Monday, June 30, 2008

Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends

THE LIFE LIVES ON!!

Its not like me to abandon my habitual downloading routine, drive up to a store and actually BUY an album, so you better believe that this album is damn worth it. And i'm not the only one who thinks so -just ask the Argentinians, the Austrians, the Dutch, the Finnish, the Swiss, the Swedes, the Brits, the Taiwanese....you'll find that the new Coldplay album, Viva La Vida, is a HUGE score - no. 1 everywhere!!*


Their second release, "Viva la Vida" whose live performance was (hands down) the highlight of this years MTV Movie Awards, was the 999th song to top the Billboard 100 in the rock era.

The tracks employ some strange sounding music instruments that, honsetly speaking, take a couple of listens to "dig"- if you're used to mainstream. There's the regular distorted guitar, keyboard, mellow piano, digitalization, then there's more of Chris's oh-so-necessary vocals, hand claps, middle eastern and north African inspirations, among others.

Track listing:
1. Life In Technicolor
2. Cemeteries In London
3. Lost!
4. 42
5. Lovers In Japan/ Reign Of Love
6. Yes (and the hidden "Chinese Sleep Chant")
7. Viva La Vida
8. Violet Hill
9. Strawberry Swing
10. Death And All His Friends
(Album Cover) "La Liberté guidant le peuple" Painting by Eugene Delacroix

Oh, you can also sample some of their songs on the Coldplay widget on the right...just click on where it says music player and it'll start playing

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Cartoon Of The Day: Doonesbury

You might have to click on the cartoon to view a larger image...they're talking about the second coming of Lincoln. lol.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Rock With You - Janet Jackson



All Artists need to bow down LOW to the choreography in this video

The Art of Voguing

Voguing is a stylized kind of modern dance that originated in Harlem in the 1930's as part of the underground gay culture. The dance involves photo-model like poses obviously, integrated with angular and rigid arm, leg, and body movements.

The form of dance was brought back into the mainstream by Madonna's 1990 hit song Vogue. Remember the line "strike a pose"?
Check out her MTV performance:



Voguing has since developed and evolved into a kind of dance sport that integrates many other dance forms such as ballet, jazz, dance and even hip-hop. There are teams called "Houses" (mostly named after designers) that a feature a group of dancers and performers that compete against one another and are judged according to dance, skill, costume and attitude. One common dance characteristic is the "Dip" - free falling on one's back with one leg rigidly held up.

One of the most notable dancers is Danielle Ninja who has appeared in
Beyonce's Get me Bodied (she'll be the one who does that craaazy dip at 'snap for the kids (5:50)')
Omarion's Touch

Ok, most of the vids are amateur and most of the dances are improv. here's one that's included pretty much every form of voguing mentioned in this post...the good parts are scattered through the vid - its not all good.

check out: 1:30, 3:10, 6:03 (jazz), 6:50 (hip-hop), 7:30 (main event), 8:30 (solos)

From the House of Blahnik:

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

So the Gays can now Marry in California...

have the satellites dropped from the sky?..has the sky itself fallen on our heads?
have zombies come out of their graves to feed on people's flesh?
have the woolly mammoths of old been awakened?
have the volcanoes emptied their hot wrath onto the world?
have the rivers dried up... have the fish in them died?
has the ocean's water turned to blood?
have you found frogs or locusts lurking in your living room?

...no?
so then what was the big deal?..

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

My Favorite "Gay" songs

Now when I say "Gay" i don't necessarily mean gay themed (though some of them are) but rather songs that are what they are largely due to popularization by gay culture.

1. Songs that appear on the surface to be actually gay:
1. I'm coming out - by Diana Ross
excerpt: "..I'm coming out..i want the world to know, got to let it show..."
no explanation necessary. considered by many a gay anthem.

2. Its raining men - Geri Halliwell
excerpt: ".its raining men! Amen...I'm gonna go out to run and let myself get absolutely soaking wet.."

3. So Many Men, So little Time - Miquel Brown (she's a she)
the song may not be gay, but don't let the guys in the music video fool you..

