BETTER LATE THAN NEVER VMA WRAP

(JT and Timbo at last year's VMA ceremony)

Sorry it took so long but you can hear what we really have to think about the VMAs this way!  I didn't want to BS you folks.  I regret to say that this VMA had nothing on last years Las Vegas extrasexual suare of musical concoctions formed by the one and only Timbaland.  In last years ceremony, Timbo was given the opportunity to organize the VMAs and he took full advantage. The hottest artists headlined the show and were designated as headliners by whether or not they had their own hotel suite and party.  So for instance, Kanye West had his own "Good Life" party in his own suite with collaborators like T-Pain.  Timbo and Justin Timberlake had their own room and party and had their friends perform throughout the evening. Lil Wayne had his own as well with Gym Class Heroes and Fall Out Boy. It seemed like a televised concert but instead of commercials they handed awards.  

I'd like to start off by stating how it was an election year and the artists who, with all their garnered popularity, actually have a voice in the young-voter community but failed to use it.  TI sported a "Respect the Vote" T-shirt in his performance with Rihanna but Young Jeezy rolled up in a car decked out with "Obama '08" and that was about it.  As far as the overall quality of the show goes it was mediocre.  I enjoyed hearing that artists such as Kid Cudi performed during commercials which is a testament to MTVs shift away from bubblegum pop culture and their respect for actual music. Here he is...

    

Katy Perry is a breath of fresh air in the female music industry. The Santa Barbara native's real name is "Katy Hudson" had to change her name because of Goldie Hawn's actress daughter "Kate Hudson". Her ability to stay true to herself is so sexy and her voice has a raunchy touch to it that I really like.  I see her having a bright future and wish her the best. She's a showman or "show-woman" but doesn't have to look like she's masturbating on stage to get the crowd into it. Just a few provocative smiles and sexy riffs with her voice do the trick..(no lip-synch)

To be a bit more positive, I thought the DJ AM and Travis Barker all-night side performances were a very nice touch. It was like an open-mic of champions so that was cool.  Kanye's new song "Love Lockdown" was a great way to close the show and some poeople say he shouldn't be singing but being that song is so close to heart I think Kanye took a great risk putting himself out there so more power to him.  (The glow in the dark heart was kinda cheesy though)...

As far as award winners... BRTINEY SPEARS CLEANED UP!!!!!?????  I think that was a pity move if I've ever seen one. However I do like that song "Break the Ice" which she got no recognition for. I guess she had a nice little come back year out of her drug-induced psycho stage.   So, in a conclusion ThatGo I'ma say goodbye to Hollywood becasue VMAs need Timbo and Las Vegas.   Let me know what you thought. (apologies for my super-cynical commentary) 

T.I. - Livin' Your Life

JustBlaze put a new spin on "Dragostea din tei"by O-zone when he created the beat for T.I's new track  entitled "Livin' Your Life" featuring Rihanna.  As more and more songs from his forthcoming album "Paper Trail" are becoming available I'm getting excited.  I respect the fact that you know you're going to get that southern swag with T.I. and his most poppish songs are given edge with his blunt lyrics and cold-blooded flow.  You can see the traces of how his subject matter has been influenced by his recent trouble with the law but he isn't spewing it all over every track like many artists have before. He is coming with positive vibes and I can dig... so get yourself a big enough shovel and dig it like I is.

HEAR KANYE WEST'S "LOVE LOCKDOWN"

Kanye West has posted a sample Mp3 of his brand new jam "Love Lockdown" which he performed for the closing act of the MTV VMA ceremony.  Heres the song right here:

 

EXCLUSIVE: KANYE CLOSES OUT THE VMA'S VIDEO!

Kanye West doesn't cease to impress. By far my favorite part of the VMA's last night... We'll be doing a wrap up post on that real soon but for now CHECK OUT the video of Kanye's performance of Love Lockdown... just got aired about an hour ago. I am a big fan of creativity and genre bending and Kanye is not a normal hip-hop artist.... but was it T-Pain who paved the way for rappa ternt singaz?

Popcuts

"Buy a song. Get paid every time it sells again."

-Popcuts

POPCUTS is a new online music store started by three guys in their 20's in Berkeley, CA. If you buy a song on Popcuts early on, you will get rewarded with store credit every time someone else buys that song (Popcuts also plans to reimburse with cash in the future as well as store credit). So it pays to be ahead of the curve. This concept is awesome, its great for Popcuts customers and its also a great marketing plan. The only downside right now is a limited selection of music, but that should change.

Ciara's Bizack!!

Ciara's new album "Fantasy Ride" will be released in early December and she teams with T-Pain for the first single entitled "Go Girl." She's caused some buzz with her photo shoot in "Vibe" magazine this month so pick that up if you like:

Here's "Go Girl". Hope you enjoy: 

Ciara Feat. T-Pain- Go Girl

Artist Watch: Mimi Leung

Mimi Leung is a native of Hong Kong and attended the Royal College of Art in London.  When she returned to Hong Kong she was inspired to create the series entitled "The Hope and the Struggle".   She expresses her stresses and tensions of life growing up in Hong Kong.  I like her integration of different facets of life like music and combines them with Chinese culture. Here are some of  her works:  

Barry Murphy

In my travels on Vimeo I often stumble across interesting videos... Today I discovered the London based filmaker, Barry Murphy. Murphy experiments with a technique called moving image. Above is a video called "Blood Club" by the retro digital group "Agaskodo Teliverek." Below is a video called "Shiny Prophet" by "Home Video."

Common & Pharrell - Announcement

"Broads say 'are you a philosopher'? Yea, I'll philosophy on top of ya"

Google Chrome

Big internet news today, Google has released their own browser called Chrome. How will the other browsers stand up? Google claims that the innovations they are adding into the new open source browser will help improve existing browsers for users and developers. Google explained the technology behind Chrome in a nicely made comic by Scott McCloud which you can read HERE. Here are a couple features of the technology used in Chrome...

Multi Process Architecture: The processes occurring in each tab of your browser are completely separate and occur simultaneously. This means that closing one tab completely erases the memory your CPU stored that information with... do you ever notice your computer slowing down after you browse in multiple tabs for a long time? Another benefit of the multi process architecture is that when one tab encounters a bug, it has no effect on the speed of any of your other tabs in the browser, so you can easily close it and continue browsing without hitches.

V8: Google had a team in Denmark build a virtual machine that could handle powerful javascript operations. Today web applications like Gmail require a lot from browsers and V8 is introducing the most efficient way of handling hefty apps.

For those of you who plan on downloading the beta that was released today (for Windows only... so not me), check out this video on 10 features of Google Chrome...