Sorry that i've been gone for so long. A lot of things have come up and I am back now. Ology News is back!!!
About Me
- Lamology
- Well I am a 21 year old single and independent black female. My life (right now) includes the saying: KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!! The best thing about the past is that it stays in the past.---Fonzworth Bentley
Thursday, November 6, 2008
I want to start my own Obama Scrapbook...
I want to start my own scrapbook of every Obama even that I can get my hands on. I just feel blessed being an american citizen to help make change in the White House.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
What Happens When We Die?
A fellow at New York City's Weill Cornell Medical Center, Dr. Sam Parnia is one of the world's leading experts on the scientific study of death. Last week Parnia and his colleagues at the Human Consciousness Project announced their first major undertaking: a 3-year exploration of the biology behind "out-of-body" experiences. The study, known as AWARE (AWAreness during REsuscitation), involves the collaboration of 25 major medical centers through Europe, Canada and the U.S. and will examine some 1,500 survivors of cardiac arrest. TIME spoke with Parnia about the project's origins, its skeptics and the difference between the mind and the brain.
What sort of methods will this project use to try and verify people's claims of "near-death" experience?
When your heart stops beating, there is no blood getting to your brain. And so what happens is that within about 10 sec., brain activity ceases - as you would imagine. Yet paradoxically, 10% or 20% of people who are then brought back to life from that period, which may be a few minutes or over an hour, will report having consciousness. So the key thing here is, Are these real, or is it some sort of illusion? So the only way to tell is to have pictures only visible from the ceiling and nowhere else, because they claim they can see everything from the ceiling. So if we then get a series of 200 or 300 people who all were clinically dead, and yet they're able to come back and tell us what we were doing and were able see those pictures, that confirms consciousness really was continuing even though the brain wasn't functioning.
How does this project relate to society's perception of death?
People commonly perceive death as being a moment - you're either dead or you're alive. And that's a social definition we have. But the clinical definition we use is when the heart stops beating, the lungs stop working, and as a consequence the brain itself stops working. When doctors shine a light into someone's pupil, it's to demonstrate that there is no reflex present. The eye reflex is mediated by the brain stem, and that's the area that keeps us alive; if that doesn't work, then that means that the brain itself isn't working. At that point, I'll call a nurse into the room so I can certify that this patient is dead. Fifty years ago, people couldn't survive after that.
How is technology challenging the perception that death is a moment?
Nowadays, we have technology that's improved so that we can bring people back to life. In fact, there are drugs being developed right now - who knows if they'll ever make it to the market - that may actually slow down the process of brain-cell injury and death. Imagine you fast-forward to 10 years down the line; and you've given a patient, whose heart has just stopped, this amazing drug; and actually what it does is, it slows everything down so that the things that would've happened over an hour, now happen over two days. As medicine progresses, we will end up with lots and lots of ethical questions.
But what is happening to the individual at that time? What's really going on? Because there is a lack of blood flow, the cells go into a kind of a frenzy to keep themselves alive. And within about 5 min. or so they start to damage or change. After an hour or so the damage is so great that even if we restart the heart again and pump blood, the person can no longer be viable, because the cells have just been changed too much. And then the cells continue to change so that within a couple of days the body actually decomposes. So it's not a moment; it's a process that actually begins when the heart stops and culminates in the complete loss of the body, the decompositions of all the cells. However, ultimately what matters is, What's going on to a person's mind? What happens to the human mind and consciousness during death? Does that cease immediately as soon as the heart stops? Does it cease activity within the first 2 sec., the first 2 min.? Because we know that cells are continuously changing at that time. Does it stop after 10 min., after half an hour, after an hour? And at this point we don't know.
What was your first interview like with someone who had reported an out-of-body experience?
Eye-opening and very humbling. Because what you see is that, first of all, they are completely genuine people who are not looking for any kind of fame or attention. In many cases they haven't even told anybody else about it because they're afraid of what people will think of them. I have about 500 or so cases of people that I've interviewed since I first started out more than 10 years ago. It's the consistency of the experiences, the reality of what they were describing. I managed to speak to doctors and nurses who had been present who said these patients had told them exactly what had happened, and they couldn't explain it. I actually documented a few of those in my book What Happens When We Die because I wanted people to get both angles - not just the patients' side but also the doctors' side - and see how it feels for the doctors to have a patient come back and tell them what was going on. There was a cardiologist that I spoke with who said he hasn't told anyone else about it because he has no explanation for how this patient could have been able to describe in detail what he had said and done. He was so freaked out by it that he just decided not to think about it anymore.
Why do you think there is such resistance to studies like yours?
Because we're pushing through the boundaries of science, working against assumptions and perceptions that have been fixed. A lot of people hold this idea that, well, when you die, you die; that's it. Death is a moment - you know you're either dead or alive. All these things are not scientifically valid, but they're social perceptions. If you look back at the end of the 19th century, physicists at that time had been working with Newtonian laws of motion, and they really felt they had all the answers to everything that was out there in the universe. When we look at the world around us, Newtonian physics is perfectly sufficient. It explains most things that we deal with. But then it was discovered that actually when you look at motion at really small levels - beyond the level of the atoms - Newton's laws no longer apply. A new physics was needed, hence, we eventually ended up with quantum physics. It caused a lot of controversy - even Einstein himself didn't believe in it.
Now, if you look at the mind, consciousness, and the brain, the assumption that the mind and brain are the same thing is fine for most circumstances, because in 99% of circumstances we can't separate the mind and brain; they work at the exactly the same time. But then there are certain extreme examples, like when the brain shuts down, that we see that this assumption may no longer seem to hold true. So a new science is needed in the same way that we had to have a new quantum physics. The CERN particle accelerator may take us back to our roots. It may take us back to the first moments after the Big Bang, the very beginning. With our study, for the first time, we have the technology and the means to be able to investigate this. To see what happens at the end for us. Does something continue?
Clay Aiken On Coming Out: 'I Cannot Raise A Child To Lie Or To Hide Things'
"It was the first decision I made as a father," Clay Aiken told People magazine of his decision to stop dodging questions about his sexuality. The article's headline said it all: "Yes, I'm Gay." "I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things," the singer said. "I wasn't raised that way, and I'm not going to raise a child to do that."
Appearing on the cover of this week's magazine cradling the newborn baby, Parker, who was conceived through in vitro fertilization with the singer's best friend, record producer Jaymes Foster, Aiken told the magazine that his son will be raised in an environment that he described as "accepting and allowing him to be happy."
Aiken, 29, said he has "no idea" if his son will be gay or straight, but he knows it's not something he can predict or impact. "It's not something I'll have anything to do with, or that he'll have anything to do with," Aiken told the magazine. "It's already probably up inside the code there. ... No matter what the situation you're in, if you're raised in a loving environment, that's the most important thing."
Nearly stealing Aiken's thunder after more than a year of similarly open speculation, Lindsay Lohan also came out this week and admitted what most of the world already knew -- that she is in a relationship with DJ Samantha Ronson.
The news on Aiken, which came after his return to Broadway last week in the role of Sir Robin in "Monty Python's Spamalot," might surprise some of his hard-core fans, the so-called "Claymates," but he said he was prepared for that. "Whether it be having a child out of wedlock, or whether it be simply being a homosexual, it's going to be a lot," he said, adding that fans would have to deal with the news in their own way. He realizes that some may be shocked, but he hopes they stick around and "know that I've never intended to lie to anybody at all. ... But if they leave, I don't want them to leave hating me."
