Bye, Bye, Charles Gibson, oh, bye, bye and again, bye,bye.
From Newsbusters;
In his swan song interview with President Barack Obama, which consumed more than ten minutes of World News, ABC’s Charles Gibson couldn’t have provided a friendlier or more empathetic platform to Obama on the “weight” of sending troops to war and how “devilishly difficult” it’s become to pass health care plan because of a few rogue Senators. Gibson, set to retire Friday, teased his last Wednesday newscast:
The Uncooperative Radio Show Host and I call these people “Morons” all the time on our Radio Show, we call these morons; the “Lame Stream Media”, but now I think, that, that is too nice a term for this verman.
Technorati Tags: ABC news, Charles Gibson, White House, President Obama, main stream media, politics, news
The Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) is an international Christian denomination that reaches out to the LGBT community. There are MCC churches around the world, including four churches in the Philippines. Rev. Ceejay Agbayani is a clergy member of the MCC church in Quezon City, and led this year’s candle light vigil at the 2009 Manila Pride March.
Rev. Ceejay was kind enough to answer some questions concerning MCC and the recent pride parade.
Rev. Ceejay at Manila Pride March, 2009
1. Can you tell us about the history of the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) in the Philippines. What do you believe makes the ministry different from others?
The history of MCC in the Philippines is a painstaking effort by the leaders and organizers. We started from scratch, we organized, and we shared our own talents and treasures to make the Church alive and moving. There have been both ups and downs in the history of MCC Philippines during the 18 years since its establishment.
MCC or Metropolitan Community Church was brought to the Philippines by Fr. Richard Mickley in 1991. With the help of a closeted Filipino Methodist clergy, he was able to establish the MCC by his own, making his “place’” as the “church home” for MCC.
In 1994, MCC Manila and Pro Gay Philippines started the 1st Philippine Pride March in Quezon City. The first Pride March also in Asia.
In 1996, the first Filipino clergy was ordained, making Rev.Edgar Mendoza as the first “indegenous” clergy of MCC in the Philippines. Fr. Richard retired from MCC and established the Order of St.Aeldred in Quezon City.
In September 13, 2006, I and my partner Marlon organized the first Bible Study in Quezon City.
The uniqueness of MCC is the fusion on everything, like Spirituality and Sexuality. We firmly believe, based on the Bible, that homosexuality is not a sin, nor it is a sickness. We have a systematic study and theology on this matter. We argue and corrected the six anti-gay verses and presented the pro-gay verses in the Bible. We also believe in the liberating theology of inclusion and of love.
One characteristic of MCC is that we do not argue on the Table of the Lord. We have the dynamic fusion of the worship tradition according to culture by incorporating Praise and Worship and highly liturgical form of worship.
Once you come to visit our Sunday Worship Services, you will feel that God really is within us. We can not express the feelings. We can also share our experiences.
2. How many pride parades have you participated in? And, what was your role in this year’s parade?
Since 1994 MCC has always participated in the annual Pride Marches in the Philippines.
This year, I was appointed to be the Parade Manager with the assistance of the whole TFP Execom Members. I am in charge of the parade route, marshal and security and the candle lightning ceremony after the parade and before the program. This was also the first time that the parade has had a candle lightning ceremony.
Candle Light Ceremony at Manila Pride March, 2009
3. What were your thoughts on this year’s Manila Pride Parade? How did it compare to past marches?
The theme WE DARE WE CARE encompasses all issues of the LGBT, from discrimination, homophobia and stereotyping. We Dare to different because We Care for the future of the LGBT.
I can not compare this year’s Pride march to other Pride Marches because it has a distinct uniqueness and experiences every year.
But what I am proud of this year is that, we can unite the LGBT in prayer.
4. As an ordained reverend, what were your feelings at seeing protesters using religion to put down the marchers?
This was not a surprise for me, this year. Last year was the first time the parade had protesters. I was shocked and angry last year. I even shouted at them “Would Jesus Discriminate?!!”
But this year, I am more diplomatic and relaxed. I even talked to them and requested that they not shout at us. But, they still did.
I am no longer surprised with them because the Southern Baptist declared war on homosexuality a few years ago. They did that during the Consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson. They did that during the funeral of Matthew Shepard.
Protesters at Dec. 5, 2009, Manila Pride March
Actually, I pity them. They promote hate rather than love. Jesus Christ loved the oppressed, marginalized and the outcasts. These protesters are driven by their churches to hate homosexuals at all cost, rather than focusing on love and acceptance. These people use their time and effort to hate us.
