CHRISTMAS CARD

SAMUEL FEENEY (ZAK)

In 2009, Samuel Feeny graduated from the International Scool of Screen Acting, so it's not surprising that he mostly works in film. He has recently finished filming SAWNEY: Flesh of Man, a horror film set in Scotland. You can find out about it here:

http://www.sawney.net/Sawney.net/Home.html

MICHAEL LUXTON (MATT)

Smooth-as-organic-yoghurt actor/singer Michael Luxton is the only member of The Churned who is from the West Country. In 2012, he'll be touring in the play Snookered. See here for dates:

http://www.tamasha.org.uk/productions/snookered/

JAY TAYLOR (AIDEN)

Jay Taylor is an actor with experience in theater, movies (Donkey Punch), and TV (recently in Misfits and Sirens). He is also an interesting tweeter. His Twitter is like a sit-com about an actor, but with better dialogue.

GARY AMERS (BRADLEY)

Singer/actor/dancer Gary Amers has an extensive background in musical theater: Chicago, Wicked, Hair, Taboo, Chess, and much else. He has also done Shakespeare and panto, TV and movies (dancing in Beyond the Sea with Kevin Spacey). Above all (for me at least) he is a truly amazing vocalist. His voice is warm, engaging, and strong. His ability to place a sound in time is almost magical. I have heard few vocalists with this much potential, and am looking forward to watching how he develops. I'm a fan for life. (Just go easy on the vibrato.)

DOWNLOAD "FOREVER"

You can download "Forever" (from iTunes UK) here:

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/forever-featuring-the-churned/id469252564?i=469252996

I'm in the USA, and downloaded it from Amazon.com.

THE CHURNED (FOREVER)

I can't watch many popular music videos. Generally, before they are half over, I am either bored or sick. So why can I watch "Forever" over and over, and like it more and more? Clearly, this is one of the great mysteries of the universe and can never be fully understood by a merely human brain, but I have to try. So here are some thoughts:

1. OK, let's state the obvious: these guys are hot! This is surely part of the appeal. But hot pop stars are pretty common, and physical attractiveness only goes so far.

2. It's fun. Too often in our popular culture fun is equated with brain-dead. This video is fun and intelligent.

3. It's serious. We are facing serious problems on this planet. Factory farming and genetically modified crops are not the solution. We have to work with nature. This is an important message.

4. A lot of people have contributed in the creation of The Churned, but the four actors who portray them deserve the credit for creating full characters out of what could easily have been cardboard cut-outs. These four fictional pop stars have more personality than most of the real ones. I think this is the main reason that the video stands up to repeated viewings.

I'VE BEEN CHURNED!

This blog is dedicated to The Churned, a fictional boy band that featured in an advertisement for Yeo Valley dairy products. I know it's ridiculous, but I have been deeply moved by this group; in short, I've been churned!

In this postmodern age, I see no reason to let the fictional nature of the group deter us from behaving as if the group were real. Hence this blog. [But, then again, perhaps this is not a real blog. Did you notice the semicolon above? People who blog about boy bands don't use semicolons. Very suspicious.]