On Saturday (5/10/13) the United States carried out two special forces operations against high profile Islamist terror targets. While I'm still utterly furious that the US has still not reigned in Chris Brown and it's operation against Rihanna is still continuing I am not yet at the point where I want to go into a high level of detail about either of these operations. However I think it is fair to expand on things that I have already said on Twitter.
Basically neither of these operations had very much to do with terrorism. Instead they were about showing the world that the US is still powerful in light of the drubbing it has taken over the Rihanna operation. Also on the domestic stage US President Barack Obama was hoping to use these operations to invoke the spirit of the successful operation to kill Osama bin Laden in order to re-assert his authority as Commander in Chief in order to put pressure on the Republicans in the shutdown/Obamacare debate.
Take for example the Delta Force operation to capture of Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai (aka Anas al-Liby) in Tripoli, Libya. Although it's better for the US to have al-Ruqai in custody then not he is really a spent force in terms of the al-Qaeda leadership who had been living in semi-retirement in Libya. That is why the operation to capture him was closer to an everyday police operation to arrest a wanted suspect rather then a military raid full of derring do. By capturing al-Ruqai Obama has rather shot himself in the foot because there is inevitably going to be an argument between the Republicans who will want to see him sent to Guantanamo Bay and Democrats who will want to see him stand civilian trial in New York. This is really not the sort of distraction the US needs with the government shutdown continuing and the debt ceiling argument looming large. Fortunately this argument is rather null and void because 15 years on from the US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania al-Liby's intelligence value is extremely limited.
The Navy SEAL team raid into Somalia in an attempt to capture a senior al-Shaabab leader believed to be Ahmed Abdi Godane is more interesting. Coming almost 20 years to the day that Delta Force soldiers tried and failed to capture two lieutenants of the Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Adid in Mogadishu this was supposed to exercises the demons of the failed operation that was immortalised in the film "Blackhawk Down." It was also intended to be the US showing the world that it had no involvement in the recent attack on the Westgate Mall in Kenya and was prepared to take action against the people responsible. Finally the US were hoping to capture Godane in order to interrogate him. Any intelligence he revealed or the US could claim he had revealed could then be used to put pressure on the UK in order to keep them in line for the rest of Rihanna's tour.
Unfortunately though it appears that the Somali operation has been a total failure with the SEALs being forced to retreat without capturing Godane and there being little evidence he was even present during the confrontation let alone killed. Fortunately though this does provide Obama with something of a teachable moment in terms of the Rihanna operation. After all while the Navy might be extremely capable and well trained you cannot expect them to work miracles so they are no replacement for effective leadership.
16:30 on 6/10/13.
Sunday, 6 October 2013
Operation Misery: Month 8, Week 1, Day 1.
In my last post on the subject I pointed out that Rihanna's CIA handlers/Live Nation (the management) had left Rihanna dumped in a hotel overlooking Sydney harbour surrounded by celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Australian navy. This was of course intended to stress Rihanna out through all the noise and disruption along with paranoia that some of the assembled warships could be using their electronic surveillance equipment to spy on Rihanna. Also you would think that someone who is used to being the centre of attention for a fanbase known as "The Navy" might feel a little put out by close 1 million people turning out to celebrate another navy leaving Rihanna more or less totally ignored.
Therefore I said that this situation provided the management an opportunity to demonstrate that it had abandoned its campaign against Rihanna by allowing her to avoid the Australian celebrations by travelling onto Auckland, New Zealand ahead of Rihanna's concert there today. Unfortunately the management decided to do the exact opposite.
Firstly Lauryn Hill was released from prison in New York where she was serving a sentence for tax evasion. Like Rihanna Lauryn Hill is a black, female singer so her release was the US very publicly trying to send the message that if Rihanna were to leave for New Zealand there would not be any consequences in terms of the current Inland Revenue Service (IRS) audit of Rihanna over tax evasion and the associated lawsuit against Berdon LLP. Therefore this was intended to put pressure on Rihanna by giving the impression (that could well be false) that she could leave Australia any time she liked. Rihanna just had to make the decision herself.
Secondly at roughly the same time of Friday (4/10/13) a man was arrested after attempting to break into Rihanna's Los Angeles home. This is believed to be the same man who attempted to break into Rihanna's home on Sunday (29/9/13). Obviously I don't think I need to explain why having someone attempting to break into your home especially when you're not there is a stressful experience. However by being seen to so publicly attempt to stress Rihanna out the management were also trying to encourage the navies in Sydney harbour to spy on Rihanna by making it look like there was something dramatic going on. Also the arrest took place at around 5AM Sydney time which is when I would have thought Rihanna would have been trying to get some sleep especially with the day long anniversary celebrations starting at around 9AM.
