Odd Names In The News

Odd Names In The News

Odd names in the news - In case you missed it, music power couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z just welcomed a baby girl and, like many celebs before them, named her something unusual. Between that and a strangely named Wisconsin man making the news lately, we compiled a list of some of the more unique names to make the news.

man call 911 fight a cop

man call 911 fight a cop

man call 911 fight a cop - Man allegedly makes strange 911 call, An Illinois man was arrested after he allegedly called 911 and said he wanted to fight a cop. When officers got to his home, they say he began pushing and shoving them, and he was taken to jail.

Bruce Jenner: Why Kendall and Kylie Might Skip College

Bruce Jenner: Why Kendall and Kylie Might Skip College

Since their first appearance on "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" in 2007, Kendall and Kylie Jenner have become stars in their own right, thanks to lucrative modeling campaigns and a thriving teen fashion empire.

PHOTOS: Kardashians as kids

When Us Weekly spoke to their father Bruce Jenner at the Performance 3D demonstration in New York on Monday, the 62-year-old Olympian admitted his girls' careers are so busy they may not pursue higher education.

"If they want to go to college, certainly, I think it's a good idea. But I'm not the advocate of, 'You've got to go to college!'" Bruce said. "I think by the time they graduate from high school, they will probably be in a position to go right to working."

10 Most Expensive Car Repairs

10 Most Expensive Car Repairs

Like real estate and relationships, cars require upkeep. If you neglect to change the oil, ignore the check-engine light or skip routine servicing, you're setting yourself up for a rude — and expensive — awakening. According to Art Jacobsen, vice president of CarMD.com, which publishes an online database of the most common and expensive check-engine-related automotive repairs, the key is to diagnose your car's problems early: "You've got to tackle it; address it when it's small, before it escalates." Here are the 10 most expensive vehicle repairs and what you can do to avoid them.10. Replace Turbocharger/Supercharger Assemblies
Turbochargers and superchargers help force air through the engine, allowing it to use more fuel, generate a bigger explosion in the cylinder and increase power. These devices typically operate at high rotational speeds, which make them vulnerable to damage and susceptible to heat. When they go bad, it can cost about $1,600 to replace them, with related repairs spiking the price by $700 to $3,000. If you're lucky enough to have a turbocharger or supercharger, you'll need to take care of it. "Make sure you have the right amount of oil in these units," Jacobsen says, noting that too much can be just as bad as, if not worse than, not enough.

9. Replace Torque Converter Assembly
The torque converter assembly is a hydraulic coupling between the engine and the transmission. It's similar to a clutch in that it allows you to come to a stop in an automatic-transmission vehicle without stalling the engine. But when the torque converter overheats, it can spring leaks and its parts can warp, and a busted torque converter may prevent you from starting — or more disastrously, stopping — your car. One way to avoid overheating this part, and incurring roughly $1,800 in repairs, is to not rev the engine while you have your foot on the brake.

Read: 9 Ways to Save on Car Maintenance

8. Replace Catalytic Converter
Catalytic converters, which detoxify exhaust emissions, are important when you're getting a smog check and if you care about your car's impact on the environment. Most are built to last for 15 to 20 years, and before they go kaput, there are plenty of warning signs. Two culprits are busted oxygen sensors and misfires, which happen when fuel catches fire as it passes through the engine. When a catalytic converter fails, it's pricey: Repairs can cost up to $2,692. It's the parts that are expensive, not the labor. "They contain platinum, palladium and rhodium — three of the most precious metals known to man," Jacobsen says.

7. Replace Hybrid Battery
A hybrid battery is often bundled with an integrated motor-assist battery, which charges it. Change one and you have to change both — to the tune of about $2,700. Because the technology is fairly new, it can be difficult to troubleshoot hybrid engines. "Hybrids are great, but when something goes wrong, you better have your checkbook ready," Jacobsen says. That's because there are a limited number of mechanics servicing hybrids and because parts are scarce. Hot weather in the South and Southwest taxes these batteries. To avoid repairs, you're best off driving them in mild climates.

