Now I don't speak Spanish, Japanese, or French

Jesse McCartney's "Body Language" is nearly everything I hoped it would be. Hyper-cute urban-glossed catchy pop with ridiculous lyrics ("breaking it down articulately" plus FUN WITH LANGUAGES).



I'm open to being convinced otherwise (Jesse does a decent job with "Rock Ya"), but so far, when we're talking about his nominally more R&B direction, Jesse's shown himself to be best with this hyper-cute mid-tempo pop that uses the aforementioned urban sheen to barely disguise just how poppy and kitschy it actually is, as opposed to, say, the ballads or the edgier and less melodic songs. "Body Language" doesn't approach the brilliance of its predecessors "Leavin'" and "How Do You Sleep," but it's a respectable entry into this era of Jesse's work.

In other news: BWO. As I mentioned, Swedish newspaper/tabloid Expressen recently allowed us to listen to the album in advance, but Big Science, the group's fourth studio album, is out tomorrow. I feel pretty pleased with it, but I'm going to elaborate on that in a future post since after allowing myself to indulge on Sunday I cut myself off from the album so I didn't overplay it before I got the full thing properly. As I'm a bit pressed for time now, though, I do want to say that the next single, "Right Here Right Now," is great (though to be completely honest on my first listen and after so much build-up around it, I didn't quite see the big deal; I quickly came to love it, though, and it may very well be my favorite song on the album at this point). Quick favorites (in no particular order) that haven't been fully thought through and are basically based on only one only-just-took-place listen since Sunday:

Right Here Right Now: BWO in sound, but with some more strings. It's not the sometimes menacing electro drama of Prototype, but this is still the BWO we now--maybe more Halcyon Days BWO, which I'm fine with. As I mentioned somewhere, the up-tempo remix of "You're Not Alone" reminded me of September's "Satellites" in its beat and "Right Here Right Now" has a little of that, too, though much toned down and overlapped with those lovely strings and that lovely pretty melody and with some kind of "Chariots Of Fire"-esque choral moments tossed in.

Rise To The Occasion (proper--not Expressen--quality): also mid-tempo-ish, but with more of an up-tempo feel than its technical tempo would make you think. Poppy. A catchy female vocal hook (sung by Märta of Cocktail Studios, according to Oswalds Popcorn) seals the deal on this already catchy song. Oswalds Popcorn compared it to Ace of Base, only modernized, and that's spot-on.

Rhythm Of The Night: the song opens with that classic BWO sound (you'll know what I mean when you hear it--it shows up throughout Prototype). Also really catchy. Wow, I really shouldn't be attempting this at all if I'm not going to be able to put the proper time into coming up with good descriptions until later. Anyway, maybe kind of like a slightly slower "Gomenasai." Not slow, though.

Shoot From The Heart: maybe the most "dance attack"-type song. It's still more on the pop side than the electro side, though.

In Too Deep: I've yet to see anyone else write positively about this song, let alone call it one of their favorites, but it really is for me (I think perhaps its placement and hearing the album through as a whole via Expressen helped). BWO go for one of those washing-over-you mid-tempo songs, but this time it actually works for me instead of seeming too chintzy (and yes, I realize I just got done praising a song with the word "kitschy" a few paragraphs up) and manages to get under my skin. Thankfully, the electro sounds here are smooth instead of that buzzier electro sound used in "Give Me The Night" and "The Bells Of Freedom," which I was really beginning to fear would characterize most of their future work. It was fine for "Give Me The Night," but I like my BWO smoother, a la "Gomenasai."

Thunderbolt: the Empire Music song. The beginning of "Thunderbolt"'s chorus isn't quite as melodic as that of other songs, but it's still a fun song (and it basically has an A chorus and a B chorus anyway), as well as also one of the dancier ones.

