It is that time of year

Exactly one week from now is the NHL trade deadline. Those of you who know me, know that I love Rage Against the Machine, and also the Boston Bruins. Screw the Habs!!! Screw em'. If you do not like hockey or do not know anything about it (players, coaches and so on) I suggest you disregard this post. Don't even read it because it will only be a waste of you time. Seriously. I mean it. I'm bloody serious.


Alright. The Bruins are in 8th spot as of today, however that may change tonight when we face the fucking Carolina Hurricanes. Here is the standings:

Eastern Conference:
1. Ottawa 73PTS 23GR
2. New Jersey 73PTS 22GR
3. Carolina 64PTS 20GR
4. Montreal 73PTS 22GR
5. Pittsburgh 71PTS 23GR
6. New York Rangers 67PTS 21GR
7. Philadelphia 65PTS 23GR
8. Boston 64PTS 23GR
-----
9. Buffalo 64PTS 23GR
10. New York Islanders 63PTS 20GR
11. Washington 62PTS 20GR
12. Atlanta 62PTS 21GR
13. Florida 61PTS 20GR
14. Toronto 57PTS 22GR
15. Tampa Bay 56PTS 23GR

*GR: Games Remaining

The games to watch tonight are: Philadelphia v. Ottawa, New York Rangers v. Montreal, and Boston v. Carolina. Assuming the Bruins beat the Hurricanes for the first time in a long time, then they have a great chance of being in 6th place: that is with a win by Ottawa and Montreal. However, I would hate to see Montreal win and having the potential of being in first spot. Anyways, that being said, the Bruins would play Florida (thursday), Tampa Bay (saturday), Ottawa (tuesday) and Pittsburgh (thursday).
I strongly believe that if we win the next three games or 2 of 3, then Chiarelli (GM) may not lean towards acquiring a player. However, we do lack scoring and a lot of it. Glen Murray has missed around 20 games, and has lost a lot of his scoring abilities since Big Joe was traded. Marc Savard has not been getting the scoring support on his wings as he would have liked to, and so would we. It is obvious what the Bruins are lacking to reach the playoffs or to go further into the playoffs, that is if we make the playoffs. We need a scorer. Case closed. I do not want to trade for Marian Hossa because that would mean giving up quite a bit of prospects for a rental player who might leave via free agency in the summer: that would mean we gained absolutely nothing. Marian Hossa would be 'nice' to have on our team, but let's be honest here, do you think Boston (I'm talking about the organization) would keep or have two players making 7 million dollars a year? Even if we do unload Murray, who makes 4 million dollars, I still do not see it happening. Remember, our owner is Jeremy Jacobs.
It has also be stressed that we need another defense-man: top 4 defense-man. Our defense contains Zdeno Chara (no way will he be traded), Dennis Wideman (forget about it), Aaron Ward (makes 2.75 million and is a free agent, so there is possibilities, but I doubt he is traded), Ferrence (A better chance of being traded than Ward), Mark Stuart (young, lots to learn, therefore, I would keep him), Shane Hnidy (acquired earlier this year, but isn't worth much), Andrew Alberts (I don't really like him, but I doubt he will be dealt since he does have a concussion). The question is, Which defense-man and who will we deal? Even though Aaron Ward is a free agent at the end of the year, I doubt he will be dealt. He adds so much to this team that Bruins fans can easily dismiss or forget. Ward brings a lot of leadership, he is a veteran with 3 stanley cups and is a got tutor to the young D.
That being said I doubt Chiarelli makes any deals, but if he does, then they will be minor or small deals. No blockbusters, trust me. I have been looking through other teams rosters and here is a list of players I can see Chiarelli looking at:

Offense:
David Vyborny (Columbus)
Miroslav Satan (NYI)
Patrick Marleau (SJ: long shot)
Steve Bernier (SJ)
Darcy Tucker (Tor: long shot)

Defense:
Sean O'Donnel (Anaheim)
Ken huskins (Anaheim)
Brendan Witt (NYI)
Craig Rivet (SJ)

*More to add

American Gangster

Americano.

