Well, shit just got real. Rihanna and Chris Brown didn’t just record one track together, they’ve recorded two. The first track in the video below, is, Turn Up The Music. Outside of who is involved in the collaboration, it’s not a massive record, sounding pretty standard pop fare.

The next track, ‘Birthday Cake’ is the one that will likely raise an eyebrow, closer to a duet than even Rihanna’s collaborative effort with Coldplay on Princess of China. It makes you wonder if Brown and Rihanna have actually reconciled, or are two pop stars capitalizing on a chance for some publicity. Rihanna has always been the artist that seems to try extra hard to appear edgy, and risque, could this just be an extension of that? If so, it’s a bit of a slap in the face of women who have been in abusive relationships all over. Check out the two fan made videos below, can you look past the backstory, and enjoy the track? Would it be worth the attention if there was no backstory?

There’s no doubt that Apple has become the one to beat, accessories are built to meet iSpecifications first. The iMac is slowly gaining more and more market share as people’s desktop computer. Don’t even get me started on their stranglehold on the mobile market, their ability to revitalize the tablet market, and then absolutely own it. Now, all of a sudden they’re being accused of all the same things Microsoft was. That Bill guy? He’s more committed to changing the world, and making it a better place, literally.

Want to see a company not ‘be different’ ? Rather fall in line with other big corporations in hiding their mistakes. There’s been a story circulating online about ‘customer K’, happens to be ‘friend K’ to I. K’s iPhone got stolen at some party, apparently you can’t leave a $500+ gadget at your table at a dinner party. You say duh, I say it’s a shame. Now, of course, it’s not Apples fault in the phone being stolen, it’s the motherless whore who likely took it. But, wait, you say, what about ‘find my iPhone’, you can track that thing via GPS, and send the phone a message no? Surely, K could get it back like that? Oh, she tried, and the police even got involved, and confronted the aforementioned hoor, but something happened our fearless crime fighters couldn’t predict. She said she didn’t do it, and despite GPS tracking, and everything else, she got away. And, they wonder why vigilante justice is so popular. It’s not just Steven Seagal movies, you know?

So, our friend K, decided to move on, and wiped her phone clean remotely, drunken messages, funny photos, high scores, little notes all gone. The painful, right thing to do. Move on right? Wrong. Her friends started to ask her why she wasn’t responding to their iMessages. It’s because her stolen phone was still receiving them, and registering as read. She got in touch with Apple technical support, who as helpful as they were, didn’t find a solution. K and Apple tried several things, including visiting Apple stores, resetting sim cards, passwords, smacking phones on their sides(maybe not that one). Apple also recommended to contact all the people on her address book, and give them an update. Right. Because that makes total, easy sense.

What finally worked was when Apple got the engineering team involved, and they remotely pushed code to the phone disabling the feature. How they did that, who knows. So, after all of this commotion, and a clear design flaw that could lead to an invasion of privacy, the issue of compensation came up. After some phone conversations, Apple agreed to send her an iPod touch. Not staggering compensation, but a clear admission of guilt. It’s not Apple’s fault that the phone got stolen, nor is it their fault that private content was shared. Where the issue comes in is the customers privacy would continue to be breached after the theft, because of a design flaw. They were reluctant to admit it, slow to fix it, and, not overwhelming in righting the wrong.

Allen Iverson, at one point was considered the best personality in the game, and one of the more marketable players in all of basketball. He was definetly one of the best players, an athlete that personified heart, and playing through injury, just don’t ask him about practice. But, despite all of the hype, and talent, Iverson is rumoured to be broke. A staggering thought, after he earned $154 million in salary, and a few boat loads of cash on top of that through endorsements. So, where did all that money go? His entourage was legendary, in excess of 50 people at times, a hair stylist that travelled with him, and of course, ain’t no party like a West Coast party. Now, when you add all that up, you can imagine a couple of his homies, saying, ‘it’s all good AI, we had a good run, we did big’. At least one of them did. Makes you ask the question, who are the biggest busts in sport, who went from the court to the courthouse, and from the field to, well, the field.

