A tip of the cyber hat to young Leona Ryder, over at Comfortador Central, who tipped me off about Dr. Horrible, a made-for-the-internet piece of fluff from Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
Dr. Horrible trailer
Like it or not, Dr. Horrible is an exciting mutation from Hollywood, where smaller projects (the budget appears to be around $250,000) can come to life via the internet, in particular, Youtube.
The marketing plan is to release:
the DVD
two comics &
of course, set up a distribution for further such projects
Dr. Horrible's media profile has also been helped along by the coming out of TV-star, leading man,Neil Patrick Harris, making Dr. Horrible kinda gay-iconic, as well. Variety really picks up the story about similar projects and I really think the article is worth checking out as this really is the start of something new.
As for Dr. Horrible - I haven't seen it but Leona loved it!
So, here on this side of the world, it's an overcast Christmas morning and I wish you all a Merry Christmas. As a songwriting fan, I'll back that up with a link to the best Christmas pop songs of all time, Mariah Carey's (yes she co-wrote it!) All I Want For Christmas from 1994.
Part of my ritual for Sunday mornings is to watch (Australian) ABC's The Insiders, a look at what's happened in Parliament this week (now, both in recess).
Anyway, either after or before (I can't remember), I've been catching snippets of a Disney early teens show, Wizards Of Daley Place, starring a gorgeous...
I figured she was being groomed to be the next-generation billion-dollar-biz-girl, following the demise of The Olsen Twins and the rapid growing up of the fairly gross Miley Cyrus - which was confirmed when I caught Selena's music video, a Blondie-type of, early-80s, synth-pop.
Selena Gomez: Tell Me Something I Don't Know
Tell Me Something I Don't Know is hardly remarkable (the second half of the music video is better than the first) but what IS interesting to me is the Latino-as-one-of-us marketing that I'm pretty sure will be happening to make Selena a big star in small town USA over the next couple of years. Remember, you probably heard it first, here, kids.
With close to 4 million Youtube views, Tell Me Something I Don't Know is actually from the soundtrack to Selena's first movie, the straight-to-DVD-for-Christmas, Another Cinderella Story.
I unearthed a wonderful over-the-top movie review for it by the very gay What The Buck? which is seriously worth catching.
Buck Hollywood (for it is he) seems to capture every reason that I don't have gay friends, myself, but I love my friends having gay friends. My goodness, the quotes, the stories - Buck's 5 minute review is both exhausting and fascinating. Do try to watch his review, it's an experience in itself and probably way more interesting than Another Cinderella Story...and it's free.
Not being negro / Afro-American or even having curly hair, I've never really related to anything to do with Afros, other than as an expression of Black fashion / consciousness during the late 1960s / early 1970s.
So, my interest in this exquisite TV ad is more from that of Time (perhaps, even Nostalgia). Imagine a time when black pop music had outgrown the (wonderful) formulaic Motown and exciting assembly-line Stax - and crossover artists such as Stevie Wonder were making fantastic hybrid music, melding gospel and soul with white pop. The radio blared with songs such as:
Sly & The Family Everyday People 1968
The Jackson 5 ABC 1970
Al Green Let's Stay Together 1972
Marvin Gaye Let's Get It On 1973
memorable now, not only as great pop songs but as 20th Century standards.
For me as an outsider looking in at American culture, even with (half)-black President-elect Obama about to enter the White House, it's hard to believe that so much of black America has not only stalled - hell, the motor's dead!Black music and black culture seemed to offer so much!
Anyway, let's go back to, if not a happier time, at least a more optimistic one.
Want Your Afro To Look Better?: Afro Sheen
"...I remember these commercials.They would show during the Soul Train time slot. We kept plenty Afro Sheen in the house..." youtube member 11121southedbrooke
"...Ah showly loves dis stuff! Right ON!"youtube member thrummlet94
"...Take me back to this day RIGHT NOW dammit. I'm tired of being black in this millennium..."youtube member raposofan
"...What's up with the bongos in this commercial? HELLO!!! Is that a black reference (hence the use of bongos in africa)? LOL. Still love the commercial though, remember it well..."anonmember retrojunk
Well, it's nice to know that this blog is being read by the right people!
