can either subtain a lost?

TIME Magazine recently wrote an article about how Indiana Black Voters are feeling ignored by both Barack Obama and Senator Clinton. I find that really interesting because Im currently in North Carolina, and everyday it seems like bother Senator Clintor or Barack are somewhere holding rallies or speaking. North Carolina and Indiana both share the same primary date. I was in Washington State during its primary and I dont remember hearing about so much campaining being done. I know Obama and Clinton only went to Seattle the wkend b4 the primary, but here in NC. You have Chelesa, Bill, Michelle, Barack, Hillary everywhere! My point is that I can understand Indiana's frustration seeing the amount of attention other states receive. The Following is the TIME Magazine piece.

Indiana Black Voters Feeling Ignored
By STEVEN GRAY/INDIANAPOLIS

For weeks, Delores Smith, membership coordinator at the Madame C. J. Walker Theater in Indianapolis, has e-mailed and called Sen. Barack Obama's representatives, hoping he'll hold a campaign event at the 937-seat theater. It is, after all, named in honor of one of the nation's first black millionaires. And its place in the heart of one of Indianapolis' oldest black neighborhoods makes it a key stop for candidates seeking this city's nearly quarter-million African-American voters - the largest concentration in Indiana. But so far, Smith says, "I haven't heard anything."
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Even before the major distraction this week caused by the remarks of black liberation theologist and former Obama pastor Jeremiah Wright, black voters in Indiana have been feeling ignored. While both Democratic presidential candidates have been jockeying for the rural, working-class white voters who make up much of Indiana's electorate, they have been largely absent from predominantly black neighborhoods that have historically been among the party's strongholds. For much of the campaign in Indiana, as well as around the country, many black voters feel there has been little effort to engage them on issues that have particular impact in the black community, such as the home foreclosure and HIV crises.

Amos Brown III, one of Indianapolis' most popular black talk radio hosts, says many African Americans here, like elsewhere in the country, were buoyed by Obama's success in overwhelmingly white states like Iowa and Idaho. Obama generated even more local excitement with his March 15 visit to a suburban Indianapolis high school. But since then, Brown says many of his listeners are asking, "Where is he? And, is he going to come to the 'hood or not?' Hoosiers, black or white," Brown adds, "like to be courted. It's important to go to the smaller towns, but it's just as important to go out into the neighborhoods of the big city. I haven't seen that with Barack or Hillary."

Except for a brief visit last Sunday to Country Kitchen, a popular soul food restaurant here, Obama hasn't made a significant appearance in any black neighborhood in Indianapolis, or elsewhere in the state. Last weekend, Sen. Hillary Clinton assembled a modest crowd at a Bennigan's in largely black Gary, in Indiana's northwest corner. Chelsea Clinton has been dispatched to many of Indiana's colleges, but not Martin University, a small, predominantly black school here. "If her job is to work the college crowd," says Brown, "why not go there?"

Cornell Burris, the 72-year-old president of the 1,000-member NAACP branch in Indianapolis, said he couldn't bring himself to be present at Sen. Obama's visit last month to Plainfield. "To be honest," Burris said last week, carefully choosing his words, "I didn't like the idea that it was out there in that particular sector of Marion County. It's a predominately white neighborhood. I'd hoped to see him in the inner city of Indianapolis, not in the suburbs."

To some degree, Obama has been constrained by a desire to not be marginalized as a black candidate - a concern, of course, that lay behind his distress over the comments by Rev. Wright. Furthermore, speaking about black-specific issues to African-American audiences carries some risk. "If he starts talking about these things in meaningful terms directly to the black community, white people will be disaffected by that," says Ron Walters, political science professor at the University of Maryland.

Some of Obama's support among black voters has been driven by comments by Sen. Clinton and her surrogates that have been interpreted as both racially inflammatory and an attempt to curry favor with conservative white voters. David Bositis, senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington think tank specializing in black issues, said that last fall he estimated Clinton had the potential to win about 50% of the black vote nationally. After Obama's dramatic performance in Iowa, he put the figure at 33%. Now, he believes she will take only 10% to 15%. So far, in Indiana, the Clinton campaign has made little significant effort to court black voters. To some, it's as if Clinton's campaign has written off blacks because they are not, in the words of one of her campaign's volunteer, part of the New York senator's "natural orbit," like Latinos, women and older voters.

Much is at stake for the Democrats. While blacks account for barely 9% of Indianans, they are a crucial constituency neither candidate can afford to alienate, or take for granted. Indeed, some locals are pointing to the way Obama conducted his campaign in Pennsylvania as an object lesson. At one point, the Illinois Senator was asked about his lack of activity in Philadelphia's black neighborhoods and told the Philadelphia Daily News, "I'm a big believer in going to places where you're weak, not where you're strong, and reaching out to people you might not otherwise expect to vote for you." Days later, after Obama failed to carry Philadelphia by a large enough margin to compensate for losses elsewhere in the state, the newspaper ran a story with the headline, "Did Obama blow the election by blowing off Philly?"

headphones

Top 5 favorite songs at the moment.

