No Freakin' Way

I can't believe it! I pulled an all-nighter Thursday last week to finish this mammoth 10 page paper for my Early American Literature class, and got it back today with a Big Fat A on it! Whoever said that you can't procrastinate and succeed in college need only to look no further than me baby!

Hell Week has Arrived

Well, I had a 10 page paper due last Friday, and that was only the beginning of my end of the semester suffering. I'm sure I'm not the only one, as Queen and David Bowie once so eloquently put it, under pressure, but god damn this week makes me want to rip through a whole carton of smokes in about a day!

No Shit Sherlock

Here's some interesting, but long-known news from NORML.org:

"Marijuana smokers appear to be at a significantly lower risk of developing cancer than tobacco smokers, according to an article by Amanda Chen et al. published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs (Sept, 2008).

The authors analyzed existing evidence on the carcinogenicity of marijuana smoke. Although it has long been hypothesized that marijuana smoke might cause cancer because it contains tars with known carcinogenic properties, like tobacco smoke, the authors note that epidemiological studies have so far failed to show a convincing causal relation between marijuana and smoking-related cancers."

So marijuana is illegal while cigarettes are sold everywhere because....................

Maybe someone can help me out on this one?

Jack White can predict the future

In contemplating the recent calamity revolving around Michigan's big Three automaker's plea for $34 million in bailout money, I turn your attention to the brilliantly observant lyrics of Jack White's composition for his band, The White Stripes, entitled "The Big Three Killed My Baby", which was released by the way in 1999! Check out the lyrics:

the big three killed my baby
no money in my hand again
the big three killed my baby
nobodys coming home again

their ideas make me wanna spit
a hundred dollars goes down the pit
thirty-thousand wheels a rollin
and my stick shift hands are swollen
everything involved is shady
the big three killed my baby yeah yeah yeah

the big three killed my baby
no money in my hand again
the big three killed my baby
nobodys comin home again

why dont cha take the day off and try to repair
a billion others don't seem to care
better ideas are stuck in the mud
the motor's runnin on tucker's blood
dont let 'em tell you the future's electric
cuz gasoline not measured in metric
thirty-thousand wheels a spinnin
and oil company faces are grinnin
and now my hand are turnin red
and i found out my baby is dead yeah yeah yeah

the big three killed my baby
no money in my hand again
the big three killed my baby
nobody's comin home again

well i've said it now
nothings changed
people are burnin for pocket change
and creative minds are lazy
and the big three killed my baby yeah yeah yeah
and my baby's my common sense
so dont feed me planned obsolescence
and my baby's my common sense

Plaxico Misunderstood? I Don't think so!

Well here's MSU footballer doing his alma-mater proud. Just like Charles Rogers ill-fated career with the Lions. former MSU wideout Plaxico Burress seems to be headed down the same path to ruin. Only his case provides numerous more opportunities for humor.

Shooting himself in the leg at a nightclub? Who saw that coming? When it's your job to use your legs to score touchdowns, it's probably not a good idea to carry a loaded handgun in your pants (sweatpants in this case) with the saftey off. Aside from all the legal problems this presents for Mr. Burress, there is the issue of pride,which is not readily apparent in the features of a man who has comitted so stupid of an offence.

A Wag of my Finger to........

My friends, who feel it nessecary to roll the dice on Satan's craps table a little too often for my taste. I got a call this morning from my roomate's mother (she lives in Detroit by the way), sobbing hysterically trying to find out why the Kent County Sherrif's Department had called her telling her that her son had been arrested and was being held in the County Jail. The questions flew at me like machine gun fire: "Where was he last night?" "What was he doing?" "Who was he with?" Not only did I lack the answers to all these questions, I had an intense desire to aquire them myself.

Later on that day I would discover that my roomate had been arrested the night before for OWI, and I think we all know what that means. That would make four of my close friends now who have drunk-driving charges. Now I know what you're going to say, probably something like "you should get yourself some better friends". And I also know what I'm going to say back, probably something like "Fuck off you judgemental prick". In saying that, I'm not condoning drunk driving; in fact I oppose it heavily, and have never been able to understand why anyone would want to risk ruining a perfectly good drunk by wrapping their car around a tree, killing an innocent bystander, or getting aressted and going to jail. Perhaps these friends of mine know some secret allure of drunk driving that I don't, but that's a secret I think I could wait my whole life and then some to find out.

I love alcohol, but lord knows it doesn't mix with driving. I know we all have friends who have made poor decisions, but who hasn't? I guess in the end you can only hope they've learned their lesson, but just to make sure, a little friendly reminder once in a while never hurt anyone. The next one of my friends stupidly tries to get in their car drunk, I'll simply take their keys and lock them in my bathroom for 12 hours, maybe slide a few pieces of bread and a dish of water under the door. It'll be just like jail, only I will have saved them a $100 bail and a nice ride downtown on the stiff plastic backseat of a cop cruiser.

Everybody Wants their 15 minutes of fame, but some lucky stiffs get 20

Remember Joe the Plumber? Seems so long ago that he was basking in the limelight of the 2008 Presidential Election, captivating the media with his apparent relation to all things "average", and "American". What happened to him since then you ask? He seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth. I thought so, that is until I saw today a commercial that went like this:

"Joe Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, has partnered with VelocityStore.com to help you with the transition from Analog-to-Digital television. Check back often for new videos from Joe where he'll not only show you how to set up your DTV converter, but he'll also explain the public safety benefits the transition provides to all Americans. " http://www.velocitystore.com/?lang=en&PHPSESSID=5a0f1seapevc7illv3qrpn1c17&page=media

Who better to tell who about the Analog-to-Digital conversion than a plumber, and probably a mediocre one at that? Sure, the cable-guy's got the training, but who can relate to him? All those average American's out there, five beers down on a Joe-Six-Pack, are gonna want some one they know and trust to inform them about our nation's television transformation, someone that is just like them in so many ways--a short-sighted, close-minded, imbecile who voluntarily surrendered his dignity and his humanity to the media so they could mold his image into any perverted sense of America they wanted to, and all for a measly 15 minutes of fame.

But now we have a situation which points to a failure on the part of Joe the Plumber. Joe obviously thinks he's going to ride this brief wave of stardom until it dies, then hop off of it and be completely fine, but if you ask me, I'll bet he already spent the money he's squeezed out of it and then some, probably in some back alley poker game with a table full of less-than-reputable characters. He seems like that kind of a guy, you know, average. If he has one hope, it's that one night, when the liquor is flowing and the stakes are high, he hits a straight flush with some wiseguy all in big with four kings. And the best part is, he won't have to worry about that money qualifying him to be taxed under Obama's $250,oo0 plus income plan.

Wings Lose....Leave Me Alone!

Well, as if shit wasn't going downhill alot of places already, the Wings drop last night's game 4-1 against Boston. If the Wings slump now, it's gonna be a tough week to get through without letting ol' uncle Jack ease the pain a little.