Yes! American Gangster is here. I don't mean to startle you. I am not (I do stress the 'not') an American Gangster for several reasons, first, I am not an American and believe me, Canadian Gangster sounds fishy; second, I do not look like a gangster nor do I wear any bling-bling (ok, so that is two reasons in one); I do not write or talk in some slang language, but I do swear, sometimes too much. There you go. That being said, I was talking about the movie, American Gangster, with my favorite actor, Denzel Washington, and Russel Crowe, who I always (for some off reason) confuse his name with Kurt Russel (don't ask me how).

I'm quite excited to watch the 2 hour and a half movie this friday with my cousin, James "hoppin' n' pimpin'" Boi. The same day I will apply via online to Concordia and Mcgill before watching the Gangsta' movie. I'm thinking of majoring in History and taking minors in both Education and Political Science. Then again, there is also majoring in education and taking minors in History and Political Science. Then again, I can major in Political Science and take minors in Education and History. Confused yet? Yeah, there is a lot to think about before I apply friday. That being said, I better *bleepin'* (oh what the hell, just insert Fucking!) decide quickly.

While at the library . . . . .

Argh.

I am at the Library a dozen or so minutes from class and the freaking internet won't work on my freaking mac. I heart that! Well I guess it is ok seeing as my wallpaper are quotes from Rage Against the Machine songs and Zack De La Rocha's face (the 'new' Icon of history HA). I also hear two guys beside me snoring silently. Oh fucking Wow.

So it is Back

The mohawk is back boys and girls. Yes. The next thing to do is get streaks once my hair decides to grow. I guess the whole mohawk thing was a spurt-of-the-moment. How long will it last? A day, two days, a week, two months. Who the hell knows? "Only God knows why?" Really? Are you sure he knows? Does he exist? Sorry Christians. On another positive note, I submerged and awoke to a burst of (insert word here) once my friend rubbed my mohawk.
You know what? Bacci is one fucking hell of a chocolate. Sorry for the vulgar language, though I warn you there are some coming up....or are they?
*Starts singing*

"I got nothin to say,
Just like the other day
When I approached you,
The mouth opened,
No I was not going to kiss you,
But maybe I should have,
Oh, I had nothing to say,
I've got nothing to say,
What the fuck am I saying,
Where the fuck am I going,
Oh, I think I'm going down,
Down, down, oh set up a base,
Let me sleep and think of everything,
Oh, what is left when you got nothing to say,
Nothing to say to you or yourself,
Nothing, nothing at all."

I just wrote that now: took me 2 minutes. Wow.

Blood Shed

Blood shed,
Spilling quicker and thicker,
From the First World War
To the Second,
Cultures clashing,
A long list of demands needs to be fed,
Raise your arms, break the laws,
More blood, more harm, more kills,
More civilians struggling to stay still,
The clash of many innocence,
Through rash orders
And this world filled with pestilence.

Fight this war,
They tell you what to do,
No questions asked; only rifles and targets,
Hide the truth
With bullet holes through your chest,
Nest your soul and your thoughts,
But your mind is now covered in blood,
The lives lost, the whole village blood-shot,
A grenade in your hand, someone's heart in the other.

Women, children screaming
Another round of gunshots; Booyaa,
Some loading their automatics,
While the one's struggling use their fists
To go out with a bang,
Hiding in the torn shed,
Hiding under another dead body,
Not much shelter left,
Almost everything is burned to the ground,
Too much loss of blood,
More blood spilling; filling the sea,
Bodies are dumped in empty holes,
A government's plan to exterminate the poor.

One, Two, Three

One puff, two puff,
You'll be stuffed in a coffin,
With the clothes your wearing
Baghdad, Trinidad & Tabago,
wherever, whenever,
You can only run for so long.

Back in the storm,
Acid falls, cleansing our souls,
A buckett of quarters
locked in a cage,
She rattles herself,
Through the underground
Where the danger occurs,
Filth, poor, dead,
Collision of culture,
Her mind shattered with devestation,
Only losses fill the columns,
Her purse snatched,
But she doesn't give a fuck,
She's got nothing,
Nothing left by her side,
The wind rattles her mind.

