world peace in our time

to say the least, this clip is moving. Words can't really describe its worth. In context, this is a clip from the Climax of Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator." The character you see is a Jewish barber who looks much like the dictator of a fictional country called Tomainia, he is asked, his soldiers believing he is the dictator to make a speech denouncing Freedom and praising the supremacy of the state; however... well I'll let the clip speak for itself.



the Hopes and fears we have today are not new, they are at least as Old as Charlie Chaplin and almost certainly older. They are the same Hopes and fears that allowed Emancipation and Suffrage, as well as dictatorship and authoritarianism. Hopefully Chuck here can set the record straight though. For his Speech in "The Great Dictator" Charlie Chaplin gets a posthumus Rebel of the Day award. What will be our path, Progress, Freedom and Generosity, or destruction, enslavement and greed? Or something in between, I don't like dealing in absolutes (that's Sith territory).

march in March...

it's the beginning of what looks to be a month of Revolution...
March madness has hit the streets,
more Protesters,
in more countries,
are Marching in the streets than in recent history,
People are sick AND tired everywhere.
Workers and Voters are awakening from their deep slumber,
they're calling Labour the US's sleeping bear,
and recent Protests the beginning of the "People's Party."

In this corner we have the heavy-weight champion,
the brute with noble origins but broken morals The Tea Party!
Challenging is the up-and-coming underdog,
with no corporate-backing whatsoever,
but a long albeit difficult and fractured history...
(building anticipation)
THE PEOPLE'S PARTY!!!


now that i'm done indulging in some sort of strange Free Verse Poetry, i'd just like to say. I hope to begin blogging more frequently again (i feel ridiculous knowing /literally/ no one reads this anyway). But yeah, seems i'm getting caught up in Revolution Fever, and i need to say things. So this is ONE of my outlets, other than facebook and twitter, and non-interweb-based writing.

today, i'll leave you with a Rebel of the Day!!! A long forgotten and all but abandoned tradition on this blog.

as i was riding into town on the Bus today i saw one lone Woman on the side of the road holding up a Picket Sign that read, "International Woman's Day, Solidarity (female symbol) With African Women." This tiny act of Protest, this individual March filled me with Respect, Happiness and Hope.

also, apparently it's the start of lent. This lent i'll be giving up... nothing. At least, not for the sake of lent. It's a Noble idea, but the tradition has lost meaning.

Robin Hood Hipsters

Lately, there has been a rash of bicycle thefts in my neighbourhood. Living in an upper-class suburb, that means expensive bicycles and pissed off, paranoid neighbours. While the rest of the passersby are buzzing about the problem and complaining, "Somebody should teach them a lesson!" I am laughing at the whole situation because A: What is someone doing with a $2500 bicycle anyway? Honestly everyone else only uses one of their 15 gears, why do you need 30? AND B: The crime duo's Modus Operandi (Celtic... just kidding) is absolutely fantastic.

See, the two will target a house with their garage doors open, they will ride in on their own bicycles, usually one-gear speed-bikes from a by-gone era. They ride in, take the expensive bikes and drop off their antique jewels. In one case they actually left a tandem bicycle (or bicycle-built-for-two) in the place of the more expensive bikes. Now having recently traveled to downtown Toronto (haven of hipsters) to see the Arcade Fire's concert promoting their new album "The Suburbs" (which was a fantastic show by the way) I came to be well acquainted with the idea that one-gear speed-bikes are hip. Thus I have concluded that these felons are stylish in their crime.

If I did not believe that these ne'erdowells were simply trying to make a quick buck and cause trouble, I would dream up some story of how these were Robin Hood Hipsters stealing from the rich, and bringing hipster style to the masses. They steal the (needless) $2500 bicycles pawn them off and purchase, at garage sales, through the internet, etc. old jewel junkers to give to their "victims." Really they are just trying to make everyone a little bit cooler and a little less snobbish.

(The Picture: My own contribution, okay I stole the parts, but I spliced 'em good....ish)

Musics: Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (Music Video)

The Virtual Economy

Warning: This blog is long and boring but has brief references to World of Warcraft and Muse.

When looking at economics and industry there are three basic divisions.

Primary Industry: Resource Extraction, Mining, Forestry, Agriculture, Fishing
Secondary Industry: Manufacturing, Construction, etc.
and Tertiary Industry: Retail, Services, Banking

Quaternary Industry: I will be focusing on Tertiary Industry which makes up over 60% of the economic output of developed nations. Specifically I will focus on the sector of the tertiary industry that some have dubbed the Quaternary Industry. The tentatively named Quaternary sector is the sector of the economy devoted to development and sharing of information. This includes a wide range of services from the internet, to research and development, to entertainment, to education. This sector is all about buying and selling information, knowledge and ideas (which in itself seems an odd phrase). Its weird to consider the fact that in a society where we consider thought to be free, something as intangible as an idea can be bought or sold. Aside from that, where is the resource to back it up? Should we be concerned that a majority of our economy is based on immaterial information locked up in peoples brains as well as fragile servers that crap out if a stray dust particle lands on them?

