Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is an American actress. Although she was initially known as a “scream queen” because of her starring roles in many horror films early in her career such as Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train, Curtis has since compiled a body of work that covers many genres. Her 1998 book, Today I Feel Silly, and Other Moods That Make My Day, made the best-seller list in The New York Times. She is married to actor Christopher Guest (Lord Haden-Guest) and, as the wife of a lord, is titled Lady Haden-Guest, but she chooses not to use the title when in the United States. She is currently the spokeswoman for Activia. She is also a blogger for The Huffington Post online newspaper.

Trivia:

During the 1980s she was engaged to Hollywood production designer J. Michael Riva, the grandson of screen legend Marlene Dietrich. Her godfather was MCA-Universal CEO Lew Wasserman.

Saw her future husband Christopher Guest in the issue of Rolling Stone magazine with Cyndi Lauper on the cover. Guest appeared in a promotional photo for the film This Is Spinal Tap (1984) in full costume and makeup as a rock star. She fell in love at first sight of the photo and gave her telephone number to his agent.

Adopted two children with Christopher Guest: Annie Guest (b. December 1986) and Thomas (b. March 1996).

Daughter of Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh.

Became formally known as Baroness Haden-Guest of Saling in the County of Essex (or, less formally, Lady Haden-Guest), when her husband, Christopher, inherited the barony in 1996 on the death of his father.

Graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall private school in 1976.

It was on her suggestion that Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) was made.

Her deleted scene from The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) is included on the MGM Special Edition DVD, 2001, as the “Alternate Opening”.

Was asked to cameo in Scream 3 (2000), but declined.

Won a 2003 Grammy nomination in the Best Spoken Album for Children category for her recording of the children’s books she has written.

Measurements: 34C-22-32 (wardrobe on Forever Young (1992)) (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

Attended University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.

When making reservations in exclusive London restaurants at short notice, she gives her name as Lady Haden-Guest, which apparently works better than Jamie Lee Curtis.

She told a German magazine that she will retire from making movies and that Christmas with the Kranks (2004) will be her last work as an actress. (November 2004)

Said in an interview on Good Entertainment, with Michael Medved (2001) (TV) that, ironically, horror films terrify her and she prefers not to watch them.

Member of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1992

Was one of the guests at Sandra Bullock’s and Jesse James’ wedding.

Godmother of Jake Gyllenhaal.

Two of her earliest roles make reference to roles played by her father. She appeared in the television series “Operation Petticoat” (1977), based on the movie that had starred her father, Tony Curtis. While on hiatus from that show, she was cast in Halloween (1978), in which the detective “Sam Loomis” was named after a character from Psycho (1960), which had starred her mother, Janet Leigh. Also, her father imitated Cary Grant’s voice for his role in Some Like It Hot (1959), and worked with Grant himself in Operation Petticoat (1959). Grant’s birth name, Archie Leach, was used as the name for John Cleese’s character in A Fish Called Wanda (1988).

Once said that Dan Aykroyd was the best on-screen kisser she ever worked with.

John Cleese found it amusing that her father, Tony Curtis’s real name was Bernard Schwartz. To tease her about this, during the production of A Fish Called Wanda (1988), he had the call sheets refer to her as “Jamie Lee Schwartz.”.

Around the time True Lies (1994) was released, Jamie appeared in a series of commercials for L’Eggs Pantyhose. The company also took out an insurance policy for her legs.

Amazon Specials!

New recording of my Piano Quintet No. 1, “at the end of the long feast of goodness and time” by a tremendous ensemble from the Curtis Institute of Music.

Amalia Hall and Becky Anderson, violins; Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola; Camden Shaw, cello; Lio Kuokman, piano.

Now, I’m not 100 percent certain on this.   But one day, way back when, a guy heard something so ridiculous while walking past a pile of bull dong that he decided to call what was uttered the foul heap he had stumbled upon.  Unbeknownst to the insightful stroller, he had given the American vocabulary one of it’s most enduring classifications for sheer nonsense.  Granted, I was told this by my uncle, a 40-year drunkard.  Nevertheless, if he’s right, whatever pissed that guy’s ears off that historical day had to sound a lot like 50 Cent’s Before I Self Destruct.

The former nine-shot taker turned Vitamin Water huckster hit the studio one last time for Interscope to let his ego run ass-out crazy.   The album starts out strong enough  with Fif offering his enemies a chance to “come get some” on the opening track, The Invitation.  It’s set to a piano-laced beat Mr Jackson handles fairly well.  Problem is, the lyrics don’t bring anything new.  We’re basically being reminded of Fifty’s collection of weapons ready to be used against those foolish enough to step to him “in the hood.”   Now honestly, no one, at least I hope, believes the 400-million dollar man is still hanging out on his old block squeezing off on rivals, which makes the whole hustler-on-the-rise thing almost comical at this point.

