parodies

Christmas music

2008-11-15T04:49:46-07:00

A Christmas song is a song which is normally sung during the time period leading up to, and sometimes shortly past, Christmas day, and usually has lyrical content addressing the holiday, the winter season, or both. These songs recognizably fall into several different groupings, depending on both the content and age of the songs.

Songs which are traditional, even some without a specific religious context, are often called Christmas carols. Songs with religious reference are also called Christmas hymns. For example, the Christian-centered "O Come All Ye Faithful" and the totally secular "Deck the Hall(s)" could easily both be found on Christmas-based record albums by choirs and other church-sounding artists.

Some songs of more recent vintage, often introduced in films, are specifically about Christmas, but are typically not overtly religious, and are not typically classified as Christmas carols. The archetypal example is 1942's "White Christmas", although many other holiday songs have become perennial favorites, such as Gene Autry's "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer".

A significant subset of the secular songs are regarded as "Christmas" songs due to the time of year they are most often sung, despite never mentioning anything about Christmas or even about Santa Claus. These songs include traditional favorites such as "Winter Wonderland". These songs fall into the generic "winter holiday" classification, as they carry no religious connotation at all.

Another subset of the popular holiday songs, apart from the more sincere ones, are the many parodies or twists on existing songs, which are usually classified as "Novelty songs". They range from the cuteness of "The Chipmunk Song", by Alvin and the Chipmunks, to the Cold War gallows humor of "Christmas at Ground Zero" and the morbid humor of "The Night Santa Went Crazy", both by "Weird Al" Yankovic.

Some songs have little relationship to Christmas, but are hyped up over the period. Each year, record companies compete for the Christmas number one single spot, usually, but not always, with a Christmas-related song. This is parodied in the film Love Actually, whereby an artist records a cover version of a song and adds a Christmas twist to it, all the time admitting that it is "rubbish".

In the UK Cliff Richard is famed for his many attempts, with some success, to get the Christmas number one single.

Paris Hilton References

2008-09-21T04:00:03-06:00

"That's hot!"

"That's hot!" is a phrase used by Hilton (although an earlier usage is attributed to her Simple Life co-star Nicole Richie [20] and has been used by others for many years). The catch phrase, a synonym for "That's cool" or "That's awesome," has since been parodied in pop culture outlets such as Saturday Night Live [21] and even by Hilton herself, on The Late Show with David Letterman.

In 2004, Hilton filed a successful request to trademark the phrase. She wishes to market clothing with the phrase prominently emblazoned on the garments; she felt it was time to trademark the phrase because "I've been saying it forever. I want to put it on T-shirts and stuff like that."

Parodies

South Park, December 1, 2004: episode "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset."
The movie White Chicks (2004)
Portrayed by Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler on Saturday Night Live
Sydney Drew (portrayed by Alycia Purrott) ; A character in Power Rangers SPD is a blonde, rich girl whose parents have given her everything she ever wants. She also acts, sings, models and manages to be the Pink Power Ranger. Much like Paris, she is named after a major city.
An ad campaign featuring the fictional "Marriott Sisters".
Portrayed by Jessica Simpson on Saturday Night Live
On the animated series Bratz, London Milton, a rich hotel heiress.
Parody of Carl's Jr. Commercial with a fat man washing the car.
In the movie Just Friends (2005), character Samantha James, played by Anna Faris
PC security and Paris Hilton Knows the rules for better securing her PC with Windows Update.
Privacy and recovering lost pictures, SMS messages from Paris Hilton's T-Mobile cell phone.
Portrayed by Brenda Song as London Tipton on Disney Channel's The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
Portrayed by Pink in her video for the single "Stupid Girls"
In the UPN TV show Half & Half, the new Delicious Records breakout star
Spoofed in Date Movie

A parody of Paris Hilton appeared in issue 1 of The Thing's 2006 ongoing series. A rich model, creatively named Milan Ramada is seen on a cell phone with her long blonde hair and chihaua. There is a rivalry between her and Ben Grimm's hollywood girlfriend Carlotta.

