Hello boys and girls. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin... because this is going to be a fairly lengthy post. It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas is it not? Standing behind a woman in Starbucks (toffee nut latte - yummy) who had bought her husband a christmas card from her freaking cat highlighted how crazy but fun this time of year is. Unless she was going to make the christmas card from her "pussy" (Mrs Slocombe style - calm down mom and dad!) as a wee jape - but then again that is still frankly a little bit weird. Lots of DazPresents Christmas gifts arrived from Amazon today so i have bought some nice silvery wrapping paper to wrap them up in. Darren always goes a little insane with the tape when wrapping my gifts and I usually need a blow torch to get into them! Still it's not as bad as one Valentine's Day when he gave me two bags of flour and said "don't say i never give you flours". I still lay awake crying at night over that one....
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THE ONES DANCING LIKE A ROBOT TO ELECTROPOP:
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It's very hard to dislike Jean. Not Jean that I used to work with because she was a walking nightmare to manage and reminded me of Joan Ferguson from Cell Block H. Shudder. No I am talking phantasmagorical musical group Jean. Which when you think about it is a great name for a group. Better than George for a solo singer. But I digress. TheZapping loves Jean for many reasons - their myspace page gives us epileptic fits on a regular basis; they are friends with the lovely Switch22 and attend Scissor Sisters concerts together; they get to go to glamourous places like Jersey which is where Bergerac lives; it has Matthew in it from Bad Boys Inc so clearly reminds me of many furtive "under the duvet" moments from my teens. And of course Jean make great music also. Electric Legs starts as a sparse piece of electronica with a great vocal (particularly on the line "she was a lady, a supersonic beauty queen") before plunging head first into a killer of a chorus at about the 1min30 mark. Girls Aloud should whore themselves out for a chorus this creamy :) Spiralling proves they are no one trick pony - a hauntingly beautiful ballad that quite rightly focuses on Matthew's vocal, which carries the song. It's kind of Erasure-esque and that's a huge compliment from me. I thought Erasure did ballads (Always, Am I Right, You Surround Me) incredibly well... then it goes all Shakespear's Sister "Stay" in the middle and you are titillated and aroused musically all over again. Some say the electro-clash movement is tired and over, but Jean make it fresh and exciting all over again. I don't want to gush too much. I'm a natural gusher (once it went in Darren's eye and he felt blinded) so just head on over to their sites and check them out for yourself...

Similar to Jean, but not quite as good (though still pretty fine) are T.H.E.M. - The Human Ego Maniacs, who are Christiana and Justin. Based in LA they have been making dance records for a few years but I have only just clocked them on my radar. Again, they manage to take the inspiration from Bananarama, Human League, Duran Duran and turn it into something pulsing and exciting. Killer Killer is a logical choice of single - persistent electro beats and a chorus that is so unassuming at first that it's genuinely surprising when you are still humming it ten minutes later. For something more immediate check out the giddy Beautiful which rather excellently makes use of the refrain "Mirror Mirror on the wall..." Super...
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LINK: Jean's myspace site
LINK: Bootleg Baby's myspace site
LINK: Andy Jean's myspace site
LINK: THEM's myspace site
LINK: Purchase THEM's new cd via iTunes
MP3: Jean vs Mylo - Electric Legs
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THE ZAPPING BOOK CLUB:
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Books are generally quite ace aren't they? As someone quite wise once said (i think it was Belle from Disney's Beauty And The Beast) they can take you away to magical places where you won't discover it's a prince til chapter three. Or something. Anyway, The Zapping Book Club will recommend a couple of books on a weekly basis (or when I remember any"hoo") and hopefully have some sort of theme to it. But it's all a bit hit and miss with these things isn't it? Anyway, this week it's all about reality talent contests...
