Season's greetings

Good grief, Christmas is just around the corner. And that's not just a turn of phrase - Christmas really is waiting around the corner, like a mugger in the shadows, ready to pounce on you and run off with your cash.

Not that I mind. I've always been a sucker Christmas, from the carols and the holly to the turkey and the gaudy neon decorations. Don't believe me? Then check out the totally gay christmas tree I put up last year, motherfuckers.

But with only 32 days to go, it's time to start writing your Christmas cards. And, courtesy of design blog Dfckr, here are some of the year's best festive greetings.







By the way, if you’re the sort of person who buys charity Christmas cards, then worries about whether the money is really going to charity, you should read this report one of my mates put together. It tells you which cards have the biggest impact on the people you're trying to help. And if that's not a proper Christmas message, then what is?

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Note to Nelly

Dear Nelly Furtado,

When the stripy topshop jumper you threw on just before rehearsals is more flattering than the skin-tight white dress you wear during your award show performance, it is time to sack your stylist.

Best wishes,
mrdiscopop




PS: You're welcome

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2 wiiks to go

I've now placed two pre-orders for a Nintendo Wii, just to make absolutely sure I get one on release day (8 December).

Does that seem a bit excessive? I admit that when I woke up this morning I was beginning to question my own sanity... Then someone sent me this video of a small child playing the boxing mini-game on Wii Sports and I realised why I'm so excited all over again.



How could you not want something that makes you do that in front of your tellybox?

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MP3 Frenzy: The 'no theme whatsoever' edition

Chrispix has a stunning new song by Common and Will.i.am that samples Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream Speech for the hook. It has every opportunity to be rubbish, but ends up being great instead. [link]

Arjanwrites gets the exclusive new song from the first former-Sugababe, Siobhan Donaghy. It's called Ghosts and it sounds like Kate Bush gone crazy in Goldfrapp's house with a hoover. [link]

Jamie's Runout Groove helpfully posts a whole host of MP3s recalling the times when screamy fright-lady PJ Harvey visited mumbly farm-boy John Peel on his radio show. They are superb, of course. [link]

And, courtesy of the Discopop Directory itself, an MP3 of Take That (*scream*) doing a cover of Every Day I Love You Less And Less on Radio One's Live Lounge. Is it any good? I'm not sure. It depends on your penchant for barbershop quartets. [link]

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Check yourself to respect yourself

Remember that fabulous Timbaland track I mentioned last week? Well, Beauty from the Beauty N The Beat blog has taken issue with some of Justin Timberlake's lyrics. It's such a good post, that I'm reprinting a massive chunk of it here, starting with those lyrics in full:

Could you speak up and stop the mumbling
I don't think you're getting clear
Sitting on the top it's hard to hear you from way up here
I saw you tryin to act cute on tv "just let me clear the air"
We missed you on the charts last week
Damn that's right, you wasn't there

If sexy never left, then why's everybody on my shi-it-it?
Don't hate on me just because you didn't come up with it
So if you see us in the club go on and walk the other way
Cuz our run will never be over, not at least until we say

Beauty says: "The first part is clearly about Janet who's not on the charts. The second part is about PRINCE who told the crowd at an Emmy Awards After Party August 27th 2006: 'For whoever is claiming that they are bringing sexy back, sexy never left!'. For the record, Prince just stated the obvious, Justin didn't bring ANYTHING back because 85% of his new album is nothing but Prince's 'LoveSexy' album with a Timbaland touch added to it. Justin is feeling himself WAY TOO MUCH. Dissing two legends in one verse? The very people whom HE TOOK HIS STYLE FROM? Hand that child a cup of shut the fuck up."

Too true.

Unfortunately, Beauty N The Beat has been out of action for a week, and a posting on the site yesterday suggests that the whole thing might be about to come to a grinding halt. I wouldn't be surprised if they've attracted the attention of the RIAA's assk-kicking, name-taking, granny-suing lawyers, given the amount of tracks they've leaked. Even so, it would be a shame to see it go as it's one of the highest quality and most intelligent R&B websites out there. Good luck to them all!

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This weekend in two pictures

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes get married in their secret subterranean lair, under the watchful, loving eye of Satan.


Earlier, Katie made a desperate last-ditch attempt to escape the rat-infested dungeon she was locked in, pounding on the window and waving anxiously at the outside world as Tom her prepared her for a wedding "banquet" of toads, bracken and leeches.

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