Music Spotlight: Calvin Harris

The UK have given us several amazing talents in the techno and electronica genre, such as Leftfield and The Chemical Brothers. Now, I bring you Calvin Harris. He is 27, out of Scotland and has worked with the likes of English rapper Dizzie Rascal and Kylie Minogue. Since his debut album in 2007, he has dominated the UK charts.

In his early years, he started making demos in his bedroom and also stated during those times, he was an anti-social person. His music on Myspace gained him underground popularity. After his debut album hit big, he worked with Rascal, even performing with him at Glastonbury 2008 and caught the attention of Minogue.

He actually turned down the chance to work with Lady Gaga in 2008, citing that he did not like the demo given to him, did not want to offend her and still considers her to be a good artist.

Chris Brown and British boy band JLS may have plagiarized some of Harris' work without his permission, with Brown's "Yeah 3x" and JLS's "Eyes Wide Shut". Harris did acknowledge this and said he favored the JLS song and will not seek legal action against either artist.

His latest single, "Feel So Close", recently dropped on August 21.

It's been announced he will be one of the headline acts for Rhythm and Vines, a New Year's musical festival in New Zealand.

For anything else on Harris, such as his tour dates, feel free to check out his website.

And I will leave you with "Feel So Close", a song I actually heard a few months ago through Hype Machine. I know not everyone enjoys techno, but this song has a special meaning to me. Enjoy!

New Football Blog

This month has been a little hectic for me, as I haven't been able to review many movies or musical acts and as busy as I've been, I decided to do yet another blog!

Battlefield Turf!

It will be over at Crimson Monkey, updated each week. I'll make predictions, share news, thoughts and make a few jokes. No cheerleader photos...the internet has enough of those girls without me posting them. So yeah, for those who want to read a little football news, please feel free to check it out!

Movie Review: The Devil's Double

If it wasn't for Comedy Central showing previews of this movie late at night, I would have missed this great movie. It is directed by Lee Tamahori (Muholland Falls, Die Another Day), and is based off of the true story of Latif Yahia. Yahia was forced against his will to be the fiday (body double) of Uday Hussein, the son of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Uday Hussein was the embodiment of evil, the man lived to terrorize, torture, rape and destroy.

Latif had actually met Uday in school at age 15 and many thought they looked alike. At 23, during the Iran-Iraq War, Latif was brought into the Presidential Palace and requested to be the fiday of Uday, since Stalin and Saddam also had body doubles to trick would-be assassins. At first, Latif refused and was imprisoned. After his release, he reluctantly agreed to his new role. From then on up into Desert Storm, Latif witnessed much of the carnage firsthand. He would eventually escape and wrote about his experiences in 1997 (I was Saddam's Son), but the story would go ignored up until the US Invasion of Iraq in 2003. Latif would later publish The Devil's Double in June of 2003.

Uday Hussein, alongside his brother Qusay, were gunned down in a 4 hour battle by a combined team of Task Force 20 and 1o1st Airborne a month later.

The movie was very good, it was very violent, brutal and grizzly. It took a controversial subject and made it into the story of how Latif was forced to live in the shadow of a monster. English actor Dominic Cooper did a great job portraying both men and showed his versatility as an actor. I'm not sure if it will be up for any Academy Awards next spring, but I feel it should be.

I've seen only a few movies set in Iraq, such as Three Kings, Jarhead and The Hurt Locker. All three movies were good, but they had been from an American perspective. And from what I remember from history class, Desert Storm had been a cake walk for American forces. The Devil's Double is the first movie that truly put me into Iraq, and it was anything but a cakewalk for me. I had only read about the horror of the Hussein family and the warfare, but it wasn't until this movie that I completely understood what had happened.

Anything further on how I feel about Saddam Hussein, Uday Hussein and the War in Iraq will have to be saved for another article on another blog. But after this movie, I am glad to know that Uday Hussein is no longer on this Earth to terrorize the Iraqi people.

I would highly recommend this movie, but it is not for the feint of heart. I would also recommend the books, but it appears they are out of print and are considered collector's items. The real Latif Yahia does have a website and blog.