Never known for a solid flow or clever word play, his strength always relied on the low raspy tone of his delivery.  It always lent a seriousness to his buildups which we all bought in the past.  Here, it’s tired and worn.  For instance, it’s utilized in Death to My Enemies, a sprawling mess of pop references and cliches where the former Queens hustler’s message is lost until the hook reminds you and it’s like: oh, he’s pissed at a few people.

We all know the diss track is to New York what the runing of the bulls is to the people of Spain.  Fifty adds to his native state’s legacy with So Disrespectful.   Old beefs are resussitated with Jeezy, The Game and Young Buck,  three people no one gives a damn about anymore.  Worse, nothing is being said to make you want to revisit those issues.  Well, I don’t know…how do you feel about this ?  It’s crazy how I make this shit look oh so easy. They say, 50, man don’t fuck with him, he’s oh so greasy.  I know.  Stop it, Mr Jackson, please.

Not being able to let go of the past aside, The rest of the album slowly morphs into a hacky attempt to grab ladies through dry R&B powered tracks, even managing to recruit fading Chicago crooner R Kelly for one of the most forgettable collaborations since Bone Thugs in Harmony and Phil Collins. Right, exactly.

After the release of Curtis, critics and fans felt Fifty was becoming soft, human even.   Naturally, moving into your 30s will bring new life experiences and Curtis cracked a window for us to take a personal look at an artist revolving from boy to adult.  Frightened of losing his fanbase after the experiment, BISD was a road map to guide us back to the “dark side.”

Well, we’ve seen that side before and it was fun for a while, but maybe it’s time to get back to growing up, Fif.

Wasn’t is just yesterday that when a new 50 Cent album came out, everybody was talking about it? Wasn’t is just yesterday that 50 Cent would have 3 top ten singles on the charts that hyped his album so much that everybody was ready to hear the complete new album? With so many delays and no big hit singles on the radio catching steam, 50 Cent’s new album Before I Self Destruct has seemed to be on the back-burner for people who in the past have been loyal fans. Who out there even knew that this Tuesday, 50 Cent’s Before I Self Destruct album finally was released? Projections came in today from hitsdailydouble.com that projects that 50 Cent’s latest project will only sell about 150,000 to 160,000 copies in his first week in stores. This is a concerning number as 50 Cent has been known in the past to sell a million copies in its first week in stores. In 2002, his debut album Get Rich or Die Trying sold 872,000 copies in its first week, which spawned hits like In Da Club, Wanksta, P.I.M.P, 21 Questions, and Many Men. It went on to sell over 10 million records and in many eyes became a classic album in hip hop. When nobody thought he could get any bigger, his second album The Massacre was released in 2004 and sold an incredible 1.15 million copies in its first week. Even his third album Curtis which is now known for its Soundscan battle with Kanye West, which he ended up losing, even sold a solid 695,000 copies in its first week in stores. So what has happened to 50 Cent? Yes it seems like 50 Cent is still always in the news, but it’s not for his music anymore….

But why is this? Can 50 Cent still make a hit song? As of November 19th, 50 Cent’s new single Baby By Me, is currently 33rd on Itunes music charts. It hasnt even come close to his catalog of hits from before, and its unheard of, for him not to have a top 10 single going into the week of his new album. At one point in 2005, it didnt seem like 50 Cent could miss when making a hit record. He became the first artist to have three singles in the top 5 on the Billboard charts in one week. Yes I believe 50 Cent can still make quality music but it seems like every time I hear about him in the news these days it’s all about what I like to call “publicity feuds”. He picks fights with the likes of Jay Z, Rick Ross, Young Buck, and The Game to name a few to what it seems like is just a ploy to keep himself relevant. In Mtv’s Hottest MC’s list of 2009, they put him at #9 and the only reason he is even there, is because of his “publicity and web presence”. For an artist that at one point seemed unstoppable, it truly doesnt even seem like it’s about the music anymore. 50 Cent will always stay in the news with his sometimes entertaining ploys but will I ever get an album like Get Rich or Die Trying again? Probably Not

To look at his new album Before I Self Destruct, 50 Cent goes back to his roots and gives his fans the aggressive content that they are used to. With only 3 featured artists on his new album, it seems like 50 Cent is focused to show that this album is more centered around him. Stand out tracks are So Disrepectful, Psycho, Crime Wave, and Gangsta’s Delight where we see glimpses of old 50 Cent. Fans who love his club records will love Baby By Me and Do You Think About Me but none in my mind come close to his old classics.  Overall I see this album as 3rd overall in his discography, behind Get Rich or Die Trying and The Massacre, and in front of Curtis. It is overall a great album and people should definitely listen to it but it is sad to get to the end of the album and realize that we will probably never see the work of Get Rich or Die Trying again.

