Star Sparkle Blog

Here's the next song from Plan B's The Defamation of Strickland Banks . This is Love Goes Down, my favourite song on the album. It was the 5th single and was released in December 2010. In the video Strickland is performing on a TV show ( Top of the Pops ?) but the police come to arrest him for the alleged rape. I don't know what time period this is set in but the clothes look old (the styles seem a bit more dated in this video), maybe from the 70s or 80s (some look 60s even?) and the policemens' uniforms look like an older style. Also the presenter looks familiar like he used to be a real life presenter but I don't know. Update: My mum said it was Andy Crane ! I looked him up and it mentions on his Wikipedia page that he appears in the video. So I would think that the setting is the late 80s, around the time period when Andy really presented Top of the Pops. Here are the links to the other posts: Love Goes Down (song)/Writing's On The Wall Stay ...

I'm posting the Weekly Music Video a day early because it's Christmas tomorrow. Can't believe it's Christmas Eve already! Today's video is Christmas themed; it's White Light by Japanese singer Namie Amuro . It was Namie's first Christmas love song and was released as a double A-side along with Violet Sauce in 2005. (I have to post Violet Sauce sometime; it's one of my favourite Namie songs!). White Light also appeared on her best of album BEST FICTION (2008). Update 15/12/24: Namie's offical music has now been removed from a lot of music platforms. :( However, here is a lyric video (with English translation!) from a live performance, uploaded by Final Space:                                     Merry Christmas! :) Update 15/4.15 : I can never seem to find the original version of Violet Sauce on YouTube! Mayb...

Continuing my series of posts on Plan B's album The Defamation of Strickland Banks , here's the next video. This is Stay Too Long and was the first single from the album and was released in January 2010. In this video Strickland goes out partying with his manager, friends and hangers on after a successful concert and meets the girl who later accuses him of rape. He sings about how he always stays too long when he's out and if he does stay out, then something tends to go wrong!

Today's video is Zindagi Jeene Ka Naam Hai, which is from the Bollywood film James (2005). It's about a man named James ( Mohit Ahlawat ) who moves to Mumbai looking for work and gets a job as a nightclub bouncer. One night he saves a woman called Nisha ( Nisha Kothari ) who is being molested but this sets off a chain of events which end in tragedy and revenge. Nisha Kothari (real name Priyanka) also appears in a video from the 2007 film Darling. You can watch it here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2013/06/j-pop-vs-bollywood.html

The Defamation of Strickland Banks is an album by British rapper/singer Plan B (real name Ben Drew). Released in 2010, The Defamation (that's what I'm calling it for short, lol) is a concept album which tells the story of fictional soul singer Strickland Banks (played by Plan B), who becomes famous but loses it all when he is falsely convicted of rape and sent to prison. It was Plan B's second studio album and debuted at No 1 on the UK Album Charts . Strickland finds success with his singles Love Goes Down and Writing's On The Wall. After performing at a concert, he goes out to celebrate and has a one night stand with an obsessed fan (played by actress Kaya Scoledario ). When Strickland rejects her the next morning, she accuses him of raping her. He's convicted of rape and sent to prison. Strickland becomes a recluse and is later abused by other inmates. He trades in his cigarettes for a shiv (prison knife type weapon) to protect himself. It comes in handy when ...

Today it's Spirits by Jamie Woon . This video is a live BBC performance from 2010/2011 (it's listed as 2011 but says 2010 at the end of the video)  and is from Jamie's album Mirrorwriting, which was released in 2011. There's also a video from 2008 and that version might be slightly different. I can't post the 2011 video but you can watch it here: Jamie Woon- Spirits (2011) Also here's the 2008 one:

This is another one of my favourite Are You Afraid of the Dark? episodes, The Tale of the Dream Machine. It's from the second series and is the story of teenage boy Sean Hackett ( Michael Hong ),who is passionate about writing and Jennifer Johnson ( Nicole Lyn ), a girl in his class. One day Sean and his best friend Billy ( Joel Gordon ) stumble upon an old typewriter in a secret room in Sean's house. He decides to use it to write a story for his English assignment.  But the typewriter is no ordinary machine- when Sean writes on it, the subjects of his stories dream about themselves in the very situations he creates. Jennifer is shocked when she dreams about herself as a victim of the vampire Sean at a school dance. But that's not all, when the story is read out loud, even stranger things happen!