Virtual Economies: Its an idea I've toyed with for years, since I saw the first online communities pop up. It is the idea that virtual goods and information could be bought and sold from an online world that could in theory develop its own economy. Of course we aren't talking a world-class currency (yet) but these do exist. Second Life is a virtual world which boasts its own virtual currency and economy. Citizens, who comprise a wide variety of nationalities pay in for the services which the Second Life world supplies and some companies even make money from Second Life services. Essentially Second Life has imports and exports as well as an internal economy despite being a completely virtual non-existent world. Other examples of virtual economies are not so complex, like online MMoRPGs such as World of Warcraft where virtual economies develop out of the illegal trade of in game items for real money. These pay to play games reflect a different side of the virtual economy though.

Entertainment: The entertainment sector of the quaternary industry revolves around a lot of services, including music, video games, and movies. In most cases these economic interactions represent the end of the line with final sale and with an increasing dedication to digital media there is no resale value in these purchases. Essentially in the past 10 years entertainment has become a service, and in some cases just a transfer of information, rather than a tangible product. This is entirely due to the internet which has even gone so far as to remove certain facets of entertainment from the economy almost entirely as pirating the latest Muse CD becomes more and more popular to the frugal consumer.

The Internet: This is the least tangible of all. Imagine this, you pay a subscription to a website that gets paid by advertisers who are selling domain names and server space to a company that sold the web design to the website you're currently viewing. Cyclical and confusing is the nature of the internet economy. It is based solely on the growth of the internet which at the present moment, almost every industry in the world depends on. Almost all business interactions (legitimate or not) rely on the internet in some way. Companies put money into the growth of the internet and in turn the receive services which potentially make them money. Other companies, some of the wealthiest, Google, have made the majority of their money solely on the internet, their goods and services locked up in servers and data. If I had to hazard a guess how much money is locked up in the internet I would have no idea where to start, considering the vicious cycles I outlined above and the fact that all industries seem to now rely on the internet.

The Implications:
-most of our economy is based on fragile things knowledge, data, info., etc.
-we don't have any concrete resource to back up these services
-these are entirely new untested, unquestioned industries except for education

Concerns: Should we be concerned for the economic stability of such a system? If billions of dollars are on the line is the threat of cyber-terrorism significant? What back-ups are in place in the event of cyber-disaster? Can we maintain the internet economy? There is little economic theory on the subject, maybe because its not a problem. I have only a vague understanding of economics but it seems to me that too much money is tied up in services that cannot be backed up with resources. If you want to be guaranteed a job in the event of a cyber-disaster, go into the primary or secondary industry, preferably on a local scale.

These are the unintelligible, unorganized thoughts on current economics by an average blogger, hope you enjoyed.

Haiti: The Song

So, now that I'm doing Movement Musician of the Month I'll be doing little features on other non-MMoM artists, in between, because a month is a long time to wait if I find a cool song. So here's the first little mini-feature; "Haiti". This is a song by a Canadian Band called the Arcade Fire. This song was written by one of their vocalists, Régine Chassagne, as a tribute to her home-country Haiti. The song is upbeat, while Régines voice is haunting and beautiful in French. She sings about the regime of Duvalier who was responsible for the deaths of many in her home country and speaks of her lost relatives. Throughout the song little shreds of hope are offered, specifically when she sings about rebirth. But enough of my feeble interpretation, enjoy it for yourself, take your own meaning from it.


I feel like its worth it to post the lyrics hear.

Haïti, mon pays,
wounded mother I'll never see.
Ma famille set me free.
Throw my ashes into the sea.

Mes cousins jamais nés
hantent les nuits de Duvalier.
Rien n'arrete nos esprits.
Guns can't kill what soldiers can't see.

In the forest we lie hiding,
unmarked graves where flowers grow.
Hear the soldiers angry yelling,
in the river we will go.

Tous les morts-nés forment une armée,
soon we will reclaim the earth.
All the tears and all the bodies
bring about our second birth.

Haïti, never free,
n'aie pas peur de sonner l'alarme.
Tes enfants sont partis,
In those days their blood was still warm

Bring Back the 30s

It'd be swell if some abercrombie scientist would bring back the 30s. Those cool cats would dig the way we live. What with the economy all wet. No one's got any bacon but those crumb grifters selling cadillacs and hooch. We don't even have enough tin to fill up the tin can. I'm just a joe. I'm beat, don't got a single five spot or sawbuck to my name. Or even a snazzy horn like all my pals. But all a twit like me really needs is a sweet broad to bumpgums with, a canary singing music into my tin ears.

