Oscar-winning rapper Eminem will release his fourth album, to be called "Encore," on Nov. 16, his Interscope Records label said Monday:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=musicNews&storyID=6106864
The set will be the follow-up to 2002's "The Eminem Show," which debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 9.2 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Interscope said its global sales stand at more than 19 million copies.
Because of Internet piracy, that album officially went on sale in the United States on a Sunday, nine days ahead of its originally scheduled street date.
The 2002 soundtrack to his hit film "8 Mile" also reached No. 1 on The Billboard 200. It spawned the hit "Lose Yourself," which spent 12 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and yielded an Oscar for Eminem and his two co-writers. Interscope said its global sales stand at almost nine million copies.
Although he released a new album with his group D-12 this spring, Eminem has kept a low profile over the past year. He recently announced plans to launch a hip-hop music channel with Sirius Satellite Radio, on which he will host shows with acts from his Shady Records imprint. The channel is expected to go live in the fall.
Reuters/Billboard
If you have watched 8 Mile, you will remember Jimmy Rabbit’s friend in 8 Mile.
Cheddar Bob, Jimmy’s friend, is also a white aspiring emcee who gets into trouble by shooting himself into his dick during the movie.
After his accident, B. Rabbit battles his friend in a hilarious freestyle:
« cheddar, i can rip you to a shreader,
cheddar cheese, theres not a better MC then me,
im b rabbit, bitch, sting like a bee,
float like a butterfly, what am i, so what if i cut a guy,
did i s-s-studder guy,
leave you punch drunk from lunch truck to shelter,
you never felt the rag that held the skelta, melt ya,
got the belt for the welt to weight champ,
you got in with a fake stamp,
garbage bag full of clothes, still pullin hoes,
rip you from head to toe, from leg to bullet hole,
next gun pull it slow,
and aim at the freeworld before you let it go,
instead of oh, i just shot my dick head,
and yes you do gotta big head,
i can't call it, cheddar where's your wallet,
your so drunk, you can out drink the alcoholics,
make them say damn, cheddar's the man,
he needs a can surgically removed from his hand. »
Jimmy’s hilarious freestyle is also a way to teach his friend to humor the tragic event he just went through. A freestyle that suddenly gets interrupted by the Free World leaders who start making fun of both friends.
In his third and last 8 Mile battle, Jimmy also makes a refence to his friend:
« I do got a dumb friend named Cheddar Bob / Who shoots himself in the leg with his own gun . »
Cheddar Bob is described as Jimmy’s dumb friend in 8 Mile.
Did you know that 8 Mile’s character « Cheddar Bob aka Mc Bob » referred to a real person who actually lives across 8 Mile?
Who is he? His name is Robert Claus( whom I once called Mark Claus by mistake in one of my articles). Robert Claus is actually an emcee who is better known as DJ Rec.
Robert Claus is Eminem’s former friend and Marshall used to sleep over his house with other friends when Debbie kicked him out:
« I met him in '96 . . . He moved in with us, kind of like, couch surfing. »
Dj Rec has lived Eminem’s debut. He has handed out his tapes at St Andrews:
« St. Andrew's on Friday nights, that was a big thing . . . just handing out his tapes. »
They used to be intimate friends, but both men haven’t been in touch since 2000.
There was a time, Robert was too busy working and when he eventually wanted to get in touch with his former friend, Marshall’s relatives were like an obstacle between both men’s friendship:
« Right before they were shooting the "8 Mile" movie he was coming by the house, but I was at work a lot. . . . I don't know if he got offended by that, you know? . . . If I did call, these family of (ex-wife) Kim's that were at the house weren't telling him. (They were) like, "What do you want? This is my million dollars. »
The slang term « cheddar » usually refers to money. You will find a good definition of « cheddar » in the urban dictionary:
« money, riches, can also be used to express satisfaction.
Mad cheddar yo. (It will be very expensive. or I agree with you fully kind sir.) »
The real « Cheddar Bob » couldn’t be qualified as « rich », though.
« Obviously I ain't got that (money), » says Robert Claus.
There used to be a great complicity between Robert Claus and Eminem. They used to rhyme together. This is an example of a line Eminem could drop for his friend:
"Bob! You're a slob! Get a job! You live at home with your mom!"
Although he hasn’t really made a fortune out of his passion, Robert Claus is still busy DJing:
« It's slow everywhere right now. I mean I get my DJ work. I'm doing my own night at the Huddle Lounge (on 8 Mile). »
The sad thing in this story is that Eminem seems to have lost a long term friend.
D12 ‘s « How Come » is very nostalgic about Kim, but it is also about lost and broken friendships:
« How come we don't even talk no more? And you don't even call no more We don't barely keep in touch at all … »
Maybe Marshall had also his old friend in mind when he wrote this song.
Quantum computing another step closer: error correction.
Researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China, the University of Innsbruck in Austria, and the University of Heidelberg in Germany have entangled five photons. "Our experiment demonstrated for the first time the ability to manipulate five-particle entanglement," said Jianwei Pan, a physics professor at the University of Science and Technology of China and a fellow at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.Error correction uses mathematical codes to detect when a bit has been accidentally flipped, and is widely used in classical computing because electronic and magnetic bits occasionally switch accidentally from a 1 to a 0 or vice versa. Quantum bits are more delicate and require an error correction method to be feasible.
Quantum computers have the potential to be blazingly fast because a string of quantum bits, or qubits, that store the ones and zeros of computer information can represent all the numbers possible within that string at once. This would make it possible for a quantum computer to check every potential answer to a problem with a single set of operations.
Qubits take advantage of the quantum phenomenon of superposition. A photon can be polarized in one of two orientations, but when it is in superposition it is in a mix of both orientations at once.
The challenge in building computers to take advantage of the phenomenon is that superposition is a fragile condition, and interactions with the environment can knock a particle out of superposition and into one definite state. Interactions with the environment can also have more subtle effects that can result in the equivalent of a qubit being flipped from a 1 to a 0 or vice versa.
Philip Bobbitt wrote a very good criticism of the current system of terror warnings a couple of weeks back. Have a read.
The PBS program Frontline has linked to my US-EU relations category archive. I am in there with the Dissident Frogman, Iberian Notes and Almost A Diary.
I shall have to start adding more to that archive now.
This one via An Oasis. Some good tips on writing, on more of the creative side it seems. Worth a look.
This one has been sitting around waiting to be blogged for a while now. Steve A. Yetiv, professor of political science at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and author of the forthcoming book "Crude Awakenings: Global Oil Security and American Foreign Policy", writes about the price of oil.
He points out:
All this brings us to market psychology, which is affected by supply and demand but is its own animal as well. Unlike in the past, oil is now traded like other commodities. When traders believe that the price of oil will rise, they go "long the market" or buy into oil, thus pushing the price higher. The more buyers, as with any traded good, the higher the price.Part of their action is driven by the fundamentals of supply and demand, and part of it is speculation. Speculation can vary in rationality. The stock market bubble that sent U.S. Nasdaq index above 5000 was driven by irrational speculation, not real fundamentals.
Speculation is affected by many things, including fears about oil-supply disruptions in the Middle East, Russia, Venezuela and Nigeria. Today, these fears may well add 20 percent to the price of oil.
Just grin and bear it:
Such fears have always been around, but today they seem to represent a perfect storm of angst. This is despite the fact that there may well be enough supply out there to meet demand and that the Saudis could add about 1.4 million barrels per day if need be, albeit not of the most desired low-sulfur crude.So there we have it. Yes, things look a bit grim today. But the global oil market can change quickly. In the short run, at least, we may well have to hold onto our hats, grin and bear it.
