Gorillaz New Release

The idea of charismatic Blur frontman Damon Albarn hiding behind a fictional cartoon band to make an experimental fusion of hip-hop and garage rock probably seemed crazy at the time.

"Demon Days," is Gorillaz' highly anticipated follow-up, which debuted at No. 6 on the album charts last week with 107,000 copies sold. No longer regarded as a quirky side project, "Demon Days" already has a catchy iPod commercial attached to its first single, "Feel Good Inc."

Albarn: The whole Gorillaz concept is one for mavericks; it's a way for people who never have a chance to work together being able to ally behind the cartoons. Like with De La Soul, they are mavericks in hip-hop and they understand pop as well, so I think that's why it worked. Dennis Hopper, the whole album kind of deals with demons and he's a kind of past master of dealing with his demons, and that particular tune he's on ("Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey's Head") is playful about innocence being taken from us all. It's kind of apocalyptic in a sense, that's why he's the light bulb that kind of came up.

The Rich Get Richer

Forbes: America's richest 400
The net worth of America's wealthiest has risen more than 10% in the magazine's annual tally. Where'd it all come from? Oil, gambling, real estate and pizza.

Conspicuously absent from the list is ChefBecs.
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No. 1 William Gates
Net worth: $51.0 billion
Source: Software, Microsoft
Self-made
Age: 49
Education: Harvard University, dropout
Microsoft's chief visionary moving further away from day-to-day corporate work. For the first time, did not offer a strategy outlook at this year's financial analyst meeting. Instead, prefers to dive into innovative projects, foster collaboration among Microsoft's many divisions.

No. 2 Warren Buffett
Net worth: $40.0 billion
Source: Investments, Berkshire Hathaway
Self-made
Age: 75
Education: University of Nebraska Lincoln, Bachelor of Arts/Science; Columbia University, Master of Science
Revered investor. Also getting it for his board seat at Coca-Cola, where his "independence" might be compromised by Berkshire's ownership of Dairy Queen, which buys lots of Coke products.

No. 3 Paul Allen
Net worth: $22.5 billion
Source: Software, Microsoft, investments
Self-made
Age: 52
Education: Washington State University, dropout
Microsoft cofounder, "wired world" proponent lately finding more promise in pipes delivering oil instead of information. Bought energy outfit Plains Resources for $460 million, controlling stake in Plains All American Pipeline, operator of 15,000 miles of oil pipelines.

No. 4 Michael Dell
Net worth: $18.0 billion (up)
Source: Technology, Dell
Self-made
Age: 40
Education: University of Texas Austin, dropout
Founder, former chief executive of world's largest PC maker feeling tremors at the top. Soft-spoken Texan started selling computers from University of Texas dorm room 1984; dropped out to start Dell Computer.

No. 5 Lawrence Ellison
Net worth: $17.0 billion (up)
Source: Software, Oracle
Self-made
Age: 61
Education: University of Illinois, dropout
Brash software executive holds Darwinian view of his industry, believes that fewer companies peddling software will be better for business. In the past year made 9 acquisitions totaling some $17 billion, including a pending $5.9 billion for Siebel Systems, $10.6 billion for PeopleSoft.

For the whole story. . .
Forbes 400 Richest Americans

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Love is. . .

The most wonderful thing in life is to be delirious and the most wonderful kind of delirium is being in love.
--Yevgeny Zamyatin (1884 - 1937), Russian writer.
From "The Fisher of Men."

Coming Soon!

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride is a fairy tale about a snooty, aristocratic family marrying off its sweet but mousy daughter (voiced by Emily Watson) to the bumbling son (Johnny Depp) of a nouveau riche couple. Depp is delightful—and even more delightful is the manner in which the animators have captured the gung-ho way that he throws himself into a role. You can see him in this character.

The Corpse Bride, dead of heartbreak after being abandoned by her fiancé, rises from the ground when the young man practices his wedding vows on a dead tree—whereupon he finds himself betrothed to her. She's a lovely corpse with pursed, pink, kissable lips, but there is that maggot with the voice of Peter Lorre in her eye socket and the hole in her cheek that exposes her upper molars. Anyway, she's dead, and the hero loves a live one.

You get ravens, forests like boneyards, and lair upon sarcophagal lair. The characters are elongated figures with their ping-pong-ball eyes, along with the festering living dead who were so gruesomely endearing in Burton's Beetlejuice. You can tell the villains here because they have grotesque chins, while the hero, heroine, and plaintive corpse bride have little ones upstaged by their huge eyes.

Green with envy?

If I may take a moment from our regularly scheduled content to shameless plug a friends blog. . .

I'm back from a long weekend only to hear that I've missed a major cinematic event. Or at least one in the making. One of my friends has started production on an epic adventure. I only wish I was creative or talented enough to pull this off myself. After all, a bad day in Hawaii is better than a good day at work!

Apparently Reid is making a short movie in the hopes of winning prizes, prizes, prizes. If you have a sec, check out his blog and cheer him on. And tell him Becs sent you...I may get a cut of the winnings!

http://reidgoo.blogspot.com/

Chocolove

Among cocoa freaks, milk chocolate is for wimps. True connoisseurs ditch the dairy in favor of the dark stuff—the higher the percentage the better.

When the cocoa beans are especially good, Chocolove makes bars from a single vintage and a single region. This means you get a unique taste experience with subtle nuances of the beans. They also offer interesting flavor combinations such as the Cherries and Almond bar. Apparently it's been quite a while since the last vintage bars were produced so it's a good idea to buy when you find something you like.

Bars from Colorado's Chocolove range in strength from 55 percent cocoa to a jitters-inducing 77 percent. And lest you think these tar-black tablets are devoid of the confection's romantic powers, know that each comes wrapped in a love poem.

http://chocolove.com