Although there has been no official word I understand that Rihanna did leave Sydney for New Zealand at some point on Saturday afternoon/evening (local). As an observer I would have to say that the failure by Rihanna or anyone in her core tour party to mention this was due more to confusion and fear of how to act in a stressful situation rather then any malicious intent.
The US' attack of Rihanna did continue into Saturday with the news that a female worker at a zoo in Oklahoma was attacked by a tiger and may lose her arm. The zoo has stated that the tiger won't be destroyed because they claim it was the zoo workers fault that she was attacked. On Thursday (3/10/13) I explained how the UK has been briefing hard against the US' Rihanna operation in order to maximise the damage it does to the US' international reputation.
Part of this was the case of Phillip Simelane a violent offender with a string of previous convictions and serious psychological problems who is meant to represent Chris Brown. A failure by the relevant authorities (police, probation service etc) to management the threat posed by Simelane meant that he was able to murder Christina Edkins an innocent teenage girl who is meant to represent Rihanna on a bus in Birmingham, UK which is meant to represent Rihanna's tour bus. Although the crime took place in March 2013 when Rihanna and Chris Brown were reuniting around the time of Rihanna's California concerts Simelane was convicted on Wednesday (2/10/13). During the attack Simelane was wearing a jacket emblazoned with a large image of a tiger.
Therefore the claim that the Oklahoma zoo worker was at fault for her attack was an attempt to blame Rihanna for the fact that Chris Brown assaulted her. The fact that the zoo announced that it will not be destroying the tiger in response to the attack was intended to send the message that Chris Brown will not have his restraining order reinstated or face any further punishment over his attack on Rihanna. I personally take this as a good sign because it shows the pressure on the management to do something about Chris Brown is now so great they feel need to issue a statement. However I think this likely to stress Rihanna out because I don't think she has quite realised that the argument about Chris Brown's fate is all about the management wanting the send the message that they do not abandon their agents no matter the cost rather then any aspect of Rihanna's behaviour.
Under these circumstances you would perhaps excuse Rihanna for delivering a poor performance in Auckland. Obviously the management's information blackout is still in full effect. However the local media in New Zealand has completely ignored this so I can tell you that Rihanna arrived on stage about 45-50 minutes late which is beyond the expected 15-20 minutes of lateness and starting to get to the point where it is a problem. Rihanna then went on to perform the standard set-list and costume changes. While no-one is talking in terms of a poor performance Rihanna seems to be slipping slightly from the highpoint that was the first Sydney concert. I am though arrogant enough to believe that the delay in Rihanna getting on stage was cause by the confusion created by me inexplicably waking up just as Rihanna was scheduled to take to the stage. If the reports of a 50 minute delay are correct then Rihanna actually took to the stage just as my alarm clock was going off which at that point would have been picked up by my Blackberry. However it was also at around this point that I fell back to sleep.
12:25 on 6/10/13 (UK date).
Therefore I said that this situation provided the management an opportunity to demonstrate that it had abandoned its campaign against Rihanna by allowing her to avoid the Australian celebrations by travelling onto Auckland, New Zealand ahead of Rihanna's concert there today. Unfortunately the management decided to do the exact opposite.
Firstly Lauryn Hill was released from prison in New York where she was serving a sentence for tax evasion. Like Rihanna Lauryn Hill is a black, female singer so her release was the US very publicly trying to send the message that if Rihanna were to leave for New Zealand there would not be any consequences in terms of the current Inland Revenue Service (IRS) audit of Rihanna over tax evasion and the associated lawsuit against Berdon LLP. Therefore this was intended to put pressure on Rihanna by giving the impression (that could well be false) that she could leave Australia any time she liked. Rihanna just had to make the decision herself.
Secondly at roughly the same time of Friday (4/10/13) a man was arrested after attempting to break into Rihanna's Los Angeles home. This is believed to be the same man who attempted to break into Rihanna's home on Sunday (29/9/13). Obviously I don't think I need to explain why having someone attempting to break into your home especially when you're not there is a stressful experience. However by being seen to so publicly attempt to stress Rihanna out the management were also trying to encourage the navies in Sydney harbour to spy on Rihanna by making it look like there was something dramatic going on. Also the arrest took place at around 5AM Sydney time which is when I would have thought Rihanna would have been trying to get some sleep especially with the day long anniversary celebrations starting at around 9AM.
