Sorry folks. I won’t be posting for another week or so… Internet issues.

XOXO,
Chenda

“Kids” – MGMT

Bamp Bamp Ba da da bamp baaa…the infectious synth pop beats that repeat throughout this song hook you right away. Although there is nothing spectacular about the song or lyrics, the rhythm and melody is addictive, causing me to put the song on repeat while working out at the gym. From the first eight counts, I immediately want to dig through my closet to find my leg warmers and leotards to dance around in. The image of Olivia Newton John in the video “Physical” comes to mind. It’s a great song for working out or dancing.

The controversial sequel to The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons knocked Star Trek off the number one spot at the box office on May 15, but it may have been chatter surrounding the film that piqued interests.

In the film, Robert Langdon is called in by the Vatican police to solve a mystery involving the ancient, secret society — the Illuminati. It turns out that a vial of anti-matter has been stolen from CERN that threatens to destroy the Vatican and half of Rome. Conspiracy theories abound with long, didactic speeches for and against the Catholic Church. I found the film to be overly preachy, but barring the lessons to be learned, the film itself was thrilling. The plot was even more unbelievable than The Da Vinci Code, but had more action, explosions, and gore than the first film. Overall, it was an entertaining movie.

Summer is in full swing and it’s a great time to pick up a fun read. Stephenie Meyer is not the first person you’d think of when you think of literature, but her vampire series has become a cultural phenomenon. A stay-at-home mom, Meyer was not actively pursuing a career in writing when she came up with the story that would become her first novel, Twilight. She says that it all started with a dream that she had that took place in a meadow, where a vampire and a human girl were trying to figure out how to overcome the challenges of their relationship. Six months later, she finished Twilight and went on to write three more books in the series: New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn.

Meyer’s career is a short and successful one, which has left many unpublished writers ridden with jealousy. Her literary style is simple, written in plain English. The story lines sometimes border on cliche, but it isn’t her use of language or plot that sets her apart. She’s been able to capture an intimate bond with her readers through the use of first-person perspective. Through the main character in the Twilight saga, Bella Swan, Meyer has been able to recreate the angst of teenage longing for love. Her success is not of achieving a beautiful work of literature, it is in grasping her readers and making a genuine connection.

Teenagers and adults alike all have one thing in common: we’ve all longed for love. The emotional evolution of the characters is what makes the world of Bella Swan and Edward Cullen a magical place visit. I would recommend the entire Twilight series for an easy, summer read. After all, if you’re going to escape into a book, it may as well be with a sparkly vampire.

Wong Kar-wai is a famous Chinese director that is mostly known for his incredibly stylish films. Rather than focusing on traditional storytelling, his films feature long, sensual shots and moody atmospheres. Using an international soundtrack, beautiful costumes and art direction, Kar-wai creates a world that not traditionally associated with China. His characters are tortured and glamorous. They are depicted living average lives while trying to come to terms with their inner conflicts.

For the party, I was thinking that everyone dress in Chinese-style 1960s glamour. Women will wear a variation of form-fitting dresses (cheongsam) with swept up hairdos. Men will wear smart suits and act like playboys. Everyone will have fake or real cigarettes as props. The noshes will be egg rolls, wanton soup served in shot glasses, and an assortment of finger foods. The drinks will be a variation of martinis for the women and scotch for the men. The decor will be red Chinese lanterns that emit low light, white candles, a Mahjong table, and white flowers. When the movie isn’t playing, the music will definitely be the soundtrack for In the Mood for Love. Since the movies are on the dark side, it’s best to keep it playing in the background to create a tragically romantic and sensual mood.

Days of Being Wild
In this moody film, we follow self-centered playboy York and the dysfunctional relationships that he has with two women. His selfish ways causes the both woman to enter emotional tailspins. We discover that the origin of York’s apathy toward women and relationships is a subconscious reaction to being abandoned by his mother. The film is a dark character study on the nature of human suffering.

In the Mood for Love
This film is a beautiful slice of life in a Hong Kong apartment community, revolving around the lives of a man and woman who discover that their spouses are cheating with each other. A sensual romance develops between the wronged spouses, yet their love remains unrequited. The movie paints a languid picture of tension and longing with long somber strokes.

