Diva Dance. 5th Element
This was just on TV and my good man derF gets the good nod for shouting it out. I love this movie and this song is wild and ridiculous. And then I remembered why I liked the movie... lead actress Mila Jovovich .
PEEP: Vampire Weekend
THESE GUYS ARE NICE. THANKS TO MY MUSIC MOGUL KEENAN. YOU CAN CHECK HIS ISH OUT ON HIS OWN BLOG AT www.album-a-day.com
NASIR JONES. BOW. HE IS ABOUT TO BRING THE WORLD TO ITS KNEES.
ARGUABLY THE GREATEST ARTIST ALIVE. BEST RAPPER. BEST IN NY. NO QUESTIONS. HES ABOUT TO EXPLODE.ALBUM DROPS JULY15.
Goddess Of the Week: Candice Swanepoel
For all you illiterate perverts... CandiceSwanepoel. Bow down, she is a South African Goddess.
and if you're really in love
Seeing as I'm glued to my crackberry, i tend to get a little paranoid
SHIFT: What if cellphones cause cancer?
The concern that there may be a connection between cellphones and cancer has been around for years — the first lawsuits that tried to make the connection were filed in the mid-1990s. There are many studies out there that have found no correlation between the two, and some more recent ones that have.
Additionally, many people criticize the studies that let cellphones off the hook, as it were, arguing that the technology has just not been around long enough for us to know for sure either way. After all, we don't expect people who have smoked for only a few years to have developed lung cancer. Yet.
I'm not here to argue that cellphones cause cancer. I have no evidence to contribute, just an ardent hope that scientists will continue to study the subject rigorously. Instead, I want to ask the question that I haven't seen addressed anywhere else: What if cellphones do indeed put us at risk for cancer? What if some years from now it's shown that using a cellphone for 35 years doubles, triples or quadruples your risk for brain cancer (or cancer of the salivary gland, perhaps)? If the results were concrete, but the government didn't intervene, would you stop using your cellphone? Could we live without mobile phones and, even given some risk, would we want to? Is it possible to go back to landlines, or are cellphones so important now (already!) to our quality of life that we'd be willing to take enormous risks to continue to use them? Click Continue to follow my thought experiment through to a few troubling conclusions.
We Don't Know — Really
On technology websites, where the bent is usually pro-product (iPhone!), critics can get especially harsh when anyone mentions the word "cancer." But even our government, which is under pressure from an enormous pro-cellphone industry lobby, maintains that not enough is known to debunk the connection. Here's what the National Cancer Institute has to say on the subject of the possible cellphone/cancer connection:
"Brain tumors develop over many years. Scientists have been unable to follow cellular-telephone users consistently for the amount of time it might take for a brain tumor to develop. Although research has not consistently demonstrated a link between cellular telephone use and cancer, scientists still caution that more research needs to be done before conclusions can be drawn."
The FDA has not gone so far as to make any recommendations about your cellphone use, though it does note that if it's something you're concerned about, you might want to keep conversations short and get an earpiece. Other governments have gone further: in 2000 the British government recommended that parents limit their children's cellphone use.
But What If We Did?
As with everything, if cellphones carried with them an increased risk for cancer, it would be along a spectrum of risk. At its most extreme, we might discover that everyone who uses a cellphone heavily for more than X years will die. Period. In that case, cellphones would be outlawed.
But few things in life are shown to have that sort of correlation with death — some people even survive long-term heroin use, which is illegal, never mind risks that the government allows us to take (or can't regulate) like drinking, sun exposure, obesity, smoking, motorcycle driving and unprotected sex with strangers. Given our government's current attitude towards science (it can't even agree about global warming or evolution), it's unlikely that even a slew of fairly convincing studies would persuade the government to rip phones away from our at-risk skulls. The onus would be on us to make a decision about whether the risk of giving up our landlines for the convenience of cellphones (as I have) is worth taking.
Yes, more studies would probably make us upset, but upset enough to hand in our BlackBerries, Treos, RAZRs and iPhones? I wouldn't bet on it, though perhaps soon cellphones, like cigarettes, will be for the 18+ crowd only — those old enough to know what risk-taking is.
If there were a known risk, I would probably still keep my phone. Is it my inability to think in the long term, or have I just let go of any organizational skills that would make it possible for me to function without a cellphone? Probably the latter. I find this knowledge upsetting, but if it were shown that cellphones increased your risk for brain cancer by five times (instead of, say, doubling a risk for something that's already very rare), I might just be able to get an address book and landline up and running again.
Headsets: Not a Panacea
My editor encouraged me to say that one easy way to solve the whole cellphone/cancer problem — should it exist — would be for everyone to use a headset. Since Bluetooth technology may pose risks similar to those present in cellphones, the headsets that would help you sleep best at night would be of the kind that attaches to your phone via a long, dorky wire. Those wires would be helpful, and might help to stave off a move from society away from mobile and back to landline technology.
But let's say that cellphones were shown to triple your risk of brain cancer. Would you really want to carry one around in your pants pocket, even with a headset attached? In addition to worrying about problems with your brain, you might have to worry about the phone's effect on your sperm count. If something is shown to cause cancer in your head, it no longer becomes quite as fun to carry around in your pocket, or as convenient to give to your children.
Cellphones: Force of Good
When we think of cellphones in society, it's easy to just think of the negatives — loud chiming in movie theaters, overhearing inappropriate conversations in buses, the new tendency of our friends avoid making plans until the very last minute (and when they do, not to bother to look up directions until they're on their way) and mobile phone-related car crashes. But if cellphones were just a nuisance, they wouldn't be as popular as they are.
Even if it’s eventually shown that the phones clearly increase our risk for cancer, there are some strong arguments to keep them around. In emergencies, they're invaluable. If a car hits you, strangers with cellphones can call an ambulance immediately. Assuming that you're knocked out but your phone has survived, they can also contact your family for you. Even given a proven risk, it would be tempting to continue using a cellphone since though it may kill you slowly; it's the easiest way for you to contact 911. But unless you had one of those phones with a very cheap plan that can only call 911, it would always be tempting to use the "emergency" phone for less-than-critical calls.