Although there has been no official word I understand that Rihanna did leave Sydney for New Zealand at some point on Saturday afternoon/evening (local). As an observer I would have to say that the failure by Rihanna or anyone in her core tour party to mention this was due more to confusion and fear of how to act in a stressful situation rather then any malicious intent.
The US' attack of Rihanna did continue into Saturday with the news that a female worker at a zoo in Oklahoma was attacked by a tiger and may lose her arm. The zoo has stated that the tiger won't be destroyed because they claim it was the zoo workers fault that she was attacked. On Thursday (3/10/13) I explained how the UK has been briefing hard against the US' Rihanna operation in order to maximise the damage it does to the US' international reputation.
Part of this was the case of Phillip Simelane a violent offender with a string of previous convictions and serious psychological problems who is meant to represent Chris Brown. A failure by the relevant authorities (police, probation service etc) to management the threat posed by Simelane meant that he was able to murder Christina Edkins an innocent teenage girl who is meant to represent Rihanna on a bus in Birmingham, UK which is meant to represent Rihanna's tour bus. Although the crime took place in March 2013 when Rihanna and Chris Brown were reuniting around the time of Rihanna's California concerts Simelane was convicted on Wednesday (2/10/13). During the attack Simelane was wearing a jacket emblazoned with a large image of a tiger.
Therefore the claim that the Oklahoma zoo worker was at fault for her attack was an attempt to blame Rihanna for the fact that Chris Brown assaulted her. The fact that the zoo announced that it will not be destroying the tiger in response to the attack was intended to send the message that Chris Brown will not have his restraining order reinstated or face any further punishment over his attack on Rihanna. I personally take this as a good sign because it shows the pressure on the management to do something about Chris Brown is now so great they feel need to issue a statement. However I think this likely to stress Rihanna out because I don't think she has quite realised that the argument about Chris Brown's fate is all about the management wanting the send the message that they do not abandon their agents no matter the cost rather then any aspect of Rihanna's behaviour.
Under these circumstances you would perhaps excuse Rihanna for delivering a poor performance in Auckland. Obviously the management's information blackout is still in full effect. However the local media in New Zealand has completely ignored this so I can tell you that Rihanna arrived on stage about 45-50 minutes late which is beyond the expected 15-20 minutes of lateness and starting to get to the point where it is a problem. Rihanna then went on to perform the standard set-list and costume changes. While no-one is talking in terms of a poor performance Rihanna seems to be slipping slightly from the highpoint that was the first Sydney concert. I am though arrogant enough to believe that the delay in Rihanna getting on stage was cause by the confusion created by me inexplicably waking up just as Rihanna was scheduled to take to the stage. If the reports of a 50 minute delay are correct then Rihanna actually took to the stage just as my alarm clock was going off which at that point would have been picked up by my Blackberry. However it was also at around this point that I fell back to sleep.
12:25 on 6/10/13 (UK date).
Saturday, 5 October 2013
Cr'p I've Talked Myself into Work.
Yesterday (4/10/13) the online division of the UK's Daily Mail newspaper (MailOnline) published an article claiming that Rihanna's video for the "Pour it Up" single has prompted outrage from Rihanna's fans who have dubbed it as vile. This article itself appears to have stirred up quite a lot of outrage by Rihanna fans against the Daily Mail. However I'm arrogant enough to think this is just a way to get me to comment on the other big scandal that the Daily Mail has been engulfed in this week.
Last Saturday (28/9/13) the right-wing Daily Mail published a comment piece claiming that the leader of the left-wing opposition Labour Party Ed Miliband's political views have been influenced by his hardcore Communist father who the newspaper claimed hated British values such as democracy and free speech. Ed Miliband and the Labour Party have spent the past week feigning outrage at what they dubbed an invasion of privacy and a personal attack in order to generate public support for tighter regulation of the press. As a free press is one of the cornerstones of a democratic society this rather proves the Daily Mail's point.
Anyway I'm going back to sitting on the sofa and staring into the middle distance because I think it was my brother who pointed out the last time the Labour Party were apoplectic with rage about press criticism nothing screams that a political party is ready for power then whining that the press don't like them(!)
14:50 on 5/10/13.
