Author: Ryan Thomas

America is always in a hurry to kill itself. Just observe its eating habits, alienating social practices, and unrelenting facilitators of stress. This doesn’t exist anywhere else, at least not in such seam-bursting concentrations. Just look at Spain — not perfect, but better. It’s a culture that we should strive to be like in many…

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This year’s Grammys came and went without a bang, with most of the awards going to chart-toppers, money-makers, and dust-settlers, as per usual. Art and risk-taking is foreign to the Grammy voter.  It doesn’t help that a large percentage of the public accepts the Grammys at face value, looking at them as qualified, gavel-toting evaluators of…

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It’s nice to see that some things stay the same; comic books are among the few art forms that have always maintained strict artistic integrity. Very rarely does the medium rely on digital technology, or anything more than a talented individual’s fine motor skills, and a clean sheet of paper to manifest the contents of their wildest…

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In literature, “onomatopoeia” is a word that’s employed to mimic any audible sound not pertaining to any spoken language.  Examples include buzz, crack, pop, whoosh, etc.  Inserting these “meaningless” words into a piece of prose, however, does have the effect of capturing a more-convincing snapshot of reality. But this doesn’t just work on paper; it…

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Who gets to decide the occasions we should celebrate?  We all know Christmas, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, and even Columbus Day, and we know what such holidays entail (alcohol, food (sandwich day?), no work/school/mail).  But why can’t we select, customize, and personalize days of the year based on we truly feel warrant an annual commemoration? Well believe it…

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Break-ups hurt.  A lot.  And any surgeon will tell you that any amputation requires a great deal of analgesia to numb the pain in the aftermath.  Such is the case in the separation of two conjoined lovers, who suddenly wish to no longer meet at the hip.  Rather than indulge in booze and pills and…

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Evil can come in all forms: man, woman, child, adult, real, perceived, clown, doctor…you get it.  There is much evidence on this earth to back up its existence, and has been throughout history, but some of the best depictions of evil have appeared as fiction–which is much better than having it in actuality.  Some inspired…

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As humans, we take a lot of pride in how much we’ve accomplished in such a short period of time.  We continually pat ourselves on the back for our achievements, and overall greatness as human beings.  But there comes a point where we need to realize that we aren’t the Alpha and the Omega, and…

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When you’ve gotten to a point, as a songwriter, where you feel like you heard or played it all, there comes a necessary need for change. Whatever that might be; for some, that change may come in the form of an extended African holiday, a new pill combination (not advisable), or simply picking up an…

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Jim Henson was an undeniable wizard, who left a sheer magical legacy in his wake.  He always had children in mind, probably because he never resigned his childish sense of wonderment.  He brought out the child in us all and sought, more than anything, to ensure children never completely grew up.  Without Henson, the world…

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The one thing we all undergo at some point or another is a childhood. And after that, every belt-notch year leading up to a fully-realized adulthood. As an adult, we often think of nothing but our youth; what we did right or wrong, or might have done differently. In youth, we didn’t cherish time as…

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Sex serves two distinct purposes: pleasure and procreation. But there’s a third, less popular (at least depending on your religion) purpose: to break world records. While it may be nice to one day bounce a little baby on your knee and watch it grow into a responsible man or woman, it’s probably less nice to…

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An album is usually considered to be an artist’s beautiful baby; but sometimes it can also be their ugly stepchild. Deformity, after all, is a part of nature, and the contrast only helps to accentuate the instances of unabashed beauty. Here are 10 artists who vied for some ugliness to really make their albums shine: 10.…

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Sleep by itself can be boring; that’s why when you “sleep with someone,” you never just sleep with them.  When you stay at a hotel, that’s really all you need, but it’s never what you want (by itself anyway).  You expect room service, complimentary breakfast, and little soaps and shampoo bottles.  You are paying, in…

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Incoming students should be forewarned, upon entering college, that certain degrees are useless. Some degrees just don’t pay, and if they do, it has more to do with the individual than the education received. It seems unfair that everyone can’t be whatever they want to be and get away with it, but such is life.…

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Sometimes a picture says a thousand words; sometimes a word says a thousand letters.  There are a few instances in the English language where a word is not constructed for the sake of communication so much as to break a world record, for spectacle’s sake.  In that way, the English language is much like the…

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Palindromes are the most symmetrical words and phrases you’ll ever encounter.  Also, the most amusing, when you think of the nonsense and ambiguous meanings that can come from trying to achieve perfect syntactical harmony.  Here are ten for those who like to read things front to back (and then back to front again). Not on…

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Times are tough these days, and every little way to save a few extra dollars is a welcome one.  While we may try our best to keep up with the Joneses, it may well be that the Joneses are just as broke as you are and are merely hiding it better.  The trick, aside from…

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As time has progressed, we’ve seen music become much more sleeker and refined, designed for mass appeal from the get-go. Songs have become polished products like trinkets you can fit in your breast pocket and admire from the palm of your hand. It used to be that music had splinters and rough edges and a…

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It’s that time of the year again.  The time of the year when traditions are carried out faithfully and decorations are mounted precisely where they were a year ago.  If you look close, you might even see contrasting dust layers form a sort of farmer’s tan where holiday spirit has offset natural progressions.  The holiday…

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