Celebrities Singing For the Troops – Voices That Care

I’m working on a blog that will be titled something like “songs about war,” a post that’s inspired by a group of celebrities and athletes who came together as a choir to support troops in Operation Desert Storm way back in 1991. Watching the music video on YouTube, I’m utterly shocked at how many singers and celebrities took part in the project. There is no possible way an endeavor like that would be successful in 2023, with the way politics are now. A lot of celebrities who are still around, still relevant (this was shot over 30 years ago, remember) have become so anti-war, or pro-war, polarized in their respective political corners that they wouldn’t dare share the stage with someone who doesn’t agree with everything exactly the way they believe. I can’t even fathom typing out all the names listed, so for the full rundown check out the Wikipedia page Voices That Care. You might be shocked who appears in the video.

My dad served in Operation Desert Storm (and dominated the enemy might I add!), so even as a middle-school-aged kid, I was sort of aware of what was going, even if I probably didn’t understand most of it, though. I remember this song very well. It’s a special memento of a unique time in American history. I just had no idea how many singers and celebrities joined in for the all-star choir. Crazy.

It also makes me nostalgic and sad. It’s a bummer that things have changed culturally, since then. Celebrities who would reject the idea of appearing in public with someone they don’t agree with. Some might be anti-war so they wouldn’t dare be part of a project supporting a current war, even if it were meant to encourage the military men and women in that war. It seems mostly political now and that’s so discouraging for the future of the United States.

I hope we can get back to a more unified country. One where, in spite of our political affiliations or lack thereof, we can find common ground and for Pete’s sake, lighten up!

I didn’t know there was a documentary with the same name, “Voices That Care.” I encourage you to watch it when you have time. I thought it was so interesting to see how the song came together and to hear the encouragement from all the celebrities.

-Out of the Wilderness

44-year-old man listens to a couple of new Olivia Rodrigo songs

I was in the car with one of my nieces (who’s under 20 years old, not that it matters, but it kinda does) and asked her to pick out a song to play on Spotify. Sidebar: I love Spotify premium. I can’t imagine a time in my future life where I will have reverted to the free version. OK, anywhos, she picked out an Olivia Rodrigo song and I thought to myself, “This is what sacrifice looks like.” I much rather be playing John Mayer or Retrofile or NF or Labrinth or Vince Gill, but Olivia? I’m earning a bigger mansion in Heaven for this one, right? Here’s the song she picked out…

That song is not ever going to make it on any playlist I put together, but of course, that shouldn’t surprise anyone. I’m a 44-year-old man. While it’s not a “feel good” song, I can at least appreciate the rhymes. She has a clever way of stringing lyrics together, I’ll give her that. The next song my niece picked was…

She lost me immediately with “skin like puff pastry.” Gross. She sort of brought me back in with some of the later rhymes, but just… no. OK, the last song my niece picked was…

If I didn’t know this was Olivia Rodrigo, I’d bet a Bitcoin it was Travis Kelce’s girlfriend. See what I did there? Kind of confirming without any shred of evidence that he’s dating Taylor Swift. They go together like oil and ice. But this isn’t a post about Travis and Taylor, or Trifty as some are calling them.

At the end of the day, I’m not the target market for Olivia Rodrigo’s music. In fact, I’d want Travis Kelce to make a song and I’d give that a shot before ever choosing to listen to another O-Rod song. No offense. I’m just too old to care about teeny bopper heartbreak songs.

[Immediately plays “All or Nothing” by O-Town]

-Out of the Wilderness

Travis Kelce Two Things At Once COVID Commercial – Worse Than It Could Have Been

Travis Kelce has been in everyone’s newsfeed lately but mostly not for football. Sure the Kansas City Chiefs are doing well this season (in spite of Mahomes, yeah I went there!) but Kelce’s name comes up more for the shot he’s taking and the shot he’s getting. The former, obviously, he may or may not be dating Taylor Swift (who must be out of material). The latter is a commercial where Kelce’s reminded that he can do two things at once. And no, it’s not about playing football and dating Taylor Swift at the same time. And yes, Taylor Swift fatigue is right around the corner. Take a look at the latest Kelce COVID vaccine commercial…

The obvious blunder in the ad: none of the things they show being done at the same time are good ideas! A charcoal grill on a riding lawn mower, bench pressing a member of the press trying to get an interview, throwing a football around a dinner table, recording a podcast alone in a hot air balloon, and a random clip of two Super Bowl rings. So the ad is telling you to do two things at once while showing you how bad of an idea that is. Genius. The only thing this commercial shows us is that Pfizer can’t sell medicine and come up with good commercials at the same time. If they fumble even the simplest ideas, who knows what’s in the vaccine and booster shots!

Kelce is getting some heat for the ad, mostly people poking fun at him for being in the commercial at all, not to mention his alliance with Bud Light in a recent commercial. My stance is that if you want to get the covid vaccine, do it. If you don’t, then don’t. No biggy. Where I draw a line is when this decision is virtually forced upon us whether through government mandates or social pressure. It’s also SOOOOOO surprising how much we’re hearing about the shot now that a certain presidential election is coming up. See, I can write and be sarcastic at the same time. It’s not that hard, Pfizer.

In summary, it’s a dumb commercial. Also, Travis and Taylor go together like pizza and pineapple. Nom nom nom.

-Out of the Wilderness

Running is hard – sprint triathlon just a few weeks away!

My most recent run was more than what the sprint triathlon distance is (3.1 miles). I decided to go 3.5 miles like I had done about a week before. Let me tell ya, runners out there will say 3.5 is kind of a short run but by golly, I was exhausted after! I didn’t quite reach the goal I’d set for myself as far as total time goes, but I *was* faster than the previous week, so that’s good. It’s funny, though, how my body is more tight and tired the morning after. Maybe I overdid it, but I woke up the following day and had to do stretches in bed just to think about getting out of bed!

But deep down, it feels good to push myself like this! I believe, and I hope, it’s going to pay off when I take part in the October sprint triathlon. Of course, swimming is my kryptonite but if I can manage to finish that without much struggle, the bike and the run are going to be great. I can feel it.

-Out of the Wilderness

Kleenex Commercial – Is That A Man Or A Woman?

Kleenex is showing off their inclusivity in a recent commercial featuring an icky situation. The dreaded snot bubble and no tissue close by! The next best thing is the sleeve, right? In the ad called “Save the Sleeve,” I’m not sure viewers will be commenting much about that when the parent’s gender overshadows anything else in the commercial. Take a look…

I first saw this commercial during college football games on Saturday. My guess is that it’s not going to go over very well with the sports crowd, especially if anyone out there had the same question I did after watching it. The question… who or what did I just see? This young child is in for an epic internal battle, and maybe some therapy, when he gets older and tries to figure out what’s going on with their dad… or mom? This pronoun, gender, sexual identity thing has gotten out of hand and unfortunately, Kleenex is another brand that’s fallen prey to it.

Ultimately, it’s sad when a person created for great things is enabled to go down an unscientific path of confusion and lies.

There are a handful of more obvious gender/sexuality commercials, like this one from OREO or this one from Ford. But when when a brand tries to sneak in anything about gender, it just comes across as devious and unpleasant.

-Out of the Wilderness