it's time for nonsense!!!!!

Dear Truthers,

2011-05-06T10:48:00.000-07:00

I’m one for a good conspiracy theory, I really am, but there comes a time and place when you need to grow up, and realize sometimes bad things just happen. Sometimes you end up making pretend that all of these elaborate stories and nonsensical talking circles will lead you somewhere.

Now, that time and place has come for Truthers. If you idiots are so certain that 9/11 was an inside job, what makes you so damn sure that YOU would know. For fucks sakes, you also happen to be the same jackasses who think that the moon landing didn’t occur.

I mean just because you didn’t land on the moon with them, does not mean it did not happen. I got on stage and rapped with Rhymefest in STL, just because your bitch ass wasn’t there to witness it does not mean it didn’t happen. Also just because you didn’t pull the trigger on Osama Bin Laden does not mean he is not dead and being dined on by some Tuna.

I just cannot for the life of me remember why no one hasn’t put truthers in those FEMA death coffins, because I know that I pray to god hoping that you get placed in them. Also truthers, you also happen to be some of the overall dumbest people, who also think the government is watching you from your damn Digital converter box.

Most people I know who are truthers are way too dumb, poor, boring and lazy for the government to give two fucks about you. They would be bored as shit watching you watch Maury, Fahrenheit 9/11 and where ever you d-bags get your exceptionally erroneous information from.

All this talk about how the towers fell and blah blah blah, but the last time I checked, you were not a Aerospace Engineer, Structural Engineer, Chemical Engineer, Pilot, Civil Engineer nor a human. I remember September 11, 2001. It was my first day of Cosmetology School.

I remember how I felt; I also remember all the people who died that day, and the people who gave their lives to save others. I remember seeing the footage and how surreal it was, and knowing that some really sick fuck dreamed this up, all because he wanted to seek revenge.

But, no, I can’t have my moment to reflect on how tragic it was and how helpless we all were, I get to listen to your stupid psycho babble about thermite bombs and blah blah blah blah, and i end you with this truthers http://www.stfu.info/

Sincerely,

Icy Mike

Dear Miss 'Religious'

2011-03-09T16:41:00.001-08:00

I'm tired of you, i really am. It seems to be, that you come out of the woodwork every now and then to either, scorn those that are not exactly like you, enough like you, completely different than you or you just want to start a little bit of row, i'll admidt, 5 years ago, you were interesting and new and fun.

You were that hot chick with no brain, you had all the right features, you were for pleasure and to be looked upon as a trophy, but now that you are in you're older in age and your body is sagging and you just happen to be dumb as all get out. I'll amidt Miss 'Religious' i had a good time with you, but now, i am done.

I remember like it was just yesterday, we met, you were new and exciting, you were fiesty and full of pazazz! you had a spark to you that this Lutheran boy wasn't used to, you lead me near to the edge of insanity, you lead me back the edge of Islam, you lead me to the edge to berate people because they aren't as awesome as you. but, you know what Miss 'Religious'? I cannot stand you...

Through all my years of travels and 29 years of life, the one thing i have found that you haven't, is we are all the same. I know you were teaching me that we are different and we don't need to respect those idiological differences, but the more i have learned is we are so much more alike than we shall ever be different, but that would be too easy for you wouldn't it Miss 'Religious'?

You'd like to show up some time and say "why do you have ashes on your head, don't you know that's the mark of the beast" and i will say "Bitch are you high? i do this out of respect and deference of self sacrifice, not all things are to be taken literal, especially when the Bible has been translated a minnium of 5 times before english, now go take your shit starting, hoe ass, else where."

The End.

The Power Of Choice...Album Review

2011-03-03T20:27:00.001-08:00

It’s been a while that i have done an album review, and to be honest, it has been a while to where i have felt the need to even write one. Every now and then, an album comes along and i feel compelled to share my excitement for the project.

Kev Choice is my artist of the Year. I met Kev almost 2 years ago when he was performing at the same venue as my good friend Finale (shout out to Detroit) at Morseland Lounge, in Rogers Park. One thing instantly realized was how different Kev was as performer, he was rapping, playing piano & i wondered, why hadn’t someone done this before, it perfect!

Kev Choice is from Oakland and studied at Southern Illinois University (i read his bio lol) that he is classically trained pianist. The first album i got from Kev at Morseland was ‘The Bailout’. The Bailout was okay, it was moment in mixtape time, but i could sense where he was heading as an artist, and have been eagerly waiting for his next full album.

Now, I say all of that to say this. ‘The Power Of Choice’ is single handedly one of the better albums i have picked up in the past 15 years. This is a wonderful album where it puts hip hop in a package to where, it is just good music & not pigeonholed into ‘insert rap genre’.

It transcends the issues that most ‘up & coming’ rappers have, insecurity, and mad that no one has signed them or gives them props. Instead, where there was sincere frustration, came some serious catharsis with songs that deal with issues we all go through…i.e. The Stuggle, Let It All Go, These Words, Dearly Departed & Arietta…

Arietta is my personal favorite track on the album, and it’s one of the only ending tracks on an album, to where at the end of the Arietta, i am happy with silence, its great to reflect on what you have just listened to. Such a wonderful break up song, even if you took his Rapping off of the track, the piano weeps a wonderful tear filled heartbreak, its beautiful. Minor Cords get me every time.

He has tracks for just about every mood you are facing during the day, week, month or in life. i bought the album a week and a half, and you know, this album will be pleasurable 10 years from now, its got a great neo-soul vibe on a few of the tracks, and just a really solid release from someone who produced most of his album.

This is one of the few hip-hop albums i can play for my nephews and niece and not feel embarrassed, because of all the swearing on it. In fact, there is only one track where there is swearing and that is on The Struggle, and it is completely justified, poignant and well needed, sometimes you need to swear to express certain types of anger…i.e. the murder of Oscar Grant and the inappropriate actions that surrounded that whole murder.

I will say this very simply, I looked at all the Albums that are tentatively to be released this year, and honestly, either on an independent or major label or no label, this is the album to beat, solid arrangement, subject matter, production, being poignant and reflective without being alienating or preachy. It’s a job well done and much worth waiting for.

Thank you so much Kev for your hard work. Glad to hear how much you have matured, can’t wait to hear what you are making when you are 40. Also, if you hear that Kev Choice is in your town, go see this man, he is a great musician & a hell of an entertainer.

http://kevchoice.bandcamp.com/ «« go hear to preview and then BUY the Album.

When Indifference Strikes....

2011-01-13T09:28:00.000-08:00

That is my biggest fear that I feel plagues my generation. I know we can all get on our dolo (do for self), we can all get out here and hustle and find a way to make it, we can invent new industries and even make the impossible look simple and mundane, but my biggest fear is that we are growing indifferent.

When we hear of a tragedy that strikes somewhere, like the toxic chemical spill in Hungary just this past year, flooding in Pakistan, The Christian church being bombed in Alexandria, Egypt on New Year’s Eve, flooding in Queensland, Australia, you know some really horrid shit or even the BP Oil Spill which is worse in ways that we don't even know about, most of us fall silent...or even worse.

We end up making a huge deal about Haiti, or BP with absolutely no follow through, no resolve and absolutely no solutions. Just find people to yell at, get mad at, shake our fists at, but when it comes time to take action to make a real difference, we text a number give 99 cents, dust our hands off and say "that’s that".

Haiti is so bad right now, I don't even think we know how long it will take for them to recover fully, I honestly say 20 years, who knows, that could be a gross over estimation or underestimation, the one thing I know for sure is, if we want to really help Haiti, Join Peace Corp or the US Armed forces, because that is the only way we can genuinely contribute to the sustainable progress of Haiti.

With BP, the order is simple, stop supporting BP at any level, we would put BP out of business in two years or less if everyone in the US stopped using any BP products, but hey, that would mean we need to stick our ethics and we all know we are not going to do that.

One thing that is becoming evident in all of this media circus of us vs them & them vs us, we are some damn fools. We are all, all day suckers down to the soggy stick. We are seriously in time of grieving of a serious national tragedy, it does not matter what caused it or who’s to blame. That is a flawed mentality of how we got here in the first place.

I cannot ascribe to that bit of philosophy for one moment. We tend to only speak on tragedies when they are convenient to be able to point the finger or to make us feel at peace with what happened in the news. I'm not sure how the fuck we got to this new found low in humanity, all I know is I would like us to stop this crazy amount of bullshit.

To think that style of shooting couldn't happen anywhere is unrealistic, and to think that one of our family members could have easily been involved in something very similar is frightening and sickening. I would hope to God that we would not try to dumb down the severity of the shock and horror to a level of indifference and play it off as a kanye style shoulder shrug.

I have too much faith in humanity as a whole to let some sick moron speak for the greater whole of all Americans, I refuse to believe we are at a level in America where ever horrific tragedy becomes a political talking point and lets spin the wheel of blame.

We just had a fired teacher's husband in Florida just last month take a school board hostage at a meeting, shoot one of the school board members then kill himself, then the media had the audacity to play the video footage on air with no context.

All I could think of, is if my wife, my sister, my sister-in-law and other family and friends that happen to be teachers if they had been sitting on a school council members board meeting and were shot, and I actually had to watch the footage of someone I love very dearly get shot, I would be saddened to a whole new level of low.

We are beginning to play sport with people’s lives for the sake of ratings, the first to cover the beat, to cover the scoop, to be the first in the know, the first to say fuck this particular company, but yet we tend to always be the last to stand up and say, enough of this style and type of nonsense.

I know a lot of this is a big ramble, I’m bothered to believe that maybe indifference has laid its nest in all of us, apathy is now starting to hatch, and inaction is about to take its permanency. The one thing that got all of this nonsense was a sly creature called cynicism, that we actually think is a close friend to being studious.

The biggest problem with that is it’s not even close. Being a Student is the son of Knowledge, which is the son of Wisdom. Wisdom is the Grand Father of all that is righteous and good. Knowledge is the Father that helps his Son the Student learn the lessons that Wisdom has bestowed upon us all.

I think one dude said a long time ago, and I think I will paraphrase him to end this whole long blog.......

Peace. Be Still.

Favorite Albums & Mixtapes in 2010....

2010-12-16T16:10:00.001-08:00

These are not all albums that came out in 2010, but they are albums and mix-tapes that i have rocked the hell out of this past year. I listen to a lot of music and buy a lot, these are a list of albums i highly recommend everyone picking up. I have a lot more music i purchased or was given to me in the past year, but these are all albums i can make strong recommendation.

I can list singles, but at the same time, thats what has gotten us into the mess we are in right now with the recording industry. Everyone wants ish for free, but when it comes time to pony up cash for shows, or even at the least $10 for an entire album which you own for ever, yall get shy. Ten bucks to own some art that is yours forever is really cheap, and helps keep new artists coming up.

I am a huge supporter of the arts & especially music. I'm even taking the time to link you to where to download the mix-tapes, and in me doing so, when you hear that they are in your town, or you hear they are dropping something on iTunes, do them and yourself a huge favor.

Buy there art. By putting our money where our complaining mouths are, we will start to see a change in music production. Because if we fans don't start taking responsibility for the music we want to hear in a monetary fashion and keep supporting wackness when a video comes on and bootlegging art you continue to be the problem.

The radio has never had balance, and it still doesn't, nor will it ever. The only thing you can do is control the art you consume, and to be honest, I've never been one for the Radio. Most of the things i listen to aren't really played on the local airwaves. Never-the-less here is my music list of this year. also, in no particular order.

P.S. Guess what, you can find the other 9 non-free LP's on itunes, $90 well spent i say!

The Roots-How I Got Over

N*E*R*D-Nothing

Hey Champ!-Star

Vampire Weekend-Vampire Weekend (c)2008

Curren$y-Pilot Talk II

Steely Dan-Aja (c)1977

Curren$y-Pilot Talk

System Of A Down-Toxicity (c)2001

Vandalyzm-Megatron Majors Redux

Curren$y-Smokee Robinson *mixtape*

http://www.2dopeboyz.com/2010/02/07/curreny-smokee-robinson-mixtape/

Vandalyzm-Vandalyzm Is Not The Father *Mixtape*

http://smokingsection.uproxx.com/TSS/2010/01/download-vandalyzm-vandalyzm-is-not-the-father

Sean Falyon-Sean Falyon Be Everywhere *Mixtape*

http://www.2dopeboyz.com/2010/04/05/sean-falyon-be-everywhere-mixtape/

The Paxtons-Manhattan Project *Mixtape*

http://thepaxtons.bandcamp.com/

DJ Trackstar-From Marcy To Madison St *Mixtape*

http://smokingsection.uproxx.com/TSS/2010/03/trackstar-the-dj-from-marcy-to-madison-st-jay-z-vs-lupe-fiasco

Rockwell Knuckles-Choose Your Own Adventure *Mixtape*

http://smokingsection.uproxx.com/TSS/2010/03/download-rockwell-knuckles-choose-your-own-adventure

Black Spade-Build & Destroy *Mixtape*

http://www.okayplayer.com/news/Black-Spade-Build-Destroy-Mixtape-.html

The Year of the Tick & The Life of a Grasshopper.

