E.T. Video Finally Lands

So, Katy Perry's video for E.T. is out. Let's look at it in detail. Not very much, though.




Pros:


- Amazing song

- Visually stunning

- A knowing wink to the current trend of product placement (bonus points: no Plenty Of Fish*)

- DEER LEGS

Cons:

- Kanye doesn't add much.

- What he does add involves the lines "Tell me what's next, alien sex. I'mma disrobe you, then I'mma probe you".

- Other than the pretty visuals not a lot happens.



So, there you have it. Good video, great song.

*Please note, Plenty Of Fish didn't pay me to make that reference. Honest.

Changed The Way You Kiss Me, Example's New Single

It's quite good. Considering his previous output, that's not much of a surprise, but it's always reassuring to know.

Sile's In Love At First Sight

For those curious as to what TV presenter Sile Seoige's review of the Kylie gig in Dublin tonight was, wonder no further:

Yes Sile, we think you might regret it too.

Born This Way Rips Off, Well, Everybody

Poor Lady Gaga. Despite launching her new single straight to the top of the Hot 100, and keeping it there for the past five weeks, some people aren't impressed. Across the net there are whispers and incriminations that Gaga has been heavily "inspired" by other artists. Who exactly? Well.... *takes a deep breath*

There's Madonna,



David Guetta/Kelly Rowland,



Christina Aguilera,



TLC,



aaaaaand now SNSD. Who? They're a K Pop girl group, who released a song called Be Happy, about a year ago:



Of all of them, this is oddest. In the other cases, there are definite similarities in the melodies, and while it's understandable that people immediately think of the other songs, I don't think it was an intentional act.

Be Happy is different though. The beat is actually quite similar throughout, and the message of the song is almost identical. I'm in now way saying Gaga has actually ripped the song off, but it's a very odd coincidence.

In all honesty, it's not Gaga's best work. She'd be better off to let these other acts take the blame and move on to You & I, which sounds very good indeed.

Royseven 'You Say, We Say' Review

Nearly five years after their first album, 'The Art Of Insincerity', was released, Royseven have finally got around to following it up. Sadly, despite the wait, 'You Say, We Say' doesn't match up.

Accompanying single 'We Should Be Lovers' is perfect radio fodder, and has been duly hammered. It's a pleasant track, with Paul Walsh's voice and suitably dramatic backing from his band-mates making up for slightly clichéd lyrics. Along with this, 'Channel 103 On My T.V.' and 'You Can't Hide That' are definite highlights, drawing the most on their Muse influences. Sadly, there's not much else going on here. The title track reveals a lack of real ideas, building itself around a chorus that just doesn't work.

'No Romance', while hugely enjoyable, does have an air of being a mash-up of Irish rock hits in the last five years. 'Dance' is built perfectly for a summer soundtrack, as is 'Killer'. It's just a shame the energy doesn't hold up all the way through. For the most part, the album trundles along, without much enthusiasm or passion.

Oddly, the album was fully completed nearly a year ago, with the first single, 'Killer', released all the way back in October. It feels like they could have used that time to inject a bit more heart into their songs. The production is immaculate, but there's not much under that shiny surface.

Femme Fatale: Flawless Victory?

After two years of recording, Britney's Femme Fatale is finally complete. Following the trend of her last two albums, it features a string of producers, all treating Britney's voice as just another instrument, manipulating it to great effect.


Inevitably, Femme Fatale is going to be compared to Blackout. As a whole, Femme Fatale feels like the yin to Blackout's yang. Where Blackout was dark and grimy, Femme Fatale is filled with light, an airy sense prevalent throughout. In both cases it works perfectly.

Some of the highlights include second single Till The World Ends, which opens the album. From the first synths, the song slinks along to its euphoric chorus. It may seem a bit repetitive at first, but the sheer football chant feeling is impossible to resist. Trouble For Me starts with a Wiley-like intro, and shows a confidence often missing from Britney in recent years. Criminal is the song most reminiscent of of "classic Britney", and features the lyrics "Mama I'm in love with a criminal", and a flute. It may not sound appealing, but it works perfectly, and provides a strong closer to the album.

One of the surprises of the album comes from long-time collaborators Bloodshy & Avant. Having previously delivered big singles in Toxic and Piece of Me, along with popular album tracks Phonography, Toy Soldier and Unusual You, their work on Femme Fetale in comparison doesn't match up.

Both How I Roll and Trip To Your Heart are perfectly serviceable pop songs, but neither really adds that much. Considering how effective the pairing of Britney and B&A has been before, it's a shame that's there's not much of a pay off this time around.

In all truth, the only misfire on the album is the aurally offensive Big Fat Bass. Both produced by and featuring Will.I.Am, the vocals from both are quite croaky, with an overly repetitive "The bass is getting bigger" present throughout the song. Not one of Will.I.Am's finest efforts, to put it mildly.

Femme Fetale is by no means a game changer, but this doesn't stop it being a very strong album. The best example of this is lead single Hold It Against Me. Much vaulted for its innovative use of a "dub-step breakdown", in truth Britney's flirted with the genre before (more successfully) with Blackout's Freakshow. However, this doesn't stop Hold It Against Me being a very enjoyable pop song. Likewise, she may have done this all before, but she's still doing it pretty well.

Who Are You, Jessie J?

Ah, Jessie J. Right off the bat, I have to say, Ms. Cornish can sing. More so than most pop stars. It's just a shame that she seems so intent on hiding this fact. Why sing a full note, when you can s-s-stutter it instead? May as well chuck in various random shifts in accents too. And while you're at it, have your debut single be a piss-take that's in no way representative of who you are as an artist. Because, why not?

