Status: Reaching.
Music: Entwined – Jason Reeves

REEVED UP
I am currently addicted to Jason Reeves and his music. Thanks to Berg. I especially liked “Reaching” and “Someone Somewhere.” Cool mixture of folk, acoustic and alternative. He’s absolutely awesome. And don’t just take my word for it, see for yourself and listen well.

SOMEBODY BUY ME THIS ALBUM!!! Come on. Give me a copy of this and I’ll love you forever!

…

ALMOST ROMANTIC
As the hot doctor advised me, I’ve been on 1000 mg of pure vitamin C per day for more than a month now because my body’s relationship with infections and diseases is almost romantic. The funny thing is, I still catch a cold every now and then. (Told ya, it’s almost romantic.) Damn. Sometimes I feel like infections and my body are ganging up on me. (Yeah, like in college, haha.)

…

QUITTING NICOTINE
Since my last tonsilitis, I haven’t touched a cigarette. Er, maybe once. Aright, fine, twice. Twice. Believe me, only twice. Hey, that’s good enough! It’s been two months and I have smoked only two sticks. Er, maybe more.

… (more…)

SEMI-FINALS

Round 1 (Judges)
1. David Cook | The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
2. David Archuleta | And So It Goes
3. Syesha Mercado | If I Ain’t Got You

Round 2 (Contestants)
1. David Cook | Dare You to Move
2. Syesha Mercado | Fever
3. David Archuleta | With You

Round 3 (Producers)
1. David Cook | I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing
2. Syesha Mercado | Hit Me Up
3. David Archuleta | Longer

If performances tonight were the only basis, Syesha could (and should) make it to the finals. But nah, it’s gonna be a “Battle of the Davids” finale.

(more…)

Not so many people know that Leona Lewis’s massive worldwide hit Bleeding Love is actually written by OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder and *surprise, surprise* Jesse McCartney. Yes, Beautiful Soul Jesse McCartney. That’s him.

Who would have thought? Whenever I share this trivia with my friends, they give me a where-did-you-get-that-crap-from look. Most of the time, they believe the Ryan Tedder part of the story but they just can’t buy the fact that Jessemac co-wrote it. That’s sad, really. I’m a Jessemac fan. He’s hot and talented and I have a copy of his two albums. Hehe.

Bleeding Love was originally intended for Jesse’s third album Departure (to be released on May 20). When Clive Davis heard it, he was so impressed but he wanted the track to be the carrier single of Leona’s album Spirit. He and Simon Cowell just knew that the song could make it big for Leona. And man, did that song make it big for Leona! Number 1 in 28 countries and last year’s Record of the Year in the UK. I looove Leona.

Here’s the thing. When songwriters create songs for a label, they generally need someone to sing the track to give the producers an idea of how it would sound. Well, Jesse did the same. Here’s a snippet of how the track would have sounded like had Jesse performed it.

NOT BAD! I have to admit, though, that Leona’s version is better by a lightyear. The song just suits a female voice better and is just PERFECT for Leona. But hey, I still dig Jessemac’s version. And I mean it.

I’m just a disappointed that since this snippet has somewhat leaked, it seems to me that the label (or whoever) is trying to take down all the youtube videos of Jessemac’s version. Aaaargh. I hope they would leave this one alone. Well, anyway, the full version is said to be included to the Departure album but only those released in Australia and Japan. Aaargh.

Jordin Sparks is making it BIG. “Tattoo,” the first single off her debut album, peaked at #8 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, while her latest release “No Air” currently sits at a comfortable #6.

Now, I wonder, where are those people who spat on Jordin’s win, claiming that Blake Lewis would sell much better post-American Idol? Hmmm. You can choke now. Hehe. (Kidding.)

Don’t get me wrong, I like Blake, too. It’s just that, you know… I told you so.
image courtesy of the-protagonist.net

Status: LOL.
Music: Don’t Leave Me This Way – Ramiele Malubay

Did you know that Mariah Carey released a single called “Ken Lee?” No? Doesn’t ring a bell? Then let this Bulgarian Idol aspirant enlighten you with one of Mimi’s greatest songs. (Plamen, I’m gonna need you to translate this. )

And then we go back to where all this Idol mania started — the United Kingdom. Yes, that’s “X Factor” but you’ll also see Paula Abdul here as a hysterical guest judge. Move over, Madonna.

“America has delusional people, but honey, so does your country.”
— Paula Abdul to Simon Cowell

You got that right, Paula. But stop the damn laughing. Please? Please? Hahaha.

This is a video interpretation of misheard lyrics to Christina Aguilera’s “Ain’t No Other Man.” When I first saw this video some months back, I couldn’t help laughing my guts out. This is really funny. And don’t just take my word for it, see for yourself. (And yep, it’s wholesome. Trust me.)

What say you? Hilarious, ain’t it?

I also came across this picture while browsing through urbandictionary.com. This one really made me go “WHAAAAT?!?!”

Winner! At least she got the second largest.

Special thanks to ColorTrick (YouTube) and urbandictionary.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

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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.

I’m starting a new category, Blog Picks, on this blog. Every year, I will pick three blogs that are really worth a million hits. Three blogs: Entertainment, Socio-political, and Personal.

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 Entertainment Blog of the Year for 2007. Berg Loves Pizza. Have to go now, time for some good music.

They are Boyce Avenue, a budding band. The vocalist’s name is Alejandro Manzano. (And man is he hot.) I accidentally stumbled upon one of their videos while I was looking for Rihanna’s live AMA performance of Umbrella. I’ve been in love with them since. Here are some of their other covers:

Umbrella | Rihanna
So Small | Carrie Underwood
Lovestoned | Justin Timberlake
Without You Here | Goo Goo Dolls
Before It’s Too Late | Goo Goo Dolls

They also have originals posted on Youtube and their Myspace account. Enjoy.