Hate Crimes

It's a shame that this stuff is going down. The media and government have worked hand-in-hand to create racist sentiment towards Latinos. And they promote it even further by continuously reporting on the Mexican Drug War in such a negative light, practically blaming the swine flu on Mexico, and constantly heating up the immigration debate.

Below, you will find a link to an actual hate crime. This kid was attacked by these backwards scum who tied a noose around his neck. A NOOSE! Despicable. Simply despicable.
http://blog.votolatino.org/2009/06/23/no.aspx

R.I.P. MICHAEL JACKSON

Whoa. I woke up today feeling kinda weird. Then, I found out the news about the death of one of the greatest legends to ever exist. Michael Jackson passed away today. Reportedly, of a heart attack. I'm not here to write a news article. You can turn on the TV and check out the reports. Seems like every channel is reporting on it. It makes all this even more depressing. As I sit here typing this at my Grandmother's house, I have faint memories of my days in the 1-bedroom "house" that I grew up in just down the street from here. Every Saturday & Sunday morning, I'd wake up, grab a vinyl from the album crate, and bother my mom 'til she woke up. She already knew what I wanted when she woke up. So, she'd wipe the mocos from here eyes (lol), walk into the living room, and put the vinyl on the turntable. As soon as the record began to play, my hips would start moving and my morning routine began as Baby Johnny would dance away to Michael Jackson's Bad. From then on, all jokes aside, this pop icon was gonna be part of my life's soundtrack no matter what.



Today, we mourn the life of a music god. It's sad that all this controversy surrounds him. It's a taint in the road of a Great. But there's people, BILLIONS of people, all over the WORLD that don't care. That put it aside because the guy is a part of the best songs to ever hit ears. It's a sad day. I've always been terrified of death and it impacts me greatly. Honestly, I've only had one major death in my family, but I am able to empathize very easily. Too easily. Because he was such a big part of my life and countless other lives, it actually affects me almost as much. I'm pretty depressed. Not gonna lie. It doesn't help that I can't get away from the news. Lol. And yet, I don't want to be away from it. I want to celebrate the life of a Legend. I want to be where all the people are. I want everyone to gather in one place and have the BIGGEST Michael Jackson dance party ever! Who's down?

Michael overshadows this day. Let us not forget about the others that died today, specifically the sexual icon Farrah Fawcett and t.v. icon Ed McMahon.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090625/ap_on_en_tv/us_obit_fawcett


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090623/ap_on_en_tv/us_obit_mcmahon_7

Once again, it's a sad day. Everything seems to be annoying today. Lol. Whatever. Ima put on some M.J. tunes and wig out. Let's do this people...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/emp/2.11.7978_8433/9player.swf

News:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8119993.stm

Celebs mourn Mike:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/06/celebrities-mourn-michael-jackson-death-dead-twitter.html

Dear College Kid

Here's a little rant I left on a friend's Facebook Wall after she said my 3-month suspension from Facebook "inspired" her to get off it as well:

i personally think Facebook is the best social networking tool of all-time. it's much more personal than MySpace, and easier to find friends. it has a Wall that makes it quicker to leave comments. all the Apps. make it versatile. the interface is much more user friendly and not annoyingly complicated like customizing your MySpace page. and it has the Chat function. honestly, if they made their Chat operation more reliable, there would be no need for MySpace or AIM (or anything else for that matter). The internet would be ran by Google and Facebook.

but all that means is that Facebook IS the mortal enemy of that little thing we call Time. lol. i mean, keeping in contact with friends is great. but you can't possibly be BFF's with everybody. so keep the close friends on speed dial, the decent friends on AIM, and everyone else on a blue moon.

now BACK to homework and partying!

Punishment = No Facebook?

After a series of unfortunate incidents culminating in the towing of my car and the mandatory payment of a class I didn't even complete, I've decide to punish myself. It's a firm penalty that I hope to adhere to through self-control and the strong urge to become sharper.

