Thursday, July 03, 2008
Stranger To The Truth
Sometimes I wish I could just erase thoughts. For the past couple years a few thoughts have occupied a small but significant space in my brain. Some people that I talk to from time to time are aware of some of these thoughts.
Now this is just a prelude to the actual meat of the matter. One thought that spurred a barrage of others was "Truth". What is truth? How do we come to know truth? Do we actually know anything that is true?
My first step was getting the definition of Truth:
1. the true or actual state of a matter: He tried to find out the truth.
2. conformity with fact or reality; verity: the truth of a statement.
3. a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like: mathematical truths.
4. the state or character of being true.
5. actuality or actual existence.
6. an obvious or accepted fact; truism; platitude.
7. honesty; integrity; truthfulness.
8. (often initial capital letter) ideal or fundamental reality apart from and transcending perceived experience: the basic truths of life.
The characteristics of "the truth", by definition, rendered many things that I previously knew to be true to be untrue and then by logic implied other things.
"Fundamental reality apart from and transcending perceived experience", "A verified or indisputable fact". This means that the truth is not subject to interpretation or acceptance. For something to be indisputable and factual, absolutely no speculation can be involved. If you accept this then you will accept that any "fact" erected with the slightest hint of speculation is automatically rendered untrue aka a lie.
But look further down into the definition of truth and you will see where it is contradicted. "An obvious or accepted fact", this is where words are injected to confuse... the words "obvious" and "accepted" imply that awareness and acceptance validates truth.
I cant help but think that these things are done with intent to make sure that we live our entire lives being strangers to the truth. Using lies to keep us away from our own minds. Making sure that we stay in a state of confusion till death.
Or maybe I am just reading too much into it.
Now this is just a prelude to the actual meat of the matter. One thought that spurred a barrage of others was "Truth". What is truth? How do we come to know truth? Do we actually know anything that is true?
My first step was getting the definition of Truth:
1. the true or actual state of a matter: He tried to find out the truth.
2. conformity with fact or reality; verity: the truth of a statement.
3. a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like: mathematical truths.
4. the state or character of being true.
5. actuality or actual existence.
6. an obvious or accepted fact; truism; platitude.
7. honesty; integrity; truthfulness.
8. (often initial capital letter) ideal or fundamental reality apart from and transcending perceived experience: the basic truths of life.
The characteristics of "the truth", by definition, rendered many things that I previously knew to be true to be untrue and then by logic implied other things.
"Fundamental reality apart from and transcending perceived experience", "A verified or indisputable fact". This means that the truth is not subject to interpretation or acceptance. For something to be indisputable and factual, absolutely no speculation can be involved. If you accept this then you will accept that any "fact" erected with the slightest hint of speculation is automatically rendered untrue aka a lie.
But look further down into the definition of truth and you will see where it is contradicted. "An obvious or accepted fact", this is where words are injected to confuse... the words "obvious" and "accepted" imply that awareness and acceptance validates truth.
I cant help but think that these things are done with intent to make sure that we live our entire lives being strangers to the truth. Using lies to keep us away from our own minds. Making sure that we stay in a state of confusion till death.
Or maybe I am just reading too much into it.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
kick the enemy
Got this in an email:
BILL COSBY - A MUST READ
The Reverend Jesse Jackson almost never gets Upstaged and I had never seen the Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson cry in public until last month. Jackson invited Bill Cosby to the annual Rainbow / PUSH conference for a conversation about the controversial remarks the entertainer offered on May 17 at an NAACP dinner in Washington, D.C. when America's Jell-O Man shook things up by arguing that African Americans were betraying the legacy of civil rights victories. Cosby said ‘the lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal.
These people are not parenting. They are buying things for their kids. . . $500 sneakers for what? But they won't spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics!’ Bill Cosby came to town and upstaged the reverend By going on the offense instead of defending his earlier remarks. Thursday morning, Cosby showed no signs of repenting as he strode across the stage at the Sheraton Hotel ballroom before a standing room only crowd.
Sporting a natty gold sports coat and dark glasses, he proceeded to unload a Laundry list of black America 's self-imposed ills. The iconic actor and comedian kidded that he couldn't compete with the oratory of the Reverend but he preached circles around Jackson in their nearly hour-long Conversation, delivering brutally frank one-liners and the toughest of love. The enemy, he argues, is us: "There is a time, ladies and gentlemen, when we have to turn the mirror around." Cosby acknowledged he wasn't critiquing all blacks. . . just the 50 percent of African Americans in the lower economic neighborhood who drop out of school, and the alarming proportions of black men in prison and black teenage mothers.
