Super Mario Galaxy Music

Well, the following are tracks from the video game Super Mario Galaxy. Now, the game came out last November and it has one of the best soundtracks ever made. All of it orchestrated. Apparently, the Japanese have access to the soundtrack itself and that makes me very jealous. Anyways, apart from the music itself which is awesome, there are people who decided to emulate it with a piano to great results. Here are the results, all of the following were made by the following Youtube user named, tzohar. He is pretty awesome. First are the original renditions and then the piano ones.

The Good Egg Galaxy Theme

The Gusty Garden Galaxy Theme

Buoy Base Galaxy Theme

Super Mario Galaxy Theme, slow version.

And this is the music from the final battle. It is very kick ass, love every second of it. Look for more, nothing is bad.

A Quote

“Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man” Fredrich Nietzche. Sometimes it is true…

Stinky Mexicans Taking Over America!

Read the title, see the video.

Original link. Watch the other videos, I recommend it.

A Road of Heartbreak

The next following items are from the website DAP.

I am actually not that upset about going back even if I know nothing at all. I feel that for the first time I am doing something for myself. It wont be easy but it is something that must be done. My mother is upset because she is saying that I am leaving her but I cant live with my family anymore or I will seriously go crazy. I ran out of money and she has agreed to pay my last two semesters at the JC. I’m only finishing it because I have invested my time and money into and Its something that cant be thrown away. Of course, I would love to finish and transfer to a four year but there is just no chance for me. Momma cant do it since she is the only on there. She needs to raise my 3 American born siblings who seriously dont know the meaning of being lucky.

I of course would love to stay but I simply cant wait any longer. I am doing nothing here and will be doing nothing once I finish doing my general ed at that CC. I just need to move on with my life and try to find happiness elsewhere.

Mona Lisa seems to think along the same lines as me. Going back. That’s a question I’ve asked myself a lot of times. A question that will become more pertinent as time passes. It is something think about.

Mona Lisa is right, there is no sense in staying and waiting. There is no sense in staying here, being miserable half the time. Being jealous of what others have.

I’m lucky because I’m at a 4 university. But it is really depressing, knowing how alone I can feel. I took a trip on Monday that showed me how depressing it could all be.

I saw lots of sights, lots of things that were awe inspiring for me. But for most, those things wouldn’t have been. They couldn’t see it through my eyes. I’ve seen that I need to get out more.

An undocumented life is one of constant heartbreak. One of defeats that tend to be devastating. I feel that I’m making a difference for people like me, but it is also taking a huge toll on myself. There is no joy of life, no sense of enjoyment. No sense in being young. There is on sense of freedom and fun. I know for instance that this July 4, I won’t go out to see the fireworks. I won’t go out anywhere. I’ll stay home, indoors, hiding because I know I can’t drive and the police are out there. Living with this sense of fear is detrimental and well, it destroys even the strongest of us. I’m a holdout for now, holding onto what little blind hope in things changing.

I feel like a foreigner in the place I consider home. I’m considered an undesirable, an other and that just feels wrong. People tend to classify my life as a sob story and it is something not to be paid attention to. I don’t care. I don’t know for how long I can be a holdout though, this life is getting tired. I’m tired of the heartbreak and the fights, the defeats. I’ve come to question whether this type of life is worth living.

America’s Anti-Immigrant Network

So, this is how it all begin.

Visas for Supermodels

I mean, seriously. Come on. Are these the priorities of the United States. Instead of actually tackling the problem that is plaguing millions, they do this. Where is the political will people???? This is straight from the LA Times.

Unable to muster the political will last year to pass comprehensive immigration reform and address the dearth of both unskilled and highly skilled labor that drags on our economy, Congress is now ready to act. Standing tall in the courage of their convictions, lawmakers are proposing to give supermodels their own category of work visa. This is especially bold because while easing the way for several hundred models to work during New York’s Fashion Week, they must resolutely ignore the pleas of high-tech businesses seeking more visas for well-educated workers.

The number of H1-B visas awarded each year to skilled foreign employees is 65,000 (plus 20,000 for foreign graduates of U.S. universities), despite the desperate demand. On the first day of the application period this year, H1-B visa requests exceeded 120,000. Meanwhile, the shortage of workers has inspired employers to put down roots elsewhere. Last July, Microsoft Corp. announced it would open shop in Vancouver, Canada, where U.S. immigration policies won’t hinder it from hiring the highly skilled people it needs.