Diddy Follows in Obama' Footsteps (Or Tries To Anyway)

I don't like P.Diddy, or Puff Daddy, or Diddy, or whatever the hell he's calling himself these days. In my opinion, he's like Prince, but with only a sliver of the talent. His latest adventure into the realm of entertainment, or let's be honest, marketing, because we all know Diddy's wealth comes not from being a good entertainer (his raps suck, just ask Biggie), but from being a good enterprenuer. Which is fine and dandy, do what you do, you know? But know the over-ambitious mogul wants to break into acting, becoming, in the spirit of Barack Obama, the first black James Bond. Now I'm not opposed to the idea, I'm just opposed to Diddy being that black man. If you want an authentic Bond, I'd go with a guy like Denzel Washington. Diddy can stick to making fragrances and playing golf.

This Thanksgiving I'm Thankful for......Everything but the Lions

It's almost funny how bad things are for the Detroit Lions this season. As the numerous fans in the audience during yesterday's Thanksgiving match-up indicated with their homemade signs, the only ones in worse need of a bailout than Wall Street are the 0-12 Lions. Rumor has it that the folks in L.A. are clamoring for the Lions to move there, a historic football city which was once the home of the Rams, now out of St. Louis, and the Raiders, now out of Oakland. I don't think they want a football team bad enough to take on this franchise, but if they want em, they can sure as hell have em. We'll start from scratch if we have to. Call our team the Detroit Big African Game Hunters

Potential Stanley Cup Matchup a letdown

Damn. In what I had personally predicted to be this year's Stanley Cup finals matchup, The Detroit Redwings and the Montreal Canadiens met last night in Detroit, for what I had hoped would be an exciting, high-powered offensive game indicative of the kind of play each club would exhibit in the postseason. However, I was to be dissapointed as the Wings got deftly defeated by the Habs. I'm a little prejudice, but I'm willing to bet that if the Wings would have had fresh legs (they were fresh off a 4 game west-caost road stint), the story would have been a little different.

God Help Us

I hate reality television, and usually when I'm surfing channels late at night I can pass by a disgusting reality program without problems, but one I ran into last night stopped me dead in my tracks. Yes, as I passed the cultural cesspool that is MTV, I had the extreme displeasure of being exposed to Paris Hilton: My New BFF. LIKE, OH MY GOD! FRIENDSHIP, TO ME, IS LIKE, DOING WELL IN PRE-SCHEDULED REALITY TV EVENTS AND LIVING COMFORTABLY IN A HOUSE WITH SIX OTHER ANNOYING BLOND BITCHES! God help us!

Here is an quick summary of one of the episodes, straight from MTV.com: The game is on for the BFFs who held nothing back during their last visit with Paris. After hitting the streets of Hollywood and bearing it all in a hot tub, who will go home and who will be in the final running to be Paris' new BFF?

Wow, can't wait to tune in for this one? Am I wrong here or does this competition (if you can call it that) seem to be all about which one of these airheads can emulate the Queen Airhead of them all the best? News Flash to any terrorists reading my blog: THIS is the part of American Culture you should be working to destroy!

Ah the Irony

I read today that a recent survey showed that talking on a hands-free phone while driving is actually more dangerous than conversing with a passenger while driving, contrary to popular belief. How ironic is that? The study showed that drivers on a hands-free device were more likely to drift out of their lane and miss right turns. Take that Bluetooth! Maybe now people will wait till they get out of their cars to make their precious phonecalls eh?

What the????

So I get up to go to class at 9:25 this morning, and there's no snow on the ground, on the trees, or on my roommates cars. I get out of class at 10:40 and there's a freakin' inch of snow on the ground, with more fat wet flakes pouring down on my head by the second. And to think I almost forgot I was living in Michigan........

21st Birthday, Not Mine Though....

Tonight I'm going to a party commemorating the 21st birthday of one of my good friends, and it's got me to thinking about my own coming of age. I won't be 21 until March 26th of next year, but for some reason that date feels as though it's already come and gone. The excitement of reaching legal drinking age is virtually non-existent these days, because let's face it: if some one under 21 wants alcohol, especially in Grand Rapids, they can get their hands on some booze. The first beer I crack open at the bar on my 21st won't be my first beer by a long shot, just my most expensive one to date, and I don't know if I'll even venture to the bar to buy it. For my generation, the rite of passage that is drinking started at the same time as my father's generation, 18, but the difference is that for them it was legal, and for us it's not. I would argue that there are just as many 18 year olds drinking now than there was before the law change, if not more. By the time our rite of passage, our 21st, rolls around, our generation just shrugs our collective shoulders in indifference. So what does my 21st mean for me? The fact that I've effectively earned a right to pay more for my beer, served in a classier fashion.

Oilers-Wings: Round Two Tonight

Can't wait for this rematch tonight! The Oilers shoot in the offensive zone as if they were wearing blindfolds! They couldn't hit the net if it was soccer regulation size! I'm predicting another Detroit stomp, this time on Canadian soil. My prediction: Wings 6, Oilers 0, with big goals from Big Hoss and The Franz.

DAMN YOU BIGBY'S!!!!!

Well that's it! I'm personally damning Bigby's coffee to eternal hellfire, if that's even possible for me to do. I went out to MSU yesterday only to find out that my girlfriend had to work midnight to six in the morning, and she hadn't known that earlier because her manager messed up the schedule! Thanks Bigby Bitch! Now I'm stuck sucking down Moosehead waiting for a.) the sun to rise, and b.) my girlfriend to get home from work. Ahhhhhh. the beer tastes bittersweet!

Wanna Get Away?

You know those Southwest Airline commercials, the one's where someone does something embarassing or implicating, then wishes they could be transported far far away. Well I'm feeling something similar today thanks to the stress that's building in my life. Thankfully, I don't need a plane to get away from my problems, so I'm driving to MSU to see my baby and leaving my bills and worries behind.

Power of Oil Useless Against Wings

In a victory both for the team and against the fossil fuel crisis ( a stretch I know) The Red Wings took out the Edmonton Oilers tonight in a brezzy 4-0 win. New nicknames for players: Marian Hossa is now Big Hoss, Johan Franzen is now The Franz. EeHHHHHHH. Not getting these? Watch more hockey!

Damn You Bigbys!

I would like to quickly send out a personal message of frustration and hatred to Bigby's Coffe Company, whose East Lansing location had been making my girlfriend's life a living hell for the last month or so. Today, she works the graveyard shift, starting at midnight and ending at six in the morning, and it is her fourth straight night of doing so! Not only do such late hours render her unreachable all the next day (she is usually sleeping), but her hair is starting to permanantly smell like roasted coffee beans. Too much effort for not enough reward, but that's just my opinion.

Change I don't need

Well it's official. As two of my roommates informed me today, they will be joining my third roommate in moving back home for the next academic semester, rendering our lease in our current house defunct after December. This election has sure brought change to or house, with each of us unexpectedly going our separate ways halfway through the academic year. So change has come, but its change that I neither needed nor foresaw having to deal with.

Redwings Redeemed!

I'll make this one short. Redwings redeem themselves with a victory last night over the Tampa Bay Lightning, who's coach I have hated for some time. Who the hell watches hockey in Tampa Bay anyway.....

Payback is a bitch!

