Does your heart rule your head?

the heart of the matter...

its always hard to deal with matters of the heart, yet many of us face these types of predicaments everyday..our heart tells us to do something and our head tells us to do something else...now many of us have been told to follow what our hearts say in emotional situations and follow what our heads say in non-emotional situations...what if that line is blurred...what if you had to pull the plug on the person you loved the most...would you leave that attached to the machine because your heart wants them there, physically, or would you pull the plug because your head tells you that doing so will end their suffering...at this point what would you do???

from personal experience i have always found that if i lead with my heart i will be content with the outcome...

some GOING GREEN editorial cartoons..

solely for enjoyments sake...

the GROWTH for GREEN

we're all being bombarded about "going green" and its exciting to see how this trend is effecting everything in our lives..from light bulbs, to energy saving vehicles, to organic product, the thrive to "go green" is swiftly sweeping the world. slowly things will begin to change and we will live in a healthier and energy efficient world. the only sad thing is that it took the impending destruction of the environment for us to begin to view the way that we are destroying the world around us...

the cost of style..

everyone wants to be stylish and in style yet something i never seem to understand is how far people are willing to go to be in style...people drop hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in luxury handbags, expensive jewellery, and designer clothing to fit in and be stylish..even lower end store are creating clothing and axccessories that are are more stylish and trend driven...its scary to think that people will spend a month's rent on a pair of shoes, or go into debt to buy what everyone else has..i mean i fall into the same boat, we all have at some point, but honestly how much worse is it going to get.. i know people that are literally thousands of dollars in credit card debt because they feel the need to buy the expensive things that others...i guess we're all wrapped around the fingers of celebrities and mass media...

Situational Religion

the world has had countless wars based solely on difference of religion...and many of these wars happened due to the lack of respect and understanding of others and their beliefs. many people wonder why Muslims allow polygamy as part of their religion, or why Hindus believe in a caste system..all one needs to do is look at the history of these religions to find that the answer lies in the fact that these things are a form of situational religious practices...back in the early days, Muslim villages had very few men in ratio to the number of women..so in order to provide care to these women, men had 3 or 4 wives...time moves on and culture blends with religion to create the misconception that we all see...Hindu's face a similar situation...the Aryan race viewed themselves as greater than the non-Aryans...hence they created the caste system depending upon the individuals closeness, ancestrally, to the Aryan race...again culture merged with religion and the caste system became confused with Hinduism...

the bottom line is that all religions share the same values and beliefs, specifically about loving one another, its only the cultural situations that alter religious beliefs...LOVE ALL, SERVE ALL

what professionalism really means....

its funny to hear people talk about the fact that they only want to marry a lawyer, a doctor, or someone that hold a high position is a dominant profession...in many cases our parents want us to marry a person like a doctor or lawyer because they believe that those are the only people that can take care of us...but is that what "professionalism" is has started to become to a certain extent...we only get jobs that extude a professional title so that we can have everything we want including a person that is just marrying us for what we have...and then there are those people that are so career driven that they're 35 and alone because they never made the time to socialize or date..these are the people that end up depending on their title to get them a mate...its funny just to realize and witness....

so i went to mcdonald's in china, paris and brazil...

it seems like mcdonalds is everywhere..its not just mcdonalds, it starbucks, gap, and even wal-mart....it seems like we'll never have to worry about finding a place that we're comfortable shopping at because we know that company...while the effects of globalism may negatively affect the world by the loss of culture, globalism has been catered to alleviate this negative affect...mcdonalds changes its menus to accommodate the culture of the country they are in...in india they do not serve any beef products, but instead subtitute curries and other indian alternatives, in saudi arabia they serve only halal, or prayed on, meat and no pork products...wal-mart is following in the same way..wal-mart caters the products they sell to accommodate the countries they are located in..while many people think that globalism will change the diveristy of the world, many disagree and state that globalism is helping the world by helping to bring up the economy of third world countries...