In the People story, whose headline is reminiscent of the 1997 Time magazine cover story in which Ellen DeGeneres ended years of speculation with the phrase "Yep, I'm Gay," the born-again Christian singer says he told his mother, Faye, that he was gay four years ago after dropping off his younger brother Brett, who was being deployed to Iraq, at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. "I started crying in the car," Aiken said. "It was dark. I was sitting there, thinking to myself. I don't know why I started thinking about it. ... I just started bawling. She made me pull over the car and it just came out." Aiken said his mother started crying and was "obviously somewhat stunned. But she was very supportive and very comforting." She continues to struggle with it, but he said she's "come a long way."
Aiken had dodged questions about his sexuality almost from the moment he emerged on the international stage in 2003 as the runner-up on "Idol." He has often said his personal life was nobody else's business, and in 2005, when ABC's Diane Sawyer asked him about it, he called the question "really rude." OK! magazine asked openly gay former 'NYSYNC member and current "Dancing With the Stars" hoofer Lance Bass -- who came out in 2006 -- what he thought of Aiken's news, and he told the magazine, "It's great! I'm so happy he's finally going to be happy with himself and share that with the world."
The news comes just a day after blogs exploded with the news that the not-so-secret friendship between Lohan, 22, and Ronson, 31 -- who have been seen together constantly over the past year -- is in fact a romantic one. Lohan and Ronson appeared on the "Loveline" radio show on Monday night, and at the end of their segment Lohan casually confirmed that she's been involved with Ronson for a while.
DJ Ted Stryker asked Lohan, "You guys -- you and Samantha -- have been going out for how long now?" She laughed and replied, "A long ... for a very long time." Lohan's publicist, however, told The Associated Press on Monday that despite other rumors, Lohan and Ronson are not engaged to be married.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Clay Aiken Apparently Announces That He's Gay...What was the hold up?
After years of speculation and rumors about his sexuality, Clay Aiken has apparently confirmed that he's gay in the forthcoming issue of People magazine.
In an unusual string of events, the apparent cover of the magazine was posted on PerezHilton.com on Tuesday afternoon (September 23). The cover bears a photo of Aiken with his new son, Parker Foster, and a headline proclaiming, "Yes, I'm Gay," with a subheadline that continues: "The Idol star opens up about his emotional decision to come out: 'I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things.' "
Asked by MTV News for confirmation, a representative for People neither confirmed nor denied the cover's accuracy, saying only: "We can confirm that Clay Aiken and his son are featured on the next issue of People. For the complete story, please visit www.people.com at 7 a.m. [Wednesday]."
The news comes just weeks after the birth of Parker Foster Aiken, whom the singer has said he intends to raise with the child's mother, his friend and musical producer Jaymes Foster. Aiken and Foster met while he was a contestant on "American Idol"; the child was conceived via artificial insemination.
In the past, Aiken has been apprehensive and even defensive on the topic of his sexuality. In an interview with Diane Sawyer in 2006, he famously called her "really rude" for asking. "I don't understand why it's any of your business."
When MTV News caught up with Aiken after the Sawyer interview in 2006, he talked about why he feels so strongly about keeping his life private. "[Knowing] who I'm dating and what kind of cereal I eat ain't gonna benefit anybody else," he said. "That kind of thing is not important. I think there's a distinction.
"I told you what mine is, and I think for each person, you do what's right for you," he continued. "For me, part of the reason that I have anxiety is the fact that I feel like people are always staring at me. So it's important for me to make sure that I have my friends and vacation, and what I do at home with my family and that type of thing [stays private]."
Ciara Insists: 'I Wasn't Nude' In Vibe Photo Shoot
R&B chanteuse Ciara would like to set the record straight about the photo spread she shot for the October issue of Vibe magazine: She was not nude, and yes, she's very upset by the magazine's depiction of her as such — but she is not planning any legal action against the urban glossy.
"I think, at this point, I'd rather just be quiet about things such as that but I definitely want to make it clear that I was going in to do something artistic, and I was upset that when I saw the photos, everything was gone," the singer told MTV News last weekend, from the set of her forthcoming music video for "Go Girl," which features a cameo from T-Pain. "It's very, very upsetting and somewhat misleading."
Online rumors have suggested that the singer was not nude during the photo shoot but instead wearing underwear, which the magazine allegedly airbrushed out. Vibe Editor in Chief Danyel Smith recently commented to New York's KISS-FM radio station that not only was Ciara shot au natural, the entire idea behind the spread was the singer's.
"I'm actually really sad," Smith said. "Almost any photo you see on the cover of Vibe or any magazine is airbrushed [to some degree]. What I was thinking of doing, actually, was releasing the untouched photos [on Vibe's] Web site, so people can see what the hullabaloo is all about. I have so much respect for Ciara, and Ciara was so happy when she pitched this idea to us, and the photos are actually striking and beautiful. It was pitched to me in a way that it was time [for her] to grow up and be beautiful and be free and be all the things she wanted to be."
Ciara said she's still hurt by the photos and was quite shocked when she finally got her hands on the October issue.
"I walked into the Vibe photo shoot very excited about making an artistic expression," she said. "And when I saw the photos, I was a little bothered because the photos appear as if I was nude, and I wasn't nude. I reached out to [Smith] — I sent her a letter — and I was a little upset, too, in the fact that she didn't respond to me, and that happened prior to me reading her quote on the Internet. That definitely bothered me, just because of the fact that I wasn't nude. I walked into the photo shoot to do an artistic photo shoot, so I was excited about that. I just didn't like the fact that I saw the picture and now, stuff is gone."
Ciara said the idea behind the entire shoot — at least on her end — was a celebration of the human form and that she'd walked away from the shoot thinking that everything had gone great. "When I saw the pictures, that wasn't what was discussed or what we were going in to do, so that definitely bothered me," she said. "I think the body is something beautiful, and I wanted to celebrate that. And unfortunately, it wasn't exactly what it was in the photo shoot, and I'm looking forward to moving forward."
No matter what Smith or anyone from Vibe says about the shoot, Ciara said she knows exactly what went down that day.
"I know what was there, I know what was taken, and I know what was done. And then to look at the book and go, 'It's gone' — it was just very upsetting to me," she said.
QUOTE!!!
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING REALLY NICE THAT YOU THINK COULD BENEFIT YOURSELF; IF IT'S NOT YOURS...DON'T TOUCH IT!!! THERE IS ALWAYS SOME KIND OF SET-UP TOWARDS YOU IF YOU STEAL. If this isn't making any sense than i'm sorry. lol
Please give COMMENTS!!!
IF YOU WANT TO WATCH MORE ON YEAR 2012...GO TO YOUTUBE.COM AND JUST TYPE IN 2012.
DMX Hospitalized In Florida, Misses Arizona Court Date
DMX was rushed to the emergency room of a South Florida hospital on Sunday morning, for what an unidentified source told TMZ.com was "fear of a stroke."
The rapper's lawyer told MTV News on Tuesday that X (born Earl Simmons) had fallen ill, but Charles Kozelka said he could not give out any specific information on his client's condition.
"I don't know the cause, but I know that he's still hospitalized and that they've admitted him and won't be releasing him for a couple more days," said Kozelka, the public defender who has been assigned to DMX's multiple court cases in Arizona.
DMX, who has been free on $25,000 bond since being extradited from Florida to Arizona on September 11, was legally free to travel to Florida, Kozelka said. He was due in court Tuesday (September 23) for an initial appearance in his case tied to a bench warrant that was issued in Arizona after X missed a court date there in August. Kozelka said that date has now been pushed back until Monday, and he is under the assumption that X will be well enough to attend court on that day.