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~ Chart Throb by Ben Elton: I'm not usually a huge Ben Elton fan, but this book certainly caught my eye. Basically it takes a pop shot at the world of "unscripted" television shows such as X-Factor and American Idol where the judges (a music mogul, the nation's fave mom and some other bloke... sound familiar?) control everything that happens until one contestant changes the rules and the judges face becoming ex-factors themselves. I've not finished it yet so can't tell you what happens, but it certainly is a mighty interesting read so far :)
~ My Sister's A Popstar by Kimberley Green: Aimed much more at a teen audience (which suits me down to the ground whatever that means...), this is a pretty hilarious tale of a young girl whose sister wins a tv talent show, does a national tour and then returns home with cameras in tow as she is talked into having her life become the next hit reality show. Amid the comedic situations lies a touching story of a young girl struggling to find her place in life in the shadow of her bigger sister. Quite lovely...
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LINK: Purchase Ben Elton's Chart Throb
LINK: Purchase Kim Green's My Sister's A Popstar
MP3: Eton Road - This Old Heart Of Mine (from X Factor)
MP3: Leona - Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word (from X Factor)
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THE ONE WHERE THE ZAPPING TRIES TO PREDICT THE FUTURE:
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~Generally, I worship the ground that Poppostergirl walks on. Not in a creepy stalking way though. It's a metaphor, children. Anyway, in a recent comment, PPG referred to a boyband being put together and while this one may not be it, i am hoping they will be one of a glut of boybands storming the charts in 2007. It all started with Lee Mulhern, who looks about 13 but is 17, has some straight forward cover versions on his myspace site and is part of a band called Streetwize that was put together by that guy who got sued by Backstreet Boys and N*Sync. Still, the guy knows how to launch boybands so Streetwize could be in with a shot. My tip - try more songs like the disco-tastic Love Kills on Lee's site rather than the ballads. It will make you stand out more :)
~ And while we are predicting 2007 stuff (just like our 7 to watch in 2007), Music Week went on and on today about how there are so many female artists releasing new albums in first quarter of 2007 - including Kylie & Sophie Ellis Bextor (yay), Dido, Delta Goodrem and Kelly Clarkson (meh!) and Norah Jones and Lucie Silvas (zzzzz). Still you can't go wrong with the first two can you? And of course, if you read yesterday's post you'll all be as excited as me that Deborah Gibson is coming back. Yep, take it from me - first quarter 2007 is going to yield some great female music...
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LINK: Lee Mulhern's myspace page
LINK: Streetwize's myspace page
MP3: Lee Mulhern - Love Kills
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THE ZAPPING RECORD COMPANY PROJECT 2007:
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Remember when we told you that we were going to attempt to be a record company in 2007 and pick & choose singles for a select bunch of artists? no? Better click here and refresh your memory... Anyway, how it will work is that there will be 13 artists who will each release one single every 13 weeks. That's four singles over the course of the year. The single release will be promoted on here and you will be able to vote on where you think it would chart based on the rest of that week's releases...Now don't roll your eyes, it will be interactive, contributory fun :) Trust me :) Anyway, I have picked a certain number of artists for the "roster" (listed below), but will need 3 more to complete the line-up. And that is where you get to choose - they can be signed, unsigned, famous, breaking out, anyone you like, but they must have at least four songs to their repertoire... Suggest away dudes...

• ~ Simon Curtis
• ~ Gavin Mikhail
• ~ Justin Lanning
• ~ Switch-22
• ~ Lockdown
• ~ Billiam
• ~ Beyond
• ~ Conor
• ~ Pacific Avenue
• ~ Deborah Gibson

Good Monday to you one and all. I decided to give myself a bit of a blogging break at the weekend by posting my "lists" over at TheZapping Spin Off blog that i had written up on another forum earlier in the year - and it took me almost as long anyway! Gah! But i do this blog because i love it and you can't keep me away from it for long ;) It's like my own little part of the universe where i control what's going on... I don't get thousands of visitors, but i'm always thrilled when people come back day after day :) I was well moody last night - i finally got round to watching a tv box set i'd had for a while only to find out there were two disc twos and no disc one! I've had it so long i can't remember where it's from. Ditto The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe dvd... we couldn't get the subtitles to turn off for love nor money! There they were on the screen all the live long day! GAH! Then DazPropertyTycoon beat me at monopoly so I was well moody the rest of the night ;) Still on with today's randomness...
