tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23315420654676342802024-03-12T17:45:44.788-07:00OUT LOUD and Living!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-61317272414218468402012-12-26T15:41:00.000-08:002013-07-29T18:22:45.932-07:00GNNB (Gay Nerd News Blog) :: Atlantis Attacks the DC Universe<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Since the launch of <i>The New 52 </i>in DC Comics no other character has had a more heroic (and appropriate) revamp than the King of the Seven Seas...<b>Aquaman</b>! Once to often the punchline in the past Arthur Curry has been re-imagined in the modern mythology has a force to be reckoned with...and he makes gold, green and gills look mighty fine at that.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In the new DC Universe Aquaman is (again) a founding member of the <b>Justice League</b>. He turns up early in their fight against invading forces from <b>Darkseid</b> and Apokolips and when the group of seven heroes decide to join forces as <i>Earth’s Mightiest Heroes </i>he rises to the occasion. Recently the group suffered a PR snafu that has shaken up the line-up and called to question who should lead the team.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Aquaman isn’t entirely happy with the way <b>Batman</b> runs the operation, and the Dark Knight calls to question Arthur’s loyalties, especially since for a short time early in his career the once-king of Atlantis was part of a subversive organization of clandestine mercenary agents called <b>The Others</b><i>. </i>With their Justice League’s ranks currently experiencing a sense of desertion, whether the current roster can find a way to work past their internal issues is certainly putting the still fledging organization to the test.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Which seems like a perfect opportunity for the undersea forces of Atlantis to attach the surface world. After abdicating the throne to his brother, the warlord <b>Ocean Master </b>a recent accidental misfire by an American aircraft carrier running missile experiments, spurns the current leader of the undersea kingdom to unleash his fury on three major seaboard US cities including Boston, Metropolis and Gotham.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Aquaman quickly intervenes on the attack on Gotham, alongside his wife <b>Mera </b>and both help Batman to rescue the city. <b>Superman </b>and <b>Wonder Woman </b>are in Metropolis when the Atlantean tidal wave sends the offending aircraft carrier into the midst of the city streets. Boston is next to feel the onslaught which brings forth the Ocean Master who reveals his intentions to sink the city in retaliation for the accidental attack from the surface world.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Hoping to ease tensions, Aquaman confronts his brother and tells him to surrender, but the Justice League interrupt and leave Aquaman with no alternative but to choose sides!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Continuing the new tradition of reestablishing and reaffirming the mythology of its more than 75 year old characters the DC Universe is taking a very significant step to reshape its heroes to suit the more contemporary color of storytelling. Readers now expect their characters to have deep, conflicted personalities which tends to blur the lines between what’s right and wrong. And as the Justice League are practically gods walking among men (in Wonder Woman’s case this is very true) the new series is always toting the line between the group’s purpose as defenders of a civilization that questions their authority and sometimes fears their incredible might.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">With this latest arc by the progenitor of the <i>New 52 </i>creative direction in the DC Universe, writer Geoff Johns continues to push the boundaries of the heroes own moral compasses, and as in this case the story with Aquaman, Johns is proving that the true King of Atlantis has risen to new heights, sitting formidably alongside the pantheon of heroes the likes of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">To find out who will sit on the “Throne of Atlantis” follow the tale that begins a bold new era in <i>Justice League #15 </i>and continues in <i>Aquaman #15</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"><i>JC Alvarez</i></b><i style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"> is the Nightlife Editor for </i><b style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"><i>EDGE On The Net</i></b><i style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"> and a pop-culture columnist covering celebrity and entertainment. He is the voice behind the nationally syndicated Internet radio show </i><b style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"><i>“Out Loud & Live!” </i></b><i style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;">that broadcasts every Friday @ 9pm EST on </i><a href="http://www.modernworldradio.com/" style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>www.modernworldradio.com</i></span></a><i style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;">.</i></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-64661757818514637952012-12-05T16:38:00.000-08:002012-12-05T16:38:01.891-08:00The Dark Knight Rises...to the Occasion<div style="font-family: Corbel; font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When director <b>Christopher Nolan</b> was charged with revamping the Batman film franchise he took the Caped Crusader’s mythology very seriously and elevated the super-hero film genre to an entirely new level. When he unleashed 2005’s <i>Batman Begins </i>he started a phenomenon with his Dark Knight Trilogy that lead to the most controversial and insightful look into the mind of the DC Comic’s character – a character that has endured more than 50 years of storytelling.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Taking notes from some of the best stories from the modern age of comics, Nolan was able to deliver to the big screen a much more dynamic Bruce Wayne (portrayed by Oscar Winning actor Christian Bale) and a denser purpose for his decision to become a crime-fighting symbol of justice as the Batman. This dark avenger not only prowls the streets to Gotham to protect the innocent from the growing crime wave that is claiming the night.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Nolan’s Batman is motivated to insight a movement that inspires the people to take back what is rightfully theirs – to not fear the shadows. Everything though comes with a price, and as this force for good rises, so too do the servants of evil. In the first part of the trilogy, Wayne’s search to become the ultimate warrior leads him to undoubtedly his most merciless enemy. The mastermind Ra’s al Ghul and his League of Shadows have designs on Gotham City as well.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Incorporating the unscrupulous Dr. Jonathan Crane (aka “The Scarecrow”) as an unwitting conspirator in his plot, Ra’s al Ghul plans on burning the corrupt structure of the city to the ground, re-inventing it in his own image. Unfortunately he is unable to anticipate the city’s new defender, when Wayne now adopting the identity of Batman interferes with his scheme and stops the two in their tracks...but not before introducing an entirely new criminal element unlike any the world has seen before.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The League of Shadows and the fear-inducing Scarecrow were only the tip of the iceberg. No one could have anticipated the menace that would shake the very foundation that Batman was fighting to maintain. When the Joker arrives on the scene an entirely new breed of anarchy is unleashed on Gotham.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In <i>The Dark Knight </i>Nolan re-imaged the character of the Joker (played by Heath Ledger and first realized on the silver screen by Jack Nicholson) and pit Batman against a worthy opponent – the literal yin to his yang. The Joker devices a plot to prove to Batman just how easily men walk the line between good and evil; sane and insane. His mad plans involve the corruption of Gotham’s top DA, one Harvey Dent – who by the end of the mad encounter topples over the edge and becomes a monster called Two-Face.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Batman’s world is shattered and wrought with loss. The Joker ends up getting aced, but not without dealing the crime fighter a royal flush – winner take all. With the crumbling facade of Gotham’s justice system in the balance, Batman decides to fold and takes the blame for the death of Dent and the murders the vengeful campaign the mad men leaves in his wake.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Batman becomes a fugitive. The hunter is now, the hunted.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">For the final chapter in his film trilogy, Nolan had to tie up the loose ends introduced over the course of the first two films. Namely, define the purpose of the Batman in the world and whether the hero actually did some good while on his crusade; had the Dark Knight’s mission been accomplished? It becomes obvious that the sacrifice Bruce Wayne’s alter ego made for the sake of protecting an ideal is a best an empty one. The cancer that plagues the city begins to surface from the inside out.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Absolute power consumes and corrupts absolutely. In the wake of Harvey Dent’s passing a new age of prosperity takes over Gotham City, but it’s only a “spot clean” – already plans are in place that will shake the foundations and the core of this era of good feeling will come crashing around everyone’s ears, when a new villain comes to town.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">With Batman out of the picture, Wayne having retired his secret identity to live life as a recluse, the economy of his vast empire and that of the very city’s becomes compromised. When the mercenary named Bane comes to reclaim Gotham, he begins by plunging the city into economic turmoil. High-jacking the financial district is only the beginning. Bane across a weapon of mass destruction and severs the city from the rest of the world. Robbing Bruce Wayne and the rest of Gotham’s elite of their millions, Bane releases the criminals first prosecuted under the reign of Harvey Dent...and reveals the truth about Two-Face!</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ultimately destroying the people’s faith in their governing body, a war rages between the “haves” and the “have-nots” forcing the Batman to once more take up the cape and cowl when the tension level rises. In the midst of all the chaos, a notorious Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) is manipulated into delivering Batman into Bane’s waiting arms. In the end, broken and defeated, Bruce Wayne is imprisoned and forced to helplessly watch as his city plummets into despair, and refine his purpose in time to save the day.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Though it isn’t the spectacle that moviegoers were perhaps expecting <i>Rises </i>does meet and match the overall theme set by Nolan for his Dark Knight adventure. Having revolutionized the superhero film genre it couldn’t have ended any other way – the story had to be bigger than the Batman mythology. It had to be Shakespearean in its motif.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In order to save himself, Wayne must save the city. In order to save the city, he must become the Batman again...and commit to the ultimate sacrifice.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Nolan says he’s hung up his cape and Bale says he’s done playing the Caped Crusader, but with the superhero film now a hot commodity in Hollywood, you can bet we haven’t seen the last of Batman on the big screen. And with the success of <i>Marvel’s Avengers </i>it won’t be long before DC Comic’s own Justice League jump from the page and into the box office battle. The Dark Knight has risen...watch the skies. The signal is sent.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond';"><i>JC Alvarez</i></b><i style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond';"> is the Nightlife Editor for </i><b style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond';"><i>EDGE On The Net</i></b><i style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond';"> and a pop-culture columnist covering celebrity and entertainment. He is the voice behind the nationally syndicated Internet radio show </i><b style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond';"><i>“Out Loud & Live!” </i></b><i style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond';">that broadcasts every Friday @ 9pm EST on </i><a href="http://www.modernworldradio.com/" style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond';"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>www.modernworldradio.com</i></span></a><i style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond';">.</i><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-4054489555311537262012-11-18T14:52:00.002-08:002012-11-18T14:52:51.619-08:00Rihanna is “Unapologetic” on New Album.<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So I wasn’t invited to tramp across the skyways with pop-princess <b>Rihanna</b> on her recent media tour to support the release of her latest album. <i>Unapologetic </i>is the songstress’ 7th studio offering in so many years. Since her debut on the music scene in 2005, Rihanna appeared determined to make a considerable dent on the pop spectrum whether she had an audience or not. So she packed a 777 and decided to hit the road!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">7 countries. 7 days. 7 show. The 777 Tour to promote album number 7. Lucky number or not, its gonna grab Rihanna some headlines – as usual.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Somewhat ruthless in her ambition, she laid it into her critics when she unleashed a storm with her hit single “Umbrella.” The collaboration with rap music mogul proved the hit-maker’s strategically second greatest career move since marrying Beyoncé...and fortunately for Rihanna, the single rocketed the Barbadian beauty into super-stardom.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">With a near relentless appetite for attention and an equally addictive taste for courting controversy, Rihanna’s music and personal life kept her on the charts and in the tabloid headlines. Cut to her new reality, where the luxury of anonymity is the one thing she can no longer afford. Fame after all does come with a price.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The theme that is most prevalent in <i>Unapologetic </i>as Rihanna thumbs her nose at the public scrutiny that has followed her every move, is just that – that singer has nothing to apologize for. <i>I’m rich. I’m beautiful. So fuck you! </i>Whether you like it or not, I’m here to stay.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Talent is the one still questionable traits that is yet to be confirmed among the artist’s (and I use that word loosely) repertoire, but if Rihanna is capable of anything it’s picking the producers and tracks that will convey every bit the narrative that she is working to express. She is a smart marketeer, comparable to Madonna in her day. Look where that skill has gotten the Queen of Pop. If Rihanna is cut from the same cloth time will certainly tell, but in the here in now <i>Unapologetic </i>may stand has one of her most ardent musical productions yet.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Pushing her dance floor collaborators to their boundaries, <i>Unapologetic </i>starts with the David Guetta production “Fresh Off the Runway” that doesn’t have the trappings and synth associated with the remix/producers. Instead the track is a harder-hitting gang bang of beats and electronic rhythms that sway along with Rihanna’s own auto-tuned vocals and breathy accents. The track’s very contemporary swing confirms that RiRi knows what catches her fans attention...and she’s ready to slam them into the wall.