Halo 3

In case you didn't know Halo 3 is probably the most amazing thing since... well, lets just say its damn good.

I didn't get a chance to play the two player mode in the game, but I was handed a solid 3 hours of game time and I have to say that it was truly an experience. What is great about the newest installment is that it picks up right back in the thick of the action from where you left off. In halo 2, Master chief is leaving delta halo on a ship headed towards earth, when Captain Keyes asks where he is going, he says "to finish the fight" and then the game ends. With halo 3, the game picks up with master chief pretty much jumping off of the ship and crash landing back into earth. His body is found by field Commander Johnson and a small group of UNSC troops. With his armor locked up, there is an uncertainty that the chief is still alive, but when Johnson reaches to the back of his head and tries to get a data chip out, the chief wakes up and the game starts. After noticing that the arbiter, the chief runs up and just before shooting it, is told that he is on the side of the UNSC. In two player co-operative, the chief is player one and the arbiter is player two.

So what exactly makes this game great? Halo 1 and 2 built off of each other progressively getting better. Halo 1 placed emphasis on vehicular combat, along with seamless action between grenade throwing and shooting. Halo 2 built off of this and incorporated two weapon use, along with more fine tuned graphics, Halo 3, however, is like Halo 1 and 2 but with just enough change in it to make it good. Too much change is a bad thing, as is too little change, but with the perfect amount, something can be golden. Halo 3 is certainly one of these things. Halo 3 still has incorporated for the most part, the same basic control scheme but has tweaked it in such a way that it is new, and takes a little time getting used to, but at the same time it is better. For instance, as opposed to using the X button for all of the action functions, the RB is used for action. Also the incorporation of using the RB and the LB for using items is that now you can selectively choose what gun you want in each hand for dual wielding.

New innovations would be some of the new weapons such as the gravity hammer, as well as deployable cover where the Chief can throw down a stick-like device and create a shield which cannot be penetrated by bullets. This innovation is more useful in the multiplayer versions of this game, however, in single player, it still carries its merit. one of my favorite things however, is the fact that now the player can remove machine gun turrets and run around with them in combat. While you lose the unlimited ammo capability as well as sacrifice some running speed and protection capability, you still feel like fucking Rambo. Finally the new vehicles. Halo 3 stays relatively consistent as far as traditional vehicles are concerned. However, there is a new vehicle called the Chopper which is like a giant motorcycle that looks like its made out of stone... (it sucks if you ask me), and as far as i know, there is a light covenant tank which can operate two men now. The scorpion also looks like it can have passengers on it once again.

The game is also visually satisfying. The environment is lush and alive, the lighting is bright and dynamic, and the battle sequences are more expressive and artistic than ever. Bullets flying, explosions, flipping cars, all equally contribute to the environment and make the game that much more fun. To me, the best element of the game is possibly all of the locales which Master Chief gets a chance to fight in. We first start off with the jungle, but then move to the Savannah. Personally when playing halo 2, one of my favorite parts was always the earth maps just because they were the most satisfying maps to play. The same applies here too. For the first 3 hours, playing on earth has been utterly amazing, and has looked amazing too, between water effects, detailing on blades of grass, and even master chief's shadow which remains consistent with even so much as the weapon held on his back, this game kicks ass.

For me, it took a little while to get used to the look sensitivity. I think one of my friends may have had it turned up, but other than that, i would say the game handles the same way. No fall damage, master chief can jump like a rabbit, and vehicular combat is awesome.

All in all, halo 3 is most certainly a must have. The game is a classic. Still Possessing the classic shooter elements with more vehicular combat integrated, more explosions, and more gun play Halo is still true to the series. I have yet to play Multiplayer, but based on what I have seen thus far, it has proven to be an amazing experience, encouraging me to purchase the game now.

I give it a 5/5... duh.

-Cliff

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Mychal Bell and The "Jena 6"

After a protest of about 15,000 people, Mychal Bell, the last of the "Jena 6", was released today on $45,000 bail. Mychal Bell, 17, was one of the six accused of beating a white classmate after racial tensions arose from the hanging of neuses from a tree at a local high school in the town of Jena, LA.

While I have been aware that this social and moral dilema has been going on for some time, I have chosen to address it near its conclusion. I find it truly important That we take with us an acknowledgment of this situation for what it is: a paradigm for racism. After watching young men and women protest, create signs, rally up groups to spread the word on Facebook, announcements via email, etc. It showed me how far we as a society have truly come. To understand and acknowledge injustice when we recognize it and then to do something about it. Young Mychal's bail was set at $90,000 originally, and he was being charged as an adult. But with the banding together of 15,000 protesters including Rev. Al Sharpton in the town of 3,000, change for this young man was finalized today. However, at the same time I couldn't help but feel a slight sense of disappointment and resentment for society as a whole... and here is why:

The "Jena 6" are not even one percent of ethically skewed, and de facto racist procedures in our society. I almost get the feeling that most Caucasian Americans blithely think that this incident is something unique when the reality is that it is not. There are plenty of African, Hispanic, Arab, and Asian Americans who fall victim to institutionalized racism but never get the publicity that the "Jena 6" got. The reason why I feel a sense of disappointment is because many White Americans really do believe that the American judicial system is just and fair when the reality is that it is far from such. Yes, sometimes when a man says "its because I'm Black" he is right, yes there is a highly disproportionate number of black men to white men in the American prison system (even when blacks are considered the "minority"), and yes some of those men ARE INNOCENT. I understand that we as a people must have faith in our government otherwise it will be ineffective, however, it is about time to acknowledge its flaws and begin to work towards its reform. We cannot simply give up our right to challenge the system which is meant to protect us if it shall readily destroy who we with a hand of prejudice. Let us put the blindfold back on justice, and if nothing else, remember the "Jena 6".

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Sorry for not updating... but in the meantime, check out whats going on Friday night!

Yeah so, its exam time right now and I have been swamped with work to do as of lately so there has been very little updating worth doing as of right now. But after next week when I finish up with my exams the posts will come back. I promise!

-Cliff

In the mean time, I know of something going on this weekend.

Name: Power Shift Highlighter/Black light Mega Party

Start Time:	Saturday, September 29, 2007 at 10:00pm
End Time:	Sunday, September 30, 2007 at 2:00pm
Location:	417A (Nikida's house)
Street:	Hillsborough Street
City/Town:	Chapel Hill, NC

Additional Details:
$5 a cup
At Nikida's place, fundraiser for powershift 2007!
Mega-kegger
Oh yeah
This party is open.

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A press conference with the devil: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Speaks at Columbia U.

Tonight I plan on keeping it short and sweet. This afternoon I read multiple articles on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at Columbia University. Most articles of which that I read, seemed somewhat surprised at the complete, uninhibited attention given by students at the university. While many protested in the streets outside, the Iranian president in a very "relaxed, reasonable, open, and sometimes charismatic" manner answered questions from the crowd, and focused on his main message of defending the Iranian nuclear program.
While some, most notably the Columbia U president, swore that Ahmadinejad was uneducated, cruel and dictatorial it is important that we as people proceed to listen regardless of what they have to say. Yes, Ahmadinejad said Israel needed to be wiped off of the map. So what? Its racist, its bigoted, it raises questions... But please, can we already get off of this man's dick already? We've been asking the same damn question in every interview "so, what do you mean by that?" and every single time, he has given us the same answer. But for some reason, whenever he tries to bring up issues that are recent, philosophies and views that are equally as important, we don't want to listen. For some reason as a nation, we twitch in horror at the fact that countries such as Iran choose to go head on with programs without consulting the United States first, but yet we fail to provide adequate attention when they are willing to consult us. When Ahmadinejad wrote president Bush an 18 page letter last year, it was met with no response. When Ahmadinejad tried to make a speech at the UN, he was denied a Visa because the United States DID NOT want him to speak. Finally, when Ahmadinejad arrived in the United States this past week, he was denied a request to place a wreath at ground zero. I have yet to see an adequate level of respect shown to the man in television interviews, and yet we wonder what it is that he hates about this country. I do not support the fact that amongst other questionable statements he says "Israel should be wiped off of the map", at the same time I think that it is important to not waste our time in attempting to stultify him, but rather to open our ears, close our mouths, and listen.

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Nights of Debauchery, The Weekend in Pictures

Wishing you were here...

