Jay Brannan: Body's A Temple Video

I could not be more excited right now. Tonight I am going to see my new favorite (male) singer, Jay Brannan, in concert downtown. A Christmas present from my Brother. Fans of indie movies may recognize Jay from his role as the adorable Ceth in John Cameron Mitchell's "Shortbus", but he is an extremely talented up and coming musician who will put the likes of John Mayer and Jason Mraz to shame with his incredibly brilliant and personable lyrics. Jay doesn't have an official studio album out yet but many of his songs are previewed in his personal video blogs on youtube as well as being available for download through I-tunes.

This is his first official music video for his song Body's A Temple and since I am intoxicated by his music, I will be posting many more of his personal youtube video performances to my blog.

Enjoy as I count the minutes til the show.

Emmy Rossum: Slow Me Down Video

I've got to do something now to make myself feel better after that last post so I've decided to add this video.

My brother recently returned from his trip to New York and while he was there he picked up Emmy Rossum's debut album "Inside Out" for me. It is such a beautifully written piece of work and I am simply "over the moon" in love with it. Many of you will no doubt recognize Emmy from her role as Christine Daae in Joel Schumacher's recent film adaptaion of The Phantom Of The Opera, well most people were expecting the young starlett to release a more classical sounding record, but what she delivered is an amazing mix of pop and ambient sounds that make it a cross between the poppier sound of Sarah Brightman (think the song Eden) and Imogen Heap. I highly suggest picking it up and giving a listen.

Plus she's gorgeous...which is important.

What The Fuck Is Wrong With People?

I'm so upset right now by the sheer audacity of some people. After the news of Heath Ledger's death yesterday the stupid fuck-tards of Rev. Fred Phelps' Hate Group, who are infamous for picketing gay pride events and funerals of homosexual individuals, posted the above message about the young actor, suggesting that they will be picketing his funeral because of his work in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain. Never mind the fact that Heath is not even gay, he's a "fag-enabler" (which is the stupidest thing ever), and must apparently be punished for helping to paint homosexuality in a positive light.

Now, I'm not religious in the least but it really pisses me off when people use the "word of God" to do the Devils work. What kind of coward pickets a funeral? That is the most perverse, disgusting thing I have ever heard of and I think those people should be sent right to jail. Clearly they have no families because any sane person with children would never even think about disrespecting the dead while their families are mourning. What's even more disturbing is when these assholes choose to picket the funerals of victims of hate crimes (Matthew Shepard, Brandon Teena and many others who are less / not known) just to make the wound deeper.

With all of these religious nuts who say that God will judge you in the end for your lifestyle and choices, I say, I think that if God is supposed to be infallible, then that really leaves no room for judgement of any kind. So I'll live how I want to live and I'll be seeing you and your fucking picket signs in the afterlife where I'll be shoving them up your ass and condemning you for your lifestyle choices. Don't be thinking you can get rid of me that easily.

Wow, what a rant. I'm tired now. Peace be with Heath and everyone.

Rest In Peace Heath Ledger

Dude, what the hell is going on? Two great young actors in a week have passed away. Just as I was getting over the loss of Brad Renfro, Australian actor Heath Ledger, star of such movies as A Knights Tale, Brokeback Mountain, Candy, and Monster's Ball, was found dead in his apartment in New York this afternoon at the age of 28. Although I was never a big fan of his more famous works (A Knights Tale and Brokeback), He was a stunningly good actor who chose really great roles for himself. Please see the movie Candy if you can, it's brilliant and I was also looking forward to seeing him as The Joker in the new Batman prequel "Dark Knight". Plus he can currently be seen in the film "I'm Not There" which has just earned co-star Cate Blanchett an Oscar nomination today.

Heath split from his partner Michelle Williams last year and had spent most of his time living in New York. The couple has a 2 year old daughter, Matilda which makes this news all the more upsetting. No news has been released about the cause of death yet but speculation has been that he was found face down and naked with a bottle of prescription sleeping pills nearby by a massage therapist he had booked to come to his apartment. Heath had reportedly told the New York Times in November that he "stressed out a little too much" during the filming of I'm Not There, and he had been having trouble sleeping and was sometimes relying on sleeping aids to relax himself during the shooting of Dark Knight. Is this just another casualty of overdose?