The power of PERCEPTION...

we all use the power of perception everyday..we see something and think something else...more often than not we use the power of perception in the judgement of others...if a person is an active member in musical theater they're perceived as gay, or if a person enjoys rap music they're perceived as ghetto...many of the wrong decisions we make are created because of the wrong perception. we create an image of a person based upon what society hsa taugt us or told us. We use society's perception as our own. it's our job to step outside the box, to view things in a new light, and give peoplw a chance. Making our perceptions positive will inturn positively affect the world around us. People percieve African-Americans as drug-dealing gangsters, Jews as stingy money-grabber, and Asians as intellgent pigs who lack every form of cleanliness. Banishing these perceptions form our minds, we will be able to destroy judgement and be able to see people for the positive things they bring.

David Bohm on perception

a little discussion about the actual mechanics behind perception and its scientific value in our lives.

THE EYE OF DESIGN

design really does have a huge impact on our lives...think out those ridiculously well designed building with impeccable interiors...it make you feel special, like you are part of an art piece...having an eye for design, i've always noticed the smallest of details, the use of color, texture, shapes, and the way they play off each other..i never realized how much color effects the psyche of a person...a room filled with tones of greys and blues, and uses materials of steel and cement, lend a feeling of order, cleanliness, and direction, while also conveying a feeling of coldness and solidarity. rooms filled with reds and browns, and filled with materials like rattan, wood, and natural fibers convey feelings of warmth and relaxation. places that are neat, organized and symmetrical allow people to feel that they are in a place of order, while a place that is disheveled conveys a feeling of unorder and disorganization. its amazing how little things can affect the way we think and percieve things...the power of the mind..its amazing

poverty..its in our backyard

its crazy how we see those commercials late at night about those children around the world that are suffering from poverty, but we never think about the fact that there are many people that are suffering from poverty in our own backyards...think about the all the people you see begging on the streets (yeah some are faking it, but others really are suffering), the children with their mothers sleeping in the coves of buildings in downtown, or even the random people you notice walking down the street carrying everything they own in a plastic bag...before going out and helping others that are miles away from home (although we should help) we should look at those in our own neighborhoods or cities...i've always learned that it is great to help others, but helping others should start at home before you go out and help others...go to homeless shelters or find other city programs and get ideas...its the best way to get started...spread the message and those that are less fortunate..especially during this holiday season..

The power of positivity!!

i've always been told to handle every struggle in my life with a positive attitude. My mother used to tell me that a positive attitude can change any situation and allows you to think clearly. i recently had many opportunities to take a bad situation and turn it around with nothing more than a positive attitude. i have to say that it really does work. the most important thing i realized was that it releases all the negative energy from the situation. i've dealt with situations with a negative attitude and in the end everything falls apart. even after all the work i put into it, it falls apart. to have a postive attitude really requires no effort at all as long as you take things lightly and look at the big picture. the lesson: always be positive and a positive outcome is sure to occur (its quite corny i know, but honestly it works)..

Online Oxygen

i recently chanced upon some information about "online oxygen"..no its not oxygen provided online but a phrase used to describe the infiltration of internet into our daily lives. the internet is now at our fingertips..we can access it on our phones, we have cafes designed just for people to use the internet, internet systems run businesses, people now pay their bills and manage their accounts online, and email has completely taken over as an immediate form of comunication.every aspect of our lives revolves around the internet and what it has to offer..before we know it things we take for granted will be run through the internet...the only worry that people are starting to have is what is going to happen when we run out of space on the internet..what will happen then..maybe a new form of data technology will take over....it will be very exciting to see what the possibilites may be..

navratri..an indian festival

this week starts the hindu festival of navratri...its my favorite time of the year!! i wait and plan for these nine days of celebration from the beginning of the year. navratri celebrates the nine forms of the goddess Durga and her triumph over evil beings..worship and dance commence for nine days in celebration of the goddesses triumph and "shaki" power..the tenth day is spent in worship and prayer completeing the holy month in october..

the video below shows an example of the typical navratri dance form, garba/raas...(there's a video of the SMU traditional indian dance team performing a competitive form of this dance that can be viewed in an earlier post)

South Brunswick High School Navratri Garba 2007

Election 2008

so with the election year approaching i have to wonder whether any of the candidates actually care about the issues at hand...now i am cynical of the government, but i i truely wonder whether any of the presidental candidates care about what is affecting the US. i hope that people our age begin to start voicing their opinions and vote. every vote counts and who wants another president like the one we have now?? its our job to fix the wrongs that have been created and as much as we might doubt our work and opinions help..they really do..everything we do helps......remember: voice your opinions and make an effort to change the things that are affecting us, dont just sit and complain.

