Music: Big Boi – Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty

After a long run of hit albums, Outkast had seemed to hit a wall with Idlewild, the soundtrack to their musical motion picture of the same name, both of which received lukewarm reviews. It was a departure from Outkast’s normal sound (if you can call it ‘normal’ – their style is inimitable), employing the sound and feel of the big band 20’s if black folks ran the show. A large part of the stylistic change was allegedly driven by Andre 3000, the perceiveably ‘funkier’ (and to many, stranger) of the rap duo.

The album was bittersweet, as it proceeded Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, the pair’s double album release, which was essentially two solo albums packaged together. And to many fans, it signaled the decline of Outkast. It appeared they were getting soft, or at least, failing at being experimental. It was relatively quiet on the Outkast front. They released a handful of un-notable singles, and both Big Boi and Andre 3000 were seen working with other artists, separately. It began to seem that the band really was breaking up. Fast forward several years later to 2010, when then the duo leaked a single, Lookin 4 Ya. This song featured rapping parts from both Big Boi and Andre 3000, accompanied by a smooth hook featuring the vagina-wetting voice of Sleepy Brown, most known for appearing on ‘The Way You Move’, Big Boi’s key single from Speakerboxxx. The single was a throwback to old school ‘Kast, and proved instantly that the team had not lost their edge and, if anything, were hard at work on something new.

Enter Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty, Big Boi’s first solo album release. The album art features a Big Boi logo in the recognizable shape of Outkast’s famous crown logo, reminding listeners this isn’t an abandon of Outkast music. If anything, ‘Kast fans should see this as a team release. Dre 3K might not be present lyrically or on all tracks of production, but the sound is undeniably Outkast. The tracks are peppered with skits in between, depicting life in West Savannah, Georgia, where players fast-talk dirty south hoes, and where crackhead hustlers jive talk the police. Where many band-turned-solo acts tend to move forward and forget their roots, Big Boi keeps this album Decatur by shouting out to Outkast, Goodie Mob, and the Dungeon Family.

If you’ve ever given Speakerboxx and Idlewild a full listen, you’ll clearly see the evolution of Big Boi’s artistic direction. The man has a love of beats in the minor keys, that have almost a gothic vibe to them. Tracks on this album, like ‘Night Night’ and ‘Tangerine‘ are reminiscent of ‘War’ (from Speakerboxxx). There’s almost something to be feared in these tracks, which embody something almost evil feeling, though the lyrical subject matter is classic Outkast fare (It’s bedtime/Tuck yourself in/I can tell that you’re terrified/Check my records/You will see that I’m verified/I terrorize/Now you’re terrified). The first track beyond the intro, ‘Daddy Fat Sax‘, is an epic confidence track, sampling previous Outkast tracks (‘X-plosion’ f/ B-Real), and is perfectly expressive of Big Boi’s character as an artist. You can even tell Idlewild has influenced Big Boi in tracks like ‘Be Still‘, which features a chorus by Janelle Monae, who was also featured in Idlewild’s ‘Call the Law‘. And ‘The Train Pt. 2‘  is a follow up to ‘The Train‘ from Idlewild, produced by Organized Noize, of which Sleepy Brown is a part.

It’s actually pretty hard to put a finger on what makes this album so catchy. The production has a distinct dirty south feel, but would have been wasted in the hands of a less-capable rapper. Big Boi brings a confidence that is not created by money or girls or flashy clothes. He raps about all of those things, but underneath those things, you know you are listening to the life and times of Big Boi, aka Antwon Patton, aka Daddy Fat Sax, aka Sir Lucious Leftfoot. Big Boi stands out as an artist primarily because he applies his life experience to the microphone, and even in the popular singles like ‘Shutterbug‘ and ‘Shine Blockas‘ have that unique flavour that can only be found on Outkast tracks.

On a personal level, the most notable track for me is ‘You Ain’t No DJ’, which completely embodies the radical, extraterrestrial instrumental that Andre 3000’s been known to produce. The track sounds almost demented, a digital bell loop repeating in what can only be described as a developing insanity. But there is something so damn catchy, I can’t help to hunch my shoulders over, pull my fingers out their holster, and do the crooked booty.

This album is absolutely solid. Not only is it a great solo album, but it has a maturity that is best appreciated by having listened to Outkast’s previous albums. It gives new Big Boi fans an incredible introduction, and old Outkast fans what they’ve been wanting to hear for a long time.

Lego + Futurama … LEGORAMA!!?!