Today it's Return of the Mack by Mark Morrison . He's a British singer, most well known for this single (Return of the Mack) and the album of the same name, both of which were released in 1996. Mark has been in and out of court due to various criminal charges and went to prison in 1997 but despite that he had a fairly successful career in the mid to late 90s. Other hits of his include Crazy, Trippin and Moan & Groan. Mark re-launched his career in 1999 when he signed  to American record label Death Row Records and has since released another album called Innocent Man (2006). His latest album is I Am What I Am but I don't think it's actually been released. It was meant to come out this year. His latest single is N.A.N.G 2.0 feat. Crooked I & Shonie. Return of the Mack was sampled by American rapper Mann for his single The Mack featuring Snoop Dogg and Iyaz in 2011. Check out the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YYF0j-FV3c Visit Mark...

In 2008 Japanese singer Namie Amuro released 60s 70s 80s,  her 33rd solo single on Avex Trax . It was a triple A-side (Namie's first) and featured the songs NEW LOOK, ROCK STEADY and WHAT A FEELING, which all reflected those decades. They were also used as part of ad campaign FashionxMusicx for hair care line Vidal Sassoon . 60s 70s 80s was a very successful single. American designer/stylist Patricia Field did the costumes for the videos. Update 1/5/19: The original uploads were removed and then re-uploaded to Name's official YouTube channel, so I've replaced them. These aren't the full versions. Note: Avex videos are now blocked from being shown on third party applications. If you click on the videos you can watch them fine on YouTube. :)   Update 2- 27/12/23: Most of Namie's videos have now been removed from YouTube, likely due to her 2018 retirement . It's disappointing, I do think they could leave her music up on platforms. :( It's not just YouTub...

This is another of my favourite Delilah songs. It's called I Can Feel You and is on her debut album From The Roots Up (2012). There are two versions of the song, a slower one which is available on the Go single and a slightly faster one which is on her album. The slower version is longer. I like both but like the faster one slightly more. This video is from the RAK session (at the RAK Studios in London) Delilah did in 2011 and sounds more like the album version. I like this too. :) For the Go version click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDQu6kkcBGg And  here's the album version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnwLlLvYAGk

Here are a couple of clips from another David E. Talbert play. This one is called Love in The Nick of Tyme and is about Chicago hair salon owner Tyme Prentice (played by Terry Dexter ) who is torn between getting back together with her ex-boyfriend jazz musician Marcelles Wynters ( Morris Chestnut ) or starting a new romance with UPS delivery man Harvey ( Andre Pitre ). I saw this on BET as well and while I didn't like it as much as Mr. Right Now! , it was still entertaining and is worth a watch. :)

This is Saginou by Tatar singer Zulya . Her full name is Zulya Kamalova and she is one of the most successful Tatar and Russian singers and composers. Zulya is from Tatarstan (a republic in Central Russia) and has been writing and performing since she was 9. She also studied music and languages at university level. In 1991 she moved to Australia where her career took off. She is also known in Europe. Zulya has released 6 albums to date, the latest being Tales of Subliming (2010). She performs with a band called The Children of the Underground. Saginou (Yearning) is from Zulya's second album Aloukie (1999). I first came across it a few years ago on the Putamayo compilation album Music from the Tea Lands. The album features music from Asia and the countries bordering it. Saginou is a beautiful song. :)                               ...

Mariah Carey has a new single called The Art of Letting Go. It will be on her 14th studio album of the same name. Not sure when the album will be released yet. I'm hoping before Christmas, so I can have it as a present! lol. I didn't like the first single #Beautiful that much (I think it's ok but it's not one of my faves). I like this one better. :) The Art Of Letting Go is available on iTunes now. Note: Mariah posted on Facebook that an earlier mix of the song was released by mistake and she's posted the final mix on her page. I think the YouTube one may be slightly different to the iTunes version on her page but I'm not sure. You can listen to the FB mix here: https://www.facebook.com/mariahcarey?fref=ts

This week's video is for the song This is What It Feels Like by American singer BANKS. Her full name is Jillian Banks and she's been writing songs since she was 15. BANKS released an EP in September called LONDON, which features This Is What It Feels Like (co-produced by Jamie Woon ) along with 3 other songs, Waiting Game, Bedroom Wall and Change. She's currently opening for The Weeknd on tour. Interesting fact about BANKS: she doesn't like social media but invites fans on her Facebook page to ring her instead!                                      For more on BANKS check out this interview: http://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/news/celebrity/2013/11/05/banks-singer-london-interview-music-news And visit her website here: http://www.hernameisbanks.com/

Here are a couple of clips from the American TV play/musical Mr. Right Now! by David E. Talbert . It's about a woman called Angel (played by Kesha Ealy), a single mum to a teenage son who has had bad luck with men in the past. When she meets Darnell ( Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs /Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs), she thinks her luck has finally changed but he turns out to be a con man. Meanwhile plumber (Chris Bolton) is waiting in the wings... I first saw this on the TV channel BET a couple of years ago but it was actually made in 1999/2000. The play was filmed live during a performance at New York's Beacon Theatre. It has a religious message behind it about putting your faith in God rather than a man but is still entertaining if you're not religious. There are also funny moments, including Darnell's monologue and scenes between Angel's mum (Lecresia Campell) and her "love interest"! lol. If you're bored and want something to watch, I'd recommend it!    ...

