I came across these AWESOME Simpsonsesque images done by digital artist Meowza Katz. Each of the Simpsons-inspired images is a rendition of some of the most recognized, famous pieces done by well known artists.

Check it out:

Here is a version of Edvard Munch's The Scream , originally done in variations between 1893-1910:

And of course, a version of Andy Warhol's 1960s-era Marilyn Monroe piece:

One of the most recognized and parodied pieces done by Grant Woods in 1930, American Gothic:

And no set of renditions would be complete without a Vincent van Gogh piece, this one is his Self Portrait done in 1889:

                                                                            

"Old Money" Junos sketch ft. Drake & the elderly

I didn't get to watch the Juno's (work + a paper), but a friend shared this with me and I thought it was sooo hilarious!
I heard a lot of back and forth complaining that the Juno's just used Drake "to get more ratings" (since the Grammy-nominated, successful rapper didn't win in a single of the 6 categories he was nominated in, and that the hiphop category wasn't even aired). Well we can definitely see why going with Drake as a host was a good idea, 'cause in typical Drake-style, dude was a crowd-pleaser:

OLD MOOLA BABY!

looool

"Hip Hop is Bigger Than the Occupation"

Existence is Resistance Presents: Hip Hop is Bigger Than the Occupation

"A Film By Existence is Resistance and Nana Dankwa about a musical tour to Palestine teaching resistance through the arts. Featuring M1 of Dead Prez, Lowkey, Shadia Mansour, Marcel Cartier, Mazzi of S.O.U.L. Purpose, DJ Vega Benetton, SWYC, University of Hip Hop, Jody McIntyre and many more.... for more information on upcoming tours and about the organization please click here"

Gonna try my best to find out about when and where this film is released...

In the dark, even my shadow abandons me...

Today when I left class I found myself hysterically running to the station, yet in no real rush to get anywhere. I hit the ground running and literally did not look back (or around, at the startled expressions of my fellow pedestrians) until I’d made it to the station and became distracted with the fare-paying.

But do you ever wish you could literally just pick up and runaway from life? Run, to no particular destination but away. Rush, with no time restraint, but with the intention of outrunning your thoughts?

As I felt the wind toying with my hair, resisting against my force I forgot to think. For that instance, for even that brief, fleeting moment, I could forget. Or maybe not forget, as the thoughts came rushing back as soon as I sat down, but rather ignore.  Every doubt that had been spewed in my face, every reminder of my countless fuckups, and every angry, bitter, disappointed, mournful voice- everything was silent.

All I could hear, all I could focus on was the rhythm of my steps on the concrete. The rhythm compelling me to keep running, because stopping even for a moment would undo all the unthinking I was doing.

But life doesn’t work that way. You get onto the metaphorical subway, nestled among dozens of your own kind, yet alone and an outsider at the same time. No friendly words or smiles exchanged, and no small talk about the weather outside. And that’s when it all comes rushing in, hitting you like a ton of bricks, one-by-one but within seconds of eachother. A jumble of words, images, phrases and thoughts come flying at you, aimed at your spirit and unrelentless until they do what they came here for: to break you down. Like an unexpecting matador suddenly thrown into a pen of raging bulls, each bearing a haunting resemblance to your own image…

Where can you run now? When you're surrounded? Yet alone...

Floresta Amazônica

As a kid, we all that one thing we were tooootally interested in, for our own silly reasons.
But while my friends (and yours too, probably) collected Pokemon cards, built dinosaur models, or exchanged Barbie shoes, I was into rainforests.
Like, my obsession was bordering on hysteria. I would collect facts, browse through pictures in books, and try to convince my mom to "adopt" acres of the Amazon.
So today I decided to reignite that old childhood flame and came across these amazing pictures...

Israel- the "democratic" state??

Last year was Israeli Apartheid Week in Toronto and each day saw at least a couple of events stretched across Toronto's university campuses. As I was rushing to class last week (U of T) I happened to see a couple of students set up on a table with posters reading "Support Israeli Democracy" and such. Now, I just HAD to stop and see exactly what sort of misguided propaganda they appeared to be trying to spread. As I got closer to their posters, I noticed they were full of all sorts of numbers: statistics from the U.N (mainly) and some Israeli-lobbyist groups.
The first thing I thought about was why on earth they would use U.N "official" definitions and sources to explain why Israel should be allowed to carry out its terrorist agenda in the name of democracy.
Lets just remember here that of the 115-member states of the U.N's General Assembly, THE ONLY COUNTRIES WHO SUPPORT ISRAEL'S ACTIONS ARE (*drumroll*):
- The U.S
- Micronesia,
- the Marshall Islands
- Palau (all 3 of which are associated states of the U.S)
- Australia
- and Canada (ashamedly, under Stephen Harper)

