RNC 2008: Renato heads to the convention
politics
thu 9/4/2008
All week long, Renato has been covering the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota for our upcoming News Special: Vote 4 UR Future 2008.
In this clip, Renato rushes out of the airport to meet Meghan McCain (John McCain's daughter) and runs into a Daddy Yankee look-alike. While lamenting the lack of celebs in Minnesota, Renato scores an interview with actress Rosario Dawson.
You could win the camera that was used to shoot this clip, see holamun2.com/wonka.
locked up?
daily dos
thu 9/4/2008

(image jetalone via flickr)
- While Akon prepares to go to trial for throwing a teenager offstage last year, gossip blogs are alleging he recently slapped a female concert-goer in South America.
- More than 200,000 U.S. school kids were hit by their teachers last year, according to a study by Human Rights Watch and the ACLU. The study concludes that black children in the South are more likely to experience corporal punishment than their white counterparts elsewhere in the U.S..
- Peanuts cartoon animator José Cuauhtemoc "Bill" Meléndez has passed away at age 91. The Mexican-born Meléndez was also the voice behind Peanuts characters Snoopy and Woodstock.
- Hit up some really bad beaches with the Nat-2 convertible high-tops slash sandals.
- México's finance minister says drug violence and kidnappings are preventing foreign companies from investing in the nation's economy.
Young Jeezy, The Game, Metallica, Jonas Brothers and Solange
the music press
wed 9/3/2008
- The ATL's Young Jeezy drops his highly-anticipated third album, The Recession. "Previously criticized for strange rhymes and repeating lines, Jeezy delivers some great turns of phrase," commends Billboard.com. "Jeezy’s improvement as a lyricist is obvious. It’s almost hard to believe that there was a time when the highlights of his songs were his adlibs," gushes Vibe magazine, adding, "the Snowman has proven he won’t melt under the pressure of flashing lights."
- Beef-loving L.A. rapper The Game releases LAX, his follow-up to the platinum Doctor's Advocate. The Los Angeles Times thinks it misses the mark: "The Compton-raised rapper's conservative inclination to stick to the gangsta tropes of money, drugs and guns feels limiting at times, as does the album's bloated 1-hour-and-16-minute running time." URB magazine begs to differ: "Sure, it turns into some serious namedropping (almost always), but it’s also the reason why he’s three-for-three in the category of dope, dope records."
- After a five-year hiatus, veteran metalheads Metallica return with Death Magnetic, an album that is "the musical equivalent of Russia's invasion of Georgia — a sudden act of aggression from a sleeping giant," according to Rolling Stone. Music blog The Quietus says Death Magnetic "rinse[s] away the painful memories of watching Some Kind Of Monster, [which shows] Metallica as a bunch of whining, apron tied clowns with no social skills."
- Tween superstars Jonas Brothers release A Little Bit Longer. Entertainment Weekly gives it a "B+" and congratulates: "Assuming each generation gets the teen idols it deserves, then today's kids must have done something good — God knows what — to have merited the Jonas Brothers." Blender gives the trio 4 out of 5 stars for its feel-good pop-rock: "Becoming a teenager is confusing and scary. The Jonases offer a friendly road map."
- Solange Knowles attempts to shake the "Beyoncé's little sister" tag with Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams, "a peppy album, rich with thumping horns, crisp percussion and light piano melodies." Despite a whiff of praise, The New York Times concludes "Solange can’t quite keep up." Allmusic disagrees, calling it "one of the year's more entertaining and easily enjoyable R&B releases," because it's "fronted by … someone who is slightly more concerned with raw emotion and clowning around than technical prowess and polished product."
white tee tri
daily dos
wed 9/3/2008

