Both the men's and women's basketball teams for UH-Manoa made it to the Big West conference championship game but lost. Neither went on the NCAA tournament, but the women's team made it to the WNIT (a tournament for those with winning records but couldn't make it in the NCAA tournament).
The women's team has now lost a few great players to graduation, but still have some strong performers on the team. The team is just hoping the coach Laura Beeman sticks around. With success comes being recruited to coach at better funded programs. Let's hope she loves Hawaii more than outside money!
The men's team, however, have a much bigger struggle. They started the season less than a month after their head coach Gib Arnold got fired over alleged NCAA violations. Then the star player from last year Issac Fotu (also under investigation over alleged NCAA violations) left the team. A benchwarmer Jammis Reyes also left.
The first game didn't even start and people were ready to give up on the team. However, assistant coach Benji Taylor became head coach and rallied the remaining players to victories all throughout the season. Unlike the teams of the Gib Arnold era, they didn't collapse during the end of the regular season. Unlike the teams of the Gib Arnold era, they didn't get eliminated in the first round of the Big West tournament. They took it all the way to the championship game where they took a heart-breaking loss.
Even with all that success under such difficult circumstances, it is still uncertain if the UH athletic department will allow Benji Taylor to continue being head coach. There's this application process that requires allowing outside applicants to apply when it comes to state jobs.
I say we keep Benji Taylor as head coach. He's a much better fit for the program than Gib Arnold was. He was able to win under less than ideal circumstances and could do even more when he gets the job, be able to recruit his own players, and be able to move beyond the NCAA violations!
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Coming soon (maybe)
I will not obey anybody who tells me to be silent about my experiences.
In fact, telling to me to "be silent" will only make me louder.
A situation has come up, it will take a while to complete my blog post about this issue! I only have a limited time on the computer, but trust me, I have already started!
---
Look, I understand confidentiality. I don't give out private information. I sign confidentiality agreements regarding private information without any problems.
But I will not be silent about injustices.
In fact, telling to me to "be silent" will only make me louder.
A situation has come up, it will take a while to complete my blog post about this issue! I only have a limited time on the computer, but trust me, I have already started!
---
Look, I understand confidentiality. I don't give out private information. I sign confidentiality agreements regarding private information without any problems.
But I will not be silent about injustices.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
EAZY-E: 2 decades later
2 decades ago tomorrow, gangsta rap pioneer Eazy-E died from AIDS.
Eazy-E was the the leader of the gangsta rap group NWA, which also featured Dr. Dre, MC Ren and Ice Cube. That group shocked the world by insulting police, rapping tales of violence, and its explicit sexual tales.
Eazy-E's talent was his ability to make us laugh at stuff we know we shouldn't laugh at. I mean, not everyone can do that! I mean, many of us say inappropriate things as youth in an attempt to be funny, but in many cases, even our friends aren't laughing with our jokes. This is something not every could do, but Eazy-E was good at that. Even if others wrote his lyrics, his delivery made it humorous. While Ludacris also had that talent, Eazy-E had more psycho lyrics!
1) While many stereotype rap music as "all about being a gangsta, talking about bi-----s and h--s", it wasn't anything like that before NWA came on the scene. Hip-Hop was mostly party music. House parties, block parties!
After NWA, many gang-affiliated youth and the wannabees found that making their own gangsta rap records is a legal way for them to make money without conforming to the standards of the corporate world!
Some blame "white-run corporations" for promoting gangsta rap! But in reality, most big music corporations wanted NOTHING to do with gangsta rap in the beginning. Eazy-E's business partner Jerry Heller was trying to get major labels to invest in his music. Their reaction was "nobody would listen to that garbage."
Remember, this was the 1980s, when Micheal Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper and Lionel Richie were the major stars! Rap was just coming out, and everyone thought it was another fad.
So, NWA ending up selling tons of records WITHOUT much video or radio airplay. And remember, this was before the Internet became popular! But once someone heard it, they ain't going to keep it a secret from their friends. That, plus the controversy over "f---- the police" made people want to buy NWA records.
