carson daly

Gym Class Heroes – As Cruel As School Children Review

It’s a fact. the world of hip-hop is finally evolving. It’s been innovating and developing all along, but so deep underground that the only coverage afforded was in seedy record stores in University districts across the nation. the internet, along with ample access to crying while eating videos and forum space to argue your point of view in Kirk Vs. Picard, has crafted a variety of new and inspiring musical acts that actually become popular, because people are able to hear them easily. you aren’t faced with the undesirable option of paying $20 for an album only one random guy who’s so pale you can see what he ate for lunch through his skin recommended in line at a seedy bar concert. Myspace is the new MTV and rightfully so, because it puts the listener in control, not Carson Daly and Lala.

One of the most intriguing and enjoyable bands to come out of the Myspace wave of new music is Gym Class Heroes. their first album, the Papercut Chronicles, released in 2005 was a brilliant mashup of Hip Hop poetics and the stage presence of the indie generation. A Supertramp sample put it all over the top.

The band returned in the summer of 06 with a new album, As Cruel as School Children, that not only rewarded the promise of the first, but improved upon tenfold. Travis, the groups lead singer and poet extraordinaire proves himself not only an ample showman but an incredibly gifted writer.
The album is laid out as a day in school, each track labeled as Period 1-13, with the inclusion of little asides (lunch, study hall, and yearbook club) that make up a three part poem titled Sloppy love Jingle, cleverly produced and just funny enough to fit the bands style.

The tracks themselves, are almost without exception energetic, foot bouncing dance inducing tracks, complete with hook, chorus, and the musically curiosity of Sting. on the Queen and I you’ll here a combination of acoustic and electric guitars, a smooth synth enhancement in the back, and chorus backing up Travis’s frantic, energetic narration of that girlfriend we’ve all had at least once.

They don’t stop there, constantly searching and poking at different stylistic elements, testing the heavier guitar riffs and even penning a poppy ode to the site that saw 13 million listens, Myspace in New Friend Request.

Funky R&B, sensuality isn’t above the boys as one of the best foot tapping to dance inducing tracks of the album pops up in Clothes off, evoking throwbacks to Prince and Parliament Funkadelic.

Every track on this album builds upon the previous tracks, taking a cozy, warm journey through the boys’ own trek these past couple years, as they rhyme about their careers, the hard times they went through, the women troubles, the writing troubles, and ultimately the successes, and a final rallying call to Write on and do it on your own, the mentality that seems to pervading the music of the 21st century.

Break Into Modeling Made Simple – Are You Viral?

Social Media

With the explosion of the Internet overnight success stories are popping up everywhere. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, MySpace, Google and countless other sites are making millionaires daily. The latest tip I wanted to share is that lately it seems like YouTube is the way to go. if you have a talent or a story to tell you should be using YouTube to showcase it. Instant celebrity and stardom has been a result for hundreds of people. if you turn on the daytime talk shows, or even the news they are always featuring the latest hot videos of the moment. if you don’t believe me, let me give you a couple of stories to inspire you.

YouTube Videos

Meet Supermodel of Hands Ellen Sirot, who makes a living off her hands. Sounds bizarre and crazy but she is doing this full-time and laughing to the bank. She has been featured on Katie Couric’s Eye to Eye show and many others. not only was she blessed with great hands, but her feet are impressive too. with these two features, she has to be extra careful not to damage them.

Next, have you heard of Gabi Wilson? This now 12 year-old sensation exploded onto the scene singing Falling by Alicia Keys on YouTube and has had over 2 million hits to the video. Since then, Gabi has been on the 2010 BET Awards, the Mo’Nique show, The View, Maury, and Last call with Carson Daly. not bad right? This young actress is now with both SAG and AFTRA so I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of her.

Get Connected

If you don’t already have a channel, now is a good time to go and create one. While there are no guarantees in life, you don’t know what will happen unless you give it a try. find your passion and tap into it. put it on YouTube so you can share it with millions.

Conclusion

The World Wide Web is here to stay. It’s not going anywhere. do yourself a favor and think about what it is you really want to do. This is a great way to test the market. Market yourself and put yourself in demand. The chances of you getting discovered are slim if you are trying to do it the old-fashioned way. This is the way to do it.

To take a peek at the videos mentioned in this article do a search for both Ellen Sirot and Gabi Wilson on YouTube. The stats are very impressive and successfully they’ve shown the world that they have talent. I’m sure you do too so show the world.

‘The Voice’ Pollapalooza: Predict the winner!

Image Credit: Art Streiber/NBC

It’s been quite a season, Voice fans, and after almost two months of blind auditions and battle rounds, we’ve finally got a live show! Last night marked the end of the battles (read Carson Daly’s blog on the episode here), and as the dust finally settled and the chairs stopped spinning, each of the four teams ­– led by coaches Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton — are now filled with some truly talented artists, and America is ready to share the love with its votes.

After weeks of being relegated to social media to channel our thoughts on this season’s inspired backstories, astonishing performances, and oft arrogant artists (cough Erin Martin cough Moses Stone cough), it’s time for the coaches to sit back and let America do the talking. Before the commotion kicks up on Monday’s first live show, we thought it’d be best to hit PopWatch with a straw poll — or polls, plural — and see how you think the competition stacks up before we dive into the action. Vote in each poll and let us know your predictions for the final phase of the Voice!

Team Adam: last year Levine won the bragging rights to the whole shebang with season 1 winner Javier Colon originating on his team of vocalists. Can he pull a second win with Pip and Mathai, or powerhouse performers like Kim Yarbrough and Tony Lucca?