Last Saturday (28/9/13) the right-wing Daily Mail published a comment piece claiming that the leader of the left-wing opposition Labour Party Ed Miliband's political views have been influenced by his hardcore Communist father who the newspaper claimed hated British values such as democracy and free speech. Ed Miliband and the Labour Party have spent the past week feigning outrage at what they dubbed an invasion of privacy and a personal attack in order to generate public support for tighter regulation of the press. As a free press is one of the cornerstones of a democratic society this rather proves the Daily Mail's point.
Anyway I'm going back to sitting on the sofa and staring into the middle distance because I think it was my brother who pointed out the last time the Labour Party were apoplectic with rage about press criticism nothing screams that a political party is ready for power then whining that the press don't like them(!)
14:50 on 5/10/13.
Friday, 4 October 2013
Operation Misery: Month 7, Week 5, Day 1.
Today Rihanna performed her second concert in Sydney, Australia. As usual Rihanna's CIA handlers/Live Nation (the management) are still childishly insisting on their information blackout. Unofficial information is starting to trickle out though so I can tell you that the concert did take place and seems to have gone rather well. I will though have to wait until I get more information before I write a more full review.
One thing I do know though is that the US President Barack Obama has cancelled his tour of South-East Asia that was meant to include the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) conference. Officially this is to allow Obama more time to deal with the US government shutdown. Unofficially though it's because the South-East Asian leg of Rihanna's Diamonds World Tour has left the US deeply unpopular across the region so Obama is skipping the summit in order to avoid the fallout. Although this snub makes Obama look even weaker and is likely to offend Asian leaders even further this strikes me as a very sensible move. Nowhere near as sensible as not doing the Rihanna operation in the first place though.
In the unlikely event that Rihanna's Sydney concert had been poor she would have had the perfect excuse. Although I don't have an address to give you Rihanna's Instagram posts suggest that she is staying in a hotel overlooking Sydney harbour. Apart from Rihanna Sydney harbour is currently also hosting celebrations to mark 100 years of the Australian Navy. These celebrations include a flotilla of 55 ships from 17 navies including the US and Chinese sailing through and docking in Sydney harbour along with all the noise, crowds, gun salutes, sailors and security concerns this type of event brings. Apart from all the noise and disruption the management's plan was for this to unsettle Rihanna by getting her to think about her own fanbase which is known as "The Navy" although it's not looking like the most impressive navy in Sydney at the moment.
Therefore this provides a perfect opportunity for the management to prove they have abandoned Rihanna's idiotic travel schedule by allowing her to move straight on to New Zealand rather then sitting through what is going to be a weekend long celebration. After all Rihanna's continued presence in Sydney also puts rather a lot of pressure on the nations attending the celebrations. Intelligence gathering has always played a huge part in warfare meaning that many modern warships are absolutely bristling with electronic surveillance equipment. So by putting Rihanna this close to that many warships the management are hoping that the assembled navies can be tricked into showing off their capabilities by trying to track Rihanna's movements and intercept her electronic communications such as phonecalls.
Although Rihanna really shouldn't worry about it because I doubt they'll bother she could at least tell us when she does eventually leave Sydney. At least that way we can tell who won the game by managing to get a missile lock on Rihanna's aircraft as it leaves.
15:02 on 4/10/13 (UK date).
One thing I do know though is that the US President Barack Obama has cancelled his tour of South-East Asia that was meant to include the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) conference. Officially this is to allow Obama more time to deal with the US government shutdown. Unofficially though it's because the South-East Asian leg of Rihanna's Diamonds World Tour has left the US deeply unpopular across the region so Obama is skipping the summit in order to avoid the fallout. Although this snub makes Obama look even weaker and is likely to offend Asian leaders even further this strikes me as a very sensible move. Nowhere near as sensible as not doing the Rihanna operation in the first place though.
In the unlikely event that Rihanna's Sydney concert had been poor she would have had the perfect excuse. Although I don't have an address to give you Rihanna's Instagram posts suggest that she is staying in a hotel overlooking Sydney harbour. Apart from Rihanna Sydney harbour is currently also hosting celebrations to mark 100 years of the Australian Navy. These celebrations include a flotilla of 55 ships from 17 navies including the US and Chinese sailing through and docking in Sydney harbour along with all the noise, crowds, gun salutes, sailors and security concerns this type of event brings. Apart from all the noise and disruption the management's plan was for this to unsettle Rihanna by getting her to think about her own fanbase which is known as "The Navy" although it's not looking like the most impressive navy in Sydney at the moment.
