CitizenSugar -- Breaking News, Together.

Flashback: Abba Wishes You a Happy New Year!

GiggleSugar — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 04:00:00 -0800

There are many awesome retro Christmas songs. Bowie singing with Bing Crosby. Johnny Cash singing with June Carter. The Peanuts gang telling us what the true meaning of Christmas is. But there's only one New Year's song, in my book. That's right, it's the four blondes from Sweden singing "Happy New Year." Here they are pronouncing "champagne" with a cute accent, wearing blindingly shiny lip gloss, and musing on what it will be like in ten years — or 1989! Ahhh, good times.

Pop A DVD In: Mamma Mia!

PopSugarUK — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 05:00:00 -0800

It's starting to get really cold now, so thank goodness for the DVD release of Mamma Mia! this week. One of the massive box office hits of the summer, the film based on the stage musical will bring some welcome sunshine and laughter into your living room.

Meryl Streep is on wonderful all-singing all-dancing form as Donna, a single mum with a run-down hotel on an idyllic Greek island. Amanda Seyfried shows off her awesome singing voice as Donna's daughter, Sophie, who wants her father to be at her wedding to Sky (played by a gorgeous, and topless, Dominic Cooper). The hitch is Sophie doesn't know who her dad is, so she invites all three (Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan and Stellan Skarsgård).

Throw in lots of ABBA songs and you've got yourself a fun, silly, charming film. The all-star cast are one of the biggest draws (alongside the gorgeous Sporades setting), with Julie Walters and Christine Baranski on brilliant form as Donna's best friends. The film pretty much manages to pull off a bizarre blend of knowing irony and heartfelt sincerity, but it is a strange mix that won't appeal to everyone.

I got to meet the male and female stars of the film, and it was clear how much they enjoyed making the movie when they told me all about the singing and dancing. Check out my review of the cinema release to find out more and see movie stills.

To read more about the film's record breaking, and watch a deleted scene plus a behind the scenes featurette, just

Happy, Happy Joy, Joy! ABBA Coming to SingStar

geeksugar — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 04:00:15 -0700

Start warming up those pipes! I heard from a little birdie (read: Sony's website) that one of the greatest bands to sing along with EVER - ABBA - is coming to SingStar (for Playstation 2 and 3) with their own awesome collection.

If you OD'd on Mamma Mia this Summer like I did, then you understand how crazy stoked I am that I'm about to get an ABBA song collection for my PS3! I mean, I've been known to belt out random ABBA songs in my office in the shower, so I may as well be collecting points for it!

Source

Sugar Bits – Christina Applegate Diagnosed With Breast Cancer

PopSugarUK — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 01:00:00 -0700

American actress Christina Applegate has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Her publicist has said that it is not life threatening and it has been caught early enough that she will make a full recovery. – BBC
Abba Gold has returned to number one in the album charts, and Kid Rock's All Summer Long has moved up to number one in the singles charts. Katy Perry's I Kissed A Girl is the biggest climber – it has jumped 135 places to sit at number four! – NME
Prince Harry did a bungee jump from a height of 700ft when he was in South Africa at Bloukrans Bridge. – The Sun
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival officially kicks off today with plenty of theatre, comedy and more – some preview shows began last week. – BBC
TV presenter Kelly Brook has been fined for using her mobile phone whilst driving her car. – Mirror

Source

Mamma Mia!: Hard to Imagine a Better Party

BuzzSugar — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:30:53 -0700

If there were a family get-together with all the slick, recent Broadway-to-film productions, like Hairspray and Dreamgirls, Mamma Mia! would be the drunk older aunt whose clothing doesn't really match and who says all the wrong things but you love her and her kooky, off-kilter self anyway. The movie is, like that aunt, all over the place: Only a third of the cast can actually sing, the plot is thin, and the characters are — with the exception of a few moments — as one-dimensional as it gets. Oh, and there are hardly three minutes between one ABBA cover and the next.

In place of the large-scale choreographed dance productions of other musicals, Mamma Mia! chooses to go heavy on stuff like arms waving in the air, frolicking through streets, and bed bouncing. It has all the girlish exuberance of a slumber party, the sweaty debauchery of a bachelorette party, and the spectacle of a big fat Greek wedding. The movie — and all the actors in it — so unabashedly embrace a spirit of innocence and joy that it's hard to imagine a more perfect form of escapism.