2010-12-13T18:18:00.001-08:00

I would love to have some words of wisdom for this year’s end, but I would really like to write a nasty and mean spirited note. I've wanted to say a whole lot of go eff yourselves to a large number of people this past year more than ever recorded in my personal history.

The one common thread amongst all of those people is that they are Ticks. Ticks have a way of attaching themselves to you. You don't mind so much because it seems insignificant because they are so small and only 1.

After a time you notice that you have 3 then 9 then 11 then 35, yet you don't mind because you pull them off with tweezers. Then you finally notice that you have 77 Ticks on you, you rid yourself of them, you initially feel better, but that fades after three days. Then you notice after that third day that you are extremely ill, and the people you once considered friends, are no longer there.

You end up realizing that with the one, two and third tick it was not much, but it wasn't until after they drained you that it became serious. I've dealt with so many Ticks in the past year to date, that I have had to learn a valuable lesson. I'm staying out of certain forests.

The Tropical Rain Forest looks great on video, pictures and print. Yet in reality, it’s the Ticks and alike that will kill you. No big monsters in the Tropical Rain Forest, yet everyone who is in that forest is all infected by the same bug, that is no longer for I.

I’ve been wanting Ticks stop being Ticks, but alas. A Tick shall be nothing more than a Tick, and I am a fool for thinking that it should be something more, because it is not possible. If you’re a Tick, be the best tick possible. If you’re a Grasshopper, be the best Grasshopper possible.

Me, I need to stop being naive and accept what I see, and then move on from there. We all can’t be grasshoppers, and I should stop assuming that Ticks would want to aspire to be more than that, because someone out there would love for me to be a Tarantula, and all I can be is a Grasshopper.

Why I don't support Rhymefest for City Council...

2010-10-29T19:59:00.000-07:00

Che Smith is a personal friend of mine, but in all honesty I don't know Rhymefest better than any of my other hip-hop heads and artist that have performed with him. I've met Rhymefest on a few occasions, I think one time I even performed with him, bought a few of his albums, but the one thing that remains. I fully support Che "Rhymefest" Smith for 20th Ward City Council.

I support this particular City Council run like my life depends on it, because in all honesty, our future is at stake. As I've been more involved in this process, the more people I talk to the more I understand why people avoid politics all together.

People don't want to get hurt in the entire electoral process. This country does revere its right to vote, they are just afraid to take a stand and be part of process that is lengthy and filled many cul-de-sacs. Also with the fact that, it won't be an instant turn around, and that it can take years to accomplish ones single solitary mission.

I just want to let all of you know, we must not wait any longer to get involved in the political process or just the process of life. None of us are getting any younger. Where will you be in 25 years? 2 years from now what do you have planned?

If we never looked into the future to see where we are going, we will be ship wrecked and stranded hoping someone will come to our rescue, only to find out, we had the life raft with us all along and we just stayed on a lonely island wishing and dreaming our life away of being saved.

I know for a fact i have a very strong and talented group of people around me. I have family & friends that are Ordained Pastors, Doctors, Musicians, Electricians, Mechanics, Politicians, Business Owners, Teachers, Pre-Med Students, Nurses, Air Force Pilots, Marines, Lt. Col. in the Army, Professional Athletes, Construction Workers, Barbers, Humanitarians, Philanthropists, Factory Employees, Husbands, Wives, Parents, Single Parents, Students and that is just a touch of who we are.

We are strong, and we are a great group of men and women. We just need to take more responsibility in our own lives and also for those that are around us. If we don't start being more proactive in our lives, we will forever be left waiting our lives away for our ship to come.

I'm asking all of my friends, twitter followers, fans of Rhymefest (huge fan of that guy! lol), high school friends, family members, congregation members, old co-workers, over seas friends, lets please start looking forward, and stop being Captain Hindsight to all of our local, county, state, federal and world ills. Lets be more proactive and responsible.

Our message is simple: February 22nd, 2011 It's a call to action, It's a call for Personal Responsibility.

"We are not trying to reinvent the wheel, We're just reinstating it." (c) Che "Rhymefest" Smith

Sincerely,

Icy Mike

Reality TV and You!!!!!!!!

2010-10-14T22:24:00.000-07:00

I've been wondering this for a while, why is reality TV so interesting? between all the mix of perverse shit out there, i mean why partake in the dysfunction and exploitation of them. Most people that watch those shows end up saying "when i watch Hoarders i don't feel so bad about my nasty ass house and being lazy, i'm not that bad." or "When I watch the Kardashians i come away feeling like i have an almost at grade level education"

It just bothers me that people use this is a reason to say, "hey i'm fucked up, but those people on Intervention are way more of a Junkie than me" Then you might be the same dumbass in the same sentence to utter "but who am i to judge?" ooooohhh oohhh i know i know pick me!!! its me, and whole group of people who judge people. they even make careers out of it. They are called Bosses, Pastors, Priest, Business Owners, Teachers, Principles, Judges, Lawyers, Jurors, Fans, Consumers, etc...you know all of society, you idiot.

Its okay to judge people and call people what ever you want, you just better have the same approach as if when you see them face to face, Reality TV is some of the dumbest damn programming in the world, when you give the reigns over to complete normal people to make a reality tv show you get youtube, when you give it to professionals full creative reigns you get Jackass, trained professionals that get paid to get hurt. Not amateurs that get paid to be naturally stupid.

Making spectacle of how people actually live in day to day environments "Survivor". Enjoying people who are just horrible at life "Jersey Shore, Real World". Gloating at horrible dysfunction and severe mental depression and shitty lives "Dog The Bounty Hunter, Intervention, Hoarders". The fact that animals mean more to people in our country then the homeless, katrina refugees, 911 victims and workers "Dog Whisper, Whale Wars".

I don't need to watch television to make fun of people, i do that every day i wake and have to look at a slobbish person and have to smell their dragon ass breath, i spray them with some axe body spray in the face, throw a tic-tac in there stupid flesh hole they call a mouth and give them $4.50 and ticket for a truck stop bath. <<< Now that i would watch on TV! I haven't seen a show on television as entertaining as that last Scenario since 2003 with the Chappelle show.

TV really needs to be roughly scripted, shit even RENO 911 had loose scripts they follow, Jackass had loose scripts that they followed, they had one good idea and followed through on it. All of these almost would be Reali-Comedies make me hate the living shit out of shows like the Office, and to top it off, that started in fucking England!!!! dammit!!!! the last time there was Comedy worth keeping around it got thwarted...Cavemen. Yes that whole Geico spin off was actually great writing and good acting. but no, you need Snooky and other dumbos to fill your tard-line.

How these people got to be celebrities is beyond me, it used to be that Celebrities were interesting and rare, now all you need is a fat ass, some great abs, and the ability to not have any talent and you to can be an entertainer, because you can entertain us with the fact that you are really stupid, the only people more stupid than you Reality TV stars are the people who support you.

Sincerely,

Icy Mike

Hipster Band Names....are incredibly awesome sauce...

2010-08-09T09:26:00.001-07:00

Well, not at all, but a lot of them think they are super super original, when really they are just high. I mean with bands like Kill Switch Engage, Minus The Bear, Vampire Weekend and a sloth of all other kinds of crap, i would like to present to you the list of all my bands i am signing to Methodical Laboratories Music Group aka Meth Lab Music Group aka MLMG. My co-workes helped me discover awesome bands i didn't even know existed.

Big Fat Handle Bar Mustache
Spoiled Jar Of Mayonnaise
Ciara Fights The Birdnest
Phil Has A Hairy Ass
Who Gives A Shit?!?!
Excuse Me Your Taint Is Showing
That's A Handsome Woman
We're Not Very Good
Caramel Apple Dolphin<<<Bill O'Reiley Is A Racist
No Body Tea Bags Like A Tea Party
Jessie Jackson Illegitimate Son
We Should Have Thought This Through
Al Sharpton & The White People Did It.
I Could Scare My Cat All Weekend
Team COCO + The Masturbating Bear
My Boyfriend Is Retarded<<<C'Mon Baby Jesus & The Salvation Flakes
I'm Fucking Your Boyfriend<<<Back Ally Abortion
Dumpster Baby<<<She Gave Me Aides
Undescended Testicle
On Balled Fatherhood
Pubic Hair Dust Bunny
Cap'n Semen & The Sperminators
You're Not Good Enough For The Pill
R Kelly & The Golden Showers<<<Brenden Has A Mangina
Wendy Williams Is A Man
You Can Turn The Music Off
Musty Groupies
Jimmy Eats Creampies!
No, I Have A Headache.
I'm Afraid You'll Look Like Your Mother
Your Uncle Owns An Ice Cream Truck
I Saw You On Dateline
I Caught E'Coli
Bitch Get Me Some Chicken
Lesbians Look Like Lumberjacks
That's a Huge Bitch
Lesbians Who Look Like Justin Beiber<<We Shoot Meth All Day
Trailer Park Wife Swap
Food Stamp Tramp & The Link Cards
Your Kidding You Like Women?!?
Wilted French Fries & The Toasted Raviolis
French Onion Soup???
We All Tweet When We Shit
We Should Be Friends On Facebook
No, YOU'RE A TOWEL!!!<<<
and there you have it, i have a full roster and hopefully one of these hipster d-bag bands makes me some money....

Meth Lab Music Group....If you ain't tweeking you ain't grinding.

Cynicism Parted

2010-08-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

It's Been.
A Long Time.
Coming.
Most Of Us.
Were Born Ready.
To Fail.
To Falter.
To Learn.
To Struggle.
To Overcome.
To Teach.
One Day To Learn.
To Be
Catalysts Of.
Hatred.
Apartheid.
Learning To Accept.
Failure.
Hopelessness.
And Cynicism.
The Later.
Has Been The Plague.
That.
Few.
Have Ever.
Overcome.
Or.
Acknowledged As Death.
Apathy Lays Its Nest.
Anger Brews.
Inaction Takes Its Coarse.
People Always Have.
The Cynic Touch.
To Life.
To Change.
To Hope.
To Being Whole.
Tis Okay.
Me & Cynicism.
Can No Longer.
Be Mentioned.
In The Same Line.
For.
My Parting.
Is Bigger Than I.
I Am No Longer.
Parted.
I Am Whole.
I Am Here.
To Hear.
To Help.
To Love.
To Teach You.
How To Divorce.
Apathy & Cynicism.
For We.
Are Forever Parted.

That White Man Is Racist! Jessies Jacksons Greatest Hits Album.

2010-07-13T17:08:00.000-07:00

I've been sitting on this thought for a really long time now, and i think over the last so many years i've grown tired of his antics. I mean calling every Tom, Dick and Harry Racist is offensive. Its degrading and deplorable. Its really offensive to real racists.

Real Racist work waaaaaaaaay to hard to be racist, to just call someone you disagree with racist. I mean, Every year or two Jessie has to pop up and say, Hey out of Touch White Man!!! You're RACIST!!!!! and normally i let it slide, but this time he went a little too far.

Jessie calling a business owner a Slave Owner is just retarded. Jessie has as much in common with Don Imus in regards with dealing with the struggles with the black community. No matter what the occasion Jessie could be talking about an amazing Chicken Cobb Salad, and i know he would be waiting to call the salad racist for the reason it has chicken in it.

PUSH is based in Chicago, but i have yet to see them really do much. Ideologically i am at odds with The Nation Of Islam, for the fact that i have been called the White Devil more times then i care to talk about, but at the same time, NOI and Farrakhan do so much for the east side of Chicago, i will take it with a grain of Salt. Jessie does a lot for Jessie.

Jessie got a chance to run for President back in like the 80's or something, then when Obama really had a chance of winning, Jessie had to stick his head out and say some dumb shit, it's like with him the dumb ass verbal hits just keep on coming. Out of touch, out of energy, out of credit, so now its free for all to call all white men racist.

Give me a break Jessie, i am tired of your Greatest Hits Album, I mean, you really are the GOAT of calling out of touch people racist. No one calls nothing like you do, i mean, the fact that you have a few kids outside of your marriage is touching. I am still waiting for you to STFU.

I'm pretty sure, you had a message back in the day, when racism was as clear as White Only and Black Only drinking fountains, but unfortunately you are blast from the past, sounding like a washed up Emcee who is bitter that, new people have come in, and started something different, you sit in the back and say, "No one calls an out of touch white man racist like i did"

And for that, i say, Please sit down and stop embarrassing your legacy, you did a lot for the civil rights movement 50 years ago, but in the last 25 years, no one but people getting paid by being around you are taking you seriously.

Sincerely,

Icy Mike

P.S. Fuck Mel Gibson, but i have hated him since the Passion. That shit was disgusting, but i guess, Jessie didn't have time for that as well, so he went for the completely stupid Dan Gilbert shot. sheesh, talk about missing a golden opportunity for an addition to the Greatest Hits Album.

Every time Eminem drops an album.......

2010-07-04T07:40:00.000-07:00

Why do i have to become the official spokes person for his music? when truth be told, i really don't enjoy his music, i like his raps on occasion, is he one of the greatest, yes. do i buy his music the day it drops, not a chance in hell. People from back home ruined that shit.

When you listen to people say they don't listen to "black rap" and all they listen to is Eminem and ICP, and the real thing is, that turned me off to his music completely. After hearing that more then fifty-eleven times, i said peace out to his music. I only gave it another shot coming to Chicago.

