TV: NBC's "Heroes"

NBC's "Heroes" is pretty much a comic book movie on TV, which....isn't horrible. If you pitch the idea of minimizing (budget-wise) the X-men trilogy and making it sort of a televised prequel (when they started realizing they had powers) most people wouldn't believe it could work. The lack of frequent CGI and special effects would diminish its cool factor. But it turned out that having interesting characters and getting viewers to invest their interests and emotions in the characters works too.

Oddly, my favorite character is Ali Larter (Final Destination). She has a really inexplicable super power, which if described sounds more like schizophrenia. She literally blacks out and kills people in a rage, and while she's conscious her reflection is an evil version of her. That just sounds ridiculously cool--mostly because she's killing evil people.

Then there's the character that Milo Ventimiglia ("Gilmore Girls") plays. He's this young kid who thinks he can fly, so he brilliantly jumps off a building to prove it to his politician brother.

Hayden Panettiere (Bring it on: All or Nothing) seems to have the most important role. She plays this popular cheerleader who's trying to find a way to die, because no matter how much danger she puts herself in (walking through fire, jumping off a bridge, putting her hand in a garbage disposal) she can't die. That's not the interesting part. There's this guy who's supposed to be the villain and by the end of the episode you find out he's her step dad (she was adopted).

The basic "Heroes" theory is that the human race is evolving and a professor is searching for the perfect human genome of the new mutation. Panettiere, being the invinicible one, is that perfect genome, and the evil guy has her. That's pretty wicked.

I have high hopes that this show does well. It's like "Lost" with the conspiracy theories + "Six Degrees" since all the heroes cross paths eventually. Let's cross our fingers that they don't start to lack originality.

ALBUM REVIEW: Fergie's "The Dutchess"

Track by Track

1. "Fergalicious" sounds like Salt n Pepa old school rapping, and proves that she can rhyme a lot of things with -licious. Like Justin Timberlake, she flips the beat every half a minute, then returns to the regular chorus. It's a winner.
2. "Clumsy" is a ballad in the Diana Ross and Aretha Franklin realm. It talks about how she acts nervous around a boy she likes. It's very revealing.
3. "All that I got" is an old school, made-for-WBLS radio station beat, with a little Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey vocals, the soft spoken part, not the high pitched. It’s about how the man she loves sees the woman she really is past the Hollywood gloss, and her asking him if he would love her if she stopped exercising, putting on make up, etc. Will.i.am raps on this as her man. It's good.
4. "London Bridge" is what you've been hearing.
5. "Pedestal" is Fergie's attempt to tell people/bloggers/media critics that she’s earned her position as a singer and that they don’t know who she is, and that they should get off their pedestal where they judge her. She says that she knows what they wrote on the internet and she doesn’t plan to forget who they are (It's the song Perez Hilton claims she wrote about him). I understand having to make a statement, but she put more work into the message than she did the music.
6. "Voodoo Doll" has a semi-reggae beat with louder horns than drums. It’s very weird and creepy.
7. "Glamorous" starts with guys singing, “If you aint got no money/take your broke ass home.” It has the “Public Affair” vibe, but it’s very Kelis-ghetto fabulous. She uses words like "bourgie" and "flouncy," and rhymes Bone Thugs n Harmony style. Think “I’m still real no matter how many records I sell,” said as fast possible. Ludacris rhymes also as the guy who has enough money to satisfy her new lifestyle. As a slow song with an upbeat tune, it's really good.
8. In "Here I come" she sounds like she's rapping in a Missy Elliot-like voice with The Temptations’ “Get Ready” background (The CW has been using that song to promote its new channel). It’s okay, if you don’t mind hearing the actual Temptations singing in the background during the chorus. Kind of sounds like she’s rhyming at karaoke. But she’s trying to bust out the Aretha Franklin vocals too, which is impressive, making it not just the booty album we were expecting.
9. In "Velvet" she tries to seduce the listener Sade style.
10. "Big Girls Don’t Cry" has a little bit of a Pink vibe, but with a less gritty-I've-smoked-cigarettes-since-I-was-eight sound. The song's about her saying she won’t miss someone and that she’s a big girl now. Her hearts in the right place, but the lyrics are a tad juvenile.
11. "Mary Jane Shoes" has the beat of Bob Marley’s “No woman, no cry” in the chorus. In place of those words are “Ohhh, my Mary Janes.” She claims the shoes change her movement, dance and her view of music. In the middle of the song, the beat changes into a rock/ska beat with heavy drums and she starts screaming, “Oh, my Mary Jane” like Matt Damon does at the beginning of Euro Trip with the “Scotty doesn’t know” song. Then it ends with her doing scat singing to a jazz piano background. Let's be honest. The real Mary Jane in this song is not worn, but rolled and smoked.
12. “Losing my ground” seriously sounds like Pink with a better handle on the high pitch singing. It’s a ballad with an extremely subtle Alicia Keys desperation in her voice.
13. "Finally" is a piano driven love song that sounds like she's trying out for a musical. It resembles Christina Aguilera’s Mulan song “Reflection.” It never quite reaches the Aguilera vocals, but does do better than Pink ever would.
14. “Close to You (Bonus Track)” is an okay slow song.
15. “Paradise (Bonus Track)” has those Caribbean drums that kind of sound like the xylophone. It's alright.
16. When I heard “Wake up (Bonus Track)” I, ironically, literally wanted to kill myself, because I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to listen to anymore music and I could go to sleep, but the bonus tracks just keep coming. Then I started to actually listen to her attempt at rock music, with juvenile lyrics, and sporadic yelling like Limp Bizkit, and fast talking like Fefe Dobson. But then as the song proceeds I realize she’s trying to imitate Gwen Stefani and then I committed suicide. I'm going to bed now.

