Monday, February 28, 2011

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Have you ever been cubed?


Currently I am a waitress in an old-style Irish pub. Working at the Toucan has given me the chance to interact with a number of characters too strange and wonderful to be fictional. In the past six months I have met a gold mine owner, a few ex-cons, wiccans, musicians, artists, professors, sex therapists, etc. Although all of these people had me entranced I recently had a very interesting conversation with some 'normal' students. What made the conversation so special? I was cubed.

If you have never been cubed this will be a fun game for you play. This is an imagination/visualization game that consists of a series of questions that will 'supposedly' reveal your true nature and your quintessential subconscious thoughts through interpreting symbolism in the game. This theory became mainstream when Annie Gottlieb wrote the book, The Cube: Keep the Secret

Are you ready? (Note: It is important after each question to ask where things are in relation and in proportion to one another).

Getting Started
Imagine you are in a desert and in the desert there is a cube. Notice what size it is, what colour is it? Is it solid or hollow? What is it made of? Where is it in relation to you? Is it on the ground or in the air?

Now imagine a ladder. Visualize the ladder, how tall is it? How many rungs does it have? Is it standing up supporting anything? What colour is it? What is it made of? Where is it in relation to the cube?

Now you notice a horse. What kind of horse is it? What colour is it? How big or small is it? Where is the horse in relation to you, the ladder and the cube?

There is also storm in your desert. Picture the storm, what kind of storm is it? How close is it? Is it dangerous? is it big? How does it affect you, the cube, the ladder and the horse?

Last there are flowers. What species of flower are they? Are there a lot of them? What do they look like? What colour are they? Where are they in relation to everything else?

You may hold this image in your mind as long as you like. Feel free to change your answers until you learn to interpret the cube.

Unveiling the Basic Symbolism of the Cube
The cube symbolizes how you see yourself. The ladder is a symbol of how you see your friends. The horse is a symbol representing how you see your significant other even if you don't have one. The storm represents what you perceive to be the trouble or conflict currently in your life. Finally, the flowers symbolize your children. They can be real or conceptual. The best part of the cube is that it offers limitless interpretation and endless conversation.

You are Not Less Complicated than a Rubics Cube
As fun and introspective the cube can be it is important to remember that it is not definitive of your character. When I cubed my parents my dad said his horse was a corpse since it was living in the desert. He also threw his ladder in a valley and his storm was epic. My dad adores my mom, loves his friends and has a great life. Thus, I don't consider his interpretation of the cube is indicative of his subconscious.

You also have to be careful of men who ask you if you have ever been cubed. There are websites dedicated to how pick-up artists should use the cube. One website promotes the usage of the cube as a topic of conversation to avoid boredom, 'hook women,' demonstrate their value and personality, build a connection with women, 'qualify women and make them feel desirable', learn about women, and leave women 'wanting more.'

This is a pickup method for a reason. People love quirky theories like this and they like to learn about them so they can personally say whether or not it is a hoax. With that said it's a great way to connect with strangers if used with good intentions. Try the cube!

More on the Cube as a Pickup Method
http://www.bristollair.com/2008/outer-game/pua-routines/deeper-rapport/the-cube/

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Niggarachi

This is an article I have wanted to write for a long time about someone who I consider an extremely interesting celebrity, Snoop Dogg (ity Dog). Snoop is a man I have always instinctually liked and after researching his life I have begun to like him even more.

“I keep hearing about mutha f***ing Harry Potter. Who is this mutha****er?”-Snoop Dogg.


Early Life
Snoop (Calvin Broadus) was born October. 20th, 1971 in Long Beach California. His father was a Vietnam veteran, singer and mail carrier who was often absent from his life. He was nicknamed Snoopy as a child because of his resemblance to the cartoon character in Charlie Brown. At a young age he began singing and playing piano in Golgotha Trinity Baptist Church. In sixth grade, he began rapping. He was convicted for cocaine trafficking in high school and served six months at Wayside Country Jail. His cocaine conviction caused him to be in and out of prison for three years after he graduated highschool. Snoop was also a member of the Rollin' 20 Crips gang in the Eastside of Long Beach. After his sentence he began recording homemade tapes in a group named after the Long Beach area code, 213. Since then he has released ten solo albums.

Recently
Snoop was a quirky self-proclaimed pot head. In 2002 he announced he was giving up marijuana, one of his image trademarks, as seen in his lyrics for songs such as "Drop It Like It's Hot" as well as in his cameo in Dave Chappelle's Half-Baked, for good. Sources suggest that he was not clean for long and the random projects he has been involved with (which are absolutely hilarious) suggest he is either using marijuana or is extremely eccentric. Among his long list of accomplishments the doggfather has released his own GPS system, launched his own pet clothing and toy line, sung the intro and made a cameo in the soap opera One Life to Live, appeared in the television movie It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, became a certified football coach and directed a pornographic film entitled Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle.

