Signs of the Times

Hello everyone. Remember me? Yeah its been awhile. High Society has been on hiatus for a few months. The motivation just wasn't there. I was discouraged. But you know what, I had "forgotten about the music" so to speak. I love to write. I love to express my ideas, and voice them to my fellow peers, i.e. this blog. The last few months I just forgot what I really loved, and now that passion is back. Guess who's back. Shady's back. And this blog. Tell a friend. Lets rock. (I'd like to give a shout out to Nick Riley, for getting me back into writing. Thanks bud. Thanks also to Avery Luck, pursuing me as well.)

By the way, I just figured out how to make new paragraphs. The enter button doesn't work on this site, so I would always space out my paragraphs with pictures to make it seem like I knew what I was doing. I didn't. Now, with some simple reasoning, I found the shift button. Lifesaver.

On to my topic. As you saw by the title, I am talking about the times we live in. One of my favorite bands, The Killers, entitled their most recent album "Day and Age". This got me to really notice certain things about our time that everyone just assumes is normality. In this time of short-attention-spans and fast everything, nobody slows down to really observe the changes around us. That's what I'm here for.

My first observation: For a large majority of kids our age, religion has become a chore, and taken a backseat in our lives. Now, there's the few extremely religious kids who will vehemently oppose this, but I think it's true. When our parents were kids, church or temple was mandatory. I can safely say I don't go to temple unless I am forced to on high holidays, and I think a lot of people can relate to that. Religion has become a punishment, something that distracts us from our high paced, digital lives. I am an atheist. I think largely that I lost faith not because of a specific event or a certain belief, but because of the hatred I had towards Hebrew school and temple. The time in which I became old enough to realize I was in temple was around the same time that computers and technology began influencing me. As it became harder and harder to entertain me, Hebrew school didn't stand a chance. It was simply too boring for me, and it angered me that something I didn't care about was wasting so much of my time. It saddens me to look back and see that, but its just a simple reality I've come to accept.

My second observation: People are literally wired to technology. (Not literally. Figuratively. You get the point.) I coached a team of 7th and 8th graders for a park district basketball league. I don't have much experience with kids, as I'm an only child, so I didn't really have any idea what the environment they live in is like. Lets keep in mind that our generation, when we were younger, was slightly before cell phones and Ipods. We got all of this technology relatively recently. When I saw my players, some of them looking barely 10, with blackberrys and Ipod's, it really hit me. Technology has gripped every age. These kids have facebooks. FACEBOOKS. What is there to do on facebook without the high school drama? All facebook is for is stalking people you aren't that close with, posting pictures of you and your friends with red cups, or just trying to be cool. Cuz lets face it, facebook is cool. But these kids? It's just unnecessary. The days of going outside and inventing games, playing constantly outside, board games, etc., are over. Video games, Internet, and TV have changed kids. Its a sad story. But there's the paradox. I'm writing this on the Internet, so technically, I'm preaching against myself? Think about that.

But seriously, go play a board game or invent a game. Read a book. Put down that Xbox controller, sign off of facebook for a few days (or a few hours). It will be enjoyable. When I went to Alaska this summer I had no cell phone, Ipod, or computer for 3 weeks. Or shower or good food, or housing, but that's neither here nor there. I thought it would be tough, but honestly, getting away from technology was a breath of fresh air. Literally.

On to a lighter topic, in completely unrelated news: Actor Jamie Waylett was arrested for possession of marijuana recently. Wondering who Jamie Waylett is? Well hes none other then.............................Crabbe from the Harry Potter movies! After getting pulled over for suspicious behavior, cops found 8 bags of weed in his car. That's some serious shit. I guess the "don't you know who I am?" line didn't work for Crabbe. The cop just wasn't a Harry Potter fan. After the car raid, police then went to his house, where he had a "cannabis farm" with 10 marijuana plants under hydroponic lights valued at 3,000 dollars. Crabbe likes to smoke. And deal? How many people can say they got their weed from Crabbe from Harry Potter? Apparently a lot.

If you noticed that there was no pictures in this post, there is a method to my madness, so to speak. I felt like the last posts were getting bogged down in pictures, and its more about my ideas. But for you short attention-span people, there will be a few pictures in upcoming posts. Don't fret. Thanks everyone, its good to be back.

Question: What is your favorite non-main-stream band? Post your comments.