The concept of sin has been around as long as human beings have existed in this planet.
It is such a universal concept that every human knows about it. It is the cornerstone of every religion and it provides the foundation onto which society is built upon.
It is found in every religion. Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism and more. Each of these religions have the concept of sin in one way, shape or form. There are rules, codes of conduct in every religion and if you are to break any of these rules, you have committed sin. For example, in many religions consuming alcohol is a great sin.
It is the basis of society. Yes, the concept of sin builds the foundation of society, even if we do not refer to it as “sin”. Instead we use the word crime. Yes, the society has set of rules and similar to religion, if you are to break those rules then you have committed a crime (in other words, sin). The words are different but the concept is the same.
The concept of sin has been with us for as long as one can remember.
But my question is why?
Why?
Why do we have sin in our religion and society? And why do we rely so heavily on it to control the behaviors of fellow human beings?
This is my theory.
We, as human beings, are wild animals. If we are to be left unchecked, we would easily be living in a Mad max kind of world. A lawless world where one can do as he wished. Deep inside each of us is an animalistic instinct to destroy that which is not ours. We have, in a sense, a crazy voice inside all of us telling us to do bad, ‘sinful’ things.
Why do we have this voice?
That I do not know, but we have it regardless.
Hence, if we were left unchecked, it wouldn’t take long for us to start destroying each other. So, this is why we created the concept of ‘sin’: to keep ourselves in check. Because we cannot trust ourselves to do the right things, we need an external concept/force that guides us to do what’s right. And that concept is sin.
That’s why it is so widespread in our society. You can find the concept of sin everywhere. In religion as sin, in society as the law, in schools as the rulebook and so on.
Disclaimer: I am just a dumbass. I am not an expert. I don’t claim to be right on any of this stuff. These are just my opinions, and should be taken as such.
Another horrible news, yet another poor soul rendered victim to an acid attack.
Acid attack: The act of throwing acid at someone (primarily face) with the intent of harming/disfiguring the person.
Acid attacks are probably one of the most horrendous crimes that are quite common in our (South Asian) societies. Yeah, for me personally, it’s one of the worst things you could do to a person primarily due to the lifelong ramifications for the victim.
Say, if you rob someone. The victim can still recover from that incident (be it a difficult journey). But acid attack? No, the story is very different and dark. The victim has to live with the scars for the rest of her life (and yes, the majority of victims are women). They are looked down upon by the society (whether intentionally or not) and their life become a struggle. It becomes almost impossible to find a partner and get married (because aesthetics is aesthetics) and they live their lives hiding from the stares and pitiful remarks of strangers.
What a painful existence?
All because of a single incident.
Yeah, so for me, acid attacks rank high up in my list of horrible crimes. It’s even worse than rape.
Yet it is so common in our societies.
I mean, we are living in 2020, shouldn’t we as human beings move past such barbarism? But still, there are people who do these absolutely disgusting acts, and there are those who suffer from them.
And the media, as always, plays its role of blaming the wrongdoer and forgets about the incident until…… another tragedy happens.
But think about it for a moment. What do acid attacks tell us about us?
It tells us that we as a society, have FAILED ourselves.
Yes, as much as the wrongdoer might be a “bad” person, the existence of acid attacks in today’s day and age indicates as clear failure of us as a society in a number of areas. After all, had we been proactive and successful as a society, tragedies like these would have never happened in the first place.
See, I’m not saying the person who threw the acid is not responsible for his actions. NO, he is absolutely responsible for it, and as such, should be punished by the rule of law. There is no exception to it.
However, what I am saying is, there is more to acid attacks that just blaming the wrongdoer and brushing it off like just another bad incident. Most people don’t look past blaming the criminal and sympathizing with the victim… and that’s the reason why it happens again and again.
People simply don’t look for the root cause of the issue.
Hence, the problem persists, adding more victims to its list.
Getting to the roots.
The root cause of acid attacks is not external but: Internal.
What do I mean by that?
The number one reason why acid attacks happens (in our South Asian societies) is when a guy fails in love (in other words, gets rejected by the girl). It’s like the person can’t handle rejection and does something as stupid and horrible as throwing acid at another person’s face.
But think about it for a second.
Rejection.
Hmmm… does it seem like a rare event?