One thing i really get mad at is when any a-hole writes a review about a hip-hop CD they immediately throw out that the rappers are misogynistic and homophobic, when realistically that is a pretty subliminal racist statement. Black males have always had to fight this image of being Violent, Overly Sexed, and Homophobic. So, when they are throwing that knee jerk hip-hop pejorative around, i don't miss that for a second.

I have a lot of black friends who just don't like to be around Gay people, and have everyday struggles with women and the mothers of there children, but Only with white people have i heard of them openly talking about lynching gays, and being proud of slapping women. Em talks about both of those things with supreme microphone skills.

Eminem has set the bar for Misogynistic rap, shit he has killed and raped so many women on his albums, how do people keep buying it? but T-Pain admiring strippers is an abomination? ya'll got it twisted. Em clearly has so many issues with Women, its amazing that women buy his albums. But, it's all right cuz he's all white with ya'll. lol!

I get tired of people thinking thats how i ride is with Em, truth be told, i have never paid full price for any of his music, he's an artist that i would steal off the internet, his albums don't excite me. They excite me as much as Rakim and Nas, super lyrical but outside of that, meh. I don't even defend his art, its in defensible.

Realistically, I look at Em the same way as BET, they are both minstrel shows in there own right. I was repping hip-hop back when i first heard the Beastie Boys back when i was 6 years old. Those dudes are the just hip-hop, no one ever gave a shit that they are Jewish/White, they just made ill music.

Making great music is all i ever care about, honestly, lyrics are one of the last things i ever pay attention too. when your lyrics are the only focus on a track, you should have done a spoken word album, your voice should blend in the music and just exist with part of it, and not be all of the track.

All i ever care about in music is that you make music for my soul, Eminem does not make music for my soul, there is only one song of his i can play over and over, The Way I Am. Because truth be told, I am what ever you say I am. If i wasn't, then why would I say i am? The news, the paper, every day i am. I don't know, thats just the way i am. I couldn't agree more with Em.

So please stop asking me to review his albums already, next review will be Curren$y, Jet Life fool!!!!

Twitter=Time Waste Matrix

2010-06-27T00:57:00.000-07:00

Well, Several months of solid Twitter at least 6 or 7 at least and let me tell you what i have gained from Twitter..............Actually, i haven't decided if ChatRoulette's endless supply of masturbating people or if twitter is worse. Actually i have, and it is Twitter.

Twitter is one of those things where you have to ask yourself, why? I mean really, why? Why does it exist? Does it exist as a medium for artist to get to know fans, or fans to get to know artists, or people to get to know people, artists to get to know artists, i believe its all of that, but in actuality, don't be anything other then those stated.

I have lost a great deal of respect for artists i once admired, and the fans and other artists surrounding them. I can only think of one time when twitter was useful, but, that would have happened in a natural time parameter anyway. I meet people in a very organic way, and stay connected with them. but, back to twitter.

Twitter is this messed up digital world of hipsters, twitter thugs, emo kids, artists, twitter vixens, and a lot of desperate people. If i follow anyone on twitter, chances are I know you in person. I learned my lessons about following people i admired from a distance. Here's looking at you Jane Doe.

Its a sick universe and a lot of people on twitter need to see a psychologist. The tweets are those of sadness, desperation, cries for attention and just overall lonely and unhappiness. only a small handful of people ever say anything important on there, I only occasionally say something somewhat intelligent.

I got onto twitter back in oct 2008 and didn't touch it because i thought it was really self enveloped, and really quite lame, then i had some friends talk me into using it, and i did, i have been using it solidly since dec of 2009, and i have literally only gained Two solid business contacts, and like i said, one of them would have happened naturally.

Its the time waste aspect that is the worst, you end up sounding like a lame ass when you talk about what @picklesandfries ReTweeted aka RT talking about how if you follow this Trending Topic it will get you to a new level of Douche, and @picklesandfries is right. Most people on there are sad, uninteresting, aggressive, ignorant and just overall idiots, trust me i am in that mix more often then not.

There are some people on twitter that make it amazing and a learning experience, but those literally make up only like 10% of the tweets. The other 90% is just self absorbed idiocracy and just overall stupid useless and heartless shit.

Its worse than ChatRoulette, at least with that you know exactly what you are getting, some dude masturbating, some dude about to start masturbating, some pervert looking to masturbate, or someone actually looking for conversation and the later makes up 10% and that is a cool 10%, at least you can skip over the other 90% of bullshit.

Thats how i approach everyone in my life, a lot of my friends and extended family are through some awesomely divine style of meeting, various jobs of mine, odd situations of how we met, but one thing that remains, we always know one person along our awesome long journey. But, Twitter NEVER has that impact. EVER. and by EVER. I MEAN. EVER.

It's all in good fun i suppose until you realize some people tweet hard and do there best to upset feelings, and just overall are looking to be a Hipster Tweet Thug Disciple from Bucktown, but fail to realize that they can get there retweet deleted real quick. don't get cute and get caught in lies, its not pretty.

My Name is @IcyMike on Twitter. and i am calling for Death Of Twitter, start learning to craft a thought above 140 characters and please stop using twitlonger, that shit is infuriating, click on a link to read your unimportant high/drunk/coked up tweet, no thank you. So glad SpringBoard is dead, that was literally more faggish than twitter by a mere 10 million penis in your mouth.

Sincerely,

Icy Mike

Dear Pullman Part Deux

2010-06-26T07:48:00.001-07:00

Yes Wal-Mart passed through, with absolutely no real thanks to our neighborhood. People gloating about being a scourge of inaction and thwarting progress, I'm sure the people who helped save this neighborhood look at you as absolute fools.

Some people in the neighborhood would be happy with absolutely nothing, just for the solid reason it is not exactly what they want, even though, exactly what they need is willing to post up in our back yard.

I am disgusted continuously to listen to some peoples inane diatribes about stopping progress, if a WalMart wants to be in our back yard, Great. So they want to pay workers minimum wage, who cares, I know young men and women that would love A job that Older People are not taking from them.

A good majority of people that live in this neighborhood forget that there are some seriously ravaged areas of the city, the type of stuff you watch documentaries on from netflix. I am out in these areas working hands on. Lets call a spade a spade here, if you are opposing WalMart, you have never been broke.

If any of you have ever experienced what people experience in these areas you would want to get out as soon as you get the chance, the only problem is, the odds are stacked completely against you doing so, trust me. I am a rarity of my environment.

If all we ever do is whine about progress, and stop it when its in our hands, we might as well be dead. For a lot of the people i talk to, i am disgusted that i share this gorgeous neighborhood with you.

You act like you're an Elite, when in actuality you bought in this neighborhood for the same reasons my wife and i did, its affordable and nice enough, never mind that last night i just heard a continuous barrage of hand gun fire.

So, You can pretend like nothing needs to change or we can actually have the chance to have some real direct change, and trust me, things cannot get worse around here, we already have a gang in the neighborhood that keeps us safe.

So, what i am really saying is, if you were against WalMart from the moment you found out it was coming, please put your money where your mouth is, Sell your property, move to Bucktown (they love your hipster mentality) and Go Shop At Whole Foods. Some of you disgust me to a degree i didn't even know possible.

Sincerely

Michael P Bliss 7735595774

p.s. if you feel like i am talking about you, i am, call me and we can have a beer, and i will say the same things.

How I Got Over

2010-06-25T15:22:00.000-07:00

Literally, This Album presents Hip-Hop at a full converge of what the genre is really all about, its not about fruity loops, samples, boom baps or anything akin to that, even tho, it is laden with some of those parts of the art. This shows you the blues base of which the art was birthed from.

This presents The Roots as a Band, in which they are, all of the members are an intricate part of the art. Hip-hop has grown tiresome at times, too many rappers and not enough MC's. I tell people that Black Thought is hip hops last great MC that is commercially relevant, and they scoff and argue, but i ask them if they have seen Black Thought live, and if not, i tell them to keep quiet.

Rappers rap and thats it. MC's Move The Crowd and are true Microphone Controllers. Rappers focus on pure words for the sake of words. MC's blend in with the music and are just part of it. A symbiotic relationship of sound notes and words. Rappers stay beating a beat to death with words, no style, no charisma.

I love it when words become secondary to the sound of a band, words should only enhance a score of music, everyone on here, is literally just a sonic treat to have on the album, no one feels out of place, the way the album is set up is perfect, This is as much of a treat as J.Dilla's Donuts. Nothing forced, just getting back to the roots of the culture.

I've been rocking out to The Roots hardcore since 1997, i have had the extreme pleasure of seeing them perform twice in Chicago, if you have never been to a Roots show, your life is missing out on the greatest live performing band out touring, period. They are the hardest working no ego artists out there. Check there work ethic, its impeccable and you will see them rocking out 35 years from now.

How I Got Over proves itself as one of the most beautiful pieces of art that has come through in a long time. If this would be your first Roots album purchase or your 11th, you can enjoy exactly what this album is, for what it is right now, you will play this album 15 years from now, and see all the live performing rap acts and see where it was birthed, a culture in the blues.

Over all thoughts of How I Got Over, buy a copy and then go see them when they are in a town near you, worth ever bit of money and time.

The OJ Simpson Disorder.

2010-06-13T15:12:00.001-07:00

This is one of things i have been mulling on for some time, is peoples relative craze about whether or not OJ Simpson murdered Nicole Brown-Simpson. I even asked the homie Rhymefest if he did do it and if it mattered. Rhymefest said "it doesn't matter at all." and he is right.

It doesn't matter at all or not, because all that is for sure, is that those two kids are going to be scarred for life. Victims of domestic violence and having a mother that was brutally slain.

So, everyone can keep up the racist diatribes on either side thinking that they are having a real conversation, because like most issues, most of you are missing the point. These are some kids that have been victims of domestic violence, but you like to make spectacle out of someone else's flaws.

Domestic violence is real, and it is horrible. Everyone cracks jokes about what they would do in this scenario, but most have never been victims of domestic violence.

It's easy to dissect celebrities lives, because most never take the time to look at there own. I personally don't care about celebrities coke sniffing habits and things of that nature, but don't ever fail to miss a valuable lesson when one is being given at a great cost.

I would say a lot of people i know have missed this lesson. Some actually blame Nicole Browns family for her being murdered, regardless of who did it. Claiming it was a set up, instead of realizing, that there two kids no longer have there mom and dad. Congrats people for keeping the inane racist diatribe and not being human.

Because, it really doesn't matter if OJ did it or not...in so many different ways.

Fish Market Part 2

2010-06-08T17:11:00.000-07:00

All i can say about this album is that it is a great example of what a mixtape can be. If the art is dope enough, why not sell it? Thats what Chali 2na has done.

I've been a fan of Chali's work since the Jurassic 5 EP in what i believe was 98 or 99. He is perfect example of making rhyming seem so easy, he's just effortless cool with the flow.

He's definitely the James Earl Jones of the rhyming world. This is one of the first solo projects i have picked up from Chali in a very good while. He's been rapping for a looong time and always blessing us with good art.

It's crazy that more people never really got on board with J5 and moreover Chali. He's one of many artist that is crazy successful with 0 ego.

I think i found my new Cigar smoking and comic book reading album. This album is very much me. Effortless cool and effortless style. You just feel good listening to this album...i need a cigar now.

Chali shows that you should never be afraid to go against the grain of the industry. He's been putting on classic material for over 12 years. so, my question is...where have you been? Sleeping and Bullshitting.

Total analysis, but 3 and pass two, it will not burn you.

El Che Album Review

2010-06-08T16:52:00.001-07:00

I've listened to this album 5 times through already since Midnight. I'm going to go ahead and say it is a beautiful example of a moment in time, that i can rediscover everytime i listen to it. In more simple terms...Classic.

Sometimes when an artist has what is perceived to be a large gap in putting out an album there can be a lot of hear say of why. all i can say is, it was well worth the wait. Quality over quantity every day.

Sonically it is a treat. Verbally it is amazing. Everyone that features on this album is enhancement and an enjoyment. A lot of rappers could learn some very valuable lessons from this album.

Blue Collar is a classic, there are 5 songs on there that are hip hop staples. you can't say that about most albums 4 years removed. On El Che, there are 9 amazing songs. 1 of which is a song that i have thought of writing for years, but never was able to.

Fans are too fickle when it comes down to the art of hip-hop. They really don't know what they want to hear about, but in recent years, hip-hop has gotten to be NOT FUN. This is an album that you can think, laugh, dance, cry and just enjoy.

One of the more disturbing things i herd recently was that in order to be successful in hip-hop you don't want fans, you want consumers. That is where he is wrong. Fans travel from Toledo to Chicago to watch a performance. Consumers are just on to the next one.

Rhymefest has always been one of my personal favorite emcees over the last 5 years. He's an amazing song writter and he his words are classics. like he has said, you don't have to buy his album but his words are priceless. I agree. He also said recently Hotness cools, and Dopeness lasts.

If you are looking to be entertained then this is your album, fans need to stop being so serious. 98% of fans can't rap, write, dance, sing or even be entertaining. so just chill and support good art and stop analyzing everything.