Rest In Peace Heath. You'll Be Missed.

Lily Miscarries

It has been confirmed through her publicist that British singer Lily Allen, who was expecting her first child with boyfriend Ed Simons of The Chemical Brothers this year, has sadly suffered a miscarriage. The couple had just returned home after a romantic vacation in Maldives.

A source close to the couple has said, “Lily and Ed are in a state of shock. The bad news has been really difficult for them to take and they are absolutely heartbroken. Lily’s entire outlook on life changed after she found out she was pregnant. She was looking forward to being a mum and starting a family with Ed. She had turned her back on her party girl image and had turned over a new leaf. They are surrounded by friends and family who are offering support. It is a really difficult time for them.”

Lily's publicist has asked that the media respect their privacy at this tragic time.

How awful.

Lisa Loeb: The Purple Tape

Long before the reality shows and Grammy award winning albums, Lisa Loeb was the first unsigned artist with a number 1 song on the Billboard charts thanks to her friend Ethan Hawke and the film Reality Bites. This still unbroken record led Lisa to a collection of tour dates around the US before the release of a studio backed album, but she wanted to give something to the group of fans who came to her shows. This decision led to the creation and distribution of a violet-hued cassette tape now infamously referred to as (appropriately enough) The Purple Tape, a collection of demo songs she would use and present to industry bigwigs hoping to score a record deal. This album is considered a rare gem to Lisa fans.

Now Lisa is officially releasing the album as a 2-disc collection for all of her fans to enjoy. The first disc contains the 10 original songs from the cassette remastered, many of them demo versions of songs she would go on to release on her future albums and others that have yet to be released. The second disc includes an exclusive new interview with Lisa and acoustic versions of the songs Stay (I Missed You) and Snow Day.

The ten songs on disc one are,

1) Snow Day

2) Train Song

3) Hurricane

4) Come Back Home

5) It's Over

6) This

7) Days Were Different

8) Guessing Game

9) Do You Sleep?

10) Airplanes

The Purple Tape will be available in stores next Tuesday January 22nd. On top of that Lisa also has a small EP record out for digital download called "Cherries" which contains 6 of Lisa's most requested (but hardest to find) bonus tracks from throughout her career, including...

1) Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries

2) Sandalwood (Full Band Version) (which I have so it can't be that hard to find)

3) Look Me In The Eye

4) Birds (which I also have)

5) Eno Ambient # 5

6) Dance With The Angels (Live)

And as if that weren't enough Lisa will be releasing her second children's music album "Camp Lisa" (which follows the success of her first "Catch The Moon") as well as a new studio album later this year.

Watch Lisa on the Conan O'Brien Show tomorrow night on NBC.

Sheryl Crow: Detours

Sheryl Crow's new album Detours will be released in stores on February 5th. This is the first album from Sheryl since her album Wildflower was released in 2005 and since then she has experienced many things that have no doubt inspired many of the songs on this record. As well as breaking up with her fiance Lance Armstrong, battling breast cancer and adopting her son Wyatt, the ever political Sheryl has also written songs concerning the state of the worlds environment and the ravages of Hurricane Katrina.

The track listing is....

1) God Bless This Mess

2) Shine Over Babylon (which is available as a promotional single for download on I-tunes)

3) Love Is Free (the official first single)

4) Peace Be Upon Us

5) Gasoline (see the video previously posted on this blog)

6) Out Of Our Heads

7) Detours

8) Now That You're Wrong

9) Drunk With The Thought Of You

10) Diamond Ring

11) Motivation

12) Make It Go Away (Radiation Song) (Clearly about the cancer)

13) Love Is All There Is

14) Lullaby For Wyatt

Sheryl returned to working with producer Bill Bottrell who previously worked with her on her breakout album Tuesday Night Music Club. Will the sound be similar? Buy a copy and find out. Sheryl released a promotional video for Shine Over Babylon through her official website, look for it on here soon. Also, Wikipedia is reporting that the album will have 2 bonus songs, Doctor My Eyes and Here Comes The Sun. Whether this is true or not, I don't know.

Sex and the City: The Movie Teaser Trailer

As promised here is the teaser trailer for the Sex And The City Movie.

