact with other humans. Also I've noticed some grocery stores with TVs at their checkouts.

I find it funny and kind of sad that they think we've come to the point that we need TV as we wait in line. With that extra time of waiting, much can be done, now that I think of it. You actually have time to reflect, think, pray. So much effort to throw out media messages out there. But here's what I absolutely hate about checkout stands, and I'm not exaggerating, I am choosing the word "hate" because it almost begins to express my strong feelings. Alright, here's what I hate, all the porn.

I said it, they are pushing these sexy images (porn, by definition is not a measure of how much skin is showing but is, by definition, any media in which the purpose is for sexual arousal) on the magazine covers in front of our faces.

I hate it. Why? Well, as a man, I have a built-in desire to fight for a beautiful woman, and this stuff they are trying (and succeeding to a lot of the time) to get me to look at distorts this inward desire to the point in which it becomes selfish, because it takes away all the work and fronts just the pleasure. But the problem is, the pleasure alone does not satisfy, and so they make it worse and worse in failing attempts.

Apparently, someone in charge of what gets put at the front of these grocery store checkouts grew a brain, or just realized something, and decided to make one of the checkouts a "Family Friendly" checkout.

This checkout was the one to the left that I was in, and it seemed to have all the same elements of our checkout except without the pictures of women in thongs, etc. There was a sign, akin to the "Express Checkout" sign, that said "Family Friendly." Now, I think this is a good thing, but I hope that they don't use this as an excuse to continue to put pornographic magazine covers at the checkout as we so often see.

To be honest, what I'd like to see is instead of having one "Family Friendly" checkout, I'd rather see all the checkouts remove the porn, and if they can't do that, just put all the crap onto one checkout stand that's out of the way, so that the people who actually want to be around that stuff can be, and the rest of the people who are tired of it can stay away.

If a grocery store chain did this, it would set itself apart from the others... everyone wins.

"Internet Wayback Machine"

I found something really cool just browsing around. It's called the "Internet Wayback Machine" (Google it, I'm feeling lazy right now). What it does is that you can type in the address to a website and see what it looked like a long time ago. I had a lot of fun with it and I think that you will too. A trend I noticed was that at first, a lot of websites were only Texted based. Then it became really bold and blocky, and today the colors are milder and there's more rounded corners. I prefer today's look out of the three to be honest!

Keep in mind, it doesn't generate everything from back then. You might end up only getting to see text in Times New Roman even if it had a different font and images, but it is very cool.

So, if there's a website you visit a lot and you ever wondered what it would be like to see it a long time ago, now you can!

All those Google Ads

At one time, before I came to Blogger and perhaps before I even knew exactly what a blog was supposed to be, Blogger offered you to have your own domain and just use Blogger as a platform. Of course, you'd have to find a service to give you a domain and you'd have to pay for it, but another option they had was for you to use a "blog*spot" address hosted for free. Wait? Isn't this the way it runs today? Yes, but the difference was that when you had it hosted for free on a blog*spot address, it came with something. Ads.

I found this out when I watched a "Learning Blogger" video discussing the pros and cons of having your own domain verses using a free blog*spot address. Blogger Article: Learning Blogger

Today, somehow, Blogger can give you the platform and the hosting for free, without ads. Today, there is no "premium" version to pay for--all of the services are built-in to one solid, free version of Blogger.

They even allow you access to your code; a service that I saw as something you had to pay for on a different blogging platform.

So, why am I even typing this post? Well, it seems that today, some bloggers are putting in ads on their blog, to make a little money I suppose. My question is, "Why do it?" Blogger is finally ad-free but now you can find that some bloggers choose to pepper their blogs with ads.

At least though, these are mostly calm, text-based "Ads by Google", and not the flashy, sound-and-light-show, "make billy the hamster pounce on three Q-tips and win an iPod", "You've won (must complete seventeen offers)", light-electric disco mania ads.

There is a bright side to this. Because Blogger is owned by Google, Blogger is likely getting some of the profit from the Google ads that some bloggers opt to use. I bet that there are actually more ads on blog*spot addresses now than when they were mandatory. My conclusion is that Google/Blogger won't need to put mandatory banner ads on blog*spot-address blogs because... us bloggers at large have done it for them.

What people do with their blogs is none of my business. Because of all the ad-filled blogs, I might not ever be forced to have ads on my blog. Your ads are probably paying partially for Blogger's servers; in a way, you're taking the ads so I don't have to, and I appreciate that. But as for me? When it comes to visiting one of two sites about the same thing--one has ads, the other doesn't--it's obvious which one I'll be more likely to visit. That's my take on it.