Hell no! There are 7 billion people in the world, I would imagine hundreds experience it every single day. But are there hundreds of acid attacks daily? No.
Why?
Because, most people are emotionally equipped to handle rejection in life.
Hence, acid attackers are mostly those people who are emotionally weak/ lack emotional intelligence. They do not know how to deal with rejection in life, hence they act in irrational ways when they encounter an incident that challenges their ego.
So, acid attack is not only a result of the person being “bad” but more so of the person lacking the right emotional tools to handle situations in life.
Makes sense?
Let’s talk about emotions.
Life is complicated. Things are not as simple as we think they are. People act in unexpected ways.
Moreover, we don’t get everything we want in our lives.
Yes, as much as it sounds unappealing it’s true. There are certain things in life that we simple can’t control: the weather, the economy and of course other people.
Yes, we can’t control other people. It’s a simple lesson, yet most people spend their whole lives never really understanding it. And that causes a whole lot of emotional pain.
And when people don’t understand this simple fact, they act in irrational ways. This is more common in young people I would image, as I experienced it myself.
Say if you like someone, but he/she doesn’t have the same feelings for you. Now, you can look at it in two different ways, you can either get angry at that person because they don’t like you back (because you don’t have basic emotional intelligence, and your ego gets hurt) or you could look at it in a rational way and accept the fact you can’t control the other person, and you are not entitled to their feelings (because you have adequate emotional skills to handle life).
Is it going to be fun?
No, rejection is never a good feeling lol. But, it’s a part of life. You need to learn to deal with it.
And that’s the problem.
Those who throw acid onto peoples’ faces have never learnt this.
These people, I would imagine, are relatively young (although, emotional maturity is not determined by age) and have very intense emotions. Look at all the strange stuff such as anorexia (girls starving themselves to death) or depression, it’s increasingly common in young people. Hence, rejection is a huge deal in a teenager/young person’s life. And, if they don’t know how to handle it then it leads to some very dark places such as acid attacks.
Most of these acid attackers simply have not experienced enough life to develop their emotional maturity. And no, it’s not because of age. It’s because they live life in their little bubbles. They do not have many women in their lives (apart from their mother and sisters) and they mostly hang out with members of same sex.
They have no experience whatsoever in talking to and making connections with the opposite sex. Their friend circles, I would imagine would only contain guys. And they are probably too insecure to ask someone out.
A common scenario in South Asian society.
Hence, when they finally muster up the courage to ask someone out and get rejected, it’s the end of the world for them. They simple don’t have enough self-worth to accept and move on. Instead, they base their whole self-worth onto this person (whom they can’t control lol) and when they get rejected, it gets shattered.
When one’s ego gets hurt, they will do unspeakable/irrational things to cope with it. They want to regain their self-worth. They want to take revenge (because they irrationally believe that they are entitled to the other person’s feelings). So, in their moment of shame, anger and sadness, they garb the bottle and…
Hence, acid attacks.
What can be done?
So, since we have established the root cause of acid attacks: Lack of emotional intelligence. We can take steps to curb this issue.
Here are the things that can be done:
Make it normal to talk about emotional issues. People (specially guys) feel a sense of shame in taking about their emotions in their friend circles. Talking about emotional issues is regarded as feminine in our society, hence most guys do not talk about it, and they never get help. Hence, we must make it acceptable and mainstream to discuss about topics such as rejections, family issues and general emotional problems in the popular media and out social circles.
Encourage people to experience new things. More often than not, most people spend their whole lives in the same social circle, with same beliefs and with the same emotional maturity. They never grow that way. Hence, we must encourage people to do new things, meet new people, go to new places and that way, learn new things. Hence, they can grow emotionally.
Teach people about Movies. Bollywood moves, yuck! Not all of them, but most of it is not good (neither cinematically nor for your emotional health). People grow up watching movies where the guy is madly in love with the girl and will do ANYTHING for her. And if the gets rejected, he immediately goes to the roof to jump off, and seeing that the girl finally loves him. WTF? Life doesn’t work like that lol. But still, many people learn from these movies, hence, we must teach people to separate real life from fiction. (It might seem obvious, but you would be surprised how many people are influenced by dumb movies like these).