So is 50 Cent really losing his edge, or have we just put him on such a high pedestal that he just cant reach any higher. In 2008 he still had a net earning of $440 million, noted all of that was not made off of music. 50 Cent has definitely lost some of his stature with his 4th album but he has definitely not become completely irrelevant in the music industry. People all around the world still respect him for his music and would love to see him tour behind this new album but he is not as big as he once was. Maybe 50 Cent has peaked and the days of having so many hit singles all at once are of the past. Jay Z’s 11 number one albums has to be noted as it just comes to show how hard it is to stay on top for so long. 50 Cent’s 4 albums have been good but you start to wonder how many more albums we will see from him. 11 albums seems unreachable to so many artists these days including 50 Cent. It will be interesting to see what the future has in store for 50 Cent but it seems like the days of In Da Club  are far behind him.

Review: AMC’s The Prisoner

November 18th, 2009

“There’s something thrilling about honesty.”

There’s a moment in the final hour of AMC’s remake of The Prisoner where I started to realize where its real problem lies. This is not to say that I haven’t been realizing the show’s problems from the word go, as the first five hours of the show were highly problematic, but when Ian McKellen’s 2 utters the above line I realized that this is where the intentions of the miniseries went awry.

There are problems with the thematic content of this miniseries, but the real problem is how the writer chose to structure this story in order to create a sense of mystery that was ultimately more vague than it was exciting. In the eyes of the writers, the climax of this story is when the story becomes clear to the audience, and the purpose of the rest of the miniseries is to effectively buy time and confuse us until we’re so desperate for clarity that when we receive it we give ourselves over to the truth. And, to some degree, the strategy worked: the final hour was, in fact, the best of this miniseries primarily because it was finally revealing and engaging with the larger thematic issues being discussed.

However, the problem with this strategy is that the cloudiness of the first four and a half hours of the miniseries not only made us hunger for thrills but also destroyed any sense of thematic consistency and, as a result, destroyed audience interest. While the theme presented at the end of the miniseries is actually compelling, it was so wholly absent for the first four hours (in particular) that it ends up depending entirely on the audience’s willingness to slog through an abstract and experimental four hours where the writer keeps adding new elements to the series when it’s in some way convenient for them as opposed to when it feels earned or natural.

While the miniseries eventually creates a compelling image of modern society, it’s an image that does little to make the first hour hours any better, and in some ways makes them even more irrelevant. It results in a miniseries that is the absolute worst sort of failure, where an intriguing idea and a couple of strong performances are executed in such a way to rob them of any potential to move their intended audience.

The miniseries is the story of Summakor, a company led by a man named Curtis who uses his wife’s biochemistry research on the unconscious to develop a simulated utopia of the mind wherein individuals could travel to an ideal society and become “fixed” for their present lives. The utopia, controlled by his wife’s mind, is run by Curtis’ own counterpart within the simulation of sorts, and is supplied with potential patients by the surveillance research completed by Michael, who after trying to resign from the company is thrown into the simulation himself. It is that moment, when Michael (now as 6) finds himself in the middle of the desert with no idea of how he got there, that begins this miniseries, and this is precisely the problem.

See, 6 isn’t actually interesting. Part of the blame lies on Jim Caviezel, who gives a lifeless performance when he’s asked to speak softly and an outright awkward one when he’s forced to raise his voice. However, much of the blame comes from the fact that the character has no life to him, lacking both a sense of humour and a thought that is in any way unrelated to the Village and his current predicament. The miniseries eventually has him perform a number of odd jobs, each more mundane than the next, and because the character has no nuances or subtleties it’s as if they were unable to get the real actor and instead used a stand-in so that they could film what was happening around them.

The script gives us no sense of why Michael/6 does anything he does other than when he blankly exposits it or, even more problematically, when another character (415, 313, or 2) spells it out for us. There are points in the miniseries where 6 will randomly pop up into a scene to interrogate 313, or question 1112, and I’m left wondering what drove him to make this speech. The answer is never clear, and the editing of the miniseries is such that things just move from one beat to the next without ever showing us how, or more importantly why, certain things are taking place in the way that they are.