Therefore this provides a perfect opportunity for the management to prove they have abandoned Rihanna's idiotic travel schedule by allowing her to move straight on to New Zealand rather then sitting through what is going to be a weekend long celebration. After all Rihanna's continued presence in Sydney also puts rather a lot of pressure on the nations attending the celebrations. Intelligence gathering has always played a huge part in warfare meaning that many modern warships are absolutely bristling with electronic surveillance equipment. So by putting Rihanna this close to that many warships the management are hoping that the assembled navies can be tricked into showing off their capabilities by trying to track Rihanna's movements and intercept her electronic communications such as phonecalls.
Although Rihanna really shouldn't worry about it because I doubt they'll bother she could at least tell us when she does eventually leave Sydney. At least that way we can tell who won the game by managing to get a missile lock on Rihanna's aircraft as it leaves.
15:02 on 4/10/13 (UK date).
Thursday, 3 October 2013
Operation Misery: Month 7, Week 4, Day 7.
Today Rihanna was scheduled to perform the first of two concerts in Sydney, Australia. I'm assuming that this concert took place because Rihanna's CIA handlers/Live Nation (the management) are still insisting on their information blackout meaning that all the information I've had access to are Twitter rumours of more London, UK concerts being added to the Diamonds World Tour schedule. Those rumours are entirely false and seem inteded just to stress me out. This lack of information forces me to rely on the old shared consciousness thing which is hit and miss at the best of times and certainly needs feeding to stay strong. Therefore I'm pretty much just guessing when I say;
Rihanna took to the stage almost exactly on time in Sydney to perform the standard set-list and costume changes. Rihanna's general mood and therefore the effort she put into the performance were noticeably improved from the Adelaide concerts making this the strongest performance of this third and final leg of the tour so far. Hopefully tomorrow's concert will be even stronger. However as always the set-list for the concert is heavily dependent on the comparatively weak "Unapologetic" album meaning that the overall tone of the concert was rather subdued.
One possible explanation for Rihanna's improved performance is that she did the sensible thing and flew from Adelaide to Sydney the day before the concert giving Rihanna time to settle into the new city and prepare herself for the concert. Although I don't have any details of the flight times I hope this travel was scheduled to coincide with a period in which Rihanna would be awake anyway in order to help her avoid the psychological exhaustion that I am clearly suffering from. While this type of exhaustion isn't a problem in itself this does create a weakness which combined with things like poor reviews, bitter social media arguments, atrocities like the Westgate Mall attack in Kenya and the culture shock of travelling to places like Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates can become a significant problem.
Fortunately through things like the Federal Aviation Authority's (FAA) consideration of new guidelines on the use of electronic equipment on flights which made specific reference to things that Rihanna might enjoy doing in-flight such as watching episodes of "Breaking Bad" the US seems to be very publicly distancing itself from Rihanna's idiotic schedule leaving her the freedom to follow a more sensible one. Unfortunately though yesterday aside there is little evidence that Rihanna and the management are following these new instructions and the FAA guidance still prevents people from making calls/using the Internet in flight indicating that the US is still trying to prevent Rihanna from giving us a general view of her travel arrangements. That makes it all to easy to conclude that the US is trying to be seen to say one thing in public while doing the opposite in private in the hope that they can claim any problems are beyond their control. After all with Azerbaijan taking over the rotating Presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) it's clear the US were hoping to use October to create speculation about Rihanna's welfare and whether she is on course for another Azerbaijan style meltdown. Also forcing Rihanna to search the headlines for all these secret signs and symbols is only likely to add to her stress levels.
I do though severely hope that the US have now genuinely abandoned that plan because as I've said the people they are trying to fool are the people who read daily reports on the situation in Syria and events like the Westgate Mall attack. Therefore the prospect of Rihanna having a bit of a tough time is not likely to shock them. It is though likely to be just enough to remind them just how unpleasant the US can be and make the US look very weak because it appears to be attacking Rihanna in order to apologise to the Gulf Monarchies whilst at the same time doing everything the Gulf Monarchies ask of it. Also nations like the UK are still very firmly briefing against the US on the Rihanna issue. Not only is the Coroners Inquest into the death of Mark Duggan which is likely to absolve Rihanna of any responsibility for the UK's August 2011 riots ongoing but yesterday there was the sentencing of Phillip Simelane a poorly managed criminal with severe psychological problems (Chris Brown) who went on to murder an innocent girl (Rihanna) on a bus in Birmingham
Overall though I hope the US have abandoned their plan because it seems that no matter what they try it is bound to fail. After all while I don't have any special information about Rihanna she seems to be in a much better mood and stronger frame of mind then she was even a few weeks ago.
