Hungry for some Hype?



Oh hey that's me!

              Oh great, it’s another movie that EVERYONE is talking about.  Mmm, hmmm it was based on a book too? Yes, and which part of this am I to not have seen before? What is with these people deifying these things until they become a pandemic phenomenon? You know what I’m talking about, right? Was there any doubt in your mind that I was talking about the ever acclaimed “Hunger Games?” I know, with all the hype you expect the clouds to open up and the angels to sing a hallelujah chorus every time the name is uttered.  Seriously the Seraphim would have their vocal chords snap if they tried to fill such a tall order. Maybe someone should talk about it in Seattle, I’m sure they could use a dose of cloud opening.  A glimpse of the almighty, ya I’m sure Stanley Tucci could use a bit to get all that dye out of his hair.  Okay, so The Hunger Games doesn’t come with its own personal choir, but people talk like it deserves to. I’m sure the thing that people are dying for in these dire times is an elite indifferent journalist, one who will rise above the rubble on a golden chariot, and for once tell it like it is! Well, sorry to disappoint, but I’m biased. That’s right; I admit I’ve been tainted. I’ve managed to avoid almost every major pop culture epidemic to sweep the nation, but this one, darn it all, has me swept up with it.  Though, I promise to you that I have purchased NO merchandise. Not even a T-shirt. 



Pictured here: hype

                Honestly, it saddens me.  I can, as of right now, tell you a thousand ways why Twilight was stupid, or a hundred quips as to how Justin Bieber looks like a girl. This is because every cultural trend that is in a happy majority has a sub culture of people ready to tell you just how wrong you are. I had always been a proud member of the latter; determined to hate anything that could even remotely be popular among a group of people inexplicably and grotesquely called tweens.  And ok, seriously? What kind of word is that?  I would be more comfortable with people calling the nation’s youth hooloovoo (which is a hyper-intelligent shade of the color blue for you non Douglas Adams fans) than tweens. It really is just a contemptible word of utterly ridiculous and uninteresting origins. How would one establish etymology for a word like that… but I digre… ooh look a distraction! Sorry about that, little side track on the rant train, next stop: Sesquepedalia.    



Oh God it's touching me

                Anyways I did like both the book and the movie, and sometimes I have really silly reasons for likening things, as seen in previous articles. So I’ll skip telling you how much I liked it, and why, because chances are, you have already seen the movie or read the book and have already established your own opinion on each. So, the real question isn’t about its value to literary and cinematic forums.  No, the true query is if it’s worth the hype. Now, I know that America has a penchant for things with a gladiator theme, but is that the draw, the violence? In my experience people are horrified by the violence. Most say that that was their least favorite part. I heard more collective gasps in that theater than the emergence of a diving expedition. It was ridiculous, all the gasps and cringes were quite distracting. It was almost like taking a drive with my mother. So no, maybe not on a level people are willing to admit it wasn’t the violence. Maybe it was the high class society of the future, with all the high fashion and colors. Personally I found the colors to be eye numbing, and the costumes absurd. It’s also hard to romanticize a futuristic city when there is a dystopian wasteland right on the other side of “paradise.” So, no, I guess it wasn’t the glitz of the cities; after all, I would rather be neighbors with The Jetsons than live in Panem. 

Sup

                Nope, I think it really boils down to humanities love of an underdog story.  The characters are lovable. They inspire compassion in the audience without feeling weak. You want Peeta to save Katniss. You want Katniss to get back to her sister.  But goodness, they never really left any doubt that that would happen.  Really, they didn’t even pretend that Katniss was in danger of losing.  The audience cheers her on but, I think the fact is that there isn’t much real suspense. You get all the adrenaline of adventure without all the risk involved in the loss of a beloved character. Now you might say “ah what about Peeta!” Well, in all honesty he really isn’t beloved until they announce that Katniss has the ability to keep him, and at that moment the potential for disaster disappears because cliché endings make people happy, which lead to ticket sales.

