Must See | Take a look at the trailer for the new film ‘Brothers’.

Just today I saw this trailer for the new Natalie Portman (among others) film called ‘Brothers’. After that I can’t wait for it’s release December 4th. Check out the trailer below to see what I mean:

REALLY?! Lucie Jones went home over Jedward?

This is perhaps one the most appalling result show I have ever seen. Why on Earth was 1) She in the Bottom 2? 2) Why in the hell would Simon not choose Lucie? 3) Did the voting public choose to send Lucie home? insane.

I’m in utter shock and I can’t believe this has happened. Lucie Jones is an amazing performer and deserved to be in the top 2! for god’s sake. This is not making any kind of sense. Need I remind the voters of some Lucie’s amazing performances?

First off… the GENIUS audition!

The Judge’s house!

Rock Week’s amazing performance….

And perhaps my favorite of all, this one is BEAUTIFULLY DONE.

Tonight’s results are a joke. This is an utter travesty.

Quick Notes on The X Factor | Live Show 5

Let’s just start this off by saying that I’m enamored with Cheryl Cole’s accent. I just LOVE it! But on to business… It being movie week and all we have to get serious and to the point. I’ve just finished watching all of the performances a la YouTube (unfortunately), so I may voice my idea before tomorrow’s results.

• Joe, man your cute, but your voice just doesn’t do it for me. It’s a good vocal and all, but I just don’t care for him. Oh and Cheryl… ‘The Circle of Life’? Really? I say no.
• Jedward was sickly entertaining in the train wreck sort of sense, but I for one am sick of seeing them week after week. Britain, why?
• Da… bored, next.
• Lucie’s was given a great song choice in, my opinion, I think she did an great job with it. In comparison to the original though, it’s not as good, but she is definitely one of my choices for the top 3.
• I honestly don’t enjoy Jamie’s performances, I never have. I really just don’t think that he is vocally impressive or artistically impressive and lacks The X Factor. At this moment I’d imagine I would be getting an audience full of boos.
• This week Lloyd had a better song to perform and it had it’s great moments, but it also had it’s sour points. I do realize that he isn’t the best vocalist, but I am absolutely head over heels for this kid. Ideally I would like to see him go all the way to the top 3 just so I can see him more. May he not be in the bottom this week please!
• Olly was simply the best of the night! He is a strong performer that just blows me away week after week. I would like to see him do more contemporary tunes like had Cheryl said. I’m whole heartedly all about Olly for the win!

• I love her personality and adore her energy, but I’m not too big into Stacey. Her performances are good, for the most part, but she just isn’t someone I’d want to hear record an album. I do applaud her performance tonight though, because it was a definite step up in confidence and stage presence. Okay upon review I have most definitely changed my mind. I loved that performance!

Tomorrow night I’m really hoping Jedward leave. To see Danyl or Jamie in the bottom 2 with them would be nice. Please Britain, just not my Lloyd! On a final note, I just have to say that one of my favorite performances for a movie week has to Kris Allen’s ‘Falling Slowly‘ from American Idol.

Homosexuality: An Educational Cartoon.

This is a funny, yet very informative cartoon I discovered on YouTube.

Travis Garland’s ‘Beautiful Nightmare’.

Former NLT member and current solo-aspiring hottie Travis Garland remixed Beyoncé’s amazing single ‘Sweet Dreams’ and made a video for it! I’m in love with this remix and I think you should check it out…

Sadly the video isn’t the entire song, but you can check it out at his myspace here! While your there you can also check out his amazing cover of T.I.’s ‘Dead & Gone’, I love it 10x more than the original. This man needs to release an album soon! I’ve heard so many great tracks floating around youtube.

