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Tags: album, cancel, cancelled, cdwow, faith, george michael, hospital, music, pneumonia, symphonica, tour, vienna
Posted in Current Affairs, Live Music, music | 1 Comment »

Rocky: The Musical – It’s happening

Thursday, November 24th, 2011

Hitting the high note.

Musicals as of late have garnered plenty of attention lately, whether good or bad. U2 tried to give Spiderman the Edge, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone championed Broadway with their own show The Book of Mormon.

The classics such as Oklahoma, Into the Woods and Cats were all great leaders in what to expect for a musical. Of course nowadays there are plenty of musical films to accompany the same style (Moulin Rouge, Across the Universe).

It seems strange then to take a story that was fantastic in its original state to another format.

I loved Rocky. It had that feel-good-because-of-training montage that made me feel incredibly lacking in gym attendance, some killer tunes that I can never get out once they’re in, and of course the Balboa voice.

Now imagine the film as a musical. Sounds funny, right?

Well Sylvester Stallone’s got a plan. He’s going to bring Rocky to the stage. As a musical.

Now before you get all excited at how awesome that sounds (for the wrong reasons), he’s just producing it. But he is passionate about the story in Rocky, in particular the love story.

World boxing champs Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko are helping develop the play, and the Tony-winning writer Thomas Meehan will script the show. Expected to be out in Hamburg for German audiences November 2012, the sport of dancing around your opponent could work in some strange, yet oh-so-appealing way.

Until it comes out, have a watch at someone else’s attempt:

Tags: germany, hamburg, music, musical, rocky, sly, stage, sylvester stallone
Posted in Funny Stuff!, music | Comments Off

Arnie tells it exactly how it is

Monday, November 21st, 2011

Arnie listening to his own voice.

DVD commentaries are the gateway to diving deeper into a director’s mind, giving him or her a feature-length opportunity to explain parts of a film that may have been misinterpreted along the way.

Along with the leading actors, discussions can get quite deep. For some commentaries, the discussions about subtext and what the director’s intentions were give a new reason to go back and watch the film again.

Some are just a fantastic way of getting another hour and a half of comedy (even if the genre of the film is not the same).

But then you have your hit-and-misses. These are the ones that scream out: “I don’t care, but the studio paid me to come in for two hours”.

But THEN you have a whole new echelon of commentary that I can’t quite explain. Please, watch this and tell me what you think:

It’s almost like watching a movie about a guy watching a movie that…INCEPTION!

But no, this in fact does not win any awards for its in-depth analysis into the film, but it does make everyone chuckle at Arnold once again. But hey, he’s been Governator of California before, why can’t he be a tour guide for films too?

Recommended commentary you SHOULD hear:

This is Spinal Tap!

You might recognise something’s afoot the moment you put the DVD in. It sounds like Nigel Tufnel and the gang from Spinal Tap are in a recording studio doing the commentary. And they are. And it’s great. Christopher Guest’s ‘mockumentary’ series (loosely-based term) are fantastic, but the talents of the actors surrounding him as well are improvisational geniuses.

Recommended commentary you SHOULD NOT hear:

The Matrix

I know, it’s one of the greatest films of its time, and still a classic (let’s just forget numbers 2 and 3, shall we?). But the commentary is so…what’s the way to put it…full of itself. Self-appreciating movie people digging into how much they invested in their roles. Blah blah bleh, nothing new about the film. And we still don’t know kung-fu.

Tags: arnold schwarzenegger, best, blu-ray, cdwow, commentary, DVD, Film, matrix, spinal tap, total recall, worst
Posted in DVD, Film, movies | Comments Off

Tips to be the new Gossip Girl narrator

Wednesday, November 16th, 2011

We are the 1%

Gossip Girl here, your one and only source into…no wait, wrong blog.

I’ve been ‘coerced’ (forced is more like it) into watching episodes of the TV show known for its infatuation with expensive, shiny things that no real teenager/recent graduate watching it could afford. With the usual criticism one might have watching something by force, I’ve come to the conclusion that I can write scripts for the show’s narrator. Who cares? Well, let me explain something.