to go organic or not??

so yesterday i had dinner at a restaurant that serves 100% organic foods (meats, vegetables, and fruits). now i've never considered ever eating purely organic food, i mean it'd be nice to eat completely organic food but who has the time to cook orgainic foods or pay the money for a purely organic meal. i mean sometimes i feel that because business know that organic foods are good for people they'll charge you double for it...

i've always heard that eating organic foods cures certain diseases, prevents certain diseases and is good for the mind and body in total...i actually know a person that was suffering from cronic depression who switched to eating completely organic and began to get better right off the bat...today she's 100% better and is completely off the use of depression medications.

so i guess switching to complete organic would be the smart thing to do..i mean nothing to lose..if only it wasn;t so damn expensive...

MTV AIDS (shot)

AIDS awareness and prevention

i was recently researching new AIDS treatments and prevention strategies when i happened upon a set of foreign advertisements from France and a video commercial that aired on MTV.. the ads were quite disturbing, but not as disturbing as the video..the ads read "Without a condom you're making love with AIDS. Protect yourself."

the video is titled "Shots" and depicts the fact that if you are having unprotected sex its like being shot with a gun...its your ticket to death.. i'll post the video later on....(warning: parental discretion is advised..the video is a bit graffic)

reflection....the outside

after yesterday's post i realised i also wanted to mention something about personal appearance in the mirror....look at yourself and ignore all those little imperfections....those blemishes, pimples, wrinkles, bumps, hair...all that stuff you "think" others are looking at, but really no one notices. when i think about all those people that look in the mirror and see things that dont exist like fat or wrinkles, or even little imperfections.....and these things lead to eating disorders, plastic surgeries, and other bizarre behavior.

never take what you see in the mirror seriously........................it makes me sad to see kids as young as 8 with mental disorders dealing with their appearance.

relflection...whos really looking back

have you ever looked in the mirror and wondered who the person staring back at you is. does that person have dreams and hopes? does that person want things that everyone has? is happy with the life they have right now?

like many people i have looked at myself in the mirror and wondered these things. if the person was really another person, would his life be like mine, or would he be doing something cool like flying a plane, or rescuing endangered species? i have wondered these things about myself. did i make the right decisions? am i happy?

i finally realized after looking in the mirror that what i was looking at was a reflection and only a reflection. thats its...i make the decisions in my life and i make my own dreams..next time just look in the mirror and realize the person looking back at you is content with whats going on...and if he's not change..its never too late.....

what's in a lie..really??

why is lieing something that people take so seriously at times. i understand that no one likes to be lied to, but if you think about every person in the entire world has lied at least once. TV lies to us, the government lies to us, our own parents have lied to us..so what is it that makes lieing ok or not ok? sometimes we have to lie and sometimes we lie so that we don't get hurt or that we don't hurt others. dishonesty is a facet of our lives and as much as we try to stop it, it will continue...so why is it so bad? we have to believe that sometimes lieing really does help or really does occur to spare our feelings and emotions. if inherently all men are good at heart, does lieing make them not good people, or is it just a simple mistake that a good person makes?

the magnificance continues...

again i am wowed by the way nature has an effect on the human psyche...its amazing how the turning of a leaf, a cool gust of wind, or even the occasional autumn sunset...i have begun the little things in life and i find that every aspect of my day changes when i begin to feel the affects of fall...warm sweaters, pie, a blanket to snuggle in....

The many faces of fall...

i can't believe that fall is finally here...its wonderful to see how light can change the way you feel about the day. the way it plays off of everything it touches...i think the best portrayal of this is "miracle". you would think that we would never see fall in dallas, let alone in our own backyard, but this fall i've been seeing the pictuesque images of fall everywhere i turn..i only wish that it would get colder...

Liberty Mutual Ad (1st edition):

Paying it forward through advertising...