Quick Notes on The X Factor | Live Show 4

This week’s dreadful theme was Rock, thank you Simon Cowell. While it wasn’t my favorite week so far, some of the acts did shine. Though no one really gave the best performance of the season (series), last night went really fairly well. Anyways here are my quick notes on the Live Show and the Results…

• Olly was great, no surprise, though I do prefer Kris Allen’s performance of ‘Come Together’ which he did it on American Idol early this year. But sadly Kris didn’t show a little skin, good on you Olly!
• Why Britain? Why are John & Edward still here and why did you vote them through to next week?
• Rachel was fine. I just don’t care for her, Jamie, and Danyl.
• Jamie… yawn.
• I like Stacy but I thought her performance of Keane was kinda bad. Sure she seemed to have more performance skills showing, but vocally she ruined the song. It was like loud one line then quiet then next and she was just trying to take it everywhere.
• Olly is so freaking sexy. Do you remember that time we ripped open his shirt?
• Wow can you say depressing? I agree with Cheryl and Dannii on Danyl’s performance. That whole thing was just so depressing.
• This week was definitely Lloyd’s worst performance. While he was looking very confident, that song was just a horrible choice. Cheryl is really getting it wrong with him. I wept a little because I’m so in love with him.
• Lucie was given a song perfect for her! ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’?! Way to go Dannii! Not as stunning last week of course, but it was very very good. I was hoping she would have taken it more like the Taken By Tree’s version rather than the original, that would have been amazing!
• Now with Joe Cheryl’s song choice was spot on! ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ was an amazing song for Joe, while typically I don’t care for Joe’s vocals, this week I thought it all worked out really well! He did a great job. He is very cute when he performs.
• I liked the dancer’s in ‘Don’t Stop Believing’.

Okay now the Results:

• As soon as I seen Lloyd in the bottom two I was near tears.
• Rachel wasn’t a surprise.
• After an agonizing sing off and a judges vote, which I’m so glad they went with the public vote, I was finally relieved to see that the public had voted Rachel out.
• BTW what’s next weeks theme?

Paranormal Activity | The hype, the success, and the alternate ending…

This film is no doubt one of the hottest topics this season. Paranormal Activity is an independent feature ,written and directed by Oren Peli, that tells the story of a young couple plagued by a demonic presence. The young couple, played by Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat, purchase a video camera in hopes of capturing the nightly activity of this demonic presence. What they find and what we see is absolutely terrifying. The film is seen through the lens of the prosumer camera and unlike other films with the same concept, Paranormal Activity spares you the motion sickness by remain fairly stationary throughout. The actors are both natural and comical, just very enjoyable and very relatable. The film gives the viewer a sense, both physically and mentally, that they are truly witnessing these experiences. The way the film looks and feels so real really heightens the terror factor when you are waiting for and seeing the happenings. Paranormal Activity is a goosebumps, skin-crawling, anxious, sort of terror that gets your blood pumping. You do have to be a bit patient in waiting for the occurrences, but when they happen they just get progressively more intense. I’ve seen it twice, and both times I felt the same amount of sheer terror. I believe it is definitely one of the most terrifying films in years.

Oren Peli made this film on a budget of a mere $15,000, back in 2006. Last week the film given a wide release and took the number one spot, raking in 22 million dollars bring it’s total box office to 62 million dollars. No matter who you consult, that is a outstanding achievement.

Now I was at first surprised to hear that the ending in the film wasn’t the original. Upon viewing the film Mr. Steven Spielberg suggested an different ending which is the one being shown in the theaters. Personally I think the new ending is fantastic and I like it a considerable amount more than the original. Here is the original ending…

(DO NOT WATCH UNLESS YOU’VE SEEN THE FILM, don’t ruin it for yourself)

This film is quite possibly my favorite film of the year. A

Cheryl Cole: 3 Words | Album Review

Initially I was thrilled to hear that two of the five member’s of the UK girl group Girls Aloud were going to release solo projects while they are on a break from the band. Cheryl has become one of the most lovable famous faces in Britain today and seems to be somewhat of a national treasure. Apart from the group and in addition she has been a judge on The X Factor, the new face of L’Oreal, and well if your here you probably know all about her so let’s get to it then, yeah?