That was kind of ridiculously uninformative and poorly descriptive. I'll try to actually do a proper write-up when I have more time. My general comment would be that the sound here is generally more...middle of the road? That's not the right phrase (especially since it comes with a negative connotation), but I wouldn't say you're getting anything edgy or abrasive for most of the album. On the one hand, I'm much more satisfied with it than I was with Fabricator, so it's won at least one fan who was beginning to feel a bit alienated back. On the other hand, I can see it losing them the people who really go in for the harder electro sounds as well as not winning back people who loved Prototype but not much more. I feel really pleased with it, though: I'll admit their experimentation with other genres (see "Love Came Crashing Down" and "Burning Down The House," for example) isn't my preference, but there is enough here of electronic pop BWO--and, more importantly, good electronic pop BWO--that I feel satisfied.

Buy BWO's new album, Big Science, here (physical).

Next up: maybe something about Måns. Or Erik. Or Lily. Or not.

Drunk on margaritas

As much as I'm constantly raving about European music, there are moments when I realize how very American my tastes can be.



(Yes, I realize that's ridiculous generalizing and Europeans can like the above song and Americans can hate it.)

That was the Paradiso Girls--Robin Antin's (of the Pussycat Dolls) new girl group--with "Patrón Tequila," produced by Polow Da Don. And yes, I have been playing it again and again via YouTube. It has this drum part to it which reminds me a bit of "Captive," a rejected demo for the Pussycat Dolls--did Polow also do that?--but it's both trashier and better than that song...and I loved "Captive." There better be some dancing going on at the end of the music video with that extended instrumental ending. And how great would it be if this was another Polow production based around product promotion (if it's unintentional here, they sure better work out a deal quick)?

(For your reference, a Keri Hilson-sung version of this song leaked earlier under the title "Hey Girl.")

When the world comes alive, I'll be by your side

Do you remember Sylwia Chaliss? The Swedish model released a dance-pop album, Loud Enough, back in 2003. A few singles were taken from it, but the combined results of that campaign and the response to "Blinded By The Light," the 2005 Von Der Burg-penned lead single for her second album, weren't good enough to take her past that second album lead single (or at least that's my presumption based on the fact that she didn't release any further music).

"Meet You At Midnight," today's song, wasn't on her debut album, so I can only guess that it was intended for her second album. To tell the truth, I prefer it to "Blinded By The Light," though I can see how "Blinded By The Light" might be the more memorable of the two. At least in this form, "Meet You At Midnight" isn't the sort of Von Der Burg song that you can see having international success like September's "Cry For You" or Alcazar's "This Is The World We Live In," but it's the sort of song that went straight onto my iPod: a string-touched sweet catchy dance-pop song with a revvy beat underneath it, albeit a restrained one. "Meet You At Midnight" has fewer club influences than the work VDB generally does for September but isn't worlds removed from that sound; it's much less sweeping, though. Much of the difference may also be a result of Sylwia's voice: it isn't nearly as dark as Petra's, so "Meet You At Midnight" has a much lighter, fluffier, more carefree feel to its dance groove.

Edit: I got so caught up in writing that I didn't make clear that "Meet You At Midnight" might very well not be by the Von Der Burgs. "Blinded By The Light" is, but as for whether or not this song is, I couldn't say for sure.

I can't find anywhere online still selling Sylwia Chaliss's debut album, Loud Enough, but you can buy her single for "Check All Exits" here (physical).

Next up: maybe I'll write about one of those albums I've been saying I'll write about or do a run-through of some of the songs on my frequently played list right now.

Don't you see your destiny was never in your command?

Pre-listen to BWO's new album Big Science here (below full quality, but very listenable--better than MySpace). I'm only beginning to do so myself, so no further comment as of yet, but I'll be back with thoughts, I'm sure.

Much thanks and credit to Aces and Damian for the link!