Read: 9 Things to Know Buying Electric

6. Replace Injection Pump
A clogged injection pump, the device that delivers fuel into the engine's cylinders, is a relatively common problem for drivers, and the repair costs can vary widely. A Honda fuel pump might run a couple of hundred dollars and be straightforward to change. But in trucks and SUVs, the repair can cost upward of $2,900 because it's labor-intensive, requiring the mechanic to put the vehicle on a hoist and disassemble its rear. If you follow your vehicle's scheduled maintenance program and change the fuel filters regularly, your fuel pump should stay clog-free.

How Much Do Looks Matter in Presidential Politics?

How Much Do Looks Matter in Presidential Politics?

Ever since the first televised presidential debate in September 1960, when Richard Nixon was said to have been deemed the winner by Americans listening on the radio and John F. Kennedy was preferred by those watching TV, conventional wisdom has dictated that looks matter in politics. For decades political observers have pointed out that in presidential match-ups, it’s often the taller man who wins. In recent years, social and political scientists have begun looking seriously at this question, trying to quantify the effects of physical attractiveness in the lab. In presidential politics, does it help to look like Mitt Romney? Or, put another way, how much does Newt Gingrich’s face hurt him?
The answer will be disappointing to those who believe in the myth of the rational voter. Looks do indeed matter. But they don’t matter in exactly the way we thought—it’s not attractiveness alone that counts, but a cluster of traits people believe we can read into faces. It appears that voters, particularly those who aren’t paying much attention, don’t know much about politics, and don’t have strong partisan affiliations—which is to say, a solid number of Americans—operate like 19th-century phrenologists, believing on some not-quite-conscious level that that they can read a politician’s character by glancing at things like his eyebrows and jaw line.
For a long time, social scientists looked no farther than attractiveness when measuring the importance of candidate looks, and for good reason. Studies going at least as far back to the 1970s tended to show a positive correlation between handsomeness and how subjects assessed a candidate. Scholars sometimes reasoned that the attractiveness effect took place because voters without a lot of information about a candidate used good looks to infer other good qualities—a kind of “halo effect.” The beauty advantage makes intuitive sense because we see it in other, non-political arenas. Attractive people appear to benefit in all sorts of situations, like in the workplace and in legal situations. Heck, even babies are predisposed to focus on good-looking facesAnd then, in 2005, Princeton psychologist Alexander Todorov and colleagues published an astonishing study suggesting that beauty didn’t tell the whole story. Rather, voters appeared primarily drawn to faces that suggested competence—so much so that the effect could actually be seen in election results. In the lab, subjects glanced for a single second at the faces of congressional candidates. They didn’t know anything else about the candidates, and they didn’t recognize them. Almost 70 percent of the time, the face that subjects judged as more competent-looking actually won the election.
What does competence look like? Working with subjects rating photos of hundreds of faces, Todorov and colleagues have developed computer models of how faces can suggest character traits like trustworthiness and likability. The competent face shape is masculine but approachable, with a square jaw, high cheekbones, and large eyes. When people say Romney just looks presidential, this is the image they’re summoning.
Todorov and other psychologists believe that otherwise expressionless faces can appear to show emotion based on how they’re formed—the shape of the eyebrows can suggest anger, for instance, while a long distance between the eyes and the mouth can suggest sadness. On Todorov’s computer model of an incompetent face, beady, close-together eyes paired with high eyebrows suggest fearfulness, even through the face is expressionless. Todorov believes our tendency to read expression into neutral faces amounts to an “overgeneralization” of a healthy trait—human beings’ ability to judge others’ intentions from a brief glance. We need to know in an instant if the guy approaching us on the street poses a threat. Todorov has found that people make judgments about the faces of strangers after just 34 milliseconds of exposure to an image.

CELEBRITIES AT SUNDANCE 2012

CELEBRITIES AT SUNDANCE 2012

Kate Bosworth poses at the premiere of "Black Rock" during the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, on Jan. 21, 2012.

