"I can't wait to get married because nothing's better than the cheating."

-How in the Hell does Mario expect to beat Sonic in a race?! And at the Olympics, no less! Sure, if they're running through pipes, I could kind of understand Mario's advantage. But he clearly has no clue what he's gotten himself into. Doesn't he know Sonic's origin? The little guy broke the friggin' sound barrier, which is why he's blue. BLUE! A blue friggin' hedgehog, who can break the speed of sound, and some overweight plumber from Brooklyn thinks he has a shot. That's harder to believe than the Rocky story.

-Anybody been watching MTV lately? What's the deal with Alicia Keys and the bunny? Sure, it was kind of funny when it turned out to be John Mayer, but what was the point? Was the bunny her stalker? And wow, was she a bad actress! Was she that bad in Smoking Aces?

-Speaking of those MTV bumpers, is there some kind of payola scam going on there? When they started the program, it was for smaller, indie bands & performers. They would let some little act take over MTV for a week, and you'd be bombarded by their crappy live tracks or hear the lame story about how they formed. I wanted to punch that orange-haired chick from Paramore in the face. Anyway, they had Paramore, Chromeo, Rilo Kiley, Teagan & Sara, Common...and Alicia Keys. "One of these things is not like the other"!

-OK, so I've found myself dragged into the Tila Army. The show is just so entertaining, but it's sad when everybody's more interesting than Tila herself. Every now and then, she'll interject just so you'll remember that she's a part of the show. She's so damn whiny. "Oh my God, I'm bisexual! You don't know how hard it is for me." Blah, blah, blah. Yeah, Tila, it sure looks hard. You've got to decide between a whole bunch of guys, and a whole bunch of girls. Plus, it seems like the deck is stacked, as the guys are pretty lame. they're either gross and/or I suspect they might be gay. If she's smart, she'll choose one of the lesbians. Actually, if she's really smart, she'll choose Dani; I swear, she's more of a man than I am, but there's something likeable about that chick, and she's got a good head on her shoulders. The hardest part for Tila has got to be the fact that she's working under a time constraint. After all, who knows when the mothership is going to return to take her back to Tilatron 9?

-While I'm still on this MTV jag, why does everyone in the Real World: Sydney house hate Parisa?! Seriously, since the beginning, it's been like the producers set forth an edict: make Parisa the bitch. Over the course of the season, we've seen multiple housemates get pissed at her, curse her out, and after last night, even knock her down. For the most part, she's kept her cool. And the one time that she did fight back and stand up for herself, they acted like she was a "crazy bitch". You know the sad realization? Parisa's "the black one" this season. You see, every RW house has that crazy black person who either starts fights, refuses to be a team player, and/or gets arrested for public urination. There's no black housemate this season so Parisa, as the de facto person of color, is now filling that role. The biggest revelation, for me, is that she has never really done anything to deserve this. Sure, she can be a bitch sometimes, but everyone in the RW house is asshole/bitch at some point. It's called good television. It's enough to make you want to rewatch old seasons and see if Syrus, Kevin, or Tyrie actually deserved the flack that they got in their respective RW seasons. OK, well Tyrie deserved his...

-Since I'm this far in, I think this is going to end up as a TV blog post. Nothing wrong with that.

-Let me preface this by saying that I am not a gamer. I've always seen video games as an expensive game of "Keeping Up with the Joneses". I've only got time and money for one hobby, and that's comics. That said, I want Assassin's Creed. The commercial alone makes me want it. The same way the Harry Gregson-Williams's score for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty made me want a PS2 (and the game), the commercial for Assassin's Creed makes me want a 360 (and the game). One of the best uses of Massive Attack's "Teardrop" in recent years. Plus, it's designed by Jade Diamond, and she's hot. At least, that seems to be why UbiSoft thinks we should buy the game. (for recent, hilarious controversy, google: jade, ubisoft, cartoon.)

-For anyone who doesn't know, I love wedding shows. For reals. It all goes back to my A Wedding Story addiction when I graduated college. that was soon folded into Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?, along with Married Away. Then, I Propose came along last Spring to cap it all off. Always a bridesmaid...Anyway, I'm having problems with Whose Wedding... as of late.

