jess3 blogs,
pimpin since 1982

Friday May 2nd !

the bbq starts at like 5...the bus is gonna be at my house.. at 730.
pimpin since 1982

hr57.org

pimpin since 1982

directions to hr57
pimpin since 1982

i added more wegman pics..
pimpin since 1982

so fuckin hot ... nike out does themselves... everytime.. this is by Josh Davis of 2advanced.com

http://www.yes.net/


Name That Tune: Web Site Offers Peek At Station Playlists


You just heard the coolest song on the radio and you want to find out who sings it so you can run out and buy (or perhaps — shame on you! — burn) the CD. You sit in your car or wait by your stereo until the song is over to hear the DJ announce the artist's name.

Another song comes on, so you sit through that one too. Then, a few commercials come on, and then back to the music — but no announcement. Now what?

Thanks to a decade-long trend at many mainstream radio stations toward less "back announcing" — what it's called when a DJ tells you what you just heard — finding out what you've been listening to is frustrating at best, if not downright impossible. However, now you can click over to www.yes.net on your Web-enabled phone, PDA or home computer, and chances are you'll be able to locate the station you were listening to and find out every song it has played for the past 24 hours.

YES Networks began offering its song identification service last year for more than 1,000 stations, with plans to expand to more than 2,500 stations by the end of this year. "The reason this company exists is because when I turned 14, I stopped being able to sing a song to someone in a record store and have them identify it," joked YES Networks CEO Daniel Goldscheider. "It was born out of necessity. We know that people want songs to be back announced, and this is the first opportunity to tap into that desire. There are many songs I would love to have and I would buy them if the possibility was there at the touch of a button."

At the site, listeners choose their city, find their station and can then scroll through an index of minute-by-minute playlists until finding the song they're after.

The Philadelphia-based company has also set up deals with Amazon.com and eBay to provide links for visitors to purchase CDs, concert tickets or other artist-related merchandise after they've identified a song.

Soon, Goldscheider said, in addition to being able to buy the music, you'll even be able to identify the ads in between songs and link to those company's sites as well. YES currently covers most radio formats, from urban to country, rock and top 40, and has deals with AT&T Wireless, Sprint, Nextel and Boost to offer access to their site.

Goldscheider said the company is able to identify what is playing thanks to a database of "several million" songs (he wouldn't get more specific, citing competitive reasons) and software that is able to recognize a song's digital "footprint."

"Back announcing has been a lingering issue for radio and listeners for a long time," said Kevin McCabe, senior vice president at radio industry trade magazine Radio & Records. "It's a double-edge sword: There's only so much you can cram into every hour between personalities, contests, commercials and back announcing and still keep the flow going and keep it exciting. Radio wants to expose you to new music and programmers will tell you that back announcing is unnecessary, but listeners will say it's the most important thing."

A December 2002 study by Denver-based Paragon Media Strategies confirmed what McCabe said many recent studies have shown: most listeners want DJs to announce artist and title information. In the Paragon survey, more than 80 percent of respondents listed back announcing as "important." McCabe estimated that songs are back announced as little as 50 percent of the time on most commercial radio stations.

"Nothing annoys somebody more than discovering a new song while driving down the street and wondering who it was and then having some quick transition and not being told who it was," McCabe said. "This is a win-win, because the labels are benefiting from the consumer finding out who the artist is in order to purchase the CD and consumers know what they want."

The ultimate goal, Goldscheider said, is for YES to act more like a generic 411 information service than a branded Web site destination. Using a number such as YES937, Goldscheider foresees a day (soon, he hopes) when someone watching "Friends" might be able to dial up YES to find out what kind of pants Phoebe is wearing and order them from that company's Web site.

"It could be anything from the song you hear to finding out what hotel James Bond is staying in when you watch a movie," Goldscheider said. Within the year, YES hopes to add college, classical and public radio stations as well as television stations to its services.

—Gil Kaufman
pimpin since 1982

the desktop

http://www.420lauda.com

these dudes are fuckin awesome... they remind me of the roots....
listen to the anthem
pimpin since 1982

check the wegman gallery, and be sure to zoom in on the pic at the top.. its high res, it takes a sec to load.. so be patient

by FuNk
source info

Random Images

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chipotile.com analysis by macromedia

chipotle is soooo goood

about Review: 'Real Cancun' real fun

pimpin since 1982

'Real World' film is surprisingly fresh

By Christy Lemire
Associated Press


They might revoke my film critic privileges for saying this, but I have to admit it: I liked "The Real Cancun."

