To Society, With Love

Prologue

                There was a time in society in which all things could be communicated within a society. I still believed in those days. No matter how trivial the subject, no matter how mundane the action, I always felt there was a need for it to be reported. Communicating was the most important aspect of my life as I was young. It had no standards, no purpose; no intrinsic meaning within its bounds, yet by utilizing it people could create.

                It was this whimsical notion that got me into journalism.  I thought that maybe by coming into journalism, I would become the voice of those who needed one. I was at the top of my class; I did everything that was asked of me in school. I took the right courses, I studied hard, and I had nothing but an abysmal amount of debt to show for it. I owed more money than what I knew could be found out there, but still I progressed on with the dream. These were my hopes, until the real world came crashing upon them.

                I got into the business all wide eyed hoping that I somehow could tell the people what they wanted to hear. The real world had something against that notion. They only want the superficial. They don’t want the happenings of what most people would consider life. No, they want only what amuses the whims of society so that they may live their lives through that of the celebrity. It slowly started the degradation of society’s self-esteem, and mine. I settled into the routine of the mundane, knowing very well that the once bright flame of integrity inside of me was going to turn into nothing but embers.

Do Re Mi Fa So La ti Do

Starting work on producing the music for the Malcolm Vonnegut mixtape. I highly doubt that I record it, but if the opportunity for it arises, I'd like to be prepared for it.

Aeternus Amor: The End of the Beginning

Everything was perfectly quiet.


There were no cars on the street, no birds chirping, no busy shops along main street. The whole area would seem to be lifeless and deserted, had it not been for one young couple sauntering down the street.


Both of them dressed in the most expensive and elegant of clothes. They were newly weds and were basking in the post wedding bliss. Earlier, they'd found the last available priest to do the ceremony for them. Price was of no object to them now, as the only thing they had to look forward to was happiness. As they strolled down the street, the young woman was caught by a bit of nostalgia. They took a pause at the record store where they had first met. She looked up at the flashing neon sign that read, "Duncan's", and was taken back to that faithful day, "Do you remember that day we met here?"


He chuckled a little before he replied, " Yeah, I do. I was a struggling bum DJ, and you felt sorry for me, so you payed for the James Brown album I was trying to get. I felt like such a loser that day," he almost blushed at this.


"You shouldn't be one to worry. You turned that one album into a club hit, got rich, and you got the girl of course," her cheeks got rosy, "it was all you ever wanted right?"


"And then some. I just wish that.." she interrupted him as her lips pressed against his sensually. He lost his train of thought and they continued their stroll down the street, perusing as they reminisced over the memories they'd shared so dearly in this town.


They had almost neared the edge of town when the alarm when off, the buzz was piercing. Suddenly the quiet shangri la they had to themselves was shattered. She looked at him, he was holding back tears it almost seemed. This caused her to burst into her own. Then the mayhem started as the streets poured over with sudden movement. It was if a war zone had suddenly erupted mid town square. People were screaming into the sky, gun shots could be heard as people made their final actions, it was utter chaos. Neither of the young couple wanted anything to do with it, and they hastened their pace out of the town, the chaos was over for them, all they need now was solidarity.They moved forward towards the hill at city limits.


As they ascended to the top of the hill, they took in the scenery. It was a serene area. The noise and chatter of the city had become almost mute to where they were now. Atop the hill there was a single flower, one single rose amidst the grass. They sat on opposite sides of the rose, facing one another, not really knowing what to say to each other now that the time was nigh. She looked down at the rose, "This may be the last beautiful thing that we see together.." her words trailed off into tears.


He grabbed her hand, "Let's name it."


She looked at him in utter amazement and distraught,"What is there to name it? It's a rose, and it will be a rose to the last second that it stands..."


"Would a rose by any other name not smell as sweet?" She looked up after he said this, and she opened herself up to the gesture. This was his last ditch effort to try and be romantic. She decided to go with it, "Let's name it Death."


He was puzzled a bit,"Why Death?"