DMX's management could not be reached at press time for additional information on his condition.
Kanye West Teaming Up With Comedy Central For Puppet-Show TV Pilot
Kanye West is adding yet another title to his already full résumé: puppet master?
Well, kind of. The rapper is teaming up with Comedy Central for a show that. The Hollywood Reporter describes as "hip-hop meets the Muppets." A representative for the network confirmed the report to MTV News Tuesday morning (September 23).
The show, tentatively titled "Alligator Boots," is from the same team behind Comedy Central's puppet show "Crank Yankers": Jackhole Prods., which was founded by Jimmy Kimmel, Adam Corolla and Daniel Kellison. A half-hour pilot has already been shot for the show.
Currently under consideration for 2009, the show would feature music by West and Chicago-based rapper and Kanye collaborator Rhymefest, who would also work alongside Kellison as executive producers. Each week the show would have a different celebrity host and employ a format similar to that of "The Muppet Show." West is the host for the pilot.
This isn't West's first foray into television. In August, the MC was reported to be in talks with HBO to star in a single-camera show that would follow him throughout his day-to-day life, both personal and professional. Larry Charles, who executive produces Larry David's show "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (the plot of which is similar to the descriptions of Kanye's show), was linked to the project as well. The big holdup, the reports claimed, was that the team hadn't found a writer.
At the time, an HBO source told MTV News, "Since it's in development, they are just in talks, and we don't generally comment on that because nothing is set," and added that the show was just a few steps away from getting the green light. At press time, no further news had emerged about the HBO show.
Jay-Z Quietly Launches StarRoc Label With Norwegian Production Duo Stargate
What if one of the biggest stars in the music world launched a new record label and barely anyone noticed? That appears to be the case for Jay-Z's latest venture, StarRoc, a label pairing the Jigga Man with Norwegian songwriting/production duo Stargate (Mikkel S. Eriksen and Tor Erik Hermansen), the pair who've given us everything from Ne-Yo's "So Sick" to Rihanna's "Unfaithful" and "Take a Bow" to Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable."
According to a spokesperson for Jay, the new venture will be located at the rapper's Roc the Mic recording studio in Manhattan and will develop new talent through the kind of 360 deal — covering everything from touring to record sales and merchandise — that he signed with Live Nation earlier this year for a reported $150 million. The label is a 50-50 partnership between Jay's Roc Nation company and Stargate. The rapper is slated to deliver The Blueprint 3, his 11th and reportedly final album for Def Jam — where he stepped down as president last December — before the end of the year. A small mention of the deal appeared in The New York Times on Saturday, noting that the new venture will also include a music-publishing arm. Jay-Z joined the likes of Madonna and U2 by signing the massive Live Nation deal — one of the biggest in history — which was to include financing for his own entertainment venture, Roc Nation, in addition to the rights to his recordings and tours for the next 10 years. The deal also reportedly included financing for a label, music publishing, talent consulting and management services.
The spokesperson for Jay-Z said additional information on the label is due out by the end of Tuesday (September 23).
Monday, September 22, 2008
Obama, McCain battle over financial crisis
GREEN BAY, Wisconsin (Reuters) - Barack Obama proposed reforms on Monday to rein in practices that led to the worst U.S. financial crisis since the Depression, while White House rival John McCain touted his own remedies and accused Obama of failing to provide leadership.
McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, pushed a plan he offered last week calling for an independent panel to oversee a Wall Street bailout that could cost as much as $1 trillion. He said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson had too much power in the crisis.
"This arrangement makes me deeply uncomfortable," McCain, an Arizona senator, told a gathering of Irish-Americans in Scranton, Pennsylvania. "When we are talking about a trillion dollars of taxpayer money, 'trust me' just isn't good enough."
Wall Street has been rocked by the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, with global credit markets seizing up over concerns about the plummeting value of U.S. housing and securities based on home mortgages.
The Bush administration moved last week to restore calm in the markets, asking Congress to approve a plan that would enable the government to acquire up to $700 billion in home and commercial mortgages. The move aims to stabilize the firms by taking the bad assets off their books.
The crisis has dominated the campaign trail over the past week as Democrat Obama and Republican McCain tried to project leadership and outline the principles they believe should guide the process -- although both have been essentially sidelined as the bailout is negotiated.
Obama has seen a steady rise in public opinion polls during the last week, however, with most polls showing the race essentially tied or Obama with a narrow lead and the economy remaining by far the top issue.
A CNN poll released on Monday indicated more Americans think Obama would do a better job handling an economic crisis than McCain.
In the poll of 1,020 people conducted Friday through Sunday, 49 percent said Obama would display good judgment in an economic crisis, compared with 43 who said the same about McCain.
According to the poll, Obama has a 10-point lead over McCain on the question of who would better handle the economy overall.
At a campaign rally in Wisconsin, Obama said he would aim to prevent another crisis by pushing for measures to curb the influence of lobbyists, streamline and strengthen regulatory agencies, crack down on no-bid government contracts and make government more open and transparent.
REFORM "BROKEN GOVERNMENT"
"No matter what solution we finally decide on this week, it is absolutely imperative that we get to work immediately on reforming the broken politics and the broken government that allowed this to crisis to happen in the first place," he told a crowd of about 6,000 in Green Bay.
The first-term Illinois senator said an "ethic of irresponsibility" had swept through government, and McCain -- a four-term Arizona senator and 26-year veteran of Washington who has largely favored deregulation -- was part of the problem.
"When it comes to regulatory reform, Senator McCain has fought time and time again against the common-sense rules of the road that could have prevented this crisis," he said.
McCain called for a bipartisan board to establish criteria for which firms get government help. He suggested billionaire investor Warren Buffet -- an Obama supporter -- as a potential member, as well as former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and independent New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
McCain said his plan would keep people from losing their homes while protecting the capital markets, and he needled Obama for failing to put forward his own suggestions.
Obama has delayed offering a detailed plan while the solution is being hammered out in Congress.
"At a time of crisis, when leadership is needed, Senator Obama has simply not provided," McCain said. "And the truth is that we don't have time to wait for Senator Obama's input to act."
The two campaigns debuted new advertisements attacking each other, with McCain portraying Obama as a product of Chicago's corrupt machine politics and Obama highlighting his charge that McCain's health care plan would deregulate that industry the way banking was deregulated.
Diamond found in Lesotho among largest ever: company
LONDON (AFP) - Gem Diamonds, a London-listed mining firm, said on Sunday it had recovered a 478 carat diamond from its mine in Lesotho: the 20th-largest rough diamond ever found.
The discovery of the gem, which the company said had the potential to become one of the largest round-cut diamonds in the world, was made on September 8 at the Letseng mine in Lesotho.
"Preliminary examination of this remarkable diamond indicates that it will yield a record-breaking polished stone of the very best colour and clarity," the company's Chief Executive Clifford Elphick said in a statement.
The diamond, which has not yet been named, has the potential to yield a 150 carat polished stone, a company spokesman said.
That would be far bigger than the 105 carat round-cut Koh-i-Noor diamond seized by Britain from India in the 19th century and now part of the Crown Jewels.
It would still only be a fraction of the size, however, of the Cullinan diamond discovered in 1905, which was 3,106 carats when recovered and yielded a teardrop shaped diamond of 530 carats: the Great Star of Africa.
The Letseng mine is owned by a mining company that is 70 percent owned by Gem Diamonds, with the remaining 30 percent held by the Lesotho government.
Gem Diamonds's share price on the London Stock Exchange was 741.50 pence at the close of trading on Friday.