Swell Musician of the Week (For all you cats and alligators): Johnny Clegg and Savuka "Scatterlings of Africa" (Excuse my French)

Movement Musician of the Week [12.12.09]

This weeks movement musician is Johnny Clegg and Savuka. Johnny Clegg and Savuka was a South African band active during the 80s. A band of mixed European and Zulu ethnicity they fought against racism in South Africa and the apartheid which separated whites and blacks. During the apartheid they were even at risk of being prosecuted for their interracial band. Their unique sound was influenced by Jazz, Rock, African and even Celtic music. In songs such as Asimbonanga, they incorporated English and Zulu lyrics to get their multicultural and political message across. Causes they fought for included, universal suffrage, multiculturalism, desegregation and liberating Nelson Mandela from prison. This weeks movement musician is fitting because this coming Wednesday is Reconciliation Day in South Africa. This is a day celebrating the end of the apartheid and encouraging forgiveness and national unity between the different ethnic groups that make up South Africa. Because of activists like Johnny Clegg and Savuka, South Africa is a freer and arguably more united country today.

Asimbonanga (We have not seen him) is a song protesting Nelson Mandela's imprisonment on Robbin Island.

Questions for the Human Consumer.

They call us consumers.
But why?
We are people.
We are human.
We have thoughts and emotions,
Words to speak and feelings to act on.
We hold beliefs, and ideals,
morals,
loves, hates,
wants and needs.
So, let's call that a person,
Sounds good right?
Vague, but good.
So why do they call us consumers?
We are numbers to them,
Statistics,
Demographics,
We are money,
Buyers,
Living ads and banners,
Branding perfected.
So what's better?
Or are they just different,
Is happiness freedom?
Is truth freedom?
Does freedom matter?
I'm a person,
And at times a consumer.
They control my mind in one way or another,
But aren't I still free?
How does one free their mind?
Is it worth the sacrifice?
Is it truly fulfilling?
Would I still be a puppet?

Movement Musician of the Week: Rage Against the Machine "Bullet in Your Head"

Sexy Times

I'm starting to think that sex and relationships don't go together. It seems to me that in the grand majority of cases sex blinds people to true emotion and therefore true love. How often do sexual expectations lead to break-ups and divorces? Its crazy. I suppose at some point sex is important in procreation and to satisfy innate human desire, but it seems in this society many place sex and physical connection on this pedestal and forget about the importance of human emotional connection.

That said, there is a time and place in everyone's life and relationships to enjoy the carnal pleasures of sex, but in many cases (especially in youth) it is not out of desire to connect but out of need to fulfill the social imperative instilled by the media. Sex is a status symbol. TV and movies are brimming with sexual reference and innuendo and explicit scenes of sexuality are becoming the norm. Following the mark of shows such as "Two and a Half Men", not a single episode in any show geared towards a teen-adult audience will pass without dedicating at least one sexual reference, and sex is rarely shown in a negative light.

Even childrens' shows are becoming increasingly sexual in nature. There have always been underlying innuendos, which may or may not be intentional, that adult viewers would pick up on, but now childrens' television is becoming increasingly dependent on crushes and vanity. There are the pretty girls that all the kids drool over and there are the nerds who have crushes on them (Ex. Tim Turner and Trixie Tang in Fairly Oddparents). It is not long before the kids watching these shows choose to watch other more mature Television program behind their parents back. It was The Simpsons and That 70s Show a couple years ago, now kids will be watching Family Guy and Two and a Half Men.

So what's the point behind all this? Is it a problem? Maybe for those who cannot recognize the difference between physical and emotional connection and understand wherein the importance of both lie. Maybe we're just headed towards a more openly sexual society. Maybe the second wave of the sexual revolution is upon us. In time we may break down our monogamist society into something that mirrors Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World. Where marriage and family are non-existent and children take part in simulated erotic play from a young age. Whatever the case is, it seems our society is yet again changing in its views of sexuality. The verdict is sex sells, and the networks are supplying it.

Movement Musician of the Week: The Flobots "Same Thing"

Rebel of the Day (Numero Dos-ish): Rwanda, for moving past its history of human rights abuses and being international recognized for this as it joins the Commonwealth of Nations.

