The Sophomore Success
by MattAnyone who listens to music knows about it. It's the elephant in the room -- The Sophomore Slump. If you are a music talent (and I use that word lightly today given the current state of American Idol-forced-factory-produced "music") and are luckily enough to break out and be signed AND be lucky enough to score a hit single AND EVEN more lucky enough put out a brilliant game-changer debut album AND even luckier to have critical acclaim to back it up AND EVEN LUCKIER to have mainstream success with sales to go with it, you're still not in the clear yet. Gone is that hunger and originality you once had while trying to break into the business. Now, the artist has had a taste of fame, success, a new entourage, a bunch of "Yes Men" following them around, and of course money. Eventually, the record company will pressure that same artist to head back into the studio and start recording the follow-up to their debut album. Most of the time that artist will say, "Now what?" Enter: The Sophomore Jinx, Slump, Jinx, whatever you want to call it.
Everyone needs one
Trust me, it's happened many times and it's going to keep happening. Whether we want to admit it or not, everybody gets older. Everything is declining slowly. Sure, some people peak physically, professionally, musically, mentally later or longer than others, but in the end we all end up the same. Sports and Music careers are the ultimate microcosms of our lives. You have the Brett Favres of the world and then you have the Mike Mamulas. You are now closer to the end of your life reading this sentence than you were reading the last one. Sorry to sound morbid or depressing, but it's a fact. Deal with it. That being said, the typical artist life-span is similar on a smaller scale. This even holds true with the once-in-a-lifetime game-changing artist. Insert whoever you want here. Madonna, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Elvis, Kenny G. Whatever, whoever. They may re-invent themselves a bunch of times to enjoy a long career filled with many transitions, but ultimately they decline too. They are the "Brett Favres" of music.
Who are you in life? This guy....
Now, here's the twist. Here's where I throw you off. I think artists' sophomore albums are their best. Snoop Dogg is an outlier. You probably didn't see that one coming, did you? Let me explain. Keep in mind there are TONS of variables as I'll explain later. Some artists "blow up" with third, fourth, even fifth albums. I get that. You can argue many points against this theory of mine. Usually, these are anomalies. Yes, Snoop Dogg, I know. Assuming that the artist records the second album within 2-3 years of their debut, they still posses a good amount of that rawness and hunger that was needed to break through in the first place. My favorite part of the equation is that they have been in the record business for a few years at this point so their work sounds polished but not TOO polished. Basically, it's the originality that made them famous with some touch-ups. A studio-big-budget-produced sound that still has that original fire that got the artist there in the first place. By the 3rd album, this has diminished and mostly all you get is a big-budget-studio sound. The artist has been collecting royalty checks, touring, famous for 5-10 years, and comfortable. Yes, Snoop Dogg, I know, I get it. Are some 3rd albums better than 2nd albums? Of course. Again, there are always exceptions. I personally feel, depending on the circumstances, that an artist may peak around the time of their 3rd album. That time of the 2nd album is special. They are still appreciative of their fame. They had success and money but want more. They still aren't that far removed from the days of passing out demos to club owners in an alleyway in North Jersey. Yeah, yeah, SNOOP DOGG.
Some examples:
Eminem (my personal favorite)
(Major Label) Debut album: The Slim Shady LP (1999) - Sold over 6 million worldwide
Follow-Up: The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) - Sold over 19 million worldwide.
From a creative standpoint, SSLP may be better. Only 3 tracks were added to that album after Eminem signed a record deal with Aftermath. The rest came from his independent effort The Slim Shady EP. On the MMLP, he sounded so polished yet still showed glimpses of the underground hunger and viciousness that helped him make it. Oh, and more Dr. Dre never hurt either. Not just one of the best rap albums of all time, but one of the best, period.
This is the template for every other artist you want to insert into this debate. Snoop Dogg, you ask? Fine.
Snoop Dogg
(Major Label) Debut album: Doggystyle (1993) - Sold over 7 million worldwide
Follow-Up: Tha Doggfather (1996) - Sold over 2 million worldwide.
