Boxing With God

I'd Rather Be Alone.... No Really

2012-02-07T17:09:00.002-05:00

A few moments to quietly reflect on the state of your life is a luxury that even the poorest person in the world should be afforded. Unfortunately some people find themselves living a life devoid of reflection. Some people haven't used that area of their brain so long that that muscle has atrophied. Others are simply overwhelmed by outside circumstances that they fail to inspect the one thing in the world that they have absolute control over which is themselves.

The worst kind of person is a self deluded individual that doesn't recognize their own flaws. You don't have to be self deprecating and blast them to the world but you should at the very least be cognizant of the areas where you could stand to improve. I know several individuals some friends and some non-friends (I'm starting to dislike the word enemies because it implies that this person is somehow on equal footing with me when that isn't necessarily the case). What these people both have in common though is an inability to change and adapt.

It is in my nature to reflect constantly. I am an introvert. I don't live for the party any more, and even when I did I really didn't. I posted a long time ago about how I do better in smaller more intimate environments. I'm not "anti-social" per se, it's just that the large crowds have extremely limited appeal for me. I do like to go to an occasional event and take it in for awhile but if it weren't for my friends I would probably be the dude to show up at the party just to be seen and bounce to a diner. Don't get me wrong I enjoy parties but it takes a lot out of me just being around a lot of people. There's always a baseline of anxiety that I'm seeking to relieve myself from. I feel like the few occasions where I let my guard completely down are always the nights when some random bullshit pops off.

Am I shy? Well it depends on the day and the time. Recently I was waiting for a table at a restaurant and I heard a stranger ask a question that I knew the answer to, but I hesitated to answer it and in that moment of hesitation I lost the nerve to speak up. If I'm going to do something like talk to a stranger I have to have a strong impulse its not something I can contemplate or premeditate or think about in anyway.

When I meet people now they are surprised if they ever learn (because I tend not to share it) that I used to be an emcee. How could the reserved, stiff, dry person before them have ever got up on stage and presented himself to crowds? How could someone who hates judgment so much have risked being called wack by the extremely fickle hip-hop community? When I think about it, it really is a miracle that I even attempted it. And I did it for years. And I was happy to do it. What I failed at then, and struggle with now is selling myself as a product.

I can express myself all day any day if you are willing to listen. That's why I blog, and tweet but barely touch facebook. (I got a whole post about how much I hate facebook brewing in the nether regions of my mind). But I don't know how to convince people who are already indifferent and probably leaning toward not listening that they should. To put it short I need a street team like a muthafucka.

The benefits of being a person who thrives on solitude and depth are an ability to navigate through the madness and see the truth. I'm a word problem/complex logic kind of guy. A word nerd with some math skills in other words. The drawbacks of my social awkwardness are a tendency to huddle at home at times when others are out connecting. I'm wondering if it could be a problem that I used to merely be comfortable being left alone and now I find myself actually preferring it.

Debunking "Crabs in a Bucket"

2012-02-01T12:27:00.001-05:00

The crabs in a bucket theory used to explain the lack of progress of African-Americans in modern society is just one of many theories of our people that are based on faulty premises. Crabs in a bucket goes something like this: if you put a bunch of crabs in a bucket you don't have to worry about any escaping because if one looks like he's going to climb out the others will grab its leg and pull it back in. This is the perfect metaphor for a group of people who by default seem obsessed with "haters". Yes I'm a hip-hop head but this is one of the downfalls of hip-hop culture we spend all day talking about ways to spite the people who don't like us. That's detrimental and counter productive.

The reason why the "crabs in a bucket theory" holds no water is because unlike crabs you get to choose who you are in the bucket with. Let me elaborate. If you surround yourself with negative people doing small things then yes there is a good chance that they will try to become an impediment to your success. But there's a difference between somebody not liking you and somebody being able to stop you. If you succumb to the peer pressures of a group of people destined to lose than you only have yourself to blame. Stop hanging with crabs.

I think the main issue with African-Americans is that we don't know how to proceed. There are some super successful people who say worrying about why things got this way isn't as important as overcoming all the barriers put in your way. Me personally I believe there is a time and place for everything and everyone. There are some people who lack the patience required to examine the socioeconomic plight of a whole race of people. And to those people I would say the best way to help is to just be successful yourself so you can be a positive example to other people who come from where you come from. However if you consider yourself an intellectual of any sort it is totally disingenuous to blame the victim for the crime. "Crabs in a Bucket" and other theories of that ilk are like when a slutty girl gets raped. Do you tell her not to report the crime because obviously she doesn't respect her body anyway?

Make no mistake about it a great crime was committed against our race. And somehow someway we've been taught that it's wrong to dwell on it, or shine a light on it in anyway. At first we were supposed to act like Abraham Lincoln solved everything, then we were supposed to act like Martin Luther King, Jr and Malcolm X solved everything. And now they'll point to Obama and say "yup that proves you guys are up to speed now".

This false thinking has permeated us to the point where we find new and convenient ways to mask our self hatred. We let Bill Cosby preach to us from a pulpit about all the bullshit we do to hold ourselves back when he was conspicuously silent back in the tumultuous days of the 60's 70's and 80's when blood was being spilled in the street on the behalf of our rights. Other equally self-important and self-righteous black people will tell us to "stop blaming the white man for everything". I for one am sick of the house nigger stump speech.

I don't blame the poisoned for being poisoned. I don't diss "welfare queens" who exploit and badly designed system. I don't blame bad parents who are the children of bad parents. I don't blame incompetent teachers for turning schools into standardized tests factories. Ultimately the blame lies with a simple fact. People that look like me aren't regarded with the same respect solely based on the color of the skin and the zip code where they rest their heads at night. We are still consumed by a system that was designed mostly to benefit people of a certain class. Its just so happens that most of the people in that class are not black. And never will be.

We will never make progress if we don't stop lumping all black people together. Sorry we are just too diverse a group of a people for that information to mean anything to us. The only thing stats about black people are useful for are for highlighting the institutional racism and subconscious prejudices that are still evident amongst Mainstream (aka white) America today. But highlighting a problem isn't the same as solving it. Ultimately the problem of racism will be solved by weakening the influence of the racists. Not by shaming them into admitting that blacks are treated unfairly.

Forget about the other crabs in a bucket, even if you make it out you still have to deal with the fishermen.

Book Of The Month: Persepolis

2012-01-17T17:20:00.001-05:00

One thing I'm working on fixing is the way I view foreign cultures. In America we are taught all history even world history from a whitewashed perspective. And when world events happen our news media can't help but reinforce this "how does this affect good white people" bias. One event which was not taught well in any school I've ever attended was the Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1979.

The Shah of Iran who was basically a ruthless dictator inserted by British and American Oil Interests (here's looking at you BP) created such a disparity of wealth between the elite and the have-nots that a huge backlash created enough momentum for fanatical, militant, religious clerics to seize control of the country.

We learn about this briefly. We don't always realize that Iranians once enjoyed similar freedoms as us. All we know is terrorists and Ayatollahs. Iran was the bad guy before Iraq. They held Americans hostage and blah blah blah . Basically we don't know anything at all about the Islamic Revolution. It's embarrassingly obvious after reading this month's book of the month Persepolis.

Persepolis is a memoir by Marjane Satrapi who happened to be a child growing up in Iran during the time of the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War during the 80's. Americans probably only focus on the Iran-Contra affair and completely forget about the war that was at the root of that controversy. Whenever we hear casualty estimates for wars we usually on focus on the number of U.S. troops killed. The fact of the matter is that most global conflicts are relatively painless for the average American. To get a first hand account of how war and imperialism devastate civilian lives we almost always have to turn toward a foreigner.

This book is a bonus as teaching aid as well because it's a graphic novel. You might not be able to get the average student to give a shit about World History but if it's in comic book form maybe they'll at least read the damn thing. The illustrations are comparable to an average daily newspaper comic strip and the stories contained within have enough humor to balance out the tragedy of the average events.

By the end of her tale it's almost ridiculous how easily a child her age got accustomed to seeing people she knew, family members, neighbors, and schoolmates, killed either by the overzealous regime in Iran or the bombing campaigns of a U.S. backed Iraq military machine. (Yes Saddam and Bush were friends once). What this book does is remarkable it combines my love of history, the 80's and comic books and I come away learning what life was like for the other side. After the piss poor history education we get in U.S. schools this was enlightening.

Sorry, Tim Tebow Still Sucks

2012-01-09T10:56:00.002-05:00

I didn't do a weekly Eagles post this season on my blog, mainly because going into the season I knew I was going to miss a pair of games. (Due to my honeymoon in November). But rest assured I'm as passionate an Eagles fan as ever. So I've decided to dedicate one blog post as sort of an Eagles postmortem, now that the playoffs are underway. I'll tell which team you should root for to win the Super Bowl and why.

As any sports fan will tell you there's a difference between being a fan of a team and being a fan of a particular player. For instance I'm a fan of Calvin Johnson but I detest the Detroit Lions. And I was a fan of Warren Sapp but I never liked the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or the Oakland Raiders. That being said I'm a huge fan of Desean Jackson but I think he needs to go see what he's worth. I will continue to root for Desean Jackson if he finds himself anywhere outside of the NFC East. I wouldn't mind seeing him in a Jacksonville Jaguars uniform, or better yet an Indianapolis Colts uniform. He would be missed here in Philly and the fans might try to murder Andy Reid if the Eagles get off to another bad start in 2012. In my heart of hearts though I know it would be for the best in the long run for Desean Jackson's career.

This year as the Eagles got off to that really bad start, I found myself more and more concerned with my fantasy football prospects. I did a post way back in the beginning of the season about how well I drafted. And you know what? I was right. E-Unit took home the trophy this year. My final roster consisted of Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Dwayne Bowe, Brandon Marshall, Antonio Brown, Jeremy Maclin, Maurice Jones-Drew, Willis McGahee, and Darren Sproles, as well as a few others. Most of the dudes in my league still don't want to give me my props though. Maybe next year when I take all their money again they'll finally admit it.

Speaking of not giving up props, I'd like to address this Tim Tebow guy. For those that don't know (shout out to my sister) Tim Tebow is the Quarterback of the Denver Broncos. First let me start by saying unequivocally that Tim Tebow sucks. Yeah yeah winning record, yeah yeah playoff win, blah blah blah. If you watch First Take with Skip Bayless on ESPN he'll tell you we hate Tim Tebow because he's an outspoken Christian idiot (as if he's the only Christian in the history of sports seriously does he think we live in Saudi Arabia), and he's also a white quarterback who gets props for doing things that black quarterbacks do. (Also don't you think it's ironic that Tebow's prayer kneel is a gross imitation of the famous sculpture "The Thinker" since praying is the opposite of thinking).

But that's not why I hate him. It's because we finally got rid of Brett Favre and now we have to deal with another overrated QB whose name is gonna get mentioned anytime he farts. Nobody deserves the amount of Press coverage he got in a season where 20 other Quarterbacks were just as compelling.

Yeah I know it's boring to talk about Tom Brady being quietly excellent up in New England. We act like Aaron Rodgers is supposed to be great, like it's a given just because he won the Super Bowl last year. *Sigh* (Warning: backhanded Giants compliment) Eli Manning didn't set a record for interceptions this year. And Drew Brees record breaking season, well those damn skeptics say that can all be attributed to the new rule changes that help offenses, right? Okay what about Cam Newton who had a record breaking rookie season? Or T.J. Yates in Houston, or Andy Dalton in Cincinnati? How come these guys aren't household names? Well it's because they actually play the game well, so when they win it isn't a miracle.

Tebow's story is so compelling because of how horrible he plays the QB position. That's why his moronic fans love him. Also he's not afraid to be stupid. He is to football what Tyler Perry is to filmmaking. If he beats the Patriots, that'll be the equivalent of Madea's European Vacation beating Avatar 2 at the box office.

Eagles fans, should root for New Orleans to win it all. Why? Because New Orleans is the city in the playoffs that has the most in common with Philly (with the exception of Baltimore and I refuse to root for an AFC team). With that said I'm going to sit back and enjoy the rest of the playoffs. I wish my team was in it but they're not. They'll be back next year though. And some of these current playoff teams will prove to be one hit wonders. (Broncos, Giants, 49'ers, Texans). Oh and a healthy "Eff New York" to all you punk ass Giants fans. Peace.

The Microscope

2012-01-03T12:28:00.002-05:00

Ever since my high school Biology class I've always thought the microscope was the perfect metaphor for enlightenment. Science is the observation of the natural world. We are given only a limited range of vision. Therefore our observation of the natural world is handcuffed by the physical limitations of our human form. Microscopes are tools that enhance our vision by increasing the range at which we can observe the natural world.

Before microscopes our best tools to make conclusions about things beyond our natural range of vision were inductive and deductive reasoning. These two methods are very useful but at the same time not all people are gifted with the correct combination of imagination, rationalization and self awareness required to engage in critical thinking. Microscopes help average people (students, scientists, etc) who aren't necessarily great thinkers. Now you can see with your own two eyes that there are really really tiny organisms. You don't have to think in the abstract when discussing viruses and bacteria. Because if it's one thing that people suck at it's thinking in the abstract. To put it another way if there were no microscopes you probably wouldn't wash your hands when you went to the bathroom.

Most people don't use microscopes outside of the required classes in high school. So every New Year these people make Resolutions without regard for the connection between those kinds of Resolutions and the kind of resolution used to define the clarity on your television or computer screen. Metaphors are not in most people's wheelhouses. So although you listen to Jay-Z you probably have no idea what he truly means when he says "I'm focused man!"

I don't like New Year's Resolutions because they are tiny admissions of defeat. They are weak promises that are almost always broken. They are testaments to our inability to follow through. It's a way of saying I know I'm not good enough yet. I'm either too fat or too weak or too poor. It's a big arrow pointing directly to the source of your unhappiness. So instead of making Resolutions, you should change your resolution. Meaning the clarity of your view of the world.

When using a microscope there are two ways to change the resolution. You can use the coarse adjustment knob for when you have trouble seeing anything. You should use the fine adjustment know when your almost there but things are still a little blurry. If your life sucks you may want to turn that coarse adjustment knob. But if you are on the right track you may want to just hit that fine adjustment knob. Either way your view of the world has to change before you have the proper motivation to change yourself. If you have a weight problem for instance you don't really have a weight problem first and foremost you have a problem with the way you view your weight. Your perception is your reality, maybe you should take a good look at yourself. Should you through out the scale and get a new mirror? Or maybe you just need a microscope. Happy New Years.

Book of The Month: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

2011-12-27T12:40:00.002-05:00

People toss the word icon around today so much that it's losing its true meaning. Much like the words "swag" used to describe someone with no style, class, substance or composure or "reality TV" when used to describe abnormal people doing atypical things in a staged setting without any of the pressures that real people face. But when discussing Steve Jobs if you don't say the word Icon with a capital "I" at least once you're selling dude short.

Steve Jobs was Mark Zuckerberg before Mark Zuckerberg. He's so narcissistic that it fueled his drive to success. Any obstacle he encountered he felt as though it could be overcome in a unique way by him. Simply because he was him. But narcissism isn't logical and in addition to leading to a lifelong dissatisfaction with others and inability to process failure it ultimately contributed to his untimely death from cancer earlier this year.

This book spends a lot of time describing Steve Jobs prickly relationship with family, friends, enemies and peers. At times you wonder if this book was written for the specific purpose of raining on the parade of all the amateur eulogists who didn't know Steve Jobs personally.

I like the way the book details Jobs' failures just as extensively as his successes. In our culture we tend to mythologize successful people to the point of making them infallible. But Steve Jobs quite honestly was an asshole based on all accounts in this book. As a young man with unconventional vegan dieting habits that sometimes crossed that thin line into full blown eating disorders. A man who refused traditional treatment and surgery for cancer that was caught early enough to make a difference. He was forced out of his own company but the executives that he recruited to run it.

Steve almost lost his "cautionary tale" status. You see his arrogance and unconventional business practices became his downfall during his initial stint at Apple. But then he helped Pixar become the top animation studio in the country. And then he returned to Apple and resurrected and revamped after they had lost their status as a consumer electronics company in the late 80's/early 90's and became a producer of niche products.

Steve's return to Apple will undoubtedly become the stuff of legend at business schools around the country and cause a whole generation of failures who think they're smart enough to be as successful while flaunting all the rules the way Steve was. However, in my experience it's best not to think outside the box if you're barely adequate thinking inside the box.

Where the cautionary tale restarts is with the diagnosis of cancer. The author of the book and Steve's friends and colleagues make many mentions of Steve's "reality distortion field". The basic principle is if you ignore the degree of difficulty of a task it becomes almost a forgone conclusion that you will accomplish it. Which is of course a false gimmick on the level of self help gurus and that stupid fucking book "The Secret". A little bit of self-delusion is necessary to give yourself confidence especially in a world where so many people fail miserably at life and don't even realize it. However when your self-delusion stems equally from your white suburban entitlement as well as the fact that you've succeeded so much in the past it can get dangerous.

Getting a person like Jobs to just take the chemo and/or surgery prescribed by conventional doctors to treat the cancer was an impossibility. Someone who can appreciate the hard science of technology would seem foolish to ignore it in the context of medical advice. But Steve lived and died defying expectations. But don't take my word for it, read the book it's really quite interesting.

The Top 100 Hip-Hop Songs of 2011

2011-12-22T09:00:00.001-05:00

This is a straightforward list of hip-hop songs that ruled my iPod this year. No preamble here they are:

1. Spend It – 2chainz feat T.I. (this song was already crazy then Tip jumped on it #charliesheen #winning)

2. I’ma Boss – Meek Mill feat Rick Ross (this song may have been out in 2010 but it became a phenomenon in 2011 like planking)

3. 6 Foot 7 – Lil Wayne feat Cory Gunz (when that white couple performed this on youtube I knew weezy was on to something)

4. Jay-Z & Kanye West – Otis (Jay-Z it’s okay to not be old sometimes thanks for this record)

5. She Don’t Want A Man – Curren$y (yet another classic song about nailing somebody else’s chick)

6. On My Level – Wiz Khalifa feat Too Short (probably the one track on rolling papers I can deal with)

7. Thousand Poundz- Cyhi Da Prince feat Pill , Pusha T (if there was a God everybody would have heard this track by now, cyhi’s verse is incredible)

8. Enemies – Saigon (Saigon perhaps he should have dropped this in 2007 but whatever it still bangs)

9. Run D.M.C. – Young Jeezy feat. Freddie Gibbs (who wasn’t rooting for these two in 2011?)

10. Ronald Reagan Era – Kendrick Lamar (all my 80’s babies I mean people actually born in the 80’s not the 70’s please stand up)

11. That Way – Wale feat Jeremih (how about a radio single for the ladies that doesn’t make me wanna rip my eardrums out thanks Wale)

12. Hustle Hard – Ace Hood (Dude was very creative with his flow on this track so much so that every rapper who freestyled to it had to copy it exactly)

13. Yonkers – Tyler The Creator (this song was already sick but the video made it worse dude was playing with a cockroach)

14. She Will – Lil Wayne feat Drake (the song everybody loves to hate, at this point I cant tell if Weezy is killing it or not)

15. Ric Flair – Killer Mike (this song bangs and the ric flair samples are classic)

16. Coming Out Hard – Money Making Jam Boys (what Truck Turner’s verse though? wait Dice Raw’s verse though sheesh )

17. Marvin Gaye & Chardonnay – Big Sean feat Kanye West (if I wrote this song it would be called Mobb Deep & Hennessy and it would be about fighting)

18. Can’t Get Enough – J.Cole ( Yeah this is like Caribbean Cruise music)

19. My Sub – Big K.R.I.T. (this shit makes me wanna put a system in my whip but until then I’ll give the factory speakers some work)

20. Get of My P.P. – Action Bronson (that raw NY ish the game needs right now)

21. Rock N Roll – Raekwon feat Jim Jones & Ghostface (truly one of my favorite tracks this year)

22. Ghetto Dreams – Common feat Nas (Can you ever really count Nas out though?)

23. Chain Music – Wale ( This dude is all over the list, if he wasn’t I’d be fronting)

24. House Party – Meek Mill feat Young Chris (Count how many times Meek Mill pops up on this list if you want to cuz I’m not )

25. 666 – State Property ( It was good to hear at least a partial reunion of the prop even though the version I had has a corny DJ screaming all over it)

26. Rob Me A Nigga – Freddie Gibbs feat Alley Boi (a song about what these guys would be doing if they weren’t rappers, I’m sure their neighbors are greatful)

27. Hustle Hard Remix – Ace Hood feat Lil Wayne, Rick Ross (you take one of the best songs of the year and throw Wayne and Ross on it, good idea)

28. The Hex – Random Axe (this was a banner year for independent hip-hop )

29. Rich and Black – Raekwon feat Nas (Rae and Nas two of raps titans uniting for the first time since Verbal Intercourse)

30. Feeling Myself – Pusha T feat Kevin Cossom (this is a great summertime track plus the hook cracks me up “I’m feeling myself….. PAUSE!” )

31. The Ride – Drake (this song is very smooth and as the title implies it’s great for the ride home from work)

32. Bait – Wale ( Mostly for the video but naw the song was hot too)

33. Open Your Eyes – Pusha T (the illest fucking sample “Bohemian Rhapsody” what!!!)

34. Letter to My Ex’s – Ace Hood (Less bitter than Weezy’s “how to hate a bitch” )

35. Nore Shot Somebody – Noreaga (Nore took a sample of an interview and clowned his homey Prodigy for dry snitching, funny but a banging track as well)

36. Woopty Doo – Cyhi Da Prince feat Big Sean ( it’s great to hear two underrated lyricists trade bars)

37. Watch The Reaction – Killa Kyleon feat Pimp C and Lil Keke ( A lot of people still don’t know about Killa Kyleon, I suggest you educate yourself immediately)

38. Wild Boys – Machine Gun Kelly feat Waka Flocka Flame (Yeah I appreciate white people who know their white and have fun with that shit)

39. Y’all Don’t Hear Me Tho – Fabolous feat Red Café (What Else!!)

40. Novocaine – Frank Ocean* (technically it’s an R&B song but it thumps so it made the list)

41. R.I.P. Story – The Game ( you probably don’t remember this track but go check your itunes its crazy)

42. Zombie Land – L.E.P. Bogus Boys feat Lupe Fiasco (L.E.P. Bogus Boyz are a bunch of gang members from Chicago who happen to rap, all their songs make you feel like you’re witnessing a few double homicides in a grimey stairwell inside Cabrini Green projects)

43. The Type – Curren$y feat Prodigy (Curren$y has this ability to take your favorite lines from other rappers and turn them into hooks)

44. Good Girls Gone Bad – The Game (Game is a surprisingly deep and versatile rapper but then those who cop his albums already know that)

45. On The Corner – Smoke Dza feat Bun B, Big K.R.I.T. (Big K.R.I.T. is the best thing out of Mississippi no offense to David Banner)

46. Tony’s Story – Meek Mill (wait listen to this story, like close your eyes and imagine it, pretty ill right?)

47. HiiPower – Kendrick Lamar (this is like a black power anthem for young dudes who never saw Malcolm X)

48. Blankin Out Remix – Rapsody feat Jean Grae (two chicks on their underground lyrical ish)

49. Trouble on My Mind – Pusha T feat Tyler The Creator (Pusha is versatile although most of his rhymes are about drugs he sounds good on any beat, and Tyler is over favorite weirdo)

50. Lights Please – J.Cole (I was rooting for cole even when others weren’t so sure I’ll go ahead and admit it)

51. Brunch – Action Bronson (my favorite white rapper….ever)

52. Everything That Glitters – Pusha T & French Montana (French hooks Pusha’s verses)

53. HYFR (Hell Yeah Fucking Right) – Drake feat Lil Wayne (you can’t deny these two make good music)

54. Lotus Flower Bomb – Wale (yet another radio track for the females that doesn’t suck monkey balls he should teach a class)

55. Stand Still – 2Chainz feat Cyhi Da Prince (two rising ATL stars come together and rep for their city and Cyhi absolutely BODIES this verse no seriously you gotta hear this shit)

56. Judgment Day – Money Making Jam Boys (my philly dudes repped hard this year)

57. BET Hip-Hop Awards Cipher Shady 2.0 – Yelawolf, Slaughterhouse, Eminem (yeah I’ll give Em his props but it’s truly Joe Budden who owned this cipher)

58. The Cool – Chevy Woods feat Wiz Khalifa (Chevy Woods mixtape was the only place to hear the “good” Wiz Khalifa this year)

59. Breakdown – J.Cole (real introspective type ish)

60. Burn – Killer Mike (cuz political rap doesn’t have to be corny and preachy)

61. I’m On One – DJ Khaled feat Drake, Lil Wayne and Rick Ross (certified summer banger)

62. Shot Caller – French Montana (this dude is gonna be all over the place in 2012)

63. Four – Alley Boy feat Young Jeezy, Yo Gotti and Trae The Truth (this song was on like 50 different mixtapes)

64. Round Of Applause – Waka Flocka Flame feat Drake ( amazing that drake doesn’t sound out of place on these “down south” beats)

65. Jet Luggage – Greneberg ( I said it before I’ll say it again 2011 was a banner year for independent hip-hop)

66. Based 4 Ya Face – Lil B (dude is very comical and not at all a serious rapper but 9th wonder killed it with this beat)

