Hurrah! The car hunt may be over. I found a really nice one today but it is bloody miles away. Luckily the guy was in Birmingham visiting one of the other branches and bought it round to my office. Most gorgeous it is too, low mileage, sexy soccer mom’s car so all the young husbands will be eyeing me up as I drive around town!! The bloke selling asked if it was for the little woman, and I couldn’t be bothered to explain the laws of bum love so I just told him yes!! He seemed pleased with that answer as he folded the daily mail under his arm. Hehe. Hopefully I will have it fairly soon, and be bombing around town bringing sexy back, etc, etc. Hurrah for Mercedes A Class. RAR! Rest of day has gone fairly well too in terms of work, etc. and dazpants and myself are off out tomorrow night for the day of love. Although we aren’t being particularly romantic as we are off for a meal, a starbucks (hey it must feature in all the major holidays and they do love cookies!) and a film. Hot Fuzz. Which is by the Shaun of the Dead blokes and should be 83% magnificent by my calculations. Which are far too complex to explain in depth here, but i think you get the drift. Oh! And thanks to a change in work plans (grrrr) I will not be able to go to the popshow thingy on the 20th. Anyone who is going and wants to write a report for me, please email me at the usual place. Gutted :O Better get on with the post, je suppose...
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THE CONTINUED GENIUS OF ABC:
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~ Grey’s Anatomy: Creator Shondra Rimes recently claimed she liked people and characters who mess up and then fight for redemption. Something she clearly has experience of in going from the teeth grindingly bad Crossroads to something as intricate and enticing as Grey’s – in fact it’s nothing short of a miracle she pulled it off! And in the post Christmas eps, once again the music is as important as the storyline. It’s fair to say that in 2006, the show propelled the fortunes of How To Save A Life and Chasing Cars. Wrapping the current storylines up in tunes from Peter Bjorn & John (a mix of pop, garage and dance rock) is highly effective – they narrate the unspoken moments yet sound lovely on your Zunes the next day. Not an easy task...
. ~ Ugly Betty: Ugly is indeed and possibly always has been the new beautiful as the madcap zany antics of Betty and the folks at Mode magazine continue to demonstrate. The soap operatics continue and episode 13 where Wilhemena’s cloaked companion was a twist so far left of field it was all deliciously Sunset Beach. Plus in last Thursday’s US episode, there were some gorgeous Christopher Gorham/America Ferrera flirting moments involving a chat about Wicked and another great twist ending. Marv...
. ~ Desperate Housewives: The wedded/divorced/single ladies who lunch of Wisteria Lane continue to shine this season. Marc Cherry has a firm grip this year on the storyline and the Bree-Alma-Orson-Mike-Paul murder mystery storyline is still engrossing and yielding surprises by the second. It’s worth it just to hear Bree say (Big Love style) “I’m not having your first wife live across the road. It’ll be like a mormon slumber party...” Brillo! PS ~ Gabby being stalked/romanced by Zach is comedic genius...
. ~ Brothers and Sisters: Who knew this show had a heart of gold under it’s socio-political exterior? Greg Berlanti of the late lamented Everwood (seriously? One tree Hill renewed instead of that?!) He has upped the relationship quota between the siblings, their partners, the mistress and the mother and even given the gays carte blanche – lingering kisses at makeout point, confused and closeted soap stars and Sally Fields may now be a “faghag”! It doesn’t get any better than this...
. ~ What about Brian? This grown up “Felicity” show doesn’t really have a gimmick but it’s solid storywriting and engaging cast keep me coming back week after week. I’m quite behind as i’ve only watched 3 episodes of season two, but the nuanced performances and cute but not ridiculously so actors are top notch and make this the most loveable gen x-er since Party of Five...
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So all in all a winning line up (mostly) continues on ABC – now lets just hope they don’t fuck up Lost (tho 307 was above average on Weds...)