I ahve a funny story to share today: last week two of my jackass friends (who shall remain unnamed) decided to steal our TV in the middle of the night, leaving us to awaken surprised the next morning to assume that our house had been raided by Eastown's finest. Then, a few days later, they snuck the TV back into our house while I was in the shower, leaving me to wonder just what sort of spirits we;re roaming around the place. Well, last night I finally had a chance to pay my friends back. They were over hanging out and drinking some whiskey before heading to a concert, and I was upstairs watching a movie. Before they left, one of my friends decided to repeat the TV gag, hauling our set out to his car, parked in the car wash adjacent to my house, in the drunken hopes that I (being far more sober) would not discover it. Well, due to my average intelligence, I came downsatirs later to find it gone, and after a few minutes of searching, found it in my friends backseat. His car was unlocked of course (stupid drunk-ass) and I couldn't help but take the opportunity for revenge. I took my television back inside, hid it well, and procedded to load everything of value from my friend's car into a trash bag. He was so plastered when they got back from the show, that he didn't even bother to check in his car. I pretended to be asleep when they came in, and then made a big pretend fuss over my missing tv the next morning. My friend groggily assured me it was alright, that he had my set out in his car, and much to my delight, took me outside to show me. Not only did he discover that my tv was not there, but that his Ipod, cigarettes, CD's, clothes, workboots, and even a power sander, were missing from his vehicle. My friend is now convinced his car was broken into, and he's promised to bring us a new television set tonight. Ah sweet victory! How long should I wait before I give him his shit back? I say let him suffer.

What the Fuck!!!!!

Wow! Well I really ate my post from yesterday...... Wings lose 7-6 in OT, blowing both a two goal and a three goal lead, the latter in the third period. When the Pens were celebrating, Crosby's grin made me want to vomit all over my living room. I blame the loss on my sketchy Comcastic cable television service, which cut out for a good 5 minutes in the second period. This one was a real bummer.....

Rematch!

I've waited for this one for awhile! Rematch tonight between my beloved Detroit Red Wings and the hated Pittsburg Penguins with their NHL posterboy captain Sidney (Cindy) Crosby. As every hockey fan knows, the WIngs trounced the Pens this past June, winning 4 games to 2 and once again bringing Lord Stanley's cup back where it belongs: Hockeytown. My prediction: Wings 5, Pens 2

Pride and Prejudice

I'm reading Pride and Prejudice in Novel class right now, a novel whcih my instructor frequently touts as "the best novel written in Engligh". Do I agree? No. And frankly I'm getting tired of lectures where he is far too proud of Jane Austens great literary acomplishment, and far too prejudice about the (in my opinion) paltry social commentary the novel makes.

Ouch

Remember that birthday I told you about yesterday. Well, because of that birthday, all I have the strength to write today is: Ouch, where the hell is the asprin?

Another One

It's Saturday, but not just any old Saturday. Today marks a great day in my house, as it is the birthday of one of the Roomates. As a tradition in my house, we usually start the drinking early on birthdays, and continue well on into the evening hours. However, this does not always bode well with the other birthday customs we have, such as cooking a nice birthday meal. Today we're doing porterhouse steaks, and judging from the agonizing howls I'm hearing from the front porch, my roomate most likely burned the steaks. Never trust a porterhouse to a drunken grillmaster.....unless of course its his birthday, then you smile and choke down your charred piece of beef, cracking another beer for good measure.

My landlord is.....Headed for the border?

Another quick development in my current housign crisis has had quite an unsettling effect on my roomates and I. Coincidence is a funny thing, and it just so happens that ever since we recieved a forclosure notice in the mail, we haven't been able to get in contact with our landlord. Weird huh? He's a young guy, prolly 27 or so, and has seemed a little more than shady during the 1.5 years or so we've been paying him rent. guess all that rent money we were giving him in cash wasn't exactly goin in the bank to pay the mortgage eh? My guess, he's halfway to Mexico by now...

Finally

Well, I didn't ever think the housing and loan crisis would ever affect me so directly as it has done today. I just got word that my landlord, who owns the house in Eastown where my roomates and I rent, has received a letter telling him that his mortgage has been defaulted on, and that it is going to be auctioned December 3rd, meaning that my roomates and I are out of a place to live come then. Ah, nothing adds to the stress of final exams like finding a new place to live smack in the middle of the school year!

Obama!........doesn't take office until January 20th

In the wake of the excitement generated by Obama's election, it's easy to forget that we still have two and a half months of W and company to suffer through before we can roll our collective sleeves up and get started. Now as an official lame duck President, Bush will likely sit on his ass some more, enjoying the luxuries of the White House while waiting to be escorted from the premise Jan.20th with more pomp and circumstance than he deserves, probably off to Crawford Ranch where he'll spend the rest of his days laughing his monkey laugh on the porch with Cheney and the gang as the remember how bad they screwed us all. And isn't that just exactly what we need considering the multitude of problems we currently face as a nation? A do-nothing approach for the next two and a half months? Hell no it isn't.

Election 2008: I think I'm dreaming, pinch me!

Wow. Just watched every news network (FOX included) declare Obama the winner by a landslide. I have to say I thought the contest would be alot closer than this, as well as a lot more controversial. Now all we have left is to wait and see just what kind of CHANGE comes to America. Hopefully, it's change that we truly do need, that is to become once again a country whose strength, as Obama so deftly called for, "comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope."

Yes We Can,
But Will We Do?

Freedom of Speech

On the day before this year's election, a man in Santa Barbra California was taken into custody by police for standing on a highway overpass waving a gun while holding an American flag and wearing a ski-mask. The reason for this according to a local officer? An apparent demonstration against the war. A guy in a ski-mask waving a gun like a loony............because he's anti-war. Canada anyone? Eh?

Not Happy with Dumars

So Joe Dumars just gave up two of my favorite Detroit Pistons, Antonio McDyse and Chauncey Billups, in a trade to Denver for, get this, Allen Iverson. Yup, the same guy who told his coach he needed time off to work on his "rap" album a few years back. I was under the impression that we were looking for athletes in the motor city, not egotistical, vain, assholes like Mr. Iverson. Once again, for the manual on how to run a sports team, especially in Detroit, look no further than the Detroit RedWings.

BCS WOES

Just watched Texas Tech cap off an impressive win over undefeated Texas. Enjoyed it immensely. What I did not enjoy was the tidal wave of over-analysis on the state of the BCS rankings that followed. The way the commentators were shouting and gesturing wildly you would have thought you were watching the O'Reily Factor or something! Enough of this BCS bullshit and just have a playoff, leave the bickering and arguing over process and procedure to politicians and pundits.

Ah... Halloween

Since when did it become tradition to continue trick-or-treating well into your teens in this country! I'm at my house on Halloween now, trying to enjoy my glass of whiskey and watch Michael Myers slowly saunter after screaming coeds with a knife, and I'm being constantly interrupted by trick-or-treaters......but none of them are fucking kids! The next high-schooler with a sheet over his stupidly grinning face that requests that I, "stop being a downer and get the candy" is gonna get a swift kick in the ass.

Damn Redwings!

The only bad part of being a devoted fan to a sports team that routinely excels year after year is that any time they start to do bad, even if it's just for a little while, it can seem catastrophic. Such are my feelings after watching the Red Wings drop their second straight game tonight. Oh well, at least Halloween will provide sweet alcoholic relief.

Who's Naylin' Palin'?