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The already chart climbing “Diamonds” is along the same type of drama that we’ve come to expect from other radio-ready female vocalists that are making the rounds. It’s a powerful proclamation and moves along easily; the arrangement is poignant and is sure to give Rihanna her biggest and brightest moments on stage. The song is wrought with emotion – her emotion is very present in its performance. The production, though not the most soaring, still manages to hit like a wave crashing into the surf.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The rest of <i>Unapologetic </i>features more of the same confection that has become the norm on the pop scheme as of late. There are the guest appearances which include Guetta (who provides the album’s club frenzied “Right Now”), hip-hop acts like Future and Eminem, and alternative artist Mikky Ekko who delivers on the ghostly romantic “Stay”. It’s interesting that the track right after this romantic ode is Rihanna’s sure to be controversial duet with Chris Brown.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If “Noboby’s Business” feels like a seductively bouncy romp that could have been written by Michael Jackson, that’s because the King of Pop contributed a lot of the tracks feel. It’s an unofficial “response” to Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel” produced by The-Dream. In a very decisive and somewhat delusional move, Rihanna put away the restraining and paired up with her beau – as for how her fans will react. Stay tuned.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But as for what the pop artist is thinking, it’s apparent – she doesn’t give a fuck what people will think or say about it. There are very interesting productions on <i>Unapologetic </i>that grab instant attention. “Love Without Tragedy-Mother Mary” is one such nugget, while “No Love Allowed” is a sure-fire reminder of her summery sweet beach front Barbados roots, and “Lost in Paradise” rounds out the album with a broken-hearted, rock-tinged single waiting to solidify Rihanna’s place on Billboard...yet again.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Though she has nothing to apologize for – her work ethic, her drive to stay on top, her unique appeal – it is perhaps her critics who owe her a bit of slack. <i>Unapologetic </i>shines bright like a diamond.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"><i>JC Alvarez</i></b><i style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"> is the Nightlife Editor for </i><b style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"><i>EDGE On The Net</i></b><i style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"> and a pop-culture columnist covering celebrity and entertainment. He is the voice behind the nationally syndicated Internet radio show </i><b style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"><i>“Out Loud & Live!” </i></b><i style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;">that broadcasts every Friday @ 9pm EST on </i><a href="http://www.modernworldradio.com/" style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>www.modernworldradio.com</i></span></a><i style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;">.</i></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-2839893288403605792012-11-11T16:34:00.001-08:002012-11-11T16:34:16.692-08:00Christina Aguilera’s “Lotus” Blossoms<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYBdmG0eq7QDVzOplc7O_pCpxwno24Q-6TlSB8lPVn_dBukNNMvDZAzRrQQn1RDiafdXZTIU6Nv9qvyvnDfLd_KHEQ1kHMC4XhBepJxKG3t2qKr3uGsY2WIZzYPm95vh1jKGYaGnO4Y6s/s1600/aguilerasampler.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYBdmG0eq7QDVzOplc7O_pCpxwno24Q-6TlSB8lPVn_dBukNNMvDZAzRrQQn1RDiafdXZTIU6Nv9qvyvnDfLd_KHEQ1kHMC4XhBepJxKG3t2qKr3uGsY2WIZzYPm95vh1jKGYaGnO4Y6s/s320/aguilerasampler.png" width="320" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The last time around that <b>Christina Aguilera </b>was on the radar she was about to hit the big screen, go bionic and was suddenly a single lady. The one-two punch of a divorce and her box-office dud dulled out the buzz surrounding her electro-heavy album project. It took a competition reality show <i>The Voice </i>to remind everyone outside of her fan base how much of a force of nature Aguilera truly is.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">A nominally successful single with co-conspirator Adam Levine proved she still had <i>the moves</i>. And a similarly inspired turn as a TV judge solidified that after a decades worth of music Christina knows her shit. After several seasons mentoring the musical talent of tomorrow, Christina Aguilera returns to what she does best – make music!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Critically <i>Bionic </i>her last full-length album project couldn’t have been more disappointing for the artist, who was releasing a techno-synth opus that had promised to deliver on high-voltage but barely had the wattage needed to light a candle. Aside from the premiere single “Not Myself Tonight” the album as a whole barely made a dent on the charts for Aguilera who had committed herself to a multi-city tour to promote <i>Bionic</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">An ambitious set of tracks, mostly all produced for the rousing commerciality of dance music that was largely inspired by the success of Lady Gaga, there was little Aguilera could do to escape the eclipse of the new music phenomenon that was challenging all conventions of popular music. Looking to challenge the critics that found joy in comparing the two, Aguilera teamed with electro-pop producers Tricky Stewart, Polow da Don and Samuel Dixon to give <i>Bionic </i>it uniquely synth-pop dimension.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When interest in the album fizzled, <i>Bionic </i>peaked at seventy-nine on the US Billboard Hot 100, and not even appearances by a then relatively unknown Nicki Minaj could raise any additional eyebrows. The plug was soon pulled on the planned “2010 Bionic Tour” – boohoo!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Defiant and resilient Aguilera appeared determined that her next album project would remind everyone of just how formidable she is. On <i><b>Lotus</b> </i>her seventh full-length album, Aguilera demonstrates just how far she’s blossomed, from pop-princess, to pop-icon.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The strength of this compilation of tracks isn’t solely linked to Aguilera’s dominating vocals, <i>Lotus </i>is powered on by some very accessible pop tracks – something that many argued was missing significantly from <i>Bionic</i>. From the smartly crafted lead single “Your Body” is Aguilera’s proof that she is carefully listening to how music now is responding to memorable hooks and electronic beats. She isn’t compromising on her voice either. The track’s arrangement takes full advantage of her masterful range.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Fortunately “Your Body” isn’ the only petal <i>Lotus </i>has to pluck. Linking to the popularity of singing competition show <i>T</i></span><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;">he Voice </i><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Aguilera teams up with her mates CeeLo Green and Blake Shelton, for two of the album’s most radio-friendly tracks. “Make the World Move” is powered by a memorable drum beat that is sharpened by CeeLo’s presence. Performing with country star Blake Shelton on “Just a Fool” reveals the powerful cross-over potential of a ballad that is narratively as winning as a Carrie Underwood hit.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Lotus </i>continues to blossom with the dance floor ready “Let There Be Love” that will be a choice favorite for club crowd that found <i>Bionic’s </i>tedious track list too predictable and forced. “Sing For Me” is one of albums more powerful ballads, which there are in abundance this time. There’s no denying that Aguilera’s greatest gift is her natural instrument, which easily continues to brand her the voice of her generation.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">On “Army of Me” she is quick to remind us that she’s still stronger; she’s still a fighter. “Circles” poignantly takes a jab at the haters, while “Empty Words” seems to be directed at anyone that’s felt defeated or invisible – it’s her newest anthem dedicated to empowerment.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Like the endurable flower that she’s named this album after, Aguilera has grown beyond any expectations, and will go on. Her image may continue to dominate and her persona may overshadow her artistry, but there is no escaping her musicality. Fans will appreciate <i>Lotus </i>for what it is, a reflection of Christina Aguilera’s present. Her abstract defiance intact she continues to thumb her nose at those that thought she’d never succeed. But here she is...so <i>shut up!</i></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"><i>JC Alvarez</i></b><i style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"> is the Nightlife Editor for </i><b style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"><i>EDGE On The Net</i></b><i style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"> and a pop-culture columnist covering celebrity and entertainment. He is the voice behind the nationally syndicated Internet radio show </i><b style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"><i>“Out Loud & Live!” </i></b><i style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;">that broadcasts every Friday @ 9pm EST on </i><a href="http://www.modernworldradio.com/" style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>www.modernworldradio.com</i></span></a><i style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;">. </i></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-63781681737521112642012-10-23T18:41:00.001-07:002012-10-23T18:41:20.302-07:00Too Many Trips to the Super-Hero Well? <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu9UwX90U4ybQ_hzdiG_F18dk9jpJcGHkeMS72Hp5H-U_oHEGJX1G_-a5dEHiLAejORGV7ppiYvJ2BvFoIChvq1DERYhbqO7Cg7C-pFE7QLFiJRwr1tyg44A5NZkiWGrMOA0O7TiMHNVY/s1600/temp3751%5B1%5D.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu9UwX90U4ybQ_hzdiG_F18dk9jpJcGHkeMS72Hp5H-U_oHEGJX1G_-a5dEHiLAejORGV7ppiYvJ2BvFoIChvq1DERYhbqO7Cg7C-pFE7QLFiJRwr1tyg44A5NZkiWGrMOA0O7TiMHNVY/s320/temp3751%5B1%5D.png" width="216" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Summer is over. We’re slow-steeped in the barrage of fall horror films offered just in time for the Halloween season, and soon all the prestige flicks will be out just in time for the Oscar race to begin. If the XMas decorations going up all over malls across America aren’t enough to scare the crap out of you, how about the trailer releases spotlighting <i>next </i>summer’s big blockbusters?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Is it any shock that most of the most anticipated films of 2013 are <i>yet again </i>the next chapters in most of the more popular superhero franchise films, that you’re still mentally digesting, especially after a summer fighting dark knights, avengers assembled, and the return of a friendly neighborhood wall-crawler? Brace yourself...next year we’ve got a full-slew of men of steel, and the first one keeps proving <i>invincible!</i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Hot off the presses with little time to have cooled in the furnace Marvel Studios has launched a blitzkrieg with the new <i><b>Iron Man 3 </b></i>trailer. As expected with fan boys still recovering from New York City Comic-Con, this was just the injection the Internet needed to get things going. Still a ways away from hitting theaters even Tony Stark admits that the recent attack on New York City (as experienced in this summer’s hit <i>The Avengers</i>) has taken its toll on him. Which begs one to ask: Are theater audiences also exhausted by Hollywood’s continually, and sometimes uninspired trips to comic book well?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I’ll probably get slammed for saying this but let’s face it – the just released trailer for <i>Iron Man 3 </i>isn’t really all that cool. Beat for beat it looks and feels like a rip-off of the premiere shots from <i>The Dark Knight Rises</i>. But let’s be honest too about one other thing as well, it may not be all that cool...but if it was any less impressive, we wouldn’t be all that excited to catch this next installment of this winning franchise.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In the film teaser we see a battle weary Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) fixated on creating a powerful new suit of armor – one that responds to his every whim, but like one other famously brilliant inventor, has he created a monster out of the man? The trailer reveals the film’s new threat and the Marvel character’s greatest adversary, The Mandarin. He appears poised to take down our Armored Avenger down with what looks like the contemporary Marvel villain, The Iron Patriot. Who exactly is hiding inside that suit is still up in the air, but with young Harry Osborn set to reappear in <i>The Spectacular Spider-Man </i>could his notorious father Norman be behind the plot to destroy Stark?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So many questions, but one thing is for sure – Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts has seen better days! Relegated to the damsel in distress, it looks like she gets tossed from a plane, kidnapped in her sleep, and strapped to a metal harness. Totally not cool, but fortunately the Academy Award winner has a paycheck for all of her troubles. Not bad for a day’s work!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As a comic book fan from the days when comic books only mattered in 2D, I feel that I am an authority to discuss the manner in which the film industry has turned the summer into a super hero blood bath. I feel comfortable voicing my opinion because I know that most of you will agree – summer’s have become nothing more than the season of the big blockbusters. It’s just too bad that all the films are based on the same thing.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As kids we hoped and prayed to one day meet our heroes in the flesh. The first <i>Superman </i>film proved that a man really could fly...but by the third installment, and the quest for peace, audiences were looking for a new hero. After waiting and wanting for such a long time to see the X-Men up on the big screen, were they really all that they were cut up to be? Did Phoenix’s death in <i>X2 </i>have the same resonance as the now classic issue of <i>The Uncanny X-Men </i>#138?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And how about Frank Miller’s <i>The Dark Knight Returns? </i>Does that compare in any way to what the brilliant Christopher Nolan created on the big screen for his trilogy? Does it surpass the printed version. The film version of <i>Watchmen </i>tried really hard, but fell short to Alan Moore’s incredible graphic novel (which is really great as an animated comic). Are we jaded and just sitting around waiting for the next “Watchmen”?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">With the success of this summer’s <i>Avengers </i>the next wave of Marvel films can’t fail. Everyone is waiting with baited breath for Thor, Ant-Man, The Wolverine, Spider-Man, Captain America and yes, the next Iron Man. But will we judge them as harshly if they suddenly fail to deliver on the original? Fortunately for us, the movies are taking these mythological heroes to entirely new levels, so until <i>Justice League </i>comes along...make mine Marvel with a bucket of popcorn!