National Duran Duran Appreciation Day is August 10! (Really!)

Finally, a legitimate reason for me to celebrate Duran Duran on PopWatch. In preparation for Sunday's holiday, I suggest you take a few moments to enjoy the videos embedded below — visual proof that myself and their Red Carpet Massacre collaborators Justin Timberlake and Timberland are not the only ones prepared to fete them.

Last May, the Killers joined them onstage for "Planet Earth" in Vegas...

while Billy Corgan helped them out on "The Chauffeur" in Chicago:

After the jump, weigh in on your favorite Duran Duran music videos.

Ballads you're not sure are as good as you thought they were

A couple nights ago, I heard Stevie B's "Because I Love You (The Postman Song)" and remembered wearing out my cassingle in high school. I don't think the ballad, embedded below, is as good as I thought it was. (I also don't think I ever knew that he had a dance track called "Party Your Body," embedded after the jump.)

So what ballads have you second-guessed in recent years? (If your jury was hung, name the tune and I'm sure someone will give you a verdict.) I just did a sound-check on Babyface's "When Can I See You," the song I listened to on repeat for eight hours the night I wrote a college history paper titled "Medieval and Renaissance European Women (and the Men Who Loved Them)" — A-! — and I deem it worthy.

Name That Movie Mondays! (Vol. 6)

You remember how it works: We embed a song. You name the film that song was used in. Everyone who answers correctly feels good about themselves. (Or, maybe not...)
This week's track is Madonna's "Crazy For You." The answer after the jump.

PopWatch Duel: 'MythBusters'' Adam Savage vs. Jamie Hyneman

PopWatch Duel has a return engagement this week. You remember how this works: We ask two people for their picks on a certain topic. You decide whose list is better by casting a vote in the comments section. They try to tell themselves that they don't care who wins.

In honor of their new two-hour MythBusters: Shark Special (kicking off Discovery's Shark Week July 27, at 9 p.m. ET) — and the run of 11 new MythBusters episodes beginning Aug. 6 (Wednesdays, 9 p.m. ET) — we asked Adam Savage (pictured, left) and Jamie Hyneman (pictured, right) to suspend disbelief long enough to name The Five Best Special Effects Scenes.

Class is in session after the jump.

Happy 47th Birthday, Keith Sweat!

Name That Movie Mondays! (Vol. 5)

You remember how it works: We embed a song. You name the film that song was used in. Everyone who answers correctly feels good about themselves. (Or, maybe not...)

This week's track is Mandy Moore's "I Wanna Be With You." The answer after the jump.

Where are you watching TV favorites online?

Streaming full episodes of your favorite TV shows online is no longer the novelty that it was even a year ago, but it's still bracing to discover just how many of your favorite shows, old and new, you can find and watch in just a couple of clicks. Here's a list of some 50 sites where you can stream or download episodes of just about every show you can think of; some sites aren't free, and some are file-sharing sites where you may run afoul of copyright laws, but most are free sites with legal and licensed content. And the gems you'll discover — AOL Television (to name just one site) claims to have more than 9,000 full episodes, including several installments of The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., starring EW fave Bruce Campbell (pictured). Check out the list, let us know which sites you might add (keep 'em legal, folks), which ones you've had good luck with, and which particular finds you'd like to share with your fellow P-Dubs.

Name That Movie Mondays! (Vol. 4)

You remember how it works: We embed a song. You name the film that song was used in. Everyone who answers correctly feels good about themselves.

This week's track is "Glass, Concrete & Stone" by David Byrne. (Perfect for a Monday morning, don't you think?) The answer after the jump.

Name That Movie Mondays! (Vol. 3)

You remember how it works: We embed a song. You name the film that song was used in. Everyone who answers correctly feels good about themselves.

This week's track is "And When She Danced" by Marilyn Martin and David Foster. Below, it's set to a photo montage of Martin and Foster that also includes poorly transcribed lyrics.

After the jump, the official video with scenes from the film...

'Metropolis' found!

