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The event was packed with tons of PS3 games

SONY HOLIDAY PRESS EVENT 09: A casual analysis.

Ahsan  says:
So then,  let’s talk about the Sony holiday press event

April  says:
You really don’t care about my well being do you? >. < anyways, What did you think?

Ahsan says:
Where do I begin,  I loved the fact that the entire event was held in such an inconspicuous place and just felt like a modern art gallery.

April  says:
I know! It looked like an empty building and right on the upper floor was the event. Like some secret organization having a meeting or something!!! READ MORE »

Many people (and by this I mean many single women) have a love-hate thing with romantic comedies; myself included.

We love the dream of a handsome man riding up in his white Mustang and fighting until the credits roll to win our hand. Going home after this blissful fantasy to hug nothing but the extra pillow in your bed usually kills the warm fuzzies pretty quickly though.

Now add to this the backdrop of the Christmas season, and you’d think The Holiday would take home the most depressing rom com ever title. Be prepared to be pleasantly surprised.

In The Holiday, Cameron Diaz and the amazing Kate Winslet star as successful women who have issues with the men in their lives on either side of the pond. In England, Winslet’s Iris finds out the object of her unrequited love has gotten engaged, while in Los Angeles, Diaz’s Amanda discovers her boyfriend has cheated on her and kicks him out of the house.

On a whim, the two connect over a house-trading Internet site and soon are escaping their plights and jetting across the Atlantic to swap homes for two weeks.

Where I usually find Diaz to be an annoying actress who lacks believability, she harnesses her ditzy persona and uses it for the benefit of Amanda’s character. The couture chick who we see struggling through the snow in heels at the beginning of the movie slowly loses her emotional walls when she meets Iris’ brother Graham (Jude Law) and opens up on her own terms, in her own way.

Meanwhile, Iris strikes up a friendship of her own in L.A. with elderly film writer Arthur (Eli Wallach). She also finds romance with film composer Miles (Jack Black), but this story line is delightfully subtle and doesn’t overshadow her endearing and unlikely friendship with Arthur.

Black may seem like an odd choice for a leading male in a romantic movie. Where you wouldn’t think he could take on any role that didn’t play up his Tenacious D character (think his ho-hum “serious” turn in King Kong), he is given the chance to both act and be goofy in The Holiday. Black’s lines are charming and also delivered with fantastic comedic timing.

The Holiday is perhaps so pleasant because the dialogue is fresh and modern, lacking any clichés typical of the romantic genre. But it’s not the only thing that’s fresh. The plot is clever and quirky, weaving two very different stories together seamlessly with humour and understated charm. A couple surprise celeb cameos and unforgettable one-liners keep any scene from getting stale.

It’s the girl power that radiates from Iris and Amanda, though, as they toss out the crappy men in the lives and realize who they are and how to get what they want, that really makes The Holiday different from other movies in the genre.

The Holiday is the best and freshest romantic comedy I’ve seen since Love Actually. Grab a couple of your single friends and make sure you can cross seeing The Holiday off your wish list this season.

Rating: 4.5*/5*

In our multi-cultural societies today the run up to Christmas is experienced in many different ways. The commercial version pioneered by Coca Cola’s magazine advertisements which established the red suited Santa Claus image, washes over us all through the TV advertisements and the decorations in the High Streets and shopping Malls. They built on and reinforced the Victorian version of Christmas celebrations which was dramatised by Charles Dickens in ‘A Christmas Carol’ which established many of the associated food and garland rituals in the public imagination – and helped Coca Cola promote their winter beverage sales. Much of this is accompanied by ’seasonal’ music in the form of carols and hymns – often coral arrangements but sometimes instrumental – especially brass bands and the dreaded sentimental Christmas pop songs.

Music is often a subtle way of getting under the radar and evoking emotional responses from our subconscious. The commercial focus on Christmas seeks to convert these feelings into purchases – sometimes in crude direct appeals to consume but often in a more indirect atmospheric ways. While the committed Christians concentrate on re-telling the Christmas story through as many media as possible, including music – using the Advent season to recharge their spiritual batteries and encourage others to join them. Their tunes and some times even the words are often hijacked by those who wish to evoke a warm hearted relaxed atmosphere for the sale of their particular goods.

Much of this activity assumes a common Christian heritage and must strike those who do not share that background very oddly, not to mention the truly seasonal issues for those in the Southern Hemisphere who celebrate Christmas in mid summer rather than the deep mid winter. There is also the rival celebration of New Year which is a predominantly secular affair with a very limited musical repertoire – mostly of Scottish origin for some reason and this eclipses Christmas in many countries. Christians adopted the pagan Winter Solstice celebrations as part of their missionary progress but those ties were loosened by the reformation and the French, American and Russian Revolutions amongst others.

The seasonal hit at Download2MP3.com is Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite with its Sugar Plum Fairy which fits neatly into the Victorian Christmas story telling context. While Debussy’s Children’s Corner with it’s ‘The Snow is Dancing’ (Northern Hemisphere Christmas/Mid Winter associations) is another favourite and forms the backbone of our Children’s Classics Collection which includes several of our shorter and lower priced recordings. Other beneficaiaries include our instrumental versions of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah and Gounod’s Ave Maria

Recordings like these are an ideal way to personalize those iPod or MP3 player gifts for a few dollars more – perhaps introducing children to the classics in an accessible, amusing and memorable way.

About The Author

Tony Wiseman has been involved in music production using computers for more than 20 years and now publishes MP3 recordings of his original percussion arrangements of selected Classical and Ragtime pieces at Download2MP3.com.