America's happiest workplaces

America's Happiest Workplaces

America's Happiest Workplaces - A 2012 survey by a job-information website suggests that employees want policies and programs that help them advance their careers.

kyle williams death threats

kyle williams death threats

kyle williams death threats Kyle Williams gets death threats, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver and punt returner Kyle Williams ( received death threats on Twitter, after fumbling the last punt of the game against the New York Giants  The fumble put the Giants in position for the game-winning field goal in overtime

Kid Inventors

Kid Inventors

Kid Inventors - Whiz kid inventors, If you thought kids were only good at inventing excuses to avoid chores, think again. These teens and tweens are the minds behind some revolutionary products from household staples to cool niche novelties to an entire method of communicating.

costa concordia discount

costa concordia discount

costa concordia discount Company offers shipwreck survivors a discount, Survivors of the Costa Concordia shipwreck  are being offered 30 percent off their next cruise with the company . Many of the passengers, however, are outraged at the cruise line's offer  They're planning to file a class-action lawsuit against the company this week

gang members arrested facebook

Gang members arrested facebook

Gang members arrested facebook - Suspects bragged about crimes on FB? Police arrested rival gang members connected to three slayings, based on what they were saying about the cases on Twitter and Facebook. The two gangs often had shoot-outs that led to the slayings. According to police, the gang members then bragged about the shootings on the social media sites.

johnny depp favorite actor

Johnny Depp named favorite actor

Johnny Depp named favorite actor, According to a new survey, mega movie star Johnny Depp, 48, is America's favorite actor . This is the second year in a row that Depphas finished on top of the survey. Actor Denzel Washington was the runner-up also for the second year in a row

Jenna von Oy expecting

Jenna von Oy expecting

Jenna von Oy expectingJenna von Oy to be a mom, "Blossom" star Jenna von Oy, 34 is expecting her first child in June  The actress and country singer married her husband in October 2010 and apparently surprised him with the news on their one-year wedding anniversary

man shoots change machine

Man shoots change machine

Man shoots change machine, Authorities in Winter Haven, Fla., are searching for a man they say shot a laundromat change machine in an attempt to steal money from it . Surveillance cameras show the man shooting at the machine several times and then taking off when he wasn't able to get any money

Sarah Burke medical bill

Sarah Burke medical bill

Sarah Burke medical bill Burke's family gets $550K medical bill, The family of Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke, 29, (get details on her death) is working to raise more than half a million dollars to cover her medical bills. Burke's (watch videos of her) accident apparently happened at an unsanctioned event that wasn't covered by her insurance (where was she at the time?). A fundraising website (find it) has been set up to help pay the huge costs.

The medical bill of Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke has been paid for by donors worldwide, according to a statement released by her family’s publicist.

Following Burke’s death on Thursday, two fundraising websites had been set up by the skier’s agent, Michael Spencer, with the goal of raising $550,000 to help the family cover “the enormous cost of Sarah’s recent medical care and to provide for other arrangements.”

As of Friday evening, donors had raised $249,396.

“Because of the donations in the last day, it is now clear that Sarah’s family will not have any financial burden related to her care,” Nicole Wool, the Burke family’s spokesperson, said in a statement issued Friday.The fundraising goal appears to be significantly more than the actual medical costs.

“Based on early estimates, total charges for Sarah’s care are expected to be approximately $200,000,” Wool said in the statement.

According to the statement, the family has yet to receive a bill from the University of Utah Hospital, where Burke died following more than a week of intensive care.

Further contributions to the Burke fundraising websites will be “used to establish a foundation to honour Sarah’s legacy and promote the ideals she valued and embodied,” Wool said in the statement.

Burke, who was 29, crashed on Jan. 10 in Park City, Utah, while training in the halfpipe at a private event organized by Monster Energy Drink.

The Olympic gold-medal hopeful and four-time Winter X Games champion suffered irreversible brain damage after the fall because of a lack of oxygen and blood to the brain.

It’s unclear what insurance coverage Burke had at the time of her death.