-Cliff

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Friday

Loud music played throughout the small suite as a small group of guys and girls sat in a small circle on the floor. "Never have I ever" became the butt of laughter and inebriation as everybody had some sort of alcoholic beverage in their hands. Cassandra and myself were having fun trying to burn each other as the others in the group laid around and talked shit. It is times like this that i live for... when I can be with some of my closest friends, laugh, and be lighthearted if only for a minute. Most of us had exams the next week so we tried to take in as much of the weekend as possible, and attempted to soak in as much of the weekend as possible before it was all over. It was Leena's birthday tonight, and we were all celebrating. Roma, Sintha, and Leena were all in Roma's room trying on dresses and pants together asking me if they looked sexy enough. A feeling of privilege overcame me as I tried to give the best advice possible to three beautiful Indian women.
11:45... The guys and Cassandra went downstairs as the three girls asked me to stay behind and wait to come down with them. After some finishing touches, we went down to the lobby, but went out of the front entrance instead of the side entrance where the first group went. I found myself at the P2P stop with the three girls, and Sintha's brother Munden.
"Where did you go cliff, we were waiting for you" Cory said.
"Maaan... I got kidnapped... I couldn't do anything about it. Oh well."
"Shit, you didn't really get kidnapped Cliff." He responded
"All I have to say, is that Roma had me by the arm and I didn't feel like resisting... In other words, I got kidnapped." Yeah, it made no sense, I was drunk... plus, if Roma takes me somewhere, I AM GOING TO GO... I mean, she's so damn sexy.
The air was still moist from the rainfall a few hours back... We dismounted the P2P and were on Franklin street. Roma wanted me to go to Aladdin's. I told her I would come later on in the night... and I went with my other friends towards Sig Ep. Preston was all over Cassandra as I we went in the direction of little frat court. We were at the front door and one of the brothers asked for us to drop a name. Cassandra had everything handled as we moved passed the table at the front door and downstairs towards the party.
I love basement parties, however, at the same time there is something remotely disgusting about them. Always wear closed toed shoes because not only is the floor sopping wet with beer, it is also covered in glass and other things that would make you want to cringe. The room was dark. Blue lights danced around on the walls and ceiling. A brother was servicing a cluster of people around a keg, and closer towards the stage there were sloppy drunk girls, and rhythm devoid guys dancing around. Gabe and I started dancing right out of the gate. We found girls whose names we wouldn't remember and started having fun and working up a sweat. I have never been one to dance with a random woman for a long period of time simply because the ones I pick just happen to suck at dancing... Or they just don't put it on me. Gabe, Cory, Preston, Cassandra, a girl named Leeann, and myself danced together for it. Gabe was dancing with the same girl for most of the time until I left. I told everybody that I would be heading to Aladdin's and Leeann wanted to come with me. Five minutes later I dipped.
There is something about the parties down here that possess a sense of lackluster. Between the disgusting floor, the fucked up shit everywhere, the trash, and the general crowd, there is something that is generally unappealing. Frats are also somewhat inconsistent as far as party quality. While one frat might hire a DJ with a crazy sound system and have dancing, another frat might call a party having a generally mediocre sound system and playing Beirut all night... Which for me is boring.
I got to Aladdins at 12:45. The lady that usually works there recognized me and let me in without carding. She's a cool little woman. The room was packed, guys, girls, and skanks alike were dancing on the tables, people were making out on the dance floor. Older black men were drunk off of their asses and trying to maintain balance in the small room, bobbing and weaving along with the beat. Leena was dancing on the floor with a guy I see sometimes during the school day, backing her ass up all over him. Roma was sitting in the doorway on her cell phone and we danced for a bit. I sat on the table and she backed her ass up on me... Can't lie, I felt like a G. My knees were bad so I tried to keep from dancing too much while standing up. Most of what I did was either vibing while sitting on the table, or singing off key with all the drunk brothers leaning and rocking on top of the tables. Sintha saw me on the table and was surprised that I was at Aladdin's since I was at Sig Ep earlier on. She grabbed my hand and helped me down, and then put it on me. I just want to let you all know... these girls can BREAK IT DOWN... I thought my knee caps were gonna pop off like champagne corks as sintha stuck her ass up and put her hands close to the floor.
The lights flashed, and later went on. Cassandra was outside with everybody else. I was a nebulous mass of liquor, sweat, and happiness as I proceeded onto the bus and back towards Morrison. Gabe was seated as I stood with Cassandra, tossing and turning about against the abrupt motions of the bus. The stop for Morrison came around and I was dragged off by Cassandra and Roma.
"Where are you going!?" Gabe quickly asked... his voice faded as I was pulled off of the bus by the beautiful women.
"I am being kidnapped!! GO ON WITHOUT ME!" I said as I began to sober up. The doors to the P2P closed, the air brakes hissed, and the engine began to hum as the bus pulled off, and I proceeded towards Morrison, the tower of light.

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Thursday

9:00. I wake up, and stare at the alarm clock for 5 minutes. Should I get up? or should I sleep in, and hope for the best. It is in these moments which I become defined. I could indulge in my bodily urges and close my eyes, or get out of bed to only torture myself with the STOR 113 homework. I watch the green digits slowly shift, my mind is moving at a snails pace, and I only wish that time would backtrack once so that it would be night again. Reluctantly, I shift out of bed, and look out of the window. Perhaps it will rain today. The clouds look threatening.

Define, the worst feeling ever. For me, it is knowing that my best just wasn't good enough, and that despite hard work invested, there is nothing to show for it. My decision models for economics class (better known as STOR 113) has beaten my stamina to a nebulous pulp and with my luck, the hours I put into this previous assignment will fail to show once again. All we can do is try, and if we fail, try again. Thank god its Thursday. Something about this day makes me feel relieved and completed once more. Energy that I never knew existed within my being comes out, and my feeling of invincibility settles in for the next two days, only to vanish on the third.

As much as I want to say that I won't go out tonight, I have accepted the fact that odds are, I will. My feeling of uncertainty was quelled after a Facebook message from Hana appeared on my wall today. She has plans for us. Another weekend seems to be saved by her once again... we will see what develops.

-Cliff

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The Addiction Chronicles: Facebook

Lets face it kids... Facebook is an addiction in its own right. I personally like to call it a gate way drug. It all starts with an email. Typically one that is happy and jovial saying something to the effect of "(insert name here) has just invited you to Facebook!" then bla bla bla... you sign up, and set up a profile. Your friends who have been nagging you for like... ever, are now your friends. Oh, wasn't life so easy back when we didn't care about what someone wrote on our walls. But now, things have gotten more complicated. First it went to a visit every two weeks, then a visit every week, then a visit every day, then a visit twice a day... where are we now??? You think you're addicted, but you don't know... What happened? First you were a bright youngster who actually DID stuff with their life, and now you think you might be Facebook junkie. You're in a cold sweat, your hands are shaking, and your blood itches. You need signs. You know you're addicted to Facebook when:

1. The acronyms you use on Facebook, are used in actual conversation: Na, you're right... I couldn't possibly be talking about you. Perhaps your friend who talks alot that sounds like a valley girl right? Wrong. Yes, you do it too... Why? I heard it come out of your mouth! Look, we're all in the same boat here, lets just all take a deep breath and hug it out... If you feel angry, just tell me to shut the fuck up... or perhaps STFU. But really, you know its bad when you actually say lol at something funny... but you never laugh, or when you say ttyl as opposed to just talk to you later. Have you guys lost your minds?? In case you were wondering, the answer is no... you don't sound cool, get off that shit.
2. When you have application wars: Yeah so, in case you didn't get the memo, leveling up in super poke isn't all that cool. Is it just me, or does it seem as if there is a new application, that does the exact same shit as the old application, exept for some reason, people try to invite you to join the new application so that they can have even more facebook wars with you than they did with the old application. If you don't get my jist, look at it like this. This summer, they came out with food fight... I got into a food fight with my friend paige which I regret lasted for about a month... and then this fall they came out with PILLOW FIGHT! Who the hell is the mastermind behind this? Couldn't we just poke each other since that was annoying enough?? No... apparently we need more variety in pissing people off.
   
3. When Facebook is on your cell phone: Enough said.
4. When you invent ideas for stupid groups: Here's an example of two groups... one is sensible, and one is stupid. The first group is the "Save Darfur" group. The second group is, "If you didn't have a choice, would you eat shit, or drink piss?"... Can YOU tell which group is the stupid group? Hint: It doesn't involve Africa.
5. When you are on the internet, have facebook open, open up another tab to surf and periodically (like every 5 minutes) refresh your page to see if it has been updated: No, you're not really surfing the internet, you just happen to be on the Google homepage while you are waiting to see if someone wrote something on your wall. Nope, not this time... an hour later... nope, and you're still on the Google homepage where you still haven't searched anything... and you're still on Facebook, waiting for a wall post. You're still waiting on that one coming up... don't worry, its coming. Better not leave your computer, you might miss it.
6. You have conversations through wall posts: Okay, thats what the Inbox is for playa... But no, you still have like 50 messages from your girlfriend that everybody can see... all over your wall... including the dirty talk. The best though is when you see people talking shit to their friends about other people (who they are also friends with) through wall posts... I love how clever those guys are.
7. You excessively check out hot guys/girls on Facebook... just for fun: Yes, this is another indicator that you have WAY too much time on your hands... The best part though is when you wonder while you're searching for the opposite sex (or the same sex) on facebook, if other gorgeous souls are doing the same thing. Fella's, she doesnt even NOTICE you... just the guy listed above you. Accept it. Stop relying on hope. Ladies, I'll only say two words if you want guys all over your profile: Remember MySpace.
8. You become guilty of creating the pointless album: The pointless album typically consists of: Random pictures off of the internet (which nobody wants to see), Albums that are like two photos, and albums off of the internet that have generally shitty pictures in them (just because you want to make a Facebook album). Your album is a pointless one if it falls under that criteria. If you cannot tell what a shitty picture is, it is typically something that we don't want to see. If you're a straight man, we the consensus would prefer it if you put some clothes on, and quit the borderline gay shit. If you're a woman, we get the fact that you're drunk with your girlfriends on a Saturday night... However, this still gives you NO EXCUSE to make the same tired ass face time and time again. You know this face... The one where you tilt your head down, look away from the camera, and purse your lips together. Yes, we understand how cu-ute you are... after seeing you in the other 80 pictures where you have the same fucking expression. Also people, no fuzzy pictures where all we can see is like... a cup. Or Fuzzy pictures where all we can see are blobs of color, and the dust in the air. Finally, it never hurt anybody to aim the damn camera. actually if I'm not mistaken it makes people want to actually comment on your pictures.
9. You check your Facebook at the computer store: Hahaha... why don't you do your self a favor and get it on your phone... at least you can hide the fact that you're addicted.
10. You check your Facebook as soon as you get up: Okay, so note how I said as soon as you get up. This also includes when you take a piss break in the middle of the night at like 4 in the morning and you check your Facebook. If you have messages sent at around that time, at least you know you are not alone.