Lenny Dykstra was a legend in his day, known for his playing days with the Mets, and the Phillies, he was a 3x All Star, a silver slugger winner, and a World Series Champion. When he retired from baseball, Dykstra decided to diversify his portfolio. When the magazine world tried to figure out they’d survive the success of the internet, and death of paper, Dykstra started a high-end jet charter company, and a magazine catered towards pro athletes (Player’s Club) in 2008. It wasn’t soon after that his financial status was thrown into question, a GQ article accused Dykstra of credit card fraud, skipping rent payments, bounced cheques, lawsuits, and all sorts of questionable behaviour. It was just in 2008 that he was worth $58 million, he filed for bankruptcy, he went on to live out of his car, and his property started to look more like the caves in the BatCave, than Wayne Manor. He’s since been charged with various crimes, grand theft, embezzlement, possession of cocaine, marijuana, HGH, and faces 80 years in prison. No wonder his nickname was Nails back in the day.

You look back at someone’s career, and their are defining moments, some good, and some bad, but they all build into the arc points for someone’s life story. Below, are the 5 videos that I think are the defining moments of her career.

If you’re looking at Whitney Houston’s career, you’ve got to start with the National Anthem. Her version, sang so well, it actually charted in the US. It was 1991, and Super Bowl XXV, the Giants ended up beating the Bills to win the championship, you probably forgot that the New Kids on the Block were the half-time show, but if you saw the anthem, you didn’t forget. Often considered, the best version of the anthem ever sung. Check it out.

Fast Forward one year, and The Bodyguard is released, and all of a sudden, Whitney Houston becomes a mega star, both on screen, and in sound. Her album, ‘I’m Your Baby Tonight’, a couple of years earlier, was a huge success, but it was the video and song below, that many people will remember Whitney Houston for.

It’s 2002, and Whitney Houston and rumours of her drug abuse, and very rocky relationship with Bobby Brown are tabloid fodder for every weekly rag in America. She decided to do an interview with Dianne Sawyer, to set the record straight. She came off as anything but straight, the interview video and clips went viral, and her responses were used to find her guilty of any and all accusations someone could levy against her. Watch this clip, denying crack use, but, not a partying lifestyle.

This video is now thought to be the last performance of Whitney Houston’s, as she joined Kelly Price on stage a couple of days before her death. She sings a little bit of, ‘Yes, Jesus Loves Me’, a pretty fitting track for a entertainer that got her start as a gospel singer. She’s a shadow of her former self in the video, and she could’ve sung, ‘Walking on Sunshine’, and she still would’ve dripped sadness and loss.

So, what better time to have it played at ‘The Big House’, Michigan stadium? An arena big enough to hold more than a hundred thousand nestled in Ann Arbor, Michigan. If the stage doesn’t do it for you, the teams will.

The US market is all that American networks care about, so, you need two teams that can be somewhat recognizable, if not, instantly recognizable to people all over. There’s maybe only one organization that’s more familiar than the one that sports a winged wheel, and that’s Montreal. But, you can see a strong majority of Leafs Nation making the trip down across the border. With as big of a hockey state Michigan is, and how close Toronto is, I wouldn’t be surprised if this sold out in record time as well.

It doesn’t matter that there’s no real rivalry between the Leafs and the Wings. Doesn’t matter that most hockey fans would only recognize a handful of names from the Toronto roster. All that matters is aesthetics. Two original six teams, with two of the strongest fan bases and great marketability, a record setting crowd, and some strong personalities on both sides will make this one of the more memorable Winter Classics for a long time to come.

No word yet, if HBO and their 24/7 series will capture Burkes brashness, Phaneufs squeaky voice, or the Wings genius.

I look forward to the day that people start buying fake ‘LV’ rubbers, rather than a different colour, or tell tale sign of authenticy, they’ll invest in the poor latex that gives you the kind of rash dirty, unprotected sex usually does.

Broadway is giving the ‘Showtime’ treatment to these two legends of the games, and putting their story on display. The play is in good hands, it’s being created by Tony Ponturo and Fran Kirmser, the team behind ‘Lombardi’. There are so many layers to the story between Magic and Bird, whether it’s the social impact of the decisions they made, and how they turned the fortunes of their cities around. You take a look at the body of work, and basketball was just a small portion of the story. Larry Bird did not fill the role of the suburban, well off white boy, and Magic, didn’t suit the stereotype, of a inner city youth with a chip on his shoulder. No, they were both real, authentic individuals who stayed true to who they were, and never flinched in the face of the spotlight or judging eyes.