We all know Futurama has made its long-awaited return to the the airwaves, with original voice actors in tact. And that is totally awesome. Do you know what’s equally awesome? This set of New New York, lovingly created using Lego pieces, complete with Planet Express, Madison Cube Garden, Robot Arms Apartments, and even the Mutant Sewer of Old New York. Check out this FlickR album for the whole shebangabang.

Futurama in Lego Form!!

The Last Airbender Movie Review

I would like to preface this review by saying that I am an adult fan of the cartoon this movie is based on and have a greater admiration for the source material and these characters than the average movie watcher off the street does. Bear this in mind during your reading of this review.

Instead of reviewing the movie immediately, I wanted to say a few words about Avatar the Last Airbender the television show as it is near and dear to me and was not accurately portrayed in the M. Night Shyamalan film.

The creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko set out to create a childrens show that set itself apart from the rest of the Saturday morning cartoon fare by creating a world rich in character and based on the myths and traditions of Central and East Asia. They did this by imagining complex and flawed characters, fantastic and exotic settings and landscapes and grounded it in the Chinese Martial Arts teachings.

The world of Avatar: TLA (I’m going to call it Avatar: TLA from now on since I can’t type “The Last Airbender” every time) is separated into 4 nations: Earth, Water, Air and Fire. Each of these nations drawing inspiration from a different Chinese fighting form that relates to their particular element. Earthbenders use Hung Gar for its powerful stance and strong attacks, Airbenders use Ba Gua or the use of quick directional changes and circular movements to generate power and so on. These decisions were not made lightly and you can tell a great deal of thought and care went into their selection.

The characters in Avatar: TLA are the crowning jewel in their creator’s crown however. Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Zuko, Uncle Iroh, Azula, Bumi, Ty Lee, Mai the list of characters can stretch on for a long time, but what really impresses when you watch the show is how attached you get to all of them.

Aang is the focus of the show as the Avatar and you feel for him so much at the tremendous loss of his people that he has endured. The weight of the world is on the shoulders of a child who starts his journey spiritually and physically lost and that feeling shines through.

Zuko the exiled prince of the Fire Nation is one of the best examples of what made this show amazing. At the beginning we see him as a simple enemy for Aang to overcome. All he wants is to get his honour back, and the only way he can do that is to capture the last hope for peace in the world and he’ll go to any length to achieve that goal. As the show progresses though it’s like a curtain is slowly drawn back to reveal the true depth and mastery that the show creators have in character creation. Zuko is his mother’s son. He feels compassion and empathy in a home that see them as weakness. He admires and desperately seeks the approval of a father whose callous ambition for absolute power has dissolved any semblance of humanity he may have once had.

One of my favorite Zuko episodes is called “Zuko Alone”. We follow him as he wanders across the Earth Kingdom, trying to survive on the generosity and kindness of the people he might have to conquer and enslave someday, and it is here we see the true nature of his character. He befriends a small boy and his family and have to defend them from some seedy characters, all the while we get flashbacks of him as a child in the Fire Nation Palace and insights into the events that lead to his melancholy disposition. It is here that we learn that he was not always so, but instead was a happy and well adjusted youngster who had a loving mother. We also see the impact that losing her had on him. But Zuko would not have become the amazing character he did without help from his Uncle Iroh.

What can I say about Iroh? I’m afraid that trying to sum him up in this review would not do him justice. Simply put, Iroh is amazing. Period. Not only is he ridiculously funny with his irrational tea love and smelly bunions, but he also imparts sage wisdom to his nephew and is a firebending master that if he wanted to could settle any fight with force, but would only do so as a last resort. The episode “Tales of Ba Sing Se” showed us the Iroh that we had all grown to love and respect and made him all the more amazing by the fact that he had lost his son in the war and still felt the pain of that loss but remained the rock his nephew needed during his journey anyway. The episode was given greater significance as a tribute to the voice actor who played Iroh, Mako Iwamatsu. He had recently passed away after completion of the episode.

Avatar: TLA was an amazing show because the world was so densely packed with such wonderful and memorable characters that could make you laugh, cry and think. Whether it was Foaming Mouth Guy, or Cabbage Man, Sparky Sparky Boom Man, Yue, Chong the Hippy Song Guy or any number of small and large characters, the world of Avatar: TLA feelt like it had existed for a long time before we even knew about it.

Avatar: TLA was one of my favorite shows on television and it pains me to think that it is associated with the movie that I saw a couple days ago.

