In the 60's, hippies were against a wrong war (Vietnam).  I think because of them we now have freedom to express our thoughts about today's dumb wars (*cough Iraq cough*).  Back then hippies fought for equal rights for women, gays, war veterans, illegal immigrants, and pretty much any group that was being oppressed by the man.  I'm not saying we've solved all those problems, but we're a helluva lot closer to finding a solution.  So what happens when you take away things for hippies to fight for?  You get the modern day neo-hippie.

The neo-hippie is someone that is fighting for a cause in an annoying manner.  Most often, these neo-hippies congregate and form gropus like Greenpeace or Peta.  I'm not knockin these people down, cuz I'm all for helping the earth by fighting global warming, or helping animals be not tortured.  Hell, I'm probably the biggest dog person I know, and I've seen all episodes of Captain Planet. 

Well, what the hell has happened to the hippie?  I came across this news article about how  PETA is asking Ben and Jerry's to consider using breast milk instead of cow milk in their ice cream.  Come on people, that's just gross. 

"If Ben and Jerry's replaced the cow's milk in its ice cream with breast milk, your customers-and cows-would reap the benefits...The breast is best! Won't you give cows and their babies a break and our health a boost by switching from cow's milk to breast milk in Ben and Jerry's ice cream?"

PETA needs a vacation.  Hey, how bout a ski trip to the Swiss Alps?

While surfin Youtube, I came across this clip of some angry hippies.  They probably got kicked out of Greenpeace for noise violations.  If you can annoy Greenpeace, that's sayin somethin.  It's like out-saintin Mother Teresa, or out-prayin the Pope, or out-dumbing G.W.

Hippies used to fight for justice, peace, and not just the American way, but the Human way.  Now they're just plain annoyin.  WTF happened to you guys?  Hippies nowadays are just loud, obnoxious, and kinda nasty. Breast milk gelatto, anyone?

P.S.
I do like those "I'd rather go naked than wear fur" ads.  Keep them coming.  But do them good, with hot hippies, not fugly ones.  And no trashy hippies like Pam Anderson.  I don't wanna see her nasty-ass naked, I'm tryin to avoid occular syphlis.

Yesterday I was grocery shopping and I was in the produce area.  Then right in front of me this lady walked by wearing one of those Obama shirts.  You know the ones.  Everybody seems to have them.  Celebrities wear them to red carpet events to make a point.  Some artist was paid a shitload of money to come up with an iconic image to represent Obama.  Then he tacked on some power words under the image like "Change" or "Hope" or "Progress".  I mean, who doesn't want that! In my opinion, that pic of Obama kinda creeps me out.  But I still like the guy.

Well, I feel like people are elevating Obama to a cult status; a messiah to lead us out of dark times; someone we need to idolize, so let's put him on our clothes.  I understand the point of bumper stickers, and those annoying lawn signs that litter the streets.  But, come on people!  When was the last time in a presidential election that people wore clothing with the candidate's faces on them?  But don't get me wrong, I still like the guy.

Some of you will tell me that it's to promote and advertize for Obama.  Um, if I was undecided on who to vote for, an overweight and kinda wierd lookin lady pickin out tomatoes at the grocery store wearing an Obama tshirt aint gonna make me vote for him.  Trust me!  I know people are desperate for change and want the opposite of Bush.  I think the same way.  Maybe I'm too jaded to wear my feelings on my sleeve, or should I say my prefered candidate on my shirt. Don't worry though, I made up my choice already.

I'm afraid the American people, and to go on a limb a lot of the world, keep lifting Obama so high just to watch him fall.  I know you gonna say that ain't the case.  Lemme put it this way... The American people love to make celebrities just to watch them break down.  This country has a major obsession with public tragedy.  We find pleasure in other people's misfortunes.  And the higher we can elevate them, the bigger the splatthey'll make when we make them fall.  We've been doin that shit since the Biblical days.

