Little White Pieces

Alright, let's get serious for a second. You've seen the toilet paper ads. They've been up for at the very least a year by now filling us with dread about leaving little white pieces on our backsides.

Now, I understand that some couples like to play around the nether-regions of the human body, and it's altogether likely that the average couple will occasionally at least accidentally encounter the white-piece-covered sphincter in question. Still, I don't think this warrants an entire long-winded advertising campaign praising the fact that a particular kind of toilet paper doesn't stick to your behind.

Even if the above were reason enough for this ridiculousness, the campaign doesn't seem to appeal to adults, with the latest having a mother(bear) inspect her son (of at least school age) for little white pieces before he goes out to play. AH! I've got it! All along they were advertising to the fringe market of nudist colonies, who are apparently huge buyers of hygiene products.

Anyway, all kidding aside, it's kind of odd how effective this campaign must be to still be torturing me daily with it's absurdity. I always thought that most people's buttholes would be out of sight and out of mind as soon as they stood up from the porcelain. It seems as though some folks, with their reader's digest and slightly heated cushiony toilet seats have all-together too much time to worry about the perfection of a part of their body few will ever see.

Thank you for indulging me, this has been bothering me as long as these ads have been on the air.

Park 51

Don't you think that the Ground Zero memorial should be a tribute to all humanity, not just America and its stereotypical vision of the WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant)? It wasn't just Americans that lost their lives, and all those who did represent a much larger picture of injustice in the world. I don't know, guess I'm just an idealist.

Regardless of the fact that dozens of innocent Muslims were killed in 9/11, regardless of the fact that the proposed Islamic Center in Lower Manhattan does not actually contain a mosque and cannot even be seen from Ground Zero, this non-controversy is out of control. It just so happens that in the middle of Ramadan Islamophobia is at a high-point. To this day around 20% of Americans believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim. I fear for the ignorance of some Americans, it just so happens that the festival of Eid, marking the end of Ramadan, falls on September 11th this year. Let's hope that no one mistakes religious celebration for boasting at the "glory" of terror.

Don't let a few bad apples spoil the whole basket. That's all I'm saying.

Environmentalism is Dead

And Al Gore killed it. He killed it along with 100s of millions of people in the low-lying coastal regions of the world. How? Just like that. In saying the words, "100s of millions of refugees," he sealed their fate. Its not a new idea, many top environmentalists rail against environmental alarmism. The fact is, the masses, can't take it. It will shock us, and move us but at best we'll unplug our cell-phone charger, at worst we'll become jaded by the sheer scale of death, destruction and the seemingly minuscule possibility of salvation. So if education is not the answer, what is?

Its all about media, and granted Al Gore has started to catch on to the new way, slowly. The only way to start a massive social movement, is to make it cool. Look at the 60s for example. There were a few die-hard activists, rebels, "revolutionaries." Some people will claim that the true hippies, in blowing up banks, did not shy away from violence as a method for social change. If only a few people were truly active then why is it that an entire generation of youth was branded that way? They seemed to protest the Vietnam war. They weren't all radicals, or rebels, they were all followers who served the radical cause just as they served the conformist cause in the 50s. Why? Because it was cool.

Nothing sounds better than free love, peace, truth, beauty and individuality. It was marketed incredibly easily. The masses respond to these words because they are strong. Granted Al Gore's words, death, flood, global climate change, refugees, extinction, etc, are strong words which demand response. Unfortunately the masses choose the wrong response, run for cover, continue hiding behind their consumer products, the threat is just too heavy. The only way most people will think twice about climate change is if they are buying a new "green" product from Wal-Mart.

However, the "green" consumer revolution is the ultimately WRONG response to Al Gore's words. The fear of the unknown in people leads them to consume, and corporations found the ultimate way to make them feel better about themselves, provide a product they can hide behind that will effectively remove their fear and guilt. With "green" dish-washing soap, I can continue to use disposable razors, drive an SUV and throw out half my dinner every single night, without having to hide from the wrath of the world's prominent environmental alarmists or worry that my children will blame me for destroying the world.

