Tonight… My Boys are Back! “Beavis and Butt-Head” Return!!

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Beavis and Butt-Head, Beavis and Butthead, Jersey Shore, MTV

Back in the day, I was a socially awkward Junior High School student. And the best part of my day was getting home and watching a huge block of “Beavis and Butt-Head” on MTV. Who really knows what it was that drew me into the show, but just the sheer stupidity of the main characters mixed with the naivety of the secondary ones was just the humorous escape I needed at the time. And even with creator Mike Judge’s hilarious storylines, Beavis and Butt-Head simply sitting on the couch commenting on MTV Videos was good enough for it’s own 30 minute show.
Eventually the show got so big, it got it’s own movie which was not only good… but became a bit of a cult classic and still to this day stands up as one of the better comedy films of the 90’s. A film that completely deserved a bunch of sequels.

Now, almost 20 years later (wow!) “Beavis and Butt-Head” are coming back to MTV. It was rumored later last year that the duo would return to the big screen in live-action form, don’t know if that’s still being worked on but it sounds like an intriguing idea. In the mean time, the show is definitely back in it’s original form on it’s original home, with all the hype and promotion you could ask for.

This isn’t the first time an animated series has come back after a long hiatus. “Family Guy” (not a big fan) triumphantly returned and is EVERY frikkin place you look nowadays. And more recently “Futurama” came back after a slew of successful straight to DVD films. Just speaking on “Futurama”, it is nice to have it back but it’s clear that the show lost a lot of it’s luster. While the show originally was really clever and original, now it’s a bit lazy with recycled plot points (sometimes directly ripping stuff from Sci-Fi films). Even with the less than stellar writing, “Futurama” still manages to be fun just without the thoughtfulness that went into it originally.

“Beavis and Butt-Head” doesn’t really share the same problem. Simply because it was always just a simple stupid show about two stupid boys. There was no need to be clever, just them being complete morons was comedy enough. However the great thing about the series returning is that Mike Judge is coming off of a very long and successful run of “King of the Hill” (which… that still comes on with new episodes right!?). Having graduated to a broader storyline, coming back to “Beavis and Butt-Head” might allow for some better situations for our boys.

But again, it doesn’t have to be any better than it was before and it’ll still be hilarious. And the twist now is that they’ll be commenting on MTV series as well (which unfortunately means I’ll have to be subjected to “Jersey Shore” and “The Real World” which I try my hardest to avoid) as music videos.

So in closing, “Beavis and Butt-Head” make their return to MTV TONIGHT (10pm eastern) and I’m so excited!

Now that “Captain America” is out the way, Rating “The Avengers” : Movie Review

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Captain America, Captain America Review, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The First Avenger Review, Chris Evans, Hugo Weaver, Hulk, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Movie Review, The Avengers, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Tommy Lee Jones

This past Tuesday I happily bought “Captain America: The First Avenger” on BluRay. Not only excited to see the film due to the great reviews it’s gotten, but also because it’s the last film building up to next summer’s ultimate Marvel Hero Orgy “The Avengers“. I was excited to see how all of the films in the series stock up, and for the most part, they have all been great.  Managing to be great stand-alone films, with great storylines and character development, but also great in keeping things consistent and offering clues to what is yet to come with “The Avengers”.

First things first though, let’s dive into “Captain America: The First Avenger” which totally lived up to it’s hype and was also the perfect closer before next years extravaganza of a Comic Book film. Probably the most impressive thing about the film, which had a huge hurdle by being one of the most-loved Comic Book Heroes of all-time, was the ease with which they put everything together. There’s an awful lot of information this movie had to get through — from our hero being a wimp with a heart of gold — to his transformation into beefcake War hero — to his stint as a commercial celebrity (a great, cheesy scene that worked so well) — to his ultimate defeat of the bad guy and his assumed death. With all of that, you’d expect the film to be over-long and boring with too much exposition needed.