Okay, so you've seen every director's cut of Blade Runner, but how about Metropolis, the film Blade Runner wishes it was? For the last 80 years, Metropolis has been available only in truncated versions, with as much as a fourth of Fritz Lang's original cut thought lost. Now, however, most of what was trimmed from the 1927 silent sci-fi epic has been found and is about to be restored, so we'll be able to see the closest version possible to Lang's original vision. I'll let GreenCine Daily tell you the whole story, but suffice it to say that this is huge, one of the greatest finds in film history (the only comparable thing might be if someone were to find the missing hours of Erich von Stroheim's Greed or the hour lopped off of Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons). I'm thrilled, and I can't wait to see the restored version. (Of course, even the extant version is still a masterpiece that you must see at least once in your lifetime, if only to recognize how much every sci-fi and Tim Burton film you love has been influenced by it.)

Name That Movie Mondays! (Vol. 2)

You remember how it works: We embed a song. You name the film that song was used in. Everyone who answers correctly feels good about themselves.

The song is "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" by Doris Day. (Hint: In the video clip below, it's set to scenes from the 1962 Doris Day-Cary Grant film That Touch of Mink; the movie we're looking for was released in 1992.)

The answer, after the bounce.

How many of EW's 'new classic' movies have you seen?

By now, you've probably clicked your way through our galleries counting down EW's 100 "new classic" movies, the magazine's picks for the best films released in the last 25 years. (Here's the list for easy reference.) Three questions:

(1) How did we do?

(2) How many of the movies have you seen (counting the Lord of the Rings trilogy as one, like we did)? I'm going to be escorted out of the building for admitting this, but I've only seen 66 of them. No need to chastise me, I'm on it. (Good thing I'm in the TV department...)

(3) Anyone else get a little giddy reading that run of Die Hard, Moulin Rouge, This is Spinal Tap, and The Matrix (starring Laurence Fishburne, pictured)? Perfect marathon, right? It's kind of fun to read the list and see what titles give you the warmest fuzzies (Out of Africa and Waiting for Guffman, who knew?). 

Name That Movie Mondays! (Vol. 1)

Here's how it'll work: We'll embed the video for a song. You name the film that song was used in. Everyone who answers correctly feels good about themselves (and all those hours spent watching movies).

The song: "This Woman's Work" by Kate Bush

The film, after the bounce.

Spot Inspection: Your current karaoke set list

A man in Wilmington, NC recently set a new Guinness World Record for the most continuous hours of karaoke singing. He sang for 39 hrs. and 2 mins., besting the previous record by just over an hour. While my first thought was, I wonder what instrumental breaks he used for trips to the men's room, my second thought was almost as practical: How do you come up with a 39-hr. set list?
In case any of you are pondering your own run at the record, I say we all list our current karaoke set lists below for pillaging. I just happened to karaoke earlier this week, and debuted all-new material. (Sorry, Pat Benatar and Bon Jovi. But I'll be back!)

• Duran Duran's "Wild Boys": I'm all about the murder (murder murder) echo, and any excuse to visualize Simon and John sharing a mic. (HOT.) 
• Cyndi Lauper's "Change of Heart": Why doesn't she do the hiccup during the second chorus? S---, I should have asked her when I sat down with her recently on the set of As the World Turns.
• Bel Biv DeVoe's "Do Me": There is a special place reserved in your brain for those raps, too, I'm sure.
• Aerosmith's "Cryin'": My new favorite karaoke song, but it comes with a three-drink minimum.
• Mandy Moore's "Candy" (below): A nice alternative to Britney.

• Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now": Honestly, if I didn't have neighbors, I would belt this song out every night as a stress reliever.

Your turn.

Music's most essential cymbal crashes

Have I lost my mind? Quite possibly. But after seeing Duran Duran Saturday night, I can't stop thinking about how those cymbal crashes during the chorus of "Hungry Like the Wolf" (below) make that song. I know I was doing head tosses to them, and the man "stancing" in front of me (that's dancing when you can't actually move your feet) was full-on air-cymballing.

So what other songs live and die by the cymbal? John Mellencamp appears to enjoy the cymbal (or cymbalesque) crashes at the end of his "Jack and Diane" video. If you can't scare up some love for the underappreciated instrument, I'll allow you to broaden the topic to music's most essential drum moments. Obviously, that list begins with Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight."

'The Tudors' recap: Heading for a fall

Poor Henry Norris. What do you say when the King of England challenges you to a friendly jousting match, since you know no good will come of it? "I'd love to, your Highness, but that's probably not the best thing for me right now as I don't want to be the one to accidentally kill you or at least give you a putrid leg ulcer that results in gout"? Or "Dude, you realize you suck at jousting just like you stink at cards, chess, archery, and apparently siring a male heir. Puh-lease don't put me in the awkward position of hurting you?" Anthony Knivert never recovered politically from banging the King in the face during a joust last season. I don't have to tell you what's in store for Norris.

