Imagine this…your sitting on a city bus on a dark cold evening. The snow outside is piling up, and even just feeling the cold air coming off the window is enough to send chills down your spine. Outside is miserable, and dark and frigid. The snow just keeps falling, mounding up on top of the cars and buildings as you ride along. However, this bus is warm, and safe; and for a brief moment, all your cares in the world disappear. You sit in the back of the bus, warm, dry and not thinking of anything else. There are many places you could be, but right now, this is all you want. To enjoy this bus ride, on the warm, safe city bus, full of people going home after their rough days at work. You sit there trying not to think, as if you do not have a care in the world. For that brief bus ride you are the happiest you have been in awhile. Then as quickly as it began, your ride is over. The bus stops and you have to get off and go out into that dark, frigid and miserable world. All that happiness and warmth leaves your body like your last breath as you pull your ripped and ragged coat closer to your chest. The carefree escape you just had is over and now your life comes back to you, whipping you in the face like the stinging cold wind as you step onto the snow covered pavement. You wish that ride could have gone on forever, but now you have to face your problems. So you set out down the street in hopes of finding something, anything to keep you warm on this cold winter night. Now imagine you are one of the millions of Americans who has to find a warm place to sleep. Imagine how horrible it must feel to know that you could freeze to death on any given night. Imagine walking around in damp torn clothes, in twenty-degree weather. Imagine you were one of the MILLIONS of Americans who LIVE these very things. Imagine that…

Just something to think about on this cold winter night. Homelessness is not only a real problem in American its a growing problem. It’s a sad but all to common thing, and every day thousands of more people become homeless. So be thankful for your home, because to many people in your own city don’t have one.

The movie Sugar is about a young Dominican baseball player, Miguel “Sugar” Santos, and his struggles as he tries to reach his dream of making it to the majors, and becoming a superstar. It takes you on a journey through all of his difficulties in his first season before he ultimately breaks down. His immediate success in the minors slowly turns into frustration and failure. The main conflict in the movie seems to be the multitude of struggles a young baseball player has to overcome. Conversely, even the system created by the pro baseball industry that forces players to go through these hypothetical hoops. When you take a deeper look at the film, you realize the real conflict in this story is not of man versus the system, or even man versus self, it is that of man versus man, Sugar Santos versus the real antagonist, Salvador Torres.

Conflict between the two players’ starts early on in the movie, off the field. In the beginning of the movie Salvador Torres, signs for $115,000 to the Kansas City Knight’s baseball academy. We learn that Sugar Santos signed for only $15,000 two years earlier. When Torres tells Santos about his newly signed deal, he also asks him how much he had signed for.. You can see the look of jealousy on Santos’s face as he lies and says, “You know, about the same” (Sugar 14:48). This is the first form of competition presented between the two is that of trying to earn the most money, and Santos is failing. The fact that he signed for so much less bothers Santos immensely, driving him to work on becoming the better pitcher. When they both receive invites to Kansas City’s Spring Training, Santos outshines his competition. His newly discovered knuckle curve earns him a spot on the Single-A team in Bridgetown, Iowa. While Torres has to start out his season on the Rookie league team, in Arizona. Santos is succeeding, using the competition Torres represents as fuel. He is surprising the organization, and earning a standing as a rising star. At this point in the movie, it seems that Santos is going to wind up being the better player of the two.

When Salvador Torres earns a promotion to Single-A halfway through the season, the contest between the two takes on an elevated role. The team immediately accepts Torres as one of them. While Santos achieved quick success, he was never able to earn approval from his teammates. “You could learn a thing or two from him,” the manager says when talking about Torres, further showing Santos’s growing alienation (Sugar 1:08:14). This scene shows the difference in the levels of acceptance the two have achieved. Where back in the Dominican Republic Santos was the funny teammate and Torres was the quiet new person, their roles have reversed in this new land. Santos continues to struggle with this, questioning why his teammates have not accepted him, as well as his declining role on the team. He has become the outcast of the group. Because of this Santos’s resentment towards Torres grows. The looks and stares he gives show the jealousy building up inside of him. This resentment combined with the injury Santos is just recovering from, build on his growing frustrations. The conflict between the two is getting the best of Santos.