Thankfully, Congress’ reform efforts don’t stop with models. Other bills in the pipeline would make it easier for athletes and entertainers to work in the United States. Our crops may go unpicked, but never again will Amy Winehouse have trouble getting a speedy visa. The key to amassing support for such legislation is to make the tough compromises necessary to ensure their minuscule social impact. Last year’s behemoth reform bill tangled with border security, guest worker programs, a pathway to citizenship — far too controversial. Now, even Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Gold River), who sponsored a bill to deny citizenship to babies born to illegal immigrants, is backing the bill giving the Department of Homeland Security 30 days to process visas for entertainers.

If, however, Congress does give — shall we call them catwalk engineers? — their own visa category, they will no longer have to compete with computer wizards for H1-Bs. That could free up to 1,000 slots for high tech. We’ll take them any way we can get them.

The Colbert Report and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is one of the best books I’ve ever read. I highly recommend it. It is very contemporary, specially in the case of nerdy things, which I knew most things. No surprise there, haha. Now, Diaz has won the Pulitzer prize and he appeared in the Colbert Report. I’m proud to say that I’ve seen the man and met him, the came to my university for a reading.

And of course, Colbert pokes a some fun at Diaz because he is not “American” on way that a certain man with the last name of Dobbs considers. Watch the video.

The Colbert Report

Funny Quotes from George Carlin

I’ll be putting quotes from George Carlin, he was one of the best. Again, RIP George Carlin. Once again I say, the world has become less funny without you.

At a formal dinner party, the person nearest death should always be seated closest to the bathroom.

Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth.

Don’t sweat the petty things and don’t pet the sweaty things.

Dusting is a good example of the futility of trying to put things right. As soon as you dust, the fact of your next dusting has already been established.

Electricity is really just organized lightning.

Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.

Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

“I am” is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that “I do” is the longest sentence?

I have as much authority as the Pope, I just don’t have as many people who believe it.

I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older; then it dawned on me - they’re cramming for their final exam.

I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, “Where’s the self-help section?” She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.

I’m completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.

If God had intended us not to masturbate he would’ve made our arms shorter.

If you can’t beat them, arrange to have them beaten.

Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist.

People who say they don’t care what people think are usually desperate to have people think they don’t care what people think.

The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.

The other night I ate at a real nice family restaurant. Every table had an argument going.

The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I’m just not close enough to get the job done.
There’s no present. There’s only the immediate future and the recent past.

Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part to us, do they?

When you’re born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you’re born in America, you get a front row seat.

You know the good part about all those executions in Texas? Fewer Texans.

I think it’s the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.

Some national parks have long waiting lists for camping reservations. When you have to wait a year to sleep next to a tree, something is wrong.

If it’s true that our species is alone in the universe, then I’d have to say that the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little.

Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.

Oh NO! I stole an American’s university seat! Or did I…

Well, I don’t usually say that but someone commented on my old blog sometime ago about the subject. This is the comment.

“Freshman year was hard because you don’t deserve to be there based on merit, and stole a spot from some LEGAL kid who does. Got it now — you grew up in some ethnic slum, you showed some potential, and your guidance counselor checked the “diversity” box so the admissions look “balanced”, and now you’re struggling because you can’t cut it. You make me PUKE.”

So, its not me making the accusation that I stole something, it’s the anti-immigrant people naturally. Well, I don’t believe that I stole anyone’s seat at my university. I earned it because I had a kick ass GPA and lots of extracurricular activities. I didn’t grow up in an ethnic slum, I lived in a nice neighborhood. Well, I can’t help that I’m Latin-American, what am I supposed to do in that regard. So, if an American is missing out at being in this university, all I can tell you is that you didn’t try hard enough. That’s why I was accepted, I tried my hardest and had luck in the regards that the policy of my university is one friendly to people like me.

As for school being hard, if it is hard enough for some American kids, imagine what it must be like for someone like me. Its not pretty, that’s all I can I say about that. I can cut it, as my improving GPA has shown, and continues to rise above the problems I had on my freshman year.

As for making someone puke, well, the person hasn’t even seen a picture of me so I don’t know where he/she got that idea from. My girlfriend and other friends think I’m alright though. Actually, it would be funny if the next thing I hear is that I’m stealing an American girl from an American guy.

Old Videos

These are some of the videos that I used on my Blogger site. I brought them over here because I believe they should be watched again, they are all good.

This is Juan’s video, a very courageous young man.

This is a video on immigration and the economy.

And this is me, on the flesh, or the voice that is.

An undocumented university student view of the world

Well, it’s been over three months since I started writing this blog. I like it. Love to write. I decided that I’m also going to take a break from my own personal writing and just concentrate on blogging. Fortunately, I don’t have any more stories due for my writing class. I’ll get back at writing during the summer, when I have time and energy to devote to writing.

