Oh greenpece, you are always there to point things out in such clever ways, however, you could have done a better job bastardizing the song LA Breeze by Simian.
Here is the original Dove Commercial.
And here it is, the Dove Parody over palm oil production.
I am not an active member of the Catholic Church, however it is in my family heritage and culture. I decided to partake in this years Lent not as a religious right, but as a away to clense my body of a toxin I abuse. No, it wasn’t alcohol, it was sugars. My largest temptation I give in to is sweets, ever since I was a child I have loved sweets. For Lent I gave up all refined sugars, High Fructose Corn Syrup, baked goods, candies, ice creams, glazes, syrups, all of them (fruit was ok, as it was naturally residing). The hardest thing was finding items without HFCS, it is in everything. I did on occasion have some ketchup, but according to Reagan, it is a vegetable, so why not.
So, on Easter Sunday I will have gone without my sugary crutch for 6 and a half weeks. I will be celebrating this with the delectable indulgence in a Pan au Chocolat and a cup of coffee, which was my breakfast every morning while visiting France.
Myspace, Livejournal, and Facebook, goodbye. You never contributed anything of significance.
[edit]On the other hand, neither has this blog[/edit]
While I sit here, listening to the awe inspiring sound of Royksopp’s What Else Is There, featuring the singer of The Knife, while indulging my palette with a well balanced Lost Abbey Ale, I ponder the recent decision I have made.
For a portion of my pre-teens and teen years I played a pen and paper role playing game entitled Rift’s, a post apocalyptic fantasy/sci-fi game that helped me deal with my youthful anger and passions. Escaping to an alien filled, disaster of a world where black and white seemed to be the prominent element of decision, helped me to grow and accept things. One of my closest friends, Darryl, had moved away to Texas after 8th grade, and ever since then, playing Rift’s ceased. The books have been sitting on my shelf ever since, occasionally picked up to browse the beautiful illustrations, that irreplaceable tactile memory of flipping to a page that had spent so much time open on that it pulls your place to it every time your flip through.
These books have only sentimental value now, and therefore only really exist in my memories. I have decided to relieve myself of the burden of these items, however, I will keep one book, as I never want to risk the complete loss of the memories I hold that are momentarily released when I hold this book. This has been a decision nearly 10 years in the making, how interesting human behavior can be, especially towards books of white paper containing printed letters of black ink.
I discovered something today which really let me down. One of my most enjoyed songs of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away, has turned out to be a complete rip-off of one of my long lost favorite Radiohead songs, Stop Whispering. Maybe I am over analyzing this, give them both a listen, and tell me there aren’t similarities. The bassline, the way the vocals rise, tempo, melodies, the song even ends the exact same way.
Radiohead, Stop Whispering (1993)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away (2005)
Lumix DMC-LX2 iso400 my apartment seattle wa
maybe I should try being less of an ass around this time of year. I know red wine helps with this, as does candle light and good music. cheers.
With the winter season comes much discussion of the true reason behind the celebrations we hold so dear. I would like to think that I live in a well educated nation, one in which education for all is held as a high value, however, certain instances always question this concept. One contributor to this questioning is the lack of knowledge of human history, in this case, the lack of knowledge of Post Apostolic Christian history and the Church of the Holy Roman Empire.
This year the Winter Solstice will fall on the day of December 22nd, at the time of 6:08 am. This time of year, in past cultures of Northern Europe, and current, was celebrated with the burning of the Yule log, or fire. Traditionally, this fire was made to be an extra long fire to burn through the night as the solstice represents the longest night of the year, “…when the Sun’s position in the sky is at its greatest angular distance on the other side of the equatorial plane as the observer.” [source]
During the rein of Constantine I, Christianity was announced as the universal religion of conquered Europe. In order to smoothly transition cultural beliefs, rituals were slowly converted into Christian themes. This included Yule (Winter Solstice) into Christmas, and the celebration of Easter, correlating at the time of Spring Equinox (New Year’s like celebration for the returning of the crop season).
I have no qualms with whatever way individuals celebrate this joyous time, as all beliefs share that it is a time of celebration to be had with family, friends, and all other loved ones. It is a time to cherish what we have, and to help others acquire what they need. What does need to be realized as an issue in our culture and changed is the concept of mass gift giving. Instead of spending money on people, maybe spend time with them, arrange a time to get together to go out for a meal, or dine in together at one another’s homes. Maybe give them a photo of you and your family, or a simple note about what they mean to you. I am yet to have a story recited to me from a friend or family member that contains what they received for gifts on a particular holiday, the stories I hear time and time again are those that contain memories of spending quality time with loved ones.
Consider the origins of certain traditions, question what you believe in, and when you have excess, help others gain a level of security, and fulfilled need. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Seasons Greetings, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, Happy Yule, etc. etc. etc.