One shot, two shots,
Another lying on the floor,
All the good's taken,
Her Identity stolen.

The centre of the storm,
What else can cleanse this soul?
A movement, everybody running for their lives,
A new disaster,
Everything bombed and everyone tortured,
Running, running for which sacred shelter?
Running, running for which promised land?
The Promise land?
Behind those gates,
Another structure,
A new system capitalizing on the sick.

One shot, two shots,
And the World goes round and round.

What? Can you hear me now?

Drop It!!

Your Anger is a Gift!

Ok, not to some more serious stuff. I like saying 'stuff,' it adds a lot of 'stuff' to the word 'stuff.' Jesus! What am I doing?! This week was pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, preeeetttyyy good. Pretty. Exactly one week until my Che project. Holy Cow! I can't believe I just said 'Holy Cow.' I never say that. Never.

3 Minutes until LOST is on. Sounds terrific. I think I will go watch it and post later tonight. Sounds good? I think it does.

Day X: More Che, more Che and some more Che. Che Che Che.

I do not know how many days I have spent on preparing, reading and organizing my "Che" project. Though I can tell you that it isn't much. Sadly, I have not done as much as I intended to do. A little over a week left until my lecture in front of 51 students studying the same program. As I stated before, I am a little nervous and why should I not be? I have started to read articles again, but now I notice that there are a shit load of books to look through. There are days that the workload does not seem much - I feel that I can get through it in a day or less - and there are days when I just stare at the seven books and a dozen articles from the internet.
This lecture, so to speak, means a lot to me - I must present it perfectly. I know, that I may sound somewhat nuts and a little too obsessive over this, but it just means so much to me to get it out right. I am not trying to convert anybody into believing that Che is the greatest leader or that everything he did was justifiable because it is not. Some may argue he was a disgusting human being because he slaughtered people without giving them a trial. However, these were men who worked for the self-centered Dictatorship of Cuba, Fulgencio Batista. Those who do not know who Fulgencio Batista was would not understand why Che slaughtered the men who did favor Batista's ideas and actions. Batista, who was a sergeant, took over Cuba by implementing a coup d'etat in the mid 1930s; this would be called "The Revolt of the Sergeants." Batista favored the rich and had close ties to the Americans, who only cared about increasing their own wealth. The Cuban army's capacity would increase from 8'000 men to 20'000 men, as well as occupying one quarter of Cuba's economy. Whoever had ties with Batista (rich Cuban citizens, mobs, Americans and so on) lived a wealthy life, but those who worked as farmers (producing a good chunk of Cuba's good's, if any), sailors, tailors and so on, lived poorly barely enough to live through one day. The main point of a Cuban Revolution was to overthrow Fulgencio Batista. However, that goal also drifted to creating an agrarian reform; that is taking the land from the wealthy and giving it to those who have worked for 2 years or more, but failed to make enough money. This reform would also cause some feud with the July-26 Movement rebels; these rebels were part of Fidel Castro's group in 1953 trying to overthrow Batista, but failed. There was a lot of feud going on throughout this Cuban Revolution, but dated way before.
The Americans were very upset that the Cuban Revolution succeeded and that Fidel Castro and Che had her power. Unlike most leaders in the past centuries, Che kept his word. He did become the director of the industrialization program of the National Agrarian Reform Institute (INRA) [October, 1957] and the head of the National Bank (November 1959), but he did increase the happiness and work force of the Cuban Citizens. Despite the U.S.As blockade of Cuba's exports and imports - they also tried to persuade other countries to block trading with Cuba - Che eliminated unemployment, wiped out illiteracy, while Cuba became somewhat an industrial power. There were a lot of ups and down's when Che took control of the INRA and the National Bank, but like anything you try to establish, it takes time to develop into what you intend it to be.

Anyways. Enough of Che for now. I must get back to reading, and finish everything - all info, outline, pictures and power points must be done - and by next weekend I should be practicing my presentation. Hopefully. Yes, hopefully.

Must. Do. Work. Must. Do. Work.