Complete analysis, Buy Three copies, keep one and pass two on to help spread the love. Thats what i do.

The John Mayer Disease.......

2010-02-11T06:48:00.000-08:00

I really thought I could avoid this, but i can't. It wouldn't be proper if i didn't address this. I HATE seeing things like this, it bothers me more then just the slip of a pejorative or even the Nappy Headed Hoe thing, this is waaaaaaay more deep then that. Those things you can say...."that white dude just called me a ****** welp. fuck em he's an idiot lets move forward." at least with that you KNOW WHERE THEY STAND FROM THE GET GO. it's in the spirit of all the way ONE HUNNED as it were.

It's another, to sit there and say your personal plight is akin to a COMPLETE STEREOTYPE of a very small portion of a race. DUDE, YOU ARE A BLUE EYED SOUL GUITAR PLAYER PLAYING THE BLUES!!!!!!!, what is wrong with you? that isn't cool. Why would you abuse your privilege of being able to unite people? that means, you are a bigger jerk then what i ever would have thought.

My plight is not greater then anyone else's, and in fact someone else's plight might be greater then anything i could ever imagine or have personally experienced. And my hat is off to you. *tips my NEW ERA fitted* you even fooled THIS WHITE guy. that shit is tough to do my dude, and you did it.

I grew up around HARDCORE racists, and to be honest they are better at being true to themselves then you are or could ever be. They will drop a pejorative at the drop of a hat and not think twice. You spoke your mind freely, and now that you did, you are reeling and dealing to get back to where i thought you might have been.

like my math teacher Mr. Lathrop always said, "mean what you say, and say what you mean" well my dude, you did just that, but now you look like more of an asshole retracting statements, instead of saying. "yeah i said it. could i have said it better, sure, but it doesn't take away from what i said" instead, you take that pussy PR approach and try to apologize for shit you said.

That ish was in an interview, a recorded interview for a printed publication. YOU GET A DUMBFUCK AWARD for that. if you are going to say COMPLETELY INSENSITIVE shit too a lot of people, large scale and INDIVIDUALISTIC, please have the spine to back up what you said.

Sir, you proved a great point in all of this, and unfortunately i don't think its one many would pick up on, right now, but your Faggy Hipster Fans are defending your Idiotic Hipster Logic in all of this shit. You are the true poster child to the HIPSTER movement. i have a personal personal motto for HIPSTERS......

Be Disingenuous To Thine Own Self.

you live up to that phrase more swimmingly now then you ever did before. sheesh, i didn't see it coming, i should have since a good portion of your fans are hipsters anyhow.

There is a saying that you gotta love yourself and that you can never play yourself, but guess what. you played yourself. with no credibility, sincerity or deference to anyone and including yourself, have a sad and lonely existence with all of the Hipsters of the world.

A Fan to the Artist.

2009-11-16T20:01:00.000-08:00

The Responsibility.
Is Heavy.
It Might Not.
Be An Uzi.
But.
It Weighs A Ton.
Stop.
And Ponder That.
For A Moment.
You Spit Those Words.
With.
The Reckless Aim.
That An Uzi.
Would Do.
With Hollow Points.
You Toss Them.
And.
Hope They Hit.
Each And Everyone.
Of Us.
And.
They Always Do.
And.
Always Have.
Then Pen.
Has Always.
Been Mightier.
Then Your Overused.
Metaphors.
That Flow Forth.
From The Cannon.
You Call Free Speech.
The Destruction.
Might Not.
Be Visible.
From The Distance.
You Launch Your Cannon.
But.
Know Just This.
The Brains.
Are More Desecrated.
Then.
Afghanistan.
And.
Our Financial System.
More Over.
Our Faith.
In Ourselves.
Is Lost.
You No Longer.
Know What Your Value Is.
For You.
It Might Be A Benz.
But For Others.
It Might Be.
Rent Or A Sandwich.
To Say.
The Things You Have.
Y'all Should All Get Lynched.
N.Y.Oil was right.
And.
So Is Jay..
Y'all Idiots Is Targets.
Garages For Bullets.
Please Don't Make Me.
Park It In Your Upper Level.
Valet A Couple Strays.
From A 38 Special.
Idiot God Bless You.
And.
Thats.
Why I Am Here.
Shoot You.
With Knowledge.
And.
Hope You Die.

Sincere Ignorance

2009-09-12T18:34:00.000-07:00

This was an issue that i had with 7-11 just right before i moved and closed on my house. so here you go, this is the email i sent 7-11 corporation, and they have not responded to me, to let me know what was done. i even invited the guy in charge of the case to my house after he responded to me the first time to show him the neighborhood. so here you go.......and that was the title of my complaint was Sincere Ignorance.

Both of these two employees displayed what i fear most and
what Dr. King said is the destroying our lives. "nothing in this world
is more dangerous then sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

It was nice that the middle aged lady recognized us from the night
before. he have been coming to this location frequently enough for over
last year, and we told her we weren't sure how much we would be back
after this week and she asked why. we told her we were buying a house in
South Pullman.

She immediately had a look of horror on her face, and told us that
people get shot over there all the time. My wife and i kept explaining
to her that this is the good part of the Pullman area, she kept
insisting that drive-bys happen in my neighborhood and i told her that
it was impossible for that to happen right where i lived, she continued
to display an obscene amount of ignorance.

She kept on saying it as though were certain truth, when i asked her to
name the specific area, she could not. She was going off of what the
Police officers have told her that patronize this particular location. I
kept explaining to her that happens literally on the other side of the
tracks, and also happens in Beverly, Morgan Park and even Evergreen
Park. She insisted in her sincere ignorance.

The only reason why she felt comfortable telling us these things is
because we are White. My father-in-law grew up in that area many years
ago and also likes the neighborhood we are moving to. Nothing is ever
perfect and nothing is ever certain, except one thing at the exact
moment.

I will never be back to this location ever again, and i will make sure
that every last person i meet, i tell them not to go to this location.

I let both of the ladies on duty tonight know this after I stepped
outside to get in my car, I kept telling the middle aged lady that I
could not continue this conversation with her.

I step outside of the store to get into the car with my wife, and then i
went back into the store to let them know that i would not ever be back.

The older lady proceeded in her own self righteous sincere ignorance to
tell me, "that's okay you are only one customer." i then told her "i may
be only one, but my influence is many." she continued to say that is
okay.

Well here i am as only one customer, about to post this on the internet
to let those know about this store. So, i just thought i would share it
with you folks first and if nothing is done to rectify this situation, i
will post this on my blog and link it to a lot of different sites.

Marginalization means that none of us are equal.

Sincerely,

Michael P. Bliss

Poem for my Wife

2009-08-17T00:29:00.000-07:00

Accepting Mortality.
Scary.
That it is to be.
Sacred to know such truth.
Honoring all of those that passed.
Bee's face the fate of all.
God calls us his.
His we are.
His we will be.
One Day.
Not this Day.
Perhaps.
I Live.
I Love.
Often Over Extrapolated.
I think therefore I am.
Simple.
Life calls.
God Calls.
I Am.
As are you.
Me.
We.
Us.
Eternal.

I remember 9-11

2009-08-15T22:46:00.000-07:00

The day of terror was alive and horrible.
I remember feeling sad and confused.
As to why anyone would want to hurt the innocent.
So horribly and with great efficiency.
I was much younger then.
I knew very little of the horrors that we did.
19 years before my time was not my forte.
8 years i grew and began to know.
News began to surface, movies told the stories.
The mighty US began to feel vulnerable.
Suffering from not being well liked.
We did our best to buy happiness and force feed democracy.
All to no gain.
We like to help a touch too late.
We like to help in way that is not just.
Sanctions hurt those, that we mean not.
Powerful corruption hurts those that are destitute.
Inequality breeds the hatred to do evil.
The wealthy exploit to do the deed they never would.
We in turn reciprocate.
In a pompous fashion.
Jesus is mentioned.
To the victor go the spoils.
On our own turf it may be.
Tis a cycle we must end.
At all cost.
The differences are not there.
Just what minds eye perceives.
We Wake.
We Break Fast.
We Drink.
We Laugh.
We Live.
We Love.
We Parish.
C'est la vie.

Single Payer.

2009-08-15T22:45:00.000-07:00

Health, Wealth and Love.
Wall Street health care.
Wealth, Greed and Die.
All costs point to no.
All costs point to yes.
Extreme polarization.
Inequality breeds contempt.
Even those that have and do not.
Government acting on the rules of the Lobbyist.
Lies.
Health, Wealth and Love.
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Wall Street health care.
Decisions for you.
You may not.
Uneducated Rhetoric.
Flows from the mouths.
Fools are they.
Health Care.
Privilege.
Given Right.
Life.
Pursuit of Happiness.
Fallacies remain.
Worlds best Treatment Centers.
Lacking.
Prevention Centers.
Answers remain.
All in a pill.
Wall street run health care.
No Mas.
Single Payer.
I will be.

I Am Home.

2009-08-12T22:47:00.001-07:00

In case you were wondering how Daralyn and I's trip went to the Dominican Republic, absolutely amazing to say the least, and not enough words to describe the joy that was this trip. if you want to find out everything, you really need to come visit Daralyn and I to explain all the complexities and awesomeness that was this trip, but i will leave with something i wrote on the Airplane before i landed into Miami from Santo Domingo, and it goes a little something like this.....

Everywhere, folks of all walks of life think that the grass is greener on the other side.
We all believe that truly, to a certain extent.
But, one thing for me, I like to stay planted and rooted in my imperfect yard.
My yard has dandelions, thistles, bare burnt patches, over walked and trampled areas.
Even the occasional bits of refuse that find it's way there.
It's important to get away and experience some else's green grass and the glistening dew.
Admire it's luster.
For a time.
And, think of the blades of grass as an amazing and lush lawn.
For a time.
But.
I love my burnt yard covered in weeds and burnt patches.
Rats and Possums that eat from my garbage can.
All the pollution and silly luxuries that i fill in my life.
But, one thing that remains.
Time spent with loved ones is the greatest gift of all.
Louie Armstrong said it best.
I see friends shaking hands saying "How do you do? They're really saying, I Love You."
Dorthy from Wizard of Oz says "There's no place like home."
Other might say "Home is where the heart is."
And, all three are right.
My heart belongs to God, Me and Daralyn.
So, no matter where I end up as long as God is above, I am alive and Daralyn is by my side.
I Am Home.

Wall Street run Health Insurance has failed....

2009-07-21T20:19:00.000-07:00

Yep, and you know it. If you have health Insurance you know it has. if you would like to test this, go into the emergency room at a hospital right now and see how much you pay with out contacting your Insurance first, or go in, in an ambulance and notice the different level treatment received. I've been serviced both ways, and the one in the Ambulance was only slightly better.

I mean, with all of this talk about a government bureaucrat standing in my way of being treated by a doctor, i am scared. I'm scared that my existing Blue Cross Blue Shield bureaucrat won't be able to process my billing correctly the first time and then it will go to collections and continue to mar my credit score. I love the fact that if i can't pay a medical bill it messes up my credit, let me tell you how lucky i am to be an american with this health care system.

I've gone with out Insurance most of my adult life. since i was 20 i have had contiguous coverage for no more than one year at a time and that has only happened one time. I love the fact that i pay a premium every month and then get raped when i go to the doctor with co-pays, meds, deductibles and all other kinds of stupid shit.

I haven't understood how people can even act like our Health Care system is even remotely acceptable. I haven't been to a dentist since 2002, and it's not because i am afraid of the dentist it's the fact that i can't afford to go to one. why do i have to pay for an insurance premium and then in turn have to pay a co-pay or even worse a percentage.

People in this country have been duped. yes, yes you have. For some reason there are people out there who are screaming that people are abusing the system, but cannot name one person that they know who does that, that they know. I'm really saddened by peoples disinterest and apathy towards others and there plight, i'm not even a save a cause type of guy, i just know how much it sucks to wage whether or not to go the doctors, shit, i had shingles and debated about going to the doctor, because i didn't have health insurance, and there was the fact that I was working at Nordstrom at that time.

Why does Health Care in this country have to be treated like it is a Luxury to go to the doctors? all of my friends that don't have health care, work there asses off and still have no coverage. I've been there and if you think getting a job with good benefits will help you, wait until you get seriously ill. THEY HAVE MONETARY MAXIMUMS ON YOUR ASS, LOOK UP YOUR TOTAL LIFETIME MAXIMUM AND YOU WILL KNOW THAT YOU ARE FOR PROFIT.

I usually don't mind companies looking at me as walking dollar signs, but do have a big problem when it comes to my health. That seems like a total lack of propriety on there part, and for some reason we have been facing this problem since Nixon first introduced all of this bullshit with HMO's and PPO's that's right thank his ass for this crap.

The whole system of health care for profit is very very fucked up for lack of a better term. People shouldn't have to make life and death decisions when it comes to there health, and getting treatment and worry about there PPO canceling there policy. People always say the same shit when it comes to this fucking crap, but you know what, its usually dum dums that haven't had to with out Insurance as long as i have and have worked there ass off for as long as i have. now that i have insurance i hate them all the more.

