Posers

Do you know a poser? You probably do, there are some in almost every setting in society. They are those annoying people that pretend to be something that they aren't. The posers sub-breed that I will be discussing today is the sub-breed that likes to pretend they have just walked out of a Tupac video. Generally, they try and imitate the mannerisms and physical appearance of people they consider to be from "the hood". I don't want to sound racist, but in most cases these are people who aren't black, trying to imitate the stereotypical black gang member.

Alright, so now that we've gotten the explanation out of the way, let's begin on why I find them annoying. I dislike posers, because I dislike people who try really hard to look "cool". I also dislike them because they are a type of valley girl. Lastly, I dislike them because they are not comfortable in their own skin.

Today, after being put into a group for a project with a poser, I felt inclined to write this post as a rant. Mostly about that one person, but as a rant in general, with examples from my vast experience with posers.

Alright, how is a poser similar to a valley girl? Well, it's very simple really. Valley girls are those annoying girls, who try and imitate pop culture figures, and in the process, grossly exaggerate those figures mannerisms. Posers are the same, only they aren't necessarily imitating pop culture figures. So hopefully you are now able to see the striking similarity between a poser and a valley girl.

Now let's talk about this guy, who decided to join my group today. First of all, I want to note that he walked from the other side of the room, where he and his friends sit, to come to my group. He could have stayed on the other side, but no, he came to my group. Surprising, considering that he is creeped out by me. I'm assuming that he did it because he knew that I would do all the work and that he could play on his phone. So this poser, and my friend started talking and snap chatting and whatever else partially retarded children do. (Not that my friend is partially retarded, she just hates doing work and talking about literature, so she leaves that to me.) Anyway, this poser guy was sitting there, and then begun asking me some questions. I didn't really listen to him, but it was a question that he has been asking me for a long time, and I never want to answer it, but he is persistent. I managed to hush him and he gave up for the rest of the day. Now he turned on his phone again. He began scrolling through his Facebook Newsfeed. It was so hilarious that I actually was unable to hold back the giggles. Maybe I'm sexist and this should be fine for guys as well as girls, but I just don't think so. His Facebook Newsfeed was overflowing with pictures and posts about Air Jordan shoes. I'm sorry, I just don't get it! I rarely see girls with that many posts on their feed about shoes, but guys? Come on, give me a break! To me, this was hilarious, and as I said, I was unable to hold back laughs. He turned around, and I guess that he thought that I was laughing at something the teacher said, because he just looked back to the front of the class. He even complimented my lovely polka-dot socks, before turning all the way back around.

Now, let me get to what makes this dude a poser. It's the outfit. His outfits are consistently changing, but never by much. He always has some sort of "bling-age", whether it be a gold chain around his neck, or a big ring on his finger. He usually wears a baggy white shirt or some kind of Adidas track jacket, and on the bottom - baggy jeans. I appreciate the fact that his jeans are actually around his waist as opposed to his knees. This is a welcome change, since most male posers these days wear their jeans around their knees. I think that the whole "pants around the knees" thing has actually become the boy's version of cleavage. Know what I mean? Girls pull their shirts down in order to show off their generally tiny breasts, boys pull their pants down in order to show off their generally stupid looking boxers. I guess it's only fair.

Now I'm off topic again. Okay, so what else makes him a poser, apart from the hilarious outfit - his behavior. Everything from the way he walks, to the way he talks is a calculated move, done with the intent to seem as "black" as possible. He walks with so much "swagger", oh wait! Never mind, it's only swagger if you're actually cool, not if you're trying to have swagger. He talks using a swear word in every sentence, and of course, he always greets people with the word "yo". Ain't life grand? Of course, he is an active user of social media, and a big fan of rap music - especially Kanye West.

So this guy, with a relatively heavy Asian accent, thinks that he was born and raised in the "hood". He thinks that Tupac is his best friend (regardless of the fact that he's dead). And saddest of all, he thinks that he is actually more cool pretending to be, then actually being himself.

