The Twilight Saga: Eclipse - Fashion Sneak Peek

Summit Entertainment released some photos from The Twilight Saga: Eclipse last night. Let us take a fashion sneak peek and know Bella, Edward, Jacob and the Cullens look in the most-anticipated movie of the year. Well, all of them are in jacket and pants.




Source

American Idol: Top 10 results

Quick "American Idol" results spoilers coming up just as soon as I point out that, again, an overly-padded show wound up running past 10 o'clock, which means anyone who DVR'ed won't know if the judges bothered to use their stupid Save...

So, Katie Stevens, Tim Urban and Did Benami were the bottom three, Katie was sent to safety first, and the voters sent Didi home. She did a very strong reprise of her "Rhiannon" from the semi-finals, but the judges sure weren't going to use the Save on someone who's just been kind of hanging on since the semi-finals began.

I liked Didi a lot in Hollywood, and while she wasn't the best of this season's doll-voiced singers (that would be Lilly), she was still distinctive enough that I'd have liked to see her go longer - and certainly longer than the likes of Tim.

Meanwhile, for all of the talk that this would be a season for the ladies, we've had women eliminated every single week of the finals. We haven't had an all-female final 2 since Fantasia and Diana in season 3, and we haven't had a woman in the finale at all since Jordin Sparks won it three seasons ago. Is that just a fluke, or a sign that the "Idol" audience is trending towards people who will throw more support behind the guys, all things being equal? And if the latter, I'd say the odds of a Crystal/Siobhan finale (which weren't that great to begin with, given Siobhan's polarizing nature and recent struggles) just got lower.

What did everybody else think? And how was the results show (which I didn't put on for good until Diddy turned up) overall?

Didi Benami Voted Off American Idol 2010 March 31

Didi Benami, a 22 year old waitress from Knoxville Tennessee got kicked off American Idol Top 10 March 31 results night. The judges refused to give her their save option. Didi is very emotional about the bad news that Simon Cowell told her. Tim Urban and Katie Stevens was with her in the Bottom 3 in the R&B/Soul performances of the American Idol Top 10.

Didi Benami chose to sing "Rhiannon" by Fleetwood Mac to convince the judges to save her but they did not budge after their deliberations. Didi is going home and it was a tearful goodbye for her.

Next week, the American Idol 2010 Top 9 will sing songs from The Beatles. That will be very interesting.

To know more what transpired, check out our March 31 live blog post.

Didi Benami and Tim Urban in American Idol Bottom 3: Who Will Go Home?

Didi Benami, who sang What Becomes of the Broken Hearted last night, is in the Bottom 3. She's with Tim Urban who had a unsatisfactory Sweet Love performance. Katie Stevens was also in the Bottom 3 but she was adjudged as safe later.

I think Didi is in great danger. Will Tim Urban finally bow out of the American Idol competition after being in the Bottom in three straight weeks? Stay tuned in our live blog post.

Didi, Katie and Tim in the Bottom 3 Video:

American Idol March 31 Results - Who is Kicked Off in American Idol Top 10 Live Blog

It's American Idol elimination tonight after a grueling R&B Soul performances from the Top 10 finalists! Who of them will be in the Bottom 3 and who will be voted off? According to Dial Idol, it's either Andrew Garcia, Katie Stevens or Tim Urban who are in danger of being kicked off out of the American Idol Top 9 next week!

So, just watch this space here for real time results because we're live blogging the American Idol March 31 Results night!

*American Idol March 31 Results night is kicked off with Ruben Studdard (American Idol Season 2 winner) opening the show!

*Their Ford commercial is shown with them singing "Kung Fu Fighting" and they watched a premiere of Clash of the Titans. Mama Garcia says that she's proud that she raised Andrew right.

*Lee Dewyze is called up first. He's safe.

*Casey James is up next. He says he wants to give more each week. Aaand, he takes a seat because he's safe.

*Aaron Kelly is safe. So is Siobhan Magnus.

*Katie Stevens is in the Bottom 3.

Usher is up next.

Oh, Justin Bieber is in the show to watch his mentor Usher.

* Didi Benami is also in the Bottom 3!

* Big Mike Lynche is adjudged as safe.

* Crystal Bowersox is safe.

It's Tim Urban and Andrew Garcia on the hot seat.

Andrew is safe and it's Tim Urban in the Bottom 3.

Katie Stevens is declared safe.

I knew it! Didi Benami will sing for her life. Tim Urban is safe again!

