I’ve been neglecting this blog for far too long (since December 20, 2012 to be exact) and I decided that I had better rip the cap off the proverbial pen and have it.

I also haven’t written any Stream of Consciousness pieces in a while so here’s one now:

Yelawolf’s Trunk Muzik Returns mixtape drops tonite and I can’t wait to download it and take in all the auditory goodness. I liked his Radioactive album but I feel like mixtapes are where he truly shines. From the two tracks that I’ve heard so far off of it he seems to be getting back to his dirty, backwoods roots.

Speaking of backwoods, I’ve decided I want to move there. I haven’t chosen an exact location yet but I’d like to be out away from civilization and catch / hunt my own food, make my own wine, and just generally have the freedom to do whatever I please. To those who haven’t spent anytime in the far reaches of the earth away from mankind, it seems archaic, dull, and utterly contrary to the modern way of life. Well to this hillbilly, the modern way of life is a miserable disgrace. No one can survive without their cell phones and computers and microwaves. Now, I like my phone and microwaves are convenient but society has brainwashed people in to thinking that bigger is better and that you have to have the newest, latest & greatest gadget which is really just the exact same gadget you bought 14 months ago, this one just has a different screen on it or a front-facing camera. Biiiiig deal.

People lived for thousands of years without super markets, bottled water, medicine (most modern medicine is just poison, anyhow) and cell phones. They hunted buffalo and built fire and survived out in the woods, the Swamps, the prairies, and the mountains. It’s a good life, I tell you.

Speaking of modern medicine and it being poison, I am not by any means saying that all medicine is poison. If I wouldn’t have had Vicodin the week following the surgery I had Summer before last, things could have been disastrous. What I’m talking about here is side effects of long-term medication. Think about it: You have a medical problem. To solve that medical problem, you get a medication. The medication works just fine but the side effects give you another long-term problem so you have to get yet another medication. Maybe it’s all just a big racket. Or whatever that term is.

Google “Jeff Foxworthy side effects” and you’ll get a better idea of what I’m getting at. Better yet, go watch his Totally Committed routine if you haven’t already or even if you have. You can thank me later.

While eating lunch today I was digging through the cabinets looking for a napkin and finally found one from Thanksgiving. That holiday is one of my all-time favorites. Yet because of this greedy, ugly, consumerist society we find ourselves unfortunate enough to live in, the true meaning of the Holiday gets overshadowed by gluttony and American football. We are supposed to be thankful for what we have every day of the year but because of the greeting card industry it got forced in to Americans being thankful one day a year and now thanks to the food industry and the NFL, the thankfulness aspect of it hardly exists at all.

Some people call me “negative” and “cynical” but I am neither of those things. I simply see what is wrong with society and modern culture and I point it out. You’re welcome.

Why hasn’t Netflix put the Olympics on instant watch yet? During Summer 2012 my life was consumed by the Olympics but that’s really been the story ever since I was a baby. If the Summer Olympics are on, I’m there watching them. I also enjoy the Winter Olympics, but there’s something about the Summer Olympics.

I grew up watching them during the years they were on. I’ve got enough spine to admit I’ve cheered like a maniac during close swimming races and leaped off the couch during intense gymnastics routines. It is no secret that the world we live in is on a downward spiral but there’s something about the Olympics that makes it seem like, at least for those few weeks, that everything is right in the world. The USA swept the competition in many events (mainly female gymnastics and swimming) in this most recent Summer games and it gave me the slightest gleam of hope. I was able to forget the shape that the economy is in and all the difficulties that young people like myself are facing. It was a pleasant time and I hope we’re all around to see it happen again in 2016.

Now, about getting in to Olympic Village…

-Matty T

(Source: mattytoverandout)

Having not been able to write a short story since high school, I’ve found myself once again with some solid ideas. The one I’m working on as we speak is something I’ve been trying to say for a long time and have finally found a setting and context appropriate of how to say it. It’s dark and unsettling thus far but there’s a bigger picture to it.

