Archive: January 2009 (51-60 of 354)

Jan 28 2009 09:00 PM ET

Fantasia covers 'Lady Marmalade.' Roof height at venue permanently altered.

Pattilabelle_lI know I’m a couple days late on this, but visiting the indispensable Rickey.org late last night, my heart skipped all kinds of beats to discover Fantasia covering "Lady Marmalade" at a UNCF tribute to Patti LaBelle. Around the 1:40 mark, ‘Tasia begins to tear into the song like a starved wolf into a perfectly cooked filet mignon — and I mean that in the best possible way. When she’s done, there’s nothing left but the realization that you’ve witnessed the kind of soul-searing greatness that never seems to happen in our polite, sound-bite-ready, auto-tuned times. I know, I know…a lot of you will accuse my favorite Idol of all time of doing nothing more than screaming like a banshee, but the look on Miss Patti’s face at the 3:40 mark (pictured) says it all: Quit tryin’ to act balky! Chair dancing and mild-to-moderate holleration will be required — even if you’re watching at work!

More on ‘American Idol’ graduates:
‘American Idol’: Where Are They Now?
‘American Idol’ fave Melinda Doolittle performs her new single in EW’s office!
David Cook on Idol’s heinous group numbers and a very cool tour collaboration!
Fantasia’s second act: The EW interview

Jan 28 2009 06:59 PM ET

'Totally Lost': The worldwide premiere event!

Even non-Lost fans can get something out of Jeff "Doc" Jensen and Dan Snierson’s new video series, Totally Lost…namely, an ultra-realistic glimpse of how the L.A. branch of EW spends most of its time: On the toilet. Press play below for Damon Lindelof and Carleton Cuse on time travel, Jeff on his surprising new crush, and two grown men engaged in a tug-of-war over Dharma peanut butter.

I love how they’re just standing on a random cloudy beach. BEWARE OF THAT BRIGHT WHITE SKY!

Read more: Lost
Doc Jensen: ‘Lost”s name theories
‘Lost’: 14 Enduring Mysteries
TV Watch: Season 5 ‘Lost’ recaps

Jan 28 2009 06:46 PM ET

Lil Wayne's 'Prom Queen': Make it go away!

I was hesitant to bash Lil Wayne’s god-awful "rock" single, "Prom Queen," when it leaked this weekend. Felt too much like shooting fish in a barrel, you know? I said my piece about Weezy’s delusions of guitar-hero grandeur long ago. After seeing footage of the song’s live premiere this morning, though, I can stay silent no longer. Trout better watch out, because I’m aiming straight into that barrel.

So there you have it: Music’s reigning emperor standing bare-assed before us. This unholy combination of bargain-basement mall-metal riffage and semi-conscious Auto-Tuned moaning sounded bad enough in the studio, but seeing Wayne attempt to perform this song live is just painful. You may notice that virtually no sound comes out when Weezy starts maniacally tapping his frets around the 1:50 mark. This is because Lil Wayne cannot play guitar (even after months of "practice"!), so he’s mixed waaaay down, if he’s even plugged in to an amp at all. And he wants us to listen to an entire album of this nonsense?

I’ve said it before, but once more for the road, Lil Wayne is a genius. I firmly believe he is one of the greatest lyricists who has ever lived, when he wants to be. What’s more, I am all for artists expanding their range and confounding their audiences. (Kid A is probably my favorite album of all time. The Love Below is pretty sweet too!) None of that changes the fact that even geniuses make mistakes, and as responsible fans we have to call them out. "Prom Queen" would be lame if it was being played by a random rock band. It’s still just as lame when it’s being played by the world’s biggest rapper.

But hey, maybe there’s something wrong with my ears. Do any of you actually like "Prom Queen"?

More on Lil Wayne:
He was one of EW’s 25 Entertainers of the Year for 2008
Tha Carter III made it onto Leah Greenblatt’s 10 Best CDs of 2008
Weezy’s Gatorade ads are awesome
Thinking over Tha Carter III when it hit shelves last June

Jan 28 2009 05:47 PM ET

'Lara Croft: Unnecessary Threequel' in the works

Filed under: Movies, Videogames and tagged: , , ,

Pctombraiderlegend_lRumors of a third Tomb Raider installment have circulated lately, and today THR.com reports that producer Dan Lin and Warner Bros. are indeed in early development on yet another easy-money project propelled by the centrifugal force of Lara Croft’s boobs. Reports suggest that Angelina Jolie, who played Croft in Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, will not star in the reboot — and despite some significant buzz, Jolie Junior, a.k.a. Megan Fox, is "not involved in the movie at all" according to her reps. So who should be Lara? The obvious answer is no one, as in "No one cares anymore about Lara Croft." But this movie’s getting made, no matter how many other worthy videogames or comic books deserve a first-time adaptation instead. So I’ll suggest Doomsday star and real British person Rhona Mitra, who toiled as the franchise’s live-action Lara Croft for public appearances from 1997-8. Then again, if I’m basing my vote purely on the image to your left, they pretty much have to cast Michelle Rodriguez, because doesn’t she always look exactly like that, except a little more pissed off? My mental image of Michelle at this point is basically this. Or this. Or (ha) this

What about you — who would you want to see as the new Lara? And could she maybe unearth an original movie idea from beneath a pile of box-office gold while she’s at it?