Oh yeah, there’s a lot of counting and spelling on this album. Randomness. My favorites are the first two.

FILM: Brad stole Tom's mission

Paramount has recently dubbed Brad Pitt the new spy of Mission Impossible. I guess they're trying to make it the next Bond, and we're actually supposed to care when they switch leads. If the last Impossible didn't suck, maybe I would. But when it comes to playing a cocky asshole, who better than the one and only, America's Sweetheart and natural-born adulterer Mr. Brad Pitt.

I personally want Angelina Jolie to be the villain and for her to REALLY kick his ass, not that fake Mr. and Mrs. Smith crap. [And if I had any confidence in Jennifer Anniston's ability to kick anyone's ass, her name would be in place of Jolie's for closure purposes of course.]

FILM: Killshot

Killshot
Starring Diane Lane, Thomas Jane (The Punisher), Mickey Rourke, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Mysterious Skin), Rosario Dawson, and Johnny Knoxville.

Plot: "Beautiful Carmen Colson (Lane) and her ironworker husband Wayne (Jane) are placed in the Federal Witness Protection program after witnessing an "incident". Thinking they are at last safe, they are targeted by an experienced [mob] hit man (Rourke) and a psychopathic young upstart killer (Gordon Levitt). The ensuing struggle will test Carmen to the limit."

You will once again see Gordon-Levitt like you've never seen him before. Mysterious Skin, Brick, they were just the icing on the disturbed and peculiar cake. Gordon-Levitt, by his silence and appearance in the trailer, seems utterly psychotic. He's building range like he's going out for the majors. I'm just waiting to see which big Hollywood exec snaps him up for an Oscar guarantee. Lane will play a woman who learns not to be pushed into a cage, kind of like J.Lo in Enough, except without the boxing lessons. Rourke, of course, plays his usual alpha male, bad ass role like it's his every day demeanor. But he is pretty damn good at it. After hearing him say “You know what I do for a living? I shoot people. Sometimes for money. Sometimes for nothing," I believe I'm in for a real thriller.

Check out the trailer!