Will Pfaff believes the Marines are largely to blame for current problems in Iraq, not sure I agree with him on that one, interesting point of view nonetheless.
Randall Stross in the New York Times [Reg reqd] tells of the other IPOs this year that went unnoticed. He points out that it is only the trendy tech industry gets all the press comment while other bigger IPO's receive scant attention.
Some readers may have missed the news. Genworth's was only the biggest initial public offering so far this year, raising $2.8 billion in May. It and the second biggest - Assurant, which went public in February - did not draw nearly as much attention as A Certain Other Company's $1.67 billion offering for a simple reason: boring ZIP codes.Companies in financial and insurance services, however well they perform, lack the cachet of the most-envied corner of the economy: tech land. No other sector, year in and year out, receives such disproportionate attention from prospective investors and the news media alike. The computer industry is good. Software is even better. A company name already familiar to nontechnical computer users is best of all. This has been the case ever since the initial public offering of Microsoft nearly two decades ago.
He asks and answers appropriately in relation to market hype:
Will Google have a halo like Microsoft's, benefiting the many other hopefuls in tech? This is a question of pure psychology, nothing more. Experience suggests that "halo" is a euphemism for "investors turning bullish en masse for no substantive reason."
Will Pfaff muses on the situation developing in Iran. There seems to be increasing media comment on a likely intervention by US forces in Iran - prompted in part by stories that Iraqi Shia militias are being armed with advanced weaponry by the Iranian government. Worries over their nuclear facilities are also making headlines, while Israel considers its position. Pfaff notes:
Israel reportedly contemplates a unilateral attack on Iran's nuclear installations. It would want America's permission, so it needs to get it while it is sure Bush is president.The recent decision in Israel to distribute antiradiation kits to people living in areas that might be contaminated by "an accident" at its own nuclear weapons facility is aimed at American opinion. The indirect message is that Israel is preparing for an Iranian attack on Israel's nuclear weapons manufacturing installations; hence, pre-emption is necessary.
Israel's basic position is forthright and simple to understand. Iran, like Iraq before it, is a major - and hostile - neighboring Islamic state. If the danger it potentially presents can be removed without disproportionate political or military costs, Israel - under Ariel Sharon - will probably do it.
The American case against Iran is entirely different. Its rests on the neoconservative notion that every society instinctively yearns to become an American-style democracy, and would do so if its despotic leaders were removed, by force if necessary. As the world's leading democracy, the United States has an obligation to propagate democracy. Overturning despots is therefore a duty, and the result will be a better world. The argument, of course, is familiar: It is why the United States invaded Iraq.
Another piece by Martin van Creveld goes into more detail on the Israeli position.
Uncle Anthony with another letter in the Irish Times from last Friday:
Madam, - It is grotesque in the extreme that the organisers of Dingle Regatta continue to honour Mr Haughey for his so-called services to the town (The Irish Times, August 26th). During his self-serving career Haughey was a tax cheat; he felt that the heavy burden of funding essential services and development was for the little people.The monies allocated by Haughey for the development of Dingle came from the pockets of hard-pressed, compliant taxpayers. It is those citizens, who did such great service to the State, who should be honoured in Dingle. - Yours etc.,
ANTHONY SHERIDAN
« Rock City » is the example of a collaboration between two gifted Detroit rappers: Eminem and Royce da 5.9. « Rock City » sounds like an ode to Detroit. People who have enjoyed the song have probably also liked the « Rock City » video.
The video introduces you into a black suburb. A mom discovers the « Rock City » CD and is so shocked that the CD lands into the trash. But the angry mom is unable to escape to Eminem and Royce who will appear on her TV screen.
The song « Rock City » also refers to Detroit’s various and rich musical influences. There is also a clear allusion to the second Detroit race riots wave from the 60’s in Royce’s mouth:
« I'm takin shit back to the riots in the sixties… »
Royce shares his vision of Detroit with us. Detroit is the city of the hustle, you just can escape hustlers, they are everywhere you go, from the suburbs to the ghetto.
Hustling is a theme that has been exploited by many Detroit artists like Shane Capone, Backstab the Kingpin. It is present in Proof’s song « Boom » ( « boom » is the slang term for « hustle ») from the Promatic album.
A good definition of the term « boom » can be found in the urban dictionary:
« Street slang for hustling that originated in Detroit:
That man's out there booming on the block. »
(by Alex Skov)
Detroit, the city of plants where workers get exploited. Detroit, the city of pimps, dealers and hoes.
Not only pleasant details belong to Royce’s description of a rough city that remains also a musically rich city. Some call it « Rock City ».
Eminem, who is very conscious of Detroit’s musical potential, is working hard for local emcees’ promotion:
"I remember seven, eight years ago, when Detroit was growing, it was like a seed that was growing and all I ever heard and all anybody was talking about was wanting to be the first person to blow up Detroit and the first person to get on and the first person to do this and the first person to do that. Everybody was just fighting for Detroit to have a voice," he says.
"Once I got on, I realised it wasn't about that. I knew there was so much talent in Detroit, period. There's probably 10,000 MCs in Detroit that have it in their heart to just do hip-hop and just be something and they have that drive."
"What I'm trying to do is bring the industries here, bring the record labels here and make them realize there's talent in Detroit, and to start looking."
Detroit might correspond to the description of a rather depressing city, but the talents of its numerous local emcees make it appear in an interesting light. So come on, rock with Eminem and Royce on this wonderful ode to « Rock City ».feat. Eminem
"Rock City, Royce, 5'9, Slim, Shady"
*skirt* "COME ON!!"
[Royce the 5'9"]
Can't stop the hustle, Royce nickel nine
Glock stops the tussle, nine shots'll bust you
Pine box'll stuff you, fuck you!
"Fuck you!"
I am not the tussle, niggaz don't know me
*skirt* "COME ON!!"
I'm Detroit's king nigga
*skirt* "Wow!"
Rock City's where niggaz pimp hoes and ball
Strip hoes in bars, still close the malls
"Arms, and ya city's got the.." [3x]
Titties saggin lookin like they got four arms
Gold bottles, green bottles, Cris' to the don
Niggaz get popped for sellin weed shaked with seeds
If you hate me you hate the D (*vocal scratch*) please!
I'm takin shit back, to the riots in the sixties
Think I'm lying? Visit me (Where you live?)
[Hook] + (Eminem)
"Rock city.. rock on!" (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock city" *scratches* (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock city.. rock on!" (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock wit me" *scratches* (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock city" *scratches* (Come on the block wit me)
"Rock city.. rock on!" (And come and rock wit me)
"Rock.. city.. come on"
"Rock.. on.. city.. come on!"
[Royce the 5'9"]
Suburban and city niggaz hustle together
Long as it's money envolved, niggaz'll tussle together
Long as the hustle's a hustle, the green is green
White is white, nigga we buyin if the price is right
So (*scratch*) drop the mics
Everything's on cock, from the shots to the dice
We are not into hype
You can't say we can't work
Either we some plant workers or we some niggaz that plant work
("What") Detroit bitches is bout it
You can just ask any one of ya niggaz that visit about it
Any Seven Mile bitch know how to get rich
She'll fuck you till you sleep PLUS lie to ya bitch
PLUS she'll suck and swallow up outta ya dick
And she'll keep a sugar daddy that'll buy her some shit, come on!