Obviously, you lose Dr. Dre and have Daz and DJ Pooh instead and you are going to lose some quality. What people FORGET is that Snoop was featured heavily on Murder Was The Case soundtrack (1994) and Tha Dogg Pound's controversial debut, Dogg Food (1995) Still working with Dr. Dre, Snoop DID enjoy that very small window of "Sophomore Success" as I call it. His content during that period was classic g-funk material for its time. If he was not involved in his murder trial, Dr. Dre would still be with the label, AND he put out his album during 1994-1995, we would never hear how Snoop's second album failed horribly. Snoop would never have been linked to all that "never be able to top Doggystyle" talk. Would he have topped it? Probably not. He would have been real close, though.
I'm not going to pretend that I know every genre of music by heart. I do know that Lady Gaga is currently enjoying this small window of time and success before she becomes more and more manufactured and polished. Slowly, over the years (and she will enjoy a long career) she'll move further away from the creativity that makes her unique. Remember we all die. Think of your favorite band, artist, rapper, even dare I say American Idol. Think of their first 3 albums. Think about which one is the best. Think about which one sounds the most polished. Think about which one sounds the most creative. Now, think about the album that has all of that combined. Your answer is probably their second album -- The Sophomore Success.
Or this guy?
The Hangover = The Most Overrated Movie Of All Time
by Matt
This movie has the "crown"
First, I must say that I finally saw The Hangover for the first time yesterday. I've heard SO much about the movie. People were touting this movie as the best comedy since Old School and some even claimed it's better. Movies like Anchorman, Wedding Crashers, and Happy Gilmore weren't even in The Hangover's league. I even heard one younger person describe The Hangover was better than Dumb & Dumber! Yes. Keep in mind this kid was 18, so that makes him like, what?... 5 years old when Dumb & Dumber was released. Maybe he was referring to the hit sequel. Now, I try not to over-hype things nowadays, so I avoided Hangover discussions and talk. I couldn't escape it, however, and even heard talk about it on WIP (sports radio). I really wanted to see it. If it was as good as people said, it would live up to the hype. At the same time, I didn't go out of my way to watch it. Yesterday, that changed.
The movie begins and initially introduces the main character's brother-in-law as the crazy wacky guy that's just going to say random things.... okay.... so he's like this movie's "Brick", but crazy. I saw where that was going a mile away. Suddenly, the movie flashed forward to the end of the bachelor party and we find out that they lost his car...errr no, I mean the groom. Wait, this SEEMS familiar. So essentially, the whole movie is a back story to the night as 4 guys celebrate the groom-to-be's final night of single hood. We see them get together, drive to Vegas, begin the night - BLACK OUT. We have no idea what happened next. We see them wake up, Doug is missing, a tiger in their room, a missing tooth, and a crying baby all have taken place. Doug's future father-in-law lends him his luxurious Benz for the trip and when the 3 remaining guys attempt to get their car from the parking garage in order to re-trace their steps, they are given an entirely different car by the valet.... a police cruiser. Wait, THIS sounds so familiar!
Hmmm
The rest of the movie is basically the 3 guys going back to places they visited throughout the night gathering clues to where their friend may be. They even bump into Mike Tyson, whose cameo has been much over-hyped and wasn't as funny as I thought it would be. I mean, you have Mike Tyson here. The possibilities are endless comedy-wise.
Wait, now there are dangerous, violent people after the guys?!?! Then it hit me..... this seems so strange ....and familiar:
Right! Exactly! From the opening moments, I knew that they were building up to something good and something has to happen... really funny... and it never truly did. Why? I couldn't get past the fact they RIPPED off a cheesy Ashton Kutcher movie. Now, Dude Where's My Car? is what it is: A major movie debut for Ashton Kutcher with the share of the lead and a horrible unrealistic stoner plot. Some could argue that it's a "good" horrible. It's so bad that some of it may be good. Regardless of what you think, you can't deny that Dude Where's My Car? came first.