The Broadcast

I'm not sure what this blog is going to be about. It's a broadband broadcast of a yet undecided message. Its been a while since I wrote anything worth, anything, literally, I haven't written in over a month. There are things that I've had on my mind, but not had the motivation or time to write about. Corporatism, globalization and neo-liberalism. Whatever that means, I'll pretend I know. All concepts that are an inevitable part of our everyday lives and yet concepts I'm growing to become more and more skeptical about. My reasons are complex, or maybe I'm just brainwashed and therefore can't explain them, but I'd like to call on my moral system. My inspiration and educational materials are as follows, The Corporation, Food Inc., Age of Stupid, The Flobots, FightWithTools.org. I wish I had less corporate means of discovering the evils of corporatism but alas any message must be spread through the corporate controlled mass-media if it is to be heard anywhere. What is corporatism? Our world is filled with it, where corporations (legal persons) are given preferential treatment to REAL persons. What is the justification for this? A buck? Because corporations supposedly work for the benefit of the majority, giving us what we want and raising our standards of living. But without environmental, economic and social justice corporations work worldwide to exploit every resource and every last ounce of manual labour in an effort to turn over a profit. It cannot be denied, the corporation is a psychopath and its goals are ultimately destructive to those around it (roughly 6.6 billion human beings). After watching the three movies listed above, and being socially indoctrinated by the Flobots heavy beats and movement lyrics I find myself thinking long and hard about the food I eat, the things I buy and the media I consume. Branding. Corporate Buyouts. Bankrupcy. Monsanto. DDT. Agent Orange. Abuse of Power. Corporate Lawsuits. Child-labour. Starvation Wages. Exploitation. Extortion. Oil Extraction. Disaster Capitalism. Shock Doctrine. Corporatism. Neo-Liberalism. Globalization. Climate Change. CO2. PPM. How can we free ourselves of brands? In everything we do we are attached to a brand, even in writing this blog I'm attached to the brand of the internet giant Google Inc. In watching TV I'm forced to watch and thinking about advertisements for commercial products, and brands are inadvertantly built in my head, the greatest and most expensive product for corporations, and yet the easiest to sell. I'm a Walkman, you're an iPod and he's a Zune. Again, how can we conquer this? Remove brands from our daily conversation. We can try hard as we might to avoid brands but even those "farm fresh" bovine products have their history in corporations not unlike Monsanto. But even if we are forced to by into a brand we are not forced to talk about it and fuel it. Eleanor Roosevelt said, "Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people." Well the same applies for brands as people (considering the corporation is a legal person anyway). To talk about brands is to narrow your mind and the world you live in. We need to talk about ideas, learn ALL sides of the story, recognize the bias from all sources. As an online friend said, we need to develop strong roots for support and stability, not flashy flowers and foliage. A tree survives through the winter because of its roots, the foliage dies out, its fleeting. While foliage is necessary for a time and to a certain extent a tree without roots would dry up and die, fall down and rot.

Movement Musician of the Week: The Flobots "Rise" (Forgive the corporate propaganda pre-video)
Rebel of the Day (so cliché): Ban Ki-moon UN chief urges leaders to 'seal deal' on climate change
For saying a climate deal is in sight when leaders such as Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper are saying there is no deal on the horizon and therefore are taking a can't do won't do strategy, Ban Ki-moon is the rebel of the day.

Carving a Jack-O'-Lantern

This is another addition to my Halloween Guide for Dummies (and foreigners).

Its come to that time of year again. The jolliest time of all. When children run door to door singing in a cornucopia of pitches, the merry Carol, "TRICK OR TREAT!" Its Halloween again. The only holiday worth celebrating. It has no religious undertone in fact some argue it goes against religion, and before I get all political its the only holiday that embodies the spirit of FREE CANDY! Now of course with candy comes many other aspects of Halloween. I already covered the Halloween costume and now I'll cover the Jack-o'-lantern.

The Jack-o'-lantern has a long history. In Ireland and Britain lanterns have been carved from vegetables and gourds for centuries. The lanterns were given their current name in 1837 in the United States and first associated with Halloween in 1866. Since the original menacing face was carved on a gourd centuries ago many more have been carved in the spirit of Halloween with the soul goal of making the scariest pumpkin.

Here is my how-to guide to carving pumpkins:
Step 1: Pick or buy a suitable pumpkin (shape depends on what you want to carve, but round is a good standard).
Step 2: Stand the pumpkin so the stem points up.
Step 3: Take a pumpkin carving knife or another suitable knife and cut a circle through the pumpkin exterior, with the stem at it's center. Make sure you cut at a slight angle pointing inwards (this will be your lanterns lid).
Step 4: Take a spoon or scoop and remove all the seeds and flesh from the inside of the pumpkin scraping it clean (these can be saved to make delicious snacks like baked pumpkin seeds).
Step 5: After removing all the pumpkin guts you can begin the fun part, carving the SCARY face. If you have a chosen design take a marker and draw said design on if not I have supplied the best design.
Step 6: First carve out two triangular eyes (point up).
Step 7: Carve another triangle for a nose in the center of the pumpkin (again point up)
Step 8: Now carve a large crescent with the points both pointing up (add as many teeth as you want but usually teeth are sparse).
Step 9: Carve a triangular hole in the lid as a chimney to let smoke escape and air in.
Step 10: Place a tea-light or candle in the bottom of the lantern and light it.
Step 11: Place your Jack-o'-lantern on the front porch to scare the neighbours.

