Ridley Scott has been hit-or-miss (mostly misses) of late and response to the trailers and news about Exodus: Gods and Kings doesn’t seem to be helping.
Yet, despite all the indifference to Scott’s upcoming Biblical epic (and calls of whitewashing) I am quite intrigued about this take on the Book of Exodus. Will it have the pageantry of Demille’s The Ten Commandments (both of them)? Or will it be another CGI-overload? Or will it be a piece of entertaining pulp a la Gladiator? I guess we will find out this Holiday season.
Exodus: Gods and Kings is set for a December 12, 2014 release date.
I’m not sure how much this song was played over and over by heartbroken teens during my high school years but I will guess that it would top a million easy.
“Seasons Change” by the group Exposé comes in at 11 on our “27 Days of Old School” countdown. The group itself was one of the big names during the freestyle and dance-pop scene during the 80’s, but surprisingly this song was their only No. 1 hit. It just goes to show the power of the ballad and this one became of the the go-to songs for teens (probably college age ones as well) during my days.
It’s actually a pretty downbeat song considering it’s about how couples break up not due to any one major falling out, but due to drifting apart because of time and changes.
For teens who fell in love with this song it became a sort of theme song whenever they broke up with their first, second and upteenth true love. I know that as much as school dances love their slow songs this was rarely played during.
Last week I put up as one of the entries for the 27 Days of Old School the classic song by Huey Lewis and the News. That song is “Hip to be Square” and I wrote how that song has become famous as not just being part of a great album of the 80’s, but due to the fact that it became the soundtrack to one of the best scenes from Marry Harron’s American Psycho.
Patrick Bateman’s personal take on “Hip to be Square” resonates not just as a description of the song but of the 1980’s as well.
“Do you like Huey Lewis & The News? Their early work was a little too ‘new-wave’ for my taste, but when Sports came out in ’83, I think they really came into their own – both commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He’s been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humour. In ’87, Huey released this, Fore, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is ‘Hip To Be Square’, a song so catchy most people probably don’t listen to the lyrics – but they should! Because it’s not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of trends, it’s also a personal statement about the band itself! Hey Paul!”
“Ice Cube, will take a funky beat and reshape it Locate a dope break, and then I break it”
The first time I heard this song it was on the plane trip from San Francisco to Washington, DC. I was part of a high school civic studies program called CLOSE-UP. It took high school students (who can afford the fee of, at that time, 2000 dollars) from all 50 states to attend a 5 day learning tour of the nation’s capital and learning how the Federal government worked. Let’s just say that even as a high school senior I was already passed the idealistic stage and onto that cynical stage.
“Jackin’ for Beats” was part of Ice Cube’s Kill at Will album and it was the CD I brought onto the plane with me and it literally became the soundtrack to my trip.
This song is literally nothing but sampled beats from other songs and remixed together to form a unique funky beat and bass sound for Cube to drop his lyrics on. Ironically, the lyrics to the song was Cube talking about him stealing (jackin’) beats he thought was cool and funky and using it himself but making it better because he’s Cube.
Below are the songs whose beats were sampled to make up this song and I have a feeling there’s probably a few more that people haven’t been able to figure out.
“If it Don’t Turn You on (You Outta Leave it Alone)” by B.T. Express * “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World”, “The Payback”, “Funky President” & “Funky Drummer” by James Brown * “I Know You Got Soul” & “Hot Pants. . . I’m Coming, I’m Coming, I’m Coming” by Bobby Byrd * “Bop Gun (Endangered Species)” by Parliament * “Sing a Simple Song” by Sly & The Family Stone * “Big Ole Butt” by LL Cool J * “So Wat Cha Sayin'” by EPMD * “Ashley’s Roachclip” by The Soul Searchers * “Bon Bon Vie” by T.S. Monk * “Psychedelic Shack” by The Temptations * “Hector” by Village Callers * “More Bounce to the Ounce” by Zapp * “Big Beat” by Billy Squier * “Buzzsaw” by The Turtles * “The Haunted House” by Disney * “Welcome to the Terrordome” by Public Enemy * “The Humpty Dance” by Digital Underground * “100 Miles and Runnin” by N.W.A.”
Tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead was shaping up to be one of this season’s first major stumbles in what has been a very good season. The show was due for a mulligan this first half of the season and audiences probably wouldn’t have made too much of a big deal. It’s almost a joke now that the series tends to have some weak throwaway episodes that goes nowhere before ramping things back up again.