67. Nasty – Nas (The god teased us with a gem reminiscent of Thief’s Theme)

68. Tupac Back – Meek Mill feat Rick Ross (I know he’s on the list too much but he killed it this year)

69. Tip The Scale – The Roots feat Dice Raw (this album dropped very late in the year but it had bangers)

70. Sweet – Common (well I guess if you going to diss somebody unprovoked you better come hard)

71. Snow Go – Young Jeezy feat Slick Pulla (it was a long wait for TM103 but The Real is Back held us down)

72. Pesos – Asap Rocky (yeah this song was in iPod since I stumbled upon it earlier this year)

73. Niggas in Paris – Jay-Z & Kanye West ( cuz I’d be lying if I said this song doesn’t rep 2011)

74. Harsh – Styles P feat Rick Ross & Busta Rhymes (put this on your playlist you probably slept on it)

75. The Rush – Coke Boyz (the hooks on this mixtape were infectious)

76. Time Machine – Big K.R.I.T. feat Chamillionaire (if anything it proved that chamillionaire isn’t a total cornball)

77. God In The Building II – Killer Mike (almost makes me a believer)

78. I Do It – Big Sean (don’t front on dude’s wordplay he says something that makes u laugh on every track)

79. Ballin – Young Jeezy feat Lil Wayne (you think you ballin cuz you got a block…)

80. Marvin’s Room – Drake (aka the haters anthem a very influential track nonetheless )

81. I’m Flexin – T.I. feat Big K.R.I.T. (the king is out of jail this time without all the apologetic bullshit)

82. Don’t Fuck With Me – Pusha T (y’all don’t realize how dangerous of an emcee this dude is)

83. Dopeman – Fat Joe feat Jadakiss (cuz who doesn’t enjoy a beatles sample)

84. Gasolean – 2 Chainz (very catchy track with a trippy low budget video)

85. Ricky – The Game ( he made us remember boyz n da hood just in time for the 20th anniversary)

86. Double Burger W/Cheese – Lupe Fiasco (yeah I know the title is corny but this is exactly the kind of creative shit that was missing from his lame ass album)

87. Blue Sky – Common (yeah I like that optimistic happy stuff sometimes)

88. She – Tyler the Creator feat Frank Ocean (this song was just weird then the video dropped and it became scary)

89. Black Cocaine – Mobb Deep (It was nice to hear Mobb Deep back together on that eerie shit)

90. Dance (A$$) – Big Sean (a strip club anthem gone mainstream)

91. Rigamortis – Kendrick Lamar (I won’t explain this track to you if didn’t hear it download it)

92. My Homeboy’s Girlfriend – Freddie Gibbs (story about banging his homey’s chick I hope none of you can relate but if you can you’re grimey)

93. Make It Stack – Lloyd Banks feat Asap Rocky (this track bangs)

94. Headlines – Drake (this song tore up the radio but it’s ok cuz it doesn’t suck)

95. Frick Park Market – Mac Miller (okay okay I admit I like this track)

96. Black Sheep – Mafew Ragazino (if you don’t know educate yourself oh and Harry Fraud is producer of the year too)

97. WWW – STS (one of the money making jam boys had an unexpected banger on his solo mixtape)

98. No Arm & Hammer – Gunplay (the hook on this is track goes “No Arm & Hammer in my Hanna Montana” and if you love ignorant rap as much as I do that’s pretty much all you need to know)

99. Martians Vs Goblins – Game feat Lil Wayne & Tyler ( nice collabo)

100. Pacman – Pill feat Rick Ross ( yeah Pill was the third wheel in the Maybach Music signings but he’s still nice)

God Is A Unicorn

2011-12-08T11:39:00.003-05:00

If you want to call me an atheist I guess I'll have to accept that. Because I don't believe in any God at all, then yes I guess I'm an Atheist. But I don't like the word atheist because of what it implies. You see the A in the word Atheist is actually a prefix. It's the same A from the word Asexual or the word Apolitical. As you should know Apolitical means someone who has no strong political point of view. Asexual means someone who has no desire for either sex. So Atheist would mean someone who has no God. That automatically implies that there are Gods to be had. When there are none. There are no words to describe someone who doesn't believe in Unicorns so why should there be a word to describe someone who doesn't believe in God?

My lack of a belief in God is forever intertwined with my personal rejection of Christianity, but they are really rooted in two separate and distinct eras in my life. I rejected Christianity fairly early as soon as I was able to reason. When someone taught me about Greek Mythology and said "this was their Religion". I immediately said "Is our religion a myth too?" I remember not being reassured by the answer. For years after that Church alternated between being a social thing, a chore, a tradition and a way to hedge the bet in case there was some chance at all that I was wrong. At the age of 14 I decided after a lengthy discussion with a friend at church about why Cypress Hill was devil music that I'd rather be down with the devil cuz Cypress Hill was way better than Kirk Franklin. I've never officially thanked Cypress Hill for giving me the courage to quit church. How fitting that the lead rappers name in the group is B-Real.

I've decided there is no God at all fairly recently probably about 5 years ago. But I was teetering on the edge of Agnosticism for so long. I was afraid to clearly express my atheism because being a black man in America is tough enough without alienating your own people. But what I failed to take into account was the shitty lives most so-called Christians lead. It's actually pretty easy being an atheist in the black community, because you won't find too many people actually about that Christian shit. I mean yeah they might go to church, and praise the lord and all that but I fail to see most people put those principles into action. Be for real and ask yourself does God factor into any of your day to day decisions. Probably not.

Then you have those people whose whole lives revolve around the church. Yeah I'm talking about old people. I love em to death but I could never tell them the truth about how I feel. It's painful and awkward to talk to people who have spent the better part of their long lives shuffling into church to pray to a God that doesn't exist. Who am I to tell them you've been wasting a good portion of your long distinguished life worshipping nothing? So you'll understand me a little if I don't go hard in the presence of old folk. If any old people are reading this blog, let me first say how impressed I am that you know how to work the computer. And secondly now that I've shared with you the secret that God isn't real, don't let that dissuade your from participating in any church picnics. The community needs pie damnnit!

I get told I'm disrespectful whenever I express my TRUE feelings about religion as it relates to my people. I think it has a disproportionate influence on the culture. It's a primitive point of view tailor made for a world that doesn't exist anymore. What's particularly distasteful to me as a black person is that Christianity is the nonsense we were spoon-fed as slaves to satiate our hunger for understanding our plight. It's much easier to bear our suffering as a people if we can say it's just some sort of test for the next life. That's right Christianity is psychological chitterlings. (Feel free to pronounce that 'chitluns'). And until you liberate your mind from it you haven't fully shed the shackles that were placed on your ancestors all those hundreds of years ago.

But even those that chose to cling to their religion do so many things to contradict their own beliefs everyday. The next time you lie, cheat, or steal or do something dishonest, the next time you take the lord's name in vain, or say something rude, or refuse to help, or engage in any number of selfish self-serving activity, you might as well believe what I believe. Because despite the fact that you call yourself a Christian, apparently God is just as irrelevant to you as he is to me.

This post was partially inspired by --à http://www.essence.com/2011/12/02/real-talk-black-atheists-on-the-rise/

Year of The Ninety-Nine Percent

2011-11-30T09:14:00.001-05:00

2011 will go down in history as the year of the ninety-nine percent. From the Arab Spring to the Occupy InsertYourCityHere Movements we saw the underdog stand up for themselves. What can you expect when people feel like through no fault of their own they have nothing to lose?

Is there any moral to this story though? The one percent are just doing what one-percenters do right? They consolidate power, money, and resources up to and exceeding the acceptable standards of society. In America, the extremely rich exercise undue influence by bankrolling both political parties to the point where candidates are beholden to whole sectors of industry just to be competitive. In other countries like Libya, corruption is much more visible and less sophisticated but it's basically the same system, with a little more violence and less tolerance for dissent.

What kills me about the whole Occupy Wall Street movement is when people in the same situation that I'm in disrespect the movement. They say things like "They should have to fill out at least one job application a day" or "They need to take a shower and stop complaining". When people say things like that they sound like they don't remember being 20 years old and uncertain about the state of the world. I guess the critics don't remember that feeling they got when they realized the American Dream is a mortgage in default. The problem is our education system in the U.S. is still a propaganda machine. Instead of telling young people the harsh truth, that "you need to do better in Math and Science to remain competitive in the global economy" we tell them "You can be anything you want to be, just go to college". They get out of college and realize their degree in 19th Century French Literature is not in high demand. As a result you have a whole generation of janitors, shoeshine boys, and airport workers with college loans.

So I'll say I'm in support of the occupy movements with one caveat, if you're thirty or older and still haven't figured it out for yourself don't blame the one percent. You've had over a decade since high school let's just be real. Even if you didn't go to high school, you could be managing that Burger King by now.

As for the Arab Spring, I've said it before and I'll say it again, we're so lucky that President John McCain wasn't in office. His combat boots would have landed firmly on the side of the status quo and America's "allies" in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Syria. The whole Libya thing would have been messier and more drawn out and we might be engaged in World War III. The biggest knock against Obama seems to be that he seems dispassionate and aloof when governing as opposed to when campaigning. Well I for one prefer the intellectual approach when it comes to foreign policy. We tried it the other way and we still haven't recovered.

While I won't be protesting anything anytime soon, what I can do is be inspired to hold a thousand tiny revolts in my personal life. And I'd advise everyone to do the same. You may not realize it but ninety-nine percent, is mostly everybody. And probably everybody you know. Because the one percent don't talk to people like you unless you're the checkout girl at Neiman's.

Book of The Month: BMF: The Rise and Fall of Big Meech and The Black Mafia Family

2011-11-25T10:26:00.004-05:00

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bmf-mara-shalhoup/1100560500

A lot of rappers like to say “my life is like a movie”. And the movie most rappers are referring to is Scarface. They love Scarface because while they expect to experience all of the highs, the money, the drugs, and the women, deep down inside they know they are just rappers and they’ll never have to face Sosa’s death squad.

But criminal masterminds do exist and inevitably the criminal underworld often collides with the world of the hip-hop stars they inspire. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of Big Meech, who was infamous enough to have been mentioned in the hook of a top ten billboard hit by Rick Ross. *(Last years Blowin .Money Fast. featuring Styles P). This hit either started or accelerated a feud with the rapper Young Jeezy who was actually an affiliate of Big Meech and the B.M.F. crew.

When reading this book by journalist Mara Shalhoup you won’t find many embellishments or exaggerations most of the accounts are taken firsthand from the criminals themselves, law enforcement agents, or cooperating witnesses. However the details are sensational enough that no embellishments are needed. Big Meech’s life and career are so interesting it makes the fictional exploits of The Wire drug kingpin Avon Barksdale seem tame in comparison. Indeed if people on the street were given a synopsis of The Wire and a synopsis of this book and asked which one was fictional I’m sure this book would be chosen nine times out of ten.

This book details the glamorous side of drug life in detail, the cars, the mansions and the sheer amount of money being spent and laundered through various businesses. The political connections, hob-knobbing with sports stars (Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley were subpoenaed in relation to the prosecution of one of the witnesses), and of course the hip-hop culture itself are also explicitly detailed. Want to know the true story behind Gucci Mane’s troubled career and sometimes violent beef with Young Jeezy? Pick up a copy of this book.

The numbers they discuss in relation to moving drugs seem unreal at times; until you realize these guys had a sophisticated drug distribution network that spanned across the entire country. These aren’t the dudes selling hand to hand in the streets. These are the dudes who supply the dudes that supply those dudes. You won’t hear many tales about rival drug corners and drivebys even the murders they committed were on a higher level. Petty turf wars are barely mentioned. These guys were so high up on the food chain that a dealer beefing with them would be like Foot Locker trying to beef with Nike.

The murders detailed in this book vary from what are basically drug-related assassinations of crew members thought to be snitches or people who disrespected a member of B.M.F at an Atlanta nightclub. The post nightclub shooting is a such a recurring theme throughout the book . If not for this particularly dumb brand of violence the B.M.F. could make the claim of being a pretty disciplined organization with strict rules and a thoroughly enforced code of conduct.

The scope and sophistication of the B.M.F. drug network almost begs the question of how successful Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory and his brother Terry “Southwest T” Flenory would have been if drugs were legal or if they had applied their organizational skills to a legal trade. I’m sure we would be reading about the Flenory Brothers in Fortune, Money, and Black Enterprise magazine. Instead they’ve been forever imprisoned in the publishing ghetto of XXL, The Source, Vibe and F.E.D.S.

While I Was Gone (Deluxe Edition)

2011-11-23T13:45:00.002-05:00

I haven't written a post on my blog in a very long time. I think for an aspiring writer I don't write nearly enough. It's just that .... I'm lazy. Fuck it I'll admit it. But on top of being lazy, life is very very busy for me. I was recently married and went on an eleven day European tour. I'll get into more details on the honeymoon later but for now I'm just writing to get used to writing again.

So this blog is just free association right now. I'm just going to go through a few things on my mind. First up shout out to the newest Mrs. Knight, on November 4th we did our thing. It was probably the least stressful wedding day in the history of weddings and we were damn near on time (even if our siblings weren't), probably a record for a black couple. But on a serious note. I got married because I found someone who made me feel like I could conquer the world. She is the primary reason I get out of bed in the morning. She is the reason why I can be so good at a day job that I absolutely despise. I probably wouldn't have graduated from school or started my own business and I probably would have given up blogging a long long time ago if it weren't for her. I'm really at the point where the whole world could hate me as long as she still loves me I'll be fine. I don't get mushy a lot on my blog cuz people don't want to read that... but I love my wife and won't ever be afraid to say it or show it.

Next up ....R.I.P. Joe Frazier. Yeah I know I'm "late" but it's never too late to pay respect to greatness. He was Ali's nemesis, a blue collar hero to counter Ali's flash and arrogance. And while he may have been a victim of the racial politics of his day and unfairly labeled as an Uncle Tom, it was really a love of Ali and not a true hatred of Frazier that fueled that hype. Frazier is the Isaiah Thomas to Ali's Michael Jordan.

While we're on the theme of R.I.P. wow Heavy D? The bun diddly diddly D. I actually owned a few Heavy D records when I used to DJ in the late 90s/ early 2000's and I'll admit that I didn't spin them much, but there was one house party where I threw on "I need somebody to love me" and the party got hype. He might not go down in History as the best heavyweight rapper but him and Chubb rock made it almost cool to be fat and Biggie did the rest.

My blog is always about hip-hop even when it's not about hip-hop. Because I'm 30 years old and I'm black. And let's be honest I'm part of the first generation of people who can't remember a world without hip-hop. (or videogames but later for that). But I've done surprisingly few album/mixtape reviews on my blog since I started in 2006. But it's hard to ignore the flood of releases over the past three weeks. I'm not going to review but I'm going to put a partial list of the recent releases on my iPhone:

Wale - Ambition

L.E.P. Bogus Boys - Now or Neva

Pusha T - Fear of God II

2 Chainz - Tru Realigion
Nipsey Hussle - The Marathon Continues

Mobb Deep - Black Cocaine [EP]

Lloyd Banks - The Cold Corner 2

Lloyd Banks - The Cold Corner 2 (Bonus Disc)

Jim Jones - Vampire Life

Fred The Godson - City of God

Fat Joe - The Darkside Volume 2

Asap Rocky - Live Love

Young Chris - The Revival

Freddie Gibbs - Cold Day In Hell

Nickelus F - Faces

PUSH! Montana - When PUSH! Comes to Shove Vol 2.

Rapper Big Pooh (from Little Brother) - Dirty Pretty Things

And of course ....

Drake - Take Care - I won't write a definitive review but I will say although it's "cool" to diss Drake for being "soft" I enjoyed this album. I think it's an improvement over his first album which I also liked. But then again I'm just a hip-hop head.

Some quick thoughts on the Republican Presidential Campaign:

So far every debate resembles Saturday Night Live's best skits. Every candidate seems to be a caricature of a serious person. And Republican voters, at least the ones being polled are moronic as well. The front runner changes so often it's like they're all women going through their slutty college girl phase. (Shout out to Drexel U.)

Herman Cain is a bigger embarrassment than I originally thought. Rick Perry makes Bush seem like John Nash. Mitt Romney is the Republican John Kerry, he flip-flops so much Latino voters call him "Senor Chancletas". And for the love of God why did Michele Bachman go on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon? Does she have a reality TV show coming out or something?
I have a book of the month post coming up soon for November. I've been ignoring my work all morning plotting the next two weeks of this blog. It helps me feel better about my day job. I promise to write more. (No really I mean it this time) .

Oh and a last minute update please welcome my newborn niece Ailani Knight into the world today she's approximately one hour and 15 minutes old as I write this.

Book Of The Month - Full Dark, No Stars

2011-10-31T15:18:00.002-04:00

I've been reading Stephen King so long, you'd think if he had a formula I'd have figured it out by now. Maybe he does have a formula but it's not as obvious as someone like a Dean Koontz or James Patterson, who make Stephen King look like J.D. Salinger with their output.

This book is one of King's compilations of long short stories (or novellas if you prefer). Inside are four stories about people who do foul things and get away with them (sorta). The common theme of keeping dark secrets is on full display and though the motives for the actions are sometimes just, the stories are written in such a way that you'll recognize the worst part of each so-called protagonist. There are little to no saints in this book.

The first story "1922" Tells the story of Nebraska farmer who conspires with his son to murder his wife in order to possess the land that she inherited and was inclined to sell. You'll instantly recognize that this "protagonist" is a selfish evil person destined for doom, but the fun part is reading all the ill that befalls him after he "gets away" with the murder. The story of his son is the one that inspires pity. And because the story is written first person form the point of view of the father, you get inside the head of a man who destroyed his whole family over a 100 acres of farmland. I won't spoil the supernatural twist to the story but this isn't straight up karma at play. Some dark forces are definitely involved. And even if there not a rat bites the teat off of a cow, in one of the most disgusting scenes in Stephen King history.

The second story "Big Driver" deals with the heavy story of a woman being raped. She then rents the "Brave One" a revenge fantasy movie from 2008 starring Jodi Foster and that's all the inspiration she needs. Some may deride King as lazy for so clearly identifying the inspiration for the story. But I find that honesty refreshing, all artists are copycats it's better to indentify your inspiration than to be accused of swagger jacking. The rape scenes aren't graphic but hard to read nonetheless. The fun part starts when she discovers her inner Charles Bronson. This story is unlike those movies in that the main character does actually take time to wonder if she is doing the right thing by seeking revenge. In the end she realizes that more than her own revenge is at sake, because after being left for dead by the rapist she came across evidence of previous victims. Needless to say the fate of the offending party is sealed. And unlike the first story no animals were harmed.

The third story "Fair Extension" is one of those "deal with the devil" stories, where the guy meets a mysterious stranger offering them whatever it is they need most in the world but has to give up something unbearable in return. Except the twist is that all the Devil wants is money and there is no negative karma involved for the protagonist. This is probably the least traumatic "deal with the devil" story ever. And on top of that as a bonus the misfortune that was to fall on him is transferred to the douchebag "friend" that stole his girl in high school.

The fourth story "A Good Marriage" is about a middle aged woman who discovers a shocking secret about her husband. I won't ruin it for you by spelling out the secret here, but let's just say her reaction to it is unexpected. Stephen King gets inside the mind of people you think you recognize and then takes a sharp left turn. The next time I'm watching the news and somebody does something crazy I won't wonder why I'll just re-read this particular story, because art does truly imitate life.

The Five Worst Places To Work.... On TV

2011-10-27T09:12:00.001-04:00

Today scripted television is an endangered species as more and more people tune in to watch washed up politicians dance against washed up athletes and washed up actors. Or worse than that are those shows where they find a group of women who have sex with successful men and make them pretend to be friends and argue with each other over who is the best parasite. People like me however (who have to deal with enough bullshit in real life and actually watch television to escape “reality”) occasionally find ourselves using our imaginations. We think, “I wish I was one of those guys who check for DNA on C.S.I. or the smart ass neighbor behind the fence on ‘Home Improvement’”.

In this economic environment we are constantly told about how “lucky” we are just to have jobs. But as someone whose day job actually sucks once said: “Fuck that shit”. As horrible as it is cleaning monkey shit at the zoo everyday your favorite TV shows depict some jobs even more horrible and soul draining than yours. So here below are some companies you should avoid if you ever find yourself stuck inside the TV like John Ritter in Stay Tuned.

#5 Dunder-Mifflin – The Office

What is it?: Dunder-Mifflin is a surprisingly resilient national paper supply company based in New York with regional offices in many states. For the sake of this article we are going to focus on the Scranton branch of DM. Until recently this office was run by Regional Manager Michael Scott. They manage to beat out competitors with better rates due to their customer friendly and extremely familial approach to selling paper.

Why it would suck to work there: Well for one thing Michael Scott is gone and as of right now the replacement is Andy Bernard who has about 75% of Michael’s stupidity and 25% of his charm. Nothing is worse for a small company than an upheaval in management. But over the past seven years with Michael at the helm things haven’t exactly been ideal. If interoffice relationships annoy, disgust or otherwise offend you, be prepared for a new love triangle (and sometimes multiple love triangles) every week. Let’s see: there’s Jim/Pam/Roy, Dwight/Angela/Andy, Jan/Michael/Holly, Andy/Erin/ and what’s his name from parent company Sabre, Pam/Jim/Karen, Phyllis/Bob Vance from Vance Refrigeration/ Bob Vance’s secretary (was that plot ever resolved cuz I stopped watching mid way through season 7) and a few others which escape me right now.

Think the line between your professional and personal life shouldn’t be crossed? Prepare for that line to disappear completely with maximum interference from your co-workers direct manager and sometimes even the HR rep. Are you a minority? Prepare for some hilariously inappropriate remarks and perhaps some misguided sensitivity training which corporate deems mandatory. Got a birthday coming up? Don’t run afoul of Angela and Phyliss the pair of them have been in an epic struggle for control of the party-planning committee since 2004.

Add to that the fact that your job security at the Scranton branch is pretty good unless you’ve been transferred from another branch and then chances are you’ll end up quitting by the end of the first episode you show up in.

And what’s with the cameras? What are they doing with all that footage? If the company is in such financial trouble why don’t they fire the two to three camera crews that follow around the gang constantly (Jim and Pam’s wedding, to the baby being born, company outings, job interviews with other companies, client visits, medical procedures, sex!!!) for the past 8 years. If I allowed my job that kind of access I wouldn’t accept paper sales commission as my main form of compensation. Also think about the loss of productivity if the entire staff of your office had to be interviewed several times a day for a documentary that’s never coming out.

Bonus: if you're black scroll back up and take a look at Darryl go ahead I'll wait....... His expression says it all.

#4 Springfield Nuclear Power Plant – The Simpsons

What is it?: If for some reason you’re new to the Simpsons, I apologize on behalf of Matt Groening the show was actually good once (to be fair this show wanted to die but none of the voice actors has a credible career outside of the show so when it’s time re-up nobody bows out). The Springfield Nuclear Power Plant powers the fictional town of Springfield, somemidwestern State, USA. Note: You can tell it’s a Midwestern town because it’s mostly obese inhabitants are a peculiar shade of yellow and aren’t very bright. The plant is run by Montgomery Burns who is modeled off the man who owns the company that this show is broadcast on. Homer Simpson has been promoted, demoted, fired and re-hired so many times it’s hard to remember that his proper job title at one point is Safety Inspector. (In the last 8 or so seasons Homer doesn’t appear to actually go to work much so maybe he’s been promoted to Section Manager)

Why it would suck to work there: First of all Mr. Burns is a sociopath. He regularly belittles even his most trusted employees and shows little concern for the feelings of anyone with the exception of his raggedy teddy bear. If you have any moral compunction about destroying the environment, dumping toxic waste into lakes, producing three-eyed fish named Blinky, and distributing misleading pro-nuclear propaganda to school age children then this is definitely NOT the job for you.

Secondly the Safety Inspector’s name is Homer J. Simpson, even people who don’t watch the show know that Homer (as well as his disciples Peter Griffin, Stan Smith, and Cleveland Brown) is an idiot. Homer who at first was well-meaning but generally incompetent has devolved over the years into a barely functional retard. But the bigger concern here is Homer’s negligence. Over the years he has moonlighted at every job imaginable from prison warden to managing a country-western singer to astronaut. His frequent jaunts to exotic locales and months without even clocking in at the office have most likely resulted in the Power Plant being out of standard and in violation of every safety and environmental standard in the book The only reason the power plant survives is because of Ruper- uh I mean Montgomery Burn’s extreme wealth and the rampant corruption in Springfield Mayor Quimby’s City Hall.

#3 Counter Terrorist Unit – 24

What is it?: CTU is an elite government agency staffed with computer nerds, engineers, bureaucrats, and badass field agents who specialize in torturing terrorists and then cutting immunity deals for these same terrorists when the torture doesn’t work. They have prevented several nuclear and biological attacks on the country, mostly from within a 50 mile radius of Los Angeles (with less popular adventures in the Washington D.C. and New York area).

Why it would suck to work there: As much as Jack Bauer’s life sucks I’m not talking about him or Chloe for that matter. (I’ll explain why a little later). The average CTU employee is a techie engineer or nerd of some sort. These people toil under immense pressure and deadlines where being even seconds late with information can lead directly (or indirectly) to the deaths of thousands of people. But that’s not the worst part. The show 24 only depicts 8 days over the span of about 12 years. For the majority of the time CTU is not in crisis mode. Imagine being a newbie and on your first day an epic disaster occurs, a presidential candidate is under threat of assassination, terrorists have kidnapped the secretary of state, or several nuclear bombs go off in the Los Angeles area. Your mind would explode.