Plies Talks About Being Cut From Usher's 'Love In This Club' Remix, His Admiration For Ne-Yo
There was a version of the remix of Usher's "Love in This Club" on tap that was almost completely different than the one actually released. We almost heard Usher trying to have sex in the nightspot with Mariah Carey instead of Beyoncé.
"At the time, it was conveyed to me that it was supposed to be Usher, Mariah Carey and me," Plies told us about how he laid two verses for a remix to the hit single. "Obviously, that was a no-brainer as far as putting down what I had to do. ... I sent two verses to them. Then I get a call from a friend of mine at a radio station that they was getting ready to go with the record, but the version they had didn't have me on it."
Of course, the version that went to radio featured Usher, Beyoncé and Lil Wayne.
"For me, I never allow myself to ever take anything personal in this business," he explained record. "I know a lot of times [there's] so much political stuff tied into a decision. It was good [for] me, because I got a call from Usher, and he let me know he was clear about the situation. He loved the verse, he loved the record, but on their end, they ended up going with the version they went with. For Usher to even consider me to be a part of the situation, that was good enough for me."
And there are a handful of other singers who didn't miss a chance to work with the Fort Myers, Florida, native. Janet Jackson recently lent her vocals to his hit "Bust It Baby Part 2" without Plies even knowing (by the way, a "Bust It Baby," he says, is a woman who gives him his best sexual experience). Jamie Foxx, The-Dream, Trey Songz, Keyshia Cole and J. Holiday also appear on his Tuesday release, Definition of Real. His debut, The Real Testament, came out less than a year ago.
Plies describes his working with Ne-Yo as "another blessing."
"To have the dude that has forced his will on this game, whether it's from the songwriting side or singing his own #1 records ... for me, he's a person I always wanted to work with," he said of Ne-Yo. "He's just a person I didn't think I would get a chance to work with this early in my career."
Plies recalled when he and Ne-Yo met by chance — and the two turned out to be part of a mutual-admiration society.
"He approached me and told me he loved what I was doing musically," Plies said. "It was weird for me, because I probably told him nine of his records I was a true fan of. We agreed that at some point we wanted to work together. To have the opportunity to work with somebody I respected from a distance, see his journey to where he's currently at, not only was it a great feeling, it's something that was a part of my life that ...," he trailed off, taking time to get his thoughts together. "I thanked him so much for helping me provide for my family. I know he gets tired of me texting him. I appreciate it. I think it's important for me to remain as humble as possible and let the good things and bad things help mold me."
The worst thing Plies has experienced since being in the music industry is his big brother's incarceration. Big Gates, ne Ronnell Lawrence Layatte, was arrested in 2006 for his involvement in a shooting at a Gainesville, Florida, nightclub shortly after a Plies performance. Plies' brother, who also helps guide his career, still has at least one more year in prison before he can come home.
Plies' song "Die Together" addresses his sibling, whom he has no problem declaring he looks up to. "It's basically saying, 'This is our bond,' " he explained. "We know we gotta die one day, but when it is our turn, you can take us together."
Plies said his brother has only heard a portion of the song during their phone calls, because it's too emotional. "He made me stop playing it," Plies said. "I played it for him over the phone. Soon as I recorded it, that night, he called. I said, 'Bruh, I gotta let you hear this. It's the best record I ever did.' He said, 'Man, you always tell me that.' Probably halfway through the first verse, he said, 'Man, cut it off. Bruh, I can't tell you the last time I cried, but I can feel [tears coming on]. Just play it for me when I get home.' I feel I succeeded with everything I was trying to get across."
"Somebody (Loves You)," which samples Patti LaBelle's classic of the same name, also talks about losing loved ones to the prison system. "[It says,] 'I wish I could hug all my homies who lost trial.' It's important for me to make that kind of music," Plies said.
His next single is another record dedicated to sexy women — "Please Excuse My Hands," featuring Jamie Foxx and The-Dream. Plies already has his next album, titled The Realest, slotted for a December 16 release.
This report is from MTV News.
Ludacris Carries The Show At New Mexico Gig After Game, David Banner Cancel
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — Being on Hollywood movie sets over the past year hasn't spoiled Ludacris' stage presence: He's got the same charisma and gusto on the mic that he's always had.
Good thing, too — Luda needed all his star power on Sunday night as he headlined Albuquerque's third annual "New Mexico Takeover," a concert featuring local acts, old-school legends and today's top stars. However, 'Cris had to carry the bulk of the weight in the latter category on Sunday night, when two of the show's main attractions, David Banner and Game, were no-shows.
Banner's absence was unexplained, while the announcer told the 15,000-plus-strong crowd at the Journal Pavilion here that Game was not coming because he was sick. A chorus of boos filled the night air at the outdoor venue like plumes of smoke from the food court's grill — the announcement came right before 'Cris hit the stage. Thanks, guys ...
Still, Luda was oblivious, kicking off his set with "Southern Fried Intro." Chants of "Luuuuddddaaa!!!" busted out as he then went into "Number One Spot."
'Cris told the crowd that he wanted to take them back around eight years and his DJ put on "Act a Fool," which was followed by "Southern Hospitality."
"So this is 505, right?" he said later in the set, referring to city's area code. "Guess what I got in the 505? I got hoes!" Naturally, this led into "Area Codes."
"When I say 'Where's da ho's?', you're not supposed to make any noise!" Luda said to the crowd with a grin — some audience members were so hyped they responded to the wrong question.
"Where's the independent women at?" he then asked to cheers. Luda and hypeman/ DTP member Lil' Fate then started the shouts of "Oh! Oh!" that set off "Splash Waterfalls."
Throughout the show, Luda proved that not only can he bring premium excitement without the use of elaborate sets, background dancers or bands, but his reputation as one of hip-hop's best live acts is due largely to his abundance of strong material: His catalog is so thick that it seemed on Sunday that he could have performed for well north of two hours if he wanted to.
After playing "I Know What Them Girls Like" (the first commercial single from his November 11 release, Theater of the Mind), Luda jumped into the photographer pit to touch fans' hands on "Lovers and Friends." He then said, "We was supposed to get off the stage 15 minutes ago, but we got so many songs ... I'mma give y'all another song, you ready? I just don't want anybody to get hurt."
Of course the song that followed was his most rambunctious effort to date, "Move B---h."
"Get the F--- Back," which followed, was pretty rowdy as well, and 'Cris closed the night with "Money Maker," never losing energy and keeping the crowd's attention and participation throughout the entire show.
This report is from MTV News.
Natalie Cole hospitalized due to hepatitis C
NEW YORK - Natalie Cole, who recently revealed she had hepatitis C, has been hospitalized as a result of side effects from her medication and a heavy promotional schedule, her representative said Friday.
The Grammy-winning singer has been in a New York City hospital since Sept. 12, and is expected to remain there for at least a few days, according to publicist Maureen O'Connor of the firm Rogers & Cowan.
Cole announced in July that she was suffering from hepatitis C, a liver disease spread through contact with infected blood. She said at the time that the disease was revealed during a routine examination and was likely caused by her drug use years ago.
O'Connor said Cole had been responding well to treatment, but blamed the medicine she has been taking and a busy publicity schedule to promote her new album, "Still Unforgettable," with causing her problems. Cole had taped several TV appearances and had appeared live on NBC's "Today" show on Sept. 11, a day before her hospitalization.
Cole is expected to be in the hospital for a few more days and then will return to her home in Los Angeles, where she will be on bedrest, O'Connor said.