Wow. That is the only word I have to describe the latest development in the public interpretation of Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin. Made fun of by SNL, The Daily Show, and numerous YouTube hilarities, Palin is now the target of Hustler Magazine and Video's own Larry Flynt. Yes the iconoic pornographer himself has taken a place in the seemingly endless line of Americans waiting to rightly bash the esteemed governor, a fact which has brought about a new low in the ranks of the GOP. Flynt's Huslter Video will soon be releasing an adult film entitled "Who's Naylin' Palin?", in which adult film actress Lisa Ann will portray the "maverick" Alaskan Governor as a nympho politicians who's taking more than bribes (if you get my drift). My message to the GOP: You know you done fucked up real bad when pornographers are taking shots at your candidate.

Elvis: Dead, yet still raping the Blues

A list of the top earning dead celebrities compiled by Forbes magazine recently, listed the one and only Elvis Presley at the top, further increasing my sickness and contempt for the man. Wow, steal a bunch of great American blues songs, originally sung by African-Americans, and let Elvis sing them and call it Rock and Roll, so the white people will accept it. I hope Elvis is somewhere getting his.

McCartney burns rubber (or at least he used to )

I read a funny story today about the Beatles, wherein in was relayed that the Fab Four, early in their careers, used to allegedly set fire to condoms for "extra lighting" during their sets. Ah yes, the 60's: the decade where rubbers were burned instead of used. This practice upset the Germans, who went so far as to deport McCartney after one of these "contraceptive incidents". In an interview, McCartney said, "Let's get it clear, they weren't used".

Brittney: An American Role Model?

Is anyone else sick of hearing praise levied on Brittney Spears for her supposed "comeback"? What the fuck America? The woman had a monstorously popular pop music career, made a shit-load of money, then married some white-trash fake rapper, got knocked up, and started popping pills and drinking heavily. Now, she's worked hard to "reform" and turn her life around and we're supposed to feel proud? Like she accomplished something? I'm sorry but I just don't see it. Where's the praise for real working mother's who overcome real adversity to triumph in motherhood? Adversity like working three jobs to pay the bills and feed the kids. Brittney Spears kids would never have had anything to worry about, no matter how many pills she was swallowing or how many BigMacs she was stuffing down her throat, besause they sleep on a bed made of money at night.

Voter Turnout.......Is our system reliable

As a first time voter this November, I'm both excited and apprehensive about casting my vote. In a recent article in US News and World Report, I read that this year's election will see a historic turnout of as many as 130 million voters nationwide, a figure that has a number of experts concerned over the pressure this massive number of ballots will but on election workers to count the votes correctly and accurately (we all remember Florida in 2000). This pressure is not only on them, in my opinion, but on young first time voters like myself as well. My only hope is that all parties involved will work their asses off in order to ensure that the votes are tallied correctly and the true voice of the American people (if there is such a thing) will be heard.

Another hole in the wall

why is it that every time we have a party at my house, there's a whole in the wall the next morning. last night my roommate got in a fight with his girlfriend and hurled a 10 gallon aluminum stock pot into the wall, leaving a nice big whole that i don't think any amount of plaster will fix. at least i know that i ain't doin it.

Lastest

here's the latest poem I'm working on, entitled Ode To C, you can guess what its about:

As the minutes slip by I’m
Sittin’ round and feelin’ fine
Honey you know I’m just
Lookin’ for a good time

When I take a breath
The wheels turn
My troubles slip away
When that sweet leaf starts to burn

Funny how it ends up
A thing we’re supposed to fear
Instead of causing harm
Makes the world so clear

Float high above
On a cloud of peace
All the evils of the world
They completey cease

Politics fades away
With it’s thievery and greed
Religion as well
Which people think they need

I wonder why
No one has made this point
All the world’s problems
Could be solved with a joint

Oh Mickey!

Detroit Red Wings announcer Mickey Redmond is, I'm convinced, perpetually drunk in the commentators booth. Last night he must have rambled on for damn near 10 minutes during the game about the good ol days of hockey. I think it might be time for Mick to hang up the microphone and find himself a front porch where he can sit with other old men, sip whiskey and shoot the shit.

Breaking A String

I hate breaking guitar strings, but I especially hate when they snap back and hit you in the face in the process. Such was what happened to me as I was jamming with some friends of mine. Thank God it didn't hit me in my eye. I mean, I dig the blues but I don't wanna be no Blind Willie McTell

Datsyuk is a God

Wow, the Red Wings game last night proved to me that Pavel Datsyuk is not from this planet. Like Jimi Hendrix, he is from some other dimension where they dole out raw talent at birth like its nothing. What a hattrick!

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

I'm sick of writing my own opinions and thoughts on this blog (no one seems to be reading them anyway), so today I'm posting a link to an interesting article I found on Google news, which ironically discusses a study on whether or not the internet age is furthering or hindering our human quest for knowledge. Check it out:

And another....

just felt like writing this one today:

The soft splinter of light is upon you
Speak now or forever be enslaved
Break the chain and cast your shackles aside
Take your fears as your bride
Vomit up you pride
Make your brain fried
Practice your stride
Swim with the tide
Forget that you’ve lied
Forget that you’ve died
Forget that you’ve cheated, betrayed and spied
Forget that you’ve lost all the tears that you’ve cried
Forget all the people in which you confide
Pollute the air through which you glide
Saunter, slip, ripple and slide
Every spoken word, lofty and snide

Read this book now!

I am taking this post as an opportunity for a short plug on an amazing book I just finihse reading. Illusions, by Richard Bach is not only a short read, it's an incredibly intriguing personal probe of the nature of the universe, and presents a theory that human beings are created with infinite knowledge, and can be aware of this infinite knowledge if they choose to reveal it to themselves, even to defy the restrictions of physical law, as well as the limitations of space, time, and dimension.Seep stuff, but a great read if you're looking to open your mind. Pick it up today.

Another poem

Here's another work in progress for my poetry class entitled "Purpose"

An honest breath
A wanting touch
Distant words
You ask too much

Weeping softly
Tears of blood
Drag my name
Through the mud

Ramshackle signs
And tumbleweeds
The open road
Fulfills my needs

Of peace and calm
Beware the tongue
Burning now
Leaves you numb

Cannot so much
As gasp or cry
Shiny cars
Gliding by

Pools of rain
Rings of fire
Should continue
But I tire

Of chasing you
I’m feeling old
While staying young
Or so I’m told

They say when
You die at last
Salvation waits
Those who pass

Sounds too good
Always does
Have faith, man
Just because

Phone is Going strong

Cross your collective fingers for me, I think that my current phone may just last through the month. If it doesn't, there's some bricks in my backyard with Alltel's name on them.

