Archive for the ‘Entertainment’ Category
Wednesday, June 13th, 2007 |
The lyrics say it all. I don’t know where this song came out from. It’s not on his Konvicted album so it looks like he went back into the studio to cut it. Anyway there’s a new Akon song out, the title of whch may be “Put the Blame on Me”, the last verse of which speaks directly to Danah Alleyne. The final verse (amended) goes:
“I’m sorry that it took so long to see,
They were dead wrong tryin’ to put it on me,
I’m sorry that it took so long to speak,
But I was on tour with Gwen Stefani,
I’m sorry for the hand that she was dealt,
For the embarrassment that she felt,
Just a little young girl tryin’ to have fun,
Her daddy shouldn’t never let her out that young,
I’m sorry for club Zen getting shut down,
I hope they manage better next time around,
How was I to know she was under age,
In a 21 and older club they say,
Why doesn’t anyone wanna take blame,
Verizon backed out disgracing my name,
I’m just a singer tryin’ to entertain,
Cuz I love my fans, I’ll take that blame
(Chorus)
Even though the blame’s on you (x3)
I’ll take that blame from you
And you can put that blame on me (x4)
Now I eh go lie, the song real bad, but still I think Akon is missing the point of the whole thing (which I won’t rehash here). The other thing is, even though the chorus of the song says “…put that blame on me” if you look at it, Akon isn’t really shouldering any of the blame. Instead, he blames the club, and her dad (all deserving of blame mind you) and in the end he says, “I’m just a singer tryin’ to entertain, Cuz I love my fans, I’ll take that blame”. Right. Poor guy. I guess that’s his point though. He’s going to take blame which in his eyes he doesn’t deserve.
Anil Roberts and Sprang from Power 102 said that he should add on another verse for the teenager he threw off the stage a couple weeks ago. What do you think?
Posted in Entertainment | 7 Comments »
Tuesday, May 15th, 2007 |
By the way, for those of you Miss Universe addicts who plan on catching a glimpse of the show on the 28th(?), don’t look out for a Miss Trinidad & Tobago. In case you haven’t heard, for the first time in 17 years we won’t be represented at the competition.
Apparently there was no money from either sponsors or from Government so no rep was chosen.
I remember I began watching the Miss World and Miss Universe competitions the year Giselle LaRonde won the title and I made it a point to watch the show every year since then (well maybe up till Miss T&T failed to progress). I watched especially as T&T almost always made it to the final 10. In fact I met so many people in the United States who knew about Trinidad because of our prowess in the beauty pageants.
It will probably be a lesser competition because we weren’t there, but I won’t know for sure because I won’t be watching. It won’t be the same without us.
Posted in Entertainment, Media | 24 Comments »
Friday, May 4th, 2007 |
Fox News breaks the News
Just when you thought this Danah Alleyne thing was about to disappear here comes this breaking news that came over the TV on the Fox News Channel no less. Apparently sponsor Verizon has ended its partnership with Akon over the simulated sex scene on stage at the Concert in Zen last month. They have even backed out of sponsorship for his and Gwen Stefani’s Sweet Escape Tour.
In a statement issued to the Fox News Channel, Verizon announced “This week the partnership ended. We have music services on our cellphone service and we were promoting him as one of the artists. The other part of the sponsorship was the Gwen Stefani tour, of which he was an opening act. We are no longer sponsoring the tour.”
Fox News shows stills, but not video of the act.Well this is huge news and it’s no wonder now that Universal Music was so busy sending YouTube Cease & Desist e-mails. I think Fox News referring to it as a simulated rape may be a stretch, but it’s Fox News so keep that in mind.
Whatever it is, it’s probably not the last we’re going to hear about this.
P.S. - I feel it’s important for me to say here that I never watch Fox News Channel. The guys on Power 102FM broke the news here.
Posted in Corporate, Entertainment, Media | 12 Comments »
Thursday, April 26th, 2007 |
Just when this Danah Alleyne thing has begun to subside a little and people around the world were just beginning to heal and move on, here comes news of yet another lewd act on stage - actor Richard Gere had the audacity to kiss Shilpa Shetty on stage on her cheek. I am disgusted. Gere pulled the stunt at an event promoting Aids Awareness. The Times Online reported this:
“Transgressed all limits of vulgarity”? I used to think “A Kiss is just a Kiss“. Not so, I guess. Mr. Gupta, I have news for you…..and about 48 seconds of video actually. Yuh eh see nuttin yet. But to each his own. Note to Akon, skip the tour of India.
All joke aside, Gere obviously knows nothing about India. No one who knows anything about India or has seen a Bollywood film would ever try that. And poor Shilpa, you could see the expression on her face when Gere started, because she knew how scandalous the whole thing was.