We have elevated Obama to the status of saint almost.  I've seen houses that have life-sized pictures of him with the words "Hope" on them, hand-made paintings that people have posted on their porches.  But it's not just the Obamaphiles.  Obama can also be found on billboards, bus stops, sides of buildings, magazines, buses, and I've even seen an Obama altar with candles and all.  Celebrities will always be out there touting their political views cuz, come on, celebrities are smart persons too.  But they're all on the Obama bandwagon and it leads me to believe that it's disingenuous.  But who cares, right?  As long as they get Obama elected, the ends justify the means.  Not if I have to see that creepy pic of Obama all over the place!  What is this, 1984?  But don't be confused, Im all for Obama.

And you know exactly what's gonna happen.  If he gets elected (which he will) the second he takes office, people will be all like "Ok, we got you here, now fix everything".  The second he can't do even the simplest things like turn water into wine or walk over the Potomac or get rid of the smell of stupid out of the oval office left by it's previous tenant, people gonna knock him down.  Cuz that's what we love to do!  But in the meantime, let us all rejoice in song and myrth in our Obama t-shirts.  I can already picture inauguration day, they's gonna be viewing parties all over the place.  People will sport their Obama parafanalia and go out in the hordes to public places and watch Obama take office alongside other Obamaphiles.  I'll probably stay at home cuz I hate crowds, but I'll be out there with the masses in spirit. 

I don't apologize for my opinion, but am I the only one that thinks those Obama images are creepy?  I'm surprised someone hasn't found one that weeps miraculously.  Maybe its my passionate apathy or my jaded enthusiasm that's makin me think like that, but shit man, that Obama pic just creeps me out!  (Don't misunderstand me, I'm still voting for him, Oprah said to do it).

10. Lavitz's death (Legend of Dragoon): He was my second favorite character in the game behind Rose, but for some reason, his death caught me off guard.  I had him so leveled up that when he was gone and was replaced by the  pretty boy with long hair, the game wasn't the same.

9.  Realizing I was good in Silent Hill:  My brother, sister, and I started playing this game at the same time.  My sister was the first to quit because it was too intense.  Then my brother quit because he was gettin motion sickness from the game.  I couldn't quit because we wanted to continue the storyline and finish the game.  I actually got good in the game, but that game sucks yo in and you have nightmares.  I had nightmares.

8.  Completeing Divine Might (FFXI):  Yeah I know Im a big geek, I used to play the online version of Final Fantasy.  Well mission after mission I leveled up my Samurai as well as my Blue Mage to 75.  Yup, nerd alarm going off here.  Well, Divine Might is this fight with 5 uber strong characters, all at the same time.  18 of us ganged up on them, and 13 minutes later of nothin but fightin and tryin to stay alive, we killed the last of the 5 Archangels.  The prize was worth the fight (my new Bushinomimi!), but the fight itself was such an adrenaline rush.  Ah, I miss Blackmamba...

7.  My first Fatality (Mortal Kombat):  I had read somewhere that if I did this special thing after killing someone in Mortal Kombat, something cool will happen.  Well I did it, and lo-and-behold, Scorpion takes his ninja mask off to reveal a skull head, breathes fire and I toasted my oponent.  Then I shrieked like a little girl.

6.  Finishing Zelda: Link's Awakening:  All the Zelda games are amazing, but this one was very endearing for me.  I collected all the instruments to go serenade the big egg, and face the nightmares.  I beat it but throughout the game there was a lot of foreshadowin of what the ending is.  Well, they were right and I was crushed.  Ah, Marin, poor Marin.  I fell in love with all those characters, then...

5.  Playing Guitar Hero II for the first time:  I recieved Guitar Hero II in the mail, mom was puzzeled.  I started playing and she was diggin watching me.  I was in the zone!  When a game can take you out of reality, it's so amazing.  Playing that first song was like having ice cream for the first time.

4.  Finishing Super Mario Bros.:  I konw, everyone's done it, but when you did it for the first time, it was such a rush when I beat it.  The fight itself was pointless.  Oooh i have to avoid the fireballs, bi whoop.  But once I did it, and here was the princess waiting for me.  I held her, and all was good in the world.

