Benjamin's Balloon

First off, I would like to apologize to the Internet for doubting her. My mental hard drive needs a de-fragmentation. I had the syllables right, but the title wrong.

Second, I would like to thank my wonderful sister for recalling the title of said book and locating it for me.

This is one of the emails I woke up to this morning:

Everybody totally needs a sister.

Like me.

Or, everyone just needs me.

You’re welcome again.

Now write something nice about me in your blog. :P

American Te**orist

close your mind
close your eyes
see with your heart
how do you forgive the murderer of your father?
the ink of a scholar is worth a thousand times more than the blood of a martyr

we came through the storm
nooses on our necks and a smallpox blanket to keep us warm
on a 747 on the pentagon lawn
wake up the alarm clock is connected to a bomb
anthrax lab on a w. virginia farm
shorty ain't learned to walk already heavily armed
civilians and little children is especially harmed
camoflouged Torahs, Bibles and glorious Qurans
the books that take you to heaven and let you meet the Lord there
have become misinterpreted, reasons for warfare
re-read em with blind eyes i guarantee u there's more there
the rich must be blind cause they don't see the poor there
need to open up a park, just close 10 schools we don't need em
can u please call the fire department they're down here marchin for freedom
burn down their teepee's, turn their TVs on to teach em

[CHORUS]
The more money that they make, the more money that they make, the better and better they live
whatever they wanna take, whatever they wanna take, whatever whatever it is
the more that you wanna learn, the more that you try to learn, the better and better it gets
american te**orist

now the poor klu klux man see that were all brothers
not cause things are the same but cause we lack the same colour
that's green, now that's mean
can't burn his cross cause he can't afford the gasoline
now if a Muslim woman strapped with a bomb on a bus with the seconds running give you the jitters?
just imagine a American-based Christian orginization planning to poison water supplies to bring the second-coming quicker!
ni**a
they ain't livin properly
break em off a little democracy
turn their whole culture to a mockery
give em coca-cola for their property
give em gum, give em guns, get em young, give em fun
but if they ain't givin it up, then they ain't gettin none
and don't giv em all, naw man, just give em some
its the paper, some of these cops must be al-qae*a

[CHORUS (2X)]

It's like
dont give the black man food, give red man liquor
red man fool, black man ni**a
give yellow man tool, make him railroad builda
also give him pan, make him pull gold from river
give black man crack, glocks n tings
give red man craps, slot machines...

- American Te**orist by Lupe Fiasco

ben and his balloon

Taipei, Taiwan 2006

One of my favourite childen's books growing up was "Ben and his Balloon".

This kid Ben (obviously) blows up a yellow balloon so enormously big that he ends up floating into the sky and around the world. He may have had a part to play in me typing these words from the far east at this moment.

Hollerate if anyone somehow has a copy of this book. The Internet has failed for the first time I can remember.

Speaking of the Internet... let's enjoy it while it lasts in this form. That statement will make sense at some point in the not so distant future. Or I'm just a nut? Time will decide.

Jay-Z in Taipei

Taipei, Taiwan 2006

I'm - young enough to know the right car to buy yet grown enough not to put rims on it
I got that six-deuce with curtains so you can't see me and I didn't even have to put tints on it
I don't got the bright watch I got the right watch
I don't buy out the bar, I bought the night spot
I got the right stock
I ... got ... stockbrokers that's movin' it like white tops

- "30 Something" from the album Kingdom Come.

Primo in Taichung

"It's the reallllllllllll hip hop!"

He played at least 2.5 hours of his and other dope music that no one knew, aside from about 5 or 6 of our pack at the front.

Gully.

No Effort

Taichung, Taiwan 2006

Escape

Taichung, Taiwan (Taichung Metropoliton Park) 2006

It's easy to get lost and preyed upon in the jungle without even realizing it, like those Blair Witch peeps. Watch your step.

"Tea Street"

Taichung, Taiwan 2006

"Fun Street"

Taichung, Taiwan 2006

Why did the chicken cross the road?

TBA, Taiwan 2006


Because he chose to.

Golden Lining

TBA, Taiwan 2006

Life's a Beach

TBA, Taiwan 2006

No Smoking... Please?

Taiwanese Island whose exact name I'm not completely sure of, Taiwan 2006

Birdseye View

Taichung, Taiwan 2006

What I see when I look out my window.

Not much, yet so much.

Refuge, within the concrete jungle.

Taichung, Taiwan 2006

Just after sunset at a new park built surrounding a HUGE amphitheatre, just a few minutes from home. There are dozens of kids rollerblading on a small rink, if you look closely.

Inline skating is taking off here. I may have to augment my income with some skating/hockey lessons.

One

Toronto, Canada 2005

Don't forget where you came from.



Missing you "Crusty".

Late Night Snack II

Taichung, Taiwan 2006

Dumplings / "Shui Jiao" of some sort.

