you may have noticed that I haven’t posted here in a while. Reason for this? Well I am currently working as the TV and Music Editor/Producer for The Dallas Morning News and GuideLive.com. Cool, right?

This means that my entertainments posts will be on there… Read my posts there by clicking HERE!

For posts regarding my life and other non-entertainment stuff I will be posting at life.randrambles.com

So, keep up with me in those places and if you don’t already, follow me on Twitter. And say “@RandDuren Heyyyy!”

Peace!

In case you didn’t know there are two Snow White movies coming out soon. One of them has Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen, the other one has Charlize Theron. I am a big fan of both ladies, but by the looks of this trailer I doubt that Roberts will come close to Theron. Snow White and The Huntsman stars Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart (meh) and Chris Hemworth in a dark twist of the loved fairytale. I am very thankful that at least the trailer features Charlize more than Kristen biting her lip again, and again, and again. The special effects and darkness of the movie mixed with the awesomeness that is Charlize Theron will make me forget that Bella is even in the movie. After all, in the real story… Snow White dies, right? #wishfulthinking

Watch the Queen in all its terror below!

Oh man, I LOVE Kelly Clarkson. Ever since she sang “Stuff like that there” on American Idol ten years ago. And her new album stronger showcases her voice beautifully. So, here is a little treat for Kelly lovers, two songs from her Unplugged special that will be airing on November 17. One of the songs, “I know you won’t” was originally recorder by another Idol champ, Carrie Underwood. Her voice soars on that song, so great. The second song is what has been said to be Kelly’s new single from her new album, “Stronger’, the title track “What doesn’t Kill You (Stronger)”.

Enjoy!

I Know You Won’t – Kelly Clarkson

What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger)

On last night’s show the judges finally selected the top 16, but after eliminating one of the early favorites, Melanie Amaro, Simon couldn’t live with himself and made it a Top 17, flying to Florida to give her the news himself. I am glad, since she has been one of my favorites.

The top 17 have apparently already started the mentoring process, which comes with an improved and more focused image as you will be able to see on the photos below. Here is one more thing to differentiate the X Factor from Idol, these contestants look like stars, it shows that there was some effort put into them as artists, and I like that a lot. (there’s one pic missing on the site, from Astro, the kid rapper)

Next week will be the 1st live performances show and I can’t wait to see it. You will notice that the production on the X Factor is bigger and flashier. The performances sometimes have dancers and the judges help the contestants choose songs, which usually is a big help.

The Girls -   Simon Cowell

The Boys -  L.A. Reid

The Over 30s – Nicole Scherzinger

The Groups – Paula Abdul

Just a few months ago Scotty McCreery was crowned the American Idol. Today his first album, Clear as Day, was released and fans of Scotty will not be disappointed. Ever since his days on Idol I thought Scotty had the potential to be one of the strongest winners to come out of the show. His voice is unique, for an Idol winner, girls will find him cute and he seems like a down to earth humble kid. I even bought some of his songs while he was still on the show and I am not a country fan.

After the show,  Scotty’s debut was the highest for a new artist on the Country charts in the SoundScan era, which can be a very good thing. His collection of hits from the show, sold only at Walmart, sold very well. Many people don’t like country music, but let’s not forget that one of the highest selling artists over the past few years has been Taylor Swift, a country darling. And one of American Idol’s biggest stars happens to be one of the most successful country acts, Carrie Underwood. So, country may keep shining on with Scotty.

Will Scotty be able to break the curse? For the past few years American Idol has crowned a guy as a winner, and sadly they have not been wildly successful. David Cook did well on sales, but Kris Allen and Lee Dewyze were outshined by their season’s finalists. Personally, I don’t see that happening here, since I believe Scotty has a greater appeal than Lauren Alaina. Her album will be coming out next week.

Scotty’s album, Clear as Day, it’s a country album, it’s fun, has a lot of twang and is currently showing well on iTunes. Not only does it have two of the most prominent promo spots on the iTunes store, it has propelled to number one on the albums chart.

You can get Clear As Day – Scotty McCreery here.

Will Scotty be the next country superstar? Time will tell.

While most pop singers collaborate with other contemporary artists, there is something different about Lady Gaga. At times it’s hard for me to remember that Lady Gaga is just 25 years old. Not only is she a record breaking artist, named one of the most influential people in the world and a fashion icon, she also plays with the big guys.

On her latest album, Born This Way, she collaborated with Clarence Clemons, saxophonist for Bruce Springsteen, and Brian May, guitar player for Queen. And yes, her hit Telephone was a duet with Beyoncé who is a contemporary, but that is not all Lady Gaga is about. Lately she is sought after for collaborations with artists who are legends in the music industry.

During the 2010 Grammy’s Gaga performed a fantastic duet with Elton John in which they meshed their songs Speechless and Your Song. She wrote a song, The Greatest Thing, which is expected to be released this year being sung by Cher and her. Last week, she performed with Sting and again this past weekend for his Birthday. And she also performed a duet with Tony Bennett on his new album, singing The Lady is a Tramp, which you can watch below.

