I have been reading the local papers often and finding myself commenting on interesting articles I read in them lately. And one interesting sentence in an article that caught my eye today was “You never see me draw guns. I want to make the neighborhood something nice to look at. If I see a negative message or mural, I go up to that person and say we need to change something.” That sentence is an excerpt in this weeks The Villager titled “Still keeping it real on L.E.S.: Chico’s message is indelible.” Chico makes his mark a positive on the Lower East Side. Antonio “Chico” Garcia is a graffiti mural artist who has painted thousands of colorful murals on walls throughout the Lower East Side neighborhood in New York, now the East Village for real estate marketing purposes maybe, over the past few decades. The neighborhood is his gallery and he is recognized as a pioneer in graffiti art. The article goes on to say that Chico is tired of graffiti that glorifies drugs and violence, and even made the personal decision some years back to stop doing the neighborhood mural memorials to those lost to violence that launched his career. This article sticks in my mind because Chico speaks for peace and end to violence. As I have written in what seems like every other blog posting, who invented guns? Guns are the worst invention ever. And the news stories are endless of persons losing their lives on a daily basis as the news story was yesterday and the news story will be tomorrow with no end in sight for no reason at all. I could cut and paste my appeal to banish the gun industry and guns from every human being on planet earth and to end the use of the images of guns in all forms of advertising and marketing as I have written in blog posts of the past. I am only one blogger, one voice. Is another world possible. Peace on earth and goodwill to all mankind. And what does this have to do with a No Police State?
Sex Rehab?
No sex ads in the paper anymore for the New York Press? Wow, now that’s news. That’s an article I read in their paper this week. For they have repented, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. In reality, The New York Press’s article says that their paper has a new owner, Manhattan Media, which bought the New York Press last week. Manhattan Media says sex sells, but not in the New York Press, as sex ads drive away mainstream advertisers. As of this week, the New York Press is no longer accepting explicit advertising with photos. So how is everyone going to call the back pages of the Village Voice for sex now? Oh, I forgot, half of the Village Voice back pages are still sex ads and pharmaceutical ads. And how is everyone going to locate that escort, prostitute, massage parlor, xxx theater and sex shop now that has already been exiled from 42nd street Disneyland to the back pages of the local newspapers? Long Live Sex in the New York Press.
Snowmobiling
Winter vacation, fun and snow? Although it’s not exactly wintertime here in America, winter is on the way and snow is always somewhere to be found somewhere in the world. If your idea of fun is snowmobiling and you like playing in the snow with a snowmobile, the snowmobile forum is the place for you. SLEDtv is a snowmobile TV show and snowmobile message forum. It is all snowmobile all the time. You can find the latest snowmobile news, information and education and you can also watch snowmobile episodes and videos at their website. You can be a part of it at SledTv’s snowmobile forum, you can talk about all the mountain riding, trail riding, sledding, snow conditions and vacations you can think of. This is a sponsored post.
A tornado in Brooklyn
We are not in Kansas anymore. A tornado touched down in Staten Island And Brooklyn this morning. That’s a headline you do not read in the news everyday if you are living in the New york City area. It’s an event of historical proportions as tornadoes rarely occur in the New York City area and New York City’s transportation system was disrupted and crippled as a result of the flooding rains. In the age of Global Warming and Climate Change, I watch the weather in the news around the world. Unusual weather patterns are occurring more and more frequently across the globe. Floods, earthquakes, wildfires and other natural disasters of mother nature planet earth abound. Is planet earth becoming The Day After Tomorrow, the movie. The following is a video relating to the event. Oh, and those The NewsRoom mash for cash videos rock.
HOWL! Charlie Parker Festival
Hey Bloggers, if you are in the neighborhood, here is are some great events to check out.
Bird’s the Word – A Gathering of the Tribes 14th Annual Charlie Parker Festival, August 2-29, 285 East Third Street, New York, New York.