The only worse Tudor-era predicament that comes to mind — besides, of course, sweating sickness, the plague, sex with Papa Boleyn — is having the King set his sights on you romantically. I'm sure it's great to get some royal nookie and all. And the free jewelry is tops. But when the King declared to Jane Seymour (Anita Briem, pictured) that he wanted to worship her, I couldn't help wondering: What goes through a girl's head at this point? Does she think "Score!"? Or "I'm totally screwed"? It can never end well. It certainly didn't for Mary Boleyn. Or Elizabeth Blount. Or Lady Eleanor. Or Anne. As for (a.k.a. Plain), she's already won me over a little bit with her boyish gate and way too 21st century line deliveries. I loved the bemused — and slightly confused — way she listened to her brother and father discuss her virginity and their own designs for the throne. The scene basically ended with her saying, "Hold the phone, you want me to be Queen?"

NKOTB: The dancing is making me slightly nervous

I got my latest NKOTB.com update this morning. (I registered for the New Kids on the Block newsletter "for work," FYI, and not because I have a junior high yearbook filled with classmates wishing me a happy life with Jordan Knight.) Below is the latest video of the guys rehearsing for their May 16 Today show performance. I knew there would be dancing, and I was even looking forward to it. But while I'm totally down with them working their imaginary mic stands, watching five men — now approaching 40 — bust 'N Sync moves (circa "Bye Bye Bye") is a little uncomfortable. We should all, of course, reserve judgment until we see them Friday, but I wanted to put you on alert. I'd say we're at orange.
   

You can hear their first single, "Summertime," here. It's forgettable, but kinda catchy. I'd put it above LFO's "Summer Girls" but below O-Town's "We Fit Together." (Special shout-out to my friend Eva, who not only remembered the title of that O-Town song when I IM'd her for it, but also quoted lyrics.)

'The Tudors' recap: Anne's nightmare

Hunker down, Tudors fans, 'cause we have boatloads to discuss. Yesterday's excellent ep was certainly fitting for Mother's Day. Forget that it was directed by a woman, it was all about women: Katherine as the martyred wife and mother, Lady Elizabeth as her loyal servant willing to give up a man for her boss, Mary as the forgotten daughter, and Anne (Natalie Dormer, pictured) as, let's not mince words, the dotty, demanding "Kill your ex-wife and get me pregnant" bitch. And I say this with love. Anne's neuroses and otherwise total wackiness, as PopWatch reader mr. face value might say, are right jolly entertainment: I don't want to revel in someone's downfall, but Anne's is just so wonderfully spectacular! And who didn't think she needed to give Henry a good pimp-slap/back-scratch during sex?

So let's start with Anne's nightmare, a.k.a. the fantastic dream sequence that opened the episode. It had everything, including references to Eve, Snow White, and Ophelia (not that the latter two would have been in Anne's head, but I think they were certainly in the minds of the show's creators). I have two questions, though: First, who was the old lady dressed in lavender and white and what did she mean? Was she supposed to represent a white witch? Anne in old age? Anne's mother? A priestess? Second, why is it Thomas Wyatt who offers Anne an apple (which could signify Original Sin or a poisoned fruit) when she dismounts her horse? Is it because, as we know, he actually took her virginity? Does Thomas hold the secret to Anne's downfall in his hands? Also, didn't Anne's green and red dress when she lambada'd with the king in a later scene remind you of an apple? And, minus Thomas Wyatt, didn't the cast of characters watching them — Mark, Norris, Brereton, George — seem like a gathering of dead men walking?

The artists who sound even better acoustic; the lyric you have to belt out whenever you hear it

If any of you are in a city where Bryan Adams (pictured) is stopping on his acoustic tour, go. I caught him — backed by only his guitar and harmonica — Saturday night in NYC, and it was so good that I left thinking he should release a live album recorded just like that. His 11th studio album, 11, hits Wal-Mart and Sam's Club exclusively on May 13. Listen to the album cuts of "Oxygen," "Tonight We Have the Stars," and "I Thought I'd Seen Everything," then tell me if Adams' intimate lyrics and raspy, echo-filled vocals aren't almost more powerful stripped, as heard here, here, and here.

