Summer Movie Watch

Summer is fast approaching and I could not be more excited because that means the drag season for movies will be over and we'll finally get some watch worthy movies.

This past winter and early spring, movies weren't really giving us its best to offer. I don't know if its just a winter thing or if lately movies have just been really bad. I saw The Roommate, which was a hot mess featuring one cast member from almost every CW show out there right now (Leighton Meester, Aly Michalka, Nina Dobrev, and the list goes on). I was then put through some misery courtesy of Vanessa Hudgens through Beastly and Sucker Punch. The first, I was actually excited to see as some of these modern day fairy tales, though not amazing, are super cute (A Cinderella Story, Sydney White) latter wasn't horrible but it was also a bit of a hot mess that was lost in translation...not in a good way. The misery doesn't end there; Just Go With It starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston wasn't easy on the eyes either. Granted, it was probably the best of the list so far, but with its strong cast, it could've been so much better.

The only movies that offered some redemption at the box office were Scream 4 and Lincoln Lawyer. The former wasn't a great movie, but being a Scream sequel almost 10 years after the last release, it wasn't horrible either and was actually entertaining. That being said, I probably wouldn't have liked it as much if the original cast didn't reprise their role. The latter was an amazing movie with a great balance of mystery, suspense, and thrills. It probably makes up for all the horrible movies I sat through this winter... almost. For anyone who hasn't seen it, I would definitely recommend watching it when you get a chance.

Its funny how it works right? In the summer, when you should be out enjoying the good weather is when all the good movies are out in theatres. The next few weeks have me quite excited for what's to open up at the box office. Here's my list of movies I'm looking forward to see this summer:

The Hangover 2

As a sequel, I doubt it will be nearly as good as the first but I'm still itching to watch it.

Release Date: May 26, 2011

X-Men: First Class

Probably one of the movies I'm most looking forward to this summer. As a huge fan of X-Men, this movie seems to be very promising. Did you know the actor who plays young Charles Xavier in the movie played the faun Tumnus in Disney's The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe? Useless information? I know.

Release Date: June 3, 2011

Super 8

Steven Speilberg...J.J. Abrams. Those are two reasons alone as to why I'd see this movie. This trailer gets my heart going every time I see it and it looks like its going to be amazing. Definitely cannot wait to see it.

Release Date: June 10, 2011

The Green Lantern

I'm divided on whether this movie will be cheesy, very good, or somewhere in between. I do have some hopes and the fact that Blake Lively in it makes everything better... so much better.

Release Date: June 17, 2011

Mr. Popper's Penguins

When I first saw the poster for this up at a local movie theatre, i thought to myself, "Where have I heard of this before?" Two seconds later it all came back to me... I read the book when I was in grade school and absolutely loved it! It will definitely be cool seeing a big screen adaption, especially with Jim Carrey playing the lead as Mr. Popper.

Release Date: June 17, 2011

Bad Teacher

The trailer for this movie looks hilarious and with a cast featuring Cameron Diaz (There's Something About Mary) , Justin Timberlake (SNL) , and Jason Segal (I Love You, Man) I'm sure it will provide a good set of laughs.

Release Date: June 24, 2011

Monte Carlo

I'm not going to lie, the only reason I'm excited to see this movie is for Leighton Meester, Selena Gomez, Katie Cassidy, and Cory Monteith. Its like a Glee meets Gossip Girl goes to Waverly Place combination. Granted, I doubt its going to be anything good, but it does seem like it could be a fun watch...even if its just for the faces.

Release Date: July 1, 2011

Winnie The Pooh

A blast from the past, Winnie The Pooh is a classic, and it was in definite need of a revitalization with a new movie. Definitely stoked to see Eeyore, Rabbit, Tigger, Piglet and of course Pooh, back on the big screen.

Release Date: July 15, 2011

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

Being pushed back several times is never really a good sign for a movie and with its multiple delays its finally set to release at the end of August. I love watching horror movies, even when they are ridiculously bad (minus The Roommate because it wasn't even horror), so even if this isn't amazing, I'm a little bit of a sucker when it comes to watching horrors.

Release Date: August 26, 2011

And then there's...

Transformers: Dark of The Moon

Am I the only one that has never been a fan of Transformers? Neiher when I was a kid, nor when I watched the first two in attempts to get into it. And now the third one just seems...eh. I might go check it out when its out but not extremely excited for it...actually, not excited at all.

Release Date: July 1, 2011

Cowboys and Aliens

Could be really good, or could be really bad. I don't see this being anywhere in the middle. Not holding any expectations from the movie. If I'm really bored and there's nothing else playing, I might go check it out.

Release Date: July 29, 2011

Final Destination 5

After the 3rd Final Destination, which was probably my favourite, the franchise started becoming redundant and pointless. Same story, different movie, predictable ending. All that being said, I still might sucker out and go see it.

