PIXAR VS DREAMWORKS!

Yes I haven't blogged in a while, simply because I haven't had anything to blog about. i haven't been to the cinema in a while and no television has been worth mentioning. Yes I've been watching the new series of the sarah Jane Smith Adventours (which just keeps getting beter and better btw) and the apprentice, but I'm going to do a overall blog about them closer to the time they finish.

Anyway, yesterday I finally made my way back to the cinema where I went to see despicable me, now normally I'm unsure about seeing films by dreamworks. However before I get in to why I'll first say I really enjoyed despicable me. It was sweet, cute, funny for kids and adults alike. However it did miss out on the jokes for the grown up,s you know the type, ones that aren't really appropriate for kids but are worded in a way children won't understand for example in shrek where they mock the prince for his large castle, 'do you think he might be compensating for something?' But yes overall despicable me was a good film which i suggest others watching.

Now it got me thinking about other films from dreamworks and the reason I don't think to highly of dreamworks.

Antz (came out the same time as 'A Bugs life' wasn't as good, dull story, dull characters_
Shrek 1 (an original story with a positive message behind it)
Shrek 2 (better than the original IMO, but no more after this right?)
Shrek 3 (laughed once in the first 5 minuites of the film, after that just bored)
Shrek 4 (not seen it, but surely this is the end of it, right?!)

Shark Tale (out the same time as finding nemo, and doesn't compare to the masterpiece that is finding nemo)
Madagascar (an ok film with a range of different celebrities given their voice to these animated characters)
Over the Hedge (meh, only seen parts of this film but really nothing special)
Bee Movie (strange movie, SO ODD, weird story line and a painful watch)
Kung Fu Panda (a funny film, but after seeing it more than twice I'm done with it)
Monsters vs. Aliens
How to Train Your Dragon
Megamind (again with a range of celebrities giving their voices, although can't help but think its to similar to despicable me)

and we can soon expect a squeals to monsters vs aliens, kung fu panda, despicable me and how to train your dragon.

Now if we look at PIXAR

Toy Story
Toy Story 2
Toy Story 3
A bugs Life
Monsters INC.
Finding Nemo
The Incredables
Cars
Ratatouille
WALL-E
Up

and we can expect squeals to monsters inc and cars. Now the amount of films is different while dreamworks has a larger amount, I just can't help but feel enough time is spent of the actual story and making us love the characters. For example Toy Story, yes like shrek it has squeals to it, however the more I watched the toy story films the more I loved them, the more I saw shrek and donkey the quicker I tired of them.

Pixar are master story tellers where as Dreamworks just make as many film as they can to bring in the profit, while I enjoyed despicable me it will never compare to the charm that the likes of toy story create.

Or to sum up my point



^ from college humour


What is going to be interesting is seeing Tangled by disney (not pixar)



is it me or does this have more of a dreamworks feel to it? With the some what self aware 'hero', the animation stlye and the white horse looks a little bit like donkey in the face. Only time will tell.

Euro Pop

So I was in a lesson this week where we were talking about music from around europe, and how the british have a smug attitude of music from Europe. Which to an extent is true, if its not from the UK or from America then we're not interested. The topic came up as we were talking about Eurovision. Now I'm a fan of Eurovision, I like the songs, the performance and the whole idea of the whole of Europe coming together to sing. Now its no secret that the UK hasn't always taken the Eurovision seriously, in our class we said that because Britain disconnected from the rest from Europe, there has aways been a distance between 'us' and 'them'. The distance doesn't help matters, but it doesn't help us that 'they' tend to speak English and we don't speak any of their languages.

Eurovision has been political, but thats hardly a reason as to why people don't vote for the UK. For many in the UK the Eurovsion doesn't matter, however in places across Europe for them its as popular as X-factor is. Going back to our class I regret to say that there was alot of 'well theres an attitude that we're better than them and don't need their music because its not as good' and granted euro-pop isn't to everyones taste. However to simply snob all music from different parts of Europe is hardly a good thing. There has been an attempt to take the Eurovison song contest more seriously, back with Jade and Andrew lloyd Webber who came 5th, the best we have done in a long time! Then sadly we had whats his name from last year sining the 90's cheesy Pete waterman creation (you know its going to be bad when its called 'That Sounds Good To Me') so taking the Eurovison song contest for real is a positive move, its a sign of respect.

