Friday, October 24, 2014

Hash-tags #Bendecidayafortunada o #BendecidayenVictoria Pura Ridiculez Mas Que un Meme

Por cualquier cosa eres Bendecida y Afortunada
A veces no se qué pensar sobre las tendencias y modas en las red; pero estoy pensando que los últimos hashtag de moda #bendecidayafortunada o #bendecidayenvictoria desafía el límite entre lo burdo y lo profano.

El problema de este hash tag, va mas allá de la pantalla de un ordenador; mientras crecía en Cartagena, esencialmente en un ambiente cerrado cerca las playas por la Avenida Santander, me daba cuenta de lo vacía que puede tornarse ciertos segmentos de las sociedades, con el uso de la telefonía móvil y las redes sociales.


Aunque no solo con el ejemplo de las redes sociales, sino con los clubes y los grupos de interés que uno puede encontrar en un ambiente donde el tiempo y la falta de oficio puede ser algo perjudicial para la salud y las relaciones sociales; sin mencionar que uno puede caer en la ridiculez por sobreexposición mediática en dichas redes.
Aunque no solo con el ejemplo de las redes sociales, sino con los clubes y los grupos de interes que uno puede encontrar en un ambiente donde el tiempo y la falta de oficio puede ser algo perjudicial para la salud y las relaciones sociales; sin mencionar que uno puede caer en la ridiculez por sobreexposicion mediatica en dichas redes.

Las Tetas son Parte de la Moda
Entre los miles de fotos que uno puede encontrar en Twitter, Facebook o Instagram con esta nefasta etiqueta, el prototipo es casi siempre una zorra en pelota que no se respeta, como la de la foto de al lado; o cualquier vagabunda, que se caso por dinero y cuando le aparece el primer hijo, ahí le entra lo muy bendecida y afortunada que es.

El problema de esta moda, es la tendencia a la falta de auto-respeto; ya que a una zorra no se le puede quitar lo zorra y volverá un ama de casa; y si piensan que pueden poner la religión de por media para ocultar que son putas, ni por ahi van a poder demostrar que son unas piadosas.


Siempre me acuerdo en la Iglesia de Bocagrande allá en Cartagena; todas esas parejas que iban a darse golpes en el pecho, alabar a Dios y luego hacer lo que se les viniera en gana después de poner sus pies afuera de la iglesia.


Un Carro no es Una Bendicion
Nunca he sido religioso, pero en mi filosofía siempre he sentido que la teología puede jugar un papel fundamental en la formación de un individuo, si es manejada de una forma en que el individuo vea que el mundo es más complejo que las paredes de su templo, y las páginas del libro base.

Pero llega un punto debido al uso de las redes sociales en los que uno puede cuestionar ¿Que tanto alguien puede estar enfocado en cosas vánales, cuando otros están pasando verdaderos problemas.? Y no es una bendición tener un carro, es un lujo. Todas esas grandes "bendiciones" no son gracias a ningún Dios; son gracias al esfuerzo que uno hace por salir adelante.

La única bendición es la vida misma; lo mas sacro y puro. pero la gente no la valora. Yo no creo que en esas tal llamadas bendiciones que la gente habla y promulga; creo en el valor humano, la capacidad de respeto y la el potencial para salir adelante.

Aquí es la falta de autoestima y apreciación por el "yo", tratar de buscar complacer a los demás para ocultar una falta de personalidad, debido a que la empatía y la interacción social nunca fue desarrollada; estas personas, no solo mujeres. Que ponen mensajes religiosos con cierto toque vanal para presumir, demuestra la clase de personas que son.

El problema es que gente como las de estas fotos, las habrá mientras haya humanidad en este planeta y en el cosmos. Siempre alguien tratando de sobresalir con poco esfuerzo a expensa de alguien más.


Todo esto hace caer, la banalidad en un asunto repetitivo donde lo profano y lo sacro se mezcla en un simple autorretrato.


Monday, October 13, 2014

This Last Lonely Place Movie Review

Every now and then, there is a beautiful piece of cinematic art that catches the attention of the people, there is always a niche on the independent cinema that will attract viewers to new proposals on the audiovisual entertainment.



This Last Lonely Place, has that  aspect on the audiovisual narrative as well as in the story, that can captivate audiences, much as the Golden Era of Hollywood movies. Such as The Maltese Falcon or Casablanca, movies that set a trend and gave a romantic glamour starting Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Ingrid Bergman just to name a few;  or even the old Dick Tracey short and 1945 movie; where a dark environment and shady characters played a pivotal role in the movie narrative.

Even the title of the movie pays an homage to the old noir movies, specially In a Lonely Place where Humphrey Bogart was the main star along Gloria Grahame. The movie was financed by a successful Kickstarter campaign and the Humphrey Bogart Estate , Jeff Marchelletta and Josh Mandel of Industry Standard Films produced the film along with writer/director/producer Steve Anderson of Santana Films.

