Since this is a literate blog and all, let's begin this entry with some poetry:

"Walkin' out the courthouse spittin' on the camera guy/
I bang Thug Life, but this ain't Death Row."
"On Bail" -Xzibit, feat. The Game

That, dear readers, is a line from Mr. Jayceon Taylor, rapper, entrepreneur, feuder and proud Glendale resident. Mr. Taylor, known to his close associates and record buyers as "The Game," was in court today, taking a plea deal to keep him out of the pokey on three felony charges.

According to the folks over at the DA's office, Mr. Taylor, or better yet, Mr. The Game, was shooting some hoops down by the Rita Walters Educational Learning Complex in South Los Angeles a year ago. He got into an argument with another player, harsh words were exchanged, a punch was thrown and a firearm produced.

Unfortunately for Mr. The Game, he flashed his strap in the presence of a peace officer and made a criminal threat, which got him arrested. As part of his plea deal, those two counts went away, but he did offer a no contest plea for possession of a firearm in a school zone, which got him three years formal probation, 58 days in the county jail and 150 hours of community service.

Deputy District Attorney Tien Pham of Central Trials handled things for the prosecution, while Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Fred Wapner handed down the sentence. Mr. The Game's supposed to surrender himself next week.

Now normally, going to jail can be deleterious to one's career, unless your name's Sutherland, Richie or Michelle Rodriguez. But given Mr. The Game's line of work, this could be a big advantage in terms of creating future material for his raps. He's probably celebrating as we speak, though there's no word whether he did indeed spit on a cameraman as he left the court, as he foresaw in the lines quoted above.

THIS JUST IN!

Dear readers, I'm glad to share with you some instant feedback. As I was preparing this post, a man named Michael called in. He sounded like he'd had a bit to drink and wanted to offer some comments about the WInnetka shooting. And, by lucky happenstance, he had some relevant thoughts:
"If I were the governor, I could fix things right off the bat. Schwarzenegger's too much of a (unprintable vulgarity) to handle it, but I could," Michael said. "Now first things first, I'd get rid of that rap crap. The getting high and all that? That's no good. That music comes straight from hell."

You read it here first, friends. Now he didn't specifically blame Mr. The Game, but boy was Michael's timing great.

Alright, now back to more serious news.