BuzzSugar

Link Time! 8/6

BuzzSugar — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 13:30:33 -0700

Did Ugly Betty really need a makeover? - BellaSugar
Lost's Josh Holloway figures Sawyer has to die by the end of the series. - MTV Movies Blog
Have you heard Radiohead's new charity track? - Vulture
Dear CW: Stop the remakes! - TV.com
Milla Jovovich talks "girl fights," being a mom, and Resident Evil. - Moviefone
Is it time to take Chris Kattan (more) seriously? - Cinematical
Why does NBC have trouble selling smart ideas? - The TV Addict
No, really, this is relevant to the upcoming movie Final Destination: Could a car wash kill you for real? - Popwatch

Pay-What-You-Want For Albums: Great Idea or "Idiotic"?

BuzzSugar — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:30:20 -0800

Remember back when Radiohead allowed listeners to pay whatever they wanted for the In Rainbows album? That was pretty cool, right? Well, Robert Smith of the Cure disagrees. He told the following to Music Radar:

You can't allow other people to put a price on what you do, otherwise you don't consider what you do to have any value at all and that's nonsense. If I put a value on my music and no one's prepared to pay that, then more fool me, but the idea that the value is created by the consumer is an idiot plan, it can't work.

What do you think of this? Is the pay-what-you-want tactic foolish? Or a cool idea?

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Buzz In: What Were Your Favorite Grammy Moments?

BuzzSugar — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 10:31:49 -0800

Sunday night's Grammy Awards were so full of performances, I kept forgetting that awards were actually being handed out! My personal highlight reel? Like Pop, I loved watching a very pregnant MIA getting her swagga on with Kanye, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and TI. Lucky TI, he's actually in two of my favorite moments of the night - his duet with Justin Timberlake's the other. I also got a kick out of watching the USC marching band backing up Thom Yorke during Radiohead's performance. And I'm still wondering this morning what all that background noise was when Robert Plant and Alison Krauss accepted their final award - it couldn't have actually been booing, right?

Your turn! What were your favorite Grammy moments?

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Jay-Z + Radiohead = Jaydiohead

BuzzSugar — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:30:54 -0800

Ever since I stumbled across Jaydiohead this morning my productivity level has gone down a bit. However, lucky for me, my job is such that listening to Jaydiohead and being productive go hand in hand. But if this isn't the case for you, be warned. You may find yourself addicted.

Jaydiohead is (you might have guessed) the blending of Jay-Z and Radiohead, and it's just one of those combinations that feels so right. I probably never would have thunk it but now that it exists, I can't get enough. If you're already a fan of Radiohead, it's cool to hear the familiar tunes used in this new way (like my favorite track, "No Karma" which uses parts of Radiohead's "Karma Police"). It's hard to explain how cool this sounds so click here to download the tracks or if you're signed up with imeem you can hear Jaydiohead in a playlist if you read more.

Jaydiohead :: Jay-Z x Radiohead

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Surviving the 2008 Outside Lands Music Festival

BuzzSugar — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:30:13 -0700

In theory, the Outside Lands Festival here in my little city by the Bay seemed like a lot of fun - especially since I didn't have to pay the exorbitant ticket prices ($250 for a three-day pass!). As such a gigantic concert in Golden Gate Park, it seemed like an experiment I should witness firsthand, like I might be a part of history or something.

The lineup for the weekend was impressive: Radiohead, Beck, Wilco, Regina Spektor, Tom Petty, Jack Johnson, Cake, The Walkmen, The Black Keys, and a bunch more. Then again, you'd have to have those cartoon speedy legs that turn into blurry wheels as they propel you forward at warp speed in order to actually see all the bands you'd like to see. The stages were pretty far apart, and there was a noticeable lack of helpful signs. On Friday I walked in the wrong direction for a while before doubling back toward the box office, and by the time I got my pass the only act I could catch was Radiohead. They were excellent - no complaints about the actual performances, really - but it was a lot of running around (literally), not to mention a royal pain in the neck dealing with the public transportation system, which was clearly overwhelmed by the multitudes of concertgoers.

