SIMON & GARFUNKEL - SOUNDS OF SILENCE

I've been ignoring my little record collection ever since I've found last.fm . It's poison I tell you. So I'm going to make an effort to listen to my records more, and review or just fawn over them. Mostly fawn over certain albums though.

I can honestly say that I love every song on this album:

1) THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE: There's a reason this song became the title track. The way Paul Simon conveys the idea that ignorance can taint the minds of many is just beautiful.
2) LEAVES THAT ARE GREEN: Aging sucks. And Simon & Garfunkel convey this quite nicely.
3) BLESSED: A song about how god doesn't love everyone and how religion can be just darn stifling at times. I can relate some how, even though I walk the line between atheist and maybe-just maybe - an agnostic.
4) KATHY'S SONG: A love song. Duh.
5) SOMEWHERE THEY CAN'T FIND ME: Simon & Garfunkel could totally pass for being bad ass with this song. Too bad a jew and a short guy don't look bad ass.
6) ANJI: An awesome instrumental blues track.
7) RICHARD CORY: A song about a well-off man blowing his brains out. Pretty much a standard "the grass isn't always greener on the other side" song.
8) A MOST PECULIAR MAN: Depressing as fuck, and for a minute it doesn't make me love solitude.
9) APRIL COME SHE WILL: It's just beautiful.
10) WE'VE GOT A GROOVEY THING GOIN' : It's a fun and fast song, what can I say?
11) I AM A ROCK: Pretty much a song about avoiding emotional conflict and not putting yourself out there. Or not even wanting to show emotion. At times, I can definitely relate to this. I think everybody can more than once in their lives.

From this album (and a majority of their work) you can tell that Art Garfunkel's main contribution to the duo was his jew fro. Paul Simon is god when it comes to writing lyrics, above anything else. I mean, come on! There's a reason why we sold more records of Paul Simon than Art Garfunkel in our record store.

2-28-10

The opening scene to "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" never ceased to scare me as a kid. It always seemed to be on late night cable television, when my parents weren't awake. Of course, I never made it past that scene until I was seventeen.



The popularity of shows like X-Files or Beyond Belief: Fact or fiction, fed into my fear of aliens. Even though my fear of aliens is pretty much gone - the intro song to X-Files still gives me the heebie-jeebies.
My parents even pretended that they were aliens for hours on end. They would say that they found me under a rock and that I had no parents, just aliens. This is pretty great now that I think about it, but god damnit I believed them.
Maybe my fear of aliens was a symbolization for a common fear of the unknown. I was extremely young when I harbored this fear so this particular reasoning sounds legit. Or I might just have been freaked out by creepy looking things that would want to steal me.

2-27-10

I'll gain my freshman 15 yet! As you can see with the graveyard of reese's wrappers in the background. In other news, there's this girl on my floor. I don't know where exactly she lives on the floor but it's close. I assume she just moved in this semester. On a bi-weekly basis for the past couple weeks she's been getting into some one-sided screaming matches. With who? I have no idea. All I know is whoever shes yelling at did her dirty. I know that this girl will never come in contact with this page most likely, so I'll dish. I guess a person in her life is canoodling with a "white boy" that she doesn't like. Maybe she canoodled with this white boy before? I don't know.
Things like this replace the little things I had at home, such as my "Maury" watching habit. Instead of turning on the television, I prop my door open the slightest bit. Sure, its no broad looking for her baby daddy for the 20th time (how does that happen? I guess I have no skillz) , but more or less - it's something like it.

Oh, and here's a picture that I quite enjoy for some reason:

*NOTE: I MADE IT THROUGH ONE ENTIRE POST WITHOUT CUSSING! HECK YEAH!*

2-26-10

For the lack of a better phrase - I've been "getting shit done" this past month. Not only have I got personal and scholastic affairs in order - I've also obtained an internship! As I mentioned before I'm going to be doing weekly news round-ups. And another thing - in regards to "getting shit done" : I now know that I have a months worth of underwear. I've exhausted all my pairs. So now monthly laundry expenses are cut down to a whopping total of $1.75!
Okay, okay I'll stop talking about my underwear. Back to the subject of my internship. It is such a great learning experience! I never been happier getting paid with "good jobs" and high-fives. I think the reason I've taken to it is because I'm used to doing things of that nature. I always have to have some kind of job to pass the time. Having shit to do really makes me feel better about myself. Even though at times I'm tired and want to do nothing with my life I know that the decisions and things I'm doing right now will benefit me in the long run.

