As a few of you know, I do some freelance work for a PR company and I get a lot of music free, which is awesome. Every so often the one site I review for, offers up some mp3s and since they did so for the holiday, I thought I'd pass along a zip file of the love-themed tunes.
Artist: Various Artists
Album: Happy Valentine's Day (144 MB)
Genre: Adult Contemporary, Alternative, Contemporary Instrumental, Indie, Jazz, Neo-Classical, New Age, Pop, Rock
Sounds Like: Smootchy Smootchy Tunes
Buy:
Melt Into You - Sara Haze
Valentine - Vitamin-D
Forever - Gabe Hizer
Hearts Left Behind - Ann Sweeten
The Way You Do - Farrad
Destiny - Farrad
Tamahana - Te Vaka
Whisper - Megaphone
Your Ways - Jeffrey Krantz
My Funny Valentine - Debbie Cunningham
What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life - Debbie Cunningham
How Much I Love You - Debbie Cunningham
Overjoyed - Debbie Cunningham
(We Don't Have to) Live for the Weekend - The Salesmen
She's So Punctual - The Salesmen
Beauty of The Heart - Lee Abramson
Cling To Me - Jennings
Falling Higher - Jennings
Romantic Issues - Strait Laces
Awhile - Kindred Souls
You Are Unlimited - Jimmy Philip Pillar
When We're Old - Beautifully Mad
With You I Can Be Me - Lisa Hugo
Just Friends - Bone Gunn
A few of these artists should be familiar to you. I've either reviewed their full albums or did a spotlight on them in Artists to Watch. Here's a chance to sample them further. There are quite a few different types of music here. I hope you snag and enjoy!
 Its funny how whenever JB is on, I'm called into the room. I have an odd fascination with this man. At times I love him. I love that he's totally out an not ashamed of it one iota. I love his campy nature and the general fact that I think he's method acting Jack Harkness, or that he's played Captain Jack so long that he's become Captain Jack and will in fact snog anything that moves. Pardon me, while I try to get in this man's line of fire. Gay or not...if he wants to bestow some hugging or kissing on me, I would be the last one to complain. I mean, really, who would complain. He's John Barrowman and he's so gorgeous that its sickening. But back to the story at hand. Last night on BBC America, JB was on the Jonathan Ross show. That in itself means something. He has something to promote. Sure he mentioned that he has a part on Desperate Housewives coming up in about a month and a half. Cos JB would get on American TV before David Tennant. Curse you John Barrowman! I miss my Doctor!!! I digressed again. What does our lovely John John have to sell to those in the UK? A new album. Oh yeah. He's singing again. At least they are songs from musicals for the most part and not pop songs, cos that hurts me. That's truly what I hate about him. I loved him to death until I heard him sing, but back to his new self titled album. Here's the tracklisting: When I Get My Name In Lights (from The Boy from Oz) One Night Only (from Dreamgirls) Copacabana (from Copacabana) I Won’t Send Roses (from Mack and Mabel) Memory (from Cats) The Kid Inside (from Is There Life After High School?) My Eyes Adored You (from Jersey Boys) Don't Cry Out Loud (from The Boy From Oz) So Close (from Enchanted) duet with Jodie Prenger Unusual Way (from Nine) You’ll Never Walk Alone (from Carousel) The Winner Takes It All (from Mamma Mia!) Oh What A Night (from Jersey Boys) Yes, you see it, Copacabana is on there. When I watched the show last night and JB performed that I joked that it was the gayest song ever recorded sung by the gayest man on the planet. A perfect combination really and he sings it wonderfully. I just wish he wouldn't do the stuff from Jersey Boys. I guess I'm a purist..and he doesn't have a voice for Frankie Valli tunes. Guess I'll be pre-ordering this expensive puppy soon. Cos I'm a glutton for punishment.