Jan 28 2009 05:25 PM ET

David Archuleta announces tour (the Internet announces that I'm a fan)

Filed under: American Idol and tagged: ,

Davidarchuleta_lDavid Archuleta is hitting the road next month. So far, 20 dates have been announced. I went through a lot to get them for you. The logical first stop was what appears to be his official website, which, I found out, you have to be approved to even view. My "membership" is pending approval. Seeing that graphic pop up on the screen was a moment of reckoning, like when I realized that Facebook announced to my friends that "Mandi listened to David Archuleta’s ‘Crush.’" (It didn’t show up right away in my the feed, so I thought I got away with it. I went to bed, and had to delete it the next morning. You just know someone programmed that delay on purpose.) I wonder if Archie’s lost any casual fans because they visited the website, and just couldn’t bring themselves to leave a trail. Anyone? Why must "Crush" be so darn catchy, and make us so happy that the boy no one thought could be a contemporary artist found a way?

Tour dates after the jump, courtesy of his MySpace page. Who’s going?

More David Archuleta:
Michael Slezak rates Archuleta’s "A Little Too Not Over You" video
Michael Slezak proclaims Archuleta’s "Crush" surprisingly good
David Archuleta’s liner notes break the word count bank
Chris Willman reviews Archulata’s debut album

READ FULL STORY »

Jan 28 2009 05:18 PM ET

What's on your Must List? We love Bird and the Bee's Rihanna cover.

Tagged: ,

Indie covers of top 40 hits are as abundant as the number of performers at a Brooklyn coffee house open mic night. Every so often, one of those bands comes up with a version just as catchy as (or better than) the original. This week, it’s The Bird and the Bee’s cover of ”Don’t Stop the Music,” which sits atop my Must List (and my iTunes recently played) right now. The LA-based indie poppers turned Rihanna’s club banger into a sleepy ode to dancing with strangers. This isn’t just your average girl/guy-with-guitar redux — the lush harmonies and jazzy vibe transform the song completely. If the cover isn’t enough, check out the band’s latest album, Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future, which came out yesterday and got an A- from Whitney Pastorek.

Sway along to ”Don’t Stop the Music” below, then share what’s on your Must List right now. List up to three items from current TV/movies/music/books/games/online. Don’t forget your e-mail address, in case we decide to use your submission in the magazine. Deadline is Thursday, Jan. 29, at 10 a.m. ET.

Jan 28 2009 04:01 PM ET

Jon Stewart's beautiful (stimulus) package

Did I hear this right, or did Jon Stewart — while talking to PBS’ Gwen Ifill — reveal the best economic stimulus package concept thus far? Take a gander:

I’m sure someone really smart will list the 12 reasons why that simply giving the $2 trillion directly to consumers — but only if they use it to pay down their debt — would never work. But from where I sit, on this here mountain of credit card bills, I can’t find fault with his logic. After all, the banks would get their money and we the people, free of our towering debt, would head right back out and start spending — thereby doing precisely what the government wants us to do.

Once again, The Daily Show makes my life better.

Jan 28 2009 12:54 PM ET

Randy Jackson's Journey days: If ya don't know, now ya know...

Last night‘s American Idol opened with footage of judge Randy Jackson rocking out with Journey in their Miami Vice-inspired colored-sport-coat, mid-’80s era. It’s caused a bit of a stir online this morning as people — no doubt hypnotized by Jackson’s high-top fade and tight, tapered pants — rush to YouTube to gobble up more videos of him a-boppin’ and a-dancin’ while playing bass on stage alongside Steve Perry. Is there anything more unfortunately styled than a pop musician from the mid to late ’80s? And yet I’m sure Jackson’s proud of the footage — and he should be. The Idol judges are all "experts" in music, but I’m far more impressed by Jackson’s stint as a studio musician in an arena rock band (he joined Journey in 1986 for their album Raised on Radio and the subsequent tour) than I am by Simon Cowell describing Il Divo as "the best thing I ever heard" or Paula Abdul dancing with an animated wolf (or was that a cat?) in the "Opposites Attract" video. So rock on, Randy. Even if you do look like the lost member of Kid ‘N Play, ask the haters how many of them played "Don’t Stop Believin’" in front of 30,000 screaming fans.

Who else has love for the Big Dawg, even if he does desperately need to step up his Idol commentary? Anyone wanna predict a high-top fade comeback? And how long you think it took him to squeeze into these pants?