As usual, I’ve been neglecting this blog but it is what it is.

I might post an excerpt from one of the stories on here at some point…stay tuned.

(Source: mattytoverandout)

Well it’s finally over.

The long, arduous, miserable, seemingly unending 2012 Election has come to a close. I haven’t posted any writing on here since before Election Day though I have been writing on the subject profusely.

In case you missed it, Barack Obama has secured reelection. Mitt Romney floundered in the final days of the Campaign and ultimately suffered the fate of millions of misinformed voters. Seeing Facebook statuses and Tumblr posts and Tweets has made me realize that this country is made up of millions and millions of people who are incapable of thinking for themselves.

“Oh yeah, I’m voting for Obama because he’s black.”

“Mitt Romney is the only choice. Vote GOP if you love America!”

“Barack Obama has my vote because he’s cool/funny/hip/awesome.”

“Romney is the man for the job because he was a successful businessman and he’ll bring jobs back.”

Any of these sound familiar to you? Well if you were paying attention then they should. The biggest fatality of this Election was the truth and I mean the cold, hard, stone, honest truth. The media really shaped this Election if you stop and think about it. Romney was blasted for insignificant things while Obama was praised for everything. Now, that’s not to say I’m defending Mitt because I couldn’t, in good faith, do that. His radical (in a bad way) views on many social issues were alarming. Mitt and running mate Paul Ryan had some good ideas (in theory) on what to do about issues within our economy but…oh well. It is what it is.

I’m burned out on politics. Though I haven’t kept up this blog with regular posts as well as I should, I’ve done extensive writing on it that has yet to be posted. I’m sure you’re all as sick of politics as I am and I can’t say I blame you.

On to bigger and brighter things.

-Matty T, over and out

(Source: mattytoverandout)

As stated in A Reinforcement of What We Already Know pt. 1, the two-party system is a miserable failure. This country has backed itself in to a corner with hopeless, greed-crazed geeks on both sides. Under Barack Obama, the national debt is currently sitting at a cool $16,051,505 and swiftly rising. To sit and stare at the National Debt Clock is utterly depressing. It is cold hard proof that we have no hope for an economic future under Obama. He was given a chance to make history, and he’s made history all right, just not the kind we’ll want to read about in ragged textbooks while shivering in run down classrooms, working 80+ hours a week in jobs paying $3 an hour (because there is no way minimum wage will be able to stay at $7.25, no one will be able to afford to pay it) just to be able to afford an education taught by desperate first year teaching interns who know no more about the subject than the students do. The heat won’t work, the students will have to write by candlelight due to the school not being able to pay the light bill. All the while, the students curse the Obama Administration for ruining the rich future he promised them. Upon graduation, the students will have a slightly higher chance of getting a job that pays $3.05 an hour. Families will live off of leftover Ramen Noodles and packs of Lance snack crackers…

Whoa now. This might all sound like cynical fantasy to you, but if Obama is reelected then it may turn in to a harsh reality right before your very eyes.

I have never liked Obama and knew that he would be a gigantic joke of a president as far back as the campaign trail in 2008, but I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. I’d be thrilled to say that Nixon and LBJ were the worst presidents we’ve ever had and that Obama wouldn’t fall in to that category but oh boy, has he.

Alright, alright, I’ll calm down with the Don’t Reelect the Worst President We’ve Ever Had screeds for right now. What needs to be discussed is this abject failure we call the Two Party System. It is an evil set up that gives no chances to the Green Party, the Libertarians and the Independents. As a country, we’ve been socialized to believe that the only two real political parties are the GOP and the Democrats. The politicians that make up the Democratic party are washed up idealists who live in a fantasy land that taking care of the less fortunate is the main reason for government to exist and the GOP is utterly hopeless in every sense of the word.

One of the issues we run in to here is that this country is too familiar with the Democrats and the GOP. No one really, honestly, truly believes in either party but many people side with one or the other without ever giving a thought as to possibly casting a vote for one of the lesser known parties. Well why don’t we?