Team Blake: despite what you might have thought, Blake’s team this season is country-lite, with RaeLynn being his only hat-clad cowboy singer among a group of rockers and soulful crooners. Can emerging frontrunner Jermaine Paul take Team Blake to the top? Or will the smooth sounds of Naia Kete keep her in the competition like last year’s Xenia and Dia?

NEXT: Cee Lo, Christina and your pick for the winner!

Morning Meme: The Return of Ron Burgundy, Sir Elton Opens Up About His Bullies, and Josh Hutcherson Gets "Detention"

Saturday Night Live needs some fresh blood (understatement of the decade), and it looks like they’re starting with the ladies. while they’re talking to a number of funny women, it’s Big Gay Sketch Show‘s Kate McKinnon who will be getting a live tryout on the next show.

After discovering gay dolphins have an enormous amount of drama in their lives, there was nothing to do but give them their own reality show.

Will Ferrell dropped by Conan last night to announce Anchorman 2. Stay classy.

James Cameron isn’t the only billionaire trolling the ocean floor. Jeff Bezos has been searching for Apollo 11′s engines on the bottom of the sea. He claims to have found them, and intends to raise the engines that first took man to another heavenly body.

Carson Daly claimed it was fortunate the recently diverted Jet Blue flight was full of security people. He said if he’d been on the flight it would have been full of gay pride attendees headed to San Francisco. He later apologized, as asshats are wont to do.

Daniel Zamudio, the gay 24-year-old attacked by neo-Nazis in Chile has died after nearly a month in a coma.

At a campaign event at a bowling alley, Rick Santorum told a young man that he was not to use a pink bowling ball on camera. There’s really nothing this man says that isn’t offensive.

David Burtka talks to Sir Elton John about the bullies in his life, people he encountered as an adult. Apparently the bullying was both emotional and physical in nature.

Adrienne Rich, feminist poet and figure in the women’s and gay rights movement, has passed away at the age of 82.

American Horror Story’s Evan Peters will star in Truck Stop, about a young man with cerebral palsy and his friendship with a troubled runaway, played by Juno Temple.

Colin Clark of the Houston Dynamos has been suspended for three games and fined an unknown amount of money for calling a ball boy a “fu*king faggot” over the weekend. He’s accepted his punishment with humility and apologized again.

If you happen to be in Tulsa today, our own Brent Hartinger will be appearing at the the Hardesty Regional Library, 8316 E. 93rd St. to talk about his books. Do say hi from me!

Not only is The Hunger Games dominating the box office, the soundtrack is currently #1 on the Billboard 200.

Matthew Cain has a great article on the rise of gay and lesbian black cinema at this year’s BFI London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. From Leave it on the Floor to Stud Life, black filmmakers are telling their stories.

It seems the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation licensed an image of the queer icon to a vendor who is selling t-shirts with the artist in Urban Outfitters, whose conservative CEO will likely plow the profits into Rick Santorum’s campaign.

In an embarrassing snafu, Thomas Roberts went to interview Maggie Gallagher on air, only to say she didn’t show and he spoke to an empty studio saying she hadn’t showed up. but a booker had placed her in a different studio where she waited to not be interviewed. It certainly makes our side look bad.

When you’ve got a good 20 minutes free, please read Pictures From a Battlefield about the early days of ACT UP. It’s an incredible history lesson of the group that saved a generation, beautifully photographed. I can’t wait for the documentary. 

Carson Daly slammed by gay rights groups, 9/11 family for gay joke

Carson Daly has taken heat from gay rights groups and a 9/11 victim’s family member for jokes he made about the JetBlue pilot incident on his morning radio program — jokes that many deemed offensive to gays and lesbians.

In the incident, which has received widespread media attention, a JetBlue pilot went berserk and had to be subdued by a passenger. the passenger happened to be a retired corrections officer, David Gonzales, who was 6’4” and 300 pounds.

Gonzales put the pilot in a chokehold and “wound up personally sitting on the guy until we landed in Texas,” he told the New York Post. Gonzales was on a flight full of law enforcement professionals who were attending a convention in LasVegas.

Daly, in joking about the odds of the pilot going nuts on a flight full of law enforcement, said on Wednesday morning: “There was a bunch of … well-trained dudes. what are the odds of that? … Thank god… my luck, it would be like ‘This is the flight going to [the gay pride parade] in San Francisco’ … I mean, that would be my colleagues… ‘Uh, we’re headed down to Vegas for the floral convention.’… ‘Can we get a little help up here with the pilot?’ ‘Oh, Nooo!’”

Daly took was blasted by gay and lesbian groups for making the joke, and apologized Wednesday afternoon in a tweet: “This morning on my radio show I attempted to make fun of myself & offended others by mistake. I sincerely apologize.”

The talk show host went even further and issued a statement after consulting with the gay rights group GLAAD, which read in part: “I’m truly saddened that my words today suggested otherwise. I’ve long been a supporter of gay, lesbian, and transgender rights, and I’m saddened that my comments, however unintentional, offended anyone, specifically members of the LGBT community.”

But gay rights groups weren’t the only ones upset with the comedian’s remarks. the mother of a man killed in the attacks on 9/11 also issued a statement.

“With your on-the-air comments this morning, you demonstrated an ugly ignorance,” wrote Alice Hoagland, the mother of mark Bingham, a member of the San Francisco Fog Rugby Club, who was aboard the doomed Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco. “But this afternoon you also showed the grace to apologize for your odd remarks, as you should.”

“Yes, my gay son was known in our family for bringing me flowers on my birthday and Mother’s Day,” she continued. “He also was known for careening down the rugby pitch, and, on the morning of September 11, 2001, for charging unarmed down the aisle of a doomed Boeing 757 to face knife-wielding Islamist thugs in a hijacked cockpit.”