KiD CuDi

''Day 'n' Night uh uh...'' 

I thought Kid C was bringing back British Garage when he released that tune - but turns out Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi is an All Americano Amigo. Fit too. 
Up until (hmmm) about thirty seconds ago, I thought he aight - but who the hell am i kidding - I fancy the pants of this man, his cocky talent, witty lyrics...tattoos (... i know) but its my type of guy. I had it with Pharell and Lupe Fiasco. Aside from the obvious - Cudi is certainly carving a name for himself on the NyLon saturated scene going down atm. 

His first track grew on me - its simple, nostalgic to the days but just a decade ago.  He helped pen a couple of the tracks on the conceptual (and one step ahead and below) 808's And Heartbreak album, and he was the gorgeous vocal behind Kanye's synthesized warbler on the track Welcome To Heartbreak.


So his new stuff? Well I have to admit i wasn't looking beyond the single - but after watching How To Make It In America, I was all over the show's mix-tape courtesy of Mr K CuDi & Co. including Dj Green Lantern -  which led me to his youtube page and back to here - Now with the new concept Hip Hop album 'Man on the Moon' (2009) KiD Cudi is no doubt being compared to Pharrell (swoon), Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West and groups like KENNA and N.E.R.D, respectively. 

None of them bad company, but this is his first album - its good - but lets wait and see where he goes from here, but I had to post this. It makes me want to head to a sweaty pumpin jumpin gig...I got Fat Freddy's Drop on the list but I plan much more this year - and if KiD CuDi decides to rock over, I'm there.

KHLEO

The ever up-to-date and beyond girls from 4 BALLERiNAS WITH MACHETES     have sourced this new hip hop heavy Khleo and yes I agree - he definitely has 'IT'.

Initially I thought - this video is low grade fanboy crap... but actually (and more fool me...I work in the business I know its not wise to judge before the Jump!) its raw talent as it always is - at its best.  None of that Mo Money (tuuuune dont get me wrong) glossy, mini budget movie / music video these so called hip hop and rap artists are fans of (I look at you 'Fiddy' and you yes you T.I ...you are one of the worst)

A good old, stripped down 'this is me - just listen' video - Khleo as you may (if youre a compulsive film geek like) or may not recognise is this kid 

                                               Not Shia obviously - the cute kid that (SPOILER) ends up with his long lost mammy at the end of the fab film HOLES.

Anyhoo - it's been a few years, kid's grown in to a boy/man, signed by Souljar Boi's ppl and here he is bringing his own - ready to take the hip hop up a notch via the young generation so used to asforementioned popular (dont want to say rubbish cus it is what it is and its doing something right) Hip Hop dominating the mainstream charts. If he's signed to Soulja Boi & Co then I'm sure they'll be pushin those honeyz type vids - but this kid doesnt seem the type...meh we'll see. For now just know that he's good. 

I'll be checking out his mix-tape : life's a cartoon

JLS

Y'know I was like yeah right whatever, Jack The Lad Swing are whack man.

I dont actually speak like that, but it was pretty much my train of thought when they were on the Xfactor, when they lost out to Alexandra Boring Burke, and when they were rumoured to be releasing a debut album. I thought - pah, they'll be crap and then they'll disappear.

Then I heard Beat Again. I'd it heard long before I knew who was singing it and I liked it.
It was catchy, upbeat, a long way from the rehash of synth pop dominating the charts. Most of all I thought it was American.

Then my lil bro caught me poppin' and lockin' to the tune in the kitchen and after he stopped laughing, he told me who the song was by. My response was to stop dancing and start jumping.
For starters I was just happy that I could put faces to the song, seriously it meant that I wouldn't have to force my siblings to listen to my humming in order to see if they could name the tune and group. I was also happy that despite not winning X Factor, that they were even better than I had expected, and the fact they were the runners up and had done so well made me like them even more. Also they were British. Not since the days of Ultimate Chaos, Another Level, Blue and Damage had we had a good old fashioned vocally sound RnB/Pop all boy group.

The boys have since churned out some good tunes, they have also won some awards [Boring Burke take note] - they've become a bit more cocky [ a trait i noticed and disliked them for on the X Factor] but I have to hand it to them - they're cute, charming and exactly what I miss from mainstream British music. Good old dancing beats.

Here they are with Alexandra Burke winner of 2008s X FACTOR back on the 2009 show doing a medley of  both their debut singles. 