Will the judges save her?

Unfortunately, the judges unanimously voted to let her go home.

Didi Benami is voted off the American Idol Top 10 and she looks very upset with that irrevocable decision.

Firewall & Iceberg podcast, episode 10: Treme, Miami Medical and the V countdown clock

Another installment of the Firewall & Iceberg podcast is up, with Dan and I jumping the gun on "Treme" due to the likelihood of me being off next week (and also because it gave me the chance to tell one David Mills story that I left out of the earlier post). So stream, download, listen, etc. (the NJ.com link has all the relevant details, including the rundown)

On The Cover: Asafa Powell (Buzzz Mag)

What's hotter than a young, athletic, sexy stud-muffin of a man on the cover of your favorite magazine????? How about same guy, with a lot less clothes on.... Take a deep breath ladies and click HERE to check out Asafa Powell dripping wet with nothing but a towel on, on the cover of Buzzz Magazine



Dweet now, dweeet!

“Knight and Day” Second Trailer, Starring Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Comes Out

The second trailer for the action-comedy Knight and Day, starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, has been released!

Here is the official synopsis for Knight & Day, which is scheduled to hit theaters on June 25th:

“Knight and Day centers on a lonely woman whose seemingly harmless blind date suddenly turns her life upside-down when a super spy takes her on a violent worldwide journey to protect a powerful battery that holds the key to an infinite power source. Grace is playing Diaz's sister, who is getting married, excited that Diaz will take the place of their late father and walk her down the aisle.”

The movie was directed by James Mangold. It was filmed in many locations including Massachusetts, Spain, Austria, and the tropics.

The new trailer for Knight & Day was shown during last night’s Dancing with the Stars. Check out the video clip below:

David Mills, RIP

David Mills died last night. He was an Emmy-winning writer and producer who'd worked on shows like "NYPD Blue," "Homicide," "The Corner" and his own "Kingpin," and who was helping to run the writing staff of HBO's "Treme," which debuts in a week and a half. He was also a kick-ass blogger who ran the very entertaining Undercover Black Man blog.

He was also my friend, about whom I'll have much more to say after the jump.

Mills was, in fact, the very first friend I made in the TV business, and one of the few for whom I wouldn't have to put quote marks around the word. When I was in college running my "NYPD Blue" website, he was an up-and-coming writer on staff at that show, and he e-mailed me to tell me how much he liked the site and appreciated my work. I don't think he knew what he was getting himself into when he reached out like that, because I became an incredible pest to him over the next few weeks and months, asking him for inside dope on how the sausage got made, about his journalism career(*), about what it was like to work in television, why Sipowicz said such-and-such in this episode, etc., etc., etc. David was always patient and generous with his time, and through him I developed my earliest understanding of all the real-life factors that can affect the scripted narratives I was obsessed with.

(*) Mills was, like college classmate and "Treme" co-creator David Simon, a former newspaperman, having written for the Washington Post and Washington Times. His most famous moment as a reporter came in an interview with rapper Sister Souljah, in which she infamously said (as part of longer and much more involved discussion about the Rodney King riots), "If black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?".

When I got my job with The Star-Ledger a few weeks after graduating, and found myself going to my first TV critics press tour in LA a few weeks after that, David invited me down to the Fox lot to meet him, and he set up interviews with both Steven Bochco and David Milch, which was a big deal for me as both a novice TV critic and devout "Hill Street Blues" and "NYPD Blue" fan. (Milch actually wound up taking Mills and me to the racetrack with him, with much of the "interview" taking place in the car. The tape is unfortunately lost to history, which is just as well, since Milch was in particularly esoteric form that day.)

From that day on, it became a ritual that Mills and I would go out for a bite (albeit not at the track) whenever I was out in LA, or on the rare occasions when he was on this coast. (I remember we once trekked 20 blocks through a New York snowstorm because I wanted to introduce him to the 2nd Avenue Deli; the picture above is us on a quest to find somewhere good to eat on Rodeo Drive, just cuz.) He was, as he had been from the start, always very helpful if I had a technical question, and very encouraging of my career.

Mills was tenacious, and he knew what he wanted. After Simon helped him break into the business by inviting him to co-write the script for "Bop Gun," a season 2 "Homicide" episode with Robin Williams that remains one of that great show's best episodes, Mills bounced around a few other jobs (including a brief "Picket Fences" stint where he and the other staffers sat around while David E. Kelley wrote everything), then read a newspaper account of a speech Milch gave about the lack of African-American TV writers. Mills was so irked by Milch's comments that he wrote him a letter objecting to much of the content of the speech and its assumptions about black writers. Milch was impressed enough that he commissioned Mills to write an episode for late in season two, then hired him for a staff job in season three.