CNN reports that New York Governor David Paterson is considering imposing a tax on fizzy drinks: "We estimate that an 18 percent tax will reduce consumption by five percent." and using the revenue to combat the problems of childhood Obesity.
N.B. I'm sure my influence doesn't mean that Governor Paterson's proposed tax on Itunes downloads will mean folks will be chained and forced to listen to the music that I like. Not that I think that would be a bad thing - it's just not particularly democratic.
While downunder, News.com.au reports Health Minister Nicola Roxon saying that the federal government will fund:
workplace weigh-ins
medical checks
healthy canteens and
lunchtime workouts
...under a plan to keep Australia's employees healthy and boost productivity.
"...nearly half of the women questioned by Harris Interactive said they'd be willing to forgo sex for two weeks, rather than give up their Internet access..."
[N.B.:the graphic accompanying the article shows a twenty-something babe on a laptop who, almost certainly, doesn't match the statistically average cyber-frump who answered the survey. The spurned chappie in the photo resembles me, of course, on a bad day.]
With that in mind, I say to you, my female readers and on behalf of all red-blooded men:
"F*ck you!"
Now you should be really happy. Internet access AND Sex.
I'd like to say, quite openly, that I don't have a problem with McDonald's or even junk food, in general. I consume it a few times a year and almost always really enjoy it when I do. My problem is that the rise of junk food has paralleled the rise in global Obesity and there is obviously a connection, whether direct or indirect.
With that in mind, there's a post over at PICDIT about the new McDonald's packaging now available in the USA and soon to go worldwide. As an advertising fan, there's also something to get excited about, some pics of former McDonald's wrappers, not to, of course, be confused with these, present day, McDonald's rappers.
Here's what some of the readers had to say:
15 "...Nice! I love McDonalds I dont care how fat and digusting it makes you. Its like crack except its food..."
16 "...The chicken mcnugget, full of mcnuggets of things that aren’t chicken..."
23 "...Shall we talk about where they buy their meats and poultry from? Antibiotics, steroids… the list goes on. A McDonald’s body will turn into a diseased body..."
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Chilean Roman Catholic Cardinal, Jorge Medina believes that Madonna will be "causing 'crazy enthusiasm' and 'impure thoughts' " on her concert tour of Chile. While I'm not in Chile, I can only empathize and concur.
You see, true confessions, Madonna stirs strange, evil possession within my very soul, these days. Yes, indeed-y, every time I see the debauched, talentless crone who is still, somehow, revered by many and compare her to the tatty Material Girl slut of the wonderful Into The Groove & Like A Virgin era, I do feel impure.
In fact, the spirit of Hannibal Lecter rises, like a black, evil phoenix from the depths of my culturally-abused soul and I begin to feel, well, more than a little peckish...
...Perhaps I'll finish with some Justin Timberlake Sexy fritters (served with Beyonce ice cream) and of course, a glass of Alicia Keys Pinot Rouge (served blood temperature). Hmmm. Nice.
While I try to defend myself from both Madame X, my paramour, and my teenage kids from the scathing charge of being more than a little interested in words, I have to admit, I almost fell over laughing when I spotted this neologism a few minutes ago.
It was in an email, passed on by someone as part of a testimonial for a brand new (and in my eyes, rather amazing) product: "Needless to say I gave her the [product X] answer which left her absolutely bumfuddled."
Julie O. of Texas
I now claim the word as my own and say to the world:
"I'm bumfuddled by all these new words creeping into the language."
Please feel free to now use the word in polite society.
I've been threatening Madame X, my paramour, that I shall soon write / vomit a piece entitled: The Worst Thing About America Is God. I can feel the pressure building and know that I'm going to have to say something soon but for now, I'm just a-simmering.