Wool was not available for comment and, when reached by phone, Spencer, her agent, declined to comment.

“I’m on the phone with my mom right now,” he said. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to my mom in three days.”

He did not return calls.

David Pym, manager of the Canadian Snowsports Association, said any athlete competing in sanctioned activities has full out-of-country medical and disability insurance.

“We are an extremely safe sport because we are very anal about what we allow our athletes to do,” said Pym. “What happened to Sarah is an absolute tragedy but an absolute rarity.”

Burke’s accident, however, happened at an unsanctioned event.

“This is the unfortunate part of this — it was third-party training activity that was being undertaken privately,” said Peter Judge, CEO of the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association. “They have to ensure those mechanisms are in place for that time period and event.”

Robert Hooper, director of client and financial services at Octagon, a management firm that represents athletes including swimmer Michael Phelps and halfpipe snowboarder Hannah Teter, said competitors in all major sports are usually required to carry their own personal disability insurance (to cover accidents) and life insurance (to cover death).

“When you look at someone’s financial situation you want to make sure they have adequate disability coverage and adequate life insurance protection as part of their financial plan,” said Hooper. “My take would be is that she (Burke) probably didn’t have extensive insurance programs in place.”

Some wondered whether Monster Energy Drink, which was hosting the private event, had any legal obligation to help Burke, one of their sponsored athletes.

Monster Energy Drink declined to comment.

“That’s our policy for everything,” said a Monster Energy Drink media relations agent who would give only her first name, Laura, for fear of being fired. “We don’t talk to the media.”

The company has yet to release an official statement.

Extinct dracula monkey

Extinct dracula monkey

Extinct dracula monkey Dracula-like monkey found again, Scientists have "rediscovered" a large, gray monkey so rare it was thought to be extinct . The animal , which has a black face and a fluffy, Dracula-like white collar, was seen in camera traps set up in the forest. Researchers were trying to get pictures of orangutans

katy perry russell brand twitter

katy perry russell brand twitter

katy perry russell brand twitter Katy Perry unfollows ex on TwitterSinger Katy Perry, 27, s no longer following her soon-to-be ex-husband, Russell Brand, 36, on Twitter. The two, who wed in October 2010 , announced their split last month So far, it appears Brand has not stopped following Perry

iran barbie dolls

iran barbie dolls

iran barbie dolls Iran cracks down on Barbie dolls, Dozens of toy shops in Tehran, Iran have been shut down for selling Barbie dolls . Police confiscated the dolls in a "new phase" of the country's Barbie ban enforcement . Religious leaders originally banned the doll in 1996, but the rule is now starting to be strictly enforced

Man survives nail brain

Man survives nail brain

Nail enters brain, man lives, Texas resident Dante Autullo survived a recent brush with death after a 3 ½-inch nail accidentally lodged in his brain . Autullo successfully underwent surgery, and awoke to find his concerned family watching over him.

Minnesota nativity goat found

Minnesota nativity goat found

Minnesota nativity goat found Missing Nativity goat found safe, A 3-year-old goat, who ran off during a Minnesota Nativity scene, has been found safe  showed up on his farm with his other animals. He says it appeared hungry, wet and cold and had lost weight

peta oj simpson house

peta oj simpson house

PETA wants O.J. Simpson's homeAnimal rights group PETA  is asking the bank that's foreclosing ex-NFL star O.J. Simpson's Miami home  to donate it to the group. PETA reportedly wants to turn the house into a vegetarian museum. PETA says it chose Simpson because he actively endorsed the consumption of meat

National Hug Day

National Hug Day

National Hug Day - Needing a hug, It's National Hug Day and, considering the bummers, blunders and low blows these folks have suffered lately, they could use any extra embraces you have to spare.
National Hug Day, Nowadays, with all the drama going on in this crazy but beautiful world, huggers are an endangered species. Let’s bring them back by participating in National Hug Day, spreading the love and joy. Hug your family and loved ones today and remember to do it more often from now on. If you’re not comfortable hugging strangers, simply share a handshake or high five. National Hug Day was created by Rev. Kevin Zaborney in 1986; it has since been celebrated annually and continues to grow internationally. Zaborney wanted to help people show their emotions in public and spread more love throughout America. The official National Hug Day website declared Ellen DeGeneres and Gloria A. Mecca the Most Needing a hug. 