Something that lacked in our lesson was why Britain pushes Euro-Pop to the side, well when our main stream music medias (tav, radio, internet ect) promote such trash as the crazy frog it gives euro pop a certain image, but there are good pop songs from Europe, but they aren't promoted by Dj's in the uk. If radio 1 were to play a good pop song from Europe that wasn't in English, sure there would be some getting used to but it would open audiences mind to different types of music, it would create a healthy relationship with other music lovers across Europe. And perhaps improve the image the UK has made of it self.

When they took Jade across Europe promoting her song before the contest people grew to like her, her song, her image, and the representation of the UK actually making a effort. If our mainstream radio DJ'S were to do the same, I think we would see some change. If you look at the europeian top 40 you'll find alot of artist from the usa, the uk and different artists from across Europe, so why aren't we the same?

Now some of my favorite eurovsion entires from the past years

Advert

Remember this?



The advert was banned as it was said to promote football violence. Personally I think its a striking image, raw, full of power and strength. The dark bloody red on him looks rich and patriotic in a medieval battle cry sense. Yes I can see how this might could be seen as an advert for football violence but football hooligans hardly need a reason to fight. As a photograph I think its stunning (pity they picked wayne rooney, lets face it he's no david beckham but I understand how wayne is seen as more of a down to earth 'man's man') Now this advert had a number of complaints condemned as 'offensive', 'exploitative' and 'tacky' by MPs and church groups. I had no problem with the advert and thought it was a stunning powerful piece of art.

However, there is a recent advert which disturbed me a little bit



Now I'm no fan of football (shocked? lol) but this advert is a good one, been put together well and a lot of thought has been made about it, it shows how you can play with people across the world online, while you sit dow with a cup of tea next to your dog.

But this is what I didn't like



see the wayne holding back his dog at top? Before I watched the video advert I saw this image and the first thing came to mind, football violence and using dogs for violence. It just struck a chord with me and left a nasty connection in my mind while watching the advert. I could be wrong, perhaps the dog is just so excited about the game he wants to run up to the others players and give them a big hug. Am I being to sensitive? Should one image let the whole ad down? Let me know what you think of my thoughts. :)

Olly Murs VS Joe McElderry

Firstly I just want to point out I'm not a huge fan of either of these singers but today during a lecture we got talking about Joe McElderry and his new song. I also want to point out that rage against the machine stopped him from getting to number 1 at christmas (this made me laugh some what at the time, lol take that Simon Cowell, although I think he has his fingers somewhere in their music as well.....so I guess he won none the less. Can't beat the devil I guess)

Now while I'm not a mega fan of the x-facor I do like some of the singers that have come from it, for example I think Diana Vickers and Alexandra Burke are likeable and their songs are cathy enough to stop me turning them of the radio. While it goes without saying Leona Lewis can sing, like really sing but I just find her to be very boring with very little personality, she just seems to be very 'nice'

I've been watching little bits of the new x-factor but I've yet to see anyone thats really stood out for me, maybe that might change when we get to see them more at the judges house.

But now x-factor winner from last year Joe has finally got out his new single out since winning the contest, after Olly (who came second) who has his single out a few weeks before, Olly's song went to number one while Joe's has yet to enter the charts. I remember watching x-factor and saying what Lewi said (perish the thought I'm on the same level as that man, the very man who thought Jeward were good and says such annoying things as 'the kids will love them' this man clearly has no idea what 'the kids' are in to anymore) he said that Joe was more of a musical singer and to an extent I still believe this. During the contest I never really saw his appeal but remember my female house mates saying he was 'cute and sweet'. Cute and Sweet?! Is that what you want from an artist? How about sex appeal, charisma and some personality. On the other hand their was Olly, while Olly wasn't the strongest singer in the contest he had a like-able factor about him which people felt they could relate to. I'm having trouble trying to remember the other contestants of the time but out of those two I thought Olly was going to win, and was surprised Joe had made it, I just don't see his appeal.