Christianity is about love not hate. Christianity is about blessings not sin. Homosexuals are children of God. Homosexuality is a gift from God. God will not make things that will insult Him/Her. Homosexuals are blessings. We are not a curse. We are God’s love.
5. Do you think in the future mainstream churches will become more inclusive towards the gay community?
I hope and pray that eventually the mainstream churches will become inclusive, accepting and affirming, rather than therapeutic and converting.
Actually, there are good men and women in the mainstream churches who are sympathetic and supportive to the lgbt community. I know a lot of them in the seminary.
I dream someday that all LGBT member of the society will go out every Sunday and go to churches without fear of his or her sexual orientation and gender identity, and freely worship God in Spirit and in Truth.
This will take some time – but I know it will happen!
Rev. Ceejay and Rev. Fr. Richard at MCCQC, Dec. 6 2009
Davincivirus's Food Review Blog - http://bit.ly/DavinciFood
Hey Guys =),
It’s me, Cody Strawn, back a little bit early to post an interview I had with a inspiring food enthusiast about a week ago. His name is David Roshinski also known as @Davincivirus on Twitter. Roshinski reviews food products that he buys at local stores around his community and judges them on a “?/10″ scale. For example, he recently has reviewed “Classico Mushroom Alfredo” and scored it the following way:
Taste – 3.5/10
The flavor did taste like mushroom but after that white colored sauce that had almost no flavor and had a chalky aftertaste. I am still going to brave through the pasta to not waste it, but man if I wanted to eat a piece of chalk I would of bought the candied one from the candy store and saved myself the anguish.
Package – 5.5/10
The packaging looks great a pitcher of milk, Parmesan cheese, sliced and whole mushrooms. The Colors are rustic and remind me of a color palette that I could see in Italy.
Price – $2.49
Purchased at Hannafords in Dover, NH
FINAL SCORE – 4.5/10
[Excerpt from the Davincivirus Food Review Blog]
Now that you know a little bit about David’s blog and how it works I am proud to present the interview I had with him December 15th, 2009.
1.) First of all, if you don’t mind me asking, what is your real name? And why did you pick a nickname like Davincivirus?
My name is David Roshinski. The nickname Davincivirus comes from my tech side of me, my favorite movie is Hackers and in Hackers there is a program virus called Davincivirus and I just liked the name.
2.) I know that we have met (in the interwebs) on a website named IWearYourShirt.com, how did you find that website?
Shortly after I signed up for twitter I added Ustream because that?s someone I was interested in beforehand, than when Jason did the laptop giveaway before one of my classes Ustream posted an advertisement for his show on twitter and it peaked my interest. As they say the rest is History.
3.) Why, in your blog, is your focus on reviewing food? Do you like experiencing new flavors through out the food industry or what?
I like food; I have been a foodie ever since I grew up with Yen Can Cook and than the food network. Eventually I went to the University of New Hampshire and studied Hospitality Management. My interests in food, hotels, and tourism led me to watch food network, travel channel, and certain web series on twitter that were food review blogs I found of interest. My inspiration came from The Impulsive Buy, FreezerBurns, Everyview, grubgrade, weratestuff, foodirl and Soda Giant. So that?s how I decided to start my own as a building block to bigger and better things.
4.) Will you ever consider about making a financial income by reviewing food?
I think free product is as far as I could get. I think when money comes into a review it may skew the actually scoring of the product and if you don?t like something it may be hard to not make potential sponsors mad.
5.) How well known do you want this blog to get? Or do you want to keep it near a personal low?
I am really just gonna see where it leads me.
6.) Are you going to review food around the United States or just in one particular region?
Depends, if its just me buying the product regional but if people send me product I will be glad to give a honest review.
7.) What is your favorite type of food?
I love Asian food, thai food especially. In Bridgewater, MA there is a restaurant called Chatta Box where I frequent and get Drunken Noodles and Chicken Coconut Soup. Delicious.
8.) Will you be having give away prizes eventually later when you have more viewers?
We’ll have to see. If I get additional product to give away from people than of course I will pass it on to loyal readers. Who knows I may do smaller giveaways depending on my cash flows.
9.) If so what type of prizes?
Food Product, Gift Certs, and Cooking related items.
10.) Do you like StrawnEditing.com?
Yes I do, the pictures I gave to StrawnEditing.com had a very fast turn around and came out great.
I recommend you guys to check out David Roshinski’s blog at: http://bit.ly/DavinciFood
And Davinci I am rating your blog a 9/10 buddy! Keep doing what your doing! =).
