Nelly Furtado nominated for 2002 Urban X-Posure Awards best hip-hop/rap recording
Canada’s foremost hip-hop talent, Nelly Furtado, has been nominated for best hip-hop/rap recording at tonight’s 2002 Urban X-Posure Awards, Canada’s urban music showcase, for her track Turn Off The Lights. When I’m Like A Bird hit the airwaves, I was, like, “Man, this is a dope track. Check out that bassline.” It pleases me to see such a fine, fly rapper like Nelly get her respects.
Ahem.
As I heard on CBC this morning, the Urban X-Posure Awards is a people’s choice awards. Nelly Furtado’s name was among 26 others, most of them actual rap and hip-hop artists. How the public decided to choose her over 25 other artists who, undoubtedly, have contributed more to Canadian hip-hop is beyond me. Do they even listen to music? Do they even know what the genres “hip-hop” or “rap” even mean? Folks, the music has only been around for just over 20 years, which is more than I can say for Furtado’s fans.
Posted on July 31st, 2002 in culture, music - No Comments »
Scottish zoo lions commit incest
Horrors of horrors, the lions are inbreeding! How can we as a responsible society let this happen to our animal brethren? Personally, I am appalled that this has been allowed to occur and urge everyone to boycott the Scottish zoo. This is proof positive of the moral depravity inherent in those of Scottish heritage! For shame!
In other news, The Globe & Mail now has sane links to their articles. The complicated URLs, an example of which can be found in this weblog entry, seem to have gone. Now if only the Globe would provide an RSS channel. The closest I can find is this service which provides some XML data, but no RSS feed. Perhaps when I have the time I will write a short script to convert the data to RSS and make it available to Radio users.
Posted on July 30th, 2002 in science - No Comments »
Goddamn Radio updates
It is as I feared, folks. Radio updates to Radio.root items overwrite prior changes to those same items. Someone made a change to the way blogrolls are rendered and away went my W3C compliance. If you want to freeze your Radio.root, I suggest you disable nightly updates by way of the periodic updates page. Only then will you be able to keep whatever remains of your sanity.
Posted on July 30th, 2002 in computers, internet - No Comments »
Pope leaves Toronto alive
After narrowly missing the effects of the Toronto garbage strike, successfully avoiding a Toronto heatwave, and surviving legions of Catholic fanboys and fangirls, The Pope boarded his plane early this afternoon and said farewell to Canada, most likely for the last time.
Ladies and gentlemen, His Holiness has left the country … alive.
Like many people, I had my doubts. By all accounts, The Pope is old, frail and suffering from numerous diseases of old age. It would have been no surprise to me, then, if His Holiness had met his maker during the World Youth Day festivities. It wouldn’t have taken much: a whiff of festering Toronto garbage, a 40-degrees-in-the-shade-with-the-humidex heatwave, a mosquito harbouring the West Nile Virus, or an irate Toronto-area commuter. Thankfully, however, Toronto will not be able to lay claim as the city which killed The Pope. No, that honour has been saved for some other city.
Exactly what would have happened if J.P. #2 (J.dot to his friends) had joined the choir invisible here in our fair city? Would there have been an outcry denouncing Toronto? Would we have been able to advertise the fact at our city limits? “Welcome to Toronto, the deathbed of Popes since 2002.” Would fire and brimstone rain down upon us?
And what of the poor soul nearest to the Pope when he died? Supposing he passed away shortly after shaking the hand of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, or Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman? Would they then be accused of causing his death? Would it be like the time I turned on my friend’s lamp, only to find that it wasn’t working? “You, you killed the Pope!” “No, I didn’t.” “Yes you did. He died after you touched him and was most certainly alive seconds before. Ipso facto, you killed His Holiness.” “No, Cardinal, he’s not dead, he’s just resting. That’s His Holiness’ tendency, so I’m told. Look at the funny hat!”
On second thoughts, maybe having The Pope pass away in Toronto wouldn’t have been so bad. After all, we need a claim on something, and what better way to attract mobs of Catholic tourists every year than to see the final resting place of John Paul II. It would be like World Youth Day every day. I think I’m on to something here.
Hey, wait, John Paul, come back!
Posted on July 29th, 2002 in culture - No Comments »
Big Willy defends Slick Rick
In the “Where are they now?” file, Will Smith AKA Fresh Prince has come to the defence of Slick Rick AKA The Ruler who is in danger of being deported from the United States because of his second-degree murder conviction 11 years ago. U.S. law requires the deportation of any non-citizen who serves more than five years in a U.S. prison. Slick Rick is probably best known for his work with Doug E. Fresh on their 1985 double-sided release “The Show”/”La Di Da Di” as well as the rap classic “Children’s Story”.
Speaking of the Fresh Prince (which we weren’t really), his DJ, Jazzy Jeff, will be releasing his first solo album, The Magnificent, in August of this year.
Posted on July 29th, 2002 in culture, music - No Comments »