First off, I can't keep a promise, no one to count on at all

I would do a post like the one below for the upcoming Backstreet Boys album if it wasn't for the fact that there's no way I could ever gather all the information on my own. When somewhere else is doing it better than you could and saving you the time, what would be the point? Read through the list of songwriters they've worked with here and watch them performing a bit of the Max Martin-penned "Bigger" a cappella at a sound check below. Apparently in its studio version it's up-tempo, though I'm not entirely sure how reliable that fact is. The production style is what's going to be make or break on this, but I'd be lying if I said that when this clip hit the Internet a few weeks ago my hopes didn't jump. I know it's too much to hope that it'll be dressed up in the classic Cheiron style, but hopefully it'll be a more pop-friendly format than the Max songs on Never Gone.

All the planets are aligning

...and, coming on the heels of the South African pop update, here's an update on Swedish singer Ola.

He's been working on his third album for a few months now. I wouldn't say release is imminent--he's still in the process of recording--but he's talking about artwork with his "people," so it's not a matter of being intangibly distant.

Keep in mind that, with no formalized tracklist, what songs will make it onto the album isn't yet determined. We do know, though, that he's worked with:

Tony Nilsson--if Ola wasn't working with him again, he'd be absolutely insane. If it was up to me, he'd probably do the whole album with Tony. Heck, if it was up to me, everyone would have Tony write for their album.

KeiOne--I think he did Adam Tensta's "80s Baby," which I love, but I'm not familiar with him at all; it looks like he's worked more with R&B in the past.

Ishi--mentioned here recently because of his involvement in Måns Zelmerlöw's new album (he co-wrote "One Minute More," "Find Love, "Saved Again," and "Home"), but more famous for his work with Lazee.

Patric Sarin--I've got a big post dedicated to Patric that's been sitting as a draft for quite some time that I may have to dig out, but rest assured he's done more than his fair share of amazing brilliant songs over the years (Darin's "Desire" and "Insanity" and Margaret Berger's "Samantha," "Will You Remember Me Tomorrow," "Robot Song" are just the tip of the iceberg).

Dilba--Dilba and Ishi worked together for at least one song.

maybe Michael Garvin, who wrote the lyrics for Ola's "S.O.S." and who I wasn't familiar with but apparently also co-wrote "Waiting For Tonight" and Natalia's "I've Only Begun To Fight"

He's also mentioned that, given his record label's (very, very positive) response when he played it to them, there's a good likelihood the lead single will be a song written by Tony Nilsson, KeiOne, and Ola himself. There's a song written by Ishi that Ola thinks is a strong contender to be a later single.

Additionally, he's recorded a song he really likes which he said was called "Lead me the way" (sic).

The Ishi and KeiOne connections (and Patric Sarin, to a lesser degree) make me think maybe Ola's going for a slightly edgier sound, with just a little more of that urban electro sound in it, but I think his record label and management has a good sense of where he gets his popularity from and will keep him very much pop. Plus, Tony Nilsson's involved, and I still have absolute faith in him. I just hope his songs make up more of the album this time around. Ola has established himself as a "summer single" sort of artist and he's got a fall tour coming up, so maybe we could hear a single as early as late this spring.

Apparently in his free time he's been seeing He's Just Not That Into You with Sarah Dawn Finer and talking about the financial crisis with Dr. Alban. The tangled webs of celebrity lives...

'Cause I know love would have no meaning without you in my life

A mini-South African pop music news update (though some of the news is pretty old):

NKD just released their self-titled second album yesterday. I don't know of anywhere that ships internationally selling it, but I'm not sure if I'd buy it anyway. After the trio of former Idol contestants got off to such a good start with the poppy and often Swede-penned songs on their debut, the underrated What's That Noise, they started talking about going acoustic for this new album. Their version of Amy Pearson's "Don't Miss You" is much inferior to Amy's version. Still, I am interested to hear what their latest single, "Step Right Up," sounds like in hopes it'll revive my true interest in them. If the album cover is anything to go by, they've lost a lot of their financial ability to or interest in making themselves a quality girl group. At least we've got songs like "What I Believe," "Quicksand," "Forget Forgetting Me," "Shooting Star"...I'm just going to make myself depressed if I keep thinking about how good they used to be. It was so nice to have a South African girl group that wasn't just going for cheap and (the bad kind of) cheesy.

