Friday Night Lights - RENEWED through 2011

I read this last night before going to bed and what a great thing!!! I am super excited that Coach Taylor will have time to finish his story and we will be able to follow this character. Kyle Chandler is really superb as Coach Taylor and I'm glad that they are getting a chance to finish this right!

Once again, this show is more than just about football - try watching a few episodes and you will see what I mean.

Snow Angels -- Film/DVD Review

I rented Snow Angels (an indie, released in 2007) a while back and only got to watching it last night. Sam Rockwell (huge fan of his) and Kate Beckinsale portray an estranged couple who have a daughter. Sam’s character Glenn, tried to kill himself after his wife Annie (Beckinsale) kicked him out. He is trying to prove that he is getting better; found a job that a friend helped him find, is born again, praying all the time and wants to see his daughter more. Annie, having an affair with a coworkers husband, works at a Chinese restaurant where Arthur, played by Michael Angarano, a teenager now but babysat him when she was younger. Arthur is a band geek and his parents are having issues; his father has left them again. His father Don is played by the legendary Griffin Dunne and is married to Louise, played by Jeannetta Arnette. Arthur also befriends a girl, Lila, played by Olivia Thirlby and they eventually become more than friends. The few scenes of Griffin Dunne and Michael Angarano and even with Jeannetta Arnette were great to watch and even Angarano with Olivia Thirlby – just really fun to watch. Beckinsale and Rockwell did a wonderful job at the end – that’s where they completely grabbed me; their pain and sorrow. And when Beckinsale uttered, “I’m ready” - I believed her. When I first started watching it, I got worried; thought this movie was going to be long and not fun to watch, but after the first half hour – the movie just grew and it was a good movie. I think the people to watch are Dunne, Thirlby and Angarano – these three stood out constantly throughout the film to me. So next time, you feel like watching a gray movie – try to pick it up…here is the movie poster.

Twilight Book Series...

A friend of mine just started reading the twilight book series and she is already on the second book, New Moon (75% through) and it's making me want to read it all over again. If you haven't read it - check them out. I'm not a huge fan of reading novels but these books are long, fun and painless. They were so addictive and I rarely read anything but biographies/autobiographies or magazines articles. So next time your at a local book store or borders/Barnes & nobles, read a few pages and see if it sucks you in (no pun intended). Happy Reading...

Duplicity - WAIT, possibly rent it

Over the weekend I saw a movie with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen, called Duplicity. When these two are together on screen, they have chemistry and together they are funny but something got lost in translation. I thought maybe at first it was just me, sometimes I don't "get the joke" but no, i went with 2 friends and they both were disappointed. I never realized how thin Clive Owen really is...wearing suits in the movie the entire time, his legs seemed so long and lean. Julie Roberts has this wonderful, joyous laugh, but unfortunately, it didn't save this movie. During the movie, I went online via my blackberry, checked my messages, reminded my friends I need to stop for gas on the way out. It was just a long unfunny movie; there were moments were we did laugh but something just didn't click. Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson were great as well but its just something about the movie - it just didn't flow right. If your a fan of any of these actors, wait until the movie is released on DVD - go watch another movie.

Friday Night Lights!

Hello all! I just wanted to send a note to remind everyone that Friday Night Lights will be showing a new episode tonight - so please watch it or tivo it! For it will be another fine episode.... enjoy!

a great show that everyone should be watching!

go to nbc website below and watch any unmissed episodes.
www.nbc.com/Friday_night_lights

Boom Boom Pow & Perfect Day....

Earlier this week a friend sent me this song Perfect Day by Cascada....