When Sugar Santos makes his first start back from his injury, he struggles to control his pitches. By the fourth inning, the manager pulls him from the game. The fans scream slurs at him as he walks off the field, only adding to the rage and frustration building up inside of him. Salvador Torres comes in as the relief pitcher for Santos and gets off to a hot start. The success Torres achieves comes as Santos is failing. The fans hatred and yells of anger replace the praises and cheers that were for Santos at the beginning of the season. These same fans begin cheering Torres, showing their willingness to accept him. He takes Santos’ role as the fan favorite, and eventually replaces him in the starting rotation. The quick acceptance by the fans of Torres is something that Santos cannot handle. Everywhere around him, Santos is losing grip. It is apparent that the mental tolls of the competition are causing Santos to struggle, both on and off the field. Torres is quickly taking over his role, both on the team and with the fans.

Clearly, Salvador Torres has now become the rising superstar. No longer are the announcers and fans praising Sugar Santos. Torres is receiving all of the praise, and boasting about his award of Player of the Week. Santos begins to take his rage out physically, and continues to struggle on the mound. The whole time Torres is oblivious to Santos growing animosity towards him, which only increases as he continues to struggle. When Santos arrives to the team bus for an away game, the tension he has built up towards Torres becomes apparent. He refuses to let Torres help him with his bags, pulling away from him, and blankly glaring at Torres as he heads to the clubhouse. Torres is confused, and gives him a friendly wave, but Santos just continues to glare, before slipping into the clubhouse. The competition has become too much for Santos. He is mentally beat. Finally, Santos accepts defeat by quitting and not returning to the bus. Instead, he heads to New York City, leaving the team, and his dreams of making it in the big leagues behind. It is apparent that the conflict between the two has helped propel ones career while crumbling the others. The competition Torres brought has taken its toll on Santos. Torres has soundly beat Santos into submission.

Sugar Santos’s struggle to make it in baseball is not because of a system that set him up for failure, or because of an injury that he suffers during his season. It becomes clear that the conflict in the story is that of man versus man. Santos’s failure is a direct result of subconscious conflict between two teammates. Even though it appears as though Santos would become the superstar, he quickly declines. Salvador Torres beats him in both direct and indirect conflict. In the end, the success Torres achieves propels him into becoming the rising superstar, not Santos. Santos’s inability to handle the competition presented to him by Torres proves that he is the reason for Santos’s decline, and the real antagonist in this story. Torres’s arrival on the team is not only a catalyst for change in the tone of the movie; it also leads to the eventual departure from the team by Santos, and him quitting the game he loves. Consequently, it reveals that Santos’s real antagonist is actually his friend, teammate, and closest competitor, Salvador Torres.

Works Cited

Sugar. Dir. Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Perf. Algenis Perez Soto, Kelvin Leonardo Garcia, Rayniel Rufino. Sony Pictures Classics, 2008.

Here is the official trailer for the gem of a movie by Sony Pictures Classic, Sugar

For the past few days (weeks or maybe even months if you are a Fanboy) the internet and technology worlds have been buzzing in anticipation for the announcement of Apple’s new “tablet.” Well today everyone got what they have been waiting for. Steve Jobs, Apples’ Guru, announced the new device today before a media only crowd. The rumors have been confirmed, Apple is launching a brand new device called the iPad! Some are calling it “The most advanced technology” they have seen, yet others claim it is “magical”, “brilliant” and “awe-inspiring”. While it appears to be an oversized iPhone, trust me the iPad is a whole new device.