National Hug Day or National Hugging Day is an annual holiday created by Rev. Kevin Zaborney. It occurs on January 21 and is officially recognized by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, but is not a public holiday. The holiday was founded on January 21, 1986 in Caro, Michigan, and has since spread to multiple countries. The purpose for the holiday is to help everyone show more emotion in public.There is only one way you are supposed to celebrate the holiday, offer a hug to anyone and everyone you want. While National Hug Day and the Free Hugs Campaign share many similarities, there is not actual association between the two. Whether you hug a family member or a stranger, the mental and physical health benefits are the same

Possum NYC subway

Possum NYC subway

Possum NYC subway - Possum causes NYC subway evacuation, Riding a New York City subway at 4 a.m. is bound to involve some strange sights. For passengers who spotted a wild possum there last week, it meant the end of the line, as the train was reportedly evacuated while animal-control officers tried to wrangle the critter.

SINNFREIER GIF DUMP

SINNFREIER GIF DUMP

Bis zum Wochenende dauert es nicht mehr lange. Um die Zeit zu überbrücken gibts hier wieder unseren animierten Gifdump

Notorious athlete divorces

Notorious athlete divorces

Before the fall Not all marriages are winners, as Vanessa and Kobe Bryant recently proved. Here are some more athlete unions that didn't make it.

pro golfer sex sting

pro golfer sex sting

pro golfer sex stingSteve Thomas busted in sex sting, PGA golfer Steve Thomas, 55,  was one of 40 men arrested in an undercover child sex sting operation . Police say Thomas arrived at a home with three condoms and chocolate pudding . He reportedly told officers he had planned to have sex with a mother and her 13-year-old daughter.

australia third shark attack

australia third shark attack

Australia has third shark attack, A man swimming in Australia is now the third person in less than three weeks to be attacked by a shark in the country . The country generally gets that many attacks in an entire year. The news comes just one day after a surfer was bitten by a bull shark near Sydney.

casey anthony strip club

casey anthony strip club

casey anthony strip club Casey Anthony offered new job?, A strip club in Florida  reportedly offered Casey Anthony, 25, a job by posting a message on its marquis. Anthony, who was accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter, is rumored to have moved into the area. Not everyone, however, is happy to hear that she is supposedly there

Most hated companies Facebook

Most hated companies Facebook

Most hated companies Facebook Facebook named most-hated company24/7 Wall St. has named the top 10 most-hated companies in America. Clocking in at No. 1: Facebook, the social media giant. Users complain of major changes forced on them and a lack of sufficient privacy controls.

jay z warren buffett

jay z warren buffett

jay z warren buffett Jay-Z throws star-studded party, Rapper Jay-Z, 42, hit the town to celebrate the reopening of his New York City club 40/40 . Among the many guests who attended were film director Spike Lee and multi-billionaire Warren Buffett. The event was Jay-Z's first public appearance since becoming a new dad

amy brumfield criminal past

amy brumfield criminal past

amy brumfield criminal past"Idol' hopeful has criminal past, American Idol" kicked off its 11th season this week, and it already appears one of its hopefuls, Amy Brumfield  has a criminal record. According to police, Brumfield, 24, who says she lives in a tent, has been arrested at least six times in the past seven years . No word if the news will hurt her chances on the show

Marcos Baghdatis racket

Marcos Baghdatis racket

Marcos Baghdatis racketTennis pro smashes four rackets in tantrum , It’s unclear what Cypriot tennis pro MarcosBaghdatis’ rackets did to earn his ire. But there’s no doubt that the athlete got his revenge on them. At Baghdatis’ match against Stanislas Wawrinka at the Australian Open this week, the fiery tennis star was videotaped breaking not one but four tennis rackets in a tantrum