</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"><i>JC Alvarez</i></b><i style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"> is the Nightlife Editor for </i><b style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"><i>EDGE On The Net</i></b><i style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"> and a pop-culture columnist covering celebrity and entertainment. He is the voice behind the nationally syndicated Internet radio show </i><b style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"><i>“Out Loud & Live!” </i></b><i style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;">that broadcasts every Friday @ 9pm EST on </i><a href="http://www.modernworldradio.com/" style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>www.modernworldradio.com</i></span></a><i style="font-family: 'Apple Garamond'; font-size: medium;">. </i></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-5020719112471677212012-09-09T13:09:00.000-07:002012-09-09T13:09:35.599-07:00Madonna :: The DNA of MDNA<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Madonna’s <b><i>MDNA World Tour</i></b><i> </i>has finally wound its way into North America and hit our hometown of New York City. The Queen of Pop played two nights in the Bronx at Yankee Stadium – a quick 20 minute ride on the 4 train from midtown Manhattan. This was the artist’s first time holding court in the historic home of the country’s World Series Champions and an audience of over 40,000 fans.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">To say the least when Madonna finally took the stage 2 hours later than anticipated, and the crowd cheered without abandon, she genuinely paused at the enormity of it all – happy to be “home” and humbled to be performing for so many of her fans. There was speculation about how the mega pop star would “read” in such a huge venue. In the past, Madonna had always performed and sold out on multiple engagements Madison Square Garden (which she has just announced to have added <i>another </i>date on the current tour’s stop), but perhaps since the current pop goddess Lady Gaga just sold out that space 5 times over on her last tour venture, Madonna had to one-up the still young upstart.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Moving an audience in such a huge venue as a stadium is a pretty amazing feat – though not extraordinary by Madonna standards. Four months ago, when the first details began to emerge about her promotional tour for her latest album project <i>MDNA</i>, Madonna had said very openly she wanted to play stadiums and arenas around the world. In essence, her vision for this tour would be big...a blockbuster. And if the <i>MDNA Tour </i>is anything – it’s cinematic!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Madonna redefined the pop concert with her 1990 <i>Blond Ambition Tour. </i>She incorporated theatrical elements, including thematic staging and lighting, introduced high-fashion and high concept, and developed a setlist using her music catalogue to evolve a cathartic experience for the audience – all the while singing and dancing as if the world was going to end. For two hours, the viewer would be transported to another world of Madonna’s design...and ever since she has always worked to outdo herself.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>The MDNA Tour </i>primarily conceived as a way to promote her new album also is giving her the unconventional opportunity to exorcise some demons, as is evidenced by the show’s opening act titled “Transgression” – and it suits the angry tenor she has demonstrated as a component of <i>MDNA.</i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Opening to the deafening chimes of church bells, the show begins on the grounds of what would resemble a Franciscan Church. Cloaked monks prepare for the morning benediction as devilish gargoyles come to life. If this is a place of God...it is also a place of demons. One may come here to meditate, but our heroine has a sinister intentions. The glass shatters and Madonna dressed in a black body-hugging cat suit and animal print bra peaking out of her top is determined to bring chaos into this peaceful place, which she does appropriately opening with her single <b>“Girl Gone Wild”</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In true form, the opening antics are very high-energy and the Queen of Pop is determined to remind her fans that she’s got it. With a bevy of heavily-bodied boys, Madonna pushes gender boundaries and forces her troupe to perform in heels. Her men in heels – her ladies packing rifles and guns. After all a pistol is akin to a man’s penis.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The rest of the act goes into the obscure single <b>“Revolver”</b> (featuring the show’s first special appearance by hip-hop/rapper Lil Wayne) and proves that her sex is a killer – Madonna means business, and proves just how much when she gets into <b>“Gang Bang”</b> and one of the controversial moments of the night. Did you think there weren’t going to be any?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">With all the shootings and gun violence plaguing the news, a little restraint and sensitivity could have been exercised when this homage to the popularized violence of pulp films was being put together, but how was Madonna to know that the world was going to go “gun happy”? Not defending her choices, but within the context of the show, this gun-toting, angry bitch is a very real approximation of how the Material Girl has been feeling of late.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The recently divorced, mother of four, is aging and bitterly struggling to stay relevant in a post-Gaga pop-music world. Stripped of several of her millions in the split with former husband film director Guy Ritchie, you bet Madonna is pissed...but she has regrets. She expresses that vulnerability swinging into <b>“Papa Don’t Preach”</b>, a melancholy lead into the <b>“Hung Up”</b> which Madonna performs strapped to a slack line supported by her dancers.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The tightrope act could be an allegory for the balances that she (or we) must endure in order to have everything she wants in life...mother, lover, stardom, credibility – we’re all hung-up. Regrettably...all things come to an end and so does Act 1. Marked by the interlude mash-up of <b>“Best Friend / Heartbeat”</b> Madonna sadly bids good-bye to her <i>very best friend.</i> Who that is could be anyone’s guess...but it solidly signifies an ending.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When we enter act to the backdrop shifts to animated multi-colored images that evoke a much more pleasant aesthetic. The familiar intro beats of the hit <b>“Express Yourself”</b> begin and Madonna marches in – literally. She is the captain of the squad and is affirmatively staking her claim as she pounces on the song’s powerful message, and doesn’t hesitate to play into the comparisons to the Lady Gaga track <b>“Born This Way”</b>. To which Madonna quickly trumpets – <i>she’s not me!</i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The segment goes into a drum majorette boogie down with <b>“Give Me All Your Luvin’”</b>. It’s a playful wink and a nod to her own days as a cheerleader and she gives it up for the crowd before disappearing into the scenery. A video montage introduces some of her more famous radio hits of the last 3 decades before she reemerges onto the stage with a guitar in hand and rocks out to her latest single <b>“Turn Up the Radio”</b>. Fortunately for her, most of her fans can remember what a <i>radio </i>actually is...in our digital age few people turn up the volume.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit607WtQBaUfv2_FXNfOmBGtpLoHi4VRx_N94agwqIX4gdZvPv6ZKGbqUgctyfRvHk9tXJSFbpWsvzspMkf1Wmh7lWnNK25BDIavCtE1lZfklIgsS6F9cXnImozt3qiZlYRfH_UiTWrFs/s1600/12-07-30-madonna-mdna-tour-paris-olympia-0024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit607WtQBaUfv2_FXNfOmBGtpLoHi4VRx_N94agwqIX4gdZvPv6ZKGbqUgctyfRvHk9tXJSFbpWsvzspMkf1Wmh7lWnNK25BDIavCtE1lZfklIgsS6F9cXnImozt3qiZlYRfH_UiTWrFs/s320/12-07-30-madonna-mdna-tour-paris-olympia-0024.jpg" width="240" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So to remind us all of a simpler time, Madonna brings the tempo down a notch for her next set of songs which she has rearranged to perform with the Kalakan Trio. She sprints into the classic <b>“Open Your Heart”</b> with elements of <b>“Sagarra Jo”</b> mixed in, before force feeding her audience <b>“Masterpiece”</b>. The one ballad played during the tour also fell victim to the necessary bathroom break for most of the onlookers. Shouldn’t have started your show 2 hours late Madonna! Folks might have stuck around for this slow number.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Which moves into another video interlude of a remixed version of <b>“Justify My Love”</b> which was retooled by William Orbit and has our heroine running madly away from a crowd of paparazzi, all the while looking very Fellini like! She addresses down to her undergarments and dons a harlequin mask before returning to the stage amid a stampede of fashion images for <b>“Vogue”</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Madonna continues to play with the juxtaposition of the masculine and feminine for this segment. Some of her dancers are stylishly sporting black and white classically lined garments, her male dancers in dresses and the women in suit jackets. All this fashion leads into a burlesque club for a souped up version of <b>“Candy Shop”</b> mashed-up with <b>“Erotica”</b>. Again she flirts with the feminine and masculine, coquettishly lip-smacking and undressing the girls on stage, while the men smack her bottom.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It’s no wonder that when the mirror is held up to her she lets out with <b>“Human Nature”</b>, before stripping it all down on stage for the vulnerably revealing rendition of <b>“Like A Virgin”</b>. It’s Madonna and a piano quietly on stage...and one of the show’s more somber moments. You get that she’s lonely and that perhaps she knows that there are fewer days ahead than there are behind her, yet she still yearns to be touched...<i>for the very first time.</i> At every show she strips to her panties and bras and brazenly reveals a tattooed message on her back. Usually the message has been “No Fear”. Tonight it read “Obama” in support of the president’s upcoming re-election campaign.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“Protect your freedom,” Madonna said early on during her show. “You don’t know how lucky you are. It can be taken away from you in a second!”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">At this segment’s close the final video interlude is a political one set to <b>“Nobody Knows Me”</b> with interchanging images of politicos and historical figures both positive and negative. In it Madonna also cites the current debate over marriage equality for the LGBT community and the tanking economy. Her message: know your history so you won’t make the same mistakes again.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The final act of the show is a loud techno-dance romp. Madonna has seen the light and is embracing love. It’s like a drug which prompts her to belt out the electro-funk of the new song <b>“I’m Addicted”</b> before realizing that she may have made mistakes. <b>“I’m a Sinner”</b> but don’t judge her for she is saved with her classic hit <b>“Like a Prayer”</b> which raises the roof off the the entire show. Her life a mystery, but above all it’s a <b>“Celebration”</b> and when she bids her audience good night she reminds us that the party still goes on.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The tour isn’t necessarily a revelation although it bears the title MDNA as if to insinuate that it’s peeling back the veil into the DNA of the artist. Perhaps. Perhaps not. It’s what we’ve come to expect from Madonna – it’s big, it’s loud, it’s in your face and it’s still undeniable.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i>JC Alvarez</i></b><i> is the Nightlife Editor for </i><b><i>EDGE On The Net</i></b><i> and a pop-culture columnist covering celebrity and entertainment. He is the voice behind the nationally syndicated Internet radio show </i><b><i>“Out Loud & Live!” </i></b><i>that broadcasts every Friday @ 9pm EST on </i><a href="http://www.modernworldradio.com/"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>www.modernworldradio.com</i></span></a><i>. </i></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-27024479941265759312012-09-05T20:16:00.002-07:002012-09-05T20:16:29.916-07:00Keeping Pace with The Walking Dead :: Season 2 (Part 2)<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Television dramas are their best when they are metaphors for our current daily lives. You may wonder what the correlation may be between real life and a zombie apocalypse, especially when it’s not particularly high on anyone’s list of things to do on the weekend, but seriously – don’t you sometimes feel like that’s exactly what living life in the grind is like? Don’t you fear that there are elements all around you that are threatening to consume you body and soul the minute you become complacent and comfortable?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sure the tale that’s unraveling on the hit AMC series <i>The Walking Dead </i>is an extreme fantasy horror. Based on the popular graphic novel series, its heroes are forced to move nomadically across the country avoiding hordes of the hungry undead. Not the most idyllic situation.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In the series second season, now available on Blu-ray, our survivors may have found some respite at least for a hot minute. Their two youngest members of the group have not faired so well. A young boy was shot and a young girl, Sophia has gone missing. Our group is lead by Rick Grimes, at one-time a man of the law, and his deputy, Shane Walsh (played by Jon Bernthal) have two very different ideas of how to now endure in these difficult times.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">With his son having recently been accidentally and fatally wounded, Rick had to stay by Carl’s side, while Shane retrieved the supplies necessary to save his life. To which Shane sacrificed a fellow survivor to a horde of walkers in order to escape a terrible predicament. At what personal cost? The act begins to change Shane into someone else – someone that perhaps threatens the wavering stability of the group, which is settling into life on Hershel’s farm.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When the group discovers that Hershel is actually harboring walkers, his infected family and neighbors in the barn on the grounds, it pushes Shane overboard who doesn’t think Rick is doing enough to protect the group or his now pregnant wife.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Taking matters into his own hands, Shane opens the barn unleashing the walkers inside. The group massacres the hungry mob, and Hershel and his children are helpless to watch their friends and family fall again. As penance for the insensitive act, one more walker stumbles out of the shadows and into the light. It’s the group’s missing girl and Carol’s (played by Mellissa McBride) daughter Sophia. Stunned by the discover, the gun-happy group takes pause...and as the threat of the hungry walker, Sophia or not, gets closer to them, he takes matters into his own hands and shoots the creature in the head.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The group is left to mourn again. Which in the world of <i>The Walking Dead </i>happens quite often. The survivors are faced with mourning their dead, question their restraint on the morality that kept them civilized, and relinquish all instincts but the ones to survive, because in this world, tomorrow is not guaranteed.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And no one is safe, even in numbers. The writers are constantly pushing that thread and boundary of right and wrong. The characters must make base decisions on a daily: do we eat today, or save for tomorrow? Do we kill or be kill? And in Season 2 they all experience contemplative moments where the mirror is raised and they must ask themselves where do they stand...where <i>will they stand.