So, for a change of pace instead of ranting about women or how shitty I think the world is I thought I'd blog about some of the albums that I feel are amazing and worth talking about. For this first edition I'm going to do my boy Geoff a solid and talk about the Deftones album Adrenaline.
Now this album came out in 1995 but it was probably closer to 96 by the time me and my gang of friends really heard it and fell in love with it. I swear we all had a copy and it was on constant rotation throughout much of our high school shenanigans. There were only a few singles that got some airplay as the heavy rock scene was really changing during those years. People refer to it now as Nu Metal, which is dumb by the way. Rock is Rock ok? Ok. Moving on.....
Here is the video for 7 Words, one of the singles off this amazing album. The lyrics are very cryptic and if you have any clue as to what Chino is getting at well then I am just going to call you a liar.
This song is a great example of the Deftones signature sound from their early days. You can hear that certain tone to the guitar and bass that just screams out Deftones. Its a brutal blend of alternative rock with a heavy metal edge and for us testosterone filled boys it was the soundtrack to our lives back in that time. This song is great because it has high energy and that wailing guitar sound really sets it off, plus he screams suck a lot. Check out Chino's dreadlocks, in those days dudes with dreadlocks were edgy and hell even I wished I had them, now a days not so much.
There are some great songs on this album all of which are very aggressive and very heavy but with a healthy dose of rhythm as well. My personal favorite from this album is Root. I love this song because as soon as that guitar kicks in the energy level goes through the roof and while it is just as heavy it also shows some of the melody that would soon become the Deftones signature. These boys from Sacramento really knew how to bring the heavy with the melody and at that time they were definitely innovative and made us feel superior for listening to them since they were new and different.
Now at the time that this album came out nearly every single one of my friends all agreed that we fucking loved the Deftones and when we had nothing better to do we would cruise around and listen to this album screaming along like a bunch of dumbasses but being a dumbass never feels so good as when you have a gang of good friends rolling around with you being dumbasses as well. Ahhh unity. The next track that was a big hit with people of a similar mind was Engine No. 9, again cryptic lyrics that really need to be examined to get any meaning out of them but really we just dug the aggression and the guitar sounds and Chino's warbally, enigmatic screeching. Now because Rap Rock wasn't quite around yet they way Chino spits out his lyrics it is quite similar to hip hop, and really the Deftones were one of the first innovators of the mid nineties to use the fusion of hip hop style lyrical delivery with the raw aggression of heavy rock or metal music, and we fucking ate that shit up like candy.
Now anyone who knows anything about music, or even just loves it the way I do knows that the way an album starts off can really set the tone, now the Deftones really ease you into the sounds of Adrenaline with the song Bored, by easing you into the sounds I don't mean to imply a softness but really the heat doesn't really turn up until the end of the song but it definitely sets the tone for the rest of the album. Also there is a great example of Abe Cunninham's drumming. He keeps such an awesome back beat that you know this is the real deal when it comes to heavy music. The Deftones definitely made their bones with this album and true fans still love this album, its got that unique heavy yet grungy guitar that so many people my age were seeking in heavy music where metal just didn't cut it at the time and grunge music was slowly dying off. This album is a special one because at the time it was unique, and definitely something that heavy music fans were looking for and with it being 2011 now I'm sure it has inspired many of the newer younger heavy bands that are coming out. The Deftones Adrenaline is a definite classic.
The Deftones personnel on this album are: Chino Moreno on vocals, Abe Cunninham on Drums, Stephen Carpenter on Guitar and Chi Chen on Bass Guitar. If you have never seen them live they are definitely worth it. Check back into the soapbox for another installment on Ultimate Albums in the next couple of weeks. Peace.
Wow, what a show it has been of late watching the government squirm and argue like children only to do the predictable thing and come to a compromise about the debt ceiling. Was it the news coverage or America's fears that really drove this process or was it a smoke screen because something bigger is happening and we as a public needed distraction? Whatever it may be I wouldn't say that I had "faith" but really I figured they would come to some kind of compromise before the deadline. Sure at the time of this writing it still has to pass in the Senate but I'm sure it will.