Gossip Girl is a show surrounding the Upper East Side of New York City, glamourizing the fashionistas and entrepreneurs of America with as many product placements as there are moments where you say “Ohhh man, I badly want to be washing the dishes right now to get out of here”.

The gossip girl in question is a blog that, as the name suggests, dishes out gossip on anyone important, which includes the Kim Kardashian-type fascination people seem to have with the Blair and Serena characters.

But what I’ve come to love is predicting the things the voice of Gossip Girl says before she finishes them. Take anything that has two sides to it. For example, there is ‘hot’ and ‘cold’. ‘Up’ and ‘down’.

The formula to being a Gossip Girl narrator is:

[Warning to main character] + [use first association] + [antonym of first association]

I’ve taken quotes from the show to prove my point.

“Here’s an inside tip, Little J: the faster you rise, the harder you fall.”

“One thing about being on the top of the world, it gives you a long, long way to fall.”

“They say every road comes to an end, but sometimes the end feels just like the beginning. Even when you think you’ve come a long way, you can suddenly find yourself right back where you started. Because every journey is fraught with twists and turns.”

“Better step on it, Juliet. Because your clean getaway just got very messy.”

“Sorry, S. Your new beau may have the right to remain silent. But you just became the talk of the town.”

A little more complicated is taking one saying, then reversing said saying. Like so:

“On the Upper East Side, sometimes the wrong prescription is just what the doctor orders.”

“But if at the end you find the person you’ve become is not the person you want to be… you can always turn around and try again. And maybe the next time you won’t be so alone when it’s over. Too late to turn back now.”

“Spotted: one angel selling her halo. Careful Eva, returning that watch may cost you the time of your life.”

“This just in. Looks like you can take the girl out of the party but not the party out of the girl.”

“Spotted: One ugly duckling exiled. Let’s hope she doesn’t turn into a black swan.”

Can you come up with any or your own golden lines for this? Maybe “be careful who you’re following on Twitter…they might just follow you back.”

XOXO. Doogs.

Tags: bass, blair, chuck, cw, gossip girl, kim kardashian, serena, series, television, TV
Posted in Television | Comments Off

If you don’t have anything nice to say…

Saturday, November 12th, 2011

Ratner filming X-Men: The Last Stand.

It was a short, but sweet moment thinking Eddie Murphy would host the Oscars. When it seemed he may be coming out of the family movie format and fitting more into his Beverly Hills Cop-esque comedy, fans that were pushed into hiding were getting a taste of fresh air once more.

His latest film Tower Heist was directed by Brett Ratner, known best for Rush Hour and the third (and really bad) X-Men film. Brett, as it turns out, was also producing the Oscars, though he’s got into trouble for saying an anti-gay slur on the radio recently, leading him to pull out (no pun) of the Oscars. Eddie Murphy followed suit by leaving, either out of principle of the matter or being worried the Oscars may not be for him after all. Eight-time host Billy Crystal has jumped in to save the day, and hopefully the image of the Oscars, which got slammed this year for James Franco and Anne Hathaway’s performances.

But Ratner didn’t stop there. He had to go and actually upset Iron Man 2 and I Don’t Know How She Does It beauty Olivia Munn. In Munn’s autobiography, she mentions dating a Hollywood figure, and while never mentions a name, Ratner appeared on her old show ‘Attack of the Show’ to insinuate he ‘banged’ her, which turns out is *gasp* not true.

You may affect a TV show that hands out awards to high-paying actors, but you leave people with talent alone!

Ugh, maybe I’ll stop reading gossip this week and turn to my new love…Skyrim. I’ll keep you updated on the biggest and most epic RPG video game to date. I feel sorry for my upcoming lack of a social life.

Tags: beverly hills cop, brett ratner, cdwow, Eddie Murphy, game, movie, olivia munn, PC, ps3, rush hour, skyrim, tower heist, x-men, Xbox
Posted in Film, games, movies | Comments Off

Assassin’s Creed goes silver screen

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

Please be good. Please be good.

Video game adaptations into film have always been shaky in terms of what is hoped for, and what eventually comes out.