</i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Certainly none of us will ever be faced with these dire circumstances (we hope and pray) but <i>The Walking Dead </i>does force one to reflect on exactly what you are – will you <i>eat </i>or <i>be eaten? </i>We are talking after all about survival of the fittest.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i>JC Alvarez</i></b><i> is the Nightlife Editor for </i><b><i>EDGE On The Net</i></b><i> and a pop-culture columnist covering celebrity and entertainment. He is the voice behind the nationally syndicated Internet radio show </i><b><i>“Out Loud & Live!” </i></b><i>that broadcasts every Friday @ 9pm EST on </i><a href="http://www.modernworldradio.com/"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>www.modernworldradio.com</i></span></a><i>. </i></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-80508946530301922392012-09-03T20:56:00.001-07:002012-09-03T20:56:52.899-07:00Batman and Robin :: Daddy Issues<div style="font-family: Corbel; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When<b> DC Comics</b> relaunched its pantheon of characters last year with the <i>New 52 </i>among those new developments that would survive the DCU reboot would be the recent introduction of Batman/Bruce Wayne’s son Damian Wayne, who had been indoctrinated into the Batman’s mythology as the latest sidekick to wear the cape and cowl of Robin. But this Boy Wonder was much more than even the Caped Crusader and company were prepared to deal with. Gotham’s villains beware!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Damian Wayne is the product of a dalliance between Wayne and Talia al Ghul, the daughter of Batman’s arch nemesis Ra’s al Ghul. For those of you not necessary versed in the Batman’s rogues gallery, “Talia” is played by Marion Cotillard in <i>The Dark Knight Rises</i>. The tryst between the two star-crossed lovers results in a son that Talia grows in a test tube and is raised among the greatest minds available to the League of Assassins.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Talia takes her son to task with the intention of turning him into a weapon that her father cab use in his plans for world conquest, until his existence is uncovered and the Batman intervenes. Damian is then “rescued” by his father and returns with him to Gotham City. It isn’t long before it’s learned how deeply intrenched Damian is in his manipulation by his mother – the new young Master Wayne is quite the assassin himself.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Once Tim Drake, the third Robin matures and assumes the more appropriate crime fighting identity of the Red Robin, Damian inserts himself as the second half of the Dynamic Duo. Bruce becomes a bit concerned by how ruthless his new Robin is in his violent assertion on the criminals of Gotham City. Batman has already lost one partner, the impetuous Jason Todd met with as sinister end at the hand of the Joker – and returned to action as the vigilante Red Hood. Concerned that Damian is on a similar path, Batman begins to try to temper Damian’s rage.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But no sooner does the Batman take his new charge under his wing, does the Caped Crusader meet what seems to be his untimely demise at the hands of Darkseid’s <i>Final Crisis </i>and is then resurrected as a zombie during the <i>Blackest Night</i>. All this doesn’t seem to bode well for young Damian who begins to grow more despondent...and deadly. If not for the intervention of Dick Grayson, the original Robin who has become the heroic titan Nightwing, Damian’s future would have been grim indeed.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">While the Bruce Wayne goes missing, Grayson rightfully assumes the role of Batman and makes Damian his Robin. The two become a potent crime fighting team and Grayson even inserts Damian into the Teen Titans (we think...after the <i>New 52 </i>reboot it’s not clear whether Damian flew as part of that team of young heroes) but no sooner do the two develop a rhythm, than Wayne returns from the dead...and to the role of Batman.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Flashpoint </i>to the <i>New 52 </i>and Batman takes a more centralized role in Damian’s training as his partner, but with both personalities suffering from serious “daddy issues” it doesn’t take long for the riff between them to grow deeper and wider. Robin begins to resent that the Batman doesn’t take him out on patrol when a new menace threatens the streets of Gotham. He’s called NoBody and his intention is not just to stop crime – he means to <i>erase it </i>by any means possible.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">NoBody turns his attention to the international cooperative of “Batmen” that Wayne has created. The skilled assassin confronts and subdues the “Batman” of Russia, and then slowly dissolves him in acid. While Batman begins to investigate the grizzly murders, he pushes Damian in other directions hoping to teach his son to be patient. What he doesn’t know is just how comfortable Damian has become in performing acts of cruelty. He begins by snapping the necks of bats in the Batcave when his father isn’t looking, and squashing fireflies in his hands.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">His cruelty doesn’t go unnoticed to Alfred, the Wayne family butler, he sees how badly Damian takes to treating the new member of the household, a great dane puppy that Bruce purchases for his son, hoping to teach him responsibility. Damian has little or nothing to do with the new pet and instead is disobedient patrolling the streets of Gotham without the Batman. He attacks common muggers with an intense and unyielding rage that grabs the attention of NoBody. He immediately begins to plot how to use the new Robin in his plan to defeat the Batman...</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I promise not to leave you hanging and finish the tale, but in the meantime you can get caught up on what was one of the most compelling storylines to emerge from the DC Comics relaunch of the <i>New 52. </i>It’s now collected in a single hardcover book <i><b>Batman and Robin Volume 1: Born To Kill</b> </i>chronicles the first 8 issue arc of the new series by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Mick Gray.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Not for the faint of heart, this is a really gritty re-imagining of the dynamic duo that is sure to attract fans in this post-Christopher Nolan world of the Dark Knight. It’s worth checking out!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/graphic-novels/batman-and-robin-vol-1-born-to-kill" target="_blank">Check out "Batman and Robin: Born To Kill" for yourself at DC Comics.com!</a></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i>JC Alvarez</i></b><i> is the Nightlife Editor for </i><b><i>EDGE On The Net</i></b><i> and a pop-culture columnist covering celebrity and entertainment. He is the voice behind the nationally syndicated Internet radio show </i><b><i>“Out Loud & Live!” </i></b><i>that broadcasts every Friday @ 9pm EST on </i><a href="http://www.modernworldradio.com/"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>www.modernworldradio.com</i></span></a><i>. </i></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-61214942140064796652012-09-01T19:24:00.000-07:002012-09-01T19:24:20.999-07:00Keeping Pace with The Walking Dead :: Season 2 (Part 1)<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">With the third season of AMC’s hit series <i>The Walking Dead </i>looming on the horizon, I’m taking a trip through Season 2 which has just been released on Blu-ray and continues the adventures of a ragtag remnant of mankind surviving in an apocalyptic nightmare that is being overrun by the walking dead, a cannibalistic plague that is reanimating the deceased and who only have one thing on their mind – to feed!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> When the second season opened our heroes were vacating the perimeter of Atlanta which had become a major epicenter for the “walker” plague. Escaping the doomed headquarters of the CDC they found themselves on the open road, and it wasn’t long before while on the open road they eventually found their path blocked. Trapped on the freeway, the group loses one of their own. Sofia the youngest girl of the group when a herd of walkers crosses their path.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rick Grimes is plagued by The Walking Dead.</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Since finding his wife and son Sheriff Rick Grimes (played by Andrew Lincoln) has assumed the role of the leader and protector of this group. He rescues Sofia from a pair of walkers, but loses the little girl in the forest. Finding themselves still trapped on the side of the road, the group spends several days searching for their missing member, when Carl (Chandler Riggs) is accidentally and fatally shot.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Lead onto a secluded farm owned by a wrangler named Hershel (Scott Wilson) who is protecting his family, Rick and his second-in-command Shane Walsh (played by Jon Bernthal) are left helpless as Hershel tries desperately to save the young boys life, but supplies is scarce. Hershel doesn’t have everything he needs to perform the delicate surgery necessary to save Carl’s life. With Rick needed to provide blood to his boy, Shane must make a local run, alongside Otis – the man responsible for accidentally shooting Carl – to the local high school to bring back the necessary medical equipment.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In the meantime the search continues for Sophia and Andrea (played by Laurie Holden) becomes more despondent with the survivors’ situation. Losing her sister and being cheated out of a failed suicide attempt at the CDC has left her feeling hopeless...and a world filled with the walking dead doesn’t seem all that promising.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Rick’s wife Lori (played by Sarah Wayne Callies) is brought back to the farm by Hershel’s daughter Maggie, and the fight to keep Carl alive begins. Soon the band find solace on the edge of Hershel’s farm – it’s a safe base for them to continue the search for Sofia, but Hershel is not convinced that Rick and his troop are a welcome addition to their solitude. For the moment, everyone agrees – even as they settle into life on the farm – that the most important thing is keeping Carl alive.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The beginning of the second season of <i>The Walking Dead </i>proved a study in patience for the fans of the gore and menace that dominated in the surprise hit show’s first season. Based on the graphic novel series of the same name, it introduced the popularity of an entirely new genre to mainstream cable television, and as was expected a series of copy cat horror series would soon follow. What makes <i>The Walking Dead </i>a stand-out is its dedication to the strong character development.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The series is more about the survival of these characters in the wake of a great crisis, and less on the menace of their predicament. Sure it’s horrible that the world as we know it has been transformed into a graveyard, and it’s a frightening possibility none of us would ever hope to realize, but how the characters resign to face their survival is what makes this so interesting. To that end the show delivers – not that it doesn’t in the “shock and awe” department either!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Many a nightmare have I suffered after each episode – and now being eaten a live is perhaps my greatest fear, but I’m riveted and tune in every week and Season 3 can’t come too soon!</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>JC Alvarez</b> is the Nightlife Editor for <b>EDGE On The Net</b> and a pop-culture columnist. He is the voice behind the nationally syndicated Internet Radio Show <b>"Out Loud & Live!"</b> broadcasting on www.modernworldradio.com. </span></i></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-35855228253659860142012-08-29T20:11:00.000-07:002012-09-01T19:23:50.303-07:00When a Superman met a Wonder Woman...<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">With all the hoopla that’s been surrounding the release of the latest issue of <b>DC Comics</b> latest issue of <i>Justice League #12 </i>– yes the one with the big kiss between <b>Wonder Woman</b> and <b>Superman</b>, fans were wondering if the “event” would simply overshadow the book’s actual storyline. Fortunately it couldn’t have been further from the truth.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">With mainstream media having a field day with the chemical combustion between two of its most powerful and iconic characters, you would have thought that a royal wedding was in effect. It could have come off as a tempestuous stunt to draw up readership for the still fledging new title under the <i>New 52 </i>brand, but instead it made important revelations on character development that will be rocking the DC Universe for the year to come.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The issue marks the final installment of a recent arc spotlighting a brand new villain who dared to challenge the world’s most powerful team. In “The Villain’s Journey” written by series co-creators Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, a plot to discredit the Justice League by a supernaturally gifted bad guy named <b>Graves </b>begins with the kidnapping of their government liaison and Special Forces agent Steve Trevor – Wonder Woman’s <i>Steve Trevor</i>. And in the new DC Universe continuity these two were once a hot item! </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-align: right;">Although that hasn’t been explored in much detail, since most of the characters’ backstories have been revamped in DC’s New 52 continuity it’s been hinted at and it will be revealed soon enough, but not it may be left to flashback elements...because </span><i style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-align: right;">seriously </i><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-align: right;">what chance does Trevor have against a </span><i style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-align: right;">superman?</i></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Graves blames the superheroes for the death of his wife and children, even though he became an overnight media sensation as the author responsible for chronicling their debut and rise to popularity. The Justice League rescued Graves and his family from the invading forces of evil entity Darkseid that initiated their first meeting...five years ago. Since then, superheroes, aliens and gods on earth have integrated themselves into our everyday lives. Their fight criminals and powerful megalomaniacs...but Graves sees them as false gods among us – flawed.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">His plot brings the seven members of the team to a mythical netherworld where they are confronted with images from their past...dead parents or friends that suggest they give up the fight. When Trevor reveals himself to Wonder Woman, Diana believes him dead and is spiritually wounded. Superman rescues her from her torment, but Diana is equally shaken when Steve is revealed to still be alive, and Graves sinister scheme unravels.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Our heroes of course emerge victorious, but not without several scars. Deeply wounded and shaken to the core, the members question their place as Earth’s champion – their image tarnished in the face of the world. The Emerald Guardian Green Lantern blames himself. A scene stealer; he lacks the ability to play well with others. Since the beginning Hal Jordan’s arrogance has more than once compromised the team’s credibility. Finding himself locked in combat with his teammate Wonder Woman and having it broadcasted to the world didn’t help.