Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton reunite in "You Can't Make Old Friends"

In 1983 Kenny Rogers invited Dolly Parton to record “Islands in the Streams” with him, a now legendary song that became a huge hit and is considered one of the most successful duets of all time. Now, 30 years later, Kenny once again invited Dolly to record a new duet, “You Can't Make Old Friends”, for his upcoming album of the same name. I just saw the promo video a few minutes ago, and I’m still trying to find words to express what I’m feeling. Watching Kenny and Dolly together is always amazing, they have such a strong chemistry between them it almost jumps out of the screen, and to see these two living legends working together once again pretty much takes my breath away… The song is simple, yet touching, it talks about a friendship that has lasted a lifetime, about the memories they have shared and how new friends, although welcome, could never take the place of an old one when they are gone. In the video Kenny is singing alone in an empty theater  and Dolly sings her part in front of a mirror, with some occasional old footage of the couple. At some point Dolly stands up, looking gorgeous as always, and walks in the theater to meet Kenny, where they finish the song in a visually stunning scene. It touched me, really, because their friendship is not just a front, it is a life-long partnership that began professionally and progressed into a personal relationship that to this day give gossip magazines something to talk about. I admire Kenny’s voice, and I love everything about Dolly, and although they are both amazingly talented in their solo careers, together they make the most charismatic partnership in show business since Sonny and Cher. Those who know me can testify that I’m a sucker for old stars, which is true. I admire people who love what they do, despite money and fame, and legends such as Dolly and Kenny are high on my list of favorites. This collaboration is a landmark for country music and I’m super thrilled with this new video. I just hope Kenny and Dolly don't wait 30 years to make another duet, though. 

Watch the "You Can't Make Old Friends" Video:

"I remember where I was on 9/11"

That’s one thing everyone will always remember. I don’t talk much about 9/11 because after I moved to the US everyone else had all these crazy stories, which make sense because they experienced that traumatic day in a much greater scale than I, who at the time lived in Brazil. But I want to take a moment to write and reflect about my experience on that day. I remember waking up to see all TV channels focused on what was happening in New York City, and sleepy 10-year old me couldn't really grasp the seriousness of the situation just yet. My mother, however, was distraught, frantically trying to call my father who was working in Boston. You see, when you’re from another country you don’t really care to learn a foreign country’s geography, and the United States for us was just one big thing, none of us realized that New York and Boston were far apart. Anyway, seeing my mother’s desperation I finally understood that something really bad was happening, and I turned my attention to the TV. Yep, it was bad, and scary, and unbelievable. I always saw the US as a huge and powerful giant, so seeing it attacked and so vulnerable made me truly confused and afraid. Then I started to worry about my dad, but he contacted us to assure he was alright and to explain that he was actually far from New York, and that gave my family some comfort. I kept watching the news throughout the day, and for the next few weeks that is all we talked about in school. Teachers kept telling us about the importance of peace, while the news kept talking about war and terrorism. It was a dark time, even for a little kid in South America. However, my experience with 9/11 is overshadowed by what I hear from my friends who were in the US at the time and who are the same age as me. I couldn't even try to comprehend what went through their young minds, seeing their country in full desperation, and watching so much death and destruction so close to them. Today is a day of remembrance and prayer, and that is why I wanted to write a post about it. No one will, nor should, ever forget September 11, 2001 and the lives that were lost that day. It’s been 12 years, and we all remember that day as vividly as if it were yesterday. I hope everyone takes a moment to remember the victims and say a prayer to the families who lost loved ones that tragic day, and God bless America.

Meeting Roxette

I never believed that the Swedish pop duo Roxette would ever come back, or that they would make a new album, or go out on a new tour. I didn't believe it when Marie joined Per onstage for a surprise performance in 2010, or when they released the album Charm School, or when they announced the American leg of their world tour, and much less when I saw that they were coming to Boston on September 4, a year ago. I only allowed myself to believe that one of my biggest dreams was coming true a few weeks prior to the concert, when it was announced that the American fans would have the chance to win meet-and-greets with Roxette. I had to move fast, and I participated in a bunch of different contests available, and I won the banner contest for the Boston concert.