"We canceling her activities in October, but we do expect her to have a complete recovery," she said. "She just needs some rest."
O'Connor said Cole has been well enough to talk on the phone everyday, but didn't have much information on her condition.
Cole, the daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, has sold millions of albums in her own long career. Her best-selling work was her 1991 multiple-Grammy winning CD, "Unforgettable ... With Love," on which she remade some of her father's classics.
Poll shows gap between blacks and whites over racial discrimination
By CHARLES BABBINGTON, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Since the nation's birth, Americans have discussed race and avoided it, organized neighborhoods and political movements around it, and used it to divide and hurt people even as relations have improved dramatically since the days of slavery, Reconstruction and legal segregation.
Now, in what could be a historic year for a black presidential candidate, a new Associated Press-Yahoo! News poll, conducted with Stanford University, shows just how wide a gap remains between whites and blacks.
It shows that a substantial portion of white Americans still harbor negative feelings toward blacks. It shows that blacks and whites disagree tremendously on how much racial prejudice exists, whose fault it is and how much influence blacks have in politics.
One result is that Barack Obama's path to the presidency is steeper than it would be if he were white.
Until now, social scientists have not closely examined racial sentiments on a nationwide scale at a moment when race is central to choosing the next president. The poll, which featured a large sample of Americans — more than 2,200 — and sophisticated survey techniques rarely used in media surveys, reflected the complexity, change and occasional contradictions of race relations.
More whites apply positive attributes to blacks than negative ones, and blacks are even more generous in their descriptions of whites. Racial prejudice is lower among college-educated whites living outside the South. And many whites who think most blacks are somewhat lazy, violent or boastful are willing or even eager to vote for Obama over Republican John McCain, who is white.
The poll, however, shows that blacks and whites see racial discrimination in starkly different terms. When asked "how much discrimination against blacks" exists, 10 percent of whites said "a lot" and 45 percent said "some."
Among blacks, 57 percent said "a lot" and all but a fraction of the rest said "some."
Asked how much of America's existing racial tension is created by blacks, more than one-third of white respondents said "most" or "all," and 9 percent said "not much." Only 3 percent of blacks said "most" or "all," while half said "not much at all."
Nearly three-fourths of blacks said white people have too much influence in American politics. Only 12 percent of whites agreed. Almost three times as many blacks as whites said blacks have too little influence.
Far more blacks than whites say government officials "usually pay less attention to a request or complaint from a black person than a white person."
One in five whites have felt admiration for blacks "very" or "extremely" often. Seventy percent of blacks have felt the same about whites.
The poll may surprise those who thought Obama's appeal to young voters proves Americans in their 20s and 30s are clearly less racially biased than their parents. The survey found no meaningful differences among age groups in whites' perceptions of blacks, although older whites appear more likely to discuss their views.
Some findings fall into the glass half-empty or half-full category. One-fourth of white Democrats ascribed at least two negative attributes to blacks. But two-thirds of those Democrats said they will vote for Obama.
That finding alone could nourish a debate about how much harm is done by racial prejudices that seem to have modest influence on how people behave.
Kelly Edmondson, 34, of Cincinnati, is a white Democrat enthusiastic about backing Obama. The country needs a new direction, she said, and "I feel like he can reach a lot of people."
She cares for her two sets of young twins during the day and teaches college at night; most of her students are black. In the survey, Edmondson said positive words such as "hardworking" and "intelligent" describe most blacks "very well." She said a few negative traits, such as "lazy" and "irresponsible," apply "somewhat well" to most blacks.
In a telephone interview, Edmondson said those attributes apply equally to all races. She fretted that some of her fellow Ohioans might be less candid, privately planning to vote for McCain when they publicly say they are "on the fence."
"I worry about that," she said.
Polls consistently show Obama running about even with McCain, or leading by a notably smaller margin than the one Democrats enjoy over Republicans in most generic surveys about which party is best suited to govern.
The AP-Yahoo News poll suggests that racial prejudice could cost Obama up to 6 percentage points this fall. That's a big hurdle in a nation whose last two presidential elections were decided by much smaller margins.
Charles Crozier, 73, of Marietta, Ga., said he is a "quasi-independent" Democrat who is undecided on the presidential contest. He likes McCain on energy issues, including his call for more nuclear energy. But he prefers Obama's stands on economic issues.
Crozier, who is white, said race is not a factor in his thinking. He said he's not sure "how much of an issue it is for (other) people" in his community. It frustrates him to hear people incorrectly state that Obama (who is Christian) is a Muslim because they read it on the Internet.
"I'm old enough to know a lie repeated often enough becomes the truth," Crozier said. "You can't change their minds."
Racial progress in America is undeniable on many fronts. But millions of white and black Americans still barely interact at all, bringing the very term "race relations" into question.
"There's still a lot of estrangement out there" between the races, said David Bositis, who writes about racial matters at the Washington-based Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. "There's still an enormous amount of segregation."
Even with sophisticated polls, it's hard to measure the progress, or lack of progress, in race relations.
"The prior forms of racism, with hindsight, were relatively easy to deal with," said Kenneth O'Reilly, who has written books on racial politics and now teaches history at Milwaukee Area Technical College. He cited slavery, lynchings and legal and de facto segregation.
Now, he said, racial prejudices and grievances are more subtle. "If you ask 100 people what is the main color line problem today," he said, "you get 100 answers."
The AP-Yahoo News poll of 2,227 adults was conducted Aug. 27-Sept. 5, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points. It was designed to plumb people's racial attitudes, and particularly how those attitudes affect voting.
The survey used the unique methodology of Knowledge Networks, of Menlo Park, Calif., including questions about how well words like "friendly" or "violent" describe blacks; having respondents type sensitive answers into computers, which tends to make them more honest; and using brief flashes of faces of people of different races to detect that people may not be aware they have.
Stanford University political scientist Paul Sniderman said that in today's society, racial prejudice "is a deep challenge, and it's one that Americans in general, and for that matter, political scientists, just haven't been ready to acknowledge fully."
For minority candidates such as Obama, he said, "there's a penalty for prejudice, and it's not trivial." If the presidential contest remains close, he said, racial prejudice "might be enough to tip the election."
———
Associated Press Director of Surveys Trevor Tompson contributed to this report.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
TV On The Radio Take George W. Bush And Science To Task On New LP
NEW YORK — When word got out earlier this year that the switch would be flipped on the world's largest proton supercollider along the French-Swiss border, it triggered all sorts of mystified reactions. Trying to study the big-bang theory by re-creating the big bang seemed to be, well, misguided. What would happen if they actually succeeded? Would a black hole swallow the galaxy? Would another big bang eat everything in its path?
The development also triggered a reaction from TV On The Radio's Dave Sitek that, like others, lay somewhere between anger and absurdity. So he wrote a letter — not to a particular scientist or institution, but to the field of science itself. "Dear Science," it began.
"If I see something that ticks me off, I have a tendency to just really ... find the most absurd aspect of it so I can start laughing at it, and science was a pretty easy target," the scruffy guitarist and noisemaker said recently from a Brooklyn photo studio. "I mean, five really careless guys can wipe out the whole friggin' operation in, like, five seconds."
Sitek's letter, written on a yellow legal pad and tacked to the wall of the band's Brooklyn recording studio, subsequently became the impetus for the new TV on the Radio album Dear Science. It's the band's third full-length album and the follow-up to 2006's Return to Cookie Mountain, which saw the band grow out of the New York art-rock underground. (Sitek's entire letter serves as the liner notes to the new album, to be released Tuesday.)
