Watching New Celebs

So Anna left a comment on yesterday’s post about Thirty Seconds to Mars and how Jared Leto is the band’s frontman, which I would have known had I dug into the bio section of their site, and my first thought was “like dogstar?” (sidenote: Anna & Guilia - send me an e-mail jen[at]gonzopants[dot]com with your address and I’ll send you a random CD from the collection). Dogstar, for anyone wondering, was the “modern rock” trio whose bassist was none other than Keanu “I know kung fu” Reeves. They have since disbanded, but their teen movie-ready “music” lives on, thanks to the joy and wonder that is myspace. And all of this led me to wonder what other bands are out there, ready for their shot at mediocrity and bargain bins, fronted by actors?
Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts, an Australian pub band. Russell Crowe is the singer and guitarist, and his other effort Russell Crowe and the Ordinary Fear of God
Dennis Quaid and the Sharks
Juliette and the Licks
Steven Seagal Band
The Bacon Brothers

Any more? You know where to comment.

It used to be that band names fell neatly into a few categories:
The [adjective][noun(s)]
The [noun(s)]
[Adjective][noun]
The [name] Band
[Name] [# of members in the band]
[Noun], [noun], & [noun] (could also be [name], [name], & [name]
[Name] and the [adjective noun] Band
and the simplest, [Noun]
Examples of the above include The Rolling Stones, The BeeGees, The Police, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship, Pink Floyd, Buffalo Springfield, The Dave Matthews Band, Ben Folds Five, Earth Wind & Fire, Peter Paul & Mary, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, Bruce Springstien & the E Street Band, Genesis, Chicago, and Journey.

Now, however, we’re seeing an influx of oddly-named bands - most often comprised completely of young men wearing black eyeliner in excess - and they’re taking off like wildfire.
Panic!At the Disco
Fallout Boy (technically this is an [adjective] [noun] construction, but fallout is also a noun so it’s [noun] [noun] and that’s what makes the name odd)
My Chemical Romance
and the one I saw for the first time today while in an unnamed big box store (had to get cat food. It wasn’t the evil blue big box store with the insufferable smiley face mascot, for those of you ready to fire up the e-hate): Thirty Seconds to Mars.

Eh? Thirty Seconds to Mars? What kind of a name is that? But the CD cover said they’d won an MTV video music award in 2006, so I figured why not blog about them?

Ugh. They suck. I was really hoping that they’d be good, because I want cool bands with cool names to infiltrate this over-produced ridiculousness that we’ve got on radio, but they’re dead awful. The art on the CD (and their website) is stylized in a way that made me think they were a metal band, but really they’re just another Creed/Nickleback “modern rock” pile. Damn. And what’s with them ripping off a KT Tunstall lyric? “On his face is a map of the world” isn’t anything approaching original, guys. Their one redeeming quality is the guitar riff at the beginning of “From Yesterday,” the single that’s being hailed & whatever. It’s good, and if the album were a guitar instrumental (a la some of the tracks from Santana’s Havana Moon), it would be great, but they add in the synthesizer and the crashing drums and it ruins it. The drummer sounds like a four-year-old hyped up on red bull & twizzlers, the singer’s voice is obviously corrected in post-production, and the lyrics are a 13-year-old’s angsty ripoff of already established artists. Like Hinder, they need to take their money and their award and disappear.

bands that shouldn’t exist, modern rock, music, mtv video awards, thirty seconds to mars, bands

Ah, I slay me.

Didn’t watch the Oscars last night. Went on a date with The Husband, instead, for the first time in who knows how long. Reading the recaps, I didn’t miss much, but I did miss this gem from Jaden Smith and Abigail Breslin that apparently isn’t on youtube but is on google video. Skip to 6:48 to see their segment.
Abigail didn’t win best supporting actress nor did Little Miss Sunshine win for best picture, but Jennifer Hudson won for Dreamgirls in the best supporting actress category. Little Miss Sunshine did win an Oscar for best original screenplay and an Independent Spirit Award on Saturday. I don’t like having a huge movie collection, but I’m lobbying The Husband to add this one to the library.

Look at how age-appropriate she looks. None of this celebutante stuff, she looks just how a ten-year-old should look at a fancy party. I am so pulling for her to be a really big, really grounded, really long-playing star.