                Without even realizing it the wave that swept the nation was really a wave of assurity.  People got to pretend that there was danger and angst when all there really was was a series of events that were captivating enough to intrigue the audience enough to get them through to the one and only eventuality that deep down everyone saw coming.  As to why other series reach this pinnacle of popularity, I couldn’t tell you, but the Hunger Games reached to unlimited heights only to smack strait into a wall of brazen unsubtly.

Some Serious Need for Redemption: Why I hate sell outs

                Okay so I have a problem with a couple of bands and need to get it off my chest in some form other than reiterating it to whoever is closest when I’m irritated. I hope that once I get this down I’ll stop telling every helpless soul who wonders by with a similar music interest my rant, but I doubt it. J Bands need to stop making sell out albums. There I said it. Stop doing it, just stop, please. Now you may be wondering:  to what are you referring?  Well, I’ll tell you. A sell out album is an album made by any artist to make more money and to appeal to a more popular demographic. This normally includes changing your sound and ruthlessly betraying loyal fans to quite literally sell more music. Now this may seem mean, and perhaps a bit too condemning, but I am so sick of going to buy an album based on the fact that I have loved literally everything that the band has released previously only to be disappointed with their new album.



Before



                I understand a band wanting to go in a new direction, but when they release an album that I, as a devoted fan thought was crap, and that now everyone and their mother thinks is the new best thing. No. That I cannot condone.  Take for instance My Chemical Romance. I was a devoted fan from the very beginning of I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, and was cemented into fandom by Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.  I loved the sound, the atmosphere, and the fact that they were like no other band I had ever heard before; purely individual.  Then, came Welcome to the Black Parade. This album was more widely accepted by more people than the previous albums, i.e. it became popular.  Now, this album I wouldn’t call a sellout album. Yes, it became popular with the rabble that have no clue what good music would sound like even if it was blared 24/7, but it stayed true to the bands previously established sound and I still liked it. 



After

            Then came Danger Days:  The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. This was the sell out album. I’m sorry MCR but I’m calling you out for this one. I think this was supposed to be a concept album, I think telling the story of a group of rebel hero things called The Fabulous Killjoys. I don’t really know. Why? Well because I as a fan was so appalled by this album that I didn’t care enough to find out what the band meant by this album. (And may I just say this whole thing with calling each other killjoys is reminiscent of the whole Lady Ga Ga mama/ little monster thing… just saying.) Some of the songs such as “Sing” and “Na Na Na” became incredibly popular with everyone. So much so that “Sing” was used on an episode of Glee.  Not all of the album was horrible. Most of them are tolerable, and I’d even go so far as to call some of them decent, but that is IF I put in the qualifier of forgetting that they are performed by My Chemical Romance. This album went a serious 180 of all their other music.  It’s very upbeat and poppy. Like happy teen punk status.

WHAT HAPPENED! I’ve heard opposition to my complaints in the form of someone citing that the band became depressed by their own music.  Not to be too insensitive, but suck it up! I realize that artists get really involved with their music and are emotionally attached to the songs, but you know what? So are the fans.  Think of why they’re your fans and devoted listeners before you decide to change up your whole shtick in favor for something that catches the eye of the mainstream crowd.  So, even though you might have personal issues, I declare: get over it!  Seriously, you don’t have to be always morbidly depressing, but redeem yourselves and bring the sound back in the direction of your origins for the sake of the people who unwittingly bought that awful album without even thinking because they believed. Just know you have broken my trust.

