flo_writer

Random conversations by Paris and Brandi

Paris: Well, A.J.’s been gone a while so Brandi and I got to thinking, “Hey, maybe we should actually update this site like we told him we would.”

Brandi: So we got to talking and started wondering… were the heck is he anyway?  In any case, here’s how the conversation went down in our new feature called “Random Conversations.”

Brandi: I wonder whatever ever happend to A.J.?  He just dropped off the face of the earth.  He should be alright right?  Wherever he is…

Paris: Yeah probably, or committed suicide… whatever…

Brandi: Or got hit by a bus, a most hilarious situation… do people still get hit by buses?

As you can see, lightning strikes are far too beautiful to be funny.

Paris: Perhaps, one can only be so lucky as to get hit by a bus.  I mean, what a way to go!

Paris: Oh totally!  That’s awesome!

Brandi: It’s like getting hit by a lightning bolt, except waaay funnier.

Paris: Oh yeah, you don’t get the hilarity with a lightning bolt as much as you would with a bus.

Brandi: Have you seen… what’s that movie… Brad Pitt… he gets younger and younger… Benjamin Button!  Have you seen that?

Buses however are just plain hilarious.

Paris: Yeah.

Brandi: Only movie with funny lightning strikes.

Paris: True but he didn’t die.

Brandi: Didn’t he die from a lightning strike finally?

Paris: No he’s one of the old guys in the home… I mean he died, I think, but not from a lightning strike.

Brandi: Oh… well that’s not funny at all.

Paris: Buses are definitely funnier.

Posted in Brandi Fleur Jacks, Giles Oliver Paris, articles_ | No Comments »

The cultural dose: Ayub Ogada – Kothbiro

Samson:

Well dear readers, something exciting is happening.  I’ve been approached by a band of hardy adventurers in search of a long lost artifact.  No joke.  I’ve decided to help them on their 2 month expedition.  If all goes well, we should be able to recover it by the holidays so I’ll be back then!  They won’t say what it is, apparently it’s super secret but my services are needed as an anthropologist to navigate through the local customs and pick up the language.  It’s kinda hard to do when they don’t say where we’re going so I told them off and questioned their sanity.  However, the promise of money and a gun in my face was quite convincing so here I am, packing for the unknown.

In the mean time, I leave you with a little cultural dose.  The music of Ayub Ogada.  The track is called “Kothbiro.”  And I must say, it really calms my nerves.  There’s something so serene about it.  There’s nothing like music to strike a mood and his really hit home specially if you’re going for that smooth calm feeling.  Here’s a youtube video of his music.  Yes, the visuals are a bit politicized but I’m not going to talk about that right now.  Just listen to the music.

Ayub Ogada is a Kenyan musician who is most famous for playing an east African stringed instrument called the nyatiti.  If you’re curious of what it looks like, he’s holding the instrument in the picture above.  Also skilled with the djembe drum, he played music for several years in Africa before deciding to go to London.  There, he performed the streets before making it big, so to speak, and recorded the album En Mana Kuoyo.  His music has been heard on several soundtracks.  In 2007, he moved back to Kenya and has been there since.

Please visit him on MySpace:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=54796111

Posted in A.J. Samson, articles_ | 3 Comments »

Yann Arthus-Bertrand aerial photograpy is the best!

Jacks:

The guys have been talking politics too much ick!  So I’m gonna talk about something else okies?

I’d like to introduce all of you to the work of Yann Arthus-Bertrand.  He is probably most famous for taking super awesome aerial photographs and his work has been published in National Geographic like tons of times!

His pictures are sooo pretty!  or “aesthetically pleasing” as A.J. would say.  What a dorky thing to say huh?  Whatevers lol!  Anyways, just check them out OMG they are sooo cool!

If ur in New York, ur sooo freakin’ lucky!  His exhibit will be on display there come June of 2009!  I totally want to go too!  Instead I’m stuck here in boring ol’ Utah.  :(  but BUT!  It’s moving to California in 2010 so yay!  That’s closer and maybe I can drive ovah there and see it then!  We could even make a road trip out of it woot!

