Van Tango

Silly Events of 2005
1. Nicolas Cage. He and his wife named their newborn son Kal-el, the name Superman was given when he was born on the planet Krypton. As the boy is sure to find out on the schoolyard in eight years or so, that's weird. He might also be afraid of the Green Goblin or the Green Hornet.

2. Ashlee Simpson. A few months after Jessica's punk-rock wannabe little sis caused a lip-syncing scandal when the wrong vocal tracks played behind her during an appearance on Saturday Night Live, she performed at the Orange Bowl and was soundly booed. Later in the year she returned to the scene of the crime, performing on SNL again in an attempt to prove once and for all that she can sing without the help of electronic vocals. As it turned out, she can...

3. Russell Crowe. The combustible actor always seems weird in the same way: "Fightin' around the world," as a song on South Park once put it. This year, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanour assault charges following an incident when - after the staff at New York's Mercer Hotel failed to help him get a phone connection to his wife - he threw a telephone that hit a hotel concierge in the face. He later made fun of the charges during an appearance at the Australian Film Industry Awards, where he held up an old-fashioned phone threateningly and said, Scarface-style, "(Say) hello to my little friend."

Nick tried to coax Jessy Simpson for a late u-turn decision to save the marriage?

I really can't believe that Kate Hudson and Chris Robinson will be celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary. That's like a golden anniversary in Hollywood years. She better put off that idea to quit acting for some perfume biz venture.

The Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti was photographed out with girlfriend Drew Barrymore in Hollywood sporting an 'ET' t-shirt, a tribute to the film that made his actress lover a star.

Julian Casablancas interview with CNN.

The Strokes performed live at the Transilvania Club in Milan, Italy on December 15th, with a set from their forthcoming album 'First Impression of Earth', due out January 3rd.

Oasis performed live at The Point Theatre on last week (Dec 21) in Dublin, Ireland.

Arctic Monkeys release their new single on Jan 16. When The Sun Goes Down is taken from their forthcoming debut LP, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.

Westlife's story of pop survival (6 years). Better than Boyzone & Take That?

Hello.. hello, anybody home? Think Mcfly...Think! Michael J Fox has revealed that he is currently in talks to star in a new 'Back To The Future' film. The 80's trilogy were all massive hits and producers are keen to recreate the magic. However, Fox will only agree to the film if he gets to play the role of mad scientist Doc who was originally played by Christopher Lloyd. Fox said : "The only way it would work would be if I played Doc. I'm 44 years old now and I'm not interested in running around on skateboards. I think after 1, 2 and 3 we all kind of felt we had done it. And I think if they did it again now, they would do it with a younger cast and just do a different realisation of it, which would be fun." Good idea? Prefer it not to happen. Would only spoil the time-travel legacy series. They should come out with another Quantum Leap or Sliders movie.

The Fugees' Pras Michel has rubbished any likenesses to the Black Eyed Peas. The trio who have reunited after ten years together believe they are far superior to overrated Fergie and co. He said: "I don't have nothing bad to say about them, they are what they are. But they're not the Fugees. It's like The Beatles and Oasis - how can you really compare the two? Oasis are good, but they'll never be The Beatles.
"The crazy thing about hip-hop is that people just want to see beef between us... C'mon man, what we going to fight about - who has got the most socially conscious lyrics?" Don't think there is any case to make in this matter. The Fugees are definitely musically better with respectable tunes unlike B.E.P who prefers to sing about anatomies which 90% sounds as good as screeching cat paws on a chalk board.

The Rakes cheerful, lager-soaked vignettes on suburban drinking and half-hearted careerism are delivered with a lyrical insight and vividity that in recent times has only been equalled by Jarvis Cocker and Pulp. And now, finally, the world is starting to take notice as new single '22 Grand Job' - re-released after it's low-key, vinyl only release last year - and a series of coveted Franz Ferdinand support slots look set to take The Rakes up to the next level. XFM features The Rakes live in session and interview with Ian Camfield.

The Rakes '22 Grand Job' [ Lo / Hi ]

The Rakes 'Open Book' [ Lo / Hi ]

How excited am I about Garbage's Greatest Hits on 3rd April 2006! Think about all the amazing singles they've had, Queer, Stupid Girl, Only Happy When It Rains, Push It, I Think I'm Paranoid, Shut Your Mouth, Why Do You Love Me... and songs such as Cherry Lips, Special, When i Grow Up, Breaking Up The Girl, Run Baby Run and Milk are pure pop!

Doll up Rachel Stevens! ....

