Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Britney Spears' Blackout is Fiyaaaaa

Believe the reviews, if you like dance music and/or Britney (I'm of the former camp more than the latter), Britney Spears' newest album Blackout is hot! It's heavily produced and a little Futuresexlovesounds, but really, that's the kind of music Britney should be doing at this point because no one has ever been crazy about her vocals and she definitely, definitely cannot sing "I'm not a girl, not yet a woman" songs anymore.

On top again, yo.

I thought it was going to be a few months until anything would break Carrie Underwood's Carnival Ride monopoly on my inside car listening, but Britney will make an appearance this morning. Let's just say that it's good enough that you forget that she's wearing a wig all the time.

We keep on walkinggggg...

Monday, October 29, 2007

Britney Spears' Blackout Hits Store Shelves Today

Well, actually tomorrow... But nonetheless, it hits stores Tuesday, October 30th.

Ready to rock out with my cack out for Blackout

Gimme Gimme my Britney CD!!

While the CD has leaked all over the Internet like a water balloon made of Silly Putty, forcing her label to push the release date up by two weeks, I have resisted listening to the CD beyond what Ryan Seacrest plays on the radio while I'm getting ready in the morning.

I don't really know what to expect from it, but the reviews have been fantastic and I figure that it had to be good enough to leak to the Internet and for people to care.
Gimme Gimme your munnies!!

While Tuesday is Halloween eve, it's also the return of a wackier, crazier, but hopefully musically better Britney Spears.

Blake Lewis releases trailer for Audio Day Dream

American Idol Season 6 runner-up Blake Lewis has his debut studio album Audio Day Dream in the works and AI fans are pretty excited about this one. From the looks and sounds of the trailer he just released to YouTube, it sounds like it could be pretty amazing!




Blooblippidydahbloobah!
I was a Blake fan (or a Blaker Girl) this season, so I'm really looking forward to this album (scheduled for a December 4, 2007 release). There's another official trailer going around and you can see it on the AmericanIdol.com site.
Here's some pre-AI videos of Blake in action that have me very excited for the album.
I like this one...
More than this one

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Why Watch American Idol Season 7?

I'll be the first one to admit that I have questionable taste in music, TV, and especially movies, but American Idol is something that I'll defend until the show reaches its series finale, whenever that may be.

I've been an avid Idol fan since Season 1, only missing performances during Season 5, most of which I've since caught up on via YouTube. With Season 7 just around the corner, I recently got into a conversation at work where someone asked me why I was still so into the show six years after its premiere in the United States.

And no, it's not just because of Carrie Underwood...
Though this picture makes me think that's enough reason....

No, not just the rumors of Baylie Brown trying out again.

The thing that I like, actually love, about American Idol is that it's one of the few television shows in the U.S. that anyone could talk about with anyone and people would understand what you're talking about. They might not be watching that particular season or they might be unfamiliar with your favorite Idol, but most everyone has seen the show. People know what it's about and chances are they've followed at least one of the seasons to a moderate level and maybe even voted for an Idol or two.

I think that I legitimately have about 100 channels on my cable TV plan right now, which I know pales in comparison to people who have DirecTV or some kind of "All the Best" (AKA "All Your Loot") cable package from Time Warner. With cable TV fragmenting the television audience more and more with all these niche channels, there are so few programs that "everyone watches," these days.

Now I know that the upper middle class, college educated audience likes to say that "everyone" watches The Colbert Report and The Daily Show and always likes to say that "more people get their news from Colbert and Stewart than they do from network news" for some reason when they're trying to make a point (which is completely not true if people would actually check the ratings...as these were always some of the more idiotic statements I ever heard from liberal fist-pumpers in one of my classes), but really, it's only a small population of people that attracts a smaller audience than professional wrestling that watch those programs.
Kicks Colbert's ass

And yes, "everyone" in the literal sense does not watch American Idol. But I don't think I would be taking too big of a gamble when saying that close to a majority of our population has seen at least one episode of the singing/popularity competition. We're in a new era where there won't be 30 million people tuning in to see the last episode of a TV show. Remember when Seinfeld aired its final episode and everyone was wondering if it was going to top Cheers? That's never going to happen again. Even The Simpsons, currently television's longest running sitcom, whenever it ends, will not even come close to the numbers that Cheers had for its final episode. This isn't because it's not as good of a show (though most would argue that it's lost some of its luster), but it's because we're just in a different era of TV.