The Great American Curse

I believe that when Ford pardoned Nixon, he brought down upon the American people a curse of some mystic nature that festered in the bowels of hell for 20-some years, only to resurface in 2000 with the presidency of George W. Bush, continuing now with the campaign of John Sidney McCain III. By letting a crook like Nixon off the hook, Ford (perhaps unknowingly) fucked the American people, and we fucked ourselves for not objecting to it more forcefully. It's not all on Nixon though, or Ford, and it's not even all on Bush and McCain. The true evil, the true source of this hellish curse, lies in the behind-the-scenes dream-teams of scum pulling the strings of corrupt, incompetent, puppet politicians like Nixon, Bush, and McCain. The object of the greatest evil, surely a descendant of Cain himself, is the one and only Karl Rove, a human being (if you can call him that) so vile, greedy, and contemptuous of anything even closely resembling the truth, that it is nearly beyond comprehension. Rove, the mastermind of Bush's campaigns and now McCain's campaign, is the king of smear politics, and represents yet another reason to throw a vote to ANYONE but McCain on November 4th. For fucks sake, the guy ruined McCain with smears when he ran against Bush in 2000, and McCain has now hired him to ruin Obama and win the White House on a platform oozing with blatant falsehoods, similar to the Bush platform which defeated McCain in 2000. Karl Rove has no principles, no loyalty, and no beliefs other than in the power of money and the perverse delights of power. Rolling Stone's main political writer, Matt Taibbi, said it best: "The reason Rove continues to survive is the same reason that Johnny Cochran was called a genius for keeping a double-murderer on the golf course--because this generation of Americans has become so steeped in greed and social Darwinism that it can no longer distinguish between cheating and achieving, between enterprise and crime, and can't bring itself to criticize winners any more than it knows how to be nice to losers. We may be a country at war, facing one of the greatest financial meltdowns of all time. But in the end, the thing that could be our undoing is the kind of generalized boredom with legality and honor that empowers Rovian behavior. If we let it." Well, I'm just one person, and I say, LET'S NOT FUCKING LET IT!

Clocks in Times Square: Yet another sign of the American Apocolypse

So I wasn't aware of this, but apparently there's a large clock in Times Square that's been tallying our country's national debt since 1989, when a wealthy New Yorker named Seymour Durst erected the sign to call attention to the then 2.7 trillion dollar national debt. Our national debt, thanks to 8 years of Bush and his law bending, free spending cronies, currently stands at 10.2 trillion dollars! And get this! The fucking sign ran out of room to display all the digits in that disgustingly large number! Now they have to renovate it so we can all be precisely aware of how screwed we all seem to be, right down to the exact decimal point.

Proposal One

If you're wondering what the big deal about voting is in an age of corruption, lies, and decit from Washington, let me turn you on to an issue on the ballots a little closer to home. Proposal One will provide legal justification for the use and growth of medical marijuana in Michigan. Marijuana is not harmful, contrary to many distorted facts presented over the years. In fact, Marijuana has a bounty of medicinal potential, and is astonishingly effective in treating naseau from Chemotherapy, as well as Asthma, Glaucoma, and many other mental and physical illnesses. Don't let lies about Marijuana being addictive (it is not, as it has been clinically proven to not be addictive), and it beign a "gateway drug" prevent you from making an imformed decision this November. Legalizing Medical Marijuana is just the kind of progressive policy-making we need in this state as well as nationwide. Don't be part of the problem, apathy is not an option!

Time Travel

I was thinking about time travel today, and you know what I would do if I could go back in time? Not get a fucking English degree that's what! Not only does a degree like that have bland prospects in this dismal economy, but I have to hear my dad bitch at me about what i'm going to do with my life constantly. If i could do it all over again, I'd pick sustainable business.

Sarah Palin makes me sick!

In the aftermath of the VP debate, Sarah Palin's candidacy only makes me more ashamed to be an American every day. If it wasn't already obvious that she's nothing more than a GOP crafted image to sell to the "give me a candidate i can relate to or give me death" American public, then last Thursday night certainly proved it. I'm so sick of hearing people's weak-ass justifications for supporting her! Example: a friend of mine's mother recently said to me, "I'm supporting Sarah Palin because she prays!" I almost vomited on her white linoleum floor! If the only criteria we had for our leaders was that they prayed, we would end up with a Cabinent full of televangelists or some shit! Or, how about this one: "I'm supporting Sarah Palin because she has children with dissabilities, so she understands people with dissabilities!" My opposition to this extremely flawed logic lies in the example of one man: our current Vice President, Dick Cheney. As you might remember, Dick has a daughter who is openly gay. Did that make him a good candidate? Because his having a lesbian daughter enabled him to "relate" to a certain demographic of people, in this case homosexuals? Fuck no! Let me repeat that. Fuck no! Not only were Mr. Cheney and his administration adamant opponents of gay rights, they were adamant opponents of human rights in general. By that trend, Palin will be pushing to have disabled people shot from planes in no time. Honestly people, let's put a little fucking thought into our political views, or we're going to end up with exactly the government we deserve.

The Niece Saga Continues

Wow this uncle thing really trips me out. Today I had to watch the little bugger for about 10 minutes while my brother and his girlfriend went outside to have a smoke. I don't know what I'll do if they ever ask me to babysit, because little kids and me alone is a scary proposition.

Jammin'

I'm just writing this to recommend the music of Bob Marley to anyone who's looking for some great, relaxing music to study to that doesn't distract you. Jamm it while ya do ya homewurk mon!

Got a new guitar!

Got a new guitar today, a Fender deluxe player's Strat for all you guitar techies out there. Beautiful tone, beautiful finish, and beautiful price, only $399 off some old lady on Ebay. Gotta love Ebay, right? If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go plug this baby in.

Obama in the Flesh!

Well, I went to see Obama speak downtown G.R. this morning, and needless to say, I was impressed. If nothing else, the man can work a goddamn crowd! His rhetorical skills are amazing and he was whipping the huge crowd (there were at least a couple thousand people there) into a maddened frenzy. I thought alot of things he had to say were very refreshing, and I especially liked the fact that he addressed peoples cynical concerns (mine among them) that he was all bark and no bite. He affirmed, and reaffirmed, that his campaign for change is real, and that through a team effort, meaning citizens and government working together, that we can turn our country around. Hell, if the man even does half of what his campaign promises, it will be a 100% improvement over the last 8 years of hellish smoke and mirrors bullshit. So I say we give the man a chance, and see what he can do. Even if he fails, at least we can take comfort in the fact that for the first time in a long time, someone in Washington tried to do SOMETHING even loosley resembling civil service. God Bless America, Right?

Zeppelin Touring Again???

Crazy news from the music world: One of my favorite bands, the great Led Zeppelin, is rumored to be planning a 2009 tour, their first in a number of years. Here's a unique twist though: the band's original frontman, Robert Plant, is not willing to tour with the band. So, in a suprising change of events, the rest of the band is auditioning for a new lead singer and is reported to have found several enticing candidates. Needless to say, if they go on tour, I would sell my own mother's soul for a ticket. God help me.

A Few Lines for James

Just gonna share a poem I wrote for Poetry Class. It's for my dearly departed grandfather:

this is a poem to my grandpa jim
whom I have seen but a few times.
whose graying beard and raspy voice
have embedded themselves within
within my restless, raging mind.
slaving to paint pictures and recall
fragments of time spent and logged,
lost in the grasp of age and time.
I have through vinyl heard
the hip jazz cats which made his ocean eyes twinkle.
because when he needed to vent
he danced solo with the wild rhythm.
he puffed until
nicotine had stained the walls
the chairs and the desk.
all these years, no one knew that
he dug himself when others wouldn’t
sitting face to face with his soul.
because when the world becomes too much to bear,
after awhile even a pack of smokes
can seem like your best friend.
so I write this in longing, in hope
that I may again meet my grandpa,
whose life I was too young to share

Sarah Speaks! Finally......