With the world "going green" and world becoming more socially responsible we are beginning to see many "socially responsible" commericals..one of the best ones that i have seen is the "half acre" paying it forward Liberty Mutual commercial...it just proves that if we all did something to help someone out and others saw that we could begin to change the world..step by step we could all begin to (i know its cliche) make the world a better place....its amazing what advertising like this could do to the world..

Semiotics

the siginifier in the is ad is the car, while the signified is the grater....the advertiser tricks the mind into thinking that the image is of a grater, but uses the car to replace the image...according to charles pierce's theory the image symbolically portrays a grater, iconically portrays a car, and indexically portrays a utility item...according to barthes theory the denotative portrayal is of a car, and connotative portral of a utility item...

just some thoughts about fall....

my favorite thing about fall is the leaves...i love watching them fall and having them cover every inch of the ground below..its like natures giving us a little gift to keep us happy during the winter...soon the air gets colder, the nights become longer, and you can look forward to the warm fires, the hor chocolate, and getting bundled up in sweaters and jackets....

its funny that its already fall but its still 95 degrees outside......sometimes i wish i lived up in the northeast where fall is actually a defined sense of time...

rolling balls of color...and elmo goes email..

recently crayola came out with a new set of products called "crayola beginnings"...these new products are creative products made to be easily handled by children's hands...one of the products "Tadoodles" is a plastic toy containing a brush that allows little children (9 months +) to paint masterpieces enhancing a children creativity at a very very young age...

another company joining the band-wagon is playskool..playskool recently created a line of toys for the technically savvy child...one of the products is the child friendly Internet tool that allows kids to pick up a figurine place it in a spot that connects the Internet to a game page for the kid..it monitors Internet behavior in children and helps kids to learn about the Internet...another item is a kids digital camera....it can be thrown around, smashed and bashed and still contains 6.5 megapixel picture quality..

man i wish i was a still a kid..or at least a kid that was born in this day and age...

some things to think about....

here are some stupid things to think about....

why don't sheep shrink when it rains???

if wool shrinks when you wash it...how come sheep dont shrink when it rains..

why are they called apartments if they are all stuck together???

its kind of true..if apartments are individualized living quarters why are they all connected into one building...

one more stupic thought...

why isn't there any mouse-flavored cat food???

if cartoons always show cats running after mice, or a movie showing a cat eating a mouse, how come there is no mouse-flavored cat food....seems reasonable..right???

InterSEXuality...

this ad for viagra is an example of horizontal intertexuality...the add is for a erectile dysfunction pill hence the bed..while the dots resemble the game "Twister"..there is also a suggestion that viagra also one to play "sexually"....very smart..

She done did it again ! ? !

so britany spears finally lost the custody of both her kids in a long drawn out case..i mean seriously..the kids are going to kevin..now thats not any better, but at least he's not driving around smoking with his kids sitting on his lap while driving...what is happening to parenting these days???? image how messed up those kids are going to be once they grow up...being famous really does ruin your life..and i bet that had she been a normal person her kids would have been taken away from her a lot sooner..

The many faces..

On my trip to India about 3 years ago I visited India like a tourist...in actuality I was a tourist..I don't have any family or anything there. On my trip to New Delhi I visited a very well known landmark, the Qutumb Minar..a large monumental pillar...there were many other carving around but one of them stood out..the picture above was one of the tops of a pilar..my guide had informed me that initially the forms had been of Hindu deities, but after the Moguls and taken over India they has chipped away at the heads of the deities...in the Islamic religion god has no form or face and art should not reflect the beauty of any of God's living creatures..therefore all animals, humans, and birds had no faces...I saw this again at a couple of other buildings and palaces...if the palace had been owned by a Hindu king, a Raja, and the architecture depicted some form of life, then the animal or deities form had no head...it was very interesting to see that once one group comes in on top of taking things away from the culture before it, they begin to add their own beliefs...

an image of the Qutumb Minar....its now closed for viewing because people used to go and commit suicide from the top..the architecture is beautiful and the fact that people created something so high and beautiful without any heavy artillary...pretty amazing..

Audrey Hepburn for GAP

another great spot that utilizes the effect of a Hollywood legend is Gap's fall 2006 ad campaign for the Audrey black pant.....i love the way that something so classic can be used in such a modern way..

