Mad Men Time

I completely adore this image of John Slattery that is being used to get everyone psyched about Mad Men's return on Sunday evening. Want those glasses. Thanks to Just Jared for the image. Smooth operator.

World News

""
This song by Local Natives is so incredibly moving. Something about it is just sad, summery, natural, and lovely.

"Got to have it/It’s like a shockwave to my brain"-Kylie

Way view world reconfigured, favorite Australian chosen, never stop dancing.

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=128109135&m=128115091

Chutzpah!

Lea Michele of Glee was very good on the Tony's the other night. Her reprise of Don't Rain on My Parade (that she did on Glee early in the season) was full of chutzpah. Lea commits to a performance. She's totally into this song. I appreciate that. She looks like a classic, vibrant vedette during this performance. Lea completely overshadows Matthew Morrison's performance that preceded hers. She has really grown on Glee from just being a stereotype to a more nuanced, faceted actress. The transformation is not fully complete but she's on her way there. In other Tony news, Kristen Chenoweth was completely heavenly and amusing during her presentation bit, Scarlett didn't deserve to win best featured actress for A View from the Bridge, and practically all the acting awards went to LA folk (Denzel, Catherine Zeta, and Scarlett). Liev Schreiber or Christopher Walken should have won instead of Denzel. Congrats to Viola Davis and Eddie Redmayne on their wins though.


Thanks to Perez

"No llame mi nombre Alejandro"

"[It's about the] purity of my friendships with my gay friends, and how I've been unable to find that with a straight man in my life. It's a celebration and an admiration of gay love—it confesses my envy of the courage and bravery they require to be together. In the video I'm pining for the love of my gay friends—but they just don't want me to be with them"--Lady Gaga in The Times
(delovely article about her: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article7129672.ece)

Okay. Lady Gaga's new video for Alejandro premiered a little less than two hours ago. I've watched it twice. It's 8 minutes and 43 seconds. I think I have to watch it a few more times before it all makes sense to me. The video is directed by Steven Klein and features a new hair look for Lady Gaga. The video opens with a shot of a shirtless soldier with his feet up on a table. We see he's wearing fishnets and black high heels. Fantastic. Then some male dancers with these strange, black bowl cut wigs on do a march down what looks to be the opening of an airplane hanger which makes sense for the military theme Gaga mentioned. We are touching down in the place of fighting. Some of the men appear to have bags over their heads as if they are prisoners being tortured. Not sure. Just an idea. Finally we see Gaga, looking like the Wicked Witch of the West, the Evil Queen in Snow White, and the Evil Queen in Alice in Wonderland sitting in her castle with snow falling in the background. It look very old movie-like. We are meant to see her as a Queen-figure. There are images of a bleeding heart on a pillow as Queen Gaga leads a funeral processional for a soldier. The song's opening words: "I know that we are young and I know that you may love me, but I just can't be with you like this anymore, Alejandro" seem to be delivered by Gaga as a kind of eulogy at a funeral. Alejandro has died, but he still has a mental grip on her. Then there's Gaga sitting in her tower in her castle watching soldier/dancers do a routine or "train" with a video of something burning behind them. Some men appear to be doing a strange, tough tango-esque dance that involves pushing one man to the floor with a grunt. It is supposed to simulate anal sex? I think so. Then Gaga is lying in bed looking like an odd nun or queen wearing a habit and a red robe that appears to be made out of the material she wore to perform for the Queen of England. Then we get a bizarre sequence involving beds and ropes and Gaga doing strange sex positions with one of her dancer/soldiers. Now I'm going to be frank here but this frankness comes from a place of love and admiration: Gaga does not look pretty or glamorous or stunning in these scenes with her off white bra and underwear and I don't think she's supposed to. The men on the beds are wearing black high heels which I just love as a little detail. At some points, she seems to be simulating gay sex positions with one of the men. It's fascinating. Then the men are all around her and she's wearing a cape with red crosses all over it including one over her hoohah or lady parts. That's very subtle. Then her Queen self lying in the bed swallows a rosary while Gaga in cape stands in front of a video of something burning (a car?). It looks kind of cheesy and cheap, but in an intentional way. Then comes this wonderful black and white bit where Gaga's wearing a black vest and pants doing vaudeville dance moves. It's what was shown in the 19 second preview of the video and everyone thought it was her imitating Madonna's Vogue video. Not really the case. Anyway this bit is great. She does her dance moves as pairs of her soldier/dancers walk by her doing some fierce strutting. It's a very brassy dame, Judy Garland, let's put on a show moment. Then we're back in color and Gaga's wearing a gun or rifle bra. Now she's performing into a microphone in the lounge from the beginning for all the soldiers. It's weird to see her doing this because her videos are never the ones where the singer stands on a stage and sings into the microphone, but it's part of the concept here. There's a cross behind her (reference to Madonna's Like A Prayer?). Then there are black and white flashbacks of her in the bed with the man, her as the queen, and footage of what appear to be fiery riots. And there's an angry looking soldier. Who is he? Then her dancers throw her about and she takes off her cape and there's an orgy of sorts. They all want to touch her. Now we are back to the Queen Gaga in red in bed. Is she dead? An evil monster takes over the image, appearing to be coming out of her face. The end. I'm very confused, but intrigued and slightly disappointed. This isn't the hilarity of Telephone. It has less of a straight forward plot. The video for this song could have been a Spanish-themed romp a la Carmen (see here: http://zxlcreative.blogs.com/electroqueer/2010/06/eqtv-watch-alejandro-by-lady-gaga.html). I still don't totally see how the video relates to the song itself. I do find the video very interesting though and pretty kinky, sensual, and raw in some scenes (the bed scenes! the choreography!). I think there's a lot to decode here. Does Gaga want to be one of her dancer soldiers? See for yourself.