For 3-months starting today, June 18, 2009, I am disallowing myself from:
(1) Drinking
(2) Smoking

Apparently I have a party coming up on the 25th, so I'm leaving my Facebook up to invite friends to that AND LUL & OPB's 3rd Annual Greek Unity BBQ. I honestly don't quite know if people will still get the invitations even though I deactivate the account. If I knew that they would, then I would do it now. But I'm not too sure that Facebook will send the invitation from a ghost. Nevertheless, when I find out for sure that people will still get it (or until June 25th, whichever comes sooner), then it will be
(3) Facebook

The "party" will be the first challenge, ideally, to #1. I mean if people go for me, they're theoretically gonna wanna buy me drinks, right? But I already got a solution for that:
Friend: "Johnny, lemme buy you a drink!"
Johnny (Option 1): "I'm not tryna drink, but buy one more for yourself and get messed up for me!"
Johnny (Option 2): "I'm not tryna drink, but hook my homie up with one for me. He/she has been a ryder in my college life, so both of y'all deserve it."
Johnny (Option 3): "Who the f*ck are you?!"

Yeah so I'm pretty much serious about this. The beast in me is starting to come out. I've vowed to get on my grind like it was in high school. And now that I'm older and wiser, more SEASONED as they say, it's gonna be a VERY interesting summer.

But yeah... the whole point of this post though is to publicly declare that if you have no other way of getting a hold of me besides Facebook, you suck and really don't belong in my life, but I'm nice and want to remember random people that I've met in my time at USC, so I haven't deleted you from my Facebook friends. I guess one positive of going off Facebook for a period of time is that you'll see who really wants to be around you. Even leaving a Facebook Wall comment doesn't constitute friendship (surprising I know). So people who want to be in touch will do it in a form aside from Facebook.

That's that. As a punishment for my crimes, I'm taking away things that I "like to do". In old-fashioned parental style, I'm grounded from my hobbies. Lol.

Everybody loves the Lakers

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-lakerscelebs-pg,0,3511393.photogallery?index=41

I'm about to comment on the Laker victory. Stay tuned.
For now, I will post this link to a great LA Times collection of Hollywood's finest coming out to show the Lake show some love.

'til my next post: Parade on Wednesday! WOOOOOO. I'm an L.A. fan. Let's get it, Los Angeles!

Jay-Z - D.O.A.

I'm not gonna front, I'm a T-Pain fan. I dig his sound and I think it's hot. Plus, he's one hell of an entertainer. If you're on a T-Pain track and you use Auto Tune, then that's fine. You're matching his sound to give the song verbal continuity. BUT if you're not, then you're jockin'. Lil' Wayne went o.d. with it, but he's Lil' Wayne. People let it slide. But after that it just got ridiculous. So ridiculous... that the "Mike Jordan of rap" had to say something.

Here's that something:
Jay-Z - D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune) | Hip Hop Songs HipHopDX.com

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Lil Wayne - Kobe Bryant

First, Obama. Then, Shaq. And now the deal is sealed with Lil' Wayne. Everybody is OFFICIALLY on Kobe's jock. If he wins a championship, it's over. Old men in Brazil are gonna be wearing Kobe jerseys. I've been a Kobe hater since he entered the NBA because people would always compare him to my favorite player... the greatest player to ever play the game... Michael Jordan. My friends would always say "oh he's gonna be better." And it would piss me off. So I figured the best way to shut them up once and for all would be for Kobe to fail. But I realized that no matter what... people are always gonna try and make the argument that he's better. And in the same fashion, I'm never gonna agree with that. Lol. So there's really no point in making the entire team suffer because of one guy. And it's especially unfair to punish my city. Then I thought about fairness... it's not Kobe's fault that people compare him to Jordan and piss me off. Haha. Thus, I've come to the conclusion that I'm okay with him winning, especially for the sake of my city.

I'm new to it... so I can't really cheer FOR Kobe, but I enjoy the show. I still find myself cheering for the other team. It's gonna take some time to adjust, but... I'm not gonna bust all this bandwagon stuff. I'll tolerate the guy, root for LOS ANGELES and keep my mantra going: "F*** Kobe!" LOL! Go L.A.!

The D-Rider's Anthem
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/audio/id.7793/title.lil-wayne-kobe-bryant