Progress report: Ranking 'Glee's' Top 10 Performances

Seven episodes down -- time for a "Glee" club progress report. In reverse order, the show's Top 10 performances so far:

10. Keep Holding On

Didn't Quinn just break your heart last week? The closing performance of Avril Lavigne’s “Keep Holding On" was fueled by the despair of the head cheerleader -- and her rallying friends -- after she was informed that her secret pregnancy was not-so-secret anymore. Her sometimes friend and nemesis Rachel and boyfriend Finn are stuck too, trapped by their growing affection for each other and wanting to support Quinn. Lies! Jealousy! Love triangles! To be in high school again. Plus, the group numbers are just the best, aren't they?

9. I Wanna Sex You Up

When it comes to choir director Will Schuester's repertoire, it's a tossup between “Golddigger” and “I Wanna Sex You Up.” (And actually, I would have picked “Leaving on a Jet Plane” from the original pilot – just actor Matthew Morrison on an empty stage, a lone spotlight, and an acoustic, melancholic song of longing. Alas, that was cut from the version that aired.) So with a heart full of nostalgia, it was simply too difficult to resist Acafellas’ middle-aged (yet also boy band-happy) version of Color Me Badd’s 1991 slow jam of an invitation to get busy. Bonus points for the surprise cameo by Tony Award winner John Lloyd Young (“Jersey Boys”) as the thumbless, cough-syrup-slurping Henri St. Pierre.


8. It’s My Life/Confessions

Sorry ladies. The boys won Mr. Schu’s mash-up throwdown by a landslide. Finn's "dancing" is always a gut-busting treat, Artie finally got a solo of substance – more please! – and every shot of Kurt’s piercing glare sent me howling. (Even in the background, he's so consistent!) Sure, the boys were hopped up on "vitamin D," but unlike the girls, the performance wasn’t manic so much as it was just on.

7. Push It

Yeah, “Glee” came on pretty strong at first. But I didn't mind. Those pigtails and "Ooh baby, baby's." Artie delivering those immortal opening lines (“Now wait a minute, y’all. This dance ain’t for everybody. Only the sexy people. So all you fly mothers, get on out there and dance. Dance, I said!”) Kurt slapping Finn’s backside in front of the football team. Principal Figgins swaying slowly in ecstasy. It certainly was not the first time the show had me in tears, but it was the first time my stomach hurt from laughing.

6. Rehab

“High School Musical," "Glee" is not. That was the loud and clear refrain when in the pilot our underdog glee clubbers met their arch rivals, Vocal Adrenaline, a crew that came busting out to Amy Winehouse's unapologetic Motown-style account of her drinking habits and refusal to go to rehab. ("There's nothing you can teach me / That I can't learn from Mr. Hathaway.") And the choreography? Extra snazzy.

5. Somebody to Love

Not since the first episode's show-stopping “Don’t Stop Believin' ” has a number given me goose bumps like the Episode 5 closer. Queen’s “Somebody to Love” is one of those take-it-or-leave-it rock ballads -- at times cheesy, at others overwrought. But when Finn and Rachel begin circling one another (repetitive, but it's their signature move, people) and when the 12 kids throw their arms in the air, eyes heavenward, it just kills me. What New Directions lack in technique and choreography, they make up for in sincerity. (Side note: Is it just me, or is that Kevin McHale's Artie singing second verse -- sung by Finn in the episode -- in the studio recording of the song? Strange.)

4. Hate On Me

Another tough call, this one for Mercedes fans: “Hate On Me” or “Bust Ya Windows”? In the end, “Hate on Me” gets a boost from everything preceding it, specifically all the words out of Coach Sue's mouth (e.g. Calling up Sue's Kids: “Santana, Wheels, Gay Kid, Asian, Other Asian, Aretha and Shaft.” Sigh. I love you, Jane Lynch.) I could barely breathe by the time they got to Mercedes' solo -- and then Amber Riley went and blew me away. I love me the Broadway-trained pipes of Lea Michele's Rachel, but every now and then I need a jolt of diva with a capital D. Jill Scott’s kiss-off R&B ode to aggression? Just the ticket.

