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Guess Who's Back ... Back Again?

Lost in the hoopla over Miley Cyrus's, um, thing at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday was Eminem's announcement of his next album: "The Marshall Mathers LP 2." A little over 24 hours later, he dropped the second single from the album, "Berzerk."

ND Football Preview - The Scenic Route

Ah yes, the sportsball games approach.

On Kendrick Lamar's 'Control' Verse

It was just one verse. One verse. It's not on an album. It's not on the radio. It's not even his own song. But, somehow, he caught everyone's attention. He had the crumbling world of rap crying: All hail King Kendrick. It was just one verse, yet it jumpstarted Twitter, blew up the internet and will continue to feed blogs for the rest of the year until he wins the Grammy for Album of the Year. What Kendrick Lamar did in one verse has never been done before. He's rebuilding the allure of rap while reincarnating the lore of Pac and Big. The amount of response verses and disses that immediately burst from the underground, home studios and labels alike is unmatchable. The lucid passion and rising anger of a 26-year old whose only studio album just went platinum has drawn a quick response and the ire of vets Lupe Fiasco, Joell Ortiz and Joe Budden along with the younger generation of rap like Joey Bada$$ and B.o.B. Who in history has drawn that sort of response, that sort of reaction? Not from individuals but from rap itself. In his "Control" verse, Kendrick condemns the poppy trends that have led to the decay of rap with trifling Macklemorian verses and "Molly" club bangers from across the board. What Kendrick did is pull the dying art over his back, and pull it up single-handedly while calling on his peers. Rap fans put too much focus on who he didn't mention, when they are just missing the real point. We're tired of sitting around and watching rap fall. It's time to do something about it and it starts with a ceremonial call to action. And here Kendrick does that. He wants the new generation to step up, or let this art fall by the wayside. He doesn't care if you're his friend or if you share his song. He's here to win. It's the ultimate competition, something along the majestic lines of Bird vs. Magic: the fiercest competition on the court and the best of friends off it. That's how rap used to be, coast-to-coast, lyric-to-hook. And that's where Kendrick Lamar wants it to return. The way he did it: stunning. The culture he brought back to life: legendary. All hail King Kendrick.

Clearing the air

We were all gone for a whole summer and some of us were abroad last spring, which raises the question, how did you get by without hearing our opinions? Well, we figured it'd be a good idea just to get out everything we feel we need to say about the last few months in the pop culture world, and get a fresh start on the school year.

Breaking Back into 'Breaking Bad'

"My name is Walter Hartwell White. I live at 308 Negra Arroyo Lane, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 87104. This is my confession." This is how the story of the legendary Heisenberg ends. On January 20th, 2008, southern gentleman/mastermind Vince Gilligan introduced the world to "Breaking Bad" and the beginning of one chemistry teacher's descent into fortune, darknes, and destruction. As a severely over-qualified chemistry teacher working two jobs to support his growing family at the age of 50, the life of Walter White (Bryan Cranston) spirals out of control with one devastating piece of news. "Lung cancer. Inoperable..." Walter mindlessly repeats back to his doctor in the pilot episode, followed by muttering his low chances of survival. Between his medical bills and the threat of his impending demise, what can a man do to support his family? The solution becomes clear to him after being exposed to the potentially substantial profits of cooking meth and an opportunity rises to form partnership with a former student turned delinquent, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul - aka greatest "Price is Right" contestant of all time). "You know the business," Walter tells Jesse to reach an understanding, "and I know the chemistry." After purchasing an RV to quietly cook meth in the New Mexico deserts, Jesse learns that Walt not only knows the chemistry, but also makes the highest purity methamphetamine the state of New Mexico has ever seen. After adopting the alias "Heisenberg," and adding a "colorful" twist to his meth formula, Walt begins to learn of the darkness inside of him and what he is truly capable of. "I like to think of chemistry as the study... of change," Walt tells his class in the pilot episode, or rather "growth, decay, then transformation." While these words were directed to explain the science of chemistry, they more importantly foreshadow the journey of Walter White: the first character on television to (mentally) change from one man into another. This is an average man who has thrown himself into from a mild-mannered lifestyle into one of the most dangerous and deceptive businesses on earth. Now throw in marital troubles (that's putting it lightly) with his wife Skyler (Anna Gunn), a growingly estranged son with a love for breakfast (RJ Mitte), a brother-in-law DEA agent on Heisenberg's trail (Dean Norris), a sleazy yet loveable lawyer (Bob Odenkirk), kleptomaniac sister-in-law with an obsession of the color purple (Betsy Brandt), and a badass senior citizen who knows his way around a gun (Jonathan Banks). There's also murder, arson, roof pizza, Pontiac Aztek's, magnets ("yeah, magnets!"), exploding cars, exploding octogenarians, exploding tortoises, lots of coughing, train heists, countless revengeful Hispanic adversaries, and a lot of fun with science ("yeah, science!"). Enough with the recap - let's get into what's really important: how's it all going to end? We're thre3 weeks in to the final season and so far, there's no clear sight of the fate of any character on the show. Fans have dissected "Breaking Bad" from beginning to end and, thanks to"BuzzFee" and the rest of the internet, we've been introduced to some captivating theories - but it's all speculation at this point. Every episode has taken an unexpected turn and continues to deliver excellent performances and storytelling. We were promised an extraordinary final season to this iconic AMC series, and so far, "Breaking Bad" has fully delivered that promise. Will the "one who knocks" finally have what's coming to him? Will anyone have a happy ending to this story? We'll have to wait another fiv5 weeks to find out. Until then, just sit back and enjoy the ride. And if you haven't started watching, shame on you and spend the next several weeks binge watching on your roommate's Netflix account. Contact Will Neal at wneal@nd.edu