What you ended up getting was a really well-done, fast paced, action packed film with actors so good that the hokey and very implausible story felt almost real and genuine. A combination of things worked together on this film to make it as good as it really is. Mainly Chris Evans, who we are used to seeing as a cocky jock in other films, really went out of his comfort zone to play the lead character Steve Rogers a charming yet humbled man with a genuine passion for being a hero and defending his country. Evans plays the role to perfection, as does his two nemesis’ in the film Hugo Weaver and Tommy Lee Jones. Weaver plays Red Skull, the “badder than Hitler” villain whose performance was so sinister it almost felt like there wasn’t enough of him. And Tommy Lee Jones plays the army captain that continually doubts our hero Rogers, until he witnesses a display of his bravery. Jones and Evans’ love/hate relationship was a great component of the movie.

Aside from the acting, and the writing, the visual aspects were great as well. The techniques to shrink the hunk that is Chris Evans into a 100 pound weakling could have failed, but it worked so well. And just the attention to detail with the scenery gave a true 40’s feeling to the whole movie. Overall, this movie blew me away. I had high expectations and it still surpassed them.

Captain America: The First Avenger, 5 of 5

So how does it stack up with all the rest of “The Avengers” films thus far!?

Well easily the worst has been “The Incredible Hulk“, a re-boot from a far superior version starring Eric Bana. Being that the versions were just 4 years apart, the Edward Norton fronted re-boot felt like an after thought really. It sort of picked up where Bana’s “Hulk” left off, just with a brand new cast and a new look. The visual effects were slightly improved (mainly because this version chose mostly night shots which are probably easier to animate), but there was nothing interesting about this version at all. So much so that I remember watching it, but don’t really remember anything that happened other than the final fight scene and Tony Stark’s cameo. Funny enough, on “The Avengers”, we’ll be seeing athird actor portray Hulk in a span of just 7 years as Mark Ruffalo takes on the beast.

The Incredible Hulk, 2 of 5

If you read my recent review of “Thor“, you’ll know I think highly of it. Like “Captain America”, this movie has a lot of information that needed a clever way of getting it out there. And the writers managed to deliver, as well as the cast and the director who kept this movie both action packed and intense, but also really light and funny. And Chris Hemsworth made a fantastic leading man, it’ll be interesting to see how his character interacts with everybody else in this “Avenger” initiative.

Thor, 5 of 5

The series that began this “Avengers” initiative with a huge bang was the Robert Downey Jr. vehicle “Iron Man“. Both the original and the sequel have a great balance of living in somewhat of a real world, sci-fi tech goodness, great action scenes, and a real heart and humor. The success of the films can be placed almost squarely on Downey Jr., who does an amazing job of making a character whose obnoxious, arrogant and selfish into an actual likable guy. If he didn’t have such a great finesse with this character, the movie clearly would have fallen apart. Luckily he’s a master actor, and really because of him we’re getting “The Avengers”.

“Iron Man”, though it provided less action than it’s sequel, was a great film in that in tackled some current issues of war and weaponry intelligently and the overall feel of the film was way more mature than your standard Comic Book Flick. Still it provided the youthful fun that people expect when going to a movie like this. “Iron Man 2” may have been just a tad less mature, but provided some great fun that maybe the first one lacked.

Iron Man, 4.5 of 5
Iron Man 2, 4 of 5

The next big question will be, how will “The Avengers” film do. The first official trailer was released a few weeks ago and it does look pretty sick. I think the film has potential to be incredible, since it won’t get bogged down in having to introduce each member (except we’ll need to know who this Hawkeye guy is, he was only briefly shown in “Thor”) it should flow nicely. I’m really most intrigued to see the chemistry between everybody — who’ll get along with each other and who won’t. The only issue I foresee is maybe too much, which is often a problem in Comic Book movies where there’s maybe one too many villains. But just based on the films we’ve seen leading up to this flick, “The Avengers” should be fun, funny and relate able. We’ll see this coming May.

Stay Tuned for my ultimate Best and Worst Comic Book Movies of All Time

First Impressions of “Mylo Xyloto” Coldplay : Album Review

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Album Review, Coldplay, Coldplay Mylo Xyloto, Coldplay Mylo Xyloto Review, Coldplay Review, Mylo Xyloto, Mylo Xyloto Review

Coldplay is probably the best act to do a “First Impressions” review on. Seems like every album of theirs I’ve had lukewarm reactions to at first, than months later end up loving. Their most recently released 5th album “Mylo Xyloto” (released officially tomorrow October 25th, but I got my pre-order copy a little earlier), is both familiar territory for the Brit-Rockers but also offers something a little new. Exactly what is new is hard to put my finger on after just two listens, but I’ll try to figure it out somewhere before this review is over.

