Monthly Archives: February 2016

Television

Taylor Swift Justice

A few years ago, I found these YouTube skits of people impersonating different celebrities.  They had a skit called “Gaga Vloga” where one of them dressed like Lady Gaga doing a vlog, but her vlog was always something really strange.  It was quite funny.  They had another one called “Taylor Swift Justice” where Taylor Swift was cop and investigated crimes.  This one was hilarious because they actually had a few episodes and in one Swift gets a new partner, Nicki Minaj.

Long story short, these videos disappeared off YouTube.  Perhaps the team that made them disbanded and deleted them or they got in trouble with copyright (which I don’t see how, they weren’t copying anything or defaming anyone)…I don’t know what happened, they just weren’t there any more.  Which was sad.

The other day I decided to just google it to see if I could find them.  And because nothing is deleted from the Internet, I found the first two “Taylor Swift Justice” clips.  I also found another one of their skits “Fierce Factor: Africa” where Lady Gaga hosts a reality show where male models compete to see who is the “fiercest.”  It’s quite funny.  Check them out below:

Sadly, I couldn’t find “Gaga Vloga” or any of their other hilarious clips.  If I do, I’ll post them.

#PhillipProblems

Update

Hey,

So I know it’s been a while since I’ve updated, but I’ve had a slight accident with my computer.  I managed to spill a glass of water all over it and it appeared to be fine.  Like, the screen was working, the mouse moved, programs ran… Phew, I thought, that was close.

As it turns out, I wasn’t lucky.  Apparently my computer decided to forget that the S, D, W, and Q keys are part of the English language.  What’s worse is that it somehow toggles the control key so that whenever I click something, a drop down menu appears (Mac users know what I mean).  So, my computer theoretically works, but I just can’t really do anything with it…you wouldn’t believe how many words require a S, D, W, and Q.

I’m in the process of getting a new computer so the until then the posts will be less frequent.  I was going to go this weekend to get a new one, but then I heard Apple might be announcing a new MacBook Pro in the beginning of March…why buy a new computer when in a week or so a faster and better version will be available?  So, for now, I’m updating from a borrowed computer.

I haven’t forgotten my lovely readers (I know there are actually a few of you out there)…I’m doing my best.

Phillip's Opinion, StoryTime

Welsh Towns

I saw a video on YouTube where they had Americans try to pronounce the names of towns in Walsh, their reactions to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch were pretty spot on to how I’d feel if I tried pronouncing it

So, naturally, after watching the video I googled Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch to see if it was a real town (it is) and how to pronounce it.  The results came up with this video of a weatherman perfectly pronouncing it during a forecast:

At first I was all impressed that he managed to keep his composure and nail that difficult town name.  But then, I started thinking…he’s the weatherman, right?  He’s in charge of what names he could put on the map.  I mean, in this short clip, he was trying to demonstrate that two parts of Wales were completely different in temperature, why couldn’t he choose a town near Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch that had similar temperatures but was a lot shorter (and easier) to pronounce?  And, he didn’t mention the town that was 12 degrees, did he?

Just putting that out there.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to try to learn how to pronounce Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch so I can one day visit Wales and hail and cab to take me there…

 

P.S. The original name of this post was "Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch" but it was actually so long it didn't fit into title....
Grammys

My Grammy Predictions 2016

The Grammys are tonight, and I thought I’d collate all my predictions into one post.  I didn’t manage to write about all the nominees (there were a lot) but I hit the top four plus a couple more.

Note: The bolded and underlined nominee is the nominee who I think will win.  The nominee colored in red is the nominee I think should  win.  Sometimes it will be both.

Album of the Year

  • 1989 – Taylor Swift
  • To Pimp a Butterfly – Kendrick Lamar
  • Traveller – Chris Stapleton
  • Sound & Color  – Alabama Shakes
  • Beauty Behind the Madness – The Weeknd

Record of the Year

  • “Uptown Funk” – Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars*
  • “Blank Space” – Taylor Swift
  • “Thinking Out Loud” – Ed Sheeran
  • “Really Love” – D’Angelo And the Vanguard
  • “Can’t Feel My Face” – The Weeknd*
    • *I feel like either “Uptown Funk” or “Can’t Feel My Face” either win…

Song of the Year

  • “Blank Space” by Max Martin, Shellback, and Taylor Swift (Taylor Swift, artist)
  • “See You Again” by DJ Frank E, Charlie Puth, Wiz Khalifa, and Andrew Cedar (Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth, artists)
  • “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran and Amy Wadge (Ed Sheeran, artist)
  • “Girl Crush” by Lori McKenna, Hillary Lindsey, and Liz Rose (Little Big Town, artist)
  • “Alright” by Kendrick Duckworth, Mark Anthony Spears, and Pharrell Williams, songwriters (Kendrick Lamar, artist)

Best New Artist

  • Meghan Trainor
  • James Bay
  • Tori Kelly
  • Sam Hunt
  • Courtney Barnett

*I don’t know who will win…too close to call.