E-Cards..laziness or a helpful gesture for the busy

while i believe in a great card once in a while i find that e-cards really are just a waste of space...while the idea my be great how many of us really take the time to send one out....i mean i would rather go to my local drug store and pick one out...if the person really is that important to me then i should take the time to go and pick out something that has some meaning behind it...e-cards just the fuel the lack of emotion that technology has taken...

the spot below is one of my all time favorites...i love the tension and the riot aspect juxtaposed with the playfullness of a pillowfight..and the song!! i absolutely love the song..it gives the piece a vintagey and fanciful flair...

Absolut Vodka pillowfight

Honda Ad

putting things together...

this is one of my favorite spots just because the enginuity behind the whole concept is amazing....its really great to see how many things go into something so mundane as a car..

crocs of death!!!

so recently the "super comfortable" plastic monstrosity's Crocs have been blamed for many escalator related injuries. Apparently the toes of those wearing Crocs have been getting caught in escalators. Thw Washington Metro and many other subway stations have been posting warning signs warning passengers about the hazards of wearing Crocs on escalators.

i mean if you are that stupid to wear plastic shoes maybe you should get caught in a escalator......shoes are supposed to be made of something sturdy not plastic!!!

good as good gets..

Paul Arden wrote that "Its not how good you are, it's how good you want to be"

this holds very true..half the time you do work and you try your best to make it the best that you can. Although criticism hurts sometime, in the end its definately for the good...i might say this but sometimes i would definately feel differently..i mean if i put in a shit load of work into a project and then someone said "this is wrong, and this is all messed up..or this is needs work here and you should definately have done this instead...i would totally get up in their face and be like "screw you..do you know how much effort i put into this damn project...

i mean i would like to believe that my appropriate response would be that i would appreciate their thoughts..but realistically are you kidding me????

i look forward to the this evry chirstmas..the light show out the saks 5th ave. store in new york city..this is what defines the holiday time for me...

this is another example of superb architectural detail..i love the different hues and textures of the bricks....the colors remind me of a warm donut...every face of this building has a different of variation of stone that is either rough or smooth..the aging of the stone only adds to the beauty of the building...

architecture is the "window" to the soul..

so this is one of a series of pictures that really depict the beauty of architecture....many of us go around and take the facade of a building or the interior of a building for granted...but have you ever stopped to study what the outside of building actually looks like..the emotion that it is trying to convey...????

this particular picture is one that i have fallen in love with..its an image that my girlfriend took of a building at Yale University in Conn...its quite beautiful how the shape of the window is surrounded by the straight and mundane texture of the brick...and the detail in the scrolling is quite emaculate...

WHat the Park????

so recently I got a parking ticket for parking over the alloted time limit on a regular residental street....the street was close to campus and there was no parking for students available....i mean the stupid school charges 230 bucks to park no where..i mean if we cant park on the street where are we supposed to park????

THE STIX

so the below video was a product of a lot of sweat, a lot of hours, and crap load of hard work...what started off as a dream made a group of 12 SMU students national champions!!!.....this will be my third year on the 1st SMU traditional indian dance team and my first year as captain.....we're hoping for the best...check out the video and give us feedback....this was our performance at SMU's Sing Song in 2006....

SMU RAAS - THE STIX

have you ever realized that we as college students need more time!!! i wish everyday had 11 extra hours...man every second is needed in a college student's life.... think of the olden times...they had it easier right??? well on top of school all the other crap that you have to do everyday is what takes a toll....i mean club meetings, rehearsals...stuff like that an then there's the concept of homework that has to be accomplish...that slugde-fest of a mountain...ahhh venting feels great..

what i have to say about myself is pretty short...i'm a short person, with a big heart, a stubborn personality and according to my girlfriend an even bigger ego....

i'm definately that guy that is always there when his friends need him, but i'm not beside myself to mention that i secretly want others to give me the same kind of attention that i give them...a little known secret that, i have to say, i'm a bit embarassed to mention....

i love art, music, culture and anything that takes me to another place....i love the world and all that it has to offer...i haven't travelled very much..but i love to travel.....thats a dream of mine, to travel the world.....fingers crossed....hopefully...

thats pretty much me in nutshell.....waiting to explode....hold your breath world...i'm coming.......