2-25-10

Dear SF State,

Despite popular belief, I am not afraid of being raped every time I walk through campus at night. I know that being female, there is a chance that I might be raped. But doesn't the same go for males? I'm sure there are ass-rapers out there, though the odds are less. Your male professors seem to think that females are in a constant state of fear. That couldn't be farther from the truth. The attempt to sympathize with my "fragile female psyche" is not well received on my behalf. I know that your male professors are most likely for gender equality, but setting the female sex as a doe amongst wolves isn't condoning their ideals.
This fake letter isn't at all serious. It's just what I've been hearing from all of my male professors in the wake of an attempted rape. ATTEMPTED. There isn't a man-bear rapist on the loose. Just a sick fuck looking for power. And obviously he didn't get his power if it was an ATTEMPTED rape. Girls can stick up for themselves most of the time.
I don't live in fear of there being a rapist around every corner. Neither do many other girls. End of story.

2-24-10

Barbies for most women are synonymous with the essential feminine child hood. Lord knows I had so many of them. I never felt the need to look like them, because they were just toys. I guess some girls did, but not me as much. I needed to have a barbie of every color, for variation. They were play things, not idols.
As I come to think of it, the way the non-white barbies were marketed, was extremely racist:


This is the Mexican Barbie. I had this exact same doll when I was little. And if I remember correctly she came with marimbas. I also remember I had a black barbie (couldn't find a picture of it) and it looked like she had on modernized tribal gear. Either way, the way they marketed both was extremely racist.
I'm pretty sure that all Mexican women don't wear folkloric flowery dresses and carry marimbas around. And the last time I checked - an African American didn't have to dress like they could be part of the zulu tribe. Little things like this show that we don't live in a post-racism society. We know that the concept of racism is fucked (for the lack of a better word) so we just say what we want to say and think what we want to think behind closed doors. Racism is a stain ingrained into the very fabric of our society, and its gonna take a lot more than the detergent of the civil rights movement to get it out.

2-23-10 : TV TUESDAY!

Golden Girls

From now on I am implementing "TV Tuesdays" as a weekly regular on my blog. And what not a better way than to start off with the best sitcom involving old ladies in the mid eighties to early nineties? I find this show to be one of my favorites when it involves casting and generally writing. The plot line of this show is pretty much the follies and triumphs of 4 single old women living together in a house in Florida. Golden Girls made it to where women of a certain age were not seen as jaunty, generally stiff people. It showed older woman that there is life to be lived, regardless of how old you might be. And most of all it presented stereo-types that we commonly see with people we know:

"THE ROCK/PUNCHING BAG"

Bea Arthur as Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak, is one of the most integral characters to the show. She is generally the problem solver, but despite all she does for her three fellow room mates, she always gets shit. She always is seen as the less desirable one, and Blanche, Sophia and Rose won't let her forget it. She is a divorcee and along with all the others, has grown children. She has a hate for her former husband Stan, who cheated on her. Oh! and she's also a substitute teacher if I remember correctly.

"THE SMART-ASS"

Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo is Dorothy's mother. Sophia is a tiny terror, reigning from Sicily, and she will not let you forget either. She always has a quip or insult to say whenever it comes to well...anything. Though the main person who gets the most of her verbal abuse is her daughter, Dorothy. Even though she gives a lot of shit to Dorothy it's only because she loves her dearly. And when the occasion comes she is willing to do anything to protect Dorothy, even if it might be totally fucked. She's widowed too.

"THE SLUT"

Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux is the Skank reigning from the south. She's widowed and likes her men. She will not hesitate to remind any of the girls that she is getting some and they're not (when applicable). She has a large ego and easily gets hurt when anybody stops her from being the prettiest girl in the room.

"THE DUMB ONE"

The lovely Betty White as Rose Nylund is the Germanic farm girl from her beloved town of Saint Olaf. She just loves telling stories about her native town or anything when it comes to chickens. She is obviously not the brightest and all the girls know it. They constantly insult her intelligence, but it's okay because she doesn't know that they are most of the time! Also widowed.