The first so-called reality movie comes from the people who pioneered the reality-TV genre: Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray, who created MTV's "The Real World" more than a decade ago.

This is the story of 16 strangers picked to go on spring break in Cancun and have their lives taped. And their lives, at least for a week, consist of getting drunk on the beach, making out with random people, waking up hung over the next day, and doing it all over again.

Why, you ask, should you run out to the multiplex and spend money on something you can watch on television? Because it's far more explicit -- and dare I say, real -- than even the raunchiest hot tub romps in the most recent "Real World" in Las Vegas. And that makes the movie a mindless, guilty pleasure.

While the beginning feels like a tedious, big-screen version of a "Girls Gone Wild" video, and the sexual hijinks at the end drag on like bad midnight Skinemax fare, several moments are surprisingly funny -- and at times, laugh-out-loud hilarious.

Bumps and grinds
Much of what makes it work lies in the casting. Sasha Alpert, a veteran of casting for "The Real World" and MTV's "Road Rules," has a great eye for finding people who are fun, fearless and -- most importantly -- photogenic.

Among the cast members, picked from 10,000 applicants nationwide:

• Jeremy, a tan, toned 22-year-old who proclaims early in the film, "Girls go on spring break to find guys like me."

• Roxanne and Nicole, 20-year-old identical twins who resemble Natalie Maines from the Dixie Chicks, and have no qualms about grinding against each other onstage if it helps them win a wet T-shirt contest.

• And David and Heidi, 18-year-old best friends who've never hooked up, but have a pent-up romance that rivals Dawson and Joey's on "Dawson's Creek."

Some of the most memorable moments come courtesy of Casey, a 25-year-old aspiring model who must be the spawn of Jeff Spicoli in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and Owen Wilson's character in "Zoolander." His mating call goes something like this: "Do any of you girls wanna make out or anything? ... Why not?"

Personality
But the most human character of all is Alan, an 18-year-old freshman at Texas Tech who'd never had a drink before heading south of the border.

Alan begins his vacation behind thick glasses and a shy demeanor, politely declining when the tequila starts flowing. But when he takes off his glasses, he's a total cutie -- he almost resembles a young Brad Pitt.

In no time, he's downing shots, putting on a bikini bottom for a "hot bod" contest (which he wins) and kissing girls he doesn't even know. (Ever the Southern gentleman, though, he'll ask a girl for her name after he makes his move.)

Alan's story isn't exactly heartwarming, but it's kind of a joy watching him gain confidence as the week progresses.

His metamorphosis makes "The Real Cancun" a much more engaging coming-of-age tale than the ones depicted in far tamer movies like "Beach Blanket Bingo" in the '60s and "Private Resort" in the '80s.

And if you just can't get enough, the people who created ABC's "The Bachelor" and "Are You Hot?" are coming out with their own spring break movie, "The Quest," later this year.


http://therealcancun.com/
Fabolous / 50 Cent / Jay-Z

Nissan Pavilion Bristow, VA
July 6, 2003 - 6:00PM Eastern
On sale April 25, 2003 - 12:00PM
pimpin since 1982
pimpin since 1982
pimpin since 1982

pimpin since 1982


i made this in class today
i know it looks wack, but I had to draw every frame in this program "Painter 7" which i had to learn, so it wasnt as easy as youd think... but its my first one and i did it in like a hour

about Most popular passwords

click to read the article.. : Infosecurity Europe polled connected workers and found that 90% gave up their passwords after only two rounds of direct questioning. But once they analyzed the passwords, researchers found that one password out of every eight was the word "password"... one out of six was the person's name. The name of the local sports team accounted for about 10%, and 8% figured a way to use their birthday as a password.
pimpin since 1982

i love this magazine...
haphazardstudios.com
click on the gun project...
shit is hot
pimpin since 1982

watch the showreel
pimpin since 1982

about check this shit out !!!



holly and dude from some band at the HFStival
me=holly
pimpin since 1982
pimpin since 1982
pimpin since 1982

check out the wegman gallery...
download -

evanescence daredevil theme
dmx let me fly
pimpin since 1982

A US Army tank guards the entrance of Baghdad's main presidential palace near a camel named Josephine

about Dozens trapped after Rotorua gondola cable snapped

pimpin since 1982
A Skyline Skyrides staff member climbs into a gondola to rescue its occupants. Picture / Richard Robinson


21.04.2003
7.30pm
Up to 90 people, many of them children, were trapped in mid-air for several hours today after a cable snapped on the Rotorua Skyline gondola.