Posted in Entertainment, Media, Miscellaneous | 9 Comments »
Friday, April 20th, 2007 |
Akon
Well, well. If you don’t know the story already, Akon held a concert in Trinidad recently at the Zen nightclub and sometime later, video surfaced showing Akon going ape-shit (I think that’s the scientific term) with a young lady who had responded to his call to wine for a chance to win a trip to Africa. Evidently Akon himself was “Africa” and the display in the video was the young lady’s “prize”. If you haven’t seen the video, I think the best description would be public rape with clothes. Akon can bee seen dry-humping the woman and dragging what you may mistake for her lifeless body all over the stage. The video and the reaction to it are now plastered all over the internet. Google the words “Akon Trinidad” and see for yourself.
Turns out that rumours that the girl ,Deena, is a 14 year old pastor’s daughter is true seeing as the pastor, Dave Alleyne, was interviewed in today’s Express. A 14-year-old pastor’s daughter going to an Akon concert?
First off, what hope do we have when a pastor will let his 14 year old daughter go to an Akon concert? (Does anyone remember R. Kelly?) That alone is bewildering to me. Honestly, what was he thinking? You’re the pastor of a church, man. Yet he defended his daughter saying that “She likes dancing and won a competition”. He also added that she became a victim in a situation where she had no control. He also said, and I quote from the Express, “They are innocent to the wicked ways of the world and it is our responsibility as elders to keep them safe.” I don’t know what you’d call that barely-there red top, matching heels, low-rider jeans and lower back tattoo, but “innocent” isn’t the word that comes to mind. She’s wearing a crucifix though, so I guess it’s all OK.
Secondly, Akon. There’s not much I can say for Akon except that I’m more than just a little disgusted. I don’t think I have ever seen anything more dehumanizing being passed off as entertainment. To see a big strong man like Akon treat another woman like a hump toy without any regards to her personal safety is appalling to me.
Don ImusDre is reporting that YouTube removed the video from its servers on the basis of “copyright infringement”. Apparently Universal Music notified YouTube of the infringement caused by the 48-second video, yet ignored all the other full-length Akon videos on the site. Sounds like UM is afraid of a little lawsuit.
Interestingly enough, the parent company of Universal Music is NBC Universal which in turn is the parent company of MSNBC who suspended radio show host Don Imus over his “nappy-headed hos” comment before he was fired from CBS radio. Do you see where I’m going with this? Ironically Universal Music has other artists like Eminem, 50 Cent, Dre and the late Tupac Shakur under its corporate belt. I’m wondering whether NBC Universal or even Universal Music will take any action over this. Surely it must be worse to treat a woman like a nappy-headed ho, than to call her one, right? Or maybe it is that women are nappy-headed hos at least some of the time.
Further Reading:
Dre
Dre
Karabana
Attillah
Afrobella
Karel McIntosh
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Posted in Entertainment, Media, Social Issues | 43 Comments »
Monday, March 12th, 2007 |
This is probably going to get some people mad, but I’m going to be honest with you. Yesterday while watching the opening Ceremony to the cricket world cup, I thought I died and went to Reggae Sunsplash.
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| Fireworks Light the Sky |
I was actually a little shocked to see how Jamaican the Opening Ceremony was. Yes it was organized by the Jamaican Local Organizing Committee, but geez and ages, from start to finish it was Jamaican act after Jamaican act. Trinidad was represented by Machel, David Rudder, Boogsie Sharp, Mungal Pattasar and Faye-Ann Lyons who performed the tournament’s Official Song, “The Game of Love and Unity” along with Bajan Rupee and Shaggy.
Barbados fared even worse than us. They got Alison Hinds and Rupee (who performed the official song).
Jamaica was represented by Beres Hammond, Buju Banton, Dean Frazer, Gregory Isaacs, Half Pint, Jimmy Cliff,, Sean Paul, Shaggy, Sly & Robbie, The I Threes (who were part of a very moving Bob Marley tribute), Byron Lee and the Dragonaires, Sanchez (who sang the Jamaican National Anthem) and Lovindeer.
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| Dancers take the field |
The night was also supplied with entertainment from Angelique Kidjo (so they say, but I didn’t see her), Montserratian Arrow, Vincentian, Kevin Lyttle, South Africa’s Lucky Dube and Drum Caf, Scotsmen The Duffies, and an Irish Celtic dancing group.
But oh gosh boy, not a steelband in sight. Yeah Boogsie was there, but that’s one lonely pair of double seconds. No Limbo? The other islands didn’t have much else to offer except Lyttle, Hinds and Arrow? You would swear that Jamaica had all the talent.
This is not an anti-Jamaican post. I don’t have anything against Jamaica, and maybe my list of performers could be incomplete, but I think that the Jamaican LOC could have done a better job of representing the West Indies. Apparently I’m not the only person who thinks so.