Though Milch tended to heavily rewrite the scripts of his staffers, a Mills "NYPD" script always stood out to me as being uniquely his even after Milch had taken a pass or three. As the only writer of color on the show, he tended to deal with race more: in one episode, Sipowicz got in trouble for using the N-word in front of a black community leader, while another had Lt. Fancy seeking revenge on a bigoted patrol cop who humiliated him during a traffic stop. But it wasn't just the subject of race that made him stand out. Because he had been a newspaper writer with a good set of eyes and ears, his scripts tended to be richer in detail than the ones from many of his colleagues. There was more of a sense that the characters were people, and not just servants to a plot, whether they were supporting characters or minor guest stars.

After "NYPD Blue," he spent some time on "ER," where he created the character of Rocket Romano (and left before later writers turned him into a two-dimensional clown, then cut his arm off, then dropped a helicopter on him). He won a couple of deserved Emmys for collaborating with Simon on the moving HBO miniseries "The Corner," then spent a long time developing his own shows for different broadcast networks.

Only one ever made it to air: "Kingpin," a kind of Mexican spin on "The Godfather" with Yancey Arias as the head of a drug cartel. (Mills talked about the show, and embedded a few video clips, here, here and here.) Though Mills would later write for "The Wire," "Kingpin" was a very different kind of drug war story, more pulpy by design. I loved it, but felt a bit too close to the creator by that point to review it, and asked Matt Seitz to write that column: Matt called it "fiendishly entertaining" and said, "the series is a triumph for Mills, who has always been respected for his intelligence, but rarely for his showmanship. 'Kingpin' has both qualities in abundance."

NBC didn't order a second season of "Kingpin," giving its token low-rated critical darling renewal slot to "Boomtown" (which they then canceled after two episodes), and none of Mills' other pilot scripts went very far. (Here's an excerpt from "Mayor of Baltimore," a script he wrote for CBS.) He started up the blog(**) in part because he wanted a creative outlet during those years when he wasn't otherwise writing very much. The scope was pretty varied, from archival interviews from his reporting career, to long conversations with people like Simon, to streams of whatever music Mills was listening to (David was a devout funk fan, and tried and failed on several occasions to educate me on the genius of George Clinton), to funny but cutting racial commentary like his periodic Misidentified Black Person of the Week posts and one of his favorites, Attack of the Giant Negroes!!.

(**) The name came from a handle Mills used to use in one of his favorite pasttimes: posting on the message boards of white supremacy websites to see if anyone could give him a coherent argument justifying their racism. He told me he wanted to call himself "Undercover Negro," but the name would get rejected, because many of those sites have filters to prevent people from using racial epithets, because they feel it puts the wrong face on the movement.

Mills was incredibly proud of "Treme." He'd written for "The Wire" in its later seasons, but here he got to be part of a show being built from the ground up, got to spend a lot of time in New Orleans (this post has perhaps my favorite Mills photo ever), and was as excited about it as I'd heard him since "Kingpin" was about to debut.

I was pretty excited myself about the April 11 premiere of "Treme," not only because I think it's a terrific show, but because it would give me an excuse to be in more regular contact with Mills after we hadn't talked much in a while, due to the usual distractions that come with any adult life.

Last week, I e-mailed him to say I'd seen the first three episodes (including the third episode, which he wrote), and said that I really liked them.

"I'm relieved to hear that, Alan," he wrote back. Mills chose his words carefully, and his use of "relieved" made me smile; even though we hadn't seen each other in a couple of years (he was always out of town when I was in LA), he was reassuring me that my opinion, and our friendship, still mattered to him.

That was the last of many, many e-mails I would ever get from him.

Mills was in his 40s, too damn young to die, and it feels a particularly cruel twist of fate that it would happen so close to the premiere of a project he cared so much about.

Goodbye, David. And thanks.

Nielsen Rating's Top 20 for March 22 - 28

The Nielsen Rating's Top 20 TV Shows for March 22 - 28. The first number is the ranking, the second number is the season average, then the show name and network. The last number represents the number of viewers in millions. An asterisk * indicates a tie.

