Recent Work: Talking about Cher in the Irish Independent

If you weren't all Cher-ed up when her album came out here a few weeks ago, you should check out this piece I did on her admirable honesty in pop for last week's Irish Independent in the Day and Night mag.

Cher's Closer To The Truth - Track by Track On Her Pop Comeback

Cher's new album is arriving in Ireland on Friday and in the UK Monday following her appearance on The X-Factor this weekend. It's easy to dismiss her but the new album is half pop-dance gems and half well realised ballads. If you're in Ireland you stream it in full at GCN now and wherever you are you can read my track by track thoughts on the album there too.

Friday Update: Cher, Britney & Will.I.Am, Solange and Loreen Interview

In case you think I'm doing nothing at all in between posts here, take heed of some new stuff I've done for GCN.

Today's music post covers a pretty diverse range of tunes including the new Cher (!) tune, that Britney/Will.I.Am track that appeared online last weekend and music from Solange and Villagers for "the hipsters" amongst you. Peep that post here.

Also, this month's copy of GCN is now online and in print across Ireland. It includes my chat with Eurovision star Loreen which was alot of fun to do. Click here to read the online edition, click through to the main mag and read my feature on pages 28/29.

Wigs, Tequila and Soft Focus: Burlesque gets Reviewed

I got to head to an early screening of Burlesque last week, the Cher/Christina musical that I've been excited to see for months on end. A star vehicle for both a returning icon and another whose recent pop comeback was something of a damp squib this film has had "future camp classic" written all over it. In big glittery, soft focus letters.

The plot is more threadbare then the pearl dress Xtina slinks about on stage in at one point. Christina plays Ali, a country bumpkin who blows into L.A. and soon finds herself in a Burlesque lounge that she is only gagging to sing for. Despite the fact that only ringmistress Tess actually sings in the club. The rest of the girls lipsync and dance along to show tunes, making some of the early performances look like acts from particularly athletic drag queens.

Still Christina auditions for the show, gets a part as a dancer but soon gets those vocal chords stretched and blows everyone away, with Cher giving her best surprised face on seeing her sing her heart out:

What follows is mish mash of tepid love story, enjoyable but unfulfilling banter between Cher & Stanley Tucci and a parade of tunes that sound a bit like the last Christina album and a bit like the one before it. Back to Bionic Basics if you will.

The pace of the film is off. Big moments feel rushed like the whole thing is in a hurry to get somewhere. But then what feels like forever is spent on inconsequential moments that were obviously meant to build up the characters but fall flat due to a poor script. The cast, for the most part are great and are clearly trying to work with material that doesn't do them justice. Despite her botoxed face painfully limiting her ability to really act Cher manages to make a decent impression and her easy going banter with Tucci is fun to watch. Kristen Bell does a fine job of chewing so much scenery she nearly chokes and Christina does a decent job for her first time in a major role. 

The musical numbers are slickly edited but the fact that they never leave the stage of the club means that it feels like you're watching a string of music videos as opposed to proper musical set pieces. At times like these you notice how oddly low budget the whole enterprise is. Much is made of how L.A. is this magical city that Ali escapes to but we never really see it, except in unintentionally hilarious scenes where Ali finger snaps along to her iPod as a form of "rehearsal" (if you saw someone do this on the street you would not think "there goes a successful Burlesque performer". You'd think "that person is a nut job")

The actual "burlesque" nature of this is quite questionable. It's all very Pussycat Dolls (Robin Antin the founder of the dance troupe turned pop sensation is the sister of the film's writer/director Steve Antin) meaning the choreography, while enjoyable, is basically hip hop video booty popping meets coquettish popstar dance moves with a dash of jazz hands for a bit of flavour. Still it's no surprise really. Christina famously performed with the troupe when they were picking up serious heat around L.A. in the early 2000s and she channels much of that throughout the film.

Throw in a pile of unconvincing wigs on top of Cher and Xtina's heads, more soft focus than you could shake a Botox needle at and plenty of blatant plugs for Patron Tequila (the fact that Robin Antin had a PCD style girl group sing a song about the brand in 2009 is hardly coincidence!) and Burlesque adds up to be one mess of a movie. It also turns out to be hilariously entertaining with it and if you need some quality campy laughs this Christmas this movie will surely make you happy. 

Burlesque is released here on the 17th of December while the soundtrack is out now.

Cher and Christina Aguilera Unveil Trashtasic "Burlesque" Trailer

Like every pop-trash-culture addict worth their salt I have been eagerly awaiting the release of musical drama Burlesque which sees Cher return to the big screen, Christina Aguilera maker her acting debut and a host of other stars (including my fave Kristen Bell) plonk around in the background and wonder how much time Cher spends in the make up chair every morning (conservative estimates would say 6 hours).

Finally a proper trailer has made it online and it does look pretty spectacular. Christina is Allie, the small town girl who heads to the big smoke and ends up performing in the local burlesque club. Cher is the sassy but classy runner of the club who puts Xtina in her place. And Stanley Tucci just turns up and re-enacts his role in the Devil Wears Prada. And that's no bad thing. Check out Kristen Bell's scary dark wig too:

Burlesque hits our shores in December and I cannot wait!

Six Pack: Six Internet Things Worth A Gander

Here we are, sliding through snow, battling rain and still looking for a healthy dose of escapism. So fear not here are six internet treats to while away all the "what the hell is the weather doing, I feel like this is some kind of attempt by Al Gore to convince us he was right" madness.

(1) Rihanna interviewed by W Magazine : Fashion bible W get their paws on Rihanna for an great chat that gets across rather succintly everything that makes RiRi so great at the moment. Catch up on it here. You can check out the photospread too which has a great 60s movie star meets high fashion vibe. Great stuff. Thanks for MuuMuse for bringing this to my attention!

(2) Panti is CRAZY: Dublin drag superstar Panti has a rather great deal on for Sundays at her drinking hole (get your minds out of the gutter!). This video has been all over the place this week and with good reason. It is HILARIOUS:

(3) Katherine Lynch Returns: Speaking of hilarious things, Katherine Lynch is back. She may not be everyone's cup of tea but I love her bawdy, rough and tumble humour. Her new series started this Tuesday on RTE and RTE Player their catch up service has it available for a week here, new episodes added weekly

(4) Heidi Montag makes the next "Thriller": Apparently. Her album is no doubt a trash pop masterpiece but this interview with Entertainment Weekly is really interesting. I love the idea that someone can spend that much money on making an album and still not be able to sing. Well worth a read. That album cover is a work of garish art all by itself too:

(5) Ridiculous Cast, Ridiculous Movie: Kristen Bell, Christina Aguilera and Cher in the same film? How can "Burlesque" be anything less than amazing? Sound Off With DJ Taj has loads of photos here. Excitement.

(6) Joss Whedon on where US TV is headed: Fascinating interview with Joss Whedon. There is much chat of his now cancelled series Dollhouse which wraps up soon in the US and also on how Whedon has changed his approach to his work and making content when TV is losing more money than ever. An essential read for anyone the slightest bit interested in US TV and what the internet means for watching TV in general. Spotted via Pink is The New Blog