Now after all this waiting they have both their new songs out

Joe


I'll keep this short.
I don't like the song, I just don't get it. Wheres the hook?
Interesting dance moves there joe.......
....yeah....finding it hard to sum up up what I don't like about it but......I don't see the appeal!?

Olly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4S9gQb9PjM&feature=channel

Ok so the song is not fantastic but it suited the time of summer, being a upbeat chilled relaxed beat to it
At first I didn't know it was Olly Murs when it played on the radio and when I was told who it was I was plesenrtly surprised, I didn't expect to like his song as much as I do
The video has the typical lad (low on the social ladder) trying to grab the attention of the posh girl (think Mandy Weslife)

side note: House mate has just walked in and said 'oh his hot' and then laughed at the difference in reaction of the mention of Joe being 'he's sweet'


In the long run think Olly will be more successful then Joe, and while Joe might be doing well at the moment but like Gareth Gates I don't think it will last long.


Speaking of male x-facor winners Shane Ward has his new song 'gotta be somebody'........yeah enough said.

Book, Music, Youtube

So I'm back from DisneyLand Paris and I had a great time with Emma and Stacey! We spent five days there and four night, although we had some trouble getting there at first as our flight had been cancelled and so we had to wait for a later one meaning we missed a day in disney, but no matter we still got there and we had tons of fun!




Now some of you who read this blog may not know that I make vlogs and upload them on to youtube. Well what does this mean? I make videos about topics, ask and answer questions and interact with those who post comments. I have uploaded a video about our disney trip, so if your interested go watch it, give it a thumbs up, leave a comment and if you like what you see subscribe.

http://www.youtube.com/user/CottonWoolWorld




Anyway, this is just a quick update blog, I'm back at university on sunday (finally!) and I'll be settled back and will be able to sit down and write down proper blogs again. My summer job has ended but I'm happy to report they will be taking me back on at christmas, so for a while I'll have to pay for the films I see at the cinema again but I'll keep up with my review blogs :)

At the moment I'm reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert



I picked up the book as its all about traverling and as I've only got one year left of university left I'm starting to wonder what I'm going to do once its over, and traverling has always been a dream of mine since I was a little kid so this book really appealed to me. My worry was that the book was going to be to 'girly' and while yes I think there are a few times where a female reader could connect more with the writer than a male I think over all both genders can enjoy it. I've almost finished the book and its certainly had its ups and downs. Its the true story of Elizabeth as she has gone threw her divroce and breaking up with a lover and leaving it all behind to spend a year away in Itaily, India and Bali. I love the part when she is in Italy, she really enjoys her self and you really feel like your with her, enjoying all the food the way as she goes. The part in India was a little bit more harder for me to get through, I know the book is about her struggle with fidning her place spiritually and dealing with her past but sometimes her negativity is a little bit to much and I know shes been threw a lot but I felt as if it was getting a little old, I felt like saying to her 'stop repetiting yourself and get over it, your in a wonderful, beautful place in the world, just find peace with yourself' which is to be fair what she basically says to her sefl (eventually). I'm now in Bali and so far it looks like its going to be a nice balence of what was good about Italty and the harder reading in India which I suppose is a good thing, as is life, ying and yang good and bad, finding a balence we can work with.


Now sicne being back from disney I've had disney songs playing non stop
*WAITING JUST AROUND THE RIVER BENDDDDDDDDD!*
*ahem*
But heres some music I've been listening to lately and think is just top stuff!







Lemmi know what you think of my youtube channel, eat pray love and my music choices for this blog!

Music Blog

I'm going to disney land paris for five days but before I go I thought I would leave you with a nice little music blog :)

I hate myself for this, but I actually kinda like this song



Its Mcfly, I've never really liked Mcfly. Well to be blunt I've never liked Mcfly. They are/were just pop roc for young teenage girls making cathy music with no real purpose. While I bet they are nice enough guys their music just hardly seemed like it went any where or made an effort to explore any different types of style. However the other day when I heard this on the radio I thought it was JLS or perhaps new kids on the block Wanted. When I said to my friend 'this isn't half bad' my friend looked at me with a sly smile and said 'you know this is Mcfly, right?'. No, no I did not know it was Mcfly. I'm not even going to bother to mention how they are jumping on the bandwagon of the vampire fad as the video says it all for me. But as for their music it does show some effort to change their style of music, and their cover for the single looks like it has a tron like fashion influence behind it (odd as the new movie Tron is coming out soon)

Side note: The other day I heard a dj refer to the new band 'The Wanted' as a 'LAD BAND' perhaps Mcfly are trying to get away from the generic pop/rock boy band and head in this direction?