"Well this is the end isn't it? Let's make this rose be death. Roses have always stood the test of time for their beauty and grace. So just as this moment should end all times, I want that beauty to stand through with us." With those words they both smiled at each other, the rose fixed between their hands, and stood up. They embraced in a passionate kiss one last time, and looked towards the sky. It was coming for them, for us, for the entirety of the world. "I love you," was the last spoken words between the two, as they looked into each others eyes one last time. For they held death, and with it, everlasting grace between their hands.

10 Ways to Enjoy Doing Nothing

Ran across this, and thought I'd share it somewhere.

10 ways to enjoy doing nothing

• Story Highlights
• Writer Tom Hodgkinson learned to embrace doing nothing
• The first step to being idle is to banish the guilt associated with not being busy
• Hodgkinson also recommends playing the ukulele and pretending to meditate
• Choose the right role models, like Walt Whitman, to help you enjoy being idle

By Tom Hodgkinson

(REAL SIMPLE) -- One morning, nearly 20 years ago, I was lying in bed. It was late. I was supposed to be working, but I seemed glued to the mattress. I hated myself for my laziness.

And then, by chance, I picked up a collection of writings by Dr. Samuel Johnson, the 18th-century wit and the compiler of the first comprehensive English dictionary.

In the book were excerpts from a weekly column he had written called "The Idler," in which the great man celebrated idleness as an aspiration, writing in 1758, "Every man is, or hopes to be, an Idler."

This was an epiphany for me. Idleness, it seemed, was not bad. It was noble. It was excessive busyness that caused all the problems!

So I got out of bed and started a magazine called 'The Idler," in order to remind people of the forgotten, simple pleasures of doing nothing. I even wrote books about it. And, yes, you could say that idleness became my life's work. So, based on all those years of tough-going research, here are my top tips for people who find it difficult to just be.

1. Banish the guilt. We are all told that we should be terribly busy, so we can't laze around without that nagging feeling that we need to be getting stuff done. I rejected my guilt upon learning that Europeans in the Middle Ages felt no shame for lolling about. Their favorite philosopher, Aristotle, had praised the contemplative life, and the monks spent a lot of time just praying and chanting. Guilt for doing nothing is artificially imposed on us by a Calvinistic and Puritanical culture that wants us to work hard. When you understand that it hasn't always been this way, it becomes easier to shake it off. Real Simple: How to worry less

2. Choose the right role models. Most of the great musicians and poets were idlers. So feed yourself a diet of John Lennon, Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman, and the like. Carrying a slim volume of verse in your purse or pocket can be therapeutic -- something from Keats, who wrote of "evenings steep'd in honied indolence," or Wordsworth, of course. (What could be more idle than wandering lonely as a cloud?) It's delightful to read a few lines while you're on a bus or a train, then stare out the window and ponder their meaning.

3. Sketch a flower. If you are new to idling and feel compelled to be purposefully occupied, sketching a flower at the kitchen table can be an excellent way to bring some divine contemplation into your life. The act of drawing makes you observe the bloom in a way you never have before. All anxieties fly away as you lose yourself in close study. And at the end of it you have a pretty little sketch. Real Simple: 34 low-cost, make-you-smile ideas

4. Go bumbling. Bumbling is a nice word that means "wandering around without purpose." It was indulged in by the poets of 19th-century Paris. They called themselves flâneurs and were said to have taken tortoises around on leads, which gives you an idea of the tempo of their rambles. Children are good bumblers. Try making a deliberate effort to slow down your walking pace. You'll find yourself coming alive, and you'll enjoy simply soaking in the day.

5. Play the ukulele. The ukulele is the sound of not working. My wife hates it for that very reason: The twang of those strings means that I am not doing something useful around the house. I keep my ukulele in the kitchen and play it at odd moments, like while I'm waiting for the kettle to boil.

6. Bring back Sundays. Many religions still observe a Sabbath, whether it's Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. And for a long time secular society embraced Sundays as a day of rest, too. But now Sundays are as busy and stress-filled as any other day.

Having a day of rest was a very practical idea: We were excused from all labor and devoted ourselves to pleasure and family. Take that ancient wisdom to heart and declare at least one day of the week as a do-nothing day. Don't clean the house or do the laundry; don't get in the car. Stay home and eat chocolate and drink wine. Be kind to yourself.