The movie follows three individuals Sam Taylor, a taxi driver (played by Rhys Coiro); Frank Devore, a shady investment banker (Xander Berkeley) and Faye Gardner, Frank's lover (Carly Pope); whose story begun by a mere casualty after Frank called for a taxi and Sam was the closest one to be on his proximity.

The movie plays homage to  Humphrey Bogart cinematic legacy towards the noir genre, as well as breaking certain conceptions of the genre itself by presenting Carly Pope's character in a mix of the femme fatal but with more altruistic characteristics that makes her character unique towards the women of the noir films, as Faye tends to act according to her own motives; but not only Carly's character (Faye Gardner) is well developed, as there is a complexity shown towards the characters motifs  along the movie that gives them a dose of realness,

The complexity of the characters is quite unique, because it makes me wonder, how far would you go to achieve your goals.? And how much would you sell your ideals? In order to conquest what you want without even thinking on the damage and the people you would use. Nobody knows but it is part of the human nature, such as Faye trying to gain money for herself or Sam who was trying to gain money for his family in Hawaii.

How do you know how far someone will go.? It's difficult to know, almost as a Kafkaesque Metamorphosis just to explain human nature. The movie as it was mentioned on a previous paragraph brings noir elements from Humphrey Bogart cinematographic legacy, as there is as mystery element in the movie that gives the viewer a feeling of old Hollywood movies.

The movie itself is reminiscent German Expressionist films, much as the work of Fritz Lang movie named M; where the city plays a part on the story, but also there is a beauty on how the scenes are carried, as if it was a movie from the Golden Age of cinema.

If any of my readers have the chance to see This Last Lonely Place, I would totally recommend it because it's a fine piece of cinematic product; with really fine acting and shows a quality of cinema that is almost absent on today pieces of audiovisual storytelling, an amazing story that was produced in an indie fashion, that will place the viewer in their seats from the beginning to the end.

If you want to see the movie you can click here where for USD$8 as well support independent filmmakers.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

The Sadness of the Perfect Selfie - Instagram Reasoning

There is nothing more depressing in the digital world than a perfect selfie. People just sit on the edge, and take photos of themselves. Over and over, thousands of self-portraits, everyone is trying to create the perfect image, while in the inside they have nothing to say, or even show some interesting value in a conversation.

People are just boring sometimes, the newer generations are showing levels of vanity, that can be traced to an uncontrollable narcissism. Who want's to fake a fucking smile on every photo,? show that their lives are perfect, people who are living inside a dream and delusional fantasies of self-absorbed thoughts.

It's almost as an attention whore mentality, everything they do has to be recorded, just to cover the emotional void that is absorbing their lives.

Why to expose yourself in underwear to the rest of the world,? or in a bikini.? No one beyond the fuck fantasy will like you, those little comments that will tell you how good you look won't take away the fact that you have an intellectual deficit as well as an emotional one, as you aren't able to stay within a relationship or with a small circle of friends.

It doesn't matter how much approval you seek, your insecurities can be seen afloat and you will always feel less, physically and emotionally.

There is one sad aspect of the perfect selfie,and that is you can see people on the lowest point; because, one selfie has 20 or 40 other behind just to achieve that perfection. 

The LGTBQ Chronicles: Five Questions with Jay Arseno - Take it From the Ashes

Jay Arseno at Boardner's
His voice and style are cool; and his stage presence is quite inviting, but his style is what it gets the attention from the crowd.

From his style of rock n' roll and techno, but it's with his guitar that his voice shine. Jay began his career in his native Baton Rouge, Louisiana; by singing in a church; but he became inspired to become a singer by listening to the cassettes and C.D's his parents and sibling bought.

Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Jay with a round of five questions, I hope you enjoy and in the meantime if you want to listen to his music, check his soundcloud channel:



Jay: I was inspired to become a musician when I was about 5 or 6 years old and I fell in love with music. My parents and siblings would always be playing cassettes and CD's when I was growing up and would encourage me to sing along with whatever was playing. That’s how I figured out that I had a decent singing voice and that I could carry a tune pretty easily.

Jay: The most difficult part of being an indie artist is taking on the challenge of promoting yourself. Unless you have representation through an independent label or a marketing team behind you, you have to do everything yourself along with being the artist. Sometimes the biggest challenges aren't in writing the songs, but promoting the songs and getting them heard by the right people.

Jay:I am personally not a big fan of labels. I believe that artists should be appreciated for their work and not be judged by who they are personally, especially when it comes to their sexuality. When you look at a painting or a sculpture, do you immediately ask yourself, ‘I wonder if the artist is gay or straight?’. No! You appreciate the fruits of the artist’s labor that are right in front of you. I believe the same should apply to music and that people shouldn't be concerned with labels. 

I pour a great deal of myself into my writing and my music, whether it be from personal experiences that I would like to communicate or stories that I come up with. I believe that my personal identity and sexuality are two sides of the same coin in that one cannot exist without the other. By writing from my personal experiences my creativity is fueled by both my personal identity and my sexuality in some cases. 