3.  Experiencing Mega Man 2:  From the levels, to the bosses, to the special powers and of course the techno music, OMG this is the perfect game!  So fast paced that it hits you like a punch in the gut.  There isn't a time in the game that my adrenaline doesn't go below Defcon 2.  Some might say that the newer Mega Man games are better, with the Zero and Sigma.  Well to that, I say B.S.  Finish the Quickman level without any special powers, only your regular gun, then you can talk. 

2.  Using the Contra code for first time:  It was 7th grade, first period Language Arts.  My friend Jamie tells me to go home and push:

My life changed after that moment.  There's cheats to these games?  OMG now I have 99 lives to beat this hard -ass game insead of 3 lives that get me to lvl 2.  That was the first day I had my first geekgasm. 

1.  Aeris' death (FF7).   I know sometimes I come across a lttle insensitive.  Well this is not the time.  When I was playing Final Fantasy 7, I was a little dissapointed Aeris does her own thing runnin off to the City of the Ancients.  In fact I was a little upset, I mean I leveled her up for what? Then it happened... I finally found her and then she gets taken away from me. NOOO!!!

I will admit that I got choked up when this happened.  I was so emotionally involved in this game and the characters, I had to stop playing for like a week just to recover.  I was all "Um yeah, that really didn't happen, I think I dreamt it".  Then I angrily picked up the controller to continue playing but man was I pissed.  How can they just take her away from me?!? I then heard that if you got Aeris' Great Gospel maneuver, she would survive.  Then I heard if you got all the materia before she dies, she survives.  Maybe if I become a better player she wont die on me.  When that didn't work, I was so sad.  All my efforts were for nothin.  A while later, I guess I accepted her fate.  If you look up the most shocking moment in videogame history, you will find her death to be up on top of every list.  To think that a videogame can have this much effect on your life...

• X-2 better than X-men: Don't get me wrong, I loved them both.  The thing was that in the first one we were introduced to the main characters.  Jean Grey is my favorite, so I'm biased.  In the first one, she was kind of a secondary character behind Wolverine and Rogue.  In the second one, she takes center stage all the way till the end sacrificing herself to save the team.  Other things that improved in the sequel: Storm lost the hideous hair and accent.  Wtf Halle?  Also we had that Iceman and Pyro guy.  They were a nice distraction.  Magneto and Mystique became uber-cool in the second one too.  Lady Deathstryke...nuff said.
• Dark Knight better than Batman Begins.  I totally dug the whole explanation of where batman came from.  No wonder he can do all that shit, he got trained by a Jedi master!  But after all that, I was all "Meh".  Katie Holmes was a little boring.  Now in the sequel, we have Maggie Gylleh&*#&%.  She rocked, and I was blown away by her story (so to speak).  And of course we can't forget the Joker.  I've said it once, I'll say it again, A hero is only as good as the villain he's fighting.  Ex.  Look at the new superman movie.  Speaking of Superman... 
• Superman 2 better than Superman.  [caption id="attachment_226" align="alignleft" width="128" caption="Ursa, General Zod, and Non"][/caption]

  Yup, that's where I stand.  The first Superman's plot is Luthor wanting to blow up California so half of it breaks off and he now owns all the coastline and he'll be rich.  Superman 2 has the man of steel fighting with not one, but 3 villains from his home planet trying to take over the earth, and more importantly, taking over the United States.  The lines in this movie are priceless too!. 

General Zod: This "super-man" is nothing of the kind; I've discovered his weakness.

Ursa: Yes?

General Zod: He cares.  He actually cares for these Earth people.

Ursa:  Like pets?

General Zod:  I suppose. 

Ursa:  Sentimental idiot

I wish I had a British accent from the planet Krypton.

• Rush Hour 2 kicks Rush Hour's ass.  The first one was forgettable.  The sequel had Ziji Shiang or whatever her name is.  Cruching tiger girl made the sequel have a beautiful, demented psycho-villain.  You go, girl!
• Terminator 2 better than Terminator.  Ok the first one was awesome.  It made Arnold a household name.  The effects were ok i guess.  The sequel was utterly amazing.  I was blown away when I saw it, with that liquid metal robot guy.  But it wasn't just the effects that made it a kick-ass sequel.  Sarah Connor finally grew a pair.  She was kickin robot ass all over the place.  The ending of the second one was too cheezy for me, i prefer the ending of the first.  But other than that. kudos to the sequel.
• The Passion of the Christ gets better in the sequel.    Just kiddin.  The sequel is still in production.  Will be out Dec. 21, 2012.  I hear the premier is gonna be a worldwide event, everyone is gonna be there. 