Regardless, this same marketing technique is what is needed to shake people into movement. No one will protest because "millions of people will die" but thousands will protest because "they love polar bears" or "they are proud to be human." The masses respond to the positive and shy away from the negative, however it may affect them. The same model that made Obama president, "Yes We Can" rather than the Republicans, "but but but, he's a socialist" is what is needed to make people demand environmental action. The vast majority of us are sheep, following a leader. Machiavelli would turn over in his grave, but in the modern world, it is better to be loved, and to preach love, than to preach fear.

The same goes for any cause really. If you want to create passion for a cause, or just the illusion of passion, it is crucial to spin it positively. Through film, television, print, the internet, etc, people can become inspired and awed by the sheer beauty and preciousness of our planet. At this point, it must be said that this extraordinary beauty is fragile, and we must be responsible for its salvation. With this information and passion in hand, the masses can be motivated, moved and not afraid to take action. So relax Al, and you too reader, when you see someone who claims to be an activist but acts contradictorily, don't call them out, include them in your action, encourage and nurture their activism, make them a part of a greater movement. Then environmentalism will be cool, and they will have no choice but to listen.

Don't fear the future, be proud of being human, learn about the world and love your planet.

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.

Becoming Legendary

Everyone knows them. Those bands that are legendary. Their members, household names. Their music, anthems of a generation. Who are the legends? Unarguably, The Beatles, Queen, The Rolling Stones, The Who.

Even today decades later, you'll be hard-up trying to find a person who can't sing a single Beatles song. Between Lennon and McCartney they wrote the greatest, most recognized yet diverse library of music in history. Because of the sheer volume and variety of music there are few people who cannot be touched by the music of the Beatles. From McCartney's "Yesterday" to "I Am the Walrus" the Beatles have something for everyone. They lead a revolution among musicians, where they may have lacked in musical complexity or deep lyrical meaning they raised the bar for performance, style and innovation.

As for Queen, they're songs "We Will Rock You" "We Are The Champions" and "Another One Bites The Dust" have become anthems that have transcended generations. Like the Beatles, Queen and especially Freddie Mercury raised the bar for stage performance. The Cult of Personality surrounding Freddie Mercury with his eccentric style and his eventual struggle for life has certainly been a deciding factor in Queen's legendary status. The lasting impact the late Freddie Mercury and his band have had on music is staggering; they really meant what they were saying in "The Show Must Go On."

The Rolling Stones have had a similar effect as the former two. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards with their life-long dedication to deviancy (with songs questionably named "Brown Sugar") are synonymous with fame, excess and fortune in the world. The only thing that could have boosted their legendary status is if Keith Richards had died of a drug overdose 20 years ago. Then again its their (partially) intact band that has probably kept them in the spotlight over the years, where some bands peter out because of petty squabbles, deaths and break-ups the Rolling Stones have maintained a good relationship and a steady flow of fame.

Finally The Who, is definitely a legendary band. Enjoying worldwide fame The Who got us rocking with catchy, goofy songs like "Pinball Wizard" and they defined a generation in their song "My Generation." I think another good measure of their legendary status is tonight's Super Sunday (Don't wanna get sued, d:) Half-time Show in which they played their iconic songs "Who Are You" and "Won't Get Fooled Again." With CSI being an avid advertiser of The Who in modern day America, they remain a household name, enjoying the status of legendary.

While there are more that could fit into the description of Legendary, and possibly even better. These are four examples of legendary bands. Using these bands as a model, with their accessibility, innovation, style, stage presence and personality, can we predict the legendary bands of the future? What bands that we listen to today, will be become immortal? A few bands are on their way.

