“The teacup hasn’t got a name but she’s quite famous now, so I made her stay in today. I take her everywhere because she makes me feel at home. I used to have tea at home with my mother every day, you see. I’ve made a habit of drinking out of china because it makes me feel grounded. I don’t think it’s a good lifestyle to always be eating and drinking out of paper. It’s very wasteful.” -Lady Gaga
Finally, a good reason to see New Moon, the second film in the Twilight series. Actually, this promotional photo released of the wolf pack shows four good reasons to see the movie. Extremely airbrushed reasons, but still good enough. The photo, from left to right, includes Alex Meraz (playing Paul), Chaske Spencer (Sam), Bronson Pelletier (Jared), and Kiowa Gordon (Embry). Noticeably absent from the picture is Taylor Lautner, who plays Jacob, one of the main characters in New Moon. I assume they are waiting to reveal his new physique, since he has had to bulk up since the filming of the first Twilight movie.
When casting the wolf pack, director Chris Weitz said the most important factor was the actor’s heritage. In the story, they are members of the La Push Quileute tribe, so it was important that they were Native American. The actors had to have papers that proved their heritage. The second condition to getting a role as a New Moon pack member? They had to be in top physical shape. Werewolves aren’t wimps.
New Moon will be released in theaters November 20th.
Honestly the only reason I went to see Monsters vs. Aliens in the first place is because it was in 3D. I love the new 3D technology and try to see every movie they offer with that option (although I did miss out on Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience…screaming teens in 3-D is a little much for me). In case you haven’t gotten to see any of the new 3D films, it’s not red and blue glasses anymore. They’re like big sunglasses basically and the film is in complete color and really looks like it’s coming out of the screen. It’s pretty amazing, I’d recommend checking it out if you get a chance to see any of the new 3D films.
Monsters vs. Aliens was an okay movie. The story had potential, the characters had potential, but it wasn’t quite there. Some of the characters fell especially flat, such as Insectosaurus, who didn’t talk at all, but attacked things by shooting snot out of his giant bug nose. Classy. The best character was probably B.O.B. He had the most witty lines and was the only character who really got to prove himself.
The story itself was also rather weak. They tried to double up on the main character proving her strength and independence and also keep an action plot going with the fight against Galaxar, the evil alien. The story wobbled between the two ideas and didn’t really merge them as well as it could. When it was all said and done, I didn’t care who won.
One of the things I found myself wondering the most through the film was “how is this a kid’s movie?” The jokes were all adult humor: politics, marriage, old movie references, etc. The main theme of the film (finding strength within yourself and standing up for yourself as a woman) probably wouldn’t get picked up even by the brightest of kids. Especially since Susan (aka Ginormica) had to become giant to feel strong.
I’ve noticed this pattern growing more and more in recent children’s films, and it’s sad to see how few adults can relate to kids anymore. When I was young, the movies were completely geared towards children and their imaginations. Even watching them now, there is such an innocence about them that seems to be lost today. When I see children today, they seem to have lost some of that innocence and wonder as well. They are taught grown up lessons with grown up humor in grown up movies. What’s wrong with a simple fairytale sometime? Where no one farts or burps or shoots snot out of their nose to be funny.
I don’t remember the Care Bears ever making a poop joke. He-Man and She-Ra were cool without having a burping contest. When did this become the norm for humor? When the only theme a child can pick out from a film is that farting is funny, I don’t see it as an encouragement for them to be greater. The true lessons are above the children’s heads, so writers throw in body humor that every kid can understand. The movies are dumbed down for the kids, just to get them into the theaters. Then the writers probably figure that since the film has adult humor, the parents will be more likely to take their children to see it. It’s not really fair. Adults get to have the majority of films and television shows directed at them, can’t we sacrifice a few just for the kids?