Hello Lover indeed! One more spoiler I forgot to mention. Mr. Big does go by his first name, John which was revealed at the end of the television series and we may even get a last name to go along with that.

Sex And The City: The Movie Poster

The Sex And The City movie release draws ever closer and I for one cannot wait. With all of the pictures and rumours from the shoot circling around the Internet (Sarah Jessica in a God-awful wedding dress, Kristen Davis is a pregnancy suit, Kim Cattrall in LA) it's hard to tell false from true and what exactly the plot entails. But it has been confirmed by the brilliant Michael Patrick King that all of your favorite characters are returning, including all the men you know and love, Magda, the original baby who played Miranda's son Brady (who is now four), Bitsy von Muffling, and Oscar-Winner Jennifer Hudson adds to the ensemble as Carrie's assistant Louise. All I really know about the film is that it is in real time (meaning that four years have past in the lives of the Girls), Carrie is an established writer on her 2nd or 3rd book by now, and Samantha spends her time between New York and LA because of her job.

The Movie is set for a May 30th release, and I will be adding many video's, including the teaser trailer in the next little bit.

Will you get Carried away?

Discipline Album Cover

This is the cover of Janet Jackson's tenth studio album "Discipline". What does everybody think? I like it personally. Janet has recently spoken about her idea's for the album and it's title,

"Discipline has been much on my mind," she says. "It's the idea that unifies the songs on this record. As a concept, and even a lifestyle, discipline goes extremely deep. It can be applied to so much about ourselves. In my case, I see it as one of defining aspects of my character. Discipline was there for me from the start. But it was not until this record that I began to understand its full meaning.

In putting Discipline out front-- as both the title of the album and title of a song about sexual surrender--I wanted to announce that I was venturing into new creative waters. That meant working with producers like Jermaine Dupri, Rodney Jerkins, and Ne-Yo, whose songs spoke to the immediacy of my emotions. Like all my records, this one, whether intentional or not, has autobiographical roots. It's difficult for me to work any other way. I don't feel it, if I don't believe it, I can't sing it.

So Discipline, as a storyline, begins in my childhood which someone could see as a classic study in discipline. Discipline was part of a family culture that I absorbed. I was born with it."

Confirmed songs that will be on the album are

Feedback (of course)

Roller Coaster

Discipline

Can't Be Good

Letchu Go

Be sure to pick up your copy on the 26th of February.

Rest In Peace Brad

The acting world lost a great young talent today when actor Brad Renfro passed away at the age of 25. The star of such movies as The Client, The Cure (one of my favorite movies), Apt Pupil, Deuces Wild, and Bully (another fave) was found dead in his Los Angeles home at 9 am this morning. There have been no details as to the cause of death yet but speculation was quick to jump to his troubles with drug and alcohol addiction. He had reportedly been attempting to get clean and sober for the past year after a judge ordered him into a drug rehabilitation program following an attempt to buy heroin and recently finished a movie with Winona Ryder and Billy Bob Thornton called The Informers. I'm personally upset by this news because he was one of my favorite actors. Why do the talented ones always die so young?

Rest In Peace Brad.

Alanis Morissette - Underneath

Alanis is meant to be releasing her new album "Flavors Of Entanglement" in the spring (release date is still unknown) but her award winning video that she made for her song Underneath for the Elevate Films Festival is now available in High Quality for you to view right here.

There is still no word on whether this will be an official single from the album, but damn it's a great song and she did such a wonderful job directing the video.

Idina Menzel: I Stand

Not long to go now. Idina Menzel's new album "I Stand" (her first with the Warner Bros. label) will be available in stores on January 29th. I personally can't wait and each and every video blog added to her official site is just getting me more and more excited. I've heard three of the songs from the album already and if they are any indication of the rest of the album, it is going to be incredible.

I just stopped by Amazon.com to find out the full track listing for the record and here it is...

1) I Stand

2) Better To Have Loved

3) Brave

4) Gorgeous

5) Where Do I Begin?

6) Don't Let Me Down

7) I Feel Everything

8) Forever

9) Enemy

10) Perfume and Promises

Wikipedia is also reporting that an acoustic version of Brave and the reworked version of Defying Gravity that she released as a single last spring will be featured as bonus songs. The album was completely produced and co-written (except for one song) by Glen Ballard. I haven't heard any word on a music video being released for the first single "Brave" which makes me wonder if there is going to be one. Fingers crossed, you'd think she'd want to do some kind of promotion. Pretty album cover though, huh?