Now, I understand the reluctance to reveal details of the plot up front: the show is trying to sell itself on mystery, so having 6 arrive confused and disoriented and to make the Village particularly amorphous and challenging makes perfect sense. However, if this is the case, we need to want to watch the show’s protagonist operate in this environment, and the miniseries fails to make the character the least bit compelling. It slowly parcels out any information that could possibly make his character interesting by turning it into a mystery of its own, the scenes with Lucy in New York designed to pique our interest in the plot rather than actually create interest in this character. I understand that 6 isn’t able to know everything about Michael’s life, or it would defeat the purpose of the entire exercise, but if we had been shown more of his past and given a better sense of his character we might have been able to better understand his character’s motives even if he isn’t quite sure what’s going on.

And I’m not even convinced that the plot should have remained a secret. If the purpose of the miniseries was to make us consider the types of themes that the finale of sorts brought to the surface, I don’t know why those themes couldn’t have been introduced first before then turning this into a character study of Michael, Curtis, Lucy, Sarah, and everyone else. I understand that mystery was a key element of the original series, but this theme didn’t feel as if it really needed mystery to work, and I probably would have found the episodes they delivered far more compelling if I understood what was going on. The story of a husband whose wife has become trapped inside her own mind, unable to enjoy the child she created in that mind that she could never have in real life, would have been just as compelling if we weren’t forced into the position of 1112, unaware of the whole story. By forcing us to know as much about the plot as its two most “out of the loop” characters, it creates mystery where it should be creating dramatic interest, and has bored us into submission by the time it decides it wants to be interesting.

A lot of this does have to do with the fact that the miniseries format seems to have been horribly misused in this instance, especially around the middle of the series. The freedom of a normal series structure is that you have time to investigate various different elements of a story, allowing more time for the viewer to become accustomed to an environment or to a set of characters. This can lead to a slower pace, certainly, but it can also really delve into the world the writers have created. This so-called utopia had a lot of elements taken for granted, such as the question of religion (which was present but non-denominational), or the question of governance, and as such there was a chance for them to slow down for a moment and allow 6 to stop rushing from one point to another and actually experience the world in a way that allows us, as an audience to understand it further.

What was so fascinating about this miniseries is that it actually at points started to do this, and yet refused to slow down in order to make it a successful strategy. It’s as if they decided that, instead of doing a full series, they would simply have a few episodes of a traditional series but refuse to have 6 actually slow down to experience any of it. It resulted in an absolutely bizarre pacing struggle, where 6 never stopped moving and yet what we was moving to was neither as exciting as one expects in a short-form miniseries nor as thorough as one expects in a more traditional series structure. Stories like 6 teaching at a school, or working as an undercover, or discovering a lost family, or being placed into an arranged marriage, were the types of stories that might have been interesting if there was ever a sense that they weren’t just a transitional piece of misdirection. And because of the miniseries structure, Michael never stopped to ask why any one particular event was happening, because that would have slowed things down too much and limited the impact of the big picture, which remained a broad question of “Why am I here?” that rarely changed as each episode passed.

It was only when things started to come together in the end that the miniseries started to be more successful, as the New York and the Village began to connect with one another in a legitimately intriguing way. By the time we got to “Checkmate,” I was confused less about what was going on (which I’d argue is counter productive) and more about what was going to happen (which, to me, is the perfect source of tension). When the two worlds collided through more than just a boring conversation between Michael and Lucy in his own memory, the show was finally telling us something about its key themes. Summakor went from some sort of faceless corporation to a clear part of our narrative, and 313 went from an undefined female love interest to a legitimately tragic character whose pain is now comprehensible (and present at all, really). When all of that happens, the story suddenly becomes really interesting, and I’m guessing that if you watched the finale first, the first five hours of the miniseries would probably be a whole lot more interesting – if honesty is so thrilling, why not open with it so that the boring introduction is the least bit compelling?

There were some interesting elements to be salvaged here. I thought Ian McKellen was great throughout, even if the character of 2 became problematically expository at various points within the narrative, and Curtis’ story is probably the most complete story provided to any of the characters (perhaps helped by the fact that it becomes clear the quickest). And I liked the idea that the leader was 2, as opposed to 1, because the idea of being whole (of being one soul) was unattainable to those who have essentially been split into two in order for them to improve their lives. And the idea of the Dreamers, people who aren’t as easily assimilated into this new utopia, working as a sort of resistance to the sense of order has some real potential to it. I think there’s a really intriguing miniseries to be told about that environment, one which could deal with the same themes that writer Bill Gallagher wants to deal with here, but this just wasn’t it in any way.

