The Year of 50 Challenge – Movies #33 through #41
11/04/2011
Filed under Entertainment, Movies, The Year of 50 Challenge
Tags: 50/50, Dracula, Footloose, Interview with a Vampire, Paranormal Activity 3, Real Steel, The Descent, The Three Musketeers 3D, What's Your Number?, Year of 50 Challenge
#33 – Dracula
Maybe it was because I was drunk watching it with friends and we were talking really loudly through the whole movie, but I didn’t think it was that great. I would give it another go because of the distractions going on when I watched it that first time. I thought it looked horrid though. Maybe we’ll count this as movie #32.5 and it can become #33 when I watch it again.
#34 – 50/50
Joseph Gordon Levitt is probably one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood. The boy is insanely talented. His brilliant performance aside, the movie is a heartbreaking depiction of the struggles young cancer patients go through. I laughed. I cried. I loved it.
#35 – What’s You Number?
It’s a corny chick flick, but I liked it. Anna Faris can make even the most cliched script funny. The highlight of the movie for me was Chris Evans. He was funny and naked. That’s enough to make most girls satisfied.
#36 – Real Steel
Hugh Jackman overacts sometimes, but I think that’s pretty much the only downside to the film. It had a solid story, great special effects, and a good score. The ending is great because it’s really satisfying, but not overdone. It’s definitely worth a watch.
#37 – The Descent
If you have a fear of enclosed spaces, caves, darkness, crazy women, falling, and/or crazy zombies humanoids, don’t watch this movie because it will scare the shit out of you. I’m scared of going into caves, so I sat on the edge of my seat through the whole movie. The ending sucked, but I still walked away from the TV with chills.
#38 – Paranormal Activity 3
First of all, I didn’t watch the first two. I think that I should have because I would have better appreciated the story. I didn’t think it would matter, but now I see I was wrong. That being said, I got really sick of just sitting around and waiting for something to happen. It was annoying. The special effects were cool in places. The ending is one of the freakiest endings to movie I’ve seen in a while. The anticipation leading up to the end probably made it that much worse. I just don’t think it makes up for how sick of waiting I was by the time the ending rolled around.
#39 – The Three Musketeers 3D
I loved the special effects and the costumes. This is the first 3D movie I’ve seen in a long time that I actually think is worth paying the extra cash to see it in 3D. Other than that, the story was a little cheesy. And Milla Jovovich’s acting was so exaggerated it kind of got on my nerves.
#40 – Interview w/ a Vampire
Without a doubt it’s one of the best movies I’ve seen in a really long time. The entire cast performed very well and the story couldn’t have been more interesting. This is what vampire stories are SUPPOSED to be like. *cough*Twilight*cough.
#41 – Footloose
I didn’t see the original. My cousin saw this remake with me and said that it followed the first one very closely. I didn’t matter to me. I had fun watching it without comparing it to it’s parent. It made me want to get up and dance! It had it’s cheesy moments, but movies like this do.
The Year of 50 Challenge – Albums – Blink 182, Hugh Laurie, LMFAO, and more
10/11/2011
Filed under Albums, Entertainment, The Year of 50 Challenge
Tags: Blink 182, Hugh Laurie, Jay-Z, Kanye West, LMFAO, Matt Nathanson, Simple Plan, Year of 50 Challenge
Here a quick recap of some of the new albums I’ve checked out in my quest to listen to 50 new albums this year.
Album #12 – Simple Plan’s Get Your Heart On!
I’ve been a Simple Plan fan since day one. This album really shows a lot of musical growth that I haven’t heard in previous albums. That excites me a lot! Lyrically, it’s about the same as their previous efforts. No real growth there, but they never really struggled in the lyric department anyway. I enjoyed it a lot overall, but I think you I have to like this kind of light punk rock in order to appreciate it. If you are a Plan fan, you’ll love it. Download: “Can’t Keep My Hands Off You” because it’s the best track on the album (IMO), and “Anywhere Else But Here” if you liked “Addicted” from their first record.
