Hip Hopcracy...

It's no World Cup, but the 135th British Open Championship is in progress. I believe they just call it "The Open Championship" because it is one of the first championships and it is played on the worlds oldest golf course. The commentators are doing that soft spoken voice they love to use as if paying honor to the reign of this course whilst describing it. "California... knows how to party..." breaks the vibe as the camera changes scenes. Oh no... it's not some technical error. Indeed they are playing "California Love" by Dr. Dre ft. Tupac during the coverage of the 135th British Open. Wow! I'm not mad. I'm just amazed. Allow me to explain.

Dr. Dre was a founding member of NWA, one of the groups credited with the emergence of 'gangsta rap'. The group's Sraight Outta Compton album was one of the reasons we have the 'parental advisory' sticker on music products today. The amazement is that somehow rap has become so accepted, so innocuous that one of the arguably most recognizable rap songs is played during coverage of what is possibly the most esteemed tournament in golf. GOLF!! Not tennis... you know what out-of-place song tennis gets during the RCA Championship coverage... the theme to 'The Price is Right'. HARMLESS!! Light-hearted, humorous even. If they EVER play 'dead prez' on golf, THEN i will be amazed. Heck, if they play 'dead prez' on mainstream urban radio, i'll be impressed.

Peace.
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In case you don't know about N.W.A.

Feel free to educate yourself on dead prez

When ur roommate moves...

Only when your roommate moves do you realize how much was his. Couch is gone. True. Knew that. Room next to that is completely empty. Also true. I really didn't feel like it affected me until I went to heat up some pizza and... no microwave. True.
So now I type to you while I wait for my pizza to cook again... in the oven. Patience. What i've also learned = Gas stoves seem dangerous. I'm trusting this thing to regulate a minor explosion when it fills a portion of the oven with gas then ignites it. I don't know the history of this stove. I wasn't there the time it possibly broke down. Hell, I SURELY don't want to be here the next time it does. Anyway, the latest addition to my roommates belongings include the internet modem. When he takes that... I shall not be so happy.

Peace.
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BBC NEWS | Middle East | 'More scary than the Gulf War'

Whatever you say...

Honestly, every now and then I don't hear what people say to me. This crucial prerequisite doesn't stop me from responding though. I usually give them some non-descript affirmation or question. Like... "Why?" When clearly "How have you been?" doesn't prompt that response. If taken incorrectly that could have been fighting words. Ok, well the person would have to be on some serious Napoleon ish, but still.

I wonder if this happens in more crucial arenas. Politics? The Pentagon? How messed up would it be if someone misunderstood someone on that level. "Wait... you don't want me to press the button?!" "No!" "'No, you do' or 'No, i don't want you to press the button'". I've always thought that was interesting. The 'no' of agreement. People could be more eloquent. They won't be though, until they are. Kidding, i just love ridiculously obvious declarations. Carry on 'bout ya business.

Peace.
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How the ear works... just in case.

Follow up...

Recently Carla needed a watch, so we went shopping for one. Eventually visiting my old job because they have the best inexpensive watches. I don't know about you but anything over $15 is too much for a watch for me right now.
Anyway, while there my boss updated me on all the changes that occured after I left. I won't go into details but essentially I left at the perfect time. Well, for my benefit that is... them, not so much. Jobs were lost. Jobs were shredded. Jobs were pleaded for again. It happens, but the lesson is never look back except to learn a lesson or help somebody do the same.

Bloggito peace.

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Why is Israel trying to be like the U.S. ?

Why didn't I know that Erykah Badu got a booty? She from TX though, so it makes sense. TX stand UP!

The Professor...

[The following was deleted from a comment on Lasu's MySpace blog. I wanted to keep the comment short, but still wanted to expound on the idea.
The topic was "What if people were simpler?" cognitively. 'They would have fewer problems...' and so forth. However there was a dual acknowledgement that we must also appreciated how far we've come. A few people agreed. I responded "What if people were smarter? We would have fewer problems." I explained how I defined "smarter" as exercising the ability to acknowledge futility, especially when setting goals for contentment. The simplicity of this is usually hindered by yourself and your relationship to society...]

Pride is a very dangerous thing. Apparently, it is one of the seven deadly sins. Too much pride can get you into trouble. Too little pride may not get you anywhere. Unfortunately, one person slightly deficient in pride often jabs at another person as a twisted form of therapy (sometimes consciously). Even worse, our society easily allows for people to feel worthless. Doesn't have to be this way, but it creates a pecking order that makes some people feel better. It is similar to the adage "Life is simple; it's the people that complicate it". If people were 'smarter' more of us would acknowledge the absurdity of the 'pecking order'. We each could feel more content about the lives we carve out for our selves because it would play out on our own scale, as opposed to the scale we interpret from society.

The best thing Lasu said [in my opinion, of course] is "it's unfortunate that humans have to live in a society driven by economy and monetary profit." It was the line that kicked off his blog and it is the first step (I believe) in making people smarter; which is to think outside of society - to step out and look at our absurdities as a whole. The line acknowledges the inevitability of an economy, whether it meant to or not, but suggests a longing for more than the monetary measuring stick. Meaning Lasu can then move in society with a new perspective.