Eighteen gondola pods were left stranded when a counterweight cable snapped in the main tower around midday today.

Some people had panicked when the pods dropped initially, and there was "some bouncing" until the safety mechanism kicked in, Rotorua Fire Service senior station officer Colin Rolfe said.

Some people suffered minor injuries, One News reported.

Rescued tourists said they had feared they would fall.

Phillip Armstrong said the experience had been frightening.

"I thought we were actually going to come off the cable; I was really petrified and my partner just grabbed onto me for dear life because we actually thought we were going to come down," he told TV3 News.

He said he had been "pissed off" by the whole experience.

Mr Rolfe said Skyline staff and 12 fire officers worked for about four hours to get everyone to the ground.

Those closest to the ground had been rescued using ladders on the backs of the fire appliances. People trapped higher up the hill were brought down by Skyline staff using abseiling harnesses.

Occupational Safety and Health inspectors would be in charge of investigating the cause of the mechanical failure and clearing the ride after repairs were carried out, Mr Rolfe said.

Skyline general manager Neville Nicholson told One News his staff trained "every second week" for such an emergency.

"Everything worked to plan."

Engineers were tonight trying to determine what caused the mechanical failure.

The company had already spoken to OSH and would be conducting an internal inquiry.

Mr Nicholson said it was possible the ride could reopen as early as tomorrow, but safety was the first priority.

At its highest point, the gondola reaches 178m.

Shaken passengers said the rescue took longer than expected.

Suzanne Lockwood, who was on the ride with her children, said fire officers told them they would be down in half an hour.

"Then an hour went by, then two hours and this one started getting a little bit upset," she said about one of her children.

- NZPA
pimpin since 1982

I am worth exactly: $1,271,000.00.

about TECHNOLOGY KEEPS CLASSES OPEN FOR MORE THAN 60 HONG KONG SCHOOLS

pimpin since 1982

Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX 1.5 serves as foundation of online learning solution

San Francisco—April 18, 2003—Faced with the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus outbreak, Hong Kong Baptist University turned to technology to keep students learning and able to attend virtual classes after the government shut down schools to contain the virus. With the help of Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX 1.5, classes that are open to public access are continuing for more than 6,500 students, while 60 schools are operating separate classes catering to the needs of their students.

“Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX 1.5 makes it possible to deliver multi-way audio, video, and real-time data to so many students at the same time, all streaming through the tiny Macromedia Flash Player on a student’s PC,” said Dr. Alex C.W. Fung, head of the education studies department and the school administration and management system training and research unit, Hong Kong Baptist University. “Instructors’ lesson plans and learning materials are uploaded and stored on the server ready to use later during the real-time webcasts of each lesson. Teachers reduced content development time significantly by using Macromedia Flash MX to quickly convert all teachers’ existing PowerPoint presentation files before uploading to VITLE.”

Hong Kong Baptist University was already test-running the Virtual Integrated Teaching and Learning Environment (VITLE) using Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX and Macromedia ColdFusion MX within its campus, but the availability of Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX 1.5 made it possible to stream presentations and live audio and video to students across the territory. Macromedia, Microsoft, and other technology companies are providing software, support, and infrastructure to help this "Classes Suspended But Learning Continues" initiative using VITLE. Fung developed this improved version of VITLE using an ASP model with Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX 1.5. It was launched in two working days with the help of a Macromedia engineer to enable Hong Kong schools to use this unique e-learning solution.

"We're starting to see more and more examples of the Internet being used as a two-way communication medium," said Rob Burgess, chairman and CEO, Macromedia. "Hong Kong Baptist University has created a live virtual classroom where students are able to see the professor on the screen and literally conduct the class through this difficult time. It's a great example of the Internet delivering more than HTML experiences."

To see streaming video examples of VITLE in action, visit www.macromedia.com/go/vitle/. VITLE is available at www.iLearn.com.hk/.

about Osbourne Adversary Says She Fears For Her Life

Renee Tab at the Osbournes' party
The woman who locked horns with Sharon Osbourne in a Los Angeles restaurant last week has fired back with her own version of how the scrap happened.

Renee Tab, a talent agent whose war of words with the metal matriarch escalated to violence at the Japanese restaurant Koi, claims Osbourne spat on and kicked her and made threatening and ethnic remarks.