And it wasn't limited to African-American kids. European-Americans, Mexicans, Asians, and Pacific Islanders got into it! And other people as well!
This underground popularity got the music corporations thinking "maybe people want to listen to that after all". Soon, nearly every major music corporation had a gangsta rap group signed in!
Some claim those records label caused gangsta rap to overshadow positive rap! But even when Will Smith, Black Eyed Peas and other positive groups had major airplay, most hard-core young males rather be Eazy-E, 2pac, Snoop Dogg, Master P,Lil Jon or 50 Cent.
When you're a young male, you want to be seen as tough guy not to be messed with! You also want to have sexy women on your side. You also want to drive a car with loud stereos. No other music can express those desires like gangsta rap! One can complain about corporations pushing gangsta rap, but those kids aren't going to satisfied with other corporate approved trends like teen pop, pop-punk, or R&B. While heavy metal has its tough side, it rarely expresses the desire to be the life of the party, the stud, the pimp, so that's why it got overshadowed by gangsta rap!
2) Unlike what Bill O'Reilly, Michelle Maglalang Malkin and all these other fear-mongers want you to believe, gangsta rap doesn't have the level of influence like it did when Eazy-E was around.
I mean, the last major gangsta rapper from the West Coast was TheGame, who is a couple years older than me! For the East Coast, it would be 50 Cent. For the South, it would be a tie between several rappers, since the South had much more influence in this century than the previous century.
Rappers are still talking about weed, parties, alcohol, sex and b*****, but the rappers who are selling are not making the violent music like they used to
This trend was noted in a LA Times article 2 years ago titled "In hip-hop, violence is taking on a diminishing role"
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/feb/15/entertainment/la-et-ms-music-and-violence-rap-hip-hop-20130217
I mean,yeah, we got teen pop singers (ie Chris Brown, Justin Bieber) and prison guards (ie Rick Ross) pretending to be gangsta, but that's only because the OGs in Gangsta Rap have moved on! And even then, the only thing Chris Brown and Justin Bieber can brag about is fighting weaker pop stars, driving fast cars and throwing eggs! They would get laughed at (and confronted) if they even dare pretend to do drive-by shootings or claim a real set! Rick Ross learned that when confronted by the Black Gangster Disciples while on tour!
But yeah, most of the rappers on the radio are more about parties in the clubs instead of crowding the streets and doing drive-bys!
Hip-Hop has moved on!
3) Where was I when Eazy-E was around? Back in 1991, when I was in 5th grade, my older brother Ramiro introduced me to NWA! At the time, the only rappers I really knew about were the pop rappers like Hammer!
So hearing rap music making the same dirty jokes my school peers were making was eye-opening!
Ramiro told me not to mention his NWA tapes to anyone. But my big mouth mentioned it where my oldest brother Frank (more of a classical music guy) heard it and he told my mom, and she wasn't happy!
A few years later, in 1993, MTV finally played more gangsta rap videos, especially from former NWA member Dr Dre and his new sidekick Snoop Dogg! Dr Dre & Snoop Dogg dissed Eazy-E on the "Dre Day" video. But MTV hardly played Eazy-E response track "Real M----F----n G's" and I thought it was unfair that MTV was taking sides. But I heard that Eazy-E's track from car stereos way more often than " Dre Day"
In 1994, Eazy-E introduced the Cleveland rap group Bone Thugs N Harmony! That group combined gangsta lyrics with R&B styled harmonies! That group was MEGA-POPULAR in Hawaii! While all groups listened to it, the most devoted fans tend to be Samoans. That might surprise many in Cleveland, where the only exposure many have to Samoans is NFL games and WWE. That shows even the most hardcore music can transcend cultural lines.Then during Spring Break 1995, on a middle-school sponsored field trip to the Volcanoes National Park on Hawaii's Big Island, me & a few other male students were riding in a van. One of my peers suggested playing one of his CDs. That CD was the same Eazy-E CD my brother had. The chaperone told that student to play a few cents per swear word being played!
