The Spazzy Blogger

My Dengue Fever Health Care Crisis

2009-10-01T00:17:00.000-07:00

One year ago, after returning from a month long trip to the Philippines I developed a case of Dengue Fever.

I went to the hospital thinking it would be an in-and-out thing. Next thing I know, I'm getting branded with the little plastic wristband and carted off to an uncomfortable bed horrible hospital food, and late night nurses visits to take my blood samples and blood pressure stats.

For about two or three days the doctors couldn't tell me what was wrong with me.

I felt worse as the hours ticked away. At night, as I watched a marathon of South Park, I pondered my mortality. Was I near my expiration date? The experience cued me into the important of healthcare. Especially now, not only is the health care's current state of being debated, but also I'm on the cusp of getting kicked off my parents' insurance coverage.

It makes me nervous. Well, petrified is more like it. But I know I'm not the only one. I know at some point, the young people who have had the luxury of having consistent health coverage will get snapped back to reality by the time they've reach a certain age, or haven't scored the job that pays for the monthly trips to the doc's office. Not to mention those who have no coverage at all and have never had the opportunity.

It is because of these reasons that I don't understand why young people aren't a major player in the debate over reforming the healthcare system. Granted, it could be stacked up to the fact that most young people don't give their health coverage too much thought because they're young and for the most part healthy. They may not think the healthcare debate is something they need to worry about. After all, they do have severe educational budget cuts to worry about.

But I think the lack of youth presence in the healthcare debate is attributed to the bigger issue of youth not getting called on to bring their voices to the table. We could Twitter and blog to our heart's content about how bogus our health coverage is, but it doesn't mean anyone will notice. The reality is you have to be old enough to be taken seriously, have the connections, and have wads of money stored in your personal high security Swiss Bank in order to make any obvious impact the way things are run. At least, that's how I feel.

I think the majority of us feel that we have zero political pull in that department, and I don't think it is entirely our fault either.

Health care isn't the only issue youth aren't factored into. Education is taking a major beating from budget cuts and even with students protesting, little seems to be getting done in their favor. Because at the end of the day the people who make these decisions already have the Dream Team they want to please. And we, unfortunately, are eliminated by default.

-- Eming Piansay

Interviewing Youth California Delegate at DNC

2008-09-16T21:34:00.000-07:00

Shot and Edited by Eming Piansay

From Pop to Politics: Obama's Debut in Denver

2008-08-29T21:10:00.000-07:00

After running around Denver like a chicken with my head cut off and getting four hours of sleep a night for the past three days I finally got to walk into Mile High Invesco Field where Sen. Barack Obama would accept the Presidential nomination. I’ve watched events like these on T.V. for years, but actually getting the chance to be a person there, present and part of history -- is a whole new level of surreal existence.

Before Obama made his grand appearance an all-star line up of artists such as Sheryl Crowe and Stevie Wonder entertained the crowd followed by New Mexico’s Governor Bill Richardson and former Vice President Al Gore addressed the crowd. For a few minutes during gaps in-between speakers audience members did The Wave from one side of the stadium to the other.

During his speech Al Gore addressed the youth’s impact in the election.

“This election is actually not close at all among young people – you are responding in unprecedented numbers to Barack Obama’s message of hope,” said Gore.

He continued on to say, “You recognize that he represents a clean break from the politics of partisanship and bitter division. You understand that the politics of the past are exhausted, and you’re tired of appeals based on fear. You know that America is capable of better than what you have seen in recent years. You are hungry for a new politics based on a bipartisan respect for the ageless principles embodied in the United States Constitution.”

Following a video segment on the young Senator and his life, his mother and family the man himself walked out on to the stage. The floor beneath my feet rumbled, the vocals of every person in the stadium exploded and the digital cameras flickered like Christmas lights.

For the past three days I’ve tried to be objective as humanly possible when it comes to the Obama campaign, but all that melted away during the speech. It was an extremely powerful moment that I’m very thankful to have been apart of – something that does not translate well through a television set.

Obama listed all the things he planned on doing once elected. And even though I wanted to believe him a piece of clouded skepticism slipped in. “He certainly can talk it. But can he walk it?”

But at that point I didn’t care. I wanted the moment to exist for as long as humanly possible.

Obama focused his words on the middle class, the ones who have been neglected by the current administration, prior to his speech several people who had gone through many issues that the population in the middle class are experiencing. One woman, who really touched me with her words, was Pam Cash-Roper from Pittsboro, North Carolina. Pam and her husband both went to major medical surgeries that racked up high medical bills and lost their medical coverage.

“I am a life long Republican,” said Pam, “who voted for Nixon, Reagan, Bush and Bush but I can’t afford four more years like this.”

Obama finished off his speech by urging Americans not to stick to the old game plan of the last eight years.

“America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to do. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to men. America, we can not turn back.”

When all was said and done, Obama’s family and Joe Biden joined him on stage, fireworks lit up the sky and the confetti floated down to Earth like multi-colored snowflakes, I could the sworn the music playing over the loud speaker was a hodgepodge of movie soundtracks, specifically The Matrix, Star Wars and Indiana Jones. It had a very buckle down; toughen up feeling, like we were getting ready to go into battle.

But battle cry or no battle cry, Obama’s speech did its job.

Denver: Disneyland for Democrats and the Unity Dilemma

2008-08-26T20:57:00.000-07:00

When I looked out the window of my plane before it touched down on the Denver airport runway, a surreal thing happened. The clouds were parted just enough to let long streaks of light shoot down towards the patches of green and brown below. The scene reminded me a lot of those moments in TV and movies where the presence of God, or some mystical force shines down from the heavens. Though I'm not remotely religious, I took it as a good sign of things to come.

Sunday afternoon I got a taste of what the protests might be like during the week of the convention. A few NOBAMAS and one John McCain for President walked down the busy downtown street as a guy sitting across the street screamed BOO! Nice, Interactive theatre.

The downtown streets are so wide and jam-packed with stores and tables of trinkets it's like Disneyland (free shuttle included). The different meetings outside the Denver Pepsi Center are the Democratic National Convention's spinning teacups and the big night on Thursday is Splash Mountain. I'm just waiting for the life size Obama human puppet to walk out of Jamba Juice.

You can't walk anywhere without seeing cops during the DNC. Every time I see eight cops in padded gear hanging off the side of a car I keep expecting to see the Bat Mobile speeding behind.

On Monday night on my way to the Rock the Vote Concert featuring N.E.R.D, Fall Out Boy and YO!'s very own Donny Lumpkins, I got sidetracked by a huge barricade of police, blocking off almost two street blocks downtown. Nothing was going on, people were just standing around and I was too short to see what was going on behind the line of police, but a few people were arguing, venting their frustration. Part of me wanted to stay and see what happened next, but the rest of me wanted to hightail it out of there ASAP.

That whole moment, which probably lasted less than five minutes, gave me the creeps.
The contrast of what I saw within the walls of the convention center during the day and the dozens and dozens of cops lined up like chess pieces ready to pounce got me thinking about 'unity'. All I hear on the news is unity, unity, unity. The whole point of the convention is to get everyone to hold hands and sing Kumbaya as the balloons fall Thursday night.

It's obvious the protests are an attempt to get people to listen to the lesser-discussed issues and criticize the government; which is great, got to love the underdogs in life. When you don't like what you see and you're passionate about something you rally together, and bang pots and pans till the police show up and tell you to disperse.

But in terms of the protests within the Democratic Party, I almost feel this fragile alliance will at some point fall off the face of the Earth.

The Obama and Clinton rivalry may have died between the two candidates but the supporters haven't let go - which is obvious from how many Hillary signs I've seen since I arrived on Saturday. It then begs the question: is the Democrats' stand of unity really a broken teacup glued together with paste or it the real thing?

Is Denver going to have to create its own knock off of Disney's "It's a Small World After All"? But replace all the different ethnic backgrounds with all the major political players in the Democratic Party. I would go on it once, just to tell my grand kids I hopped on the 'Strained Unity Express'.

-- Eming Piansay

Youth Risk it all for 'Change' This Election Season

2008-08-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

During Bill Clinton’s time in the White House, the only type of voting I took part in was the youth voting that happened through the television network Nickelodeon. I’m a little ashamed to say I actually thought I was voting for the next President of the free world. But now that I think about it, I don’t think anyone would let a 4th grader near a legitimate voting booth whose highlights of the week included watching Power Rangers and chocolate pudding. But I think it speaks a lot in the justification that young people do care who is running their country and some do actually want to have something to do with the process – even if the way they vote is purely symbolic.

Twelve years later I’m standing at the peak of an election process that has been propelled forward by the young generation of voters.

Sen. Barack Obama has become the unofficial face for the majority of young people in America. His campaign has been largely been staffed by young campaign workers, many of them too young to even vote for him.

Young voters are banking on Obama delivering what President George W. Bush could not. Obama campaign slogan may be ‘Change’, but change is a pretty broad topic; it’s also a risky promise. If elected, Obama will be inheriting a war, a slumping economy and a wide rage of issues that would make his election an upward climb.

Even though Obama has a large population of youth voters Obama still has a lot of prove to the young generation if he gets elected into office. It’s been so long since this generation could actual trust one of our leaders, it’s like after getting burned in your last relationship and you’re not sure if you can date again. Obama is potentially America’s future boyfriend.

Obama’s worst-case scenario is if his he is elected into office is that the majority of America will be so incredibly unhappy with his performance that come time for the next election in 2012 and it will all end in a train wreck of a divorce. “It’s not you – its me. Well, actually it is you.”

As a young voter who feels she is a small part of a larger chain of people who could potentially make an impact on the world, I’m rooting for Obama to re-energize a generation of young voters now and later that could not only change the landscape of politics but turn down the level of apathy of the politically devoid population.

Being a member of the semi-optimistic young voter population does come with its doubts. Will it happen? Can it happen? Is anything going to change – really? The chances of any President running a fully liberal office is a tough sell, especially after following President Bush.

In order to get the support of both sides of the political party tree, Obama needed to put his hands on both the right and left. Granted, a lot of liberals could say he’s not talking the talk he had in the very beginning. But in a lot of ways Obama is doing what George Bush should have done while in office. Bush always appeared very conservative in his views and it was rarity that I saw a news story where Bush’s actions leaned in favor of the more liberal population.

In order to take office Obama has to balance his views just enough to get both parties on the same page with him. Unfortunately, I can imagine this alienating some of his followers, especially the youth.

But for now, myself, and the rest of Obama’s followers probably figure that whatever Obama brings to the table at this point, is better than what we’ve had for the past eight years.

-- Eming Piansay

Young Campaign Workers Move Beyond the Youth Vote

2008-08-18T20:39:00.000-07:00

PALO ALTO, Calif. – Molly Stone hurried into the front room of the Barack Obama for President headquarters on a late Wednesday afternoon, just days before the important Pennsylvania primary at the end of April.
Like many of those present, Stone was getting ready to call voters and gather information on who would be voting for Obama in the fast approaching primary election. But at 17, she was at least 10 years younger than most of the other volunteers.
“If they’re a strong Obama supporter, we call them the day before the election and make sure they’re going to make it out to vote,” said Stone, her petite figure wrapped in a white t-shirt with bold blue lettering that reads: Property of Students for Barack Obama.

Research shows that the youth vote has dramatically surged this election year, with some 3 million voters under the age of 30 casting their ballots on Super Tuesday – according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). Seven out of eight states that held primaries saw increases in youth turnout, with some even tripling or quadrupling previous numbers.

But the mass movement of youth is doing more than just checking off a box behind the curtain at the voting booth. Dedicated campaign workers like Stone are putting in serious hours organizing for both Obama and Clinton and proving that the millennial stake in this election goes beyond just befriending the candidates on MySpace.

According to Scott Weiner, chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party, the vast number of young people interested in this year’s election comes from the impression that was left on them by the current administration.
“[Young voters] went through a certain kind of moral bankruptcy from the Bush administration,” said Weiner.
With events like the unpopular War in Iraq and the uncertain economy, young people took stock of the state of their country and made the conscious decision to take action.

“It just got worse over time,” said Weiner. “People see it [happening] and become more motivated.”
Stone came into political awareness during the Bush years, and Al Gore was the first presidential candidate that she idealized.

“I started getting interested in politics in the 2000 election,” Stone said. “I remember I was the only 5th grader who cared about it. I actually liked [Gore] and it wasn’t just because of what my parents were telling me.”
But her interest in politics didn’t stop there. By high school, government became Stone’s favorite subject, and when a friend of hers mentioned the Obama campaign was looking for volunteers in California – she immediately signed up.

“I remember his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention like most people do,” said Stone. “I remember feeling like this guy was really cool.”
In Stone’s case, her hopes for a president are vastly different from those of people concerned about the War in Iraq or the economy.

“I’ve got a lot of problems with my health. Health care is a big issue for me and I’m really passionate about [Obama’s] health care plan,” said Stone. “I have a number of chronic diseases that put me in the hospital a couple times a year.”
With the current state of health care, Stone’s health coverage has been erratic and she's had several surgeries postponed.

“There is some random guy who doesn’t even know me who is saying, ‘No, you can’t have this surgery tomorrow,’ ” continued Stone. “We wouldn’t be able to afford [the surgeries] if [the insurance company] didn’t cover it.”

If there is not a universal health care program implemented by the time Stone graduates from college, her parents’ insurance company will no longer be able to cover her.

But not all young people are organizing for Obama.

“In California and Massachusetts, the youth vote went to Hillary,” said Amanda Coffee, a senior at Univ. of California, Berkeley and a Hillary Clinton campaign supporter. “I think that a lot of the young people I’ve spoken to have just seen [Clinton] throughout their adolescence and just know she has a lot more to offer.”
When Coffee speaks to other young people about why she’s voting for Clinton, she realizes how personal the decision can be for young, first time voters. “I tell [young people] why Hillary is my leader. I just know when she gets [into the White House] she knows what she’s doing. She’s going to jumpstart the Democratic presidency.”