U2 has a familiar sound, a unique personality and Bono is a household name. There are few people who don't own or know and enjoy U2's music. Though, there are some who would wager that U2 has reached its peak in fame, having been formed in the 70s, and that it's music is not accessible enough to the masses. They could go the Queen route, having less accessible music but a cult of personality surrounding the lead and a habit of extravagant stage performances. With continued success and nurturing of Bono's reputation U2 could become the next in a line of truly legendary bands.

Another band to keep your eye on is Muse. Straight out of Britain and relatively new, Muse is gaining popularity in the United States and the world with play-time in the Twilight movie. Its semi-unfortunate that their State-side fame comes from this source but it could have its ups. With young women who watched Twilight getting into Muse, they could enjoy some of the same fortune that lead the Beatles to legendary status, the sex appeal and the faint female fans. Muse is by far the most atypical candidate though. They are a truly innovative band and the have a complex but accessible sound. If Muse were to gain legendary status, it would be a glorious day in the Renaissance of Rock.

This is all I have the energy to write today, so I'll beg the question... What bands do you think will gain legendary status in the future, and what bands do you think already have?

Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

Ponder that phrase for a second. One Mississippi. For a set of instructions off of your average shampoo bottle, it has a lot of meaning. If you consider for a second the phrasing Step 1: Lather, Step 2: Rinse and Step 3: Repeat, it doesn't specify to simply repeat steps 1 & 2, so in theory, you should continue in an endless cycle. It kind of defines or consumer society, not solely because shampoo CEOs added the repeat in order to sell more shampoo, but also, because we all live this robotic life. Our day is a step by step guide, and when its done we repeat. Every once in a while there's something different thrown in, but still week by week, month by month, year by year, we lather, rinse and repeat.

Movement Musician of the Week: Rise Against "Re-Education (Through Labour)"

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"

Take Action

Big oil has finally done it. Through lies and smear campaigns they've cast enough doubt over man-made climate change to send the quasi-medieval Saudi Arabia into Copenhagen screaming. This leaves oil-drenched nations everywhere breathing a sigh of relief that they don't have to put their reputation on the line by blocking climate talks, the Arabs are taking the bullet. What is our responsibility as citizens of the planet? With a new climate deal being negotiated this week it is important that we all do our part.
Here's some important links:
Seal the Deal: Petition for Fair Climate Talks (Earth Mosaic)
Hopenhagen (Messages of Hope)
Show Your Vote (Have your say at Copenhagen)
Official COP15 Website (For more information and neat links)

The Deserted Diviner

The Deserted Diviner speaks his daily news, in hopes that excited ears will heed his words. He knows however, that no one hears his discordant drivel. His audience is deaf dumb and blind to his doctrine, drowned out by the myriad voices of capital. Focused solely on the technological teats before them, devouring their propaganda potions. How can he wake them from their apathy? Better yet, should he? He long ago chose the song of truth and beauty, knowing full well the horror and despair that played the atrocious accompaniment, but his foolish followers reached out for the hypnotic, to avoid the pain. He doubts himself, why not take the drug, with its false felicity? He would not know the difference. He can't give in though, for verity can bring about vivacity, and the other course, however simple, is ignoble. The Deserted Diviner waits on a world trapped in a trance.

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.

Canada, Climate, Copenhagen, Commonwealth

This December the world will meet in Copenhagen to forge a new climate alliance to succeed the Kyoto protocol which is now 12 years old and set to expire in 2012. While people all over the world rally for a new treaty and leaders have high hopes for carbon-cap policies some people are still shit-disturbers on the issue. The PM of Canada Stephen Harper has stated that there will be no binding treaty reached in Copenhagen next month, reflecting once again his "can't do won't try" attitude on climate change.

His statements coincide with a nation-wide radio campaign by Calgary-based climate change skeptics friendsofscience.org. This organization makes outrageous claims like, climate change is not man-made its caused by the sun, the world has been cooling for the past 10 years and atmospheric levels of CO2 do not correlate to higher worldwide temperatures. The immediate thought is that this organization must be funded by the oil industry unfortunately Canadian law does not require organizations to reveal their sources of funding. When asked about their funding the organization claims that they are a small grass-roots organization supported by small individual donations, but a simple look at the ad campaign reveals the absurdity of that claim.

