I'm So Hard...sure

So Hard

Rihanna’s Album ‘Rated R’ is very edgy compared to her previous ones. She has a new, funky hairdo, the cover looks dark and angry, and she looks like a girl you don’t want to mess with. But it seems to me that she’s trying almost too hard to seem like a strong, independent woman after the assault on her by her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown.

With song titles like ‘Rude Boy’ and ‘Hard’ where she plays the dominant female role, it shows her being tough and aggressive, which she wasn’t in her previous relationship. It seems like a front. Perhaps for other pop/r&b artists this would be believable like for example Beyonce, Ciara, Lady Gaga, these women actually give off confidence and attitude without trying so hard, you can hear it in their voices even in interviews. With Rihanna it doesn’t seem that way. She’s rather soft spoken and, yes she was a victim in a serious beating, but I feel she milked it so so much. I wasn’t alive around the time when word of Tina Turner being beat by husband Ike got out, but she handled things differently and was a true “Hard” woman. She just divorced him, took his last name to perform with, and got rid of him. Now that’s a “badass” woman, Rihanna….not so much.

Opinions anyone? Is Rihanna really “so hard” as she says or is it a front or perhaps something else?

Miley Cyrus in "serious" film?

The Last Song

So Miley Cyrus is in a new movie that doesn’t connect to her annoying Disney Show Hannah Montana. She is in the movie 'The Last Song', in theaters April 2, and she’s along side her, now, boyfriend Liam Hemsworth and Greg Kinnear, who plays her father in the movie. The film is from the author Nicholas Sparks, who wrote ‘The Notebook’ and ‘A Walk to Remember’. With that in mind, one can guess what type of movie this is going to be like, a drama focused on love, first loves, family love, blah blah blah. The movie is about a drama centered on a rebellious girl who is sent to a Southern beach town for the summer to stay with her father. Through their mutual love of music, the estranged duo learns to reconnect. Throw in a handsome young blonde guy and you have a new Allie and Noah (characters from ‘The Notebook’). Oh wait, there is a handsome young blonde guy, these movies are getting a bit repetitive.

This seems like the type of movie I won't go see in theaters but maybe see if someone happens to rent it out. I just don’t think my money is worth seeing Miley Cyrus in theatres when she hasn’t proven herself to be a good actress at all. It’s going to take some time for her to be taken seriously, especially with all the scandals she has had and what not, and maybe losing the nasally voice would help too.

Any thoughts on Miley’s new up coming acting role?

My Chick Bad- Ludacris

Battle of the Sexes

The number two top album on itunes at the moment is Battle of the Sexes from rap artist Ludacris. The “Mouth of the South” has a most recent big hit from his new album called ‘How Low’. In Battle of the Sexes, Luda is rapping about one of the things he knows best which is the female species. Luda shares album space by featuring some of the “illest” female rappers of the past, present, and future such as Eve, Trina, Lil’ Kim, Ciara, Monica and Nicki Minaj.

First of all, Ciara? She’s not a rapper in my eyes, I don’t really know why she was put in that category. Although I love ‘How Low’, it is being over played and getting repetitive, especially when I feel in love with it two months before radio stations started playing it. My recent love in the ‘Sexes’ album is the song ‘My Chick Bad’ featuring the future of female rapping Nicki Minaj. This song is filled with attitude and cockiness (to characteristics I’ve been accused of having sometimes…oops), and if you’re a girl it kind of makes you feel like you’re the “baddest chick” in the world (in a good way of course). And for guys, it can make you feel like your chick is number one as Luda raps, “My chick bad, my chick hood, my chick do stuff dat ya chick wish she could.”

I’m a lover of all types of music, but I love some good “hood” jams of course. Anyone else into this genre have any thoughts on this or other artists?

World Cup 2010

World Cup 2010: Official Song Battle

I don’t know how many people are even interested in the 2010 World Cup but I know I’m very excited. It’s sad to be a big futball fan but live in a country where the only people interested are the athletes that play the beautiful game, used to play, or are close to someone who does play. But being born and living in Europe, every single person loves the game. But I was recently having an argument about the official song of the Cup. The World Cup has a new official song, like the NBA Finals do, or every new season the Pistons have a new “pump up” song.

For the World Cup of 2010 the official song seems to be ‘Wavin Flag’ by K’naan. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, but it does connect pretty well with the Cup games. But there seems to be a little bit of a disagreement between that song and ‘Oh Africa’ by Akon featuring Keri Hilson. Although it is not stated as the official song for the games many people think otherwise. Anyways I was arguing with some fellow futball lovers and players here at K about which would be best as the official song.

