Song of the Day for August 6th, 2010 (The Roots: "How I Got Over")

And the song is...How I Got Over, by American hip-hop group The Roots. The Roots come out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which formed back in 1987. The group has many members, new and past ones, but they were originally formed by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson in Philly. How I Got Over comes off of their new album (released June 21, 2010) of the same name. This album debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200 chart, and they purportedly sold over 51,000 copies of the album in the first week of its release. There is heaps more information about the group and their history on their wikipedia page, so be sure to check that out if you are keen.

#67 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: Billy Idol: White Wedding (1982)

And were back to the 80's, the countdown that is...and here at #67 we have White Wedding, by Brit post-punk rocker and legend Billy Idol. Idol's real name is William Michael Albert Broad, and he was born on November 30th, 1955 in Stanmore, Middlesex, England, which makes the Brit rocker 54 this year! Idol bounced around a bit in his earlier years, and in fact was first a member of the punk-rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1976, but before they were actually called Siouxsie and the Banshees. In 1977 he moved on to join Chelsea, and then with bandmate Tony James he quit and co-founded the band Generation X, at which point he switched from guitar to lead vocals. In 1981 Idol moved to New York and started up his successful solo career. White Wedding, which comes in on this countdown at #67, was released on his first full-length studio album in July of 1982 following the successful earlier release of the hit single "Hot in the City." "White Wedding" reached #36 on the Billboard Hot 100 upon its release, and reached #6 in the UK. Now don't be surprised if Billy Idol appears a few more times on down the countdown as he is one of top 80's artists of all time...its a nice to....start agaaaaaiinnnnn....

Song of the Day for August 4th, 2010

And the song is....Go Do, by Icelandic musical group Jónsi. For those of you who have not heard of Sigur Rós, Jón Jósep Snæbjörnsson or Jónsi (prounounced "yown-see")is an singer/guitar player from Reykjavík, Iceland, and lead singer of that band. Sigur Rós was a band known best for its ethereal sounds and unique falsetto vocals by Jónsi Birgisson. In January of 2010  Sigur Rós officially went on a hiatus, and since that time Jónsi Birgisson started a solo-project and album titled Go, which was released in April of 2010. Jónsi has since been on tour with this new album throughout North America and Canada. By April 12th, 2010 the album had already charted at #20 on the UK album charts and at #23 on the Billboard 200. So, check out this music, its quite different from most of the stuff you might hear, I wonder if he's related to Bjork???

Brief Movie Review for "Fury" (1936)

Well, this movie is quite a bit older than the others I've reviewed, but one must keep some diversity going, plus I watched a few weeks back and was impressed, it seems a bit significant for the times, but that may often be the case.   

4/5 Stars ****

"This one is mos def a classic by Fritz Lang, starring Spencer Tracy and Sylvia Sidney! Its one of those movies that has a real message about what I perceived as compassion. The desire for revenge when victimized is strong, but as we all know, one will become the very thing one opposes when one takes the path of vengeance. What is it that Einstein once said, something like a problem can not be solved significantly changed using the same energy that was put into creating it...or something like that. CBF." 

Song of the Day for August 3rd, 2010

And the song of the day is...Love I, by Hawaiian artists The Green. The Green come from Honolulu and Kailua on the island of Oahu and consists of JP Kennedy (Guitar & Vocals), Caleb Keolanui (Lead Vocals), Zion Thompson (Guitar & Vocals) and Ikaika Antone (Keys & Lead Vocals). The group formed in April of 2009 and have since released a self titled studio album which is now available on Itunes. For more info go to their website here.

#68 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: Cyndi Lauper - I'll Kiss You (1983)

Welcome back everybody! Here we are again, this time presenting #68 of the countdown! And the song is....I'll Kiss You, by that very unusual and no doubt one of the most memorable and classic high-octave singer's of the 1980's, miss Cyndi Lauper. This song can be found on Lauper's 1983 release and mega-hit album, "She's So Unusual," as track number 8. Cyndi Lauper herself was born in 1953 in New York City, and according to wikipedia she was the first female singer to have 4 top 5 singles released off of one album, although I can imagine that Madonna would have shortly become the second female singer to do the same, however I am not completely sure on that fact. Her wikipedia page also states that Lauper has released 11 albums and hailed over 40 singles, and that as of the year 2008 she had sold somewhere around 25 million records worldwide, a hard act to follow for most no bout adout it. This song features a great dance beat with Lauper's signature vocals, and I must say that listening to Lauper songs really do take me back to 80's memories as a little kid watching movies with my sister and especially the Goonies (probably because she had a feature song on the Goonies soundtrack). Now don't be surprised if more Lauper hits appear later on this countdown, and watch out for that love potion #8, its #9 that you want right???