Adams played the New York Society for Ethical Culture's 800-seat Concert Hall, a converted church (with cushioned pews) that he referred to as one of the most beautiful places he's ever performed. Lucky for him, there's no religious iconography left in the auditorium, because that man would have burned: If not for the fact that he wrote "Heaven," in two days (!), for the 1983 Christopher-Atkins-stripper movie A Night in Heaven, then because he sings about nothing but sex. I'm sure I'd have earned myself a ticket to his next concert in hell when I wished ill on the man seated behind me — he kept yelling "Musketeer!" because he couldn't remember the name of the song he was desperately trying to request, "All for Love" off The Three Musketeers soundtrack. But at least those impure thoughts I had during "Run to You" (embedded below, from a March performance at St. James's Church in London) should have scored me a VIP package:

So, which artists do you think sound even better acoustic? And, in honor of my not being able to control my volume when Adams got to the "And that's when I met you, yeah" line of "Summer of '69," name one lyric you must belt out whenever you hear it.

(List)en up: Your favorite oldies

Last weekend, I met my parents in Atlantic City to see Dion. Not Celine Dion. But the singer of  "A Teenager in Love," "Runaround Sue," "I Wonder Why," "Donna the Prima Donna" (which had my mother doing upper-body aerobics in her seat), and "The Wanderer" (during which my mother actually had the nerve to say, "Here, you can do this," as she simplified her dance moves thinking I wasn't following her lead because I couldn't). Dion sounded great, and we had as much fun as we'd had seeing Paul Anka and Neil Sedaka in years past. (To be clear, that's not sarcasm. I've seen Dion, Paul, and Neil. Willingly.)

I can't be the only one who enjoys hearing the occasional oldie, so list a few of your favorites below. In addition to anything Elvis, anything Otis Redding, and anything on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, I'm a sucker for:
• Conway Twitty's pop hit, "It's Only Make Believe"
• The Fleetwoods' "Come Softly to Me"
• Anything by Sam Cooke (I once wrote in EW that if heaven exists, "You Send Me"  is playing there. I stand behind that statement.)
• Billy Ward and the Dominoes' "Sixty Minute Man"
• Neil Sedaka's "Oh! Carol" and "Calendar Girl," the latter of which I embed below because you all need to witness Miss August.
• And since I may never have reason to bring it up again, I'd like to say that Mark Dinning's "Teen Angel" still destroys me. I'm pretty sure it taught me about death. And that I was in grade school when I first saw him sing it, sitting on a stool in a spotlight, on one of my mother's American Bandstand tapes.

Johnny Cash's 'Hurt' still the greatest country video

I got sucked into CMT's 100 Greatest Videos countdown this weekend. Anyone else? It was an update on the channel's 2004 special, which you could tell from recent additions like Sugarland's "Stay" (No. 10), Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats" (No. 9), and Kenny Chesney's "You Save Me" (No. 8). Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" (below) remained the No. 1 video, rightfully. I'm wondering if the Dixie Chicks' "Not Ready to Make Nice" shouldn't have entered the countdown higher than No. 36. The Chicks were represented in the Top 10 with "Goodbye Earl" (No. 7), so I'm not crying foul. I'm just suggesting that Natalie Maines fighting to keep her backbone is a slightly more empowering sight than Shania Twain exercising the right to bare her midriff ("Any Man of Mine" was No. 31).

After the jump, the Top 10 videos.

NKOTB return with "maybe a few less oh-ohs"

It's official: New Kids on the Block are reuniting. Today had the big "reveal" this morning, sending Meredith Vieira and Natalie Morales out onto the rain-soaked Rockefeller Plaza — where the besuited man band magically appeared from behind a red curtain. The girls in the crowd went apes--- as the guys quickly fell into their old roles: Jordan Knight, Donnie Wahlberg, and Joey McIntyre did all the talking, while Jonathan Knight stood behind them looking uncomfortable. Danny Wood was there, too. Off to the side. (The good news: neither Jonathan nor Danny was as awkward as Today's cut from the screaming New Kids crowd to a somber Al Roker, who was reporting from outside the Memphis hotel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated 40 years ago today. Seriously. Awkward.)