Then when I returned to Oahu, guess what? I found out Eazy-E died from AIDS. Interesting coincidence. Remember back then, it was a few years before the Internet became popular.. No facebook, no Twitter, no smartphones. We didn't even have text messages on cell phones back then. So we were isolated from the world during that field trip.
----
In Eazy-E's "Last Werds", it was claimed that 1999 will be the end of the world. Bone Thugs N Harmony sang about "East 1999". Unfortunately, Eazy-E didn't get to even see 1999, as he died too early.
But the world has not ended yet!
(note: some paragraphs were from a blog post http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010/03/eazy-e-15-years-later.html from 5 years ago, with a few more added in to make this post more relevant to today)
Eazy-E was the the leader of the gangsta rap group NWA, which also featured Dr. Dre, MC Ren and Ice Cube. That group shocked the world by insulting police, rapping tales of violence, and its explicit sexual tales.
Eazy-E's talent was his ability to make us laugh at stuff we know we shouldn't laugh at. I mean, not everyone can do that! I mean, many of us say inappropriate things as youth in an attempt to be funny, but in many cases, even our friends aren't laughing with our jokes. This is something not every could do, but Eazy-E was good at that. Even if others wrote his lyrics, his delivery made it humorous. While Ludacris also had that talent, Eazy-E had more psycho lyrics!
1) While many stereotype rap music as "all about being a gangsta, talking about bi-----s and h--s", it wasn't anything like that before NWA came on the scene. Hip-Hop was mostly party music. House parties, block parties!
After NWA, many gang-affiliated youth and the wannabees found that making their own gangsta rap records is a legal way for them to make money without conforming to the standards of the corporate world!
Some blame "white-run corporations" for promoting gangsta rap! But in reality, most big music corporations wanted NOTHING to do with gangsta rap in the beginning. Eazy-E's business partner Jerry Heller was trying to get major labels to invest in his music. Their reaction was "nobody would listen to that garbage."
Remember, this was the 1980s, when Micheal Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper and Lionel Richie were the major stars! Rap was just coming out, and everyone thought it was another fad.
So, NWA ending up selling tons of records WITHOUT much video or radio airplay. And remember, this was before the Internet became popular! But once someone heard it, they ain't going to keep it a secret from their friends. That, plus the controversy over "f---- the police" made people want to buy NWA records.
And it wasn't limited to African-American kids. European-Americans, Mexicans, Asians, and Pacific Islanders got into it! And other people as well!
This underground popularity got the music corporations thinking "maybe people want to listen to that after all". Soon, nearly every major music corporation had a gangsta rap group signed in!
Some claim those records label caused gangsta rap to overshadow positive rap! But even when Will Smith, Black Eyed Peas and other positive groups had major airplay, most hard-core young males rather be Eazy-E, 2pac, Snoop Dogg, Master P,Lil Jon or 50 Cent.
When you're a young male, you want to be seen as tough guy not to be messed with! You also want to have sexy women on your side. You also want to drive a car with loud stereos. No other music can express those desires like gangsta rap! One can complain about corporations pushing gangsta rap, but those kids aren't going to satisfied with other corporate approved trends like teen pop, pop-punk, or R&B. While heavy metal has its tough side, it rarely expresses the desire to be the life of the party, the stud, the pimp, so that's why it got overshadowed by gangsta rap!
2) Unlike what Bill O'Reilly, Michelle Maglalang Malkin and all these other fear-mongers want you to believe, gangsta rap doesn't have the level of influence like it did when Eazy-E was around.
I mean, the last major gangsta rapper from the West Coast was TheGame, who is a couple years older than me! For the East Coast, it would be 50 Cent. For the South, it would be a tie between several rappers, since the South had much more influence in this century than the previous century.