Boasting an impressive 9.7 inch OLED multi-touch screen in a package that is 0.5 inches think and weighs less then 2 lbs, the iPad might just be lightning in a bottle! With built in Wi-Fi capabilities, and an option to have 3G coverage (provided by AT&T of course) this puppy has it all. The iPad comes in varying sizes of memory from 16gb up to 64gb, (wait…doesn’t the iTouch and iPhone have just as big of memories?) there is sure to be an iPad that fits every lifestyle. Built in Bluetooth allows you to connect on the go with a slew of wireless headsets and devices. Accessories are sure to go great with the iPad and range from leather carrying cases, to keyboard docks. Now I know some of you are asking why on earth would anyone be willing to spend up too $829 for what is essentially a overgrown version of the iTouch? I mean the thing doesn’t even have a camera like the iPhone, or USB ports like a Netbook. Touché, however the iPad does have some awesome features, along with something that no other device comes close too; and it just might make Steve Jobs a god among men!

Not only will you be able to run apps galore from the 140,000 strong collection in Apples’ App Store, but it will be debuting a brand new app designed specifically for the iPad, iBook (take that Amazon Kindle). Now not only will you be able to rock out to your favorite Lady GaGa track while surfing the web, you will also be able to read books (like Mr. Glass’s Words of Wisdom, available on Amazon.com). Something sure to lure those avid book fans into dishing out the cash to get their hands on one (hmm $19.99 for this hardcover, or $829 for this digital contraption). The color touch screen is far better and brighter then Amazon’s Kindle and Kindle DX that sport a black and white, non-touch screen (yes they still make those things). Apples’ launch of the iPad and new iBook app means that they plan on conquering the EBook scene like they have with digital music. Five of the nations biggest publishers along with some of the largest newspapers and magazines, are already on board and will be available in the iBook store from day one. However the most exciting new feature by far makes up for the iPads’ lack of camera, and wallet robbing price. No its not the ability to view Flash or PDF documents, its something way better!

Steve Jobs likes to think of himself as a man of the people. He knows what the people want, and sets out to create it for them. Steve like many women around the world have long wanted an alternative to ruined panties. That is why Jobs decided that what the world really needed the most was not just an oversized, less useful and more expensive version of the iPhone; but an oversized, less useful and more expensive version of the iPhone with ultra absorbent wings! That is right, Jobs and Apple aren’t satisfied with dominating the Music, and Book scenes, they also plan on being a leader in women’s feminine care! Women (and men alike) will go nuts for a maxi pad that not only protects those Vicky Secret satin panties, but can also get the latest edition of The New York Times while blasting “Pants on the Ground” and checking out the internet dating scene. The iPad is a truly revolutionary device. Never before has so much been packed into one small hunk of metal. TWorld, be prepared to meet your maker, Mr. Steve Jobs!

However now that the latest Apple product has been released, its got all the Fanboy’s and rumor mills craving for what’s next. Well Mr. Glass has you covered, here is a little list of devices, apps and products I think Apple might be coming out with in the next year or so:

• iTampon : a sleeker version of the iPad for those women who prefer to wear thongs!
• iMasturbate : a joint venture between Apple and KY, a line of personal lubricants that is sure to have your partner screaming iEnjoy!
• iCondom : With Apples’ foot into the personal health market, you didn’t think they were going to miss out on a chance to create the first YouTube streaming personal protection did you?
• iBra : A line of sleek and sexy devices that not only give you with the latest technology, but also provide a certain amount of support!
• iPoop : A new laxative…enough said!
• iJesus : An interactive, technologically advanced, modernized approach at religon, with Steve Jobs as God!
• iRun : a jogging simulation game for the iPhone and iPad owners who cant find time to actually run!
• iSuck : Apples alternative to the Fleshlight!
• iDied : A new line of ultra sleek, ultra sheik coffins. Now you can enjoy the afterlife with all your favorite music, movies & books!
• iDouche : Who said douching couldn’t be enjoyable?
• iQuit : A Groundbreaking app to help you tell your boss to screw off!
• iWife : Apples’ brand new technology based wonder woman! A wife who can cook, clean, surf the web, and plays your favorite music whenever her mouth opens….YES PLEASE!

Apple well certainly be busy over the next few years. Anyone else excited for the release of iJesus?

And now it seems they have already launched the advertising campaign for the iPad, below is the first commercial for Apple’s new product!

My article for the January 2010 issue of TheOuterBelt.com. Check it out and make sure you bookmark the site!