3. Single Ladies

By the September MTV VMAs performance, Beyonce’s club anthem “Single Ladies” had worn out its welcome. Yes, the music video, as Kanye West would agree, was stunning, but having seen many fabulous homemade editions (not to mention the Justin Timberlake "SNL" spoof) there was little reason to milk that cow again. Certainly not so soon. And yet, watching Kurt, and later the school's pitiful football team, ask the crowd to “put a ring on it” while sending their hips swiveling felt new and inspired.

2. Maybe This Time

So it's not a group number -- call me a sucker for songs of the down and out. Here, Rachel's so hung up on using sheer will power to be accepted, she's become miserable on her lonely journey getting there. And as April Rhodes, the boozing McKinley High has-been Mr. Schu recruits to give New Directions a leg up, Kristin Chenoweth is both hilarious and pitiful. Throw in "Maybe This Time" from "Cabaret" and it'll rip your heart out. In a good way.

1. Don't Stop Believin'

Glee - Don't Stop Believe
by Bugabookas

No surprise here. The first glimpse of our hapless high school outcasts, united to form a singing group that matters, brought instant tears. The funny thing is, Journey’s now-iconic “Don’t Stop Believin' ” isn’t all that uplifting when you listen to the lyrics – more like stifled emotion and desperate hope, no? – but when sung by our earnest and gawky group? As Coach Sue might put it: Outstanding.

Think I'm nuts for leaving out "No Air"? (I'm not!) Would have liked to see the impromptu singing of Nelly's "Ride Wit Me"? Can't believe Heart's "Alone" didn't make the cut? Tell me I'm a moron below.
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Gately's label complains to PCC

Boyzone's record label, Polydor, has filed an official complaint with the Press Complaints Commission over a Daily Mail column about Stephen Gately.

A spokeswoman for the label confirmed it had contacted the press watchdog, but had no further comment.


Jan Moir's article said Gately's death struck a blow to the "happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships". She denied the piece had homophobic undertones.

More than 25,000 people have now contacted the PCC about the article.

The PCC has already written to the Daily Mail for its response to the complaints received so far - the most ever made about a single newspaper article.

But the body has not made a decision on whether to launch a full investigation.

It generally waits for a complaint from "directly-affected parties" - in this case Gately's family - before taking that step.

Although it has been in touch with representative's of the family, no such complaint has been filed at this stage.

'Never my intention'

Moir's article, published the day before Gately's funeral in Dublin, attracted angry comments on social networking sites and blogs.

In her column, the writer called the Boyzone singer's death "strange, lonely and troubling".

She wrote: "The Gately family are - perhaps understandably - keen to register their boy's demise on the national consciousness as nothing more than a tragic accident."

But she continued: "Whatever the cause of death is, it is not, by any yardstick, a natural one. Let us be absolutely clear about this.

"All that has been established so far is that Stephen Gately was not murdered."

She concluded: "As a gay rights champion, I am sure he would want to set an example to any impressionable young men who may want to emulate what they might see as his glamorous routine.

"For once again, under the carapace of glittering, hedonistic celebrity, the ooze of a very different and more dangerous lifestyle has seeped out for all to see."

In a statement, Moir later said it was "never my intention" for the article to upset anyone and was not referring to Gately's homosexuality when writing about his "glamorous routine".

"In what is clearly a heavily orchestrated internet campaign I think it is mischievous in the extreme to suggest that my article has homophobic and bigoted undertones," she added.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8319350.stm

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'New Moon' Soundtrack Fails To Knock Michael Buble From #1

Is it possible Michael Bublé's gleaming pearly whites are hiding a garlic grill? That would explain how the buttery Canadian crooner's Crazy Love has been able to hold onto the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 for a second week, despite a hype-heavy charge from the soundtrack to the "Twilight" sequel "New Moon."


