Spy Hunter commercial
Has anyone seen the new Pontiac G8 GT commercial inspired by the 1980′s Nintento game Spy Hunter? I loved that game so much! It was very cool seeing it turned into a live video action sequence! I get sentimental just hearing that familiar music. 
Here’s the commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJC0nzzm4xk
Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock
Damn, Madonna, that was better than I thought it would be. Nice work.
4 Minutes to Save the World featuring Justin Timberlake and Timbaland:
Mariah’s Best Work Yet?
Today it was confirmed that Mariah Carey’s single “Touch My Body” has broken the record set by Elvis Presley for the most #1′s. Elvis had 17 and Mariah now has 18. The Beatles have the highest record, set at 20, and Mariah is well on her way to beating that. Yay!
There has been a great deal of buzz about her upcoming album E=MC2, and all of it positive. At the beginning of the week, several of the songs were leaked and surprisingly the big gossip sites have remained silent about it. I wonder why? Well I guess I’m letting the cat out of the bag.
It appears as if there was some type of studio documentary Mariah was putting together that explains how each song was written. The footage includes about 2 minutes of previews from the songs. I don’t know where the source of the leaks is, but it’s been fascinating to hear and see how a song is made. They keep appearing on YouTube, but then are quickly pulled. So if you want to hear them, try searching later at night.
The tracks leaked were “Love Story” (a ballad, rumored to be her next single and next #1 hit), “Bye Bye” (a very sad song about death and loss), and “Migrate” (which is the infamous song she performed poorly on SNL). When the criticism came up that she gave a bad performance of “Migrate” last month, Mariah defended herself saying she hadn’t had time to plan the live version since she was a last minute replacement for Janet Jackson. I have to agree with Mariah, the studio version really is good!
Another song is “I’m That Chick”, which Mariah performed on MTV last week. Wow. This song is really addictive and sounds unlike anything she’s ever done. I really like it.
So is this Mariah’s best album ever? At minimum, I think it’s going to be one of the best ones since the 1990′s. She has a completely new perspective on music and each song is extremely unique. One thing I’ve noticed is that Mariah has dramatically improved her lyrics. Every track has a very catchy hook to it that gets stuck in your head, and they are memorable. I find myself listening to the previews over and over again.
Congratulations, Mariah! I hope you go on to beat even more records!
Thank You For Being A Friend…
When we were in New York last month, we found this awesome Golden Girls T-Shirt! It was designed by a local gay artist, Glen Hanson, and I meant to write a blog post about it, but never did.
It’s available in black, white, and brown.
Edit: It’s no longer available on the web, but as of 2011, it was still being sold at the store Rainbows & Triangles in Chelsea. They don’t have an online store, but if you call, you can probably pay over the phone and get it shipped.
Dear Mariah…
Add this to my collection of Mariah Carey posts. Yes, I know you dear readers hate the woman. The gays turned on her somewhere around 1998. I can only speculate, but I think it was the poodle hair she sported in Hawaii. It was right then and there that the gays threw in the towel. By 1999, I couldn’t get one gay friend to say they liked her anymore, and it was all downhill from there.
But I digress… I’ve been a loyal Mariah since 1990, and I suspect I always will be. Clearly somebody is buying her music… just nobody that reads my blog. (Except for you Alexsander.)
So her new CD is coming out, and I do believe my advice is helping. Look at Janet Jackson. I wrote several spirited posts back in 2006 giving her tips on how to make better music, and I think she took notes. That woman has completely turned it around. Good for you, Miss Jackson. I’m glad I could help you.
Now that brings me to my beautiful Mariah… you know you’re the only woman I’d switch for. But we need to talk about these rappers.
Let’s stroll back to 1995 when you did the “Fantasy” remix with ODB. Yeah, that was edgy. You were a pop princess living in Tommy-land, and collaborating with a rapper pissed off all the right people. It was a new sound for the Mariah we’d all known, and we liked it. It was a #1 hit. Good for you.
By 1997, the rap was going a little overboard. To this day, I don’t understand why people allow Jermaine Dupri to talk on their songs. “JD, y’all” is not singing… it’s not even rapping. He’s just this freakishly short man who says his name in the middle of songs, and ruins the whole damn thing for me. Really, Mariah… what value does he bring to the table?
As we moved into 1999, things got really crazy. There were just random guys screaming on your songs. No reason, they just screamed at really inappropriate times. The concept of rapping had went out the window. But I could still forgive you, because I understood that you were doing your independent thing, trying to find your place in the world, and all that good stuff.
We’ll bypass the early 2000′s because I think the media was incredibly harsh on you. So let’s just move on to to your most recent albums. You’ve survived the storms, you’ve grown up now, and you’re wiser and stronger. Why haven’t you ditched the annoying rappers?