Quick side note: the pop industry in South Africa isn't that big and, as a result, there is a lot of using songs from other countries that goes on. Sometimes this comes in the form of just buying songs written by foreign songwriters, but other times it moves into somewhat ridiculous recycling of songs. Afrikaans artists in particular have a tendency to end up covering Eurovision and national final songs, in addition to Scandivanian artists' work. At times, the results can be surprisingly good (who would have guessed Arash's "Temptation" would work so well as an Afrikaans language boy band song?), but other times it just becomes...silly.

David Fourie, no stranger to covering songs from Sweden, is apparently working on a new album. The Afrikaaner former Idol contestant has released (as far as I know of) two albums so far, one of which included a version of Baltimora's "Tarzan Boy" that I love to a degree that confuses everyone around me. He also did an Afrikaans version of Fame's "Vindarna Vander Oss" which was the version I ever heard of that song. Anyway, I've yet to figure out whether the fact that I smiled at the news he's recorded a version of Velvet's "Take My Body Close" for his new album was a matter of "what on Earth...?" laughing at or if I'm kind of pleased by the idea. Probably both. Maybe it's affection from nostalgia, but his covers seem to actually have a bit of effort put into them and be pretty well-done, at least compared to those of other artists (though I'm under no illusions that Swedish pop fans will enjoy his version). He better keep the dance style, though, or else we'll have to have a talk.

Apparently Jacques Terre'blanche released "Set Me Free" (which I wrote about maybe a year ago) as a single. Perfect choice. I'm still mightily suspicious of the fact that MOR-y South African artist Mark Beling supposedly wrote this Phixx-esque song, but it's still great. Also, world: he did the dance version of "I Won't Forget" before Belgium, thank you very much (though that's not the version you'll hear in the video in that post and though the song, presumably in a version simiar to that you'll hear in the video, was originally for short-lived British boy band 365). The Colour Red, his latest album, was surprisingly good, with some nice dance-oriented experimentation--we're not talking "import it now" good or anything, and certainly nothing to compete with the best of Sweden's Idol boys, but it had some good songs. I do wish he'd take some decent promo pictures with his shirt on, though.

Another South African girl band also made up of former televised singing contest participants, Jamali, has a...well, I'm not sure if I should call it a cover or interpolation or what. "Re-interpretation" might be the best description. Anyway, they've got a re-interpretation of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" called "Love At First Sight" on their latest album (listen to a clip here). I'm frankly shocked at how much I love it: it's an adorable sweet little pop song in their hands. Totally post-worthy, so I may do just that in the future (I've been meaning to for a while now). All you other South African artists, take note: how to do a pop cover version right.

You know the winner takes it all

The period between the end of national finals and the beginning of Eurovision can be pretty rough to get through. Songs from the national finals of past years are one of my main methods of coping, and there aren't many that do the job of cheering me up better than Birgitte Einarsen's "Good Evening, Europe!". Entered in Norway's 2003 Melodi Grand Prix and with a sound much more common in the early '00s than it is now, it ended up taking third out of twelve.



I usually prefer "Saturday," Birgitte's MGP entry from 2006, to "Good Evening, Europe!"--it's dancier and swooshier--but, as you might guess from its title, "Good Evening, Europe!" is an adorable little celebration of Eurovision which throughout the course of its lyrics manages to allude to numerous previous entrants (though not always their Eurovision songs). Like "Saturday," it has disco influences, albeit tamer ones, but mainly it's just a good sweet Scandinavian-flavored upbeat pop song.

Oh, what the heck, while we're talking about Birgitte, we might as well watch her perform "Saturday," which made it to Norway's final but not its super-final (and which I wrote about briefly a while ago). It's a great string-featuring disco-pop song, just the sort of stuff I hope to get from national finals.