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THE JUDGEMENT FACTOR:
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Sigh. Part of the genius of The X Factor is that the judges are directly pitted against each other. This means you get slimey Louis Walsh siding with Sharon every opportunity he gets, Sharon giving little backhanded compliments because she's the "nice" one and Simon telling it like it is. Now on the one hand I have a lot of respect for Mr Cowell. He doesn't hold back on his opinions and is usually right. But then, he always seems to think an album of covers and ballads will surfice for the winner and consumer interest generally wanes shortly after this. So it was quite delightful to see Simon actually genuinely lost for words when his two acts tallied the lowest votes of the night. Tragic :) But prior to that there were only a few ok performances this week. To be honest, I really don't have any interest in Sharon's over 25 category and i think if i have to watch another week of Ray's hypermaniacal "dancing" swing tributes on stage, i'll be reaching for the cyanide. For me this show is still all about Eton Road (though Leona is absolutely genius - i'll let Samuel tell you why).... they put in another fun performance on Saturday of the Beatles' From Me To You (though what that middle eight was about i have no idea!) and if Louis lets them do either Don'cha or I Don't Feel Like Dancing next week as promised I will love him forever. PS. They should have done this boyband tribute though this week, ably performed here by lovely V... PPS. I still adore those slightly rubbish but loveable MacDonald Bros...
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LINK: Eton Road website
LINK: The Bitch Factor Blog site
MP3: Eton Road - From Me To You
MP3: V - Boyband Tribute
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THE AMRAZINGNESS OF MRAZ (see what i did there?!):
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Aw, I love little Jason Mraz. Over the past few years he has quietly and unassumingly worked his way up to one of my top five male singers. I love his laid back melodies, his clever wordy lyrics and his utterly geeky coolness aura that seems to surround everything he does. And not only has he put out a couple of great albums, he seems to constantly be recording little gems for other projects. I'm Yours (a b-side) perfectly soundtracks my feelings for DazPenicillin; a rather chilled out cover of One Love featured on The Gap cd; various other covers have popped up on other soundtracks and most recently a rather genius mash-up of The Joker and Everything I Own with Chrissie Hynde shows up on Happy Feet (some Penguin movie out this Christmas). It really shouldn't work, but it really does. Chrissie's voice with echo effect nicely complements the sometimes sexy Mraz and the whole track is another great entry into Jason's canon (steady!)...
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LINK: Jason Mraz's official website
LINK: Pre-order Happy Feet soundtrack
MP3: Jason Mraz - The Joker-Everything I Own
MP3: Jason Mraz - Summer Breeze
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THE RETURN OF THE MACS:
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It's about to get confusing in the world of ex-boyband acoustic pop rock. Because two similarly monikered popstrels are about to make a comeback in 2007, going down the serious musician trail. First up is Ste Mak (formerly of the excellent BBMak) who I previously wrote briefly about here. Armed with nothing but his distinctive vocal and a guitar, Ste is producing some great tunes that are a logical extension and maturation of his work in BBMak. Angels over New York is a great uplifting tune that with proper production could be an anthemic stadium sing a long track, while The Only One fair crackles along with an addictive energy that screams "first single status"... It will be interesting to hear what happens once these myspace demos hit the production line in readiness for public consumption...