Rank	Show name	Network	Viewers in millions	Season-to-date average (in millions)
1.	American Idol (Tues.)	Fox	24.2	26.5
*	Dancing with the Stars	ABC	24.2	18.7
3.	American Idol (Wed.)	Fox	21.4	25.1
4.	Undercover Boss	CBS	16.7	17.8
5.	60 Minutes	CBS	14.5	13.6
*	Two and a Half Men	CBS	14.5	15.0
7.	The Big Bang Theory	CBS	13.4	14.4
8.	NCIS	CBS	13.0	19.8
9.	Amazing Race	CBS	12.7	10.8
10.	Castle	ABC	12.2	9.9
11.	NCAA Basketball (Sat.)	CBS	12.1	special event
12.	Grey's Anatomy	ABC	11.6	14.2
13.	NCAA Basketball (Thurs.)	CBS	11.3	special event
*	NCIS: Los Angeles	CBS	11.3	16.2
15.	NCAA Basketball (Fri.)	CBS	11.1	special event
*	Survivor: Heroes	CBS	11.1	special event
17.	CSI: Miami	CBS	10.8	13.1
18	Law & Order; SVU	NBC	10.6	6.6
19.	Cold Case	CBS	10.3	9.7
20.	NCAA Basketball (Thurs.)	CBS	9.7	special event

Celebrity Fit Club Boot Camp: Kevin Federline goes from K-Fat back to K-Fed

That is Kevin Federline working hard to hold up his heavy right arm.

Kevin Federline has the good or misfortune to, at one point in time, be married to Britney Spears, with whom he produced some offspring, which I believe he has custody of, due to Britney Spears not being fit to be a mommy.

My first look at Kevin Federline and where I learned that Britney Spears was a low-class, white trash, vulgar type gal, was on her reality show, Chaotic, on which we saw Britney hook up with Kevin and relish detailing, for the viewers, her lovergirl romps with boyfriend Kevin.

When Kevin became tabloid fodder he became known as K-Fed.

After being put through an emotional wringer by now ex-wife Britney, K-Fed comforted himself with up to a couple dozen cans of sugary soft drinks a day, along with pizza and macaroni and cheese. And spending a lot of time in bed.

Kevin's tabloid name became K-Fat, as his girth ballooned to unseemly proportions.

Eventually Kevin sought help from that well known fat help provider of lesser known celebrities on VH1 called Celebrity Fit Club. Kevin is on a version called Celebrity Fit Club: Boot Camp.

I have only seen part of one episode. I have no idea if the current iteration of Celebrity Fit Club has run its course, or not. I do know that Kevin has shed the excess girth due to the exercise and diet regime he learned on Celebrity Fit Club.

Kevin Federline, aka K-Fed, was the only "celebrity" on Celebrity Fit Club who I had ever heard of.

American Idol, Top 10: R&B/Soul Night

Due to the Passover holiday, as well as my own disenchantment with this season, I took the no-frills approach to watching "American Idol" this morning: just the 10 songs (plus the judges' comments on Andrew and Crystal, because I was busy doing something else for a moment during each). Quick thoughts on how things went just as soon as I point out that the bumblers producing and directing this show somehow ran a minute or two long even though they had 10 performances to sprinkle over two hours...

After mentioning in the column linked to above that Crystal and Siobhan were the only real reasons to watch, Siobhan turned in a complete stinker, while a couple of other contestants stepped up. Still not a great night overall, though.

Siobhan Magnus, "Through the Fire": Starts off bland, then turns disastrous quickly. If some of her previous performances were about showing off the power of her upper register, the message here was "with great power comes great responsibility to find the damn key and stay on it." Terrible.

Casey James, "Hold On (I'm Coming"): Once again, Casey James being Casey James (and sounding oddly more like Huey Lewis than on last week's "Power of Love"). He has his one thing, he does it pretty well, and he at least made an attempt to step away from the mic stand for a moment. Definitely his most energetic performance to date, but there's not a lot of variance to what he does.

Michael Lynche, "Ready for Love": The blinding white spotlights didn't really suit the vibe of this relaxed, intimate ballad, and the idea that he was performing behind the judges kept distracting me. (I know other performers have done parts of songs on that riser, but the whole thing?) Solid but unspectacular on a night you figured Big Mike would own.