I don't know of anywhere selling the CD for the Melodi Grand Prix 2003 at the moment, but it's always possible it might show up on eBay.

Berlin

Christophe Willem, the unique Nouvelle Star (French Idol) winner whose electro-pop single "Double Je (Remix)"--it's got a beat kind of like the Sugababes' "Push The Button" but is still fresh, exciting, and one of those songs that makes the language barrier completely disappear--was one of the best songs of 2007, is back.

"Berlin" is the name of his new single, just released to some French digital music stores (as well as to seemingly all continental Europe iTunes stores). You can listen to it here.

Good news: Christophe hasn't ditched the electro. Of course, that wasn't to be expected, giving who we've heard he's collaborating with for this album. He's rocked up his sound just a little bit for this song, but all that really means is we get a hard-hitting drum part and some processed sounds with a bit more edge to them in addition to the cooler electro squiggles. It might be a song that is more a matter of "oh, that's really interesting" than as absolutely totally addictive as "Double Je," but I still think I really like it...and not much in the world is as able to get under your skin like "Double Je" can. Christophe is certainly one of the most interesting French popstars going, so I'm hoping he'll deliver throughout this project.

His new album, Caféine, will come out May 25. I don't speak French at all, but if I'm understanding this correctly, said album has a duet with Kylie Minogue that is a reworking of her "Sensitized," a cover of Britney Spears's previously unreleased but leaked "State Of Grace," and a song written by one of the members of Superbus. We've previously heard that Christophe is working with Steve Anderson...hopefully on original songs.

Claire Danes : Biography and Photo's

Claire Catherine Danes (born April 12, 1979) is a Golden Globe Award-winning and Emmy Award-nominated American film, television, and theater actress most known for the television series My So-Called Life and the films Romeo + Juliet, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Stardust, and voice acting for Princess Mononoke.

Early Life :
Danes was born in New York City, New York, United States of America. Her mother, Carla, is a day-care provider, painter, and textile designer who would later serve as her daughter's manager, and her father, Christopher Danes (b.1950, in Travis, Texas) is a computer consultant and former architectural photographer. Danes has described her background as being "as WASPy as you can get";[1] her paternal grandfather, Gibson Andrew Danes, (1910-1992 in Litchfield, Connecticut) was the dean of the art and architecture school at Yale University.[2][3] She has an older brother, Asa, who graduated from Oberlin College and works as a litigation attorney for the law firm of Paul Hastings.
Danes attended the Dalton School in New York City, the New York City Lab School for Collaborative Studies, the Professional Performing Arts School,[4] and the Lycée Français de Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California. In 1998, Danes went to Yale University (her father's alma mater). Oliver Stone wrote her letter of recommendation to Yale.[4] After studying for two years as a psychology major, she dropped out of Yale to focus on her film career.



Career :
In 1994, Danes starred as Angela Chase in the television drama series My So-Called Life, for which she won a Golden Globe Award and received an Emmy nomination. She played Elizabeth (Beth) March in the 1994 movie adaptation of Little Women. She also appeared as Holly Hunter's daughter in Home for the Holidays, which was directed by Jodie Foster. She portrayed Juliet Capulet in Baz Luhrmann's 1996 film William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, co-starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Romeo Montague. Later that year, she turned down the lead role of Rose DeWitt Bukater in Titanic, also starring Leonardo Dicaprio because she felt exhausted after working on Romeo + Juliet. In 1999, she made her first appearance in an animated feature with the English version of Princess Mononoke, and took the lead role in Brokedown Palace, alongside Kate Beckinsale and Bill Pullman.