Especially in the age of online organizing, young web-savvy organizers can put in their time on Facebook, instead of walking door to door. Molly Kawahata, 17, did most of her work as the California High School Director of the Students for Barack

Obama group online - from the comfort of her bedroom, which is plastered with pictures of the man she hopes will become president in November.

Since the California primary, Kawahata has begun working virtually for the national team in order to help other states create similar programs like the one she led in California. Recently, Kawahata was elected to represent her district as a delegate for the National Democratic Convention in August.

“The main reason I support [Obama] is because of the political diversity behind the campaign,” said Kawahata.

For Kawahata, being a senior applying to colleges and running a national campaign was a tough balancing act. “It’s definitely really difficult to balance this campaign with school and with everything else going on. The campaign did become my first priority, mainly because I believe in this so deeply,” Kawahata said with a smile. “I remember over winter break starting my college applications on December 21st, when they were all due December 31st or January 1st. That was a huge challenge.”
While all three organizers think that they have convinced a lot of people to cast a vote, they recognize that -- even with the surge of youth voting –- not everyone is as dedicated as them. Stone says she is the only one out of her circle of friends that has really been interested in politics.

“Most of my friends don’t care, they aren’t really into politics. Most of them aren’t going to be able to vote in November,” said Stone. “They’re just like, ‘Okay, you support Obama. Whatever. I’m not going to question it.’”

Goin' to the DNC with YoBlogger

2008-08-16T20:49:00.000-07:00

Se7en Heaven in San Francisco

2008-08-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

Shot and Edited by Eming Piansay

Inside the Wackness

2008-01-05T21:55:00.000-08:00

-- Shot and Editing by Eming Piansay

For Love or Citizenship

2007-12-05T21:53:00.000-08:00

The only reason I exist today is because my dad got on a plane in the Philippines and decided to come to America. He met my mom at a bus stop, fell in love, and a little while later their bouncing bundle of red faced, screaming joy came along. I guess you could say I’m a product of immigration, but I imagine a lot of us already are.

The immigration debate has been a heavy one. From politicians to the everyday citizen, ask anyone and they probably have an opinion on the matter.

I never would have imagined immigration making its way into the reality television world. Frankly, anything that enters the realm of T.V. shows that remotely resembles The Hills – you’re sort of asking to get served a plate full of crap.

According to Reuters, a company in Los Angeles is trying to sell a new reality show to the television networks. The hook? Just think of the show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” and “The Dating Game” -- then think, “Who wants to Marry a U.S. Citizen?” That’s right. If reality television hasn’t hit the lowest of the low this show will certainly set them over the edge.

The goal of the show is to take the national interest of immigration and blend it into the reality T.V. melting pot.

The show’s host, Angelo Gonzales, said the show is meant to play matchmaker for both U.S. citizens and immigrants looking for a spouse.

I don’t see how anyone cannot be skeptical about this sort of show. Either the producers have an honest to God interest in getting people together from different countries, or it is a mass marketing tool to show just how desperate a person could be to get into the country.

Love may have no borders, but that doesn’t mean it has to be exploited via reality television.

-- Eming Piansay

Thailand: HIV Spreads Among Young People

2007-11-30T21:51:00.000-08:00

In Thailand, health officials are battling the growing spread of HIV among young people. Unfortunately, even though there has been a great deal of attempts to educate young people on HIV and safe sex many young people are too scared to go and purchase condoms.

In a poll taken by the Health Ministry indicated that 77 percent of teenagers in Thailand are not educated on how HIV is spread. According to the article, individuals who are infected with HIV used condoms only 50 percent of the time. That is a lot of unprotected sex.

I seriously cannot imagine not using a condom. I have no plans on getting pregnant or catching some kind of STD anytime soon. I also have no interest in getting HIV. It is kind of mind-boggling that half of all their sexual encounters were unprotected.

How do you educate people on an issue that has fallen by the wayside?

There is no cure for this disease. Now unless you feel comfortable beingcondom-free and having sex without thinking about what possible diseases you might be getting – chances are you’ll be popping a wide variety of pills for the rest of your life.

Seeing as how widespread this disease is in Thailand I don’t understand why people would be so afraid to purchase condoms when they could be saving their own life in the long run. Yes, purchasing a box of condoms isn’t the most glamorous moment in your life, but it sure as hell beats the alternative.

-- Eming Piansay

Less Than Enchanted

2007-11-29T21:50:00.000-08:00

Growing up the old Walt Disney movies I’ve developed an annoyingly critical take on every Disney cartoon film to come out since then.

This past weekend I managed to go to a free screening of Walt Disney’s new movie Enchanted. Prior to the watching the movie I already knew it was a mix between fantasy and reality – which is what a lot of movies seem to be doing these (i.e. Beowulf).

The beginning of the movie was a hodgepodge between the opening of Sleeping Beauty, the friendly animals of Cinderella, and the wicked jealous Queen from Snow White. Normally, I wouldn’t be so turned off by those elements but even though the general ideas of those three stories were melded together on the screen, there was something obviously missing. Maybe it was absence of intricate artistic details that made it look more like a Saturday morning cartoon show you’d see at 8 am in the morning, or the light-airy believable voices that drew you into the story to begin with.

Though Enchanted made a good effort in giving an old fashion throwback to the Disney of old – it lacked those certain characteristics that made those Disney movies so entrancing. But I’m sure it filled that holiday longing for those needing a reason to sit in the movie theatre and be immersed in the sugarcoated pop melodies that only Disney can successfully get you to like. I suppose that’s the reason why High School Musical has been such a success.

-- Eming Piansay

Don't Kill Your Kids

2007-11-27T21:47:00.000-08:00

With the holiday shopping season beginning, shoppers are feeling a little more than just the average holiday mall anxiety. The news of toxic toys shipped from China have many consumers scared that their next purchase might be lethal.

Even with all the news coverage over the toxic toys it was reported that many of the toys are still being advertised to the public. Okay, everyone, on the count of three swallow a piece of lead.

Even though the toys are no longer in stores this whole tainted toy craze picked the worse time of the year to make itself known. When I think back to all the Christmas’ when I was drooling over toy catalogs I can only imagine what it must be like to hear your parents’ say, “Sorry Timmy, no large-plastic-machine-gun this year. We wanted to get it for you, but chances are it might have killed you.” There’s no easy way to say that to a kid.

Also, many news outlets have reported the fear of contaminated toys is not restricted to new toys. Some parents have started to go through and throw out all toys that may also be contaminated.

It must be nerve-wracking as a parent to stand in the middle of a toy story debating for a good half an hour as to whether they should risk filling her kids’ stocking stuffers with gifts that could make the holiday season a lot less merry.

-- Eming Piansay

Obama Fesses Up

2007-11-26T21:39:00.000-08:00

Just like Honest Abe (sort of), White House hopeful Barack Obama admitted he is no saint. When he was younger he dabbled in drugs and drinking. Wow… shocker.

I love how politicians make these blanket statements about themselves. It is almost like telling kids for the first time there is no Santa Clause.

Republican opponent Rudy Giuliani supported Obama’s choice to come forward with the news, while another Republican candidate Matt Romney believes Obama’s statements were a “huge error”.
It is like a classic chess game. One opponent makes a move and the other shakes their head saying, “What is this guy thinking?”

Obama’s moment of truth may be his attempt to reach out to a young voters in America who may feel comfortable with a man who admits his past blunders, compared to the ones that deny they exist all together. However, Obama’s statement makes it very, very obvious just who he wants to vote for him, the liberal – or at least those who are a little less conservative and feel comfortable talking about that one night they had a little too much whiskey.

I’ve noticed throughout the last few years that candidates, running for any form of office, create their own poster child image. They want to be YOUR candidate. They want to be your speaker box. They want to model themselves in the image of what they think you want. If you hate terrorism but don’t like the way the government is dealing with it – they want to be your poster boy/girl. If you think America is in danger of being destroyed by outside forces – they will strap as many red, white and blue flags on their sleeve as they can just to prove it.

I think it is great that Obama was honest with his past – uh – experiences. There should really be one debate set-aside sometime during the campaign trailer where all the candidates from either side come together and have one giant Public Service Announcement on drugs, alcohol and sex. You could probably learn a lot more from those guys than one session of Health Education in high school. Soon every statement would begin with, “Back in my day we smoked…” and so forth. That would make for an interesting Youtube debate.

-- Eming Piansay

How Do You Get to Shame Street?

2007-11-21T21:28:00.000-08:00

Once I was introduced to the window to the world, a.k.a. television, it was impossible for anyone to keep me away. I hogged that screen like it was life support. Many of my fondness memories growing up were the characters that bounced on and off the screen. Between shows like Mysterious Cities of Gold and Sesame Street I gorged myself in all the shows my parents would let me watch during my pre-school age.

Now, apparently the old season of Sesame Street that my young life pretty much rotated around has been deemed as inappropriate for the today’s pre-school-ers. When I first read this story I went back to the beginning just to make sure I hadn’t read it wrong: Sesame Street – for adults only? Was there some weird puppet on puppet porn I didn’t pick up on?

According to the New York Times, the early seasons of Sesame Street “modeled bad behavior”, such as a skit of “Monsterpiece Theater” where Cookie Monster had a pipe – and then ate it. Right – bad behavior -- just wait till they’re old enough to watch MTV’s The Real World.

First of all, I don’t think anyone could literally swallow down a pipe, dirt maybe, but a whole pipe? Cookie Monster may not have been the best role model in the world – but I don’t think that was his intended purpose. Looking back at Sesame Street and a lot of the old kid shows I used to watch – the reason I liked them so much was they had a variation of characters. They weren’t saints, but they were the most well-rounded and entertaining thing on television at the time.

If you compare Sesame Street to a lot of the other shows airing today – you could probably say most of the shows today are sugarcoated and badass boring blandness.

According to TV.com the highest rated kids show of all time weren’t necessarily the most sanitary of the bunch. Sure, they weren’t targeted at pre-school generation but you’re still in that impressionable age range. The list includes shows such as: So Weird, Are You Afraid of the Dark, Salute Your Shorts, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Fraggle Rock, Sesame Street, Muppets Tonight and Ghostwriter. Considering so many of the shows that aired way back then weren’t as tidy and sanitized as the parental agenda might like – I personally believe a lot of these shows were the best kids shows – EVER, and it is a sad shame that those shows are no longer being aired today.

Even if a lot of these shows aren’t quiet PC most of us probably don’t notice till way later in life. My little naïve self will contest to that.

-- Eming Piansay

Things That Make You Go -- Ugh: The Holiday Blog

2007-11-20T20:53:00.000-08:00

If there’s one thing I can not stand about this time of year is the fact that before I have made my rounds in wishing my relatives Happy Thanksgiving; before I have even gotten my plate full of mash potatoes and turkey breast and have gorged myself enough to be bloated for the next couple months, everywhere I turn I am hounded by Christmas.

Last weekend the Christmas tree in San Francisco Union Square was put up and the lights were starting to be hung. The outsides of many big stores had already setup their Christmas window displays. If the medical industry were as ahead of the game as most of these organizations, not to mention a lot more money hungry and materialistic, we’d probably would have cured cancer and every other disease that comes to mind ages ago.

I don’t understand the need to hurry the holidays – really—I see no reason to rush myself into debt with all the Christmas gifts I’m required to buy. Whatever ‘joy’ the Holidays once represented has been smeared and turned into a marketing ploy for every big company with a new toy to sell. The only thing that moves off the shelves on Thanksgiving is food. Until Best Buy starts stocking yams and cranberry sauce the marketing of Christmas on November 1st will be going strong for years to come.

Seriously though, why is everyone trying to speed up to Black Friday? I’ve already seen from a distance the insane mass of people that turn up on Black Friday and have no desire to get trampled by shoppers on a quest for whatever’s hot this year. I’ll most likely be fast asleep when the stampede breaks out at six in the morning – recovering from my food hangover. That --fellow Thanksgiving-ers – is what normal people do after Thanksgiving. I detest whoever made this after Turkey Day tradition, not to mention whoever decided to start putting out giant Christmas displays in early November. Disgusting…

-- Eming Piansay

If Barack were a Rock Star

2007-11-14T20:52:00.000-08:00

I just got back from Barack Obama’s event at San Francisco Bill Graham Civic Auditorium and I just got to say, if Barack were a rock star there would be mosh pits for miles on end.

The crowd outside Bill Graham was crazy. I was waiting to get trampled by his eager fans as we moved towards the front doors. Before I had even realized this was the location where Barack was going to appear I thought the crowd stretching several blocks was for some kind of concert. Justin Timberlake, maybe? But no, all these people were showing up on a Wednesday night to see the one – the only – Barack Obama.

Once the scary security guys let us through we officially entered Obama Central. Before making his grand appearance several speakers and a choir appeared on stage. One girl, who I believe was a spokesperson for the Students for Obama, gave a speech that sounded more like she was practicing for her future America’s Next Top Model interview.

From an outside perspective, the speeches felt more like time fillers before a photographer behind us at the media platform said Obama’s vehicle entourage was spotted heading towards the building.

When Obama finally arrived, after being introduced by Alice Walker, the room went wild even before we made it on stage. “Hey!” “Hey!” “Hey!” “What’s up!” Obama said, making his way on to the stage.

Now, before I go any further, that it wasn’t until that exact moment that I realized how white the audience standing in front of the press area was. Here, we have a black male candidate running for the White House and – well – the question is kind of obvious. Granted, I’m sure not everyone wants to pay 30 bucks to get 45 minutes of him talking – which could be a reason – but I still had expected some kind of diversity in the audience. Not even just white or black, maybe a little bit of everything.

Anyway, back to the event. Barack affirmed his support of health care, education, ending the war in Iraq, climate change, poverty, HIV/AIDS and Darfur. However, several people we spoke to after the event said they were disappointed that he didn’t mention immigration and women’s right.

