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Madonna's return to the top of the British music charts is over, for now at least, knocked off by an Eminem best-of release called "Curtain Call The Hits," a triumph somewhat marred by the fact that a local impersonator has just been found guilty of taking his tribute act too far:

Christopher Duncan, 21, pleaded guilty last week to killing Jagdip Najran, 26, a law student and aspiring singer.


Prosecutors said Najran, who studied at London Metropolitan University, met Duncan at a karaoke bar last year and was smitten with him after watching him perform. On May 13 at his apartment, Duncan, who has the same hair color, style and tattoos as the rapper, beat her with a metal baseball bat. Medical experts testified Najran did not die for at least an hour after being struck.

We have no idea where Duncan may have found the inspiration for his brutal hate crime; certainly not from Eminem's lyrics, such as this nursery rhyme couplet from "Bonnie and Clyde '97," recited to the sounds of his own daughter's cooing:

Da-Da made a nice bed for Mommy at the bottom of the lake. Here, you wanna help Da-Da tie a rope around this rock? We'll tie it to her footsie and we'll roll her off the dock

Obviously, Duncan's elaborate homage to his hero failed to take into account that Eminem, as once described in a Slate review entitled Eminem: The rapper is sadistic, misogynistic, and fantastic, is "a murderous rapper for an ironic age. It's OK to be a sociopath, as long as you can laugh about it."

Ha, ha.