More ALD and Mourning

I'm not sure if you know, but M&M Cru won last night. First of all, why did The ACDC agree to settling the battle on a show hosted by Jonbenet Ramsey? Err I mean Miley Cyrus?* Clearly a decision based on applause at the show she was hosting was going to favor her. I'm outraged. I guess The ACDC just know they are better so they allowed this shenanigan to allow Miley to save face. Let's just put it this way: special guest Chris Brown (ACDC) v. special guest L.L. Cool J (M&M). I think its clear who wins. Too painful to embed the video, but you can find the performances here. I will say this: the teen choice performance was definitely M&M's best. Whatever, it was unfairly weighted towards M&M in many ways. Considering I am not actually a tween, I should probably move on.

Everyone really loves Anjelo Lil Demon. I know he's probably really upset today. He was on So You Think You Can Dance at age 6! (He's 7 in the ACDC video.) Love this kid.

I wish this were pertinent

My favorite blogger of celebrities, Just Jared, certainly has obsessions, and they are apparent on his blog. For example: Suri Cruise, Zac Efron and HSM at large. He seems pretty into RiRi. But is he preparing for college? He linked to this today. Weird. Is he preparing for college? I'm confused.

Battle Lines Have Been Drawn

Me and Anjelo Lil Demon have both sided with the ACDC.



Let me explain that wonderful video. So a few months ago a battle started between Miley Cyrus and her older best friend/dancer on her tour, Mandy Jiroux, and the people from the fine film Step Up 2: The Street. The battle began with the ACDC Step Up 2 challenging the M&M Cru and it was awesome. M&M responded and it was decent. ACDC came back with another incredible video featuring my beloved Chris Brown. M&M Cru came back again with their most recent video, which is just a pathetic and inferior imitation of the ACDC. The battle is being decided at the Teen Choice Awards on Monday, August 4. ACDC actually has phenomenal, while M&M is populated by the prepubescent Miley and poor yet professional Mandy. I don't think it's even a question.

I am going to assume that Ne-Yo would also choose the ACDC like me and Lil Demon Angelo, . Step yo game up, oh!! Step yo game up, oh!!

P.S.: Another Semi-irrelevant Pop Star

Vampire or David Bowie? Unclear. Pop singer/musical genius or cast member of True Blood? Again unclear.




Just so it's clear, I'm not a David Bowie fan, and I did not like Juno. I know this song from Clueless. Being an aged pop singer must be really sad.

Backstreet's Back, Never Gone.

Yes, I miss Kevin a lot as well.

My family will not let me forget this moment: When I was 13 years old, I was on the way home from a bar mitzvah. I was listening to Z100, and "I Want It That Way" came on the radio for the first time. I started crying. I loved the song, and I was so excited to hear Kevin singing the bridge. To my family, this one moment has defined my BSB fandom that spanned many years and included many tears.* While I acknowledge their relative irrelevancy, I still love them. And, more importantly, "I Want It That Way" remains tied for the #1 pop song of the last twenty years.** So I am still mildly excited to hear that they aren't done yet! However, with Howie at 34, Brian at 33 (with 1 kid!), AJ at 30, and Nick at 28, I am really concerned about some sort of New Kids on the Block redux. The "Inconsolable" video leaves me somewhat hopeful, although that did include gratuitous usage of the beach.

Some people challenge BSB's pop music supremacy. Okay fine, the former *NSYNCers may appear to be more successful. However, JC is relegated to b-status MTV reality shows like the Wade Robson project (the man who broke up Justin and Britney) and America's Best Dance Crew, which does not even feature good dancers. Joey hosts The Singing Office on TLC, the same station that featured Evan Farmer of 2ge+her (non)fame. Lance is famous for being gay. And Chris? I don't know. Fine JT is really famous and successful. But were any of them in fabulous tv show like this?



If you got something, save it for the psychiatrist!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean, I just really embrace any family who so whole heartedly supports productive therapy. Nick and his exemplify the classiness that attracts fans to the Backstreet Boys.




*When Millennium came out in 7th grade, I took the day off of school to buy the record, get free posters from the local HMV, and stand in Times Square outside of TRL (it was raining even!) in hopes of seeing BSB in the window as they recorded the show. And I did all of this by myself. Cool.
**I am delimiting the time period and not saying "of all time" because I don't want to deal with Beatles or Elvis mania or anything else similar.

In High Demand

Well Karen (see comments from post below) has alerted us all that Ne-Yo worked on the NKOTB forthcoming reunion album. We can add them to the list. The man also known as Shaffer Chimere Smith is about to work with Michael Jackson as well:

Michael Jackson, who asked Ne-Yo to write songs for his comeback album. "Yeah, Michael's putting together a new album, and I'm helping him out with it," he confirmed. According to Ne-Yo, Jackson himself called to get him onboard. "I actually hung up on him because I thought someone was playin'," he said. "'Who's this?' [high voice] 'This is Michael Jackson.' Click. Then his representative called back. 'This is Peter Lopez. I have Michael Jackson on the phone.' And I was like, 'Oh my God. Are you serious?' And then I apologized for the next ten minutes. Any comedian who has ever made fun of Michael Jackson was right on. Sad but true. He does have a very high, not very manly voice."

Will this be Michael Jackson's comeback album? Ne-Yo hopes so. "He's definitely trying," he said. "He's trying to get back to a place where people remember why they love Michael Jackson in the first place. In the beginning, you didn't care about Michael Jackson's personal life. It was about his dancing and his music. That was why you loved Mike. He's trying to get back there. And I'm trying to help." NY Mag (HT: ASM)

Apparently Michael Jackson has become fodder for public jabs, even by the artists who he undoubtedly influenced greatly. Can you imagine Ne-Yo with his lovely melodies and wide array of scarves pitching material to Jacko? I actually think it will be great. Jacko may ask to borrow a scarf or two or three for himself and his kids to cover their faces with at the next public appearance. Ne-Yo's scarf collection: more useful than merely proving his fine fashion sense!

Older Than My Grandma

This could be a quality song if you closed your eyes and had no idea who was singing.

"Summertime," New Kids on the Block


Okay, lets go over the ages of the members of the New Kids.

Jordan Knight (my favorite!): 38
Jonathan Knight: 39
Joey McIntyre ("Don't you ever wish you were someone else?"): 35
Donnie Wahlberg (psycho, gaunt man from Sixth Sense): 38 and 11/12
Danny Wood: 39

First of all, why did Jonathan and Danny approve this? They are hardly in the video. It's like a blatant acknowledgment that, unlike Jordan whose looks have only improved, they have become less attractive and obviously old. I sort of feel sad for them. Sort of. Second of all, clearly many songs were presented to them to consider for their album. Why did they choose this one?????? This is horrible handling on the part of their management. Clearly, the most astounding part is when they're all wearing white/in silhouette on the shore. Why? Why? I don't know how this got made. It's so pathetic. It reminds me of the first Backstreet Boys video "Quit Playing Games with My Heart" when they are in the rain. That was ridiculous too, but that was the 90s and they were all aged 16-23--slightly more acceptable, but still embarrassing for Kevin and Howie. Jordan emerge as my clear favorite because in the scene in that odd bamboo beach house, he clearly looks confused and aware of how strange the video is. He looks at one girl as if he is thinking "Umm how old are you? I am definitely too old to be doing this." And he has the best voice.