Swagga

                    

                        He's has got it.

Anyone who watched Obama's speech on healthcare reform will agree that this guy is one cool cat. He didn't just deliver a well written speech. He deliver it with a candid and genuine passion. Even after a tough week of conservative backlash and hideous rumors and allegations of attempts to brainwash America's youth Obama came out on top, unshaken. Hell, the man was even heckled and laughed at on national television and he never lost composure.

The term "Swagga" is thrown around these days. It's meaning and definition cloaked in ambiguity. It's hard to nail down exactly what swagga is, but whatever it is, Obama has got it.

open letter to some chumps...

Dear Conservative Pundits,

What the fuck? Really? Are you high? I hope you all feel ridiculous.I hope you watched Obama today. I hope you watched him strut up to the podium with his unbendable swagger and deliver a speech that for some reason was chalked up to be some Marxist propaganda aimed to "Indoctrinate"  the impressionable youth. This is a new level of partisan foolishness. I really wish I could sit you all down with a highlighter and have you mark the spots where Obama was trying to suggest some sort of secret agenda. Laura Bush came out after Obama's speech saying that she thinks everyone should have listened to our presidents message. Even Newt Gingerich,  being the closed-minded, evangelical bigot that his is, supported our president on this one. 

Some conservative are still bitter about the fact that Obama won and will do whatever it takes to undermine not only our president and his policies, but our nation.

Love,

Fred

music

Beat by D Milla vocals by L Zilla

=]

Remember the Raul Dahl book "Matilda"? Well one of the things from the book that stuck out to me was the concept that the typical human only uses 10% of their brain. I have no idea how factual this statistic is but I'd like to believe that it is true. At least to a certain extent. There are vast capabilities of our brain that we just have not yet found a way to tap into yet, at least not by practical means (Though I must say, if one wants to gain access to these new facets of the human mind, one must expect that it requires some discipline). I don't think that by tapping into the full potential of our brain we will be able manipulate objects like Matilda could (although that would be awesome) but I do this it would allow us gain a deeper understanding of our selves and the world around us. We would be more aware other dimensions that we are connected with.

Attaining this greater control of the mind is hard to do. I'm going to act like I have a advanced knowledge or something on this subject. Despite how I may come across in some of these more "out-there" post, in no way do I think I'm some sort of new age sage or medicine man. In fact the more I explore the topic the more confused and behind I feel. But I do think I have a decent start in the intended direction. Where this direction is taking me, I haven't a clue...

Could it be you???

"Just because you're into interesting things, doesn't make you interesting."


-P.M.

Creativity

The human brain is the most marvelous organism on the planet.It has infinite capabilities, a vast majority of which, I am convinced, we are not able to experience during consciousness. How is it that the human brain, a mass of tissue and electrical pulses, is able to function and reason and, above all, create. It is so incredible. I can not even begin to understand how are we as people are able to conceptualize and and then begin to manipulate things to create something that was once simply an abstract sequence of random chemicals and synapses and dendrites firing back and forth. It is truly a beautiful thing.

I feel that our society has moved away from creativity. I feel we focus so much on courses like math and science, subjects that often have a clear and concise answer if you know the right equations and formulas. I've talked to alot of peers who like the subjects more so than language arts and a social studies class because of this reason. I can not understand this. There's nothing I hate more than sitting down with a chemistry problem knowing that there's only one right way to do it. I need to have room to go off and expand upon my own ideas. There's far too many constrictions, rules and laws.

When I write, there are no finite limitations. Only the limitations are those in my own head and even then those boundaries are possible to break. The one thing that the laws of science have no govern over is our mind. Because of this I believe it is possible to achieve anything given the most opportune circumstances and right person or persons.

When we're young, there's a huge emphasis on creativity and imagination in a early schooling. It seems to phase out as we progress through the system. I think if we continue encourage imagination and push our creative boundaries through adolescence and the teenage years we will grow so much more not only intellectually but also socially and spiritually.

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.

-Albert Einstein

C'mon Green Day

I hate being a downer when it comes to bands changing up their style. Music is all about expression and doing what you feel, so when critics bash artists for deviating away from the style that popularized them I kind of just want to say "Shut up, let 'em do what they want". After all look at how much the Beatles changed in a matter of years and how much diverse and quality material they put out.

So I feel like a total hypocrite for what I'm about to type. Green Day needs to stop making political records! I miss the old Green Day. Remember stuff like "Dookie?", that was awesome! To me, that album is one of the defining albums of the 90's. It isn't the peak of artistic expression or the definition of punk rock or anything. It's just fun music. To me, early Green Day (ie "Dookie" and "1039 Smoothed out Slappy Hours"), really captured the essence of feeling like an under-achiever, apathetic, and not quite good enough for the girl, feelings I think most can all admit to feeling at least occasionally.

In 7th grade hating George W. Bush was starting to get more fashionable but there was still a slight majority Bush support (but I must say the haters were far more vocal). We were at war and it was an election year. Politics was all over the media. One day I was listening to Rock 108, possibly the worst and most stereotypical rock radio station ever. The DJ announced they had an exclusive new Green Day song called American Idiot. At that point I was a bleeding heart liberal and listened almost exclusively to either old school 70's rock or political music. "Awesome, more anti-government music for me to obsess over!" I thought. I heard the track. I really dug the overtly and bordering preachy political theme of the song and the tune was catchy, big and fun. I figured that Green Day was gonna be my new band of choice (even though it was on the radio there was no way the dreaded preps would get a hold of this new music). To my surprise, American Idiot was a massive hit. It produced several top 40 hits. All the pop radio stations picked it up and played it in non-stop rotation. The teeny-boppers that I hated sooooo much latched to it and Green Day was officially no longer cool. That is until their tour happened to make a stop through my town. Yeah I went, "but only because I liked the old Green Day songs".

Anyways, Recently Green Day has released yet another politically themed album titled "21st Century Breakdown". This album is packed with more cliche political lyrics and overproduced tracks (Not to mention the new single is called "Know Your Enemy" the exact same title as one of the most beloved Rage Against the Machine tunes from their first album.) A few songs a 8 minutes + long, a far cry from their standard 3 minutes punk jams. The poilical/social music I'm used to listening to is extremely leftist and radical. Artist like Zack de la Rocha ("they murdered X and tried to blame it on Islam") and Chuck D are uncompromising and intense. In comparison, Green Days lyrics seem sort of like a child telling their parent they want a later curfew.

It's unreasonable for me to expect Billie-Joe, Mike, and Tre to continue to make the self depreicating/angsty/funny songs of their youth. Hell, the dudes are around fourty years old! You can't make quirky songs about being lazy and lamenting over girls forever. No these guys have moved on to write out something that speaks to them, and I totally understand and respect that. I'm just dissapointed that they have strayed from the kind of music that I looked to Green Day for: simple, fun rock & roll.