Some broad stories like this suffer from a weak ending, but I thought this one was compelling: Michael, who is responsible for this program starting as a result of his Big Brother-like observations within Summakor, is forced to choose between destroying the Utopia or attempting to take over and fix what Curtis was unable to sustain before him. In the end, he chooses the latter because of what he sees Sarah turning into, and when he sees that 147’s real life counterpart is closer to getting to see his daughter as a result of the process being undertaken, and he chooses to believe that helping people (even when they don’t ask for it, as is implied) is worthwhile. It may be a prison, but like any prison system it’s one that people believe can reform people, and that some believe can be changed to truly be a utopia of sorts. And so Michael sacrifices himself as Curtis once did, and 313 gives up her life in the village to serve as the new host, drugged into a state of unknowing.

But a satisfying ending doesn’t make the rest of the miniseries any more interesting, except from the perspective of analyzing the ending more carefully in the context of the rest of the story. However, while Daniel Fienberg has written an extensive analysis that makes the story seem really compelling, I wanted the show to be that compelling. If these kinds of ideas are so interesting, then why weren’t they present throughout the miniseries in a way that went beyond a scattered collection of disconnected and “weird” story beats? While Daniel’s right to point out that you could write extensive essays on the theme of the miniseries, you could also (heck, I sort of just did) write extensive essays about how poorly it organizes itself to actually capture those themes in an entertaining piece of television.

And while we do give points for intention, when the execution is this muddled and confused I can’t really suggest that any but the most morbidly curious seek out this miniseries for entertainment purposes. If this had been executed, it could have been another notch in AMC’s belt – as it turned out, it’s an intriguing oddity that’s more failure than success and more idea than execution.

Cultural Observations

• Jace over at Televisionary has an interview with the writer, Bill Gallagher, which reveals both that he “wrote small” for the miniseries (which makes about as much sense as it sounds) and that he never intended for the glass towers seen by the dreamers to in any way represent the World Trade Centre. The first I can sort of understand, even if it does explain a number of the show’s problems, but the latter baffles my mind: it’s one thing not to see the connections with really broad philosophical constructs (there’s some of Plato’s “The Cave” in here, as Jace points out), but it’s another to miss something so culturally relevant to the show’s New York setting.
• Considering that the actress who played 313 looked a bit like January Jones, there were a few times where I imagined the cast of Man Men (Jon Hamm, Jones, Elisabeth Moss, etc.) replacing the non-McKellen cast members, and I have to tell you that it became a far more interesting show as a result.
• That being said, I did think that the cast was solid other than Caviezel, especially Lennie James and young Jamie Campbell Bower (who is playing Weymar Royce in the Game of Thrones pilot for HBO).
• A legitimate question: I have to wonder if AMC always intended to air the miniseries over three nights. The episodes are clearly distinct from each other, which meant that they could have easily spread it out over six nights (Sunday-Friday) or over six weeks like a traditional series. I have to wonder if the quality of the opening episodes might have made this decision for them, or if they felt there was some other reason to air two hours a night during an extremely busy sweeps period.

1. Ghetto – Hathaway, Donny
2. Inner City Blues – Washington, Grover Jr.
3. Woman Of The Ghetto – Shaw, Marlena
4. Pusherman – Mayfield, Curtis
5. Home Is Where The Hatred Is – Phillips, ‘Little’ Esther
6. Stone To The Bone – Brown, James
7. Expansions – Smith, Lonnie Liston
8. Also Sprach Zarathustra – Deodato
9. Stratus – Cobham, Billy
10. Shaft – Hayes, Isaac
11. He’s A Superstar – Ayers, Roy
12. Superfly – Mayfield, Curtis
13. Summer In The City – Jones, Quincy
14. For What It’s Worth – Mendes, Sergio
15. Steppin’ Stones – Harris, Johnny
16. Nubian Lady – Lateef, Yusef
17. I’d Rather Be With You – Collins, Bootsy
18. Straussmania – Salinas, Daniel
19. Children Of The Ghetto – Pine, Courtney
20. Other Side Of Town – Joseph, Julian
21. By All Means – Mouzon, Alphonse
22. Look Of Love – Hayes, Isaac
23. If You Want Me To Stay – Stone, Sly
24. Why Can’t We Live Together – Thomas, Timmy

With the album hitting store shelves this week, 50 stopped by The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien Wednesday (Nov 18th) for an interview and to perform his smash hit single “Baby By Me” off his new album “Before I Self Destruct”.I went aghast when he talked about his new fragance ” Power by 50″ best single encapsulated by “The Smell of Success” ! Meanwhile , Conan help him out to sell his 37 Ba Megamansion in Connecticut and do some little branding..