Didi Benami, "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted": I've got a high standard for blonde women singing this song, which is Joan Osborne's incredible cover of it from "Standing in the Shadows of Motown, and Didi doesn't have the range, power or confidence to do something like that. Instead, it was her usual sultry thing, a bit sleepier than usual, and her attempt at a big note just seemed goofy - like it was something she felt she should try, but not something she was comfortable doing.

Tim Urban, "Sweet Love": I will confess I started fast-forwarding about halfway through this one, in part because I was creeped out by the stalker eyes, in part because it's yet another Tim Urban arrangement that strips away anything remotely challenging about the song so he can be sure to hit the notes. Zzzz....

Andrew Garcia, "Forever": Much, much better. Like Casey, Andrew's only got the one trick, but he's very good at it (and for some reason has attracted the judges' ire for sticking to it, while Casey gets a pass). Not only was he much more comfortable with the acoustic guitar again, but his voice again sounded crisp and clear, where he's had a lot of pitch issues the last few weeks.

Katie Stevens, "Chain of Fools": Speaking of high bars, this is Fantasia's song as far as "Idol" is concerned. (I wonder if the show should start retiring certain songs if a contestant does a definitive rendition of it, the way sports teams retire uniform numbers.) Katie's vocals were okay (if froggy as usual), but couldn't quite overcome the inherent goofiness of her trying to sing this song.

Lee Dewyze, "Treat Her Like a Lady": Lee has always had a good voice, but he's hit a lot of bum notes in past performances, and he wasn't particularly confident on stage the last couple of weeks. Tonight, though, he was strong vocally throughout, very energetic, very committed, and his voice was a great match for this Cornelius Brothers oldie-but-goodie. When I handicapped the Top 12, I said Lee was one of the few with a chance to win. If he can deliver a streak of performances like this one, he's got a definite shot.

Crystal Bowersox, "Midnight Train to Georgia": I appreciate the effort to not do the same thing every week - piano instead of guitar, high heels instead of Birkenstocks - and I suppose that's necessary to keep (some of) the judges and/or the audience from getting tired of her, but I'm with Simon: Crystal knows who she is and should do just fine sticking to that. This was one of the best of the night, but also probably my least favorite performance of Crystal's so far. The phrasing was great as always, but you could tell she was distracted by the piano-playing and then the move to stand up, and the falsetto wasn't that strong. A necessary gambit, but one I hope she doesn't try to repeat later on.

Aaron Kelly, "Ain't No Sunshine": Another snoozer, with Aaron, as usual, sounding strained in spots, passable in others.

Best of the night: I'd probably give it to Lee, followed by Crystal and then Andrew.

In trouble: Andrew could still be at risk, because you'll often see a singer who's been struggling but skating by finally get some compliments from the judges and then go home, because the fanbase gets complacent. My hope is that it's Tim (Fienberg suggested that Simon performed the famed reverse juju on him that he's used to eliminate the likes of Kevin Covais in seasons past), but I fear we're stuck with him and his stalker eyes for another week or two.

What did everybody else think?

Gossip Girl Fashion Style The Empire Strikes Jack

Gossip Girl's Episode 16: The Empire Strikes Jack, showed some promising fashion trends that will be envied by many. Checkout Blair and Serena's outfit and steal their look!


Blair Waldorf
Dress: Isabella Tonchi
Necklace: Stephen Dweck
Cuff: Amedeo

Hat: Christine A. Moore
Coat: Proenza Schouler
Blouse: Oscar de la Renta
Skirt: Elie Tahari
Tights: Hue
Bag: Chanel


Serena van der Woodsen
Top: Helmut Lang


Vanessa Abrams
Sweater: Cynthia Steffe
Blouse: Matthew Williamson
Green bead necklace: David Aubrey
Turquoise necklace: Gara Danielle
Earrings: From the show's costume department

Coat: See by Chloe


Eleanor Waldorf
Outfit: Lorick by Abigail Lorick


Agnes
Dress: Lorick
Hat: Yestadt
Rosary: Pamela Love
Pearls: From the show's costume department

Source

Get Eleanor Waldorf's Latest Runway Collection

Last night, Eleanor Waldorf's latest runway collection debuted in Gossip Girl. In real life, you can also have those adorable fashion pieces. The actual designer behind the collection of polka dots, pastels and lace is Abigial Lorick, and her real designs are available exclusively at rarechic.com.



Photo Source: CW

Etana and I-Octane added to family fun fest!