Osbourne "started screaming racial slurs," Tab's lawyer, Najila Brent, told New York's Daily News. She called the Iranian-born Tab a "Persian carpet cleaner" and threatened to "send someone to slash [her] face and break [her] leg," according to the attorney, who claimed to be seeking a restraining order against Osbourne as well as contemplating a lawsuit.

"Renee is afraid for her life right now," Brent said to the paper.

An Osbourne spokesperson claimed Tab's allegations of racial slurs and physical threats were pure fantasy and would "not dignify them with a comment."

Tension between Tab and Osbourne began on New Year's Eve, when Tab walked off with a $15,000 diamond necklace that she said she won as a door prize, though Osbourne maintained Tab was never invited to the party in the first place.

The feud resurfaced publicly last week when police were called to settle the sushi-bar brawl. Osbourne appeared on the syndicated television program "Celebrity Justice" on Tuesday to explain her side of the story

about smokin bird

pimpin since 1982
With the temperature in the teens, a red-winged blackbird can see its breath as it sings in record-breaking cold weather, Friday, April 18, 2003, in Woolwich, Maine. Several towns in the state recorded temperatures in the single digits. In Washburn it was just 3 degrees. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

about May 2nd

about The Real Cancun

pimpin since 1982
New Line Cinema will bring the first "reality feature film" to North American screens on April 25th when the studio releases "The Real Cancun" from Bunim/Murray Productions, the producers of the acclaimed, long-running series, "The Real World" and "Road Rules," and production/finance company FilmEngine, the studio announced today.

After a nationwide casting search that included college campuses across the country, including University of Oklahoma, Arizona State University, University of Vermont, University of Wisconsin at Madison, University of Georgia, Texas Tech, Boston University and Washington State University, the filmmakers cast a unique collection of real people ready to explore reality's barriers beyond the limits of television while on the ultimate Spring Break vacation, with surprising and electric results. The film was shot on location in Cancun, Mexico, during this year's Spring Break. Bunim/Murray Productions' Mary-Ellis Bunim, Jonathan Murray, Rick DeOliveira and Jamie Schutz produced, with FilmEngine's Anthony Rhulen, A.J. Dix and Bill Shively executive producing. New Line's executive vice president Richard Brener and vice president Matt Moore oversaw the project for New Line.

http://therealcancun.com/

about PEEPs

pimpin since 1982
Boxes of Marshmallow Peeps are lined up at the Just Born factory in Bethlehem, Pa., on April 2, 2003. Just Born Inc. is celebrating its 50th year of adorning Easter baskets and satisfying sweet tooths with the colorful confections.

about The 40th anniversary edition of the Ford Mustang

pimpin since 1982
pimpin since 1982

The 40th anniversary edition of the Ford Mustang is shown in this handout image released Tuesday, April 15, 2003. Ford Motor Co returned to New York to unveil a 40th anniversary edition of the Mustang, which made its debut on April 17, 1964, at the World's Fair in Queens.

about A Skateboarding Glossary

Butter: Something beautiful or stylish.

Buttery: Something you see or do that makes you feel inspired.

Steez: Style.

Buttery steez: A really good, creative, mellow style.

Hammers: Crazy, fast, dangerous tricks.

Dropping hammers: Nailing a trick in one try and setting sights on the next.

What’s the 411, give me the 411: What’s up, what’s going on.

On the next level: Pushing the envelope, making people realize they need to work harder.

Feeling: Liking what you or someone else is doing.

about With Buttery Steez, He drops DVDs Like hammers

pimpin since 1982
For those who don’t speak skateboarding, John LaCroix has the creative style to nail a fast, dangerous trick (in his case, making DVDs) and instantly gear up for the next. That’s the goal and the prize in this thrill-chasing world: keep pushing, but with the seeming ease of those who shrug off monikers like athlete and extreme sports.

Whether it’s skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding or BMX, “It’s just something you really enjoy doing with your friends,” LaCroix explains with the necessary patience of the devotee asked to define his world. “It’s not a hobby, it’s not something you do when you’re bored — it’s your life.”

Skateboarding Philosophy
A skateboarder himself, LaCroix long ago erased any distinction between board and job. “My life and my work are not separate,” he says. “I don’t get paid for skateboarding, but I look at it the same way as my work: I’m always trying to improve, do new things.”