A Dru HiiiiiiiiiiLL

 ...But I ask - why has Sisqo not aged?
why has Nokio done that to his hair? he looks foolish,[and check him out on the guitar...random, unnecessary]
where has that other dude [Woody] who never sung and was not hot thus had nowt to offer, gone?
Who the hell is TAO ...the soprano ? [hes actually really good]
and why is Jazz, the fat one, still fat? [man can still do the moves though.]

Whats up with the cheated wife's facial expressions in the beginning of the video?
Who made a clear recording of that fateful night he cheated on her with the hooker ? seriously why is it in HD quality? on a tripod, framed and graded.
Golf clubs...really? she crayzeeee.



Seriously its as bad as their old vids back in 1998 - good times. Welcome back boys.

Empire State of mess

Gary Coleman -  the [smaller than a] pint-sized child star of Different Strokes 
has been on a downward spiral for a while now, like many child stars unable to step out of the shadow and past glory set upon him when audiences wanted him. One thing they probably don't tell the child stars [when they're luring them in with candy, promises of fame, riches and adoration] is that later the public will get tired of you, and boy you better get out of the way when they do. See what we like to do is set these stars up, then bring them back down again. Show them who's boss and all that. I know its not always that black and white - but the media, which lets face it, usually builds the fires that we the mob like to light our torches from, have no qualms in printing scandalous career damaging headlines about people they praised in the yesterdays news.

No one more than the Western world [US and UK] know how to do this. Its a freedom of speech, i get it, but its also vile, trashy and just plain ridiculous. I'm not trying to preach, I scan through gossip mags, chat to friends about what they or I have heard through the media pool that our world is submerged in daily. However it's always perturbed me at how one person can be loved or hated within seconds dependent on how he/she is portrayed in the media [via some middleman be it interviewer/journalist/PereZ Hilton...] Which is why the following video is so sad, and made me feel really uncomfortable and angry all at once. I don't pretend to know how Gary Coleman came to such sorry state of affairs, but what I do know is that this show he is being interviewed on, was not the right type of show or environment for the discussion that took place.  The way its been cut together, the music, the movie trailer slow mos and fades - everything about it screams UNETHICAL. That's not even what gall's me. Its the fact the same hosts [minus the instigator] are then joined days later by a blatantly made for TV only shouldn't really be practicing medicine Doctor - who gives his verdict on Colemans mental health. WTF. who the hell are these people?

I'm happy to say we in the UK haven't reached horrendous levels of TV production yet. Although recent formats [Piers Morgan's stupid chat show] shows that we apparently are.  Its obvious Coleman's a man with demons but this woman provoked him most definitely, and the other co-hosts weren't any help. Can people really make this kind of TV and get away with it?  I work in the TV industry, and I'm surrounded by stories of people in the public eye every day but I can't say that this kind of vilifying  pop news is entertaining - but is this what we as the public want? because someone out there clearly thinks we do, and they cant be entirely wrong, but like this? its passive aggressive 'this will get the audiences in' car crash tv - leave it to the David Frosts the world eh?

 

J*Davey has me grooving

Jack & Brook
=
J*DaVeY

I know J*DaVeY have been crotch thrusting across the music scene for a while now, but I can't seem to shake them off, nor do i want to. Producer Brook D'Leau ah and lead singer Jack Davey are coming up faster and stronger this year, i can feel it. I seriously haven't been this inspired about new music since Janelle Monae and Florence + the Machine, and there's been a lot of new stuff out their - impressive stuff, stuff that's been done before and stuff that's shit.

This duo unimaginatively been dubbed the (and excuse me while I repeat this) 'The Black Eurythmics" (psssssh neither group deserve the comparison, so whatever) are eclectic, daring and (with every intention to sound shallow) J*DaVeY are painfully cool.
Im very open minded when it comes to music - no music lover can call herself a lover if they haven't got an appreciation for all those different sounds out there. I never will understand people who label themselves as 'alternative, rock chick, indie (cindie), punk, hip hop biatch...i undersand preference, i know what i'd like to listen to more than the other, but I could never limit myself to that particular genre. I'm far too selfish.
J*DaVeY are one of those rare groups who manage to tap in to every style musically out there. It's like an extension of how I feel about music - its like every play list i have going - a complete shuffle - soul, rock, punk, hip hop, pop, house, dance, dub...etc - in a good way and it doesn't get boring. I he*rt this much. Keep it coming.

