Jan 31, 2011

Rihanna makes me want to punch her in the face

So I very rarely critique music, usually because very few artists are worthy of critiquing, however I'll make an exception for Rhianna.
When Rihanna first came out I genually liked her, she was catchy and cute with an ok voice. Since then my opinion has changed. While driving home from school today, I was unfortunate enough to listen to Rihanna's newest crowd pleaser "S&M."
Where to begin? First of all, I don't think there was a single real instrument in the ENTIRE song. Everything was synthesized and computer created, including her voice.
Second, for a woman that doesn't like getting punched in the face, you sure sing a lot about wanting to get punched in the face! Honestly, every song she has released in the past year has included some form of wanting to get beat up. This song includes the stunning lyrics
Cause I may be bad, but I'm perfectly good at it
Sex in the air, I don't care, I love the smell of it
Sticks and stones may break my bones
But chains and whips excite me

Really Rihanna? Really? Why'd you break up with Chris Brown? Eh???
Not to mention its just one more awful song that pollutes the minds of anyone listening to it. It's not bad enough that every rapper sings about how women are bitches and hos but now you have to sing about how girls should let their men beat them up.
Fail, Rihanna, fail. Go back to Barbados and stop polluting my radio.

Jan 25, 2011

Read the Hunger Games, seriously

Few books in the past century have drawn me in so fully as The Hunger Games.
I didn't find out about these books until I read about them in a magazine. The brief synopsis was enough to get me reading.
The first in the three part series centers around Katniss, a teenager in a district centered around the Capitol. The Capitol controls everything about her district as well as the other 11 districts after an uprising 75 years previously. The Capitol squashed the uprising by nuking the now nonexistent District 13. Ever since, each district is forced to sacrifice one boy and one girl from every district to fight to the death on a reality television show.
When Katniss takes her sister's place in the games she must deal with conflicting emotions for her partner and her best friend, the majority of the players gunning for her death, and issues with the Capitol that go far deeper than anyone ever dreamed.
This book is riviting and at the same time incredibly easy to read. It's appropriate for almost all ages as Colins does a great job of keeping the graphic imagery to a minimum. Read this book, seriously. Not only does it keep you guessing and intrigued but it's a pretty decent representation of what's going to happen to this country if things don't chage. But that's just me.

Jan 19, 2011

Black Swan kind of a let down

Black Swan has got to be one of the most hyped films of the past six months. Every person I know has either seen it and raves or has heard the hype and wants to see it. I was one of the latter. So I decided to see it.
The film while enjoyable, was a huge let down. It was promoted as a thriller but only contains about fifteen minutes of really thrilling material. It was promoted as a mind bender but the content was predictable at best. If anything it was a good ballet movie.
Natalie Portman made a very convincing ballerina and an even more convincing crazy. Unfortunately the films plot and content was not strong enough to keep the movie afloat. Top it off with an extremely unnecessary lesbian drug induced sex scene and you have a film that is positively unpleasant.
This film leaves far too much unexplained and even more under developed. Rent this at your own risk.