IN CONCLUSION:

Golden girls is the shit. It shows that no matter what age you are you can "get some" and have fun. It makes me want to be in my 6os-80s, widowed, and living in a house with a couple of old gals!

2-22-10

For some reason its is difficult for me to wrap my head around the fact that we are now more than 50 days into this year. It doesn't seem like it at all. I guess time is just an odd concept, because its not official in any way, shape or form.
In other news I absolutely hate when people get phrases wrong. Like instead of saying a "diamond in the rough" they say a "diamond in the rust". Or just the phrase "I could care less", when people say that they don't care for something at all. That phrase implies that there is something in the fiber of your being (wait for it-big shocker) that cares! Today, while walking through campus talking on the phone, I said that I was "under the influence that I was doing something right", when I meant "under the impression". I became the person that makes me want to take a swan dive down the stairs for a moment! I've been beating myself up about it for the past couple hours. Momentary idiocy is the worst, and everyone suffers from it from time to time. You just have to deal with it for the little time that it's there and remember that you are so much better off than those who are full-time idiots.

*This post was inspired by Melissa's blog post "Idiots"*

2-21-10

I feel oh so very grown up today. I did three essays, mastered google reader (for RSS feeds), and most importantly, got myself a netflix subscription. And made a queue which included Moon, Martyrs (some gory foreign film a girl recommended me), and a crap load of nip/tuck seasons. Grown up as fuck. All I need is an apartment and a cat.
Speaking of acquiring animals, I really miss my dogs, and animals for that matter. Animals are cool because most of the time they just don't care. They don't talk to you and they don't need to. You can just chill with them on the couch and the only things they ask of you are food and that you let them out. And maybe if they're real go-getters, they'll ask for a scratch on the belly. So in conclusion, animals are the best. End of story.

2-20-10

In my life, there seems to be a cycle that's repeating itself again. This is the cycle where I start off as a fledgling "employee" and gradually go up in the ranks. The first installment of this cycle began when I first entered the high school newspaper freshman year. I was one of the two freshman in a whole entire class of juniors and seniors, and needless to say I was inexperienced and had no fucking clue regarding any matter that involved high school journalism. The two main editors, seeing this, assigned me to do the horoscopes. I was fourteen, and obviously my ability to "read the stars" was lacking. So I did what any like-minded person would do. Bull-shitted. And in the end it was just fine; because nobody gives a hoot about reputable sources for a horoscope in a high school newspaper. The quality of my story assignments progressively got better throughout the year, and eventually I landed a front page story, the dominant one no less. It was about how a shit-ton of kids had been getting hit by cars right outside our high school. I could tell you every article that I wrote but I'd just end up looking long-winded and narcissistic. So blah blah blah-I ended up being the opinion page editor that made my little blonde haired, fifty year old W.A.S.P of a newspaper adviser uneasy in her seat.So now lets jump forwards in time to the present. I'm a freshman in college who just got put on to be a volunteer/intern at a local non-profit, non-commercial news website called SF Public Press. I am by far the youngest and least experienced. And I get put on to do a weekly news round up. It's just aggregation in it's most simple form. But it still makes me nervous because I don't want to fuck it up. But in the end it is like my ill-fated horoscope column, though not ill-fated. It's a teaching device, and will further set itself up to be a great learning experience.

*Note:But-but-but-but...but I should stop beginning a sentence using that word as well as "it".I see a bad writing habit shaping up here. Gotta nip that sucker in the bud-just as Bill Cosby would say (devoid of the word "sucker" but I can see him saying sucker anyway,if that counts).*

2-19-10

In the end nothing is really in taste or not, because there will never never be a true consensus on what is really acceptable. In a world where there are so many conflicting opinions and social mores the idea of universal norms for fashion are unreasonable. People should be caring about whats going on in the world rather than what someone else is wearing.