Here’s a linky link for a tidbit about his Earth From Below exhibit:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/10/earth_from_above_comes_to_nyc.html

So check out the pictures k?  They’re really good.  My fav is the one from Iceland.  A.J. likes the Tree of Life from Kenya and Paris likes the broken down tanks lol!  They’re all great and really make ya think!  Check them out!

And gasp!  How gorgeous is that smile?  So dreamy for an older gentleman.  Amirite? le sigh…

Posted in Brandi Fleur Jacks, articles_ | No Comments »

The Logan Act, a response against the defense of Obama’s treasonous behavior.

Paris:

Well, even though Samson is agreeing with me to some extent, I feel strongly enough about this matter that I feel I have to respond with more than just “You’re an idiot!”

Barack Obama is in direct violation of the Logan Act which is a single federal statute making it a crime for a citizen to confer with foreign governments against the interests of the United States. Specifically, it prohibits citizens from negotiating with other nations on behalf of the United States without authorization.

For another link about the Logan Act, click here:

http://www.answers.com/topic/logan-act

This is a hard line.  There is little to zero judicial discussion within the Supreme Court about this Act.

In addition, Justice Sutherland wrote in the majority opinion: “[T]he President alone has the power to speak or listen as a representative of the nation. He makes treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate; but he alone negotiates. Into the field of negotiation the Senate cannot intrude, and Congress itself is powerless to invade it.”

He continues saying, “The President is the constitutional representative of the United States with regard to foreign nations. He manages our concerns with foreign nations, and must necessarily be most competent to determine when, how, and upon what subjects negotiation may be urged with the greatest prospect of success. For his conduct, he is responsible to the Constitution.

Posted in A.J. Samson, articles_ | 1 Comment »

Treason, Obama does NOT speak on behalf of the US! (yet)

Paris:

Some breaking news:

“At the same time the Bush administration was negotiating a still elusive agreement to keep the U.S. military in Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama tried to convince Iraqi leaders in private conversations that the president shouldn’t be allowed to enact the deal without congressional approval.”

If you want to read the rest of the article, it can be found here:

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/10/obama-sought-to-sway-iraqis-on-bush-deal/

It seems to me that “treason” is the word of the day.  The gist of this article is simple, Obama is conducting negotiations on behalf of the United States behind the President’s back!  This behavior negatively effects agreements between the United States and Iraq, jeopardizes vital interests of the United States in securing our country, halts improvement of security forces in Iraq, and most importantly,  it directly undermines our president.  This is treasonous!

Our armed forces should not be taking orders from a bunch of bickering civilian senators.  Our military has a Commander in Chief for a reason!

I don’t mind it if he does all this after he becomes our president.  But Barack Obama has some nerve to to do this while our President is still in office.  His term is not over yet.

This seriously raises some questions.  Who does Obama think he is!?!  He does NOT speak on behalf of the United States. He does NOT even speak on behalf of Congress!  Simply put, he was speaking on behalf of himself.  And he ran his mouth a little too much on this one.  The arrogance is astounding and should rouse some deep feelings about how a presidential candidate should act.  This is unacceptable.  It is treason.

Samson:

I’d like to respond.  Mainly because Paris seems to be exaggerating.  We all know that Paris is quite… outspoken… about his feelings on politics.  In contrast, I try not to let media sway my decision.

Let’s get this straight, plenty of presidential and vice presidential candidates have conducted numerous talks with leaders of other countries.  This is not any different.  And no, they have NOT been tried for treason.

With that said however, Obama’s behavior astounds even me.  I have to agree somewhat that this does directly undermine the presidency.  Check and balances are instituted in the system.  A cliche term, I know.  But I can’t help but feel the Barack Obama has over-stepped his bounds as a United States Senator in this regard.

In the end, I am severely disappointed.  I was just getting used to him becoming our future president.  But future is a key word here.  He is not the president yet, his administration is not in power yet, and thus, he should not be behaving in this manner.  Treason?  No.  Unacceptable?  Yes.  Please respect our president.

Jacks:

Waaaaah!!!

Samson:

Crap Obama, now you’ve gone and made Jacks cry.  She was rooting for you and couldn’t wait to vote.