There you have it, a scary Jack-o'-lantern to be proud of for more information or inspiration go to these websites:
Cool Jack-o'-lanterns
Gusick's Jack-o'-lanterns
15 Incredible Jack-o'-lanterns

Media: The Opiate of the Masses

Its nothing new. Everyone knows it. The media is the opiate of the masses. But no one has realized just how bad it is. Every single aspect of the media only serves to aid in building apathy in the youth of today. From the most frivolous materialistic tripe on MTV to a deep and thoughtful documentary about war-torn Sudan. The problem with the media we see every day is, we see it every day. It has become an everyday occurrence to hear about the troubles shaking a far off country. Blood and gore do not have the same effect as they used to. When footage of a genocide is seen alongside footage of Saw IV, the trivial becomes reality and reality becomes trivial. It all meets on this basic median level, entertainment. The opiate of the masses.

Its a problem that I've been hearing lately. Media tells us all these things that are happening in the world and all these evils that must be fixed. Media tells us to stand up and do something about it so this media can't be the opiate can it? No the opiate tells us everything is alright, not to worry, nothing can go wrong, just be happy. But that's where things have changed since the 60s. Unfiltered, raw media coverage of world events is now the norm, so we should all be very aware of the evils in the world. We should all be standing against them, right? But we aren't. The youth are mesmerized by the evils they see in Michael Moore's documentaries and movies like Hotel Rwanda and even Youtube footage of violence against peaceful protesters in Iran, but do we stand up. No. It stays in the back of our heads. We feel like because we saw Blood Diamond, and because we listened to a protest song by Rise Against or The Flobots, that we have done our part. Education is as far as we go.

Some of us will pass the information on, teach other people, tell them about what goes on in the world. But truly we are just introducing our friends to the opiate. Its come to a point where knowing whats going on in the world and learning to live with the fact you can't do anything about it is better than not knowing what is going on in the world around us. This is why even the most morbid and depressing of media is an opiate. If we know whats going on in the world we are less likely to go out and see it, and if we are less likely to go out and see it we are less likely to try and change it. Very few of us will ever, learn the truth, teach others, and go on to take action against the evil.

The other problem is when we confuse meaningful media with media that makes us feel good. An example that can be made is of Bob Marley. While Bob Marley does have quite a few protest songs, his songs are famously happy-go-lucky. There is value in music that promotes peace and love, but at a certain level it starts to give a false impression of peace and love and allows us to believe that everything is okay. Meanwhile wars are being fought all over the world and soldiers on route to fight in Iraq are listening to Bob Marley in their Jeeps to keep up their morale. Happy music does create or invoke feelings of happiness and satisfaction, so it can also, not kept in moderation, make us blind to the truth of the world around us.

So there it is, the source of all our apathy. Its the connectivity; the media bombardment we encounter every day. A mélange of good, bad, morbid, frivolous and earthshaking content. It all becomes overwhelming when we try to separate it into its respective categories, especially when we have to deal with the bad. So what do we do? On some unconscious level we mix it all together into the one category we can easily manage, entertainment. We become desensitized and our sympathies do not become actions or even often words. We have to be careful with our intake of media. We have to be sure to separate the good from the bad, the frivolous from the meaningful, and we have to consider what does it all mean? How does it affect me, and those around me, and others? These are all important questions for every concerned citizen. And finally if you want to break the cycle of apathy, what can I do to change this?

Sony sucks and Nintendo f**ks

So, Sony releases their slim version of the PlayStation 3. True innovation if you ask me. Where other companies look to innovate and provide a better gaming experience to users, Sony just says, "Well, we'll make our system smaller and more attractive, and everyone will buy it." So they put it on a diet, but it wasn't working so what did they do? Lowered the price to $299. They basically turned the PlayStation 3 into a cheap crack whore. But look at what the competitions doing. Microsoft is going to revolutionize gaming with Natal, the motion sensing, AI peripheral... that will cost users upwards of 400$. Okay, so Microsoft is innovating, but not doing much for the consumer's wallets. Then there's Nintendo, who's been fucking us all along. They had the technology for 1:1 motion sensing at the very beginning, but instead of releasing it on launch day bundled inside the little Wii remote they decided, "Hey, we'll let them play with half-assed motion sensors for two years and then when the novelty of flailing their arms randomly wears off we can make an extra buck off 1:1 motion sensing and no one will notice our clever trick." Also, how can the slim, HD, blu-ray playing, 120 Gb hard-drive PS3 system with 100 times more processing power than the Wii be only 100$ more than the meagre Wii? Finally, after 3 years Nintendo has agreed to a 50$ price cut that brings the Wii from 250$ to 200$... they could have done much better not to bundle Wiisports with it in the first place and sell it at 200$ then cut it to 150$ now, but maybe the economics isn't on my side here. What's one of the selling points for the Wii? Its supposed to be cheap. Its supposed to be accessible to everyones price-range, but you'll probably find that it quickly becomes more expensive than any system with its many peripherals. Between the console, an extra wii remote an extra nunchuk, classic controllers, virtual console/wiiware games, SD cards, 2 wii motion pluses, balance boards, a few games, maybe a few accessories a la Wii Zapper we're looking at upwards of... 600-700$. That's only if you don't want to go for the full 4 controller set. And whats this new feature in Nintendo games that allows players to skip parts of the game if they're too hard? Or to have the game play it for them? I thought game guides were bad, but now the actual game will play for me. That's just obscene, its an interactive media for a reason, you aren't supposed to watch it like a movie. Casual gamers are hands down ruining gaming. So Sony sucks, Nintendo is screwing us over, and Microsoft is... tolerable but still staying costly. What choice are we to make? Well, to be honest, the choice I should have made was not to get a gaming system at all, because I rarely play videogames these days. They just aren't living up to their hype and publicity anymore. The gaming industry has taken a long slippery slope since the hayday of Nintendo 64 and PS1. There was a point where the Big Three stopped being passionate about what they did and just started grabbing for money at every turn, that is the point where I stopped being passionate about gaming. I feel like, as much as the gaming crowd is "expanding" to new audiences, it is ultimately dieing because of the policies of these corrupt organizations. The new gamer is a gamer that gets bored after a week and moves on to new things, but these are the perfect impulsive people with disposable income for the gaming industry to market to. These people don't care about quality, they care about a cheap thrill for two minutes and once the companies have sold their system what do they care if it gets thrown in the garbage? Nintendo sure doesn't care about attach rates, considering the average attach rate is 0 for Wii (with WiiSports bundled). Hopefully someone will start developing for people who actually enjoy videogames, hopefully, this boom of casual gamers will prove unprofitable for the companies, and I can start to enjoy gaming again.

