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New Phone

With the plan renewal comes new handset time (it's about time, I say - my k800i is now 3 years old and starting to grey around the temples). I could have opted for the really sexy HTC model, or god forbid an iPhone, but for budget and perhaps camp security reasons I went for the archaic (and indeed, arcane) nokia e71 - a model that, while clunky and quite hideous (I got mine in a manhood-approving shade of red), appeals to me in its sheer, almost medieval brute force approach to design. I like that there is no touch-screen, there are no stylish symbols, just a don't-fuck-around-with-me qwerty keyboard on the front, an i-don't-give-a-fuck tiny LCD display, and a why-am-i-even-bothering 3.2 camera, which used to be huge but now isn't. This is a phone for people who get the job done the messy way. I love the features, too, which it sure doesn't fall short on.

adam

OC SAY ADAM! I WANT BULLET FLY OVER THERE
I SAY HOW MANY?
OC SAY MANY MANY!
I SAY YES SIR.

adam

Odd

I just re-discovered a blog that I started two(!) years ago and promptly left to die. It's RTVOODOO, my music blog - and I've gone and updated it just to keep up with the general spirit of necromancy that seems to be prevalent.

rtvoodoo.blogspot.com

adam

Are and Gee

I'd just like to take a moment to plug a play which I won't before because I'm in the army, but which my friends are producing/acting in, and which I think is a fantastic endeavour. Tom Stoppard's 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead' will be on 17th-19th of July. You can contact me, Terence Lee, Ryan D or Chengyi for info.

adam

Further Impressions

Okay, I've not had much time with Closer, but I have spent many ecstatic hours listening to Rising Down, and it is definitely worth the critics' hype. I can't say I know much about hip hop, but I know a little about music - and this album shows a band (and a crew, let's not forget) at its prime, basking in the sheer joy of inventiveness, whether it be ?uestlove's manic drum beats or Black Thought's flow (eat shit, Kanye!). Mos Def opens the lyrics with an apocalyptic tableaux. Dice Raw carries on with the protest song 'Get Busy' before Black Thought commits vocal murder with freestyle @15 and burns his competitors hard on '75 bars (Black's Reconstruction)'.

They break out the gangsta rap for 'Criminal'.

The two closers on the international version ('Birthday Girl' was left out in the American release, sadly) function like the closers on 'London Calling'. 'Rising Up' is nothing short of apocalyptic, with a flaming fusion beat, choir and modulating chords banging on the electric piano. 'Birthday Girl' brings things to a personal level - this is the 'Train in Vain' of rap right here and it closes the album on a slightly sentimental note - but don't mistake this for mush. It's the cleverest song on the album. 'I just let you inside cos the line was so heavy/But i shoulda know better cos now I feel like america's underbelly/R. Kelly, gutter smut peddlers, internet predators, chat room irregulars', Black raps. It's also stunning for making actual musical use of Fallout Boy's singularly talent-less lead singer. I doubt if he wrote this himself, but the final chorus is (and I turn a little teary here) quite stirring, and quite witty

'They can't really seem to look away

so they tried asking her to stay

fake ID you won't get turned away

you look lovely tonight

Now you're old enough to buy a gun

so many better ways of having fun

right now I can only think of one

You look lovely tonight'

Some of the reviews blamed Black Thought for rapping too seriously on this album. It's not funny, says Rolling Stone - they're probably right. But just when you think he's starting to become Jesse Jackson, the band turns a hairpin and reminds you that they sure as fuck are having fun.

adam