Sunday, August 3, 2008

Coldplay: Look at the Stars

Author and musician Phil O'Brien explores the ascension of one of the most popular and acclaimed new rock bands. She tells the story of their rocky rise, looks at the effect of fame on the band, especially on lead singer Chris Martin, and delves into the complex emotions of their music. It's all here — Martin's relationship with actress Gwyneth Paltrow, the endless gossip, the extraordinary commercial highs (their second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head, was the number-one album in 12 countries within a week of release), and the emotional lows of life on the road. Coldplay describes all of the band's activities to date and contains over 40 black and white photos, offering a timely appraisal of its future — rock superstardom on a par with that of long-running internationally renowned bands such as Oasis and U2.

Customer Review: Coldplay rocks!
I borrowed this book from a friend and I'm buying my own copy after reading about what is the complex group of individuals known as Coldplay. I was very perturbed at the few mentions of how much Chris Martin was teased as a kid because people believed he was gay (so what if it was the case, which it isn't?) and how critics continue to put down the most original group that has graced music in about a decade. I'm also a bit tired of hearing the wisecracks about Martin's looks (I think the man is cute and very charming, along with the rest of Coldplay). The first Coldplay song I heard on the radio was "Clocks" (from "A Rush of Blood to the Head") and I, at first, thought it was a new U2 single (not realizing, until I read this book, that Coldplay idolizes U2). I was hooked from then on. I recently sat down and listened to the entire "X&Y" album again and appreciate their songwriting and vocal abilities more than ever. The group is a welcomed breath of fresh air in this day and age of corporate "music" (undertalented and overexposed starlets doubling as singers, rappers rapping over drum machines calling women every derogatory name in the book and videos being nothing more than glorified porno film shorts). Phil O'Brien exposed Coldplay for what they really are: A complex group of individuals who value their art and their talent is appreciated (screw the naysayers!).
Customer Review: I wish I could give it even more stars
I'm a little old for a Coldplay fan (53), but I "discovered" them when I watched them play at Live8 in July 2005. Chris Martin is far from "boring" as this book attests. He's interesting, smart, funny, complex, deep and - yes - a nice guy who can get in touch with his feelings and express them beautifully in his wonderful songs. I was already a fan of Chris' wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, and was glad to see that the book dealt with the relationship. It made me dislike the "STALKerazzi" even more. Vultures! The book really told me a lot that I was dying to know about the band, especially their charismatic frontman. I highly recommend it.


What Are Unlimited Free Download Sites?

Do you remember what Napster used to be? Unlimited Free Download Sites are very similar to the old Napster only much, much better. A really good unlimited free download site scans all of the files on their databases for viruses, trojan horses and other malicious baddies. They should never ever bombard you with adware or spyware. They should be between 250x to 300x faster than Kazaa in download speeds.

While trying to navigate through what could amount to a million files of music/mp3's, PC games, video games for Playstation 1,2, & 3, Game Boy, PSP, Nintendo Gamecube, DS, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360, iPods, Zune, etc., Movies including all of the categories like drama, westerns, romance, sci fi, fantasy, sports, comedy, adventure, horror, thrillers, suspense, etc., old black and white movies and new releases, TV shows, TV series, music video's including rock, jazz, hip hop, alternative, rap, classical, country, christian, pop, techno, operas, easy listening, etc., plus music in different languages, tons of assorted software, concerts, and lots more. It could easily become overwhelming and complicated to some.

An unlimited free download site worth it's salt will have an easy-to-use members area with step-by-step manuals and/or videos that will take you by the hand and show you how to download all of music, movies, games & more. They will show you step-by-step how to rip and burn or back-up cd's and dvd's. Lastly, a good unlimited free download site will have all of the tools that are needed to perform all of the jobs I just mentioned and more plus have technical support available 24/7 to answer your questions.

Meet These 5 Criteria Or Else!

Here is a list of five criteria that all unlimited free downloads site should strive to meet.

1) What's This Going To Cost You? - There are two different "fee" systems out there with different variations for each one. There is the pay-per-download system where you would pay a separate charge for each and every mp3, movie or game file that you download and then there is the unlimited downloads membership site system. I believe that you get more bang-for-your-buck by joining an unlimited free downloads site. Most of the unlimited downloads sites offer different lengths of time for your membership. By far, the best deal is the lifetime membership which includes everything that the site has to offer without paying any extra fees. By everything I mean that many of the unlimited downloads membership sites give you as part of your membership the software that is needed to "rip & burn" your own cd's and dvd's.

