Category: Women

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New Music Recommendation

I have a secret.

I am a HUGE fan of swinging full blown 60’s style pop music. Think Burt Bacharach or Dozier/Holland/Dozier from Motown. The music is lush with the standard pop sound layered with strings and horns. You had artists like LuLu, Dionne Warwick, Petula Clark, The Supremes etc…

You really don’t find that much new music in that vain so when I do find those rare albums I am in heaven (if I believed in one). My favorites include Basia and Swing Out Sister but they haven’t had a new album in years.

This past week I found one. And the artist who put out a full album of great tunes will surprise you.

“Free Me” is the album and the artist is Emma Bunton from the UK. In case your cultural history is too short, she is the former “Baby Spice” from the all girl Spice Girls group.

I was browsing the music videos on iTunes and saw a video for the song “Free Me”. The album was released in the states in January.

Free Me just blew me away. I downloaded the album and I would have spent twice what I paid. I also loved “Maybe” and “I’ll be there”. I also chuckled at the campy “Crickets Sing for Anamaria” which comes across in the style of “Girl from Ipanema”

Here is a clip from a review at AllMusic Guide:

Taking a cue from the stylish update on swinging ’60s London that Saint Etienne pioneered in the ’90s, Free Me is a breezy, effervescent set of light pop. Hints of Bacharach and bossa nova are scattered throughout the album, strings sweep songs into their choruses, beats are strong but take a backseat to melody. This music is stylish without being flashy, thanks in large part to the charmingly tuneful, sturdy songs (all but one bearing a writing credit from Emma). While Bunton may still have a small, sweet voice, she’s developed a stronger presence on record, giving this album not just a face, but a fetching persona that’s hard to resist. Unlike the Spice Girls albums, or most other dance-oriented pop albums, this is not a singles-and-filler record — it’s a collection of strong, effervescent tunes that are immediately winning and get better with repeated listens. If Bunton weren’t a former Spice Girl, Free Me would still be a terrific album, but given her past and how she was pretty much considered a has-been, the strength of this record is all the more remarkable.

http://tinyurl.com/a76g9

Oh, and she is not bad to look at either….. 

http://www.emmabuntonofficial.com/
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Clarkson’s new single ROCKS!

I was surfing the TV channels the other night before Thanksgiving and Fox was having some kind of American Idol Christmas special with Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, and Fantasia. The format was they would each sing a song of their own and then some Christmas tunes. I wasn’t planning on watching the show but Kelly’s set pulled me in.

She sang the first single off her new album “Breakaway” called “Since U Been Gone”.

WOW!

She just blew me away with the song and her performance.

“Since U Been Gone” is going to Number 1 I predict. It is a great song and Kelly sells it.

It is rare that I would like a Top 40 song but it rocks.

Go to the website and watch the video.

http://www.kellyclarksonweb.com/
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Wonder Woman on DVD

At last now I can die (not really but close).

Wonder Woman with the sexy Lynda Carter was one of my favorite shows in the mid 70’s.

Seeing her transform into her super hero outfit each episode made me feel all warm and tingly (if you know what I mean).

It was campy but fun and the theme music was bitchin’.

Now if they would just put out Square Pegs on DVD then I could die.

Amazon.com: DVD: Wonder Woman – The Complete First Season (1976)

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I’m addicted to “Chick Flicks”

It hit me in the theater the other day as I watching the 8 hours of previews before the film I paid money to see in the first place.

I am addicted to chick flicks. I love those movies that either star women or are for women and teen girls. It creeped on me slowly but I finally became aware that maybe my “man card” was running out.

The movie I went to see the other day was “13 Going on 30” staring Jennifer Garner. I enjoyed the film very much. So much so that I even considered seeing it again.

A month or so ago I paid real money to see “Confessions of a Teenaged Drama Queen” staring Lindsey Lohan. Like the Garner film I saw CTADQ because of the star. I really liked her other film “Freaky Friday” last year. This week her new film “Mean Girls” opens. I want to see it because Lohan is in it and it was written by the funniest woman on television right now, Tina Fey of “Saturday Night Live”.

What made me realize that I had been watching far many more chick flicks than a normal single guy should see was during the previews at “13 Going on 30”. They showed a trailer for “New York Minute” staring the Olsen twins. I actually thought that I would go see that film as well. Don’t worry I came to my senses…. for now.

What I like about these type of movies is the stories are excellent, the acting pretty good, and it makes me happy for watching it. That is what a movie should be and do.

Big action or horror films seem to be popular but I am not a huge fan of mindless violence and blood. I think watching Rosemary’s Baby when I was 6 years old put me off those movies forever. Don’t get me wrong. I loved the Terminator series and Independence Day but I can spot action and blood as gimmicks a mile away. I may rent those movies if I have nothing else to do but usually the plots are awful and the dialog is worse. I just refuse to spend my $8.00 on that crap.

It seems that movies that move me are those that touch me emotionally and most of those are staring women or about women.

So I will be watching “Mean Girls” this weekend and I will see another preview of “New York Minute” and I will seriously consider seeing my first Olsen twin movie.

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