Its Official, reggae recording artists Etana and I Octane are the latest addition to the Palz Production 3rd Annual staging of Family Fun Fest slated for this Easter Monday April 5th at Jam World in Portmore. The event which is geared towards community upliftment and serenity is once again boasting an impressive lineup after last years successful staging.




According to the promoters of the event the new additions to the line up came after the main headliner for the show had a sudden cancellation.

"Well what had happened was dancehall deejay Elephant Man was suppose to be the headliner for this years show. We went ahead and booked him but later found out he had other engagements in Europe so we had to shuffle a bit. Last year Ele came and gave a great performance so in his absence we plan on having a dance segment with his songs for the kids".

Amongst the other acts slated to hit the Family Fun Fest stage are D Angel, Q.Q, Ken Booth, Tanice Morrison, Apache Chief & Sarge, members of Dance Expressions plus many more.

In keeping with the theme of the event patrons can expect the usual Fun Amusements including Water Slides, Rock Climber, Mechanical Bull, Go-Karts, Bounce-A-Bouts, Clowns, Face Paint and a host of other competitions and prize giveaways ranging from DVD Players and Bicycles to Toaster Ovens and Books galore.

Family Fun Fest will this year be sponsored by Seprod, Excelsior, Coke Zero, CVM TV, RJR Communications Group, HYPE TV, Ovaltine, Miracle, Valle, Travelers Beach Resort, Orbit, Main Events, Hugheaden Supermarket, UBT Corporation Limited, Kingston Hireage, Sign Channel and Butterkist. Admission for the all day event is $400 for Adults and children $200.

Dancing With The Stars: Shannen Doherty Eliminated

I don't get it. Shannen Doherty getting eliminated is not as surprising as a Pamela Anderson elimination as the first to go in the new season of Dancing With The Stars would have been. But it's close.

I can sort of understand viewers voting to keep the train wreck Kate Gosselin dancing, just to torture her. But where is the sympathy for her partner, Tony Dovolani, who her madness drove to temporarily quitting?

And then there was the soap star, Aiden Turner, whom I'd never heard of before, and who was borderline abusive to partner Edyta. Why did he not get the boot before Shannen?

Did viewers get turned off by the dad in the audience thing with Shannen? It seemed genuine to me, not some sort of attempt to soften up the notorious bad girl's bad girl rep.

And would Shannen not have a lot bigger fan base than some of these people whom I've never heard of?

Isn't Shannen's partner, Mark Ballas, one of the more popular of the pros? Ballas hurt his knee, bad, while rehearsing, pulling the muscle off the bone. He says he'll be out for 6 weeks. So, minimally, it would seem Shannen was destined to get a new partner if she did keep dancing.

As for Buzz Aldrin, I can see how he would manage to get enough viewer support to keep him in, despite having the lowest judges' scores.

Didn't Shannen get fairly good scores for their her routine? It was one of the few routines that I did not hit the FF button at some point during it.

New Music: Gyptian "Hold You" (Official video)

Gyptian just released the video for his hit song "Hold You". It's dancehall but could easily be a groovy Soca chune. I love it!


Photo source

Now the song has already had covers done and responses even, one such being from his ex-girlfriend Mogla.
Click HERE to see Gyptian's video.

Damian Marley to close WOMAD fest in Abu Dhabi

In what will be his first ever visit to the United Arab Emirates, reggae star Damian Marley will close the three day World of Music Arts and Dance (WOMAD) festival on April 24 in Abu Dhabi. The second ever WOMAD festival also comes just a few weeks before the release of Marley's highly anticipated collaboration album with Nas, titled 'Distant Relatives.' As GulfNews reports, Marley will perform alongside some of the biggest names across the globe, including Femi Kuti, Tinariwen, Babylon Circus, and Transglobal Underground. Check out the full announced lineup abelow:



Photo source

WOMAD Abu Dhabi 2010 Lineup, April 22 - 24:
Damian Marley
Illham Al Madfai
Mayra Andrade
Amparo Sanchez
Faiz Ali Faiz
Drummers of Burundi
Titi Robin
Sierra Maestra
Rachid Taha
Tinariwen
Musafir Gypsies of Rajasthan
!Gubi Family
Habib Koité
ABRI
Debashish Battacharya
Chemirani's
Transglobal Underground
Rango
Femi Kuti
JAADU (Faiz Ali Faiz with Titi Robin)
Hanggai
Hakim
Babylon Circus
Le Trio Jourban
Zawose Family

Source

Lost, "The Package": Ticking clock... BERSERKER!

