All I Want for Christmas is You

This song is a perennial favourite among iTunes shoppers. It is one of the most commercially successful Christmas singles of the modern era.

According to The New Yorker, it is "one of the few worthy modern additions to the holiday canon". Because the song has achieved such success and acclaim in a relatively short time period, many are unaware that it is an original song written by Mariah Carey. It has been covered by singers such as Shania Twain and Samantha Mumba, and bands such as My Chemical Romance. It was performed by Olivia Olson in the film Love Actually (2003). By late 2006, it had become the best-selling holiday ring tone of all time in the U.S.

"All I Want for Christmas Is You" is a song written and produced by American singer Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff, and recorded for Carey's fifth album Merry Christmas (1994).

These Are Special Times

It's nice to hear a new tune from Celine Dion. She has been out of the limelight lately since her Las Vegas stint.

And no, this song is not in her Christmas album, "These Are Special Times". How I wish she would record this song and make it available for purchase, even just in iTunes.

Golden Globes: The Nominees

Leonardo DiCaprio and Clint Eastwood are seeing double this morning — the actor picked up Golden Globe nods for his lead roles in The Departed and Blood Diamond, while the director of the war movies Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima will also battle himself for a statue. Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel led the way in the film categories with seven noms, while The Departed brought in six and Dreamgirls five — though none of the musical's were for writing or directing. As expected, royal subjects Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) and Helen Mirren (The Queen) are strong contenders for the acting prizes. But there were some surprises: Maggie Gyllenhaal edged out Naomi Watts (The Painted Veil) to pick up a best actress nod for Sherrybaby, and there was no love in the major drama categories for the 9/11 film United 93, which had been racking up kudos from critics groups.

As for TV, ABC scored big, with four nominations for Grey's Anatomy, three for Desperate Housewives, and two for Lost. New shows Ugly Betty, Big Love, and Heroes got nods. Unlike last year, the Wisteria Laners don't completely dominate the Best Actress category (phew!) — Ugly Betty's America Ferrera was fresh blood in that category — and Alec Baldwin (30 Rock), Michael C. Hall (Dexter), and Bill Paxton (Big Love) got lead acting nods for their new series.

The Golden Globes will be handed out Monday, Jan. 15, and televised live on NBC.

Full list of nominees: click here.

Source: http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1569693_3_0_,00.html

November Sales: PS3 Underships, DS Rules

The NPD group's reports on game business sales for the month of November are in, and no matter where you look, there's shocking news. Nintendo DS sold more units than anything else by far -- over 900,000 of them, to be exact.

On the low end of the scale was -- surprise -- PlayStation 3. Sony promised 400,000 units for launch, but according to NPD's analysis they weren't even able to hit half of that: 197,000 units, to be precise.

Nintendo's Wii launch wasn't able to take the top slot, but it came close, selling just under half a million units. And it's older, cheaper consoles that are still selling. PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance each cleared well over 600,000 units each.

So where does this leave each of the Big Three? Sony can't be happy. They're sticking to their guns about selling one million PS3 consoles by the end of the year, but I can't bring myself to believe that they're going to get 800,000 consoles out there by the end of this month. PSP had one of its best months ever, moving over 400,000 units. But the Nintendo DS is trouncing it. Sure, they're raking it in on those $120 PS2s, but that battle's over and it doesn't much matter anymore.

Microsoft is still the next-gen leader, and half a million $400 consoles in one month is nothing to sneeze at. But the fact that they were actually nearly beaten by Wii, which was only available in the second half of the month and was itself short-shipped, is definitely a sign that they're not nearly as strong as they should be.

That leaves us with Nintendo. What can you even say? One out of every two video game systems sold in the month of November has the Nintendo name on it. I'm still not sure if Wii will make the long-term marketshare expansion that Nintendo has in mind a reality in the US -- the fact that Zelda sold on an almost 1:1 ratio with the console is an indication that most of those Wii buyers were regular ol' gamers -- but it's looking much more likely, now.

Source: http://blog.wired.com/games/2006/12/november_sales_.html

2007 Grammy Nominees Announced

Grammy Nominees click here.

* Mary J. Blige leads the nominees with 8 nods. If she would only win just 1 award, I would want it to be for the song "One", her collaboration with Irish band U2.

* Carrie Underwood achieves a special American Idol feat by being the first winner from the reality talent show to be nominated in the prestigious "Best New Artist" category. I hope she wins this award and the Grammy for "Best Female Country Vocal Performance". I couldn't care less if her song "Jesus, Take The Wheel" wins for "Song of the Year" or "Best Country Song" because she ain't gonna get those trophies, if ever.

* Comeback diva Mariah Carey is definitely here to stay. She has 2 chances of getting a Grammy for 2007. Both for the song "Don't Forget About Us" released towards the end of 2005. The categories are "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance" & "Best R&B Song". She will most likely not attend the awards night but I still do hope she will win these 2 trophies! :)

* I am glad that John Mayer's album "Continuum" was nominated for "Album of the Year". However, I'd thought that his song "Waiting on the World to Change" would also get a nom for "Song of the Year". His nom for "Best Male Pop Vocal Performance" should do, though.