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Dancing With the Stars

This season marks the 14th gathering of some of Hollywood beloved classic stars in a winner takes all 12 week dance competition. At first, I was skeptical that this season would lose its zing for me, but I found a few things that will entice new audiences and keep loyal fans.

Highlights: Best season premier to date. Two dancers received nines in their scores (never before done on the first night) and all others received positive praise for musicality and performance value.

People to watch: Don’t count Gladys Knight out! While she is the oldest star on the show, the lady can move. Classical singer    and sitcom personality  Jaleel White scored two nines and were surprisingly wonderful to watch.

Concerns: There is a lot of good talent in this season, but I’m nervous that some of the better dancers won’t make it because they aren’t as well-known. Every season, a Disney star does REALLY well, but doesn’t seem to have the fan base to grab the mirror ball trophy.

Preview

The Hunger Games

contains spoilers

Highlights: New trilogy for literary nerds to salivate over after the end of Harry Potter.

Plot: Girl is picked to fight to the death in a yearly gladiator style reality show.

What to watch for:  Jennifer Lawrence is an Oscar nominated actress turned badass and is fast tracking to be the next big movie series star. The remaining cast is solid and is filled with some of my favorite actors. (Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, and Lenny Kravits just to name a few.)

Concerns: In reading up on The Hunger Games news, Elizabeth Banks commented that she will play her character, Effie, as a villain. Effie is, in my opinion, NOT a villain. She’s too dumb and wrapped up in the Capitol frivolities to be villainous. She’s a product of a messed up society. So, I’m worried that the film will ruin one of my favorite characters.

It has been three months since we first met at Best Buy. When I first held your demo model in my hands, I have to admit I was skeptical. The demo, Dearest, is not a good example of who you are. I almost walked away. I was sure you were just another trumped up, over priced gadget. But, I am so glad I took heed to the sales clerk and gave you a shot.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

1) You’re not high maintenance.
From the first day we met, you have been ready to go. All I had to do was log in with my Amazon account and you did the rest. You came with no mess or extra baggage. Just concise instructions to power on and a help manual pre-installed.

2) You’re accessible.
I always wanted a tablet device, but I could not justify the high cost associated with portability. An iPad was starting at $499; a Samsung Galaxy Tab was $199 with an additional contract. I was lost in technological despair. Then you came. You understood that money does not equal love and commitment. Your $199 price was irresistible. Others may wait for you to lower your price even more, but I know a wonderful opportunity when I see one. So, I made you mine.

3) You travel well.
     To the point, you’re small, lightweight and fast. You’re about the size of a novella, but you carry so much more information. You can last through eight hours of constant activity. When I don’t need you, though, you can usually be available for a day without needing charging.

4) You’re flexible.
Any apps, books or songs I purchase are available on any other Aneroid device linked to Amazon through the cloud. I finish a book or magazine and you file it away, safe and sound for later. I’m not sure if competing devices, like the Nook Color, can do this. Frankly, Dearest, I don’t care.

5) You’re easy to understand.
There is no second guessing your methods. The last thing I used is the first thing available. You keep all my favorite content up front and waiting for me. My other content is diligently stored away by category. If I ever want to know where we stand throughout the day, I merely touch the foolhardy to learn your status. Battery life, volume and brightness is all sitting in the palm of my hand.

These are only a few of the things I love about you. I just wanted to let you. Know how much you have enriched and simplified this techie girl’s life.

Muchas,
              Jai

Written on my Kindle Fire.

Me and my Kindle

My Kindle on the first day we met.

(Note: This is NOT a comprehensive list. For a list of all 78 Awards, click here.

Best new artist: Bon Iver

Record of the Year: Adele - Rolling in the Deep

Producer of the Year: Paul Edworth

Album of the Year: Adele - 21

Best Pop Solo Performance: Adele – Someone like you

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse – Body and Soul

Best Rock Performance: Foo Fighters – Walk

Best RnB Performance: Corine Balie Rae – Is this Love

Best RnB Song: Cee Lo Green – Fool for You

Best RnB Album: Chris Brown – FAME

Best Rap Performance: Jay Z/Kanye West - Otis

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: Kanye West – All of the Lights

Best Rap Song: Kanye West – All of the Lights

Best Rap Album: Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Best Country Solo Performance: Taylor Swift – Mean

Best Country Duo/Group Performance: Civil Wars – Barton Hollow

Best Country Song: Taylor Swift – Mean

Song of the Year: Adele Atkins and Paul Epworth -Rolling in the Deep

Best Country Album: Lady Antebellum – Own the Night

Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance: Le’Andria Johnson - Jesus

Best Gospel Song: Kirk Franklin – Hello Fear

Best Gospel Album: Kirk Franklin – Hello Fear

Best Contemporary Christian Music Song: Laura Story – Blessings

Best Contemporary Christian Music Album: Chris Tomlin - And if Our God is For Us…

     

The Iron Lady is a biopic that focuses on Margaret Thatcher’s early political career, her time as prime minister, and her retirement. I knew hardly anything about Lady Thatcher before I sat down, but seriously respected her when the hour and 45 minutes were over. The film concentrates on Lady Thatcher’s transformations  from grocer’s daughter to wife, politician and prime minister. You understand why her political stances are so iron clad and why the British had such a love hate relationship with her.

