Holiday repost.

this was originally posted on my old Myspace blog November 07, 2005

OK so its Halloween night, about 7:45 and you think to yourself, ... "shit, that bag of Snickers Minis i bought 3 weeks ago is gone..
must have ate it all myself" you grab your keys and jet out to the local WalmarTargeRiteAidGreens to pick up a bag or 2 for the trick or treaters
that will be showing up soon. You run over to the Halloween section over where the BBQ gear is in the summertime. But when you get there, you stand
confused and wonder what happened... did i accidently run through a time warp on Isle 5 and not know it? How the fuck is there Snowmen, Santas and Tree Ornaments
on display at 8:00 Halloween night?

Appearently, no one told me, but corporate America stopped celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas starts early. REALLY EARLY. You've got to be fucking kidding me. Not one Turkey.
not one Native american racial epitaph. not one Orange or Brown leafy pinecone thingy.

and its not just Walmarto, I went to Micheals, the arts & crafts place, to get some arty supplies and its Dec 22nd there too. WTF? you'd think surely you'd see some orangy brown pinecone-
pipe cleaner creating supplies on display there..nope. its all fake snow, plastic holly plants and gold paint. Not that Thanksgiving is the mother of holidays but shit... is it just me
or is it worse this year? Maybe its a reflection of our greedy nature.. The Giving of Thanks just isnt as profitable.

so get out there the Christmas buying fest has already begun!


this time of year i like to repost this holiday message i wrote back in 03.
Holidays and commercialism

on the eve of (insert holiday here) celebrations i am reminded of a rant i posted on a message board . someone asked if holidays were getting too commercialised.. focusing on x-mas mainly.. i went at it like this..

...I hate how they try to make you feel bad if you dont spend money...

with Chiristmas, Chanukah and Easter and you could even say St. Valentines Day are the worst, mainly because they have the whole religion thing. You arent a good Christian(or Jew) if you dont participate. thats a lot of pressure... youre obligated to participate.. kinda like "The Passion of The Christ" what a great idea.. make a movie a majority of the population is spiritually obligated to like... and then to top it off, (going of subject) a movie the rest of the majority is spiritually obligated to see so they can criticize it! GENIOUS!
Let me go back to Christmas, its especially bad i think because its almost become "uncool" to not celebrate it... sucks if your Jewish because Chanukah traditionally (commercially) has been made out to suck. sorry for all the other religions, you just weren't cool enough.. but there is a maket for everything.. may not be as big, but companies will find you.

What do bunnies and eggs have to do with Jesus? for that matter what do Pine Trees and Santa and the elves fairy tale have to do with Jesus?

Easter is plenty profitable... CANDY for one is HUGE... baskets, basket fillings, eggs, egg coloring kits, plastic grass? all the toys and stuffed animals, bunnies & chicks galore! and some people even give easter gifts... like it was Christmas!

Easter is up there with X-Mas as far as commercialism.

other big commercial holidays i think of are Halloween, Thanksgiving, 4th of July(US), Cinco De Mayo and St. Patrick's Day.
ok so if your Irish or if you drink you are obligated to participate in this. Be a good Irishman and get sauced on green beer... or your a bad Irishman. and any holiday is a reason to sell alcohol!!

Thanksgiving, hmm welll what more do you need than American Pride. and what says family togetherness better than a bunch of orange and brown and yellow nick nacks and turkey paraphernalia? im not even gonna go into the Genocide and Fake american history aspect.

4th of July and Cinco De Mayo... ok again how can you be proud of the independence of your country without buying a bunch of red white and blue crap.. and explosives!!! Cinco De Mayo is the same except its a bunch of insulting mexican stereotypical Americanized crap. I guess we can throw Chinese New Year in this section too... why discriminate.. theres money to be made on them too!

and Halloween, well i dont know of any real reason we celebrate this holiday... but theres a ton of companies making a killing off of this holiday.. this is the holiday where you're supposed to get the chance to change who you are and be someone else.. but everyone else is doing the same thing... its like what "Hot Topic" is .. but the rest of society gets to do it on this one day. listen to "Halloween" by Dead Kennedy's Jello nailed it.
anyhoo, i guess if you dont dress up or have the scariest house on the block on the 31st you arent cool. go buy orange and black crap.

and Valentines day... god i hate this one... I'm gonna add Anniversaries in this section. Love should not be judged by jewelry or flowers. or Scooby Doo valentine cards in my 4 grade classroom.

there are other holidays that are commercialized that are falling under the radar

like....