Always I am contemplating the next steps humanity will take. This is a curse more so than a blessing, as I usually am lost in thought, which makes me an impossible person to talk to, you will find yourself having to repeat everything at least 12 times before I hear it. My most recent spawn of insane thought came to me today while seeking new Freak Folk musicians, along the likes of Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, Menomena, Califone, etc. While tuned in to last.fm I was reading one of my usual despots for information, www.gizmodo.com, where I stumbled upon an article entitled “MIT Cyclists Set Record for Pedal-Powered Supercomputing“. This article resurfaced a constant thought I have concerning cheap energy: we will eventually run out. Then irony set in, thinking that one of my biggest concerns about the loss of cheap energy would be the breakdown of the current work force, without energy, how will we power our computers, our industry, our cars…?
The answer might be a new form of physical profession, one who powers our electric grid with human power.
Think about it for a moment, ponder the idea that human beings are an untapped source of energy. Yes, it would take nutrients for these humans to be effective, however, still possible. Imagine becoming a professional cyclist not to compete in the Tour de France, but to power my Apple G5. Ha!
So now let us dart down the daunting path of random, completely politically incorrect thought.
This might be the answer to the surge and over saturation of collegiate professionals we have today, imagine all the athletes you grew up around, heck, you may have been one and are now a professional that once said they would never be able to have a desk job, but there you are, right now, reading this and crying on the inside. Jokes aside, some people would rather have this profession, I do believe this. So what would be wrong with this solution? Well the obvious need for stronger nutrition for these individuals. Looking at the cost and attention it takes to keep a professional athlete primed for play today is a great example. And to make this thought pattern even more scattered, let us also ponder the idea of how performance enhancing drugs would take on a new light, or darkness, being that if pharmaceutical companies are as prolific in the future as they are today in the lobbying game, well then, we would probably see the legalization of these drugs, not to mention the refinement. So now thought is provoked.
Imagine a room full of super charged humans, imagine how this could change the evolution of us as a species, we could possibly break off into two forms of human, thinkers and energy providers, a symbiotic existence pure, emissions free, where growth would have to require consensus on human power, not that of coal or oil, where energy would become a cultural value ingrained in everyone.
The Kaiser - Imperial Oktoberfest Lager
Aromas of huckleberries and fresh citrus, possibly mandarin, grace my nose, I welcome this lager to my mouth for a taste. Immediate impressions are of clover honey, second sips assures the finest hops, combined with citrus and carmel goodness. The carbonation is crisp and welcomed. Amber colors of true german hops and barley bring this to the top levels of Octoberfest being. The hops are very delicate, not like northwest style hops that I am used to. This is a welcomed change to my usual palette. The boys at Avery have done it again, another favorite to add to the list. Skol! I only wish I could share a glass with my big brother Josh…
“Taxation without representation is tyranny”
–Jonathan Mayhew
The founders of our country, and our constitution believed in a land where (white) man (not to be confused with woman) were all equal, and that we had the god given right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This may have been the first step in creating the perfect opiate for the masses.
In order to create a strong, domineering society, one must find a way to make your citizens complacent, as well as delusional happy. I say delusional happy as you do not want them truly happy, otherwise they are content, and when people are content, they are very hard to control, as you cannot offer them anything they want, as they want nothing.
Americans as of today (for the majority) are complacent and delusional happy. We owe this to consumerism culture. Consumerism culture is an opiate. It makes individuals believe that as long as they find the perfect product/service/lifestyle to match their personality (or rather their manufactured personality, aka stereotype), that they will find happiness. In a society where this is the prominent answer, it makes it very difficult to actually delve deep into your soul and force yourself to discover your inner being.
Bringing us back to the quote at the beginning of this entry, taxation without representation. This idea is primarily seen in accordance with the idea of having a representative person present during the decision making process of new laws and taxes. I would like to look at it with a different light. I believe that Americans have become so obsessed with their consumer lifestyles, that they have turned this opiate from being in the hands of the governments and big businesses to being their own motivation and cause in life. Therefore, in order to keep the populace “happy” the government must keep consumerism active, no matter what it takes, even if it means war.
War has been proven to be one of the biggest financial driving forces in human history. Don’t believe me? Well, after WWII the US rose from the ashes to become the world’s greatest power, being that only one battle was fought on our soil. This allowed for the US to contract out reconstruction efforts to US companies and corporations, shifting the world’s wealth to the US (before WWII the US was still in its infancy as a nation). Another, more recent example is right now! The Dow Jones stock has reached an all time high this week. This is due, primarily, to the reconstruction efforts in Iraq. I believe that war mongering by the current administration is caused by the US’s incessant urge to buy more.
As long as Americans have the need to buy more products, it will be the administration’s duty to serve the people the lifestyle and culture they want. Big business prospers from war (as shown on wall street this week). Big business supplies the means for mass production of consumer goods. Big business provides the majority of the population with paying jobs. Taxes are paid by the people to the government, as well as money going back to big business for consumer goods. These taxes are then utilized by the government for military build up and implementation (approx 40% of all federal taxes). War is issued to increase government spending/subsidies for corporations to rebuild, restructure, etc. these war torn countries. This cycle will only end when US citizens realize it is their own doing, whether they buy a new car every year, drive to work every day, spend mass amounts of money on entertainment and recreation, or simply invest in the stock market.
Hopefully with the rise of the Dow we will see a sharp recession, and possibly a second depression, this alone will be the catalyst to end the consumerism & war syndrome in the US today.
Next,
