Thursday, 26 June 2008
Emigrate
Artist: Emigrate
Genre(s):
Rock
Discography:
Emigrate
Year: 2007
Tracks: 13
A position project from Rammstein member Richard Kruspe, Emigrate first became an mind in 2001 merely didn't become possible until 2005 when Rammstein decided to take some clock time off from recording and touring. A year by and by subscribers to Rammstein's e-mail newsletter were offered the Emigrate track "My World" as a liberate download. In 2007 the gamey, strong-growing song landed on the Resident Evil: Extinction soundtrack along with Emigrate's self-titled debut, released by the German label Motor.
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Marine given the boot for puppy toss video
As Agence France-Presse reports, Lance Corp. David Motari, who everyone thought was the guy who'd tossed the puppy, actually was. Motari and another Marine are being disciplined, and a Marine press release says that Motari was being "processed for separation."
Why it took three months to "investigate" whether Motari was responsible for the video (his name was used in it, after all) is not clear. You'd think they could have closed the case in one day and saved the Marine's family a world of terror and harassment. But when it comes to unflattering situations involving personnel, the Armed Forces are not generally known for their speed or transparency.
Now that the facts are all in, we can wonder about what it would take not just to commit such a brutal act but to record it, and then to let the tape get posted online. The Marines like to invoke support-our-troops-type rhetoric to insulate themselves from criticism ("The vast majority of Marines conduct their duties with honor and compassion that makes American people proud"), but what they're really doing is calling Motari an isolated sicko and sweeping the bigger issue under the carpet.
All you have to do is look around for 10 minutes and you can find a dozen videos of wartime cruelty to animals, so to pretend this is a one-in-a-million situation is disingenuous. Let's be honest: Terrible things happen in a war -- to humans, to animals, to everyone. If more men in uniform had video cameras and posted their wartime footage to YouTube, it might not be so easy to ignore that fact.
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Monday, 9 June 2008
Fitting ode to a "Magnifico" Medici
"Magnifico: The Brilliant Life and Violent Times of Lorenzo de' Medici"
by Miles J. Unger
Simon & Schuster, 513 pp., $32
After finishing Miles Unger's dazzling new biography of Lorenzo de' Medici, my head was filled with myriad impressions of this book, but none more striking than this: Five centuries ago, at the height of the Italian Renaissance, the famed Florentine leader helped foster a remarkable flowering of art, architecture, literature and intellectual life that remains nearly unparalleled in history.
From the first sentence, "Magnifico" transports the reader to 15th-century Florence, a place of matchless splendor, both natural and man-made. Unger, a contributing writer on art for The New York Times, mines a rich lode of sources that include government records; historical accounts; diaries; and Lorenzo's own memoirs, letters and poems. The result is an indelible personal profile and an enthralling account of both the glories and brutality of the era.
Lorenzo was the third generation of Medicis to rule Florence, after his grandfather, Cosimo, and father, Piero. Groomed for power from an early age, Lorenzo was just 20 years old when his father died, but he already had considerable experience. As a teenager, he had led several diplomatic missions to neighboring city states.
Italy in the late 1400s was divided into variously allied city states: Florence, Milan and Venice in the north; the Papal Territory (including Rome) in the central area of the country; and Naples and Sicily in the southeast. The Medicis rose to power on the strength of their financial prowess, eventually becoming bankers to the pope and Italy's most prominent families. Lorenzo and his forebears ruled by fiat under the aegis of a quasi-democratic government. The Medicis, Lorenzo in particular, became adept at political maneuvering, manipulating, arm-twisting and bribery.
The rivalries inside and outside Florence were fierce and volatile. On Easter Sunday in April 1478, members of the rival Pazzi family, backed by Pope Sixtus IV, attempted a coup, attacking Lorenzo and his brother, Giuliano, in the cathedral of Florence (the Duomo). Giuliano was killed, but Lorenzo escaped with a flesh wound. The city erupted in an orgy of violence. Mobs of Medici supporters hunted down the conspirators and delivered violent revenge. Prisoners were torn limb from limb, their body parts impaled and displayed on lances. Others, including the Archbishop of Pisa, were hanged from the high walls of the famed Palazzo della Signora.
The pope, predictably incensed, persuaded the king of Naples to declare war against Florence and its allies. In perhaps his most brilliant diplomatic move, Lorenzo traveled to Naples and used his native charm and powers of persuasion to negotiate an end to the war.
Besides his diplomatic genius, Lorenzo was a legendary cultivator of the arts. Although he didn't directly commission a large amount of artwork, he encouraged and inspired artists, who often took up residence at his house. Among them were da Vinci, Botticelli and a young Michelangelo.
Unger is a writer in complete control of his material, combining scholarship, astute analysis and an eye for tantalizing detail, as in this description of the Duomo on the morning of the coup attempt: "The cathedral of Florence rises from the crowded alleyway of the quarter of San Giovanni in muscular ripples like a great and gentle beast."
Sentences like that distinguish "Magnifico" from the conventional history text and make for a reading experience that can be exhilarating.
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Tuesday, 3 June 2008
Kiwi boys hunt the rich and famous
Meeting Paris Hilton and mingling with top paparazzi gave two Auckland teenagers a taste of celebrity during a recent trip to Los Angeles and New York.
Andrew Tapper of Remuera and Steven Fernandez of Epsom, both 18, spent a month attempting to change the perception that celebrities are "exclusive".
"We had done the whole LA, Disneyland thing, we wanted to do something different," Steven says.
Andrew, who had spent a morning searching Auckland city for rapper 50 Cent, says you only need to know where to look.
"We had seen American paparazzi websites like X-17 online in New Zealand, so we thought why not follow them in LA?" Andrew says.
The boys made daily visits to LA hot spots such as The Ivy, Goa, Villa and Mr Chow as well as being on the paparazzis’ trail.
They said the paparazzi were willing to tip them off because they were fans, not the competition.
They had a similar dream to most teenage boys: To meet Paris Hilton.
"Paris, she is my number one," Steven says.
The boys spotted her in her SUV on her way to the David Letterman show and when her vehicle stopped at traffic lights they took their photos with her.
"She looks amazing in the flesh," Steven says.
The boys saw her six times throughout the trip and they made such an impression on her she screamed "sexy Kiwi boys" and "God I love you boys" out of her car window.
Naturally the boys were pleased.
They met around 25 celebrities including Marilyn Manson, Leonardo DiCaprio and the entire Hilton family.
Steven was also spotted by his friends on E-News with Justin Timberlake.
They had not told their friends at home about what was happening and when the television show aired people started talking.
"That was bizarre. It made a lot of people who didn’t believe us realise we were telling the truth," Steven says.
Parts of the trip required a bit of persistence and a lot of celebrities were not particularly friendly.
"We spent 15 hours outside Lindsay Lohan’s house and didn’t see her once," Andrew says. "Then her friend screamed at us to go away."
However the boys’ main disappointment is they didn’t get to meet Britney Spears.
"There are celebrities and then there is Britney. The best of the best pursue her," Andrew says.
The boys have been in contact with American paparazzi moguls Perez Hilton and Darron Lyons since they returned to New Zealand to discuss their experience and get advice about the industry and the opportunity to develop their ideas further.
They are currently considering the possibility of creating a reality television show.
Andrew is studying business at AUT, Steven is studying law and commerce at Auckland University and both would like to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.
- Sophie Donovan is an AUT journalism student
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