Tell someone you’re voting for Ron Paul. What do they say? “No, he’ll never win, he has no chance!”

Well why doesn’t he? Because of the Two Party System. There has been a mass brainwashing of American people who believe that the only candidates that will make it in politics are those from the two main parties, and that is absolute hogwash. They do have a chance, yet the people of the United States don’t want to take a chance. They can’t comprehend that maybe, just maybe, a fresh face with different ideas could change something. What is it they say the definition of insanity is?

Oh yes: Doing the same thing over and over and hoping for different results. Well, if that’s the case then this country is Certifiably Insane. Year after year, term after term, we elect the same useless, out of touch, power-obsessed windbags who hold only two things sacred: Money and Power.

Yessir, that’s right. What’s best for You and Your Family has not once crossed their mind and it never will. They’ll say anything to get elected, and the American voters inexplicably buy in to it time and time again.

Stay tuned for more on the subject.

Matty T, over and out

(Source: mattytoverandout)

It is no secret to any rational human being that the Two Party System is an abject failure. The GOP as a whole is a greedy, backwards, hopeless swarm of washed up, out-of-touch hacks and perverts. They think that major tax breaks for the richest of the rich is the only solution for this dreadful economy and while that is a potential solution, they take it to the illogical extreme and hang the Middle and Working Class folks out to dry. Yet the party sees this as no problem whatsoever. It is a thing of the past, like most of their ideas. They worship at the feet of Ronald Reagan who was a good man and a pretty decent president but the things that worked in the 1980’s simply won’t work now. If the party would just take one big step forward then maybe they’d have a chance at getting something done.

The man that embodies this entire failed ideology is our real-life Mr. Burns - the one and only Mitt Romney. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The man makes my skin crawl. I didn’t like him in 2008 and I like him even less now. I initially laughed at his choice of Paul Ryan as his running mate, though I’ve lately begun to re-think that. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. Granted, Paul Ryan usually looks like he woke up from a nite of heavy drinking and showed up in the same clothes from the day before which makes the GOP looks even more like slobs than they already do, but I like parts of his Economic Plan. Cutting Medicare and Social Security has been greatly needed for some time now and would redirect the millions of dollars that has been pumped in to them for far too long. One of the alarming parts about Ryan is his deep-seated love of Ayn Rand, but for now, that is neither here nor there.

Having Mitt Romney is one of the last things this country needs right now, but by the same token, there is no way we can survive financially with another Four Years under Barack Obama. Now, Obama might be misguided (and lost as a result of that) but he is not stupid. He has run a clever campaign for 2012 and the speech given by Bill Clinton at the DNC on his behalf was a stroke of pure genius. Bill Clinton might be a liar and a crook, but he is a communicator, and one of the best this world has ever seen, at that.

It is becoming apparent that he might not be as successful in 2012 as he was in 2008, but the backlash about Ryan’s Economic Plan might play a role in changing the fortunes of Obama and his bumbling sidekick Joe Biden. The masses of college-aged trust fund babies riding their vintage bicycles to the nearest Starbucks who have been socialized to believe that everyone deserves a handout are up in arms about Ryan proposing cutting those handouts. But we can’t put much stock in to what they say; these people are a part of the same group that sympathizes with child molesters based on quasi-scientific malarkey and will buy any food product that has “Organic” stamped on the packaging. Lucky for us rational folks, they have no political aspirations and most of them don’t even vote so there isn’t much cause for concern there.

Though the cause for concern comes from one of the biggest groups of citizens who vote: Senior Citizens. The Seniors that I have personally discussed politics with tend to lean more towards Republican values and positions, but since Social Security is being stretched increasingly more and more thin and many Seniors are struggling to make it with some even reentering the Work Force, it is plausible, even possible, that they will cast their votes for Obama just so their social security won’t get cut even more.