Religion

Today I attended a youth group at a Baptist Church. Of course I went in with a healthy dose of skepticism so that I would not be indoctrinated into their cult (as I've been brought up to call all forms of religion or belief systems). I also went in with an open mind however. I must say, as much as the experience fueled the fires of cynicism against religion within myself it also was an enriching and educational experience.

The truth is, bible study does have merit, as boring as it seems, it has historical context. The events told in the Bible however exaggerated they may be have a grain of historical truth, but also, a whole rice platter of moral truths or lessons. What's important is to look past the Bible's literal translation and see the areas of truth. You can see the lessons it teaches and ask yourself if they are right for you, and not all will be right for everyone. Let's not stone adulterers, but let's love our neighbours.

This being said, there are still aspects of religion that infuriate me, and that make me uncomfortable in a youth group. For one, they always pray for the believers in Christ. They say, "My prayers go out to all the kids who are believers in here." What about those who are not believers, they do not deserve prayer? It crossed my mind that it may be an issue of sensitivity rather than snobbery that atheists or agnostics may not want to be prayed for, but I'm unclear on the issue.

The other thing is that justification for any rule laid out in the Bible is that it is the word of God and God is God. Well today I told someone to shut up, they should have listened to me because it was the word of Me and I am Me. What is the significance of God being God? Why did he tell us these things? Why should we blindly follow these rules just because we believe him to be all-powerful and wise? Its a question of standards, no one should submit to any authority that cannot justify their position. We are taught from a young age that, "Because I said so," is not a good enough argument. So why is it good enough for God.

Comic #1: Social Studies in America

Hurray! I'm too lazy to make a blog today so read the Comic I made in Adobe Illustrator. Yeah I know, I'm hilarious, and a talented artist. NOT!

Kanye West: Malignant Narcissist

I'm not posting a photo with this one because, putting his photo up would only serve to boost Kanye West's ego more. I'm doing enough by writing this in the first place (not that he's ever going to see or read this).

Does Kanye West have a Narcissistic Personality Disorder? If so, is it bad enough to be considered Malignant Narcissism? Every day he seems to get more self-absorbed, more anti-social and more narcissistic. Everyone by now has heard about his antics at the VMAs but let's recap anyway. For the award of Best Female Video Beyonce's "Single Ladies" was up against Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me" and the 19 year old country singer took the prize. Teary-eyed and halfway through her speech Kanye West marches onto the stage grabs the microphone from her and says, "Taylor Swift, I'm gonna let you finish this, but Beyonce's video was one of the best of all time." Taylor Swift is obviously visibly shaken, Beyonce shocked and Kanye completely apathetic.

What drove the fabulously rich and famous Kanye West to break every code of sportsmanship and in a single moment obliterate any respect the populous had for him? The only logical conclusion is his narcissism is getting worse. This would not be the first indication of a narcissistic personality disorder from the 35 year old rapper. He has a history of violent outbursts of language and fists, including assaulting paparazzi. He is as self-promoting as a famous rapper can be praising himself as the "voice" of this generation.

Now, he did release a short-lived apology, on his website, to Taylor Swift, MTV and fans, but not only was the apology hollow towards Taylor and lauded towards himself, it was quickly removed. He described himself as Soooooo sorry, but then quickly added that Beyonce's video was still the best and he was just being "real." What most of us would call being egotistical, insensitive and ignorant, Kanye West calls "keeping it real." Spouting a distasteful rant to millions of fans live on tv in the presence of the rantee is not keeping it real.

