Spring Sweeps 2: American Idol

“The winner by 12 million votes of American Idol 2008 is David….Cook.” what? Wait what?...that’s probably the thought that went through everyone’s head. Whether you’re an Archuleta fan who was certain it was him to be the idol, or you’re a Cook fan (like myself) who thought Archuleta would be the idol that’s probably surprise in everyone’s living room. Cue sparklers and confetti and idol-winning song and bring American Idol 2008 to an end. I can’t say I really enjoyed this year’s song, except for the fact that Cook was singing it. So it was not in my eyes the greatest season of American idol ever, but I do believe they ended up with the best top 3 that they had in the top 10 and in my eyes the best as their American Idol. In the end, congrats to David Cook and David Archuleta I’m sure, like the other idol seasons, both will end up with record deals.

Spring Sweeps 1: The Office

In this, the end of the most complex TV season in my memory (with the writers strike), I plan on just commented on some of my favorite shows and their finale’s as I watch them. The office ended last week, in a one hour show (ending the way it began—with two hour-long episodes) that saw the departure of one character *SPOILER ALERT* Toby. Toby never had that big of a part in the office but his biggest part was his rivalry of sorts with boss Michael Scott. Michael was, needless to say, overjoyed by the fact that Toby was leaving leading to a classic interview that just exemplifies the awkward tones to the show. I am happy to see that Toby’s actor Paul Lieberstein will be returning next season as a writer (a position he’s held since the offices inception). To the shows credit they’ve left numerous storylines open and primed for the next season especially the Dwight, Angela and Andy triangle. I do feel though that the Jim and Pam storyline is getting slightly old, and hopefully will appreciate their new developments (Pam studying in the city), and already am thankful for the end of the Toby/Pam thing. Going back to Michael, it was nice to see him interacting with someone other than Jan and doing fairly well at it. It’s not very often that you see Michael in a truly happy state, and I can’t actually believe he’s staying with Jan again. Finally, Ryan’s been arrested?

News Anchors F**king Up

(Contains adult language). Now I’ve been watching Sue Simmons for years now on WNBC 4’s 11pm news and am sad to report…that I didn’t see her drop the F-bomb on television. I’m very sad. Anyway I just wanted to share the video, and also the Bill O’Reilly F-bomb from years (and years) back, shown on the Colbert Report this past Monday (the reason I missed Sue’s remarks).

I can’t say I agree with all the hype (media or otherwise) given to one of these FCC incidents, and cant really believed that its news. In fact I kind of feel bad for Sue that its spread so fast (thanks youTube!!!), to air even on respectable news networks like MSNBC and CNN. Now one might argue that I’m adding to the hype by posting it in my blog, but the fact is I don’t care that she said what she said, I think it’s incredibly funny—I’m not someone looking for her head over it, a fine or anything. I think it’s ridiculous that Americans can’t act like a responsible adults and just accept that things happen, slips occur and then move on.

Spring Fling

UHA’s spring fling is one of the last highlights of the school year, a time to unwind, to hang out with friends and to have your own personal universities concert. After last years disaster (Common), it wouldn’t have been hard to beat it, but in my eyes they blew it out of the water. They got both T-pain and Gym Class Heroes. Id seen Gym Class before and they were really good, and they lived up to that. I hadn’t seen T-pain before though, nor had I been to a real hippity-hop concert, so this was an experience to say the least. It sounded good, I can give them that.My problems were threefold: what was actually done by the performers on stage as apposed the dj seemed to be little, songs lasted at a maximum a minute and ended with an explosion, and they talked for a good 5 minutes between each song. We had wondered what songs exactly T-pain would do, being known for being ‘featured’, but he had a good set of songs.

Gym class heroes like I said before were amazing, and it was definetly a plus to see them with lots of people from your age group…not, say, the average age of a fall out boy show. Having them on campus was a experience too, they were riding razors and bikes around the parking lots, and bought fishing poles from wal*mart (other discount stores are available) to fish in our pond.Now for some pictures (some taken by my friend who had a backstage pass).

Forgetting Sarah Who?

I actually saw this movie (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) a couple of weeks ago now, but was reminded of it while listening to Russell Brand’s radio 2 podcast the other day. (Now, since i don’t have much time to listen to podcasts, Russell is stuck back in march 2007, so at this point he’s still auditioning for the movie in Hawaii). The overall movie was really pretty decent, not as good as some of the classics that have come out in recent years past, but substantial enough for a semi-consistent laugh through its entirety. I was pretty excited to see Brand in his first feature film, --and oh god, he really did name his book ‘my booky wook’, and it was released. Forgetting Sarah Marshal now, let’s talk about Russell. He’s such an interesting character that I can’t help myself, I saw him first during one summer while he was doing a big brother show for channel 4. There were little other words to described him other than eccentric, enthusiastic and completely nuts. I left England that summer, and would eventually return to him on his (then named) Radio 6 podcast, where general shenanigans ensued (‘Eat your fudge Trevor’). Now I listen to him (as much as I can) on his radio 2 podcast. His shows are so full of vibrance, and hilarity its hard not to laugh and I often find myself laughing out loud without meaning to. So now that I’ve found out that his books been published (having heard about it the other day on the same podcast) ill have to go find it, though it could prove difficult being in America and all. Hopefully American will begin to love this recklessly funny man too.