Not that I'm an atheist - it's just that the whole question of allegiance to a Faith is very dodgy when it's not applied to the ramifications of everyday Life. Take outgoing U.S. president, George Bush, who CNN reports as saying:
"One of the most striking aspects of being president is the power of prayer in my life. I feel it," Bush said. "Some days are happy. Some days are not so happy. But every day is joyous."
As probably the least popular US president of all time, with record low approval, you'd think he might have an inkling that perhaps the God he'd been praying to was either a false God or one with a particularly malicious sense of humor - but no, his Faith enables him to carry on servin' his c-o-u-n-t-r-y...and his God.
I spend a great deal of my day immersed in populist Americana and trust me, God, well, put it this way, God is even bigger than Paris Hilton and Madonna put together! Everyone seems to be thanking God for every f***ing little thing.
Why? Why can't people take responsibility for their own decisions?
What's God got to do with anything?
If I take a crap, it's got nothing to do with God, George Bush, Paris Hilton or Madonna! It's my decision and if I forget to pull my pants down, it's no-one's fault, other than my own, as God is my witness!
Perusing the Sydney Morning Herald, this morning, I couldn't help but comment on just one more report that's appeared on Australia's Obesity epidemic.
It seems that my countrymen are underestimating their size and girth in health surveys by more than 27% (the report doesn't imply why, whether Optimism or Shame) and that not 50% but 66% may be overweight.
Frankly, methinks that 66% is underestimating the real figure because weight-ranges of what is fat has changed and "medium" people now, might well have been called "large" 20 years ago.
The Australian government is presently running an anti-Obesity advertising campaign aimed at reducing Australia's waistlines, in which an Aussie everyman ages and plumps up in front of your very eyes.
Measure Up: Fat Australia commercial
Will the advertising campaign be effective?
"Fat chance", is what I say!
...here's why:
in comparison to the sphere-people who walk the streets, the dinky-di Aussie at the end of the commercial doesn't look particularly fat! Hell, he's still reasonably agile and lacks the bear-going-into-hibernation rolls of blubber that most Australians have these days
however, the real Fat cruncher is that the guilt-manipulator, Tubby Aussie's daughter, is slim. Unfortunately, most Australian kids don't look anything like that! They're really fat! Also, my eye-statistics seem to indicate that fat parents generally have fat kids and slim parents have slim kids. When you see a slim kid with a fat parent - and then see what they are purchasing at the supermarket or buying at the mall, you know that the kid is likely to balloon post-puberty
As far as I'm concerned, this is tax payers' money being thrown down the dunny. Until the Australian public sees Obesity as a symptom of a deep, cultural malaise, nothing will reverse the trend.
With so much happening today, I've decided to merely post snippets:
1 So, Sir Cliff Richard claims in the Sydney Morning Herald, that he's a sexual enigma". Hmm. I think he's just an old poof!
2 In a shooting tragedy, a 14 year old boy was killed by a friend (?) at a sleepover. His mother, Rose Ferraro, though, remembered her dead son, Josef Cruikshank, with pride and joy yesterday:
"He was principled, passionate, his mother's son. He would fight tooth and nail for principles and go off [get angry] before he knew all the facts."
I empathize with her grief but to me he sounds like just the type of child who grow into the opinionated ill-informed idiots of tomorrow! (see yesterday's post: Britons Scared Of Their Children) She goes on to share that he was cheeky, naughty and vain. Hmmm.
3 And in Adelaide, read about Hot Cock "...A MAN is fighting for life after his wife allegedly set his genitals on fire, leaving him with burns to 85 per cent of his body..."
4 While in the UK, a masturbating taxi driver was involved in an accident which killed his two passengers.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported a few weeks back that "...more than half of all adults in Britain fear the nation's children are beginning to behave like animals...".
While I don't live in Britain, I make no comment upon the survey but have reason to believe that Life is different from when I was there as a kid, and when shows like Catweazle (in which an ancient magician stumbles into 1970s Britain) defined my reality.