Ron Paul hot air balloon traffic

Ron Paul hot air balloon traffic

Ron Paul balloon halts traffic, Supporters of Ron Paul  inflated a hot air balloon and let it hover on the edge of a busy highway. As traffic came to a grinding halt and backed up for miles, officials cited the Paul fans and told them to deflate the balloon

eva longoria tattoo

eva longoria tattoo

eva longoria tattoo, Eva Longoria gets tattoo removed,"Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria, 36, reportedly went through a procedure to have a tattoo removed from the back of her neck . The ink was a tribute to her ex-husband, NBA player Tony Parker, which referenced his jersey number. The two split in 2010and now Longoria is rumored to be dating another actress' younger brother

Braille Burgers

Braille Burgers

Braille burgers - Restaurant launches Braille burgers, A popular fast-food chain has created 15 different kinds of Braille burgers so that blind people can "see" their food. Each burger has a Braille message spelled out on the bu to describe the sandwich.

Air Jordan Shoe Collection Stolen

Air Jordan Shoe Collection Stolen

Air Jordan Shoe Collection Stolen - Man loses entire Air Jordan collection, A North Carolina man reported that his $10,000 collection of Nike Air Jordan shoes was stolen from his home. The man says he had been collecting the shoes since he was in middle school. He also says all of his baseball hats that matched the shoes were taken as well.

Govan School Transgender

Govan School Transgender

High School Teenager “Trapped In A Boy’s Body” Kicked Out Of School For Rockin’ Girly Gear To Class
Govan School Transgender - School 'expels' teen for dressing like girl, Seventeen-year-old Jaime Love is a boy who says he identifies more as a girl. His notoriously rough school, however, could apparently not abide the teen coming to class dressed in a skirt, tights, hair extensions and makeup; and this week school officials reportedly "expelled" the boy.

The Situation Lawsuit

The Situation Lawsuit

The Situation Lawsuit - 'Jersey Shore' star sued, “Jersey Shore” star Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino is being sued by clothing company Serious Pimp, which alleges that Sorrentino didn’t hold up his end of the bargain in a social-media promotion deal.

Angelina Jolie 6th Grade

Angelina Jolie 6th Grade

Angelina Jolie 6th Grade - 6th-grade Jolie video surfaces, Before "Tomb Raider," "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" and "In the Land of Blood and Honey," Angelina Jolie had "New York, New York".

Wu-Tang Clan FBI

Wu-Tang Clan FBI

Wu-Tang Clan FBI - Wu Tang Clan: shadow-boxing with GZA. Report: FBI snooped Wu-Tang Clan, Like countless other ‘90s-era rap groups, The Wu-Tang Clan’s lyrics are chock full of references to guns, drugs and murder. An old FBI file recently unearthed, however, shows that the FBI took the group at its word and was investigating one member nd the group as a whole for crimes often associated with the Italian Mafia.

Almost mythological in scope, the Wu-Tang Clan are a collaboration of nine MCs: RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, U-God, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa, with Cappadonna replacing the late legendary Ol’ Dirty Bastard in 2007.

The clan rarely appear with a line-up of all nine members live, and for this tour it appears as though RZA, GZA, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah and Inspectah Dek will be in attendance; nonetheless, it’s hard to believe these hip hop revolutionaries are finally making it to Australia, for the first time.

A founding member of Wu-Tang, GZA (Gary Grice, also known as The Genius) is one of the most successful and critically acclaimed members of the clan, his solo material highly revered by Wu fans – particularly his 1995 album Liquid Swords which he has recently been performing in its entirety in special solo dates around the country. GZA has moved in hip hop circles since it formed out of the primordial ooze of block parties in New York’s the Bronx. GZA was closely associated with the golden age of New York hip hop throughout the 1980s, before forming Wu-Tang with his cousins Ol’ Dirty Bastard and RZA in the early ‘90s.

