Movie Review: Twilight New Moon

Twilight New MoonI am not the audience for this movie.

I did not see the original Twilight. I read the novel and was horrified; how many teenage girls truly believe that men like Edward Cullen exist? (Fewer, probably, than the number of boys men who expect to meet a gorgeous independent woman who caters to their every whim and is miraculously attracted to slovenly underachievers, but that’s a rant for another film.) In real life a man who stalks protects a woman the way Edward does will continue to do so whether her life’s in danger or not. Perhaps the majority of Twilight fans recognize this, and treat the stories as wish fulfillment, much as this reviewer does with good romantic comedies (though not, it must be said, The Ugly Truth, which peddled a similar adolescent fantasy).

On that level, New Moon delivers. It reproduces the central appeal of the books: a man who’s faster, stronger, more romantic, better at playing baseball and musical instruments alike and more beautiful than anyone you could possibly imagine falls for Bella Swan, an ordinary, unremarkable-looking girl, and continually professes not only that he loves her, but that he cannot live without her. So protective is he that when his otherworldly urges place her in danger he actually abandons her to protect her.

This is the basest sort of adolescent fantasy, the kind any writer who’s attended university could dream up, and yet it would be undone by a sense of manufactured cynicism if author Stephenie Meyer didn’t wholeheartedly believe in it. She does, and it would appear a wide cross-section of the western world does too.

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andPOP Speaks With Twilight New Moon Actor Bronson Pelletier

Bronson PelletierOK everybody, the Twilight saga continues with New Moon (ladies please control your crying). We were lucky to sit down with Canadian heartthrob Bronson Pelletier for an interview during the recent press stop in Toronto. Bronson plays Jared in the movie and apparently had to get jacked up to play his werewolf character. He also spoke with us about his relationships with his fellow Twilight actors.


Movie Review: Bad Lieutenant

Bad-LieutenantIt’s every citizen’s worst fear: a cop who willingly and continuously breaks the law; and even worse, a cop who gets away with it. Yet somehow, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is still an enjoyable watch.

Directed by Werner Herzog, Bad Lieutenant tells the story of Terence (Nicholas Cage), a rogue detective who is equally as devoted to his job as he is to scoring illegal drugs. Taking place in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the film follows Terence as he tries to find the drug dealing killer of a low-income family, all the while smoking and howling like a mad man.

Appearing high and/or delusional in every scene, Terence wields his gun, flashes his badge, and threatens everyone around him to get what he wants. And most of the time what he wants is drugs. He steals drugs from young couples at nightclubs, makes drug deals with the criminals he is supposed to be arresting, smokes drugs in front of just about anyone, and even carries around a lucky crack pipe.

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Dave Grohl Admires His Led Zeppelin Band Member

Them Crooked VulturesDave Grohl is admired by many. The Nirvana drummer, turned Foo Fighters lead singer, and most recently, Them Crooked Vultures drummer, has had quite the music career. Still, he has his idols too. And one of them is in his new band.

Playing with Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones in his new super-group Them Crooked Vultures is a dream come true for Grohl, reports rollingstone.com.

Grohl’s Led Zeppelin love goes all the way back to when he was just a teenager. He’s got three Led Zeppelin-inspired tattoos – the John Bonham three-circle Led Zeppelin IV logo in three places – the first of which he did himself when he was just a teen.

“I did the first one myself when I was 16,” said Grohl. “I tried to get different coloured ink to make it seem pro, but now it looks like someone put a cigarette out on my fucking arm.”

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Perez Drops Assault Charge Against Peas’ Manager

Perez Hilton at the 2009 MuchMusic Video Awards

Perez Hilton at the 2009 MuchMusic Video Awards

Perez Hilton has dropped the assault charge that he filed against Black Eyed Peas’ manager Polo Molina, according to NME.com.