I've written about this before, in that I believe Whose Wedding... is getting too highbrow for its own good. You see the same annoying planners (I'm looking at you, Donnie Brown!), and there's too much crossover with Married Away. I get it. These are the favorite planners. Regardless, I still long for the old days, when there was a more eclectic mix of wedding planners. I miss Jim Rich, who runs a storefront wedding chapel in Texas. He's the planner, minister, and MC of the reception. He does it all. Sure, most of his weddings were shotgun weddings between high school dropouts and Mexican immigrants, but they showed a different side of the wedding game. Lately, all of the weddings have been $90,000-$250,000 affairs thrown by professional New York couples who met in an elevator or the organic food market. The balance is completely thrown off now. And when they do have a "normal" couple, it's such a hot ghetto mess that I'm ashamed that it's even being shown.

My least favorite wedding planner right now is Linnyette Richardson-Hall. She handles weddings in the Baltimore area, and calls herself "The Wedding Diva" (Ugh, I hate when Black women call themselves "diva". It's SO "A Different World & Livin' Single early 90's" to me). She doesn't like when the couple refuses to give her control, and she's always cutting corners. She loves turning people away from the reception; it's a necessary job, but she relishes it. She is not the chick you go to with an unlimited budget, because she'd just spend it all at the dollar store. I recognize that there's a need for this type of wedding planner, as not everyone has an unlimited budget (I sure as Hell won't!), but everything is so garish and cheap.

Typically, Linnyette caters to Black couples who've been together forever, and decided to get married before he cheats again/goes to jail. Seriously, here's your average Linnyette wedding: bride and groom are about 32, and they were high school sweethearts. They've been on again/off again for the past 10 or so years, but they were on just long enough each time to spit out a few kids. So, now they're planning the wedding, with their kids in the wedding party. The worst part, though, is their idea of a wedding has been tainted by the Jet Society Page, so they think a regal wedding consists of groomsmen, bridesmaids, junior groomsmen, junior bridesmaids, flower girls, and ringer bearers. All the while, the ceremony and reception are taking place at Bolling Air Force Base. They want to have a classy-ass affair, but we're talking about a possible 20-person wedding party, for a dude who washes cars and a chick who works at the local check-cashing/seafood carry-out joint. Am I being too harsh? Maybe, but that's what I do.

Anyway, if you've never watched the show, each hour is comprised of 2 different weddings being planned by different planners (although, they do have the rare case where one planner has 2 ceremonies on the same weekend, so she/he'll get the whole hour). Now, it goes without saying that Linnyette's weddings look even worse when stacked against a wedding being planned in Martha's Vineyard, yet this happens more times that I'd like to recall. My problem with Linnyette is that I've never really seen her do anything that looked good. I mean, the couples seem happy with the result, and at the end of the day that's what really matters, but I've never seen anything worthy of being televised. It's almost like she's an example of "wedding planning don'ts". I get being "frugal", but some of those corners. She's the kind of chick where you'd say, "We need flowers", so she'd swing by the funeral home and pick up any stray arrangements she found laying around. "We're gonna need centerpieces". Well, she'll go to the dollar store, buy up a bunch of plastic candleholders, and then spraypaint them silver at home. She's done it before.

A wedding's a special day that, Lord willing, you'll only go through once. That said, I wouldn't want to cut corners. It doesn't matter if the guests don't realize the cake is day old from the bakery thrift shop. I would know, and that's what counts. I feel you should plan according to your budget, and not try to cheat. Don't try to have an elaborate high society affair in an Air Force bowling alley with some Rock Creek Ginger Ale. Know your limits, people. If you really don't have a budget, well, that's what Vegas is for...

Posted by William @ 11/20/2007 10:20:00 AM
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"Seriously, y'all, I'm punching a bear in the face!"

-Man, am I obsessed with Rihanna Jenkins! (Jeff's the only one who's gonna understand that joke). I just picked up Good Girl Gone Bad yesterday, and it is HOT. Just like everything else, I'm 6 months late to the game. I remember when I was jamming to "California Love", and all my friends were like, "Will, Tupac's been dead for 2 years." Anyway, hottest track on this album, besides "Umbrella", has got to be "Please Don't Stop the Music". It's impossible to *not* dance while that track is playing. I love you, Rihanna!

