MUSIC
Hot off the Charts, Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You" has broken the Chart record for biggest leap with a quantum leap from 97-1. It beat previous record holder "Womanizer" by Britney Spears with a 96-1 leap. It would probably be more impressive if the record wasn't broken for about a dozen times last time, but it's impressive enough for Clarkson whose failed bid for a more Rockstar persona was a bit of a disaster for her career.
Aside from that, I've spotted some of the posters for the year's Grammy Awards. It's titled, "The Music That Makes Us" and it takes the meaning a bit literally. But I suppose that's just the genius of it. It is instantly visually stimulating, from the iconic faces to the great color balance. Some are better than others, but it's all really a great concept. It features artists such as Rihanna, Stevie Wonder, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and even rockband Coldplay. It's clear that more are on the way so keep an eye out for them.
SPORTSThere's been some major news in sports from the three-hour Nadal-Federer match (my grandma stayed up all night watching it-bless her), the Kobe's amazing 61-point record breaker in Madison Square Garden right after accidentally breaking his own teammate's foot (Bynum is out of commission and was also out around the same time last year). The guy is unstoppable, and quite arguably the best player out there now. The King has nothing against the Mamba, not yet anyway. He's just going to have to wait his turn.
Then of course there's the SuperBowl. This was the first year I watched it and it's a good thing too because the game was amazing @_@ Both teams performed splendidly, I first gave the game to the Steelers but the Cardinals took over for a huge portion of the latter periods. That was until Steelers made this amazing catch with less than a minute in the final period. It was amazing and if this is what football is like, I'm defintley going to try to catch more.
But of course, the biggest news in Sports is Michael Phelps and his bong. (Marijuana for the sober and uninitiated). It's pretty big news that the big guy was dumb enough to actually do it (it happend in November last year), and it's amazing that it only leaked out now. Well to be fair to the guy, it was only once (or so the guy says) and he says he's really really REALLY sorry. Awww, well that makes it okay then!
But really, the most saddening part is the backlash. Phelps isn't the first icon to fall into the notoriety of drug abuse (nor will he be the last, I swear it! Being a high olympic gold medalist is, of course, my life dream... next to world domination). But everyone's slamming the guy, and the fact that the only guys not ripping him to pieces are YouTube users who are high themselves. Cool dude... I really hope Phelps pulls through this though, he's much too big an inspirational icon to allow himself to be dragged into all this crap.
POLITICS
I want to talk about local politics, but the fact of the matter is that everything that needs to be said about our current tyrann- i mean- democratic government has been said (and ignored) and, truthfully I'm sick of seeing the same headlines over and over again. Give me hope or give me death! Or at least enough pots to do one session with Phelps.
So more unto other stuff, like the man of the moment, and my personal hero (I drew a crayon drawing of him the other day visiting my house. My dog then peed on it and I got sad) Barrack Obama. 15 days into his presidency and 4 of his appointees have been dogged by tax scandals. To be fair, they're all a fairly small amount (for millionaires at least) and were quickly paid before the vetting process. And to be more fair, all four were pretty straightforward, and I can chalk it up to personal mistakes. I mean, the taxes came from varying sources from borrowing a friend's care to charitable institute donations. Not exactly a Rod here. But of the four, only one made it through confirmation. The latest, Tom Daschle, just withdrew his name for Secretary of Health, despite the fact that he was going to be confirmed despite the tax questions. He cited he didn't want to be a distraction, and while I personally think it's better off he goes through with it, I have to admire the show of integrity.
What is more intersting for me, however, is Obama's response in saying, "I screwed up". He went on to say that he takes full responsibility and that they should have treaded uch more carefully. 15 days into his presidency and he's already saying sorry. No, I'm not blasting the guy, it's actually quite admirable.
Take a look at the former president and vice-president, the pair dragged America into two wars, the edge of an economic meltdown, the collapse of the environment and a broken foreign image. During their last few days, the closest thing to an apology the press could get out of Bush was that he would have done some things " a litte differently", a stark contrast from his vice-puppeteer Cheney who said that he'd basically do everything all over again.
It's refreshing to see a figure that big actually own up to the public, and to be frank the case wasn't even that big. Still, in a world where world leaders sing made-up successes, hide a pocketful of scandals and tear down any ciritcs by branding them as against the growth of the nation, it's comforting to find that the most powerful man on Earth could, a few weeks into his role, be man enough to simply saw that he screwed up.
COMICSIn a slight connection with the man above, Spiderman #583 has hit fifth printing. FIFTH printing, man! I only just got the 3rd printing because of how fast it disappeared from the shelves but this book is destined for collection status. Marvel could very well be printing money instead of comics at the rate it's going. And if you wonder for what reason could this issue of Spiderman be so popular, well just look at the cover below...
And to think the guy only appears in 5 pages.
To other news, Final Crisis wrapped up this week but everyone's still talking about it's biggest casualty. To anyone who reads comics and haven't read Final Crisis yet, stop reading. If you have read it or just don't care, as you were.
Anyway, in the final pages of issue 6, Batman, having escaped his mental prison, comes face to face with the god Darkseid himself, the epitome of evil. Using a radion filled bullet, Batman shot the dude in the chest, lethally wounding him, but not before getting a shot out of his eyes at Batman. In trademark Batman wit, the Dark Knight lets out one last word before getting his head fried... "Gotcha."
R.I.P. Batman (at least until they decide to ressurect the dude)
MOVIES
It's been a wild couple of weeks in movies, from Christian Bale going all pycho on the set (I won't judge though, since you never know the situation). As of which I have so far finished The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire. I'd put up the review, but since I'm getting to watch Milk soon along with Doubt, I'm delaying my special Oscar entry for later on.
But for those of you who want to know the date to cross out on your calendars, it's February 22.
(I swear to God I'm boycotting the whole thing altogether if Slumdog doesn't win)
By the way, if you're a fan of Avatar the Last Airbender, then get a treat out of the casting news. Most of the guys are unknowns, even to me. But there are a few familiar places. Take for example the guy playing Jasper in Twilight, he's doing Sokka in the movie. But of course the biggest news is Jesse McCarthney dropping out in playing Zuko and being replaced by none other than Slumdog Millionaire himself. What do you think? I, for one, think that it's an inspired choice. (P.S. Sixth Sense director M. Night Shaymalan is directing.)
Barack on MARVEL?! wooooooow. sexy. LOL
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