Now this is hilarious! Noel G was amazed when he heard the temporary cure for fellow Brit rocker Tom Meighan's attention deficit disorder (ADD) - a visit to toy store Toys 'R' Us. Noel toured the United States with the Kasabian frontman and his bandmates earlier this year and was taken aback by Meighan's behaviour when he would start to merge his sentences into one long monologue. He said, "He is mental. And when he gets too mad, they have to take him to a toy shop to calm him down... I don't know whether I'm supposed to say that. He can hold 20 conversations at the same time.
"He was in our dressing room one afternoon, and he's drinking a pint of vodka and Red Bull, and this is before the soundcheck, and in literally one sentence he's going, 'Have you got any f**king Red Bull? Look at that lighter! F**king hell, four for a pound! D'you smoke Marlboro Lights? Birds' fags!'
"And apparently whenever he gets like that and he's too mad, they have to take him to Toys 'R' Us. The last time I actually laid eyes on him, he was in our hotel, he was in Liam's room, but management were s**tting themselves.
"Somebody turned up, put him in a cab to take him to Toys 'R' Us in Times Square, calm him down, because of all the flashing lights and he plays with the toys and then he's alright. That's f**king genius, man!" A test transmission for childhood vision?

We Are Scientists - "It's A Hit" video [ lo / hi ]. Trailer video here.

Carl Barat and Adam Green in London video.

24 fun things to do on an elevator.....
1. Grimace painfully while smacking your forehead and muttering: "Shut up, dammit, all of you just shut UP!"
2. Whistle the first seven notes of "It's a Small World" incessantly.
3. Crack open your briefcase or purse, and while peering inside ask: "Got enough air in there?"
4. Offer name tags to everyone getting on the elevator. Wear yours upside-down.
5. Stand silent and motionless in the corner, facing the wall, without getting off.
6. When arriving at your floor, grunt and strain to yank the doors open, then act embarrassed when they open by themselves.
7. Greet everyone getting on the elevator with a warm handshake and ask them to call you Admiral.
8. On the highest floor, hold the door open and demand that it stay open until you hear the penny you dropped down the shaft go "plink" at the bottom.
9. Stare, grinning, at another passenger for a while, and then announce: "I've got new socks on!"
10. When at least 8 people have boarded, moan from the back: "Oh, no, not now, damn motion sickness!"
11. Meow occasionally.
12. Holler "Chutes away!" whenever the elevator descends.
13. Walk on with a cooler that says "human head" on the side.
14. Stare at another passenger for a while, then announce "You're one of THEM!" and move to the far corner of the elevator.
15. Wear a puppet on your hand and talk to other passengers "through" it.
16. When the elevator is silent, look around and ask "is that your beeper?"
17. Say "Ding!" at each floor.
18. Say "I wonder what all these do" and push the red buttons.
19. Listen to the elevator walls with a stethoscope.
20. Draw a little square on the floor with chalk and announce to the other passengers that this is your "personal space."
21. Announce in a demonic voice: "I must find a more suitable host body."
22. Make explosion noises when anyone presses a button.
23. Wear "X-Ray Specs" and leer suggestively at other passengers.
24. Stop at every floor, run off the elevator, then run back on.

Girls Aloud definitely won't be joining Take That on their tour - because they think the boyband should be supporting them. The five-piece, who have their own arena dates scheduled for next year, reckon they simply don't need to do a gig like that. Guess the elder boys are not love machine materials to be on the show, eh? Cheryl Tweedy said: "I think Take That should come and support us. I'm not really a fan of their music, although perhaps Nicola is. If they asked us to go on tour with them we'd have to say, 'No, you come on ours instead'". But Cheryl and her bandmates are not interested in even seeing them live. Cheryl said: "I'm much more into R'n'B myself. I'd much rather go and see someone like Destiny's Child." Or maybe TLC, Salt & Pepa..

Franz Ferdinand are planning to spend Hogmanay in Glasgow. They are currently taking a break, before heading into the studio next month to lay down new material then jet off to Australia. Kapranos said: "Christmas is a different thing in Scotland, nobody gives a toss about it, New Year is the big celebration. "That's what I'm looking forward to, it's a fantastic night." Heard they are coming to town in February. Plenty of sweating darts of pleasure from the beautiful boys on the beautiful stadium dancefloor for sure..

The online poll of 10,000 film fans was carried out by movie magazine Empire to mark its 200th issue.
- Seven out of ten also think there is too much product placement in films, while 81% thought there were too many sequels and remakes made in Hollywood.
- Two thirds (60%) thought British Films were as good as Hollywood ones and 80% that movie stars are overpaid.
- Two thirds (59%) think there should be more violence in films and 29% have bought a pirate DVD.