Perfect Day - Cascada

~~~~~~~

Last night a friend showed me a new song, Boom Boom Pow by the Black Eye Peas and I really think this is going to be a spring/summer hit.... here is a clip and you can go onto their website to hear the full song.

www.blackeyedpeas.com

Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas

Several Videos of Blue October - check them out!

Blue October is an awesome band... their biggest hits to date would be Hate Me and Into the Ocean.

Whats great about this band for me is the writings. Justin (the lead singer) can really write and he uses his own personal experiences and thats why I think people can really relate and admire this band. The lyrics throughtout Blue October history have always been so honest and definitely compelling and have helped many of their fans get through some tough times (including me) - so please check them out (especially #7, a great live version of a song,

My Never

released off the new album) and go out and buy the new album!

1,2,3,4...make it so easy

ok, so the following is white plain t's new video for their latest single, 1,2,3,4, which is totally sweet:

Blue October, Approaching Normal - GO, BUY IT ASAP!

hello all!

I just bought Blue October's new album, Approaching Normal...and i haven't heard the whole album, but there are some that stand out already

My Never

and

Blue Skies

.

My Never

...lyrics are below.

My Never - Blue October


Will you think about me,
in time?
It's never my luck,
So nevermind.
I wanna say your name,
But the pain starts
again,
It's never my luck,
So nevermind.

Chorus:
I had a dream that you where with me ,
And it wasn't my fault,
you roll me over,
flipped me over,
like a summersault.
And that doesn't happen to me
I've never been here before
I saw forever in my never,
And i stood outside her
Heaven.

Will you wait for me,
In time,
It's never my luck,
So I'll say: never mine.
And i lost a lot of what i
never expect to ever
return
I tend to push it 'till the pushing turns from
hurting to burn,
I always take them to the place they always wanted
to go,
Then end up dancing 'round
this clown commands,
applause at a show...

Chorus:
I had a dream that you where with me ,
And it wasn't my fault,
you roll me over,
flipped me over,
like a summer salt.
And that doesn't happen to me
I've never been here before
I saw forever in my never,
And i stood outside her
Heaven
heaven,
inside her heaven,
heaven

And i could only dream of you and sleep,
but i won't see sunlight again,
i can try to be with you , but some how i'll end up just losing a friend,
And i can only reach for you
relate to you,
I'm losing my friend...
Where did she go?
where?

Chorus:
I had a dream that you where with me ,
And it wasn't my fault,
you roll me over,
flipped me over,
like a summer salt.
And that doesn't happen to me
I've never been here before
I saw forever in my never,
And i stood outside her
Heaven
I stood outside her heaven(3x)

Will you let me into your heaven?

Blue Skies

....

Blue Skies - Blue October

check out their website, www.blueoctober.com

Natasha Richardson...

Natasha Richardson will be remembered as a true iconic actress of film and theatre, and a devoted daughter, wife and mother and activist. I pray that her family stay strong and think of all the wonderful and happy times they shared and keep those memories close to their hearts. I will keep Natasha and her family in my prayers and not forget all the organizations she volunteered in and the many smiles that she was unselfishly happy to give all of us...

It's Blitz!

It’s Blitz! by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is fun, interesting and could be the best album to date. I have been a fan of theirs since the single Maps off their first full album, Fever to Tell. And their sound has always been very distinctive but this album seems different but Karen’s voice for me is without a doubt one of the best of recent years for a female in rock n roll. The sounds are easily detected as different compared to their past albums – the sounds are funky and yet reminiscent of older times and this album has some slow paced songs and some fun. With Karen O, the drummer Brian Chase and guitarist Nick Zinner – they have created a new album for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, which definitely deserves recognition.

The first released single was "Zero" (one of my favorites off this album), which the first time I heard it; I knew it was the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Other favorites; "Heads Will Roll", fun, upbeat and when Karen O screams out Off With Your Head/Dance, Dance till your Dead, or "Dull Life" – how it starts kind of low and then all of a sudden you catch yourself singing along trying to raise your voice to sing along. "Dragon Queen", very 80s retro, as she utters, My Mouth/Is Touching/Your Mouth; or "Faces", when she sings very calmly, If its going to be at all/it’s going to be with you. My copy of this album contains four acoustic versions of the softer songs, "Soft Shock", "Little Shadow" and "Skeletons". Definitely worth while to purchase this and don’t forget to try to purchase this album at a local record store…..


Check out the video for Zero....

Zero - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

and then my top favorite song off their Fever to Tell album:

Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Natasha Richardson

I AM completely sad to hear that Natasha Richardson is critically injured and i'm keeping her in my thoughts and hoping she does recover. Everytime she and her husband Liam Neeson were interviewed they seemed always so happy and constantly taking eachother in; it's just a lovely thing to see and they have two young teenage sons and its just sad to think about... so i'm hoping she will survive this.

Check out Carolina Liar

