Why is EVERYTHING in New York City?

Watching the final episode of 24 today, I thought about how lucky President Taylor was that everything is located for them in NYC. The terrorist attack, the UN meetings, CTU. Then, I thought about everything else in the Big Apple: Wall Street, Madison Ave., Broadway, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Alex Rodriguez's highlights...the list goes on and on.

ABCs across the USA in one week!

In one week's time, ABCs will go on the road. That's right, I'm taking the blog cross country. I'll be looking for great billboards, awesome named bars, and truck drivers willing to honk for my thrills. I have yet to map out my route but I'll be going west and south. End destination is Southern California. There will be a guarunteed stopping point in Austin, TX. Not be confused with Boston, MA. Stay tuned for more.

Orange Sashes Don't Mean Jack!

Children are being corrupted in elementary schools. For generations, schools teaching children, grades k-6, have implemented a system that teaches kids to instigate, meddle, tattle, and probably worse. This system is known as the Student Safety Patrol.

The Safety Program is crippling children for the future. The habits and values instilled are not for modern society.Lil' Kim went to jail because somebody snitched. 50 Cent is a snitch and nobody likes him anymore either. Children of America could end up like 50 Cent...without the millions and the semi-coherent flow.

What Is The Greatest Omar Epps Movie Of All Time?

For the last eighteen years, no actor has contributed to the big and small screen like Omar Epps. Omar Epps is without question one of the top five actors of our generation. But, this begs the question, what is The Greatest Omar Epps Movie Of All Time? Whether he's going head to head with a top selling rapper, leading a black ensemble cast through a "That's totally my life" romantic comedy, or replacing a world famous actor in a sequel role Omar Epps holds it down in any form of work he does.

Omar Epps enthusiasts all have their personal favorite but those are knee jerk reactions when the inevitable party conversation turns to Love & Basketball vs. The Program. These films in particular of course remind us all of the high school days we had or wished we did.

Now, if I were to go for my knee jerk reaction, I'd most definitely pick Juice. Juice features Tupac's first starring role as Bishop, that kid that reminded everyone of someone in their neighborhood. The friend you didn't want but couldn't get rid of. The movie is chock full of great cameos from hip hop legends such as Queen Latifah and Fab Five Freddy as well as a small role from a pre-Pulp Fiction Samuel L. Jackson. Its four teenagers doing stuff we all WISH we could do like rob, murder, cut class, and win DJ contests like Omar Epps' character, Q.

Really close to The Greatest Omar Epps Movie Of All Time is The Wood, which gets some play from time to time on TBS. This coming of age story of three friends in Englewood, California touches everybody's heart from the moment Omar's high school character pinches his crush's butt. The soundtrack is appropriately throwback and the clothes may be all too familiar as Mike, Roland, and Slim reminisce through the 80s. And hey, it's got a happy ending and who can't love that?



But, when it comes down to The Greatest Omar Epps Movie Of All Time, you have to look at all encompassing attributes: cast, writing, directing, message, relevance, impact. When you consider all of these variables, no film but Higher Learning fits the role TGOEMOAT. Omar Epps, Laurence Fishburne, Ice Cube, Michael Rapaport, Tyra Banks, Jennifer Connelly, and...I'm not out of names I'm just tired of typing them. Omar Epps plays Malik "MISSSSTA WEEEELYUMS" Williams, a black freshman track star at a fictional university. The film is all about racism and frat boys that rape girls and make them insecure, two of the most important topics in recent history. It's one of John Singleton's last social commentaries in the 90s following Boyz N The Hood and Poetic Justice (although, the new Shaft is really good).
The dialogue is realistic, the characters are genuine, and the ending is dramatic, tragic, and memorable. Characters learn and evolve. Omar Epps also has another awesome fight.

Truthfully, any film with Omar Epps is already guaranteed to be a good movie no matter what happens after the opening credits. But, when you look at the classics individually Higher Learning is the only film that could truly claim to be The Greatest Omar Epps Movie Of All Time. After all, it is the only movie out there to answer five very important questions. 1. What is high? 2. What is higher? 3. What is learn? 4. What is learning? 5. What is higher learning?

Zack Morris Knows How to Handle Oil Spills

I don't know a lot about oil spills but you know who does? Zack Morris. Morris formed a partnership with CalStar to bring a "Bigger, Better, Bayside" to all of his special needs peers in Southern California. But when an oil spill breached the school's pond, killing all of the inhabitants, Zack gathered his crew and put a stop to it. He confronted Cal Star and convinced Principal Belding to send them home without a piece of the Bayside Tigers. Perhaps we should take a hint from Preppy.

  

On April 20, three companies were involved in an oil spill that contaminated the Gulf Coast. This caused a three-way Tommy Boy moment. "What'dya do?!?" But we don't know who said that to who because all three companies that specialize in drilling are saying they weren't the one that caused the biggest oil spill in two decades. The lack of responsibility from companies that hold so much power when dealing with such toxic materials is alarming.

In a cost cutting conundrum, British Petroleum leased an oil rig from Transocean and then paid Haliburton to construct some concrete on this rig. Haliburton did a bad job on the construction but says they were just doing what BP wanted them to do (even though it may have been unsafe and illegal). BP says it wasn't their bad game plan, it was Transocean's rig and safety equipment (that they paid for) that was faulty and caused the accident. Transocean says it wasn't their fault, they were just chaperoning the oil party...they only provided the chips, drinks, and Lil' Wayne mp3s.

Having already spilled hundreds of millions of gallons into the ocean, this leak is still not contained. However, BP's concern is whether or not they will be able to drill by Thursday to continue their testing. In addition, while the blame gets passed around, BP has agreed to pay for some of the mess but not all of it. President Obama will be raising taxes on oil companies to pay for the rest of the job. That's like me spilling a handle of Jack Daniels on your rug and then you throw a party at @ $15 ahead to pay to get the stain out.

Haliburton, Transocean, and BP all screwed up royally. And because of this, fishermen are out of work, TONS of animals are dead, and lots of government money we don't have will be spent to correct this problem we have yet to identify.

You know what won't be done? Increasing safety measures to guarantee this won't happen again to the best of their ability. Because that costs money. And these companies aren't into doing a "good ass job." They're into doing a quick job with the maximum pay out. That's why they are begging Canada and anyone else with a pipeline to ignore future safety restrictions. Oil companies want to know if anyone has a problem with skipping precautions that would prevent oil spills for a year or so. They just want to drill now and worry about the safety aspect next season.

This country should not pay a dime for cleanup. BP, Transocean, and Haliburton should pay for everything, the cleanup, the medical bills, the unemployment for fishers, subsidising so the rest of the country doesn't get ripped off for shrimp, commuter boats so immigrants don't have to inner tube in an oil soaked ocean.

If these companies that make billions of dollars can't take care of their mistakes properly then we need to take the Zack Morris approach. Because THIS is not worth it.