You will also find that if you join a music site for instance, not only will you be able to download unlimited mp3's for your mp3 player or iPod, but the sites library will also include movies, games, software, eBooks and more products for you too download. Even though many of the membership sites offer a cornucopia of products to download, just remember that if you are mainly interested in movies, than join a movie site because although they have other products for you to download, their emphasis will be on movies.

2) A Wide Enough Variety To Appeal To Everybody - People have different tastes in there movies, music and games. The movies downloads sites should have a good selection from all or most of the movie genres such as drama, suspense, romance, comedy, horror, science fiction and fantasy, etc. They should also have movie selections covering the past (the old black and white movies) and the present (the newest blockbuster releases) and everything in between.

Music downloads or mp3 downloads sites should have selections covering all or most of the wide array of music categories and sub-categories out there today such as jazz, rock and roll, r&b, soul, hip hop, opera, classical, big band, rap, etc., plus carry music selections from the early days until today.

The games downloads sites should offer downloads from all or most of the different games categories such as strategy, roll playing, action, puzzle, educational, sports, etc. They should offer games selections for the different platforms available such as PC, Mac, Playstation, Nintendo, and Microsoft etc. plus carry games for the different game platform models such as Playstations 1, 2, 3 and PSP Gamecube, Gameboy, Gameboy DS and Wii, xBox and xBox 360, Zune, etc.

3) How in The World Does This Thing Work! - Ease of use is very important because there is nothing more frustrating than paying for something only to find out that not only is it too darned difficult to figure out, it makes you feel like an idiot, and that fun rush you just had anticipating playing with your new toy just came crashing to Earth because some nerdo wiz kid made a program too complicated for even Albert (freaking) Einstein to use and the instructions are in some unknown dialect. The members area should provide you all the tools you need to start downloading as many games, mp3s, videos and dvd quality movies as you can handle. The download sites need to be easy for you to use and had to have "How To Manuals" that are well written and easy for a complete novice to understand. They should have manuals to teach you how to create and mix your own cds, rip and burn your own cd and dvds, and other tasks.

4) Can't This Darned Thing Download Any Faster! - When it comes to computers, the saying "Speed Kills" has a completely opposite meaning. It means, "If this damned machine doesn't move any faster, I'm going to kill something." With that said, it is of paramount importance that your downloads site have the capability to download your mp3s, movies, games and software files at "Warp Speed", and while a lot of programs boast about how fast they are, we found that many of the companies failed to live up to their boasting.
If you have ever visited an unlimited free downloads site you may have noticed the site bragging about their lightning fast download speed of 250x. The 250x means that their download speeds are 250 times faster than the speed it would take to download a file at Kazaa.

Why Kazaa is always used as the comparison is because they always set the standard for the fastest downloads. Unlimited free download sites should meet the requirements for download speed which is at least 250x to 300x, but remember that their speed is only half of the equation. Your upload speed is just as important so if you are only connected to the Internet by way of a 56K modem, then don't kill the messenger. One last word of advice. It doesn't matter if you are using the fastest broadband connection on the planet. If you are going to download movies for your dvd collection, do it at night before you go to bed. Because of the amount of data (grahical and audio) it is going to take a very long time for your downloads. Load up your download before bed and when you wake up the only thing you will have to wait for is your popcorn.

5) "Is There Anybody Out There?" - Although I don't have a ton of verbiage for this criteria, it is probably the most important of the five. There is nothing that aggravates me more than getting little or no support when I run into a problem or have an important technical question about a product I just purchased. If you are going to be there to take my money, then you had better be there when I need assistance. The best companies offer great customer support 24/7 or as close to that as possible and have qualified technicians there to help you.

I live in Largo, Florida where I work for the states largest Power Company. I currently have two websites. At http://www.moviesmusicgamesandmore.com/ I review the best unlimited free download sites for movies, music, games and more. At Movies Music Games and More we also sell the newest and latest entertainment products including iPods, HDTV's, DVD Players, Video Game Consoles, Entertainment Centers and much more. Also check out more great articles.

I also have a Squidoo lens: http://www.squidoo.com/game-download-sites-review where you can get the latest video games and equipment plus reviews and all the latest news.

I find great pleasure in writing informative articles on various subjects when I'm not busy building and promoting my websites. If you are using articles for natural SEO and PR or you want to learn to make easy money (I'm serious), than you definitely need to go here:

http://www.moviesmusicgamesandmore.com/Recommends/Article-Underground

music on so you think you can dance

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