yoshke.com

Status: Nothing compares to a quiet evening alone.
Music: Crush - Paramore

It’s Grammy Awards season once again. Although the Grammy never fails to disappoint me every year, I don’t understand why I still get excited when they reveal the list of nominees. Hmmm. Last year, I wanted Mary J. Blige to win the Record of the Year award for Be Without You but it was handed to the Dixie Chicks instead. I love the country trio; they deserved the Song of the Year award and all the others but Record of the Year really should have been Mary’s. Tsk tsk.

Anyway, this year, Kanye West leads the pack again with eight nominations, followed by Amy Winehouse with six. I like them both but it’s just “like.” I don’t go ga-ga over them, no. Here are the nominees for some of the awards together with my predictions:

Record of the Year

• Irreplaceable - Beyonce
• The Pretender - Foo Fighters
• Umbrella - Rihanna featuring Jay-Z
• What Goes Around… Comes Around - Justin Timberlake
• Rehab - Amy Winehous

What I want to win: Umbrella (I looove the song. Future classic.)
What might win: Umbrella or Rehab

Album of the Year

• Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace - Foo Fighters
• These Days - Vince Gill
• River: The Joni Letters - Herbie Hancock
• Graduation - Kanye West
• Back to Black - Amy Winehouse

What I want to win: Na-uh.
What might win: Back to Black - Amy Winehouse

Song of the Year

• Before He Cheats - Josh Kear & Chris Tompkins (Carrie Underwood)
• Hey There Delilah - Tom Higgenson (Plain White T’s)
• Like a Star - Corrine Bailey Rae (Corrine Bailey Rae)
• Rehab - Amy Winehouse (Amy Winehouse)
• Umbrella - Shawn Carter, Kuk Harrell, Terius Nash & Christopher Stewart (Rihanna feat Jay-Z)

What I want to win: Umbrella or Before He Cheats or Like a Star. Shocks. Can’t make up my mind. Haha.
What might win: Umbrella

Best New Artist

• Feist
• Ledisi
• Paramore
• Taylor Swift
• Amy Winehouse

Whom I want to win: Amy Winehouse (but I like Paramore, too, haha)
Who might win: Amy Winehouse

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance

• Candyman - Christina Aguilera
• 1234 - Feist
• Big Girls Don’t Cry
• Say It Right - Nelly Furtado
• Rehab - Amy Winehouse

Whom I want to win: Nelly Furtado (and Aguilera, hihi)
Who might win: Amy Winehouse or Christina Aguilera, a Grammy favourite

Read the rest of this entry »

Status: She’s Mrs. Extra Extra, this just in.
Music: Piece of Me - Britney Spears

The other night, my college friends and I were talking about how delightful Piece of Me was. I like Britney Spears (although I still like Christina Aguilera and a whole bunch of other performers better than her). And it’s nice that she’s slowly pulling herself together.

This new single of hers is a good statement song and a “sport” way of dealing with the truckload of bad publicity she has been enduring recently. Not to mention she mentioned the Philippines. Uhm, but even if she didn’t, the song would still be very likeable.

Although the carrier single Gimme More did not appeal to me in any way, and keeps on reminding me of Dam-dam doing an excruciatingly horrendous dance move, the album Blackout is surprisingly very good. In fact, critics have been raving about it.

It’s just that we still feel that Britney still lacks the charm and magic she used to have. It’s not that she has a sorta bulky figure now. There’s something missing really. Ayn pointed out that one of these was the camera connection she used to make in her previous videos. The best example: Toxic. See for yourself and compare.

Status: I guess I’m dreamin’ again.
Music: Crush Crush Crush - Paramore

Since I’m agnostic and I’m still yet to decide if God really exists or not, may I ask those who are sure that He exists to pray for me for two reasons:

1. The second part of my Foreign Service Exams is just a couple of days away. It’ll be from December 19-21 (Wednesday to Friday). The truth is, I still haven’t opened my books because I’ve been busy with work. I need to review so baaad. So those of you who want to give me some moral support, I’ll be at Gloria Jean’s or Starbucks in Tomas Morato from Monday to Tuesday the whole day (and night). Haha. Nah, really. Coz I can’t study at my apartment — too much distractions around. Waaaaah. I don’t even know why I’m blogging right now. I’m supposed to be reading the ASEAN Charter.

2. Another damn reason I need your prayers is my freakin’ nape. The back of my neck has been giving me the torture of the century for some unknown reason. And it’s not just nape pains. It comes with terrible headache and dizziness — complete package. It’s been bothering me at work for two weeks now.

I went to the hospital and had a check-up. They checked my blood pressure — normal. They took an X-ray of my cervical spine (I believe that’s “neck” in English, haha) — nothing there. They told me that since both tests produced negative results, it could only be one of two things: an eye problem or stress. I really think it’s the latter coz I visit my ophthalmologist regularly and the last time he checked, my vision was 20-20 and perfectly normal except for a couple of cracks on my right lens. MMMkey. The doctor said that I should take some good rest and if nothing changed after a week, then I should come back.

Here’s the problem. How am I gonna take some rest when my exam is just two days away? But if I don’t rest, how am I gonna answer those damn questions well when my nape and head feel like they are gonna explode anytime? But if I rest, how am I gonna study for the exam? And if I don’t take some rest, how am I gonna take the test? And if I take some rest, how about my test? And if don’t rest… Damn, we’re going in circles here. But you do understand my problem, don’t you? It’s a chicken-egg thing. Pffffft.

REST or TEST?! Either way, I’m dead. You see, I need your prayers. If you’re an atheist, just wish me luck. That will do.
image courtesy of nicholsoncartoons.com.au

I’m starting a new category, Blog Picks, on this blog. Every year, I will feature a blog that is really worth a million hits. Actually, I originally wanted to start this category in January 2008 but what the heck, since I’m bored here waiting for Andre, why not now?

Yoshke.com’s first Blog of the Year is Berg Loves Pizza. Although it sounds like a food blog, it is not. I have no freakin’ idea what “pizza” has to do with his blog. Berg Loves Pizza is a music blog — and a great music blog at that. It features newly released singles and albums and posts what he thinks of them. Aside from embedded YouTube performance and music videos, some tracks are also uploaded, enabling you to listen conveniently. It also provides regular doses of music news and album reviews. I seldom post comments on this blog but it doesn’t mean I seldom visit. I check out this blog everyday, all for the love of good music.

The Blogger: Berg. And I quote, “a twenty-something Cebuano guy sharing good (and sometimes crappy) music to the world… BECAUSE LIFE DESERVES A KICK-ASS SOUNDTRACK!”

How I Found This Blog: I came across his blog while randomly bloghopping through mybloglog.com. Back then, his latest blog entry was a tag, featuring seven facts about him. I read it and commented that we had nothing in common. He commented back, claiming otherwise. We exchanged links. Later, I realised that we share the same taste in music.

What’s so great: Music news. Awesome picks. Great, short reviews. Diverse choices — unlike other music blogs, the music he features varies from bubblegum pop to hard rock to groovy R&B. Another admirable thing he does is that he keeps on reminding his visitors to buy original copies of the singles and albums he features or download legally. Pretty nice guy, huh?

What is not-so-great: I just hope he highlights the local music scene, too.

That’s it. Yoshke.com’s Blog of the Year for 2008. Berg Loves Pizza. Have to go now, time for some good music.

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Uhm, basically, the title says everything I have to say. *blush*

PS. Crush lang naman. Petty infatuation. ^_^