Those happy days are gone...
And Michael Richards is racist...
Or he just has an anger management problem.

Gone are the days when "everyone" watched one show. There is no Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, but there's Leno, Kimmel, Chelsea, Letterman, Colbert, and Stewart. There's no Dallas, but there's Grey's, Desperate, LOST, Friday Night Lights, Sopranos (RIP), Sex and the City (RIP), Entourage, Six Feet Under, Weeds, Gossip Girl, Smallville, Brothers and Sisters, Boston Legal, House, ER, Prison Break, and 24. But with Idol, we get pretty close. People generally know what the show is about and because the show reaches such a disproportionate mass of people compared to many other television programs, people continue hearing about it and reading about it.

Call me nostalgic, but I think that's awesome.

Yes, so the show is filled with sponsorship and cheesy music videos. Through all the clutter, there are a lot of diamonds in the rough as Kelly Clarkson, Chris Daughtry, Clay Aiken, Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler, Fantasia Barrino, Josh Gracin, and more have proven through their commercial success.

It begins... [Kelly Clarkson]


It continues... [Kelly Clarkson]

People say that they're annoyed with the "bad auditions," but I feel like they're comic relief for all the serious stories and serious talent that comes to the auditions. Without the silly auditions, the show would feel like a musical version of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

And a lot of them are really unique [Blake Lewis]


And memorable [Blake Lewis' Virtual Insanity].

If you don't like the music, singing, smiles, or general upbeat nature of the show, then that totally makes sense. Clearly, the show has been proven to find a commercially successful artist that will appeal to the masses through its voting system. If you love underground hip-hop or dark rock music, chances are the show won't really do anything for you. However, for what it is, I love how American Idol can be one of the few shows left that you can strike up random conversation about with pretty much anyone.

While it sounds like there will be a return to focusing on the contestants for the upcoming season, much like what was done this season with So You Think You Can Dance, with the performances, features, personalities, and music that await us come January, I cannot wait for American Idol Season 7.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

New hobby?

While I swing a little bit like Happy Gilmour and David Ortiz, I went to the driving range for the first time ever in life (I realize that I say that so much because of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, from the episode where he meets with Ashley's teacher) with my homey Linda last night.

You can get with this...
Or you can get with that...

I wouldn't say I was amazing, but I was a lot better than I thought. More importantly, golf, or well, the driving range, is a lot of fun! I enjoy the challenge and the discipline that you have to put towards the game. Because if you don't focus, you end up sucking! With a borrowed 9 Iron from the "Pro Shop" (is that what it's called? It makes me want to start calling people Chad and chit chat with people about playing polo at our house in the Hamptons... even though I don't know where the Hamptons are), I was hitting the balls to about the 120 yard mark. I was feeling pretty good about these swings, until this amazing Korean guy right behind me was just BOMBING the ball off the tee with his driver! Good lord.... made me proud...

I think I'm going to take a lesson or two so that I can learn proper technique and I might pick up a club this weekend. I never thought I'd like golf and I still don't know if I do, but I do love the driving range.


Not me.

Sports, Entertainment, Sports, Entertainment, Sports Entertainment?

Stemming from my job search almost 8 months ago, I get daily emails from MLB.com (Major League Baseball) that tell me about new jobs that are available at different teams around the league. While they're supposed to be geared to my preferences, I generally get information about jobs in ticket sales, administration, human resources, and even groundskeeping! Once in a while, there's a really good one.

And this morning, well, there was a really good one for the Houston Astros. It was one of those rare job descriptions that you read at 23 years of age and think "I could do and have done every single one of those things..." And honestly, every now and then these things are all kinds of tempting. I remember when I was doing phone interviews with the Atlanta Braves and they were thinking about flying me out to Atlanta to meet with their staff before my stupid Master's thesis killed that idea. I was so excited about the chance to work for a team - something that I pictured myself doing many a time during my college career.

In case any of my co-workers stumble upon here, no, I didn't apply. But yes, it was really tempting. Despite my love for Salsa dancing (I'm going to class today for almost three hours in a bit), Carrie Underwood, teeny boppers, and So You Think You Can Dance that says otherwise, sports is something that I feel like I know. I spent so much time with it and working various camps and whatnot aside from USC that I feel like it's an industry that I could do much more than just survive, but actually do really well in. I'm not enamored by it, nor do I have a false sense of the glamorous life that people think that comes with it. If you're not a player or a coach, I know that it's gritty, underpaying, and that people treat you like ass. But when sports comes calling, it's hard for me to resist and I can't really explain why.