References

Biography: Paris Hilton November 4, 2005, A&E Television Networks.
Gary, Crary Activists campaign against seal hunt February 2, 2004 ESPN.
Carl's Jr. SpicyBurger controversy
Address book hacked

Links

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Eminem trivia

2008-06-29T15:37:04-06:00

Eminem is a friend of fellow Detroit rap/rock star Kid Rock, and guested on Rock's "Devil Without a Cause" on the track "Fuck Off". Rock made uncredited appearances scratching on some of Eminem's tracks.
The second "E" in his stage name has been reversed on his records since his second album The Marshall Mathers LP. The backwards “E” has become a logo for him, appearing prominently in his videos and stage set.
Several songs were released in response to the track "Stan" off of The Marshall Mathers LP. Enemy rapper Canibus released the track "U Didn't Care," rapping as the Stan character and implying that Eminem doesn't care about his fans. The Pet Shop Boys released "The Night I Fell in Love," in which a male fan goes backstage at an Eminem concert and has a one-night stand with him. Christian rapper KJ-52 released "Dear Slim" and "Dear Slim pt. 2," open letters to Eminem in a similar style to "Stan."
When Dr. Dre first heard his tape, he thought Eminem was black.[26]
Several of his songs have been parodied. The most famous incident was "Weird Al" Yankovic's parody of "Lose Yourself," entitled "Couch Potato" and featuring new lyrics about television programming. He has also been parodied twice by the Christian parody band ApologetiX, with "Lose Yourself" ("Look Yourself") and "The Real Slim Shady" ("The Real Sin Savior").
Eminem is left-handed. This can be seen in a scene in 8 Mile where he is sitting on a bus with a pencil in his left hand, as well as in several of the promotional posters for the film, which depict him writing lyrics with his left hand.
Eminem's height: 5'8" (1.73m).
His real hair color is in fact a dark brown, he bleaches his hair with peroxide (as stated in "White America"); he did not bleach his hair in 8 Mile, and so his natural hair color can be seen in the movie.
Eminem wears glasses, which can be seen in some of his interviews, as well as on the music videos for "Mockingbird" and "Stan".
In March 2003, Spin Magazine named him The Most Important Artist Making Music Right Now.
Eminem's rap group D12, short for "Dirty Dozen," has only six members. Many people are often confused by the number. It is "12" because each of the six members of the group has two pseudonyms or "personas." (For example, "Eminem" and "Slim Shady").
Eminem was number 6 on VH1's 50 greatest hip hop artists of all time.
Eminem has been awarded nine Grammy awards. He also received nominations for Album of the Year for both The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show.
The Marshall Mathers LP was the first rap album to be nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards and "Lose Yourself" was the first rap song to be nominated for Song of the Year.
Eminem won a Best Song Oscar for his song "Lose Yourself" from the movie 8 Mile.
In November 2002, Eminem had the #1 album (8 Mile Soundtrack), movie (8 Mile), and song ("Lose Yourself") all at the same time, becoming the first artist/entertainer ever to do so.
Eminem listed his favorite rappers as Redman, Jay-Z, Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., André 3000 from OutKast, Jadakiss, Kurupt, and Nas in the song "'Till I Collapse" from his 2002 release, The Eminem Show.
In acceptance of his Grammy for Best Rap Album (for The Eminem Show) in 2003, he credited his rap influences, saying, "I made me a little list of MCs that I wanted to name off that inspired me to, to bring me where I am today - cause honestly, I wouldn't be here without them. So the list goes like this, and it's not in this order, but the list is this: Run-DMC, the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Kool G. Rap, Master Ace, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Dr. Dre, all of N.W.A., KRS-One, Treach from Naughty by Nature, Nas, Tupac, Biggie, Jay-Z. Thank you, 'cause I learned from all of you. Thank you."
Eminem's manager, Paul Rosenberg (who is featured prominently in several skits on Eminem's solo releases), was once a rapper himself, known as "Paul Bunyan".
Marshall and his wife Kim first met at one of his friends' houses, when Eminem was fifteen and Kim was thirteen. She came over while he was lip synching to LL Cool J songs and jumping on the furniture.
He is a fan of the TV show "Crank Yankers"; puppets from the show were included in the video for "Ass Like That". He has also lent his voice to the show numerous times, and had one of the puppets, Special Ed, host "Eminem's Special Hits".
He loves South Park, and referred to himself as a "twenty-six-year-old skinny Cartman" in the song "Marshall Mathers".
In 8 Mile, an opposing MC, in reference to Rabbit, Eminem's character, said "I feel bad I gotta murder that dude from Leave It to Beaver." Interestingly, the name of the actor who played The Beaver was Jerry Mathers. Mathers is Eminem's last name.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.