However, I leave the interpretation of the work to the listener that hears it. That’s the whole purpose of art in whatever form it may be, to create a personal experience for the ones who are witnessing and experiencing the piece that is being presented to them.

Jay: The process of producing my own music has ups and downs, as with anything. There will be times that I can start writing and finish a song in 30 minutes. Other times it will be days before a song is finished. It really is a case by case basis, but I thoroughly enjoy every second of it

Jay: I believe that social media has allowed otherwise unknown artists and causes a global platform in order for them to been seen and heard by millions, if used properly and in a dedicated fashion. As an artist, you don’t necessarily have to rely on a record label to create a fan base and for your music to be distributed and heard worldwide. The power and resources are there, as long as you know how to use them to your advantage. I have personally used social media to promote my own music by creating a Facebook artist page, twitter, and music networking sites like Reverbnation, CD Baby, Tunecore, YouTube and many others in order to become a internationally distributed singer/songwriter. With all these resources available to artists today, it also becomes virtually impossible to really stand out, but that’s the price we pay for the ability to create and manipulate our own destinies in this age of technology, I guess.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Poema a un Gato

Poema a un Gato
Por: Gustavo Calvo

Entre las sombras anda,
y a plena luz del día está tirado en la cama,
grita como un rey,
pero exige como si fuera una reina.
Se mueve despacio, y como si estuviera volando;
para luego caer encima del teclado.
Se rasca el culo contra la pared,
parece más un mico que cayó en una red,
Se esconde por debajo de un zapato,
y espera salir de la nada como un payaso en una cartón.
Entre estornudos, y la cola por mi nariz, ese animal peludo ni pide perdón,

y mas que se le da por tirarse tres volatines antes de perderse abajo del sillón.

The Different Layers of the Closet

The metaphor of being trapped someplace, can scare anyone. The ego can be your own worst enemy, as well the fear of rejection.

Sometimes we hesitate about ourselves, we lack of the locus of control to keep fighting forward, we simply leave everything behind.

The closet can be a very lonely, no matter if it's surrounded by people, at the end those people are just layers of clothing that sometimes just cover the loneliness.

The step that many of you, us, we, have to take out to be happy always comes with a price. The fear of rejection, that many doesn't want to face in their lifetime because they don't want to lose something.

It's what we can call, based on an anime named Fullmetal Alchemist The Law of Equivalent Exchange which in other words means, every action creates a rebound.

The fear of losing your family, the fear of losing the little you have, it can develop a toxic relation with everything that surrounds you, and comes the idea of what to do to being happy.?

There are many doors to open, many layers and outfits you can try before discovering, which one fits you the best. There are many combinations you can try, sometimes some people won't find them, won't even see it, and will go on the streets pretending.

Some of the layers, come with the stigma, they are being broken and the paradigms of discrimination towards what you wear, that reflect your personalities are being accepted, that the world is not filled with white and black outfits but there is a bunch of colors in the spectrum.

Some people will never realize the words "self-acceptation", they will live in the shadows. Maybe is the fear of risk also,? rejection is also a part, but also is self-realization.

How do you know your own self.? That is a question, that beyond the cheap internet phrases from Paulo Coelho and some other self help authors, it goes into a metaphysical level, it can be answered just by the act of living and learning.

Just live and get out from your comfort zone, without doing anything stupid. Know a little bit of other realities than yours, learn what is happening in the community, even so read a book or travel around your city. You will live a little bit more just by knowing, and when you know what is happening around you, then you will know what is happening to you, and discover a solution to your inner questions.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

The LGTBQ Chronicles: Five Questions With Musician Brett Gleason

Brett Gleason by Doug Seymour 'Starry Night'
There is some mystique behind his deep voice and enchanting persona. His blue eyes and stage presence can mesmerize every individual that is on the audience; but his songs, his lyrics are what can catch many people attention to Brett Gleason.

Originally from Brooklyn, Gleason discovered his love for music at a young age; a speech impediment caused him to spend his free time involved with music and books. His style is eclectic, as he mixes between an electronic presence as well acoustic piano song.   

There is a complex individual beyond the stage, a sensitive artist that is in touch with his emotions, his own personal history and the history of the community; such, as growing up with bipolar disorder; coping up with his identity as a gay man, and a singer songwriter that is willing to defy every label and create his own. 

With his self-titled debut album, there is an image of a really promising indie artist; with a fresh musical proposal that reflects his own struggles and growth as a person and a musician. 

One of the nicest aspects about the internet, is that the users can find a wide array of interesting proposals; as well support independent musicians, that are trying to be known to a public that are eager for a new musical proposal; and what better way to see their work, such as Brett's around Youtube and finding their songs through iTunes as well other electronic media.

How you discovered that you wanted to follow a path in music.?

BG.  I grew up with a bad speech impediment so I got involved in solo activities at a young age, lots of sports and arts – I was a gymnast,a writer and played multiple instruments. As I grew older and began to experience more intense emotions, I started to employ these skills to help clarify and master my feelings. At 13 I started writing songs and knew this was going to be my life.