Ok, so I've been meaning to write about Carolina Liar - a band that has some great songs... my favorites, "I'm not Over" and "Show Me What I'm Looking For".

www.carolinaliar.com

The lead singer who is from South Carolina and the rest (well most of them) are from Sweden (i wonder how that came about).



I heard I'm not over a few months ago.. and it just stuck with me and i recently purchased Show Me What I'm looking for and its another great song. They have another song called, "Coming to Terms".

Enjoy and let me know how you like them... oh by the way Happy St. Patty's Day!

Britney, Britney, Britney...

This was my first Britney Spears concert and I have to admit she definitely has star quality…I’ve seen several of her TV performances pre-Onyx tour and she looked so great and energetic. I have to admit this did not seem like the girl I used to see on TV, but definitely has something about her…just her presence is very overwhelming. She was dancing and constantly moving around to make sure the entire stadium got to see her performance, but she did not interact very often (spoke on two occasions). The video clips that played as she had another custom change was awesome, especially the Marilyn Manson's’ Sweet Dreams version and of course the intro with the famous gossip blogger Perez Hilton. Another cool part of the show was she sang Breathe on Me and Touch of my Hand. She kept going with her well choreographed performances to several hits, such as Slave 4 U, Boys, Baby...Hit Me One More Time, Toxic and her latest single, If You Seek Amy, and her encore was Womanizer.

I’ve always felt kind of bad for her – I mean she was so young when she got all this attention and money and fame – who do you trust at that point? I’m not sure whether it wasn’t enough family backbone or it was one of those who looked very in control and was losing control the bigger she got and I’m hoping she makes a full recovery soon.

I’m happy I went and I did enjoy myself…she definitely still has that star quality. Honestly, the show is what it is due to her...she has all the magic in the world, and obviously this tour is supposed to show the world that she is strong and fighting to show she is going to stick around and honestly, she has every chance if she is determined to be a long lasting figure in the entertainment world!

Few things...

All morning i've been listening to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs new album, It's Blitz! and i gotta say - it's pretty darn good! I'll provide more input once i've heard the entire thing, but so far i'm glad i got it!

* * *

Now the following thing, I know some people are in the dark and others are completely obsessive about this thing, but then there is someone like me who is kind of in the middle regarding the whole Twilight Saga. I actually discovered these books by Stephenie Meyer last spring and even pre-ordered breaking dawn (book #4 of the saga).

I discovered the books after I saw the teaser trailer for the movie Twilight (which became a massive hit) and it stated that it was based on the best-selling book so I ran to the closest book store and purchased the book. The books were easy reading and I am not a huge fan of anything that is not fact based books (I LOVE reading biographies). However, these books grabbed my attention and i didn't want to put them down ever - they were that good!!

When the movie was finally released i went in with low expectations just because the books are SO good and i was right, the movie itself wasn't the best movie released in 2008, but it wasn't the worst either. What made the movie was the chemistry between Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson - they hypnotized the audience everytime they were seen together. So now i've became a fan of this Robert Pattinson...obviously Kristen Stewart has been around awhile (Panic Room, the Messengers), but Pattinson has been relatively unknown (he played Cedric in the Harry Potter films).



I think he has potential... so anyway, the point is that he is on the cover of GQ's April edition... here is the link, read and enjoy the slideshow!

http://men.style.com/gq

While on the GQ website, i discovered they had a list of the 20 best record stores in the nation.. and since lately they have been scarce - this is a reminder to start shopping more at record stores again - now more than ever! Just scroll down on the main page and you will find it....

Kelly Clarkson - All I Ever Wanted - GOT IT, LOVE IT, now it's your turn...Go Buy It TODAY!

Kelly Clarkson has done it again! I've heard her album about four times now and I am completely happy that I got a copy of this album before it was released (which is today). Her sound has always been so fun to listen to [on the past two albums (Breakaway & My December) for me anyway] and i think she has such a good soulful voice (i.e., Love Actually Soundtrack - The Trouble With Love Is). On this album, there are 14 great songs..and probably 12 hit singles - which means she can do no wrong.

the songs, one after the other - as your hearing the songs, you either want to bat your head back and forth, or punching your fist in the air, or you want to do your little crazy dance. and then there are songs that you want to cry to... it's seriously that good.

I know she had a rough third album with the release of My December but for some reason she got alot of negative feedback. On this album she definitely stuck away from the really dark songs - even the sad songs have a more slow upbeat in the background but the majority of this album is just more playful and fun, and there is a hint of her love of rock.

Besides the first hit single, My Life Would Suck without You, Don't Let me Stop you...the intro reminded me of an avril lavigne song. Already Gone also reminds me of someone but I can't put my finger on it - but still a great touching song and Save You, another sad (but good) song, oh yeah two more, If No One will Listen and Cry. And then she tries to do the angry rock with Whyyouwannabringmedown and slightly on Long Shot.