Release Date: August 12, 2011

So those are my picks for movies of the summer. What's on your list of movies to watch?

What Went Wrong in the Glee Season Two Finale?

Season two of Glee just finished last night and I have to say, I wasn't really too pleased. There was so much hype leading up to the finale, New York, through the last few episodes, and I feel like it was just lacklustre. To start with, one of the things that bugged me the most was that in the episode before the finale Quinn told Finn she had a really big plan for nationals that would come in the way of them winning. I was excited to see what she would do, only to be disappointed when all it consisted of was getting Rachel and Kurt sent home so that the school loses. Although somewhat of a good plan, the disappointment came in when the plan was easily diminished through Santana and Brittany encouraging Quinn against it and taking her for a haircut.... yes, I know, I'm appalled as well.

Another disappointing moment in the episode was when the New Directions didn't win or yet, even place in the top 10 at nationals. I feel like the Glee creators followed the same formula that they did in the finale of season one, and this time it just didn't work. It irritates me because when Glee started it promised to be such an amazing and well scripted show and it did start off as such. However, as its popularity grew, its quality didn't. There were so many repeated and redundant plots with some being started and finished too quickly, some being started and not finished at all (Quinn and Beth), and some that were started and were dragged on for too long throughout the season. One critic reviewed the finale of the show and wrote a statement that I really like and agreed with:

Part of me would have liked tonight better if it had just stuck to its guns. You want to tease us? Fine. Let Will go to Broadway. Let Rachel disown her love for Finn, and keep it that way. Let Quinn actually try to destroy the Glee club because of her anger towards her sudden ex-boyfriend. But the fact that none of this happened - and the fact that we know none of it would ever happen - is just another issue I have with the show. I hope that next season, it actually grows a pair.

-Terron R. Moore, Ology.com

As much as I'm ragging on the episode, there were still some positive moments to the finale. Being shot in New York, the show had a really epic and big screen feel, which makes me ponder whether or not the producers of Glee would ever create a movie to either end the show, or the first chapter of it with the current members of New Directions. Additionally, the musical numbers of the show were well done as well. Following the original song trend they used in regionals, the original songs performed in the finale were refreshing and quite good. Brittany's My Cup was no exception.

I'm looking forward to season three, but I hope the creators make some changes in the show. More character and plot development would be a big start. Episodes in season two could easily stand alone without depending on others for continuity. Another interesting about season three will really be how the execute and terminate it. Many of the members of the New Directions will be graduating so I'm looking forward to see how they play all of that out. Depending on what materializes, season three might just be the last one I watch.

Look out for a post on my top 30 songs featured in the second season Glee coming up very soon.

Interview with Ashley Tisdale and the cast of Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure

A lot of you may know (and if you don't than now you do) that I have this huge thing for Ashley Tisdale. From her roles as Sharpay in the High School Musical franchise, Maddie on The Suite Life of Zach and Cody and Savannah on Hellcats to her infectious singles like He Said, She Said, Crank It Up and Be Good To Me, I can never get myself enough Tis. Alas, when I heard Ashley was going to be in Toronto shooting a new movie last year, I was overjoyed. On top of that, when my boss at my internship at Vervegirl Magazine told me she booked me an interview with the one and only Tisdale, I was ecstatic and 'OMGWTFBBQ'ing!

Because the film was to be kept top secret in terms of content, costumes, and overall secrecy, Disney had put an embargo on the interview and thus I had to keep my excitement contained within me...until now. So once again, OMGWTFBBQ! I'm super grateful for my boss at Vervegirl for being able to facilitate the interview, and it was a pretty awesome experience getting to be on set of the film, seeing the cast members shoot scenes, and then getting to interview them after.

After waiting nearly a year to be able to publish and speak about the interview, I almost forgot how exciting it was. All the cast members were super sweet and so open and honest in the interview. They were so open and honest, that I would be able to do a separate article on each cast member if needed be. However, I had to keep it small and thus, I present the cream of the crop in the interview. Here's a link to check it out:

http://tinyurl.com/vgsharpay

Last night, I checked Ashley out at NML (previously known as Much On Demand on MuchMusic) and then at the exclusive Toronto premiere of the movie, where she and a few other cast members attended. It was very nice to see Sharpay again, especially in a lead role. It was also cool seeing familiar locations in the movie, as it was shot in Toronto. The movie was ok; it had its cute and funny moments, but I can see why its being released directly to DVD and wasn't a big screen adaption like High School Musical 3. Regardless, it was fun attending the premiere, and I might shamelessly purchase the movie when its out on Blu Ray...just because Ashley is in it.

Don't tell anyone.

Concert Review: Shawn Desman

He's electric. He makes the girls shiver. And he's fresh. (Yes, that line was filled with more than one shameless pun.)