3 Words is the solo debut and sixth studio album by the British popstar  Cheryl Cole. Her main collaborator was will.i.am and it definitely shows. Cheryl has said that she wanted to break away from the Xenomania-esque sound Girls Aloud has been known for and go for an album with an R&B feel, it was at that moment I sighed a little. What we ended up with was a less than stellar debut, filled with repetitive hooks, meh lyrics, and all in all lack luster tunes. The album itself is a not particularly bad, it’s just not as fantastic as I had hoped for. Cheryl’s 3 Words overall is a(n) occasionally dark,  mid tempo melody of songs about love and clearly reflects on her own life choices.

Here is my quasi-track by track breakdown of 3 Words:

1. 3 Words (featuring will.i.am): The album’s title track and soon to be second single is a strangely beautiful subdued tune that is among the best the album has to offer. It’s a bold choice for a single, but never the less I enjoy this song. Cheryl has said this is her favorite track on the album.
2. Parachute: Some of my favorite verses on this album happen in this song. “I don’t tell anyone about the way you hold my hand” backed by a military drum beat that plays throughout the song opens this great track. The chorus is used in just the right amount of moderation (unlike most on the album). Cheryl has said it was between this and ‘Fight For This Love’ for the first single, so maybe this will surface again as the third? Like the ‘3 Words’, this one shines above the rest.
3. Heaven (featuring will.i.am): Memorizing opening followed by a great intro by Cheryl. Everything about the song is fantastic, except for the over used bit “my heaven’s with you“, it can get a bit annoying. So far so good.
4. Fight For This Love: The album’s first single is most certainly a grower. I at first was fairly disappointed, but soon enough I began to love it. It’s catchy is a sneaky way! I do cringe a bit at the line “ain’t gonna be no picnic” though. Other than that I am that fool driving down the street singing loudly along to the chorus.
5. Rain On Me: This is where things take a turn for the worst. Horrible music, horrible lyrics, just an awful track that would be better left off the album. “What’s the price of thunder?” Really Cheryl? I have half a mind to just delete this track and pretend it never existed.
6. Make Me Cry: A really good R&B tune that is really catchy, but falters due to the extremely repetitious hook “Are you trying to make me cry?“. If they edited out about 3 of the uses each time it plays in repetition I think all will be good. Granted the likelihood of this horrible mistake being corrected is very small.
7. Happy Hour: Using alcohol as a metaphor, this track is easily one of my favorites on the album. It’s the best out of more upbeat tracks that are sprinkled throughout. A great chorus, great verses, and good production make this a standout track. Catchy enough to sing along to and upbeat enough to get a good dance going on.
8. Stand Up: This can join ‘Rain On Me’ as one of the worst track’s on the album. Taio Cruz wrote this for her and frankly I think she should have declined. I don’t even know how to explain it… tacky maybe?
9. Don’t Talk About This Love: Mrs. Cole is clearly talking about asking people not to talk about the whole Ashley Cole businesses. The title suggests that this might be a beautiful, soulful track, well it’s deceiving. The music is fairly light and the lyrics are easily delivered, but it just makes it sound like it was poorly produced.
10. Boy Like You (featuring will.i.am): Upbeat and seemly fun to dance to. It’s just very underwhelming. The open has me thinking “oh this may build up nice”, but nope. Cheryl’s delivery just makes the chorus and the entire song a borefest.
11. Heartbreaker (featuring Cheryl Cole): This a will.i.am that is unnecessarily included on her album. She’s in it for about 30 seconds! Cheryl’s part is so tiny is ridiculous. It’s an okay song, it just shouldn’t have been included.

