Diversion

      I know this post was supposed to be a movie post. I know. The last few days were just about studying for the Drug and Disease midterm next Wednesday and as a result, I really didn't have time to do it. No worries, it is coming. Soon. Not right now because it is 4:20 in the morning and I'm a little disoriented from looking at the course material for so long. Nevertheless, I did bite off a chunk of the studying that had to be done so I'm happy about that. You know what else I'm happy about? Tonight was one of those study while downloading immense amounts of music night.
      Remember how I said I was in a pop phase right now? You should forget that I even said it. The following is a list of albums and artists that I downloaded tonight. I can't even fit all of them to my iPod. I need an additional 6 gigabytes for all of them to fit. Never have I had so much music in my Itunes! It's freaking fantastic. By scrolling through them them you could see that I'm truly at a loss for which direction of music to delve into. But, hey, it doesn't matter at all. I just want to listen to some musica.
      Just to make things clear, it might not seem like a lot of artists but, for some, I downloaded their total discography. So if one looks at my iPod and sees that it's filled to capacity and is questioning why there is only about twenty or so artists in there, you'll know what to tell him.

Buckethead: Total albums 1991-2009
Daft Punk: Complete discography
Kavinsky- Three EP's
Tupac- Me Against the World 1995
Beethoven- Complete Symphonies
Bob Marley and the Wailers- Catch a Fire
The Stone Roses- The Stone Roses
Bruce Springstein - Darkness On The Edge of Town
Dr. Dre- The Chronic
Guns N' Roses- Appetite for Destruction 1987
Jay-Z- Reasonable Doubt
Jay-Z- Kanye West- Watch the Throne
Kanye West- Late Registration / My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy/ College Dropout
Nas- Illmatic
Willie Nelson- Phases and Stages
The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die
Radiohead- The Bends
Pavement- Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

The Crow

      As a result of not being able to sleep last night, no matter what I tried to do, I went ahead and decided to watch a movie. I mean nothing worked. The soft sound of waves hitting the rocks on a beach, sleeping on my face, hiking up the fan a couple of notches all seemed to fail me. Of all the movies I have on a growing list, I picked Alex Proyas' "The Crow", which was released in 1994. Why "The Crow"? The first reason being, I have yet to watch a movie that stars a superhero by the name of Crow, until today morning obviously, so the plot line must be original. Secondly, I have a soft spot for ass-kicking, crime fighting, justice providing, death dealing superheros. And finally, as I was watching one of Vlogs that I subscribe to, I found out that Brandon Lee, who plays the main character, actually died on set. So, I believe that this movie is one of those several movies that you have to watch before you expire.

      Lee plays the role of an up and coming musician and to-be-newlywed, Eric Draven. Due to a housing issue with the city's most vile of criminals, his fiancee was brutally raped and beaten in front of his eyes. Draven came in on what was happening and was sent, mercilessly, to his untimely death and his fiancee died hours later. Now, Draven is back to see the death of each of these criminals through as The Crow. Bear with me on this one. To me, the Crow was Nicholas Cage's "Ghost Rider", Michael Jai White's "Spawn", Ben Affleck's "Daredevil", and Heath Ledger's "Joker", all packed into one character. But all of these movies came out years after the release of this movie. It could be very much possible that the main characters of these movies, in part, originated from the character of The Crow. Except "The Joker" of course. 

      I, personally, loved watching this movie. The musical composition of this movie was beautifully manipulated and handled by Graeme Revell. As we speak, I am replaying the shit out of Revell's "Return to the Grave." That piece is not as dark as it sounds, trust me. Although based on an eerie theme, there were scenes that put a smile on my face. Aside from some empty acting from Ernie Hudson and one or two movie mistakes, this movie is a must see. Now about Brandon Lee, the son of the late and coveted Bruce Lee. Because of an improperly prepared gun on set, Lee was accidentally shot on scene. Hours later, he was pronounced dead at New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Wilmington, because of an bullet intrusion to the spine. 

      There is no doubt in my mind that if Lee was still alive today, he would have the actor to watch on the big screen. His unique ability to be taken seriously, even with a bit of humor, makes him an actor with a lot to offer. The movie went on a hiatus for a while but Lee's family pushed for the movie's release in his remembrance. Proyas and Lee's stunt double, Chad Stahelski, did a great job covering up and keeping Eric Draven alive without a trace of Lee's absence. Will I watch this movie again? Yes, most definitely.

I will post the link to Revell's "Return to the Grave" on my "What I'm listening to right now" column. Check it out. 

Crazy, Stupid, Love.