The past year has undoubtedly brought many changes and challenges to both employers and employees. Layoffs, pay cuts and furloughs have been widespread, thus contributing to a job market saturated with qualified candidates competing for fewer jobs. Despite this steep competition among candidates, employers struggle to find professionals with in-demand skill sets.
Along with these continued battles, employers face a new challenge: ensuring their companies are prepared when the economy does make an inevitable turnaround, which will give them a competitive advantage.
A new survey, the 2009 EDGE Report from Robert Half International and CareerBuilder, provides answers to many of the lingering questions surrounding today’s economy and job market: Where will jobs be added first in the recovery? What challenges will employers face in recruitment? How will compensation be impacted? And how will employers retain the talent they’ve preserved during this difficult time?
To take advantage of an improving economy, employers that cut staffing levels extensively are taking a close look at the core skills needed in new hires in order to rebuild their rosters once the economic recovery takes hold.
Fifty-three percent of employers said they plan to hire full-time employees in the next 12 months, while 39 percent will add part-time employees, according to a new survey. Forty percent will hire contract, temporary or project professionals.
Here are several key other findings from the report:
Where jobs will be added first Hiring managers currently consider customer service as the most critical to the company’s success, followed by sales, marketing/creative and technology. Public relations/communication, business development and accounting/finance round out the list.
When the economy does start to rebound, respondents said technology, customer service and sales departments will add positions first, followed by marketing/creative, business development, human resources and accounting/finance.
In the meantime, hiring managers continue to appreciate employees who can perform multiple functions. Employers cited multitasking, initiative and creative problem-solving as the most valuable characteristics in ideal new hires.
Retaining talent Although many business leaders have plans to add new employees to their organizations in the coming months, they also have to consider how their decisions during the financial crisis have impacted job satisfaction and loyalty of their current staff.
Fifty-five percent of workers polled have plans to change careers, find a new employer or go back to school once the economy recovers. Forty-nine percent said that the most effective way to keep them on board will be with pay increases; in fact, 28 percent plan to ask for a raise.
Employers are aware that competitive pay and benefits will play a critical role in retaining talent. Forty percent of employers said that they plan to increase pay when the economy improves and 20 percent said they hope for better benefits and perks.
Continued challenges in recruitment Although there is a greater pool of available talent among job seekers, employers are still having trouble finding qualified professionals for open positions: 47 percent of employers cited under-qualified applicants as their most common hiring challenge. Employers said that, on average, 44 percent of the résumés they receive are from unqualified candidates.
As a result, employers are open to paying for great talent; 61 percent said their companies are willing to negotiate a higher salary for qualified candidates.
A common complaint from job seekers is the amount of time the hiring process takes; however, this is one area where employers won’t budge. The average time it takes to recruit a new full-time hire is 4.5 to 14.4 weeks. Employers say that in order to avoid costly hiring mistakes, it’s necessary to take their time reviewing and screening a high volume of résumés, and also to carefully evaluate those invited for interviews
The impact of former Mayor Willie Brown can be seen on virtually every corner of this great city. Following the 2008 publication of his memoirs, Basic Brown: My Life and Our Times, brown reflects on what it is that makes San Francisco haute.
From the very beginning, Willie Lewis Brown Jr. was destined to make a difference.
He came to San Francisco in 1951 in order to make a difference in his own life, and he succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations. From the moment he stepped off the train from rural Texas, he began a rise to power that blended panache, raw talent, and boundless ambition. No politician dominated California longer or more completely than Willie. No politician was more flamboyant. And if you measure a man by the enormity of his progressive impact on the world, former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown is undoubtedly one of the most extraordinary men in the City by the Bay.
Yet as he moved through life, and through the glitzy restaurants and grandiose chambers where he held court, Brown’s origins were never far from his thoughts. He hailed from the humblest of beginnings: Mineola, Texas, a segregated small town full of people with segregated small town views. Willie Brown was too big for such a place. His escape route brought him west to the coast of northern California, a place where his race wasn’t the overriding factor, even back in the middle of the 20th century. “This city so welcomed me and made me feel comfortable and made me forget the color of my skin.”
Video: PBS
He says this from the lobby bar of the St. Regis San Francisco, his personal stomping ground, thanks to his residence upstairs. During the course of our conversations, men stop by to clap him on the back while thanking him for his hard work and impact; women demurely offer their hands while simultaneously offering praise. People are captivated by the man who is the father of modern San Francisco, the man who is so firmly rooted in the city he says he does not like to take vacations. His career path reflects his affinity. Rather than following the typical route of corporate lawyer-turned-politician-turned mayor-turned-senator or -governor, Brown’s steadfast love for the city of San Francisco, which developed seemingly seconds after stepping off that train, spawned a path that kept Brown in the city, making moves to help her prosper. It’s no wonder San Franciscans return the love.