A New kind of New Year’s Resolution!

By. Mr. Glass

Every year millions of us sit down and prepare a list of “New Year’s Resolutions.” A Ridiculous set of goals we set for ourselves for the New Year. Things like ordering food from a bunch of Celebrities just so you can drop twenty pounds, or getting help for your weird obsession with the Jonas Brothers. Stuff you don’t really want to do but feel forced too by the pressures of society. Not only do we waste our precious time thinking of what we want them to be; but then we also tend to fail horrendously when it comes to achieving them. Some even suffer the pains of saying goodbye to the love of their life, like The Baconator, all to attempt something they will ultimately fail. This year I propose an option that will not only save you from heartache, soul crushing and wasted time; but something that you can easily achieve!

I propose to you that instead of making a list of worthless “resolutions”, you make a valuable list of “Things I’ll NEVER do this year!” That way you actually create a set of goals that is achievable without any effort put forth! How does one go about making the list you ask? First off, throw out the entire school of thought on making a “New Year’s Resolution!” The boring old attitudes of “bettering the world” or “improving oneself” don’t apply to this list. It isn’t full of worthy, thoughtful, grand ideas. Instead, it is chock full of things you think are lame, can’t stand, or just plain out despise. Things you refuse to ever own, say, do or buy. It shouldn’t be hard to fill a list full of outrageously dumb things you will never buy, say or do. The list is more than a set of “goals!” It’s something that you can have to remind you how lame the rest of society is!

Making one’s list can be as simple as doing the opposite of your previous “resolutions.”  Instead of dropping some weight, make the very first thing on your list “refusing to eat disgusting overpriced frozen food to lose weight this year, just because Dan Marino tells me too!” Is there an annoying phrase going around that you can’t stand? Put it down, as “I will never say ‘going ham’ on anything that doesn’t involve ham” A bizarre blanket product that for the life of you, you just can’t figure out why anyone would ever buy one? “Till death, I promise to never wear a sleeved animal print blanket like a complete tool!”  Once you come up with one or two good things, more should come easily. Soon you’ll be on a roll!

Finally, you have compiled your list of “things I’ll NEVER do”, now it boils down to one simple rule. Making sure, you do not do any of those outrageously retarded things on the list! This should be easy, considering no one with half a brain really wants to spend $20 on an absurdly orange paper towel anyways! Now that you have your list full of things you will not be doing this coming year, you have much more time to focus on the important things. Like constructing your master plan of kidnapping Jack then holding him hostage for a few hundred tacos! Enjoy the New Year, and make damn sure you don’t do anything I wouldn’t!

With 2009 winding down I figured I would do a run down of my five favorite mixtapes from the year. These tapes are not only the best of the year, they are a model of what real hip-hop music is! 2009 featured some big names making comebacks along with newer guys shining through. It truly was a year for Hip-Hop. Without any more delay lets get started with my Mixtape Gems of 2009!

1: Mick Boogie Presents: U-N-I – Before There Was Love!

In my humble opinion this was by far the best mixtape of the entire year! It was 27 tracks of pure fire, featuring everyone from Talib Kweli to Evidence to Big Pooh. Before There Was Love is full of bass bumping west coast beats and a sweet mix of samples, with that smooth Cali flow these guys have come to be known for! Y-O & Thurzday put out one of the realest, illest, dopest tapes ever when they released this! They not only continue to surpass all others in the game with each release, they do it all without a major label backing. They have redefined the true essence of what Hip-Hop really is, these doods are no fad, they’re real ass MC’s!

2: Big Sean – UKNOWBIGSEAN

The past few years have been huge for the entire G.O.O.D. Music label. Common, Kid CuDi, Mr. Hudson, Kanye West the list goes on and on. Kanye’s label is quickly becoming one of the best rosters in Hip-Hop. However of all the artists on G.O.O.D. Music I think Detroit native  Big Sean’s second mixtape UKNOWBIGSEAN was the best project released by anyone on the label (and that’s saying a lot considering how good Man on The Moon was). Every song goes hard from start to finish. His smooth flow and lyricism shows how much the kids learned while sitting in the Shadows! The tape is a showcase of the most underrated, unknown and unheard member of the G.O.O.D. Music family! In 2010 you will KNOWBIGSEAN!

