Dear American

Real quick...

watching John Stewart I learn about the media in my country.
working at NPR at WOI I learn about the happenings of my world.
reading News Feeds I learn opinions of people who are a part of both.

It is my thought that the events in Egypt was accomplished by the people of Egypt was no small influance by the people of the United States of American.

Through the display of our society, not through poltics we, as a people, can inspire. Through politics, the people build a representation of their society.

I commend Obama for his actions on the matter.
It was not him, nor The Armed Forces of America,
our spear. Our culture, Egyptian culture
Effected great actions. Affected great new responsibility

Cross Roads

1:38am sep 16 2010

Why keep a Blog?

I suppose I do it to maintain a frail connection to writing. To language. I loved language and literature. I enjoy analytical reading and discussing symbols and themes. writing too.

What happened?

I graduated. Nobody was interested in literary critiques or theory. I saw no jobs at the BA level -none, that is, that tailored to my interest. proof readers. I'm terrible at detail work. editing/publishing. I wanted something more academic. Teaching. I discovered that no place wanted some one with four-years of interdisiplary study with out teaching accreditation.

Why not freewrite? journalism, or fictional work?

Attempts at creative writing were abysmal. I found too quickly that I had no subject for which I had passion. perhaps I'm too high-minded, but I could not bring my self to write articles about thing for which I did not care. As it turns out, I am a stubborn wordcrafter too. I could start. But I never allowed myself to generate enough material to work with before I tried to revise it. Ultimately, I became discouraged. I convinced my self I was a terrible writer - a self-fulling prophecy compounded by my refusal to practice or even seek out side inspiration.

Is that why you returned to College?

I guess. I felt, after two years floundering and living off my parents' money, that i was most productive in the influence of an academic setting.

Did you want get a Masters in English?

yes, no. I wasn't sure what focus - what drive I had to justify further education. I didn't want to fall into the trap of continuing schooling for the lack of an other interest. I wanted to want to be in school.*shrugs* Truth is, I didn't try. I submitted one application -late- to University of Iowa. but mostly I was scared. scared to try. just like with my writings i was scared to put all that emotional effort - a significant portion of my being- to the judgment of the masses. My own fragile ego and insufficient self-esteem predicted my doom, my failure. In part, failure to find a job translated into failure to be accepted. So I took an easy way.
Another degree?
yes. I reenrolled as an undergraduate. at a school known for it's exceedingly low expectations. (but you didn't hear that from me).

You said you were scared. Is that the reason you choose Iowa State University?

No. By now I feel much more confident I my abilities. Actually, I found myself living in Ames because I was living with my love, Ruby. It was too late to apply for a postgrad position, you see. Nor did I find the opportunities at ISU that compelling.  Further, Ruby keeps talking about moving to Germany. I figured I could stay in Iowa for a year (two at most) and while I look for a nice Masters program, I could brush up the ol' GPA. and, hey, why not explore some other interests while I'm at it?

And how do you feel now?

/Wordinfo.info/

Wordinfo.info is a marvelous search engine parts of words. Like if you wanna know what /-ly/ meant, how it effected the word, what part of the word (prefix/suffix/...) is it, and it's language origins. You could. It's a particularly greet constructing words. I created: Disgaffic: pertaining to or relating to disgaffic, a disorder of being graphically impaired.

I started writting this two days ago, and thought i'd posted it. But that is simply untrue. As such, most of my beleived to be posted post is unavailable (i forgot). Nevertheless, I am really surprised by Wordinfo. other domains of the dot info (something.info) a exist. however not many. I suggest topics.info from Info.com (a pretty good metesreach engine too) for some information. I already

 However good the code is for Wordinfo.info, it is not terribly user friendly. unless you, like me, have a specific interest in word and word parts,  or are used to staring at dictionaries, it is not engaging. It is horribly bleak.

that is all
-Marcus

I wanna Review an album

Demon Days by the Gorillaz

Now that I've got your attention:

I'll bring you up to date. i recently decided to be my own Corporation. I thought: Damnit! if a Corporation can have the same rights as me, I ought to have the same rights as millions of different minds. Right?
I wanna apply this to my own life. (Also, it shouldn't be as hard as it is to get iTunes to upload some album work.)

I am going to explode keeping this review in. but i would be amiss to forgot to thank you. for reading this now as I've drawn the curtain on myself, This Life of Mine. To Hope and Bob, congratulations. and i miss you and thanks and words escape me now. must remember to touch this up in editing the Skarins, of course. arlo, Fro, sabi too, where ever you are, good luck. (next year at the Sexiterium!) To my friends in the business world out there (Nicole, Brenna, the kchrisophers, mom&dad and the Familia). Feet. the Sharmas to whom I own no-end-of-gratitude. Words, in general. I like words. And of course, you, the readers.