This was the big mess that I made with the legos blocks.  It looks like a lot because it is.  I started getting legos when I was about 10, and it went from me to my brother, so some of these pieces are at least 20 years old. 

Like any Legophile knows, you first start with the base or frame of the vehicle.  The one that I decided to build is rather complcated, and requires plenty of very small pieces.  That's what probably took me the most time, finding all the damn little pieces in the big mountain of legos.  Not only that, but I have little rubermaid drawers full of the bastards. Well, 3 enchiladas and 4 hours later, I was done.

I ended up building a Jeep just like the one I drive, except this one is yellow cuz I don't have enough gray blocks.  I put it on top of my laptop so you can get the scale of the project.  My back is killing me from looking through that big pile of legos but man it was worth it!  Even the steering wheel is in working order.  I built it so if you turn the steering wheel, it moves the two front tires. 

If you ask me why, I'll tell ya its because I was in the mood for building something with the legos.  Also, I found his website that has all the instruction manuals for legos, http://www.hccamsterdam.nl/brickfactory/. If you ever bought a lego set and lost the instructions, you will find them here.  Ok, so now that this happy adult has finished playing with his legos, I reckon it's Ovaltine time!

I hate it when people get online and feel like they have this open forum where they can vent their emotional baggage and feelings. It's like they're out looking for a pity-party. Then they get all serious with their content and just end up sounding like a pompous, pretentious damm fool! I don't pity the fool!

I guess what boggles my mind is that I've made this connection to something that's pretty much an intangiable idea out there on cyberspace. When I get a compliment on one of my posts, I feel elated. If my traffic goes down, I don't let it get to me because if my math is correct, I'm getting repeat customers. I can not believe I've become a blogger.

Meh, oh well, maybe I'll blog about being a blogger.

P.S. My teeth hurt so much I had to use a whole bottle of Listerine.

1. Head towards the mall.  You will be heading to your grave, but you can finally get that jacket from Express that is to die for! Literally.
2. Become a hero.  You will have the snazziest lines and garner all the admiration of the rest of us, but heading into a crowd of zombies with only a knife and your courage aint gonna cut it.
3. Wander off by yourself.  It worked for the Scooby Gang, so why not for you?  Um, you're not a cartoon.
4. Have sex.  Those people always die.  What's more importantly, if reanimated decomposing, foul-smellin bodies chasing you down gets you horny, you got bigger problems. Trust me.
5. Pretend you're a zombie and try to fit in.  If you're in the jungle and a lion comes up, do you pretend to be a lion and try to fit in with him so he don't eat you?  No! You shoot it!
6. Dance like a zombie. It worked for M.J., why not for you?  Plastic surgery worked for M.J., so why not for you? Nuff said.
7. Skinnydip.  Please don't do this, unless you're hot.  Not temperature hot. Hot hot.
8. Become an asshole.  There's always an asshole only out for his/her survival.  If you don't save someone, they aint gonna save you.  So do onto others, and all that shit. 
9. Reason with a zombie.  Because they were your mom/dad/bff before they became Zombies doesn't mean they gonna remember you and spare you.  Zombies eat the ones they love.
10. Listen to lists on the internet on how to survive a zombie apocalypse.  Most of the people out there are kinda wack and think they know what they're talking about.  Trust me.