God bless the internet. Really. Because since my last Twitter post, I have stumbled upon so many more ridiculous, silly, & entertaining Twitter accounts it's not even funny. Thank you, internet nerds, for doing this. Really. You astound me. And for the record, I've been snowed in a dorm room for three days. I'm just saying. sayidjarrah: That's right, Lost fans. Sayid has a Twitter. It's not official, but it's pretty entertaining. Especially since on premier night it said, "No plans for tonight...yet." Think about what Sayid was doing for most of that two hours. Yep. Edgar_Allan_Poe: Awesome as it would be to have the man himself Tweeting from the grave, that's not the case (or is it?). Equal parts macabre, literary humor, & plain dark humor. DailySedaris: Not David Seadris himself, but a daily quote from one of his books. Dr. Drew: I love Dr. Drew. He Tweets about basically everything, from his numerous projects to inspirational quotes to daily life. He crams as much as he possibly can in 140 characters. Brace yourselves, Star Wars nerds. Luke Skywalker: Brilliant. Updates are infrequent, but when they happen, they're gems. Darth Vader: This one's just plain hilarious. Carrie Fisher: Princess Leia herself, & she's quite witty.
So. Tuesdays with Morrie.I'm pretty young & there are lots of good books in the world so I've got lots of catching up to do. I was a little kid when this came out, & when Morrie himself was actually making the news. I have vague memories of when the movie came out, but that's about it. But hey, what good would books be if we couldn't come to them years after the fact? Good stories keep making the rounds. When my grandmother died in September, my cousin & I were the first to go for her bookshelf. I took this, & The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Clearly, good choices for the mourning. I at least had the sense to wait a few months before reading it. Otherwise, the parts about death, the afterlife, etc. might've made me bawl like a baby. They would've been comforting, sure, but extremely tear-inducing. Instead, I only cried a little. I'm not sure exactly what this means in terms of the sadness factor, though, because I have some pretty embarrassing stories about movies that have made me cry that no one but my roommate, who thinks I'm insane & knows me too well anyway, needs to know about. It's not too long. It's not too complex. But it is pretty moving. It's one of those books I feel like everyone should pick up & read, because there's a lot to be gained from it. Especially now, in 2010, because even though it came out in 1997 everything is still relevant. It could've been published yesterday, save a few references to goings-on at the time. Lots of talk about life & the skewed priorities we humans often have.
 I recently obtained a copy of the soundtrack for the new chick flick, Valentine's Day. I was really intrigued by some of the songs on the album. Some where very good and others were creepy. I'm sorry, Amy Wine "O" house's cover of Cupid, hurts my ears. I'm a Motown purist and what she did to that song would have Sam Cooke rolling over in his grave and it would offend The Spinners too. But lets not discuss the bad and ugly, let's talk about one really strangely awesome cover on the album. The Bird and The Bee covered the Herman's Hermits classic I'm Into Something Good. I have a love and hate relationship with cover songs, as many of you know, but this one really made me smile. You can listen to it @ YouTube. I think Peter Noone would be suitably impressed.
I was intrigued when District 9 first came out, but like most movies, I never got the chance to actually go see it. This one was tackled one lazy weekend home from college when my dad rented a bunch of movies, & my brother kept talking about how much he loved it & how much he thought I'd like it. It's one for the sci-fi fans, for sure. It's set up like a documentary, which seems to be a growing trend. But I think District 9 really nailed this one, because it's quite convincing & has the advantage of putting you right in the middle of the action, & there's quite a bit of that. It kind of loses some of the documentary feel around the middle to the end of the movie, but that's because it shifts more to Wikus' point of view. Set & filmed in South Africa, the movie is centered around aliens who just kind of show up one day, & government agencies & organizations are set up to accommodate them. District 9 is sort of housing for them, & it's basically a slum. Wikus works for one of the organizations & is sent out one day to convince the aliens to relocate to what is later described by Wikus as a concentration camp. And with that, the movie also becomes a sort of social & political commentary. Funny how sci fi seems to do that so well. Anyway, things get a bit chaotic. Overall, it wasn't quite what I was expecting, but I can't say much else about that without completely ruining the rest of the movie. But here's what I can say. Sharlto Copley, who plays Wikus, is seriously freakin' amazing. For starters, his accent is awesome. Beyond that, he's a seriously unbelievable actor, & this was the first movie he'd ever been in, which is completely ridiculous because seriously, I can't say it enough, he blew me away. His character goes through such a range of things & he has to do so much, & Sharlto as an actor pulls it off amazingly. I'm not afraid to go out there & say that this movie wouldn't be as strong as it is without him. Whenever I talk about this movie, I always, without fail, bring up Sharlto. It's also pretty impressive visually. Every single thing looks real. I believe they tried to use little CGI, but regardless, it never feels like you're watching tons of ridiculous CGI. And where make-up is used, it's also incredibly good. I'm always amazed by the things people can do with prosthetics & some make-up. It's also pretty action-packed. Plenty of things blowing up, & plenty of graphic violence. I really liked it, & I definitely highly recommend it. However, try to kind of forget everything you expect from it in the previews, because they don't do it much justice & do little in terms of setting up what actually happens. Expectations might screw this one up. Just jump right into it & enjoy. And when you have, or if you've already seen it, be sure to check out www.fookinprawns.net. It's full of just little sound clips from the movie, which is awesome because 1) some of them, especially out of the context of the movie, are surprisingly hilarious & 2) Sharlto's bitchin' accent! I could listen to him talk for days. I'm not even kidding.
