Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Push

Last week, we, with my family, went in the theatre to watch "Push" starred by Chris Evans of Fantastic 4 movie's Human Torch. Well, the watching was just okay. We were so silent while watching. Words only uttered during the later part of the movie.

The movie was kinda confusing; it has many twists. The special effects and fighting styles and stunts were great. It's a little bit X-Men-like. The actions are like mutant madness where supernatural powers are used during the action.

I'm not really sure because it's just my first time to watch the movie and I think all must watch it twice to completely understand the flow of the story, but I think the story is about a telekinetic boy who is finding the cure for her abducted telepathic girlfriend with the help of the other mutants. Her girlfriend was almost dying so they made a very clever plan to get the cure. They managed to let the two sets of their enemies meet. Both sides of the enemies fought using their supernatural powers. In the end, the major antagonist thought that he succeeded but unfortunately, the telepathic girl, who is the girlfriend of Chris in the movie, killed him by manipulating his mind to kill himself.


Overall, it was 7/10. It's not so good yet not so bad. As I said, it was just okay for me. It's a good movie to watch for people who seek X-men-like movies but it can't be compared with X-men because no one beats the original.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Blink-182 is Back!!!

February 8, 2009, at the 51st Grammy Awards, Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus, and Scott Raynor officially announced the reformation of their band, Blink-182. They are currently recording their sixth new album and updated their logo.

They're back! They're back! They're back!

I can't wait to hear their new songs and I'm sure that they will hit the top of the charts.

Uhm...by the way, Here are the full list of the winners of the Grammy Awards 2009:

Album of the Year: Raising Sand - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss

Rap Album: Tha Carter III - Lil Wayne

Male Pop Vocal Performance: Say - John Mayer

Record of the Year: Please Read The Letter - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss

New Artist: Adele

Rock Album: Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends - Coldplay

Pop Collaboration With Vocals: Rich Woman - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss

Song of the Year: Viva La Vida - Coldplay

Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: Stay - Sugarland

R&B Album: Jennifer Hudson - Jennifer Hudson

Producer of the Year, Non-Classical: Rick Rubin

Producer of the Year, Classical: David Frost

Female Pop Vocal Performance: Chasing Pavements - Adele

Pop Vocal Album: Rockferry - Duffy

Pop Instrumental Performance: I Dreamed There Was No War - Eagles

Pop Instrumental Album: Jingle All the Way - Bela Fleck & The Flecktones

Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals: Viva La Vida - Coldplay

Alternative Music Album: In Rainbows - Radiohead

Solo Rock Vocal Performance: Gravity - John Mayer,

Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals: Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon

Hard Rock Performance: Wax Simulacra - The Mars Volta

Metal Performance: My Apocalypse - Metallica

Rock Instrumental Performance: Peaches En Regalia - Zappa Plays Zappa

Rock Song: Girls in Their Summer Clothes - Bruce Springsteen

Rap Solo Performance: A Milli - Lil Wayne

Rap Performance by a Duo or Group: Swagga Like Us - Jay-Z and T.I. featuring Kanye West and Lil Wayne

Rap/Sung Collaboration: American Boy - Estelle featuring Kanye West

Rap Song: Lollipop - Dwayne Carter, Darius Harrison, James Scheffer, Stephen Garrett and Rex Zamor,

Country Song: Stay - Sugarland

Female Country Vocal Performance: Last Name - Carrie Underwood,

Male Country Vocal Performance: Letter to Me - Brad Paisley,

Country Collaboration with Vocals: Killing the Blues - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss,

Country Instrumental Performance: Cluster Pluck - Brad Paisley, James Burton, Vince Gill, John Jorgenson, Albert Lee, Brent Mason, Redd Volkaert and Steve Wariner

R&B Song: Miss Independent - Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen and Shaffer Smith