But, using the same let's lighten things up! segue Today did, back to the New Kids! They've been recording since last August. On May 16, they'll return to Today for their first live performance together in 15 years. They'll release an album this summer (same signature sound, "maybe a few less oh-ohs," said Wahlberg). And they'll launch a limited tour this fall (yes, there will be dancing). Frankly, that's all we needed to know. But Morales kept the guys around for another segment so she could ask this poorly worded question: "You guys went from the biggest act around to just disappearing. We didn't see you. Some of you went on to have your own singles, and your own albums, but we really didn't hear about a lot of you. Where did you all go?" Honestly, I think she just wanted to get into a real-estate conversation with Jonathan (sales are terrible, he said), but instead, she got always-serious Donnie talking about his acting career. "I shot a film with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino called Righteous Kill, and I guess after that, it was kinda like, what more could I do in acting? So I get back with my boys and make some music."

Of course, the question is: Do we want to hear that music? I suppose I'll tune in May 16, because I want to know if Jordan's and Joey's voices are still as good as Donnie said they are. And whether Jonathan, who, let's face it, was never the best dancer, will keep up (or even show up). And if I'm really switching allegiances from Jordan to Joey after all these years. You?

Juliana Hatfield's 'My So-Called Life' flashback

Wondering, like Slezak and me, why Juliana Hatfield hasn't been a bigger hitmaker? I think it's because, while her work is consistently excellent, there's some part of her that's always seemed stuck in 1994. That was a career-high year for her, when she was coming off the success of her hit "My Sister" and was so ubiquitous that she even landed a cameo in the hip-show-of-the-moment, My So-Called Life, where she played a singing ghost waif. (See clip below).

On her blog (hat tip to Stereogum), she has a new reminiscence of filming that episode, including meeting costar/future 30 Seconds to Mars frontman Jared Leto. You can also hear her song from the MSCL soundtrack, "Make It Home," streaming in full on her MySpace page, along with a new track, a typically beautiful uptempo rocker called "Shining On," from her forthcoming CD, How to Walk Away (due June 10).

Thing is, I'm not sure Hatfield has ever known how to walk away. "Shining On," wonderful as it is, sounds like it could have been recorded back in her early-'90s heyday. There's nothing wrong with consistency, and I never get tired of her classic power-pop sound, but there's something in us that demands growth and development from our favorite musicians, something that wants them to branch out into new territory and take risks even as we relish the familiarity and comfort of their well-worn turf. That sort of artistry makes for a more satisfying narrative arc than journeyman craftsmanship. Maybe the fact that we value a good backstory over consistently good songs makes us childish and immature; maybe we're the ones who haven't grown, not artisans like Hatfield. Something to ponder, at any rate, as you read her prose and listen to her tunes.

Welcome to 'Firefly' Fridays

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a new-and-totally-random feature of der PopWatch. Thanks to the awesome free-ness of Hulu.com, we now have the capacity to raid each and every episode of Joss Whedon's late, lamented sci-fi western, Firefly, and present unto you the sweetest nuggets.

So, without further ado...

John Hughes lost, Long Duk Dong found

What are the odds of pieces about John Hughes (still beloved, still a recluse) and his Sixteen Candles character Long Duk Dong (still funny, still a stereotype) running on the same day?

Yesterday, The Los Angeles Times had a story about the impact Hughes (pictured, left, in 1994) still has on Hollywood — which he turned his back on more than a decade ago — because today's filmmakers, including Judd Apatow, whose latest, Drillbit Taylor, is loosely based on an abandoned Hughes story idea, were reared on his movies. "John Hughes wrote some of the great outsider characters of all time," Apatow told the Times. "It's pretty ridiculous to hear people talk about the movies we've been doing, with outrageous humor and sweetness all combined, as if they were an original idea. I mean, it was all there first in John Hughes' films. Whether it's Freaks and Geeks or Superbad, the whole idea of having outsiders as the lead characters, that all started with Hughes.... His great film characters, starting with Anthony Michael Hall in Sixteen Candles, were big inspirations. When we were growing up, we were all like Hall — the goofy skinny kid who thinks he's cool, even if nobody else does. Superbad has that same attitude, that mix of total cockiness and insecurity."

NPR, on the other hand, ran a piece on the lasting legacy of Sixteen Candles' Long Duk Dong, the Asian exchange student (played by Gedde Watanabe, pictured, right, with Candles crush Deborah Pollack) who finds love and a lake (big lake) in which to park Grandpa's automobile...