I think the most heinous sell out of late though was Linkin Park.  Their album A thousand Suns was such an atrocity, I couldn’t help but find out what they could have possibly been thinking when they made it. It’s like the morbid curiosity people have when viewing a car accident. You know it’s going to be horrible, but some gross curiosity just gets the better of you.  But, I didn’t have far to look, since it was on the inside of the CD cover. This, I may add was another album I had bought on blind faith because I had liked literally every song that they had ever released prior to this album. Well, except for the one song “In Between” off of Minutes to Midnight, but come on, one song in three full length albums should be good odds, or so I thought.  According to the band, this grievous offence of an album was committed in the name of art. Can you believe that? Art!  Paraphrasing their statement: basically its art, we don’t care if you like it, and yes we’re taking a new direction, but so what if you don’t like it, it’s art.



Pictured Here: Art!
also known as "really, what the heck is that?"



                That was the excuse they use to cover up a sellout album. In the name of art.  Basically they just told their fans to shove off because they didn’t care if it appealed to them. Wow...just wow.  I respect the fact that musicians are artists. I really do.  So it’s really despicable to insult real musical art with your blatant disregard for taste and call it something special.  Seriously to make this album sound artsy, they added some ambient noises and called it a day. Then, the songs themselves: Well those are absolutely nothing like their previously awesome songs.  They are so different, and not even in a good way; just in an annoying way, and for some reasons the songs have become incredibly popular.  I wouldn’t normally think that this was a sellout album so much as a mistake, except for the fact that the popular radio stations ate it up like candy.  I can’t even begin to fathom why.  It was so revolting that I couldn’t escape their garbage because it was everywhere! It was so annoying and really quite a shame.  I’m still sorely disappointed by the bands shortcomings.  Really bad music in the name of art is really just a disgrace to art.

                So, both of these bands need to redeem themselves.  I recently heard that both My Chemical Romance and Linkin Park are coming out with new albums this year.  They have both now made a ton of money off of their stupid and insanely popular sell out albums so let’s hope that they can get back to the music that made them famous in the first place.  The music; that is the reason they have a fan base to begin with.  I have learned my lesson however and will not be rushing out to actually pay money for the full albums expecting them to be good like I have in the past.  No, that trust was broken so I now know to be more cautious.  Hopefully I will hear a song on the radio, maybe one of the more obscure stations and be pleasantly surprised… I hope.  Well, Linkin Park is releasing a single on April 16.  I’ll come back on and tell you what I think.

                Lets just hope these two take a cue from one band that has already gone through the sell out phase all the way through to redemption in my book.  The band Panic! At the Disco had what I consider a sell out in the form of their album Pretty Odd.  It was another album that was so awful that it just left me scratching my head in its attempted popularity. and that the masses just ate up.  They even temporarily took the exclamation point out of their name for a while.  After living through that horror, I thought I was done with them, but then they released Vices and Virtues three years later.  The clouds cleared and the angels sang and the heavens shone through.  They rose from the ashes of a major mistake to come back and make a glorious album that has got to be one of my favorites ever. And just like that, the trust was reestablished.  So, I suggest that the afore mentioned bands take note, and learn from their mistakes.

What happens when you're finnished selling out

 



21 Jump Street: Recycled

Some movies span the ages; some storylines bridge the gaps between entertainment mediums, but sometimes, Hollywood just plain runs out of ideas. This, however, isn’t always a bad thing.  Some ideas are better re-imagined, with different minds thinking of different scenarios.  Well, let’s just say that lately Hollywood has been writing and mass producing some really elaborate fan fiction.

                The movie 21 Jump Street, while a re-engineering of an old concept, is a movie that really rises up to the challenge of being one of the many re-vamps that have most people convinced that imagination has moved right on out of Hollywood. That, or it’s just really hard to find a decent writer in that town. This movie however, realizes that it is a product of lack luster imagination and does all in its power to not so subtly address that fact; while somehow simultaneously sweeping it under the rug.  Let me just say that I am incredibly proud of the fact that this movie flat out states that it is a remake. At one point the character of the Captain, unabashedly states the fact that the 80’s are coming back as recycled material because people are unimaginative (why yes that was a paraphrase not a direct quote, why do you ask?) Also, there is an extremely blatant nod to the original when *spoiler alert* some of the original actors from the show appear in character, in probably the most ridiculous manner possible.