“Self Help” did try it’s hardest to put the breaks on this season’s forward momentum, but surprisingly the episode ended up being a helpful and informative entry to The Walking Dead series.
We get a cold opening of Abraham, Eugene, Rosita plus new additions in Glenn, Maggie and Tara on the bus having left the Rick and the other half of their group back in the church. They’re on their way to D.C. where Abraham hopes whatever miracle cure Eugene has in his mulleted head will end the nightmare world they’re now living in. It’s a mission that Abraham has such a laser-focus in completing that when we get back after the cold opening’s bus crash there’s signs that our redhead Sergeant might not be as calm and collected as we’ve come to believe.
Yes, tonight’s latest episode is a sort of origin story to how Abraham and Eugene got to where they are now. Why is Abraham so intent on getting to D.C. as fast as possible despite Eugene acting like me might not be who says he is.
It’s how the episode was structured that made it look like it was going to be one of the weaker episodes this season. The cold opening was almost done as a sort of joke with Eugene’s mullet being the punch line. We still get the requisite group zombie attack on the group several times throughout the episode and we see that even though their number has been halved they still work quite efficiently in spite of Eugene’s utter uselessness in the face of battle.
Why exactly is Abraham so protective of Eugene? Surely there’s probably other scientists who have survived who could do the same things Eugene professes to know.
We find out exactly through flashbacks to Abraham’s time in the early days of the zombie apocalypse when it looks like he still has his family. These flashbacks show us exactly why Abraham has taken on Eugene as his mission. In an encounter at the end of the episode we find Eugene stumbling helpless as Abraham was about to end it all with a bullet, but seeing this mulleted man looking like he could barely out-walk the zombies stumbling after him puts him into badass mode.
Abraham has a reason to continue living. His temper getting the best of him and having his family seeing him at his most brutal and terrible has cost him their lives. While his temper saved his family from further rape (seemed implied) and harm from random strangers it also showed them the sort of man he was when confronted with danger. He’s a soldier. A sergeant in the military who was probably the toughest one in his unit. He’s probably seen combat and done things in war that he wasn’t proud of but he did it to finish the mission. With protecting his family from the zombies and the chaos out in the world now gone he has moved on to protecting Eugene. He sees Eugene as the hope he’s returning back to the world and, maybe, make the loss of his family not be in vain.
The same could be said about Eugene who is the polar opposite of Abraham, but whose smarts and ability to think on his feet (meaning lie) has kept him alive where others more physically-able has fallen. Eugene has a mission to keep himself alive as long as possible and he has conned Abraham and the others into thinking he’s the savior. Yet, as we see throughout this episode he has begun to see that maybe he doesn’t need to keep lying to stay alive. He has found a group in Rick and the others who bring people in because they’re decent and willing to forgive.
Abraham and Eugene have switched roles by episode’s end. We see Abraham’s sanity reach it’s breaking point and when Eugene tells him and the others that he has been selling them all a lie we see a that tenuous hold Abraham has on his bottled up anger unleashed on Eugene. On the other side of the equation we see how Eugene has gathered the courage and confidence in knowing the others will not turn him away to finally reveal the truth.
While “Self Help” wasn’t one of the better episode this season it served it’s purpose. We finally find out the truth about Eugene. He and Abraham finally have begun to round out as real characters instead of one-note caricatures of the badass soldier and the meek brain we’ve been shown, so far. Even Rosita gets some of her rough edges trimmed a bit as we see her as a sort of calming influence on the volatile sergeant.
With the cure now a mission that’s sure to end where does this leave and Abraham and his group. Do they make their way back to the church and join up with Rick again or do they continue forward and find a new place to hold up until Rick gets to them? Will Eugene ever be trusted by the others again or will they understand why he did what he did even if it meant others died to keep him and his lie safe? More questions arose with tonight’s episode, but they’re new ones that look towards moving the story forward instead of keeping things in place and going in circles.
Notes
“Self Help” was written by Heather Bellson and directed by series regular Ernest Dickerson.
We get a brutal flashback with Abraham using canned food to smash the face in of a man who might’ve raped his wife. Again the show does a lot to push the line in terms of TV censors (so far they’ve gotten a free hand at things), but they continue to stay away from actually showing rape occur on the series. Everything has been implied.
In the comics the men Abraham killed in the flashbacks were friends of his he banded together with in the early days of the zombie outbreak. They ended up raping his wife and daughter while he was out scavenging for weapons. He literally ripped apart all 6 men with his bare hands and why his family were scared of him.