Honorary Mention:

• The group is dying and you’re trying frantically to do something about because you don’t want people to leave, then you go emo because everyone left, and then you slice your wrists, and on your gravestone it says, “Death By Facebook”
• You consider FACEBOOK as part of your activities, hobbies and interests
• When you facebook while taking a shower, or taking a crap
• You deactivate your account, then reactivate it, then deactivate, then reactiviate it again…. don’t bother trying to leave.
• When someone writes on your wall, and you respond in a matter of seconds.
• You write on someone’s wall and tell them you wrote on their wall when they’re RIGHT BESIDE you when you could’ve told them in person.
• you poke people for no reason and repoke over and over (not realizing there’s no point in doing it)
• You go emo when someone takes you off his/her friends list
• you write on people’s walls more than you write notes in class
• You go see a shrink about your addiction

Perhaps its time we started re-evaluating the point of our lives...

Eh,fuck it.
-Cliff

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'The Weekender' Survival Guide: Drinking (Part 1, The Pre-Game)

So The Weekender has been going on for almost a month now, and there have been some certain trends that have been going on with the incoming traffic search criteria. My Top 10 Drinking Mishaps has proven to be a real hit, especially in search engines when people are searching up how they vomited the morning after a night of debauchery, or needed remedies to get over the hangover from hell. This guide, the first guide of many hopefully, will teach you how to get through a night of partying okay without saying the infamous "I'm never going to drink again" which is mishap number 10 on my Top 10 Drinking Mishaps. Lets be honest anyway guys, its bullshit... so lets do it right.

All of us who party, especially those of us that are young, are lushes in our own right... and I use this word loosely, so don't get offended. But like anything that we do, be it driving a car, riding a bike or writing a book, there is a good way to go about it, and there is a bad way to go about it.

I'll give you the good way first. Its Friday: You eat an appropriate meal, You drink in safe moderation, you go up... you come down, you can talk about it in the morning, and do it again on Saturday.

Now here's the bad way: You drink way too much, you don't eat at all, you say you aren't going to throw up... but of course you do... maybe next time right? Yeah, its always next time. The next day the liquor is beating the hell out of your stomach, you're wearing sunglasses indoors, and your head is pulsating while your buddies are laughing about how you got sloppy drunk and threw up everywhere... and they have pictures.

Now what is the big problem here? The MODERATION... Yeah, you really got your head souped up by your friends didn't you? Let me guess, you thought you were a heavyweight, and figured you could keep up with your friends... but you couldn't. You thought that just because you didn't vomit, that you were actually special. Lets just get this out of the way... Not anymore.

This post will focus on the entire element of pre-gaming so that you have a good post game and believe me, this is just as important as when you're done drinking because this can be the definitive point between having a hangover, and getting off completely Scot Free. I've broken down the Pre-Game into three phases. I call this the EDT Model. It stands for Eat, Drink, Travel. A more complete Pre-game will feature at least some representation of each phase.

We will define pre-gaming as the phase at which one is prepares for the greater consumption of alcoholic beverages at a larger function.

Which means that the entire pre-gaming phase is not just the drinking aspect... but also preparing your stomach for the consumption of alcohol, and the travel time it takes to get to your destination. Now depending on where you are, and what you are doing, sometimes each factor can be eliminated, or the entire pre-gaming phase can be eliminated as well. Here are some for instances:

• Throwing Your Own Party at home: In which case, the eating and drinking phase is still a factor, but the travel aspect has been effectively eliminated.
• Going to a Dinner Party: In this instance, the Eating and Drinking factor (due to there being alcohol and food at the function... plus, its disrespectful to show up drunk) has been eliminated therefore the traveling factor is not a necessity anymore since there has been no prior eating or drinking before the gathering.
  

For the sake of argument, I am going to use the traditional college party goer example. Which means I am going to assume that the subject is younger, typically goes to parties on foot or public transportation and pre-games on a weekly basis.

So its Friday Night, Classes are over, and the weekend has just begun. Your buddy has caught wind of a house party which is a 25 minute walk away from your dorm. You get dressed, you play your going out playlist on iTunes, and you invite 8 of your best friends over for pre-gaming.
10:00. Everybody is over at your place, sitting on couches, and sitting on the floor. You take out your secret bottle of Burnett's (or Aristocrat) and start giving it to your friends. Everybody starts taking shots... and mixing the 8 dollar shit you got from the ABC store with chasers like sprite, cranberry juice, or even iced tea. Some take big gulps in moderation, others are quickly downing the shit, and refilling their cup, you're different. You fill your cup, but you don't get to the bottom. You pack a sprite bottle that is slightly stronger, but still well mixed, and you guys go out.

You're out on the street. You stop of at a restaurant to go and get a quick bite to eat since you and some of your friends are hungry. Your group splits in half and you agree to meet them at the party. After eating a greasy meal, you decide to take sips, but this time in faster moderation for the sake of conditioning. You empty your bottle halfway into the 2o minute walk, and by the time you get to the party, you're buzzed. Your friend who decided to drink the stuff back in the room too quickly has vomited, and now has to go home... Your friends who drank a lot back in the room on an empty stomach have sobered up a bit since taking the walk, and get more booze, but you are just beginning to make your ascension to drunkenness... Now you're loose, you're ready to dance and have fun. You have succeeded because you followed a variation of the model.

1. You ate first: But remember not all meals are created equally. While you may hear a lot of the time that eating bland foods helps you with drinking, this is at least halfway true. Typically you eat bland foods the morning after when you are feeling sick. WebMD explains that what you want is a well-sized greasy meal because the food gives the alcohol more time to soak in, and the grease in the food coats your stomach to also slow this process. But you want to get drunk right?? Well here's the thing: you'll get drunk in due time, however, if the process is not controlled better, the fruits of the drinking phase in your pre-gaming risk the possibility of being abbreviated in the travel phase because its processing faster. When its taking longer time to soak, the alcohol will enter your liver at a more controlled rate and thus, extend it longer, and leave you with less hurt in the morning. While you may not necessarily feel it initially, food gives you more room to stack drinks since the amount of alcohol entering your system is more spread out thus throwing in more consistency later on in the game phase of your night.
   
2. You didn't just drink, you drank smart: You focused your energy on getting food in your belly first to set up good groundwork, and then you paced yourself well so that you wouldn't get sick. The entire purpose of pre-gaming (in context to a college party or club) is to get buzzed or lightly drunk. You don't want to get shit faced before the party since it only decreases your chances of getting into a party (especially if its a frat or club), and increases your chances of getting sick or even arrested. This explains the friend that vomited after throwing down beverages took too much too quickly... Well, what is too much too quickly?
1. A glass of wine, a bottle of beer, and a shot, all have the same amount of alcohol in them more or less depending on whether or not it is the standard drink which has approximately 10 grams of alcohol in it (we will use the standard drink as our unit of measure in this post)
   
2. The average person processes 10 grams of alcohol per hour. I'm going to assume that you're the average Joe, because if you're a heavyweight... You probably wouldn't be reading this. Just get over it, you're not a heavy weight.
3. We will assume that your friend had 5 drinks which consisted of one shot of alcohol a piece... Each drink was thrown back pretty quickly, which means that your body is attempting to process more alcohol at a time... Your friend throws up because there is no buffer to help with the steady absorption of alcohol, and now as your body tries to get rid of the excess of alcohol which it is having trouble processing with the liver alone, your friend starts to vomit.
3. You leveraged yourself against a travel buffer: Your body will process alcohol faster depending on how much circulation it receives. This explains why walking long distances is sometimes one of the most sobering things you can do after a night of drinking. By carrying a bottle of sprite, a flask, or any container where you have a small concentrated quantity of alcohol, you used your travel time to take some drinks so that by the time you stop at your destination, the liquor is starting to kick in. In comparison, your friends who had paced themselves but still didn't pack anything with them or have a meal for that matter, are sobered up somewhat, and have to consume more alcohol whereas you can stack drinks at the party (the game phase) on top of the buzz you have from pre-gaming. You're probably thinking, wouldnt you want to consume more alcohol? Well, more is not necessarily better.Why? because now you have to drink the same amount that you did earlier, hence, doubling what you took in one night... you wont feel the effects on the front end, but they will come out the next morning most likely.

In closing, that for the most part encapsulates how to pre-game. While you can do different variations of it, I would always suggest a good greasy meal first, followed by some alcohol, then possibly a little more alcohol to leverage against travel time which would otherwise burn off your edge. Additional information to take into account...

1. When choosing an alcohol, may we consider clear ones? WebMD says that the flavorful contents found in typically dark beverages tend to worsen headaches the morning after.
   