While much of the band's music has dealt with the relationship between people — as lovers, as friends, as members of a community — Sitek's diatribe is part of the subtle rage against the machine that also serves as an undercurrent to TV on the Radio's contained musical chaos. The song "Crying," for example, is about "dismantling civilization, about taking responsibility for the world that we live in and figuring out a way to tear it down," according to guitarist and songwriter Kyp Malone. Meanwhile, "Red Dress" is the band's reaction to the last eight years of a George W. Bush presidency, because, as Sitek said, "There's no way in hell that we're ever going to get the opportunity to punch Dick Cheney in the face."
Dear Science plays more with upbeat dance rhythms and beats than TV on the Radio have ever explored before. The group's other singer and songwriter, Tunde Adebimpe, explained that the guys took that approach because they realized "it was more fun to have a dance party every night than a séance."
The album's first single, "Golden Age," is a good example of that. "It's just not wanting to write a song about complaint, basically," Malone said. "About these things that are sh--ty in the world and trying to present something optimistic ... taking some actual responsibility to make the world someplace we want it to be.
"And we can do it with dance!"
The band recently finished up a three-week West Coast tour and will soon begin a trek along the East Coast in October. Adebimpe can also be seen in the upcoming Jonathan Demme-directed movie "Rachel Getting Married" (which inspired the song "Family Tree" from the new album). The film opens September 26.
This report is from MTV News.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
MySpace Music Faces Threats Of Antitrust Suits From Indie Labels Before Its Launch
The very online service that has been such a boon for independent music artists is now facing criticism for allegedly freezing those same artists out of the picture with its new music venture.
MySpace Music is drawing fire for its deal with major labels and threats of a possible antitrust action that could scuttle the venture before it even opens shop, according to a report in the British tech journal The Register.
The trouble is over the deal cut between MySpace parent company News Corp. and three of the four major music labels that control 70 percent of the U.S. recorded music business. The site, which has not yet announced a launch date and is still reportedly without a CEO, will offer unlimited free streams, DRM-free downloads (some free and some for a fee), ringtones, concert tickets and merchandise, most of it underwritten by four title sponsors announced earlier this week: McDonald's, Sony Pictures, Toyota and State Farm. The site has already drawn a projected valuation of $2 billion based on the MySpace cred and the high-profile partners.
But it is the partnership with Sony BMG, Universal and Warner Music Group that has independent labels saying they feel like they've been frozen out, according to The Register. No indie record company has inked a deal with MySpace Music. According to the report, the site does have a service that allows indie labels to upload their own music, but some unnamed labels have reported that they've been blocked from uploading their catalogs.
The issue could be a simple rights-management snafu — a complication that results from major labels sometimes owning the rights to an indie's music in a particular territory in the world. But at least one label, Impala, has asked European regulators to look into any possible antitrust issues with the service, suggesting that the majors and News Corp. are attempting to block the indies' access to the MySpace audience.
Though it's unclear what impact a potential antitrust case in Europe might have on the U.S. market, independent labels have successfully challenged big mergers in Europe twice in the past 10 years, scuttling the Sony/BMG union in 2006 and the Warner/EMI one several years earlier.
A spokesperson for MySpace could not be reached for comment at press time.
This report is from MTV News.
The Legacy Of 'TRL,' In Bigger Than The Sound
In a way, I suppose it was somewhat fitting that I heard about the shelving of "TRL" not from a super-secret corporate memo or a closed-door meeting with PowerPoint presentations, but rather in a text message from a friend. After all, it was the kind of news you usually get from a buddy of yours — something slightly terrible yet completely expected, right on par with "Did you hear so-and-so's parents are getting divorced?" or "Did you know your ex-girlfriend is now a Suicide Girl?"
Because, let's face it: "TRL" has been on the air for a decade now (which, to borrow a quote from the good folks over at Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch Blog, is "equivalent to maybe 200 in human years" for this network); has launched more than a few careers; and has had more than its fair share of memorable moments (Mariah Carey's 2001 ice-cream-fueled striptease/meltdown being about five of them). It has been the hottest thing on television, the stalest thing since week-old bread and a cultural tipping point (you probably don't remember, but "TRL" really shouldered the brunt of the whole "MTV is ruining society" thing back before Lauren and Audrina graced our airwaves). And over the course of more than 2,000 shows (and just as many hosts), it's also become something that I don't think anyone could've predicted: an institution of sorts. But having said all that, its time has come.
Of course, this has less to do with the show itself than it does with the fact that, in 2008, the idea of a video-countdown show seems impossibly antiquated. With the state of labels and the rise of sites like MySpace and YouTube, music videos are no longer the primary means of promotion for an artist or an album (they're probably not even necessary, though we'll leave that debate for another day), and you can basically say the same thing about "TRL." And while the show isn't leaving us for good — rather than being canceled outright, it's apparently just "resting" for a while — it's a pretty safe bet that even if it is resurrected someday, it won't be the "TRL" you grew up with. It will be rejiggered and reinvigorated ... and, god willing, something much, much better.
So, in a lot of ways, this seems like a pretty good time to stand over the casket, close our eyes tight and deliver a eulogy for "TRL," a show that ultimately was drowned by the waves it helped create.
Because, whether anyone associated with the show ever realizes it, "TRL" will probably not be remembered for the stars it helped create or the shiny studio it vacated but, rather, for the legacy it leaves behind ... one that is simply stated, yet massive in scope: "TRL" was YouTube before YouTube ever existed.
Seriously. Because as soon as "TRL" really started gaining steam — say, in the fall of 1999, when a live studio audience was added to the mix — the innovations were fast and furious. With the introduction of the live audience came those little windows featuring squealing tweens (you know, the ones who would pop up during, say, the new Britney video). At the time, they were rather annoying — except when some poor girl would freeze up on live TV, and then black-hearted hilarity would ensue — but now it's fairly obvious that these were the prototypes of a million "video diaries" that would come to populate YouTube in the years to come. These were kids talking directly to the camera (and, in a way, to the audience at home), which had never been done before. Stylistically (and sentiment-wise), it was the kind of stuff we'd see in the entire lonelygirl15 series or just about any other so-called vlog you can think of these days. It's de rigueur now, but back in 1999, it was groundbreaking.
After that came the whole concept of "instant feedback" — videos were voted on by viewers at home, and (in later years) those same viewers were able to submit messages that would scroll along the bottom of the screen during videos — something akin to commenting on a YouTube clip or leaving a sticky note or even favorite-ing a video. Again, rather groundbreaking stuff, and all happening on a live TV show that broadcast five days a week.
And while we could debate about those stylistic points, I don't think there's any denying this: At its very heart, "TRL" was the first television show that turned the camera squarely on the audience. It made them the stars of the show — they dictated where it went and what videos made the cut. They contributed to the ebb and flow on a daily basis ... and the fact that the show was unfolding live before our very eyes only further emphasized that. Truly, "TRL" was the first program of its kind that could turn on a dime, could begin as one thing on a Monday and by Friday be something completely different. "TRL" was marketed as being "your show," and it really was. And that sentiment, that sense of spontaneity and that viewer-controlled flexibility is what made YouTube into the culture-defining thing it is today.
Of course, it bears mentioning that all those achievements also contributed to the show's demise. As "TRL" grew in popularity, the sideshow (the audience, the viewers at home) became the main attraction, and the videos were almost an afterthought, chopped down to 30- then 15-second blips on the radar. It was a move that shortened our already nanosecond-length attention spans and only further devalued the videos themselves, until it got to the point where YouTube supplanted "TRL" as the place for kids to watch music videos, because, hey, they were really nothing more than disposable products anyway ... the kind of stuff perfectly suited to be viewed in grainy quality on a computer screen.