15:15 on 3/1/0/13 (UK date).
Rihanna took to the stage almost exactly on time in Sydney to perform the standard set-list and costume changes. Rihanna's general mood and therefore the effort she put into the performance were noticeably improved from the Adelaide concerts making this the strongest performance of this third and final leg of the tour so far. Hopefully tomorrow's concert will be even stronger. However as always the set-list for the concert is heavily dependent on the comparatively weak "Unapologetic" album meaning that the overall tone of the concert was rather subdued.
One possible explanation for Rihanna's improved performance is that she did the sensible thing and flew from Adelaide to Sydney the day before the concert giving Rihanna time to settle into the new city and prepare herself for the concert. Although I don't have any details of the flight times I hope this travel was scheduled to coincide with a period in which Rihanna would be awake anyway in order to help her avoid the psychological exhaustion that I am clearly suffering from. While this type of exhaustion isn't a problem in itself this does create a weakness which combined with things like poor reviews, bitter social media arguments, atrocities like the Westgate Mall attack in Kenya and the culture shock of travelling to places like Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates can become a significant problem.
Fortunately through things like the Federal Aviation Authority's (FAA) consideration of new guidelines on the use of electronic equipment on flights which made specific reference to things that Rihanna might enjoy doing in-flight such as watching episodes of "Breaking Bad" the US seems to be very publicly distancing itself from Rihanna's idiotic schedule leaving her the freedom to follow a more sensible one. Unfortunately though yesterday aside there is little evidence that Rihanna and the management are following these new instructions and the FAA guidance still prevents people from making calls/using the Internet in flight indicating that the US is still trying to prevent Rihanna from giving us a general view of her travel arrangements. That makes it all to easy to conclude that the US is trying to be seen to say one thing in public while doing the opposite in private in the hope that they can claim any problems are beyond their control. After all with Azerbaijan taking over the rotating Presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) it's clear the US were hoping to use October to create speculation about Rihanna's welfare and whether she is on course for another Azerbaijan style meltdown. Also forcing Rihanna to search the headlines for all these secret signs and symbols is only likely to add to her stress levels.
I do though severely hope that the US have now genuinely abandoned that plan because as I've said the people they are trying to fool are the people who read daily reports on the situation in Syria and events like the Westgate Mall attack. Therefore the prospect of Rihanna having a bit of a tough time is not likely to shock them. It is though likely to be just enough to remind them just how unpleasant the US can be and make the US look very weak because it appears to be attacking Rihanna in order to apologise to the Gulf Monarchies whilst at the same time doing everything the Gulf Monarchies ask of it. Also nations like the UK are still very firmly briefing against the US on the Rihanna issue. Not only is the Coroners Inquest into the death of Mark Duggan which is likely to absolve Rihanna of any responsibility for the UK's August 2011 riots ongoing but yesterday there was the sentencing of Phillip Simelane a poorly managed criminal with severe psychological problems (Chris Brown) who went on to murder an innocent girl (Rihanna) on a bus in Birmingham
Overall though I hope the US have abandoned their plan because it seems that no matter what they try it is bound to fail. After all while I don't have any special information about Rihanna she seems to be in a much better mood and stronger frame of mind then she was even a few weeks ago.
15:15 on 3/1/0/13 (UK date).
Wednesday, 2 October 2013
Operation Misery: Month 7, Week 4, Day 6.
Apparently Rihanna has now travelled from Melbourne, Australia to Sydney, Australia ahead of Thursday's (3/10/13) which is something I'll cover in more detail after the concert. However today Rihanna has taken a break from the grind of touring to release the video for her single "Pour it Up" which can be viewed here; http://www.rihannanow.com/pouritup/
This is of course the single that had everybody on edge when it was first scheduled for release over the summer. Featuring lyrics like "Strip Clubs and dollar bills" the song is obviously about strippers and money. In fact I seem to remember Rihanna saying something about the song being written specifically to give lap-dancers something to dance to. I don't want to moralise because the pole-dancers in the video are clearly very talented and techincally skilled but strip-clubs and the wider sex industry are very widely looked down on as seedy and exploitative of women. So by releasing a song like this Rihanna - as a woman - was opening herself up to a lot of criticism from feminists and parents outraged at the sexualisation of Rihanna's young fans. Also with a reprise of "Still got my money" releasing this song over the summer while Rihanna was expected to be p*ssing off her fans by turning up late for and delivering poor Diamonds World Tour concerts and causing chaos in Africa Rihanna was running the risk of making herself seem uncaring, out of touch and selfish.