5) "The Way That I Love You" - Ashanti
4) "4 Real 4 Real" - MC
3) "Damaged " - Danity Kane
2) "Love Story" - MC

1) "Last Kiss" - MC

It's was hard for me not to make a list of all MC songs off E=MC2, because that's what Im jamming now. But Im loving Ashanti's new song, I was like woah someone wants a hit. Of course I love me some DK, and "Damaged" is still a stone grove smash hit wonder.

Since all of my songs are by females I decided to have a honorable mention, Usher's "Love in the Club" Remix with Beyoncebitch and Lil' Wayne..

2 of my favorite things

the AMaziNG Heather Lockler with my future husband and lover ROBERT BuCklEY

robbed!!!

The Daytime Entertainment Emmy Award nominations handed out on THE VIEW this morning ( and I was on hand!), and neither of my girls where nominated for a much deserved nomination in the field out Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series..


BULLSHIT

i love lo

tennessee

c.r.u.s.h

Ian Somerhalder is looking great during The Live Party at the Viceroy

good morning america

better wit age

simon rex

stone groove smash hit wonder

Mariah Carey's E=MC2 Album Enters at #1, on Career-High First Week Soundscan Sales of 463,000!!!

'TOUCH MY BODY' - HER 18th #1 HIT, AND 79th CAREER WEEK AT #1 - SETS HISTORIC CHART RECORD, SURPASSING ELVIS PRESLEY's 17 #1's, AND TYING HIS ALL-TIME HIGH 79 WEEKS AT #1

'Bye Bye' is next - impacts at Pop, Rhythmic and Urban radio formats and is #1 most added across the board

APRIL 25th ON ABC TV: Mariah returns to Good Morning America for traffic-stopping live outdoor concert at New York City's Times Square

An unprecedented pre- and post-release campaign -- including appearances on NBC's Saturday Night Live, MTV's The Hills, BET's concert special, FOX's IDOL Gives Back and American Idol, and The Oprah Winfrey Show -- maximized exposure for international superstar Mariah Carey and her current smash hits, the #1 "Touch My Body" and #1 most added "Bye Bye," resulting in a massive #1 debut on the Billboard 200 albums chart for E=MC2 (in stores April 15th), weighing in with first week Soundscan sales of 463,000 units. E=MC2 also debuts #1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart and #1 on the Top Digital albums chart (Mariah's first-ever #1 digital album debut with over 50,000 scanned!). E=MC2 represents the biggest first week debut of Mariah's career!!!

"Mariah's an inspiration, the true definition of a star," said Antonio 'L.A.' Reid, Chairman, Island Def Jam Music Group. "She continues to amaze us with every incredible new album she creates. Now Mariah has added another plateau of success to what has become her virtually unapproachable track record on charts around the world. She proves beyond a doubt that with talent, ambition, and sheer force of will, all things are possible."

TV appearances continue this Friday, April 25th on ABC, when Mariah returns to Good Morning America for a live outdoor concert with New York's Times Square as her backdrop. Three years to the month since she first shut down traffic outside GMA's studios on 44th Street to celebrate the release week of The Emancipation Of Mimi, Mariah will once again welcome thousands of fans to the event, slated between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. She then hurries uptown for a guest appearance on Live with Regis & Kelly.

Mariah reached an historic career achievement earlier this month when "Touch My Body" became her 18th #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 - surpassing one of the most enduring chart records in Billboard history, Elvis Presley's 17 #1's. "Touch My Body"'s two weeks at the top marked Mariah's 78th and 79th cumulative career weeks at #1, which tied Elvis' long-standing all-time high of 79 weeks at #1, as calculated in Billboard. At the same time, Mariah is now positioned as the only active recording artist in the 50 years of the Hot 100 (which began in 1958) with the potential to surpass the Beatles' all-time high of 20 #1 hits.

"Touch My Body" took over the #1 spot with an all-time record-setting 286,000 debut week on the Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart. The video, directed by feature filmmaker Brett Ratner, and featuring a cameo by Jack McBrayer (30 Rock's Kenneth Parcell), stays in rotation on VH1, VH1 Soul, BET and 106 & Park, and FUSE; as well as #1 at Yahoo Music Video. "Touch My Body" also topped the AOL video charts for several weeks.

Clear Channel Online played a major part in the Mariah Carey promotion, simultaneously launching "Touch My Body" as it went to radio. The song was played over 400,000 times in one week and debuted at #1 on the On-Demand Chart. Tracks from E=MC2 were also featured in Clear Channel's Sneak Peak promotion a week before the album was released.