-Why is it that whenever you see Chris Brown on a magazine cover, he's always got that semi-retarded look on his face? Exhibit A:




"Kiss Kiss" nothing! Grab your Kleenex, 'cause this boy's a drooler! You know the type. Their "handler" is always trying to take them to the mall, knowing full well that they're gonna go crazy and throw a fit in the middle of the damn place. And everyone looks over, thinking, "Why in the Hell did she think she could bring that boy up in here like that?!"

- I really thought the Dewmocracy.com commercial was an Army recruitment video. I mean, the Marines almost got me a few times with their crafty camerawork and use of kickass looking swords. With the covert ops scenes, spliced in with the hints of a dystopian future, I was about to run down to the nearest recruitment office. It turns out they just want me to help design the new flavor of Mountain Dew. Not quite the same thing, but I'm willing to hear more...

- I caught the last few minutes of Roadhouse on Spike the other night. Could someone please tell me what the fuck that movie was about? I saw some guy who looked like Santa Claus lying on the ground, and I think Patrick Swayze vowed to avenge him. And then these guys stormed a house, and Swayze beat the shit out of them, even though they had shotguns. And then a polar bear fell on some guy. It was all capped off by the main villain getting shot through a glass coffee table.

Now, I don't have any old issues of Architectural Digest, but those glass top coffee tables seem to have been a staple of the time, and villains were always being shot or thrown through them. I know everybody wants to be a gangsta, but you have to decorate accordingly. If you're in a line of work where shoot-outs may occur, you don't want your home/office filled with glass. It's just common sense, people. Seriously, though: What the fuck was Roadhouse supposed to be about?

-OK, I know that banner ads are supposed to be in-tune with the webpage on which they're placed. However, I do believe that some things can go too far. Yesterday, I was trying to catch up on recent events on Sunday Best, so I hopped over to BET.com. Well, immediately, my eye was caught by a flashy-ass ad which could not be ignored: the entire side of the page was consumed by an ad for KFC. I shit you not. I clicked through several pages, but it was still there. KFC must be the biggest supporter of Black Entertainment Television.

Honestly, I hate watching BET (and formerly UPN) at this time of year, 'cause you'd think that all Black people do is eat chicken and shop at Wal-Mart. The hippies can give up Wal-Mart all they want 'cause the Black folks ain't goin' nowhere! I swear, Wal-Mart LOVES them some Black folks at Christmas time. The commercials have already started. The latest one is where the Black family buys grandpa a plasma TV. My favorite part is where they reassure him that they didn't pay a lot of money for it. The commercial is geared toward this ideal: White guy's response would be: "Well isn't that great! I can watch the big game on it." But Black guy's response is immediately, "Y'all know we ain't got money for this!" Gotta know your audience...

-Speaking of race, there's no one who gets my pity more than the Black Republican on Election Night. You better believe that they're gonna make sure to get him in every camera shot. He's off to the side of the podium, just smiling and clapping, and every news outlet has to show that the Republican party is diversifying its ranks. The saddest part is that the dude is always out of place. It's like he's just not in on the joke. Even when they win, the Black dude is always left out of the congratulations proceedings. Everyone's trading hearty handshakes, and he's just still smiling and clapping. Sometimes he'll even join in when the White guys start doing the whole Arsenio Hall Dog Pound Fist Cyclone (we gave that to them in 1996 when they let us have Mariah Carey). But even when they break out high-fives (for which he immediately feels well-suited), they high-five all around him. Sorry, Negro. Too slow! I swear, that guy must be the most hated guy ever because, for that one night, he's the ironic victim of equal-opportunity hatred: Black Democrats, White Democrats, Many White Republicans, Green Partiers, Non-voters, his predominantly Democrat family, as well as his White wife's family.

