50 Cent

Nicholas Cage is broke

2009-11-03T10:33:00.000-08:00

Nicholas Cage is broke, so goes the story.

Well, no, not quite: he's deep in the mire, this is true, but he's not broke by any reasonable standard. He's just sold a house outside Bath for £3.5 million (around $5 million) and another inside the city in England for another $5 million or so (both, in fact, highly desirable places, seriously good architecture). He's also unlaoded his Bavarian castle for a smaller sum.

What's really done to make Nicholas Cage broke is that his financial advisor hasn't been playing straight with him. He got into a serious of highly dubious investments and then lost a lot of money: and also wasn't keeping money back to pay for taxes. And it's Uncle Sam who is after him for north of $6 million as well.

But what will really keep Niocholas Cage from going broke is that he's still a highly bankable star. One more movie is, at his normal pay rates, all he would need to get back on an even keel: or two or three down and dirty quickies.

Don't we all wish we could rustle up that sort of dough in only a year or so's work?

The Circus starring Britney Spears

2009-07-18T10:41:00.000-07:00

The promoters of the current Britney Spears world tour have been pretty careful in their descriptions. It's not so much that they advertise it as a Britney Spears concert, of popathon, it's rather that it's a show called "Circus", which stars her.

They can thus rather cut thruogh all of the questions about whether she's actually singing live or not. Which, of course, she is most unlikely to be doing.

It's not just that her voice has never been that strong, rather than Britney Spears has always been a dancer rather than a singer. And so all of her efforst are indeed put into the dancing, not the singing.

And if we're to be quite honest about it, no one can in fact gyrate around a stage in quite that style and still be singing their heart out: no, there's often a great deal of help from something I mae in hte studio before I set out in these shows.

News on Katie Holmes

2007-06-25T07:52:00.000-07:00

There's a new place where you can get your news about Katie Holmes. Yes, I knew that would interest you.

You can find out more about Katie Holmes' marriage to Tom Cruise, if that's the sort of news that interests you.

Or there are photos of her, sotries and even video news stories.

Check it out for all your Katie Holmes celebrity news needs.

Very good Joke

2007-06-17T07:06:00.000-07:00

Yes, over here, where they're having a discussion about circumcision.

So, is it better to cut or not to cut?

Clearly, we know that circumcision leads to lower rates of STD transmission, which has to be a good thing.

But it also leads to a lowering of sensitivity.

So thus the question, to cut or not to cut?

Pubs in Cascais

2007-05-31T07:44:00.001-07:00

If you're in and around Cascais looking for a place to have a drink or a bite to eat why not check out the Beefeater? Its the Cascais Pub of choice for those looking for a sportsbar.

Two large screen TVs (they can show separate events) Sky, Steanta and so on to get all of the vital games. The menu has both British and Portuguese foods....

That the place is run by friends only makes it even better of course...and yes, they do have that all important fry up for breakfast.

Paul McCartney Reissues

2007-05-16T11:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, really, you know you really do want these:

As Paul McCartney prepares to release a new album, his former label is preparing to put his solo catalog online for the first time.

Albums from McCartney and his post-Beatle group Wings will be made available across all digital platforms and in physical formats, EMI Music said Monday.

The project will stretch from his first album, "McCartney" (1970) to his most recent studio album, "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" (2005), which received a Grammy nomination for album of the year. It will include four albums that he recorded for Columbia Records in the early 1980s.

McCartney will release his next studio album "Memory Almost Full" on June 4 internationally (one day later in North America) as part of a new deal with Hear Music, the label formed by coffee retailer Starbucks and Concord Music Group.

Who could resist Mull of Kintyre just one more time? Sigh.

Why Get a Mosquito Ringtone?

2007-04-17T10:29:00.000-07:00

A lot of people may laugh at the thought of mosquito ringtones for your cellphone. There are a lot of free ringtones and free MP3 ringtones on the Internet, so why get a queer ringtone the sound of a buzzing mosquito in your phone?

There is actually a reason for this. Studies show that the human ears would lose their ability to recognize high frequency sounds as it ages. As one gets older, the inner ear and the eardrum are becoming less active and flexible. If this happens it can no longer recognize high frequency vibration sound. So if you were a teenager living with an adult or your grandparents, they probably won’t be disturbed with the high-pitched sounds of your mosquito ringtones.

So get the best usual free Cingular Ringtones or free Sprint Ringtones now and leave these buzzing sounds.

Fergie on Top of the Charts

2007-03-18T10:58:00.001-07:00

Fergie, the singer from Black Eyed Peas, just got her second number one single:

Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie earned her second No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart Thursday with "Glamorous," a tune featuring rapper Ludacris.

Thanks to 166,000 digital downloads, the track jumped seven places to end the two-week reign of New York rapper Mims' "This Is Why I'm Hot," which slipped to No. 2.

In its nine week history on the Hot 100, "Glamorous" has fallen in and out of the top-10 due to its availability online. Fergie's first single, last year's "London Bridge," was her first No. 1 on the chart.

Akon's "Don't Matter" slipped one to No. 3; the R&B singer is also the featured artist on Gwen Stefani's "The Sweet Escape," as it similarly fell one to No. 4.

Patrick Stump can be heard on the No. 5 and 6 tracks, as the featured artist on Gym Class Heroes' "Cupid's Chokehold" (up two to No. 5) and in his own band Fall Out Boy, whose "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" held at No. 6 for a second week. Rock band Daughtry's "It's Not Over" re-entered the top-10, rising four to No. 7.

