Monday 21 June 2010

ALEJANDRO'S LIKE A PRAYER



I'm a huge fan of Miss Gaga, and after watching her last video [Telephone, with Beyonce] I was super excited and eagerly anticipated the release of her next video.

Alejandro is that.

However... In another epic short film - this video is approximately 8 minutes long - I found myself... i dread to say, a little bored. Noooooo!!! Say it isn't so!

The video, to me, felt a little dated...

Fair enough, vintage and retro are all the rage now, however this video felt years old.
It could have passed for a video in the early nineties. I'm not exaggerating! Now, obviously the quality, etc, is ten times much better than our previous decade, but, the video felt very familiar, as though i had already seen it...

When Gaga appeared on Larry King she did comment on the video saying that is a "celebration and an admiration of gay love" - hmmm... slight understantment, isn't it Gaga?! The video, which premeiered on 8th June 2010,is made entirely in black and white, by Steven Klein [who I love by the way...!] is a message of religion, a twist of military-theme and homoerotism (is that a word?!)... It was like a concoction of Madonna videos in from the late 80's to the early 90's - through her erotica 'phase' - in fact the exact statement that came into mind was "Did they cut and paste old Madonna videos and put it together and pass it off as this one?!?!"

Anyone remember 'Erotica', 'Human Nature', 'Like A Prayer', even 'Vogue' - Its like Klein went from filming one of those videos straight to Gaga :/

Now, with a large majority of non-fans claiming that Gaga is a rehash of Madonna for the millennium i suppose this video will not do her any favors, nore convince anyone otherwise.


See for yourself.


I may be wrong, check out the videos of Gaga's predicessor... ?

JUSTIFY MY LOVE VIDEO click here

EROTICA click here











Saturday 20 March 2010

MY FRIEND... THE ARTIST


My friend is probably one of the most... no no - is the most artistic illustrators I know.
So I just wanted to show off some of his amazing work.
















Tuesday 16 March 2010

LADY GAGA FT. BEYONCE - TELEPHONE [MUSIC VIDEO]


Ok, so you must have been living under a rock... like on an asteroid... in outta space... shooting through the infinate galaxies and milky-ways to have not seen the new Lady Gaga video [featuring beyonce].

Since it's premier on Thursday night (I think), I can only describe my viewing experience as... Hmm... one word to define and summerise my feelings caused by the video content...

INCREDIBLE!

and as for the video it's self...

PHENOMENAL!!!

From the 'Jail House Rock' prison scene to the patriotic trailor-trash denim-clag dancers, the paper-mache head-gear,  to the even the use of "The Bride's" 'Pussy Wagon' from Kill Bill.

Inspired by (my favourite movi director & writer, Quentin Tarantino), the epic nine-minute whirlwind of sex, glamour, colours, glitter, violence, dance and even basic dialect, comes from director Jonas Akerlund, who Gaga teamed with on “Paparazzi” - another amazing video, in it's own right.

Seeee....





I genuinely think this could go in the Tate as a peice of moving art! Just makes me think what the hell happend in Beyonce's 'Video Phone' video... a good video, in it's own right... but next to Gaga's, its a poor man's attempt at ambitious, and failing.

Sorry Bey, I love you, but this video has it hands down - I'll be outraged if this video doesn't pick up a few gongs come awards season. However, we are only three months into the year, and definately a few ablums and videos away from prematurely declaring it 'The Best of 2010', however until then Gaga has my vote. 










Tuesday 23 February 2010

[FEATURE] CELEBRITY DATING DIRECT, FORMERLY KNOWN AS VH1



Former member of R&B group TLC, Chilli is reported to become a reality star… 


TLC’s Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, ex-girlfriend of R&B star, Usher, who has a child with producer Dalla Austin, is working with VH1 on a reality show called ‘What Chilli Wants’, featuring the star’s search for love, with the help of relationship expert Tionna Smalls.

 


 My first thought was “Nooooo Chilli Don’t do it! For the love of God, don’t do it!!!”

 

Chilli is the latest celebrity to land a reality show trying to find “true love” ... 0_o 


HA!

 

I remember back in the day when celebrities were known for being… well, talented, the world was graced with incredibly gifted and entertaining people; who sang, danced and kept us smiling.

 

But as the years went on and time passed and the world has become incredibly more celebrity-engrossed and media savvy; the once gifted stars of the last decade or so, have been replaced with wealthy socialites, size-zero celebutantes, and reality stars.

 

Former favorites, Salt & Pepa, Brandy, Hulk Hogan [former WWE wrestler], Tommy Lee [former drummer for Mötley Crüe and Methods of Mayhem], Pamela Anderson, Carmon Electra, Denise Richards [actress], Tori Spelling [actress], even Playboy owner Hugh Hefner have all resulted in signing on to become reality stars to reinstate their stardom from the clutches of demise.

 

Although reality has always been a form of entertainment for many years, [I believe that] the public really began to pay attention to reality TV hit when MTV thought to throw a medley of people together in one awesome house to create ‘The Real World’, which then created an explosion of reality shows such as ‘Big Brother’, ‘Pop Stars’, ‘American Idol’, ‘Fear Factor’, ‘Survivor’, “Temptation Island’, ‘The Apprentice’. Which lead to reality shows for “real people”, such as ‘Laguna Beach’, ‘The Hills’, and eventually onto celebrity reality shows, ‘The Anna Nicole Show’, ‘The Osbournes’, ‘Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica’, although not specifically in that order, but you get my drift.






