DOWN WITH CENSORSHIP

Right, so another rant about my school's blocking system.

I was on my last.fm account (which, by the way, you can find a link to on this page), and wanted to listen to Eminem's 'Business' on the last.fm website. Clicked on 'Business', and it went to this:

.

So I thought, hah, is it filtered because it's last.fm? I'll try again..

Tried again. It came up again. Hmmmm... I google searched Eminem. Or attempted to, because as soon as I pressed the Enter button, that freakin filter message came up again! So it's Eminem they're against... If you look carefully at the filter message, you can work out why they've blocked it:

Freakin' intolerance list?! What the hell!!! WHY?!

Fine I can see why, but, erm, WHY?!

Kids at my school are well in touch with the world, thank you very much, so you filtering stuff is only gonna make them hungrier to find out more about the very things you don't want them to find out about. At home. Where (hopefully, otherwise I'm gon shank their parents too) there are no filters! Get a life.

Let me also say, after I uploaded the screenshots to my photobucket account, the pictures were white with a red cross, because surprise surprise, the file name contained eminem and therefore COULD NOT BE SHOWN. Funny how the screenshots are of school-produced messages, so strictly speaking, it's their own messages that they're filtering as 'intolerant'. Ha, the irony. (Aren't I funny)

Why do I spend my life ranting about stuff when I should be ENGLISH ESSAY-ING?!

Moving on.

Omg. Aside from being slightly freaked out by this, I am mainly very flattered! Observe:



If you can see (which you probably can't because for some reason Photobucket has decided to be anal and resize pictures so that they're tiny and unseeable, so that I've spent 10 minutes looking for a photo hosting service, which has been in vain since this picture is still unseeable) then you'll notice that my song of the week (STFUppercut by The Blackout) has been played 26 times, 10 of which have been in the United States, and once in Brazil, Russian Federation (what?!), Belarus, Ukraine, Spain, and the Netherlands. Omg. Firstly, since when is Russia called the Russian Federation?! Am I that out-of-date?! Secondly, wow. Never realised my blog had spread that far...

I couldn't look at my stats for 'Complicated Sex on Fire' because.. well, take a big fat guess (I'm at school right now). The Filter message that comes up is 'RM Pornography and Illegal or Age-Restricted Activity List' LOL. Since there was a hyperlink, I followed it, only to find a million-page long ting about the filtering policy.

Back to the point, THANK YOU RANDOM BELARUSIAN (is that even a word) FOR VISITING MY PAGE!

Lastly, tell me to my face that you don't find this ridic:

Those are the Barbie/Ken/wtf dolls they've made?! I mean, Taylor is too ugly, Kristen is too pretty, and Rob Pattz is too fit. Totally the wrong way round!!! (Btw, I'm not saying that Edward Cullen is meant to be ugly. I'm saying RP is.)

I love how in the New Moon they've just made up the fact that Jacob prances around half-naked (except from this pic it looks more like a two-thirds naked) so as to give Taylor Laut an excuse to flash his Abercrombie abs. Yep, he modelled for Abs. OMG Abs abs. OK I'll shut up now.

xxxx

a proper blog

OK, let's get serious. Here's your song for the day:



'Without Me' - Eminem

'Now this looks like a job for me, so everybody- just follow me, cause we need a little..controversy, cause it feels so empty without me'. Freakin amazing chorus. Oh and also 'I'm the worst thing since Elvis to do black music so selfishly and use it to get myself wealthy'. Well at least he's honest about himself.

I only rediscovered this song sometime a month ago when I downloaded all of his albums. He is a fookin legend, that guy. I'd been looking for this song for ages and when it randomly came on my shuffle I nearly collapsed. Well, no, I didn't, I was just really happy.

I know I'm not alone in thinking that he's not the rapper he used to be. It really is the mainstream-ness that's ruined him. Starting out in a clearly defined 'rap' pigeonhole meant that he could do his thing, swear all he wants, have that raw 'ghetto' (ok that is not something I can pull off) energy. He's been blown up now though, and the wants of the people and the majority have fed into his music. You see, now, the snares of mainstream culture? ALL AGAINST MAINSTREAM MUSIC.

No? Suit yourself.

You mustn't get the wrong idea, I'm not being snobbish and looking down my nose at all mainstream stuff (...maybe a little) – no, I'm only condemning the mainstreamness that makes initially perfectly alright (and perhaps even amazing) things into overplayed, mis-valued (I totally invented that word. Hell yeah, I'm the next Virgil), abused works in order to do the one thing that everybody in this room wants to do: get some extra dosh into their pocket. Maybe it starts out as 'giving the artist more coverage and radio play', but soon it's all flashing-lights, overcrowded-schedule, you-have-to-say-and-do-this-to-get-the-paparazzi-talking-about-you-in-the-right-way. It's all 'we're doing this for you', but secretly it's 'we're doing this for us'. I appreciate that there are several people behind the scenes who deserve the credit and reward, but that is what is making the music industry so corrupted and distorted. The artist wants fame, wants wealth, wants luxury... because of the mainstream culture that has been thrust upon them.

Although I'm a whole-hearted music fan, I completely disagree with the fact that it is these artists who are some of the top earners. It's warped. Why should someone who provides such a basic service as clearing our streets of litter, or as cleaning our buildings, earn millions fewer than someone who busts a few tunes? Of course, music reaches further, deeper, able to lift our moods, inspire us, understand us. But that doesn't keep us living (realistically). The world should get real.

So, guys, if in ten years' time you hear about me, it'll be cause I'm causing waves of change in the music industry.

Let's travel back to Eminem.

He's old now. Dare I also say his music sounds way too chirpy or jokes. I know he is one for the jokes and pranks, but that means he can't really be taken seriously for that kind of music. Maybe if he puts out another album (celebrities just don't let it go do they), he might regain that energy and some (not too much) of that solemnity.

OK he's just lost some of my respect. I'm listening to 'Cleanin Out My Closet' (from The Eminem Show) and he called his father a 'faggot'. I've no idea whether his dad actually is gay, but even if he isn't, I hope Eminem doesn't realise that 'faggot' is derogatory. Cause if he was fully aware of it and still used it, then he's going downnnnnn in my books.

[Later Edit: Nope, just researched it, and, assuming this interview is genuine and true, then he says he only uses it because he was taught it as meaning 'coward', 'sissy' etc., and because he doesn't wanna put on a face for the record... Mmyeah. I damn right hope you're being honest Marshall Mathers. Cause if you are, then there's a lot of respect being felt over here.]

Right, this was hard to choose, but

Top Three Eminem songs: 'Without Me', 'Business', and 'My Dad's Gone Crazy' (though I do have put on my feminist hat and condemn his attitude to 'pussy' and 'clit'. But i do admire his lyrics '"if you ain't got nothing nice to say, then don't say anything”...fuck that [...] I'd rather put out a motherfucking gospel record')

Whew, that was some long post. Hope you enjoyed!

xxxx