In 2002, Danes starred opposite Susan Sarandon, Kieran Culkin, and Bill Pullman again, in Igby Goes Down. She later co-starred as Meryl Streep's daughter in the Oscar-nominated, The Hours, with Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, and Ed Harris. The following year, she was cast in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, followed by Stage Beauty in 2004. She earned critical acclaim in 2005 when she starred in Steve Martin's Shopgirl alongside Martin and Jason Schwartzman, and in The Family Stone opposite Sarah Jessica Parker and Diane Keaton. In 2007, Danes appeared in the fantasy Stardust, which she described as a "classic model of romantic comedy",[5] opposite Charlie Cox, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, and Sienna Miller, and will appear in The Flock, opposite Richard Gere.

Danes appeared in Off-Broadway plays including Happiness, Punk Ballet, and Kids On Stage, in which she choreographed her own solo dance. She also wrote the introduction to Neil Gaiman's Death: The Time of Your Life. Danes auditioned for the role of Lois Lane in Superman Returns before the role went to Kate Bosworth.

In March 2007, Danes appeared with Patrick Wilson in a television commercial for Gap in which the pair dances to the song "Anything You Can Do" from the musical Annie Get Your Gun. Danes has recently appeared onstage at Manhattan's PS122 an avant-garde performance space, in a series of dance pieces by choreographer Tamar Rogoff. Danes made her stage debut at PS122 as a child.[6]

On October 19, 2007, Danes made her Broadway debut in the revival of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, starring as Eliza Doolittle.
Personal Life :
Danes had her first onscreen kiss in an episode of My So-Called Life before she had one in real life.[8] After meeting at her birthday party, she and Australian singer Ben Lee dated for almost six years, their relationship ending in 2003.[9] She has dated Andrew Dorff, actor Stephen Dorff's younger brother, and Matt Damon. Beginning in 2004, she dated her Stage Beauty and Princess Mononoke co-star Billy Crudup, which generated negative publicity due to rumors that their relationship caused the end of Crudup's relationship to then-pregnant Mary-Louise Parker.[10] Both denied that they were involved prior to the end of Crudup's relationship with Parker. Danes's relationship with Crudup ended in December 2006, amid rumors of an affair by Danes with Hugh Dancy, her co-star in Evening. Danes confirmed on the June 27, 2007 episode of Late Show with David Letterman that she is dating Dancy. The couple are now engaged to be married.

Read Full this article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Senior Artist of Richard Gere Profile and Pictures

Profile :
Name: Richard Gere
Birth Name : Richard Tiffany Gere
Sex : Man
Nationality : American
Birth Date : August 31, 1949
Birth Place : Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Profession : actor, producer
Education : North Syracuse Central High School (graduated)
University of Massachusetts (dropped out)
Husband/Wife : Cindy Cawford (married on December 12, 1991; divorced in 1995)
Relationship : Carey Lowell (actress; 1995 until present), Penelope Milford (actress; together five years), Dawn Steel (executive; 1975-1978), Sylvia Martins (Brazillian painter)
Father : Homer Gere (insurance salesman)
Mother : Doris Gere

It was just a fling before--now, you're the one

Two very different songs I'm loving at the moment:




As far as rap (or grime) meets pop goes, we're in a pretty decent moment right now and British artist Tinchy Stryder's upcoming single "Number 1" looks to continue that trend. Here, the pop is vaguely electro, with some strings thrown in for good measure, but, good as the verses are, it's nearly all about the chorus, which is just really good catchy pop stuff. It's perfect for singing along, over-the-top gesturing, iPod play, radio play...just about anything. Co-writer Fraser T. Smith is really on a roll, as well as showing some writing diversity: he also wrote James Morrison and Nelly Furtado's "Broken Strings."



I have to thank Bobby of Don't Stop The Pop for giving me the go-ahead to write about Via Gra's "My Emancipation" since DSTP's Swedish season means he can't write about it right now. The song, a 2008 single from the Russian/Ukrainian group with enough line-up changes to easily put the Pipettes to shame, had me hooked from the moment that hard disco-electro beat kicked in--it's a bit like the sort of thing I'd expect Dimitris Kontopoulos to come up with, though it doesn't go for full-force punch in quite the same way. The music video, depicting a bank robbery, is full of synchronized strutting (including through a laser-filled chamber) and men falling to the ground at the mere sight of the girls, in addition to including what is probably the most amazing gun shot in music video history. Fabulousness personified? Oh yes.