My views of the world have changed slightly, if they have, it has been on the personal front of my life. Life is random I guess. But I’m still a university student. I still have to do work and such, or really, procrastinate and then do work as everyone else does. And I’m still undocumented. Not that I expected that to change in the last 3 months.

My ability to deal with the frustration has been breached because of something that happened with some of the school administrators here. They have the mentality of ‘wait’. For those who personally have never waited, it might be easy to say. For those of us who actively wait, we can’t really do so anymore. Time passes too slowly for us. But the fight must continue on I suppose. Always.

It is getting harder I suppose, to hide the sadness behind the smiles. To hide the dis-functionality behind my supposed normalness. Normalness? I still do well with it I guess, playing video games and such. I have to admit, Super Smash Brothers Brawl is a great game, very fun, but I don’t play as much as I should. Haven’t played it in a couple of days actually. Sometimes things like that seem meaningless in the overall context of things. I’m getting quite tired of the school paper have things about immigration too, most of the comments online seemed to be negative, just like every other paper out there. I mean seriously people, why do all anti-immigrants usually have to have a pissing contest over who can be meaner to immigrants. Get a life people, a girlfriend or something, a Wii if you can find one. They are fun. I’m just getting quite tired of a lot of things. The pretending though, one day is going to get where I won’t be able to pretend or the fact is that, I’ll feel really uncomfortable around some of the things that could be talked about. It is getting harder by the day and it will just continue being like that. But that’s okay right, this is the life I lead and should suck it up.

My undocumented view of the world will still be the same in the years to come, I bet. I hope I’m wrong. I’ve been wrong about some predictions, like me going to college. That was never going to happen according to my predicting abilities and yet here I am. And there are other things I was wrong about. But that view, the undocumented view, can be quite depressing at times unfortunately.

On Censorship…

In my Spanish class, we have been talking about censorship and the like. So, I’ve decided that I will give my opinion on my blog. Why not right? Well, my opinion is that I believe in the total freedom of speech. Total. In order to be a true democracy, a strong one, we have to he be able to tolerate the intolerable. That means we have to tolerate the assholes who are racists and the ones who are calling for the shooting and extermination of undocumented immigrants. That’s fine. I believe in freedom of speech. Sure, go ahead I say, let them talk all they want but as soon as they take any action against a particular group, put their asses in jail.

It is not the prettiest position to put oneself in. After all, there are some really intolerable people out there. I hate them, what they say about me and granted, it is not the healthiest of environments to grow up in. After, being called scum and the like is not good for the self-esteem. It comes wit the territory, it shouldn’t have to but life is not perfect. I don’t wish to censor them though, because that would take out the fun in beating down their ignorant hurtful views.

Censorship is bad obviously; information is the lifeblood of any democracy. The media needs to be unbiased and right, unlike some networks that I could mention that are not. I guess that’s why I like 1984 so much, it is a warning against what could happen if we go down the road of fascism. If this country does take that path, I pack my bags and leave. One thing is to be undocumented and having certain lifestyle impose on you by ignorant people but another thing entirely is to just live in a police state. Thanks but no thanks.

But that’s my opinion in the matter. I guess I should think more about it. I’m just ranting. Big exciting news coming later in the week though, stay tuned…

And of Quotes…

And more quotes, because I like them. Martin Luther King Jr. More to come…
For those who are apathetic.

We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.”

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” This is very hard to do, especially for those who are like me.

Apologies

I have to apologize for the apparent lack of posts recently. I have been busy with stuff. Both personal and school. I was not accepted to the advance writing course that I wanted which did not make me happy. I will continue to write though, not on the blogging sense of the word, but short stories. I’m a short story writer and will continue to do so even if other people don’t like what I write. I don’t care. I’ll try to improve during the summer when I have more time. My grammar is just horrible. As for other things, personal life is going well. Lots of hanging out. I went to see a movie recently, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days. Let me just say that it is about the most realistic movie I’ve seen since No Country for Old Men or Eastern Promises. There was stunned silence at the end of the film and I could understand why. Great film.

There are some projects I’m going to be working on in the future, for school. I haven’t been able to update my other blog as well, I feel like I’m dry with nothing to write about. I don’t know. I’ve hit a slump. Hopefully I’ll be able to overcome it. Anyways, that’s it for me. So again, I’m still alive someplace. Just busy with things.  I’ll try more stuff soon!

Immigration Quote

I like this quote. I believe it to be true.

“It’s as if we expect border control agents to do what a century of communism could not: defeat the natural market forces of supply and demand… and defeat the natural human desire for freedom and opportunity. You might as well as sit in your beach chair and tell the tide not to come in.” - Michael Bloomberg