Jacks:

*sniffle*

Posted in A.J. Samson, Brandi Fleur Jacks, Giles Oliver Paris, articles_ | 1 Comment »

First impressions favor complementary McCain-Palin over contradictory Obama-Biden

Samson:

Our vice presidential candidates are officially announced by both parties and naturally everyone has something to say. Admittedly, I was surprised by both picks and additionally, have altered some fundamental views I once held toward both of our presidential candidates. With new players in the political game, we are presented with some very interesting, if not dramatic, shifts in party strategies, and direction in policy. This year, we cast away a rather old political game plan where a pair of established, venerable, privileged candidates fuss over each other. Instead we watch inquisitively about who has just the right blend qualities with a touch of crazy that can pull off as the winner of this political soap opera we call the 2008 election.

On the Democratic side is the senior Senator of Delaware, Joe Biden. He certainly has a very long career as a United States Senator with over 30 years of experience. Senator Biden is lauded, among other things, by his work with the U.S. Foreign Committee in foreign relations. First impressions toward Biden seems amicable enough. However, for a person with supposed success in foreign policy, he has presented some very ineffective solutions. For example, Biden proposed to partition Iraq among the Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis, effectively giving them their own regions. An idea that Iraq’s own political leadership quickly united to firmly denounce. At the risk of sounding like Paris, for a foreign policy expert, that sure was a stupid idea.

A more pressing concern for me however is how this affects Obama’s campaign. He has built quite a reputation as the deliverer of change. Indeed, it has caught much of the American population’s attention and jumped at the chance for that change by supporting Obama. However, for a person so determined to change politics, he sure has picked someone whose is heavily established in it. This seems very contradictory and one has to wonder if Obama’s message is a simple gimmick that he would quickly abandon once he is seated comfortably in the White House or if his message of change really is authentic. I simply do not know. Together, the pair seems very contradictory but who knows, that maybe actually be a strength.

On the Republican side is the Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin. Appointed in 2006, she is perhaps most famous for her work as the chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, an organization in which she also served as Ethics Supervisor. She was appalled by what she called a “lack of ethics” by fellow Republican members. She has exposed, filed formal complaints, and essentially forced the resignation of fellow party members, Randy Ruedrich and Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes. Palin’s biggest weakness however is certainly that of inexperience. She has been Governor for only two years and many question her ability to be the next vice president of the United States.

As it pertains to McCain’s campaign however. The Palin pick initially seems counter-intutive. For a person who repeatedly questions Obama’s experience as a junior Senator of only four years, he sure feels comfortable by selecting one with only two years of experience as a governor. Additionally, she is a woman, an issue one would think is in the exclusive realm of the Democratic party due to Hillary Clinton’s presidential run. Upon second review however, McCain’s choice of Palin almost seems too perfect. Yes, she is a woman and almost picks up where Hillary Clinton left off. Already starting off with “18 million cracks” in the glass ceiling, Palin hopes to finally break through. Brilliant! Additionally, her inexperience cannot be attacked without implicating Obama’s experience as well. An issue I would think the Democratic party would not entertain. More importantly, she actually truly does complement McCain. She buttons down much of the Christian voters. However is fully capable and willing to hunt down her own kind. Together, the pair seems complementary with each person augmenting each others strengths and covering each other’s weaknesses.  McCain never was one to be predictable.

I’d like to state that these are simply first impressions of both presidential tickets. Time will certainly change the way we view our candidates and in the coming weeks, I am certainly eager to listen to what they have to say in order to form a clearer picture and understanding about what they have to offer. However, as of this moment, I would have to give the Republican party the edge for a stronger pair. The McCain-Palin ticket works together while the Obama-Biden ticket depends solely on Obama.

Posted in A.J. Samson, articles_ | 1 Comment »

“Geek is the new cool” and “cool is the new poser”

Paris:

I know you’ve all heard this before but “Geek is the new cool.” Let’s just face it: geeks fuckin’ rock. You see geekism everywhere and most prevalent in, you guessed it, the office. I’m talkin’ geeks in front of computers that are messaging about fifty people, browsing the net, playing a browser game, listening to some crazy-ass music AND doing their job all at the same time. Then they have all kinds of weird geek shit on their desks. Half of them are made up random crap but it’s cool and geeky and they all have some lame ass story about how they got it. Everyone knows about it too ‘cause they’ve either blogged about it, announced it on Facebook, or just showed it to everyone on their web cam. These are people whose idea of a Friday night is getting together and having a LAN party, rockin’ out on Rock Band or logging on to “WoW and raiding BT.” They are also probably the most social people you will ever meet and has built themselves a solid network of friends. I’m telling you, this is cool shit! Fine, they didn’t get laid ’till way later, I’ll give you that.

