Gwyneth Paltrow-Fashion Designer?

Gwyneth Paltrow will be releasing her first clothing line in London, next week. Paltrow is reportedly collaborating with ZOEtee's, a french label who specializes in loungewear and jersey seperates. Her influences for the line will include 1970's inspired fashion with masculine tailoring. All proceeds for this line will profit a children's charity.

ITunes to Potentially Raise Prices

Apple, the maker of ITunes is reportedly starting to raise the prices of their music, introducing "variable pricing." This means that the new and popular songs that are offered on ITunes are asking you to pay $1.29 per song instead of the 99 cents like it always has been for every song. Now, when you add tax you'll be paying around $1.50 or more per song pending if it is popular or new. Although Apple hasn't publicly announced this change, sources say that Apple has been notifying numerous record companies.

If this change does in fact take place, downloading music illegally for free will start looking more and more appealing, despite if you are effected by the economic deline or not.

New baby for Madonna

Madonna is looking to adopt yet another baby from Malawi. She has filed adoption papers and is traveling there this weekend to pick out her new baby. According to the rumors, she is looking to adopt a little baby girl. The last time Madonna decided to adopt a baby from this region there was a lot of controversy and rumors surrounding it. Hopefully this time things will run smoother. Although many gossip bloggers and magazines are giving her a hard time about her adoption, she will definately be able to give this baby a better life than it would have had.

My Personal Opinions of the American Idols

Last night the American Idols performed songs from the Mo-Town genre of music. The guest mentor of the night was Smokey Robinson, renowned mo-town artist. The 10 finalists include: Kris Allen, Adam Lambert, Matt Giraud, Lil Rounds, Allison Iraheta, Michael Sarver, Megan Joy, Danny Gokey, Anoop Desai, and Scott McIntyre.

Here are my opinions of their performances-

Kris Allen: "How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You"- I'm impressed that this guy can play an instrument. He is a good singer, but theres something about his voice that I don't really like. He puts me in mind of a not so good Jason Mraz. His song wasn't horrible, but it wasn't amazing. Average.

Adam Lambert: "The Tracks of My Tears"-Holy Elvis impersonator! At first glance I thought that Elvis was alive! But no, it was just a cleaned up, eye linerless version of Adam Lambert. I loved the arrangement of this song, but his voice grates on my nerves. Not only does his voice irritate me, but he sticks out his tongue when he hits the exceptionly high notes.

Matt Giraud: "Lets Get It On"-Like him, like his voice, hate this song. Awkward to say the least. End of story.

Lil Rounds: "Heat Wave"-I don't understand the hype that the judges give her. Yes, she can sing, but I've heard much better singers in her genre. This song didn't suit her well.

Allison Iraheta: "Papa Was a Rolling Stone"-Love her voice. For being only 16 years old, she can sing and keep up with people who have been singing much longer. Not a big fan of this song, but she can just about sing anything and sound phenomenal.

Michael Sarver: "Ain't Too Proud to Beg"-When he sings his mouth gets all strained looking and contorted which is annoying. Not that great of a singer, but could be mildly successful as a country artist.

Megan Joy: "For Once in My Life"-This girl has a unique voice, but she was a trainwreck on this song. Her voice was very shaky and strained, and the song was horrible. I think shes still around because shes a pretty girl.

Danny Gokey: "Get Ready"-Good voice, not a fan of the song. It was boring and corney. His in-sync dance moves with the back-up singers set me over the edge.

Anoop Desai: "Ooo Baby Baby"-He has a pretty good voice, not the best, but still good. He was able to sing the really high notes in this song and not go flat. Overall he was good.

Scott McIntyre: "You Can't Hurry Love"-I've got to give it to this guy for being almost entirely blind and being an amazing piano player. However, his voice isn't very contemporary, and the song last night along with his piano arrangement was horrible.

Julian Perretta

Julian Perretta is a virtually unknown artist from London, England. I came across one of his songs after the infamous Perez Hilton gave him recognition on his website. Perretta recently signed to Sony Records, and people can expect hearing more of his music during the summer, when his first album is scheduled to come out. Among Perretta's influences include Elton John, The Doobie Brothers, Queen, and other artists from the 70s. These influences show through in his music, but Perretta is able to give a modern twist.
To hear more about Julian Perretta, visit his Myspace page:
http://www.myspace.com/julianperrettamusic

(Make sure to listen to "Wonder Why"-its one of my personal favorites!)