Album #13 – LMFAO’s Sorry For Party Rocking
I hate to say it, but I’m losing patience for this kind of electro-pop. I loved it before EVERYONE started doing it. I used to be a GoGo dancer, so I pride myself on having sharp robot ears (meaning that I can separate the good electronic music from the stuff that’s just shit). LMFAO’s “Sorry for Party Rocking” has good and bad moments. The good moments certainly make up for the bad ones though. And even the bad ones aren’t that bad. For a commercialize dance record, it’s pretty tight. Download: “Sorry for Party Rocking” if you like dubstep. “Sexy and I Know It” if you liked “Party Rock”.
Album #14 – Matt Nathanson’s Modern Love
It’s a little poppier than Jack Johnson, but not quite as pop as Maroon 5 or OneRepublic. It’s a happy medium somewhere in the middle, and it’s good. Some of the lyrics are kind of juvenile, but you get that with just about any pop album. I’d recommend it if you like pop music. If not, skip it. Download: “Room at the End of the World” if you like pop ballads. “Queen of (K)nots” because it’s the best song on the album, with “Kept” finishing in a close second place.
Album #15 – Hugh Laurie’s Let Them Talk
I think I had the same reaction as the rest of the planet when I heard the Hugh Laurie had put out a blues record. Really? I decided to give it a whirl though because I love blues music and I love Hugh Laurie. It’s not a bad first record. Musically, I think it gets kind of messy and boring in places, but it’s a good album overall. I still can’t wrap my head around the idea that it’s him singing because it sounds NOTHING like his speaking voice. Not that everyone’s singing voice sounds the same as their speaking voice. It’s still weird though. Download: “After You’ve Gone” and “Let Them Talk” because they’re the two best songs on the record. Don’t think that the rest of the album will be as good though. These are huge peaks in an album of highs and lows.
Album #16 – Blink 182′s Neighborhoods
Man, I couldn’t have been more excited to listen to this album. I’ve been a huge Blink fan since I was a teenager. Look at the site name for crying out loud! Jenrose182 has been my username for everything for years. Anywhoodles, this album is a career best for them IMO opinion. Their earlier albums were more musical than lyrical. The albums falling in the middle of their career were more lyrically grand. Their last album before going on hiatus was a great mix of the two. Neighborhoods is an even more perfect mix of musical genius and great lyrics. I have a great appreciation for any album that I can put on, completely ignore the lyrics, and still have a great time listening to it. This is one of those records. GOD I’m glad to have them back on the scene! Wanna hear my only complaint? They get a little F-word happy throughout the album, but that’s just my opinion. I don’t like stuff like that when it’s in excess. Download: “Ghost on the Dancefloor”, “After Midnight”, and “Snake Charmer” just to entice yourself to buy the album because the whole thing is great!
Album #17 – Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne
I’m a fan of both of these artists, but I think they lose a little bit of their magic when they’re together. Don’t get me wrong. This is a great album, and some of the tracks are career bests for the both of them. I just feel like their styles are so different that I just spend the whole album thinking about which of them is the better rapper. However I realize that this is just my opinion. I recognize that it’s a great album. Download: “Welcome to the Jungle”, and my favorite track “Niggas in Paris”.
The Year of 50 Challenge – Albums #8 – #11
07/26/2011
Filed under Albums, Entertainment, The Year of 50 Challenge
Tags: bon iver, David Cook, owl city, tedeschi trucks band, this loud morning, Year of 50 Challenge
Since I don’t have the internet in my apartment right now, I’ve been falling behind with blogging about the albums/movies/reading I’ve been checking out. Here’s a quick recap of the albums I’ve listened to recently:
David Cook’s This Loud Morning –>Thumbs way up for his sophomore effort. I love the album’s concept. You fall asleep and enter a dream world only to be sharply woken to a not-so-pleasant reality. This idea is rounded out very well by the opening track “Circadian” and closed just as appropriately by ending track “Rapid Eye Movement”. My favorite tracks somewhere in the middle are “Paper Heart” and “The Last Goodbye”.