Told in flashback, and I’m partial to anything told in flashback. I like watching who someone is now and comparing it to who they were. For The Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher is the same independent, self-made woman, but she is viewed differently by her family and peers. That being said, I feel the movie may have been too jumpy. What I love about movies like The King’s Speech and Moneyball is that these films are about getting somewhere. Lady Thatcher went too many places. Parliament, Prime Minister and, finally, getting over the death of her husband. If this movie was delivered linearly and ended with her resignation from office, I would have left satisfied. Some of the current timeline lagged and some of the flashback segments were too short.

Meryl Streep has generated a lot of Oscar buzz for her role as Margaret Thatcher in the Iron Lady. I’m not sure if there is enough performance to cary her through, though. She’s going against a lady who played a man for an entire film (Glenn Close from Albert Nobbs) and a woman who was pretty much the only reason to watch the film (Michelle Williams from My Week With Marilyn).  However, it takes extreme talent to play three phases of life in one movie, and I’m not going to count her completely out just yet. I never know what the Academy is going to vote or why, so I’ll just leave it up to them.

Overall, the movie was a great lesson on someone I vaguely knew, but I don’t think I would watch it again. It’s hard to make a historical film worth re-watching, and this biopic is missing the special oomph I need before I add it to my collection.

I barely remember the rebooted Planet of the Apes, and I never saw the original. With that in mind, I approaced this film with a few expectations. 

Since it has been ten years since the last Planet of the Apes movie, I thought the series would be trying to gain new fans and spark fresh interest in the brand.  I expected the movie to be similar to the way Star Trek reboots or comic book companies introduce a film. So, for me, an intro/reboot film should do several things: set up the main characters and provide their backstory; give the audience a good, solid plot through wich sequels can be planned, and keep the original fans from leaving the fan base.

Expectation: Set up the main characters

With virtually no back knowledge of the series, the only real name I recognized was Caesar. He was the most memorable primate by far and the leader of the apes. From what I could tell, there were four other notables; but I had to look up their names for this post.  There’s Koba, a tester chimp who is rather hateful and harbors an unexplainable ill will towards the big shot human, Jacobs. Buck is a gorilla who serves as Caesar’s muscle. I couldn’t find the name of the wise old orangutan, nor could I find the name of the previous alpha ape that Caesar had to usurp.

As far as establishing the main characters is concerned, I could recognize each of the main apes. I just take small issue with the fact that their  names and presence was not, to me, memorable. If there are to be new films in a cannon, these characters will need more development.

Expectation: A solid plot for sequels

One of the best parts about comic book hero movies is the formula. You meet Joe. Joe gets powers. Joe fights evil and prevails. Joe will get to triumph over many more evils in at least two additional movies. Thinking back to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, I don’t know if this prequel does that for me. I met Caesar. I learned about his powers. I saw him prevail over captivity. But there was no rising of the apes into power. At the end of the film, people are projected to die out, but there is no elevation of the primates. It’s like Joe gets his super powers and goes to work. Anticlimactic.

Expectation: Keep and grow the fanbase

I have talked to a few people who were more familiar with the Planet of the Apes series. They seem happy with this installment, and several were surprised that it was so good. As a newbie, I am interested to see what else comes from this series and may even watch the older movies on a lazy afternoon.

Overall, the film was good. I wish the title was Caesar instead of the given name, but I left the movie theatre wondering about the other movies and checking to see if they were on Netflix (they’re not).

photo from imdb.com

The best thing was that Emma Stone and Andy Samburg had cameos at the beginning. I wish they had more screen time.

I can appreciate the movie’s commentary on how real love doesn’t happen the same way as in romantic comedies and the “development” of the female lead to look for her new and improved prince charming. However, a true attempt at originality would have been if the main characters ended up with different significant others.

I would not recommend the movie. It’s not suitable for background noise, girls night, or a date. It had a couple funny moments, but not enough to save the film.

Images from imdb.com

The results: orRepublicans and Democrats fought tooth and nail on their own agendas. Both group  failed to show grace and, frankly, class on doing a routine duty for their country. Our representatives had one goal: raise the debt ceiling, which has been done before in the 90s, and restructure the budget so the country doesn’t have to raise it again in the immediate future. While the debt ceiling was raised in time, it was only done in the midnight hour too much ruckus arguing, platforming, and political posturing.

So, on August 5, 2011, the Standard & Poor (S&P) reduced the United States’ credit rating from AAA to AA plus. The world now doubts its ability to pay bills. The country’s stock and bonds are not the standard anymore. Also, S&P thinks it may lower the rating again next summer. The organization cites several things for the drop in rating: not enough budget cuts, the inability to end the Bush Tax cuts in the future, and the inability of Congress to effect change.

How I feel:

The whole ordeal has me scared. I don;t want to be seen as a complainer or nay sayer, but it is becoming clear that the United States of America is losing rank in the world community. Too much spending and an unwillingness to cooperate and/or pay its bills in a timely manner has caught up to us. I wonder what this means for our slow economy. I wonder if I should brush up on my languages and emigrate to Europe. Student aid has been cut so going back to school may only increase my personal debt, which is not ideal to say the least.

Personally, I am going to look at this year’s candidates and consider more carefully who I want to represent me in DC. I also implore you to do the same.

until next time.

Jai