Let Carson Palmer Go!

As you all know, my blog covers all things entertainment and that's why I occasionally cover sports. In recent weeks, I've heard about the struggle in Cincinnati and here it.

Carson Palmer, star quarterback, wants out of Cincinnati.

Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown, who also acts as team GM, will not grant Palmer's request. Brown, being the stubborn old coot he is, says that Palmer signed a contract and he's holding him to it, and that by seeking a trade would "reward" Palmer, therefore, he is sticking to his guns by refusing Palmer's request.

Really?

Here is my take on the situation.

Brown, you wouldn't be rewarding him, you'd be rewarding your fans.

Carson Palmer is not John Elway. He's not Troy Aikman. He could be another Rex Grossman, but he's not a Super Bowl winning QB.

Even with Palmer taking snaps, it wouldn't make a difference.

Trade Palmer and get that ridiculous contract out of Cincinnati.

Act now and maybe even get a first round draft pick out of the deal.

The Bengals are going into 2011 like lambs to the slaughter, wouldn't it help to know that with an additional first round draft pick, you might not only land Stanford's Andrew Luck in the draft, you may even get his offensive tackle, Jonathan Martin. That could be achieved by trading Palmer to another lowly team in desperate need of a QB, a team like the Buffalo Bills.

Like I said, this season is going to be brutal for Cincinnati fans.

The idealist in me wants to think, maybe Bruce Gradkowski will be another Kurt Warner, maybe Cedric Benson will post a 1500 yard season, maybe A.J. Green will win NFL Rookie of the Year honors...

The realist in me says, that the Bengals are in the same division as the defending AFC Conference Champions, the Steelers...the Ravens who may have a Super Bowl run in the making and the Browns with the emerging force that is Peyton Hillis...3 dangerous rivals in an already tough schedule. At best, I can only see a 3-13 record out of this.

With that, why not trade Palmer and make a serious effort towards rebuilding the franchise?

Andrew Luck may be your QB of the future.

Make plans now on rebuilding around a rising star.

And who knows, maybe in 5 or 6 years, the Bengals might have that Lombardi trophy that escaped them in the 1980s.

But all of this is just mere suggestions from a former Cincinnati Bengal fan. I expect Mike Brown to still be stubborn and continue to do so until the day he passes away and the reigns will go onto his successor.

It's a shame too, because I do believe the Bengals have potential of being a contender...but only if Brown makes the right moves, maybe hires a real GM to make decisions and maybe he will get to hold the trophy once in his lifetime.

Something I'd like to see in music...

This year has been the first real year I have ever truly paid attentions to music festivals in the United States and across the world. Before 2011, I had never heard of Coachella, Glastonbury or Splendour in the Grass. I had only heard of Woodstock and Lollapalooza but never gave them much thought. And thanks to Pandora and Hype Machine, I've discovered new music like Foster the People, Two Door Cinema Club and Florence and the Machine and rekindled my love for Coldplay and Foo Fighters. As I explored new music, I ran into tour information and was intrigued by these festivals.

I was really excited earlier this year when Youtube ran a live stream of Coachella, Vevo had one for Bonnaroo and Virgin Mobile Australia ran one for Splendour in the Grass. This weekend, Youtube is again streaming from Lollapalooza.

Unfortunately, there is a drawback as either there is no replay option or there is only one replay offered. It was a real struggle to stay up early hours to see Coachella or Splendour and it's a shame that I can't replay a performance whenever I want.

My Roku offers me a lot of services, from Netflix, Hulu, Crackle, Pandora, but it would just be amazing if there was a service that deals with live performances and major musical events. I'd like to have the ability to sit back and watch all of Splendour in its glory, I'd like to see the the grandeur of Glastonbury, the fireworks and light shows and everything else, I would love to have this experience. And I'm sure I'm not the only one here.

And I'd be willing to pay for it.

Lollapalooza 2011

I forgot to look at the calender, folks, I apologize. Lollapalooza has just kicked off in Chicago today and will run into Sunday.

Click Here for the Lineup.

And Youtube is doing a live stream!