2-18-10

March 4th is a day of action to protest the budget cuts in education throughout California. The most popular slogan is "Let's do it like we did in '68!", which was when San Francisco State was shut down for months all in order to get an ethnic studies program. The problem with that slogan is too many things have changed since then. What they did in '68 was standing against lingering racism, and the right to educate people without having to use the master narrative for history. Today, and March 4th specifically is to demand the funding that our school as well as schools throughout the state deserve. It was also a different time historically. It was a time filled with hope, a thriving economy and great expectations on the horizon. We live in a significantly bleak time, a time where the economy has been proverbially sucker-punched. But the similarities between today and 1968 is that people are making a statement and trying to get what they think they deserve.
Most importantly, if we want this day of action to truly count we have to do it our own way. If a person wants to make history they have to go against the rules. Go against past events in some way. Don't be violent or cop-hating, but just make your opinion known to others. Education is so much more powerful than a slap to the face (mentally) and blockades.

2-17-10

As I was sitting in Astronomy Lab today I asked myself this question: "Would I freeze myself in a cryogenics lab, only to be thawed out 50-100 years?". My answer? Hell yes. But on these conditions:
-I don't get frozen alone. My parents and my extended family are getting frozen as well.
-In addition to having my family being frozen with me, my dogs would have to get frozen too.
-I get to keep my clothes to freak out the people of the future.
-Me and my family get paid handsomely for this. REALLY HANDSOMELY.
-The whole lot of us will not be treated like cadavers or lab rats. Lab rats a little, but I'm not parting with my organs.
-I would like to be released in a time of great discovery, yet have the future society still be relevant to mine.
-I will only have soilent green if it tastes good. (I'm on the fence on whether human meat would be tasty or not)
Those are my conditions. I thought I would have a giant list, but alas, I do not. What would your conditions be?

2-16-10

Civilization and the act of being "civilized" are two very different things when you think about it. Everybody in the United States is considered to live in an advanced civilization, yet a decent percentage of us do uncivilized things like commit crime and hurt others. We put ourselves on this pedestal as being civilized, but there's not as much follow through with that. We see our way of living as the way to live and look down on anybody who lives differently. We want to change the way that they live in other countries so those people can be as "civilized" as us. And that's bullshit. Plain and simple.
Another thing that I find funny is the true definition of "third world". The term was coined by Alfred Sauvy during the Cold War which defined a third world country as one that does not follow the guidelines of capitalism nor communism. Yet we see third world countries as ones that are poor and under-developed. Not many people take into consideration that maybe people like to live in ways different than us. Maybe people in countries different than ours would rather have social capital than economic capital. I know everybody has heard this since kindergarten; but it's wrong to judge others that aren't like us.

2-15-10

As I get older everything that is involved in my life changes. One of them being body chemistry. Even looking at greasy foods will give me heartburn. And that makes me feel old. Moving out of the house didn't-but heartburn did? I guess it's just a problem that many "adults" complain about. It's like I just met qualifications to join the "federation of people of advanced age" (better known as the FPAA). Sometimes the smallest things affect my life in some way, and change the chemistry of what makes me who I think I am. I still think I'm a baby in most respects, but things like this can't help but hint to me that I'm getting older.

2-14-10

Some single people view ValentinesDay as a terrible commercial holiday. I only view it as a way to get candy. Valentines Day is just like Saint Patrick's Day or Cinco de Mayo. A useless holiday. People use Saint Patrick's Day and Cinco de Mayo to get drunk, and those who do not like to drink usually don't celebrate the holiday. The same goes with Valentines Day (sort of). You only celebrate this holiday if you are in a relationship. Valentines day is a day to get drunk on "love". So being the single person that I am, I can't say I'm bitter in the slightest bit. I don't need a relationship or holiday to define who I am and make me feel good. I can do that myself, thank you!

The unofficial mascot of the pillow fight making feather angels in front of a cop.

Somebody's pillow exploded on them.

2-13-10

That's my content face which also coincides with my "photo booth caught me blinking" face. It kind of reminds me of the face that many an animal make when you scratch them at a certain place. Though that face is pretty much an "I'm really getting off on this sexually" face, I just pretend that when I scratch them at that certain place I'm just making them more content. Mark my words, the last thing I would like to get into would be bestiality. Now getting away from this (just a little) I just found out that I've been spelling "bestiality" wrong for all of the time that word has come into my vocabulary. I swore it was spelled b-e-a-s-t-i-a-l-i-t-y. You learn something new every day I guess.

