Song of the Day for August 29th, 2010: "Talking Like I'm Falling Down Stairs" by Sparkadia (2010)

And the song is....Talking Like I'm Falling Down Stairs by Australian alternative-pop band Sparkadia. Sparkadia formed as the brainchild of Alex Burnett back in 2004 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and was originally a 4-piece band but is currently a solo-project. Talking Like I'm Falling Down the Stairs the first single of the new album which is yet to be released. Now the song isn't on youtube yet, so you will have to go to their myspace page here to hear it. Enjoy!

Song of the Day for August 28th, 2010: "FU" by Cee Lo Green (2010)

And the song of the day is....FU, by American hip-hop/funk/soul/r&b artist Cee Lo Green. Cee Lo Green has been around on the music scene since 1992 and comes at us out of the ATL (that is Atlanta, Georgia). He is also well-known as a member of both Gnarls Barkley and the Goodie Mob. The song FU was released to youtube on August 19th, 2010 ahead of the planned release of his solo album titled Lady Killer, and the song was recognized as an instant viral smash. The album is set to be released on December 7th, 2010. Also, due to the language content of the song you will have to sign in to youtube to view it, stupid web-censors, and I was just hearing the F-bomb on broadcast television the other day, seriously what is go with that?? Enjoy the song of day!

#60 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown!: "And We Danced" by The Hooters (1985)

Welcome back once again and here we are at #60! The countdown has been slow, but there is a method to the madness, so keep checking back for updates, we will be done with the Top 100 at some point, and then I will begin to create some other more focused 80's posts, but for #60 the song is....And We Danced, by American rock band The Hooters. The Hooters come out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, they formed back in 1980, and consist of members Eric Bazilian (1980–1995, 2001–present), Rob Hyman (1980–1995, 2001–present), David Uosikkinen (1980–1995, 2001–present) John Lilley (1983–1995, 2001–present), Fran Smith Jr. (1987–1995, 2001–present), and they have a few past members not mentioned here. According to wikipedia the band took its name from a nickname for a German keyboard made by the Hohner brand. This song came off of their 1985 Columbia records release album titled Nervous Night, which would later achieve platinum status around the world selling around 2 million copies and contained 3 Billboard Top 40 hits (including this song naturally). Like so many other 80's era bands, they broke up the band at some point in the 1990's and then reunited at some point in the 2000's, which seems to be a very common occurence, maybe they start to run out of money, or they miss being on stage in front of crowds, or the 80's fashion and music revival that sort of happened in the 2000's sparks it but the Hooters are certainly not alone in this phenomenon. Well, that's it for the 60's of the top 100, but now we are entering the 50's, so as always, stay tuned my 80's fans!

Song of the Day for August 27th, 2010: "Bull Riff" by Still Flyin'

And the song is...Bull Riff by American indie-pop band Still Flyin'. Still Flyin'  were formed in 2004 and they blast out of San Francisco, California. The band consists of 14 members with the primary member being Sean Rawls on lead vocals and guitar. I would mention all of the others, but there are quite a few of them to list here. Bull Riff is the first available track from their  only 12" EP titled A Party In Motion. For more info, and to actually listen to the song go to this page to download/listen to the mp3, as it is not yet to be found on youtube. Cheers!

Song of the Day for August 26th, 2010: "Every June" by My Fiction

And the song of the day is...Every June, by Australian indie-rock band My Fiction.  My Fiction come at us out of sunny Brisbane, Queensland in Australia, and consists of members Eric Robinson (Vocals, Guitar) Mike Willmett (Bass, Synth, Percussion), Danny Murphy  (Drums, Vocals) and James Laubscher (Guitars, Vocals). This song, titled Every June, comes off of their debut album which is titled FireRomanceFire, which came out this year (2010), but I'm unsure when. To download this song for free go to their myspace page here and join their mailing list.

Brief Movie Review for "Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers" (2009)

5 STARS *****

A truly enlightening documentary about the history of the Vietnam War and the American named Daniel Ellsberg who helped to leak the famous Pentagon Papers, which led to the Nixon-Watergate scandal and more importantly and end to the Vietnam War (which lasted from 1955-1975). This documentary is a history lesson for me and anyone who watches it. It is also interesting to see this in the face of the current wiki-leaks situation, and just how history repeats itself. A must see for anyone who gives a damn about history and the future of our world.

#61 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown!: "Come Go With Me" by Exposé (1987)

Back to the 80's Countdown, and at number 61 is.....Come Go With Me, by American pop band/vocal group Exposé. Exposé formed originally in 1984, coming out of Miami, Florida and members were Sandra Casañas (1984–1986), Alejandra Lorenzo (1984–1986), Laurie Miller (1984–1986), who were later replaced by 3 new and current vocalists Ann Curless, Jeanette Jurado, and Gioia Bruno. Their debut album, titled Exposure, had 4 top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, and in fact they were the first group to achieve this with a debut album. An interesting tidbit from wikipedia states that the original 3 singers of Exposé were replaced just before the recording of groups big album Exposure, as the record company felt that the original 3 vocalists lacked "star potential," despite the fact that the original 3 had produced their single Point of No Return, which was later recorded with the new vocalists and re-released in 1987 to reach #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. Come Go with Me, which is #61 on this countdown, was led by vocalist Jeanette Jurado, and was the first official song by the group to reach the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and it also peaked at #5, and the 12" single release also reached #2 on the Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales chart. It appeared on that same album, which was released in February of 1987. Well, enough trivia, on with the dancing!