Referring to these early days, GZA suddenly erupts into a quote from his 2002 song AutoBio “I was born, with the mic in my hand / Then I took it from Brooklyn, to the S.I. land / I pulled up on the block, got off the truck, it was the first of pit stops / The era of the spinnin’ top, around the birth of hip hop / That was somethin’, I had identified with / So I, made it my point to exploit this fly gift / then Myself and RZA, made trips to the B.X / A mass of ferocious MCs the talent of T-Rex / Giants in every ways, rap flows for every day / We knew we would get a reward with a price to pay / The basic training was beyond entertainin’ / Just the cadence of the verbal expressions, self explainin’.”

Living in Staten Island, New York, a young GZA would travel to The Bronx to hang out with his cousins, who were more “advanced” with the latest hip-hop trends.

“It was around ’76, about two years after the birth of it I think,” he explains. “Just think about it, that was 33 / 32 years ago! We had just started learning how to breakdance [in Staten Island], and my cousins who lived in the Bronx didn’t do it anymore. They were like ‘I don’t break anymore’, like it had already played out.”

Apparently their reason for abandoning this aspect of the hip hp culture was that they couldn’t use it to dance with girls. As GZA points out, luckily others in the Bronx kept breakdancing.

These early days were followed by the 1980s Golden Age of hip hop, based primarily in New York City around artists like Public Enemy, Run DMC, Eric B and Rakim – Rakim’s vocal stylings in particular were a profound influence on a young GZA.
“Some say the golden age was the ‘90s,” GZA counters, “I would say the ‘80s: ’85 to ’88, anywhere between ’85 and ’89, strongest point ’86 to ’88. I mean forget it!”

When GZA refers to hip-hop’s Golden Age he speaks almost exclusively about the east coast.
“I mean, that’s where I was living, I don’t really remember too many of the west coast rappers. I mean N.W.A of course,” he grins, “they were doing their thing and they were strongly represented, but I think they came a couple of years after.

Ice T was around in the ‘80s, but I don’t really know too much. I mean, lyrically Ice T was a developed artist, and respect to him, but I think lyrically and style-wise there is kind of no comparison [to east coast]. Take some song and compare that Microphone Fiend or Follow The Leader [both by Eric B. and Rakim, 1988], I mean I’m just going lyrically – I’m dealing with style, delivery and flow.”

Finally we get to Wu-Tang, and their position as revolutionaries in the evolution of hip-hop.
“I think we changed it,” GZA says simply. “We revolutionised it, Wu Tang as a group. I mean you have people come in certain eras that just do something for hip-hop that no one’s done: Rakim has done it. [Big Daddy] Kane has done it. Public Enemy has done it. Run DMC has done it. Run DMC is one of the greatest groups ever for me as far as production, musically.”

Despite a love for Run DMC, GZA says they weren’t great lyricists, as much as pioneers in the way they worked together, taking from what they did on the streets and managing to transform it to record.
“They had that street block party vibe, and aside from that they were the first to really take hip-hop to the next plateau. Run DMC were like the first hip-hop mega rap stars. I mean, you had Kurtis Blow and you had Melle Mel – Blow was the first rapper to be known, and the first to get on a major label – but Run were the first rappers to be in Rolling Stone magazine; they broke a lot of barriers.”

It seems the barriers broken by Run DMC allowed for Wu-Tang to build upon this tradition of east coast hip-hop and transform it into their own distinctive style with their 1993 debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36-Chambers), described by many as one of the most influential hip-hop albums of all time; paving the way for people like Biggie and Jay-Z.

GZA says he’s only now seeing this influence on a historical scale.
“Wu has two generations of fans. I run into kids who say ‘my mum’s raised me on Wu-Tang’,” he says proudly. He recently spoke to some kids while in Rhode Island on a solo tour, who told him that Liquid Swords was their favourite album of all time.

“I’m like ‘how old are you?’” Turns out the kids were fifteen years old. “‘You weren’t even born when I dropped it! You were in the womb’,” he laughs. “To me that’s a blessing. I’m having fun. I’m comfortable, I’ve raised children who love hip-hop, put them in school and bought them the best of things with something I did as a hobby.”