Contemporary R&B Album: Growing Pains - Mary J. Blige

Female R&B Vocal Solo: Superwoman - Alicia Keys

Male R&B Vocal Solo: Miss Independent - Ne-Yo

R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals: Stay With Me (By the Sea), Al Green featuring John Legend

Traditional R&B Vocal Performance: You've Got the Love I Need - Al Green featuring Anthony Hamilton

Urban/Alternative Performance: Be OK - Chrisette Michele featuring will.i.am

Dance Recording: Harder Better Faster Stronger - Daft Punk

Electronic Dance Album: Alive 2007 - Daft Punk

Bluegrass Album: Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 and 1947 - Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder

Traditional Blues Album: One Kind Favor - B.B. King

Contemporary Blues Album: City That Care Forgot - Dr. John and The Lower 911

New Age Album: Peace Time - Jack DeJohnette

Contemporary Jazz Album: Randy in Brasil - Randy Brecker

Jazz Vocal Album: Loverly - Cassandra Wilson

Jazz Instrumental Solo: BE-BOP - Terence Blanchard,

Jazz Instrumental Album Individual or Group: The New Crystal Silence - Chick Corea and Gary Burton

Large Jazz Ensemble Album: Monday Night Live at the Village Vanguard - The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra

Latin Jazz Album: Song for Chico - Arturo O'Farrill and The Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra

Latin Pop Album: La Vida ... Es Un Ratico - Juanes

Latin Rock or Alternative Album: 45 - Jaguares

Latin Urban Album: Los Extraterrestres - Wisin y Yandel

Tropical Latin Album: Senor Bachata - Jose Feliciano

Regional Mexican Album: Amor, Dolor y Lagrimas - Musica Ranchera

Tejano Album: Viva La Revolucion - Ruben Ramos and The Mexican Revolution

Norteno Album: Raices - Los Tigres Del Norte

Banda Album: No Es De Madera - Joan Sebastian

Traditional Folk Album: At 89 - Pete Seeger

Contemporary Folk/Americana Album: Raising Sand - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss (Rounder)

Native American Music Album: Come to Me Great Mystery: Native American Healing Songs - Various Artists)

Hawaiian Music Album: Ikena - Tia Carrere and Daniel Ho

Zydeco or Cajun Music Album - Live at the 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival - BeauSoleil and Michael Doucet

Engineering Album, Classical: Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of Silk Road Chicago - David Frost, Tom Lazarus and Christopher Willis

Reggae Album: Jah Is Real - Burning Spear

Traditional World Music Album: Ilembe: Honoring Shaka Zulu - Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Contemporary World Music Album: Global Drum Project - Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Sikiru Adepoju and Giovanni Hidalgo

Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media: Juno - Various Artists

Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Television or Other Visual Media: The Dark Knight

Polka Album: Let the Whole World Sing - Jimmy Sturr and His Orchestra

Gospel Performance: Get Up - Mary Mary

Gospel Song: Help Me Believe - Kirk Franklin

Rock or Rap Gospel Album: Alive and Transported - TobyMac

Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album: Thy Kingdom Come - CeCe Winans

Southern, Country, Bluegrass Gospel: Lovin' Life - Gaither Vocal Band

Traditional Gospel Album: Down in New Orleans - The Blind Boys of Alabama

Contemporary R&B Gospel Album: The Fight of My Life - Kirk Franklin

Classical Album: Weill: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny - James Conlon, conductor

Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media: Down to Earth - WALL-E - Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Musical Show Album: In the Heights - Kurt Deutsch, Alex Lacamoire, Andres Levin, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Joel Moss and Bill Sherman, producers; Lin-Manuel Miranda, composer/lyricist

Spoken Word Album (Includes Poetry, Audio Books & Story Telling): An Inconvenient Truth (Al Gore) - Beau Bridges, Cynthia Nixon and Blair Underwood