1. Ok, people.  first you need to calm down.  The second you loose your cool, you'll be zombie chow!  Yes, I agree that a corpse walking down the street to come eat you up is very upsetting, but just chill out!  You've prepared for this day, so take a deep breath and RUN!
2. As much as you may not like it, you can't survive on your own.  Organize a team of trusted people skilled in different ways of survivng.  4-7 people you trust with your life, and all need to be skilled differently: First aid person, mechanical/tech savvy person, weapons, expert on getting food and water, and the leader that keeps them all working towards a common goal: survival.
3. Find a safe house.  Like everyone, you will have friends and family that will most probably not survive.  It's sad but you can help them survive.  One of those bomb shelters will be ideal to leave your loved ones there.  A farm out in the countryside will be safer.  With them being safe, you can better take care of your own survival.  You will leave them there hopefully in a safe place, with enough provisions for about a month or so.  You will have to check up on them, but thats better then lugging your family around while zombies are on your trail.
4. Now to the nitty gritty... You'll be going into life or death combat, so make sure you dress the part.  Zombies will be grabbing for you so make sure you don't have loose fitting clothing or long hair.  Also, make sure your clothes will be durable to go treading through mud and sturdy enough for a fight.  Steel-toes are nice cuz they're stury, and if you kick, they will do good damage.  Drawback is they're not good in a sprint, so make sure you weight both sides and decide accordingly.
5. Pick your weapons wisely.  My pick is the machete, since my brother took my samurai sword and I can't find it now.  Some of you purists will choose a shotgun or rifle.  That's cool.  Hey, maybe you can teach me how to reload my machete.  Oh wait, I dont need to so I can just keep hackin heads off the undead while you cower behind me reloading your gun.  If you don't have a cutting weapon, a blunt instrument like a bat or mallet is also good.  Remember, you're aiming for their heads, so both a baseball bat and a machete will kill a zombie.  I prefer the machete.
6. Choose your transportation wisely.  Just like the machete/shotgun argument, what are you gonna do when you run outta gas?  Also, the second youstart teh car, zombies will hear you and come runnin your way.  If you're on a bike, you can not only cover a lagre distance fast, but also very quietly.  Also, make sure you have the right tires on your bike.  I have hybrid road/off road tires.  These are hte best because you will need both speed and traction.  Yes, on a bike you will be exposed to the elements and to zombie attacks, but that just means you need to be on yuor toes while riding around looking for supplies.
7. If you all flabby and slow, you think the zombie chasing you will take it easy on you? Pleeze!  The Zombie attack is imminent.  You need to be ready for it, both mentally and physically.  After hackin head after zombie head, your arms gonna get tired, trust me.  You just survived an attack from a group of zombies.  Kudos!  Wait, there's another group of zombies in the distance coming your way.  Time to run, kids! Will you be in shape to hit the road after hand combat with the undead?  Don't risk it, get in shape before the attack.
8. I know I mentioned before how you need to find a safe place to keep your family alive.  Well, that's not gonna work for you.  Like someone famous once said, in a zombie apocalypse "there's no safe place, only safer".  You need to keep moving.  You will see your loved ones once in a while, but if you really want to keep them safe, you don't want to lead the undead to where they're at.  At the same time, you want to keep moving avoiding the undead, looking for supplies, and looking for other survivors.  You can't help these survivors as much as you would like, but at the same time them seeing you and your team will maybe insipire them to fight for their lives.
9. Ok, now the tough one.  You have to grow a heart of stone and replace all your blood with cold liquid nitrogen (thats hella cold by the way), because you will have to make some tough choices.  If a loved one becomes infected, you will have mere moments to make tough decisions.  You know what I'm talking about.  The second they become infected, they're gone.  This is a war, and casualties are imminent.  Not only you, but everyone on your team has to be tough in every way.  I can't say for sure I will volunteer my life if I get infected now, but zombies aren't banging on the door at this moment.  When the day comes though, I will make the sacrifice as well as expect everyone on my group to do the same.  Hard, but necessary.
10. Most importantly, don't lose hope.  Who knows how long the zombie apocalypse will last and we will come out of it.  You just need to keep in mind that you will come of it.  Even if the onslaught lasts your entire lifetime and you will face the remainder of your days fighting the good fight.  Well bring it on! 

These are just tips on how to improve your odds at survival against the undead.  You don't need to follow any and all, and you can add tips that will work for you.  If I have missed any, please let me know.  Nobody knows how long one of these zombie apocalypses will last, but if you survive it, you will get a tshirt and have braggin rights and impress all your friends, well 10% of them cuz the rest will be zombies.