I pay a premium, then i have co-pays, then i have deductibles, then i have medication co-pays, then i have percentages, i mean seriously, how much money am i going to shell out to these assholes? it was only recently that i was able to stop taking meds everyday, and my prescription drug habit has cost me at least close to 5K minimum since i started paying for my pills.

I was thinking of another incident that happened right around 4 years ago and it was one where i had food poisoning and passed out in someones front yard on my way walking to a friends house to help me out. An ambulance came by to help me out and i got in the ambulance and told them i didn't have insurance and had no way to pay for anything, i asked them could drop me off at my friends house and they obliged.

The really messed up part about that was the fact that i actually needed to be hooked up to an I.V. to be hydrated, because of how sick i was. i vomited all over the back of the ambulance in the two block ride to my friends place. the really fucked up part was the fact that they didn't take me to the hospital because they new they wouldn't get paid, and neither would the hospital, and that the hospital would come after me for money that i didn't have.

I asked a psychiatrist why the pills were so expensive, and they were very honest with me, they told me the real reason is that they wine and dine the shit out of them and they get percentages of the amount of scripts they sell to people. they fly docs all over the country to resorts give them a lil slap and tickle and they push the newest shit.

This sounds so incredible let me tell you, I'm glad that i am treated as a profit margin and i am not treated as a human being. The most unfortunate thing about this whole health care fiasco is the fact that some how people think we have THE BEST HEALTH CARE IN THE WORLD and they really do drink from the piss of the insurance giant, glad to get scraps of shit coverage so they don't get fucked.

We as a collective nation need to stand up and say no more to Wall Street Run Health Care, because it has failed us completely. don't believe me, ask a War Vet, or any one who has been in an auto accident or had a serious illness.

Wall Street Health Care has left us in the wake of becoming drug addicts awaiting our next fix of instant gratification, just like the idiots on Wall Street, coked out douches awaiting there next ponzi scheme to fuck a lot people and leave them for dead.

I wish this could be more cheerful and happy, but hey, some of ya'll like being lied to, and i ain't that man. I HATE WALL STREET HEALTH CARE. won't more proof......read this shit and tell me how it feels.......http://web.mit.edu/cre/education/pini_blue-cross_blue-shield.html

it's the end of the world.....

2009-07-14T09:41:00.001-07:00

well, not exactly but for some they really think so, even in this whole financial meltdown where did that money go? i sure as hell have no idea. Unemployment is on the rise but not for much longer. i'm 27 and they keep saying 26 year high, as if our attention spans only span only go that far back, although for some its even shorter. e.i. the Clinton years were the best this nation has seen, in which that is a lie, because as a home owner the GWB years were the best for you, as long as you didn't get caught buying a home in 2005, 2006, 2007 now if you did and you put no money down and an A.R.M. then you are feeling the pinch.

I really don't think it can be called a depression in the least. 10% is a lot, but 90% is much larger number, and out of that the average unemployment is about 5% throughout our history. to say that we are in a depression is disingenuous to folks that lived and survived the depression, we won't have any of those characteristics that they endured. The dust bowl for one. but, one thing i am seeing that happened then, they are fixing streets like crazy and i couldn't be happier.

the other part of this is the fact that Money is not real. There is nothing tangible to back money, no gold standard, no anything, we could go back to using sea shells and it would be the same. Money is a perceived value anymore, actually that is all it has ever been. If gold was the standard, why didn't we trade in gold? It's just interesting that they keep saying 26 year high in unemployment, but the highest we have seen in the past 65 years was in 1982 with 10.2% unemployment. that is a higher figure, but we are already starting to see some corrections.

Its a real interesting thing to ponder how they even figure out our growth as a nation. our nations growth is based on how much we spend, i don't think that is a logical tool to even try to say that our nation is doing well. Do you really need that many flat screen TV's? is it really that big of a deal that Circuit City went out of business, or more i should say a surprise? I like to spend money and do it often, its just what do you spend it on.

Daralyn and i won't have a TV in our new house, we will have our laptops, but we will not have a big TV taking up space and what not. for the money you spend on a nice plasma screen TV, you can go to Puerto Rico, and learn first hand about the nation instead of just watching about it on TV. It's interesting what people put stock in, do you value possessions or do you value time spent with friends and family? I hope that more people in these times will make an effort to spend it with family, vs buying that 70" plasma.

sincerely,

Icy.

2 out of 3 agree that they stink.....

2009-06-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

This is something that i have sitting on for a good while, it's my critique of the whole meltdown of 2 out of the 3 detroit auto companies. I remember thinking back to when i was about 12 years old looking at all of these new car lots and all of these fantastic new cars that came out year after year after year and began to wonder, who the hell is buying a new car every three years and why don't they slow don't production, i mean there really aren't that many NEW car buyers every year are there? and this is where i discovered they were all making bad decisions at the expense of EVERYONE.

Only ONE out of three makes smart decisions, and maybe that is the odds of what it comes down to with people in life anymore making good quality decisions. sad to think that it may be that way, but educators break there class rooms into thirds. 1/3 that really want to learn, 1/3 that kind of want to learn and lastly the 1/3 that just doesn't care.

those thirds break down simply. the first third is Ford Motor Company. that's right, the company that didn't invent anything great to the auto except total worker exploitation is on top....of the massive pile of shit that is the Detroit auto industry. Ford has been re-tooling for a good while dropping a lot of weight a long the way to make it's self more lean and a better company. Ford used to own part of Mazda, Aston Martin, Land Rover and Jaguar now they have no real stake in any of them.

the second 1/3 is GM, can't get it together and they also offer like also offer way too many of the same damn product across the board. why they kept Buick, Olds, Saturn, GMC, Saab, blah blah blah shit product for so long is beyond me. I stopped taking GM seriously when they did away with the Camero back in 2000. thats when i knew they didn't have me as a potential customer in mind in any way shape or form. they got addicted to making lost of product with NO REAL FEATURES.

the last of em is Chrysler. in the words of jay-z..WHAT MORE CAN I SAY!?!?!?!? damn, THE FIRST REAL AUTOMOBILE COMPANY EVER USED TO OWN A PORTION OF YOU. YOU MADE THEM LOSE LOTS AND LOTS OF MONEY TO WHERE THEY DUMPED YOU OFF ON MICHIGAN AND TRUMBLE OUTSIDE A PARTIALLY TORN DOWN TIGER STADIUM. how the hell you couldn't make that work was incredible. first off, you folks at Chrysler should have gone down in the early 80's if i remember, but somehow you got government financing to secure your habit of making crap vehicles. congrats on lasting this long, because you should no longer.

Any on to the meat of the subject. it's sad actually, because i really don't know too many people that really, really, really like the cars that the "3" make. i know most of my mom's family drive Toyota's. i know my sister drives one, so does my brother and my wife and i drive VW's, my father in-law drives a Toyota and i think this might be his 2nd or third. Most of the folks i know personally that drive auto's don't drive "American"(what ever that means. my car is serviced in the good ole US of A every time it needs a fixin.).

i gave up on GM a good while ago, when they decided to cancel the camero. i used to drive a Dodge Neon, and it was cool, but it was missing somethings like cruise control and ABS. somethings i would never even look at a car if it did not have it.

It's funny that people talk a lot of mess about all the crazy things that German's do to cars and how advanced they make there products. but, it wasn't that long ago that you didn't need to have seat belts in cars. it was not too long ago that airbags came standard in cars. now, ABS is the soon to be new standard as with ESP/ASR(electronic stability program and acceleration slip regulation) ALL of this stuff is STANDARD on German cars. All of those things i have mentioned are brought to you by the helpful folks in Deutchland.

If it wasn't for them you would still be driving a Pinto that might explode on a rear end collision. or the fact that you might still be wanting that big ole OLD's 454 in a car that doesn't have the suspension for it, or the the new ford excursion that is now 9" longer than the suburban!!!!!! it's those types of mistakes that bring in a lot of excess of bigger is better. i mean the bigger the house the better it's got to be right? the bigger the vehicle the better the quality of life you will be living right? if i can tow a C-141 it means that i have got to be living the American dream right?

exactly, welcome to the world of self delusion, instant gratification and confusing necessity with luxury. next chapter, why the cell phone industry will die off see you in 4 years for that one.

RIP Michael Jackson 1958-1995

2009-06-25T20:26:00.000-07:00

you know, i have a lot of emotions when thinking about MJ, but the one thing that remains constant with me is Michael until 1995. Michael until 1995 was amazing, i never idolized him but i sure as hell did admire him. he could sing, command a song and really really entertain. I remember listening to The Jackson 5 as a kid and remember wearing my bothers Bad jacket as it got passed down to me. Mike was the man until 95.

Mike anytime after that got really strange it was horrible to see him become a caricature of the man he used to be, but maybe never was. I didn't know mike personally, and I'm not sure how many of you did. None of us know for sure whether or not that he actually did or did not molest those kids. I don't know him personally, but there was a lot of weird behavior exuded from him post 95.

I watched a man i admired to become this white ghoulish like creature and my thoughts on him began to change. Mike also stopped doing the thing that would win over anyone, making music. It's sad but if Mike continued to make music during that time he more than likely wouldn't have had any problems with the kids.

I digress. That is not what i want to focus on at all. what i do want to focus on is what do we really want to remember him or even ourselves when we die. I don't think I know anyone that actually knows MJ personally, and i mean personally. I don't know much accept what the media puts out there, and also put a few pieces of the puzzle together to draw my own conclusion.

It was just sad in the last almost 15 years that MJ became a sad story, but pretty much to his own demise to be perfectly honest. some of his public behavior was erratic and just blatantly disturbing, it was sad that you did not get to see the other half of the man, what ever that may have been post 95 MJ.

I think there are a lot of people saddened not by the fact that he is dead, but more the fact that they are part of the reason he was driven to seclusion and living in Bahrain for a few years. I don't think there are many people that can defend a good portion of his actions, because i would not even want to try. Is he a flawed character, yes, but did his music do good, more then he would have ever realized, and more than fans would have ever realized had he not died today.

It is sad that MJ sang a song that is so fitting for so many in our lives. one of the most powerful songs that changed many lives(including mine). I think it is sad that MJ could not pull it together and sing that song to him self. "I'm starting with the man in the mirror. I'm asking him to change his ways. No message could have been any clearer. If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make the CHANGE."

RIP Michael Jackson. you will live on in infamy. Peace and thank you for all of your amazing art.

sincerely and respectively,

Icy Mike.

God and YOU................

2009-06-22T08:45:00.000-07:00

This is something i have been battling with for a good while now. it's the whole belief in a higher power, a supreme being, God if you will. I've thought long and hard, and thought about why people believe and then sat and picked apart the scabs that people show from there flaws with there direct connection with Christianity. i almost found my self in a spot to where i was so unhappy i almost convinced myself i was athiest(stupid i know). while getting to that point i found myself the ugliest and least like myself.

I just want to share a few things with you i have discovered about myself. most of my favorite memories involve the Concept of God pretty directly. I love classic Church Hymns, part of the reason i love classical music and part of the reason why i was in band and love to sing, it's also part of the reason why i love ALL music, was being in church all the time and hear the different keys, time signatures and all other sorts of stuff.

I love the outdoors. I love being out side i can thank Camp Mowana so much for that. being in nature, joining in song, comradeship and meeting some of the dopest people i have ever known to walk the earth...you know who you are, RIP Hippy Longstockings, you are an amazing soul. I love the feeling of being out in the open and getting away from the so called things we need, in which we don't need most of them.

I love my Wife. I owe a huge amount of gratitude to a lot of people and Daralyn is one of them. if it wasn't for her and i meeting, i wouldn't be writing this right now, seriously. Life just happens very strangely and you just need to be open to new experiences and not shut your brain down. take your headphones off and talk to the person next to you on the bus it might change your life, or you might laugh your ass off, which is just as good.

I love my family. I wouldn't be anywhere without them. seriously. to know me is to know a good portion of me, and to know my history. we all come from dysfunctional families it's time to grow up and move beyond the shit that happened when you were 3,4,5,6,13, etc...and start paving your own way.

I know most of this seems pretty vague but its not to convert, just to convey how happy the concept of God/Allah/Jesus has been in my life. while the complete and total REAL factor that so many people are after these days might be void, the same could be said for Lincoln, Gandhi, Harold(from harold and the purple crayon), the mouse from if you give a mouse a cookie. if those people can have a large effect on you with out them being physically present ever in your life, can you seriously debate the importance that they hold in your life. My Grandma Mick (pbuh) might not mean much to you, but she was amazing and you never got to meet her, but she is with me all the time.

the same could be said for God. I don't know him/directly but it has seemed to pave a pretty solid path for me. i hope that you can be as genuinely happy as i am, because to know that something as abstract as God can bring me so many amazing people in my life is awesome. i just hope you can get to the point where you stop picking other peoples scabs and start healing your own.

sincerely,

Icy Mike.

People with ADD suck at life......

2009-06-07T20:36:00.000-07:00

well, technically not exactly because we all suffer from it from time to time. listening to people who never have anything remotely interesting to say, or people who you are dating that talk about shit you don't care about, so we all have it in doses. what i am talking about is twitter and things akin to that which facebook seems to be suffering from at the moment.

