The Vatican says aliens are God’s children too… but is there an exception to that statement?

—Eming Piansay

One of my favorite bands of all time is Outlandish. Though not popular in the United States, the Denmark band has won a multitude of awards in Europe with their singles at the top of the charts in various European countries.

The band, founded in 1997, has a unique sound, one that I don’t categorize by any one genre on my iPod. Their music ranges from hip-hop, rap, alternative, and indie.

The band is so unique because if it’s diverse members. The tree men that make Outlandish have backgrounds from Morocco, Pakistan, and Honduras. Their lyrics are in English, Spanish, Arabic and Urdu, yet each of their songs has a universal
meaning. Two of the members are Muslim and the third Catholic, which contributes to the universal messages their songs convey.

One of the reasons I love Outlandish so much is because they have great music, but it’s music with a meaning. Their song “Look Into My Eyes,” is about the Israel Palestine conflict, and the video is amazing, featuring the story of Little Red Riding Hood but tying the classic tale to the present Middle East conflict. Their video for “Aicha” features different Muslim women in the world today, from different backgrounds and lifestyles, and won the Best Music Video award.

The band is also daring, and obviously not afraid to be different. Their song “Nothing Left to Do,” is about a Muslim man who catches HIV, a taboo in many Muslim countries.

Releasing their 3rd album this year, Outlandish is also planning their first ever U.S. tour this summer. I would highly encourage everyone to check out the band and to be prepared to be enlightened. – Maahum Chaudhry

I don’t think I’m the only one who has admitted to doing this, but I used to watch America’s Next Top Model so much that the theme song got stuck in my head more times than I probably cracked open my text books.

“You wanna be on the top?”

I was never particularly jealous of the girls on the show and their tall, long legged beauty. In fact, I sometimes mimicked their runway walks by throw my hips to so far out I’m surprised I never pulled a muscle.

What got me every time ANTM started a new season was how young they were: eighteen or nineteen years old; size 2 jean wearing; runway walking amoebas. It certainly put my 20-year-old, 5’4, and a collective weight of several bags of potatoes into perspective.

I’ve also noticed that when it comes to modeling there’s a certain over emphasized kind of sex element that gets thrown in. You get guys in their tiny whitey, girls nearly naked and enough fierce-ness to make Tyra Banks proud.

I always thought it was a little weird to see a girl younger than 18-years-old is a very revealing snapshot in the magazines. I mean, have you even hit puberty yet? Are you even comfortable in your own skin enough to be doing – that?

New Zealand model Zippora Seven appeared in the Australia magazine Russh topless in a bath with a male model, also 16, and then later riding topless on a horse.

Maybe it makes me a prude but when I read that I had the urge to want to throw a blanket over Zippora. After all, there are laws that prohibit minors being portrayed naked.

The woman who discovered Zippora defended the photo shoot by saying there are many magazines that take photos of naked children, and that it all depends on how it is presented.

So, does that make it mature kiddy porn—because they have a few bottles of wine and horse in the background?

Maybe this is just another artsy moment that I’m not totally understanding, or this could just easily be a reason for really creepy guys to ogle something they would normally get arrested for purchasing.
—Eming Piansay

I’m beginning to think I should join P.E.T.A. I’m seeing all these
animal suffering headlines, and it seems they’re the ONLY headlines about suffering that extract pity from my soul.

I mean, in Australia, Koala’s Eucalyptus leaves (the stuff they eat) are now toxic to them, because of, too much carbon dioxide.

Griiimy.

Of course, when I read it, my heart ran a multi-thousand mile marathon to those poor Koalas who have to put up with such injustice.

Compare that to the extreme urge to laugh that came with reading a headline about a woman who got life in prison for setting a friend on fire, an I’d say I have more feelings for animals than humans. Not that it’s a bad thing. It isn’t as if humans have earned much sympathy over the years.

Either way, these headlines are prime examples of how crazy the world is becoming, and how crazy it has become. Soon, we’re gonna have Koalas that thrive off of the toxic crap in Eucalyptus leaves, and spew it like a dragon does fire, to kill and eat cattle. That’s CRAZY! Soon, the downward – or upward, depending on how you view it – spiral will become so great, that a Koala will end up setting a friend on fire with its amazing toxic ability. Which, of course, will put that race exactly where we humans are right now –- in the shit.

No, but seriously, we’re asking for it. That there is proof that
we’re attacking the food chain at the roots, which is unfortunately
the most effective way to destroy it. That, my friend, is exactly what we DON’T want. Sure, I don’t love humans, but if saving them saves me, then I’m all for it. And if destroying them means destroying me, then I am flat out against it.

So I guess what I’m saying is that I’m all for the laugh that
lighting your friend on fire provokes, but when it comes down to it, maybe that time would have been better spent planting a tree, rather than adding to the carbon dioxide load with the smoke that a homie’s flesh produces.
—Silvano Pontoniere

Four years ago if you showed me a flashy photo of some random girl on MySpace or FaceBook I would have been shocked. If you showed me the half naked profile picture of a girl I knew in elementary school today – I’d be semi-stunned.

A friend of mine who does a lot of babysitting made the conscious decision to take down certain photos of herself on her MySpace page because the kids she babysits have MySpace accounts – and so does their mother.

When websites like FaceBook and MySpace first started out, they were seen as our very own piece of the Interweb that do with we as please. We’re able to add weird YouTube videos, play random music that nobody likes but you, and superimpose huge photos of puppies, kittens and werewolves next to celebrities. Now, social networks like FaceBook and MySpace have raised the issue of exactly where we draw the line between, privacy and social decency.

Florida, Colorado, Tennessee and Massachusetts are just a few states where teachers have been suspended for some – risqué – found photos on their MySpace page.

I don’t think a career in teaching automatically means your social life has to go through the school administration, conservative, paranoia filter. Now, unless teachers start stripping and pole dancing in the middle of the classroom, or display a slideshow of their weekend trip to Vegas – I really don’t think parents have anything to worry about.

Speaking of concerned parents. If these people are so worried about what their kids are seeing on sites like FaceBook and MySpace, shouldn’t they be a little more aware of what their kids are and aren’t looking at on the Internet to begin with? I think we’ve already had this conversation about what kids see on the Internet. Not to mention there are a whole batch of people on MySpace and FaceBook with photos and videos, which I bet are a lot worse than what some 2nd grade teacher has on his or her MySpace page.

Common sense starts at home. They’re called parental controls, use them people!!!
—Eming Piansay