On the day of the show, I headed to the House of Blues with my best friend, and I was a nerve wreck. I met up with the winners of the other contests, and like me they couldn't believe what was happening. We were led to the side of the building and upstairs, where we waited for about half an hour in front of a door, behind which our idols prepared to receive us. After the wait was over, we were ushered into a small room, where we stood in silence and excitement. Then Marie Fredriksson walked in. Her presence seemed to bring light into that dim little room, and she proceeded to greet the fans, always smiling and making small talk. When it was my turn, we greeted each other, and she signed my flag which I had brought for that purpose, and then I asked her if I could give her a hug. She responded by hugging me tighter than I expected. I was taken by surprise and couldn't believe it, and she didn't let go for a while. After the hug she kept holding my shoulders and smiling at me, thanking me for coming, and she even grabbed my silver necklace and said she loved it. I was star struck, seeing that face I knew so well, the owner of the voice I heard nonstop throughout my teenage years. It was surreal. By that time Per Gessle had walked in and was greeting the fans in front of me. He got to me, signed my flag, and I got a handshake and a quick hug. He wasn't as affectionate as Marie, but he was very polite and nice to everyone, and I was happy to meet this musical genius. After every fan had a chance to individually interact with both Marie and Per, we were allowed to take one group picture. I tried to be as close to Marie and Per as I could, and I walked over to her. I stood next to her, in front of Per, who was holding her shoulder. Marie held on to a fan’s hand, and she looked at me, grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to her for the picture (which is seen above, but I cropped out the other fans, sorry). After the shot, she kept holding me and the other fan, thanking us and smiling, only letting go when we were told to leave the room. We were led downstairs, where my friend had saved me a spot in the front row, and there I told her about my amazing experience meeting Roxette, and waited for the show to start.

The concert was amazing, of course, especially seen from the front row, and that night was definitely one of the highlights of my life. I was the happiest person in the world, having met my idols, getting their autographs, a picture next to them, and seen them perform live. It has been a year this week, and thinking about that night still brings a smile to my face. I don’t think Per and Marie could ever understand how happy they made me that night, and how much their little actions meant to me, and I can only thank them for that unforgettable moment.

Quick post on tonight's VMA Awards

  Lady Gaga opens with a geometric nun habit, and then strips to a basic, but sparkly, stage outfit. She made  bunch of wardrobe changes right on stage, making nods to her previous looks from The Fame with the short blond wig and the iconic “Poker Face” hand gesture, and The Fame Monster with the yellow wig with dark roots, until finally embracing the ARTPOP look, which consisted of almost nothing.  Then there was Miley Cyrus – I’ve never been a fan of hers, but I always defend her when people criticize her for being edgy. Well, edgy doesn’t begin to describe her performance, twerking against Robin Thicke’s crotch and doing suggestive moves with the baseball number one glove. I loved it, she stole the spotlight from everyone else. I was never a fan of N sync either, but that was a spectacular performance. Justin Timberlake kills it every time. But that was way too long, felt more like a halftime show than a VMA performance. This was Justin’s night, no doubts about it, what with his performance and all his awards. Katy Perry’s very first performance of “Roar” was great, out of the box like everything Katy does. I love that song, it’s catchy and fun, fabulous way to end the show. It didn’t top the 2009 VMA Awards, nowhere near that, but it was cool to watch. Can’t wait for the Grammy’s, now.

Holy Plumbob, it's The Sims 4!

 

Earlier today in a press conference at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, EA Games released a first look at The Sims 4. The video included a short gameplay, showing the new and different features of the highly anticipated game.
The Sims is the best-selling PC franchise in the world, selling over 150 million copies since its original release in 2000, and every year since then the game has been outdoing itself with every new expansion pack and sequels. The current game, The Sims 3, brought as its main difference from the previous games an open world where for the first time players could bring their Sims out of their houses and into the town without the loading screen, and that was beyond simmers’ wildest dreams. All the freedom brought by The Sims 3 with the open world as well as in Create-A-Sim and the unlimited customizing in build and buy mode made me question what else could the developers do to make The Sims 4 stand out. Well, the answer is in the first look video; they took Create-A-Sim to a whole new level.
The player can now change the sizes of shoulders, thighs, buttocks, waist, and the belly alone without having to change the whole body. That’s new. Also, there is no need for sliders, the player can simply drag a specific body part, making it bigger, smaller, wider, higher, lower, or whatever look one can imagine. “It’s like playing with clay”, said the VP and Executive Producer Rachel Franklin at the press conference, and in the video that’s exactly what it looks like, making it possible to create Sims of ANY shape and size! Not a lot was said about personality and traits, but now the player can select different walking styles. I like how the developers didn't aim to make Sims look more and more like digital human replicas, but like a game character. The general appearance of Sims make them look like something in between Sims 2 and Sims 3, and not like something evolved from Sims 3 as expected. They do have a lot more facial expressions and details, though, and they look amazing.
The gameplay seems to have changed its focus, as it always does with every new game. Emotions seem to be a huge part of it now, and the player can control them not only with interactions, but with the objects as well, such as the décor around or objects you can manipulate. The player can make a Sim furious using a voodoo doll and then blow off steam by hitting a punching bag, for example.
Building seems to have evolved a little. I’ve never been a builder, but it looks like building will be way more fun this time. It looks simpler and easier, giving the player more freedom by dragging rooms around to expand and resize them. Players can also move rooms around, furniture and all, that’s new and super cool. Maybe they took their previous blueprint idea and expanded on that. The first look video says building is faster than ever, which is relief to me, always took me forever and a half to build a small house.
As for the world the game will take place in, nothing was really revealed, but two Sims are shown in the video taking off on a rocket. Will Sims be able to go to space? Earlier in the year there were rumors about Sims going to the moon, so is the rocket a hint that the rumors were true?
The Sims 4 will be released in 2014, and as a long time Simmer, I am beyond excited and looking forward to that. Watch the first look video below.

