Scene Guy

Don't have anything to say except that I likes this:




Yeah?

PBS.org has the full Tavis Smiley interview with M.I.A. pre-Grammy performance. Click the wonderful photo below for linkage.

Linkage to interview
It's cool to see a serious-ass interview with her that doesn't go the easy multi-culti bio route (says M.I.A. with a smirk, she's lived a lot of places because "that's what you do when you're a refugee").

Her glowing pregnancy, the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack, the Grammy nods and the Swagga Like Us hype is certainly pushing her further into the mainstream circles that she's flirted with before, but is she compatible with that whole circle? People are starting to get that she's not just a hot hipster chick, which is great, but it comes with an inevitable backlash -- people painting her as a Tamil Tigers apologist.

I'm glad Tavis explored the nuances.

NY Times on M.I.A.

I like "808s & Heartbreak" more as an album than I do for its individual songs, so the videos Ye's released so far haven't really hit with me. That said, I like this one:


KANYE WEST "Welcome To Heartbreak" Directed by Nabil from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.

It won't be an actual single though, according to Ye's blog, because the video's visuals aren't as brand new as he wants them to be...

With this album/song/video Kanye officially becomes a personal favourite of mine, because all of my personal favourite artists are able to depress the shit out of me. Congrats, 'Ye!

This comes from Vimeo poster Joe Nicolosi -- the plot of the original Star Wars trilogy as recounted by his friend who's never even seen the flicks.


Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.
Part of why I like this is because this is exactly how WE sound to people who have never seen/don't care about Star Wars.

Also, it's cute.

Sure, President Obama gave Jigga wings to fly, but Dubya put Forte back in the booth. Maybe he never did care about black people, but don't say he never did anything for hip-hop.

Forte was arrested at the turn of the millenium for possession of millions worth of liquid cocaine and convicted on charges of intent to distribute. He was to serve a minimum of 14 years until Bush secured his December 22 release.

Read his story, "How I Went from Prep School to Prison" published by The Daily Beast.