So the moment is fast approaching when good ol' Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin will be forced to back up that bark with some bite. Yes, the Alaskan Governor and notoriously uninformed American citizen will debate Joey Biden this Thursday night. Many, especially Palin's critics, believe the debate will do the American people a favor by revealing her for what she really is: (As Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi so perfectly put it) A puffed-up dimwit with primitive religious beliefs who had to be educated as to the fact that the Constitution did not exactly envision government executives firing librarians.
And what did Palin herself have to say about the impending showdown? She is apparently gushing like a schoolgirl about the prospect of meeting Joe Biden. She was quoted as saying that she's "been hearing about his senate speeches since I was in, like, second grade". Like, Oh My God! A debate! How supercool and fabulous! Palin went on to say that the Senator looked confident, but would fail in the end because of the fact that he apparently picked wrong in the Ohio State and Delaware fotoball game the previous weekend.
I don't know about you, but this just screams wrong to me. If this naive approach to a political debate is indicative of what we can expect from Sarah Palin, then Obama's increasingly cheesy parade of change is looking like our only option to save ourselves from total and utter annihilation.

Another phone gone!

Ok, this time I swear I didn't do anything! I wasn't even drinking last night, but lo and behold I woke up this morning to find that my phone wouldn't turn on or take a charge. Great

I won the Superbowl...In madden

Wow, gettin' kinda nerdy today, but I'm actually excited that I finally won a Superbowl on Madden 07 on All-Madden skill level. Now I know some of you might be saying to yourselves, "get madden 08 already you loser!" But, hey, I'm poor so buzz off.

Wings lose opener, but excite nonetheless..

If any of you out there are hockey fans, it's safe to assume that you tuned in to the first RedWings preseason game Wednesday night. Ah hockey season, a time to drink beer, gather around the TV with friends, and cheer on the Big Red Machine to another Stanley Cup. The roof of my living room is still stained from the cheap Champagne we sprayed down the house with after last summer's victory. That was a hell of a time that I hope to repeat coem next June!

Mail Van is Now Ice Cream Truck

So I work in the mailroom at AQ, and we have this ugly-ass red van we drive around to deliver the mail. As some of you may have heard as you were walking around lately, the thing makes this awful ringing noise when it idles, so now it sounds like some kind of half-assed ice-cream truck or something. If any one comes to the window to ask for a cone, I'll prolly laugh and peel out in your face.

Where is our Observatory

Just a quick rant today. I was out by Wege pond, staring at Albertus, when the dome of the observatory caught my eye. If you were'nt aware, the telescope up there hasn't worked for some time, prompting the question of why such a valuable resource that our college could be utilizing is up there rotting??? How about some budget money for that?

Direct Deposit...Yay!

I finally got my Aquinas paychecks differed to direct deposit, which means I'll no longer have to sneak away in the Red Mail Van to drive all the way to Michigan And Fuller to cash my check every other friday. Not to mention that as soon as I get out of work on payday, my beer money is already on my debit card!

Hope For The Lions?????

Wow. That's all I have to say about yet another dismal performance by the Detroit Lions this past Sunday, landing them at an embarrassing 3-0. There may, however, be some ray of hope for the team yet, as Lions Vice Chairman Bill Ford Jr. was recently quoted as saying "The fans deserve better, and if I had the authority I'd fire the general manager". That's great to hear Bill! Where the hell was this kind of rhetoric years ago? Unfortunately, the final say comes down to the old man, William Clay Ford, who bought the frickin' team in ninteen sixty frickin four! That geezer probably thinks that Bobby Layne is stil the Lions quaterback and that African-Americans aren't allowed to play. So cross your fingers Lions fans, because if the old man finally kicks the bucket we just might be able to get the ball rolling in a positive direction for the first time since Barry Sanders was breaking records and ankles.

Damn you Auto-Correct!

I'm sitting here trying to write a poem for my Poetry Workshop class, and am also trying to be all unique and shit, not capitalizing any of the words in my poem, but the friggin' computer keeps doing it for me! Somebody help!

Tattoo's are retarted

Last night some friends and I were discussing tattos, and one of my friends said he couldn't wait to get his, some sort of stupid-ass celtic cross with barbed wire running around it. I promptly said that I thought he was a jackass. Seriously folks, c'mon!

Saw My Niece...what A Trip

I just saw my niece for the first time today! It's pretty messed up to think of myself as an uncle, but even more messed up to consider my brother a father. Seems like just yesterday we were fighting in the backyard over hockey cards....where has the time gone?

The Price of Love

Whoever said you can't put a price on love, obviously didn't live in 2008. Let me break down for you, mathematically, exactly what my affections for my girlfriend cost me this week. She a Spartan in East Lansing, and I drove there to see her Tuesday on a limited budget and in my buddy's POS (piece of shit) Pontiac Sunfire. He calls it The Black Beauty by the way, but in my opinion in would look a whole hell of a lot more beautiful pancaked flat in a scrapyard.
Anyway, before I left I set out trying to calculate exactly how much gas I would have to put in this heap to get me there and back. Here's where the math comes in: my buddy''s Sunfire gets roughly 23 miles to the gallon, count the POS factor and we'll call it 19. The round trip to my girlfriend's house is roughly 170 miles, and gas on that day was going for $4.17. Wait a minute, I almost forgot that I drove a mile more down the road to "save some money" by filling up at a place where Unleaded was going for the bargain basement price of $4.15! To be honest folks, I probably burned up my savings drivig the extra mile to get there.
But back to the math. at 19 miles to the gallon, 170 miles of travel would require 8.947 gall0ns, so for sake of ease let's make it 9. 9 gallons of gas cost me $37.75. To put it in perspective, I make $7.45 an hour before taxes, let's say $7.15 after. To earn that money, I had to work nearly five and a half hours.
This brings me to my final point. All in all, it cost me five and a half hours of my labor, or $37.75, to drive to Lansing to lay on the couch with my girlfriend and watch Across The Universe, which if you haven't seen it is an abomination to the Beatles music and should not be watched by Beatles fans. (And let's face it, anything featuring Bono is pretty much out the window) You may ask why? Why did you spend the money? Make the trip? Why not just stay home and watch a movie you liked? The answer, folks, is simple. I did it for love, to make the girlfriend happy and to keep everything on an even keel. But if gas prices keep getting higher, I guess love can no longer be a part of my budget.
Just don't tell my girlfriend that....

Ode to Arnold Palmer

No not the golfer, but the exquisitely tasty beverage made by the Arizona Company, a perfect blend of iced tea and lemonade, offering equally balanced amounts of refreshment and enjoyment. I was enjoying one today, contemplating the reliability of the modern world, when I came to a surprising revelation. What can you count on these days? Politicians? Not exactly. Friends? Sure, sometimes. Girlfriends? She'd kill me if I didn't say yes, but not 100% reliable. Can you count on the price of things not to fluctuate wildly, ruining your weekend plans? No. Can you count on your safety in the face of this influx of natural disasters? No. Can you count on your job in our sagging economy? No. So what can you count on then? The answer, my friends, is not blowin' in the wind, but instead is located in the cooler section of your nearest convinience store. Because in a world rife with insecurity, picking up a cold, delicious, Arizona Arnold Palmer for only 99 cents is always a sure thing.

Monitor Down!

I'm at the library writing this now, because when I went to turn on my computer monitor at home today it was giving me all these funny flashing lines, and I couldn't see worth a damn what was on my screen! I don't know what the hell happened to it but I have a roomate who's passed out drunk in his room across the hall from me (it's 3:30 in the afternoon on a weekday mind you) that better have some answers for me when he wakes up.