Must. Do. Work. Must. Do. Work.

Big "Che" Oral/Presentation in two weeks and what have I done so far? Read a book, a couple of articles :S
What needs to be done?
Know Fulgencio Batista. Know how and why Che got involved in the Cuban Revolution (I have a good idea). Know Guerilla Warfare (Che's tactics and strategies). The Bolivian War (What reasons? I know he tried to start a revolution, but why was he not successful?). What was the American army doing in Bolivia along side the Bolivian army? Why were the Americans in favor of Batista (Afraid of Communism?).

Oh. Boy.

Must. Do. Work. Must. Do. Work.

Must. Do. Work. Must. Do. Work.

Last of the month

How did I end my month? Well I woke up half asleep - what else is new? I went to class, learned a couple of things. Though I almost fell asleep in Money and Banking class. Gym, which we did nothing by muscle/flexibility and so on tests. Boring! That was followed by hanging out with a friend by having coffee and discussing Daniel Craig, Clive Owen, Kiefer Sutherland, Christian Bale and so many more actors, including British ones. Well, since we were close by Future shop, we figured, 'what the hell, let's go look for a film.' Long day short; came home watched the Boston Bruins beat Ottawa 4-1 *Happy face* now typing on this damn blog for unknown reasons. Though I guess I just wrote them down.......oh, Fuck!
Tomorrow; planning on looking for an internation film, maybe 'Open your eyes." Fuck! Look what you made me do..... thank you 'The Motorcycle Diaries!!!!" Damn. Fool. Damn. Woooot?

The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey

Similar to Ann Veronica, I will write down how many pages I have read for the day. Why? I do not know. Perhaps it acts as a sort of motivation to finish the book, or something like that. Maybe it is nothing. Maybe. Whatever the case may be, I will try it once again.

January 29: 16-73
January 30: 73-104
January 31: 104-122

After that I will be reading a shit load of articles based on "Che," Bolivian War, Batista (Dictorship of Cuba, 1920s-1956 I believe), a little on Fidel Castro and "Guerilla Warfar," another book by Che.

Layer Cake and the shit load of homework

What did I do today? Umm. U.S. History class, not too shabby. Quite interesting actually. That was followed by War and Revolution class; we spent the entire class talking about the Vietnam War - Damn Americans!. Nonetheless, very interesting even though the teacher is young and such a slow talker. I got home around 1pm. Ate. Soup. I turned the dvd player on and watched "Layer Cake" for the second time in five days (Thank you Selina!!!). Yeah, she recommended the movie to me. What an awesome film. Awesome. I like Daniel Craig, but now I like him more because of the movie. Oh fuck-off! I don't love him or want to make love to him in any way, for crying out loud! Just incase some dirty-minded fool was thinking so as she or he read this. Oh, we all are, huh? Anyways.
It is quite a twisted, back-and-forth british flick. In other words, a gangster movie. Here is a brief summary of the movie; a drug dealer (Daniel Craig) who goes by the name XXXX [Yes, I thought of that too.] is determined to retire and live a wealthy life. However, his boss asks XXXX to do him one last favor: sell one million hits of Ecstasy. There is a catch to all this. The Ecstasy were stolen from another drug lord, who will cut off the head of whoever plans to sell them. The plot seems a little wacky and thick because it is whacky and thick. I really did enjoy certain scenes in the movie, notably the coffee scene (not because I love coffee!). In this scene, Morty, who works along side XXXX, is confronted by an old pal named Freddie. This old pal is a dirty, penny-less man, who seems to know Morty quite well. The story between these two men go way back, which is later revealed in the movie. However, I will not dwell upon how they knew each other - it is up to you to find out. Nonetheless, Morty swings a bottle (not sure if it were beer or whatnot) across Freddie's head, knocking the dirty fellow to the ground. Throughout this scene, Morty is beating the living daylights (whoa!) out of Freddie. What caught my attention was how they filmed the scene. Freddie's body was not revealed throughout his beatings. In fact the audience became Freddie's eyes; shaken and stirred. Anyways. Yeah. I'm no film expert, so I would not know what they call these scenes.