8/11 Bird Flew in the Garden
3pm poetry reading featuring the original works and readings of poetry from Charlie Paker’s era (50’s): Bob Holman, Yuko Otomo, Steve Dalachinsky, Danny Shot, Amy Ouzoonian, Merry Fortune, Chavisa Woods, Eve Packer, Dorothy Friedman August, Tom Savage and Papoleto Melendez
6pm Butch Morris Chorus of Poets avant-garde conduction
8pm Harpin’ in the Garden featuring Billy Harper performing original compositions with his ensemble
8/26 Shadows and Sound
6pm Live musical performance by pianist and composer Sabrinna Chap.
Shadows Film Screening – John Cassavettes’ “Shadows”
8/29 Charlie Parker Block Party
11am-9pm Street Festival, poetry, performances, open Mic’ and musical performance by the Hungry March Band at 7pm
And also not to be missed
HOWL! Festival of East Village Arts September 5-9. The Federation of East Village Artists (FEVA) 4th Annual celebration of the arts. Five days of dance, music, performance, poetry and writing centered in East Village, Lower East Side’s Tompkins Square Park. And if the Howl Festival is still selling that Howl Souvenir Book, check it out. It has a great history of the neighborhood.
Thoof It
Thoof? What is Thoof? And what is Thoofing? Is that like goof, goofy and goofing? Well, the word Thoof sounds like it could be some sort of verb, an action word. And instead of sitting here writing about Thoofing, let me take a look at the website to learn more. Oh, Thoof is a website that offers a service for personalized news. Their website has all user generated content and I am a fan of social media and web 2.0 user generated content websites these days as the web 2.0 user generated content websites to be found on the Internet these days are endless. Web 2.0 rocks. Users at the Thoof community can personalize their articles, collaboratively edit articles and rank links to other articles and blog entries, the community can then vote on the editorial changes. This site almost sounds like a version of Digg and even Wikipedia to me. Their site has the Thoof Rank Badge where one can rank good or popular articles with the “thoof it” button. Users can submit stories from other websites with this button that they think are interesting by adding the link, title, summary and tags of the story. You can even submit a post from your own site to theirs to see how popular it is and their site also seems to know how to read your mind to figure out what stories you prefer to read and what stories you do not find interesting; interesting. Thoof seems to be a recently started website. If you are a newsaholic, one can thoof off all day long and night at their website. This is a sponsored post.
Where have all the bloggings gone?
Dear Bloggers, is there anyone out there in bloggerland who is wondering where have all the paid blogging opportunities gone? In my quest to get rich Internet quick and blah blog to billions, I have recently found myself wondering where have all the paid blogging sites gone. Lately I sometimes find myself staring at the computer for days waiting for a paid blogging opportunity to appear, so much that it reminds me of that Ode to Blogging Ode that I posted a while back that I am reposting again at the end of this post. And the reality of blogging keeps reminding me that I cannot quit my day job just yet. I have signed up with a few different pay per post, pay you to blog companies and some have paid blogging opportunities every so often, some every once in a blue moon and some every day. And if a paid blogging opportunity arises, unless your website has a Google page ranking of a 100, it’s a run, run, run, situation to get the post immediately, hurry, hurry before it’s gone! And then when there are not many or any paid posts available for the millions and billions of bloggers in the blogosphere like me with a page ranking such as this blog is, then my mind starts wandering and wondering as I am waiting for days for a paid blogging opportunity to arise. And I have read enough of those other bloggers quest for zillions blogs and enough of those how to blog to millions online tutorials and manuals and I am still wondering how can I get that Google page rank of a hundred overnight to blog to billions?
An Ode To Blogging(sung to the tune of “Mercedes Benz” by Janis Joplin)
Oh Google, won’t you give me a PageRank quickly?
My friends all have Adsense, but you banned me.
Blogged hard all my lifetime, trying to make money,
So Google, won’t you give me a PageRank quickly?
