7 posts tagged “singer”

[Cross-posted from Lucire] Here’s footage from L’Oréal Paris about its latest TVC, starring Elizabeth Banks. More videos and additional links at Lucire.

I thought this was awesome news in that the photographer, Giuliano Bekor, shot regularly for Lucire. From the Lucire ‘Insider’ section.

Giuliano Bekor, whose credits include numerous Lucire shoots, photographed Hayden Panettiere for her 2008 Candie’s print campaign.

Hayden Panettiere will star in Candie’s back to school 2008 television, print and online advertising campaign, according to the company. Hayden, who is known as an award-winning actress, activist and star of NBC’s hit television series Heroes can now add recording artist to her résumé.
   Following last year’s marketing campaign with Grammy-award winning artist Fergie, the new fall TV commercial will be a direct lift from Panettiere’s first music video, ‘Wake Up Call’, which was styled using Candie’s apparel, footwear and accessories.
   This is Panettiere’s second season with the brand.
   To coincide with TV, a print campaign will feature Panettiere in a variety of sexy and sweet vignettes as she playfully poses with a piano, behind a beaded curtain and in a club-like setting among others. The ‘Wake Up Call’ video and the Candie’s commercial were shot in Los Angeles by famed music video director Chris Applebaum and the print campaign was shot by fashion photographer Giuliano Bekor, whose credits include Lucire, and created by the Iconix in-house marketing team.
   Fans can listen to ‘Wake Up Call’ exclusively at www.candies.com and www.kohls.com/inspire (streaming only) beginning today. The single will be available for download on iTunes beginning August 5. The single is being released by Hollywood Records.

I don’t know why good British programmes are on at 11 p.m. or thereabouts on TV One these days, other than the pro-American, anti-British and anti-New Zealand-drama* attitude of TVNZ management that is so out of keeping with the nation’s tastes. (As I say to young people: whenever grown-ups make an irrational decision, follow the money.)
   Unless tonight’s 2006 episode of Parkinson was a re-run, which might explain the late timeslot.
   But it did remind me of Katherine Jenkins’ lovely mezzo-soprano voice and an old favourite hymn.

* Shortland Street excepted?

If you thought the story of Amir Massoud Tofangsazan was embarrassing, what if something similar happened to a celebrity?
   Over the last few weeks, the Edison Chen scandal has rocked Hong Kong and even affected the Beijing Olympics.
   Chen, a Canadian-born actor about to make a big US début—already he’s a Pepsi spokesman in Hong Kong—took in his laptop for repair but forgot to take down his home-made porn, which includes 12 female celebrities.
   Just as with Laptop Guy (Thomas Sawyer) in the UK with Amir’s photos in 2006, someone at the computer shop decided they would post the 1,200-plus images and videos on to the ’net.
   If we think the Britney Spears Machine is bad, Hong Kong tabloids make that look like a old world gentlemen’s club.
   PC World offers this analogy: ‘Imagine photos of, say, Matthew McConaughey popping up on the Internet, showing him in various states of undress and sexual acts with, say, Alicia Keys, Kelly Clarkson and Kirsten Dunst.’
   One of the celebs implicated is Gillian Chung, who was supposedly going to perform at the Olympics. Not any more. Prior to this month she had a wholesome image—now she may be more associated with performing and receiving oral sex. (The logical thing now would be to revamp her image as Madonna does regularly, but whether that will go down well in the innocent Cantopop world is another matter.)
   Batgwa summarizes the other celebs:

The biggest female stars implicated were Gillian Chung (鍾欣桐) and Cecilia Cheung (張栢芝).
   Other less well known female celebrities were implicated too, including Bobo Chan (陳文媛), Rachel Ngan (顏穎思), Mandy Chen (陳育嬬), Candice Chan (陳思慧) and Edison’s current girlfriend Vincy Yeung (楊永晴).

   Chen has basically announced, at 27, his retirement from the Hong Kong scene. He might have to: some of the celebs may have Triad connections (there is some gang involvement in Hong Kong moviemaking) and he’s received death threats.
   Cops have arrested nine people so far in connection with the unlawful distribution of the images.
   While Chen is no saint, he deserved his privacy. The poster has essentially brought down the careers of several people. I suppose this is a reminder that when you are in the public eye, you need to take precautions. Putting your own porn on to a disc or a flash drive would be an idea—or simply be a role model and being less promiscuous in relationships and never fear these leaks.
   We may criticize Chen for his behaviour and we certainly should criticize the breach of trust from the shop, but the problem is wider. We need to ask ourselves just where our values are—and the way the Chinese people have reacted shows that they have not fled the free and occupied parts of China.

Carla Bruni on the cover of Point de Vue

Carla Bruni has been romantically linked to French president Nicolas Sarkozy, according to Point de Vue magazine in France. The cover headline reads (translated), ‘Carla Bruni: the woman in the President’s heart.’ The magazine launches tomorrow (December 19) and contributes to the largely positive press M. Sarkozy has been receiving since his election. (More at the Lucire Insider blog today.)

Two videos here that are very worth sharing, especially since I am the Sacha Distel of the south. Apart from the being dead thing. And smashing a Porsche during a sex act in the car.
   The first is Sacha and ex-girlfriend Brigitte Bardot, before the world figured out she was a right-wing freak. Sacha figured out she wasn’t the girl for him when he found her in bed with another bloke. Not a good look. But, time heals, and the two of them perform that famous song, ‘Le soleil de ma vie’.
   But the trade mark song is ‘La belle vie’, which Sacha wrote in the 1960s. The English lyrics, ‘The Good Life’, came before the French ones and were popularized by Tony Bennett. But here’s the dude who wrote the song singing it.
   I remember during the (French) heat wave in 2003, Sacha had a bit of a revival, including a local version of This Is Your Life. Every channel I turned to, there he was, singing ‘La belle vie’. It was a bit weird, since it was my own trade mark song of sorts around that time. Hearing the master do it, however, makes me look like an American Idol loser.
   Enjoy these two, in a purer, pre-Spice Girls time.

I met John Rowles today when he guest-starred on Good Morning. The guy is a hero to me, not because he can sing, but because he broke through as a New Zealand entertainer internationally before most people had heard of the country. We may deservedly give Peter Jackson et al a pat on the back, but John broke the mould.
   You wouldn’t know it, but the guy was taking Strepsils before he went on. And he sounds exactly the same as he did in 1967. Hard to believe it’s been 40 years since that song, ‘Cheryl Moana Marie’, hit the charts.
   He told Sarah Bradley that it was a mixture of being cold in London and watching Hawai’i Five-O that helped write the song. Still a great bloke, who took the time to have his picture taken with make-up lady Deborah, and with me.
   As to our segment, it was better balanced today, running a record 17 minutes with the addition of Craig (the Pommy judge) from Dancing with the Stars. The extra time only worked because Andrew Wood, the researcher for the show, gave us such great questions to work from. I don’t mind the longer segment, but the topic has to be great.