The acting, overall quality, realism, story, and overall feel of The Hangover is superior to Dude Where's My Car? I really liked the funny character development with the 3 guys (we dont' get much of the missing groom-to-be) especially the whipped guy and the running joke about his girlfriend banging a waiter on cruise....or is it a bartender? The fact people are so quick to "crown" this movie is a joke. It had some funny parts, of course, more than the average comedy, yes, but to "crown" it is a little absurd.
"You want to crown them, go ahead and crown their asses," he said, his voice rising. "But they are exactly who we thought they are!"
Overall, good movie, just not the movie everyone thought it is. I think that one of two things happened here. One, people are just marks and never heard of, saw, or remember Dude Where's My Car? Two, people just didn't care and blatantly ignored the fact the movie was a rip-off and fell victim to the crazy Alan character besides the fact he was a crazier "Brick" from Anchorman. The Hangover is for a generation that will never get to live through first-run classic movies like Old School, Anchorman, dare I say Dumb & Dumber and give them a chance to memorize some quotes and think they are being funny. This is their claim to fame. Hey, goooooooooood for youuuuuuuuuuu, but it's not that great.
For your comparison:
Dumb & Dumber: * Too good to rank*
Old School: 5/5
Anchorman: 5/5
Wedding Crashers: 4.5/5
The Hangover: 3/5
Dude Where's My Car?: 2/5
DC Univeristy: The Martian Manhunter
by Mike Agnew Jr.
J'onn J'onzz : Martian Manhunter by Alex Ross
Martian Manhunter is one of the greatest character in the DC universe. His real name is J'onn J'ones, which you kinda have to say with a french accent, jjjjjawn jjjjjjowns. For the most part, J'onn's story is similar to Superman's. As sole survivor of the planet Mars, J'onn travels to Earth and assumes the identity of a detective for the Chicago police Department under the name John Jones. As a detective he learns much about the human race. He witnesses the good with the bad. This turmoil is what defines his character. He's kinda like batman, not really trusting everybody and often going his own way and excluding himself from missions based on his personal beliefs. Actually, J'onn and Batman have a cool friendship. Sometimes the two of them have telepathic conversations while Superman and the rest of the Justice League battle out some argument about ethics. These conversations can be quite funny. J'onn normally talks in a very definitive tone and when someone like Batman makes a counterpoint that shuts him up there is normally a funny quirk or cliche that follows.
On to his Powers... He has a bunch so let me just list them off: Super-Speed, Flight, Shape-Shifting, Super-Sight, Martian Vision (X-ray), Super-Strength, Telepathy, Eye-Energy Beam, and the ability to turn invisible and let things pass through him or travel through walls. His telepathy is often used as a switchboard between minds ,allowing teams to communicate even when their com links are down. Superman often refers to him as "the most powerful being on earth". He does, however, have a weakness to fire. Fire is what destroyed his home world so he holds a buried fear. This fear normally causes him to return to his martian form and return to the fetal position. There have been times where he overcomes this fear in times of need but, for the most part, he reacts like the Scarecrow versus the Wicked Witch. As with most comic book characters, if you give them all the powers you have to give them a simple weakness in order to achieve some power balance.
A face only a Martian Mother could love.
Manhunter normally comes in two looks: the native martian look where he's pretty much naked and has a very long and alien shaped head and the super hero look where he has a normal human shaped bald head, a cape, trademark red crisscross straps across his chest. In both forms he is still very green. When he is undercover as John Jones he is in classic trench coat gear.
Manhunter is one of my favorite characters because he is a contrast from all the other major characters ,even though he shares so much with them. The difference is he is constantly trying to figure out the human race and much, like the Flash, he keeps the League morally in check. His story is also a sad one since he lost his wife and daughter during the destruction of Mars. His telepathy powers often cause him to playback this event over and over as if he is reliving it.
Aside from his superhuman powers, the Manhunter is also a skilled and very capable detective. As Batman mentions in his file, "in many ways, Martian Manhunter is like an amalgam of Superman and the Dark Knight himself."
He has one other weakness that I also share......
Oreos...