Late Night Snack

Taichung, Taiwan 2006

Shrimp Fried Rice / "Sha-ren Chou Fan":
From right across the street, where we eat almost every dinner these days. They make anything we want, make it WELL, and sell it for cheap. A three or four year old boy (who we have given the English name Bart that he will take with him for the rest of his life) is there most of the time who we chat with (well I more play with) while we eat. Oh and the restaurant is only open at night. Perfect.

Milk / "?"
From Hi-Life (our "walk-in fridge") which is the convenience store two doors down from the restaurant (in between is "Colorado American School" of all things, but the staff can't even speak English and they don't hire foreign teachers. Ahhh the randomness of this country). It's 100% milk, as in not skimmed... which is likely one of the major reasons why I gain weight while residing in this country. That and the food is so good, cheap, fast, and everywhere.

Total cost: 100 NT$ / $3.48 CAN
Total satisfaction: 100%

Motion

Taipei, Taiwan 2006

4 Cru

Some work by my boy from WAY back (FAST), and his crew here in Taichung. I just spotted these in the Canal as I was riding by. This stuff is old and a little faded, but dope nonetheless. To call this nothing but vandalism is the equivalent of wearing a big sign around your neck stating "I'm an idiot".

www.taichung-graffiti.blogspot.com if you want to check out a whole lot more.

The Pinky Swear

I've never researched the origination of "The Pinky Swear" and wonder if even the ever-mighty Google search could yield a satisfactory result. Yet, they are sworn upon, and as a result taken with real offense by most when made and broken. They hold weight.

I wonder what percentage of pinky promises are actually kept. For that matter, how often people older than the elementary years make them. There must be others. At least a small handful of people. Maybe more?

Anyways, We did.

And it was kept by both parties.

Whatever you may now be considering a possibility of this promise to be, I'd bet the scooter you're wrong. It was nothing of 'guttermind' intentions. More like jee-pai han bao (aka The BEST chicken and egg breakfast sandwich EVER) ones.

Turf - Taichung Style

Taichung, Taiwan (Heart of the Canal District, or "Little Europe")

TOP:
The Canal (about 6-8m high), fills up and sometimes overflows during the more powerful Typhoons.

MIDDLE: The view from the Canal, on Meitsun Lu(road), otherwise known as, for the time being; home.

A little closer to the gates. Literally the door between a laundromat and a small little "to-go only" tea shop / food stand. There live mom and pop, who collectively know not a LICK of English. With my minimal chinese + a whole lot of body language and problem solving, we communicate quite effortlessly and enjoyably. At least a smile and "nihao" every time I pass in and out, and little chats if I or we as a group are standing around outside the shop. Their 6 year old daughter who knows NO English (I'm making efforts to teach, but she's resisting my attempts like the Federation to The Borg!) is also there whenever she's not in school, 'til closing after 23:00 (11pm). I was mashin' her up at hide and seek the other day, but she's got "paper, scissor, stone" on lock.
BELOW:

The Taiwan Experience II

June 26, 2006 - ?

"Certainly travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living." -- Miriam Beard




It has begun... again.

"Society Is a Fraud"

Waking Life (2001)


(Four guys are walking down the street. They take turns talking)

If the world that we are forced to accept is false and nothing is true, then everything is possible.

On the way to discovering what we love, we will find everything we hate, everything that blocks our path of what we desire.

The comfort will never be comfortable for those who seek what is not on the market.

A systematic questioning of the idea of happiness.

We’ll cut the vocal chords of every empowered speaker. We’ll yank the social symbols through the looking glass.

We’ll devalue society’s currency.

To confront the familiar.

Society is a fraud so complete and venal that it demands to be destroyed beyond the power of memory to recall its existence.

Where there is fire, we will carry gasoline.

To interrupt the continuum of everyday experience and all the normal expectations that go with it.

To live as if something actually depended on one’s actions.

To rupture the spell of the ideology of the commodified consumer society so that our repressed desires of a more authentic nature can come forward.

To demonstrate the contrast between what life presently is and what it could be.

To immerse ourselves in the oblivion of actions and know we’re making it happen.

There will be an intensity never before known in everyday life to exchange love and hate, life and death, terror and redemption, repulsions and attractions.

An affirmation of freedom so reckless and unqualified, that it amounts to a total denial of every kind of restraint and limitation.

--taken from the movie Waking Life (2001)

Taipei Nights

Taipei, Taiwan 2005

From Sci-Fi to Reality

1984 by George Orwell. Unknown. London Bus Stop 2005

"Where the State exists, there can be no freedom. When there is freedom, there will be no State."

Lenin

"That they can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Benjamin Franklin

"Whenever you have efficient government you have a dictatorship."

Harry S. Truman

"The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments."

William H. Borah

"You cannot simultaneously prepare for and prevent war."

Albert Einstein

Survival

Toronto, Canada 05.2006

"To deny our own impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human."
--Andy and Larry Wachowski, The Matrix, 1999.