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Aquaman, the King of Atlantis, challenges Batman’s authority as team leader and sites that though the Dark Knight is a master strategist, he’s not equipped to properly inspire others to follow him. Green Lantern leaves the team, leaving the six remaining core founding members to decide the fate of the Justice League, but first they must consult with Wonder Woman and Superman.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Dejected by Steve Trevor, Wonder Woman finds herself alone...but not for long. Sensing her loneliness Superman shares with her his secret identity and reveals why he has chosen to lead a duplicitous life – one as Clark Kent and another as Superman in order to protest the lives of those close to him. Wonder Woman can relate and realizes that it can not be easy for him...the two titans on earth really have no one to turn to. The end up in this dark hour turning to each other.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">What exactly this will mean to the rest of the team over the next several months is at present unknown, but one thing is for certain – the DC Universe has revealed that these new heroes they’ve created for a new generation with the New 52 are given now to face their flaws, realizing that with great power, comes greater compromise...and in a world that may not be worthy of their protection, what lengths will they go to and not feel hated, feared or alone.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The world just got very big for them, and the supers among us, don’t feel all that super at all. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Right now all they have is each other and the journey has begun for them to prove themselves. The weight of their worth has begun to feel heavy on their shoulders and they have come to the realization that they may not be cut out for this job – cape and cowl – after all.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">What a great way to end a year in comics! Truly cinematic!</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>JC Alvarez</b> is the Nightlife Editor for <b>EDGE On The Net</b> and a pop-culture columnist. He is the voice behind the nationally syndicated Internet Radio Show <b>"Out Loud & Live!"</b> broadcasting on www.modernworldradio.com. </span></i></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-15186586425609728922012-08-27T19:43:00.001-07:002012-08-27T19:43:37.993-07:00The Coming of Madonna...This Girl Gone Wild!<div style="font-family: Corbel; font-size: 12px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This week marks, the millennium’s <i>Mercurial Girl</i> – <b>Madonna’s</b> return to the states when the infamously <i>girl gone wild </i>(who has been living up to her reputation) hits our shores with her globe trotting <i>MDNA World Tour</i>. It’s her ninth tour in a career that has spanned more than 3 decades, and her most ambitious. This from a pop-star that dared to title her 1990 tour <i>Blond Ambition. </i>And now into her 50’s, and still blond (but more brassy) the icon is still pushing buttons, raising eyebrows and pissing the shit out of Sir Elton John.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The tour started almost immediately after the release of her 12th original, studio album <i>MDNA. </i>The tour launched at the beginning of summer in May, from the Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv. Although <i>MDNA</i>, a darkly compelling, modern dance floor romp that reunited Madonna with William Orbit (her co-conspirator on the ground-breaking <i>Ray Of Light</i>) and brought in the equally talented, but relative newbies Martin Solveig, and the DJ remix producing dynamo Benny Benassi, it received a critically tepid reception. Fans of Madonna’s were clearly very excited that she had delivered an album that was more appropriately suited for underground circuit club scene.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It’s no mystery that the title of <i>MDNA </i>is an allusion to the party-drug MDMA, or ecstasy as it is more commonly called on the music festival circuit. It did not bode well for Madonna when she arrived at Miami’s International Ultra Music Festival and announced on stage during super DJ AVICCI’s set: “Has anyone seen Molly?” – which is a code term used among club kids in order to secure the drug of choice, but the crowd reveled in her appropriation of the term and danced to the premiere remix of her new single “Girl Gone Wild”.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After debuting <i>MDNA’s </i>first single, the declaratively obscure “Give Me All Your Luvin’” that united Nicki Minaj, M.I.A. and LMFAO, at the Super Bowl along with a medley of some of her greatest hits, it was clear that Madonna was intending on hitting the road to promote this album. A week later the <i>MDNA World Tour </i>was in full-effect.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In traditional Madonna-style she would mount an excursion of nearly epic proportions in order to realize the set list of hits and new songs from <i>MDNA</i>. If Madonna is anything she is most certainly relevant and not prone to repeating herself, though the themes she would be exploring would be familiar and demons that the artist was still working on exorcising. The <i>MDNA Tour </i>would also shake-up her creative team, injecting the Madonna factory with younger, ambitiously wild and tempestuous talent. It was widely reported that the tour was getting off to a very “angry” start and that the usual organization expected from a production under the watchful eye of the world’s most scrutinized artist, was coming together by spit and gum.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">By the time the tour hit the road running, it met every expectation that the fans had come to enjoy from their idol. Madonna emerged from a church-like cathedral, and with guns blazing proved she was still a rebel. The overall tone of <i>MDNA </i>as an album is dark and full of rage – Madonna having just come off of her highly publicized divorce to film director Guy Ritchie was obviously dealing with those issues during this creative phase. That bitterness has somewhat translated to the stage, but like every show that Madonna has ever staged it’s a journey, and most often one of revelation. This tour is no less different, ending in a literally celebration amid the laser-lights of a futuristic club.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So elated it appeared the artist was by the audience’s reception that when in France Madonna decidedly scaled down the show’s blockbuster feel for an “intimate” performance at the famous Olympic. This gave her the opportunity to switch things up, try new tunes, and introduce some covers. As is expected, Madonna releases herself to the rhythm when she performs “Like A Prayer”. Even in popular columnist Tony Phillips less than favorable review of the show’s stop in Paris, he relents at Madge’s performance of this classic hit, saying: “After all the gunplay and the myopic travelogue through world religion, maybe this is the kind of ecstasy she was hoping to find. She drops to both knees, whipping her hair back and forth with abandon.” </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Madonna strips on this show. A shameless plug endorsing her new line of lingerie and worships at an alter surrounded with demonic representations – lustfully throwing herself in every direction and on any able sweaty body male or female. If the <i>MDNA Tour </i>is revealing anything it’s the chemical make-up the DNA of celebrity as experienced by Madonna. Perhaps this self-exploitation is what is ticking off fellow pop-star Elton John.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The <i>other </i>Queen of Pop has taken to lambasting Madonna in 2012, continuously calling her “talentless” and claiming that her career is “over”. Madonna beat out Sir Elton at this past year’s Golden Globes – the two were nominated in the “Best Song” category which went to Madonna for her song “Masterpiece”. Madonna has also gone onto to poke fun at Lady Gaga during her tour, which may also not be settling well with John who considers Gaga “the real deal” and is the god mother of his baby boy. Madonna has little acknowledged John’s attacks but before leaving Europe dedicated her last performance of “Masterpiece” in Nice to the rock star. Take that!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Madonna has perfected the art of pop concert as an event – she refers to her live concerts as “installations”. They are like pop-music blockbusters that come on with the fervor of any big studio picture, except that Madonna is the biggest special effect!</span></div>
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Her next stop...the US of A (and Canada, and Mexico, and so on...)</div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Poised now for her US invasion which begins at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Madonna has not confirmed rumors that the US setlist may be revamped some. Certain imagery that was deemed too controversial was recently dropped from the show’s video backdrops. Will some of those images return, or will they be replaced to reflect the politically heated season we’re now entering – Madonna after all doesn’t shy from controversy. Perhaps that’s just what American needs at the moment – a healthy dose of <i>MDNA.</i></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>JC Alvarez</b> is the Nightlife Editor for <b>EDGE On The Net</b> and a pop-culture columnist. He is the voice behind the nationally syndicated Internet Radio Show <b>"Out Loud & Live!"</b> broadcasting on www.modernworldradio.com. </span></i></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-46351723703004240162012-08-18T21:05:00.003-07:002012-08-18T21:05:31.358-07:00Would You Survive the Hunger Games?It's a very interesting premise. To appease the peace, after a war that nearly collapsed civilization, the nation of Panem sacrifices two of its citizens - a young male and female from each of the 12 districts is chosen to compete in the most watched televised competition. The fight to the death – for unfound celebrity. All in a false effort to maintain order and prevent civil unrest.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOddlASaHUBOuU_C83VxFCuwnpD2frwK6Z7eeaShGwerm_G8jj1gfnq3VzS_mtlytjh12GkOmbftvkvDp64cwNHEqpM3we6Ry2YMZ1WGM8dwMNO-NMNkr_VltbOmdPnCdLD_cPA0K5n3Y/s1600/200px-Hunger_games.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOddlASaHUBOuU_C83VxFCuwnpD2frwK6Z7eeaShGwerm_G8jj1gfnq3VzS_mtlytjh12GkOmbftvkvDp64cwNHEqpM3we6Ry2YMZ1WGM8dwMNO-NMNkr_VltbOmdPnCdLD_cPA0K5n3Y/s1600/200px-Hunger_games.jpg" /></a>The dystopian future of Suzanne Collins best-selling book <i>The Hunger Games</i> when realized to film didn't appear as far-fetched and one would imagine. In a valiant effort to protect her younger sister, the story's heroine Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her place when she is called to participate in the battle. Although considered an honor to represent one's district, it is a hopeless endeavor – and one that only guarantees a single victor fame and riches beyond their imagination.<br />
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Sound familiar? Little more than a decade ago American audiences were introduced to the dueling "real life" personalities assembled to compete on the television show "Survivor". Back then it was taken as a novelty, tuning in every week to watch regular folk behaving badly in tasks created to test their strength and weaknesses. But truly everyone tuned in to watch each player sell the other one out for the winning pot of $1,000,000.<br />
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Cut to the present and one of those "survivors" sits on a panel with Barbara Walters and is the conservative voice of her generation. Elizabeth Hasselbeck was given a platform and she took it and ran with it. Soon every talentless socialite on every coast was having the cameras snap up their antics, and like gravy we watched the brainless Paris Hilton become one of the country's most profitable personalities. When her contemporaries including Nicole Ritchie and Kim Kardashian sought out their piece of the pie, we rewarded them also in kind.<br />
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It only took a sex tape to turn Kim Kardishian into a star. And talk about hungry? The ravenous pop-culture has hardly yet satisfied its taste for Kim K and has since kept begging for me. It's only cost her a soul, but considering was it really at much of a loss to begin with?<br />
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In a culture that promotes the privileged and celebrates the mundane, marketeers profit from the apparent apathy that is created when all anyone has to aspire to in life is achieving a role as the latest member of the cast of "The Real World". Do you think that you'll really find true love among 32 desperate for attention singles who are only excited to nab their 15 minutes on "The Bachelor" and turn it into a media empire all of their own? Yet every year countless of wanna-bee-somethings line up to find their soulmate or (preferably) have their heart broken on national television. It's a sure way that you'll get to sit in the center seat for the following season.<br />
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And while "Dancing With the Stars" rescues some from obscurity, it comes at a cost of somewhat some public humiliation. Just think...the first man on the moon was booted off the show for not being able to keep up on the fox trot. Note: Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. He's got nothing to prove to anyone.<br />
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Like <i>The Hunger Games</i> everyone is seeking to set themselves up comfortably for the slaughter. It's just what's become of our culture, but does it have its limits especially when it doesn't seem to come at any compromise. We made multi-millionaires of the casts of MTV's "The Jersey Shore" – and we know that they can't do much of anything. We bought into the Kardashian wedding and are now drinking the Kanye Kool-Aid. It's like we're never gonna get enough. Olympic swimmer and gold-medalist Ryan Lochte won the highest honor of any athlete on the planet in his respective sport.<br />
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What's Lochte doing next? He moved to Hollywood with the hopes of landing a gig on any reality-television series that will take him...so long as he takes his shirt off.<br />
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How far are we from establishing our own real-life Hunger Games? Or have we already begun to go down that road? Can I suggest that as the well begins to run dry and the names and faces of everyone that is seeking stardom reaches its fever pitch, why not set those supposed celebrities up in an arena and have them fight it out – to the death. To the winner...we'll make them a star. At least long enough to feed them to the next round of lions.<br />
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How do you think you'd fare in the arena?<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>JC Alvarez</b> is the Nightlife Editor for <b>EDGE On The Net</b> and a pop-culture columnist. He is the voice behind the nationally syndicated Internet Radio Show <b>"Out Loud & Live!"</b> broadcasting on www.modernworldradio.com. </span></i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-54399372158283003652012-05-15T18:24:00.000-07:002012-05-15T18:24:19.528-07:00What Is Love?With spring time in the air and the birds a fluttering, the flowers blooming – the euphoria of infatuation is rampant. The senses are constantly stimulated and the heartstrings can be easily played. It's a wonderful space to be in...especially when you're in love. So I hear.<br />
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I haven't been in love in some time. And that's OK. I don't tend to fall so easily, and find that remarkably agreeable to me, especially as a gay man living in the urban jungle of New York City. The temptation is there...on every corner of our mighty metropolis, but in this post-marriage equality world that we live in, my decision appears vague and clouded. Is it true that now every time I consider handing out my phone number – I could be handing my digits over to "the one"?<br />