My argument was that ‘Oh Africa’ would fit better for the Cup because the song is about where the Cup will take place, it talks about “taking it to the goal”, referring to a soccer ball, and the music video features actual, big name futball stars (well to people who actually know the sport) Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres, and photos of other big name futballers. It also shows people of all different types of ethnicities and nationalities face painted in various flags. And maybe me being African is a little bias because the music in Akon's song is so upbeat and rhythmic, it reminds me of African songs i've grown up hearing. But K’naan’s song doesn’t even have a music video, he does speak about the “champions taking the field” and says “the beautiful” and is talking about flags, but it lacks the connection that Akon’s song has.

Any other futball…I mean soccer (to Americans, haha) fans or Akon or K’naan fans have an opinion?

Those Good Vibrations: Mark "Marky Mark" Wahlberg Final Piece

Never Fully Tamed

Some may know him as Marky Mark or perhaps Monk D or to many women, one of the hottest men alive. This particular person is none other than Mark Wahlberg. Mark Wahlberg is an actor and producer who went from being just another common hooligan to a major influence on pop culture through movies and even music. Wahlberg has really made a name for himself playing lead roles in action films like The Italian Job (2003), Four Brothers (2005), The Departed (2006) and Shooter (2007). There seemed to be a common trend going on with the roles Wahlberg would play, the “bad ass” or “bad boy”, but maybe that’s because old habits die-hard. Looking back into his dark and troubled past may shed some light as to why he plays these “hard” roles and why they give him an edge and come naturally for him, besides the fact of having good acting skills.

As a teenager Mark was a regular old trouble maker, coming from a broken home and dropping out of high school. Wahlberg stole cars, abused drugs and alcohol and got in fights, fights that landed him in jail. While robbing a pharmacy under the influence of PCP, Wahlberg knocked a man out and permanently blinded another before being arrested. It was during his time in jail where he transformed into a big hunk and gained the body that he has become well known for. But how is it that apparent hopeless case turned his life around? It seems that Mark wasn’t the only Wahlberg with star talent. Older brother Donnie Wahlberg assisted to Mark’s fame due to Donnie’s successful 1980s and 1990s boy band New Kids on the Block. Mark was a member of this group at age thirteen but became uninterested in the group’s bubblegum pop style.

So brings the birth of “Marky Mark”. Wahlberg began rapping and recording as “Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch” and he gave the world the number one hit song on the Billboard Hot 100, Good Vibrations. The music video depicted Wahlberg boxing, lifting weights and shirtless, showing off his chiseled body and taking part in sex with scandalous shots of a female on top of him and then later getting freaky against a medal fence, bodies pressed against the cold barrier. Wahlberg didn’t hold back any of his thoughts which goes along with his “bad boy” image, saying what he wants when he wants. Through out the somewhat raunchy video of Good Vibrations, referring to musical and sexual vibrations, Wahlberg asks the nude girl beside him, “Do you feel it baby?...Yeah I do too,” while licking his lips in a seductive manner. The level of confidence and cockiness Wahlberg had came naturally with his “bad ass” swag. This smug street-wise personality also contributed to his fame. At his concerts, he was known for being shirtless and of course dropping trou every once in a while. He was ballsy, in fact, in the dedication of his ’92 book Marky Mark, Wahlberg states in the preface “I wanna dedicate this book to my cock”. Told you he had ‘balls’.

Wahlberg was constantly in the headlines, often of the tabloids, after multiple scandals. Wahlberg was constantly getting into rumored fights, most memorably with Madonna and her entourage at a Los Angeles party. While things were always intense, they were relatively harmless and made for enjoyable reading for the public. While on a British talk show along with rapper Shabba Ranks, he got into even more trouble. After Ranks made the statement that gays should be crucified, Wahlberg was accused of condoning the comments by his silence. Marky Mark was suddenly surrounded by charges of brutality, homophobia and racial hatred. His second album, "You Gotta Believe", after the charges surfaced, plummeted from the charts. In addition Wahlberg was brought to court for allegedly assaulting a security guard. Humbled and humiliated by his fall from grace in the music world, Wahlberg decided to pursue another angle, acting. He dropped the "Marky Mark" name and became known simply as Mark Wahlberg. That was perhaps the turning point and greatest decision of his life.