Rothbury 2009: Cross your fingers and hope it happens

If you're like me, then you were fortunate enough to attend the first annual Rothbury Music Festival that was held this past Fourth of July Weekend at the Double J Ranch outside of Muskegon. The experience was my first at a music festival, and one that has impacted me in so profound a way that I feel strangely indebted to the chunk of land the event was held on. Miles of campground. the muddy yet refreshing lake, the ever-psychedelic Sherwood Forest, and of course who could forget the Spinning Strobe Monkeys. All scenery aside, the festival was (for me at least) proof that in these troubled times it is still possible for people to get together and share four days of peace, love, friendship, music, and laughter. And that, for me, is what its all about. Sadly, the Double J Ranch is going bankrupt, and will be auctioned off to the highest bidder on October 30th of this year. Hopefully, the new owners will embrace the festival and its Green-Themed organization, not just for the state of Michigan, but for all of us who need to escape the real world every summer just to stay sane.

Stop Bugging me Grammar! I don't want to "Do" you

The title of my Grammar of Modern English textbook has been bothering me lately. It's entitled, "Doing Grammar", and it couldn't fit the act of completing homework for the class any worse. What am I, making love to the sentences? Getting freaky with verbs and adverbs and maybe some noun clauses if I'm lucky? Please, if grammar ever wants me to "do" it without extreme reluctance, it better make itself a hell of a lot more attractive.

Phone Broke......Again

I wish cell phones didn't cost so much. I also wish that Jack Daniels didn't make me use my phone as a hacky-sack outside of a Checkers at 4:30 in the morning......but such is life

Caribou Babrie Betting on a Heart Attack?

Sarah Palin is bettign on the fact that John McCain will have a heart attack, of this I'm thoroughly convinced. After reading the GOP VP candidates interview wtih Charles Gibson of ABC news, her ambitions are quite clear to me. not only does Palin go in depth about her difference of opinion with McCain on such critical issues as Global Warming and ANWR, but she also has the balls (weird, right?) to say that she is "ready to be President if called upon". Are you kidding me? God help McCain if he ends up on life support, because Palin will surely be heading up the movement to pull the plug.

September 11th. seems so long ago......

Just a short post today. I was doing some reading when I looked at my cell phone to get the time and realized that it was September 11th, the 7th anniverssary of the "incident" we all remember so vivdly. In these seven years, I've seen waves of patriotism, waves of anti-nationalism, waves of conspiracy theories, and waves of tribute videos, but nothing that indicates that our country and our generation will ever completely undersatnd that tragedy which happened seemingly so long ago.

The Good Ol' Double Standard

Here's an encouraging news story: I read an article today that read "A "culture of substance abuse and promiscuity" existed in the federal agency that handles royalty payments from oil companies, including sexual encounters between government employees and industry representatives". Apparently, these crooks in our increasingly untrustworthy federal government had been accepting a variety of gifts and gratitudes from these oil company representatives. They attended wild parties, and engaged in heavy alcohol and substance abuse, as well as sexual relations with oil company representatives on several occasions. As a twenty-year old college student, it's disheartening to know that while these federal jackoffs are partying their asses off without consequence, a person of my age and status could be fined and jailed for simply consuming alcohol or merely smoking marijuana. Now who's supposed to be running the show here. Who's protecting us from high gas prices if these government mornons are too drunk to give two shits?

I need to quit smoking.....but i won't

I really need to quit smoking cigarettes.... This morning I hawked a loogie into my trash can that was about the size of a half dollar! I know, gross, right? It's one of the many downsides of smoking, and I keep thinking I'm gonna let em go because of it, but then I get stressed and light one up and ahhhhhhhhh.....sweet relief. I'm an addict and I know it, but let he who is without sin..........you know the rest

OJ Again? The Circus is Coming to Town!

My eyes did not deceive my today when I read that OJ Simpson is back on trial. No, not for the same infamous murder of his wife, we cleared that one up with the classic, "If the glove don't fit, you must acquit" line. This time OJ seems to have landed himself in slightly cooler water, this time only being charged with burgulary, kidnapping, and assault with a deadly weapon, but given his previous stints in the courtroom, this one isn't likely to be over anytime soon. No, this will surely be dragged out into a months long, media-fueled whopper of a spectacle. I'm sure that everyone will have an opinion about wether or not he did it, and I'm also sure that everyone will want to express that opinion whole-heartedly. I, for one, could care less. This trial and the ensuing media circus that will inevitably follow it says alot about A). Our Justice System, B). Our Popular Culture. And C). Our skewed American priorities (remember that Presidential Election Thingy???? Maybe we should focus on that instead)

I Thought The Curse if Bobby Layne was over????

Hello fellow Lions fans! I'm writing on Sunday, after watching the first regular season game, and needless to say I was quite disappointed. If you're not familiar with the Curse of Bobby Layne go HERE and read up on it. Technically, it should have been over this year. But after going 4-0 in the preseason only to lose 21-34 to who else but the Falcons??? I personally don't think ol' Bobby went anywhere.

Cetan Clawson: Another gift from Detroit who may just save the music industry

My mind is blown and my ears are still ringing on this Saturday morning, the after-effects of a damn fine concert I saw last night. I just wanted to use today's blog post to spread the word about a guy from the D, Cetan Clawson, who plays a mean guitar, and not just any kind of mean guitar. I'm talking about the kind of mean where he plays with his teeth, behind his back and head, and through his legs, not to mention the little solo he payed with the mic stand! This guy is seriously from Mars he's so far out, very much in the same way as Jimi Hendrix. Go HERE to check out some vids, and if you dig it, order a CD or a t-shirt from the kid and help him out a little because he and his bandmates are trying to cut a CD down in Nashville.

The Killa from Wasilla

Just a short one for Wednesday.....Read a little tidbit about recently named Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin just a minute ago. Apparently the Govenor from Alaska, home to the 19,049,236 acre Artic National Wildlife Refuge, is a sworn enemy of environmentalist groups, who have apparently dubbed her "The Killa from Wasilla" in regards to her hometown. On top of that, she expresses doubt as to whether emissions from human activities are causing global warming????? Wow. Looks like John Boy picked a real winner here.

Kwami Kilpatrick: Still More Proof that the Only Hope for Detroit is The Red Wings

Thanks to Mayor Kwami Kilpatrick, the last 8 months in Detroit have been something of shitstorm of bad publicity. With the "text message scandal" so indicitive of our modern times, The Dishonorable Mayor has reassured us just how little we can trust politicians. The initial charges he's just been found guilty of are small potatoes compared to the charges of embezzlement of city funds, and if those charges stick, may whatever God he beleives in have mercy on his soul. The worst part is that Detroit, a city with an already less than perfect reputation, is getting a bum rap from the actions of ther very man they entrusted to lead them.
I guess they'll have to endure this bad press until next June, when Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Chris Osgood, and the others bring home another Stanley Cup.