Why Wasn't This a Huge Hit?: Poe's 'Haunted'

I don't post blog items on Easter — hey, it's my version of Linda Evangelista's quote about not getting out of bed for less than $10,000 a day! — which is why yesterday came and went with no PopWatch birthday shout-out to uni-monikered singer/songwriter Poe.

To make up for this oversight, today, I'm posting an item about my very favorite Poe track, 2000's "Haunted," a song I have been known to play 15 or 20 times in a row just to bask in all its moody glory. I'll admit, I don't really know what the heck Poe's singing about here ("Time to gather up the splinters/Build a casket for my tears"... yikes!), but I do know this much: In a year where the top 5 of Billboard's Hot 100 year-end airplay chart included Faith Hill's "Breathe," Santana's "Smooth," and Creed's "Higher," America really should have been humming along to Poe and her litany of "ba-da-ba-bas." Listen to the song yourself (it's embedded after the jump) and then tell me (if you can): Why wasn't this a huge hit?

I just found my 'Best of Branigan' CD! (What song should I play first?)

I have this nasty habit of listening to CDs and not putting them back in their cases. So for me to pick up a pile of discs and find The Best of Branigan (the late Laura, that is), among them, is as pleasant a surprise as finding a $20 bill in a jacket you haven't worn in awhile. I don't know which song to play first. What would you choose?

"The Power of Love"

"How am I Supposed to Live Without You?"

(More choices after the jump.)

Listen to "Nicety" and try NOT to dance

Michael Slezak, who referenced Michel'le on PopWatch last week, couldn't do it. He also couldn't help himself from rapping along with Dre in my office. Where's the EW.com video crew when you need them?

It's a good week to be Lionel Richie

First, David Cook rocked "Hello" on American Idol, giving it the stalker vibe it always deserved. Now, news comes that Lionel Richie will be honored with ASCAP's lifetime achievement award next month (along with Steve Miller).

What's your favorite Lionel Richie song? Since I can't find a good video of "Stuck on You" to embed, I give you this live performance of "Still" and "Lady."

And also, after the jump, this clip from a German talk show of Richie singing "Hello" on helium.

Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" isn't a guilty pleasure. Right?

I can't believe it's been eight years since Bon Jovi released "It's My Life," and that I still like it as much as anything on the Slippery When Wet album. I feel like I should be ashamed of that (like when I admit that "Love Bites" is my favorite Def Leppard song, or that I love the Cure's "Mint Car") but I can't be. I'm as excited to hear it as Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles was to sing it with Bon Jovi at their 2005 CMT Crossroads concert (below). You've got to hear her belt out "This is for the ones who stood their ground." I get chills.

Who else loves this song?

Is it too soon to listen to Spin Doctors' "Two Princes" again?

So the other night, I was flipping through my Music Choice channels and Spin Doctors' "Two Princes" (below) was playing on the '90s station. I froze: Had enough time passed that I could enjoy the song again, or, 16 years after its release, were the damaging effects of extreme overplaying still present? While I won't be retrieving Pocket Full of Kryptonite from the bottom of the CD stack, where it currently resides, I did sind along. And there might have been some overhead clapping when they broke it down near the end. What's your verdict? Can you listen and enjoy it? (Like, I've been told, Brian Posehn recently did, covertly, on The Sarah Silverman Program. I also hear that a recent episode of Carpoolers revolved around Dougie winning tickets to a Spin Doctors concert.) Maybe this Sesame Street version of the song will be your antidote?

What's the longest you've banished a song from your personal airwaves due to overplaying?

The greatest duets of all time?

You know we're list whores at PopWatch, which is why we're loving retroCrush's 25 Greatest Duets of All Time. (In fact, we'd want to be alone with it, if the video links still worked.) You've got everything from Jenna Fischer and John C. Reilly ("Let's Duet") to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong ("Summertime"). Well done.

Which other tracks would've made your personal list? Off the top of my head, I could never deny Reba McEntire and Linda Davis ("Does He Love You," below), Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton ("We've Got Tonight"), and David Frizzell and Shelly West ("You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma").

Happy Birthday, Robyn Lively!

Our favorite Teen Witch turns 36 today (that's it?!), which gives us an excuse to watch the end of the movie (below), as well as some college kids' reenactment of the "Top That!" rap (after the jump).