3: Mike Posner – A Matter of Time

The debut mixtape by Mike Posner was nothing more then amazing! Hosted by Don Cannon and mixed DJ Benzi, A Matter of Time is a blend of Posner’s soulful jazz-like voice, and his dope production. Posner who is a senior at Duke University is quickly becoming one of the hottest names in Hip-Hop today.  His single Drug Dealer Girl is nothing less than one of the best tracks of the year. The tape features Big Sean (see #2) as well as Eric Holljes. He released his second tape One Foot Out The Door in October, and while I don’t think it was as good as A Matter of Time, it is clear the Mike Posner is a rising star!

4: Drake – So Far Gone

Now I know a lot of people would argue that this was by far the best mixtape of 2009. However this is my list! It was one of the best, I mean the numbers don’t lie. Hell the success he has received from the tape might very well be incomparable. However I feel this was only the 4th best tape of the year. How many other artists do you know that can re-release a free mixtape as an EP and actually have it sell? Enough said!

5: B.o.B. – B.o.B. vs. Bobby Ray

No. 5 was the hardest one to decide upon, however considering how continuously dope B.o.B. has been I feel he deserved this spot over the other ones. The ATLien has blown up over the past few years. Appearing on multiple video game soundtracks, features on multiple albums and tearing up the internet, B.o.B. is  one of the true leaders of the new school! While B.o.B. might be one strange cat, rapping about aliens and singing about stars, you cant deny his talent! The heart and soul he puts into each track is apparent. He is quickly becoming one of the best storytellers in Hip-Hop!

Honorable Mentions:

The Cool Kids – Gone Fishing

Could have knocked Drake off, however the fact that Don Cannon is screaming all over every track ruined it for me!

PacDiv – Church League Champions

PacDiv continues to release dope ass music! They are definitely one of the groups to be looked out for in 2010!

Back in early 2008 I started a small blog called Hip-HopAlive! It was me trying to write about hip-hop music and my love for it. HHA! garnered a nice little following for the few months that I kept at it. I was receiving e-mails from lots of unknown up and coming artists who wanted me to review them. One of which was Colin Munroe, who has gone on to some pretty decent success. A review I did on Afrofreque, a hip-hop soul group from Houston, was actually my first piece to ever be published in any form. Sadly for some reason I decided to stop my little project. I was going through a rough time, and was still trying to figure out who I was. Later I tried starting up some other blogs, trying to emulate the things I saw on sites like 2Dopeboyz.com, all of which failed to ever be as good as the realness of Hip-HopAlive!. I ultimately quit them too, finally realizing that copying someone else ’s style wasn’t working for me. Hip-HopAlive! was my first real attempt at writing anything in a long time. I love that project for the simple fact that it re-lit the fire in me. It sparked my passion for writing once again. Since then I have changed, grown as a person and a writer. I have learned much more about the art, and have grown to love my little pathetic attempt at changing the hip-hop world. Looking back on some of the things I wrote, it makes me laugh. This was one of the first things I ever posted on the blog (many of the original posts have since been removed with only a dozen or so still remaining on the site). It’s my first attempt at ever doing a real album review, but not my last. With the new year coming up I plan on finishing what I started so long ago. I want to tap back into the magic that was Hip-HopAlive! I chose this album because it really touched me, and still remains one of my favorite of all time. It’s an album by an artist known simply as Blu. Here is my review from long ago of Blu & Exile’s Below The Heavens. Enjoy!

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For those of you who have been following my WOW’s or who know me, you probably know that I got into some trouble last fall. However none of you have ever heard all of the details or heard how it all actually went down. For any of you who buy my book you will even notice that I partially dedicated the book to two unnamed Secret Service agents. I am sure many of you would like to know why I did that, and what actually went on that day. This is a true factual account of that meeting. I left out a few minor details, like certain questions that were asked. However I left in about 99% of everything that was said and did that day. So here it is, my first person account of that November Afternoon.