MUSIC News: Jessica and The Pink Spiders

Last Tuesday Jessica Simpson appeared, raspy voice and all, on the newly revamped "The View" to promote her album, Public Affair. Circulating the rags is the rumor that she and Ashlee are distancing themselves from their father Joe. After a slip up on the show, where she said:

“My mom helps me with the fashion. My dad just tries to control me and my sister. Woops. That was the wrong choice of words. Dad I love you.”

you can either assume they're right or that Jess is just mooching off of free publicity. Speaking of moochers, The Pink Spiders, in the August issue of the Rolling Stone, were knocking Fall Out Boy and Panic! at the Disco, saying their music was “pseudo intellectual, melodramatic, fake-poetic shit” with “paragraph long song titles. They make kids feel smart, but we make kids feel good.” It’s truly ballsy of them to begin their careers insulting two of the most popular bands of 2006. Check out their music at www.thepinkspiders.com/ to see if you should put your money where their pocket is or blast a DJ remix of Fall Out at the Disco to drown them out.

TREND: Celebrity evolution

It’s not every day that I look at Hollywood and start to feel like a slacker. Actors and singers are falling over themselves to bail out on whatever successful venture they’re involved in just to make it on their own and guarantee personal legendary status. Beyonce did it to Destiny’s Child and Justin did it to it N’Sync. Both transformed into very successful, iconic, solo artists. Before “That 70’s Show” announced their final season Topher Grace hit the ground running towards Spiderman 3 as the diabolical villain Venom. Last season, Mischa Barton bade (a much needed) farewell to “The O.C.” and is now dabbling in the art of indie flicks, building her street cred. Recently, Zach Braff announced his last season on “Scrubs” just when he’s about to release Last Kiss, his second romantic, coming-of-age indie. He tends to leave the slapstick on the boob tube and bring the dramatic chops onto the big screen, which shows that he has high hopes for a future film career as actor, writer, and director. In the world of music, there are very few group members who have the balls, not to mention the public support, to venture out on their own. So, they build support while in their group. Last year, Adam Levine collaborated with Kanye West on his single and he was rumored to be collaborating with several other hit makers. Thus there was speculation that he was branching out from Maroon 5 and possibly going out on his own, because when you think Maroon 5, you think soulful, sexy crooner Adam Levine. It’s almost like word association. Let’s do another. When you think of Black Eyed Peas, you think…Fergie, the rump shaking, vocal-blaring diva. Her ascension to solo artist wasn’t really expected. She didn’t collaborate with anyone else and unlike others, she didn’t quite abandon her group so much as take over all the singing and make them do all the studio work. She didn’t need to be featured on someone else’s single for you to fall in love with her. Charisma was her key to memorable recognition. Most recently, the Pussycat Dolls have accomplished feats that no Vegas showgirl group could have ever imagined. Although many of the girls in the group are voluptuous vixens, there’s only one that anyone can name. Maybe it’s because she gets all the lead vocals, or maybe it’s because when she looks into the camera at you, you can’t take your eyes off of her. I mean, the other girls can definitely sing and they are definitely attractive, but nobody beats Nicole. She’s already collaborated with P. Diddy on his upcoming albums and at the VMAs, she was the only one who got to improvise on Ludacris’s song featuring Pharrell, despite the fact that all the Pussycat Dolls were on the stage. Do I hear a solo?

ALBUM REVIEW: Danity Kane's Self-Titled Debut Album

I truly, in all honestly, had no great expectations for the third band to be molded by P. Diddy. And I most certainly didn’t like their first single, “Show Stopper.” It was too, shall I say, ghetto fabulous for five girls who barely know what that means. It’s one thing to be a poser, but to not know you’re being one is just pathetic.