2. 70's gay songs:
1. Ring my Bell - Anita Ward
excerpt: "you can ring my be-e-eell, ring my bell"

2. I Love to love you baby - Donna Summer
The title of the song was sampled in Beyonce's Naughty Girl

3. YMCA - the village people.
I swear i can still do that dance
--Abba: mama mia, fernando, chiquitita


3. 80's gay songs:
1. You spin me round (like a record) - Dead or alive.
i think this was during the glam rock era...see the video and you'll know why..
this popular song had been played in gay price concerts in the mid 90's

2. Tainted love - Soft cell
I LOOOOVE this song!! its been covered who knows how many times. the most recent covers were by the Pussycat Dolls and Rihanna's (beat cover) SOS.
the song speaks loads for the gay culture.

3. ALL of Madonna's 80's songs: True Blue, Papa don't preach, Holiday, material girl and lucky star, like a virgin to name a few.

4. Kylie Minogue - locomotion, i should be so lucky

4. 90's gay songs:
1. Believe - Cher
This song was a huge smash worldwide and her bigger hit ever. it won a Grammy in '98 and is probably the most popular song by a gay icon. it also made her the oldest chart topper in the hot 100 rock era..she was 52.

2. Madonna's 90's hits such as vogue, Frozen, power of goodbye, ray of light, don't cry for me Argentina.

3. Dancing Queen - Abba
I especially enjoyed Kylie's cover in the (i forget the year) Olympics

4. I'm too sexy - Right said Fred
Nothing like this song to bring out that narcissism.

5. 2000's gay songs:
1. Michael - Franz Ferdinand
Currently my favorite band ..

2. I kissed a Girl - Katy Perry
Fun and catchy track that's currently at number 3 on the billboard singles charts

3. Kylie Minogue - Slow (fav dance track), can't get you out of my head, in your eyes, red blooded woman, chocolate, 2 hearts...all of them!

6. Sports gay songs:
1. Rock and roll - Gary glitter
this "gay"song has been played in football games, and was also featured in the 1994 world cup.
2. We are the Champions - Queen
that's right...believe it! RIP Freddie Mercury

7. Super-old school gay songs:
1. My guy - Mary wells (1964)
2. At last - Etta James (1961)

8. Hip-hop gay songs:
lol yeah, right...if you got one, I'm listening.
maybe Vanilla ice?

9. Other miscellaneous gay songs:
1. Barbie girls - Aqua
2. Slave for you - Britney
3. Satisfaction - Benny Bennassi
4. R.E.S.P.E.C.T - Aretha
5. Beautiful - Christina Aguilera
6. Man, i feel like a woman - Shaniah Twain
7. I will survive - Gloria Gaynor
8. Over the Rainbow - Judy Garland
9. Moulin Rouge - Christina, Mya, Pink, Lil Kim (originally by Patti Labelle)
10. t.A.T.u - All the things she said

10. ALL of Janet Jackson's songs. She's MY favorite gay icon.

got any of your own?

Monday, June 16, 2008

Kill Bill Vol 3--

It probably shouldn't be called "Kill Bill", obviously because Bill is dead: The bride does him in with the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique in Vol 2.


Details emerged as early as 2004 that the sequel may involve "the revenge of two killers whose arms and eyes were hacked by Uma Thurman in the first stories". If you haven't seen the first 2 volumes, the killers being referenced are Sofie and Elle.

In a rather sickening yet hillarious (yes, i'm dark like that) scene captured below, The Bride unwittingly (though not intentionally) throws a knife into Vernita's chest right in front of her daughter Nikki, who was 4 at the time.


She then says to Nikki,
"When you grow up...if you still feel raw about it...i'll be waiting.."

According to Quentin Tarantino, Sofie, now 1 arm less, inherits Bill's fortune and raises Nikki to take on the Bride. "Kill Bill" is all about revenge and for clear reasons Nikki has a dish to serve so she may well be the main character in the sequel.

Last we saw of Elle, she and The Bride were engaged in what was 2005 MTV Movie Award's Best Fight scene. These bad bitches, both wielding Hattoris got into a hardcore stand off before The Bride finally plucked out Elle's second blue eye (the first was plucked by their master, Pai Mei) and squashed it under her bare foot. Elle was then abandoned in that shack in the middle of nowhere, blind, and with a black mamba running loose somewhere in the house.

As far as we know, she isn't dead either.

Other characters what we expect to make an appearance are:
BB, Beatrix's daughter. Her mother was the deadliest DVA, so we shouldn't expect her to be playing with her barbies while Nikki comes after her mother.