Rappers are still talking about weed, parties, alcohol, sex and b*****, but the rappers who are selling are not making the violent music like they used to
This trend was noted in a LA Times article 2 years ago titled "In hip-hop, violence is taking on a diminishing role"
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/feb/15/entertainment/la-et-ms-music-and-violence-rap-hip-hop-20130217
To say that hip-hop has evolved over the last 25 years — since the days when rappers such as Ice-T and Ice Cube were terrorizing the likes of Tipper Gore, who famously lobbied for the adoption of the Parental Advisory sticker — seems an almost-laughable understatement, equal to saying that the Internet has had some effect on the way we consume music. Once perceived as a site of uncut nihilism, hip-hop has made room, in a way that outsiders can't ignore, for practicality and ambivalence and staunchly middle-aged concerns. Achievement too.And it's become more peaceful, at least on the surface. At a moment in which the depiction of violence in other forms of media appears increasingly graphic, much of the conflict in hip-hop has moved inward, its players fighting battles of ideas and emotions.
I mean,yeah, we got teen pop singers (ie Chris Brown, Justin Bieber) and prison guards (ie Rick Ross) pretending to be gangsta, but that's only because the OGs in Gangsta Rap have moved on! And even then, the only thing Chris Brown and Justin Bieber can brag about is fighting weaker pop stars, driving fast cars and throwing eggs! They would get laughed at (and confronted) if they even dare pretend to do drive-by shootings or claim a real set! Rick Ross learned that when confronted by the Black Gangster Disciples while on tour!
But yeah, most of the rappers on the radio are more about parties in the clubs instead of crowding the streets and doing drive-bys!
Hip-Hop has moved on!
3) Where was I when Eazy-E was around? Back in 1991, when I was in 5th grade, my older brother Ramiro introduced me to NWA! At the time, the only rappers I really knew about were the pop rappers like Hammer!
So hearing rap music making the same dirty jokes my school peers were making was eye-opening!
Ramiro told me not to mention his NWA tapes to anyone. But my big mouth mentioned it where my oldest brother Frank (more of a classical music guy) heard it and he told my mom, and she wasn't happy!
A few years later, in 1993, MTV finally played more gangsta rap videos, especially from former NWA member Dr Dre and his new sidekick Snoop Dogg! Dr Dre & Snoop Dogg dissed Eazy-E on the "Dre Day" video. But MTV hardly played Eazy-E response track "Real M----F----n G's" and I thought it was unfair that MTV was taking sides. But I heard that Eazy-E's track from car stereos way more often than " Dre Day"
In 1994, Eazy-E introduced the Cleveland rap group Bone Thugs N Harmony! That group combined gangsta lyrics with R&B styled harmonies! That group was MEGA-POPULAR in Hawaii! While all groups listened to it, the most devoted fans tend to be Samoans. That might surprise many in Cleveland, where the only exposure many have to Samoans is NFL games and WWE. That shows even the most hardcore music can transcend cultural lines.Then during Spring Break 1995, on a middle-school sponsored field trip to the Volcanoes National Park on Hawaii's Big Island, me & a few other male students were riding in a van. One of my peers suggested playing one of his CDs. That CD was the same Eazy-E CD my brother had. The chaperone told that student to play a few cents per swear word being played!
Then when I returned to Oahu, guess what? I found out Eazy-E died from AIDS. Interesting coincidence. Remember back then, it was a few years before the Internet became popular.. No facebook, no Twitter, no smartphones. We didn't even have text messages on cell phones back then. So we were isolated from the world during that field trip.
----
In Eazy-E's "Last Werds", it was claimed that 1999 will be the end of the world. Bone Thugs N Harmony sang about "East 1999". Unfortunately, Eazy-E didn't get to even see 1999, as he died too early.
But the world has not ended yet!
(note: some paragraphs were from a blog post http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010/03/eazy-e-15-years-later.html from 5 years ago, with a few more added in to make this post more relevant to today)
Tuesday, March 03, 2015
Many colors in a family
There's an article going viral about a set of multi-racial twins.
They're not identical twins, so yeah, they'll look different, but this time, they look really different.
The twins are of Anglo and Jamaican ancestry. One twin looks like your typical Anglo girl with the white skin and brown stringy hair. The other twin has brown skin and weavy hair.
(learn more at
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/these-twins-can-teach-us-a-lot-about-racial-identity/ar-BBibCwv?ocid=iehp
Here is my facebook comment
.png)
Yes, my comments are true!
