Well, cut off my legs and call me shortie. (Unless Mos Def becomes president.) Congratulations to Rich Knepper, who correctly identified the four classic hip-hop albums as (clockwise from top left):

1. Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
   
2. Black Sheep's A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
   
3. Das Efx's Dead Serious and
   
4. Raekwon's Built Only for Cuban Linx

Rich has refused the offer of an online gift certificate, so instead I made a donation of $20 in his name to the Westboro Baptist Church, since they're such big fans of classic hip-hop. (Just kidding. The donation was made to ETAN.) Huzzah for Rich and everyone else who knew the answers. Now here's your next contest:

1. How many feathers are on a Purdue chicken?
   
2. How many fibers are intertwined in a Shredded Wheat biscuit?
   
3. What does "touche et eh lay pooh" mean?
   
4. How many times did the Batmobile catch a flat?

We'll let our contestants think them over and we'll return right after these messages.

TimeWaster™

Because I just can't ever get enough Mos.



Today I'm listening to: Strictly 4 Groovers!

While browsing today at Mad City Music Exchange, I spied a new album from Jean Grae. I think she's an okay MC, but I took it off the shelf for a listen because it's produced by DJ wizard 9th Wonder. The music's decent, but when I opened up the inside cover artwork, I decided to buy it instantly. (The front is all black, but the inside art is featured at right.) I was giddy with joy at the superb images inside.

Which brings us to the first-ever Deviant Synapse Trivia Contest. I will deliver a $20 gift certificate to the online retailer of your choice to the first person who can – in the comments section of this post – correctly identify the four classic rap albums (and their artists) parodied in these images. (Click on the picture for a slightly larger version.)

This contest will really only appeal to a small cross-section of the following people:

1. People who read this blog
   
2. People who have listened to hip-hop for more than ten years
   
3. People who care enough to post a comment

There are really only two people I can imagine will enter. But ya never know.

TimeWaster™

I just posted the Mos Def for prez thing below. Go watch that.

Today I'm listening to: Thievery Corporation!

I love my wife for many reasons. One reason is that she sends me stuff like this. Enjoy!

I was never crazy about the Budweiser "WAZZZUPP" commercials, but this is an amusing revision of that whole thing. Pretty funny, and ends decently – albeit awkwardly. Enjoy.

Behold my latest video mashup project: An unofficial video for MIA's song "Paper Planes". (Caution: Her website will induce seizures!) Hopefully it's clear to everyone in the world today that the real hustlers are on Wall Street. Enjoy!

I know everyone is just dying to read another fiery rant about video games, but I gotta vent.

The people who design video games today are pathetic dorkface turdbrains. Sometimes I wonder if they conspire to make sure there is at least one fatal flaw in every game that comes out (with rare exceptions). Either the bosses are insanely difficult, or there's some stupid system of item manipulation, or you can't tell where you're supposed to go, or they assume you've got a 30 foot TV screen.

I'm a humble high school English teacher. I work hard, I put lots of energy into the classroom, I grade papers, I pay my taxes. When I get done working for the day, I want to have some fun and smash up some bad guys. I do NOT want to conquer some insanely difficult challenge. I do NOT want to prove to myself that I have some supreme ability, however meaningless. I do NOT want to feel superior to non-video-game players. I do NOT spend my entire life playing these games. I just want to spend some time playing something laid-back and enjoyable.

Well, maybe I have the wrong game system. XBox360 is for the "hardcore gamers", a nomenclature that makes me want to vomit. Spend five seconds on XBox Live and you'll find that they are the most annoying, insipid, self-obsessed, racist, sexist, homo-hating, ignorant people on the planet. Their only concerns are leaderboards and bragging rights about things that don't matter. No one cares about having fun, they want to "pwn n00bz". (They also like to laugh about "raping" the other team, a description that I despise. These people have obviously never spoken to someone who's been raped, or they wouldn't toss that word around so blithely.)

Maybe I need to switch back to a PlayStation system or get myself a Wii. Of course I was plenty frustrated with certain PS2 games, and the NES provided more than its fair share of headaches for me when I was a young'un. Maybe I need to take a break from video games altogether. Or maybe the people who make games need to get their heads out of their posteriors and design some games for us casual players once in a while. Grr.

TimeWaster™

It's not a waste of time, but it's on YouTube, so it fits here. This hour-long speech from economist Ha-Joon Chang explains clearly and with excellent humor why Thomas Friedman is full of crap.



Today I'm listening to: MDFMK!