Now the really funny thing is that representative Gifford (The lady who got shot in Arizona if you forgot) shows up to vote. That makes this whole shitty story just one big puff piece now doesn't it? Its now more about human interest and her story than the mess that was caused. It seemed simple enough to me all week, if you need to raise the limit of debt the US can accrue to keep things running then do it until you don't need to do it anymore then vote it down again, but I'm just a simple man with a simple mind and no idea of how the government works financially and unfortunately I think the system is so complicated that most of the people involved don't really know either but I could be wrong. Anyways, we can all cheer for the government now right? They compromised at the last minute YAYYYY!!! NO. These fuckwads could have done this much earlier and not panicked the public. Shame on you Washington. Grow up, you're all adults out there.
It is about 8:52 pm. on a Thursday night and I just got caught up on all of the latest news and what not, and to my surprise, well not really to my surprise but it was shocking. Our leader, the ELECTED leader of our country said that if the government can't pay its bills that social security and veteran's benefits were some of the things that couldn't get paid out. Wait, maybe I didn't hear that right, nope after a quick check he's quoted saying something along those lines....I call bullshit. There are about 55 million people that rely on social security and veteran's benefits to pay rent, and buy food (Two of that 55 million I really care about, my Mom and Dad) and these fucking heartless politicians can't pull their heads out of their asses, drop their egos and compromise on a deal that allows either the debt ceiling to be raised so we can continue to borrow money to run our government or just find a way to pay the bills with what we have. Make a fucking choice you dick sucking fat cats. I point fingers at both parties. Of course there is no simple answer that satisfies both schools of thinking. Since the conservatives and liberals can't seem to see the bigger picture we the people will suffer. Umm excuse me but didn't we the people get you gasbags your fucking jobs? What the fuck? These are adults in Washington right? I can't believe that the solution to this problem is to shift the cost off on the retired, elderly, disabled, and most disgusting of all the veterans. How dare you Washington. You have no honor or respectability if you take money and food away from the men and women who fought, bled, and lost friends for this country. My Dad suffers so severely from his time in Vietnam that he hasn't had a normal life since and now in his 60's the effects of agent orange have robbed him of his previous vitality and strength and the meager check he receives once a month to support him and my mother is not a hand out, he earned it. All veterans have earned their benefits, they did their service to this country and put themselves in harms way for this country and now the assholes who are currently in charge of this countries policies wants to take a shit on them? How about we start with government wages starting with the president, does he really need 400K a year? Wouldn't 250K be good enough? All the wages these elected officials make should be put under the microscope. Then lets look at how much money we waste daily on a conflict on several fronts that we in all essences started? Seems like we could cut the salaries of the policy makers, their staff, and then back off the war until we all together end it....how much spending would be cut right there? Then lets hit up Wall Street and Hollywood for that bail out money back that they got a couple years ago.
Now this mess didn't start because of Obama, he was merely the guy who had to clean it up, but he is still doing a bad job. Plain and simple, he doesn't get enough respect from his peers in Washington so they fight him on everything and it is now all about ego and partisan politics and not what is best for the people of this country. Fuck that and Fuck you all in Washington. Social Security should have been untouchable. How about we get some of that aid back from Africa and Japan? How about instead of punishing the people of this country we stop giving hand outs to foreign countries whose people most likely talk shit about Americans anyways. What do we really offer the world besides, movies, music, and war? Nothing. We offer ideas of the American Dream....well looks like our own government is willing to piss all over that now too.
I'm no expert by any means, many of us aren't, that is why we have elected representatives to help us make the hard decisions but if even I can see that the way things are going isn't working why can't anyone who is in power see the same? Why does it seem like the government is turning into a debate club instead of a policy and law making institution?