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Does anyone else feel that way? Is it just me? Did the game just get harder to play?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Henry kisses...they are the best!</td></tr>
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Dating hasn't ever really been easy for me. There's always been some unforeseeable obstacles that's been in the way – some of my own designs. I've also found myself in particularly challenging predicaments when it's come to the men that I've chosen to date. They've other been unavailable, or out of the country, or in other relationships – not the most ideal situations. I've learned from them all. I think that's the most important lesson.<br />
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I've been open to learning something about myself, about them, every time. Some were mistakes I was destined to make – so that I wouldn't repeat myself – others were experiences greater and beyond measure. Love stories for the ages...and all part of <i>my</i> history. I'm grateful for that.<br />
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Earlier this week I posed the question on my <a href="http://www.facebook.com/jc.alvarez" target="_blank">facebook</a> page asking if there was such a thing as unconditional love. I got several very interesting responses (not all the revealing stories I was expecting) and I may have mislead some folks into thinking that I was asking out of some sorrowful woe I had experienced. It was a question that I felt needed to be answered...after all does anyone know <i>what is unconditional love?</i><br />
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I realized that unconditional love begins at home. But I didn't have the best role models to begin with. My parents were divorced when I was very young, and (yes) that colored the way I look at matrimony, at love and trust between the two people that were supposed to set the example. My parents never reconciled and although they became friends, I watched my mother (God bless her soul) go from one bad situation and into another. My father never remarried.<br />
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I've had only a few relationships. All have been very different from one another. I'm grateful for that, because they've each had their own personality. Each one redesigned my perception of <i>what love is</i>. Each one pushed my out of my box and extended my boundaries...some exceeded my expectations. I don't know if I've ever loved anyone so completely except for <i>once </i>in my life. It was the first time that I realized that love is about relenting – giving in and <i>being </i>in the moment. Maybe that's what it is all about.<br />
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When you are prepared to love unconditionally, that's when you know...that's when you realize that you're ready to let love in...and for better or worse, for richer or poorer, you're in it – till death do you part.<br />
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Hmmm...here's to spring time and in the immortal words of Kylie Minogue "All the Lovers".<br />
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<i><b>JC Alvarez</b> is the host and personality behind the nationally syndicated radio-show "Out Loud & Live!" on Modern World Radio (www.modernworldradio.com) and is also a pop-culture/celebrity columnist and Nightlife Editor for EDGE On The Net (www.edgeonthenet.com).</i></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-24145838581092409592012-05-03T18:18:00.002-07:002012-05-03T18:18:43.483-07:00Madonna Version 20.12A friend of mine the other day expressed to me his vehement distaste of the new album <i>MDNA. </i>"I absolutely <i>loathe it</i>," he said.<br />
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I always find myself in the odd predicament of defending the twists and turns that <b>Madonna</b>, the undisputed Queen of Pop, makes along the path of her career. It's amazing that 3 decades later this entertainer is still polarizing her audience, pushing boundaries and is able to stir up controversy in an almost decisively contrived manner...but many of us are still <i>eating it all up. </i>Did we expect that as she approached middle-age Madonna was going to start toning things down? And that as a swarm of wanna-bees appeared on the scene, she would get the message that the time had time to hang up the Gaultier cone-bra and dress herself more appropriately? I think not.<br />
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In fact as Madonna has coasted into her 50's she seems to have turned up the volume and is defying the public with the notion of what an aging rockstar is <i>supposed </i>to be.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Madonna...still a girl gone wild!</td></tr>
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2012 is off to miraculous leap for the once Material Girl - or should we more appropriately now be calling her the "Mercurial Girl" especially as she has demonstrated a desire to fluidly move through media and repaint the canvas of the expectations that are saddled upon her (often) by an unforgiving audience. After all...what sort of skills as a filmmaker should this woman have that have conditioned her to assume the mantle of writer and director of a full-length feature film? Who does this <i>pop star </i>think she is?<br />
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If <i>W.E. </i>had been written and directed by someone else say Martin Scorsese the reception to the film could well have been very different. Scorsese recently directed a big-budget 3D fantasy film that got nominated for Academy Awards. In the same year that Madonna directed the movie <i>W.E.</i>, released a new album, played the half-time show at the Super Bowl, and readied a multi-city world tour. Scorsese's <i>Hugo </i>won 5 Academy Awards. Madonna's <i>W.E. </i>only won a single Golden Globe for Original Song...incurring the wrath of Sir Elton John in the process.<br />
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It's sad, yet interesting that even basking in that singular win which was snatched to a degree – no one thought to celebrate the measure of an artist who stepped outside of her comfort zone and fearlessly pushed beyond her own threshold and suggest to the rest of us: Why aren't any of you doing as much in your day as I am? I often ask myself...What would Madonna do?<br />
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One thing that I do know...perhaps I wouldn't bare my heart on my sleeve as opening as she does. <i>MDNA </i>her 12th studio album, is not unlike her film <i>W.E.</i> – the similarities are quite clear. Both are visceral in their depictions of love and its potential for betrayal. There's an unmistakable anger in each work of art, and violence is evident in both. How one informed the other is something only Madonna herself can know, but the apparent exorcism of recent misgivings in her own life are as deep and permanent as any tattoo.<br />
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Although <i>MDNA </i>begins with Madonna begging on the alter for forgiveness, the verse gets immediately drowned out by the electro-sonics of the lead track "Girl Gone Wild". Should we assume that this is Madonna's proclamation that she cannot be contained, at any cost. It swiftly becomes clear that her rampage has only begun and she has a score to settle. "Gang Bang" has the singer pistol-whipping an assailant, someone who has done her wrong, but the song can easily be interpreted as an ironic attack on the Queen of Pop's own ego. Certainly her recent divorce to ex-husband Guy Ritchie could easily have stained her expectations of ever falling in love. "I'm Addicted" reveals her unhealthy dependency on a man that gets under her skin like a drug.<br />
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Madonna's <i>MDNA </i>goes on like that for a while – it's one of her angriest works to date; a roller coaster grinding on tracks that might well be perpetual chainsaws with no measure for precaution or consequence. It's not a mistake that it's also a pure contemporary dance album from an artist that emerged from the grudge of club life. If <i>MDNA </i>sounds dirty at times...it should. It's Madonna reclaiming the street credibility that Lady Gaga has been wearing since her debut like a faux fur coat. <i>MDNA </i>screams "Fuck you!" – it's got that coming out of it's pores, even the debut single "Give Me All Your Luvin'" comes across like a thumbing up the nose of anyone who had been expecting her to sit 2012 out.<br />
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And even when <i>MDNA </i>gets whimsy like on the next hit single "Turn Up the Radio" the irreplaceable irony in its tone is still there. After all...<i>who even listens to the radio anymore?</i> Maybe that's exactly how Madonna as an artist is willing to share with the public her feelings on the notion that retirement is catching up to her. No, she says: "Turn up the radio until the speakers blow!"<br />
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Should a woman entered into her 50's be asked to behave a certain way; curtail her ambition, or deliver content in a manner that is deemed more appropriately digestible, because a woman of a certain age shouldn't be "certain" things. Madonna is <i>not </i>a woman, so much as she is a force of nature. And I don't mean that to be rhetorical...no other pop star in history, Michael Jackson aside has been able to accomplish what she has within the span of her career.<br />
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There has never been an artist (alive) who has been able to maintain this relevancy of momentum. Madonna admits that she's not the greatest singer; she's a performer who continues even today to encourage the emerging set of new pop acts to push the envelope further and harder – testing and questioning the existing status quo. Opening further social dialogues through art and the "installations" (her tours) she is so profound to stage.<br />
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So, it's not that I have a personal investment in Madonna's successes, her highs and her lows, but like only a handful of artists, Madonna's career is what is interesting to watch – the expression of all that naked ambition is the <i>real star</i>. That's the most fascinating aspect of Madonna. It's not the music, the movies, the image, the videos or the live stage act – it's the ability to just <i>keep on keeping on. </i>Like a seamless bit of software that integrates into a hard-drive and super-responds the operating system, Madonna similarly infuses the response of popular culture.<br />
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Here's to the new OS. Version MDNA.<br />
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<i><b>JC Alvarez</b> is the host and personality behind the nationally syndicated radio-show "Out Loud & Live!" on Modern World Radio (www.modernworldradio.com) and is also a pop-culture/celebrity columnist and Nightlife Editor for EDGE On The Net (www.edgeonthenet.com).</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-17066886460970229342012-04-27T19:09:00.001-07:002012-05-03T18:19:38.402-07:00Assembling this Summer's Biggest Hit!It's that time of year again...perhaps my favorite – when the summer movie blockbuster season is in full effect. One this summer's most anticipated movies is the much-hyped and star packed <i>The Avengers</i>. The film is based on the popular Marvel comic book created by Stan Lee and Jack "The King" Kirby back in 1963. The comic was Stan Lee's answer to giving his readers more bang for their buck – by <i>assembling </i>a team book of his top-selling characters...kind of exactly like what Hollywood has done with the movie.<br />
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<i>The Avengers </i>has done the impossible! It's placed the characters and by default the actors of some of the biggest superhero franchise films into one action-packed movie. The film version of <i>The Avengers </i>like the book its based on is bringing together a line-up of Hollywood heavy hitters that each all of their own have carried their films to big box office success. But as impressive as this is, because of my pop-culture pedigree (it never fails) whenever a franchise film like this is set to launch and is based on a popular comic book I get bombarded by questions...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Avengers </i>come alive on the big screen!</td></tr>
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Exactly <i>who </i>are <i>The Avengers?</i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
Well now <i>everyone</i> knows who <i>The Avengers </i>are. They're plastered all over every major city, on every billboard and on the side of every bus. But everyone knows them as <b>Robert Downey Jr. </b>who has played the armored avenger <b>Iron Man </b>in two successful blockbuster flicks, <b>Chris Evans </b>who is the star-spangled super-soldier <b>Captain America </b>(and before that he was part of Marvel's first family as the <i>Fantastic Four's </i><b>Human Torch</b>) and <b>Chris Hemsworth </b>who is the mighty God of Norse myth <b>Thor</b>. Yes...this is the perception of the modernized team of heroes that the world is calling <i>The Avengers</i>, but with all due respect before Downey's man of steel (or iron, or fiberglass for that matter) there were more than four decades of <i>Avengers </i>history.<br />
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So...who are <i>The Avengers?</i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
Well, they're comic book characters – you know that, but when the original team of heroes came together similarly to what you're gonna see in the film, they were manipulated by the Thunder God <b>Thor's </b>trickster brother <b>Loki </b>(played by Tom Hiddleston once again) into coming together to battle a common threat...that threat was <b>The Hulk </b>(realized in CGI but modeled after Mark Ruffalo in the film). The original team line-up did include Thor, Iron Man and an unwilling Hulk, but to round-up the roster <i>The Avengers </i>were also joined by the diminutive duo <b>Ant-Man </b>and <b>The Wasp</b>.<br />
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Realizing they'd been duped by Loki, the group pooled their resources and fought their common foe...and on that day <i>The Avengers </i>were assembled! Moving into a midtown Manhattan mansion, the roster has since changed and evolved to <i>largely </i>include almost every single character in the Marvel Universe including <b>The Black Widow </b>brought slinkily to life by <b>Scarlett Johansson </b>in <i>Iron Man 2 </i>and who now is joining the team, alongside another veteran member of the team <b>Hawkeye is</b> played by <b>Jeremy Renner </b>recruited for the role after introducing the archer in last summer's <i>Thor</i>.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihPqXclJr7fT04QxLN3TmyVlFMaprKkOw2DTfgqmhNXjiI-K5fArSiMNB9R9FEqQwC-x-H0hxsNacWM3edO9nnQRPjxcPBWJ3I-VQ1A-WPfUjm30ekOQ8yqy4sUmrM_nDrieMTp4THvow/s1600/851144-avengers_super.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihPqXclJr7fT04QxLN3TmyVlFMaprKkOw2DTfgqmhNXjiI-K5fArSiMNB9R9FEqQwC-x-H0hxsNacWM3edO9nnQRPjxcPBWJ3I-VQ1A-WPfUjm30ekOQ8yqy4sUmrM_nDrieMTp4THvow/s400/851144-avengers_super.jpg" width="267" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cover to the first issue of <i>The Avengers.</i></td></tr>
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<i>The Avengers </i>are called <i>Earth's Mightiest Heroes </i>and soon they'll be <i>Hollywood's Biggest Box-Office Draws</i> and if the history of the comics is any indication, the film franchise could have a significantly long life. <i>The Avengers </i>have fought off alien invaders, would-be world dominators, evil dictators and megalomaniacs...they've even faced-off (and most recently again) against <i>The Uncanny X-Men</i>. Can you imagine that movie deal? It's probably already in the making, but let's stick to what<i> </i>the well of <i>Avengers </i>history has to offer.<br />