Actually the fact that the "New Moon" soundtrack came out last Friday, for a shortened week of reported sales, is probably what helped Bublé earn nearly double the vampire tunes' sales. A solid 203,000 units of Crazy Love were sold, a 55 percent increase over its first-week numbers (which also came after a Friday release). Meanwhile, the "New Moon" compilation — with songs by Muse, the Killers, Death Cab for Cutie, Lykke Li and Bon Iver with St. Vincent, among others — will notch a modest 115,000 copies in its debut week, as anticipation for the film's November 20 opening continues to build.

Other new entries in the top 10 include a strong #8 bow by Oklahoma psychedelic warriors the Flaming Lips, whose brain-teasing Embryonic shifted 32,000 copies, barely edging out the latest from R&B singer Mario, D.N.A., which comes in at #9, with less then 200 units separating them.

Meanwhile, Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3 edges up two spots to #3 (55,000), Barbra Streisand holds steady at #5 with Love is the Answer (49,000) and Miley Cyrus moves up three spots with Time of Our Lives (#5, 40,000). The Black Eyed Peas storm back into the top 10 by leaping 17 slots to #6 with E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies) (40,000) as Taylor Swift hops 10 spots to #7 with Fearless (33,000). Mariah Carey rounds things out with Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, which drops another three spots to #10 on sales of 31,000, shedding 43 percent of the previous week's business.

Veteran makeup rockers Kiss had a short-lived trip to the top, as their Sonic Boom triple-disc album lost 72 percent of its first-week business to plunge nine spots to #11 (30,000), followed by last week's #3, Toby Keith's American Ride, which lost an equally bruising 68 percent of its traffic.

In its third week, Paramore's latest, Brand New Eyes, continued its backward slide as well, dropping five spots to #16 (down 42 percent with sales of 24,000). The buzzing one-man band Owl City, however, still has strong positive momentum, hitting a new high at #20 (21,000), after almost four months on the chart.

Folk icon Bob Dylan's first holiday collection, Christmas in the Heart, lands at #23 (20,000). The debut from Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington's new band, Dead by Sunrise, Out of Ashes, pops in at #29 (17,000), just edging out the yuletide offering from "American Idol" runner-up David Archuleta, Christmas From the Heart (#30, 17,000).

Elsewhere on the charts, Five for Fighting hit #34 with Slice (15,000), the Karen O-led soundtrack to Spike Jonze's "Where the Wild Things Are" rockets almost 30 spots to #35 in the movie's opening week (15,000), and the Backstreet Boys fall from grace in week two, thundering down more than 50 spots to #64 with This Is Us (down 80 percent with 8,400 in sales).

It should be a quiet week at the top next week, with new offerings from the Clipse, Tim McGraw and Joss Stone.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1624344/20091021/michael_buble.jhtml?rsspartner=rssYahooNewscrawler
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Kanye West forced to remove graphic video featuring sex scene and self-mutilation from his blog

Kanye West was facing fresh controversy today after pulling his new video from his website.
The rapper had posted an 11-minute film titled We Were Once A Fairytale, which is directed by Spike Jonze, on his blog on Monday.

It follows West, 32, on a drunken night out. He is seen having sex with a stranger, projectile vomiting blood and then stabbing himself in the stomach


At this point the film takes a distinctly surreal turn as a demon emerges from the depth of his stomach.

The creature - a tiny rat similar to the puppets seen in Jonze's latest film Where The Wild Things Are - subsequently stabs itself with a small sword.
Shortly after the footage appeared, the hip hop star removed it from his site and issued an apology.

'Sorry I had to take it down,' he said in a statement on his blog. He did not disclose the reason for its removal.

The video, shot in Los Angeles in January and premiered at the city's film festival in June, is a high-profile collaboration with Jonze.
Known for his idiosyncratic, quirky style, the director was also behind cult hit Being John Malkovich.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1221864/Kanye-West-forced-remove-graphic-video-featuring-sex-scene-self-mutilation-blog.html#ixzz0UZ8DmzMP
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