2046

We follow the main character from In the Mood for Love, Chow Mo-wan, as he mourns the loss of his love, Su Li-Zhen. He begins a self-destructive path of womanizing. The story weaves through the lives of an ensemble cast. The film also has a sci-fi twist, with a story set in the year 2046. The main theme of this multilayered film is dealing with the memory of lost loves.

Summer is in full swing and with some of the biggest movies  like Star Trek, Wolverine, and Terminator Salvation behind us, we may forget that there are plenty of blockbuster films ahead. Here’s a preview of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and Inglorious Basterds.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – June 24

Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox are back this summer for the sequel to the 2007 hit Transformers: The Movie. This time the the duo are back to save the world from the Decepticons. The lead character Sam Witwicky, played by Shia LaBeouf, starts to see visions about the origins of the Transformers. This starts him of on an adventure that leads to a mega battle at the Giza pyramids. Megan Fox plays Sam’s girlfriend, who fixes motorcycles in sexy outfits. Is anyone still paying attention after that sentence? Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opens on June 24.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra – August 8

Cartoons from the 1980s are going to dominate this summer. G.I. Joe has been reimagined for a live-action film and it looks good. The story takes place ten years from now and will trace the rise of the Cobra Organization. Although, G.I. Joe is an American hero, the movie has an international setting. Even the term G.I. Joe has been repurposed to stand for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity. Stars include TV heartthrob Channing Tatum as Duke, Dennis Quaid as Hawk, and Sienna Miller as The Baroness. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra opens on August 8.

Inglorious Basterds – August 21

The highly anticipated Quentin Tarantino film, Inglorious Basterds, looks like a bloody, fun ride. The story follows two paths that converge: the true story of Jewish-American soldiers who wreak havok by mercilessly killing Nazis and a Jewish woman whose parent’s were killed by Nazis. The incredibly talented cast is lead by Brad Pitt who stars as First Lt. Aldo Raines. Tarantino and Pitt alone is enough to ensure that this film will be a bona fide hit. Inglorious Basterds opens on August 21.

You would think that our favorite TV shows would suffer from a recession and a writer’s strike that would send ripples through the entire year, but that was not the case of three of my favorite show. The spring season came out swinging and I’m here to review three shows that may have nothing in common, except for excellent writing and storytelling.

Gossip Girl

The spring season for our favorite Upper East Side teenagers, was full of steamy drama. After Chuck Bass inherits his father’s billions, he goes on an Eyes Wide Shut adventure, filled with drugs and alcohol. Blair is in a dysfunctional relationship with both Chuck and Yale, not quite able to get commitment out of either. She targets her English teacher, Ms. Carr, for giving her a bad grade, which jeopardizes her wait-listed position at Yale. She accuses Ms. Carr of having an affair with a student, which causes the school board to investigate the allegation. Serena and Dan are on again, until she spots him at an intimate dinner with Ms. Carr and snaps a picture. After Serena shows the picture to the school board, Dan tries to apologize to Ms. Carr and ends up in bed with her. Nate goes from being a gigalo to being with funky Brooklynite Vanessa, only to end up with Blair. After the couple rekindle their relationship, they breakup after prom. It’s clear that Blair is still in love with Chuck.

After a trip to Spain, Serena comes back with a con artist who takes, among other investments, Dan’s college money. They find out that Poppy Lifton is the mastermind and recruit Georgina Sparks to help take her down. After a super-secret spy mission to get their money back from Poppy Lifton, Serena ends up in jail by her mother’s hand. Rufus and Lily finally get their relationship on track, but things start to unravel when money becomes an issue. Lily tries to secretly give Rufus money behind his back, which leads to a break up. Lily’s story inspires an 80s flashback episode — obviously a setup for the spin-off show that is fighting for a spot among Vampire Diaries and The Beautiful Life.