[Hook] + (Eminem)
"Rock city.. rock on!" (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock city" *scratches* (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock city.. rock on!" (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock wit me" *scratches* (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock city" *scratches* (Come on the block wit me)
"Rock city" *scratches* (And come and rock wit me)
"The city with the bars, where the goons with the cars,
to produce, here we are.."
[Royce the 5'9"]
New casinos, car shuffles, numbers to bet
Disrespect and get a new smile under ya neck
A city full of thug-ass niggaz, and punk-rockers
Alotta niggaz act like Pac so cops watch 'em
And shot blocks up in the black or the light Timbs
White boys, look, act, and rap like Slim ("Hi!")
Fight Music, knife users never respect it
Guns talk (*scratch*) high schools with metal detectors
A city full of Tommy Hirst thumpers
Brandt Hill roopers, Barry Sanders runners, stunners
Cal Diz but we connects like whoa!
Type of weed, no need to test like 'dro
Type of cats who got dough, they like ("So!")
You real, then you might go.. (Where?)
[Hook: 2X] + (Eminem)
"Rock city.. rock on!" (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock city" *scratches* (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock city.. rock on!" (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock wit me" *scratches* (Come on and rock wit me)
"Rock city" *scratches* (Come on the block wit me)
"Rock city" *scratches* (And come and rock wit me)
[Royce talking] + (Eminem)
Detroit Rock City ("Slim Shady")
Won't you come on the block with us? ("Royce the 5'9")
Won't you just come and rock with us? ("Royce the 5'9")
Next Level ("Rock City")
Royce the 5'9" ("Rock")
Slim Shady ("Rock City")
Uh uh, won't you come and rock with us? ("Rock City")
Won't you come on the block with us? ("Rock wit me")
Won't you come and rock with us? ("Rock wit-")
Rock City.. touch it... ("Fuck!")
Every time I feel weak or discouraged, the final words of Eminem’s song « Lose Yourself » travel through my mind like a constant encouragement not to give up: « You can do anything you set your mind to, man. »
Wonderful power of those words. Just listening to them in a silent meditation deep inside of me gives me enough force to go forward.
Whatever your dreams or your projects are, let me tell you that if you’re willing enough to through the end, you actually can and will do anything you set your mind to.
People who keep telling you that it doesn’t work or that is impossible are usually quitters and bitter persons who lacked energy in fulfilling their own dreams. You gotta avoid those persons if you really want to go forward.
Real winners never quit their fight. No matter how many storms they will have to go through, no matter how many failures they will be confronted to.
Real winners know how to use their defeats: in fact, each defeat teaches them a lesson. A lesson that they will use as an enrichment on their road to success.
Another point shouldn’t be neglected by people who are determined to succeed: surround yourself by positive people. Positive people might help you in the brainstorming of your project. They will give you all the moral help needed.
Determination, positive thinking and faith are the keys to success. All you have to do is to apply to them.
A South African man who shot his pregnant fiancýe dead before killing himself will be posthumously married to her at the weekend:
Police Captain Mohale Ramatseba said David Masenta shot 25-year-old Mgwanini Molomo after a quarrel before turning the gun on himself. But Johannesburg's Sowetan newspaper said family and friends wanted to remember them as a happy couple destined for a happy life together.
The groom's corpse would be dressed in a cream suit and his bride's in a gown for the ceremony, at which a priest in the rural village of Ceres in Limpopo will bless the union before the two are buried, the Sowetan said.
"In African culture, there is no death -- there is merely the separation of body and soul," said cultural expert Mathole Motshekga. "It is also important because the families are married together."
"This does not mean the relationship has irretrievably broken down."
A top Russian official acknowledged on Thursday what many citizens already suspected - that terrorism was the most likely cause of two jetliners crashing minutes apart, a feeling reflected in a newspaper headline warning that ``Russia now has a Sept. 11'' :
Just a day after officials stressed there were many possibilities besides terrorism, presidential envoy Vladimir Yakovlev told Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency that the main theory ``all the same remains terrorism.''
He said the planes' flight recorders had not provided any clues to the disaster.
Additionally, Transport Minister Igor Levitin confirmed Sibir airlines' report that its crew activated an emergency signal shortly before the plane disappeared from radar screens. Visiting the site of the crash, he said, however, that details were slim because ``no verbal confirmation from the crew was received'' saying what the problem was.
Officials previously said there was no indication of trouble from a Volga-Aviaexpress airliner that also crashed late Tuesday, although people on the ground reported hearing a series of explosions.
Russian media also raised questions about a possible link between the crashes and an explosion a few hours earlier at a bus stop on a road leading to Domodedovo airport, where the two doomed planes took off. Without citing any evidence, the reports suggested the blast, which wounded four people, might have been an effort to distract attention.
The suspicion of terrorism came after earlier warnings from officials that separatists might try to carry out attacks before an election this Sunday in Chechnya to replace the war-torn region's assassinated pro-Kremlin president. The rebels have made attacks in Moscow and other cities, hijacked planes outside Russia and allegedly staged suicide bombings.
``I am inclined to think that it is a terrorist act, because there are too many coincidences,'' said Ruben Suryaninov, an elderly retiree. ``What needs to happen so that two planes going from the same airport would bang at the same moment?''
``It's too suspicious,'' agreed Natalia Kozhelupova, a physicist who was out on a national day of mourning for the 89 people killed in the crashes. Russia's tricolor flag flew at half-staff and television canceled entertainment programs.
Despite Yakovlev's statement about terrorism, officially the government's investigation was still looking at all possibilities, including bombs, hijackers, mechanical failure, bad fuel and human error. Officials said no evidence had been found pointing to terrorism.
The government had hoped the jetliners' flight data recorders would shed some light, but Yakovlev told state-run First Channel that experts found both boxes shut off before indicating any problems.
Yakovlev, the president's envoy for southern Russia, where one of the planes crashed, said both boxes ``turned off immediately'' - an indication ``that something happened very fast.''
The planes - a Sibir Tu-154 with 46 aboard and a Volga-Aviaexpress Tu-134 with 43 people - disappeared from radar almost simultaneously around 11 p.m. Tuesday. The Tu-134 was headed to the southern city of Volgograd and the other plane to the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, where President Vladimir Putin had been vacationing. They had taken off about 40 minutes apart.
A government commission appointed to investigate the crashes traveled Thursday to the site where the Tu-134 crashed about 120 miles south of Moscow. Emergency crews had already completed their work there, but other workers continued to check wreckage of the Tu-154 a few hundred miles south.
``There is still no clear-cut concept of what occurred, because the procedure of deciphering the data recorders will be conducted more than once,'' Levitin, the transport minister and head of the commission, was quoted as saying by ITAR-Tass.
Oleg Panteleyev, an independent aviation expert in Russia, said that just because no clear evidence of terrorism had been found didn't mean it that wasn't the cause.
Any other explanation ``seems to be purely impossible,'' he told The Associated Press. ``But then again absolutely incredible things can happen in life.''
There also was doubt about whether Russians could count on their government to tell the truth.
``I never trust what the authorities are saying, but in this case, I don't know - it could have been an accident or a terrorist act,'' said Yevgeny Skepner, a 37-year-old computer programmer.
Many Russians have ingrained doubts about the government's candor after the confused and contradictory reports on the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk in 2000 and the still-murky 2002 seizure of a Moscow theater by Chechen rebels.
Still, Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent military analyst who is often critical of the government, said the government would have nothing to gain in covering up a terror attack.