7. Lie in a field. Doing nothing is profoundly healing -- to yourself and to the planet. It is precisely our restless activity that has caused the environmental crisis. So do some good by taking a break from "doing" and go and lie on your back in a field. Listen to the birds and smell the grass. Real Simple: 10 guilt-free strategies for saying no

8. Gaze at the clouds. Don't have a field nearby? Doing nothing can easily be dignified by calling it "cloud spotting." It gives a purpose to your dawdling. Go outside and look up at the ever-changing skies and spot the cirrus and the cumulonimbus.

9. Take a nap. To indulge in a siesta after lunch is the most wonderful luxury: It softens tempers and guards against grumpiness. Yet our culture has decided that naps are for wimps. A nap is acceptable only if it is called a "power nap" -- a short doze that is supposed to return you to the office with more energy to kick some ass.

But you should nap, not for the profit of a corporation but for your own health. Research has shown that a daily snooze can reduce the risk of heart attack. And just knowing you're going to sleep after lunch seems to make the morning less stressful. If curling up in your office isn't an option, go somewhere quiet, like a church or a park bench, and close your eyes for even just five minutes.

10. Pretend to meditate. For us westerners, meditation is an accepted way of doing nothing. Tell everyone you're going to meditate, then go into your bedroom, shut the door, and stare out the window or read or lie down for half an hour. You have excused yourself from household tasks and can indulge in contemplation, reflection, and that underrated pleasure, thinking, without fear of disapproval.

Actual Proof: The Talented Tenth

Everyone knows I hate mainstream hip-hop for the most part right now, so here's another underground duo that are killing it. Thank 2dopeboyz for highlighting this on on the site.

Download: Actual Proof: The Talented Tenth

Slaughterhouse and YelaWolf: Shady Records

After a little bit of suspense, albeit not that surprising, Slaughterhouse and Yelawolf, have signed to Shady Records. I loved Slaughterhouse's first album, the self titled, Slaughterhouse. Singles Microphone and Onslaught 2 were amazing. As for YelaWolf, I actually saw him in concert at UCF. He definitely had the high energy, and the music wasn't that bad either. I don't expect either artist(s) to fail.

Soul Like Khan

One of my favorite Battle M.C.'s Soul Khan came out with his debut album Soul Like Khan recently, produced by 2dopeboyz so shout out to them. After giving it a listen to, I have to recommend it for people. Check it out.

Soul Like Khan - Download Link

Merry Christmas

This is the time of year when people need to come together. I know that the world is stressful, and I know that it's hard to really believe in being cheerful and good will towards other men, but just for the next 24 hours, can we all just please remember that we're all people. I know it's ironic for me of all people to say that, given my almost stoic disposition, but at the least today, of all days let's reach out. I love the world.

Peace. Love. Happy Holidays.

Ego.

Individuality Vs. Society

We are told since we are children that as a society we are meant to work and come together to help towards one productive community to help the whole world thrive.  Though this is true, I feel that recently that there is a huge discrepancy in the people who are willing to step outside of the accepted social norms, and present themselves as an individual and maybe break themselves from these preconceived ideals.

               

       Lately I have come to notice of my peers that, none of them are really able to put forth ideas that are truly their own. There seems to be an accepted social norm that is going around in the world and with the way that my generation is looking to shape up, there may be little to nothing that will ever happen in the future to change that. My generation is coming from heavily regulated public school systems, churches that indoctrinate children from a young age, and from an age of websites like Myspace and Facebook, that all work to strip away the kind of individualism that someone should really be trying to figure out at a young age. I am not trying to put forth the idea that the government or some higher society is trying to control my generation, instead I think that it’s the neediness of my generation that is the main proponent of the lax attitude of most of the generation. When the most prominent figures in our society today are the athletes, pop stars, movie stars, and other kinds of celebrity it’s hard to remember that intellectuals are the ones who are really making the world move, and I think that it’s a shame that a majority of people are probably losing this fact.