News

-Vanessa Williams is going to be on Desperate Housewives next season! This is such a good choice for her after her 4 years of hilarious meanness on Ugly Betty. I hope she injects some life into Housewives which I still have a soft spot for. She could be a great villain. She'll fit the campy dramedy tone of the show perfectly. Give her some great lines.

-Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling at the Cannes Film Festival with their new movie Blue Valentine. They both look wonderful. I want Ryan Gosling's outfit. I'm itching to see this movie which was shown at the Sundance film festival in January. It is roughly about a young married couple's highs and lows. Gosling and Williams are supposed to be very good in it.

-Woody Allen who will reliably make a movie every year til the end of time will film "Midnight in Paris" in the coming months in the City of Lights. The cast of this movie is fantastically divine. If Woody Allen does this group of people a disservice with a blah script I will be so sad. Here's the cast, are you ready? : Marion Cotillard (who I absolutely adore), Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, Kathy Bates, Michael Sheen (love him even though he's not that funny on 30 Rock), Carla Bruni (yes, the French president's classy, elegant wife), and one of my absolute favorites, Rachel McAdams. Allen hasn't worked with many of these people before. I'm very curious to see the result especially because Allen's films from the first decade of the 00's were pretty hit or miss. Cassandra's Dream and Match Point were good particularly Dream. Scoop was pretty meh and not that funny. I kind of liked Vicky Cristina Barcelona but that was pretty much because of Penelope Cruz (she should do another movie with him). I heard mixed sentiments about Whatever Works, but I just might have to see it because of the splendiferous Patricia Clarkson. And the film he's releasing here in September called You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger recently got a melange of a response at Cannes. Here's the Midnight in Paris plot courtesy of movies.about.com (also thanks to imdb.com for other info):

"The Official Midnight in Paris Synopsis: Midnight in Paris is a romantic comedy that follows a family traveling to the city for business. The party includes a young engaged couple that has their lives transformed throughout the journey. The film celebrates a young man's great love for Paris, and simultaneously explores the illusion people have that a life different from their own is better."

-One of my favorite directors, Spaniard Pedro Almodovar, is planning to make a movie this summer season. It's called La Piel que Habito (The Skin I Live In) and will star Antonio Banderas. Here's the plot from imdb: "Based on Thierry Jonquet's novel "Mygale", this revenge tale tells the story of a plastic surgeon on the hunt for the men who raped his daughter." Straight from Mr. Almodovar's mouth: "close to the terror genre, but I won't respect any of its rules." and "a terror film without screams or scares" (quotes and info courtesy of imdb.com and empireonline.com). I cannot wait for this. 2009's Broken Embraces was good and moving. I hope he puts some Bad Education-esque camp in this. Plastic surgeon: how can there not be camp.