Bon Iver’s Bon Iver –> Thumbs somewhere in the middle for this one. It’s halfway up and halfway down. (That’s what she said.) The music is beautiful, but I can’t understand the lyrics half the time. My favorite track is “Minnesota, WI”.
Owl City’s All Things Bright and Beautiful –>I have to give this one a thumbs down. It’s not that it was really bad or anything. The tracks are individually not so bad. However the album is exactly the same as his first. If you’ve heard that, then you’ve heard this new album. We don’t need a total reinvention, but SOMETHING different or new would be nice. Well…I guess there was a duet which is kind of new. Not enough though.
Tedeschi Trucks Band’s Revelator –> Thumbs way up for this one. This may be one of the best albums I’ve heard this year. I don’t think there’s one bad track on it. My favorite tracks are “Midnight in Harlem”, “Bound for Glory”, and “Until You Remember”. You could download any of them, but this album is worth the money. Go buy it.
The Year of 50 Challenge – Reading Assignments #1 through #3
07/26/2011
Filed under Books, Entertainment, The Year of 50 Challenge
Tags: adele, andrew garfield, coldplay, Emma Stone, Entertainment Weekly, flares, friends with benefits, ginnifer goodwin, Glamour, go the f--k to sleep, katie couric, lace, linkin park, martin sheen, Rhys Ifans, Sally Field, shoe of the month, The Amazing Spiderman, will gluck, Year of 50 Challenge
When I read a magazine for the challenge, I’m not going to analyze every page. I don’t have the time and patience, and I’m pretty sure you don’t have the interest. Instead, I’m going to pick five things I learned from the magazine that stuck with me after I finished.
I read the last two months work of Glamour magazines and the July 22nd issue of Entertainment Weekly. Here’s what I learned from each:
Entertainment Weekly – July 22nd2011 issue
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- I learned how to direct a love scene thanks to Will Gluck, director of the romantic comedy Friends with Benefits. The article wasn’t really as informative as it was promotional and funny, but it was one of my favorite parts of this issue.
- The Amazing Spiderman is going to rock my socks off. I love Spiderman. I love Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Dennis Leary, Martin Sheen, Sally Field, and Rhys Ifans (who are all in the movie). I love the look of the new Spidey suit. It’s just going to be the tits! End of story!
- Coldplay has a new song out called “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall”. I have no idea how this slipped under my radar. I love Coldplay and I had no idea.
- There’s a nonfiction book called Go the F—k to Sleep by Adam Manbach. The one thing I didn’t learn is whether or not this is actually a children’s book.
- At some point in time, Linkin Park did a cover of “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele. I have to figure out how to hear this.
Glamour – July 2011
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- If you want your make up to last longer during hot sticky summers, look for foundations that aren’t oil based. Good to know considering I spend all my day running around in a barely air conditioned building in a suit.
- Lacey clothing is in for the summer! I love lace.
- There are online shoe clubs that have things like “shoe of the month” and fashion tips. Call me lame, but I think that’s completely retarded. Women of our country need motivation to do a lot of things in life, but buying a super expensive pair of shoes every month shouldn’t be one of them.
- Ginnifer Goodwin is super cool. I’ve been a fan of everything she’s been in. After reading her interview with Katie Couric, I’m sold. She’s got a good head on her shoulders, she doesn’t feel pressured to be a stick figure, and she does charity work with St. Jude Children’s Hospital. What’s not to love?
- Multi-colored nails are in. I’ve never tried it, but now I want to!
Glamour – August 2011
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- I hate magazines with more than two perfume samples. By the time you get to the third, you can’t really smell it anymore.
- Flares are back in style for the fall. And we’re talking hippie flares. Why God? Why?
- Punky streaks are popping up more and more. I’m cool with that! I love seeing people bold enough to wear cool colors in their hair.
- 86% of Fortune 500 company executive officers are men. That’s just freaking sad.