As I read on The Huffington Post, you were diagnosed with bipolar disorder when you were 19 years old, as well as the time you started to become sexually active. How have those experiences, molded you in the path to find your identity as a musician but as well as a person?

BG.  Being bipolar and gay have further solidified my status as an outsider which I think is useful for an artist.  It’s given me an opportunity to see things from a very different perspective as well as freed me to pursue my artistic pursuits.  I think I’d feel a lot more pressure to find a steady job, marry and have kids if I weren’t a gay man with a history of mental illness, as things stand I’m free to create my own divergent path and follow my own crazy dreams.

How do you describe your music.? Who where your influences.? And, what do you think about labels many people place over artists, such as avant-garde or queer.? Do you see yourself with or without any of these labels.

BG:  I create a kind of fusion of alt electro rock with a piano based singer/songwriter sensibility.  I grew up listening to large, epic rock groups like The Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails but also solo artists like Tori Amos, Fiona Apple and Elliot Smith.  I like to write songs that can be translated both as a full rock band sound as well as solo with just me at the piano.  Like most labels, genres do more to exclude than to inform.  My goal is to reject them all.

How was the process of releasing your eponymous debut album.? Taking in consideration that sometimes people as well the industry markets the work towards more of the life and image of the artist, than the work itself.

BG: Making my debut record was a long process. I played all the instruments except for drums and produced all the songs myself. I did however do a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the record which brought some great people on board to inspire and motivate me along the way.  Using my name and face to represent the record make it a very personal process but also a very transparent one. My name, my face and music – those can all speak for themselves and they speak candidly.

What is your opinion toward the use of social media,  in order to position not only a product but the artist himself.?


BG: To be honest it’s hard to have a position on social media as I haven’t known any other way to connect with fans and release music. Whereas maybe ten years ago, recording a record was a really private process it’s now something that you live tweet, share early mixes from and document publicly on a daily basis.  I used to think this was a shame but now I see how you can use this as a way to not only get feedback along the way but to feel more connected throughout what can be a very isolating experience for a solo artist.


Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Because of Winn-Dixie and The Problematic Positioning the Retail Chain Has Found in Florida

Sometimes competency the main problem can be redefining the public perception of the supermarket, so it can compete on a more efficient way and differentiate itself from the competition.

That's the problem Winn-Dixie is facing; what to do,? how to attract customers,? and how to make people shot in the stores.?

The answer relies on the combination of lower prices, good customer services among all the employees and giving the customers good amount of food by profiting from the margins of the deli and the bakery items.

Winn-Dixie is not Publix and less Walmart, is just another long line of supermarkets who try to position themselves in the Central Florida grounds and fail really badly, albeit it's not going to follow the step of Sweetbay but that doesn't mean the supermarket is not impervious to bankruptcy as with his "previous incarnations."

Price wise, the store is expensive and even with coupons is not necessarily friendly with the customers. People complain that other stores are expensive until they find themselves in Winn-Dixie without a Winn-Dixie card and paying full prices of every single item they buy, unless a cashier or manager inform them that they need a card in order to get the savings such as the BOGOS or the 2 for US$5 sales.

The image of the store never projects fluidity, as the aisles they don't follow an "organic" sequence, where you can find certain juices in one aisle, such as their private brand; then on another aisle you find more juices mixed with some other items, and then a few aisles ahead you find soda, and more aisles ahead you find water along some other shopping goods.

Is as the aisles were designed to confuse, or in a lesser case to convince the customers of buying more by getting them lost. On certain neighborhoods, the store maintenance doesn't look clean, and the aisles and bathrooms they look dirty, which that is an uninviting factor to the guests who shop there.

On a image level, the corporation is trying their best to match their competition by mimicking certain aspects of Publix in terms of an image outcome, but watching some of their employees not having a clean image the customers can get a negative perception that there isn't friendliness, or from a retail point of view a customer satisfaction perspective as well a lower volume and more discontinued items, which means people will go to the competition.

Winn-Dixie parent company Bi-Lo Holdings took over SweetBay stores last April, in a US$265 million deal, where they purchased 165 fives stores from Delhaize America. While there is some speculation that the interim move into re-branding the brand as it can compete with some more upbeat stores; as well to lower the item prices, it is a move that in what has gone in the of the year nothing has happened and the prices are still high as they were.

Not only with the prices as it was mentioned previously, but they have to restructure their external communication system in order to reach more customers, because right is failing to attract new people.

Friday, July 4, 2014

Retro Game Reviews: Roller Coaster Tycoon 3

There is something nice and wonderful about the Roller Coaster Tycoon games; the third installment is not bad, it had some difficulties towards the graphic rendering due the low processors on many computers, but there is something nice about the third installment, even if the creator Chris Sawyer only acted as a consultant.