To finish up this rant, the government should never have ever considered cutting veterans benefits, those men and women who receive those benefits earned them, so how dare you even think that you would rather pay off foreign creditors and the evil federal reserve bank before your own former troops and military members. We couldn't have won WW2 without troops right? We couldn't have wasted time in Vietnam without bodies right? Same deal with Iraq and Afghanistan. Are we going to shit on those troops in 30 years like they are doing to today's vets? I am once again ashamed to be an American after seeing the way these adult infants in Washington have caused more worry to the people of this nation. IF YOU ARE IN AN ELECTED OFFICE JUST DO YOUR FUCKING JOB AND TAKE CARE OF THE PEOPLE WHO PUT YOU IN THAT OFFICE.....SIMPLE FUCKING ENOUGH ISN'T IT?
Here is a more professional article about the benefit cuts on MSN
There is one more culprit to this scenario I have yet to mention in detail, The Federal Reserve Bank and its Shadow Masters are sitting back watching all of this and having a scotch and a cigar because this is the kind of situation that just gives them more power and that is all they are after. We are well into their master plan and it can only get worse from here unless we all realize that the system is bad and needs a replacement. Conspiracy theory or not the federal reserve system is a system of self generating debt, and we have been its slave for too long. FUCK CHANGE GIVE ME A REVOLUTION!!
So, one of my heroes Bill Maher has been in the media lately for criticizing women. Fox news (who really hates him anyways) was looking to slam Bill as a sexist for comments he made about Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachman. He said they were not bright and dangerous bullies. Seemed like a fair assesment to me but aparantly you can't insult dumb,dangerous bullies if they are women because the fact that they are women take away from any wrong doing they may posses as people. Ok enough about what triggered this rant on with the rant.
Men and Women are different. Should be obvious to anyone who has a pulse over the age of 13 but some people take it too far in both directions. On one hand I completely agree with some basic rules on how to treat a lady, such as being polite, holding doors, killing spiders, and opening jars when needed but that was just how I was raised. Women should get respect, but in the world respect is earned and unfortunately not all women deserve respect, just look at the recent Casey Anthony trial that had America all up in that woman's business she doesn't deserve any respect guilty or not for the way she handled her situation. Women have kind of always gotten the shitty end of the stick since the dawn of time eventhough without them we couldn't continue the species. Religion has always had an agenda to keep the females down and to make them submissive, basically baby factories who would cater to the man of the house with or without a bun in the oven. I don't like extremes to one way or another, I like to see things in a gray area where there is always middle ground.
Lets start by taking a look at one extreme of the sexism spectrum: The misogynistic. Now for some reason be it the natural perceived order of male dominance, or the way some men were raised there are men out there who hate women. This hatred can have varying degrees and extremes of its own. Men who hate women in my personal experience tend to have wives. This weird contradiction isn't just about the male vs. female dynamic it seems to be more about a need to have power and control. It is about seeing the woman as an "enemy" for lack of a better term and controlling that enemy and ruling their life, subjugation through marriage I suppose. Since I'm not professionally trained to identify the reasons for this type of behavior I can only speculate that it is about having total control over something in such a chaotic world. The men who hate women and go out of their way to make sure that things are harder on women most likely had shitty experiences with women at an early age or were taught that women were inferior to men which is your basic form of sexism. Men are simply better than women because they are men. True? False? Neither? Lets explore.