2-12-10

Sometimes there are just those days where the weather sets the tone for the day. Today it was raining. It felt like such a struggle to get out of yesterday's clothes-but I fought onward. I took a shower despite my incessant want to lay in bed all day and watch crappy television. I begrudgingly put on clothes and brushed my hair. From then I made the ten minute venture to English class. The whole basis of this entry is to express what I learned today- a mediocre way of "spicing up" ones writing.

2-11-10

Upon studying the nature of Hinduism in one of my classes, I call bull shit. I call BS on the very nature of the religion, as well as its backings. Just like with any religion, Hinduism has its many contradictions.
So the whole religion starts off with this being just chilling in space. This Being is named Purusha. So this Purusha, just chilling in space, realizes that he can create a universe, but cannot make it out of thin air, but himself. He wants to do it but he struggles with the fact that he will have to sacrifice himself for the sake of creation. He develops a "tapas", which is pretty much the equivalent to guilt, or the literal meaning of somebody having something to get off their chest. So yada yada yada-and then he decides that he should do this and his tapas explodes as does he. Every bit of Purusha's body makes the universe, and everything in it. So-not a big shocker. It's more or less the typical patriarchal to start to any religion/universe.
Onwards with the story. From Purusha's body, each type of person from the world is made from a certain body part. The priests come from his mouth, which is understandable in a figurative sense. From his arms begot rulers and warriors. His legs were skilled workers. And last and certainly expressed as least, the unskilled workers were his feet. Each person has a Jiva, which is a persons mortal life and an Atman which is the eternal greater self. In Atman there is Brahman, which is sacrificial energy. Atman is Brahman, Brahman is the god-head, it is divinity itself and it is everyone.
So what I don't get is that there is equality, but some people are just better than others? I guess the reason that Hinduism is so accepted is because it helped justify the caste system, which held people in poverty for the most part, and wealth for the few. Its main point was to prove that there wasn't equality and that people are bound to a certain path in life just because of their ancestors work skills. Its the type of religion that says warfare is the body attacking itself, like a sickness of the world, yet it will justify the problems of the caste system? It will let class warfare and inequality in some places ring true yet in the end it states that we all have the same thing inside us? If everybody has the same thing inside them, then why bother trying to split hairs and put people down?
Hinduism and Christianity are a no go for me. Maybe this atheist will become a buddhist or "drink the kool-aid" in the near future? Time and education will only tell.

2-10-10

A person can be so happy, yet there is no sign of it on their face. Why does a smile dictate true happiness? I can say that I'm pretty happy, but I don't walk around all day smiling like an idiot. In a recent post I got confronted on how I wasn't smiling. So there ya go. Lizard smile.
But the reason why people see a smile as happiness is because that is the only way we can gauge happiness. Only holistic nuts can sense your "aura", so for the rest of the world a smile will just have to do.

2-9-10

The line between history and memory is fraught with contradictions. People perceive events differently mostly because of their cultural lens. One cannot explain an event without having an angle or spin attached to it. You can only go so far without blurring the lines between history and memory. For the most part, history is the memory of our society and each group within it chooses to see it the way that they want to.
Its kind of funny that any education system prides themselves with serving up unbiased information to the masses. But every bit of historical information is chock-full of biased. The common master narrative which is pretty much has the America, FUCK YEAH! spin towards it is the most common. From a young age we are taught that America is the "city on the hill", and the best country the world has to offer. Whether what has been taught us is true or not, we learn it anyway because after all, no one wants to flunk out (well most of us) just to take a stand against the most popular narrative of history.
Each narrative of history is just as biased as the next. It is our choice to choose which form of history that goes down easier.

2-8-10

How does one truly "act their own age"? Everybody is different in respects to pretty much everything. People have different personalities, backgrounds and dispositions. "Acting ones age" in one culture could be read as being highly immature in another. And even within any culture it is so hard for anybody to be exactly up to par with what they should be. So acting your age can be read as differently as how people define time. Nothing is really set in stone for those two things, but we'd like to think that that's the way things should be. Time and acting ones age are two things that will never be understood fully. We can think we understand, but in the end we don't know shit.