2. Choose a good chaser... no, they aren't all created equal, get off of that shit.
3. Meter your alcohol with SHOT GLASSES... don't do parts... it can get difficult to keep track.
4. When outside, don't take a solo cup. Also be consistent. if you are drinking clear liquor, use a sprite bottle with sprite in it. If you are drinking a brown liquor... you get it. Flasks look cool, but keep them in your pockets. When you aren't drinking from it, put it in your damn pocket... stop trying to look bad ass.
5. Finally, have fun, but be smart! Remember don't get drunk pre-gaming for various reasons... These last two weekends I have seen people come into close calls with the cops... If you don't want to get stopped, don't look the part. Easy.

Part 1
Part 2

-Cliff

--------------------------------------------
Sources:
DeNoon, Daniel, J.. "Hangover Headache Help." WebMD. 26 Dec 2006. WebMD. 16 Sep 2007 .

N/A. "Alcohol Intoxication." WebMD. N/A. WebMD. 17 Sep 2007
.

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50 Cent and Kanye West (Part 2)

So 50 cent has released his video for "Ayo Technology" featuring Justin Timberlake a while back but it didn't really get any air time on the television stations after its initial release. A little while ago, Kanye released his third single "the good life" with the singer T-Pain. Putting 50 and kanye each out at 3 for 3 right now in video released singles with 50 cent's "I get money", "Ayo Technology" and "Amusement Park" and Kanye's "Good Life", "Cant tell me nothin", and "Stronger". As this neck and neck battle for hip hop proceeds, which of the two do you think are better?

50 Cent's "Ayo Technology"?


or Kanye's "Good Life"?

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4:15

Damn its cold... 4:15 in the morning, a cigarette burns dimly in my hand and a fleece is on my back. I walk back up to north campus where I see people periodically walking by, trying to get indoors, rubbing their skin sporadically. The weekend wasn't lost... and a feeling of partial content overcame my being.
9:50 pm. Calls and text messages were flooding in through the gate. Lots of 'where are yous' and 'whats going ons' kept me preoccupied for the majority of the time. I pulled on my clothing, a simple pair of jeans, and a collared shirt... I contemplated taking my fleece, but left it on the bed. Instant messages, Facebook messages, more text messages and phone calls continued to come in one at a time. Some of the calls were unnecessary, some of them were people I was trying to get in contact with. Some of the questions were intelligent and well thought, while other questions were dumb and obvious. Gabe showed up at 10:30 and Fatti showed up about a minute later. The three of us all ended up in my room talking. Cassandra was missing, but she wasnt missing out luckily... However, our crew didn't exactly feel complete without her.
"Man, its cold outside!" Gabe exclaimed. He didn't know his shirt was made out of linen, and the temperature outside was dropping at a drastic rate. "Do you think I have time to change?" he asked. I told him to go on and change his clothes since we're still waiting on Liz to come.
"Its not that cold outside Cliff," Fatimah said with a humored expression on her face as I reached for my coat.
"By 3:00 its going to be about 54 degrees. It might not be cold now, but it'll be cold then." I responded
Erol was ready to go out as he and I had been talking about going out for another weekend adventure since we hadn't done it in a while. Erol doesn't usually hang out with me on weekends, but my friends really like him and ask about him whenever he isn't around.
The three of us (Fatti, Erol, and myself) all waited outside for Gabe to come around. I got on the phone and called up Elizabeth G, a girl I met at CTOPS... she was gonna try and hang out with us tonight also. Turns out the P2P hasn't come around. While we could have walked up to Franklin St and beaten the bus we, of course, waited too long and left about 10 minutes before the next one came around.
Franklin. My cravings for ice cream got the best of me... Liz was waiting in doors... Everytime I see her, it feels like she is different somehow. I can never really put my finger on it though. We sat and talked over ice cream... Erol got jipped out of a larger size. Most of us cracked up at that... But we wanted to make our way down to W. Franklin St and started walking. Typically, my perception of W. Franklin St. is the area out in front of B-Dubs, or across from Time Out, where all the hood rats (or students who look like hood rats) seem to hang out. But as soon as you cross Columbia St, Franklin turns into a whole other world where one cannot help to think "damn". We crossed church, and went over by the El Patio Loco... or at least across the street from it. We didn't really want to spend the money to get in, and find out that it sucked, so we decided to scope it out. In my honest opinion, the party didn't look that great... I mean, there were like 10-15 people shuckin' and jivin' in front of a window that looked in on a dimly lit room... So it LOOKED like it was bumpin' but if you were walking down the street as if you were going in the direction that we came from, you would realize that there weren't that many people in there.
Liz was on her phone... She got word of a house party going on just down Church St, a 15 minute walk from here. What did we have to lose right? We started down church, which was a residential neighborhood that seemed to have an ascending air of eeriness to it. As we continued into the increasing darkness, it got quieter... and quieter... and quieter. Till all I could hear were my own footsteps. We were at the end of church now. Josh sent me a text message asking where I was. He was sending me stuff all night trying to get together. I tried to get him to meet up with us at 10:30 but he decided to "reconsider" or whatever he chose to call it. I don't blame him... walking is a bitch. Especially in the cold. I shot back at him and told him to make a left on McMasters, the street at the very end of church. We walked by a house on a hill with tiki torches and like 5 people sitting outside talking and smoking. That can't be it... Liz kept leading us down McMasters we stopped in front of a school, we turned around. "We just turned on McMasters" a text said from Josh. I could see him down the street. It looked like he brought Cory with him. We walked over to the house with the tiki torches... What.The.Fuck? Its all good... the people were nice at least. But I know we were definitely looking to cut some rug. the 6 of us stood in the driveway and waited on Liz. After making mention of Aladdin's, I grabbed a rum and coke, told Liz bye, and then left. I drank my rum and coke about a block down from a cop car that had just stopped to catch some poor bastard who was walking down the street... Yes, I know I'm lucky.
It took us 15 minutes to get to Aladdin's. The cover charge was 4 dollars... Nothing special. We got inside where there was some dancing and music. However, the space was far too narrow to throw a real party. The crowd was predominantly black, very well dressed, and very drunk. I went straight to the back to take a piss. I met up with Fatti, Gabe, Erol, and Cory afterwards... Josh couldn't get in because he had a white tee. We all started dancing in the middle of the floor. A short guy in a baggy polo shirt, and baggy jeans came up behind Fatti and tried dancing up on her. It didn't really work I guess you could say. I saw them dance for a hot minute, and then I vanished to a couch where I lit up a cig and chilled out for a second. A cute girl was shaking her ass in my face while dancing with a guy who couldn't really dance at all. I glanced at her gyrations she spun around in front of me as if she was about to jump in my lap. I stood up, cigarette out of hands... I saw Fatti dancing by herself, and before I could think she grabbed me and put it on me. I backed up offa her "I'm not warmed up... we've only been here for a minute!" I smiled and walked away.
Another guy came up on her and started "dancing" again... I danced by myself, content and alone. 1:30. Gabe, Erol, and Cory decided to leave because there wasn't much to do in Aladdin's if you didn't roll up with a girl. Fatti and I still danced through the night. The crowd was kind of sleazy tonight... Lots of gawkers and gropers... Tons of gross fat chicks in clothes way to small for them, and of course, s bunch of hussies peppered out in the crowd. Mama would have loved this. A guy in the corner got a lapdance while the Dj's buddy has his hands in the ass crack of this drunk hoochie who was shaking her periodically slapped skanky ass around in circles on a table. 5 Guys harass a beautiful model looking woman who walks in the bar looking for a drink. One guy tries to get up all over Fatimah while her and I are dancing and another one tries to feel up on her ass. 2:17, the crowd was starting to trickle out of the door, and so did we. The street was comfortably cool... the temperature was in the midst of dropping. I put my arm around her as she put hers around me, and we started walking. We sat on a bench so she could change her shoes, and get harassed some more by passers by. She put on my fleece, and we sat out on the quad for a bit, and talked about a little bit of everything, and a lot of nothing.
There was silence that stood between us and around us. While feeling as if we had so much to say to one another we comfortably said only very little... or sometimes nothing at all. The silence was comfortable, and in that moment I felt at peace despite the fact that the tips of my fingers were getting cold, and my joints started to hurt.
3:05. We started heading back to south campus from the quad... I got her back just before Four, and I stayed around for 10 minutes contemplating staying over the night... but ultimately decided to head back to campus. 4:05 I turned on my iPod, zipped my fleece, lit a cigarette, and started walking back to north campus from Craige. Damn its cold... 4:15 in the morning, a cigarette burns dimly in my hand and a fleece is on my back. I walk back up to north campus where I see people periodically walking by, trying to get indoors, rubbing their skin sporadically. The weekend wasn't lost... and a feeling of partial content overcame my being.

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Weekend Forecast (9/14/07 - 9/16/07) Update

Name: Brandy's 20 Birthday!!

Start Time:	Saturday, September 15, 2007 at 10:30pm
End Time:	Sunday, September 16, 2007 at 3:00am
Location:	El Patio Loco
Street:	407 W Franklin St
City/Town:	Chapel Hill, NC

Possible Frat Parties(?)

Lambda Chi
(Details Unknown)

TEP
(Details Unknown)

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Friday

Looking up at the night sky on a Friday evening. The sun just set, and patches of light are just visible in between the shadow of the clouds in the sky. The air is moist, my umbrella is out, and ribbons of cigarette smoke ascend upward bouncing off of the inner lining of the umbrella. It should be a good night... hopefully. I went upstairs to change my clothes and get a better grasp on what the agenda was.
10:30. The rain let up for a little bit. Tyler, Sarah, Fatimah, Gabe, and Steven decided to come out with me as I felt the need to check out what was happening on franklin street. I would make some calls if anything was going on... Which there wasn't.
Long story short, my small group of friends and I found absolutely nothing. The rain kept a lot of people who would otherwise be out, indoors keeping occupied doing other things than partying. After going to B-Dubs which was crowded, but oddly dead, we made an attempt at the listed Sausage Fest Party... We couldnt find it. The night ended depressingly early. Fatti came back with me where we talked in my room for a while and watched some movies... Maybe saturday? Maybe not.