"Bye Bye" impacted across-the-board at Pop, Rhythmic, and Urban radio formats on Monday, April 21 and is #1 most added across the board.

Leading up to the release of E=MC2, "Touch My Body" was one of two songs (along with "Migrate") that were performed by Mariah last month on NBC's Saturday Night Live, hosted by Jonah Hill, the show to be re-run on May 3rd. Earlier this month, Mariah gave a special performance of "Touch My Body" and "We Belong Together" after the season premiere of the MTV reality series, "The Hills." The episode set a year-to-date record as the highest rated telecast on cable TV.

On April 9th, Mariah joined an all-star cast for the second annual "IDOL Gives Back" two-hour TV special, a music celebration raising awareness and benefiting various U.S. and international charities. The following Monday, April 14th, Mariah appeared as special guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, chatting with the host and performing "Bye Bye." The next day, as E=MC2 was released, Mariah began a two-night stint on American Idol, serving as musical mentor to that week's finalists on night one, and performing "Bye Bye" on night two.

"Touch My Body" was produced by Mariah Carey, C. "Tricky" Stewart, and fellow Island Def Jam artist The-Dream. Other guest producers joining Mariah on E=MC2 include Jermaine Dupri, DJ Toomp, Stargate, Will I Am, Bryan Michael Cox, Nate "Danjahandz" Hills and James Poyser. The album is executive produced by Mariah Carey and Antonio "LA" Reid, Chairman, Island Def Jam Music Group.

The 11th studio album of her career, E=MC2 follows-up The Emancipation Of Mimi, Mariah's worldwide 10 million selling #1 album, which generated three Grammy awards (including Best Contemporary R&B Album), two #1 singles, and countless more honors during its 18-month stay on the charts. Released April 12, 2005, Mimi was an industry phenomenon for the mega-platinum award-winning superstar. Soundscan's biggest-selling album of the year, it brought total sales of Mariah's albums, singles and videos to over 160 million worldwide, making her the top-selling female recording artist in history.

dont stop beliving

WASHINGTON - Exuding fresh confidence after her Pennsylvania primary win, Hillary Rodham Clinton turned attention Wednesday to contests in Indiana and North Carolina and pressed her case that she can still win the Democratic presidential nomination despite the odds against her.
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In a round of morning television interviews, Clinton argued that her feisty act of political survival, defeating Barack Obama in Pennsylvania by more than nine points, confirms her contention that she would be the stronger challenger against Republican John McCain because she has shown she can win in big, swing states.

"At the end of the day, people have to decide who they think would be not only the best president, which is the most important question, but who would be the better candidate against Senator McCain. And I think the coalition that I've put together, as demonstrated once again last night, is a very strong base for us to beat Senator McCain," Clinton told NBC's "Today."

The New York senator also said she wants new debates before the May 6 contests in North Carolina, where the flush-with-money Obama is favored; and Indiana, where the two are close. Both candidates planned appearances in Indiana on Wednesday.

Obama managed to stave off an eyebrow-arching blowout in Pennsylvania by Clinton even while falling short in his effort to bring the polarizing competition effectively to a close. Despite his defeat, he gained the support of Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry, a superdelegate to the national convention.

Clinton also picked up a superdelegate, Tennessee Rep. John Tanner. And, she had raised $3.5 million in the hours after her victory, and was on track to collect $10 million in the 24 hours since the polls closed in Pennsylvania. The campaign said it was her best fundraising day ever. Desperate to fight on against a flush Obama, Clinton could use the money.

Earlier this week, her campaign revealed it had just over $9 million in the bank at the end of March, matched by $10 million in debt. Obama began April with more than $40 million to spend.

Their Keystone state matchup was fierce and bitter, which seemed to harden attitudes among Democrats even as McCain tended to the unification of the GOP and campaigned across the country in preparation for the fall. Only half of each Democrat's supporters said they would be satisfied if the other Democrat won the nomination, according to interviews with voters as they left polling stations.

"After 14 long months, it's easy to forget what this campaign's about from time to time," Obama told an Evansville, Ind., rally, Tuesday night, obliquely conceding that the Pennsylvania race turned nasty.

"It's easy to get caught up in the distractions and the silliness and the tit-for-tat that consumes our politics, the bickering that none of us are entirely immune to, and it trivializes the profound issues: two wars, an economy in recession, a planet in peril, issues that confront our nation. That kind of politics is not why we are here tonight. It's not why I'm here, and it's not why you're here."

Obama wasted no time making tracks to Indiana. His plane was in the air when the primary was called in Clinton's favor, which he learned upon landing.

The Illinois senator trailed in opinion polls all along but had made up ground in the last few weeks, despite a series of inartful episodes in a campaign that once seemed smooth at every turn.