More ‘American Idol’:
‘American Idol’ Recap: Gator Raid in Florida
‘American Idol’ Recap: Kentucky Blues
‘American Idol’ recap: Finding Hacks in Cali
EW’s ‘American Idol’ HQ

Jan 28 2009 12:30 PM ET

Billy Currington takes the EW Pop Culture Personality Test

Billy_l

“I’ve been on vacation since, like, the first week in December. Somebody’s gotta pull me off this vacation,” Billy Currington told us Monday, phoning PopWatch from the Dry Tortugas, a cluster of seven islands 70 miles west of Key West. If the man behind the R&B-flavored country hit “Don’t” wants to put thoughts of his steamy “Must Be Doin’ Somethin’ Right” video in our heads spend some time promoting his third album, Little Bit of Everything, we’re happy to oblige. After we confirmed that he’s sailing with the proper provisions — bottled water, “lots of wine,” rum, coconuts, and blackfin tuna — we kept the conversation appropriately breezy with an EW Pop Culture Personality Test. At least until he mentioned that he doesn’t own a TV…

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: In your “Don’t” video, you slide across the hood of a car Luke Duke-style. The first time you’ve ever done that, or just the most recent?
Billy Currington: I’d never done it before. Here’s how that shot made it into the video. We were just standing there, we were pretty much done, and a guy’s like, “Why don’t you just take off runnin’ and slide across that car.” I was like, “Okay.” I just did it one time. I jumped a little too high, and when I landed and hit the hood, it didn’t feel good, you know what I mean? It kinda hurt a little bit.

CMT has resurrected the old MTV show Cribs.
What’s Cribs?
You’ve never seen Cribs?
I’ve never seen Cribs, but you know, you’re talkin’ to a guy who does stuff like what I’m doin’ now. I’m always outdoors somewhere. I never, ever see the TV. Tell me about it. I’ll do it. Don’t think I won’t do it! I’ll do the show!
They bring cameras to your home, and you give them a tour. My question is, when the crew arrives at your house, what’s the first thing you hide?
Ooh, my dope, my pot. No. I’m just kiddin’. [Laughs] Let’s see… dirty clothes. Everybody wants to hide those.

What song do you have to dance to anytime you hear it?
Anything Marvin Gaye. A good ol’ groove type song.

What song is your ringtone?
You know what, I want to have a song for my ringtone, but I can’t figure it out. If I could figure that out, Ray Charles’ “Georgia” would be on there today. [Currington is from Rincon, Ga., outside Savannah.]

If you could have written any song, what would it be?
“Candle in the Wind” [by Elton John and Bernie Taupin]. Every time I hear that song, I’m just like, Wow. What a great poet.

You said you don’t watch a lot of TV, but is there a movie you do have to watch every time you spot it on cable?
Really, I don’t even own a TV anymore. [Laughs]
[Not laughing] You don’t own a TV?
No. I don’t own a TV. I did a long time ago, but I gave it away. I bought it at a pawn shop that I used to work in, and it wasn’t that good anyway, so I gave it away, and I’ve never bought one since then.
How many years ago was that?
That was before I got a record deal, and that happened in 2001… I know I seem kinda behind the times, but I don’t pay it no attention anyway. It just makes noise for me.

Okay, let’s try movies. Is there a chick flick you’ll admit to liking?
I got you a good one on that. I like that movie where the two old people, at the end of the movie, die lying in the same bed together.
The Notebook?
Yeah, I love The Notebook. I’ve mentioned that before, and you wouldn’t believe how people have gotten on me for saying that. Like it was girlie, or somethin’. I mean, who wouldn’t like The Notebook? [Laughs] I mean, seriously, that’s a heartfelt, make you cry, make you feel somethin’ kind of a movie. I’m afraid to mention that again, but I just did, right?

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Jan 28 2009 11:31 AM ET

'The Biggest Loser' recap: It's a competition, people!

Biggestloserhelen_lIt’s a testament to the relatability of The Biggest Loser that even a so-so episode with a not-at-all surprising outcome could make my eyes misty more times than Mandi cried the past two weeks combined. After last week’s elimination shocker, in which the well-liked Damien got the heave-ho instead of the universally disliked Joelle, the contestants remembered why they were toiling away in sunny California instead of pushing paper at their real-world jobs — they’re in a competition, not NBC Happy Fun Healthy Eating Land. Just because you’re buddies with someone doesn’t mean you should have ‘em stick around when a large sum of money is at stake. Considering the urgency of this final win (do well and your loved one comes back!), it’s a shame the episode was so anticlimactic — the producers laid out exactly what was going to happen in the freakin’ previews at the end of last week’s show.

With the final weigh-in before reunification day fast approaching, the ranch-side contestants predicted how their home-side compatriots were faring. Last week, we saw David eating fried chicken at a buffet, and it seemed that behavior didn’t stop — we saw more shots of the 23-year-old eating unhealthily and smoking cigarettes — hardly the stuff of a lifestyle change. Unfortunately, David’s consistent half-assedness would portend what was to come.

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