Men have over the years objectified women, made women property, and used and abused them. So it can be very easy for people to get behind women and give them the "poor you" sympathetic treatment. This is a problem because it only makes people take sides on the issue. Yes in history women have been demonized and had many hardships put upon them due to their gender. However it is the 21st century now and all the problems of the past should have gone away but they just changed forms because of societal beliefs and generalized thoughts. People generalize too much on everything it seems. When women in general had enough of their situation they fought to change it didn't they? They wanted suffrage, and they got it. They wanted more competitive wages and some say they got it others say they didn't, and there is just so much data to sift through on whether women really got equal pay that I can't say one way or the other but my guess is that men still earn more than women. The point is that to paint the woman as a victim all the time is also sexist. In today's modern society I think that in America we have slowly allowed a culture of women to develop and like most things this has positive and negative effects. I can in all honesty say that somewhere between 1960 and 2010 women realized that they have the pussy and so therefore they have the power and now that they are aware of this some women use it to their advantage, women have learned to cherish their inner "Bitch" and use it as a tool to accomplish their goals. This didn't happen overnight but in 2011 a woman has every right to be as powerful, successful, rich, and just as lecherous as a man, think of Samantha from Sex in the City, for those of you who don't know she's the sluttier one of the group. Wait I should say promiscuous one, not sluttier one because that would be a sexist statement right? Unfortunately the term slut only applies to women even though men are capable of being just as slutty. Lets talk about sex. For a man sexual conquest is just that a conquest right? If a woman has the same idea she's a slut or a tramp or whatever the word you like to use is, there is enough out there to describe that kind of behavior yet some women use sex to gain results that work to their favor right? Lets turn the table for a minute, as a guy I am expected to enjoy random sex with as many partners as I can possibly find right? Well that is a sexist view, as I am more into long term 1 on 1 relationships with someone I can respect and converse with. Now I am not the typical male but to assume I am is sexist isn't it? The gender war is won by women in this area because they have something that most men really, really, really, want. Pussy equals power. Oh wait that is another sexist statement isn't it? Any generalized view of how someone is supposed to act or what kind of treatment they are supposed to garner because of their gender is sexism.
Sexism isn't just set aside for women, or for that matter bad treatment of women. Sexism can be directed towards men and women, though I feel that it is directed more towards women is the consensus. I feel that letting a woman get away with anything just because she is a woman is sexist. Her ideas are not any less dangerous or meaningful just because she is a woman, there were female Nazis remember? Giving people a free pass because of their gender male or female is sexism. "Hey John you're a strong man, lift this heavy box for me." as an example at my place of work we are all required to be able to lift at least 50 lbs. of weight at given times, having me lift it and saying the phrase above is sexism. Now I don't take offense to this but If I were to say "Hey Margaret come wash these dishes for me you look like a capable woman." that could possibly be offensive to Margaret and I would be considered sexist right?
The other extreme of sexism is that women should be put onto a pedestal. There are those out there who feel that as a group women need to be looked after, taken care of , and granted as much help as they need. That is also sexist even though it may be perceived as helpful or charitable or compassionate, assuming that each individual woman needs or even wants your help to further their own lives is sexism. I find that today women are just as capable of obtaining their goals as most men. Let's be honest though, we are all aware there are obstacles to everything and there are antiquated ideas of keeping women down that they face but that is no different than being black, or Jewish, or Islamic, or whatever hang-up you want to pin on someone to explain or in some cases make excuse as to why they didn't get a fair chance at whatever they are attempting to gain. People who use these kind of limitations to explain their situation aren't fighters and will probably live a life of settling anyways. So to say "I didn't get that job because I'm a woman." is sexist, blaming your own gender for lack of accomplishments is just as sexist as not getting a job because the person in charge of hiring was a sexist pig, you are just perpetuating sexism by participating in it. Perhaps equality isn't what women should have fought for all those years. Maybe a sense of understanding of how each of us works is what we all should strive for, Men and Women are different. Equal? No. Men don't have the same problems women face physically and from what I've heard there is no equivalent pain to match child birth and as far as genetics, men are more suitable for certain physical activities due to our genetic make up. That's why men hunted and gathered and women stayed behind to take care of things back home. When we moved away from the forests into the cities the line between gender roles all but disappeared over time. I think that as people we need to stop generalizing everything, and sexism is really that a generalization based on prejudice and it happens to men and women although reactions and frequency are not equal. We are all created equal (one egg, one sperm) but once we start breathing all equalities end there, life sorts out the rest. Now go make me a sandwich the game is on.
Hello again readers of my nonsense, today I would like to talk about something that should be mainstream news and information but apparently the public is kept in the dark about it and it has been dismissed as yet another conspiracy theory however I am sure that at least some of what I have discovered in my research is tangible and relavent to our lives. I'm talking about the NAU. For starters lets have a quick look at NAFTA which is the first step in this new union that nobody seems to want to talk about. Back in 1994 the US, Canada and Mexico created a three way trade bloc. What is a trade bloc? In common language a trade bloc is basically an agreement between governments that either eliminates or reduces tariffs and fees associated with trade between said governments. Basically the point was to eliminat any barriers in terms of trade and investment between the three countries involved. Initial plans for this agreement were first started in the late 80's and were a major political talking point in Canada and in Mexico. So what does this agreement mean to us here in the US? It means that those in power ecconomically were laying the groundwork for the borders of our country to be disolved.