A Plethora of Music

This post has been in development for ages. Sorry I haven't updated in forever.

Alexandra Burke ft. Pitbull-All Night Long
Definition of a feel good song. Alexandra Burke has released three splendid singles in a row. This is out in May in the UK. I adore her. Way more fun than Leona Lewis who is still in the corner bleeding love.


Sia-Clap Your Hands
I've never really been a huge fan of Sia, but when I heard this piece of giddy, good time joy I couldn't help but succumb. This song which is produced by Greg Kurstin ( who did great work on Lily Allen's second album, Little Boots debut album, Marina and the Diamonds splendiferous song Oh No!, and is a member of The Bird and the Bee) and it has a funky bassline. Kurstin is the primary producer for Sia's album which comes out June 22. It's supposed to be a fun album. Can't wait. Boogie down to this for the moment.


Kate Nash-Do-Wah-Doo

Kate Nash is back. Her new album, My Best Friend is You was released in April. This is the first single, Do-Wah-Doo. It's short and features some plinky plonky piano and is extremely catchy. As many of noted, it's a bit of a new sound for her with its Motown girl group edge and old school guitar line. Welcome back, Kate.


Mini Viva-One Touch
This song is completely frantic, busy, coy, winking, and all gussied up and it crashed and burned on the UK charts last month. It's well-constructed/built and giddy, shimmy-inducing. The chorus is Peeps exploding with happiness in the microwave. A pop collage or a puzzle that fits together swimmingly. Enjoy.



The Pipettes-Stop the Music
British gal group The Pipettes revived the 50's and 60's gal group sound back in 2006 albeit with a sexy, cheeky, kinky edge with their fun debut album. Now they are back as a duo and this is the first single off their new album called Earth vs. The Pipettes which is out in June. Stop the Music kind of gallops along through the verses, sounding like its on the verge of bowling over. It's got trumpets, bongo-like, effervescent drums and a funky groove going. It's a new direction for them. Can't wait for the album. Check out Who Made You the Doctor? as well.



-M.I.A. will release her third album, Maya, on July 13! I can't wait. (Thanks to Pretty Much Amazing). A recent article about her in the New York Times magazine did not please Miss M.I.A. so she put the author's phone number on her Twitter. I thought the article was very interesting, well-written, and an honest, intriguing representation of M.I.A., but words were twisted and M.I.A. did not like Lynn Hirschberg's interpretation/rendering of her I guess. Judge for yourself here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/magazine/30mia-t.html?ref=magazine

-Kylie Minogue is back! The new album has the superbly camp title, Aphrodite, and the first single is All the Lovers. All the Lovers is moving, metallic, like a Herve Leger dress, one of the skyscrapers in its video, and resplendent pop. It's one of those songs where the beauty of dance-pop shines through similar to Robyn's new song Dancing on My Own and you are unexpectedly emotionally awakened. The chorus is glorious, smooth, soft, gentle, reassuring, comforting, personal, hopeful and incredibly sweet. The beat that weaves in and out, up and down in the verses is very effective. It makes you want to fall in love, fall in love and dance to this song with your boyfriend or girlfriend. This song makes me want to giggle with dizzying, Ellie Goulding-ish "starry-eyed" energy. And the video, released last night, is a kooky, peculiar and very sensual love shack. It includes a pile of lovers and couples in their undergarments and Kylie is on top being Kylie. Behind all the sexy stuff, the "forget your troubles and obligations and go love" subtext is pleasant. It's quite scintillating. This album is going to change the orbit of my core being.




Alphabeat-DJ

The next single in the UK off their second album, The Beat Is... This has really grown on me. It's giddy and super, super fun. I hope this is a hit for them because their other two singles from this album haven't done that well in the charts. This is a great spring/summer party, feel good song. Danish joy.



Kele-Tenderoni
Bloc Party goes solo with this amazing, delectable dance track. Immediately awesome. Infectious.

Thanks to We are Pop Slags, MuuMuse, Pitchfork, XO Middle Eight, Chart Rigger, It's Getting Boring by the Sea, Pretty Much Amazing, and Perez for all the info.