Pork here.

What’s shaking, AKA Listeners?

You’ll read enough about Beyonce’s I Am Sasha Fierce in your newspaper and/or on just about any other site you’ll visit today, so I’m relieving myself of all Beyonce duties and focusing more on some releases that I’m actually excited about. After hearing 5 of its tracks, I Am Sasha Fierce leaves me not only unexcited, but also uninterested. Sorry, B.

Much more worthy of your eartime this week is Safe Trip Home by Dido. This is her third time around with a full length album and when I first read that she’d be working with Jon Brion, who is responsible for producing some of my all time favorite albums by Aimee Mann, Rufus Wainwright and Fiona Apple, I was surprised and elated. Upon hearing the results of their collaboration, I’m almost overwhelmed. In the span of just three albums Dido has managed to become a voice that can cut through the thickest of my mental preoccupations and reduce me to the most vulnerable of states. The subtle swells in Jon Brion’s production and multiple instrumentations are simply stunning when paired with Dido’s fragile-yet-firm vocals.

Both parties seem to be masters in restraint and demonstrate these strengths while painting some of the most beautiful scenes I've encountered this year. One listen to “It Comes And It Goes” and this should be apparent to even the most passive of listeners.

Slow and steady is how “Don’t Believe In Love” is delivered and that’s also how it hits. As a first single, it may lack the initial impact felt by “Here With Me” or “White Flag,” but upon repeated listens, it’s weight is slowly revealed . . . and felt. Once opened, Dido slips you some “Quiet Times” and proves yet again that she can slam you to the floor with the softest of blows. (Listen to it today in our Music Player.) Beauty through simplicity. This album has so much of both. It also has some “additional keyboards/ambience” by Brian Eno, so . . . you can guess what’s going on here.

Sometimes haunting. Sometimes embracing. Often both. In times like these, which seem to be the craziest, it’s music like this that’s necessary to heal you up a bit. It will soothe your soul in the same way that the madness riles it up.

A few weeks back I mentioned that Travis was my second favorite Scottish collective without taking a minute to mention who beats them out. No, it’s not Del Amitri (though I do enjoy them some). It’s not The Proclaimers. Nope, not Snow Patrol or Cocteau Twins (although brilliant as can be). Well, surprise, surprise! It’s none other than Belle and Sebastian. Nothing moved me more than If You’re Feeling Sinister in 1997 and I have been devoted ever since. I had only moved to New York City one month before being instructed by a friend of mine to immediately go to my nearest record store (at that point the HMV on 86th and Lexington) and buy this ground(and heart) breaking album. Er, cassette actually. Shut up. Let’s just say that I’ll never forget listening to it for the first time and desperately trying to keep up with where the music was taking my mind. Places I’d never been. Things I’d never seen. Friends I’d never met. Love I’d never felt. Let me be that friend to you now and urge you to own If You’re Feeling Sinister, which isn’t what’s even on today’s release schedule, but responsible for what would make me obsess about this particular release 11 years later. A collection of their BBC sessions is obviously what makes up The BBC Sessions (1996-2001) and hearing these performances laid out in such a way is more than a treat for fans like us who don’t get regular access to such amazing performances often. B-sides and rarities abound in these live takes that will leave you as numbed as their studio counterparts.

And then blah, blah, blah...something about David Cook.
:]

(Take a little time and enjoy . . . ) The List. All new releases for today, Tuesday November 18, 2008. After the jump!

Belle and Sebastian – The BBC Sessions (1996-2001)
Beyonce – I Am Sasha Fierce
The Black Keys – Live at the Crystal Ballroom (DVD)
Chris Botti – Live In Boston
Bring Me The Horizon – Suicide Season
The Byrds – The Notorious Byrd Brothers
David Cook – David Cook
De La Soul – De La Sous Is Dead
Dido – Safe Trip Home
The Doors – Live at The Matrix 1967
False Icons – God Complex (produced by Al Jourgensen)
Foo Fighters – Live at Wembley Stadium (DVD)
Sammy Hagar – Cosmic Universal Fashion
Il Divo – The Promise
Ricky Martin – 17
Paul McCartney – The Space Within Us (Blu-ray)
Mudvayne – The New Game
Nickelback – Dark Horse
Danny O’Keefe – In Time
Luciano Pavarotti – Life in Seven Arias (DVD)
Shontelle – Shontelligence
The Who – The Who at Kilburn 1977 (DVD)

and today’s the day for all you Madonna fans to prepare for 2009 by getting your official 2009 Madonna calendar. Now you know.