Anyway, I gotta attach the fine print here: I'm not anti-semitic, I'm anti-the STATE of Israel & any ideas grounded in the belief that some people are more entitled to the world than others (ahem, Zionism, ahem). I do not support the Harper government (lets leave it at that). And of course, I'm in a firm believer in the democracy & the right to self-determination, but like my fellow-Canadian Trudeau said: "A democracy is judged by the way the majority treats the minority". And shall we even begin to discuss how the Arab + Palestinian citizens are treated within the occupied territories?...

Friendly Reminder

Whether you're pent up in a room studying, celebrating the start of March break, or celebrating your own Hump Day 'cause Wednesday is too inconvenient,

be safe

and

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!

- <3 C.E

The CHRONICles: I can't take back the words if they're said

You ever wish you could do something right?
Like life is laughing at you out of spite.
Every corner you turn,
You hit a  d e a d  end.
Keeping your enemies close,
You lose all your friends.


Relationships aren't getting any clearer,
I can't face the person in the mirror.
Can't distinguish between comfort and pain,
Try to look for sunshine
Only thing visible is rain.
My sins start outweighing every good deed,
Its like the rose that grew from concrete
Is still an unblossomed seed...


But how do I begin to grow?
When a million seductive voices
Are calling me from below.
Echoing, screaming all my pride and sin
Apathy mixed with doubt bursting from within


Why's everything I touch seem to waste away?
Everytime I demolish a wall
It wont stay that way.
Can't figure out who I'm going to be
And when I see my dreams getting closer,
Thats when they always seem to flee...
From me.


 Is this just self-pity from a disillusioned mind?
Or is there a TRUTH I'm looking to find?
If writing's the escape and the pen TRIUMPHS the sword
And every idea is immortal,
And salvation is in the almighty word,
Then how come we all linger
On the brink of self-defeat?
Threatening to implode from our self generated heat...




If every soul has its mate,
And to every night there is a day,
Then where do the broken souls go
To find their own fate?

c.e.

Waka does PETA

I'm not quite sure I know how to feel about this...

Israeli Apartheid Week: DAY 2

 As we sit in STARBUCKS with our coffee and 

NESTLE chocolate bar,

 reading that new book purchased at INDIGO/CHAPTERS, 

let us think about how without US THE CONSUMERS, these companies could not continue to help Israel perpetrate its crimes against humanity of the people of Palestine.

Every purchase we make at these and hundreds of other corporations help 

lodge bullets into the heads of 8-year-old schoolchildren,

bulldoze a Palestinian compound to build Jewish settlements,

"train" IDF soldiers to terrorize Arab civilians

build more humiliating roadstops and walls,

help perpetuate the Israeli propaganda pursued by virtually all major media networks.

Click here for more information on what you as a consumer can do:

BDS

BOYCOTT+DIVESTMENT+SANCTIONS

END ISRAELI APARTHEID.

take some time to sign a petition too:

end demolitions

The CHRONICles: Can we get much higher?

The visuals for one of my favourite 2011 (or is it technically 2010?) songs: Kanye West- All of The Lights

Besides an appearance made by both Rihanna and Kid Cudi, you can also expect (or at least have a very good chance of expecting) a seizure!
When you see the lights, you'll know what I mean. Think Simpsons episode when they watch that seizure-inducing cartoon in Japan meets Hype Williams (who directed this joint).
Btw, the video comes complete with a warning that it may cause severe seizures.
Enjoy!




MY FAVOURITE SCENES??
By far:

The CHRONICles: I'm Bi-winning

LOL.

Possibly the quote that will define 2011?

The Skeptic's Tinge of Guilt

"It is not certain that everything is uncertain."

- Blaise Pascal

I often think about some of the wisdom I've gained from my philosophy classes and one particular thing comes to mind: "Pascal's Wager".
Blaise Pascal (a French philosopher) basically IN LAYMAN'S TERMS suggests that it makes the most logical sense to believe in God because that route will produce more to gain and nothing to lose than any other path one lives. He does this by breaking it down:

- belief will lead to: 

a) heaven (if God exists)

b) moral benefits (if God does not exist)

- not believing in God will lead to:

a) hell (if God exists)

b) immoral consequences (if God does not exist)

Okay fine, I agree this whole theory (even when explored in whole, even when lectured on by one of Toronto's most recoginized modern voices in philosophy, Mark Kingwell) is a little thin and arid, its one of the first thing that strikes my mind whenever I think of my own place in the perpetually growing map of religion. And those thoughts, especially when shared with most other people, start to make me feel this strange tinge of guilt... maybe even shame?