He thinks that being someone else is as simple as copying them. Their walk, their talk, their look - but it isn't. You can tell who actually tell if a certain look suits someone or not. Not everybody looks awesome when dressed like Biggie. Why? Because I can picture Biggie and Tupac holding up guns and snorting cocaine, but can I imagine my class poser doing that - no! In fact, I'd venture to say that he'd run at the sight of a gun. I don't think that he could do anything that would even remotely qualify as living "thug life". I'm pretty sure that the most "bad-ass" thing that he's ever done was not hand in an assignment, though he claims that he once beat up some kid.

So this poor, little, rich kid is dissatisfied with himslef and he tries to be some one he's not. Really, I think that he's a big softie and that he's actually very nice and funny, but his poser-ness is so repulsive that I can't actually look past it.

So please poser, if you read this, please don't be afraid. You're a good person deep down, you have no need to hide in Biggie's shadow. Show people who you really are, and you'll make real friends, not just those that like you for your gangsta-ness, yo. Thanks for reading!

Over-Sensitivity

Today is Christmas Eve for me. It is a time to spend with family. I'm supposed to be relaxed and have a good time performing all the traditions that are associated with the Serbian Orthodox Christmas. What am I doing instead? Blogging. Why am I blogging? Do I have anything to gain from it and couldn't it wait a few days, until all my festivities are over? In most cases, yes. However, when I see something as appalling as I did today, blogging about it, unfortunately, cannot wait.

The thing that I am referring to is this article that I saw today when I opened Yahoo! Mail to check my email. The article, written by Caitlin McCormack is on Yahoo!'s home page. It is like a giant eye sore of the face of Yahoo!. Let me make myself perfectly clear, it is not so much Yahoo!'s article that I am annoyed with; rather society's reaction. Yahoo! has made it's job to post/re-post the news. In general, they post -in my opinion- banal articles about pop-culture, i.e. the things that most of the people in North America care about. So, if we look at Yahoo!'s track record, we can assume that they would post an article explaining something that has caused quite a large public up-roar. That is exactly why I am appalled. If I had seen this exact article on my friend's blog, I would've laughed and brushed it off as a "one-off". The sad part is that I saw this article on one of the most visited websites in the world. Due to so many people complaining, Yahoo! felt inclined to post about this article, and put it on their homepage.

So what was the article about? The article was about -if you haven't read it from the link I provided already- a new shirt from Urban Outfitters, which had the word "depression" written over it in a bunch of different font sizes. It talked about how people had criticized Urban Outfitters, how their was a social outcry -once again- over the message that the shirt contained. Sorry, I may be the most insensitive person in the world, but I don't see what was wrong with the shirt. In fact, I saw something wrong with those people that were complaining. By complaining, they were putting down the artist's work, and they were trying to peer pressure people out of buying the shirt. In a way, they were saying something along the lines of, "if you buy that shirt, you are being a bad human being - someone with no ethics." Was this right on their part? No, in my opinion it was not. They may talk about how their statement is them expressing their opinion, them using their right to free speech - but is it really? In one way, yes, but in another it is that person making a contradictory statement. They are giving themselves the right to expression of opinion and to free speech, but at the same time, they are putting down another person who expressed him/herself.

So, what do I want to discuss? I want to discuss the oversensitivity of people in today's society. Why did these people all find this shirt so horribly offensive? Was is because they were/are all clinically depressed? Probably not. Was it because they just hated Urban Outfitters? Maybe, but probably not. (For the record, I own a few garments from Urban Outfitters. None are so controversial, but they are nice and I really like them.) So why did the public find this shirt -along with a flurry of other Urban Outfitters- so offensive? Because they are, quite frankly, too sensitive. In fact, I am trying to hold my tongue to not say that a lot of the these people are simply brainwashed. They are a brainwashed to believe that if something is not "politically correct" according to their neighbours standards, that then that thing is wrong and deserves to be publicly shamed, flogged and exterminated.

These people don't realize that by all going out to insult the same thing, they are simply demonstrating their brainwashed-ness. They cannot think for themselves, they cannot tell right from wrong for themselves - all they can do is listen and mindlessly nod their heads in agreement. Now, I am getting off track and thinking of things that are unnecessary. Let me get back on track to the topic of oversensitivity.