Now I just wonder the futility of my response. Hopefully it came off less existentialist than it could have, because I have yet to hear what I mean properly conveyed in philosophic text. However, I don't really look to them to shape my view, but that is because I can never really get past the first chapter without feeling there is something more productive I could be doing with my time. (For everyone who questions how long I spent writing this blog, shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!)

Meh, essentially what I want to express is that ALOT more of your contentment rests on you claiming it that it does in your possessions, relationships, career, or beliefs. Evaluate your goals with the question that I used, "then what?" You have set all these goals for yourself, but "then what?" If you found contentment in all the aforementioned popular quantifiers (job, possessions, relationships, etc) where would you go from there? Does the lack of those really stop you from being content? What if you never reach them? Can you be content with having lived at all? Do you feel like you are "living"? Why/Why not? Do remember that someone will always have it worse than you, and you didn't have to exist, so...

peace!
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A rough idea to help grasp the point as not to misinterpret the message.

He's smarter than he lets on. Which is why he hasn't been assassinated! Making it sound like a joke helps too (i.e.> 'The Reparations Sketch' or 'Black Bush').

Created or Destoyed...

The amalgamation of letters you see before you is the seed of my procastination. Seed in the 'offspring' sence not 'farming' sense, though the potential for a double entendre is not lost on any of us I hope. Speaking of hope, I call upon it as a crutch in the creative battle within which I am currently caught.
It is a fascinating thing 'to create'. There are many portions of this to marvel at but allow me to clarify. Not the process, or the art of it, but i mean the actual point in which you go from attempt to success in creation. Especially if it wasn't something that came to you, but when you actually worked for the idea. Well, that is what i'm trying to do now.

[Insert 3 hours of being distracted learning to play "Stairway to Heaven"]

The hardest thing to do is to stay focused and actually build upon the idea before it morphs into whatever else you come up with. Because ideas don't come solo. Oh no, they flow in like a flood. Then you have all these ideas that you have to ignore. Before you were literally at your wit's end, now you want you wit to shut up and give you a minute. Y'know, so you can actually develop the first idea. I should go do that now.

Peace.
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Links coming soon... soon as i remember them.

How many words does it take you to get to the center of a Footballer?...

I've been away the last few days, meeting with roommates for the new apartment and chillin' with Carla. (Sidenote: My new roommates keep adding the qualifer "so if you decide to take the place" into their speech. Which would be fine were we not talking about things like HOW I'M DEFINITELY SIGNING THE LEASE and WHEN I'M DEFINITELY MOVING MY STUFF IN I and how I told them from jump that "I AM DEFINITELY MOVING INTO THIS PLACE." Indeed my precise words. Anyway...)

On Sunday, we caught the 2006 World Cup Final, even missed a movie for it (hadn't bought tix yet, so it was all good). It was a good game, and also funny. Especially when Zinedine Zidane waylayed Marco Materazzi. Catching one of those blows that makes you wince in sympathetic pain, Materazzi proved why you DON'T insult a three-time World Player of the Year. "Three-time!" means he wasn't just a lucky pick. It denotes that dude ain't no punk (as proven by informally introducing his head to your sternum).

As is the world, i'm curious what you have to say to make a dude ram his head into your ribs hurling you to the ground. I say hurling, cus Materazzi indeed went from standing to slamming into the ground vertebrae first on impact. Surely Materazzi's should be put into that rule book of shit you just don't say period.

Peace.
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Izza my fava renedizzion of the Zidane Headbutt. (I feel no remorse for my bad italian impression. If you don't know why turn on MTV!)

Why you don't insult talent...

Best way to insult = with 2400 word vocabulary (the average vocab = 800 words).
Change 'Thou' to 'Yo momma' and it's a wrap!
Oh, and a crowd going "oooooooooo"!

An interview between Saul Williams and Henry Rollins, two cats that could easily verbally shit on you...

Like a rolling stone...

Oh my my my... So yeah, remember how I told you I got a new job and a new place then i quit the new job. Well, yeah... now my new place is going bye bye as well. See my roommate is a teacher, but on the side (and really just the summers) he does real estate. Well, he just got the chance to buy his first complex and for a chance actually be landlord and get paid rent, rather than paying rent. Which, if you know anything about the cost of living in Boston, is HUGE. So of course, I was like do your thing.
Now what this means is that cus he is moving out I could either, find a new roommate or peace-out. Sure enough my landlord calls me with this same ultimatum. Now he's probably thinking, I'd just scrounge up the money rather than be homeless. If i stayed but didn't find a new roommate I'd be responsible for not only my rent, but the non-roommate's share AND the security deposit. Hahaha... silly man. I laughed and said "So your asking me for $2,100... haha, I can not do that!!" I put him on hold and called the roommate and made sure this wasn't just some scam he was trying to run on me. Then I called him back and said "Is there any other option?" Essentially meaning is there a way I could pay part and stay til Sept 1st. He declined to which I replied "Okay, then I'm out!" Let him know that this was my last month and that i'm out.
What he does not know is that earlier that day I found my new place. Which is actually closer to where I wanna be. Much nicer than his place. AND, far cheaper as well. Additionally, I asked both my girl and my new place if i could store my stuff with them til I move (I was not surprised that he called thus I was prepared). So yeah, I was straight. Now I just saved money. I love my life. "Ha, the Lord is GOOD!"