Catweazle: The Curse Of Rapkyn Catweazle appears at about 3.00
This particular episode is about curses and one wonders whether the Britons surveyed consider whether they, too, are under a curse.
Perhaps they could watch Catweazle with their kids and find out what to do!
On the other hand, they might just ponder Cause & Effect.
Urban Dictionary provides a definition (#4) of the word Bush
1. Someone who chokes on a pretzel. 2. Redneck who cannot control his two alcoholic daughters, but is given control of a nation 3. Someone who cannot pronounce most words in the English language properly (ie. Nuc-u-lar, and Sad-am hussein) 4. Person who uses pauses in speeches like there's no tomorrow
Da only reason dat Prez Bush got voted in is because of all the white trash in America.
With CNN wondering what will happen to George Bush once he officially hands over power to Barack Obama, methinks that he will become such a persona non grata that he will eventually migrate to South America.
Well, of course he would! When the world no longer wants a bush, don't they go Brazilian?
With today's breaking news that gay, Australian singer (?) Sam Sparro has been nominated for a Grammy for his debut single Black And Gold (with almost 8 million views on Youtube) in the Best Dance record category, I thought I'd mention his 21st Century Life single.
I caught on a Rock vids show back in October and besides thinking that it shamelessly rips off Rockwell's Somebody's Watching Me, it's a nice, funky little work-out with some neat, late-'80s bass.
I think it's also desperately crying out for a better singer and well, a less gay performance. Those shorts - ooh la la!
I know that I only recently posted about the Led Zeppelin youtube channel but over at my video blog I've got a must-see for Led Zeppelin fans. The Immigrant Song, as mimed by Ants.
Come on, how can you refuse?
N.B.: No ants were harmed in the making of the video.
****************
Meanwhile, over at my joke blog, I received some country visitor stats for about the last 6 months.
I think they make some interesting reading with the USA & the former British Empire accounting for most visitors - the UAE probably being English-speaking expats.
What the stats says to me is that while English is understood all over the world, Humor is very cultural-centric.
United States (US)
3,996
Australia (AU)
2,619
United Kingdom (GB)
952
Singapore (SG)
793
Canada (CA)
483
South Africa (ZA)
325
Malaysia (MY)
320
New Zealand (NZ)
231
India (IN)
146
United Arab Emirates (AE)
68
Europe (EU)
57
Ireland (IE)
55
Bangladesh (BD)
50
Netherlands (NL)
43
France (FR)
34
Norway (NO)
33
Germany (DE)
31
Hong Kong (HK)
30
Brunei Darussalam (BN)
21
Belgium (BE)
19
N.B.: I presume that the Australian stats are boosted from friends or friends of friends:
Make the Devil's sign, pump your fist in the air and bang your head to the beat. Rock'n'Roll!.
Hmmm.
Pop music means a lot more than that to me but there's no doubt that it means different things to different people...and in Africa, it's a whole different ball-game.
Take Simon Bikindi, a Rwandan pop star, who has just been sentenced to 15 years for his part in the country's genocide of Tutsi. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that "Simon Bikindi was convicted for making a speech in June 1994 in which he urged Hutus to kill the Tutsi minority."
Rwanda Genocide recap
A friend of mine, a witty, spoiled, pampered kid was just a couple of years into being a professional news cameraman when he was sent to Rwanda to cover the genocide just after it had occurred. His reaction was so strong that he gave everything up, joined an ashram in India and was never heard of again.
According to wikipedia, "...In the months prior to the genocide, Bikindi allegedly “consulted with {the} President, {the} Minister of Youth and Sports...and MRND-aligned military authorities on song lyrics” before releasing them to be played on the Hutu Power radio station RTLM..." And according to the Sydney Morning Herald, "...The ICTR also said that three of Bikindi's songs were used in 1994 to "promote contempt for and hatred of the Tutsi population, and to incite people to attack and kill Tutsi..."
Come back, eunuchial Cliff Richard, all is forgiven and yes, I'm Wired For Sound.
