Still Coming...

*The state of TV shows I watch
*The Queen recap
*More new music

Children Of Men

I've been meaning to write about this movie since I've seen it, but it's almost taken me this must time just to get through it in my head. It takes place 20 years in the future, and the world has not seen a newborn baby in almost 18 years. Every single country is destitute except for Great Britain, where deportation of illegal immigrants has become big business. The whole film is really stark and futuristic while staying frighteningly realistic . The whole film rests on Clive Owen getting a young woman who is miraculously pregnant out of the country, to the Human Project, a place where new life thrives allegedly (no one knows if it truly exists). All that to say that I still don't really know if I "liked" the movie. Will I ever see it again? Probably not. Was it badly made? Definitely not. Julianne Moore and Michael Caine put in great performances. The cinematography puts you right in the middle of everything, and so much of it looks like real War footage. This film is jarring to say the least, and scary not in the conventional way. I walked out not so much with the feeling of hope (intentional?), but more a feeling of dread. Great filmmaking, not so great watch-on-a-rainy-day-depressed-type movie.

Katharine McPhee

The day has come. Katharine's debut album is now in stores, and I of course got my copy. I downloaded this album when it leaked about a week and a half ago, and I think it's a really strong debut. Detractors may say that her voice isn't being utilized to its fullest extent, but I think this first album was a smart move on her part. The American music scene is very fickle, and Katherine is already last years Idol news. From the racy cover to the hip-pop flavor of her uptempos and good mix of mid-tempo R&B ballads with adult contempo piano tracks thrown in, there is a little bit for everyone, and for someone who likes a little of everything (like me) this album is very enjoyable. I find that when I like a certain performer (for whatever reason, their voice, personality, looks, performances, etc) I am more inclined to like whatever they release and can't separate myself, take a step back, and really critically listen. However, in this case, McPhee's got the goods to propel this album as one of the top U.S. Pop releases of the year (until Kelly Clarkson OWNS her on her next release slated for later in the year). Her next single should definitely be "Open Toes" if she wants to keep the momentum going; it's a cheesy song about shoes, but who cares right? Fergie's Fergalicious, Gwen's Windin' it Up, at least Katherine's singing the whole time on this track. Another single should be "Each Other"....yeah it's a "We Belong Together" redo, but it's one of those boring R&B ballads that will work for urban radio. Then she can step into the adult contemp territory by having her 3rd single be either "Home" or "Ordinary World". These two songs cater to all those who thought Katherine should be the next Celine Dion. Her vocals are nicely present in these tracks (when they can get lost in other songs), and the melody's are predictable, yet unique enough to stand out. Go get this album, it's my first recommended release of the new year.

Poor Stacie

So on Sunday I'm looking at the ads, and I see one for Stacie Orrico's new one "Beautiful Awakening" and I think, "ok, I downloaded this when it leaked a long time ago, but maybe i'll give it another try."

Here's the deal: this album was supposed to come out back in August, but her label pushed it back to Jan; it did release overseas however (where she actually has a fanbase). Then I found the album leaked online, and I was very disappointed. So my hopes were that her label thought the same thing as I did, and they send her back to the studio to patch up the tracks. When I saw the ad I thought maybe the album would be better now.

Fast forward to Tuesday, I stop by Best Buy and pick the album up (Christmas giftcard, oh yeah). To my disappointement, the album's still not that good, but I'm gonna let it grow on me, not force it, but just hear it out. So that same night I go check out her website and such to see what's going on, and to my surprise, it says that the release of "Beautiful Awakening" has been postponed to a later date. Um, what? The same album I just bought? So I head over to another site, and I guess Virgin (her label) just got bought out, so they're reevaluating recent releases.

Question: why would a label go through all the work of
a)Pushing the release date back the first time
b)Remastering the entire album
c)Totally redoing artwork
d)Reshooting videos
e)Changing singles
and most confusing f)Shipping hundreds of thousands of records to stores only to have them take them right off the shelves.
Confusion ensues. In the end, the album's mediocre, and news is still pending on what exactly is going on.

Weezer

This band was an integral part of music for me during late high school and all throughout my college years. I first heard them at the Vans Warped Tour in 2000 (I know I know, I was shelterd), and immediately I was a fan. I got my hands on what I could, which at the time only included the Blue Album and Pinkerton.