Honey, you can out-sing anyone. You’ve been in this industry for nearly 2 decades! Why, oh why, do you feel like you have to share the stage with these rappers? You have enough talent to fill a 4 minute song on your own.
Last night, you appeared on Saturday Night Live with T-Pain, who looked like a homeless guy you picked up in an alley on your way to the show. Why???
The song was great. You were doing very well on your own. And you looked fantastic. I see no reason why this clown had to jump on stage 3 minutes into the song and start jumping around. Then you started dirty dancing with him. Bleh…
If you want my professional opinion; you should delay the album release and remove the rappers from the songs. Re-release it in May and let it be a true Mariah Carey album that features you and you alone. Come on… you’ve earned it!
Just look what my advice did for Janet. 
Madonna… we’ll get to you next week…
Nathan Exposed In “Out” Magazine
In the April 2008 edition of Out Magazine, yours truly has a spot in the Out Letters section. My commentary was in response to the ongoing “is he or isn’t he gay” article about singer Mika.
At first I thought they had watered down my quote, but then I realized I was the one who watered it down. I had originally written a very long-winded analysis, but erased it and submitted the short and sweet version that made it to the magazine. I guess it worked, because there I am.
My quote:
Oh, come on. I love Mika, but no straight men ever makes that big of a deal about his sexuality, so at minimum he’s bisexual. But more than likely he’s 100% gay. Perhaps he’s stuck in that unfortunate phase where you secretly know you’re gay, but in public you try to rationalize that you might be straight because you enjoy the company of women. Enjoying their company is not the same as being attracted to them.
His interviews remind me very much of the ones from Darren Hayes’ early days. Darren just refused to “label” or discuss his sexuality, and tried to make it this big mystery for years. For the record, nobody cared when he finally did come out, and he wrote the most amazingly beautiful record after he was “free” to be himself.
——-
Pictured above: Rodney, Mika, Me, Rey
Thanks to Chris at Hunk du Jour for bringing it to my attention that my comment was published!
Ken Lee
Oh how I love hearing a classic song get butchered.
Is it fair to assume we’ve all heard Mariah Carey’s cover of the song “Without You” from 1993? It’s one of those perfect pop ballads that can so easily turn into a karaoke disaster.
But I think this version takes the cake. During an audition of Bulgarian Idol, a contestant thought the song was called “Ken Lee” (she was confusing the lyrics “can’t live” with “Ken Lee”).
So watch what happens when she comes in for an audition, thinking she’s singing a song called “Ken Lee”…
But wait… It gets worse! The words she was singing are not a foreign language! She thinks she’s singing in English and this is her translation of the song. That’s why the judges are in stitches — because the contestant isn’t even singing in a real language.
It’s one of those clips that gets funnier every time you watch it!
Noah Baby!
One of my favorite gay themed TV shows is coming back. I’m so happy!
Noah’s Arc, which was canceled abruptly after 2 successful seasons on Logo, is coming back in the form of a movie. It was announced on Thursday that shooting will begin in March and will pick up where the cliffhanger left off at the end of the last season.
Too bad it’s going to be a film, though. I still don’t understand why it was canceled. Everything I’ve heard suggests that the whole cast was ready and willing to do a third season, and it was a very popular show on Logo, so it wasn’t the ratings.
Hmmm… I suspect their was a princess tantrum somewhere behind the scenes. The question is: Who?
Trading Spaces
Thanks to a gigantic billboard in Times Square, I found out last week that Paige Davis is back on Trading Spaces.
Ah, the fond memories we have of that show. It was a Saturday night tradition in our household. Rodney and I would pile on the couch each week to see what new designs they came up with for homes, and how the homeowners would react. Often times we’d even have friends over to watch. It was just a good time.
The show changed the way the public looked at interior design and got millions of people interested, who otherwise wouldn’t have been.
But eventually things did fall apart for the show. They got too gimmicky and were doing all these crazy things. The final nail in the coffin was when TLC fired Paige Davis. That’s when they lost us, as well as most of their other viewers.
Now it’s back… in its original form. Paige Davis is the host, many of the old designers are back, and the show is very simple. No crazy gimmicks, just the regular show that we know and love.
Rodney and I watched it tonight. It was a very nice return to old traditions.
Good choice, TLC. I’m glad you came to your senses.
New York Update
Rodney, Mika, Nathan, Rey
Thanks everyone for the comments on my last post. I hadn’t been online since we got here, so I wanted to pop on and say hello.
Just to give a quickie… we’re having an awesome time, Rey and his friends are extremely kind and helpful to us “tourists”… and for all you Mika fans, thanks to Rey’s wonderful connections, we personally met Mika, shook his hand, and took a photo with him.
Let me just summarize by saying everything has been AMAZING!
More later! Hope you’re all doing well.