For the past two years Brown has called the St. Regis home, and his choice to rest his head at night in the five-star condo-hotel is indicative of something much greater than his taste in real estate. The beacon of luxurious hospitality is located South of Market, a district that Brown is personally responsible for revitalizing. When Brown began his quest, he had a vision for San Francisco, the city of his affection, and he refused to rest until that image was brought to fruition. And then he put his money where his mouth was, choosing to live-work-and-play in the neighborhood he helped create. His residence in the St. Regis is evidence enough that the shoe-shiner from small town Texas not only made it, he made it big.
It was a long climb to the top, but the eloquent man’s strong mastery of style, both in spoken prose and classic gentlemen’s fashions, made that climb unforgettable not only to San Franciscans but to the entire nation. His celebrity extends well beyond the city, and he carefully cultivated his public image over the course of his decades-long political career. He is affably known as Da Mayor, as a man of the people, by the people, and for the people. He is also known for getting results, a trend that started when he first arrived in the city to begin his undergraduate studies.
Some of you mmorpg news followers may know this next name. Or maybe you open source lovers! I have had the pleasure of interviewing the one and only Jonas Luster. Without further ado, here is the interview with Jonas Luster:
Can you tell us a bit about yourself? Not much to tell about me. I got a degree in social psychology, left that field to join the dot.com craze in 1998, worked as an Open Source project manager (yes, paid , game designer, that stuff, and left in 2006 to completely forsake all reason and job security to become a chef. I still code, quite a bit, and appear every once in a while on the scene to act as if I know a thing or two about MMOs.
You have a history in mmorpgs, care to share a bit about that history? I started innocently enough, trying to impress a flame of mine in college. She spent her free time, instead of bars or parties, online playing a MUD called Tropolis. That was 1993, and I (a psychologist by trade) knew nothing about MMO and MUDs. But to impress her, I learned C and started coding for the MUD. Suffice to say, she didn’t fall for it. From MUDs I moved on to UO, EverQuest, played some more obscure ones when I got my hands on them, and finally got into the WoW closed beta and from there into WoW. These days I share time between Allods Online, Warhammer Online, and sometimes log into WoW from a friend’s computer, but it’s not even installed anymore .
You have written several addons for other games. Why do you take the time to write these addons? The first AddOn I wrote, Lootso, was exclusively an attempt to resolve tensions within the guild I was in. People claimed favoritism when we first attempted Molten Core in WoW, and I needed a way to somehow prove there was none. From there on, I stumbled upon the abandoned project files for FlexBar, which a guy named Dagar had taken over but didn’t didn’t have time to work on. So I took over, learned a lot about Lua, WoW programming, and working under a restricted API as opposed to the very open MUD development. I also kind of learned to deal with a few hundred to thousand users who didn’t think of me as a developer but as a provider of services.
Warhammer AddOns I write to overcome some of the less optimal design decisions. In general, I try to improve visibility and data accessibility with my work, not to automate game play. FlexBar might have gone a … little(!) … too far, there .
Allods Online does have minimal addon support at this time. Do you dislike or like the current system so far? From what I can see, and let’s keep in mind that there’s no official word from the Developers or CMs yet, AddOns are possible but have to be in a packed binary format (.pak). For the obvious reasons, hacks and sneakiness being some of the big ones, I dislike that. I am very, very, happy that there seems to be AddOn support and I’ll jump in like no tomorrow the day we have an official word on the future of this feature.
What do you like the most about making an addon for Allods Online? Right now? Simply the fact that it’s like being on a Safari. I know most of the basics, know how to code things, but the API, the language have to speak to communicate with the game, is completely foreign to me. So there’s lots of trying and learning, and that’s very exciting. In a sense it’s more exciting than playing my Warden .
What do you dislike the most about making an addon for Allods Online? Again, right now it’s the lack of certainty as to if this feature is supported and if it will persist. The staff on the forums has been nothing but nice and helpful, but there’s no one we could ask, at the moment, if we wanted to learn more.
What can the Allods Online team do to make addon support better in their game? I think an official word on the future of AddOn support would be a great first step. Something along the lines of “sure, it’s not supported yet, but you’re not treading in dangerous waters or working on something we’ll shut off in six weeks”.
