Raider Nation

Here's to a great season thus far. Just win, baby.

via Mark563

The Insatiable Beautician

How's a girl supposed to keep up? I'm disgusted. Read the annotations on this photo proof and formulate your own opinions on what is beauty, what is business, and what is ethical. Always consume responsibly.

via Jezebel

Di$parity

Sky from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

If you are ever trying to conceptualize how different the world is outside the American bubble and how male instincts are globally coordinated, this city is a great place to start. Dubai is really one of the wonders of the world and is still shrouded in mystery for most who view it extraneously. In recent years, I have become fascinated by the developments and architectural experiments constantly being undertaken by the UAE as well as the cultural turmoil that still exists despite the city's function as a global economic hub. Dubai has been known for starting multi-million dollar projects without having the foresight or the funds to wrap them up during economically turbulent times like they saw in 2010 (just like the fucking new expansion of the Bay Bridge we keep paying $6 tolls for). Once you get past the near-radioactive display of lights and metallic shimmer that cloaks the city, there is an even clearer display of the disparity of wealth, and how mankind was able to exploit this advantage in a very short period of time. Many look upon Dubai as a billionaire playground and its ostentatious displays provide us with a quintessential image of power, but when you throw enough money in the air it clouds what we should be able to see right in front of us. Dubai's blind spot is mainly in the area of labor and human rights, as more than 250,000 international workers come to participate in constructing Dubai's lavish projects and live in abject conditions to just to feed off of the surrounding wealth, but the ports that the city uses to generate the majority of its revenue have also lead to a large human trafficking dilemma in the city, mainly for prostitution.

The high number of expatriates visiting or living the city coupled with the wealth of the top earning citizens have made this enterprise incredibly lucrative- and it is only growing. Dubai's growth has been relatively quick considering that the city's real emergence only began in 1996 when the discovery of oil propelled it to exponential growth. It is fascinating how quickly the rich decided to separate themselves from the poor in such a short amount of time, sometimes needing to be a couple hundred stories off the ground just to make this disparity painstakingly clear. It is also interesting to see how different successful human societies allocate their funds when placed in an opulent position, but most prioritize their wealth in much the same way; Dubai is just an exceptional display of this because we can watch it occur over the last 50 years. However, I am never against taking things at face value for a little while, and this is one of the most beautiful cityscapes on the planet infused with a beautiful arabic culture and mysterious origins. This city has definitely sparked my intrigue and I hope when looking at it in the future you take a new perspective on what it costs to keep something like this beautiful. Consume responsibly.

Modern Family

I Hate Goodbyes

photo by German Saez

A Lesson Through Malice

Malice's Book Excerpt #1 from Malice of the Clipse on Vimeo.




Malice's Book Excerpt #2 from Malice of the Clipse on Vimeo.

I am not religious in the least bit, but I fuck with spirituality. It is interesting to see how different people use spirituality to cope with what they are going through. In Malice's case, he is learning how to be true to himself through the fire and stress of self-criticism and interpreting the word of God. I wish I could understand the entirety of what he was going through, but I am also thankful that I don't. This is why African-Americans are beautiful and why (like Ricky Rozay said) Hip-Hop is so much deeper than rap. I could write a lot on this, but I'll let thought marinate in Malice's spoken word. Enjoy.

Are We Blind?

Ahh, it's been a while since I advanced my blog movement, but it feels great to be writing again. Why I was absent is another post in and of itself and I have a lot to say, but I'll inch my way back into my writing groove by discussing what is on my mind at the moment.

It is once again finals time at the U of O and as far as I'm concerned the F.I.N.A.L.S. (Fuck I Never Actually Learned Shit) acronym is still the best descriptor of these useless exams. Other than the malevolent sentiment on campus during this time, Adderall is probably the most prevalent entity. I have never done this drug, nor do I ever plan on using it, but I'm sure many of you can attest to the statement that this is a miracle drug for anyone who might be interested in getting good grades. Yeah, sure you have been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD and you may rely on Adderall or something like it to get you through your normal activities; however, there are also those with you with self-diagnosed conditions that you convinced yourself of years ago and this is where the problem started. Yes- I said problem. 

People not on college campuses may fail realize that we are on the front end of an epidemic that is sweeping the nation as quickly as republican idealism. Stimulants today are so effective and accessible today that for some students it is a no-brainer when deciding whether or not to pop a pill, hunker down and do a month's work in a few hours. Students are not entirely to blame for this. The majority of the college education system is flawed in the sense that when your whole grade in a class boils down to a few hundred pages of reading, a project, and two tests, students are given no incentive to stay on track with assigned work, and thus would rather cram at the end of the term to get it in. Understandable, but this shit poses a real threat to society as a whole when it isn't used for school at all and housewives use it to be superwomen or your bruh just rails the majority of his prescription to the dome. We are in uncharted territory with drugs like these because nobody knows about the long-term effects of taking controlled stimulants. I mean, how can we know when the drug was introduced in 1996? We can only scientifically guess and speculate, which is a little bit scary to say the least.

I have seen adderall do nasty things to beautiful people, but what gets to me is how it is legally dealt with, or lack thereof. When you have people going down for possession of marijuana (like the man in Oakland, CA who was killed with a small bag of marijuana and a scale last week), but students can freely share a schedule II controlled substance on a whim there is something wrong- very wrong. This drug is held up by stiff socioeconomic and racial boundaries, there is no doubt about that, and the rich will undoubtedly keep getting richer off of this while the poor couldn't find it if they tried. If you need your pills- take them, that is what advancements in technology are for, but we really need to consider the abuse and sale of these drugs seriously because they are affecting the social and academic landscape of this country adversely.

I have plenty of friends that participate in the activities described in this post, I don't blame any of you and it is not my job to hate or pass judgment. I think that the school system needs to change rather than the way we absorb the information. I hope this was thought-provoking nonetheless and that this movement stops before America is a nation built on speed. I wrote a decent sized paper on this topic so this is for sure not all on my mind, but it is a taste. Feel free to weigh in on the discussion.