Hey! Just wanted to let you know that my official Curtis, King of SEO! project has begun.

The purpose of this project is to prove that I, Curtis, am King of the Search Engines, by getting a page from my website, http://www.curtiskessler.com/curtis-0000.html, to the #1 spot on Google for the search term “Curtis”. I suspect it will be easier to get #1 on Google Images (it nearly always is), but I hope to get both in the long run.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) har bebudet et offentligt møde er berammet til onsdag den 23. september fra 6:00-8:30 på CJ Peete Community Center (2514 Washington Street) for at drøfte den planlagte nedrivning og erstatning af Curtis og Davis 'Thomy Lafon Elementary School.
FEMA anmoder om, at deltagerne være parat til at tale ud, enten til støtte for bevarelse eller nedrivning. Parterne støtter bevarelsen bør være i stand til at fremlægge et beslægtet forslag; parter støtter nedrivning bør fremlægge et forslag til skolens mindehøjtidelighed.
Du kan læse mere om Thomy Lafon (1810-1893), høre følgende ressourcer til rådighed via Tulane University Libraries:
Joseph, James A. \ "Thomy Lafon: Sort aristokrati og velgørenhedstjenester Wealth, \" kapitel i Remaking America: Hvordan den velvillige Traditioner i mange kulturer er ved at transformere vores National Life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995.
Rankin, David C. \ "The Origins of Black Leadership i New Orleans under genopbygning. \" The Journal of Southern History 40:3 (august 1974): 417-440 & andre artikler tilgængelige via JSTOR.
Du kan læse mere om Curtis og Davis 'arkitektur, se:
Curtis, Nathaniel. Nathaniel Curtis, FAIA: My Life in Modern Architecture. New Orleans: University of New Orleans, 2002.
Davis, Arthur. Det skete ved Design: The Life and Work af Arthur Q. Davis. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2009.
\ "School på stylter. \" Architectural Forum 101 (november 1954): 148-151.
Billedet ovenfor: Udsnit fra præsentationen bord: Thomy Lafon Skole: Små stedet på en tæt trafikeret Neighborhood.Curtis & Davis Collection, Sydøstskåne Architectural Arkiv, Tulane University Libraries.

Spotted at 2dopeboyz.com

DOWNLOAD -Beanie Sigel – I Go Off f. 50 Cent [CDQ] | Mediafire

Download – Beanie Sigel ft. Curtis – I Go Off (Radio Rip)

This week Tangle is giving away Steven Curtis Chapman’s latest single Heaven is The Face off his newest release Beauty Will Rise, now available everywhere.

Click on the image to download.

☺☺☺☺☺

Mitici anni 60′, una nave pirata solca i mari diffondendo il panico nella bigotta Inghilterra, diaboliche onde sonore rock irrompono nelle case dei giovani inglesi corrompendo le loro anime e saziandole di libertà ed evasione. La mannaia del governo cerca di porre un freno a questa situazione a tutti i costi ma alla fine epicamente il vascello contro il sistema entrerà nei cuori del mondo intero per restarci per sempre.

Il Conte (l’onnipotente Philip Seymour Hoffman), Quentin (Bill Nighy, heil!), Gavin (Rhys Ifans), Dave (Nick Frost), Carl (Tom Sturridge) sono i componenti di questa strepitosa ciurma che ci accompagnerà per tutta la durata del film.

Quando si parla di anni 60′ io non riesco ad essere obiettivo , sia chiaro, ma richiamandomi al dovere e cercando di esserlo almeno in parte il film è assolutamente godibilissimo ma vista la natura del soggetto poteva riuscire qualcosa di ancor più epico ne sono sicuro (mai farsi aspettative troppo alte,ahimè). La colonna sonora è azzeccata ovviamente (come poteva non esserlo visto l’universo di canzoni papabili ,ebbè), eccone uno stralcio:

The Kinks – “All Day And All Of The Night”
Van Morrison – “Here Comes The Night”
Donovan – “Sunshine Superman”
Rolling Stones – “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”
The Yardbirds – “For Your Love”
Leonard Cohen – “So Long Marinane”
Cream – “I Feel Free”
Paul Jones – “”I’ve Been A Bad Bad Boy”
The Who – “My Generation”
Beach Boys – “Little Saint Nick”
Jimi Hendrix – “The Wind Cries Mary”
Rolling Stones – “Let’s Spend The Night Together”
David Bowie – “Let’s Dance”
Cat Stevens – “Father And Son”
Dusty Springfield – “You Don’t Have…”
The Seekers – “Georgy Girl”
The Hollies – “I’m Alive”
The Troggs – “Stay With Me Baby”
Steve Price – “Amy’s Song”
The Who – “Won’t Get Fooled Again”

Alla prossima pillola!