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Thursday at Aladdins

Thursday Night. The breeze perfectly complements the warm summer air, making it perfect outside. However, my mind full of goals, objectives, and things to do fails to acknowledge this moment of perfection in nature. The bank messed up my account balance, and took out twice the amount that I had to pay for a bill. I was livid, my hands shaking, I put the last cigarette in my pack up to my lips, and lit the skinny sonofabitch. In solitude I wonder every single time I put one of those cancer sticks up to my lips, "how did I start smoking?" But the idea of contemplating the process makes me somewhat depressed, so I choose to put it in the back of my mind so I can maybe "think" about it at a later date. The signal started going in and out now, "Mom? Mom! can you hear me?" I said as I groped for a 10 seconds of steady airtime. Preston, Hannah, and Claire walked by and signaled for me to come along... Without saying anything just followed. Preston asked if I wanted to go earlier in the day and I said no... Oh well, fuck it.
"Chip... Chip? A.. Y..u.. T..ere?" She was going in and out.
"I am going to visit the bank tomorrow and clear things up."
"W...t? Y.. ..eaking up"
"I said I am going to go to the bank tomorrow! Can you hear me??"
"Chip?" Then the signal died.
Its felt like eons since I have last seen Hannah and Claire... mostly Claire. Seeing them is a relief, but at the same time, it feels mildly odd especially since Hannah is in my drama analysis class which means I should be seeing her during the week. Typically she wants me to save her a seat, but I usually save only once since for the last week I have been sitting with a girl I hung out with this past weekend. Who knows... maybe tomorrow I'll save her one.
The hookah bar was empty, and being the only people in there felt nice. The food consumed from lenoir dining hall earlier in the evening claws at the bottom of my stomach forcing me to finally make a trip to the bathroom. After coming out, Steven shows up and needs to go out and buy cigarettes. I go with him for a second down the block to PJ's drink shop.
PJ's is a hole in the wall joint with just enough room to stand and just enough room to walk 10 feet to the right. Its the only bodega that really reminds me of something from back in new york. From the lonely fluorescent light and vinyl floors, to the soda coolers with colt 45 stickers on them, stacks of magazines, and tiny counter with just enough room to fit a register, PJ's is almost a store established in the wrong part of the country. But I love it. The smell in there is rich, with a slightly smoky texture, and the packs of cigarettes are all stacked up in variety behind the counter. So far I have seen two white guys and one black guy that have been clerks at the store. The black guy is the only one that doesn't card. Typically I don't carry ID on me unless I know I'm gonna need it so I usually feel a slight sigh of relief every time I see him walking around in the store. Tonight it was the white guy with all the tats and the beard and he cards me every time.Maybe he remembers me from last week? No. Not tonight... shit.
Steven and I head back. We light up our cigs and talk for a bit, upon arrival at Aladdin's, the hookah shows up quickly after. Everybody starts passing, as the dj throws on some funky house that me, and 'the circle' as we called it, could vibe out to.
Every time Hannah would take a hit, she would share with us a story about her smoking hookah. While she is a tall girl, almost as tall as me, somehow I was surprised at how powerful her lungs were. I took the pipe and sucked in hard trying to get all the smoke possible down into my lungs... but after a while, I lost traction, and the bubbles started to go down... The pipe left my lips, and I got a hit which was still weaker than hers. She's has god lungs. Steven left after about 10 or 15 minutes... coming back later after the hookah died, with a beautiful young woman. Looking at her, she seemed oddly familiar. Her legs were well shapen, she donned a short pink seersucker skirt, a black shirt, and a small coach purse. She had a round face, a ski slope nose, bangs that stopped just above her eyes and hair that ended where her dainty shoulders began. She didn't say much, except to Steven who she showed up with. Even after the rest of the circle introduced themselves, it initially felt as if she was blowing us off. Reminiscing last night, I think she was just shy. Yet again, after 20 minutes, steven left, and so did she.
"That girl seems too nice for Steven." Hannah said.
"We don't necessarily know that." I replied.
"She's a singer..." Preston said with odd irrelevance to the conversation
"Wait... did you say singer?" A bell went off in my head.
"Yeah, why?"
"Is she from Michigan?" I said... trying to get a better image in my head.
"I dunno... probably not. There is like a 1 in 50 chance of her being from Michigan, although its possible." Preston replied with a somewhat confused tonality in his voice.
"I think she is... If you say she is a singer... she looks a lot like this girl from Facebook who is from Michigan. Erol knows her I think... She is supposed to be like, some kind of genius singer, got a full ride scholarship to the University of Michigan as well as here. Erol told me the other night that it seemed to him as if she had a lot of money... and well, sizing her up, it seemed as if she had a lot of money. I could almost swear it." I immediately thought of Erol... and what is the deal with her and Steven? Its a small world, but an even smaller campus... perhaps two of my friends are going after the same girl.

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Prelude to a weekend (9/14/07 - 9/16/07)

Thursday. Friends are out to go and smoke hookah at Aladdin's. Thats how the stories always start... Simple, then somehow spiral lustfully and wildly out of control. Every hero has his epic, every guru has his mantra, and every sports star has his story about a winning game. I consider myself somewhat a backwards adventurer taking log of various events going on in his life, curiously venturing into the beyond and coming back to share the stories. As I make plans for this weekend I take into account the reality that they very well may not be executed the way I want them to, and for some reason I cannot resist the concept of a plan... a cornerstone upon which I can rest all of my hopes, dreams, and desires in the midst of fast paced weeks. I have a feeling that many of you are the same way... looking for something to do as soon as Monday comes around, just to look forward to Friday again.

Weekend Forecast:
This weekend has potential to be a fairly wet one with possible storms on Friday. The Low for tomorrow is going to be approximately 66 degrees however, on Saturday which will be perfect for the game against Virginia the Low is projected to be 53 degrees so you may want to pack a light jacket.

Events:

Name: Sausage Fest '07

Start Time:	Friday, September 14, 2007 at 11:00pm
End Time:	Saturday, September 15, 2007 at 5:00am
Location:	St. Anthony Hall
Street:	207 Pittsboro St.
City/Town:	Chapel Hill, NC

Description:
A year later and it's time for the sequel to my last party.

Except this time I'm turning 20.

What better reason to have a party other than me and my birth? None. So come out, look hot, dirty dance, get drunk, and have a motherfucking blast.

Wear whatever you want!! THERE'S NO THEME TO THIS PARTY... unless it's sausage of some kind. Vienna, linked, kielbasa. It's whatever.

Additional Info: BYOB

Name: UNC Football Game vs. UVa
Start Time: Saturday, September 15, 2007 at Noon
End Time: ?
Location: Kenan Stadium
City/Town: Chapel Hill, NC

Description:
It should be a good game between UNC vs. UVa... If you're not in the stadium you better be in B-Dubs getting your drink on!
----------------------------
Thats all for now... I'll keep the information rolling in when I find it!

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Where you at?

Okay so... I have found a new vice for myself which spans slightly past Facebook. Its called twitter.com and the focus of this web page is what you're doing. For example: Everybody is familiar with Facebooks status bar which is located at the top of everybody's profile. Think of twitter like this except with additional steps added on. While you can send text messages to facebook to update your status, with twitter, you can send a text, an instant message, or go on twitter.com to update your status. When you update your status via IM, all of the people who are 'following' you and have their own twitter account will be periodically updated via internet or text message about your status as soon as you change it. So if you have 100 friends with twitter accounts all following you online, as soon as you update your status, all of them will recieve a message on their cell phones saying your new status.
So far, I have been consistently updating myself every day since I got a twitter account 2 days ago and it has been addicting. I decided to add it to The Weekender because when you guys ever wonder where I am, or if I am at any parties, you can just go online and the details will be there.
You can get your twitter account today and follow me at twitter.com.

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Thursday Night (9/13/07)

I personally don't believe in kickin' it on Thursday night, but if you're looking for something to do check out:

Name:

A reunion of sorts...

Start Time:	Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 10:30pm
End Time:	Friday, September 14, 2007 at 4:30am
Location:	3B Townhouse Apartments
Street:	425 Hillsborough Street
City/Town:	Chapel Hill, NC

Contact: 252-361-0984

Description:
SOOOOOOO... I've been living in an apartment for about a month now and still have not had a party. This is erroneous, on all accounts. Hence, Thursday night I will be having a little shindig at my place (3B Townhouse Apartments). I'm gonna have some PJ ready, and already have the first case of beer for the pong that will be neccessary because thats how we do it. SOOOOOOOO fellow cast members, coworkers, good friends, and everyone else, get ready to get crunk!