(Ok here’s where the movie review starts)

The Last Airbender directed by M. Night Shyamalan is his latest attempt at staying relevant in the movie industry after a number of flops such as “The Happening” “the Village” and “The Lady in the Water”. M. Night wrote and directed this movie and his inability to tell a story coherently and convincingly has pushed past the point of politeness. Someone’s gotta tell this guy to stop. Just stop M. Night.

Hhhhhmm. Ok. I went into this movie with expectations low, yet cautiously optimistic based on the strength of the source material. Boy oh boy was I let down. This movie was awful writing sandwiched between painfully bad acting and low rent special effects. The director attempted to cram into an hour and a half what the show took an entire season to do. It felt rushed from start to finish. We would start off with the scene in the arctic when Aang was discovered and then we would cut to another scene “Southern Air Temple” and from there some other stuff would happen, then voila, we’re in the “North Pole”. The film feels like a palsy patient on crystal meth, hop skipping and jumping around like crazy.

The entire movie is bogged down by a script that seems like it was written by a sleepy twelve year old. There were times during the movie where Katara would say a line and the audience would laugh. Outright laugh! That would be OK if the line was for comedic effect but it was supposed to be DRAMATIC! Why Shyamalan thinks he can write is beyond me. The dialogue serves only to get the story across, seemingly as quickly as possible and without the artistic and creative flare that we had come to expect from the show. Sokka, Katara’s brother is a huge sentimental favorite for the fans of the series thanks to his love of the meat and sarcasm but in the movie all we get is, “I don’t think that’s a good idea Katara” and “Katara! I’m all wet!”. At least they got the boomerang right.

The lead actor Noah Ringer who plays Aang, is just awful. Seriously did anyone bother to find out if this kid could act before they put him in this movie? His lines sound like they are being read off of cue cards, with the appropriate pauses for the cards to be switched. Personally I’ve never been in a play or movie, but I always thought that if I had to, I could pull it off. This kid made me realize that there is a lot you need to know to be an actor, things that regular people just don’t think of and that if I tried, I’d look like an idiot. That’s what he did for me in this movie. He provided that service at least. You will never have to be subjected to my terrible acting on any screen or stage anywhere. Thank you Noah Ringer.

Before the movie even came out there was quite a bit of controversy over the selection of the actors over the fact that they were casting white actors to play Asian characters and I admit I didn’t think too much of it before, but I have to admit it makes the movie somewhat preposterous when you see a village of people who look Inuit and the lead characters Sokka and Katara white as the snow beneath their feet. For me, this weird juxtaposition served only to take me out of the experience further.

The last thing that I really did not appreciate was the fact that they changed the pronunciation of the characters names: Aang was pronounced Ong and Iroh was pronounced E-roh. WHY? What possible purpose did it serve to do this? All it did was make me angry, angry at the fact that not only did they make my beloved Avatar into a shitty movie, but they couldn’t even get details like the characters names right?? Did anyone even watch the show? But the sad thing is that the show’s creators Mike and Bryan were both involved in this production, which boggles my mind. I don’t think they would have willingly or knowingly let this garbage bear the name of their baby, but if they did, well then I just gotta say WTF guys. WTF.

In closing, The Last Airbender is a horrible movie deserving of its 8% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It translates none of the wonder and imagination of the cartoon and should be taken out behind the chemical shed and shot. M. Night you are a master at Failbending ( thanks for that one Eric)

The Phoenix Rises: Futurama is Almost Back!

Ok that title may be a little melodramatic but for those of us out there that have been waiting patiently for the return of this amazing show, it feels like a triumph. Futurama is going to be coming back to tv on Comedy Central (Comedy Network in Canada) on June 24th and I couldn’t be happier

After all the trials and tribulations of wondering whether they would replace the cast, or whether the show would come back at all, I feel a  sense of relief and anticipation for the 24th that I just had to share with everyone.

In commemoration of the momentous event I wanted to share a couple videos with you, the first being the teaser of the first couple minutes of the first new episode, and the others are quotes from two of the funniest characters ever created: Zap Brannigan and Dr. Zoidberg.

Teaser

The Zapper

Dr. Z

Walking Dead TV Series Starts Filming!

Robert Kirkman announced that filming has started for the Walking Dead television series, which will air on AMC in October. You can hit the link below to see the details, but here’s the gist of it:

It will start with 6 episodes
It is being written, produced and directed by Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile)
There are makeup caps in the link below! Check em out!

http://www.superherohype.com/news/articles/101966-first-look-at-amcs-the-walking-dead

I’m pretty sure Amrit’s necrophilia is starting to creep up right about now.

Jon says, read: Invincible

Think of every great comic series you’ve ever enjoyed. No really, go on, think about it. In your youth, in your adolescence, in your adulthood. Every single one. I’ll give you a minute.

