Fuck me, it’s snowing something terrific outside. As usual one flake of snow on the floor and England grinds to a halt. The weather men warn about it for days and no one is ever prepared. So I walked to work today and felt all festive and jolly while everyone else looked miserable and cold. It took me twenty minutes to walk there and by the time I had got there my festive jolliness had gone out the window. My fingers were freezing and I couldn’t feel my toes. I think I still had a nose, but i couldn’t be sure. One thing i could be sure of was that i looked amazing in my favourite Springfield scarf and kneelength wool overcoat. I am sure I cut quite the dashing figure. Of course, the office is as barren as barren can be today with everyone calling in with “car problems”! When did this become an excuse??! Sheesh kebab. Ooh good it’s stopped snowing. I have to go out and get some milk and I was a little scared that the 2 inches on the ground might now be a bit overwhelming. I have seen day after tomorrow you know. Which was a documentary, and if ever that happens I am calling Jakeypoos up and getting him to share my sleeping bag to raise my body temperature. I mean what’s the alternative? Al Gore?? Now that would be an inconvenient truth... Anyway dudes and lady dudes (i’m all about the equal opps) and dudes about to become lady dudes, I really should be sticking to my “whip up a blog in 30 minutes” rule so I can spend my evenings canoodling with Darren. You know you all want to also! Unless you are a non-bender, then you probably wouldn’t want to snuggle a man. Unless you are a non-bender woman in which case you would! Hurrah! The balance of the world is restored once more. PS ~ relocation relocation was crap last night, so we watched the brillo Dragon’s Den. Marv...
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THE DISNEY ACCOLYTES:
. Sometimes you just need a Disney day don’t you? Where you feel the need to be all warm and fluffy on the inside in order to beat off the harsh reality of the outside! Today definitely is a Disney day :) Remember when Disney cartoons were massive events and the theme songs would even go top ten (Beauty And The Beast, A Whole New World and Circle of Life) when recorded by the cutting edge of pop at the time (Celine Dion, Peabo Bryson and Elton John)?? Well, they may not be events anymore and they may not trouble the charts too much, but Disney still wheel out a much younger singing contingency now to add a bit of oomph to their straight to video sequels. For example, hayden pantierre (of Heroes fame, and looking chest bustingly marv above) has recorded a quite lovely power pop ballad for the Cinderella 3 dvd-movie. And it fits perfectly with the type of film – all gushing vocals, soaring choruses and something so sweetly delicious about it, you have to look around to see if anyone else is watching you enjoy it. And of course High School Musical-er Ashley Tisdale contributed a popped up Kiss The Girl to the rerelease of The Little Mermaid, before she decided to be a saucy vixen of the charts.
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Elsewhere fellow HSM alum Lucas Grabeel (not Gabreel as i erroneously called him yester) has recorded quite a nice little guitar blended with pop ditty for the Fox And The Hound 2 soundtrack, which is jolly nice of him. And nice to see something a little upbeat. It must have been tempting to go down the ballad route, as Antony Callea did in the sequel to Bambi. Still, that loveable antipodean knows how to knock out a slowie.
. And finally, turning back the hands of time, those adorable American mcfly ragamuffins, Click Five did a track called Man’s Best Friend for the Shaggy Dog story. Obviously it’s quite advisable to avoid any movie with Tim Allen in it, but if you can just hear the song somewhere so much the better. And William of Young went all funky with Try Again on the 102 Dalmatians OST, mixing his jazzed up influences with pop sensibility. I love it when team Disney beds in together :)
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LINK: Buy Disney dvds
DOWNLOAD: thezapping Disney mania zipfile
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THE MUSICALS REVUE PART FIVE ~ TARZAN:
. Sticking with la Diz, it’s time to revue one of their increasing brands of musicals – we already have Beauty and the Beast (though it’s widely reported that Little Mermaid will take over on Broadway in November), Lion King, Aladdin is on at Disneyland in abbreviated format and Mary Poppins is wowing audiences around the world. So what about Tarzan? Here was a cartoon movie that had great animation, an endearing and touching story, but was let down on the songs somewhat. Obviously hoping to replicate the work done with Elton on Lion King, Disney drafted in drummer and “singer” Phil Collins to produce five songs for the soundtrack. Where he succeeded was making the drumming rhythms part of the film where the music draws you in, and there is at least one decent pop tune with You’ll be In My Heart (and a rather amusing turn by N*Sync doing Tearing up The Camp). Transferring this to a large broadway setting is not quite as easy as it seems and something about the musical soundtrack isn’t quite there. The lyrics aren’t as sophisticated as the other shows, though they do detail nicely the emotions and feelings of the characters. And it is a lot more “pop” than other Disney shows. However, there is something that i can’t put my finger on that is missing that takes it from a decent broadway soundtrack to a great one. Still, if you like Disney and Phil Collins then you can’t go far wrong with this...