The union of the three soverign nations would mean that in time our cultures would fade into one, all laws would be under one system of control and there would be one controlling force overseeing all of North America. Now the EU has been around for a while and didn't really change much in the way of everyday life there so why do the conspiracy theorists freak out at the thought of this happening? Control. One government, one set of laws, and mostly what freaks them out is the possibility of one set of identification for everyone from Alaska down to Jalisco. Control set into place on a campaign of fear. The conspiracy theorists see the malice hidden behind this system. The fear of the NAU is that it is the first step to an Orwellian nightmare. The next step is radio chips in everyone where the government has control of all our lives and can simply switch us off and we have no ID no money, no existence as far as the system is concerned. They fear that eventually people will become dumbed down sheep with no sense of rebellion. The system supposedly will eliminate anyone who doesn't agree with what happens in society. I suppose if you look at society now we can see these things starting. How many of you reading this at this moment know what is happening in Afghanistan or Iraq? You probably know more about your favorite sports team or tv shows right? I'm guilty as well, because from time to time I forget that these things are still happening. But some say that is the point of the global conspiracy to subject us to the power of these shadow men who run things. They keep us so worried about ourselves that we can't even begin to think about these possibilites.
Personally I don't really understand all the complexities of such a union ecconomically or socially, and I am not going to pretend that I'm any kind of an expert on these matters. What I am is an average slob who still loves the American way of life and I wouldn't want this lifestyle disrupted because some rich assholes who want more money and power aren't satisfied with what they have already. Also if this is a real posibility I feel that the media not reporting on it in anyway what so ever is scary. It really feeds into the conspiracy that these people control everything and decide what we see and know. There could be great advantages to a union with our neighbors so long as there isn't any evil intent behind it but for those who are like me and don't fully trust the government there is always a catch to everything they do.
My only advice to anyone who is wondering about this is to look into it for yourself and make your own decision, I'm no sheep and I will continue to look into this topic further as time allows, because just like everyone I am a victim of my own circumstances and must live my life and surrvive on a daily basis. Plus I'm really busy chasing my own happiness much like you.
I started my search on the NAU with the Zeitgeist film which can be seen on youtube. As I learn more I plan to follow up regularly with this topic because it is a real posibility for all of us in the U.S.
The other day I was working an event at the University and I noticed that there are a ton of beautiful women of all ages and body types wandering around everywhere. I also noticed that a lot of these women hide behind a ton of make up and clothing that is meant to distract and change their appearance and body shape. Call me old fashioned but I fucking love curvy women. Here is a phrase that has always kind of bothered me, "Plus size model". Can't we just say that she is a model, we don't say anything about the ultra skinny sized 0 skeletons who never smile called models so why do we still point out the bigger ladies? Stick thin models on TV and magazines are not attractive to me if you could not tell by now. Skinny legs are gross and if I can see your ribs I just want to feed you, not fuck you. Now I know that we all have our own perception of what is beautiful and what isn't and that's fine, however I tire of the status quo deciding what is appealing in the main stream. Give me a naturally beautiful woman with hips, and an ass any day over a skinny hungry woman. It is sad that what is pleasing to the eye in mainstream culture is not what is pleasing to the touch in my own experiences. Women should be soft and supple and not rock hard. Maybe it is just my warped view of the world but there is a difference between being healthy and over doing it just to be accepted, maybe I think this way because I'm fat myself and I'm okay with that. I'm not saying that every woman out there should just start packing on the pounds or that some women should give up on losing pounds that plague them. Where lies the happy medium of health and plumpness? I guess as individuals we have choices to make. We can choose to stop admiring these fantasies of skinny waifs and get fucking real. Katt Williams says that real men don't care about stretch marks, real men understand that there is only 2 ways they got there either you was small and got big or you was big and got small, "either way we fuckin' either way". I have to whole heartedly agree with him. So ladies, do what you feel is best for you and please, please, please do not worry about looking like someone else's ideal, if you want to get skinny do it for yourself and not the opinions of others, and to those curvy ladies out there, thanks for the dirty thoughts you create in my gutter brain. Peace is a possibility not a dream.
