Interesting story about comic writer Harvey Pekar, and apparently its not that rare of a name. Paul Giamatti does a great job with this persona, as he always does. Story takes place in the industrial and depressing landscape of Cleveland, Ohio and is about a very depressing life of a surprisingly successful Harvey Pekar. Its hard to say how I feel about this one, it is like a serious version of "Napolean Dynamite," and not near as funny because it is based on real people. Just make sure you pop some of your prozac before you really sit down with this one...not really, but a good flick all the same.
And the song is....Stop and Stare by British electronic band Fenech-Soler. Fenech-Soler come at us out of Kings Cliffe, UK and consists of members Ross Duffy, Ben Duffy, Daniel Soler and Andrew Lindsay. They formed as a band back in 2006 and have released 3 singles to date. Stop and Stare is one of those singles, which reached #102 on the UK charts. The band members have a few side projects as well, and they are currently on tour in the UK.
And the song is Alps, by Aussie alternative-rock band Last Dinosaurs. I have posted some previous songs by Last Dinosaurs, who come at us out of Brisbane, Australia in sunny Queensland. This band has a delightful distant (almost ambient) and upbeat sound to it that is a bit nostalgic or something, hard to explain really...but very very good all the same. In case you forgot from the last post the band members are Sean Caskey (vox/guitar) Lach Caskey (guitar) Danjuro Koyama (drums) and Sam Gethin-Jones (bass). The song Alps comes off of their Back from the Dead EP, which was released in February of 2010, and which I very highly recommend as it contains 5 excellent tracks! Once Again you are going to have to go TO THEIR MYSPACE PAGE HERE TO LISTEN TO THE SONG.
We are not worthy, we are not worthy...all hail the late-great King of Pop once again, I told you he would be making a few appearances on this countdown, naturally, and so #63 is.....Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough by the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson. I definitely would have mentioned this before, but I must continue with the discussion on what is to be done about this empty throne??? Who will be the next?? Madonna is no doubt still the Queen of Pop, although I know that Lady Gaga fancies herself to be next in line, yet, she will have to produce a minimum of 4 or 5 more top 20 full studio length albums before she can even be considered I would say. Both MJ and Madonna were so insanely prolific that it will be hard for anyone to fill their royal shoes. I suppose that sports are like that too, the new masters just keep raising the bar higher and higher, but someone will come along eventually, no doubt about that. Back to the song, it comes off of MJ's 1982 release album "Thriller." Now, many of you may already know that Thriller still remains the best-selling album worldwide of all time, having sold around 110 million copies worldwide. In the United States Thriller is tied at #1 best-selling album of all time with the Eagles' Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) but that is just in the USA, globally (which really is what matters most) Thriller is still #1 bar-none. Stay tuned for more...
And the song is Need Me (Every Night), by Hawaiian island music band Ho'okoa. Ho'okoa comes at us out of Hilo, HI (on the Big Island of Hawaii) consists of band members Na`ea Kaopua, John Tuli, Preston Paulos, Hoku Aki, Rick Star, Jeremy Tekurio and Paul Battad. The band members met in high school and have been performing together for the past 5 years. They are currently working on their second album and will be releasing a new single soon, for more info on that or the band check out their myspace page here.
And the song is....Acid Reign, by American alternative-rock band Violens. Violens is another band from NYC, they formed back in 2007 and include members Iddo Arad (synths, vocals), Ben Brantley (bass), Jorge Elbrecht (lead vocals, guitar), and Kris King (drums). Acid Reign comes off of their upcoming release album titled Amoral, and if you like this song enough, it is available as a free mp3 download at their myspace page found here.
A great french-language movie! This movie portrays family interactions very well, and in a very realistic light, so beware, it may remind you of your own family. Its about an Arab family living in France where a recently laid-off senior dock worker decides to buy an abandoned fishing boat and turn it into a seafood cous-cous restaurant, is a bit nerve-wracking though, especially at the end.
And the song is....State of Mind (ft. Juanita Tippins), by Australian MC/hip hop artist Skryptcha. Now, thus far on this vlog I have been tempted to only post one song per artist and move on to a new one for each daily post (with a few exceptions), but from now on I am just going to post any song I find to be worthy of posting. So, that said this song, like the previous Skryptcha post I've made comes off of his 2009 release EP titled Left to Write. Also, note that Skryptcha has a new full length studio album out (just released on July 23rd, 2010) titled The Numbers, so make sure to check that out as well.
And #64 is....Chains of Love,by English synth-pop duoErasure. Erasure consists of songwriter and keyboardist Vince Clarke and vocalist Andy Bell, and formed originally back in 1985. Vince Clarke was one of the founding members of another well-known synth-band from the 80's by the name of Depeche Mode, and he was the writer of their first three singles, including their breakthrough top ten hit Just Can't Get Enough. Clarke left Depeche Mode in 1981 and started up with another successful group called Yazoo (aka Yaz in the USA), after two hit albums with Yazoo Clarke produced a top four hit in the UK called Never Never. He then went on to form Erasure with Andy Bell, which went on to produce 34 Top 40 Hits in the UK between the years of 1985-2007, and they have sold somewhere around 25 million albums in that time. Clarke and Bell have been labeled as "the definitive synthpop superstars," according to their wikipedia page. Chains of Love was the 4th track on their May 1988 release album The Innocents. Chains of Love was Erasure's 6th consecutive Top 20 Hit on the UK Singles Chart, and it became their first mainstream breakthrough on the USA Billboard Hot 100 Charts at #12, and to this day remains their highest charting pop hit in the United States. Check out their wikipedia page for more info, and break those chains!
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 Øverland-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!
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.
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.
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.