That zest for the untried trick has rocketed LaCroix to the position of art director at Orange County-based 411 Productions, where he helps create the look, feel and sound of print, web and video projects on skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding and BMX. (Derivation of the company name: “What’s the 411?” means “What’s up?”, as in information or directory assistance.) At just 27, he works with a staff of about 40 videographers, editors, designers and artists, as well as dozens of contributing freelancers, and the nearly 100 pros featured in every issue.

Among 411’s five regularly published multimedia magazines and many special travel and educational editions, it’s the skateboarding videos, created with DVD Studio Pro and other tools, that score highest with the hottest segment of this exploding audience. (There are an estimated 22 million skateboarders worldwide, with the vast majority in the coveted male 14 to 21 demographic.)

Pictures & Words Aren’t Enough
“Pictures and words just aren’t enough sometimes,” says LaCroix. “Yes, there are skateboarding competitions and paper magazines and some TV coverage, but the primary expression of skateboarding to the real core market is through DVDs like ours.”
listen to the song "i just wanna be friends with you" by kasper

jwbf.mp3

the mp3 is on my server....
its hollys friend... lemme know what cha think..

about Apple May Buy Universal Music for $6B


Apple Computer Inc. is in discussions about buying Universal Music Group, the world's largest record company, for as much as $6 billion, according to a published report Friday.

Talks between Apple and Vivendi Universal, Universal Music Group's parent company, have been held secretly for months, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Apple may offer $5 billion to $6 billion for the music company before Vivendi's April 29 board meeting, the newspaper said, citing sources it did not identify.

Spokeswomen for Apple and Vivendi Universal declined to comment on the report Friday.

Shares of both companies fell in the wake of the report. Apple lost 85 cents, or 5.9 percent, to $13.52 on morning trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market while Vivendi shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange wre down 16 cents at $13.74.

Vivendi has been trying to sell some of its assets and raise about $7 billion this year after barely staving off bankruptcy in 2002 as it struggled to cope with billions of debt, a collapsing share price and boardroom infighting. Top executives such as Barry Diller and former chairman Jean-Marie Messier have departed within the last year.

Investor Marvin Davis has offered about $13 billion for 65 percent of the entertainment assets and has been the only known bidder to express serious interest in the music company. A separate sale of the music operation would appear to work in favor of Liberty Media Corp. and others that are focused on the company's other entertainment properties.

Apple, which has annual sales of about $5.7 billion, owns less than 3 percent of the desktop computing market but has indicated that supplying music to customers may be its future.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company has been testing a service that allows users to buy and download digital music for their computers. The service is expected to debut by the end of April.

Universal reaps about $6 billion in sales annually from artists such as 50 Cent, Shania Twain and U2, but has seen operating profits slide 23 percent last year. It accounts for about 25 percent of all CD sales and has such top labels as Interscope and Def Jam.

Vivendi first approached Apple CEO Steve Jobs in December, not long after its music executives visited Apple's headquarters to view a demonstration of Apple's new digital service, sources told the Times.
http://yugop.com/
hot shit !!
http://oringe.com
fuckin hot shit !
pimpin since 1982
Zoomifyer for Macromedia Flash™ unleashes high-res images on the Web! High-quality images entertain and inform. Zoomifyer for Flash enables designers to integrate images of any resolution - even GIGABYTES in size - into any Flash movie!

Empower your site visitors to interactively pan and zoom to explore images in detail - or use ActionScript to dynamically drive the display to any view at any resolution!

"the bomb saddam" video ! ! !
so highlarious
meru.nl/

a consulting company specialising in user interfaces for enterprise systems, web services and hand-helds. they assist software development teams in successfully improving the user interfaces for complex applications. It means cost savings, higher sales and loyal users because of reduced training, increased on-line usage and an enhanced brand experience.
i want to do this for a living.!
its like desigining where the start button on a remote should go... how cool is that ?
Director Tutorial
Digital Adeptness At Simulating The Classic Hollywood Metaphor

justinsimoni.com

this dude is a beast..... he has made some cool web applications..... like mojo mail.

bling




Adobe® Encore™ DVD
this is a cool program... for making dvds with cool menus and stuff..
Creative authoring for professional DVD production

Adobe Store Price
$US 549

Available in summer 2003.