``For the companies, the aviation industry, society and Russia as a whole, it would be better ... because otherwise it means that things are really bad here - we have bad planes that crash to the ground one after another,'' he said. ``The fact that it is not being called a terrorist act, means they have no such evidence ... because hiding a terrorist act is impossible.''
Panteleyev disagreed. ``To miss such a major terrorist act for the security services means to acknowledge their impotence,'' he said.
Since posts have been light, and my last few posts were deleted thanks to a server crash I wanted to try something out.
Could all the people who are currently reading this, yes you, please leave a comment. You don't have to say anything outrageous, but if you want you can put where you live and how long you have been reading, and if you are really brave, how you came acrsoss this blog in the first place. Call it market research.
This entry shall remain the first entry for the next 7 days.
Your cooperation would be greatly appreciated.
A summary of the essays in Foreign Policy:
“Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds” noted Albert Einstein. Ideas can be good things, but sometimes, as in Einstein’s case, good ideas can lead to the creation of destructive power. Ideas are benign things, but some ideas once applied can result in serious consequences.
Atomic weapons were developed some 60 years ago, and their development has lead to the possibility of humankind having an ability to destroy itself. But looking to the future, what ideas may effect us in the coming years, what developments that are now being made will pose a threat to the future of humanity?
The latest edition of the US periodical, Foreign Policy, features eight essays by some of the top political and scientific thinkers today. The magazine, funded by the Carnegie Endowment for International peace, asked what ideas, if they were embraced, might pose the greatest threat to the welfare of humanity in the future. The writers provide a range of answers, some more surprising and obscure than others.
Robert Wright, visiting fellow at Princeton University’s Center for Human Values and Seymour Milstein senior fellow at the New America Foundation, believes that any moral crusade on ‘evil’, or the concept of ‘evil’, maybe a significant threat in coming years. Writing from an ethical perspective he believes that George Bush’s vow to “rid the world of evil”, and declaring Iran, Iraq, North Korea and others as part of an “axis of evil”, are dangerous ideas.
In taking this idea to task, Wright asks pointed questions into the over-simplification of evil into a black and white scenario. The world is just not that simple. If, he says, you believe all terrorists to be evil, then you’ll be less inclined to fret about the civil liberties of suspected terrorists, or treating accused or even convicted terrorists decently in prison. And merely calling Iraq, Iran or North Korea “evil” says nothing about the entirely different situations in those countries. What if these policies actually increase the number of terrorists as Muslims at home and abroad feel persecuted?
Wright believes he may have a remedy – accept that evil is something at work in all of us. If this is the case then the world does not look like the Lord of the Rings, where the bad guys are hideously ugly for the sake of easy identification but is instead more ambiguous, that evil is something human and just about anybody can play host to it.
Paul Davies, professor of natural philosophy at the Australian Centre for Astrobiology at Macquarie University in Sydney, has a different take on the future. He believes that some of the more dangerous ideas come from who we are, our genetics, psychology and our own free will.
The belief that we can decide our own fate, and that we are the authors of our own destiny is, he believes, something that is being thrown into doubt by an ever increasing amount of scientific data.
Modern genetics has undermined the belief that we are born with freedom to shape our destinies – evolutionary psychologists root personal qualities like altruism or aggression in our genes. Biologists like Richard Dawkins believes we are essentially slaves to the will of our genes. So too with memetics, the mental equivalent of genes – beliefs, ideas, fashions are essentially memes, and we are merely the vehicles for passing these on to other people.
And how does Davies belief these ideas can be dangerous? There is, he says, an acute risk that these ideas will be oversimplified and used to justify and anything-goes attitude to criminal activity, ethnic conflict or even genocide. If you thought eugenics was bad, imagine a world where people do not believe in free will.
Samantha Power, lecturer in public policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, is fervent in her views on the idea of the future of international peace and security. Her view is that the United Nations, since its foundation, has been continuously eroded in its power, and any further erosion set a dangerous path for the future.
Unless, she believes, the UN is reformed to more accurately reflect the present, we will see it fall into disrepair, much as happened to the previous League of Nations. The Permanent membership of the Second World War victors is anachronistic – and only reflects the views of 29 per cent of the world’s population, and entirely excludes the Muslim world. A hobbled together UN, as it presently stands, cannot face the 21st century’s deadly transnational challenges, and without a strong and reformed UN, we will endanger the peace and stability of the world.
Eric J. Hobsbawm, emeritus professor of economic and social history at Birkbeck, University of London, is scathing in his views about current efforts, such as those underway in Iraq and Afghanistan, to spread democracy throughout the world.
The idea of powerful states spreading democracy is something rather trendy at the moment. It believes that spreading standardised Western democracy and believe that it will succeed everywhere, remedy transnational dilemmas and bring peace is simply foolish.
It is not only dangerous and foolhardy to attempt it on other states, but also dangerous for the states attempting it. He believes that electoral democracy and representative assemblies really had little do with decisions to invade Iraq, it was instead decided by small groups of people in private – a dangerous precedent for Western democracies.
Francis Fukuyama, professor of international political economy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, has something of a science-fiction type scenario facing us in the future.
‘Transhumanism’ or humans that have been genetically altered, or altered using technology such as microchips could create huge problems for humanity in the future. As technology develops we will increasingly use biotechnology to make ourselves stronger, smarter, less prone to violence and maybe even live longer.
But what happens when bit by bit, a group of humans become less and less ‘human’ through the use of technology? Will the phrase “all men are created equal” still be valid? It is a dangerous prospect, since modifying what is a very complex animal can have unforeseen consequences. All kinds of ethical dilemmas will come to pass should some humans decide to ‘improve’ themselves, essentially giving rise to a whole new set of racial and social problems.
Fukuyama urges caution, prescribing humility in the face of the awesome possibilities science is giving us.
Martha Nussbaum is the Ernst Freud distinguished service professor of law and ethics at the University of Chicago – and her thoughts on future dangers center on religious intolerance.
She cites various recent examples such as the killing of several hundred Muslims in India in 2002, or a worrying rise in anti-semitic attacks in Europe. These are symptoms of something that could become an immense problem in the future. Religion, she says, helps people to cope with loss and fear of death, it teaches moral principles and motivated people to abide by them. But because religions are such powerful sources of morality and community then can often manifest themselves by imposing hierarchy and indeed oppression. Clinging onto a religion one believes to be the right one, inevitably could lead to conflict, as it has in the past.
As a remedy, Nussbaum suggests greater emphasis on using rhetoric to support pluralism and toleration, much as Martin Luther King used it to help people imagine equality and see difference as a source of richness rather than fear. Our leaders must have greater respect for the plurality of religions, or a path to religious intolerance could lead to a dangerous future.
Alice M. Rivlin is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a visiting professor at Georgetown University. She was director of the Office of Management in the first Clinton administration and vice chair of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors from 1996 to 1999.
Her warning: the US needs a tighter fiscal policy, or the consequences could be devastating to the world economy. Currently the US national debt is at record levels, and the US still believes that the ordinary rules of global finance don’t apply to them.
The current problem is much worse now than it was under Reagan, who, like Bush Jnr, lowered taxes to stimulate growth while increasing public spending. Now the US is two decades closer to the baby boom generation, those born after WW2, retiring. Their retirement will cost a huge amount of money, and couple with this the US has gone from being the world’s largest creditor to the largest debtor, with a substantial portion of debt being held by Asian and European central banks.
It will be Americans that will have to pay for this debt with higher interested rates and slower growth – and this means slower growth for the rest of the world. In a worse case scenario the dollar would plunge with a migration of capital out of the US, which in turn would devastate developing countries. The fiscal policies of the next administration in the US will have huge consequences for the future.