And when the videos became less of an event, so did the show. Not to mention the fact that YouTube gave visitors unfiltered, uncensored (sort of) content and allowed them even, uh, "instant-er" feedback. And that, really, was game, set and match. Hosts came and went, guests popped in and popped out, but "TRL" was starting to lose its luster. And now, just a few days after it's 10th birthday, it's headed out to pasture. You might stand and cheer about that fact — "Good riddance!" — or you might be a bit sad (you might also be indifferent, which is kind of the last thing you're going for in the world of television). But however you feel, I think it's important to remember "TRL" for what it was: really groundbreaking, incredibly important television — a show whose impact is still being felt today ... and the launching pad for Carson Daly, of course.
And that's a legacy-capper if I've ever heard one.
T.I. Swallows His Pride On Remorseful, Reflective Paper Trail Tracks Leaked Online
Where exactly does the path of T.I.'s Paper Trail lead? Well, this week it led to the Internet. The album was leaked online, weeks before its September 30 release date, and while we heard many of the songs when Tip previewed them for us a couple of months back, MTV News has finally gotten to hear the album in its entirety.
At times on Paper Trail, listeners will find a remorseful Clifford Harris who has learned from his mistakes and is intent on growing as a man and an artist. He commiserates with graceful articulation on "Dead and Gone," which features Justin Timberlake. There are no girls, no dancing and no name-brand liquor on this track. The song reflects on a major revelation: It's OK for the King of the South to sometimes take a step back and put his brash on freeze. But how do you swallow your pride when that very pride is one of the integral fabrics of your character?
"I've been travelling on this road too long," Timberlake sings over piano and horns. "Just trying to find my way back home/ The old me's dead and gone."
Tip dedicates the song to his late best friend Philant Johnson, but also addresses how so many young men get caught up in detrimental, possibly deadly situations by not thinking out their options.
"Maybe my homeboy would still be around/ If I hadn't hit a n---a in the mouth that time," Tip raps. "I won that fight, I lost that war/ ... Who would have ever thought I'd never seen Philant no more."
The song "Slide Show," featuring John Legend, has flown under the radar so far. Again, it centers on not letting your mistakes define who you are — but this time, it talks about what you learn from climbing out of those pitfalls. "If I only knew back then what I know now/ ... Maybe I'd be Kanye instead of seeing gunplay," Tip raps. "But God got a plan of how I'll understand one day."
"On Top of the World" is an extravaganza, rich with lyricism, personality and an unforgettable hook by new Grand Hustle artist B.o.B. On the track, Tip and Ludacris serve up the grandiose collaboration that people have fantasized about for years. The laudably loud Luda bulldozes his way through the second verse, proving that he's still one of the premier MCs on the mic. 'Cris reveals in his lyrics some of the keys to keeping his circle rich, like sending a best friend to culinary school and hiring him as a chef or helping to straighten out his homies' credit. Ludacris ends with a nice little shout-out to a very famous Jedi Knight: "They say rappers shouldn't act — nah, suckas/ We see Samuel L. Jackson, like, 'What's up mutha----a?" For his part, Tip reflects on his multitude of businesses and on how he's surpassed old goals and has so many more to accomplish.
Other guests on the LP include Usher on "My Life, Your Entertainment" and Jay-Z, Kanye West and Lil Wayne on "Swagger Like Us." Despite recent rumors and fake Paper Trail track lists, Atlantic has confirmed that the song will definitely appear on the opus.
Paper Trail is set for release September 30. A video for "What Up, What's Haapnin' " just hit the airwaves, and a clip for "Swing Ya Rag" has been lingering in the can for some time.
This report is from MTV News
Vegas police talked of 'getting' O.J. on recording
LAS VEGAS - Jurors who have been told to refrain from judging O.J. Simpson on his past heard a recording Thursday of a police employee exulting: "This is great. ... California can't get him. ... Now we'll be able to."
Police detective Andy Caldwell conceded the statement was made as a team of officers examined a casino hotel room where Simpson is accused of having led a kidnapping and armed robbery. Caldwell said the comment came from a civilian employee of the police department, not a sworn officer.
The comments were picked up on a digital recorder that had been secretly placed by Thomas Riccio, who had arranged a meeting in the hotel room between Simpson and two sports memorabilia dealers that escalated into a confrontation last year.
Riccio testified later Thursday that a plan to recover the former football star's personal property worked perfectly "until the gun came out."
"They were giving it back," Riccio said of the dealers. "There was no reason for the gun to come out."
Simpson and co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart have pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, armed robbery, coercion and assault with a deadly weapon. Four former co-defendants have agreed to testify.
Simpson has said he didn't ask anyone to bring guns and that he didn't know anyone in the room was armed. Stewart maintains he relied on Simpson's assurances that he was only going to recover some personal property.
Simpson's lawyer, Yale Galanter, pressed Caldwell on the recorded statement that referred to getting Simpson. He asked if police were conducting "what's supposed to be an unbiased investigation."
Caldwell said they were.
"And they're prejudging him; they want to get Mr. Simpson?" Galanter asked.
"I can't say what someone else is thinking," Caldwell said.
When prosecutor Chris Owens took over questioning Caldwell, he asked how the detective researched ownership of the items taken from the room. Caldwell tried to say he contacted a lawyer for Fred Goldman, the father of Ronald Goldman, who was slain along with Simpson's ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson in 1994. Galanter quickly objected, and Caldwell was barred from continuing.
Riccio, a California collectibles dealer, testified that he hoped to make some money brokering a deal between Simpson and two memorabilia dealers offering a cache of Simpson mementos for sale, Arthur Beardsley and Bruce Fromong.
Riccio acknowledged he set up a meeting after Beardsley asked him to become involved. He said Beardsley told him not to tell Simpson, but he immediately did.
"O.J. said, 'This is personal stuff that was stolen from my house years ago. I want to get it back,'" Riccio said.
Riccio said the plan to confront Beardsley and Fromong and retrieve the items went according to plan, until a weapon was displayed.
"Everything was perfect until the gun came out," he said.
Riccio's testimony was interrupted several times while attorneys argued about whether recordings he made that day, including one in which he met Simpson at a hotel-casino pool, were complete and transcripts of the conversations were accurate.
"There were many of them where the transcripts were wrong," Riccio said.
After morning testimony ended, a 49-year-old woman was detained when she approached Stewart, apparently seeking an autograph. Authorities said the woman was not arrested. The jury had already left the room.
Unknown Mozart fragment found in French library
PARIS - It's a forgotten melody, sketched in black ink in a swift but sure hand. The single manuscript page, long hidden in a provincial French library, has been verified as the work of Mozart, the apparent underpinnings for a Mass he never composed.
The previously undocumented music fragment gives insight into Mozart's evolving composition style and provides a clue about the role religion may have played for the composer as his life neared its turbulent end, one prominent Mozart expert says.
A library in Nantes, western France, has had the fragment in its collection since the 19th century, but it had never been authenticated until now, partly because it does not bear Mozart's signature.
Ulrich Leisinger, head of research at the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg, Austria, said Thursday that there is no doubt that the single sheet, the top third of which has been cut off, was written by the composer.
"His handwriting is absolutely clearly identifiable," he added. "There's no doubt that this is an original piece handwritten by Mozart."
Leisinger said the work had been "entirely forgotten." Such a find is rare: The last time unknown music in Mozart's handwriting came to light was in 1996, when a portion of an aria was sold at Christie's, Leisinger said.