Adobe® Encore™ DVD software takes DVD authoring to a new level of creativity for professional DVD production, including powerful menu design tools, full control over interactivity, and output to all recordable DVD formats. With its flexible interface and unparalleled integration with Adobe Photoshop®, Adobe Premiere®, and Adobe After Effects® software, Adobe Encore DVD gives professional videographers and independent producers the power to create sophisticated, multilanguage DVDs featuring interactive menus, multiple audio tracks, and subtitle tracks. And Adobe Encore DVD offers integrated transcoding of source files to MPEG-2 video and Dolby® Digital audio, providing an efficient and streamlined DVD authoring workflow.



Next Windows leaks onto Net
An early test version of the next major release of Microsoft Windows has been leaked onto the Net, offering a glimpse of the company’s plans for the new software. click for the whole story

the tiiightest animation ever!
you need quicktime and a fast connection.

"IconBuilder is a filter for use with Adobe Photoshop™ that makes creating icons a snap. By harnessing the professional power of Photoshop and Photoshop layers, IconBuilder provides icon artists with the most complete tool set possible for modern icon design."
this shit is tight
random thought.

in future editions of windows or os11.. sizeing your icons should be easier... like expanding them or whatever... cause some icons are more important !

meet some people
http://www.robbiewilliams-usa.com/
kurt noble designed robbie williams site.. it uses flash mx to the fullest.. lots of video and cool effects...
kurtnoble.com

soo funny - you put in a web site address and it puts asses over it...lol lol lol lol lol
http://www.assotron.com


business card draft 1

check out my lindsey video... draft 2

Osama Bin Laden's Niece Dreams Of Pop Stardom


As you might imagine, budding pop star Waffa Binladin is having a hard time convincing people to look beyond her family name.

Yes, that bin Laden. The 26-year-old lawyer — whose family changed the spelling of their last name several years ago — and who is the estranged niece of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, has been meeting with producers and managers in the United States and England over the past year in an attempt to launch a career as a pop singer. But, despite renouncing her Muslim past, distancing herself from her infamous uncle years ago and logging time on the English club scene, Binladin has yet to shake the stigma of her surname.

"She [renounced] her family name long ago," said Jonathan Nash, the business partner of well-known English music manager John Benson. Binladin recently sought out Benson's advice on breaking into the music business, Nash said.

"She approached John about wanting to start a music career and John did not agree to manage her, mainly because he was a bit dubious about how the press might treat her," he said. "But John was intrigued because he likes the idea of people seeing someone for who they are and not for what their name is. It's a nice human lesson."

Benson is best known as the man who found and managed the English girl group All Saints. Nash said Waffa Binladin most closely resembles Australian singer Natalie Imbruglia, and that she possesses a good singing voice and is "a very attractive girl." Waffa, born in the United States, had been living in New York "just a stone's throw" from the World Trade Center towers prior to their destruction, Nash said.

"She's asking the right person for advice," Nash said of Benson. "She's a genuine artist who wants to make good music and not be political because she had nothing to do with [9/11]. She hangs around in the nightlife of London with a group of the top players in the entertainment industry, but in some ways, she's impossible to manage." The singer hopes to release a single by year's end, he added.

Her mother, Carmen, recently told the London Sunday Telegraph, "The Bin Laden family have condemned my daughters because they were brought up in the West and have Western ways, but I support Waffa's freedom. The girls are in a very difficult position. People associate them with the Bin Ladens, which they are not. This is very dangerous." Carmen Binladin added that the family considered changing its name entirely, but worried that "people would think we had something to hide."

Though the British press have reported that Waffa has worked with everyone from Wyclef Jean to Soul II Soul mastermind Nellee Hooper, the spokespeople for both artists took pains to say they are not involved with the singer. Wyclef's spokesperson said he's never met her and Hooper's manager, Michael Lippman, said, "There is no truth to the claims that Nellee and Ms. Binladin are working together at this point. Nellee is considering action against the tabloids because of these allegations."

Waffa Binladin's father, Yeslam, is the brother of Osama bin Laden, and the young singer is said to have only met her uncle one time. It is likely that her reported proclivity for smoking, drinking and shunning traditional Muslim garb might raise the ire of her strict Muslim uncle.

Despite her rejection of her family's legacy, England's Observer newspaper recently quoted "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell as saying her hopes of success are slim. "There's only one worse surname you could have to launch a pop career," Cowell reportedly said, "and that's Hitler."



Model and designer Paris Hilton, left, and her sister, model Nikki Hilton, pose for photographers where fashion designer Jeremy Scott unveiled his fall collection, Thursday night, April 3, 2003, in Los Angeles.