At the moment they're kindly sharing free legal downloads of their EP ( @: http://jdavey.bandcamp.com) where you can listen to the sexy 'Get Together' (my current tune on loop)
If and when they make it to London - I'm there bro!



Briana Cartwright (Jack Davey) is my girl crush.

Boo-ya

I have been informed that my Sunday is about to get nostalgic - a spare ticket to see the Preview plus Q&A at the National Film Theater of Disney's Princess and The Frog !!!

I have waited years for a 2-D Disney film to grace the screens again! don't get me wrong I love love love Pixar - but as a child of the early 90s my grass roots lie in the all singing, Technicolor wonder of hand drawn animation whoop! - thanks to the friend whose boyfriend bailed out on her in favour of Band practice - my gain bro, my gain.

Prat(t)

So I just watched something disturbing. Heidi Montag Crazy Pratt is undeniably an attractive young girl. Yes she had a bit of work done but it wasn't horrendous - the marginal opinion is that the enhancements and changes she initially made looked good. I agree - although i am also of the view that she was rocking the cute girl next door look from the start, but meh - she lives in LA whatever.

However at he age of 23 she has gone under the knife yet again, only this time it doesnt look so good. She's scary, she's lost the barbie look she moulded herself in to in the past and instead has adopted a bizzare beyond the point of return reach for perfection and has which has ended up with her looking like a penultimate version of Joan Rivers.

This is bad Ladies and Gents. The future is not bright for this lady - I can see mag covers and gossip blogs awash with annual pictures of Heidi's new face, Heidi's new butt reduction and lip lift and eye transplant and so on.

Click here to see her crazy. curteousy of the whatwomenwant blog

Why she do what she do? at 23 surely this is already too much too soon? god forbid she hits 25 and there's not more of her to nip and tuck at - she'll end up looking like the the Lady Cassandra from Doctor Who.

Dancing with myself.

Listening to Generation X classics and Billy Idol noise got me looking at pictures of Idol on goOGLE (omg....that has actually just made sense to me!) Go OGLE...!!!! GOOGLE! (go and ogle! GENIUS...something I am clearly not)


Anyway, (wow, thats so clever ...i just thought it was a catchy name...like Yahoo and Bing...or is Bing a shorthand for BrowsING? ) Billy Idol was quiet beautiful once - I can't stop dancing to Hot in the City and Dancing with myself. Such a good tune.

New Crush.

Hello Jesse Williams.

Fatty Fatty

So I read an interesting article in the December issue of ELLE uk yesterday (on my way to trim the beasts that are my eyebrows) titled: ' BIG LOVE' by Amy Maclin.

It was a very funny, open wounded account detailing the inescapable 'issue' of putting on a little weight and having a partner who notices...and gets put off.

In a world where body image is repeatedly scrutinised, nipped, tucked (and lord knows what hasn't been yet discovered that can be done) I was ready to turn over what I thought would be another tiresome 'woe is me' tale of a woman with body issues. BORED OF IT.

...I read on...because I had nothing else to do on the train to Upton Park's Green Street (the cheap and best for Threading sweat shops ....i mean salons.) and to my delight (laughing out on the train included) I loved every word. Old Amy had been toned and happy when she met her boyfriend Alex. So happy in love was she that the love of food and apparent complacent attitude that comes with being comfortable and happy with a lover started to show...on her midriff.

One night when Amy had confronted Alex that their nightly sessions of 'fantastic sex' had gradually faded out ( apparently Alex couldn't 'get it up') he brutally replied:

'I feel your fat here...I used to feel muscle'

the author states this as being

'one of the worst nights of my life'

Bloody rightly so! I hurrumphed as the train pulled in to North Greenwich. My heart would sink to my toes and I would probably, like Amy, run off crying...and eating along the way.
Unlike me however, Amy so distraught by her boyfriends upfront (and to his credit), honest if not a little insensitive assessment, she stopped eating.
She eventually lost the weight and their sex lives are back on track.

Now this is just a snippet of what I got from the article - and an interesting one because unlike the normal 'STICK IT TO THE MAN' or 'I LOVE ME AND MY CURVES SO F***K YOU' conclusion, Amy offered a more realistic resolution. Yes Resolution. She and Alex eventually made up. She was obviously self conscious, but he overcame his prejudices and accepted that she was more than a human sex doll. She also makes a point that she doesnt think that Alex or men in general loose interest when a womans jeans size cranks up a notch - but thought it incredulous to think that if we ourselves noticed that the other half wouldnt.