Pet Clothing Line
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/snoop-dogg-launches-pet-clothing-toy-line_1013971
One Life to Live Intro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-U8nR_n488
GPS System on Jimmy Kimmel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMpzHEontwg
Cameo in Half Baked (Bad Quality)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiXx38VAMUA

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Knifestyles of the Rich & Famous


After World War One, a New Zealand otolaryngologist by the name of Harold Gillies began developing the techniques now used for modern plastic surgery. His intention was to aid and to care for soldiers suffering from severely disfiguring facial injuries. His work was expanded on in World War 2 by his cousin and former student Archibald Mcindoe.

Plastic surgery is no longer a field strictly for philanthropy. Plastic surgery and dermatology are now the most competitive specialties among medical students awaiting acceptance into residency programs. Why? They are among the top paying medical specialties with very flexible hours.

The latest craze as been eyelash implants. The eyelash implant procedure basically is a specialized hair transplant. Hairs follicles are taken from the patients brow and scalp and transplanted into the cells where their eyelashes grow. The problem with eyelash implants however, is that the lashes grow in a similar way the hair from your scalp or brow grows, straight and long. Eyelashes need constant trimming and many testimonials complain that the lashes never look quite right.

This is why many people have begun to use eyedrops manufactured by the company Lumigan or Latisse. Lumigan was originally made to control the progression of glaucoma. In patients using opthalmic prostaglandins it has been anecdotally noted that their lashes have grown long and luscious. On Dec.5th, 2008, the FDA Dermatologic and Ophthalmic Drug Advisory Committee voted to approve bimatoprost for the cosmetic use of darkening and lengthening lashes. The product quickly developed a cult following and even actress Brook Shields became a Latisse spokesperson. The product received negative attention when rumors began to fly that the use of Lumigan or Latisse darkened patients' irises. Latisse denied these claims stating that subjects irises did not darken in clinical studies. They did state however that, "patients should be advised about the potential for increased brown iris pigmentation which is likely to be permanent."

Longer, health looking eyelashes with virtually free side effects still remains non-existent. Hopefully they will tweak the Lumigan formula in the next decade. Until then, the closest thing to that remains to lush lashes is eyelash extensions.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

The Reid Breed


Sexpot [Seks Pot]
n. Informal
A woman considered to have sex appeal

Lately, it seems as if all my childhood favorite super-stars (specifically Tara Reid, Lindsey Lohan and Britney Spears) have proved to neither have the morals nor liver for the young Hollywood lifestyle. Sadly, at one point during puberty I considered Tara to be one of the sexiest women in Hollywood (can I somehow blame it on the raging hormones?) As pathetic as this sounds her role as Melody Valentine in Josie and the Pussycats (also a comic I loved) made me want to play the drums because
she just looked so damn hot! Unfortunately, Tara developed a bad reputation as an out of control party girl and since then her life has become fairly predictable... Rumors began circulating that she was written off of scrubs due to her hard PAArtying ways, she was admitted into the Promises Rehab facility in 2008 for alcoholism and anorexia, the two major films she appeared in, My Boss's Daughter and Alone in the Dark, were ripped apart by critics, and since then most of her movies have gone straight to DVD. She now earns the majority of her income by making public appearances at nightclubs etc. However, this year has been a step in the right direction for Tara. In the past Tara refused on multiple occasions to pose for playboy because of a botched tummy tuck and boob job (and perhaps a naive dream that somewhere, somehow people still thought she was a role-model of innocence). This year she attempted to redeem her sexpot image by posing topless in Playboys October issue. I am also happy to say that this year marks her engagement to internet entrepreneur (cash cow) Michael Axtmann. I can't help but wonder is Tara in the midst of doing a 180? Could she still make a comeback and become the sex symbol she once was?
Enclosed is an old photo pre-drug & alcohol abuse/body self-mutilation as well as a recent (extremely photoshopped) photo from her October Playboy issue.


Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Disney



Vanessa or 'VaneXXXa' Hudgens the longtime Disney star has yet again failed to keep her nudie pics underwraps (no pun intended). Unlike her first debuted photo scandal that surfaced the world wide web on Sept.6th/2007, Vanessa's latest anatomy lessons feature an abundance of photographs (we're talking double digits, a far stretch from her single 2007 photo). How the photos leaked is still a mystery since in both cases the pictures were taken with HER cellphone. I personally have no idea how she is going to redeem her 'good girl' Disney star image. Vanessa is currently filming 'beastiliaty'...I mean 'beastly' and hopes to get over the scandal. In my opinion the only 'after school specials' she should be starring in are the ones featured on redtube.

Monday, July 27, 2009

A Dream Sequence

"To create one's own world in any of the arts takes courage." -Georgia O'Keeffe

If anyone reads this blog I think it would be a great platform to share some beauty. Literature, art, music, dance, theatre, photography, etc.

Tell me about something alluring that has the ability to take you out of the mundane. Low brow or high brow, it can be anything.

If I am right and no one reads this blog, I will continue to update this article with things that I treasure.

