Long Time

It's been a long time...

...shouldn't have left you...

Hmm...how do I make this blog more interesting?

Oh yeah, SEX SELLS.

Since It's 5am, I'm only making this post the starting post to a more exhaustive post on virginity and why it gets no respect post post post.

Sound interesting enough?

Hot Chip (Will Break Your Legs)

hotchip23, originally uploaded by Monica Joi.

I did this a while back. Once I get photoshop back on my computer, I'll be making more ridiculous "art."

Quote of the Week

"Everything in the world is open source material. Whenever someone says, "You stole that. That's not original," I say, "You're about as original as a mirror facing another."

-Anonymous

Discovery!

Oh baby you've got me goin' so insane and I just don't know what's goin' down.

I adore lyrics like these, coupled with infectious melodies and funky rhythms. Mmm.

I'm on a Discovery fix. Combining the forces of the amazing Vampire Weekend and Ra Ra Riot, they have created a monster. ...a really, really awesome monster.

Favorite tracks:

1. So Insane

2. Osaka Loop Line

3. Can You Discover? (a semi-remake of Ra Ra Riot's Can You Tell )

Ones that need a few listens

1. Orange Shirt

2. Swing Tree

3. I Want You Back (In Discovery)

Dislike

1. I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend

Haven't heard

1. Carby

2. Slang Tang

3. It's Not My Fault (It's My Fault)

I am eagerly anticipating more. MORE!

No One Gives a Shit About Your Stupid Blog

Narcissism
noun

An obsession with oneself that makes the sufferer believe people care about their mundane thoughts, so they start a blog expecting thousands of followers.

In other words, I plan on changing the course of this blog.

...and I do expect thousands of followers.

Hard Decisions

I remember being a kid. I always got myself into loads of trouble, and I counted on my mom to bail me out. She was the one who made the tough decisions to ban me from ever hanging out with that "boy who watches dirty movies" ever again, or to forgive those mean girls who called me fat. Those heifers...

Now, I'm an adult. I'm still adjusting to not having that watchful eye over me stopping me from making horrible decisions. I like the boy who watches the dirty movies, and I still want to exact my plan of revenge on those girls, only, these are just metaphors. There are times when I want things that don't belong to me, and I get caught up in just getting what I want. Human beings are just naturally greedy - we want more than we deserve.

You want that married woman, or that job promotion that Kevin got, or you want the riches and the fame those talented people slaved over for years, you want to be happy without having made anyone else happy...etc.

Well, I'm here to say that it's time to make some grown-up decisions. Are you going to be unfaithful? Are you going to blackmail Kevin to cost him the promotion? Are you going sell your soul for fame? Are you going to coast through life only thinking of yourself?

I'm not a child anymore. I need to understand that now, more than ever, my actions have consequences. Sure, pushing down that one kid in the sandbox isn't going to haunt me for the rest of my life, but making the wrong decisions on these more "adult" issues, will. It's time for me to take responsibility for myself, and not expect my mom or God to to always catch me when I fall.

However, if and/or when I do fall, it's important for me to realize these falls happen and the best thing I can do is learn from my mistakes. I take the steps toward not doing it again,get an understanding of why I did it, and why it was wrong. No more selfish sensibilities, or childish issues. Adulthood is nigh.

Wasabi

...Is not a condiment...it is a weapon.

I had a conversation with a friend of mine about the terms of courtship. She doesn't agree that someone should feign interest in something just to get to know the other person. I, on the other hand argued that while one shouldn't pretend to have a mutual interest in something in order to impress the other person (therefore building a false kinship), one should instead take it as an opening to explore the other person. For example, if someone invited you to a Flaming Lips concert, and you don't like the Flaming Lips, you shouldn't say, "I love the Flaming Lips." Instead, one should say, "I'd love to check them out." You're expressing interest in trying something new instead of expressing false interest in something you know nothing about.

However, does even approaching a situation like this with the sole intent of getting to know the other person still inherently deceptive? If you decide to go to the Flaming Lips concert, the other person will probably assume you like the Flaming Lips, even if you don't explicitly say so. It would be foolish to say, "I don't like the Flaming Lips, but I'll come anyway." That's just...weird, for lack of a better term. Nor, should someone say, "I'd love to come just to get to know you." Once again, weird.

So how does one go about accepting or rejecting an invitation to an activity from the object of their desire? I personally do not see the problem in at least approaching the situation as both a new experience and as an opportunity to get to know the other person. If that person assumes you have interest in the activity when you don't, you should be able to say, "Well, that wasn't really my taste, but would you like to go see Depeche Mode with me?" If the person accepts, great. If the person rejects, then try to find an activity you'll mutually enjoy. The great thing about it is you've at least already experienced something with one another, and you'll have something to talk about, something to relate on, and most importantly, you'll have a base for the relationship to grow from. Go for it.

The wasabi comment was completely random. I tried it for the first time today, and I almost had a brain aneurism.

Quote of the Week

Logic Professor: A friend of mine ran my foot over with her car. She was playing the whole, "When you get up to the car, I'm going to pretend I'm driving away, but keep stopping short" game, but I was too close to the car. The entire weight of the car caused five hairline fractures in my foot. I literally teared up from the excruciating pain.