The essential point (that i think she was making light of) was that she forgot that it was important to make that effort despite being in a relationship, while she still could.
Sex is undeniably important between a couple, its not the be all and end all but Its so intimate, and personal - and lets not lie - if there are attractions to the other half that are suddenly taken away we may feel a little cheated.

Unfortunately it sounds like a disclosure - sealing a deal by sticking to the physical restrictions we lay upon one another in order to attract. Its not a persons humor we see when they walk through the door - unless your ugly or have a really loud cackle that's infectious.
Admittedly when we get to know someone then blah blah blah - but what I'm getting at is this...was I dumped by my ex's (ha like ive had more than 2..woe) because they saw me in the wrong light and caught the bulge escaping over my jeans?...or did my calves get too fat?.
I have calculated that both guys I dated (a long time from now) had been with me when i had gone through a serious period of weight fluxuations. I grew boobs, a bum...i got podgy round the waist...and was awkward for a long while. Now Im sexy and its all good - but just knowing that guys are that perseptive makes me cringe. Im in a Gym mode at the moment, but when I stop going, which is inevitable - I know i will pile it on so quickly - Im african, i love food so so much and genuinley dont think or care much. Im also 5'2 so the only way it can go is not up - its sideways. I carry on the mentality that my body is mine to give, I cherish it for me - but its also a thought to spare to my lover who may want me to keep it that way so he can enjoy it too. So I will honor this till I have kids...or I want to get rid of him.

The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants

Now I know Mavis Bean disapproves of me reviewing films on here - but I have just been sobbing.

The culprit - 'The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants'.
Now this film has been on the circuit since 2000-and ever, but I have never got round to (or had a particular urge to) watching it.
I checked the reviews but after deciding I wasn't really bothered anyway I Loved Filmed it.
It looked like an easy watch and the cast are, well, some of the best young actresses (all of them very likable) that Hollywood has to offer. FACT.

Well it started off lovely enough. A light introduction to these four girls. Fine. I will sip my herbal tea and kick back.Yeah right...kick back and let the tears cascade down my face, while using my stolen British Airways blanket to blow my endless runny nose (ew)
How come no one told me this film was so endearing? and funny, inspiring and sad! so so sad.
I am going to get my hands on the sequel. Hopefully its as good.

Sweet Disposition

...I have this song on constant loop. It didnt help that it was featured in 500 Days (of Summer) either - I almost peed my pants when it came on...I heart it. Temper Trap have a good thing going...like a indie pop version of Neptune...


The lead (3rd from right) has a voice of an angel...swoon

I heart this man

...Zachary Quinto

Max Records. Awsome name. Fact.

The last few weeks have been very hectic. Interesting and stressful, and hectic to no end.

Comic Relief had taken over at one point, both very exciting and bewildering with the masses of people (crew) who took part - alas it was a good experience to witness it behind the camera.

I also learned that I (among the rest of the crew) were to be ''let go''...not in redundancy tragic stakes (because we are freelance workers) but that production was to cease earlier than planned, with an unforseen return to the small screen. So sad. Just as we were all starting to get along.

On that flip side the weather has been stuplendous in London. Absolutely gorgeous. It suits this city fo sho - everyone is happy, beautiful and London just thrives - it (and all those who reside) does so much better with a warm golden start to the day.

I have also finished (finally) Dan Browns fantastic Angels and Demons. It was so worth the long two months I was reading it for. Work commitments get in the way and really do make it hard to read. Fact. I can't wait to see the book on screen though, I liked The Da Vinci Code - but I only liked the the book version also...so hopefully the prequel will be an all round better deliverence.

I have started a new one mind *Beyonce style: to the right to the right* --->

The Time Travellers Wife by Audrey Nifenegger - great name. But not as great as MAX RECORDS! (below in my 'Films 2009 to Watch' Where the Wild things Are)

I wish my child (if I had one...which I dont) had a cool name like that...but this would involve finding a partner with a cool last name...like SASHA* PAYNE or sasha BASE or sasha BOND or or ...or sasha ICE...woe I need to get to first base with a boy first...**

Besides the point, this awsomely named child Max Records (seen in poster above with one of the wild things Forrest Whittaker is voicing!) is taking the lead role as naughty mischievious Max who as I recall...chased his (silly) dog with a fork. Like in the film poster (above) Max has donned his Wolf suit, and after a raucous play, he is sent to his room without supper...(as an avid food lover all my life, that part really got to me, no lie) I read the book back in primary school around reception year - and I remember being scared and curious about these 'Wild Things'. They were hidious drawings -

- and I don't remember being fond of Max either - favouring him as naughty for running away and having fun. See I love food, and back then I couldn't understand why he would make it harder for himself to get his dinner by running away to play with beasts!?