Also someone must contact OSHA about the unsafe and unfair work practices at CTU. Have you seen what happens when an employee goes to the bathroom on that show? I guarantee that after about 90 seconds someone busts in the bathroom “looking” for that employee and pretty much demanding that they leave the restroom and get back to their workstation. Also when do they eat? Eight seasons and never once did Chloe say to anyone “Hey, anybody wanna order Chinese?”

Also for a government agency responsible for the lives and security of 300 million Americans the background checks to get in CTU are extremely lax. Every season a Mole whose background is so shady he wouldn’t get hired by FEMA under the Bush Administration, manages to infiltrate CTU and assist the terrorists. But before they catch the mole the wrong person will be accused and subsequently tortured.

Let’s not forget about Rules And Protocols, they are for you and most CTU employees except for Jack Bauer and Chloe O’Brien they pretty much do what they want to do with little or no consequences. You on the other hand can be fired, and jailed for most of the things that they do. The Chinese were the only ones with the courage to actually make Jack pay for his various crimes against humanity. Such as violating the sovereignty of another nation’s embassy, ignoring the Geneva convention, habeas corpus, due process, Miranda rights, executing and beheading a federal witness, using heroin on duty, the Kyoto protocols (he drives SUVs almost exclusively), and screaming “damn it we’re running out of time” or some variation of such at least once every 4 hours.

(Also there’s a fairly good chance that if you’re name isn’t Jack Bauer or Chloe O’Brien, you might die). R.I.P. Terry Bauer, Nina Myers, Michelle Dessler, Bill Buchanan, Ryan Chappelle, Edgar Styles, Milo Pressman, Curtis , David Palmer, Graham Bauer, Paul Raines, etc etc etc …………..

#2 The New York Yankees – Seinfeld

What is it?: The New York Yankees have been buying championships since at least the Babe Ruth deal. It is the most loved and consequently most hated sports franchise in America (sorry Dallas Cowboys). For many decades though the team was ruled by a mercurial owner by the name of George Steinbrenner. He had become hated amongst Yankees fans by the mid 90’s for his meddling and willingness to trade players and fire managers at the drop of a dime. But still in fictional Jerry Seinfeld’s world working for the Yankees was the same dream job it is in the real universe. Or at least it seemed that way until George Constanza stumbled his way into a position as assistant to the traveling secretary.

Why It Would Suck To Work There: Well probably for the same reason it would have sucked to work there in real life and that’s mainly because George Steinbrenner who in reality acted like a caricature of an inept owner, was a caricature of the actual George Steinbrenner. (Take a second to think about how bad that is.) Also the train wreck that is George Constanza’s career would have some effect on your life eventually.

The Yankees were a mess when Costanza arrived. They were a team desperate to field a winner after years of futility. George C sealed it on his job interview by cussing out George S when given an opportunity to speak with him. That the Yankees would arbitrarily hire someone with no experience or qualifications to be a mid-level staffer after insulting the team’s owner says a lot about fake Steinbrenner’s decision making process.

During the reign of terror of the Two Georges, people were fired for eating Kung Pow chicken, George C was put in charge of procuring Calzones for George S, George C inadvertently gave his secretary a salary higher than his by blurting out “I’m giving you a raise!!!” during sex and than asking George S. to make good on his promise. George Constanza was promoted when he accidentally got his manager (a black guy by the name of Morgan) fired. And eventually Costanza’s career with the Yankees ended when he was traded to Tyson’s chicken by Steinbrenner.

How would you have fared under such mismanagement? Perhaps you would have been lucky enough to stay out of the path of George S. but George C’s shenanigans affected everyone from the staff to the fans to the players. In one example he infamously introduced 100% cotton uniforms to the players, which promptly shrunk after one rain delay. Also ask George’s first boss Morgan (the black guy who looked like Sugar Ray Leonard) who was fired because of George’s involuntary wink. Shit like that just seems to happen around Costanza.

#1 Princeton‑Plainsboro Teaching Hospital (PPTH) – House

What is it? This is a prestigious hospital in an affluent area of New Jersey within close proximity of an Ivy League university. One of the top emergency clinics, surgical practice, and one of the few diagnostic teams for rare ailments in the coun- no in the world. The top medical minds and the most affluent patients all seem to flock to this hospital. Also when other doctors at other hospitals are stumped they all refer their patients to see Dr. House and his revolving team of medical specialists.

Why it would suck: If you’ve ever seen the show then you know why it sucks to work at this hospital. Basically Dr. House is a major dick. Whether you’re his employee, his boss, his colleague, his girlfriend, his patient or just the guy in line behind him at the cafeteria he can make everyday of your life excruciating. Here are some examples:

Imagine spending years studying at a prestigious college, to go to a prestigious medical school and learning to be the best in your field, and finally being hired at one of the top hospitals in the country …. mainly because you’re a black guy that knows how to pick locks. How about having a hospital director who excuses, tolerates and at times condones the behavior of her most problematic employee because she has a huge lady-crush on him and later has a relationship with him? It’s obvious that Dr. House is brilliant and when he’s actually interested in your case and not in the middle of one of his drug-induced hallucinations he’s managed to save plenty of people from flesh-eating testicle cancer.

But imagine being a doctor in another department, constantly demeaned, undermined, humiliated and disrespected by the hospital director’s resident “genius”. Imagine witnessing a scared patient with a weird disease that’s going to kill him in a few days, hours or minutes, having to deal with an arrogant, unscrupulous, self-righteous asshole that makes the rules, breaks the rules, and judges everyone who shows even a bit of emotion in the face of death to be a moron.

Imagine being the janitorial staff that has to clean up after the guy who let farm animals loose in the hospital, or poisoned a staff member with a laxative as a prank. Consider being the pharmacist being audited by the DEA after discovering that his signature has been forged on over eighty prescriptions for Vicodin. Dr House is by all means a sociopath (I'm using that word a lot these days) with a severe case of Asperger’s Syndrome but I imagine that now that House’s safety net/punching bag/boss/girlfriend/the only reason he ever had to give a fuck about anything, is gone I’m sure he’ll be a pleasure to work with.

Uncle Herman's Cabin

2011-10-17T15:17:00.001-04:00

Calling Herman Cain an Uncle Tom is an insult to Uncle Tom. (Not that any of us who use the phrase have actually read Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin in the first place.) Herman Cain has more in common with M.C. Hammer. As a matter of fact I propose we use the phrase M.C. Hammer to describe someone whose career will be over as soon as old white people are no longer amused by his dancing and rapping.

Herman Cain is an insult to the black voter in this country, the same way Sarah Palin is an insult to the female voter. John McCain cynically nominated Sarah Palin in 2008 because he wanted to capitalize on all the women who felt that Barack Obama denied Hilary her right to the White House. In her first speech as the nominee she grabbed up a handful of the women who were voting for Hilary just because she was a woman but it turns out that most women are still Democrat-leaning in this country. And once they found out she was a bimbo whose intellect would be a mere moon in Hilary's orbit they ditched Palin and now she's reduced to being a traveling freak show, who "writes" books, "stars" in reality shows, "commentates" for Fox News, and pimps out her hypocritical whore of a daughter to Dancing With The Stars.

Herman Cain likewise is a retard. But in the Republican Party that's par for the course. The only G.O.P. candidate with any intellectual heft is Jon Huntsman and fittingly he's at the bottom of the pack. In 2011 the phrase "conservative intellectual" is quickly becoming an oxymoron, kind of like "moderate Republican" or "reasonable compromise". Herman Cain says black people vote Democrat because we're brainwashed, as if Lyndon Johnson didn't sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964 causing a mass exodus of southern racists to the Republican Party. That event was so powerful it moves the current of American Politics even to this day.

We shouldn't question the motives of people who vote Democrat. I'll question the motives of democratic politicians but not the voters. Here's the difference: Politicians exaggerate their own abilities in order to win elections. They oversimplify issues and they all want to seem as if they represent the common man. However once in office the policies they enact reflect the reality of the two party system. It's an arms race to raise campaign cash. Because of this even the most well meaning Democrat has to put a check on his crusade to actually help people. Democratic voters are just people who recognize that there is an uneven playing field and seek someone with intelligence and compassion to level it out. There may be a certain naïveté in that, but we are not delusional.

Republicans essentially run on the platform of "fuck you, help yourself" and they get poor white people to buy into it, by creating the specter of the "Other". You know the "Welfare Queen" or the Illegal Immigrant with a driver's liscense whose kids get to go to our schools etc etc. Their politics is the politics of separation. The politics of fear, and the politics of hate. So I laugh at any so-called fiscal conservative, or social conservative who trumpets the horn of Herman Cain. You are sacrificing your true principles for the Godfather Pizza guy.

Racism is so powerful that no one is above it. Racial conflict is at the root of all of this country's problems foreign and domestic. But if you're are black you can not point out, acknowledge, or even discuss race without being accused of pulling the race card. Every once in awhile the right wing presents us with someone like Michael Steele or Herman Cain so they can trumpet the lie that your skin color is irrelevant in regards to your success. "Look at Herman Cain, he's the perfect example". It's the political equivalent of "I have black friends".

Herman Cain is either one of two things. He's a self-hating black man whose seeks the acceptance of the establishment. Or he's a deluded misguided puppet being directed by a cabal of handlers who think "best case scenario we get a black guy to say all the inappropriate things that we are not allowed to say". So he can go on TV and tell us to take our bedroom slippers off and go out and get a job. An insultingly racist attack leveled at blacks essentially blaming us for our own disproportionately high unemployment rate. He can re-Cosby-fy the political conversation in America. Become the poster child for the fabled Black American success story. He can prove that Affirmative Action isn't necessary, because obviously the Black experience is the same as everybody else's.

Here's the flaw in the plan of these Republican political strategists. The people who you've been pandering to for the last 48 years are increasingly hostile towards Blacks. If the choice is Herman Cain or Barack Obama many of them will abstain from voting. There are too many people who are so un-colorblind that they won't be able to see the difference. Herman Cain can't win the Republican nomination. Although I'm sure secretly President Obama wishes he would. Because unlike 2008 I doubt he wants to run on the issues. I'm pretty certain that Obama relishes the distractions because every time they try to take him down with something frivolous he bobs and weaves and knocks it the fuck out.

I've never been fond of the Republican message but it sounds just plain retarded coming from the CEO (or former CEO) of a big corporation. "The government is too big, it's broken". The government is broken because of the undue influence of huge corporations. So why the hell would we elect a CEO of a huge corporation to be President?

And while we're on the subject what the hell is Godfather Pizza? I live in Philly and I've never heard of it. I've heard of Pizza Hut, Domino's, Lil Caesar's , Papa John's, Sbarro's, California Pizza Kitchen, Uno Pizza, Chuck E. Cheese, but not one Godfather Pizza. I'm hesitant to even Google it because it sounds like some shit that just doesn't belong here, like Piggly-Wiggly, Hardee's or Jack-in-the-Box. It's probably some disgusting prefabricated frozen-for-optimal-reheating bullshit that helps keep Midwesterners the second fattest group of people in America (behind Philadelphians but we're fat because our food actually tastes GOOD).

The bottom line is this Herman Cain is the sick punch line to any unfunny joke. His economic plan 9 9 9 is a strategy that economists laugh at. (9 percent flat income tax, 9 percent national sales tax, and 9 percent "business" tax). Under his plan the majority of people including the beleaguered "middle class" will probably pay a little more taxes, while corporations already taxed at the lowest rate since the 50's will pay even less. He hasn't even made to the general election yet before showing us the true intentions of his masters.

P.S. (What's so exciting about Herman Cain? If he was white wouldn't he be just another Republican Douchebag).

My iLife

2011-10-13T17:42:00.002-04:00

I love hip-hop, I love sports (both real and fantasy), I love movies, I love videogames, books, comic books, and I'm a huge fan of scripted TV ( not so much of the reality variety) but if I had to specialize in one thing I would be a tech blogger. I'm a huge fan of technology. Anything that makes life easier/cooler fascinates me. So you can imagine that for me the death of Steve Jobs, who made life easier/cooler for everybody, was probably the most significant death of a non-political figure since Michael Jackson.

I am not and probably will never be a "mac" guy per se. But the first computer I ever touched was an Apple IIe back when a "floppy disk" was actually floppy. My mother is a computer nerd so yes we did have the first Macintosh. But something happened during the early 90's. Windows became the end all be all of computing. Bill Gates became THE preeminent nerd in our society and Apple became an oddity in the world of computing. Mac's weren't seen as cool just weird and weirdly inaccessible. They didn't play nice with other computers the way windows did.

By the time I got to college the PC's dominance over Mac was well established at least in the business world. Creative types had developed any affinity for Mac especially as it related to the audio and visual arts. There is even an urban legend that persists to this day that Mac's don't get viruses. (Don't believe the hype they most certainly do). Coincidentally I picked a college that was known for it's embrace of Apple. But my freshman year was the year they did a backflip and landed firmly on the side of PC's. You could still see lingering signs of Drexel University's past though with the odd lonely Mac set aside in the corner of the computer lab's basement.

As an information systems major in 1998 I had little to no patience for Macs. They were frivolous by that point. More concerned with aesthetics than with actually being useful to anybody for anything. And to top it all off the new iMacs with their fruity colors seemed to be a desperate plea for attention. "Look at me" they said. What I didn't know (or care to know at that point) was that the iMac was quickly becoming the best selling desktop computer on the market.

Apple slowly but surely insinuated itself into every aspect of my life. When I was a hip-hop artist I couldn't help but notice that studio engineers preferred to run pro tools on Mac. When we shot our first video I was introduced to a program called Final Cut Pro by the video's directors. A design arts major showed me his self produced comic book on his Mac.

The difference between early 90's Apple and late 90's/Early 2000's Apple was largely Steve Jobs. A visionary pushed out of his own company by pencil pushers with no imagination had returned and brought his old company back out of the gutter restoring it to and then surpassing its former glory.

I'll use myself as an example. In 2006 I learned that iPods make great gifts because I brought one for my girlfriend at the time, and also received one for Christmas. In 2009 I got my first iPhone (the 3Gs) I broke that phone and had it repaired so many times. When I broke it to the point where it was beyond repair I upgraded to the iPhone 4.

In 2010 I started a video production company with a friend. I knew almost nothing about video production at the time but before I knew anything I told him we were definitely going with Mac. I am a big fan of the Windows' versatility and I was not one of those people turned off by Windows Vista or Windows 7. As a matter of fact my Dell Laptop at home satisfies all my personal computer needs. But I was now rejoining the tribe of the creative. And as such a Mac is an essential tool. The very thing I had mocked about Macs as a PC user during the 90's was now the very reason why I was ready to return back to my computing roots. The simplicity of its interface is still unmatched despite Windows earnest attempts at swagger jacking.

I live in iWorld thanks to Steve Jobs. Now like every iPhone user I eagerly await the announcement of the "next" iPhone. Last week the iPhone 4s was announced to cheers and jeers. (Cheers because it's great and fun to use, Jeers because it looks the same as the iPhone 4 and isn't called the iPhone 5). And Steve Jobs died. Also most importantly I lost my iPad.

That's right I had received a very generous gift of a 64 Gig iPad 1 with 3G and Wifi right around the time the iPad 2 came out (thanks again Dad). When the iPad first came out I foolishly dismissed it. "I don't see the purpose" I said.
"I wouldn't waste the money on it" I said. And dumbest of all "I don't NEED it, I already have an iPhone". After having my very own iPad for the past few months I can no longer envision a life without it.

Last Friday much to my dismay my iPad disappeared. I retraced my steps in my head a thousand times but couldn't come up with a plausible scenario. I didn't leave it in the Jamaican spot cuz I didn't have it there. Could I have left it at work? I drove all the way back to my job on a Saturday no less. Alas it was nowhere to be found. My guess was the cleaning crew swiped it. But just in case when the office resumed business hours on Tuesday I checked to see if it was turned into lost and found. No such luck.

With the impending release of iOS 5 I was definitely in mourning. For the past 6 days I've been in a state of perpetual gloom. I've contemplated the unthinkable (ponying up the $829 for an iPad 2) and the unbearable (learning to live without an iPad for even a short period of time, let alone forever). After research I discovered I would have to give out 17 pints of blood, or take out a loan on my 401k. I briefly considered selling crystal meth or pretending to be a catholic priest and collect money for exorcisms.

Finally today I resigned myself to a miserable post iPad life. I deserved it for being careless. This morning as I settled myself into my desk at work a co-worker stopped by and asked the best question I've ever been asked in my life " Hey Eric, are you missing something?".

I wish I believed in God so I could thank him. But instead all the thanks goes to the person who actually deserves it my honest co-worker. She saved me from donating all of my blood or committing a felony or ruining my retirement or living miserably without my favorite toy.

And that is the genius of Steve Jobs. My iPad something that should be a luxury item. An item which I couldn't afford to buy in the first place has all of a sudden become essential to my mental well-being. Maybe I'm crazy, maybe I need therapy. Naw... there's an app for that.

Book Of The Month: Back To Our Future

2011-09-28T17:44:00.001-04:00

This month's book of the months is one of those books that you'll talk about to people you barely like. Because its premise is one of those "Why didn't I think of that?" ideas that people love. The author David Sirota contends that the 1980s (and specifically the pop culture of the 1980s) influence almost every aspect of life in the United States today.

While it's obvious when looking at multiplex receipts (A-Team, G.I. Joe, Transformers, Smurfs) that 80's intellectual property is being recycled at an alarming rate. He goes further than that even. He shows how our politics today is being shaped by a bunch of people who came of age during the height of an 80's propaganda blitz like no other. Because of the rise of multimedia conglomerates like Time Warner, and the spread of the VCR, and cable, along with the newfound awareness of branding pioneered by Star Wars.

The messages we we're bombarded with my surprise you. David Sirota makes the argument that the 80's were used to discredit and rollback all social progress made in the 60's and 70's and create an artificial yearning for the 1950's as a model for society. His primary example of this was the show Family Ties, where the main characters were initially the loose liberal parents but suddenly became the smarter more rational conservative super young republican son Alex P. Keaton. We see that reflected today in the lopsided way our politics convert all political issues to favor the conservative perspective. Also when we hear rhetoric such as "take our country back". If indeed the people who spout this trash are yearning for the 1950's as the archetype for how things "should" be. They are harkening back to an era of extreme discrimination and lynching, where all minorities and Blacks in particular were nothing more than second class citizens. No wonder they oppose Obama he is the personification of all the progress which they have worked so hard to prevent.

Another message we learned from the 80's was that everybody is special and special people get special treatment. I'm not sure how many times the name "Michael Jordan" is mentioned in this book but enough to drive home a very good point. In the 1980's America decided it was through with that whole teamwork thing. You had the emergence of the Special Person. That someone so talented that they transcend the concept of team and put it all on their back. Marketing execs and political strategists everywhere took note. As gullible children (80's babies we like to call ourselves) we soaked up this message transmitted through Nike commercials that we could be special too. That we somehow can be the Michael Jordan of whatever we do and transcend the rest. The only problem with this is they never made a Nike commercial about Steve Kerr passing Jordan the ball. What we end up with is the death of the "team" as a concept and in its place we get a group of loosely united individuals who all demand the same attention regardless of their talent. (It's one of the reasons why basketball kinda sucks today).

Other topics include theories on why the Cosby Show killed any last remnants of the civil rights movement by assuaging white guilt about the economic plight of blacks. And how Bush recreated the scene from Top Gun, and used 80's cartoon language to describe Osama Bin Laden. (I also have a post where I lump together Bin Laden and Cobra Commander written before I read this book. Really check my archives).

If I was crazy I would think that David Sirota had been eavesdropping on some of the conversations I have with my friends before he wrote this book. But then again me and my friends are 80's babies to the core so we all speak the same language. This might be one of the first times I've read a non-fiction book and agreed with 95% of what the author had to say. If you were born between the years of 1975- and 1988 please read this book. It will open your eyes like nothing ever before.

Another State Sponsored Murder

2011-09-22T10:32:00.002-04:00

I'm probably not going to say anything about this Troy Davis situation that hasn't been said before. But then again maybe I am. I have evolved as a person over my 30 years of life. As a child with a simplistic view of the world and a skewed concept of life and death, I was anti-abortion, pro-death penalty and didn't understand how that clashed with Christianity, of which I purported to be a follower of. In 2011 I'm pro-choice (not that I agree that abortion is always the best choice, but for some women it is), I'm anti-death penalty because executing someone solves nothing and can not bring anybody back and am most certainly not a Christian although my views probably mesh better with teachings of Christ than any so-called religious conservative.

The problem with Troy Davis isn't whether or not he was guilty. That always seems to be besides the point in a case like this. It is because Amerikkka (I tend to spell it like that when we get on our Apartheid ish) goes apeshit when a cop gets killed. It is so hard for African-Americans to fully integrate and assimilate with the larger American myth because this is the biggest of lies that continues to persist. The lie is that a cop by default is good, and then sometimes there are bad cops. So when one of the good guys goes down, the thirst for revenge kicks into overdrive, because after all this isn't a regular person this a cop and cops are better than regular people. And Troy Davis wasn't a regular person, he was black and in Amerikkka, Black People are barely people at all.

It so easy for the pundits to talk cavalierly about a man's life, and I know every Black new anchor in the country bristles when they have to tow the line about "for the family of the officer, justice was served". I would have taken the day off if I had to read the news this morning. I would have quit in protest or walked off the air. Cuz that is complete and total bullshit. Death isn't the servant of justice. The two have no correlation.

If a family member of mine were killed I wouldn't ask for the death penalty for the suspect. Even if they had him on videotape, or had all of his DNA all over the scene. Even if the prosecution's case was airtight and he had exhausted all of appeals. If every juror was convinced of his guilt and none of the witnesses recanted. Even if Jesus himself came down from Heaven and said "You know what, kill him, I'm cool with that". Death does not equal justice. If the loss of life of another human being consoles you than you are just as bad as the "murderer". When is killing someone not murder? Only if it's euthanasia.

The prospect of any one , but in particular the wrong man being executed should mortify everyone. But not in Amerikkka. Bloodlust, Xenophobia, Jingoism and Racism have created a climate where the execution of 200 plus people over the past 10 years by Gov Rick Perry has turned him into a GOP favorite. We live in a climate where free healthcare is deemed dangerous. It is considered morally superior to let sick people die or go into debt to live.

Sometimes it's so hard being an American. And today is one of those days if you're Black. Today proves that you will never be accepted and always been seen as other and lesser. Blacks receive the death penalty at 4 times the rate of Whites. We will always be pawns in the war between the haves and the have-nots. Rich White People will always be able to point us and say to poor white people "You may not have much but you'll always be better than them, Don't change the status quo because when things get better for them, they get worse for you. And let us protect you from them so you can become more like us".

Troy Davis was as much a victim of today's political climate as his "alleged" victim was of murder. That's all the death penalty does. It doesn't create peace, it doesn't serve justice. It just creates more victims. And that's the country we live in. Eye for an Eye eh. I haven't been to church in awhile but that doesn't sound very Christian to me. Rest in Peace bruh.

Eleven Days Of 9/11 Day 11: The Final Word

2011-09-11T11:03:00.001-04:00

Among all the tributes and solemn moments of silence etc etc, we’ll all pledge to remember. This pledge is asinine, of course we’ll remember. But we should remember it the way our grandparents remember Pearl Harbor or the Great Depression. As something terrible but distant. We should no longer be fearful or angry, or deeply depressed. It seems as though our nation’s largest city has Post Traumatic stress disorder. But it’s not just limited to New York it seems as if our whole country has gone a little bit nuts.

Every one deals with grief differently, and we all have different tolerance levels for pain. Some people would be deeply offended by most of things I’ve said over the course of the past eleven days. I just wish the memory of the terror victims wasn’t used so callously to justify two illegal wars and the Bush Doctrine. I wish 4,000 lives hadn’t been reduced to a political talking point.

I wish there were no military tribunals and that terrorists (who are criminals by the way) were tried in the traditional legal system. I wish we could close Guantanamo Bay, and pull the troops out of all foreign engagements today. I wish President Obama was more like Candidate Obama.

Also while we’re commemorating the anniversary of the attacks and feeling all patriotic, I’d like to take a look at what patriotism is. In our society today any anti-war message is deemed subversive and anti-patriotic. We were told that we would be greeted as liberators in Iraq. The disturbing part is that there were so few skeptics. Nobody is making the connection between American Imperialist Foreign Policy and terrorism. A Patriot should be able to criticize its country freely. Saying you think the War on Terror was a ruse to escalate military spending and capitalize on foreign oil isn’t disrespectful to the soldiers.

I urge everyone who reads this blog to be a better student of history. And if you’re not going to be then at least be more skeptical. Anytime a man in a suit gets on TV to explain why a man in a uniform is going to another country to die, question the motives. Because on a very basic fundamental level it makes no sense.

I wish I could say that some lessons were learned from 9/11/2001 but ultimately I think not. I think we now have a generation of Americans with no concept of civil rights, no concept of civil liberties, no concept of cooperation and diplomacy. We have people on Medicare decrying socialism. We have a bunch of people who let Bush do whatever he wanted, laying down in the road to block Obama on the simplest of issues, because he’s black (let’s stop beating around that Bush, pun intended).

In the end we’re still the same racist, sexist, jingoistic, xenophobic, obese, underachieving, narcissistic assholes we were in 2001. The only social progress we made in the past decade is that it’s now taboo to use homosexual slurs. Congratulations.

If the terrorists are patient they can just sit back and watch us implode, because we are doing more harm to ourselves than four jetliners could ever do. So I take it back the terrorist didn’t win, but people who hate America should just sit back and enjoy the show.