Oh Shoemoney , won’t give my blog a big plug?
I post every day, but never get Dugg.
I like how you’re bald, but don’t wear a rug,
So oh Shoemoney, won’t you give my blog a big plug?
Oh AGLOCO , won’t you give up your little green scam?
Your members flood my inbox with lots of spam.
You know that I’m not your biggest fan,
Oh AGLOCO, won’t you give up your little green scam?
Bloggers!
Oh Google, won’t you give me a PageRank quickly?
My friends all have Adsense, but you banned me.
Blogged hard all my lifetime, trying to make money,
So Google, won’t you give me a PageRank quickly?
Ghetto
Ghetto life. What’s up with that? What exactly is ghetto and ghetto life and how do you get out of the ghetto if that’s what you want to do. And what exactly is the ghetto? Is it possible to eliminate the ghetto? Is it inner city poverty, outer city poverty, the concrete jungle, the rough life or none of the above. Is it a state of mind, a philosophy? Let me call up someone and ask them what the word ghetto means to them.
Friend #1: Ahhh, ahmmm… it’s a poor area, I don’t know if it can be used in different ways, if someones ghetto it’s kind of like, a ghetto is like a poor area but if someone says it’s so ghetto it’s kind of underground, posh or rich, has a raw edge to it.
Friend #2: It has so many meanings and it depends on the context in which it is used nowadays you know. I feel like I rarely hear it being used like this guys from the ghetto anymore. It’s kind of a New York thing. The original term was used for ghettos I guess in New York did not exist as much twenty years ago. It’s like a slang term also for things that are kind of like dirty and not taken care of.
Friend 3: It’s where poor people live. I don’t know, it’s segregated housing, segregated neighborhoods where poor people live.
And those are some of the views of and from the ghetto. Have a great day.
The iPod
Everyone seems to have an iPod and are walking around the streets and riding the New York City subways wearing those white earphones these days. iPod now has DVD to iPod Converter Software where you can convert DVDs and other video files into the appropriate video format that your iPod can understand. It’s true. I’ve seen enough iPod videos at a distance on the subway to say so. You can now watch all of your favorite TV shows and videos where ever you go. Wow, technology is amazing. This is a sponsored post.
The Swastika
And while I am on the subject of Nazi Germany, so what’s up with that swastika symbol? What does it mean and why is it used. Does it mean Hitler, supremacy, something dark, bad or evil or is it good? I believe that although the swastika is mostly used to represent supremacy or evil these days, it’s origin is actually Hindu and a good meaning that may have gone bad. And now let me refer to that Internet bible dictionary Wikipedia again because I really do not know what it’s Hindu origins are, only that they are Hindu and originally meant good. Well according to Hindu Books, the word Swastika is believed to be a combination of the words Su and Asati. Su means ‘good’ and Asati meant ‘to exist’. In Sanskrit the words Su and Asati when combined into one word become Swasti. If this derivation of the word Swastika is true, then the literal meaning of the term Swastika would be ‘let good-prevail’. It is the religious Hindu symbol which ranks second only to OM. Today, the Swastika is known the world over not as a religious symbolism of the Hindus but as the Nazi emblem. It is more widely known as the symbol Hitler used on the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers Party), or the “I am better than you are party” flag and it has changed the meaning of the Swastika. There exist many types of signs which stand for the Swastika. Even the standard version has two forms, one facing the right also called the symbol of the right hand path and the one facing the left called the symbol of the lefthand path. These two Swastikas are also considered to represent the male and female. And this site also goes on to say that the swastika also originates as a blueprint for a fort called Su Vastu. It is used as a form of a defensive arrangement by the military practice of Chakra vyuha used during ancient times. In the Chakra vyuha, the army was arranged in the form of a circular grid which an enemy army was supposed to break and the Chakra vyuha was an effective form of defense and it was very difficult to break. So are some of the meanings of the Swastika. And what does this have to do with a No Police State?