The mostly black crowd seconded him with choruses of Amens. To the critics who pose, it's unproductive to air our dirty laundry in public, he responds, Your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day. It's cursing on the way home, on the bus, train, in the candy store. They are cursing and grabbing each other and going nowhere. The book bag is very, very thin because there's nothing in it. Don't worry about the white man, he added. I could care less about what white people think about me. . . Let them talk. What are they saying that is so different from what their grandfathers said and did to us? What is different is what we are doing to ourselves.
For those who say Cosby is just an elitist who's "got his" but doesn't understand the plight of the black poor, he reminds us that, "We're going to turn that mirror around. It's not just the poor-everybody's guilty." Cosby and Jackson lamented that in the 50th years of Brown vs. Board of Education, our failings betray our legacy. Jackson dabbed away tears as he recalled the financial struggles at Fisk University , a historically black college and Jackson 's Alma mater. When Cosby was done, the 1,000 people in the room all jumped to their feet in ovation.
Long after Cosby had departed, I could not find a dissenter in the crowd. But in the hotel corridor I encountered a vintage poster for sale that said volumes. The poster, which advertised the Million Man March, was discounted to $5 dollars. Remember the Million Man March? In 1995, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan exhorted A million sober, disciplined, committed, dedicated, inspired black men to meet in Washington on a day of atonement. In 2006, perhaps all that is left of that call is a $5 dollar poster.
We have shed tears too many times, at too many watershed moments before, while the hopes they inspired have fallen by the wayside. Not this time! Cosby's plea to parents: "Before you get to the point where you say 'I can't do nothing with them' do something with them." Like: Teach our children to speak English. There's no such thing as "talking white". When the teacher calls, show up at the school. When the idiot box starts spewing profane rap videos, turn it off. Refrain from cursing around the kids. Teach our boys that women should be cherished, not raped and demeaned. Tell them that education is a prize we won with blood And tears, not a dishonor. Stop making excuses for the agents and abettors of black on black crime. It costs us nothing to do these things. But if we don't, it will cost us infinitely more tears. We all send thousands of jokes through e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages regarding life choices, people think twice about sharing. The crude, vulgar, and sometimes the obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of decency is too often suppressed in the schools and workplaces.
BILL COSBY - A MUST READ
The Reverend Jesse Jackson almost never gets Upstaged and I had never seen the Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson cry in public until last month. Jackson invited Bill Cosby to the annual Rainbow / PUSH conference for a conversation about the controversial remarks the entertainer offered on May 17 at an NAACP dinner in Washington, D.C. when America's Jell-O Man shook things up by arguing that African Americans were betraying the legacy of civil rights victories. Cosby said ‘the lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal.
These people are not parenting. They are buying things for their kids. . . $500 sneakers for what? But they won't spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics!’ Bill Cosby came to town and upstaged the reverend By going on the offense instead of defending his earlier remarks. Thursday morning, Cosby showed no signs of repenting as he strode across the stage at the Sheraton Hotel ballroom before a standing room only crowd.
Sporting a natty gold sports coat and dark glasses, he proceeded to unload a Laundry list of black America 's self-imposed ills. The iconic actor and comedian kidded that he couldn't compete with the oratory of the Reverend but he preached circles around Jackson in their nearly hour-long Conversation, delivering brutally frank one-liners and the toughest of love. The enemy, he argues, is us: "There is a time, ladies and gentlemen, when we have to turn the mirror around." Cosby acknowledged he wasn't critiquing all blacks. . . just the 50 percent of African Americans in the lower economic neighborhood who drop out of school, and the alarming proportions of black men in prison and black teenage mothers.
The mostly black crowd seconded him with choruses of Amens. To the critics who pose, it's unproductive to air our dirty laundry in public, he responds, Your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day. It's cursing on the way home, on the bus, train, in the candy store. They are cursing and grabbing each other and going nowhere. The book bag is very, very thin because there's nothing in it. Don't worry about the white man, he added. I could care less about what white people think about me. . . Let them talk. What are they saying that is so different from what their grandfathers said and did to us? What is different is what we are doing to ourselves.
For those who say Cosby is just an elitist who's "got his" but doesn't understand the plight of the black poor, he reminds us that, "We're going to turn that mirror around. It's not just the poor-everybody's guilty." Cosby and Jackson lamented that in the 50th years of Brown vs. Board of Education, our failings betray our legacy. Jackson dabbed away tears as he recalled the financial struggles at Fisk University , a historically black college and Jackson 's Alma mater. When Cosby was done, the 1,000 people in the room all jumped to their feet in ovation.