Hello, friends. I’m sure you’ve all been on the edges of your collective seats, waiting for an update on my adventures. Well, today is your lucky day! It’s also my second-to-last day here in the wet but oh-so-lovely northwest. For your viewing pleasure, here’s what I’ve been doing:

Wednesday, November 4: Seattle skyline at sunset while driving to Renton to speak at Beit Tikvah. No color alteration on this photo!

Thursday, November 5: Rainy morning coffee at Vivace with Curtis, Grace, and Baby Rommy.

The next shots are JUBILEE band practice at Gypsy Cottage. Emily and her heart-melting cello. Amazing Grace.

Curtis, Jonny, Emily, and Grace making musical magic. Steven (the drummer) was home sick with Swine Flu.

Jonny + guitar = perfect.

Friday, November 6: Day trip to Vancouver to see Luke. Curtis, Luke, and Grace perusing the lunch menu at Burgoo.

Across the street: fall color and Vancouver architecture.

Grace and Curtis

Luke’s beverage choice: Mead

My lunch: butternut squash soup and spinach salad. Yummm.

God’s artwork. Beauty that creates an ache.

Vancouver aquarium. Macaws. (They’re beautiful but very loud.)

Sea turtle

Sea horse

Starfish.

Octopus tentacle

Jellyfish

Baby beluga!

Frog

Saturday, November 7: A full and wonderful day. It started at 9:00 AM with a brunch at Sonlight Community Church, speaking to 80+ women, including a few beloved Droullards and Robinses. Here’s Ruth, Carrie, and one-month-old Karen Poppy sporting a plaid dress and red cape. Sweet, sleeping fashion baby!

Proof that I really did speak during the speakathon. Here I’m apparently explaining the difference between a capital C and a lower case c. Inspirational!

Signing books. The lady in the blue shirt buying a stack of copies is Colleen. Her newborn grandbaby, Olive Hope, is fighting for her life in Thailand. The prognosis is severe brain damage. Please pray for Olive Hope and her missionary parents. All things are possible with God.

After the brunch I attended a book club discussion of Parting the Waters with these lovely ladies. Marilyn Stremler, far left back row, is the dear soul who lined up five of the seven Great Northwest Speakathon events. She’s a hoot and a treasure.

After book club we went to a charming downtown bookstore, Homespun Mercantile, for a signing. Here’s Lorraine, the owner, Marilyn, and Linda.

Loved this store! I bought the adorable apron for Grace, because I just had to.

After the signing we jumped in the car and headed back to Seattle because JUBILEE had a gig at the Fremont Abbey that night. We swung by Gypsy Cottage, loaded the band gear, hauled it to the Abbey, set up, did a sound check, then headed to Dad Watson’s for dinner. Here’s a shot of ceiling detail at Dad Watson’s.

The gig was a benefit concert for Med25, a non-profit created to provide access to quality health care for the world’s poor and needy. They’re currently raising funds for a project in Kenya. Beautiful cause, awesome concert, great crowd! Fun night. Here are some shots of JUBILEE rocking out. Curtis, Jonny, Grace, Emily, and Steven.

My son-in-law is a hot rock star.

Last song was Moonlight Riders–a mostly instrumental jam that’s always a hit with the crowd.

We left the Abbey after midnight, rushed back to Gypsy Cottage, swapped out band gear for luggage, and barely caught the 12:40 AM ferry for Bainbridge Island where Grace and Curtis lead worship at CrossSound Church on Sunday mornings. None of us got enough sleep, but I still enjoyed playing piano and singing harmony with their praise band during the service. What a wonderful church and community. I always love visiting there.

After church we ate yummy Indian food then caught the ferry back to Seattle for a quiet evening at Gypsy Cottage. This morning we all slept late. In a couple of hours I’ll drive back to Lynden for dinner with the Droullards, Stremlers, and Luke who is coming down from Vancouver to join us. Tuesday morning I speak at Lynden Christian High School’s chapel, then that evening at the Cascade Christian Services Staff & Donor Appreciation Gala. Wednesday I catch a flight back to Texas. That thought would make me sad if I didn’t look forward to reuniting with George and Jacob on the other end. This has been such a precious time with people I love so much, I sometimes wonder if my heart will explode.

Thanks for sharing my adventures. Life is good. God is good. It’s all so very good. I hope you’re enjoying the goodness on your end, too.

Here is a bonus track off Before I Self Destruct. Album in stores November 16th.