Suggested Readings: Kingdom Come
Last Night’s Agnew’s Cabin Live
by Mike Agnew Jr.All in all I think it was a good show and a good start. Sadly we learned that visuals that were on the screen for the live broadcast were not recorded. I think this is just the way UStream is so make sure to tune in to see the graphics and videos during the live show next time. See you next Thursday.
DC University: The Green Lanterns
by Mike Agnew Jr."In Brightest Day, in Blackest night,
No Evil shall Escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware my power GREEN LANTERN's LIGHT!"
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Welcome to the first installment of DC University. As a spin-off from my previous posts about comics, it has been recommended that I give a crash course in all things Detective Comics(DC). Now I, by no means, know everything about this universe but I have read a bunch and there is a certain feel you get for each character. It makes it very hard to decide who is your favorite. So for now, I will try to put out a weekly post about different parts of the DC Universe.
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Chapter 1: The Green Lanterns
A portion of the Green Lantern Corps. See the big one in the back. That's not a back drop. That's a living planet that is also part of the Corps.
A Brief History
Now, I know I could start with the 3 heavy hitters: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman. However, I want to build up the parts of the DC universe that actually make it feel like... well... a universe. One constant in that universe is the Green Lantern Corps. No matter if you go into the past or the future or to different dimensions, chances are you will eventually run into a Green Lantern. Yes, there are more than one. They are like the cops of the universe. They have districts. They have codes of conduct. And they have weapons to enforce the law.
The Green Lantern Corps was formed by a group called the Guardians. They were a bunch of little old smurf-like midgets with big heads who live on the planet OA, pronounced OH-AH. OA is said to be the center of the universe. A long time ago, the Guardians banished all the women from OA in an attempt to remove any distractions. They were also immortal beings so there was no need to reproduce and no real need for women. Anyone who has ever gone to an all-guys or all-girls schools knows that this does, in fact, work. You no longer worry about appearance or hygiene. You can completely focus on your work. There is, however, a side effect, extreme frustration. So, these little blue guys live on OA and bicker all the time. They usually take their aggression out on the Green Lanterns like a Police Sergeant would in a Lethal Weapon movie.
The guardians at some point discovered the most powerful source of energy in the universe, a glowing green crystal. They harnessed this power and constructed a "battery" to control it. The green lantern symbol is actually a representation of this battery. With the power now weaponized, they decided to use rings to disperse the energy. So, each person in the Green Lantern Corps gets a ring. Think of the ring as a rechargeable battery. It can store a certain amount of "Green Light" but as it is used the reserves are depleted and the ring must be recharged. Therefore along with the ring each Green Lantern gets a... green lantern. These lanterns tap back into the energy of the original battery back on OA. To get the ring to recharge, they hold the ring up to the lantern and recite the oath at the beginning of this post. That might sound corny but there are several occasions where you hear it and it gets you pumped up. Like hearing Hulk Hogan's or Stone Cold music smash out of nowhere. Or sometimes a Lantern won't have time to get through it and then would get hit by an enemy leaving them helpless and powerless.
On a side note, the Green Lanterns were not the first attempt by the guardians to police the galaxy. At first they created Manhunters which were robot-android-machine things that would hunt down criminals, much like bounty hunters. These Manhunters had one major flaw; they had no reasoning and often broke the laws the guardians were trying to uphold. You will see them from time to time in the Green Lantern stories. They are quite bitter about the whole thing.
The Ring
The Green Lantern ring runs on willpower. It will create whatever the Lantern who wears it "wills" into existence. If they think of a giant boxing glove... a giant boxing glove will appear out of the ring. I have seen a wide variety of creations ranging from a shovel to an Iron Lung to a fully functional spaceship. The ring also offers protection to the Green Lantern. This covers the need for air, blocking bullets, dealing with the cold of space, and so on. Think of anything. Really think about it. You want a walkman? Concentrate on the parts, concentrate on what it does and the ring will take care of the rest. The ring can work like a communication device too, sometimes referred to as "green tooth". The ring also takes a lot of the detective work out of situations. It can analyze the surrounding area and report back. It can even determine the threat level and give a percentage on a plan's chance of success. It is also important to understand that the ring picks the user. When a Green Lantern dies the ring immediately starts a sequence to find the next available user. In most cases the new user is completely unaware and shocked that this ring is speaking to him or her or it for that matter.