A list of what I have to do this week and weekend;

Wenesday:
Read The Motorcycle Diaries and take some notes on it.
Thursday:
Work on Che lecture/Oral (information)
Complete French Interview (type up)
Additional homework
Friday:
English/French homework
Che Project/Oral
Get book on Batista (dictorship of Cuba prior to 1956)
Saturday:
More Che reading
Outline of Che Project/Oral
Continue work
U.S. History reading assignment (3 questions + 20 pages of reading)
Sunday:
Homework that was not complete
Football Game (GO PATS GO!)

Don't you hate Metro and Bus rides? I know I do.

I know I do. Yes, indeed. Especially when you sit near smelly mofo's. Damn right. I mean, it's not like I encourage them to sit near me or anything; why would I? why would anyone? I understand if you came from an intensive physical activity. However, it is a little chilly out there, not to chilly mind you, so you can stay outside for a little while. You know, it is called walking. You do not have to walk home or walk towards a particular object, store, woman or car. Just walk around, cool off. You know?
Today, as I took the bus home, I was unfortunate to sit next to a man who smelled like rotten cookies blended with urine. I know. That is one unpleasant smell. It was not my choice to sit next to him. I sat down leaving an empty seat beside me, and a few seconds later comes a slightly overweight man who looks like my former politics teacher, Tony Schwartz. It was bad enough that the guy smelled, it is even worse that he looked like my former politics teacher. Jesus! Mary! Joseph! God! Almighty! Lord!! Fuck, I need a shower! AHHH! Mofo. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. God. Thank God I did not sit next to him for too long. Jesus, what an Irish Car Bomb!
Tomorrow; Ipod + Music + War/Revolution Class + U.S History = Awesome fucking day (At least it BETTER be!). What a hell of a weekend lurking near by :(

Ann Veronica: mission succeeded

Alrighty boys and girls, guess what? Oh, cut the bullshit! So there you have it, just as it says in the title. It took me a while to get through more than I had anticipated. The beginning of the novel, say, the first forty pages was intensively boring (yes, intensively!). Though, from 40sh-120 the book hit a new level; a peak to say the least. Unfortunately, I found the novel to take a nose dive for the next 60 or so pages. A real scoop. The novel felt like a roller-coaster; headaches here and there, some excitement and some disappointment. The novel would take another rise and fall. However, the last 40 or so pages, was quite warming and soothing. I cannot present any evidence of this without spoiling the end of the novel.
I did not find this novel a turning point in my life nor did I find it exquisite or some sort of classic. That being said, the novel did exceed my expectations. If you read my previous posts on this novel you will realize that I did not like it, actually I despised it. Though, my perception of this novel has changed.

Eclipse

Watch this system eclipsed,
Sooner than the eye can blink,
A rebellion coming,
Mayhem taking place,
Corruption exceeding the amount of this force,
A new mission,
Still serving the same interest,
Eclipse this system,
Bring peace to the struggler;
Equality to mankind,
A new picture to paint,
A new story to tell your grand-kids.

Line them up one by one,
Protect the family,
Fight for your freedom,
You didn't ask for this,
Never wanted to see blood this way,
Just wanted justice
That should have been served,
Use what we learned; Guerilla warfare,
We never wanted this,
Just shoot to injure
And get our message across.

The time is Now,
Now,
The time is Now,
Now,
The time is Now,
Or never!

Top 10 artists

I shall list my top 10 music artists; bands and/or solo singers. It will be quite hard to make a list from 4-10....oh boy.

1. Rage Against The Machine
2. Bruce Springsteen
3. Jay-Z
4. The Strokes
5. Nirvana
6. Cypress Hill
7. Taking Back Sunday
8. New Found Glory (or as some of my friends called them, "NFG = No Fucking Good!" lol)
9. Radiohead
10. The National

The order may change, but it is more or less this way. The first three are a lock, especially number one.

Zack De La Rocha; enough said.

Zack De La Rocha expresses his views of political matter with Rage....


Enough said.