Moving on to something with is wonderful, fantastic, ultimate, refreshing, out of this world good!

Janelle Monae

I wasn't sure which video to post as she has so many good ones, but I decided in the end to pick the video I first came across



If you going to get her cd's then I strongly recommend you get metropolis and archandroid, her visual style and musical style is not far off from outcast, although she has her own strong image which plays with the iconic images from the german silent movie 'Metropolis' if you have seen that film then my hat is of to you, while a good movie it is a little bit of hard work to get through and to keep watching, but is visually stunning and tells the tale of the working classes against the upper class. Her music takes you on a story and its one I can easily and happily get lost within.

Another song I have been listening to non stop is from 'My Terrible Friend' the two are very popular on youtube and have paired together to create this beauty



The lyricks are sweet, dark and oddly heart warming. So fair the two together only have five songs on their i-tunes for sale but I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more from them very soon.

Now I've been watching x-facotr (again) and I've yet to been blown away by anyone of the contestants, who knows as time goes on I might grow to like one of them. Although I'm not a huge fan of the show I do tend to watch it as it does become socially relevant and you can't help but get drawn in to watching it. However one music reality television show I don't mind watching at all is sky ones must be the music, where the singers have the chance to play their instruments and perform their own songs. For the first time on british television the artists own songs will be available on i-tunes if they make it to the semi finals. While I'm still catching up on a few of the episodes, there was one performer that stuck a chord with me



this type of music is right up my street, soft, true and pure I find myself cancelling out all other sound around me and listening in with all my attention. Good luck to her!

My Thoughts On : Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

I've got in from seeing Scott Pilgrim vs the world and to sum it in a word, the film was EPIC! Allow me to expand on that. SUPER EPIC! I first heard about Scott Pilgrim when my friend Paddy introduced me to the comics, every time he bought another volume he would let me borrow them, I'm half way through all the volumes now and I am enjoying them so much more than I expected to. What I found funny was that in the first volume was a normal story line, a girl going out with a guy, the guy likes someone else, the guy is in a band ect ect and then in the last four pages of the volume there is a video game styled battle. Scott defeats the first of the seven evil ex's and like in true video game form gets a few gold coins for his victory.

Edgar Wright (director of Shaun of the dead and hot fuzz) did a perfect job of directing the style of the graphic novel (I'm still not sure what to call it, is it a comic or graphic novel? Is there a difference?). The casting was spot on, every actor was a perfect fit for all the characters. When I found out Michael Cera was going to play scott I was a little confused, looking back at his filmography he hardly stuck out as a 'scott' type person, normally he's played a wall flower, a uncomfortable awkward indie guy and I always thought of Scott being a little bit more eccentric but now having watched the film I think Michael Cera really pulled off the role.

I loved the way the pop art video game style merged with the film, it wasn't overbearing and was a reminder to the audience where exactly the film got its influences from. I was watching a interview today where the cast were asked why wasn't the film in 3D. A question my friends and I pondered while on the car journey home. In the interview they said that they felt as if the graphics were already so well fitted to the film that if they added the 3D element that the film might have become more about the 3D, rather than the characters, story and music.

Another high note from this film was the music. I am now looking in to buying the soundtrack and I can't stop listening to this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jMruFHTwrY&feature=related

(curse you youtube won't let me add the video to my blog, but click the link and it will take you there)

As well as this song the movie is all about the music, jam packed with rocking good music its introduced me to some bands I've never heard of and I will definitely be looking in to them.

If I had only one tiny little downer about this film would be that some of the better jokes were in the trailer and it slightly gave them away, although I think they were strong enough that they still worked in the film.


Anyway, as you can have guess I really liked this film and can't wait to get it on DVD. Let me know what you think, have you read the comic? Did you think it was loyal to it?


Cotton Wool James.