As for the album itself, it just seems so half-assed. The production seems very shoddy, which is surprising, considering we're talking about the likes of Dr. Luke and Toby Gad here. The songs themselves are pretty bland, and don't really reflect the sparky personality Jessie's shown in interviews and vlogs. There's little that immediately jumps out at the listener, with several of the tracks based around the idea that it's ok to just be yourself. It's a bit of a simplistic message at the best of times, even more so when it follows similar (more effective) songs recently released, like Firework, Born This Way and Fucking Perfect.

Add to that a live track chucked instead of the studio version, and it adds up to a very puzzling album. Despite the fact that Jessie has been writing and preparing for this album for quite some time, it feels like a rush job. Sadly, there's not much to recommend from this album, other than Jessie herself. To sum up an artist's first effort in such a way is disheartening, to say the least.

British M.P. "Playing Air Guitar" In Important Debate

During a debate on military cuts in the House of Parliment, eagle eyed viewers noticed one of the M.P.'s was less than focused on the issues at hand. Conservative MP, Graham Evans, can be observed absent mindedly strumming and playing air guitar. The video has sparked anger from Labour's Shadow Defence Minister, Michael Dugher who accused the Conservatives of not treating the debate "like the whole thing was some sort of joke."


The clip has proved popular on the internet, with many people dubbing music from Guitar Hero in sync with the video:




Evans has since insisted that he was "only tapping", and blasted claims that he wasn't paying attention. As yet, it's not been confirmed exactly what song the MP was allegedly trying to play.

Viral Marketing: The Highs And Lows Of 2011's General Election

All of the major parties attempted to use viral marketing to sway voters, from party leader's recording videos, to Fine Gael releasing a flash game and Fine Gael e-Valentines.

Added to this, several of the individual candidates created personal videos, with some being more creative than others. So, did this give them a boost?

1) Mannix Flynn 

Running as a "New Independent" in Dublin South East, Mannix revived the "Dub Rap" from the 80's during this interview, which promptly spread across the net. Despite being on of the most viewed videos of the campaign, it did little for Flynn, who was eliminated on the second count.

2) Dylan Haskins

Also running in Dublin South East, Dylan Haskins placed a lot of importance on internet campaigning, with a active blog, and Facebook and Twitter accounts. His video urged people to get behind him and support his campaign, but it failed to achieve this, as Haskins was eliminated from the election after the forth count.

3) Michael Dolan 

A country song, called Dolan For The Dail attempted to support Michael J Dolan's campaign to be elected for Fianna Fáil. The song attempts to promote Dolan as a new option, but it didn't work. He fell early in the race, being cut after the forth count.


4) Michael Conaghan 

Not technically a video, but still one of the more unusual attempts at promoting a candidate. Created for Michael Conaghan, running in Dublin South Central, the song is a remake of Horse Outside by the Rubberbandits, called Rest Outside. Not long after the song hit the web, the Rubberbandits slammed the effort, and insisted that they in no way supported the candidate, or were asked permission for the use of the song.

Despite the controversy, Michael Conaghan was still easily elected, picking up over 10% of the first preferences.

5) John Dillon

Also taking the form of a country flavoured song, Independent John Dillion recieved support in the form of "Dillon's Gonna Win". Despite the optimistic name of the song, Dillon didn't win, coming in fifth in the three seater constituency. 

6) Martin Heydon 

Possibly the most bizarre of all the videos to surface during the campaign was for Martin Heydon. Running for Fine Gael, in Kildare South. An overtly apocalyptic assessment of Ireland's state, it takes huge swipes at Fianna Fáil's record, and references Superman, Johnny Cash and the Terminator.  

While it's impossible to tell if the video helped Martin Heydon's campaign, it certainly didn't hinder him. Heydon topped the poll and was elected on the first count, taking a third of the votes.

When Will The Sheen Wear Off?

His television show has been cancelled, one of his ex-wives has obtained a restraining order and taken away his children, and just one month ago he was rushed to hospital after a drugs binge. And yet, nobody seems to be doing a thing to help Charlie Sheen.

At this point on the internet, he's approaching meme status. He's appeared on most of the major talk shows, and each time has given a rambling interview, spewing nonsensical comments, and claiming that he's not addicted to anything, and "cannot die". He's taken swipes at AA, his former employers, and generally anyone that's questioned his actions. 

And yet, these comments are being treated, not as worrying, but as hilarious:

"I am on a drug. It's called Charlie Sheen. It's not available because if you try it once you will die. Your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body. It's too much."

“Can’t is the cancer of happening.”

(On the possibility of relapse) "No. Not going to. Period. The end. I blinked and I cured my brain."

Even by his own admittance, Sheen has done a lot of drugs, and is on a downward spiral. And yet, the only thing that seems to be happening is that he's wheeled out onto chat shows, booked for interviews. Even if he has quit drugs, he's still obviously not fully well. 


And yet, the circus trundles on.

Social Perception: Piracy Is OK As Long As Nobody Profits

The majority of people have no issue with illegally downloading files, according to a study by Danish academics, that looked at today's moral standards, compared to ten years ago.

Seventy percent of those surveyed said they had no problem with regards to file sharing for personal use. The survey asked people to rate on a scale from 1 to 10 how socially acceptable certain acts were. When it came to downloading pirated materials for personal use, 7 in 10 people felt that it was "generally okay" with 15 to 20 percent of the group concluding that there was nothing wrong with it whatsoever. 

However, three-fourths of those who responded found it completely unacceptable to sell the material for a profit.

Elsewhere in the survey, it was found that tax evasion tolerance has fallen over the past ten years. However, the acceptance of social welfare fraud has risen, despite an crack down in recent times. Unsurprisingly, in almost every case, women were found to be more moral than men. The only exception was in taking early retirement, which men found to be more of an issue.