FLAG DAY! "go buy flags or you're a terrorist!!!"

mother and fathers day... its usually just a card but there is commercialism there... and after all, love isnt love without a Hallmark Logo.

Labor Day and Memorial Day, all the stores make sure to take advantage of our "day off" of work... all those sales they have. "you have an extra day off.. and its the weather is nice.. go out and shop, or buy things to enjoy your day... like lawn chairs and BBQ's!"

and how could we forget about everyone's own personal holiday... BIRTHDAYS!! make sure you buy the right gift or your kids will hate you(similar to Christmas) but also theres a ton of plates, streamers, hats, place mats, whistles, etc etc etc with your kids favorite cartoon character on it..
its disgusting...

all of this is disgusting. just go to the stores... just by the color of the store. it changes with the seasons! you can tell what season it is by the crap they are pushing on the ends of the isles.
appreciation towards an event should not be defined by how much crap you buy.

****
and here's something i posted in 04. before they skipped thanksgiving.
the holidays part 2

me: happy monday!
friend: haha :-)
me: whats new?
friend: not mucho... how was your commercialized thanksgiving? :-)
me: alright, there were no spills breakage or fights .. pretty cool
friend: ya know... after re-reading your rant on commercialism of the holidays I actually agreed with you..
me: cuz its true, it dont mean we cant enjoy the holidays. just kinda puts a stain on the whole thing
friend: ha.. well yea.. but it made me think about what people would think if I didn't buy them something for xmas.. I know my family wouldn't care 'cause they know i'm poor right now.. but certain people would be dissapointed if they didn't get something in a certain dollar range
me: yeah thats another fucked up aspect of it
friend: or I'd feel guilty that I didn't get them something in that certain dollar range which is stupid I know
me: it creates this greedy expectation and puts a dollar amount on love
friend: totally...
me: my mom always says "i dont want anything" because she knows we love her and doesnt need bought things to make her feel secure. but we do anyway..
some families are like, they buy things they think people would need or enjoy.. things with personal connections to the individual. other families are like, you buy things because you're supposed to and they will be pissed off and guilt trip you for not loving them if you, not only not get them something, but the particular thing they wanted, and most likely asked for directly or heavily hinted at. take this year for example.
someone i know's mom totally needs a new couch. she is very picky and it was a pain in the ass going to every furniture store in town, trying to find one they thought she would be happy with.. but the problem is, she didnt ask for a couch.. they took the initative to do somehting nice like spend $700 on a couch she NEEDS instead of waiting for the hints of what she really wants..
which means a whole lot more 'cause they were thoughtful enough to get her something she needs..that they noticed, not something that they had to be told...so the day after they finally decided on a couch and bought it, they said "you promised you will like and use anything we get you this year" last year they got her a nice ass mixer wich she hasnt used.. not only not used but, still used her old ass broken one instead. ok so they said "mom, you have to use it" then thier mom says "like a Rotisserie?" so they think "now were fucked she wants a rotisserie cooking thingamaJig".. she's gonna be pissed about the couch... she'll politely give thanks, but make snyde remarks throughout the year about how she could be using her rotisserie for this dinner. thier family is whacked
friend: haha.. that is fucked tho
me: thats why i like my family.. we dont care we're just laid back and are happy to be together
me: thats why when people ask "what do you want for xmas? " i dont say anything.. or i say i dont know.
friend: 'cause if they knew you they could figure out what to get ya?
me: yea that, and because what i really really want is a govt that doesnt lie, and world peace, and absolute proof of intelligent alien life and a time machine
me: basicly i want to be happy and worry free.
friend: same here..
me: that cant be wrapped and put under a tree tho.
me: so ok i'll settle for more socks
me: they should ask "what do you want thats in realistic means to purchase that my income status will allow"
friend: you can never have too many socks..they disappear literally, I'm convinced of this
me: when i was a kid i was convinced there was a black hole to another dimension somewhere near the dryer at my parents house.. because i would lose things.. not just socks but toys and other shit.. i always remember it was in the laundry room the last time i saw it.. it just dissapeared.
friend: haha.. yea...
me: wierd