august 28

I try not to write about big stars for a couple of reasons. First of all, there’s enough birthday notices for sufficiently famous people on celebrity TV shows and magazines, never mind the Internet. I’m trying not to compete with them. I’m interested in the folks that don’t have paparazzi chasing them, because they have stories I haven’t heard yet. But if I want people to eat the steak, I have to throw some sizzle in.

Shania Twain is interesting to me from an anthropological standpoint. I mean, she’s one of the most successful artists even in the country music genre, but you’d have a hard time finding her on my local country radio stations today. She’s indicative of the Madison Avenue country sound: less southern-fried but more palatable to the rest of the world. Guess that’s what happens when you’re married to Def Lepard’s record producer.
Exhibit A: the “Up!” album. With over 11 million copies in the US alone, it’s the biggest selling record of this decade. “Up!” actually had three versions: the red CD version was more pop-tinged than the green “country” version, while the blue “international” version was remixed by two Bollywood music gurus.
You can hear some of the Indian sound in the production of “Gonna Get You Good,” one of the chart-toppers from “Up!” Or you can turn down the sound (I know you will…) just watch the video and try to figure out what country music fans thought of this:

Two quirks about her that I dig: She’s a Revlon cover girl, but her secret to smooth skin is Bag Balm, an ointment for protecting cow udders in the winter. Also, her cameo in I Heart Huckabees is worth a look, especially if you can’t stand Jude Law.

Jack Black is on my babymomma’s List. If you don’t know what The List is, now is not the time to talk about it. Now is time to talk about Jack Black.
Without Jack Black, there would not be “Heat Vision and Jack,” a craptastic show that never saw the light of day, and inspired its producers to create the bizzarely funny Channel101.com. There’s so much great stuff he’s done, all the way back to “High Fidelity” and “Mr Show.” But I’ll narrow it down to a Tenacious D skit called “Tribute”. I tried to find the original HBO broadcast bit, before Led Zeppelin’s lawyers got involved.


David Fincher – I can write about this guy! Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac – he’s made creepy awesome movies (and kept Brad Pitt from becoming, say, Paul Walker.) Showing two minutes clips of his greatest films seems cheap… But he built his resume and developed his cinematic style with a catalog of stunning, award-winning music videos! Like this:


Wait a minute…


Dagnabit…


How about a public service message?


Now THAT’s David Fincher.

***

Here’s a cause a bit closer to my mission. Birthday boy Jess Margera is the drummer for CKY, which gives him something to talk about besides being Bam’s brother. I was prepared not to like CKY, but it’s the right kind of harsh.


Mission accomplished. Rock on…