Let's assume that these people who scrutinize every little thing that is done, these people who consider themselves God, these people that think that they need to be the ones who regulate what can be shown to the public and what can't, aren't brainwashed. Let's assume that these people simply have their own opinion about what's right and what's wrong. Why do they find something like this one word SO offensive? Why do they see the people who made this shirt as antagonists? Why are they willing to spend such a large amount of time on expressing outrage against an issue that does not affect them? I believe that it is because they have nothing better to do with their lives, and because they are raised through the media and through society to be way too oversensitive. This is the only explanation that I come up with.

As for why they paint the creators of the shirt as antagonists, it is probably because they are too envious that these people have the boldness to write that on a shirt. They know that they cannot do what the creators of the shirt have done, and they thus think that they should shoot down those peoples' ideas. All of these folks think that they have earned the right to play God. They think that they should be able to express their opinion and shoot down anybody that proposes any idea that opposes theirs. These people need to be shown that they haven't earned the right to criticize their fellow man so closely. These people need to stop being so hypocritical.

Most of all, these people need to take a look around them, and stop being so sensitive to every little issue, especially those that don't affect them personally. Just chill. Stop freaking out at one word that it written on a shirt. If the same shirt was put on sale to the public by the Mental Health Association, and if it was said that 30% of proceeds will go to benefit patients of depression - I guarantee you that people would praise the shirt. Why are these people so easily swayed by a brand name? Why do they wait for every opportunity to jump and attack a person, who simply wants to demonstrate artistic freedom? Because they are simply bad people, or at least stupid people.

I have so much more to say, but by now I really should be getting back to the festivities. Thanks for listening to this rant!

N.B. Urban Outfitters was also criticized at one point for blasphemy and stereotyping. In the near future, I will be posting about how these issues of stereotyping and blasphemy were grossly exaggerated.

Incompetence

As many of my readers know, I am a debater. I love debate and it is pretty much the only passion that I have. It gives me motivation to go to school and to actually do something with my life, but that's beside the point. The issue that I will be writing about today, is one of great annoyance to me. It is about the sheer incompetence of people, but not just any people, people who are supposed to be competent in their respective areas of work. I will be using a recent example from my debating life to portray the issue of incompetence, for it struck a chord with me.

Before I go into detail about that, it is important that I explain the circumstances: When I was in grade 8, I was in the debate club at my school. It was, for lack of a better word, good. I had many friends and a sublime coach. In fact, the coach at that school had taught me everything I know about debate in that one year. She was amazing. She organized all the tournaments, and just really cared about our success in debate. Anyways, I transfered schools in grade 9 because the curriculum at my grade 8 school was not up to my parents standards. I transferred to the highest ranked public school in all of the province. It also was said to have a superior debate team. They had achievements to show for it, too. Sadly however, this new school's reign of superiority would end the very year that I show up. Why? Because the school was raking up achievements from two senior students alone. When these senior students left, the achievements and ability to debate, apparently left with them.

I was now stuck in a school, which I had initially thought would have so much to teach me about debate, that had not very many spectacular debaters. So quickly, I became presented, by both fellow debaters and teachers, as "one of the star debaters on the team". Don't get me wrong, it was a title I had long wanted, but not one that I had ever expected to be fathomable. I thought that because I had come from a school that wasn't as great in the debate rankings, that I would have a hard time keeping up with the amazing debating that was supposedly happening in this school. Honestly, I didn't. I even began questioning how in the world they got any debating done, because they didn't have an awesome coach like I had in my old school, they had no coach. The system of coaching at this new school relied, and still relies on, older students with more experience coaching younger students with less experience. This system is simply bound to fail. Just because a student has debated longer, does not mean that they are better than a younger student. Honestly, experience doesn't mean much. You may have gone to a bunch of debates because your parents forced you, and you could have been tuned out for most of the debate. Also, there is a sad reality and it is that, quite frankly, you may just not be that good at debate.