And I know that there are good days and bad days in the office when you're an entry level drone. There are projects that are amazing, but there are moments when all of us question (who aren't just inheriting mommy and daddy's company) if we went to college to learn how to unjam a printer and set up email acocunts (though, I understand that's really important sometimes). For me, accumulating an extra $20k or so in debt to do grad school doesn't really feel like a good idea at the moment. I'm hoping that it'll pay off one of these days, but because I'm too stubborn and hell bent on being non-traditional, the payoff will likely come later rather than sooner.

Since I love sports and like entertainment, I should just work for the WWE - Sports Entertainment.

Rest in peace, homeys.

Tempted, but staying put...

Carrie Underwood to perform at Game 3 of the World Series

The Red Sox are in the World Series and my favorite singer Carrie Underwood will be opening up the show at Game 3 tonight with the Red Sox up 2-0. As long as the Sox win, could a game get any better?

Carrie says, "Noooo...."

For a preview of what we can look forward to tonight, here's Carrie's performance of the national anthem at the 2005 NFC Championship game.


And of course, you can check out the official news item on AmericanIdol.com! I do realize that I should have capitalized "Fall Classic," but my editing software isn't working for some reason from home.

Friday, October 26, 2007

The Real World / Hell's Kitchen

With some encouragement and more positive feedback than I expected, I sent in my essay to be considered for The Real World today.

I believe they're already filming the upcoming season, which I believe is in Hollywood, but with only one year left (have to be between 18 - 24 to apply), I thought I'd give it a shot.

I'm also going to a Hell's Kitchen taping in November, which I'm all kinds of excited about.

If they call, you know you guys will be the first to know.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Gimme gimme MORE!! Gimme gimme!! (Britney's Blackout)

At one point, Britney Spears was pretty much once the definition of a pop idol. She was called a "pop princess," and in a crowded room filled with others like Christina Aguilera, Christina Milian, Jessica Simpson, and Mandy Moore, for years, not only was Britney a "pop princess," she was the Queen Bee (of pop, not in terms of Lil Kim).


And now, two children, a "chaotic" marriage and divorce, a few less than flattering photos, the most famous haircut ever, and a performance at the MTV Video Music Awards that everyone said would tank her career, Britney is back with her new CD Blackout, dropping on October 30.
Gimme gimme MORE positive reviews!!

Perhaps what's most surprising of all is that Britney's Blackout, an album that most everyone was likely looking and hoping for to fail miserably to continue the story that has been the past two years of her life, is getting incredible reviews! People are calling it an upbeat, well-produced dance CD that brings Britney back to her days of "Toxic," which is my favorite Britney (though I miss "Sometimes" Britney...sometimes). So far, Entertainment Weekly gave it a B+ and The Times Online gave it 4 out of 5 stars! Gimme, gimme MORE!
What I find most interesting about these extremely positive reviews for Brit Brit is that they really fuel the whole idea of having a cycle of celebrity. People love watching celebrities fall... hard, only to have them rise up from the ashes better than they ever were before. With these positive reviews, it looks like Britney could be well on her way to doing so. What's next? Lindsay Lohan bouncing back from "I Know Who Killed Me" ? ... let's not get ahead of ourselves (but she definitely will).

While positive reviews for my Idol Carrie Underwood appear few and far between, Britney is racking them up by the armload. With "Gimme More," being one of the catchier songs on radio and top digital downloads online, Blackout will be in my possession next Tuesday.
Once again, Britney will no doubt be "the center of attention."

Friday, October 19, 2007

Carrie answers fans' questions in new Q&A on AmericanIdol.com

Check out our newest interview with Carrie Underwood posted on AmericanIdol.com! The questions are drawn from fan submissions that were provided on AmericanIdol.com and Carrie's official site.

Oh it's that good.

Fashion show slip ups

So I don't know a lot about the world of fashion, catwalks, runway models, etc., but apparently, there are a lot of mess ups. On America's Next Top Model, we see how models have to walk in horribly impossible shoes on wet stages and whatnot. It looks really hard!