Fareed Zakaria is the editor of Newsweek International and author of The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad. The idea that worries him the most for the future is the idea of anti-Americanism.
The rise of anti-Americanism, he says, really took hold after the election of Bush in 2000. In that year, 75 per cent of Indonesians considered themselves to be pro-American. Now the figure is 80 per cent anti-American.
Increasingly anti-Americanism is becoming the way people think about their position in the world. But if anti-Americanism continues to grow and fester it could be an idea that is dangerous for humanity.
So ideas that trouble the minds of some of the world’s greatest thinkers cover a wide range of interests and viewpoints – but one thing is certain, there are many more dangerous ideas on the way, some of which we haven’t even imagined yet.
Eminem changes people’s lives!
Michelle is a fellow fan who came across my website. She has shared her story with me and I would like to share it (with her approval) with all of you.
Her life has been changed by Eminem positively. Like me, she doesn’t correspond to the « typical teenage Eminem fan ».
This is Michelle’s personal story:
"I am a 32 yr old mother of three. My children’s ages are 16, 12, and 7.
Yes, I said 16 and if you can do the math I was 16 when I had him. My mother raised me, but my father was not around much. He always showed up for Christmas and a phone call on my birthday, but that was pretty much it. He did always convey to me that even though we did not see a lot of each other, he loved me and would be there if I ever asked him to. My mother was very materialistic and cold. She very rarely said she loved me or gave me much one on one attention. She did work very hard, but all of her off time was spent with one boyfriend after another. She wanted to be like a big sister more than my mother. She had me when she was young and she was constantly trying to get back her youth that having me had stolen away from her. She blamed me for everything that went wrong in her life. Nothing I could do was good enough. She did not get to do many things that young people do because of me and she wanted those things for me. College, prom, parties, graduation, and all things high school, but even though I understood that she wanted a better life for me than what she had been dealt, she did not tell me why. She constantly lied to me. I was 13 before I knew her true age or when her and my father was married. Mainly because she knew I would do the math and figure everything out. I finally figured it out by looking at her driver license and I found a copy of their wedding invitation at my aunt’s house by accident. Looking back now so many things in my life was a lie. Her family acted as though they were close, but we really only saw each other on holidays. We would go to one of my aunt’s houses and pretend that everything was just fine. That everyone was as pure as the driven snow and not dare talk about anything that was going wrong in our lives. We most definitely did not show any emotion other than the facade of pure happiness. My entire childhood was this way. My feelings were silly, foolish. They did not matter because my mother was always having some other crisis that took precedent over whatever issues I was having. Living this way, I began to believe that I was not important. That everyone else’s feelings and problems were more important than my own. That I should just ignore it and focus on anything but myself and put everyone else first, mainly my mother. As I grew older, she threw more and more on me. I was not a child. I was her equal. By the age of 10, I was paying the bills with checks she left signed for me, making dinner for myself, her, and whatever boyfriend she had, cleaning the house and yard, anything and everything that the mother would usually do. She was never there for me physically or emotionally. She did always provide a roof over my head, food, and clothing. We were not poor, just middle class.
It was around this time that one of my mother’s boyfriends became a permanent live in. At first it was kind of nice, as he seemed decent enough. I got along with him and at first my mother tried to play more of the motherly role to impress him. I can’t say that I didn’t mind that. But, it all to soon faded. My mother’s new live in was a drug trafficker with many problems. It did not seem that bad at first. I was old enough to know about drugs (at least what they told us in school and TV). It started out with me being able to smell them smoking pot. Then after a few months to a year, I would find one hundred dollar bills rolled very tightly into straws lying around the house. Little did I know that the worst was yet to come. The drug problem he had really did not affect me at this point. I knew what was going on, but I just hung out with my friends and played video games. They never did it in front of me and they were getting along pretty well. He would leave for a few weeks at a time every so often. I realize now that he was trafficking. When he would come back he would always have a couple of skuzzy friends with him and many large duffle bags. They would set up shop my mom’s bedroom not to be seen again for a few days and then be gone again. After a few more months of this, my mother and him began to argue. They argued about him being gone, bringing unwanted people around, him cheating, and even the things that I was being exposed to. She did care about what was happening. She was still working very hard and when she was not there I was left alone with these people. She did not like it, however she did very little to stop it. She used but she never did become addicted to anything to the point of having to go to rehab or not being able to function properly. She had a good job and made decent money. Eventually, my mother got her way and her boyfriend supposedly saw the error in his ways. They bought a house together and we moved. For about two months everything seemed ok. He even got a normal job working with his family.
This was the calm before the storm. He would get up say he was going to work then his family would call asking if he was there. He would say he is going to the store and ask if I wanted anything and not come back for three or four days. Amazingly, when he did he would always bring back the candy bar, chips, or soda that I had asked for. It was not long before he was back to where he had started and then some. The smell of pot and rolled up hundreds with cocaine residue on them had been replaced with needles and bent spoons. The semi quiet arguments in their bedroom were replaced with screaming, shouting, and slamming doors. They grew very far apart and he moved into the spare bedroom. He would stay in there for days at a time. She continued to live her life as though he was not there. Even going out and partying with other guys. The only time she would even bother him was when the mortgage was due. He always had money from trafficking and his family sent him a check whether he worked or not. The time I spent awake at night was worse than any nightmare I had while I was sleeping. I would lie awake and wait for the screaming to start or occasionally my mother and I would stand by his bedroom door and wait for it to quit shaking. He got to the point that he would occasionally have seizures and I think he would try to get help, but he would fall against the door and my mother and I could not open it. She would never call an ambulance for fear she would get in trouble. The police however were a constant visitor every Fri and Sat night. She would come home drunk and he would be high. She would bang and scream at his door until he opened it and proceeded to beat the hell out of her. Why she would not leave him alone I have no idea. I would get up and protect her. I would stand between them and drag her into my room. We would call the police and if needed my grandparents to take her to the hospital. He for some unknown reason would not lay one finger on me, but had no problem picking her up and throwing her across the room into the dining room table. This was routine for a couple of years until he finally got caught for trafficking and went to prison.
Upon his return, he was clean and after he stayed that way a while, my mother agreed to marry him. As much pain as he has caused me, I did forgive him. Mainly, because he stepped to me like a mature adult and asked me to. He admitted what he had done and acknowledged the pain that his actions inflicted upon me. My mother on the other hand is another story. Again this is something bad and we do not talk about the bad things. We act as though it was some nightmare that never really happened. Even my aunts and uncles acted as though nothing was going on. Looking back I become very angry thinking that everyone knew what was going on and no one would step in and help us. I mean how could they not know. I know they do, because I could see the sadness and pity for me in their eyes when I would look at them, but even now they deny it. Even a few years ago when my mother and I were having an argument about the fact that I had to work and I could not make it to a school function for my kid, I confronted her. I asked her how she could dare criticize my parenting after what she had put me through. She responded with she did not know what I was talking about. I then reminded her of how I had saved her ass on more than one occasion. She then responded with “you believe what if you have to”!!! I mean WHAT THE FUCK??? I was eleven, twelve, thirteen, not one or two. I know what I say is true. As if I have a choice in what to believe. I wish to hell that I did not have this burden to carry with me this anger and resentment. I do not blame my mother for what happened. She was a victim as well. However, how dare she try to act as though the events that have shaped my life and mentality did not happen. I am not asking for an apology, only for validation of my feelings. But again, my feelings are silly. Whatever happened was a long time ago and does not effect my life today… FUCK THAT.