Eleven Days Of 9/11 Day 10: The Art of War and other stuff

2011-09-10T20:09:00.003-04:00

Believe it or not there are some other things that happened in 2001 besides the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Of course those terrorist attacks were the most significant thing but let’s talk about some other things.

In 2001 I suffered some personal property loss and the loss of an Aunt and a Grandfather. Also in August of 2001 I co-wrote a rap song called “The Art of War”. In my verse and on the hook of the song, I speak as if I’m the living personification of war. I name drop Hitler, Osama Bin Laden, and George W. Bush. Why I called out Bin Laden in particular out of all the terrorists, why I called out George W. Bush even though he had been in office less than 7 months and heretofore had not been involved in any major military engagements? I couldn’t tell you. It was almost as if I anticipated the very presence of a Bush in the White House being provocative to terrorists.

Other precursors to 9/11 occurred in pop culture. A television show focused on counterterrorism called “24” went into production. And the pilot episode of the short lived X-Files spin-off “The Lone Gunmen” focused on a plot to fly a plane into the Twin Towers. A month before 9/11 the R&B singer Aaliyah died in a plane crash.

Perhaps more significant to hip-hop heads everywhere was Jay-Z’s legendary “The BluePrint” album which dropped on Tuesday, September 11^th, 2001. The album went on to sell a million copies the first week despite a significant portion of Jay-Z’s fanbase being directly affected by the terror attacks that hit his beloved hometown of New York. Also 2001 was the year of the Jay-Z/Nas beef. On the Blueprint Jay-Z famously called out Nas on the track “The Takeover”. Nas responded with one of the hardest diss records of all time “Ether”. If you were a hip-hop head in 2001 you had other things on your mind besides terrorism.

Other things that happened in 2001:

Wikipedia launches.

AOL merges with Time Warner

The Anthrax Attacks (the attacker attempted to pin it on Muslims but it was a white scientist dude)

Timothy McVeigh (the Oklahoma city Bomber) was executed on June 11^th

Also there was Richard Reid the shoe bomber, making airport travel and little more uncomfortable for all of us

Eleven Days of 9/11 Day 9: The Narcissism of American Fear

2011-09-09T16:42:00.002-04:00

This is for all the people who walk around in perpetual fear of a terror attack. If you stay afraid then the terrorists don't have to do anything. It's like the bully who didn't even have to punch you to get your lunch money, you already lost. For others with less fearful reactions but legitimate concerns about encountering terrorist attacks I have some great advice to help/scare the shit out of you.

Here is the thing about terrorists, you don't know where or when they'll hit. Part of this is because the definition of terrorism is so broad. Another part of this is because terrorist attacks like most crimes are successful because you lack the knowledge of when and where they will occur and who the victims will be. Did any of the Unabomber's victims have a clue? Is there anything they could have done differently in Oklahoma City (the obligatory Timothy McVeigh reference)? If you live in a crowded city or on a military base, you have good chance of encountering terrorists. However terror plots have been foiled in small town America as well. So pretty much anyone at any time could be killed. Here's a real sounding fake statistic that I just made up: 80% of morbidly obese people are more worried about terrorism than dying from a heart attack, even though statistically speaking the terrorist attack is an anomaly and the heart attack is inevitable.

Being afraid for yourself in the case of terrorist attacks is a little bit narcissistic don't you think? You really think that of all the people in the U.S. at this moment that terrorists with their busy schedule of terrorizing and terroristy activities like grenade tossing, oil price fixing and suicide bomb class are targeting your simple ass? Why? Because it happened to some people on TV, and everything that you see on TV can happen to all of us right?

Some things that are more likely to happen to you than dying in a terrorist attack: Meeting Michael Jackson (even though he's already dead), winning the lottery, playing for the Yankees, spotting bigfoot, rewriting East Side High's school song, discovering Uranium, traveling back in time to 1975 and investing in Microsoft (thereby becoming a billionaire). But none of those things will ever happen to you. And I'm pretty sure you'll never die in a terrorist attack. I'm so sure that if you do die in a terrorist attack all you have to do is comment on this post and I'll apologize for being insensitive.

Now being weary of terrorism because you don't want ANYONE at all to die a horrible violent death, is noble and to be commended. If it's all about hopes and wishes instead of fear that's a totally different spin. I sincerely hope that no one else dies violently. And I really wish there was a way to stop terrorism from ever striking ANYONE in ANY COUNTRY. Unfortunately I can almost guarantee that some one somewhere will die as the result of an act of terrorism. I'm just 99.9% sure that it won't be me or you.

Eleven Days of 9/11 Day 8: Islam Exonerated

2011-09-08T15:07:00.004-04:00

I think it's amazing how some people preach tolerance, love and peace until the shit hits the fan. Then all that happy feel good "love they neighbor" "turn the other cheek" "we're all Americans" bullshit goes right out the window. It's easy to be the good guy when everything is fine, but when your principles get tested how do you respond? And to me that is the fundamental American failure of 9/11.

The fear and anger on display immediately after the attacks were touted as "human" responses. But the racism and religious persecution? Well, that's a human response as well. But what about a month later, or a year, or five years, or a decade? You would expect America to recover from its fear and anger and return to its Christian ways right? Well that depends on if you're just stupid or flat out retarded.

The reason why 9/11 incensed so many is it showed how fragile we were. How these towers of steel and metal were idols dedicated to our true gods Money and Power. And in our minds those backwater Muslims don't get it. Except that's not true. Muslims understand Money and Power just as well as we do. You have to remember that OPEC the oil cartel that controls the world is composed of a lot of Arab countries. These Super Rich Muslims may be Muslim the same way most of the Christians I know are Christians (which is to say hardly devout or serious at all about their beliefs) but they are Muslim nonetheless.

All rich people understand Money and Power though. I think it's the poor people that tell us the true story of a country. Poor people in America have been brainwashed into thinking that hard work will make them rich. Poor people in those Arab countries never believed it, they've been suffering too long. They also rejected the hyper-violent caricature of Islamic Fundamentalism. That's the broad brush the Right Wing Propaganda Machine tried to paint all Muslims with in the wake of 9/11. But saying the 9/11 hijackers represent Islam is like saying the KKK represents Christianity. How about if we told them that 10 years after 9/1l disenfranchised poor Muslims would overthrow their corrupt leaders all over the world without resorting to any terrorism.

The question isn't whether or not Bush would have supported the Arab Spring. The question is: How badly would he have fucked it up? One thing the rich don't have to worry about in America is an organized overthrow of the status quo. We Americans mollify, patronize, and coddle the few young people who even give a shit about the bigger picture. And our Law Enforcement and Military are trained to beat them into submission if they ever decide to emulate their brethren in the Muslim world.

Eleven Days of 9/11 Day 7: Homeland Insecurity

2011-09-07T17:31:00.001-04:00

If I was ever elected President (it would be a cold day in hell indeed) the first thing I would do is dismantle the Department of Homeland Security. Its whole existence is a knee jerk reaction. Nothing good or thoughtful has ever been created in a moment of a panic. We already had something in place to protect the security of our homeland, it's called the military. Terrorism however isn't about national security, its crime plain and simple. And terrorism should be treated like any other form of organized crime, with a healthy dose of F.B.I.

After 9/11 the blame game was played and there was plenty to go around. You would think that so many safeguards had to fail for something as epic as four different planes being hijacked and flown into major cities. But not really, one organization would primarily be in charge of stopping something like that. The F.B.I.. If a bunch of Christian Cult Separatists in Omaha, Nebraska, decided to fly planes into the Twin Towers nobody would blame the C.I.A., the N.S.A. or the FAA.

Which begs the question: What exactly is the point of the DHS? Well for one thing they absorbed the much maligned Federal Emergency Management Agency better known as FEMA which you probably remember was less than prepared for Hurricane Katrina in 2005. We all blamed FEMA head Michael Brown, but Michael Chertoff the head of Homeland Security (and co-author of the Patriot Act) got a pass. The reason why is because the phrase "Homeland Security" is so broad as to be meaningless.

Another thing about homeland security is its redundancy. If by Homeland Security we mean against terrorism (which is a crime) then we have the Department of Justice. If we mean security against foreign enemies we have the Department of Defense and the State Department. If we mean protection against natural disasters and such we have the Department of The Interior. If we mean financially secure we have the Department of Treasury. Homeland Security shouldn't even exist. So far their most notable achievement is making airport travel extremely uncomfortable for all of us.

But this is the thing about America, we are always fighting yesterday's war and we never ask why in a moment of panic. Nobody asked why we needed a Department of Homeland Security because we were all scared shitless. (Again when I say we I'm not really including myself it's just much less condescending that way). Nobody knows what Threat Level Orange means in comparison to Threat Level Yellow But we skeptics suspect that the threat level went up every other November for a reason.

The reason why I hate the Department of Homeland Security so much is because it sounds like something a super villain would come up with. To think that Bush/Cheney came up with it before Castro, or Saddam, or Gaddafi, or even Dr. Doom is ironic.

Eleven Days Of 9/11 Day 6: The Original Ground Zero

2011-09-06T17:11:00.001-04:00

It's been ten years so I'll risk being a little callous in finding the irony in the 9/11 attacks. After 9/11 what was once the World Trade Center was now known as Ground Zero. This is the most ironic use of Ground Zero ever. You may or may not know the origins of the phrase Ground Zero. But I'll elaborate for you.

In the 1940's there was a little thing called the Manhattan Project (Manhattan Project hmmm). Now the Manhattan Project wasn't a run of the mill ordinary experiment. It was actually a military funded initiative that resulted in the creation of the most destructive force that the world had ever known.

J. Robert Oppenheimer was the most dangerous nerd in the history of the world. While not quoting apocalyptic verses from the Bhagavad-Gita , he was essential to the project and the development of the Atomic Bomb which was first detonated in Trinity, New Mexico in 1945. This New Mexico detonation was just a test.

When the bomb was dropped for real for real on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the death toll was close to 250,000 people, mostly women and children. This changed the face of war forever. The nuclear threat, let nation-states everywhere know that fighting the U.S. unilaterally would likely result in their annihilation.

Soon every country with money and know-ho was building their own nuclear arsenal. The United States (also Great Britain, who never opposes U.S. foreign policy and mostly follows us blindly) and the U.S.S.R. who were briefly aligned during WWII became fierce competitors on the world stage. Instead of fighting each other in open warfare, they would instigate conflicts in other regions of the world and fight using proxy warriors. One of these proxy warriors was Osama Bin Laden (others include Saddam Hussein, Manuel Noriega and Idi Amin). His mujahedeen joined the fight against the U.S.S.R. in Afghanistan as portrayed in movies such as Charlie Wilson's War. After the conclusion of that conflict Bin Laden's CIA trained group was abandoned by the U.S. laying the seed for the hatred that would manifest itself on 9/11.

The original Ground Zero was the Shima Hospital in Hiroshima, Japan on August 6th, 1946. (That's right we hit a goddamned hospital with the most unstable destructive force in the history of the world). The Manhattan Project created the concept of ground zero and on September 11th, 2001, Manhattan became Ground Zero. I think Malcolm X would have said something controversial about the nature of chickens and where they return to roost. Now before you accuse me of being callous ask yourself do you think 4,000 American lives matter more than 250,000 Japanese. If you don't then stop referring to the site as Ground Zero as if it's the preeminent Ground Zero, because in the order of magnitude of manmade tragedies the 9/11 attacks don't even come close to Hiroshima.

Eleven Days of 9/11 Day 5: The Speech

2011-09-05T19:18:00.001-04:00

"I stand before you as someone who is not opposed to war in all circumstances. The Civil War was one of the bloodiest in history, and yet it was only through the crucible of the sword, the sacrifice of multitudes, that we could begin to perfect this union and drive the scourge of slavery from our soil

I don't oppose all wars. My grandfather signed up for a war the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, fought in Patton's army. He fought in the name of a larger freedom, part of that arsenal of democracy that triumphed over evil.

I don't oppose all wars. After September 11, after witnessing the carnage and destruction, the dust and the tears, I supported this administration's pledge to hunt down and root out those who would slaughter innocents in the name of intolerance, and I would willingly take up arms myself to prevent such tragedy from happening again.

I don't oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.

What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income, to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression.

That's what I'm opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics.

Now let me be clear: I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power.... The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him.

But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors...and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history.

I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences.

I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda.

I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars. So for those of us who seek a more just and secure world for our children, let us send a clear message to the president.

You want a fight, President Bush? Let's finish the fight with Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, through effective, coordinated intelligence, and a shutting down of the financial networks that support terrorism, and a homeland security program that involves more than color-coded warnings.

You want a fight, President Bush? Let's fight to make sure that...we vigorously enforce a nonproliferation treaty, and that former enemies and current allies like Russia safeguard and ultimately eliminate their stores of nuclear material, and that nations like Pakistan and India never use the terrible weapons already in their possession, and that the arms merchants in our own country stop feeding the countless wars that rage across the globe.

You want a fight, President Bush? Let's fight to make sure our so-called allies in the Middle East, the Saudis and the Egyptians, stop oppressing their own people, and suppressing dissent, and tolerating corruption and inequality, and mismanaging their economies so that their youth grow up without education, without prospects, without hope, the ready recruits of terrorist cells.

You want a fight, President Bush? Let's fight to wean ourselves off Middle East oil through an energy policy that doesn't simply serve the interests of Exxon and Mobil.

Those are the battles that we need to fight. Those are the battles that we willingly join. The battles against ignorance and intolerance. Corruption and greed. Poverty and despair."

Illinois State Senator – Barack Obama (October 2002)

Eleven Days of 9/11 Day 4: The Blank Check

2011-09-04T10:47:00.001-04:00

Let’s get this out of the way. If you are white then there is a 90% chance that you were all like “let’s stand behind our president” immediately following the 9/11 attacks. As a matter of fact you don’t even have to be a white American. I think the whole white world give Bush a free pass that day.

The initial aftereffect of 9/11 was that the entire western world had our back. They were ready. Not to mention at home where people appeared to be unconcerned about things like the Patriot Act which was so invasive it would have never passed without a little help from Islamic fundamentalism. Anybody and everybody who professed to be a lover of our country absolutelhy had to support the Administration’s every move.

There was a lot of reaching, a lot of abuse of power and a lot of plain old deception. Some of the things that blank check was used for: warrantless phone taps, false evidence of WMD in Iraq, propping a Pakistani regime that we know now was openly supporting Al-Qaeda, tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans under the false proposition that this is good for the economy, installing puppet leaders in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the outing of a C.I.A. agent, etc etc etc. I could go on about the corruption, conspiracy, and the dark side of the Bush years, but if you’re still reading at this point I’m probably preaching to the choir.

I, and most of the people in my circle, am part of the Hip-hop generation. Listening to hip-hop music, and being black in America, should be enough for us to have an inherent distrust of authority. Being skeptical for us is more than a knee-jerk reaction to politics, it’s a survival mechanism. So none of us are rah-rah flag waving patriots. But skepticism is not cynicism is not cynicism, (although I’m a bit cynical too).

The backlash against the blank check that mainstream (re: white) America gave Bush is that these same people who gave President moron whatever he wanted, won’t cut the current president a break on even the most mundane issues. If the Democrats had locked arms and logjammed our political process at every turn after 9/\11 they would have been denounced as supporting the terrorists. Bush said many times “you’re either with us or them”. There was this 1984-esque view of society where any dissension from popular opinion was derided as treasonous.

We should never ever ever write another blank check again. And now you know why. Because when you allow the Administration to abuse your trust, you wind up a jilted lover who can never trust again. Obama has to be sick of being blamed for what the last guy did.

Eleven Days of 9/11 Day 3: The Blowjob That Almost Destroyed Our Country

2011-09-03T10:38:00.002-04:00

Osama Bin Laden wasn’t George W. Bush’s nemesis. That titlegoes to Saddam Hussein. OBL was actuallyBill Clinton’s enemy. In the mid to late 90’s President Clinton wanted to killBin Laden. He had him targeted for assassination and at some point intended tomake Bin Laden his number one priority. You see Bin Laden’s hatred of Americawas no great secret. He spoke out publicly about his intentions to strike outagainst our country. But alas the pursuit of Bin Laden eventually fell off ofBill Clinton’s radar. You might ask what he was up to that was so pressing thathe couldn’t focus on pursuing the world’s most dangerous terrorist. Well he wasbusy fighting for his presidency because he had the audacity to receive oralsex in the oval office. ( Which should be the right of every president).

You see a congressional witch hunt which resulted in animpeachment for perjury, was part of the scandal plagued politics of the 90’s.Bill Clinton knew how to walk and chew gum at the same time. Hell he wasgetting chewies while negotiating with heads of state (no pun intended). And weall know he’s not the first or last politician to cheat on his wife. There arewhole websites dedicated to political sex perversion. But it was with doggeddetermination that the Republican party pursued Clinton.

He was the Teflon Don though. Everything from real estatefraud, to his first few well documented affairs, to a suicide which conspiracytheorists say was a murder to cover up his real estate fraud, was pinned onhim. But he shook all that shit off. Once he was re-elected in ’96 he couldfinally get to the business of running the country. The political will of theopposition party was dying. And they actually *gasp* began comprising on someissues for the good of the country.

Foreign policy wise we were helping out the newly freedstates of the former U.S.S.R. when it became obvious that they were alldetermined to kill each other. And we had some embassy bombings in Africa. Aswell as that whole Black Hawk Down thing in Somalia. The Genocide in Rwandawent largely ignored. We still periodically bombed Iraq, but it wasn’t frontpage news and nobody really cared. But back up a second. The Embassy bombingsin Africa. Those were the work of Bin Laden. A sign that he was going out ofhis way to hurt anything or anyone affiliated with the United States.

Bill Clinton’s greatest regret while handing the keys to thenukes over to Dubya was that he let Bin Laden get away. He told Bush where BinLaden was, and what he was determined to do. What Bush did with thisinformation is anybody’s guess. But I think he filed it under E for “intel” (I’msure Bush isn’t a good speller) and then promptly forget about it.

Eleven Days of 9/11 Day 2: The Appointed President

2011-09-02T15:14:00.002-04:00

I can't even begin to pretend to understand the motivations of a man like Osama Bin Laden. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the 9/11 attacks, but he wasn't the "mastermind" behind the attacks that title was given to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (I'll have more on all these people in later posts) But what I do understand is that if they wanted to paint America as arrogant, insensitive, bumbling occupiers, they couldn't have picked a better President for the U.S. than George W. Bush.

My need to dismantle George W. Bush has diminished little since the events of November 2000, when he unlawfully usurped control of the United States with the help of the Supreme Court mostly appointed by the Republican Presidents preceded him. I know this is ancient history to most people and therefore not relevant. (Yes in America our flawed logic is that if something happened more than one news cycle ago then it doesn't matter). But try to imagine a President that doesn't spend every last bit of his political capital pandering to the nut jobs of his party.

George W. Bush's legacy will be hotly debated because textbook companies have to conform to Texas's school boards or face the prospect of not being widely adopted. So I'm sure they will downplay the feeling of ineptitude that he exuded as a man with the title "Commander-in-Chief". I'm sure they won't mention him continuing to read "My Pet Goat" to kindergarteners after he was told "The Country is under attack" .

One thing they won't be able to hide thanks to YouTube is his repeated use of Hollywood clichés, outdated colloquialisms, and Saturday morning cartoon terminology. I cringed every single time I heard the leader of the free world use the word "evildoers". Bush was worse than a simpleton. He was an imposter, a fraud, a New Englander playing Cowboy down in Texas. I won't rehash his many failures, but I will say that his persona and "swagger" were uniquely suited to fuck things up in the worst way possible.

As a man of limited vision and competency his goals were not his own. His policies were drafted by oil companies and defense contractors and his philosophy rarely extended beyond "God wants me to be president". And " They hate us for our freedom".

When 9/11 happened anyone who calls their self "politically conscious" had to be thinking "Why did this have to happen now"? I knew immediately on that day in 2001 that those four hijacked planes had just ensured 8 years of Republican mismanagement and started at least one senseless war. (I would learn in less than a month, that Iraq was imminent as well, because of the earnest attempt to connect enemies Hussein and Bin Laden)

Many times as a concerned citizen during the years between 2001 and 2009 I shook my head and cursed Bin Laden. If the goal of the 9/11 attacks was to make America a worse place, than that goal was achieved by ensuring that the following decade was dominated by the will of the greedy, corrupt, inept and ignorant Republican Party. We are still trying to recover today.

Eleven Days of 9/11 Day 1: Pride Cometh Before The Fall

2011-09-01T11:49:00.001-04:00

God Bless America! People say that without thinking about what it means. You are asking the God that you believe in (nine times out of ten the Christian God that you believe in) to bestow blessings upon your country. But the way most people say it, it doesn't come across as if there is any doubt. They are telling God to Bless America, or they are saying that God has already blessed America. They are implying that our nation is divinely ordained as great.

If you subscribe to the "America is The Greatest Nation in The History Of The World" Theory, then you wake up everyday ignorant. No nation can be inherently good. A country SHOULD look out for the interests of its people in theory, especially a democracy like the U.S. What often happens though is that those in power are more concerned with maintaining that power. Politicians, whether they be dually elected officials, or tyrannical dictators with their foot firmly on the neck of the opposition, are concerned first and foremost with self preservation. This fits right in with my theory that the primary function of any large organization or system is making sure that it continues to exist.

The United States of America has throughout history existed by being flexible and malleable and adaptable. Our false concept of patriotism which is really a form of nationalism and xenophobia, gets echoed around the world through the media we export. Do you think they showed "Rambo" in Asia? You can bet good money they did? But it was probably marketed as a horror film.

But that's just it. America has been built up and sold to us as the land of opportunity. At some point in 2001 before September you probably believed it to. We never ask the question though who does our success come at the expense of? We complain about the price of Gas, but even today if you check prices globally our gas is among the cheapest of non OPEC nations. (Oslo, Norway for instance has gas prices equivalent to $9.28 USD per gallon). Why do they pay so much? Because we refuse to. They are paying for our (and China's and Russia's) overuse of the worldwide Oil supply.

A part of arrogance (and the legacy of two World Wars) is an inflated sense of pride in our supposed military might. A strong nation to me would command the respect of the world without resorting to brute displays of force. But as Americans most of us don't think that way. Our country was founded with violence and almost all social progress has involved criminal acts of shocking brutality by those opposed to it, including and especially our own government.

But this is not the America that had it's chest puffed up on September 10, 2001. Not America the somber realist standing in the unemployment line, or the welfare line, or receiving an eviction notice, or being turned down for work because of skin color, prior criminal record, or just a basic lack of skills. This America didn't realize that it was falling behind in math, science, reading and human decency. This America couldn't possibly see itself as anything other than a force for good in the world despite all evidence to the contrary. This America wasn't innocent , this America was more than ignorant. This America was delusional. On a psychedelic Acid trip. Today we have the Tea Party, we laugh at them, but the truth is on September 10th, 2001 a lot of us were retarded just like them.

So while I won't say 9/11 was inevitable, it did inevitably happen. It changed the country as a whole for the worse, but it changed some people for the better. I'm exploring this momentous event, not commemorating but contemplating it with the proper gravity. It is still a weight around the neck of our country. I don't believe that any single person can lift it. But we can all start by being a little less "proud" of ourselves and a little bit more real. God Blessed America indeed.

The Return of E-Unit

2011-08-31T13:26:00.002-04:00

This is my 4^th year in a row and my 5^th out of the last 6 playing Fantasy Football in some form or another. And this is the year I feel most confident coming out of the draft. I think I came out of the draft with a team that most would have to pull off a couple of trades to assemble. And even though I am in a trade happy league I think this is the year that I stand pat……. unless somebody offers me something ridiculous. I know there are teams in the league that I consider to be better than mine, but for the 8^th pick I think I had a pretty decent draft.

So let’s take a look. I’m organizing by position and I’ll also show what round the player was drafted in so you can see how much or little value was placed on these players.

I’ve analyzed my team and also provided grades for each position. I based my grade not on which round each player was chosen but based solely on how I think the unit will perform in regards to Fantasy points. This is a points per reception league so receiving corps bear extra scrutiny.

E-Unit Returns (8^th Pick)

QB:

01/Tom Brady - Patriots

14/Kyle Orton - Broncos

Analysis: With the QB position this year my main concern was consistency and having a solid backup. Tom Brady unlike other “superstar” QBs is as good as his name most weeks. He likely won’t have any Vick like fireworks but his multiple interception games are few and far between and his offensive line is likely to keep him upright through out the season. Kyle Orton is the player that’s so good at his job that when the Broncos “unofficially” declared Tim Tebow as the starter, and put Kyle on the trading block John Elway stepped in and reversed it. Now it’s very likely that Tebow will be a career back up and Orton goes in for another 3,000 plus yards this year. Orton is an ample substitute should Brady catch a bad one I won’t feel pressure to drop or add new QBs this year as I have in years past. Grade: A

WR:

03/Dwayne Bowe – Chiefs

04/Brandon Marshall - Dolphins

05/Jeremy Maclin - Eagles

09/Antonio Brown - Steelers

13/Danny Amendola - Rams

Analysis: Dwayne Bowe is a receiver that’s valued highly among the Fantasy Football community. Despite having an average at best QB he manages to get open and puts up great numbers when the offense is clicking. Brandon Marshall is….well he’s troubled to say the least. But he can play ball, and I can’t name a single other receiver on Miami’s roster right now. Forget Vick and Desean Jackson for two seconds. The least flashy but most consistent fantasy point producer on the Eagles entire roster was/is/and for the foreseeable future will be Jeremy Maclin, Cancer or No Cancer. Antonio Brown got on my radar by torching Asante Samuel this preseason. Also he had a great game against the Falcons. This may be Mike Wallace’s year in Pittsburgh but when teams decide to double cover him guess who’s going to be open? And Danny Amendola, while not being the top receiver on the depth chart has developed great chemistry with his young quarterback Sam Bradford.

