Like Ye or Not, You Ears Are About to Experience an Album Like Nothing They've Ever Heard Before

Kanye West is no stranger to controversy, attention, or praise. Thanks to his new album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, he won't have to, well just yet anyway. I'll be the first to tell you that I'm not particularly a fan of hip hop or even rap. My musical collection seems to fall into a neat little Indie/Alt Rock, Folk package. But I won't deny that I enjoy a hip hop beat or a decent rap verse every now and then, and I definitely won't turn down a listen at the masterpiece that this album turned out to be.

Kanye West isn't exactly a likable guy, remember that Taylor Swift VMA incident? Or even farther back, the New Orleans rant? He isn't George Bush's favorite person, (but then again people aren't exactly quick to jump up and claim George Bush as their favorite person either) but he sure knows how to produce an album. This album shouldn't work, and maybe that's where the beauty lies. It combines hip hop, with progressive rock, classic piano, disco, tribal beats, some cello, and of course that lovely auto tune. Kanye doesn't just mix genres, he hosts a collection of featured artists from Elton John and John Legend to Nicki Minaj and Rihanna. He doesn't miss a beat, literally, and it comes together better than it should. The fourth track on the album "All of the Lights" exemplifies this go big or go home style perfectly. Boasting an impressive eleven featured artists, yes eleven, it steals the show.

The lyrics are as clever as ever with "too many Urkels on your team, that's why your wins low"on Dark Fantasy and political on Gorgeous' "Inner-century anthems, based off inner-city tantrums/Based off the way we was branded/Face it, Jerome get more time than Brandon/and at the airport they check all through my bag and tell me that it's random."With this album, Kanye sets the hip hop world back on track. He not only begs us to demand more out of our mainstream artists, but delivers a masterpiece that they can look to as an example.

Photo credit: MTV News, video Youtube.

Facebook Stalking, Soon to be Our Generation's Past-time. PB#4

What was I doing with my life before Facebook? Oh, that's right... not wasting countless hours of my time learning minuscule details of stranger's lives. Facebook is a genius invention, it provides us with the ability to take our social scene (and a few others) and have it at our finger tips. The success lies in our desire as humans to look at people that we know on our computer screens. It also allows us to lurk our "friends" and figure out all the details that they are willing to share, which is more than you might think. This, my friends, is what we call Facebook stalking.

And thankfully, Mark Zuckerberg and his lovely team have made this infinitely easier with the new "View Friendship" option. All you have to do is click that little button, and the relationships and interactions between your stalkees is neatly compacted into easily readable and organized sections. Talk about convenience.

I'm sure that almost every person with an active Facebook account has lurked a few times, (or a few hundred) after all that is half the fun of Facebook. Find your ex significant other, check their relationship status, scan their pictures, a process that millions of people have engaged in. Facebook collects all of the small things we wonder about our friends and acquaintances and presents them in a pretty package that is just so easy to unwrap.

Is this healthy? Probably not. But is it normal? Absolutely. Gone are the days of having to ask around about a person's views, morals, and character. (How boooooooring) All we need is a computer, a Facebook account, and a few hours to waste.

Photo Credit: http://hubba-u.com/page/4/