Shaggy can beat up Superman. You can play as Goku wielding an assault rifle in Fortnite. Nicolas Cage can hide from Freddy Krueger in Dead by Daylight.
And yesterday, Call of Duty, never one to be outdone, has revealed that music icon Nicki Minaj is going to be playable in multiplayer mode Warzone, complete with sparkly pink gun! Wow!
Ukraine's President [V]olodymyr [Z]elenskyy on Friday signed a law moving the official Christmas Day holiday from January 07 to December 25 – in a break with the Russian Orthodox church, which celebrates it on January 07.
Interestingly, in December, the government launched a poll asking citizens whether the date for Christmas should be moved to December 25. Only 59% of the more than 1.5 million people who voted supported such a move.
Eminem (right) is my favorite rapper. Since making his debut on the worldwide stage with 'My Name Is', Eminem has had 22 Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, with 5 of them reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. In total, a massive 90 songs made it to the Billboard Hot 100.
With an impressive fan following, he is renowned for his speedy yet witty rapping abilities. But do you know how good he is in numbers?
The stuff of urban legend, there was always that one person in your university halls who believed that being able to rap Eminem's 'Rap God' was a personality trait, a party trick that would be brought to life at each event over the course of the following three years. And somehow, people never seem to tire of this impressive feat.
The 2013 hit, 'Rap God', saw Eminem rap 97 words in no less than 15 seconds, equating to 6.46 words per second. This however would later appear to be a modest achievement compared to his later work.
Half a decade later, Eminem broke his own record in 2018 as a guest on Nicki Minaj's 'Majesty' with a mouthful of 78 words in 12 seconds, 6.5 words per second.
Seemingly not satisfied with the already award-winning speed of his lyrics, Eminem pushed even further, revealing 225 words across a 30 second segment, meaning that an incredible 7.5 words per second left the rapper's mouth on 2020’s track, 'Godzilla'. And thus, creating the title of the fastest rap in a No.1 single on January 25, 2020, recognized by Guinness World Records.
If you fancy listening for yourself to marvel at his talents, the verse in question begins with the line “Fill ‘em with the venom and eliminate ‘em” at 2 minutes and 57 seconds into the track and concludes with the line “I’m not afraid to pull the…” at 3 minutes 27 seconds.
Including the section of verse three from the line “Trigger happy, pack heat, but it’s black ink” (from 2 minutes 45 seconds), Eminem spits out 284 words in 42 seconds, creating an average of 6.76 words per second and claiming victory previously held by 'Majesty' and 'Rap God'.
In total, the 3 minutes, 31 seconds long track 'Godzilla' contains 959 words throughout its duration, an average of 4.54 words per second.
This is considerably less than the 1,560 words that appear in the 6 minutes, 4 seconds long 'Rap God' which still holds the title for the most words in a hit single.
Anyway, 'Godzilla' graces Eminem's 2020 chart-topping album 'Music to be Murdered by' and features the late Juice WRLD in the chorus.
On January 30, 2020, the song debuted at No.1 on the UK's Official Singles Chart and when the album also debuted at No.1 in the same week, resulting in a UK chart double. This is Eminem's 9th consecutive studio album to make it to the top in the UK charts.
You should also know that cumulative “Godzilla” streams from all streaming platforms have surpassed way beyond 1 billion.
Here’s Mikey Bustos (left)– full name Michael John Tumanguil Pestano Bustos – again! If you’re not familiar with him, he’s a Filipino Canadian singer and comedian who has appeared on the reality television show Canadian Idol – and now based in Manila, Philippines.
I had featured him twice in my blog from the posts dated July 02 and 09, 2019, where he attempted parodies of Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury respectively.
This time, he’s presenting his parody rendition of Nicki Minaj’s song Anaconda which he titled I Love to Eat Balut:
Balut, a Filipino delicacy, is a hard boiled duck egg. More specifically, it is a duck fetus that is developed enough to have a beak, feathers and eyes – and devoured straight from the shell.
Balut is popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac and often regarded as an energy booster.
Anyway, I am also sharing Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda" hit song from August 2014 and if you didn’t know, the Vevo video racked up 19.6 million clicks on its first day of release:
She's absolutely awesome!
I'm sure you already know that Nicki Minaj's (right) been nominated for 10 Grammys, won five MTV Video Music Awards and broken the record for the most Billboard Hot 100 entries by a solo female artist. On Sunday, Liverpool deservedly beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 at Anfield – but they had to come from behind to secure the priceless three points. They played well for large spells and they dominated the game even – but they fell to a first-minute goal. And at full-time, they had just two goals to show. Jordan Henderson finished well to equalize in the fifty-second minute and Mohamed Salah won it from the penalty spot in the seventy-fifth minute, following a foul on Sadio Mane. The victory takes Liverpool back to six points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table.