Songs that make you want to grow a set

I'm not saying that the Super Bowl was decided the moment the teams took the field yesterday. But Kanye West's "Stronger," which the Giants exited the tunnel to, definitely gets me more juiced than Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train," which played for the Pats.

What about you? What song would you (or do you) play when it's your time to kick a little ass?

Happy 40th Birthday, Pauly Shore!

Your present? I will admit that I love Son-in-Law.

Happy Birthday, Pat Benatar! This blog is a battlefield!

Occasionally — and by that I mean whenever I can't decide whether to karaoke "We Belong" or "Love is a Battlefield" — I wonder which is Pat Benatar's best song.* Let's give her the gift of knowledge for her 55th birthday. Is it:

"We Belong"

or "Love Is a Battlefield"?

* Write-in votes for "Invincible," "Heartbreaker," "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," or "All Fired Up" (the song I'd demand be used for the training montage in the movie version of my life — if I ever do anything that constitutes "training") will be accepted. Even though you're wrong.

What Duran Duran song did you want to hear?

At Sunday night's American Music Awards, Duran Duran played their new single "Falling Down," followed by a song selected by fans. Apparently, the three tracks we had to choose from were "Notorious," "(Reach up for the) Sunrise," and "Hungry Like the Wolf" (which won). We know Tony Hawk, who introduced the band, wanted them to play "A View to a Kill" and clearly never visited mycokerewards.com to vote either. What were you hoping to hear? I was wishing for "I Don't Want Your Love." I've watched the video below—of the band performing it earlier this month during their Broadway run—at least 25 times. Partly because I love seeing Nick Rhodes smile, partly because that electro set was hot.

I also would have accepted "All She Wants Is." Or, any song that allows Simon Le Bon and John Taylor to share the same microphone. Again, hot. 

The PopWatch Confessional (Vol. 40)

What are your must-hear holiday tracks, and how soon will you start listening to them? Here's why I'm asking: I already am.

Normally, I would hate me, too. Until this year, I'd always been a day-after-Thanksgiving girl. I'd be home in Happy Valley visiting my family, and that's when my mother would break out Aaron Neville's Soulful Christmas, I'd try again to steal her copy of Elvis' If Every Day was Like Christmas (because "Santa Claus is Back in Town" is the sexiest Christmas song ever), and my sister would pretend that she wasn't happy to hear the return of Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics. (Am I the only one who's touched by the South Park boys' rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"?)

But this year, Josh Groban (pictured) had to go and release his album Noel in October, which meant I had to snag it off the office giveaway table for my mother. I don't know about you, but I'm powerless to resist any version of "Ave Maria" because of a compulsive need I have to rank it. (Much like "O Holy Night," which, by the way, Celine Dion sings the holy bejesus out of). Ever since I broke the Noel seal, I've been pausing on the Traditional Holiday Music channel on my television when I'm working the high end of the dial, and sitting through some Kenny Loggins/Olivia Newton-John duet in hopes of hearing some old dreamy version of "I'll Be Home For Christmas." (The last two holidays were less than ideal for me, so that's why I'm especially vulnerable this year.)

So, now that I've cruelly snapped some of you into the holiday spirit — still resisting? maybe the "All I Want for Christmas is You" scene from Love Actually will help — tell me what songs you can't wait to hear.

Happy 50th Birthday, Lyle Lovett!

PopWatch pauses to wish Lyle Lovett well. Partly because I still have fond memories of him winning over a disinterested audience in Pittsburgh years ago when he opened for Sting. (Isn't that always an incredible thing to witness?) And partly because I still love looking at his hair. (Ditto.)   

Happy Birthday, Jon Secada!

He's currently a visiting professor at Miami Dade College's Kendall campus, but he'll always be the singer of 1992's "Just Another Day." Watch the video below... and enjoy trying to harmonize on the chorus.

Dig it Out!: The Proclaimers' 'Sunshine on Leith'

Remember the Proclaimers, the Scottish duo only best known for the song "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" in the States? (You can thank the film Benny & Joon for that.) Their 1988 album Sunshine on Leith remains one of my favorites, enjoyable from start to finish. (Watch the video for the title track below.)

While I can't vouch for the band's other works, I am suddenly curious about their seventh studio album, Life With You, hitting shelves in the UK Sept. 3. The lead single is no "I'm on My Way", but it's got some sweet harmonies and a happy beat that makes me feel like I should be watching Love Actually.