Well life around age 14 calmed down somewhat and that’s when I met my first husband. Although I have read enough self help books and watched enough Oprah to know now what attracted me to him then, I did not realize it at the time. He was all consuming, totally obsessed with my every action and me. He was a control freak. He was what my divorce lawyer would later call a Mexican machismo. Of course I thought in the beginning that it was because he loved me so much!!! Later I would come to realize that it was because he did not love himself at all. He did not love himself and therefore he could not see any reason for my feelings for him to be true. He always wanted me to prove my love and eventually that is how I found myself pregnant at fifteen. I did love him, and why not he was the perfect father figure that I had been without my entire life. He controlled everything I did from who I talked with to what TV shows I watched. He gave me more attention than I had ever known.
I fought my mother and everyone else to have my son. No one except my father asked what I wanted. They just all agreed I should have an abortion. I could not do it. I even went as far as to call child services because my mom was going to take me to the clinic. They put me in protective custody for a few weeks and then agreed to let me move in with my boyfriend’s family. We asked for permission to marry. My mother would hear nothing of it. We petitioned the court and she did not show up, so the judge allowed us to get married when I was sixteen. Two months later, my son was born. Although life at that time and for many years there after was very difficult I do not have any regrets about my decision to have my son. I also support a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion. It just wasn’t right for me at that time. I spent the next seven years in a very unhappy marriage making the best of it. I could not do anything, go anywhere, or have any friends. I could not even listen to what music I liked (rap of course). He did not approve of it and called it very derogatory names that I will not repeat. I also had another child, (a girl) along the way. When it got to the point where the bad times out numbered the good I decided to leave.
Six months later, I met my 2nd husband. I am still married very happily to him. I had my third (and last) child, another girl. My husband and I have a very good marriage and I could not be happier with him. He understands what I have been through and treats me with respect. All of the kids are great and everyone gets along. There was a little drama along the way, but all of that is gone now.
About three years ago, my happiness faltered somewhat. My husband’s family’s business started failing. I was working for them at the time and he and I had our own business. We basically sub-contracted work for them and they paid us. When they started not being able to pay their other subs, we had to make a choice to stick it out or bail. His parents started the family business 30 yrs ago. They started with one truck and trailer and built it up to about15 trucks, 30 owner/operators, and 120 trailers. It was the lively hood for the entire family, so when they asked for our help we felt we could not let them down. The next two months we spent moving everything into our business name and trying like hell to keep afloat. Since I was the bookkeeper for both businesses, everyone was looking at me for what to do. It was a burden that I did not expect. I was told in the beginning of all of this that they would help me, but when the burden was off of them they bailed. Everything was coming down on me. I went into a depression.
Then, Shelly (our smallest girl) got sick, she was in St Joseph’s Children’s Hospital for a month. She had an intestinal virus that there was not any medication for. All they could do is keep her hydrated and filled with antibiotics, so she wouldn’t develop a worse condition. She lost ten pounds off her 31 pound body, underwent blood transfusions, and all we could do was watch her deteriorate. She eventually went into kidney failure and we were faced with possible dialysis, maybe even a transplant in the future. She pulled through fine in the end without any permanent disability.
We started to pick ourselves up off the floor and deal with the business again, when I took my oldest son, Matt, for a routine eye exam. I was told that he was missing a little bit of his peripheral vision. That it might be nothing. To have it checked, but not to worry, (yeah right). We spent several weeks bouncing from doctors to specialist finally ending up at a neurologist. He underwent several tests including MRI, field vision screening, EEG’s, you name it. I was finally told that he has lesions on his brain and he is totally blind in the upper right quadrants of both his eyes. They were not sure if he would have to undergo brain surgery or not. Finally, nine months and five MRIs later, they decided that the lesions were not growing at this time and that his vision had not gotten any worse, so he has to go every three months for re-testing to monitor his progress. Of course, they cannot say for certain that he will never have to have surgery.
At this point, I still have all the shit of the business weighing down on me, and all with my kid’s health problems, I totally broke down. I lost it. I couldn’t get out of bed, but I couldn’t sleep. I was gaining weight like crazy, but I couldn’t hold my food down. I finally sought professional help. He gave me medication so that I could deal somewhat and sleep. During this time I listened, of course, to a lot of Eminem. It was the only thing that took my mind off my problems. I guess that most people would turn to religion and God, but I was not raised in a religious environment. So, I turned to what worked for me. Even if it was for a few minutes on the way to the grocery store, every little bit helped. I could just get lost in the lyrics and just not think of everything else. It was MY time, MY only time for just ME. Although not every lyric or every song was about me or some shit that I had been through, it was enough to remind me that I would make it, that I didn’t need to drive my truck into a tree or take a few too many sleeping pills (the thought had crossed my mind on more than one occasion). It reminded me that I was strong and able enough to do whatever it took to make it and to have faith in myself, if nothing else. I learned that it is ok to have more than just feelings of happiness. That I could be angry, sad, belligerent, and silly whatever I felt was ok. I finally felt that I owned my feelings. As I got stronger, I too took on the attitude of not givin’ a fuck. I started not to care what anyone thought of me. As long as I was happy with myself fuck anyone who was opposed to me. You were either with me or against me. I realized by listening to him that this is My life and I only have to answer to people that I choose to answer to. As for anyone else, you don’t me, or what shit I have been through. If you care, I will tell you, but you have no right to judge me. It was a total revelation, an epiphany.
So, I started surrounding myself with pictures of him. Close friends and family members that knew what it meant to me, started bringing me anything Eminem. I ended up with calendars, posters, pictures, clothing, you name it. But, there was one picture in particular, I can’t explain why but it gave me the most peace of mind when I looked at it. I decided to put it in my car on my visor. I spend a lot of time driving, usually alone, and usually listening to Em. So, many times I wind up in my car literally sick, worrying over whatever the issues are for the day, and that picture gave me faith that I would get through all the shit.
It was then about a year ago that I decided that I was going to get a tattoo of Em. I chose the picture from my visor and found an artist to do it. I had it done about six weeks ago and I cannot tell you the strength and peace it has given me. I am more self assured and happy than I have ever been. Not that all my problems are solved, but I know that I can get through it. I have even started a leg sleeve kinda in tribute to Em. My tattoos of Em make me feel empowered (ha, ha em-powered). I did not expect to have that happen, but they do. I offer no excuses or lies to anyone anymore. I dare anyone in my family of hear no evil, see no evil believers to ask why I chose to be tattooed with Eminem on my back and leg. They will find out why and when they try to act they didn’t know I will tell them FUCK YOU !!! I am tired of living the charade and Em has taught me that I do not have to if I do not want to. I blame no one for my choices or my life. I own my mistakes and have the physical and emotional scars to prove it. I no longer need validation, or permission from my mother to have feelings of any kind. I feel vindicated in the eyes of my husband and children, and their love and support is all I need (and Em’s music).
This is my story of how Eminem, Marshall Mathers, and Slim Shady have made a difference in my life. I acknowledge all sides of his persona as they have individually helped me to realize that although I am one physical person, many different people reside inside of me and believe or not that does not make me crazy… it makes me normal. I just choose to admit it and not hide behind some kind of facade of myself. Well, thanks for listening or I should say reading this. "
Thank you,
Michelle Sanchez “Chelle”
To all of you who are curious to know more about Nathan Mathers’ future career as a rapper, it seems like Eminem’s brother has achieved his first rap CD.