However, I recommend six (half) of the songs on the album and there are only two that I just can't bare to listen to. “One Shot” is a metaphorical plea to the public to just give them a chance to prove they’re worthy and a literal request for guys to let them prove their worth. The drums will make you want to step, and the catchy chorus will have you bopping your shoulders. “Heartbreaker” begins with abrupt guitar snippets and background castanet tapping that gets you in the mood for some flamenco then hurls you into an R&B song, where for, perhaps, the fifth time in this album the ladies assert how much guys want them. I’m guessing it’s good for your self esteem to sing along. “Want It” has the same percussion as “One Shot” that starts off slow and then speeds up as the girls start to complain about how frustrating it is to figure out what their man or their enemies want, always facing sluts trying to steal their men. They try their half-hearted rap skills mid-way that I take as a playful tease directed toward their romantic competition and not their attempt to fill the female MC void. “Ride For You” is a song they sang on the reality show beside a piano being played by the writer of the song. It’s a beautiful ballad about supporting your significant other. The vocals are really impressive. “Touch my Body” is a playful, sexy single that sets up a scenario of flirtation that could be cool in the clubs.

But my favorite from the whole self-titled LP is “Hold me Down,” a song that’ll pump you from the clap-intro to the fast-lyrical rhyming about depending on someone for support and knowing that you’re the only one in their heart. My favorite part of the song was actually played on the show. One of the singers had a problem recording the climax of the song and when she finally got it, you really felt the accomplishment along with her. Now I can’t hear the song without feeling just as inspired to plug at something until I get it right.

MUSIC: Duff conspiracy Theory

Perhaps I’m one for conspiracy theories, but Hilary Duff’s latest single “Play with Fire” sounds an awful lot like a teenage girl finally unloading some tightly packed designer baggage about an ex (Aaron Carter) I won’t mention who allegedly cheated on her with a certain Hollywood starlet (Lindsay Lohan). It seems she tells him:

"You never know just what you got/till it's gone/you freak out/but I'm not falling for that game/Boys like you/never change/you made me feel like I wasn't enough/wasn't enough/ for your love/but it was insecurity that made you run/it wasn't me/so don't you sit there trying to give me more excuses/...you can't make up for what you've done/you still try to be the one….Oh/by the way/by the way/I’ve found someone who gives me space/keeps me safe/makes me sane/found
someone to take your place”

I wonder, since the Carters (Nick & company) will soon debut their family on VH1, if Aaron will have any words on the topic. Either way, sounds like the Duffster’s finally over it. Now all she has to do is get over her fading film career and find her niche before we forget her name faster than we forgot her sister’s.

BAND: Superchick

Superchick is a co-ed band that has diverse backgrounds that creates quite the interesting sound. “Pure” you may have heard on this summer’s “The Hills,” LC’s “Laguna Beach” spin-off. In it, one of the female singers starts the single off with a rapid rhyming not unlike Natasha Bedingfield accompanied by a pop beat. What's surprising are the reggae undertones. This single gets a little too repetitive for my taste, but two other songs on their album “Beauty from Pain” caught my ear. First is “Bowling Ball,” which starts off with a sort of guitar drum roll signaling a crescendo, before the drums come in along with an alto echo to a determined female lead. Thus they abandon the reggae and pop beats and head straight into the rock arena for a quirky feminist message:

“You need that boy/like a bowling ball/dropped on your head/which means not at all/you have/too much/to give/to live/to waste your time on him.”

From their instrument play you can tell they spend a lot of time experimenting with different levels, changing the songs rhythm at every turn to signal the feeling of the lyrics, unlike most punk songs that only change it up when they pause for solos. “We Live” returns to the feel of “Pure,” guitar playing, sorrowful background singers and co-ed lead singers in a semi-upbeat reggae/r&b/pop song, with inspirational lyrics like:

“With life we never know/when we’re coming up to the end of the road/so what do we do then/with tragedy around the bend/we live/we love/we forgive/and never give up/cause the days we are given are gifts from above.”

From their lyrics you could probably say they’re what would creatively explode if The Black Eyed Peas and Blink 182 smoked pot, barricaded in a studio with the lead singer of Garbage, Shirley Manson. www.superchickonline.com/ If you like what you hear, they're performing Rochester, NY Oct. 10 at the Live Love Tour.