Social security is a program that won’t last forever. My generation will never see a dime from it, despite having our paychecks dipped in to in support of it. Is that fair? No, absolutely not. But is the world we live in and we can largely blame Lyndon B. Johnson for it.

This is an evolving story and there will be much more to say on it in the near future.

Matty T, over and out

(Source: mattytoverandout)

Good afternoon friends.

I’m sitting here with a full glass of pomegranate juice listening to “Mr. Tambourine Man” and pondering the last few weeks in politics.

The GOP had their big week in Tampa and the Democrats had their parade of idiocy in Charlotte. While I live in the same region as Charlotte, I was wise enough to stay out of the Queen City entirely (which is something I try to do anyways). I knew if I hung around then I might catch a case of Being Hopelessly Wrong and that is something I can’t afford right now.

On the other hand, if I had been in Tampa then I could have easily caught a case of Perpetual Failure and that is not something anyone can really afford to catch. I wish I could speak more on the GOP convention but seeing as I was not present for it, and the only things that have been in the local news for the last two weeks have been about the convention and I’ve kept up with it somewhat despite not actually attending, I feel better equipped to speak on the Democratic convention.

So where does that leave us? Basically, there was a lot of hoopla and giddiness on the part of many Democrats in the area and the rest of the nation, but especially in the Carolinas because Democratic-voting citizens could get in on the absurdity of it all. One of the hilarious highlights was when The Obama Camp announced that his big speech would be moved from the colossal Bank of America Stadium (where the Panthers play) to the smaller Time Warner Cable Arena (where the Bobcats play). The claim was that there was a good chance of severe weather when in all actuality, it rained for a little while before clearing up and I’m not sure if it rained in Charlotte at all. It was clearly a bullcrap excuse to try to cover for the fact that Barack Hussein Obama couldn’t get enough people to come listen to him to fill the Stadium up and anyone who knows anything about T.V. knows that big gaps in the seats of Stadiums/Arenas doesn’t look too great. The interesting side of that is that many of Obama’s volunteer campaign workers were promised free tickets to the Big Speech but when the venue was changed, many of them got the shaft and lost their seat. That’s Obama’s America for you: We’ll Promise You the World, but Don’t Expect Anything.

I admit I had grown sick and tired of politics and was burned out. My interest had waned and I wanted none of it. But now, things are heating up. It’s coming down to the wire.

More to come soon,

Matty T, over and out

(Source: mattytoverandout)

Unfortunately, I didn’t start reading his writing until about 7 months after he had passed away but it has had more of an impact on me and my writing than any other writer in history. I enjoy John Grisham, Mark Twain, William Faulkner, Schuylar Croom, Tim Crouse, and Tom Wolfe but none of them have come close to being as important in my life and writing as Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.

His writing style was erratic, profane at times, eye-opening, revolutionary, caustic, and absolutely brilliant. He asked questions that others wouldn’t dare to ask. He took on writing assignments no other writer would ever dream of taking on. I respect Dr. Thompson for his boldness in both his day-to-day life as well as his writings. There are no others in the past, present, or future who can say that they lived like he did. From riding with the Hells Angels, to being knee deep in the hippie movement that was Berkeley in the 1960’s, to the Wild Ride that was the 1972 Campaign Trail, to working at the infamous Mitchell Brothers O’Farrell Theater in San Francisco, to the Roxanne Pulitzer divorce trial, to having two of his books made in to movies - and everything in between - no one has ever done and no one ever will do things like he did.

He is important in a literary sense as well as a cultural sense though far too many people have gotten bogged down in the drugs and the excess, and too many people have missed the point of some of his best writings. His most famous work, Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, is a staple in the “drug culture”, and while that is to be expected from a book like that, Fear and Loathing is so much deeper than that. It is a commentary on the United States in the early 1970’s: What life in the U.S. was like during the horrors of the Vietnam War, the disaster that was Richard Milhous Nixon’s first term as President, the failed “War on Drugs”, and the death of the American Dream which was a reoccurring theme in much of his writing in that era.