These players on the court were so linked, and connected, that Larry Bird admitted to losing some of his drive when Magic Johnson left the game. How’s that for a sense of respect?

The two men slated to pay Magic and Bird respectively, are Kevin Daniels, and Tug Coker, both can play the game, and are said to capture exactly what made these two tick. To better understand the two, and their relationship, you have to know the story of the Converse commercial they starred in that started it all, which was actually filmed at Larry’s house. I’ll leave that story for you to catch up on in the documentary.

The show is set to open April 11 at the Longacre Theatre, and you can imagine a house packed with celebrities and sports athletes alike. For the time being, check out the commercial that started the whole friendship to begin with.

Let’s start with the Super Bowl Halftime Show.
Corporate America and parents all over the states were outraged when rapper MIA stuck up her middle finger to the camera. MIA has always been known for her anti-commercial appearance, outlook, and approach, which made perfect sense as she came out in choreographed outfits, dance moves and pom poms, with Madonna. Seriously, pretty sure the ‘youth of America’ were wondering when MIA sold out, and started to hope that she wouldn’t become a carbon copy of the so many ‘tries too hard’ female singers out there. To the parents who were worried, and aghast that she stuck up her middle finger, calm the fuck down, you should be more concerned that your children don’t find your bondage gear. That and the crack pipes under their beds…but, oh no, it’s MIA’s middle finger that’s ruining middle America.

Here’s a clip of the finger in question, according to TIVO, they didn’t notice an increase in people rewinding to replay that moment any more than normal. (They can check that?!)

Halftime Show malfunctions aside, the other biggest thing that gets play this time of year are the commercials. While for the most part, the commercials were underwhelming, largely because a couple of the big ones were leaked early, the standout was again a beer ad. Flash Fans 2012 was run by Budweiser, and showed two recreational hockey teams, who, were told they were being filmed as part of a documentary on rec hockey. The ad actually showed that it was a stunt created to give the game a real ‘big league’ feel, complete with announcers, and fans. Budweiser then set up both teams and let them watch the game together. Very cool, simple concept. Here’s the extended version of that ad.

Back to the half time show, I’m surprised that Madonna got as much flack as she did for her half time show, it was much better than anything that’s been at the big show the last few years. She put on a strong performance of some classics, had some big name guests join her on stage, and then disappeared into the dust from her snatch at the end of the show. Fantastic.

Check out the performance here.

As with any game, there are winners and losers, and as with any NFL or professional sports league game, there are supermodel girlfriends and wives, and that was no different than with the Giants and Patriots. Tom Brady’s missus, Gisele Bundchen, asked for family and friends to pray that Brady and his Patriots walk off champions. Not sure if she was Tebowing it when she did it. Of course, many stated that he Brady wasn’t really a loser after all, as he went home with Gisele, to which I say, bullshit. Pretty sure would’ve hung out with him if he’d won. More importantly, was Gisele’s reaction after the game. As she walked to an elevator with friends, an apparent Giants fan was shouting that ‘Eli owns your husband’.

Can we have a Saved by the Bell time-out here please? Who the fuck jeers or taunts a players wife? Seriously? First, I don’t totally get why a fan rushes to the bowels of a building right after a win anyway, and if it’s to taunt a supermodel wife of a player that her husband lost a game, then that’s pretty pathetic.

‘Hey Gisele, I paid thousands and risked my childrens college education to be here, while you could walk into any event in the world for free, but there’s a guy out there that can throw a ball better than your husband, and he owns him! Even though they aren’t ever on the field at the same time’

Yeah, you told her. Bob.

Anyway, Gisele drops a F bomb in her rationale that her husband can’t throw and catch a ball at the same time. While media and fans are taking that as a diss to the team, it’s likely more of a statement that her husband can’t do it all. You can’t necessarily blame her for being defensive, and upset that her hubby just had a pretty important event in his life go the wrong way. As a matter of fact, if that’s the moment that she’s the angriest, then I’d say she was pretty collect. Check out the clip.