Song of the Day for August 24th, 2010: "Y-T-S-C" by Cassius

And the song is Y-T-S-C by French electronic duo Cassius. Cassius consits of producer-duo Philippe Cerboneschi and Hubert Blanc-Francard, also known as Philippe Zdar and Boom Bass. Y-T-S-C stands for Youth, Trouble, Speed, Cigarettes, as you will hear when you listen to the song, which was released as the first single off of their 4th and still to be titled studio album. The song was originally released as a digital download only on July 14th, 2009. Cassius has been around since 1988 and have also been known as The La Funk Mob.

Mentionable Mashups: "Like, OMG Baby (Capital FM Summertime Ball Mashup)"

I have recently come across some more really good mash-up music videos, and I would like to give them props here on my vlog. The basic concept behind a remixed video or mash-up video is that an expert VJ has edited music and video together to produce something that did not exist before out of the synergy of two or more artists. That said, I came across all the mash-ups I have found on VJ Brewski's site (who's vlog/blog appears on my blog list in the sidebar). The following mashup is quite good and I found it at VJ Brewski's facebook page, so look there if you like what you see, and I will be posting more as I come across them, free advertising is always a good thing. Enjoy!

Song of the Day for August 23rd, 2010: "Paper Airplane (ft Jenn Grant)" by Buck 65

And the song is...Paper Airplane (ft Jenn Grant), by Canadian hip-hop artist and MC Buck 65. Buck 65 consists of Richard Terfry (and in this case, accompanied by the vocals of Jenn Grant), who comes out of Mt. Uniacke, in Nova Scotia. He is also a radio host on CBC Radio, and he has gone by other aliases/stage-names in the past, such as Johnny Rockwell, Stinkin' Rich, Haslam, and Uncle Climax, and much like Sascha Baron Cohen these are all differen't personas which he puts on and off. Buck 65 has been around as an active musician since 1993, and Paper Airplane is a new release coming off of his 20 Odd Years, Vol. 2 - Distance EP, which was released in Canada on July 6, 2010.

Brief Movie Review for "The Darwin Awards" (2006)

** 2/5 Stars

"I found this movie a little bit hard to follow for some reason, it didn't seem quite together, but maybe that was part of the point of the movie? Anyways, its based on the actual "Darwin Awards," and I CBF to explain them here so look them up yourself. Is about a brilliant blood-phobic detective who loses his job due to the fact that he passes out when he sees blood, thus homicide detective is probably not the best position. So he gets a new job working for insurance claim companies by helping to prove that large filed claims are not legitimate. Winona Ryder helps a bit, but not really due to her acting abilities. I wouldn't watch this one again, but its worth one viewing."

Song of the Day for August 22nd, 2010: "6's and 7's" by Smilin

And the song is....Smilin by Australian indie band 6's and 7's. The 6's and 7's are an Perth, WA indie-band, lead by singer/songwriter Josh Fontaine. Now there just plain out isn't that much info on this band, with the exception of their myspace page, so if you want more info you'll need to search for them. The video below is a live version of this song as that is all that was available on youtube.com, so if you want to hear the clear studio version of the song you can go to their myspace page and listen to it here.

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#62 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown!: Wake Me Up Before You Go Go (1984), by Wham!

We are back again, to the 80's of course, and #62 of the countdown is none other than the stellar 80's pop-hit Wake Me Up Before You Go Go by English new-wave-pop duo Wham! Wham! was originally formed in 1981 by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, and according to wikipedia there was a conflict of band-names in the beginning, and so they were originally known as Wham! UK, but was later just changed back to Wham! as they were madly more successful than the other band of the same name in the USA. Wham! sold over 25 million certified albums worldwide between the years of 1982-1986, and the duo split and went their separate ways in 1986 as well (at which time George Michael began his solo career). Wikipedia states that George Michael was the composer, singer, producer, and occasional instrumentalist of the duo, whilst Ridgeley was more the businessman. An interesting wikipedia direct quote about the duo is as follows:

"Still teenagers, they promoted themselves as hedonistic youngsters, proud to live a carefree life without work or commitment. This was reflected in their earliest singles which, part-parody, part-social comment, briefly earned Wham! a reputation as a dance protest group."

"Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" was appeared as the first track off of their October 1984 release album titled "Make It Big," which would become their first #1 UK Chart hit. Once again, according to their wikipedia page, the song was inspired by a note written by Andrew Ridgeley to his parents that read "Wake Me Up Before You Go" but with the word "up" accidentally written twice, so Ridgeley then wrote "go" twice, one of those divine accidents that leads to the creation of an all time classic 80's pop-song. This song was obviously quite well known, and very fitting for it's very title as being "definitively 80's" and it regained popularity amongst a much younger generation (many who seem to have the false idea that the song was new in 2001) with its appearance in the 2001 Ben Stiller comedy film "Zoolander." On to the next!

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