Anyway, for the most part, I liked the concerts once I got to them. To check out some of my impressions, read more.

I hadn't seen Radiohead perform in years, so it was a real treat to check them out. For all the vast space in the main-stage area, the sound was good (well, perhaps a little too good for many of the residents living near the park).
Tom Petty was one of my very first concerts as a teen, so getting to see him again was sweetly nostalgic. His set was also the one where I found a pretty wide variety of ages in the audience; it was really cool to see how many generations know and love Petty's music. As he and the Heartbreakers began their final song I decided that those first sounds of "American Girl" (tun-tunga-tun, tatata, tun-tunga-tun) might be some of the most recognizable in all of American music.

There is definitely something uniquely awesome about a Summer music festival with all the raucous dancing in the sun and carefree belting out of lyrics. It's fun to see how unifying music can be, even with crowds of thousands.
The bands seemed to agree. Almost every act I caught appeared to be having an almost blissful time and giving spirited performances in return. Broken Social Scene's multitextured sound was boosted by its collective mirth.
Even Jeff Tweedy, the often-surly lead singer of Wilco, was downright giddy as his band closed out the Twin Peaks stage on Sunday night. Unfortunately, the sound at the Wilco show could have been turned up a notch or two; it was too hard to hear, even from the VIP section on the sidelines.
The Drive By Truckers, on the other hand, were as wonderfully over-the-top as always, rocking through a tight set and passing their standard bottle of Jack Daniels back and forth in the waning afternoon sun. In fact, I probably most enjoyed the experiences on the smaller side stages, where the crowds were rollicking but not impenetrable like on the larger venues.
Another favorite part about fests: Though I always have an itinerary of shows to hit, I love stumbling onto the ends of other performances I didn't plan to catch - in this case, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. I never understood all the fuss about Jones until I caught the last 15 minutes of her set; damn, that woman is intense, and intensely sassy. Hearing her live is clearly the way to go.

Music Video: Radiohead Joins with MTV to Fight Global Trafficking

BuzzSugar — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:35:22 -0700

The last thing you may be looking for from your pop culture intake is a big old message about global trafficking - or as MTV's EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) project puts it, modern-day slavery. However, I think it is precisely this blending together of real-world message with pop culture that Radiohead is attempting to do in a new video for their song "All I Need." They succeed beautifully by showing us two young boys in different parts of the world going about their everyday lives and how different their respective experiences are.

Of working with MTV and the importance of this issue, frontman Thom Yorke told the Hollywood Reporter:

All power to MTV for taking this on because its obviously going to be difficult for them in terms of the advertisers. With the ("All I Need") video, their lawyers had to beg to make sure there wasn't a single white trainer with a logo on it because the implication would be a little too close. But the implication is still there.

For those who don't know, a "trainer" is an athletic shoe, like one made by, say, Nike.

Nothing like a poignant video tackling a somewhat taboo topic in the West to suck all the snark right out of the blogosophere. Stereogum called the video "deeply inspiring" and said that the final shot is "one of the more emotionally charged moments in a music video that we can remember." I couldn't agree more and think everyone should pause today and take a look.

You can watch the video for yourself and check out Radiohead's recent brilliant performance on the Conan O'Brien show if you read more.

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Link Time! 4/29

BuzzSugar — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:30:35 -0700

TV Squad wants to know why some people seem to hate Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
Cinematical wonders how you feel about it when famous people play themselves.
You Ain't No Picasso has the video of Prince covering Radiohead's "Creep" at Coachella.
The TV Addict has a chat with Gossip Girl's Jessica Szohr.
PopSugar wonders whether you love or hate Scarlett Johansson's new video for "Falling Down."
Stereogum chats about Tegan and Sara's witty onstage banter, complete with video evidence.
Seat42f has an interview with Moonlight star Jason Dohring.
Speaking of Moonlight, Popwatch saw that show's shirtless opening scene last week and now wants to know about some of the other most gratuitous moments in TV history.
The MTV Movies Blog talks to Emile Hirsch about whether a Speed Racer sequel is inevitable.