What Would It Take to Make You Change?
What about you? Do you avoid holding a phone up to your ear, like these prominent neurosurgeons do? How much proven risk would push you to give up your cellphone entirely? What if instead of doubling your chance for cancer, the phone only increased it by 20%? Is that an acceptable risk? Or in that case would you expect to die from lung cancer or in a car crash long before other health problems kick in? All this writing has convinced me to go out and find a headset good enough that I might actually use it. And to up the amount of texts I can send a month. Not that there's necessarily a good reason to do either. That I know about. Yet.
-BY S.E. KRAMER from DVICE.com
Read this tragedy today...
Addiction to porn is not limited to menEditor's note: "Wendy's" name has been changed for this report at her request.
Parents are also advised to use discretion in determining whether children should read this feature that deals with the subject of pornography.
Women have seized more opportunities than ever before. They can be CEOs, astronauts, scientists and soldiers — even run for president of the United States.
Their ranks are also growing in what might be considered the ultimate boys' club: pornography use.
About 28 percent of visitors to adult Web sites are female, according to TopTenREVIEWS, a company that sells Internet software.
According to a press agent, the company's review on porn was completed by founder and CEO Jerry Ropelato who has "researched more than 10,000 sources including: Web sites and statistics, and reports from international media, from the pornography industry and from anti-pornography organizations."
Based on that research, among women who view pornography, 17 percent admit to struggling with a porn addiction.
Like men, female users find the fantasy world porn creates is emotionally safer that the real world, said John Lehman, co-founder and therapist at CrossRoads Counseling Services in Leola.
Many of the center's clients seek help overcoming sexual addictions, including pornography.
Women deal with the same kinds of pressures men face in today's society and, with them, the same fear of failure, said Kathleen A. Neff, a licensed social worker and addictions counselor, and co-founder and director of CrossRoads.
Pornography allows men and women alike to create fantasy worlds where they never fail, Neff said..000
"When people think of pornography, they automatically think of a man," said Wendy, a 43-year-old recovering pornography addict who lives in Lancaster County. "But a woman is susceptible, too. Women have voids to fill, too.".000
Wendy has stayed away from porn for nine years. But it wasn't easy to break free.
It started with magazines: "Playgirl," "Playboy," then on to more hard-core material. She frequented adult stores for movies, magazines and sex toys.
At the height of her addiction, Wendy said, "I had severed all ties with my friends and was basically getting up and going to work and doing this stuff."
One study reports that women are even more likely than men to act out fantasies created by porn use in their real lives.
Wendy did. As her use of erotica continued, her personal boundaries dissipated. She became increasingly promiscuous and unsafe. And, she eventually engaged in homosexual activity, which, she said, she formerly would never have considered.
Like many addicts, Wendy was exposed to erotica at a young age. She grew up in a home where XXX movies and magazines were abundant, and not always hidden from children.
When Wendy was 9 years old, two men in her home began raping her often. By the time she was 18, she couldn't wait to escape the environment, and the pornography that pervaded it.
It is not surprising, however, that Wendy willingly returned to it at age 31, said Neff.
"The child that's been abused already," she said, "often goes into pornography."
Lehman said, "When you are in a lot of pain, you use something to medicate that pain. Then you begin to use it when you're not in pain."
Wendy said she was drawn back to what she remembered seeing as a child to do just that. She reached for adult material, she said, "when I started to feel like I needed to numb."
Eventually, it caused more heartache than it promised to anesthetize.
As Wendy sat alone in her apartment Christmas Eve 1995, she said, "My heart was full of pain and I wanted to feel the pain on the outside of my body. I was crying and crying, and cutting myself."
She prepared to take an overdose of pills.
In one sobering moment, she stopped in her tracks.
"I don't want to die being a statistic," she thought. "I want to die knowing I made a difference in someone's life."
She called the leader of a sexual assault victim support group she had attended. Then, she turned to a sexual addictions counselor for help.
"My first two hours with a counselor, I just sat there and cried," she said.
Then, the counselor told Wendy to bring in all of the porn materials from home to dispose of them.
"I gut-wrench sobbed," Wendy said, as she turned over two paper grocery bags full of adult materials and devices. "I felt like I was giving part of myself away."
Her next homework assignment was to obtain accountability partners. She found three.
Said Wendy, "That was hard because it was me sharing a piece of me that I wasn't ready to share and, yet, I had to."
Continued counseling taught Wendy to set boundaries for herself.
To this day, she avoids a certain town because she might impulsively turn the corner to her most-frequented adult store.
The magazines she started with are still on newsstand racks, but she's learned to avoid those, too.
Wendy recalled an incident when she and a friend were browsing a magazine rack in a bookstore. The title of an off-limits magazine caught her eye.
"I gotta get out of here," she said, and walked out of the store, only later explaining why to her friend.
"I can't entertain that," Wendy said about her temptation to view porn.
"It's not something you just wake up one day and say, 'I'm gonna stop.' It was a lot of decisions," she said.
There were a few slips early on, but she continued to hone her strategy for recovery and rely on her support network. She's been clean for almost a decade.
Wendy's persistence in pressing through the pain toward emotional healing and maintaining her recovery have led her to her heart's desire.
She's no longer a potential statistic; now, as a counselor, she's making a difference by helping others on their own journeys to healing and freedom.
By the numbers
•About 28 percent of all visitors to adult Web sites are women.
•Among women who view porn, 17 percent say they struggle with pornography addiction.
•Among those who view pornography, 13 percent of women and 20 percent of men admit to accessing it at work.
•Women favor Internet chat rooms twice as much as men.
Source: TopTenREVIEWS
-Jeannette Scott of SundayNews
Women have seized more opportunities than ever before. They can be CEOs, astronauts, scientists and soldiers — even run for president of the United States.
Their ranks are also growing in what might be considered the ultimate boys' club: pornography use.
About 28 percent of visitors to adult Web sites are female, according to TopTenREVIEWS, a company that sells Internet software.
According to a press agent, the company's review on porn was completed by founder and CEO Jerry Ropelato who has "researched more than 10,000 sources including: Web sites and statistics, and reports from international media, from the pornography industry and from anti-pornography organizations."