      When have you ever seen a chick flick last for more than an hour and a half? It's understandable, there's only so much a writer can put in this type of movie before the viewer starts to get bored. Now, combine a flick that lasts for almost two hours and had Steve Carell playing the lead role and what do you get? Actually, a decent movie. I'm going to be completely honest and say that I like this movie. I paid no mind to this movie when I passed its title in the suggestions box several times. This is because Mr. Dunder Mifflin was in it. I can't stand his movies. I hated "Date Night" and his other movies simply fail to impress me. The only reason that I gave this movie a chance was because of the band "Muse" who lit up its trailer with their song, Starlight. I made up my mind in an instant. "Muse" supports them so why should I care who's in it? Hook, Line, and Sinker. Geniuses.

      Glenn Ficarra and John Requa's "Stupid Crazy Love" tells the intriguing story of two men who learn that love is not what they originally thought it was. Cal, Carell, is a cautious husband who is trying to cope with his wife desire to end their of twenty five year strong marriage. While Jacob, played by Gosling, is a womanizer with a story of his own, who takes special interest in Cal's situation. Through comical scenes and a plot twist, that you won't even see coming, both characters show that love is not for amateurs. Surprisingly, Carell, who I thought could never play a serious role without making a fool of himself, showed some signs of talent and maturity as he sold me some weighty scenes. Proving himself to be an ace in all sides of the board, Gosling, paired with Emma Stone, lifted the movie with his overflowing charisma and wit.
      Don't get me wrong, I don't love this movie. In all chick-flicks there are turnoffs. The remnants of ancient unoriginal lines, smack-dab in the middle of pensive scenes, that should have been long forgotten by now are still around crashing the box office. The presence of unnecessary slow motion scenes that, at their best, made a negative impact on the story's fluidity is yet another issue. Take these two factors out of the picture and I would have watched the movie a second time but as it is right now, I'm happy to just say I've seen it. So take my word for it and give it a shot. It'll lead you to believe that one day, even if it takes dating all the wrong people to get there, you'll find the person that you won't mind talking till sunrise with.   

Surprise Surprise

       Today morning, before heading for a another day of work, I sat down and started reading my friend Will's blog at www.weallwantsomeone.org. This is the go to site if you are passionate and curious about music. I believe Will has great insight and his love for music is apparent in every entry that he posts. Mondays and Tuesdays are pretty much our worst days of the week when it comes to work so I had to take the necessary measures. I needed my mind to be calm and ready and the best way for me to do that is to listen to music. It can't be just any song, for me it has to be the right one. To me the obvious path of action was to find that song on his site.

       
        What I found was Dusk Warrior. An up and coming local band that is just bursting at the seams with talent. To tell you the truth when I think of local bands and singers, I think of attempts that just can't compete with the mainstream. I think of bands that lack that special something that sets them apart and above. I was very wrong. This band is something else. I love music that send chills pulsing through my body and emotions to uncharted heights. This is exactly what was given to me through their new album, Overdrive Sunrise. Finding refuge in this album is the type of instrumental music I would play in my car with the volume cranked up and the windows down. I'm proud to have a band such Dusk Warrior just a few miles away from my humble abode. It makes me think that even I could succeed in making other people feel good. With all those feelings in my mind, I set off for work with my mind at peace and my determination reset.
       If you want to listen to or download their album, below is a link to Will's post. Take a look!
       http://www.weallwantsomeone.org/2011/08/15/dusk-warrior-overdrive-sunrise-free-album-download/
   

Success!

       I was on my way to work and I turned the radio on. I didn't know what the song was but it immediately caught my attention and in no time I starting singing to it. In order to download the song later, I tried to memorize a line from the song but all I could gather were the sounds, "Na Na Na Na Na." Like that's going to be any help but that's all I had to go on. So, I just came back home and I've been searching everywhere for this song. The best thing to do is start at the source, right? I started looking on the Z100 site because that's where I heard it from. I looked at their playlist and pretty much listened to every song I didn't know on there to find it. After a good half hour of searching I found it!

The song is "You Make Me Feel" by Cobra Starship featuring Sabi. You should know that I'll listen to a song a hundred times on the basis of feeling alone. For me, lyrics are just added bonuses. The lyrics are pretty ordinary for this song but the music is great. I won't listen to a song that has hideous lyrics but I could care less about the so-so lyrics of a song if the tune makes my head rock. That's just me.  So, if you want to listen to it I'll post it on the "What I'm listening to right now..." column. Give it a shot.

New addition!

     I had an idea. Since I talk about what music I'm listening to, I thought it would be cool to make a little addition to the site. On the right you'll be able to see a "What I'm listening to right now..." column. Now you don't have to search through the posts trying to find the song and artist names. I'll still do the music posts just to put the video link. Chyea Yeah I'm slowly getting better at this.