So as many of you may know I have subscribed to the societal label of conspiracy theorist. Now there are lots of supposed conspiracies out there, some outlandish, some off the wall, some highly plausible, some (and this is the scary thing) highly likely. Now I guess I want to start off by saying that I am not one who believes in every conspiracy theory that I hear but there are some that just seem to make more sense to me. For example, I do not believe in the theory of the shape shifting reptilian people controlling our planet from space, or a separate dimension that we are not able to see. However the theory of "snake people" running things is kind of a nice metaphor for what I believe really happens to the world and more specifically our country. With that rambling out of the way I'd like to talk about US and the U.S. We were a country started by repressed religious people who came to this land to find freedom to practice their religious ways without fear of the king's henchman coming to take them in the middle of the night. After a while we became a land of colonies, a land of colonists who did not want to pay taxes back to the empire. Fast forward a few hundred years to the present day. The year 2011 (which on a side note has been a very interesting year in my life, hopefully you can say the same.) has so far been just like any other year since September 11th, 2001. There is still war, and fear being pumped out of the television set around the clock and poverty and a lot of natural disasters in the past few months. Some people have turned to religion to find their way in these turbulent times, some have relied on the guidance of our government. I want to talk about the latter.
Don't get me wrong, I love my country. I have a patriotic streak and I believe that for all that is wrong with America we are still one of the best if not the best places on the earth to live a happy life. There are probably a few better but hey I wasn't born anywhere else so why complain about how good it is here. Lately in my own mind I have been comparing the U.S. to ancient Rome. We are very similar to Rome. One in that we are an EMPIRE and two if we don't change our current ways we are headed for a similar fate as Rome. Now some of you are probably thinking that I'm stretching it a bit trying to compare an ancient civilization that conquered most of the (at that time) known world to our country. Well you may be right in thinking that. Well here is where I see parallels in our two "civilizations".
Rome was a great society and cultural focal point of the world, The United States was and in some ways is a great society and our way of life has spread to other cultures and influenced them much in the way ancient Rome did.
Rome used their overwhelming military to take what they wanted. The U.S. uses its military might pretty much in any way we see fit, the only difference is that Rome made no apologies about it's intentions where we as the U.S. mask our intentions with media friendly human interest stories about why we are doing what we do best.
Rome maintained its empire by stationing military forces in the occupied lands they took. The U.S. has built and maintained several military "installations" all over the world in many countries as seen here (old data but still useful).
Those are just some of the points that make me believe that behind all of our military actions there is the greater task of maintaining our empire. We should not be an empire and we should not let those unfortunate ones suffer here in the U.S. just so we can be an empire. The money we waste on this empire could better be used here in the homeland. There should be no hungry children and no homeless people in America for starters. The funds wasted in other countries could very easily be put towards solving these two issues here int the U.S. too bad that GREED is a driving factor for much of the decisions made for us. I'm sure that someone on capital hill could feed me a belly full of BS as to why these military installations are necessary and what not but I say we need to take care of our own before we worry about the rest of the world. I'm not a socialist but I do think that there is room for some socialist ideal to be used here in what once was the greatest nation ever (we have gone down hill since WWII where we got to play the hero).
To finish up this pointless ranting prose, I issue a challenge to anyone with any power in the government. Here it is: Either A: Come clean, and admit that we are steadily and knowingly working towards maintaing our empire and let us just accept it as fact and go with it instead of the sugar coating. or B: Knock it the fuck off and start to rebuild what was once great about the U.S. here at home so we can feel good about ourselves as a nation undivided once again. Sorry if you lost minutes of your life reading this but there will be no refunds. The government has not represented the common mans interests for years now and this must stop or we will fall to tyranny even more so than we already have and then everything will fall. Peace is a possibility not just a dream.
