VH1's Top 50 Hip-Hop
 

Seriously, don't waste your time with this nonsense. It's ill.

Puffy is #12. Above Rakim, Wu-Tang Clan, Snoop, OutKast, Nas, Tribe.

NWA is only 13.

Who made up this list -- 16 year old kids?

Even(mad, and yet, I cannot turn away)Odds

Um, hello? I'll Be Havin Steak Tonight
 

WTF do Irish chicks know about snakes? For Chrissakes.

Just how much suckin’ up should I do?
 

Fashionistas. I need some etiquette advice. Had a real cool interview today with a firm I would love to hook-up with. Spoke with several (4) attorneys and an office manager (really an MBA-type) put it all together. Ms. Fencerider and I are at a quandary as to thank you notes. Momma in law, thinks a short hand-written for the attorneys and a paragraph typed to the office manager (I never did actually speak with her except by e-mail to get the thing set up). We’re etiquetteless slobs pity us please.

FR

Just how much suckin’ up should I do?
 

I would type them. Handwritten notes creep me out bigtime. Especially with hearts over the "i"s. If it's a pretty big firm, they will probably already have decided to give you an offer (or not) but it can't hurt.

I would think this would be more important/influential at a smaller/mid-size firm than a larger one.

f(I usually skipped it entirely -- I think the few times I did, I got a rejection (or offer) before they could have gotten the notes)b

VH1's Top 50 Hip-Hop
 

I was equally annoyed. Perhaps less so than the 100 greatest hard rock poll, but whatever.

1-2 was fine. DMC/Enemy. No one better.

Big? 1pac and LL as 3-5? No!

I'll give Dre top 10 because his influence as producer is immeasurable.

But!!!

1) there were many slights, but none as much as Kris with the #22 KRS-1 slot. Fuck. His work with BDP, his solo career and his production - he should be top 5 if not top 3. Others were slighted, but Kris was just fucked.

2) Eric and Rakim at 20? You're gotta be kidding

3) the Wu at 12? Bambaatta at 18??? Kane at 35???? Kool Moe Dee at 48??? This is insane. No history

4) Melle Mel. MIA? Forget it - throw out the list.

Just how much suckin’ up should I do?
 

A common question on the law student board of old. There tend to be two schools of thought, at least in the mass interviewing process for summer programs. The first says that it is nice and polite to send thank you notes, and it might help enhance some positive feelings. The second says that it is just another chance to fuck up and things like typos and mispellings in thank you notes can definitely hurt.

I tend to come up saying write a thank you note to anyone with whom you particularly clicked and have something to say. Writing in total generalities and platitudes may be formally polite, but there aren't many people left who insist on formal politeness. And those people are far outweighed by those who will mock your platitudes.

Ad(never wrote a thank you note)der

VH1's Top 50 Hip-Hop
 

Once they slotted Puffy ahead of Wu-Tang (and the complete idiocy was confirmed), we stopped being irritated and attempted to predict how and why they slotted acts where they did.

I came up with the following forumula for how they arrived at 3-50:

Sales
x 5
x 5
+ 150 points for East Coast living
+ 5 points for status in hip-hop history
+ 250 points for connection to Puffy
x number of videos that could be currently played on VH1 or MTV
- 500 points for videos that could be currently played on MTV2

There you have it.

The best thing about the show is we sat up discussing the top 5 albums and producers in hip-hop history and why NWA had three spots and EPMD/Erick Sermon/Def Squad/Redman were completely missing.

Really, if Dr. Dre was in on his own (no disrespect, the Chronic is in my top 5), shouldn't the RZA have gained a nod?

Bowling for columbine
 

I watched this movie this weekend, it really was quite thought provoking.

VH1's Top 50 Hip-Hop
 

I can't argue with 1-5. I think that 2Pac was put above Biggie for political reasons (not that it's not all political), having to do with west coast being represented in the top 3. I actually think LL is an inspired choice for the top 5. I would have Biggie at #1, but I can't argue with Run DMC or P.E.

My top 5 hip hop acts would have been:

Biggie
Snoop & Dre (why not put them together)
Public Enemy
Run DMC
2Pac

I first got really into hip hop after seeing Redman perform at Lollapalooza on the side stage in 1995. The fact that he, double-E and Keith Murray are not represented in some form is, as evenodds says, an outrage.

str(let's try it this way -- 2 down, 2 to go)8

The Cult of TiVo
 

The Damning by TiVo
 

These articles hardly ever mention the hundreds of thousands of suicidal depressions caused when the machines, after gathering viewers' preferences and desires, and determining what program best matched each viewer, started recording "Who Wants To Marry a Millionaire" on tapes all across the country.

VH1's Top 50 Hip-Hop
 

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore

You're just bitter that you're age group isn't part of the target audience any more.

One thing that annoys me about a lot of old people is that they go on and on about which artist was the first to do this or that, as if it matters. It doesn't matter who did it first; all that matters is who does it best. And for that matter, rock and rap aren't that old. It's not as if we're talking about, say, novelists where the FNGs are competing against at a few hundred years of writers who didn't have computers, radio, and movies to distract 'em.

You seem reasonably objective though. A lot of FB'ers seem totally biased toward music that was coming out when they were in their teens and early 20's.

the good thief
 

Nolte is great. The supporting cast is good too. I recommend it as a good cops and robbers movie. It and phonebooth are the best guy movies I've seen this year. Two thumbs up.

Waco and Six Feet Under
 

I saw Waco: Rules of Engagement Saturday as part of the tenth anniversary of the fire. It's really worth seeing. The film definitely has a point of view, but it's not strident in a Michael Moore fashion, NTTAWWT. I had no idea that the Branch Davidians were a fairly long-established offshoot of evangelical Christians. (Not that they weren't wingnuts, just that they were pretty close to your average Texas wingnut.) Certainly food for thought.

I also saw the latest episode of Six Feet Under tonight. That show should get a special Emmy for music achievement for the Rambo-esque music that played under the paintball series. Tonight's episode also convinced me that I am the only person under 40 in the greater Los Angeles area not smoking pot.

Um, hello?
 

Angelo & Maxie's
Ruth's Chris
Morton's

Thurgreed(is anyone else sensing a theme?)Marshall