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Kid Nation

Yes, people, there is something inherently screwed up about our entertainment. If you dont know this already, perhaps you are one of the poor, blithe, souls that clicks through channels looking to see how much more screwed up television can get. On a broad spectrum, our nation has come across different shows which have some how evoked certain emotions be it disgust, arousal, or even boredom. But over the years, television producers for the most part have been coming up with the same tired ass shit. I mean, the amazing race was good... until it got canceled. Survivor was crap... until it got canceled(?). But some how The Real World, the crappiest "reality" show if you ask me, is still on the air with their jillionth season. I mean, seriously MTV, you guys have come up with so many fucking locations you guys have had to reuse some of them. Heres a tip: drop all of those kids in the projects... THAT would be interesting.
Although some networks have resorted to some more "inventive" measures, and America is now all ears. Next week on September 19th, a new show called Kid Nation is going to be airing for the first time. The way it works is they drop a bunch of kids in a deserted town, and make them fend for themselves and run their own community. For the longest time now, I have been trying to imagine what the pitch was for this crap shot of a reality show. I think it went something to the effect of:

Dear producer,

Me and my boys were in the bar last weekend and we were having a convo of how COOL it would be if we dropped a bunch of kids in the desert... and taped it. What do you think?

Signed,
-Steve

First off, this is far from reality TV. This is desperation at its finest. If I am not mistaken, the age spectrum of the kids on the show is something like 8-15. But think about how ironic it is that this show would most likely air after most kids would be tucked neatly into their little race car beds, so that the parents could watch the never-ending clusterfuck of whining, bitching, little kids for a month. But I bet the parents were all for it... Especially the parents of kids who wet the bed. Mom is probably like "yay, for once I can go to rhe supermarket without my hands smelling like piss." Dad is probably like "hell yes, one FULL month of uninterrupted sex since my life ended 8 years ago when we got a kid." The kids are probably like "yes, now I can stay up late and watch rated R movies with my friends." ha ha ha... not so fast young one. First you have to walk a mile to pump water, then you can watch movies... SYKE! no electricity! But seriously, here's a bucket, go pump some water... we need more of your school boy bitching on tape. Regardless of how this opening season starts, I know I'll be watching it. Where will you be?

Here's a preview of kid nation:

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Wednesday

Dawn... Pain coming after the sudden rise after 7:00 in the morning to prepare for 8:00 classes. I just want to go back to bed and keep the dream alive. It is for obvious reasons like this one, as well as reasons unknown that I yearn for the weekend.
There is something slightly tragic about living only for the weekend, because after a while, the five days which consist of the work week all become a blur of paper pushing, work, and fatigue. The room is dark, and I pull my clothes on in preparation for Economics which starts within the hour which I know somehow will become exceedingly boring as staying up is almost a backwards privilege in itself: you actually stayed up this time and you feel like less of a jerk... but you get bored and impatient.
Bag packed, khakis on, shoes that I found on the floor are now on my feet, after a while I stopped caring about what I looked like... I'm just too damn tired. Grades are starting to drop, and the feeling of losing traction on an upward climb is starting to suffice within my being. Somebody throw me a rope. I step inside and try to take in the breeze. The temperature is steadily rising, so I've got to take it all in. I play Amy Winehouse on my iPod and head over to breakfast in the top of Lenoir which I know will remind me of why I eat downstairs.
There is some solace that is found between my dorm and the 4 minute walk it takes to get to the dining hall in the morning. What solace? I haven't quite figured it out yet, but I promise to tell you once I have a breakthrough. Hunger for breakfast gouges at my stomach as I yearn for food at the first scent of breakfast. The top of Lenoir opened early today and I went right up. Of course breakfast sucked as I anticipated, and a feeling of partial disappointment cast over me as I picked up the green melon rinds I would gnaw on, and some grapes to pop for breakfast, along with a cup of coffee. I noticed Josh getting food across from me and I asked him where he was sitting.
"Over there," he said while pointing in the general direction. "you'll see my backpack..." he looks down at my plate, "you and those damn doughnuts man."
"Hey, they're krispy kreams" I said with a smile... that did make me happy. At least I would have someone to talk to, and forget the sorrow of morning and the death of another dream.

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50 Cent and Kanye West

If you aren't familiar with the much anticipated Kanye West vs. 50 Cent album release your head must be conveniently located between your legs, your fingers popped into your ears and your eyes tightly shut. Today is so damn big for the music industry as online message boards, blogs, you tube, and illegal downloading web pages have been buzzing back and forth about who will get the gold for better album. Spanning as far back as July when Kanye came on to introduce his Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger video followed a week later by 50 Cent introducing his "I get money" there has been some friendly rivalry between the two mega artists on who should have release rights today on September 11.
Personally, I would consider myself a connoisseur of Hip Hop from the merit of production, however the range of what I have heard is narrower than most. But I was a bad boy this past week and downloaded the leaked albums off of the internet so that I could come up with my own verdict on the two works of art.

50 Cent's Curtis: In my personal opinion is artistically limited. 50 Cent swore up and down in his issue of Vibe magazine that no other artist could compete with him on the same level except for Jay-Z and P. Diddy (maybe) but not in the talent department. I would have to agree slightly with this comment but on the premise that Jay-Z is more talented on a universal level than 50 Cent, while 50 Cent is more talented on an entrepreneurial level than P. Diddy.

Curtis exposes to the listener that while 50 Cent can spit it hard, unfortunately his flow is basic compared to that of his peers and predecessors. 50 exposes his swagger on Curtis, but fails to make the listener think in the same way that Jay-Z or even his competitor Kanye west is capable. The production talent is also somewhat mediocre and the style of the beats are a lot of what we have heard before. Despite the fact that producing greats such as Don Cannon are on the CD, their songs are only decent, and skate by as traditional 50... which isn't all that great as it is. The major strong suits of Curtis are by far the Collabs that can be found on the album. Talent such as Akon, Justin Timberlake, and Robin Thick are featured on the album and have important roles in his songs. But in some cases, 50 is out shined by the others that can be found on his songs.

Finally, Curtis is chock full of car and club bangers. Kind of like back in the day when I could hear gangsta's blowin 'Wanksta' & 'Like My Style' out of their trunk in Brooklyn, there are definitely tracks worth playing at parties or while driving slow. Good examples would be his single and personal favorite 'I Get Money', 'Man Down', 'Fire (feat. Nicole Scherzinger)'
I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
Kanye West's Graduation: Is a classic. No matter how many times Kanye comes out with a new CD, it has always been different. With his first album The College Dropout incorporating a theme of soul, to his funky street inspired sophomore album Late Registration, Kanye West has decided to bust out with a more electronic feel to his most recent album Graduation. You can find this style in his tracks 'Champion', 'Stronger', 'I Wonder', and 'Good Life'. While all of his tracks are pretty much sampled, Kanye still finds a way to come up with an eclectic and original spin off on already solid tracks.

From a lyrical perspective, Kanye continuously gets better, he continually pushes limits. As opposed to his competitor who has produced an album with little edge and innovation, Kanye goes beyond his comfort zone in talking about life past rims, bitches, and cars (although he does talk about this too). His rhymes and delivery connote his cocky swagger, and the actual content of the lyrics are witty and sometimes express cynical humor. The listener can pick up more so on his growth as an MC because now in listening to more of his material, he leaves something up to the imagination and interpretation of the the listener. This is the mark of a connoisseurs. While he isn't the best MC, he doesn't use his collaborations as a crutch to hold over the listener, but rather uses them to better contribute to his production merit. This can best be seen in his hot track 'Barry Bonds (featuring Lil' Wayne)'. While Lil' Wayne is by far the superior MC, simply the usage of his voice incorporated with lyrical talent increases the value of his track. Another example would be Homecoming (featuring Coldplay's Chris Martin) and Bittersweet Poetry (featuring John Mayer).

Graduation provides a lot of music to be drawn from the album, and provides enough versatility to dampen the same type of polarization that some listeners may feel when listening to a 50 cent album.

I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars

In the album race, to be honest, its a real toss up. While 50 cent likes to proclaim himself as the front runner, his music is lacking in depth. But 50 could very well win out for two reasons. The first one being that people may feel intrigued to buy his album just to see who else he is dissing now. Also, 50 has more financial muscle and has the stronger mindset of an entrepreneur.

Based on what I have seen on television over the summer, Kanye is looking to enter the situation as the underdog and coming out on top as the champ. While Kanye or even his boss Jay-Z have less financial muscle in comparison to 50 Cent's 400 Million, the biggest selling point which outdoes 50 cents is that Kanye has credit as the Mozart of hip hop. Graduation simply has more artistic merit, and therefore people will buy it knowing that they are getting a solid product.

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The Library

Some of you guys have been wondering where I have been for 4 days out of the week. In passing, I will run into people, but for the most part I will sit generally in the same spot amongst people that I do not know... or see every once in a while. Where have a I been? Well, of course the topic post says it all, the library. Now I don't know about you, but the library where I used to go to school looked straight up like shit. I mean, you cannot even really pretend that it was nice, or that you even really wanted to be there. Why? Well, for starters, the walls were green, and covered with pictures from obscure artists that nobody really cared about. It also consisted of one large room (which wasn't that large) above the dining hall so on hot dog day, it smelled like the fourth of July with dusty ass manuscripts that irritated the ever-loving fuck out of your nose. Near the doorway there was the poorest excuse of a periodicals section ever. What I mean is that there were like, 20 magazines, if that many, which were all evenly spaced apart on this "shelf" which looked like it was about to collapse any fuckin second.

(Okay... this is weird. It looks like there was a power outage in the library? Hmmm... Okay. Well, all I can say is that it just got really loud, and there is like a massive exodus of people from the building.)