The newest clip circling the web features a guy doing a flip on the catwalk, only to make a hole in the floor that one of the models somehow falls through later in the show. It's so ridiculous that you feel like you're watching a sitcom.


Put some cardboard over dat dere hole.

Another popular spill is Carmen Electra's famous flop at the Max Factor fashion show.

Wee!

But still, perhaps the most famous fall on a stylish walk was Miss USA Rachel Smith taking the most graceful "I'm going to spontaneously sit down on my butt on stage" fall ever in a Miss Universe pageant. While incredibly surprising, the clip kind of makes me sad because Rachel Smith is probably one of the hottest Miss USA's ever and she ended up getting 4th place instead of bringing the title back to the USA (because that matters).

So hot, yo.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Mike Williams looks a wee bit larger than he once was...

And this is not a knock on former USC Wide Receiver Mike Williams' conditioning.

For some reason, I couldn't stop laughing when I saw Mike Williams' profile page on NFL.com.

Is that the face of a wideout?? bahahahaha this is a ROFLcopter.

It makes me laugh because clearly, the NFL/Oakland Raiders have a picture of Mike Williams.

The guy on the right.

Here's a guy who was one of the most dominant receivers in college football history and now has two touchdown catches in three years.

What does that get you? A bad profile page on NFL.com.

Street Fighter 4 trailer

While it shows no actual gameplay, the Street Fighter 4 trailer is really sweet! Sadly, I don't think the Wii could come anywhere close to recreating any of this on a playable level.

Stephen Colbert announces his candidacy for 2008 election

No doubt Colbert's announcement will get a lot of youngins (like myself) to get out and vote, it'll be interesting to see how many votes he actually pulls if he keeps working this thing. Would he beat Ron Paul in a state or two with the popular vote?

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Marie' Digby + Britney Spears' Gimme More = Heaven

Sometimes, two of your favorite things combine to make a glorious love child... like Orange Chicken Fish Tacos...

This glorious miracle occurred when Marie' Digby decided to do a cover of Britney Spears' "Gimme More."



Marie' gives us more.

The original with Brit Brit.
The only thing that would have made this better is if Marie' started her video out with "It's Marie', b!tch."

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Eminem is 35, wtf? Happy birthday anyways!

TMZ is reporting that Slim Shady/Eminem/Marshall Mathers himself is turning 35 in just over an hour here on the West Coast.

For some reason, Eminem is always going to seem like he's in his late 20's to me. Regardless, happy birthday to Eminem, who really was one of the leaders of bringing hip-hop back to something worth listening to. Though critics give Em crap for some of his newest tracks and honestly, I feel like his production doesn't age as well as a Dr. Dre track or Eminem himself, Slim Shady is one of the few celebrities still out there that I really want to meet and haven't yet.

I remember seeing Eminem in concert my senior year of college was one of the most exciting concerts I've ever been to. It was one of those concerts where you know all the words and you're just loving the whole thing.

So to Eminem, one of the greatest emcees of all time, and the star of one of the greatest hip-hop movies of all time in 8 Mile (and yes, I've seen Boyz in the Hood, Juice, Belly, The Mack, Warriors, that piece of crap movie Tupac Resurrection (gimme my money back!) and probably more hip-hop movies than most Asians should), happy birthday!

Lose Yourself in some chocolate cake, Em!

Goodbye to FOX's Nashville?

Even though people say Nashville will be "rescheduled at a later date," I think it's safe to say that we've seen our last episode of Nashville.

Me and the 3 other guys who watched it for the hot girls are pretty bummed about it. I cursed my DVR for two straight weeks for not recording the show before realizing it got canceled. Taking over Nashville's spot was K-Ville, and soon, TNGAB.

R.I.P. Nashville, we hardly knew you. Now you're donezo (to pay homage to the show's uncle Laguna Beach, we had to use that word).



Though you are sad, Nashville, Carrie will sing you back to happiness.

This performance was the single moment that made me start listening to country music. To people who hate riding in my car because of that, blame Carrie and this moment.

The So You Think You Can Dance tour rolls on without me in the audience...

And that makes me sad.

At least we have this world of user-generated content to keep me from feeling like I'm really missing out, though seeing Lauren and Pasha perform at the beginning of this clip kind of breaks my heart.



