Capitalism at it's Finest

This is disgusting.

First of all, the house is ugly. The person who bought this should really try and get his money back. I mean, really. Look at it. Ugly.

But aesthetics aren't the only part of the house that's ugly. The price sticker? $1 billion dollars. It's the most expensive house in the world, bought by the fourth richest man in the world. This mansion was built in Mumbai. I can't understand why anyone would spend that much money on a house. Donate it. There are people practically next door who are starving, and you have the audacity to waste $1 billion dollars on a house for five people? How dare you! This is greed at it's finest.

Also, the mansion has 27 stories. It has a health club with a full gym, a movie theater, a dance studio, at least one regular studio, a ballroom, guest rooms, a wide range of lounges, etc. They employ 600 servants. Again, I find this revolting. You can use the excuse "we're giving people jobs" all you want, but 600 servants? For five people? That's 120 servants per person? What, does the guy want to be a country in and of himself? He isn't the Vatican, for Christ's sake. And do you really need a health club and dance studio in your own house? Really? 600 servants? That is obscene!

One sentence in the article really bothered me.

From the top floors of the 173m high property are spectacular views of Mumbai, the Arabian Sea and the slums!

I mean sure, a view of the sea from the middle of a city is quite nice. I'm sure Mumbai is a beautiful city (at least some parts of it, anyway), but a view of the slums? You built a $1 billion home with a spectacular view of the slums. How ironic, that your disgusting show of greed and gluttony is so close to those people who live in constant worry of starving to death. How can you, in good conscience, live so close to starvation. I hope you feel sick every day, waking up and looking your top floor window and seeing people below you living in such extreme poverty while you revel in your excessive capitalist greed.

This is what is wrong with capitalism. This is why Karl Marx came up with communism, this is why socialism is so important. Anyone who can afford this kind of house and can, in good conscience, buy it and still fall asleep at night, deserve to lose all his money. Either that or be taxed until his pockets are empty to help the people in those slums he has such a great view of.

And Experiment and Videos

I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in ten days. Not only have I not had the time, I've also not really had anything to say. But I am going to post two videos, if that's okay with all of you. And then do a writing exercise. Because I feel like it.

Firstly, the videos. Here's the first one. You don't really have to have seen the show to understand the video, but comment here if you need clarification. This video makes me sob.



And now for the second one. This is the official music video of the song from the first one. I don't like it quite as much because Todrick Hall's dancing needs some serious work. It's for the It Gets Better campaign that I mentioned in an earlier post. It really is a great song.
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Now, for the writing experiment. I'm going to just pick a character I have to develop for my novel and write a monologue/stream of consciousness. Let me know what you think. This is his thoughts about his and his partner, Tristan's, first meeting.
Character chosen: JUDE MORGAN

He's just my type, I notice when he walks in. Tall, dark, and handsome. My insides are fluttering because I didn't wipe the counters down all the way. I know neither of them will notice, but it's going to bug me all night that it isn't clean. All night. Tristan slouches on the couch and I sit awkwardly next to him. I can tell by the way his hands are fidgeting that he's used to having a cell phone in his hands. He doesn't look nervous. I like that.

He's talking to me, and through my abnormally observant trance, I can hear him getting frustrated with me. I can hear myself speaking with fewer and fewer syllables and with a less and less friendly tone. Even in irritation he's attractive. He looks strong, and with this observation, I can hear my tone become even less friendly than unfriendly. Hostile, almost. How dare he be strong and healthy when I'm stuck pretending to dislike someone who, with each passing minute, I am growing to like more and more? All because of some passive-aggressive virus making its way through my body like a rumor.

He's glaring at his best friend, sitting on the couch across from him, ignoring him just like everyone knew she would. I knew he only agreed to this because she begged him, probably with baked goods, knowing her. And really, as if anyone could refuse her brownies. But I knew he didn't really want to be here. It's just that she didn't want either him or me to be a third wheel. He mutters something under his breath, something about using his time more wisely and I feel guilty. I feel guilty because I'm being miserable to him and he doesn't know why.

The forced politeness between disintegrates once Tristan stops trying. After a while, he yells "Enough!" and stomps out and I'm left there to sit and ponder while the others go after him. If I didn't have this assassin running through my blood and semen, if I were a normal, healthy gay man, what would have happened tonight? Would he have stomped out, or would we be kissing each other goodnight right now? As it is, nothing can really happen. It's not fair. But if it were, would he be perfect for me?

Sleep Much?

Not me. The word exhaustion doesn't even begin to describe how tired I am right now. Senior year + extracurricular activities + school and homework = a Bethany that could not be in more need of sleep. Misery is my company.