The other day I was looking for some organic biodegradeable earth-friendly eco-centric bendy straws, so I went to one of those high end grocery stores.  You know the ones, they will sell you stuff that's been marked up horrendously just because it's in a recycled package.  Well, I find my straws so I go check out, and lo-and-behold, there was this chick in front of me standing in line wearing what looked like pajamas and carrying a yoga mat.  SHe looked at me and instantly I felt the snobbery oozing out of every one of her pores.  She was in a hurry cuz she was late for the yoga, and she was rude, too.  Then I got me some thinking, and decided to hypothesize why yoga fits so well with them: they love love to advertize how absolutely fabulous they are.  Here's how they accomplish this...

• Pretentious people love to spend money on stuff they really don't need.  It's called disposable income because they just throwing it down the drain.  Does having a little thin mat between you and the floor makes you better at the yoga?  I know they look like pajamas, I bet they feel like pajamas, smell like pajamas (if you used downy), but oh no, they don't cost the same as regular pajamas.  So you spent all this money on a uniform for the yoga, how are people going to know this fact?  Simple, go to places frequented by regular people, or as you refer to them, the little people.  But what if one of those little people just rolled out of bed at 3pm and ran to the bank before it closes.  You will be wearing the same shit, how akward!  Wait, the big difference here is you will be carrying your mat for the yoga with you everywhere you go.  The beauty is in the mat! You didn't just roll out of bed, you gonna go lay down somewhere and breathe! 
• Pretentious people love love to talk about the yoga outside the yoga studio.  They will talk about how the yoga has made their lives better, especially better than yours.  Hey Mr. Mailman, Mr. Mailman got any mail for me? I'm in a hurry because I do the yoga and it's awesome.  You should try it, especially carrying that mail sack all over the place.  You know since doing the yoga I sleep better at nights, even if I drink a cup of coffee at night.  Oh yeah, sorry, I'll have a venti machiatto with 4 shots of espresso, because since doing the yoga I can sleep at nights now.  Oh, did I tel you that already? Sorry, since doing the yoga, my mind drifts in and out of nirvana and I forget how pretentious I sound sometimes.
• When pretentious people talk about the yoga, they lilke to throw terms around and act like you know exactly what they're talking about.  "The other day while in the brattislavva pose at the yoga, I totally figured out how to stop global warming by using the world's oceans with cold fusion.  But then as we went into the reverse suvita, I accidentally went in and out of enlightenment and boom, it was gone.  Oh well, tee hee.  That'll teach me to go from a forward to a reverse inverted open lotus pose, don't you agree?"

• 

  If you do yoga and nobody can see it, it never happened!

  The other day I was jogging around town.  I happened to jog through the park where ther's a big pond.  Lo-and-behold, there was a crowd of people doing the yoga outside by the pond.  They were so serious looking while doing the poses.  Why don't they do that at their studio?  Cuz nobody can see them there.  Pretentious people love love to do the yoga outside where everyone can see how fabulous they are.  I mean, come on people, its bad enough you have to rub your mats and yoga p.j.s in our faces when we're at the bank, post office, store, etc.  Now you feel it necessary to do it while we're jogging on a nice day.  "But doing the yoga outside in the nature is so much better because it relaxes you and gets you closer to the buddha and gets you all bendy!" Bull scheisse!!

• SInce they started the yoga, pretentious people feel it necessary to convert everyone to the yoga.  To them its almost like scientology!!  "If you do the yoga, your insert ailment here will totally go away, and the upper class will get tax cuts!!"  They just started 2 months ago and are sporting their newest yoga outfits, but they're now experts. 

Like I said before, I know a lot of people I know do yoga.  It has helped them lose a lot of weight.  When some of them were preggers, they went to yoga classes and it helped them have an easier pregnancy.  Some found inner peace relaxing with all the breathing and shit.  These people practice sensible yoga.  At the same time,  there are those out there that use it as a status symbol.  The pretentious people that do the yoga are so unbearable that I had to state it here.  Please practice sensible yoga. 