Am I really shamed into feeling I should believe in something solid and well-organized?...

Think about it.
Everytime you make/laugh at that little sacreligious joke (What does Jesus order at a bar?... Holy spirits :| ) in poor taste.
Or how about when you have Sunday off, you've promised to accompany your mom to church and you sleep in?
The worst is when you're in someone's home (that someone of course, having made it clear they belong to a religion) and they begin accosting you with questions about your own faith...

And you begin to feel it. That little voice inside almost lashing out at you for such a display of "poor spirituality". Or even that you're being watched... and judged... by that Jesus of your joke.
And no matter how much you assert Christopher Hitchens quotes inside your head, you can't seem to escape that feeling. Who cares if in the end you've got reason on your side. When's reason ever accepted and appreciated in this world?...

Jay Z: "These lyrics are a cry for help" (video)

Jay Z explains how his style went from being centred around technique (flow, etc.) to being more lyrically-focused after gaining "more life experiences":

"For people, don't just judge us as ignorant kids, or drug dealers...Its much more than that... Its layers of complex things thats going in our house, in our homes, in our hallways...

Just imagine your kid growing up in the middle of Marcy Projects when it was fiends in the hallway and shootouts  on Sundays at 12 noon... or seeing someone get killed for the first time at 9 years old.

Imagine that.

So, here's why these things are happening and heres what we're going through... and why... so understand, and 

help.

A lot of these lyrics are strong in nature because they're defiant... but at in the end of it, its all a cry for help..."

Demoralizing the "enemy" from within: a short history of American foreign intervention

"Demoralize the enemy from within by surprise, terror, sabotage, assassination. This is the war of the future."

Adolf Hitler

Here's something sobering to think about: in the last 60 years, the Unite States of America has been intervened in the politics of several countries, attempting to overthrow at least 50 foreign governments since 1945. Using secret intelligence apparatuses and military power, they continue setting their sights on foreign intervention in countries all across the world, with a particularly eerie focus on the Middle East...

• IRAN 1946 
• YUGOSLAVIA 1946 
• URUGUAY 1947 
• GREECE 1947-49 
• GERMANY 1948
• CHINA 1948-49 
• PHILIPPINES 1948-54 
• PUERTO RICO 1950 
• KOREA 1951-?  (they still have bases there)
• IRAN 1953 
• VIETNAM 1954 
• GUATEMALA 1954 
• EGYPT 1956 
• LEBANON l958
• IRAQ 1958
• CHINA l958 
• PANAMA 1958 
• VIETNAM l960-75 (one million killed in longest U.S. war)
• CUBA l961 (CIA-directed exile invasion fails)
• GERMANY l961 
• LAOS 1962 
• CUBA l962 
• IRAQ 1963 
• PANAMA l964 
• INDONESIA l965 
• DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1965-66 
• GUATEMALA l966-67 
• CAMBODIA l969-75 (Up to 2 million killed in bombing, starvation, and political chaos)
• OMAN l970
• LAOS l971-73 
• CHILE 1973 
• CAMBODIA l975 
• ANGOLA l976-92 
• IRAN l980 
• LIBYA l981 
• EL SALVADOR l981-92 
• NICARAGUA l981-90
• LEBANON l982-84 
• GRENADA l983-84
• HONDURAS l983-89 
• IRAN l984 
• LIBYA 1985
• BOLIVIA 1986
• IRAN l987-88 
• LIBYA 1989 
• PHILIPPINES 1989 
• PANAMA 1989 (2000+ killed.)
• LIBERIA 1990 
• SAUDI ARABIA 1990-91 
• IRAQ 1990-91 
• KUWAIT 1991 
• IRAQ 1991-2003
• SOMALIA 1992-94 
• YUGOSLAVIA 1992-94
• BOSNIA 1993
• HAITI 1994 
• LIBERIA 1997 
• ALBANIA 1997 
• SUDAN 1998 
• AFGHANISTAN 1998 
• IRAQ 1998 
• YUGOSLAVIA 1999 
• YEMEN 2000 
• MACEDONIA 2001 
• AFGHANISTAN 2001-? 
• YEMEN 2002 
• PHILIPPINES 2002-? 
• COLOMBIA 2003-? 
• IRAQ 2003-? 
• LIBERIA 2003
• HAITI 2004-05
• PAKISTAN 2005-? 
• SOMALIA 2006-? 
• SYRIA 2008 
• YEMEN 2009-?
• YOUR COUNTRY- 2011-?