Me, I have a Mexican father whose mother is of Native Mexican ancestry (Zapotec, Toltec), whereas his father is of Spanish ancestry. My father has more Native Mexican features, whereas his siblings are lighter skinned!
My mother is of Puerto Rican (with native and Spanish in it), Portuguese, and German ancestry. Her skin is white and has thick hair!
Now, look at my extended family.
One of my mother's brothers married a Native Hawaiian woman. Some of the kids look mostly Native Hawaiian, some look mostly Latino, another looks mostly white!
Another of my mother's brothers married a Puerto Rican woman, so most of the kids looked Latino, but one looked totally "white" as in German "white", NOT Spanish/Portuguese "white".
---
Now back to my inner circle. My brother married a Korean woman. One of their daughters looks mostly Korean, others look more Spanish-Mexican.
All in the same family! :)
------
This is common in Hawaii, whereas there is a lot of inter-racial marriages going on.
I know this one family in my childhood hood (Lanakila Housing), where the children are of Samoan/Hawaiian/Puerto Rican ancestry and they all look so different that the only reason why I knew they were siblings is because I'm from the same neighborhood. Some of my classmates from different neighborhoods didn't even believe me when I told them they were all siblings. But it's true!
Which is also why sometimes I see part-Asian, part-European kids who look mostly Asian and with Asian last names, and I'm thinking "something about them shows they might part-white". Then I see the one grandparent is totally of European ancestry ............. that explains it!
That's why I say you never know the entire racial background of who you are talking to! You might be saying a racial joke thinking "nobody of this race is around", but they might be, they just be only 10% of that race! Either that, or they have cousins of the other race!
As Rodney King said "Can't we all just get along?"
They're not identical twins, so yeah, they'll look different, but this time, they look really different.
The twins are of Anglo and Jamaican ancestry. One twin looks like your typical Anglo girl with the white skin and brown stringy hair. The other twin has brown skin and weavy hair.
(learn more at
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/these-twins-can-teach-us-a-lot-about-racial-identity/ar-BBibCwv?ocid=iehp
Here is my facebook comment
Yes, my comments are true!
Me, I have a Mexican father whose mother is of Native Mexican ancestry (Zapotec, Toltec), whereas his father is of Spanish ancestry. My father has more Native Mexican features, whereas his siblings are lighter skinned!
My mother is of Puerto Rican (with native and Spanish in it), Portuguese, and German ancestry. Her skin is white and has thick hair!
Now, look at my extended family.
One of my mother's brothers married a Native Hawaiian woman. Some of the kids look mostly Native Hawaiian, some look mostly Latino, another looks mostly white!
Another of my mother's brothers married a Puerto Rican woman, so most of the kids looked Latino, but one looked totally "white" as in German "white", NOT Spanish/Portuguese "white".
---
Now back to my inner circle. My brother married a Korean woman. One of their daughters looks mostly Korean, others look more Spanish-Mexican.
All in the same family! :)
------
This is common in Hawaii, whereas there is a lot of inter-racial marriages going on.
I know this one family in my childhood hood (Lanakila Housing), where the children are of Samoan/Hawaiian/Puerto Rican ancestry and they all look so different that the only reason why I knew they were siblings is because I'm from the same neighborhood. Some of my classmates from different neighborhoods didn't even believe me when I told them they were all siblings. But it's true!
Which is also why sometimes I see part-Asian, part-European kids who look mostly Asian and with Asian last names, and I'm thinking "something about them shows they might part-white". Then I see the one grandparent is totally of European ancestry ............. that explains it!
That's why I say you never know the entire racial background of who you are talking to! You might be saying a racial joke thinking "nobody of this race is around", but they might be, they just be only 10% of that race! Either that, or they have cousins of the other race!
As Rodney King said "Can't we all just get along?"
Sunday, February 22, 2015
People Evolve
For the last few days, I keep seeing these articles complaining that Eddie Murphy's humor isn't as edgy as it used to be! Lot of this was in reaction to his refusal to portray Bill Cosby in an SNL anniversary skit!
