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  1. Obsessively blogging about pop music, pop videos, pop stars, and pop culture from inside the MTV headquarters in Times Square. We also have a slight Jonas Brothers problem. And a little fixation with Tokio Hotel.

    Contact us as buzzworthy@mtv.com and follow us on Twitter at @MTVBuzzworthy.

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(Credit: Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)

Missed this past July's mtvU Sunblock Festival with Gym Class Heroes, Never Shout Never, Boys Like Girls, and The Academy Is... and the Veronicas because you couldn't get to Missourah or Baltimurrr? I hear that.

Watch eight full-length live performances from the mtvU Sunblock Tour. It's like you were RIGHT THERE, minus the sticky arena floors and show sweat.

Click the arrow (magic!) to watch Gym Class Heroes' live performance of "Cookie Jar" and "Guilty As Charged," Boys Like Girls' "Love Drunk" and "Heart Heart Heartbreak," The Veronicas' "Take Me On The Floor," The Academy Is... performing "His Girl Friday" and "About A Girl," and Buzzworthy favorite Never Shout Never's "Happy."

You know you're in the presence of top-notch marketing when an "ad" not only absorbs you into its highly-produced, trippy video love-in, but the spot also gets away with omitting its brand name. Watching the new Coca-Cola segment -- part of the company's 2009 "Open Happiness" campaign -- I see big-name performers, I see fantastic production, I see a wacky-ass drug trip (whoops!), but I don't see "Coca-Cola" anywhere. Ah, the powers of branding...

Like Coke's legendary "Hilltop" commercial (watch it from last week's "Open Happiness" preview, if you're unfamiliar), this up-with-people number goes far beyond "jingle"; in this case, with producers Polow Da Don and Butch Walker (who co-wrote the "Open Happiness" track with Cee-Lo Green).

Yeah, it's all fun and "happiness" until Travis McCoy gets smacked in the face with a jump rope, isn't it?

OK, that's only one element of this 'toon-time craziness, directed by Alan Ferguson, which you should definitely watch below. Be prepared to follow a zebra-printed Cee-Lo down a yellow brick(ish) road, encountering a Newsie-clad reporter in the form of Panic at the Disco's Brendon Urie, along with Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump. And last up is crazy-hip schoolteacher Janelle Monae, who gets down with her similarly-coiffed students after her lesson.

You're probably too young to remember this, but in 1971, the "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)/ I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" ad campaign blurred the line between advertising, propaganda, and pop music, and made the entire globosphere DESPERATE for an icy-cold soda. (I'm not old enough to remember it PER SE, and GOD KNOWS if I were old enough to remember it, I'd be running off to my weekly Botox appointment later today.)

Anyway, the songvertisement, also known as Coca-Cola's "Hilltop" commercial, sold over 1 million copies in a year, was donated to the Library of Congress in Washington DC in 2000, and was selected by British TV channel ITV as the greatest TV ad ever made.

Fast foward to now, and "Open Happiness" -- a collaborative Coca-Cola spot recorded by Gnarls Barkley's Cee-Lo Green, Panic! At the Disco's Brendon Urie, Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy, Janelle Monae, and Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes -- could be this generation's "pop" music (excuse the pun) for the offspring of "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" set.

Will "Open Happiness" have the same monumental impact of its predecessor? We're about to find out.

Watch a 30-second sneak peek of the "Open Happiness" video, directed by Alan Ferguson, starring Cee-Lo Green, Brendon Urie, Patrick Stump, Janelle Monae, and Travis McCoy, and stay tuned for the full-length video, coming soon.

+ Watch the 1971 "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony) commercial after the jump!

Read more...

As of 1:31p.m. today, Travis McCoy's Twitter reads, "Last day in NYC. Less than 24 hours before the journey begins." The journey he speaks of is a project called "Staying Alive: Travis McCoy's Unbeaten Track," an HIV/AIDS awareness effort that will take the Gym Class Heroes frontman to India, the Philippines and South Africa.