Download – 50 Cent – Man’s World [BONUS TRACK BISD]

Music, clothing, movies, video games, energy drinks and a new fragrance. What you going to do next Fif? This guy needs a day off.

Usual shit about 50 getting shot up.

Wallpaper High Quality 1024×768

Last night I officially launched The Great Northwest Speakathon when I spoke to the Northwest Christian Writers Association on the topic of “Language as Soundtrack.” What a great group of fun, lovely writers! If I lived in the area I would definitely be a part of that action. Thanks again to Athena Dean for inviting me to speak and to all of you for listening, participating, and even laughing at my jokes.

Right about now the astute reader wonders, “Yes, Jeanne, you spoke to the NCWA last night, but what did you do with yourself all day?” Thanks for asking, astute reader! Here are some photos to answer your question:

Since I’m staying with Grace and Curtis in their adorable home, Gypsy Cottage, one of the first items on the day’s agenda was to meet “the girls.” Say hello to Eleanor, Maude, Silvia, and Louise. Quite the bevy of beauties!

Here’s Grace giving the girls a treat. And speaking of Grace, here she is introducing my GRANDBABY to the world:

Isn’t he/she cute! And smart, too. I don’t want to brag or anything, but my grandchild already has all the essential body parts, PLUS eyelashes, fingernails, and toenails. I should buy him/her a present to celebrate these accomplishments!

I believe it was Confucius who said, “One mustn’t waste a sunny November day in Seattle.” So, after fun times with the chickens and a prenatal photo shoot, we took off for an adventure. First we went to Pike Place Market:

Music . . .

And more music.

Colorful local produce . . .

And more colorful local produce.

Shops . . .

And . . . Well, you get the idea. After perusing Pike Place, we decided to take a stroll around Green Lake:

We admired the flora . . .

And fauna. And lots of other people, including a pack of mommies and daddies who were part of a twins club, each pushing a double stroller with look-alike baby bundles cozied inside. It was a comfort to Grace that the parents all looked happy, healthy, and sane. If they can do two, surely she can do one.

Day two, and it’s another sunny, gorgeous morning. I don’t speak again until tomorrow evening, so today is up for grabs. Not sure what all we’ll do, but this afternoon I get to listen in on Jubilee band practice. Happy ears. Happy camera. Pictures forthcoming!

This week check out FIVE great album previews from Switchfoot, Steven Curtis Chapman, and Sara Groves! (click on the images to listen)

Hello Hurricane by Switchfoot
Album available everywhere on November 10th 2009

Beauty Will Rise by Steven Curtis Chapman
Album is now available everywhere.
Note: Registration is required to listen, registration is free.

Fireflies and Songs by Sara Groves
Album available everywhere on November 17th 2009

Monster Monster by The Almost
Album now available everywhere

You Gotta BelieveEP by The Almost
Digital release ONLY. Album available on iTunes.

For more information on these artists visit:

http://www.switchfoot.com/
http://www.stevencurtischapman.com/
http://www.saragroves.com/
http://www.thealmost.com/home.aspx
http://therocketsummer.com/

[0:55-1:10] I’m pushing the record up, it’ll be out on the 16th. I’m expecting it to do good because of the response I’ve heard on the web.
[12:10] I feel good that it was leaked in its entirety, in sequence. So people can hear my vision.

[3:35-4:00] [What's your take on the Beanie Sigel/Jay-Z?] That whole shit is a mess. I understand where his frustration comes from, because there was a point where— He would’ve had a serious check…

[6:15-7:10] A lot of the times when I say Jay is a cool punk, don’t get it fucked up, he’s a smart guy. You can’t take away from him what he’s done in the actual business and in the game. But since he lost to Nas, he hasn’t competed… Everytime somebody came— Beans went out in the front with Jadakiss. He had the Cam’ron issues. Then when Cam’ron came back and it was issues again, the Tru-Life deal was signed. And when Tru-Life got into an altercation with him, that one stopped. That’s what stopped the Cam beef.

[8:05-9:00] [Do you feel like that Beanie Sigel has some legitimate complaints about Jay-Z?] I think he did have legitimate complaints because of my choices. Like— When they tell me you was giving the nigga $1250? [Silence.] A group? [Silence.] A motherfucker can’t even afford no pussy with $1250. [Laughs.] These niggas is staying in nice hotels. If a bitch order room service twice, you’re done. [Laughs.] You know what it is, it’s traditional business. My business model comes from the curb so I’ma take care of my niggas a little different, cuz they my people.

Curtis Calls Gomez Bros (10/31/09) [17min] | Usershare