Sunday 28 August 2011

The works of solo-artists

Well, only one more week of summer left, but all i'm really doing this week is getting ready for school, I think it's gonna be an awesome year, being the final year and all.

Over the past week, while listening to various bands/artists recommended to me by friends and Last.Fm, some of the music I checked out happened to be music created by solo artists who were once in other bands, or in a band/project created by a member of a former band. Does it seem like a coincidence that a good chunk of the solo artists out there were former lead singers of other bands? I realized this after stumbling upon the works of Jim Morrison of the Doors, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, Hot Boys, the rap group that Lil' Wayne was in before he did is own thing and my new favorite, Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy. Maybe the reason why they enjoy solo-work is because they have more musical freedom, so to speak. Maybe they want to create a new image, name and face for themselves. The best example of this type of reasoning is Patrick Stump and Fall Out Boy. I like Fall Out Boy, they are a really talented band, but like a lot of popular bands, after a while, all the fame gets surprisingly overwhelming, I can imagine how they would feel. In an interview with Billboard Magazine, 60 minutes before his performance at this years Lollapalooza, Fall Out Boy front-man and guitarist Patrick Stump had some rather interesting things to say about Fall Out Boy, about how Fall Out Boy was very fraternal, actually he said that in another video but you get my point. He also said that he and the other guys of Fall Out Boy are still cool, no matter what, they still keep in touch and see each other, if you would like to know more about what Patrick thinks, here's the link to his interview with Billboard magazine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGna8NkriBU. At the time, when I heard about FOB's indefinite hiatus, that was the first time I heard and learnt about a indefinite hiatus. To me, that's just saying that their decompressing, taking a break from all the fame, they will reunite eventually, but they just don't know when, thus meaning indefinite hiatus, they became so popular, that expectations became overwhelming. From the way things are, the return of FOB will take a while, since the members are pursuing their own projects. Its neat how it works, how they made it in the underground/indie scene at first, then gaining mainstream success slowly, and eventually having a boy-band like following, i'm sure they don't aim so much for that type of attention, I don't think any band or artist would, their basically regular people with regular lives and that deep down, their good people, and that when they go solo, they seem cooler to people, making people ask themselves "isn't that the guy from that other band?", apparently its pretty hard for people to recognize Patrick Stump since he has lost so much weight and is now very skinny. For example; like if I had lunch with I don't know, Justin Timberlake, I would know about his life and how cool he is, and the fact that he's not just some pretty boy who use to be a former member of a boy-band and is now a solo-artist, also acting and appearing in Lonely Island videos. That could be, and I say "could", be the way the guys from FOB feel, and i'm sure that's what they would say if I would ever have like a sandwich at Subway with them, only in dreams sadly. Right now, the four guys are doing well on their own with their own projects, all of which sound good to me. I'm liking the sound of The Black Cards, which is a new band created by FOB bassist Pete Wentz, its basically experimental pop with a reggae twist, which actually sounds pretty interesting to me after listening to a few songs. And I know the other two guys, guitarist Joe Trohman and drummer Andy Hurley are in a heavy-metal supergroup called The Damned Things, which consists of two guys from Anthrax  and two other guys from Every Time I Die. Who knows what will be of FOB, will they get back together soon? OR, Continue with their own works for the next little while? If you have any thoughts on this, please feel free to comment and express your views on this topic.

Sunday 14 August 2011

Adventure in NYC

Blogging to you from my hotel room in Newark, NJ. But next to Newark is the legendary New York City. I had fun, spending the whole day at the city, sadly I left my camera at the hotel by accident (dumb me) but I will take pictures tomorrow. Today my family and I took the subway from Harrison, NJ to Ground Zero in New York, what was once The World Trade Centre but is now being rebuilt.


Ground Zero



We then walked to the Rockefeller Centre, such a beautiful building with many stores including the advantage of going inside the NBC headquarters. My family and I managed to get a tour of that area, including the nice view from the observation deck, Top Of The Rock, sadly because I was at the top and because it was raining hard, I wasn't able to get a nice view of the entire city. Since our view was obscured by fog and rain, but going to the actual building was amazing enough, and I bought an awesome Dr. Spaceman t-shirt from the amazing NBC gift-shop.


Rockefeller Plaza


Top Of The Rock, if only the weather was nice today.


The design of my shirt, it was either this or The Lonely Island shirt, the Dick in the Box shirt, but that was only available in smaller and larger sizes, I think I made the right call.

From there, we were finding a place to eat, we went to the first place we saw, which was TGI Friday's, their Jack Daniels chicken wraps are tasty, so are their smoothies.


Jack Daniels is what makes this wrap epic hater!

After eating at TGI Friday's, we walked to Grand Central Station, its so weird to see that building in real life, after seeing it in TV shows and movie's, and the ceiling on that building is well decorated, with the drawings of constellations and the use of lights to make realistic stars on the ceiling.


Grand Central Station

From there, we walked to the UN Headquarters, which is currently under construction, well only one of the buildings so the area is kind of a rubbled mess. It wasn't I expected since the building was closed, half the building was torn apart and all the flags were taken off the flagpoles. But it was still neat to go there since my grandpa use to work there, seeing the headquarters of an important international organization was worth all the while.


UN Headquarters

From there, we took a cab to Time Square, again its so weird to see the area up close after seeing it all the time in movie's and TV, it was neat to see all the giant LCD screen billboards, giant theatres, giant mall's, and giant versions of regular chain stores (i.e. The Disney Store, Toys "R" Us, American Eagle, etc).