The upcoming generation is losing that sense of individualism and personal drive, and it is apparent in the way that people are going through school and their daily lives.  There is always some sort of religious group or political faction out on campus trying to get people to join them for their cause. One day I actually went up to one of these people and asked them why it was that they were trying to recruit people for their cause. I got just what I expected in their answer, It was just them regurgitating the same campaign mottos and slogans that you can hear from the candidate themselves, it was almost as if they had joined the cause just because they wanted to join, not because they were critical of the issues that the candidate was trying to represent, but because they had been told that these are the issues that are important and this was the candidate that they had clung close to. I then continued to ask a few other people trying to spread their represented agenda to the campus, and none of them ever gave me a personal reason as to why they wanted to support their cause, all of it seemed to be something I could hear from any other Christian, Republican, Democrat, or Muslim. The sad reality is that I doubt any of them had really taken time to reflect why they’d chosen to become a part of that group but had merely just chosen to participate based on some social standardization that they come from.

It has also become apparent to me that, most of the values and moral codes that people are so quick to adhere to aren’t always what a person truly values. It is more like they just conform to the accepted social conscious that society has predetermined for us. The sad thing is that, within these moral concepts that are pushed upon us, there is a lot of hypocrisy in them. When we tell people that killing is wrong, yet glorify the notion of supporting our troops and the war, what kind of message are we really sending out to people? That it is not okay to kill the person who is personally driving you insane on your day to day basis, but as long as the person who you are willing to kill is from another country and supposedly stands against every value and personal perception you have then you can off their head without a second thought. Then there’s the personal favorite one that I have of the ideal of marriage being some kind of sacred practice that is ordained and glorified from God. When it comes to the point that the government is controlling who can get married, how they can get married, and to whom they can get married, it seems that God is nowhere to be found in the equation. Though as a group we have come to the evaluation that marriage should be something that should be held sacred and helps the community as a whole, when it’s really the exact opposite, seeing as someone who is single would have more disposable income to put into the economy, but what’s common sense to the individual when all of society knows what is best for your life.

The world at whole really needs to reevaluate what kind of an individual that most people are. I’m a huge proponent of individualism and I think the world needs more people who are willing to go outside of the norms and accepted structures, and reform the way people think about why they do choose to follow instead of leading in their own lives. I hope that sometime in my life, there will be some kind of social and political revolution that takes place, which shakes the foundation of most of our ideals, and causes the world to challenge and correct itself. Though maybe I am just a crazy person because I choose to set my moral and values away from society, but I’ve always found it weird that when it comes down to people’s conscious decisions, their personal conscious always goes with what society has set forth as the good that people should be doing. 

Cliff Lee, why would you do that?

He could have had the greatness

This man right here, could have been a Yankee. He could have worn the pride of the pinstripes, and helped to lead the Bombers to our second title in 3 years. BUT NO. He along with the Phillies, decide to bust out the biggest okie-doke in years in baseball.

P.S. This is Jimmy Rollins. 

So now the Yanks only have Greinke to look to as a pick up this off season, unless we can make a huge blockbuster trade. Which I can't see anyone being available and willing to take some of the huge contracts we have. This may be a rough upcoming season for the Yanks. I'm expecting 85-90 wins this year, rest of the off season pending. Here's looking at you Pettite. 

Every now and then I like to do some Photoshop Work. Mostly just website banners and forum tags and signatures.

The Final Punchline,

It's an interesting Essay I wrote.  Especially if you're into comic books primarily Batman.

The comic book media has inspired some of the greatest relationships that have persisted through literary culture since the medium has been in circulation. The historical characters and struggles present in the medium of comic books and graphic novels have created universes filled with intertwining stories, characters, and story lines that would put the works of even Shakespeare to shame. Though all these narratives each stand on their own merit and worth, the most interesting and dynamic one would be between Batman and Joker.

Batman and Joker have a very long running give and take relationship. It's been portrayed in comic books, movies, video games, and about every other media form you can think of. It's the classic tale of Batman, the caped crusading hero, against Joker, the homicidal clown lunatic, who is out to destroy Gotham with only The Dark Knight standing in his way.