That being said, NaNoWriMo is next month, and it will make my life even more busy. 1,666 words per day for a month equal 50,000 words. I'm not sure I can do it, but it is only my first year, so maybe I can. Anyone who wants to join me, please do.

LGBTQ

What does that stand for? Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trandgender Questioning.

Please, please, please, check out the It Gets Better campaign on youtube and donate to The Trevor Project. Every few dollars helps and we, as a country, need to work together to make the torture stop.

The "It Gets Better" Campaign is a series of videos made by prominent gay celebrities such as Tim Gunn (from...a lot of shows), Chris Colfer from Glee, Perez Hilton, among others. In addition, the youtube page that can be reached at this link has hundreds of videos from normal people just like you and me. They are all there to tell you that it gets better. They are all stories of normal LGBTQ teens and young adults who went through hell in order to finally be happy. Here is one of them. Please check them all out.

The Trevor Project is a lifeline set up to act as a support system for LGBTQ youth who may be thinking about killing or harming themselves. Trevor was a 13-year-old boy who, when rejected by his friends because of his sexuality, tried to take his own life. The Trevor Project's goal is to increase education about and tolerance of LGBTQ youth and decrease hatred and suicide. Here is their youtube page as well.

In the last few weeks, three LGBTQ youth have committed suicide. The hatred and the violence has got to stop. "Gay" is not a synonym for stupid. "Fag" and "faggot" are not appropriate things to call anyone, ever. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning people are just that. People just like you. Calling someone a "fag" or saying something is "so gay" is akin to calling a black person a nigger. So give the terms the same weight.

These people are not any different from you or me. They deserve the same rights, the same level of acceptance and love and respect that straight people do. The cruelty and intolerance must stop. It's killing people.

You want to call yourself civilized? Act like it.

And if you are someone who believes gay people are evil, who opposes gay rights, who supports Don't Ask Don't Tell and opposes gay marriage, hear this: one day, you will get what you deserve. You are the evil ones. You are responsible for countless lives and the misery of countless Americans. You are a blight upon the Earth and should be ashamed.

Other Stuff

I'm just not going to review the movies I've seen recently. There are too many of them. And soon, probably, I will be posting book reviews. But for now, a few other things.

First of all, rest in peace Tyler Clementi, a college freshman who jumped to his death off of George Washington Bridge after being outed as gay on the internet via a secret sex tape of his sexual encounters in his dorm room.

Apparently, his roommate installed a camera and filmed Tyler whenever he asked to have the dorm for the night for a, well, hook up. Later, his roommate released these tapes on the internet. In shame of being outed on the internet, he jumped off a bridge. Not only is this crime considered cyberbullying, it is also being considered a hate crime by some gay rights advocate groups. Unfortunately, the boys responsible are only being charged with violation of privacy. It is a crime that holds up to five years in jail. For a few stories on the subject, go here, here, and here.

Personally, I think they deserve more than five years in jail.

In other, more cheerful news, GLEE IS BACK! Actually, it's been back for three weeks now. And I can only watch the episodes a day later, but that's totally okay. As long as I get to watch them. This episode, tune in to see Finn sing a cover of REM's Losing My Religion, along with the cast of Glee doing other faith-related songs in the episode "Grilled Cheezus."

Pimpage 2

I am dead tired and dealing with annoyances, so I am going to wait to post the review, again. In the meantime, please check out this amazing photography blog that I found!

She takes mostly fashion photography, but you can see her various History of Photography assignments. She's incredibly talented.

Coming Up and DADT

Right now, I am practically dead. I have not a second to spare and no time to right good posts. Coming up is a movie review on Devil.

In other news, quickly, the U.S. Senate is supposed to be voting on a military bill that includes a provision to end the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy that prohibits soldiers from exposing their sexual orientation with the condition that no one will ask it. So far, Republicans have managed to stall debate, let alone voting. It has already been approved in the House. According to the New York Times article, the bill will likely be easier to pass once the Pentagon study on the effects of the bill is due on Dec. 1.

Personally, I think that when this policy was enacted, it was a good idea, the times have changed. At this point, if you, as a soldier, find yourself incapable of fighting alongside a woman who likes women or a man who likes men, in the 21st century, then you don't deserve to be a soldier. These men and women who are only fighting for their country are forced to keep who they are a total secret in fear of being discharged dishonorably if anyone finds out. And sometimes, their personal belongings and emails and phone histories and families are searched and interrogated until their sexual orientation is found out.

If you have an interest (and you should), you should check out this article about also about the speech Lady Gaga made (wearing normal clothing!) at the rally in support of the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. If you have an interest in this, make it known! Not only are people being discriminated against, but people who want to do their duty to our country and join the military are being discriminated against for something that is beyond their control. WHEN WILL THE PREJUDICE STOP, AMERICA?