Long after Cosby had departed, I could not find a dissenter in the crowd. But in the hotel corridor I encountered a vintage poster for sale that said volumes. The poster, which advertised the Million Man March, was discounted to $5 dollars. Remember the Million Man March? In 1995, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan exhorted A million sober, disciplined, committed, dedicated, inspired black men to meet in Washington on a day of atonement. In 2006, perhaps all that is left of that call is a $5 dollar poster.
We have shed tears too many times, at too many watershed moments before, while the hopes they inspired have fallen by the wayside. Not this time! Cosby's plea to parents: "Before you get to the point where you say 'I can't do nothing with them' do something with them." Like: Teach our children to speak English. There's no such thing as "talking white". When the teacher calls, show up at the school. When the idiot box starts spewing profane rap videos, turn it off. Refrain from cursing around the kids. Teach our boys that women should be cherished, not raped and demeaned. Tell them that education is a prize we won with blood And tears, not a dishonor. Stop making excuses for the agents and abettors of black on black crime. It costs us nothing to do these things. But if we don't, it will cost us infinitely more tears. We all send thousands of jokes through e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages regarding life choices, people think twice about sharing. The crude, vulgar, and sometimes the obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of decency is too often suppressed in the schools and workplaces.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Jumbie. Carnival 2k7
Jumbie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the folk religion of Montserrat, a jumbie is a ghost, or spirit of the dead. Jumbies are said to possess humans during ceremonies called jumbie dances. Jumbies receive numerous small offerings from Montserratian, such as a few drops of rum or food; they are also the subject of numerous superstitions.
Four couples perform a set of five progressively quicker quadrilles during the jumbie dance, switching out with other copies until someone is eventually possessed by a jumbie.
jumbie
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Friday, February 23, 2007
Kick the Wining ting.
I was speaking to a woman on Ash Wednesday about the whole Carnival scene. Basically she was calling me unpatriotic because I told her that Carnival is not my culture. Apparently she is part of a vast majority of people who believe that wining and feteing is the culture of a Trinbagonian.
I went on to illustrate how in every other country cultures are based on religious and spiritual things. Not speaking of ALL cultures of a country but rather the flagship, the one that "those" people are known for. But that is besides the point and a whole other topic by itself.
The issue at hand was the issue of wining. Now I tend to try and stay away from wining on women in parties, fetes and other social gatherings mainly because of the whole scene behind it. Now her argument was that people in a party are just wining cause that's the way Trinis dance and have fun. I begged to differ, telling her that wining and jamming is a prelude to sex. She disagreed so I then illustrated how I came to that conclusion.
Scenario:
Man and Woman wining in a fete/club.
Factoid: The purpose of the penis is to pee and have sex.
Factoid: The purpose of the vagina is to pee, have sex and procreate.
Factoid: The purpose of the bamcee is... (well a bamcee doh really have a specific purpose)
Now with these facts in mind lets proceed to the scenario.
In fete deejay sues up Machel - One More Wine
Woman: "waaayyysss I lovvve this song" she proceeds to press her vagina or buttocks against the man's penis and gyrate in a rhythmic motion.
Now I've heard girls say things like "I don't like when I dancing with a fella and he prick get hard". Let's take a look at this closely to see how utterly foolish this expectation on a female's behalf is.
Penis aka prick, totee, wood, bishop, peegy, lolocks, peegyleeks etc. is created and governed by laws of nature. Law of nature = touch penis in sensual manner - will get erect.
Let's draw a parallel... a shark will devour your ass with no hesitation if you got a papercut in shark infested waters. So then would you douse yourself in blood and jump into a pool with a shark? No. So why would you take your private parts and rub it rhythmically against a man's penis and not expect the Laws of Nature to run its course?
That being said we will move to classify women who expect this totally asinine thing of men as either really naive or really foolish.
So getting back to scenario: Woman hears Machel, presses up, wines back... what in fact is happening here is the man and the woman are simulating a sexual act. It may not be sex itself with penetration, but it should be. Then it would make sense, but it does not make any sense to simulate sexual acts over and over in a night and not have sex. Or worse yet, deny that you are simulating a sexual act.
Lets just say that I'm making a big deal over nothing. So we wine and jam and get on bad... whats next?
Go home and say that party was real good?
No. That is not what a penis was intended to do. A penis was not created to get erect for nothing else but to have sex. Your penis doesn't get erect when you making a bake and cheese or washing down your car. It has specific uses and should be respected for these reasons. Worse yet there are repercussions for such actions such as "blue balls".
I think careful consideration should be given when doing these things by Men and Women. Both parties should be aware that they are performing a sexual act and proceed appropriately. But then again... dais just my opinion.
I will continue to lime by the bar or stand up in a corner. The matrix has you.