Clinton was winning 55 percent of the vote to 45 percent for Obama with 99 percent of the vote counted. She won the votes of blue-collar workers, women and white men in an election where the economy was the dominant concern. He was favored by blacks, the affluent and voters who recently switched to the Democratic Party, a group that comprised about one in 10 Pennsylvania voters, according to surveys conducted by The Associated Press and the TV networks.

Clinton won at least 81 delegates to the party's national convention, with seven still to be awarded, according to AP's analysis of election returns. Obama won at least 70. A final count could come Wednesday, or later.

Overall, Obama led with 1,719.5 delegates, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Clinton had 1,591.5 delegates, according to the AP tally.

Obama also leads in the cumulative popular vote as well as the delegate chase, and there are not many opportunities left for Clinton to turn that around. Moreover, party leaders are growing impatient with the drawn-out struggle and have watched nervously as McCain, his nomination race long settled, has climbed in opinion polls.

Against those forces, Clinton clings to hope that she can persuade party superdelegates to swing behind her en masse.

"We're going to go through the next nine contests and I hope to do well in many of them ... but I'm confident that when delegates — as well as voters, like the voters of Pennsylvania just did — ask themselves who's the stronger candidate against John McCain that I will be the nominee of the Democratic party," Clinton told CNN Wednesday.

The keen interest in the primary was reflected at polling stations. Elections officials projected turnout among Pennsylvania's 8.3 million registered voters at 40 percent to 50 percent, double that of the state's primary four years ago.

Some of her aides conceded the Indiana contest in two weeks is another must-win challenge for her.

Obama reported spending more than $11 million on television in Pennsylvania, more than any place else. That compared with less than $5 million by Clinton.

Obama was forced on the defensive by incendiary comments by his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, then got into hot water all by himself by saying small-town Americans cling to guns and religion because of their economic hardships.

For her part, Clinton conceded that she had not landed under sniper fire in Bosnia while first lady, even though she said several times that she had. And she replaced her chief strategist, Mark Penn, after he met with officials of the Colombian government seeking passage of a free trade agreement she opposes.

The remaining Democratic contests are primaries in North Carolina, Indiana, Oregon, Kentucky, West Virginia, Montana, South Dakota and Puerto Rico, and caucuses in Guam.

work that shit girl

4/4's drug formula for E=MC2

Whatever drugs Mariah Carey’s taking are doing wonders for her music. Actually, what am I saying, “whatever drugs”? It’s obvious that she’s on the pot, or that she wants you to think she is – an inhaled “sssssss” kicks off the best song, “I’m That Chick,” on her best album, E=MC². And then: “Ooh wee!" is repeated enough to make this slow-burning disco come off like the shadier cousin of Rick James’ “Mary Jane.” Weed imagery dominates her boasts (“Boy I got you caught up inside of my haze,” “You’re fiendin’ to blaze up and taste me,” “You ain’t seeing things or hallucinating,” “Pull me in and breathe,” “I’m like that uptown haze them real thugs blaze / We’ll touch the sky…”), as though delusion is her artistic medium

And, duh: of course she’s high. I can’t imagine anything but marijuana driving her to the destination of this album’s title, which, in long form stands for Emancipation = Mariah Carey (squared). That sort of nonsense-logic is the thing of tokers and children, and image-wise, Mariah is both. (And seriously, even when you spell it all out, what the fuck does “Emancipation = Mariah Carey (squared)” even mean? Is that, like, a two-second review of The Emancipation of Mimi? Is it her coy way of simultaneously announcing that this album is its sequel and that she doesn’t understand exponents? And if so, she so high that she thinks her “2” needs to be up there with her?) Whatever, though, tracks like “Chick” and “I’ll Be Lovin’ U Long Time” are sonic euphoria, career-highs that are so clean, you could snort off them.

And then, the paranoia sets in and it clings to this album like patchouli on Like a Prayer. I count no fewer than six rewrites of her relevance-reigniting megahit, “We Belong Together” (in sequential order: “I Stay in Love,” “Love Story,” “Last Kiss,” “Thanx 4 Nothin’,” “For the Record” and “Bye Bye”). These tracks, I assume, are intended to be hit insurance and as such, suggest that the memory of Glitter and the ensuing pop gutter hasn’t faded a bit. Between its pop hits, Emancipation flirted with a live, full-band feel; E=MC²'s motif, in total contrast, is the plastic boom-tick of the 808-ballad. Not that I'm complaining -- to rewrite "We Belong Together" is to rewrite "Breakdown," a track forward-thinking enough to still bear repeating.