Today's video is for the song Bring Your Guns by American singer Joshua Adams. At 18, Joshua toured Florida, singing at schools. He then moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to further work on his music, where he met Teddy Gentry from the country/rock band Alabama and learnt about management, marketing, publishing, engineering, production, and A&R . In 2010 Joshua went back on the road with his band and toured with for them for the next 2 years. He then moved to Las Vegas, Nevada and was signed to Dustree Productions . Joshua has released one album, Little Devil (2011) and 5 singles including Bring Your Guns, I Promise You and his latest, #Sexting (with Tanzer ). Bring Your Guns was released as an EP last month. It sounds like the choir singing from the The Lost Boys theme song in the background! For more on Joshua check out these links: Official site Official Facebook Listen to The Lost Boys theme song Cry Little Sister (sung by G Tom Mac/ Gerard McMann ) here:  h...

Here's a performance by Bellydance Superstar Ansuya Rathor. She is one of the original members of BDSS and teaches her own classes which are a fusion of belly dance and other dance styles including Indian, African, Gypsy and hip hop. She dances with props including veils, swords, fan veils, Isis Wings and canes. One of her specialities is playing the finger cymbals (zills), which she dances with in this video. Ansuya is also an actress and has choreographed for the American soap The Young and The Restless. For more on Ansuya visit her official site: www.ansuya.com

Sorry the video is late this week, I couldn't get online yesterday. :) Today it's Bury Me Alive by We Are The Fallen . They are an American/Irish gothic rock band made up of vocalist Carly Smithson (an American Idol contestant), guitarists Ben Moody, and John Le Compt and drummer Rocky Gray (all former Evanescence members) and bassist Marty O'Brien (from Disturbed and Static-X). Ben left Evanescence in 2003 and went on to form We Are The Fallen. The band's name is said to be an allusion to Evanescence's debut album Fallen and the group has been criticised for being similar to Evanescence. We Are The Fallen debuted in 2009 and have released one album, Tear The World Down (2010) and two singles, Bury Me Alive and Tear The World Down. (Bury Me Alive was originally released as a free download in 2009 and then re-released as a re-mastered version the following year). The band was dropped by their record label Universal Republic in 2011 but are still together and re...

AlunaGeorge have a new single called Best Be Believing. It's from their album Body Music and is available to download now. Check out the video below: Watch more AlunaGeorge videos on their YouTube page: AlunaGeorge YouTube

This is Dhoom Dhoom by Thai singer Tata Young . It's from the Bollywood film Dhoom (2004). It's about a robber biker gang led by Kabir (played by John Abraham ) who are terrorising Mumbai. Police officer ACP Jai Dixit ( Abishek Bachchan ) sets out to catch them, with the help of his best friend, bike mechanic and racer Ali ( Uday Chopra ). I've seen the sequel Dhoom: 2 (2006) but not the original. There's also Dhoom 3 which hasn't come out yet. This is the remix version which plays during the end credits. The video features the 3 main actors, Abishek, Uday and John. The original version is in Hindi and is called Dhoom Machale. In the film it's performed by actress Esha Deol , who plays Sheena (a gang member who Ali falls in love with). Esha isn't actually singing (Bollywood actors don't tend to), the playback singer is Sunidhi Chauhan.                        ...

Today the competition is between Korean solo singers Lee Hyori /Hyolee and Rain /Bi. This is Stealing A Glance (M.A.R.S. Remix) featuring Sunny (Shyne) and is from Hyori's second album Dark Angel (2006). It sounds similar to TLC' s Creep. Someone on YouTube commented that it's a remake of a song by Young Turks Club. (I couldn't find the song to listen). Quite a few of Hyori's songs sound similar to other people's and 7 of the songs on her 2010 album H-Logic were plagiarised. This is a good song though! Lee Hyori- Stealing A Glance Update 15/9/15: The Stealing A Glance video had gone from YouTube in November 2014 but there's another on there now, so I've linked to it above. This is It's Raining which was the first single from Rain's third studio album of the same name and was released in 2004.                               ...