Even with those two topics missing the audience seemed to just be happy to have someone who they could rely on, or at least offering them something different than what they’ve seen since the 2000 election.

I don’t know if Barack is going to win the White House next year. But I do know if he plans on doing some kind of spoken, political poetry with events like this, he will not have an empty seat in the house.

When Writers Stop Writing

2007-11-07T20:51:00.000-08:00

There’s one thing that gets taken for granted these days more than most, it is the written word. Whether we’re talking about books, newspapers, blogs, online news sites and any form of literary material you can think of.

This week the Writers Guild, responsible for most of the TV sitcoms, has decided to go on strike in lieu of salary issues.

Now, I’m glad to see writers taking a stand in regard to what they’re really worth but then I started to really think about what this strike really meant.

How essential are we, the writers, in the bigger scheme of things? If all the journalists in the world decided to go on a Nation Wide strike for more money – would anyone care? Besides the fact that no one would be reporting on it (since they’d all be on strike) would anyone care as much about that? Mainly since the news of the screenwriters striking seems to be the top story of discussion this week.

Do writers only matter if they’re feeding the Massive Television Franchise with Desperate Housewives scripts?

In the long run of things, the script crisis isn’t that big of a deal. Once the dispute is settled and everything is back to normal you’ll be able to catch the entire T.V. series, minus commercials and writers’ strike on DVD at your local movie rental store, or your favorite online DVD rental shipping company.

All writers (regardless of genre) should be apart of the Writers Guild, script writers, journalists, novel writers, and poets alike in a united front like war buddies, except the only difference instead of battle scars we’ll have paper cuts. That would be one interesting after protest party.

-- Eming Piansay

Good Old Fashion Pop

2007-11-05T20:49:00.000-08:00

Not too long ago the ingredients for becoming a pop star was as easily as purchasing it from a Halloween store. Add in a couple sparkly bras, a dancing poll, a dozen or so dancers, and a vocal synthesizer and you’re good to go.

In the most materialistic way of thinking, some pop music is just meant to make you like it and sell albums, doesn’t matter if the vocals aren’t all that great – as long as there’s a decent music hook, the content doesn’t need much.

Last week Britney Spears’ latest album Black Out hit the street. I managed to hear a couple of the tracks prior to the release. Surprisingly to myself, and probably most of the critical music critics today – the songs weren’t that bad.

Everyone saw Britney’s live performance of “Gimme More” and the music video. I admit, I thought it was horrible. But, of course, after hearing a song for about hundred times its hard to completely hate it.

After I heard the other songs, like Freak Show, Toy Soldier, and “Piece of Me” my chair dancing began.

Piece of Me is probably my favorite so far. I guess this was her finger flip to the media and everyone else who has two words to say about her parenting and partying skills in the past year or two.

Granted, Brit hasn’t been in the best light with the judge taking away her two kids and her documented sporadic behavior – but when it comes to what she produces when she’s in the music studio – I think it is really hard to judge her.

You have to hand it to her though, as much as you may dislike her, she has an army of music producers that could turn a sick woman with a cough into dance floor diva.

This album just goes to show, even if your vocal skills are on the iffy side, and your personal life has become the dartboard for every comedian in the country, as long as you have money to pay you’re producers and handlers you’ll be rolling in dough by week’s end.

-- Eming Piansay

Too Scary to be President

2007-10-31T20:48:00.000-07:00

There are things scarier than goblins, and ghosts. Now according to schools in Illinois Presidents of the United States are “inappropriate” for kids 8 to 10 years old.

West Elementary School in north suburban Glencoe in Illinois has banned political figures from being Halloween outfits.

Now, when you say – “inappropriate”—does that mean ‘disrespectful to the people it depicts’, or does it ‘expose children to issues they normally wouldn’t be knowledgeable of’.

I really don’t think a mask of Bush or Nixon would be that disruptive, unnerving maybe, but not enough to ban any sort of political facial wear on Halloween.

If given a choice I would think the school would choose a mask of Bush over a sexy French Maid outfit.

-- Eming Piansay

Married to MySpace

2007-10-31T20:47:00.000-07:00

I confess, I’m sick.

I should be locked up in a large white room and studied. My brain should be examined. Guys in scary white lab coats should be allowed to dissect me in the name of science. Why? I am an Internet addict. I probably have more conversations online in one hour than I do in real time.

But I’m not alone in this sickness. No friends, I am one dollar is very large vault of money of people who admit the Internet has become more like an always available friend than a piece of technology.

According to a study, 1 in 4 Americas wouldn’t mind being alone – just as long as they have Internet access.

My mom read this story to me over dinner. My hand shot up like a rocket as I proclaimed, “Oh, hell yeah! That’s me.”

She read off the list of categories the survey addressed.

“Can the Internet serve as a substitute for a significant other?”

I kept my hand raised.

“Would you want a brain implant with Web access?”

Hand still raised I shamelessly said, “Yes.”

My parents think I’m a crazy. But being born in a generation where technology is becoming more and more of a presence I think I get a get out of jail free card for wishing for something like that. Granted, I’m not as big a visitor of MySpace and FaceBook as I used to be – I still am vastly dependent on the Internet. Though it is sad to admit my life exists on a 13-inch portable screen, what else am I suppose to do? Go out and play? Please…

-- Eming Piansay

Front Runners Fumble YouTube Debate

2007-10-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

The Democratic debate on CNN/YouTube Monday night showed a stark contrast in the pool of candidates – between the familiar faces and the not-so-familiar ones.

The debate was a team-up between CNN and YouTube: American voters recorded their questions on YouTube, and the questions were played for the candidates during the debate. This forced candidates to address the real questions that most Americans want to know, and show how they plan to address these issues if they are elected.

The media-friendly front-runners of the campaign trail – Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards – played on safe, pre-packaged answers that couldn’t be labeled “unpatriotic” or “un-American.” In comparison, the less familiar faces – Christopher Dodd, Mike Gravel, Bill Richardson, Joseph Biden and Dennis Kucinich – delivered thoughtful, detailed responses and essentially said what most of America wanted to hear – the truth. The truth about what these people would do if they were elected. This is not to say the answers from Obama, Clinton and Edwards were not as truthful; but being the front-runners of the Democratic Party, they have a specific image they want to deliver to the American people.

Tough questions like: “Is it okay to cite religion as a reason to deny gay rights?” forced some candidates to admit their true feelings. John Edwards does not support gay marriage, but does not feel a president should force his or her faith on the American public. I want to believe that if Edwards were elected, he would take the same stance of not discriminating against a certain group because of their sexual orientation. But when certain bills come into play like gay marriage and gay rights, he neglected to say where he would stand if he came to an impasse where he would be forced to make a decision between his religious and personal beliefs and the rights of a nation. It isn’t hard to believe that this could be approved in the next administration.

The debate also included candidates’ individual perspectives on Iraq, and blame tossed on the Bush administration for its sloppy handling of the Middle East.

“How do we pull out now? Are watching the same blanking war?” one man asked, censoring himself. Obama offered the standard pullout plan and sending a clear message to the Iraqi government that at the moment the situation in Iraq cannot be cured through military action. In other words, killing each other isn’t going to solve anything. Even though Iraq has become a melting pot of tension, he said the only way to safely to bring the troops back safely would be a phase withdrawal.

Senator Biden pointed out that there is an obvious difference between him and the other candidates.

“Tell the truth for a change!” Biden said to Obama, referring to how long it would take to pull troops out of Iraq. If the American soldiers in Iraq were to start pulling out of Iraq this week it would take one year, he said.

Obviously, the whole idea of jumping out of Iraq isn’t as easy as it looks. The contrast between Obama’s and Biden’s responses highlighted that there is a clear difference in the messages coming out of the Democratic Party.

Obama offered the standard slow but sure pullout answer, whereas Biden offered a straightforward assessment of what he felt the pullout would entail.

Senator Gravel, another less known presidential candidate, was asked if he thought the soldiers who went to Vietnam died in vain. He connected his answer to the situation in Iraq, saying, “There’s only one thing worse than a solider dying in vain, is more soldiers dying in vain.”

Gravel’s passionate response touched me deeply and made me wish more candidates had such personal interest in the issues being set forward to them.

However, with the limited amount of time CNN/YouTube devoted to each issue, many important topics were glazed over at the end of the 60 seconds given to each candidate.

The debate’s format allowed viewers to get a glimpse into the real personality of the candidates. It was refreshing to hear real people asking questions instead of pre-scripted questions and rehearsed monologues. The best responses are the ones that are off-the-cuff, when candidates have to think on the spot.

The beneficial side of the televised debate was that it allowed the lesser-known candidates to get a chance to appeal to the public. I, for one, came away from the debate unimpressed by Clinton, Edwards or Obama. It was Dodd, Richardson, Gravel, Biden and Kucinich who did an impressive job of trying to get my vote.

Too Hot for Halloween

2007-10-29T20:38:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not. There is a such a thing as too much exposure. During Halloween some young people (teenage girls) are able to wear Halloween outfits with a much or as little clothing as they like. Though some could argue it is merely a form of self expression -- every other costume that can take a regular everyday occupation and some how turn in into an Mad Lib of "Sexy ________" doesn't seem to have much creativity or self expression to it. But if you're in need of one of these outfits -- I don't think you'll lacking in ideas.

Crushing "The Dream"

2007-10-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

In essence, we are all immigrants: illegal, legal and other. The Native Americans were here before the American colonies were founded. We just sort of slipped our foot in the door and started pushing till the former property owners were run-out – run-out being the nice way of saying it.

So, now that we’ve, for lack of a better word, stolen the land and made it our own we don’t really want to share it, or any other of our resources. Which is where the illegal immigrant issue comes into play.

The idea of letting illegal immigrants come onto U.S. soil has not faired well in the U.S. Senate. The concept of people from other countries illegally coming into the US and taking the jobs from Americans, probably has to do with the resistance. Even though I would think most of these jobs are ones Americans wouldn’t necessary want to take on. But I won’t get into that.

On Wednesday the Senate turned down a bill that would have let the children of illegal immigrants be legalized – on the conditions that they are in school or in the military.

The “Dream Act” would have also allowed:

“conditional legal status to illegal immigrants who have lived in the U.S. at least five years and entered the country before the age of 16”.

Sweet deal huh? But I guess for now this is just a theory in the making.

Illegal immigration is one topic of interest that isn’t going to go away. No matter how you address the issue, or how many fences you build, you can’t hide the fact that people need to support themselves and their families. If they aren’t going to get what they want out of their own country, chances are they are going to move on to bigger and better things, and try to live the America Dream, if possible.

The failed bill may be acting as a filter, preventing any future legalized immigrants from bringing in other illegal immigrants. The so-called “Land of Opportunity” is now an unreachable ideal not only for the adults crossing the border into America, but their children as well. If the eyes of million children cannot soften the hearts of the U.S. Senate, what could?

-- Eming Piansay

Hillary’s Roast and Kisses Fly at Republican Debate

2007-10-22T20:27:00.000-07:00

I forced myself to watch FOX News' coverage of the Republican debate for half an hour just long enough to catch the Republican Presidential candidates pull out a Hillary Clinton effigy, mount her on a giant wooden cross and light her on fire, much to the delight of the audience.

OK, there wasn’t an actual Clinton effigy at the debate, but I was seriously surprised no one brought out a blowup doll in a bright yellow wig from under the candidates’ respective podiums and tossed it out into the audience. Blowup doll provided courteously of FOX News.

Each candidate took a good minute or two to rip into Clinton. Romney and Giuliani didn’t hold back on their view of Clinton. Giuliani took the liberty of deconstructing one of her quotes, which was, “I have a million ideas, America can’t afford them all.” Giuliani quickly responded, “No kidding Hillary, America can’t afford you.”

Har-har-har.

Watching the Republican debate was like getting a small glimpse into an exclusive Boys’ Only Club. At one point, Giuliani thanked Florida for the 2000 election.

He blew Florida a freakin’ kiss, man.

How can you call yourself a politician, who respects the forum for democracy, and then blatantly spit in the face of an institute by tossing the entire election system because thehanging chads of America are just one too many to deal with so why bother going back and re-doing it. Thank you, Supreme Court of the United States, for your incredible disservice to the America people. Blows kiss.

With the Republicans so sure that they will meet Clinton in the final dash for the White House, the candidates failed to mention Barack Obama name during that portion of the debate, which I found a little strange. I suppose since the media has dubbed Clinton the poster child of the 2008 Election, the Republicans feel confident that she is will be the beatable candidate – but I guess that also means they have eliminated Obama from their list of threats.

But in an exclusive club of old, industry savvy, conservative white dudes, the absence of Obama isn’t a total surprise. Did I mention Fred Thompson paraded his ideals of basic rights that come from of religion over the government? Someone needs to get schooled in government 101. Church; State; Separate.

See what happens when I turn on my T.V. – Cynical Super Woman.

Death By Cell Phone: Vlog

2007-10-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

How Do You Get to Shame Street?

2007-10-21T21:28:00.000-07:00

Paris Goes International and Dumbledore Gets Outed

2007-10-21T20:07:00.000-07:00

If I had the opportunity to change my reputation by flying over to a third world country I would have to seriously consider some major form of reconstructive therapy – on most materialistic level possible. Sadly, Paris Hilton has beaten me to the punch. Following her trip to the slammer, and a list long of other media worthy headlines – Paris has decided to change her party girls ways, get on a plane and fly to Rwanda.

Great golly Santa Clause, is there anything this girl won’t to do get more media attention? Why not just a stack of money out of your checking account, that would normally go towards overpriced shoes, and barely-there outfits and give the money to a bunch of charity agencies. Paris, you have already inflicted enough pain and misery on the United States – why spread it around?

"I felt empty inside. I want to leave a mark on the world."

Believe me Paris, you already have.

Does it make me a bad Harry Potter fan that I had no idea Professor Dumbledore was gay?