For some reason it seems like more and more people like getting all of there news in short twitter segments or youtube clips or something to where they don't have to think or come up with anything interesting to say other then...Sitting in my chair now!....that type of stuff just seems so mundane and disconnected from anything that would otherwise interest me. i don't care if you just shampooed your hair and it not greasy anymore. i really don't care.

It's great that i have wifi service on my phone and can look certain things up but it's even more sad when a luxury service such as facebook is 110 times better on my mobile phone browser then on my laptop. does anyone at Facebook talk to it's users about what are great features and what should not change? i really don't think they do. i would be happy to pay $10 a month to facebook to go back to the format that made me fall in love with it back in october of 08. since then we have had way to many changes and it has become a crap product.

in order to innovate you need to make sure you target your customer. Myspace is for finding people to fuck. Twitter is for slow teens and adults a like that really think that we need to know all of your mundane details of your life and with no substance. Blogspot is for substance and being fully self adsorbed that you really think that people really care that much to read whole fragmented thoughts put into paragraph form. I like substance, but i also like quick quips about things that are on others minds at the moment it gives it a freshness and uniqueness.

when i fell in love with facebook it was somewhere a mix between all three of those, but now, it is leaning toward the slow teen/twitter category vs. a mix of all things that make us and it unique. facebook used to seem more realistic, but now i notice people not using real names switching them all the time, and that is frustrating. People are fine without writing Notes/Blogs now because apparently you can say all you need to say in a status update, and to that i say snap out of your ADD and learn to craft a thought.

Sincerely,

Icy Mike

Hi, I'm Michael and i am a drug addict.

2009-03-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

Well, not anymore. yep, i am finally done with anti-depressants. My 17 year addiction to prescription drugs is over. I'm no longer an insomniac. i no longer sleep in until 1pm like a piece of shit. I actually feel pretty good. i finally feel like i am in control and that i am not addicted to drugs. i don't know how many of you have taken anti-depressants but they seem to loose there effect after about 3 or 4 years which is ironic because that is about how long it takes for a generic to come out. Then you go to your psychiatrist he talks to you asks you how you are doing and then you say "i don't feel like my self anymore, i feel like the pills aren't working.." in which he replies "you know i got this great new prescription for you, you should try it out." then you become a zombie for the next fucking two or three months, and so continues the cycle.

the strange thing is, is that i have been on this cycle with all different types of meds. at one point i was diagnosed ADHD given Ritalin i went from being a normal size kid to pretty much going to looking like i was a Somali refugee seriously i looked bad. i started taking this when i was in fourth grade and it made me a fucking zombie. then i switched to Adderall when i was like 13 i took that for 2 years and i had headaches pretty much 5 times a week and would have two to three migraines a month, and all of this to keep me mellow. i also believe this a large reason why i didn't hit puberty until much later then i should have.

then sometime in when i was like 15 i switched to Prozac and that wiped me out for the next several months. then when i was like 17 i was put on another med in addition to this one and it has been the fucking course of me and has taken me 10 years to get off of this shit. Risperadal. that was the wurst shit of my life. I was seriously wiped the fuck out for like 2 years no lie. i gained a lot of weight back. But, this shit was horrible if i missed a morning dose i would seriously shake and my hands would tremor. all of this so i could be level. then as the years went on i started to develop muscle twitches and slight spasms in the hand and shit like that.

I definitely had a lot of shit happen to me in my early life before i turned five that i don't care to share, mainly because that would make this much longer...LMAO! I will say that the AD's served there purpose they numbed me from actually every having to deal with any of my problems.

That's all they ever really do is mask the real issues. I had a lot of issues that i needed to resolve and i still have a bunch, but you can't mask them with drugs of any kind. Everyone comes from a dysfunctional home. Everyone has a lot of shit wrong in there lives. Most everyone is looking for a way out of there lives in some form....reading, music, movies, dancing, writing, art, drinking, drugs that are legal and illegal and everyone does NEED some sort of escape from reality every now and then.

escaping from your lives is a great thing. i do it a lot when i listen to music. real talk...music and art have always been my real escape, i'm not that great at either but they are my real escape. The problem with AD's is that they become a sometimes permanent escape from your real issues. you really get to a point where you are high all the time especially in times when you shouldn't be. there times where you are so dazed on these pills that you honestly lose a part of you.

I feel like the AD's did help it's just that they should never be pitched to you like a long term solution to shit that is pretty much all mental and has to do with some experiences way back in your childhood in early life and your teens. AD's can be a great supplement to some SERIOUS THERAPY, not someone who is going to use you as a guinea pig of the latest hottest shit that he gets from phyzer.

I know that therapy can be great and necessary and a lot more people could use it. THERAPY is the answer and being self reflective and questioning yourself for all of the stupid things you do can be great. acknowledge that you have fucked up and that it is YOUR fault that XYZ happened and you have not taken control of your life. if you get fired from a job it is YOUR fault that you were late 5 days in a row shut the fuck up and keep it moving. Life isn't easy and never will be. If you want proof that life isn't easy listen to the Charlie Rose Interview with Warren Buffet, Warrens kids hate him...seriously. No one has it easy..no one, but the real message is....

don't numb yourself to life.

the ides of March.............

2009-03-18T15:35:00.001-07:00

i've been really wondering what to write about for sometime. i just really haven't had much motivation to write about anything lately. i've been enjoying my photography and just really been in good spirits. I was actually having a really good day today as almost everyday. i went and measured some kids for tuxedos for there high school fashion shows. i got the kids very excited to be a part of the fashion show and letting them know what we would do for them.

then i thought....29 students in CPS (Chicago Public Schools for those of you who might not know) have been murdered this School year alone, and since September 2007 to December 2008 a total of 500+ students have been shot. I just wonder where are our heads at as a human race? a friend of mine here on facebook her father was shot multiple times for nonsense(as are all shootings). Please pray for her family, and i ask that you pray for the children and students of CPS so that they might live to go to school another year and graduate.

I sit here with a heavy heart wondering if me being critical of certain things of our youth is far less important then anything that they face on a daily basis. One of my young friends was a freshman at a high school here in CPS 4 years ago and was beaten so severely that he ended up in the hospital for a week, and there was no warrant for it either they just wanted to beat him up. he is a good kid that is in JROTC and third ranking in his unit. He graduates this year and will attend an army academy for schooling.

I think one thing that gets over looked is that there is far more going on in these kids lives then maybe i will ever understand. I can only sympathize with what they go through. it's just very sad that more IS NOT done about getting guns out of the City. More strict gun laws won't do shit, all of these weapons used in the streets are unregistered or are stolen. I begin to wonder if anything CAN be done.

In a conversation with one of my friends he said talking does nothing and i agree. Malcolm and Martin spoke of peace and were both both murdered with guns. He said SOMETHINGS got done but not enough. So, what can we do? I think the era of talking and trying to listen are over. I really feel like a new era of some Vigilante Comic Book hero shit might be the only answer anymore. I think some Boondock Saints approach to shit might be more beneficial, but prolly not.

i'm just at a loss of what to think of what can be done, and i am at a loss to think that the youth might just be lost.......

Chill the Fuck out all ready the NY Post is garbage........................................

2009-02-19T18:41:00.001-08:00

you know i have really tried to dissect this whole political cartoon
and i still can't say anything good about it. I understand what they
are trying to say but it is completely moot do to the fact that they
used a chimp. Even if you take away the word caption on it, it is still
offensive for all of the police brutality that is going on towards
Blacks.

They could have very easily drew a picture of a Donkey and accomplished
the same thing in a much more comedic light. I get using the Chimp as
some form of relevant reference of the shooting of the chimp that
brutally maimed that woman, and the parallel the fact that the
Politicians are a bunch of crazed Chimps destroying our country. But,
it is all moot and done in extreme poor taste.

Also consider the source. The NY Post is not known for great
journalism, in fact i align them more with the US Weekly of the
Newspaper world. right now on there front "page" on line they mention a
Cosmetic Dr. that is being sued for removing a Breast Implant with out
being asked to. I think this pretty much is the overall theme to this
particular news paper. this is how reputable this news organization is
and they are amazing. they also have a gossip section of the news
paper. WTF? A gossip section? for a news paper? sounds like some
bullshit to me, so it seems to me that they are not known for quality
anything, at all.

So what am i saying you might ask yourself. I am saying calm the fuck
down. This is not the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times or the
The Times out of London or shit even Chicago Sun Times. it's the
fucking NY Post. So, if you folks are not familiar with NY Post go to
there website right now and read something called "page 6" it is filled
with bullshit, like most of you who have not considered the source.

This gave one my favorite people in the world to become the media whore
that he is and try to act like he cares about anyone but himself and
money. He is an opportunistic fuck just like the NY Post. So go get em
Al Sharpton and act like you care about the black community for the
next 2 months like you did after the whole Don Imus thing three years
ago. Official you are as not creditable as NY Post. So you get an Icy
Mike FUCK YOU award and are a 2009 finalist. so, congrats.

Your Horoscope!

2009-01-25T12:41:00.001-08:00

Your Birthday Today:
Your crude sense of humor will offend many this week, while the amount you supposedly charge for a standard mustache ride will offend the rest.

Sagittarius: Although many wrestle with latent homosexual urges, you're the only one the stars know who likes to oil up beforehand.

Scorpio: You'll struggle to find a sympathetic ear this week when the FDA lowers its recommended daily intake of your goddamn bullshit.

Gemini: Your tryst with a married woman will come to an end this week when she finally asks you for a divorce.

Capricorn: Avoid confrontation at work today. Sneak up behind your boss and slowly strangle him to death.

Cancer: Everything will go according to plan, except for the injured hostages, the brief shoot-out with police, and the fact that you were just making toast.

Virgo: Your plan to commit the perfect crime is flawed in one important aspect: Sitting on the couch watching football all weekend is not illegal.

Taurus: Enlightenment and confusion will both be yours this week, when a tree falls in the woods only to make the sound of one hand clapping.

Aries: It seems that for every step forward, you take two to the side, three back, and then trip and fall off the side of a building, hitting the fire escape several times on the way down.

Pisces: Satan will take the form of Excel spreadsheet cell G-14 this week and refuse to assume the proper formatting.

Aquarius: You'll soon be struck by a painful realization concerning the relative force and speed of ordinary city buses.

Libra: They say that you're going blind, that your vision is rapidly deteriorating, but don't worry: They are just a coat rack and hat.

Leo: Some things just go together perfectly, but no one would've believed it was true about cocaine and rhinos until you came along.

thanks onion!

My President is Black.......God & Mr. Cox are too.

2009-01-20T21:03:00.001-08:00

Today has been one of those days that you need every now and then to renew your faith in mankind and yourself. I watched Barack Hussein Obama become our 44th President and in the beginning of watching all of this unfold I shed a tear. I cried because I was thinking of all the hardships that Civil Rights Pioneers had endured in order to see a day like this take place when Love Wins and we as a collective nation said yes we can to change and stop being so indifferent to everything in life.

I was at work today and later on in the evening when I was working alone and a gentleman (whose name is Mr. Cox) came in and was looking for a bow tie and a dress shirt for a black tie affair. (I work in a predominately black mall at tuxedo shop if you didn’t know) He was an older gentleman probably somewhere in his early 70 (he told me he was 73). I told him I was watching the parade in the back on my laptop and told me he was excited about the whole day and he was happy that I was too. So, I asked him point blank, “sir, did you ever think this would happen?” his reply was, “no, I never thought a day like today was possible.”

He said “I grew up in Mississippi and was born in 1936 and moved to Chicago when I was 19” “When I was growing up we couldn’t get a table at a restaurant and when we wanted food from them they would pass the food through a window in the back of the building.” also “There were no public restrooms for us when we went places. If we needed to go to the bathroom we would go on the side of the road or in some woods.”

“One thing my father taught me at a young age was not to let all the words and things people say about you get into your head. He said don’t listen to what others say about you if you are something in God’s eyes then that is all that matters.” “My Father was a very strong man and was of sound character. He also told me that if you have hate in your heart you are only hurting yourself, because that person cannot feel the hate that you are putting on them.”

Another story that he shared with me was deep and really just awe inspiring it went something like this. “I remember one night when I was 9 years old our house got surrounded by the KKK, and they were yelling for my father to come out. My father said the front door is open you can come in but I’m going to take out a bunch of you before you kill me and my family. Dad had a hand pump shotgun on his lap and pistol in his hand down to the side.”

He also shared with me that he served in the Korean War. He was very active in the Civil Rights movement, and now he is involved in street ministry dealing with gangs in Chicago. When this man mentioned God to me it was only in passing, but it was one of those moments when you knew that his actions spoke more to me then T.D. Jakes could ever say in a sermon. It was one of those moments when your cynicism parts and you open your mind and listen with your heart.

Mr. Cox wasn’t really talking about being a follower of God; he was walking in full living action everyday of his life to be living the Gospel. It was incredible. This is man who truly believes that Love Wins, and if you know anything about MLK or Jesus those are two men who truly and whole heartedly believed that Love Wins.

Today was living proof. We have Barack Hussein Obama as our 44th President, and did so, on a platform of change and peace. I am a true believer that Love Wins, I just need to do so in action more so then just speech and print. Mr. Cox summed up how he dealt with racism in a very short and profound statement “Don’t listen to what others say about you. If you are something in God’s eyes then that is all that matters….. If you have hate in your heart you are only hurting yourself, because that person cannot feel the hate that you are putting on them.”

