Rihanna impresses again

Rihanna recently released her newest video from her hit album Good Girl Gone Bad. I stumbled upon it during my routine YouTube surfing. The video is surprisingly dark and edgy, even for Rihanna. The "Thirteen Ghosts"-like music video will make your hair rise within seconds. I found the video to be synonymous to Christina Aguilera's "Fighter" video. Allegedly, this song was written for Chris Brown, but he found it to be to 'girly' so he passed it on to Rihanna. These lyrics seem to fit her voice like a size zero dress fits Paris Hilton. She has added a new way to interpret music and changed the face of pop music. The quality of this music video surpasses any others that I have ever seen. I have a theory that I generated while sitting in bed starring at the ceiling about a year ago. I believe that you never really like a song the first time you hear it. Think about it, you may think it is okay, but usually your first impression is that you're not incredibly impressed. When you research the lyrics and try to memorize it, the song becomes more irresistable. Then about the 100th time you listen to it, your cycle renews and you can't stand the song anymore. Just something that I noticed. Try to recognize this the first time you listen to a song.

'Journey to the Center of the Earth' boasts amazing 3-D filming

I just returned from an early viewing of 'Journey' and was surprisingly impressed. The movie is centered around three characters: a teen boy that lost his father, his uncle who wants to be a great scientist and their mountain guide. The 3-D effects made this film even stronger, adding to it's common plot. I found that this movie wasn't just a stereotypical advernture movie, it actually showed some new ways to film and proved that Brendon Fraser is more than just a jungleman. There were a few well acted scenes with Fraser and the young Josh Hutcherson. (By the way, I interviewed Hutcherson for my school newspaper during the upcomming film 'Cirque Du Freak'.) It had some funny lines, however, the 3-D just made the movie much more interesting. If you go and see this movie expect to be ducking from huge fish, a bug antenna, and a few mouthfulls of water. Another plus, you get to keep those nice glasses as a souvenir.

Dear, Amy Winehouse-GO BACK TO REHAB!

The world knows her by her single "Rehab," but in my opinion, she requires much more rehab. I have a hard time pondering why anyone finds her to be talented. I found it to be quite ironic when Winehouse won five grammies for creating a self-referential song that elucidates how she refuses to seek help for substance abuse. This brought up a very controversial question: Is Hollywood rewarding artists for creating songs that make drug usage acceptable. For young listeners, they may look at rehab as a pointless method at ending drug addiction. She tops the list as one of the worst role models for young teens. This troubled singers' life is just beginning, and I am certain that she will fall right on her beehive hairdo.

British Invasion

A trend that I have noticed lately is that a numerous amount of British singers have become popular in the United States. It seems like a huge flow of Brit talent has been discovered and they all decided to 'hop the pond' at the same time. My favorite Brit singer would have to be Sam Sparro. (I know, the majority of my blogs have included his album; his songs are diverse from the cookie-cutter pop songs that can be heard on the radio.) I also have shown a liking for Lily Allen. Her interesting song "Smile" is very catchy and the lyrics are compiled exsquisitly and in a very mature form. I recently saw a music video for Adele's song "Chasing Pavements" and was very impressed. Her strong voice stands out and her visually stunning and creative music video makes her an artist to keep an eye on. The final Brit making my list who has been labeled "a mix of Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Celine Dion" is none other than Leona Lewis. Her song "Bleeding Love" was quickly making her a star. All of these Brits have shown great drive and have left America longing for more.

iMania

The iPhone has made those other smartphones look useless as it made it's debut in the United States on June 29, 2007. The world was astonished that this technology existed. The same reaction was observed when Apple released the first iPod on October 23, 2001. The introduction of this mind-boggling gadget made everyone's old neon yellow walkman look like a disposable camera. The company has changed the face of technological standards and set the bar very high for competing brands.

Favorite things

Some of my favorite things this year, enjoy!
FAVORITE MAGAZINES:
-Entertainment Weekly: Hands down, the best entertainment magazine that offers everything that you need to know about what's going on in the pop culture world.
-GQ (Gentleman's Quarterly): Great articles, great advice, great interviews: What else could you ask for?
-New York: In my opinion, the creme de la creme of general magazines. The articles are rich with personality and demonstrate great journalistic talent.
-Esquire: Amazing writing that shows endless creativity. Every issue has something different to offer and the cover always has an interesting arrangement of words. I also like how they assume that the world is scholarly and intelligent. (Basically, it is a man's best friend)


FAVORITE WEBSITES:
(not exact website--to find website google in titles below)
-Gizmodo: The premiere gadget blogging website. Here the writers discuss amazing hi-tech gadgets that I never knew existed. HOW I FOUND IT: Justin (stepbro) showed me it and I have been addicted ever since.
-Yahoo! Answers: This fun website is a vast network of people that answer any question that you would like to ask. HOW I FOUND IT: Was googling a question that I had to find an answer to my math homework.
-Ferryhalim: This 'artsy' game website has a large amount of internet games that are strangely very addicting. (try my personal favorite--the rabbit that jumps on bells game) HOW I FOUND IT: Was looking for a cool game site.


FAVORITE T.V. SHOWS:
-LOST: My favorite show of all time. The amazing character development that producers J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof created make this one of the most riviting dramas that I have ever watched. With a great plot and twists and turns, after every episode, I am left begging for more. {Casual Viewers BEWARE: this show can be extremely confusing to you. To get a quick summary of season 1-3 go on youtube and search for LOST in 8:15}
-The Office: This hilarious comedy features an amazing cast including Steve Carell. You will fall in love with the office romances and non-violent fights between Jim and Dwight.


FAVORITE MUSIC:
-Sam Sparro, "Black & Gold": In my opinion, he is one the most talented singers of the 21st century. He has not gained as much popularity in the U.S. yet, however, I believe that he will reach star-status very soon.

iTunes free downloads generate stars

I just realized that a few of the artists featured on iTunes' free downloads section have become quite popular. Sara Bareilles' single "Love Song" was one of the songs that iTunes offered for free. After a while on the free downloads list, Bareilles was quickly noticed and gained a huge fanbase. Another singer that was featured was Colbie Caillat with her annoying single "Bubbly". Her fame shot up similar to Bareilles' as she released her next song (with equal annoyance) "Realize". The most recent free downloadable song that happens to be my personal favorite is Sam Sparro's "Black & Gold". In all of his songs he effortlessly mixes music genres such as techno, new wave, soul, and pop to create a whole new style of music. This song became very popular in the UK topping iTunes charts. When this song 'hopped the pond', iTunes foolishly placed it in the free downloads section. Was this a senseless decision? Well, I guess it might have been clever, looking at the success that it brought the previous artists. The free downloads on iTunes were created to introduce new artists to the vast amount of society that seclude their music purchasing to the top 10. Is the free download section a launchpad for new artists? We soon will see, but it has proven to bring success to some singers.