 First of all, let me be the first to tell you that I hate how release dates are different for music depending on the country. My thoughts are, if you are internationally known the release date should be the same, give or take a day, not weeks or months different. Why is Mimo upsetting me? Who the fuck is Mimo? Mimo is Andy Bell. Yes, Andy Bell of Erasure, my favorite gay boy of all time. He's also the gay boy with the best voice. (Sorry Mr. Barrowman, Andy trumps you every time) Andy wanted to put out some music under a pseudonym, so as not to get the "its Erasure without Vince" thing thrown at him again. However, one listen, and you know its Andy. His voice is that distinctive. So whatever, Mr. Bell. And after further reading there's an artist using that name already...so when the full length album comes out later this year, it will be as Andy Bell. Tres confusing, yes? But back to my rant, Mimo has a new single out today in the UK. When can we expect to get the single in the US. MARCH! I'm going to be sulking now until I can find a copy of the EP, which may be until March. Grrr
 Molly reviewed this film awhile back, but I finally got to see it last night, so I'm chiming in with my 2 cents. OK, maybe 10 cents. I liked the film. It was cute and terrifying in some parts. It definitely left me thinking. The book, only contained 388 words. That's not even one type written page in Microsoft Works or Word. So crafting a movie out of that had to take some effort and talent, regardless of what those original 388 words led too. I haven't read the book since I was a child. So I'm taking the film as I saw it. It was enjoyable. It wasn't life changing or particularly profound, but it was good. It definitely would be worth the price of theater admission or the price of a DVD. The wild things reminded me a bit of The Banana Splits characters meeting HR Puff n Stuff. They were all endearing, including the boy Max, who definitely needed some help. The boy had some anger management issues, that's for sure. I'm thinking that Carol was the embodiment of him as a monster aka Wild Thing, when he ended up Where The Wild Things Are. The movie is confusing though. You never quite understand where the wild things actually are or how he conveniently got there and back home. And the whole thing with his mom and we assume her boyfriend that went unresolved leaves me with questions. So yeah, it could have been better. It could have even made sense. It was still entertaining and the Wild Things, even when they were being creepy and violent were cute. There are definitely worse things I could have watched on a cold snowed in Saturday night.
 I Hate You Hating the New Facebook There's a time I dread every year, a time of great trepidation in Internetland: the roll out of this year's Facebook redesign. And unlike the 5 billion groups that pop up two days later, I don't hate the new designs. No, what I hate is constantly hearing how much everyone else hates it. I get an average of two group/fanpage invites a day the first two weeks of the new Facebook roll out to the effect of "Thousands of children are homeless in Haiti, but the new Facebook is the worst tragedy of the year." And I promptly delete them. Why? Because - gasp! - usually I like the Facebook redesigns. When I don't, I suck it the fuck up and get used to it. The thing I hate the most is the barrage of status updates bitching about the redesign. Most of these are folks under the age of 25 going "Waaaa I can't find ANYTHING!" The reason I hate this so much is because these are the exact same folks that say, "OMG, old people (read: anyone older than them, median age of old = 23+ I wish I were joking) don't know NEthing about the internet! LOL!" Hey, bitching people! Pot calling the kettle black much? The first day your Facebook profile updates to the new design, they have a fucking tutorial that tells you exactly where everything moved or changed. Most of the changes are cosmetic and don't have a huge impact on your user experience, too. So either clam the fuck up or have a little sympathy when someone older than you (usually your parents, but also reserved for the nameless faceless Olde People) doesn't immediately know how to upload photos on their computer or use Twitter. Caveat: This is mostly reserved for youngins and mombies who live on Facebook. If you have a for really realz job or actual grownup responsibilities, you get a free pass because, God forbid, you don't log onto Facebook every 12 seconds. PS Rant-within-a-rant: Hey, same group of people that clogs up my newsfeed with this bullshit? STOP MAKING ME FEEL OLD. Seriously, one of you saw the Phantom Menace when you were in SECOND GRADE. There is a very appropriate Garth Brooks song title I could wax poetic about if I didn't want to stab everyone of you in the eye socket right now.