What kind of god complex and love of self-indulgence does one need to think that they can go ahead and do something like that? Sure it doesn't take much physically to steal the microphone and say a few words but emotionally and morally it would be difficult if not impossible for a thoughtful, empathetic human being to do such a thing to someone who has done absolutely nothing wrong. Does Kanye empathize? Some would cite his philanthropic work in charity and benefit concerts as proof of his empathy, however, it doesn't take much out of you to sign a paper and spend a tiny fraction of your money off to the less fortunate in order to gain the much needed public reputation.

Kanye West is self-appreciating, anti-social, egotistical, self-centered and a narcissist. His faults grow day by day as he strives to "keep it real" for the generation he speaks for. If he's the voice of this generation I guess that means we have no respect for the people around us and only live to see our own profits. His personality is characteristic of Narcissistic Personality Disorder and it seems to grow worse day by day. Kanye West the Malignant Narcissist will not stop until the day he's suffocated by his own over-inflated ego.

Also, by his old song Jesus Walks, it can be concluded that he thinks he is Jesus incarnate.

Do Not Fear Success

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, Our presence automatically liberates others."

-Nelson Mandela quoting Marianne Williamson in his 1994 inaugeral speech

I heard this powerful quote on the Family Channel movie "Akeelah and the Bee". Akeelah was a young African American girl growing up in a poor Los Angeles community. She was an exceptional young speller and overcame peer-pressure, poverty and her own fear of success to win the National Spelling Bee. It doesn't sound like much, but it was an exceptional movie and one of those feel-good inspirational films. This quote, and how Akeelah embodied it in her struggle to overcome her fear of greatness, moved me to say the least.

There is so much truth in this quote. It is a truth I never realized until last night. Modesty is always looked upon as a positive trait, making others feel equal and comfortable around you, but we are all capable of greatness. Every last one of us, and we just enable each other to be meek and unsuccessful by not bragging our talents and skills and prizes. We need to flaunt our successes, to drive and inspire others to be like us, to show them that anyone can do it. We need to fight the status quo in today's society, where the youth follow trends blindly like a lamb to the slaughter and we fear standing out or being successful for fear of looking immodest. We need to change this.

Nelson Mandela is an example of this, by straying from the status quo and flaunting his power and his talents, he fought the evil apartheid government of South Africa. Even in prison for 34 years his words and actions were not forgotten and when he was finally set free he became president of the country he fought long and hard for. It was not modesty and meekness that brought Nelson Mandela to that place it was defiance and confidence. He was not afraid of success; he revered it from the very beginning. Like Nelson Mandela you are born powerful beyond measure. You are born capable of greatness. It is just a question of embracing it, and overcoming your fear of immodesty.

Modesty is overrated. Granted immodesty starts wars, on the other hand it is not modesty that invented the wheel. Modesty is a flawed philosophy. Modesty is stagnation. Modesty is static. Besides there are checks and balances to immodesty. Immodesty to the point of hubris will be your downfall, as demonstrated by empires throughout history. Then again there is a difference between modesty and generosity. Immodesty does not rule out generosity. Knowledge and wealth can be shared without sacrificing ones "greatness" in fact, arguably, generosity increases ones brilliance. Striving to be the best you can be and sharing your greatness, is the best gift there is. It excels the human race and drives civilization forward.

Remember the line, "the meek will inherit the earth."? I don't believe it for a second. Each and every one of us has it in us to be great, to "inherit" the earth and you won't get there by sitting around being modest and fearing what others will think of your dreams. You could go on to be a politician and become the leader of a country, or to become a scientist and save the planet from eco-disaster, or a doctor and save people from disease. And you don't even have to save people or the planet or be a world leader, you just have to do what you want to do, what you strive for and dream of, then you are a true leader. If you think its too late, you can't turn back, then take it in another direction. You can be a teacher and preacher of the cause and create big change, on a small scale, by invoking in others this message, Do not fear success.

Here's a little song that embodies the idea of this quote: Get Up - Shad

Québec Nationalism At Its Worst

Oh Québecia! Our home and native land! Oh seperatists, how you never cease to amaze and disgust me. I designed this graphic to put on a t-shirt. It's meant to be ironic because I don't take Québec nationalism seriously in any way shape or form and I just find it funny and ironic to praise Québec nationalism in big block English words.

Well anyway, a little while back, there was this plan to hold a reenactment of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in Québec City. For those of you (likely most) who don't know the historical significance of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Well it's basically the defining Battle in which Britain took control of Québec. Its a big moment in Canadian and Québec history and was scheduled to be reenacted in Québec city, like the Civil War reenactments in the United States. Of course unlike the mock Civil War shows, that go off without a hitch, one crazy high-profile separatist decided to threaten violence against the event. You know, they call that terrorism and instead of being put in jail or questioned he's been made a keynote guest at the show.