To see why, despite filming in a stunning sun-drenched location, the cast is the real reason this summer movie shimmers,

What's Your Favorite ABBA Song?

BuzzSugar — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:30:53 -0700

Friends, the time is here. That spectacle of a musical, Mamma Mia!, is going to hit theaters in a matter of days. While many will rush to see The Dark Knight, some will be lured to this shining, glorious ABBA extravaganza starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried and Colin Firth.In celebration of this, you must now choose your favorite ABBA song of all time. Ready, set, debate!Source

Pop Preview: Mamma Mia!

PopSugarUK — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 05:00:00 -0700

With well-known ABBA songs, an idyllic Greek location and more stars than you can shake a stick at, Mamma Mia! is bound to be the feel-good hit film of the summer.

Based on the hugely successful stage production, this musical movie stars Meryl Streep as ex-pat Donna, a single mum with a run-down hotel on a beautiful Greek island. Her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is marrying Sky (the gorgeous, and often topless, Dominic Cooper) and the bride-to-be wants her father at the wedding. Only trouble is, he could be one of three (played by Firth, Brosnan and Skarsgård). Sophie secretly invites them all to the wedding in the hope that her mother will reveal the truth.

As you would expect, it's a pretty silly film, but that's a huge part of its charm. Julie Walters and Christine Baranski are brilliantly funny as Donna's best friends and one-time backing singers in Donna and the Dynamos, and seeing James Bond attempting to sing ABBA is almost worth the ticket price alone. Fans of Colin Firth's wet shirt Mr Darcy moment must rush out to see this film too, as the gorgeous man goes one step further towards the end of the film in a moment of shirtless abandon.

To read the rest of my thoughts on the film just

Mamma Mia! Stars Tell Us About The Singing And Dancing

PopSugarUK — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 05:00:00 -0700

When I met the stars of Mamma Mia! last week, the women told us about bonding on set and the men chatted about powerful women, tight costumes and Greece. With both groups of stars, one aspect of making the film kept coming up — the challenge of singing and dancing to those tricky ABBA songs! Here are Colin, Pierce, Stellan and Dominic's thoughts on the subject, as well as Meryl, Christine and Amanda's words.

Meryl, Amanda and Christine, was it hard singing and dancing at the same time?

MS — Here’s the hardest number: “Voulez-Vous”. It goes by like this [clicks fingers] in the movie, but it was so hard to get those dance steps.
AS — I mean, how long did we work on that?
MS — We worked on it three weeks before we began shooting. It was everybody’s bête noire, all the non-dancing actors, which is to say all the actors, except for Christine.
CB — Oh stop that saying that!
MS — It’s true! You got it. We were all [does a shimmying motion while singing in an out-of-breath voice] “voulez-vous…”. It goes so fast and there’s 150 people on the set, and it’s very cramped. It’s the only, well except from the ending, number when everybody’s dancing at once, the whole cast and every dancer in London I think. And it was really scary, fast and then they played those disco lights, eight hours a day, and the migraine sets in. But couldn’t wait to get there in the morning, right? And do it again, because it was so fun.

To see what the rest of the cast had to say about their experiences just

Mamma Mia Fever Hits London

PopSugarUK — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:00:00 -0700

Mamma Mia! premiered at London's Odeon Leicester Square last night, with its all-star cast walking the blue carpet alongside fashion designers Tom Ford and Roberto Cavalli. Julie Walters put on some pretty accessories while Meryl Streep's red number complemented Amanda Seyfried's green strapless wonder. The main men Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan kept it smart in black suits and both had their wives by their sides. ABBA's Benny and Bjorn also attended the premiere of this movie version of the hit stage production. I was lucky enough to spend some time with the stars of the film yesterday, and will be bringing you all the gossip soon along with my review of the movie. In the meantime, head over to my girl Buzz to watch the trailer.

To see even more pictures, including Christine Baranski, Stellan Skarsgård, Dominic Cooper, Tom Hanks, Benny and Bjorn, Tom Ford, Tamara Beckwith and Roberto Cavalli, just

Flashback: Abba's "Happy New Year"

GiggleSugar — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 04:00:00 -0800

How much do I love Abba? I cannot begin to tell you. Here, I'll let them explain it themselves. But first, to get an idea of how old this is, notice that at one point she sings about what things will be like in another decade, or "the end of '89." Wowzers. Happy New Year from GiggleSugar!