I mentioned this story a while back, but I was in northern France when Prince of Persia came out. Wanting to impress my friends, I suggested seeing the movie, not really knowing what any of the characters were saying. I knew the Prince of Persia games back to front, so chances are I could scrape away a few plot points and go for a ride.

And it worked! Jake Gyllenhaal ran around with his abdominals flexing this way and that, swinging a sword and being all…well he was French in this instance, but the main point was nothing was lost.

Squint hard to see Jake's abs.

Unfortunately I set the bar too high in terms of what I was expecting, which at this point I can’t really pinpoint as it was in French, but I could tell from the snickering going on in the audience the dialogue wasn’t that well-written (or dubbed, I gathered).

The medium of video games is such that to keep you entertained for 20-40 hours (not at a time, I hope) with jumping from tree to tree, or swinging your weapon at swarms of enemies. Imagining that for hours on end as a movie without interacting on a controller seems…well, dull.

Game developer and publishing house Ubisoft (who funny enough is French) has just secured a deal with Sony Pictures to make a film surrounding the world of the hugely popular game series Assassin’s Creed. While this is cause for celebration and fear, this particular deal’s caused a stir in the ‘biz.

Because Ubisoft’s roped in a whole heap of cash with the series, they’ve dared to ask for more control (‘Fighting the Man’-style). This apparently includes approval over the budget, cast, script and when it’ll be released.
Considering there are two major companies trying to suss out where each can benefit from such a film, it’s a shock to see the video game companies come out chest-thumping with alpha-male glee.

For those who have seen it, Ubisoft has already toyed with the idea of an Assassin’s Creed film. In the leadup to the second game, they filmed a live-action mini-series as a prequel of sorts to the upcoming game (ignore the cheesy voice in the beginning):

While better-looking then most other live-action videos, given a bigger budget and more control, it could be really cool. On the other hand, it could be another Super Mario Bros.

It was rumoured with Prince of Persia that both Disney and Ubisoft had issues with who had more control, both stating it was the other’s fault for the movie’s bad rating, though it still earned more than $300 million (made on $200 million).

If any of the videos made for the game can be taken into consideration, it could turn into something great. Click here for a look at the upcoming Assassin’s Creed: Revelations trailer, coming out next week (pre-order your copy here).

Tags: assassin, Assassins Creed, brotherhood, cdwow, ezio, Film, game, PC, pictures, playstation, Prince of Persia, ps3, revelations, sony, ubisoft, xb360, xbox360
Posted in games, movies | 1 Comment »

A reunion as comforting as warm apple pie

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011

The original Entourage.

I can’t believe it’s been 12 years since the release of American Pie (the film, not the song).

There’ve been seven films surrounding the American Pie world, but only three of those films contained the four main actors (and only reason to watch the movie, aside from Seann William Scott’s Stifler). You could argue that Eugene Levy (Jim’s dad) has been in them all, you can’t rely on the guy to hold up the whole film.

Having watched the first American Pie movie during my pubescent teen years, I have fond memories of relating to the film, and all the ‘issues’ faced through high school.

The eighth film brings the whole gang back together as a high-school reunion. And for that sense of nostalgia to come from this is something I never thought about. If a Garfield movie or live-action version of a cartoon I liked as a kid came out, it definitely didn’t resonate as a nostalgic kick, but more of a nervous prod, not trying to upset those fond memories.

But American Pie was all fart jokes, rude humour and pubescent love stories. How could THAT bring back memories?

And that’s where we comment on how high school was. For anyone, a high school reunion is cringe-worthy. It’s one of those events we’d love to watch, but not actually BE there to have those awkward conversations and explanations of your career choices and fake “we should catch up”s. That’s why a film like this is kind of that buffer we need to get the most of our memories.

That’s the safe trailer for American Reunion. The NSFW trailer is here.

A little fun fact: Remember Alfalfa from The Little Rascals film? Turns out his name is Bug Hall, who later starred in one of the American Pie direct-to-DVDs (The Book of Love). Betcha he wasn’t in ‘The He-Man Woman Haters Club’ in that!