The core motive of all life on earth, when you really break it down, is the natural instinct to live and reproduce, which is passed down through the generations. The purpose of these instincts are to ensure the survival and continuation of the species. As "wise" and "evolved" as we believe we are, we have one trait in common with every living thing on this planet. From monkeys to dolphins to rats to roaches to ants to plants to single celled organisms; we will all undoubtedly do everything in our power to survive and reproduce.

Male wanting to impregnate as many females as possible = survival of the species
Female instinct to protect child = survival of the species
Attractive female is a healthy female who has good genes for the baby = survival of the species
Strong, healthy, protective male who has good genes for the baby = survival of the species
Teaching the baby all the necessary skills needed to survive = survival of the species
The instinct of fear + the sensation of pain = survival of the species
And so on...

We aren't as far evolved from the great apes as maybe we'd like to think. Monkeys, apes and dolphins are far superior to us in many ways. Hear me out. A dolphin can look INTO you. A dolphin can see the baby in a pregnant woman's body. We can't see past the Victoria's Secret lingerie. A dolphin is as close to perfectly adapted to it's environment as one can get. They can communicate, have a complex language, and send their messages much further than we could ever dream of doing without the aid of technology. Both dolphins and apes live in communities and stay in long term monogamous relationships, while helping take care of the extended families' young. Pretty much what we strive and increasingly fail to achieve in our societies.

Sure, we have made advances in technology. But have they really made our lives any easier? Or do they just allow us to accomplish more in less time, and feel the need to purchase more items we used to live perfectly fine without. It's not like our actual free time has increased with the advent of technology. It's just the opposite. We have the ability to build things which help nations violently attempt to rule over each other, spend endlessly on unnecessary material goods, ingest foods containing chemicals and pesticides, work for corrupt institutions and organizations whose only goal are the almighty $, while the profiteers of this system view us as nothing but expendable consumers. We have accomplished so (little?) much as a society.

Of course, some of us can see through this flawed society, for what it truly is. But inevitably, we are all still confined to being, for all intensive purposes; forced to navigate through it.

An ape spends it's days chillllllllin' and loafffftin' in the lush, warm and green confines of the jungle (which we - the ever-glorious MAN, are destroying), while snacking on fruits and plants, maintaining a healthy and primarily vegetarian diet. They all manage to stay in great physical shape, swinging around and playing in trees with their strong, agile bodies. Unlike our ever f a t t e n i n g and lazy populations.

We ride crowded trains in rush hour like cattle, consuming blatantly addictive food and drink products laced with caffeine and sugar. These trips are often delayed because someone decided to use the TTC subway system as the means to voluntarily end their own life. Have you ever heard of an animal killing itself? Are we DE-evolving? Learning to ignore the basic premise by which all life is based?


Some monkeys have sex for fun, just like us... and the dolphins of course.


Maybe that is the true determination of an intelligent species; the animal enjoys the act of sex, and participates in it purely for pleasure, not only to reproduce. Life's complete once you throw that in the mix with the jungle life explained earlier, isn't it? Or you can be a dolphin, swimming around all day, makin some jumps, going on group hunting sessions, and seemingly moving with a little smile on their faces. To me, those lifestyles easily beat out trying to steer a rear wheel drive Buick through a snow storm in Canada, or Iraqi women and children getting executed point blank by brainwashed soldiers with big guns who tell the rest of the world (who for the most part, SWALLOW it) they are there to help the people they're eradicating from the planet.

"Or maybe I'm craaaaaazyyyy."

DFC - Duck, Fried like Chicken?

Taichung, Taiwan 2005

When I started this blog, I put my display name as the Arabic symbol for "Teacher". I just took it off because I don't want to get it flagged by some Government/Big Bro server. I'm that paranoid.

Ignorance must be Bliss, like Miss.

Saved by the Bell represent. Mr. Belding taught me a thing or two about life, no doubt. Tony Micelli, the kids of Degrassi, Cliff Huxtable, The Hulkster, Ernie, Kermit, and the rest of that crew, Brendan and the 90210 gang, Illmatic, Midnight Mirauders, Fresh Prince. If you're a 1980's head, you understand. Those are some of the reasons we are what we are today.

BET, Laffy Taffy, Britney Spears, Lil' Romeo, The OC, Mary Kate and Ashley, reality shows, MSN, the never ending "war on terror", global warming, the bird flu. What today's kids and their world are going to become, one can only speculate.

Live in the now.

"This is a world getting progressively worse. Can we not agree on that?"
-- Robert Downey Jr.'s character in A Scanner Darkly, coming 7/7/06.

Touch The Sky

Taipei, Taiwan 2005

As my bro Mister Anablephobia says, there is no fear in looking up.

We are all capable of BIG tings.

Let's do this...

M o v e m e n t s .

The Grind

Taichung, Taiwan 2005

Everyone has a grind.

Be it a 9-5 desk job, 24h drive-thru at McDonald's, telemarketing, teaching, or selling one's body on the street corner.

Everyone needs loot. (?)

Everyone has a grind.

This is hers.