There are those who say that Dr. Thompson never became the great writer that he aspired to be. That is a statement that I disagree with wholeheartedly. He looked at things at an angle that only he could see. His creation and pioneering of Gonzo has resulted in many people who have tried to copy what he did and, when compared to Dr. Thompson, have failed miserably.

Dr. Thompson is one of the most important and unique writers that the world has ever seen. Though due to his (as Ralph Steadman described it) “strangely-planned suicide”, his words are finite. There are other works of his that have yet to see publication (Polo Is My Life, Prince Jellyfish) though I hope to one day read them. Although he left the world too soon, he will never be forgotten and will continue to be remembered in history as a legend of the written word.

R.I.P. Dr. Thompson

Matty T, over and out

(Source: mattytoverandout)

Good evening, friends.

It is late and I am worn out. It has been an action-packed day so I will keep this concise.

I have decided to do a bit of writing before bed. So now, with the timeless lyrics of Mr. Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” flowing out of my speakers I will leave you with a few words for the evening and while I am not entirely sure where this post will end up though it will most likely be a good ways off from where most of these go.

All I want to do is write. I want to write articles, essays, opinion pieces, letters. I want to write things that people will be reading centuries from now. Is that selfish? No. Why else does a Writer put his Thoughts & Ideas down?

The Writer wants to be read. Otherwise, what is the point? Sure, I may seem fanatical at times but that is the passion I feel for the things I am writing about coming through.

We all have opinions. It is not possible to live without them; it is just a fact. Sometimes mine are difficult to decipher, specifically when it comes to politics which is something I tend to write about a good bit.

I regard the Left Wing with disgust and I like the Right Wing even less. Where I fall politically, I honestly don’t know. It is something I may figure out eventually, or I may not. Either way, I will continue to write down the things I feel for whoever may read them though I know those who do are few in number at this time.

I would love to see my work in Time. I would be ecstatic to see my Words in Newsweek or Rolling Stone or Spin or The Wall Street Journal.

It is a difficult time in my Writing Career. I feel like I am finding my Voice, if you will, but I don’t know how to get where I want to go. I’ve been told me work is good enough to be published but I don’t know where to send it. Most of it is too controversial for traditional Newspapers and not up to where it should be to be in a national magazine.

I’ll get there eventually. When or how I don’t know, but I’ll get there.

Til next time,

Matty T, over and out

(Source: mattytoverandout)

Without a doubt, it is a scary time to be alive.

Flesh-eating viruses in Atlanta, cannibalism in Miami, a human butcher in Canada, and more cannibalism in Baltimore.

What in the world has gotten in to everyone?

Some say a virus (think Resident Evil) is being tested on people by the U.S. government. Others say it’s the wicked effects of a designer drug colloquially known as “bath salts”. Others say there is just a deeper focus on people who are going off the deep end.

Makes sense, right? Obviously not the “zombie virus”, of course, but drugs and madness. It is a stressful time in the lives of many people. Jobs are scarce, money is tight, the president is a joke, countries are arming themselves with nuclear weapons, there are whispers that guns will soon be illegal for American citizens to own, the U.S. is in a legendary debt, and One Direction is selling out arenas.

It is a widely held belief that is the right of Americans to alter their state of consciousness as they see fit.

“Who cares if we haven’t eaten in four days and our children are living in a tent? I want vodka and ecstasy!”

It is a strong temptation to go off on the people that do that to themselves and more importantly, their children, but that is another topic for another day.

But hey, if you’ve lost your job and your car and find yourself living in a trash can in some rat-infested alley, then what reason do you have to not take handfuls of the worst substances known to man?

Why not? Go out on the town. Drink anything anyone hands you. Take pills you don’t recognize, snort any powder that is somewhat close to being white, mainline anything in a syringe, take a hit of whatever is in a pipe coming your way. Get black out drunk and high out of your mind which will no doubt lead to episodes of physical violence, disrobing, running around the streets like a wild hyena, and ultimately getting gunned down by some wild-eyed rookie cop with an itchy trigger finger.