-How are you gonna have Van Wilder 2 without Van Wilder?! Also, I'm pretty sure Kal Penn is getting tired of faking that accent. It's such a phoned-in performance, as the movie is more like Kumar Goes to England than it was about Taj. In the first Van Wilder, Taj was pretty fresh off the boat, and had only achieved a shred of cool by the end of that movie. In the sequel, he was the coolest guy ever (like Kal played in Harold & Kumar), while making fun of the British class system. Don't bother with this movie, as you've seen it 25 times before. It's Revenge of the Nerds meets Old School meets Bend It Like Beckham. If you want a funny college movie, though, you should see Grandma's Boy. SO much better than people thought...

Well, that's enough rambling for one day. In the immortal words of R.E.O. Speedwagon, "I believe it's time for me to fly..."

Posted by William @ 11/12/2007 04:46:00 PM
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"They're too commercial to be real Dutch. I don't trust them."

-There's nothing quite like Friday's on The Knot. Hmm...that might make a good Style Network show.

-I really miss the art of the saxophone solo. Back in the '80s, every hit song had a saxophone solo. I'm gonna give you a short list of some of the best:

(I've Had) The Time of My Life - Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes
True - Spandau Ballet
You Belong to the City - Glenn Frey
Hungry Eyes - Eric Carmen
Caribbean Queen - Billy Ocean
Who Can It Be Now? - Men at Work
The Glamourous Life - Sheila E.
Careless Whisper - Wham
Never Surrender - Corey Hart
Back in Time - Huey Lewis & The News
Livin' in America - James Brown
If You Leave - Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark
Hands to Heaven - Breathe

-Where are all the great comedians of the '80s? OK, I'm stretching the definition of "great", but I really hope there's some stage show in Branson, Missouri comprised of Gilbert Gottfried, Yakov Smirnoff, Joe Isuzu (David Leisure), and Sinbad. It could be like the "Has-beens of Comedy Tour". You think I'm being snarky, but I would pay good money to see that show. What a country!

- My new favorite show is It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. How did I not know about this show? It's been on for 3 seasons! It's great because it's like Seinfeld starring assholes. A show about nothing, starring a bunch of people who...really aren't good people. That was my problem with Seinfeld, where they always kind of straddled this ethical line, but I never saw them as bad people. When the finale came along, and they go on trial for all of the asshole things they'd done over 9 years, it just seemed kind of heavy-handed. Sure, they were self-serving and whatnot, but a lot of their stuff was madcap. I'd never seen them as "bad", per se. I think that's why the finale left a bad taste in my mouth. Not so on It's Always Sunny... These guys are assholes. And it's hilarious.

-Can someone shed some light on Reverend Run for me? Is he really ordained? I mean, in this day and age, anyone with an internet connection can become an ordained minister. I just wonder if he's for real. Like, maybe with a congregation somewhere. 'Cause I've been watching Run's House for a few years, and he's the most secular minister since Reverend Camden. It's not a knock or anything, as I understand that's not what the show's about. Still make me curious, though.

- Another music post callback, there's a track on BSB's new album that's produced by JC Chasez. Yes, an 'NSYNC'er produced a BSB track. This is a pretty major development. You see, 'NSYNC & BSB are *not* friends. Or at least, they weren't originally. I think that, over time, they bonded over the fact that they were both cheated by Lou Pearlman. In the beginning, though, BSB were upset because they felt that Lou was just trying to capitalize on their fame so soon after they hit it big with "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)". Then, the shit really hit the fan when 'NSYNC's No Strings Attached album set the U.S. record for album sales in one week (2.4 million). If you look back, you'd say that 'NSYNC came out on top, via a door opened by BSB. Everyone likes to go back to the NKOTB/New Edition era, but love 'em or hate 'em, BSB begat the 21st century wave of boyband pop.

Here's where it gets tricky, though. People never realize that Lou simply recruited guys. He didn't recruit groups. There were all these young guys, working at theme parks in Orlando, and he'd snatch them up. So, he'd have a stable of guys, and he'd just shuffle the arrangement to see what worked best. We almost had BSB with Chris Kirkpatrick, Nick Carter, Howie D. & AJ. Phoenix Stone was in BSB, and then spun off as a solo guy (who went on to do nothing major but a Jenny Jones performance). And those are the major successes; people sometimes forget Take 5 ("Shake It Off"), Lyte Funky Ones AKA L.F.O. ("Summer Girls"), O-Town (Making the Band 1), Natural (provided Bart & Milhouse's singing voices on the boyband ep of the Simpsons), C-Note...With this is mind, they're all the same guys, doing the same thing. Some just came out sooner than others. Once again, though, 'NSYNC come out on top. Not only were they able to diversify their sound with the times, but they also had more "after-group" success, with JT becoming Pop Jesus, saving pop music, and vowing to return one day to take us all to pop heaven, where he'll rock our bodies to the break of day...

