Amen.

Sign the petition here.

The tour is over, but don't say goodbye...

because the greatness of season 8 idols remains.

Allison Iraheta is on fi-yah!!!!!!!!! Can't wait for this fierce young woman's album to drop. Step aside disneylettes, this is the real teenage phenom ish.



Anoop just keeps bringin' it. Le Sigh.



Things like this make me think that he could be an awesome mix of Wayne Brady, Jamie Foxx, and Jon Stewart on his own TV show. The self-effacing dry humor? HAWT.

And the final frontier in genre blending awesomeness: Noop-velle Vague. It's orgasmic. Two things I flove coming together. Behold.

The new crown prince of R&B geek chic and Belmondo/Karina? My mind is blown.

Futurtastic FlashFoward!

For those of you who missed it, the premiere of FlashForward.



Pretty riveting, no? I wish there was some quirkier stuff in it, it seems to take itself a bit too seriously at points, and I don't find Joseph Fiennes to be that compelling of a lead. But John Cho will always and forever kick ass. Loving Alex Kingston being in this too(albeit briefly)! I still remember her awesome work as Moll Flanders. And the Jack Davenport teaser? Good thing he's keeping his English accent. His American accent was a little strange in Swingtown. Also, I want Gabby Union. Where is Miss Independent? Can't wait to keep going on the wild ride with this show. Ah, plot driven television.

Hooray for Sondre! In other news: hipster male v-neck t-shirts blow.

Sondre Lerche is never groundbreaking, shocking, or intense. But that's not his point, really. Light ditties, with an occasional dark undercurrent are what he does best.

So with that in mind, go forth and enjoy his music--a nice dose of pure, nuanced, blissfully melodic acoustic pop. He's got a new album out:

Welcome to SondreLerche.com from Sondre Lerche on Vimeo.

Ugh, I am not a fan of that stupid v-neck shirt though, and the just rolled out of bed musician look is a bit cliche, especially when paired with those neon sneakers (see below). With the neckscarf too? Stop already. And while I am admittedly in much more of a soul/R&B/hip hop phase right now, there ain't nothin' like a pretty tune from Sondre:



Plus, he is disarmingly cute live. Here are the tour dates.

SJW and SWV

I have been grooving to a nice little cover of SWV's "Weak" by Gretchen Parlato. To listen go here. It's apparently arranged by Robert Glasper, who I am really digging right now too.

I heard Parlato perform the cover live this summer at one of the shows at the SJW Festival (i.e. Stanford Jazz Workshop, my former employer). Pianist Taylor Eigsti introduced the song, asking the mostly middle aged + kids-too-young-to-remember-the-golden-age-of-early-90's-girl-groups audience if they had heard of the SWV song, and there was no recognition whatsoever :( I was raising my hand in the back with devil horns to no effect.

But at any rate, they rocked this cover, and it has been seared in my brain. My connection to the song goes back some 17 years ago, one of the very first cassette singles I ever bought. I also have sweet memories of driving from Cape Town to Hout Bay with Jon David on the Fourth of July, singing along to SWV on the radio. JD told me about his dad's secretary who was a rabid SWV fan.

We're takin' you back to the old school:

Citrus flavored fate, I can't wait!

John Cho wears sarcasm soooo well:




And kudos for Courtney B. Vance who picks up on it right away. And his laugh (hee hee) is priceless.

I am really excited about this show! The cast is kickass, and good n' diverse. Not only do they have Vance, and Monsieur Cho--who promoted the series in GQ in a swanky 6 page photo spread, channeling a splash of Tony Leung, schooling dudes on wearing a double breasted suit well (hotness alert)--but they have two other majorly cool thespians lined up who I am also thrilled about:

1) Gabrielle Union (who apparently plays Cho's love interest--YES for blasian couple representation. Is it too much to ask for a more complex and passionate relationship than Romeo Must Die? Sorry, that's the last time I can remember this type of racial/gender romantic configuration). She always plays strong, smart, sassy, sexy, classy women. Who could forget her star turn in Bring It On? Here she is on Chelsey Lately doing some pretty straight-up yet hilarious race talk, speaking out about how women are silenced, and implicitly reveals herself as a news/popculture junkie:



After all, she IS Miss Independent (I totally heart this song, even if none of the women in this video present themselves in a form that actually illustrates the concept of being "fly effortlessly". Gab's hair is mighty fierce nontheless):



and

2) Jack Davenport. So hilarious as Steve in Coupling. He is great when he tries to defend the stupid myths of masculinity and femininity. You may also know him as Commodore Norrington in the Pirates of the Carribean:





Oh yeah, Joe "Shakespeare in Love/the lesser of the two" Fiennes and Dominic "Lost Hobbit" Monaghan are also in it. So that's three white dudes (all from across the pond, playing presumably Americanos) for your three people of color. But who's keeping score anyway?

FlashForward (not to be confused with this televisual gem of my adolescence) premieres in September 24th. I hope I can watch it online. Sometimes that stuff isn't available outside of the U.S. And I will cry citrus flavored tears if I can't.