So now, at this new school, I am the star debater. The club expects that I offer some sort of help to younger students, and I do. In fact, I wrote a whole 8 page/3000 word (shown below on my first post) guide on how to debate cross examination style. It sounds like the good life, right? I don't mind the pressure that I have when I go to tournaments - I love the pressure. I want to win and I strongly believe that I could win, on one condition.  A good partner. Sadly, debate requires you to put your trust into a partner. I prefer to do things myself, so that I can control everything, but in debate, I can't. I have to put my shot at a win in the hands of some other kid. Even if I debate fantastically, and get great scores, it doesn't matter. If my partner screws up, it screws me up. Quite a problem for a control freak like myself, right? Wrong. I like to control things, but I am willing to put my trust into a person who earns it. The issue is that, with all these massively important tournaments coming up, there is no partner at my new school that is up to par with me. Thus, I cannot put my trust into anybody. If I want to continue going to tournaments, I have to.

So, in grade 9, I sort of gave up on winning. I told the senior students (who are also the coaches) that I wanted to debate, but I didn't care who my partner was. I payed for that statement because I didn't win much. I got third place at this one tournament, and I was satisfied.

Anyway, now in grade 10, I have decided that enough is enough. It is the last year that I can compete as a junior, and I want to make it count. I want to win something, and I cannot do that with a okay-ish partner. This year, a miracle happened. I was at a big tournament with a nice partner. Seriously, she was awesome. She has a ways to go in debate, but she is a good person. Regardless, during this big tournament, I got to reconnect with some of the debaters from my old school. After talking a bit with them, I realized that their team is still improving, and I was quite frankly envious.

Once that debate was over, I took the initiative and messaged one of the debaters from my old school, who I had talked with. I asked him if he would be willing to be my partner for a big upcoming debate. He told me that he had wanted to ask me the same thing, and so our partnership began! I was really excited, and I finally felt like I could achieve something in debate. The issue is that we would have to be a hybrid team.

Hybrid teams are allowed, but frowned upon. People don't like the idea that you may form a "power team", if you become a hybrid team. Now, my new partner -being the squeamish type that he is- was worried about whether or not we'd be allowed to go as a hybrid team. Hybrid teams had been formed before, so there was no reason that we wouldn't be allowed to go as a hybrid team. Sadly, one tournament organizer -who, quite frankly, had no clue what she was talking about- had tried to tell my partner that hybrid teams weren't allowed. When my partner informed me of this, I told him to use his logic and question why previous teams were allowed to go as hybrids, if we aren't. After much repetition, he believed me, but asked me for proof. Since the tournament organizer had said that hybrids weren't allowed, everyone -including both of our coaches- had believed her. It was now up to me to prove her wrong.

I did this with minimal effort. I simply looked up the the rules of the Debate Society of BC, and there it was. Under section 6.1, there was a rule that clearly stated that hybrid teams are allowed, if permitted by the President and the Regional Coordinator. Regardless, I was appalled by the incompetence of my debating peers. Anyway, now that I had proved that, I requested from the tournament organizer that our team be allowed to compete as a hybrid. She gladly complied, and my partner and I thought that we were on our way to success. We had another small task ahead of us: it was to get permission to compete as a team from the president, in the Regional tournament.

Being the lazy person I am, I requested that my partner do the dirty work. In other words, I asked him to write the letter to President. I however, had missed a small detail. I had forgotten that my partner was/is probably the nicest guy in the world. He gladly accepted the chore, and wrote the nicest request letter in the whole world. It was too kind for the type of woman that this President was. She responded back, telling him that the answer was no, due to the concern of power teams. She also said that the only time a hybrid team can be approved is when one student does not have a debate club at their school. My partner was very sad and genuinely apologized to me, thinking that it was his fault. I told him not to worry and that I'd sort it out. We set up a date to meet, and we wrote a new letter. In this one, we provided proof of precedent and explained that the rule of her association is open to interpretation. She never replied.

Well, I guess she did. Only, she replied after the registration deadline for the tournament. At this point, we had already registered as separate teams and and no chance of going to the tournament. She also did not respond as to why other teams in the past were allowed to compete as hybrids. She basically avoided all the tricky questions. For that, I have a very clear goal set out. Since the tournament that she is organizing is on January 18th, I have decided that I will talk to her face to face. My goal is no longer to become a hybrid team, rather to shame her, for she was a liar and a coward.

I already have in mind what I will say. I have not let my friend from my old school know, as I am sure that he'd be opposed to the idea. He is too nice, and I'm assuming, does not think that she deserves this. I am not on to turn the other cheek. I will have her reprimanded for preventing me from doing something that would almost ensure winning for me, and so that she never has the opportunity to do such a thing again.