I must remind my self, I'm not working for just one guy any more. I'm now also a corporation. like a whole bunch of guys and I think to myself: "i can't let this bunch of rad dudes look bad just because of me." And I jump into shape. (I really like this living-like-a-company thing.)

Speaking of... didja hear the falling twigs? Spring! and with it a whole new world of AmeriCare. I can't wait to get some care. I've been holding my breath since he announced it.and that's not good for the lungs.

Ok the review. Demon Days by the Gorillaz. it's what you've all gathered here for. Sat through all this yammer for. *i grasp for an opening statement* it simply blows me a way. I am sad to say, i am a man of little words. (if only cuz it'd be nice to have a bigger vocabulary.) I'm unsure if it's my having to much too say or too little? or the masterful technical work and the album's arrangement. but hear me, the result of listening to the album and blogging simultaneously. From 2-D's glorious vocals to Danger Doom's sonic brilliance, the album is a solid piece of work. The Gorillaz brand of electronic/Punk/Rap is damn-near unique. With Murdok's baselines crushing your speakers it's impossible not to get lost in the sound. Del (the funky Homo sapien) blesses the CD with some very fantastic jams. Just when you think they've over-reached, Del pulls us in for a spin and provides to very interesting -tantalizing- audio art to get us interested. I haven't yet had an opportunity to get a hold of their newest album (though i hear it's Amazing!) that said, Demon Days is my favorite Gorillaz work.

Get a copy of it, stick it in your ear. It is great.

thank you to all those I've meet in this travel.
-Marcus Miranti

only a little late

A staple of my times these days.

i'd meant to post a review of my current read, the everlasting Dark Tower by Stephan king. However life had different ideas and i didn't fight them. Mostly because they involved a two dollar movie and a night out with my lovely Ruby. whats a guy to do?

It was exceptionally fun. We saw Avatar for 3.50 between us. (i loves cheap theatres.) It wasn't bad. It was pretty great. For a story about Alien struggle, it match Distract 9 in production. However, i'm not sure i'd purchase this movie for my collection in spite of the entertainment i provides. Mostly because it follows a very predictable pattern (the ending in particularly). But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Going in to Avatar, i expected it to be more preachy. (i don't know why, James Carmen has always be a favorite filmmaker of mine) Of course it wasn't. Although i felt some of the moral lessons were ambiguous. I'd go into details but i often spoil things when i do. Suffice to say, that a world of beings interconnected as Pandora, would not subscribe to the judo-christian idea that all things on the earth were created for the use of man. That said, i would encourage folks to see it (if any out there haven't yet) if just to witness the phenomenon. On the other hand, i stress the District 9, as disturbing as it is, is a good counter part to Avatar.

-marcus

beir review

I don't usually write reviews.
but i come across this beverage i wanted to share opinions about.
thus, i decided i needed to try.

I love Ciders. Hard , soft, sparkling, apple, pear or whatever, I like the taste of what was once associated with fall - autumn. My favorite hard apple cider is StrongBow, an English import. it is delightfully strong, tart (but not overly) and subtly sweet. However, it often hits hardest in the wallet at about 10$ a sixer. As such, i picked up an apple cider down the cooler awayz that goes simply by "Hardcore."

At first glance, Hardcore is a modest brew. brown nonchalant bottles peeking their black caps over the tall sides supporting the Hardcore logo. Brewed and bottled in Boston by the Boston Brewing Company, the look of Hardcore does it's best to separate from the malted beverages and wine coolers that surround it. it's OK, American guys, just because you like a sweeter beverage, doesn't mean you like cock too.

Alright, enough of the look, what the fuck does it taste like, you ask. Well, i reply slowly, by first impressions Hardcore is not very, well, impressive. My first sips remind me of a thicker (but no less watery) beer like Tecate or Bub Lite. It is not a tart drink. Nor does it leave a surgery sap choking in my maw yet it is playfully fruity. The Appleness creeps like kittens on to you're taste buds. the Boston Brewing co. certainly got something right here. Too often bottled non-beer drinks are like syrup. Hardcore drinks very beer-like. (it's easy to drink a lot of with out sickening sweetness)

However, it loses points for tasting ever slightly like rotten apples. Having grown up in New England, Boston, actually, I'm very familiar with Massachusetts' apples and it's ciders. Late season ciders often suffer this problem and Hardcore does too. perhaps it is slow shelf rotation at Hy-vee or some issues in transit with that in mind, at 5.5% alcohol per bottle, at half a bottle, you don't care so much.

My advice: pour this brew into a glass. Let it breath a bit (i know i sound like a philistine). A Glass! you exclaim with surprise. Yes, you cur, a glass will it warm a little so the cider's flavor can overcome that bitter-crudiness of over-ripe apples. I didn't try Hardcore warm (i enjoy my drinks usually cold) but just a minute in the open and it becomes quite enjoyable.

eat, drink, and enjoy.
-marcus miranti

an annoying walk from the forum

Ok.