As for the others, who are they? Or is that a sign that I'm getting old?

Genesis Returns

2007-03-10T10:10:00.001-08:00

Arrrgh! Genesis is back:

The rock band Genesis will tour for the first time in 15 years this summer, but without former front man Peter Gabriel, the group said on Wednesday.

The European and North American tour will feature vocalist and drummer Phil Collins, keyboard player Tony Banks and guitarist Mike Rutherford, reviving the lineup that reached its peak success in the 1980s.

Gabriel, a vocalist and flutist who helped found the British in 1966, will not participate, though Collins left open the possibility that Gabriel might participate in future projects.

"It's not like it's a party that we're holding that Peter didn't come to," Collins told a news conference, declining to explain further.

Genesis will tour Europe this summer, including a free concert at the Circus Maximus in Rome, and the band might participate on July 7 in former U.S. Vice President Al Gore's "Live Earth" event, which is occurring in cities around the world.

Absolutely, without a doubt, something to miss.

Bacon's Popes

2007-02-13T11:02:00.001-08:00

Francis Bacon was indeed obsessed with Popes and it appears to have paid off for some lucky fellow, at least:

A 50-year-old painting by Dublin-born artist Francis Bacon set an auction record for his work on Thursday when it was sold at Christie's for 14.02 million pounds ($27.56 million).

"Study For Portrait II," an oil on canvas work Bacon painted in late 1956, is one of Bacon's famed papal portraits.

It smashed the previous record of $15 million set in November at Sotheby's in New York for the work "Version No. 2 of Lying Figure With Hypodermic Syringe."

According to Christie's, Bacon painted more than 50 paintings of popes, beginning in 1946, and was obsessed by Diego Velazquez's 1650 "Portrait of Pope Innocent X."

I wonder who owned it: good time to sell I guess, with hte high oil price and all those Russian running around.

Technorati tags: francis bacon, pope

Because

2007-02-02T10:31:00.001-08:00

Something of a disappointing review for the latest Diane Keaton movie, "Because":

Like the architectural-wonder cakes Diane Keaton's character constructs in "Because I Said So," the film is a stylishly gooey piece of work that demands to be oohed and aahed over.

With its magazine-spread interiors and pretty dresses, this romantic comedy about a meddling mom and her unlucky-in-love youngest daughter might get what it wants. Using a recipe overloaded with adorable, too reliant on slapstick and spiced up with "modern" ideas about sex, the movie is as predictable as a crowd-pleaser can get. But crowds are likely to be pleased nonetheless, especially women who connect with its pat observations about the mother-daughter bond.

It's dispiriting to see a great actress like Keaton buying into this nonsense with such gusto. Still, as Daphne, the control-freak cake entrepreneur nearing her 60th birthday, she's the closest thing to a three-dimensional person in the film. Mandy Moore is an appealing performer, but ultimately she can't turn Milly, the object of Daphne's pathological concern, into more than a collection of comely pouts and tantrums.

To be honest I haven't liked any of her movies since Annie Hall and even that was because of the Woody Allen script, not her acting.

Technorati tags: annie hall, diane keaton, woody allen, because

Water Intoxication

2007-01-18T09:54:00.001-08:00

Yes, really, drinking water can indeed kill you:

A California radio station has fired 10 staff members after a contest to drink as much water as possible to win a new Nintendo Wii game console resulted in a woman's death, a company spokesman said on Wednesday.

Jennifer Strange, 28, a mother of three, died from water intoxication after taking part in a "Hold your wee for a Wii" competition on a morning radio show on Sacramento station KDND-FM Friday.

She was one of about 20 contestants who tried to outdrink each other without going to the toilet and was reported to have drunk about seven quarts (6-1/2 liters) of water in a bid to win the Wii for her children. She was the runner-up.

After the contest she called in sick at work and was found dead at her home about five hours later.

A spokesman for the station's parent company, Entercom/Sacramento, said 10 staff members, including several on-air DJs, had been fired from the station over the incident.

"They are no longer with the company for violating the terms of their employment agreements with the station," said the spokesman, without elaborating on contract details.

"This is part of an ongoing, thorough investigation."

Local newspapers said the Sacramento county coroner had yet to rule as to cause of death but said Strange's death was "consistent with a water intoxication death."

As one old drunk of a movie star pointed out, there's a much better reason not to drink water: fish fuck in it.

Technorati tags: water intoxication, radio, fish

Testing

2006-12-16T08:05:00.001-08:00

Just running a little test to see whether this Windows Live Wrtier will in fact deposit this post in the correct place.

Technorati tags: live writer

Titles, Titles

2006-12-10T10:05:00.001-08:00

This is getting seriously offputting. Why in hell won't this damn Windoze tool publish headlines? Do I need to change the actual blog template?

Will Chris realise what's wqrong when he has a go at these blogs?

50 Cent

2005-06-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

50 Cent is one of the more famous of the American Gansta Rappers. One can look at the lyrics and underlying attitudes of the genre and form (whether we call it Hip Hop, Gangsta, modern music or whatever) in two ways.

1) As a glorification of the drug taking, misogyny, homophobia and prediliction to violence in the current urban culture of the Unisted States.

2) As the desperate cries of an underclass screaming in both pain and rage at the way in which they are oppressed.

Which approach you prefer is up to you really.

The official 50Cent website is here.

This website is similar but also offers the opportunity to buy his albums online.

Another fan site which includes message boards, and the MTV site includes video of his appearances on that network. There is also a complete collection of his lyrics online here.