Still Surfing

Critics and progressive types hate Eminem. I'm not terribly familiar with his body of work, but based on what I've seen of his public statements and lyrics, it seems to me he's just taken the whole "rapper as performance art" thing to a new level. The group that sparked gangsta rap, NWA, not coincidentally led by Eminem's producer Dr. Dre, confessed to so many crimes on Straight Outta Compton that if 5% of them were true, each member would be incarcerated for a very long time. Eminem raps about raping his mother, killing his wife, and variations on those two deeds. Now abhorrent as this is, his fans know he doesn't do such things. It's a huge game of posturing to attract any attention. Well, it works. This background all commented upon to introduce the 'warp Eminem' page, where you can make him look as silly as you want. Or, if you are feeling aggressive towards our new president (not me, secret service!! stay away!! I love Dubya !!) have a go. Or get other choices here. Most are in the stupid pop culture category, like the singers who perform the songs I hear Wednesday nights when at the bar when we go play trivia and everyone else is singing along and I've never even heard the songs.

Oklahoma dreaming

Oklahomans showed up for a little pep rally to honor the OU football team. Fully 30,000 people attended. That's about 1/3 of the population of Norman. If 1/3 of New York City showed up to honor the Yankees, the national guard would get called up. I found this Oklahoma blog while surfing around earlier today. It's really very good. As I've mentioned, I have been attempting to locate good examples of Oklahoma bloggers. It makes me feel better that I have at least one. From said site, here's a picture of something you'd only see in Oklahoma (or maybe Texas). Speaking of, we in Oklahoma get a lot of crap from Texans, and we dish it out as well. I'll probably get in trouble for posting this one, seeing as I have a whole arm of the family that lives there, and great-great-grandfather Joseph Beatty Hadden will spin in his grave, but here's the truth about the ridiculous claims that Texas can secede anytime, split itself into four other states, etc. I heard that so many times growing up, I wish I would have read that. And I've never been there, but everything I've heard about OU-Texas weekend indicates that this account is spot on (told from a Texan's point of view, but is even handed).

Finally, it's Maggie's birthday today. If you know her, why not call or write and tell her to have a happy one. My best birthday present to her was convincing her to call in sick with me so we could have a nice, relaxing day. She's currently watching Little House on the Prairie while I blog.