All New Music Releases - November 18th, 2008

Music Video:
Beyonce and Beyonce and Justin Timberlake
"Single Ladies" (1:56)
This is the real video mixed with the SNL parody.

Watch them all after (you guessed it) the jump.

Click below to jump to the full size players or click here to launch them in a new window. Or just hang out and watch them in The Media Bar next door.

Today's Gigantic Media Bar is so big because so much happened over the weekend! Let's get started.



Daily Song:
Fleet Foxes
"White Winter Hymnal"







Television:
SNL
Justin Timberlake as one of Beyonce's "Single Ladies" backup dancers (5:01)
and
Paul Rudd and Adam Samberg get gay and naked in "Everyone's A Critic"
and
"The Kissing Family"
It's real, real gay.



Politics:
4 Prop 8 videos
Melissa Etheridge's wife Tammy Lynn appears on Oprah and attempts to singlehandedly destroy the right for gays to marry. Best line from Lady's Brunch Burger Award-winner Tammy Lynn: "I don't care about the word 'marriage.'"(9:45)

Wanda Sykes comes out! Yup, the woman who convincingly argued that everyone getting fucked in the ass might just save all marriages has come out! Best line in her coming out speech? "I'm proud to be a woman. I'm proud to be black. And I'm proud to be gay." (4:24)

Ashton Kutcher on Bill Maher. Best line from Kutcher: "It's unconstitutional!"

A Mattachine Society-era Michelangelo Signorile puts on the best display of rational thinking so far by any of our gay spokespeople. Best line from Signorile: "Are you going to let me talk, Maggie?"

And then there's medavog, the youtube user who uploaded what could possibly be not just the best Prop 8 video out there, but very possibly the best video of any kind in the past six months.

Click below to jump to the full size players or click here to launch them in a new window. Or just hang out and watch them in The Media Bar next door.

Daily Song:
Fleet Foxes
"White Winter Hymnal"

Politics?

And then there's medavog, the youtube user from my hometown of San Diego who uploaded what could possibly be not just the best Prop 8 video out there, but very possibly the best video of any kind in the past six months. Favorite line: "The Berlin wall, to name a few."


Television:

Justin Timberlake as one of Beyonce's "Single Ladies" backup dancers (5:01)

Television:
Paul Rudd and Andy Samberg get gay and naked in "Everyone's A Critic"

Television:

SNL "The Kissing Family"
This should be called "The Gay Kissing Family" (4:10)

Pork here with this week's Chart Attack.

T.I. bounces up and down, Beyoncé just goes down.

T.I. is continuing to carve out one of the strangest paths to chart history ever as two of his songs refuse to stop switching spots at the top of the chart. This week it’s “Live Your Life” (feat. Rihanna) that bounces back from No. 2 and sends “Whatever You Like” underneath it. It looks like this flip-flop lock T.I.’s had on the top two spots might be just about over as “Whatever You Like” loses its bullet. No sweat off his back since with these two singles alone, he should be able to have ‘whatever he likes’ for the rest of his life. The boy did somethin’ right. (P.S. Don’t count out P!nk’s “So What” as her chance to reclaim the No. 1 since it’s regained strength and climbed back up to No. 3. Go, P!nk!)

The fate of the first single from I Am Sasha Fierce ain’t so fierce. After an impressive 68-3 leap last week, “If I Were A Boy” loses its steam and falls to No. 5 in only its third week on the chart. Uh-oh, B. I can’t say I’ve felt the aura of success anywhere around this project. It’s time to take a break. How about you don’t give us anything new for a year or two and let us appreciate you a bit more, eh? You’re drowning in a sea of hip-hop mediocrity. Fact is, Sasha Fierce sounds just like Beyoncé. Without any sort of reinvention, you won’t achieve your emancipation.

P!nk couldn’t move AC/DC, but she does possess the Hot Shot Debut on this week’s Top 200 Albums chart with a stunning No. 2 entry. Two spots below, John Legend jumps in with Evolver, which tops this week’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in its first week.