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Rumors are already spinning that for the sequel the team will be filled out and will introduce Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne – the real names of <i>Avengers </i>original team members Ant-Man and The Wasp. And one of the more winning rumors is that <i>Desperate Housewives </i><b>Eva Longoria</b> is being courted for the coveted role of the whimsy Wasp. Note to Hollywood: That would be <i>brilliant </i>casting! But still there are decades of stories to choose from!<br />
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<i>The X-Men </i>films haven't introduced two of Marvel's most popular mutants and it has been theorized that <b>Scarlet Witch </b>and <b>Quicksilver </b>the twin children of <b>Magneto </b>were kept out of last summer's hit <i>X-Men: First Class </i>in order to be more appropriately be introduced alongside <i>The Avengers </i>line-up. That would open the door to revealing new Marvel characters including <b>The Vision </b>and the one of the team's most menacing adversaries – the evil <b>Ultron</b>. That has summer blockbuster all over it!<br />
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So who are <i>The Avengers? </i>That is now one of the most loaded questions in popular culture, because if the film does as big at the box office as is anticipated, it'll be something that Hollywood will claim ownership over, while legions of comic book fans will thumb through hundreds-upon-thousands of pages of <i>Avengers </i>comics attempting to cast the more than 60 members of the roster, which have come to include <b>Spider-Man </b>and even <i>The X-Men </i><b>Wolverine </b>and most recently <b>Storm</b>. One thing is for sure now that the formula is proving its worth, it won't be long before the competitive DC Comics <i>Justice League </i>movie is set in motion.<br />
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Avengers Assemble! Blockbuster battle is on!<br />
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<i><b>JC Alvarez</b> is the host and personality behind the nationally syndicated radio-show "Out Loud & Live!" on Modern World Radio (www.modernworldradio.com) and is also a pop-culture/celebrity columnist and Nightlife Editor for EDGE On The Net (www.edgeonthenet.com).</i><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-21860421583617418432012-04-16T16:44:00.001-07:002012-04-16T17:46:24.299-07:00The Emerald City...It Can Be Yours!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidoLJllUl6W_EXAv2RZd8YvJav8xWQR0QiAIydPtPjP5eQkK_PiDVCywR30nuNIiM-5eQhrKPmnylRtHJnnt9-f81Brel314lU6Qw5wcbO3HPoY0KS6UjYOjxaHbpFf2XNOxbFTfrzCEw/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidoLJllUl6W_EXAv2RZd8YvJav8xWQR0QiAIydPtPjP5eQkK_PiDVCywR30nuNIiM-5eQhrKPmnylRtHJnnt9-f81Brel314lU6Qw5wcbO3HPoY0KS6UjYOjxaHbpFf2XNOxbFTfrzCEw/s400/photo.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sun sets on the mighty metropolis.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>There's no way to over-sell how remarkable this city is...New York City is not only my home, it does just on the basis of its luster feel like the center of the universe. Today the temperature rose to almost 85 degrees, which is pretty remarkable for this early into the spring. Not that I'm complaining. This is when the city starts to look its most beautiful and when you start to realize how miraculous being alive really is.<br />
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Yes...New York City in the spring time can do that to you. Make you feel like you're in the center of everything!<br />
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Pride season is about to begin and across the country every major metropolis will be waving the rainbow flag...this year NYC will have a great deal to celebrate, especially its first year of "marital bliss". Last year Marriage Equality was passed in our state and joined the handful of other principalities that support equality for all its citizens...and not just a handful of the privileged few. That's right – equality is a right, guaranteed under our Constitution – don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It's not something that you can buy. It's not something on a shelf. Freedom and equality is something that people everywhere are fighting for.<br />
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Don't think we have to fight for that equality every day and cherish that freedom that is afforded to everyone -- one nation under God.<br />
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And as the weather begins to warm up and gives us a glimpse into what the season has in store for us, you can't help but be grateful for every opportunity that you are given. It's a reminder that we all have a lot of living left to do and that everyday is a gift. I learned this from my friend <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/davedbeck" target="_blank">Daved Beck</a>.<br />
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It's easy to take for granted how different life is for those of us not living in an urban center. There are young people across the country living in small townships that have challenges of their own...and yes regardless of where you live in this country, it's important to be <b>yourself</b>. Embrace your home - that's where the heart is, but don't allow yourself to be motivated by fear to turn down a dark path or away from the people that love you.<br />
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I'm reminded of <i>The Wizard of OZ</i> - I know...how <i>gay is that </i>- but really when you think about, here was this girl - Dorothy - from Kansas who was dropped in the middle of the strangest kind of circumstance, in a world that she really didn't understand. She was told to "follow the yellow brick road" to the Emerald City and along the way she met a colorful and<i> imperfectly perfect </i>cast of characters. Together they had the adventure of a lifetime. When Dorothy returned home to Kansas from the spectacle of it all through the magic of her ruby slippers to the chant of "There's no place like home" her life may have been irrevocably changed, but at the core she was still the same small-town girl, but every possibility was open to her.<br />
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Everyone can't travel somewhere over the rainbow, but OZ is only a click of your heels away...and remember that wherever you are <i style="font-weight: bold;">that </i>is <i>your Emerald City. </i>Where you will always have the wisdom, the heart and the courage to be who you are and be loved the most.<br />
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Spring does this to me - it makes me an optimist to the wonder of it all; it opens up all of the possibilities. It makes me appreciate that anything can happen...and it makes me believe that somewhere someone is cheering you on. That you don't have to be afraid. It's worth the risk. Here's to spring! Let the sun shine in.<br />
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<i><b>JC Alvarez</b> is the host and personality behind the nationally syndicated radio-show "Out Loud & Live!" on Modern World Radio (www.modernworldradio.com) and is also a pop-culture/celebrity columnist and Nightlife Editor for EDGE On The Net (www.edgeonthenet.com).</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-64996287337747205322012-04-14T21:18:00.001-07:002012-04-15T07:06:12.493-07:00My Red Carpet Walk Down (TV) Memory Lane...Tonight New York City hosted the 10th Anniversary of the <b>TV Land Awards</b>. One has to wonder if we need another award show - there would seem to be a new one every week...or any number of reasons to uncomfortably cram like a sardine on a receiving line and ask celebrities questions about "what they're doing here?". Fortunately with this particular awards gathering, it's more of the industry (and fan's) way of showing legendary sitcom acts that before reality television took over the fabric of popular culture, we actually remembered and loved tuning-in to well-scripted situation comedies.<br />
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</div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk9eT0Tw_YaEnSmo3DMXrms4_54n6cQ_N2wAm0ebx1hhoA5UBBruX-i1IiCLvyoB7MeRWah2UVyScOqyMqxIncudY_FaggJ237iiQu7J6ONEbeVGC_WBcfrm6ykgzk1VCQUegpcRHBEOU/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk9eT0Tw_YaEnSmo3DMXrms4_54n6cQ_N2wAm0ebx1hhoA5UBBruX-i1IiCLvyoB7MeRWah2UVyScOqyMqxIncudY_FaggJ237iiQu7J6ONEbeVGC_WBcfrm6ykgzk1VCQUegpcRHBEOU/s320/photo.JPG" width="221" /></a>The event taped live for an upcoming televised broadcast for TV Land which will air later this month and was hosted by none other than morning TV's new reigning queen Kelly Ripa - who didn't stop to say "hi" to me (whatever)...that's OK - because I would have had to reach down from the perch I was on to talk to the diminutive celeb-personality. I'll always <i>still </i>love me my Ripa...and I'm confident that one day I'll sit as a guest co-host on her show. It was a treat to see her in all her summery bronze goodness, but before I could bat an eye the cast of some of my favorite shows ever on television were all making their way down the <i>maroon</i> carpet - I suppose it had to be a shade darker than a regular red carpet - for legal reason or something. It certainly wasn't a different color because any of these talented folks had lost their luster...they all shined just as brightly as any contemporary star in Hollywood.<br />
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</div><div>The evening honored the very talented ensemble and writer behind a television show that started perhaps the first dialogues about television series. It was unlike anything that had ever aired before. The cast of the hit CBS series <b>"Murphy Brown"</b> happily made their way over to acknowledge they're receipt of the evening's <b>Impact Award</b>. Faith Ford looked stunning, Charles Kimbrough and Grant Shaud still looked very much the part, and I didn't admit it to him but Joe Regalbuto looked just as bit as handsome as he ever did - in that quirky sort of way (there was something about him) or maybe it was how show creator Diane English put pen to the page and made them all a wonder, but Joe always stood out to me. Perhaps it was the way he always challenged the show's star. Candice Bergen was not on the carpet...but who can blame her - she's currently appearing on Broadway.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Everyone remembers <b>"Laverne & Shirley"</b> - they were America's first girlfriends, even when they appeared on <b>"Happy Days"</b> they had stolen the show. I picked up the habit of drinking milk and Pepsi because of Laverne (played by Penny Marshall) and no one looked better than the raven haired Cindy Williams (Shirley) who admitted that if there was ever a reboot of the duo's escapades she'd want Drew Barrymore to play her part. Before they jumped the shark and moved to California from their native Milwaukee, the show was destination television every week.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Now here comes the embarrassing part: It would have been one of my crowning interviews of the evening, but I took a stumble last week that sprained my ankle and obviously paid for it on the carpet when I was approached by the cast of one of the evening's <i>other</i> big honorees. I was a huge fan of the show <b>"One Day at a Time"</b> mostly because it was one of the few shows on television that showed a single mother played by Bonnie Franklin making it all work - and it reminded me of our own situation comedy at home being raised by a single mother - though less dramatic. At just the precise moment that I was poised to ask Bonnie a question, a sharp pain seized by sprained ankle and I swear my eyes must have bulged out of my head like a classic cartoon character...I was instantly sweating profusely and forgotten what I meant to ask Bonnie almost immediately - my bad...but the recovery was quick! I took it in stride...one <i>minute </i>at a time I guess.</div><div><br />
</div><div>And although all this nostalgia took me back to my childhood, another show that was being honored was a little more present to me as a young person. <b>"In Living Color"</b> changed the way that we looked at sketch comedy and also introduced us to Jim Carrey and Jennifer Lopez. While "Fly Girls" Carrie Ann Inaba and Laurieann Gibson launched all-new careers since those days, to see the comedy troupe reunited including all the Wayans brothers, Tommy Davidson, Kelly Coffield and David Alan Grier - this show was among one of the first to push the envelope and introduce the mainstream world to the dynamic spectrum of life in America, and they are poised for a comeback! The show was daring, poked fun at life in America, but winning always proclaimed - without too much of a cliche...<i>you can do what you want to do - In Living Color!</i></div><div><br />
</div><div>Paul Reubens the man behind <b>"Pee-Wee's Playhouse"</b> was also present and would accept the appropriate honor of the Pop Culture Award. No one ever wants to give props to the fact that as Pee-Wee Herman, Reubens did more for children's television that any other show of its time. He proved that it can be just as engaging to the kid in all of us, at any age...and provocatively subtle.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Overall the night was a remarkable reminder of what is missing in our home entertainment. There was a time when tuning-in at a specific time to catch-up with your favorite TV family meant something. These are the days of television that can no longer be recaptured - and the ones that perhaps mattered the most. It may seem like an after-thought of sorts but let's be realistic - these were <i>iconic moments</i> in television history and the folks that made it happen. These snapshots of American popular culture are like a time capsule of human evolution, and unless they return for rehab stints with Dr. Drew or are competing on <i>Dancing With the So-Called Stars</i> the skill of talented folks gets largely forgotten. I'm grateful that clearly they are not and are still appreciated for their groundbreaking contributions to entertainment and popular culture. Thank you to TV Land for helping us to tune-in to a time <i>not forgotten. </i>Here's to the re-run and syndication!<br />