Student: Did it hurt?

Cheers to Harry Connick Jr.

...Because he knows that if he didn't say anything, he'd have a lot of explaining to do once he was back among his "countrymen."

A skit on Australia's "Hey Hey It's Saturday" featured performers in blackface doing a routine mimicking the Jackson Five. The performer portraying Michael Jackson was in whiteface. Hilarious.

None of the other guests on the show seemed to have a problem with it, mainly because, according to them, blackface doesn't exactly resonate negatively in Australia. Right.

Harry expressed how offended he was, "...We've spent so much time trying not to make black people look like buffoons, that when we see something like that, we take it really to heart."

He assumed the performers just meant it out of humor, and I agree that the performers probably had no ill-will. I'm sure they weren't going on the show to insult Black people. However, it is silly to think that racism can only exist in certain parts of the world. It is everywhere. Racism takes on different forms, and one doesn't need to be in a white hood with a burning cross to be racist. Racism emerges from ignorance, and these performers were ignorant that this performance was, in essence, a minstrel show.

I disagree with this strange dichotomy created between Australia and the United States. So if there wasn't an American judging, that performance would've been okay?

Let's call it as it is: the performance was racially insensitive in any case. It doesn't matter that it was in Australia. Racism exists everywhere.

CNN

Huffington Post

Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Masks (Warning: I'm Pissed)

More on this later, but I'm publishing this to start the momentum of my next post on Fanon's Black Skin, White Masks (also to give me an incentive to finish the post(s)...it(they) will be quite exhaustive). This book deals with the Black identity in philosophical terms. Many of Fanon's explanations brought me to tears because even today (the book was published in 1952) these rules still apply.

As a precursor to my post on this book, I have to say the following things:

This book is not just meant for African-Americans. It's not just meant for Africans, Dominicans, etc. It is meant for everyone to read, and it is insulting for anyone to judge this book as "Black literature."

The master readers of this text will be non-whites, however, that should not deter anyone. If it does, then, again, this is insulting. It is not just a "perspective," it is reality. Judge it in that sense.

This book was assigned in my Africana Philosophy class. I am not a philosophy major, nor do I have an interest in philosophy. However, I am appalled by some of the responses I heard about this course at this University. It seems that anything race related gets pushed to the side as only pertaining to non-white individuals. This also breeds a question of "legitimacy," as anything pertaining to "race" is seen as the "other." Aristotle, Plato, Descartes...then, the "others." It's infuriating.

Final note- If you want to claim to be a non-racist, do something about it instead of sitting comfortably in your selfish complacency reaping the benefits of your privileges while millions suffer under the stronghold of racial prejudice. Don't show up to the rallies, use the MLK quotes, or claim your non-white friends otherwise. Don't build yourself up in your world then take a "vacation" to venture to mine only to return to your blessed reality.

Oh, look at that Negro go...

David Letterman: A Moral Issue?

So, David Letterman cheated on his wife. How awful. All of those pretty young interns running around grabbing his coffee...among other things...had to be pretty heavy temptations. But he failed, epically.

Do not take this post to mean that I am condoning Letterman's behavior. Cheating on your significant other is not cool, man. Relationships can recover if one or both partners are strong (or rich), but since this is in the public spectrum, it'll take more time for those wounds to heal.

So instead of getting on his show and, you know, continuing to be funny, he managed to make this a huge deal, spending time talking about it (where he almost made it seem like a joke) and then apologizing to his wife. This isn't the first time a celebrity has publicly acknowledged uncouth behavior and apologized (i.e: Hugh Grant), but this is the first time I've been really annoyed by it.

David Letterman is a late night talk show host, not a philanthropist, televangelist, or your dad. It is understandable that this stuff was going to be used as a means to smear his reputation and he was just trying to dull the fire, but now it's getting ridiculous. Celebrities, especially those with a career in some form of broadcasting, have to put on a "face" for their television audiences. Remember when psychiatrists were arguing that the kids on Jon and Kate Plus Eight were being screwed up because they were being raised in an environment with cameras constantly in their faces, and this was altering their behavior? Well, everyone has a "camera face." To me, apologizing to your scorned wife in front of millions with your "camera face" on is extremely disrespectful. If anything, it's just putting on another face: concerned husband.

Letterman isn't the only guy to blame. It is the media's "job" to practically sensationalize everything they get their grimy hands on, but this is being turned into a more of a moral issue. Really? Television, hollywood, celebrities, etc. are the last places to turn to in search for any examples of morality. In that world, the rules are flipped. You can be a home-wrecker ahemanjelinajolieahem and not catch flack for it, or exploit your children for money ahemkateandjongosselinahem and be celebrated for it. You can be famous for no apparent reason, be the most vacuous, selfish human being and still have millions of people adoring you. Letterman should shut up about it and keep it at home, where it needs to be. Everyone else, don't look at this as a moral issue. He's a talk show host smack-dab in the middle of Hollywood culture. What did you expect?

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