Teach about emotions in schools. Schools, they might a good place to learn about algebra but regarding important stuff like emotional intelligence, THEY SUCK! I was never taught to deal with rejection, how to talk to strangers, or how to deal with family issues. NOPE! You have to figure that out yourself! Sure, some of us do, but many people could really use some help. Hence, teach this stuff in schools so people learn emotional maturity besides geometry.
Hence, these are my thoughts on this very serious and relevant topic. And I hope, horrible incidents like acid attacks do not happen (or at least happen less) in the future.
Because I have been so lazy the past few months, and as a turn of unfortunate events, I have gotten a little fat. Like skinny-fat to be exact.
What’s skinny-fat you may ask?
Ah, it’s the worst thing ever! Like, your skinny overall, but your tummy is fat. It honestly sucks.
Trust me, you don’t want to be skinny-fat. It’s the worst thing in the world lol.
So, hoping to look like LeBron James (one day, maybe lol), I decided to run alongside the river near my home, and go as far as it goes. So, yeah, I run alongside the river, as long as the way goes. It feels good.
So, the other day, I was running. And I reached the end of the way. Now I had to run back the same way. I had to get home.
So, I was running back, and suddenly, I had the strongest desire to pee. Yeah, should have done it at home lol.
Now, when nature calls, there are two options.
Either you do the deed, or you hold it till you get home.
Now, if you would ask me about a year ago, I would definitely say, HOLD IT (after all, I gave too many fucks about what would people say if I peed where I wanted lol). My own wants were of little importance to me.
But, as I have gotten older (and hopefully wiser), I have learned the life long lesson: when it comes, let it go. I mean, it’s really bad for you to hold your pee. And I still had a long way home.
So, I decided to pee. But now the million-dollar question was, “WHERE?”
I’m on the side of a river. Far from home. There are no toilets, duh. And all there are, are these huts where poor people live (yeah, I’m sound like an asshole) where they farm pigs and ducks.
Now, there is this whole COVID thing, so I can’t risk going into their place.
And did I forget that, “I don’t fucking know these people lol”.
So, as you can see, the situation was looking grim.
But as I was contemplating these heavy options, I saw something that gave me HOPE.
I saw a man peeing on a bush, calmly, going about his business, like time was just a concept and the universe was made up of vibrations.
That man was really at peace.
The man was peeing, just around the corner. Seeing that man pee felt like a ray of sunshine on a dark winter day. It was like, something hit me, I was filled with overwhelming joy and warm emotions.
I WANTED to be that man so bad.
But I can’t just join him, can I?
Nah bro, that would be so gay, I can’t risk my street cred even if no one is looking.
So, I did something that was gayer lol. I stayed there, moving in big circles, strolling, waiting for him to finish. Can you imagine how weird that man must have felt lol? Just a random guy, strolling around, looking at him like an eagle looking for prey, as he is peeing.
But, somethings in life have to be done, even if it means doing something gay. That’s the cost of freedom.
And freedom, it finally arrived.
The man left in a hurry, I looked around to make sure he was gone and hurried myself to empty my tank.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, is this Nirvana?
Peace, finally. I swear to god, this is what Buddha was looking for. Too bad it was this easy to find lol.
And as I finished, I felt a burden lifted off my shoulders. I felt free. I felt happy. I felt at peace.
But it’s not just that I got to pee when I really wanted to, I actually felt proud of myself. I did something that I wanted to do, without the fear of judgment or shame. I could have easily held my pee till I get home (and suffer on the way), but I peed. Why? Because I wanted to.
I felt proud of myself.
It is a feeling that I struggle to find every day, but here I was, I felt proud doing something as basic as peeing.
Good things do happen in the simplest of ways.
And with that warm fuzzy feeling of being proud, I finished my business and got back on the road.
Running.
And in case you were wondering, No, I didn’t wash my hands ; )
Warning: Don’t watch this movie with your parents/kids. Don’t watch this movie if you are a lighthearted person.
So, recently I have been really bored. I don’t really know the reason, but I just feel bored as fuck all day long. It’s not that I have nothing to do; I have a shit ton of things to do (study, attend online classes, wash dishes, cook food, exercise, write blogs, and the options are endless). But I just don’t feel like doing any of these at times lol. I’m a lazy bastard, aren’t I?