Grade: A

RB:

02/Maurice Jones-Drew - Jaguars

07/ Shonn Greene - Jets

10/ Willis McGahee - Broncos

11/Javon Ringer - Titans

Analyis: This is a point per reception league so running backs who catch passes are valuable. However that was not my main consideration this year. I would have liked to draft Lesean McCoy but he was taken in the first round two picks after I picked up Tom Brady. Instead I feel privileged to pick up MJD who may be past his fantasy prime, but I’m willing to bet that he’s not. Shonn Greene is the man for the Jets because LT is just ancient at this point. Willis McGahee will be splitting carries with Knowshon “I get hurt every year” Moreno. And Javon Ringer is the guy who’s going to be running the ball in Tennessee while Chris Johnson is on the beach drinking lemonade complaining about his contract. I got 2 starters and 2 backups who will be starting this season. Not bad.

Grade: B

TE:

06/ Owen Daniels - Texans

08/ Rob Gronkowski - Patriots

Analysis: Tight End is not a position that I place a big amount of faith in. Unless you get one of the top 3 or 4 guys the rest are all pretty much interchangeable. Sike who am I kidding I was happy to get Owen Daniels because he’s a great safety valve for Matt Schaub when defenses want to play zone. Rob Gronkowski is only valuable because he’s catching passes from Tom Brady

Grade: B

DEF:

12/ Bears

16/ Chiefs

Analysis: There’s one Chicago Bear who’s name is synonymous with evil defense: Julius Peppers. The Chiefs aren’t the greatest defense but they get to play the Raiders and Broncos twice.

Grade: B

15/Ryan Longwell - Vikings

17/Conner Barth - Titans

Analysis: I don’t place a great value on the kicking game. I’ve never lost a fantasy game by so few points that the kicker mattered. But I can see how others would. I see Ryan Longwell kicking a lot of Extra Points because Minnesota scores touchdowns. I see Conner Barth kicking a lot of field goals because Tennessee won’t.

Grade: C

Overall, When I look at the rest of my fantasy league none of the other teams scare me. I put their rosters below though so you be the judge. I’m sure there will be a lot of trades and free agent signings before the first snap of the season. To me that signifies weakness and buyer’s remorse. Two things that I don’t accept on E-Unit Returns.

I think I’ve graded almost every team in the league lower than mine. Which is about my confidence in myself as a drafter, the glaring weaknesses in their rosters, and the overall lack of draft strategy most team owners showed during this years draft. I didn’t write an analysis for each team but I did grade each position by position. If your teams look like any of these teams on draft day, you probably did something wrong. There will be lots and lots of trades this year. But draft well and you trade from a position of power.

Dirtbags ( First Round Pick)

QB:

01/Aaron Rodgers - Packers

14/Ryan Fitzpatrick – Bills

Grade: B

WR:

03/Marques Colston - Saints

07/Julio Jones - Falcons

08/Lee Evans - Ravens

10/Steve Breaston - Chiefs

12/Bernard Berrian – Vikings

Grade: D

RB:

02/Felix Jones - Cowboys

05/Ahmad Bradshaw - Giants

11/Joseph Addai - Colts

15/Ben Tate - Texans

Grade: C

TE:

04/Jason Witten - Cowboys

09/Visanthe Shiancoe – Vikings

Grade: A

DEF:

06/Jets

17/Cardinals

Grade: B

13/Sebastian Janikowski - Raiders

16/Robbie Gould – Bears

Grade: C

Ralow (2^nd Pick)

QB:

07/Sam Bradford - Rams

11/Joe Flacco – Ravens

Grade; C

WR:

02/Vincent Jackson - Chargers

03/Miles Austin - Cowboys

04/Chad Ochocinco – Patriots

08/Mike Sims-Walker - Jaguars

12/Nate Burleson – Lions

Grade: A

RB:

01/Arian Foster - Texans

09/Mike Tolbert - Chargers

13/Marion Barber - Bears

17/James Starks – Packers

Grade: C

TE:

05/Tony Gonzales - Falcons

10/Dustin Keller – Jets

Grade: B

DEF:

06/Steelers

14/Saints

Grade: A

15/Josh Brown - Rams

16/Josh Scobee – Jaguars

Grade: D

Art (3^rd Pick)

QB:

04/Peyton Manning - Colts

09/Eli Manning – Giants

Grade: C

WR:

02/Larry Fitzgerald - Cardinals

03/Hakeem Nicks - Giants

08/Steve Smith – Panthers

10/Jordy Nelson - Packers

11/Steve Smith – Eagles

Grade: C

RB:

01/Ray Rice - Ravens

06/Cedric Benson - Bengals

07/Ryan Grant – Packers

12/Jonathon Stewart – Panthers

Grade: C

TE:

05/Dallas Clark - Colts

15/ Jacob Tamme – Colts

Grade: D

DEF:

16/Seahawks

17/Dolphins

Grade: D

13/Nate Kaeding - Chargers

14/David Buehler – Cowboys

Grade: A

Team Paperstaks (4^th Pick)

QB:

05/Ben Roethlisberger - Steelers

13/Mark Sanchez – Jets

Grade: B

WR:

02/Greg Jennings - Packers

03/Dez Bryant - Cowboys

04/Brandon Lloyd - Broncos

07/A.J. Green - Bengals

12/Jacoby Ford – Raiders

Grade: C

RB:

01/Adrian Petersen - Vikings

06/Marshawn Lynch - Seahawks

09/Ryan Torain - Redskins

11/C.J. Spiller – Bills

Grade: B

TE:

08/Kellen Winslow - Buccaneers

10/Brandon Pettigrew – Lions

Grade: B

DEF:

15/Giants

16/Raiders

Grade: C

14/Rob Bironas - Titans

17/Jay Feely – Cardinals

Grade: C

The Goat aka DDRO (5^th Pick)

QB:

01/Mike Vick - Eagles

11/Donovan Mcnabb - Vikings

Grade: B

WR:

04/Anquan Boldin - Ravens

05/Steve Johnson - Bills

06/Plaxico Burress - Jets

10/Roy Williams - Bears

11/Mark Clayton – Rams

Grade: C

RB:

02/Steven Jackson - Rams

03/Peyton Hillis – Browns

08/Tim Hightower - Redskins

12/Reggie Bush – Miami

Grade: C

TE:

07/Vernon Davis – 49ers

15/Ben Watson - Browns

Grade: C

DEF:

09/Ravens

16/Redskins

Grade; C

13/Mason Crosby - Packers

17/Lawrence Tynes - Giants

Grade: B

Metal Militia (6^th Pick)

QB:

06/Matt Ryan - Falcons

17/David Garrad – Jaguars

Grade: C

WR:

03/Mike Wallace - Steelers

05/Kenny Britt - Titans

08/Austin Collie - Colts

09/Johnny Knox - Bears

15/Brandon Gibson – Rams

Grade: D

RB:

01/Jamaal Charles – Chiefs

02/Frank Gore – 49ers

07/Mark Ingram - Saints

16/Thomas Jones - Chiefs

Grade: C

TE:

04/Jermicheal Finley - Packers

10/Marcedes Lewis – Jaguars

Grade: A

DEF:

11/Eagles

12/Falcons

Grade: B

13/Stephen Gostkowski - Patriots

14/Adam Vinateri – Colts

Grade: C

Big Pimpin (7^th Pick)

QB:

08/Matthew Stafford - Lions

12/Matt Cassell – Cheifs

Grade: C

WR:

03/Reggie Wayne - Colts

05/Mario Manningham - Giants

07/Braylon Edwards – 49ers

11/Greg Little – Browns

15/Earl Bennett – Bears

Grade: C

RB:

01/Rashard Mendenhall - Steelers

02/Michael Turner - Falcons

06/BenJarvus Green-Ellis - Patriots

10/Brandon Jacobs – Giants

Grade: C

TE:

04/Antonio Gates – Chargers

14/Jermaine Gresham – Bengals

Grade: C

DEF:

09/Chargers

16/Buccaneers

Grade: B

13/Neil Rackers - Cardinals

17/David Akers – 49ers

Grade: B

Rob (9^th Pick)

QB:

06/Matt Schaub - Texans

13/Colt McCoy - Browns

Grade: C

WR:

01/Andre Johnson - Texans

02/Calvin Johnson - Lions

03/Desean Jackson - Eagles

09/Michael Crabtree – 49ers

11/Donald Driver – Packers

Grade: A

RB:

04/Matt Forte - Bears

05/Jahvid Best - Lions

07Daniel Thomas - Dolphins

12/Ronnie Brown – Eagles

Grade: C

TE:

10/Brent Celek - Eagles

16/Kyle Rudolph – Vikings

Grade: D

DEF:

08/Packers

17/49ers

Grade: B

14/Alex Henery - Eagles

15/Billy Cundiff – Ravens

Grade: B

ShowmeyourTDS (10^th Pick)

QB:

02/Tony Romo - Cowboys

10/Kevin Kolb – Cardinals

Grade: A

WR:

04/Mike Williams – Buccaneers

05/Percy Harvin - Vikings

06/Santana Moss - Redskins

09/Lance Moore - Saints

17/Denarius Moore – Raiders

Grade: C

RB:

01/Lesean McCoy - Eagles

03/Darren McFadden - Raiders

08/Beanie Wells - Cardinals

11/Michael Bush – Raiders

Grade: B

TE:

07/Jimmy Graham - Saints

13/Jared Cook – Titans

Grade: C

DEF:

12/Cowboys

15/Lions

Grade: C

14/Matt Bryant – Falcons

16/Jason Hanson – Lions

Grade: C

Revis and Butthead (11^th Pick)

QB:

01/Phillip Rivers - Chargers

10/Josh Freeman – Buccaneers

WR:

02/Roddy White - Falcons

03/Sanantonio Holmes - Jets

05/Sidney Rice - Seahawks

07/Pierre Garcon - Colts

13/James Jones – Packers

Grade: B

RB:

04/Knowshon Moreno - Broncos

06/Ryan Mathews - Chargers

09/Fred Jackson - Bills

14/Ladainian Tomlinson – Jets

Grade: C

TE:

08/Greg Olsen - Panthers

11/Erin Hernandez – Patriots

Grade: B

DEF:

12/Texans

16/Vikings

Grade: C

15/Nick Folk - Jets

17/Ryan Lindell - Bills

Haters Gonna Hate (12^th Pick)

QB:

01/Drew Brees - Saints

11/Jay Cutler - Bears

Grade: B

WR:

04/Wes Welker - Patriots

06/Malcolm Floyd - Chargers

07/Mike Thomas - Jaguars

09/Hines Ward - Steelers

10/Mike Williams – Seahawks

Grade: C

RB:

02/Chris Johnson – Titans

03/Legarrete Blount – Buccaneers

05/Deangelo Williams – Panthers

15/Pierre Thomas – Saints

Grade: B

TE:

08/Zach Miller – Seahawks

14/Todd Heap – Cardinals

Grade: A

DEF:

12/New England

17/Colts

Grade: B

13/Garret Hartley - Saints

16/Dan Carpenter – Dolphins

Book Of The Month: Invincible

2011-08-29T12:54:00.002-04:00

Rappers do all sorts of things. They promote champagne, they start clothing lines, they star in straight to DVD movies and make frequent appearances in criminal courts. Some even "write" books. Most of the time when your favorite emcees decide to put his name on a project it's either a half-assed memoir that paints them in the best of light or some sort of fan service project.

Styles P of the Lox decided to do something different though. With this book he wrote an honest to good novel in the style of Donald Goines or Iceberg Slim. I'm not saying Invincible is as good as Pimp or Whoreson but it's right in the same vein as any of those hood classics. Invincible is a book about Jake a gangster who always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This book is full of pretty piss poor grammar, which I hope is done intentionally to fit the style of writing. It's not just when the characters speak to each other but when the writer speaks to the reader. It's a little disappointing to me as a fan of Styles P the rapper that his grasp of the language as portrayed in this book is less than poetic. Then again this was not intended to be Shakespeare.

And the story while pretty predictable isn't bad. This would make a great black exploitation movie, I could see this being a vehicle for perhaps DMX or 50 cent, or maybe even Styles P's acting debut. Lots of action and double crosses. As a matter of fact not a single character in the entire book seems to be trustworthy. It's hard to justify the motivation for the cartoonish level of villainy. Although some would argue that this book, just like the cartoonish portrayals of violence and misogyny in rap music, is meant to portray the reality of the "streets".

Overall I must say for a debut "hood" novel this isn't any worse than most of the crap I used to see people reading when I worked at the Airport. So if you work somewhere that has plenty of downtime than you could do a lot worse than Invincible.

Alex P. Keaton for President

2011-08-16T17:36:00.001-04:00

It's been about three years since Barack Obama was elected president. The media has fallen out of love with him and his approval rating is somewhere around the 40's. Some take this as a sign that he's vulnerable and won't be re-elected. I mean the last time someone with approval ratings in the 40s was re-elected was..... George W. Bush.

But ironically the shoe will be on the other foot in 2012, because the Republican Party has devolved into a caricature of itself. Today it's most formidable candidates are Michelle Bachmann who we all used to know was crazy (they're trying to rewrite history on the fly to say that she isn't), Rick Perry who most of us still know is crazy, and Mitt Romney whose lack of charisma makes John Kerry look like Bill Clinton.

The main problem with Republican candidates is that the Republican primary race is covered extensively by the cable news networks and as it heats up the network news will spend more and more time covering it. The candidates all know they will have to out-crazy each other if they stand any chance of securing the nomination. So we have Rick Perry, who just entered the race the other day, calling Obama a "black cloud" and threatening to lynch the Federal Reserve Chairman. This is actually tame behavior in the minds of the Republican base.

The securing of the Republican nomination will take their party so far from the minds and hearts of the average American (who is no longer a middle aged white male) that they'll have to spend the 5 months of the general election campaign, backtracking and explaining away all their violent, racist, homophobic hate rants.

Another thing the Republican Party has stacked against is the worsening economy, contrary to popular belief that does not bode well for Republican presidential hopefuls. All Obama has to say in 2012 is: let me finish cleaning up this mess before you guys make another one. The myth of supply-side economics is largely what created this mess.

It's hilarious to me though that even though Republicans are dead wrong on the economy and completely backward on almost every social issue, including race-relations, gender equality and immigration, that Obama has appeased them at every turn. He's the Neville Chamberlain of political warfare.

The Republicans don't need bible thumpers, or bigots, or the tea party. What they need to win in 2012 is Alex P. Keaton, a fiscal conservative who isn't racist, only appropriately sexist and charismatic. Luckily for Obama, Alex P. Keaton doesn't exist.

Social Nitro

2011-08-15T11:10:00.002-04:00

Recently a series of violent outbursts by roving groups of predominately African-American teenagers in Philly have been labeled flash mobs. On August 7th Mayor Michael Nutter offered a severe rebuke of these teenagers and their parents and instituted a curfew intended to curb their unruly behavior. Overseas in the U.K. in London large groups of rioters and looters held the city under siege last week as they burned down stores that have been standing for 100 years or more seemingly in response to the police shooting of an unarmed man. The behavior of some of these looters however has taken this past the point of protest and back into the realm of thuggery. Early this year across Northern Africa and The Middle East governments began facing massive protests from young people in an area of the world where 25% of young people are unemployed and government officials and their corporate cronies profit from the exploitation of the masses. At this point I have to ask if America is so different from Egypt.

Let me make one thing clear, the teenagers here in my hometown of Philadelphia, PA, are not political activists. They are not protesting anything and they have no cause. Their actions are not to be commended, applauded or celebrated. They are not to be excused by their conditions, either the poor state of their neighborhoods or families. Plain and simple these young people don't appear to be overly concerned about their future or the future of the country and/or world. To say they lack direction would be an overstatement. But are they inherently morally defunct or did we make them that way? That's a trick question the answer is yes they are and yes we did.

With that being said however I do think economic disparity, disenfranchised young people, and corrupt government are an explosive mixture call it social nitroglycerin if you will. The most dangerous thing we do in America is idealize our own history. We paint our country as a nation where hard work and determination can help one climb up that social ladder. This leads to disillusioned teenagers, depressed adults, and delusional white people (aka conservatives) all one step away from exploding. The reason that idealization makes our country so volatile is because it's simply not true.

The United States of America is not better than most countries and is actually a lot worse than most "modernized" nations in regards to social mobility. When it comes to poor people staying poor we are not unlike Egypt, Libya, or for that matter the United Kingdom. We tell people that you can't make it without an education and then provide the kids who need it the most with the worst education money can buy.

Do a Google search about the income disparity between whites and blacks in this country. The answer is ridiculous. The average white family's wealth is twenty times that of the average black family. This isn't an economic issue it's a moral issue. Because the truth is we were all lied to. We were told the American Dream was owning property, while in reality the American Dream is holding stock in major corporations. So while corporations can increase their profits by reducing manpower the value of our homes tank because our neighbors can't find jobs and their homes get repossessed. And don't let the stats on this issue fool you either. Most whites aren't twenty times richer than black, but there are a few super-earners whose accumulation of wealth is so great that it skews the statistics.

But nonetheless wealth disparity will lead to some form of discomfort for any society. It's ironic that we've spent the last decade since the terror attacks on 9/11 being force fed this image of intolerant radical Islam, but the young people in Muslim countries have organized effective protests against their governments and we in the west have riots started by unruly children who probably have never read a newspaper outside of the comics section in their lives.

Another Kind of Hustler

2011-08-01T21:07:00.001-04:00

This is my video for the track Another Kind of Hustler. It's a song I recorded many many moons ago. And when I formed a video production company with my business partner, he thought we should shoot a video for it to showcase our company Full Exposure Digital Media. So enjoy the video but it doesn't mean I'm coming back to the mic.

My Eulogy: Why Amy Winehouse's Death Changes Nothing

2011-07-26T12:57:00.001-04:00

When I heard about Amy Winehouse's death via deathwire aka Twitter on Saturday morning, I was momentarily moved. Everyday emotion overcomes logic, it's both our greatest strength and weakness as human beings. So despite the fact that we all know death is inevitable and Amy Winehouse's death in particular was imminent due to her extremely risky behavior we are nonetheless saddened to hear that a 27 year old talent has expired prematurely.

But before we try to turn her into a cautionary tale we have to look at other people who lived fast and died young and see how much their deaths have accomplished on this front. How about Jim Morrison? Doesn't ring a bell? Okay then what about Jimi Hendrix? Janis Joplin? River Phoenix? Marilyn Monroe? Bruce Lee (yes Aspirin is a drug)? Big Pun (we downplay the role of cocaine in combination with morbid obesity but yes he was on that white)?

The problem is that when people like Ms Winehouse meet untimely demises we act like one thing in particular caused their death: drugs. We call addiction a disease and that may be accurate in most cases. But I can't help but wonder if drug use is not a disease in some of these cases but more of a symptom, in which case every time someone like Ms. Winehouse dies we completely miss the point. It's not natural to have a spotlight shined on everything you do. Maybe being talented doesn't necessarily make one compatible for stardom. The question therefore isn't what went wrong with Amy. The real question is how do stars like Justin Beiber and Nicki Minaj keep from going on coke and heroin benders on a regular basis. Or at least manage to keep it out of the news when they do.

I hear some say that the people around Amy should have done a better job taking care of her. I don't really buy that either. You can try to be there for somebody like that. But you can't shackle them up and lock them in a closet when they are determined to be an addict. How fitting that her biggest hit was about how she's not going to Rehab, and her second biggest hit was You Know I'm No Good. She's been trying to tell us but we just wouldn't listen. Maybe Amy was determined to die fame or no fame. If she didn't open her mouth and sound like a soul singer from the 60's who would have cared?

That being said, I will definitely watch the "Behind The Music" and the "E! True Hollywood Story" that inevitably air before year's end as a result of this. Wasn't a huge fan (but how could I be she only had two albums and she's not Biggie) but I still think the world is a little worse off when a talented person loses their grip on life. But that's the emotional me. The rational me saw it coming and knows it changes nothing.

What's Beef

2011-07-22T17:21:00.002-04:00

This summer has been full of heat. And maybe the psychological effect of heat is what has made 2011 the year of extended conflict and tense negotiations. The NFL Labor Dispute which is coming to an end soon (hopefully), has now given way to an NBA Labor Dispute. We also have as usual the entire Republican Party saying NO emphatically to even the most basic functions of our government so that rich people can keep their tax cuts.

Lets identify the combatants shall we:

Case 1: The NFL Labor Dispute:

The NFL owners (with the exception of oddball Al Davis of the Oakland Raiders) have voted for a new agreement just yesterday. The details of which I'm not familiar with but I do know somehow someway the players got hosed.

The NFL Players need to end this "stand against the man" and just play football they don't have any viable options, if they want to continue to make the kind of money they have been making there isn't another league in the world that can compete with the NFL.

Case 2: The NBA Lockout

The NBA Owners are stupid. There are plenty of leagues on planet earth that can meet Dwight Howard's asking price. Or Kobe Bryant's for that matter. This should be the shortest lockout in the history of sports. But because the two sides love basking in the drama of extended tensions this will probably ruin the 2011-2012 NBA season.

The difference between the NBA and the NFL is that the NBA isn't as profitable and doesn't have a monopoly on the professional basketball world. There are thousands of professional basketball players across the globe who never set foot in the NBA. For the extremely popular players, veterans like Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett etc, they actually stand a chance of making more money playing in a place like Turkey that are willing to overpay for big name former NBA Stars (Allen Iverson). If the NBA loses its stars to foreign leagues there would be a mass fan exodus and empty arenas all over the country.

Case 3: The Debt Ceiling Showdown

The President can't expect any help from Republicans on even the most essential of tasks. He should formulate a plan that minimizes their involvement in governing. They are determined to take him out of office even if it means sacrificing our entire country's future.

Obama should feel like Mookie in "Do The Right Thing". Simply put it's too hot for this bullshit from Congressional Republicans. He's the president though so when they choke out Radio Raheem he should get somebody else to throw that trash can through Sal's Window.

Summer Reading List – July: The Harry Potter Series

2011-07-14T22:31:00.003-04:00

If you plan on taking your kids (or yourself) to see Harry Potter this Friday and you haven’t read the books you are doing yourself a disservice. Here’s a made up but probably true statistic: of all the black men between the ages of 17-35 murdered by gun violence in Philadelphia over the past year approximately zero percent of them had read all seven Harry Potter novels. It may seem like some nerd shit to you, but for these kids out here this series can save their lives.

The simple fact of the matter is these books are very engaging. Your young impressionable preteen will find themselves pre-occupied with the goings-on at Hogwarts and will have significantly less time for learning thuggery. When’s the last time you walked past a jail cell and heard two inmates discussing the finer points of Quidditch? The answer is never.

So what makes Potter a deterrent for street crime? Well for one thing it teaches morality better than any holy book. It keeps kids engrossed in extremely huge texts written at a level that is easy to comprehend but doesn’t patronize them. The characters have realistic emotions even in a fantasy world. The best part about Harry Potter is that it’s one of the few things in this world that is truly appropriate for all ages

I know the hip-hop nation and the harry potter geeks don’t have many overlaps but I’m one of the few. Me and Pharell (I don’t really know that I’m just guessing). But in 2011 nerd is the new mainstream. The top grossing film this year is about cars that turn into robots and blow shit up. We have movies out about the Green Lantern, the Green Hornet, and frigging Thor!! Geeks have taken over Hollywood its official.

Case Closed

2011-07-06T14:56:00.001-04:00

Reasonable Doubt isn't just the name of Jay-Z's first album. It's the principle that's supposed to keep a regular schmuck like you or me from being wrongly convicted. Even if for some reason a murder victim's DNA is underneath our fingernails and we left several drunken voicemails on the victim's cell phone saying we were going to kill them.

We (and let's not forget whenever I say "we" I actually mean you, it just reads less condescendingly if I pretend to include myself) are all so upset about the Casey Anthony verdict because we are all so woefully uneducated about the basic structure of our legal rights. African-Americans in particular are so used to having our rights trampled on that when we see anyone actually get a fair shake we think that they are "getting over".

Our legal system is predicated on the notion that everyone gets a "fair" trial. Trial by Jury hinges on the prosecution's ability to construct a case that proves "beyond a reasonable doubt" that the defendant is guilty. Let me get my Wikipedia on for a second, y'all. Burden of Proof means "the necessity of proof always lies with the person who lays charges."

You see it's not fair but it's true that most of us in Casey Anthony's situation would probably have been convicted. There have literally been black men hanging from Georgia peach trees for far less. But what you don't understand is that in "our" reality the burden of proof has been shifted. In our world we have already been framed as murders, thieves, drug dealers and users, and just flat out bad people. The jury at my trial probably considers me the same way the Orangutans regarded Charlton Heston in Planet of The Apes. It would take far less evidence to convict someone who you see as inherently inferior and predisposed to criminal leanings.

We let the media frame every debate now and not just the mainstream media, but your idiot friends on facebook too. Kill all that noise for a second and imagine it's just you and eleven other people together in a room after being presented evidence along with the instructions that this person is to be presumed innocent until PROVEN guilty beyond a REASONABLE doubt. If the judge instructs the jury properly, then the tables shift in favor of the defense in almost every case like this.