Needless to say, the whole reenactment has been cancelled and apparently is now being held in New York at some point. Yes, this is very historically accurate. Now, instead of having the Plains of Abraham Reenactment they're putting together this Québec culture event including reading of Québecois literature. Now one of the proposed literary readings is going to be the FLQ Manifesto. That is the Front du Liberation de Québec, (for those who need another history lesson) a Québec terrorist group from the 60s that senselessly bombed English businesses and kidnapped high profile politicians (including Pierre LaPorte who they murdered). Its also noteworthy to mention that the event is being held on the anniversary of the confrontation with the FLQ, which is, disturbing in itself.

Now, I'm all for Québec history, but reading the Manifesto of the FLQ as "great" Québec literature is absolutely inappropriate. So inappropriate that even hard-line separatists from the Parti Québecois are boycotting the event. Anyone who lived through the FLQ crisis will remember how comfortable it was to have bomb threats at their children's schools and to have people in military fatigues patrolling the streets. To look at that particular chapter in Canada's history as "great" is a disrespect to anyone who has ever lived in Québec. My own mother recounts stories of being nine years old and not being allowed to go to school because there was a threat against her English school.

Not only is it inappropriate to praise the only terrorist group ever in the history of Canada, it's just ridiculous to consider the Manifesto "great" Québecois literature. Technically its a meager few pages, hastily written and mostly plagiarized from the works of Karl Marx by a bunch of anarchist hillbilly french baffoons. So I'd just like to say, that these Seperatists, take themselves too seriously, and undermine what little respect they have in the international community through actions like this. At this rate, Québec will never be its own independent country. There is more to Québec history than a struggle against the evil English. Its about time the separatists give in, if they can't have basic respect for "their" own culture, history and people.

Here's a few links: Manifesto of the Front de libération du Québec
More information on the actual event
Decide for yourself.

Emoism: A Viable Culture

This is an essay I wrote as a summative in Grade 9 Geography, I got 90 in the class. My teacher was kind. I edited it up a bit just now, so it makes more sense, but still it makes absolutely no sense.

Urban Dictionary defines the word “Emo” (ee-moe) as, like a goth but much less dark and more like Harry Potter. Is emo a growing subculture in North America or just a fad amongst overdramatic teenagers? This essay delves deep into the history of Emoism, the arts, social structure and the history of sacrificial cultures proving that emo culture is, in fact, more than just a fad.

To truly understand the issue you must first look at the history. In the mid 1980s emo rock music surfaced in Washington DC. Then it was called Emotive Hardcore but has since been reduced to Emo. The music lasted in waves and still has a wide fan base today. The music is generally soft and has emotionally based lyrics meant to invoke a feeling in listeners. Since the inception of the music scene other aspects of the culture have developed including fashion (usually dark clothing sometimes with bursts of neon colours). This history in itself proves that Emo is not a fad. Where other alleged fads, such as chia pets, failed emo music and its culture alike succeeded in lasting over two decades.

The definition of culture in terms of anthropology is, the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another. Essentially it is the way of living of a group of people. Some important aspects of culture to remember when judging whether something is valid as a culture are language, art, music and fashion. Emo culture meets all such expectations. When it comes to language, many poems are written by self-proclaimed “emos.” This also ties into music with some language and poetry being put into the emotionally potent lyrics of the culture’s music. This music has also inspired a mix of fashion and art with amazing artists basing graphics and drawings on their favourite emo bands. Using this irrefutable evidence it is obvious that emo wave is, in fact, a culture.

Many argue that emo could not be a culture because it praises self-mutilation and suicide. If a culture committed suicide it would not have anyway to transmit knowledge from generation to generation. The fact of the matter is that most in the emo culture do not practice self-destruction although their lyrics and words do praise the same. Instead of taking ones life, most in the emo culture channel such emotions and problems through art mediums such as song, poetry and visual arts. The culture has evolved to channel frustration and sadness through their art-forms lowering the likelihood of violence and suicide. Many others in Western culture have learned to hide their emotions from friends and family which results in violence, even against oneself. This is counter to culture. However, the emotional nature of this emo culture reduces the prominence of suicide and violence, proving that the argument against Emo as a culture is debunked.

In proving that emo is a viable culture capable of growth and prosperity, it is relevant to look at historic cultures. The fact is that many cultures and religious movements in the past, up to and including Christianity have praised death in the form of sacrifice and martyrdom. Many cultures have also prospered for millennia actively practicing ritual sacrifice and to this day practice mock sacrifice. Emo culture is no exception to this rule. Emos praise physical and emotional sacrifice in their lyrics as part of their culture. Through looking at historic examples of death-worshipping cultures Emo can in fact be considered a viable culture.

Throughout this essay it has been proved without a doubt that emo is a culture. It meets all requirements for culture and has its own distinct characteristics from others. The culture supports open emotion, sociality and creativity, all characteristics of a distinct culture. Emo culture is evolving and is making an impact on modern music, art and fashion; its about time we accepted Emos as a viable sub-culture in Canada and all of the world.