There are many reasons why I love Lady Gaga as an artist, and this is one of them, she loves what she does. Yes, she loves shocking people with her performances and fashion, but at the core all that she does is based on her love for music and art. She is flashy and crazy because she loves it, but give her a piano and a mic and she will still blow you away. Thing that many artists with great success are unable to do. Actually, some of my favorite Gaga performances are when it’s just her and the piano. Add to that the fact that she is an amazing songwriter and that, for me, is what tells me that her career will be a very long and successful one.

But again, can you really believe she is just 25? Wow.

Florence + The Machine’s new album is coming out soon! This makes me very excited. I love Florence, hers is one of my favorite voices out there. Her voice and music are hauntingly beautiful and let’s just say that her first album was on constant rotation here for at least six months.

Well, the second song for her new album has been released and it is amazing. The first song, “What the water gave me” was good, I liked it but didn’t love it. But this new song, “Shake it Out” gets me going, I LOVE it.

It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back, so shake him off.

Watch the video for Shake it Out below.

We are done with the audition rounds. Yay! Next week we will see one of my favorite parts of The X Factor, Boot Camp, where contestants show their skills to a deeper degree, adding some dancing and performing to the mix.

But let’s talk about last night. As I mentioned in a previous post, the show was boring me a little, but this week managed to keep me entertained. They showed less disasters and more of the good auditions. But I still haven’t seen someone that has blown me away.

Some of the most memorable moments from last night show were the little Kanye wannabe brat, sorry, he annoyed me, I know it was part of his performance but meh. And then there was Ausem, two kids attempting to bring Glee to the show, the boy was alright, the girl was very bad. The judges knew this, and I know they wanted to just put him through, but they gave the duo a chance. There was also Cari Fletcher who sang Alone, and did it well, but in my book that song still belongs to Carrie Underwood. Another memorable one was Brennin Hunt, this guy has the whole package, he can sing alright, and definitely has the looks to make it, some people on my twitter timeline were flailing over him and rightfully so (See pic above).

Another cool spot was Tora Woloshin, girl is a mechanic, and has an interesting look, needs some polishing and cleaning up but has a good voice. She actually audition for Idol a few years back.

But my favorite performance of the night goes to Jazzlyn Little. I believe she won me over because of her immense lack of confidence, I wanted to shake her up and tell her to stop putting herself down. And then she sang, and everything was alright. She transformed into a beast while singing, her whole demure changed and Bam!

Now that the auditions are over, who is your favorite so far?

On week two of the audition rounds The X Factor was back with a bang. It seems that the producers were really moved by everyone complaining about too many trainwrecks on the show and too little talent. Last night, the show was a lot more bearable. Some good auditions, some interesting ones, and some spicy fighting between the judges.

One of my favorites of the night was Peet Montzingo, yes, he really can’t sing and the change to the song was horrible, but how adorable was he? And he has tiny parents. So sweet.

Another thing that surprised me was when Nicole Scherzinger went off and sang a a lil’ Whitney for Simon, baby girl rocked it. Who would’ve thought her voice could do that? I mean, I’ve been dancing to some of her songs for the better part of the week, but wowie. Count me impressed, even if I still want Cheryl Cole back.

And here is a first, I never thought I would post something related to Justin Bieber on the site but that is changing… just this time, hopefully. Here comes Drew Ryniewics, a Bieber fan who seemed obsessed, as pretty much any other 14 year old Bieber fan comes up through the internet. Personally I was not expecting a lot, I mean, usually they have people like these to just show how hopeful they are and how their talent doesn’t match that. But this Belieber went ahead and sang “Baby” by the man kid himself. And it was very, very good. Nice arrangement, nice voice, and made me forget that she is obsessed with Bieber. Favorite of the night! Watch her below!

Who was your favorite?

Well, ther first week of The X Factor is officially over. As in Idol, too much time is being given to the crazy ones, while talented people take the backseat. Actually, it’s even worse here. However, there were some shining lights on last night’s show. I was particularly happy to see the Dallas auditions since I was able to be in one of the tapings, the rugby girl that made it and Dexter, were two of the ones I got to see live. How did it compare from TV? Well, their performances live were pretty electrifying, the crowd was loving it. There are some others that made it through who were great but weren’t shown, I guess we’ll be seeing more from them later.

I enjoyed a few of the performances. Nick Voss, has something that I like and I don’t really know what it is yet. Caitlin, the rugby girl, was very good as well. And I am so glad of what happened with Xander Alexander, he didn’t have a horrible voice but he had such a horrible attitude, I am glad that Simon said he liked him(giving him some hope) and then squashing those hopes by sending him home. Reality check.

My favorite performance of the night was Melanie Amaro who sang a great version of Listen by Beyoncé. But let’s be honest, anyone remotely good would shine on this show at this moment since they have been showing such little talent. Also, her sister is so cute and supportive. Watch below!