You can definitely tell she wanted to recreate what she did with Since You've Been Gone hit single.


Top Songs: All I Ever Wanted, If I can't Have you (fun, fun song), I Want you (reminiscent of oldie songs), Ready and I Do Not Hook Up.

Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You - Got it...some good songs.

Ok, so i've been listening to Lily Allen's new album It's not me, It's you. It's definitely different from her debut album - not as out there but still peppy with some fun and interesting lyrics. The song, I could say - she sounds sincere, and Everyone's at it or F**k you (my favorite), which lyrically is so fun and has such a pop sound.

Top songs: Everyone's At It, Fear, I could say, F**k You, Who'd Have Known

Pink - Funhouse..... I own it, but if you don't..GO GET IT!

I just wanted to remind you guys to purchase Pink's last album that she released at the end of last year, which I totally LOVE! The name of the album is kind of deceptive..this album is no funhouse but in a good way. When I first read that her new album was going to be called Funhouse - thought it would be a more fun upbeat album, following the lead of the first single, So What but that is not the case. However, the songs are totally catchy and her killer voice totally rocks at every song.

A few of my favorite songs off this album are:
Ave Maria A, Please don't leave me, Could've Had Everything and Funhouse.

so run out to the closest music store and purchase the CD!!

Van Morrison at MSG WaMu Theatre...

This is the first time I've seen the legendary Mr. Van Morrison live in concert and I have to admit his voice is captivating and pierced through every part of me. Walking in I was surprised and delighted to see couples walking in with their teenage children; older couples also in attendance, and yet there were a lot of people in the mid 20s, early 30s – which shows how music is everlasting and plays on for years and how any generation can really fall in love with new and old music. When it’s good – it’s undeniable!

The performance was broken up in two parts, but began promptly at 8:00 p.m. I missed the first five minutes and 15 minutes later once I was settled and enjoying the show tried to purchase an alcoholic beverage but was denied due to the request by Mr. Morrison, to shut down the bar 15 minutes after the show started (which throughout the two hours you heard constant complaints and grunts from the people walking back to their seats). On stage, he was in the middle, surrounded by the entire (pretty large) band; where they could all see him.

But back to the important stuff; Van Morrison sang several songs in the first half. He opened the show with Solid Ground and then Glad Tiding, TB Sheets, Who Drove the Red Sports Car?, And It Stoned Me. He continued with So Quiet in Here which at this point all the late comers were finally all settled and people began to whistle and interact more with the music. Mr. Morrison kept it going with St. James Infirmary and Caravan. The final three songs of the first set were wonderfully done. He performed a classic but not his, which he stated is not his but they had asked him to sing it for a movie, Comfortably Numb and then moved to Mystic Eyes and Gloria; which the crowd really enjoyed singing along, screaming out each letter to spell out Gloria and closed with Summertime In England/A Town Called Paradise, which towards the end of the song; he kept moving to the side of the stage and at one point spoke, it won’t go out further – referencing the microphone – so he literally just dropped it.

After a 10 minute intermission; he returned to sing the classic album beginning with the title song, Astral Weeks and then literally sang in order of the album. He then sang Beside You – which gave me chills; this song is a personal favorite and he was just wonderful, which then he sang the fun Sweet Thing. The whole night had not one technical malfunction that I noticed, until this point, when he began singing Cyprus Avenue – he was playing with one guitar and kept waving his arm telling the technician raise the volume, he couldn't hear himself. When that didn’t work, someone came over and gave him another guitar, but that guitar was out of tune, so he just kept singing without any guitar. He then sang The Way Young Lovers Do, then Madame George which I think it was the most attentive song from the entire night – the crowd was hypnotized by his performance. I don’t believe the crowd was more still than during that song. He then sang the last two songs off the album, Ballerina, which he did a great guitar performance – true talent in this man and finally Slim Slow Slider which he walked towards the side of the stage again to end the show and sang out and then again dropped it. A few minutes later, the entire band was on stage again and for the encore, Van Morrison sang Listen to the Lion – what a great end er.



Throughout the show, constant standing ovations and you could see some fists in the hand as he bolted words out of him. His voice sounds wonderful; it can easily be compared to wine – it gets better with age. However, walking out I was disappointed to hear some people complain they didn’t know any songs or barely knew any of the songs he did perform. Maybe they thought it was going to be a greatest hits tour, but then it wouldn’t have been called Astral Weeks tour, but that’s just me. It was my first live concert of Van Morrison and his voice was unforgettable and got chills several times… so now I’m thinking I might want to get the first album in vinyl just to hear it in that version. It’s definitely a classic…as Mr. Van Morrison is and truly is a rare talent.