BAND: Head Automatica

Head Automatica is a relatively new (new to us) band that hit MTV with “Graduation Day” in the summer. The single wasn’t as revolutionary as the title would imply, and the album, “Popaganda,” that it stems from isn’t epic, which probably has something to do with its juvenile rhythm that can be positively perceived as playful (apologize for the alliteration). Half of it reminds me of Fountains of Wayne in their “Stacy’s Mom” moment. The rest is sort of 50s or 80s inspired. Lead singer Daryl Palumbo certainly has a tone of voice unlike many other lead singers, which helps to differentiate his band amongst the Fall Outs and Panics of today. Favorites from the album are: “Laughing at you,” which has a catchy hook; “Lying through your teeth,” a tongue-in-cheek, stuttered declaration of a chick’s infidelity with lines like:

“Girl you look so cheap/we’ve been passing you around/there’s cheating on your lips/and you’ve been the talk of my town/fix your mask/it’s crooked on the sides”

in a very 50s soda pop lyrical sound; and “Beating hearts baby,” about a guy asking if his relationship's love is for real. It has a subdued organ background for a chorus with 50s-inspired male singers and poignant screams of the word “you” that makes you feel like a rock star when you sing along. Just listen. You’ll know what I’m talking about when you hear it. So if you want a relatively new sound, check out this relatively new band. www.headautomatica.com/ If you like what you hear, they're performing at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City Oct. 27th.

ALBUM REVIEW: Justin Timberlake's "Future Sex/Love Sounds"

I feel like for the last 3 years Cameron Diaz has had Justin locked up, making love to Prince's Greatest Hits. Then he woke up one morning, while she was knocked out, and recorded this album. When his 2nd solo "Future Sex/Love Sounds" is released tomorrow (9/12), you'll hear the legendary Prince's influences all over his tracks. My personal favorites are: Track 4 "My love," which starts off with a ridiculously long and repetitive back and forth "hey" with Timbaland. You can really tell they are good friends, putting their goofy guyness on this track. When it finally gets into the actual song, the one he played to open the VMAs, it makes me want to bust out and dance the robot...but sexily. Favorite by far.

Then there's Track 5: "LoveStoned/I think she knows." It's marked as an interlude, but last time I checked interludes were like 30 seconds long. This is 7 min and 24 seconds. What I love about it is that it goes from a club love song to a piano-driven John Mayerish ballad. Seriously, he had a crap load of fun making this album. Playing around with the "proper way" to create a song. No more straight shooting, one beat for the whole shabang, less than four minute track. I can see why the word "future" is in the title.

If you love scandal and intrigue play Track 6: "What goes around..comes back around" the moment you get the album...the very second. If there are extras, screw em. Listen to this track. It's the best 7min and 28 seconds you'll ever hear. Here are the vital lyrics that will blow your gossip-ragged mind:

"It's breaking my heart to watch you run around/cause i know that you're living a lie/but that's okay baby you will find/what goes around/goes around/goes around/comes all the way back around...I was ready to give you my name."

Song goes from ballad to hip hop and essentially from sorrow to anger.

"You spend your nights alone/and he never comes home/and every time you call him/all you get is a busy tone...i heard you found out that he's doing to you/what you did to me...when you cheated girl/my heart beat it girl...girl you got what you deserved...and now you want somebody to cure the lonely nights...and girl i need somebody but not out of sympathy."

You could say that this is just a made up story and he isn't talking about Britney Spears. But then he laughs maniacally...softly but maniacally...at the end. Revel in this scoop waiting to happen.
Besides Timbaland, Will.i.am makes an appearance and so does a Justin-trying-to-rhyme-like-a-Southern-rapper.

If you're looking for a love tune listen to Track 9, 10 and 12. But for that inspirational, Grammy attempt listen to Track 11. It's about a guy letting pot rule his life and watching his dreams pass him by. I understand the effort, but the lyrics are a tad juvenile.