For celebrities, the annual Met Gala is a perfect opportunity to show the world how famous, fashionable and flamboyant they are.
I find it all very loud – but even so, Lady Gaga seemed able to surpass everybody else!
Anyway, on Monday, Mother Monster walked the Met Gala 2019 carpet in four different outfits:
Image credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Lady Gaga showed wearing a Brandon Maxwell gown, featuring billowing sleeves, a full skirt, and a breathtaking cape. Never one to shy away from high drama, she topped the look off with a matching bow fastened to her platinum hair as she glided down the red carpet shielded by a flurry of black umbrellas.
Naturally, her makeup was just as eclectic, with long needle-like pieces protruding from her eyelashes, an attention-grabbing cat eye, and hot pink lipstick to match her gown.
But she wasn't done there – in fact, she had just started.
She soon removed her magenta gown to reveal a black strapless dress with a full skirt. For this look, she held her own corresponding umbrella, looped around her wrist like a bracelet.
Lady Gaga's third outfit was just as memorable: a skin-tight Barbie pink dress with spaghetti straps, in which she posed while holding a giant retro cell phone. With a set of oversized Linda Farrow sunglasses, she was full Old Hollywood glam with a side of 1980's drama.
For her fourth and final act, she stripped down to a matching black bra and underwear set, which she paired with sheer stockings and, surprisingly, lace-up stiletto boots. She posed with a gold and pink hat-filled wagon, reading "Haus of Gaga" across the front – perhaps a nod to her new beauty line?
It was truly the pièce de résistance of the entire look... or should we say looks. Leave it to Lady Gaga to turn the Met Gala red carpet into her own incredible performance.
The Met Gala is held every May in New York, USA to celebrate the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's latest exhibition, with guests asked to dress to match the theme.
This year's exhibition is Camp: Notes on Fashion, and guests were encouraged to be as theatrical and colorful as possible.
Speaking ahead of the Gala on Monday, the exhibition's head curator Andrew Bolton said: "In the end, the purpose of camp is to put a smile on our faces and a warm glow in our hearts”.
Whatever he may want us to believe, methinks it is nothing more than a fancy dress party for the fabulously rich.
The 2018 MTV Video Music Awards held on August 20, 2018 was meant to honor the best in the music video medium.
[Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category), the annual MTV Video Music Awards ceremony has often been called the "Super Bowl for youth", an acknowledgment of the VMA ceremony's ability to draw millions of youth from teens to 20-somethings each year].
Of course, this year, MTV naturally wanted to eulogize the legendary Aretha Franklin. Like it or not, Franklin’s death on August 16 has overshadowed the 60th birthday of another seminal artist, Madonna.
MTV thought they were being very clever when they made the bizarre decision to take out two birds with one stone – they invited Madonna to present a paean to Franklin (left) while also presenting the Video of the Year Award.
And what we got was a Madonna monologue about Madonna – not what we were expecting! I'd better not generalize – it should be "not what I was expecting".
You must GO TO THE BBC LINK below and check out the self-indulgent tribute to Franklin where the Queen of Pop gave herself massive airtime and the Queen of Soul only a passing mention:
Aretha Louise Franklin (right), whose gospel-rooted singing and bluesy yet expansive delivery earned her the title "the Queen of Soul" died at her Detroit home Thursday. She was 76.
Over the course of a professional career that spanned more than half a century, Franklin's songs not only topped the charts but became part of the vernacular. Nicki Minaj called her "an icon of all icons".
The first woman admitted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, she had 88 Billboard chart hits during the rock era, tops among female vocalists. And at the peak of her career – from 1967 to 1975 – she had more than two dozen Top 40 hits.
Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All Time. These are my favorites from her voluminous collection:
"Thank you" just doesn't cut it. It's sadly inadequate.
I don't know what else to say – but Rest In Peace. And Joy, Aretha.
Celtic will not play in the Champions League group stage for the first time during Brendan Rodgers' tenure – thanks to AEK Athens winning 2-1 (aggregate 3-2) on Tuesday.
Four days later, they put aside their disappointment when they beat Partick Thistle 3-1 in the Scottish Cup second round on Saturday.
Hip-hop star Nicki Minaj (right) is promising to pay university tuition for dozens of fans after a promotional contest metamorphosed over Twitter.
Minaj’s transformation into educational benefactor took place when she unveiled a contest of the sort popular among celebrities seeking an online buzz.
