Category — Blurbs

So, my sister recently decided to join her school’s Sing. I still don’t know what the meaning of this “Sing” stands for, however I’ve heard about it for about 5 years now. Finally I’ve decided, “what the heck, why not go watch it?” From what I gathered, two grades verse the other two grades in song and dance filled show. Two hours in high school watching an amateur show, “Oh the joy!” To my surprise, the sophomores and seniors were quite good. The singing wasn’t unpleasant, the dancing wasn’t too simple and boring, and the dialogue wasn’t “corny” or “awkward” as I had expected. I actually found myself laughing. They made a few mistakes here and there, but it was far less amount of mistakes than the freshmen and juniors. Which brings me to the freshmen and junior performers. They were not that terrible. To be fair, they are only in high school. We can’t all expect all the performers to be “Julliard status.” Their performance just wasn’t as entertaining or fun to watch. At one point it pained me to watch the dancing. So many mistakes and awkward movements. If it hadn’t been for the senior and sophomores i would have thought that night was waste of 10 bucks.

“Joe, have you seen Twilight?”

“Nah, why?”

“You HAVE to see it. It’s Amazing!!!”

“All right, I’ll see.”

So there is one lesson I learned from this conversation, or from life–Never listen to Alyssa, when it comes to movies (Sorry Alyssa). Having watched the preview “Twilight”, it seemed like such an amazing movie with an actor that had an amazing jaw, and with vampires having supernatural abilities. So, because of Alyssa’s recommendation, I decided to go watch this movie with my brother and a friend. After watching the movie, I was speechless. And no, not because this was the best movie ever, but because this was the WORST movie ever. There was a fighting scene which lasted maybe ten minutes tops and the rest was about romance. Sure, maybe it was just me that didn’t like the movie because im not into romance that much, but come on, if you have to spend ten minutes on a scene with the two protagonists slow-dancing, then that is definitely a problem. Fine, maybe I am exaggerating a little bit, but there was much time wasted on scenes unneeded. Getting to the special effects… We might as well go back to the year 2000, or even further back. This movie had worse effects than “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.” If you look carefully at how the vampire climbs the tree, you would just want to leave the movie theater. Also, when the vampire reveals to the girl that he is a vampire and that he isn’t able to go to school when the sun is out, I was expecting for him to turn into some kind of vampire looking person or a monster when the sun had shone on him. However, he glowed. Yes, he glowed. What kind of a vampire glows?! Maybe I am getting a little angry while writing this review, but I guess I’m just trying to show my anger and I just want to let everyone know that he or she is NOT missing out if he or she didn’t watch it. Don’t watch this movie, unless you like to watch two people fall in love wasting time looking at each other or dancing with each other.

       In the 1960’s, the Beatles infiltrated American airwaves and revolutionized the genre of Rock and Roll. Nearly 50 years later, another band from England has taken America by storm. Although Muse is not currently a household name, there’s no doubt in this writer’s mind that it soon will be. Black Holes and Revelations, the band’s latest album, is its best yet–a superb perpetuation of an innovative style that eludes the mundane, obliterates the perfunctory, and transcends the genre. The album’s first song, ironically entitled “Take a Bow,” embodies the band’s essence—it is a song that personifies the nebulous style that one has come to associate with Muse, a powerful mixture of rock, pop and techno. With Matthew Bellamy on vocals, lead guitar and piano, Chris Wolstenholme on bass, and Dominic Howard on drums, the trio blends flawlessly in nearly every song. In “Invincible,” one of the album’s more somber pieces, the steady military-esque drumbeat dances delicately with Bellamy’s vocals. The album is essentially a roller coaster ride of emotional peaks and troughs. The tranquility of “Soldier’s Poem” is juxtaposed masterfully with the raw, enveloping power of “Map of the Problematique.” Other songs, such as “Starlight” and “Hoodoo” demonstrate the unparalleled power of Bellamy’s vocals. “Knights of Cydonia” places a bow atop this masterpiece of an album. Most rock bands in the modern era have become overly dependent on excessively heavy guitar riffs and mundane drumbeats. “Black Holes and Revelations” shatters the mold. Some might call it Alternative Rock, but it’s difficult to categorize perfection. 

With fluorescent white walls outside, and contemporary art-deco furnishings inside, the Museum of Art and Design just exudes modern art. MAD is currently housing a two-floor exhibit entitled “Second Lives-Remixing the Ordinary”, a collection of works by over 50 international artists, who created pieces of art from normal everyday objects. My favorite piece in the exhibit was Paul Villiski’s “My Back Pages”, which consisted of butterfly-shapes cut out from vintage vinyl records, and which were then tacked to the wall—the piece was aesthetically beautiful, and the artist definitely accomplished his intent to make physical the beauty of music. Other notable pieces included Susie MacMurray’s “A Mixture of Frailties”, a dress composed entirely of latex washing gloves, and Teresa’s Agnew’s “Portrait of a Textile Worker”, a life-sized quilt depicting a worker at a sewing machine composed entirely of clothing labels. The pieces in the MAD collection were varied and awesome, and each had a message to tell the world. The two hours I put in at the collection was definitely less than the amount of time the exhibit deserves, so I will make sure to reserve an entire day for the next visit I make to the museum.

I’ve never had the chance to really observe and admire the Macy’s Herald Square window displays either because I was in a rush or just because I didn’t want to go out of my way. However, last Sunday, I happened to be near the area when they unveiled the new 2008 window displays. As part of a 146 year tradition, Macy’s revealed their new holiday displays which attract more than 7000 “consumers” per hour and possibly help bring in more business. We’ve all seen negatives the global economy has suffered this year yet its delightful to know that this holiday tradition lives as successful as it is unchanging. On November 23rd, Macy’s held off the entire storefront street to host the grand “unveiling” of the windows, an event that attracted a rather large crowd. Complete with a mini light show, Santa Claus(whats the holidays without Santa) and a replica of a Central Park features, the little pre-party outside of Macy’s was more than one could’ve expected. They even “invited” Kermit the Frog to sing a few Christmas songs to round out the holiday spirit. In the end, I was just glad that I happened to be in the right place at the right time to have been able to experience and witness this event at least once in my life.