Lady Gaga's "Applause" video is out!

This morning Lady Gaga premiered the video for “Applause”, the first single from her upcoming album ARTPOP. Soon after that, the video was uploaded to her official YouTube page, getting thousands of views in its first minute online.
The video is heavily inspired by performance arts, fitting to the tile. Such inspiration is shown in the now iconic smudged clown makeup, as well as in Gaga coming out of a magician’s hat with occasional colored smoke effects, and in Gaga holding a leg-shaped bouquet as she walks a sort of runaway amidst a cloud of sparkly confetti to the sound of loud cheers, looking like a Tim Burton version of Miss America. There’s also an overpowering reference to theatre, in special her Kuroko-style outfit, which she wears throughout the video. The part that intrigued me is the scene where she is in a cage, wearing a yellow wig reminiscent of the Fame Monster era, with a crazy expression on her face, possibly showing a downside to fame. Not to mention her head on a black swan… is this her reference to ballet and dance?
As a longtime fan, I can say that I am pleased with this video. To tell the truth, I was a little nervous after the Born This Way phase, which brought the not-so-pleasant video to “Mary The Night”, and don’t get me started on the disappointing “Edge Of Glory”, but Lady Gaga never ceases to surprise me – or the world. I won’t go as far as saying she outdid herself, because she didn’t; she did not go over the top and clearly did not try to shock the world, as she usually does. Her outfit, makeup and hair styles lately have been simple and elegant, nothing too extravagant, very unlikely of her. I’m sure the world expected her to come back to the music scene riding a dragon, wearing Oprah as a hat and an outfit made of 50 live pandas, but she seems to be going in a different direction this time. Still, it’s too early to tell.
ARTPOP looks good so far, and I’m hopeful this time around. I don’t know what to expect, and over the last couple of years I learned not to have any expectations when it comes to Lady Gaga. I’ll just enjoy her new material and hope she does her best. I’m happy she’s back with new music, regardless of what the sales or charts will say, and can’t wait to hear her new album!

Watch the “Applause” video

Agnetha Fältskog’s disappointing "Dance Your Pain Away" video

On the day new singles from Lady Gaga and Katy Perry came out, not many people would be paying much attention to 63 years old former ABBA member Agnetha Fältskog’s new music video. Yesterday night it was announced that Agnetha’s new video would come out today, August 12, and it would feature Agnetha as well as the ten winners of a video contest in which fans from all over the world submitted videos of themselves dancing to her new single. I had been looking forward to it for a long time, and earlier today Agnetha’s official Facebook page released the video to her latest single, “Dance Your Pain Away”, from her 2013 album A.
The video does feature the winners of the contest, but Agnetha herself only appears for a couple seconds in images from Stockholm’s Pride Festival. No one bothered to make an exclusive new video, they just took some conveniently pre-made images and pasted them in an amateur-looking montage. Needless to say, the video disappointed fans everywhere. In a matter of hours, a wave of negativity came flooding on her Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages. It seems like what is making the fans so upset is that the single failed in the charts, therefore everyone was hoping for a pickup in the sales after the video release. Agnetha, and Universal, not working hard to promote this single shows disrespect for the fans and for the album as a whole. “Dance Your Pain Away” is definitely the most commercial song of the album, but it is catchy enough to help with the sales, but a mistake like this video was such an epic fail that it can really hurt the album and the artist.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Agnetha, her new album, and even this single, but I am truly disappointed with this video. I understand Agnetha had very little to do with this, but she is the artist and does have a say in the matter and could have done something to make it a successful single. Truth is, she didn’t.

Watch the "Dance Your Pain Away" video