Rock and roll,baby. kyle L

“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”

 - Wiseman 

I have mixed feelings for this movie.Partly because it’s so awesomely cool with the most rad effects but also it’s full over-used cliches that there is nothing here that you havn’t seen a hundred times before and but it’s stil completely and utterly incomprehensible. The soundtrack, however is for someone who listens to over-dramatic, orchestrated, not-the-top 40-kind-of music music.What more can you expect from artistes like Bjork, Annie Lennox and Queen?

So the main character here is Babydoll, a sweet,pigtailed girl. Who still wears pigtails at 20? LOLs much.She was sent to a mental asylum called “Lennox House for the mentally insane” because she allegedly shot her sister.(which she never did, she was framed by her dastardly stepfather.)  

“Sweet dreams are made of this” is playing faintly in the background,written by Lennox. Coincidence or trying to make a connection here? Hmm.

Facing the corruption of her system because of forced lobotomy, she retreats to her imagination. In the dark,gothic universe of her mind, she escapes to a brothel, where she and a bunch of other girls must dance for the “clients” but you never really get to see her dance because when she dances,begins a series of action-packed sequence portrayal of their “struggle” to get the 5 items they needed to escape.

It’s like they have jumped straight into the middle of a computer game fight.Suddenly Babydoll and girls knows how to wield swordS and somersault ala The Matrik. Absurb much? 

It seemed like it tried to hard to avoid having a cliche plot that it kinda backfired. It would have been better if they just made the whole movie set in some futuristic world, would have been more room for fight scenes.

Finally, they have gotten everything they wanted,(almost) but 3 girls died and Babydoll revealed that she’s the fifth item. So, she helped other girl to escape. In the end, the story is not about Babydoll’s escape plan but the story of how the other girl regained her freedom. 

After that, Babydoll wakes up from the illusion/dream/imagination, loses her memory and sent to another room. So, it’s kind of a situation in her imagination, but it she also have her struggles in her dreams. It’s complicated. Kind of like a guy’s wet dream inception. Mind-boggling.

The conclusion is I liked this MOVIE! Even with all the absurdities and muddy plotlines, I still think it’s one of the raddest movies I’ve this year yet. 

When life tries to knock all the wind out of you
You’ve got to roll, roll, roll with the punches 

- Roll with the Punches, Lenka (2011)

Lenka is out with a new album, aptly titled TWO. Unsurprisingly created in the same vein as her first album, The Show, this record doesn’t ask much from you. Just sit back, close your eyes and imagine you are having a tea party in a whimsical land with Alice in the Wonderland. It’s that simple.

The first single “Roll with the Punches” continues her craft of creating upbeat punchy pop, melodic and sunny, much like her chart-topping debut single “The Show”. Hearing the song would be like taking you to a picnic with Kate Nash, She and Him and Marit Larsen. The 60’s faux vintage sound of She and Him meets the acoustics of Marit Larsen and hooks from some of Kate Nash’s songs. Full of delicious sweet pop goodness, it is really impossible to dislike the song.

 Lenka tries to tackle different styles in the album, but the songs still have that child-like, dreamy vibe that she has. The other songs in the album seem to translate the recent happy things that have happened in her life, such as her wedding with illustrator James Gulliver Hancock. Even songs like Sad Song and Everything’s Okay sound happy.  But thanks to her gift of creating incredibly happy, catchy choruses, you will be singing along to songs when you are driving or walking to school.

this is a story of boy meets girl,

but you should know upfront,

this is not a love story.

500 Days Of Summer. There is something je ne sais quoi about movies like this. They are quirky, unorthodox and yet surprisingly delightful. The sepia-tinted scenes, the slow, moving music and simple, tiny details gives the movie a lasting impression. 

Tom Hansen writes greeting copy for a greetings card company, when he is actually a failed architect. Summer Finn is sweet young woman who doesn’t believe in love. The two met in a lift and she said loves The Smiths, his favorite band. He is instantly smitten.

Tom is a nerdy,dreamy guy who takes advice from his younger sister. Summer is a neurotic girl and “just wants to be friends”. They fell in love and soon begin dating each other. They had happy times together. Soon, they fell apart. “I don’t believe in love” Summer said. They broke up and Tom, a masochist, felt devastated and wrote a greeting card that says “Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, Fuck you whore”.  

Summer, on the other hand, found true love at a party and get married the next day. Weird isn’t it? Nevertheless, 500 Days Of Summer is quirky, sad but lovely at the same time. Zooey Deschanel (which somewhat resembles Katy Perry?) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are engaging actors and this movie will probably have a cult following and will start a series of memes, gifs and jokes on tumblr.