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Next is Stewart Mac, formerly of boyband Triple8 (who gave us the crunk rock of Knockout and Give Me A Reason). It seems that every upcoming male solo star these days has the obligatory white shirt black tie photo shoot, but hey, Stewart looks good with it so who's complaining. Like Ste, Stewart has gone down the the acoustic pop route, with one difference. While Ste's songs are works of craft in progress, there is an instant accessibility with Stewart's music. He has a keen talent for developing a melody that will work it's way into your brain and make his songs a lot of fun to listen to. Actually, some of the tunes remind me of the great songs on Third Eye Blind's debut cd which i was obsessed with in the late 90s... Anyway apparently an album is forthcoming and I can't wait to hear it. At this stage in the game, i give the edge to Stewart...
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LINK: Ste Mak's myspace site
LINK: Stewart Mac's myspace site
MP3: Ste Mak - The Only One
MP3: Ste Mak - Angels Over New York
MP3: Triple8 - Knockout
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THE 5 BEST RETURNING SHOWS (SO FAR):
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Some shows that I have previously loved I am currently only sticking with out of loyalty and the hope that it will get better again soon (yes Lost, I'm talking about you...) - it's called The X-Files Syndrome. Others I haven't gotten around to watching just yet (Veronica Mars; Gilmore Girls) so this is based on everything else...
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5 - Veronica Mars/Gilmore Girls. Yes I know I haven't watched them yet, but i have such faith in their combined brilliance that I know they will be magnificent. I worry a little for the soft ratings of VM, but hopefully the CW will have faith to let it continue and build a solid audience on Tuesdays... and i hear that GG hasn't suffered at all for Amy Sherman-Pallidino's departure. Phew...
4 ~ Prison Break. It's like crack isn't it? You know the plots are utterly ludicrous. You know that no one else would be able to elude capture that many times or that there wouldn't really be that many corrupt officers chasing them. Yet it just reels me in week after week, like an exhilarating rollercoaster ride. Though I think i'd be quite happy if the story was completely wrapped up in season two... best not to drag it out. Don't want to make me sick...
3 ~ Smallville. After a crappy season 4, year 5 experienced something of a creative renaissance leading up to a great, if somewhat nostalgiac season finale. Fortunately the greatness has continued into season 6 - not in the least for the addition of leather clad bow slinger Green Arrow who looks to start up a Justice League. The promo ads look stunning and it's the only good thing to come out of the disappointingly not picked up Aquaman pilot,,,
2 ~ Desperate Housewives. Is back to being brilliant. Although actually i still really liked season 2 apart from that dodgy man in the basement storyline. Bree continues to hog all the best lines, Susan continues to have the best slapstick comedy and Lynette has the best neurotic mother role i've ever seen. Separately and together these wives are certainly at the top of their game this season...
1 ~ Grey's Anatomy. Well really, what else could it be. The only show since Felicity to string out a love triangle for so many seasons and still make it watchable, heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. Off set shenanighans seem to have overshadowed the storylines of late, but this is still my favourite drama on television at the moment. Viva McDreamy!!
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QUICK BITZ/BLOG WATCH:
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~ Another guilt free Mika download from Arjan - at this rate, I will soon have the whole album ;)
~ L'il Henry may not be able to post comments on my site (boo!) but he has set up a forum related to his Fetch Me... site. Well done that man :)
~ They are probably all from somewhere else, but Michel saves you having to look all over the place for an impressive array of video clips and photos from Kylie's Oz Tour...
Oh dear god - the winner of a show i never heard of has covered The Rose. Simon Cowell is SO original ;) Lovely Jessica has the goods. Oh my god. Someone help me. I really like it...
~ at this very minute in time DazPod is being very weird and slightly sexy with his iPod...
~ call me a geek (and lose your teeth ;) ) but it's quite exciting that Babylon 5 is making another movie, no?
~ Is this site for real? They have the whole Everwood collection on dvd, but is it legit??
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Coming soon ~ well it's the Scissor Sisters tonight with Ruthiepoos, so you know that's gonna feature; some more about TheZapping Record Company feature; that thing on Books probably linked into Gary Barlow; Lois and Clark; more up and coming myspacers; another fashion update; Jean; 24 Days of Christmas and lots more...