Posted by William @ 11/09/2007 10:10:00 AM
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"Silence is not indifference. Silence is me assessing the situation."

On my way to job #2, so I've gotta make this quick.

-Comic people, I know the secret to One More Day. Yeah, I do. No, I'm not telling.

-Hah, it seems I was on to something in that music post. Emanuel Kiriakou, the same guy who wrote "What's Left of Me" did write "Inconsolable". I guess he really wants someone to know that he doesn't want to waste another day. Man, whoever that chick was, she really did a number on that guy...

-BTW, I was really touched to see the comments on that post. Glad to know that I'm not just writing this for myself :-)

- I've always noticed that dating show contestants are recycled, but I never realized the sets were, too. I was watching A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila (ugh), and she takes the ladies to a house, dubbed "Heaven". It's so gaudy, as it's the purest white of whites, and it has fur lining everywhere, and a 2-foot piano, and a boat in the middle of the swimming pool. Let's just say that it's a house you can't exactly forget. Well, I realized that it's the same exact house that Kimora was looking at when she went house-shopping on Life in the Fab Lane. So, I wonder if the realtor's pimping the house out to make money while it's on the market, or if this is a bonafide reality show/tourist attraction now.

-The WGA strike is going to fuck. some. shit. up. Lost fans? You're done. Rumor is that it ain't coming back until 2009. Fellow 24 fans, Fox has already taken it off the mid-season schedule. One thing people never realize about 24 is that they don't have the season planned out. They have an idea of where it's going, but they write the show 6 episodes at a time, to kind of gel with current events and see how the audience is reacting to everything. Well, they're only 9 hours in at this point, so it would be a short day for Mr. Bauer. I lvoe how TV Guide.com said that Fox is suffering from a "Bauer Outage".

Anyway, I don't see this one resolving itself anytime soon. The stakes are pretty high, as the writers want a cut of the DVD sales. There's no precedent for this, as TV shows weren't released as commonly on VHS. We're talking mp3-royalty level royalties here, and the recording industry still hasn't really figured that one out. The closest thing they've got is Rhapsody, where I can "rent" my music by the month to make sure everyone's getting paid. Not the best model, and I don't see it working for TV. Everyone knew it was coming, but I feel bad for the shows that were slated to end at the end of the season. Scrubs, for instance. They were already going with an abbreviated 18 episode season, but it seems like they've only got 12-15 done. What happens when they run out, but don't have the finale? Do they bring it back for an abbreviated 3 episode season next Fall? Also, if the strike is resolved, say in late March, do we forge ahead into the summer, or do we consider the season a wash and start over in September?

Bleh, well, those are my random thoughts. Time to go fend off soccer moms and trophy wives...

Posted by William @ 11/08/2007 06:30:00 PM
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"You may look all nice, and sing all nice, but you are not nice."

So, my good friend, Marcus, went and stole my idea for a post. You see, I've had a music post in me for the past couple of days, but I just needed a chance to sit down and hammer it out. He, on the other hand, snatched the concept right out my brain for his myspace blog. Whatever. A myspace blog is a step up from a livejournal...

Anyway, he's the only one who'll probably read this, so it'll really just keep me from having to pick up a phone and call him. God bless technology!

First of all, I need to admit defeat in one area. Back in May, I declared Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls" as the song of the summer. I really thought I was on to something, but people were sick of that song about a week after that post. I hate to do it, but I really think "The Way I Are" took that title. Was there any other song that got more airplay over the past 3 months? Timbo was everywhere this summer, but this song was part of every long music stretch on Top 40 radio. They even tried to switch things up halfway through the summer by replacing the regular album version with the hook-laden radio edit. The whole massive repeat of the hook was done for the extended version, but why anyone thought you could just cut the song there and omit Timbo's rap is beyond me. It's not like it had to be cut for content. Either way, this song is still riding high on the charts.