And look at that girl! Simon doesn’t know what the eff he’s talking about. And look at those curves! I’m a firm believer that, given the right dress, any woman at any size can look hawtt, and Jennifer just proves it. Amazing.

Little Miss Sunshine, Abigail Breslin, Jaden Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness, Oscars, Academy Awards, spiritawards, Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls

In honor of Sunday’s Academy Awards show, I offer you a listing of songs to listen to as you prepare for your Oscar parties.
The Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack
The Devil Wears Prada soundtrack
Dreamgirls soundtrack
The Pursuit of Happyness soundtrack
That list includes songs by KT Tunstall & Jennifer Hudson, two gals we’ve discussed here before.

Your favorite Oscar-worthy songs go in the comments.
Oh, and to make things fun (and to pad my ego): everyone who comments between now & Easter gets a random CD from my collection, until they’re all gone. Limit one per person.

Oscars, Academy Awards, Academy Award nominated films, The Pursuit of Happyness, Dreamgirls, Little Miss Sunshine, The Devil Wears Prada, KT Tunstall, Jennifer Hudson, Will Smith, movies, music, soundtracks

We do a lot of reading around this house. Everything from Are You My Mother? to I Love Everybody (And other Atrocious Lies) to When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops to Founding Mothers. Now, I know this blog is supposed to be about new “celebrities,” and I assure you most of the time it will be (barring slow news days, like today, jeesh), but I want to branch out, too. So today I want to talk about Nickname Press, a new Canadian publishing company. Nickname Press publishes children’s’ books about non-traditional families. So far there are three titles: Ryan’s Mom Is Tall, The Not-So-Only Child,and Monicka’s Papa Is Tall. As a mom, I think it’s awesome when I find books about families that aren’t the same as every other family shown in the media. Certain organizations don’t agree with me, and thus we celebrate and participate in Banned Books Week every year, looking into why certain books are controversial. No doubt the books published by Nickname Press will be on that list (just as Heather Has Two Mommies and a number of others are), and I say kudos to them for that.

And now as a total non-sequitor, a video

books, children’s books, publishing companies, Canadians, Nickname Press, youtube videos

I was browsing the bookstore today, thinking about how late today’s post was going to be and about how I need material and about how I’m not cool and where do cool people find cool stuff to talk about and woe woe woe when BAM I found a new magazine. Under the Radar is a music magazine dedicated to indie/alt rock. Not necessarily everyone featured is new/unsigned/unheard of outside college radio (the current issue’s cover story is Modest Mouse. If you haven’t heard Modest Mouse yet, I’d like to know the location of the rock under which you live so I can come kick it), but it’s well done. I just browsed it because I was running late, but they talk about The Shins and The New Pornographers, both of whom I like a lot, and they interview artists about music they’re listening to, which is always cool. So check it out, then send it to me, because I’m not buying anything I don’t need for the next 40 days, in an effort to declutter before our move to Seattle. EEP!

And I leave you with this New Pornographers video because I like this song.

The New Pornographers, Under the Radar, The Shins, Modest Mouse, magazines, indie rock, music, music magazines

I love puns.

I also love catchy tunes.

The Bird and the Bee is a new band with catchy tunes.

Read the Billboard profile here, watch the youtube video down there (points down), and tell me where you think you’ve heard that song before. Because I haven’t heard it, but it seems like I have.

The Bird and the Bee, indie pop, music

Am I just not looking hard enough? Has the Monday madness (I had a midterm and a research paper due today) caught up with me? Am I just boring? Whatever the case, I don’t have good material today. Give me some input, people. Send me your favorite freshmen celebs - newbies. Graphic artists, musicians, authors (I’m especially interested in authors!), designers, whatever. Hear news - preferably positive - about a young, new celeb? Pass it along! I’m a busy gal, chances are I might not have seen it. Youtube videos are especially fun. Help a gal out! I need material and I can’t do it all on my own!

Posting time is limited today. The Bubonic Plague gastroenteritis has taken up residence in The Husband AND The Toddler, after spending a few short hours with me on Monday. We’re back in Oregon, and I have Internet again. Regular blogging will resume when we’re not laying around moaning and coughing up lungs (did I mention I’m pretty sure I’ve got a mild case of bronchitis?) in the in-laws’ house.