The art of giving back in style

Good news: the new single from Neo, the Swedish singer Don't Stop The Pop introduced blog world to, must be the Melodifestival-tastic "Flower Power Supergirl" since that song now has a music video. That's got to be the best choice he and his management could have made, so I'm very happy. Am I expecting success on Swedish radios? No, not really, but as a Swede pop lover, I hope the song gets a little more attention among similarly minded music fans as a result.



One, the album from which "Flower Power Supergirl" comes, can be purchased physically here or digitally here.

Eddie Griffin Biography and Photo's

Biography :
Griffin was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Doris Thomas and Eddie Griffin, Sr. He has two siblings, Luther and Wilbert. He attended East High School in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was voted class clown three years in a row. His favorite teacher was Mr. Davis, who is currently a teacher at FLA. After marrying at age sixteen, he divorced a year later. Griffin's oldest child, Eddie Jr. (III), was born in 1986. Shortly after his divorce, Eddie joined the Navy but was discharged after a urine test returned positive for drug abuse. Griffin served 6 months in a county jail after getting into a fight at a parade.
Eddie then worked as a choreographer for a dance crew that performed half-time shows for the Kansas City Chiefs. One night at a Denny's in Kansas City, a couple people told him he needed to come to their comedy club and perform. He was originally supposed to be on stage for 3 minutes, but instead performed off-the-cuff for 45 minutes successfully.

Career :
Griffin has starred in several movies including The Meteor Man (1993), Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999), Double Take (2001), Undercover Brother (2002), John Q (2002), Scary Movie 3 (2003), Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005) and Norbit (2007). Eddie was set to star alongside Steven Seagal in Once Upon a Time in the Hood a thriller set in New Mexico. He also starred in the UPN television series Malcolm & Eddie (1996–2000). In addition to his acting credits, he also performed on two tracks from Dr. Dre's 1999 album, 2001. He also has appeared on commercials for Miller Beer's Man Laws. Griffin is well-known for his comedic routine of imitating Michael Jackson being on crack cocaine.

He is generally considered a talented stand-up comic, displaying a flamboyant, cinematic style. He was ranked at number 62 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.

Personal life :

Griffin crashed a rare Ferrari Enzo while practicing for a charity racing event on March 26, 2007. Following the event, Griffin left the car unharmed and joked about his inability to drive (referring to himself in the third person with pseudonym "Undercover Brother" as he also does in the film). The Enzo belonged to film producer Daniel Sadek, writer and producer of the film Redline, a film Griffin is in, which bears the car on its promotional poster. On the show World's Dumbest Drivers he got voted number 1 (the dumbest driver) for doing this. Griffin also denied his Ferrari Crash to be a hoax while talking on the show Access Hollywood.

Griffin has joint-custody of his son, Eddie III., with his ex-wife.

As of August 2008, he mentions during his standup act that he has eight children: Five boys and three girls.

Griffin was proven to be the father of an Autistic Canadian boy in early 2004.

During a 2007 event sponsored by Black Enterprise magazine, Eddie Griffin was ejected by Earl Graves, owner/publisher of Black Enterprise. Griffin had begun to deliver a speech which was heavily included with the word nigger. Mr. Graves stormed the stage and removed Griffin stating "We ... will not allow our culture to go backwards ... We will pay Mr. Griffin all that we owe him but we will not allow him to finish the show if that's the way he's going to talk."

