Valentine’s Day is the stupidest “Hallmark holiday” anyone could have come up with. Oh, let’s take a day out of the year to celebrate love! What kind of sappy bullshit is that? Actually, forget the sappy qualities of the day. This day just makes me realize even more how money makes the world go ’round. How many corporations (candy & card companies, along with restaurants) make millions of dollars on February 14th each year? It’s yet another example of the endless mass marketing of every semi-celebrated day out of the year. But Valentine’s Day is one of the biggest — you hear about these famed “romantic” restaurants where people reserve tables a year in advance, among all kinds of other absurd situations.
(The underside of a Snapple cap once provided me with “Real Fact” #369: On Valentine’s Day, there is no charge to get married in the Empire State Building’s wedding chapel...the more you know, eh?) Corporate America has attempted (and it’s succeeding more and more each year) to equate this “holiday” with celebrations of equally abstract, yet immensely more significant concepts and events such as the birth and rebirth of Jesus (Christmas/Easter), being thankful for life (Thanksgiving), the birthday of arguably this country’s greatest civil rights leader (Martin Luther King Jr. Day), and our freedom (Memorial Day/Veterans Day). Am I saying that love is inconsequential? Hardly, though I’ve been accused of it before. My quarrel is not with celebrating love; it is with the bastardization and commercialization of that celebration. The whole thing just doesn’t make sense to me.
Wikipedia’s article on Valentine’s Day says this: “The Greeting Card Association estimates that, world-wide, approximately one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas. The association also estimates that women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines.” Yuh-huh. And there you have it.
This doesn’t represent how I feel; I’m perfectly happy being single!Oh, god...I’m living a lie...the pain is too much to bear...
I can understand doing something nice for your significant other (in fact, I’m all for it), but the idea of this holiday has formalized “doing something nice” and turned it into this huge spectacle. Now, there’s this image of what girls expect on Valentine’s Day: stuff like a nice romantic dinner, a box of chocolates, a bouquet of roses, yada, yada, yada. I mean, it’s so cookie-cutter, so ordinary, so...unspectacular. If I was a girl and I had a special someone, I’d want something special. I mean, anyone can go out and buy a $4.99 box of Russell Stover chocolates from Rite-Aid or order roses from 1-800-Flowers, and while that’s all well and good, I’d want that guy to go above and beyond. You know, surprise me...skip the flowers and truffles and get me my favorite romantic comedy on DVD or something. OK, so that’s not exactly special...now you see part of the reasons I don’t have a valentine. I think you get the idea, though...I ask people what they’re doing today, and they all say stuff like, “I’m going out to dinner with my boyfriend,” or “I’m taking her to the boardwalk,” or something along those lines. I mean, I’d like to hear someone say, “My boyfriend invited me over for some chips, some salsa, and a night of Audrey Hepburn flicks.” See, that’s at least semi-original...and because of that, it’s commendable. It shouldn’t be about how much money you spend, but how much thought you put in.
All I’m saying is this: there’s no reason not to do nice things for your girlfriend/significant other/wife/hooker on all the other 364 days of the year (or 365, as 2008 is a leap year) — this “holiday” seems to exist solely for people to spend money in ways they otherwise wouldn’t, and who ends up winning? Corporate America. Sure, some of the people end up winning as well (see:
Y0j1mb0,
Eschatos), and that’s great. But all in all, there really is no logical reason why anyone should be marking this day off on their calendar. Either way, if you do have someone to celebrate the day with, do something special with him/her...like playing some video games together.
In closing, I’d like to leave you with something I found on my homepage, MSN.com: the “
Top ‘I Hate Love’ Songs of All Time”. Most of the songs on there are crappy, but I like a few of them. So break out your iPods and cry yourselves to sleep, friends; tomorrow is a new day, and there’s someone for everyone...right?
Disclaimer: This may just be my opinion because I don’t, you know, have a girlfriend at the moment or anything...but I suppose that’s what forms my views. At any rate, that fact shouldn’t invalidate my views or reduce their credibility at all...
P.S. Another interesting point to ponder, also courtesy of Wikipedia: according to the Roman calendar, the
thirteenth of February would have been called the
“ides of February.” Damn...so if Valentine’s Day was just a day earlier, it would have another name (along with, of course, Singles Awareness Day, or “SAD”) that would bring much more negative things to mind, simply because of the word “ides”...