Off-The-Chart: Thank you to my friend Scott for designing Chart Attack’s new eye-catching logo! It’s one step closer to the kind of fun I want us all to have here. :] Thanks, Scott!

That’s just about all for now, but take a little time and enjoy . . . .

A View From The Top:
After the jump, a look at what’s sitting atop this week’s Billboard charts.

November 15th, 2008 (week ending)

Singles:
-Hot 100: T.I. feat. Rihanna: “Live Your Life”
-Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs: Ne-Yo “Miss Independent”
-Pop 100: P!nk “So What”
-Mainstream Top 40: P!nk “So What”
-Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop: Ne-Yo “Miss Independent”
-Hot Modern Rock Tracks: The Offspring “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid”
-Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks: Metallica “The Day That Never Comes”
-Triple A: Snow Patrol “Take Back The City”
-Hot Rap Tracks: T.I. “Whatever You Like”
-Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks: Jason Mraz “I’m Yours”
-Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks: David Cook “The Time Of My Life”
-Hot Digital Songs: T.I. feat. Rihanna “Live Your Life”
-Hot Digital Tracks: Taylor Swift “You’re Not Sorry”
-Rhythmic Top 40: T.I. “Whatever You Like”
-Hot Dance Club Play: Mary Mary “Get Up”
-Hot Dance Airplay: Ercola & Daniella “Every Word”
-Hot Dance Single Sales: M.I.A. “Paper Planes”
-Pop 100 Airplay: P!nk “So What
-Hot 100 Airplay: T.I. “Whatever You Like”
-Hot Singles Sales: Artists Stand Up To Cancer “Just Stand Up!”
-Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales: Artists Stand Up To Cancer “Just Stand Up!”
-Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay: Ne-Yo “Miss Independent”
-Hot Adult R&B Airplay: Jennifer Hudson “Spotlight”
-Hot Singles Recurrents: Michael Jackson “Thriller”
-Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Recurrents: Keyshia Cole “I Remember”
-Hot 100 Recurrent Airplay: Natasha Bedingfield “Pocketful Of Sunshine”
-Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Recurrent Airplay: Keyshia Cole “I Remember”
-Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles: Zac Efron & Corbin Bleu “The Boys Are Back”
-Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: E-40 feat. Shawty Lo “Break Ya Ankles”
-Hot Ringtones: Grupo Montez De Durango “Adios Amore Te Vas”
-Hot Country Songs: Carrie Underwood “Just A Dream”

Albums:
-The Billboard 200 Albums: AC/DC – Black Ice
-Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums: John Legend - Evolver
-Top Digital Albums: Pink - Funhouse
-Top Rock Albums: AC/DC – Black Ice
-Top Modern Rock/Alternative Albums: Snow Patrol – A Hundred Million Suns
-Top Hard Rock Albums: AC/DC – Black Ice
-Top Internet Albums: Bloc Party – Intimacy
-Top Independent Albums: Kottonmouth Kings – The Green Album
-Top Electronic Albums: Lady GaGa – The Fame
-Top Rap Albums: T.I. – Paper Trail
-Top Soundtracks: High School Musical 3: Senior Year
-Top Cast Albums: Original Broadway Cast Recording – Wicked
-Top Country Albums: Toby Keith – That Don’t Make Me A Bad Guy
-Top Heatseekers: Deerhunter - Microcastle

…on the international front:
-European Hot 100 Singles: Guru Josh Project “Infinity 2008”
-European Top 100 Albums: AC/DC – Black Ice

…and…just where it should be:
-Hot Holdiay Songs: Bing Crosby “White Christmas”

Pork here with this week's Chart Attack. Here is a look at this week’s Billboard charts, week ending November 8th, 2008.

Don’t let anyone tell you that the music industry is dead. This week AC/DC decided to experiment with the ailing warhorses that are current-day record stores and allowed their newest release, Black Ice, (their first in 8 years) to only be sold at Wal-mart, Sam’s Club and their own website and they managed to move more than 3/4 of a million units. Their tally of 784,000 copies gives them the second largest opening of the year on the Billboard 200. (Chances are Lil Wayne will take the honor of biggest first-week sales right up until the end of the year since Tha Carter III exploded with 1.005 million units in June). I wonder if AC/DC could’ve possibly bested Lil Wayne if they had made their album available at all retail locations including iTunes, but another part of me thinks that the buzz created by their limited-access release is what helped draw a lot of the attention to the release. Either way, the people have shown that they still love music and they will still pay for it.

