Don't criticize what you can't understand,
Your sons are beyond your command.
Your role is rapidly aging,
For they times the are a changin'
A tribute to Dylan, via twenty unhappy soldier's cue cards...........
-Zeitgeist
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Genius From Chi-City
Have my mind moving faster than that hog in the hedges
Welcome all of y'all to my dark recesses
This is where I keep the bars like bathtub edges
My Ivories And My Doves My Levers and my Zests'
It takes half of your bubble bath to match the freshness
The belly of the beast you know I'm from it
I wrap it in a towel, here go my pal in the stomach
And I be on my green like Irish Spring and I Coast
Fudge wit it and get a mouth full of soap
Welcome all of y'all to my dark recesses
This is where I keep the bars like bathtub edges
My Ivories And My Doves My Levers and my Zests'
It takes half of your bubble bath to match the freshness
The belly of the beast you know I'm from it
I wrap it in a towel, here go my pal in the stomach
And I be on my green like Irish Spring and I Coast
Fudge wit it and get a mouth full of soap
-Lupe Fiasco on "I Gotcha"
Probably my most favorite conglomerate of words and lines put together...
Big ups to Mr. Fiasco...The Cool in stores now...a little free publicity for the crew at F&F
Speech is my hammer, bang the world into shape, now let it fall...
-Mos Def
Illipsis
Friday, March 7, 2008
The Cost of Capricious Capitalism
"IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way -- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only" - Charles Dickens
I suppose to borrow from such a literary juggernaut I must provide some substantial and justified reasoning to avoid committing some sort of heresy. I assure you, I will try, not only to uphold Dickens' honour, but also to challenge all of ours.
Earlier this week I was spending some time in Naples, while there I saw how the other half, nay the other 1%, of the population lives. I had the privilege of staying with an acquaintance of a family member, who happens to own a multinational corporation. I must admit, I was a part of it, the life of the rich and famous that is. I felt as though I was a cynosure, having imbibed all the wealth, fame and false pretense that threatened suffocation. I stood beside a 1.25 million dollar car. I sat in a chair that costs as much or more than many people's houses. I ate like a King, like le Roi du Soleil himself. And I enjoyed it. I mean come on, who wouldn't? Isn't that what we all want?
After I had left, and spent a few days in the detox that is reality. Then I thought back and recounted to myself what I had witnessed on my brief sojourn; Facades with marvelous Parthenon evoking columns, Venetian gondolas and a Spanish mansion befitting only the greatest of cartel Dons. As I descended from the Athenian hill I felt as though I was descending through Dante's circles, seeing those undeserving unlucky persons, who appeared befit to Cantos 7 or 8, subjugated to the oppressive Neo-liberalism seeping from the hillside vistas. I had seen Don Croce, but where was Turi Guiliano?
To me it was scary, everywhere you look in this country, and around the world, the dichotomy exists. Soon there will be sides made, combatants engaged and even shots fired. Dickens tells the story. There was "blood like wine in the streets" when les jaques had had enough. The time will come, who knows when, the proletariat is powerful, if he would, or could, only realize it. Blood need not run again, but change must.
Революция, Революция, Революция!
Revolución, Revolución, Revolución!
La Révolution, la Révolution, la Révolution!
"Beneath the rule of men entirely great, the pen is mightier even than the sword."
-Zeitgeist
I suppose to borrow from such a literary juggernaut I must provide some substantial and justified reasoning to avoid committing some sort of heresy. I assure you, I will try, not only to uphold Dickens' honour, but also to challenge all of ours.
Earlier this week I was spending some time in Naples, while there I saw how the other half, nay the other 1%, of the population lives. I had the privilege of staying with an acquaintance of a family member, who happens to own a multinational corporation. I must admit, I was a part of it, the life of the rich and famous that is. I felt as though I was a cynosure, having imbibed all the wealth, fame and false pretense that threatened suffocation. I stood beside a 1.25 million dollar car. I sat in a chair that costs as much or more than many people's houses. I ate like a King, like le Roi du Soleil himself. And I enjoyed it. I mean come on, who wouldn't? Isn't that what we all want?
After I had left, and spent a few days in the detox that is reality. Then I thought back and recounted to myself what I had witnessed on my brief sojourn; Facades with marvelous Parthenon evoking columns, Venetian gondolas and a Spanish mansion befitting only the greatest of cartel Dons. As I descended from the Athenian hill I felt as though I was descending through Dante's circles, seeing those undeserving unlucky persons, who appeared befit to Cantos 7 or 8, subjugated to the oppressive Neo-liberalism seeping from the hillside vistas. I had seen Don Croce, but where was Turi Guiliano?
To me it was scary, everywhere you look in this country, and around the world, the dichotomy exists. Soon there will be sides made, combatants engaged and even shots fired. Dickens tells the story. There was "blood like wine in the streets" when les jaques had had enough. The time will come, who knows when, the proletariat is powerful, if he would, or could, only realize it. Blood need not run again, but change must.
Революция, Революция, Революция!
Revolución, Revolución, Revolución!
La Révolution, la Révolution, la Révolution!
Revolution, Revolution, Revolution!
"Beneath the rule of men entirely great, the pen is mightier even than the sword."
-Zeitgeist
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Why Even Bother to Write….
To be honest, I don’t even have much of an answer to that question. Writing itself is an art form, a way of communication. Without words written on a page, history could never have been recorded. That’s what everything is you know: history. Every word, syllable, letter I utter on this page is history the exact moment after my fingers brush the keys. What you are reading at this present time is officially in the past. What’s my point with all this rhetoric, you ask. Simply put, writing allows you to enter the minds of others; it lets you linger, influence their thoughts, their souls, their minds. One does not necessarily need to be Shakespeare to touch the lives of others. If you are reading this, I touched your life already (too late...I gotcha…might as well keep on reading, huh?). The fact the something touched you does not necessarily mean it moved you (brush up on your Physics), it just means somehow, it affected your day. My voice affected your day. There’s a sort of beauty in that, methinks. The fact that I can say something, and you can consider, revile, or completely disregard it is amazing. Not to sound preachy (probably too late), but we should all speak. We all have our own unique way of orating our thoughts, ideas, and expressions, and I don’t plan to explain them all, but y’all get my drift.
Maybe I do have an answer to that question…..it just took a two and a half hour flight to Chicago to figure it out.
-Speech is my hammer, bang the world into shape, now let it fall...
-Mos Def
-Illipsis
(we will get current on this whole posting thing...school has taken its toll y'know? but, we back on the grind so hit us up with the comments, ya dig?)
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