 OMG So Yummy! Today was a comfort food day. I think it had something to do with a huge snowstorm that's turning most of PA, MD and VA into a winter wonderland. I'm not much of a cook but I'm getting there, slowly but surely. This recipe was quick and easy and for those of you that don't eat meat, those Morningstar/Boca crumbles are a fitting substitute. Here's the recipe: INGREDIENTS 1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef 1 small onion, chopped (about 1/3 cup) 1 cup barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays Honey BBQ) 1 can (15 oz) spicy chili beans, undrained. (Mine came from Aldi) 12 sandwich buns, split 3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (3 oz) DIRECTIONS 1. In 10-inch nonstick skillet, cook beef and onion over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is thoroughly cooked; drain. 2. Stir in barbecue sauce and chili beans. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; simmer uncovered 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened. 3. Spoon mixture onto bottoms of buns; sprinkle with cheese. Top with tops of buns. We served these with fries and some wonderful pickles from Kitchen Kettle Village.
 One from the Vaults: Nothing But Trouble When I lived with my mom, she loved to scour the discount DVD bins at local grocery stores and buy movies based on interesting covers. This is how as a wee teenager I discovered the delightfully weird clusterfuck that is Nothing But Trouble. I don't think I could come up with a better summary than my husband, who said that it was "a cross between Cars and the Rocky Horror Picture Show." But here's a shot, at least. Chevy Chase is some kind of smarmy financial writer, and Demi Moore is a lawyer. Because Demi Moore is hot, she talks Chevy Chase into driving her to Atlantic City along with two of his clients he dubs the Brazilianaires. All this back story is mostly a MacGuffin and doesn't matter too much to the plot, except that it's fun to say Brazilianaires. A speeding ticket lands them in the Night Court of the Damned, as an ancient, sadistic Dan Akroyd makes them hot dogs before trying to kill them on a roller coaster that player the Damned Yankees. Then things get weird. Bonus points for an impromptu Digital Underground concert. I suppose it's hard for me to objectively review this one, because it's a movie I've seen several times and love to pieces. It's dark, it's both consciously and inadvertently funny, its set design is mind-fuggling, and it's one of two movies based on Centralia, PA. Plus Demi Moore is oddly hot in her... hot pants business jumpsuit? (Yeah, you come up with a better description. Here's a picture.) If you want a different opinion, check out Rotten Tomatoes, where the flick averages 11%. About the only ungushy thing I can say is that you can definitely tell at times that Dan Akroyd wrote the movie, particularly with the awkward pacing that some of the actors use. But mostly, I can just echo the sentiments of an IMDB forum member who said, "Someday when I'm rich, I'm going to have a pickle-shooting condiment train." Trust me, you won't know what you're watching. Even with repeat viewings, you'll never know what the hell is going on. But at the very least, you can walk away saying you saw Tupac's film debut. Buy Nothing But Trouble on Amazon
Je me suis une asshole. Hi! There's a reason I'm called "The Space Cadet." I've pretty much dropped off the planet recently. I didn't mean to, HONEST. I can give you a laundry list of excuses: it's the busy season at work, it was my birthday and the holidays, I drove across the country, almost got arrested at 4am in Arkansas (awesome!) but you don't want to hear it. I'm sorry, ladies, I really am. But things have changed lately. I've stopped giving all my attention to the boy who doesn't deserve it, I've stopped caring about my job (and applied for a better one! wish me luck!), and I'm trying to be less of an asshole. I scanned through the posts to make sure the things I want to write about haven't been covered already (Lady Gaga? Community? LOST?!) I'm beyond amazed that Andrea didn't write about the Doctor Who holiday specials (I already hate Matt Smith, does that make me a bad person?) I'm psyched Janelle wrote a post about who to follow on Twitter. I need more interesting people. Can I add Roger Ebert to the list? The man is a great writer, and a great critic, and also f'ing hilarious. Ever since he lost his actual voice, his online voice has been crazier and genius. I love his tweets. Anyway, I'm not making GRAND promises, because, after all, I am the Space Cadet, but I'm going to try to not forget I promised to post here. xoxo