In some final words let me say that I had high expectations for this album due to the fact I’m a huge fan of Girls Aloud. I knew I could possibly be in for heart break the moment I heard she wanted to do an R&B album, but my hopes stayed high. Needless to say she did a decent job on her first real solo venture (in music). Most of 3 Words had to grow on me, but when it did I really enjoyed it. C+

Quick Notes on The X Factor | Live Show 3

I just caught the latest episode of The X Factor and let me tell you… Big Band is still my least favorite theme for these singing competitions. This week the remaining contestant’s did fair well, except John & Edward, but there is no surprise there. Also this week we see the return of judge and mentor of the groups: Louis Walsh, damn! (I’m not a fan and furthermore I feel nothing that that man says during this show should be taken seriously). I haven’t got to see the results/the results show yet here in the US but here are my quick notes for this week…

• Lucie Jones was easily the greatest of the night. It was a beautiful performance (both visually and vocally) and possibly the highlight of this season so far. Here is her beautiful performance of ‘My Funny Little Valentine‘…

• Olly Murs was my second favorite of the night. He did a fantastic performance of ‘Bewitched’. While it wasn’t as stunning as last weeks show, Olly is definitely one to watch in this competition and I think he’ll go very far. I’m a bit infatuated with this man.

• Lloyd Daniels did a good performance of ‘Fly Me To Moon’ and I thought it was his best out of the three live shows. Though I think that every time he sung the word “on” in the song it came out terrible. The backflip was a little unnecessary and I agree with the judges when they said they he lacked confidence, especially in the first half of the song. I can’t wait to see the next live show because I know he’ll be there and he just keep improving.
• Rachel Adedeji is probably going to be in the bottom again… and I think it will be no surprise given her track record and that last performance. She went a bit (well more than a bit) crazy in her post-performance bit.
• Joining Rachel in my guesses for the bottom would be Miss Frank and John & Edward. I really didn’t care for either’s performance and I don’t think they will make it anywhere near the finals. Frankly I don’t care to watch anymore of them.
• I think Joseph McElderry is cute as hell, but I really don’t like his voice. Might be a preference thing cos it seems I’m the only one who doesn’t. I didn’t think his version of ‘Sway’ was sexy in the least bit, or good. All in all not a very good pick of song, in my opinion.
• I don’t get why Danyl is perceived to be this amazing performer, I think he is just boring. Same goes for Jamie, and I actually agree with Louis about him not even doing a big band song this week, he did U2! Lame on all accounts, the both of them.
• Stacy Soloman. Well done, not as good as last week, the vocals were a bit eh, but Lucie did kind of overshadow you in the whole pretty-dress-slow-number-at-the-mic kind of affair. Still love you though!

By the time I’ve finished this the result will have been given out, I think. I wonder what is going to happen and what the theme next week is!

Quick Notes on The X Factor | Live Show 2

I’ve been really busy and haven’t updated my blog in a bit and I’m sorry, for you 4 people that check this on the regular.

It’s a bit hard to comment on the X Factor’s live shows and eliminations because the earliest I can find a whole episode posted is Monday here in Americaland. But enough small talk! Here are some of my major thoughts on this past weekend’s shows…

• OLLY! That was brilliant! I’m in love ( just don’t tell Lloyd). [performance]
• What in god’s name was that John & Edward? And why are you still on the show?! [performance]
• Cheryl, I’m sorry but what have you been thinking lately? My boy Lloyd can’t do a Leona. But up till the chorus bit it was quite good. Oh god Cheryl don’t cry cos then I’ll cry. I still love you. [performance]
• I don’t get Danyl, Jamie, or Rikki. end of story.
• Cheryl kudos on the debut solo performance! I see a possible number one next week! [performance]
• Whitney? You just walked down some stairs and already you need to catch your breath? Great single, but the performance was a bit rough as was the after-the-fact bit with Dermott [performance]
• Rikki did deserve to go.
• Poor Rachel Adedeji, that girl is gonna just BREAKDOWN the next elimination round, cos she’ll probably be there.