Best Pop Solo Performance

  • “Heartbeat Song” – Kelly Clarkson
  • “Blank Space” – Taylor Swift
  • “Love Me Like You Do” – Ellie Goulding
  • “Thinking Out Loud” – Ed Sheeran
  • “Can’t Feel My Face” – The Weeknd

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

  • “Ship to Wreck” – Florence + The Machine
  • “Sugar” – Maroon 5
  • “Uptown Funk” – Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars*
  • “Bad Blood” – Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar
  • “See You Again” – Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth*
    • *Like Record of the Year, I feel either one could win..too close to call.
Television

VEEP Season 5 Sneak Peak!

If you’re like me and are a fan of Veep, you’re quite pissed at HBO for that incredible cliff-hanger at the end of season four and can’t wait for season five to start.  Well, HBO finally released a sneak peak of season five.  It’s short, but looks promising.

As a refresher, season four ended on election night with President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) tying with electoral votes with her opponent (I think the character’s last name  was O’Brien…can’t remember his first name).  If that wasn’t enough, we learn that Selina’s running mate, Tom James (Hugh Laurie), could end up being chosen as president.  James then asks Selina to be his VP if this is to happen. And then the season ended!

CRAZY.

Let the countdown to April 24th (season five’s premier date) begin!

Films

Saoirse Ronan (and Leonardo DiCaprio)

So I went on YouTube to look something up – I think it was a Super Bowl commercial – and these things are never easy.  Even when you find the clip you want, they give you so many related options that are inevitably not relevant to your current video that you get derailed spending an hour watching everything but the original video you wanted to see.

Anyway, I went from watching a Super Bowl commercial to a few interviews with Saoirse (pronounced “sur-sha”) Ronan.  I plopped them below because I found her quite funny, especially when she was trying to teach Stephen Colbert her accent.

Ronan is currently nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her role in Brooklyn.  I actually just watched the trailer and it looks quite good.  It tells the story of a young Irish girl immigrating to America, trying to find her way, and falling in love with an Italian boy.

On an even more random note, when I was getting the videos ready to embed in this post, YouTube popped up with this clip of Leonardo Dicaprio on Ellen, and the story he tells at the end of the plane engine exploding is hilarious…had to add it.

Music

This is Acting

Sia has become on of the most in demand songwriters in the music industry.  She writes all her own songs, but she also has written a lot for other artists.  She’s written for Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, Rihanna, Kelly Clarkson, Britney Spears, Eminem, Maroon 5, and so many more (for more, look here).  I read she made her last album, 1000 Forms of Fear, to release her from her publishing contract so she could focus on writing for other artists.  Then when “Chandelier” blew up and 1000 Forms of Fear landed on top of the Billboard 200 it was only time before Sia would deliver another album.  She has done so when This Is Acting was released just last week.

The album has been described as a collection of songs that Sia wrote with the intention of selling them to other artists.  I was thoroughly excited when reading this because I think Sia’s performance of her songs are often better than the artist’s performance.  For instance,  I found the demo of “Perfume,” a song she wrote for Britney Spears, and it’s stunning, whereas Spears’ version, well…it doesn’t compare.

Overall, Sia’s vocals on This Is Acting are absolutely phenomenal.  Right from the start, we hear heartache and her voice reaching new heights with “Bird Set Free” and “Alive” (cowritten with Adele) then we get into more dance and sass focused with “Move Your Body,” “Unstoppable,” and “Cheap Thrills.”  But at the same time, she can be smooth and soulful with “One Million Bullets” and “Reaper.”

Releasing an album like This Is Acting certainly is a risk because it quickly could’ve been a random hot mess.  But because Sia is Sia, she has a natural way of having great depth and range and can string it all together to keep you hooked in.