Based on that research, among women who view pornography, 17 percent admit to struggling with a porn addiction.
Like men, female users find the fantasy world porn creates is emotionally safer that the real world, said John Lehman, co-founder and therapist at CrossRoads Counseling Services in Leola.
Many of the center's clients seek help overcoming sexual addictions, including pornography.
Women deal with the same kinds of pressures men face in today's society and, with them, the same fear of failure, said Kathleen A. Neff, a licensed social worker and addictions counselor, and co-founder and director of CrossRoads.
Pornography allows men and women alike to create fantasy worlds where they never fail, Neff said..000
"When people think of pornography, they automatically think of a man," said Wendy, a 43-year-old recovering pornography addict who lives in Lancaster County. "But a woman is susceptible, too. Women have voids to fill, too.".000
Wendy has stayed away from porn for nine years. But it wasn't easy to break free.
It started with magazines: "Playgirl," "Playboy," then on to more hard-core material. She frequented adult stores for movies, magazines and sex toys.
At the height of her addiction, Wendy said, "I had severed all ties with my friends and was basically getting up and going to work and doing this stuff."
One study reports that women are even more likely than men to act out fantasies created by porn use in their real lives.
Wendy did. As her use of erotica continued, her personal boundaries dissipated. She became increasingly promiscuous and unsafe. And, she eventually engaged in homosexual activity, which, she said, she formerly would never have considered.
Like many addicts, Wendy was exposed to erotica at a young age. She grew up in a home where XXX movies and magazines were abundant, and not always hidden from children.
When Wendy was 9 years old, two men in her home began raping her often. By the time she was 18, she couldn't wait to escape the environment, and the pornography that pervaded it.
It is not surprising, however, that Wendy willingly returned to it at age 31, said Neff.
"The child that's been abused already," she said, "often goes into pornography."
Lehman said, "When you are in a lot of pain, you use something to medicate that pain. Then you begin to use it when you're not in pain."
Wendy said she was drawn back to what she remembered seeing as a child to do just that. She reached for adult material, she said, "when I started to feel like I needed to numb."
Eventually, it caused more heartache than it promised to anesthetize.
As Wendy sat alone in her apartment Christmas Eve 1995, she said, "My heart was full of pain and I wanted to feel the pain on the outside of my body. I was crying and crying, and cutting myself."
She prepared to take an overdose of pills.
In one sobering moment, she stopped in her tracks.
"I don't want to die being a statistic," she thought. "I want to die knowing I made a difference in someone's life."
She called the leader of a sexual assault victim support group she had attended. Then, she turned to a sexual addictions counselor for help.
"My first two hours with a counselor, I just sat there and cried," she said.
Then, the counselor told Wendy to bring in all of the porn materials from home to dispose of them.
"I gut-wrench sobbed," Wendy said, as she turned over two paper grocery bags full of adult materials and devices. "I felt like I was giving part of myself away."
Her next homework assignment was to obtain accountability partners. She found three.
Said Wendy, "That was hard because it was me sharing a piece of me that I wasn't ready to share and, yet, I had to."
Continued counseling taught Wendy to set boundaries for herself.
To this day, she avoids a certain town because she might impulsively turn the corner to her most-frequented adult store.
The magazines she started with are still on newsstand racks, but she's learned to avoid those, too.
Wendy recalled an incident when she and a friend were browsing a magazine rack in a bookstore. The title of an off-limits magazine caught her eye.
"I gotta get out of here," she said, and walked out of the store, only later explaining why to her friend.
"I can't entertain that," Wendy said about her temptation to view porn.
"It's not something you just wake up one day and say, 'I'm gonna stop.' It was a lot of decisions," she said.
There were a few slips early on, but she continued to hone her strategy for recovery and rely on her support network. She's been clean for almost a decade.
Wendy's persistence in pressing through the pain toward emotional healing and maintaining her recovery have led her to her heart's desire.
She's no longer a potential statistic; now, as a counselor, she's making a difference by helping others on their own journeys to healing and freedom.
By the numbers
•About 28 percent of all visitors to adult Web sites are women.
•Among women who view porn, 17 percent say they struggle with pornography addiction.
•Among those who view pornography, 13 percent of women and 20 percent of men admit to accessing it at work.
•Women favor Internet chat rooms twice as much as men.
Source: TopTenREVIEWS
-Jeannette Scott of SundayNews
The Miz found this article.... enjoy
BUSH'S AMERICA: 100 PERCENT AL-QAIDA FREE SINCE 2001In a conversation recently, I mentioned as an aside what a great president George Bush has been and my friend was surprised. I was surprised that he was surprised.
I generally don't write columns about the manifestly obvious, but, yes, the man responsible for keeping Americans safe from another terrorist attack on American soil for nearly seven years now will go down in history as one of America's greatest presidents.
Produce one person who believed, on Sept. 12, 2001, that there would not be another attack for seven years, and I'll consider downgrading Bush from "Great" to "Really Good."
Merely taking out Saddam Hussein and his winsome sons Uday and Qusay (Hussein family slogan: "We're the Rape Room People!") constitutes a greater humanitarian accomplishment than anything Bill Clinton ever did -- and I'm including remembering Monica's name on the sixth sexual encounter.
But unlike liberals, who are so anxious to send American troops to Rwanda or Darfur, Republicans oppose deploying U.S. troops for purely humanitarian purposes. We invaded Iraq to protect America.
It is unquestionable that Bush has made this country safe by keeping Islamic lunatics pinned down fighting our troops in Iraq. In the past few years, our brave troops have killed more than 20,000 al-Qaida and other Islamic militants in Iraq alone. That's 20,000 terrorists who will never board a plane headed for JFK -- or a landmark building, for that matter.
We are, in fact, fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them at, say, the corner of 72nd and Columbus in Manhattan -- the mere mention of which never fails to enrage liberals, which is why you should say it as often as possible.
The Iraq war has been a stunning success. The Iraqi army is "standing up" (as they say), fat Muqtada al-Sadr --the Dr. Phil of Islamofascist radicalism -- has waddled off in retreat to Iran, and Sadr City and Basra are no longer war zones. Our servicemen must be baffled by the constant nay-saying coming from their own country.