The New Years Partay

Well they didn't use my game (see previous post), but the event was a lot of fun! There was hide-and-seek, a ping-pong tournament, and at the end, dancing. The dancing wasn't planned, it's just... put music on, youth group, it's gonna happen. I danced in it. Hip Hop style, it was a lot of fun and apparently I did really good! I was really tired afterward but that's the fun of it!

The Halo Partay

The Halo Partay was awesome! At the peak of the most people, there were 15 people playing at once. This was really cool doing large-scale 2 team wars, and we did one game that was Free-For-All Shotgun Slayer on Warlock! That was pretty intense!

It was cool, because I think I was the third best player there, and at the end of the partay, someone asked if I played on LIVE, but I said that I did, except my XBOX stopped working this month! There were other people who said they had LIVE too. I just wish that my XBOX still worked now! But, maybe it is a blessing in disguise as I won't be as tempted to get an Xbox 360 if I haven't gotten cracked-out on Halo 2. Plus that's 50 more dollars a year I won't be spending on LIVE.

There was someone there who was really very good. He said he was a level 38 on LIVE. That's cool, but I felt bad for him because he appeared that he wasn't having a good time and just going through the motions. I don't want to become like that.

I brought my own controller (I still have everything I need for live, just that my XBOX doesn't work), and the people there did something I never saw someone do before. They brought their Xbox Communicator Headsets and were able to project their voice across the house via the other TV's speakers. Turns out that when you speak, there is a very very slight latency between you speaking and your voice being sent, so the people had a lot of fun with their echos, etc.

They liked making noises... a lot of it was hilarious and chaotic. It was such an awesome experience. I've had Halo 2 partays before, but it is awesome when someone else has one and you go to theirs. You can sometimes get nervous trying to make sure everyone has a good time at a Halo 2 Partay when you're the host (they always do), but when someone else hosts one, you can just come and be a guest and they have everything taken care of.

I had a blast, and even though my Xbox doesn't work, I might have a Halo 2 partay in the future. I believe that someone who doesn't have any equipment at all can have a Halo 2 partay, if they figure out who can bring what and then who is bringing what before the event.

It. Was. Awesome.

And by the way, there's was lots of musical stuff going on with the mics at the LAN party. There was lots of beatboxing, noise-making, even Chinese Opera (like from Dynasty Warriors menu), I would imitate the Super Smash Brothers announcer when I wanted to do "free for-all!". It was lots of fun.

Going to a Halo 2 Partay Tonight!

Oh. I'm so excited! I haven't played Halo 2 for about month because my Xbox stopped working, but now I'm glad because I get to play.

I'm looking forward to surprising people with the Carbine (don't forget the one behind the box in the lower shotty room)!

I used to play on LIVE, go to the halo wiki http://www.halowiki.net and read and post tips, develop strategies, mute and boot annoying people from my party, and hold events and present short raps over LIVE about the event. That was fun! I'll miss going to Bungie dot net to see who has gotten banned and is complaining about it. To see what the latest complaining about the playlists is, but mostly to visit a couple Bungie dot net groups I was a part of.

But tonight, all that was just training. Tonight is what Halo 2's multiplayer is the very best in. That's right I'm going to a Halo 2 Xbox LAN Partay! I'm really looking forward to this, getting my victory dance ready, stretching my fingers... Back in one of the first episodes of MLG (I stopped watching because of the Boost Mobile commercials), there was a player named "Fonzi" who would warm up by playing the piano.

Well! What a coincidence! Just before the Xbox LAN Partay I have a piano lesson!

Basically, I'm primed for this Halo 2 Partay. Here's why:

1. I'm fresh because I haven't played in a long time.
2. I will enjoy myself a lot, guaranteed.
3. I've gotten quite skilled at Halo 2, which means that if someone is better than me at a LAN I can try to one-up them.
4. I play for fun and if I die it doesn't demoralize me, so my morale can really only go up.
5. Piano lesson before! Of course!

When it comes to Halo 2 Partays, here's my slogan:
"without Halo 2, it's just a party." -SDtektiv

Blogger is Good

Of course, this is coming from someone who came from trying to blog on Xanga. Not a good blogging tool! Let's look at some highlights of Blogger make it better than other competitors.

• There is no "premium" version of Blogger. This means that the features you usually have to pay to get on other platforms, such as access to one's code, are integrated into the one solid version of Blogger.
• It's free. It is a free service. What makes it better than other free services?
• There are no ads. None. Unless the user puts them in there himself! (don't do that).
• Lots of options.

Things that would make Blogger better:

• Make it easier to have a picture for your header (though you can do this if you follow a tutorial!)
• Be able to format your comments in "Peek-a-boo" format. Meaning if you click on the thing that says "comments" they just come out on the website and if you click it again they go back.

I just thought of something. In the past week I submitted a blog post to Digg, created a Technorati profile, and submitted a blog feed to Pingoat. I how someone in History would react if I said that?

