I made it a point to go to Wal-Mart tonight and get the new Britney album: Circus. I have been a Britney fanatic since day one and have always supported her no matter what shit she got herself into. She is really the reason why I started dancing when I discovered her in high school (complete truth). When I first saw her live performances on TV, I thought to myself "I really want to be a backup dancer for Britney Spears". I will admit she doesn't have the best voice (although she used to). That isn't the reason why I like her. She's a great performer.
I find all of Circus's songs anti-climactic. It's not as bad as pop can be. She's just changing as pop changes. She's not really much of a trend-setter in the music industry. She should've been looking for a new sound. Something different and unique. I will admit, I do like one song, "Unusual You". If you got the Deluxe Version, Phonography isn't so bad. The title "Lace and Leather" entices interest as it makes you think it has potential, but it just ended being disappointing. "Mmm Papi starts out fun, but then too many beats and instruments come into play. "Shattered Glass" is also a good one, but again, anti-climactic.
Has anyone noticed that the pictures in the album cover are boring? Do you notice a difference in her smile? A little more noticeably fake than usual and kind of lacking that sparkle in her eye that she used to have. Whenever you saw Britney wear an outfit, didn't you used to think that it was because she was wearing it that made it hotter? I know I did, but I find myself not automatically feeling that way as I look through the pictures in the album cover. I noticed she was wearing some hot shoes in one picture, but I had to stare at the picture for a little bit, and then tell myself "wow, those are kinda hot".
Why is climax important to me?
I perform as a drag queen on ocassion. I look for songs that have dynamic. Songs that don't have the same energy level throughout its entirety. While a lot of drag queens make their own mixes (or pay DJ's to do it... with cash or BJs), it's still desirable to find one song that has enough dynamic in it to perform the whole song, although it is rarely done.
Going off in tangents, I wanna talk about Beyoncé in comparison to Britney Spears. I noticed on Youtube that Britney's Womanizer video got rave reviews by fans and got about 30 times more viewings than Beyoncé's video Single Ladies. I skimmed through a lot of the comments for each video and I found that about 40% of people who watched Beyoncé's video did not like it. They were saying she's only dancing, there was no scenery, it's too just too much. For Britney, I saw about 99% positive comments. Nothing but "this video is so awesome! britney is coming back!". Now, everyone has their own taste. But, you have to admit, Beyoncé was more artistic, showed more versatility and talent, and most of all, was just simple. Britney's video just consisted of her posing naked, banking on pure lustful sex appeal, and scenes of her being different women marked by different hair, with some random moments of dance. I do have to admit, she did act cute in it. During the dancing scenes, the camera moved to much and switched back and forth you couldn't really catch a whole dance sequence. But when you could see her dance clearly, she was lacking energy and precision. She reminded me of those little girls in high school who thought they could dance but really couldn't because they didn't know how it felt to put in 100% effort behind their movement. You know, those groups of girls who signed up for the talent shows or lip sync contests. And then the instrumental break came up in the song, and I expected a hot dance break to go with it, and to my disappointment, there was none. I mean come on! This is Britney Spears!! She's known for her hot dance breaks. I was totally let down. Now, if I want to see a hot dance break to a Britney song, I lookup Bobby Newberry's choreography on youtube.
Britney I love you, but girl, come back... for real! Dance like you used to!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Inconsistencies In Action Movies, Anime/Manga & Games
Don't you just hate it when you're watching a fighting movie, and the protagonist at first has the upper hand in a fight with the last boss, then all of a sudden the boss smiles and laughs and has strength pulled out from his/her ass, starts to beat up the protagonist hit after hit, then the protagonist may recall some memory of a beloved one or some tragic memory, and then pulls strength out of his/her own ass and wins and all is good and THE END.
That sums up about 99% of action movies, anime/manga, game stories. That is so predictable. There is something I would really like to see illustrated, and that is the reality of variance of success in a battle. For instance, when you are arm wrestling someone who's strength is JUST under yours, you are slowly and gradually taking them down. There may even be some still moments where strengths are temporarily matched.
Whenever I watch a fight scene on TV or in the movies, I find that I get most tense (really into it) when it's a matched fight (equal skill/strength). For example, when Buffy and Faith fought sometimes, it was so intense to see the block, block, block, snuck in kick, block, block, snuck in punch. And these weren't just regular let-me-put-my-arms-in-front-of-my-face block, but more like "I'll block you by maneuvering your arm/leg somewhere else" and the other person's response to such block is "I'll figure something out very quickly with how you just manipulated my body".
I also hate inconsistencies. The protagonist usually has a high level of skill, but sometimes the protagonist is caught by the simplest sneak attack. For instance, Kakashi in Naruto is one of the most skilled ninja. In the Animal Riot of Crescent Moon Island movie, Kakashi totally missed a flying explosive kunai that was targetted at him. The explosive kunai had a gas bomb that has chemicals that alter your senses. Now, in the anime and manga, Kakashi never seems to disregard any sneak attacks, any invisible enemies, or following enemies that may be within quite a distance. But for some reason, he failed to sense this kunai while on a VIP bodyguard mission. Very inconsistent, and it pissed me off.