Janet Jackson - Feedback Music Video

This is the hot new video for Janet's first single off her forthcoming 10th studio album "Discipline" which is being released February 26th.

Rumours are circulating that Janet might be hitting the road with her Brothers (including Michael) when they start their Jackson 5 reunion tour. Just imagine what that show would be like. Sweet Lord I hope it's true because Miss Jackson has three new albums worth of material to tour with. I was heartbroken when the tour for 20 Y.O. never materialized despite her plans and rehearsals to make it happen. Don't let me down again.

Gasoline by Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow has a new album coming out in February called "Detours" and she recently performed this track on Ellen's Really Big Show tv special. It's pretty hot. She sounds like she's gone back to her old rocker girl sound. The way she approaches the verses reminds of All I Wanna Do. Check it out.

Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis

The sublime Leona Lewis is the winner of the third season of UK talent search "X-Factor" (think American Idol, Simon Cowell produces X-Factor as well).

Her debut album "Spirit" has entered the UK album charts at #1, beating out the Spice Girls Greatest Hits album, and it has also received the honor of becoming the biggest selling debut album in UK history.

"A Hero Comes Home" Behind The Scenes

A behind the scenes look of Idina Menzel recording "A Hero Comes Home" for rhe movie Beowulf. Written by Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri.

Idina Menzel - I Stand Album Promo

It has been a while since I posted last, but I have been busy getting my other blog up to par.

This exciting news is reason enough to get on with things again. Idina Menzel's new studio album "I Stand" will be released in January 2008, and this video takes you through a quick glipse of Idina's career up until this point.

The album was produced and co-written by Glen Ballard, the genius who helped to bring us Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill, the first single from the album "Brave" is currently available to buy on i-tunes, and Idina is currently getting Oscar buzz for the song "A Hero Comes Home" which she performed for the end credits of the new Angelina Jolie film Beowulf.

New Blog

For those of you who actually read this site and also enjoy the Spice Girls, I decided today to start a new Blog which focuses only on news about the Girls. Why you ask? Simply because there are far too many news stories, video's, tv appearances, tour announcements and other such media mish mash about them coming out as they take over the world once again that I feel I want to write about, and this site would just become one great big Spice blog anyway. So I decided, why not just keep them all in one place? Plus I figure, once the tour has ended I can add posts about what they are up to in their solo careers.

So if you are interested in getting the latest news on Geri, Emma, Melanie B, Victoria, and Melanie C, simply visit http://www.fivebecomeone.blogspot.com/ . I already have 22 or so posts posted, including the video for their Brand New single "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)".

Enjoy!

I Got Tickets!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WooooHooo! I actually got tickets to the Spice Girls 2 nights in Toronto on their Return Of The Spice Girls tour. This is going to be such a treat. I think I may die.

While I'm at it though I guess I should write about the latest info. The Greatest Hits package will be released in Canada on November 13th. You can either buy the CD (packaged all alone), the CD/DVD Package deal which includes a DVD with all of their music videos for your nostalgic enjoyment, or the special Gift Box package which includes the greatest hits CD, the video's DVD, a karaoke CD, a remixes CD, a Friendship Bracelet, and 5 picture postcards of the girls. Which one do you think I'll be buying?

The Track listing of the CD is as follows...

1) Wannabe

2) Say You'll Be There

3) 2 Become 1

4) Mama

5) Who Do You Think You Are?

6) Move Over

7) Spice Up Your Life

8) Too Much

9) Stop

10) Viva Forever

11) Let Love Lead The Way

12) Holler

13) Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)

14) Voodoo

15) Goodbye

The girls recently shot the video for the upcoming single Headlines and the song will be premiering on UK radio tomorrow. The cover of the album features a glittering Spice logo created in gems by jeweller David Morris. Each colored jewel is intended to represent one of the five girls.

The "S" is set in Amber to represent Victoria, the Ruby Pink "P" represents Emma, the Diamond "I" represents Melanie C., the Sapphire "C" represents Geri, and the emerald "E" is for Mel B.

The Documentary that the girls are working on is reportedly going to be released sometime in December just after the tour starts.