He may have dropped the name but he still had the “hard ass” image that can be seen and heard through his smooth talking mellow voice and tough, yet sexy, appearance. Wahlberg had the talents to play in a plethora of different roles, but in many of his roles he played the guy from the rough neck of the woods, the bad guy that audiences wanted to get off scot-free. The Italian Job (2003) was one of the many films where Wahlberg played the good-bad guy, playing Charlie Crocker, a career criminal who had a team of expert thieves who pulled a daring 35 million dollar heist in bars of gold. One of the thieves betrays his companions and swipes the gold for himself. One year later, Wahlberg’s character and the other team members create a smart and devious plan to steal back the gold and get their revenge on the traitor.

The “don’t mess with me” exterior Wahlberg was shown powerfully in Four Brothers (2005) where Mark plays one of the Four adopted brothers that come together to bury their mother (Fionnula Flanagan) who was marked for death and murdered by two thieves in Detroit. The four brothers Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), Jack (Garrett Hedlund), Angel (Tyrese Gibson) and Jeremiah (Andre Benjamin) want revenge. They don't think the police will find the murderers, so with Bobby leading the way, they took matters into their own hands with dangerous car chases, hand to hand fist fights to the death, killing anyone even remotely involved. This role is much like his character in Max Payne (2008) whose wife and child are brutally murdered and Payne, played by Wahlberg, has no mercy and destroys anyone responsible.

In The Departed, Wahlberg gets a little change of pace and plays a Boston police officer. While in an interview on BBC’s Top Gear, Wahlberg was asked what one of his favorite roles he played was, he answered The Departed, he then goes on to joke saying, “playing an officer was my neck of the woods, I’ve had a lot of experiences with the Boston Police Department. And finally being able to put that to good use, you know, playing a cop instead of being arrested by them, was a lot of fun,” referring to his troubled past. But then good old Marky Mark plays once again the bad guy people love to love in Shooter (2007), playing retired marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger who gets framed as an assassin trying to kill the President of the U.S. Throughout the film wounded and hunted by thousands, Swagger goes in hiding, aided by two unlikely allies, searches for the truth and for those who double-crossed him and of course, shows no sympathy, as seen in the final scene when Wahlberg’s character walks away with a little “swag” from a cabin as it explodes, killing the last of his enemies.

The once “wild thing” Mark Wahlberg seems to come out here and there when he gets to play the roles of different people, and yet they all seem a lot like the same person. Although he has played a determined father figure in The Lovely Bones, a much softer role than his usual, and has stepped behind the camera in producing a major show based on his experiences in Hollywood in the hit HBO show Entourage, people can’t help but love seeing the dark, mysterious Wahlberg. Perhaps playing these “dark side” characters feels like home to Mark Wahlberg, giving the tamed beast the chance and freedom to be wild and dangerous as he once was.

Gaga has finally gone coo-coo?

Thoughts On Recent Gaga Music Video

Lady Gaga’s most recent music video ‘Telephone’ featuring the Queen B, Beyonce, has had some good and bad reactions. I’ve heard some of my peers express how disgusted they are by her new video, maybe over reacting just a little. Although Gaga does pretty much shove her crotch into the camera and has nothing but little strips of tape covering her nipples in one scene, are people really that surprised? I mean it is Lady Gaga we’re talking about, she’s like the new and extreme Madonna, and her music videos are bound to cause some controversy. As for me, yeah I thought some of the scenes were bizarre, her wearing sunglasses made of cigarettes, her making out with a girl/dude and crotch grabbing that person; I’ll admit that’s strange. But for some reason seeing Gaga do this doesn’t bother me that much.

Lady Gaga is one of the few artists that is super comfortable with herself, her body and sexuality, and she expresses it through her music and videos. So when I see her dancing in a jail cell wearing nothing but a thong and a bedazzled bra and torn fishnet leggings, all I think in my head is “well there goes Gaga again”. What’s the big deal? If you don’t like her videos or how raunchy she is there's an easy solution: DON’T WATCH/LISTEN TO HER. It’s like people complaining about rap videos with half naked girls and the artists calling girls ‘bitches’ and ‘hoes’, again same advice, just don’t watch them or listen to them. Clearly Gaga doesn’t care what other people think of her, she’s going to do what she wants regardless of people “bitching” about her videos.

Those are just my thoughts. Has anyone else seen this music video, what do you think about it?

Crazy Heart Review

Country Livin’

‘Wild Spirit,’ that maybe a better title for Jeff Bridges most recent movie role in “Crazy Heart”, which he recently won ‘Best actor in a leading role’ at the Oscars. In this film “Bad” Blake- the character Jeff Bridges portrays so perfectly in this music drama- a broken-down, hard living minor legend as a country music singer puts as much into life as he gets, which is pretty much nothing. It’s see so easily seen in Bad’s appearance that he has got a “Fuck you if you don’t like me” or a “what you get is what you see” view of the world, and there isn’t much to see.