With each album Coldplay definitely gives a new sound, while “A Rush of Blood to the Head” was a lot more hard-edged than their debut “Parachutes”, “X&Y” was more electronic influenced and “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends” offered beautiful orchestration over their typical sound. The group has a clearly defined sound within all of those albums though, and they don’t lose that on “Mylo”. This current set feels reminiscent of their past efforts, but there’s something a little more contemporary here. Almost a little more Top 40 without going too far to try to fit in with the Pop Radio sound, but still enough for fans of that kind of music not to be totally turned off. There’s nothing on here that’s so over-the-top-Pop that they have to worry about the “sell-out” remarks, with the best example of “Princess of China”, featuring Top 40 Queen Rihanna, which manages to be more rocked out and in tune with their style as opposed to catering specifically to hers.

Overall, the album is a really pleasant and fun listen. They go from the peppy-ness of first single “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall” to heartfelt acoustic track “Us Against the World” to the more melancholy electro-rock of “Paradise”. The only problem, at this point, is I’m not clear what the message is with the album. I’m just assuming (from the lyrics I could clearly make out) it’s mainly about the real world breaking people’s spirits and deterring them from their dreams. Giving the impression that maybe the group had a hard time figuring out what to do next because real life fogged up their creative minds, “Hurts Like Heaven” “Paradise” and “U.F.O.” deal with these problems nicely. However I probably need to digest the lyrical content a bit more before I make these kinds of assumptions.

Honestly though, I like the album so far. It’s really well-rounded and it fits into Coldplay’s discography nicely, and because of that this will probably be another album I don’t really get into until months later once I appreciate the full beauty of it. “Viva La Vida” is legitimately one of the Top Albums of 2008, yet i didn’t fully realize it until almost a year later. “Mylo Xyloto” may have the same effect, but it also may be one of those albums that doesn’t have those different layers after repeated listens. We’ll have to just wait and fully absorb what we have and make my final assessment in the future.

4 of 5

Best: Up In Flames, U.F.O., Every Teardrop is a Waterfall

The Big Fake-Out and the Continuing Genius of “South Park” : TV Review

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South Park, South Park Review, South Park Season 16, South Park Season Premiere Review

“South Park” is, for so many reasons, my favorite television series of all-time.

Not only is it hilariously funny with a real sick sense of humor that’s right up my alley, but the show is so thoughtful and well-written. Their take on social injustices and mockery of mainstream pop culture is so cleverly done and way less contrived and transparent as other shows’ attempts to deliver a message. At times you don’t even realize the genius behind it until later.

The fact that recent Tony winners Trey Parker and Matt Stone have been going steadily for 13 years, and the show has rarely hit a rough patch proves their genius. Sure not every single episode is gold, but there’s not a season that has passed that didn’t deliver at least one genius episode. (way too many examples to list right now)

Last season, the show had one it’s best finale’s ever. A bit of a cliff-hanger, but one that flirted with the idea of “change”. Stan Marsh’s parents divorced, and he was quickly turning into a cynic who felt everything from music to film was “shit”, literally. For these reasons Stan slowly removed himself from his long time group of child hood buddies, and shockingly enough it looked like Cartman and Kyle were on the fast-track to becoming besty’s.

The season opener which aired last night continued right where the finale left off. Stan wakes up hearing “shit” on the radio and in everything he see’s and is later  diagnosed with Asperger’s due to his “depression” and “Debbie Downer-ism”. Stan becomes involved in a “Matrix”-like secret society of cynics who want to expose the world to it’s “shitty-ness” (with the use of Jameson Whiskey). Meanwhile, Cartman is trying to get diagnosed with what he terms “Ass-Burgers” and ends up starting a Burger business with his new friend Kyle.