IRONMAN, more like AWESOMEMAN

(Just realized I haven’t written one of these in an age and a half). So last week I saw an advanced screening of IRONMAN (last Tuesday to be specific) once again courtesy of the ROCK WCCC 106.9 Hartford Connecticut etc. I have to be honest and say I wasn’t exactly looking for much going into this movie; I probably wouldn’t have paid for it unless I was absolutely bored out of my mind and in need of something to do. Regardless of my preconceptions (that this would be terrible movie, like Spiderman 3 or the most recent hulk—bad story, bad acting, bad graphics) I was severely blown away by how awesome this movie was, it met and exceeded my expectations. To recap the story quickly, man is genius, man is tony stark, man is captured by bin laden, man makes metal suit to escape, man saves day from own weapons. The story was a solid one, retold to fit with the generation, including the war in Iraq as apposed to the Vietnam war which I believe the original comic book was from(don’t quote me on that). The acting was great on some people’s part; I have to say Robert Downey Jr. pulled off IRONMAN/Tony Stark character with impeccable charm and likability—he was a complete badass. Finally the graphics for ironman were top of the line, the ‘suit-up’ scenes serious sent chills down my arms, and it was really a beautiful thing. I have to add there’s got to be a part of it due to the fact that this wasn’t produced by a major motion picture, rather my the people at marvel, that gave it a very realistic (i.e. not absurd) view of this classic superhero. Soild movie, 9/10.

Charlie the Unicorn 2

The Pop phenomenon from way back at the end of 2005 is back with a sequel that’s even more absurdly random. The problem: when compared to its predecessor its just not as good. Sure he kept the basic build to the storyline (intro [where Charlie is force into an adventure], walking scene, random scene 1, random scene 2, bizarre song, and conclusion) that made the first one so popular, and added a load more randomness but the overall outcome is slightly less meaningful than the first. The song, for one, feels forced—think of a random item and do a meaningless song to it—and until the very last second the of the movie it seemed like it was going to be a major letdown (good job at reviving it at the end). Finally, the events/scenes don’t string together well, while being hilariously random (‘z’, the ‘choo-choo shoe’, and my favorite ‘loploploo-loo-loop’) they just don’t connect. Its an adventure to the banana king, lets see something that relates to that. Despite its downfalls, it’s a sequel to a movie I saw pretty close to the first day it was released and have watched it explode since then. I have to give the creator props for bringing back the characters (in their original style and form), because they ARE unbelievably funny, and the situations are drop-dead hilarious. Comedy: 9/10, Excecution: 6/10, and Animation 8/10.

If you haven't seen it yet, go see it on its original home at Newgrounds.com: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/435202

Or if you can’t wait for a load time that long, watch it streamed at its official location on YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=QFCSXr6qnv4

Your First Album

I’m pretty sure this has been going around for a while now, but I thought this was a neat concept:

1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit "random article".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

The first random Wikipedia article name you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to random quotations:
http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3

The last four words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to Flickr and click on "explore the last seven days"
http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/

Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use Photoshop or MS Paint to mix them up.

Now debuting: GSG, like a bureaucrat scorned.

Layer Cake

Two things are assured about this movie, 1) its awesome, 2) its Daniel Craig’s definitive audition for James Bond. In detail: 1) the movie centers on one guy, never named, who lives in the world of drug dealing, playing by the rules and leading a fairly secret life. When he’s brought into a drug deal gone wrong he must bend and, in some points, break the rules. It’s suspenseful, shocking, full of action and double turns at every corner. I admit, at some points its hard to follow (especially for my American friends who sometimes couldn’t understand the English accents) but it really pays off in the end. Ends are tied up neatly; well save for one which is pretty killer. I also have to say the use of the camera was pretty creative too, a couple of weird shots that add some dynamics to the movie. Overall, the movie really portrays the shadiness of the drug world and the people who live and operate within it fairly reasonably and believably with a story that’s plausible too. And 2) there a quite a few scenes within this movie where the pacing and movement is straight from any Bond film, making it the perfect casting opportunity for Daniel Craig. Exciting, thrilling and intricate (many layers), definitively worth a second look 9/10.

21

21 is a perversion of the rags to riches story, the exasperation of not having wealth and the troubles with having it all. Based on a non fiction book, the movie focuses on college students leading double lives in Boston and Las Vegas, organized counting cards in games of black jack, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars and led by a former card-counter turned professor. The beginning of the movie and the majority of the middle and systematic, pulled together and kept light by strings of narration by the main character, for without it the story would unwind completely and get unbearably heavy. The ending, plausibly the better/best part of the movie really helps to assure its average status. It’s a game-changer of sorts that adds a little more suspense and complexity to a mostly plain storyline. Enjoyable for the most part but nothing I’d be excited to see again, 6.5/10.