Sony’s Bloggie Sport (MHS-TS22) is their most durable pocket video camera; it is tough enough to withstand drops (from reasonable heights), resist dirt and go underwater up to 16 feet (as they described, not tested by us). The rugged camera was released in March and now enjoys the company of similar products like Samsung’s HMX-W300. When it came down to testing it, I took it out to some shows to see what it was capable of. It measures 2 3/8” x 4 5/8” x 27/32”, weighs a mere 5.2 ounces (all technical specifications are from Sony’s website) and comes with a wrist strap so you don’t drop it.

American Idol’s fifth season was filled with shocking eliminations. Big-voiced R&B/gospel singer Mandisa didn’t make it to the top eight. Kellie Pickler, a country singer who reminded people of previous winner Carrie Underwood, didn’t make it into the top five. Plus, American Idol’s most successful male contestant and one of the biggest stars in modern rock music, Chris Daughtry, didn’t win.

Regardless of who was voted off when, it was the still the highest rated TV series of 2006. One of the show’s most successful seasons, it resulted in a record number of Billboard chart appearances, with 18 contestants from the show eventually receiving some sort of record contract! 

But whatever happened to those who made it to the top that year? Let’s find out as we continue on with 2006’s American Idols. 

Meat Loaf named his most recent album Hell in a Handbasket because that’s where the ‘70s rock icon—who now prefers to be known simply as “Meat”—feels the world is headed. 

“I keep hearing these stories about selfishness and ‘me, me, me, me, what I believe and all of you can just go to Hell’”, he said in a recent PopMatters interview. He heard a student sued a high school to remove a prayer that was on a wall. “It cost the school money and I’m saying to myself, ‘The money could have been better used in the school district by teaching students, helping students, supporting art programs’,” he said. “‘Go down and volunteer at the homeless shelter. Go to the Ronald McDonald House. Go to the kids’ hospital. Volunteer to help the homeless. Go do anything. Don’t just make it about me, me, me, me, me and this is my belief and I believe that I am right.’” 

For Meat, Hell in a Handbasket is about humanity, compassion, dignity, and being truthful. Meat says this is his most personal record ever:  “I want everyone to know who I am”, he says, projecting a straightforward, confessional honesty. In the first song, “All of Me”, Meat sings: “I caught a glimpse of myself today / It wasn’t a pretty picture /  I must say / This is my anger /  This is my shame. / These are my insecurities that I can’t explain”.

I’ve noted the relative abundance of American productions in Competition at this year’s Cannes Film festival in a prior dispatch. But if that wasn’t curious enough, the programmers here have made the interesting decision of screening a majority of these during the last half of the festival. In fact, beginning with Wednesday’s premiere of Killing Them Softly, the final five Competition screenings are all products of the States, albeit made in some cases by foreign directors. There’s been disgruntled chatter about why these, for the most part, highly anticipated films have been scheduled in this manner, as many critics leave the fest a number of days prior to the official closing ceremony. Because of this, and considering the gradual increase in quality these last couple days, this seemed to have all the makings of a backloaded festival, whereas most Cannes line-ups reveal the goods straight away. But following the unfortunate concessions of Lawless—and bracing for the impending critical darts aimed squarely at both On the Road and The Paperboy—a lot was riding on Killing Them Softly, Andrew Dominik’s anticipated return to the director’s chair after a five-year pause following 2007’s contemporary classic, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

On the heels of their week long European tour, the post-classical composers, Dustin O’Halloran, Hauschka and Jóhann Jóhannsson have released the Transcendentalism EP featuring two special and / or newly arranged tracks from each artist. The EP is available for streaming now and can be purchased as MP3 or on limited edition vinyl.