Update: Turns out a girl I know named Leah had a similar idea. She posted a note about books and asked everyone to post 15 memorable books in 15 minutes. Here is the list so far (reading list for a few years).

1) Last Exit to Brooklyn - Hubert Selby Jr.
2) Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
3) The Informers - Bret Easton Ellis
4) Prozac Nation - Elizabeth Wurtzel
5) Portnoy's Complaint - Roth
6) Martin Sloane - Michael Redhill
7) Sifting Through The Madness For The Word, The Line, The Way - Bukowski
8) Candide - Voltaire
9) The Witches - Roald Dahl
10) Lolita - Nabokov
11) The Stranger - Camus
12) Breakfast of Champions - Vonnegut
13) Lullabies For Little Criminals - Heather O'Neill
14) The Watchmen - Moore and Gibbons
15) Story of My Life - Jay McInerney
16) Slammerkin- Emma Donoghue
17) The Glass Castle- Jeanette Walls
18) Brighton Rock- Graham Greene
19) The White Hotel- D M Thomas
20) Catch 22- Joseph Heller
21) Bel Canto- Ann Patchett
22) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time-Mark Haddon
23) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
24) Portrait of a Lady-Henry James
25) The Elegance of the Hedgehog-Muriel Barbery
26) 1984- George Orwell
27) The Golden Bowl- Henry James
28) The Haunting of Hill House- Shirley Jackson
29) The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar- Roald Dahl
30) Honeymoon in Purdah- Alison Wearing
31) Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon
32) 2666 - Roberto Bolano
33) Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace
34) The Savage Detectives - Roberto Bolano
35) Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
36) Adverbs - Daniel Handler
37) Kilter - John Gould
38) Trout Fishing in America - Richard Brautigan
39) Gypsy Guitar - David McFadden
40) The Subterraneans - Jack Kerouac
41) Not Wanted on the Voyage - Timothy Findley
42) The Collected Works of Billy the Kid - Michael Ondaatje
43) Rabelais and His World - Mikhail Bakhtin
44) The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami
45) Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
46) Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon
47) 2666 - Roberto Bolano
48) Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace
49) The Savage Detectives - Roberto Bolano
50) Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut... Read More
51) Adverbs - Daniel Handler
52) Kilter - John Gould
53) Trout Fishing in America - Richard Brautigan
54) Gypsy Guitar - David McFadden
55) The Subterraneans - Jack Kerouac
56) Not Wanted on the Voyage - Timothy Findley
57) The Collected Works of Billy the Kid - Michael Ondaatje
58) Rabelais and His World - Mikhail
Bakhtin
59) The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami
60) Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61) The Cider House Rules - John Irving
62) Glue - Irvine Welsh
63) Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
64) Generation of Swine - Hunter S. Thompson
65) For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway... Read More
66) Islands in the Stream - Ernest Hemingway
67) Till We Have Faces - C.S. Lewis
68) The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test - Tom Wolfe
69) The Tempest - Shakes
70) On the Road - Jack Kerouac
71) We - Yevgeny Zamyatin
72) Junky - William S. Burroughs
73) Life of Pi - Yann Martel
74) Finnegan's Wake - James Joyce
75) A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
76) Hey Nostradamus! - Douglas Copeland
77) Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
78) Book of Longing – Leonard Cohen
79) Recollections of My Life as a Woman – Diane DiPrima
80) The Outsiders – S.E. Hinton
81) The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway
82) Q and A – Vikas Swarup
83) The Colour Purple – Alice Walker
84) The Rez Sisters – Tomson Highway
85) Where the Sidewalk Ends – Shel Silverstein
86) Naked Poems – Phyllis Webb
87) The Bell Jar- Sylvia Plath
88) Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
89) The Cay – Theodore Taylor

90) Naked Poems - Phyllis Webb
91) Watership Down - Richard Adams
92) Leaves of Grass - Walt Whitman
93) Green Grass, Running Water - Thomas King
94) Watchmen - Alan Moore... Read More
95) Wizard and Glass - Stephen King
96) The Stone Angel - Margaret Laurence
97) What is the What? - Dave Eggers
98) The Cariboo Horses - Al Purdy
99) Stilt-Jack - John Thompson
100) The Martyrology (Book 3) - bpNichol
101) The Cosmic Code - Heinz R. Pagels
102) Not Wanted on the Voyage - Timothy Findley
103) Dragons of Summer Flame - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman

104) custodians of paradise - wayne johnston
105) The fat woman next door is pregnant - michel tremblay
106) the tin flute - gabriel roy
107) two solitudes - hugh mclellan.
108) catcher in the rye - J. D. Salinger
109) the shipping news - annie proulx
110) Fear and loathing on the campaign trail '72 - Hunter S. Thompson
111) angela's ashes - frank mccourt
112) Three Day Road - joseph boyden
113) In the skin of a lion - Michael Ondaatje
114) Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud montgomery
115) Darkness at Noon -Arthur Koestler