In January, MTV's Staying Alive Foundation named McCoy their U.S. ambassador and began to prepare him for a trip for which there is no real preparation. His mission is simply to visit countries ravaged by AIDS, meet the infected face-to-face and listen to their uncut stories.

Because such a trip is too important and inspiring to reach only one person, we're sending a camera crew to document all of Travis's experiences abroad. When all is said and done, "The Unbeaten Track" will be the world's largest youth-oriented multimedia HIV prevention campaign ever. In other words, you can be sure that you'll be hearing more about this epic undertaking.

If you happen to run into Travis McCoy in the next few hours, definitely pat him on the back for all the good work he's about to do. Hero, indeed.

+ Check out footage of Kelly Rowland's Staying Alive trip to South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya


I asked Boys Like Girls to go prom with me and Buzzworthy, but Martin was too busy blogging, and Bryan Donahue and John Keefe were working on Boys Like Girls' new album and getting ready for their summer tour and the mtvU Sunblock Music Festival (Gym Class Heroes, The Academy Is, The Veronicas, and Never Shout Never + four cities + four shows).

Fortunately, Paul DiGiovanni said he'd go to prom with me, but then he stood me up for Lily Allen. Oh well. At least he's dumping me for someone cute... I bet Ashley Tisdale would've gone too.

+ After the jump, see how Paul DiGiovanni and Lily Allen's prom date would go, and watch a bunch of BLG live performances and videos. And check out more celebrity proms too.

Read more...

The unstoppable, unsinkable, unflappable Katy Perry just released her latest video, "Waking Up In Vegas," which details the story of a wild, sleepless night in the city that really REALLY never sleeps.

So wake up, ante up, and find out five things very important things you need to know about Katy Perry's latest video.

1.) "Waking Up In Vegas" was directed by accomplished director Joseph Kahn, who's pretty much Britney Spears' go-to video guy. Joseph Kahn directed Britney's  "Womanizer" video, as well as "Stronger," and "Toxic." He directed Eminem's "Without Me" video, which won him a Grammy in 2002 as well as a 2002 VMA, and he directed Eminem's "We Made You" video.

2.) You're probably like "I know that guy in the video, but I don't know his name! Who IS that guy?" The guy in Katy Perry's "Waking Up In Vegas" video is an actor named Joel David Moore, and aside from roles on Six Feet Under, House, and Bones, Joel David Moore's also been in Dodgeball and will star in the upcoming movie, Avatar. He's also been in about a zillion commercials (basically, he's "that guy"), including that singing "Do It eBay" commercial.

3.) "Waking Up In Vegas" was filmed at The Palms Resort. Other videos filmed there include (ahem), Gym Class Heroes' "Clothes Off" video, as well as Eminem's "We Made You." Teairra Mari and Flo Rida just filmed "Cause A Scene" at the Palms, The Real World: Las Vegas was filmed there all the way back in 2002, and the Palms was also the location of the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, which is where Britney Spears, well, you probably know how that went.

4.) The two guys Katy kicks out of her hotel room are Vegas magicians/ comedy staples Penn and Teller -- Penn's the tall one, and Teller's the one who rarely speaks. They also appeared in Run D.M.C.'s "It's Tricky" video back in the day. You've also probably heard Penn without realizing it -- he does lots of voiceover work for Comedy Central. There's also a poker pro in the video -- the guy Katy beats is real-life poker champ Daniel Negreanu.

5.) In the video, Katy wears real vintage costumes from Bob Mackie's personal collection. For the glam-oblivious, Bob Mackie is the esteemed fashion designer behind some of the most sequined, spangled, bejeweled, bedangled and outrageous costumes in the history of fashion. Remember the black feathered headdress Cher wore to the 1986 Oscars? That's Bob Mackie. (And if you still need them, check out more examples of glamourness -- ex-glam-ples?)

+ Now, watch the video. And remember: Always bet on black. (Or is it red?)

