Brief Movie Review: 'Zombieland' (2009)

Movie: Zombieland (2009)
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Rating: 2.8/5 Stars **'

This movie was actually kind of funny, and as others have mentioned, it was funnier than Shaun of the Dead, and I think Bill Murray's cameo may of had something to do with that, as it for sure made the movie for me ;-) Check this one out if you are looking for some good old-fashioned gory-zombie-comedy-fun time. 

Your Daily Feature Song: 'Whatever Leads Me To You' by Geoffrey O'Connor (2011)

Today's feature song is Whatever Leads Me To You, by Australian trance artist Geoffrey O'Connor. Geoffrey O'Connor is a musician from Melbourne, Australia and is also the lead singer for the band The Crayon Fields. Whatever Leads Me To You is a single coming off of his latest album titled Vanity Is Forever, set for release this sometime in September 2011 (this month!). I don't have much other information on this artist, so if you are interested in more you can check out his Last.Fm page HERE, or his website HERE for more music and info. Whatever Leads Me To You by Geoffrey O'Connor from Geoff O'Connor on Vimeo.

Brief Movie Review: 'Nine' (2009)

Movie: Nine (2009)
Director: Rob Marshall
My Rating: 2.5/5 Stars **'
This movie is really more of a musical than I expected it would be. I don't really fancy musicals that much so I can't say I am going to be a very good reviewer of it. Basic story is about a famous Italian director who has seen his hey-dey and struggling to make another big hit. He also just happens to be a Don Juan sort of character who sleeps with lots of different beautiful women, most of whom are the actresses in his movies/musicals. Cast includes Penelope Cruz, Daniel Day Lewis, Nicole Kidman and more. I don't recommend this to you if you aren't a big fan of musicals as you will probably find it boring in that case. 

Steve Judd's Global Astrological forecast for September 2011

Your Daily Song: 'Do It Again' by Holy Ghost! (2011)

Today's feature song is Do It Again, by American electro-pop duo Holy Ghost!. Holy Ghost! originate out of New York City , consists of members Nick Millhiser and Alex Frankel, and have been active on the music scene circa 2007. Do It Again is a single off of their debut self titled album Holy Ghost!, which was released on April 4th, 2011. I love this song! It has elements of 80s-era synth-pop, mixed with those hyper-electro-glam-punk sound effects that are reminiscent of bands like Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Its very fresh to say the least, so check it out. 

A Brief Movie Review: 'Skyline' (2010)

Movie: Skyline (2010)
Directors: Colin Strause and Greg Strause 
Rating: 1.8/5 Stars *'
Another alien-invasion movie, very reminiscent of Independence Day (1996) and War of The Worlds (any of them), in fact I would suggest not wasting your time watching this one and if you want to watch and alien invasion movie go with one of those classics instead. I mainly watched this because it was available on Netflix Streaming, but I would not watch it again. 

Now They Call Them Oldies: 'Oh, What a Night' by The Dells (1956)

Its been awhile since I posted an oldie song so I decided to start them back up again just to mix up the music posts a bit. So, this week's feature oldie song is the 1956 hit Oh, What a Night, by American R-and-B group The Dells. The Dells originate out of   Harvey, Illinois, USA in 1952 consisting of original members Marvin Junior, Mickey McGill, Lucius McGill, Verne Allison, Chuck Barksdale, and Johnny Funches. In 1955 the group signed on with  Vee-Jay Records, and in 1956 they recorded Oh, What a Night which would make the Top 5 of the R&B singles chart. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. This song is also ranked at #260 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. And so there is the first 'oldie' post for the Summer, a bit late I know, its just that Summer-time is for being out-doors and away from computers and all, so there ;-D

A Brief Movie Review: 'Super 8' (2011)

Movie: Super 8 (2011)

Director: J.J. Abrams

Rating: 3.4/5 Stars ***'

This movie was a lot better than I thought it would be, although J.J. Abrams seems to have a thing for monster-movies in which the monsters all look like giant mutant-turtles (ie Cloverfield (2008)), and not the teenaged ninja type. The US military loses a captured alien after a transporter train derails, and the alien then proceeds to terrorize a small nearby town. The kids in this movie, and their interactions were taken right out of The Goonies (1987) in terms of a similarity of characters, as well as the adventure theme, the only thing they were missing was a 'Sloth' character who likes Babyruth candybars...mmmm...baaabby ruth....