Now, Marcus goes on to call Rihanna's "Umbrella" the song of the year. I will say it was the most remixed/covered song of the year, but I don't think I'm willing to give it his distinction just yet.

He also says that there was no album of the year. His criteria include the fact that it has to be enjoyable from beginning to end. I beg to differ on that. I still say that Fall-Out Boy's Infinity on High is the sleeper hit of the year. It has had its singles, and its questionable videos (a chimpanzee? Uganda? Really?), but there is not a bad track on that album. Especially, I love that they come up with the BEST names for songs. My personal favorite at the moment is "It's Hard to Say 'I Do' When I Don't" (bonus track on the Wal-Mart version). Close runner up: "G.I.N.A.S.F.S. (Gay Is Not A Synonym For Shitty)" (bonus track on international version).

Daughtry - I really hated this guy and all he stood for. I wanted to write him off as "the bald Bo Bice", but I'd be lying if I said I didn't love "Over You". Like "Rockstar", it's got such a singable chorus, and I want to think it's the male answer to "Before He Cheats".

Nickelback - "Rockstar" is a funny song to me. Moreso, the video to Rockstar is funny to me. You see, they've got cameos by a whole bunch of people who, I'm sure, hate Nickelback. I wonder if these people were even told that they would be lipsynching to a Nickelback video. I can write some of them off, like Gretzky & Taryn Manning, but Kid Rock? Gene Simmons? Nelly Furtado? Really? It's a fun song, which I'm sure is ALL THE RAGE in your neighborhood redneck karaoke bar. It's officially the White "The Way I Are" for the year.

BSB vs. Britney - A face-off between Britney & Backstreet. Man, that takes me back. It's also pretty f'ed up on the part of Jive. It sucks because Brit's album was leaked, so they had to get whatever sales they possibly could. In the meantime, they've been flying Backstreet around the world since May just trying to drum up international support for their release. They'd really dumped too much money into the BSB Machine to move their release date. I didn't get Britney's album because it's not a "destination album" to me. I can always download it, or buy it from a used store in 3 months. Hell, I just bought her last CD about 2 months ago for $4, and it was well-worth it. It's not a bad album, but it's totally a "fuckin' album" Not "love-makin'", but FUCKING. It's what you put on when your drunk sorority girlfriend wants to "do it like in that movie with that guy".

Anyway, I did get Unbreakable by BSB. It's a longstanding tradition that I buy all BSB albums on release day. Sad, I know. I'm really getting sick of their whole "we're still here" gimmick with the album titles. First, was Black & Blue, which signified all they'd been through from their label and the press. Then, there was their last album, Never Gone, which made some people wish they would go somewhere. It was too soft-rock for their own good. Now, they come back with Unbreakable. We get it, guys. While it might pertain to the fact that they're still around even though Kevin left the group, let's be honest: vocally, he never contributed much to the group. He's the bass, but they never sing 5-part harmony, so it didn't matter. Plus, none of his singles were ever released on the American versions of their albums.

Sadly, Unbreakable is just more of the Never Gone stuff. I don't know what's wrong with songwriters, but it's like they've run out of lyrics. At the beginning of the year, Nick Lachey gave us "What's Left of Me", with the hook, "I don't wanna waste another day." BSB's lead single, "Inconsolable", gives us the hook, "I don't wanna waste another day." But, the VERY NEXT SONG on the album ("Something That I Already Know") gives us the hook, "I don't wanna waste another minute." Really? Are you kidding me? You mean to tell me that no one even considered moving that track to later on the disc?!

J. Holiday - I think R&B might be on an upswing, as Omarion's "Ice Box" was the hotness, but J. Holiday had to come along and give us a good old-fashioned I'm-gonna-do-you-dirty-but-still-act-like-we're-just-makin'-love song. "Bed" is just smooth. I really don't want J to be a one-hit wonder, especially being a DC boy. This isn't his debut, but it's definitely gonna be the song that puts him on the map. This has LSG written all over it, and it's refreshing to here after we've been through the whole "Confessions/Trapped in the Closet" phase of R&B, of "I'm sorry I cheated on you, but I've still somehow managed to come out 'the good guy'."