And obviously, it would be exciting to be screaming alongside whatever girl or screaming boy took this video at Lacey and Kameron's contemporary Mia Michaels performance.

Quick Step Showdown: So You Think You Can Dance vs. Dancing with the Stars

In this corner...

Jennie Garth and Derek Hough representing ABC and Dancing with the Stars!


In the far corner...

Lacey and Kameron representing FOX and So You Think You Can Dance!

Because I am incapable of complaining for more than a few minutes...

This past Saturday and Sunday morning, I went to "Salsa boot camp" in South Los Angeles. While it was in the hood and I didn't really learn a whole lot (I just cleaned up a lot of my steps), it was a lot of fun - so much fun that my right calf muscle is absolutely killing me today. It ended up being 4 hours a day of Salsa review for me, but I really enjoyed it regardless.

One of the most fun things about Salsa dancing is being able to teach people who are also trying to learn if you manage to get a step or a move a little quicker than they do. Later, chances are, they'll return the favor.


Someday...

I'm going to start taking additional classes from Mary Scanlon, who is currently the dreamboat of a salsa teacher who teaches classes at USC. I'm really excited about it.

This post would have been longer, but stupid Blogger's image uploading went down.

Everyday that passes, I get a step closer to moving my site over to WordPress.

There are good days and well...

There will be bad days...

Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot that we can do about either of them. They just seem to come and go as they please.

There are some days that are amazing, when you see your name published on websites that you never thought you'd see it published and people think you're sooooo cooool (omfgggg).

Then, there are other days when you realize that your smart friends went on to have careers more relevant to our degrees after grad school and make almost twice as much money as you do, despite the fact that you have the same degree and had similar grades.

And though that sucks a lot of times, there are days when you're happy you're not doing what "they're" doing because you think you're making your way to where you eventually want to end up (just like they are, but they seem a lot closer to it), no matter the cost - financially and in terms of swallowing your pride every now and again, or well, every day.

Not every, but most every 20 something seems to reach a point of mid-20's crisis in their lives.

Me? I don't think I'm at that point. I think that I've become too emotionally detached from pretty much anything and everything to feel like I'm ever at any kind of crisis. Everything generally operates at a level that I like to call "a little better than ok."

However, I have to admit that there are days when unjamming printers and supplying my wing of the office with semi-perishable snacks is not the easiest thing in the whole world.

In the office world, someone else jamming the printer or the printer running out of toner becomes a complete disaster.

A mean email or passive aggressive IM sends people into a tailspin of "wtf"-ness. People panic. F-words are exchanged. Well-dressed people in pressed shirts start running down hallways in their wingtipped kicks.

Somehow, this administrative world that is such a big part of many a 20-something's life manages to create drama that believes it is something much worse (it's not) than running out of footballs at a 3 day high school football camp that you just figured out the logistics for over the course of 15 minutes at 5:45AM for a camp that starts at 7:00AM.

5 minutes without laser printer toner, paper clips, or even your free snacks that you pay for running out somehow becomes more of a disaster than having a football coach keep telling you to "get your f*cking sh!t together" for almost 12 hours straight after that coach has no idea that you were working until 3AM in the morning the night before just to make sure he had a clean shirt to wear.

There are some days when I think about how we made full marketing plans in grad school, communication plans, and somewhere along the way, I wrote a long paper that we called a thesis. And there are some days that are tougher than others to just swallow one's pride, grin, and bear it.

Most days, I'm happy to do it. Other days, it doesn't come too easy. I've been having a few of those days lately.

When people ask me about what I'm doing, or about how it is to be an assistant after grad school, my first response is that it's "character building." Really, it is.

I've learned a lot and I feel lucky to be where I am, but man, it is character building.

Being an assistant is exactly what being a student manager for a college football team is. There are moments of greatness and excitement and moments of "I can't believe I am picking up dog sh!t with my hands" (football only).

Hopefully, it gets me to where I want to be, but it's hard not to think that you have to get there yourself sometimes.

Hanging in. Almost Wednesday.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Rapper T.I. doesn't just need guns, but machine guns... with silencers...

TMZ is reporting that ATL rapper T.I. looks to be in trouble after recently giving his bodyguards money to purchase machine guns with silencers. Since T.I. is a convicted felon, apparently buying those, in addition to the 17 other firearms that T.I. allegedly had his bodyguard buy for him, is not ok.


