A Welcome Matt
Sunday, April 3, 2011
'King's Speech' sees its speech unnecessarily altered
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Five stars in desperate need of vacations
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Can LARRY CROWNE's star power catapult it to success, or will the rom-com fall flat on its face?
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Five ways Charlie Sheen can save his career...if he's lucky
He was fired from Two and a Half Men (for which he made about $1.2 million per episode), filed a lawsuit against the show's head honcho Chuck Lorre for $100 million, recorded erratically melodramatic webcasts and had firearms confiscated from his home, to name a few amid the endless list of sensationalized headlines that have included Sheen's name.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Hathaway, Franco don't provide intended Oscar makeover
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Radiohead's surprise release shines
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Do the Grammys have some sense after all? Nah.
I’ll be honest. I didn’t watch the Grammy Awards.
In fact, I basically detest the Grammys. Over the past decade, the annual music awards show has basically dwindled into a classless, overblown popularity contest. Unlike the Oscars and Emmys, which honor excellence, the Grammys recognize only what’s popular, and that’s exactly what reduces them to a shallow, growingly obsolete spectacle.
As if Lady Gaga arriving encased in a gigantic egg wasn’t enough, let’s take a look at the top four categories.
1. Country group Lady Antebellum robbed Cee-Lo Green of both Song and Record of the Year. Hailed by countless critics as the best song of 2010, Green’s “Fuck You” was undoubtedly the lone star in a category of mainstream duds, and even the Grammys’ one stab at decency couldn’t prevail.
2. Esperanza Spalding won Best New Artist. Um…who? Again, the Grammys could have gone for everyone’s favorite new eclectic diva Florence + the Machine or stellar breakthrough rock group Mumford & Sons here, but no. Maybe it’s an attempt to expose an emerging artist to the limelight, but it just seems like a phony attempt at obscurity. But, hey, if Spalding turns out to be an actually good artist, then maybe we’ll all be regretting the confused Facebook posts from last night.
3. Finally, however, we end on a positive note with Arcade Fire taking home Album of the Year for The Suburbs. It’s surprising to think the indie-rock gem managed to nab the award after Lady Antebellum’s dominance and Lady Gaga’s outlandishness, but Fire’s win provides a hint of sanity amid what appears to have been a night of predictable chaos. The band’s win is also partnered with The Black Keys deservingly collecting two notable awards in the rock categories, including Best Alternative Music Album.
At this point, the Grammys have become a showcase of mundane atrocities that’s best suited for mindlessly poor music taste. Perhaps Suburbs’s crowning was a symbol for what is to come, though. Maybe it’s the first of many smarter wins. At the least, I hope it will get people to download the album if they haven’t heard it — or the band — before. If not, at least we can clock another entry on the list of ways Gaga has outdone herself.