But anyway, I decided to watch a movie the other day. But I didn’t want to watch some generic Hollywood franchise like the fucking Avengers (not that I have anything against them lol). I was fed up with the normal films (the ones ‘most’ people know about). I wanted something different, something new. I wanted to watch a film that most people know nothing about.
And so, I went to the mighty Google and asked, “The most disturbing films of all time”.
And there it was, on the list: Dogtooth.
Dogtooth is a dark-comedy film by a Greek director whose name I don’t know. But yeah, the film is not made in Hollywood, it’s a Greek film (u know, the country Greece). I had never in my life watched a Greek film. And yes, you need subtitles to understand the film.
So, despite the subtitles (which wasn’t much of an issue for me cause I used to watch a lot of anime lol) and the apparent lack of recognition, I decided to watch this film.
And tell you what, it was one of the most brilliant movies I had ever seen!
The plot
The film is absolutely brilliant. I mean, I was so impressed by the story of the film that I was lost for words. I kept thinking, “Who the fuck can come up with such amazing/weird ideas for a film?”
So, enough of the praises, let’s get into the film itself.
The film is based on the question, “What happens if you control every aspect of a child’s life?” Every aspect, like I’m not kidding, everything!
So, in the movie, there is this couple with 3 children. And this couple is fucking crazy. Like the mother and father are absolute psychos. They are control freaks.
Control freaks: People who want to control everything.
Hence, they do something unimaginable to “control” their children’s lives. They build a house in the middle of nowhere (like literally, in an area where there are no people), and put up tall fences around it (so that you can’t see the outside world from the inside). And then raise their 3 children in this house. The children, who are now almost adults (almost 25 years old), have never seen the outside world! Like NEVER. Like for them, their whole world is their home, and the only people they have ever seen is their parents.
They have never been to a park, never been on a plane, never met people their own age, never gone to school, never seen a movie… you get the idea. They don’t know anything about the outside world!
It’s already a crazy premise for a film. But shit gets weirder lol.
And all they do is obey their parents. Even though they are 25 years or older, they still act like children because the parents never taught them to be adults (they want to control them, remember?) Hence, the parents punish them if they do something bad, and reward them (by giving them fucking stickers lol) if they obey them.
And it works for the children (now adults lol) because it has been like this their whole lives. It’s so funny and also sad at the same time!
Basically, they treat their children like pet dogs lol.
And apart from the fences and punishment, how do they discourage them to go outside their home?
The parents tell them lies. Yes, a shit ton of crazy lies lol. For example, they tell them that the outside world is full of dangerous things. That little cats are vicious animals that can kill people lol. And that it’s only safe to go outside after one loses his Dogtooth.
And guess what? People never lose their dogtooth!
It stays with them their whole life lol. Hence, the children believe everything their parents tell them (because they don’t know any better), and never leave their house’s compound (waiting for their dogtooth to fall off lol).
Hence, the name of the movie: Dogtooth.
Such an ingenious plot, isn’t it?
But wait, the story has just begun. Shit gets even crazier when one of the children develops the desire to break free.
To know more about what happens, you need to watch the film ; ) Trust me, there is so much more to the movie that you absolutely need to watch it.
Hence, as I said before, this is probably, the most ingenious/brilliant movie I have ever watched. I mean, the sheer plot of the movie is enough to win it an Oscar or something. And the amazing acting is just the cherry on the cake. It’s a unique film.
But, of course, these dark/comedy foreign language films don’t get the recognition they deserve, even if they are better than most mainstream “Hollywood” movies.
Hence, popular or not, if you are looking for a quality film to watch, you can’t go wrong with Dogtooth.
This is yet another great book from one of my favorite writers of all time: Aravind Adiga.
If you remember correctly, I had reviewed his first book on this blog: “The white tiger”, which I absolutely loved. Last man in Tower is his second book, and although it did not captivate me as much as the last one, it was still a really interesting read.
This book is about how good people can be turned into ruthless criminals.
It’s a crazy fucking book.
The book starts off slow and monotonous, but it slowly turns into a crazy psychological thriller! The author plays with the characters’ emotions to tell the story, and I absolutely love it. It honestly gets scary by the end.