The Iraqis have a democracy -- a miracle on the order of flush toilets in that godforsaken region of the world. Despite its newness, Iraq's democracy appears to be no more dysfunctional than one that would condemn a man who has kept the nation safe for seven years while deifying a man who has accomplished absolutely nothing in his entire life except to give speeches about "change."
(Guess what Bill Clinton's campaign theme was in 1992? You are wrong if you guessed: "bringing dignity back to the White House." It was "change." In January 1992, James Carville told Steve Daley of The Chicago Tribune that it had gotten to the point that the press was complaining about Clinton's "constant talk of change.")
Monthly casualties in Iraq now come in slightly lower than a weekend with Anna Nicole Smith. According to a CNN report last week, for the entire month of May, there were only 19 troop deaths in Iraq. (Last year, five people on average were shot every day in Chicago.) With Iraqi deaths at an all-time low, Iraq is safer than Detroit -- although the Middle Eastern food is still better in Detroit.
Al-Qaida is virtually destroyed, surprising even the CIA. Two weeks ago, The Washington Post reported: "Less than a year after his agency warned of new threats from a resurgent al-Qaida, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden now portrays the terrorist movement as essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and on the defensive throughout much of the rest of the world, including in its presumed haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border."
It's almost as if there's been some sort of "surge" going on, as strange as that sounds.
Just this week, The New York Times reported that al-Qaida and other terrorist groups in Southeast Asia have all but disappeared, starved of money and support. The U.S. and Australia have been working closely with the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, sending them counterterrorism equipment and personnel.
But no one notices when 9/11 doesn't happen. Indeed, if we had somehow stopped the 9/11 attack, we'd all be watching Mohammed Atta being interviewed on MSNBC, explaining his lawsuit against the Bush administration. Maureen Dowd would be writing columns describing Khalid Sheik Mohammed as a "wannabe" terrorist being treated like Genghis Khan by an excitable Bush administration.
We begin to forget what it was like to turn on the TV, see a tornado, a car chase or another Pamela Anderson marriage and think: Good -- another day without a terrorist attack.
But liberals have only blind hatred for Bush -- and for those brute American interrogators who do not supply extra helpings of bearnaise sauce to the little darlings at Guantanamo with sufficient alacrity.
The sheer repetition of lies about Bush is wearing people down. There is not a liberal in this country worthy of kissing Bush's rear end, but the weakest members of the herd run from Bush. Compared to the lickspittles denying and attacking him, Bush is a moral giant -- if that's not damning with faint praise. John McCain should be so lucky as to be running for Bush's third term. Then he might have a chance.
-By Ann Coulter
better than The Chronic
The Miz found this ill doo wop pic from back in the day. Id do anything to chill with these guys
payton, kidd. dre. pshhh
NASHTY NASH
Steve Nash recently held a soccer match for friends labeled “The Showdown in Chinatown”, with guests such as Baron Davis, Jason Kidd, and Thierry Henry. For this event Nash produced a video with renowned photographer 13thWitness as the creative director. The video utilizes the stop motion process, documenting the festivities from Steve Nash getting ready up-to the after-party.-hYPEBEAST
Steve Nash - The Showdown from 13thWitness™ on Vimeo.
UGH. COPY ANOTHER GREAT ARTIST...
I HATE TO PUT IT UP, BUT LIL WAYNE'S CARTER III IS NOW THE HIGHEST SELLING ALBUM OF '08. AND IT WILL PROBABLY STAY. IT IS ALSO THE HIGHEST SELLING ABLUM SINCE 50'S (ANOTHER JOKE) THE MASSACRE. I HATE LITTLE WAYNE. I HATE THAT THIS ALBUM IS SELLING. I HATE THAT HE COPIED THE 2 GREATEST RAPPERS EVER--BIGGIE AND NAS--AND PUT A BABY PICTURE ON THE COVER OF HIS EXPECTED BEST ALBUM. I WISH HE WAS PART OF THE MAFIOSA LIFE STYLE HE DREAMS OF LIKE HIS MARTYR IDOLS SO SOMEONE COULD KILL HIM. HAPPY 4TH
4th of July-Patriotism ......
Tomorrow is the fourth of July. The day we as a country declared our Independence from Britain. It is a day, now, when we celebrate our freedom. We celebrate how wonderful it is to be an American. We celebrate by parading through the streets clad in red, white, and blue. Wave American flags, shooting off fireworks.
This is all very fun, and I am looking forward to shooting off some of those fireworks myself. It is, for me, the highlight of the day. However, I don’t think these things should be the center-point of the holiday. The fourth of July should be a day of reflection. What am I doing to show my patriotism? What am I doing for my country? How am I being a patriot? Not to sound snobby, but I do this everyday, in the form of this blog, in the form of reading and staying informed. How many people really show emotion for their country everyday? Let alone tomorrow. Not many. Most people just use the fourth of July as an excuse to party, without really knowing what it is they are partying for.
It is sad that the message has been lost. It has been warped and skewed. The definition of patriotism is, “devoted love, support, and defense of one’s country; national loyalty.” One can be devoted to a country, can love a country, and can support a country, but I don’t think most people know what they are supporting or what they devoting themselves to. The real truths in the nation are hidden from people, so there is a growing false patriostism.
“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
The Declaration of Independence applies to today more than ever. This passage fits perfectly in today’s world and what we need to do. We must separate ourselves from secret governments, corrupt systems, and unconstitutional ethics. We give love to our parties, to our presidents, the court systems. These are all things that have almost no importance in the greater game. We must realize all of this and fallow through on Independence Day.
This is all very fun, and I am looking forward to shooting off some of those fireworks myself. It is, for me, the highlight of the day. However, I don’t think these things should be the center-point of the holiday. The fourth of July should be a day of reflection. What am I doing to show my patriotism? What am I doing for my country? How am I being a patriot? Not to sound snobby, but I do this everyday, in the form of this blog, in the form of reading and staying informed. How many people really show emotion for their country everyday? Let alone tomorrow. Not many. Most people just use the fourth of July as an excuse to party, without really knowing what it is they are partying for.