All of this leads up to the finale, where Gossip Girl is the main obsession of the group. She discovers that Serena is trying to reveal her true identity and releases all of the juicy gossip that she’s been holding back. At a graduation party, they all discover that Blair had a one-nighter with Chuck’s uncle Jack and that Dan really did sleep with Ms. Carr. In the end, they don’t discover Gossip Girl’s true identity. Serena gets ready to leave for Brown, Dan and Blair will be at NYU, and Nate sticks with his plan to attend Columbia. Jenny becomes the Queen of Constance, thanks to Blair. Nate ditches his job at the mayor’s office to go backpacking with Vanessa. And we are introduced to Rufus and Lily’s love child.

The finale fell a little flat because there wasn’t a major cliffhanger. But it’s hard to complain with a season so full of juicy revelations. The story lines this season were like an homage to Eyes Wide Shut, American Gigolo, and The Graduate. Along with some spy missions, glamor, and teenage drama, the season was definitely a success. And OMFG…I can’t wait for season three!

Lost

We start the season with the survivors left on the island jumping through time. Through their time travel we discover that Charles Widmore was stationed on the island as a young man. Charlotte dies from all of the time jumping and Daniel Faraday deduces that it’s because of her exposure to the island. We see that Jin has survived the explosion on the freighter and is also traveling through time on his own. He meets a young, pregnant Rousseau and the father of her child. John Locke is convinced that he can save everyone by going down to the Orchid Station to turn the wheel. He’s successful and gets off the island, while stopping time for the survivors in 1974. They conclude that joining the Dharma Initiative is the best chance for their survival, while Daniel Faraday takes off to fend for himself. We later find out that Miles’s father is Dr. Chang, leader of The Dharma Initiative, and Ben was an outcast that sympathized with the Hostiles.

Back on the mainland, the Oceanic Six deal with their lives three years after escaping the island. Jack agrees to help Ben on his quest to get the Oceanic Six back to the island, in order to save all of their friends. They are successful in rounding up Sun, Sayid, Kate, and Hurley. With varying circumstances, they all board Ajira Airways Flight 316. We find out that Ben killed John Locke, who was calling himself Jeremy Bentham. They bring him along for the ride, too. We also find out that the mystery woman who has been helping Ben is Daniel Faraday’s mother — Eloise Hawking — and that she was also stationed on the island.

All of these details lead up to the explosive season finale, where we find out that Charles Widmore is Faraday’s father. Faraday returns to an unraveling Dharma Initiative to warn them of the catastrophic events that ultimately lead to the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. His plan is to detonate a nuclear bomb at the site of the Swan station. Before Faraday can accomplish his mission, a pregnant Eloise shoots him in the back. All of the island’s inhabitants have conflicting ideas of how to handle Faraday’s mission. Meanwhile, we see all of the ways that Jacob has connected with the Oceanic Six. And we come to discover that an impostor has been giving orders on the island, with the sole purpose of finding a loophole in the metaphysical laws of the island in order to kill Jacob. In the end, Locke convinces Ben to do the job.

Anyone will agree that it was an explosive season, filled with surprises and answers that Lost fans have been obsessing over. In context to the overall canon of the show, it’s amazing to see how the conspiracy has unfolded and expanded without compromising the suspension of disbelief. Season five finally answered our questions about Charles Widmore and Jacob. There were a few throw-away moments in the show — like Ben confronting the smoke monster — but those little nuggets served as great fillers to keep the mood of mystery going.

I was disappointed to see that there is only one more season left, but realistically, it feels right. They can’t squeeze any more mysteries out of these characters, without veering off course to add new characters — which would mean more flashbacks. No! It seems to me that main focus of season six needs to focus on Jacob, Charles Widmore, the history of the island, and, of course, the epilogues for our favorite fictional island dwellers. Fall 2009 can’t come soon enough!

Fringe

J.J. Abram’s X-Files-esque drama, Fringe, had a rough introductory season. The fall was spent with introductions to the main characters — Olivia, Peter, and Walter — with hints at an overarching conspiracy theory. The special effects and weekly cases were entertaining for sure, but it was a difficult show to follow. Unlike Abram’s other project, Lost, he wanted to create a show that was easy to pick up at any time in the season. Each episode was meant to stand in its own.

Although the show experienced two big breaks, which left fans forgetting about the main story line, there was enough intrigue to keep the show alive. Questions that were posed early in the season were answered when we got to meet William Bell, who was eloquently played by Leonard Nemoy — Star Trek tie in, much?