This has always been the dynamic between the Gotham elite in the meta-criminal world of Gotham, but when we take a look at it from a new standpoint, a question arises. Is the Joker really trying to destroy Batman, or is the Joker just simply trying to give batman a means to an end? One that only the Joker, with his hyper-sanity, can push Batman into. By posing this question we can no longer take the Joker as an intrinsic villain, but instead on the same coin of Batman as simply trying to eliminate all the hindrances that Batman contains that stop him from eliminating all crime in Gotham. In this examination I will explore the Joker's past, his present, and his actions he is taking against Batman. I will take these actions and prove that these actions have been tailored to Joker's needs of Batman becoming truly what the Joker needs him to be able to kill crime, in the literal sense, and Joker's true motives behind this.

First, we must look at Joker's past before he evolved into the Dark Knight's greatest adversary. The Joker's back story has been reiterated multiple times through different comic book runs, so for argument's sake we will go with the most common and multiply canonized back story, from Alan Moore's The Killing Joke. The Joker's history is that he was a man, married to his wife Jeannie, who was working as a chemical engineer in Gotham. He quits this job to become a comedian, and begins to fail miserably. In an attempt to support his wife and future child, he agrees to help 2 thugs rob a chemical engineering plant, using the alias Red Hood. Right before the robbery however, he learns that his pregnant wife has died in a household accident. Hearing this news, he wants to back out of the deal, but the two gangsters strong arm him into going with the plan. Shortly after the heist begins, the security catches on and the two thugs are killed in a shoot out, and he runs away. While escaping he is confronted by Batman, in a act of panic and fear, he jumps off the balcony railing and lands in a pit of acid underneath. When he arises from the vat, he now has the hyper-sanity and joker features he has become famous for.

From this history we can see that originally the Joker is a man who is broken and battered, albeit by some of his own choices, but he's trying to support a family. If we juxtapose this with the Bruce Wayne genesis into Batman story, they are completely dialectical. Where as Bruce Wayne in one night loses the established family that he has grown to love and later is engulfed into a life of opulence and chooses to become involved with the criminal world, Joker on the other hand loses the future family that he could have had, and is coerced into the criminal world afterwords due to a future of poverty he wished to avoid for his family. Theses losses of family have fueled both of these men, and will continue to fuel their motives as the story continues, with their choice of alliances they choose. Batman hoping to give someone the childhood that he so feels robbed of adopts Robin into his life. Joker having gone insane because of his love, takes in Harley Quinn a psychiatrist who loves him as a constant reminder of a possible sane love he could have had. As we can see the genesis of Batman and the Joker have strayed down different paths, despite both being born out of tragedy, and both attempting to cope with it.

Next, we need to explore the motive that Joker would have to want to push Batman over the edge. Joker sees the city of Gotham as nothing more than a playground for him. He's a man who's lost everything and no longer has  any kind of regular social bonds to this world. The Joker has submitted himself to the idea of chaos, and wishes to impose this upon the city. Any idea of structure is directly opposed to The Joker's dogma. Which would bring out the question of why would the Joker be satisfied with just merely there being a constant back and forth between him and Batman? As Joker said it best in "The Clown at Midnight", the Joker states to Batman, "You can't kill me without becoming like me. I can't kill you without losing the only human being who can keep up with me. Isn't it ironic?!" The Joker says later, "I could never kill you. Where would the act be without my straight man?", at a first glance this statement is the epitome of the back and forth between the two, but take a look closer. The Joker says, "I could never kill you", looking at this statement in context you realize that before that Joker brings up the situation of them killing each other, but in this leaves out the idea of The Batman killing him exclusively. This means that Joker, has the idea in his mind of Batman being able to kill him, and most preferably that he does. This is even show in The Dark Knight Returns, when The Joker breaks his own neck just so he can frame Batman. The Joker wants to turn Batman into the same situation that he is in so that the caped crusader no longer feels some kind of self-righteous indignation towards human life in a similar way that he doesn't. The Joker wants Batman to take his place, to lift that burden of Chaos away from him.