P.P.S. Oh yeah, for all you guys tryin’ to get some tonight...remember:
No glove, no love.
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I should have listend to your PPS a long time ago.
Anyway, I agree. I hate this fucking holiday. It forced men to spend money on stupid shit that their wife or girl doesn't fucking need. It's not a real holiday, and society has pretty much made it clear to young impressionable women that they should expect nice stuff today from their man for the rest of their lives.
I don't like spending money on flowers and candy more than once a year. Candy on Easter, and flowers on Mother's Day. That's it. Fuck Hallmark.
This well be a great companion piece to my obligatory V.D. post.
All those 'Days' it's a bit lame that you need these made up festivities to give something to your loved ones.
Valentine's Day is a day for insincerity. People do nice things on that day out of obligation, not love. You wanna do something nice for the lady, don't wait for Hallmark to fucking say it's okay.
I bought my girl a I <3 My Geek shirt from thinkgeek.com. That's her gift. And for dinner I'm recreating one of her favorites dates of ours, a picnic in the city park by the beach. Except it's winter, and I'm in North Idaho, so it's inside, and I'm sure some sessions of Warhawk will follow.
Would you date me? :P
Agreed mostly, but disagree with the comparison to other holidays. Because, you know, we don't get Valentine's Day off of work, and if we did, it would be awesome.
Every day should be valentines day, a man shouldn't need a reason to do something nice for his loved one, they should be bringing her flowers or chocolate on occasion anyway. But you hit it, it's all about money. I mean look at Christmas, no longer a religious holiday, its now an American holiday. Why? So everyone is forced to spend.
Oh well. I just hope will people still do nice things for their loved ones on this day, they understand the truth of it.
how was AI last night ;)
good blog buddy!
I like valentines day. Its pretty simple for me I guess. I go to Tiffanys, drop a few hundred dollars then BAM blow job.
I kid I kid.
Me and my girl are gonna hang out, watch Smokin Aces and play some Wii. Good times will be had by all.
It's just the focal day where everything that is an unspoken rule is put WAAAAAY out in the open. This really puts people in positions where they just think too blasted hard. Truth of the matter, you gotta know your man/woman in order for this day to work. Sometimes knowing them is knowing you really don't have to do shit on this day. Depends on who it is.
The lady in my life is away at school, so we'll have to settle for whispering sweet nothings over the phone till she passes out tonight. It sucks that she's not here or I'm not there, but we manage. Although, it gives me time to finish a few missions in San Andreas, but that's just how I roll.
I think what's bad about this and Sweetest Day is how it brings out the douche baggery of all you see.
@Sadie G: American Idol was freaking intense last night...they decided the top 24 finalists, so there were many happy moments and many tears as well. I think it’s going to be a very good season, talent-wise...
@Jim, MasterMS: Well said. That’s exactly the mindset I’m trying to espouse in this post.
@manta: See, now that’s a great way to do Valentine’s Day. So, yes, if you didn’t have a penis, I would totally date you. God, I need to find a geek girl...
@DrNutt: You make a valid point.
Meh. I'm going to celebrate it mostly because I have done it so many times. And I do get that it's unnecessary but there's something fun about it that I just can't explain.
To each his own?
It's become a new tradition. A day of love and p- God, I'm starting to sound like a hippie...but yeah.
I have girlfriend and I still hate Valentine$ day!
It is hands down, the -worst- excuse for a celebration ever.
Last night I played Skate and drank beer, while she read a book on the couch next to me; and we ate Doritos and salsa.
I buy her gifts whenever I feel like showing her how much I care for her and all she's done for me. It doesn't take a specified day of the year for me to buy her some make-up, or to take her out to dinner, or give her a night of wild, nasty, anim.....love making.
I am totally with you on this dude. Valentines day makes me sick with all of its disgusting red and pink hearts and lame ass cards that have absolutely NO sentimental value whatsoever.
Fuck conforming. Fuck Hallmark and Fuck Valentines Day!
Well... hmmm this old college friend called me yesterday out of the blue, shes not a hotty but meh w/e. I guess going out tonight and being nice to a girl is good for a change.