Got em? Good. Now in your head (I repeat, IN YOUR HEAD), tear out every page of fluff, filler, and cheese — wait. Leave in the good cheese. A little cheese never hurt anyone. Now take some duct tape, and tape all the remaining pages together into a book, and what you have, is something that serves as inspiration for Robert Kirkman’s Invincible.

In an unspoiled nutshell, Invincible follows the life of Mark Grayson, a teenager learning to harness the superpowers given to him by his father, the legendary Omni-Man. The series looks at the superhero dilemma, and examines it from all angles; from keeping a secret identity, to dealing with annoying arch nemeses, to the social awkwardness of flying while carrying another man in your arms.

You can tell from where Kirkman draws his inspiration. He makes no apologies about it. In fact, you could almost say this is a love letter to everything that’s great about superheroism. You can tell that Kirkman has a lot of fun writing Invincible. You can tell that he is taking all the great inspirations in his life, and weaving them into a world out of any 80’s or 90’s graphic novel. And yet, there’s a bit of fun-poking to be made. He openly mocks Aquaman (though to be fair, who doesn’t?), and original characters with outlandish names like Monster Girl, Dupli-Kate, Rampage, and the Mauler Twins hint at the kind of cartoons Kirkman watched in his earlier days. Indeed, Invincible covers it all.

What’s best about the series is that no matter how typical and predictable Invincible appears to be, it is still a completely original piece of work. Plots twist and turn, characters hide the greatest surprises up their sleeves, and the universe is rich, and incredibly well laid out. You don’t question why anything has happened, you just want to turn the page to see what happens next.

At the time of posting, Invincible is an ongoing series, still in print. Individually issues are being released, but I’m currently reading the trade paperbacks (just finished 12, desperately awaiting 13). There are also hard cover complications encasing 5 trades in a single volume. Do yourself a favour, and grab the first 3 trades. You’ll be glad you did.

Tranformers: Revenge of the Fallen Movie Review

The Transformers brand had very humble beginnings as a toy line that inspired an 80’s classic cartoon whose primary focus was to sell toys. The glorious animated Transformers Movie upped the production values of the show tenfold and introduced some very grown up themes into the once children oriented show such as death and the pressure to live up to the one’s legendary predecessors.

If you were looking for some deep meaning or dramatic character development and plot lines from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, you’re barking up the wrong tree. The newest film in the Transformers live action franchise is a Michael Bay film to a degree that has not been seen in a millennia!! Well ok that might be overdoing it a little, but suffice it to say, Bay has created a movie that trumps any of his other films in terms of action, flags and T&A to date.

I went into this movie with expectations very low and a firm belief that I was going to come out hating what I was about to see. The result was quite the opposite however. I didn’t expect an Oscar contender and I didn’t get one. What I did get however was one of the most action-packed, over-the-top action movies based around giant transforming robots that I have ever seen. Now I know there aren’t a lot to choose from in that category, but credit given where credit is due, and Michael Bay has delivered the summer movie to end all summer movies.

Let me just say that while the Transformers seem a little too dependent on the American government in the movie, Optimus Prime himself seemed much more like the badass that I remembered from the television show. He even does the transforming leap into the air while firing at decepticons thing that he did in the original animated movie, an appreciated nod to the classic.

Ironically, the weakest aspect of the movie is the human one. The cast of characters, while having their moments and occasional chuckle worth one-liners fall completely flat for most of the movie, and they definitely are not helped by the script and story. While the basic premise seems ok in a sci-fi context (the evil fallen decepticon wants to blow up our sun to harvest its energy) there are far too many plot holes and inexplicable turns that lead the story into ludicrous territory. For example, Megatron is revived under in the ocean in one scene, and in the next scene, hes on freakin Jupiter, or robot heaven for lack of a better term (you’ll understand if you’ve seen it .

If I can make one major point clear for this review it is this: Transformers Revenge of the Fallen is a flawed film in many ways that could probably have been done much better had it been given more time to be polished and the script overhauled, but as an experience in itself, I walked out of the theater feeling that my expectations had been fulfilled. I saw more action and fight scenes that were better choreographed than the last film. Optimus grew a pair and manned up like I knew he could and all the while there was some humor sprinkled in between. TRotF is the epitome of a brainless summer popcorn blockbuster and as long as you go into it knowing this, you will enjoy it.