Wild as the Taliban is right.

Nothing says protection like street sweeping machine guns with silencers attached to them.
And you know this.

Hopefully, T.I., who is one of the few rappers out that I still like and buy CDs of, wasn't about to go down in a blaze of glory because the machine guns sound a little excessive to me.

But regardless, OMG c0gr@+ts to T.I. on his BET AwRdz~! :) :)

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Testing out some new features

Please bear with me as the website undergoes some changes here and there as I'm experimenting with adding Technorati, Digg, and Del.icio.us tags to the blog, and I'm beginning to tag my posts so that past topics will be easier to find. The layout will change soon and it'll be for the better!

Inspiration via Ugly Betty / "Talk is Cheap"

As many of my close friends know, I generally have backwards weeks.

What does this mean? It means that I like to go out and see people Monday - Thursday and that I'd rather be home and relax or casually catch up with friends Friday - Sunday. I don't really know why, but that's just the way my life is right now and I find that it keeps me pretty sane.

So tonight, along with doing some deep thinking (deciding that I don't think I'm ready just yet financially and in terms of making personal and professional sacrifices to take the plunge and get a dog), I stayed in on this rainy Friday evening to catch up with one of my favorite TV shows - Ugly Betty.

Betty la Fea - !en ingles!

As most of us know, Ugly Betty (produced by Salma Hayek) is one of the most popular shows on ABC and is the American take on the telenovela Betty la Fea. Betty Suarez [Emmy award winner America Ferrera] is an executive assistant to the editor in chief of a fictional fashion magazine called MODE. While Betty works through the trials and tribulations of her dramatized for television life at the office and at home, she takes the job at MODE initially because she thought that it would give her the opportunity to become a professional writer, which is what she hoped to do after writing for the school newspaper at "Queens College."

In the most recent episode, Betty is challenged to pursue her writing and her dreams by a sandwich guy named Gio. To sum up what Gio said to her, we'll steal a line from the one and only DMX.
"Talk is cheap, mothaf*cka."

Eloquently put, Mr. X.... eloquently put.

While Betty tells people that she wants to be a writer, she hadn't really done any writing since getting her assistant gig at MODE. She decides that she wants to take a writing course and that even though her writing opportunities have not really come to her (aside from one episode last season where she wrote for Salma Hayek's magazine in the Meade publication family), she was going to make her own opportunities.

It's not often that I watch TV and see similarities to my own life. Because most of my TV watching consists of shows on MTV filled with rich Caucasian women, along with reality-based competitions, it's hard to find much in common for me in my TV viewing. However, this episode of Betty really struck a chord with me.

Fab inspiration.

Ok, so the obvious similarities are as follows:
- Betty is an executive assistant. I am an executive assistant.
- Betty wrote for her school newspaper. I wrote for my school newspaper
- Betty got good grades. I got good grades.
- Betty has many bad hair days. I have many bad hair days.
- Betty has stuffed animals on her desk at work. I have stuffed animals on my desk at work (though mine always looks like someone came in and trashed it looking for confidential documents in a Watergate-like frenzy...I still know where stuff is)

And really, as soon as I gave up on that whole "I want to work in sports" thing after taking one too many "f-words" after three years with the USC Football team, I've been wanting to write for a career. For that reason, that's why getting the chance to blog for Billboard was such a big deal to me. Even more, that's why winning that competition was a bigger deal for me. My sentences are simple and writing is unbelievably colloquial, but it always has been and it meant a lot to me that I was still able to win a competition and find an audience when put up against 25 other writers around the country without having to adjust my own style.

While it's annoying, especially to people who subscribe to an RSS feed on my blog, that's why I shamelessly promote any of my news items on AmericanIdol.com here on DaveChung.com, so I can have a place where I can see all my clips and hopefully have people read them and enjoy them. Every time I see my name up on Idol, I know that my story could be read by a few thousand people that day and even though they're often not the most exciting stories in the world and don't allow me to have any kind of voice, something about that makes me really proud. So far, that feeling hasn't gotten old for me.