The library does not plan to sell, but if it did, the single sheet would likely be worth around $100,000, the expert said. In all, only about 100 such examples of musical drafts by Mozart are known.
There have been up to 10 Mozart discoveries of such importance over the past 50 years, Leisinger said.
The sheet was bequeathed to Nantes' library by a collector in the 19th century, along with one letter from Mozart as well as one from his father. Both the letters were published in Mozart's complete correspondence, said Agnes Marcetteau, director of Nantes' municipal library.
In an annotation dated Aug. 18, 1839, Aloys Fuchs, a well-respected autograph hunter who collected works from more than 1,500 musicians, authenticated that the handwriting was that of "W.A. Mozart."
But strangely, the work never attracted much attention, partly because it did not bear Mozart's signature and partly because the catalog notation about it was extremely brief and bland, Leisinger said.
The library contacted Leisinger to authenticate the work last year.
Some of the first part of the fragment is in D minor, while the second is in D major and marked "Credo" — a major clue that the work is a sketch for a Mass, which typically includes such a movement, said Robert D. Levin, a professor at Harvard University who is well-known for completing unfinished works by Mozart.
Circumstantial evidence, including the type of paper, suggests Mozart did not write the material before 1787, said Leisinger. Mozart died in 1791 at the age of 35.
"What this sketch leaf confirms in a most vivid way is Mozart's true interest in writing church music toward the end of his life," Levin said.
Mozart had planned to become the choir and music director of Vienna's main cathedral, although he died before he could take up the post. But because Mozart had become a Freemason, some have questioned the sincerity of his interest in religious composition at that period of his life, Leisinger said.
Mozart's famous Requiem, unfinished at his death, was commissioned by a mysterious benefactor. But the rediscovered fragment likely stemmed from inspiration alone and suggests "to a certain degree that being a Freemason and a Roman Catholic was not a real contradiction" in Mozart's eyes, Leisinger said.
For anyone who wants to try sight-reading the fragment, a bit of detective work is required. Musicians must work out the key signature and clef based on other clues in the music. The tempo is also mysterious. And there is no orchestration.
"It's a melody sketch, so what's missing is the harmony and the instrumentation, but you can make sense out of it," Leisinger said. "The tune is complete."
Philip Gossett, a music historian and a professor in music at the University of Chicago, urged caution about interpreting the fragment.
"It is certainly not something that can just be scored up and played as Mozart's," he said.
Nonetheless, modern-day composers are going to take a crack at an orchestration. And in January of next year, the Nantes library says, Mozart's 18th century Mass is expected to have its first performance.
___
Associated Press writers John Leicester in Paris and Carley Petesch and Barbara Whitaker in New York contributed to this report.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Laser show dress
Hussein Chalayan’s recent show for his Spring 08 collection included a screening of a film shot by Nick Knight. The dresses at the end of the film were made using hundreds of servo motor driven lasers and Swarovski crystals extending the dresses visually into space.
http://twenty1f.com/2007/10/
“Electric Jewelry” for Milady
NOW comes an electric light bulb to displace glowing pearls from earrings! The photograph shows a young woman apparently wearing a large pearl earring, but in reality it is a midget electric bulb run from tiny batteries concealed in ornamental coils around it. The bulb is frosted to produce a soft light. It is particularly effective in contrast with dark hair.
http://twenty1f.com/2007/12/
Coming soon – spider socks
It is a miracle substance - lighter than feathers, stronger than steel, one of the toughest fibres found in nature. Now scientists in Japan have found a way of harnessing the remarkable power of spiders’ webs to make anything from tights and fishing nets to bulletproof vests.
Researchers at Shinshu University have succeeded in injecting spider genes into silkworms to create a thread that is stronger, softer and more durable than conventional silk. A Japanese manufacturer is already experimenting with the thread, and spider socks, stockings and even fishing lines are expected to appear on the market within a few years.
The team, based in the city of Nagano and led by Masao Nakagaki, a professor of insect genetics, has beaten rival scientists from around the world in devising a way of mass-producing spider silk.
Conventional “farming” of spiders proved impossible because of their territorial and cannibalistic nature. Five years ago American geneticists devised a bizarre means of generating spider silk by extruding it from the udders of female goats. But Professor Nakagaki’s technique employs a much more manageable creature - the silkworm, whose shimmering fibres have been used to create cloth for more than 5,000 years.
Silkworm eggs are injected with the genes of Nephila clavata, the golden orb spider, known in Japanese as the courtesan spider because its striking yellow, black and red colouring resembles the gorgeous kimono of an up-market prostitute. The silkworm caterpillars that emerge from the eggs weave cocoons, of which 10 per cent consist of spider proteins. These are spun into silk. Professor Nakagaki hopes to increase the proportion of spider thread material to 50 per cent.
“Dragline silk”, which spiders use to raise and lower themselves and to construct the spokes of their webs, has one of the highest tensile strengths of any natural substance - five times that of a thread of steel of the same thickness. In terms of its ability to absorb impact, it is superior to Kevlar, the plastic fibre used for antistab vests and body armour.
Other applications include tennis rackets and fishing line and nets - unlike nylon thread, which pollutes beaches and threatens sea birds, spider silk will degrade naturally over time. Spider thread could also be used by microsurgeons as sutures after operations. The only company developing commercial applications for the spider silk is Okamoto, a business based in Nara, central Japan, which plans to release extra-thin and durable spider socks by about 2010.
Other cultures have found uses for cobwebs. Polynesian fishermen used the threads of the golden orb spider to make fishing line and communities in Papua New Guinea put webs on their heads to keep off the sun’s rays. During the Second World War, threads from black widow spiders were used as hairs in telescopic gun sights.
http://twenty1f.com/2007/12/
Hexagram shirt
The Hexagram shirt was inspired by and conceived to fit into Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle’s dystopic universe, a novel depicting what the world would have been like during the 1960s, had the Axis won WWII.
In the book, the U.S. west coast is a colony of Japan, whose rule and influence has permeated and dominated Californian society for years. The Book of Changes has become the mainstream method, for Japanese and Californian people alike, to take important decisions in life.
Whenever someone has a choice to make, that person takes out three little coins that are shaken and tossed on a surface several times, the resulting heads and tails data is then translated into one of the 64 hexagrams that comprise the Book of Changes.
In a way, from an absurdist point of view, characters in the book are embracing and surrendering to randomness, almost as if they were saying “Since the ultimate purpose of the universe and my own life is beyond my comprehension, I don’t see how hard, rational cold analysis is in any way a better tool for living than random pieces of wisdom fortuitously thrown at me by the cosmos.” Some of these fictional people would probably be willing to wear a Hexagram shirt.
The shirt itself is a very simple device that allows the 1960s dystopian inhabitant to obtain a hexagram that can be looked up in the Book of Changes. It also works as an active agent of randomness by publicly displaying the hexagram, thus giving onlookers an unsolicited random answer to a question that possibly hasn’t been asked yet. (Which might make some sort of sense in Philip K. Dick’s universe.)
To cast a hexagram, the wearer shakes the sleeves of the shirt (as if he was shaking coins in the traditional I Ching way), this gesture generates a series of clicking noises and random luminescent patterns that ritualistically make way for the final configuration of the hexagram (as shown in the videos.)
Most components* that make up the Hexagram shirt are really old school. Arguably someone could have gathered all the materials and built the shirt in the 1960s, it just uses some clicking-sounding relays, noisy inverters, aluminum foil and electroluminescent sheets.
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