Taylor Demands A Full Stage

If you watched the 2013 Billboard Music Awards on Sunday, you were treated to the debut live performance of Taylor Swift’s newest single “22″. Unlike her other hit singles, it had yet to be featured live on TV for the masses. It was done in a very unique way and demanded not only a full stage, but also the use of the “backstage” areas and going through the crowd.

While I won’t go into detail about everything in the performance, I will say Taylor was one of the best performances of the night. She literally had so much going on that you shouldn’t have even thought about being bored. She was also the only performer there to use the two wings off of the main stage for dancers and screens. Who said Taylor Swift couldn’t host stadium shows? She certainly was able to feel the MGM Grands performance area to the brim.

She started in the backstage area, rode on a bike on some guys back from the entrance to the arena to the stage. Then in the middle she had some breakdown with the Jabbawockeez dancers, and then to end it all, she showers the crowd with red balloons. The balloon  move was truly a way of Taylor saying this is my stage, bitches.

Now watch the performance below and tell me what you think in the comments. After that go buy the single, or better yet, the whole Red album if you haven’t already.

 

Super Fun Night Looks Super Fun

Our favourite Aussie comedian, Rebel Wilson, is bringing her comedy to ABC in a new show called Super Fun Night. The Bridesmaids and Pitch Perfect starlet is going to call ABC’s Wednesday night comedy block home next fall when Super Fun Night debuts. The show will air at 930p in the coveted after Modern Family slot. I couldn’t be more happy for Rebel Wilson.

I was wary of any other network besides CBS picking up Rebel’s show. CBS is known for comedy that seems a little risqué for television(see 2 Broke Girls). ABC isn’t known for having long-last “vulgar” shows. The wonderful show GCB was cancelled due to its subject matter.Rebel Wilson is known for her vulgarity and outrageous comedy that sometimes goes on the side of extreme. I am hoping that ABC won’t tame our little kangaroo too much because her comedy is what makes her shine. I do feel better that the show was created by Conan O’Brien and Rebel herself. It is also being executive produced by the both of them as well.

The trailer for the show almost makes it seem like ABC and Rebel have found a way to bridge Rebel’s humour while keeping it some what on a smaller scale. I think it was also smart to put the show later in the night when the tots are on their way to the land of dreams. The trailer also has a different look about it than the current comedies. It almost looks like it was filmed like a movie.

While I really couldn’t be happier for Rebel, I really am hoping this show means that she will be taking a hiatus from movies. We do know that she is helping write the planned and green-lit Pitch Perfect 2, which is due out in 2014. I hope we don’t have to wait until then for another Rebel filled movie. She has just become one of my favourite actresses and comedienne’s that I want more of her than I probably need.

Checkout the trailer for Super Fun Night below and tell me what you think about it in the comments.

-Jake

 

Yellow- Chelsea Lankes

A week ago today I sat in the arena waiting for Taylor Swift to come out and perform. Before her show they play music with music I assume Taylor picks or what would be on her iPod if we could see it. This song came on and for some reason I was instantly entranced. I couldn’t figure out what the song was, but I knew the version I was hearing was actually a cover. Unfortunately, my Shazam app was not working to do all of the audience noise. The show started and I moved on with life and forgot about it.

A few days later it popped in my head, so in thirty minutes of searching, I knew it was a Coldplay song, which I should have known. I also was led to a cover by Sara Bareilles which I didn’t care for and knew it wasn’t the song I was looking for. Finally with some luck I came across Chelsea Lankes’ version. I knew once it started I had found it. Digging up deep I saw Chelsea Lankes is from Nashville, so I knew I had the right song I wanted. I assume Lankes is a friend of Taylor or someone from Nashville that Taylor really adores and wanted the world to hear her music.

“Yellow” by Coldplay will be 14-years-old in June, so why do I care about a cover of the song from a new comer? Because I really enjoy the way the cover is arranged and the way Chelsea Lankes voice goes with the music. The music is this synthy electronic vibe that seems so modern. It’s not hard, its soft, and then Chelsea Lankes voice just flows with it so perfectly. It really can put you in a trance if you’re not careful.

While I haven’t listened to the rest of Chelsea Lankes’ EP Ringing Bell, I can say I hope it sounds more like this. I look forward to listening to the EP in the near future. You can definitely except a review of it right here.

Listen to “Yellow” down below and tell me what you think of the cover in the comment section.Chelsea’s contacts are below the video.

WEBSITE: http://www.chelsealankes.com

TWITTER: http://twitter.com/ChelseaLankes

FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/ChelseaLankesMusic

 

“Crazy” by Gnarls Barkely Cover By Phillip Phillips & Churchill

April 18, 2013 Phillip Phillips, last years American Idol winner, put on a concert at Eastern Kentucky University(EKU) in Richmond, KY. The concert was great and I’ll vlog about it at a later date. The opening band was an unknown to me band called Churchill. During the encore Phillip Phillips and Churchill performed a cover of “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley. It was really unique and awesome. Enjoy!