Your Daily Track: 'Dancing On My Grave' by Ghostland Observatory (2010)

Today's feature daily track goes to American indie-electro-dance duo Ghostland Observatory and their song Dancing On My Grave. As you may have already noticed, I am a big indie-electro/indie-dance fan, and I discovered this group recently and found that the singer reminds me very much of the vocals of Freddie Mercury. Now those vocals, and the modern indie-electro sound mixed are just unstoppable, and so it is I am presenting this song here today to you all ;-) Ghostland Observatory consists of duo Aaron Kyle Behrens (vocals) and Thomas Ross Turner (drums and synth), who originate out of Austin, Texas, USA, and who have been active on the music scene circa 2004. Dancing On My Grave can be found on their Robotique Majestique album, which was released in 2008. Listen to the song and tell me it doesn't sound like Freddie Mercury...do it now! If you like what you hear you can check out more at their MySpace page HERE. 

A Brief Movie Review: 'Everybody's Fine' (2009)

Movie: Everybody's Fine (2009)

Director: Kirk Jones

Rating: 3/5 Stars ***

Quite a cast in this movie including stars Robert Deniro, Kate Beckinsale, and Drew Barrymore, and ultimately is a good movie about familes. Deniro, finds himself shut-out and avoided by his 4 children all of whom lead busy lives and in live in various parts of the country. After a failed get together in which every single child backs out of he decides to hit the road against his physicians orders to go visit each one of his kids. Truths are revealed and the family is challenged to stay in touch. A bit emotional, but a good movie.

Your Daily Song: 'Progress (ft. Mantra)' by Ishu (2010)

Today's song is... Progress (ft. Mantra) by Australian hip-hop artist Ishu. Ishu is a Melbourne-Australia-based producer, and his song Progress comes off of his recently released A World in Progress album, which hit stores on November 9th, 2010. This is the first single released from the album, and it features progressive rap/hip-hop, which is quite nice for a change-up on the usual rap-themes. Not a whole lot of info on this artist out there on the web at the moment, but you can check out his MySpace page HERE, and the album is now available for purchase on ITunes and Amazon. Check it out!

Your Daily Song: 'Ain't Hungry' by Lanie Lane (2011)

Today's song is...Ain't Hungry by Australian pop-roots-blues-jazz singer-guitarist-songwriter Lanie Lane. Lanie Lane comes out of Sydney, Australia, and her musical style fits into many genres all at once. This song was produced by Jack White, and if you listen to the song you can definitely tell his influence is there, and the article on that is HERE. There is not a heap of biographical information on this artist, but I do highly recommend checking out her work, and if you are interested in finding out more about her you can go to her Unearthed page HERE, or her Facebook page HERE, or even her Myspace page HERE. Do note, that this song is still available as a free and legal MP3 download on herUnearthed page. Enjoy! The video is not up on YouTube yet, as this song was just released today (August 23rd, 2011), and so you can go the link HERE to listen to it. Enjoy!

Brief Movie Review: 'The Landlord' (1970)

Movie: The Landlord (1970) 
Director: Hal Ashby
Rating: 3.5/5 Stars ***' 

Quite an interesting and ground-breaking movie for 1970. A rich, white, young and naive man buys a block of flats in a New York slum and finds that it is a little more than he can handle. This movie came out only 3 years after "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," and I appreciate that it contributed its part to breaking racial barriers by increasing understanding and compassion by including inter-racial couples and and relationships, which even to this day are still challenged in places like the South. Check this one out!