The best of these fast slow jams is the Bryan Michael Cox co-produced “For the Record,” which skirts sounding like it’s stuck in the past via futuristic chimes, whooshes, thwacks and pseudo-strings. (Incidentally, Cox is also responsible for “I Stay in Love,” the most soulless song Mariah’s cut since, well, before Glitter. It sports a piano line so deliberate, it’d be laughed off a Broadway original cast album.) The commercial crassness of these retreads is perfectly encapsulated in “Bye Bye,” in which Stargate’s stock ballad beat fits under the “We Belong Together” template. Meanwhile, Mariah announces this song “is for everybody.” Not just all the parents and children of the world -- everybody! Take that, Celine! “Bye Bye” is about death, and only thing more universal than that topic is probably taxes (funnily enough, E=MC² was released on April 15). Initially, the obsequiousness of “Bye Bye” was too revolting even for me, but what keeps me coming back to it is its ultimate silliness. I snort at “This is for my peoples who lost their grandmothers” every damn time I hear it, and the chorus litany of “Mamas, daddies, sisters, brothers, friends and cousins” sounds like the basis of a companion piece to the preschool standard, “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.” It’s supposed to make me cry, but “Bye Bye” makes me howl inside. It’s not so much like laughing in church as it is at the crazy lady ranting about abortion on the corner, shaking her plastic fetus.

From what I’ve gathered, those who hate this album, hate it for the lack of sophistication in its flagrant hit-mongering. But that’s like hating a Pollack for being too splattery. People forget that Mariah’s function has always been that of hitmaker. She’s worked hard for her numbers (18 No. 1's and she has the balloons to prove it). Until her 2001 breakdown, working hard meant averaging an album a year and rerecording virtually every single for various remixes. She's lessened the pace, but the wheels upstairs turn just as rapidly. E=MC² originally was supposed to come out six months ago. Leading up to November, every time she’d make a public appearance and answer the inevitable questions about the album, she’d talk about it as a work in progress, frequently saying that she was “just recording,” even into the new year. I love that Mariah has seemingly turned from compulsive releasing to obsessive crafting, as though she can only be pathological about pop music. (I can relate!) And you want to talk obsessive? Seven of these 14 tracks strike within 10 seconds of the three-minute-thirty-second mark, the supposedly magic running time for a pop single. She thumps the Bible on the arresting piano-gospel closer of “I Wish You Well,” but everywhere else she thumps The Manual.

“Cruise Control,” which cops reggae no more offensively than your average Gwen Stefani track, knits three hooks in a row. It sports a pre-chorus bridge, a chorus and then a mega-chorus. The songwriting craft is astounding. Equally astounding? The idea that it’s appropriate to adopt a Jamaican accent for the track’s second verse, which hilariously goes: “’Can’t nobody can’t nobody tell me nuttin' / When he comes into view / ‘Cause he’s the flyest ting when he be cruisin’ on me avenue / When tha door open, de gals pon de block / They be hopin’, to rob tha clock me say no man / Step up step up bottle broken think I’m jokin’…?” Ting! She says “ting!”

But then, she’s always been interested in passing, from her career-long transition from adult contemporary to hip-hop soul, to now, as she rocks a rasta hat with the fake dreadlocks and elsewhere adopts the ghetto-fab swag of “Migrate” (“’Soon as we walk through the door / Fellas be grabbin' at us like whoa / Tryin' to get us goin' off that Patrón / We sippin' Grigio...slow”). I see this as nothing but a further shading in of her frequently childlike identity: she’s playing dress-up. In a time when aging divas like Janet Jackson and Madonna are doing everything they can to fade into the (often vivid and nice-looking) wallpaper of their music, Mariah isn’t afraid to be her ridiculous self. It’s one thing to sing as well as she does (or rather, can, via editing of her increasingly brittle voice), or to have the knack for melody and harmony that's only getting stronger as she grows older. But Mariah’s secret formula is that larger-than-life persona that she filtrates so precisely into her work. It’s why she can pull off a (dirtily) Southern-fried power-ballad like “Side Effects.” It’s why this album is better than The Emancipation of Mimi (too tempered in the persona department for my taste). And it’s why E=MC² is so damn addictive.

That's the point, but the underlying theme suggests an inverse of it: E=MC²'s engineered infectiousness is a symptom of Mariah's dependence on quantatitve superstardom (via chart success). This isn't an album; it's a collection of hits. As such, it's a perfect reflection of Mariah's pop-artistry and fame addiction. That drug thing? Nothing new at all.

ohlala frenchy

my prayers go out...

Toni Braxton, 40, will not be returning to her Las Vegas show until next month in order for her to undergo more medical tests stemming from her April 7 hospitalization for chest pains, the Associated Press reports. Braxton, has been treated in the past for pericarditis, a viral inflammation of the heart.


The six-time Grammy winner was initially expected to return to her Las Vegas show, “Toni Braxton: Revealed,” this week. Flamingo President Don Marrandino said her Tuesday-through-Saturday shows are also off, and Braxton will take advantage of a previously scheduled two-week break. The Flamingo is offering refunds for the canceled shows.

how did she do

Here are some articles about MARIAH CAREY week on Idol..

