Sunday, August 15, 2010

Song of the Day for August 15th, 2010: "Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)" by The Wombats

And the song of the day is...Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves) by British indie-rock band The Wombats. The Wombats consists of Matthew Murphy (vocals, keyboards, and guitar), Dan Haggis (drums, vocals), and Tord Ă˜verland-Knudsen (bass guitar and vocals), who come at us out of Liverpool, England. The band formed back in 2003 when they met at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, and had released their debut album by 2006. Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves) is a new release to come off of their latest album of the same name (which is to be released in late September 2010). Check out this song, and their new album, blah!

Brief Movie Review for "The Ghost Breakers" (1940)

3/5 Stars ***
Funny movie, pre-US involvement in WWII which makes it interesting to me. I remember Bob Hope vaguely, but he was actually quite funny, which would make sense as to why he was so famous. Its a little discomforting to see how Hollywood portrayed black people back in those days, but I guess that is just how it was then, and we should be grateful that we have moved forward some. Good movie for some laughs.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Song of the Day for August 14th, 2010: "Barbara Streisand" by Duck Sauce

And the song is... Barbara Streisand, by American DJ-duo Duck Sauce. Duck Sauce is a duo consisting of DJ's Armand Van Helden and A-Trak, and is signed under the Fool's Gold record label. The duo has released an EP in September of 2009 called Greatest Hits, however, Barbara Streisand is their latest track released as a single just recently (not sure exactly when, sometime during 2010), and this track has received substantial airplay on UK radio stations. So, for you DJ's and house people, this is probably my first dance-post, so do enjoy yourself some Duck Sauce.

Brief Movie Review for "Virtuality" (2009)

2.5/5 Stars **.5
Interesting as far as space movies go, and it seemed to have an interesting premise. A movie (and actually a TV-Pilot, which I was previously suspicious but unsure of) about a reality tv show of people living on a space station and traveling for 10 years to a distant star while massive flooding is occurring back on Earth. This actually could have a made a good series if it was utilized that way. In my opinion the story was good up until about the last 10 mins in which the directors swiftly wrap up the story in a way that sort of leaves you irritable. I don't know about anyone else, but does every frickin space movie have to have the "person trapped in an airlock and the computer is unresponsive, and there is only a minute or so before the trapped person gets sucked out into space" scene?? Be sure to check it out if you like space movies though.

Friday, August 13, 2010

The Song of the Day for August 13th, 2010: "All For You," by Micah G

And the song is.... All For You, by Hawaiian island-music artist Micah G. Now, I have had one hell of a time trying to locate bio info on Micah G, and still can't seem to find much on him. He has a myspace page HERE. He comes out of Honolulu, Hawaii on the island of Oahu, according to his myspace page, and that is about the lot of it. Now, All For You is a single-release, which just came out last month on July 24th, 2010, so it is still fairly new. Now Youtube still doesn't have this song despite the fact that its almost a month old already, so you will have to go to this link to actually here a sample of it. Otherwise you can listen to and buy it on itunes of amazon at the adjacent link. Check it!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Song of the Day for August 12th, 2010: "King of the Beach" by The Wavves

And the song of the day is King of the Beach, by American surf-rock band The Wavves. The Wavves consist of members Nathan Williams, Billy Hayes, and Stephen Pope and are based out of sunny San Diego, California. The band formed back in 2008, and have released 3 full studio albums. King of the Beach appears as the first track on their latest album of the same name, which was just released on August 3rd, 2010. So, check out their new album, like I said, its just released!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

#65 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: "Planet of Women" (1985) by ZZ Top

Now presenting to you, #65 of the Top 100 80's Dance Hits is....Planet of Women, by none other than American blues-rock band ZZ TopZZ Top consists of members Comprising of Billy Gibbons (vocals and guitar), Dusty Hill ( bass guitar, back up vocals, and keyboards), and Frank Beard (drums). ZZ Top originally formed in Houston, Texas back in 1969, and they were ranked #44 by VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. They certainly have had a few hit songs over the years, and are well known for their long elvin-looking beards and dark sunglasses. The band has been together for 41 years, but the 4th band-member Lawrence Payton, past-away back in 1997, however the remaining trio is still together. One interesting fact direct to you from wikipedia:  

"In 1984, the Gillette Company reportedly offered Gibbons and Hill $1 million each to shave their beards for a television commercial. They allegedly declined, saying "We're too ugly without 'em."

Planet of Women is one of my favorite ZZ Top songs of all time, and comes off of their 9th studio album titled Afterburner, released back in 1985. It is one of those songs that should have been on the Top Gun soundtrack, or for some reason really reminds me of some other songs off that soundtrack and thus would have been fitting. There may or may not be more Top songs on the countdown, stay tuned to find out...

Brief Movie Review for "The Yellow Handkerchief" (2008)

4/5 Stars ****
Good flick, William Hurt always does a great job with his characters and all of the characters in this movie are believable as true personalities. The movie is mostly about Hurt's character and his life, while Stewart and Bello and Redmayne (whose character is most annoying but in a realistic way) all support. Check this one out if you get the chance.

Song of the Day for August 11th, 2010: "Let's Get Out of Here" by Les Savy Fav

And the song is...Let's Get Out of Here by American indie-rock band Les Savy Fav. Les Savy Fav are a New York City indie rock band led by well-known lead singer Tim Harrington, and also includes members Seth Jabour, Syd Butler, Harrison Haynes, and Andrew Reuland. The original band all met and formed the band whilst attending the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. The group has released 5 full studio length albums, and Let's Get Out of Here appears as track number 4 on their latest release album titled Root for Ruin, which was just released on August 3rd, 2010. For more info on the band or song check out their myspace page here.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Song of the Day for August 10th, 2010: "Why Can’t I Forget Him (feat. Nicole Wray)" by Blakroc

The song is....Why Can’t I Forget Him (feat. Nicole Wray), by American hip-hop collaboration Blakroc. As I just stated, Blakroc is a collaboration of hip-hop artists along with Ohio-based blues-rock band The Black Keys. This collaboration of artists is overseen The project is directed by Damon Dash, co-founder and formerly owner of a share in Roc-A-Fella Records. Thus far there has been one self-titled album released under the collaboration known as Blakroc (back in November of 2009). I highly recommend checking this album out as it has quite a variety of hip-hop artists going toe to toe with the blues-rock talent of Black Keys. Collaborations such as this are definitely an experiment, and I personally find them quite amazing, as you never know what you are going to get when you combine musical geniuses onto one album, and I definitely think we will be seeing more of these kinds of collaborations between bands and vocal artists in the future, and mixing all musical styles, the sky is the limit! This particular song appears as track #5 on the album, and of course it features American hip-hop singer Nicole Wray who comes out of Portsmouth, Virginia. Enjoy the track, and check out the rest of the album.

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!

Monday, August 9, 2010

#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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