My Thoughts on Valentines Day.. Yes I’m angry..

For about the last 3 weeks I have heard nothing but Valentines Day advertisements on the radio. They have come in the form of car, flower, house, yes house, food, vacation, and of course jewelry adds. You know that guy who has a monotone voice and fly’s to Bangkok to buy his diamonds, yeah you know that guy. Well I got to thinking about this Valentines Day thing and realized it’s not only a pointless holiday, but also what I like to call an “obligation holiday”. First I realized that I needed to do some research on the day, and this is what I came up with. The day is a hodge-podge of allot of different traditions that fall within the month. Most of them relate to love, but more to fertility. There is about 20 some traditions that get even vaguer, and cover the January to March months. So like allot of modern holidays, it’s a grouping of a whole mess of traditions from every corner of the earth. So sort of like we are celebrating love and the tradition of people shacking up. Or if were going off what the Romans believed, it was the day to get it on.

So now that I understand the history, I looked at what it means today, and realized it has nothing to do with past traditions so basically I wasted 30 minutes of my time. The way I view it today is, that one day where no matter how much you love someone, you have to show them that. The week prior you could have confessed your love for that person, and bought them a new car. Though if you don’t have anything come February 14 you get the shun and the potential for your “love” to use it against you later on down the road. Now I thought maybe I was crazy or just filled with so much rage that I couldn’t think strait, but my girlfriend back up what I thought. She agreed that 364 days of the year I love her, and she knows that. I show here with my words, thoughts, and emotions, and setting aside one day where everyone is trying to do the same thing, really means less to her then someone who shows there love year round.

But as I mentioned there is a shame factor involved with this. As a guy I could care less if I get anything on Valentines Day, or if anyone even mentions it. I know I love or care for things, and I show my love and gratitude towards them all the time. I don’t need to set aside a day to say I love you more this day, but tomorrow I will return to loving you like I did the day before yesterday. Now I don’t want to point out woman as the blowhards of this holiday, but let’s be realistic. As a guy I don’t need a new diamond necklace, I don’t need a bear holding a heart, or a box of candy to get the point across to me. But woman seem to won this holiday. And the monotone guy on the radio agrees that if you don’t have something for your lady, she will be pissed. Now understand she won’t say so, she will slowly beat you down till you will want to die. Now my lady is the exception to the rule, but the only way this is going to stop is if we change tradition. If we can do away with Christmas, then we can do away with this waste of a Holiday.

Also we need to realize that there is a dark side to this holiday. The dark side being, that all the single and lonely people are getting the snub on this day. And trust me, a sympathy card from your mom or a co-worker is not the same thing. So ladies realize that your man is going to love you despite a day saying so, and it will take allot of stress off of him, and will prevent you from having that special dinner with about 4000 other people. So let’s just retire this holiday and call it good. Couples will not fight over what the other person was not obligated to get them, single people will not feel especially lonely on February, and we can go back to saying how we really feel rather then shell out 4 bucks for a card written by someone else. So if you must make February 14 the day you say something nice to someone else, or say 10 nice things about your significant other. You will get the same effect as an over priced teddy bear would produce, and it will be from the heart, which trumps anything that can be bought. Or we do like the Romans and take the day to get it on.

The Grammys….Yeah I got nothing

So last night I caught the Grammys. Every year, before last night, was a snooze to say the lease a 3 hour tune in and tune out event. I was really surprised that it was entertaining as well as compelling. I make that statement in a tongue and cheek sort of way, but really compared to previous years, last night was the most entertaining Grammys to date. I liked what I saw, but there was a moment that stopped me dead in my tracks and made my A-hole meter shoot to 10. The moment came when Kanye West accepted the award for best Rap album. The night was riddled with Kanye giving “props” to his mom. Not the people who came before him, or to the music, but his mother who died in a non-tragic plastic surgery incident. Now before the death of his mom late last year, I had never heard of Donda West. I am not saying that it’s not sad when a family member dies, but really what has Donda West done for the music world, or for the world in general. She did give birth to one of the most over rated rap acts in the last 10 years, that she did do.

Now here is where I am going to lose my cool. Years prior to this, Kanye has thrown a man tantrum over the fact that he didn’t win a Grammy for his music. Stop the presses!! Kanye is not satisfied with his fame, his money, his notoriety, his fans, his praise that every music critic with a pulse gives him, support from Mtv, BET, Rolling Stone, Vibe, Source, XXL, and of course his own view of himself. So last night he stopped the music to praise his mom for popping him out. Not to say that the man doesn’t make some catchy tunes, but 20 years from now we are not going to remember this guy. Chances are we will be talking about the newest rapper called Lil’ JizzyMc. Jezzerton who is the greatest rapper ever, and samples the Beatles, The Who, or anything he can get his hands on. God forbid the guy pick up a guitar and actually fall under the category of musician not rap artist. The whole night was not a wash, the highlight for me came when Jazz legend Herbie Hancock won for album of the year. That’s right, a man who writes his own music, can play an instrument well, and doesn’t thank his mom for birthing him so he could make great music that he feels everyone should like. So here’s to you Herbie. Who says Jazz is dead.