My favorite picture of Zack :D

For those who do not know who Zack De La Rocha is shame on you. No, no, I was kidding. No need to feel horrible or believe that you are a disgrace to your peers. Zack is the singer of my favorite group, Rage Against the Machine. Those of you who know me know why I love Rage. However, for those of you who do not know me that well I shall explain it to you quite briefly. I first started listening to Rage about 1 1/2 years ago; a time when I was not sure what I thought about this world or what was waiting for me in the future. It was a time when I did not follow politics or what was happening around this world as much as I followed sports such as hockey, baseball, soccer. Sports to me was a religious thing as church is sacred to Christians. When I first listened to Rage Against the Machine (my first song was Killing in the Name) I experienced some sort of change that quickly started to brew, I guess, in me. The beat and instrumental flow of each song is one exceptional and phenomenal thing, but the power, the passion, the anger in Zack De La Rocha is something so unique that it is quite impossible to find in this world. Zack has a way to express the message of each song so exquisitely and so bold that it succeeds by influencing the listener to read up on current events or what is being talked about in the song; Zapatista's in "People of the Sun," "New Millennium Homes," etc. Zack brings this enormous sphere (i guess, can't think of a better word right now) of energy and passion throughout every single song, every single verse and every single word. Whenever I hear Zack's voice, whether it is his famous speeches in his song "Wake Up" or expressing his views through letters, songs and other such ways, I just feel like I am there with him. It may seem quite cheesy but Zack De La Rocha's voice, his passion, his anger, his beliefs, give me a great amount of courage and self-confident as if nothing can stand in my way as if there is no way that I can fail in a certain situation and so on. To make you understand, this is a guy who spend one whole year living in poor conditions with poor families in Mexico; he would struggle with them, he would help them out as much as he could and he would also entertain them by singing alone with his guitar (obviously this was all done in Spanish). Zack may be characterized as a saviour, voice and hope for many struggling people.

More to come.

I don't know why, who does?

Like the title says, sometimes I do things which I don't question until after I complete it. Here is my reading log of SIR Ann Veronica by Mister H.G. Wells.

January 1-3: Page 1-30
January 22: Page 30-50
January 23: Page 50-68
January 25: Page 68-110
January 26: Page 110-152
January 27: Page 152-202
January 28: Page 202-292

See How a Nut I am? Who you trying to get crazy with ese, Don't you know I'm Loco?* Oh, by the way I have to complete Ann Veronica (292 pages) by tuesday morning. The question is, can I read 200 pages in 3 days? Em-Beh! Who knows, I'm already going insane, insane in the brain!



*Line from "Insane in the Brain" by none other than Cypress Hill.

Claudio's Eleven

First and foremost I would like to congratulate myself on posting more than 9 times in a month. This is pretty huge for me since I had not been consistent in the past - ever since I started this blog. I believe the most I ever posted in a month was 9 times - that month was December, I believe. Here is a toast to post number 11 of the month *drinks a bottle of Stella Artois.*
What else is there to say?

I
Like
.........
No, let me rephrase that.
I
Really
Like
Radiohead!



It is beginning to grow on me. I really enjoyed their album, which is the only album I have, OK computer, but they were never one of my top favorite bands. Though, now that I am listening to their new album, In Rainbows, I'm beginning to really, really enjoy them. In other words, Radiohead is growing on me (is that correct?). Just to mention, I know he's out there sometwhere probably getting stoned or drunk, a thanks to James, who introduced Radiohead to me. Jimmy "P-humpin' pimper.' If you have been reading my blog, or know me well enough, then you know my favorite band :D

Nothing. Nada. Absolute.

Here I am watching "In the Line of Fire," a Clint Eastwood film. Today, I bought a shit-load of the materials I need for my courses. A dull day with not much to do. I started reading "Ann Veronica" from where I left off two weeks ago. You remember my comments about it? How dull and boring it was, that it made me fall asleep several times. Well, so far I read an extra 30 pages, so I am at 60 something, and it does get a little better. Just a little.
Ohhhhhh Fuck, I am bored!! Damn. *Humming the beat to "How I could just kill a man" (The Rage Against the Machine version).