So, the book is based on a lower-middle-class area on the outskirts of Mumbai (India). It follows the daily lives of good, hardworking residents of Vishram Society. These people are not poor, although they are not well off either (the definition of middle-class). The residents of Vishram Society are stuck in a limbo between poverty and wealth, all they have is hope (hope of a better life). They are truly the middle class of the Indian society, working day and night to climb the social ladder (to buy a bigger TV, to move to a better neighborhood, to finally afford a car). The story reflects the lives of the majority of people in the society, hence it is so relatable.
This is a story of truly boring people. I mean who the fuck cares about middle-class people? They don’t have anything extreme (worthwhile) going in their lives. If they were dirt poor then we could talk about their hard struggles, or if they were super rich then we could talk about their amazing lives. But the middle class? Yuck! That’s the worst demographic to write a story about.
Yet it is one of the most exciting books I have ever read. That’s the brilliance of this book, it manages to bring out the extremes in the most boring people, and it gets ugly real quick.
This is a book full of middle grounds.
Life in Vishram Society is not easy, although it’s not hard either. The apartment building is old (almost falling apart), water seldom comes, and there is a huge slum nearby (where all sorts of inferior creatures live). Residents of Vishram society are neither happy nor sad. When they see the dirt-poor people of nearby slums, they feel happy about their lives. When they see the wealthy residents of east Mumbai, they feel bad about themselves. Being middle class, your quality of life depends solely on how you look at things in life (because there is very little that you can change).
Life in Vishram Society is a calm, monotonous stream of events. Nothing exciting ever happens in the society, just like the lives of people who live there. The children go to school, the parents work, the women cook, and the old wait for death. They are good, hardworking people after all. It’s the mirror image of the typical Indian society.
Everything is “normal” in their quiet lives.
Until…..
Drum rolls, please!
That is until someone comes in with a crazy offer of fulfilling all their dreams in an instant. That is until a contractor comes in with an offer of selling their shitty apartments of Vishram Society at an unspeakable, crazy high price, which would instantly make them very rich people.
Their dreams of being rich, their dreams of moving to the good apartments of east Mumbai, their dreams of sending their children to a great school, their dreams of eating in fancy restaurants, and so on.
Everything they ever wished for, comes true in an instant……
BUT AT WHAT COST?
The cost being their moral compass (their judgment of what’s right and what’s wrong).
To secure the deal (and forever change their lives) the good, hardworking people of Vishram society would have to do unspeakable things. Things they would not have done in a million years.
But the big question is….. WILL THEY DO IT?
The book revolves around this titillating question.
Hence, the book is basically an intense psychological thriller based on Indian society. It explores the idea, how money can change people. It’s a really interesting book, and I recommend it if you are looking for something thrilling and introspective.
So, ever since like 6th grade, I have always been into reading books. Back when I was a kid, I used to read all sorts of amazing books like the Goosebumps series (which was about horror stories), Alex Rider (which had like 12 books in the series and I devoured them like crazy in 7th and 8th grade), and well lots and lots of other books.
I used to read fiction (because that’s what kids do lol). I used to read about 16-year-old spy kids who would beat adult villains (and I would feel so badass myself lol) or about a little girl who goes on a journey on a boat into the Amazon rainforest (and be amazed by her adventures).
Books were, and have been a really good companion of mine. They kept me entertained as I laid in my comfy hostel bed after a long day at school.
On that note, I used to read this book series called, “Percy Jackson”.
So, the series was about Greek mythology. In short, there are these teenagers who are demi-gods (one parent god, the other is human), and they have very strange lives. They go on dangerous quests, kill evil giants, meet Greek gods, and other stuff.
Honestly, it was really fun. You learn a lot about Greek mythology too.
I first discovered these books in my school library just as I was looking for something fun to read, and once I laid my hands on the first book, I was instantly hooked. Hence, I read all 5 books in the original series in like 7th grade. I had a lovely time with them.
And then, I guess in grade 11, I decided to revisit the series (cause I was bored). Apparently, the book had a brand-new series called “The Heroes of Olympus” while I was gone lol. 5 more books to read.
So, I gave it a try.
First up, the appeal had evaporated. I did not enjoy the books like the way I did when I was a 7th grader. Like even though the story and the characters are similar, the appeal had just died out (maybe because I was older). Maybe my as I read more books (and got older), I found it harder to be immersed into a fictional world oozing with magic lol.