People are contrasting Casey Anthony to O.J. Simpson. But that's a false dichotomy. O.J.'s case was mishandled by the police who could have convicted him straight up had they not mishandled and possibly tainted evidence that could have clearly convicted him. Not to mention the racist cop sideshow element and the master of legal ceremonies Johnny Cochran (R.I.P.). Casey on the other hand had evidence that wasn't so clear cut. Yes she showed callous indifference to her daughter's disappearance. Yes she made some questionable moves and lied to the cops. But being a horrible stupid parent and a despicable human being isn't sufficient evidence in a capital murder case.

The law is based loosely on our moral codes but the purpose of litigation is to present the proof. It's not as strict as mathematics, or logic, but there has to be this attempt at objectivity and adherence to the mechanics of a legal proceeding. The responsibility rests not on the defense or the defendant but squarely on the shoulders of the prosecutor. In Casey Anthony's case I can sit here on my high horse and say "she did that shit". But the truth is I don't know, any more that you know, or the media who had her served up on a platter (because it plays better that way on the television, not because they actually give a shit).

We shouldn't question the intelligence of the jury. We must not fault Anthony's legal team for doing their job well. We can't say the judge was too lenient. We can't say that the legal system doesn't work. In this case (as in O.J.'s) the legal system worked fine. Did we question the legal system that lets the Oscar Grant's murderer go free after one year? Did we question the legal system that acquitted the four officers who beat Rodney King's ass? So before you find yourself in an uproar over the death of a cute toddler, I want you to think of all the other things that actually have an effect on your life that you let slide everyday.

America's legal system works when used well. It's just that it's hardly ever used for it's intended purpose. The goal is not to put the bad guys away. It's to give everyone their day in court. We're so use to be railroaded and hung out to dry before we even get a chance to argue our case that we assume it should be that way for everyone. So I'll leave you with some prison statistics. We have 5% of the world's population and 25% of the world's prisoners. You won't find this rigorous burden of proof being applied in the majority of the cases of these incarcerated folks. Most courtrooms are just way stations for minorities and poor white people on their way to do prison labor. That's what we should be upset about. Case Closed.

Summer Reading List – June: The Odd Thomas Series

2011-06-29T09:12:00.000-04:00

The Odd Thomas Series –

Dean Koontz is a horror/thriller author who is for some strange reason often compared to Stephen King. It’s probably because most Stephen King fans have filled in the time between his books by reading Koontz, who’s name is close to King’s on the bookshelf in the mystery/horror section of most of America’s major bookstores. However Koontz’s writing style doesn’t resemble King’s in the least. All of Koontz books depict characters taking actions and not merely being victims of psychological terror. In going over these books I’m leaving out certain details because there are some things that only people who actually read the books should concern themselves with.

The first book in the Odd Thomas Series simply titled Odd Thomas introduces us to a unique individual named Odd Thomas. Odd Thomas sees dead people but not in that annoying 6th Sense kind of way. Dead people don't talk to Odd. They just appear before him and kind of linger until he helps them realize they should just go on to the afterlife. Sometimes the ones who are murder victims want him to help the police solve their murders by pointing him in the direction of their killers. In addition to seeing dead people Odd Thomas also sees shadow like monster creatures that feed on human misery and suffering. They usually show up before any major catastrophe such as an earthquake or flash flood. Odd doesn’t go around telling everyone about his “gifts” because he has enough sense to know that they would think he was crazy. But he has a small crew of friends ( including the local sheriff) who know of his abilities and help him cover it up. When we are introduced to Odd in this first book he finds himself unraveling a plot for a shooting spree, using his strange powers and intuition. He does everything he can to prevent the disaster but by the end of the book we see what his limitations ultimately are.

The second book Forever Odd shows us the aftermath of the events of the first. Odd is on hiatus from his job as a fry cook at the local diner and has to rescue a friend who has been kidnapped by a crazy phone sex operator. The woman turns out to be the first of many atypically over the top villains that Odd faces over the course of the series. She kidnaps Odd’s friend Danny (and also murders Danny’s father) who has a crippling handicap and it’s up to Odd to track her down without the aid of the Police. Koontz adds a little grittiness to Odd’s character after the events of the first book but still manages to keep the trademark humor and mystery of the first book intact. In the end there aren’t always neat explanations for every little event that transpires, but we get enough information to remain interested in the outcome. At the end of the book Odd makes a decision that leads directly to the third book.

The third book Brother Odd finds the title character in a secluded monastery in the mountains of California. Instead of staying safe and recycling the same cast of characters from the first two books Koontz chooses to make the majority of them mere memories. Doing so shows Odd having to construct a whole new set of alliances and deal with a totally different circumstance. Instead of saving one disabled friend this time Odd has to save an entire school full of disabled children. The danger this time isn’t entirely human, although the “enemy” does ultimately turn out to be a Frankenstein of sorts.

The fourth book Odd Hours opens with Odd in the town of Magic Beach being disturbed by dreams of an Apocalypse. He fears that these vivid dreams may be premonitions. With each successive book in the Odd Thomas series, the circumstances have drifted further and further beyond the realm of what’s possible. Odd suddenly has the new ability to see the future and share those visions with those who are directly related to it. He ends up having to save and befriend a weird pregnant chick who's possibly psychic or possibly just crazy. And he ends up taking on some rent-a-thugs who are in cahoots with terrorists straight out of a season of 24.

I would say the main thing that connects all these books is the first person point of view in which they are written. The world according to Odd Thomas is a scary strange place that still manages to be filled with people worth saving.

Why Anthony Weiner Shouldn't Have Resigned

2011-06-16T13:51:00.002-04:00

In case you "never" watch the news (in which case you probably don't give a shit and should just skip this post altogether) Congressman Anthony Weiner from New York's 9th congressional district resigned today. A politician resigning due to a sex scandal is nothing new. It happens all the time. (Gov. Spitzer comes to mind). But this particular scandal says more about the state of our Country than any one in recent history. This sex scandal involved no sex. Someone just quit there job over doing something your teenage daughter is doing right now: sending naked pictures of themselves on Twitter and sending dirty text messages.

Anthony Weiner is a pervert who doesn't understand that all he had to do was create a second twitter account with an alias using some random Gmail account, but because all intended recipients were over the age of 18 no actual crime was committed. He didn't even sleep with any of these women. He was the Tiger Woods of texting. But lets' stop for one second and think about what kind of "politician" Anthony Weiner was. If he was a corrupt scumbag who was ripping off taxpayers that would be one thing, or if he was one of those limp-wristed democrats who kowtowed to big business and did what the Republicans wanted on every issue that would be another thing. But by all accounts he was one of the few guys in D.C. who actually took the reasonable position on issues. He seemed like he was in D.C. to accomplish something. Someone who wasn't afraid to point fingers and say "Republicans are full of shit".

So he accidently sent some naked pictures as a public reply on twitter instead of a DM. And then he subsequently lied and said his account was hacked. And then just like Tiger Woods the revelations about his deviant sex life came forth. If you are one of those people who are offended by all this I have to say one thing: get a life. Seriously why do you care? How have Anthony Weiner's actions hurt any one? What's increasingly clear is that these women know dick pic protocol. If you don't like em just say "ewww" and delete. That's one of the unspoken rules of Twitter.

Let's face it, America has a sex problem, the same way it has a race problem and a religion problem. Anthony Weiner is a victim of the same stupidity that has engulfed Lebron James. I wonder what Democratic leaders stood to lose by saying "So what?" when told of Weiner's indiscretions. And I understand that we hold public figures to some higher standard then we hold ourselves. But should we? Should the media? Why do we need to know all the details of John Edwards and Arnold Schwarzenegger's affairs? Or Tiger Woods? Or any other celeb/athlete/politician ?

When white people yearn for the good old days I usually brace myself for some thinly veiled racism. But there is one aspect of the good old days that I wish was still in effect. And that is the "gentlemen's agreement" between the media and the public figures they cover. There was not extensive coverage of MLK, or JFK's affairs. And Rock Hudson was pretty much openly gay in Hollywood but the rest of the country remained blissfully unaware. This new "gotcha" style of journalism pioneered by Matt Drudge in the 90's and perfected by Andrew Breitbart in the 2000's is destroying the credibility of the media. It's also showing America how petty and vindictive they truly are. Just did an unofficial poll today at my office where the staff is 90 percent female and there seems to be a consensus that although he's a failure at marriage he should have remained in office.

So the question remains Why Did Anthony Weiner resign? The answer is because you're stupid.

Congratulations Amerikkka

2011-06-13T09:00:00.001-04:00

This hatred of Lebron James would be warranted if it were based solely on his game. Let's face it Lebron kinda sucked in the NBA Finals this year. But we all know that Amerikkka's ( I use the triple K's whenever I refer to the worst part of our country, the latent racism that shapes almost all areas of American life) problem with Lebron is that he had the audacity to do something other than what they wanted him to do.

They wanted him to go to their beloved Knicks and play in the world's biggest market, either that or suffer silently in Cleveland among mediocre teams that become bad teams whenever he's not in the lineup. Instead he did what Kevin Garnett, Ray Jones, and Paul Pierce did. He linked up with two other future hall-of-famers and said "Let's go get this chip".

And let me be clear, I am not a Miami Heat fan. I'm not even particularly fond of Lebron James. But I support anybody who unjustly becomes a target of Amerikkka's racial sharp shooting. But seriously The Miami Heat became Amerikkka's bad boys simply by being young black and thriving in the modern day Soddom & Gommorah (read: Miami).

I'm not going to stand up for Lebron James' actual play in this series particularly games 4 and 6. But I'm going to say to Amerikkka one thing. In 2011 The Dallas Mavericks were superhuman from the 3 point line and won a championship. But The Heat aren't finished and now they realize if they didn't before that no one is handing out trophies.

No matter how many times I'm disappointed by the childishness and foolishness of this country, I'm managed to be shocked and disgusted by the new lows to which they sink. So as a rational human being who can see clearly what this NBA series was really about I will make sure to stay away from the petty news stories and headlines. Because while some will take the high road and send much due congratulations to the Mavs others will spend the next 9 months taking pot shots at @KingJames.

Full Exposure Film Reviews: Revolver (2005)

2011-06-06T12:10:00.000-04:00

Revolver is a 2005 film starring Jason Statham (the dude from The Transporter) and Andre 3000 (from Outkast). This movie is directed by Guy Ritchie (the guy who directed Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and the Sherlock Holmes movies with Robert Downey) a British director known for gritty crime movies and being Madonna’s ex-husband. He seems to be the British answer to Tarantino in that his movies are genre-bending and sometimes confusing but usually have a lot of violence. This movie is no exception to the rule.

I’m a big Transporter fan and even enjoyed Crank so I’ll give any movie with Jason Statham a second look. He’ll probably never win an Oscar but that’s not the kind of thing you go into a movie like this looking for. Statham plays Jake an ex-con/con-man with a vendetta against a crime boss. Andre 3000 and Vincent Pastore (Big Pussy from The Sopranos) play Avi and Zach, two dudes whose motives are unclear but appear to be his unofficial advisors, and Ray Liotta plays Dorothy Macha, the crime boss.

The movie oscillates between confusing mind bender and straight up shoot outs. Full of mafia types, hired assassins and even real life psychologists, this movie can be both dense and intense. One thing it doesn’t do is bore. Every platitude is matched by bullets and bodies. Avi and Zach seem to be taunting Jake even as they offer assistance at every turn. And the body count while not quite at Terminator proportions is quite a sight to behold.

I mentioned earlier that the director used to be married to Madonna, and I usually don’t concern myself with such TMZesque details but it is relevant to the film. If you know anything about Madonna (and unfortunately we all know a little something) then you know she was involved in a Jewish mystical tradition known as the Kabbalah. As a result Guy Ritchie was also involved and several of the themes in this highly thematic film are based on Kabbalic teachings.

This movie probably flew under your radar unless you were specifically looking for this sort of thing, and from what I see online it got mostly bad reviews. But if you can watch Boondock Saints and flicks like that than Revolver should be in your Netflix queue at the very least. Stylized violence, epic action, and a bunch of mystical bullshit, sometimes gives you movies as good as the Matrix and Star Wars, and sometimes as bad as Matrix Revolutions or Star Wars Episode 1. This movie comes somewhere in between. If you watch and come out of it a little confused, I would suggest watching it again. If you still don’t get it, well than just enjoy the gunfights.

The Ja Rule Effect

2011-05-31T15:21:00.002-04:00

What does Ja Rule have in common with The Game, 50 Cent, Young Buck, Memphis Bleek, and Fat Joe? I'll give you the answer in a second. But first listen to (or better yet read) my spiel. What is Ja Rule's legacy going to be in hip-hop? Multiplatinum Artist and "pop" rapper/crooner. But a lot of these so-called hip-hop heads will put an asterisk next to his name and scoff if you try to compare his impact to that of say a Jay-Z or Eminem. They would argue that although Ja Rule may have had wide commercial appeal at one time, his commercial appeal diminished due to the declining quality of his musical output.

That is a false argument. You Sheeple (shout out to 3XHustle for that word) stopped messing with Ja Rule, because 50 cent told you to. Truly, Ja Rule has always put out the same types of records. The very thing people pretend like they hate him for is the same thing that they loved him for. At the height of Murder Inc's appeal Ja Rule had street records, R&B records, guest spots from some of the biggest artist in the game. He put on Ashanti, and Lil Mo, and helped boost Jay-Z to 5xPlatinum. And honestly his musical output has always been consistent. If you pick up Venni, Vetti, Vicci and listen to it today tell me it's not on par with the other hot albums of 1999. It's better than any of the albums Hov or Nas dropped that year, real talk.

Of course in order to "fall off" you have to be on top. Maybe it's not fair to compare Ja Rule to Nas or Hov, because they are arguably two of the top five to ever do it. But let's compare him to other rappers that were hot in that day. DMX was killing the game but his team had the Lox and Eve on it. Who did Ja Rule have hip-hop wise? Cadillac Tah? Really it was just a bunch of weed carriers. The only other "famous" people associated with the INC were Irv Gotti and Ashanti.

But we are supposed to forget that Ja had the game on smash. People are trying to reduce him to an MC Hammer like story of failure. They want to pretend like his worst selling album didn't move 450,000 units. Like everything he does is corny. Ja Rule has a better catalog artistically and commercially than a lot of your favorite rappers. I'd put Ja's discography up against Fab's any day or Eminem's or DMX's or Jadakiss's.

My point is the Ja Rule effect negates accomplishments. You go from Multi-Platinum to punch-line status in the blink of an eye. Because hip-hop fans (as opposed to hip-hop heads) are fickle than a muthafucka. You see it on Twitter all the time. Now ironically it's 50's turn. The backlash of success is that all of a sudden it's not cool to like the guy that made it. In internet talk it's called a meme. Once the meme that you're corny becomes established wisdom, there's nothing you can do to escape it. And most of the time it has nothing to do with the music.

Be honest with yourself. Why don't you like Fat Joe? You think he's corny but why? Why don't you like Yung Berg? Because he's a punk that got his chain snatched? Prodigy from Mobb Deep is known as one of the realest in the game and he got his jewels snatched. Why don't you like Memphis Bleek? Is he any less of an emcee than that Waka Flocka shit everybody's pumping? (No diss cuz I bang with Flockaveli). Nope people front on Bleek cuz he's Jay-Z's man. Ditto for Lloyd Banks in regards to 50.

Some people fall victim to the Ja Rule effect before their careers even get off the ground. Ray Cash from Ohio is a very talented emcee whose debut album was an overlooked gem. I've always felt the reason he didn't blow had more to do with the fact that it was cool to dismiss him. I really think it breaks down to people feeling like he was a nerd because he wore glasses. This is the dumbest, most primitive, childish meme of all time. I know plenty of dumbasses with glasses.

So the answer to my first question is that all these emcees get fronted on for things that have nothing to do with their music. So before you open your mouth to call an emcee wack, ask yourself why. Is it because you've listened to his music and actually don't find it to be good? Or are you fronting on that dude because it's the popular thing to do at the moment.

The polar opposite of the Ja Rule effect is the Dre effect whereby people get attributed legend status based on the talent and hard work of the other people around them. But I'll write another post on that at a later date.

Book Of The Month: A Brief History Of Time

2011-05-23T12:29:00.002-04:00

If someone who doesn't even listen to hip-hop came up to me and said "Jay-Z is one of the best rappers" that person would have the rare privilege of being technically "right" but having absolutely no idea what he/she was talking about. And so it is with the majority of us who refer to Stephen Hawking as the brilliant scientist with the robot voice. How do we know he's brilliant? Because everyone else says so? In an attempt to remedy my ignorance on the subject I decided to actually read one of Stephen Haw king's books to see what makes him so damned special.

A Brief History of Time examines many themes in depth and most of the time in language that I could understand. (They have realized a more digestible version called A Briefer History of Time which I would have read if I had known it existed before I read this version). Some of the topics include Einstein's Theory Of Relativity and The Big Bang Theory. Also if you thought you knew what a Black Hole was before you read this book after you read it you'll really know.

Throughout our history Science and Religion have either been at war or had brief uneasy truces. You'll hear much about how Copernicus was the first to theorize correctly that the Earth revolved around the sun, an idea that was considered blasphemous in its day. There was time in human history where science, philosophy and religion all intertwined. That day has passed. Today a lot of otherwise reasonable people believe in Creationism or its twin sister "Intelligent Design". Some of them even put God at the root of scientific principles such as evolution or the big bang. Now big ideas and solutions to problems are produced by scientists, and a majority of the great thinkers of today produce nothing actionable.

In this book Stephen Hawking shows what science has that religion doesn't and that is the ability to correct itself. He shows how some of the greatest minds contradict each other and how each subsequent scientific discovery leads to a more clear understanding of the origins of the universe. That's not to say a life in science has to be dry and completely empirical there is a lot of speculation and imagination involved. If you are a sci-fi nerd like me you'll recognize a lot of the things discussed in this book. If you have ever watched Star Trek, then you'll recognize the concept of wormholes and the possibility of traveling faster than the speed of life.

That being said this month's book is one I wouldn't recommend to the majority of people. I interact with people everyday and most simply lack the intellectual maturity to be concerned with the true origin of the universe. Instead today even in the 21st century a lot will be contented to have their scientific inquiries answered by the man in the pulpit instead of the man in the classroom.

Are You A Christian?

2011-05-20T09:26:00.003-04:00

I was watching Real Time With Bill Maher last week and something he said really struck a chord with me. He said most Christians in America aren't Christians they're just fans of Christ. He was speaking mainly of America's reaction to the death of Osama Bin Laden. The jubilation and the spontaneous celebration at Ground Zero were all very "American" but not at all Christ like.

Jesus Christ in case you are unfamiliar is the person upon whom the religion of Christianity was based. He preached that you should love your enemies and turn the other cheek. His reaction to the death of Osama Bin Laden would have been disdain for those who were overjoyed by it. If Martin Luther King Jr was alive today he would probably be one of the least popular people in the country, because he would not have been afraid to voice an unpopular opinion. He would probably have admonished America for reveling in death and destruction and say that it makes us no better than those who passed out candy on 9/11.

But Americans can't help themselves because most of us are so used to calling ourselves Christians, then engaging in non-Christian behavior and perpetuating hateful attitudes. If I didn't know that it was possible, if I hadn't seen it for myself, I would say the standard set by the Bible is impossible. But if you ignore the majority of the Bible and just focus on the general attitude and morals espoused by Jesus (which is supposed to be the point of Christianity) most of you so called Christians fail miserably.

I know I've heard the same excuses for years. "It's not that simple". But what's so complicated? Are you incapable of doing the things that you believe are right? Well than what do you stand for? And too me that's the main reason why Religion is useless even for so-called believers. Because it's not enough. The prospect of hell isn't enough to scare the young. The prospect of heaven isn't enough to entice the old. The concept of hope and salvation and a higher self, all the promises of Jesus Christ aren't strong enough to spur you to change yourself.

You can call yourself a work in progress if you want to. But be completely honest with yourself do you see any progress? Do you still lie, and cheat and hurt other people? Do you practice anything remotely close to what you preach? Are you doing unto others as you would have them do unto you?

I hear "the flesh is weak". That excuse is also more bullshit. I would buy the "flesh is weak" argument if you found yourself in the infamous grotto at the Playboy mansion surrounded by half naked hoes. But when you make a concerted effort to cheat, when you have time to sit there and think and make plans, go on dates, send your kids to their grandmother's house and make up a convincing story to tell your significant other that isn't your weak flesh. That's your weak mind, your weak spirit and your weak heart.

And as a so-called Christian do you think all you have to do is go to church and pray and ask God to forgive you? And that if you have a heart attack immediately after church and die you'll go straight to heaven? If that's the case then I don't want to go to heaven because there's probably a lot of douchebags there.

But back to my main point. Most of you reading this aren't Christians. You are fans of Christ. Just because you like Lebron James doesn't mean you play for The Miami Heat. And I'm not even saying you have to be as good as Lebron but if you don't even play basketball then you can't be on the team.

I kind of wish Jesus wasn't so associated peace, love and forgiveness. If he was a little more badass maybe you guys wouldn't ignore him so much.

Black Panther

2011-05-16T08:01:00.000-04:00

The Black Panther is one of the lesser known heroes in the Marvel Universe. In the days of Superhero movies, cartoons and TV shows, black superheroes are woefully underrepresented. The only black "hero" in Marvel's current Avengers franchise is Nick Fury, who was reimagined as a black character specifically because some artist at Marvel thought Samuel L. Jackson was cool.

A Black Panther movie was rumored way back in the 1990's with Wesley Snipes possibly attached. Then Blade happened instead. Blade doesn't get the credit it deserves for reinvigorating the Superhero movie genre after Joel Schumaker's Batman films destroyed all their credibility (but that's a whole other story).

I would love to see the story of the Black Panther on the big screen, now that B-list superheros like Green Lantern, Thor, and even the Green friggin Hornet all have big-budget movies out, I think the tale of T'Challa the African King who kicked ass American and Nazi alike would be an interesting tale to play out.

I recently watched the 12 episode cartoon series based on the Black Panther on Netflix. I highly recommend this for fans of the more serious Superhero movies. This series touches on colonialism, American foreign policy, and the exploitation of Africa's resources, all while managing to contain all the proper elements of a superhero story.

The credibility of The Blank Panther as a viable hero was undermined by the era in which he was created. Making Blacks feel worthy and providing them with appropriate role models has always been a daunting task. All young boys black and white argue over whether they get to be Batman (a white millionaire playboy) or Superman ( an invulnerable icon who has become synonymous for how White America views it's role in the world). I long for the day where kids argue over who get's to be Black Panther, Blade, or Bishop. Alas today when we look for Role Models we have to settle for Black Presidents.

Full Exposure Film Reviews: Robin Hood (2010)

2011-05-11T17:07:00.001-04:00

I started a video production/film company last year called Full Exposure Digital with my business partner. We invested in it a steady amount of money out of each paycheck. We did the research put in the work and we're still putting in the work. It takes a lot of time and patience to run a business and the most successful people aren't the ones who came up overnight.

As a result of this busyness of this business I find myself blogging less and less. We are currently in the process of establishing a worthy website to bear our company's flag. And at that time I will be opening up a blog for the site. But until then Boxingwithgod.com is proud to be the temporary home of Full Exposure Film Reviews.

Our inaugural review is Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, which I saw recently on the HBOGO app on my iPad. Robin Hood is one of those characters that appears on film over and over and over again. The three most famous portrayals in film history are Errol Flynn, Kevin Costner and Cary Elwes who mocked the aforementioned Costner's "Prince of Thieves" famously in his own "Men In Tights".

This iteration of Robin has no subtitle like "Prince of Thieves" attached to it, perhaps to imply that this is bringing the story back to its most simple elements. There is no black Moorish sidekick, there are no hints at the supernatural, and the Sherriff of Nottingham barely rates a 3 on the villain meter.

Robin Hood is a mythical figure, based on a real person, however the history is so unclear that a Robin Hood story needs to have only these elements, some reference to King Richard the Lionheart either dead or alive but either way not sitting on the Throne, the Sherriff of Nottingham, the merry men including Little John who is usually tall and fights with a staff, Maid Marian who usually but not always is victimized by the Sherriff of Nottingham. More "grown up" versions will include references to the crusades and may mention that Robin Hood was an archer in the King's army.

This movie contains all of these elements but still manages to be the best Robin Hood movie to date. (Hopefully we won't see another one for twenty more years). The action contains a few large scale battles (including the climax) that are reminiscent of Ridley Scott's other war epics Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven. But still manages to sneak in a few smaller guerilla style battles. But the movie isn't all action all the time. They manage to make the story simple enough so that you don't need a PHD in British folklore or History to follow. But still being as those this movie clocks in at 2 and a half hours those with short attention spans need not apply. (I always say people with short attention span should only watch cartoons anyway).

Now that this movie is on HBO I would suggest anybody who has nothing better to do on a Saturday afternoon watch it at their leisure. On a ten point scale I'd give it an 8.

Making The Grade: Jay-Z

2011-05-10T08:01:00.002-04:00

Last year I did a post grading all of Kanye West's albums (before the release of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy) and I joked that one day I would tackle an artist with a more extensive catalog, like Jay-Z for example. This is a post I've been wanting to do for a long time. I know this sounds backwards but as much as people hype up Jay-Z I think most heads like him for the wrong reason.