Follow on Twitter @JakeLX

 

MTV Finally Ready To Scream

On Thursday, MTV announced that it was ready to move forward with its plan to create a scripted show based on the hit slasher film franchise Scream. The show is one that has apparently been in the work for over a year, I heard about it a little after the last film came out April 2011. According to Deadline Hollywood, there is still no writer attached to the project. There apparently isn’t even a real concept on the table for this show except that they know they are doing it. I feel good about the people behind MTV’s hit show Teen Wolf working on this project. It is also being said MTV is trying to get the director of the films, Wes Craven, to direct the pilot.

I remember at one point  hearing that Kevin Williamson would potentially work on it as he worked on the movies. His schedule was busy when they first talked about it because of him working on The CW’s flagship series The Vampire Diaries. I only see him getting more busy, and less likely to work on this Scream project, as I’m sure he will work on TVD spin-off The Originals this fall. So, that is kind of a big bummer.

If all goes well, and it better since MTV already has placed this on their summer 2014 schedule, this show can be a really awesome show. I am a HUGE fan of the movies, even the last one. I liked how the last one was almost a parody of what the three previous movies had done and made so serious.

What are your thoughts on a Scream television show.coming to MTV? What are your thoughts on the Scream film franchise? Let me know in the comment section!

 

Where’s The Music MTV?

A lot of people are always talking about how MTV isn’t about the music anymore. There are many that are even hateful about it. You would think MTV was a government program that was sanctioned to provide us with music videos twenty-four hours a day. Guess what? MTV isn’t a government program and music videos just weren’t paying the bills anymore. Less money can be contributed to websites such as You Tube and it’s channel(now website) VEVO that have music videos that are just a search away. The day TRL signed off for good, the hopes of music coming back to the channel checked-out without it.

MTV went with the success of their original reality series The Real World and built upon that. While not all shows have succeed, those that have have all put their mark on pop culture. In the past we’ve seen The Osbourne’s, My Super Sweet 16, The Hills, Laguna Beach, Jackass, and many more. You probably get the picture though.

Controversy pays really well and that is where we start talking about the 16 and Pregnant & Teen Mom series, and our beloved Jersey Shore. They have all proven that they’re needed to pay the bills. Jersey Shore of course brought unexpected record ratings and was a huge cultural event across the globe. Both show have brought along scandals, shocking moments, and babies. 

MTV really hit it big during 2011 when it started to show its own original scripted programming. The first show Skins, a remake of the worldwide hit British show was cancelled. You can’t really blame the program or MTV for this. Those annoy bitches at the Parents Council were the main culprits of its cancellation. These people seriously should watch the British Skins, they would literally go into compulsions if they thought MTV’s version was bad.

Luckily, that show experience didn’t deter MTV from original scripted content. During summer 2011. the network released two shows that have proven very, very successful for the network. The most widely successful show is Awkward., a comedy about a high school girl named Jenna who has a public blog on which she journals her private thoughts for the world to see, and becomes well-known at school for becoming a part of a fake suicide attempt. The show is very funny, and everyone who watches it can’t help but fall deeply in love with it.

The second show is Teen Wolf, which is more of a dark re-imagining of the movie of the same name that was a comedy. The show is pretty self-explanatory with that title and is MTV’s answer to The Vampire Diaries. Teen Wolf has gained a large fanbase as well and continues to do well in ratings. It has it’s scary, suspenseful moments, and its love scenes. All together it is a pretty well-rounded show.

The newest show to hit MTV is Nikki and Sara LIVE!, which is doing very well. MTV was smart to get on the cable, late-night show women bandwagon that was started when E! gave Chelsea Handler her talk show, Chelsea Lately. The shows has two hosts Nikki Glaser and Sara Schaefer who are both very down-to-earth and very funny women. They just wrapped their first season last night, and hopefully won’t be gone for too long.

I think you can see with all of this success why MTV has chosen to drop music. Despite what many people seem to think, MTV hasn’t dropped music completely. They just don’t show it during peak times when advertising dollars aren’t really a major player. MTV shows MTV Clubland, it is based on the genre of EDM, from 3a-4a; AMTV shows from 4a-6a and 7a-9a, and is Top 40 based, and MTV Jams is on from 6a-7a.

MTV removed the phrase “Music Television” from its logo in the last year and the name MTV really is more of an homage of the channels past than its present or future. I do like how since they are still involved with music, they show what song is playing and what artist during their shows as the songs get played. Take that Shazam app.

I’m not as affected by MTV losing it’s beat, literally, since I’m young enough that I only caught the original show on the very tail-end of that era. When ad dollars are up for grabs, music just doesn’t pay visually anymore. I suppose the channel could have just folded, and that would have upset people as well.  I think they are doing well with their late-night comedy and scripted shows and I do think that is the future. The future maybe could feature more music based programming. Ke$ha’s new reality show premieres next Tuesday. I mean, it is music based.

What are your thoughts on MTV and their past, current, or future content? What kind of programming would you like to see in the future on the network? Let me know in the comment section.