Beyoncé and/or Sasha Fierce couldn’t pull off quite the stunt that Britney did a couple weeks back with “Womanizer”, but the first single from I Am Sasha Fierce, “If I Were A Boy” does take an eye-opening leap from 68-3 on the Hot 100. As predicted, not even the mighty B could disturb T.I.’s reign over the top 2 spots as “Whatever You Like” and “Live Your Life” secure the top two spots on the big chart respectively.

“If I Were A Boy” does manage to knock “Womanizer” off of the top of Hot Digital Songs. Let’s see what Sasha Fierce can do.

Ne-Yo slinks into the No. 1 position on no less than 3 different charts with “Miss Independent.” It’s comforting to see this kind of success from an artist of such substance in this scary age of vocoding and circus tricks in music. I strongly urge you to get your hands (and ears) on a copy of his latest full-length, Year of the Gentleman.

A final congratulations to Danny Tenaglia who lands the No. 1 Hot Dance Club Play track this week with “The Space Dance.” Ten years after “Elements” topped the charts, D.T. proves that if you ‘be yourself,’ you can do whatever you want . . . even in space. :]

And make sure to go over and check out this week's Listen Up (New Music Tuesday). What's sitting atop all of this week's Billboard charts, plus Bing Crosby continues his reign, after the jump.

A View From The Top:
Here is a look at what’s sitting atop this week’s Billboard charts:
November 8th, 2008 (week ending)

Singles:
Hot 100: T.I. “Whatever You Like”
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs: Ne-Yo “Miss Independent”
Pop 100: P!nk “So What”
Mainstream Top 40: P!nk “So What”
Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop: Ne-Yo “Miss Independent”
Hot Modern Rock Tracks: The Offspring “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid”
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks: Metallica “The Day That Never Comes”
Triple A: O.A.R. “Shattered (Turn The Car Around)
Hot Rap Tracks: T.I. “Whatever You Like”
Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks: Jason Mraz “I’m Yours”
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks: David Cook “The Time Of My Life”
Hot Digital Songs: Beyoncé – If I Were A Boy
Rhythmic Top 40: T.I. “Whatever You Like”
Hot Dance Club Play: Danny Tenaglia “The Space Dance”
Hot Dance Airplay: Ercola & Daniella “Every Word”
Hot Dance Single Sales: M.I.A. “Paper Planes”
Pop 100 Airplay: P!nk “So What
Hot 100 Airplay: T.I. “Whatever You Like”
Hot Singles Sales: Artists Stand Up To Cancer “Just Stand Up!”
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales: Artists Stand Up To Cancer “Just Stand Up!”
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay: Ne-Yo “Miss Independent”
Hot Adult R&B Airplay: Jennifer Hudson “Spotlight”
Hot Singles Recurrents: Natasha Bedingfield “Pocketful Of Sunshine”
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Recurrents: Noel Gourdin “The River”
Hot 100 Recurrent Airplay: Natasha Bedingfield “Pocketful Of Sunshine”
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Recurrent Airplay: Noel Gourdin “The River”
Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles: Chairlift “Bruises”
Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: Deborah (Who?) Cox “Did You Ever Love Me”
Hot Ringtones: Grupo Montez De Durango “Adios Amore Te Vas”
Hot Country Songs: Carrie Underwood “Just A Dream”

Albums:
The Billboard 200 Albums: AC/DC – Black Ice
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums: T.I. – Paper Trail
Top Digital Albums: Soundtrack – High School Musical 3: Senior Year
Top Rock Albums: AC/DC – Black Ice
Top Modern Rock/Alternative Albums: Metallica – Death Magnetic
Top Hard Rock Albums: AC/DC – Black Ice
Top Independent Albums: Ray LaMontagne – Gossip In The Grain
Top Electronic Albums: M.I.A. – Kala
Top Rap Albums: T.I. – Paper Trail
Top Soundtracks: Mamma Mia!
Top Cast Albums: Original Broadway Cast Recording – Wicked
Top Country Albums: Kenny Chesney – Lucky Old Sun
Top Heatseekers: Five Finger Death Punch – The Way Of The Fist

