As a kid, we all have that one thing that brings us comfort. Sometimes it’s a blanket, or a stuffed animal, or even a lullaby sung every night by your mother. We all have that safety blanket we run to whenever things get tough. For some, the teddy might stick around a little longer than […]

And we’re back!

Well, Saturday marked the first day of the 2012-2013 NHL season, well I guess the 2013 season at least.

It was a long and frustrating lockout, but the teams are back lacing up the skates and getting out on the ice.

I witnessed a moment in history that will only happen once, and that was watching my beloved Los Angeles Kings raise their first Stanley Cup banner up into the rafters at Staples Center.

While watching the captains of the team skate the flag out to center ice I started to feel something.

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The Native Americans Plight

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The Native Americans who stood on long held land, were once asked to leave.

The Native Americans, aghast at the Europeans request politely refused.

It was their right to refuse.

However their greatest mistake was to trust the Europeans word.

In order to take from the Native Americans they had to rationalize their request.

The Native Americans of course do not really need their land and besides we can convert them to.

So the forced removal began with the Native Americans fighting to hold onto their homes.

It was for naught, the Europeans could easily destroy the Native Americans with unseen weapons.

Disease, an invisible force that cannot be fought decimated the Native American tribes.

The Europeans in all their false righteousness eventually won out.

Capitalistic Inefficiency

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Money what is it?

Humans assigning artificial value.

Perhaps.

Why?

Humans greedy creatures cannot decide what people should have.

A short lasting solution is brought into play.

Everything is given a value.

A system is created.

A human works and is given a value.

This value gives humans the ability to buy objects.

These objects are of course given value.

Capitalism has risen.

That’s all fine and well.

Social Darwinism is the norm.

A worker who works hard will rise in social size.

How logical.

So then a lazy worker will fall in social standing.

A sound concept in theory.

It does not work like this.

People who work hard may suffer, those who don’t may thrive.

Why?

My Second Family

As I step off the plane, my friend texts me: “Welcome home!” Normally, I wouldn’t even think twice about this. I would respond saying thank-you, and how excited I was to be home. Only this time, I paused for a second. I had to think twice about it.

I spend the majority of my time here at OVS. I live here, I go to school here. And at some point, withought me even realizing it, I started thinking of it as home.

My family is in Colorado, and when I’m on break that’s where I go. Aspen is beautiful, but at the same time it’s hard for me to be there. The friends I had while going to school there I have grown apart from.

It’s hard to go from living in the dorm, where almost all of my friends are around me 24/7, to Aspen where I don’t have very many people to connect with. When I came to school here my friends slowly became best friends, and from there they morphed into a second family.

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And while I miss being home at times, when I’m home I miss being at school.

So when my friend texted me that welcome home message at the beginning of break, I thought to myself that it’s just one of my homes. The home where my family is. But my life, my life is back in California.

Man of Fury


I am a man of fire and fury

I leave a wake of destruction and fire in my path

As I cross oceans they become steam.

Deserts become mountain ranges of glass in my wake.

I walk through cities and around me civilization Is gone.

Timeflies

I recently came across a musical group called Timeflies.

I was drawn in by a rap that I found while studying for finals called “Adderall and Redbull,” that raps about staying up late studying for finals.

I thought that the vocalist Cal had extreme talent in his vocals and his ability to rap.

The song featured above was a freestyle on a track previously made by another artist.

To have the ability to freestyle is something I wish I had, but it is extremely difficult and takes great talent.

He shows his great freestyle ability in a cover of Ke$ha‘s “Die Young.”

In this song he has his friends write down random topics on which to rap about.

He gets the basket while in the booth and makes great music out of it.

Cal and Rez have only been around as Timeflies since 2010 but are growing in fame with the great music they are producing.

Most of the songs feature an electronic track with great vocals and raw raps.

The song “Turn it Up” features a more electric/dubstep ish style.

The groups ability to merge genres is something that they have been credited with since performing in high school and college bands.

His album “The Scotch Tape” can be found by clicking on the link.

Hope you enjoy the music

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 21,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 5 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

F.I.N.A.L.S.

It is that dreaded time of year again, finals. 

After a full semester of work all I have to show for it is a bunch of pieces of crumpled papers in the bottom of my backpack and the ink my teacher puts on my test telling me how I did in their class this semester.

This time is stressful for all, and I try to not get caught up in the stress, but there is just no way around it.

Honestly, most finals for me aren’t too hard.

Math? Easy.

Science? Easy.

English? Easy

History? No sir.

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Sending Off Clarence Clemons

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a blog about a Bruce Springsteen concert I had attended over Thanksgiving Break. Earlier this week, I wrote about a true friend, and I had finally been lucky enough to find one.

For those of you who don’t know, Clarence Clemons, otherwise know as “The Big Man” or “C”, recently passed away on June 18th, 2011, at the age of 69. The Big Man was the lead tenor saxophonist in Bruce Springsteen’s “E Street Band”, and the two were as close as brothers, at least to the eye of the public.

At “C’s” funeral, on June 21st, 2011, Bruce Springsteen released a eulogy for his best friend, which has since been released to the public, and is available here.

In his eulogy, Springsteen talks about his friend, protector, confidant, and idol, not as someone of the past, but as someone who he will see again soon, “where we will once again pick up that work, and get it done.”

In my post about friendship, I spoke about what it means to have a true friend, and what a true friend is like. Today, while passing time in my Journalism teacher’s classroom, he recommended I read Bruce Springsteen’s eulogy for Clarence Clemons, because of my previous interest in Springsteen.

I immediately took his advice and began to read, and quite on accident I found the perfect example of friendship. The relationship between Springsteen and the Big Man was one of true friendship, at least to my eyes. And I recommend that you all read it as well, and find your true meaning of friendship within their beautiful example.

Enjoy!