He’s got the ambition to be a rap star like his big brother from whom he has learnt a lot and whom he is very grateful to:
« My brother Eminem is the coolest guy I know and he’s the greatest brother a guy could have. We’re really close and I’ve idolized him ever since I was a kid, way before he was famous. »
Both brothers live together and Nate enjoys staying at his brother’s home. A great complicity binds both brothers. Eminem even helps his little brother out with his music. With such a great teacher, no doubt Nathan will make some progress very fast:
« I’ve been living with Eminem a few years now and it’s the best situation in the world. I have my own room and plenty of space. No one bothers me. Eminem’s around a lot. He helps me with my music and we play on our play station, listen to music or watch movies together. »
Although Nate has also been suffering from his mom’s behavior, that he described as « nuts » a few years ago, he is in better terms with Debbie Mathers than Marshall:
« My relationship with our mom is very different to Marshall’s, he says. I’ve never seen her the way he does. They have lots of problems. I don’t get into it. She’s my mom and I love her. »
Since Eminem has been granted full custody for his daughter, Hailie also shares Nathan’s every day live. He loves his neice very much and plays a lot with her.
Nathan will confirm you how dedicated Marshall is as a daddy:
« I make time for her every day whatever she wants to do. Since she’s been living back at Eminem’s full time, we’re one big family and I love having her around. It’s sad what happened with her mom, but Eminem’s a great dad. People tend to dismiss this. »
Nathan doesn’t want to be Eminem’s rapping clone. He has the will to make something very personal and different from his brother’s style:
« I am my own person. I am not my brother. I can’t have his career. I can only put my stuff and create my own identity. People are going either dig my stuff or they won’t. »
Of course, Nathan is conscious that being Eminem’s brother will help a lot in building his future career:
« Sure being Eminem’s brother has opened all the doors, but it’s now up to me to make something of it. No one is going to invest in me if I don’t produce the results. I understand that this is a business first. If the CDs don’t sell, I’m out. »
The biggest mistake that people could make would be to compare Nathan to his brother. You ought to give him a chance: of course it won’t be perfect at the very beginning, but you can be sure that he will do his best:
« I only hope that people will give me a chance and not try to compare me to him. I’m making my own music. It is not just a carbon copy of his stuff. »
Nathan Mathers might be the next great hip hop superstar very soon. He is determined to work hard in order to surprise you positively. When his first CD will come out, why not give him a chance to prove his talent?
Really, really, really want to get out of Cuba? Do the sensible thing and Fed Ex yourself out of there, using capitalism to escape despotism, I love it.
Wohoo my first link from Dan Drezner, even if it is at the very end of a post, a few days ago, about Georgia. Still nice of him to link to my Caucasian archive.
Things have been quiet in Georgia lately, but I expect things to liven up again soon.
I went through an article that was published in the Detroit News recently:
http://www.detnews.com/2004/metro/0408/25/a02-253306.htm
I was surprised and angered at the same time by Neal Rubin’s statements about the place where Eminem used to live, because I am deeply convinced that this article totally misrepresents the truth.
First of all, people who know Eminem’s life story perfectly know that 8 Mile has never been autobiographical. It just situates the context of Eminem’s story.
Neal Rubin’s worst statement is the following one:
« Lots of people have taken it literally, though, and they’ll be surprised to learn where Marshall Mathers III grew up:
In a brick bungalow near Nine Mile. »
This statement is untrue: Eminem didn’t live permanently near 9 Mile in the little house of Warren.
He used to live between 7 and 8 Mile with his mom. You will learn it from Eminem’s mouth in an interview given to Spin Magazine in 2000:
Spin: These were mostly African-American neighborhoods where you grew up?
Eminem: Yeah, near 8 Mile Road in Detroit, which separates the suburbs from the city. Almost all the blacks are on one side, and almost all the whites are on the other, but all the families nearby are low-income. We lived on the black side. Most of the time it was relatively cool, but I would get beat up sometimes when I'd walk around the neighborhood and kids didn't know me. One day I got jumped by, like, six dudes for no reason. I also got shot at, and ended up running out of my shoes, crying. I was 15 years old and I didn't know how to handle that shit.
It is a matter of fact that Eminem used to live on the black side of Detroit. Deshaun Holton aka MC Big Proof used to live in the same street than Marshall Mathers.
The Source Magazine also tried to make a « myth » out of Eminem’s story growing up across 8 Mile, but Eminem’s former friend, Chaos Kid, confirms that Eminem has never been a 9 Mile resident. His presence in the 9 Mile area corresponds to periods where Marshall used to be kicked out by his mom:
« Marshall did not move to Warren in his early teens. He lived in the city of Detroit. The Northeast side between 7 and 8 mile which is still predominantly black. He never lived in Warren. He would, however, frequently get kicked out by his crazy mom and would sometimes spend a few nights at a time in Warren between 8 and 9 mile at Manix and Buttafingaz' house. His girlfriend also lived in that area, so I assume he would spend some nights over there as well. However, most of the time his girlfriend would spend the night at HIS house in Detroit where he had his own room. » (Chaos Kid, letter to the Source Magazine).
Marshall went to Lincoln High school that is situated between the 8 Mile and the 9 Mile area, because he had some problems at the local high school he went to:
« He first went to a Detroit High School where he had some problems so for awhile he went to Lincoln High School between 8 and 9 mile in Warren. He did this by giving the school a false address within the school district. This is where he met Manix and D.J. Buttafingaz who were also attending Lincoln at the time. After awhile Lincoln High School found out that he wasn't a Warren resident however and he had to go back to Detroit schools where he attended once again for a period of time before being kicked out or dropping out (I don't remember which). All the music was recorded in Warren during this time over at Manix and Butta's house but Marshall DID live in Detroit.» (Chaos Kid, letter to the Source Magazine)Maybe some people are trying to make a myth about some facts concerning Eminem.
But most of the facts stated by Eminem about his childhood and his former life can be verified as a 100% true.
Mr Neal Rubin , please keep your facts about Marshall Mathers straight.
Just when I am making progress in my reading, Foreign Policy pops through the letter box, and this edition includes essays headlined as the 'World's Most Dangerous Ideas'.
The essays are by Paul Davies, Frank Fukuyama, Eric Hobsbawm, Martha Nussbaum, Samantha Power, Alice Rivlin, Robert Wright and Fareed Zakaria.
It also has an essay by Javier Solana, urging the US to learn from the mistakes of Iraq and champion the cause of "muscular multilateralism". Should be interesting. Oh and an essay by Craig Barrett (CEO, Intel) on outsourcing.
I shall try and blog the best bits.
Dan Drezner ads his two cents, and believes that Saakashvili is a good leader.
Screw Bush or Kerry -- why can't someone like Mikheil Saakashvili run for president in the United States? As someone who witnessed first-hand the Soviet-style traffic police in action when living in Ukraine, I could only weep with joy after reading C.J. Chivers' account in the New York Times of Saakashvili's police reforms.
Nice to see this region mentioned on one of the bigger blogs.
Many people like sugarcoated and sweet pop singers. I don’t.
You might be curious to know why. You might argue with me that sugarcoated artists generally have a sweet sounding voice, sweet looks and soft lyrics…
That’s right. But to me, those artists are totally fake, most of the time. They do sell an image, they don’t expose themselves. The only thing they fully expose is their fine bodies and their fake smiles.
If you take Britney Spears’ example, I wouldn’t grant her any musical talent. The main reason why she is so successful is her beautiful face and body.