This season has seen quite a new look for the zombies as we see them more lethargic and easier to kill due to their physical status, but as we see in the end it’s their massive numbers which continues to make them such a danger even to a hardened, veteran group of survivors like Abraham Glenn and Maggie.
Yes, that mullet on Eugene was getting to be too much party in the back.
Never thought I would hear the words “dolphin smooth” uttered on The Walking Dead but heard them I did.
At least we now know that Abraham and Eugene pair up all the way back in Texas. Most likely Houston.
Talking Dead guests tonight are a trio from the show itself: Michael Cudlitz (Abraham Ford), Josh McDermitt (Eugene Porter) and Gale Anne Hurd (series Executive Producer)
“I talk sense condensed into the form of a poem
Full of knowledge from my toes to the top of my dome”
It was 1989 and MTV was already something I was watching on a daily basis, but there was something missing from their daily music video rotation. They were criminally lacking with hip-hop videos. So, into the void was BET.
Where MTV was more about dance, pop and rock music videos, BET was all about R&B and hip-hop videos.
I will get all “grumpy old man” and say that I definitely enjoyed hip-hop the way it was during the 80’s and as late as the mid-90’s. For me things in that music scene just ended up becoming too commercialized. Not saying there’s no gems and gold in the trash I here now, but the hip-hop artists back in the my day were pure lyricists. Sure, their rhymes were still all about machismo and bragging about how they’re the best, but they had skill in doing so. I will put it up there that No. 9 on the 27 Days was one hell of a lyricist and he did so at the age of 16 (15 depending on when one thought the track was recorded).
I am talking about Special Ed and his hit track “I Got It Made”.
“Cherry ice cream smile I suppose it’s very nice.”
Yes, I listened to Duran Duran as a wee lad and I must say that they were quite awesome then and even now. “Rio” was the song that I enjoyed listening to the most out of their whole 80’s work.
One thing that Duran Duran could never be accused of would be that they were subtle. The band was a great example of 1980’s excess. From the Miami Vice cocaine-fueled and candy-colored fashion right up to the Gordon Gecko flaunting of wealth and luxury. Whoever said new wave and synthpop was suppose to be all just about happy songs and easy on the eyes videos.
This band and their songs might sound all peppy and such, but they were just as hardcore and debauch as the next hardcore rock band. They just did it in a much different set of fashion style and attitude. No overly hairsprayed glam rocker hair or crotch-tight leather pants. They preferred their attire to be Sonny Crockett and Rico Tubbs style.
Yes, I want to know what you’re thinking. I do believe I liked this song mostly for it’s beats and catchy chorus, but not much else. Yet, it remains one of my favorite songs growing up during the 80’s.
“What’s On Your Mind” by Information Society has been part of my audio listening rotation for decades now (man, I feel old). Whether it’s the original version released in 1988 or the extended remix or just part of an extended remix by the local DJ. This song always has a place in my queue.
I would say that it’s also my first introduction to dance music that wasn’t part of the Latin freestyle movement. My appreciation of dance and house music will always find it’s roots with this song.
For most people their experience with Huey Lewis and the News’ hit track “Hip to be Square” was due to it being used in American Psycho. It was already a great song before that film came out and continues to remain so, but now it’s taken on an even dark comedic tone.
I used to listen to this song non-stop when it first came out. Now, whenever I listen to it I start seeing Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman dancing to the song while dressed in a plastic raincoat. But before that it was always a catchy song and, dare I say it, a very hip one.
I actually prefer the band’s “Power of Love” track, but this song has to be next in line when it came to my favorite track from the band.
I’ve wondered what my younger self would think about this song now being associated with American Psycho. The answer I always get is that my younger self would think it was cool and hip (ok, ok stopping it there).
District 9 introduced Neill Blomkamp to the world. People bought into that film hardcore and were soon wondering what he would be doing next. Some fans of Blomkamp who have been following his career since he was first chosen by Peter Jackson to helm the now defunct Halo film thought he now had the leverage to get the film made. This was never going to happen.
The follow-up to District 9 was Elysium and the visuals that was slowly released for the film and having Matt Damon star in it gave it some major buzz and hype. The finished product was more than just a tad disappointing.
Was Elysium a hiccup?
People will find out on March 6, 2015 if this was indeed just a blip on the rising career of Neill Blomkamp as his third feature film, Chappie, will arrive in theaters.
Through the Shattered Lens 