 

MTV Movie Awards Hosted By Rebel Wilson Review

I was so excited to see Rebel Wilson kill it on the 2013 MTV Movie Awards and she so did not disappoint  There is so much to love about her and I plan on doing a total fan boy post on her at a later date. Until then you can watch my review of the highlights of Sunday’s movie awards down below on my You Tube channel. After watching please SUBSCRIBE to my You Tube channel. Thanks!

 

Did you watch the awards on Sunday? How did you think Rebel Wilson did and how did you think the show was this year? Let me know in the comment section.

 

 

Has Sue Sylvester Left Glee For Good

After last week’s emotional episode it seems like we could possibly be done with Jane Lynch’s character, Sue Sylvester. While no one died during McKinley High’s school “shooting”, the end of Sue Sylvester is just as bad as another character dying. No Sue really isn’t a big surprise if you’ve been watching this season of Glee.

Sue Sylvester got fired from McKinley High on last weeks’ episode of Glee protecting Becky, the down syndrome character that Sue Sylvester always had a soft spot and connection with. Becky brought the gun because she thought she has to protect herself from the world when she graduates. Instead of letting Becky get expelled, Sue says she has a gun in her school, office due to the way things have been going in the country lately. The last we see of Sue is at the end of the episode where she is packing up her things and leaving the school.

I kinda figured we would be saying goodbye to Jane Lynch and her character Sue Sylvester a few episodes into this current season. Sue’s presence at McKinley High has slowly waned from the beginning of the episode and has went some episodes without even being seen or mentioned. Sue has been known from the beginning as the Glee Club’s enemy number one. She quickly grew a fan base with her cruel jokes, heartless thinking, and aggressive off the wall behaviour. Throughout the course of the show we have also seen that Sue is much like an ogre and has layers.She can be very sweet and have sweet moments when it comes to Becky or her sister who died in an episode.

It would seem to me with Glee‘s ratings way down that FOX has asked for the show to cut some of its budget, which is what I guessed when Jane Lynch became more of a guest appearance than a season regular. They can’t cut the music out which is most likely a huge chunk of the shows budget. If you can cut out some regulars then you save per episode and you have more money to pay guest actors and actresses such as Katey Sagal and Kate Hudson who may boost ratings more than a regular would have. Maybe I am wrong and Jane Lynch wanted out to pursue other interest?

I can’t imagine we won’t see Sue Sylvester ever again. I would be crushed if she isn’t on from time to time, I guess kinda like she has been this season. She definitely better make an appearance on the series finale(next season, May 2014?), when ever that may be.

How did you like last weeks episode of Glee ”Shooting Star”? Let me know your thoughts on Jane Lynch’s probable departure and last weeks episode in the comments. Check out my review of the episode down below on my You Tube channel.

 

Being Human Renewed

Syfy left us hanging on the fate of future Being Human seasons after this Monday’s season three finale. I was worried we weren’t going to get a season four renewal because of a few reasons. The ratings this year slipped a little where the past two seasons were relatively close to the same. I also was worried because last year they announced season three in February while season two was still on the air. Syfy decided to wait until a week after the finale to finally announce that it would be coming back on for a fourth season. I can’t wait until January 2014 when the fourth season premieres. The season three finale left so many cliffhangers that needed to be wrapped up before it was cancelled.

Being Human premiered January 2011 and is a remake of the popular BBC Three show Being Human. I watched the original on BBC America in 2010 and 2011, but haven’t seen past season two. Unlike MTV’s adaptation of Skins, Syfy let their Being Human be different from the original. The only episode that was made the same was the first one and they let the writers take off from their on their own. The Syfy writers purposely don’t watch the original to keep the North American different.

It was kind of interesting how during season one from one episode that season sort of follow along with the original. Since then the show has went through vastly different things and season three was the best. Like True Blood, Being Human tries some out of this world stuff that up until a few years ago probably wouldn’t have been on TV. It’s a show that has great stories, is never boring, and that I am so happy will be back for at least another season.

Do you watch Syfy’s Being Human? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section.

 

Back From LA

I’ve been back from LA for over a week now and decided it was time to blog again. Just in case you are wondering, I loved LA. I really had no idea ho beautiful Southern California was and that there were all those mountains. The mountains and beauty really put to shame the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee that I have been to a number of times. I can wait for any future trips to there that I might make. Most people who know me personally know that I would like to become a famous actor, comedian, writer, ect., but I would even love to live in the LA area in the future if I weren’t famous.

I also thought it would be very easy to spot a celebrity, but it clearly was not. I think there are so many people driving or walking that you wouldn’t recognize a celebrity that wasn’t being followed by the paparazzi. They probably would just blend in… Perhaps I did see a celebrity without really knowing it. It didn’t help that a lot of the shows have wrapped for the season and The Ellen DeGeneres and Chelsea Lately were both on hiatus while I was out there.

Now that I am back, I am back to making my Vlogosphere Monday thru Friday and now blogging again starting today. Until you see my next blog post, enjoy a photo from a hike my family and I took with some family that lives in San Dimas.