Second, the books felt more and more cringy. Yes, back in 7th grade, teenage romance and kids showing heroism seemed so amazing. But, since I am older than the characters in the book itself lol, I find it really cringy the way the writer treats 16-year-old kids like adults lol. The romance feels over the top, and maybe since I have experienced being a teenager myself, I find it hard to believe the intense emotions and life-changing decisions Percy Jackson makes at the age of 16 lol.
Being a kid, you can believe a lot of things since you haven’t experienced much of real life. That makes life fun (in case of being able enjoy books like Percy Jackson).
Also, the fact the book (that revolves a lot around teenage emotions) is written by a 50-year-old dude doesn’t help either. Kinda creepy if I am being honest lol.
So, in conclusion, I found Percy Jackson books cringy and not that fun as a 19 (almost fucking 20) year old. But don’t get me wrong. The books are really amazing (for a 7th grader) and I will always be grateful to Rick Riordan for entertaining me with his books all those years.
So yeah, Percy Jackson is cringy but it’s awesome too, depending on your age ; )
Yup, that’s true (even tho the statement could mean a hundred different things lol).
But I meant that in a purely biological sense.
So, sometime back I was reading about nutrition and obesity for my biochemistry exams. And it was then (as always), I found something very interesting.
It was then, that I realized that “THICCCC girls are lucky”.
So, the point is, there are 2 types of obesity.
(Warning: little bit of biology ahead.)
There is the “apple-shaped/android” obesity in which, the fat is more on the upper body (chest and tummy). And there is another type of obesity called “pear-shaped” obesity in which the fat is more on the lower body (butt and legs).
But the thing is, android obesity is more common in men and pear-shaped obesity is more common in women. So, if a man is getting fat then he will have more fat in his belly, whereas in case of women they will have more fat in their butt and legs.
Also, belly fat (men common) is more metabolically active so it increases the risk of heart attack, which doesn’t happen (or happens less) in legs fat (women common).
So, women are obviously favored by mother nature in this sense. If they get fat, they just get fat. If we (men) get fat, we get heart attacks lol.
But, apart from the increased health risk for men in comparison to women, there is a social aspect to this issue (which is far more interesting I believe lol).
So, a fat woman generally has fat accumulated in her butt and legs first. What does that mean? They don’t get fat, they get THICC ; ) Yes, bigger ass and fuller things are desirable traits for women (as determined by society). Hence, a fat woman is not really fat, she is thick. Heck, even the word “Chubby” is a compliment lol.
But men are not so lucky in that regard lol.
If a man is getting fat, the fat accumulates more on the belly and chest. So, the man, as a result of being fat will get man boobs and a big tummy, instead of a THICC ass lol. Doesn’t really seem fair, does it? Huh? Society? It doesn’t take a genius to know that MAN BOOBS and a FAT TUMMY are not very attractive lol. Hence, fat men have it way worse than fat women because when they get fat, they are not seen as “THICC”, they are just FAT.
Hence, the social dynamic to this issue adds to the point that regarding obesity women are way luckier than men.
Hmm something to think about eh?
; )
Hence, if you a fat THICC girl reading this then, CONGRATULATIONS!
I don’t know how many of you guys use the site Reddit but, I started using it about a month ago and it’s been an interesting experience.
So, Reddit is basically a social media site that allows users to post stuff anonymously on the internet. This means that you don’t really have friends like in Facebook or Instagram, instead you can share opinions with everyone on the internet (that is everyone who uses Reddit).
Hence, it’s kinda like twitter but more regulated. It’s mostly used to have discussions on interesting topics. So, you can read opinions form complete strangers, and also give your opinions on things without the fear of being judged.
It’s the true nature of the internet.
It’s the true nature of the internet.
And unfortunately, it is a dying breed.
See, in the early days of the internet, people used to surf the web anonymously. There used to be these online chat rooms where random people could talk, these blog sites where people shared their thoughts, and well sties that sold pirated music lol.
And most importantly, the internet was not hyper commercialized as it is today.
Heck, Youtube was used by people to share home made funny videos. There was no profit in it, people simply did it because it was fun. And that was the reason why people loved it so much: it felt real.
No one knew how to monetize the internet; there were no big corporations on it. Hence it was fun.
Ah it’s a nostalgic feeling!
