Taylor Swift recently released a video for her single “The Best Day,” and I thought Mother’s Day would be the most appropriate time to post it. The song is about Taylor’s mom, and is made completely from home video footage of their family. It’s a great idea, and very well done. Of course, the song alone is enough to make me cry, so combined with the home videos, it’s a huge tear jerker. But it’s tears of the happy variety, so that’s not always a bad thing.
Listening to the lyrics of this song made me think about my own mother and how I’ve had so many of the best days with her. Through the hard times, she was there to pick me up. Through the good times, she was there to laugh with me. She has never ceased to amaze me with what a sincere, loving person she is.
Mom, thanks so much for being so wonderful to me and everyone else in your life. You’re more than just a mom to me, you’re my best friend. I’m thankful for you every day, but today I especially want to let you know how much I love you. This song is for you. Happy Mother’s Day!
Most Christian holidays have become so commercialized that anyone can celebrate them. Even Christmas is celebrated by believers and non-believers alike. Easter, however, is probably the most religious holiday we have left. Christians have managed to keep a handle on it even through the egg hunts, hidden baskets, and a giant bunny mascot. It is seen as the holiest day of the year, celebrating when Jesus rose from the dead, a symbol of hope and strength through Christianity.
So is it okay to celebrate Easter if you aren’t recognizing it as a Christian holiday? The candy suppliers sure hope so, and I’m sure that whatever company makes that plastic green stuff in the Easter baskets will appreciate it too. Yet some people may say no, if you aren’t recognizing the meaning behind this day you shouldn’t be able to celebrate it.
Personally, I say let everyone celebrate. Christians, non-believers, and all religions combined. Get out the eggs and stuff yourself with chocolate! Have a big dinner with your family and friends, enjoy spending a beautiful Sunday together. If the message of Easter is hope and rebirth, then we should all be welcome to participate and find our own meaning in the day. Coming together as a community and spending time with loved ones is a positive thing, no matter if it has religious meaning or just celebrates the chance to be together. People should be welcomed into the holiday and celebration with open arms. It doesn’t have to be an exclusive or selfish day; it’s a chance to show everyone the hope and strength we can have as people who share in a celebration together.
I’ve never been a fan of random pranks, especially the ones where someone tries to get you to believe something that isn’t true just to make you look stupid. Do people really get enjoyment out of that? I assume you would have to be trying to prove for 10 seconds that you’re smarter than someone else to play a prank like that. Or maybe you just have no sense of humor and it’s your best attempt at being funny. If you can pull off a real prank, like something from Punk’d or Candid Camera, you have my respect. Just tricking someone into believing something horrible or ridiculous for a few seconds is not a prank, it’s actually called “being annoying.”
So, in an attempt to find some actual humor in April Fools Day, I found some pranks that have been played over the years on a larger scale — here are some of my favorites that actually involved planning and creativity.
*In 1997, Alex Trebek and Pat Sajak switched television shows. Trebek hosted Wheel of Fortune while Sajak hosted Jeopardy!. Pat Sajak and Vanna White also appeared as contestants on Wheel of Fortune. That night’s episode of Wheel of Fortune also used Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious as an answer on one of their puzzles.
*The TV show “Panorama” on the BBC ran an episode in 1957 which showed the Swiss harvesting spaghetti trees. They said that they were once again able to harvest spaghetti from trees now that the spaghetti weevil had been eliminated. People were contacting the BBC asking how they could harvest their own spaghetti trees before they found out it had been a hoax. (See video above. I love how serious it is.)
*National Public Radio creates a ridiculous news story every year for April Fools Day. They start off very serious and then continue to become more and more unbelieveable until people begin to realize what’s going on. Last year they did a full report stating that the IRS was going to send consumer products instead of rebate checks to make sure that they were going back into the economy. Hmm, that one doesn’t sound too unbelieveable…
*In 1985, L.A. Weekly printed an entire page of fake events that they said were going on that day in the city. People showed up at the events to find that they didn’t really exist. They were just stuck with a group of other confused Weekly readers.
And my favorite from last year…
*YouTube redirected all their main page videos to go to Rick Astley’s music video for “Never Gonna Give You Up,” a popular prank called “Rick Rolling.” The song gets stuck in your head for days after hearing about two seconds of it, which makes this the most annoying yet entertaining prank to pull on anyone.
How does Valentine’s Day make you feel? Do you love it? Hate it? Well here are some songs to fit your Valentine mood, no matter what it may be. Click on your mood below to listen to the perfect Valentine’s song for you. If you can’t find your mood, let me know and I’ll find a song for you!
Almost everyone I know is in a relationship. Married, serious relationship, or at least casually dating someone. I’m used to being glaringly single among the majority of people I interact with, especially on holidays or at events. Valentine’s Day is obviously one of those days where I have to hunt down all the single people I know and band together for the night. Usually I hate this because the night consists of all said single people whining about: “Why am I still alone?” “Can you believe she has a boyfriend yet I’m still single?!” “I’m going to be alone forever, I just know it!” “I hate Valentine’s Day!” So basically, instead of enjoying the fact that they have great friends who are hanging out with them and having a good time, they want to complain and feel sad and lonely. This never makes sense to me.
I see Valentine’s Day as a time to appreciate everyone in your life who you love. Tell your parents how much you love them, call your best friend and say thanks for all the reasons you’re best friends, call your sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, family friends – whoever – but just make it about appreciating the important people you’re surrounded with. We are not alone, even if we’re single. There are always people who are there to remind us that we have love in our lives. Just because it’s not romantic love doesn’t make it less valid. And those relationships might even last longer than Random Boyfriend/Girlfriend anyway.