To the OP, I agree, but you should add marriage in that list. You really don't need to get married legally to live with or love someone. In todays age theres over 70% of married people end up getting divorced at least once, and that costs money, financial problems, legal problems, stress over stress. And all for what? legalized prostitution :P So you can say Valentines & marriage are very similar.
My boyfriend and I usually don't even celebrate Valentine's day.
But I won't lie, I do get kind of excited when I get flowers delivered- something that would seem cheapened if it happened more often.
I agree with you, but it's up to th person to decide what they want to do. Sure, some people ARE dumb enough to wait until a commercial says "Spend $300 and she'll love you 'till you die" and I feel sorry for those guyses ladies. But, I too am without a significant other, and have no reason to talk.
Also, I'm all up for taking a girl to the boardwalk. Sunsets on the beach are fucking great, but I alo think that people should do this any other day of the year, not just V-day.
I agree with you, brother. No holiday is more pointless than Valentine's Day is. Sadly, our society embraces it with open arms, so those of us who hate it will have to endure the painful day of February the 14th for a long time.
i hate this holiday because women these days like to shit on your heart
@jim
"You wanna do something nice for the lady, don't wait for Hallmark to fucking say it's okay"
I agree 100% man. I do something nice for several times a week. sometime several times a day. <.<
...
>.>
when she's here that is. =( ah long distance.
we should create the hard heart candy. instead of 'love you' or some other dipshit words.....we can use a mix of snarky video game lines, along with a suggestion like...."U SEE SUPRBAD" (on front) "I LOVE BLOW_JAYS" (on reverse side). throw some Pac man about to eat a power pelette (on front) and a Ms Pac picture that says "Eat Me PacMan.....creative, and piggish. thats the move.
ceark it only took 5 months of long distance to break up my 5 year relationship. good luck with that.
Reasons I'm grateful I'm single
1. nobody to worry about picking the right card for
2. nobody to fucking worry about getting the right present for
3. nobody to worry about where we should fucking eat. fuck that. that was like an hour long discussion. AND YOURE FUCKING BORING YOU HEAR ME? YOU ARE FUCKING BORING AND IM GLAD I NEVER HAVE TO STRUGGLE TO SUPPORT THE CONVERSATION AGAIN, BITCH. AND NO I DONT WANT TO HEAR ABOUT WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN REAL LIFE TO THE CAST OF LAGUNA BEACH. EVEr.
4. no responsibilities. no nagging.
@BahamutZero: Let it all out, my friend. Did you berate the MS associate on the phone, too? Yelling at people over the phone helps a lot.
Not into VD BJs I take it?
I just hate those fucking candy hearts. It's like eating cardboard mixed with Sweet and Low.
Another year reading through this thing, and I feel like I'm the in the gross minority here, as always. As a guy, shouldn't you feel overjoyed when it's Valentine's Day, since the expectations are so much lower than any other day for a romantic gesture or getaway? Girls know what to expect, the cliche presents are usually what they end up getting from their deadbeat boyfriends anyway.
As for the bastardization of the holiday and the shameless corporate influence, I guess you have no problems with the bastardization of two significant events in the Christian calendar known as Christmas and Easter. The birth and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, and what do we remember it for? Buying gifts of grand, epic proportions that people usually don't even deserve, and a goddamn fucking bunny rabbit.
If you don't feel like participating guys, that's fine. But you should be giving Hallmark a high five for the shortcut to easy lovin' for a day. And for the guys who make the extra effort, thanks those people once more, for Valentine's Day is the chance for you to show your girl's friends what a REAL romantic gesture is.
No matter what you say, it basically ends up as a win-win in most situations. Girls get to be pampered, guys get guidelines so for once they know what to do, and cynics like yourself get yet another thing that they can complain about and nit-pick. Sounds like a perfect holiday to me.
You what would make valentines okay? If it were a government holiday, and I mean a paid. I'm glad my gf thinks V-Day is lame and made up by Hallmark, bc she doesn't expect anything crazy.
We ate at our fav Thai restaurant for like 20 bucks exchanged some cost effective presents that were really cool despite being relatively inexpensive (15 bucks). Then, we capped off the evening with Adam Sandler's Wedding Singer. It was nice, inexpensive, and more meaningful than the time I took her (quite mistakenly) to a hella expensive restaurant.