Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Christmastime for the Jews

Swiped this from a friend's facebook page. Just too funny, had to share, even though it's past xmas (what they hey, if Disneyland can have Christmastime until January 4th, so can we). By the way, happy new year to all. All I want for this new year is health and happiness for my family, and a 6 picture deal with renewable options for myself. Is that asking so much?

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Hallelujah for the Holidays

This performance by Alexandra Burke performing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" on England's "Xfactor" talent contest/tv show was "through the moon can't believe how good this is good." We've never had an American Idol performance that was this amazing (okay, Jennifer Hudson doing "I'm Telling You I'm Not Goin'" was pretty darn close, but after all, Jennifer went on to do the role in the movie and win an Oscar, so she got her props). I'm not at all surprised that her released version of this song (you can get the actual video online, but I prefer this live one) was on the top of the British charts, according to today's "Hollywood Reporter." What was surprising was that the awesome Jeff Buckley version from years past was number two right behind it... but I honestly can see having both versions in my iTunes collection (as soon as iTunes offers the Alexandra Burke version... what is WITH itunes not offering the British iTunes songs at the same time here, eh?) Anyway, play this and enjoy. It's the perfect song to listen to during your Chanukah and Christmas celebrations (one of the true non denominational, spiritually uplifting songs for the holiday season). Happy Holidays -- Bluesy







And as long as we're in the bluesy mood, I thought that this was a terrific performance on Xfactor by Alexandra Burke and Beyonce performing "Listen." Alexandra's genuine emotion had me in tears and her voice has enough blues and soul to make her stand out.

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Thursday, December 04, 2008

Okay, is it me or is this Twilight trailer spoof too funny?



Of course, I did see the movie, first week it was out. In a theatre full of giddy teenage girls and a few 40something moms and I must say -- it was a whole lotta fun. Sure, it might be a bit corny and not everyone's cup of tea, but if you read the book it's just a whole lotta fun to see this interpretation of it on the big screen. The casting was perfect, if you ask me. And I was very impressed with the screenplay, which managed to be faithful to the book while condensing a very BIG book. The direction was just stylish enough to be cool to look at and moody (she must've shot on Agfa was my first thought... ever the film major, what can I say). But it wasn't so overwhelmingly "auteur" to detract from what we're all really there for... to see Edward and Bella.

I confess, I did sneak into the film to see it a second time (at least the second half of it) after I'd just seen Australia (a great film by the way, Hugh Jackman reminded me of Bogie in "The African Queen" in it... who knew he could be so good at playing hard to get? It's a keen actor who can get down the macho, snarky, sexy, wounded tough guy routine down... peachy keen to you Hugh. There's more to you than a pocketfull of Freddy Krueger blades a la Wolverine. And Nichole Kidman did conjure up images of a young Katherine Hepburn, come to think of it. But the real discovery in that film was the young boy, who really should be up for an Oscar (and win. Where did this kid COME from. He's a natural).

Anyway, back to Twilight and sneaking in to see it again... this time, the movie theatre was completely empty (after all, it was like 10pm on a weeknight in the suburbs). And I admit, it did seem a bit Kitschy and yeah, a bit hokey. But hey, I'm still a fan.

Kudos to the music soundtrack too... I especially like a couple of the tunes... the Muse tune inspired me to download the whole Muse album
Muse - Black Holes and Revelations

I also liked that song they played over the party scene "Go all the way (into the Twilight)", however I'm kinda miffed that Itunes won't let me just buy the song instead of the whole album (but not miffed enough to shamelessly plug the soundtrack for you to buy here, Perry Farrell - Twilight (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)


While you're at it, in the downloading mood. Itunes has been having some pretty good free downloads in their music of the week section Apple iTunes


Ciao for now,

Bluesy in Hollywoodland