I mean, my eyes ate up every last word in those seven books and I never even thought, “Hey, I wonder if Dumbledore digs dudes?”

And to think how many people had a problem with the whole "dark magic" aspect of the story; how about a homosexual headmaster at Hogwarts? Any takers? I wonder if Rowling waited till after the final book to come out to release this information so there wouldn't be some kind of mass (insane) protest.

I guess most people don’t really think about the sexual orientation of characters, especially if the character is from a supposed children’s story. The best way to make more money off the Harry Potter series would be a fictional tell-all book on the love life of Dumbledore.

New York Times Best Seller, here we come.
-- Eming Piansay

The Battle of the Social Networks

2007-10-19T20:04:00.000-07:00

First it was the Star Wars and Star Trek and then the Mac vs. PC debate. And now? Now we’re debating whether or not Facebook is better than MySpace.

I personally don’t see the point in the debate. A lot of my friends prefer FaceBook to MySpace. I’m sort of embarrassed to be associated to a generation that are so quick to jump to the defense of a social working site –- A SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE, PEOPLE!!! Gosh, I prefer the Obama and Hillary debate to this any day.

This week, both companies got a chance to see the whites of the others eyes at the San Francisco Web 2.0 conference. I can see it now, little scrawny guys with plastic pocket protectors glaring over their MacBooks.

FaceBook and MySpace have been neck and neck in the war of the social-web world. After FaceBook allowed companies to make programs available to FaceBook users, MySpace followed suit this week.

I don’t see get why both companies are in such a mad rush to out do each other. As long as there are teenagers, with a billion friends, and the ability to make a website flicker and flash enough to give you a seizure there will be a need for social networking sites. Now excuse me while I make a sacrifice to my MySpace gods.

One Nation Under Colbert

2007-10-17T19:56:00.000-07:00

So, Stephen Colbert has announced his candidacy for president. Am I the only one looking forward to this Presidential debate?

In a seemingly lackluster Republican vault of candidates, Colbert’s satirical Republican identity on Comedy Central may be what America needs in terms of a – dare I say it – fun – election?

Would it be so bad if America elected a President who didn’t necessarily make his or her citizens feel like they took their ballot, rolled it around in some mud right before their through it down the toilet.

I still stand by my earlier post that America needs a comedian for President. Because after a really bad day of getting stuck in traffic, and getting all the grief in the world from your boss/teacher/parent, most people just really need to come home, pop open their instant microwavable dinner and instead of laughing at their President, laughing with them. Idealistic maybe, but hey – weirder things have happened.

Let’s think of this like a T.V. show. For the first couple years you have this really sad, depressing outlook on everything. The characters are kind of mean, selfish, and the plot gets more and more depressing with each season. Then, the ratings start to slip; the producers fire all the main directors, actors, and writers and completely recast the show with a completely different premise.

I can imagine if Colbert were somehow magically elected, his whole cabinet would consist of all the producers of his show. He might even ask Obama or Giuliani to run on his ticket. Whether or not this turns out to be just one extended skit either way it would make one awesome election season.

-- Eming Piansay

Mr. President You Are Cordially Invited . . .

2007-10-04T17:01:00.000-07:00

Last month Iranian President Ahmadinejad visited Columbia University and was met with a host of hostility, not only from protestors outside the building but Columbia University President Lee Bollinger who accused Ahmadinejad of being a “cruel dictator”. The speech also included many other highlights, such as when Ahmadinejad denied the existence of homosexuals in Iran.

This week, Ferdowsi University in the Mashhad city of Iran invited President Bush to speak at their University. The White House responded to the request by saying:

“If Iran was a free and democratic society that allowed its people freedom of expression, and wasn't pursuing nuclear weapons, and wasn't advocating to destroy the country of Israel, the president might consider that invitation."

Riiiiight.

Bush would make a visit to an Iranian University if the whole country embraced freedom of speech, dumped their stash of nuclear weapons, stopped hating on Israel – oh yeah – and the whole speech would be televised from a bunker somewhere outside of Iran, and students would have to ask him a list of questions pre-approved by the White House.

“Mr. President, how do you feel about homosexuals in America?”

“Homosexuals? We have plenty of homosexuals in America. Lots and lots, I don’t believe in their right to get married but I know we have them.”

“Mr. President, how do you think the U.S. is doing with the War on Terror?” “Our brave soldiers are doing a bang up job liberating Iraq from terrorism. I think in time, and with patience and a very large check with a lot of zeroes we can successfully expunge the insurgence.”

“Mr. President, how do you respond to your critics who believe your attempts to secure America has infringed on the rights of its citizens?” “Heh, heh. I am trying to protect the American people. My goal I to protect all Americas – let it be domestic or foreign. If that requires walking on a couple civil rights here and there, as long as the job gets done, right?

Hug, Kiss, Grope -- But Only If You're Straight

2007-10-04T16:59:00.000-07:00

From my experience in high school and college whether I was walking from one end of the hall to the other, or simply getting out air outside I never failed to be surrounded by kissing couples. I remember there was one particular couple in my high school that was always attached at the lips. You could set your clock by it. Everyday, right after lunch ended they’d be wrapped up in each other’s arms, their lips glued together with a hot glue gun.

I can’t recall lovesick couples being reprimanded for their public displays of affection. So, when one Orange County high school student was disciplined for showing a public display of affection with her girlfriend at the time popped up on the newswire I started to wonder whether or not same sex kissing was still a hot button topic even though for the most part people seem a little more accepting of whole idea of same sex couples.

However, same sex kissing and any sort of homosexual public displays of affection seem to issues still tiptoed around by the majority of society.

Take the Super Bowl commercial earlier this year, which showed two male auto mechanics kissing. The commercial caused enough outcry for the company to pull the ad all together. The weird thing that is the only thing I remember about the Super Bowl – I don’t even remember the two teams who played, but I do remember that really cool kissing commercial.

Same sex kissing hasn’t had much good PR overseas. Last year, the popular Broadway production The Boy From Oz starring Hugh Jackman removed the same sex kiss between Jackman’s character and male character Greg Connell played by Murray Bartlett.

Even the American sitcom writers who opened the door for a lot of the first same sex kisses on cable TV get squeamish when it comes to shooting the final product. I guess acceptance, like patience, is a virtue.

One Sided Education?

2007-10-02T14:13:00.000-07:00

For as long as I’ve been able to string together a complete sentence adults have told me knowledge is power. Knowledge is power to – insert some random verb here.

But the promise of rewards for getting educated isn’t always as glorious as it seems. Since knowledge is dispensed by the government through the public school system there is a permanent filter that gives the thumbs up or down as to what young people are allowed to lodge into their growing brains.

Last week the United States Democratic lead Senate voted to continue funding the abstinence-education program in U.S. schools. As described by one of the supporters of the program, the National Abstinence Education Association:

"The extension for Abstinence Education reveals the bi-partisan support for this best health message," said Valerie Huber, Executive Director, NAEA, "and while extremely helpful, the short-term extension makes it challenging for states to implement the program. Abstinence Education providers need sustained funding for a minimum of one year in order to assure a dependable and consistent operation of their programs."

Obviously, not everyone is thrilled about the continuing use of abstinence in teaching young children about sex. The organization, Advocates for Youth, responded to the decision:

Last April, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc released the findings of a 10-year, congressionally-mandated evaluation of abstinence-only programs. The evaluation clearly stated that "Youth in the [abstinence-only] program group were no more likely than control group youth to have abstained from sex and, among those who reported having had sex, had similar numbers of sexual partners and had initiated sex at the same mean age [as the control group]." In short, the PROGRAMS DON'T WORK!

What I think the whole institute of education really needs is to be a lot less prepackaged. Instead of cramming our kids with our own ideals, we should be fostering an independent form of thinking. Give them both sides of the story and let them figure out what they want to do. Whether or not they would rather choose abstinence over a condom is really up to them, but it is their right to be informed first before making that decision.

Senseless Squabbling

2007-09-30T20:48:00.000-07:00

In a perfect world, where we all sit around in a giant circle passing around a pipe while seeing "We Are The World", our government would put aside all their differences and be the bigger person when it comes to important issues that have to deal with specific groups of the population who rely a great deal on the decisions they are making that could maybe enhance their state of living.

When it comes to issues like children’s health care, you would think that government leaders would manage to say, “Y’know guys, a lot of kids are sick or dying and they need to have medical coverage. Let’s talk this over like rational people and come to a mutual decision that benefits everyone.”

The idealistic reality is idealistic for a reason, in the “most likely won’t happen in this century sort of way”.

Last week, the U.S. Senate voted to increase the State Children’s Health Insurance. President Bush stated prior to the vote he would veto the decision if approved.

The expansion would cover 4-8 million children. Not surprisingly the Democratic favored bill has gotten the attention of President Bush’s veto pen.

Bush has stated that the bill would force a “raise in taxes on working people and would raise spending between $35 billion to $50 billion”.

Other Republicans, like Sen. David Vitter have raised issue with the fact that illegal immigrants will benefit from the bill, which would act as “glaring loopholes”.

Since the Democrats managed to regain the upper hand in Congress the political tensions have translated into more of a pissing contest, than an actual forum of political discussion.

Republicans say one thing; Democrats oppose it, and visa versa. It seems both sides are more concerned about their public image and whether or not they get the other to admit defeat than focusing on the important issues at hand. A lot of it is a more sanitized than the politics used in the old Roman days, back in the time of Julius Caesar – minus the brutal acts of blood shed this government seems more interested in fostering personal power than overseeing those who need them.

Pieces of the Past

2007-09-28T19:37:00.000-07:00

During my junior year of high school myself a several of my peers were pulled into the auditorium for a presentation. We were probably just happy to get out of class but the presentation itself was a two-fold opportunity.

Sojourn to the Past, an organization which mission is to educate students on the Civil Rights Movement, took a group of students from my high school and several others around the Bay Area to the south to follow the trail of the Civil Rights Movement.

The trip opened my eyes to a lot of thing. It was a humbling experience (even though I was sleep deprived for the half the trip) that taught me more than I could ever learned in the classroom.

This week marked the 50th anniversary the Little Rock Nine’s integration into the all white Central High, and was met with a wave of protests upon their entry. On the trip, I met a few of the Little Rock Nine. We met, Minnijean Brown Trickey, who if you met her without knowing her past would not think a person with such a bubbly personality had experienced such hardship.

But the one woman who does stand out specifically from the trip is Elizabeth Eckford. Our group met her in the auditorium of Central High. Before she made her appearance it was requested that we do not clap, yell, or anything. The Little Rock Nine experience had shaken her to deeply any outbursts made her feel horribly uncomfortable – can’t say I blame her.

Eckford had the unfortunate experience of walking all the way to Central High as a crowd of people followed her, yelled, and taunted her.

Four years since seeing her in Little Rock and even 50 years later Eckford still holds firm to her belief that if she were given the chance to go to Central High again on that fateful day she would not. I always hear the saying everything heals over time. But in Eckford’s case, some things are just too painful to heal. -- Eming Piansay

Free Speech : To Have and Have Not

2007-09-28T19:35:00.000-07:00

Free speech is the simplest, yet most complex you will come across in your life. Journalists of today have come head to head with free speech. Especially the more out spoken writers on the left and right side of the political spectrum get their fair share of whipping from their counterparts.

Last week a student newspaper at Colorado State University that headlined their editorial page “Taser this … F—k Bush.” The uncensored headline was in response to the freedom speech issues that were raised last week when a University of Florida student was tasered by police after trying to ask Senator John Kerry a question during his speech. Since the editorial’s release The Rocky Mountain Collegian publication has lost many of its advertising customers, forcing the newspaper to cut back on salaries and has ultimately put the Editor in Chief’s job on the line.

How is it that free speech can cost so much? Maybe this is an idealistic take on what the 1st Amendment stands for, but having an opinion that does not literally read -- “lets go out and burn down the White House” – doesn’t explain why the headline is making so many people mad. I see “F—K Bush” every other day, tagged on buildings, walls, and bathroom stalls.

The fact that this is a school publication and the circulation is probably concentrated mostly to the Colorado area does not mean “F—K Bush” will insight a riot on the White House lawn. This one incident is a thump nail on a wall of journalists who have spoken out against the Bush Administration and have taken an opposite stance in comparison to their right leaning counterparts.

Sadly, The Rocky Mountain Collegian may end up getting their wish with their “Taser this…” headline – their choice to speak out on the matter may be the beginning of their end. Not to mention a reminder that Free Speech costs $1.50, a bag of chips, and your soul. -- Eming Piansay

Debating the Right to Bear Arms

2007-09-28T19:33:00.000-07:00

Following tragedies like Columbine, and Virginia Tech, it is no surprise that teachers and school officials want to carry firearms not only for their safety but the safety of the school campus – which could prevent similar horrific events. One Oregon teacher wants to be allowed to take her concealed weapon with her to work because of threats made against her by her ex-husband.

The teacher believes that having “responsible armed adults on campus” may be key in preventing other school tragedies.

I have never felt comfortable around guns. Even guns that are on safety or empty make me uncomfortable. I guess the idea that a piece of crafted metal that can end my life in an instant is a legit sort of fear.

I don’t know how comfortable I would be in knowing my teachers were carrying around firearms. Sure, it would potentially defuse a really bad situation if someone came to school with a gun and opened fire. However, there are a few ‘what ifs’ that come to mind. If teachers and the potential shooter started exchanging bullets from one side of the room to the other who is to say students wouldn’t be caught in the middle, adding up to an even deadlier outcome.

Given the rise in school violence it is obvious some action needs to taken in school security. However, having teachers walk around with firearms seems like something you do as a last resort. In a typical A to B then C setup, instead going through the traditional steps, it seems like people seem more interested in realizing the problem (A) skipping over (B) and jumping over to C. Schools need to be better equipped in dealing with school violence. Instead of turning school faculty into gun slingers there needs to be a way of tackling the issue of school violence without applying factors that may end up instigating it.