Hattori Hanzo, the Sword maker may be called upon for his "Japanese Steel"

The 3 swords: Bud's/Elle's Hanzō, The Bride's Katana and Bill's Hattori.

Quentin implies that the movie the movie will have the same actresses, because he "might..shoot a couple of scenes for it now so I can get the actresses while they're this age". That said, it follows that real filming may begin even 10 years from now.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

1. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer


After reading the last book, it feels hopeless for us die-hard Harry Potter fans trying to find another author as able to capture our imaginations as JK Rowling was.

There are al ot of similarities between this book series and the HP series. For one, the main character begins as a little boy having to deal with evils supposedly waaay beyond his age and potential. Also, there's lots of "magic" and realms that regular humans are totally oblivious to. Familiar, huh?


Artemis Fowl (the main character) is a millionaire, a certified genius and a respected European Crime lord and mastermind. It would sound like a typical Italian family mobster book, except for the fact that he's 12...that's right, he's all that and he's not even a teen yet.

After extensive research, he is finally able to track down and obtain the fairy holy Book of The People which he deciphers and learns about the Lower Elements people (LEP). He then initiates his plan to rob one of them of their "pot of gold". Apparently, every so often, the Lower Elements People (LEP) come up to earth to renew their magical abilities. He stake's out where one might go to do this ritual and kidnaps her (captain Holly Short) with the help of his monster-of-a-man bodyguard, Butler.

He demands a ton of Gold in exchange for the elf.

The LEP don't take too kindly to this and so they set a time stop and send a kleptomaniac dwarf, Mulch Diggums to infiltrate the house, because they cannot enter the house of a human without permission (at the expense of their powers)/Mulch however takes this opportunity to steal and then secure his own freedom on the surface (he was a convict down there).

They then send a Troll which wreaks havoc in the house but is eventually taken care of by Butler. Finally, feigning defeat, they agree to give Artemis the Gold while they plot to detonate a bio-bomb (that kills all living beings leaving everything inanimate as it was) and get their gold back.
The situation seems futile for Artemis but he comes up with a genius (which is his trademark, similar to Harry's scar) plan to foil them. As expected, Artemis not only succeeds, but they can never bother him about it ever according to their own laws.

the book is a riveting and magical adventure

full synopsis here
Book reviews here

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Michelle William's New pop Single


Y'all remember Michelle?...the "number 3" from the Destiny's Child trio? The one who was stuck either singing backup or taking the scraps while the others grabbed all attention?

Well since the group disbanded after their "Destiny Fulfilled" Album, she went into gospel (no surprise there) and is now back with the new pop album "Unexpected" (coming out August 12th).

"We break the Dawn" is her first release from her new album. It features a completely remodelled Michelle, unlike the one that was held back in her girl group: not only is it non-gospel, but its also a dance track and features her new 'bob' haircut à la Victoria Beckham.

Its a hot dance-to track with an equally hot music video, although without the sleaze that most singers seem to find necessary. It plays out late at night in an abandoned city where her male dancers (who all seem to be right off of a Dolce and Gabbana catalog) perform nicely choreographed moves. Her own dancing is a bit on the modest side especially at the beginning, but she does work some ballet-esque twirls and bends toward the bridge of the song.



To be honest, i never liked it that B hogged all the our attention. I've always had Michelle's back through their years together, and was glad to see her get significant parts in their last album.
So far the song's mostly peaking the dance charts, and is currently at number 18 on iTunes, which makes it her highest chart position of any of her singles.
Way to go Michelle!!

listen to it here (better quality)

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Of Queer Marriage

Its really simple. Really.

Marriage has 2 definitions:
1. that sacred sacrament (traditionally) between a man and a woman before God. a priest reads from a bible, and you repeat dogmatic promises that you promise to keep, but don't (but that is a post for another day). Basically, its a church ceremony.

2. by law, marriage is the signing of papers that befit you and your spouse certain rights functional as long as you're married. They total about 1,400 rights.

Considering that you can become an ordained minister online nowadays, or even find some sympathetic priest to perform your union in a place of worship, definition 1 of marriage isn't a problem to obtain - you can get those anywhere.

It therefore follows that definition 2 is what is meant by Gay Marriage: rights pure and simple.
Sure they've been given civil unions, but these only deny them, oh , just OVER A THOUSAND RIGHTS given to hetero couples.

simple, huh?

So what reasons to deny these adults these rights?