***One final note however that I feel I must add to this review was that the overtly racist depctions of the small twin autobot that had bad grammar, “don’t read too good”, stumble around un-commically and were just plain offensive, and I’m not even black! With their gold plated buck teeth (you read that correctly) and their Jar Jar-esque rage inducing antics, these characters earn my newly created award for Worst Animated Racial Stereotype in a movie. I dont even remember their names and hopefully I’ll never learn them.***

The Last Airbender Trailer

Hi folks.

You don’t know me, and I don’t know you. But we’ll get to know each other. Oh, will we ever get to know each other. But there’s time for that. In the meantime, here’s a little something that may help break the ice. I’ve recently gotten into Avatar. I know Amrit is also a huge Avatar fan. BEHOLD!!!! M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender Trailer!

By the way, you can call me Alderman. Cheers.

k-os, Kanada’s Kanye

If I were to judge a book by its cover or, in this case, a CD by its jacket, I’d say that singer/rapper/producer k-os is trying to make a statement. What that statement particularly is, I don’t know. Aesthetically, the case is an obvious throwback to his debut (and to many, best) album, Exit. k-os’ fourth album, Yes!, remembers Exit’s gradient greens on both the CD jacket and disc, but sports the contradicting colour red, and replacing the green, lit EXIT sign, is a playful red YES! sign in its stead. What this infers to me is that k-os is trying to remind us of his roots. But there’s something different here. k-os is no longer k-os.

Instead, he has become the bionic man. Deviating far from his originally organic and almost militia-quality style, Yes! seems to have quite the opposite effect, employing an American Army of digitizers and synthesizers. Song titles and subject matter are general k-os fair, from love to pacifism to music to well, “being different.” However, the message is muddled through try-hard rhymes and experimental rhythms and flows. Where Exit’s lyrics are an obvious fine wine, embodying nearly 30 years of growing, learning, and struggling, Yes! is like the quickly generated soda pop for those of the masses who enjoy proclaiming their disgust with mainstream media.

Don’t get me wrong, amidst my obvious criticisms, the album still has its ups. Songs like Burning Bridges, I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman, 4,3,2,1, and Eye Know Something are all catchy-chorus, single-material. But even the entire album does not hold a candle to any lone track on Exit.

Star Trek Movie Review

From top to bottom, this is not your older, nerdier brother’s Star Trek. This is Star Trek for the masses of people who may have never given it a chance in the past, and that includes people who thought that they were too cool to watch a Star Trek film, although with the growing appeal of nerd chic these days, that old and trusty axiom may be starting to disappear altogether.

JJ Abrams reboot (and it most definitely is a reboot) of the classic sci-fi series takes a savvy eye and a new perspective to the beloved source material and brings us an interpretation of Star Trek that is updated for today’s audience. Similar in ways to what Christopher Nolan did for the Batman franchise, Abrams takes us back to the early years of the Federation with an emphasis on down-to-earth realism with less space age magic machines and technical mumbo jumbo. The starships internal designs have an almost steamboat-like design with lots of metal piping and railings in the engineering sections and beaming technology is still in its infancy. The Enterprise itself looks stunning, like a retro Cadillac restored to its beautiful hayday, and the special effects are top notch as you would expect. The presentation in Star Trek has a shiny new coat of paint, but doesn’t seem flashy or over the top which in the hands of less talented directors could have been its downfall.

The movie itself is faced paced and sprinkled with genuinely funny humour, but the best part for me was the interaction between Spock and Kirk. Zachary Quinto steals the show with his portrayl of the conflicted Vulcan, giving us a glimpse of Spock as a young go getter bound by logic but still learning to deal with his human emotions, plus he gets kinda freaky naughty. I won’t explain that further, but you’ll know what I mean when you see it. Chris Pine (Kirk) and Quinto seems like polar opposites, and they are, but the dynamic that exists between them in this movie is exactly what I would have pictured as their early relationship: a rocky one, but one complimenting the other.

The only downside that I could find with Star Trek was the story itself. Time travel is usually a difficult and treacherous basis for any story as it provides the potential for plot holes and inconsistencies that may leave the audience shaking their heads a bit. I also thought that villain Nero was a little shallow even though the director went out of his way to give us his reasons for doing his dastardly deeds, he still felt like a one dimensional character. The new universe that Abrams creates is explained away as simply a different timeline or alternate reality, which I think would be a particularly nasty can of worms, but then again, it does seem to open the door for potentially great sequels. The only thing that disturbs me a little bit is the complete departure from cannon that this may take the series down.

Ultimately the good REALLY outweighs the bad with this movie, and I would say it is a contender for best blockbuster of the summer.

So thats what I thought of the movie. Let us know what you think below in the comments section.

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