Though I had originally intended this post to be about the incompetence and fear that people have about looking into a rule. It turned into a rant about my being prevented from attending a tournament in the fashion I wish. I hope that no one minded too much. Thanks for listening! 

Typicality

Walk into the open concept classroom. Glance through the enormous windows and feast your eyes on the half wilderness, half industrialized view. The tall evergreen trees and the modern university facilities contrast each other in a far from perfect way. It is rather disgusting, but I attempt to block out the man made objects and focus purely on the small patch of forest. My attempt fails after my perfect view becomes blocked by the most boring woman in the world. Everything about her is boring. Her hair is typical, her eyes are typical, her bone structure is typical, everything else is too. She isn't especially skinny, nor is she especially fat. She is in between. Her makeup is done in a very normal way. Nothing about her stands out, nothing about her is even remotely special, so why is she blocking my view? Why am I unable to disregard her plainness? I fell into a deep pondering over the issue while she began speaking. I was tuned out for the most part, but I had mastered the art of listening while thinking. Not a very useful skill, but useful enough that every so often, when I am called out in class and asked to answer a question, I can. Once again, something interrupted my thinking; it was my peer. It's the tiny Asian girl who sits beside me. She is as annoying as they come. She hates her own culture and she is way too jumpy - a valley girl of sorts. She shows me her phone, a picture of me is on it. She took the photo just a few minutes ago. It is a picture of me doing my thinking. It has a few likes, and there is a comment from a boy who used to go to school with me. The comment says "dayuuummmm, she a hottie :0 say hi to her for me". "God, what an annoying douche", I thought to myself. Then, one of the many voices in my head asked me, "Who, the Asian girl or the guy who commented?" "Both" I responded to the voice. Why were these people so annoying? I didn't know.

Now that this little ball of annoyance had disturbed my peace, I began to look around the classroom, in search of non-annoying creatures. Surprisingly, the only people who I didn't consider annoying were those that I didn't know. In fact, even some of the anonymous beings were annoying. There was something repulsive about their physical appearance. One of them of course, was this new teacher.

As I said, she was the world's most typical woman. I had a little day dream: In some random factory, miles and miles away, there is a conveyor belt. On this conveyor belt, millions of females, just like my new teacher, are rolled down, packed and exported.

Why did I hate this teacher who didn't stand out? I thought about the subject again.

Anyway, I don't want to keep boring you with this story, but I'd like to sum up why I hated her. I hated her because of her plainness. I hated her because there was nothing that she could do wrong. You can't do wrong if you're perfectly identical to society's norms, in every single way. Yes, hate is a strong word, but I did hate her. She was so annoying. Her boringness was annoying. I hated the fact that, for the rest of the school year, I'd have to come to this soulless android's class, every second day. 

"Political Prisoners" In Russia: Is Pardoning Them a Political Stunt?

QUESTION (from idebate.org, Alex Helling):

Russia is considering pardons and amnesties for many of the high profile cases that have brought criticism from the west such as Pussy Riot and Khodorkovsky. After a very successful year on the global stage where Putin has succeeded in facing down the United States on Syria and the win Ukraine over to his side in competition with the European Union Vladimir Putin is showing a conciliatory side – or possibly is being magnanimous in victory.

There have been several high profile cases where the Russian state has jailed people when that westerners have often considered to be unfair; Khordorkovsky is often considered to have been imprisoned due to his wealth and beginning to looking like a viable opposition leader – the west has never really bought the idea that he was somehow more corrupt than other oligarchs. More recently Pussy Riot highlighted the issue of freedom of speech in Russia. And only this year Greenpeace activists attempting to highlight oil drilling in the arctic were detained after an assault by the Russian military.

 Now there is to be an amnesty as a part of the celebrations for the 20^th anniversary of the adoption of the Russian constitution. The amnesty will pardon non-violent first time offenders which will apply both to the Greenpeace activists who clearly have no criminal record in Russia as they are from outside the country as well as the members of Pussy Riot who are still in jail as a result of their stunt in Moscow’s cathedral of Christ the Savior with a song calling for Putin’s removal from power. Putin points out that the amnesty was not specifically aimed at either of these two cause celebres.