Molina was accused of punching Hilton, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, outside a Toronto nightclub at a MuchMusic Video Awards after party in June, after the celebrity blogger allegedly made a homophobic comment about Black Eyed Peas member Will.I.Am.

But the assault charge against Molina was dropped after he issued a written apology to Hilton.

Molina has also agreed not to contact Hilton except through his lawyer, not to carry a weapon for 12 months, not to come within 100 metres of the nightclub where the incident allegedly took place, and to donate $500 to Toronto’s Red Door Family Shelter.

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And the Perezzie Goes to…

Perez Hilton at the 2009 MuchMusic Video Awards

Perez Hilton at the 2009 MuchMusic Video Awards

What’s a Perezzie, you ask?

Let’s get to the root of the word: Perez. Eureka! Perez Hilton.

Yes folks, that’s right, the year-end Perezzies awards are back and now your participation is encouraged more than ever.

As it says on his blog, Perez Hilton has announced that the awards are “back, and they’re better than ever – with new categories, including one nominated by U.”

The awards, just like Perez himself, are a fun way to take jabs at and gossip about the hottest celebrities in the biz.

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Beck Responds to Fiery Furnaces Jab With New Song

BeckBeck has responded to the comments made by The Fiery Furnaces’ Matt Friedberger by writing a song, according to nme.com.

In the original attack, Friedberger jabbed at alternative band Radiohead, calling them “bogus” for releasing a song about the last surviving British World War I veteran, Harry Patch.

It later became clear that Friedberger could have misinterpreted the song, confusing the war hero Harry Patch with the experimental music composer Harry Partch. But instead of letting the whole charade just blow over, Friedberger chose to continue the feud by then taking a stab at alternative singer Beck.

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Oasis is Back… Sort Of

OasisNow that the long-time popular band Oasis are officially finished, lead singer Liam Gallagher is finally free to start a new band. And he’s doing so… with the members of Oasis who aren’t his brother Noel, reports rollingstone.com.

Bassist Andy Bell, drummer Chris Sharrock, and guitarist Gem Archer are currently working with Liam on new songs. In an interview with an Italian radio station, Liam promised fans that this new revamp of “Oasis,” which will perform under a different name, will return with music and performances soon.

“I’ll be back doing that, playing live, within a couple of months,” Liam said. “I’ve just done a tour, I always miss singing songs. I miss the people.”

Noel Gallagher left Oasis in late August, following a backstage fight with his brother before a performance at a French music festival. In the Italian interview, Liam revealed that the argument started when Noel poorly treated a guitar that was given to Liam as a present from his wife. In angry response, Liam took one of Noel’s guitars and smashed it.

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How Oprah is Helping the Music Biz

OprahThanks to illegal digital downloading, album sales are on a continuous decline. And as sales keep sliding, the music industry keeps looking for ways to make big events out of record releases. There have been partnerships with big retail companies (such as Walmart’s exclusive with AC/DC’s Black Ice), large-scale live shows (such as Jay-Z’s event before the release of The Blueprint III), and exciting fan contests (such as Pearl Jam’s artwork scavenger hunt for Backspacer). But as rollingstone.com reports, one sure way to guarantee an album’s success is Oprah Winfrey.

For example, Canadian singer Michael Buble’s new album Crazy Love went to the top of the charts after he appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, which led Variety magazine to examine what they are calling the “Oprah Effect.”

“Oprah is the one thing everyone wants,” Diarmuid Quinn, president of Reprise Records, told Variety. “If you get that call back from her production people, my god, it’s the Holy Grail.”

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Game Review: Deca Sports 2

Wii got another sports game
1
There are enough sports compilation games out there for the Wii, in fact one could say the sheer numbers of them rival  the GameCubes lifetime library. Tons of games that deliver a sub par experience and are hampered with control issues- a shame really considering the Wii is built on hassle free controls. Today I’m going to take a closer look at a title that at may be a departure from your average third party offering- Decca sports 2. READ MORE »


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