Posted in Cricket, Culture, Entertainment | 19 Comments »
Thursday, February 22nd, 2007 |
The mas is all over now. I can’t say that I took notice of a lot of it. Every year I make sure to watch the Dimanche Gras show, but that’s about it for Carnival festivities for me really. Dimanche Gras is always the best part of the season and particularly the Calypso Monarch final. I used to watch the Kings and Queens show also, but with this year’s one-song rule leaving the King and Queens of the band unsandwiched by calypsos, I’ve realized I don’t like watching it as much as I thought I did. Instead, after the calypsos were done, I came and sat here next to my computer till the results were ready.
The show overall was OK I guess. The stage design was kind of poor in my opinion. It looked like an 80’s Scouting for Talent stage. In fact the show on a whole had that feeling - more of a talent competition than the grand finale of calypso. You would think that after all these years we could produce something a little prettier than that. Needless to say, I was very disappointed.
You can see the results here, but here’s a rundown of how I felt about each finalist begining in last place:
15th - Black Sage - “Send for Somebody” - Ho hum. Subject matter wasn’t terrible, but the song itself was plenty bland. The subject of his calypso was the fact that T&T sends abroad for all its experts….or something like that.
13th (tied) Brother Valentino - “Pioneer” - I apologise, but this was just another tired calypso about pan that really didn’t have anything new to say. I think the judges let it into the final because they couldn’t bear to have a calypso about the national instrument left out of the show. It’s kind of like leaving Miss USA out of the Miss Universe final being held in New York - you just don’t do it.
13th (tied) Crazy “Paradise” - I don’t think 13th place did this justice. I thought it deserved much better. I guess it may have lacked a little originality. It was however, lyrics-wise, one of my favourites for the night.
12th Mr Caesar - “Carry Me” - Up to now I don’t know what this boy was singing about. A very forgettable performance. It may be my fault too since during stanza’s 3-4, I was raiding the kitchen for snacks. I won’t accept all the blame though since stanzas 1-2 and included chorus didn’t hold much promise. The snack was good however - ’twas a Nature Valley granola bar - the Oats ‘N Honey variety.
11th Singing Sandra - “Sudan” — Singing Sandra starts off this song talking about how we have to end racism in this country and then for the next 5 or so verses goes on a tirade of unfounded accusation after unfounded accusation about how doctors (read: non-Afro-Trini doctors) at the nation’s hospitals are killing African babies and tying African mother’s tubes - hence the title of the song “Sudan”. Right. The premise of the song was that it was a “friend” who was telling her about all the atrocities that were being committed and she (Singing Sandra) was having a hard time believing it. What a way to end racial discrimination. I used to like Singing Sandra, but *flush*.
10th Shadow - “If I Coulda” — How could Shadow make it to the final with this song but not with “Poverty is Hell”? “If I Coulda” is not a bad song, it’s a nice little ditty about not giving excuses, but it was never going to win the Calypso Monarch. Could I have missed its underlying meaning? By the way, “Poverty is Hell” is one of my all-time favourite calypsos.
9th Heather McIntosh - “Check One” — I really thought the name of this was “Check the I”. Anyway, it was a good song, the only bad part about it was that Heather McIntosh chose to punctuate her calypso with shouts of “Haile Selassie I” and “Jah Rastafari” which really had nothing to do with the song on a whole. The song was about the arrogance of the Government who does thing without checking with the “I” i.e. the electorate. Maybe I’m missing a parallel meaning, and maybe she meant to allude that the “I” was also God. If she did, that was completely lost on me. It was a little confusing. Her father Shortpants filled the roll of prop man and brought on a couple signs or something like that. I can’t remember what the signs said.
8th Skatie - “Eat Yuh Cake and Still Have it” — Ho hum. I think Skatie’s aim was to ensure that the Government would still hire him to sing PSAs like “Picture, Picture of our Health Ministry…”. I’m sure his paycheck is not in danger after taking shots at things like anti-smelter protesters. Mind you he did criticize the Government, but I think his role was more of a Shakespearean Fool than a strong critic. He also managed to take a jab at Chalkie saying (and I’m paraphrasing) that “Chalkie has won the crown so many times and wouldn’t give the youngsters a chance”. Well if the youngsters are singing crap like “Eat Yuh Cake and Still Have it”, what do you expect, Skatie? By all means Chalkie, please sing till you’re 90. In any case Skatie must be getting too caught up in the whole “Monarch” aspect of this thing. The crown has to be earned, not handed down.