“No, I swear, he was coming at me with a knife. I had to shoot him…well he had a knife, I know it. What do you mean you didn’t find it? It was there. I wouldn’t make that up.”

Whoa now, let’s get back on track.

After the incident in Miami which raised a few eyebrows and kept a few people from eating from a day or two, there were cries of “Zombie virus! Zombie virus!”

Let’s be real here, people. The so-called “zombie virus” is something concocted by the minds of a few creative people who have no doubt made large amounts of money off of their idea.

If you actually do a little research in to zombies, you will be pleased to find that zombies are humans brought back from the dead by way of witchcraft and remain under the thumb of the sorcerer who brought them back to life. But zombies, just like Werewolves, Vampires and Ghosts have fallen victim to people like Stephenie Meyer.

Anyways, there is no such thing as a “zombie virus” and the people who honestly and truly believe that it is being tested on people and an outbreak is impending simultaneously make me laugh and cringe.

People are too paranoid these days. They fear that the U.S. government is spying on their lives and wants to make them a slave in a society run by the most evil beings the world has ever seen. They think that a virus is going to be released to turn them in to a mindless drone. Put down the video games. Turn off The Walking Dead. Get off the conspiracy websites. Not everyone is out to get you.

Just look at ole Richard Nixon. He thought everyone was out to get him and look where he ended up.

Matty T, over and out

(Source: mattytoverandout)

Good afternoon, followers.

It is 1:17pm EST and it is a sunny day out, so I’ll make this brief.

I know I haven’t updated in a few weeks but I’ve been very busy and haven’t had time to do much writing.

So what has happened in the past few weeks in my absence?

North Carolina was given the opportunity to vote on Amendment One, a law that has now gone past just not recognizing same-sex marriages, but has outright banned them.

Now, I have not read this law but to my understanding, it also does not recognize unmarried heterosexual couples either. But the Right Wing doesn’t want you to know that, because if word of that was widespread, the law might have actually been shot down and all the gay-bashers in the state of NC would have a field day. Violence in the streets, brutal beatings against anyone suspected of having gay leanings would be jumped and beaten and pelted with rocks. People all over the state cowering in fear that they might be next on the hit parade of the Right Wing Extremists gone mad.

Whoa now, where was I?

Our hack of a child president Barack Obama has come out in support of gay marriage, based solely on the backlash that North Carolina faced over it being banned. He has now wrapped his arms around the gay community, and assured them that he will fight for their rights.

But his plan is flawed, yessir it sure is. He didn’t count on the fact that anyone with more than 4 brain cells can see right through this weak, transparent, half-hearted attempt to get more votes.

News flash: Obama doesn’t care about gay rights, he cares about votes. The same thing can be said about Mitt Romney. Who knows what any politician believes (aside from Ron Paul and Jimmy Carter, that is)

All I can tell you is that there is only a handful of politicians that can be trusted and Ron Paul is one of the few on that list. He knows what’s what.

Amendment One doesn’t affect me either way because I don’t live in North Carolina, but you can bet that the day it was passed ,there was a flood of Facebook status updates about how angry everyone was that it was passed.

That’s our version of picketing these days, folks. Get mad about something you didn’t even vote on and post a vague sentence on Facebook about how pissed off at North Carolina you are.

Hippies - 1, Twenty-somethings who didn’t even vote on the Amendment - 0.

North Carolina’s loudmouth governor Bev Perdue made a gigantic blunder after she insulted both her state and the great state of Mississippi when she stated in the days after the passing of Amendment One that it made NC “look like Mississippi.”

I honestly couldn’t believe it. Mississippi governor Phil Bryant didn’t take to those remarks too well and fired back with wit and tact.

Gov. Phil Bryant - 1, trigger-happy Bev Perdue - 0.

Well, it is what it is, folks.

If you’re pissed off about Amendment One I have just one thing to say to you: You should have voted.

Matty T, over and out.

(Source: mattytoverandout)