Article Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Seven minutes for our lives while my coffee's gettin' cold

Since I was awaiting the video for one Xenomania creation earlier today, let's spend a moment talking about one of the less famous songs from their back catalogue: Frank's "Mr Beautiful." I know not everyone clicked with the TV tie in girl group (their complete lack of commercial success was proof of that, if nothing else), but "Mr Beautiful," the b-side to the group's 2006 debut single "I'm Not Shy," is Xenomania doing mid-tempo heartbreak at their best. The songwriting and production team's everything and the kitchen sink approach and disregard for pop song structures might not be on show here, but the song is still evidence of their ability to create musical magic. A strummy guitar part and a simple repeated beat with a half-bounce to it that could have come straight out of the late '90s Cheiron studio run into melancholic ripples every time the song enters the chorus, with those ripples being swapped out in the verses for backing vocals that achieve a different kind of poignancy; to the casual listener, it's a sonically simple creation, albeit one that avoids acoustic stylings, but "Singapore"'s more jaded and consequently more listless sister tugs at your emotions more than its air of resignation would lead you to expect.

To buy Frank's single "I'm Not Shy," which has "Mr Beautiful" as the b-side, go here (physical).

Next up: maybe something else from a British girl group.

Like beautiful robots dancing alone

Counting down the hours until 3 PM EST...

(and hoping it will be brilliant)

Nite At The "Copacabana" for CF

Nite At The "Copacabana" for CF - Backstage

Allting har sin tid

I know blogs about the process of blogging have to be one of the less exciting things I could possibly write about, but here comes another one: I had real trouble deciding which new Shirley Clamp song to post. We've heard the studio version of Sonja Aldén's "Miracle," the English version of "Att älska dig," already as well as Shirley's live performance of the song, so I set aside "Miracle" first.

Choosing between "My Love Light," the English version of "Min kärlek," and "Det finns inga givna svar," the only completely new track on Shirley's new greatest hits album, was the real dilemma. We'd already heard Shirley sing a bit of "My Love Light" live and without musical backing, but we've been waiting years to hear an English version of this song. Sure, the Swedish lyrics of "Min kärlek" are so unbeatable than an English version probably can't beat the original, but has that made us any less interested in hearing an English version of this fantastic song, even if only as a curiosity? "Det finns inga givna svar," on the other hand, has to be the first original uptempo schlager song Shirley's given us in years. Then again, as a song, I don't really know that it can be better than "Min kärlek." Still, even if it won't be challenging my personal Shirley holy trinity of "Min kärlek," "Lever mina drömmar," and "Do They Know It's Christmas," I've been waiting for Shirley to return to this sound and "Det finns inga givna svar" is absolutely a good song--the fact that it's got a dance beat full of hits, sparkles, and swooshes underneath it, breathy "ah-ha" backing vocals, and is catchy enough to get stuck in your head after one listen means it clearly wants to endear itself to schlager fans, and that's always a good thing in my book.

My indecisiveness's result? I'm posting both songs, but only for a short time. Grab "My Love Light" here and "Det finns inga givna svar" here. "Min kärlek" is a modern classic, a schlager song with a surprising musical darkness to it that grows and grows on you until it's buried itself under your skin, so if you haven't heard it before, I strongly recommend checking it out in its original version.

Remember, though, that you can buy För den som älskar - En samling, Shirley's new greatest hits album, here (physical), here (physical), and probably here (digital) within a day or two.

Speaking of buying music, in all my excitement over Måns Zelmerlöw posting songs to his MySpace a week ago, I totally forgot about the existence of track 11 of MZW. If you want to own "Whole New World" or just want to buy the album digitally, you can purchase Måns's new album track by track or as a whole album (as mp3s) here. I was able to buy from it today even though I'm based in the U.S., so you should be able to use that store no matter where you live. Måns also provided comments on each song and the proper list of songwriters on his official website. I'll be writing a bit about the album soon, and about the Melodifestival final (and Erik Hassle...and Lily Allen...).

Next up: maybe more Swedish music with a dance beat.

Bahia Cabana Monthly Pool Party

Stylist: Danielle Zeitler - Models: Ashley Decker, Amanda Whittlemam & Taylor Lewis