For now, check out Sara Tavares. The video for “Balance” was one of the featured videos on the in-flight tv channel and I thought it was fun. It’s in Portuguese, but you can get the idea anyway.

Sara Tavares, Youtube Videos

OK, so I’m going offline in a few minutes so I can pack the computer because we’re headed to NYC at the asscrack of dawn tomorrow morning. We’ll be back in OR late late late late late Tuesday night. I’ll try to blog while I’m there, but I’m unsure of the Internet situation at the place we’re staying, so no guarantees. I’ve been told there might be a substitute blogger while I’m on vacation, but that’s not up to me, so we’ll see.

And if you liked yesterday’s post, that was The Husband. I was running around cleaning the house, had a job interview in the afternoon, knitting group that night, and realized really late that I hadn’t posted. So he did. Not bad, eh? I’m trying to convince him to get his own blog, maybe talk about tv or something. If you liked the post, leave a note, make him feel good, okay?

That all said: make sure you vote in the “My Grammy Moment” thing, watch the Grammys on Feb. 11, and have a good week!

This doesn’t mark the first time that a father and son have worked together on the big screen but if this kid turns out to be anything like his father, the world (and teens who like to squeal) better watch out for Jaden Smith. In his first film, The Pursuit of Happyness, Jaden plays the inspiration for his father’s success on Wall Street and the two learn a lot about life and of themselves. I haven’t seen it yet but I’m sure it’ll be a hearting warming, gut wrenching, “it gets you right here” type of movie and I’m going to hate myself if I don’t see it. And yes we all may even learn something about life while leaving the theater as we scrape the popcorn off our shoes and wonder what kind of soda we stepped in. The movie’s going to be great we all know that, but we should really give a standing ovation to Jada and Will because lets face it people, they have great genes.

Jaden Smith, Pursuit of Happyness, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett-Smith

Many people don’t know this, but I’m a fan of British rock. I’ve liked more British rock bands than I’ve disliked, so I was excited to come across this profile of the Kooks, who I’d never heard before. They’re not getting much U.S. radio airplay, but they’re in the top 25 on the Billboard modern rock chart, and that’s significant. Catchy, vaguely familiar guitar and bass lines, simple drum beats, and distinct British accents. If I were in the habit of buying songs from iTunes, this would be one of the albums I got.

So you can experience them, too, here’s a video.

The Kooks, British rock

Denise clued me in to a new Gym Class Heroes video

Also, today’s the last day to vote in the “My Grammy Moment” thing, before it’s cut down to three finalists.

Gym Class Heroes, My Grammy Moment, youtube videos

Normally I’m really positive on this blog, talking about artists and such that I want to succeed, people that I think are really talented, have won or are up for awards, etc. But today, today I’m in a foul mood. If you’ve noticed, the post is up really late again, thanks to The Toddler needing to go to the doctor. Diagnosis: we won’t need to amputate, use neosporin & let him run naked as often as possible. Fantastic, I’m sure my carpet will enjoy that.

In any case, this sickness has sucked the good will out of me and today I want to rant about bands that suck. One band in particular. Hinder. Let’s start with their stupid stupid name. Hinder. Do they even know what that word means? I’m reminded of that line from The Princess Bride, “You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.” Then their song, the one that’s played over and over and over and over and over and OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVER. The one where he’s having a one-sided conversation with his mistress or ex-girlfriend or whomever, while “[his]girl’s in/the next room.” Horrible writing aside, terrible gimmick aside, they sound like Nickleback. And Nickleback sucks, too, because they sound like Creed. And Creed sucks because Scott Stapp is a no-talent assclown, to quote Office Space. This is one band that I hope fades away. Now.

Hinder, shitty music

Wow, whatever has taken up residence in my child is kicking MY behind.

By now, I assume, you’ve all seen the promotional photos of Daniel Radcliffe as the lead (Alan Strang) in Equus. The lucky gal who plays Jill, Strang’s girlfriend, is Joanna Christie. While her resume and training shows her to be more interested in stage than screen, I have a feeling that the buzz surrounding the play (ZOMGZORZ! HARRY POTTER’S NEKKIE!) will thrust her into the limelight.

Joanna Christie, Daniel Radcliffe, Equus