There is something magical about roller coasters, as well quite of a nightmare for many people as the simple idea of being in the top and the thrown into an out of control but controlled ride, through a series of steel mazes and loops can terrorize or delight someone.

The beauty about Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 lays that it let the user to be submerged into the theme park environment, as well to ride the rides; two elements that were completely absent in the first two installments, as well there is no more isometrically view.

The idea of the game look so ambitious but yet so enjoyable, as it can appeal perfectly to theme park enthusiast and is a game that everyone in the family can play without any inconvenience.

Watching the Rhinos 
RCT3 has two expansion Soaked and Wild, where the player can add water park elements as well a zoo into his theme parks. The game itself, could be a nice idea to incorporate into the Oculus system as it can let the players to traverse and explore unique environments and theme parks.

The idea of RCT3 as a virtual reality game seems to be coherent, as is one of those games that the player can interact perfectly and there are no doses of ultra-violence with the exception of the occasional accidents, if you want to have an understanding of VR systems, this entry by Cloudwards is really easy to digest and can give you a better understanding how these systems work.

The game interface is really easy to understand, and is quite intuitive, as the main screen menus are divided into a series of balloons, where the balloons can be clicked in order to access a description of the scenario as well a few images.

Each scenarios is divided into three sections: Apprentice, Entrepreneur and Tycoon; where the level of difficulty improves but is not impossible to win.

The game offers a wide variety of roller coasters and rides that you can find in actual theme parks; as well it lets the players to create their coasters.

The game can be found in Steam, or if you are lucky enough in Amazon, to find an original copy of this game. You will have hours of fun; but there are some negative aspects as they were with the first games, the game can turn repetitive as well monotone after a few scenarios but yet is still a nice sandbox game, that it can be enjoyed little by little.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Conversations in a Bus: Religious Materials Spread Around on Route 16 of HART

There are moments when I want to spread The Scientific Method, and create a competition to the religious groups that conquer people and get adepts, through this kind of cheap propaganda.

Yes, it is cheap to try to get more adepts whenever exploiting their weaknesses and moments of sorrow. Not many people realize how the mass transportation system, can be used for preachers and missionaries, to expose them to the good news, but what good news.? If at the end you are going to be bounded by a series of outdated rules that form no part of a viable social contract.

Jehovah's Witnesses are the latest material I've found in the last couple of months, around route 16 with the Hillsborough Transportation System, there should a separation between State and Religion, but avoiding and cutting these people on using public system into spreading their message is almost impossible.

It makes me think that a humanist approach is less acceptable on the public light, than a religious approach, on a political environment not accepting God is an inspirational suicide, as well in certain companies that follow a Christian doctrine.

Not matter how many times I go outside, it seems savings souls is a big business, what happened to follow any noble truth without buying the propaganda.? It doesn't seem profitable for a bunch of individuals such as The International House of Prayers or almost any other newer and growing denomination.

There are some guerrilla tactics on these methods, as much of the time the spread of materials could be done by placing them strategically that someone will find them, also people sitting silently in the bus, or some other people who try to engage in conversation and try to disarm the speech of the interviewer, as he or she needs God.

There are plenty of ways to disarm them, to counter attack as even if there is an existence of a mighty being in this universe, that has no body, that being wouldn't go into such as cheap tactics into gain followers. With the different informational supplements that can be found anywhere, it can be seen how humanity is essentially divided into seeking an absolute truth through a series of fragmented ones. Maybe, we are seeking that truth on Earth, while the truth could lay outside in the vast mantles of the universe.

It is true that every head is an universe, and different people think vastly different even if they can agree on similar points; but yet there can be some discomfort on the religious aspect as it tends to represent the conjunction of social momentum of an individual. Yet, there is the ideological war, where we tend to forget our own humanity.

The main problem on this ideological war is when we start to attacking each other; every time I find a Watchtower magazine in the bus, I read a magazine filled with accommodated truths and some pseudo scientific content, that only contains support from the Bible to claim anything. Yet, how can believe in a cult that has tendencies of seen the apocalypse everywhere and almost and at every time a tragedy happens.? People believe so, if someone emotionally is broken they will go the first light they will see.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

How Immigrants Should Reject their Own Heritage and Language When They Move to The States

Lately people had been inspiring me to keep pushing forward, probably not in a good way, because their stupidity and lack of understanding towards global issues are my main motivations to be a better person and as well a citizen.

You can learn a lot by working in a supermarket, on a sociological point of view, you can learn that certain generations as well ideological groups don't see the plurality of what compose the United States, they don't see that the WASP population are just a mere invader, and the first ones here were the aborigines. In fact, that's the way we can classify the American English version as an syntactic invader.

There is no official language in the country, although English is the main used; even so, as a pluralistic nation, we are not a homogenic society. So, why to give up everything and become one of the many.? Is not a solution, albeit some people seem to enjoy denying who they are, and trying to make other people assimilate into becoming one of the hive.