For example
https://tv.yahoo.com/news/why-eddie-murphy-once-done-015500766.html
http://www.salon.com/2015/02/19/of_course_eddie_murphy_side_stepped_the_bill_cosby_joke_on_snl_hes_been_playing_it_safe_for_years/
While I think Cosby is a shady character protected by political correctness, star power and slut-shaming, I still think Eddie Murphy has ZERO obligation to make skits about him! You want Cosby skits, make your own!
Also, you can't expect people to be the same as they were decades ago! People face life circumstances that make them question their earlier attitudes, opinions and actions! People mature and evolve!
Eddie Murphy shouldn't be forced to be stuck in the 1980s just to satisfy fans who can't move on with their lives!
For example
https://tv.yahoo.com/news/why-eddie-murphy-once-done-015500766.html
http://www.salon.com/2015/02/19/of_course_eddie_murphy_side_stepped_the_bill_cosby_joke_on_snl_hes_been_playing_it_safe_for_years/
While I think Cosby is a shady character protected by political correctness, star power and slut-shaming, I still think Eddie Murphy has ZERO obligation to make skits about him! You want Cosby skits, make your own!
Also, you can't expect people to be the same as they were decades ago! People face life circumstances that make them question their earlier attitudes, opinions and actions! People mature and evolve!
Eddie Murphy shouldn't be forced to be stuck in the 1980s just to satisfy fans who can't move on with their lives!
Eddie Murphy
A man who refuse to live in the past
Same is true for your favorite musicians who once made "cutting edge music" back in the day!
You can't expect Ice Cube to make another "Death Certificate"
You can't expect Metallica to make another "Master of Puppets"
You can't expect Liz Phair to make another "Exile in Guyville"
You can't expect Bob Dylan to be who he was in the 1960s!
So they went in a different direction? Life goes on!
It's just like what Charles Barkley mentioned in his book "I May Be Wrong But I Doubt It"
Random House
Charles Barkley's book
He mentions this "keeping it real" stuff and emphasizing that his reality is no longer being the kid from the projects. He think it's sad and pathetic when adults act like they're still the same person when they were 16. Barkley calls it "keeping it phony" and "BS"
-----------------------
Just like you think you can "pick up where you left off" when you meet a former classmate. Not really! Your classmate most likely experienced life circumstances that make them question their earlier attitudes, opinions and actions!
Which was why I wrote the "What is an Adult?" blog posts
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/05/what-is-adult.html
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/09/what-is-adult-part-2.html
as well as a "What is an Adult?" speech on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oagx7WXcO-I
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
My posts on other online outlets
Hello everyone,
it's been weeks since I last posted on my blog.
However, here is my highlights that I posted on other online outlets!
==============
There's been a bunch of memes complaining that Macklemore won more Grammys than some legendary rappers of the 80s and 90s.
The implication is that that Macklemore is favored over those rappers because of his European-American ancestry!
But I remind people that the Grammy's is a ANNUAL (meaning a year-based) award
.png)
By the way, you can see who was up for the rap music categories in the Grammy's by checking out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Best_Rap_Album
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Best_Rap_Song
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Best_Rap_Solo_Performance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Best_Rap_Performance_by_a_Duo_or_Group
For solo awards, in 1995, 2pac and Biggie weren't competing with Macklemore, they were competing with Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" a super mega-hit of the year!
In 1997, Biggie's "Hypotize" wasn't competing with Macklemore, he was competing with Will Smith, who was coming back to making rap songs after becoming a mega-star actor!
For rap albums, As for 2pac, as much as I loved "All Eyez on Me", it lost because it was competing against the Fugees "The Score" the same year!
2pac's "Me Against the World" had some meaningful songs, but it was up against Naughty By Nature "Poverty Paradise"!
For Notorious BIG, as much as I loved "Life After Death", it came out the same year as his producer Puff Daddy's debut album!
Just like Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller, Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing not winning NBA championships, because they played in the same era as Micheal Jordan! Hakeem Olajuwon also outshined those other guys when Micheal Jordan was experimenting with baseball!