To make matters worse, the periodicals section wasn't even complete. For example on certain months of esquire, particularly the ones where there was a beautiful woman on the cover, all of a sudden, that issue just "got lost in the mail", or "was never brought back". I mean, when the sports illustration swimsuit edition is nowhere to be seen on bookshelves for four years in a row... Obviously the librarian is taking them for her private stash. Finally, the furniture looked like shit... and I mean shit. For example, all of the shit in the library had someone's name engraved in it, in the magazine section were the sorriest two yellow couches that sagged straight to hell if you sat in them.
If you had a nice library in your school, you were lucky as a high schooler because to have a nice library at your school are almost as good of a feeling as having a nice mall in your neighborhood. Because as soon as visitors hit the library they go something to the effect of "ooh, ahh, how pretty." as opposed to just a slightly disappointed "ooh..." followed by a whisper of "what the fuck happened?" to one another.
The library here is pretty awesome. Not gonna lie. Actually for the most part, all of the schools I visited had really nice libraries... But that is because they are for smart people, and smart people actually read books. So I guess its a worthy investment. A good library is like going into a mall that has a coach store or a brooks brothers: it ain't quite like you're gonna buy shit from the store, but its still nice to know that its there so you can sneak a look inside at all the shit you can't afford.
The UNC Undergraduate library I go to is pretty extensive... There are still places I haven't been to in this damn place. But considering the fact that for the most part I sit in the same general area, I suppose that is my own fault.
But the funny thing is that you see a bunch of interesting things if you start paying closer attention to what is going on around you. The first one is that lot of the time you will find more people working outside of the library than you will inside of the library. Unfortunately, I am guilty of this but at the same time I do work within the undergraduate building. I find it peaceful. But look over somebody's shoulder one day and tell me if I'm wrong. You'll see all sorts of random stuff... Most people are on facebook (which I am not going to get into on this post) or watching music videos, almost EVERYBODY is procrastinating.
If people aren't procrastinating, I have also noticed that they are sleeping. Obviously you spend too much time in the library if you just sit around, work and sleep there. I have a feeling that within a few weeks, I will be subjected to this fresh new hell... Have I acknowledged it? Hell no! The poor souls that choose to lay in the fetal position in MID DAY have made their descent to practically being the dregs of society. One day, I will see one of them sitting outside of UL with a broken down piece of flat cardboard on the street doing performances for mere scrapings. Sorry guys, its the truth.
In the library you will also find people who don't even go to school here. I didn't even know this was the case until Fatti told me this a few days back. And who is to tell? I mean, they could be decked out in Carolina gear, or are just wearing a backpack. She told me that one day when she was waiting in line for one of the computers she saw someone trying to use the computer but didn't have an onyen account so they tried to play that shit off... To whoever that was, yeah bud, we saw you, you didn't play it off that well, and we laughed when you left. I can understand people sometimes walk through college campuses for shortcuts, or just to stroll, and take walks, but you would think that random people would be a little bit smarter y'know?
Finally, you will find some of the most beautiful people in the library. Fellas, some of the most beautiful women (that you can take home to mom) are found in the library. Now don't get me wrong, everybody has their own study habits, but you can't hate on a beautiful scholarly woman (well, actually you can, but thats not my point.). Guys, I am talking about legs AND brains! Girls, I am talking about six packs AND books! Its like the ultimate win-win. Now, there are other places to meet the attractive opposite sex, but we'll talk about that later.
-Cliff

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Crank it up

For those of you that aren't familiar with the Soulja Boy, it is due to one of two reasons or perhaps both. The first one being, you don't listen to rap music which is understandable, and the second one is, you have been bumping the same shit from 1999... in your afghan cave. Either way you cut it no matter where you go that involves music, beautiful women and substances which you will most likely consume, Soulja Boy's "Crank Dat" will be played... if not twice, at least five or six times... I swear. Anyway, prior to going out on Friday night, I learned the steps on how to "Crank Dat" and as soon as the song played the first time, I definitely felt turned around. This is natural. But by the 4th time it was played, I felt like a fucking master. Too bad, when I saw the instructional video on how to do the soulja boy dance, I was a little disappointed when Soulja boy himself threw in an extra step. This ordeal was almost as disappointing as when I found out that there was no Santa Claus... from my little brother. But I think I'll be alright. All of you who want to learn this dance, soak it all in, so that when Friday comes around, you can stunt and show your skills. What I am about to show you is the tutorial for the BASIC soulja boy dance... All of the other crazy shit that goes along with it which makes you look like a dancing badass (for now) like the, lion king, robocop, heisman, spider man, and batman, are not apart of this video.

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The Morning After

A.K.A. Monday, the day that everybody wishes would never come, but always does. Perhaps the worst thing about Mondays is the fact that everybody knows they are back at square one, and have to bust their ass through Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday just to get to the coveted Friday. Sure, on paper it doesn't sound long, but its a whole other story when you're living it... you know what I mean.
I woke up this morning ready to seize the day, 7:00 came around and I rolled out of my bed, rubbed my eyes, and wished I would fall out on the floor and die today... because when you're tired, it never really sounds all that bad y'know? After getting ready for breakfast, I headed over to the student union where I saw a recap of last nights ungodly sight from the MTV video music awards. Last night at B Dubs (which by the way is giving me the bubble gut right now) over some beers and wings which I wont be eating again any time soon, I watched Britney Spears give the sorriest excuse for an opening performance or a performance in general for that matter. Now of course the bartender that was hanging out with us was practically fucking in love with her, so she didn't think it was that bad. Oh, but it was. See, I would have let her opinion slide if there actually was an opinion to be had about the matter... But the fact is, there are just certain indisputable truths that must be acknowledged. For example, the sky is blue... nobody can argue with that right? O.J. Did it right? Yeah, not too hard... and of course, my favorite, Michael Jackson does touch kids(And listen, I grew up with a white glove on my hand... so I think I can speak on this matter). So does Britney's performance suck... YES. If you still are feeling kind of iffy about it... Watch CNN's Headline News and perhaps that will change your perspective. I damn near laughed when I watched them say that Britney was looking "Stiff and Uncomfortable at the VMAs". For all of you prospective celebrities out there, you KNOW your life sucks when CNN says so. Does CNN have a huge say so in matters of entertainment? No, not really. If you actually cared you would probably be on MTV, VH1, or E!... CNN does politics and... current events (which are typically blown up anyway). In other words, CNN in its own right is boring. Think about all of the people you know who consistently watch CNN, and think of the people you know who consistently watch MTV... Yeah, big ass difference isn't there? If the guys on CNN, some of the stiffest guys on television, thought Britney was boring, stiff, and uncomfortable... I think they are going to be the end all be all in this matter since they know all about that.

In case you missed it:

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The Flop

As much as I hate to say it, even with a solid reputation of winning seasons, the Yankees still lose games from time to time. I suppose you could say the same thing could have happened last night. After almost a month of solid weekends, we finally hit a dry patch... And I do mean DRY.

The p2p was an awesome prelude to a night I was totally excited for. While yes, I listed a party that I had big intentions of going to, at the end of the day, the consensus agreed that we didn't want to break out the duckets for a cab ride to a place that we weren't familiar with. As we rode the party bus to Franklin St, the catalyst for everything entertaining, Soulja Boy's "Crank Dat" came on the radio. The Bus was packed, but everybody was dancing and going crazy as the driver took sharp turns and hordes of people fell on those who were fortunate enough to have a seat. There was something that told me if the bus was this much fun, the party would be even better. People were telling me to shoot them a message if I had anymore details about what was going on with the party and as soon as I gained knowledge of where we were going, I was going to light up the airwaves with text messages going to every phone I could find.



We got off of the bus and began to wait for Ian and Miya who were riding another bus to franklin street. Dixon, Emily, and Hana went to the bathroom over at Biskis.

"Hey motherfucker, gimme all of your money" someone said to me from behind as they forced their fist into my back. I paused for a second...

"Hey Tyler." coolly came from my lips as he started laughing and walked around into my field of vision. We shook hands, it was good to see him. Although, I was kind of surprised when he asked me if he could roll with us since about an hour and a half before hand, he wanted to go to the Ultimate Frisbee party. It was all good though, Tyler is a cool dude. The three that left came back, and I told them that I was going to use the bathroom and not to leave without me. I walked down the street and was met with no successes. My bladder was starting to hurt a little bit as I moved back up to where the rest of the group was.

I could see Fatti and Cassandra both running down the street towards Biskis. "What happened?" I said.

"We totally got thrown up on!" Cassandra said in passing. What the fuck? I didn't even know that someone was even that sick. I get back up to the group and see Juliana standing around over by a tree. The ground is wet, but not chunky and gross. Ian and Miya were present now, and I gave Ian a high five. It was good seeing him again. I turned to Juliana and said "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I feel better now." she responded.
"Can you function? Do you feel sick?"
"No, I dont feel sick anymore. I promise, if eel fine."
"Okay." I turned to Ian. The rest of the group was back now... "Where is this place??" I wasnt met with an immediate response. Juliana started puking off the side of the curb this time. Hana helped by holding Juliana's hair back and gets some puke on her arm.
"Its like watermellon flavored water... But this is still pretty gross. I'm gonna wash my arm off." She leaves. I didn't blame her.
I tried to address Ian again, "So where is this place?"
"Well... it turns out that the party got broken apart by the cops." He responded. What.The.Fuck? The night officially fell apart. I wanted to dance tonight and I hoped that this night would outdo the last night... But then again, who doesn't? Juliana is on the side now, there are dots of tears in her eyes.