• MTV: Devoting an entire night to an artist the contestants are never able to top makes about as much sense as Mariah hijacking Einstein's theory of relativity for an album title. But I suppose if producers are ready to go off the deep end, Mariah Carey's the perfect person with whom to do it. Mimi actually turned out to be a pretty awesome coach. She was in great spirits while working with the contestants and displayed little of the, um, offbeat charm we all witnessed during that infamous "Cribs" episode. There were no wardrobe changes, no impromptu stripteases and no diva attitude. She even hugged Jason "Looks Like a Homeless Dude" Castro! All in all, Mariah acted more like a seasoned songwriter than an eccentric millionaire, which was great news for the top seven.

• USA Today: Routine belting from David Archuleta (When You Believe), Carly Smithson (Without You) and Syesha Mercado, whose Vanishing was regrettably mannered, paled by comparison. But it was a surprising victory for the Idols, and you have to call the win… Mariah.

• Seacoast: I was skeptical of the wisdom of Mariah songs because of her impossible vocal range (and when she said "I feel weird about the whole 'judging' thing" I feared the worst) but she - and the contestants - surprised me. She actually had some specific pointers for the Idols and many of them were wise enough not to try to mimic the Mimi. That's where Cookie and Dread were ahead of me and the women - you don't follow her voice, you follow her words and make the arrangement your own.

• Miami Herald: Mariah Carey proved to be the most instructive American Idol mentor/coach since Season 5, two years ago, when Barry Manilow coached Chris Daughtry to a series standout I Walk the Line. Carey, currently riding the nation's top single, Touch My Body, did more than simply gush and applaud the remaining seven hopefuls who were faced with singing her octave-stretching pop and R&B tunes: She had precise musical ideas for how to make a song better for each individual voice.

• Entertainment Weekly: Mariah Carey turned ''American Idol'' into a release party for her new CD, and most performers did her songbook proud. And how about Mariah as mentor? (I thought the diva seemed genuinely sweet and sincerely excited hearing her work get reinterpreted by Idol's young singers.)

• Huffington Post: I thought she would be a disaster as a coach and that a week devoted to her songs would be a mountain of melisma overload. Carey appeared focused and helpful, giving those who seemed receptive very specific suggestions as far as melody, runs, and arrangements.

• Film: Trying to sing Mariah is a little like skating on thin ice while holding a tiger by the tail with one hand and trying to bite off more than you can chew with the other. It's hard. Good thing the contestants actually had Mariah as their mentor this week. Who's better to coach you through a Mariah song than Mariah herself? I have never been much of a Mariah Carey fan, but I have to admit that after watching her interview and the coaching sessions, I have a little bit more respect for her. She's not nearly as flaky as I, for some reason, imagined her to be.

get it today

happy birthday!!!

TO THE AMAZING SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR

knocked up?

Ashlee Simpson and her fiance, rocker Pete Wentz, are expecting a child together, US Magazine reported on Monday, just days after the couple announced that they were engaged.

Hmmmmmmm..... Ashlee Simpson as a mom?

hmmm looks pretty

god help us all.....

A Press release from FOX reveals that the top 7 contestants on(the worst season ever) American Idol will return to the Idol stage to perform songs by Mariah Carey on Tuesday, April 15 at 8pm.

golden

took long enough

(The article below is from The Boston Globe, def not by me)

Once upon a time, in the melodramatic environs of CBS's "As the World Turns," there was a boy named Luke and another boy named Noah, and they fell in love. They shared in self-discovery, made it through a trying time when Luke was paralyzed from the waist down, celebrated his miraculous recovery, and kissed onscreen. Twice.
more stories like this

Then they stopped kissing. And some fans were happy. And some fans got very, very angry.

They point, these Luke-and-Noah champions, to two major near-misses since. Once, during an episode of the soap opera near Christmas, Luke and Noah moved toward a kiss, and the camera quickly panned to mistletoe. Then, on a very special Valentine's Day episode, every other couple on the show shared a kiss. Luke and Noah hugged.

One gay-themed website, afterelton.com, created a running ticker of the time that has elapsed since Luke and Noah since locked lips onscreen. (At press time, it was 157 days and running.) After the mistletoe episode, fans - who refer to the couple as "Nuke" - sent bags of Hershey's Kisses to CBS. More recently, they've launched a publicity drive, blitzing reporters with long, heartfelt statements of Luke-and-Noah support.

"We appreciate so much that the show is doing this," said George Hinds, 29, a youth employment counselor in Cambridge who helps run the fansite lukeandnoahfans.com, and praises the show for airing daytime TV's first gay kiss. "The campaign is really here to let them know we think it's time to move forward. We think America can handle it."

