As usual I’ve been slack with upgrading my blog’s software, and it’s only been a few spammers signing up that has prompted me to upgrade things. And again, I’ve refreshed the ip2nation database & plugin to cater for any unusual countries or ip addresses. Things seem to be working, but as usual if you spot anything odd drop me a line and i can do some investigation.
The main reason for my post though is I’ve just installed an autotagger (I haven’t been tagging my posts in the past) and want to see whether it works.
With a bit of luck if I drop some keywords in it should add the relevant tags
As we all know now Barack Obama is going to be the first black US president, but I’m not going to talk about the in’s and out’s of the election or the merits of his victory.
Instead I give you Dizzee Rascal on newsnight interviewed by Jeremy Paxman – the result is rather comical
(in the next section i’ve completely copied the transcript of the interview into chunks in case the link isn’t available in the future and to highlight certain parts. DR is Dizzee Rascal, JP is Jeremy Paxman)
The highlights of the interview are:
• When asked if the UK could have a black president it went as follows:
JP: … could you see this happening in Britain? DR: Yeah. In time. JP: You’re rather positive! DR: Yeah, man. Why not, man? There’s a first time for everything, isn’t there? … if you believe you can achieve, innit?
Radio One have been mocking this final line but at the same time it almost is something the “yoof” of today could take to heart.
• When asked on political parties he acknowledged they existed but little else:
JP: Dizzee Rascal, do you believe in political parties in Britain? DR: Yeah, they exist. I believe in ’em … I don’t know if it makes a difference. But you know what I mean. It is what it is. Politicians … say what they say – you might get every now and again a genuine one, innit? But I think people, like, as a whole make the difference …
• When asked if he considered himself British, Paxman calls him “Mr Rascal”. Dizzee then comes out with a classic on who could run the country:
JP: Dizzee Rascal, Mr Rascal, do you feel yourself to be British? DR: Of course I’m British, man! You know me! … what’s good. I think it don’t matter what colour you are, it matters what colour your heart is and your intentions. I think a black man, purple man, Martian man can run the country … as long as he does right by the people.
• And finally, Dizzee reckons he could run for PM and that Obama’s victory couldn’t of happened if he hadn’t embraced hip hop:
JP: Well why don’t you run for office? DR: See, that’s a very good idea. I might have to do that one day. Dizzee Rascal for prime minister, yeah! Wassappenin’! Barack Obama embraced hip-hop, man. That’s the way he got through to kids. There was a more young vote ever. And it was through hip-hop!