She sounds so sweet. But the image of herself she exposes to her public is made of lies. Britney Spears is supposed to be a role model for little teenage girls, and what does she offer to them? Lies, only lies!
She lied about her virginity:
http://www.starswelove.com/scriptsphp/news.php?newsid=3202
What else does she offer to her public? A fake wedding with Jason Alexander:
http://www.starswelove.com/scriptsphp/news.php?newsid=4139
But Britney Spears is not the only pop artist to act like this. There are numerous equivalent behaviors from other pop artists.
Moreover, the sugarcoated seem to make people believe that we live in a world of sweetness and perfection, which is an illusion, particularly for naïve kids: the world in which we live isn’t made of pink lollipops and sweet people.
Unfortunately, our world is also made of dramas, violence and messed up childhoods and artists shouldn’t only show the too much perfect side of their world vision.
I have immense respect for artists who have the courage to expose the truth and the ugly reality.
The sugarcoated artists I dislike most are the moralists. Religious freaks allow themselves to judge other people. More dangerous, they think they are invested by God in their task and would love to shut down anybody who disagrees with their vision of the world. Why don’t they start to show love first, instead of whining about the lack of love in this world? Groups like the « Black Eyed Peas » have shown much more hypocrisy through their songs than real feelings and emotions.
There are too many fake notions and concepts attached to the sugarcoated. Too many fake images that misrepresent their true personality are displayed in the media and it mainly explains my disgust of such pop stars.
Don’t misinterpret me: anybody has the right to like the music he or she wants. I’m just adding my two cents.
My Wordpress testing continues with a new (if pilfered) stylesheet. I do like how there is no rebuilding involved whatsoever.
Well the hard drives on my server in Nottingham crashed today, so my blog has gone back in time to the last available backup.
One reason why I really like Eminem is his poetic way of telling the world to fuckoff. I am also amused because I am trying to imagine some angered people’s reaction: « What?! He dared speaking like that? »
What is even greater: Eminem doesn’t give a fuck about people’s anger when he spits his words with his usual dexterity.
One of his freestyles, « Fuck The Planet », that has been inserted in the lyrics of « Hellbound », Eminem’s collaboration with Master Ace, has captivated my attention.
It begins like this:
« Yo.. Slim Shady!
Yo.. I'll fuckin.. I'll..
I'll puke, eat it, and freak you (eww)
Battle? I'm too weeded to speak to
The only key that I see to defeat you… »
This time, Eminem impersonates a cannibal. He’s too high to dialogue with you, but he’s determined to make you lose the battle against him, as always.
Slim Shady, offensive as ever, angry against the whole planet will shoot his words like the fastest bullets. His words are worst than the strongest pistol, because his adversary will be verbally ripped off and eaten.
« I ain't tryin to shoot you,
I'm tryin to chop you into pieces and eat you
Wrap you in rope and plastic, stab you with broken glass
and have you with open gashes strapped to a soakin mattress
Coke and acid, black magic, cloaks and daggers (ahhh!)
Fuck the planet, until it spins on a broken axis… »
The description of the multiple tortures aimed at his enemies give make the beauty of Eminem’s wicked rhymes.
Dark humor lovers will probably enjoy the sentence that made me smile:
« Fuck the planet, until it spins on a broken axis… »
As Eminem concludes his freestyle, no doubt that he will leave his adversary speechless:
« I'm so bananas I'm showin up to your open casket
to fill it full of explosive gasses
and close it back with a lit match in it
while I sit back and just hope it catches
Blow you to fragments
Laugh, roll you and smoke the ashes. »
The offensiveness of those words are here to make you feel the exaggeration of his speech. The listener perfectly knows that Eminem wouldn’t act like that in real life- unless he believes the rapper is an addict of cannibalism.
Enjoy the beauty and the madness of « Fuck The Planet » as Slim Shady spits his words on the mic.
"Fuck The Planet"
[Eminem]
Yo.. Slim Shady!
Yo.. I'll fuckin.. I'll..
I'll puke, eat it, and freak you (eww)
Battle? I'm too weeded to speak to
The only key that I see to defeat you
would be for me to remove these two Adidas and beat you
and force feed you 'em both, and on each feet is a cleat shoe
I'll lift you off your feet so fast with a roundhouse
you'll think I pulled the fuckin ground out from underneath you
(Bitch!) I ain't no fuckin G, I'm a cannibal
I ain't tryin to shoot you,
I'm tryin to chop you into pieces and eat you
Wrap you in rope and plastic, stab you with broken glass
and have you with open gashes strapped to a soakin mattress
Coke and acid, black magic, cloaks and daggers (ahhh!)
Fuck the planet, until it spins on a broken axis
I'm so bananas I'm showin up to your open casket
to fill it full of explosive gasses
and close it back with a lit match in it
while I sit back and just hope it catches
Blow you to fragments
Laugh, roll you and smoke the ashes
World Entertainment News Network
Posted August 20 2004
Hip-hop superstar Eminem was reportedly denied dinner at a Florida restaurant, because he was "rude and obnoxious":
http://www.southflorida.com/news/sfl-rgsuscm4aug20,0,6912227.story?coll=sfe-news-wire
The rapper spent time at theme park Walt Disney World's Ritz-Carlton Orlando with his 8-year-old daughter Hailie and mentor Dr Dre recently, but what should have been a relaxing break reportedly turned into a trip full of conflict.
Sources say that because of their alleged bad behavior, they were denied dinner at the Ritz restaurant.
A source tells Us Weekly, "Their bodyguards threw one of the waiters into a plant, causing him to fall on the floor. We said we didn't need their business. Plus, they were dressed terribly!"
Georgia has begun withdrawing troops from the conflict zone in South Ossetia a day after it claimed to have captured key strategic positions in the area. It is handing over control to a joint peacekeeping force composed of Russian, Ossetian and Georgian soldiers.
Events move fast.
An Oasis points to an interesting piece of media analysis.
I also came across this good media weblog today.
Dick O'Brien and William Sjostrom have been duking it out on the free vs fee debate in regard to Ireland's schools.
Is William not relying on an entirely anecdotal example? I am not sure that one story such as that would put me off public schools, well in fact it wouldn't. I went through the public system and I turned out fine. Whoops. That's my anecdote.
Surely the stats Dick quotes are a more reliable source than anecdotes?
Or why not just do the two, go through a public school, and send 'em off to a Leaving Cert crash course for the last year?
Are most of the new students starting in UCC this September really that badly educated?
According to a new study:
European winters will disappear by 2080 and extreme weather will become more common unless global warming across the continent is slowed, warns a major new report.Europe is warming more quickly than the rest of the world with potentially devastating consequences, including more frequent heatwaves, flooding, rising sea levels and melting glaciers, says the European Environment Agency (EEA) document, launched on Wednesday.
The changes are happening at such a pace that Europeans must put in place strategies to adapt to an unfamiliar climate, the researchers write, although they stress the importance of the Kyoto Protocol in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
How could it be so localised that higher emissions in one region would results in a warmer clime? Is meteorology and climate science not a bit more complicated? Do clouds respect borders?
Over at Irish Eagle some bad fact checking is reported, in the Independent no less. Conor Cruise O'Brien noted:
The present Governor of California George Kazantsakis, was elected in 2002 with the active support of President Bush, who campaigned for him in the State, and toured the State with the new Governor immediately after his election. The new Governor pledged his support for the re-election of President Bush immediately after his own election as Governor. He has recently renewed his pledge of support for the re-election of the President.
Err no. That would be Arnie. In 2003. And who the hell is George Kazantsakis?