Song of the Day for August 2, 2010

And the song is...Heads Will Roll, by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band from NYC, and have been around since the year 2000. The band consists of 3 primary members as Karen O (vocals/piano), Nick Zinner (guitars and keyboards) and Brian Chase (drums). Heads Will Roll is the 2nd track off of their latest album titled It's Blitz, which was released last year in March of 2009. This song has a bit of a dance/house feel to it; the album received good reviews, and Rhapsody (online music service) called it the 12th best album of 2009. So check em out, I reckon they are a bit under-rated.

Brief Movie Review: "Triage" (2009)

 4/5 Stars

  

Another realistic movie, this time about War and Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder, or as George Carlin so aptly reminds us that the more appropriate and less watered-down term is "Shell-Shock." All those people who worship/idolize the military and wars so much would do well to be exposed to the not-so-glorious side to wars and conflict. The landmine scene was horrific, and of course the triage scenes leave their mark. 

Song of the Day for August 1st, 2010

And the song is...Telepathic Head, by Australian artist Machine Translations. Machine Translations is a solo-artist and multi-intstrumentalist named J Walker (anything to do with Johnny Walker perhaps??). Not a whole lot more info out there about him, and I CBF today, so look him up on lastfm if your keen on more info. Blah! Youtube of course does not have the video, so you will have to do it the old-fashioned way and go to the myspace page and click an extra link, you can find that myspace page.

Brief Movie Review for "Crazy Heart" (2009)

Ok, so I have decided I want to start doing some more movie/tv reviews, but brief ones. I did a few in the past on this vlog/blog, but ultimately I found myself not wanting to do long ones. Now, I do short and quick ones (some extremely short) on flixster for facebook, so I figure I will just transfer those over to the blog here and enrich the content a bit more. These are just going to be movies that I end up watching, not necessarily new ones only or anything. The brief review is as follows:

4.5/5 STARS

Well done, the alcoholism bit is pretty realistic, and its probably true that about 85% of Americans go about their day, drive their cars around, and function at some level with a constant measurable blood-alcohol level and/or dose of pain-pills. By far the best acting job I have seen Jeff Bridges do ever, and perhaps that is why he got the Oscar for it.  


Ok, so that was a sample first "brief movie review." I will add more as I get to them. Woot!

Song of the Day for July 31st, 2010

And the song for today is....Where I'm Going, by Aussie synth-pop band Cut Copy. Cut Copy originate in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia) and consists of Dan Whitford (vocals, keyboards, and guitar), Tim Hoey (bass guitar and sampler), and Mitchell Scott (drums). Cut Copy started out in 2001 with Dan Whitford who is both a DJ and a graphic designer, and in fact Whitford released the first single and EP on his own before he recruited the other band members that comprise the band today. I have had the privilege of seen Cut Copy live on two occasions, and I highly recommend checking them out live if you ever get this chance, a very good show. Now, I am not sure if Where I'm Going is the first song off of their new album (TBA in 2011), or if is being released as a single, but its a goodie for sure, and it can be downloaded free in mp3 format at their website if you join their email list. Go out and pick yourself up a copy (no pun) of their In Ghost Colours album (released in 2008), which I would personally sum up as a mix between Duran Duran and Radiohead. Enjoy one of my top fav bands!

Steve Judd's Global Forecast for August 2010

Another tense month, but perhaps the last one for awhile.

#69 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown!

Yes we are back to the 80's once again. This time presenting #69 of the countdown. And the song is....Goodbye Horses, by American singer Q Lazzarus. Q Lazzarus is well known for this song, as it was no doubt her one hit wonder of 1988. I don't know why, I just know that I am a bit stoked to put this song on my countdown, it just doesn't show up on other 80's music radars much if you know what I mean. Goodbye Horses may be best remembered for its appearance on the soundtrack of Silence of the Lambs, as it was featured as serial killer/skinner character Buffalo Bill's theme song in that movie (ugghh, but I never associated it with that, and maybe that is why so many others don't like the song much due to that association). That said, this same song was also featured on movies Married to the Mob, Clerks II, Lakai Footwears' Fully Flared tv commercial, as well as on the Grand Theft Auto IV and Skate 3 video games, and TV shows Family Guy and Nip Tuck. Its a song that gets around, that is for sure, and funnily enough and unintentionally it has ended up as #69 on VJ Samsonite's Top 100 Dance Hits of the 80's Countdown, you know, just in case you forgot already ;-) A few more interesting trivia tidbits that I discovered on wikipedia.com are that Q Lazzarus actually appeared in the 1986 film Something Wild (with Melanie Griffith and Jeff Daniels) and performing the song The Candle Goes Away. She also appeared in the 1993 Tom Hanks Oscar winning film Philadelphia, performing the Talking Heads song Heaven. Another interesting fact is that for a little while she worked as a taxi-cab driver in NYC. Now the video is a bit strange, but really the most normal appearing video of this on youtube, in fact you should check out all the different videos that have been made for this song on youtube if you get the chance. Well, if you want more info, look her up on wikipedia or lastfm, now get out there and dance!