(image by ++Frank++ via flickr)
- México's national soccer federation is asking fans to wear white during México's World Cup qualifying match this Saturday versus Jamaica. The gesture follows a week of anti-crime rallies throughout México in which thousands wore white to protest drug violence and kidnappings. "El Tri" will also wear white on the field instead of its customary green home jersey.
- Talk the talk and walk the walk with Barack Obama and John McCain-themed flip-flops. (via Guanabee)
- Listen to Birdman, Rick Ross, T-Pain and Glasses Malone rap about life in the fast lane in a new track, “Sun Come Up.”
- Microsoft has announced it will cut the price of its Xbox 360 video game consoles starting Friday.
- Screenshots from the new live-action Dragonball Z movie are leaving fans... underwhelmed. (via Kotaku)
- Is the electronic game Arm Wrestle Mania a subliminal commentary on relations between white and brown Americans? (via Nerd Approved)
Aliados De La Sierra
whodat
tue 9/2/2008
Only two years in the game, Aliados De La Sierra have enjoyed a quick rise to the top of the duranguense scene. But their beef with fellow Chicago natives Alacranes Musical has left many of their fans divided.
In early 2007, ex-Alacranes vocalist Sergio "Hershey" Federico and drummer Adan Cervantes formed Aliados along with keyboardist Eduardo Navar of Brazeros Musical. The band was later rounded out by vocalist Jose Luis Muro, multi-instrumentalist Roberto Tello, saxophonist Pedro Celis and Juan Alfredo Rosas on tambora. The "splinter" group released its debut Con Los Ojos Cerrados and scored instant hits with covers of two love songs, Te Amo and the album's title track, originally made popular by pop-roquera Gloria Trevi.
But the band soon became fodder for gossip TV when Federico and Navar got into a fistfight with four members of Alacranes Musical at a Los Angeles hotel – and in the middle of an industry gathering. Head Alacrán Memo Ibarra credits the scuffle with helping the former bandmates patch up: "We fixed things, we sat down and talked about it... everything turned out OK."
Curiously, only two months after dropping their debut, Aliados released their Greatest Hits – a live album recorded in Chicago. After touring the U.S. and México, the group are currently working on their sophomore studio release.
super friends
daily dos
tue 9/2/2008
- Listen to "Swagger Like Us," a new song by T.I. featuring Kanye West, Jay-Z and Lil Wayne.
- The U.S. housing crisis, part of the current economic downturn, has increased the number of public school students who qualify for free meals. Paying for additional meals has put a strain on many school districts attempting to reduce costs in light of budget cuts.
- Stressed out moms may be contributing to childhood obesity.
- The U.S. men's soccer team is making its first trip to Cuba in over 50 years this weekend to play in a qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup.
- Metallica goes to war in a new eight-minute video, "The Day That Never Comes." (via Stereogum)
- Sackboy, the cute brown doll from the forthcoming PS3 video game Little Big Planet, stars in his very own trailer.
The Game vs. T.I.
versus
mon 9/1/2008
| name | Jayceon Terrell Taylor. | Clifford Joseph Harris, Jr. |
| hometown | Los Angeles, California. | Atlanta, Georgia. |
| birthdate | November 29, 1979. | September 25, 1980. |
| style | West Coast hip hop. | Southern hip hop. |
| also known as | Hurricane Game, Murda Game and Chuck Taylor. | T.I.P., Rubberband Man and King of the South. |
| got nickname from | His grandmother. | His grandfather. |
| powered by | Dr. Dre. | L.A. Reid. |
| signature look | Fitted hat, tank top and Converse All-Stars. | Sunglasses, slick jacket and dog tags. |
| debut album | The Documentary (2005). | I'm Serious (2001). |
| killer collab | Hate It Or Love It with 50 Cent. | What's Yo Name with Pharrell. |
| as seen in | Street Kings. | American Gangster. |
| beef | Rivalries with Death Row Records, Roc-A-Fella Records and 50 Cent. | Dissed Lil' Flip, Shawty Lo, 50 Cent and punched Ludacris' manager. |
| legal troubles | Charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. | Under house arrest for posession of illegal firearms (machine guns). |
| most recent release | LAX. | Paper Trail. |
| the critics | Hip Hop DX: "The Game is 50 Cent. He's Tupac, Biggie, Jay-Z, Nas, or Jadakiss. He's the gangsta rapper of right NOW for a generation that demands its own ghetto soldier, someone who has lived a life to which they can escape." |
Rolling Stone: "T.I. rhymes about the perks and pains of megastardom, and flashes Glocks in order to remind us he's still street, all the while darkening and amping up his sound with a king's ransom of keyboard-driven bangers." |
| webprops | 685,099 friends on official MySpace. | 2,066,292 friends on official MySpace. |
| best video moment | Living the hard life with Lil Wayne in My Life. | Offering the world to a girl in Whatever You Like. |
phew!
daily dos
mon 9/1/2008

(image by Maitri via flickr)
- The Department of Homeland Security sought to assure undocumented immigrants evacuating Louisiana because of tropical storm Gustav that there are "no immigration enforcement operations, and there are no immigration enforcement checkpoints associated with the evacuations."
- Flex says he plans to record duets with Rihanna, Juan Luis Guerra, Wisin & Yandel, Sean Kingston and Daddy Yankee for his next album.
- John McCain's pick for vice-president, Sarah Palin, reveals her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant.
- Diddy thinks John McCain is "buggin the f%^k out" for picking Sarah Palin as his running mate.
- Punk's not dead – it's alive and kicking in Cuba, Iran and China. Related: the Cuban punk rocker previously detained on charges of dangerousness has been released but fined for playing too loud.
Bryan, Gugliemi, Dash, Melendez and Wong Ulrich
halfsie or fullsie
sun 8/31/2008
You may have wondered: are they? A little?
Well, yes. Yes, they are.
Sabrina Bryan
Age: 23
Actress-singer best known for her work with The Cheetah Girls and her appearance on "Dancing With the Stars."
Halfsie: Mexican father.
Noel Gugliemi
Age: 38
Actor-comedian known for playing a cholo in Training Day, Bruce Almighty, Street Kings, Harsh Times, S.W.A.T., etc, etc.
Halfsie: Italian father and Puerto Rican-Mexican mother.
Stacey Dash
Age: 42
Actress known for appearances in the movie Clueless and music videos like Kanye West's All Falls Down.
Halfsie: West Indian father and Mexican mother.
John Melendez
Age: 42
Formerly "Stuttering John" from the Howard Stern Show. Currently the announcer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Fullsie: Puerto Rican.
Carmen Wong Ulrich
Age: 36
Host of CNBC's finance show "On the Money" and author of Generation Debt: Take Control of Your Money.
Fullsie: Dominican-American.
round two
daily dos
sun 8/31/2008
- The beef between Ivy Queen and Residente of Calle 13 continues. Ivy Queen: "My 15-year career isn’t going to be tainted by someone that is always on a mushroom trip."
- Director Brett Ratner says he wants to make a movie based on the video game Guitar Hero – did he hear about the Facebook movie?
- "Welcome to the Jungle," the classic Guns N' Roses track, turns out to be an ode to the Latino neighborhood of Washington Heights in New York City.
- T.I. addresses the haters in a new video, "What Up."
- R&B singer Robin Thicke says VIBE magazine won't put him on its cover because he's white.
- Check out a photo gallery featuring 20 of the World's Weirdest Endangered Species. (via Neatorama)