In fact, for some people if we analyze the ethno-linguistic properties of their alpha culture, we realize that it could be difficult for them to learn a new language that doesn't look alike from their own, even if the migrate at a young age. We learn by simile if we see patterns we can create synopsis, otherwise learning a new language can be problematic.

Also, analyzing on a political point of view, not many people migrate beyond economical reasons, as the world socio-economical climate had been escalating with wars over the last half a century, many people have no choice but to flee or to die. The United States government offers free classes at several public schools around the States, all of them free of charges for adults and younger populations who want to continue their education as well to learn the language when they lack of financial resource.

The complexity of the topic goes beyond any political reason; because the problem doesn't even have to go on relinquish a persons heritage, or that other people have to adapt to them, the problem goes on the incredible racism and ethnophobia that is focused on the most politically conservator States, as well the even complex issue of how different minorities display hatred or discomfort towards each other.

Placing the English language, as a sole language in a hypothetical situation where people would be obligated to speak it anywhere and if they can't, the clerks shouldn't be able to reply back; could turn into a setback in an environment that globalization plays a key in the economy, being local or international. Yet, some people don't seem to realize, that in order to communicate better with different segments of the population, people with multilingual skills are always appreciate it, in order to break any cultural or linguistic barrier. 

Monday, June 9, 2014

Confessions of a Sales Clerk

Add caption
It could be a pleasure to shop but to deal with retail, it could turn into a psychological disaster for the employees who can't stand the facade of perfection and eternal happiness.

Working in retail, offers a wide variety of different perspectives about humanity and how the marketing efforts work properly in order to boost a product, much of the time the directors and managers they don't care about the personal well being of their employees because, they see their employees as tools to get their quarterly bonus.

As a society that we are, focused on Market Economy, we had stepped down towards common-law values, as all men are equal and money doesn't buy class and style. On a psychological level, one aspect of the function of these kind of business are aimed towards to keep the status-quo as much as they can towards the employees, it is as they use a cult of personality style  to the founder of the company.

The interpersonal relationship between the company and employees can be quite complex, but not difficult to analyze; imagine;i.e, a bee hive, where everyone has their own defined roles, and they will be stuck on their roles until they die. Of course; if we take this approach into the Descartesian philosophy, not everyone will see their reality as the maximum paradise, some individuals will try to step out and see that the world is quite different as the managers let them see, that in reality some will have the potential to create a difference.

Think of Neo and Morpheus with the pop culture argument of the red pill and the blue pill, one of them will wake you up from the dream but the other will let you stay in the fantasy. Probably, it goes towards professional aspirations, some people are like the worker bees we need them, "we need them in order to have our sandwich or Big Macs" as my cousin Alexandra says, but we can't make them feel less, because they are still people, even if sometimes their managers don't understand that.

Towards education; much of the corporations in America, aren't keen that their employees move forward pursuing a different method beyond the ones taught by the company; they will end up ridiculing any member that doesn't fit into their objectives and goals when he or she decides to pursue a different path. Is not profitable for the company, as they lose money every time an associate decides to move on as facing discrimination or because they got bored.

Misanthropy as well certain sociopath tendencies could be developed by even the most sanest of the individuals, after being exposed to be happy whenever they are not; is not professionalism, any man or woman if they are having issues are entitled to grief them. They need to separate their lives, but they are entitled to be human and don't fake anything without losing money.

Go and watch in between the aisles, go as a customer and walk the different sections, beyond the smiles you can see through their kinesis that they are having some form of mild depression; is not about money, because if there is no security and the ability to move on, then there is nothing.

A postulate in economical theory, that revolves around psychology that if the company is owned by their employees, their employees will be happy because of the dividends. Money can create an ephemeral difference when the organizational environment. There are other points towards working on retail that you can see this theory, by observing the managers of the store, whenever an upper level supervisor will arrive, by attacking the lower level employees. All of this, due the status-quo and the inability of the managers to handle stress to the pressure of being uneducated, and being thrown into the outside world without any form of academic support, a valid academic support.

You can see the worse of people inside a supermarket not even on a shopping mall; a simple trip can be used to study the sociological aspect of consumers; a simple trip you can see how much people decide to throw the anger to the employees, and the employees not receiving any form of protection in order to satisfy the customers.

We will talk about a little bit more later. 

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Conversations in a Bus: Proselytism on Seat Number Four

Phamplet
I am not scared of the idea of hell, because I've lived one for first 27 years of my life. As many times lately, I've been taking the bus, it can open quite a few eyes to travel in the mass transportation system and look what people are doing, as well listen to.

There is a fine line between finding a system of faith that can compliment an ideology, and being harassed by almost everyone that is obsessed on proselytizing their faith; because at the end, faith is just a mere business for the pastor. Look at Joel Osteen or Joyce Meyer, they don't live the humbleness they profess but their sects they have to.

As I went in the bus, being stubborn and quick to react, I rarely accept anything from strangers, but yesterday I saw something it got my attention. The little pamphlet that is on the left side of the entry.