But once people found out the true money that they can make from the internet, all hell broke loose. Until about 2002/3, there were no big companies trying to make money off the internet (or at least they were not very successful). However, after that the internet started to go downhill.
Companies like Facebook and Twitter came to life, whose main long-term goal was making as much money as possible. At first, they had no ads and it was still fun, but slowly the ads came in and ruined everything. The same story with Youtube. There were no ads on Youtube up until 2014 I guess, but after that, it has been getting worse day by day.
The sick internet.
These days internet is one of the worst places to be. It used to be fun, but now, it has all gone downhill. The corporations run the internet, there is too much censorship and since there is big money involved, companies like Youtube and Facebook have become more of a “cash cow” than social media sites. Not too mention that there are ads everywhere!
Everything is synthesized these days. Nothing seems natural like it used to be. Take Youtube for example. In the past, individual creators were the ones making most of the content for Youtube (and that is why it was creative and fun); they didn’t even know if they would ever make money from their videos but they made it anyways (just for fun). But these days almost all of the most popular videos are made by big corporations (or people who are ‘looking to make a profit from these videos’, who have a big production budget and profit motives behind everything). Everyone is begging for the most likes or the most shares and it’s honestly become toxic.
Creators are click baiting viewers, and some of the original content creators have become so rich and famous that they have started acting like corporations themselves! They care a lot about their “personal brand” and “image” these days, and act more like a “celebrity” than just another funny person (like they used to be). They are too scared to speak their minds, and talked in a very calculated way fearing they will upset their viewers/sponsors. It’s honestly sad.
Back in the day, no one on the internet cared about their “brand” lol. People didn’t even know if they will neve make any money out of the stuff they were creating.
Ah, it’s been going downhill and I don’t know how worse it will get smh.
Reddit: the last true internet heaven.
Reddit is probably last of the remaining great internet sites.
Just when I thought all hope was lost, I came across Reddit (yeah recently, and yeah, I’m not very internet savvy lol). I always knew that it existed, but I never actually used it. That was until about a month ago.
And it’s been awesome.
So, what’s so fun/admirable about Reddit is that it’s anonymous (the way the internet should be). So, you can freely express your thoughts and beliefs without the fear of your loosing your job (eg: just because you ‘offended’ someone). Hence, the conversations instantly become more “real”.
Second, there aren’t really all that many ads. Hence, no company is spying on you and pushing you to by their “latest and greatest product”. When there are no ads, it’s such a liberating experience. I only realized that when I started using reddit.
Third, it’s mostly run by the users. It’s a classic example of: for the people, by the people. The site is mostly moderated by users themselves (instead of a big faceless company who dictates what you can/can’t post). It feels so natural this way. It’s the closest to real life human discussion as we can get on the internet.
Fourth, there isn’t much censorship. You can pretty much post anything you want (in the designated place for it), as long as it doesn’t ruin the experience of other users. It’s community-based censorship, which is feels a lot more understandable and acceptable.
And lastly, it’s fun. People share their opinions on a wide variety of topics in designated groups (there are groups for different topics) and an actual discourse happens (unlike twitter where people just scream at each other).
Hence Reddit is a nostalgic memory of “what the internet should have been”. And I love it, so far.
So, if you it seems appealing to you then go check it out ; )
So, like last time, the criteria to be on this list are:
I must like their music.
Consistency: I like multiple songs (not just one lol), even whole albums from this artist.
The artist must be relatively small.
So, these are the artists whom you might not have heard of, but are very talented.
BROCKHAMPTON
Brockhampton (2018)
Publicity
Merlyn Wood, Dom McLennon, Kevin Abstract, Bearface, Matt Champion, JOBA
I don’t really listen to boy bands (mainly because my dumbass used to think that they make you gay lol). But, to be honest with you, back in the day, I used to love Once Direction as much as everyone else ; )
But, BROCKHAMPTON is so much more than just a pop boy band. Their music is much more complex than just pop: they have immaculate production on their songs (kinda like Tyler the creator and Kanye west) with rapping along with a fair bit of singing. All in all, their music is unique. They have deeper roots in hip-hop than pop. But the thing that’s most impressive on their songs is again, the production (seriously, it’s that good).
Songs to listen to: BLEACH, SWEET, and GINGER.
Albums: GINGER and iridescence (Honestly all of their songs/ albums are good).