Putin wrote:

"It is neither linked to Greenpeace, nor this group [Pussy Riot]. I was not sorry that they ended up behind bars. I was sorry that they were engaged in such disgraceful behavior, which in my view was degrading to the dignity of women. They went beyond all boundaries "

The BBC says it covers “at least 20,000 prisoners, including minors, invalids, veterans, pregnant women, and mothers.” However Russia’s Human Rights Council estimates that the amnesty will free less than 1500 prisoners out of a prison population of 700,000 making it rather fortuitous that it covers many of the best known cases outside the country.

If Pussy riot and the Greenpeace activists being freed is merely coincidence then one pardon does appear to be intentional. Khodorkovsky’s current jail term is not his first so he is not eligible for this amnesty yet Putin has announced in his annual news conference that he will be pardoned. The reasoning is Khodorkovsky

Putin wrote:

"has already spent more than 10 years in prison, this is a serious punishment. He is citing humanitarian circumstances, his mother is ill, and I think this is grounds for making a decision, and a decree about his pardon will be signed in the nearest future."

yet Khodorkovsky’s legal team know of no request for clemency leading to the supposition that Putin may simply have decided that now is a good time.

Many will consider that the imprisonment of all of these groups was political, and therefore their being freed must also be political. It is notable that the winter Olympics in Sochi are just around the corner; taking place in February of next year. Already leaders of major countries are declaring that they will not attend such as Francois Hollande of France and German President Joachim Gauk saying they would boycott the games  while US president Obama has been a bit more ambiguous about his motivations simply saying that there scheduling difficulties meaning he cannot attend. Putin might therefore be calculating that by showing a willingness to free those who are considered to be the opposition he might pre-empt a more general boycott.

Debatabase debate ‘This House believes the imprisoned members of pussy riot should be considered political prisoners’ http://freespeechdebate.idebate.org/debatabase/debates/freespeechdebate/house-believes-imprisoned-members-pussy-riot-should-be-considered-polit

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/12/18/us-russia-greenpeace-amnesty-idUKBRE9BH0FO20131218

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25433426

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/khodorkovsky-to-be-pardoned-putin-says/491892.html#ixzz2nwPiA0sk

ANSWER FROM ME:

It is obviously a political stunt, and the question itself is unnecessary.  The women, Greenpeace and Khordorkovsky are different people with different crimes to their names, thus they may or may not all be political prisoners.

Pussy Riot, in my opinion, deserves punishment. As much as they may try and deny that they were trying to inflict any sort of hatred with their performances, they obviously were. The simple fact that their performance was staged at a church demonstrates that. Even though I am not religious myself, it is clear to see that they were degrading religion by using The Virgin’s name and parodying a holy prayer.  Though I believe the punishment was over exaggerated and that it was in part fuelled by the subject matter and the fact that they were opposing the state, I still do not believe that they should be considered political prisoners. Western organizations like Amnesty International have reason to deem the Pussy Riot performers as political prisoners. Since they do not support Putin’s regime, it is in their interest to call the women political prisoners and attract negative attention to Putin’s government.  Try to disregard the media, which are constantly telling us that these women are not political prisoners, and ask yourself if they did indeed commit some sort of crime. Even in a democratic state, they did. They firstly disturbed the peace by screaming and attracting attention in public, they secondly were blasphemous, by degrading the name of what is holy to people, at a holy place. They offended a lot of people, which was wrong.

What Greenpeace did was not that bad, and I don't agree with the decision to jail them. I am not informed about Khordorkovsky and I thus cannot make statements about him. 

There are different forms of protest and the form they did was not the most potent. It degraded the women themselves and something holy. They could’ve performed protest without degrading something holy.

Truthfully, they probably wouldn’t have received such a harsh punishment had they protested the opposition, but that is the same in all places, even in the West.  The most basic form of ruling states that the opposition needs to be eliminated; it is the goal of all leaders. Naturally, you want more supporters and fewer opponents, so it makes sense that Putin wanted to get rid of them.