"I got it all out now" She says calmly. "Cliff, can you take me home?" I was faced with a moral issue... and still looking back at it now, I still contemplate what the right decision would have been. I either could have taken her back down to south campus, or I could have attempted to find a "party" that night. I picked the second option. Unfortunately, it seemed that in making my decision I came off as somewhat selfish... But on the end of the spectrum from which I stood, I looked at the situation in the light that I refused to play babysitter so early in the night. Perhaps if we were already at the party and it was maybe 2 hours or so into the festivities, I would have had no qualms about taking care of someone... But it just got to me that Jules didn't pace herself the way she should have while pregaming, could have possibly been rushed to the hospital if things got bad enough (If you're reading this, I want you to know that I care about you and I am not trying to attack you in any way).
"So what now?" a voice said.
"I don't know, but whatever we do, we gotta get her off of the street." I responded.

Dixon said "Yeah, you're right." The information about a small get together at someone's house surfaced in the group. There was enough transportation for all of us, and it would have been something on a smaller scale. At this point, the night demanded something chill, but I felt compelled to look for something more despite the dip in energy I was feeling since the previous night.

The group split up. Somehow we came from being 15 deep to being about 4 deep. Oh well, it happens I guess. Tyler, Gabe, Cassandra, and Myself all headed down to the lambda chi house but were stopped by a group of girls who said that there was nothing going on. We stood on the corner just in front of one of the churches for about 10 minutes discussing our game plan... But something told me that the night just wouldn't pick up. People headed to Columbia in scores hoping to run into a party. We headed into that direction passing Fatti and Juliana who had not left yet. We ran into them a stop later when we walked onto S. Columbia and saw them getting off of the bus so that Juliana could puke again. We walked past, Cassandra stopped to talk to the two of them, I lead the rest of the group (including these two supremely annoying girls with squeaky voices) over to the DKE house where we met more disappointment. I waited on the porch and told the guys to head straight to the back, or downstairs to get some drinks. I waited on the porch and lit a cig. The night was shot to hell. Cassandra calls me up a minute later. "Where are you?" she asks.
"I'm over at the DKE house... Its on Columbia. I'll wait outside for you."
"I don't see you."

"I'm on the porch." She still wasn't visible. I stepped off of the porch and onto the brick patio which was partially covered with glass. I could now see her walking down the street with Fatti and Juliana. I started to wave. "Do you see me now?"
"No... not yet."
"How about now?"

"Yeah I see you," she walked onto the patio while Fatti and Juliana went to south campus on foot. "Are there any drinks inside?"

"Yeah, lets go." She followed me into the DKE house. Her shoes were off since they were covered in Juliana's vomit.
"This is probably the grossest thing I have ever done... Walk on a frat floor barefoot." She said. I didnt blame her. The rug was moist with beer, there was glass on the floor, the dirt from other people's shoes mixed in with accumulated beer, solo cups, and cigarette packages. DKE was gross... We went to the back where there was a keg covered in ice. As soon as we got there, Tyler was chiling in the back, and kicked the keg.
"The thing is empty" he said. The other two girls that came with him were bitching about there being no alcohol. Surprisingly enough, they were worse than me and Cassandra. I went back up to the front of the house, and sat out on the patio with Cassandra. This party sucked. But DKE throws some good stuff... Its just that the alcohol attracts people to parties like flies to shit... and well, there isn't anymore alcohol. I lit up and chilled for a bit. Tyler came five minutes later, and we started talking. Soulja Boy's "crank dat" came on and we all went inside and tore that shit up with frat brothers, and sorority sisters staring at us because we were pretty much the shit at it. After the third time of hearing it, I stepped back outside since the song got old, and did it one time out on the patio on the fourth time of hearing it... Then we left. Oh well, maybe not this time... you win some, and you lose some.

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Premo

The boondocks, a 25 minute walk from Franklin St if you don't get lost. The din of voices could be heard nearby as we waited for word of what happened to Emily after an uneventful run in with the cops for having 40 oz of steel reserve in her possession. The night took many different turns, especially ones which concerned us being turned around a couple of times in the suburbs just off of MLK. Miya and I continuously smoked cigs as we waited. Periodically she would call up Hana to see what the deal was with Emily, as her and Dixon decided to go back and pick her up.
Boredom and Fatigue overtook the group as we watched sleazy upperclassmen who hit on Hannah in passing stumble out of the party drunk. She griped for a minute, "I can't understand what the deal is with drunk guys continuously hitting on me. Its so gross." Hannah is so cute, if you don't know her already, she is a down to earth, 5' 10" blond girl with rosy cheeks, a lean build, long legs, and very soft features. To sum it all up, she is what most fellas would call "a hot ass girl".
"I have no sympathy for you and any other beautiful woman on this planet Hannah, and Here's why: Because your life is far from hard in the looks department... The fact that you can actually gripe about being attractive is a privilege, because I know a bunch of girls who definitely wish they could say 'I wish I was 240 lbs with frizzy hair, gobs of cellulite, and sausage fingers...' SAUSAGE FINGERS! you've got it made, and you know it." She started laughing because deep down she knew I was right. I turned to Miya, asking her if she heard any word from Hana. She shook her head saying, "The only thing I keep getting is 'we're on our way' " Hopefully everything is alright.
10 minutes later, the phone rings. "Hello?" Miya answers. "Uh huh... yeah... WHAT? Thats awesome! Okay, see you in a bit."
"What happened" I asked.
"So just before Emily was about to get a citation, an armed robbery occurred and the police had to go!!" She responded ecstatically. Gabe, Hannah and Fatti approached.
"What happened?" He said. I told him the news, everybody was excited. A few minutes later Hana, Dixon and Emily showed up. The night had taken a turn for the best... this is ofcourse after I clapped my ass for Jesus.

Okay... I feel really weird writing about this, but those of us who were still waiting out in the front of the party saw it. It was a joke that we were saying in the midst of some random conversation... All of a sudden i broke out into this random booty dance on Fatti's leg? I cannot really remember. But anyway, we attribute the robbery to that (or at least the superstitious do).

The eight of us made our way down the driveway towards the party which looked awesome from the top of the pathway. There were people everywhere in the back yard, there were guys carrying around massive 24 packs of beer, and there was music. People definitely were going along with the dresscode that was requested. Either you had to dress prep school, or Emo. Since most people picked out prep, the crowd was a sea of pastel shirts. However, the closer we got, the more disappoint it became. Hana warned me about something like this happening as before we left she said the last themed party that her, Miya, and Cush went to was kinda lame. For starters, Miya and I were harassed by this enormous, hulking, lesbian woman who wanted to know where we got our cups from... You're probably wondering how i knew she was lesbian. Well, for starters, she was wearing khakis, a shirt, a tie, and had a boys haircut. It was only until she spoke that I actually figured it out. But anyway, she looked like she was about to kill us over a cup which was "worth" $5. Although everything would have been fine since I would have definitely broken my foot off in her ass... No seriously, she could have ripped off my head and shit down my neck and there would have been little to do about it, besides scream like a schoolboy bitch (For anybody reading this... I dont hate lesbians... only assholes). Another facet that kind of made the party itself boring was the fact that nobody was dancing, and everybody seemed to already know each other. Hana's pick for last weekend (the techno kegger), was awesome in comparison... or just flat out awesome. I think the fact that it was just general fun was what kept people around, whereas the free liq was what kept the "party" going. As well as Solja boy's "Crank Dat" which got everybody out on the floor and was played like 8 times... no seriously.

But in all honesty, what does it matter if you can be with your friends, drink, be happy, and most of all talk shit. As the night wore on, we wondered where Dixon went but at the same time never ceased to mingle. After all of the liq ran out, the party started to die down, and I told some of the girls that I was rollin' out... We didnt know where Dixon was though. The last time I saw him, he was taking pictures with us 20 or 30 minute But in all honesty, so what? The hostess was awesome, the PJ was good (while overpriced), and the party had a generally nice ambiance. Some parties are made for dancing, others are not. This party was one of the ones that wasn't made for dancing. It was mostly a mingling event, and that was cool too. I mean, you cant call it a bad night if you get to hang with your friends,s before, but even after most of the crowd dipped out, I couldn't find him. Hana called over the rest of us, and I looked at the base of the tree where i saw a white baseball cap, a button down shirt, and some shorts. It was Dixon passed out in the darkness. The girls proceeded to shake him, helping him come to, and after putting in an effort, he woke up finally. Miya and Hana helped him onto his feet, and we proceeded to leave up the driveway.

"Hey guys, I'm getting ready to go too" a tall, 6' 6" guy better known as John Mayer (only because he looked like a busted ass version of him) told Hannah. He was pretty much harassing her, but then again, she was leading him on so I felt a little bit bad about it. Either way you cut it, he was annoying as hell, and I had only met him for a second. I almost said to him that he needed to get the fuck out of our way, but I was feeling nice that night. Fatti, Emily, Gabe, and I were walking down the road, following Hana, Cush, Dixon, and Miya. However, as opposed to going down the road that we came from, they took another route... I suppose they were gonna follow another group of people, perhaps that route was faster, perhaps I'll never know. "I'll see you tomorrow guys," I told them. After a faint response of "good night" became audible, I lead Fatti, Hannah, and Gabe through the darkness and back home.

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