With such a powerful weapon there must be a weakness and there is... the color yellow. Before your eyes roll completely into the back of your head, there are three things you must understand: First, it has been explained why the ring is vulnerable to the color yellow. A while back the guardians had a real bad yellow guy named Parralax that they trapped in the main battery. They used the battery like a jail, however, there was a side effect, vulnerability to anything yellow. Second, this is no longer a problem in the current comics. They figured it out and fixed it. However, many people died and I think the sun was destroyed at some point. All in all, it's supposed to be a great story. I have only read about it and know of it through references to the events in the current comics. Finally, there are more colors out there than the color green in what is called the Emotional Spectrum.
The Emotional Spectrum
In a recent push by DC, the other 6 colors of the emotional spectrum have become present and established their own corps. The concept of the Emotional Spectrum has been around since the '60s; however, it was normally just the yellow and green back and forth. There were remnants of the other colors present in the universe such as Star Sapphire who wore the Violet Crystal on her headpiece. The first Star Sapphire was actually one of the Green Lantern's Ex-Girlfriends. Violet is the color of Love in the Spectrum so the Crystal actually went to her in order to be "loved" by the powerful Green Lantern. Remember earlier when I said the Guardians sent their women away to another planet? They are known as the Zamarons. These scorned women decided to fight back against their old hubbies by making a lantern battery of their own from that Violet Crystal. They distributed rings and made Star Sapphire their leader. Their power ends up being the emotion they miss the most... love. This is how the rest of the emotional spectrum breaks down:
ROYGBIV Style
Red = Rage |Orange = Avarice |Yellow = Fear | Green = Will | Blue = Hope
Indigo = Compassion | Violet = Love
There was once a chick in the DC Universe named Rainbow girl. Her powers came from the emotional spectrum. She was said to have constant mood swings. Haha. Broads.
Now you might be thinking to yourself, "Well, that's not so bad. They are mostly good. Will. Hope. Love. Compassion." But the concept behind them is that each is like a religion... the only religion for that group... an extreme religion. So, it's like having too much of a good thing. The Zamarons, for instance, believe that life without love is blasphemy and brainwash prisoners into believing love is the answer to all conflict, the only answer. In some cases this is pretty horrible torture. Anyway, these 7 groups start to form. They each have their own oath and their own rings. Some of the rings find a familiar face.
All these stories come crashing together into a story that is actually finishing up in the next few months. The graphic novel containing all the inidividual comics should be out in mid-July. I suggest you start picking up some of these titles in preparation for that release.
Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War
Green Lantern (Book 1): No Fear
Green Lantern Vol. 2: Revenge of the Green Lanterns
Green Lantern: Wanted Hal Jordan
Out of no where.......black rings start falling from the sky....they go to the dead....Blackest Night is upon us.
The Trifecta Chain Pizza Challenge
by Mike Agnew Jr.Finally the time has come to judge 3 of the most popular chain pizzas. It took a lot to bring them all together. Pizza Hut Pan Pizza, Domino's "New" Pizza, and Papa John's have been judged side by side....slice by slice.....
In the end the verdict was 3(4 if you count Bugsy) for Papa Johns and 1 for Pizza Hut. No votes or debate was even made for the Domino's.
Bad Movies……..even in HD
by Mike Agnew Jr.I recently stumbled upon a reservoir of HD movies someone uploaded. Since most of the movies were in 1080P, I could not resist downloading and watching them. I was instantly made aware that a pretty picture will not always cover up a horrible story.