He is the one and only, Shawn Desman and I was able to check him out live at an intimate performance at Pure Nightclub in Montreal this past weekend. The show was incredible and he's definitely a great performer. It was a little sad that I had to see him perform at a small nightclub, because his talent far exceeds small club shows...especially for someone who's been in the business as long as he has. Regardless the show was amazing and you can read all about it on my guest blog for MuchMusic here:

http://www.newmusiclive.ca/shawn-desman-electrifies-montreal/

If you haven't heard already and you're into upbeat pop and dance music, make sure you check out his album 'Fresh' in stores and on iTunes. It's definitely worth a listen!

Britney Goes Urban?

Britney's back and has been snatching quite a few wigs in the last few weeks. Her latest album, Femme Fatale, debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts making her one of the only females with 6 #1 debuts on the chart. Not only that, but her videos for Hold It Against Me and Till The World Ends have shown Britney being...well Britney...something we haven't seen in a while. On top of all that, she just announced the dates and opening acts for her upcoming tour, named after her album!  Although it was previously announced that Enrique Iglesias was going to open, he dropped out for some unknown reasons. After a little searching, Britney has finally announced her new opener for whom I could not be more excited:

NICKI MINAJ! 

Nicki Minaj is pretty much one of the hottest up and coming thing right now and she's pretty much the perfect opener for her. She's not big enough to overshadow Britney but at the same time she's not small either where even if audiences aren't familiar with her music, they'll still know of her. Its a perfect way for Nicki to expand her audience to a next level. On top of touring with Nicki, Britney and Nicki also 'tweeted' some little hints at a potential collaboration or something. Some are speculating a remix featuring Nicki for Till The World Ends and others are hoping for a brand new track! For me, either way it'll be a smash. I mean, look how well Britney's remix for Rihanna's S&M is doing?  

This isn't the first time Britney has gone urban. Throughout her career, she's always brought a little bit of urban flavour in her music whether it was her collaborations with The Neptunes on songs like I'm A Slave 4U or her most recent remix with Rihanna on S&M. No pun intended, I like it, like it when Britney goes urban. Its an interesting twist to her music because she always does it in her own unique and unexpected ways. I mean, did anyone ever suspect she'd be doing a collab with RiRi or tour with Nicki?

Concert Review: Lil Wayne & Nicki Minaj

This past weekend was quite exciting for me as I was fortunate enough to go see Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj live in concert in Buffalo, NY. As a fan of Weezy and even bigger fan of Nicki, when I saw they weren’t coming anywhere in Canada that was close to me, my friend and I decided to drive down to Buffalo to check out the show. Buffalo was actually the best alternative spot that the concert could’ve been as I used to travel there often as a kid and have some great memories of different places and stores there. Needless to say, I also love Niagara Falls so we were hitting many birds with one stone....OH and I also love long drives and road trips so yes, definitely hitting many birds with one stone. I love doing that. Poor birds...maybe they shouldn't chirp so much or let loose on cars all the time.

What was cool about going to the concert was that I had to write a review for MuchMusic as part of my correspondence for them SO you can check out the review of the concert by clicking HURR.

If you don’t care to click a link and read a whole article on the concert; I’ll give you the Sparksnotes’ version....AMAZING.

Nicki Minaj, who was the only reason I would actually travel that far to see, was incredible. Although fresh to the mainstream scene, she was able to put on an arena show with no difficulty. She handled and owned the stage like a pro and performed songs from her album and features a like. Seeing her rap her rhymes live was just amazing. The same can be said about Lil Wayne. He’s been in the game for so long so he’s no newbie to the stage and that was evident in his performance. What was cool about the performance was how Nicki was integrated in the show. Instead of performing as an opener, Wayne brought her out midway through his set - she performed her set - and then he came back on. It was neat!! If any of you guys get a chance and are fans deff make it a point to check both of them out live. If you aren’t fans, well, check it out anyways...you might just be converted.

Porcelain Black was the initial opener who was recently signed to the Young Money roster. She was ok... she seemed a little lost in who she was but she could have some potential. After her performance, they premiered her video for This Is What Rock N Roll Looks Like produced by RedOne and featuring Lil Wayne and she came down in the audience and watched it as it premiered.Travis Barker and Rick Ross opened for the two of them; but having VIP tickets caused us to miss them as that’s when we were taken to see Nicki Minaj back stage. We did however see Travis Barker perform a little of Can A Drummer Get Some and it looked like he had an awesome set as well. His stage set up was actually really cool as it was made in the shape of boombox and him and his drums were placed in where one of the speakers would be. Swag.