So what’d I cover here? Geeks can multitask like crazy, has a network of friends, has weird shit and quirks, likes to play games, has an extensive music archive (all ripped of course) and most importantly, is hella cool. Just because they grew up playing video games instead of sports doesn’t mean they aren’t fuckin’ awesome. But hey, this is all old news. We know this already. Everyone’s all hawt for geeks atm. Amirite?

Here’s the problem: “cool is the new poser.” Just because you do all these things does not make you a true geek. It takes a special personality I just can’t define. I’ve asked A.J. to look into it since he’s the anthropologist but the dude is too damn busy geeking out on Rock Band to even do anything right now.

Anyways, what really gets me is that cool people try to be geeks. They like… fake… being geeky. And you can totally tell too! It’s so fucking annoying!!! They’ll talk about geek things and they really won’t know anything about it except you got it off zeh interwebz. Fuck that! Give me back my space-pen-slash-laser-pointer-slash-USB-drive! I’m deleting you from my Facebook friends you damn poser! Come back to me when you have at least a level 40 My Heroes character or you know what “LFG Heroic Mecha” means! Have you ever rolled a “natural twenty?” Didn’t think so!

And no, just ’cause you put ”geek,” or “dork,” or “silly pants” on your MySpace profile does not make you a geek. First off, real geeks don’t use MySpace.  Second, geeks don’t say they’re geeks on their profiles.  Most likely, they’re just saying it ‘cause they think it’s the cool thing to say. Sorry, no dice! It’s like Brad Pitt or Jennifer Aniston admitting they are geeks on some Hollywood interview. I actually remember Cameron Diaz saying she was socially awkward and kind of geeky as a teenager. Lolwut? Bullshit! This is coming from a person that ONLY washes her face in Evian spring water! Are you fuckin’ kidding me? Who do you think you are!? I hate how all these posers are trying to be geeks. It takes a real special quality and upbringing to be a geek and you damn posers are not it! So stop taking away our awesomeness! We pwn and we know it, now gtfo!

Posted in Giles Oliver Paris, articles_ | No Comments »

Some non-Olympic reminders…

Paris:

Just here to point out that are other things going on in the world other than the Olympics.  Lolwut?  For realsies?  Yeah dumbass.  I’m so sick of people commenting, blogging, or otherwise talking about what happened last night at the Olympics.  I swear, if I hear someone ask “Did you watch what happened in the 400m relay?”, say “U.S.A. has the most medals.” or hear the name Michael Phelps one more time, I will gouge their eyes out with a rusty spoon, steam them, add a slight honey glaze, and feed them to my goldfish.  Think about it, goldfish taking little pecking bites out of your steamed eyes.  Yeah, so shut the hell up about the Olympics for just a damn minute!

Unless everyone has forgotten, we have a few issues around the world that’s still unresolved.  Like, oh I dunno, the Iraq situation!  That just didn’t fix itself because of the Olympics you know.  While everyone is watching Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson win golds, our armed forces are busy serving our country and maintaining order in a place full of chaos.  That’s not to say winning gold medals isn’t awesome.  It is.  Winning is awesome right?  Yeah, I think we should win everything.  Including wars.

Then there’s the Russia/Georgia conflict.  I know, you haven’t kept up ’cause you’re all a bunch of fuckin’ Olympic zombies.  You probably don’t even realize that Georgia, for some time now, has been quite displeased with America and has decided to secede from the United States!  Georgia was like “Fuck this!  I’m leaving!”  Holy shit!  For serious Paris!?  You ask.  Do we have another Civil War at our hands?  No dumbass!  Not the state Georgia, the country Georgia!  Look it up and maybe you’ll find out.  Oh wait, that’s right, you were too busy watching the Olympics to know the difference between the two.  Poor Georgia, outstaged by people getting together to see who can run, hop, skip, and jump better.