- To combat puffy eyes during hot summer days, put a cold teaspoon on your lids. I don’t know why I never thought of that!
The Year of 50 Challenge – Album #7 – Michael Grimm
07/11/2011
Filed under Albums, Entertainment, The Year of 50 Challenge
Tags: album review, michael grimm, Year of 50 Challenge
For those of you who don’t keep up with reality TV talent competitions, Michael Grimm is last season’s winner of America’s Got Talent. And rightfully so! From the first time I heard him sing, I knew he would win. The man has the voice of a blues God. For this reason, I found myself patiently awaiting his debut album for almost a year.
In all its beautiful blues glory, the album is amazing. From the first track to the last, I love it. Maybe it’s because I’ve been in the mood for blues music lately, but I really just think it is because he’s an unnaturally talented musician.
There is a wonderful rendition of “Stay With Me” by Lorraine Ellison on the album. No one could pull off such a good version of a beloved classic without having a voice filled with heart and soul like Michael Grimm.
If you’re skeptical, check out “Gasoline and Matches”, “Red”, and/or “No Other Love”. You could download any of the album’s tracks and probably be convinced to buy it. Those are just my favorites.
The only song that I’m not crazy about is “Simple Man”. When I first listened to the song, I didn’t know that it featured Travis Tritt. When he started singing halfway through the song, I thought that Michael Grimm’s voice had suddenly changed A LOT. Call me an idiot if you want. Regardless, I just don’t think it’s as good as the rest of the tracks on the album.
Big thumbs way up for Michael Grimm. What a strong debut from an artist who clearly has a long amazing career ahead of him!
The Year of 50 Challenge – Movie #5 – Morning Glory
07/07/2011
Filed under Entertainment, Movies, The Year of 50 Challenge
Tags: diane keaton, harrison ford, morning glory, movie review, rachel mcadams, Year of 50 Challenge
I got this movie for free. Thank God for that too. If I had paid for the DVD, I would have shot myself in the face after watching it.
I can’t even begin to express how disappointed I felt with this film. One would assume that anything starring Rachel McAdams, Diane Keaton, and Harrison Ford would be a home run. It turned out to be more like a pop fly hit right over the catcher’s head.
For those of you who don’t know baseball that means it sucked pretty hard core.
The actors were great, but even the best cast can’t save a shitty script from being shitty. The story was dumb. I barely felt any rise and fall in tension throughout the film. That’s something that every story needs if it wants to stand a chance at holding the audience’s attention. This film felt less like storytelling and more like reading a whiny young woman’s diary. It was monotonous, shallow, and boring. I couldn’t figure out why a woman who kept doing annoying things to people kept getting her way. That’s not how it’s supposed to work, is it?
Don’t even get me started on the “young girl in a hurry runs through pidgeons in the park” scene at the end. I watched this movie with my cousin and that was her favorite part because it looked so stupid and cliché that it made us both laugh.
Thumbs way down for Morning Glory. My thumbs are so far down for this one that I’m thumb wrestling with the Devil. Winner gets to burn every copy of this script ever printed.
The Year of 50 Challenge – Movie #4 – Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
07/07/2011
Filed under Entertainment, Movies, The Year of 50 Challenge
Tags: film review, johnny depp, penelope cruz, pirates of the caribbean on stranger tides, Year of 50 Challenge
The Curse of the Black Pearl is one of my favorite movies of all time. Just like most other film series, I didn’t enjoy all of the others as much. None of them were bad per se, but none of them rocked my socks off like that first one did. I got annoyed with how cluttered and unemotional the stories could be. I found myself especially disappointed with At World’s End because it had the potential to be a really gripping and moving story with everything going on between Will and Elizabeth, but I found myself bored and not caring at all. No fault should be attributed to the actors on that one because it’s all about gaping holes in the writing.
The newest installment, On Stranger Tides, is a little better than the middle two films in the series. I think that’s partially because they had a chance to start the story over a bit. This reincarnation of Sparrow’s antics felt a lot more fun when placed with new conflicts and new characters.
