Friday, February 25, 2011

Something has been bugging me

Has anyone else noticed that the new Lady Gaga song sounds just like Madonna's Express Yourself? I know Corinne feels the same way but come on, someone higher on the critic food chain had to have noticed this by now.

Don't believe me?




How about now?

Now I understand that Madonna is the queen of all things pop and bizarre. It only makes sense that Gaga is following in her foot steps. There are plenty of similarities between the two but has Gaga gone too far and single white femaled Madonna?

Although I do love the lyrics to Born This Way :) Case in point: "Dont be a drag, just be a queen"

Friday, February 4, 2011

Breaking News: New Britney Album Info + Cover

According to various pop blogs, as well as Britney Spears' official twitter: the new Britney record is titled "Femme Fatale."

Yeyah!

Jive, Britney's record company has released the press release:

New York, NY – Britney Spears announces her seventh studio album is titled Femme Fatale. The iconic global superstar’s title Femme Fatale is a tribute to bold, empowered, confident, elusive, fun, flirty women and men. It’s not a conceptual album, Spears is letting the music speak for itself. She’s worked hard on it for two years and she considers it to be her “best album to date,” true to where she is now personally and professionally.

Femme Fatale (Jive Records) is executive produced by Max Martin and Dr. Luke.

Spears is peerless among her contemporaries. Throughout the years, Britney has consistently released hit after hit for over a decade, selling close to 70 million albums cumulatively worldwide.

Few artists have earned the distinction of having five No.1 debut albums, and 24 Top 40 hits. She most recently set a new one-day precedent for single sales with her current No. 1 hit song, “Hold It Against Me.” Jonas Ã…kerlund shot the video for the song.

Details on the video premiere and album release date are forthcoming.

And here is the released cover:



Predictions: Judging from "Hold It Against Me," and knowing that Dr.Luke (Kesha producer) has me thinking it's going to be a club banger, however, it's going to be chaotic.....I have to hear of who's working on it to be sure.

Whips, Chains and A really good time?



This is the much touted, "controversial" video from Rihanna from her album "Loud." The controversial, "S&M."

Reporters from NME, to the Huffington Post have been criticing Rihanna for releasing a video too hyped up on sexuality and trying to be "Gaga-esque."

"Just because something is weird doesn't mean it's gaga." - Poutz

I'm really tired of this, people, Lady Gaga is not the first and will not be the last of musicians to indulge in subcultures. It's pop music. The main point is to make things acessible to a mainstream audience. No duh.

That being said, this video for all it's constant refrences to kinky practices, is not sexy and is not dark and creepy (see: 30 Seconds to Mars Review). In fact the video is cute. Yes, cute. With all its colorful latex outfits, famed celeb blogged Perez Hilton on a leash, the message Rihanna is sending is not that she wants to engage in such acts but rather the video is a shot out to the media speculating that she does engage in those acts. That's what pop stars do, they flirt with their controversy (see: Britney Spears "Piece of Me" video). I thought the video was well done and am surprised that its being banned from countries as well as MTV. In fact, the 30 seconds to mars video could be seen as offensive with its shot of the Veterans Coffin. But, people will complain. RiRi, well done.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

30 seconds to some really kinky stuff

The following picture is NSFW:



Shennantics is a bit late with this review, but apparently 30 Seconds to Mars has some demons in their closet. Or maybe it's just Jared Leto's side of the tourbus. Anyway, last year the band showcased the 13 minute epic, short film for "Hurricane" off the "This is War" album, which had to be edited for its graphic nature and depictions of wild and bizarre S&M sex, motorcycle violence and Leto's unruly fauxhauk.

First off let's get into the review of the song, which won't take long since it's basically muffled underneath the video's loud images. You can hear it in certain parts of the song but it really does take a backseat to the music video which is not necessarily a good thing. The video should emphasize the song and not downplay it, or detract from it. Basically, "Hurricane" the song is typical 30STM fare. There is some wailing, some French girl quoting Edgar Allen Poe,some strings---all what you've come to expect from this band.


Now onto the video. Director Bartholomew Clubbins has a fetish for well, fetishes and images. Most of the video is shot so one image plays for a long amount of time and then the next one comes doubly fast. In one shot, Jared Leto is running for what seems to be forever (Poutz sister Angela noted that THIS is why the video takes so long everything is shot in slow motion) and then it's followed up with sped up and spliced sequences of black latex clad-fetish enthusiasts. Including an evil bunny, a well toned gimp and lots of other unsavory characters.

So it's apparent that the band is indulgent in some kinky stuff, other than the sexed up images, to which it's apparent why MTV banned it. But really the "censored" version is just a nipple away from being the same. Pshaw.

On top of that, there is the image of Jared Leto being thrown into a Veteran's coffin complete with a draped American flag. So now we have symbolism. The video has a message. As one commentator on YouTube pointed out it's about "harming people."

This would work well as a short film, but it's just kinda weird when your own band is the score to your short film.

Also worth checking out is the remix with Kanye West.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The Batman Watch : Catwoman



Alright, you BatHards....new information. It has been released that the latest cast addition to the "Dark Knight Rises," is Anne Hathaway who will play Catwoman. Tom Hardy of "Inception," will play Bane and oh yes, Christian Bale is back as Batman. Also it has been reported that this will be director Christopher Nolan's last go at the franchise.

It seems to be from reports that Warner Bros hasn't really spoken much of Catwoman per se (so everyone could forget about the OTHER catwoman-will not work). Instead, Hathaway will play Selina Kyle basically leading speculators to believe that in this film she will be playing a somewhat origins story.

I think Hathaway definitely has acting chops but can she play the feral feline Catwoman? This is a sexed up role and while Hathaway does have sex appeal it's very earthy and earnest, I'm not sure if she can play a whip-toting dominatrix who keeps cats as her best friends.

We'll see.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Already Janurary?


Happy New Year's Folks!

Hope you had a good one, and Shennantics is back in action, because I'm back "Like I forgot something."

So, where do we begin????

Well since the last time I posted, I saw that heady film trip of a movie, Arofonosky's "Black Swan" starring the very preggers Natalie Portman (it's already generating Golden Globe buzz stay tuned). In a Nutshell, the film was done with a lucid approach, and I don't want to give away too much but Portman's portrayal of a perfectionist-downward spiralling ballerina gave me chills. This is one of those films like the "Virgin Suicides," that sticks with female audiences for a while. Partly due to the fact that, so many women stuggling with body issues and pressure from every angle will find a little bit of themselves in Portman's fatal yet fragile Mina.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Save the date

It's official. February 8th, 2011. Season 2 of My Life as Liz.

Can you handle it?


Word.