Hellooo, feelings! Mayday Parade's got a new Mark Staubach-directed (Gym Class Heroes, The Academy Is...) clip, and it is one serious tear-jerker. "Miserable At Best" is a gut-wrenching break-up ballad with no punches pulled. Just look at these brutal lyrics:

"Let's not pretend that you're alone tonight (I know he's there)

You're probably hanging out and making eyes (While across the room, he stares)

I bet he gets the nerve to walk the floor and ask my girl to dance...

And she'll say yes."

ROUGH. But wait a minute... Doesn't this all look a little familiar? YES IT DOES! Were you alive in 1996 when Counting Crows dropped that mega-ton of heartache called "Long December" on the unsuspecting world? Let's review... Bad break-up, sad times, getting over it, band singing in the snow while interludes tell the story of a love gone wrong with a raven-haired beauty... The songs even sound alike!

Does this mean that the grocery store hottie in the Mayday Parade video is gonna be the star of the next Friends? Does this mean that "Jamie All Over" is the new "Mr. Jones?" Time will tell, Buzz-ards. Time will tell. For now, watch both videos (CC after the jump) at the same time and see if you can even tell them apart!

Read more...

+ Are Katy Perry and Travis McCoy officially engaged? No. Unofficially? Yes! And get this: Travis reportedly popped the question by smooching his lady-love -- with a diamond ring in his mouth! (Eeeee!!) Here's hoping he polished it first ... (MTV - UK)

+ OMG, don't you just HATE it when people keep asking you about the time you made out with a gorgeous megastar? So annoying, right?? Anywho, Demi Lovato (who swears she never, ever kissed a Jonas!) totally feels your pain. (Seventeen, via Usmagazine.com)

+ Pete Wentz (over)shares some intimate deets about his "amazing" sexcapades with wife/personal lapdancer Ashlee Simpson. (MTV News)

+ Meanwhile, poor, misunderstood Hilary Duff sez she doesn't even know HOW to do a lapdance. She does, however, know a thing or two about crouching seductively on the cover of this month's Maxim magazine. (Maxim)

+ You know that hot rocker dude Whitney Port's been holding hands with on The Hills? Well, turns out his band is actually pretty talented. In fact, they're pretty AND talented. Swoon! (Remote Control)

+ Scarlett Johansson has announced that she might be releasing a follow-up to her debut album, Anywhere I Lay My Head. Which brings three immediate questions to mind: Why? How? And, most importantly, WHY????? (MTV News)

+ Rumor has it the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Anthony Kiedis is battling kidney disease. If so, we wish him all the best and hope he gets healed up real soon! (NY Daily News)

+ Lil Wayne admits he's starting to like the view from on top. As comedy legend Mel Brooks (who??) once said, "It's good to be the king." (MTV News)

Sure sure, the Beastie Boys pioneered the fake-'staches-and-'70s-suits crime-fighting video with their 1994 classic, "Sabotage," but if you're gonna pay homage, you might as well pay homage to the masters. And in their new "Guilty As Charged" video, Gym Class Heroes tear a page from the Beasties' handbook and from classic Blacksploitation films like Shaft, and, clearly, Bruce Lee kung fu flicks.

Watch Travis McCoy -- who was just named the newest ambassador to Staying Alive, MTV's HIV and AIDS awareness campaign -- Disashi, Eric, and Matt, plus Quang, and a bewigged, Foxy Brown-ed Estelle put the hurt on some old-school dookie chains and nunchucks.

"Guilty As Charged" was directed by Mark Allan Staubach, who also shot The Academy Is...'s "Summer Hair=Forever Young," in the amazing Las Vegas institution that is the neon graveyard, where old signs go to die.

Oh, Cobra, you little teases! First you make us wait until 2009 for your next album. Then you come at us with more hoodies, hotties, and flouro than a night out with Mark Hunter (he's the Cobrasnake dude, friends).

Get your fangs up and stuff your stocking with Cobra Starship's new "Kiss My Sass" video --  Victoria Asher and Matt Ornstein shot it this summer during Warped Tour, and it features Travis McCoy, who'll be on tonight's season premiere of FNMTV, btw.

And Gabe, good luck on your vocal cord surgery. (Feel free to give Bill Kaulitz a call for emotional support, 'kay?)