One source claimed that the 30-second radio spot which runs on 15 stations nation-wide 20-30 times a day for the past month would cost upwards of $65000, an obscenely high value for any grassroots organizations' budget. Other sources claim the organization is funded by big oil companies in Canada and supported by Stephen Harper's fishing buddies, making the PM guilty by association. Whether or not Stephen Harper directly funds or supports the campaign of doubt by friendsofscience.org is not the question however. The question is, does national doubt on the climate change issue help Stephen Harper leading up to Copenhagen on December 7, 2009? He has already stated there will be no climate treaty next month. When Harper finally comes out and says he doesn't believe in climate change and finally confesses his romantic affair with oil interests, will anyone truly be surprised?

World leaders have started to question Canadian leadership on the issue of climate change. Specifically, at a Commonwealth summit it was proposed that Canada be suspended from the Commonwealth because of inaction on climate change. That would put Canada in league with nation's such as Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Pakistan who have been suspended for their human rights record at different times throughout history. This is a welcome move to other Commonwealth nations more vulnerable to the effects of climate change, such as Bangladesh, who condemn Canada's deliberate inaction and interference on climate change policy.

Will this become the norm? Will developed nation's who defy climate action be condemned for the impoverished souls they reap through deliberate inaction? It needs to happen to send a message. If Canada joins the ranks of Pakistan and other countries suspended for their corrupt ways it will send a message to the Canadian people and to developed nations world-wide.

So what can be done? When the government, corporations, and radio-stations in this country can't make the moral and ethical decision to tell the truth. People cite freedom of speech, but this is Canada, the government holds the right to censor messages it finds offensive and yet it deliberately ignores the nation-wide smear campaign which is breeding ignorance and teaching lies. Its easy to believe that climate change isn't happening, because the alternative is terrifying, and who's going to question someone with the name friends of science? Its propaganda in its purist form, but because it supposedly comes from a small organization its off the radar. Keep an open mind.

Let us hope that when December 7th comes along the citizens of Canada will demand a binding climate treaty from the governments of the world, but more importantly from their own government. Let us march on parliament hill if Stephen Harper doesn't cease his bad habit of blocking climate talks. Let us protest our government for creating national humiliation when the Commonwealth suspends us from it's ranks. And most importantly let us next time vote for a government that will pledge long-term, effective action on climate change. It is our moral imperative as Canadian citizens and citizens of the World.

Movement Musician of the Week: The Flobots "Fight With Tools" (Live)


Rebel of the Day (Need a Better Title): Shirin Ebadi "Tehran denies seizing Shirin Ebadi's Nobel medal"
She is a Human Rights lawyer who received the Nobel Peace Prize. She's the first Muslim woman to receive a Nobel Prize. In the wake of the last presidential elections she was expelled from the country and her medal was seized from her husbands safety deposit box by the government.

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.

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.

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.

The Friendly Shark Foundation

Shark Week just ended on the Discovery Channel. A week of vicious shark attacks and brutal maulings. And what purpose does this serve but to entertain males between the ages of 12 and 30, to permanently scar young children and to bore grown women? Absolutely nothing. Personally, I am sick of the fear-mongering sensationalist drivel the Discovery Channel airs in a (successful) attempt to get ratings. I would rather see a dolphin die caught in the discarded rings of a six-pack of Dr. Pepper, or some ladies old fish-net stockings, than have the Discovery Channel air another documentary tarnishing the good name of the Great White Shark. Soon we'll be calling them, "the EVIL BLOOD-RED GIANT-MAN-EATING-FISH-THINGIE!!!" I have swam on the beachs of *counts* TWO oceans in *counts* TWO countries and never once have I recieved an unprovoked attack from a shark. I mean that one time I did call him a stupid fish, so I guess you could say I deserved it.

Anyway, because I feel so strongly that sharks are truly innocent creatures with their good-standing in society tarnished by the likes of the Discovery Channel and Steven Spielberg, I declare tomorrow, Wednesday, August 12, 2009, annual Befriend a Shark Day, and call forth the first congress of the Friendly Shark Foundation, an organization bent on (no that sounds evil) DEDICATED TO bringing to light the more amiable qualities of sharks worldwide and educating the world on the plight of the shark (biggest run-on sentence EVER). Forget Discovery Channel's pathetic Shark Week, a tradition 22 years outdated, we will celebrate our own fantastic FRIENDLY SHARK WEEK and start a new and modern annual tradition to last a thousand years (or at least 3 more until the world ends)! For the rest of this week I will be posting stories about friendly sharks who cuddle with kittens (See above) and jump through hoops and play ball. We could all learn something from sharks. As a wise (and friendly) shark once said, "Fish are friends not food." And while I love me a good catfish, I'm just saying, don't eat your friends, also, if sharks are YOUR friend, don't soil their good name with lies look at the statistics, shark attacks are rare so stop fueling the rumours! More people kill people than sharks and thats a fact!

The New Narcissist

Everyone knows them... that self-absorbed idiot on Myspace or Facebook. The Camera Whore. The one with 10000 pictures of themselves sitting in front of their webcam making a "mysterious" pose, sometimes referred to as the Myspace angle. No one knows what drives this narcissism. Is it an inner insecurity? Or is it a hyper-inflated ego coupled with ones desire to look attractive and enigmatic? The Camera Whore seems perfectly content and confident in their self-indulgance, giving off no signs of insecurity. They can be striking the myspace pose, showing off unimpressive cleavage or their flaccid non-muscular abdomen and still they enjoy the pleasures of their own looks, having fantasies about friendly facebookers or myspace addicts coming across their photos with compliments in hand. Unfortunately for the Camera Whore, most all of the comments on their photos are wise-cracks, like, "Don't pose too hard, you might break the camera," or "This is cute, in a pedophile kind of way." Maybe this negativeness is what drives them to take more and more pictures in hopes of getting one that everyone loves.

I don't know if anyone else has seen this, but what happens when two self-absorbed Camera Whores looking for human connection get together? More pictures, with kissing. Before you get excited, don't. It's quite cookie-cutter actually. The basic pose is closed eyes, closed lips, closed minds. Presumably they are imagining it is a mirror standing infront of them as they snap the picture. They use this kind of self-promotion to show the world, "I can kiss too!" They try to take them in different places with captions like, in my bedroom, on the couch, in the kitchen, ON A BOAT! (cause thats funny). But even with their different "scenery" the kiss is still the same dry, emotionless, narcissistic kiss as always. What's interesting is the few pictures where they aren't kissing, both parties look like they're having a blast *end sarcasm*. The question really is, why would I look at this? The answer, I don't know. It is one of those so-disturbing-but-you-can't-look-away things. And you just have to think, what goes through this persons head and why do they think people care about what it looks like when they kiss? Haha, why do I care enough to write a blog about it? I'm bored. That is my answer for everything.

Now you may ask, how can a self-professed prophet criticize others for narcissism? I have two things to say to that (just so you don't bother). First of all, I am simply describing the inner mind of the Camera Whore. While my words may seem negative or critical that is simply the way you interpret the words, a Camera Whore however would only interpret the words flat-chested and non-muscular as negative as they thrive on self-indulgance and narcissism. Secondly, the name Party Prophet (if you've read the post about it) is an ironic name, well more of a misnomer, as I have no qualities of a prophet, especially in charisma and intellect and also I am not much of a Party type either. And yet, I somehow feel that blogging is the next closest thing to narcissism there is, especially when no one reads your blog. Wow! I just ruined this blog for me. Don't worry next time I'll write about the Facebook Creeper and the Blog Narcissist.

Harry Potter? Alice in Wonderland?

I don't really know what to write about, because things seem uninteresting to me lately so I'll write about the impending doom that is the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (the movie adaptation). Who knows what will happen in this iteration of the Harry Potter adventure, unless of course you read the book. This is why I will not be attending this matinee or likely any of the following showings in theaters. Despite the fact that I'm a sucker for hype and tend to do whatever the TV and slash or the interwebz tells me to do. I'm not much of a Ad-savvy person. Speaking of ads look there are ads in the sidebar, that I hope don't still say anything about "Sexy Iranian Singles."

Anyway, personally I'd much rather see an original movie concept instead of a story stolen half-assedly from a book. To be totally honest I did not even like the books, they were good entertainment but they definitely don't constitute good literature (not to be a lit-snob). I just think it would be better *Spoiler* if Harry died at the end of the series, but no he sacrifices himself but survives anyway. It would have been a full circle; his parents sacrifice themselves for him and he sacrifices himself for the world. Frankly, I was looking forward to rioting in the streets worldwide at the advent of Harry's death, but JK Rowling was still writing for the children she had started with years earlier as we've apparently not grown up whatsoever. Anyway this week I'd rather see something funny, and clever, and original (there is originality in Hollywood).

As of now I'm looking forward to Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (circa 2010) and before you call me a hypocrit, the story follows a completely different tale of Alice's return to Wonderland when she is 17 (no this isn't through the looking glass). Never been done before, therefore more original than HP6. And besides, just think, Lewis Carroll's twisted, satirical mind captured by Tim Burton's creepy, fantastical directing with the Mad Hatter portrayed by the one and only Johnny Depp with Helena Bonham at his side (but not really) as the Queen of Hearts, doesn't it sound amazing? Well at least I think so. But I and everyone else must wait until 2010!!!

Something Foamy Brewing in North Korea

Hailed as the Pride of Pyongyang the Taedonggang beer produced in a North Korean brewery is getting publicity in North Korea today. In a strikingly capitalist move thoroughly communist North Korea has launched a television ad campaign. To be fair it is not your typical Western media advertisement. It looks to have a significantly lower budget than it's western cousins with a style reminiscent of a 1960s Slinky® commercial.

Now I don't speak or read Korean, but it looks to me like the commercial advertises that the beer is locally made and appeals to the worker in North Korea. The advertisement says, "It represents the new look of Pyongyang," and, "It will become a familiar part of our lives." Foreign critics say the beer is of high quality. It is hailed for being produced with fresh and pure ingredients. The beer has also been sold in South Korea.

In recent weeks we have seen nuclear tests, missile test launches and threats from North Korea and retaliation from American and Western nations. As tension builds on both sides, is the DPRK government advertising this beer to keep dissent from brewing in the population? Or is it just a cash-grab for the Dear Leader Kim Jong-il?

Billy Mays Dies At 50

He was an iconic figure in infomercials. Everyone recognized his gruff, powerful voice as soon as it came on the air. Whether he was selling Oxi-clean, Mighty Putty or even the infamous Orange-Glo his in-your-face sales techniques were something to marvel at. Mr. Mays was undoubtedly the most beloved of TV infomercial personalities over other characters such as the "Shamwow Guy." Although sometimes an annoyance, as all infomercials tend to be, Billy Mays fought his way to the tops of our hearts becoming a cultural icon. Jokes surrounding Billy Mays' sales expertise had become almost as common-place as jokes about Chuck Norris' beard.

On June 28, 2009 he was found dead in his Tampa home by his wife. He was pronounced dead at 7:45 AM. Many have speculated that on a routine flight it was a blow to the head from his suitcase that brought about his unsuspected death. However, it has become more evident that, much like Michael Jackson's sudden death last week, it was heart disease that brought him down, the blow likely having little to do with his death.

Many tributes have been made to Mr. Mays since his passing. This blog is my tribute. While it is tempting to make suggestions about mighty putty and fastening carry-on luggage, truly my heart, and many more go out to those closest to Mr. Mays. May he rest in peace.