Another inconsistency is in the latest Catwoman with Halle Berry. In the last fight scene, Halle with her quickness and cat senses, was beaten up by a villainous hardening-makeup-wearing woman who had no fighting experience. Just because Halle couldn't do damage to this woman does not mean this woman should have the ability to beat Catwoman up. Halle even got stabbed. That's like a cat not landing on its feet. How ridiculous. No wonder this movie got poor ratings.
I hate when characters sometimes just talk when they could be fighting during a fight scene. It's an open spot, a chance to stab at your opponent that any real-life fighter would take advantage of. For example, when the power rangers take time to morph. If I were the villain, I'd just kick them or throw some power bolt at them while they were morphing. Makes sense right? It would make it much more interesting. Or when protagonists are lying on the floor, seemingly defeated, and the villain is looming over them, staring at them for a few last seconds before making their "finishing" move. But wait! The part that you didn't see coming happens. The seemingly defeated hero/heroine opens their eyes and dodges the villain's finishing move and the fight proceeds and the hero/heroine wins! BORING!!! PREDICTABLE!!!
How about when the protagonist finally defeats the villain and then just walks away without even checking if the villain is REALLY defeated. Then 5 seconds later, the villain opens their eyes. Um, I think if my life were threatened in a one-on-one fight with a someone who I knew was truly evil, not minding that I had possibly killed him/her, I would at least make sure they would not be able to pursue me, by maybe stabbing them and see if they react or cut their Achille's tendon so they can't walk or run.
I wish I had the finances to create my own anime series, action movie. It would be fuckn awesome.
That sums up about 99% of action movies, anime/manga, game stories. That is so predictable. There is something I would really like to see illustrated, and that is the reality of variance of success in a battle. For instance, when you are arm wrestling someone who's strength is JUST under yours, you are slowly and gradually taking them down. There may even be some still moments where strengths are temporarily matched.
Whenever I watch a fight scene on TV or in the movies, I find that I get most tense (really into it) when it's a matched fight (equal skill/strength). For example, when Buffy and Faith fought sometimes, it was so intense to see the block, block, block, snuck in kick, block, block, snuck in punch. And these weren't just regular let-me-put-my-arms-in-front-of-my-face block, but more like "I'll block you by maneuvering your arm/leg somewhere else" and the other person's response to such block is "I'll figure something out very quickly with how you just manipulated my body".
I also hate inconsistencies. The protagonist usually has a high level of skill, but sometimes the protagonist is caught by the simplest sneak attack. For instance, Kakashi in Naruto is one of the most skilled ninja. In the Animal Riot of Crescent Moon Island movie, Kakashi totally missed a flying explosive kunai that was targetted at him. The explosive kunai had a gas bomb that has chemicals that alter your senses. Now, in the anime and manga, Kakashi never seems to disregard any sneak attacks, any invisible enemies, or following enemies that may be within quite a distance. But for some reason, he failed to sense this kunai while on a VIP bodyguard mission. Very inconsistent, and it pissed me off.
Another inconsistency is in the latest Catwoman with Halle Berry. In the last fight scene, Halle with her quickness and cat senses, was beaten up by a villainous hardening-makeup-wearing woman who had no fighting experience. Just because Halle couldn't do damage to this woman does not mean this woman should have the ability to beat Catwoman up. Halle even got stabbed. That's like a cat not landing on its feet. How ridiculous. No wonder this movie got poor ratings.
I hate when characters sometimes just talk when they could be fighting during a fight scene. It's an open spot, a chance to stab at your opponent that any real-life fighter would take advantage of. For example, when the power rangers take time to morph. If I were the villain, I'd just kick them or throw some power bolt at them while they were morphing. Makes sense right? It would make it much more interesting. Or when protagonists are lying on the floor, seemingly defeated, and the villain is looming over them, staring at them for a few last seconds before making their "finishing" move. But wait! The part that you didn't see coming happens. The seemingly defeated hero/heroine opens their eyes and dodges the villain's finishing move and the fight proceeds and the hero/heroine wins! BORING!!! PREDICTABLE!!!
How about when the protagonist finally defeats the villain and then just walks away without even checking if the villain is REALLY defeated. Then 5 seconds later, the villain opens their eyes. Um, I think if my life were threatened in a one-on-one fight with a someone who I knew was truly evil, not minding that I had possibly killed him/her, I would at least make sure they would not be able to pursue me, by maybe stabbing them and see if they react or cut their Achille's tendon so they can't walk or run.
I wish I had the finances to create my own anime series, action movie. It would be fuckn awesome.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)