To Mr. Cox I owe a debt of gratitude and I am glad that we were able to share our joy and passion for the day together. Even though I do not understand all that he has been through, his stories and wisdom have touched me in a profound way, to where we both can unite together and pronounce……..LOVE WINS.

Sincerely,

Icy Mike.

Obama is my Ace, but seriously get off the mans dick.

2009-01-18T19:25:00.000-08:00

This a monumental occasion for everyone, and by everyone i mean EVERYONE. the guy at 87th and the Dan Ryan selling Obama airbrushed T-shirts, Obama Socks, Obama Condoms(its a new world out there rap it up!lmao.), Obama Buttons and Obama Stocking Caps(it is chicago). it gets better i turn on the T.V. and what do my eyes see, Barack Obama selling me some un-minted limited addition 100% silver plated coin with my man painted on the back, and if you call in the next 5 mins, get an Obama Dinner plate with Obama Hot Pads.

I mean this is all fine and dandy, but this needs to stop at some point. To whore out a mans image and name to this degree is absurd. Also like Van Said on www.superill.net some people don't need to rep for obama. if you have a fucked up attitude don't rep for the man, i don't think he would appreciate it much. certain rappers who mention "i've got a black president" and in the same line talk about guns and trafficking drugs in the same song should just kill them selves.

I am excited that we have such an amazing person who is going to be our president for the next 4 year(hopefully 8). we finally have someone who can speak and act presidential to represent all of us as a collective nation. I just don't want my president to be treated like Super Bowl XLIII champion the Arizona Cardinals where all of this merchandise is pumped out. It is fine for a football club, but don't continue to make a coin off of a mans name, because if someone did that to me, i would punch them in the balls.

I don’t have my shit together and neither do you!!!!!!

2009-01-11T18:44:00.000-08:00

I feel like no matter where you are at in life I don't think you ever really have IT TOGETHER. I mean in some aspects of life yes, but as I whole I don't think you do. Because if you really have it all together what aspects of your life do you need to improve on or learn new things?

there have been points in my life where I thought I had it together and then I was shook to the core and realized that I didn't, and I think it's in those moments that you realize how delicate life really is, and it is in those moments you can become grateful what you do have.

Recently in July I was given my own store to run and I knew I wasn't completely ready, but I didn't want to say no to a nice new promotion and I wanted to show that I was all that my District Manger said I was. Well, my DM got fired in October and I realized that I might be up for the chopping block.

November comes and my Assistant Manger is temporarily transferred to another store and I am given the AM from hell. It was horrible and I hated working in the store so I asked to step down as store manager and they happily obliged. I was very angry that they did the demotion so fast, but I was happy because I knew I wouldn’t have the same pressures and responsibilities.

It wasn't a matter of that I didn't believe in myself it was more a matter of I didn't know enough about managing to be in that position. I'm glad I got the experience to be a store manager, but I am happier being in a backup role then a star position. I'm more a Scotty Pippin to someone else’s Michael Jordan and I am happy with that role. I am the SP to my wife’s MJ role. Real talk. It’s always very important that you know what your role is in life. I can make the playoffs, but I’m not gonna get anymore rings without the help of my ace.

I think part of what I do is I don't really look toward the sunny side of life, because that is crazy. Life doesn't always have a silver lining to its dreary 21 day overcast. Life can be so weird and strange that there is no logical explanation or rationalizing what is taking place at that moment. Having a great sense of humor will carry you through the rough times in life. Laughing at your mistakes and pain is healthy.

Being grateful for a shit sandwich can be tough, but sometimes you just need to laugh at the size of the shit sandwich and move along. If you mope about all the shit that life hands to you, you might as well just end it. Because, life is too damn funny to let stupid things bog you down.

Being grateful is one of those oddities that you might not always have the foresight to do, because hindsight is 20/20. lol. I can always look back on past experiences with a type of clear vision that I understand why I went through it.

I meet people very easily its part of who I am. I have friends that I keep in contact with regularly that I met 12 years ago for one week at a church camp. I got married to my wife someone I me at a church weekend over 7 years ago. I have friends that I consider some of my favorite people ever that I met through a BBQ get together here in Chicago a little more than 1 year ago. My Saint Louis family has introduced me to some of the illest people ever! Thank you Bobby, Eddie, Van, Rhashad.

I owe all of that to not having my shit together. If I had all of my shit together I wouldn’t be able to a lot for new experiences. I wouldn’t have room for more personal growth and I certainly wouldn’t have room for more friends. I will never have my shit together and I wish the very same thing for you.

Sincerely,

ICY MIKE

Why Soulja Boy is good for music...and why you should shut up.lol

2009-01-10T22:51:00.000-08:00

why do you hate this young man so much? is he really that bad for what he does? he makes music for teens simple and plain. He is not an abomination of hip-hop at all. look at Rappers Delight by Sugar Hill Gang and tell me what that song was about? Money, cars, women and flossin. those lyrics are classic to recite but talk about absolutely nothing. some of my favorite songs are about ABSOLUTELY nothing and are just fun to listen to. I.E. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey by Paul McCartney.

A lot of people hate on this lil dude and they need to shut up and realize that you are getting old. I did not like Crank Dat, but it's only because that song was played 10 trillion times back to back. it is what anyone could want from a pop song, catchy and a nice lil dance to go with it. Do i listen to his music ever? no. it is not my style, but just because i don't like doesn't mean that other can't enjoy it for what it is. shit i love Haddaway and that has got to be one of the dumber songs out, same with Right Said Fred.

He is not destroying hip-hop, it's not his fault that his music sells to teens. teens usually have bad taste in everything(sagging pants, night gowns for t-shirts, tight ass pants, douchey looking hair cuts, douchey 80's throw back clothing) but that is because i am getting older. the fat boys, dana dane, dougie fresh, skee-lo, the rapping duke, kurtis blow pretty much didn't rap about anything, but they made hot singles for the club (because most radio stations didn't play this stuff at the time) and it was all about fun. nothing really socially conscious came out till "the Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. everything before that was pretty much dance singles like Soulja Boy.

so in other words, don't hate on an 18 year old for making money in this pure crap driven commercial music business. it's not his fault that crappy music sells to slow MTV teens. at least he doesn't fake being a gangsta like Lil Wayne, Rick Ross or any of the other bullshit down south rappers. Lil Man get your MC Hammer on and make money. just don't fully live out like MC Hammer where you try to go gangsta, go bankrupt, become a pastor and then try to rap again. be you lil homie and cater to your audience. thats why LL has lasted 24 years in the game, because he makes records for the ladies and makes dance singles.

Not everyone can be a J Dilla or a Black Thought. J Dilla is one of (if not THEE) the illest producers EVER and my personal FAVORITE period. Black Thought is one of dopest emcee's ever to be constantly slept on as one of the Greatest, and he is in my top 10. His style is like no other, same with Dilla. Always original often imitated never duplicated. Originality and pure Art don't always appeal to the masses, that's why you have Thomas Kincaid bullshit compared to someone like Marcel Duchamp. pure highly mass marketed shit to someone who is a Genius when it comes to innovation. draw the parallel.

sincerely,

Icy Mike.

Fuck Impeachment, I'm running for a third term!

2009-01-09T15:08:00.000-08:00

Everyone and their mother is talking about my Illinois Governor Roddy Blogo, and i for one am really impressed by this man. Roddy was Impeached early today a narrow margin of one vote for him to not be Impeached and i am impressed that this man did not punk out on me. He made it very clear with his speech about how amazing he is that he will run for a third term and win.

He is my new hero, i haven't seen this much ball power since Cheney shot his friend in the face with a shotgun. I love in the video where he talks about that they wanted to impeach him in the summer of 2007(finally got the chance and did) even though he is doing such amazing things in the state.

One of his projects was standing on stage and he forgot which disease his Gubernatorial Power told to get the fuck out of his body. Then he talks about a lady that got screened at a Pink Pot Luck and found out that she had stage 4 brest cancer (i'm going to go ahead and assume that she died, for the fact he didn't talk about her recovery and only talked about that she was diagnosed for free, so then she could know what killed her.) and was able to recieve free screening and treatment.

He also put a special spin on how special intrest goups and lobbyist have hurt the state from moving forward with some of his plans(one of the reasons he was under investigation in the first place.) i.e. how he contracted out the Illinois Tollway construction, and getting health care for people.

In this whole 10 minutes about nothing he doesn't address the reason why he is being impeached and tells people he will get to there questions in a minute. so not only does the Bush Administration deflect and have a total disengagement from reality, so does my Governor. He goes for a jog in the snow while he is being impeached, and doesn't realize that you can't sell the Senate seat which the President-Elect comes from, and that is why he is my favorite person of the moment. Thanks Roddy Blogo, for absolutely nothing.

sincerely,

Icy Mike.

our sex life is boring......lets choke eachother!

2009-01-04T20:26:00.001-08:00

yeah, thats something i won't get. when i'm usually doing my thing smashing i've never once said to my wife "choke me!!!!!". i just don't know how one gets around to even propositioning there partner with this order. are you watching a porno and you see dude plugging her nose while she is deep throating and she gets raccoon eyes. do you turn to her and say all sexy like "girl i want to cut off your air supply." or does she turn to you and say...."i've been wanting you to choke me for some time." i just wonder at what point does sex become that boring where choking each other spices it up. moving along...

on to the other portion of this ya dig is Autoerotic Asphyxiation, and what might that be you are asking? that is when you like choke yourself while strokin it. Me personally i've been a pro at masturbating since '94 and i have never once thought of choking my self. there have been court cases to see if the dead persons death benefits could be divided up, and if you are wondering YES they can be divided up. turns out that it is not the persons intent to die, but to repeat this act again. here is a link http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1090180323375 that will be more detailed.

here is another link but i am going to share some text with you.....http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04E1DF1E39F934A15750C0A962948260&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=all
According to a report to the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, victims are typically ''happy, well-adjusted people'' who are ''found hanging by the neck, often wearing women's clothing, apparently having died while masturbating.'' In their report, Dr. Stephen Rosenblum and Dr. Myron M. Faber note that ''the risks of sexual asphyxia are not well-known, and it could therefore be viewed as no more pathological than driving a car or motorcycle at high speeds.''

this is coming from doctors mind you and that one scenario is hilarious to me. but me driving my car 120mph on the Dan Ryan Expressway is the exact same thing as some dude choking himself while stroking it. WTF?????? not even close. if i visit redtube.com free of a noose, i have a 100% chance of having a good time and living. if i use a noose i got a 50 50 chance to come out of it alive. i don't like those odds, turns out i will just pass on that fun time.

teens even have choking parties. what the hell happend to just getting high or drinking likka? more linkage http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5706a1.htm i just don't get it, i'm glad i missed that train, i'll stick to the tried and true choke free methods.

Fuck Israel..........

2009-01-03T20:09:00.000-08:00

yeah i said it. what are you going to do about? I'm so tired of this shit it is insane. Anytime a Palestinian fires a rocket into a building and kills an Israeli, Israel retaliates and kills 100 Palestinians per. This shit has got to stop. seriously. It brings me to tears that people think that Israel is doing good by KILLING ITS OWN PEOPLE. Everyone will agree that the country of Palestine does not exist. So, by geographic land marking BOTH the Gaza Strip and the West Bank happen to be in what country?????????? thats fucking right, ISRAEL. So, if you support Israels quest to exterminate Palestine you are an advocate for ETHNIC CLEANSING and i don't want to hear shit out of your mouth about how bad of a dictator Sadam Hussein was, or Robert Mugabe, Idi Amin, or Omar Al-Bashir. Israel has been killing it's own people for damn near 60 years, and something like 500,000 Israelis have been murdered by Israelis. So, congrats to you fucktards that don't know the history of the region and are pro-Zionist, ethnic cleansing, apartheid loving dumb fucks. do us all a favor and kill yourselves real hard.

Aristocrats mixtape review.....and other shit....

2008-12-20T15:11:00.000-08:00

YO! If you don't know about my boy Wafeek you better ask somebody, or just let me tell you about this soon to be music star. Wafeek is dope simple and plain. His voice and flow are just beautiful to the ears. he can change up his delivery, his annunciation is superb, and he teams up with dope producers. This mixtape is all you could ask for and more, only one problem some of the songs are too short, but just a nice teaser before the real ish comes out. He's dope with punch lines and with serious content without being in the complain-hop tip like so many up-coming artist can suffer from. He's focused and hating on some people and that is dope. He murders the shit out of Let the beat build by lil wayne, which is great because I don't care for Lil Wayne a bit. The other thing I realize is that Hip-Hop needs more rock beats simple and plain; we need more creativity in the music simple and plain.

If you don't know by now the Midwest is here to run this rap game in a short min.......people like Kidz in the Hall, Royce da 5'9", Guilty Simpson, Black Milk, Wafeek, Vandalyzm, Tef Poe, Black Spade, Gotta Be Karim, Eminem, Finale, Rockwell Knuckles, Fooch, Naledge, Common, Kayne, Lupe.....the Midwest is where all the creativity is happening, because we grew up listening to everything in so many genres that this is what is killing the current rap game is it is completely devoid of creativity.