Time Square, I went during the day but day or night, its still amazing to look at, that and there were mostly night pictures when I searched Time Square on google images.

From there, we went back to the Plaza and had tea at this nice tea shop that was amongst the huge food court. From there, we took the subway back to Newark. After being in Newark for a couple of days, I noticed that its a really depressing and sketchy city, well the area I'm in that is. The area of Newark, where my hotel is, reminds me of a Martin Scorsese film that takes place in the 50's, but I don't want to complain, just observing. I like how the city is culturally diverse, its not just mostly Italian, its also Irish, Spanish, Brazilian and Portuguese. Hopefully, there will be more to see in the city of Newark.


Another busy day in Newark.


On a side note: after being on four different metro stations; Montreal, London, Boston and New York, which you can see in this image. I have realized that the subway is the most efficient source of public transportation, which beats chasing a cab or taking a bus any day.

Monday 8 August 2011

Captain America Review


This movie came out a few weeks ago and all the big newspapers, snooty and judgemental critics, blogs, forums and websites have pounced on it already (in terms of reviews.....obviously, duh) and I know it is a little bit late for me to write and post this now. Of course, every critic needs some time to think about what to type and after seeing the movie twice, I started to carefully analyze it. This review will tell you why Captain America: The First Avenger is a good movie and to me, the best of the summer. This review will point out some of the reasons and examples that show why this movie is amazing, points that most critics usually don’t touch on. Reasons will include: effective comedic elements, the depth of the characters even though the main focus is on Captain America and how the movie is a good set-up for the upcoming Avengers film.

Spoiler Alert: This review does discuss about certain parts of the movie’s plot, if you want to read this but have not seen the movie, go to your local movie theatre or watch it online, however you watch movies. Or if you’re one of those people that like to read reviews before seeing the movie, regardless of spoilers, go right ahead. Anyway, in the end it’s your choice, no matter what you do in this kind of situation. 

Although the movie was action-packed and had a very serious tone, it also contained some comedic elements that many may enjoy. Many will find that Captain America’s speedy metabolism created a laugh because while he explained it, he also explained why he cannot get drunk when he is trying to. Another humorous scene was when after Dr. Erskine told Steve about Johann Schmidt/Red Skull and raised a glass “for the little guys”. When Steve was about to drink, Dr. Erskine said “what I’m I doing? No fluids before the experiment”, and Steve said “Okay, we’ll drink after” and Dr. Erskine said “why after? I’ll drink now”. Many will find that exchange of sentences between the two very comical. Another humorous scene was when Steve and the other recruits were training; the drill sergeant showed them a flagpole and said that whoever gets the flag down first gets to ride back to the base with Agent Carter. So the recruits desperately tried to get the flag by climbing the flagpole. After they had all failed, Steve found the easy (and possibly obvious) solution, by taking the screws off the flagpole, making it fall and then getting the flag, earning his ride back to the base with Agent Carter. These are some examples of humour that were displayed throughout the movie. 

Dr. Erskine (left) and Steve Rogers (right) sharing a drink, well... almost. What you see on the top is what Chris Evans (Captain America) looks like before they used CGI to make him short and skinny (as seen below). The use of computer graphics and technology used in the making of this film is impressive, I could go on and on, but that’s another story.

The characters in the movie had a lot of depth which is good for a film like Captain America because that way the movie portrays itself as a movie with good morals and moral complexities that people can relate to. Steve Rogers/Captain America was a very complex character with various troubles that occurred both before and after he turned into Captain America (i.e. girl problems, etc). Before Steve became Captain America, he was already courageous and brave. A good example of this expressed attitude was when Colonel Phillips threw a “dummy” grenade at the training recruits, all the men were hiding behind walls and vehicles, while Steve jumped towards the grenade and was covering it with his body, willing to sacrifice himself to save the people. Another good example of Captain America expressing his complexity was through the fact that he wanted to do more for his country and actually fight in the war, rather than being just a boytoy (propaganda figure) for the US Military. Examples of other characters showing depth included the fact that Agent Carter looked past Steve’s looks when he turned into CA and admired him as a person, not a pretty boy with abs of steel. These examples show why Captain America was not just an action hero, but a hero with depth, alongside with the other characters in the movie, who shared the same level of depth as Captain America did.

Captain America showing his courage and bravery by sacrificing himself to save NYC, a perfect example of well displayed courage.

The movie does an awesome job setting up and preparing cinephiles and comic book lovers for the upcoming Avengers movie, coming out on May 4th, 2012. The way they made Captain America the final “key” to the Avengers was smart because he was the first avenger who had much knowledge about The Avengers opponent, Hydra. If The Avengers was formed without CA then they would not know what they are fighting for or what their fighting against.  He woke up after being “asleep” for at least 70 years. The ending of the movie (including the post-credit scene) will certainly keep fans on their feet for next year; the wait was over since SHIELD has found Captain America, the final member, who will now fight alongside The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Black Widow, Thor, and Hawkeye, and will be guided by the leading Agent Nick Fury of SHIELD. These are some of the main reasons on why Captain America (as a film) has done a good job by setting things up for the upcoming Avengers film.  

The final “key” has been found, it will now be used to unlock the box containing a group of awesome superheroes. 






Now that’s what I call a fully assembled team, like The Expendables, only more epic.



There are many important elements that make this a good movie, such as: comedic elements, depth of characters and how the movie paves the way for the upcoming Avengers film. Most critics will look at other elements and judge the movie in a different way. The elements that I chose to consider are as important, looking deeper into the film.    





 
Don’t waste your excitement my friends, the celebration will come soon, real soon.