A review of tonight's "Lost" - and a rant about the ABC gimmick that tried really damn hard to ruin it - coming up just as soon as my brain takes a little stroll...

"Some people just aren't meant to be together." -Keamy

Okay, we have lots of things to discuss about "The Package." First, though, allow me a paragraph or three to be pissed off. Really, really, really pissed off that ABC saw fit to clutter the bottom corner of the screen with a "V" logo and a ticking count-down clock to point people towards tonight's return of that show.

On-screen clutter has been one of the scourges of television over the past decade, as networks think nothing of putting annoying flashing billboards all over their shows, sometimes for other shows, sometimes to remind you of the name of the show you're already watching. I remember writing a column way back in 2001 bitching about how NBC interrupted an episode of, I think, "West Wing" in order to use a bug to promote a new show called "First Years." I wrote that I was so irritated that I hoped "First Years" would fail just to prove the gimmick wrong. "First Years" did fail, quickly, but clutter has only gotten worse. I manage to avoid a lot of it because I watch so many shows on screeners (had I been forced to watch "Men of a Certain Age" on TNT, rather than on DVDs, I likely would have felt much more harshly about that show, knowing how much TNT loves its clutter). I, like the TV executives who approve crap like this, don't always watch TV the way regular people do (which is no doubt why said executives don't think it's a bit deal to approve it), so I manage to avoid the worst of the worst. (Matt Groening once said that he imagines a good chunk of people who buy "Simpsons" DVDs are doing it so they can see the episodes without all the clutter Fox inserts into the broadcasts.)

But because I watch "Lost" live like the rest of you, there was no way to avoid it, and it was ridiculous: between the large red "V" logo, and the ticking clock, it was impossible to not notice it, virtually ever moment it was on screen (which was everywhere except right before or after a commercial break), and in at least one case the stupid clock obscured the note Sun was writing to Jack. Well-done, ABC. Really freaking well-done.

Again, I accept that I've lost the clutter fight, but there are some shows and moments that should be above this junk. As Mike Schneider wrote, "this is "Lost." The final season of "Lost." It's sacred ground. You don't clutter the screen during one of the show's final, pivotal episodes. Or you piss people off."

Count me in among the pissed, and the only thing keeping me from going full-on ballistic is the fact that "The Package" was middle-of-the-pack "Lost" - an episode that's necessary because it moves a lot of story points along but isn't that thrilling in and of itself. Had they pulled a stunt like this during "Ab Aeterno," a shoe might well have gone through my flatscreen.

After last week's extended Richard flashback, the sideways universe returns, and once again we find out that things are different but in many ways better for two of the characters who have declined to take Smokey's side. Alt-Jin and Alt-Sun aren't married, but she's still carrying his child, and their relationship is much warmer without the stress that Jin carried as Mr. Paik's son-in-law. Of course, Keamy does try to kill Jin on Paik's orders, and Sun winds up getting shot during the battle with Bakhunin(*), but until that point, they're happier than they were in the real 2004, which certainly goes along with my epilogue-in-advance theory, where the people who go against Smokey get a happier ending than those who follow him. (Though at the moment, the only sideways we've gotten that qualifies as the latter is Sayid's.)

(*) And Bakhunin, of course, gets shot in the right eye, because some things have to remain the same from timeline to timeline. By the way, think we'll ever get any Patchy backstory from the real timeline - i.e., was he really a Dharma guy who flipped to Ben's side, or something more complciated? - or is that one of those questions Darlton don't want to/have time to answer?

Still, good as Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim are together - and this is the first episode where they've shared extended screentime together since the end of season four - this wasn't one of the more compelling sideways stories. Maybe, like the others, it plays better in a few months after the secret of this universe has been unlocked, but here it was a charming love scene and then a lot of Keamy hamminess. (I really liked Keamy's return in the Sayid-ways, but seeing him in so much of this episode made me realize the less-is-more nature of Kevin Durand's performance, you know?)

As for the island material, we at least got that great moment where Widmore shows Jin the pictures of Ji Yeon(**), and we got a bunch of questions answered: Widmore says he's working to stop Smokey (when there was some ambiguity in his reaction to Sawyer's belief that this was his goal in "Recon") and has a plan that involves the island's electromagnetic anomalies (as mapped by Jin and the rest of LaFleur's crew back in the '70s), Desmond is revealed (as many of you guessed) as the "package" inside the locked room on the sub, and Smokey needs Jacob's remaining candidates to get off the island(**). And we got a reminder of what a good duo Jack and Sun were back in the day. (Seriously, that final scene was the most likable the real version of Jack has been in many, many seasons.)