Expanding on that idea is the hold that Joker and Batman hold over the DC universe. Batman and the Joker both stand in a meta-realm above those sides whom they would most naturally represent. Batman stands as the benevolent benefactor to the Justice league, and as shown through out the DC run, has the power and capabilities to deal with any of the other Heroes if they were ever to turn rogue. This automatically puts Batman as being above the rest of the league, even the invincible Superman. Now take a look at The Joker, a man who has been burdened with this blood lust and chaotic demeanor, a visage so intimidating that other villains don't even wish to deal with him in fear of his actions. This is evidenced in the "Villains United" and the "Infinite Crisis"  arcs, where the Joker wasn't allowed in the organizations. Joker stands in a league of his own when it comes to the evil archetype in DC. When these two powers collide in Gotham, Joker now sees the perfect opportunity for him.  Knowing that Batman has all this power, Joker sees in him the possibility of what he ultimately wants, and that is for there to be a power above all in the universe. Taken from Joker's perspective, this Batman clearly has gathered all this power and control for some reason. If Joker were to be able to instill in Batman the kind of chaos he's been imbued with combined with Batman's resources and power, Batman would be unstoppable. The perfect agent for Joker's deadly ideals for the world.

Joker however knows that because Batman has all this control, that he needs Batman to be pushed so deep into this feeling of control that he snaps him over the edge, and brings him into his world. Joker attempts to do this by trying to destroy Batman's world around him. First  Joker tries to take it to a much larger scale, first trying to destroy the city of Gotham. He realizes that this is not the best way to do so, as inevitability the city will come to Batman to save the day, giving him that satisfaction of control that he wants. So Joker decides to go deeper into his life, by attacking Gordon and his family. However because of Gordon's strong belief in Batman's way of crime fighting, despite the Joker doing extreme permanent damage to Barbara Gordon, this doesn't break the Dark Knight's moral compass. So Joker takes it to the ultimate step, by killing Dick Grayson, aka Robin. Joker almost thinks he has him this time, but in the end even this can't push Batman over the edge. Joker now knows that he must dig even deeper, as he searches for Batman's true identity, with the intent to test Batman even further until he reaches the breaking point.
Joker sees in Batman, something he can no longer have in life, he sees structure. The Joker wants nothing more to destroy the ideal of Batman, he wants to break the unbreakable, to push him over the edge. He wants Batman to be stronger, he wants Batman to take control of the chaos that he wants. If The Joker were to take control of the possibilities that only Batman had available to him, to be able to make Batman break this moral code and kill those who stand opposed to him, it would be The Joker's final victory as an agent of Chaos. The Joker sees in Batman the means to an ultimate end for himself. Batman has the capabilities, the power, and the prestige to completely take over, but hold himself back. Most importantly Batman has something Joker can never have, the ability to do all this and slip back into the regular world, to not be hated and despised.

As long as there is an unbroken Batman, there will be the Joker, the man who tries to push him to his greatest pinnacle, to stand atop both good and evil, and evil death itself. To unleash an unrestrained Batman upon the world, that is the Joker's final punchline.

Jay Electronica

Jay Electronica has recently signed to the Roc Nation. I'm really hyped over this. Great music should start to come out very soon from this. Expecting amazing things, and that first studio album should be hard.


For a glimpse at the upcoming greatness, check out this track.

Jay Electronica - The Announcement

Starting back up.

So It's been ages since I've used this site, I know I'm terrible at commiting to habits, it's something I have to work on eventually. I digress, however I am now back on this thing and it's time for a new CD to plug.

Normalcy - Charles Hamilton

I've been feeling Charles Hamilton for a while now. His other mixtape, Sonic the Hamilton was good, but I feel that Normalcy is a much better and polished production. 20Hamil10 is my favorite song  off of it and Charles really shows his lyrical range through out the whole album. As an amazing bonus Last.fm even has it available for free donwload. Check it out if you have the time.

Charles Hamilton - Normalcy / download

My Favorite Tracks

1)20Hamil10
2) New Music from Charles Hamilton
3) Air Agains
4) See & Say
5) WorkinInTheLab

Nas and Damian Marley

Got to buy this CD. This might be the best album this year, so I suggest buying it. It's Nas and Damian Marley, who wouldn't like them together?

Jay Electronica

There's a lot of talk about how bad southern rappers are lately. Well, Jay Electronica is bar none probably the best mixtape artist out there right now. I hope he keeps putting out new albums and mixtapes. First concert he has near here, I'm definitely going.

If you want to give a listen to him you can download the mixtape from this link:

What The F*CK is a Jay Electronica