7th Sean Daniel - “Ring” - This anti-premarital sex song was good and the performance was entertaining and energetic. I liked it a lot. It deserved a top 10 finish. I especially liked the prop man in the back with the oversized wedding band, performing all kinds of shenanigans. Daniel also had the best line of “No Ring, No Ting”.
6th Duane O’Connor - “Satorial Elegance” — This song heaped praises on a very praiseworthy Might Duke. It bored me out of my mind. I think this song had the “Miss USA in the Miss Universe Pageant in the USA” effect also. “A song about a legendary calypsonian? How could we leave it out?”
5th Chalkdust — “Soca Warriors” — One of my all-time favourite Calypsonians. His song this year was quite good. He used his song to demonstrate how he was a Soca Warrior too - a soca warrior before the term was coined. I think he even fired a shot off at Skatie, although I can’t now remember what it was.
4th Maria Bhola - “I Love You” - perhaps the most entertaining performance of the evening. She chose to ridicule Larry Achong behavior at the TV6 Chatham Town Meeting saying “I love you” instead of, well, the obvious. Equipped with gray hair and Achong’s Farmer Brown get-up, she worked her fake pot belly like I have never seen a pot belly being worked before (or hopefully, ever will). Performance-wise, she was the best hands down. I was transfixed to her and her pot belly from the moment she stepped on stage. Her song was pretty good too, and I had hoped for a higher place for her. In fact, I thought 4th was surprisingly low.
3rd Devon Seales - “One Song” - His was another good performance. Complete with Western wear and a orange toy pistol, looking like he was prepared for a gunfight, Devon Seales was excellent. His song was a list of all the things he wanted to sing, but couldn’t because he only had one song. I guess the Old West wear was a symbol of the one-shot showdown that the Calypso Monarch was reduced to. Obviously this didn’t go unnoticed by the judges either who gave him third place.
2nd De Fosto Himself - “Police Money” — I realize that a lot of people liked this one a lot more than I did. It’s actually a good song, but I wouldn’t have picked him to get second place. Probably it’s a little hard for me to take him seriously anymore after last years Soca Warriors calypso which looked like nothing more than a singing request to be sent to Germany with the other talent. I could be wrong though.
1st Cro Cro - “Nobody Ain’t Go Know” — Well Cro Cro has never been my favourite calypsonian. While a lot of people will say “Cro Cro is my boy”, I remember the things he has sung in the past and the amount of hurt it has caused to Indo-Trinidadians. I remember those things even when terms like “stereotyping” were not fully understood by calypso lovers and many would say, “Dat is good Kaiso”. I’m not against criticism of course, just against unfairness. I could never understand the view that one group of people could be always wrong and the other group never wrong. But that’s just me.
That being said, this calypso was OK. It was a little tired though, and a little trite, and not very creative. On top of all that, parts of his delivery were rushed and garbled. I think that if another Calypsonian had sung this song, even with clearer diction, they would not have won. Sometimes I think the judges have this nostalgic/romantic prejudiced opinion of a calypsonian that causes them to be star-struck on Dimanche Gras night.
I’ve always been confused by the Monarch results, and this helped to cement my belief that I could never be a judge in the finals. I just can’t tell what the judges are looking for.
Posted in Calypso, Carnival, Culture, Entertainment, Media | 9 Comments »
Friday, November 10th, 2006 |
Well yesterday I was going to blog about some judge dismissing a case because the star witness was afraid to testify. However yesterday I got tied up doing some stuff and today I can’t find the story. I thought I had read it on the Express’ website, but then I went back today it was gone. I’m trying to see whether I read the story on the Guardian website but since their site seems to be in retarded mode today, I can’t seem to access it.
But anyway, the story was about a state witness refusing to testify and I was going to remark pithily that it was a shame. I’m sure I had other comments to make about it but I can’t remember and it doesn’t help that I can’t find the story. Honestly how can a story just disappear?
In other news, I finally was able to see an episode of Dexter called Return to Sender. I actually like it a lot. I think it was the one that cb was referring to a couple days ago. Seems like Dexter is being stalked. It also had a good twist at the end.
I also watched an episode of Chris Rock’s Everybody hates Chis, which is also a good show. I never knew that super negro, Terry Crews from White Chicks was the dad….surprising. Damn, that’s a big man. By the way does anyone else think Tyler James Williams, child staring as the young Chris Rock looks like a very young Will Smith? The first time I saw him I thought so. I looked him up but he has no connection to Smith whatsoever. He even has a lot of Will’s facial expressions and mannerisms. It’s fine if you don’t agree. I’m used to seeing a lot of resemblances among celebrities that other people don’t get. But here’s a picture of the two so you can get a better look yourselves.
| Tyler James Williams & Will Smith - anyone else see a resemblance? |
At least agree with me that they share the same ears.
Posted in Crime, Entertainment, Media | 9 Comments »