Taking of Pelham 123
This movie was doomed from the start. John Travolta as a bad guy... it's Swordfish all over again. In fact, this movie should have been called Swordfish 2: Underground Train. Travolta is back in all his go-tee glory with a bland seen-it-before storyline. If there is any saving grace, its Denzel Washington. He's back with his explain-it-to-me-like-I'm-a-5-year-old attitude. He plays a transportation coordinator in charge of New York's Subways. He comes to work one morning and, low and behold, one of his subway cars is, well, taken. The hijacking occurs in the first five minutes but you will probably miss it because you will be in the bathroom throwing up due to the sporadic editing of the opening title shots. Random zooms and speedy panning shots of New York get thrown at you like postcards taped to baseballs. Once you have recovered, all that's left is the same old, same old: hostage situation, money is demanded, but (just like swordfish) there is a stupid twist that has something to do with the stock market. This movie begs to be be intelligent but, between Travolta dropping f-bombs to get street cred and crowbarring Tony Soprano as the Mayor of NY, you instantly stop caring. This movie also makes NYC cops look like idiots. On the way to deliver Travolta's ransom money, more cops and citizens die than are on the train in the first place. One cop rides his motorcycle into a parked car. All in all, nothing happens in this movie. If you still want to watch this movie make sure to watch Swordfish first. I would give this movie a C- but since it has Denzel, I'm going to bump it up a little bit. Rating: C+.
Orphan
Oh, Dear God. Well, you should already know what you are getting in this movie. Creepy little girl gets adopted by a normal family and then things start going wrong and it turns out she is a demon or something. You are partially right except for two things: 1. The family is not normal. They live in Conneticut where everyone is apparently depressed all the time. By the end you want them to all die anyway. 2. The girl is not a demon but something equally as stupid. In the end, this is one of those movies that amps up the flute-a-phones so that every time someone turns a corner, answers their cell phone, or opens the medicine cabinet, you will think something is about to jump out at you. The funny thing is, it only happens about 1 out of every 5 times. So, at some point you will jump because they have cried wolf so often. Is it scary... yes but only in the way of someone screaming in your ear. You get what you expect. Rating: C.
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A Perfect Getaway
This movie is an instant hit as long as it stays where it belongs... on TNT on a Saturday afternoon while it is raining outside. I could definitely see myself watching Drumline and seeing a notification "A Perfect Getaway" up next. The storyline is pretty basic: 3 couples go on vacation... one of the couples is a pair of murders. The couples come in three flavors: nerdy suburbanites, hunting southerners, and trailer trash. Now, I won't give away which couple are the killers, but I will tell you that the movie is full of fake-outs. Everyone has a legitimate reason to be the killer and you will not miss any of these clues because the camera will zoom up and play dramatic music every time a fake-out occurs. Timothy Olyphant, star of Hitman, a soldier in Transformers and the bad guy in Live Free or Die Hard, actually gave an okay performance. This is a hard thing to admit because I hate him in all other movies. He is right up there with the asian guy from the Hangover. You will see this movie reinvent itself 4 different times throughout. It almost feels like there were 4 different directors and probably 6 different endings, something I'm sure would be on the DVD. I felt like this movie tricks the audience so many times that once you know the ending you cannot go back and watch the movie because you will wonder, "Why would they say that if no one could hear them? Why pretend not to be the killers behind lock doors?". Rating: B-.
The Ugly Truth
You do not need to actually watch this movie. You can just watch P.S. I Love you and 27 Dresses while eating 30 cold gorditas from the grimiest Taco Bell near you. Then, wait an hour. The horrible gut bomb you drop later will be The Ugly Truth. To be fair, I should not review this movie because I never finished watching it. That's pretty rough when I can normally sit through anything that graces the screen of my television set. From what I did watch, the story is exactly as I have described above. You have the self-loathing Jesse Spano played by Katherine Heigl, who just so happens to have cats and hate men. Then you have some grown up A.C. Slater played by Gerard Butler who somehow has a TV show all about bashing women and romance. I'm sure by the end they learn something from one another. They probably fall in love due to a borderline love/hate relationship, then something happens probably due to a mis-communication of some sort. Then someone makes a grand gesture and they compromise. Blah blah blah. No one should ever have to watch this repetitious drivel.
Rating: F-.
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