UPDATE: Maybe I need to clarify myself a little further. I am not advocating whether or not people in general should not be using firearms. My concern for firearms rests only in school staffers who are allowed to carry them. Carrying about a loaded pistol in a school of students from middle school, high school and so on is not the only way of dealing with the problem of school violence.

It is a matter of safety. Guns should not be a school campus. Period. Even if it is under a registered permit. As I stated before, there should be other ways of dealing with the threat of school violence. Something that doesn't require getting all trigger happy. -- Eming Piansay

UGH! Leave My F--king iPod Alone!!

2007-09-28T19:31:00.000-07:00

I’m probably the only person in the iPod friendly community who had to leave the room when the media announced a possible release of an updated iPod.

I was perfectly content after the last upgrade: black, 30-60 gigs, longer battery life, and in color. I didn’t download movies or anything but I was very, very content with the new edition. I really didn’t think Steve Jobs could out do himself after this but of course, if there’s a dollar sign there’s way.

The new iPod consists of a touch-activated screen, with a wireless Internet connection, and lets users buy music from any Starbucks that has a wireless setup. Just what I needed in my life: another reason to get caffeinated. Sooner or later Apple is going to attach an extendable couch so you can lie down and chill while you cruise the Internet.

The upgraded iPod has the same 3.5-inch screen as the iPhone. The “cheaptest” iPod, if you can call it cheap, is $299 dollars and only 8-gigabytes. The 16-gigabyte is priced at $399. The cheapest of the two, which costs about the same as the 30 gig, black iPod , doesn’t even come close to it’s capacity.

I know it sounds kind of creepy, but my iPod is like my baby that I adopted from a very large, corporate orphanage. I love everything about it and wouldn’t change it for the world. If my “baby” ends up dying and I’m forced to replace it with an iPod that can barely hold half my library – well—needless to say, hell hath no fury like an angry iPod user. -- Eming Piansay

Video Games Provoking Social Change

2007-09-28T19:24:00.000-07:00

When my best friend started getting me into video games it was mostly first person shooter games. I watched him crawl through dingy pipes, shoot at weird looking aliens, and ultimately save the world. My hero.

Normally, I wouldn’t expect video games to be aiming for setting some kind of example on its fan base.

However, a new video game, ICED allows players to get into the shoes of immigrants in the United States who are trying to live an average life while avoiding the risk of being taken off to the Department of Homeland security’s Immigration and Custom’s Enforcement office.

I suppose this was an answer to the game released not too long ago. Border Patrol allows players to shoot at immigrants from Mexico as they try to enter the United States while crossing the border. I wonder what kind of sick and twisted brains get paid to shovel out that kind of crap.

ICED may be only a small chip off a bigger block of getting younger people aware of these important social issues. Even though it is only a video game if is gets people anymore aware – all the more power to ‘em. -- Eming Piansay

Tech Love Unlimited

2007-09-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

If the all the technology on the planet Earth suddenly ceased to work and no one could log onto their e-mail, check their MySpace page, charge their iPods, or get their laptops working the sceniro from every corner of the world would be a horrified scream, which would echo to the outer reaches of the universe. Guys in suits might throw themselves from the Empire State building.

The whole tech craze isn’t limited to the usual countries that have been hubs for tech savvy individuals.

When I visited the Philippines earlier this month I soon learned that you couldn’t do much without a cell phone. The whole country relies on text messaging. Everyone has a cell phone. Even the boy riding the cow probably had a cell phone.

In the matter of three weeks I managed to better my text messaging skills but when I came back I had problems shifting to the U.S. standard text message setup. That was maybe the biggest culture shock I experienced.

Back in America, the computer, cell phone, Blackberry, iPod, and every other tech-related piece you cherish like a member of your family, has become an extension of us.

Everyone probably knows this is true but to think there could be a day where everything with any sort of electronic hook-up could go – bye-bye would be a true test of Darwinism, the survival of the fitness.

Those who live without the ever-present technological necessities will dominant and those who cause Hell to freeze over the lose of their phone will be the first to go. I’d probably be gone by breakfast time, brunch if I’m lucky. -- Eming Piansay

Past and Present

2007-09-28T19:22:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna start uploading the blogs I posted on New America Media ... I 've been meaning to but.. alas... I have flaked. So, as of now I will start posting old and new blogs. Too old? DEAL WITH IT.

War Buddies

2007-09-23T20:32:00.000-07:00

This week Newsweek reported that Vice President Dick Cheney had at one point considered asking the Israel government to “launch a limited missile strike on a Iranian nuclear site”. At that point the U.S. government would be given the green light to strike Iran. If this report is indeed true, then I hope the Republican and Democrats Presidential hopefuls take a side note from this story as what one should not do while they are in office. Are we our own terrorists? By going out of our way to get into skirmish with neighboring countries, or getting our allies to do it for us, we are literally opening the door for people to hate us. No one likes to befriend a bully, unless you’re the one reaping in the rewards. Just recently Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated Iran had no need for nuclear weapons and declared Iran will not go to war with the U.S. Now, I can’t say I won’t take his word without a grain of salt, but that goes that same for with the White House repeatedly stating Iran is harboring nuclear weapons. Who are you suppose to believe – when both sides say the other is lying? -- Eming Piansay

Now This Ain't Fair

2007-09-20T21:45:00.000-07:00

The Other "Big Love

2007-09-14T19:34:00.000-07:00

Try and imagine HBO’s Big Love but completely twisted and psycho. If you've seen the show you probably have an idea of where I'm going with this. I’m not a religious person. Nor am I an expert in the area. However, when young people are blatantly being exploited against their will – I think it requires some kind of rant.

Last week Warren Jeffs, Prophet, Seer and Revelator (whoa, that’s a mouth full) of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a religious sect that broke off from the Mormon church, was arrested and charged with "being an accomplice to rape”. The FLDS practices polygamy, even though the Mormon Church has given up polygamy since 1890, the FLDS still holds the tradition.

Jeffs stands accused of setting up marriages with adult males and underage girls. The 14-year-old victim was forced by Jeffs to wed her 19-year-old cousin. Here’s the rest of the story.

This is not the only case of unethical actions in the FLDS. Another victim of abuse,Sara Hammon, at the age of 14-year-old left the FLDS community. The sexual abuse was simply too much to bear for such a young girl. What I hate more than anything in the world is when people use scare tactics to justify their beliefs. The 14-year-old girl was told if she did not have sex with her husband she would lose her salvation.

Telling a 14-year-old girl that she will probably go to hell if she doesn’t have sex is the most twisted, mind-warping thing anyone can say. Having grown up and been taught what is supposedly right and wrong it is not hard to imagine her believing that. It is such a crazy, messed up concept. Won’t give it up? You’re going to hell.

Some of us cling to salvation like it’s a life raft, others have other ways of finding worth in their existence, but some people – like Jeffs – gave up theirs a long time ago. -- Eming Piansay

Tinkering With Tinker Bell

2007-09-11T19:28:00.001-07:00

I personally really hate it when things from my childhood, which I absolutely adored, get changed. When my old elementary school got a face-lift I cringed at the sight of red and yellow dolphin and sailboats got displayed on the schoolyard.

Now, I have a twisted sick love of my old childhood cartoons. Don’t ask me why. Don’t ask me to justify it – because I can’t do so without making myself looks like a creepy freak, which has the imagination of a seven year old.

This summer I went to Disney World. There, I helped support the Disney economy with my trusty credit card and splurged on unnecessary merchandise. If there’s one thing I saw a lot in and around the Disney World theme part was a whole lot of Tinker Bell.

By the time I saw my ten millionth Tink t-shirt I started to ask myself, “When did Tinker Bell get so popular?”

Apparently my question was going to be answered a few months later when this story came out.

I recently wanted Peter Pan and remembered how much I enjoyed it. I never realized before, but Tink was one of the only strong female characters in the Disney franchise. Even though she only speaks in her – ugh – fairy language, her actions portray her as a sassy, strong willed, independent woman. Her personality, I think, is a great departure from the typical Disney female character from the older films.

Now, Disney is trying to capitalize on Tink’s success by coming out with a whole new batch of merchandise dedicated to her. Including a movie, where she actually speaks (yes, no more jingle-jingle) and is reportedly to be voiced by Brittany Murphy.

I don’t know which scares me more, the fact that another straight to DVD movie is coming out clearly nowhere near the caliber or the old time Disney movies, or the fact that Brittany Murphy is going to be the voice. I can’t imagine Tink speaking English, much less Brittany Murphy’s voice coming. This has super-ubber weird written all over it.

I really wish Disney would stop trying to remake and mangle the old Disney films. Some things should really – really – really – be left alone.

What Fear Breeds

2007-09-10T20:33:00.000-07:00

Religion can do a lot of things. It can inspire, create conversation, cause disputes, but recently religion seems to be coupled with one thing specifically: fear. After the attacks on 9/11, religion has been the epicenter of a lot of discussion. Let it be the Al-Qaeda declaring war against the West in the name of God, or the conservative branch in America who thinks marriage between a two individuals is a slap in the face of God himself. From the United State’s point of view the point of religion of most concern is the religious groups who believe the attacks on 9-11 were justified. Even though some theorists believe the 9-11 attacks were conspiracy staged by the government itself – but we won’t get into that. The New York Times reported that federal prison chaplains were ordered to remove religious materials and books from the chapel libraries that are normally available to prisoners. Many prisoners, angered by removal, have filed a class action lawsuit for the violation of their right to practice religion, which is guaranteed to them in the First Amendment.

Traci Billingsley, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons, said the agency was acting in response to a 2004 report by the Office of the Inspector General in the Justice Department. The report recommended steps that prisons should take, in light of the Sept. 11 attacks, to avoid becoming recruiting grounds for militant Islamic and other religious groups. The bureau, an agency of the Justice Department, defended its effort, which it calls the Standardized Chapel Library Project, as a way of barring access to materials that could, in its words, “discriminate, disparage, advocate violence or radicalize.”

Not everyone is a terrorist. But if you’re in prison and religion brings you some kind of comfort no one has the right to take it away from you. First Amendment! Hello!? The attempt to neutralize “recruiting grounds” in jail for potential terrorist cells is a lame attempt to flex the muscle of homeland security. These people are in jail. JAIL. I wouldn’t be so much worried about terrorist cells developing because of the amount of religious texts at the local chapel libraries – but more worried about the hell the prisoners are going to raise because of the blatant injustice that is being tossed at them. -- Eming Piansay

Potty Problems

2007-09-09T22:30:00.000-07:00

Bombs Away

2007-09-09T19:32:00.000-07:00

Last week, the United States showed how lax they are in domestic security. Five nuclear warheads were loaded on to a B-52 bomber and flown from North Dakota to Louisiana. The mistake took place as 400 missiles were to be put out to pasture. The five warheads were loaded under the wings of the plane. From the content of the article, it sure didn’t seem like an accident, since the warheads were placed on the exterior of the plane. It wasn’t like someone put the warheads in a giant box and accidentally set it down on the tarmac next to the plane.

It seems a little strange that someone would load active warheads for a simple transport from point A to point B.

Though it could be easily argued that the warheads were necessary and that all planes should be loaded with extra support like that. However, if you were flying over the United States with a batch of warheads, I would think that would be of some concern – especially since they are flying over civilians.

If anything, the United States should be a little more aware of the immediate dangers of their own little mess up that are of a more local threat, no matter how trivial it may appear. -- Eming Piansay

Pink Kitty Shame

2007-09-09T19:27:00.000-07:00

This vlog is in reference to how to cops in Thailand have a new form of punishment. I'm still trying to figure out how to edit this properly. -- Eming Piansay Yo! Vlog

Bombs Away

2007-09-09T16:17:00.001-07:00

Last week, the United States showed how lax they are in domestic security. Five nuclear warheads were accidentally loaded on to a B-52 bomber and flown from North Dakota to Louisiana. The mistake took place as 400 missiles were to be put out to pasture. The five warheads were loaded under the wings of the plane. From the content of the article, it sure didn’t seem like an accident, since the warheads were placed on the exterior of the plane. It wasn’t like someone put the warheads in a giant box and accidentally set it down on the tarmac next to the plane.

It seems a little strange that someone would load active warheads for a simple transport from point A to point B.

Though it could be easily argued that the warheads were necessary and that all planes should be loaded with extra support like that. However, if you were flying over the United States with a batch of warheads, I would think that would be of some concern – especially since they are flying over civilians.

If anything, the United States should be a little more aware of the immediate dangers of their own little mess up that are of a more local threat, no matter how trivial it may appear.

-- Eming Piansay

Cheating : The New Status Quo

2007-09-09T15:08:00.001-07:00

“Everyone does it”.

During my stint in high school there were numerous times where I saw my fellow classmates cheating. Most times subtle; other times so obvious it pained me that my teacher didn’t see the girl in the third row turn around to her friend during a brain burning test and getting the answers without having to strain a brain cell.

Of course, I’m probably guilty of the same. Though, not as bad as test cheating, I copied down homework from my friends prior to our art history class. In my defense I worked my little brain on overdrive to scan through that huge book to look for the answers. But when it comes to being midnight on a Sunday and all you want to do is close your eyes and go to la-la land, cheating does not look too bad.

As I got into college cheating became something you didn’t really talk about. Sure, you’re told not to do cheat. Warned that you’ll be kicked out of school and what not – but when you’re under the gun of passing sixteen units, working a full time job, sometimes you just have to give yourself a break and do a little bad thing.

Yes, yes yes. I know. Cheating is bad. It is unethical. It is a horrible habit that could ruin you in every respect. But taking on the desperate side of the spectrum, not everyone can be blamed for trying to make ends meet. The above story cites the Wikipedia as a form of ‘cheating’ whereas some think it is just a method of help. It would be very, very interesting to go through your whole high school and college career using only Wikipedia. I hope someone, someday tests that theory.