So best part of the story...meeting Nicki Minaj. Definitely not what I was expecting it to be; for someone who has so much fierceness and attitude in their raps, she’s one of the nicest and most down to earth celebs I have ever met. For starters, her team was making her out to be a diva saying she wasn’t allowed to sign anything but body parts, and not to hug her and yadda yadda but upon meeting her she was the one to initiate the hugs. She was especially grateful for us for driving all the way from Ottawa so we got extra hugs. Bonus. She signed our little laminates (in a perfect world I would’ve gotten my CD signed but they told us she wouldn’t so I put it away...little did we know ha ) and personalized them for both of us. She was really nice, and very appreciative for our dedication in coming down and I teased and asked her why she didn’t come closer; and she explained how she wanted to but it wasn’t fitting into the schedule or something like that but she does want to come and perform there. Before leaving, she gave us both hugs and told us to have a safe drive back. Very sweet. In addition to being super sweet and down to earth, she was also super hot and super tiny with a big booty. Something about that doesn’t make sense so I’m sure the derriere might not be completely natural but regardless, she looked amazing!

All in all, the trip and the concert were epic. Like I said above, I would definitely urge both fans and non-fans to check both of them out live. It will be money well spent and you might just be converted.

Apparently Steve Jobs Killed the Music Industry?

Over the years, music has evolved in output formats; from records to tapes to CDs, there has always been a physical way of purchasing music. However, crossing into the generation of the CD came the Digital Download MP3 / M4A which is probably the most convenient way of attaining music: with just a simple click on iTunes or Amazon among others, one can download a song or album in high quality and store it on their...wait for it...iPod. Yes, iPod. The popular device in which one can store thousands of songs, music videos, play games, and so much more. iPods are probably one of the most popular and famous way of carrying music these days and with different models and types for different types of people, everybody loves the iPod...everybody minus Jon Bon Jovi that is.

A few days ago, Bon Jovi was interviewed and he proclaimed that Steve Jobs (co-founder and chief executive of Apple Inc.) was personally responsible for killing the music industry. Talking to The Sunday Times Magazine he stated:

Kids today have missed the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the (CD) jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album; and the beauty of taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like, and looking at a couple of still pictures and imagining it. God, it was a magical, magical time. I hate to sound like an old man now, but I am, and you mark my words, in a generation from now people are going to say: 'What happened?' Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music industry.

(The full interview/article can be read by clicking here: http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=635420&affid=100055)

Powerful words! Since he made his statement, there has been quite the stir up over what he said and I have my own little two cents on the situation.

Now I agree that the music industry is continuously going downhill and that the joy of going to a store to pick up a CD is diminishing. Its actually very sad. I mean, I’m one of the few people that will still go out to a store and buy my favourite artist’s CD when its released on new release Tuesdays. If its an artist that I really like, I won’t even listen to any previews or anything and will wait till the full album comes out before giving it a solid listen. I know, I know: I’m old school that way. Its odd but, I wholeheartedly agree with Jon that those were definitely the days and that there will eventually come a point where people will ask “what happened?”

That being said, I disagree with the fact that Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music industry. My question to Bon Jovi is how? Why? If anything, Steve Jobs has actually given the industry revitalization and hope. Before iTunes came along, there was a huge period of illegal downloads via Limewire, Torrents and all those other peer to peer sharing methods. And, although they still exist, iTunes has come as a sort of saviour to prevent and encourage the purchasing and supporting of music. People now have the alternative of simply clicking a button and downloading a song in high quality directly to their computer and to their iPod for just a little over $1 per song. They have the option of buying full albums that come with a PDF Digital Booklet (pretty much identical to the liners found in the jewel case of a CD) or they can use the preview button before buying and choose to purchase only the songs they like from the album. This method has been criticized by some, including Jay-Z, however in my opinion that is better than someone a) paying for a full album and not liking half the tracks and b) not buying the album at all. I mean, before iTunes came along, I would sometimes get albums without listening to them beforehand only to find a few good tracks on them wondering why I spent that money for just two good songs. Heck, even today, when I used to work at HMV, people would come in and listen to an album and find they only like 2/3 songs and would thus not buy it at all. At least via iTunes, artists can still make money through individual downloads.

In addition to audio, iTunes also offers the sale of music videos which is another way for the music industry to make money. Before, music videos were simply just played on TV and would barely be available for one to own or purchase. Now, people can buy music videos of their favourite artist and song and store it and watch it on their iPods. I don't understand how that is a bad thing or how its the reason for the “death” of the music industry.

Technology is continuously evolving and people evolve with it. Digital downloads are just another evolution of the musical format; just like CDs replaced tapes, digital downloads are the evolution of CDs. CDs aren’t even extinct yet! They are still quite big and pretty much every album released digitally is also available on CD. Listeners simply have an option on how they want to purchase it. Without iTunes the number of illegal downloads would continue to sky rocket and the decline of the CD would still occur...nobody wins. iTunes allows users to get their music digitally, legally.

I think Jon Bon Jovi needs to get with the times...or maybe, if it makes him happier, Steve Jobs can remove his musical catalogue off iTunes.