                Enough of the back story though, the real question is: Was it good?  The answer is: It was fantastic! And, a part of my being is kind of ashamed of that admission, but I’m sorry, anything that makes me laugh that hard is worth the admission of its merit. It was funny.  For both witty and stupid reasons it made me laugh.  I must say that the base humor was much more prevalent than the witticism. So, if you consider yourself a bit of a prude, maybe it’s not for you, but if you don’t mind a bit of language and lower hemisphere anatomy jokes, then it really is worth it.  And that is really what people are looking for in a movie right? I like to think so.  Just pure unadulterated laughter is all people ask.  Well, that is unless you have someone else in the theater that doesn’t laugh so much as guffaw (like me J.)

                The characters were hilarious, if a bit stereotypical. You have your basic jock and geek dichotomy in this movie.  The egg head versus the muscle head who, in an entirely unrealistic flash-back montage don’t really get along. However, when they enter the police academy, two adversaries become unlikely friends when they find out they need each other’s help (as bike cops tee hee). I’m sure you probably found this out in the trailer which, I’ll be honest showed most of the movies entire content in its brevity. Really, just tack on 5 minutes to either side of the trailer content and bam, that’s your show.  But I must say that 5 minutes is kind of worth it.  The bond between the unlikely duo of Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill is entertaining.  It’s funny, dynamic, and even sentimental.  The new term of the era is “bromance” so I guess that overwrought term is actually apropos for the situation that unfolds.  It occasionally gets a Sam and Frodo vibe when one gives the other a look that just screams breakup, but it’s sweet more than creepy so I deem it okay.

                This movie also gives way to the outlet of the worlds shared view that teenagers are just weird.  Honestly, I am a teenager, and I find other teenagers creepy and weird, and just slightly menacing when viewed in public, so I appreciate the outlet for those sentiments that is created by this movie.  It contrasts Hollywood’s normal view of “the cool kids” with the supposition of “today’s cool kids.” It shows that the old ideas of athletes and kids who just don’t care aren’t the in crowd anymore.  Now eco-friendly is the cool thing for kids and recycling is guaranteed to get you way more chicks and any dumb football trophy.  Um... what?  Now the drama kids are cool, bicycles are more awesome than muscle cars, red is blue, and pigs fly.  Yet in all this insanity the science geeks are still geeks. Hmm, I guess some things just never die.  But, there is a point to all this pandemonium! (I think) Kids are confusing.  Yay! That’s the point. To me, the only reasoning for the movie to employ these highly unrealistic views of high school is to make parents feel better about the fact that they don’t understand their own children; because children don’t make sense!  Either that or we’re devolving back to the hippie movement. I really can’t decide.  Actually, this movie is geared predominately towards teenagers who know for a fact that teenager’s aren’t really the kind of crazy that this movie is trying to portray them as.  Well drat!  Fine Hollywood: make my analysis inconclusive.

                The only part that I absolutely think is stupid is the drug trip footage.  Okay, I understand that drugs are a major plot point because, hello; this is a cop movie, but the scenes with the drugs are absolutely ridiculous. These scenes use shoddy animation and an impossible amount of color mixed with still shots to tell you the symptoms; none of which seem that bad.  Way to glorify drugs in a movie geared towards the nation’s youth!  I will assent that one kid did die as a result of the drugs portrayed in this movie, but he looked so godlike and epic while doing them that some people might be willing to ignore that fact.  Seriously kids: drugs are bad. In the movie the drugs consisted of random lab chemicals and Doritos. If that sounds even remotely appealing, you can just get off this blog right now, because; seriously… eww.

                So, I recommend you go see it. It’s stupid and crass, and unfortunately, I like those kinds of movies.  Besides, it’s got Channing Tatum in it, and explosives! Do you really need more incentive than that?