Stupid Ass Trivia

2007-08-28T19:30:00.000-07:00

My highest score on the S.A.T.’s back in my day (though it technically wasn’t very long ago) was 910. I was pretty proud to reach the nine hundred’s, even though that score wouldn’t have gotten me in a mile of an Ivy League campus.

It always irked me how my extended learning experience after high school was based on a stupid test, with stupid questions, and a stupid method of calculating my score. Okay, I overused the world stupid, but hey, if the description fits…

After I graduated high school in 2004, the setup of the S.A.T’s changed; the test itself was expanded and now includes a written essay.

Boy, oh boy. I can only imagine what would happen to my beautiful 910 score if they made me write an essay after staring down the bubble scantron of death. I can best describe it to be the sound a balloon makes when you pop it – but more melodramatic.

The results from the class of 2007 indicated the scores were the lowest it has been in eight years. Now I don’t feel as bad about my meager 910.

Tests like these are so broad, and are the deciding factor on so many people’s college acceptances (or so we’re meant to believe). If you want to test a mass population on general education either you fine-tune each test to fit a specific demographic (probably nearly impossible in the real world) or scrap the whole test all together and start from scratch. Since certain schools need to have some way of filtering through the mass load of eager beavers trying to enter their grace land, I can’t see the test being tossed all together.

But there’s nothing wrong with reconstruction. The city of Troy fell and they later rebuilt themselves and became the Roman Empire. If first you do not succeed try, try again. I guess that’s why I took that damn test enough times to fund a small wedding banquet. -- Eming Piansay

Their Only Way out

2007-08-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

Last year alone 99 U.S. Army soldiers committed suicide. According to a report, this has been the highest percentage of suicides in the Army’s history in 26 years.

Though the story says there is no direct evidence that links the suicides to deployment into the Middle East, or exposer to fighting, it is hard to believe deployment to areas in the Middle East hampered with violence wouldn’t cause any long lasting affects on the mental health of the soldiers.

Even if the reason for their deaths were not limited to their deployment over seas, it is hard to imagine the war has not played a part in their untimely demise.

Though I have never gone to war myself, I can only imagine it to be a nightmare you wake up to each and everyday. You’re in an unfamiliar, foreign country, you’re homesick, and people are getting randomly killed each day.

One-third of the suicides were committed while serving in the Middle East of Iraq and Afghanistan. These numbers may look subjective overall but there were also 948 attempted suicides. That’s 948 times soldiers have tried to commit suicide but failed. 948 times these soldiers may have taken one look around and said, “There is no way I’m staying here another day.”

There have been so many press conferences where I have seen the President and his many advisors rally that the War on Terror is meant to secure our freedom, so we may be safe from of those who wish to do us harm. But what about the soldiers risking their necks everyday? What sort of safety and security are they receiving? If 948 of them have attempted to commit suicide because of their experience overseas and 99 have succeeded, shouldn’t there be a committee that insecure the physical and mental health of these brave individuals – or if anything getting these people back home so they can get proper treatment.

There are red flags all over this story. If people are killing themselves because of their present living conditions, this is a sign to start bringing the troops home on a more rapid scale. No more dragging feet through the mud. Just do it. We owe them that much. -- Eming Piansay

Ding Dong Rove is Gone

2007-08-14T19:29:00.000-07:00

In his departure from the White House, former senior adviser to the President Karl Rove got the works. A tearful thanks and goodbye from the President and First Lady, followed by a ride on the President’s helicopter to Air Force One. However, there was one thing missing from this scene that Rove desperately needs a dose of: justice.

Better known as the ‘Boy Genius’, Rove has been the epicenter of many controversies to rattle the walls of the White House. He has been linked to, though never charged, with the leaking the name of the CIA operative Valerie Plame and playing a part in the firings of 8 U.S. attorneys last year.

It is sickening to think a man can do so much damage to so many people, let it be the CIA outing, the firing of the attorneys or conducting the War on Terror, and still not getting his proper kick of karma. If we lived in the medieval ages and Rove did then what he’s done now, he would have been taken to the town’s square and hung by his pinky toe.

Sadly, public opinion has little to do with the outcome of judicial punishment on authority figures, and the victims of his tirades are no more than distant echoes of the past lodged between old newspaper clippings, and Youtube video clips.

In his final farewell Rove was quoted in regard to the Democratic attempts to investigate his role in the U.S. attorney firings:

I'm Moby Dick, and we've got three or four members of Congress who are trying to cast themselves in the part of Captain Ahab — so, they're going to keep coming,

. The major difference between Karl Rove and Moby Dick: Moby Dick was the victim, minding his own business in the sea, while Captain Ahab just couldn’t find it in his heart to leave the poor mammal alone. Rove’s victims have more in common with Moby Dick, than Rove ever will. -- Eming Piansay

Not All Daughters Follow Their Fathers

2007-08-09T19:28:00.000-07:00

If you’re the daughter or son of a politician running for President does that automatically mean you have to vote for your parading political parent? Recently, former New York Major and Republican Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani’s daughter Caroline was reported to support Barack Obama candidacy for the White House. Her Facebook profile revealed her as a ‘liberal’ and a member of one the Barack Obama support groups on the site.

The media had a field day with this story. I would guess the reason people are shocked is because traditionally if a family member of yours is running for office you vote for them since you’re related and that’s just the way you’re expected to behave. I personally think this isn’t something to be shocked over, but celebrated. Many news sources have said the strained relations between Giuliani and his family were the cause of this revelation. But no one seems to be thinking that this is a girl, independent in thinking, who so happens to have different belief than her parents do.

It could be equally as likely that Caroline’s choice of candidates is based purely in belief, and her decision could have had no reflection to any possible animosity towards her father (well, I’m just speculating). Her decision to not post her support for her father’s campaign may not be based on any sort of father-daughter love, but rational independent thinking.

Plus, since when has there been any kind of love in politics? Point proven. -- Eming Piansay

Prying into Privacy : American Style

2007-08-06T19:25:00.000-07:00

This may not necessarily be a youth issue, it is everybody’s issue. When the Democratic Party took control of Congress in the beginning of this year I was relieved. Like the idealist that I am, I figured that would signal some great shift in the universe. The sun would shine brighter; the stars would join into a giant conga line; money would start growing from trees. Unfortunately, none of those happened. The Democrats platform ran on the sayings “We’re Different! We’re Better! We Ain’t Bush! Woo hoo!!” What a load of croc. I don’t know about everyone else, but I thought the whole point of having a Democratic party having control both houses of Congress would mean Prez. Bush would have some kind of checks and balances in the works. Apparently, whatever stability the Democratic party was suppose to provide by setting a few limits here and there, and being some sort of 'voice of reason' has had as little impact to the political arena, as jail time has effected Paris Hilton’s popularity. The U.S. Constitution is on the verge of becoming the WELCOME mat outside the White House – treaded on to the fullest. Now that The House has voted to let the President expand the eavesdropping without the need of official warrants, I am beside myself. What was the point of getting the Democrats toe-to-toe with the Republican Party when all they were going to do in the end was concede and waddle away with their tail between their legs. Maybe they’re just waiting for one of the Democratic Presidential hopefuls get a plunked down in the Oval Office to make whatever significant changes they had in mind. Either way, change is a progressive stepladder for the people who take the time, however, dragging your feet through the mud is a skill best left to those who know it best. -- Eming Piansay

Blog Head

2007-08-02T16:13:00.000-07:00

There are some places we shouldn't be allowed to go... but we some how managed to get there anyway....
I vlogged.... scary... isn't it?

Eveybody Fly Tipsy!

2007-07-27T10:09:00.000-07:00

To hell with on the job safety! These guys are pros! I mean.. if you can let people launch into space drunk -- doctors should be doing that too! Would be one hell of a surgery, don't ya think?

Too Young, Too Famous, Too Soon

2007-07-26T20:35:00.001-07:00

I used to be O.K. with Lindsay Lohan. I enjoyed her movie Mean Girls. I felt she had a lot more honesty in her acting than a lot of other young actresses at the time. Or I guess she was just a lot more likeable than most recent batch of the teen-scream market. I lip-synced to Britney Spears with the rest of America when her first single “Hit Me Baby One More Time” came out. I showed a vague enough interest in Paris Hilton to click on whatever news headline she made during the course of her daily bloopers. I have had my share of this pop cultural addiction. I have taken these girls into my life. I accepted them, even when they did really stupid things. I was humored by their displays of public indecency. But now I just feel sorry for these girls. I can’t ever read the newspaper, or do anything really, without hearing about Paris Hilton and her social life and her jail time, Lindsay Lohan going to rehab, Britney Spear’s breakdown at the OK! Magazine photo shoot. Not surprisingly, people are pretty freaked out on the impression these young women have on their very large, very young fan base. Which is understandable, celebrities do have a scary influence on today’s society. The whole thing is just crazy. These girls are only in their twenties and they have been arrested, gone to jail, rehab and had their lives played out on every tabloid cover from here to Never-Never Land. Over exposure probably has a double-sided effect too. If the general population is influenced by what these young ladies do, imagine how their own actions are affecting them – mentally. This Friday, OK! Magazine’s story on Britney Spear’s very strange photo shoot hits stands. Her most recent ‘socialite scandal’ has shaken the concerned adult commentary machine from its long slumber. In this case, the concerned adults are part of the religious league conscious population who are worried that these starlets acting out creates a negative example for young people. They feel parents need to know and understand how to prevent their children from mirroring these same habits. That goal is totally understandable. I don’t think many adults like the idea of their kids running around, getting DUI’s, going into rehab and doing a wide range of other things parents get jittery over. I can’t imagine living like that. I can’t imagine surviving a life like that. I’m Lindsey Lohan’s age and I still feel like I’m an emotion-crazed teenager – I can only imagine what’s going on in her head. To be a mass marketing icon must take a little bit of your soul along for the ride, not to mention cause some possible irreversible damage to your career. As much as I hate the hype that these girls get for all their strange behavior I do feel really sorry for them. Everyone goes through rough patches in their lives, celebrity or otherwise. That’s the price you pay for celeb-status. Sad, but true. -- Eming Piansay

Too Young, Too Famous, Too Soon

2007-07-26T20:35:00.000-07:00

From the Ethnic Side of the Blog

2007-07-26T19:25:00.001-07:00

I wrote this story for New America Media. Pretty proud of it.
(got 871 hits in a day! woo hoo!)

Enjoy

Frontrunners Fumble Youtube Debate

The Kitty of Death

2007-07-26T19:13:00.001-07:00

I wonder if anyone freaks out when this cat comes into their room. Though.. at the edge of death... I doubt you would be complaining much.

Young Voters Strike Back -- Via Internet

2007-07-23T20:36:00.000-07:00

Monday night the presidential Democratic line up came face to face with the young American voters through the Internet, courtesy of CNN and Youtube. The questions posed by the Internet audience ring true to the current state of a society where the younger generation have had it up to here with the hypocrisy of their government. As the time approaches for the younger generation of voters to “inherit the future”-- this election could be one of those few moments in time where the youth are the ones calling it like it is and seeing through the pretense. This Presidential election could easily be titled “Cut the Crap 2008”. With questions like :

"Can you as politicians ... actually answer questions rather than beat around the bush?"

It is good to see that the youth generation of voters are not as naïve as we are sometimes stereotyped of being. Especially when it comes to hammering it out with the Presidential candidates. Young people, most of the time, say exactly what they think. Which is why debates like these are very necessary in today’s political arena. The youth voice isn’t necessarily something that gets a lot of air play in the everyday world, but the fact that politicians are actually answering their questions – brings out that little cheesy warm feeling in the pit of your stomach. -- Eming Piansay

For the Sci-Fi Freak in You

2007-07-21T23:33:00.000-07:00

I was able to catch Sunshine in theatres today, and I must say was probably one of the best sci fi movies i've seen in theatres in awhile. Beautifully done. It is really something that should be seen on the big screen. What I really loved about this movie was the nice mesh of different races. Okay... it wasn't COMPLETELY mixed but it was a different than what I usually expected out of a white dominated acting industry.

I'm Sorry Miss... But You Do Suck...

2007-07-18T22:01:00.002-07:00

Being a struggling artist myself I can feel for those who are also artists in their own right. I understand that they put a lot of thought into what they do and that they are trying so very hard to reach an audience on a grand scale. But let me just say this, if you are a comedian at a stand up comedy showcase at an iddy, bitty resturant do NOT whisper "vagina" in my ear, or ask if I'm a lesbian. If you were any good stand up comedian I wouldn't mind. I might even find it humorous. But, if you -- to put it nicely -- SUCK-- chances are you shouldn't be acting like ego-inflated fuck head. And I say that with love.

If someone has yet to tell you, that you do in fact suck, you have really kind friends who love you too much to say, "Hon, maybe you need to find another hobby."

If you suck now chances are you may never stop. You may continue to suck and make a literal fool out of yourself. So please, all you non-funny people out there in the world. Quit while you ahead -- I did, you should too.

