Alright, alright, we take some unwarranted breaks here at Optimuscrime. And by "we" I mean "me". And by "breaks" I of course mean "unexplained four-week hiatuses with little to no excuse." Oh wait, I just thought of an excuse: It's the frigging internet! I'm busy doing real life things with real life people. So tuff it out, and check in with the other Optimuscriminals if you're seriously jonesing. But all excuses aside, we do apologize for our absence, and we hope to make it better.

As a peace offering, we bring you this: The hottest thing in our iTunes catalogue right now: Holy Shit, it's M.I.A.

The 27 year old Sri Lankan Tamil, living in the UK since age 9 has captivated the attention of this Haligonian Optimuscriminal and a lot of other people in the last year or so. She's even fallen under the scrutinizing keyboards of the Mefi elite. (Which we'll admit, is where we found her, and subsequently fell in love.)

She creates a lot of controversy, both politically, and musically. Is she just another retro trend, or the freshest newest thing going? She may not be genre-busting-material, but this blogger wonders where, aside from the obvious visual cues, people are getting the idea that this lady is performing 80's throwback music. The beats alone are much more reminiscent of trashy dancehall drums than Cyndi Lauper.

Politically, M.I.A. (which is taken from her Tamil father's guerilla code-name) has raised a number of eyebrows, with accusations of irresponsible use of violent and revolutionary imagery. The Tamil Tigers that run back and forth behind her are a symbol of a Sri-Lankan rebel group, who among other things, are known for essentially inventing the modern suicide bomb. (including the infamous bomb-jacket) Though, from interviews, and judging by the mish-mash quality of the lyrics in her songs, it seems less to me like pro-terrorist politics, than simply a collage of her personal experiences. Optimuscrime Halifax would like to see her critics grow up in war-torn Sri Lanka amidst political rebels and uprisings, and not have that kind of imagery take up a large chunk of their brain.

Luckily, she was still left with a fairly decent sized chunk with which to store nothing but trashy dancehall beats, and non-stop kitchen-party dance moves! Trust us when we tell you that Arular is at the top of our "actually pay for" music list right now.

And, ok, so we're not exactly bringing you breaking, up-to-the-minute pop culture. We know that. As Lukas, of Optimuscrime Formerly-Montreal put it: "M.I.A.? Yeah, welcome to Fall 2004, pal." That may be, but keep in mind I live in Nova Scotia. Ok? We just found out about Nirvana out here. And six months late or not, M.I.A. is still glowing hot. I'll admit it, I think I actually have an actual crush on her. It's those neon tights, and those goddamned rubber-leg dance moves. That's the hottest shit I've seen in years! Yeah, that's right a famous-crush. And I'm 24. And I have a degree. And I'm crushing on popstars. At least it's not Hilary Duff, right?

"London calling, speak the slang-a. Boys say wa. G'won, girls say wa wa?"