It’s the end of the month. You know what that means! It’s time for your monthly fail compilation. And this month there are two!

August does not disappoint on the fail spectrum, unless you’re really squeamish around violence/injuries/blood/possible death because both of these videos are full of all that. Consider this a disclaimer.

Watch them here: 

And another: Read more…

Greyson Chance, the teen singer/songwriter who became a YouTube sensation with a cover of Lady Gaga’s ‘Paparazzi,’ has announced that his debut album will be released in August.

The album, titled ‘Hold On ‘Til the Night,’ will be released on Aug. 2 through Ellen DeGeneres’ eleveneleven record label, in tandem with Maverick/Geffen.

Chance stopped by ‘Ellen’ today to announce the release date and perform his new single, ‘Unfriend You.’

“When all this first started… they started putting me in the studio and I was cutting records, and it was a mixture of being excited and being very nervous,” says Chance. “I didn’t really know who I was at this moment, so I took this record to evolve into myself and put myself in my music. And also, I was going through a heartbreak at the time, and that’s where most of the lyrics come from. This record really helped me gain courage and strength, and for the fans, I hope they gain courage and strength from it as well.”

Chance recently wrapped a co-headlining tour with fellow teen star Cody Simpson, and recently shot a music video for ‘Unfriend You’ that he says will include “an artistic piano scene” as well as a lot of silly string. Chance says that he has a few things left to tweak on the full-length, and will return to Los Angeles next month to finish it up with producers The Matrix and Ron Fair.

“I’m gonna be yelling at the producers going, ‘Noo, turn that drum up, turn that drum down!’ and they’re gonna be going, ‘No, you’re 13, shut up!’” he says with a laugh. “It’s all in good fun… we have so much fun in the studio and they really respect what I’m trying to do with my music, and I respect them as well.”

Am I the only one who finds it ridiculously funny that he’s writing about “heartbreak” at the age of 13? It seems like we have another Justin Bieber on our hands – prepare yourself, world.

I don’t like horror movies. I don’t mind violence, but only as a means to an end, and in horror movies violence is the end. I don’t see the entertainment value in watching people getting shot, cut, stabbed and chopped for no apparent reason. Taking the Mars Attacks route – making the characters jerks – just leaves me with the same feeling as going to a bar and spending two hours with real jerks – I have better things to do, why am I wasting my time here?

That said, I realize many people don’t like animation. They aren’t engaged by computer-generated images or moving drawings, and have a hard time identifying with anthropomorphic animals or inanimate objects. They associate the medium either with mediocre family entertainment or a base level of humour – which, unfortunately, much if it is – and dismiss it outright. And for all that it remains one of my favourite genres.

Many people – and almost all critics – similarly loathe a certain type of mass-market, broadly comic, dramatic, or romantic confection, the kind whose screenplay is “written” when the screenwriter fills in certain blanks, the director hires certain stars, the producers put together a prepackaged campaign, and everyone at the studio watches the money roll in.

August Rush is one such confection. Whether I like it or not is irrelevant – the IMDB calls it “a drama with fairy tale elements,” and you’ve probably seen the trailer (if you haven’t, click
here). Both sell the movie perfectly. Either you’ll think it’s a heartwarming story of a kid reuniting with his long-lost parents and a testament to the power of music, or you’ll think it’s another pile of sentimental claptrap starring Robin Williams. Both judgments are equally correct.

To those who believe they will like it, I offer my humble critic’s opinion: while the music (by Mark Mancina) is excellent, it is only August (Freddie Highmore) and the Wizard (Williams) who seem truly moved by the power of music – except for one scene, I did not glean a similar sense of enjoyment from the parents (Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers). Also, the movie either overdoes its real-life elements or underplays its fairy tale elements – there are far too many
coincidences for the former and not enough magic for the latter. Perhaps if young August had been interested in fairy tales in the first place the unrealistic elements would have seemed less out of place, but there’s no point in crying over spilt milk, is there?

To those who would rather have their eyes gouged out it is indeed everything you feared it would be, with a typical borderline lunatic performance by Williams; further proof he should stick to material where you’re meant to hate him.

While I’m not typically a fan of dramatic confectionery, August Rush is built around three of my favourite themes – music, fairy tales and the relationship between kids and their parents – and I’ll see anything except R.V. with Robin Williams. It’ll probably end up on my shelf next to Music of the Heart and The Mighty, two other personal favourites which could be seen as sentimental claptrap, and which happen to incorporate music and are suitable family films.