 

Reality TV eventually branched out to become the twenty-first century’s form of celebrity dating.

 

In 2006, when ‘Flavor of Love’ first aired, the rapper (formerly of Public Enemy) had twenty suitors (all female) to compete in weekly tasks for Flavor Flav’s (ahem) heart, and then eliminated one by one until only one final suitor remained. The show also helped spin off a string of similar VH1 "Love" shows, such as ‘I Love New York’ and ‘Rock of Love.

 

Now, the people (if you wish to call them that) in these shows are all odd, fame-hungry, questionable people [including the men who appeared in ‘I Love New York’], who are humiliated, disgraced and ridiculed, just for their search for their fifteen minutes [of fame].

 

‘I love New York’ is one dating show spin-off dating reality show with the former contestant from ‘Flavor of Love’, Tiffany “New York” Pollard (she was infact a finalist in two consecutive seasons of ‘Flavor of Love’). In both seasons of her show, Tiffany failed to secure a love interest/soul mate.

 

‘For The Love of Ray j’ is yet another dating reality show, this one featuring Ray J (brother of R&B singer Brandy) that aired in 2009.

The winner of Ray J’s show was 26 year-old, Joanna “Cocktail” Hernandez; however, the relationship soon came to an end when rumors circulated that Ray J and Tila Tequila were together. Also late last year, a contestant from the show, Monica “Danger” Leon reportedly spread rumors questioning Ray J’s sexuality as well as proclaiming to the media tat she was in fact ‘pregnant with Ray J’s child’.




 


*sigh* Am I on my own when I say that reality TV has become a misnomer and even ironic, as many scenes are infact “scripted” or “planned”, where the producers are trying so hard for ratings they carefully calculate and devise scenarios, challenges, events, and settings to encourage particular behaviors and conflicts. (ahem, The Hills – but still love this show though). It’s now become a load of old saturated nonsense. 

 

Chilli may not have been the strongest vocalist in TLC, but look at Madonna, she doesn’t but somehow she has become an icon, with great styling, producers, backing singers and few babies. There are other ways to get back on the scene…  consult your manager Chill!

 

For someone as gorgeous, smart, classy and respected as Chilli to fall into the pitfalls of Reality TV, not only does it immediately make you lose respect for her, but also makes you consider just how bad her life is to result to this. I seriously think we’re in trouble here. The audience (who would even old enough remember her) are already over-saturated with constant celebrity-endorsed adverts, publicity-stunts, multi-million-pound-magazine-deals, fake celebrity relationships for column-inches, internet based gadgets, blogs, tabloids AND un-reality celebrity TV, I think it’s safe to say… are “over it”.

 

GAGA GOES TOPLESS ON Q



My favourite crazy person, Lady Gaga reveals (almost) all on the latest cover of Q magazine (UK).

Would have liked to see her in more of an bizarre-style-eccentric-out-of-there-outfit. Never mind... the boots are pretty awesome though.





Wednesday 3 February 2010

AND THE OSCAR NOMINEES ARE...



The elegant Anne Hathaway announced the nominees for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards earleir this week. Check out the full list of nominees below.

The Awards show will be co-hosted by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin [oooh! unlikely duo... but I likey!] and will take place Sunday 7 March. For more info check out Oscars.org 


Best Picture
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air 

Best Director
James Cameron: Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow: The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino: Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels: Precious
Jason Reitman: Up in the Air 

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges: Crazy Heart
George Clooney: Up in the Air
Colin Firth: A Single Man
Morgan Freeman: Invictus
Jeremy Renner: The Hurt Locker 

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock: The Blind Side
Helen Mirren: The Last Station
Carey Mulligan: An Education
Gabourey Sidibe: Precious
Meryl Streep: Julie & Julia 

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon: Invictus
Woody Harrelson: The Messenger
Christopher Plummer: The Last Station
Stanley Tucci: The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz: Inglourious Basterds 

Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz: Nine
Vera Farmiga: Up in the Air 
Maggie Gyllenhaal: Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick: Up in the Air
Mo'Nique: Preciuos 

Best Animated Feature Film
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up 

Best Foreign Film
Ajami
El Secreto De Sus Ojos
The Milk of Sorrow
Un Prophete
The White Ribbon 

Best Original Screenplay
Mark Boal: The Hurt Locker Quentin Tarantino: Inglourious Basterds
Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman: The Messenger
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen: A Serious Man
Bob Peterson, Pete Docter: Up 

Best Adapted Screenplay
Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell: District 9
Nick Hornby: An Education
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche: In the Loop
Geoffrey Fletcher: Precious
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner: Up in the Air 


Monday 1 February 2010

LOVE ME 8 TIMES OVER




A collectors edition with 8 different covers, shot by Mert & Marcus. The covers feature Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Krsiten Stewart, Amber Valletta, Natalia Vodianova, Daria Werbowy, Jeneil Williams and Lara Stone.

The new issue is out February 8th.