Without getting into too many details, it ended up that Stan was looking to make things go back the way they were, while Kyle embraces the change. When Stan finally accepts the change in a long “South Park” standard monologue, he’s obviously the voice of Matt and Trey. Talking about “being really excited” about trying “new things”. Giving the impression that maybe the creators were getting bored with the show, or just didn’t know exactly what to do to make it fresh again (even though it never lost any of it’s appeal). Or maybe it was a response to critics who have griped that show is getting old (those critics are worthless if they said that).

The ending was not only really smart and surprising, but personally I totally identified with it (I plan on writing another blog post on my other page about how it really spoke to me). After Stan’s big speech about taking the “left turn” and being open to new things, his parents announce they are back together. Cartman’s “secret ingredient” for his burgers (his farts!) is exposed and him and Kyle are no longer friends. Everything went back to normal, and Stan was more or less forced to just go with the flow even though he really hadn’t changed all that much.

So, it’s still unclear where Matt and Trey plan to take this season. Did they fake the viewers out into thinking this season would be totally different, only to stay with the same format? Or will things gradually change on the show? Who really knows and who really cares. This season opener left the viewers open to drastic change, but even if it’s the same old “South Park” it will still be more well-written and clever than most shows on the tube.

The idea of a big change on the show was intriguing, but even if we didn’t get that we still got a great episode that actually managed to be really thought provoking while still being drop-dead funny.

(Also: there was a commercial for some “behind the scenes” special on Matt and Trey and their staff and how they put together full episodes in one week. I wasn’t clear if this was a one time special or a new weekly series. I’m sure I’ll watch, but I’ll definitely have to “check my local listings” because I’ve already forgotten when it’s supposed to air)

Indie R&B!? How To Dress Well and Star Slinger : Album Review

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How To Dress Well, How To Dress Well Love Remains, How To Dress Well Love Remains Review, How To Dress Well Review, Love Remains Review, Star Slinger, Teams vs. Star Slinger, Teams vs. Star Slinger Review

For the past two years, I’ve been flirting with the Indie scene. Just very underwhelmed and bored of the mainstream sounds of Pop, Electronica and Rock, the acts I’ve discovered have really excited me and re-invigorated my love for music. With all of the different sub-genres within the Indie scene, (which are generally just dumb titles that have no real merit) I started to wonder if there was such a thing as Indie R&B.

And without even actively searching, I heard a song on lastfm that totally caught my attention. The artist was How To Dress Well, and the song “Ready for the World” captivated me so much that I instantly had to get his full album “Love Remains“. Tom Krell of Brooklyn uses a very very lo-fi sound with highly distorted vocals to deliver one of the most fresh-sounding and unique albums I’ve heard in a while, and (to me) it totally fits into the idea of Indie R&B.

Songs like “My Body”, “Suicide Dream 2” and the aforementioned “Ready for the World” are really dreamy and ethereal, the vocals are so low and distorted it’s hard to make out what he’s singing about… but surprisingly the vibe is really clear. The melodies and multi-track harmonies are clearly inspired by some of the 90’s R&B I grew up with, calling to mind acts like R. Kelly, Boyz II Men, TLC even Sade and Maxwell. And the sequencing of the album works because you can listen from front to back and never be bored or feel like you’ve heard the same thing twice.

It’s a knock-out debut album, but not necessarily everyone’s cup of tea because of the sound quality, but it really works for me. It’s just different from anything you’ve heard before, but also sounds familiar based on the R&B influence. Definitely can’t wait to hear what he cooks up next. (while I was researching, I saw that he actually has a follow-up EP available now that I will most definitely be checking out)

3.5 of 5
Best: Ready for the World,  My Body, Can’t See My Own Face

Another EP that I’ve fallen completely in love with the past few months is by UK Producer Star Slinger, I’m at a slight disadvantage in this review because the album is credited to Teams vs. Star Slinger, but I can’t seem to find any info on Teams. I may be giving Star Slinger too much credit (and I haven’t heard any of his other material as of yet), but I love this EP.