------------------------------------------------
Someone thought they found me on this following article
http://www.movoto.com/hi/hawaii-dating/
.png)
Meanwhile that article has some silly stereotypes about Hawaii, but it was obvious that the article was never meant to be taken literally!
One person said the following
and someone else said the following
OK, that the word "haole is an attitude" promotes a racial stereotype, so I said the following
That last sentence was to prevent others from accusing me of being an outsider who doesn't understand Hawaii.
Lo and behold, Keone Rivers made the following comments
I respond by saying words change meaning over time.
Back to Keone Rivers
Ooooh, I better back down!
Actually, I was referring to how the word "haole" is used in modern times!
.png)
In other words, Keone couldn't overcome my 2 paragraphs because ...........it's true!
Well, Keone Rivers had no response (as of this post's publishing) to the following
.png)
Now, I don't think "haole" is always used in a negative term. It can be used in a neutral way (ie. "my haole friend"), or even to refer to oneself (ie . "I was the only haole guy in the class").
But Keone was being evasive in the real issue .................the word's use has changed to refer to just those of European-ancestry (even those whose family has been in Hawaii for generations). To the point where even immigrants use the word "haole" just thinking it's just another word for "white" .....................because ............................modern people of Hawaii just use the word "haole" to refer to European-descendants!
As for me, even though I got a German last name, I never get called a "haole" because I look mostly Mexican! But my half-brother (with a different father) ..........................yes, he's been called a "haole".
it's been weeks since I last posted on my blog.
However, here is my highlights that I posted on other online outlets!
==============
There's been a bunch of memes complaining that Macklemore won more Grammys than some legendary rappers of the 80s and 90s.
The implication is that that Macklemore is favored over those rappers because of his European-American ancestry!
But I remind people that the Grammy's is a ANNUAL (meaning a year-based) award
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Best_Rap_Song
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Best_Rap_Solo_Performance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Best_Rap_Performance_by_a_Duo_or_Group
For solo awards, in 1995, 2pac and Biggie weren't competing with Macklemore, they were competing with Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" a super mega-hit of the year!
In 1997, Biggie's "Hypotize" wasn't competing with Macklemore, he was competing with Will Smith, who was coming back to making rap songs after becoming a mega-star actor!
For rap albums, As for 2pac, as much as I loved "All Eyez on Me", it lost because it was competing against the Fugees "The Score" the same year!
2pac's "Me Against the World" had some meaningful songs, but it was up against Naughty By Nature "Poverty Paradise"!
For Notorious BIG, as much as I loved "Life After Death", it came out the same year as his producer Puff Daddy's debut album!
Just like Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller, Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing not winning NBA championships, because they played in the same era as Micheal Jordan! Hakeem Olajuwon also outshined those other guys when Micheal Jordan was experimenting with baseball!
------------------------------------------------
Someone thought they found me on this following article
http://www.movoto.com/hi/hawaii-dating/
The person on the right is not me! But yeah, he does look like me! I never wore that Aloha shirt, but I like the design :)
Meanwhile that article has some silly stereotypes about Hawaii, but it was obvious that the article was never meant to be taken literally!
One person said the following
Keone Rivers ·
what a load of haole colonialist bull (****).
and someone else said the following
Noah P. H. Dolim ·
Diana Caswell : Haole is an attitude as well.
OK, that the word "haole is an attitude" promotes a racial stereotype, so I said the following
Pablo Wegesend ·
Noah P. H. Dolim imagine is someone said "n---- is an attitude as well"? Well, someone else besides Chris Rock?
BTW, I'm from Hawaii (McKinley grad!) so don't let my looks and name fool you!
That last sentence was to prevent others from accusing me of being an outsider who doesn't understand Hawaii.