As I walked by, the person who offered the pamphlet was an African American guy, he was sitting alone on the fourth seat. He was sporting a red polo with white stripes, and he had an impeccable haircut, but he was in complete silent. I couldn't avoid taking the flyer because that way, it would let me to study him from the distance and eventually to took a few videos about the different people he tried to approach.

Nobody after me really accepted the little piece of paper, but then I have a morbid fascination on studying people as I mentioned previously. Is an old habit since my days of journalism that I still keep; the guy had several pamphlets as well several buses routes. I would believe in the ecclesiastical term, he was a missionary, or at least a volunteer with nothing better to do on his day off in order to fulfill his quota of "saved souls."

After a few last tries, the guy stop not far away from my house at Anderson Rd, and I assumed he took bus seven to go south to Hillsborough Avenue, in order to go to his church. Later we are going to examine the science of "saving" and how the different sects approach the people through this form of privacy and personal invasion.


As you can see the video is upside down, I apologize but I do not have any video editors at the moment and I don't feel to invest some effort to upload it on a laptop that is essentially dying. As you see in the video, a woman with red hair goes in, and walks behind, she eventually pass the guy I mentioned earlier and she says no. She sat behind him, and he tried several times to keep talking to her. Because, it is "important" to save people from something much of them don't believe on the same semiotic message as the sender of the message.

It brings me to the next question, and if any of my friends read me, I hope an answer "Why is so important to spread your message.? While in the process you can offend someone who is happy with the way they are." Why the obsession to live in close such proximity, almost and not to say a fanatical level of a book that is extremely outdated by this millennium.? As well, claiming that every single church, spawn from one obscure one, that almost was "cloned" with Photoshop from another one, to say that the church is the true church and then ridicule any other faith.?

Is almost childish, because Christianity as is today, with all those church that say that are the true church of God are just a mere offspring of Catholicism, and even so Catholicism itself has some obscure origin on a letter written by Ignatius of Antioch around on AD 107, and yet all this comes from a separatist Jew that was competing with other "Messiahs" in order to find his place on the convulsed times of the Roman Empire, and even so it wasn't until the year 313, through the Edict of Thessalonica that made the Catholic Christianity the official religion of the Empire. Yet, we could be adoring Mithra or any other Gods if it wasn't for the Romans; and, we are not going to go with the Greeks because they turned everything more confusing due the poor translation they made of the old papyrus.

Free thinking and free speech are two components that don't go well with religion; because, if the followers start questioning, they are committing the ultimate sin, questioning the authority; but, what really gets my attention around the pamphlet it is the way that is divided. As many charismatic sects, Neo Pentecostals and sects that were on the Second Awakening; they made their effort to reach the people who have doubts with their own life, or youth at risk.

The way that we see how some religious sect approach individuals, though spreading the good news, are in the hands of the Jehovah's Witnesses, the invention is relative new, as they tried to summarize their tenements in a simple way to spark the curiosity of the people and bring them in, into their religion.

Mass media itself played an important role, as in the 1900's revivals, preachers used radios and prints in order to bring people to their congregation, as of today they use Social Media such as Facebook and Twitter, and it proves that is good for the business as they can capitalize their web success through add-on and add-words to bring some extra but substantial revenue.

The little handbook could be itemized as the only way to salvation is to reject yourself, where you have to reject your life and accept you are sinner and the teachings of the preacher can save you. Free will it is the ultimate sin to whoever dares to reject any form of authority, not only religious, but towards the establishment order.

West Gate Baptist Church
And to the man who gave me the pamphlet on the bus, he was from the West Gate Baptist Church; but, this is not the first time I've had encounters where my privacy feels violated, not only by the West Gate Baptist Church but also by several others. Not only at the bus, but at the place I am working in right now.

It can be annoying when freedom of religion is contradicted within himself and let the freedom of expression be diminished. We are on the point that we are living more on a theocracy (at least in the South), and it's been given to the point that is OK to proselytize instead of supporting civil rights. Who knows knows,? but a ride in the bus, you can always learn something about people and how the interact with their surroundings.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Why Equality Should Finally Be Recognized in Florida

http://equalmarriagefl.com/
Beyond marriage, this is an issue of human dignity that shouldn't be placed in the middle of a debate that has religious overtones. All men are created equal, yet the Constitution seems a document that was made to be adjusted to the some people, and not everyone that wants to improve their community.

It's not difficult to feel as you are a second class citizen everywhere, even if some jurisdiction of Florida had created laws to favor the LGTBQ population; but it shouldn't be laws to favor, there should be laws to show that are citizens are equal, not only here in Florida (hypothetically speaking) but everywhere.

The problem started when we became more oriented towards a theocracy, I am not attacking religion but America is not a Christian nation we are far away to be an homogenize society, as we are plural and not even on the Constitution of the United States says anything towards more support a national religion or any sect.

I guess we can blame the Red Scare of the 1950's as well the terrorist attacks of 9/11 that shocked different two different set of generations, due the proselytistic efforts of the different religious sect that found their way to place themselves not only in the masses imageries but as well into the secular world by inserting In God We trust everywhere.

