GMU's Comm 399 students on pop, art, fashion, and more
Four long years after their last full-length release “Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!”, the boys of Hellogoodbye are back and better than ever. “Would It Kill You” will probably come as a surprise to long-time HGB fans who grew accustomed to their electronica/pop sound. This record is a lot more mature. You can stream the album in its entirety here.
Tonight I saw the movie “Morning Glory” and after the movie I re-read Ann Hornaday’s review of the film. If you have seen the movie and the review, you will know why I will never seek anyone else’s advice when it comes to movies.
Last month, The New York Times featured an interesting and impressive article on Yuto Miyazawa, a 10-year-old Japanese guitar prodigy who has been leaving people in awe as of late for his incredible guitar skills at such a young age. This article is an introduction to the man, or should I say kid who explains what it is like to tour at such a young age, what artists he looks up to, how he began playing, and most of all, how he balances out touring and publicity with living a “normal” life as a schoolboy in Japan.
The writer of this article, Joyce Hor-Chung Lau, interviewed Yuto, his father, Tsuneo Miyazawa and his manager, Steve Bernstein. Lau went above and beyond to interview this young prodigy, and had to go to the Hong Kong Fringe Club, a small club all the way in Hong Kong. Lau first heard of Yuto from his first televised performance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show last May. After that, he played at the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago and has since gained notoriety. On top of that, Ozzy Osbourne has put his name out there as well, and performed the song, “Crazy Train” on stage as Yuto got to jam with one of his idols.
Since the article was well-balanced and didn’t have any major glitches, there were not many questions the writer asked that should not have been answered. The only thing to point out is that Yuto’s father is quiet and did not answer a lot about his son’s talent. For example, the author points out that his father often accompanies Yuto on his travels but remains in the background and could be mistaken for a particularly clean-cut roadie. Also, his father is quoted saying,“We are proud of him,” in a shy manner about his son.
This feature is organized in a perfect fashion. The author begins the piece by talking about Yuto’s performance at the Hong Kong Fringe Club. A fan then shouted at Yuto to play the song, “Crazy Train,” and held up a camera phone with a video of the old Ozzy Osbourne favorite, thinking Yuto had no idea what he was talking about. The prodigy knew what to do, but denied the fan and instead played his own ballad, “Let’s Go.” The rock and roll attitude is already starting to sink in.
This next part then follows up to him performing “Free Bird” and finishing off his encore with, of course, “Crazy Train.” Next, the writer delves into his performances of the small stage (Hong Kong Fringe Club) to the big stage (Lollapalooza). A point then had to be made of his performance with Ozzy Osbourne and how he lifted him up on stage while playing a long guitar solo.
The Ozzy Osbourne experience led to a great transition to his personal, and rather simple life. His father works at a bank and his mother is a housewife who cares for him and a younger brother. The author then discusses how some prodigies are surrounded by staff and private tutors, but Yuto prefers to go to school and then tours during the holidays, something very unselfish.
This leads to the discussing of how he began playing guitar, which was at the age of 1 year and 10 months while picking up a vegetable grater, cradling it and trying to strum it. The real guitar lessons began at the age of four. Now that is what you call talent.
The author ends off by discussing what is in store for the future of the young guitar prodigy, and how once he stops playing music on stage, he is just like any other 10-year-old kid in society.
I found this article to be really interesting! Have you ever wondered how the president fly’s while ordinary people are in a scrammed little cabin eating peanuts? Here is your answer 
BREAKING NEWS: England’s sweethearts, Prince William and Kate Middleton announced their engagement! Does anybody else wish they were going to this ravishing event? Coming from a middle class family into the royal court of England–must be nice! Read more about the engagement here.
This is not your run-of-the-mill open-mic event, nor is it your average poem for that matter; a ‘poetry slam’ is a bombastic way for writers and creators to verbally express themselves.
Performances can be dark and creepy, comical and goofy, or rigorous and inspiring.
Taylor Mali, who is a full-blooded poet, has made a name for himself in this arena. If you didn’t know what a poetry slam was before this very sentence, you’re about to be schooled: Check out this video of Taylor slam dunkin’ his words on listeners and onlookers. And for the hell of it, here is one that he is known for. Enjoy!
Marvel released this teaser image in a recent issue of their “Previews” magazine for February.
Marvel has yet to comment on the image. To me it makes sense that Peter Parker would die, his life is finally looking up in comics: he got a new girlfriend, a new job, he’s member of the Avengers. Of course Marvel would kill him off now.
I know I’ve brought this up before in another post earlier this semester, but I am getting damn tired of comic book companies using the deaths of characters as marketing gimmicks to get people to read their books. You don’t need to kill off characters to make good stories.
To learn more about what’s going on in Spider-Man’s world, pick Amazing Spider-Man #648 on sale now. It’s great jumping on point for the series.
Offending veterans with his actions, Garfield apologizes. Many said that Jim Davis could have done better. What do you think?
Read the full story here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101112/od_nm/us_comics_garfield
Last January, Vanity Fair did an excellent profile of Tina Fey. It featured some great quotes by Fey and people close to her which helped paint a better picture of who Fey is aside from her 30 Rock character and Sarah Palin impression.
The crux of the article, which the author seemed to want its readers to take away, is that despite her caustic wit and sexy-librarian looks, Fey is a very conservative person who is governed by her own personal set of rules that she lives by.
The writer of this story, Maureen Dowd, obviously spent a lot of time researching the story. It describes several meetings with Fey herself in her apartment and at a café, in addition to a meeting with her husband Jeff Richmond, and scores of other people who know her including 30 Rock actor Alec Baldwin, SNL creator Lorne Michaels, and 30 Rock staffer Marci Klein, among others.
I think the author seemed to answer just about every question that might’ve been relevant to the story. The piece really is quite lengthy, though I suppose some other questions about, say who can make her laugh and who her biggest influences were might have been welcome in a profile such as this one.
The feature is organized well. It starts with an interesting lead, then moves on to a conversation between the author, Fey, and her husband in their New York apartment. It then moves on to Fey’s background, which includes her interests, and quotes from people who have known Fey since the start of her career. Then the focus is on quotes her husband says during a meeting over coffee, followed by tales of Fey’s career and more told during cocktails in her apartment. More time is spent on her background, and more quotes from people she has worked with are included. The feature moves on to the story about Fey’s scar on her lip, and how it inspired her life. A little bit of time tells of Fey’s anxieties, then it moves to how Fey has transformed in her career. Information is given about the start of 30 Rock, and then her breakout thanks to her Sarah Palin impression, and the impact it’s had on her life. Finally, the article concludes with a few more quotes and information about Fey’s life today.
It was announced last week that Disney teen star Demi Lovato had gone to rehab. While her people are saying one thing, there are many rumors circulating about what really went down. Click here to get the details.