His catalog isn't as consistent as you remember as a matter of fact even if you don't count the side projects and collaborations he has a few mediocre and one downright terrible album. But still his argument as "the best to ever do it" is very valid. And if he ever decides to discard this businessman groupie mentality (trying to hang with Warren Buffet as if...) and really focus on the craft of emceeing he'll still be in the top 5.

Okay enough with the preamble here is an honest evaluation of Hov's catalog:

The six letter grading scale is as follows:

A+ = Classic, no further explanation needed
A = Near Classic, this is proof that an artist has a classic album in them, but fell just short.
B = Superior, this is a high quality, very good album with some flaws that don't ruin the album but may cause a few tracks to get skipped
C = Eh?, this album has a few good tracks but overall it's not a memorable experience.
D = Weak, the artist stumbled with this project. It's not worth listening to more than once
F = Trash! It's hard to sit through this album once. As a matter of fact, you never made it all the way through. This album is so bad it's used as a benchmark for other bad albums.

Reasonable Doubt - A+

Reasonable Doubt has been described as a classic by many, including me. As a matter of fact anyone telling you this album isn't excellent is trying too hard to be contrary. Lyricism and Swag didn't used to be mutually exclusive and Hov's freshman album had both of those in spades.

Best Track: Wow that's hard but if I had to pick one it would be "Can I Live" the wordplay and delivery are pitch perfect.

Worst Track: Every track on this album is pretty crazy. But the one I could live without because it's so overhyped is "Twenty-Two Two's"

In My Lifetime Vol 1. - B

Jay-Z threatens to retire often. He came in the game determined to be a businessman, as such he promised to drop only one album. Reasonable Doubt was supposed to be it. But then Def Jam came knocking, and B.I.G. got killed. There was a void that needed to be filled and suddenly Jay had the resources at his disposal to fill it. Vol 1. showed Jay get a little bit more personal at times (You Must Love Me) and a little more crass at others (Face Off). This album was not another Reasonable Doubt but back then it was okay to follow up a classic with a non classic.

Best Track - Where I'm From - is one of the hardest tracks in hip-hop history.

Worst Track - I Know What Girls Like - featuring Lil Kim and Diddy is the very definition of overproduced.

Vol.2 Hard Knock Life - A

This is the album that solidified Jay-Z's commercial appeal. There are a few songs that have endured like Hard Knock Life, and when the album dropped it seemed as though almost every track was single worthy. Just think about the hits on this album " Can I Get A" , "Money Cash Hoes" "Money Ain't A Thing" "Nigga What, Nigga Who" "Reservoir Dogs" sheesh, this is Jay-Z in his prime right here.

Best Track - Hard Knock Life - Could you go anywhere in the summer/fall of 98 without hearing this track. Let me answer that for you: NO!

Worst Track - Paper Chase - a very forgettable by the numbers track featuring Jay's number one fan Foxy Brown.

Vol 3... The Life and Times of S. Carter - D

For most people I know this goes down as Jay-Z's worst album. A huge disappointment after he set the world on fire with vol 2. It's not that the songs are bad it's just that they're not that good. This album sounds like someone took 1999 and trapped it onto a CD. I think the lesson learned from this album was that when your sound becomes the trend, no one remembers that you were there first you just sound played.

Best Track - So Ghetto was a street anthem produced by DJ Premier featuring a defiant and cocky Jay-Z fresh off of selling 5 million records. Great work.

Worst Track - Things That You Do is a horrible song featuring Mariah Carey, probably the worst song Jay-Z ever put down on wax

The Dynasty: Roc La Familia - B

Jay-Z had signed Beanie Sigel sometime around vol 2. And he started to make a name for himself in the hip-hop world. Those of us who were in Philly around that time remember Cosmic Kev's the best of Beans tape. None of us would ever dare say Beanie Sigel was better than Jay. But after the Dynasty album it seemed that if Jay's talk of one day retiring ever came true he had found someone who could carry the torch especially since Memphis Bleek seemed destined to remain the "people's champ". This is a Jay-Z album but make no mistake this was Sigel's party and laid the foundation for State Property.

Best Track - You, Me, Him, Her - The last appearance of Amil as a roc affiliate and she only got on the track for two seconds. That must have been a big sign that her days were numbered. Everybody else shines on this track. For a brief moment Jay, Bleek and Sigel were the three Musketeers of hip-hop

Worst Track - Holla - I would say Bleek's solo track is so so so-so but i really hate saying so.

The Blueprint - A+

9/11/01 will be remembered as the most important day in American History. The Blueprint damn near went platinum in a day. Oh and also 9/11. We all know Jay-Z did the damn thing on this album, but let's thank the other heroes who made this album possible: Prodigy - by in part inspiring the Takeover, Nas - For inspiring the other part, The Rolling Stones for providing the song sampled on the Takeover, also Just Blaze, and Kanye West. And Royce Da 5'9 for graciously standing aside while Jay-Z replaced him on Renegades. In my opinion this is the best Jay-Z album of all time. It could drop in 2020 and still be timely, the total opposite of vol 3.

Best Track - U Don't Know - this track was hard even before the remix with M.O.P. Just the first line alone sets it off. Definitely one of Jay's all time best.

Worst Track - Jigga That Nigga - It's so derivative it's based on a track that Jay-Z already did that was based on a snoop track. Zero originality. The lyrics are hitting though.

The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse - C

Double albums are really hard to pull off. It takes a real special talent to be compelling over the length of two whole discs. That being said there is a lot of songs on this album that I like. And a few I hate. Really 4 or 5 wack joints on a double album isn't horrible. So I'll have to grade this album on a curve.

Best Track - Hovi Baby - It's rare for a "mainstream" emcee to spit at this level. These rhymes would shut down any corner cypher.

Worst Track - The Blueprint 2 - Attempting to redeem himself for his ill advised Nas dis track "SuperUgly" It was too little too late Hov.

The Black Album - A

I think a skilled orator could argue with me that The Black Album is Jay-Z's third classic. And it's weird that this album is one where even the tracks I don't necessarily care for are well crafted. It seems like Jay regained his focus because The Gift and The Curse was all over the place but the Black Album has several classic tracks.

Best Track - Lucifer - This track is one of Kanye's best beats and Jay is also at his contemplative best as he weighs the pros and cons of revenge.

Worst Track - Justify My Thug - Yes the hook is wack juice and the beat is only good at extremely loud volumes with lots of bass. But that being said Jay murders this track.

Kingdom Come - C

Let me be perfectly honest, I didn't want Jay-Z to come out of retirement. I think it was Hov himself who gave the analogy of Jordan playing with the Wizards. And I absolutely hated "Show Me What You Got". It turns out that this album was kind of a mixed bag. You saw Jay attempting to get deep with "Minority Report", you saw the obligatory forced collabo with wifey "Hollywood" which I also hated, and the less said about that jawn with Usher the better. But other than that. I gotta say two of my favorite Jay-Z songs of all time are "Beach Chair" and the title track "Kingdom Come".

Best Track - Beach Chair, I know Jay supposedly doesn't write his words down with a pen. But if he "wrote" these lyrics strictly inside his head he is definitely the Best Rapper of all time.

Worst Track - Hollywood- This song is just trash I think over the 5 years since it dropped I've listened to it all the way through maybe 3 times.

American Gangster - A

Definition of a lame: somebody who was so turned off by Kingdom Come that they didn't give American Gangster it's just due. This is a lyrically brilliant album. And Diddy and his hitmen did a crazy job on the production. Tell me what's not to like about this album. If you don't like it's cuz you probably didn't listen to it. You just skimmed through it. But anyway this album is proof that Jay can do the type of music his old fans still like when he feels like it.

Best Track - Say Hello - Tell me Jay's not killing this track and I no longer respect your opinion on anything hip-hop related. Really dude if you don't like this song you suck. Seriously just shut the f**k up when real men start talking about rap. Thanks

Worst Track - American Dreamin - This song is a little bit boring it's like two tracks in too so that makes it even worse.

The Blueprint 3 - C

A lot of people weren't satisfied with this album. It usually only takes one listen to tell if you like a Jay-Z album. This one took me several. I can rock with it though accepting the fact that it is what it is. This album's fatal flaw is the fact that he called it The Blueprint 3. Why remind us of your past greatness if you can't deliver on that promise?

Best Track - D.O.A. - This song had us all gassed thinking Blueprint 3 was gonna be heat rocks. It still rocks till this day.

Worst Track - Reminder - Everytime the strings start on this track I'm reminded to skip it.

Bonus Coverage;

Since Jay-Z and Kanye are dropping a joint album I thought I'd grade Kanye's last solo album which wasn't out yet when I did his report card last year.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - A

Sometimes the cult of TMZ will reduce a talented artist to a mere celebrity. Celebrities are people like Lindsay Lohan who's talent doesn't nearly justify the media's obsession with them. Then you have Kanye West who's quite possibly the first obviously bi-polar rapper. His insecurity has turned into supreme confidence and sometimes makes him into an asshole. On this album he embraces both sides of his persona and no diss goes unanswered (South Park, SNL, Amber Rose). This album reminded us why we give a shit about Kanye in the first place. Congratulations.

Best Track - Hell Of A Life - It's a whole song about banging porn stars. What a great idea. No but seriously its the hardest track on the album.

Worst Track - Look At Me Now - featuring Big Sean and Beyonce produced by Lex Luger aka super trash.

Bin Laden, Cobra Commander, Ronald McDonald and Megatron.

2011-05-02T11:19:00.002-04:00

Last night as I was getting ready for bed, I thought I overheard somebody on the news say that the U.S. had killed Osama Bin Laden. I double checked with twitter because as we all know Twitter verifies whatever you think you heard on the news. After it was confirmed by @cobracommander I knew it was true. I turned the news back on and Geraldo Rivera was on my TV so excited and happy that he was making a monkey of himself.

If there is a death that can be celebrated certainly Osama Bin Laden's is the one. But after we're done high fiving in the Pentagon, and Republicans finally find a way to spin this into a negative, I think we should ask ourselves, why are we so happy? I've always been ambivalent about "revenge killings". I mean in movies it's sort of gratifying to see the bad guy get his head blown off, but as a Jedi I can't help but feel as though we've all taken a step closer to the dark side.

Another thing I have to ask is: Was it worth it? We have a poorly designed mission in Afghanistan and a totally unnecessary war in Iraq. We've spent billions of dollars, while the U.S. economy was brought to the brink, we had 8 years of G.W.Bush, and hundreds of thousands of lives lost, on behalf of this one guy.

Meanwhile how relevant was Bin Laden in 2011? We are fighting a "war on terrorism" and we kill the most notorious terrorist, I won't dispute that. But it's like fighting a war on Obesity and killing Ronald McDonald (which also happened recently). This is to say Bin Laden didn't exactly produce terrorism in his million dollar mansion; he just sold it to children.

Opportunities to kill Bin Laden in the 90's were thwarted by Monica Lewinsky. Distracting the President at a crucial time with the accusations of internal White House fellatio turned out to be a crucial error by the Republicans. Also George W. Bush apparently respected Pakistan's borders too much to do what Obama just did, which is order Rainbow Six in there and bring back the body.

So how should you really feel about Bin Laden's death? Well just wait for it to impact your life. Go ahead wait for it. Is gas still $5 a gallon? Yup. Are terrorists still determined to attack the U.S.? Yup. Can you still not bring a bottle of water on a plane? Yup. The terrorists apparently have still won. If there's one thing we've learned from watching cartoons is that when you kill Megatron, Starscream is always there to take his place.

#PlaystationFail

2011-04-27T16:57:00.002-04:00

I got this email from Sony yesterday. Because I am a gamer and I own a Sony PSP and I have made purchases online through the Playstation Network I have been affected by the recent security violation of the Playstation Network. I never quite understood Sony's online strategy anyway. Almost everyone I know who wants to play games online against other people rocks with Xbox 360 despite the fact that it costs money to be an Xbox Live member. I made a fateful decision to by a 360 in 2007 and several times over the years I have come close to getting a PS3 but didn't because the price always turned me off. Now that it is finally "cheap" (or as cheap as it's gonna get for awhile) I was thinking that this would be the Christmas I welcomed one home. But now I'm seriously considering a Sony boycott. Any company that is not smart enough to secure it's accounts and then waits a week before it reveals that it's been comprised doesn't deserve to earn another penny.

The thing that kills me is that Information Security is assumed when you sign up for an online account. Most of us have iTunes, Amazon, Google etc. A million and one online accounts. I personally have 5 email addresses. Nowadays we're all busy, it's just more convenient to go online and download the newest Ghostface album than to drive down to the local Best Buy and cop the physical CD. If information powered cars instead of gasoline we could all drive hummers.

So even if you are not one of the ones affected by Sony's mishap, how safe is your information? Are we gonna turn into a nation of paranoid delusional who pay one of those services to give us constant updates on our credit reports? Is Xbox Live next? What about Facebook? Gmail? Yahoo? Twitter? iTunes? Amazon? It's not so easy to dismiss these concerns. What these other companies should be doing is proactively reaching out to their customers and letting us all know that we have nothing to fear from the hackers because their networks are secure. But they can't really do that can they?

The truth is we have surrendered and continue to surrender so much information willingly. We all have little apple tracking devices in our pockets. We all have foursquare and facebook places telling our "friends" exactly where we were. The fear of "big brother" is almost hypocritical at this point. But the fear of identity theft is real. I myself have been a victim of it. ( I mean a lot of people want to be me but some ambitious crook actually tried). I often wonder at what point we'll have virtual nametag halos hanging over our heads when we walk the streets? Which handle would I use? Probably E.Knight or Eknight81 or maybe even boxingwithgod. Of course it would be easier to pick out the hoes. I mean any woman with a handle like Gud_Hed has to be a slut, right?

But let me get back to the original subject of my disdain. Sony. I remember Sony mocking the failure rate of Xbox 360. And yes I myself am on my 3rd Xbox 360. But not once in all these years can I remember not being able to connect to Xbox live as a result of anything other than my spotty internet connection. And I'm pretty sure if I did than Microsoft would buy my forgiveness with a free game or a few months worth of free service. I guess what I'm saying to people who have the PS3 as their primary system, next time buy American. #TeamXbox.

Valued PlayStation(R)Network/Qriocity Customer:

We have discovered that between April 17 and April 19, 2011,
certain PlayStation Network and Qriocity service user account
information was compromised in connection with an illegal and
unauthorized intrusion into our network. In response to this
intrusion, we have:

1) Temporarily turned off PlayStation Network and Qriocity services;

2) Engaged an outside, recognized security firm to conduct a full
and complete investigation into what happened; and

3) Quickly taken steps to enhance security and strengthen our
network infrastructure by rebuilding our system to provide you
with greater protection of your personal information.

We greatly appreciate your patience, understanding and goodwill
as we do whatever it takes to resolve these issues as quickly and
efficiently as practicable.

Although we are still investigating the details of this incident,
we believe that an unauthorized person has obtained the following
information that you provided: name, address (city, state, zip), country,
email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login,
and handle/PSN online ID. It is also possible that your profile data,
including purchase history and billing address (city, state, zip),
and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers may
have been obtained. If you have authorized a sub-account for your
dependent, the same data with respect to your dependent may have
been obtained. While there is no evidence at this time that credit
card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility. If you have
provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity,
out of an abundance of caution we are advising you that your credit
card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have
been obtained.

For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email,
telephone and postal mail scams that ask for personal or sensitive
information. Sony will not contact you in any way, including by email,
asking for your credit card number, social security number or other
personally identifiable information. If you are asked for this information,
you can be confident Sony is not the entity asking. When the PlayStation
Network and Qriocity services are fully restored, we strongly recommend that
you log on and change your password. Additionally, if you use your PlayStation
Network or Qriocity user name or password for other unrelated services or
accounts, we strongly recommend that you change them as well.

To protect against possible identity theft or other financial loss, we
encourage you to remain vigilant, to review your account statements and
to monitor your credit reports. We are providing the following information
for those who wish to consider it:
- U.S. residents are entitled under U.S. law to one free credit report annually
from each of the three major credit bureaus. To order your free credit report,
visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call toll-free (877) 322-8228.

- We have also provided names and contact information for the three major U.S.
credit bureaus below. At no charge, U.S. residents can have these credit bureaus
place a "fraud alert" on your file that alerts creditors to take additional steps
to verify your identity prior to granting credit in your name. This service can
make it more difficult for someone to get credit in your name. Note, however,
that because it tells creditors to follow certain procedures to protect you,
it also may delay your ability to obtain credit while the agency verifies your
identity. As soon as one credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the others
are notified to place fraud alerts on your file. Should you wish to place a
fraud alert, or should you have any questions regarding your credit report,
please contact any one of the agencies listed below:

Experian: 888-397-3742; www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013
Equifax: 800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
TransUnion: 800-680-7289; www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division,
P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790

- You may wish to visit the website of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission at
www.consumer.gov/idtheft or reach the FTC at 1-877-382-4357 or 600 Pennsylvania
Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20580 for further information about how to protect
yourself from identity theft. Your state Attorney General may also have advice
on preventing identity theft, and you should report instances of known or
suspected identity theft to law enforcement, your State Attorney General,
and the FTC. For North Carolina residents, the Attorney General can be
contacted at 9001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-9001; telephone
(877) 566-7226; or www.ncdoj.gov. For Maryland residents, the Attorney
General can be contacted at 200 St. Paul Place, 16th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202;
telephone: (888) 743-0023; or www.oag.state.md.us.

We thank you for your patience as we complete our investigation of this
incident, and we regret any inconvenience. Our teams are working around the
clock on this, and services will be restored as soon as possible. Sony takes
information protection very seriously and will continue to work to ensure that
additional measures are taken to protect personally identifiable information.
Providing quality and secure entertainment services to our customers is
our utmost priority. Please contact us at 1-800-345-7669 should you have any
additional questions.

Sincerely,

Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Network Entertainment

===================================

LEGAL
"PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered
trademarks and "PS3" and "PlayStation Network" are
trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
(C) 2011 Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC.

Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC
919 E. Hillsdale Blvd., Foster City, CA 94404

Book of the Month: Super Freakonomics

2011-04-21T16:52:00.002-04:00

People respond to incentives reads the introduction to this book. That may seem like "common sense" to most, but there is nothing "common" about the way a trained economist dissects society. Whenever I hear "economist" I think oh you mean those bastards who failed to predict the economic collapse. As Nassim Taleb noted in his book "Black Swan" (a former Book of the Month) most expert economists are useless. But In this book you'll learn about how a street prostitute is like a department store Santa. Admittedly that's not the typical territory for economists but then that wouldn't make for as interesting of a read.

This book is the sequel (for lack of a better term) to Steven D. Levitt (economist) & Stephen J. Dubner's (journalist) first book Freakonomics, which famously broke down how a street level drug dealer in Chicago would be better off financially if he worked at McDonald's. (I'm still surprised McDonald's marketing department didn't publicize those results.) In this book they or (rather the sociologist who conducted the drug dealer study) revisit Chicago's infamous Cabrini Green projects to understand the world of prostitution. They examine the history of prostitution in the United States, and also do a compare and contrast between the lives and lifestyles of the average streetwalker and the high end prostitutes of the kind that Eliot Spitzer got caught with. At the end the authors come the conclusion that for such a lucrative low risk occupation high end prostitution should have a lot more popularity for educated ambitious women. If you're confused read the book, and that's just the first chapter.

I read books like these because they don't just give you dry numbers and statistics. What they do is use real people and real situations to illustrate real trends. Levitt and Dubner direct the narrative to a wide array of topics which all illustrate the underlying theme of people and incentives. By the time they reexamine the infamous Kitty Genovese case to illustrate the concepts of altruism versus apathy, you be learning things you didn't even realize you wanted to know about the way people interact with each other.

Whenever they realize numbers about Americas decline in education they always focus on math and science. What I'd be more interested in knowing is where Americans rank in reading comprehension and critical thinking. Whatever I believe the results would be I'm sure Levitt and Dubner could prove me wrong with some numbers and then explain why in a compelling way.

American Idiots

2011-04-11T12:09:00.002-04:00

(Note to readers, when I use the phrase "we" I'm not actually including myself, but it sounds less condescending than "you". As in "You are all a bunch of morons, America")

Last week in Washington D.C. the two political parties, but especially one of them embarrassed America. It seems as though in the twenty first century we are still a nation of backwater hicks and religious freaks. We are a nation of poor people who defend the rights of the rich to exploit us. We demonize workers (ourselves) and teacher unions. And American ingenuity is as dead as chivalry, civility, and the hope and change we all voted for.

Most of us are not smart enough to look at the world we live in objectively. (Complete objectivity isn't possible but we don't even try half the time). But if we were we'd have to ask if last week's budget showdown was an argument between political parties with real ideological differences or a sideshow meant to distract us from the real point. American politicians, have different interests than American people. I'd like to submit this budget discussion as exhibit "A" that politicians are aliens from another universe.

Last week would have been a perfect time to have a serious discussion about repealing these tax cuts for the wealthy. Because it's pretty obvious that they DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT cause economic growth. But we let our country be hijacked by an unholy alliance of profiteering corporations, and right wing idealists. These two groups that should be on the opposite side of every battle somehow unite under the banner "Tea Party".

People on the right have an unreasonable hatred of Obama and all the things he "stands" for. But they should be applauding Obama he is the Neville Chamberlain of political warfare. His policy of appeasement is grating to true liberals (a term which I will define in a later blog) everywhere. No politician ever in the history of American Politics has ever delivered one hundred percent on their campaign promises but Obama's backpedaling and de-emphasizing on all the things we thought made him different is really quite discouraging.

Why do we have to make any cuts on education when our kids are getting dumber? Why does the richest nation in the history of the world have to make cuts on programs for the poor? Hell why do we even have poor people? Why are American corporations posting record profits during a so-called "recession"? And why do we keep letting the politicians screw us? My belief in "incremental" change is the only thing that keeps me coming back to the voting booth. The days where politicians lead on principle and did unpopular things that might hinder there reelection just to get them done, are over.

Maybe during Obama's second term, he'll make that radical shift to the left that all liberals are hoping for and all conservatives are pretending has already happened. But somehow I doubt it. Maybe he'll temporarily fix the economy like Bill Clinton did. But politics is like a funhouse mirror, it can be distorted to fit whatever way it is you see the world. When I'm feeling optimistic I applaud the President, when I'm feeling pessimistic I realize that I'd like him to do much much more.
But as long as the American public retains it's current lack of sophistication we'll continue to let our whole federal budget hinge on something that was settled in the supreme court almost 40 years ago.

Rant Against Religion 2011 pt 2

2011-04-04T12:21:00.001-04:00

Rant Against Religion 2011 pt 2

This morning I was watching Good Morning America for about 2 seconds before I hit the road and they were interviewing some bible thumping freak who decided to burn the Qur'an. And I got to thinking about another thing I hate about religion. Christianity, Islam and Judaism are all variations of the same thing. Yet and still they all claim superiority over each other.

Rep. Peter King of New York recently held hearings on the radicalization of Islam, but no hearings on Christianity were held when McVeigh bombed Oklahoma City, or after Columbine, or after Waco. Hell what about the KKK? Isn't that a Christian organization? What about that psycho who shot Rep. Giffords, I'm pretty sure he wasn't a Muslim.
The point I'm trying to make is, name me a major religion and I can name you some violence associated with it. We need to stop pretending like the worship of Allah is a necessary pre condition for being a terrorist.

It would help though if the Muslim world didn't get all belligerent every time south park depicts the Prophet Muhammad. I mean we live in a society that constantly disrespects Jesus and as far as I can tell there have been no beheadings behind it. I'm not saying Christians aren't equally angry or disgusted by that but in America we have built in cultural norms. Number one is that smug intellectuals will disrespect everything Middle America holds sacred, and two is that religious people gain comfort knowing that blasphemers such as myself will burn in hell.

But as I said earlier there are more similarities between the BIG 3 religions than there are differences. Take the way our countries are governed as another example. Politicians of all stripe, shade, creed and color will cynically exploit your foolish worship of invisible men in the sky. Look at secular leaders like Saddam Hussein, Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Gaddafi. They were all dictators in Arab mostly Muslim countries. They all claimed to be using oppressive powers to maintain the stability of their countries. But when the times were tough they all pulled the Muslims united card, despite the fact that they've done more to disenfranchise fellow Muslims than any western power ever could. Sometimes (well almost always) with the help and consent of those very same Western powers.

The truth of the matter is that until George W. Bush the United States would support any dictator who could keep their country stable enough for Western Corporations to rape it of it's natural resources no matter how repressive the dictator's regime was. I have a firm belief that the majority of these highly educated and decorated career politicians a large majority of whom were lawyers and will end up being corporate lobbyists after they retire are truly atheists. Their true holy trinity is Power, Petroleum and Money. But they will exploit the superstitious masses who think their lives are some sort of cosmic chess game between God and The Devil.

But back to the original point. Morons like the Qur'an burners or the Westboro Baptist Church who go to soldiers funerals with signs that say God hates fags are really just agents of chaos meant to provoke others into action. It's like that movie Seven when Kevin Spacey delivers Gwyneth Paltrow's head in a box to Brad Pitt knowing that Brad Pitt will get angry and kill him. The best thing you as a religious person could ever do would be to ignore that noise. Because it's not meant to stir up hate among those that already hate you, it's meant to stir up hate within you. We live in a world full of reactionaries, which is why the terrorists on both sides of the fight always win.

And for what. Cuz we all have different names for the same imaginary man in the sky we pray to. If God existed he would be laughing at all of you.