I went on to illustrate how in every other country cultures are based on religious and spiritual things. Not speaking of ALL cultures of a country but rather the flagship, the one that "those" people are known for. But that is besides the point and a whole other topic by itself.
The issue at hand was the issue of wining. Now I tend to try and stay away from wining on women in parties, fetes and other social gatherings mainly because of the whole scene behind it. Now her argument was that people in a party are just wining cause that's the way Trinis dance and have fun. I begged to differ, telling her that wining and jamming is a prelude to sex. She disagreed so I then illustrated how I came to that conclusion.
Scenario:
Man and Woman wining in a fete/club.
Factoid: The purpose of the penis is to pee and have sex.
Factoid: The purpose of the vagina is to pee, have sex and procreate.
Factoid: The purpose of the bamcee is... (well a bamcee doh really have a specific purpose)
Now with these facts in mind lets proceed to the scenario.
In fete deejay sues up Machel - One More Wine
Woman: "waaayyysss I lovvve this song" she proceeds to press her vagina or buttocks against the man's penis and gyrate in a rhythmic motion.
Now I've heard girls say things like "I don't like when I dancing with a fella and he prick get hard". Let's take a look at this closely to see how utterly foolish this expectation on a female's behalf is.
Penis aka prick, totee, wood, bishop, peegy, lolocks, peegyleeks etc. is created and governed by laws of nature. Law of nature = touch penis in sensual manner - will get erect.
Let's draw a parallel... a shark will devour your ass with no hesitation if you got a papercut in shark infested waters. So then would you douse yourself in blood and jump into a pool with a shark? No. So why would you take your private parts and rub it rhythmically against a man's penis and not expect the Laws of Nature to run its course?
That being said we will move to classify women who expect this totally asinine thing of men as either really naive or really foolish.
So getting back to scenario: Woman hears Machel, presses up, wines back... what in fact is happening here is the man and the woman are simulating a sexual act. It may not be sex itself with penetration, but it should be. Then it would make sense, but it does not make any sense to simulate sexual acts over and over in a night and not have sex. Or worse yet, deny that you are simulating a sexual act.
Lets just say that I'm making a big deal over nothing. So we wine and jam and get on bad... whats next?
Go home and say that party was real good?
No. That is not what a penis was intended to do. A penis was not created to get erect for nothing else but to have sex. Your penis doesn't get erect when you making a bake and cheese or washing down your car. It has specific uses and should be respected for these reasons. Worse yet there are repercussions for such actions such as "blue balls".
I think careful consideration should be given when doing these things by Men and Women. Both parties should be aware that they are performing a sexual act and proceed appropriately. But then again... dais just my opinion.
I will continue to lime by the bar or stand up in a corner. The matrix has you.
Kick The Mas
linux says:
i ain't know y dey doh jus sell ah green sticker ban for 2g and just say buy ah red panty and wear what ever yuh want on top
kicker says:
hahahhahahahhahahhaa
linux says:
and when yuh reach throw some gold dust on dem
kicker says:
ahahahahhahahhaahhahhahahahahhahaaa
linux says:
call that all inclusive
i ain't know y dey doh jus sell ah green sticker ban for 2g and just say buy ah red panty and wear what ever yuh want on top
kicker says:
hahahhahahahhahahhaa
linux says:
and when yuh reach throw some gold dust on dem
kicker says:
ahahahahhahahhaahhahhahahahahhahaaa
linux says:
call that all inclusive
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Immortal Technique - Bin Laden Remix
"I want the world to know you won't beat us because were the children of
those who took the worst fall, of slavery and brutality that ever existed
Our parents survived the middle passage, only the strong got here
And then we lost our name, our culture, our religion, and were still here
So you may have a momentary victory Mr. Bush, but you don't know who we are"
[Immortal]
I pledge no allegiance, fuck the President's speeches
What the industry did to 'Pac they did to Jesus
Rapin' his vocals and destroying his message
Tryin to deport us if they can't destroy arrest us
Government front religious, but thier heart is empty
Like a televangelist preaching out of his bentley
Calling abortion murder in a medical building
But don't give a fuck about bombing Iraqi children
Talking like units in the fucking libretto
Look at thier mansions and look at your suburban ghetto
The gulag, the new hood where they send us to live
Cause they don't give a fuck about none of our kids
That's why blacks and latinos get the worst education
While devils run america like "Birth of a Nation"
Affirmative action ain't reverse discrimination
That shit is a pathetic excuse for reparations
[Chorus: Immortal + KRS]
Bin Laden didn't blow up the projects
It was you, nigga
Tell the truth, nigga
(Bush knocked down the towers)
Tell the truth, nigga
(Bush knocked down the towers)
Tell the truth, nigga
[Immortal]
They say that terrorism revolves around the Qu'ran
But that's stupid, I'll show you why its totally wrong
Cause if this country was invaded and crumbled
I'd turn Harlem into a columbian jungle
And I wouldn't be fighting for a Christian nation
I'd be fighting for survival from extermination
I wouldn't fight for Fox News, them racist niggaz
I'd be fightin for the hood, for the faceless niggaz
I'd be fighting for the immigrants america loves to despise
Even tho it needs them to make the economy rise
They feed us genetically modified garbage
So I repetitively reload the cartridge
Boston, New York, down to Atlanta
Guerilla war in the swamps of Louisiana
Camera panoramas of hammers couldn't rock me
East coast to West coast you can't stop me
And fuck Schwarzenegger, his pops was a nazi
And it runs in the family so run for the grammys
Run to the coon picnic and try to pick up a mammy
But half of y'all are faggots tryin to pick up a tranny
Eddie Murphy ass motherfuckers goin commercial
Even Interscope is gettin pimped by Universal
{?} sounds like green tooth lantern something {?}
But the Bin Laden slush fund remix just worked you
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
This is a test
I'm showing someone how easy it is to use blogger. Doh watch no face.