. . . on the international front:
European Hot 100 Singles: P!nk “So What” (go P!nk!)
European Top 100 Albums: Metallica – Death Magnetic

. . . and . . . keeping his top spot like a true P.I.M.P.:
Hot Holdiay Songs: Bing Crosby “White Christmas”

Have Americans forgotten the true meaning of Halloween?
BBC show "Have I Got New for You" investigated for homophobic remarks about Iranian gays

Huffington Post writer in lesbian murder/suicide tragedy

Beyonce hires a tranny back-up dancer?

At&T announces that all iPhone users will get free Wi-Fi

The Financial Times calls Rachel Maddow a "chirpy gay liberal" while leaving Matt Drudge's gayness unmentioned.

Study find that the UK's version of "Little Britain" homophobic. Another study will no doubt soon find that the American version is incredibly unfunny.

This week's Tennis Mailbag.

Cloris Leachman before "Dancing With The Stars"

Why on Earth would Beyonce advertise her crazy like this? I just don't get it. First, no one didn't know that Beyonce is Sasha Fierce. She's been calling herself Sasha for years. (I got into a fight with one of my best friends, who is a giant Beyonce fan, for saying I thought calling her performance self "Sasha" made her sound unstable.) It makes her sound unstable. That is the kind of crazy you keep far away of the public. Unless, of course, you are trying to rip off Mariah Carey, which Sasha apparently is. Then, you advertise your crazy in a bizarre and ineffective ad campaign that brings to mind "Nomi Malone" from Showgirls. "Ain't nobody 'No-the-real-mi,'" an unmodern Beyonce seems to be saying, "that's why I'm trying to trick you guys!" Yeah, real tricky, B.

In her album "The Emancipation of Mimi," Mariah pulled herself from the brink of irrelevance with sheer talent. Now, we get Beyonce's ersatz version. She stole the idea to re-invent herself through a private personality directly from Mimi. And, I mean, "I Am Sasha Fierce?" Christian Siriano retired that word last year. Sasha should have just gone with "Sasha." And left the "fierce" for her drag friends trapped in a 2006 time-warp.

Even worse, her "double-album" features a total of 11 songs. 6 on one, 5 on the other. Her father, Music World CEO Mathew Knowles, says, "Beyonce was adamant -- and she has complete creative control -- about dividing her songs. She felt she couldn't mix the songs together. She's in a much different space now than she was one year ago. She's married and in a really good place and this album reflects that."

Uh . . . being a really famous person trying to trick people into thinking you're someone else in order to garner yet more attention for yourself(selves) is just a little too Jan-Brady-in-a-curly-black-wig for my taste.

Find more videos like this on !! omg blog !!
Video footage of Daniel Radcliffe naked in Equus. (NSFW)
Bono to write the occasional column for The New York Times

The director of Quantum of Solace: "Daniel and I are very much in sync; he's a highly intelligent and sensitive actor. His achievement has been to humanise Bond, so that he could be one of us - not a hero, but an antihero with a dark side. Meeting him made me want to jump in, take the risk.'"

Beyonce enjoyed gaining weight for her role as Etta James

The Bastard Life website (Kinda NSFW). I don't get this website at all. It's supposed to be about sex for straight people, gay people, bi people, but there's something kind of creepy about the weird whiteness of the site. But they had this pic, so . . . .

No pride march for the gay king of Poland

CNNSI's Jon Wertheim's Weekly Tennis Mailbag

You don't need to be smart, just controlling. There's a new scientific appreciation for the importance of self-control. This trend began with Walter Mischel's astonishing marshmallow experiments, in which the ability of a four-year old to resist the temptation of a second marshmallow turned out to be a better predictor of future academic success than his or her IQ score. In other words, willpower trumped raw intelligence."

The New York Times' endorsements through the ages


From a DVD on the making of Mika's Paris concert. And, Mika is working on new album.

Dlisted always has good stuff. Here's Beyonce's new one. I don't know. Pork and I were doing the math, and it looks something like "Beyonce - tool + vocal talent = Jennifer Hudson." Well, sort of. Jennifer's new album is kinda really bad except for two songs.