(**) Daniel Dae Kim absolutely killed that scene, and between that scene and Jack's promise to Sun at episode's end, I think I may be just as invested in seeing the Kwon family get their happy ending as I am on guard that Desmond, Penny and baby Charlie sail off into the sunset.

(***) And because the list on the cave wall differs from the list in the lighthouse - specifically, in that Kate's name is not crossed out in the lighthouse - Smokey appears to be making a big mistake in giving Claire permission to kill Kate once she helps them reassemble the remaining candidates.

It wasn't all thrilling, but there was at least a sense of the story moving forward, my man Desmond is back in play, Sayid's soul is gone (but he looks really cool coming out of the water at night), and Richard finally has a plan for Team Jacob, even if Jack seems determined to not let it happen. There are a lot of agendas at play now, a lot of weird moving pieces, and if "The Package" didn't get my blood racing (though the stupid "V" clock got it boiling in spots), it at least has me interested to see how what happened tonight plays into the bigger picture.

Some other thoughts:

• I wonder if there's going to be a larger plot point to Sun's temporary loss of her English, or if it's there to create a parallel to season one, where when the Kwons finally reunite, Jin will speak English and she won't.

• It occurs to me that Jack and Sawyer now seem to be occupying the same moral space on their respective sides; seeming to play along but really only concerned with getting their friends the hell off Craphole Island; imagine what they could accomplish were those two crazy kids to join forces!

• So part of the "cork" properties of the island seems to prevent Smokey from using his powers to get off it, but doesn't keep him from hopping on an outrigger to row over to Alcatraz. Hmmm... Seems an odd loophole. (And, once again, someone with a gun takes an outrigger but does not shoot at Sawyer's season five group. Sigh...)

• Nice to see the return of the weird indoctrination/rave room that Karl was locked in during Kate and Sawyer's escape from Alcatraz in season three. If that place was just another Dharma experiment, as Zoe claimed, why exactly would Ben stick Karl in there? Just as punishment for annoying him?

Finally, a programming note: I'm due to take a couple of weeks family time starting either next week or the week after (a couple of pieces are still being moved around), which means I may either skip over two of the next three episodes, come to them very late, and/or touch on them very briefly and then open up the conversation to you. Sorry for the inconvenience, but the timeframe only has so much wiggle room, and can't wait until after this season. I promise that as soon as I see each episode during the time I'm off, I'll get up some kind of quick post; I just might not see each one right away.

Ticking clock-related rants aside, what did everybody else think?

Justified, "Fixer": Straight outta Lexington

A quick review of tonight's "Justified" coming up just as soon as I second-guess your neck hair...

FX actually sent "Fixer" out for review a few weeks after I'd watched the 1st, 2nd and 4th episodes, and there's always the worry that the odd episode out was held back because it wasn't very good. But I'm told the issues here were just post-production-related, and I found "Fixer" to be quite a bit stronger than last week's "Riverbrook."

As with the Elmore Leonard books (and the many crime authors influenced by Leonard), the style is going to be to split the action between Raylan and his quarry. I didn't think it worked last week because the bank robber and his motley gang weren't all that interesting. I liked this combo of inept, backstabbing thieves much more, particularly David Eigenberg as the titular fixer and Page Kennedy as one of those classic Leonard-style bad guys who becomes obsessed with living up to some pop cultural ideal of violence (in this case, dying because he's too distracted trying to prove himself as a quick draw artist).

The parallels between the Fixer and Raylan in their desires to get out of town, ASAP, weren't overdone, and the theme gave us some extended quality time with an off-duty Raylan flirting with, and eventually succumbing to the charms of, the lovely Ava. I like to joke that Timothy Olyphant plays every role like he can't wait to put a bullet through his co-stars, but he's doing very well in Raylan's more relaxed, charming and, yes, romantic moments.

One question: this is now two bodies that Raylan's dropped in three episodes (and he just barely avoided killing Body). Are you okay if the series maintains (or even accelerates) this body count rate? It's one thing for Raylan to get chewed out for his supervisors about this over the course of three books published many years apart, but as an ongoing part of a weekly series? I don't mind it (certainly, plenty of TV show heroes have racked up an even bigger/faster kill rate), but I wonder if anyone does.

What did everybody else think?