Devil With A Conscience (sort of)

2007-07-18T20:40:00.000-07:00

This blog may be longer than most because there is just too much ‘WTF’ in the story to simplify it all. The consumer market industry is crazy. Literally. I have never seen a pack of hungry investors crammed into a room before, and I hope to never experience it again. I went to the Ypulse Mashup 2007 conference this week and got a taste of exactly what goes into exploiting the teen market. The first day was pretty much a warm-up for the full day session. Two rooms were in use one for a discussion on music and the other on the psychological workings of the teen brain, I think… I wanted to check that one out but ended up going to the music conference instead. I tried to make a tally in my notes of the ratio between adults and who I thought were teenagers. Almost no teens and almost no diversity – it was the whitest gold room in the world. On the second day when I walked into the giant conference room and saw the seats filled with older women and guys in suits while a Justin Timberlake song being blasted from one side of the room to the other. I figured that the plan for the whole conference was to put all these business driven marketers for teens in a room and blast every popular song off the 40 top pop charts in the past year with the hope that maybe, just maybe being amerced in the teen scene would make them understand their teen consumers any better. Later, four teens on the “cutting edge” of the Internet teen industry were rallied on stage to tell the industry bobble heads what they do to get other teens interested in their online companies. One pod casting teen, who hasn’t had any trouble getting sponsorship from companies made me sink further into my seat, “I talk about global warming and stuff…” she said under the giant photo of her that looks more like a display picture on MySpace. A few of the speakers and people running the shindig were people who were originally journalists, who finally realized marketing towards teens is a biggest cash cow of them all. Truth seekers turned marketers… hip hip hooray. I figured I was bound to learn something during the lunch roundtables. I had signed up for the teen blogging topic. The whole thing turned out to be an ad for the blogging website LiveJournal. The entire conference was basically a two day ad for all these companies who have been successful in the teen market, who were not only trotting out their name but at the same time were saying, “You can get teens to love you too if you follow this formula.” At the end, after lunch, when a small amount of the audience went home was when the companies did their whole very convincing display of, “Even though we are trying to make money off poor broke teenagers, we still have hearts and we use those very small hearts to do very small displays of charity.” Little acts of charity verses full blown extortion. I guess even the devil has a little, itty, bitty conscience. -- Eming Piansay

Blogger's Guilt

2007-07-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

So sorry for the ZERO amount of posts lately... summer has been crazy. I promise to get more stuff up this week. Until then here's a video I found very amusing for those who love old cartoons shows.

-eming piansay

The Potter Plague

2007-07-15T20:43:00.000-07:00

If there was a book that got kids and adults alike piling into bookstores on the first day of release and makea mad dash for the bookshelves it probably wasn’t as successful as the Harry Potter series. Every once in awhile books get acclaim from various sides of the literary world but none have really had such a large fan base that descends age groups like Harry Potter. It is always refreshing to see a 40-year-old carrying around the Order of the Phoenix on the BART train. But with the new release of what appears to be the final addition to the series, I’m finding myself clinging to denial for dear life. Many non-Potter fans roll their eyes at the devotion that the book brings out of the fans. I don’t necessarily blame them. It is just a book – right? After the release date of final installment came out reality hit me. This was probably the last new book out of the series I was ever going to read. What am I going to look forward to reading after this? I know it sounds nerdy, and a wee-bit obsessive but it is the big finish! The last explosion of fireworks! The reason why some kids actually read. This book got my cousin to read, and she rarely reads anything ever. The fact she actually started reading a 400-page book – I almost fell out of my chair. Once the Potter craze goes away, I’m sure there will be a year or so of withdrawal. For most, watching the final few movies will take off the edge. Some will resort to re-reading all seven books. A friend of mine, who is a more a Potter fan than I am but is a little more optimistic than most said, “Y’know, it is kind of cool that we get the chance to show our kids these books and have them read it for the first time. So they can love is just as much as we did.” And the Potter Plague lives on…

Things That Make You Go : Ugh! Volume 6

2007-07-05T20:44:00.000-07:00

There is one thing I don't understand about the way society works. You can get arrested and thrown into jail, and get your rights taken away from you for either having or lighting up a joint but you can get cigarettes over the counter like over priced candy. Even though marijuana has been used to treat medical patients with a wide range of illnesses, it is still illegal -- even though you can probably think of at least five people off the top of your head that have easy access to it. Maybe this is just an old debate that just won't die. Rationally speaking, cigarette smokers, who are doing nearly as much damage to the health of others with second hand smoke and get held accountable for shortening the lifespans of others and as much grief marijuana users. Fair is fair. Right? But profit has always been able to speak louder than fairness these days.

The Olympics: Uniting the World Through Child Labor

2007-06-12T20:49:00.000-07:00

The International Olympic Committee may have just discovered a great new tag line for the Olympic games in 2008. Uniting the World Through Child Labor. Has a nice ring to it, wouldn’t you say? Beijing, China, which is slated to hold the games next year, has come under fire by the global trade union and labor group PlayFair 2008. According to PlayFair, factory employees who are producing the official Olympic merchandise for the 2008 games in China are worked over 12 hour shifts and are paid for less than the minimum wage. To make matters worse the
reportgoes on to say children as young as twelve-years-old are also working in these sweat shops. The hypocrisy speaks for itself. But of course this isn’t a total surprise either. How many treasured aspects of society have been created by sweatshop labor? Shirts, coats, pants, hats -- you name it. The list is probably as long as the wing of a 747. As sad as it sounds, the one thing that can unite the world is some big over hyped extravaganza, that is internally making money off the brow of people who really have no choice but to work in these conditions to survive. The Olympics is founded on the idea:

...to contribute to the building of a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with the spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.

Sounds convincing enough. But that’s the risk in giving different countries the privilege to host these international games. Whether or not they adhere to those same building blocks or if they play by their own rule book. Either way the image of the infamous Olympic logo of the 5 rings may not longer show the ideals of a united world, but the sewing work of a twelve-year- old stitching the rings together at 2 a.m. in the morning. Editor's Note: Here's an update on the developing story.

U.S. Education Goes Digital; China Goes All Out

2007-06-12T20:47:00.000-07:00

During the start of the school year I started wishing life was like a Star Trek episode. Instead of cramming all my textbooks into my overworked backpack, the experience would be complete with miniature computer pads overloaded with information crammed into the itty-bitty hard drive while sitting comfortably in your back pocket. I can only imagine the vast difference in the happiness of high school and college student if the only school book they had to lug from point A to point B only weighed about two pounds and stored everything from the complete collection of Emily Dickinson, to the hefty hardcover calculus book. Now, many colleges in the U.S. have begun to adopt the procedure of copying a portion of their school books into digital form. With the help of Google search engine, schools in Iowa, Indiana, Penn State, and Michigan – just to name a few – plans to scan up to 10 million volumes of literature into digital format. Compared to China, the United States’ take on education are mere baby steps. In China, the path to college is a rigorous one that nearly shuts down the entire country for two days for the college entrance exam. Unlike here in America, if you fail that sort of test in China it would be hard to say, “The system failed me!” considering all the outside effort that goes into getting students to that point. The day the U.S. diverts airplanes away from an area where students may be taking the SAT’s, and not to mention when teachers start getting paid for their actual worth, that will be the day the bill for education won't be slided for a costly war. But that's a whole another rant that I'll save for another day.

Things That Make You Go Ugh! Volume 5

2007-06-12T20:46:00.000-07:00

God Speaks, Paris Sees Melodramatic Light Apparently Paris Hilton is so famous now that she gets sent special messages from God via text message. According to Paris, this whole experience of her driving a car without a proper permit, getting busted, and thrown in jail has been a message from God. In reality, I’m sure God stopped trying to send those : STOP BEING A SLUT messages along time ago. After her short stint in the slammer, her even shorter release, and her re-entry, Paris has – dare I say it: Seen the error of her ways. What a load of smelly socks and rotten eggs that is. In an interview with Barbara Walters, Hilton stated that:

“I used to act dumb. It was an act. I am 26 years old, and that act is no longer cute. It is not who I am, nor do I want to be that person for the young girls who looked up to me."

Right, of course. Because her desire to be a better role model for young girls didn’t happen after her infamous sex tape made headlines, or the many, many, many tabloid headlines surrounding her all day and night partying. Her revelation happens after her lawyers’ really lame lie to get her out of jail backfired forcing her to realize she can’t dictate the law to her comfort level.

"I feel that the purpose of my life is to be where I am," Hilton told Walters. "My spirit or soul did not like the way I was being seen and that is why I was sent to jail. God has released me."

Paris should look into writing for soap operas. There is definitely a place for her in the world of really emo, self-pitying monologues.

Video Games Get Vindicated

2007-06-07T19:26:00.000-07:00

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ain’t happy, but a bunch of young video gamers will be relieved– whether they know it or not. A California federal judge has reversed a law that would ban minors from purchasing video games tagged as violent. The judge found the ban unconstitutional because it conflicted with the 1st amendment’s right of free speech. Personally, the ban wouldn’t make sense. Just think of it as illegally downloading music. Even if you shut down one music site there is always another one near by. The same goes for video games. Take away their ability to buy video games and most likely they’ll find an older friend or relative who has it. As long as there are laws there will be loopholes to them. The best thing to do is to get parents more aware of what their kids are playing. Ultimately, if younger kids are buying these games their parents are the ones footing the bill, so it really is up to the parents whether or not they want their kids exposed to that violent video games. Awareness – supposedly – starts at home. -- Eming Piansay

Things That Make You go : Ugh! Volume 7

2007-06-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

Unnecessary Information Overload

Of all the things happening in the world why- oh why is Paris Hilton always on the top of the Breaking Headlines section. Isn't there a more revelent story floating around somewhere in the world? No matter which news website I stumble on to there she is. I don’t even understand why everyone is so interested in her. All she has to do is step outside her hotel, drop a paper cup and every other joe-somebody takes the bait. For weeks the news that Paris is heading off to jail has been EVERYWHERE. Not that it isn't surprising but still -- if Paris was a drug we'd have all ODed a very long time ago. Without even looking for it, every news outlet has been mercilessly beating the Paris story over anyone who is brave enough to venture into the vain existence of a poor little hotel heiress. Talk about a waste of printing material.

Enough is Enough… Seriously…

When the United States’ War on Terror started after the 9/11 attacks everything seemed like it was happening in a dream state. But as the dream state wore off so did the vast amount of patience that came along with. With news like this, and more U.S. deaths every week the water downed ideals that the U.S.’s stint in the Middle East is working to an the ultimate positive outcome it is starting to feel like a move trilogy that just keeps getting worse with every release.

With the Democrats doing the blame-game-shuffle on the War in Iraq, the 2008 Presidential election has opened a whole new door with buckets and barrels of talk. But like what most have probably come to expect from our government leaders these days talk is the only thing any of them seem to be good at.

Get Married, Cure Depression, Save the World

I thought Chris Rock had the best take on relationships. But it appears science says otherwise. Apparently marriage cures the blues. I guess most of the people studied were kicking back on happy pills. But, whatever, I’ll believe the gospel of Chris any day.

Lackluster Girl Power

2007-06-04T13:09:00.000-07:00

I wrote this blog for the New America blog website. Check it out... sorry for the week delay I haven't been near my computer in awhile. I'll have more stuff posted this week.

Lackluster Girl Power

Things That Make You go Huh? Volume 3

2007-05-23T20:54:00.000-07:00

Jedi, Wookies, Storm Troopers… Oh my!

I am a major fan of Star Wars. However, I’m not a big enough fan to dress the part, but in my heart I am a Jedi in training. The whole set up of a classic struggle between good and evil (when its done right) that gets me mesmerized.

However, there is just something about 17 hours of my life sitting in a giant movie theatre and watching all six movies that really makes me wonder what I’m doing with my life. This week in Los Angeles thousands of Star Wars fans get the mother of all Star Wars conventions: 17 hours worth of Star Wars from beginning to end. Do these people get to go home and take a nap? Can you imagine 17 hours of no sleep and watching Star Wars the entire time? By the eleventh hour I’m sure everyone starts looking like Yoda.

Crazy, Crazy ‘bout… Something

Some of you may have heard of this guy, Kenneth Eng. He’s a guy with – issues – to say the least. After the shootings at Virginia Tech he released a short clip on Youtube praising the killer, Cho Seung-hui. He’s also been in the news for his not so friendly race relation talk. Just when you think strange people couldn’t get any weirder they go and surprise you.

Children’s Army Part 2

For some reason I don’t get freaked out when my eight-year-old cousin picks up a plastic, oversized gun and aims for my head. But for some reason when a 5-year-old kindergartener says :

I’m going to bomb, bomb, bomb the school and everyone in it.

After reading this story I realized how crazy it must be in live in a country where at such a young age you have the mentality that you have to liberate your country. Completely mind-boggling. I can’t even begin to imagine what they must be thinking everyday they wake up and think what’s going on outside their window, to be so young, and so aware of their environment. It puts so many of us to shame, since our own involvement with the situation is through our local news channel on TV during dinner. There is no way to even try to put yourself in these children’s shoes, no way at all.

-- Eming Piansay

Life in Full Screen/Widescreen

2007-05-19T18:46:00.000-07:00

I went used Dvd shopping yesterday. Though, I probably shouldn't have. One of the three discs I picked up were The Usual Suspects and to my surprise it was an older version that had one side of the disc in standard fullscreen and the other side in widescreen. Too bad money has become the bottom line. If those people who distribute this stuff we're more focused on happy customers and less on the number of 0's show up in their overall bank account, ALL dvds would have this. Then, there wouldn't be that moment where you brain explodes because you like full screen but one of you TV screen is only widescreen and you can't stand the screen formats the movie. Cursive..annoying... blah.

Your DVD Player Will Love You

2007-05-16T17:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't been doing a lot of blogging for awhile but finals are here and - well - if you are or have been in college you know what that means. NO LIFE AT ALL. Anyway, this week New Line released the Academy Award winning Pan's Labyrinth on DVD.For those of you who haven't watched it - go to your local video store and watch it. I know the trailers are really misleading, and the current trailers for the DVD aren't too great either but this movie kicks total ass.

I don't see how anyone can not fall in love with this film. I'll post more thought provoking stuff soon, pinky swear.

Awesome Jobs For the Underdog

2007-05-11T20:56:00.000-07:00

Whoever said to be an artist requires you to starve to death should get their brain x-rayed. With the popular boom of Youtube just about anyone can show the world what they can do – art related and beyond. Recently, Youtube decided to make a portion of their audience partners in their company and would ultimately get these people paid for posting their videos.

Youtube posters like Valentina are just a few consistent uploaders who scored a large enough audience to get them paid to do it.