"Christian" Rap

An Essay (overly-long rambling) by SDtektiv. (enjoy in portions)

As a disclaimer, I hardly know what I'm talking about here, I'm just saying things as I percieve them. I'm probably percieving them a little wrong, it can change as I get more information, but here's what I got so far:

--Part One--

Today I'm blogging about this thing called "Christian Rap." Now, hopefully by the end of today's bloggings, you will understand that calling "Christian Rap" a genre doesn't make sense, as it is diverse and pretty much the same as any other rap, except that it isn't filled with the same repetitious cuss words and stuff that the rest of them put on TV. It's the same as regular rap in every aspect except for what I just said, meaning there are the same genres within it and there are good and bad rappers.

If it were up to me, I wouldn't even have the label "Christian Rap" existing because it is misleading in that if someone hears one rap song they'll think that all "Christian Rap" songs will be like that one...

But, because it is hard to find rap that isn't loaded with junk, the label is necessary. At one time, "Christian" music and "Mainstream" music were not separated from each other, but instead they were the same. People might think that good music has disappeared, it hasn't, it's just that the cable networks and media and whatever choose not to make it public, and it is evident that people draw a lot of what they decided to listen to from a TV channel.

So, it would make sense for a Christian TV channel to have a lot of cool music, right? Nope! Instead it's mostly the same boring, gaudy sets, overly-expressive preaching. There is a place for that, but not the whole entire day please! They used to have a Youth-orientated music video show that I would tell my friends about, but now it is long gone.

Something that bothers me is when people have an assumption with art that if a Christian is producing it, it won't be as good as someone in the mainstream producing it. I disagree, both Christians and Non-Christians have been successful and not-successful. In the past, the main music artists in America were Christians, and this hasn't changed, only who the TV channels choose to put up.

---Part two---

Basically, "Christian" rappers have a lot to put up with.

First, they have to put up with the reactions they get from having this label. For example, one time I was listening to some music, Deepspace 5 to be exact, and someone said to me, "What are you listening to?" Was I about to say "Christian" Rap? No! Not because I'm ashamed of God, but because I wanted him to give the music a chance.

So, instead what I did was I handed over the CD player with my humongous headphones, and he listened to it. Of course, he had large respect for it because he didn't know it was Christian rap. As he listened, he made statements about how he was surprised that a person who looks like me would into rap, statements of other artists that is similar to it. He asked "Are they white or black?" (both). And he made recommendations for other artists I might like. But, in the middle of the song, the smile disappeared from his face, he pulled the headphones off, and handed the CD player back to me without a word.

I put the headphones on to see where he left off, and it turns it out that it was right after the first reference of respect to God in that particular song!

I think he was embarrassed that he actually enjoyed a song that had a word of respect to God in it. Don't get me wrong, I don't like listening to rap CDs with every song being 100% about God, but I don't understand why people won't give a song a chance if it has respect for God and even other people in it. It's their opinion, and... (to quote what they often say when being challenged at their music), "it's just a song!"

I've found out that I cannot present some music that I like to someone and say it is "Christian Rap," unless the person has a lot of knowledge, more than I'll ever have, and respect for rap in general. I have a better chance of saying "here's some rap that I like because it doesn't have anything bad in it." Then, when they look like they're enjoying themselves, if they haven't figured it out already I'll tell them that it is "Christian", just to see their reaction.

Second, "Christian Rappers" have to fight negative feelings from both of what they are. What I mean is that they are two things, "Christians", and "Rappers." There are actually Christians who think that putting poetry on top of a beat is a sin, and so they don't get a whole lot of support from the major Christian media, since a lot of Christian media knows that some Christians may be offended by rapping, even if it doesn't have sinful lyrics. I don't know if the last statement I just made is true, but it is my best guess.

I actually don't think that "Christian Rappers" get put down by Rappers, they might even be respected on a person-to-person basis, they just get kept secret by the Hip Hop Media. In a way, "Christian Rappers" are forced to be underground, because even if they come out with the best song ever, if they're on a "Christian Rap Label"...well, good luck getting on TV.

"Christian Rappers" really shouldn't be grouped together on a music standpoint, or separated from as a unit from the mainstream. Again, this is from a music standpoint. From a content standpoint, they just don't have raps about materialism, sex, drugs, gangs, killing... and if they do, they usually present it in a less-glamorized, more-realistic, "the consequences in my life" fashion.

I don't know, it's just my personal musical preference when it comes to the fact that I'd rather listen to someone rap about how people don't respect them just because they don't cuss enough (see Not Enough Dope (in my rhymes) by This'l) than listen to men rap about how they have lots of shiny jewelry around their neck... that's just me, apparently a lot of people like that sort of thing, I respect them. I don't understand why people are interested in hearing people talk about all their chains and cars all day, but as far as I see there are only a limited number of possibilities:

a) they actually do,
b) they don't care about the lyrics, just the music (you have to admit that it is definitely cool musically)
c) they don't know what else there is.

