Pop Shots
Winners & Losers
By: Adam Bernard
Last updated June 2nd , 2010

Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from who's not feeling like a winner after the Alicia Keys - Swizz Beatz engagement & pregnancy announcement, to the big winners coming from American Idol and the Eurovision Song Contest, to the huge loss 50 Cent recently experienced, and since it's Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

* Alicia Keys is pregnant, and now engaged, to Swizz Beatz. There's only one little problem - Swizz was still technically married to recording artist Mashonda, with whom he has a child, when he and Keys started messing around. Personally, I'm not even sure I believe Swizz is really making all these babies. Knowing his history, Casio probably had a lot to do with the production.

* Lee DeWyze was crowned this year's American Idol, upsetting front-runner Crystal Bowersox. Most people would congratulate DeWyze on his victory, but I'm sending him my condolences, because the way the American Idol machine has worked as of late, the guy just used up his entire fifteen minutes of fame. Sorry, dude. We hardly knew ya!

* Dennis Hopper, who, despite his amazing career, I will always associate with Bruce Smith's shoe, Gary Coleman, one of the most memorable small men in the biz, and Peter Keefe, the creative force behind Voltron, all passed away this past week. Chris Brown, Lil' Wayne, and the people who were responsible for The Hills, however, are all still perfectly healthy. Sometimes the world just sucks.

* 50 Cent looks like hell, but it's totally intentional. Fiddy's at work on a new movie, Things Fall Apart, which is about a childhood friend of his who died of cancer, and the role required him to drop over 50 pounds. Now, thanks to a liquid diet and three hours a day on the treadmill, he's a lean, and kind of frightening looking (although a lot of that may come from the makeup he's wearing for the film), 160 pounds, which a far cry from his usual weight of 214. On the plus side, there's a lot less of him to shoot now, so the many men who wish death on him are going to have to have much better aim.

* Suing people has become the music industry's favorite new pastime. Beyonce is being sued for trespassing during a video shoot. Apparently the person living in the neighboring house didn't like the noise the shoot caused and wants to be paid for it. Ke$ha's former managers are suing her because even though they were fired back in 2008 they claim they're owed millions now that she's successful. Of course, she didn't get famous until long after she fired them, so good luck to those former managers when it comes winning that case. And the Department of Justice is looking at iTunes, seeking information about possible price fixing in the digital music marketplace. Wait, you mean the company that charges over two G's for a laptop might like to manipulate money? Shocking! (That being said, I love my Mac!)

* Because somebody asked for it, there's a new book chronicling the history of the vocorder. How to Wreck a Nice Beach, by David Tompkins, traces the instrument's long history, which apparently started with Winston Churchill, who wasn't using it to cut a hot track, all the way to the current croonings of T-Pain. Yes, I'm just as flabbergasted about this as you are ... but I'm probably going to read the book.

* The 2010 installment of the famed Eurovision Song Contest announced their winner over the weekend and thanks to Lena's funky pop tune "Satellite" Germany took home the top prize for only the second time in the contest's history. Germany's only other win came in 1982, so this has been a long time coming. Check out the song that earned the high honor:


And with that, my time is up for the week, but I'll be back next week with more shots on all things pop.

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