Garbage Rant: I always forget about Labor Day

Ah yes, yesterday was Labor Day, a day which many rejoice for the sole reason that they do not have to report to work. It is a day of relaxation and rest, filled with family and fun. But for some of us, particularly those of us with poor memories, Labor Day can be 24 hours of mistake ridden hell. Let me share quickly with you one of my mistakes. I live in Eastown, and my trash usually gets picked up Tuesday Morning. Now I look forward to this day because, as a makle college student living in a house with four other male college students, my trash is quite rank and disgusting. Imagine my delight when I walked out my door this morning bright and early for work, only to be crushed by the sight of my trash canstill full and in fact leaking out the sides. Yes, I had forgotten that Labor Day extendes oublic services like trash pickup ahead one day, and for this mental slip, I now must suffer one more day of stink.

Hannah is a sign, but is it too late?

Today is Sunday, and I'm going to quickly comment on the current natural disaster that is wreaking havoc on our planet: Hurricane Hanna. The storm, which has the possibility of hitting the U.S. anywhere from Miami to North Carolina, is yet another one of nature's reminders that we, that is, humankind, are fucking with her a little too much. Not that this is anything new (I think we all can agree that we've been fucking with her for far too long now), but it raises the quesitions of just how much control we humans have over this planet, and just how much control it has over us.

Reflections On The Red Cedar

It's Saturday afternoon on the campus of Michigan State University, a place I've been coming to ever since I can remeber. Both of my parents are graduates of this fine institution, and must have felt a certain obligation to themselves and their alma mater to lift my opinon of it as well. On this afternoon, I'm contemplating my choice of schools, and why I ended up at Aquinas instead here with my green and white brethren. I always thought growing up that I would attend MSU, but as the time to choose a school drew nearer, my mind began to change. Perhaps it was my desire to delineate from my parents respective paths through life, to be something different in a sense. But what is most on my mind today is the question of whether or not my choice of college will do that. Would things have been any different for me at a different school? A larger school? I'm not unsatisfied with my current situation and my current social relationships, but what would they have been like had I selected a different course fo action? That is what I'm mulling over this afternoon by the river, watching the current carry the water down an endless path toward an unforseen future.

Black Keys Rock

I am completely smitten with the new album by one of my favorite musical groups, The Black Keys. The album, entitled Attack and Release, breaks from the band's normal approach of basement, distorted, dirty blues rock and takes a more refined approach with super-producer Danger Mouse at the helm. Check it out!

Addicted to Madden

Lately I've found myself addicted to Madden 07 for X-Box. The weird thing is that I really don't watch the NFL or like Pro football at all! Call it an advanced procrastination technique I guess, but I think I spend more time playing it than doing homework. Sorry Mom!

I Have A Dream......That Barack Obama isn't full of it

Obama certainly dazzled the 80,000 plus crowd at the DNC with yet another passionate speech. I watched it on YouTube myself, and I must admit that during his most vibrant passages, I felt the same chills of excitement and inspiration that I get watching old clips of JFK and MLK. But I still can't shake the nagging feeling that the Democratic nominee is hiding something behind his sleek exterior, the well-polished face of change. As far as I can see, real change in the power structure of American Government can only ever occur on a surface level. Perhaps 8 years of the Team Bush has tainted my outlook with pessimism, as it has for so many of us. Certainly, this is why so many Americans regarded Obama's speech as refreshing and inspiring. After all, the only reaction Dubya's speeches ever elicited was laughter mixed with a crushing depression that anyone would elect this sub-human scumbag to one day in office, let alone two terms. But My Fellow Americans, I believe that we should approach Obama in the same manner as a jilted young woman might approach a seemingly Mr. Right while dating on the rebound. That is to say, we should proceed with caution. Yes, Bush and his cronies have been shitting on us for damn near a decade now, but we can't just fall head over heels in love with the first candidate we see with impressive rhetoric and without the facial makeup of a monkey. Am I an McCain supporter? Not until the GOP perfects the brainwashing technology I'm sure they've been working hard on ever since the ink on the Patriot Act dried. All I'm saying is that if we hold Obama up to this golden standard he's been painting for himself on the campaign trial once he gets in office, we may be setting ourselves up for disappointment. We need change, and I think Obama can take us in the right direction, bu that change cannot and will not happen overnight. We need to be realistic about change and we need to be patient with Obama as he gets his feet wet in the Oval Office. Hell, even if Obama is half the catalyst he proposes to be, we can all take comfort in the fact that somewhere in Texas, a village has regained its idiot.

Shhhh.....The WalMart can hear you!

Now this second bit of the news made me laugh, particularly because it reminded me of a rather hilarious episode of South Park in which a WalMart moves into the neighborhood and soon becomes a living, breathing entity bent on sucking everything and everyone into its bowels in the manner of a black hole. Well, it appears now that Trey Parker and Matt Stone may have not been too far off in their humorous jab at the hated corporation.
AC/DC, the undisputed kings of squealing vocals and redundant guitar riffs, have once again blessed the music world with a new album, chock full of songs that a sure to sound exactly like the four or five tunes most classic rocks stations keep in constant rotation. Even the albums title, Black Ice, invites connections to their previous material. The band's 1980 release, Back in Black, was their highest selling, so perhaps the boys are hoping to return to a time when someone actually gave a shit that they were active musicians.
Quality of AC/DC's music aside, the disturbing thing here is that the album will be sold exclusively at WalMart stores. How, with rising dominance of online music sales through such pay-per-song services such as ITunes, can a store secure such a position? Shady to be sure, but not entirely scary, because if WalMart wants to be the only one in bed with AC/DC, I'm 100% cool with that.

Facebook Movie??? This is all moving too fast for me!

In the headlines today (seeing as how I found nothing of interest in yesterday's) are more than a few things of interest, especially to my age group. Facebook, yes the very same social networking site that has helped define my generation, is looking to be forever immortalized on the silver screen. Who, you may ask, is slated to direct this inevitably fine piece of cinema? None other than Aaron Sorkin, the creator of television's The West Wing and a notorious critic of "the tyranny of internet public opionion". I for one am looking forward to this critique on my generation's relentless use of the internet and technology to mold our lives. However, I am cutting this post short because Facebook is only a click away, and someone may have written on my wall.......

Obama: Kennedy Revisited?

I read today that three men were arrested recently under suspicion of what some figures of authority believed to be a plot to assassinate Barack Obama at the DNC. An intimidating headline to be sure, but one the article went on to betray as it revealed the incident to be nothing more than a false alarm, a sensational scare of sorts. This scheme will likely turn out to be just that, a product of heightened security in these turbulent times, but that doesn't stop an ordinary American like myself from getting The Fear.
In a way, Obama is my generation's version of Bobby Kennedy, certainly with regards to image. Both men share the passionate rhetoric and inspirational qualities that so define men heading movements of change. As with the youths of the counter-culture generation that Kennedy swept of their feet, Obama has done the same for the majority of youths today. Now whether or not the Democratic nominee's cries for change are truly genuine not is beside the point at this late stage in the Presidential game. What does matter is the heavy portion of our youth who have made this professed change an integral part of their reality, of their future. If Obama, the golden boy of this movement, were to be cut down in his prime by the notoriously heinous act of assassination, the damage would be catastrophic. The vibrant activism of this generation of American Youth would die in the same manner as its Flower Power predecessors. And it is my belief that such a blow would hurt us more than Obama turning out to be a pretty face and sweet promises. Because if that were true, at least most of us would have the comfortable option of just blindly believing that real change had occurred. And American ignorance is American bliss.