So, i'm not a very opinionated soul, but the resent and increasing noise and trouble over health-care reform has bugged me to the point of blogging about it.

Lemme throw my hat into the ring:

It's very easy to sit (or stand) and complain about the principles -the concepts- of programs when you live a secured life. When i witness the grass roots "town-hall" meetings there people express there discontent with this healthcare reform somehow being the end of capitalism and their fears of an "America lost." i am appalled. not one. not a single person in the presses' coverage has been a person who looks to be without insurance. I don't mean to stereotype, but these folks tend to be white collar or union workers (or above); people who are guaranteed to have coverage. This reform is not about destroying an industry. Rather it is about making an industry more accessible. the fact is that the cost of healthcare is increasing three times faster then the cost of inflation. That means that for each dollar more my wage is increased the cost of a doctor visit increases by three (dollars). Now, when a company bares the boon and burdens for that cost, who cares but the CEOs? 

Well, many Americans aren't protected by companies' tax credits. I, like many, are not covered by any healthcare or insurance plan. I don't have 600$ a year to spend on my health. an as long as companies and unions are willing to pay 600$ a person for healthcare, insurance companies will charge 600$ a year for a health plan.

Believe it or not, that's the way capitalism works, babe. Sure, there's that Hippocratic oath that HMO personnel *should* take. but that's less for their benefit and more for your own. It's just like that "employees must wash hands" sign at McDonalds. I have worked as a cook. I have seen people treat those signs as a suggestion.

In my opinion it come down to this: We, as a people, need either healthcare reform of a cultural reform.

I know it sounds awkward, but take a step back and imagine a society where every other individual can diagnose the systems of a stroke, set a broken bone, intervene a heart attack, or even perform basic 1st aid. Now imagine a world where people don't hide their prejudice behind a facade of "fear of socialism."

That was too far.

At any rate, i never felt the need for a universal healthcare. I've lived a good life. a fat and privileged life. Yet, at every turned I've sought to escape my heritage. Last year of high school i spent in Mexico and southwest USA. After college, I took a low paying job in a slum part of Iowa City. I've seem people picking strawberries with gnarled broken fingers, I've hiked 20 miles across arid deserts in northern Mexico that were once irrigatable farmland, before the Colorado ceased to flow into the sea of Cortez, I've met people who can't afford their bi-polar drugs nor can they afford the cost of giving birth in a hospital, I've seen folk who must choose between eating or sanity. 

American society is a joke. When the an expectant mother musty choose between the drugs that keep her from slitting her wrists or hiring a natal physician, then something is wrong. When I as working for Monica's, a restaurant in Iowa city, I meet a man named Paulie. Paulie wasn't the easiest guy to get along with, but he was no monster. He was gruff and bitter and reacted like a man who spent his entire life fighting the world. He was a prep-chef. He had a medical problem that he had no money for: a pain in the foot. it took a month for him to save enough money for an operation to remove an inflamed nerve (which was thought to be the problem). the cheap surgery resulted in circulation lost in two of his toes. they were removed. two toes became five. Five toes became a foot. The hospital was able to save his leg. Another co-worker, Richard was baking bread one evening. He set a 500 degree pan on a shelf above him. José, a Spanish speaking member of our team, was lost in language as he stumbled to warn Richard of the falling pan and heavy boxes (¡cuidado!). I fear to imagine what might've happened if I was not around to shout in English. Richard did not have health insurance through Monica'

What i don't understand: the arguments against helping folks like Richard. When the US government decided to demonopolize the steel (steal) industry Rockefeller certainly wasn't complaining about socialism. When the US government decided the that 2nd amendment was great, but, perhaps some folks (those not fit to be tried in court) shouldn't own guns, no one shouted about their fears about "losing the America they know." If anything, healthcare reform would force competition for existing HMOs. which would force them to effect ways to lower their prices. Toothcare, for instance, is not life threatening. insurance companies would surely dominate by providing discounts with dental insurance. or they could encourage development of cheaper treatment and NOT tell the gubernatorial health insurers about it.

Let us just assume for a moment that healthcare reform won't cause the end of a free United States of America. Let's just pretend that President Obama passes this reform bill. Now, if governmental programs illustrate anything it is this: the majority of them fail to accomplish what they were intended for or do so poorly that the people seek help from the private sector anyway. ex: the Army Corp of Engineers, the CCC, prohibition, no child left behind, homeland security, the UBATF and countless others decrees.

So, seriously, just stop worrying about it all. If this healthcare thing does go arye, then take it up with the supreme court. that IS our(the people's) check on the gubernatorial process.

fuck!