The video itself and the fact it's taken until now to release has done a lot to alleviate these worries by really casting Rihanna in the stripper role. Apart from reminding us all how lucky we are to have Rihanna around this portrays Rihanna more as the exploited rather then the one doing the exploiting. In fact the parts where Rihanna is sitting on the golden throne wearing a fur coat and bad wig seems to be ever so gently mocking the macho culture in hip-hop and RnB music with all the men pretending they're pimps and gangsters.This gives the song a lot more intellectual depth and places Rihanna's role in the Diamonds World Tour and really the last year in very different and I would say more accurate light.
Rihanna's fans - the Navy - are apparently trying to get this video to break the record for the most views in 24hrs on Vevo. I can definitely support that because I'm certainly going to have to give the video a couple viewings.
18:55 on 2/10/13 (UK date).
This is of course the single that had everybody on edge when it was first scheduled for release over the summer. Featuring lyrics like "Strip Clubs and dollar bills" the song is obviously about strippers and money. In fact I seem to remember Rihanna saying something about the song being written specifically to give lap-dancers something to dance to. I don't want to moralise because the pole-dancers in the video are clearly very talented and techincally skilled but strip-clubs and the wider sex industry are very widely looked down on as seedy and exploitative of women. So by releasing a song like this Rihanna - as a woman - was opening herself up to a lot of criticism from feminists and parents outraged at the sexualisation of Rihanna's young fans. Also with a reprise of "Still got my money" releasing this song over the summer while Rihanna was expected to be p*ssing off her fans by turning up late for and delivering poor Diamonds World Tour concerts and causing chaos in Africa Rihanna was running the risk of making herself seem uncaring, out of touch and selfish.
The video itself and the fact it's taken until now to release has done a lot to alleviate these worries by really casting Rihanna in the stripper role. Apart from reminding us all how lucky we are to have Rihanna around this portrays Rihanna more as the exploited rather then the one doing the exploiting. In fact the parts where Rihanna is sitting on the golden throne wearing a fur coat and bad wig seems to be ever so gently mocking the macho culture in hip-hop and RnB music with all the men pretending they're pimps and gangsters.This gives the song a lot more intellectual depth and places Rihanna's role in the Diamonds World Tour and really the last year in very different and I would say more accurate light.
Rihanna's fans - the Navy - are apparently trying to get this video to break the record for the most views in 24hrs on Vevo. I can definitely support that because I'm certainly going to have to give the video a couple viewings.
18:55 on 2/10/13 (UK date).
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
Operation Misery: Month 7, Week 4, Day 5.
In the last few hours Rihanna was scheduled to perform a second concert at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Australia. Unfortunately Rihanna's CIA handlers/Live Nation (the management) are still adamantly sticking to their information blackout and being the second concert in the city none of the local media outlets bothered to cover it. Therefore I'm pretty much just guessing when I say;
Rihanna took to the stage almost exactly on time not even treating the fans to the usual 15-20 minutes of suspense. Rihanna then worked through the usual set-list and costume changes. Although I think it was slightly improved Rihanna's performance was more or less the same as it was yesterday which was one of the strongest concerts of the third and final leg of the Diamonds World Tour. Unfortunately though the set-list was heavily dependent on the "Unapologetic" album meaning that the general tone of the concert was rather subdued.
The advantage of this complete lack of information about the actual concert went is that it gives me plenty of time to talk about other things. The most important of these is probably the explosion of a petrol tanker on the Mona Vale Road in northern Sydney which killed two. Although according to Google maps this is around 20km away from the Allphones Arena where Rihanna will be performing on Thursday (3/10/13) and I'm sure the flames will be out by then it does rather set the tone for Rihanna's visit. On one level it looks like the Australians being extremely disloyal to their Monarch by bringing up Sudan's recent anti-sanction protests which I promise I will get around to writing up properly at some point. After all it's exactly the type of topic that should be dealt with once you get back from the pub. On another level though it looks like the Australians are being extremely loyal to their Monarch by getting me to finally explain Sudan's recent anti-sanction protests. Also it's the type of thing that is going to unsettle the locals in Sydney which in turn is likely to unsettle Rihanna because "Killing Africans since September 2012!" is hardly likely to be the strap-line used on the official "Diamonds World Tour" DVD.