Oh yeah, let’s not forget, we’re due for a new President.  Or did you all forget about that already?  The two candidates for the Republican and Democratic parties are John McCain and Barack Obama, respectively.  Holy what?  You mean we haven’t had elections yet?  I’m such an fuckin’ dumbass. That’s right, you are a fuckin’ dumbass and yes, countries usually need leaders.  As a refresher, they haven’t even chosen their running candidates yet and we all can’t wait to find out… just as soon as the Olympics are over.  No, Michael Phelps did not run for President.  No, he did not win a gold medal for it.  No, he did not break the world record for “Presidenting.”  And yes, you’re all fuckin’ dumbasses.  I know I already said that but I said it again to drive it home.

Do us all a favor.  It’s Friday, go have a night out.  Get drunk, watch a movie, hell, just step outside instead of being glued to your T.V.  Let me put this into perspective: name 3 bronze medalists.  Hah!  I didn’t think so.  See you in 4 years chumps!

Posted in Giles Oliver Paris, articles_ | No Comments »

Conversation leads to blockbuster Hollywood hit!

Samson:  Sometimes our conversations get too silly for our own good and we end up wasting a good 10 minutes just randomly saying things. 

It all started with Paris complaining about how carelessly our government spends money on lunches for goverment employees.  He’s up in arms about it.  How we, as tax payers, should not have to pay for free lunches every time there’s a meeting or some sort of get-together.  This leads to a development of a completely fictional tale of a mentor/student relationship within a corrupt government system who eventually learns from their mistakes and end with an act of self-redemption.

I don’t really know if this is how conversations normally go, but if you knew us, this kind of thing happens all the time.  It’s hilarious, but I suppose you’d have to be there to get it.  Anyway, here’s how it went:

Paris:  Damnit!  We need to elect better public officials!  Government employees go to lunch WAY too often on our tax dollars!

Samson:  What exactly are you gonna do about it?

Paris:  I just said it dumbass, we need to elect better public officials!

Samson:  Haha yeah get right on that.

Paris:  I will!

Samson:  And while you’re busy reforming the government corruption, in the form of free lunches mind you, our government employees will get together and will be enjoying free lunch with your money for the next 20 years.

Paris:  I got it!  I will set up the perfect candidate who will become my puppet in politics.  Then I will go too far and be corrupt myself, forcing my young associate to have a moral choice.

Samson:  Wait… wha?

Paris:  Yes, and he will choose to betray his mentor, the one who has helped him so much in his political career.  He goes off on his own, moving on to have a successful career.  There will be a beautiful girl in there somewhere too, I’ll have to ask Jacks about that.  Anyways, as he gets older, he himself goes too far!  Yes!

Samson:  In the mean time, his mentor sought to reform his ways.  He has cleaned himself up and has also built a respectable career as an attorney.

Paris:  Right!  And now the student has to go back to his mentor for help!

Samson:  The mentor is haunted by what his former student has done.  But remembering his old transgressions, he sought to redeem his student and himself by offering to help.  Together, they set up one final scam to bail him out of his predicament using taxdollars but fails in the end when someone EVEN HIGHER UP uses them as pawns for his own plans of corruption.

Paris:  No no no, time out.  That’s going too far.  The way I see it, both perform an act of self-redemption by introducing a bill and setting up a long term plan that will help the people of the United States and reduce corruption in our system.

Samson:  Ok.  I agree about going too far but yours is kinda boring and anti-climactic.

Paris:  So where are we at right now?

Samson:  The mentor has reformed, the student is in trouble and needs to get bailed out.

Paris:  Ok, how about this.  The mentor still seeks to redeem his student and himself by offering to help.  He struggles to muster the support of his new associates but in the end sways them to help.  With the struggle over, both mentor and student walk away a little wiser and strive to serve and help others.

Samson:  But in the end, there’s still others seeking to exploit a corrupt system.

Paris:  Right!  That point will be made clear.

Samson:  Like we can introduce a shifty-eyed guy at the closing credits.