I laughed a lot more in this film than with the previous two. Something that I loved about the first film was the humor in it and I’m glad to see the writers revive that with this film.
Just like the previous two movies, it still felt cluttered and slightly unemotional. If any of these films had been able to draw you into the characters emotionally the way the first film had, the clutteredness and boring parts may not have been as noticeable.
Johnny Depp is fantastic (dur). Penelope Cruz did well, but I thought her character’s story was insanely weird. In fact, there were points when I felt like shouting at the screen that she was an idiot that deserved to drink the water from the fountain of youth and die.
Overall, I give the film a thumbs up just because I enjoyed it a lot more that the two before it. It didn’t come close to how good the first one turned out to be. That’s what I keep waiting for. I guess I’ll just wait for the fifth. There WILL be a fifth by the way. They made sure of that with their silly little cliffhangers.
The Year of 50 Challenge – A change of plans…
07/01/2011
Filed under Contemplative, Entertainment, Personal Goals, The Year of 50 Challenge
Tags: books, magazines, Year of 50 Challenge
Okay, so there’s just no way I’ll be able to read 50 books in a year.
I didn’t realize the infeasibility of this goal until recently when I realized I would have to read about 5 books a month to get there. I don’t have time for that. And I love to take my time reading books. I don’t want to rush through them all.
I’m going to make an amendment to this goal.
Instead of 50 books in a year, we’ll say 50 books and/or magazines. With the magazines, they have to be read from cover to cover. Sound fair? I think so. Definitely more doable.
I’m more excited about this. I love me some magazines! 
The Year of 50 Challenge – Album #6 – Hanson’s “Shout It Out”
07/01/2011
Filed under Albums, Entertainment, The Year of 50 Challenge
Tags: album review, hanson, shout it out, the walk, Year of 50 Challenge
Okay, I’m gonna make this quick so that I don’t get a lot of shit for listening to this one. This album was terrible.
I’ve been a Hanson fan since before I hit puberty. I’ve followed the band all the way from Middle of Nowhere (literally and figuratively). They’ve gotten progressively better and better with every album. The Walk, which is the predecessor to Shout It Out, is an amazing album that I wish everyone would check out.
But don’t get this P.O.S. pictured to the left.
I hate being so brutal. It feels like kicking a tiny puppy in the nuts. However, it’s just bad. Something must have happened between The Walk and this album to make them lose what little edge they had.
There are a few good tracks, but they aren’t worth mentioning because I don’t want you to get the album.
I also might be a little bitterly biased considering that they play “Give A Little” on a loop on our lobby TVs at work.
The Year of 50 Challenge – Album #5 – Matthew Morrison
07/01/2011
Filed under Albums, Entertainment, The Year of 50 Challenge
Tags: album review, Glee, jc chasez, kris allen, matthew morrison, sting, Year of 50 Challenge
The self-titled debut album from Matthew Morrison was one I had been looking forward to for a while. I love Glee and I’ve always thought Matthew was one of the show’s more talented performers. I had high hopes for this album.
Some of the songs exceeded my expectations and others fell short. I especially love “Hey” which shows a playful energy I really liked hearing from him. I should have known that would happen as soon as I read that one of the song’s writers was JC Chasez, who has a tendency to write those flirtatious, fun songs. It felt kind of like “Summer Rain”, but a little less goony.
The album’s two best songs are easily “Still Got Tonight” and “Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot”. The latter is the album’s pinnacle, but how could you expect less from a song by Sting? I was surprised to see Kris Allen getting a writing credit for “Still Got Tonight”, but I’m not sure why. He’s a great songwriter, so I shouldn’t have been shocked.
I feel like the album was tent-poled by these few really great songs. The rest were just okay. None of them sucked, but they weren’t hit singles either.
Mr. Morrison, I give you a thumbs up on your first try at record making. I know you can do something extraordinary though, and this wasn’t it. You’ll get there…