It is sad that the message has been lost. It has been warped and skewed. The definition of patriotism is, “devoted love, support, and defense of one’s country; national loyalty.” One can be devoted to a country, can love a country, and can support a country, but I don’t think most people know what they are supporting or what they devoting themselves to. The real truths in the nation are hidden from people, so there is a growing false patriostism.
“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
The Declaration of Independence applies to today more than ever. This passage fits perfectly in today’s world and what we need to do. We must separate ourselves from secret governments, corrupt systems, and unconstitutional ethics. We give love to our parties, to our presidents, the court systems. These are all things that have almost no importance in the greater game. We must realize all of this and fallow through on Independence Day.
-thanks to doingmypart.wordpress.com
WHY SO SERIOUS???
I love conspiracies. And I love great movies. So as the rumor started circulating that Heath Ledger's death could be blamed on the role he assumed as The Joker I got excited. When informed of Ledger's death, Jack Nicholson (the previous Joker) responded to reporters by saying, "I warned him." He was also quoted for saying "I told him so," later on, both referring to the darkness and sophisticated power the role of The Joker apparently holds (Nicholson admitted to nearly driving off a bridge at one point during his own filming in the role). The erieness of this whole situation is making me die with anticipation for this movie. Any acting job that can consume an actor this deeply demands respect. Ledger was also battling apparent drug addiction and depression, probably due to his separation from the mother of his child, Michelle Williams. Regardless of the cause of his death, I think it goes without saying that The Dark Knight will be his legacy on this earth. And I'm dying to see it. Much respect to Heath. You had me at A Knights Tale.
MORE OAKLEY FROGSKINS. FREASH TO DEATH.
Oakley's orignial shades, the frogskins, have been making major returns collaborating with Supreme this year and I want em. While all the other colorways have already seen camped out lines outside of Supreme over the past 7 months, the new silver and gold joints aren't out till Nov. Eat it up.
Kanye Wests' DJ A-Trak helping you with that 5k
Beaverton, OR – Hot on the heels of critically acclaimed original releases by The Crystal Method, LCD Soundsystem and Aesop Rock, DJ/producer A-Trak joins forces with Nike to launch his debut record Running Man: Nike+ Original Run as the next release for the Nike+ Original Run Series on June 24th, 2008. The Montreal native produced this 45-minute composition specifically for runners, gradually building from a warm-up period, incorporating an extended middle section that finds a pavement-pounding groove, and ending with a downtempo closure for cooling down. A highlight from the beginning segment, “Say Whoa,” will serve as A-Trak’s inaugural artist single, offered exclusively by Nike Sport Music. The mix also features a show-stopping appearance by recently hyped Fool’s Gold signee Kid Cudi.
The music on Running Man: Nike+ Original Run – a mix of electro and hip-hop – is ideal for a workout, but could certainly find popularity in clubland with its synth-heavy loops, deep bass, and thumping beats. A new approach to producing music, constructing the record around a long track for running, offered a unique challenge for A-Trak: “Making a 45-minute piece was interesting in terms of arrangement,” he says. “Here, a guy is running and it’s all about pacing. You want to keep him in the zone, you want to keep his attention, but at the same time there’s much more room to spread out than on a record I might produce for a club.”
“I’ve been mostly working on up-tempo electro tracks as of late, but my background is hip-hop and I think you can hear it in my choice of sounds,” continues A-Trak. “I wanted this record to showcase my current style, but I also didn’t want to stray away from hip-hop completely. That’s why you find guest rap verses, plenty of chopped and screwed vocals, and a hefty dose of drum breaks that are surely more block party than Ibiza.”
The original mix is part of the run-up to The Nike+ Human Race, the world’s largest one-day running event. On August 31, 2008, an expected one million runners in 25 cities across the globe will partake in a 10k that combines the power of running and music through sport and also gives participants the chance to run for a cause and support charities who have a positive impact on the world. At 45 minutes long, Running Man: Nike+ Original Run is ideal background music for runners looking to mix things up while training for the event.
The fourth installment of the Nike+ Original Run series, A-Trak’s Running Man: Nike+ Original Run is available exclusively in the Nike Sport Music section of the iTunes Store for $9.99.
NOT YOU TOO WILL?!????
Will Smith Insists New School Is Not Scientologist:Will Smith and wife Jada Pinkett-Smith are two of the founders of a new private elementary school near Los Angeles that they hope will make learning more 'fun'.
But even before officially opening its doors, the school is defending itself against claims that it is Scientologist after news that it will incorporate a teaching method developed by the religion's founder and employ teachers who are church members.
"About 10 years ago, Jada and I started dreaming about the possibility of creating an ideal educational environment, where children could feel happy, positive and excited about learning. New Village Academy was born of a simple question, 'Is it possible to create an educational environment in which children have fun learning?' Jada and I believe the answer is 'Yes'," says Smith.
"We are a secular school, and just like all nonreligious independent schools, faculty and staff do not promote their own religions at school or pass on the beliefs of their particular faith to children," director of the school, Jacqueline Olivier, tells the Los Angeles Times.
However, David S. Touretzky, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University tells the paper that the school is not being honest about its links to Scientology: "There is no reputable educator anywhere who endorses the teaching method (by the Scientology founder). What happens is that children are inculcated with Scientology jargon and are led to regard L.R. Hubbard as an authority figure."
He believes the school is "laying the groundwork for later bringing people into Scientology."
RUN FOR THE HILLS. THEY'RE 20 YEARS AWAY FROM TAKING OVER THE WORLD.
BATMAN RETURNS!!!
As if Heath Ledger wasn't enough, a 17 year old boy was DECAPITATED by the Batman ride at 6 flags in Georgia. I know its wrong but I wish we had that footage. Well have to settle for this AP flash for now...
Polygamist Cult at Fashion Week...
haha. You must watch this video on the completely normal texas polygamist cult.... here
ANYONE THAT SAYS MONEY CANT BUY HAPPINESS LOOK AT THE SMILE ON MY FACE; EAR TO EAR BABY.... or not
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Denmark is the world's most content nation, according to a new study on global wellbeing, but the good news is, despite the credit crunch and rising fuel and food prices, all of us are getting happier.