We were introduced to two organizations that were at war with each other: Massive Dynamics and the ZFT, leaving the FBI caught in the middle. We discovered that William Bell — founder of Massive Dynamics — traveled across dimensions and was living on the other side. Meanwhile, the ZFT spent the entire season tracking down devices and people to help their main guy, David Jones, reach Bell. The finale left jaws dropping across the nation when we realized that Bell’s office in this other dimension was in the still-standing World Trade Center. And that Walter kidnapped his son, Peter, from that dimension after the Peter of our dimension died as a child. Even through all of the ups and downs of the season, Fringe pulled through and got renewed for a second season. I couldn’t be more excited.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Fringe Finale Does Not Disappoint [SPOILERS] (effinnerds.com)

“Fringe” Gives Us More Blood, Guts, And Insight On ZFT (nerve.com)

“Fringe” Returns: Mini-Observer Is Creepy, Helpful, Unilluminating (As Expected) (nerve.com)

A few weeks ago I applied for a job at an unnamed website. Applicants were asked to write a crap load of spec articles. I took a stab at these even though I had an archive of exactly this type of stuff in my portfolio. If the editors bothered reading my portfolio, they would’ve known immediately if I wasn’t a match for their voice and style, don’t you think? That’s just plain mean. Not to mention that the weekend that the editor was going to read my submission, a quick Google search revealed that person was actually basking in the sun at an undisclosed location. Aren’t social networks a bitch? It just seems so unprofessional.

Also, if you’re a blog that is known for short blog posts (usually 2 paragraphs or so) in a conversational style, what is the purpose of assigning so many articles? Needless to say, I didn’t even get face time with these people and absolutely no feedback. I’m not trying to attack this company — which is why I’m not naming it — but their behavior was very unprofessional. If a company can’t be bothered to read a candidate’s portfolio, why should said candidate bother writing so many articles for the company? The sad reality is that so many writers and editors are out of work, that they find themselves jumping through hoops to get a job — even at a mediocre company.

So, I’m posting everything that I wrote because someone should be able to enjoy all of my hard work. I’ll going to re-post the articles separately, but here is the list.

1. Reviews of the spring season 3 of my favorite shows (Gossip Girl, Lost, Fringe)

2. Previews of 3 summer movies (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Inglorious Basterds)

3. An idea of a themed movie night and a review of 3 movies that support this theme. (Wong Kar-wai Movie Night with a short review of Days of Being Wild, In the Mood for Love, and 2046)

4. Spotlight an author, director, or band (Stephenie Meyer)

5. CD or MP3 Review (”Kids” – MGMT)

6. Review of the last movie I saw in theaters (Angels & Demons)

7. Pitch 2 ideas for regular features

(Stream of the Week – a guide to shows, clips, or movies that you can stream from sites like Hulu.com or TV.com
Twitography – a feature highlighting the pictures that stars post on their Twitter feed.)

8. Fill out a questionnaire (I won’t be posting)

The Sirius XM satellite radio is coming to your iPhone on June 18th. It seems like the app itself will be free to download, but if you have a free account for the online service, you’ll have to pay $2.99 to subscribe to the mobile service. Not a bad price to have Stern in your pants. More details at Engadget.

Please do not look at these pictures at work. They are HOT. Eleven more pics…

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One of the best things about Twitter and floundering actresses is stuff like this. She had so much potential! Follow her twitter.com/sevinnyne6126.

More pics of Anna in Self magazine at JustJared.

I stole this screen shot from kevinrose.com. But here you you Tweeps. Yet another App to add to your phone. I’m not currently using TweetDeck, so I don’t know yet if I’ll switch over. I don’t have a desktop Twitter App and I’m using TwitterFon on my iPhone. But Mr. Rose seems to be sold, so I’m guessing millions of fanboys an girls will follow suit. On a personal note, I like how KR takes a screen shot at 11:11AM… superstious?

More stolen screen shots…

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CAN. NOT. WAIT!

The show premieres on Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 10pm on AMC.

I’m not really a fan of hers, but this cover is hot. I’m a fan of the visuals of writing on her body than anything else. See the rest of the pics at JustJared.