Paris:  Hahaha!  We got ourselves a Hollywood movie!  Dude we rock at this.

Samson:  Yeah no kidding.  They should totally buy this story. Matt Damon should star in it. I’ll let him.

Jacks:  Guys… As much as I love Matt Damon, this is just like Training Day except with politics and more… boring… cuz it’s got no guns.

Paris:  What?  How dare you?  You didn’t help at all!

Jacks:  Cuz, it’s Training Day!  Starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke?  You remember.

Samson:  Paris, she’s right.  It’s just like Training Day.

Paris:  Well you know what?  I loved Training Day!  And if Training Day was good, this HAS to be good too!

Samson:  You’re right, our story is awesome.  I’d totally watch it.

Jacks:  *sigh*  I’d totally watch it too if Matt Damon was in it *giggles*

Posted in A.J. Samson, Brandi Fleur Jacks, Giles Oliver Paris, articles_ | No Comments »

The flo_ crew, anime style!

Samson:

One of us here at flo_ is quite the artist and whipped up some headshots of the crew in anime style!

I have to admit that I do watch anime and I really like the animation and visual style.  I don’t watch it all that often but Full Metal Alchemist was the last series I watched and was very impressed.  I haven’t been able to catch the movie yet but I heard it was great.  Perhaps once I see it, I’ll post a review.

This needs to be fact checked but I was told that pencil drawing used to be considered a step toward creating “real” art such as painting.  Artists would sketch an image in pencil as a guideline but would finish their work in whatever medium they choose.  I disagree.  I think pencil drawings can be art on their own.  Pencil and paper are fully capable of producing persperctive, light and shadow, tone or texture.  All the elements you need for a great work of art, a pencil can provide.

Jacks:

Yeah!  And doodling rocks!  I totally luv to doodle! I doodle all the time lol!  Like when we’re at a diner or something I’d just pull out a pen or pencil and just start messin’ around on a napkin.  It’s so fun.  They don’t always turn out great but it’s not about that rite?

I mean, writers write down the most random things on a little notebook they carry all the time.  Sometimes they use the little things they write down and sometimes not.

Well doodling is just like that!  So if you want to be a struggling artist and live in a loft somewhere and be unrecognized until the day you die, just keep doodling!  Then one day, someone will go through your stuff and sell them for awesome amounts of money!  Isn’t that so cool!?  I totally think so.

Sometimes I see people wearing the coolest combination of clothes and I just look at them and think “Wow! You have a coolest sense of fashion!”  Then I try to remember what they are wearing and draw it when I have time but I’m always busy so I really don’t get to but I like the way they look anyways…

Paris:

Alright alright Jacks!  I’m gonna cut you off ’cause you’re getting into what could be called a triple-run-on sentence.

Well I have to say that these drawings are pretty accurate.  I mean, I really do have these chiseled jaw-lines, a commanding look, and awesome hair.

Actually that’s not entirely true.  My hair is a bit longer now, not quite trimmed to perfection and has a bit of a messy look.  Jack’s hair is longer too.  And as for A.J., well, his hair changes depending on it’s length so I can’t say that it’s exactly the same.  I mean the damn thing ranges from messy to nappy to spike when short which is actually just fine.  Then a part on the left side starts to appear when it gets longer.  THAT’S when is gets funny cause he combs it all nice and neat and he looks like a fuckin’ accountant from some old Kung Fu movie.  Don’t even ask me what that means but he looks ridiculous haha! 

And don’t even get me started about his wardrobe!  Man, he puts together and wears the weirdest shit!

Samson:

Ok, that’s enough geez.  Make fun of my hair and wardrobe why don’tcha. 

On a last note, we are looking for a skilled graphic artist to polish up these images.  There are plenty of smudges to clean up.  We’d like to effectively add and use color to add a sense of depth and well, color.  If you are interested, please send us an email at Paris@FloWriter.com

Well, here’s an image of all three of us together.  We’re all really excited to finally have images up on flo_, just click to see the full image.  Hope you enjoy them!

From all of us here, keep writing, keep drawing, and let thought and word flo_

Posted in A.J. Samson, Brandi Fleur Jacks, Giles Oliver Paris, articles_ | No Comments »