(compiled by: Grossman)

Israeli Apartheid Week: Toronto

Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is an annual international series of events held in cities and campuses across the globe. The aim of IAW is to educate people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid system and to build Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) and last year IAW took place in over 40 countries. Events include lectures, films, and actions that will draw attention to the many continuous injustices that  are crucial in the battle to end Israeli Apartheid.

From website:

"The aim of IAW is to contribute to this chorus of international opposition to Israeli apartheid and to bolster support for the BDS campaign in accordance with the demands outlined in the July 2005 Statement: full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, an end to the occupation and colonization of all Arab lands – including the Golan Heights, the Occupied West Bank with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip – and dismantling the Wall, and the protection of Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in U.N. resolution 194. In previous years IAW has played an important role in raising awareness and disseminating information about Zionism, the Palestinian liberation struggle and its similarities with the indigenous sovereignty struggle in North America and the South African anti-apartheid movement. Join us in making this a year of struggle against apartheid and for justice, equality, and peace."

Now here's a little schedule of all the events taking place in Toronto. For more information or to check out some of the events in other cities, CLICK HERE.


Interrogating Apartheid: Campus as a Site of Resistance
Monday March 7th , 7 PM
University of Toronto: Fitzgerald Building, Room 103
Speakers: Judy Rebick, Abbie Bakan, and SAIA (Students Against Israeli Apartheid)


Film Screening: Jaffa the Oranges Clockwork 
Tuesday March 8th
Ryerson University
Film by: Eyal Sivan


The Cultural and Academic Boycott
Wednesday March 9th, 7 PM
University of Toronto, Bahen Auditorium, Room 1160
Speaker: Judith Butler


York's Complicity in Apartheid: Art, Culture and Resistance
Thursday March 10th
 York University
Speakers: Paul Kellogg, John Greyson and SAIA


State of the Siege, State of the Struggle: The case for Boycott Divestment, Sanctions
Friday March 11th, 7 PM
University of Toronto, OISE Auditorium, G162 (First Floor)
Speakers: Riham Barghouti and Ali Abunimah

The CHRONICles: random mind wanderings/reflections on the day: De

What is strength, what is selfglorification?
What is bravery, what is bravado?

We spend our whole existence conjuring up images of heroes in our lives. We give them traits invisible to the world, we attribute major accomplishments to them, and we build them up to mammoth heights.

Then on unbeautiful days we are shown who they really are.

We begin to see blemishes in their once perfect glistens.
We see cracks in their superior shells.
We see rough edges in their once flawless finishes.

Our once bold, unbreakable faith that had upheld the foundation of these distant statues begins to shake, threatening to give way...

How can we repaint the images we once ogled at with admiration?
How are we to reimagine the perfectious figures we once held in such esteem?

To what degree are we, the witnesses, capable of sustaining heroism...

The Fallen Hero...

Models in hamster balls...

K I haven't seen this show since like the 3rd or 4th cycle, but boy was I glad to tune into the latest episode of the newest season this week to see this...



LOOOOL!
The 4th time around, and this is STILL hilarious! They look like hamsters in those little plastic roaming balls...haha..
Oh yeah, and the "I'm bout to leave this bitch with a bang" line is priceless...

I Need a Doctor

FINALLY! Some visuals for one of my favourite songs to emerge from 2011 so far: I NEED A DOCTOR.

Obviously I love Eminem (as any hiphop fan will most likely have to admit), but I think Skylar Grey's voice is dope on this beat and super believable.

Oh hey, did I mention DRE IS ALIVE??? LOL. Not only is he alive, he seem's to be alive an healthily sporting a more muscularly defined physique. 

Not really a fan of all that futuristic, test tube, robot shit (ugh, anyone remember the video for "In Da Club"?), but I am sooo amped to see various clips from all our favourite Eminem-Dre moments. Who else walked down memory lane when all those N.W.A clips played? sigh... just a friendly reminder of where this generation's hiphop helped derive from...

ENJOY!

Ramzo:I Need a Doctor "Remix"?

For some reason, I actually don't hate it.
I love Skylar Grey's vocals on the original track- they're just so desperate and believable, even a little soothing in their gentle scratchiness.
The verses are alrightm incomparable to Eminem obviously but not terrible for someone who doesn't claim to be a rapper.
Overall, I like the reworking of the beat, Ramzo's own spin on the hook, and the choice of track.