Lo and behold, Keone Rivers made the following comments
Keone Rivers ·
Pablo Wegesend that is a laughable false equivalent, it only demonstrates you dont know what haole means. haole can indeed be an attitude, ho'ohaole is an example of that. the N word is a racial slur invented by white supremacists, haole is simply another word in the Hawaiian lexicon, that predates the arrival of the first white people. at no time have white people EVER been captured and enslaved for generations by Native Hawaiians, to the contrary it is white people that INVADED US and continue to enforce their white supremacy in our illegally occupied homeland.
I respond by saying words change meaning over time.
Back to Keone Rivers
Keone Rivers ·
Pablo Wegesend lol buy a dictionary, what it means is that you are comparing apples to oranges and arent sufficiently educated to even understand that. the fact that some words meanings change over time does not change the fact that you do not speak Hawaiian and do not understand it. do you understand the folly in debating a language you DO NOT know with a native speaker of that language?
Ooooh, I better back down!
Actually, I was referring to how the word "haole" is used in modern times!
Pablo Wegesend ·
You're the expert in pre-colonial meanings. In modern times, people use the phrase "haole as an attitude" with the stereotype of "Euro-American coming with bad intentions." Very few in modern times even fit that description, but as soon as a Euro-American make a mistake (no matter how minor), they get tagged as "f----- haole", usually by people who cant even speak fluent Hawaiian. That's what I meant by "word meanings change over time". This is just an observation of how that word is being used in modern times.
Now, it's about to get classic!
In other words, Keone couldn't overcome my 2 paragraphs because ...........it's true!
Well, Keone Rivers had no response (as of this post's publishing) to the following
Now, I don't think "haole" is always used in a negative term. It can be used in a neutral way (ie. "my haole friend"), or even to refer to oneself (ie . "I was the only haole guy in the class").
But Keone was being evasive in the real issue .................the word's use has changed to refer to just those of European-ancestry (even those whose family has been in Hawaii for generations). To the point where even immigrants use the word "haole" just thinking it's just another word for "white" .....................because ............................modern people of Hawaii just use the word "haole" to refer to European-descendants!
As for me, even though I got a German last name, I never get called a "haole" because I look mostly Mexican! But my half-brother (with a different father) ..........................yes, he's been called a "haole".
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
UPS improvements
Back in August 2013, I wrote a blog post about my dislike of UPS
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/08/not-fan-of-ups-policies.html
Here's what I mentioned
and this paragraph
That has changed! :)
---
Last week, I ordered a book "Modern Information Retrieval" from the Barnes & Noble website.
In the past, I would receive items from Barnes & Noble via US Post Office.
But this time, the book would be delivered by UPS!
I was expecting the worst! I was expecting to have to call UPS to hold it at their isolated facility!
But this time, I was able to go to the UPS website and they now offer the option to pick it up at the UPS Store!
So much easier than before!
:)
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/08/not-fan-of-ups-policies.html
Here's what I mentioned
You see, UPS does NOT tell you what time they're coming by your house!
So you're expected to wait at home ALL DAY just to receive your package!
Who has time for that?
And if you live in a secured building (like I do), they can't just come in and leave your stuff by your door. Plus, I don't want stuff left outside by my door. You never know who'll be thinking "hey, free stuff".
And even worse, their delivery workers are not allowed to call the customer's phone # when they come by my home to confirm I'm home!
That is the most stupidest delivery policy known to humanity!
So if you're not home when they come by (and they don't tell you when they'll come by), you got to go to their facility to pick up your item.
Their facility on Oahu is on an isolated road near the airport! If you're a bus rider, you got to get off by Nimitz and walk multiple blocks on Lagoon Drive!
and this paragraph
And UPS doesn't automatically deliver to the nearest UPS store even if you request it! You have to call the UPS Store yourself and hope they'll allow you to receive your stuff there!
That has changed! :)
---
Last week, I ordered a book "Modern Information Retrieval" from the Barnes & Noble website.
In the past, I would receive items from Barnes & Noble via US Post Office.
But this time, the book would be delivered by UPS!
I was expecting the worst! I was expecting to have to call UPS to hold it at their isolated facility!
But this time, I was able to go to the UPS website and they now offer the option to pick it up at the UPS Store!
So much easier than before!
:)
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