Last Tuesday, I was interviewed by Mitch Peters, who is a touring writer for Billboard Magazine. We sat down in The Hollywood Reporter's studio and did a face to face interview on camera that Billboard will be using for some conferences later this year (if they post it on Billboard.com, you know I'll post it here). We talked about the Mobile Beat competition, challenges, feelings, concerts, etc. and it was a ton of fun. It was one of the bigger thrills that I've had in a while (and there's been a lot) to get interviewed by one of the authorities in music today. I thought I did a pretty good job, though I kept saying "ehhh..." before answering a question for some reason and hopefully that half hour will turn into one great 3 minute clip. And while that clip won't get me a job, it reminded me why I want to write for a job.

If I'm not writing, I can't say that I want to be a writer. If I'm not blogging, I can't keep saying that I want to have a successful blog that people know about. If I'm not doing either, I'm no different than those people who don't go watch movies, go to new websites, watch TV, or listen to the radio, because they "hate everything that's mainstream" yet claim that they want to work in the entertainment industry (that's stupid).

Beyond that, I need to start reading more. I get 5 magazines and I barely find the time to read any of them. BusinessWeek, NewsWeek, Billboard, Maxim, and Entertainment Weekly come to my apartment or desk at work on a very regular basis and I rarely ever find the time to read them. If I want to be a writer, I need to appreciate what's already out there and stop pretending like I can make it without understanding what I need to try and become.

Talk is cheap and I'm realizing that I need to find that motivation again.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Melinda Doolittle to host Christmas Concert @ Belmont University

Awww snap, girlfren...
She's going going... back back... to Belmont Belmont.
Melinda Doolittle will be hosting a concert (taping next month) that will be broadcast on PBS (around Christmas time) at her alma mater, Belmont University. She graduated in 1999 from the Nashville-area school with a degree in commercial voice.
Yay for college degrees!
For the full story, you can check out the my post on the news blog on AmericanIdol.com!

Carrie Underwood's Carnival Ride ads take over AmericanIdol.com

And I'm very ok with that.


If you click on any of the ads, it takes you to a full album preview of Carrie's newest CD, Carnival Ride! (releasing October 23, 2007). You can hear 30 second clips of every song on the CD and I could not be more excited.

Monday, October 08, 2007

Simpsonized American Idol

My love for American Idol is no secret from the massive amounts of Idol-related YouTube videos that get posted here on every other post.

Here's one of my all-time favorites from this past year's "Idol Gives Back" starring the cast of the Simpsons and Simon Cowell.


Don't Cha?
For obvious reasons, this clip remains my favorite.
Carrie Underwood - I'll Stand By You

SNL's Andy Samberg does K-Fed

I don't know if anyone watches SNL anymore, but Andy Samberg's impersonation of Kevin Federline makes me think about watching it again.


Feed your kids.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back...

Before reading this post, you have to play this video as the soundtrack to the post.



I know you like that.
DaveChung.com is back after a brief two week hiatus. Thank you to everyone who has checked in and has bothered me about updating. While it seems like I just disappeared and/or died, this was actually a planned time off post-Billboard where I was trying to regain some sanity and stay far, far away from the computer as much as possible when I got home. I'll be doing the monthly traffic report this week and we'll be back in effect (BACK IN THE BUILDING!!) shortly after. I was on a little bit of blogger burnout and just needed some time off.
Work has been really busy, just in terms of the regular everyday and the excitement of the upcoming American Idol season. I did interviews for a Billboard press release that never got released (unfortunately). Next week, I'll be doing on-camera interviews for being the winner of the Billboard Mobile Beat competition with one of the Los Angeles area Billboard editors for some conferences that Billboard will be holding later this year. Luckily, I just got a haircut so I can look fly-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-yyyyy.
And really, the new TV season started. I was rearranging my room. I would be lying if I didn't say that both didn't take a lot of my time.
To get us back on track, I'll needlessly post a Carrie Underwood video. Things will be back to normal soon, except the site will probably have a very new look soon courtesy of my friend Linda! (Linda, you don't know that yet)
Almost back...

Blake Lewis' Audio Day Dream


B-b-b-b-b-b-b-Blake!
Season 6 runner-up Blake Lewis will release his debut album Audio Day Dream through 19 Recordings/Arista Records on November 27, 2007. The beat boxing American Idol alumnus from Bothell, Washington is currently in the studio working on A.D.D.

Anwar Robinson joins the cast of RENT

American Idol Season 4 finalist Anwar Robinson will be joining the touring production cast of RENT in a multi-city tour of the Broadway smash hit. In his stage debut, Anwar will be playing Tom Collins in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical.