It’s the holidays and y'all are traveling near and far. From grandma’s house or your moms’ second husbands’ family, you need tunes to get you through the dull times. Woudn’t it be delightful if they made an iPod flask? Imogen Heap with grey goose on ice; the holidays would be a blast!

Here’s what the lounge has loaded up on the ipod for the travels:

Everything But the Girl - Adapt or Die:Ten Years of Remixes. I have plugged this album before. It's just as good as it was then.

Madonna - Confessions on a Dancefloor. Honestly, I haven't made my mind up yet on this album. Have you decided?

Pet Shop Boys - Bilingual. In 1996 I bought this CD like any good gay boy should, but hardly digested or understood the contents at the time. Picking it up nearly ten years later, the album couldn't resonate more. Give it a shot. See if you feel the same.

Imogen Heap - Speak for Yourself. Obvious choice. "The Moment I Said It" is a most-played.

Angie Stone - Stone Hits. "I Wasn't Kidding" follows Heaps' song.

hey willpower. Damn you, popmuse. Damn you. I'm hooked.

Goldfrapp - Supernature. Jump on it baby, before ev'ryone else does. This album, with any luck, will blow up this spring in the states!

Peter Donnelly - Express Cafe. A Provincetown chap with a cup full o' soul. This versatile release is a favorite of mine. Check out "Dangerous Games." Oh yeah, and he's cute as hell! Doesn't hurt, eh!

Ashlee Simpson - L.O.V.E. She MUST be stopped! Until then I find this to be my guilty pleasure.

Theresa Sareo. A dear friend of mine with an amazing release. "Wishing" is haunting.

LISTen, v1

Rochester New York's own Kristen Wiig is quickly breathing new life into the comatose cast of Saturday Night Live. The former Groundlings comedienne is taking on Megan Mullally's Karen Walker and Judy Garland. Wiigs' dead-on impersonations are giving folks a reason to watch Horatio Sanz (aka BULL) trudge his way through the SNL china shop. Isn't it time for him to go make Boat Trip 2: Gay Island?

Check out Kristen doing Megan doing Karen, hosting the Rockefeller tree lighting ceremony. Click here and watch the Happy Holidays video.

On a related note, the Dane Cook-hosted episode was the highest-rated show of the season. Cook is an up-and-coming comic that I have already fallen for, broke up with and married, all in a week. He's brilliant and hot.

movietime!

Upcoming trailers have been released at the Apple site; yum!

Superman Returns
Poseidon
The Da Vinci Code
Final Destination 3 [huh?]

Robyn – Robyn (2005)

Perhaps summed up best to most readers by the second single “Who’s that Girl,” Robyn’s career has hardly made much of an impression with the US pop market. Sure, the name sounds familiar, I know. It’s not Robin S – the big voiced black woman who surged onto the dance charts with “Show Me Love.” The Robyn we’re chatting about, who coincidentally, also had a hit with a ditty called “Show Me Love,” burst onto the pop charts in 1997 with “Do You Know (What it Takes)”. Quickly marketed by RCA as the new blonde and blue-eyed soul (straight outta Sweden) Robyn lost her stateside groove just as fast as her entry into the marketplace. Flash-forward to 2005, Robyn has released her fourth album internationally. Now available through iTunes, I couldn’t help but spread the word as we gobble up holiday cookies and candy canes; what’s a little more sugar at this point?

Be Mine, the lead single off the album, reads like an entry in Robyns’ blog on unrequited love. With a staccato orchestration and syncopated thumps that beat like the heart on her sleeve, Robyn chimes in on the pain of missed opportunities: “As if a good thing ever can make up for the all the pain / there’ll be no last chance to promise to never mess it up again.” My favorite song on the album.

Questioning the perception of perfection, “Who’s that Girl” identifies those challenges we face. Can you relate?

The only hiccup on the album may be the spoken introductions in-between tracks. A bit Janet, if you ask me.

Originally on 2003’s import Don’t Stop the Music, “Should Have Known” is the darkest and most frank track on the release. “I should have seen it comin’ / I should have fuckin’ known.” Lyrically jarring when spewed from the Swiss ingénue, the cussing only adds an additional layer to all the heartbreak this girl's gone through.

Pop gems “Handle Me” and “Bum Like You” contradict Robyns’ dainty appearance, allowing her to show she’s alpha to the boys.

Coming quick and fast, the 35 minutes of pure pop pleasure on Robyn isn’t rocket science. It’s manufactured pop, but good enough to offer the casual audiophile a bit of a switchup from terrestrial radio stations (Black Eyed Peas anyone?) It's no secret I'm a big fan; I did my best to listen objectionably yet still came through loving this collection.

Give a visit to robyn.com, view the "Be Mine" video and download free mixes of “Be Mine.” My personal favorite, the Verschwende Deine Jugend Remix, gives the track a sense of rushed urgency; not unlike the sugar rush I get after listening to this set.

For all of you stateside, spend $10 and buy Robyn at iTunes today.

Fanclub site
Official site

I tend to shy away from celeb-postings, but this is just too good to be [if it is] true...

Mario over at PerezHilton scoops on that WT husband of Britney Spears; reports have been runnin' the wire that she's had enough of her baby daddy. Let's hope Britney wises up and dumps his talentless ass.

Damn, lost my bloggin' mojo!
Between some family stuff, my birthday and the holidays, there's been little time for me to update this page!

I should have some pictures to share this week from our party this past weekend; thanks to all that came.

We'll be heading to Provincetown for the new year; if you'll be in the area, holla!

In the meantime, check out these blogs:

The Corner Apartment (great commentary on his gay BFF [me] and Brokeback Mountain)

Popmuse (NAILED the Jessica / Nick story; ain't noone else gonna trump that!)

Can you tell the crew liked group shots?

The Rochester Insider found out just how gay gayshawn is!

Nice plug!

Episodes of the Office and other NBC shows are now available for purchase at iTunes. Surely I'm not the only one who's noticed this wave in TV writing and development: with The Office alone, I can think of at a least FOUR product placement-based episodes. A trend that media analysts predicted years ago. Most recently: Chili's (2x), iPod, Evite. Any others? I'm not all that opposed to subtle hocking, as long as it's handled well.

The teaser trailer for X-Men 3 has been released and boy, does it deliver. Expect a punched-up role for Halle Berry, post Oscar win. D'ya recognize Kelsey Grammer as Beast?

Also recently released, the teaser for the upcoming film adaptation of Dreamgirls. Thanks Andy!