Bless.
Bless.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Kick TAF
Taken from Trinidad Junction.
Photo caption from left to right - Gerard Mendonça (Guitars), Dexter Banfield (Drums), Chad Affonso (Vocals), Ryan Khan (Bass), Barry Bibby (Guitars)
Photo caption from left to right - Gerard Mendonça (Guitars), Dexter Banfield (Drums), Chad Affonso (Vocals), Ryan Khan (Bass), Barry Bibby (Guitars)
With three no. 1 hits and thousands of fans in their homeland of Trinidad and Tobago you would think that Tripped and Falling were crazy to drop everything they had in pursuit of bigger musical dreams.
The year 2006 sees a band that left their Caribbean island full of fans, success, loved ones and family and jumped on a plane to the UK taking with them, only their clothes, guitars and their brand new full length album 'Victoria'.
Victoria, an incredibly strong punk rock album, marks the tremendous growth and musical maturity of Tripped and Falling. The first single off the album 'Bleed Victoria' went to no. 1 a mere 2 weeks after its release.
Victoria is one of the most passionate and powerful releases to come from any band in recent times. Coupled with the most amazing live set, full of energy and raw power, you would be hard pressed to find a band with as much passion, drive and persona as this one.
Tripped and Falling, now based in the U.K. are ambitious to bring their special brand of rock to the British public and beyond!
3 Questions with Tripped and Falling
1.) when did you know that this is what you wanted to do?
Definitely from the time we wrote our first real songs and played them on stage. There is a rush about that and it never goes away. Especially when you enter the recording studio - i rember the first time I heard 'In Tears and Bad Endings' after we recorded it and i was like 'Damn!! Is that us!!' The realization that we can reach people with our music gave us the confidence to persue what we love as a career and let us know that dreams can be fulfilled.
2.) what steps did you take to get where you are today?
Everyone says it, but its true - Hard work and dedication is really the key. Belief in yourself and adopting the right attitude to your work is so important as well. We have had loads of ppl tell us to do something 'real' and stop having 'fun' - they are ignorant and do not recognize that this takes the same, if not more work than waking up to go to an office every day. Running a band is basically running a small business or company.
Our parents were worried about us giving up schooling and so forth for music but at some point you have to do what you wanna do, it means so much more when you have sucess in something that you built yourself. So we just had a vision and ensured we followed it and never gave up. Even from the early days of the band - i was reading an old interview with us in 2000 when we said we wanted to take the band to the international stage, so with it being 2006 and that statement becoming a reality is really nice to know we have achieved it.
3.) what advice would you give to a young person from T&T who's thinking
of becoming a dancer/actor/musician/writer /etc.?
I would say that it is possible if you want it to be. Always measure yourself against the best and the top class actors, dancers, musicians because that is where you want to be, at the top so you must aim there.
Also do not be afraid of sacrifice and humility, there are thigns you have to do to suceed. There will be many times that you will have to do the exact opposite of what you want to do, just to be able to do what you want to do later on in life.
As sad and unfortunate as it is to say, Trinidad can only take you so far. It is not our country to blame, i mean we are a small island, limited recourses and a small population. We have the talent but i believe you have to go to the opportunity, dont wait for it to come to you. If you wanna see big buildings go to New York, you wanna see blue waters go to Tobago. So if you wanna do somethign that is not possible where you are go to where it is best for that .