Musical Album for Children: Here Come the 123s - They Might Be Giants

Spoken Word Album Children: Yes to Running! Bill Harley Live - Bill Harley

Comedy Album: It's Bad for Ya - George Carlin

Instrumental Composition: The Adventures of Mutt - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - John Williams

Instrumental Arrangement: Define Dancing - WALL-E Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman

Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s): Here's That Rainy Day, Nan Schwartz

Engineered Album, Non-Classical: Consolers of the Lonely - Joe Chiccarelli, Vance Powell and Jack White III, engineers

Remixed Recording: Electric Feel (Justice Remix) - Justice

Surround Sound Album: Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Night on Bald Mountain; Prelude to Khovanshchina - Michael Bishop

Opera Recording: Weill: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny - James Conlon, conductor

Orchestral Performance: Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4 - Bernard Haitink, conductor Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (With Orchestra): Schoenberg/Sibelius: Violin Concertos - Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor; Hilary Hahn

Instrumental Soloist Performance (Without Orchestra): Piano Music of Salonen, Stucky, and Lutoslawski - Gloria Cheng

Chamber Music Performance: Carter, Elliott: String Quartets Nos. 1 and 5 - Pacifica Quartet

Small Ensemble Performance: Spotless Rose: Hymns to the Virgin Mary - Charles Bruffy, conductor; Phoenix Chorale

Classical Vocal Performance: Corigliano: Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan - Hila Plitmann

Classical Contemporary Composition: Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan, - John Corigliano

Classical Crossover Album: Simple Gifts - The King's Singers

Short Form Music Video: Pork and Beans - Weezer, Mathew Cullen,

Long Form Music Video: Runnin' Down a Dream - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Recording Package: Death Magnetic - Bruce Duckworth, Sarah Moffat and David Turner

Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package: "In Rainbows - Stanley Donwood, Mel Maxwell and Christiaan Munro

Album Notes: Kind of Blue: 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition - Francis Davis

Historical Album: Art of Field Recording Volume I: Fifty Years of Traditional American Music Documented by Art Rosenbaum - Steven Lance Ledbetter and Art Rosenbaum, compilation producers




Sunday, February 8, 2009

Haunting Disappointment and Discouragement


Tsk...tks...tsk...
I know my pride won't allow me to share this but I think I have to, to lessen the burden. I've been feeling so down since the start of this year because I doubt my computing skills. I feel so dull and lame in my classes especially to my major subjects. I feel lots of negativity in our major IT subjects. I don't know if this would just pass by or if this burden would be forever.

I'm having second thoughts of my course, Information Technology, because I found out that I'm really in a competitive course where you must be very skillful to earn high grades and as a corporate, you must be very skilled. I don't know why but I feel so weak. I know that I can outstand in our minor courses but that's not enough for me to be contented because I'm aiming to be good in the majors. It's not like I want to be in the top. I just want to at least do our computer-related activities satisfactory for myself because most of the time, the activities that I pass and checked by our instructors are in reliance with my classmates.

Moreover, I think I don't have the skills, guts, and attitudes of an IT person. I'm bad at computer programming, I lack interest about computers, I'm lazy, I don't have any motivation to continue this course, and I always play on the safe side. I easily get discouraged everytime I feel screwed. This feeling always haunts me every morning when I wake up that provokes me not to go to school

When I was still in highschool, I thought that I'd be good in computers because I love them. But that love withered when I've become awared that lots of my colleagues have far greater skills and talents in IT. I'm feeling out of place right now but I think I must continue this study just for the sake of the tuiton fees wasted in my first year.

I know this sounds OA but it's really true. I hope that this realization will be uprighted by something or someone and this regrets will vanish soon. Right now, I don't have any plans for my future. I just want to just live domestically.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Here's the Official Music Video of Secondhand Serenade's Your Call

The new music video of Secondhand Serenade entitled Your Call...
Have fun and feel the message of the video...