Book Of The Month: What The Dog Saw

2011-03-29T12:57:00.002-04:00

Malcolm Gladwell is a columnist from the New Yorker and the author of the books Blink, The Tipping Point, and Outliers. What The Dog Saw is a collection of his articles from The New Yorker.

Gladwell has the advantage of writing about America from the point of view of an educated outsider. Many of the things that we take for granted seem strange and foreign to him. This gives him the ability to turn conventional wisdom on it's ear time and time again throughout the course of his tenure at The New Yorker. He focuses much more on the why, then traditional journalists who often offer superficial coverage of complicated issues. Of course journalists run the risk of boring or losing their audience when they try to offer any depth or analysis and Gladwell avoids this buy offering compelling hypothesis and doing more to refute what we consider "common" knowledge than to validate it.

This book covers many topics including the different ways including choking versus panicking, the Enron scandal versus Watergate, how the Dog Whisperer gets animals under his control and why there are so many types of mustard but basically only one ketchup. At times Gladwell broaches subjects which you've never contemplated and at other times he breaks things down to their most basic elements. He doesn't seem intent on advancing any political agenda although he manages to avoid the trap of trying to present two sides of an issue as if both were correct when one is clearly wrong.

In short I would say the articles collected in this book are written for anyone interested in how our world functions. I see on the back cover of the book they have it listed as both business and psychology. But it's might be best as a test of reading comprehension, if you actually understand what is written here there is no way you come away without learning something interesting and useful.

Lupe Fiasco - Lasers

2011-03-08T16:42:00.002-05:00

Rappers going to war with their record labels goes back to the beginning of hip-hop. So I won't buy the excuse that the label made an album wack. The label interferes with lots of records and they don't all come out sounding like trash.

I can't write a formal review for this album because it's too painful to analyze. This is more of a rant similar to my rants against organized religion so go somewhere else if you want to know more about this album other than the fact that it sucks. Lupe Fiasco's album has one feel. It feels like pop/soft rock. It's very similar to songs like Jay-Z's "Forever Young", Eminem's "I'm Not Afraid", and anything B.O.B. dropped last year.

This is truly sucka rap. I'm re-listening to it now trying to imagine any of this making it into my rotation. Usually even horrible albums will have that one track that's deceptively good. Even Nas- Nastradamus, The Roots - Phrenology, and Common - Electric Circus
had joints on them. I've been through these tracks twice and can't find one. Not one song on this that deserves a replay. The funny part about this is that if the album had been a real hip-hop album and tried to pass off one of these tracks I could probably have tolerated it. But it's hard to respect this "music".

Okay so let me explain my beef. I can get with crossover, I mean everybody has to pay their bills. What I can't get with are hip-hop albums that are made without the core audience in mind. This is like the Angry Birds of hip-hop. Yes Angry Birds is a highly addictive "game" but when you play angry birds you're not a "gamer". Listening to this album does not make me feel "hip-hop" at all. I feel like if you take lupe's vocals off these tracks and replace them with B.O.B. singing I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

The tracks are overbearing in their soft - rockness, but the few lyrics I did manage to discern from all the noise were kind of garbage. Someone who is apolitical, that rejects the label conscious rapper and then uses it when it's convenient, dissing Obama is really weak and seems like a play for attention on an otherwise lyrically bland album. This whole album sounds like it was produced by the marketing department at Atlantic. Seriously this shit makes Kid Cudi sound like M.O.P. I'm sorry Lupe I'm still a hip-hop head I'm not crossing the soft pop line with you, holla at me when you get some Lex Luger tracks.

Raekwon - Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang

2011-03-08T14:39:00.001-05:00

Raekwon's solo career is largely defined by his two of his albums (he has 5 by the way) the classic Only Built For Cuban Linx, and the almost classic Cuban Linx II. Both the albums featured crime rap at it's finest and showcased Raekwon's partnership with Ghostface. In hip-hop there are a few duos that are even in the same league as Rae & Ghost. While Rae has one classic and one damn near classic in his catalog though, his other albums have been less than stellar. Ghostface however has been consistently excellent with no duds in his extensive solo catalog. No Wu-Member ever truly goes solo though so take that for what it's worth.

Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang is Raekwon's third good album. If you want to ignore Immobiliarty and the other album, whose name escapes me at the moment, I'm sure Rae would be okay with that. This album brings back the Kung Fu movie skits that Wu were known for in the pre-purple tape era. Also the core family Ghost and Meth both make appearances on this album. As well as Inspectah Deck, Gza, and Killah Priest. No Cappadonna though.

It's the non Wu affiliated guest list that manages to impress though. Nas, Black Thought, Jim Jones, Lloyd Banks, Rick Ross, and Busta Rhymes all show up to exchange bars with Rae. Nas in particular manages to impress with his verse and a half on Rich & Black. Many were disappointed that Nas wasn't on Cuban Linx II so he makes up for that absence. Rick Ross meshes surprisingly well on Molasses. The overall sound of this album is as dark as its predecessor Cuban Linx II.

In hip-hop consistency doesn't seem to be valued as much any more. But so many albums and mixtapes are in my radar that it's nice to know when an artist's name can guarantee quality. Some artists as much as you love their "persona" their musical output is inconsistent (Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, Jadakiss) so whenever they do a project you don't automatically think heat like you do with some artists (Ghostface, Styles P, Mobb Deep). Raekwon is looking to make the transition from that first group to the latter. And with Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang he's stepping in the right direction.

Rant Against Religion 2011 pt 1

2011-03-07T17:48:00.003-05:00

It's about time for one of my "There's no such thing as God/Religion is total bullshit" posts. Anyone who reads any of my patented Atheist rants knows that I think it's the biggest joke in the world that otherwise intelligent people are so intellectually immature that they have to attribute their existence to some "higher" power and also wrap this cosmic thinking with the moral relativism inherent in all faiths. Every once in awhile you may have to take a chance and believe something solely based upon faith. But if you have to take a few leaps of faith in your life please don't waste any of them on religion.

Part of my beef with religion of any sort is its absolutism. Preachers are the most certain people in the world. Because it says in the "holy" text that such and such, blah blah. He rested on the seventh day with two of every animal right before he split the red sea, talked to the burning bush, and resurrected the dead. The divinity of any holy book is immediately suspect due to the fact that I don't believe there is a god to make it divine. But most pastors you talk to, and I'm sure a good deal of rabbis and imams (I have to qualify that I'm not anti-Christian specifically it's just that that's the "devil" I know) don't deal in uncertainty. They are absolutely sure that the path to Heaven (which doesn't actually exist) is to worship Christ.

The thing that kills me about people is the fact that they will profess to be of a certain faith and know what constitutes sin. And still choose to engage in all various sorts of sin. There are people who make mockeries of the tenets of their particular faith every single day by living shamelessly in those "sins", but if I point out that it's cool because there's no such thing as God/Devil/Heaven/Hell any damn way they instantly get offended.

There is a reason for this. Being as though all religion is false, the absolutism attached to it is false. And eventually people's natural human impulses overpower the centuries of religious brainwashing causing the orthodox of almost every faith to become the fringe or minority amongst that faith. Then the broad scope of every religion is such that to be a "Christian" or a "Muslim" is almost meaningless until you specify which congregation of which denomination you identify with. (Another thing I hate about religion, more titles). Indeed how you "practice" your faith largely depends on the pastor's "interpretation" of the "version" of the "holy" book that he chooses to pretend to know about.

Religiosity and faith based thinking is not the exclusive enemy of progress, but it usually doesn't help. Think of all the things that our lawmakers waste their time debating that don't help our country at all. Gay Marriage, who cares the most about this issue? Deeply religious people who are whipped into a frenzy by cynical politicians who play on their prejudice like harp strings to great effect. Why are they against Stem Cell research, which could lead to great advances in medical science? Because they come from fetuses and life begins at conception. If you're opposed to abortion of any kind for any reason, then you're probably a religious person. You could be a super religious person elected President of the United States and believe that God wants you to invade Middle Eastern countries (who worship a different version of God incidentally) to bring them "freedom".

I'll continue this in a later rant but basically Religion is backwards thinking at a time when we all desperately need to move forward.

Gas Pimps

2011-03-03T21:44:00.000-05:00

OPEC is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. They basically supply the entire world with oil. You see despite the Gulf of Mexico along with Texas, Alaska, and California most of our oil comes from overseas. We all know that. What I don’t understand is why America’s dependence on foreign oil is never presented as a national security issue. This is not a far-fetched idea considering the regimes that our oil dependence helps to prop up. In the wake of the revolution occurring across oil rich Libya smart teachers everywhere will take the opportunity to instruct their students on how filling up at the gas pump has enabled Muammar Gaddafi to murder his own citizens and hold a large portion of the world’s economy in fluctuation.

Driving for the majority of us is not a luxury. Some of us live in one state and work in another with no truly reliable or convenient interstate public transit system in place. So our cars are basically our livelihoods. Recently I have been trying to find a job much closer to my home to cut down on my ridiculous commute time (between 70-90 minutes each way depending on traffic most days, much longer on Thursday and Friday evenings). Most of my motivations are purely personal if not truly selfish than at least self-centered. Simply put it is not comfortable or enjoyable to spend 15-25 hours a week in a car. That’s practically a part time job! Not to mention the money I sink into the pump.

I realize that most people in the United States aren’t in a situation where they can walk to work. (Especially not people in my field which is basically corporate America.) I would hope to eventually be in a situation where I can work from home and travel when necessary, which is why I’m working hard to get a business off the ground. I no longer want to give such a large portion of my money to Libya, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, U.A.E. or any other of the members of OPEC. Nor do I want to support organizations such as BP, or ExxonMobil. I would love to be able to afford a Tesla Model S.

But I’m realistic. I realize I would have to be some sort of funky retarded vegan hippie anarchist living in a nature commune in order to live a totally petroleum free life. If you want to live a life of comfort and luxury you put money in the hands of the devil every day. And I wouldn’t ask anyone to boycott oil strictly on moral grounds. Eventually though the price of gas is going to cross that 5 dollar threshold and then Obama or no Obama we might have a war on our hands.

25 Black History Month Facts

2011-02-28T21:17:00.000-05:00

Due to a lack of enthusiasm for black history month this year I started posting facts on my facebook page. I ended the month with these 25:

Black History Month Fact #25: I am on a drug. It's called Charlie Sheen. It's not available because if you try it once you'll die - your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body - Charlie Sheen

Black History Month Fact #24: The greatest rapper of all time died on March 9th

Black History Month Fact #23: who's the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks (Shaft!) you're damn right, who is the man that would risk his neck for his brother man (shaft) can ya dig it?, who's the cat that won't cop out when there's danger all about (Shaft) right on!, you see this cat Shaft is a bad mother- (shut your mouth) but I'm only talkin bout Shaft ( then we can dig it)

Black History Month Fact #22: Nowadays everybody wanna talk like they got something to say. But nothing comes out when they move they lips but a bunch of gibberish and muf$@kas act like they forgot about J

Black History Month Fact # 21: My president is black, my lambo's blue and I'll be goddamned if my rims ain't too.

Black History Month Fact #20: Just the two of us we can make it if we try.. (the classics never get old).

Black History Month Fact # 19: Ain't no sunshine when she's gone.

Black History Month Fact #18: Jack Johnson was the Detroit Red to Muhammed Ali's Malcolm X. ( you don't have to be a history buff to know what that means but it helps).

Black History Month Fact #17: Ayo this rap is like Ziti facing me real tv crash at high speeds Strawberry Kiwi...

Black History Month Fact #16: For people my age Denzel Washington's Portrayal of Malcolm X is almost as important as Malcolm X actually being Malcolm X, but he got the Oscar for playing a crooked cop. Go figure.

Black History Month Fact#15: The U.S. continues to support dictators around the world. This creates unrest and economic disparity and leads to the conditions that cause terrorism.

Black History Month Fact #14: I'm the blues in your left thigh, trying to become the funk in your right, is that alright ? - (they stole that from me).

Black History Month Fact #13: Despite the civil rights movement and affirmative action, blacks still lag far behind in the field of picking your nose at the stoplight and not washing your hands when you pee. Lets work on being more disgusting folks.

Black History Month Fact # 12: Mike Tyson was almost impossible to beat in real life and in videogames

Black History Month Fact #11: The Cleveland Cavaliers deserve to lose.

Black History Month Fact #10: Most of the time when you think something is racist you're right. But it's not worth the effort to put them on blast. So just be cool knowing you're better than that.

Black history month fact #9: I said Elvis Presley ain't got no soul, Chuck Berry is Rock and Roll, You may dig on the Rolling Stones But they ain't come up with that style on they own..

Black History Month Fact #8: (sponsored by TV-ONE) Aunt Esther: Fred I need your help. Fred Sanford: But Esther, I'm a junkman not a plastic surgeon. Aunt Esther: But Fred I need your truck. Fred Sanford: I agree. Son take the truck and run over Esther's face.

Black History Month facts #5-7: Tyler Perry isn't what you would call 'heterosexual'. Golf wasn't a sport till Tiger Woods played it. Roadblock from G.I. Joe used to freestyle his ass off right in the middle of a shootout he's ur favorite rapper's favorite rapper.

Black History Month Fact # 4: I don't play around nor do I eff around and you can tell by the bodies that are left around when some clown jumps up to get beat down broken down to his very last compound see how it sounds? a little unrational a lot emcees like to use the word dramatical ... Fresh for 88 you SUCKAS!!!

Black History Month Fact #3: Somebody in your family can play the saxophone or bass guitar, and if nobody does it's cuz it's supposed to be you.

Black History Month Fact # 2: Slaves invented the sick day. Also the phrase "what's my motivation?"

Black History Month Fact #1 : A hug (also known as a quarter water because of the price) was a small plastic drum shaped container of a kool-aid like substance with a foil lid than can be bitten through instead of a cap. Thus in the 80's and 90's when we asked our mothers for hugs we usually weren't talking about a warm embrace.

Call Of Duty: Black Ops - A second look

2011-02-18T09:48:00.002-05:00

Call of Duty is a popular first person shooter that is available on many platforms. However this post is specifically about the Xbox 360 version. First let me get this out the way. This isn't necessarily a review of the game mechanics or quality of the content provided. This is more of an examination of the social aspects of the game which don't get discussed very often, especially not by the gaming press.

The first thing I want to talk about is the thing most people overlook in games like this: the single player plot. Upon first examination the single player experience offers a pretty compelling story. The main characters are Special Forces Operative Alex Mason and C.I.A. Agent Jason Hudson. Being a first person shooter you get to see the world exclusively through their eyes. The setting is the turbulent 60's beginning during the presidency of John F. Kennedy and finishing sometime after his assassination. One of the earliest missions has you attempting to assassinate Fidel Castro ( which could be based on reality since every president between Kennedy and George H.W. Bush has attempted that). Alex Mason ends up captured by Russian operatives and tortured in prison. He is miraculously rescued by one of his fellow inmates who is a Russian that intends to switch sides and defect to the U.S. This mysterious Russian becomes Alex's guide throughout the game. Almost all the missions are presented as flashbacks while Alex is interrogated by a mysterious figure while tied up in a dark room.

Throughout the game Alex and sometimes Agent Hudson, go throughout their missions in many locations around the globe, some against countries which the U.S. hasn't officially declared war against, hence the title of the game black ops. You play this game and get a since of empowerment as you shoot and kill various eastern European and Asian soldiers. The goal to recover a deadly biochemical weapon so it can be "destroyed" never seems to be Alex Mason's true motive. While we engage in these various war crimes and violations of the Geneva code, we are barely asked to weigh the moral implications. (And I realize that it's not the job of videogame developers to make you think.) But even if you wanted to, the developers employ a clichéd plot device to take Alex Mason and by default the player off the hook.

I see reviewers on many sights such as IGN and magazines such as gameinformer praise the game's storyline as the best of any Call of Duty. They refer to this as a Vietnam based game. But unlike World War II shooters this game doesn't present itself as a morality play. The overall motives of the conflict remain cloudy and unclear just like the real Vietnam War which isn't clearly examined or integrated into our country's official storyline. Hence the subterfuge and focus on black ops. They couldn't have the player just be an average soldier like the ones that slaughtered innocent women and children on a regular basis during the actual Vietnam war because that wouldn't be a feel good story. I wonder often how Asian-American videogame fans feel when they play Black Ops, after all the game is based upon one of the greatest crimes ever perpetuated against their people. What if this game was about Grenada or Panama or the Philippines? Can we possibly digitize and make videogames out of all of America's great military crimes?

Ok now that I've gotten that off my chest (did I mention that I actually really really enjoy this game) it's time to dissect the games highly acclaimed online multiplayer. First of all I know the publisher Activision, the developer Treyarch and Microsoft's Xbox live service are not responsible for the maturity level of the people I find myself online with. But if I could just for one moment send this message out to the white adolescent males who frequent the call of duty multiplayer universe: The N-Word is lame. I know I'm a hypocrite because I'm a black member of THE hip-hop generation (that's right there's only one) and we presumably use the N-Word like it's going out of style. But that's really not the case anymore. We say it yes. But you guys overuse it. It's like it's your one guilty pleasure in life. And the racism that blacks subtract from the word by using it in a familial way, gets injected right back into just by the inflection in your underdeveloped semi-feminine pre-pubescent voices. Seriously white Amerikkka, your sons are a bunch of pussies. This is what your raising them to be. People who would never blurt the n-word in the presence of one black person but can't stop it from flowing from their mouths in the comfort of their own home while playing a simple online game.

Okay my last beef is with my friends and/or myself. One of the things you can do in the online multiplayer is compare your stats to that of your friends. You get points for various actions in the game such as how many people you kill, how many vehicles you blow up, how many matches you win etc etc. For every amount of points you get you rank up to another level, once you surpass level 50 you can enter prestige mode and then began the ranking up process all over again. Each rank unlocks new weapons and other options. So I compare myself to the average player that comes online and to my Xbox live friends who play the game. Most of them are way above my current rank of 43, having hit Prestige mode at least once or in some cases two or three times. I look at this and feel inadequate until I look at another key stat. And that is time played. My current time played is somewhere in the area of one day and 12 hours. Which I consider appropriate for a game I just got on Christmas Day. I mean I have a few other games I like to play, but I also have a life, a job, a fiancé, I have TV shows and a netflix subscription and once in a blue moon I actually hang out with my real life friends. So I figure 36 hours over the course of a month and half is a reasonable amount of time to devote to videogames. Until I look at my friends stats and see that while they all have the same life obligations I do, and some even have kids, that they have managed to devote upwards of 5 or 6 days worth of playing time to the game. And I think for the first time ever unironically, "damn I don't play enough videogames". As a result of this I have downgraded my netflix subscription and will spend even less time with my friends. And to think I haven't even gotten into Halo: Reach's multiplayer. yet.

Update: Justifiable Force

2011-02-16T17:34:00.002-05:00

The concept of white privilege suffered an amazing setback yesterday. And unusually justice was actually served in the acquittal of Gerald Ung. You can be forgiven for forgetting about this case. But back in January of 2010 Eddie DiDonato Jr, and a gang of friends attacked Temple Law student Gerald Ung on fourth and market St. here in Philadelphia. Ung pulled a pistol in self defense and shot Didonato 6 times critically wounding him.

Once a jury trial was announced friends of Ung were hopeful that he would be acquitted. Those who have experience with Philadelphia's criminal justice system however had doubts. We wonder if there was no Fox29 camera to capture the altercation whether or not Ung would currently be spending his days locked in solitude as the result of an attempted murder conviction? Technology is wonderful, not only can it overturn wrongful convictions it can actually prevent them in the first place. And a special commendation for the jury for looking at the facts soberly and coming to the only conclusion that even had a semblance of justice.

I follow this case knowing that it doesn't balance out the steady stream of injustices that are levied down in cases like this all over the country. But it's nice to know that sometimes despite our "understood" places in this American caste system that 12 men and women can sit down, look each other in the eye and say "let's just be fair".

Book Of The Month - Lies My Teacher Told Me

2011-02-14T14:55:00.002-05:00

By the time you graduate high school in the U.S. you lag far behind other countries in math and science. Because of that, education reform recently has focused mainly on bringing American students up to standard in those two areas. If you were to visit the very worst schools in America you would see we lack behind in every other subject too. But there is only one subject that is intentionally taught incorrectly in even the very best schools. And that subject is American History.

The list of things that you don't learn in school is so numerous that many many books have been written on the subject. Indeed this is the third such book to make it as a book of the month selection on my blog. I am perhaps fascinated by history because unlike religion those who teach it to us KNOW that most of it is lies. This book and other's like it become ever more relevant in a world where they want to take the word "nigger" out of Huckleberry Finn and de-emphasized Thomas Jefferson in textbooks in the state of Texas. They want to call the Civil War the war for States' Rights.

This book unlike the others doesn't just enlighten us to the areas of history which are distorted or overlooked in our textbooks. Instead the author takes the time out to ask why American History is taught this way, what the intended effects are, what the actual consequences are, and how we can break the cycle of ignorance and white supremacy that currently dominate the field of our historical education.

Perhaps the sad fact that a very small percentage of Americans ever take a history class after they graduate from high school is the number one contributing factor to the continued cycle of lies. But there is a chicken and egg dilemma to be found here, is it the lack of veracity in the lessons that cause such antipathy towards history or does the aversion towards historical knowledge cause teachers to not bother to go the extra mile.

Imagine having to explain to a 5 year old that there is no Santa Claus, no tooth fairy, no Easter bunny, and no God, then you understand the terrible task that awaits the one forward thinking teacher who has to explain to his or her African American students that almost every president before Abraham Lincoln owned slaves and ,most Presidents after Lincoln held racist views and negative opinions of blacks, that the Alamo was fought to preserve the right to hold slaves, and that there was a period in the past (roughly between the start of reconstruction and the 1890's) prior to the civil rights movement in the 1950's where the equal rights of blacks were almost presumed.

You may think that all the knowledge in this book is intended to make you more cynical towards a Government that most of us already don't trust. However historical accuracy can actually help subvert cynicism where it is unneeded and unwanted. Take the curious case of Abraham Lincoln, we African-Americans as adults are cynical of his motives for waging the civil war, when we need not be. Abraham Lincoln was determined to end slavery. His views on the institution of slavery are well documented. Some may point towards quotes where he specifically indicates that he doesn't not believe the negro to be on equal footing with the white man. However when regarding history one must be aware that a politician in 1859 had the same goal as a politician in 2012 which is to first and foremost win the election by being whatever was needed for expediency.

Today African-Americans laud the Massachusetts blue blood Kennedys (Bobby and Jack) as paragons for the civil rights movement when in actuality it was the Texan Lyndon Johnson who made almost all of the concessions that led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Why isn't Lyndon Johnson held as a civil rights hero? Because the two martyrs play better in the history books that's why.

The underlying theme of most of today's history books is the same message of Euro centrism and white supremacy that has been taught in most history books throughout the history of our nation. Hence Columbus "discovered" a land that had clearly been discovered. With no mention of his slave trading or genocide. Jefferson is a champion of freedom with no mention of his slaves, or his black children. And almost all accomplishments, and advancements in civilization are attributed to white cultures. This contributes greatly towards the inferiority complex among black youth in the U.S. today and our specific aversion towards authority and lack of patriotism. After all not to rebel against a narrative that diminishes your accomplishments is to admit that you really were three-fourths of a man.

Hip-Hop and Corporate Money

2011-02-12T13:07:00.001-05:00

Peep this roundtable discussion on hip-hop and corporate money I participated in for hhdb.com

HHDB Roundtable Discussion: Hip Hop & Corporations by hiphopdatabase

Money Making Jam Boys - The Prestige (Jam Boy Magic)

2011-02-08T12:20:00.000-05:00

When most people think of Philly Hip-Hop they will eventually come to The Roots. But some will put an asterisk next to the name and say "well technically they're a band". The fact that they're a band makes it hard for some (whether justified or not) to view The Roots as street hip-hop. They'll say this is "conscious" rap for the coffee shop chicks and white dudes, without even listening real hard to Black Thought's lyrical content. The fact of the matter is Black Thought is a beast on the mic and there's no reason he can't do "street" hip-hop if he wanted to. So here's the proof. Money Making Jam Boys is The Roots minus the band geeks.

This is for the Re-Up Gang Fans as much as it is for the Roots fans. Black Thought has never been an elitist, jumping on tracks with everyone from Big Pun to Young Chris and Meek Mills. When someone is as nice as he is they resist stale classifications like "conscious" or "gangsta" the keyword is "nice". The fact that his name doesn't get mentioned in G.O.A.T. conversations has a lot to do with the fact that he's from Philly and he's in a band. He leads the rest of this crew on an action-packed mixtape. STS. is the dude with that awkward voice that was all over The Roots last album. Dice Raw who has always been the Memphis Bleek to Black Thought's Hov is featured as well, and for those of you who weren't feeling all the singing on "How I Got Over" you will be happy to know Dice is spitting bars not crooning hooks. P.O.R.N. has one of the most unfortunate rap names in hip-hop history but he holds his own as he did on the Rising Down LP and Truck North might be one of the nicest cats you never heard of.

Philly loves the late 80's. You can hear the influence in most of Philly Hip-Hop from Major Figgas to Eve to Cassidy to the Young Guns, there's nothing like a breakbeat for a Philly head to rock to. And that explains the musical backdrop on this album. These beats could just have easily held down Sigel in his prime. I'm a big fan of this mixtape and while it's only February I can't imagine that this won't make it on to my top 10 list in December. There would have to be 10 albums/mixtapes better than this in the next 10 months and I just don't see that happening.