His gravelly voice, belly barely contained by his leather vest, the slow but yet sensual way he slings his guitar, the amount of time and effort his backup band has to put forth to vamp him up, and the giant sweat stains visible on his and his unbuttoned, un well kempt. With all the character details of Bad it creates an indelible portrait of a performer worn down bye age, chain smoking and alcohol abuse who has had too many failed marriage too many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times. But this “hot mess” of a person makes the film all the more interesting.

The story is, ironically, as simple and as direct as a country song. Years of Bad’s self-destructive behavior has led him to a career where his minor legend status only allows him to perform in small, cruddy venues such as bowling alleys, all though he does catch a few breaks here and there. While performing in Santa Fe, Bad meets newspaper journalist Jean Craddock, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, who takes a fancy to this one-time music legend. They become bedmates, but not soul mates. Gyllenhaal does a great job of portraying single mother, Jean, who is guarded and fearful of hurting her little boy, knowing all too well the type of pain a man like Bad could inflict on her small family if she were to surrender to the love she feels for Bad.

“Behind every strong man stands a stronger woman”. This statement rings true when Bad and Craddock build a relationship and in being with her one sees and discover the real man behind the worn down musician. Bad can’t help but reach for salvation with the help of Jean. Bad pulls himself out of the slums of his career when Bad runs into young country star Tommy Sweet, played surprisingly by Colin Farrell, who was once Bad’s protégé. Sweet wants Bad to write some songs for him, This looks to be both a promising professional and personal future for “Bad” Blake, his long standing self-destructive lifestyle holds him back occasionally, but in the end the spirit of the wild, carefree stallion of a man becomes peaceful and tamed after a long, hard life.

In a nut shell, Crazy Heart is a fairly conventional tale of an addled man seeking and achieving redemption, inspired by a good woman, bullet pointed by a selection of country music numbers which rattle along tunefully enough. It’s entertaining film that rarely surprises but does bring a smile to the face through the sheer charisma of its leading man.

Oscar Review

So I See You Got Jokes

“Boom, roasted!” That’s what every dis Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin delivered about various Oscar nominated actors & actresses should have ended with at the 82^nd annual Oscar Awards. The night began with a little bit of a show tune type opening performed by Neal Patrick Harris, which may have jogged memories of Hugh Jackman performing various numbers at last year’s Oscars. Following Harris’ Broadway-esc number, making references to various nominated movies, the dynamic comedian duo hosts, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, descended from the ceiling hand-in-hand ready to start the hosting shenanigans.

Baldwin and Martin began the night with roasting many different actors and actresses, making many jokes about their recent co-star and Oscar nominee Meryl Streep and jokes that only actors/actresses truly understood, not having home viewers in mind. And there seemed to be some inside joking of a stair down going on between the two playful hosts and George Clooney. At one point in their monologue they ragged on James Cameron and pulled out their 3-D glasses swatting away at the floating, white seeds of the linking tree, as seen on ‘Avatar’. A visual effect that could be seen on the TV screen, keeping home viewers in mind but perhaps not the audience in the Kodak Theatre.

After the hosts were done burning people, the ceremony really commenced with the only award that ‘Inglorious Bastards’ walked away with for Actor in a supporting role played and received by Christoph Waltz beating out actors such as Matt Damon up for his role in ‘Invictus’ and Christopher Plummer for ‘The Last Station’. Opposite of ‘Inglorious Bastards’, ‘Hurt Locker’ went away with the most awards, six to be exact. ‘Hurt Locker’ took home big categories such as Best Original Screenplay, Sound editing and mixing, film editing and two really big ones: Best Directed Film awarded to Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman to receive that award, and Best Picture. It was evident during Bigelow’s acceptance speech she was grateful and honored but scared shitless to talk in front of that crowd as her body shook and tensed up in anxiety.

‘Avatar’ went home with three awards: Best visual effects, cinematography and art direction. Although James Cameron’s hard directing work was beat out by Bigelow, at least it was recognized in some way. Comedian/Talk-show host/sitcom actress Mo’Nique can finally call herself a serious, academy award winning actress as she went home with the award of Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her acting in ‘Precious’, being one of the two awards ‘Precious’ received. The night may have begun with playful banter but it continued on with words of praise being thrown from every angle. A beautiful memoriam clip was shown to remember actors and actresses that had past this past year and a montage of numerous films honoring the late director of many great films of the 80s, John Hughes, followed by words of appreciation by members of the Brat Pack and other actors.