Valentina is an artist. And like so many of her kind, unless you’re skilled in graphic design, or computer related art chances are you probably aren’t making the million dollars you wish you were making. With the financial support of Youtube, Valentina may have helped opened a door that few artists may have known existed.

The best job an artist can hope to get is one that allows you to pretty much exploit your passion to the fullest AND getting paid for it. This, dear friend, is my ideal utopia.

-- Eming Piansay

Over Doing it a Bit

2007-05-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

I grew up on Disney. I LOOOOOVE Disney. I think I broke the Blockbuster copy of Sleeping Beauty because I was so in love with the movie. but THIS is freakin weird. I know I am a Disney freak..but this is just.... serious... WTF.

And most of the dresses (not including the yellow one from Beauty and the Beast) doesn't even LOOK like the dresses from the movie... sheesh.

"Formal" Discrimination

2007-05-04T21:07:00.000-07:00

This sounds like the modern day Cinderella story. Minus the fairy godmother, evil step sisters, and a dashing prince. In this case the transportation is covered, the dress is ready, and the zillion make-up and hair accessories are on standby. But replace the evil stepmother with school administrators following the student voted for restricts people going to the prom alone.

The video
explains it all. But the whole story really makes me want to bang my head against my keyboard.

And the student government’s reason for this whacked-out rule?

The student government wanted the prom to be more of a formal event. By barring the singles? Oh yeah, that's real formal. Formal discrimination.

“Formal” just sounds another word for social filtering. It could be possible we have unknowing been transported into the Victorian ages of giant ball gowns, and wigs that take up half the room, and egos so massive prom goers without any dates would just get in the way of all their twirling.

I wonder if a formal prom rule would prohibit freaking. If not, then in that case the stags are better off.

A Secret is a Secret

2007-05-03T23:08:00.000-07:00

I don't get it. It ain't a secret, if everyone knows it.

Third Times The Charm?

2007-05-03T21:51:00.000-07:00

I haven't seen Spider Man yet but I am timid as hell. From past experiences (such as the Matrix trilogy) it is really, really hard to pull off a trilogy. I don't even know why movie industries even bother. If the focus of these ventures weren't solely based on making money and was veered more towards the actual content of the movie then maybe -- just maybe people wouldn't walk out feeling cheated, and wouldn't make the decision to stop going to movie because they are so overpriced it could make a baby cry.

If even the main characters and director aren't totally committed to doing ANOTHER installment, does the industry really think they would be able to just replace these characters? Audiences aren't stupid. Sure... maybe some are... but that would be not only a waste of money but waste of film. If Spider Man 3 is as bad as everyone seems to think it is, the producers should have left it at 2 movies, and skipped the whole bad aftertaste.

iPod, iCheat

2007-05-02T21:08:00.000-07:00

When I took geometry summer classes at my high school I was tearing my hair out over a problem that I could not decipher to save my life. But when I glanced up I would see a handful of my classmates very, very obviously sending each other answers to the test via text messages. I know I probably failed the test anyway but still! I would have appreciated failing and knowing that I wasn’t the only one who didn’t understand the material. Instead, whatever grading curve was originally in place and could have possibly added a little cushion between myself and the giant letter ‘F’, was cut even tighter by the text message cheaters.

Technology is the closet thing to power. When you’re at the age where technology becomes second nature everything else is fair game. School isn’t easy. Most of us can testify to that. When you’re backed into a corner and say a very, very scary test is looming, and you haven’t studied because – well – in all sincere honesty – you just had other important things to do. For many, cell phones have become the go-to device for quick and easy communication. And like the situation I showed earlier cell phones became the quick and easy way to cheat and maybe not getting caught.

With the rise of public admiration for the all-mighty iPod, cell phones may become new method preferred by 4 out of 5 classroom cheats. Though the iPod’s primary use has been for music and movie addicts, a useful feature that allows the user to upload whole documents into their little player, or recording the answers on an audio file before hand and then stealthy playing them back without anyone noticing . The iPod has become a pocket failsafe for students in a crunch, or just the ever-growing lazy generation. If kids were sneaky enough to use their phones to message answers across the room, pulling out the iPod and scrolling down the play lists probably won’t be any difficult.

If this isn’t a sign that the youth culture is on the verge of taking over the world – then the youth generation has been severely underestimated.

dis S Y? we cnt spel

2007-04-25T21:22:00.000-07:00

Whoever cr8d dis method of ryTN shd B taken ot bac n sho

For those of you who get brain seizures while trying to decode these kind of sentences it reads : Whoever created this method of typing should be taken out back and shot. If you couldn’t read that sentence at first glance chances are you probably endorse it.

If there is one thing that is disrupting the English language for years to come it is the invention of the text message. Y’know – that little feature on your cell phone that lets you talk to someone without having to deal with any kind of awkward silence moments that telephone conversations normally create. You probably see it as a convenient method of communication, whereas your parents see it as a waste of ten bucks a month (I know mine do).

Text messaging in its short lifespan has probably set the English language back a good million years. If that doesn’t seem likely, then maybe the young Irish text messengers
will be more convincing. Though to some it may be obvious that text messaging it just one notch away from going back to cave man drawings, others think the very opposite.

Ruining? RUINING? It's expanding our language. It's making it more compatible with a write-faster short-message society. When people started saying 'why' more often than 'wherefore', there were no doubt old-fashioned starchies[sic] around then who argued that was wrong.

Personally, I hate the text message code lingo . When I do text message my friends I try to be as reader friendly as possible, unless I’m in a rush but even then it doesn’t look like some alien language. I have enough problems with regular English spelling and grammar, if text lingo gets adapted into everyday usage I’m going on a hunger strike.

It is hard to say whether or not this new mode of communication will ultimately be an positive or negative impact on future linguistics of the world, but one thing is for sure, if the dictionary starts listing text message lingo as actual part of the language, d en langauge as we knw itz fukD.

Things That Make You go : Ugh! Volume 1

2007-04-20T21:25:00.000-07:00

Journalism 101. Once thing that I’ve learned after watching many depressing hours of late night news: if it bleeds it leads. Or more specifically, if it accessible via TV, radio or Internet it is probably depressing enough to make you want to throw your TV out the window and disconnect your Internet from now till conditions improve. I decided to put together a short list of news worthy events that get the biggest ‘Ugh’ of the week.

Property of the Supreme Court.
Most people would probably agree that life is one of the most precious things you can have. But, when you are the producer of life the decision becomes yours, and only yours alone as to whether or not you want to be responsible for deciding whether you want to bring another life into the world. The Supreme Court’s decision to officially make Partial Birth Abortion illegal could probably be the beginning steps to overturning Roe V. Wade all together, and could ultimately eliminate a woman’s right over her own body. Bible thumpers don’t even have to use vivid images of fire and brimstone to scare women away from becoming impregnated and then deciding to abort the pregnancy half way through. They would only have to remind them that no matter how independent and free you think you are, in reality a bunch of self righteous old farts pretty much own your reproductive organs.

Virginia Tech
Very, very tragic. There aren’t enough words in the English language to fully express how screwed up this whole thing really is. When something horrific like what happened at Virginia Tech. takes place there is really no way to emotionally prepare yourself for something so shocking and unexpected. What could be addressed though is why after the first shooting the campus didn’t take steps to lock down the campus, which could have maybe prevented the cold-blooded murders. Check out our other blogs on Virginia Tech murders.

Feet to the Fire, Still a Liar
It is a sad state of affairs when the head of the Justice Department can’t even do his job right . When you start forgetting very vital, important events of your career it should be a signal that maybe you should start saving your daily activities to an external hard drive for safekeeping. This story gets the “Ugh” award of the week for overuse of the “I don’t know, nor do I remember” excuse.

Spiderman Sings?
Broadway was made for the lavish artsy world. Rounding out a week of ‘UGH’, the news that Spiderman could be heading to Broadway is equivalent to really bad bubble gum. It looks like it could work with it's pretty colorful hyped packaging, but halfway through the first show when the hype gets stacked against the final product it could make the audience think they're chewing on wet play dough: a nasty aftertaste and an empty wallet of disappointment.

Not Quite Jurassic Park

2007-04-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

If there’s one debate that has no chance of ending any time soon it is whether or not humans, the Earth, and life as we know it were products of creationism, or an act of evolutionism. Obviously, there are arguments for and against both these ideas. Whether man came from a big old hairy thing dripping in drool, or a concoction from the earliest form of mad scientist, but less emphasis on the ‘mad’ and ‘science’ part.

However, according to a study done by NEWSWEEK at the end of last month found that 91% of Americans believe that God exists, and 87% do not accept the evolution as fact. I think I hear a bunch of scientists’ heads exploding.

I suppose if natural history museums illustrate the creation of man through the ages and into the human form then it would be fair to give believers of creationism a similar area of expression. A Creation Museum, to be exact. The museum, located in Kentucky, focuses mainly on the events that take place in the Book of Genesis. The museum provides an overview of the events in the Bible in a visual presentation that is probably equivalent to Jurassic Park, minus the re-creation of the flesh and blood man-eating dinosaurs.

I’m not sure whether it is better to be skeptical about the scientific basis of how things came to be, or to believe that everything was created for a specific reason with the use of divine religious powers. But I do wonder, whether it makes people feel better in believing that everything was pre-ordained from the get-go. If so, does creationism foster a sense of entitlement because you were created ‘as-is’ without having to evolve from any other being? Personally, I find it a wee-bit self-centered.

Putting the PU in Purity

2007-03-28T21:28:00.000-07:00

The ideal conversation between father and daughter would begin something like this: “Honey, I don’t care how pure
you are, just as long as you do the dishes.”

Sex. Sex. Sex. The three-letter word that could make any tightwad blush a bright red. It also poses a problem to conservative Christians who are frighteningly aware that young girls will eventually grow up and have (insert scary theatrical music) SEX! Oh, the horror. The fear has lead many conservative Christians to lend a hand to preserving their daughters’ virginity by taking part in a Purity Ball. The Ball is suppose to enhance the relationship between the daughter and father, but also remind the girls that they are waiting for that Mr. Right, not Mr. Right-Now. It is also equivalent to having your dad put your virginity in a vault before making you promise not to see where he hid the combination.

On the flip side, where there are protective fathers trying to delay the sexualizing of their children, other females are determined on becoming born again virgins. I don’t necessarily have a problem with the idea of being abstinent, but if you come up with a name that reflects not having any sort of sex for whatever period of time, call it born again abstinence – born again Christian? I buy it. Born again virgin? Not so much. Call it what it is, rather than calling it something it is clearly not.

PleaseStalkMe @ CreepyNewProgram.com

2007-03-19T21:02:00.000-07:00

I imagine somewhere in the world, probably overseas since we export everything we do, there is a little underground bunker where a group of people who really don’t have much else to do sit around and think up the most obscure thing in the world to give to the public. The most mundane thing of all, something no one would ever really need in their lives but because it ends up being free, interesting and feeds into our love of knowing what we normally don’t always know – it becomes reality.

A new addition to the AOL instant messenger not only functions as way to kill time and talk to friends but now, now you can stalk just about anyone you want on your buddy-list as long as they download the new addition to the program

You’d think after all those weird old guys on Myspace started courting a young people online that stuff like this would never see the light of day. But people like little stuff like this. Curiosity killed the cat, and people just love to push the border between privacy and stalker-hood. Most likely, this will be become yet another stitch in a line of guilty pleasures that the internet fan-base latches on to; a new way to finding out whether your boyfriend or girlfriend is cheating on you, or a new way to use the Patriot Act. Either way, this thing is oozing with creepy vibes.

Stupid People On Parade

2007-03-16T21:03:00.000-07:00

I was never a smart 5th grader. In fact, I’m not even a smart college student. Don’t ask me to add, subtract, multiply, divide, or spell from memory unless there is a calculator or dictionary in the premises. And don’t, I repeat, don’t ask me to go on a cable show network just to prove how educationally challenged I am.

This month FOX premiered the show “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” The setup of the show not only proves how money hungry we are as a society, but how willing we are to make fools of ourselves for the all-mighty dollar. Though, I can’t figure out who is to more to blame, the people who created it, or the ones who volunteer to appear on the show. But in reality it takes two to tango and a box full of money to make people do just about anything.

Big Bucks, Big Screen, Big Problems

2007-03-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

If you can’t sit through a history lesson without falling asleep, one thing is for sure, if you get to watch hundreds of guys with tight abs wearing tiny red underwear who for the first half hour manage to go head to head with other considerably more clothed individuals and not get a scar anywhere on their bodies – you’ll be more than wide awake to see what happens next. Zack Snyder’s movie 300 is based on the actual Battle of Thermopylae, and that was adapted from the graphic novel by Frank Miller.

Though the movie has been selling out theatres since the first openings days, like most historical works brought to life with the help of Hollywood, not everyone is happy with the end result.

During the first half hour the thought briefly ran through my head, “This is kind of racist…” But, at the same time, if there weren’t a classic good guy / bad buy scenario on screen would people still shell out $15 dollars to see it in IMAX? The point is this stuff sells, especially in America. If it has gore, violence, sex, excites us, is visually stimulating for over an hour and gives us an underdog to root for the average joe will probably empty their wallets at the door. People won’t care if one group looked better than another, just as long as blood was spilled and at least one head got lopped off. When the whole audience gave the movie a good minute long applause I’m fairly sure no one was thinking about how horrible the Persians were represented. But like any controversial movie, the rest is history, in this case – literally.

I Heart Conservatives ( and the Creators of Youtube)

2007-03-09T21:00:00.000-08:00

With the Presidential election gearing up for 2008 both sides of the political spectrum have them gathering their troops for a full on head to head combat in the polls. Recently, the Republicans held their Conservative Political Action Conference (also known as CPAC) in Washington D.C. between March 1-3. Max Blumenthal a reporter for The Nation managed to get into the conference with a video camera and posted his experience on youtube. I just couldn't help myself... enjoy! There are a few expletives here and there so you might want to cover the kiddies' ears.
-Eming Piansay