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THE SONGS THAT SHOULD’VE BEEN AND STILL COULD BE:
. Whenever I have written about songs that are due to become hits again through the magic of cover versions, i’ve always featured a variety of artists. Today, it’s all about the genius of one album that was practically unheard of in England – Sweet Sensation’s Love Child cd. I remember buying it from Esprit Mail Order back in the early 90s after hearing If Wishes Came True on the US Top 40 countdown and deciding that they would no doubt be the next big thing in England. They weren’t. That didn’t matter though as their sophomore album (though only 9 tracks long) was packed with gentle ballads mixed among latino inflected dance numbers. All anonymous enough over here that acts could cover them and not even publicise they are cover versions. I’m going to dole out some key tunes to my 11 in 07 and other acts that are up and coming...
~ If Wishes Came True: A great power ballad all mournful and sad, but with swirling strings and a soaring chorus. Contemporise the production a little bit and you have an aces Christmas tune for a boy band like Billiam or Pacific Avenue. Ah, i can just see the lads running through the pine trees now. And if they are smart they can attach it to some Disney DVD sequel!!
~ Destiny: One of my favourite tracks on the cd and a song so catchy and immense, i’m amazed no one thought to cover it before now. Again, a tiny bit dated but with some fine Jadion production values this could be a stomping Britney-esque club track that would work ideally for a girl group like Bliss. Or even for Britney’s comeback single. Should she ever put her foo away long enough.
~ Each and Every Time: Another uptempo corker that could easily be transformed into a cool slice of electro-millenium pop put in the right hands. If Hilary Duff is serious about her pop career, she should chuck this on her album. Or if they wanted to do something a bit different and daring, with all the resources on hand the X Factor production family could make this into an amazing I’m Your Baby Tonight-esque gem for Leona Lewis.
~ Pleasure And Pain: A darker, more sinister number that could benefit from a sparse production, a pounding beat and a strong voice to carry it off. Throw in a pseudo s&m video and you could have a comeback hit that is dancey enough to appeal to the masses but different enough to cause lots of newspaper controversy – so ideal for Gareth Gates and SO much better than anything on his myspace site currently... (Simon Curtis also could do this, but i think Gareth needs it more ;) )
~ He’ll Never Know: This would be a safe pleasant ballad choice for people like Leona Lewis, Gareth and Shayne Ward. Yawn – girls aloud are always pretty bad at choosing ballads other than Whole Lotta History so they could do something similar sounding to that with this pretty song. Clever production values will keep it a notch above Atomic Kitten status...
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LINK: Purchase Sweet Sensation’s Love Child cd
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THE FUTURE IS NOW:
. Look! On the 21st of this very month, Gay Times becomes GT which is a bit gin and tonic really, but they are probably trying to appeal to a younger audience to help all the escorts advertising at the back of the magazine not get lumbered with old fatties or people who look like Perez Hilton. Ew. I do quite like GT although it’s no attitude, which i of course adore beyond comprehension. So i am looking forward to a make over and lots of new stuff spurting from it’s very jaws. Marv. Be sure to check out the gay times myspace site here. It won’t bite (hard)...
. And look! thezapping (all one word, no capitals) is going all sexy and posh to celebrate it’s one year birthday on the 28th Feb 2007. You will still get all the same marvellous/rubbish ramblings (delete as applicable) but it will be slightly more structured to help me save some time. So there will be a timetable of posts that will be done the same day every week. Probably something like this...
Sunday ~ 11 in 07 updates; chart chat
Monday ~ singles selection committe and thezapping record company project
Tuesday ~ new artists highlight; this week’s fave album
Wednesday ~ pot luck day – anything goes
Thursday ~ those were the days – retrospecticus and songs deserving of another go
Friday ~ something for the weekend recommendations
Saturday ~ round up of my week
Plus lots of other features like celebrity blogs and interviews, theatre watch and something i may never be able to tell you about :) Hopefully you will all stick with me...
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QUICK BITZ/BLOG WATCH:
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~ Ruthiepoos and I are off to see The Feeling for the fourth time together in a year on Sunday. And we haven’t even been yet and they are doing some big concerts in forests in June. We are so there...
~ Finally! Dynasty (so much better than Dallas) season two – the season Alexis Morrell Carrington Colby Dexter arrived – should be out on dvd in June. Huzzah!
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Coming tomorrow: Love day special!! New artists we love! Music we love! Love we love! And lots of other 14th Feb type things :)