UK3

My post last night about French pop star Alizée elicited a comment from Joachim Mairböck in Germany Austria. (Google translation into English of his blog is here.) Joachim pointed out a YouTube link from Studio 100 UK.

I had talked about Studio 100’s ambitions of expansion beyond Belgium and the Netherlands, yet I’m disappointed that even as they were promoting K3’s tenth anniversary they were auditioning for an English-speaking K3, to be called UK3.

In September, Studio 100 posted a video of Wir3 from Germany with an English overdub. The caption reads “Basic version of U.K audition pop song. Learn the words and the basic dance moves to increase your chance of being chosen. Good luck. Best Regards Peteer”. As often happens, YouTube got the shape of the image wrong, so I’ve corrected it here.

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Then, just a week ago, Studio 100 posted the results of that audition, with this caption — “Emily, Lauren and Tahnee, 2 days after meeting for the first time ever, create a decent music video in less than 4 hours. Amazing!”

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Well, there it is. The house that K3 built moves on. Karen, Kathleen, and Kristel are now all 30 and over, and it’s time for younger women, who are native English speakers. UK3 looks like just another fabricated fluff girl group, and I couldn’t be less interested. Again I say it’s the people, not the package. Studio 100 got lucky with K3, who were already together before Studio 100 found them. Less than six months ago I didn’t know K3 existed, and now it’s disconcerting to contemplate that they may be getting closer to the end of their run.

Alizée in French and English

All of my K3 posts combined haven’t equaled the online hits to my single mention of Alizée three months ago. Five years ago, Alizée had a mega hit with “J’en ai Marre!” or, in English, “I’m Fed Up!” Is it French vs. Flemish that makes Alizée so popular compared to K3, or is it the way she dishes up sex so shamelessly, yet sweetly? And what is the significance of the cute sailor’s collar and the fanny fish?

I haven’t done a lot of background reading about Alizée, and I’ve watched only a few videos of her doing other songs, but I have to say that Alizée in “J’en ai Marre!” is unforgettable if not sensational, and the song itself is an excellent piece of pop penmanship and production. This performance in French is from Top of the Pops.

K3 found success in going for the kid’s market, and Alizée also took a crack at it, albeit in a more modest costume.

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And if you’re thinking the song would be better in English, here’s another appearance from Top of the Pops.

[flv:http://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Video/K3/AlizeeEnglish.flv 480 360]

I think it loses a lot in English, so it’s just as well that’s an abbreviated take of the song. The charm just isn’t the same, leading me to wonder if K3’s appeal for me as an American would suffer if their songs were in English?

The introduction to this live performance of “J’en ai Marre!” demonstrates how effectively a simple, well-constructed song can pull in an audience.

Is there K3 on Mars?

Every time everybody gets worked up writing comments arguing about politics, my inclination is to post a K3 video. Not as punishment, even if you feel that way! 😉

The Belgians of French Wallonia and Dutch Flanders don’t get along, so it’s nice when Karen, Kristel and Kathleen do something that’s a bit Frenchy, as in this thoroughly delightful homage to Georges Méliès. This is one of their softer tunes. As you can see, Kristel was pregnant at the time. Watch this and fall in love with the three K’s. And if you don’t, well…. there’s just no hope for you! 🙁

http://youtu.be/zN7ZHS0dKFA

Rush Limbaugh is still a big, fat idiot

I consider Morton Kondracke to be a conservative, but now the GOP attack dogs will undoubtedly call him a liberal, because he starts a recent column this way.

How can the Republican Party rebound? The first step would be to quit letting Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham set its agenda.

I’d add Bill O’Reilly to that list, but Kondracke throws a big blanket over the whole bunch of idiots by saying…

Step 1 is to fire Limbaugh and his ilk as the intellectual bosses of the GOP. They shouldn’t be muzzled, as some liberals want to do by reviving the “fairness doctrine” in broadcasting, just ignored more frequently.

Kondracke may work for Fox News, which otherwise would put him way at the bottom of my list of people to pay attention to, but he wrote a short and sincere book about his late wife, while she was in her final years of Parkinson’s Disease.

Saving Milly, which was made into a TV movie, is now out of print and available for pennies on Amazon. Kondacke was unhappy with the cut in federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, showing he isn’t driven by ideology. He was critical of gay activists for demanding so much money for AIDS research while complaining about having to wear condoms, but he wondered how people without his financial resources manage to care for a family member with Milly’s condition. All in all, Kondracke came across as very thoughtful and not at all driven by an agenda other than the reality of an illness for which there is neither prevention nor cure.

So now Kondracke is telling the GOP what it needs to be told but doesn’t want to hear. They won’t listen, they’ll only attack. It’s all they seem to know.

Happy birthday, Sparky Schulz

Sparky Schulz

Today, Charles M. Schulz would have been — yikes! — 86. Twenty years ago, there was a series of Peanuts animated cartoons called This is America, Charlie Brown. I’ve seen most of them and they’re a very good introduction to American history. Unfortunately, the videos are out of print, but they’re available on Netflix. I have some of them on good, ol’ LaserDisc, including “The Mayflower Voyagers”, five minutes of which you’ll find on the embedded video player. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
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