Robot Model

Japenese robot engineers have created a new female robot in the aims of taking the place of runway models. The robot debuted at the beginning of the annual Japenese fashion week in Tokoyo. The robot is battery powered and can imitate the facial expressions, poses, and gait of a real life supermodel, although much more work is needed to fine tune these abilities. Engineers say that within another 20-30 years of research and experimentation, the new robot will be nearly indistinguishable from a real supermodel. The robot stands at 5'2" tall and weighs 95 lbs.

On a side note: For the robot even to stand a chance competing against American and European supermodels, it will have to grow 8 more inches and lose about 5 more pounds. At least they won't have to change the emotional characteristics.

Cook Asks Crazy Fans to Cool It

American Idol winner David Cook has took to his Myspace blog to ask his fans to cool it with the stalking. Cook has been traveling around the country during his first solo tour since his victory of the hit reality tv singing show "American Idol". According to Cook's blog he has become uncomfortable with his fan's attempts to get up close and personal with their favorite singer. Finding his hotel room, calling his hotel room, and attaching things to his tour bus are among the actions that Cook finds to be "disturbing". This kind of behavior isn't new with the relationships between rock stars and crazed fans. Maybe Cook needs to become a more seasoned rock star to get used to the stalker-ish tendencies that devouted fans posses.

To read more of his blog visit:

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=382394266&blogId=478341865

Reality TV Star's Clothing Line Goes Bust

Lauren Conrad's fledgling clothing line has reportedly come to a halt, with no more plans for production in the near future. In cause you don't know who Lauren "LC" Conrad is, she is the star of the hit reality MTV shows "Laguna Beach" and "The Hills". Through her new found "stardom" Conrad was able to produce a clothing line that debuted in March of last year during LA Fashion Week.

According to Conrad's rep, the decision to halt productions comes from the decline in the economy. Yet, Conrad stated that she plans on re-newing her whole collection using more high end fabrics. She must be very optimistic about the future of the economic decline if she plans on using higher end fabrics that will force consumers to pay more for her already defunked clothing line.

SXSW 09'

"SXSW" or South by South West is a yearly music, film, and interactive festival held in Austin, Texas every spring. Music fans around Texas and around the country gather for this popular festival. This year the dates of the festival are March 13-22. The Music portion of the festival started on the 18th and ends on the 22nd. Many band and musical acts are scheduled to perform at this famous festival.
The acts include:
3OH!3
8Ball & MJG
Ace Enders
Action Action
Alesana
And the Moneynotes
An Horse
Arc Angels
Asobi Seksu
Au Revoir Simone
Beach House
Ben Harper and Relentless7
Blaqstarr
B.o.B.
Buraka Som Sistema
Camera Obscura
Charles Hamilton
CKY
Clã
Courteeners
David Fonseca
Dent May
Explosions In The Sky
Fanfarlo
Fleet Foxes
Forever the Sickest Kids
Friendly Fires
From Jupiter
FuneralParty
Gabriella Cilmi
Gavin Castleton
Hot Leg
Hypernova
Jon Lajoie
Josh and the Empty Pockets
Jump Back Jake
Kinch
Ladyhawke
Lights
Lindsay Ell[18]
Littl'ans
Mandi Perkins
Martin Atkins (speaker)
Metallica
Pendulum
Perry Farrell
Pete and the Pirates
Primal Scream
Quincy Jones (speaker)
Ra Ra Riot
Raul Malo
Red Fang
Reflection Eternal
Sage Francis
Silversun Pickups
A Skylit Drive
Solange and the hadley street dreams
Sorry-Ok-Yes
The Avett Brothers
The Decemberists
The Duke Spirit
The Everyday Visuals
The Gay Blades
The Grates
The Maine
The Matches
The Morning After Girls
The Morning Light
The Used
Tori Amos
Toy Horses
Uncle Lucius
Wale
Willie Nile
Wallis Bird
Wallpaper.
Ximena Sariñara
Your Vegas

Although many of the bands on this list probably wouldn't be played on the Top 40 radio, there are a few bands and acts that stood out that I am personally familiar with. These include Tori Amos, The Used, The Decemberists, Perry Farrel, Metallica, Ladyhawke, Forever the Sickest Kids, and Ben Harper. Personally if I were to attend this concert, I would definately make sure I saw The Used, Metallica, and Ben Harper.
Music lover are bound to get their music "fix" after attending this festival. Many musical genres are represented leaving nearly everyone satisfied.

First Blog

The beat I have chosen for class is the Arts. Within this topic, I plan on focusing on either music or fashion. I'm still torn between which topic, but I could probably write about both. These two sub topics within the Arts interest me the most. Although I didn't write about these two subjects for my news story or feature story, I'm looking forward to researching and writing about them. I'm thinking about checking out and writing about local music acts, as well as well known famous bands and singers.