So what am I saying, download this mixtape because it is the shit fam. You will be very happy that you did.

http://www.wafeek.com/aristocrats

10 wishes

2008-12-19T20:08:00.000-08:00

i stole this from kay i just thought it would be fun. its 10 wishes and here it goes the goal is to keep them short and sometimes that is a problem for me.....

1. I wish that racist of all types would just kill them selves or become educated.

2. I wish the school systems would be change to empower kids to really take a grasp of there own future.

3. I wish there were more 2 parent families out in society and that people really cared about marriage and equality.

4. I wish gays were allowed to be as happy as me and my wife are as a legal married couple.

5. I wish that animals did not have more rights than the homeless.

6. I wish that all the homeless in Chicago sold Streetwise instead of asking me for change.

7. I wish that there was some real gun control in this country.

8. I wish that ALL Gangs would just drown themselves in Lake Michigan.

9. I wish that this new administration takes the right steps for the USA to go back to its former position and that the American Dream is for all of its citizens and undocumented peoples.

10. I wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa and a Happy New Year.

Icy Mike......

Be Grateful......

2008-12-19T12:45:00.000-08:00

Be grateful to everything in your life. If you have a messed up family be grateful that you have one. If you are a single parent struggling to make it on your own, be grateful for the blessing of having a child and the joy they bring. If you had a relationship end be grateful for the personal growth that has or is about to take place, and be grateful for your support system in these difficult times. If you have a messed up job and hate going to work everyday, be grateful that you are employed. If you just found yourself to be unemployed be grateful for the health that you have. If you have found yourself diagnosed with cancer, be grateful for all the people that love you and cherish you. If you lost a loved one this year, be grateful that you had the opportunity to get to know them and love them the way you did.

No matter what the situation is be grateful for what you do have and hold onto that. Don't compare what you have compared to what others are less fortunate and do not have. Just be grateful for the one thing that brings you joy what ever that is. Find solace and tranquility in this holiday season for what you have, and always be grateful.

Sincerely,

Icy Mike

Be More......

2008-12-17T21:09:00.000-08:00

seriously. it's been time. it's been that time for longer than you realized. what ever negative things you have going on in your life....Be More. what ever positive things you have going on in your life.....be more. If you are looking to buy that new pair of feragammo's from Nordstrom....be more.

Be more then what anyone has told you what your net worth was. if people have been shitting on your dreams for years and years, be more. what ever you have done or what ever has happened to you this last year all i can say is....... Be More in 2009.

Dear Vegans,

2008-12-17T12:04:00.000-08:00

Your cause is lame. Seriously you folks just need to like off yourself extra quick. You folks are so self-righteous, condescending and hypocritical it's crazy. Hardly any of you are truly healthy and take all kinds of herbal remedies and shit just to make up for what you are missing from meat. I know you folks crave meat otherwise places like Soul Vegetarian wouldn't exist, there food is like hard bread tofu protein and shit like that and fake meat like shit. Trust me on this your body actually craves that stuff, you are an omnivore after check the teeth in your mouth. The only thing worse then that shit is feeding your pet a vegetarian diet. Are you fucking retarded they are carnivores you asshole check there teeth.

You also if you are so concerned about the environment don't wear clothing from any store, knit your self a pair of trousers from all the weed you grow you douche. Also don't be all high and mighty when it comes to your car either. Dip shit you are still driving a car simple and plain. Stop acting like you really care about shit when all you care about is yourself. If you did care about others you wouldn't be so pushy with your beliefs, like the way you would get mad if a Mormon did the same shit to you. Yours is a belief not a proven scientific fact.

You are so concerned about the treatment of these animals and I say who gives a fuck they are live stock and stupid they have been bred for us to consume. What you want to put farmers of all kinds, butchers, grocery stores, slaughter houses out of business because of your belief? What a selfish cunt you are. You would rather give better treatment to these dumb animals then you would to undocumented workers, and gays, sounds pretty fucked up.

So, you might be asking what am I exactly saying. I am saying go live in the forest and live off of twigs and berries and see how long you last with out meat. Also shut the fuck up about organic anything, people have been doing quite well without all this extra labeling and shit. The next time I hear one of you douche fucks ask about organic wine or beer I'm going to kill you on spot…….that shit is poison when it becomes alcohol you fucking dummy.

Sincerely,

Icy Mike

so few brothas............

2008-12-15T21:40:00.000-08:00

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Proposition 8

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

you know this is something that i've been still thinking about and i can't seem to let go, but not solely focused on the black community, because it was mainly white people that voted this thing through, but it was not a majority of them voting for it to pass. this is just some good satire that people should take a few moments to digest. seriously.

Sweat shops and you

2008-12-15T15:06:00.000-08:00

This is something I have been thinking about for a good while now. The benefits of sweat shops are actually greater than you think. You know you can hit me up with how they treat there workers like crap and they are abusive, pay them shit wages or just in food. Well the way I look at it is that they benefit the people who work there as well as the local community. I am also not talking about mining jobs all over the world because that is not the same as sewing on some buttons on a shirt, or hand stitching some shoes together.

There are a lot of things to take into account when you are talking about the benefits of sweatshops and one of the main ones is giving areas a tax base to work with and helping create an infrastructure to help build up the area around the sweatshop. Chicago is a great model for just that.Chicago's sweatshops started in 1880's until eh really now, they are just less prominent now then they were. The horror's that used to be Chicago's meat packing industry were ridiculous and appalling. People would die lose limbs fingers shit like that and the same would go for the steel mills and other shitty jobs of that nature. While at the same time all of this tax money was being created and the city was reinvesting it into the city's infrastructure and helped develop better roads, public transportation, white collar jobs and other things.

The sweat shops created really shitty environments to work in, but eventually workers have enough of the bullshit and they stand up for their rights and fight back against the employer. Take for example the GM strike in Flint, MI in 1936-1937. The workers had finally had enough and they got what they wanted. Unions started to form and work conditions improved and all that fun stuff. The only problem now is that the UAW placed themselves out of the market as far as pay and all of that because they want to make $35 and benefits putting car windshields on a Buick. Craziness is what I call that.

Despite how horrible these sweatshops are, they give people jobs, and America is crying for more sweatshop labor. VW AG just announced that they are building a sweatshop in Chattanooga, TN and that it will directly employ 2000 workers for the plant. VW AG is also talking about having other parts of the car being built in the US. VW AG will pay people less then what they are used to but it will still be a livable wage. $16 an hour plus benefits is a livable wage.

With places like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Costco, etc…. they are sweat shops as well, but like sweatshops they create a great tax base for the communities that surround the factory/business. People complain that they don't pay a good enough wage to the employee's and I say that is bullshit because if you don't have a job, work is work, simple and plain. There are plenty of people here in the states that would love to have a shitty job. A low paying job is better than no job.

Sweat shops in developing countries can be a great blessing to the region/country. I'm not just talking about steel mills, chemical plants, toy factories, etc…..but things like your Armani suit or your Burberry purse. Did you know that it only take 2% of a garment to be considered made in Italy? Well it's true, all that needs to be done is have your shirt buttons tacked onto your Versace dress shirt and it is Made in Italy. Sweatshops benefit those who do not have any type of work available and might starve otherwise.

The sweatshops also help bring modern conveniences to rural areas like, running water, electricity, plumbing, paved roads, medical care etc…..and with all of this it creates a new tax base to which a community can be built. Then if the workers get tired of the poor treatment they will revolt and demand better working conditions, better pay, health services, etc….and you can start to have things like better schools, police, modern hospitals. All of this can be provided by the tax base that is created around the factory.

Lastly, why is it that everyone is so quick to point out the horrible work conditions in other countries and not pay attention to what is going on here in the US? We as a country are so quick to point out all of these human rights violations and all of this other bullshit, when we have the most people in prison period. This beyond acceptable anymore, this is a country built on free and cheap labor and that is how really any country comes up, and who are we to say what a country can and can't do to try to help rise it's self out of poverty? All of this save the world cause type shit you need to kill it, because we need to take care of our Country first.

Cafe 103 Review

2008-11-23T16:54:00.000-08:00

This is a new thing i am going to do now and that is do restaurant, beer, liquor and wine reviews. Mainly because I love all of those things I think you should know when making a decision about dining and drinks a like. Daralyn and i just went out to eat tonight in celebration of life and for us being able to spend time together (for once here in Chicago). I wanted to eat some place nice and i figured we should try this place because it is in our back yard, literally a 3 min walk from our apartment, and it also gets bonus points for being BYOB, and if you don't know about BYOB it is my best friend because i am a beer and just an over all snob when it comes to consuming alcohol. any way on to the review.

So, we enter into a very nice quaint restaurant which seats 30 people(make reservations) a little noisy, but that is okay because it is people having conversation and not yelling over loud music and they are truly enjoying themselves. They have a place to hang your coats which is nice and the restaurant is a nice temperature where they are not trying to freeze you out so that they can turn out more plates. They are truly in this type of dining to cater to you at that moment, which is perfect when you are spending a moderate amount of money on dining.

We are seated and poured water and they cork our bottle of wine for $5 and they bring us some charred flat bread with a nice dusting of sea salt, which provides a good balance between the soft taste flat bread with a char. We nibble on this perfect portion of flat bread very quickly, and it's not too much to where you get too full off of bread and lose sight on the rest of the meal. 15 minutes pass and then comes the appetizer.Our appetizer was an order of Braised Short Ribs with sauteed Mushrooms(unfortunately we did not order it with the mushrooms, a rookie mistake more on that later). I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from the Braised Short Ribs so i just was like it will be okay and i will eat it. Now we get our order of Braised Short Ribs and it is way different then what i pictured. It was a nice well laid out setting of boned pork ribs with a nice braised sweet sauce on top of a potato/bean puree. mix this all with the beautiful flat bread and you have an amazing experience happening in your mouth kind of like food foreplay, i am being serious too. 15 minutes pass after we are finished and then comes our main course.

I ordered the Filet Mignon cooked rare with Broccoli Rabe, Sauteed Mushrooms (never eat), Caramelized Onions and some roasted potato fingerlings. (Now, to those of you who want to piss off a chef order a filet mignon anything other than rare, and the same goes for me. If i know you eat steak well done i will cook your ass sirloin, you do not get to eat filet mignon. lmao, and i am serious.) I wasn't sure what broccoli rabe was until i ate this dish and all i have to say is, Asparagus is officially played out with my filet mignon. The sauteed mushrooms, i was automatic with the no when i ordered it and then i talked to the waitress Christy after we finished the appetizer and she said that she hated mushrooms too, because of texture and flavor too until Rob(executive chef) prepared them for her, so i said lets add the mushrooms to the order. The flavor and the textures of every thing on the plate were perfect and absolutely amazing in my mouth. i would have been kicking myself had i not had the sauteed mushrooms involved in my meal. The mushrooms added a buttery quality that could not have been executed otherwise. everything was perfectly timed and proportioned on my plate that i was perfectly content when i finished my dinner. The meal was like pure intercourse and i was ready for a second round aka desert and coffee.

Daralyn ordered Grilled Walleye with roasted Acorn Squash, steamed Baby Spinach and a Dill Applesauce garnish. The walleye was served on top of a shredded acorn squash with the dill applesauce surrounding the main course. Daralyn let me sample a piece of walleye, spinach, squash and dill applesauce, and it was so intricately delicate and sensual that you had to take your time to absorb all the soft delicate flavors since the over all texture was soft. She said she was really full and wasn't sure if she would order desert i said, "just order the desert and we will go from there". she did and i got after dinner coffee and we talked and waited 20 mins for desert, a perfect amount of time to digest and just more time to talk about food and forget everything else going on in our lives.

I ordered the Chocolate Lava Cake with strawberry compote syrup with a fresh strawberry. It originally called for vanilla Gelato, but i am allergic to dairy, so scrap the gelato. Rob made this desert fresh for me and it was phenomenal and it was the perfect ending to the meal, the coffee was perfectly robust, dark, earthy and sensual. This was perfect to end such an amazing dinning experience, like having all night sex and so completely satisfied, where at the end of all of this food you didn't feel you cheated yourself for not eating better, everything was healthy and the cake was gluten free as well, so take that!

the wine we sipped on all night was a vintage 2001 Spanish Rioja that was so mild and soft that you almost felt like there was no body to it and that it lacked any real interesting quality, but that is where you would be wrong. The fact that a nice red could be so soft and mild is great because none of the food we had was so strongly flavored that this paired perfectly with the food, where it was just a good compliment to such nice food and wasn't a bossy wine that told you that you made the wrong choice. lmao i am such a loser. now if i was to choose beer for it, i would choose Three Floyd's Brewery Gumballhead for Daralyn's dinner and for mine i would have chosen Two Brothers Brewery- The Bitter End on English hand pull. For my desert beer i would have chosen Goose Island's-Blueberry Imperial Stout, for its sweet fermented flavors of blueberries and dark chocolate.

if you read this full thing you are amazing!!!!

All you need to know is......so i give it 5 ICY'S out of 5. i will be back soon, plus i will be taking cooking lessons next door attached to the restaurant.