But for the show's producers, the Luke and Noah love story has proved to be sensitive terrain. "We're trying to make a show that appeals to our entire audience," said Jeannie Tharrington, a spokeswoman for Procter & Gamble Productions, which produces the 52-year-old CBS series - and has been fielding complaints and kudos from all sides since Luke and Noah first appeared.

The recent changes, she said, have come "because of some of the feedback that we've gotten, and because of what we thought was best for the show creatively."

Gay characters on television are common by now, both on cable and on network shows such as ABC's hit drama "Brothers and Sisters." And Luke and Noah, played by Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann, respectively, follow in a long tradition of daytime soap characters with coming-out stories; in 1993, Ryan Phillippe had an early role as a gay teen on ABC's "One Life to Live." In recent years, daytime talk show hosts Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres, both openly gay, have attracted broad fan bases.

But with their frank talk about love, their forthright conversations about when they'll first have sex, and their very occasional smooches, Luke and Noah represent something new in the soap opera world. "This was one more programming frontier," said Andy Towle, who runs the popular gay-theme blog towleroad.com and has kept readers up to date on Luke and Noah developments.

The story line began in late 2005, when Luke, the son of one of the show's longstanding couples, began the long process of coming out to his parents. Barbara Bloom, CBS's senior vice president for daytime TV, said the show's executive producer and head writer laid out a tentative long-term plotline in advance, unfolding it slowly so that the audience would conclude that Luke was gay before he officially announced it. From the start, she said, the writers hoped Luke would go on to become a central character, with everything that entails: "It's daytime television. It's the love story business."
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The coming-out saga garnered praise in the gay community and an award from the gay-rights group Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Hansis and the actress who plays his mother appeared in public service announcements on CBS.

And because the story line played so well with fans, Tharrington said, the writers eventually added Noah.

"Everyone in the town came to accept Luke as he was, and the viewers did, too," Tharrington said. "What we kept hearing from viewers is, 'We love Luke. We want him to have a love interest, too.' "

The "Nuke" story has drawn another GLAAD award nomination, and has attracted a new set of "As the World Turns" fans: gay men who now follow the show with a mix of activist pride and love-struck glee. Some watch Luke and Noah clips on YouTube, where an enterprising viewer has edited episodes down to the relevant scenes. Hinds said he has started to watch the soap in its entirety, "because I just wanted the show to be successful - to support the story line."

But Tharrington and CBS officials said they heard complaints from viewers opposed to the story line - though they won't say which side draws a bigger response. The American Family Association, a conservative group based in Tupelo, Miss., has received hundreds of complaints about the Luke-Noah romance - particularly their kisses, said Randy Sharp, the group's spokesman.

"It was a big turnoff for them," Sharp said. "The word 'repulsive' was used once or twice. 'Offensive' was used more than once. . . . It was overtly gratuitous. It's not necessary to the story line itself."

Sharp's group championed a boycott of Procter & Gamble in 2004, complaining about some of its gay-friendly corporate policies. This time, Sharp said, group leaders had a phone conference with Procter & Gamble officials, and asked members to contact the company.

"Our request to them was to do away with the homosexual characters," Sharp said. "Your writers can come up with good story lines that the general public would watch and not be offended by."

Indeed, Hinds says he wonders if the show's apparent solution - to keep suggesting kisses without showing them - is really pleasing anyone. "Conservative fans," he points out, "still see the intimacy."

Bloom, at CBS, says support for Luke and Noah has been unwavering. "We have never in any way asked them to censor that story or pull it back," she said.

And she said there are signs that, overall, the story has been good for "As the World Turns." Over the course of Luke's saga, Bloom said, the show has moved into a solid position as the third-rated soap across all networks.

But while both Bloom and Tharrington insist that Luke and Noah will remain, no one's making any promises on progress. Drawn-out love stories, Bloom points out, are a daytime drama staple.

"In the soap-opera business, you walk a very fine line between love stories, happily-ever-after, yearning, and obstacles," Bloom said. "The drama comes from the quest."

By Joanna Weiss
Globe Staff / March 1, 2008

the only reason i gave back

deal or steal?

Gay and lesbian media portal PlanetOut Inc. agreed to sell its magazine and book publishing business to Here Networks for $6 million. A formal agreement should be done by April 30 and the deal should close by August 31. In February, PlanetOut reported a $51.2 million loss for 2007. The company's accumulated deficit on Dec. 31, 2007 was about $89.5 million. The company had 237 employees at the end of 2007. San francisco Business Times
WOW 6 Million? That seems really cheap to me....

not yet madge...

"Touch My Body" remains at #1 for a 2nd week in a row on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart, issue date April 19, 2008. By doing so, Mariah is now tied with Elvis Presley for the artist with the most cumulative weeks at the top position of the Hot 100 Chart. Each of them has spent 79 weeks at #1.

hmmmm....