GZA stresses that he never got into hip-hop to make money.
“I never looked at it like that, I just liked to write and put rhymes together, it was just something I did, and it got to a point and it was like ‘yo, we can get money for this?’”

There’s been recent lyrical hostility between GZA and notoriously rich hip-hop artist 50 Cent. Conversing with fans at shows in London and New York in late 2007, GZA stated that Fifty had “a lot of money, but he ain’t got no lyrics”. When the statement found its way onto internet sites such as youtube, 50 Cent dissed GZA in the press, calling him “grandpa”. GZA responded by recording the track ‘Paper Plate’ on his latest album Pro Tools, implying Fifty’s lyrics are as disposable as a paper plate.

“He has shit to say,” argues GZA. “Rap is looked at as a young thing [by many] and people like Oprah Winfrey, who don’t care for rap, look at it as an immature thing, I think mainly because of the lyrical content. Also,” he continues, “a lot of rappers act childish and immature. It’s kind of ridiculous. I would judge an MC, rapper, or artist according to his lyrics and according to his flow, his delivery and what he’s rapping about; not according to his age. I don’t look my age, but you’ve got rappers twelve years younger than me and they look older than me. I’m not talking specifically about him – we probably look the same age!” he laughs. “I’m like eleven years older than this dude, but he’s calling me grandpa… How are you going to become too old for something you love to do?”

With that in mind, at the age of forty-three GZA shows no sign of calling it a day.
“I can deliver in a perfect pitch – I can deliver with a perfect flow. My writing is stronger than it’s ever been,” he nods. “I’m writing screenplays and graphic novels because I’m tired of putting so much work into songs and they don’t really see the light of day. [Wu-Tang] don’t have the machine that we used to have. I’m not on Geffen records, I’m not on MCA, I’m not on TV everyday, but I’m still fortunate enough to come out [to places like Australia]. Even with Wu-Tang, this dude who talks all the stupid shit – I won’t say his name – even with his hundreds of million dollars he’ll never have what Wu has.”

GZA believes that, with age, his lyrics are better than ever too. “My pen is stronger than ever, and I don’t use profanity,” the rapper points out. “That’s what rappers need to know what to do, they need to know how to tell that inner city story from the hood, know how to talk about ‘the guy that got shot’, ‘the girl that got raped’, ‘the guy that’s slinging drugs’ in a different way, where you can pull someone into the story with a vivid tale. That’s the difference between me and the average rapper that is running around thinking that it’s all good to be hard, and you’ve got to be gangsta because hip-hop has been made into some other shit.

“The difference is, their story would be: ‘I was chillin’ on the block / And I’m rolling with my glock / I’ll bash your brains out / I’m slinging crack / I’m making two-hundred thou’ a night.’”

The average rapper describes everything in a completely literal way and leaves nothing to the imagination. GZA contrasts this with version, saying it would be more like “I come from a place where they say death comes too soon / In the hood where the boys dance to a different tune / Every night and every day at hotels of foul play / That turns fatal in this hostile land of AKs / On any date if not wait they’re pumping rounds / The reminder it’s a murderous stomping ground.”

It’s obviously with a heavy heart that GZA sees much of mainstream hip-hop as taking a regression lyrically, where “lyrically songs from the ‘80s are slaying songs that we’re hearing now on radio.” At least with Wu Tang still around, there’s still some hope.

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Hulk Hogan has had major laser surgery on his spine after collapsing.

Hogan, who admitted he was living in constant pain, was seen on his daughter’s reality TV show in a Florida hospital after suddenly collapsing because his legs went numb.

Neurosurgeon Juan Uribe told him he had “serious problems” with his spine, and Hulk admitted the pain was “44-7″ and was so bad he could hardly stand up for more than a few minutes at a time.

“We’ll get you better,” his surgeon James St Louis told him. “You’re not going to be as you were when you were 20, but the idea is to get it better so you can get a better quality of life.”

The star insisted that he felt better almost immediately after the laser procedure.