Denmark's prosperity and democratic systems are seen as key to its contentment.
Researchers at the University of Michigan said Denmark's prosperity, stability and democratic government placed the country at the top of the rankings, with Colombia, Canada, Puerto Rico and Iceland all in the top 10.
The United States -- the world's richest nation -- ranked 16th among 97 countries, while Britain was placed 16th.
Zimbabwe, with its soaring inflation and continuing political crisis, unsurprisingly ranked 97th
"I strongly suspect there is a strong correlation between peace and happiness," said Ronald Inglehart, a political scientist at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research.
"There is also a correlation between democracy and peace. Democracies are less likely to fight each other than non-democracies."
Almost all the countries at the bottom of the list struggle with legacies of authoritarian rule and widespread poverty, the survey found.
Moldova and Armenia -- with long histories of repressive government -- trumped Iraq for misery, which placed seven in the U.S.-funded research.
Respondents were asked two questions to gauge their happiness:
Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, rather happy, not very happy, or not at all happy?
All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?
Researchers say that compared to a similar survey 20 years ago, everyone is a lot happier.
"Ultimately, the most important determinant of happiness is the extent to which people have free choice in how to live their lives," Inglehart adds.
TOP 10 HAPPIEST COUNTRIES
Denmark , Puerto Rico, Colombia, Iceland, N. Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Canada, Austria
10 MOST MISERABLE COUNTRIES
Zimbabwe, Armenia, Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine, Albania, Iraq, Bulgaria, Georgia, Russia
-CNN.com
M/MOW
Movie/Message Of the Week: The Kingdom
I know the movie has been out for a while now, but i don't think it got the attention and respect it deserved. I was really speechless at the end. Not because of the deaths but because walking out of the theater I just knew the movie wasn't going to leave the impression writer Matthew Michael Carnahan wanted. People need to really get involved in this movie and not be jacked up on patriotic steroids while they watch. I would also recommend you see Carnahan's other movie Lions for Lambs. We're not going to win the so-called "war on terror" by killing more. We, they, everyone needs to learn more.
If inciting people to do that [9/11] is terrorism, and if killing those who kill our sons is terrorism, then let history be witness that we are terrorists.
-OSAMA BIN LADEN
I was called a terrorist yesterday, but when I came out of jail, many people embraced me, including my enemies, and that is what I normally tell other people who say those who are struggling for liberation in their country are terrorists. I tell them that I was also a terrorist yesterday, but, today, I am admired by the very people who said I was one.
-NELSON MANDELA
Terrorism is the price of empire. If you do not wish to pay the price, you must give up the empire.
-PAT BUCHANAN
A "war against terrorism" is an impracticable conception if it means fighting terrorism with terrorism.
-JOHN MORTIMER
Wanton killing of innocent civilians is terrorism, not a war against terrorism.
-NOAM CHOMSKY
It's not right to respond to terrorism by terrorizing other people. And furthermore, it's not going to help. Then you might say, "Yes, it's terrorizing people, but it's worth doing because it will end terrorism." But how much common sense does it take to know that you cannot end terrorism by indiscriminately dropping bombs? Terrorism has replaced Communism as the rationale for the militarization of the country [America], for military adventures abroad, and for the suppression of civil liberties at home. It serves the same purpose, serving to create hysteria.
-HOWARD ZINN
The big threat to America is the way we react to terrorism by throwing away what everybody values about our country--a commitment to human rights. America is a great nation because we are a good nation. When we stop being a good nation, we stop being great.
-BOBBY KENNEDY
We first fought the heathens in the name of religion, then Communism, and now in the name of drugs and terrorism. Our excuses for global domination always change.
- SERJ TANKIAN
Fresh To Death. What i would do...
Undefeated in Santa Monica will mark the first release location of the highly anticipated “Marty McFly” inspired Nike Hyperdunk. Featuring Nike’s newest hi-tech Flywire technology along with speckled midsoles, an amazing colorway and Back to the Future-esque badging, not to mention the glowing soles, these shoes are the total collector’s item. Along with this occasion comes a tee featuring a tribute to Kobe Bryant’s 2008 MVP season. There will also be an un-announced special guest in attendance, could it be #24 himself? Get your blankets and lawn chairs ready as this Wednesday July 2nd at 4pm marks the spot.
Undefeated
2654 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90405
-Hypebeast.com
Mandela, Bush, Terrorism--OH MY!
The 1993 Nobel Peace Prize Winner is now allowed into our country... at age 90. How are you going to sleep at night??.... read on
Nelson Mandela arriving in London last month for his 90th birthday celebrations.
Mandela and other members of the African National Congress have been on the list because of their fight against South Africa's apartheid regime, which gave way to majority rule in 1994.
Apartheid was the nation's system of legalized racial segregation that was enforced by the National Party government between 1948 and 1994.
The bill gives the State Department and the Homeland Security Department the authority to waive restrictions against ANC members.
"He had no place on our government's terror watch list, and I'm pleased to see this bill finally become law," said Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.
South Africa's apartheid government had designated the ANC a terrorist organization during the group's decades-long struggle against whites-only rule. Its members have been barred from receiving U.S. visas without special permission, and the bill Bush signed will lift that requirement, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.
"What it will do is make sure that there aren't any extra hoops for either a distinguished individual, like former President Mandela, or other members of the African National Congress to get a U.S. visa," Casey said.
Mandela shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 with F. W. de Klerk, the South African president and National Party leader who worked with Mandela to end apartheid. Mandela replaced him as president in 1994 and served until 1999.
Recognized as a symbol of freedom and equality, Mandela will turn 90 on July 18.
Don't Miss
Mandela, Nobel Prize winner, celebrates his birthday
Mandela highlights 'tragic failure' in Zimbabwe
Wife: Mandela has one regret
Links to Mandela's charities
He spent 27 years in prison on charges that included sabotage committed while he spearheaded the struggle against apartheid. He was released in 1990.
The bill is H.R. 5690, which "authorizes the Departments of State and Homeland Security to determine that provisions in the Immigration and Nationality Act that render aliens inadmissible due to terrorist or criminal activities would not apply with respect to activities undertaken in association with the African National Congress in opposition to apartheid rule in South Africa."