I watch several shows on BBC America. Shows that apparently hair between 8-10 in the UK and one thing that's always baffled me, is how America, the land of the free, yada yada yada, gets all up in arms over a naked tit, a swear word, homosexuality displays and yet in Britain, you can say Fuck, bare your bottom and a myriad of other things and there's no huge fines levied on people or people up in arms. Why is this? I watched The Inbetweeners last night, a show I find hilarious in its total "realness" and half of the dialogue was bleeped. Basically cos teenage boys swear a lot. Do ya think? You can't drop the f-bomb in prime time. Nope, not even on cable. Think of the children! (As if mommy's little preciouses haven't heard "fuck" on the school bus a bazillion times) Oh and on Being Human, when George and now his girlfriend change into werewolves, you see some pretty shapely bums in the process. That sort of nudity can only be shown in the 10 o'clock hour here in the US, cos all the little kiddies are in bed then. WTF! Seriously! WTF! I know this is a regular gripe of mine, but the more European TV I watch, the more I just wonder how long we can live with our heads up our asses without suffocating! Vulgar/swear words have obviously not turned everyone in Europe into a bunch of potty mouthed anarchists (maybe a few of them..but I'd say that was the same here). I'm also sure that nudity hasn't harmed anyone either, nor has any public displays of homosexuality. (Can I say, TORCHFUCKINGWOOD). ~sigh~ I'm so damn confused.
 Dear ABC: I want to bring to your attention a funny show you have on your network that you seem determined to kill, Better Off Ted. The entire cast is funny, and the scripts have been wonderful too, and yet you stick it in a time slot where it will be doomed to failure, after Scrubs. Pardon me if I remind you that no one watches Scrubs. They might have 8 seasons ago, but they don't now, and sticking this funny show right after it, isn't going to do it any favors. It would be a great fit for the Wednesday night comedy night, but for one thing, it doesn't fit in with the "family show" theme that The Middle, Modern Family and even Cougar Town bring to that night. Sadly its a more family friendly show than Cougar Town and deserves a slot in the 8 o'clock hour. I'm sure more people would come to love Veronica, Ted, Linda, Lem and Phil so much more if this show was in a better time slot. Couldn't you try it at 8 o'clock on Wednesday rather than rehashing episodes of Modern Family. Don't take away Better Off Ted! Sincerely, The Mistress Of The Dark
Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story Okay, Izzard fanatics - this one's just for us. I will devour anything that has this man's name on it, because he's hilarious, a good guy, & I'm hopelessly in love with him. This documentary shows a whole other side to him. Yeah, it's funny. Eddie Izzard is in it, of course it's funny. But it's also surprisingly moving, & in a few ways, inspiring. You see Eddie in a way you never have before. We're used to him being funny, talkative, & lively, but here you all that plus a more quiet, reflective, insecure, and even emotional side to him. And it's nice to see, but also a little heartbreaking. We see Eddie Izzard actually in tears. Hard to picture, isn't it? It's a very honest documentary. Suddenly, Eddie Izzard is so much more than just a devastatingly funny guy who occasionally cross-dresses. Personally, I found myself able to relate to him in some parts, & it made me love him all the more. It's not full of sadness, though - just snippets. But it is full of other interviews, not just Eddie. Friends, his dad, etc. Plus vintage home movies, clips of his very early street performing days, & home movies & baby pictures! Who doesn't love that? And he was the cutest little kid ever. Seriously. This is definitely one the fans want to check out. And the great news is, you can do so on the internet for free! Legally! Thank Eddie himself for Tweeting this. Go to www.epixhd.com/invite to get yourself an invite code, & watch it. And while you're at it the code gives you free access to the site for about four days, so take advantage of it & stream as many movies as your heart desires. If you're in the mood for more Izzard, they have the new-ish Live in Wembley show up there, too. And if you're not familiar with Eddie's stand-up, get off the internet & go watch it because it will not disappoint. And for the record, if you get the chance, go see the man live. True story: I saw him in Pittsburgh, & laughed so hard I cried. Then the next day someone referenced one of the jokes & I went into hysterics.
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I didn't jump on the bandwagon with Joss Whedon's Firefly until now, basically because I fell in love with Nathan Fillion's Castle. My nephew finished watching that series so we were finally allowed to watch Serenity last night.