It’s a story for the hopeless romantics. but this is not a love story.

Do you listen to Ke$ha? No? You should have. Remember Tik Tok? The girl who woke up feeling like some mogul rap star and brushes her teeth with alcohol has re-released her album titled Cannibal. Everyone’s bashing her with all kinds of negativity. “She’s a bitch”. “She’s an airhead” “She brushed her teeth with a bottle of Jack Daniels. What kind of person would do that?” With all those comments, she must be the most shallow and brainless woman in the entire planet. 

Well dear, I beg to differ.

She is smart and her music is probably the most fun things in the music industry at the moment. Let face it. Have you heard of a song that is so catchy, you can listen to it over and over again?

Kesha’s songs are euphoric. Pure joy. When I close my eyes listening to Your Love Is My Drug, I can imagine disco balls in the sky with diamonds. I’m floating with the lights and champagne. Bad music? What bad music? Even if it’s bad, it is the most awesome bad music ever.

Do you know what’s wrong with pop songs nowadays? Lady Gaga and Katy Perry’s songs are catchy but they don’t have that fun, lost-in-the-moment elements found in Ke$ha’s songs.

And do you feel sometimes songs can get pretentious and fake like some of Taylor’s? or Black Eyed Peas? Or Gaga behind the mask? Ke$ha’s songs are derived from real-life experiences and she wrote all the songs herself.

Fun, dont-give-a-fuck-about-anything, unpretentious music. 

Despite all the sex, parties and dicks that she sings about, Kesha tackles some serious problems in her songs too. We R Who We R is dedicated to the outcasts in reference of the recent teenage gay suicides. 

Ke$ha’s music would probably stereotyped to some club-going, boy-hitting and dicking-kicking kind of music, but she is defintely no one hit wonder. Each song will the soundtrack for the crazy, fun searching groupies and wannabe sluts everywhere, anywhere.

Listen to Ke$ha.

But don’t take her lyrics too seriously. You shouldn’t brush your teeth with alcohol when wake up every morning. Nor you should ask boys to show you where their dicks at. 

kyle L

So, Avril Lavigne is going to release a new album soon. Her first single will be released on January and it’s called “What The Hell”. It is said that the style of the album will return to her “Let Go” days. Honestly, I really miss those “Let Go” days. The album is my first record. It made me realize that there are other things to listen to besides the girl that wants to be hit one more time or guys singing about thugs, sex and drugs.

Her first album was an empowerment to me. Complicated is the anthem for the underdogs and angry teens everywhere. It was a success and that song catapulted her to superstardom.

And I fell in love.

Sneakers, skulls and skinny ties. Tomboy-ish but I like. She isn’t exactly pretty at that time, but beauty and sex appeal is not what I’m looking for. I’m looking for that rock-out attitude and that rebellious streak in her. She’s different and “real” and not dressing in skimpy clothes, unlike most of her contemporaries at that time, their clothing screaming “I’m sexy and I wanna have sex with you”. She was angry and it trying to find out whom she was.  Her album was the epitome of teen angst.

Then came the second album. It was ok, but it lacks the punch that the first album has. The theme is still about teen angst, but maybe she’s not that angry anymore, so the songs have mellowed down. There are a few hits but that’s it. Nothing special. In fact, I think My Happy Ending is too cheesy and the song ended up being played to death by radio stations.

Two years later, it was one of the biggest shocks in my life.

She dyed hair blonde and dumped the skull t-shirts. She started wearing dresses and to my horror, matching black and pink with polka dots. Really?  Avril Lavigne wearing pink? That’s the last colour that reminds me of her. It’s so horrible. But wait, there’s more. She have dropped her angst teen style and started singing cheesy, pop music. Girlfriend. It’s quite catchy at first, but after a few listen, the song has become so annoying that I have to switch the channel every time I see that video on TV. And to match the song, the music video is equally annoying as well.

For her third single, Best Damn Thing, she poses as a head cheerleader, screaming A-V-R-I-L. Then, she has to be a bimbo and sing like she’s being possessed by some slut ghost.  It’s a  WTF moment for me. Where is the old, rock-chick Avril that we used to love? She is now doing everything that she said she wouldn’t do 4 years ago. People change, but this too drastic. I want the old Avril back. Maybe less rebellious and more mature in music and style. Look at Alanis Morrisette. Over the years, her music become better and better and her style has also matured.

I haven’t heard of the new single yet but I hope it’s good. They said that people write better songs after break-ups and Avril and her husband have just separated. So, maybe this is a time for great songs to be written?

Kyle L