Anything in other mmorpgs addon supports you’d like to see with Allods Online? Both WoW and WAR as well as ROM (Runes of Magic) have official words on what an AddOn can and can’t do, that and how much they support it, and what our responsibilities as authors are. Other than that, a well documented access to both the look and feel and the datafeeds in-game, that’d be … heaven
Why do you prefer Lua over Pak? Well, Allods Online AddOns are written in Lua as well, however the code files and resources (graphics, sounds, etc.) are then packed into one file with a .pak extension. Where this gets problematic is simply with peer review and critical oversight. WoW addons are read by a lot of people who’d never write their own. From curiosity to, yes, paranoia .
Here’s hoping that once (if) the AddOn support in Allods becomes more of a maintream thing, they’ll rethink that.
A big thanks to Jonas for taking the time to doing this interview. . Also be sure to check out this interview by Irina Slutsky of Geek Entertainment TV of Jonas Luster and his son that can kick your ass in PvP apparently. o.o.
Lil Kim said it best, “Money, power, respect… That’s the key to life.” In hip-hop especially there are no greater motivational tools than those three. Dissect the importance of each, and you’ll see that the first and third are byproducts of the second. And there are few scholars out there with more knowledge on how to obtain power than writer Robert Greene. A New York Times best-selling author, Greene is best known for his 2000 book, The 48 Laws of Power, which has become a guiding force behind the dollar-chasing pursuits of Wall Street types and politicians, as well as music industry elite.
Perhaps Greene’s biggest rapper-fan is Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, whose appreciation for the Los Angeles-born scribe’s work culminated in their collaborative text, The 50th Law. Released this past September, the book breaks down the key to triumph as a not-too-simple conquering of one’s own fears. To compile the nearly-300-page tome, Greene shadowed 50 for six months back in 2007, everything from attending meetings alongside the megastar to spending time at his Connecticut mansion. XXLMag.com recently caught up with Greene to discuss his time with the rapper/mogul who directly inspired The 50th Law. His insights may just paint a whole new Curtis Jackson picture. XXLMag.com: How did you and 50 first meet to work on this book?
Robert Greene: Someone in his team had reached out to me in, I think it was early 2006. He’d read The 48 Laws of Power [and] found it very helpful, dealing with the music business, like a lot of other rappers. So, he wanted to meet me. I didn’t precisely know why at that time; I thought he was thinking about a book, and also there was all that stuff going on with Game, and he wanted to talk about that, which we did talk about. We met in this steakhouse in Manhattan, [in] the backroom. He had his entourage of about 10 people, and I was just by myself. [Laughs].
XXLMag.com: That must have been intimidating?
Robert Greene: His son was there, and his manager and agent and a few others. It was really good. I didn’t know what to expect, so I was a little surprised. He was more open, and he wasn’t intimidating at all. And I think I wasn’t what he was expecting—he was probably thinking this old man, kind of like Henry Kissinger, and I wasn’t like that. So I think we were both surprised, in a good way. We felt really comfortable.
XXLMag.com: Where you even familiar with 50’s music at that time?
Robert Greene: Well, I knew his music. When I was writing my 33 Strategies of War… sometimes, when I write my books, I like to have a bit of an aggressive energy, particularly when I was writing the war book. Sometimes, I just would wake up and it wasn’t there. 50 was one of the few hip-hop artists that I would put [his music] on and it put me in the kind of war-like mood.
XXLMag.com: Any songs in particular?
Robert Greene: Well, there were things like “Position of Power” and “My Toy Soldier,” and “Hustler’s Ambition.” I had Power of the Dollar, somebody had passed it to me secretly, and there were some songs I really liked. I don’t have it in front of me, but I had the hard stuff. And the one where he’s really dissing Ja Rule…
XXLMag.com: “Back Down.”
Robert Greene: Yeah, that’s the kind of stuff I like—the nasty stuff. So, I knew his music that way. Then, before I met him, when I knew the meeting was coming, I got a copy of From Pieces to Weight and devoured that. I think it’s a great book; I found it inspiring… When you first meet him, you’re kind of expecting that “gangsta,” intimidating presence, and I think he uses that to an effect. He knows that most people, particularly White guys like myself, when we first meet him we’re expecting that, and he uses that to his advantage, because it’s very disarming when you realize that he’s not. So my first impressions were, at first, he’s really nice and charming. He’s not like all ego-ridden. He looks you in the eye when he talks to you.