For their part the Americans have joined in with the State Department taking the time to remind me via Twitter that during the US government shutdown that their passport offices will remain. This could be interpreted as an attempt to promote discussion about whether to UK granting me a passport would allow me to enter competitions to join Rihanna on tour. I believe River Island and currently offering a trip to Rihanna's last concert of the tour in Barbados on November 1st (1/11/13). It could also be interpreted as the US offering to grant me a passport if the UK refuses as if that would be some sort of solution. It could also be interpreted as the US trying to offer me an incentive to more fully explain Sudan's recent anti-sanction protests. Personally though I think it's just an attempt to further stress out Rihanna by bringing up the issue of whether she'll be stripped of her right to remain/work in the US if she disobeys and raising the question of why Rihanna went off to record the Unapologetic album, reunite with Chris Brown, go off on the 777 Tour, do a deal with River Island and go off on the Diamonds World Tour rather then just meeting up with me at this time last year.
On the subject of me literally moments after announcing that I'd woken up for the day I received an email purporting to be from my legal firm. Basically the long and the short of it is that the legal aid application has been accepted, the case papers are being sent out and I'll make an appointment to meet up with them prior to the November 12th (12/11/13) trial date if the case is going to proceed that far. I now obviously have to forward that email to another account, save it to disc and print it out lest it disappears like all those emails I sent to the police's Safer Neighbourhood Team about the conduct of the accusers. I apologise to the UK Conservative Party conference if that triggers a discussion about the strength of the prosecutions case.
16:05 on 1/10/13 (UK date).
Rihanna took to the stage almost exactly on time not even treating the fans to the usual 15-20 minutes of suspense. Rihanna then worked through the usual set-list and costume changes. Although I think it was slightly improved Rihanna's performance was more or less the same as it was yesterday which was one of the strongest concerts of the third and final leg of the Diamonds World Tour. Unfortunately though the set-list was heavily dependent on the "Unapologetic" album meaning that the general tone of the concert was rather subdued.
The advantage of this complete lack of information about the actual concert went is that it gives me plenty of time to talk about other things. The most important of these is probably the explosion of a petrol tanker on the Mona Vale Road in northern Sydney which killed two. Although according to Google maps this is around 20km away from the Allphones Arena where Rihanna will be performing on Thursday (3/10/13) and I'm sure the flames will be out by then it does rather set the tone for Rihanna's visit. On one level it looks like the Australians being extremely disloyal to their Monarch by bringing up Sudan's recent anti-sanction protests which I promise I will get around to writing up properly at some point. After all it's exactly the type of topic that should be dealt with once you get back from the pub. On another level though it looks like the Australians are being extremely loyal to their Monarch by getting me to finally explain Sudan's recent anti-sanction protests. Also it's the type of thing that is going to unsettle the locals in Sydney which in turn is likely to unsettle Rihanna because "Killing Africans since September 2012!" is hardly likely to be the strap-line used on the official "Diamonds World Tour" DVD.
For their part the Americans have joined in with the State Department taking the time to remind me via Twitter that during the US government shutdown that their passport offices will remain. This could be interpreted as an attempt to promote discussion about whether to UK granting me a passport would allow me to enter competitions to join Rihanna on tour. I believe River Island and currently offering a trip to Rihanna's last concert of the tour in Barbados on November 1st (1/11/13). It could also be interpreted as the US offering to grant me a passport if the UK refuses as if that would be some sort of solution. It could also be interpreted as the US trying to offer me an incentive to more fully explain Sudan's recent anti-sanction protests. Personally though I think it's just an attempt to further stress out Rihanna by bringing up the issue of whether she'll be stripped of her right to remain/work in the US if she disobeys and raising the question of why Rihanna went off to record the Unapologetic album, reunite with Chris Brown, go off on the 777 Tour, do a deal with River Island and go off on the Diamonds World Tour rather then just meeting up with me at this time last year.
On the subject of me literally moments after announcing that I'd woken up for the day I received an email purporting to be from my legal firm. Basically the long and the short of it is that the legal aid application has been accepted, the case papers are being sent out and I'll make an appointment to meet up with them prior to the November 12th (12/11/13) trial date if the case is going to proceed that far. I now obviously have to forward that email to another account, save it to disc and print it out lest it disappears like all those emails I sent to the police's Safer Neighbourhood Team about the conduct of the accusers. I apologise to the UK Conservative Party conference if that triggers a discussion about the strength of the prosecutions case.
16:05 on 1/10/13 (UK date).
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