Star Slinger seems to be heavily influenced by Kanye West and his genius of sampling. Every song on the “Teams vs. Star Slinger” EP contains a sample of a old soul song, some sped up, some highly edited, some samples played for extended periods. Star Slinger uses his samples so effectively and uniquely though that it’s clearl he’s inspired by Kanye but wants to make his own style (or maybe not!? lol!). At times the use of samples reminded me of the late 90’s French club acts like Stardust and Modjo, who also utilized samples of soul acts like Chaka Kahn.

Back to Star Slinger though, this album is perfect lounge-y music with enough beat and catchiness to dance to and remember for a while. I also found out about this outing via lastfm with the song “Say Please” which is clearly the best song on the EP. However, all 6 songs are ace and provide something refreshing and classic-sounding to the industry. The songs are all in the same vein, but each offers something a little different than the other and shows the producers skill at taking something and making it new and his own. Another act I’ll have to look out for.

4 of 5
Best: Say Please, Punch Drunk Love, The Yes Strut

I’m really curious after listening to these albums if there is more to explore in Indie R&B, and where I’m gonna start to look for it?

The Weeknd vs. The-Dream : Mixtape Review

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1977 Review, House of Balloons Review, Mixtape Review, The Weeknd, The Weeknd House of Balloons, The Weeknd House of Ballooons Review, The Weeknd Thursday, The Weeknd Thursday Review, The-Dream, The-Dream 1977, The-Dream 1977 Review, Thursday Review

(I Apologize. I’ve been a little busy with this new semester at school and you don’t know how many times I’ve opened up WordPress and just didn’t have the energy or the right brain capacity to write anything. So I’m gonna post two things that have been in my “draft” box for more than a few weeks now, they are old but what else is new.)

Pretty much all year, I’ve had The Weeknd‘s much buzzed about Mixtape “House of Balloons”. While I was on a major Frank Ocean kick, I had only listened to a few songs from Weeknd. Than just a few weeks ago, Weeknd released yet another Mixtape “Thursday”. Naturally, I had to take a listen to both and see how they stacked up.

Both “House of Balloons” and “Thursday” offer something slightly different than the norm, but the first and lasting impression I got was simply… The-Dream. His voice sounds so similar to Dream’s high pitched wailing it was hard to shake the “copycat” thing out of my head, especially when Weeknd doesn’t do anything unique or creative with his voice to stand apart.

The production value on “Balloons” barely saves the album, it’s a little more alternative sounding with light guitar licks and ambient vibes. The production sets the mixtape apart from your typical R&B album, but his lyrics are basic 90’s R&B re-treads (I mean, he even says “knock boots” on one song). And a lot of the songs aren’t even memorable enough to want to listen again.

Follow up mix-tape “Thursday” is slightly better, there is a lot more work put into the production. Most of the songs feel a lot bigger and “epic”, there’s a lot of switching up with sounds within each track. However the lyricism and concepts are still really basic and uninspired.

Weeknd shows a little potential in the end, but he has to find some kind of stamp or unique thing he can offer if he wants to last in the industry.

House of Balloons 2.5 of 5

Thursdays 3 of 5

And when you listen to The-Dream‘s recent mixtape “1977”, you can pinpoint why Weeknd is a little underwhelming in comparison. Dream (who is using his birth name here Terius Nash) is really clever and funny with his wordplay, even if he doesn’t have the strongest voice or his songs are really all that deep. He still manages to be very entertaining with his music choices. It should be no secret that a bulk of this mixtape is an ode to ex-wife Christina Milian — with him talking about love lost, lies and mistakes — but even with the minimal production and lack of big hooks, this might be Dream’s best since 2009’s “Love vs. Money”.

Dream just has something, he’s not the best singer and not even the best writer, but there’s something about his confidence and his humor and his relate-ability that makes him the star he is. Simple tracks like “Wedding Crasher”, “Ghetto” and “Wake Me When It’s Over” are very simple in most all aspects, but while listening you get the sense that it’s more of a friend laying down a story than a singer making a hit for profit.

This is probably why he chose the mixtape format this time, it’s really personal and really speaks to his core fan base. The mixtape is a precursor to what will be his 4th studio album “The Love IV” (expected to be released this year), and it makes since that it’s so minimal, but hopefully he doesn’t go too big on the 4th studio release because this sort of stark production fits him well.

3.5 of 5