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<i><b>JC Alvarez</b> is the host and personality behind the nationally syndicated radio-show "Out Loud & Live!" on Modern World Radio (www.modernworldradio.com) and is also a pop-culture/celebrity columnist and Nightlife Editor for EDGE On The Net (www.edgeonthenet.com).</i></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-18022127085310567822010-11-11T15:58:00.000-08:002010-11-11T15:59:22.085-08:00Mike Ruiz :: Life on the A-List :: EDGE on the Net<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo0r3hyphenhyphendO6nfZ0j0PNWSx4Ld5gWRB6VB8W2r9vw4AH1LmurnxU9vbeAoCJHtpoA0iiOnD2wz3MAdXxiY1kMPPhQna9JqS9xHalacGmrIZLi82rCZUXPgjxClrgRfECVW2q6LE8Kh1iTLc/s1600/viewimage_story-1.php.jpeg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 301px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo0r3hyphenhyphendO6nfZ0j0PNWSx4Ld5gWRB6VB8W2r9vw4AH1LmurnxU9vbeAoCJHtpoA0iiOnD2wz3MAdXxiY1kMPPhQna9JqS9xHalacGmrIZLi82rCZUXPgjxClrgRfECVW2q6LE8Kh1iTLc/s320/viewimage_story-1.php.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5538445807285327746" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.edgeonthenet.com/index.php?ch=entertainment&sc=television&sc3=&id=112686">Mike Ruiz :: Life on the A-List :: EDGE on the Net</a><div><br /></div><div>He's an A-Lister for sure but not just for his raw sex appeal...it's because he has a heart of gold. My friend Mike Ruiz sets the example and proves that we can all be on the A-List!</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-15533824931426309402010-11-11T15:49:00.000-08:002010-11-11T15:50:32.389-08:00On the line with... Sherry Vine :: EDGE on the Net<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Ym9EizKez-O2TZbFtZmyAOb4THT62lVrkvUQMEZWFrDGOY8tZOqW_r4Rnc7B0PX3LnvQvKRKZ-l-EKsVXdUyp8u_p6Bg6Iqa3590St5DyK4sy3cz22n9niMGdlmsqi3oy0AlYzYu13c/s1600/viewimage_story.php.jpeg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 223px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Ym9EizKez-O2TZbFtZmyAOb4THT62lVrkvUQMEZWFrDGOY8tZOqW_r4Rnc7B0PX3LnvQvKRKZ-l-EKsVXdUyp8u_p6Bg6Iqa3590St5DyK4sy3cz22n9niMGdlmsqi3oy0AlYzYu13c/s320/viewimage_story.php.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5538443531511263650" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.edgeonthenet.com/index.php?ch=entertainment&sc=celebrities&sc2=features&sc3=&id=112685">On the line with... Sherry Vine :: EDGE on the Net</a><div><br /></div><div>The devine Sherry Vine clued me in on some of her recent going-ons...trust me -- it's hard to keep up but worth the trip!</div><div>Read all about it in THE EDGE!</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-39356397584935867362010-10-28T19:24:00.000-07:002010-10-28T19:29:39.900-07:00Straight Up with Kristine W :: EDGE on the Net<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-NSioO3CsJLNWem0qWvFpP6VZ_yGuCASSPLTn4GGYREbiQShlD6EIxCxEqKtSC7tcGOe3QmjorGjgrxKcpDivOGvPjIU8vrmMvR4KZqkRl03ILfA-2PizsRUPZ7yf4-htcZ7Tal9xHWg/s1600/kw2+-+photo+credit+IdrisTony+Photography.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-NSioO3CsJLNWem0qWvFpP6VZ_yGuCASSPLTn4GGYREbiQShlD6EIxCxEqKtSC7tcGOe3QmjorGjgrxKcpDivOGvPjIU8vrmMvR4KZqkRl03ILfA-2PizsRUPZ7yf4-htcZ7Tal9xHWg/s320/kw2+-+photo+credit+IdrisTony+Photography.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533288609814753266" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.edgeonthenet.com/index.php?ch=entertainment&sc=music&sc2=&sc3=&id=112161">Straight Up with Kristine W :: EDGE on the Net</a><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Corbel; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; ">She truly is an icon and one of the most powerful voices in popular music! The divine Ms. Kristine W is back jazzin' it with the big boys on her latest and most wonderful release!</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-8764053391082348612010-10-14T15:02:00.000-07:002010-10-14T15:04:36.544-07:00DJ²: The Perry Twins... sexy, energetic, invigorating :: EDGE on the Net<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsvuCwUeQQfmIEvdibvP2wDz63GhXlo0n-3komKbxVZhd8GZLSfxxTUyoP5qeJfd7UA5dsrrg5V-fLPPjEaoeCOZs5s1P9QRpY1U2h6MB6ba2Sn6VAHW4oqnJGwm-dRyIMB0x7G4F1fH4/s1600/viewimage_story_element.php.jpeg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 172px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsvuCwUeQQfmIEvdibvP2wDz63GhXlo0n-3komKbxVZhd8GZLSfxxTUyoP5qeJfd7UA5dsrrg5V-fLPPjEaoeCOZs5s1P9QRpY1U2h6MB6ba2Sn6VAHW4oqnJGwm-dRyIMB0x7G4F1fH4/s320/viewimage_story_element.php.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528025665869320674" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.edgeonthenet.com/index.php?ch=entertainment&sc=music&sc3=&id=111598&pg=1">DJ²: The Perry Twins... sexy, energetic, invigorating :: EDGE on the Net</a><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Corbel; ">Oh behave! I did my best -- but I'm sure you all will agree that the dynamic DJ duo <b>The Perry Twins</b> are just too hot too ignore! Check out my interview with the boys behind the turntables -- and catch them at a city near you!</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-21913322080879770422010-10-13T21:46:00.000-07:002010-10-13T21:52:16.266-07:00Fast forwarding with Wanda Sykes :: EDGE on the Net<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFBG0ivKmwZbkdSE6aG-djlhllgdMrkqkfM3Q7nJitKDdj_dElHXvpRvN_grrGLEineWrEeDSMrif8bbdlF9xdKgrPhUA014TMI5ykOy4c0l4izSgC2cXssnpf5LzUwUVRL3xVLEQCN3w/s1600/viewimage_story-1.php.jpeg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFBG0ivKmwZbkdSE6aG-djlhllgdMrkqkfM3Q7nJitKDdj_dElHXvpRvN_grrGLEineWrEeDSMrif8bbdlF9xdKgrPhUA014TMI5ykOy4c0l4izSgC2cXssnpf5LzUwUVRL3xVLEQCN3w/s320/viewimage_story-1.php.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527758602313758130" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.edgeonthenet.com/index.php?ch=entertainment&sc=celebrities&sc2=features&sc3=&id=111007">Fast forwarding with Wanda Sykes :: EDGE on the Net</a><div><br /></div><div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If you still need proof that things <i>get better</i> check out this <b>extended version </b>of my interview with comedian <b>Wanda Sykes</b>. I spent some time with the funny-lady who is also a very close friend and one of my greatest inspirations. Wanda and her wife Alex are two of the most courageous individuals I know, and it's by their example that I aspire to have just as great an impact on our community as they have demonstrated. Never give up! I learned that from Wanda! Read and let me know what you think!</span></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-59707761312766169852010-10-13T21:42:00.000-07:002010-10-13T21:55:25.204-07:00Justin Utley :: Taking a stand :: EDGE on the Net<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOx6UQy1281RZoTw5x2kxxQw8RKWpEf4mvn2OCnaqNKczDa4bKUW8ulZK0R-iOeXItKYSKdB0YcSZDas1ZfRK_G941GZME4y8qM3yJ9eCODmYbH2i1dZmzTwfiIjI0YSfsprWb1UAhsOQ/s1600/viewimage_story.php.jpeg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 232px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOx6UQy1281RZoTw5x2kxxQw8RKWpEf4mvn2OCnaqNKczDa4bKUW8ulZK0R-iOeXItKYSKdB0YcSZDas1ZfRK_G941GZME4y8qM3yJ9eCODmYbH2i1dZmzTwfiIjI0YSfsprWb1UAhsOQ/s320/viewimage_story.php.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527757938139050322" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.edgeonthenet.com/index.php?ch=entertainment&sc=theatre&sc2=&sc3=&id=111454">Justin Utley :: Taking a stand :: EDGE on the Net</a><div><br /></div><div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Unabashedly charming and without parallel -- <b>Justin Utley</b> is one of the most talented individuals I've ever met and he faces every challenge with great optimism and joy! His latest accomplishment -- his musical theatre debut in Tony Asaro's <i>Our Country</i>. A reminder of the bigger picture and scheme of things living as a proud, out gay American. This is your country too! You have nothing to fear!</span></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-77919028011756571542010-10-08T18:12:00.000-07:002010-10-10T09:20:09.274-07:00I AM THE CHRYSLER BUILDING<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivwUckjt4MpbZbSVaY6CGC7JFTsmf1NFfAxQP_EiZwQSEM91pWz0_Ic8Ckk42Zo4DX8TTxMe6k9lNwinV-LVDwEkqJJs6rdYTDTGBcSmeETsmzl6ml-wdgbCpknl2B6C8QQ42LUOP9akw/s1600/IMAG0052-1.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 302px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivwUckjt4MpbZbSVaY6CGC7JFTsmf1NFfAxQP_EiZwQSEM91pWz0_Ic8Ckk42Zo4DX8TTxMe6k9lNwinV-LVDwEkqJJs6rdYTDTGBcSmeETsmzl6ml-wdgbCpknl2B6C8QQ42LUOP9akw/s320/IMAG0052-1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526452965385532514" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I found myself walking home the other afternoon, all set to catch the 7 train on 42nd and I walked past </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The Chrysler Building, </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">and realized that I had a lot in common with New York City's deco-style skyscraper. For the longest time, I thought that the Chrysler Building was actually the one scaled by King Kong in the original movie classic -- it was indeed in fact the Empire State Building, which the Chrysler lives in the shadow of. But as I walked by this New York City landmark, admiring it's angular lines and smooth gray surface, it's one of the taller structures in the manmade concrete jungle that is adorned with powerfully godlike griffins near the top arching spectacularly into the building's monolithic upper structure. It's really very impressive! It's just one of the impressive sites in our great city, but at the core when you think that it was imagined by another human being and then realized by a group of workers -- <i>that's </i>what is spectacularly impressive!</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">And here it sits in midtown Manhattan drawing tourists from all over the world -- the <i>second </i>most famous building in Manhattan...and it looks really happy. The Chrysler Building looks settled and content with it's location...and that gave me great pause. Because when compared to my own life -- I think that I also would feel like the Chrysler Building -- if I wasn't struggling to be like the Empire State Building. The Chrysler is every bit (if not more) majestic than it's sister building -- it draws just as many tourist and it isn't often the focus of impending destruction in sci-fi or disaster movies: you don't see the Chrysler Building getting shot up by alien invaders, ever.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">When I look at the Chrysler Building and admire it's strength, it's purpose -- I find a kindred spirit. I respect it's majesty and how it stands mighty and poised for battle -- it's powerful looking without having to boast about it. It shines upwardly reaching to the sky and when it glows it's vibrant from within. The building looks like it's smiling standing vigil over the denizens of the streets below, and where the Empire State Building appears imperious and royal -- the Chrysler is like an accessible celebrity who rides the subway. It maintains an amazing polish and sheen! It doesn't look a day over 30. Above all it looks like it's having a better time than any other building skyscraper (except the Conde Nast Building down the street) in the city! And like that!<br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Someday perhaps I'll </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">feel </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">like the Empire State Building. Until then I'm happy to live up to the Chrysler's reputation...if only 20%. I don't think I've earned it's full regality but I'm working on it. And it will be soon in the meantime I'll wink and smile at the building that does the same back everyday and all over New York City!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2331542065467634280.post-82152411775945461622010-10-03T14:08:00.000-07:002010-10-03T14:44:37.641-07:00IT GETS BETTER REALLY<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Without a doubt this past week was among the most tragic faced within our community. Needlessly the lives of 6 gay youth were lost primarily because they were <i>bullied </i>or disrespected. The burden of acceptance was just too much for them and these young innocents decided it was easier to just take their lives. Among the sadder cases was the story of a young Texas youth, <b>Asher Brown</b> -- he was 13 and from the looks of him and the pictures his family shared of him in telling his story, Asher was a very happy boy -- small for his age, but with a round happy face and gifted smile that was certainly destined for something great. Asher has been made fun and teased at in school, and in the week leading up to his suicide, was pushed down the stairs at school and watched as his abusers kicked his books down the hall. The day before he shot himself in the face, Asher had asked if he could speak with his step dad and told him that he <i>knew</i> he was gay. It was never made clear in the media how his step dad responded but from how his parents spoke of young Asher it was difficult to imagine that they would loved him any less. Instead of facing the unexpected joy of his life, Asher was so distraught he ended it.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Another teen, one much closer to home <b>Tyler Clementi</b> through himself off of the George Washington Bridge after his roommate conspired to openly reveal on the internet through a live web chat, the 18 year old Clementi engaging in sex with a male companion. The roommate cruelly opened the feed to the world wide web offering disdainful commentary like: "He's at it again." to God knows how many people online. Worse of all, this wasn't the first time the roommate had done this -- the first time the live web cast and utter invasion of privacy failed to post. Instead of finishing his school term at Rutgers University because the embarrassment was just too much, Tyler jumped off a bridge. We'll never know what potential he was destined to realize.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">These stories and the ones from other gay teens this past month: <b>Seth Walsh</b>, 13 from California, <b>Justin Aaberg</b>, 15 from Minnesota, <b>Billy Lucas</b>, 15 from Indiana, and <b>Raymond Chase</b>, 19 from New York -- are the worst tragedies and the most shameful because they could have been prevented. How many other young teens, gay or straight, have recently taken their lives because of the thriving and malicious "mean girl" epidemic? We live in a culture that celebrates and glorifies, awards and makes millionaires of people and their bad behaviors! WIth the country entering what seems it's most undignified era of social strife and racism, with what looks like a fanatical group of <i>white supremacist</i> ranting on about having to <i>take the country back</i>, do we have the luxury anymore to turn a blind eye and not be proactive? Not hold any accountability for the person standing next to you?</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Let me tell you something: No one has taken the country anymore, but some folks are prepared to take us back into the dark ages. As a culture and society we Americans are way behind the curve, and if we don't show accountability we will lose this country for sure and the 21st Century will be the era of un-enlightenment. You can't stop the evolution of the human culture.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">My message to young people out there, especially those who have faced or are facing the challenges that these young people did as well and find themselves losing the battle -- I ask and I plead that you hang in there, because it gets better. Your life is a gift and everyday you have the opportunity to open it again as if for the first time -- imagine it's like getting a box that you have the ability to find anything you can imagine inside of it. That's the gift of life! I'm not going to tell you that it's easy, but it's worth living. Please do not deprive the world of what you are capable of becoming, because you haven't nearly realized all of your greatness...and what's more incredible is -- you never do as everyday is a new opportunity to be greater and better than the day before.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Do not deprive yourself of the success of achievement, of making your parents proud, your first dance (no matter how badly you did it) and most of all your first kiss. Don't lose out on your very first 4th of July celebration wrapped in the arms of someone who loves you and hearing the words "I love you." It changes your life and is without question the best feeling in the world...and it happens again and again.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">It gets better! I promise you -- it's worth living...for yourself, for your families and the friends that you have yet to make that will support you through thick and thin.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">If there's anything that I want to achieve with my writing and my notoriety as an interviewer it's that I strive to bring to light the successful and honored stories of strength, joy and character of the people in our community that are doing it every day. What is <i>it</i>? They are <i>living</i>! And if they've taught me anything it is that no one day is like the last...and that each is just one more step to greatness.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Corbel;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Don't let them win! You are valuable -- you are great!</span></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05654852288930546212noreply@blogger.com0