Is it me or does Miley look a lot like Linds Lo?

their gettin married....

I love it... my favorite young Hollywood couple

pic via justjared

bamm

Welcome back to the main stream.. Stacey Dash, it's great to see her back in the press. I cant wait to pick up KING magazine.

better wit age

jared leto

happy birthday!!!

To my girl KIRSTEN

no good news

She proved it wasn’t the case when she performed on the German version of American Idol in Cologne, Germany. As she sang her new single, and people are saying that her thighs were very apparent fuzzy. I think it photo angle. She was also criticized for appearing to have lip-synched her song. Add to all that, it was also revealed today that her upcoming album has been leaked online.

i admit it.. i like it

i want my sex

to the fans

whats old is new again

New Kids today (from left to right): Joey McIntyre, 35; Jonathan Knight 39; Donnie Wahlberg, 38; Jordan Knight, 37; and Danny Wood, 38. The five will appear on "Today" on April 4 to address rumors of a reunion.

Im really surpised that Donnie Wahlberg is involved, he actually has a career..

press release

(April 2, 2008 – New York, NY) International superstar Mariah Carey reaches a once-in-a-lifetime career achievement as her current single "Touch My Body" goes to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week and becomes her 18th career #1 hit – surpassing one of the most enduring chart records in Billboard Hot 100 history, Elvis Presley's 17 #1's. Mariah is now positioned as the only active recording artist in the 50 years of the Hot 100 (which began in 1958) with the potential to surpass the Beatles' all-time high of 20 #1 hits.

"Touch My Body" takes over #1 with an all-time record-setting 286,000 debut week at #1 on the Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart and a Hot 100 Airplay radio audience now over 115 million.

"Touch My Body" is the first smash from Mariah's highly anticipated hot new album E=MC² , arriving in stores April 15th. Pre-orders are now underway for E=MC², with iTunes customers receiving "Touch My Body" instantly with their pre-order.

"Touch My Body" was one of two songs Mariah performed last month on NBC's Saturday Night Live (show to be re-run on May 3rd). Last week, Mariah gave a special performance of "Touch My Body" and "We Belong Together" after the third season premiere of the MTV reality series, The Hills. The episode set a year-to-date record as the highest rated telecast on cable TV, with 5 million viewers tuning in.

On April 9th, Mariah will join an all-star cast for the second annual IDOL Gives Back two-hour TV special, a music celebration raising awareness and benefiting various U.S. and international charities. The first special raised $76 million last year, and won a prestigious Governor's Emmy Award.

On Monday, April 14th, Mariah will appear as special guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, preceding the E=MC² album release day on the 15th. The next night, April 16th, Mariah will perform on American Idol after serving as musical mentor to that week's finalists.

"Touch My Body" was produced by Mariah Carey, C. "Tricky" Stewart, and fellow Island Def Jam artist The-Dream. Other guest producers joining Mariah on E=MC² include Jermaine Dupri, DJ Toomp, Stargate, Will I Am, Bryan Michael Cox, Nate "Danjahandz" Hills and James Poyser. The album is executive produced by Mariah Carey and Antonio "LA" Reid, Chairman, Island Def Jam Music Group.

The 11th studio album of her career, E=MC² follows-up The Emancipation Of Mimi , Mariah's worldwide 10 million selling #1 album, which generated three Grammy awards (including Best Contemporary R&B Album), two #1 singles, and countless more honors during its 18-month stay on the charts. Released April 12, 2005, Mimi was an industry phenomenon for the mega-platinum award-winning superstar. Soundscan's biggest-selling album of the year, it brought total sales of Mariah's albums, singles and videos to over 160 million worldwide, making her the top-selling female recording artist in history.

Mimi featured "We Belong Together" (Grammy winner for Best Female R&B Vocal and Best R&B Song) and "Don't Forget About Us," Mariah's 16th and 17th #1 singles respectively – which tied Elvis Presley's 17 #1's. "Touch My Body" now surpasses Elvis as Mariah's 18th #1 hit, and positions her as the only active recording artist with the potential to surpass the Beatles' all-time high of 20 #1 hits. "Touch My Body" also marks Mariah's 78th cumulative career week at #1, as she closes the gap on Elvis Presley's all-time high record of 80 weeks at #1.

the MC has landed

In Europe!

c.r.u.s.h

Porn Star Damien Crosse, because I have friends who arent gay that read my blog, I couldnt post the pics I really wanted to lol. I am respectful..

fool for lust

So its April 1st! APRIL FOOLS DAY.. Im not really in the mood this year to be creative and jokester.. Mostly b/c Im still pissed about losing my wallet and my ID. But since I know Im not a fool in life, I realized I am a fool for LUST..

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Robert Buckley