But what God.? There are different interpretation of the concept and at the humanity is just humanity playing with divinity, only to find several excuses to discriminate whoever doesn't believe into what they believe or what the world should be.

Florida itself has an imagery towards the LGTBQ culture that goes as a tourist destination from inspiration in the audio-visual media, such as A Florida Enchantment one of the first films in modern history that represents (not in a realistic way) the concepts of bisexuality as well transgenderism into the American mainstream culture; up to Le Cage Aux Folles from 1996 where has been one of the first films that play on a more positive light same sex oriented relationship, as they can be functional and experience a set of similar problems.

The list can go and go, even from the sociohistory point of view towards how the Pride Parades tend to boost business and how the different gay villages which do the insertion of creative people, they can improve the local economies as well the neighborhoods. Miami Beach, Ybor City, Thornton Park just to name a few around.

Ybor is one unique case on how the insertion of a more diverse community, essentially has placed the location back on the map, little by little; as many people on the Central Florida region will remember that neighborhood had a decline after World War 2 and in between the beginning of the Cold War; but thanks to two factors which are the urban renewal program on the 1960's and a slow but steady influx of artists and bohemians started the revitalization of the area in the 1980's.

Now in the second decade of the second millennium, the recovery of the area as well the adjacent neighborhoods had started to recover the spaces as well.

There is no reason to debate, but a lot of reasons to finally say yes that humanity is not black and white but a multicultural rainbow. At the end we are just humans, and there shouldn't even be a list on why something positive for us should be given, is an innate right since we are a born. We are all created equal, but yet equality seems to be favored for a few self described righteous individuals who in a mix of faith and hate, they think the world is theirs.

Equality should recognized because we all want the best for our families, for our friends, for ourselves and for our communities, the same communities that we work towards everyday. Prejudice will be always be there, is a part of human race but also compassion and happiness; and beyond any divine reasons we are all made of flesh and bones, we are not Gods themselves, we are just humans and justify hate through something holy we are just showing the prejudice aspect that we justify as if the word of  a God of hate.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Why Video Games Should Be Considered A Form of Artistic Expression

http://izismile.com/
It is not so odd to think about video games as a form of art. Through the different genres, the consumers as well the avid players, can see the different process where gaming is more than a repetitive process as there are a combination between beautiful graphics and a compelling story line.

The evolution of the gaming industry has been quite slow; not many people realize that video games (at least when it first got sketched and patented was on 1947) appeared with the idea as a missile game created by Thomas Toliver Goldsmith Jr. a physicist professor of Furman University; albeit the idea was never placed on a commercial environment. To think that the idea has been for more that half of a century is quite remarkable; but in terms of contemporary history, the first modern game came in the hands of Bill Pitts and Hugh Tucks who developed the first coin operated game at the Stanford University laboratories in 1971, the game was known as Galaxy Game and that is how the revolution of the Arcade came into the market.

Pong
Pong, became eventually the catalyst that placed the first generation of home consoles into the popular mainstream, and the list eventually grew placing other titles such as Pac-Man, Missile Command, Galaxian, Frogger among others.

As years passed, then it came to the point of finding validation, but why to seek approval from a higher source of information,? specially from a community that had created their own niches over the decades of production.

The answer could be in a bittersweet position, due political and social issues. As many forms of art, it does require the approval of communities to gain some validity; it is shallow to express it but it is one truth, as to gain consensus, the work needs the opinion of the masses.

The problem relies as any form of art, between vulgarity and what art could be itself. There is a debacle of video games, indeed as a form of art, because the problematics goes on a social scale as well towards medical issues. It can be a long debate itself, but appreciating the beauty of some games such as Braid and FEZ as other indie games, gives a different perspective to the players as well general consumers; that games can show beauty on a aesthetic level, and even keep entertain without resourcing to extreme violence or just plain commercialism.

Braid is one good example on how the impressionism works perfectly in the environment, it gives to the game itself a colorful palette that is almost distinctiveness to the game. But, the beauty, the art of the game itself, is not necessarily applied to the graphics as so is with Braid or any other game.

The art lays on the storytelling, much as it was a movie, and as the seventh art, games do deserve a level of recognition for the compelling story telling, as well they show the form of expression of the developers.

Yet, the community seems to try to find a central mainstream figure in order to get approval; there is really no need to find approval from anyone that doesn't come from the community itself, but yet it's relevant to try to find support from the mainstream in order to get the approval from the masses to find that form of artistic expression that at the end is just an affirmation.

Then we have another perspective, and goes from the fandom of the video games, where in an artistic perspective they took also video games into a new level, as it never done before, towards the use of pop culture. It is silly to think, how can pop culture with an emphasis on video games can be turned into something beautiful as well beyond the mundane. Reaffirming that video games are art. The answer is indeed simple, is just a simple form of expression where the fans express what they enjoy the most as well giving a different perspective to the products of the video games.