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At the same time, I'm drawn to older music that once meant a great deal to me. I've got Hole and Liz Phair rapping it out over my iPod and I like it. I really, really like it. It's been a long time since music has been an important part of my life and creative process.

Mention the name Ashlee Simpson, and I tend to get the same response from people.

"Ew. You don't listen to that!"

or

"That's not real music!"

In the music world (and even to an extent the less snooty pop culture world) the poor girl is basically a joke. To be fair, she's been delt all the wrong cards in her pursuit of musical success, starting with the underrated misfortune of being a sibling of a more famous (but equally unrespected) singer, and ending with that disastrous performance on SNL a few years back. Unfortunately for Ashlee, she also lacked both the material and the talent to sever the ties between herself and the aforementioned associations.

With "Bittersweet World," Ashlee may be able to resolve at least one of these deficiencies. The material is fresh, fun, engaging, and even . . . innovative (who saw that coming?). Let me clarify - this album is not going to start a music revolution. It probably won't even win any Grammies. But it is innovative in the way it combines some of the signature sounds of other artists to create a very new sound for Ashlee. Imagine, if you can, the experimentalism and alternative-funk stylings of Gwen Steffani, the attitude of Fergie, and the flair of Britney, and you would probably come up with something close to the sound of "Bittersweet World."

Standouts from the tracklisting include "Rule Breaker," a recycling of Nelly Furtado's "Maneater" that rivals the original, the interesting and different "Hot Stuff" (the beat here sounds really familiar but I can't quite place it. Bonus points to anybody who can name it), and the poignant "Never Dream Alone."

Few, if any, of these songs will explode on radio, yet virtually none of them are the kind of filler tracks so common of other artists' work. Each song has it's own life and personality, from the "Fever"-ish title track "Bittersweet World" to the rocking "What I've Become." Only a single song didn't attract me: the trippy "Murder" (I got a monkey on my back . . . he helpin' me get it off?). All in all, musically the album is very solid.

In my opinion, the only thing holding Bittersweet back is the second of the two problems mentioned earlier. Now Ashlee has the material, but she still lacks the . . . well, talent.

Let me explain. I mentioned earlier the names of three artists Ms. Simpson's new style reminds me of. None of these artists are especially talented in the typical sense of the word. Yet each of them possesses a distinctive attitude and personality that somehow makes their music . . . exciting. Ashlee tries hard on this album to develop her own edgy, I-do-what-I-want persona, and it works sometimes (Rule Breaker), but most of the time it comes off a little forced. Unlike how I feel about the work of Gwen, Fergie, and Britney, I just don't believe that this is the real Ashlee Simpson (maybe that has something to do with her previous albums - entitled "Autobiography" and "I Am Me" - sounding completely different).

Regardless, I am ready to call this album a great success for the artist because of its uniqueness. She very wisely decided she needed to reinvent herself a bit, and while the risk may not pay off commercially, in my own eyes, her musical respectability has gone up a dozen notches or so.

My Review:  B+

Other reviews: Caryn Ganz, Rolling Stone (3 Stars)

        Ahora que empiezo, de nuevo, a redirigir mi vida hacia donde, hace un rato que ya tenía que estar dirigida, me siento arrollada por el entusiasmo propio de las épocas de cambio:

- Nena, ¿Tú crees que la nueva mascarilla para el pelo, antiencrespamiento claro, que me he comprado y la cremita ésta para la cara acabarán de arreglar mi vida?

- Sí, sí, lo importante es mimarse... - afirma Jani.

        Y es que ella, a pragmática, objetiva y realista, o me empata o me gana.

        Música de chupipanda para el sábado por la tarde; porque hace un ratito que escuchaba fados (por voluntad propia) y el bajón injustificado ha sido tal que sólo podía arreglarse con alguna popada* de este calibre: nótese el sospechoso parecido de este vídeo con el What are You Waiting for de Gwen Stefani... nótense los botines rojos de Chloé que lleva la pertadiña** de la Ashley... Nótese la envida cochina en mi voz...

* Que viene de Pop, claro.