This week's video is for the song Thinking About You by Calvin Harris feat. Ayah Marar . It's one of my favourite songs at the moment. Calvin Harris (real name Adam Richard Wiles) is a British DJ, singer/songwriter and music producer who released his first album I Created Disco in 2007. The first single from the album was called Vegas and was released as a limited edition vinyl, but it was the second single Acceptable in the 80s that was most successful, it reached No 10 in the UK singles chart (March 2007).  Calvin has produced music and written songs for quite a few artists, including Kylie Minogue , Dizzee Rascal and Rihanna . He has two other studio albums, Ready For The Weekend (2009) and 18 Months (2012). A few of his most popular singles are I'm Not Alone (his first No 1 in April 2009), Ready for The Weekend (No 3 in August 2009) and Bounce featuring Kelis (No 2 in June 2011). His latest single is Under Control with Alesso featuring Hurts . Ayah Marar is a Jor...

Here's a clip from another of my favourite Are You Afraid of the Dark? episodes, Jake and the Leprechaun. It's from the first series. Jake (Benjamin Plener) stars in a play as a boy who gets turned into a changeling by a leprechaun, played by Erin (John Dunn-Hill). But the changes aren't just happening in the play, Jake is transforming in real life too! He enlists the help of garden centre worker (I think he works in some kind of garden centre!) and herb expert Sean O'Shaney (David Steinberg), to work out what's going on. Update 19/10/23: The original video is gone, so I've replaced it.  

This week's video is for Breathe by British singer Delilah . Breathe was the third single from her debut album From The Roots Up (2012) and was released last year. It's one of my favourite Delilah songs. I think the actress in the video is the same girl from Disclosure's You & Me . There's also another version of Breathe, that's a bit different to the album one. Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJWsKyDtYGw&list=FLTYvX4w_4Rp6Dynj-WwwCjA&index=53 I like both versions, maybe the album one slightly more.

I thought today I would post another Takeshi's Castle video. :) This is Knock Knock, one of my favourite games. It's simple really, it involves running into doors and trying to get through them! lol. Some are solid, so you can't get through, others you can break through but you end up falling into a net and some you can get through and keep going to the end. The game began as the second half of Skipping Stones. (Click the link on Takeshi's Castle to see a clip from Skipping Stones.                                 And here's another version of Knock Knock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu0MZqq5phE Check out Wipe Out here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2013/09/takeshis-castle.html

This is Let Me Give You My Love by Japanese American singer Utada Hikaru . It's from her English album Exodus and is one of my absolute favourite Utada songs! I've included the lyrics as well. :) Utada has done a couple of songs for the video game series Kingdom Hearts (although not this one) and this is a fan made video with the song put to scenes from Kingdom Hearts. Update 10/4/19: Had to update the video again.                                   Let Me Give You My Love Verse 1 What a day Young boy next door passed away Ooh it makes me wanna say Hey, I don't wanna waste another day Can you and I start mixing gene pools? Eastern Western people...get naughty Multilingual Bridge 1 I was sorta like soul searching But your body's so jaw dropping Our chemistry's groundbreaking Don't keep me waiting ...

Since there are so many Mariah Carey songs to choose from, here is a follow up post to Top 10 Mariah Carey Songs and More Mariah songs . I Still Believe This is the original version, which appeared on #1's (1998). It was released as a single in 1999. I prefer the Pure Imagination remix (see Top 10 post) but I  like this as well.                                Boy (I Need You) feat. Cam'ron This was the 2nd single from Charmbraclet (2002). It's based on rapper Cam'ron's song Oh Boy.            Someday Someday was released in 1990 and was the 3rd single from Mariah's self titled debut album. I think the single version is a bit different to the album one, at least if it's the same as the version in the official music video. I'd never even heard the other vers...

