EMBRACING LIFE, CULTURE, AND THE SUBLIMELY RIDICULOUS
{ Monthly Archives }
did you know that blur is my absolute favorite band ever? now you do.
i picked one of their best videos to help me launch a new feature here at ¡viva la graham! after today, it’s going to be flashback friday (because that sounds better), but since i dreamed it up on a sunday, i thought i’d start it with this blur clip from 1993. tell me what you think! and don’t hesitate to request videos for future entries…
without further adieu, here’s the latest list of pop culture’s main offenders.
ON NOTICE
chris daughtry - am i the only one who thinks this cue ball is a major douche? someone needs to tell him that his shit stinks, cos he obviously isn’t aware.
owen wilson + kate hudson - i liked kate much better as a band-aid, and if she really felt the need to upgrade, she could have done so much better.
arcade fire - they’re okay, i guess. but the more popular they get, the more i feel like holier-than-thou hipsters might take over. and this frightens me.
heavy bangs - it’s an epidemic! i’m surprised my nana hasn’t fallen prey to it, because lord knows everyone else has.
joss stone - this cutie-pie brit never really inspired my ire until recently. it’s great that she wants to proclaim her independence, but did she really need to ruin her hair in the process?
DEAD TO ME
brandon flowers - i can no longer tolerate his whiny voice, his band’s mediocre new material, or his god complex. and you already know i hate the mustache.
travis barker + shanna moakler - they split up, he fucked paris, she punched paris. i enjoyed this drama, but now they’re back together? yeah, i’m over it.
american apparel - it’s just a clothing store, i know. but for some reason, i can’t handle spending 20 times more for something just because i couldn’t find it at a thrift store.
britney’s wig - in a word, tired. she can do better than this! but we could say the same about everything she’s done in the last few years of her life.
avril lavigne - i used to really like this hot topic pop tart. as her performance last night on snl showed, now she’s totally lost the plot… but she’s too far up her own ass to ever realize it.
much as i love canadian indie goddess emily haines, her solo material and her role in broken social scene just don’t compare to the brilliance of her main gig, metric.
here’s the second video for “empty,” my favorite track off live it out, which was shot to promote the single’s european release (the puppet-themed first video didn’t really do the song justice). this time around, much of the chaos goes in reverse, so just like the song, at the end everything seems peaceful. it’s pretty satisfying, actually. after whetting my appetite with this new clip, my big hope is that the band hurries up with their next album…
a friend of mine asked if i had seen the recent photos of slightly-bloated kylie (i hadn’t). here’s one that prove that rumor wrong. the jury’s still out on the plastic surgery, though (i’m leaning toward no).
kylie looks stunning here, and that bob is adorable! as for the red lipstick, well, she is promoting h&m in china (which would explain the dress), so i guess she was going for dramatic. can’t say i love the look, but i don’t hate it either. the snarky michael k over at dlisted said she looked like amanda lepore, and while the silly comparison did make me pee a little, i’d hardly call it accurate.
there’s one more pic after the jump in which my dear kylie looks a little less cartoonish… and just like herself, in my opinion!
ever the smart business woman, madonna has enlisted justin timberlake and timbaland to help out on the follow-up to confessions on a dance floor. that record sold millions around the world, but its singles failed to break through at radio — mainly in the united states (”hung up” was the only one to crack the u.s. top 40, peaking at no. 7).
justin timberlake has had a string of no. 1s, thanks in part to collaborating with timbaland, so madonna is likely looking to reclaim her former chart glory with both hitmakers at the helm of at least a few tracks. unless she comes up with another dreadful “american life”-style rap, i don’t think anything could stand in the way of success. well played, madge!
just in case you can’t wait ’til sunday, you can watch the first episode of vh1’s charm school online starting today… minus the elimination at the end of the episode, of course. head over to vspot for the streaming video!
so what’s the verdict? thanks to mo’nique, this shit is bananas! not only does my favorite big girl bring it, the class-free flavor of love girls are also at their best. and by that i mean they’re mostly behaving badly, making the show that much better.
otherwise, it’s good to see my girl again, the hysterical, misunderstood becky buckwild. and as always the wided-eyed, bat-shit-crazy schatar (”hottie”) is in rare form. this is going to be good!
as is often the case with the catchiest songs, the lyrics take a backseat to infectious melodies. kaiser chiefs’ “ruby” falls into this category. so for hours after hearing it, i keep repeating, involuntarily, “ruby ruby ruby ruby…. do ya, do ya, do ya, do ya?” and that is all i can recall.
i absolutely love the song, and the under-construction miniature city in the video is just as fun. i wasn’t really a fan of kaiser chiefs before this (i wasn’t terribly taken with their first album), but i’m glad they’ve turned things around. it turns out they are actually as good as people said they were.
tina fey’s must-see sleeper is only getting better — and nbc is actually giving it a marketing push (check it out after the jump) and plenty of time to really catch on with audiences. the network recently renewed the show for a second season, and it looks like it’ll stay put in a plum spot after the office on thursday nights.
for those of you who have yet to discover 30 rock, now is the time. last week’s episode was one of the best yet, with will arnett guest starring as a gay exec jonesing for jack’s job… and a piece of kenneth the paige — whom, despite his sexual ambiguity, is straight. we think.
in other news, will & grace’s sean hayes has been cast to play kenneth’s cousin, which is perhaps the most brilliant casting since, well, alec baldwin as jack donaghy. stay tuned.
mutya buena left the sugababes behind more than a year ago, so it’s about time she came out with something on her own. her debut solo single, “real girl,” is a lot of fun - even if it’s not terribly original (most of the melodies mirror those of the song it samples, lenny kravitz’s “it ain’t over till it’s over”).
regardless, this is a promising start for an extremely talented vocalist. let’s hope the rest of her upcoming album is this funky.
i didn’t really watch carrie underwood’s season of american idol, so i think that had something to do with me not being very impressed with her first big hit, “jesus take the wheel.” i knew she was doing well, because i couldn’t really escape her in magazines or on awards shows picking up trophies.
when i saw her perform second single “before he cheats” on saturday night live a few weeks ago, i finally understood what all the fuss was about.
i’m slightly embarrassed to admit it, but not only was her performance pretty good, that song is fuckin’ fierce! i’m not usually a fan of country music (even if i live in nashville), but she totally won me over. no, i don’t really believe she’s a whiskey-swillin’, ass-kickin’ vandal, but she certainly delivers her vocal with conviction. and who doesn’t love a good revenge tale by a lover scorned?
anyway, i had to confess my latest vice. surely i’m not the only fag singing along! i mean, shania hasn’t released an album in a few years, so at least the redneck queers are boot-scootin’ along to this one. haha, so i’m in good company!
if you haven’t yet given carrie a chance, check out the video clip after the jump…