On Kendrick Lamar's 'Control' Verse

Kendrick Lamar's music, in general, sounds like bad cartoon characters rhyming over nails-on-a-chalkboard beats. All right, that might be a bit aggressive. He's not, say, the AlanisMorrissette of hip-hop. "Swimming Pools" is a solid song and his verse on A$AP Rocky's "F***ing Problems" is not only straight fire, it gave us the most creative combined usage of the sounds "Dih" and "Deh." But as for the G.O.A.T. claims and the critics calling his latest album, "good kid, m.A.A.d. city" one of the greatest rap albums of all time, get out of my face. I'm not a music critic in the slightest, but to me, he's hip-hop's answer to Arcade Fire or Kings of Leon; somebody who sounds different enough to allow "true" genre fans to love him and lord their knowledge and fan hood of hip-hop over the masses of idiots who think music is "just for the radio" or "just to enjoy." All of which leads me to this discussion of his verse on "Control," Big Sean's latest attempt to get hype for his upcoming album. It's a lackluster song overall, and won't be released with his album due to apparent sampling issues. Lamar's verse is ostensibly a "shots fired" call-out of rappers he considers beneath him. First, he sets himself on the level of Jay-Z, Nas, Eminem and Andre 3000. He then proceeds to cast the ultimate hip-hop insult of "you're not as good as me so don't even try" upon a bunch of recent upstart rappers and Drake. Drake is the biggest name of the group, but is also clearly the least likely musician on the face of the earth to try and answer back to something like this. Oh, and before he disses all of these rappers, he makes sure to say that he's friends with all of them so that their feelings don't get too hurt. I don't know too much about hip-hop, but I don't think friendly rivalries were always a big part of it. It sounds aggressive, but on closer look it's really pretty lukewarm. But because of his status as the Hipster King of Hip-Hop (that's an insult, just fyi), this verse will likely draw grandiose and hyperbolic praise despite it's thinly veiled averageness. And somewhere, Tupac rolled over in his grave (or Puerto Rican hammock) in disgust.

A look at summer movies and television

It's been a memorable summer. Maybe you traveled abroad, took on a part-time job or internship or just sat on your couch making full use of your Netflix account and watching five seasons of "Breaking Bad." Whatever you pursued during the summer months, time to face the music: it's over. Reflecting on the summer's highs and lows always provides a nice concluding note, but unfortunately, I only know how to talk about movies and TV, so I'll stick with that. 

Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival brings 'Richard III.' to the stage

Combine the sarcasm, selfishness and style of Chuck Bass and a strong dose of power-hungry, medieval villainy, and you get Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival's "Richard III."  

To The Freshman

Congratulations!

Wicked' to play in South Bend

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Keeping it simple: quick and easy recipes with flavor

Gourmet Grilled Cheese

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#thirdworldsolutions to #firstworldproblems

After studying in Ifrane, Morocco, for a semester, I am now able to offer solutions to some of my friends' greatest #firstworldproblems. Some real, some edited and some fictional, these are common tweets I now have sufficient experience to respond to.

Avril Lavigne Makes a Comeback