All the individual nominees for Actor and Actress in a Leading role were admired by other actors who had had the privilege to work with the nominees at some point in their lives. Jeff Bridges took home Best Actor in a leading role in ‘Crazy Heart’, thanking his parents for turning him onto such a “groovy profession”. Sandra Bullock took home Best Actress in a leading role for her job in ‘The Blind Side’, admiring moms all over the world, her family and praising all of her fellow nominees and being another source of comedy relief in ending her speech with “I thank you so much for this opportunity that I share with these extraordinary women and my lover Meryl Streep”, Streep being who Bullock called a “good kisser” referring back to when Bullock planted a big one on Streep at the Critic’s Choice Awards.

Although the 82^nd Annual Oscar Awards started out with some burns here and there, the overall mood of the ceremony was honor and admiration. Actors and actresses, young and old, experienced and inexperienced came together for one night to acknowledge the hard work their fellow thespians put forth to entertain people and keep them coming back for more.

Live Performance Review: Free to Worship Concert

The Good News: Free to Worship

There was not one dry eye in the house. On Saturday, February 27, at the Dalton Theater of Kalamazoo College one of the most spiritual and moving performances took place at the Free to Worship concert. The concert touched the hearts of many resulting in tears and raised hands in praise. The night began with an opening prayer by Eric Aiken, asking the Lord to bless everyone and their voices and for everyone to have fun and a good time praising the Lord-and the Lord answered these prayers. The Mistress of Ceremony, Ora Stokes-Carson, starts the concert up with singing a few lines of worship, warming up the audience, filling the people up with a little bit of worship leaving the other performers finish the job and fill them up until they were drunk with worship.

The “Good News” of the Lord were first performed by the Kalamazoo College Gospel Choir opening with an up beat number that brought the audience to their feet, clapping and swaying along followed by a solo sung by Christian Bitijula. The happiness and joy was so apparent on the faces of the choir members, showing that it feels good to spread the word. Dasha Williams followed the K College Gospel Choir with her own expression of praise to the lord, which she does through dance. Her movements flowed beautifully with the words of a tranquil worship song. Every swift and slow motion she made had the audience captivated and moving in their seats right along with her. The beautiful movements of praise and worship Dasha made were incredibly graceful and the passion pouring to the audience from every point and chassé Dasha made were enough to bring tears to one’s eye.

Throughout the night many different people performed their way of spreading the good news and the audience embraced every bit of it, hollering “Hallelujah” and “Amen” whenever they felt the Holy Spirit, which seemed like every second of every song. The talent that the youth exhibited was remarkable. Freshmen Corinne Tabor of Kalamazoo College showed her talent while singing and playing a piece on the grand piano and young Jason Ford expressed his love for the Lord in a spoken word piece, rapping to a modern hip hop instrumental being played in the background. After hearing some Gospel songs, Aspire of First Congregational Church, featuring two K alums and K voice professor Corlyn Schreck and her husband, changed things up by singing some old spirituals that, even with the traditional sound of opera, wowed the audience.

Aspire weren’t the only guests invited to worship at the concert. Western Michigan University Gospel Choir sang a few selections, one being the very familiar song Our God is an Awesome God with a more upbeat and gospel twist to it. Vocalist and recording artist LaVida Mickens sang an inspirational gospel song that brought more tears and cheers than ever. And the tears of joy and praise just kept trickling down as the audience was asked to join in praise by singing to a slow and mystical rendition of O Come All Ye Faithful as the Kalamazoo College Gospel Choir returned to the stage singing a consoling song I Trust You singing, “Sometimes the pain in my life, makes you seem far away. But I’ll trust you, I need to know you're here. Through the tears and the pain, through the heartache and rain, I’ll trust you.” This expressed the many doubts and fears people have in their lives but then find peace in trusting the Lord, such a message lifts anyone out of whatever ditch they’re in.

Closing the night, Mistress of Ceremony, Ora Stokes-Carson ended with her own spoken word of praise and inspiration before Ks Gospel Choir sent the audience home with an uplifting song Giants that had people dancing and clapping enthusiastically proclaiming that “Giants do die, the bigger they are the harder they fall. Giants they die, just walk around the Jericicho Wall.” This song spread the good news by saying no matter what giants one may have in their life be it bills, problems at work, family issues “They gotta come down”.

Being able to be free to worship is a great blessing that others in the world may not have. That Saturday night at Kalamazoo College every person in the audience was truly blessed to be a part of such an amazing gathering of worship. It left a message in the heart and mind that all yee who are faithful have the awesome God on their side and through the tears and the pain and mountains and giants if you just trust in the Lord they gotta come down, and THAT is the “Good News”.