Having flicked through the (10 sentenced!!!) book recently with my brother (he confessed he was once scared of the pictures also) we came to the conclusion that it was actually a great story - conveying the displaced stubborn anger and tantrums young children feel. The wild things, and where they were, was simply a metaphor or visual spectacle for Max's internal 'dark place' (hence the film poster tag line: there's one in all of us) - and I have now come to the notion that in fact what happened was - he fell asleep (dreamed of this wild place), woke up half an hour later feeling less angry and more sorrowful - and found hot food waiting for him - as I always did.

*I stole sasha as my first boys name from my big sister...because back then I wanted to do everything she did...since then 17 years later not so much...but the name Sasha stuck as a fave.

**I have actually been to first base. I have actually had a partner...dont judge me.

The Fear: A Whitney Port Tale and other stories

''The other night I was walking through a huge crowd at a restaurant in the meat packing district and for some reason I was whispering to myself, "Don't fall, don't fall."
It's like I could feel it coming or something... and what do you know, within
one step of being back at my table, I fell flat on my ass! The worst part
is that the only people who saw it were my boyfriend and his best friend....the worst people I could think of to see it happen!''

If I had a pound for every time I experienced one of these '*horrific* moments - I would be employing people to write this blog for me.

...Now I have been preoccupied recently with work and socialising - yes i do have a real life beyond the boring one i relay out on cyber world - with friends, old and new...on tv and off...*coughthecity&uglybettycough*

Alas, I have also found out that myself and others are to return to the headlining festival of the year to put on a show for kids 3rd year running. I will have to start putting my super brain in to full gear and begin to pen this project.

I have also had riveting (or so she thinks) conversations with a very very argumentative yet very good friend - her name, in consideration for her personal life, shall be Mavis Bean.

Mavis Bean had put it to me, this week, that: in a decade or so - writing long hand shall be all but extinct .

Me: Oh Mavis, Mavis, Mavis Bean - you are being ridiculous - for where dost thou protest this ...information...from?

Mavis Bean: The Daily TelegRUBBISH.

Me: Exactly. *

The point being, I disagree. I mean will everyone be in a posistion to afford not learning the basis of cursive writing? I think impovorished countries in particular are not going to be advancing so forseeably.

This "primitive" skill will never become useless, its faster and tapping away on a machine, although useful in many cases is not always conducive - say many writers like to pen ideas in bed - now i know with current economic climates - technology = electricity bills. I personally feel that writing cursive is so much faster.

But Mavis did not say it will be extinct as so much as it will be second/third or more likely fourth hand as a skill of communication. I can't argue against this fact, because as my brother said:

"you can't stop the human advancement - soon we will be using
telepathic modes that will disband machines as well." daniel

You cant stop the advancement of the human race - Science shows Ape men had Drawings, Religion uses the Egyptians

essentially this evolved in to the Greek combination of using images to form the first Alphabet: words and meanings which led to the pioneering Romans and their latin conquer of writing which thus developed in to the shakespearian heavy English language we know today. All of these used different impliments - chalk, paint, quills and ink, lead...now computers...

Text speak is now used more commonly than what we know to be the 'right' form of language. Yet it has developed rapidly across generations, and with no signs of beign fad.

So is the dying out of writing with pen and paper so wrong or is this the natural order of human evolution?

*this is a watered version of how the conversation went.

The Devil wears a trilby.

Is this the face of Jay - Whitney's loving and Johnny Depp wanna-be Aussy hunk of a beau? NO.

Its the portrait of a no good, cheating Aussy arse.

He has far too much hair - so he's hiding something

He looks too smelly for Whitney -
... and he's just a scrounger (look to ep 9)

However current actions (ep 10) showed him for what he is - and what we can expect.

Even passed aquaintences like Potsy's (? yeah i dont know him either) girlfriend - dishes the dirty dirt on her past experience of fellow Qz Jay: "he has a temper - and he lies" (or words to that effect)

Whitney has already told hims that: "I just don't like liars" and neither do I Whit...neither do I.
Boys are such bitches.