-CNN.com
LADIES, FEEL CONFIDENT ON 4AM SUBWAY RIDES
The first ever anti-rape condom. Its like driving reverse over the teeth at the entrances to parking lots. Sounds sexy.
ladies learn more here
MVOW
DJ DOUBLE-O + FRONTMAN MC NALEDGE = Kidz In The Hall. The past and future of hip hop. bringin it back like fanny packs. Music Video Of the Week: Kidz in The Hall "Driving Down the Block"
WHOSE WORLD IS THIS?
ITS MINE, ITS MINE, ITS MINE.i was just in the Big City. more on that trip after the jump. For now enjoy what The Miz has passed along. Also more on The Nastiest Nasir's upcoming and highly controversial album later.
HIT THIS SPIKE LEE JOINT
Staying in theme of paying tribute to the Gods:
Spike Lee Receives AFI Honor
It’s a testament to the power of one five foot nothing filmmaker that any joint Spike Lee is in somehow becomes a Spike Lee Joint. The crowd that packed the American Film Institute’s Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, MD last night to honor Spike Lee couldn’t have been more different from the crowds that packed opening night screenings of his early films two decades ago. This crowd, largely white, cultured, and self-consciously artistic, bore a closer resemblance to the audience at a Radiohead concert (or, ironically enough, an ’08 Public Enemy show) than to the hip-hop fueled urban masses who stood and cheered in the aisles when Mookie hurled that trash can through the front window of Sal’s Famous during that long hot summer when 1989 was the number. Yet, by night’s end, not only was that same crowd getting down to the brass-gospel sounds of the House of Prayer church band, but a gaggle of revelers had even congregated outside the fenced in patio of the sleekly modern headquarters of Discovery Communications, suddenly making newly corporatized Silver Spring feel like Bourbon Street before the levees broke.
Lee was in town, minutes outside the Nation’s Capital, to be honored by the Guggenhiem Symposium, for excellence in documentary film making, as part of the AFI’s Silverdocs festival. As old as it may make those of us who grew up on his work feel, after twenty-two years behind the camera, nineteen theatrical releases, plus forays into commercials, music videos and episodic television, Lee certainly is at a point where awards for his cumulative work are warranted. Yet, as we made our way through the winding line into the theatre, several attendees expressed skepticism at Lee, primarily known for the vibrant characters and incendiary story lines of his narrative films, receiving one of the country’s most prestigious accolades for documentaries. But as a clip reel at the beginning of the program illustrated, Lee has quietly culled just as diverse and compelling a collection of stories from the real world as from his own mind. His documentary work ranges from 1997’s 4 Little Girls, an account of the Birmingham church bombing that helped energize the Civil Rights Movement to We Wuz Robbed, a ten minute short delving into the 2000 election in Florida, and culminating in 2006’s When The Levees Broke: A Requiem In Four Acts, now seen as the documentary of record about Hurricane Katrina and the consequences of the government’s delayed response.
“Whether it’s a documentary or [fictional] narrative, it’s still telling a story,” Lee explained in his signature quiet monotone during a question and answer session with film critic, Lisa Kennedy. “It’s a narrative. You’ve still got to give it shape.”
In large part, that is what has kept Lee so relevant and vital throughout the years; a burning desire to tell the stories that so often get buried and ignored, but that in many ways have shaped our society. In making 4 Little Girls, Lee says he aimed to go beyond simply recounting the bombing and its galvanizing effect on the civil rights movement. He also took great care to tell the stories of each of the girls who died; stories that tragically ended prematurely.
“I wanted to talk to the people who knew them. Let them, in their own words, tell what they might have become.”
Never one to shy away from controversy, Lee reiterated one of the central themes of When The Levees Broke, placing it in the context of today.
“A lot of people got tricked into thinking it was the hurricane [that caused the destruction]. It was the levees. The same levees that are breaking now in Iowa. [The government] needs to fix it, but the money is going elsewhere.”
Pausing for a moment, Lee then played directly to the self-congratulating liberal leanings of the AFI crowd.
“But all that’s about to change.”
On a night that was all about him, ironically, it was talk of Barack Obama that got Lee most animated.
“When. There is no if,” Lee talked over a question about the possibility of an Obama presidency.
“It changes everything...how the world looks at us. There’s gonna be B.B. and ‘After Obama’, A.B...It’s gonna be a new day, a better day, and I’m gonna BE at the inauguration...It’s gonna be chocolate city for real!”
So will a better day mean a lack of material for a filmmaker who has been at his best when delving into society’s ills? Don’t count on it. Spike’s got more joints than Cheech and Chong coming to a screen near you in the next year, including documentaries on Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, as well as his twentieth feature film, Miracle at St. Anna, a World War II epic about the all black 92nd Division aka the Buffalo Soldiers, opening September 26th. If the extended preview the AFI audience received was any indication, Miracle at St. Anna’s has the broadest scope of any Lee project since Malcolm X, and could prove to be his most lavish visual production to date.
Lee also plans to return to New Orleans in the not too distant future to show the continuing effects of Katrina.
“What the press isn’t talking about is the mental state of the residents. Suicide rates, a lot of the self-medicating, no [treatment] facilities”.
By the time the crowd made its way across Georgia Avenue and into the Discovery lobby for the post-event reception, there were no more questions as to why Spike Lee was this year’s Guggenheim honoree. As we snacked on a buffet of cajon-chic cuisine and grooved to the band’s inspired renditions of “Shout” and “When The Saints Come Marching In,” it was hard not to think of the characters he introduced us to so poignantly in When The Levees Broke and the resonance of the stories they told. “Maybe I need to go to New Orleans,” said a sixty-ish white lady, swaying back and forth to the sounds. “I’ve been once, but that was before... I need to go back”.
Twenty years after School Daze, Spike Lee is still waking us up, and for that alone, his 2008 Gugggenheim honor is well deserved. Ya dig? Sho ‘nuff.
