May 2013
2 posts
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News Article for The Long Beach Post →
A local news article I wrote for The Long Beach Post.
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March 2013
6 posts
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Review of William Tyler's Impossible Truth on No... →
My latest review!
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A History of Violence
In the wake of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, I continue to ask myself why does anyone ever need to own an assault weapon? Take any of the semi-automatic AR-15 rifles that are available on the civilian market. Is a rifle with a possible fire rate of 800 rounds per minute, if fully-auto, and firing the same round used by NATO troops, needed to drop a deer?
As following any...
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Foals: Holy Fire - Music Review - No Ripcord →
My review of Foals’ Holy Fire on No Ripcord.
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January 2013
1 post
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Fiction.
How to pitch a teen romance novel.
Dear Publishers of Mindless Rubbish,
I am writing you today to pitch my next novel. The novel will be based on the genre that is a cash-cow at the moment, the mindless teen romance novel.
The plot of the book focuses on the classic tale of adventure and romance, but with a modern twist. The protagonist of the novel will be some sort of magical being, such as...
December 2012
4 posts
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Revisiting The Killing Business
A few years ago, I wrote an article on how lax gun control in the U.S. had fueled Mexico’s drug war, where 90% of guns recovered at crime scenes had originated from the U.S. As drugs flowed north into the U.S., guns and money flowed back south into Mexico. Since guns are heavily regulated in Mexico, criminal organizations are willing to pay large amounts of money to get their hands on guns,...
November 2012
2 posts
Mac Demarco's "2" Album Review →
Read my last write up for no ripcord!
October 2012
1 post
8 tags
No Ripcord! →
I’m writing for a new music blog, No Ripcord. Check out my lastest review on the Soft Pack’s Strapped.
September 2012
5 posts
4 tags
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A Game of Numbers
Some may argue that politics is nothing more than a game of numbers. Be it through exit polls, surveys or political speeches, candidates are always making use of some statistical data to get their point across. The act of using numbers as a form of political fodder has become so routine in political life, that elections can be won or lost just based on who ever wields the more impressive use of...
4 tags
Science vs. Defense
newsweek:
What’s more dangerous: a nation full of science illiterates or a nation with one less aircraft carrier?
A very interesting question to ponder, considering that there are still people in the world who believe that women’s body can stem off rape and that cuts in the U.S. defense budget would allow the Russians to invade… Yes, I’m taking about the Republican Party
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August 2012
5 posts
4 tags
WatchA drive through the carwash.
5 tags
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The Mole and The Terrorist
Call it a generational shift, or simply a difference of opinion, but it was a moment that stuck with me forever. It was the night of the 2004 presidential elections, Kerry v. Bush, the first election I voted in. I was over at the home of an old friend, watching the results come over live television. My friend’s parents asked me who I voted for, I replied without hesitation, “Kerry of...
“What a blacken soul we weave.”
– Overheard at a bar while I stared into my drink.
March 2012
4 posts
3 tags
Conversations With Strangers
A women in about her late 50s, dressed in her Sunday best, a stained top and sweatpants, approached me today and asked the following.
Women: are you Dave?
Me: No, I’m not.
Women: You’re not?
Me: No, I’m not the person you are looking for.
Women: Do you know him? Goes by the name madman and is good with mechanics.
Me: I have no clue who that is.
Women: You’re...
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Shoot First, Ask Questions Later
In the wake of the tragic shooting death of Trayvon Martin, has Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law has given leniency to anyone who uses deadly force under the pretext of self-defense. Martin’s death echoes back to the 2007 shooting deaths of two men by Joe Horn. Who under Texas’ “Castle Doctrine“ was not prosecuted for the shootings, despite shooting the...
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February 2012
10 posts
6 tags
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Super PACs and My High School Class President
I had my first dabble in politics during my senior year in high school, when I agreed to help a close friend run for student body president. What started out as a harmless venture into high school politics so he could meet girls, turned into an ugly, downright shameful campaign that would have made Mitt Romney proud. Our campaign strategy was simple, we would raise money for the campaign by...
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Style Guide for The Working Man →
Anchor Division has become my new favorite style blog, vintage threads and motorcycles. Need I say more.
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Report Finds An End To Segregated Neighborhoods
A recent report found segregated neighborhoods and inter-city ghettos to be on the decline, but what about Westlake?
Having grown up in a predominantly white neighborhood, I find this a bit hard to believe myself. A study by the Manhattan Institute reports that “metropolitan areas are now more integrated than any time since 1910.” Jacob Vigdor, the coauthor of the report was recently...
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Getting The Word Out For Ron Paul
As the Republican presidential race continues on its crash course towards the hearts and minds of the bewildered American public. Every bit of promotion helps and in Ron Paul’s case, he may just need it. Compared to the other Republican candidates, Paul has often gotten the cold shoulder from the mainstream media according to a recent article from The Atlantic Wire. A study by the Pew...
6 tags
Brainwash 2.0
Brainwash 2.0
How advertising has its grasp on you and you might not even know it
If your life is anything like mine, you awake to your alarm clock blaring an ad for some expensive sports car that you cannot afford or have not had a midlife crisis yet to want. Then while procrastinating before getting ready for work, you turn on the T.V. to find yet series of ads trying to hock another useless...
January 2012
2 posts
3 tags
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“Everything is bullshit in the end.”
– Something I have to keep reminding myself…
December 2011
1 post
8 tags
It's A Man's World - Skewed Sex Ratios In Asia
It’s A Man’s World
Skewed Sex Ratios in Asia
I’m going to start by asking a question, what would you want your first child to be? A boy or a girl? For most people this question may spark a little debate but have no serious consequences. For women in Asia, this question has amounted to a loss generation of female births and the wide scale exploitation of women. Several scholarly studies and...
October 2011
1 post
September 2011
3 posts
2 tags
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WatchLadies and gentlemen, I give you Bob Log III, a delta bluesman that may actually live in a van down by the river. The cannon ball suit wearing slide guitar wiz gives the term of “one man band” a whole new meaning. He doesn’t only display some prowess on the slide guitar while belting out some non-sense lyrics through a custom contraption, made from an aviation helmet with a mic...
July 2011
4 posts
8 tags
3 tags
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