Soulja Boy - What can I say? "Crank Dat" is the Seinfeld of Hip-Hop: A song about nothing. And that's just want ignorant folks want, to not have to think about their music. You can't be thinking about deep lyrics when you're trying to get the dance right. You worry about the words after the dance is down. That's what works for Britney. Who'da thunk a song about just busting on a woman would be such a hit? Oh right, we already knew because it worked so well for Lil John on "Get Low". The kids love their moneyshots!

Beyonce - "Get Me Bodied": Wow, Beyonce made a song that I like. I won't lie; I've liked other stuff, but honestly, her solo stuff has left me cold. I was way more into Destiny's Child than The 'Yonce. Yes, there are subtle differences in the song choices of the two. Anyway, "Get Me Bodied" makes you move. You can't fight it. And it works everywhere. Close your eyes and it's that high school dance, that birthday party, or that family reunion (you know the kind, where black folks rent out the local community center and hook up an old Aiwa stereo as the music choice). The best way to experience this is the extended version, which also doubles as a commercial for her clothing line, House of Dereon". I didn't even know the song was still going. i'm sitting there thinking, wow that was a smooth transition. Little did I know she'd come roaring back, telling me to shake my derrier in the House of Dereon. It makes you want to get up in church and testify. it's got such a "Pick a Bale O' Cotton" vibe to it near the end.

Alicia Keys - "No One": This song is just on the verge of hotness. What it needs is an uptempo remix. It's almost there. I'm feeling the laid-back old school groove, but I can just hear the potential in this song. The funny thing about Alicia is that her gimmick was "the black piano girl", but in recent years, though, she's moved more from Vanessa Carlton to pre-crack Whitney. She doesn't have the vocal range, but the piano is taking a backseat in her songs of late. She was killing those keys in "Fallin'", while the background of No One is pretty much comprised of practice scales. I still think the song is hot, but it could be hotter.

Colbie Caillat - "Bubbly": I really didn't want to like this song. I give her the same credit I give Tila Tequila & OneRepublic, in realizing that it takes a lot of work to build a true fanbase through Myspace. She did it and got her album out. She could either go the Sheryl Crow route or the early Nelly Furtado route (ya know, before she started hanging out with Black guys, i.e. "Like A Bird"). If she can stay pure, we might have something here. I really don't want her to be a one-hit wonder, but I'd prefer that than having any chance of hearing the Bubbly remix, feat. T-Pain, Akon, Timbaland & JT.

Thriller - A Halloween mainstay, I heard this song about 3 times yesterday, and it's STILL HOT. I swear on Great Odin's Beard, this song never gets old. Sure, I could do without the campy Vincent Price part at the end, but the song MAKES you move. And everybody wants to learn that dance. Before I die, I want to be part of a large-scale, choreographed dance. I don't know if I have to go on Broadway, or just plan a party of equally geek-minded people. But dammit, I'm gonna learn that dance.

I have a song, which many refer to as "The Biebl" that is my therapy. It's a version of "Ave Maria", arranged by a composer by the name of Franz Biebl. It was given as a gift to the Cornell Glee Club back in the 70s while they were on tour. Many people laugh at the notion, but I truly believe that it is the most beautiful piece of music ever. It's my therapy. If I hit rock bottom, that song brings me back. You don't have to know Latin, you don't need to really believe the "message". All you need to do is let go to the music. To me, Thriller is the Pop Biebl. You hear that, and you refuse to believe that Michael ever touched those kids. You refuse to believe that he's ever gonna go crazy and marry Elvis's daughter, resulting in a half-nekkid video. You forget that he's going to blow all his money and create a zoo/amusement park at his house. All you know is you need to dance, because you're listening to the rockin'est song of the past 25 years. Yeah, I said it. The entire album was unstoppable, but this song, and it's incredible/incredibly expensive video were a driving force in making it the greatest selling album of all time.

Posted by William @ 11/01/2007 05:16:00 PM
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