Come on Disney, it’s time for another princess story. Some people argue that Disney has dropped the magical fairytales because they aren’t good enough lessons for kids. They say that the princess stories are bad role models for little girls. Well, the women in those films can be strong role models too. Look at Belle from Beauty and the Beast. She loved to read, was strong and brave, and made everyone see that love goes beyond appearances and that everyone has good inside of them. She took care of her father and didn’t get weak in the knees from Gaston like all the other dumb girls. Certainly a better role model than a woman giving up her humanity and gorgeous looks to be a burping ogre in Shrek.
I keep hoping that a film will come out to redeem this downward spiral in children’s movies, but so far I haven’t seen it. I’ve been watching them grow progressively worse through the years, so I’m going to hold on tight to my old copies of The Lion King, Aladdin, and The Little Mermaid.
Interscope Records has developed an interactive music video challenge on YouTube. Starting with Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” video and going through 14 others, you watch about 25 seconds of the video and then a question about the video pops up. If you answer it correctly, it automatically takes you to the next video. If you answer incorrectly you have the option to try again. Each level asks a more detailed question than the last.
It’s a fun game, and it uses some of the most popular artists of today such as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Soldier Boy, and Lady Gaga of course. The fact that Lady Gaga was the first video is what sucked me in, but then the game ended up being really entertaining. Even if you’re not familiar with the songs it’s easy to play. I only made it to the 4th video before I missed one…how far can you get?
Director David Lynch has intrigued and terrified millions through his films. The first of his films I saw was Mulholland Drive. When I moved to Los Angeles, I refused to drive on Mulholland after dark because of this. I also became terrified of blue boxes, paper bags, and dumpsters. When I saw Blue Velvet, I developed an irrational fear of roses and white picket fences. Twin Peaks brought on nightmares of dancing midgets who talk backwards/fowards. Dune pretty much just freaked me out in every way and made Sting’s songs all take on new meaning. Lynch’s ability to take common place things and force them to haunt your thoughts is incredible.
Yet I keep watching everything Lynch creates, unable to tear myself away from this mysterious world that he seems to live within. Even when nothing scary is happening, the tone of his films somehow brings you into an almost nightmareish experience. You feel like you’ve discovered something you’re not supposed to see and yet you can’t look away.
When it was announced that Lynch would be directing the music video for Moby’s song “Shot in the Back of the Head,” I was surprised. Lynch also does cartoons? When I watched the video, I was slightly disappointed. I was all prepared to be creeped out and disconcerted by the experience. But instead it was just a black and white bunch of lines basically. Then I walked away from my computer and tried to do other things. And the video kept playing in my head. I had to come back and watch it again. And again. Something about it became so intriguing to me.
I can’t even put my finger on exactly what is so captivating about this. The song almost seems to be a product of the video, more than the video a product of the song. Lynch has taken a wordless song and created a universe for it. The song is rather simple by itself, but it’s almost like this video was meant to be a part of it. I love how the whole tone changes when the man is actually shot. The music changes and the pace of the drawing changes. The simplicity of the video is misleading, because after watching it a few times I saw that every second of it had meaning with the music. It has to be taken as a whole. It isn’t just for fun, like most music videos. It is instead a piece of art.
Click Read More if you’re curious to see the clips from the films I mentioned at the beginning.
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“You know, God didn’t make me great at everything. I suck at love, I’m not great at math — I’m like pretty good at math, but I’m not great.”
“That’s what The Fame is. My album and my music and the attitude that I sing about is all about being somebody that wears their passion on their sleeve.”
“When I go to London, I want to lick the street and try to understand…because in London people are in full high fashion walking to work.”
Parlour Magazine just did an article on my obsession, Lady Gaga, which included the pictures and quotes above. Check out the rest of the article and their full magazine here: http://parlourlife.blogspot.com/
Janet and Jane Cunliffe are 22 years apart but they look nearly identical. That is because 50 year old Janet has spent $15,000 on plastic surgery to make herself look like her 28 year old daughter Jane. I understand people wanting to look young and even getting surgery to keep some of their youthful appearance. But to take in your daughter and say to the doctor, “make me look like this”?
