Brief Movie Review for "I Married a Monster From Outer Space" (1958)

3/5 STARS ***
Talk about another classic (that term is getting worn out a bit I know, I will strive to come up with some new adjectives)! Did MST3K do a piece on this one, would love to see if they did. Good for a 50's movie I suppose, good for laughs and I wonder if people will ever decide to dress like that (on a large scale I mean) again, there always bringing back old trends, and we Americans are so bloody casual in our dress these days it is almost embarrassing.  Bit of a tangent there, sorry bout that, but seriously....CBF!

#66 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: "Sex Dwarf" (1981) by Soft Cell

Its that time again, this time its #66, and the song is...Sex Dwarf by British synth-pop duo Soft Cell. Soft Cell consisted of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball and was originally from Leeds, England. Sex Dwarf came off of their 1981 release album titled Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, which also contained their major 80's hit song which they are best known and renowned for, (and definitely is one of those songs that gets stuck in one's head way too easily) Tainted Love. This was also Soft Cell's first album. The duo became quite big right during the ecstasy club-scene of the early 80's in New York, and this song had a controversial S&M video which was banned in the UK for explicit content at the time. The duo was known for having drug abuse issues and like so many other successful 80's groups were constantly using drugs (according to wikipedia). In the UK Soft Cell achieved Ten Top 40 Hits, and 4 Top 20 albums between 1981-1984. They initially split in 1984, but then reformed in the early 2000's and made a new album in 2002. The song is a bit racy, but if you can handle it, it has a great dance beat and definitely hits an 80's mark that not many others do.

Song of the Day for August 9th, 2010: "Sunday" by Custom Kings

And the song is....Sunday by Aussie jam/folk band the Custom Kings. The Custom Kings formed back in 2002 and they are an Australian group.  The band is from Melbourne, VIC, and There is no wikipedia page for them yet, and all the info that lastfm has on them was just stated in the above single sentence. So if you want more info on them, perhaps try there myspace page. Youtube.com also does not have their video yet so you are going to have to go to their myspace page anyways to even hear the song, best of luck to you. Go to Sunday by custom kings in order to hear the song.

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Song of the Day for August 7th, 2010: "I Can Talk" by Two Door Cinema Club

The song is.... I Can Talk, by Irish indie-pop-rock band Two Door Cinema Club. Two Door Cinema Club are from Bangor and Donaghadee in Northern Ireland, and they orginally formed back in 2007. The band consists of members Alex Trimble (vocals, guitar, synth), Kevin Baird (bass guitar and vocals), and Sam Halliday (guitar and drums). I Can Talk comes off of their debut studio album called Tourist History which was just released on February 28th, 2010. Anyways, for more info check out the usual sites.

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Brief Movie Review for "Down to the Bone" (2005)

4/5 STARS ****
Very realistic, and an educational story about what I believe is probably the experience for most people in modern society who are not wealthy or well educated and who rely on drugs to numb their pain, although the wealthy and educated spend just as much time if not more, on drugs and alcohol to numb their own inner-conflicts and insecurities in life. The story is about a mother who works at kmart and is also a drug addict, and everyone in her life are also drug addicts. Drugs and alcohol can turn off some of the mind's constant fear-mongering and harassment, but it really is a trap in of itself, and the only way to really quiet one's mind (without destroying one's own body and life) is to put a lot of time and effort into facing issues that one does not want to face, but must if healing is ever to occur, and then to once the majority of one's issues have been at least accepted and surrendered to, then one can start to work at cultivating a quiet/peaceful mind...a theory anyways. 

Song of the Day for August 7, 2010: The Drums: "Forever and Ever Amen"

And the song is.... Forever and Ever Amen, by American indie-rock band The Drums. The Drums come out of Brooklyn, New York and consist of members Jonathan Pierce (vocals), Jacob Graham (guitar), Adam Kessler (guitar), and Connor Hanwick (drums). The song comes as the 6th track of their debut studio album, which was just released on June 7th, 2010. Check out their myspace page or lastfm for more info.

Brief Movie Review for "Inception" (2010)

5/5 Stars *****
Wow! Great special effects, Di Caprio and cast do a great job, and the plot is actually somewhat original, though you cannot ever get original anymore for real.  I see why this one has had such rave reviews, definitely catch this one on the big screen. Beware of the length though, it is about 2.5 hours long with no intermissions.

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???