Third, "Christian Rappers" don't get the same criticism as other rappers. What I mean by this is rappers without that label get judged on a person to person basis. People want to judge "Christian Rap" as a whole, and you can't do that, just like you can't judge "Mainstream" or "Underground" Rap as a whole. I'm sure that there are Mainstream rappers who rap about things that I might like and don't cuss, the trouble is that I can't find them because the TV networks aren't going to play someone with respect for himself and others.

I don't see cussing as a sin, but I suppose the Musical TV networks with rap might see not-cussing as a sin, and cussing bothers me, just a personal preference, everyone else can make up their mind on that issue (but not every issue).


----Part Three---

Alright, some of you may be wondering, "You're talking a whole lot about not judging groups of rappers as a whole, but yet you seem to be judging these TV networks as a whole!" I'll give you that, but look, recently, TV networks haven't, from what I've seen, in the past four to five years, been putting even a rapper on a Christian Rap Label on TV. Alright, Grits get to be the exception. (I like Grits. the band, I haven't tried the food yet).

It seems to be a sheer coincidence to me that the time when music that respects God gets separated from the rest of the music happens to be just as Rap gets into its prime. This is what's causing people to automatically associate rap with all the bad stuff. True, some rap ventures into bad stuff that hasn't been heard in music for centuries, actually a lot (of the stuff that gets put on TV,) but a lot of it doesn't do that. It is sad that Rap and this phenomena had to occur at the same time, because now people only get the small window and now have lots of bad feelings about rap.

I bet that people would be a lot more open to rap if it didn't always come packaged with ugly lyrics inside. (I'm talking content here, not musical skill).

I leave you with a short list of good rap songs if you're curious or to get you started:
"Song Title" Artist <- (this is just the example but that would be funny if this was a real song eh?)

"Rowdy" The Ambassador
"When I flow (it's Gospel)" The Cross Movement
"Talk Music" Deepspace 5
"Here We Go" Grits
"Not Enough Dope (in my rhymes)" This'l
"Raised in Harlem" Hero! the Rock Opera
"Blazin' Mics" T-Bone
"Jesus Musik" LeCrae featuring Tripp Lee

Fortunately, some Christian bookstores have a good rap section.

Cross Movement Records

Cross Movement Records

The cool thing is that there is a music player at the top of the website, so you can listen to some of their rap and tell me that's not good. I'll let their website speak for them.

Beatmart Recordings

is a record label. That being said,
Beatmart.com takes you to Soul P's eCard, which features more partay-style Hip Hop.

Beatmart Home will take you to the home page, which usually features an up-to-date video about a rapper on the website or just the website in general. The video up there today features Soul P making a little video with homeless people. It's very good light-hearted humor.

But my favorite part of the website is Beatmart Vote because that's where unsigned artists submit their songs, and people vote on it. The ones with the most votes make it onto a yearly mixtape produced by Beatmart recordings!

Game for Youth Group New Years Partay

I'm going to a New Year's youth group party at a Church in Downtown Tacoma, in which someone was saying that they were going to have a really long game of hide-and-seek.

Now, I like sitting in a dark corner for 2 hours wondering if the game is over just as much as the next guy, but there's a game I used to play at my old Youth Group that works great in hide-and-seek-type environments. So, I've submitted it to the Youth leader in charge of the event, and I hope that he uses it because it's an awesome game.

Alright, I'll tell you about the game.

The name of the game is "Virus", formerly called Vampire.

Game takes place in nearly the entire Church. Somewhat combines elements of tag and Hide-and-Seek.

How to play:

1. All the Youth Leaders and players meet in one room at the beginning. They choose one person (student or leader) to be “the Virus” and another to be “the Cure”.
2. The players put their heads down and eyes closed and the Virus has 2 minutes to hide the Cure somewhere within the boundaries outside of the starting room.
3. After the 2 minutes are over, the remaining students’ job is to find the Cure and avoid getting tagged by the Virus.
4. Some of the remaining Youth Leaders will go to a room designated as the “Quarantine”, and some may play with the students. Whenever a student (or any other player) gets tagged by the Virus, he or she must go to the Quarantine.
5. At the Quarantine there should be two to four Youth Leaders. When someone goes to the Quarantine, they are stuck there until they complete a task given to them by one of the Youth Leaders. (The tasks can be anything like “20-push ups, teach me a hip-hop dance, do some impersonations, things of that nature.”)
6. The game is over when a student finds the Cure and brings him or to the Quarantine. He is safe from the Virus as he brings him or her to the Quarantine.

If you have any questions or comments about the game or happen to want a more full set of rules I can supply that.