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LINK: Purchase tickets for the musical
LINK: Purchase the soundtrack
LINK: Purchase the dvd of the cartoon movie
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THE TIME TO DECIDE WHAT TO WEAR IN SEPTEMBER:
. If you have been keeping up with the American broadcasts of Ugly Betty then you will know that recently it was New York Fashion Week. But it’s not all about NYC you know, there was also Paris fashion week and Milan fashion week, where the industry tells us what we should be wearing in 9 months time. Which is a little bit bizarre as I have enough trouble trying to work out what to wear to the popshow in 2 weeks time. Anyway, as you can see from the rather delightful image sent to me by the gays at ASOS, Paris fashion is looking quite grand for the autumnal season. I am quite loving the fact that tailored leathers paired with cravats are looking quite delish, as are chunky knits from the Hermes collection. Pop on over to the ASOS website now and you will probably be able to pick up a few similar items already and wow your friends with your indepth knowledge of couture.
. And everybody, it’s never too soon to start planning what to wear on Wednesday for the day that will forever be known as St Valentines. You can’t just throw on any old “clobber” so why not go all out and do the casual gorgeous look that I am sure I pull off so well (hey i’m shy in person, i have to be brazen in my writing!). Put together a slick ensemble by pairing a nice roll up sleeve Peter Werth Shirt with some Diesel Slylow Skinny Dark Denim jeans and you will be wowing all the men or women you desire with your ultimate cupid-y hotness. Now don’t say i don’t do anything for you ;)
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LINK: ASOS website (marv)
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THEZAPPING TOP FIVE SINGERS (MALE AND FEMALE):
#2 ~ Robert Williams: I tussled with myself yesterday and this morning to see whether Robert would be number one or whether his more recent endeavours had let him down somewhat. Let’s just say it’s an incredibly close call... Robbie caught my eye from the very early days of Take That when Smash Hits convinced me they were going to be huge so I ran out to be a 7” of Do What You Like. I didn’t know that Robbie was going to be the star, but I knew that he was doing something to my burgeoning gay loins that i kinda liked ;) Anyway as Take That wound down and Robbie revved up, I started to see real talent and value in his music. His ability to be self deprecating and lyrically witty while knocking out a solid tune that covered various genres was uncanny. From album to album he continued doing winning material that sold by the bucket load. His swing album and Escapology cd now seem to cap a near perfect run of singles and albums for me. Both had me enchanted and delighted for the longest time. It’s been all downhill since there – which isn’t to say i don’t find enjoyment and gems in Robbies tunes post 2002, just that it doesn’t have the same impact as before. I live in hopes and fears...
Best Track: Feel
. #2 ~ Kylie Minogue: Again, by choosing such well known stars as my top five, it shows my lack of imagination and makes it difficult to write anything new or insightful about them. I mean who doesn’t know all about Kylie. From girl next door to pop star to sex kitten to dance kylie to indie kylie to comeback kylie to queen kylie, it’s been one hell of a journey. And she is one of the five that i have never been disappointed with. As she progressed in the 90s thru a variety of styles, i was always intrigued to see how she made the genre her own and created accessible tunes whoever she collaborated with. Her stomping PWL songs such as Better The Devil You Know and Shocked remain favourites to this day. Her brilliant album Light Years engineered a global comeback of epic proportions and her Scissters collaborations remain effortless classy pop. Kylie shines her music on us from on high, and I’m just lucky enough to be dancing in the sparkles.
Best track: Better The Devil You Know
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QUICK BITZ/BLOG WATCH:

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~ ooo it's only 20 days til thezappings first birthday... look how sexy we're getting!

~ yay, we love random rants day over at electroqueer :) even if it won't let me comment. BOO!

~ the loveable Jag have some new pics up on their myspace and quite spiffing they look too...

~ we haven't mentioned Samuel lately but that doesn't mean we're not loving his hotstuff...
~ gareth gates has new music on his myspace player. How thrilling (i say this without listening to it yet...)
~ Dan(UK) went to see avenue q and has posted some amazing pics. I quite like his hat ;)
~ ooo do this over at Lucas' blogs - i am so common. 1113!!!!

~ he's baaaaccck - and if i'm not very much mistaken with a kandinski in the background!

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Coming Friday ~ the number one male and female zapping singers (ooo the suspense etc); maybe something about the greatest love story ever told; possibly some more musical stuff you will NOT believe! and maybe some live lounge covers...