Today's video is for the song Wicked Games by The Weeknd . Wicked Games was originally featured on the mixtape House of Balloons (2011) but was remastered and released last October as the first single from The Weeknd's complication album Trilogy (2012). He released his debut studio album Kiss Land on 9th September (UK) and 10th September (US). Update 7/3/15: I have  gone back to the Explicit video because Blogger have decided that they're not changing their policy on sexually explicit material after all!! I don't think this video was that bad anyway but I removed it just to be on the safe side. Anyway, now it's back. :)

Here is a follow up list to my Top 10 Films . This post contains spoilers. :) Death Becomes Her (1992) Helen Sharp ( Goldie Hawn ) and Madeline Ashton ( Meryl Streep ) are best friends but also rivals. Helen decides to take her fiance Dr. Ernest Menville (played by Bruce Willis ) to meet Madeline before she marries him because Madeline has often stolen men from her in the past, and she wants to see if Ernest can pass the Madeline "test". The couple go to watch Madeline in her (terrible!) musical. Unfortunately for Helen, Ernest is completely smitten with Madeline and ends up marrying her instead, thereby confirming Helen's worst fears!  This sends Helen into a depressive, psychotic state and 7 years later she ends up in a mental hospital, fixated on how much she hates Madeline. She doesn't seem to be making any progress until something the doctor says causes her to have a breakthrough. Another 7 years later, Madeline and Ernest are unhappily married. They live i...

This week's video is for the song Fala Do Que Quiseres by Pérola. She's an Angolan singer and I saw her on the TV channel VoxAfrica. She sings in Portuguese. I think her music is a style called kizomba or zouk . According to Wikipedia, kizomba can be confused with zouk but the video mentions both styles in the title.  I can't find that much information about Perola but I think she's quite popular in Angola. According to a YouTube video she won Best Southern African artiste of the year at the Kora awards in 2005, for the song Break It featuring Sandokan. She mentioned her website on the TV segment I saw, but maybe it was a couple of years old because the site doesn't seem to have been updated since 2011. Update 15/2/23 : Pérola's real name is Jandira Sassingui Neto .                                    For ...

Time for another Girls vs Boys! Today the competition is between Turkish singers Hadise and Davut Guloglu .  Hadise- Kahraman (Hero) This song is from the album of the same name (2009). There is also an English version called Hero. According to comments on YouTube, it's a cover of (or similar to) a Macedonian song called Fati go ritamot by Jovan Radnjanski.                                                                              Click here to listen to: Hadise-Hero And watch the video for Fati go ritamot here: Jovan Radnjanski- Fati go ritamot Davut Guloglu-Yarali Kalbim This song is fr...

This week's video is Night Air by British singer Jamie Woon . He released his first single Robots in 2007 and an EP Wayfaring Stranger the same year. Night Air was released in 2010 and was the first single off his debut album Mirrorwriting (2011). His other singles are Lady Luck (2011) and Shoulda (2012). He recently collaborated with singer BANKS and Lil Silva on BANKS' song This Is What It Feels Like. I only saw the video for Night Air a couple of times but liked the song. The other day I was listening to Disclosure 's album on Spotify and Jamie has a song with them called January. When I saw his name I remembered Night Air! For more on Jamie visit his site: www.jamiewoon.com And his Facebook:  Official FB

Here's another of the Takeshi's Castle games I like. This one's called Wipe Out and involves standing on a surfboard which moves round the course, while jumping over pink whales, getting on platforms and avoiding a man dressed as a Native American! Update 10/12/14: The original video has gone, so here's a link to a Takeshi's Castle Special which includee Wipe Out:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUR2SFnQ1Gs There was also Takeshi's Castle Rebooted earlier this year but that wasn't as good, so I think I'll stick to the older ones! lol. Here's a bonus video called Greatest Wipeouts!                                  

Today's video is Sweet Sacrifice by American alternative /gothic rock band Evanescence . They were formed in 1995 by lead vocalist and pianist Amy Lee and guitarist and songwriter Ben Moody. David Hodges joined them in 1999 as a keyboard player, pianist, drummer and backing vocalist and the band released their first full length demo album Origin in 2000. In 2003, drummer Rocky Gray,  bassist Will Boyd and guitarist John LeCompt (who had worked with the band previously) became part of Evanescence and they released their breakthrough album Fallen later that year. Their debut single from the album, Bring Me To Life is one of Evanescence's most successful singles to date (it won a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance). It was No 1 in the UK, as well as Australia and Italy and No 5 on the American Billboard chart. My Immortal (the 3rd single from Fallen) was really popular too, reaching No 7 in the American and British charts. In October 2003 Ben Moody left Evanescence, reportedl...

Here is the video for the new MKS single Flatline . Mutya, Keisha and Siobhan were the original Sugababes and they reformed a couple of years ago. Flatline is out on 15th September.

This is Gitme Dedim by Turkish singer Arman. I can't find much information on him but his full name is Arman Yildiz and I think Gitme Dedim is his latest single. It's from the album ARMAN, which is available now on Turkish iTunes.                                                                                                                                                       Here's a link to his Facebook (Turkish language): https://www.facebook.com/yildizarmanofficial