They weren’t jailed politically, but because the West made their jailing political, the release will be political. Whether or not Putin is being magnanimous in having such a successful year politically, or if he simply wants to do the best for his country by releasing the women and giving incentive for western leaders to attend Sochi, is questionable.  

Stars

Stars is a word that most people associate either with the tiny yellow things that we see in the night sky, or celebrities. Stars however, is so much more than that. Stars is a band from Toronto. They aren't words to describe the love I feel for them. Using the words amazing, incredible, sublime, perfect etc., are all understatements. Stars are beyond perfect, they are the best band to ever release music. Even their music is not worthy of being called music - it is art. Auditory flowing gold, and saying anything else would be an offensive remark. I know, I'm a hipster because I adore them, right? Sure, I don't mind, call me what you will.

I first heard Stars perfection two years ago. Changes was the first song that I was ever honoured/blessed to listen to. I watched the video, and even though she is naked, it didn't take anything away from the song. It is such a poetic song with beautiful lyrics. The music, though monotonous, is impeccable. Changes encouraged me to look into this new band, which would later grow into an obsession. Honestly, I didn't think that there was going to be any song with the ability to match up with Changes, but I was wrong. I also thought that Changes was a one off, and that maybe they got lucky with the song. Once again, I was wrong. Changes was only a gateway to some of their even more wonderful music for me.

The next song that I discovered has been my favourite for the two years now: Your Ex-Lover is Dead. These lyrics are so moving and fantabulous that they actually made me bawl my eyes out. Like a lot of their music, the lyrics deal with death. But this is not the kind of death music that you'd expect. It is so pretty and perfect. The video is also sweet. It is a little bizarre at first glance, but looking at it again makes you see more.

The final song which I fancy A LOT was Dead Hearts. My dad introduced me to this song after watching Like Crazy, and hearing the song. He thought it would be my style, and he was right. Apparently, he had no clue that Stars was my favourite band - which I still slightly doubt. Anyway, I listened to the song on repeat for the rest of the day. It was SO good! The lyrics deals a little with mortality, as do many of their songs. Regardless, there is something beautifully haunting and enchanting about both the voice and the music, which actually really suits the lyrics.

Stars continual ability to match lyrics, with vocals, with music, perfectly makes them the best band ever!!

Stars have not come close to receiving the attention they deserve. Stars has made this world a better place with their music. Stars deserve to be stars, yet society does not recognize them. Perhaps they will be like all great minds - appreciated enough only after they are dead. Too bad. 

A Poem to the Love of My Life

This is a poem that I have written to the love of my life. Considering the fact that I've used some give away names in the poem, I've decided to black them out. 

Forever and eternally, my heart shall be yours. 

My affection is in your hands. 

My devoted soul rests upon your bosom. 

Adoration beyond my heart's limit overflows towards your beauty. 

When I see you, it is like I see the sun,

For your consistent grace gleams into the very depths of my retina.

Your magnificent blue eyes penetrate my aura

They encourage me to be a better person each day.

In times of hardship, a simple glimpse of your well being is enough to repair my troubled soul.

Your fair skin cuts through the crowd and makes it's way to my marrow

Your sandy mane stands out amongst the rest

When I am lost, it guides me back to you 

In my darkest hour and day

A simple look at you makes me gay

I sneak a glance, hoping you don't notice

For I will never be good enough

Your gentle voice whispers stories

About Siberia, about morning glory 

I learn your life, I learn to forgive

I learn to love,  I learn to live

I feel the passion burn like a fire

My need for thee is dire

Each day without you is a death

Each day with you is my heart's content

I spend each eve in a desperate search

For a way to come close to you - a towering birch

Playing fruit ninja upon you navel

Was like drinking honey from a ladle

You are like a god to me

Perfect in every way

If only you would see

The love which lay - 

In the crevasse of my heart

A cavity filled and dripping

As if penetrated by a dart

Ready for you to take by ripping

Do not be enticed by mafiosos called dfsbjdh

They will never care for you as much as the llama

The llama I am, which mines endlessly for your love

The mafioso called sdfshdjb, who flys away like a dove

Do not let your love sag to another

Cherish our time together

Though there is temptation like fdbjvdf

The love we have is forever