He's Baaaaaaack

If history has taught us anything, it's that death is one of the best things can ever happen to your career.  Elvis, John Lennon, Tu-pac, Aaliyah - all artists who have gone on to become big sellers (in some cases, bigger earners than in life) from beyond the grave.

So yesterday's announcement by Michael Jackson's former manager that a ten track CD of never before heard Jackson recordings will be released this November, was hardly unexpected.  The release and success of 'This Is It' in cinemas and on DVD and CD have already proved that MJ is still a massive global brand ripe for the exploiting so an announcement of more music has been eagerly anticipated by fans.

It's safe to say this new music will not be the last we hear of Michael Jackson in the coming years.  Drip feeding us only ten tracks certainly suggests there is much more to come - especially as there are rumours of more than one hundred unheard Jackson songs.

I'm interested to see how Sony decide to promote the project and what the songs themselves are like, hopefully they will genuinely be 'new' recordings and not a bunch of tracks left on the cutting room floor from previous MJ albums.

We'll see what happens come November.

Lady Collins

On the left is Lady Gaga on the cover of September's issue of Vanity Fair magazine.

On the right is a stunning Joan Collins circa the 1960's.

Flower Power.

Song of the Moment: Robyn - The Girl and the Robot

After a two years hiatus, Robyn has returned with the first of three albums to be released this year, 'Body Talk Part 1'.  The brilliant lead single 'Dancing On My Own' found the singer in familiar territory to her breakthrough hit 'With Every Heartbeat'; an electro-dance pop beat with melancholic lyrics lamenting love lost and vowing to carry on.  Whilst her previous eponymously titled album was full of hits, so far the 'Body Talk' series has yet to really impress.  That said the 7-track CD is not without it's charm, with the exception of the lead single, the track 'Cry When You Get Older' is 80's hip-pop heaven - something Robyn is very good at.


However one of the stand-out tracks is the closing number 'The Girl and the Robot'.  Not really a new track, it first featured as a single from the band Röyksopp in 2009 with Robyn's vocals and gained wide spread critical kudos in Europe before being included on Robyn's own album.  Described as "a demented choral, electronical masterpiece", 'Robot' finds Robyn in full-on obsessive bunny-boiler mode with lyrics set to a back drop of haunting sounds and back-up vocals.  Even for an artist as experminetal and unique as Robyn, the track is "out-there".


Let's hope that as the 'Body Talk' series continues it will continue to provide more of the same.  Check out 'The Girl and the Robot' below.

Is Spiderman homophobic?

He doesn't look too happy about 'it' on the latest cover of 'Ultimate Comics' by Marvel.  In all seriousness though, well done to Marvel for bringing themselves in to 2010.

America by Palin

To your left is the front cover of the latest manifesto of hate book by the future president of America Sarah Palin.  Needless to say, there won't be a book review of it here.

She looks.... radiant?

This is the first promotional poster for Britney Spears' latest fragrance 'Radiance'.

Whilst the bottle isn't actually as terrible as you first think it is, the image of Spears only continues to look more bizarre.  I mean is that even her body?  It looks like her (heavily retouched) face of nowadays has been added to her body of circa 2001.  It's certainly not the body of the more curvy Britney of recent years.

Plus what's with the hair?  It looks like liquorice.  That said, it does look better than it does 99% of the time.

Toy Story Inception

What if you could incept an idea in the mind of a toy through their dreams?  I guess it would look a little bit like this.

A little message to all those who oppose gay marriage

That's Miss Smith to You

The young girl to your left is not, as you may rightly assume, a young Rihanna - she's actually the daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith and her name is Willow Smith (eyes roll).

The nine-year-old girls's own stylist (which in itself is just wrong) says that she's "very involved" in her own style and "rebellious". "Rebellious".  At nine-years-old?  Good luck Will and Jada - by the time she gets to her teens can you imagine what a spoilt nightmare Willow is going to be?  And they only have themselves to blame.

There's nothing wrong with little Smith dressing how she wants - playing dress-up (which is essentially what this faux-Rihanna look is) and being creative should be encouraged at any age.  I just worry that already having a stylist and being tabloid fodder will do her no favours later in life.

Expect Willow to have an agent by ten.  (That's if she doesn't already).

And They Said It'd Never Happen

Well it has - they've actually made a film called 'Titanic 2' - available in your local DVD bargain bin soon.  Of course it has nothing to do with or stars any of the same people in the iconic DiCaprio/Winslet version.  If you fancy a good laugh, watch the trailer below.



A contender for worst film of the year so far perhaps?

I Must Have One!

The photo to your left was taken last year at the 'World Beard and Moustache Championship' in Alaska, but it's the hat, not the facial hair that is the real eye-catcher.

I wonder what PETA would say?

If You've Seen 'Inception'...

....then the video below will blow your mind all over again.  Something so well hidden, yet completely in plain sight through-out the film.  The question is though - how is it played over THAT final scene?