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Are Big Music Festivals Worth the Money?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:41:48 -0700

The full lineup for this summer's Lollapalooza festival in Chicago won't come out till Monday, but according to the Chicago Sun-Times, the major acts are biggies: Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine, the Raconteurs, Wilco, and Kanye West will headline the main stages. Other acts the Sun-Times confirmed include Gnarls Barkley, Broken Social Scene, Cat Power, and Grizzly Bear.

Though the list of artists has been kept under wraps, tickets have already been on sale for a while - with the current round of three-day passes priced at $190. That's a pile of money, but i's nothing compared to the whopping $269 it'll cost ya for three days at Coachella this month - or even the $225 fee for three days at this year's inaugural Outside Lands festival here in San Francisco.

Sure, you can see a lot of big-time bands for that money, and given the cost of individual concert tickets these days, maybe it's not so bad. But once you factor in travel and lodging, going to a music festival takes a lot of coin. Is it worth it?

EW Picks the Best 25 Indie Rock Albums - Do You Agree?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:30:52 -0700

Ah, top 25 lists. I know some people hate to list music in this way because it's so hard (I know this first hand) to compare albums and favorite songs much less pick favorites. A wise first step for any list maker is to narrow the field by genre, which is what EW recently did to choose the best indie albums from each year, from 1984 up until the present.

They also gave themselves some rules for which albums are eligible, including defining "independent" as "the bands had to have been signed to an independent label for the given album" (so, Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirt doesn't count because that album was released on Geffen Records) and they have to be bands, not individual artists, which is why you won't see Elliott Smith or Sufjan Stevens in there.

Here are the picks for the past five years:

2008: Radiohead, In Rainbows
2007: Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
2006: The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America
2005: Bright Eyes, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
2004: Arcade Fire, Funeral

I have a nit to pick with their 2006 choice and probably would have chosen Band of Horses, Everything All the Time for the best of that year. What do you think? Anyone missing? To see the rest of the list, read more.

2003: The White Stripes, Elephant
2002: Interpol, Turn on the Bright Lights
2001: The Shins, Oh, Inverted World
2000: Yo La Tengo, And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out
1999: Sleater-Kinney, The Hot Rock
1998: Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
1997: Modest Mouse, Lonesome Crowded West
1996: Belle and Sebastian, If You're Feeling Sinister
1995: Archers of Loaf, Vee Vee
1994: Guided By Voices, Bee Thousand
1993: Built to Spill, Ultimate Alternative Wavers
1992: Pavement, Slanted and Enchanted
1991: My Bloody Valentine, Loveless
1990: Fugazi, Repeater
1989: The Pixies, Doolittle
1988: Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation
1987: Dinosour Jr., You're Living All Over Me
1986: R.E.M., Life's Rich Pageant
1985: The Smiths, Meat Is Murder
1984: The Replacements, Let It Be

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Buzz News Roundup, 3/17

BuzzSugar — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:29:15 -0700

ComingSoon reports that Harry Potter 6 will definitely be released in IMAX when it hits theaters November 21.
ABBA drummer Ola Brunkert has died at the age of 62, writes Billboard.
Though the current season hasn't been getting great ratings, another season of Big Brother has been slated for this summer, Reuters reports.
CBS Films shelled out a cool $1 million for an untitled Dan Fogelman comedy script about four semi-retired baby boomers who take a trip to Las Vegas, according to Variety.
Justine Bateman will guest-star on Desperate Housewives playing an artist living with Gaby and Carlos, TV Guide reports.

Radiohead has launched a contest for animated, fan-made videos for any song from In Rainbows, according to the Associated Press.
Hollywood Reporter writes that Kathy Bates and Rupert Friend have joined Michelle Pfeiffer in the French period drama Cheri.
Ashlee Simpson's third album, Bittersweet World, will be released April 22, Billboard reports.

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