The Manofesto

You have now entered The Manoverse, home of the ten planets Batooween, BetaDelta795, Bluto, Bulkan, Cripton, Dago-bruh, Dorc, Gearth, Samulus, and Vegas Prime. All planets are ruled by your humble Potentate of Profundity and revolve around The Son. The Manofesto displays the historical writings and continuing discoveries of my temporary exploration of foreign lands replete with insidious evil like Oprah, reality television, liberalism, the New England Patriots, gangsta rap, the Kardashian family, and Twilight. You will find a variety of topics covered here, from fun & frivolous to quasi-profound & introspective. Everything in the archives is broken down into 8 categories:

Pop Culture

As much as I occasionally like to play it cool and pretend that I’m of a superior breed of human that doesn’t have the time or patience for things like television, movies, or gossip about some morally bankrupt celebrity, that’s just simply not always true. I’m a fun guy. I like to laugh and have a good time. So yes, sometimes I write about silly, meaningless, unimportant things with absolutely no relevant impact on the meaning of life.

Superfluous 7

Modeled after Letterman’s Top 10, I call my lists superfluous because I am not arrogant enough to think they are in any way necessary or important. Most of the time they’ll be flippantly fun, sometimes a bit more mocking and edgy. Admittedly there is no consistency with this particular area…I don’t write a list daily, weekly, monthly, etc. I am just not that disciplined. I tend to wait for inspiration for most of what I write anyway, and since this is a very specific format a rather precise form of creative stirring is necessary.

The Bookshelf

Author Franz Kafka wrote “A book must be an ice-axe to break the seas frozen inside our soul”. I’m a big ol’ nerdy bookworm, and books have given me much pleasure and food for thought. Obviously I like to write (hence this blog), and I have tremendous respect for others who write. Once again my tastes run the gamut, from biographies to sociopolitical commentary to classic literature. I will share my love of good books here, with reviews and recommendations, etc.

The Hall of Influence

Every sport has its Hall of Fame. Some entities have a Hall of Shame. I call my version The Hall of Influence for a reason. Inductees will be honored for a purpose, and will be people that have had an influence on me and my life. Traditionally organizations induct new members into their particular bastions of eternal renown once per year and have a bunch of rules and regulations about how those individuals are deemed worthy to make the cut. I have no such restrictive conventions. I may honor a bunch of folks, I may do just one or two. I may initiate them once a week, once a year, or anywhere in between, and assumptions should not be made that a person is more or less important than another person indicative of what order they were deemed worthy of my praise.

The Island of Misfit Blog Posts

Sometimes a particular topic doesn’t really fit within the confines of any defined area. Those writings have a home here.

The Rocco Chronicles

I love my dog. He’s my roommate, best buddy, and faux child. This will be his stories.

The Sports Page

There’s nothing like reading the sports page after a long day working for The Man. I’m a huge sports fan and a lifelong supporter of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pittsburgh Pirates (yeah, I know they’re horrible), West Virginia Mountaineers, and Marshall Thundering Herd (my alma mater). I also have a steady if not die hard interest in Nascar, pro basketball, and golf. One thing I attempt to avoid as much as possible is the “police blotter” aspect of much of today’s mainstream sports programming, which I refer to as the O.J. Effect. Criminal activity, drug use, and cheating aren’t why I watch sports, and I find such topics to generally be downers. I’m not saying said topics won’t be discussed here at all, but they will be kept to a minimum.

Values, Principles, & Truth

We are all told growing up to never, in mixed company, discuss religion or politics. I break that rule a lot here. I have found that there is much crossover between religion and politics because at the end of the day it’s all about what is right, what is wrong, and what is true. I am conservative Christian and proud to be so. If you disagree with me that’s okay, but I do find those who offer no kind of intelligent, cogent, articulate rebuttal to be rather insufferable. My opinions and beliefs are intense, which can offend folks sometimes, but I have reached a point in my life where that really doesn’t matter all that much. My heart aches for a nation that is so easily angered by the mention of Jesus Christ, that continuously displays hatred for God and seeks ways to push Him out of life altogether. The only tangible way I know to combat that societal sickness is to stay true to myself and use this forum to express what I know to be right, just, and true.

Also be sure to follow me on Twitter. My tweets can be found on the right side of the page under Random Thoughts. I tweet links to the posts I have written, as well as my sometimes amusing, sometimes serious, hopefully always eminently readable musings on life.

So now you have an idea of what I’m all about and what goes on here. This is a work in progress. I’m no Twain or Hemingway, but I do enjoy writing in this format. I tend to go with the flow and take things one day at a time, and hope you’ll hop on the carousel and take the ride with me. Please leave feedback as well, because I’d like to know that there is someone out there reading this stuff.