Lyrics:
Waiting for your call, I'm sick, call I'm angry
call I'm desperate for your voice
Listening to the song we used to sing
In the car, do you remember
Butterfly, Early Summer
It's playing on repeat, Just like when we would meet
Like when we would meet

Cause I was born to tell you I love you
and I am torn to do what I have to, to make you mine
Stay with me tonight

Stripped and polished, I am new, I am fresh
I am feeling so ambitious, you and me, flesh to flesh
Cause every breath that you will take
when you are sitting next to me
will bring life into my deepest hopes, What's your fantasy?
(What's your, what's your, what's your...)

Cause I was born to tell you I love you
and I am torn to do what I have to, to make you mine
Stay with me tonight

And I'm tired of being all alone, and this solitary moment makes me want to come back home
x4
(I know everything you wanted isn't anything you have)

Cause I was born to tell you I love you
and I am torn to do what I have to, to make you mine
Stay with me tonight

Cause I was born to tell you I love you
and I am torn to do what I have to, to make you mine
Stay with me tonight
(I know everything you wanted isn't anything you have)

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Reign Over the Frozen Skies...

I've been watching the Bleach anime these past weeks via DVD and I'm currently on the 100th episode. I love the anime, the story line, the bouts, the setting, the concept, the opening and closing songs, and especially the characters but I hate most of the sound effects for they don't really fit the situation of a certain scene. It's a nice show to watch and spend free time with.

Among the characters, who I admire most is the Captain of the 12th Division of the Gotei 13, Toshiro Hitsugaya, who is also called the "child prodigy". I love to see the way he releases his Shikai where his Zanpakutou, Hyorinmaru, is summoned and freezes the battlefield with ice and also his Bankai where he acquires iced wings and iced tail.




Hyorinmaru is the most powerful ice and water element entity in the series. He appears like a snake-dragon covered with ice. His eyes are red and everything that is near him freezes. It bursts my excitement every time he is summoned because he, together with Hitsugaya, looks so cool and exciting.

"Sit Upon the Frozen Heavens, Hyorinmaru!"

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Amy Lynn Lee-Hartzler

Oh yeah! My most favorite female talented Baldwin- pianist and singer-songwriter, popularly known as Amy Lee. She is the front-woman of the multi-awarded and multi-platinum band, Evanescence.

I first loved her when her band released their debut single and music video, Bring me to Life, because the band rocks uniquely supreme. I like their gothic fashions, nu-metal sound, and the concept of their music videos like Everybody's Fool, Call me When you're Sober, Sweet Sacrifice, and more.

I also love her because of her originality. Her band is the only female-fronted man that is categorized in the Nu-metal genre together with Linkin Park, KoRn, Limp Bizkit, etc., although they are generally categorized in the Alternative Metal genre. I like the way she plays her Baldwin piano while singing with her rocking angelic voice. She also hates females who sell their body just to earn fame and money like Britney Spears. In fact, the song "Everybody's Fool" was for her sister because her sister liked Britney Spears and she scolded her for that. For her, being a sexual display tool in the public is not the answer to gain fame and money.

Her voice is in the range of a mezzo-soprano. She can sing very high notes that a typical female vocalist can't reach. Her voice also has its uniqueness that when she sings, you can easily identify that she's the one singing. It makes you relaxed and calm despite the trembling electric guitars and drums playing; that no matter how metallic the song is, with her voice, your soul still feel relaxed. Also, I really love their version of the KoRn's Thoughtless. They converted the song from Metal to symphonic rock

Moreover, during concerts, even though she's not feeling well, she still attends because she respects her fans very well. She is freaking cool while performing hardcore rocks live with her insane head-banging. When she sings mellow like Lithium and My Immortal, she's like a classic singer playing with her piano. She can hit the notes perfectly while playing piano unlike other artists that when they sing with their piano live, they fail to sing their songs perfectly.

Another thing is her clothing fashions. Every performance, the clothes she wears are designed by just all by herself. Her romantic gothic appearance seems to add a great appeal on her audience.