- Jeff Harvey
It’s a testament to the power of one five foot nothing filmmaker that any joint Spike Lee is in somehow becomes a Spike Lee Joint. The crowd that packed the American Film Institute’s Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, MD last night to honor Spike Lee couldn’t have been more different from the crowds that packed opening night screenings of his early films two decades ago. This crowd, largely white, cultured, and self-consciously artistic, bore a closer resemblance to the audience at a Radiohead concert (or, ironically enough, an ’08 Public Enemy show) than to the hip-hop fueled urban masses who stood and cheered in the aisles when Mookie hurled that trash can through the front window of Sal’s Famous during that long hot summer when 1989 was the number. Yet, by night’s end, not only was that same crowd getting down to the brass-gospel sounds of the House of Prayer church band, but a gaggle of revelers had even congregated outside the fenced in patio of the sleekly modern headquarters of Discovery Communications, suddenly making newly corporatized Silver Spring feel like Bourbon Street before the levees broke.
Lee was in town, minutes outside the Nation’s Capital, to be honored by the Guggenhiem Symposium, for excellence in documentary film making, as part of the AFI’s Silverdocs festival. As old as it may make those of us who grew up on his work feel, after twenty-two years behind the camera, nineteen theatrical releases, plus forays into commercials, music videos and episodic television, Lee certainly is at a point where awards for his cumulative work are warranted. Yet, as we made our way through the winding line into the theatre, several attendees expressed skepticism at Lee, primarily known for the vibrant characters and incendiary story lines of his narrative films, receiving one of the country’s most prestigious accolades for documentaries. But as a clip reel at the beginning of the program illustrated, Lee has quietly culled just as diverse and compelling a collection of stories from the real world as from his own mind. His documentary work ranges from 1997’s 4 Little Girls, an account of the Birmingham church bombing that helped energize the Civil Rights Movement to We Wuz Robbed, a ten minute short delving into the 2000 election in Florida, and culminating in 2006’s When The Levees Broke: A Requiem In Four Acts, now seen as the documentary of record about Hurricane Katrina and the consequences of the government’s delayed response.
“Whether it’s a documentary or [fictional] narrative, it’s still telling a story,” Lee explained in his signature quiet monotone during a question and answer session with film critic, Lisa Kennedy. “It’s a narrative. You’ve still got to give it shape.”
In large part, that is what has kept Lee so relevant and vital throughout the years; a burning desire to tell the stories that so often get buried and ignored, but that in many ways have shaped our society. In making 4 Little Girls, Lee says he aimed to go beyond simply recounting the bombing and its galvanizing effect on the civil rights movement. He also took great care to tell the stories of each of the girls who died; stories that tragically ended prematurely.
“I wanted to talk to the people who knew them. Let them, in their own words, tell what they might have become.”
Never one to shy away from controversy, Lee reiterated one of the central themes of When The Levees Broke, placing it in the context of today.
“A lot of people got tricked into thinking it was the hurricane [that caused the destruction]. It was the levees. The same levees that are breaking now in Iowa. [The government] needs to fix it, but the money is going elsewhere.”
Pausing for a moment, Lee then played directly to the self-congratulating liberal leanings of the AFI crowd.
“But all that’s about to change.”
On a night that was all about him, ironically, it was talk of Barack Obama that got Lee most animated.
“When. There is no if,” Lee talked over a question about the possibility of an Obama presidency.
“It changes everything...how the world looks at us. There’s gonna be B.B. and ‘After Obama’, A.B...It’s gonna be a new day, a better day, and I’m gonna BE at the inauguration...It’s gonna be chocolate city for real!”
So will a better day mean a lack of material for a filmmaker who has been at his best when delving into society’s ills? Don’t count on it. Spike’s got more joints than Cheech and Chong coming to a screen near you in the next year, including documentaries on Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, as well as his twentieth feature film, Miracle at St. Anna, a World War II epic about the all black 92nd Division aka the Buffalo Soldiers, opening September 26th. If the extended preview the AFI audience received was any indication, Miracle at St. Anna’s has the broadest scope of any Lee project since Malcolm X, and could prove to be his most lavish visual production to date.
Lee also plans to return to New Orleans in the not too distant future to show the continuing effects of Katrina.
“What the press isn’t talking about is the mental state of the residents. Suicide rates, a lot of the self-medicating, no [treatment] facilities”.
By the time the crowd made its way across Georgia Avenue and into the Discovery lobby for the post-event reception, there were no more questions as to why Spike Lee was this year’s Guggenheim honoree. As we snacked on a buffet of cajon-chic cuisine and grooved to the band’s inspired renditions of “Shout” and “When The Saints Come Marching In,” it was hard not to think of the characters he introduced us to so poignantly in When The Levees Broke and the resonance of the stories they told. “Maybe I need to go to New Orleans,” said a sixty-ish white lady, swaying back and forth to the sounds. “I’ve been once, but that was before... I need to go back”.
Twenty years after School Daze, Spike Lee is still waking us up, and for that alone, his 2008 Gugggenheim honor is well deserved. Ya dig? Sho ‘nuff.
- Jeff Harvey
NELSON MANDELA
To many, the 2nd tribute concert to this icon turned out to be an insult rather than an act of honor. I read one opinion and thought it should be relayed:
What a great missed opportunity Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday concert was (Mandela's day, June 28). Instead of a celebration of the resurgence of South African culture after the end of apartheid, we had fading rock stars or refugees from drug rehab, few of whom have ever identified themselves with struggle. The only white performers to have any relevance to the event were Simple Minds' Jim Kerr and Jerry Dammers.
When Mandela was in prison, London's music scene was revitalised by exiles from South Africa, and many British musicians like John Dankworth and Cleo Laine raised funds for the ANC. Nothing was said of this. The only representation of South Africa's indigenous music was a dazzling performance by Sipho Mabuse. The choir from Soweto was insultingly relegated to backing-up predominantly white performers, a continuation of cultural imperialism by other means.
And in among the pious platitudes about Mandela's sainthood, there was no recognition that the significance of the man was his life of struggle. It was too much to hope that ITV's presenters might display any understanding of the fact that the fight for justice in South Africa is by no means over, nor that racial injustice persists throughout the world.
Is it sad that this doesn't surprise me?
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