Singer Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens) has had a rough year. “In September last year he was escorted off a flight from London to Washington and grilled by the FBI, which then deported him as a security threat. Since then, he has been wrongly accused of supporting terrorist groups by the Sunday Times and the Sun, who were last month forced to pay damages. “Ever since I became a Muslim, I’ve had to deal with attempts to damage my reputation and countless insinuations seeking to cast doubt on my character and trying to connect me to causes which I do not subscribe to,” he grumbled after the out-of-court settlement.”
Tag: 03.29.05
Big Mac: Product Placement In Rap Lyrics?
McDonald’s is “reported to be launching a campaign that will offer financial incentives to rap artists who mention its Big Mac burger in their lyrics. McDonald’s will not pay an upfront fee, but intends to pay the artist between $1 and $5 (53p-£2.68) each time a track is played on the radio. It hopes to have several such songs on the airwaves by the summer.”
Artist To Tow, Melt Iceberg Off Ireland
Rita Duffy, Northern Ireland’s foremost artist, plans to tow a giant iceberg from the Arctic and moor it off Belfast. She says “allowing it to melt is about ‘thawing’ a place locked in a political and emotional deep freeze where divisions are firmer than ever. ‘A huge big mountain of ice seems to be the most eloquent way of describing where we are. There is a certain type of madness in Northern Ireland society, a denial of what has happened to us. Maybe it’s time to come out of denial and confront what has sunk us’.”
Amazon’s Book Review Champion
Harriet Klausner is Amazon’s most prolific book review. “In terms of productivity (8,649 reviews as of mid-March) and the ability to turn out what the site calls helpful information, Ms. Klausner is in a league of her own.” She reads four or five books a day, and publishers have taken to sending her everything they publish in hopes of getting a thumbs-up…