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Anyone who knows me knows that I love art, especially graffiti and paintings! Lately I have become hooked, almost addicted some could say, to this awesome company out of Chicago. I’m talking about Threadless.com, this super cool community based indie T-Shirt company that is helping spread artists work one shirt at a time! Anyone who appreciates art will love these shirts, because they aren’t just fads of fashion; they are beautiful pieces of artwork. Threadless operates by having artists submit designs then allowing the community (users, customers, etc.) to vote on them. Designs that win are printed into shirts, earning the designer up to $20,000. If you think about it though their designs are actually being made into, a walking canvas that helps spread that artist’s work around the globe. Threadless is changing the way we look at art.

Threadless is not just a t-shirt company, they are new kind of art gallery supplying artists with a unique new outlet for displaying their work. On peoples shirts. After all, the company really is all about the art! The vast array of shirts they offer is amazing, each one unique, showing the different styles of each individual artist. For an artist, nothing is cooler than seeing people enjoy your work. Watching people walk around town while wearing your painting or drawing would be amazing. For up and coming artists, there might not be a better way of getting your work out there. Best part is anyone can submit designs. All you need to do is download their submission kit and follow the instructions included. (continue reading…)

A Werewolf on the Roof: How to Survive this Holiday Season!

by. Mr. Glass

From the November issue of TheOuterBelt!

The holiday season is fast approaching us and we all know what that means. Lots of time with friends, family and annoying carolers who do not seem to understand that when you answer the door in your boxers with your 12-guage in hand that it means you would greatly appreciate them leaving you alone. Unfortunately, we all know that spending time with your family also means spending time with that annoying mother in law of yours, and your rotten little nephews. Don’t forget that your grandma is going to talk for two hours straight about her cats in the middle of the Thanksgiving football game. Then on Christmas, your nephews are probably going to steal the remote and change from the NBA game to A Christmas Story. That way your sister can remember to scream at you for buying them a BB-Gun last year. Too bad, she doesn’t know that if they did shoot each other, we would all be able to watch the game in peace.  It can be enough to drive you nuts, ruining the holiday season for you. Luckily, that does not have to be the case!

The most annoying thing about the holiday season is you never seem to have enough cash for everything. I mean let’s face it; the life size robotic Santa Claus with a white gold beard and ruby encrusted cheeks is not cheap. Let alone the pimped out hydraulic sled built by Hummer! If you have any balls than you know, how important it is to outdo your annoying 65-year-old neighbor when it comes to decorating. No one likes being called a sissy pants loser, especially by a geezer in dirty depends. I mean, do you really want your son to think that it’s ok to let old people win? I didn’t think so! So if you really want to get the old fart back and soundly beat him this year as the best house in the neighborhood, than your going to have to shell out the big bucks. We all know your wife will throw a fit if you spend the entire Christmas budget on decorations again. For some reason she thinks your kids getting presents is more important than beating Mr. Ebenezer. Now I know what you are probably thinking at this point, that Christmas is almost two months away. However, if you want to win you have to start building up the cash now. What you’ve got to do is get yourself a second job whose earnings are solely for buying the big boy toys. (continue reading…)

How To Be a Halloween MVP!

by. Mr. Glass

from the October issue of TheOuterBelt!

October is such an amazing time of year. Not just because of all of the colorful flowers and decorations, but also because of Halloween! Halloween and all of the festivals and traditions that go on with it defiantly make fall time Mr. Glass’s favorite time of the year! Whether its dressing up like a cartoon character, getting free candy, or being mischievous it all adds up to the best night of the year! You have to do it right if you want to stand out from everyone else and truly be an MVP of Halloween!

One of Halloweens greatest customs is the whole dressing up aspect of it! Any other time of the year it is considered socially unacceptable for a 27 year old man to dress up like Sonic the Hedgehog, or Wonder Woman! On Halloween though it’s considered awkward if you aren’t dressed up like your favorite Superhero or villain! That is why picking out the perfect costume is one of the most important parts of Halloween! (continue reading…)