XXLMag.com: Earlier you said when you guys first started talking that he spoke to you about the Game situation. Was he looking for advice on that?
Robert Greene: I don’t think he was looking for “advice,” per se. Because, who am I to give him advice? But, maybe he was. We talked about it, for sure. To be honest with you, I wasn’t too up on the situation. I knew that there was a beef going on, but what was behind it? How did it start? I really didn’t know. So, talking about it then, what I would’ve said knowing what I know now about the whole thing, it would’ve been different. So I don’t know if my “advice” was particularly insightful at that time. That’s when I thought he was a very crafty person. He was really strategizing in a hardcore way, about how to make this guy go away. Not in the Mafia sense, but how to end [the problem], so it doesn’t turn into this mutually destructive war… I was impressed about how he was weighing certain options and not just going with raw emotion, because you’d expect someone with the persona that he projects—which really isn’t who he is—that he would be looking for something kind of ultra-aggressive. That’s the entertainment part of 50. The real 50 is much more strategic.
XXLMag.com: In order to write The 50th Law, you trailed 50 for nearly six months straight. Do any memories from that time stand out in your mind as being exemplary of his character?
Robert Greene: I remember we would talk about how he had learned to adapt to the business world. A lot of the book, at first, and even as it came out, was about him as a hustler on the streets and how that translated into working in corporate America… He said that he was always learning on the job. He noticed that Lloyd Banks, whenever he would be in a meeting, would be kind of surly, and didn’t want to talk to anyone. But because of that, people would always be trying to please him, and giving him attention, thinking he was upset and they needed to win him over somehow—but that’s just his personality. 50 noticed that he needed to talk less in these meetings, and act a little bit like he wasn’t totally happy, and then people would work harder to please him—a little psychological ploy. Then we went into a meeting and I saw him do exactly that. [Laughs] This group of four or five very conservative White people from the Midwest. He did a little seduction number on them, making them feel like he wasn’t totally happy with what they were offering, and it worked like a charm, just as he told me it would.
XXLMag.com: In the book, you talk about how the infamous throwing-the-plasma-TV-out-the-window incident, in response to his “Follow My Lead” video prematurely leaking online back in August of 2007, was staged, and how that showed his tactfulness, in a way.
Robert Greene: That was an amazing thing to watch, because I got to see how he handles a crisis, and how calm he was compared to everybody else, who were like chickens with their heads cut off. [Laughs] He came up with this kind of weird, made-up problem of him getting angry, and the television screen and all that, which I thought was really quite smart. And then, the next day, the management team at Violator had a meeting about this, which I attended, and they were really not happy with what he’d done, because their whole method of handling it was to suppress the video, and he had done the opposite. So there was this confrontation—not angry or anything. They were telling him, “You just can’t do that kind of thing,” and he was telling them, “No, the story is already out there. I’m not going to, like, stop something that’s already out there. You have to make a story out of it.” I thought it was really indicative of how he operates.
XXLMag.com: Another side of 50’s personality is that he seems to fully embrace this “bad guy” role that he’s been put into. How do you think that helps him as an artist?
Robert Greene: Well, it helps him, but it [also] hurts him, and that’s a real strategic bind that he’s in. It’s the entertainment character that he created, and it’s kind of a cartoon character, which he’s done all on purpose. He knows that he can’t be too subtle when you’re a celebrity like that. People want a good guy, a bad guy… You can’t be a mix, or they get confused. So he plays it up, particularly in those very public beefs that he seems to always choose. But then, on the other hand, you start getting older and you can’t keep doing that forever… Younger people come up. And it’s also just not the space that he’s in right now. He’s in this very comfortable world. So you can’t keep doing it forever. You get stale and people will grow bored with it. He’s trying to figure out how to keep that.
XXLMag.com: You think so?
Robert Greene: You know, the music sells when it’s more aggressive. He knows that. The ballads and the soft stuff, although I think is good and he likes it, just doesn’t have what people seem to be looking for. So he knows his audience, he knows what people want, and he’ll play that up, but at the same time, he has to figure out a way out of that. He has to figure out how in five-to-ten years he’s going to morph into this interesting business mogul. He just can’t keep doing it… He’s really hyper aware of how it works, how he can use that aggressive edge, and how if it can’t how he has to adapt it. Unlike a lot of rappers, who becomes sort of prisoners of their image, he’s thinking about it. He’s trying to solve it some way
, game designer, that stuff, and left in 2006 to completely forsake all reason and job security to become a chef. I still code, quite a bit, and appear every once in a while on the scene to act as if I know a thing or two about MMOs. 