Amine (btw it’s pronounced “A-meee-ne”)
So, Amine has been in my playlist for more than a year, and I must tell you, he is a very creative artist. From his songs to his music videos, all of his content is very well, polished products. He has a wide variety so sounds; catchy hooks, melodic tunes, straight bars; you name it and Amine can do it. He also has a fair bit of lyrical ability, which shines in some of his songs. However, he tows the line between pop and hip-hop just like most rappers do these days. And he does it well.
He is a multidimensional artist, plus his music videos are fun too.
Songs to listen to: DR. WHOEVER, Spice Girl and Heebiejeebies ft Kehlani.
Albums: ONE POINT FIVE and Good For You.
Jonas Blue
Now, it would not be fair if I add Jonas Blue to the list because he is not exactly a small artist, but I had to do it anyways because he is that good. There are only a few artists, especially in the EDM scene, whose whole catalogue impresses me (as a matter of personal likeness), and Jonas Blue is one of them.
Jonas Blue is an EDM producer/DJ (whatever you want to call it lol). He has a very distinct sound, somewhere between tropical house and pop-EDM. He specializes in very catchy and ‘dance-worthy’ music. His sound is so infectious that once you hear his music, it is bound to get stuck in your head.
He generally works with upcoming pop artists who are not that famous, and he makes them famous, a fact that I really like.
Songs to listen to: Rise, Fast car (remix), and Perfect Strangers.
Albums: Blue.
Well, that’s it for today. Hope you discovered some good music ; )
Said the fat guy who was sitting next to me, as we were going back home on Friday.
The fat guy was not from our school; he was with us only for a week. See, in grade 6 there was a student exchange program in our school where students from other school came and lived with us (in our hostel) for a week. It was a weird experience lol.
So, back to the joke.
The fat guy repeated, “Bruh, you wanna hear a joke?”
I pushed my glasses up my nose and said, “Sure” (It was a long ride anyways).
Disclaimer: This might suck because he said the joke in NOT ENGLISH lol.
The JOKE
So, once upon a time, there was a king and a queen. The king used to love his queen very much.
The king used to go on long adventures for months on end. You know, to rule the kingdom and check if every thing going well.
So, in his absence, his wife (the queen) used to be so lonely. So, she would call in the king’s ministers to have sex with her secretly when the king was away. Everyday there was a new minister fucking the queen while the king was far away in the kingdom! And the king had no idea his own ministers were screwing his wife lol.
So, one day the king’s spy finds out about this and he hurries to the king, to tell him all the stuff that was going behind his back. How his wife was cheating on him with his own ministers every single night while he was away!
The king got mad as fuck hearing this. He got very, very angry (obviously). But he thought of finding out who were these ungrateful ministers who were fucking his wife behind his back (and possibly kill them lol).
Then he had a genius idea.
So, late at night, the king put a sharp blade in the queen’s vagina while she was asleep (don’t ask me how this was possible, it’s 6th grade humor after all lol). And then he waited… (Imagine what happened lol).
So, after going on a tour of the kingdom for about a month, the king came back, ready to find his culprits (who were fucking his wife).
So, he lined up his ministers, every single one of them in the palace. Then he told every single one of them to drop their pants. Everyone did, and the king started checking everyone’s dick.
Almost all of the ministers had a cut on their dick lol (you know from fucking the queen with the blade inside her).
Except… for Gyanendra.
The king was so angry with all of them, and was vowing to chop the ministers’ head off, but when he saw that Gyanendra’s dick had no cut on it, he was overcome with relief.
He got so happy and patted Gyanendra on his back, praising him for his loyalty to the king. He said, “Gyanendra! I am very pleased with you. You are the only one who had been loyal to me! I promote you to become my adviser”.
Gyanendra got very happy hearing this news and he said, “Thhaanfuu my lorfffffdd” With a slurry voice.
THE END.
If you were dumb enough to not get the joke: Gyanendra’s tongue was cut instead of his dick lol.
I laughed so hard in the bus; I still remember that day fondly as if it was yesterday. It was so fucking funny; I just couldn’t stop laughing.
Hence, I still remember the joke after all these years.
The Fat guy was one of the chilliest guys I have ever met in my life. After that day, I never met the guy again. All I remember of him, is this joke.
Honestblogs 