What does Janet say to defend the fact she is turning herself into her daughter? “The way I see it is that she got her looks from me in the first place — mine have just faded with age.” She also said that she “envied Jane’s crinkle-free eyes, full lips, and luscious, long blonde hair. I was desperate to look more like my daughter.”
Sounds to me that Jane should have filed for a restraining order ASAP. Instead Jane says that she loves the attention they get together. She said her mother is the sister she never had and they spend all their time picking out clothes and makeup. The only hard part? Sometimes people think she’s the older “sister.” But, having the same delusional genes as her mother, Jane blows it off by saying, “It’s not because I look older than my years, but just that Mum looks unbelievably young for her age.”
Click here to read the full article and see photos of the mother and daughter: Daily Mail
My Sister’s Keeper, based on the best selling novel by Jodi Picoult, is the story of Anna, a 13-year-old girl who was conceived as a genetically engineered match for her older sister who had leukemia. Anna’s entire life has been spent in the hospital even though she was never sick: donating bone marrow, blood, and anything else that her sister Kate needed. Now she is told that she has to donate a kidney to Kate and, given no other choice, Anna seeks out a lawyer to emancipate herself from her parents.
Starring Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Alec Baldwin, and Joan Cusack, My Sister’s Keeper looks as though it stays pretty true to the novel. The one thing that scares me about the trailer is that it says proudly “From the director of The Notebook.” I hope they don’t make the movie overly sentimental and just try to squeeze tears out of the audience for those people who say “I cried my eyes out, it was a great movie!” Although it is a serious and emotional subject, there are also so many themes throughout the story that I hope are brought out in the film. The book was uplifting and poignant, not just sad and sappy.
With that all aside, the trailer gave me a lot of hope for the film, and I’m impressed that Cameron Diaz has been taking on some more challenging roles lately, with this and The Box. I had started to write her off as a comedic heroine whose career was teetering, but it looks like she has really gotten serious about her acting again. Abigail Breslin plays Anna, and I’ve loved her since Little Miss Sunshine. I hope that she proves her ability to stick it out in the industry with this tough role.
My Sister’s Keeper hits theaters on June 26th.
The cover for Ciara’s new album, “Fantasy Ride,” which will be released on May 5th, has a superhero/anime vibe to it. I like the idea of the design, but it doesn’t look quite finished. The cartoon areas are a little too simple, and the way they photoshopped her skin makes it look almost like a cartoon itself. The only thing that looks real is her hair, which doesn’t even look great, so maybe it’s the part that should have been animated. Ciara is usually gorgeous and she really didn’t need them to retouch her face that much. I think that with the “Fantasy Ride” title she could have done something with a little more work to it. This looks like it was photoshopped by an intern on their first day on the job. The purple stuff really throws me off and distracts me from Ciara herself. However, I’m still excited about the album, as Ciara usually pleasantly surprises me with each CD that she releases.
[Thanks to Michael!]
A couple months ago I wrote about all the money that Slumdog Millionaire producers were promising to donate to help the slums of Mumbai. I had my doubts about their sincerity, but I’m happy to say that I was wrong. They have donated almost a million dollars to help the children of Mumbai. Their donation will create a five-year program that will provide healthcare and education for children in the slums. The program will be carried out by Plan, an organization which works with children around the world to help improve their futures.
“Slumdog Millionaire has shown audiences around the world a snapshot of what life is like for one in six people on the planet,” Plan’s chief executive Marie Staunton said. “Education really is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty so we will focus the funds on getting children into school, keeping them there and ensuring they are healthy.”
Producers have also followed through in their promise of a trust for the film’s actors Rubina Ali (youngest Latika) and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail (youngest Salim) who live in the slums themselves. The children will receive better homes and an education through the trust, called the Jai Ho Trust.