Their first album is them at their best - before anyone knew who they were, and before Rivers knew he was a genius. These songs top anything else they've released, from the nerd-rockiness of "Buddy Holly" to full out rock ballad "Say It Ain't So" this album was so revelatory. It showed me how fun rock music can be. There is earnestness here, and the best kind, the honest kind. You can just tell these guys are being who they really are; Rivers embodied everything that wasn't popular at the time, the anti-Nirvana. From start to finish, perfection.


For me, as a new fan, this album was a nice continuation to Blue. There was no 2nd album anticipation, so I didn't have the chance to be disappointed as a lot of fans were at the time. Weezer dropped off after this album "flopped"in 1996. But what diehard fans realized, as I did, is that Pinkerton is freaking brilliant. "Why Bother" and "Falling For You" should have been huge alt rock hits, but Weezer faded away as Rivers became depressed over his failure.



So as I ate up Weezer's first two albums, they were quietly planning a new millennium comeback. The Green Album came out in 2001, my Senior year of high school. And let me say that this album was more memorable than my entire four years of high school. I will never forget blasting this as I parked my crappy VW every morning in the Sanger high parking lot. Although this album is a tad more formulaic (every guitar solo is just the melody of the verse hook), it is nonetheless enjoyable. "Hash Pipe" ushered in Rivers' new usage of random lyrics that don't really make sense. No one or two tracks stick out to me; it's one of those albums that you know every lyric to every song, but you don't remember the titles of individual songs. A great return to Weezer form.


Maladroit is my least favorite Weezer album. This album came out in April of '02, and I was on choir tour at the time. I actually bought this album for the crazy price of $20 in Portland, because it was the only CD store I could find, and of course, I HAD to have this CD to listen to on the trip back home. This CD was pretty disappointing, partly because Weezer had posted these songs, along with numerous others, on their website, and I'd heard a lot of them already, which wasn't necessarily a good thing. Since I'd discovered them I'd taken to the internet (and napster!) to get my hands on everything Weezer in mp3-land. So I was hyping this release in my mind so much, and it ended up not living living up to the hype. I do like "Take Control" and "Dope Nose" (weird lyrics vol2); the best part about this album tho was the "Keep Fishin'" video that had the Muppets in it! Also that year for Christmas my cousin Laura brought me back the "Keep Fishin" single from Europe that had Kermit on the front, fishing, with a =w= t-shirt. Awesome.

My brother, cousin and me let out a collective "HOLY CRAP!!" when we heard that Weezer was coming out with a new album in 2005, Make Believe. This was my Senior year of College and my Weezer circle was completed. This album was everything that Maladroit wasn't. Rivers and the band finally made something so 00's, yet so true to what they did back on Blue and Pinkerton. Sean and I were just so proud of them, because they did what they wanted to do, yet they pleased their fans at the same time. This is another one of those sing-ever-track-forget-the-titles album, but standouts include "This I Such A Pity", "Hold Me", "We Are All On Drugs" and "My Best Friend" (to which my wife and I would walk out on on our wedding day in march of 06). That year I saw them twice, once in Coachella and again when they headlined here in Fresno. Brian and I were literally screaming all the words during the show, it was the best.

Below are some of my favorite Weezer tracks
"You Gave Your Love To Me Softly" (B-Side)
"The Good Life"
"My Best Friend"

Upcoming....

*A huge Weezer Music Post
*Start of TV Shows
*Movie Reviews

Katharine Mcphee

Even though she lost to Taylor Hicks on last year's American Idol, this girl has what it takes to sustain a great pop music career. You can check out her first single, "Over It" on her Myspace page This is a good enough song, even though it sounds a little too much like Jojo's "Too Little Too Late", but I'm gonna bet that "Dangerous" will fare better as a single. It's got the hip poppy beat, and since my cousin Brian immediately started singing the chorus after his first listen, this song should be a hit.

Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment!

*Download "Dangerous"*

Back in 2007

So much has changed and happened in the past year, and I think it's time to start this guy up again. I find myself with lots of free time on my hands these days, so this is where I will be trying to direct a lot of my energy. Expect commentary on TV, movies, music, and links to download some of my favorite things of late.

I'm excited, you should be too.