Peace.
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He helped Gilligan-n-n get off the Island, ha!!

How I find everthing!!

The O'Jays - A Family Reunion

Battle was Saturday. Sunday morning I was off to Connecticut. It was a last minute decision but I didn't want my girl to weather the barrage of inquiries into her life solo. We took a bus down, which meant 4+ hours of reading this one news paper i like. We intermittently debated about Superman Returns but for the most part I was just stuck reading this article on fusion-voting. The odd thing was that I basically could not finish the article. I suddenly felt like I was in school again. No matter how I tried to just read on through it, the words just bounced off me. I was left with little grasp of the content and thus resolving to re-read. Very annoying and time consuming.

While in Connecticut, family didn't seem to understand that I-i-i didn't give a flying [edit] about how things were going to work out. Where we slept, when we ate, where we spent our days before the actual cookout: no importa. What amused me the most was the penchant family has for repeating itself. Captured best in this moment i recant for you now:

My girl, her pops, and I sit outside her brother's apartment. Yes, her sister lives in a seperate joint on the third floor but we were waiting on her brother to return. Our eyes are fixed on the flowers in front of us, not for their attempt at urban beautification but for the possible exit of yellow-jackets. We shoot the breeze, nothing important at all, in fact we actually come around to talking about the weather. The most cliché topic of all time but we progress with it rather than delving into deeper topics. (I mention this because the conversation originally kicked off with Pops observing that my girl's thighs had grown thicker...oops, haha. I am not sure he wanted to commit himself to deducing the cause - as she and I sat nearly holding hands.) Now talking about rain, I mention my fascination with it's near-precision. Especially how it can be raining across the street from you and you never feel a drop. Also the way rain seems to commence and cease within a few seconds at times. You can go from dry to downpour in almost an instant and vice-versa. It really is fascinating. Carla seconded the observations and just then her pops offered his own. "Yeah, you know, boy, you could be sitting on one side of the street watching it rain over there and you never even feel a drop. Man, I'll tell you, that is something, isn't it?!" To which I replied, "Yes, sir!" to this completely new observation on the subject. Fin.


Now multiply that by however many subjects people can fit into three days of pseudo-catching up and you have the trip. Overall it was still fun. The "Most Fun People to Chill With" awards go to Carla's 15yr-old cousin from South Carolina (whom we are trying to kidnap and put into a good school in a big city), her brothers (both are cool and funny) and her sister's girlfriend (as in romantic insterest - who probably understands how I feel though her broken record collection probably consists of "I just don't understand" and "The bible says"). At times, i just wanted to be like "dang, mayn, you must be tired" but i'm sure she gathered my views when it was mentioned that I fundraised for the HRC (Human Rights Campaign). Also she listens to 'Little Brother' so she MUST be cool on some level.

Anyway, amid attempts to escape to video games and suffering through folks watching 'they stories' (their soap operas) on the biggest screen i've seen in a minute, the cookout was cool. Especially the music (when they were playing EVERY old-school favorite of mine) before it eventually rained. Oh, and of course they tried to overfeed me cus i'm "skinty". But hey, free food, is free food. Also, my southern accent made a triumphant but laid-back return, cus they all are originally from South Carolina. Lastly, (as stereotypical as it is) GOOD KOOL-AID IS THE JAM!!!

Peace.
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The Human Rights Campaign, let it be known that I fundraised the most at PRIDE; making me not just an eco-hustler, but an all-round non-profit paper-chaser.

Maybe it's just me, but fusion-voting makes so much sense that I doubt people are ready.

Little Brother on MySpace. I also recommend visiting 9th Wonder's page, he makes the tracks.

Redefining First Place...

So my band (in which I feel ownership as being a part of it) was in the regional finals of this international Battle of the Bands contest this past weekend. I originally felt like the thing was a pyramid scheme (which it is to a degree) but I still let us participate anyway.
Why?
Because we would get to play the top venues in the city if we won. Well, as mentioned before we made it to the regional finals. Meaning we essentially bested hundreds of other bands (cus there were multiple rounds with multiple nights of contest with multiple bands that competed) to finally arrive at the finals we were in Saturday night.
How did you guys do?
We placed 3rd overall, as so voted by the judges. Their decision was final. However in a seperate vote we were picked #1 by the other competing bands, which we feel is a major compliment. Plus I think we will be quite fine in the long run with our 3rd place. Thus the experience was everything we thought it would be and more.
We went farther than we thought we would. We were heard by more people than we thought we would be. And, we gained the respect of the musical community (artists and enthusiasts alike). Thus we came out on top, ask the bands! :-)
And sincere thanks to anyone who came to any of the rounds and voted us on. THANK YOU!!

Peace.
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How did Melodesiac do? The answer is a few clicks away.