Minaj invited her twenty million Twitter followers to make their own videos for one of her new songs for a chance to win a trip to Las Vegas, USA to see her perform at the Billboard Music Awards this month.
But when one respondent said she would rather have help paying tuition, Minaj agreed.
“Show me straight A’s that I can verify with your school and I’ll pay it. Who wants to join THAT contest!! Dead serious,” she tweeted.
Minaj soon had made promises in response to more than 30 tweets seeking help paying university tuition, which can be notoriously expensive in the US, or to cover student loans or textbooks.
Generous Nicki Minaj! Respect!
Minaj, who was born in Trinidad and raised in New York, won a spot at the city’s prestigious public LaGuardia High School for aspiring artistes and did not go on to university.
In March, the 34-year-old Minaj surpassed Aretha Franklin as the female artiste who has had the most songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart of top US singles.
Minaj has landed 76 songs on the chart after releasing three singles in March, including her latest collaboration with superstar Drake.
Forbes magazine estimated that Minaj earned $20.5mil (RM86.1mil) in the 12 months to June 2016, making her the only woman among the year’s richest hip-hop artistes.
On Saturday, I was a speaker at Dr. Devi Menon's workshop "The Power of Language" organized by
DivisIon D, District 102. My speech title: The Art of Speaking.
I believe it was a really good speech. What's more, it was impromptu.
Check out the bold, bare-breasted outfits Nicki Minaj wore at the Paris Fashion Week Fall 2017 (Women’s) from February 28 to March 08!
Immediately, it drew comparisons to Lil Kim‘s similar bold, bare-breasted 1999 MTV Video Music Awards ensemble, and to a lesser extent, Janet Jackson’s infamous wardrobe malfunction at Super Bowl 38 in 2004.
But the Queens star took to Instagram on Sunday and hinted that the inspiration for the outfit came from famed artist Pablo Picasso.
In fact, she posted an image of Picasso’s La Femme à l’Éventail painting, which featured a female subject with her left breast exposed.
One way to protest irresponsible environmental practices is by using the medium of rap music.
In India, corporate giant Hindustan Unilever found themselves pitted against an unlikely opponent last week: a YouTube video titled Kodaikanal Won't, modelled on Nicki Minaj's hit song Anaconda.
The video called out the company for allegedly dumping toxic mercury in the soil and the water in Kodaikanal, a city in southern India in 2001. Fourteen years later, Unilever have still done nothing to clean up the contamination and compensate their workers and families. But forty-five people have died and more than five hundred people were adversely affected.
The song was written and performed by Chennai-born rapper Sofia Ashraf and set to Nicki Minaj's “Anaconda”.
The video attracted over two million views and the protest rap caught the attention of both local and international media – more so, when Minaj responded on Twitter with a “shout out”.
The company shouldn’t pretend the issue didn’t exist – regretfully, they came out with a lame statement saying that safety is their "number one priority". They even claimed that studies showed there had been "no adverse impact" on Kodaikanal's environment, except in some of the factory premises.
Unilever are in denial. They talk big about corporate social responsibility but you and I know that this is nothing but a big lie!
I should do my part even if I am in Malaysia. Boycott Unilever products – until they (1) express remorse and (2) take remedial action!
On Monday, I was at the Sime Darby Healthcare Toastmasters meeting. Sure, there were only eight of us but we still had a decent meeting. And I delivered CC #9 – my first speech in nearly two weeks! I would score this meeting a 5.5 over 10.
Colleague and friend, Adrian Nathai recommends this Nicki Minaj number “Pound the Alarm” because the music video features his home country Trinidad and Tobago. Damn, those gals are hot!
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said yesterday allegations against Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud that he illegally amassed humongous sums of money have been over-politicised and the commission should be allowed to continue its scrutiny without interference. The probe into alleged corruption over timber concessions began in June last year, following a move by the Swiss anti-corruption agency to freeze Taib's assets.
MACC boss Abu Kassim Mohamed sure loves to crap. With Teoh Beng Hock, MACC was so super-efficient that they hounded him to death for a paltry sum of RM2,500! With Taib, they plod along at their own sweet time so much so that I am unlikely to expect to see any outcome in my lifetime!
ROTFL! I believe I will see pigs fly before action is taken against Taib!
Yesterday, at the MidValley Toastmasters meeting, I had a good time listening to speeches and evaluations. It is a warm feeling to be at their meeting because there’s always learning to do and experiences to share. Ainsley Tan (Money & You Toastmasters Club) was a first-time General Evaluator and she gave sharp critical insights on the conduct of the meeting – I found this fitting because she was just being honest. And yes, I did enjoy the meeting and it deserves a 7.5 out of a 10.