** Que viene de petarda, claro.

What the fuck is up with the faces of teenagers nowadays.  Everyone looks like the Bride of Wildenstein.  Look at poor ole Lil Simpy above.  Look at that nose, look at that fake ass chin.  Jesus...stop people!

Now I must go and get some lipo on my ballsack.

yes, most likely. even though the video starts off a bit like this..... 

then goes a bit like this.....

and ends up with a bit of this.....

and thats not to mention the fact that she sounds like cyndi lauper dry humping a bouncer outside a hip-hop club. thank you timbaland!

Love it.

The solution could be found here.

After "hiding" from the limelight in fears of public scrutiny with 'invisible' as her last single released. Ashlee Simpson and her team make a brave step to hit the road and ready to face the fans, public, critics, haters and lovers with a new single 'Outta My Head' from her new album probably titled as 'bittersweet' soon to be release in march 2008.

The 80s beat influenced first single was produced by Timbaland. Unlike two of her previous album, Ashley new release will have more beats with less rock influence.

Personally i felt the 'outta my head' is reasonably fine but its hard to resist because of fun catchy beats and lyrics. It will grow on you if you give it a few listen, however its not a great material considering it was produced by timbaland.80s sound will break you or become a slump material.

With haters comparing the video with fergie, and gwen's it will bring more topic to the haters out there to slamp ashlee down.but personally i felt that ashlee is just having fun with herself, she even mock kylie minogue's 'cant get you outta my head' video.:P

Outta My Head Lyrics

but ashlee will face the critics bravely as she tells us to keep our comment to ourselves :).

What? Is that all you've got to say?
What? What? You're rubbing me the wrong way
See your lips moving
But I don't catch a word you say
Shut up your chatter
I need for you to go away, uh huh

[ CHORUS ]
And all I hear is ay ya ya ya ya
You're talking way too much
I can't even hear me now
All your noise is messing with my head
You're in my head
Get outta my head

Outta my, outta my head
Want you outta my head
Outta my, outta my head
Get outta my head
Outta my outta my head
Want you outta my head
Outta my, outta my head
That's what I said

What you looking at me for huh?
Show me respect or I will show you the door

Lately, I've got a problem with the way that you behave
You're too much, and all your questions don't leave me no time for me, ha ha ha

[REPEAT CHORUS X2]

All your opinions, keep them to yourself
Just let me think so I can hear myself
Wouldn't it be nice if I could just go solo, take the day off?
I'd be alright if you would leave me to it, back out the door
Ay ya ya ya ya
You're talking way too much
You tell me one more time how I should live
I swear I'll bite your head off
I am who I am And I can't be no one else
You got nothing left to say
Keep your comments to yourself
Awww!

Outta my, outta my head
Want you outta my head
Outta my, outta my head
Get outta my head
Outta my outta my head
Want you outta my head
Outta my, outta my head

hate it or love it, i felt that the song will become a guilty pleasure coz you most probably cant get it out of your head!

Oh my heavens! Have you seen this video? If not, you must immediately stop what your doing and give it all your attention. It is the worst video ever made...and the best. It's so horrifying and hideous that I think Ashlee Simpson should shunned by society. Come on guys, we have to.

The whole thing is awful--the singing Roman head, the twins a la The Shining, the giant Rubik's Cube, the striped leather dress, the insane asylum, the Gulliver's Travels allusions.....the levitating!

I see that Ashlee wanted to make a fashionable and artsy Gwen Stefani/Bjork/ Siouxsie/Nina Hagen video, but that's very ambitious. I would say that this video is the opposite of fashionable, and I just know that Pete Wentz spent a lot of time coaching Ashlee on how to be "weird."

Ay, ya, ya! Indeed.

UPDATE*** I just read this quote from Wentz:

“It’s probably the weirdest video I’ve seen of hers It’s like a Salvador Dalí painting meets Being John Malkovich. She just went to this weird place for it. It has this kind of multiple personality, like the song does.”

Oh my god.

--V. Thread 

Ik weet het nog niet. Echt niet. Wat zijn jullie gedachten hierover?